All too few hours after the clandestine meeting in her apartment with Gearing, with the morning just getting started, Silver Aura enters through the detainment block’s doors and walks down the hall floating her book out in front of her. With one hoof slowly rubbing her head and face.

One of the guards chuckle and asks her as she passes, “Damn! Must have been a good night to look that haggard, huh?”

The other guard chuckles and nudges her coworker in the side with an elbow. “And this is why we save our parties for when we have days off the next day.”

Silver Aura puts a hoof to her lips and shushes them. “SShhhh there are no parties… only suffering and bad decisions.” They just snicker louder as she uses one hoof to hold her head and continues down the walkway.

She turns and peeks into the cell, and lets out a sigh as she sees Gearing laying on his belly in there, broken manacles attached to his legs, and his wings bound by restraints. Fresh restraints, with not even a hint of scorch marks. His grin and fresh face are mind boggling to her. She says loudly, “Alright let’s get this over with.” Then scrunches down as she plops down on her rear and holds her head as she used a bit too much oomph in her voice for her own head to handle. She walks up to the bars and asks softly, “How are you not hungover… you drank almost a whole bottle of that shit!”

His dark blue face just grins wider as he puts a hoof to his lips and shrugs.

She rolls her eyes and continues on with her routine at a normal volume, “Are you the one known as ‘Gearing’?”

Gearing lays there, smiling at her, with his hooves crossed in front of himself. “That’s me.”

She looks around on the ground and notices the pair of trays sitting there, and the complete lack of green shards. “Not going to eat?”

“Nope.” Gearing shakes his head.

She looks around, and at the guards down the hall, then lets out a sigh. “Well…. Gearing… Would you step over to the bars please. I need to give you an examination.”

Gearing stares back at her for a moment before he looks around and shakes his head as he asks with a large grin, “Whatever for?”

She scowls at him. “Given the information I have… I have to evaluate what kind of threat you are. Magic’s involved. So I need to remove any magics currently cast on you, and any potential items.”

Gearing nods then taps on the floor as he says, “Sorry, can’t help you.”

She looks at the guards then back at Gearing as she scowls again. “Failure to comply will result in a longer prison sentence if contraband is located.”

Gearing nods and grins. “So I’ve heard… sorry… Can’t help you.”

She lets out a sigh and looks at her book. “If you’re not going not cooperate, I’m going to have to dispel it from here.”

Gearing waves towards her. “Do what you gotta do. But I can’t help you.” He looks off to the side and puts a hoof to his chin as he says with a chuckle, “Hey, that rhymed!”

She lets out a long groaning sigh as her horn starts glowing. She stares at him, and his grin, and she slowly starts crying again. “Have it your way…” She tilts her head, obscuring her mouth from the guards at the end of the hall, and mouths silently, ‘You sure?’

He lets out a sigh then beckons her with a hoof as he whispers, “It’ll be okay.”

She closes her eyes and concentrates on the spell, then opens one eye just enough to aim correctly before she throws the burst of energy into the cell at Gearing.

He knows it’s coming. He sees it coming. He doesn’t care.

The burst of energy shoots from her horn and splashes against Gearing in an eruption of blueish twinkling lights that sparkle and fade like the last crackles of a festival fireworks display.

Gearing jerks and his eyes go wide for a moment as he yelps, “Youch!”

Her book drops as she hops against the bars and looks at him as she grabs the bars with her fetlocks. Her eyes dart all over him as she looks for the tell tale signs of cascading electricity. Or of any sign of the nightmare she’d already unleashed the day before.

Gearing waves at her and grins before he taps on the ground with one hoof. “Well darn… You’ve caught me…” He props his metallic chin up with an equally metallic hoof as he looks out at her.

One of the guards runs over to look and stares in at Gearing. “What the hell’s going on here?”

Silver Aura lets out a sigh, of immense relief, and says, “I’m going to need you to turn over whatever magical items you have that are hiding on your person that’s giving you that ability to change your appearance.”

Gearing taps on the floor and smiles. “I’m sorry… But I just can’t do that.”

The guard leans against the bars and sneers. “You trying to be a big tough guy because she’s got a hangover? I’ll teach your candy ass a thing or two.”

Gearing shrugs and starts walking over to the bars. “I mean, I’m not allowed… here.” He pulls out a piece of paper from between his manacles and his foreleg and holds it out for her to take.

Silver Aura pulls it away with her magic and quickly unfolds it.

The guard looks at it and at Gearing and asks softly, “How’d the hell he get that back here? What is it?”

She smirks as she reads it. “It’s… a declaration of a security test… It states his name, rank, and serial number and-” Her eyes bug out and she chokes as she looks at it. She trails her eyes up and asks softly, “C- Colonel?”

