Nebula's War

“Ugh, I’m so BORED!” Ignis groaned as he paced around the throne room. “Why won’t Nebula let us torture the prisoners?”

“He doesn’t want to torture them just yet,” Malum explained, and tossed a bone to Lacerta. “He’s trying to probe their minds and find out what they know.”

“I trust our lord’s judgment.” Ossium announced as swung his sword at Atramento, who jabbed his dagger in retaliation. “Nebula always knows the most efficient means of stealing information from those wretched-!”

“Ignis is right. Can’t we just torture one of them?” Cornu asked as he shot spikes at the walls. “We didn’t even get to fight anypony in Manehattan this afternoon!”

“Listen, I don’t like it any more than you do,” Malum said. “But we can’t disobey Nebula’s orders. That was part of the deal with Lord Tenebris.” Cornu and Ignis rolled their eyes.

“… Yeah, I guess so.” Cornu sighed. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and-!” All of a sudden, Nebula burst into the throne room, muttering under his breath. All of the demons turned and stood at attention.

“Oh, hey boss! We were just talking about you.” Ignis said, but Malum did not reply.

“… My lord, are you feeling well?” Ossium inquired, but Nebula kept shaking his head and muttering. Finally, Malum stepped forward and said,

“Hey Nebula, what’s going on? Is the bat pony giving you trouble?”

“I don’t know how he does it.” Nebula muttered. “He’s not even a unicorn!” The demons turned to look at each other.

“What’s he doing?” Malum asked. “Is he hurting you?” Finally, Nebula turned to stare at Malum: his eyes were wide and baggy, and his ever-flowing mane was tousled.

“He’s resisting me!” Nebula choked. “I don’t know how he’s doing it, but I can’t probe his mind! I can’t find out where Azure is hiding!”

“He’s… resisting you?” Malum said in disbelief. “That’s impossible, only unicorns can create mental defenses. Are you sure you cast the right spell?” A cold, hard hoof struck Malum across the muzzle.

“Of COURSE I cast the right spell, you moron!” Nebula spat. “But when I search his memories, I don’t find what I’m looking for! I see moonlit forests and colts playing in caves, but I can’t find so much as a glimpse of Azure Night!” He ran his hoof through his ever-flowing mane and shook his head in disbelief. “I’ve never seen any non-unicorn capable of such cognitive protection.”

“My lord, might I make a suggestion?” Ossium asked. “If we cannot penetrate his mind magically, perhaps we can do so physically.” Nebula turned to stare at Ossium.

“What? You mean want me to cut open his head and-!”

“Oh no, not like that!” Ossium amended, and his teeth shone a bit brighter; if he hadn’t been a skeleton, one might think he was smiling. “I was merely suggesting that we torture the bat pony and force him to tell us what we want to know.” All of a sudden, Nebula’s eyes lit up.

“Of course! Why didn’t I think of that?” He cried.

“Oh, it’s nothing, my lord.” Ossium chuckled.

“But I don’t know anything about torture, I might kill him before he reveals his secrets…” Nebula mused, and gestured to the demons. “You, on the other hand know more about torture than anypony I know. Go down there and beat that freak to a pulp.” Ossium stood up straight and raised his skull triumphantly.

“My lord, there could be no higher honor!” Ossium cheered. “You will not regret your decision, for I shall-!”

“Actually, I was pointing to Malum.” Nebula admitted. “Get down there and find out what that pony is hiding.”

“You got it, boss.” Malum replied, and smiled at his dumbfounded comrades (especially Ossium, who looked as though he were about to fall apart).

Several minutes later, Nox awoke to the feeling of a massive paw striking his face. The room was pitch black, but Nox could clearly see that he was tied to a table with a large white wolf smiling down at him. Nox did not speak, but glared angrily at Malum. He also dimly registered a large, grey-white orb hanging above his head.

