Scootaloo awoke to the same roar and clang as the day before. Thanks to the merciless mining work from the other day and the two lashes across her back and across her right hoof, she was hurting everywhere, even in places she didn’t know existed. Scootaloo slowly opened her eyes, bringing her hooves up to rub the small bits of sleep still trying to pull her into a peaceful slumber.

Scootaloo looked over at Silver Spoon, shivering under her blanket. Even after everything she had done, in that moment standing over her school bully, she couldn’t help but feel a tremendous amount of pity for the filly in front of her. Scootaloo slowly rose from her spot on the ground, but froze as Silver Spoon began to stir. She must have lain on a sore spot as her eyes shot open and a cry of pain left her mouth. Scootaloo watched her cry out in pain, slowly turning to stare at their shared cell’s stone wall to give Silver Spoon the small amount of privacy she could.

When she finally settled, Scootaloo turned her head enough to see Silver Spoon in the corner of her eye. Scootaloo spoke to Silver Spoon for the first time since returning to their cell. “You know what this wall could use? A Mural.” Silver turned to her cell mate and smiled a bit, which caused Scootaloo to slightly smile in return. The door opened, and the voice roared to get going. Both fillies stood and headed for the same tunnel as yesterday, being given the same tools as before.

Scootaloo briefly wondered if she would always mine or if she’d pull a cart one day, stopping her train of thought when she reached Archer picking at the wall at their shared third level mining spot. “Hey Archer,” Scootaloo whispered to her new friend.

“Hey Scootaloo,” came the quiet reply. After an hour of picking away at the stone wall, Scootaloo’s mind began to wander, so as she wiped the sweat from her forehead, she decided try to start up a conversation.

“So Archer, what are your parent’s names?”

Archer looked over at Scootaloo, raising an eyebrow, but after a moment she shrugged and decided to answer. “Well my mother’s name was Fritter, and my dad was a royal guard who died before I got to know him,” Archer finished, turning back to her work.
Scootaloo picked away at the wall again before thinking of another question for Archer.

“What’s your favorite food?”

“Okay, what’s with the questions Scootaloo?” Archer asked.

“Well, we will be here for a bit, so I thought it would be nice to get to know each other,” Scootaloo responded in a slight panic as if she’d done something wrong to upset her new friend.

“Easy, its cool I was just wondering is all. If you really want to know, I love carrots. Especially baked ones with butter and salt,” Archer stated, fighting back her body’s desire to drool.

“What about your favorite color?”

“Duh, it’s blue like my coat” Archer teased “Okay, now what about you? I told you some stuff, how about you return the favor? What was your life like before all this?”

Scootaloo paused for a moment to remember her wonderful life only a few days prior, but it felt like it had been weeks. After a few more moments, Scootaloo remembered to speak. “I don’t remember where I was born. We moved around a lot, but I ended up at Ponyville after a while. I made some friends and together we formed the Cutie Mark Crusaders, then I formed the Rainbow Dash fan club and then I was adopted by her. I mean really adopted. It was so cool. I was writing in my….my diary when they grabbed me. I hid it in the woods next to her house so she didn’t think I was lame.” Scootaloo’s cheeks got red and her eyes began to get watery. She took a moment to compose herself and said, “So where did they get you?” Archer continued working, turning her head slightly to answer.

“I was grabbed outside of my house. It was… alarming, I guess. I can’t think of any other way to describe it.”
Scootaloo nodded her head, understanding what she meant. Scootaloo felt gems in the wall again, this time they were emeralds. ”So Archer, about those crystals…”

“Oh yeah, forgot about that. Well from what I’ve heard, the crystals in some of the walls are magically enchanted, something about the gems being in the ground for so long that they take on magical properties, form Equestria’s magical layer lines, and it’s rare but when the gems are small enough they can be used for thing like lights in the tunnels or the illusions they put near the three entrances, but most of the time you find them in the walls in huge clusters and, when you strike them, ca-boom! They cause some kind of magical release.”

“So is that what the big gems in the center of the mine are?” Scootaloo asked, glancing over the third level scaffoldings platform a few steps away to stare at the giant gem in the middle of the mine.

“No, those are mine markers. There’s red, green, and blue. As you can see we’re in the green mine. I’ve heard the blue mine is the cruelest, so if they move you there just keep as quiet as possible, even a whisper is punished with eight lashes.”

“Eight! Why so many!?”

“Shhhhhh,” Archer hushed Scootaloo just as a dog passed by. “It’s the mine chief.”

“Who?” Scootaloo asked, confused.

“Every mine has a mine chief. They’re in charge of the mines, while they answer to the warden, who takes orders from the commissioner’s office”

“What’s the commissioner’s office?” Scootaloo asked.