Gearing puts his hoof to his mouth and looks down the way towards the front door before pulling back and grinning as he nods.

Her eyes get wider and wider as she starts having a hard time breathing.

Gearing walks up to the bars and says calmly, “Just breath, hon… Just breath… Follow protocol… You know how to follow protocol, right?”

She nods quickly and backs away from him. “Y- yes sir.”

Gearing quickly raises his hoof to his lips. “Shhh… This is a test, remember.” He looks at them both and goes back and forth as he repeats. “Just. Follow. Protocol.” Then he glances at the guard and narrows his eyes. “And you keep this bit to yourself.”

She looks at the paper again and her eyes zip around as she lets out a sigh. “I… I need to verify this.” She looks to Gearing then raises an eyebrow as she says, “I’m deferring the security sweep of you until I get some answers.” She looks at the guard then nods towards Gearing. “Stay away from him, but keep an eye on him. And no guard is allowed in.”

“And?” Gearing asks with a raised eyebrow.

She snaps a look at him and scowls. “And no guards are to be left alone around him. Minimum of two at all times until this is sorted out.”

Gearing grins widely. “Thatta girl.”

She turns and leaves as the guard looks at him from a distance. “Why’s the military doing a security test here? We don’t get people down here often anyway… Who are you really?”

Gearing grins at him then his ears perk up as he looks around. “Oh! Nice! Quick reset!” He shakes himself and turns back to his dark blue pelted self before sitting back in the cell as pretty as he pleases. He grins even wider. “Nopony special. Carry on.” He waves the guard away with a smirk.

The guard turns and walks away, watching Gearing closely and muttering under his breath about being told what to do by random freaks.

A pair of guards come down and look in at Gearing, then cringe. They look at each other then at him and the buck asks, almost pleading, “Would you mind not staring at us the whole time today?”

The one next to him rolls her eyes. “Or at least blink? It’s fucking creepy.”

Gearing grins and stares at them, opening his eyes even wider. “Not like I have anything else to do in here.” He opens his eyes to their absolute fullest and plasters a smile on himself as he glares at them.

The mare shivers. “There’s that creepy ass grin again! Dammit.”

The stallion puts a hoof over his eyes. “Another shift of this bullshit.”

“At least you get to leave at the end of it,” Gearing replies.

They moan and try their best to stand there and look around, at everything except him directly, while simply trying to make sure he’s not doing anything to escape. But getting really unnerved at how he’s not doing anything.

A unicorn comes by during the middle of the day in the same robes as Silver Aura and looks at the number of trays on the ground as he asks, “Prisoner’s not eating?”

The guard groans and shakes his head. “No. Not Eating. Not Drinking… Only thing he does is sit there and stare at us all day long.”

“Night too,” the mare guard pipes up. “I heard the same complaints from night shift.”

The unicorn lets out a frowning sigh as he looks Gearing over. “I’ve been informed you have some sort of illusionary magic concealing your identity?”

Gearing directs his soul piercing stare and grin at him as he says, “You already know who I am. My identity’s already been confirmed.”

The unicorn looks around and lets out a sigh as he quickly becomes unnerved by the stare. “Well, if you keep using whatever you’re using to hide yourself, we’re not going to be able to take care of you as we won’t notice if anything’s wrong with you…”

Gearing continues staring at him with the same wide eyed visual assault. “You wouldn’t do anything either way.”

The unicorn rolls his eyes then starts walking away as he mutters towards the guards, “Don’t worry about him, he’ll eat when he’s ready.” He takes another step or two before a metal tray ends up under his hoof and he stumbles and falls sideways.

He spins around and sees Gearing’s one glaring eye aimed at him. “Oops. Maybe you should pick those up before somepony gets hurt,” Gearing’s voice comes across as monotoned and exceedingly creepy with the wide eyed smile and glare.

“Fuck you!” the unicorn says as he hops around and starts quickly going towards the door.

Gearing replies with the same monotoned voice before the unicorn gets to the doorway, “My barn door doesn’t swing that way, Mr. Horny.”

The mare guard snickers a bit but lets out a moan as Gearing’s head slowly turns back to stare at the pair of them. Her shoulders sink and she moans, “Ah dammit…”

Gearing keeps grinning and staring as he says softly, “Then there were three.”

The guards begin replacing the tray that was on the ground, and setting the older one aside within reach, but they get increasingly unnerved as the days tick by and the pile of food grows. If it wasn’t for the prepackaged nature of some of it, it’d be rotting spectacularly by this point.

In the afternoon one day, after a few days of this routine, a new, older, unicorn in Royal Guard Security administration robes comes down to the detention block and his pace cuts down as he sees the growing mountain of food near the jail cell. He looks to the other side of the hall and sees the guards are actively trying to stay away from the cell in question, and are spending more time looking everywhere but at the cell than doing anything else.