"Good morning, sleepy head." Malum chuckled. "Ready for a little game of Truth or Torture?" Nox continued to glare at Malum without saying anything. "I'll take that as a yes." He traced his claws along the edge of the table and smiled down at Nox, every one of his pearly white fangs on full display.

“Nebula says that you’ve been giving him some trouble.” Malum announced. “He can’t probe your mind to find Azure’s hiding place, so he sent me to find out what you know.” He punctured Nox’s flesh with his razor-sharp claws and raked them along his chest; Nox winced, but did not cry out in pain.

“Now at first, I thought a few pokes with a hot iron would loosen your tongue, but then I recalled the day you left The Royal Guard. I had a hard time killing you because you kept listening for my movements and dodging my attacks. It wasn’t until you got a beam of sunlight in your face that you lost your mojo. So for our little session, I brought you a little treat.” Nox’s eyes widened, and a few beads of sweat trickled down his brow; he was beginning to understand what the grey-white orb was for.

“Fun fact: before we got rid of her, Celestia was working on an invention to replace torches.” Malum said as he paced around the table. “An orb that glows with the energy of the sun itself, more powerful and efficient than torches. It would’ve been a boon to equines everywhere.” Malum looked down at Nox and grinned. “Well, the diurnal equines, at least.” He reached up to touch the orb, but no matter how hard Nox fought, he couldn’t break free. Malum touched the orb, and the room was flooded with intense light.

Nox gritted his teeth and shut his eyes as tightly as possible, but even the dim glow that penetrated his eyelids was like acid. He whimpered and trembled from head to hoof, but he refused to beg for mercy. Malum, on the other hand was having the time of his life: he loved to watch creatures suffer and cry, sometimes recording how long it took for them to beg for mercy.

“You can stop this, you know.” Malum whispered. “One little word, Nox, that’s all it takes. Say ‘mercy’ and I’ll set you free. Tell me where Azure is hiding, and all will be forgiven.” Summoning all of his strength, Nox lifted his head and spat in Malum's eye. Malum flinched, and turned off the light a moment later, giving Nox a brief respite from the torture. Bright spots danced before Nox’s eyes as he stared at Malum.

"Azure would be proud." Malum chuckled, and pulled four thin wires out from under the table. He then strolled to the head of the table and hooked the ends of the wires under Nox's eyelids; try as he might, Nox couldn’t close his eyes. A small part of Nox's mind whimpered as he realized what Malum was about to do. “Round two.” Nebula said, and touched the orb.

The radiant light seemed to increase a hundred fold when Nox could not close his eyes. It felt as though his eyes were being slowly burned away, and his vision was starting to fade, as if he were going blind. He tried in vain to roll his eyes back into his head and offer some solace to his aching pupils, but the harsh, unfeeling light burned continuously. Nox writhed and screeched in agony, but Malum did not waver.

"Just say 'mercy' and I'll set you free." Malum repeated, but Nox did not speak; no matter how much pain he was in, he would not betray Azure. Finally, Malum pressed the button, and the light disappeared. Nox’s eyes were so damaged by the light that he could only see shadows, but he heard Malum loud and clear.

"Well, this isn’t working." Malum sighed. "I'll need to make some adjustments to our regimen, find another way to get you to talk, but until then I'll reward your bravery with some time in the dungeon." Malum was about to untie Nox when he said, "Oh wait, what am I thinking? I need to clean you up first." He reached under the table and pulled out a bottle of green liquid. Malum uncorked the bottle and poured a small amount of the liquid onto Nox’s chest and eyes. In seconds, the wounds disappeared and Nox's vision was restored.

"There you go, all better!" Malum said. "Can't leave you to bleed out in your cell, and if you go completely blind the light won't hurt as much. Torture is so much more effective when the victim is healthy, don't you think?" He patted Nox's legs, which had been broken upon his arrival in Canterlot. "Well, ALMOST healthy. Can't have you running away when we turn our backs, now can we?" Malum laughed as he untied Nox, removed the wires around his eyelids and carried him down to the dungeon.

