“So, I was going for a nice nightly walk, right?”

“Right.”

“Yeah, a real good way to clear the mind, y’know? Anyway, during that time, a guy thought it would be a good idea to mug me.”

“Uh huh.”

“And I was all like ‘Really? This fool must have a death wish or somethin’!’, but before I could do anything, he told me he was carrying. He had a piece pressed right into my spine to prove the point, and to drive it all home, I could hear him clocking the hammer or whatever that thing is.”

“Interesting.”

“But! Me - being the brave, money grubbing individual that I am - I wasn’t at all phased by this, and I turned around, knocked the sucker’s hand away, and decked him straight in the face!”

Brinski looked up from the map he had drawn of the facility, the gryphon looking worse for wear; it was made obvious by the rings underneath his eyes and the molting feathers on his wings that he had not gotten any proper sleep since yesterday’s meeting. His swollen eye was doing a bit better, at the least; he could actually open it a smidge.

“Really, Bolopo?” he asked in a tired, unconvinced tone that betrayed his fatigue.

Bolopo lifted his head from his crossed hands that served as a makeshift pillow (the human having had thrown the original at the changeling that bugged him to ‘give him love’, accompanied with a brief exchange of words not suited for young, innocent ears that resulted in the insect taking the pillow for himself as he left to again sweep the halls) to look at Brinski from the corner of his eye. A guilty smile graced his features, but he didn’t miss a beat.

“Heh, nah. I just about shit myself when he pulled the gun on me. I tell you what, I never pulled my wallet out so quick in my life! I swear I couldn’t be bothered to walk outside without a weapon of some kind in my pocket ever since that happened. That’s why I carry this,” Bolopo drew from his back pocket a switchblade, “around wherever I go. Better to be safe than sorry, I’ve learned.”

“Bolopo, do you mind? I’m trying to get this plan together so we can recruit a small team for our escape. Why don’t you go and, I don’t know, find some potential candidates for,” Brinski shuddered, “‘The Wastes’.”

Rolling his eyes, Bolopo grinned. “C’mon, Brinski, the name can’t be that bad. Seriously, you look like you’ve just watched an episode of Star Wars: Rebels with the tiniest ray of hope that it would be worth any of your time.” Brinski looked at the human in befuddlement. “Sorry, I keep forgetting the Disney Empire hasn’t yet expanded their influence to this place. Not entirely sure if that’s a blessing or a curse… Eh, I’ll go with the former. Still, you don’t seem entirely pleased with the name that we all agreed on during the meeting.”

“You mean the name that you appointed to the group. Plastadus and I never gave our approval of it.”

“Well, you didn’t seem averse to it enough to argue for a better one.”

Brinski dragged a talon down his face. “That is because I am more focused on getting out of this damned place than I am on some piddling name.”

“Alright. The Wastes, it shall remain!” Bolopo exclaimed triumphantly.

Rolling his eyes, Brinski went back to circling areas of interest and ‘x’-ing out places he deemed too dangerous. “Back to what I was saying before you so expertly derailed the conversation… again, would you go and, as inconspicuously as possible, search for potential volunteers?”

“You mean like the two coming here in just a few moments?” asked Bolopo.

“Yes, Bolopo, like the two coming in just a few mo- What!?” Brinski was up in an instant, the movement so quick and so sudden that it sent the provisioned chair he was sitting in careening toward the wall of the cell. A wild eye settled upon Bolopo. “What do you mean someone is on their way here!?”

Bolopo squirmed under the gryphon’s glare. “Exactly how it sounds, Brinski. While you were out, I took it upon myself to talk to two people who just may be interested in this little revolution of yours.”

“While I was out? I fell asleep? When!?”

“You took a small break from planning to slam your head on yonder table and catch some z’s. It was only for a few minutes, honest. You were just so adorable that I couldn’t find it in me to bother waking you up.”

“And now there are-”

“Two candidates for The Wastes on their way here, yes,” finished Bolopo as he sat up. “Jesus, why are you so worked up about this, Brinski? I mean, it’s already been three days, so I had to make a move. Not only did I already get what you were looking for done, but I did twice as much! That’s literally double the chances of us getting out of here.”

“No, that is double the chance of us being found out, you imbecile! Why direct some random hooligans to our cell over anywhere else that is more discreet!? Do you understand the nuances behind subtlety?”

Bolopo furrowed his brows as the gryphon bristled, looking ready to murder a man. He wanted to say something facetious, but decided against such course of action when he noted Brinski’s anger. He sighed. “Shit. I didn’t think that part through, I suppose.”