As he is passing, the mare puts a hoof out and says with a twitch in her eye, “The guy’s twigged.” She reaches up and smacks on her own helmet a few times trying to scratch at her mane and eventually lifting her helmet enough to scratch on the back of her head. “Careful… it’s… maddening to watch him for too long.”

The unicorn raises an eyebrow and continues on past her as he keeps staring at the pile of food. He turns sideways abruptly and comes face to face with Gearing. Seeing his exceptionally wide eyed stare with the oversized grin in the middle of the cell. He takes a step back and regards Gearing for a moment. His horn glows and Gearing stares at him, his smile fading for a moment as he tilts his head and starts focusing on the unicorn, and what he may be doing, but he can’t quite tell.

The unicorn sighs and shakes his head as the glow fades before he asks, “You okay in there, son?”

Gearing looks at him with his eyes wide open still. “I’ve been imprisoned without trial until further notice and the only ones that know where I am are you all…” He waves a hoof and frowns. “Instead of working I’ve been stuck here. You tell me.”

The unicorn smiles lightly and shrugs. “Well… Maybe you could use a break?”

Gearing glares at the unicorn hard enough that even the older unicorn takes a step back. “A break? I know you didn’t just try to crack a joke about indefinite detention…”

The unicorn lets out a long slow sigh and looks to the side. “When was the last time you ate?”

“Why does it matter?” Gearing snaps.

The unicorn looks over at Gearing and frowns. “You’re just here until everything’s sorted out.”

Gearing smiles widely, with the creepy oversized grin, and says mockingly with a tone of a commercial announcer, “And you too can have this fabulous prize of Freedooooom! Just bend over, kiss your ass, then mail in your request and we’ll get back with you half past neevveeeerrrrrr.”

The unicorn stares at him for a few moments longer then asks softly, “Are you intentionally trying to starve yourself to death?”

“What does it matter if you’re just throwing away the key anyway? Wanting to find out if you need to have the cardboard box for cremation ready sooner than later?” Gearing asks as he stares at him.

The unicorn glares at him. “We’re not going to let you die.” His horn flares and he grabs a small packaged loaf off the tray nearby and shoves it at Gearing’s face. “Now eat!”

Gearing stares at him, and his eyes only get wider as they stare back with pure contempt as the unicorn tries to cram the cake into his mouth after magically yanking the package off. Gearing’s lip locks in place and the unicorn only succeeds in smearing it over the left side of Gearing’s muzzle. After the unicorn has finally given up, and turned the ‘loaf’ into a pulverized mess, Gearing uses his hoof to scrape it off his muzzle and flicks it back at the unicorn as he says, “You eat it.”

The unicorn spins around and starts bucking the stone wall as he screams unintelligibly for a few minutes.

Gearing grins at him again and says, “Careful, old timer… You’re likely to break your brittle old bones doing that.”

The unicorn hops over and screams at him, “You can knock your shit off!”

One of the guard’s leans over, stares in, and grimaces as they lock eyes with Gearing. Gearing grins even wider as they stare at each other for a few moments and Gearing asks in a whisper, but more than enough for the guard to hear, “Hey… Here’s the trick to it all… Who’s guarding who?!”

The mare smacks her helmet off and starts scratching her mane as she jumps away from the prison cell so she doesn’t have to see him anymore.

The unicorn turns his head then waves his hoof at Gearing. “And stop your psychological warfare bullshit!”

Gearing looks over at him and asks, “Or... what?”

The unicorn’s hoof slowly droops and he asks, “W- what?”

Gearing grins wider. “Exactly… Stop… or what? I’m already in here indefinitely. You can’t add time to infinite.”

The unicorn looks off to the side and mutters, “Execution is always an option.”

The next moment, Gearing’s at the bars and hisses at him, “Go ahead and try it… Without proper decree from one of the Princesses? Ohh please do… It’ll be a blood bath.” Gearing grins even wider as his eyes go to their fullest and says just above a whisper, “Your blood.”

The mare moans from the next cell over as she scratches her mane, “He’s doing it again!”

The unicorn rubs both forehooves on his head as he gives a disgruntled groan. “Fine, just stay in there and starve to death for all I care!”

Gearing lets out a long trail of almost machine timed chuckles “Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh.” He tilts his head against the bars to stare at the unicorn and grins. “You don’t and we both know it.”

The unicorn starts stomping away and Gearing yells after him with a laugh, “If that’s what you’re waiting on, it’s going to take a looooooooong time… You know that right?”

The door shuts, signaling the old unicorn’s successful flight away from the taunting.

Gearing turns and looks at the stallion guard across the hall from his cell and grins as he leans against the bars. “Long time indeed… We had to learn how to get by with very little on the front… sometimes nothing for a loooong time…” He slowly steps away from the bar as he asks quietly, “So… the question is…” He asks in a mere whisper that only the stallion can hear, “Who’s going to fold first?”