“They’re-“

“PONIES! Back to your cells!”

Scootaloo let out a quiet groan as she was forced to leave the mine and have to wait for her questions to be answered the next day. Scootaloo began walking down the tunnel to her cell, taking note of the tunnels with their cold, dark, empty walls flowing endlessly beyond. Scootaloo wondered how far they truly went, looking around to the bodies that took up space in the emptiness she saw some of the other ponies as she went. Some were crying, some were pushing food carts filled with the awful gruel. Scootaloo never thought to question why they only gave them gruel in the mines and nothing else. She’d have to ask Archer about it next time she saw her. As she continued walking, she saw some ponies huddled together, sharing their sorrows in the dark tunnels.

Reaching her shared cell, Scootaloo saw Silver Spoon crying under her thin blanket. Walking over, Scootaloo put her blanket on Silver Spoon’s back. Silver Spoon sniffed as Scootaloo lay down next to her. With a few more minutes of crying and sobbing Silver Spoon finally gained enough courage to speak. “Why did you give me your blanket?” Silver asked through a sore voice. Scootaloo thought about it for a few minutes. Why had she helped, this filly who made her everyday life at school torture? True, it was mainly Diamond Tiara, but Silver Spoon was just as guilty. After a few more minutes, Scootaloo finally spoke.

“Nopony deserves to suffer like this.” With that said, Scootaloo thought back to her conversation with Archer earlier that day.

“Hey Silver?” Scootaloo asked the filly next to her, a ‘hmm?’ was her answer. Scootaloo took this as a sign to continue “What are your parents like?” Silver Spoon paused. After a few moments of silence she answered with a question of her own.

“Is this like the conversation you had with Archer?”

“How’d you know about that?”

“You were loud enough for me to hear when I passed by.”

“Oh. Then yes, it’s like the conversation I had with Archer.”

“Ugh, fine, I guess since there’s nothing else to do. My father is a silverware manufacturer, his company makes silverware for most cities across Equestria, except the princesses and a few cities here and there, but most of the time he travels a lot, that’s why I was staying in Ponyville. To be honest, I don’t know much else about him. I don’t think he ever really cared to begin with…” she paused, realizing she was giving away too much of her relationship with her father. Silver took a deep breath and continued “My favorite food is hay fries-“

“Really?” Scootaloo asked in shock, not believing such a pampered pony enjoyed normal things.

“Yes now hush. My favorite color is orange.” There was a pause as the information was digested. After it clicked in Scootaloo’s brain, she began blushing heavily. As their cell door was shut, Scootaloo was happy that the room was pitch black now so she could better hide her blush.

Silver Spoon noticed how Scootaloo had grown quiet and scooted closer to her so they were laying against one another. Scootaloo noticed Silver’s movement, but said nothing. Silver almost couldn’t believe she was huddled up with Scootaloo, and Scootaloo was accepting it after all she had done to her. After a while both ponies lulled off to sleep, leaning on one another in a soft embrace. After a moment Silver spoke soft in Scootaloo’s ear.

“Hey Scootaloo?”

“Yeah?” Scootaloo softly whispered back, trying to fight sleep for a few final moments.

“You kind of… stink.” Silver said the last word gently, trying to lighten the blow.

“Shut up, and go to bed.” Scootaloo ended the conversation with a light huff.

Scootaloo awoke to the same loud bang and roar that each new shift brought carrying with it the same headache of a new day of work to come.

It had been two shifts since Silver Spoon’s and Scootaloo’s slightly friendly conversation and soft embrace. Archer had been moved to Red mine so Scootaloo was unable to speak to her, but as the ponies began their walk down the cell tunnel, they found all the mine pony’s sitting around some were discussing proper mining techniques or which picks they should try to get. Scattered amongst them were a few games made from carved stone many left untouched as any available players had a desired to gather extras sleep then play. Looking around as Silver walked up next to her, Scootaloo spotted Archer across the room, standing next to one of the left side tunnels. “Come on, Silver, lets go talk to Archer. She might know what’s going on.” After finally making their way across the room, Scootaloo and Silver finally met with Archer. “Hey Archer, what’s every pony doing out here and not working?”

“Oh, well once every week we get a rest day to recover for the next weeks mining.”

“That’s weird. Why would they care if were rested?” asked Silver Spoon.

“The dogs are cruel, but they’re not stupid, at least not these ones. They know that if all we did was work work work, everypony would die from exhaustion.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

“Hey Archer, why are you standing outside these tunnels?” Scootaloo asked, curious.

“I was just hanging out outside this one looking for you guys. Come on, let’s go to the kitchens and eat.” Archer said, hurriedly pulling her wings tightly to her sides and heading over to the next tunnel.

