Whether We Like It or Not

Alright, here's a fun question. Remember how I had said that I wouldn't be able to go through a month in that dark room alone?

Well, now that I think on it, I was wrong. I could make it through a month after all! Congratulations are in order!

Though, uh... turns out two months are a bit of a different story.

I had heard that the royal guard could be rough whenever they needed to, but I always pushed this off as a rumor. I had never met a pony that was willing to so much as push another over, let alone actively hurt another being. In fact, I once watched a pegasus practically collapse into tears because a single carrot she was buying fell on top of the head of a rabbit she was trying to feed.

Now that I was here though, in the position that I was in, I was suddenly inclined to reconsider.

Things had gotten immensely worse since that little 'escape attempt' of mine. For more reasons than one. For instance, I now had a dress code! Though, it was less of a 'work casual' kinda thing and more of a 'cliche shackles and chains' aesthetic. I didn't even know they had those around there.

As for the other reasons, I'll list them off in a less than random order.

First off, the food. And no, I don't mean how it tasted. I'm pretty sure it scientifically wasn't possible for it to taste worse.

I'm not too sure if the princess ordered it, or if the guards were doing it just to spite me, but those half servings of food I would occasionally have when I fed Chrysalis? They became my new 'full servings'. I had thought I was out of shape before, but now I was very literally starting to suffer from starvation. Malnutrition is not fun, in the slightest.

I woke up drooling from dreams involving light snacks way more often than I'd like to admit.

As if the fact that they were starving me to death wasn't enough, those little 'interrogations' they would give me weren't exactly enjoyable either.

At first, it would start off like stuff you would see in movies back on Earth. The whole good cop, bad cop scenario. Of course, this phase would only last for a few minutes, tops. It would then quickly turn into more of a bad cop, worst cop situation. If I was able to walk back to my cell that night, then that meant that it had apparently been a good day.

It's those interrogations that bring me to my next point.

Anyone ever heard of sustained trauma? Again, not a psychologist, but turns out, you can very easily find yourself associating something bad with something seemingly completely unrelated if it goes on for long enough. I know this first hand, now.

It started off small, really. Small enough that I thought it was just my imagination. I'd find myself slightly further from the door, saying I wanted to give myself a second to breathe when the guards came. Then, I'd start avoiding the slide where the food came through. Even when I was absolutely in pain from hunger, I wouldn't rush towards what little food I was given. Instead, I'd wait patiently until the lock to the slide rang out.

Then came the panic attacks...

For a while, I thought I was just afraid of the beatings. But, eventually I figured it out when one of the guards used their magic to light the room up so they could drag me out. I don't remember that night. I blacked out before I so much as reached the interrogation room.

It was the light. I was scared of the light. Nowadays, I know what that's called. I've had enough time to read up on it.

Something called "Heliophobia", which was about as on brand as it could get.

But back when this all started, I just couldn't believe that this was happening. I mean, come on, it sounds ridiculous, right? A grown man afraid of light of all things?

This entire time I had been in this metal cell, I had thought of what little light came through the slide for food to mean freedom, life, hope even.

But now, every time I saw it I wouldn't think of any of that. Instead I saw their silhouettes. I saw people ready to drag me away, insult me, torture me, treat me like I was some kind of monster that deserved nothing more than to suffer with every breath I took.

Most folks say that the scary thing about the dark wasn't the dark itself, its what we didn't know was in it. I disagree. I knew what was in it. More specifically, I knew what wasn't in it. In those moments, I was alone. And that was absolute bliss to me.

Sorta.

I guess that's my last reason. The worst reason. Being alone.

Here I was with a dark room all to myself, my sanity holding on by barely a hair, and all I could think about was easily I could distract myself from reality before. Back when I still had cellmates to talk to.

I missed the smaller things: The scare I would get whenever Nightmare Moon would just pop into my mind; the process Chrysalis would go through whenever she had woken up; even the arguments that I would constantly have with her.

On the bright side,--"come to think of it, that expression doesn't really work well for me nowadays"--the more I thought about how lonely I was, the more I was reminded about the one little win I had going for me. The other two were out. Sure, I would have liked to go out with them. I would have liked to see the light of day, rather than fear it. To go home and deal with the upcoming tax season even.

Fun fact: Ponies are terrible at taxes. Took enough odd jobs helping with that before settling on a steady job to be sure.

Still, I can't complain. After all, two out of three ain't bad right?

