Capturedby Never2muchpinkieChaptersCaughtBroken...RedemptionCaughtHarmony Spark woke up in a daze, one eye open as she tried to process where she was. Her head was throbbing and it made it hard to concentrate. As she looked around she could see bars surrounding her like she was in a jail cell. There were lanterns in a few places but otherwise all appeared dark. She tried to stand up, but her limbs wouldn’t support her and it only made her head ache more ,so she just lay down on the cave-like floor and closed her eyes to relax and try to get her bearings. She tried to empty her mind and think of nothing until she was physically and mentally ready to deal with the situation. From what she could see there didn’t appear to be anyone else around, so she wasn’t in any immediate danger. She had a little time to just sit and recover. It took about fifteen minutes of steady breathing for her to calm herself and her head to stop throbbing so hard. That being the case, she began to let herself think. What had happened? Where was she? She appeared to be in a prison, but she didn’t recognize it. She tried to remember what she had been doing before, but her thinking was still too hazy. After giving herself another fifteen minutes to recover she gave standing another try. Her head resisted her attempts, but not as much as before, and she was able to get to her hooves. She wobbled a bit, but she didn’t fall. She could see a metal door built into the bars, further cementing the image of a jail. Closing her eyes she prepared her magic, going deep into her imagination and starting to conjure up the image of a key. “EEYYYAHHHH!” She let out a loud scream as her body felt like it was burning. She fell to the ground in pain, panting. “Now, now. None of that.” Trying to focus through the pain she turned her head toward the voice. “You!” she cried out in anger. “Yes,” he replied smugly. “I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced. The name is Solar Star. You’re quite the big catch. I never expected I would one day bag an alicorn princess, but I suppose that’s what happens when you leave the safety of your kingdom and your guards. Oh, well.” “I… I remember now.” She struggled to get to her hooves again. She had been traveling from the Crystal Empire to Canterlot. It wasn’t a terribly urgent trip, so she had been taking her time to enjoy the beauty of nature and the cries of the animals. All of a sudden she had been attacked by two unicorns. She hadn’t had much trouble holding them off, but she had dropped her guard by thinking there were only two. Coming at her from behind Solar Star had stuck her a hard blow to the head with a log. Right before she had lost consciousness she had seen him smirking at her. The same smirk he wore now. “You! You think you’ll get away with this?” Her body was shaking with anger. “You think you can get away with attacking a princess? You’ll receive no mercy from me!” Her horn began glowing but his magic was faster, and once more she felt the sensation of electricity coursing throughout her body. She fell to the ground again, her body twitching. “Tut, tut, princess. I told you before that I would have none of that. You are my prisoner now. Have you not noticed the little gift I gave you?” A very tiny glow came from his horn, and she felt the sensation, like a static shock, coming from somewhere on her chest. She put her hoof to the spot and she felt like there was something attached to her body. It felt like a gem. “W-what did you do to me?” she asked weakly. “It’s just a countermeasure to make sure you behave yourself. As long as you have that all it takes is a little bit of mental focus and I can cause electricity to come from it. The more power I put into it, the more damage I can do. If I really wanted to and put my mind to it I could fry your body to a crisp right now.” Glaring at him with all the contempt she could muster she got to her knees. “Then do it!” she yelled. “Just kill me then! You cannot dishonor the noble blood that runs through my veins, and I refuse to be used as a plaything for your amusement!” “All in good time, princess, but you’re much more than that. It’s nothing personal against you. It was just your bad luck that you happened to be the one that was passing by at that moment. You represent the potential for a big payday.” For the first time she felt real fear. These guys were just plain old thugs, ready to sell her off to the highest bidder. Who knows what kind of pony she would be sold to, and to what purposes they might try to use her for? “So this is only about money to you?” “Exactly. I’ll give it a week for news to travel. When it becomes public knowledge that a princess has gone missing, and I claim that I have that princess and am willing to sell her to anyone who wants her, I will get that many more curious ponies and potential buyers. It should be fascinating. For once you’ll know the powerlessness of those that you oppress. "I heard about how you revived King Sombra and forced him into servitude, stripping him of his title and threatening harm upon him if he used his dark magic. You are not a princess anymore, except in name alone. You will not have any freedom for the rest of your life. Anytime you get out of line you will be shocked into compliance. They say acts of evil always come full circle. I guess that’s true, then. Isn’t it?” “It… it was to help make him a better pony. I wanted to help him. There was nothing evil in what I did.” “Well, whatever your reasons were, they are insignificant. I have to go now. So many potential buyers, so little time. I’m going to make enough to retire with just one final auction.” “F-final?” she asked in horror. How many ponies had he been abducting and selling? “Yes. That’s the way I make my money. Why work hard when there’s such a simpler way of getting it without sacrificing anything of my own? I wonder what they’ll want to use you for? As a wife? For your power? It’s going to be a fascinating week, I can tell you that. “Even though I have to go now I don’t want you to feel lonely, so I’ve arranged for some company.” Her heart sank even further as she saw the other two ponies of their group. “They’re a bit ticked off over how disrespectfully you treated them earlier, so I’d suggest you be on your best behavior. I don’t want a fried alicorn on my auction list. Now, make sure you introduce yourself properly, boys. After all, we are in the presence of royalty.” Letting out a booming laugh he started walking away. “The name’s Rocky,” said a grey-coated stallion with a black mane. “We’re going to enjoy this.” “Name’s Butch,” said the other. He was a red coated stallion with a yellow mane. The two of them were giving her stares that definitely made her feel uncomfortable. She could tell they were looking for the slightest reason to shock her. For the time being she thought it best to just keep quiet and recover. Being electrocuted wasn’t a pleasant experience, and it certainly wasn’t helping her headache, which hadn’t yet gone away. Laying down with all the poise she could muster in such a situation, she let her pride fade a little and said in a compliant voice, “I’ll be good.” She knew there had to be a way out of her situation. She only needed to stay clearheaded and look for an opening. At present, she knew she wasn’t in the right condition to make that judgment. Her captor had very helpfully told her he was going to wait a week to fuel curiosity. That meant that even if she gave herself a full day to recover she still had at least five days to come up with a plan of escape. And even if she wasn’t able to escape her prison by that time, in order to sell her he’d have to get her out of her cell. And if it turned out that Solar Star was so intent on getting a payday that the pony he sold her to wasn’t a unicorn, and thus couldn’t activate this strange gem on her chest, it would only make it easier to get free. Yes, there was no need to panic. She only had to keep her senses aware. Her captors seemed disappointed that she wasn’t being defiant. At first they had been standing right in front of her cell, but as time passed and she stayed quiet they began moving around and talking amongst themselves. A few hours later they brought her a tray of food, sliding it underneath a tiny gap in the cell door, far too tiny for her to get through. Her head pains had slowly been going away, but there was no denying that she was hungry, and eating would help. She knew she had to eat to get her energy up and keep her mental focus. She didn’t think they put anything in the food. They already had the electric gem to keep her in line so there would be no point. Without thinking about it, so used to using magic, she levitated her bowl to eat from it. She heard a satisfied laugh from both of them, which was all she needed to realize what was about to come. She quickly stopped her magic but she already knew it wasn’t going to stop them. They had been waiting for her to slip up for a while. Once more she felt electricity coursing through her body and she let out a scream of agony. It only lasted a few seconds, but to her it felt like eons. Again she fell to the ground, trying to bear with the pain as she trembled. “Bad princess,” said