Fallout Equestria: The Ajax Directive

“Remember this day little ponies, for it was your last.”

Running. All I was doing was running across a vast and empty flatland. I could see the faintest hint of a sunrise in the far distance, but the sky was thickly blanketed with stars of various brightness, leaving enough illumination for me to continue my frantic running.

“Tonight, the Night, will Last, FOREVER!” For the briefest of moments I looked up and over my shoulder, at the massive black Alicorn, hovering in the air. She threw her head back and let out a loud laughter. A laughter that wouldn't stop.

My heartbeat pounded in my head, keeping pace with my hoofbeats. Focusing back on the ground I was running on, I set my gaze to what looked like a pony in the distance, just a bit off from the straight line I had been running towards the sunrise on the horizon. Without thought my direction shifted toward them, ignoring the neverending laughter from above.

I shot up with a startle. Instantly my hooves were under me, stumbling on my injured right leg. My eyes swept the cave that made our prison, all but one of the faint magical lights having gone dark, the exception being from the small balcony overlooking the entire cave. My eyes caught the forms of Spice Chaser and Amber Swing. Laying on his side, the unicorn had his forlegs wrapped around the chest of his marefriend, snout nuzzled into the back of her neck. She gave a few kicks idly, giving a faint murmur before settling back down.

As my eyes continued to adjust to the darkness I sat down on my haunches, giving a faint sigh. My last few nights had been utterly devoid of anything but sleep itself, my brain had not given me either fantasy or memory to ponder. But a dream? This was new.

Still recalling Doctor Constant's recommendation to write anything that came to mind, I reached back to my midsection to flip open my satchel, only feeling the old bandages wrapped around my midsection. Of course, I had forgotten that what few belongings I had been given, or pilfered in the case of the apple-grenade, from others had been taken from me in the capture after the failed re-marking.

I gave a slight sigh, the sound fading into the silent ether. The only other things that met my ears were the rapidly calming beat of my heart and my own breathing. It was as close to pure silence as had ever been. While idly staring at the lone light on the small balcony I stood back up, my eyes finally adjusting to the limited light by force.

The dream was beginning to fade already. Faces I had surely seen before fading and blurring in their definition and location. And while I was pretty sure that there was no way I had once been chased by a giant black Alicorn, it was depressing to lose something else from my mind in such a short period of time.

Taking my mind off the bleak experience of loosing something else, I instead began walking around the cave. Not that it did very much. The various stones and chunks of graphite mixed in with the other pieces of rock and with the reduced light, the only way to tell them apart would be by the feel of my hooves. Whatever my past life had been, I doubted geologist was any part of it. But when it came to getting out of this cave prison, anypony could tell that it wasn't likely to happen. The entire cave face, while not smooth, was solid, as if we had just been continuing the hewing into stone that had been started years, if not centuries, before us. The only non-solid part was against the far wall, nearly invisible in the dark at this distance, where the remains of leftover rocks were pushed, rocks that didn't hold any coal or graphite and were stuffed into a corner to not bother the prisoner's job of hewing at the stone.

Which left just the wooden outcropping, several ponies above us. We had seen a rope ladder tossed down during a changing of the guard, a new guard coming down and bringing a bucket of soup for the three of us to consume, delivered to us by the old prison guard before he left. Abandoning the wall that I had been walking alongside, a full turn brought the wooden outcropping into my focus, lit better then the rest of the cave simply by it's candle placement.

Walking toward it, I squinted my eyes for a better look at the surrounding wall. The faint rays of the light above significantly altered the way the walls of the cave looked compared to the more spread-out appearance of the candles near the ceiling during the day. Now positioned right underneath the wooden overhang, where I could very faintly hear a faint snoring in his sleep, I stretched a hoof out onto the walls.

It was slanted at a very steep angle, but maybe...just maybe, you could climb up it. It would take effort, having us all chipping away holes to get our hooves some grip. But potentially, we could chip a climbing pathway up the side of the rock wall and climb up to be alongside the wooden construction, pull ourselves onto it, and maybe get the guard to let us out by force.

