Look deep. This story has a meaning. Not a lesson. No, a meaning. You think you see it? No, look deeper. Find the true meaning of the story, and you will understand.
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I've taken the briefcase and I'm running, oh I'm running. I'm out of shape, but that doesn't matter. All I have with me is the briefcase and the voices in my head. That's what matters. I will take this case to places, places where they will understand. Understand the truth. Not what they tell you is the truth, but the truth. They'll put me in, lock me up forever. But that's okay, it's what I want. But they will know. All of the lies, the secrets. They will know the truth. The real truth. They'll lock me up, give me meals, tell me things, let me live. But that's okay because it will be real meals, they will tell me real things, it will be a real life. It will be protective custody. And that's okay. It will be real protection, real.
Look, faded cobblestone at my feet. I'm getting closer to them, and further from them. From it.
It blinded me. They did. They took me and told me things, masked their reality. They took me and told me things, covered their secrets. It sucked me in, I believed them. Everyone did. Does. I know the truth, what they do, what they say. They pull you in, tell you things that make you ask questions. You ask questions and you want to go deeper. But that's what they want, for you to go deeper. They designed it that way. The deeper you dig, the deeper you fall into their trap.
I'm running now, this briefcase and I, the voices in my head. It's not running in cowardice, no, if I was scared I would still be there, like the rest of them. They will track me, they will send people, ponies, after me. But they won't find me, no one will. This has been in works for months, years. They will send assassins, search parties, things. But they won't find me, they can't. Only I can. Me, the briefcase, and the voices in my head. They will declare me dead, KIA even. They won't look for me after that, but by then it wouldn't matter. They will write a report. It will be filled with lies, things to trick the readers. God, do I hope they get it right. But they won't, they never do. Or maybe they do, and they write it wrong to create the lies, to trick you.
But that doesn't matter now. I've got the briefcase and I'm running. To them, to reality.
It stared when I came here, this place. Me and the voices in my head.
They found me bloodied, hanging on to life by a thread. They brought me in, to the castle, the place. The place where they create the lies. Where they run the machine. There were two, the two masterminds behind it all. The tall white one, and the smaller blue one. They told me things, they told me that it was going to be okay. And I believed them, and that's how I was sucked into the trap.
I was offered a job, in the castle. The machine. Simple, really, receive paperwork and do the paperwork. I did, I wrote things, I read things. Paper is meant for words, and they were filled with words. I read things, things that exposed the machine, them. But I didn't know. It was all them, the masterminds. The two ponies, they sent me that paperwork. They wanted me to believe that they were corrupt, they wrote things in that paper. They fooled me, and I believed it.
I thought I learned things, things about them, it. I kept to myself, I didn't tell them what I knew, what I thought I knew. I thought what I had read was the truth behind it all, and that's what they wanted. I wanted to know more, and they wanted me too. The deeper I dug, the deeper they had me in their trap. They wrapped their hooves around me, allows me too see things, things I wanted to see, things they wanted me to see.
Three months went by, I thought I had learned many things. The one named Celestia promoted me, Archives Master. Just what I wanted, what she wanted.
I was sitting in my room, a luxury apartment far outclassing those in my own world, the world that made sense. I sat there, reading more scrolls and books, when a knock sounded from the door. I opened it, fingers holding the icy golden handle. A pony with golden armor met me, and turned down the hallway without a word. I was taken to the archives, the real archives, the ones they said were real. I was given an office, featuring a large desk, leather chair, nice curtains, you know the works. I had a new security pass, clearance level A. Sort of like a master pass, a key to everything. The key to knowledge.
But knowledge can hurt. And it did.
One day, I was reading a scroll. Nothing special, just a scroll. I was thirsting for more, what was really happening. What they were doing. A guard pony came in, a sword strapped to his side. He spoke to me. He told me that the blue one needed me, needed to speak with me. He pointed a hoof to the door, and I followed, unknowingly. They sat me down behind a large stone table. Soon, the blue one entered and sat down. She looked at me, eyes twinkling. Deception, those eyes were, for what hid behind them was a machine. A lie.
"You seek knowledge, too know more. You dig deeper everyday, looking for more. A dangerous business it is, knowledge. You can learn, learn to your desire, but knowledge comes with a price, everything does." She spoke. I knew what she meant, I did. This was when I first became suspicious. This was when I first started to realize what they did. The machine. They took my position, gave it too a less prying pony. Shame on me, they said, shame on you, I said. I was forced to pack my bags, clear my office and report to the white one immediately. She spoke with me, much more in detail then the blue one. I was told things, things I didn't, but did, want to hear. She took my mind, twisted it, manipulated it to her will. In a matter of five measly minutes.
