Children of the Night

Chapter 6

Joy and torture

Twilight was led back into her cell by several changeling guards. Apperantly the lead ring around her horn, that kept her from gathering arcane energy, was not enough of a safety messure for them. The dark corridors through which they led her, were part of the dungeons. Before all this she had never been down here. There had just been no reason to be here. Equestria was such a peacefull place, that it rarely came to any imprisonment. As Princess Celestias student, she wouldn't have had anything to do with potential criminals. The thought of her mentor, gave Twilight another sting in her heart. Was the Princess alright, or was she kept in one of these cells that she was passing right now?  Her head fell even more with these gloomy thoughts. Cadance and her had been captured, that much she knew for sure. So the invaders had managed to at least capture two fourth of Equestrias royalty. She just hoped that Luna and Celestia were alright. If they weren't, then there was no hope for her or the rest of the elements of harmony anymore. If those doors just had windows, then Twilight would have been able to peer in and confirm if somepony she knew was kept in them. On the other hoof, what good would that have been? They were all prisoners in the end and, as far as she knew, were only ever brought outside their cells one by one, always guarded by several changelings.

As the group reached Twilights cell, and she trotted in crestfallen, a cheerfull voice greeted her and Twilight looked up in shock. Her cell had been empty when she had left it, and now there was...

"Pinkie Pie???"

"Hi Twilight! I've been waiting for you, since these black ponies told me you'd need cheering up and that's what I do best! Cheer up my friends!"

More then the fact that they had actually put her into one cell with another element of harmony, was it the fact that Pinkie was so cheery even though she was chained to the wall, and her head held in place by a metal band. Usually there was nothing more uncomfortable for Pinkie Pie than to stay still, but the prospect of a down feeling friend that needed cheering up, seemingly blotted out all discomfort. Pinkie wouldn't be able to help her though, cause their captors chained her to the wall oposite Pinkie, with all fours spread. What she thought of as strange however, was that the changelings that had escorted here, placed a metal ring around her stomach, that looked verry strange indeed. It had carvings in it, that were surely magical. Even if she couldn't gather any magical energy in her horn, she could still feel it. The magical energy that eminated from it, was cold and felt more then dangerous. Twilight tried to resist as they closed the lock on it, but her hooves had already been bound, so she could do nothing more then shake her hips a bit, to make it harder for them. This however, seemed to excite one of them, since he couldn't take his eyes off her plot. Noticing this, Twilight ceased her struggling, not wanting to recieve the same treatment as Cadance earlier.

Pinkie was shouting furiously, while the changelings bound up her friend, which was very out of character for her. She couldn't bare to see one of her friends forced into something that was obviously no fun for her, but she couldn't stop them. When their captors finally left them alone, Pinkie returned to her cheerful behavior, thinking she'd better be strong for her friend bound on the opposite side of the room. She didn't like the expression of defeat on Twilights face, so she decided to do her best to turn that sad frown, upside down.

"So Twilight, wanna play I spy? I'd reeeeaaaallllly like to play pin the tail on the Pony, but I can't move, so that would be impossible, so I thought we should better play something that doesn't need so much moving, and so I thought it would be a good idea to play this instead, cause we only need to move our eyes for this and...."

Twilight listend to her Pink friends ramblings about games, sighing. She wanted to think about things. There were so many things she needed to think about. Especially the fate of her brother and the other two princesses. A plan to escape also would be a great subject for a theory. ANYTHING but Pinkies illogical ramblings when they where in a situation where they needed to stay focused.

"Pinkie?"

But Pinkie continued to state reasons why they should play a game, or tell jokes instead of listening to Twilight.

"PINKIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!"""

"Oh and... Yes Twilight? What's up?"

"This is not the time to play games! We need to get out of here somehow."

"Oooohhhh! Yeah I'd really like to go back to Ponyville, this place is no fun at all!"

"That's soooo not what I ment but, ok I can work with that... So any intuition from that "Pinkie sense" of yours, or any idea how to get out of these chains?"

"My Pinkie sense is not for escaping really scary no fun dungeons, duh! But getting out of the chains, you mean like this?"

With that, Pinkie Pie started to wiggle her fore and hidelegs out of the bindings that held her up on the wall, leaving Twilight stunned. She had always known Pinkie was.... odd to say the least, but this was too much.

"Pinkie, you could have escaped those all along, and you still didn't?"

"Well duh! If I had done this before, I would have missed you being brough in here."

Twilights muzzle dropped... Shaking her head, she adressed Pinkie again.

