The Framing of Marble Pie (DISCONTINUED)

Twilight gained consciousness, her eyes still closed. She suddenly felt a rush of pain in her head, and remembered what happened. Twilight, distracted by the pain of Sword Stance's hit, didn't realize that she wasn't laying on Fluttershy's floor, but rather, something softer. She struggled to open her eyes, expecting Fluttershy's cottage, but found herself in an unknown room. It was a darkly colored room, which was lit by a small lamp, on a table across the room. There were no doors or windows. She looked downwards, finding the soft thing she was laying on was a white sheet, decorated with flower imprints. Once she was aware of her surroundings, Twilight attempted to teleport home, but found it didn't work. She put her hoof to her horn, finding nothing out of the ordinary. The alicorn assumed it was due to her injury from Sword Stance. She pulled herself onto her hooves, and walked around, examining the seemingly exit-less room.

"So curious, aren't you?" Sword Stance's voice asked. Twilight turned around, ready to challenge the earth pony. She was surprised to find nothing there.

"What the-?"

"It's a speaker. You'd think somepony with your intelligence would be a bit less dull, and think more on her hooves," Sword Stance said.

Twilight had no patience with this villain anymore. "Let me go! You can't keep me here forever. I'm sure the princesses have already sent search parties."

"They can search all they please. They won't find us. Not here," Sword Stance explained.

"What do you mean they won't find us? The princess will send out no less than her best investigators to find me," she argued, knowing how close she was with Celestia.

"Oh, don't fear, she has. It's just that not many ponies even know the place we are exists."

"What? That's not possible! The princess knows everywhere in Equestria," the alicorn protested. "W-We are in Equestria, right?"

"Of course we are. We're just in an unknown area of Equestria," she answered.

Twilight couldn't believe any of this. She just wanted to go home. She noticed her head pain had faded quite a lot since she woke up. The alicorn again attempted to teleport away, failing once more. She cursed under her breath.

"Ah, so I see you want to leave? How rude to try and leave so early. You just got here," the earth pony taunted. "How about I show you around the facility?"

"Wait, what?" Twilight asked, confused.

"I'm going to show you around. You're going t be staying in this place for a long time, so I may as well."

Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing. All she had to do was find an exit, and sneak away. "I would love to be shown around. Thank you."

"Fine, then. Give me a moment."

After a few minutes, Twilight heard a strange noise coming from a wall behind her. Afterward, a small section of the wall was pushed open, like a door. Standing in the opening was Sword Stance, who was now armor-less. Her pelt looked dark beige, and her mane, which was styled similarly to the Pie sister's usual flatness, was magenta and red. As for her cutie mark, it was a large feather. Twilight had no idea what it meant. The alicorn's gaze rose to Sword's amber eyes. She glared at Twilight, as if challenging her to try to escape.

"Follow me," the earth pony invited, a deep rasp in her voice Twilight hadn't heard before. "And don't even think of trying to use magic or fly. You won't be able." The purple pony had logic, and knew Sword Stance was very dangerous, so she complied. The two entered a hallway.

"I can't help but notice your cutiemark isn't a sword. Isn't using a sword your special talent?" Twilight asked, hoping to get answers, as well as start a conversation.

"Nope. My talent is something much different. You'll know more about that later. For now, you get to see my home," Sword Stance explained, leading Twilight out of the hallway, and into an open room. It had a eight other ponies in it, who were talking. "These ponies live with me. They'll be interested to meet you."

Twilight now had many doubts. They all looked like normal ponies, but they were friends with Sword Stance, whom was clearly not stable.

As the two ponies made themselves known in the room, the talking group of ponies stopped, noticing Sword was with an alicorn!

"Who is she," One voice asked.

"Why did you bring a princess," Another asked.

"How did you ponynap a princess," Many asked.

"I understand you all are very curious, but I can only answer one at a time! Be patient!" Sword demanded, clearly showing her dominance over the eight ponies. "This is Princess Twilight, of Ponyville. She attempted to stop me in my attempt to get vengeance on the puny pegasus who betrayed me! After that, I simply knocked her out and brought her here," Sword's last sentence was full of mocking, as if knocking out and ponynapping a princess is a worthy thing to show off.

Twilight looked back at the group of ponies. They looked angry at her. The ponies were angry she'd stopped a murder! How could anypony in their right mind be loyal to Sword and her ways, like these ponies were?!

Sword Stance noticed their anger, and tried to cease it. "Worry not, friends. Don't forget she's our prisoner," She turned to Twilight, a threatening gleam in her eyes. "This means if she dares to try anything to oppose me, she will be severely punished."

The alicorn's thoughts of escape ceased. As she'd been walking and listening, she hadn't seen any kind of windows or doors to escape out of. To add to that, she had now been threatened. What am I going to do? Twilight thought to herself, panicking.

"Now, follow me," the earth pony demanded, snapping Twilight from her thoughts. "I'm taking you back to your room." She turned back towards the door.

"M-My room?"

Sword Stance sighed heavily, as if Twilight's question exasperated her. "The room you were just in! I didn't think you were this dull!"

That comment provoked Twilight. She began ranting, "Stop treating me as if I'm lower than you! I've accomplished feats demented and cruel minds, like yours, couldn't hope to imagine! I am not dull! I am not stupid! I'm worried and confused! How would you feel if you were taken to a place against your will by a psychopath who has no empathy for other living creatures?!"

Twilight heard a gasp from one of the group of ponies in the room. She looked at them, seeing shocked looks on their faces. She turned back to Sword Stance, who had now turned around. She looked malicious. Twilight had now realized how badly she'd messed up.

"Why don't you get it? You are below me! I don't care what you've done for Equestria! It doesn't matter. Not in here. Also, from what I know of, your feats in Equestria have had you taken to places against your will by other psychopaths. I figured you would be used to it by now. Also, you're completely correct in calling me a 'psychopath who has no empathy for others', because I don't! If I did, that would develop into guilt. That guilt would develop into weakness. I have no weakness, so I have no guilt or empathy. It's too bad for victims like you, as I don't care if you suffer or not. I just care to get my work done and always win in the end," Sword Stance explained, leaving Twilight feeling helpless. "Now, I recommend you do as you are told, or I will punish you with injury, instead of lecture, next time."

The purple alicorn now felt no hope. She had hoped to find a way out, using empathy as her weapon. Now, that was down the drain. Her only hope was to be let out. Twilight nodded, letting the beige pony know she understood.

Sword Stance smiled mischievously. "Good. Now follow me to your room."