I did tell him how I suffer,
In the dungeon and the chain,
And the days were with head bowed down,
And my broken flesh and pain.
-Unknown, 1865

Clank… thud… clank… thud…

Twilight’s eyes creaked open. The world came into focus like a slow descent into madness. Memories of her friends’ cries for help and getting struck from behind flashed through her mind all at once. Instinctively, she checked over her body starting with the space between her legs. No bruising or blood… she thought, so at least I haven’t been raped. As she looked around the room, the comfort that offered shrank.

She, along with all her friends, had her back legs chained to the wall. They rattled when she tried to move, which was difficult in itself because every muscle and joint ached. The others were all still unconscious, save for Rainbow Dash who was attempting to launch herself from the wall hard enough to break her chains. Over and over, she would throw herself from the wall only to be snapped back by the chains and land on the dirt floor with a thud.

“Ow! Come ooooooon!” Rainbow groaned after she checked the bolts holding the chains to the wall and found they weren’t even loose. “Oh, Twilight! Thank Celestia you’re awake! You gotta get us out of here!”

Twilight smiled to herself. “Whoever thought chains could hold us must’ve been really dumb,” she said as she started channeling magic through her horn. “Why, any unicorn worth her salt could easily— Aaaaaaaagh!” she screamed as the warmth of her magic turned to raw pain in her skull. For several seconds, Twilight could neither see nor hear.

Rainbow Dash gradually came back into focus, spouting frantic questions silently. Twilight reached up and touched the base of her horn, cringing at how hot it was. A small metal band had been affixed there.

Must be a magic blocker of some kind. But they usually just make it impossible to cast, not turn magic into pain.

“I… I’m sorry, Rainbow, but I can’t hear you…” The silence gave way to a growing ringing in Twilight's ears. At least her spellcasting attempt hadn't deafened her.

“…said, are you okay?” Twilight only caught the back half of Rainbow’s sentence, but was grateful she was speaking slowly and clearly rather than shouting.

“I think I will be all right, but I have to say this isn’t looking good. They’ve put some kind of dampener on my horn; I can’t use magic. Doubtlessly, they’ve put one on Rarity as well.”

“Damn!” Rainbow kicked the ground, making a small gouge in the dirt.

“Whuzzat?”

“No, Mom, I dun wanna push rocks…”

“Huh? Oh my goodness oh my goodness!”

“Ah! Dirt!”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash didn’t need to look around to realize who said what, Twilight groaning when Rarity’s first thought was to worry about the dirt

“Where’s a mirror? I need a mirror! I must look hideouuuuuus.” Rarity whimpered. “Oh, and these chains chafe terribly.”

“Twilight? Rainbow? What’s going on? Did either of you see anything?” Applejack asked. She reared up on her front legs and bucked the wall as hard as she could. If the stone even registered the impact, it gave no sign.

“Don’t bother, AJ,” Rainbow said glumly. “I’ve already been trying that. Whatever they’ve made these out of, it’s a lot stronger than your average iron.”

“Don’t bother? Are you sayin’ ah cain’t—”

“I agree with Rainbow Dash,” Twilight interrupted. Applejack’s eyes widened and she started to reply, but Twilight continued with an explanation. “We’ll need to conserve our strength if we’re going to break out of here.” She rattled her chains.

“If they simply wanted to kill us or… worse, they had plenty of opportunity back at our base camp. They must have something special in store for us, and as much as I don’t want to find out what that is, it will have to involve removing us from these chains at some point, which will give us the opportunity to fight back and escape.

“Rainbow Dash,” she looked at her friend with a nod, “we’ll need to convince them to release your chains first. Being the strongest, you stand the best chance of overpowering them and gaining the opportunity to set the rest of us free.”

Rarity looked confused as her eyes flicked from Twilight to Rainbow Dash and back. “But Twilight, why don’t you or I simply use our—”

“Rarity, don’t!”

Twilight’s shout broke Rarity’s concentration just as she was beginning to focus her magic. “But why not? It seems to be the obvious solution. I thought you were supposed to be the smart one.”

“Yes, it is the obvious solution, which is why they’ve thought of it. They placed some kind of magic dampeners on our horns to stop us from using magic to escape. I’ve never seen any like these before; they send all the magical force you channel straight into your brain as pain. I haven’t tested this, but my theory is the more magic you channel, the worse it gets.”

Rarity dispelled the smidgeon of magic she’d started to channel like it was a wet rat. Even so, she rubbed her forehead. “Oww… it feels like a migraine, and I didn’t even do anything. That’s just not fair…” Rarity trailed off as she put two and two together.

“Twilight,” she said softly, “you knew to warn me because you tried to use magic, didn’t you?”

Twilight nodded.

“But if I have this pounding headache just from— Darling, are you all right?”

“I’ll be all right, Rarity. I may have lost hearing and vision for a little bit," she paused when she noticed everyone staring. "Just a little bit, though! They seem to have returned fine.” Not comforted by that caveat, Fluttershy curled into a quivering ball.

“R-rainbow Dash…” she whimpered. “I’m scared.”

“Oh Fluttershy…” Rainbow said as she walked over as close to her friend as possible. “Everything will be all right. We’ve gotten out of worse than this before.” She put on her usual smile, throwing in a wink for good measure. At its corners, her mouth twitched ever so slightly.

“How can you say that? Twilight just went blind and deaf, and she’s… Twilight! What if we can’t get out of here? What if they just- just come down here and kill us?” Fluttershy breathed heavily, eyes squeezed shut.