Scootaloo and Silver followed Archer to the tunnel to their left. It was the closest tunnel on their left to the entrance that they first came from. As they walked down the tunnel, Scootaloo decided to ask a question. “Hey Archer, what was in the tunnel you were standing in front of?”

“That was the guard barracks. Here’s the kitchen.”

Scootaloo looked around at the averaged sized room filled with six tables, two in three rows. Directly in front of them was a small serving counter with a pot filled with more gruel. Behind the counter was a stallion, and behind him was a door which Scootaloo could only assume led to the cooking area.

“So what can I get you three little ones today?” said the stallion

“The only thing we get, Cluster. Come on, we’re hungry,” Archer snapped at the server, now identified as Cluster. Taking a closer look at the stallion, Scootaloo could see his horn had been broken off, and the stump sealed shut. She could also see his back left leg had been broken and was held by a crude splint that he could lug around, allowing the crippled stallion some small amount of movement. Looking closer at the splint itself Scootaloo could see that it was made of two crude pieces of wood barely holding, the two pieces were held together with an old ragged rope bit no longer than her own foreleg.

“Alright, alright, here’s three nice delicious bowls. You’re welcome to sit in here or eat out in the common area,” Cluster said as he hoofed over a bowl to each filly as they moved forward. Taking her bowl, Scootaloo followed Archer and Silver Spoon to the closest table, choosing to sit next to Silver Spoon with her back to the serving counter. Taking a deep breath, Scootaloo looked down at the horrible gruel before her and gasped, seeing a slightly brown apple slice sitting atop the slop.

“Hey Archer ther-“

“Hush!” Archer quickly shushed Scootaloo before she could utter anything further and began glancing around the room.

“You’re clear,” Cluster said behind the counter.

“Scootaloo, Cluster here worked out a deal with one or two of the guards. He got them to get some apples from the surface. They don’t always go up, but when they do the dog he talks to manages to get some. Only the lucky ones get any apples, and normally there’s a line, so these must have just come in. Isn’t that right, Cluster?” Archer spoke the final part to the cook.

“Yeah, these came in about an hour ago. If you crush it up and mix it with this slop it makes it almost bearable, but don’t let the guards see them, alright?” Cluster finished his explanation with a friendly wink towards Scootaloo.

Scootaloo followed the stallion’s advice and crushed her apple piece between her hooves and tossed it into her bowl. After mixing, she raised the spoon to taste, and found the gruel’s normal flavor of bitter had a sweet under taste to it that reminded Scootaloo of home. She smiled and turned back to Cluster.

“Thank you, Cluster. It really is a lot better.”

“Oh that’s no problem. Um, I don’t believe I asked your name, little one.”

“Oh, my name’s Scootaloo, and this is Silver Spoon.” Scootaloo gestured to the pony next to her.

“Well, welcome to the mines. If you have any questions or need something, I’m your pony.” He followed the statement by releasing a hearty laugh and wore a huge grin stretching from ear to ear, the kind of smile that you couldn’t help but smile back at.

“Thanks. I don’t suppose you have a way out of here, do you?” Scootaloo questioned halfheartedly.

“Sadly, no. That’s one of the many things I lack, but name it and I’ll see what I can do for you.” He replied with another friendly wink and a kind smile.

After the three filly’s finished their food they returned their bowls to Cluster and went towards the exit, but Scootaloo stopped before they were completely out. “Hey guys, I’m going to hang back with Cluster for a bit.”

“You sure, Scoots? There’s actually some fun games to play in the commons. Somepony carved a Battle Clouds game.”
“Nah, I’m good. But you guys have fun, alright? I’ll see you later.” With their good byes said, Archer and Silver Spoon turned around to head back to the commons as Scootaloo walked back over to Cluster and pulled a chair behind the counter to sit next to him.

“So what’s up Scootaloo, do you need something?” Cluster asked curiously.

“No I’m fine but well… you’ve been here awhile right? Is there really no way out?”

“Sorry Scoots, but I was serious. If I found one I would have left already, but you must have stayed for another reason, am I right?”

“Well yeah. I mean you serve ponies their food and you talk with them a bit, but they normally just leave after, right?“ Scootaloo saw a small nod from Cluster. “So that means you don’t have anypony to talk to normally, right?”

Cluster looked down at the little filly beside him and smiled. He hoofed her another apple and winked at her, saying, “Thanks for the thought, but I’m fine really. But since you’re already here we can talk, so…” Cluster sat awkwardly, waiting for a conversation topic to present itself.

