Adventures and Alicorns

The prison in the town was not difficult for Rainbow Dash to locate. She didn’t even need to ask anypony for directions. As soon as she had flown into the sky and acquired a mid-air view of the towns layout, it had become readily apparent which building the prison was.

It was a large grey mass near the eastern edge of the town. It was multiple stories tall, causing it to quite easily dwarf the buildings resting nearby as most of them were pretty ramshackle to begin with – the second floor of a building wasn’t even a concept most of the ponies who lived here could think about. This was quite obviously the slums… or moreso the slums than the rest of the town was. Advent was pretty low quality already but it seemed that no matter where you went, every borough was destined to have its own shanty-town.

In comparison to the squalor surrounding it, the pristine grey brick of the prison’s outer walls served as a sign. Even Rainbow realized what it meant almost as soon as she saw it. It was tall for a reason, it’s edges austere and defined, with guards constantly stationed on the roof, looking out over the crenellations and keeping a watchful eye. It was imposing, it was powerful, but most importantly, it was hope.

At first Rainbow couldn’t believe it, but after a few hours of mulling over her thoughts and keeping a clandestine profile as she cased the perimeter of the building, it became clear. Hope was the right word. She witnessed firsthand how the over-crowded populace of the slums seemed to revere the prison. On the surface, it almost seemed like a show of respect out of fear that they could wind up there one day, but that wasn’t even close.

Their words carried on hushed whispers, often just barely loud enough for her to eavesdrop. The fact was that it was common knowledge Advent’s thieves guild had the guards deep in their pockets, which meant that the thieve’s guild essentially owned the prison, including whoever was in it. The leader of the criminal gang was Stoneherd, which Rainbow recalled having heard the name from Dirk earlier in the day. Whoever this pony was, he meant business with the town of Advent and seemingly had everypony in his sway.

Time trotted along its path though, and Rainbow found herself having to buy a room at an inn a few blocks down from the prison’s front entrance. She needed to rest, but she also needed a place to her lonesome with which to plot her plan of attack. Somehow she was going to have to break Goldshine out of a prison while under the watchful eye of guards.

Facts about the prison’s defenses and notes scrawled out in her own messy handwriting were laid out atop a massive unrolled scroll, on which she had scribbled out a rough sketch of the prison. She had spent a few hours already going over everything, adding details here as she recalled them and crossing out notes there as they became invalid.

“Alright,” she said at last. “I think that’s everything.”

With a sigh and a stretch, she rose from her position crouched on the ground. She screwed her face up into a grimace as she rolled her arms and twisted her back until multiple loud ‘pops’ echoed forth. A contented smirk and a relaxing wing stretch later, she found herself looking out the window into the outside town.

Night had already fallen during the course of her plotting. She could just see the final dredges of the sunset disappearing in the sky to the west. The moon should be about to begin its own flight through the night, though Rainbow couldn’t see it to be sure – the one window in her room faced west, away from the prison as well. She had tried to get a room on the other side of the building, but they had apparently all been booked.

Rainbow turned and rested momentarily against the frame of the window, the small of her back pressed up to the wood. If her timing was right, she had just about an hour before she needed to begin her plan to rescue Goldshine. She had hoped to rest a bit until then, but unfortunately she had no way to ensure she'd wake up in time. There was no other way than to just remain awake.

Not like I could sleep anyways… she thought, her eyes roving over the one tiny bed in the room. It was covered in all the many pieces of her armor, which apparently had an inner chainmail lining for further protection. Straps of leather and buckles to hold it all together criss crossed over the plates, each one of them completely undone so she could remove it all.

It had felt good to get out of the armor. After a few hours of wearing it, her shoulders had kind of started to hurt from the weight of it. It was even slowing down her own movements. The first thing she had done upon getting her room at the inn was find out how to remove the entire set of armor. It hadn’t been easy, and in fact had been a slow and arduous process, taking well over fifteen minutes.

She turned her head downwards and looked at what little clothes she was wearing. A thought that hadn’t crossed her mind until she tried to remove the armor was ‘What am I wearing underneath…?’ That had been answered by a resounding ‘Almost nothing’. She wore a thin white undershirt which provided no warmth whatsoever, as well as an equally thin pair of black shorts. She wasn’t even wearing underwear beneath the clothing, though she assumed it was for the utility of the armor.