“Fluttershy, that wouldn’t make any sense. They’ve had ample opportunity to—” Twilight found herself cut off by a glare from Rainbow Dash.j

“Not helping,” Rainbow hissed before turning back to Fluttershy and holding out a hoof. She was just a few inches out of reach of comfort. “Come here, Fluttershy. I promise that I’ll do everything to keep anything bad from happening to you.” Aside from what’s already happened, but I can’t exactly change the past. Can I?

Fluttershy crept toward Rainbow Dash and collapsed into her forelegs. “We’re all going to die. I just know it. We’ll never get to go home again!” Her lower lip trembled and she buried her face against Rainbow’s body so the others wouldn’t have to see her cry. “I’ll m-miss you all so much. And p-poor Angel Bunny. He’ll be all alone.”

“Fluttershy, please look at me.” Rainbow’s voice was still caring, but there was an edge of a commander’s strength in it. Fluttershy sniffled and complied, looking Rainbow in the eyes. “No matter what happens, I’ll be here for you. We all will. We made it through Flight School together, and there’s no way I’m going to let anyone hurt you so long as I live.”

That’s the part that I’m afraid of… Fluttershy couldn’t manage to say.

“Please don’t say that, Rainbow Dash,” she squeaked. “If something bad happened to you just to save me, I could never forgive myself! I know you fought for me in Flight School, but don’t you dare even think about letting yourself get killed because of me.” Fluttershy sniffled, taking a step back from Rainbow and sitting on her haunches. “You’re worth so much more than an… an earthbound like me.”

Rainbow stepped forward to put a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder, but she shrank back out of Dash’s reach. She was just about to speak, when—

“Hey! Cheer up, Fluttershy! I’m sure this is all just one big joke,” Pinkie said with her unfailing grin. “This is Discord we’re talking about, and he loves to have a good laugh. Almost as much as me! Ooh! I know what’ll cheer you up. Have you ever heard this one? A priest, a rabbit, and a royal guard all walk into a bar, and the bartender says—”

“Not now, Pinkie,” Twilight groaned. She was just about to turn and try to actually cheer Fluttershy up, when she heard them. Three heavy sets of footsteps coming down the stairs on the other side of the heavy wooden door.

“is this some… kind of… joke?” Pinkie trailed off as she too listened intently to the approaching footsteps. The door slammed open. Three of the red-clad griffins they’d met earlier entered, heads held stoically high.

The tallest one, whom the captive ponies identified as the officer due to his uniform being lined with what Rarity recognized as gold silk, scanned the room with no legible emotion on his face. His gaze fell upon Fluttershy, who was peeking out at them from between her pinion feathers as she’d instinctively wrapped her wings around her body. He nodded curtly to the two other griffins, and they strode over to her. One unbolted the shackles with a strange handheld device none of them had ever seen before, while the other clapped a metal collar around her neck. A thick metal cord leading from the collar was wrapped around the griffin’s wrist.

“Schwert and Buckler are going to undo your chains now.” Applejack had the chance to flash a knowing look to Twilight before the officer cleared his throat and continued.

“Any escape attempts,” he enunciated, having caught the nonverbal exchange, “and my associate will pull the collar’s cord. It’s a fascinating piece of machinery, lined with nearly a hundred curved blades that overlap when drawn taut. If any of you try to fight us or escape — Hell, if any of you even give me cause to feel nervous, and I’m a nervous guy even though I may not look it — the cord is drawn taut and your pretty little friend’s head goes rolling to the floor. Are we clear?”

Everyone gasped. Twilight and Applejack exchanged worried glances. Rainbow Dash bit her lip.

“F-Fluttershy…” She pulled against the chains in an attempt to reach her.

“Keep your distance,” the officer warned coolly.

“No! You let her go! Fluttershyyy!” Rainbow continued to pull against her chains, hooves digging into the ground.

“Schwert, if you will.” His eyes never left Rainbow as she struggled. Schwert gave the cord a light, slow tug.

“Yieeeeeeeee!” Blood trickled from beneath the collar.

“Stop it! You bastards; I’ll kill you!” Rainbow wailed.

“If you wish her dead, then by all means keep talking.”

“I’ll kill you I’ll kill you I’ll kill you!”

“Rainbow! Shut UP!” All the ponies looked in surprise at the last pony they’d have expected to say such a thing: Rarity. Her eyes were wide, eyebrows flickering up and down. In the newfound quiet, Fluttershy could be heard sobbing quietly.

“Listen, please. There’s nothing you can do at the moment to help Fluttershy. I know you’re angry — we all are — but the most important thing is that we get out alive, not ‘go down swinging,’ I believe the term is. And you,” she continued, directing her gaze and hoof at the griffin officer. “We have laws about how prisoners are to be treated. You owe us your name, rank, and reason for incarceration, after which we are to be held in reasonable accommodation and given the opportunity to contact our embassy so our two governments can work together to resolve this matter.”

The officer, Schwert, and Buckler exchanged glances before breaking into laughter. The former composed himself rather quickly while the other two carried on. “You want my name? Fine. Krieg. My rank? Leftennant. And since I’m so nice, here’s a fun little fact you may find interesting. As of last night, Altai is no longer part of the League of Nations. For the first time in two-thousand years, we are completely independent as a country. And that means that there is no Equestrian embassy for you to run crying to…” he stroked Rarity’s cheek with the back of his hand, “and no Wartime Convention to protect you. Whether you live, die, get fed, or are tortured, will be entirely at the discretion of the High King.”

He clapped his hands and Schwert and Buckler undid the chains on the remaining five ponies. Rainbow immediately trotted over to Fluttershy. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

“Come,” said Krieg as he turned his back and opened the door they’d thought might lead to their freedom. “You are going to meet him.”

Author's Note

Chapter 3 is gonna take a while, but follow me and keep yourself updated :3 -Rainbow

CliffsNotes: It gets worse.
Actually, I could say that about most chapters. -Cormac