“Do you ever think these kinds of things through?” chided Brinski.

“Look, we ain’t got nothing to worry about. That I can guarantee. ‘Cause with the dumb muscle we could get out of this, our job is gonna be that much easier!”

“And what ‘dumb muscle’ would this be?” queried Brinski, his voice low and dangerous. He already had suspicions as to who these two individuals were, but he wanted the answer to come from the source of this issue.

“Erm, w-well, you see-” Bolopo was interrupted by distant footfalls that shook the very ground, the reverberations of the colossal stomps bouncing from wall to wall. Bolopo gave a sheepish smile as Brinski’s eye widened, the gryphon quickly folding up the map and stuffing it in his scarf. The pounding grew closer and closer to the cell, and it was upon them by the time it suddenly stopped. The harsh clacking of hooves was replaced with the soft pit-pat of paws.

Brinski stared incredulously at the Diamond Dog who arrived at the front of the cell door. Boxy muzzle, built brown body, scar, homicide in her eyes. Yup. There was no way that this wasn’t Piper. She had a bloodthirsty grin on her face as she stood behind the bars to the cell, seeing Brinski, her prey, in the room, seemingly all by his lonesome.

Piper opened the door, making her way in and slowly advancing toward the little birdie as she extended her claws. “Little Birdie got nowhere to run. Little Birdie and Piper gonna have a good day of fun!” She tittered as Brinski backed away, nervousness apparent as he readied his talons, looking off to the side at something out of view before nodding. Whatever it was didn’t matter, though, as she already had him cornered, and the fear in the air was palpable.

“S-stay back, Piper!” stammered Brinski. “We’re meant to just have a nice, bloodless talk.”

A sharp leer was his response, the dog still closing the distance. “Oh, we’ll have talk, Little Birdie. You talk, while I wrap my paws ‘round your throat and strangle you.”

“N-no, none of that is necessary. Look, let’s just sit down and be reasonab-OH!” Brinski ducked as Piper swiftly padded forward, swinging her large hand in a wide arc with the intent to knock his head off his shoulders. The gryphon nimbly moved behind her, being forced on the defensive as Piper put her weight on her arms and kicked back, knocking him off-balance.

While Brinski danced with the dog, finding it difficult to maneuver around every one of her attacks due to his halfsight and exhaustion, Bolopo jumped from his bunk and decided to join in on the tango. Bolopo used Piper’s focus on Brinski to his advantage, slamming a knee into where he believed her kidney was, bringing the surprised Diamond Dog to her knees. Now at his height, the human wrapped an arm around her neck, pulling back in an attempt to subdue her. He was rewarded with an elbow in his stomach for his troubles.

Piper growled, shrugging off the blow from Brinski when he struck her muzzle as she turned her attention to the human on her back; she grabbed Bolopo by the arm and roughly pulled him over her shoulder, smashing him through the table that once held the map. That effectively knocked him out of the skirmish for the time being, the human feeling naught but pain from both the force of the impact and the sturdiness of the table, wind knocked from his lungs.

Piper raised a fist and readied a finishing blow, a yelp of anger and pain escaping her maw when she was slugged again in her already weakened lower back. Brinski struck again and again and again, raising his clenched talon once more before a fist collided with the side of his head. He fell to the ground, struggling to pick himself up as the world around him spun. Everything came into focus, however, when he was picked up by the neck and held aloft.

Piper smiled at his pitiful attempts to break free, the gryphon wearily dragging his talons across her forearms with just enough force to break the skin, blood trickling in shallow crimson streams from the cuts. She tightened her grip on the gryphon’s neck, her free hand joining the first whilst she went through with her promise of strangling the life out of the little birdie.

In that moment, all was going right in the world. Piper was ridding herself of Little Birdie’s troublesome presence, she’d collected a few more scars out of their little scuffle, and she was even planning something special for Little Birdie’s monkey friend for being the one to invite her to the cell in the first place.

Then came a stinging blow and the sound of splintering wood, and for some reason Piper found herself on the dusty floor of the cell in the next moment, her head swimming and her perception shifting from blurry and far away to crystal clear and in focus. She tried putting her paws beneath her to push herself up, but found that one of them was pressed behind her back in a decidedly uncomfortable position. She groaned as she fought to free herself from whomever was subduing her, but was rewarded with even more pressure being put into her arm for her troubles. Her struggling finally ceased as she felt something sharp being stuck against her neck, glancing sidelong at the wielder of the weapon.