She sighed, once again wishing she had thought to buy clothes when she made her character, and not just armor. I wish Twilight had said something.

“Well, might as well do something while I wait.” She pushed herself off from the window's frame and crossed the room to the wall opposite her bed. Splayed out on the ground there was the entire contents of her backpack. She had needed to take inventory of what she owned before she made a dangerous venture into the prison. Once more the notion tickled her mind; I’m actually about to do something an adventurer would do in one of these games. That’s just so weird!

She crossed her legs and plopped her rump to the floor, scooching slightly closer so as to have all her supplies within arms reach. She idly scanned through them until she found what she was looking for: a bottle of cleaning solution.

Rainbow suppressed a laugh as she stood back up, the bottle in her right hand. She remembered how she had first thought it strange that Dark Sword would own a cleaning solution. She didn’t remember purchasing it on the equipment list. However, as soon as she had wondered about it, she had immediately caught a whiff of something pretty stanky and it didn’t take long for her to find the source: her armor.

She had vowed to clean it before she put it back on, and since she already had to wait around a bit, she decided to get a head start.

“I wish I had a servant to do this for me. This is gonna be so gross…”

Finally, after spending all that time watching and planning and preparing, the moment had arrived for Rainbow Dash to set her plan in motion. She had left the inn through the window of her second story room, being extra careful to avoid detection. With one swift flap of her wings she had taken off from the window sill and flew straight up, her back an inch away from the outer wall of the inn. As her head came level with the roof, she somersaulted backwards through the air, putting her just barely above the roof.

The light from the moon was half masked by some large, dark clouds which had come in from the east. What light did make it through was hardly bright enough to see with, and Rainbow was certain that her black armor and the lack of light on the western facing of the inn had prevented her from being seen. Most ponies were asleep at this hour anyways, so she felt confident in the fact that her plan was already going smoothly.

Dropping silently to the roof, she crept over to the south eastern corner and peered over the waist high wall that surrounded the entire top of the building. The roof itself had a ladder on the backside for climbing down into the alleyway behind the establishment, though Rainbow had no intention of using it. Her eyes instead scanned for the two lone guards that she knew would be on the roof of the prison at this hour. The roof of the inn was lower than the roof of the prison, but not by much. She was just able to see the tops of their heads, illuminated by their torches.

She had needed to give up five gold pieces to a street urchin for the information about the nightshift guards, but it was so far accurate to the detail. The common folk of a town were always the best place to go to learn the local information and gossip, but the pickpockets of the slums always knew the movements of the enforcers, and Advent was apparently no different.

A grin grew on her face as she silently flapped her wings and lifted herself into the air. Up and up she flew, giving herself a high vantage point with which to scan the ground below. Once she felt that nopony could possibly see her in the dark and cloudy sky, she began to fly forwards so as to position herself over top of her target.

She cast her sight about below, once again taking in the prison’s shape and design. The entire structure was one massive building, though a curving wall stretched off from one side and wrapped around the front before reconnecting to the main building, thus creating a sort of courtyard. A lone iron portcullis was at the front of the wall, allowing prisoners and guards access into the compound. The wall itself wasn’t very thick though, and really just served as a show of force. Rumor had it that there were rooms inside of the wall, but they had never been confirmed.

The outside of the prison was lit by torches which were stationed every twenty feet or so along the top of the wall, and above the gate on the inside and outside. The front door of the prison inside the courtyard also had a solitary torch resting directly above it. Each of the guards in the compound had a torch in one hand as well, assisting them in lighting up the darkness surrounding them.

Time to get started.

Rainbow Dash continued to hover at her high altitude as she carefully pulled the strap of her backpack off of her left shoulder. Freeing it from her left arm, the pack then slid to the right as she rolled her right shoulder, causing the remaining strap to slide down to her elbow. She grabbed the bag with her left hand and, keeping the strap wrapped around her right wrist, opened it up and retrieved the item she needed: a small cloth pouch with a drawstring at the top that had been tied securely.

Returning the backpack to its proper place, she took one last glance at the pouch in her hand. The smile on her lips grew a little wider as adrenaline already began to pump through her veins. As soon as she let this go, her prison break would begin for the pouch contained two vials of alchemists fire, as well as three blind-stones which exploded upon impacting a hard surface.