“Oh good, we’re just in time for lunch!” Malum chuckled. Nox lifted his head and squinted at Cornu and Ignis, who were tossing moldy hay and brackish water into the cells. The dungeon was a miserable cave with crude cells lining the walls, and the only light came from a series of flickering torches that kept the room in a perpetual state of near-darkness.

“All of the prisoners are fed and watered, Malum!” Ignis announced. “What should we do now?” Malum picked up Nox by the scruff of his neck and nodded to the cell in the corner.

“Put this one back in his cell.” Malum replied. “And take one of the other ones upstairs, I want to see how long it takes for him to crack.” Cornu and Ignis looked at each other and smiled wickedly.

“Oh, this is gonna be good!” Cornu chuckled, and threw open the door to the bat ponies’ cell. “Okay boys, who wants to go talk to Malum?” Eclipse and Night Shade glared at Cornu, but said nothing. “Oh come on, don’t be shy! He’ll just tear you open, eat your pancreas, maybe pull out your eyes and it’ll all be over!” Night Shade shifted on his broken legs, and Cornu turned to stare at him.

“Aw, what’s the matter, kid?” Cornu laughed and stepped closer. “Are you scared?” He reached out, and Night Shade sank his fangs into Cornu’s hoof. “ARRGH! You little bastard!” Cornu swung his other hoof around and punched Night Shade, who let go, but continued to growl menacingly.

“Oh, a tough guy?” Cornu laughed as the bite marks faded away. “Let’s see how tough you are after an hour on the slab.” He grabbed Night Shade and dragged him out of the cell while Ignis threw Nox into the cell.

“Are you okay, Nox?” Eclipse asked as the demons left the dungeon.

“Been better.” Nox groaned. “Malum wants to know where Azure is hiding, but I kept my mouth shut.”

“Did he stab you in the leg? Burn your flesh?”

“No, worse. He turned on a huge lamp and shone it right in my eyes.” Eclipse nearly fell over in shock. “And he put wires under my eyelids so I couldn’t look away. It felt like my eyes were melting, everything was pure white, and then it started to fade…”

“That rotten bastard, I’ll tear him limb from limb!” Eclipse growled and moved to stand up, but a mighty spasm of pain shot up his legs and he fell over again.

“Don’t bother. Even if we could break out, they’d kill us before we ran ten feet.” Nox sighed. “For now, we’ll just have to endure the pain and keep our mouths shut, for Azure’s sake.” He took a drink of water and gagged. “So, what have you and Night Shade been up to?”

“Sitting, planning our escape and trying to talk to the other prisoners.” Nox choked into the water bucket, nearly tipping it over.

“Other prisoners?” He gagged. “There are more down here?”

“Yeah, we heard them snoring half an hour ago. We think there are six of them, two to a cell.” Nox looked around, and was amazed to see two creatures sleeping in the cell opposite theirs, although they were so thin that Nox initially mistook them for skeletons. The first creature was a small dragon with purple and green scales, who was muzzled and bound to the wall with chains. Nox recognized the dragon as Spike, Princess Twilight’s adopted brother, but the second creature, a female unicorn with purple hair and pinkish-purple fur piqued his interest.

“Eclipse! Look, it’s Twilight!” Nox cried.

“What? Princess Twilight?” Eclipse gasped. “Where?”

“Right over there!” Nox gestured to the opposite cell with his wing. “Princess Twilight, look over here! Wake up!” But the mare slept on, oblivious to his cries. In desperation, Nox rolled over and began searching the cell for something to throw.

“Eclipse! Hand me that pebble!” Eclipse grabbed the pebble between his teeth and passed it to Nox, who pressed his lips against the prison bars and spat as hard as he could. By some miracle of aerodynamics, the stone hit the sleeping mare in the face.

“Ow! What the hay was that?” she groaned, and looked around.

“Princess Twilight, over here!” Nox shouted. “Look over here, we-!” But his face fell as the mare turned to face him. It was not Princess Twilight at all, but her student, Starlight Glimmer.

