Truly Evil?

Dusk's ears perked when he heard the tapping, and soon saw the pony in the tube was awake, and the one that was tapping on the glass. "Ician, the pony's awake!" he shouted. Dusk then came right up to the tube and shouted, "Can you hear me?" to the pony inside. He figured that if he was hostile, he'd just break out.

June's eyes widened, and she rushed to the tube alongside Dusk. She found it interesting that the pony was awake at all, it seemed that they would keep it under sedation. Well, at least she would. But that was unimportant, and she refocused on the pony in the tube. He- or she, maybe- seemed important, as they were being genetically modified. She waited to see the pony's response to Dusk. If the tube pony couldn't hear, she had a notebook at the ready to write messages on.

"Oh?" Ician asked, with naught but a neutral inflection to his voice. Considering he hadn't known what to expect, he simply stuck with what he'd read in the occasional novel he'd had time to read. This wasn't exactly a surprising development, insofar as fiction had dictated.

That didn't stop him from being pretty surprised, though. He was just good as hiding it.

He trotted up to the pony in the glass and scrutinized him. "Alright, I don't suppose any of you know how this machinery works?"

The pony looked at the ponies outside, two guard types and some other pony. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that they were outside and he was inside. He needed to even the odds.

He began to concentrate magic at the end of his horn. The sedatives were messing with his magic abilities, but whoever put him in here, most likely the ponies outside, hadn't done their biology homework.

He formed the magic into a cutting beam and fired at the glass.

June blinked, stepping rapidly away from the glass. "Well, looks like they're going to free themselves." A pause. "Maybe we should just let them do that, then talk."

It would seem that the whoever had put him in the tube had considered other possibilities as the magic beam barely scratched the thick glass casing. The action however did seem to have a few consequences as the machines hooked up to the tube all began flashing red. A quiet alarm started to sound off as a tube shaped metal casing started to descend over the container. This casing looked the same as the one that was holding shut the other at least semi-intact tube.

"I don't have time for this!" He shouted. Then he remembered his specialty: Replication and alteration. If a cutter can't scratch it, then one could just lower the breaking point of the glass, or find a stress point.

He scanned the container with a spell, looking for the weakest points in both parts of the container.

Ician flinched backwards as the laser blasted at the casing, and a metal casing began to descend on the container. "Whatever it is, he just tried to shoot a magic beam at us, or at least the glass facing us, which is sill quite indicative of his hostile intentions. If it's all the same to you, I'd prefer it if we didn't give him the chance to talk. Not until we subdue him." He levelled his sword at the descending metal casing and extended his hoof towards the side. His pet snake slithered immediately out of his nodded cloak and into the shadows beside the casing, waiting patiently.

"Don't let your guards down." He said darkly. "Aim everything you have there, until we can be sure that we're safe."

June opened her backpack and pulled out a small vial filled with a cloudy substance. A pretty basic tranquilizer, made so that the victim was only physically subdued. For interrogation. She made sure she had a clear shot, then kept speaking. "I'm just going to play victim's advocate and say maybe they wanted out of the tube, if the scream meant anything. If he is bad, you could take him." Probably.

While the container was magically resistant, hence why it was able to ward off the magic blast, it didn't interfere with the magical examination. That however didn't mean the container had a lot of weak points. In fact, the thick glass tube seemed remarkably well made, and had a scarce few weak points over it's surface. Meanwhile, the metal casing continued slowly creeping downward along the tube, slowly sheathing it in complete darkness.

"We'll never know if this pony is friendly if this thing closes. If he's innocent of any wrongdoing, I'd hate to leave him trapped in this thing forever," Dusk said. His next decision could be considered extremely stupid. He placed himself under the metal casing and placed his front hooves so he'd be pushing up. He was hoping he could slow or, preferably, stop the casing with his strength.

He decided to do something drastic. With all the built up magic, he created crystalline shards.

He yelled "Adamantine SPLASH" as he fired them faster than the speed of sound at the few weak points that he did find. He decided to reach into his 'forbidden reserves' that he had collected so he wouldn't go hungry and poured them into the attacks, praying he wouldn't have to use any more magic.

When Dusk's hooves met the metal casing, he was able to halt it's descent. The machinery was lowering the case rather than forcing it down. This however meant that he was soon dealing with the the entire weight of the metal case and it was HEAVY.

A steady pecking sound however could be heard by all though as the pony in the tube launched small volley of crystals at the glass container. While they were slowed significantly by the thick liquid that suspended the pony, the shards were still hitting the container with a decent force. Enough that cracks were beginning to form in a few places around the container. As the attack went on, these cracks slowly grew, spider webbing out from the impact point and eventually cracking enough that a few leaks started to form. Given the thick nature of the liquid though, it merely trickled down the side instead of the spouting fountain that would normally be present.

Meanwhile, the machines all continued their quiet alarms and red flashing. The steady light given off by them shifted as a new warning came up and the alarm had a new note added to it. If anyone decided to go over to a monitor, they'd see the words 'Warning, casing track obstructed, Warning'. These warning signs were off slightly to the side though and the other screens that displayed what they had when the ponies had entered the room still showed what they had.