The only problem was that this steep angling only started nearly halfway up the wall. Directly beneath the outcropping was a sharp near-ninety degree angle. If there was some way to climb past this, like the clump of useless rocks stacked against the far wall...

I spun around quickly, scampering on my three good legs towards the sleeping duo. I gave the unicorn a nudge first, not wanting to piss off the rough mare. Repeated poking finally got him to wake up, and he shook his head aggressively to try and focus.

“We're getting out of here.”

Spice Chaser gave me a tired stare for a moment, before widening his eyes. “What? How?”

“Welcome!” Fair Smile beamed at me with the familiar empty smile, giving me a blank stare.

“Run! She's here!” Despite the seemingly never ending run I had just performed, the words spilled from my mouth without the slightest hint of exhaustion.

“Welcome!” She continued smiling at me, as if totally ignorant of the laughter above.

“We've got to get out of here!” I lunged forward to grab her by the leg and take her away, but she didn't budge, not even flinching to the grasp.

The sound of unicorn magic faintly rose beyond the continuous laughter, and I looked skyward once more to see the tormentor lighting her horn, still laughing while staring right at me with her inequine eyes. My gaze went higher toward the firmament, to the full moon above. It was surrounded by her black magick aura, seized from it's spot in the sky and moving by her whim.

Moving Down. Down towards me.

Again I reached out to grab Fair Smile, but it was as useless as trying to pull a tree from the ground. Another look towards the laughing alicorn merely confirmed her focus was still on me, still sending the moon hurling in my direction. Before I even knew it, I had abandoned Fair Smile, fleeing to the everdistant sunrise again.

Only the sun wasn't rising. The orb of light wasn't even starting to rise above the edge of the horizon, merely giving rays to illuminate that far corner of the world. That wasn't a sunrise, it was a sunset, the only escape from the Nightmare slowly vanishing from me.

“I see you've been making friends.” Doctor Constant remarked, biting down on the edge of the bandages that had been wrapped around my leg.

“Why are you down here?” The earth pony stallion stopped for just a moment, gazing up at me before going back to pulling the bandages off my leg. He didn't know that I had been eavesdropping on him the other day from the rooftop, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask anyways. It had already been a long time since I had been tossed down here anyways, who knew what had transpired since I left.

“You've caused quite a headache out there.” He finally remarked, spitting the used bandages out. “And Iron still has an interest in you.”

“What?”

“I'm guessing nopony has told you yet.” He cautiously held the wooden board against my foreleg, trying to keep it straight with my leg.

“I don't know why they didn't get my mark.” I bluntly stated, assuming this is what they were talking about. “And I'm not giving up my only link to my past.”

“You don't have to lie. Everypony knows about your Zebra hex.”

I stared blankly at him. “Zebra...hex?”

“You should be thankful for Mare Ether. In her wisdom she figured that we could undo the Zebra Hex so you can join us.” Once again he bit down on the gauze, beginning to tie it up and keeping the wood in place.

“What hex?” I asked, gently setting the splinted leg onto the ground. While I wasn't sure if anything was broken, it at least gave the sore leg a bit more support.

“We're sure you're memory will come back once we've past it.” He stepped behind me and gave a look at my right side cutie mark. “We're a doctor, not a zebra magician specialist. But you know what would help you remember how to get the Hex off?” I turned to look over my shoulder at him, as he gently tapped my flank. I didn't have an answer for him, and he turned his head to look at me. “Good job making friends. And in the mines, no less. After all, bandages aren't something ponies just commonly share out in the wastes.”

I thought about asking about Fair Smiles, only to bite my tongue. Last thing I wanted to do was potentially jeopardize her. She was innocent in the whole thing, and the fact she wasn't down here with us suggested that for now at least she was safe. So I changed the subject. “How many days has it been?”

“Your little Zebra Hex stunt? That was two days ago.” He took a look at the bandages that were on my midsection, slowly loosening them to look at the damage beneath. “Let me know if you feel any pain.” He remarked after pulling them off except for a single wrap. His hoof began pushing into my side just below my ribcage, and gradually he moved it up.

