The Elements of Chaos

Freedom.

After Celestia knows how long he had waited, it was finally his. He could be free, he could fly, he could actually do something! Pixel smiled brighter than he had in a long time, the memories of the previous days momentarily erased in favour of this one singular glimmer of hope.

Pixel stood on shaky hooves and stepped blinking toward the dim indigo light of his freedom. He slowly put one hoof in front of the other, focusing on reaching the others more than on his stiff muscles, his smile not wavering. He didn't get too far though. Before he knew it, he had reached the end of his chain, which bit into his neck, causing him to gag, and stopping him mere feet from freedom. Pixel Bit frowned and clenched his jaw, stopping in his tracks and standing just short of the door, unable to go any further.

From the narrow cell doorway, Sunlight stepped past Ember, heading directly toward Pixel. Without a word, she lowered her horn to the lock, her horn glowing her signature green for a second before a small click permeated through the air and Pixel's thick metal collar and wing brace fell away.

Pixel nodded and flexed his stiff wings, flapping them every which way after he hadn't moved them for the past however long. "Thanks." he said before Sunlight wrapped her hooves around him, laughing quietly.

"We're okay!" she kept repeating, barely audible. "We're okay! We're okay!" Pixel laughed and hugged her back, taking in the sheer ridiculousness of this entire situation. They stayed embraced probably way longer than they should have, but right in that moment, nothing mattered. They were free, and now there was a chance, no matter how small, of getting out of this alive.

"Well, if you're all done over there," Ember tapped her hoof impatiently. "I suggest we get out of here. Like, now." She said, heading down the hall

"Wait." Pixel interjected, stopping Ember with a sigh, and turning to a pair of glowing red eyes huddled in the corner of the ceiling, enveloped in shadow, a chain running up to it from a loop in the wall. The group stepped back apprehensively, evidently noticing them for the first time. "We need to get Whisper." Pixel said matter-of-factly.

Sunlight stepped back, cautious, and flashed her horn once from a safe distance, causing the chains to fall unceremoniously to the ground

The glowing eyes fell lightly to the floor without a sound before slinking slowly forward and into the light. One hoof, two, a muzzle and mane, soon joined by two leathery bat wings. This was the first time that Pixel has gotten a good look at the young thestral, seeing the dark purple coat and raggedy white and mint green mane for the first time. Whisper crept up to stand beside Pixel, not lifting her eyes from the floor.

"Well that's just great." Bass burst out with no small amount of disdain. "We've got a vampony."

Whisper seemed taken aback. "I'm not a vampony…" she mumbled dejectedly, kicking her hoof lightly in the dirt.

"Uh, guys?" piped up Pastel, distress painfully apparent in her tone. "We've should go." It was then that the group heard it.

Hoofsteps.

"Crap." the group muttered almost simultaneously before scrambling to the door and closing it behind them with a soft *CLANG*. Pixel stepped out into the soft indigo light of the dungeon hallways, glowing purple crystals casting long shadows on the rocky stone walls.

Changing a look back towards the dungeon entrance, Pixel could see a dark shadow rapidly depending the stairs, no doubt Twilight coming down after hearing their little conversation.

Pixel ran with all his strength and lifted into the air for what felt like the first time. He granted himself a smirk as he soared over the tops of his friends, who were barely keeping pace, Whisper gliding alongside him.

Now, for a single moment, even if he was about to die, Pixel felt alive. The adrenaline coursing through his system, his heart pounding in his chest, it was enough to tell him that he was alive, and that he had a chance, however small, to get through all this, one way or another. Sure, his muscles burned, he felt like screaming and it felt like the weight of Equus was on his back, but he was going to get through this. For himself, for his friends, for his family, and most of all, for Equestria. He couldn't give up now. And he sure as hell wasn't going to.

Adjusting his flight path slightly, he twisted and turned through countless identical corridors. He flew for what felt like hours before shakily landing and galloping alongside his friends. Before he knew what was happening, Sunlight had quietly ushered them into a little side room, practically empty save for a few wooden crates and a desk, and closed the door behind them, encasing them all once again in darkness.

"Are we all okay?" Pixel heard Sunlight's voice through the darkness. The question was met with various quiet mumbles and whispers of confirmation among heavy breaths, signifying that they had all made it out alright. A few seconds passed, their heavy breathing the only sound audible. Soon though, the unmistakable ring of unicorn magic echoed around the room for a second, before the room slowly lit up in a soft green glow. Everypony turned to Sunlight, a small magelight glowing at the tip of her horn.

The room was silent for a second, no one really knowing what to say. Pixel took a moment to stop and really look at all of his friends. Sunlight had a large purple bump on her head, right next to her horn, and patches of her fur missing, showing reddened skin beneath. Whisper was covered in scratches, running all across her chest and side, dried blood mixed with dirt caking her fur. Ember had burn marks on both her forehooves, and a sizable portion of her tail singed off. Bass, mostly quiet so far, had a black eye, was missing a tooth, others cracked, and walked with quite a noticeable limp. Pastel had gotten off lightly, grime and dirt covering her disheveled mane and tail, a small clip out of her ear.