"Pinkie, get me out of them as well if you can!"

"Okie dokie loki!"

The pink party pony approached Twilights chains and stomped on her bindings a few times, opening them in the progress. As Twilight finally stood on all four legs again, she sighed in relief. The only thing she was unable to remove, were her silencer, and the magical band around her midrift. Both objects were held in place by a spell, and without being able to use her own magic, she would have to find another spellcaster to do it for her, but at least she could move freely again. Even Pinkies attempty to make her smile, where not so annoying now. Sure their captors would punish them for breaking out of their chains, but she planned to make them pay for the invasion and Cadances treatment earlier. Pinkie had just told an especially funny joke, and Twilight broke out in a fit of laughter despite of herself, suddenly all the laughter left her and she stumbled to the ground, clutching her side. A sharp pain ran through her, as if she had been stabbed, and sure enough, as she looked down on herself, a trickle of blood ran down from under the magical band around her.

Pinkie was worried when Twilight collapsed on her side, clutching the place blood was now trickling down her body. Pinkie examined the place that was bleeding, having some experience with wounds ever since she had started to look after the cakes babies. She pressed down Twilights flesh a bit to take a look under the metal band around her friends body, and there was a small, not too long but appearently very sharp, blade that dug into Twilights body.

"Pinkie, be careful! It hurts!"

"Oh I'm so sorry Twilight!"

Pinkie let go of Twilight again. Managing a little smile, Twilight tried to get up her hooves again, but once again got struck by a sharp pain, and toppled to the floor once again. This one was on the exact opposite side, from where the first one had been. Right now it was painful for her just to breathe. The wounds didn't feel too deep or wide, but they were definitly bleeding, and whatever stung her did not pull back again, so each breath made her flesh rub against the the ... blades?

Pinkie was now even more worried about her friend. Just as she had tried to get up, another blade seemed to have struck her. What was this awefull thing the changelings had wrapped around her friend? As she sat there, trying to comfort the heavily breathing Twilight, a horrible thought came into her mind.

"Twilight, I know this is unusual for me to say, and I reeeeaaaaallllyyyyy hate to say it, but don't smile!"

"Why shouldn't I Pinkie? It hurts bad, but it surely has...."

But then she understood what Pinkie was saying. Why hadn't she noticed this? Every time she showed any kind of happiness, she was stabbed with a .... magical blade. She decided on that term since she herself could not see what had wounded her. Most likely they were enchanted to make the place they hit, more sensitive. She knew of those spells, but using them for something like this, seemed more then evil. Still, she had to test her theory. It could just be that they stabbed her at random intervals. Taking in a deep breath, she mustered a smile and immideatly felt the pain again, stabbing her back this time.

Pinkie didn't know what to do. Twilight was hurt in three different places and she couldn't even help her friend, by treating the wounds. The worst thing though, was that her friend being hurt, seemed to be HER fault. She had made Twilight smile and laugh, and that horrible thing seemingly reacted to that, and then hurt her friend. As much as she wanted to make Twilight smile, that would only result in her getting hurt even more, and that was nowhere on her list of fun things to do. She came to the conclusion that, even if Twilight didn't smile, that thing could also be set off by her laughter or joy. It was no good. Pinkie just couldn' think of anything to do. Twilight, now bleeding from three shallow wounds that made it painfull for her to breathe, lay on the floor, and the only thing Pinkie could think of, was placing Twilights head on her lap and stroking her mane with a hoof. Fun would hurt her friend, so it was for the best.... not  to have fun....

Soon Twilights breathing became more relaxed, and Pinkie noticed that her friend had gone to sleep. She had not protested once when she had treated her like one of the cakes foals, that was crying, but had accepted the little relief that she could provide. Inside Pinkie welled up a feeling that she had never felt before. She had felt anger and even rage before, when her friends had avoided her only so she wouldn't notice them prepare a party for her. But this, was something different. This was.....

"Hatred... I hate them... They hurt my friend!"

Pinkie muttered to herself and, she hadn't even finished her sentence yet, her usually fluffy mane deflated, her expression becoming rather grim. She would get them for this. They had hurt Twilight and used her as a tool to do so! Pinkie cried as she saw it in her inner eye. They must be laughing their heads off now that she, the party thrower extraordinaire, hurt her friend with the thing she did best.... Making Ponies smile. A smile snuck it's way onto her face when she imagined how she would make them pay for this. How good it would feel to show them, just how bad an idea it was.... to get on the bad side of Pinkamina Diana Pie.....