Damned Are the Guilty

The clean up crew arrived at the prison the next day, forcing the guards to keep all prisoners within their cells while they started to clean. News had spread fast at the Crystal Empire, where the prison was located, about how the human, a being with no magic or special abilities, had escaped the inescapable prison. That didn't just gain the attention of the locals that lived nearby, but also the princesses that had put them there.

"How?" was all Twilight could say to her mentor as she and Celestia gazed down at the cafeteria, where numerous ponies in cleaning garb were mopping up what remained of the inmates that had made the mistake of dealing with the human. "How did he get out of here? This place was specifically designed to keep psychos like him in! He shouldn't have been able to leave his cell, let alone break out of the entire place, with his gear mind you!"

"Calm yourself Twilight, being upset will not help anypony right now," Celestia replied calmly to Twilight, while the princess of the sun made sure to keep her own confusion in check. But just like her student, she too was wondering how the human had managed to break free of the prison. While the two of them had been walking through the place they found nothing destroyed, no signs of doors being forced and aside from a few stunned guards, who were alright aside from their damaged pride, and the corpses, there was no indication of how he got out.

"I think I can answer that question, princess," a voice said from behind the two and the both of them turned to see the prison warden walking towards them, with two other guards in tow. "These are the two idiots that let the human out of their cell. I was going to roast them myself, but I figured that the both of you would want to get your hooves on them first."

"Oh I would love nothing more," Twilight snarled as she took a step forward, but Celestia stopped her advance by extending her wing before she herself walked towards the two. Both of them kept their eyes glued to the floor, but after a second they looked up to see a cold stare drilling into them.

"I will only ask this once. Why did you let the human out of his cell?" Celestia said in a calm voice to the both of them, but her calm tone made the both of them far more fearful than they would have been had she yelled. "He was an S class dangerous criminal, on the same class as Tirek or Sombra. Would either of you had let either of those two out of their cell?"

"No princess, but...we have a rule here that if an inmate is quiet and well-behaved for more than three days, they are allowed a small break out of their cell," one of the guards spoke up in a tone that was practically a whisper and he stopped talking when the princess turned her gaze towards him. "Also...we didn't see how he could be so threatening. No magic. No claws or weapons. Just a...guy."

"That's what I thought too. And then he killed three centaurs and nearly caved my head in with the butt of his gun," Twilight said in a whisper to the both of them, but neither of them heard her. Celestia gave Twilight a look to stay quiet before she turned her focus back to the two guards once more.

"Do either of you have any idea where he might have gone? If he was so desperate to break out, then it's clear that he had a place that he needed to get to quickly," Celestia asked them, but the both of them shook their heads. Twilight nudged Celestia and motioned her head to the side. Celestia nodded before she glared at the two guards. "I would love to find a way to punish you for your incompetence, but I have a killer to hunt down. The warden will deal with you while I clean up your mess. Dismissed."

Celestia turned away as the warden began to yell at the two, walking over to where Twilight was standing. the princess of friendship was overlooking the cafeteria, shaking her head with utter disdain on her face. "How many more lives have to be lost before we can bring this killer in? How many more have to suffer?"

"Hopefully none, my former student. But this human is crafty and he is determined. Those are two of the hardest qualities to fight against," Celestia wisely said to Twilight, who nodded her head in agreement. "You know where he is going though, don't you?"

"Not exactly, but I know what he's after. Tirek," Twilight said. The moment his name was spoken the air in the room seemed to chill, getting the workers down below to shiver slightly. "He mentioned Tirek when I spoke to him in here, said that he would need our help to beat him. I have a feeling he knows where Tirek is going to try to return."

"Well, that would be good for us if we knew where the human was, but we do not. Therefor, we cannot use him to track down Tirek also," Celestia grunted with a shake of her head. "And I do not like the fact that the human broke out so quickly. If he had more time to hunt down Tirek, he would most likely have rested up in here longer or taken more time to plan. The fact that he broke our so quickly..."

"Tells us that Tirek is soon to return," Twilight finished for her former teacher, the chill that had filled the room starting to fill up her heart. "And we barely managed to defeat Tirek last time. One of the only reasons we did was because he was so arrogant. This time he'll most likely be better prepared. But first thing is first. We need to find the human."

"My sister and I will hunt the human. You need to go back to Canterlot and have another lesson with Ratet," Celestia reminded Twilight, who groaned as she slammed her head into the railing in front of her. But when she lifted her head again, Celestia could see a weariness that she had not seen since the last time she had looked in a mirror.

"Hey Celestia, how do you do it?" Twilight asked, getting Celestia to raise an eyebrow. "How did you keep fighting the forces of evil for so long? I've only been doing it a few years and already I'm tired of all the fighting. Any tips you can give me?"

"The honest answer is that I didn't, Twilight. At first it was easy. I was a new alicorn, filled with power and wanted to stop every threat that attacked my home. But unfortunately, I found that there were more forces of evil than alicorn princesses and I quickly burned out. When my sister became an alicorn we doubled teamed evil, such as Sombra and Discord, but once I banished her to the moon I no longer had the strength to fight by myself. That is where Starswirl and his alliance came into play."

"I see. And for the longest time Starswirl defend Equestria," Twilight finished for Celestia, before giving her friend a confused look. "So then, what should I do? It's only been a few years and yet..."

"If are truly ready to give up the fight, then you should pass on your element to somepony you trust, much like I sorta did with you and your friends," Celestia said, before she turned to leave with a small sigh. "But honestly Twilight, I do not know what to tell you. Evil will continue to fight, whether we do or not. Keep fighting or throw in the towel. That is your choice."

Twilight groaned as she rested her head against the railing, lightly placing it down so not to hurt herself like last time. She wasn't sure what to think, but she knew that she needed to stop the human. But every time she closed her eyes she could still see the dead faces of the centaurs that had been killed. She could see the cold gaze that glared her down. She could hear the voice of the man that had almost killed her.

.45

Five days had been wasted. Five days that Frank could have used to hunt down where the demon was going to rise. Five days that he could have used to find where Tirek was and stop him from rising. But instead he had to deal with the ponies and their issues with him. Even though the heroes of earth did the same, at the very least they knew to hear him out when he had information about villains and evil forces.

'Damn that princess, next time I'll make sure she stays down and can't interfere,' Frank thought to himself as he raced through a forest far from the empire, refusing to take a break until he knew for certain that he was away from the ponies. Fortunately for him, he found that the prison that the ponies had taken him to wasn't that far from where the demon was supposedly going to come back, but it was another day and a half run with no rest.

'Sure. Why would it be easy? Nothing in my life ever has,' Frank thought to himself as he ran, hoping that he could get to where Tirek was going to be resurrected before the ponies could figure out the location as well. He was good. One of the best. But if he had to fight a demonic bringer of the end while having to deal with alicorns who could pick him up with their magic, then he would be in deep trouble.

Fortunately, he had used the prison to his advantage. The food there was pretty good by prison standards and he had made sure to rest to entire time, allowing him to get back to one hundred percent before he decided to break out. He would have wished to either not be in there at all or be in there longer, but life wasn't fair. He learned that a long time ago.

'Got to keep going. Got to stop this,' Frank thought to himself, almost smiling at how out of his field this was. He wasn't the go to guy for supernatural forces. He dealt with the scum on the streets, the scum in the million dollar buildings. The scum that needed to be cleaned up. He shouldn't be fighting these evils. He should be trying to find a way back to the scum of his world. But he felt...that he needed to protect this world, even if the ponies here wanted to bring him down. Not for them. But for his little girl, who would have loved Equestria so much.

And if saving this world meant Frank could imagine his girls smile, then it was worth it.