In Equestria, she had never attempted something like this… She and her friends had occasionally fought against tyrants and monsters who wanted to control the world, but this was… different. She couldn’t quite put her finger on how but there was a childish fantasy to the idea of making a life out of adventuring. It just wasn’t something regular ponies did in the normal world. Here though… She was really about to break into a prison and risk her own life in some crazy scheme to save a friend from an unjust fate. That kind of thing really only ever happened in stories…

Her heart pounding in her chest, Rainbow glanced at the pouch one last time before giving it an underhanded toss forwards. She didn’t want it to land on the prison itself, so she needed to throw it in front of her just a little. As high as she was, she was confident that she wouldn’t hit the prison. She watched the bag fall for a few seconds, mentally preparing herself for what came next.

This is it! No going back now!

Her body went into a controlled freefall as her wings stopped flapping, the wind rushing past her face and limbs. Her hair and tail whipped around behind her as she grit her teeth in a fierce smile, a spark of energy growing in her eyes. Within a matter of seconds she had already reached a speed equivalent of a vertical dive. Flipping her body around so that she was facing the ground with her feet above her, she angled herself so that she could easily open her wings and pull out of the dive. However, she couldn’t do it too early; she had to wait for her sign…

Steadily the earth below grew larger and larger, the buildings upon it looking like the teeth inside a gaping maw ready to devour her. Come on, come on…, she thought, her eyes peeled as she anxiously waited for the moment her pouch collided with the ground. As soon as it did, that would be her cue to open her wings again. It should have hit by now, shouldn’t it?

Just as she was about to end the freefall out of fear that her plan had already failed, she saw it. There, upon the roof of a building next to the prison, a bright flash of light accompanied by a lot of green fire burst forth. Even over the din of the wind in her ears, Rainbow could still faintly hear the sound of the burst. Her eyes darted below her, checking to see where the guards on the prison roof were.

Just as she had predicted, they had heard the noise and rushed over to the edge of the building to look down and see what had happened. Their positions revealed on the dark roof by the torches they carried, she easily determined a safe spot to land as she unfurled her wings and began spiraling down silently.

A grin lit up her face as she touched down on the prison roof directly behind the two guards. She didn’t bother to conceal the noise; her next actions would have revealed her presence anyways. Startled, the guards flipped around to look at her. One of them was a brutish looking earth pony, the other a shorter, wiry framed unicorn. Both were wearing light chain armor and equipped with short swords.

“What the hell!?” the unicorn said, his eyes frantically scanning over Rainbow’s body. “Y-you’re under arrest! This is a restricted area!”

“Sorry, I just got a little lost,” Rainbow said, innocently raising her hands into the air in front of her. The grin on her face wouldn’t die down though and ruined the entire ruse, not that she really cared.

The earth pony began to step forward a bit. “Yeah, right. I bet you’re the one that set off that fla–”

He reeled backwards, his sentence cut off by Rainbow’s right fist flashing out and solidly connecting with his nose. Before he could try and regain his footing, Rainbow saw in her mind what to do next. Dark Sword’s combat expertise was once again kicking in, her mind staying calm and allowing her to analyze the fight from a seemingly outside perspective. Without knowing how she knew to do it, she instinctively crouched down onto her left leg, her right leg extended out to her side. As soft as a breeze, she twisted her body and sent her leg into a sweeping arc headed directly for the pony’s stumbling feet.

“Waagh!” he cried out as Rainbow’s leg swept his feet right out from under him. A thud resounded as he hit the ground, his breath being forced out of his lungs from the impact. He lay there, his hands clenched on his armored chest as he gasped, attempting to get any air at all into his body. His torch had flown from his grip when she tripped him, it’s wild arc sending it right over the edge of the roof and to the ground below.

A wild yell reached Rainbow’s ears as the unicorn threw himself at her, his torch also abandoned and rolling away on the roof. Still slightly crouched as she was, there was no way for her to properly avoid his grapple. He wrapped his arms around her and attempted to pin her to the ground.

“Assaulting a guard means execution!” he shouted, spittle landing on Rainbow’s face from the close proximity to his own. “But I’ll kill you here and now! Save us the trouble of a trial!”