“So ummm… oh I know, what does your cutie mark mean?” Scootaloo asked, looking towards Cluster’s right flank to see a slightly unrolled paper with a few stars on it.

“Oh, that. I take it you’re asking because you don’t have yours?” He smirked down at the blushing Scootaloo. “Well if you really want to know, I was a map maker a few ummm… years ago I think by now.”

The conversation continued for a few hours, jumping from a variety of conversations until an idea came to Scootaloo “Hey Cluster?”

“Yes Scootaloo?” he responded after filling the last of the bowls for a new group of colts that had walked in and left after the news that the apple slices had arrived.

“Well I was wondering, how did you meet Archer? The way you talked to each other seemed kinda, well, buddy buddy.”

“Oh, well Archer and me have been talking and looking out for each other for about seven, eight months now. Why?”

Scootaloo simply stared at the Stallion before recovering her senses. “What do you mean by months? She told me she came here with my group.”

“She did, huh? Then she probably has her reasons. If you really want to know, you should go ask her yourself.” Scootaloo thought about it for a moment and decided Cluster was right. She hopped down and put the chair back at its original table and started walking to the exit of the kitchen

“I’ll see you later, Cluster, alright?” Scootaloo spoke over her shoulder as she walked away.

“All right, good luck.” She heard him reply.

As Scootaloo entered the commons, she spotted Silver Spoon smiling smugly at a ranting Archer. “Hey guys, everything okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine. I just lost for the ninth time at this dumb game.” Archer said a little annoyed.

“Oh, all right, but I wouldn’t recommend playing Silver, she’s really good. Every time Cheerliee let us play board games on free days she would go undefeated.”

“Great, now you tell me,” Archer huffed

“Archer, can I ask you something?”

“You just did,” Archer quipped

“Okay, ha ha. But seriously, why-“ Scootaloo was cut off by a roar from that same dog who gave every announcement.

“PONIES TO YOU CELLS!” With those words uttered, Scootaloo cursed under her breath, saying she’d give a kiss to whoever shut that dog up for good as all the ponies were forced to head to their cells.

Scootaloo walked into her cell with Silver Spoon close behind. They soon settled with their blankets huddled in the center of the room, each pony’s head laying on the others back. Scootaloo was going to ask Silver about Archer, but she decided to ask her tomorrow. For now, sleep’s sweet song was calling her away. Scootaloo’s last thought before she drifted off was how she was going to find a way to talk to Archer in the morning.

“GET UP PONIES!” roared the voice down the tunnel.

“Silver Spoon, I really want to beat the snot out of that dog,” Scootaloo said in a hissing whisper as she stood and stretched.

“He’ll get it one of these days,” Silver responded, also standing and stretching. Enough shifts had passed that Silver Spoon and Scootaloo could tell the general location of their cell door.

The door opened and the two little fillies walked out into the tunnel’s dim light and heard the crying of the ponies around them, the same crying that originated from each strike of the whip across flesh and fur. Both ponies involuntarily shivered and began walking left, heading down the tunnel to the commons. As Scootaloo entered the commons she saw a small number of ponies lined against the far wall between the guard’s barracks and the boarded tunnel. This was the first time Scootaloo had seen this happen, and so she stopped to stare with a number of other fillies and colts.

“Hey Silver, what are they doing over there?”

“I don’t know, but it can’t be good if their hooves are against the wall. Let’s go, I don’t want to see this.” Silver Spoon’s pleas to leave fell on deaf ears as Scootaloo remained rooted to her spot in the commons. To Scootaloo’s horror, a small line of dogs came and lined themselves up with each pony against the wall, each carrying a whip and a face of cold emptiness. As the final dog finished its alignment, another appeared at the edge of the line and walked forward to stand close to the center of the room. He wore a darker shade of grey metal than his brothers a few paces behind him.

The dog in dark armor opened its maw and uttered a gut wrenching howl that clearly sent shivers through the crowd of on looking ponies. With a sick grin, it once more spread its jaws, this time to speak. “Watch closely. This is the punishment for you defiance! Watch closely and never forget who allows you to live.” With those words the beast waved its left hand, and the dogs standing behind the line of ponies began.

Each whip arose in its deadly silent arc only to flick back down across the ponies’ backs. Cries of pain and sorrow rang out through the tunnels as lash after lash was brought down across the ponies’ backs. The moment completely engraved in Scootaloo’s mind forever, each coat of golden yellow, bright red, and deep teal were washed away by scarlet red pouring down their backs, forming small pools around their hind hooves.