The stallion backs into the cold bars of the cell across from Gearing, then yelps and turns around as he has a vivid imagination of someone trying to grab him as the cold metal touches his bare flank. He rubs his mane and quickly runs over to join his mare coworker as he grabs her helmet off the ground and he moans, “Get out of my heeaaddd!”

That evening the security officer, Silver Aura, walks in and finds the two guards a bit away and looking rather unnerved. They look at her and the mare guard motions down towards Gearing. “I think he’s cracked…” She rubs her mane with both hooves and moans, “Totally cracked.”

The stallion guard motions down towards Gearing. “I’d recommend staying away from him, but… You got a job to do… hope you don’t end up like the last couple.”

She pauses and looks at them, then down the hall. “What happened to them? Did he fight them?”

The stallion rocks his hoof side to side. “Not physically… I think that would have been easier to handle…. It’s hard to explain.”

The mare moans. “He’s got a way of getting under your skin… That stare… it’s like he’s trying to burn a hole through you.”

The security officer lets out a sigh then nods as she starts walking down towards Gearing. “I’ll be careful.”

She trots down the hallway, sees the pile of food that has been collected, and set next to the cell, with only one tray in front of it and a mound of food uneaten next to it. She peeks around the corner carefully and sees Gearing laying in the center of the cell with his forehooves crossed and looking right at her already. She jumps her eyes around a bit, then looks back at the guards that have fled to the far end of the hall near the front door but are keeping an eye on her from the relative safety of the security desk.

She lays down and tucks her legs in under herself as she looks at him. “Hello, Gearing,” she says evenly.

Gearing waves at her with a hoof before crossing it again. “Hi.”

She looks over at the food then lets out a sigh. “I’ve been told you’ve been very uncooperative.”

Gearing frowns. “I’m being very cooperative. I don’t know what right they have to complain about the situation when I’m the one stuck in here.”

She looks over at him and sighs. “You’re not eating… You’re not drinking… According to the reports you’ve never slept and you just won’t stop staring at them.”

Gearing grins. “Poor babies can’t even handle a little staring contest? My, my, my… They’d never make it on the front.”

She stares at him for a few moments before asking softly, “Are you okay? Seriously?”

Gearing looks at her and sighs. “As okay as I’m going to be in here, as my life wastes away and ponies die.”

She frowns and asks, “There anything I can do?”

Gearing shakes his head. “Celestia’s the one that’s thrown me in here… She’s the one that has to release me.” He looks over to the side and snorts. “Probably already forgotten about me with all her parties…”

She leans in closer and asks softly, “Couldn’t you… you know... just get out of here if you wanted?”

Gearing looks at her sideways then says flatly, “Yes.” He turns to face her and waves a hoof. “If I really wanted to. I could get out of this cell, and proceed to get out of the castle.” He raises a hoof. “But… I’m no traitor…” He points off to the side towards where he’s sure the guards are cowering behind the desk at the end of the hall. “And, in all likelihood, I would have to kill them, and their coworkers, and gods only know how many others to manage to escape… And, after that, I would be branded a murderer, a traitor, or worse, and marked for life. However long that is. My family would suffer. My coworkers would suffer. My commander would be shamed and many would needlessly lose their lives because of it.”

He sets his hoof back down to being neatly folded in front of himself as he says calmly, “So… the better course of action is… Waiting here until I finally rot. However long that’s going to take.”

She shakes her head. “T- that’s not why you’re here? They aren’t going to kill you.”

Gearing looks around at the stone walls that make up the cell he’s in. “Really?” He looks back at her and shrugs. “Looks like a stone coffin to me.”

Her mouth hangs open. “You can’t be serious.”

“You’re not a pegasus.” Gearing shakes his head. “You wouldn’t understand.”

She beckons with her hoof. “Come on… Lay it on me… What’s so ‘pegasus centric’ that I, a mere unicorn, could never hope to comprehend?”

Gearing stares at her for a few moments then lets out a sigh. “We live in the clouds, you realize this, right?”

She shrugs. “Yeah? So?”

Gearing leans towards her. “Our very lives are connected to the sky… the wide. Open. Sky… Freedom and wide open spaces are at our core. It’s not only who but what we are.” He raises a hoof and waves around presenting his environment. “Guess what the exact opposite of that is.”

She looks around and her eyes start enlarging.

Gearing leans forward and says with a hiss, “There are a lot of pegasi that would have already committed suicide by this point of having to deal with this.”

Silver Aura looks around the dungeon, and at his food, then her eyes jump to their widest as she asks, “Y- you can’t be serious!”