Rainbow’s grimace morphed into a predatory grin as she successfully wriggled her knee up in between her and the guard. “Try me!” She kicked out, her hoof planted firmly against the poor pony’s pelvis. His arms let go of her as he was launched backwards, his feet srambling backwards to keep him from falling over.

Unfortunately, he was too close to the edge.

Rainbow pushed herself up, just barely lifting her eyes in time to see what she had done. His face was twisted into a look of abysmal terror as his feet were forced out from under him by the crenellations edging the roof. His arms stretching out in front of him, it seemed to Rainbow as though the world was in slow motion. Only one word was racing through her mind, driving her to dive forwards as fast as she could.

No!

It was too late. She collided with the crenellations, her upper body extending out over the edge as she looked down. The guard was falling, a scream tearing from his lips as he tried desperately to grab onto something, anything that might stop his fall. His hands connected with nothing.

“No…”

A loud crunch filled the air as he collided with the ground, his eyes locked open and staring up at her.

“No…!”

He had landed next to the torch that the other guard had accidentally lost over the edge, it’s flickering light casting a long shadow on the ground from the guard’s broken body. A pool of dark blood mixed with the thirsty dirt beneath his body, reflecting a dull sheen from the light which only made the sight that much more macabre.

“No!“

Rainbow was horrified. She had never meant to kill any of the guards. Her intention had only been to knock them out and leave them up on the roof, relatively unharmed. Nopony was supposed to die!

She twisted around and slumped against the battlements, her eyes staring at her shaking hands. The sound of the other guard still coughing and trying to get up reached her ears, but she didn’t care. She had just killed a pony.

I hadn’t meant to! she rationalized. It was just an accident!

“Oh god… Oh my god…” the earth pony said between wheezes and coughs as he pushed himself up onto one knee and looked over the edge. “You… You killed him… You god damned killed him! You monster!”

No… I’m a murderer.

How quickly it all had changed... Not even a minute ago she had felt actually excited for the thrill of this combat. She was beginning an adventure, a quest of sorts, and it was exciting… It was thrilling… But now? Somepony had died because of it.

But he’s not a real pony…! This is just a game afterall!

It doesn’t matter, it’s real enough. I’m here, aren’t I?

But it’s not my fault! H-he was a corrupt guard! All the guards are evil here!

That doesn’t mean murdering him is okay. I’m not Dark Sword, I’m Rainbow Dash. I don’t kill ponies, no matter what!

No, you don’t understand, he–!

Suddenly she felt herself rolling to the side, hard. It was random and chaotic, causing her mental train to completely derail. Upon finishing her roll and shooting up to her hooves, she saw the reason why it had happened at all. The other guard had just swung his short sword through the very spot where her neck had been a mere moment before. Dark Sword’s combat instincts had forced her to dodge, even when Rainbow’s own mind was in too much of a jumbled heap to think about survival.

“You monster…” the earth pony repeated, his face twisted into an ugly expression of rage. “You killed him. He was my best friend… And you killed him! I’m gonna rip your wings off and throw you off the edge of a thousand buildings before I let you get away with it!”

Rainbow stared at him slack jawed, her eyes wide. Everything she knew told her that this pony was in the right. She really had killed his friend, so his reaction was justifiable. This is how she’d have reacted if he had murdered one of her friends… But Dark Sword’s combat instincts kicked in once more and she found another voice in her head, one that she had never heard before.

You’re not giving up, are ya? Its voice was scratchy and rough, similar to her own but a few octaves deeper. You’re not gonna let this guy kill ya, right?

W-what? she responded, the word coming to her mind almost as easy as saying it aloud.

Look, we can’t die here. Sure, we killed a guard and now your eggs are all scrambled. I get it. The first time I killed somepony, I felt that way too. But our friends need us right now. There’s more important things to be focusing on.

Wait, but-

Just focus on winning. Focus on staying alive and getting the job done. Once this is all over, then you can go ahead and cry and blubber like a sad little filly, but right now is not the time.

Now… is not the time…

Exactly. Enough feeling sorry for yourself. Get going.

“Now is not the time…” she repeated, the words no longer in her head.

“The hell you say!? I’m gonna gut you like a turkey, you murdering bitch!”

Rainbow’s vision returned in full which was slightly disorienting as she hadn’t even realized it was missing. She found herself once more in control of her body, but everything was suddenly… clearer. Things were more in focus. The guard in front of her was charging forward, his short sword held out to his right as he prepared to swing it in a slashing arc.