“Scootaloo, look away. You don’t want to see this.” Archer whispers in her ear beside her. Tears running down her cheeks, Scootaloo continued to stare blankly forward as a whip went down across the golden coated pony’s back, ripping pieces away from it, revealing the bone that lay beneath. Finally, after that strike, the golden coated pony could take no more and collapsed. The dog whipping her gave out a light noise that could hardly pass for a chuckle as he pointed one of his claws towards the golden pony. Two guards were by the pony’s side in a matter of seconds, grabbing its fore hooves and raising them to the wall, holding them there. The pony struggled and soon the guards began to lose their patience, signaling for more guards to bring a small jingling box over.

Silver Spoon did everything she could to not watch the dogs raise their whips. She looked back at the faces of the ponies behind them seeing the same look of slowly dying hope fading from each pair of eyes. Unicorns, earth ponies, and even pegasi shared the dark feeling of horror, the feeling of fear that they could be up on that wall with the others. Hearing a slight jingle and a shift in the noise, Silver dared a glance forward to see what had changed.

As the box reached the two dogs holding the pony, the dogs carrying the box reached inside, pulling out two long metal rods. The rods looked similar to long nails except instead of a sharp point the end was flat while the other end extended slightly out, forming a shape like a flower just starting to bud open. Small metal squares, hardly bigger than Scootaloo’s own hoof, one for each box, rested in each beast’s paw, gripped tightly. With the aid of the dogs that brought the box, the dogs held the golden pony’s hooves firmly in place as they lined up the flat surface of the rod to the back of each hoof as the box dogs pulled the metal squares back.

At the end of each pull, the squares shot forward, slamming the flat end of the metal rod through the pony’s hooves and into the wall, effectively holding the pony against the wall, the metal rods had no sharp end nor a hook or any other visual way to hold the pony there, but it was by the sheer length alone that they managed to wedge their victim where they were deemed to be planted. As the dogs returned to their previous positions, the whipping began again, this time striking the bone as well as flesh.

Scootaloo was on the verge of vomiting, the cries of the pony on the wall and its attempt at pulling its hooves away from the harsh stone surface stopped her from moving even an inch. Scootaloo looked at the open ends of the metal rods as a precious red liquid began to poor from them down the pony’s legs. This lasted for minutes as the pony struggled until loss of blood forced each pony who had been nailed to the wall at this point to simply hang off the wall and be whipped until not even their blood flowed from their body’s. The guards once again began moving Scootaloo and the herd towards the mines, Scootaloo numbly walked forward and grabbed her pick and began to pick at the wall saying absolutely nothing.

Scootaloo lied against the cell wall, simply sitting and breathing. She momentarily noticed Silver Spoon’s presence before going blank once more. “Scootaloo, you need to eat. It’s been three shifts since we watched what they did, but there’s nothing we can do about it, okay? Now eat.” Silver’s final word was punctuated by a bowl being placed between Scootaloo’s fore legs, which were lying limply on the ground, the contact causing her to look down at the shining white fresh apple slice sitting atop the gruel, a small twitch came from her muzzle, forming a gentle smile. Raising her hooves, she crushed the apple slice and mixed the contents of the bowl, lifting it to take a small bite.

“Archer’s being moved to one of the branch mines with us tomorrow,” Silver said quietly, trying to start a conversation.

“Is the move permanent?” Scootaloo asked after a long pause to swallow her food.

“No, we’re just filling in some empty spaces until they move some others in the shift after that.”

“Silver, who had those spots before?” Scootaloo questioned.

“I don’t know. Why?” Silver asked confused.

Scootaloo continued to eat her food, letting the silence fill the room. She watched as Silver’s eyes slowly dawned, understanding as the door of their cell shut, leaving the room in darkness just as Scootaloo shoved the remainder of the food into her mouth.

“Night, Silver Spoon. Thank you for the food.”

“No problem. Good night, Scootaloo.”

“GET UP PONIES!” Roared the voice.

Scootaloo and Silver Spoon had awoken five minutes before wakeup call and were sitting near the door, awaiting it to open as they did every day. When it did, they arose and began walking through the cold gray halls of the tunnels to their normal mine, but were stopped by one of the guards halfway down the mine tunnel. He pointed to his left, gesturing for them to go down the small branch tunnel, and so they began walking into the dark tunnel. It was so cramped that the guards had to slouch in the narrow space of the tunnel, making Scootaloo feel as if the tunnel’s dark walls were squeezing around her. Scootaloo saw Archer near the front of the tunnel, and mentally cursed that there wasn’t any free places near her. So Scootaloo followed Silver Spoon further.