Gearing waves a hoof. “You obviously don’t know many pegasi… And with the prospect of never getting out of here? Oh yeah. The number who would be willing to do it would grow rapidly the longer it is.”

She hops to her hooves and looks at him. “Y- you’re killing yourself… you’re really killing yourself… and using that illusion to cover it up!”

Gearing stares at her for a moment and lets out a disgruntled sigh. “That’s not- Just don’t worry about it. It’s not like anyone that could do anything about it actually cares.”

She gets tears in her eyes as she shakes her head rapidly. “Y- you can’t do this… it ain’t right.”

Gearing tilts his head and lets out a sigh. “Please don’t cry.” He waves a hoof around. “The universe ain’t fair. No point wasting tears on that fact. I learned that when I was a foal.”

She shakes her head. “You knew this was going to happen. But you came back anyway… why?”

Gearing gives her a warm smile. “Because it’s what had to happen. Any other way and it would cause too many problems.”

She shakes her head as she looks down at the ground. “I’ll… I’ll go have a word with Celestia. I’ll ask her to have leniency and-”

“No!” Gearing yells, cutting her off.

She looks up at him and sees him shaking. “Gearing? What’s wrong?”

Gearing shakes his head hard. “N- no. Don’t get Celestia involved!”

She smiles lightly. “I’m sure once she understands the situation she’ll get it sorted out.”

“No you don’t understand!” Gearing scowls at her. “Celestia’s the one that threw me in here in the first place! She already knows the whole situation and has simply decided. She. Don’t. Care about the clockwork!”

She tilts her head and asks, “Wha- what’s a clockwork?”

Gearing’s eyes go wide and he snaps his mouth shut for a moment before he snorts and looks off to the side. “Nothing. Forget I said anything.”

She looks over at the food and asks, “So, you going to eat?”

Gearing looks at her sideways and snorts. “I might as well eat the stone walls for all the good it’ll do me.”

She snorts and points at him. “You have to do something!”

Gearing looks at her and snorts back. “I don’t have to do nothing but grow old and die… Everything else is optional.”

She stomps a hoof and yells at him, “You’re insufferable!”

He gets up and walks to the back left corner as he says, “And I’m done with talking.” He spins around and sits back down in the corner, backing into the corner as tightly as he can as he just glares at her.

She looks him over and asks softly, “You- … You won’t even talk to me anymore?”

Gearing settles in, hunkering down tightly, and outright stops moving. Not even simulating breathing as he stares at the bars that make up the front of his cell.

She looks down and shakes her head. Then over at the food. Her eyes trail over it for a few moments before she turns to look at him. “I can’t allow this, Gearing. You deserve better.”

She turns and leaves and the last thing he says to her is a growling scream, “Don’t do me any favors!”

A couple hours later Silver Aura comes back with the other two unicorn security administrators. She stops in front of Gearing’s cell and looks in at him, and as she can tell, without a doubt, he hasn’t so much as moved since she left.

“Gearing? We’re here to talk,” she says softly.

He simply continues glaring in the same general direction without actually responding.

The younger unicorn stallion asks, “Is he even still alive?” He looks over at the food pile. “He’s gotta be starving by this point.”

“Gearing… come on… talk to me, please,” Silver Aura says as she looks him over.

The older unicorn growls and shakes his head. “Stubborn bastard’s probably passed out from not eating… let’s get in there and force feed him something.” One of the guards walks over to unlock the door and freezes his actions with the gush of air that hits him.

“Stay. Away. From me,” Gearing’s voice growls from his position in the corner.

The stallion guard looks in the cell then shakes his head and backs up. “Nuh uh. Not doing it.”

The older unicorn yanks the keys away. “Give me that. I’ll do it then.”

“Don’t come near me, old timer,” Gearing growls. While not so much as blinking.

The guard shivers. “Gods he just doesn’t stop that staring crap.”

The younger security officer buck lets out a sigh. “I’m pretty sure it’s just the illusion he’s using.”

The older unicorn sucks on his teeth and stares in. “I’m sick of the psychological bullshit. I’m calling your bluff!” He quickly starts unlocking it and, when the door swings open, he freezes in his tracks at the growl that greets him.

“You step hoof in this cell, and I won’t be responsible for what happens to you. Don’t be stupid. Stay. Out!” Gearing growls from the corner.

The older stallion slowly takes a couple steps back as he focuses on Gearing’s eyes and sees the serious intensity reflected in them.

Silver Aura walks over to the door and yells at Gearing through the door, “That’s fine. By. Me!” She says matching his intonation. As she steps through and closes the door behind her she waves a hoof beckoning him. “Come on… Whatever you have planned. I Deserve it… come on!” The statement doesn’t even draw a raised eyebrow from the others, as they are too focused on Gearing with the anxiety of watching a wild animal they aren’t sure when it’ll strike.