Rocky in a condescending kiddy voice. “When are you going to learn the rules? NO… MAGIC! At all!” “That’s right,” said Butch with a laugh. “Isn’t part of being a princess to set an example? Geez, are all your subjects in the Crystal Empire as stupid and slow-learning as you are? Princess Cadance must be so ashamed of you. Or is she just as moronic and dim-witted as you to keep you beside her?” Her anger getting the better of her, her horn began glowing. “Don’t you ever insult-” She didn’t get to finish before her body was once more jolted with electricity. Harmony did her best to use her magic to cause the two to butt heads, thus disrupting their concentration, but the pain was too great for her to focus. She finally gave it up, and just stayed huddled on the floor in a ball, tears of pain coming down her eyes. She was utterly useless. She had no idea what to do. “Well, thanks a lot for finally giving us a reason for payback from earlier. I feel better now.” “Same here,” said Rocky. “You’d better stop acting up. Your mane and coat are starting to get charred. No one wants to pay full price for damaged goods. Our master won’t be happy with that. Now I’d suggest you eat up. Or if you prefer we can force it down your throat. Either way, you’re going to eat.” It took her a few minutes before she was able to stand. Silently, tears still coming down her eyes, she bent her head over and slowly ate her meal. After that she went over to the corner of her cell farthest from the two, and curled up into a ball, letting her emotions run free. Things were calm for the rest of the day, as well as the next. She had quickly learned her lesson about not using magic, and she had gone back to ignoring them to not give them any further incentive to torture her. They went back to seeming bored, like they really wanted an excuse to torment her. On the third day she decided to try gauging her captors. “So, are you like Solar Star? Only in it for the money?” The two shared an amused look, before turning back to her. Butch laughed before saying, “And if we were?” “If that’s the case, why try to sell me to just anyone? No matter how much they may offer, you’re holding a princess of an entire empire made out of crystals hostage. Why not just make it a ransom demand to have me released and returned to the Crystal Empire? They’d be able to pay you far more than anyone your boss could find.” “Oh, please. Crystals don’t pay the bills. When you have so much of something you can make a kingdom out of it, it clearly isn’t rare enough to make a real profit out of. Even if that wasn’t the case, the boss is the one who makes the decisions. Besides, while we may not be the brains of this operation, even we can tell that selling you back to the Crystal Empire is a bad move.” “And why is that?” Now Rocky laughed. “Are you seriously that dense? To sell you back to the Crystal Empire would be admitting that we captured you. Once we released you the whole of the kingdom would be after us. And even if we got away, we’d become Equestria-wide fugitives. It’s better to simply make as much profit as we can off of other ponies with dark souls like us and remain unknown.” “W-well… then…” She hesitated, before throwing out, “What if I paid you?” They showed mild interest; not mocking her, but not responding either. “I have a special power. I am known as the Princess of Imagination. What I envision in my mind I can make manifest in the real world. If money is all you’re interested in then I could get you all you wanted.” The two of them began snickering again, a big laugh that continued until they had to stop to breathe. When they calmed down Butch said, “So you’re truly the successor to Princess Cadance? That’s the example you want to send? To save yourself you’d participate in mass counterfeiting of millions of bits? You must be looked up to so much.” “Are you that desperate?” asked Rocky. A look of terror crossed Harmony’s features as she slowly backed up. “No. N-no. I… I don’t… I didn’t… I wouldn’t…” She sank down to the ground. “I failed,” she said blankly. “I don’t deserve…” She let out a strange laugh, her breathing getting shorter before it slowly turned to crying. Letting out a wail of despair she began sobbing on the floor, covering her face with her hooves. With satisfied grins Butch and Rocky looked at each other. “So she broke already?” asked Butch. “That didn’t take long.” “Only three days in, too. I hoped she would provide us with a little more amusement. Oh, well. I guess the thought of living the rest of her life in slavery was just too much for her.” Her sobbing suddenly stopped. Her hooves fell down, and she pushed herself to her hooves. There was a carefree smile on her face. “Masters,” she said in admiration, bowing to them. “Forgive me my outburst. You are quite correct. I am undeserving to be a princess. I deserve whatever happens to me. I am your humble servant. How may I be of service to you?” The two of them gazed at each other with bewildered looks. Where was all this coming from? They were sure she had just passed the peak of despair, and would be quiet and forlorn for the rest of the week. However, she now seemed like an entirely different pony. “Well, um…,” started Butch. “You… um, you can…” Rocky tried to finish, but they were too perplexed by her sudden change in attitude. Earlier she had been yelling about her noble blood and how she wouldn’t be dishonored, but now it seemed she was completely going against that, accepting the fate they had told her was coming and conceding completely. “What is wrong, my masters?” She remained in her bowing position. “Is there nothing you require of me?” “Just… um… be quiet for now and go sit in the corner.” “Yes, master. At once.” When she had gone to sit down the two of them got some more distance from her. “What… just happened?” asked Butch. “Well… I do remember hearing one time that sometimes when a traumatic event becomes too much for a pony to handle, then they push the fear and pain below the surface. I guess when her misery became too great she had to find a way to push her emotions away or she really would have broken. It’s still a little creepy, though. The way she’s smiling just looks so… genuine.” “I know what you mean. Well, we’ll just to have keep a close eye on her.” Sometime later they delivered her more food. As they had said she had stayed in her corner and hadn’t uttered a peep. “Hey! Harmony. Come eat your dinner.” She turned around with that same dreamy look. When she got to the door she didn’t immediately take the food. She got down on the floor in a completely submissive position. “Much thanks, my masters. I hardly deserve this food. I am overwhelmed by your generosity.” “G-get off the floor and just eat,” Butch ordered with a shudder, backing up a step from her. Getting up she was now frowning, tears beginning to form in her eyes. “Have I offended you, my masters? I just wanted to show you my gratitude for how well you take care of me. After all, it’s not every day you get to live in as nice a house as this one. It’s got lots of space to look out, it’s nice and warm, protected from the elements, and I even have my generous masters grant me a feast that should go to someone far more deserving than I.” She let out a laugh. “I’m talking too much again. You ordered me to eat. I must always obey my masters. It’s the only way to stay safe.” Picking up the tray she brought it back to the corner she was at before and began to eat. “House?” asked Rocky incredulously. “This is seriously getting weird. It should feel nice to be looked up to like that, but is her mind that far gone that she can’t ever recognize where she is and who we are?” Butch responded, “Well, it’s only for a few more days. I’ll take the first watch. You get some rest.” “Alright.” Broken...Rocky was having a good dream. He had been promoted by his boss, and had all the money he could ever dream of. He had so much he couldn’t even spend it all. Suddenly he was pulled out of it by something pulling at his leg hard and calling his name. He opened his eyes to see Butch there, looking absolutely flabbergasted. “Darn it, what is it?” He tried to talk several times, but words failed him. Instead he just pointed. When he followed Butch’s pointing hoof his eyes bugged out of his head. Harmony was bouncing around the perimeter of her cell, chattering away like a small child, seeming utterly fascinated at every little thing that stood out. “W-what in Equestria happened?” he asked. “I… I have no idea. She was being quiet. She fell asleep for a little bit. Then, when she woke up… she was acting like this." The two of them cautiously approached. When she finished her latest circle around and noticed the two of them she stopped, an excited, curious look on her face. “Hi!” she exclaimed, joy suffusing her voice. “How are you?” she asked in childlike wonder. “Good…,” said Butch slowly. “Yeah! Me too! I’m Harmony Spark. Who are you?” She continued staring at them with those wide, innocent eyes, a huge smile upon her face. “B-butch.” “Rocky…” “Oh, wow! Your names are just awesome! You have nice, shiny coats, and your manes look cool. Oh my gosh! You just have to come visit! I love making new friends. I’m a great drawer, so