Ask the Characters #1

From: Anon

To: Gearing

Gearing, when you first woke up in the stable, all tied up on the floor, why didn't you just run away at the first opportunity? Especially with the way Handy was treating you? I would have.

Response from Gearing as of Chapter 100:

“Woooow, when you said you had a question for me, you weren’t playing around with small stuff. Went right for the throat, didn’t ya? I mean, how much time do you got?

Short answer is: I was going to. Almost did. But I just couldn’t leave the kids. Apple Armor and the others.

See, when I woke up trussed up like a roast, I had a lot to worry about at the time. Being in sticky situations was nothing new. Waking up the way I did certainly was. Especially with an AI powered protectapony that was doing its damnedest to get around its combat inhibitor and ash me. Let’s not kid ourselves, that cable Handy used wasn’t really that big of a problem for me. I could have broke it in short order. My real concern was what else I had to deal with after that, and that drone, I figured, was just the tip of the iceberg.

And then there’s the fact that at the time, I didn’t really buy what they were telling me. I’d been through enough training to know of more than a few methods that the other side used to trick folks into giving up information. There’s training to combat some forms of what amounts to mind raping.

And, honestly, I thought that’s what had happened to me. That the zebras or some other faction had managed to capture me in some way and had me in some sort of interrogation machine. Because my very first instinct was to get out of there, and report to one of our safehouses for help. But, if I did that I’d give away their locations. So I decided to hang out for a while and wait them out to figure out if it was true or not. Training always stressed noncompliance and being tight lipped, because the more you complied the deeper they could burrow. Time would be on my side.

After dealing with that fake ass Bradoak loser and clearing the way, I fully intended to leave 68 and go make a hideout somewhere in the wilderness while I sorted stuff out. But once I got outside, I found all of those kids and, you know, with everything else, I couldn’t just leave them there.

Like, if this was just a simulation, than I could simply stay in the stable, and it would accomplish the same thing as setting up in a shack out in the middle of nowhere. Just busy myself, play repair pony, and give up nothing otherwise. My captors wouldn’t be able to gain anything if I kept on my pinions. But if this was reality, then I’d be both helping them, and myself. And it would put me in a stronger position in the long run. So, doing the calculations, it was a better choice over all to stay. Especially morally.

Although, if I’m being honest, even though I had my doubts about this being reality at the time, seeing that poor filly Figgy dead in the cage ended the internal arguments I’d been having about bugging out. If it wasn’t for finding them all, I would have left and not likely looked back. So, for better or worse, there’s no telling where I’d be at this point if it wasn’t for them. But, at great risk to my personal safety, I'll say one more thing. In hindsight I'm glad I did. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have stuck around long enough to meet Sable. And I wouldn't trade her for the world.”