No more than ten steps forward, the tunnel took on a darker light. As they walked, Scootaloo couldn’t help but feel the warmth slip away from her body as a trickle of hopelessness slipped into her to fill the void. Looking around for the source of the poor lighting, she spotted the crystals on the ceiling. The crystals here were hanging from the roof by thin wires, hardly giving off any light at all. Looking down to the ponies in the mine with her, she could make out their silhouettes, some missing ears, others eyes and legs but no matter what part was missing from their body’s the empty look in their eyes was shared throughout. The branch tunnels were truly far worse than the main mines, but what she noticed most was that there were more adult ponies here than in the rest of the mine. It was then that Scootaloo caught the smell in the air, the smell of filth and decay, a musty stench that seeped deep into her nerves, making her instincts start to yell at her to run from this darkness. She swallowed hard and continued to move forward, trying to keep her eyes on Silver Spoon’s grey coat in the darkness.

Scootaloo stopped with Silver Spoon in front of a guard pointing at two picks stuck in the wall. Moving to grip the pick, Scootaloo shivered as she felt the dog’s eyes linger on her for just a bit too long, as if he was thinking of a delicious piece of food before deciding to take a huge bite. Just as her nerves began to get to her, she heard him turn and walk away. Releasing a breath she didn’t know she was holding, Scootaloo began to work, giving tips to Silver Spoon, this being the first time she used the pick instead of pulling the carts.
After two guard rotations, a cry was heard down the tunnel, followed by the sound of a whip. “Wow, two hours. In the main mine there’s normally a whip strike like every five minutes.”

“I think that’s because these mines are so much worse. I mean look at this place.” A whip was heard behind Scootaloo, a silent command to get back to work. So she raised her pick and continued to chip at the wall.

Scootaloo whispered quietly, “The air stinks in here, and the ponies here are in re-“ Scootaloo froze as two guards walked by dragging a dark purple stallion missing his back left hoof. Scootaloo waited another moment as a third guard walked by with something sharp and white covered in a few dark purple splotches sticking out of its mouth. Scootaloo looked back to the wall, her stomach threatened to give.

The shift ended and Scootaloo rushed forward, trying to catch Archer before she left and wishing to leave the darkness of the branch mine behind her. As she reached the entrance, Scootaloo realized Archer was already gone. Waiting a moment for Silver Spoon to catch up, Scootaloo noticed the main mine was still being used. Thinking back, she couldn’t remember seeing anypony come from deep within the branch mines before this, but it made sense now.

“Come on, Scootaloo, let’s get back and rest. My hooves hurt. Ugh, how do you do that every time?” Silver asked complainingly.

“Oh stop complaining you wimp, it’s not that bad.” Scootaloo and Silver Spoon continued tossing friendly insults back and forth as they took their time heading back to their shared cell, enjoying the lights in the cell tunnel as if the gentle glow was from the sun itself . Reaching their cell, both ponies settled in together to sleep.

“GET UP PONIES!” roared that voice them same voice that annoyed Scootaloo to no end every shift.
Scootaloo stood with Silver Spoon and walked to the door as it opened and headed for the main tunnel as before. This time they went uninterrupted on their way to their places. Scootaloo took a pick and walked to her spot on the third level of the scaffolding as Silver was hooked up to her cart. As Scootaloo picked away at the wall she failed to notice Archer walk up and begin to pick the wall beside her.

“Hey Scoots, having fun without me?” Archer teased.

“Ah, I didn’t see you walk up and ha very funny. You know as well as I do this place stinks.” Scootaloo turned her head slightly to get a closer look at Archer. She seemed no worse than the last time she saw her. Scootaloo continued to pick at the wall, but her question soon found its way to the front of her mind.

“Hey Archer?”

“I was wondering when you were going to say something, it has to be something good if it took you this long. So what’s up?” Archer asked, looking sideways at Scootaloo, her stare showing she wasn’t going to drop the conversation even if Scootaloo wanted to.

“I was wondering why you told me you arrived here with my group instead of telling me you’ve been here for months?”

“What are you talking about, I’ve only been here as long as you have.”

“Stop lying to me, I thought we were friends Archer,” Scootaloo demanded a little too loudly, causing one of the guards to look towards them, growling and roaring.

“BACK TO WORK!”

Scootaloo and Archer quickly began to pick at the wall. “So tell me why’d you lie,” Scootaloo questioned again.

“Look, I don’t want to talk about it alright?” Archer snapped at Scootaloo.

“BACK TO WORK!”

“Come on, there has to be a good reason why, and we’re friends. Cluster told me you’d been here for a while, so what is it? Why won’t you tell me!” Scootaloo demanded on the edge of shouting.