if you get me some crayons and paper I could draw all of us! Wouldn’t that just be the greatest?” “Ye…yes?” “I know, right? We can play and play and…” She suddenly stopped as her stomach rumbled. “I’m hungry,” she said. “Do you have any food I can eat?” “Um, well…” Butch looked over at the schedule on the wall. “It’s… not… feeding time… yet.” Her chipper mood vanished immediately as tears began forming in her eyes again. “So you’re not going to feed me?” She sniffed, holding back her tears. “But… b-b-but… I’M HUNGRY! I want food! I want some! I want some I want some I want some!” “Okay, okay! Just… don’t cry, okay?” She wiped her eyes, smiling a little. “Okay. You promise?” She looked up at him hopefully. “Yeah… I… promise.” “Yay!” she cried out, hopping around the room a little before stopping and settling down on the floor. “Too hungry right now. Can’t jump much.” Going against the rules of having one pony watching her at all times the two of them left her alone, going to the room where the food was prepared. “What’s wrong with her? We didn’t even do that much to her. We shocked her a few times, and made fun of her once. Was she really that fragile?” “This is bad. This is very bad. If she keeps this up who knows if anyone is still going to be interested in buying her.” “That doesn’t feel like the important issue right now. I’ve never had a problem with this life before, but now she’s completely losing touch with reality.” “Yeah… I know. But it’s not like we can just let her go. After a few more days it won’t be our problem.” When they returned they heard the soft sound of crying coming from the cell. Speeding up a little they could see her looking down forlornly at the floor. “We’re back.” As soon as she looked up and saw them she brightened up immediately, before looking angry. “How could you do that? Leaving me all alone? What if a monster got me? That’s really bad. What kind of uncles are you?” “Uncles?” sputtered Butch, nearly dropping the tray of food. “Of course. Uncle Butch and Uncle Rocky. You’re supposed to be watching me while my parents go out shopping. And then you suddenly leave without saying a word. Shame on you!” The two of them shared a worried look. She had taken another step away from reality. Was she really having that much difficulty accepting her situation that she had to keep regressing her mind to come up with something she would be able to accept? Without a word Rocky pushed the plate to her. “Ooh! So this is where you were? Oh, wow! This looks yummy! I was just getting hungry too. Okay, I forgive you.” She dug into it with abandon, like she hadn’t eaten for weeks. About a quarter of her meal wound up on the floor because of it. “So can I go outside now? I want to play.” “No! You have to stay inside,” said Butch. That hurt look was back on her face. “Why? I’m bored of staying in my boring old house. I want to go outside!” Her face was all puffed up like she was about to throw a tantrum if she didn’t get her way. Rocky turned to his friend. “Well, Butch. Maybe… I mean, she does still have it on. It’s not like she can go far if she runs.” “That’s true, but… honestly, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to.” “Well, um… we’ll just have to, that’s all. For now we’ll just play along with her little delusion. “Harmony?” “HARMONY?” she asked, her mouth wide open as she eyed him suspiciously. “Are you a changeling?” “What? That’s your name, isn’t it?” “That’s not what my true uncle calls me. He always calls me by my favorite nickname.” She turned away, closing her eyes and crossing her hooves. Rocky gave Butch a “What do I do now?” face. Butch just shrugged. “I’m sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve had to watch you, remember? Isn’t that right… Harmie?” He waited, and to his relief the brightness came back to her. “Yes, that’s it! I’m so glad you’re not a mean old changeling. So can I go outside now?” “Okay, Harmie. I want you to look closely.” He went over to the exit to the room. “Past here is the… um, dark scary forest that eats little ponies like you. If you want to go outside, then you have to stay out of the forest. You have to stay in the yard. You promise?” She nodded her head hard. “Of course. I super-duper promise. Harmie is a good girl. I don’t want to get eaten.” With a resigned look he started to use his magic to open the lock. The second his horn started glowing she became completely still, her eyes wide as saucers and her mouth a thin line. “Harmie, what’s-” He didn’t get to finish. She suddenly let out a terrified scream, falling to the ground and shaking, covering her face with her hooves. “No, no, no, no, no! Magic! Bad! I’m not bad! Harmie’s a good girl! Don’t hurt Harmie!” Finishing opening the lock he entered the cell. “D-didn’t you want to go outside?” he asked, trying to sound cheerful and bright like she had just been. She looked up at him with alarmed eyes. “H-Harmie… Harmie is a good girl. You know that, right?” “O-of course. I was just opening the door for you. I wasn’t trying to hurt you.” She didn’t look convinced. “Look, Harmie, you’re a very good girl, and, um, my favorite niece. I would never want to hurt you.” “O-okay,” she stammered, getting back on her feet and approaching him carefully before nuzzling herself against him. “I loves you, Uncle Rocky.” “Um, yeah. Same here.” As she left the cell all of her old energy returned. She started zooming around the room, looking at every little thing the room had to offer. When she came close to the exit she suddenly stopped and backed up a few steps. “No, no! Bad! You’re not going to eat me today, evil forest. I’m smarter than that.” Letting out a victorious laugh, she returned to her former demeanor, chattering away and inspecting everything with boundless energy. “Wow! I’m having so much fun. I fell like dancing!” She hopped around from hoof to hoof, making ridiculous moves that barely resembled anything like dancing as she hummed to her own tune. She stood stock still as she bumped up against the jewel on her chest. Hopping around and screaming in terror she cried out, “Help! Help! There’s a bug on me! I hate bugs! Get it off!” “Harmony!” “Harmie!” she yelled. “Sorry. Harmie. It’s not a bug. It’s just a pretty jewel. That’s all it is.” She stopped her jumping, looking hopefully towards them. “Really? I wanna see! I love jewels.” She tried to pull the jewel loose without success. “You don’t need to see it. Don’t you believe me? It looks so good on you.” “I wanna see! You… you’re lying! You won’t let me see because it is a bug. It’s a tick! And it’s sucking my blood! That’s why it won’t come off!” There were no mirrors in their hideout, so the only way to convince her it wasn’t a tick was to take it off and show her. But that was out of the question. However, they couldn’t just leave her as she was. She was working herself up into a frenzy. Normally they would just ignore the ponies who got this way, but her exceedingly childlike behavior and reactions were really disarming them, especially coming from an adult. Butch looked at Rocky hopelessly. They knew they shouldn’t. It was the number one rule that they were never to break, but none of their other captives had been crushed quite so completely as this one, regressing to an innocent filly and becoming delusional. Butch’s horn started glowing, and with a bit of effort he concentrated on removing the binding spell that held the jewel in place. When it came off he levitated it in front of her. She had calmed down now. She reached out her hoof toward it, and stared into it with unrestrained joy. “Oh, wow! You were right. It is pretty. I love it!” The two of them let out sighs of relief. She was still acting the same. No change in her behavior. “I just wove cwystals! They’re so pwetty!” “Wove… cwystals?” asked Butch in disbelief. “Pwetty?” asked Rocky in the same tone. “I's gonna go home now.” She ran back into the open door of her cell. Setting the jewel on the ground she laid down in front of it, leisurely kicking her back legs back and forth as she stared with intense joy. “Amazing.” Butch turned to Rocky. “Alright, that’s it! She has officially lost the last tie to her sanity. She went from normal, to depressed, to like a child, and now she’s talking like a toddler. Is she gonna start gurgling and making baby talk next? I do want the money, but this is a bit too much. I can’t imagine what sort of pony would still want to buy her when she’s like this. We… we need to get her back to normal.” “We need to go to the boss. He’ll know what to do.” Harmony’s head jerked up as Rocky began walking away. “Where you goin’? You pwomised to wead me a stowy.” “Oh, right,” said Rocky awkwardly. “Of course. But I only have my boring adult books. I… I have a really special book about a unicorn and crystals and princesses and stuff like that.” “Oh. Okay. I stay here. I just wove this jewel you gots me for my boofday.” “Damn!” cried out Butch. “Stop. You can’t go.” “Why not?” he responded. “She’s not wearing the jewel. If the boss comes in here and see’s that we removed it he’ll have our heads. We have to get her to put it back on, or else we’re done for.” The two of them entered the cell, big fake grins on their faces. “Listen… Harmie. I’m