“Who’s there?” Starlight called. “Is it Twilight?”

"No, ma’am, it’s not Twilight.” Nox sighed. “I’m sorry, I mistook you for someone else.” Starlight peered through the bars of her cage and just barely saw Eclipse and Nox lying in their cell.

“Bat ponies? What are you doing here?”

“We’re prisoners like you, and Nebula wants to know about our team.” Eclipse explained.

“Your… team?”

“We’re freedom fighters.” Eclipse explained. “For the past few years, our team has been freeing slaves, killing monsters and searching for The Princesses. And you guys, of course.”

“You’ve been looking for us?” Starlight gasped. “I didn’t think there was anypony left! I was sure that monster would have killed everypony!”

“Oh no, Nebula would much rather have slaves than corpses.” Nox added. “He thinks that by enslaving the non-equine races and forcing ponies to accept his rule, he’s bringing peace the nation.” Starlight glanced aside for a moment, and gave a deep sigh.

“Yeah, who would be crazy enough to do that?” She said. Nebula’s behavior reminded Starlight of herself; before she met Twilight, Starlight had tried to bring peace and equality to Equestria by removing the talents of other ponies.

“What about you?” Nox asked. “How did you get here?” Starlight closed her eyes and tried to remember the events of her capture.

“I was at The Castle of Friendship when Twilight was kidnapped. I live there as her mystical assistant.” Starlight explained. “One night, I went to investigate a disturbance in the foyer, and saw some of the ugliest stallions I’ve ever seen. Well, six of them were clearly monsters, they had spikes on their heads and scaly skin, but the one in the middle wasn’t too odd, aside from his mane, which seemed to flow in the still air. I ran to Twilight’s room and shook her until she woke up. No sooner had I explained that we had intruders than Jacob… Oh I’m sorry, Jacob is-!”

“It’s okay, we know Jacob.” Nox explained. “He’s been helping us rescue ponies. He’ll be glad to know you’re safe.”

"Well, alive at any rate.” Starlight sighed. “So Jacob burst in and promised that he’d protect Twilight from the intruders, but she told him to escape. Of course, Jacob refused, but Twilight explained that whoever they were, they were obviously coming for her, and they’d kill Jacob if they got the chance. Jacob tried to object, but Twilight gave him a framed collage that she kept on her nightstand, whispered ‘we’ll see each other again, I promise’. Jacob jumped out the window, but before I could follow him the monsters burst into the room and charged at us. Twilight and I fought back, but the leader overpowered her and encased her in a huge red crystal. Then they broke my legs so I couldn’t run away, and put this on my horn.” Starlight gestured to a large black ring that sat at the base of Starlight’s horn. “Whatever it is, I can’t cast magic with it. I can’t even pull it off, it’s too tight around my horn!” She sighed. “The last thing I saw before I woke up in here was the leader making the pillows wrestle. Seemed like an odd thing to do, especially in the middle of a kidnapping…”

“He wanted to make it look like Discord was responsible.” Nox explained. “Speaking of which, do you know what happened to Discord?” Starlight shook her head.

“I haven’t seen him in a long time, but Fluttershy might know. She’s in the cell over there.” She nodded to the cell on her right, where a pegasus with yellow fur and a long pink mane lay trembling on the floor.

“Well, that’s a start. Thanks.” Nox said, and turned his attention to the pegasus. “Um, excuse me, miss?” A soft blue eye peeked out from the curtain of pink hair and looked around.

“Wh-who’s there?” Fluttershy whispered. She tried to sit up, but as she applied pressure to her broken legs Fluttershy gave a pained yelp and fell to the ground in a heap. “P-please, don’t hurt me! I’m in so much pain…”

“It’s okay, miss, I’m not going to hurt you.” Nox said in his most calm and friendly voice. “I’d just like to know how you got here.”