He looks at her and says softly, “No. Not you.”

She starts stomping around as she begins crying. “Why?! You’re threatening bodily harm and death on everypony else, why won’t you hit me?! I deserve it!” She stomps over and gets in his face. “Why?! Tell me why?! Take it out on me, but don’t you take it out on yourself or anypony else!”

Gearing looks up at her and says softly with a light smile, “You… You’ve tried… you’ve cared.”

She waves a hoof behind her at the others and yells in indignation, “Don’t give me that shit! We all care, that’s why we’re here!”

Gearing frowns at her then points at the others. “Sorry to inform you, but you’re oh for three on that…” He points at the older unicorn and the guard. “They told me to just starve to death, and the other one told the guards not to worry about it.”

She turns around as she balks and her eyes go wide. “Wha?!”

The guard hangs his head and looks at the other two, but is the only one to fess up. “Yeah… I did…” He look in and scowls. “I didn’t mean it though! I’d figure you’d fucking eat when you got hungry!”

Gearing looks at him and says sharply, “And I’d figured I’d get what I’d need once I was out since this ‘is only while it gets sorted out’.” He looks them over and shrugs. “Told ya she forgot about me and threw away the key… but noooo nopony would listen to me. What the hell would I know about getting screwed over for no damn reason at all.”

Silver Aura looks at the other unicorns and asks, “Well? Any word at all?”

They both shake their head and the older unicorn says, “I was just asked to try and get some basic sense of whatever magic’s working on him, but I can’t make head nor tails of it.”

The pale gray mare sits down and looks around as she tries to think through the situation. “Something’s wrong. There’s got to be something wrong with this.”

The older unicorn nods. “I must admit this is… abnormal.”

The guard waves a hoof at Gearing. “At the worst of it he should have been transferred out of here already.”

Gearing tightens up again into his defensive ball as he mutters, “Oh… and just throwing it out there… Maybe she really did just go ‘fuck Gearing’ and went on about her life?”

The younger unicorn buck stiffens up and snorts. “That’s no way to talk about the princess.”

Gearing glances at him and asks, “Which part? Cavalier attitude with somepony’s life, or apparently short attention span?”

The guard steps towards the door and waves his hoof at Gearing. “You keep that up and you’ll regret it!”

Gearing looks at him and says mockingly, “’You’ll regret it’… Tell me mud stomper… How exactly? Going to execute me? Go for it, do me a damn favor. Going to rough me up? Go for it, I need a bit of exercise and entertainment.”

The guard sneers. “Think your hot shit don’t you?”

Gearing raises a hoof and shows the broken manacle. “And you think you’re a fucking genius… but seem to have forgotten I broke the manacles thrown on me simply by stepping too far.” He snorts a few times and glares at the guard. “Stay away, for your own safety. I’m warning all of you.”

The older unicorn motions for Silver Aura to come back. “Come on… get out of there before he does something we’ll all regret.”

She shakes her head and lays down as she looks at Gearing. “He won’t hurt me.”

The younger stallion unicorn rolls his eyes. “You’re faith in his decency is both remarkable and terrifying.”

“He won’t,” She repeats. “Will you, Gearing?”

Gearing lets out a snort. “No.”

The guard raises an eyebrow as he asks, “But you’ll beat the shit out of me?”

Gearing glances over at him and says flatly, “Bad enough mood I might accidentally kill you actually… so stay. Out.”

“Gearing!” Silver Aura hisses. “That’s enough!”

The guard takes a step back and looks around. “Threatening to murder a royal guard is a high offense.”

“I didn’t threaten you, dumb ass. I simply said what might happen… it’s like somepony telling you not to step into a fire because you might get burned… If you do it anyway, it’s your own damn fault,” Gearing grumbles.

Silver Aura shakes her head then looks over at the others. “Our job is the safety and well-being of everypony involved with those coming through. Those brought to us have their care entrusted to us, by Celestia and Luna.” She shakes her head. “This situation is having profound effects on him and, I believe, he’s suffering from mental degradation from prolonged isolation.”

She turns back to look at and regard Gearing for a moment as she says, “I do not believe it would be wise to leave him alone any further.”

The guard groans and rolls his eyes. “Come on. He creeps me the hell out. Just look at that stare!”

She shoots him a scowl and repeats with scorn, “Yes… ‘just look at that stare’… Thank you for proving my point!” She looks over at the older unicorn and shakes her head. “I don’t think he’s handling this well, despite how he appears.”

The older stallion looks at her then waves a hoof towards Gearing. “What do you expect me to do?”

She shakes her head then rolls her eyes before waving it towards him. “How about you find out why he hasn’t been transferred out yet? How about that?!”