glad you like your present so much, but I think it’s too pretty to just sit on the floor. So why don’t you-” She screamed as his horn began glowing and the jewel flew into the air. “It’s mine!” she yelled, hopping into the air after it and holding it to her. "It was a pwesent. You can’t take it back.” “O-of course not, honey. I was just trying to help you put it on.” “NO! You’re lying. It’s mine. It’s mine!” Her horn began glowing, before stopping. This repeated a few times. A sense of panic was starting to set in. They could see she was getting mad enough to use magic without thinking, and in her state who knew what she would do. “Heh heh. Oh, Harmon… Harmie! You’re just too smart for me. How’d you know?” “I’ms a big girl. I knew what you was twying to do.” “R-right. Well, since you now know that it really is beautiful… um, like you… why don’t you put it back on? It looked so good on you and made you twice as cute.” “No! I not weady. I wanna look at it some more. Pwwwwease?” She gave the two of them a sad puppy-dog face. Butch said reluctantly, “Alright.” They couldn’t risk pushing her out of control. “Can you gets me a bwanket? I’ms tired and cowd.” “Sure,” said Rocky. He left and came back a few minutes later with a blanket that they were supposed to use for themselves. She took it and opened it up, settling herself under it, the jewel right next to her head as she closed her eyes. Maybe five minutes later her eyes began to droop, before she began snoring. “I can’t take this anymore!” said Rocky. “T-this is wrong!” “Yeah,” said Butch. “I’m starting to feel really guilty, too. I feel like I’m picking on a disabled pony.” “This is exhausting. I need to lay down and rest.” “Same here.” The two of them sat down against a wall. “Oh, we have to close the door.” Rocky’s horn began glowing, but then stopped. “I can’t. We can’t just take her out and release her, but if we stupidly made a ‘mistake’ then we might not get punished too severely.” “We’d deserve it anyway. Is this really the life we’ve been living? Is this what we’ve been forcing on others?” “She probably won’t be able to escape anyway. Now that we’ve told her that outside is a kid devouring forest she probably won’t try to leave even if give her every opportunity to get away.” A sense of gloom was on both of their faces. “Tomorrow… I think we should release her. Even if we get killed for our actions it would still be better than giving a broken, delusional pony to some random stranger who would want to use her for a horrible purpose. I’m just… I feel too heavy right now.” “I know the feeling,” said Rocky. “We played a part in destroying her mind. We don’t deserve mercy after what we did.” A tear came down his face as he looked over at the peacefully sleeping Harmony. “I can’t stand up anymore. This guilt feels like it’s going to break me. I… I need to sleep.” As the two of them fell asleep Harmony opened her eyes. Getting to her feet she smiled fondly as she looked at the two of them. RedemptionSolar Star was in his chamber, a testament to his ego. It was set up like a room where royalty lived, with an overly long hallway that ended in stairs, a red carpet all the way through which ended upon a throne. He sat in it, laughing to himself at the days business. Ten! Ten buyers already. All of them well known and filthy rich. Even though only four days had passed the news of the princesses disappearance was already making the rounds. The upcoming auction would be the wonder of all wonders. Billions of bits on a single transaction. Why hadn’t he considered it before, to go after a princess? All those small-time ponies he had been capturing and selling, and all he had to do all this time was find something of bigger value. The door to his chamber suddenly opened. It was pretty dark inside at the moment as he wasn’t expecting anyone. “Who is it? Rocky, Butch, is that one of you? What do you want?” Footsteps echoed in the chamber, but no answer came. Hopping off his throne he started walking toward the unknown party. “I hope this isn’t your idea of a joke. Stop trying to be all mysterious. It’s pathetic!” “Very well, then!” came a female voice. With a bright purple glow her face was lit up. “You!” Solar Star utter in shock, echoing her earlier surprise. His horn glowed, but nothing happened. “Too late!” she cried out. Conjuring up a crystal sword from her imagination she gave him a slash. Blood splashed onto the floor, blending in with the red of the rug. She gave him a mighty kick, knocking him to the ground, then put a hoof on his chest, pushing down hard. “H-how?” he garbled. “How did you escape?” With tranquil fury she said in a composed voice, “Don’t they say that if you want something done right you should do it yourself? Your men were too gullible for their own good.” “They would never just let you go. And your magic was sealed.” Though the anger remained in her eyes, an amused smile came to her lips. “You really are dim, aren’t you? You think I’ve made it through harrowing situations with magic alone? I am the Princess of Imagination. You think that applies simply to my magical ability to cause what I see in my mind to appear in the real world. But why do I have that power, when none of the other princesses do? Because I have a powerful imagination. When I was younger I could always fully get into the games I played with my friends because my imagination was so strong I could play any part perfectly. It felt like our games were real. "It’s almost insulting how much you underestimate me, but I prefer it that way. Because I get excited easily, because I talk too much, because I brought back and attempted to befriend King Sombra... you made a lot of assumptions about me. You seem to be under the delusion that I’m stupid, childlike, naïve, and foolish. And you’re right. I am all those things to some degree. However, not nearly to the extent you think I am. And because of that it only makes it easier to make others drop their guard around me. And that’s when I strike back. “I took care of your men already. I let them think that they had gotten to me... that I was surrendering and giving up. I played the part of the submissive servant, and I saw their attitude toward me shift accordingly. Then I acted like I was deteriorating further, starting to act like a little kid, before winding up acting like a toddler. "And the further away from my persona I got, the more uncomfortable they became. They started letting me have freedoms that you had surely banned them from giving. Like letting me out of my cell, and removing that electricity jewel you attached to my chest. Too bad. But even early on I was acting. 'Noble blood?' There is nothing 'noble' about blood. I am not more special than anypony else simply because I’m a princess. I view all ponies as equals.” Her eyes narrowed as she gave him a hateful expression. “With the exception of scum like you. What you did is unforgivable. You don’t deserve to live, you monster. Magic isn’t good enough here. I want to take my revenge with my own hooves.” Grabbing her sword out of the air she raised it up high. “Any last words?” She could see the fear and terror in his eyes as he begged for his life. “Too late!” she said coldly as she slammed the sword down with a mighty clang. Solar Star had closed his eyes as she swung the sword. He heard the sound of metal hitting metal right next to his ear. He opened his eyes to see a playful amusement on her features, perplexing him. Her horn started glowing as she concentrated. “Yeah, right,” she said with a laugh. “I wouldn’t kill you.” Solar Star saw his wound glowing, and the pain started going away as his injury sealed. He looked at her suspiciously. “What’s this all about?” “Silly Solar Star. I guess you really don't know that much about me. I believe in the goodness of every pony. Your men have started to see the error of their ways and were ready to release me. They’ll improve and become productive members of the Crystal Empire. You’re going to take some more time, I can tell, but I know there’s a good pony in you too. You just have to let him out.” “Nonsense!” he screamed. “If I could help a pony like King Sombra improve after all he did to the crystal ponies, then I know I can help you too. But first things first.” Her horn began to glow purple again, and she placed the gem upon him. “I don’t want to hurt you, but this is just insurance. I think we should have a little chat, you and I. Like why don’t you tell me about the ponies coming to this auction of yours, and your clients in the past. That will be the first step toward improving yourself.” Seeing he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter he started with, “Well, there are ten ponies coming.” “Ten!” She let out a whoop. “That makes thirteen ponies I get to help in total. I just love to help ponies improve and see their better sides!” She continued jumping for joy. Nothing would ever break her spirit or stop her from trying to help others. She would keep forging ahead, doing all she could to make as many friends as possible, and prove to everyone that there was no pony beyond redemption. She would never stop believing that. “This is going to be the best week ever!” she said brightly as she looked adoringly at Solar Star.
