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

Well, I can honestly say I was wrong. I could make it through a month after all! Congratulations are in order!

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

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

Now that I was here though, in the position that I was in...

Things had gotten immensely worse since that little 'escape attempt' of mine. For more reasons than one. Like, how I was wearing oversized metal wrist cuffs whether they were watching me or not. I didn't even know they had those around here, but I guess they did?

As to what the other reasons were, I suppose I'll just list them off in order from 'best' to worst.

First off, the food. No, I don't mean how it tasted, it always tasted awful. I'm not too sure if the princess ordered it, or if the guards were doing it just to spite me, but those half servings of food I would occasionally have? They became my new 'full servings'. Needless to say, I was actually starving. I know I wasn't exactly 'fit' a couple of months ago, but I was actually starting to turn into skin and bones now. Malnutrition is not fun, not in the slightest. I found myself waking up, drooling, from dreams involving light snacks way more often than I'd like to admit.

As if the fact that they're starving me to death wasn't enough, those little 'interrogations' they would give me weren't exactly enjoyable either. At first, it would start off like interrogations you would see in movies back on Earth. The whole good cop, bad cop scenario. Of course, this phase would only last for a few minutes, tops. It would then quickly turn into more of a bad cop, worst cop situation. If I was able to walk back to my cell that night, then that meant that I had gotten lucky.

It's those interrogations that bring me to my next point. Anyone ever heard of sustained trauma? Well, turns out, you can very easily find yourself associating something bad with something else if you have a bad enough experience for long enough. I... can't believe I'm saying this, but its safe to assume I was starting to deal with it. It was faint at first.

I'd find myself slightly further from the door, saying I wanted to give myself a second to breathe when the guards came. Then, I'd start avoiding the slide where the food came through. Even when I was absolutely in pain from hunger, I wouldn't rush towards what little sustenance I was given. Instead, I'd wait patiently until the lock to the slide rang out. Then came the panic attacks... For a while, I thought I was just afraid of the beatings. But, eventually I figured it out when one of the guards used their magic to light the room up so they could drag me out and I ended up blacking out from hyperventilating.

Light... I was scared of the light. Nowadays, I know what that's called. Photophobia. But back when this all started, I just couldn't believe that this was happening.

I mean, come on, it sound ridiculous, right? A grown man afraid of lightof all things?

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

But now, every time I saw it I wouldn't think of any of that. Instead I saw their silhouettes... beings ready to drag and torture me. I couldn't help but shiver and curl up in fear. Most folks say that the scary thing about the dark wasn't the dark itself, its what we didn't know was in it. I disagree now. I knew. What was in it. More specifically, I knew what wasn't in it. In this moment, I am alone. And that is absolute bliss to me.

Well... not entirely.

I guess that's my last reason. The worst reason. The loneliness. Here I was with a dark room all to myself, my sanity barely holding its grip to my mind and all I could think about was how I would previously keep myself occupied with my two cellmates. I missed the smaller things. That scare I would get whenever Nightmare Moon would just pop into my mind. That funny process Chrysalis would go through whenever she had woken up. Even the arguments that I would constantly have with her had become something akin to a momentary heaven in my memories away from the hell I lived in.

On the bright side,--"I'll need to change that expression soon"-- the more I thought about how lonely I was, the more I thought about how the two were free. Sure, I would have liked to go out with them. I would have liked to see the light of day, rather than fear it. To bask in its warm embrace. Heh, to go home and deal with the upcoming tax season even. Fun fact: Ponies are terrible at taxes. Took quite a few odd jobs helping with that.

Who knows, I may have been able to see them from time to time. Still, I can't complain. After all, two out of three ain't bad right?

... Rambling is all I have now, isn't it?

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

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

"I'm afraid not your majesty. The prisoner still hasn't cooperated and claimed sightings around Equestria are uncertain, at best." Celestia sighed as she heard this. They weren't making any progress whatsoever. It wouldn't be long before ponies began to talk, rumors of Nightmare Moon teaming up with Chrysalis to seek out their revenge. Celestia could already see the news article now.

"Thank you, Pure Steel. You are dismissed." Nodding, the stallion made his way out of the throne room, the large doors closing shut behind him. Pure Steel glanced towards a nearby clock, chuckling as he noticed what time it was.

"Hmph. Time for somepony to handle tonight's interrogation."

-------------------------------------

On his way back to the soldier's barracks, Pure Steel had already begun to think over who would take the duty of interrogations tonight. Several of his other, more experienced teammates had already had their chances, so perhaps it was time for one of the new member to take a turn.

Just as he approached the doors to the barracks, somepony made their way out, nearly crashing into him. Pure Steel recognized this pony almost instantly, chuckling at the luck of the encounter. He would do.

"Brass Bone." The guard paused in his place, hesitating slightly before turning to face his commander.

"Newbies." Pure Steel mused to himself as the pony nodded his head and gave a salute, to which his captain returned a similar gesture. Brass Bone was a very quiet and timid pony, usually keeping to himself since he had joined the squad. Hopefully, a night of interrogations would toughen him up.