Ician groaned. "Dusk, don't be an... I mean, a..." He watched as a web of cracks began to snake outwards from several points along the container. "Okay, look, alright, you've done what you wanted. Now, on the off chance," he ground out sarcastically, "that whatever is in there actually wants to hurt us, why don't you ready up a fireball or something." He shook his head. "It's all fine and good to think that whatever's in there is innocent, but keep in mind that we've been wandering through an enchanted mansion that's tried to kill us left and right. I think it would be more prudent to assume that everything is trying to kill us unless proven otherwise. All I'm saying is that we give that pony a chance to explain himself, under controlled circumstances. Which means, we make sure we can finish him off if that's what it comes to."

He could hear their voices outside. He was close to escaping, he could almost taste the fresh air. He was riding a magic high, and it felt wonderful. He felt like he could do anything! This was the part of his nature that he was afraid of, feelings rather than thought. But none of it mattered right now. Getting even with his captors mattered.

He charged up a powerful shockwave spell. "Ha, that cheap glass won't survive this one!" He poured all his energy into the spell, then unleashed it.

Dusk didn't catch mush of what Ician said, but he got that he thought what he was doing was a bad idea. He was too focused on keeping the casing up. His muscles were already straining under the immense weight, and he knew he wouldn't be able to hold it for long.

However, when he noticed the glass was cracking, he knew a decision had to be made. If I stay here, it'll ensure the pony can get out, but if the glass shatters it'll tear me to ribbons. If I leave, I'll easily survive, but the casing might close before he can get out. ...I promised my mother I'd live through this, and I'll do what I can to do that. He then got himself out from under the casing, and went back by Ician and June. Although he didn't take an aggressive stance.

As Dusk stepped away, June was already searching through her backpack for something to hold the case open. If she could only find the jack- no, wait, she lost that. Then the leg would have to do. At least it was solid. She upended the bag, and the iron leg slid out to slam into the floor. "Ician, Dusk, one of you please jam this under the case. I can't lift it."

"Oh, for goodness' sakes!" Ician shouted and rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. Just make sure the two of you actually get ready to restrain him if need be. Dusk, get ready a fireball. June, I don't know what it is you use for offense, but whatever it is, try to make it quick. And nonlethal." Ician dropped his sword and his horn began to glow very brightly, using the full extent of his telekinetic strength to try and lift the casing back up. He might not be able to shoot fireballs, or lasers, or cast illusions, or even teleport, but if there was one thing he was good at it was telekinesis. Because it was the only thing he could do.

He strained as hard as he could, his horn glowing with all the power he could muster. He was pretty strong, he knew that, but whether he was strong enough still remained to be seen. He physically took the iron leg from June and rushed forward, cramming it under the casing in an effort to stop it from moving any further downwards while still exercising his magic in case the leg wasn't enough.

Dusk decided to take some of Ician's advice and charge a spell up, although he only charged up a magic blast and not a fireball. He hoped he wouldn't have to use it, or get physical with this pony since his muscles were still recovering a bit from the strain from holding the casing in place.

As he saw Ician try to life the metal leg with his magic, he had no doubt Ician could. Dusk could lift the leg more easily with his hooves than with his magic, yet he could lift it with his magic just fine.

June held the vial at the ready, and prepared a second one. Something in the back of her head noted that she really needed more in terms of offense. She told it to be quiet, as Ician and Dusk had that covered. They had significantly more direct magic, like fireballs and swords. June's was... subtler. But it worked fine. But, back in the present, it didn't seem they needed the leg. Shame.

When Dusk released his hold on the casing, it quickly made up for lost time, dropping a few inches instantly. Then June's table leg was wedged under and the downward progress finally halted to the groaning sounds of metal straining to hold against metal.

Had the container not been weakened by the physical assault of the crystal barrage, the magical shock wave wouldn't have done a thing to glass. However, in it's weakened state, the glass took enough of the force behind the attack for it's cracks to finally reach from the top to the bottom. As the first few pieces became loose and dislodged, the rest of the container came crashing down in a torrent of glass shards, green fluid, and one staggered pony.

The unicorn staggered out, shaken and riding a magic high. He saw the ponies standing in front of him and charged forward. He created a crystal halberd out of thin air and went to swing it at the first guard pony (Ican), but he overshot and dropped the halberd.

At that moment, the magic high ended, and he crumpled to the ground, gasping for breath. He couldn't feel his limbs at all, nor could he concentrate to create a spell. He was spent at the moment. He wondered if the ponies would try to hurt him in any way, or if they really were his captors...

Ician flinched backwards as the halberd hurtled towards him. He was prepared for something to happen, of course, but he wasn't quite expecting that. Nonetheless, his sword returned to his grip and moved to parry the halberd - for whatever good that would do - but he stopped short as the unicorn crumpled to the ground and gasped for breath.

He sighed, though he did not yet lower his sword. "Okay, June, you might want to help him now." He bent down and stared at the pony. It was often that the first response showed the biggest part of a questionee's personality, so he had to be careful. "Are you alright? What's your name? And what are you doing here?"

The unicorn lay there, gasping for breath. He closed his eyes and turned towards the guard. "D-Diamond M-Mind"

He lay there for a moment, before getting enough air to speak again. "W-woke u-up here.... N-not okay..."

Ician sighed again. It was become an awkward habit, it seemed, but it was just that so many things lately were sigh-worthy. "Alright, June, give it whatever you've got. This guy needs help." He looked at Dusk. "Don't let your guard down just yet, though, there may be all sorts of dangers still around." Like liars, possibly.

He turned his attention back to Diamond Mind. "Okay, calm down. You're safe now, from whatever it was. I'd appreciate it if you could tell me everything you remember."