CaughtHarmony Spark woke up in a daze, one eye open as she tried to process where she was. Her head was throbbing and it made it hard to concentrate. As she looked around she could see bars surrounding her like she was in a jail cell. There were lanterns in a few places but otherwise all appeared dark. She tried to stand up, but her limbs wouldn’t support her and it only made her head ache more ,so she just lay down on the cave-like floor and closed her eyes to relax and try to get her bearings. She tried to empty her mind and think of nothing until she was physically and mentally ready to deal with the situation. From what she could see there didn’t appear to be anyone else around, so she wasn’t in any immediate danger. She had a little time to just sit and recover. It took about fifteen minutes of steady breathing for her to calm herself and her head to stop throbbing so hard. That being the case, she began to let herself think. What had happened? Where was she? She appeared to be in a prison, but she didn’t recognize it. She tried to remember what she had been doing before, but her thinking was still too hazy. After giving herself another fifteen minutes to recover she gave standing another try. Her head resisted her attempts, but not as much as before, and she was able to get to her hooves. She wobbled a bit, but she didn’t fall. She could see a metal door built into the bars, further cementing the image of a jail. Closing her eyes she prepared her magic, going deep into her imagination and starting to conjure up the image of a key. “EEYYYAHHHH!” She let out a loud scream as her body felt like it was burning. She fell to the ground in pain, panting. “Now, now. None of that.” Trying to focus through the pain she turned her head toward the voice. “You!” she cried out in anger. “Yes,” he replied smugly. “I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced. The name is Solar Star. You’re quite the big catch. I never expected I would one day bag an alicorn princess, but I suppose that’s what happens when you leave the safety of your kingdom and your guards. Oh, well.” “I… I remember now.” She struggled to get to her hooves again. She had been traveling from the Crystal Empire to Canterlot. It wasn’t a terribly urgent trip, so she had been taking her time to enjoy the beauty of nature and the cries of the animals. All of a sudden she had been attacked by two unicorns. She hadn’t had much trouble holding them off, but she had dropped her guard by thinking there were only two. Coming at her from behind Solar Star had stuck her a hard blow to the head with a log. Right before she had lost consciousness she had seen him smirking at her. The same smirk he wore now. “You! You think you’ll get away with this?” Her body was shaking with anger. “You think you can get away with attacking a princess? You’ll receive no mercy from me!” Her horn began glowing but his magic was faster, and once more she felt the sensation of electricity coursing throughout her body. She fell to the ground again, her body twitching. “Tut, tut, princess. I told you before that I would have none of that. You are my prisoner now. Have you not noticed the little gift I gave you?” A very tiny glow came from his horn, and she felt the sensation, like a static shock, coming from somewhere on her chest. She put her hoof to the spot and she felt like there was something attached to her body. It felt like a gem. “W-what did you do to me?” she asked weakly. “It’s just a countermeasure to make sure you behave yourself. As long as you have that all it takes is a little bit of mental focus and I can cause electricity to come from it. The more power I put into it, the more damage I can do. If I really wanted to and put my mind to it I could fry your body to a crisp right now.” Glaring at him with all the contempt she could muster she got to her knees. “Then do it!” she yelled. “Just kill me then! You cannot dishonor the noble blood that runs through my veins, and I refuse to be used as a plaything for your amusement!” “All in good time, princess, but you’re much more than that. It’s nothing personal against you. It was just your bad luck that you happened to be the one that was passing by at that moment. You represent the potential for a big payday.” For the first time she felt real fear. These guys were just plain old thugs, ready to sell her off to the highest bidder. Who knows what kind of pony she would be sold to, and to what purposes they might try to use her for? “So this is only about money to you?” “Exactly. I’ll give it a week for news to travel. When it becomes public knowledge that a princess has gone missing, and I claim that I have that princess and am willing to sell her to anyone who wants her, I will get that many more curious ponies and potential buyers. It should be fascinating. For once you’ll know the powerlessness of those that you oppress. "I heard about how you revived King Sombra and forced him into servitude, stripping him of his title and threatening harm upon him if he used his dark magic. You are not a princess anymore, except in name alone. You will not have any freedom for the rest of your life. Anytime you get out of line you will be shocked into compliance. They say acts of evil always come full circle. I guess that’s true, then. Isn’t it?” “It… it was to help make him a better pony. I wanted to help him. There was nothing evil in what I did.” “Well, whatever your reasons were, they are insignificant. I have to go now. So many potential buyers, so little time. I’m going to make enough to retire with just one final auction.” “F-final?” she asked in horror. How many ponies had he been abducting and selling? “Yes. That’s the way I make my money. Why work hard when there’s such a simpler way of getting it without sacrificing anything of my own? I wonder what they’ll want to use you for? As a wife? For your power? It’s going to be a fascinating week, I can tell you that. “Even though I have to go now I don’t want you to feel lonely, so I’ve arranged for some company.” Her heart sank even further as she saw the other two ponies of their group. “They’re a bit ticked off over how disrespectfully you treated them earlier, so I’d suggest you be on your best behavior. I don’t want a fried alicorn on my auction list. Now, make sure you introduce yourself properly, boys. After all, we are in the presence of royalty.” Letting out a booming laugh he started walking away. “The name’s Rocky,” said a grey-coated stallion with a black mane. “We’re going to enjoy this.” “Name’s Butch,” said the other. He was a red coated stallion with a yellow mane. The two of them were giving her stares that definitely made her feel uncomfortable. She could tell they were looking for the slightest reason to shock her. For the time being she thought it best to just keep quiet and recover. Being electrocuted wasn’t a pleasant experience, and it certainly wasn’t helping her headache, which hadn’t yet gone away. Laying down with all the poise she could muster in such a situation, she let her pride fade a little and said in a compliant voice, “I’ll be good.” She knew there had to be a way out of her situation. She only needed to stay clearheaded and look for an opening. At present, she knew she wasn’t in the right condition to make that judgment. Her captor had very helpfully told her he was going to wait a week to fuel curiosity. That meant that even if she gave herself a full day to recover she still had at least five days to come up with a plan of escape. And even if she wasn’t able to escape her prison by that time, in order to sell her he’d have to get her out of her cell. And if it turned out that Solar Star was so intent on getting a payday that the pony he sold her to wasn’t a unicorn, and thus couldn’t activate this strange gem on her chest, it would only make it easier to get free. Yes, there was no need to panic. She only had to keep her senses aware. Her captors seemed disappointed that she wasn’t being defiant. At first they had been standing right in front of her cell, but as time passed and she stayed quiet they began moving around and talking amongst themselves. A few hours later they brought her a tray of food, sliding it underneath a tiny gap in the cell door, far too tiny for her to get through. Her head pains had slowly been going away, but there was no denying that she was hungry, and eating would help. She knew she had to eat to get her energy up and keep her mental focus. She didn’t think they put anything in the food. They already had the electric gem to keep her in line so there would be no point. Without thinking about it, so used to using magic, she levitated her bowl to eat from it. She heard a satisfied laugh from both of them, which was all she needed to realize what was about to come. She quickly stopped her magic but she already knew it wasn’t going to stop them. They had been waiting for her to slip up for a while. Once more she felt electricity coursing through her body and she let out a scream of agony. It only lasted a few seconds, but to her it felt like eons. Again she fell to the ground, trying to bear with the pain as she trembled. “Bad princess,” said Rocky in a condescending kiddy