The older unicorn stallion looks between them and says softly, “Luna and Celestia’s been gone for days tending to matters of state. I’m not sure when they’ll be back and-”

He’s interrupted by the growing rumble of laughter from Gearing. They all turn to stare at him and he points a hoof at the old unicorn as he looks at Silver Aura. “Ohhh told ya! I fucking told you…” He folds his hooves in front of himself as he asks, “Going to give me some bullshit about how this is just ‘a big misunderstanding’ still?”

She balks and her head whips back and forth. “It is! It truly is!”

Gearing points at her. “Do us both a favor. And just shut. Up. About that bullshit. Okay? Because so far you,” He waves a hoof at all of them. “Are coming across as blatant liars, and… really... It’s insulting to my intelligence when the evidence is quite. Fucking. Clear!” He whips his hoof around and clangs and smacks the nearby wall with the chain dangling from his forehoof repeatedly, emphasizing each word with a strike.

He lets out a forceful snort and glares at them. “So, until you have something that actually supports what the fuck you’re saying… don’t even bring it up.”

The guard glares at him and snarls. “Know your place, criminal.”

Gearing stares at him for a moment then leans to the left and comes back with his hoof hitting the wall with a loud crack. Causing a piece of the stone to break off and go flying away from himself. They all recoil from him as Gearing says with a growl, “Know. Yours.” He lays his head back down and grumbles. “Now just fucking get out of here and let me die in peace…” He glares at the guard with his eyes wide. “Or don’t… and end up in pieces… your call.”

The guard motions for the pale gray mare to come towards him. “Come on. Get out of there. I knew he was cracked.” He looks at her and tilts his head as he keeps beckoning her over. “Move it! Before he does that to your skull!”

She looks at Gearing, then lays back down, tucking her hooves under herself, as she shakes her head. “No. I’m not leaving him alone.” She looks over at her coworkers and smiles lightly. “He won’t hurt me.”

They collectively look at her absolutely appalled. The guard asks with a hiss. “Is this crazy infectious!? What makes you so sure? What makes you so special that he’ll ignore you when he obviously wants to smash me into the- ohh god he’s staring at me again!” He ducks to the side behind the stone wall and shivers.

Silver Aura looks sideways at Gearing, then shakes her head as she tilts her head and grins at her coworkers. “Maybe he just thinks I’m too cute to pulverize?”

The older unicorn frowns and looks at Gearing. “That just means there’s other concerns to be worried about then…”

“I won’t harm her,” Gearing says flatly. “You have my word.”

The other unicorn buck snorts. “‘Your word’? Really? Now I’m really worried, who tries that bullshit? When a criminal says that, it’s always a bad sign.”

Silver Aura shoots him a dirty look. “I’d thank you to remember your station, and realize that he’s only in here as punishment for a childish prank. I expect you to give the colonel the proper consideration his position deserves.”

The unicorns eyes shoot wide and he asks as he points a hoof at Gearing, “Colonel? Him?!”

“Colonel Gearing, Equestrian Defense Force, serial number Sierra Zulu 61357.” Gearing stares at him for a moment before snorting. “Any other stupid questions?”

The older unicorn snorts then looks at his younger counterpart and nods towards Gearing. “Completely explains the attitude and ego…”

Silver Aura scowls as she adds, “And his indignation at being illegally imprisoned.” They all stare at her and she waves a hoof. “Don’t deny it. He’s already supposed to have had a hearing by now. And he knows it.” She looks over at Gearing and frowns. “I’d be pissed if I thought I was forgotten and fell through the cracks too…”

The older unicorn motions for her to come out. “Alright… fine. I get it… now would you please come out of there so we can lock the door?”

She shakes her head. “No. I’m staying here until this is sorted out.” She looks at Gearing. “Something’s wrong and I want him to know that he’s not forgotten.”

Gearing looks over at her and gives an appreciative smile as he continues to settle into the corner.

“I don’t want to lock you in with him… that’s just asking for trouble,” the guard around the corner says softly.

She shakes her head. “Then don’t lock the door at all.” They all look at her like she’s truly lost her mind. She lets out a sigh and points a hoof at Gearing. “He’s not going to flee. He surrendered without incident. He’s too honorable to just flee, even with the door open. He has too much to lose if nothing else.”

The younger unicorn stallion waves his hooves. “No way. You can’t trust him to just stay put.”

She looks at him and tilts her head. “Why not?” They look at her like she’d grown a third head. She waves a hoof at the wall then at the gate. “He could have gotten away at any time.” She points at his broken manacles. “I’m pretty sure the only thing keeping him in here right now… Really keeping him in here… is his sense of honor and loyalty…” She scoffs, “Hardware damn sure isn’t doing it.”

The older unicorn waves a hoof. “Alright… fine… But, if you need anything… help’s within ear shot… okay…?”

She nods and smiles. “Thanks. But I’m sure that won’t be necessary.”