Soon after, I was reassigned to a place called Saddle Arabia, Clearance 5. It was more than A, but less than 4. There were zebras there, but they were a part of the machine. They told me things too, lied to me, sucked me in further.
My job was simple, provide security measures to a briefcase. The briefcase. I got another new office, a better one, it had books and scrolls, it quenched my thirst, it kept me contained, it gave them time. They created new lies, they pulled me in further, wrapped their shiny, dirty hooves around me and drug me in.
At first, the briefcase seemed normal, containing secrets to military and things like that. That's what they told me. Two years. Two years in that position it took me too realize. Too realize that the knowledge I so long thrusted for was right under my nose the entire time. They called the briefcase One. The clearance level needed to make contact was Clearance 1. The white one told me, she,told me with given time, I could. I could touch it, I could learn the truth. But I knew then, that the contents of the case was the lies making up the truth. What they wanted to be the truth. She knew I knew this, and I got Clearance 1.
My breathing is labored now. The sound of payment hitting my feet has long past. It's dirt now, strands of dust swirl in my wake. I would have stopped now, but the voices tell me to go, so I go. The briefcase grows cold and heavy in my hand. It shakes every time my feet makes contact with the cold ground. I can feel the contents shuffling inside, slapping against the leathery side.
I just made my way over the hill, I can see the lights in the distance. They twinkle at me. They welcome me. Not like the ones at the machine. Those lights mocked me. Tricked me. It's getting clearer now.
Two weeks. Two weeks later and I didn't sleep. That night. I waited. Clearance 0 personal called lights out, and everyone went to sleep. But not me. I was awake, waiting. Two hours, I stalked out of my room. I looked both ways, nothing. Darkness shrouded the hallways, the occasional security light here and there. They were required. The machine needs to see, you know. I started down the hallway, ducking here and there when a level 0 zebra would come by. I got closer, inching my way to the room. The security dwindled, that's how it worked. Their paychecks get higher, and the numbers get lower. Don't go, they do you a service. You owe them, they need you.
I reached the first door, I opened it. I was taught the codes by Celestia herself. Fooled, she thought she had me. But I had her, she didn't know, but I did. There's a reason for Clearance 0. Not security, no, it is far more complicated than that. Or so it seems. They want you to think of it as hard to understand, they tried to keep it in order. But, all you had to do was think outside the box. So that's what I did.
I peered into the room with the briefcase, through the two inch bullet proof glass. Not that they had bullets. I walked away from the room, thought the corridors of the Clearance 1 section of the building. The security was gone now, no cameras or ponies. You owe them, they need you.
I entered the Clearance 0 hallways with a simple push on a door. No security now. You owe them, they need you. I walked through the hallways hands behind my back, walking a confident stride. I walk into the room and take the case. The real case. The truth. I take the case and I run. I reach multiple levels as I run. Security gets higher, and so does the sound of the alarm I had tried to fade out. Ponies come streaming out of rooms, swords drawn, cursing at me. Only the Clearance 0 ponies and zebras know what really is happening. I have fooled them. I knew it the whole time. The knowledge did come with a price. They told me it would, but they never said what kind.
I run to my room, and lock the door. I climb out the window and run.
The hoof steps fade into the distance as I run. I run through the paved streets until they aren't streets anymore. I'm running, I've got the briefcase and I'm running....
The hills are far behind me now. I can see the lights ahead beckoning for me, calling me too them. They're offering my safety, a chance to understand.
The briefcase grows light in my hands. I realize it now. The briefcase had always been light. I understand now.
It's like a flytrap. They suck you in, use you up and spit you out.
The briefcase had always been light. I understand.
There is no briefcase. The entire time, the two ponies had told me things, things I thought were lies. But they were real. The whole time I had them fooled. I thought I did. They told me things. I thought they were lies. It was the truth.
The briefcase grows heavy in my hands. The lights in the distance start to fade. They twinkle at me now. Try mock me, just as the lights of the pony castle did so long ago. It was a trap, a really simple trap that makes it look complicated.
They were right, all knowledge comes with a price.
I understand it now. It's clear to me now.
It's like a flytrap.
God help them all.
