Heart and Mind

Apple Bloom rubbed her throat as she finished recounting her story for now. She hadn't meant to keep going for that long but she had been in the zone, as Rarity would put it. She needed to take a quick breather for now though, getting up and going for a drink. Peace Walker was sitting back against the wall, eyes closed in thought, her face unreadable in the current light. It may just have been her imagination but it looked like Peace was sitting slightly angled away, as if she didn't want to look directly at Apple Bloom. Had something she said touched a nerve?

"I, have to give you credit, you're a fighter," Peace Walker finally commented calmly, looking over as Apple Bloom swallowed a mouthful of much needed water. "Have you noticed anything in particular about the memories you've recalled recently?"

"Not really." Apple Bloom answered, sighing slightly at the welcome relief the relatively cool water provided to her. She'd been talking all day and the stop for refreshment had been somewhat overdue.

"You've been mentioning more details the longer you've been talking. When you started, you were talking about a few months ago and little else, I've noticed you talking about further away then that, you mentioned your fillyhood at one point and if I had to guess, that was at least fifteen years ago."

"Huh...I hadn't really noticed," Apple Bloom mused, moving to get some hay. Now that Peace Walker mentioned it, she had been bringing up more details that she doubted she would ever have remembered earlier. "What'd you think it means?"

"Well I'm no expert but, I'd say that going through all your memories is helping your mind to start fighting back against the magical suppression. To use the two versions of you fighting example you used this morning, they're wearing each other down but the non-equal one is holding it's own now. We can build on this, keep building your mind up to the point it might hopefully throw off that magic. You'll be able to see your...Pinkie Pie, again."

Apple Bloom blinked in surprise at that comment, it may just been her but Peace had sounded a little disgruntled at the end of her explanation. Now she was certain that something in her story was rubbing her the wrong way. She wasn't sure why though, nothing had been overly offensive to her knowledge, could it be something a little more personal? Whatever it was, clearly it went deeper than either of them would have liked as Peace edged away a little further.

"Peace...Is something wrong?"

"What? No! Of course not. I mean we're finally making progress now, I can practically see us getting out of here...And you returning to your marefriend...Somewhere away from me."

"What?"

"Nothing, it's a free land, anypony can be with whoever they want. Even the weird ones..." Peace glanced away quickly, realising she was probably getting a bit too offensive without saying why. "I just, I just don't get same sex relationships. Two mares or stallions together just seems...Wrong."

Apple Bloom's ears folded back in dismay at those words. All this time she'd seen Peace Walker as a solitary beacon of hope in the mess they'd found themselves in. Now it sounded like she might have lost that just because of what she was, over something she wouldn't want to change even if she could. Of course, she had to have guessed that there would be ponies out there that wouldn't be as accepting of her sexuality, but to actually be encountering one, especially in a situation like this...Well, it wasn't pleasant.

"Wh...That's...Why?"

"No reason." Peace said quickly, sounding a little too defensive to be genuine. Before they could discuss it any further, the sound of hoofsteps just outside the door caught their attention. They looked over toward it, watching as it was surrounded by a light turquoise glow for a moment before swinging open quickly. With how shaded the room was, the sudden influx of sunlight was enough to briefly flash blind Apple Bloom.

She rubbed her eyes until it subsided and glanced aside, realising that Peace Walker was staring at the door with a look of pure fear. Pupils shrunk to pinpricks, ears shivering even as they were pressed against her head and her legs tensed as though she was ready to try and bolt through the wall. Not feeling any confidence from that reaction, Apple Bloom looked back at the door and tensed up herself. A unicorn mare was standing in the doorway, pink coated, blue eyed, purple mane and tail with an aquamarine highlight and cutie mark of a purple and white star with two green-ish streams. Even with her still scattered memories, Apple Bloom knew exactly who she was looking at; Starlight Glimmer.

"Well, good afternoon, my little interlopers." Starlight said, looking and sounding happy enough but unable to hide the slightest hint of contempt behind it at the end.

"Starlight..." Apple Bloom commented without thinking. Starlight's face twisted into a growl and she shot a beam of magic straight at her. With nowhere to go and no time to react, the beam hit Apple Bloom dead on and overtook her body, pushing her down into a sitting position and locking her in place.

"I'm not talking to you!" Starlight snapped, getting up in Apple Bloom's face, her face contorted into a snarl for several seconds before she blinked and looked back at Peace Walker with that same serene smile she had coming in.

Apple Bloom wasn't sure what unnerved her more, how easily she had been thrown back on her flank and stuck like this, which was also leaving her body parts stretched rather uncomfortably, or the way that Starlight was switching between such extreme emotions with such fluidity and disregard for how she was acting two seconds before. She really did come across as rather...Deranged. Peace Walker seemed to agree, judging by how she was attempting to back up into the corner with the most shadows.

"Now Peace, we've talked about this. Nopony needs to worry about anything here." Starlight said cheerfully, using the kind of tone one would use when explaining something to a foal even as she picked Peace Walker up in her magic and brought them face to face.