Piper growled a low, rumbling growl, narrowing her eyes at the troublesome human as he held a pocket knife to her neck. Bolopo looked down at her with furious eyes as he kneeled on her shoulder, poised to sever her pipeway in twain. “Guess what, bitch. You’re. Beaten. Now, I suggest you be a good sport or else you’ll be playing dead in doggie Hell.”

Brinski coughed harshly, taking grateful breaths as he rubbed at his tender neck, pushing himself off of the ground. He kept his guard up despite seeing that Piper was for the moment placated. Blood spilled from the gash in the back of Piper’s head, the Diamond Dog still weakly attempting to get out of Bolopo’s hold. He increased the pressure on her arm, eliciting a whimper from her.

“She’s had enough, tough guy.” The deep, booming voice that rang from the entrance of the cell yanked Brinski and Bolopo’s attention from Piper, the pair discovering two beady eyes staring right back at them. Connected to these beady eyes was a horned, bull-like head with a short beard and the large body of a minotaur. On the other side of the bars, unable to fit through due to his gigantic size, was none other than the oh so venerable Pashi. “Why dontcha let her go before I bend these bars apart and come in there myself; when you do we’ll be more than willing to listen to this second ‘apology’ o’ yours.”

Silence reigned over the cell as the two pairs glared at one another through the iron bars of the cell door, Brinski and Bolopo on one side and Piper and Pashi on the other. Looking out into the hall at the hulking minotaur and his fuming oversized puppy, Bolopo cleared his throat to stave off the growing awkwardness between the parties.

“So, uh, about the apology…” he started.

“I’m all ears, ape,” pressed Pashi as he peered down at the human.

“Well, it’s less of an apology and more of an offer.”

As Brinski tiredly rubbed his aching head as his worst fears had been confirmed, Pashi pursed his lips in interest. “An offer, you says? And what can some waste like you offer to me?”

The answer came rather bluntly. “Freedom.” At Pashi’s dumbfounded expression, Bolopo allowed himself a small smile.

After another tense moment of silence, laughter echoed through the halls. Pashi slammed his fist into the cell door, shaking it with each jovial tap, as he wiped a tear from his eye. “Ohoho, that’s a good one. I took you for a punk, but never did I think you was a comedian!” More guttural laughter erupted from the minotaur before, after taking a minute to find his breath, Pashi again looked at Bolopo. “Now be serious, what’s the real reason you called us here?”

“I already told you, to make an offer for your freedom.”

What remained of Pashi’s smile faded into a soft scowl. “Okay, wise guy, the joke’s over. I got my laugh out of that crazy idea, so give me something that ain’t the stuff of fairy tales.”

“Do you want to get out of here or not?” asked Bolopo.

Growing more annoyed, Pashi leaned down to look Bolopo in the eyes, the human returning his gaze. Searching for any hint of deceit or dishonesty, and finding none, he huffed. “You must be outta your mind, human. No one who comes to the Wastes leaves. No one.”

“Do you want to leave or not,” reiterated Bolopo. “It’s a yes or no question.”

“Of course I want to get out of here, ape. But that ain’t possible!”

“With that sort of attitude, ain’t nothing possible, my bullheaded friend; but would you rather rot away in here, or rot away out there?”

“One of those options involves a lotta uncertainty, a lotta cold. Least in here we’re fed, even if it’s hardly enough to go by, clothed, and relatively sheltered from the cold.”

“True as those reasons may be, this is nothing more than a gilded cage at the end of the day. How long until seeing the same gray and white everywhere drives you as batty as it has Bad Boy Brinski here?” Bolopo motioned to the bird, who glared at him in return.

Pashi stroked his beard. “You been saying a lot about breakin’ outta here. About escape. But how’s I supposed to know it ain’t just a bunch of hot air you’re blowing? What’s the plan?”

“That,” responded Bolopo before pointing a finger at his cellmate, “is what Brinski’s here for.”

Brinski frowned, rubbing the fog out of his eyes before looking to Pashi and his mutt. “Yes, well, it’s a work in progress, but it all essentially boils down to this…”

A long, long day, it was. Reports of unrest on a global scale, resulting in a number of governments being overthrown and demesnes razed to the ground; drakes and wyverns migrating away from their ancestral territories to escape whatever was on the horizon; the days growing shorter and the nights longer. All of this due to the growing chill that had taken hold of all of Orbis over the past few decades.

