Death City

Back again with another update. So for, I have a lot of stories to catch up on for reading them myself. This will sadly slow down my writing and begin to make it shorter. If it isn’t that bad, it gets worse for me even more. The other day, our Language Arts class began “The Giver” and we have to read about 5 chapters each week. This will surely slow down my writing since I have to do a LOT of comprehension questions to add onto the book itself. I don’t want to keep you all waiting right now, so we shall begin.

Chapter 25 – Rescue on a Space Colony

Location: ARK prison facility

Time: 20:00

The hallways of the maximum space prison commonly known as the Ark had a mass array of guards stirring around the facility. Every single hallway, every single room, every single cubic inch of space had been covered with guards of all sorts of heights. The only thing similar about them was the pure gold bullet-proof armor shell on their chest as well as a flashlight in their mouth. The deeps of space allowed no light to get into the prison, meaning the facility had to produce a light source itself, and solar power was never a problem for them, considering they were just miles away from the sun itself.

Thunder Ice had been trapped in what seemed to be a metal cell on the side of the hallway. The only thing blocking Thunder with the rest of the Ark had been the indestructible steel bars that had been thicker than the past bars that Dusk had been trapped in. Apparently the guards had learned a lesson about making too thin bars and had to pay the price of one of their prison mates escaping.

As Thunder made his way towards the bars of the cell, he had stood up onto his hind two hoofs and pressed his front two hooves up onto the cold bars of the cell. His head had managed to fit through the bars, but his body was too wide to sliver through.

Looking through the bars of the cell, Thunder began having visions of him and the lavender mare that he knew and loved with all his heart. How he had lost the one most important thing in the world to him. How he had lost it all.

Memories of himself ran through his mind as he remembered sacrificing his own self in order for everypony else to escape. Thunder didn’t care if he was separated from her or was even to be executed or injected. All that mattered to him was that his true love had been alright.

Thunder Ice began playing with his mind until he heard the crashing sound of a canister hitting the cold metal floor. Quick as a bee, Thunder pointed his head upwards towards the direction of where the collision had come from only to see him looking directly at a purple mare tripping over her own hooves.

“Twilight?!” Thunder asked aloud, not aware that guards had been just around the corner and could hear his every movement.

“Shhh!” Twilight had held up a hoof towards her mouth and began to blow into it, warning Thunder to be quiet. Looking closely, Thunder Ice noticed that Twilight had tripped up against a fire hydrant, causing it to fall to the floor.

Leaving the fire hydrant where it was, twilight briskly trotted over to Thunders cell only a short distant away from where she was immediately. Pushing up on her hind legs, Twilight leaned against the cell and, using her magic from her already-functional horn, levitated a key out of the side of her body. Thunder had no clue where the key came from nor did he want to find out.

The key had been surrounded by a purple aura as it levitated through the air. It then made its way to the lock implanted onto the cell and was forced in from Twilight’s magic. Coming at eye level to the lock, Twilight kept grudging at the lock trying to find out which way to turn the key in order for the cell to open. While Twilight had been doing his, all Thunder did was watch helplessly as his partner tried to open the cell bars.

Looking at Twilight fully concentrated on opening the lock, Thunder had suddenly noticed something. Placing a hoof on the front of his head, Thunder could feel the regular shape and feel of his horn, or at least till he reached the top of his horn.

The top of his horn had been chipped off just enough for him to not be able to perform magic or spells. A Unicorn’s horn functioned exactly like a Pegasis’ wings. They had to be in full tact in order for them to function properly.

It took Thunder a while to realize why this had happened to him. He had been told when he was just a little colt that when a criminal had been taken into prison, their wings would either be chopped off or their horn would be chipped. This was done to prevent the escaping of anypony, especially Unicorns. Even though it seemed harsh and was more than an abuse for the criminals, it was a requirement and had to be done before they were put into a cell.

Being a unicorn, Thunder had gotten his own horn chipped off for being a Unicorn. It soon hit Thunder as the memory of him and the rest of the gang were previously in the Ark trying to find and rescue Dusk. When they had found him, Thunder recalled that his wings hadn’t been chopped up or dented or anything like that, rather they had been in full tact and had been attached to the sides of his body as usual. He still didn’t understand the concept of why his horn had been chipped off and Dusk still had his wings, which were perfectly fine and still worked.

A loud cracking sound was soon heard as Thunder resumed back to reality and looked down to see that Twilight had managed to break the lock on the cell door, allowing it to open with ease. Pushing against the cell, Thunder had managed to push the cell door away from him, allowing him to be free from the prison gate once more.