Even in the grip of magic, Peace was squirming slightly as she tried to avoid looking straight at Starlight. Apple Bloom could only watch in shock, remembering that Peace had been going through this for what seemed like a week with nopony but brainwashed victims and Starlight Glimmer for social interaction. Suddenly her panicked, cowering fear of everything when they'd met made a lot more sense. Even now she was clearly starting to break down again, panting hard, eyes darting around franticly for any sign of escape.

"You know you shouldn't be fighting this, you'll feel so much better when you're at the same level as everypony else here," Starlight continued. "I mean it, once you try being equal, you'll be happier than you could ever be with your own life."

"No...I...No, I have my own life. My job, my husband..."

"Oh please, five seconds of life here will make your old world, and your 'lover', seem like garbage...Assuming you can even remember him of course."

Peace Walker's face went blank and she barely choked back a gasp, all the discipline she'd been holding onto falling apart at the thought of losing everything that mattered to her like this. Starlight smirked and let her magic fade off, watching as Peace dropped to the floor and clutched her head in her hooves, whimpering slightly as fought to contend with the images in her mind again. Apple Bloom could only watch from her position, unable to move, unable to speak, hardly able to breathe with Starlight's magic constricting her like this.

"That's a good filly, just relax, you'll be feeling better and back out in the world in no time," Starlight gave Peace a gentle, reassuring pat on the shoulder before glancing back at Apple Bloom as if she was an afterthought. "Now, about you..."

"L...Leave her out of this..." Peace said weakly, waving her hoof out in a futile effort to try and hold the unicorn back. Starlight looked down at her and simply pushed her down onto her side before advancing on Apple Bloom.

"I would, but between me and her...It's personal." Starlight shot a small thread of magic at Apple Bloom, dissipating the rest surrounding her and letting her drop to the floor. Apple Bloom took a moment to get her breath back and let her tired muscles rest before looking up, only to see Starlight swinging her hoof right at the left side of her head. The punch knocked her sideways and left her sprawled on the floor, ears ringing and vision disorientated.

"Agghh! Wh-what's...?"

"What can I say, your sister wasn't here to do it to," Starlight said coldly, moving round and lifting Apple Bloom's head up so they could see eye to eye. "Once she's here though, I'll make her and the rest of the Elements suffer for standing in the way of Equestria's destiny. Until then, I guess I can take out my frustrations on the family as much as I want. The best thing? You'll never remember it happening, or if I really wanted to, one little spell and I could have you begging for more. For now, I'll check in on you again later."

Starlight smirked and moved her hoof away, letting Apple Bloom's head drop back to the floor. Content that she'd made her point, she turned and headed for the door, taking the time to give Peace Walker a friendly farewell wave before she headed back outside and enchanted the door again. Apple Bloom forced herself back to her feet and rubbed her head where the punch had landed. Peace slowly managed to regain some composure and came over to check her over.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't know why I let that get to me so hard...Well you're not bleeding again, but that's going to leave a serious bruise."

"Okay...I-I just, ow. Just can't believe it though. Starlight Glimmer...I heard she was dangerous but that...That was insanity."

"Insane is right, she act differently toward me every time she comes in. Everything from treating me like a friend to smacking me around with magic and that back there was possibly the worst of them all. It was like...Like she thinks I don't have long left like this."

Peace tensed up slightly at the thought as Apple Bloom got back to her hooves. She'd been clinging to faint hopes all this time, enduring regular isolation, ponies that only served as a display of what she would become, Starlight's abuse and everything in between. She'd managed to stay strong enough to remain herself for this long, but she was already pushing the limits of her willpower. The reality was that she was going to lose this battle and now she was acknowledging it, it was tearing her up inside.

Apple Bloom wasn't doing much better at the moment. She'd finally seen the face of the enemy and though she had to put on a brave face, inside she was terrified. Everything Applejack had been willing to tell her had indicated that Starlight Glimmer had been a cunning and dangerous enemy before she had been pushed to more extreme measures. Now though, she something different, somepony far worse. Now she was more convinced than ever that she was in the right and had no reservations about how many ponies she hurt to force everypony else to see her view.

What were they supposed to do now, when the reality of a situation they couldn't escape alone was making itself known all too well...She looked back at Peace Walker and thought for a moment, before realising there was only one thing she could do; keep holding onto hope. From what her own story had told, she couldn't believe that Pinkie Pie wouldn't abandon her now, she...She refused to believe it. Pinkie was coming for them, that's all there was to it. For now though, Apple Bloom knew that she had to calm Peace down again, all they had for now was each other and the longer it stayed that way, the better.

"Peace, listen to me. We haven't lost this one yet. Somepony is coming for us, I know it and I want them to find us both as we are. I know you want that as well, so are you gonna let Starlight win or are you going to keep fighting until we come out the other side, unstoppable in the face of the worst she's got?"

"I..." Peace looked back at Apple Bloom, the look in her eye almost asking why she was still trying to help in light of how she acted earlier. After a minute she sighed and smiled weakly. "I, suppose we still need to finish your story, even if it is just to pass the time until we get out of here."

"That's the spirit," Apple Bloom smiled and gave Peace Walker a pat on the shoulder, far more genuine that the one she'd received earlier. "We're in the home stretch now, just relax and the worst will be over before you know it."