It was then that he turned to assess himself. He had quite a number of feathers out of place or just plain missing, including a primary or two, explaining the difficulty flying earlier. His glasses were cracked, spidering right across the left lens, and he could taste blood. Then there were the scrapes right down his right side, and a cut just below the wingjoint. He folded his wing over them, starting to sting. The adrenaline was officially draining out of his system, the full impact of his injuries beginning to take full effect on him.

He climbed up onto a crate and flopped down, resting his head down on the hard wood surface. But right here, right now? It might as well been a king sized bed. He chuckled, breaking the uneasy silence filling the storeroom. "You know, this has been fun." he nodded with an air of sarcasm. "We should do this again some time."

"Buck off, flyboy." Bass piped, sitting down at the desk, digging around in the drawer for a few seconds before pulling out a hoof mirror and examining his cracked and missing teeth.

Pixel grumbled. "Just trying to lighten the mood over here man." He sat up, using his left wing to support himself, shifting into a sitting position before beginning to preen what was left of his charred wings. Grabbing one in his mouth, he started picking out all of his broken feathers and adjusting the few remaining into a respectable position. Not exactly the pinnacle of pegasus pride, but it was the best he could do.

Sunlight paced about the small storeroom, causing the shadows to shift. The way she saw it, there was almost no possible way to get out of this alive. But if she was going to die, she was thankful that at least she didn't have to die scared and alone. If she was going down, she would die knowing that she had gone down fighting among friends.

Images flashed through her mind of her family, her friends and her home back in Canterlot. She was briefly flashed with the possibility that she may never see them again, but quickly pushed the thoughts into the back of her mind. "No." She mumbled under her breath. "We will get out of this, we will make it out alive, and we will save Equestria."

Normally, she was so sure of herself, but now? She could hardly shake the feeling that she was just lying to herself just to make herself feel better. Maybe they wouldn't get out okay. They could be found and finally killed as Twilight's mercy ran thin, they could get lost in the endless maze of identical corridors that made up the caverns beneath the castle, or, and this was incredibly optimistic, they could escape, leaving this mission behind as they slowly died with the rest of Equestria. With the ponies that she once called friends. The ponies that had relied on her; had trusted her. And she will have let them down.

No.

She pulled up every little inch of determination she had in her gut and pulled it to the surface. She wasn't going to die today, and she sure as heck wasn't going to let anypony down. She smirked confidently. "Listen up everypony," she announced into the quiet room, making everyone present jump in the soft green light.

"I have a plan."

The group quickly gathered in a loose circle, all eager to get out of this storeroom. "Okay," Sunlight started, her horn almost seeming to glow a little brighter in the darkness. "our first priority is escape. We can't do anything if we're stuck in this castle for the rest of our lives." The group nodded in confirmation, but was otherwise silent.

"Now, we've all seen what Ember can do with almost nothing, getting us all out like that." She said, gaining confidence as she started to get into a good rhythm.

Pixel raised his hoof and gave a little cough. "Uh, yeah, I've been meaning to ask." he shuffled beneath himself. "How did you get out?" he asked, shifting the conversation to Ember.

The red-brown earth pony smirked. "Ran some earth pony magic through some apple mush, increasing the acidity if the malic acid in the apples." Ember waved her hoof as if giving a school lecture. "Then all I had to do was run a little more juice through the compound to make it melt through pretty much any metal. Then I get this hornhead and she can zap the rest of the locks open!" she pointed to a slightly offended Sunlight.

Pixel nodded slowly. "That… makes sense..." he murmured. "…I think…"

"Aaaand back to the plan." Sunlight said relatively loudly, her voice echoing off the cold stone walls, a little annoyed. "Now, as I was saying, we need Ember to make us a way out."

"And how in Celestia's tailhole am I supposed to do that?" Ember butted in, eyebrow raised.

"You made an acid out of an apple, right?" Sunlight asked with a slightly annoyed sigh. Ember frowned before answering.

"Yeah? Where have you been for the past hour?" Ember asked, somewhat peeved. Everyone turned to Sunlight, who had an uncharacteristically mischievous smirk on her face.

"How good are you at making explosives?"

With that one simple question, Ember's face lit up. She smiled genuinely for the first time instead of her traditional jerky snark.

Sunlight chuckled. "Guess we've got our answer then!" Meanwhile, Ember was bouncing on her tippy-hooves, making a strange assortment of high pitched babbles and giggles.

"You're really asking me to blow something up?" Ember asked gleefully.

Sunlight nodded with a trusting smile. "Just be safe." she said simply.

Ember scoffed. "Eh, Tomayto tomahto."

Sunlight chuckled lightly and turned back to the group. "Okay, now, while Ember is blowing our way out," she turned toward Whisper. "We need somepony to find the princesses."

Whisper's eyes went wide and she stumbled backwards. "What!?" she cried, before lowering her voice again. "Why me?"

"Because, Whisper," Sunlight started, her expression growing somewhat somber. She paused, a grave air around her.

"we need somepony to go back into the dungeons."