... Yeah, rambling was just about all I had back then too...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Have you or your team learned anything more about where they might be?" Celestia asked one of her many royal guards. Ever since Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon had escaped, paperwork and Discord's crazy antics had become the least of her concerns. The stress was really starting to get to her, but she had no choice but to keep herself composed, if only for the morale of her guards and the citizens that trusted her to rule over them.

"I'm afraid not, your majesty. The prisoner still hasn't cooperated, and claimed sightings around Equestria are uncertain at best."

Celestia sighed. They weren't making any progress whatsoever. It wouldn't be long before ponies began to talk, rumors of Nightmare Moon teaming up with Chrysalis to seek out their revenge. Celestia could already see the news article now.

"Thank you, Pure Steel. You are dismissed."

Nodding, the stallion made his way out of the throne room, the large doors closing shut behind him. Pure Steel glanced towards a nearby clock, chuckling as he noticed the time.

On his way back to the soldier's barracks, Pure Steel had already begun to think over who would take the duty of interrogations tonight. Several of his other more experienced teammates had already had their chances, so he felt inclined to give one of the newer recruits a chance.

Just as he approached the doors to the barracks, somepony made their way out, just barely keeping from crashing into him. Pure Steel recognized the pony quickly, and in that moment he decided that he would do.

"Brass Bone." The guard froze, standing stock still as he watched his commander and awaited whatever he might have to say.

"Newbies." Pure Steel mused to himself as the pony before him gave a salute, to which his captain returned a similar gesture. Brass Bone was a very quiet and timid pony, usually keeping to himself since he had joined the squad. Perhaps this would help to ease him in.

"Cadet, its your turn to interrogate the prisoner tonight. Try not to rough him up too bad, we still need any information we can get out of him first. After that, you can do whatever you like." The guard named Brass Bone nodded curtly, though it seemed slightly forced as he did so, before turning and making his way to the castle dungeons. Just as he was around the corner though, Pure Steel remembered something.

"Oh, and Brass Bone," Pure Steel called again, uncertain if the recruit could hear him or not. "Give him a good bruise under his ribs for me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think I was at negative 3443 bottles of milk on the wall at the time? Hard to tell, since I lost count so many times.

But, this was what I had been reduced to. Singing the same song over and over again or rambling about random topics.

It could always be worse though, right?

There was no light, the guard was late, and I'd even gotten a slightly bigger amount of food than usual. For all of a moment, I thought that maybe I was going to have a decent day.

Then the door began to open. And thats when I first realized how much nicer this dungeon would look if it were burnt down. Preferably without me in it.

Soon, the door screeched open and light flowed into the room as the silhouette of another guardspony came into my view. The very scene that I saw in my nightmares.

I was off in the corner at the time, just barely in the shadows, hugging my knees to my chin and trembling as the light broke my blissful darkness apart.

It had barely touched me for a second. Just a second. Yet it almost burned, as though the torches the lights were coming from had been placed directly against my skin.

Focusing on the pony that had now begun to walk towards me, I swallowed as much of my fear as possible and shot him an angry glare. Its was all I could. My little form of rebellion.

In the grand scheme of things, it meant about as much as you'd expect. But it was something. I inhaled as I tried to calm my nerves.

"I told you and the others before." If I stuttered, they'd use it against me again. But that sure as hell didn't make it any easier. "I don't know where they went." I hated every pony there so god damn much. "Even if I did, I sure as all hell wouldn't tell you."

I want to say I was being brave. I really do. But honestly, I felt more like a cornered animal. There was no bravery in that... just desperation.

As the pony walked towards me, I forced my eyes shut.

Hooves... they hurt, you know? If you ever got kicked by a horse, you'd know it. Of course, horses don't tend to repeatedly hit you. They usually just kick you to get you to leave them alone. These ponies though, they could aim, they could think, they knew exactly where to hit, how hard to do so, and how to do it over and over again.

So, when that hoof did little more than touch my shoulder, and stay there, it was kind of sobering. I waited, expecting something, anything to happen.

Then, they spoke. And the voice that came wasn't that of a stallion.

"...And here I thought you'd know better than to argue against me." It was familiar. Far too familiar for it to have been my mind playing tricks on me, right? Had I finally lost it? I hesitated.

"... Chrysalis?" As I finally looked at the pony, I could seem them smirk. Then, just as quickly, the smirk disappeared, consumed by emerald flames. Had it been brighter, I probably would have screamed then and there. But it wasn't, and I didn't.

The flames faded away appendage by appendage, revealing black chitin and holes in long, thin legs. A jagged horn made itself obvious; two rounded wing coverings seeped through skin; even the eyes and mane changed, until I was staring directly into the familiar slit pupils of a certain changeling queen.