voice. “When are you going to learn the rules? NO… MAGIC! At all!” “That’s right,” said Butch with a laugh. “Isn’t part of being a princess to set an example? Geez, are all your subjects in the Crystal Empire as stupid and slow-learning as you are? Princess Cadance must be so ashamed of you. Or is she just as moronic and dim-witted as you to keep you beside her?” Her anger getting the better of her, her horn began glowing. “Don’t you ever insult-” She didn’t get to finish before her body was once more jolted with electricity. Harmony did her best to use her magic to cause the two to butt heads, thus disrupting their concentration, but the pain was too great for her to focus. She finally gave it up, and just stayed huddled on the floor in a ball, tears of pain coming down her eyes. She was utterly useless. She had no idea what to do. “Well, thanks a lot for finally giving us a reason for payback from earlier. I feel better now.” “Same here,” said Rocky. “You’d better stop acting up. Your mane and coat are starting to get charred. No one wants to pay full price for damaged goods. Our master won’t be happy with that. Now I’d suggest you eat up. Or if you prefer we can force it down your throat. Either way, you’re going to eat.” It took her a few minutes before she was able to stand. Silently, tears still coming down her eyes, she bent her head over and slowly ate her meal. After that she went over to the corner of her cell farthest from the two, and curled up into a ball, letting her emotions run free. Things were calm for the rest of the day, as well as the next. She had quickly learned her lesson about not using magic, and she had gone back to ignoring them to not give them any further incentive to torture her. They went back to seeming bored, like they really wanted an excuse to torment her. On the third day she decided to try gauging her captors. “So, are you like Solar Star? Only in it for the money?” The two shared an amused look, before turning back to her. Butch laughed before saying, “And if we were?” “If that’s the case, why try to sell me to just anyone? No matter how much they may offer, you’re holding a princess of an entire empire made out of crystals hostage. Why not just make it a ransom demand to have me released and returned to the Crystal Empire? They’d be able to pay you far more than anyone your boss could find.” “Oh, please. Crystals don’t pay the bills. When you have so much of something you can make a kingdom out of it, it clearly isn’t rare enough to make a real profit out of. Even if that wasn’t the case, the boss is the one who makes the decisions. Besides, while we may not be the brains of this operation, even we can tell that selling you back to the Crystal Empire is a bad move.” “And why is that?” Now Rocky laughed. “Are you seriously that dense? To sell you back to the Crystal Empire would be admitting that we captured you. Once we released you the whole of the kingdom would be after us. And even if we got away, we’d become Equestria-wide fugitives. It’s better to simply make as much profit as we can off of other ponies with dark souls like us and remain unknown.” “W-well… then…” She hesitated, before throwing out, “What if I paid you?” They showed mild interest; not mocking her, but not responding either. “I have a special power. I am known as the Princess of Imagination. What I envision in my mind I can make manifest in the real world. If money is all you’re interested in then I could get you all you wanted.” The two of them began snickering again, a big laugh that continued until they had to stop to breathe. When they calmed down Butch said, “So you’re truly the successor to Princess Cadance? That’s the example you want to send? To save yourself you’d participate in mass counterfeiting of millions of bits? You must be looked up to so much.” “Are you that desperate?” asked Rocky. A look of terror crossed Harmony’s features as she slowly backed up. “No. N-no. I… I don’t… I didn’t… I wouldn’t…” She sank down to the ground. “I failed,” she said blankly. “I don’t deserve…” She let out a strange laugh, her breathing getting shorter before it slowly turned to crying. Letting out a wail of despair she began sobbing on the floor, covering her face with her hooves. With satisfied grins Butch and Rocky looked at each other. “So she broke already?” asked Butch. “That didn’t take long.” “Only three days in, too. I hoped she would provide us with a little more amusement. Oh, well. I guess the thought of living the rest of her life in slavery was just too much for her.” Her sobbing suddenly stopped. Her hooves fell down, and she pushed herself to her hooves. There was a carefree smile on her face. “Masters,” she said in admiration, bowing to them. “Forgive me my outburst. You are quite correct. I am undeserving to be a princess. I deserve whatever happens to me. I am your humble servant. How may I be of service to you?” The two of them gazed at each other with bewildered looks. Where was all this coming from? They were sure she had just passed the peak of despair, and would be quiet and forlorn for the rest of the week. However, she now seemed like an entirely different pony. “Well, um…,” started Butch. “You… um, you can…” Rocky tried to finish, but they were too perplexed by her sudden change in attitude. Earlier she had been yelling about her noble blood and how she wouldn’t be dishonored, but now it seemed she was completely going against that, accepting the fate they had told her was coming and conceding completely. “What is wrong, my masters?” She remained in her bowing position. “Is there nothing you require of me?” “Just… um… be quiet for now and go sit in the corner.” “Yes, master. At once.” When she had gone to sit down the two of them got some more distance from her. “What… just happened?” asked Butch. “Well… I do remember hearing one time that sometimes when a traumatic event becomes too much for a pony to handle, then they push the fear and pain below the surface. I guess when her misery became too great she had to find a way to push her emotions away or she really would have broken. It’s still a little creepy, though. The way she’s smiling just looks so… genuine.” “I know what you mean. Well, we’ll just to have keep a close eye on her.” Sometime later they delivered her more food. As they had said she had stayed in her corner and hadn’t uttered a peep. “Hey! Harmony. Come eat your dinner.” She turned around with that same dreamy look. When she got to the door she didn’t immediately take the food. She got down on the floor in a completely submissive position. “Much thanks, my masters. I hardly deserve this food. I am overwhelmed by your generosity.” “G-get off the floor and just eat,” Butch ordered with a shudder, backing up a step from her. Getting up she was now frowning, tears beginning to form in her eyes. “Have I offended you, my masters? I just wanted to show you my gratitude for how well you take care of me. After all, it’s not every day you get to live in as nice a house as this one. It’s got lots of space to look out, it’s nice and warm, protected from the elements, and I even have my generous masters grant me a feast that should go to someone far more deserving than I.” She let out a laugh. “I’m talking too much again. You ordered me to eat. I must always obey my masters. It’s the only way to stay safe.” Picking up the tray she brought it back to the corner she was at before and began to eat. “House?” asked Rocky incredulously. “This is seriously getting weird. It should feel nice to be looked up to like that, but is her mind that far gone that she can’t ever recognize where she is and who we are?” Butch responded, “Well, it’s only for a few more days. I’ll take the first watch. You get some rest.” “Alright.”
Broken...Rocky was having a good dream. He had been promoted by his boss, and had all the money he could ever dream of. He had so much he couldn’t even spend it all. Suddenly he was pulled out of it by something pulling at his leg hard and calling his name. He opened his eyes to see Butch there, looking absolutely flabbergasted. “Darn it, what is it?” He tried to talk several times, but words failed him. Instead he just pointed. When he followed Butch’s pointing hoof his eyes bugged out of his head. Harmony was bouncing around the perimeter of her cell, chattering away like a small child, seeming utterly fascinated at every little thing that stood out. “W-what in Equestria happened?” he asked. “I… I have no idea. She was being quiet. She fell asleep for a little bit. Then, when she woke up… she was acting like this." The two of them cautiously approached. When she finished her latest circle around and noticed the two of them she stopped, an excited, curious look on her face. “Hi!” she exclaimed, joy suffusing her voice. “How are you?” she asked in childlike wonder. “Good…,” said Butch slowly. “Yeah! Me too! I’m Harmony Spark. Who are you?” She continued staring at them with those wide, innocent eyes, a huge smile upon her face. “B-butch.” “Rocky…” “Oh, wow! Your names are just awesome! You have nice, shiny coats, and your manes look cool. Oh my gosh! You just have to come visit! I love making new friends. I’m a great drawer, so if you get me some crayons