It had started small, barely noticeable or even concerning the minds of anypony, but that all changed when one day the Princesses found-

“Sir, do you have a moment?”

Shining Armor looked up from the sea of paperwork barely contained on the top of his desk. Normally this wasn’t his job, considering he was no longer truly a prince, but it took his mind off of more upsetting matters.

“What do you need, soldier?” he tiredly asked the guard who rather impolitely barged into his office. By office, of course, he meant cell. A pretty cage ‘gifted’ to him by the Princesses after what had transpired at the Crystal Empire all those years ago.

“I-I’m sorry for forgetting to knock, Captain, it’s just that-” the guard took note of the bags beneath Shining’s eyes. “Have you gotten any sleep as of late? You don’t look to be in the best shape.”

“I’ve gone longer without. Considering recent circumstances, I’d say that I’m coping rather well.”

The guard shifted for a moment, his armor creaking over his winter wraps. “We’re sorry for your loss, Captain. If there was more we could have done, you can guarantee we would have exhausted all other options to save her.” Shining didn’t respond, looking instead down to his paper. “A-are you sure you’re alri-”

“I’m fine,” hissed Shining, the hostile look in his eyes and the unkempt state of his mane combined with his snarl making him appear to be a wild animal. That’s how everyone looked nowadays. “Now, tell me what it is you need to and dismiss yourself.”

The guard stood at attention, reacting admirably to his captain’s outburst. “Of course, sir. You are needed at Canterlot Castle immediately. The Princesses have news of a plan on how to combat Equestria’s, nay, the whole world’s latest threat. And they say you are integral in this fight.”

Shining’s frown, a common sight for those who had the rare chance of seeing him out of his quarters in this day and age, deepened as he furrowed his brows. “Why me? What do I possess that would make me any more valuable to them than any other pony?”

“They said they would answer any inquiries you have upon your arrival, Captain.”

A cloud of misty air was exhaled from Shining. “And what if I decline?”

The guard sat unmoving, his face a mask of emotionless professionalism but his eyes a whirlpool of conflict. “This is an order by the combined power of the Regent of the Sun and the Weaver of the Stars, Captain, it is no choice on your part whether you will go or not. Should you prove obstinate or recalcitrant, however, there is a squad of their hoof-selected personal guards just outside that door that are here to ensure your compliance.”

“Are you threatening me, Sergeant?” Shining asked after quickly glancing at the rank pinned onto the chestpiece of the guard’s armor.

“I’m just following orders, sir.”

There was a pregnant pause, the chill running that much deeper the whole time. “Hmph.” Finally, Shining relented. He hopped out of the chair at his desk, walking around to face the stallion face to face. “Lead on, then, Sergeant.”

As the two of them stepped out of the room, Shining caught sight of what awaited him on the other side of the door. In the hall was a contingent of guards, Thestrals and Solars interspersed into a larger squadron. Trotting up to meet him was a Thestral with a white mane and red eyes, both oddities in both the pony and Thestral community.

“Good to see you again, Captain,” she said, holding out a hoof. “I wish it were under different circumstances.”

He wanted to spit at her hooves; he wanted to walk away and not be bothered with any more of the Princess’s nonsense. However, doing either of those things would only make a bad situation worse, so for the sake of professionalism and duty, Shining swallowed his pride and his bitterness and all his other emotions to reach out to shake her hoof. It took a surprising amount of willpower.

“We all do, Lieutenant Evergraze. Now, would you be so kind as to escort me to the princesses?”

Lieutenant Evergraze pulled out from under her scarf a ring. Shining narrowed his eyes at the sight of it. A magic dampener. “Just standard protocol, Captain. We would’ve had you in chains, too, but the Princesses felt that would unnecessarily sour the deal.”

Shining’s glare didn’t lighten in the slightest as he responded. “Do what you need to, Lieutenant. I understand the need for precaution.”

As he lowered his head, Evergraze ran the ring down the ice stalactites on his jagged horn as best as she could, Shining grunting ever so often in mild pain before she seemed satisfied with its position.

“It’s time to get a move on, Captain. The rest of Division 14 is waiting for you outside.”

Shining’s eyes widened. The Excaliburs?! They haven’t seen deployment since the Changeling Invasion! “Why Division 14 of all squadrons?” he asked, confused.

The Lieutenant turned around and began trotting off in a certain direction, him in tow. “Let’s just state the obvious and say something rather big is going on,” she responded.

“And you have unwittingly been swept up into the center of this mess.”

Author's Note

Yup. Things are most certainly happening.