The unicorn bucks walk out of sight as the older one mutters, “I’ll go try and see what’s going on… You just keep working on that other project we were asked about.”

The younger stallion unicorn nods as he looks at Gearing before turning and heading away. “Sir.”

Gearing and Silver Aura sit there not talking, and the only movement is her eyes traveling over his body and her regular breathing. After a few minutes longer, after the door at the end of the hall closes, she yells out, “Hey! You at the end of the hall… you can hear me, right?”

The mare security guard takes a step towards the cell and yells back, “Yes, ma’am, everything okay?”

She yells back, “Just checking. Nothing’s wrong now, thank you.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the jailer mare says as she settles back behind the desk by the entry door.

The security officer says quieter, “Hey, Jailer?” There’s no sound and she says a bit louder, “I know you’re standing there, soldier, I can smell you from here.”

He peeks around the corner looking abashed. “The hell! I had a shower this morning!”

She giggles at him and shakes her head. “Yeah, but you might want to cut back on that cologne though…”

He snorts and looks off to the side. “Helps cover up the dank down here…”

She giggles again then looks at him. “Would you kindly go join your coworker… I need to have a private conversation with him.”

The guard’s eyes go wide and he leans towards her. “You can’t possibly be serious… I was told to stay here and make sure he doesn’t try anything.”

She waves with a hoof. “Well, as I just proved, your coworker can hear me clearly all the way down there when I really want you to. Besides. I’m not exactly helpless you know.” Her horn flashes for a moment as she grins.

The guard hangs his head. “Fine. Please don’t do anything to get me in trouble.”

Her smile flinches in one of pain as an unpleasant memory surfaces and a moment later she waves it away. “Don’t worry. It’ll be fine.”

After his hoof steps have disappeared from ear shot, she gets up and walks to the door and peeks out just to make sure. After exchanging looks with the guards at the end of the hall, she turns back around, walks over, and lays back down near Gearing. “They’re gone. Want to talk about it?” she asks softly.

Gearing looks at her sideways and sighs. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

She uses her magic and drags in a couple trays of food. “How about why you won’t eat? It’s been days.”

“Why don’t you eat it? It’ll do you more good than me,” Gearing retorts.

She frowns and levitates a cake up in the air for him. “It’s not poisoned… or do we need to have an exact similar conversation about how poisoning you would be counterproductive too?”

He rolls his eyes and chuckles. “I wouldn’t care if it was poisoned.”

Her eyes go wide as she lowers the food to the tray. “You’re… really trying to starve yourself to death, aren’t you? Why? To prove a point about how screwed up the system is or something?”

Gearing shakes his head. He chuckles, “You’re off base… Poison just doesn’t work on me… It’s not a problem.”

She tilts her head and asks, “Then why won’t you eat?”

He shrugs. “It’s a waste... You eat it… or let the guards eat it… or, hell, set up a snack table in the foyer and let the tourists have a taste. I don’t need it.”

She folds her hooves in front of herself and snorts. “Fine… if you’re going to be stubborn… then I’ll be stubborn as well.” He raises an eyebrow and she smiles. “I’m not going to eat till you do.” She gives a prim nod.

He lets out a long sigh and shakes his head. “That’s like challenging me to a staring contest… you’re gonna lose.”

She raises an eyebrow. “You doubt my conviction is as strong as yours?”

Gearing waves it away with a hoof. “Doesn’t matter how strong your conviction is… you still have your hide to worry about.”

“And you don’t?” She asks with a raised eyebrow and a partially closed eye.

He drops the illusion for a moment, showing his clockwork visage as he grins at her. “No. I don’t.”

She looks down at the food then back up at him in time to see his dark blue pelt reappear. “I still don’t think you can just keep going by sitting in the corner and doing nothing.”

“Nothing productive to be done.” He shrugs. “Best thing I can do is stay out of the way.”

She shrugs. “Fine… hope you don’t mind the company. Because I’m not leaving.”

He waves his hoof at her. “Suit yourself… bed’s right there if you get tired.”

She shakes her head. “Nope.”

He settles in and just keeps staring at the door to the cell as he goes visibly still again and continues running through a variety of scenarios through his mind.

Footnote: Prioritizing Emergency Reboot Protocol. . .

Emergency Reboot Protocol Initiated. . .

Critical components reinitializing, please stand by. . .

This is one of the chapters that is probably going to cause more questions than giving answers. And the answers to them won't be for a long time yet. There's a lot going on here in the undertones of both actions and the characters involved. But providing a bit more of a hint towards something involving a certain clockwork. Which will be built on some more in the next chapter. This trip down historical lane will last another chapter before we return to the present.

Thanks again for all of the help in getting this story going, and to both Kkat and Somber for their works that have helped inspire this.

-Quillsy