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

"Oh, and Brassbones." Pure Steel called again, causing his underling to pause once more. "Give him a good bruise under his ribs for me."

He had nearly forgotten to request his 'signature mark'.

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

"Negative 3443 bottles of milk on the wall, negative 3443 bottles of milk. Take one down, pass it around, negative 334- No, wait, wasn't it- Oh god damn it, I lost count again!"

This was what I had been reduced to. Singing the same song over and over again or rambling about random topics as I waited for the inevitable break in the darkness that would lead to the opening of pain.

It could always be worse though, right?

There was no light, the guard was late, and I'd even gotten a slightly bigger amount of food than usual. Who knew, maybe it was going to be a good day after all. As good as it could get, that is.

The door began to grind and clang as the sound of a key entering and turning in the lock echoed into the room.

Its official. I hate this castle, it can hear my thoughts, I swear it.

Soon, the door screeched completely open, allowing the light to flow into the room as the silhouette of another guardspony came into my view. It was the very scene that I was so afraid of. Luckily, I was hidden from the light in the far corner of the room, but I still couldn't help but to sit in a fetal position, hugging my knees to my chin and trembling as the light broke my blissful darkness apart. It just barely touched me for a second.

Just a second. Yet it almost burned, as though the torches the light was coming from had been placed directly against my skin.

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

In the grand scheme of things, it meant about as much as you'd expect. But it was... something.

"I-I told you and the others b-before." I inhaled as I tried to calm my nerves. If I stuttered, they'd use it against me again. "I don't know where they went." A slight twinge of rebellion jumped from my chest to my throat. Barely a spark, but I was in no state to hold it back. "Even if I did, I sure as all hell wouldn't tell you."

To me, it sounded as if I was yelling with all of my will. To him though, it probably sounded like faint and shivering whimpers, barely breaking through the silence of the room. I was near my breaking point. I could tell. And I doubted that the guards couldn't.

The pony continued to walk towards me, any semblance of anger or confidence I had quickly taking a backseat as my fear and cowardice began to take control. The pony reached out for me and I clenched my eyes shut. Hooves... they hurt, you know? If you ever got kicked by a horse, you'd know it. Of course, horses don't tend to repeatedly hit you. They usually just kick you to get you to leave them alone. These ponies though... they can aim. They can think. They know exactly where to hit, how hard to do so, and how to do it over and over again.

So, when I instead felt said hoof being gently touch to my shoulder, I was more than a little surprised. I didnt dare look up, fearing that this was some sort of trap...

But as time passed, I found myself looking towards the pony for one specific reason. They spoke. And when they did, it sounded as if two beings spoke at the same time.

"...You didn't think we'd leave you behind did you?" I could only look up in shock at the now smirking pony that was in front of me. That voice. That double-toned voice. It couldn't have been, could it? It was familiar, far too familiar for it to have been my mind playing tricks on me. Yet, I still hesitated, my own voice clawing its way out of my throat with what little will I had left.

"C-... Chrysalis?" The smile on the pony grew as he soon became covered in a green flame. For a moment, I gave silent thanks to the fact that this surprisingly didn't emit too much light for me to deal with. The flames all faded away appendage by appendage, revealing black coverings as holes began to open up in his thinning leg. His horn became much more jagged, losing its straight and pointed shape. Two small round wing coverings seeped through his skin and the rest of his body began to thin along with his legs. Even his eyes and mane began to change change, his pupils becoming slits while the surrounding eye became an dark green. As this transformation came to an end finished, I couldn't believe who it was standing on front of me. Chrysalis.

"H-How did-" Chrysalis cut me off, clamping her hoof over my mouth as she glanced around the room and hall she had come through. Whatever smile she had prior was now replaced my a scowl.

"Silence you foal! If any of the guards come down here before Nightmare Moon is ready, then I'll end up being put back here in this chamber with you." I blinked. Nightmare Moon had come too? Were these two nuts? I reached up and moved Chrysalis' hoof off of my mouth, minding the holes in her foreleg, as I looked to her with a glare.

"Are you two crazy?!" I asked, my voice seeming to gain just a bit of strength as I went on. "Y-you shouldn't have come here." I looked down the hallway that Chrysalis had just come down. I shuddered slightly as I saw the light, but my confidence didn't waver. "Look, you have to get out of here. Meet up with Nightmare Moon and tell her that, whatever plan she's going along with, cancel it!"

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

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

"Forget it. I'm not going anywhere without you. Especially after I have come so far! Besides, Nightmare Moon's already doing her part and she won't be stopping until she succeeds." To her annoyance though, rather than take her words to heart, her old roommate shook his head.

"No. You're leaving now. You two were barely able to get out of here before and I doubt you'll be able to get out when you're carrying me as dead weight!" Chrysalis put on a face of frustration as the human continued to resist. There had to be a way to shut hi- convince him, to go along with this. An idea quickly came to Chrysalis, as she inwardly grinned at her genius. It had been some time, but manipulation wasn't exactly something she would ever really get rusty with, was it?

"Dead weight? You mean we weren't dead weight that night you tried to escape?"

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

... Oh god damn it.