and paper I could draw all of us! Wouldn’t that just be the greatest?” “Ye…yes?” “I know, right? We can play and play and…” She suddenly stopped as her stomach rumbled. “I’m hungry,” she said. “Do you have any food I can eat?” “Um, well…” Butch looked over at the schedule on the wall. “It’s… not… feeding time… yet.” Her chipper mood vanished immediately as tears began forming in her eyes again. “So you’re not going to feed me?” She sniffed, holding back her tears. “But… b-b-but… I’M HUNGRY! I want food! I want some! I want some I want some I want some!” “Okay, okay! Just… don’t cry, okay?” She wiped her eyes, smiling a little. “Okay. You promise?” She looked up at him hopefully. “Yeah… I… promise.” “Yay!” she cried out, hopping around the room a little before stopping and settling down on the floor. “Too hungry right now. Can’t jump much.” Going against the rules of having one pony watching her at all times the two of them left her alone, going to the room where the food was prepared. “What’s wrong with her? We didn’t even do that much to her. We shocked her a few times, and made fun of her once. Was she really that fragile?” “This is bad. This is very bad. If she keeps this up who knows if anyone is still going to be interested in buying her.” “That doesn’t feel like the important issue right now. I’ve never had a problem with this life before, but now she’s completely losing touch with reality.” “Yeah… I know. But it’s not like we can just let her go. After a few more days it won’t be our problem.” When they returned they heard the soft sound of crying coming from the cell. Speeding up a little they could see her looking down forlornly at the floor. “We’re back.” As soon as she looked up and saw them she brightened up immediately, before looking angry. “How could you do that? Leaving me all alone? What if a monster got me? That’s really bad. What kind of uncles are you?” “Uncles?” sputtered Butch, nearly dropping the tray of food. “Of course. Uncle Butch and Uncle Rocky. You’re supposed to be watching me while my parents go out shopping. And then you suddenly leave without saying a word. Shame on you!” The two of them shared a worried look. She had taken another step away from reality. Was she really having that much difficulty accepting her situation that she had to keep regressing her mind to come up with something she would be able to accept? Without a word Rocky pushed the plate to her. “Ooh! So this is where you were? Oh, wow! This looks yummy! I was just getting hungry too. Okay, I forgive you.” She dug into it with abandon, like she hadn’t eaten for weeks. About a quarter of her meal wound up on the floor because of it. “So can I go outside now? I want to play.” “No! You have to stay inside,” said Butch. That hurt look was back on her face. “Why? I’m bored of staying in my boring old house. I want to go outside!” Her face was all puffed up like she was about to throw a tantrum if she didn’t get her way. Rocky turned to his friend. “Well, Butch. Maybe… I mean, she does still have it on. It’s not like she can go far if she runs.” “That’s true, but… honestly, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to.” “Well, um… we’ll just have to, that’s all. For now we’ll just play along with her little delusion. “Harmony?” “HARMONY?” she asked, her mouth wide open as she eyed him suspiciously. “Are you a changeling?” “What? That’s your name, isn’t it?” “That’s not what my true uncle calls me. He always calls me by my favorite nickname.” She turned away, closing her eyes and crossing her hooves. Rocky gave Butch a “What do I do now?” face. Butch just shrugged. “I’m sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve had to watch you, remember? Isn’t that right… Harmie?” He waited, and to his relief the brightness came back to her. “Yes, that’s it! I’m so glad you’re not a mean old changeling. So can I go outside now?” “Okay, Harmie. I want you to look closely.” He went over to the exit to the room. “Past here is the… um, dark scary forest that eats little ponies like you. If you want to go outside, then you have to stay out of the forest. You have to stay in the yard. You promise?” She nodded her head hard. “Of course. I super-duper promise. Harmie is a good girl. I don’t want to get eaten.” With a resigned look he started to use his magic to open the lock. The second his horn started glowing she became completely still, her eyes wide as saucers and her mouth a thin line. “Harmie, what’s-” He didn’t get to finish. She suddenly let out a terrified scream, falling to the ground and shaking, covering her face with her hooves. “No, no, no, no, no! Magic! Bad! I’m not bad! Harmie’s a good girl! Don’t hurt Harmie!” Finishing opening the lock he entered the cell. “D-didn’t you want to go outside?” he asked, trying to sound cheerful and bright like she had just been. She looked up at him with alarmed eyes. “H-Harmie… Harmie is a good girl. You know that, right?” “O-of course. I was just opening the door for you. I wasn’t trying to hurt you.” She didn’t look convinced. “Look, Harmie, you’re a very good girl, and, um, my favorite niece. I would never want to hurt you.” “O-okay,” she stammered, getting back on her feet and approaching him carefully before nuzzling herself against him. “I loves you, Uncle Rocky.” “Um, yeah. Same here.” As she left the cell all of her old energy returned. She started zooming around the room, looking at every little thing the room had to offer. When she came close to the exit she suddenly stopped and backed up a few steps. “No, no! Bad! You’re not going to eat me today, evil forest. I’m smarter than that.” Letting out a victorious laugh, she returned to her former demeanor, chattering away and inspecting everything with boundless energy. “Wow! I’m having so much fun. I fell like dancing!” She hopped around from hoof to hoof, making ridiculous moves that barely resembled anything like dancing as she hummed to her own tune. She stood stock still as she bumped up against the jewel on her chest. Hopping around and screaming in terror she cried out, “Help! Help! There’s a bug on me! I hate bugs! Get it off!” “Harmony!” “Harmie!” she yelled. “Sorry. Harmie. It’s not a bug. It’s just a pretty jewel. That’s all it is.” She stopped her jumping, looking hopefully towards them. “Really? I wanna see! I love jewels.” She tried to pull the jewel loose without success. “You don’t need to see it. Don’t you believe me? It looks so good on you.” “I wanna see! You… you’re lying! You won’t let me see because it is a bug. It’s a tick! And it’s sucking my blood! That’s why it won’t come off!” There were no mirrors in their hideout, so the only way to convince her it wasn’t a tick was to take it off and show her. But that was out of the question. However, they couldn’t just leave her as she was. She was working herself up into a frenzy. Normally they would just ignore the ponies who got this way, but her exceedingly childlike behavior and reactions were really disarming them, especially coming from an adult. Butch looked at Rocky hopelessly. They knew they shouldn’t. It was the number one rule that they were never to break, but none of their other captives had been crushed quite so completely as this one, regressing to an innocent filly and becoming delusional. Butch’s horn started glowing, and with a bit of effort he concentrated on removing the binding spell that held the jewel in place. When it came off he levitated it in front of her. She had calmed down now. She reached out her hoof toward it, and stared into it with unrestrained joy. “Oh, wow! You were right. It is pretty. I love it!” The two of them let out sighs of relief. She was still acting the same. No change in her behavior. “I just wove cwystals! They’re so pwetty!” “Wove… cwystals?” asked Butch in disbelief. “Pwetty?” asked Rocky in the same tone. “I's gonna go home now.” She ran back into the open door of her cell. Setting the jewel on the ground she laid down in front of it, leisurely kicking her back legs back and forth as she stared with intense joy. “Amazing.” Butch turned to Rocky. “Alright, that’s it! She has officially lost the last tie to her sanity. She went from normal, to depressed, to like a child, and now she’s talking like a toddler. Is she gonna start gurgling and making baby talk next? I do want the money, but this is a bit too much. I can’t imagine what sort of pony would still want to buy her when she’s like this. We… we need to get her back to normal.” “We need to go to the boss. He’ll know what to do.” Harmony’s head jerked up as Rocky began walking away. “Where you goin’? You pwomised to wead me a stowy.” “Oh, right,” said Rocky awkwardly. “Of course. But I only have my boring adult books. I… I have a really special book about a unicorn and crystals and princesses and stuff like that.” “Oh. Okay. I stay here. I just wove this jewel you gots me for my boofday.” “Damn!” cried out Butch. “Stop. You can’t go.” “Why not?” he responded. “She’s not wearing the jewel. If the boss comes in here and see’s that we removed it he’ll have our heads. We have to get her to put it back on, or else we’re done for.” The two of them entered the cell, big fake grins on their faces. “Listen… Harmie. I’m glad you like your present