“O-okay.” Fluttershy said. “Let’s see… the sun had just gone down, and I was out in the garden, waking up the bats and owls for their nightly hunt. Once I had finished, I turned to go back inside, when I saw seven dark stallions walking up the path to my cottage. I explained to them that I was just going inside, but they could come to visit the animals in the morning when one of the stallions galloped up to me and wrapped his hooves around my neck. I cried out for help, and Discord burst outside. He’s a real sweetheart once you get to know him, although most ponies-!”

“And what happened next?” Nox interrupted, eager to hear of Discord’s fate.

“Oh, of course!” Fluttershy gasped. “Well, when Discord saw that I was in danger, he made the most fearsome, blood-chilling growl I’ve ever heard, almost like he was going feral. He bared his fangs and flew at the stallions, but one of them waved his horn and fired a burst of rainbow magic at Discord, who was…” Fluttershy gasped and choked, as if the memory of Discord’s fate was poison.

“He was turned to stone.” Nox concluded, and Fluttershy nodded.

“I was devastated. I kicked and punched and shouted at the stallions, but the stallion holding me by the throat caught one of my hooves and bent it backward. There was a ‘crack’, and I fell silent. As I watched my leg fall uselessly to my side, I began to cry, begging for them to stop hurting Discord and I, but they just laughed. The big stallion tightened his grip around my neck until I passed out, and I woke up here, in this dark and scary dungeon with all of my legs broken.”

“That’s terrible!” gasped Eclipse.

“But it makes sense.” Nox added. “Discord is too powerful, too unpredictable to be hypnotized like the changelings, dragons and griffons. Nebula’s only chance was to catch Discord by surprise, petrify him and blame him for the Princesses’ disappearance.”

“But it’s still a really chilling thought.” Eclipse said. “As powerful as Discord is, I didn’t think there were any spells capable of hurting or imprisoning him. That is, except for The Elements of Harmony.”

“That’s true, but we haven’t had to use The Elements in years!” Fluttershy explained. “Whoever attacked Discord must have mastered spells unknown to ponykind!”

“Well, that much is obvious.” Nox sighed. “The stallion who kidnapped us? He sold his soul for ultimate power.”

“HE SOLD HIS SOUL??” Starlight cried, her voice echoing around the dungeon.

“Hey, what’s with all the yelling?” groaned a voice from the cell next to Eclipse and Nox.

“Wait a minute, I recognize that voice.” Eclipse gasped. “Is that you, Rainbow Dash?”

“Who wants to know?” Rainbow growled.

“It’s okay, we’re friends.” said Eclipse. “Or at least, fellow prisoners. We’ve been trying to find you for the past three years.”

“Three years?” gasped a second voice from the cell. “Well, what in tarnation are we doing in here? We gotta save our friends and family!” There was a strained grunt and a yelp of pain, followed by a dull ‘thud’, as if the prisoner was trying to stand on their broken limbs.

“That must be Applejack.” Eclipse noted. “Miss Jack, if you can hear me, your family is safe and sound. They’re living with us in our secret base.”

“They are?” Applejack said. “Well, that’s right kind of you, stranger. Thanks for looking after my family.”

“You saved Granny Smith, Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom?” called an elegant voice from down the hall. “Have you seen my parents or my sister, Sweetie Belle?”

“We saved your family too, Rarity, you have nothing to fear.”

“What about my family?” called yet another voice. “Did they make a giant wall around the rock farm to keep out intruders, and rock cannons to shoot down dragons and rock sandwiches to-!”

“QUIET!” Nox shouted, and everypony fell silent. “I’m sorry to shout, but if the demons hear us talking and cheering, they’ll come down and whip us until we shut up. Yes, Pinkie Pie, your family is safe. All of your friends and families are safe from harm, and living with us in a secret camp. My associates and I are trying to overthrow Nebula, and once we get out of here we’ll be one step closer to getting everything back to normal.”

“Well… that’s good to know,” Applejack said. “But what are we supposed to do until we get rescued?”

“The only thing we can do,” Nox sighed. “Wait.” And without another word, he lay down and began counting the bricks in the wall.