"You could have easily left the castle that night, yet you chose to stay behind and help us." She was grinning as she told me this. She had won this argument and she knew it. If anything, I was starting to think she was reveling in it.

"So, yes, at this point you're dead weight. Yes, I'm going to leave. But, I'm leaving with you. Whether you like it or not." My eyes further narrowed. Looking away from her, I began to grumble. There was nothing I could say to beat that or at least I couldn't think of anything to say in my current condition. I had gotten so good at our games of verbal fencing too! Talk about being out of practice.

Taking in a deep breath, I turned back to Chrysalis.

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

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

"We wait."

... You're kidding me?

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

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

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

His ears twitched as he once again lifted his head, now in a state of full alertness. Pure Steel glanced around the room and quickly noticed a shaking locker door that seemed to be causing all of the ruckus.

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

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

He also made a mental note to request better headwear for the guards in the future. This was getting embarrassing.

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

"... So, what are we waiting for?" I asked an impatient looking Chrysalis. Her hoof was tapping against the ground incessantly, no real rhyme or reason to it as he stared down the hallway to the chamber warily. "... Well?"

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

"Um, no offense Chrysalis, to you or to Nightmare Moon, but how exactly is a living shadow going to help us escape?" She looked to me with an amused look on her face, smiling slightly as she did so. She opened her mouth to say something, but what I heard next wasn't her voice.

"Check the prisoner's hall! We can't afford to leave any part of this castle untouched!" My eyes widened as I heard the familiar voice of a royal guard echo down the hall. Using both of my arms to the best of their ability, I dragged myself as far back as I could from the still opened door, my back hitting the cold metal walls by the corner they met, the frigid temperature seeming to emanate through my dirtied and ripped clothing. I wanted so desperately to be one with the wall right now.

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

"I swear upon my sacred empress' life you nightmare causing night-mare, if you don't open that portal already, I'm going to-" Chrysalis' thoughts were brought to a stop as the chamber began to shake, the metal room making creaking and almost crackling noises. Within seconds, a part of the metal walls seemed to bend inwards onto itself, twisting and griding before seemingly coming to life. The metal swirled and buckled, spinning onto itself as a black portal ripped itself through the metallic walls of the cell. Crackles of what seemed like electric energy flowed around it, the leylines torn asunder by the instance of intense magic making themselves know as they blood out into the gaping hole. Smiling at the success of her plan, she looked back to her former roommate, ready to yell at him to get through the portal. Unfortunately, he seemed to have been much more inclined to simply sit there and tremble in the corner of the room, seeming to stare unblinkingly at the hallway that was being lit by only torches.

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

"Hurry! I think it came from here!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It felt as if I was being pulled in all directions, as if I were the last toy that five children were fighting over. Or a tube of toothpaste being slammed by a hammer to see if it could be made to explode.

Soon though, sensation came to an end and I, once more in my infinite experience with gravity, aptly reacted to the coming world and-- Ah, who am I kidding, I'm too exhausted just thinking about it. I hit my head and passed out.

-------------------------------------

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

Man my head hurts.

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

I struggled to prop myself onto my elbows, an oddly comfortable surface below me rather than a cave floor. After a minute or two of effort and grunting in pain, I managed to support myself. Though, my entire body was screaming at me to lay back down. Plus a wave of nausea from the head wound nearly made me throw up where I sat.

I closed my eyes and focused on not puking up what little breakfast I might have had in my stomach, breathing in through my nose.

Once I felt satisfied in my control of that sensation, I risked opening one of my eyes again.

Again I was surprised as I saw a familiar looking lump laying on the floor a few feet in from of me.

Chrysalis.

It wasn't a dream. I had made it. I had actually made it.

Before I could really even think on this though, I heard something behind me. A gasp of sorts.

"Thou hath awoken!" Suddenly, my entire body let out one continuous screech of pain as a pair of unfamiliar hooves came around me, pressing my back into an oddly warm and soft furry surface. "We were beginning to worry thou would never awake!" That same familiarity from before when I had heard Chrysalis' voice from the guard popped up. Only this time, it also felt as though I had been hearing it for the first time. Or rather, it was the first time I had heard it come from one place.

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

The alicorn mare smiled and nodded, confirming my guess before proceeding to embrace me once again. My body let out another shriek, but I ignored it. Or at least I tried to. I don't think that I hid it too well though since Nightmare Moon immediately released me from her grip, carefully lowering me back down to whatever soft surface I was laying on.

"Oh, thou art in pain. We beg for thy forgiveness, Sir Jeremy. We simply felt it necessary to express our happiness." Her odd form of talking was still a little confusing for me, especially now that I actually saw her talking, but it was still refreshing to hear it again nonetheless. Even if I was in immeasurable pain. I smiled to her to show that it was no problem, feeling my eyelids begin to grow heavy from exhaustion. Nightmare Moon seemed to notice this as she let out another smile, my eyelids shutting completely as I felt myself drift off to sleep.

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

Next Chapter: Chapter 5: Freedom Comes With A Price [Here Again] Estimated time remaining: 15 Hours, 8 Minutes