“Look, sometimes ponies just have things they don’t want talk about SO JUST DROP IT!” Archer yelled at Scootaloo.
Scootaloo had lost all patience. Days worth of bottled suffering and rage leaked from her like water from a busted valve. She was in such rage she hadn’t noticed the dog walk over to stand behind her. She spun around and looked up at its hate filled eyes. “BACK TO WOR-“

“NOOOOOOO!” Scootaloo’s voice boomed over her dog master’s, raising her hooves and throwing them forward in rage, unintentionally sticking her forgotten pickaxe directly into the dogs chest, all the while her scream of defiance reverberated off the mine’s cold unfeeling walls. The dog master couldn’t believe what was currently sticking out of his chest. He took a step back, and then another, soon falling back through the flimsy railing behind him, watching the world fade to darkness around him as his body fell limply to the ground.

Scootaloo sat on the scaffolding staring at the spot the dog once stood, now only drops of blood remained as she was dragged by her mane through the tunnels to the commons, the dogs quickly shoving her against the wall and taking position behind her. Scootaloo had recovered her senses enough to realize what was about to happen. She braced herself for a strike that never came. Confused, she turned around to see the Warden standing beside the dog that was about to strike her. “Bring her to my office, I want to know what all this noise is about.”

The dogs acted instantly to their masters command, grabbing Scootaloo and dragging her down the guard’s barracks tunnel to the tunnels end, where they opened a door and threw her inside, slamming the door behind them, allowing Scootaloo her first few uninterrupted moments to think on what she’d done, how in her rage she ended the existence of one of her cruel slave masters, how its blood splattered across her muzzle. She whiped her hoof across her face, staring at the blood that was staining it . “I…I was right to do that, wasn’t I? These thing are our masters, monsters that torture and beat us, force us to work and stole us away from our families… family...Rainbow Dash. What would she say if she saw me like, this covered in the blood of a murdered creature… murder. As much as I hate, them I murdered that dog. I…I…I don’t know what to do.”

Scootaloo sat down and looked around the room, trying to desperately distract herself by thinking about why the guards hadn’t killed her even if the Warden ordered them not to do it. Maybe they had no choice but to follow his commands. If the dogs followed the Wardens orders exactly, she could only guess that this was the Warden’s office, a plain room with bookshelves of stone, a fine cut desk made of some kind of granite with a soft chair behind it and two half decent ones in front. Sitting, Scootaloo looked at some of the books on the shelves, trying to remember the last time she’d even seen a book, but was soon distracted by the door to the office opening and the Warden walking in and swiftly shutting it behind him.

Scootaloo kept her eyes on the dangerous dog for every moment, even as he skulked across the room and sat behind his desk and poured two cups of water, sliding one to Scootaloo. Taking a drink, he set his cup down and gave a sigh before he began to speak “So, pony. Tell me, why did you kill one of my hard working guards?”

Scootaloo tensed as he said ‘hard working’. She gritted her teeth and opened her mouth to begin her explanation. “Your guards are hardly hard workers. They’re nothing more than high paid bullies, the-“

“That’s not what I asked you, slave. Now why did you kill him?”

Scootaloo took a deep breath, noting the smell of vanilla in the office’s air. Just before she spoke she watched the Warden stretch out his unmarked paw, claws extended, and place it half way between them in the center of the desk. She watched as he drug it back, easily cutting through the thick stone, never breaking his cold stare. Taking a deep breath Scootaloo decided it was best to tell him or be at the receiving end of those claws. She figured it was best to start from the beginning. “It started when Archer, Silver Spoon, and I walked into the kitchen to get some food the last break day. We ate and the others left when I decided to stay with Cluster. You know, the nice pony who runs the kitchens?” The Warden made a dismissive gesture and Scootaloo took it as a sign to continue. “He told me about how Archer’s been here for months, so I asked her why she lied to me. She didn’t tell me why and we started yelling at each other. Normally something like this wouldn’t bother me as bad, but being in this place for so long and one of the few ponies you consider a friend is lying to you and having your damned dogs barking orders, I guess I snapped and shoved the pick into that guard’s chest. That’s it.” Scootaloo finished with a stamp of her hoof on the desk’s flat surface, glaring daggers at the Warden. It was clear not all of her rage had left yet.

The Warden sat there in his chair for a few minutes, contemplating what he’d been told. “So all of this started when that apple sneak told you about the Archer pony, hm?” The Warden asked, looking at Scootaloo who had widened eyes. “Oh don’t look so surprised, I’m not as dense as you slaves think I am. Now then, guards, see this pony back to her cell safely.”

Scootaloo stared at the Warden with his dark coat and yellow eyes and branded paw as she was carried back to her cell and thrown roughly inside it.

“Scootaloo, you alright? I thought they were going to kill you and I was going to be all alone here!” Silver cried as she ran over and tackled Scootaloo into a hug. “What were you thinking, you idiot? And how are you not dead right now?”