“Twilight.” Thunder rushed towards the lavender mare, opening his front hooves and hugging her. “I thought I’d never see you again, or that’s what I thought.” Thunder grasped Twilight tightly with his hooves and began stroking her mane.

“Thunder!” Twilight gently whispered. She had pushed Thunder Ice away from herself. “Stay focused. If anything, I’d rather get out of here alive than get captured again by hugging.” Twilights voice had suddenly changed into more of a whisper. “There are guards around every corner if you haven’t yet noticed. Ever since the rest of the gang escaped and you were left here, more and more guards show up each day. They want to make sure there are no more breakouts like last time and that nopony manages to escape.”

“Ok, ok. I get it.” Thunder confirmed. “But still, why did you come back for me even though you knew you would be risking your own life too.”

Suddenly, the loud sound of trotting echoed through the chamber as guards ran down the hallway. They had been just around the corner from where Twilight and Thunder were.

“Quick!” One of the guards yelled. “I think I heard something from here.” The guards kept on inching closer and closer to where the two Unicorns were and were merely meters away from finding them.

“Consider yourself even.” Was all Twilight got to say. With that, she grabbed Thunders hoof and began galloping down the other end of the hallway in which she came from. Thunder had been following close behind the mare as they charged down the corridors of the Ark.

As the two neared the shuttle launchers attached to the Ark, a question soon ran in his head. The same exact question that Dusk had asked the group the first time they tried to escape the Ark:

“Who was going to stay behind and launch all the space pods themselves?”

The guards were now only a few meters away as Twilight and Thunder neared the shuttle launchers. Thunder knew that the same think would end up happening and that he would get captured again. Thus meaning that he would wind up getting in even more trouble than before. Turns out Twilight had just made it worse for him by trying to break him out and escaping with him.

As the two dove into the shuttle launcher room, the first thing Twilight had did before anything else was turning towards the opposing direction, facing the guards, and used all her strength and molecule of energy to close the revolver doors of the room.

Her magic had been strong and powerful and being tutored by Princess Celestia herself, Twilight had been more than just strong when it came to spells and strength, but opening and closing the doors found on the Ark were more than just a challenge.

It took Thunder an entire ten seconds to realize that Twilight couldn’t shut the doors with just her own magic, for it wasn’t strong enough to move a 300 pound metallic door. Looking back out the door, he could see the guards were now only a mere few feet away from the two. Thunder knew that he had to take immediate action or he and Twilight would both be captured and imprisoned in the facility.

Taking a few steps forward, Thunder had been standing right across from Twilight and the metallic door. Leaning in, Thunder began forcing all the energy and magic from his own body into his horn. Even though the tip was broken and that it was impossible for anypony to perform magic with a broken horn, Thunder gave his all trying to help Twilight close the massive door.

The guards were now only inches away from the others as they began charging faster and faster. Right as Thunder was about to accept the fact that it wasn’t going to work and that he and Twilight were going to be taken captive, a sudden burst went off from the top of his head. Apparently, his horn began glowing as the door did too. Thunder had soon noticed that his magic was now working again, even though his horn was broken. He had just realized that he had performed the impossible, and he was the one who had finally made it possible. But Thunder had bigger things to focus on than just performing the impossible.

Right as the group of guards had locked onto the two unicorns on the other side, Thunder Ice had focused in all his magic onto the door and began pulling it shut. Twilight had been trying her best to help too as the door inched closer and closer shut.

Just as the guards dove right into the shuttle launchers room where Twilight and Thunder had been, the two unicorns had both crossed magic beams, causing both their magic to be combined and become at least five times stronger than normal.

The guards were now just millimeters from crossing the border as Twilight and Thunder had combined both their magic. The result of this was the revolver door closing shut, allowing neither guards nor unicorns to cross territories. The only thing separating Twilight and Thunder with the rest of the Ark was the revolver door itself.

Being stressed out from the sudden use of magic, Twilight collapsed onto the cold metal floor, painting heavily as she did son. She had used every single speck of energy in her entire body and was now fully worn out by this point. All twilight wanted to do at this point was just rest.

Thunder couldn’t bear to see Twilight in her current state and began to offer Twilight some of his own magic, which only led to Twilight refusing the generous offer. Still, Thunder couldn’t take seeing her like this and wouldn’t take no for an answer. With that, Thunder Ice carefully trotted over to where Twilight had been laid out on the floor and began to lean his head over. His horn began glowing as the tip of it touched Twilights own horn.