"H-How did-" Chrysalis cut me off, clamping her hoof over my mouth. Whatever smile she had prior was now replaced my a scowl.

"Silence! If any of the guards come down here before Nightmare Moon is ready, then I'll end up being put back here in this chamber with you." I blinked.

The first thought I had was 'Oh, hey, Nightmare Moon came too'? The second was a bit less flattering. I reached up and moved Chrysalis' hoof off of my mouth, minding the holes in her foreleg, before making the latter of these thoughts known.

"Are you two crazy?!" I asked. "You shouldn't have come here." I looked down the hallway that Chrysalis had just come down. I shuddered slightly at the torchlight, but pushed on nonetheless. "Look, I'm not sure how the hell you managed this so far, but you're pushing your luck, don't you think?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chrysalis couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had made all of that effort, using whatever spare love she could find to fuel her shape shifting ability, only to be given an ungrateful human in return!

"Forget it. I'm not going anywhere without you. Not after all the work I put in. Besides, Nightmare Moon's already doing her part and she won't be stopping until she succeeds." To her annoyance though, rather than take her words to heart, her old roommate shook his head.

"No. You're leaving now. You two were barely able to get out of here before and I doubt you'll be able to get out when you're carrying me as dead weight!" Chrysalis put on a face of frustration as the human continued to resist.

There had to be a way to shut hi- convince him, to go along with this. Chrysalis grinned inwardly as an idea came to mind. It had been some time, but manipulation wasn't exactly something she would ever really get rusty with, was it?

"Oh, really? So tell me, what stopped you from leaving us behind again."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

... I mean, god damn it, what was I supposed to say to that?

"You could have easily left the castle that night, yet you chose to stay behind and help us."

By all means, she had won that discussion, and she knew it. If anything, I was pretty sure she was just reveling in it.

"So, yes, at this point you're dead weight. Yes, I'm going to leave. But, I'm leaving with you. Whether you like it or not."

By all means, I should have had something snappy to say in response. Buuuut, lets just say I wasn't in the right mental state for it.

"... Fine. So what's the plan then?"

Chrysalis smirked as she used keys I'm assuming she had stolen to quickly remove the metal cuffs around my hands. I idly rubbed my now freed wrists as I watched her sit down next to me. The confidence she held was ridiculous.

"We wait."

Confidence that, by all means, was clearly not deserved.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pure Steel stretched his limbs out as he began to remove his armor, sighing in relief as he felt the weight of the armaments be released from his burden. His shift was over and all he wanted to do was relax. He yawned as he made his way into one of the various locker rooms that the guards were given near their quarters.

Opening his locker and looking through his many belongings, Pure Steel was moments away from reaching for his bit pouch and leaving when he heard something... odd. The pounding of something against metal.

His ears twitched as he once again lifted his head, now fully alert. Pure Steel glanced around the room, seeking the source of the noise, and was rather quick to notice a shaking locker door nearby.

He slowly approached the locker, keeping himself prepared for whatever situation that may have arrived. Grabbing onto the handle and removing the simple rod lock, Pure Steel barely was able to jump backwards in time to avoid the body of a squirming pony falling towards him. There, laid before him, was a tied and gagged pony. Pure Steel's eyes widened as he quickly realized who. Brass Bone, out of uniform and with a growing bump on his head.

Quickly untying him, he ordered that he gather as many guards as he could. Somepony had invaded the castle, and it was an issue of the utmost importance to find them.

He also made a mental note to request better headwear for the guards in the future. Two incidents in two months was just embarrassing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"... So, what are we waiting for?" I asked to no one in particular. Chrysalis' hoof was tapping against the ground incessantly, no real rhyme or reason to it as she stared down the hallway warily. "... Well?"

"Ugh!" She groaned, almost slamming one of her forehooves into her face out of frustration. "What is she doing!? She should have gotten us out of here by now!" I rose an eyebrow as I looked to her, resisting a passing urge to yawn or snark at her.

"Uh, no offense Chrysalis, to you or to Nightmare Moon, but how exactly is a living shadow going to help us escape?" She spared a bemused look in my direction, but just as she opened her mouth to say something-

"Check the prisoner's hall! We can't afford to leave any part of this castle untouched!" I heard the familiar voice of a royal guard echo down the hall. My back hit the cold of the room's corner. I wanted so desperately to be one with the wall right about now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I swear upon my sacred empress' life you poor excuse for an alicorn copy, if you don't open that portal already, I'm going to-" Chrysalis' thoughts were brought to a stop as the chamber began to shake. Sounds of creaking and crackling echo through the small room, almost deafening its inhabitants, before a part of the space around them began to buckle. This error in reality twisted, screamed, resisted, and ultimately collapsed. From the collapse came a glow as it twirled and whirled around itself, darkening bit by bit as it eventually devolved into an incomparable blackness.