And, as with Ember, the change in Whisper was all but immediate. The lights dropped out of her eyes and her knees began to buckle as she stared into Sunlight's sorry eyes. Whisper fell to the ground, her legs giving and jaw clenching as she squeezed her eyes shut and hoped to all Luna that all of this was just some kind of sick, twisted nightmare.

Pixel stared at this little filly kneeling on the cold stone floors on the edge of tears and knew that he had to do something. So he set down his glasses and wrapped his wings around the thestral, pulling her to his chest. At this point, Whisper was barely holding on, shivering as she curled up against Pixel's breast, snuggling into his pegasus chest floof.

"I'll go with her." he announced to the group quietly, stroking Whisper's mane. Sunlight nodded and Whisper stared up into Pixel's golden eyes, calming down slightly.

Whisper closed her eyes and wrapped her wings around her friend in turn. "Thank you." she said, barely audible.

Pixel turned his gaze back up to the gold coated unicorn. "I still have one thing to ask." he said flatly, staring right into Sunlight's eyes.

"Yes Pixel?" she asked, a hint of worry in her emerald eyes.

Pixel inhaled, slowly letting it out. "Why her?" he asked tenderly, still stroking the batpony's mane. It was clear to everypony present that he cared for Whisper, and wanted her to be safe as possible.

Sunlight glanced at the thestral before turning her eyes back to Pixel, his golden eyes blinking expectantly. She sighed. "We need someone to get back in there, find the princesses, and get out quickly while staying undetected." she paused with a frown, looking right into his eyes. "Who better to do the job than Whisper?"

Pixel nodded slowly, still holding Whisper in a loose winghug. By now, the young thestral had calmed down, and was sitting with her head on Pixel's chest, staring blankly ahead, dread written all over her face.

Sunlight groaned. "Listen Pixel, I know it's dangerous, but we need to find the princesses, no ifs or buts about it." She sighed again. "Equestria needs their leaders, and as much as I want to curl up into a ball and pretend none of this is happening, and believe me, I do, we need to find them...” Sunlight let out a shaky breath. “They need us." Pixel stayed silent, turning away from Sunlight.

Sunlight clenched her teeth, meeting the complete silence of the room head on. She turned and met the stares of three other ponies, all watching the scene unfold before them.

Sunlight coughed. "Okay!” she addressed the rest of the room. “So, Whisper and Pixel will head off to find the princesses, and the rest of us will try and help Ember to break a way out of here!" she said mock enthusiastically with a wavy smile.

Before long though, she just decided to drop the smile and gave a bit of a dejected sigh. "Okay everypony, rest up for a bit. We set out in an hour."

As the group began to disperse, Pixel releasing Whisper from the winghug, a green light washed over the room, before disappearing as quickly as it had come. Sunlight froze in her tracks, her eyes wide with terror. "No..."

Bass stared at where the light had disappeared, blinking in confusion. "The hell was that?" he asked nobody in particular.

"Radar spell." Sunlight said, her voice shaky. "Radar spell!" she said again, raising her voice. "We have to get out of here!"

Sunlight rushed to door. "Okay! Whisper! Pixel! Find Celestia and Luna! Every pony else, with me!" And with that, Sunlight Bliss burst out the door, Ember, Pastel and Bass following in her wake, careening down the hallway with the sounds of galloping hooves.

Pixel grabbed his glasses and was about to go after them, but stopped just short of the door. He turned and saw Whisper still planted firmly on the ground, her eyes watering, and an expression of pure, unadulterated terror plastered across her muzzle.

Pixel ran back to where the young batpony stood and stared right into her eyes. "Whisper!" he yelled in distress, glancing over his shoulder and past the doorway. "We don't have time for this! Come on!" Whisper's only response was to scrunch up her muzzle and start to tear up. "Whisper! Come on! We..." Pixel sighed and shifted his tone, trying to calm both himself and Whisper down. "Come on Whisper, our friends are relying on us!"

Pixel sighed again and sat down next to his friend, placing a hoof on her withers. "Whisper," he started quickly, really in a rush now. "There are ponies out there counting on you to return their rulers to them. I know you wouldn't want to let them down." Pixel stood again and turned to face his friend. "Do it for the ponies of Equestria, Whisper, for the unicorns of Canterlot, the earth ponies of Appaloosa, and the pegasi of Cloudsdale." Pixel held out his hoof. "And if not for them, then do it for me." Whisper slowly nodded and, after a couple long seconds, accepted her friend's hoof up, tears still in her eyes.

Pixel nodded and glanced back towards the door. "Good, because I don't think we have much time left." Rushing over to the door hoof in hoof, Pixel pulled Whisper through and galloped down the hall with her, hooffalls echoing off the cold stone walls.

Both ponies soon took flight, mighty wings beating at the air, propelling them both forward. Sure their wings were tired, sure their muscles were burning, but right then, it didn't matter. They were side by side, flying as fast as they could from their deaths. And with a tilt of their wings, they turned a corner and were out of sight, never drifting apart, and never stopping for even a second. They had escaped for now. They had a mission to complete, and there was nothing now that could ever stop them from doing just that.

Because they were together.