A spark was suddenly emanated followed by a cracking sound as waves of energy from Thunder sprang over to Twilight. While Thunder had been feeling pain, Twilight had been feeling pleasure on the other hoof. It still didn’t matter what Thunder had been feeling to himself. As long as Twilight was ok, he was ok.

As the two disconnected from each other, Thunder was the one to fall to the ground this time. He had been worn out completely from giving most of his energy over to Twilight. Twilight soon began to rise as Thunder had fallen. Looking back at the dark blue unicorn, Twilight began mumbling a few words to him.

“You know, you didn’t have to do that.” Twilight said in a soft, loving tone of voice. “I would’ve been perfectly fine all by myself.”

“Heh.” Thunder was able to get a little laughter out from his system. “I guess I let my heart speak for itself this time. I just couldn’t stand seeing you in such a painful state even if it was for only a few seconds.” Thunder had soon recovered his breath again and resumed his steady breathing. With that, he had gotten up on all fours again.

“You know, that was really sweet on what you did. Thanks.” That mentioned, Twilight had leaned in and planted a small little kiss onto Thunders cheeks. The result of this was a small little blush making its way onto Thunders’ dark coat. Twilight had been amused by this and a slight chuckle escaped her lips.

“Still.” Twilight spoke up once more. “We have to focus on the main task at hoof.” With that, she had turned around from Thunder and began trotting over to one of the space pods in the corner. What had surprised the lavender mare was that all the space pods that had been taken during their last attempt at escaping the Ark had already been replaced by new, sleeker typed of space pods. They had not only appealed differently, but corresponded differently too.

“What the hay?” Twilight yelled aloud. “What are these things?” Twilight was now observing the pods from every possible angle. “More importantly, what do they even do?”

“I think I might know.” Thunder exclaimed aloud, taking part in the conversation. “The last time I recalled, I remember some of the guards working on a new type of space pod called the pod X-3 or something. I don’t know much about it but all I know is that they work from one simple press of a button located inside the pod itself.”

“Sounds easy enough.” Twilight replied. “Let’s go!”

“NO!” Thunder had shouted, startling the other unicorn. “It’s not as easy as you think. For the space pods to operate correctly, you have to enter a code onto the control panel,” Thunder had pointed a hoof towards the control panel on the far side of the room. “Doing so correctly will unlock all the buttons inside the space pods, allowing them to launch and everything. But if you are to enter the incorrect code, there is a small Taser located inside of the control panel that will activate, and will literally burn you to a crisp, or at least that was what I was told. That’s what I overheard form the guards the other day when they were passing down my cell. They had been talking about the new specks installed into the shuttle launcher room, and I was lucky enough to hear them, right?”

“I guess.” Twilight thought. “But still, how in the wide world of Equestria will we figure out and break the code to activate the space pods.” Twilight threw her front two hooves in the air as a sign that this was big.

“Hmm, let me see.” Thunder began approaching the control panel himself. Twilight didn’t want to be left out, so she began trotting over to the control panel too.

Once reaching the advanced mechanism, Thunder had stood on his hind hoofs again and placed his front two hooves onto the machine. All Twilight did was just watch at what Thunder had been doing.

Looking over the keys of the control panel, Thunder could see that instead of having letters like a keyboard, all it had were the digits zero through nine implanted on their own separate button. At the bottom of the control panel were only four slots, indicating that there were only four numbers to be pressed. At the top of the panel was an array of differently flashing lights. Thunder had just ignored them and moved on.

“Well, this sure isn’t gonna be easy.” Thunder Ice said to Twilight, who had been right next to him.

“I can’t seem to have a grudge that I know the exact numbers to activate the space pods, but I just can’t think of them.” Twilight responded. “

“Huh.” Thunder began hitting his head with his hoof. “What four numbers can work for this combination?” Thunder murmured to himself.

“Here, let me try.” Twilight stepped forward towards the control panel. “I think I can try and solve it.”

“NO!” Thunder Ice screamed, putting a hoof right in front of the purple mare. “Last time I recalled, entering the wrong code results in getting electrocuted. I’ve risked losing you once.” Thunder mentioned. “I just can’t afford to lose you again.

“Just trust me.” Twilight had been looking directly into Thunders’ eyes now. “Please.” She gently begged. Thunder knew that allowing her to try would just put her in greater risks of danger, but he didn’t have the heart to just say no.