In her minds eye Rainbow saw the scene unfold in front of her. The battle in her mind was revealing to her what moves she should make mere moments before she copied them in real time. The guard was coming in with a diagonal slash aimed at her left shoulder, so she raised her left hand and caught his wrist while simultaneously stepping forward with her right hoof. His attack blocked and the space between them void, she put all her strength into swinging her right hand up and, with her palm out, cuffed it against the earth pony’s left ear.

“Gaaah!” He instantly dropped the short sword in his right hand and stumbled backwards, cradling his head. Rainbow knew full well how much a discombobulating strike to the ear hurt; when done right, the nausea from it could make a full grown pony puke. Unfortunately for this guard, that’s exactly what happened.

As he sat there, his stomach heaving out its acids, she looked at him with a mixture of pity and sadness. She had no time to waste though. That voice was right… I need to save Goldshine.

Rainbow Dash snapped her right hoof into the air, her front kick connecting square with the guards puking face. He landed on his back, motionless and unconscious, bile dribbling out of his mouth and mixing with the blood from his broken nose. She walked up to him and knelt down on her toes, her arms resting on her knees.

“I’m sorry…” she said, pressing a hand to his chest to ensure he was still alive. “I didn’t mean to kill him. I swear, I never meant for this to happen.” She sniffled softly as she thought about how this pony would feel once he woke up. Sure, he’d have a hell of a headache, but the empty space in his heart that his friend had once filled would never truly heal… and it was entirely her fault.

She reached out and retrieved the keyring that hung from his waist. These keys were why Rainbow Dash was up here. These keys were why that pony died.

“I’m sorry…”

Standing up, she quickly ran over to the crenellations directly above the courtyard and the front door of the prison. Without glancing back she jumped off the roof, unfurled her wings, and glided down to the ground.

“Hmm…” Dirk rubbed his chin idly in thought, his eyes locked on the prison across the street. He was sitting in the living room of a rundown home owned by an old mare named Cauli Flower who lived there by herself. Dirk had been the pony who first handled her fee to the thieves guild, and thus had imprinted himself on her as a force of nature. After the events of that morning with Dark Sword returning and immediately going after Goldshine again, he knew right away whose house he should force himself upon in order to keep a vigilant eye out.

Ms. Flower of course had practically no say in it. As soon as he had showed up at her doorstep, she made herself scarce and over the course of the last six hours he had only seen her once. It was odd though… In the past he would have thought that was perfect. He never really liked the old mare. She dawdled about too much for his tastes. However, today was different somehow… He genuinely felt a little remorseful upon seeing her feeble attempts to protect herself from an assault she thought was coming. Had he really been so cruel in the past that she thought he was here to hurt her again…?

His mind again returned to when Dark Sword had easily bested him that morning, and had decided to not kill him. Well, ‘decided’ was probably not the right word… That would imply she had even considered killing him at all. No, he knew that wasn’t true. He had seen her eyes and despite the fact that he was attacking her, they had held no enmity for him. No malice.

She may have defended herself, but in her eyes there was only concern and empathy.

“What are you up to, Dark Sword?” he whispered, his breath fogging up the glass in front of him. “It’s night time, I thought you’d have made your move by now…”

His eyes roved over the prison walls that were visible to him. He had a decent view which allowed him to see both the front portcullis in the surrounding wall, as well as the western side of the prison and the alley beside it. Tired he may have been after six hours of sitting still and waiting, he wasn’t about to give up. He had seen her determination; he knew she’d be here. But when…?

And what am I gonna do when she shows up…?

The thought had been burning a hole in his head, a painful nibbling that he just couldn’t get to stop. No matter how he looked at it, he was in a state of confusion. He was an Enforcer in the thieves guild of Advent; he had a position and power and by every rule he knew, Dark Sword should be stopped and killed, if not at least brought forward to be punished by his leaders. And yet… her words still rang through his ears.

”Because I wasn’t going to kill you in the first place.”

”Isn’t it obvious? You’re a living pony. I have no right to take that away from you. I’ve never killed anypony before and I don’t intend to start now.”

