Author's Note

Careful, Original-version-treaders,

This chapter is full of

Dirty Hands

Twi sat up against the back wall, facing bars on the other side. Everypony had been forcibly split up from each other. She had been sent to a cell near the center of Canterlot, and she didn't know where the others had been taken. She was frightened by the whole situation and wished she could be with Devan. Seeing the guards die herself added to the horror.

The cell was small, containing just a single bed. There was no window, and the only light provided was one dim ceiling light right outside the cell. She hadn't seen any of the boys since a tall one with hair longer than Devan's dropped her in. She felt very lonely, left to mourn over the loss of Rarity and AJ. She was also attempting not to think of what was happening to Dash, Spike, and Snow. She wished all of this could just be over. Despite everything she had been through before, this all seemed unreal.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a shadow appeared. She heard footsteps on the linoleum floor. The tall boy came into view under the dim light. She backed up further against the wall.

"I'm not here to hurt you. In fact, I'm about half an hour early."

"Half an hour early for what? What do you want?" she asked, trying to sound tougher than she really felt.

He pulled keys out of his pocket and jiggled them. He stuck one in the lock on the other side of the bars and turned it, pulling the prison door open.

"You're letting me out?" she asked, gaining interest.

"Don't be stupid. Get up."

She got up and faced him. He shut the door and carefully took the keys, locking it and putting them in his pocket, careful not to drop it outside the cell.

"What are you doing?"

Before she could react, he grabbed her front hooves, lifted them up, pushed them against the wall, and kissed her. She pushed him back an inch.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"What does it look like?"

"Get off of me, you freak!" she squirmed.

"That's alright. You can struggle now. This is just the begin-"

"Get your dirty hands off her," a familiar voice directed from the door.

The boy turned, flushed in the cheeks already. She leaned over his shoulder to see the last anybody she'd expected to see. Devan stood at the locked cell door with his Beretta to the boy’s head. The boy moved away from her.

"Devan!" she called.

He quickly smiled at her before turning his attention back on the boy. "Get out your keys and toss ‘em here." He reached out with his free hand. "Hurry up before I blow your head off."

The boy reached in his pockets for the keys and didn't hesitate to throw them at Devan, who caught them with ease.

"Look man, I didn't mean any harm."

"Yeah right. Just shut up." Devan went through the keys to see which one fit. Twi noticed the boy lower his hands. She also caught a glance of a weapon concealed in his back pocket.

"Devan!" Twi yelled.

The boy yanked it out of his pocket, but was tackled unexpectedly by Twi. She had used just enough strength to drop him, but her hooves were left fighting him from aiming the gun at her.

"Hang on, Twi!"

She held the gun back for a few more seconds before hearing the cell door slam open. A few more moments later, the gun was ripped out of his hands and her hooves. Devan kneed the boy in the neck, nearly knocking him out entirely.

"Come on, Twi. Let's leave."

He helped her up and followed her out. Closing the cell door and locking it, he took the key and threw it in the trash. He slid the phone in his pocket for now.

"I'm so glad you're here," Twi said.

She was very surprised at his sudden reappearance. He was a strong and mysterious guy alright. He smiled at her again. "I'm glad I found you. We have to meet with Trixie outside."

What?

"Trixie?"

"Yes. I found her when I woke up."

This took Twi a few seconds to digest. They walked out the door to the sunny outside. Devan scanned their surroundings. Twi looked around to see Trixie with the others running toward them.

"She freed them all?!"

"Looks like it. It probably wasn’t that hard."

Twi looked at him questionably as they arrived.

"Twi!" Dash hugged her.

"Good work Trixie," Devan complimented.

"It was nothing," she replied.

"Really? How?" Twi asked.

Trixie let her horn glow a bright blue. This stunned Twi. She tried warming up the simplest spell she knew, but there was nothing but a tiny spark.

"How are you doing that?" Twi asked.

She shrugged.

"Wait ... where are the guards?" Devan asked.

Everypony cringed. "Devan ..." Dash said, "They were killed ..."

"Oh ..."

There was a long silence. The scene came back to Twi's head.

"I'm sorry ..." he said.

Dash was the first to reply, "No ... that's okay. Let's just move on. Right, Twi?"

"Yeah ... let's just get to Celestia."