“Sorry, I wasn’t. It’s just Archer and me, the guards, it …” Scootaloo exhaled. She couldn’t think of a good way to explain what she’d done, all she knew was that she did it, so she just simply stared at Silver Spoon.

“You know I’m shocked, Scootaloo. Of the three of us I thought I’d be the one to break first,” Silver Spoon said sounding slightly surprised.

“What are you talking about? You did break, you’ve been crying since we got here, and what do you mean the three of us?”

“That’s not what I meant you dumb blank flank, I mean break as in snap, loose it, go crazy like the ponies in the branch mines. To be honest, I was afraid that it was going to be me for a while. As for the three of us, I was talking about Archer, you, and me,” Silver huffed and sat down.

“You shouldn’t compare that liar to us. She’s been here for months,” Scootaloo growled.

“Is that what this is all about? So what, she lied, I’m sure she had a reason. Just let it go,” Silver complained.

“Look, she said she was our friend and turned around and stabbed us in the back. Lied to us. Yeah everypony has secrets, but not here. This place is different. She could have been giving us useful information the hole time.”

“You mean giving you useful information. Look, Scootaloo, you keep saying we and us, but I’m not with you on this. I don’t get why you’re mad, so when you get over your own ego, let me know,” Silver Spoon said, turning around and laying down her back to Scootaloo.

Scootaloo sat there surrounded by darkness, in shock, thinking how ironic it was that Silver Spoon was the one telling her to get over her ego. But after a few minutes, she decided that maybe she would at least try to patch things up with Archer. It’s possible she’d tell her why she lied one day, but there would be no point in dwelling on something she couldn’t change.

BOOM! Both ponies jumped as their cell door slammed open. They sat there waiting as the cell door next to theirs slammed open, and the next, and so on. They both arose and walked out to see all the others heading for the commons. They both looked at each other as a group passed. A guard soon ordered them to get moving, so they began to walk to the commons. Once they arrived, they saw the guards leading all the slaves to the kitchens and were forced to do likewise. As they walked into the tunnel to the kitchens, they saw Archer a few steps away. Scootaloo’s cheeks burned, but she had to make things right, it’s what Rainbow Dash would do…Rainbow Dash… this was the first time in a long time she’d thought about her mother, but was quickly pulled out of her thoughts as Silver Spoon pulled her forward.

“Hey Archer,” Scootaloo quietly said to the dark blue Pegasus.

“H…hey Scootaloo,” She replied quietly

“Look let’s just-“ Both said simultaneously, and soon went silent. Scootaloo gave it a few seconds before gaining the nerve to speak. “Look, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you for answers. Let’s just try to move on. Friends?” Scootaloo asked, extending a hoof to Archer.

“Yeah, that would be best. And sorry I yelled at you, I’m glad you’re not dead,” Archer replied, giving Scootaloo’s hoof a solid bump.
“Actually, the Warden talked to me. I told him what happened and he just let me go.” Archer looked at Scootaloo quizzically after saying that, but brought her head forward after seeing Scootaloo looking in front of her at something.

Sitting along the walls and on the floor and a few at the tables were ponies, all of them had a bowl in front of them with what looked to be some kind of soup. Scootaloo walked up to the serving counter with Archer and Silver Spoon, looking up to find a dog standing there with a cauldron to its left. It poured three bowls and gave one to each of the ponies, who turned and walked over to the closest table to their right with one other pony sitting at it. They set their bowls down, Silver sat next to Scootaloo, who had Archer across from her. Scootaloo looked down at the soup and took a sniff. It smelled alright, so she took her spoon and dipped it in lifting it up to take a bite and cooed in delight as she found a potato on her tongue, which she swallowed eagerly. Scootaloo glanced across the table to look at Archer whispering to the table’s unknown guest, but focused more as Archer quickly gasped and whipped her head back to face Scootaloo and Silver Spoon. “Don’t eat the soup!” Archer shouted quickly.

“Why not, it looks alright.” Silver questioned.

“Yeah and its good,” Scootaloo added, looking down at her soup. “What could be so-“ Scootaloo froze as something came to the surface of her meal, something “looking” at her. Scootaloo turned to a chuckling behind her to see the serving dog giving a toothy smile.

“Enjoy your meal ponies, it’s the ‘cook’s special,’ hehehe,” the dog cackled as he walked away. All four ponies look down to the bowls and screamed.

Author's Note

sorry it took so long I have school getting in the way

-Credit to editors-
Feather Book
th310stch1Id
RylanKrois
Legofan
KrishnaKarnak
-end-

again sorry for the wait, but don't worry I'm working on chapter 3 and ill try to get it to you all as soon as I can.