Dirk snorted, the window once again fogging up and forcing him to have to wipe it clean. The squeaking of his hand on the glass sounded calming somehow, helping him put his thoughts in order. Or at least try to.

“You weren’t gonna kill me, huh…? Just what kind of pony are you, Dark Sword? I mean, what kind of life can you lead with morals like that? Show me your guts, Feathers… Prove to me that your words aren’t just fantasy.”

As though in response to his challenge, a loud bang suddenly echoed forth from across the street, a flash of bright, green light accompanying it. The source was on the roof of the building directly to the west of the prison where a column of green flames licked at the sky for a brief moment before dying down in size, shrinking to the point where he couldn’t see them over the lip of the roof.

His eyes scanned about, looking for anything out of the ordinary. He bit his lip and clenched his hands into fists as he tried to force himself to stay still. That was no coincidence… She did that, I’m sure. Where are you Dark Sword? Show me.

The seconds ticked by aggravatingly slowly as he scanned about, waiting for a sign of where she was located. He was about to give up and run outside when his eyes spied something that made him pause. A guard had just been knocked over the western edge of the prison’s roof before falling all the way to the ground below. The pony didn’t even scream as gravity took it’s toll.

“What the hell…?” His eyes were once again looking at the roof where he saw something he really didn’t want to believe. “Dark Sword…?”

Dirk stood up from his chair, something inside of him beginning to bubble and boil. “You… You…! God dammit!” He wasn’t even sure why it made him so angry. Dark Sword was just a pony after all, and this just proved it. She was just another rotten, lying pony. Why should that upset him? He was right in the end. Nopony was above murdering their fellows.

I guess that… part of me just wanted to believe that her words were true… That somewhere out there, there really is somepony who can live like that.

He scoffed. “Stupid. Don’t know what I was thinkin’. She’s no different than anypony else is this shithole.”

Stretching his arms over his head, he felt his back pop and straighten out. Letting out a content sigh as he rolled his neck a few times, he picked up his empty bottle of hard cider and turned to look at the rest of the room. His eyes fell on an old desk that Ms. Flower had saved from her family’s history; one of the last things she had left of her heritage, or so she’d said.

Briefly, that flash of anger from before resurfaced. The bottle resisted his grip though, his knuckles whitening as he clenched hard on it. He strongly wanted to vent his frustration by just chucking the stupid thing as hard as he could at the ancient desk.

“...No.” He closed his eyes and let out a breath. “That bitch might be a liar, but her words were nevertheless right.” And still, her eyes… She hadn’t faked that kindness…

None of it made sense! Just what the hell was with that damned pony!? She said words sweet as honey which confused and disoriented him, and then went and threw a guard off a roof!? “Augh!” He smashed his hands into his forehead, the bottle still tight in his grip.

“... What the hell am I gonna do…?”

Rainbow Dash opened the door to the prison and stepped inside cautiously. Her information hadn’t covered where guards would be stationed inside the building; it was strictly limited to where the temporary holding cells were located. She found herself in a front waiting room, a few chairs spread to the left and right of the small, cramped space. At the other end of the room was a desk, as well as a guard sitting at it. They were both facing the front door.

For a moment, Rainbow Dash froze. The pony hadn’t moved yet despite her entering the room. At first she felt slightly anxious, her left hand even moving towards the hilt of her weapon before a noise drew her attention.

“... Zzzz…”

“No way…” she whispered, her voice hardly even reaching her own ears. “He’s actually asleep?”

This was perfect. All Rainbow Dash had to do then was sneak past him. The door to the rest of the prison was right behind him. Thinking it through, she decided it’d be best to try out her ability to make active decisions once again. I’m going to move silently all the way to that door.

Sure enough, her body immediately began to move, her eyes scanning about and her feet stepping in all the spots that were least likely to make noise. Her armor was quieter as her deft hoofwork brought her all the way to the desk. However, as soon as she was about to step behind it, her hoof smacked painfully against it’s side.

“Muh, what? Huh!?” The guard was quickly on his hooves, the chair he was sitting on creating a loud screech as it’s legs scraped against the stone floor. “I wasn’t sleeping, I swea–” A fist to the face cut him off before he could continue to splutter his lie. The poor guard fell backwards and landed on his rump, one hand rubbing his broken nose.

Rainbow struck out her left hoof, a sickening crack reaching her ears before the guard went limp on the ground.