so much, but I think it’s too pretty to just sit on the floor. So why don’t you-” She screamed as his horn began glowing and the jewel flew into the air. “It’s mine!” she yelled, hopping into the air after it and holding it to her. "It was a pwesent. You can’t take it back.” “O-of course not, honey. I was just trying to help you put it on.” “NO! You’re lying. It’s mine. It’s mine!” Her horn began glowing, before stopping. This repeated a few times. A sense of panic was starting to set in. They could see she was getting mad enough to use magic without thinking, and in her state who knew what she would do. “Heh heh. Oh, Harmon… Harmie! You’re just too smart for me. How’d you know?” “I’ms a big girl. I knew what you was twying to do.” “R-right. Well, since you now know that it really is beautiful… um, like you… why don’t you put it back on? It looked so good on you and made you twice as cute.” “No! I not weady. I wanna look at it some more. Pwwwwease?” She gave the two of them a sad puppy-dog face. Butch said reluctantly, “Alright.” They couldn’t risk pushing her out of control. “Can you gets me a bwanket? I’ms tired and cowd.” “Sure,” said Rocky. He left and came back a few minutes later with a blanket that they were supposed to use for themselves. She took it and opened it up, settling herself under it, the jewel right next to her head as she closed her eyes. Maybe five minutes later her eyes began to droop, before she began snoring. “I can’t take this anymore!” said Rocky. “T-this is wrong!” “Yeah,” said Butch. “I’m starting to feel really guilty, too. I feel like I’m picking on a disabled pony.” “This is exhausting. I need to lay down and rest.” “Same here.” The two of them sat down against a wall. “Oh, we have to close the door.” Rocky’s horn began glowing, but then stopped. “I can’t. We can’t just take her out and release her, but if we stupidly made a ‘mistake’ then we might not get punished too severely.” “We’d deserve it anyway. Is this really the life we’ve been living? Is this what we’ve been forcing on others?” “She probably won’t be able to escape anyway. Now that we’ve told her that outside is a kid devouring forest she probably won’t try to leave even if give her every opportunity to get away.” A sense of gloom was on both of their faces. “Tomorrow… I think we should release her. Even if we get killed for our actions it would still be better than giving a broken, delusional pony to some random stranger who would want to use her for a horrible purpose. I’m just… I feel too heavy right now.” “I know the feeling,” said Rocky. “We played a part in destroying her mind. We don’t deserve mercy after what we did.” A tear came down his face as he looked over at the peacefully sleeping Harmony. “I can’t stand up anymore. This guilt feels like it’s going to break me. I… I need to sleep.” As the two of them fell asleep Harmony opened her eyes. Getting to her feet she smiled fondly as she looked at the two of them.
RedemptionSolar Star was in his chamber, a testament to his ego. It was set up like a room where royalty lived, with an overly long hallway that ended in stairs, a red carpet all the way through which ended upon a throne. He sat in it, laughing to himself at the days business. Ten! Ten buyers already. All of them well known and filthy rich. Even though only four days had passed the news of the princesses disappearance was already making the rounds. The upcoming auction would be the wonder of all wonders. Billions of bits on a single transaction. Why hadn’t he considered it before, to go after a princess? All those small-time ponies he had been capturing and selling, and all he had to do all this time was find something of bigger value. The door to his chamber suddenly opened. It was pretty dark inside at the moment as he wasn’t expecting anyone. “Who is it? Rocky, Butch, is that one of you? What do you want?” Footsteps echoed in the chamber, but no answer came. Hopping off his throne he started walking toward the unknown party. “I hope this isn’t your idea of a joke. Stop trying to be all mysterious. It’s pathetic!” “Very well, then!” came a female voice. With a bright purple glow her face was lit up. “You!” Solar Star utter in shock, echoing her earlier surprise. His horn glowed, but nothing happened. “Too late!” she cried out. Conjuring up a crystal sword from her imagination she gave him a slash. Blood splashed onto the floor, blending in with the red of the rug. She gave him a mighty kick, knocking him to the ground, then put a hoof on his chest, pushing down hard. “H-how?” he garbled. “How did you escape?” With tranquil fury she said in a composed voice, “Don’t they say that if you want something done right you should do it yourself? Your men were too gullible for their own good.” “They would never just let you go. And your magic was sealed.” Though the anger remained in her eyes, an amused smile came to her lips. “You really are dim, aren’t you? You think I’ve made it through harrowing situations with magic alone? I am the Princess of Imagination. You think that applies simply to my magical ability to cause what I see in my mind to appear in the real world. But why do I have that power, when none of the other princesses do? Because I have a powerful imagination. When I was younger I could always fully get into the games I played with my friends because my imagination was so strong I could play any part perfectly. It felt like our games were real. "It’s almost insulting how much you underestimate me, but I prefer it that way. Because I get excited easily, because I talk too much, because I brought back and attempted to befriend King Sombra... you made a lot of assumptions about me. You seem to be under the delusion that I’m stupid, childlike, naïve, and foolish. And you’re right. I am all those things to some degree. However, not nearly to the extent you think I am. And because of that it only makes it easier to make others drop their guard around me. And that’s when I strike back. “I took care of your men already. I let them think that they had gotten to me... that I was surrendering and giving up. I played the part of the submissive servant, and I saw their attitude toward me shift accordingly. Then I acted like I was deteriorating further, starting to act like a little kid, before winding up acting like a toddler. "And the further away from my persona I got, the more uncomfortable they became. They started letting me have freedoms that you had surely banned them from giving. Like letting me out of my cell, and removing that electricity jewel you attached to my chest. Too bad. But even early on I was acting. 'Noble blood?' There is nothing 'noble' about blood. I am not more special than anypony else simply because I’m a princess. I view all ponies as equals.” Her eyes narrowed as she gave him a hateful expression. “With the exception of scum like you. What you did is unforgivable. You don’t deserve to live, you monster. Magic isn’t good enough here. I want to take my revenge with my own hooves.” Grabbing her sword out of the air she raised it up high. “Any last words?” She could see the fear and terror in his eyes as he begged for his life. “Too late!” she said coldly as she slammed the sword down with a mighty clang. Solar Star had closed his eyes as she swung the sword. He heard the sound of metal hitting metal right next to his ear. He opened his eyes to see a playful amusement on her features, perplexing him. Her horn started glowing as she concentrated. “Yeah, right,” she said with a laugh. “I wouldn’t kill you.” Solar Star saw his wound glowing, and the pain started going away as his injury sealed. He looked at her suspiciously. “What’s this all about?” “Silly Solar Star. I guess you really don't know that much about me. I believe in the goodness of every pony. Your men have started to see the error of their ways and were ready to release me. They’ll improve and become productive members of the Crystal Empire. You’re going to take some more time, I can tell, but I know there’s a good pony in you too. You just have to let him out.” “Nonsense!” he screamed. “If I could help a pony like King Sombra improve after all he did to the crystal ponies, then I know I can help you too. But first things first.” Her horn began to glow purple again, and she placed the gem upon him. “I don’t want to hurt you, but this is just insurance. I think we should have a little chat, you and I. Like why don’t you tell me about the ponies coming to this auction of yours, and your clients in the past. That will be the first step toward improving yourself.” Seeing he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter he started with, “Well, there are ten ponies coming.” “Ten!” She let out a whoop. “That makes thirteen ponies I get to help in total. I just love to help ponies improve and see their better sides!” She continued jumping for joy. Nothing would ever break her spirit or stop her from trying to help others. She would keep forging ahead, doing all she could to make as many friends as possible, and prove to everyone that there was no pony beyond redemption. She would never stop believing that. “This is going to be the best week ever!” she said brightly as she looked adoringly at Solar Star.