Thunder sighed before resuming the conversation. “Fine.” He softly replied to Twilight, backing away from the control panel itself. “Just be careful.”

“Thanks.” Twilight dashed towards the control panel and stood onto her hind legs. Placing her front hooves gently on the buttons, she looked over the surrounding items located onto the control panel before doing anything else. All Thunder did was stand back as he gazed upon all of Twilights corresponding actions.

Looking at the numbers with careful caution, Twilight began thinking how many possible combinations there could even be. She knew that even one wrong move and she would be burnt to a crisp. Sweat began to flow down the side of her face as her heart began to beat faster than usual.

Twilight suddenly felt a force of weight upon her shoulder and turned her head to find that Thunder had placed a hoof onto her shoulder.

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, you know.” Thunder tried to comfort Twilight. “I can cover for you if this is too much to handle.”

“No, I got it.” Twilight replied, standing up for herself. “I can handle this perfectly fine. It’s just that I’ve never been put into a situation that determines my future as either Life or Death. For some weird reason, I manage to find enjoyment from this.”

“What?!” A shocked yet confused Thunder questioned, not sure of what Twilight had just said.

“Never mind.” Twilight answered. “Let’s just focus more onto the task at hoof before we jump the gun or anything. Now let’s see.” Twilight began rubbing her head just like Thunder had done.

“OH!” Thunder burst out, approaching the control panel again. “I think I know this.” Thunder had stood onto his hind legs onto the left side of where Twilight was standing on the control panel. He had placed his front hooves onto the control panel itself. “Here try this.”

Thunder glanced over the keys one more time before closing his eyes and taking a huge breath in and then out. He knew that one false move and not only him, but also Twilight would be doomed.

Placing his left hoof onto the button with the number four implanted onto it, Thunder looked at Twilight once more, then, with careful precision, had forced the button down with his hoof. The result of this move was the space all the way to the left at the bottom of the control panel turning to the number four itself. Opening his eyes, Thunder could see that he had pressed the correct number since the Taser located inside the control panel hadn’t gone off.

“Yes.” Thunder said to himself. He knew he had been on the right track by now and had followed that track as he pressed the remaining three numbers. Seven – two – five. Right as Thunder had entered the five, a sudden cluck sound had emanated through the entire room. Looking around, the two unicorns noticed that they had entered in the correct code, and that all the buttons located in the space pods had been activated.

“You did it!” Twilight spoke up. “You managed to get the code correct.” By now, Twilight had her hooves wrapped around Thunder and had embraced the dark blue stallion. Another slight blush crossed over Thunders face at first, but then he had soon returned the hug to Twilight.

Twilight had soon broken the hug between her and Thunder as she looked up at the unicorn. “Wait.” She began. “How were you able to get the code correct in the first place? Did you know the code or did you just guess by chance and managed to get it right.”

Suddenly, the sound of crashing rang through the room as Twilight and Thunder had both turned to where the sound of the impact had come from. They had noticed that the guards were now trying to break down the door by charging into it. The two could see that they had been making progress after they had noticed the already dented door.

“That’s to be mentioned another time.” Thunder Ice replied. “Right now, we gotta leave.” With that, Thunder galloped towards one of the many space pods located in the room and had closed the solid glass door of the pod behind him. Twilight had done the same with a different space pod right across from where Thunder had been.

Looking at Twilight one more time, Thunder turned towards the door that the guards had been trying to break down. They were almost at the point in which the door would bust open and they would infiltrate the room. Thunder knew that he had to leave right now. It was now or never.

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath in like before, Thunder had extended a hoof forward, causing the button located inside the space pod to be activated. The pod had suddenly launched itself as it began falling towards the deeps of space itself. Twilight had soon noticed Thunder had already launched himself and had pressed the button located in her space pod herself. The outcome was the same as Thunders as she fell down to the ground of space along with Thunder. She knew that with everypony now saved and rescued, their goal and dream to defeat Discord would finally be over, or at least, that’s what she thought.

Done with another chapter. My hand is literally killing me right now and I don’t feel like typing anymore. Still looking for new OC’s and songs too. Like I said before, now chapters will be twice as long as before and will be updated every other day. I’m still working on that competition with everypony having to write their own chapter and at this rate, I think I can get the contest out by the next chapter. I don’t know if I can do it for sure, but it is just an assumption. With that said, I clearly and dearly recommend your review. Do it for the broken hands tortured for writing this chapter!