“Ugh, shit…” she muttered, one hand pressed against her forehead and rubbing down her face. What the hell happened…? I thought I’d stay silent by doing that ‘action’ thing…

Her eyes scanned over the guards body for a moment as another thought intruded upon her mind. She dropped to her knees and placed her head against his chest. She strained her ears, trying desperately to hear a heartbeat, her hopes falling as she was answered with only silence. Just as she was about to sit back up, she heard it. The beat was faint, but there all the same.

Rainbow Dash sighed as she stood back up. Thank god… I already murdered one pony and had to risk the deaths of two more. I never want to have to do that again...

She pulled out the keys which she had taken from the guard on the roof and proceeded to unlock the door. The creak of hinges desperately in need of oil filled the room as it opened, Rainbow dropping the keys back in her pocket. She crossed the threshold and closed the door behind her, attempting to quietly let the latch click closed.

She wished that she hadn’t needed to attack the guards on the roof. It had resulted in more chaos and problems, but it really was the only way. The information she had gotten did include the fact that the guard in the reception area never had a set of keys on him, ever, particularly because of situations like this. During the day a second guard would be stationed in the room she was in now, ready to unlock the door from the inside if it was ever needed. However, at night time, this room was devoid of life.

Her eyes looked about the room, taking in the furniture and the doors. There was the empty desk where the doorguard would sit at when he wasn’t unlocking doors or escorting ponies about the prison, as well as a set of keys hanging on a hook behind his seat. She didn’t need them though; she already had her own.

Her body carried her almost as though it was on autopilot, taking her to each of the doors in turn. She glanced through the bars at the top of each door and looked down the rows of cells that she could see beyond them. Each one housed a different wing of the building, but all of these rows were temporary holding. Well, except for one, and that specific area was filled with desks and offices for the guards who worked here.

The intel she had was that the first floor was used for processing a prisoner and holding them until they were either released or transferred to a more secure cell. Those were all on the second floor and above. It was simple really; the higher the floor, the more secure the cells. All the worst inmates were at the top floor, and apparently her keys couldn’t even unlock that door.

Rainbow let out a slow sigh. She had no way of knowing which one of the prison cells held Goldshine. I guess it’s just down to looking…

As she unlocked the first door and pulled it open, her eyes went to the torches which were still lit in the row of cells beyond. There was one between each cell, hanging in a sconce above head height.. That’s odd… Shouldn’t they be doused at night time so that the ponies inside could sleep…?

She began to walk in, her head twisting left and right as she looked in each cell that she passed. It slowly dawned on her why the torches were still lit. Her pace sped up, the sound of her hooves clopping on the stone floor echoing about.

“No…” She turned and ran back, going through a different door. The torches were lit in this hall as well. “No…!” Once again she ran down a separate hall, the cells and the torches the exact same as the last two. “No!”

Her voice echoed about the floor a bit as she came to the end of the row. There was no other wings of temporary holding to look through. Each of the cells were… empty.

“No no no!” Rainbow fell to her knees, her hooves sliding out to her sides as she smacked her hands to her temples. “She’s supposed to be here!”

Rainbow let out a scream of frustration, her voice rough on her vocal cords. “Dammit, no! I killed a pony to get here! I’m not letting this end in failure!” She stood back up and turned to head out, deciding that she’d check each of the floors of the prison if she had to. Goldshine had to be here somewhere, she needed to be, because… if she wasn’t…

As Rainbow was running back down the row on her way to the main room where the stairs were, her eyes caught sight of something peculiar. She skidded to a stop and backtracked, looking to see what it was that had caught her attention. One of the cells had something strange about it... She went up to the bars to get a closer look.

On the back wall of the cell, written in large letters, was a single sentence. Only… it wasn’t written just once. It covered the entire wall, possibly a hundred iterations of the sentence, and each one was exactly the same. The words shone red against the stone surface leading Rainbow’s mind to believe that it was written in blood.

“Knowledge of the game... becomes knowledge of self…” Rainbow read, her voice barely above a whisper. “What…? What does that even mean, ‘knowledge of self’? Was this what she was screaming…?”

She reached for her keys, intending to unlock the door and get a closer look. Before she could even grab them though, a voice from the entrance to the hall caught her attention.

“... Rainbow Dash?”