Fragments (Patreon)

 The broken pieces of inhibitor rings were laid out on Celestia's desk in my Equestria dreamscape. They were blackened in spots and the metal was discolored. A testament to the intense energies that had suddenly surged through the ring. 

  
  Celestia levitated a random piece and examined it for a couple seconds before returning it to it's place on her desk. The Co-Ruler of Equestria slowly she took a breath and then let it out, She then addressed the ponies assembled in her office. 

  
  "Okay everypony. What happened?" It was a matter-of-fact statement but everypony assembled there could sense the frustration simmering just beneath the surface. Keep her away from me. 

  Gleaming Shield spoke first. "Your Highness. Last night at 12:25 while Princess Luna was conducting a scheduled questioning of the prisoner Lucky Card in the Dream Realm. Their was an incident in the physical world which resulted in the death of the prisoner." 

  
  The Captain of the Watch levitated a report up and scanned it for the information he was seeking. "At this time myself along with the other parties assembled here are trying to reconstruct exactly what happened. What we know at the moment is that there was a uncontrolled release of magical energy from either the ring, the prisoner, or some not yet discovered player or phenomenon that resulted in the detonation of the ring which killed the prisoner almost instantly."

   
  Celestia took a sip of her chamomile tea and then looked at Bloodfeather who was laying on a nearby divan . "You were the pony who originally placed the ring on the prisoner when they were apprehended in Manehattan?"  Scale Bearer 

  "Yes m'am." Said the mare in a very official voice. 

  The alicorn nodded her head. "And this ring was taken from palace stock?" 

  "Yes m'am. I requisitioned the ring from palace inventory before departing for Manehattan. It's recorded in the palace logs."

 
  Celestia looked over at Captain Firewing who nodded his head. "That is correct your Highness. The logs show that the ring was issued to her. Corporal Sand recorded it in the log and he has testified that he remembers the incident." 

  "Had the ring been inspected before being issued for the operation?" Celestia was staring at the broken pieces again. At least most of the blood had been removed, but there were still traces of it on the fragments. 

  Gold Scryer spoke. "Yes your Highness. My staff had inspected when it returned from its last use. All functions were satisfactory for letting it be reissued again." 

  "Could the ring have been tampered or damaged before or after it was placed on the stallion's horn?" 

  
  Gleaming Shield spoke up. "No your Highness. The ring was inspected on the prisoner when they arrived and it was inspected daily by my staff. Also the wards in the prisoner's cell are designed to thwart attempts by third parties to tamper with the ring." 

  The white alicorn looked over at Doctor Rolling Hills. "Doctor you were the physician who responded to the call last night. What is your initial report?"

 
  The doctor consulted her notes. "Your Highness, the prisoner seems to have died from an uncontrolled feedback loop in the ring and the prisoner's own horn. This loop eventually resulted in a detonation of the ring which resulted in massive, instantaneous cranial damage. All attempts to resuscitate prisoner failed. The prisoner was pronounced dead on the scene at 01:25." 

  Rolling Hills closed the folder she'd been reading from. "An autopsy is scheduled for later today. At that time we maybe able to discover new evidence that may shed light on what caused this to happen." 

  
  Celestia nodded her head and looked over at her sister who had been sitting silently like a black cloud in what was generally a brightly lit room. "Luna you were direct communication with the prisoner when this occurred. What is your recollection of the incident?" 

  The Defender of Dreams finished sipping her coffee before responding. "I had just begun the questioning when the incident occurred. When I'd determined that something was horribly wrong I ended session and immediately returned to the waking world. I then teleported to the prisoner's location in the stockade. When I arrived I found the guards attempting to open the door to the prisoner's cell. In the interest of haste I decided to wrench the door open and was the first one to enter the cell. The prisoner was already dead. From Lucky Card's dream fabric vanishing, to my entry of his cell was no more than one minute." 

  
  Celestia's face was deadpan as she continued to stare at her sister. "What was the conditions you'd created for questioning of the prisoner?" 

  "It was setting you and I had agreed on earlier in the day sis." Luna said this with a blunt voice as she returned her sister's stare.  

 
  "When were you aware in the Dream Realm that was something was wrong with the prisoner?" Celestia looked over at True Note who was writing down the whole meeting.

 
  "We'd just begun the session when the prisoner collapsed and started pleading. They said they'd tell us everything. However their one condition was that. We kept her away from them.

    Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Did they state who this was?"

  Luna shook her head. "No they didn't. What was also unusual is the fact that Lucky Card was acting as if there was a third party present at that time. However the incident occurred in my dream fabric, and I had taken all appropriate precautions to assure that no other pony was there, or that a being from Dream Realm had not entered it." 

  Celestia pondered this last statement. "Rolling Hills. Gold Scryer. Is it possible that the onset of the feedback loop could've resulted in the prisoner hallucinating the presence of another pony in my sister's dream fabric?" 

  Gold Scryer rubbed the back of her head with a front hoof. "Maybe. Possibly. But it seems unlikely. The feedback even at the very beginning would usually make hard for one to focus on anything. In fact that is what makes this situation so exceptional. The usual response to feedback is to lose consciousness. Which normally results in the feedback stopping." 

 
  Celestia looked at Luna again. "Sister. You'd met Lucky Card in the waking world at least once. What was your impression of him?" 

  "Smart, wily, arrogant, callous, absolutely ruthless, and even after everything he'd been through he had the air of a pony who thought he could find a way out of his predicament."

 
  Her older sister pursed her lips and looked around the room at the ponies assembled there. "Is it possible that somepony might've pre-planted a spell that would be activated in the prisoner if they experienced a certain stimuli? Could someone in the Association or the prisoner themselves had planted a effectively a suicide spell that would've created this incident?"

 
  "Possible, but not likely." Said Gold Scryer. "It is not in the realm of impossible, but such a spell would be very difficult to create. Would require multiple sessions to assure it was properly implanted in the subconscious, and still wouldn't account for the fact that the prisoner generated more magical energy than the inhibitor ring could handle. The rings the Royal Court uses are massively overbuilt to avoid a situation like this. In fact short of yourself or Luna I don't think there's a pony alive in Equestria that can generate the power necessary to result in the detonation that occurred." 

  Rolling Hills spoke. "I agree with Gold Scryer your Highness. Lucky Card was a unicorn of fairly normal magical capabilities. We have recently acquired his medical records, school records, and accounts from other ponies. He never exhibited anything approaching the magical potential demonstrated last night." 

  Celestia looked at the ponies in her office. She didn't like asking the next question, but it needed asking. "What about a magical booster? Either cast or physically introduced to prisoner by a third party? Something the prisoner might've not even been aware of? Say a potion or something in their food?" 

  Gleaming Shield scowled. "Your Highness! In light of the incident involving the prisoner Rakorno and their escape. Loose ends  We've taken measures to assure that such an incident wouldn't happen again!" 

  Celestia nodded her head. "Understood Captain. But it is still a question that has to be asked and explored." 

  She looked again at the broken ring fragments on her desk. "Everypony. In less than one year there has been two incidents involving prisoners in the palace stockade. I want answers and I want solutions to prevent this from happening again. Understood?" 

 To be continued.