Crackles of what seemed like electric energy flowed around it, the leylines torn asunder by the intense magic maipulating them. Smiling at the success of her plan, Chrysalis looked back to the human, ready to yell at him to get through the portal. Unfortunately, he seemed to have been much more inclined to simply sit there in the corner of the room, staring unblinkingly at the hallway that was being lit by only torches.

Following his gaze, she noticed the shadows of several guards rushing past the wall of the chamber hall. It wasn't long before she heard the footsteps and voices.

"Hurry! I think it came from here!"

Her eyes widened as she looked back to the still unmoving human.

"What are you waiting for!? We need to-" Her patience ran short rather quickly. "Oh, buck it!"

Chrysalis grabbed the back of his shirt with her mouth and threw him into the portal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting the throw.

I also wasn't expecting the enourmous fuckin' portal that had torn through the room. On the dim side, and yes, that's what I'm going to call it instead of the bright side, the inside if the portal wasn't so bad.

It was interesting... and dark. Two pretty good traits right there!

On the bad side though, the trip itself wasn't that fun.

I now know what spaghettification feels like, minus the dying part, that is.

Soon though, the sensation came to an end as I quickly adjusted to my new setting, trying my best to-- Ah, who am I kidding, I'm too exhausted just thinking about it. I hit my head and passed out.

This had to be the third time I had woken up with a throbbing headache. Only this time, it was different. Well, technically all of them had been different. But this one was a... different-different?

Don't look at me like that, I'm pretty sure I was concussed at this point.

I felt a cool breeze blow past me, and I remember the air feeling cleaner and easier to breathe than before. I let out a breath as I pried my eyes open and tried to gather my thoughts. To my surprise, I no longer saw a small, pitch black room. Instead, there was the oddly shaped stalactite of a cave roof, water dripping down from it and resounding through the dimly lit cavern. If this was a dream, I hoped desperately that I wouldn't wake up.

I struggled to prop myself onto my elbows, noticing that I was laying on something that was definitely more comfortable than plain ground. My entire body was screaming at me to lay back down and a wave of nausea nearly made me throw up where I sat. But I managed.

And there, a few feet in from of me, was that familiar lump again. Chrysalis.

That was when I realized it wasn't a dream. They did come back. I wasn't in that cell anymore.

Before I could really even think on this though, I heard something move behind me.

"Praise be, thou hath awakened!"

Suddenly, my entire body let out one continuous screech of pain as a pair of unfamiliar hooves came around me and I was pressed into a warm and furry surface. Like getting hugged by a blanket I was allergic to. "We were beginning to worry thou would never come to!" That same familiarity from before reared its head as this voice came from just above me. Though, to be honest, I did take a moment or two to piece this one together.

"Nightmare Moon?" I asked as craned my head back to look at the mass behind me. There sat a mare, completely pitch black in color, much like Chrysalis. However, unlike her, it was not an exoskeleton that covered her, but a coat of fine fur. I could see two large and sleek looking wings, along with a straight and tall black horn. I momentarily thought back to Princess Celestia's, but with its own darkened zeal. An alicorn with a tall and slender build, her mane and tail seeming to resemble the rich and ethereal night sky, moving as if it was alive. Finally, a cutie mark of a crescent moon surrounded by darkness sat on her flank. As for her eyes, they were an emerald green, and slitted, much like those of Chrysalis, but more like a bluish-green of sorts.

The alicorn mare smiled and nodded, confirming my guess before tightening her hold on me. My body let out another shriek, and I guess this time it showed on my face.

Nightmare Moon immediately released me from her death grip, carefully lowering me back down to whatever soft surface I was laying on.

"Alas, thou art in pain. We beg for thy forgiveness, Sir Jeremy. We simply felt it necessary to express our happiness." Her odd form of talking was still a little confusing for me, especially now that I actually saw her talking, but it was still refreshing to hear it again nonetheless. Even if I was in immeasurable pain. I managed a smile before a wave of fatigue came over me, the world around me feeling as if it was just moments away from spinning out of control.

"Rest now, Sir Jeremy. Thou hast earned it."