I clenched my teeth, trying to internalize what he had said without internalizing the soreness. Not having the brightening and darkening through the clouds to mark the passing of the days made it a bit harder to mark the passage of time for sure. But this meant that yes, there was one meal a day. If Tempered Iron and his selected guard wasn't leaving his factory to mess with us in the middle of the workday, he was either coming down in the very early morning, before the sky began to brighten, or in the evening while everypony else was eating in the communal canteen or doing the day-closing songs. The middle of the night might also be possible, but that wouldn't be a very reasonable time to be coming down here. When matched with the darkening of the candles, I assumed that it was in the evening.

“Acting tough isn't going to help.” He remarked, breaking my train of thought. “Don't think we can't see you clinching your teeth.” Slowly I relaxed my jaws. Seeing my relaxation, he gave a tougher push between two of my lower ribs, and I couldn't help but hiss through my lips. “Does that hurt?”

“Fine. Yes. It stabs like a motherbucker.” I snapped back.

“You've got to be honest. Or at least lie way better then that.” He now began moving his hoof up my side a bit farther before reaching down and pushing just beneath my sternum, earning another wheeze. “The best thing you could do is not wear these bandages anymore, and just wear something loose around your midsection.”

I turned to look at him, curious what he was suggesting. At which point he opened up the bag he had brought down with him and pulled out the same satchel he had gifted me a few days prior. “You know that pegasus, Smiles, trust you. Everypony else was so focused on you not joining the friendship that no one noticed that this came off in the struggle, except for her.”

That didn't make any sense. I had checked my satchel and it still had the book, graphite chunk, canteen, and even the apple shaped explosive. “Nopony even went through it?”

“She trusts you and she asked us to bring it to you.” He smiled, facing me once more, now putting a hoof on it and looking away from me. I followed his gaze up to the wooden outcropping where a guard pony stood, his focus more on Amber Swing, and her exposed backside, rather then us. “Don't wear it too tight, your ribs should heal naturally in another day or two if you don't push yourself too hard, but you should take slow and deep breaths anytime you can.”

I whipped my head backwards, draping the straps of the gift back over my midsection, positioned for me to start tightening it up with my mouth. Now things made a bit more sense. Soothing Constant was here for my health, at least, officially. Someone with impact still thought I had some importance and value in the village. Fair Smiles cared about me enough to grab my satchel, and worked with the Doctor to arrange for me to get my things back.

Just read between the lines and I could still get a real idea of what was going on outside this cave, and who cared about me as a pony.

“Now for some real talk.” The Doctor's voice dropped to a mere whisper as he stood alongside me. “Would you care to explain why you were messing with our portrait of Starlight?”

My heart thudded in my chest, similar to what had happened in the sparring grounds two days prior. “What do you mean?” I whispered back, feigning ignorance.

“Come on, we have a reputation to maintain here. Do you know how bad it looks when the Town Doctor is the only pony in town with a picture of the original Ministry Mare that won't stay up? Mare Ether gave me a real chewing out over that the other day.” I couldn't help but feel a bit guilty, though the doctor seemed to take it in stride, considering the half-smile still on his face. “Did you think that I had some contraband in the frame?” He chuckled, taking a half step toward the rope ladder that was hanging off the wooden platform, but turned his body sideways, giving me a dead look. It was obviously he wasn't going to let silence get me out of this one.

Briefly I weighed my options. Sure, I could continue to feign ignorance. It wouldn't be hard to do, but it was also pretty obvious that the doctor either wasn't too miffed about it, or judging off the conversation and his fake inspection of my things, wasn't going to sound the alarm on me over it. Lying outright wasn't exactly the best thing to do. But I also didn't exactly want to let him know I had been rummaging through a long-locked room, likely a room leftover for someone close to him considering how thick the dust had been inside of it.

There wasn't anything wrong with letting him believe what he thought already though. “Yeah...you got me. I just needed to get behind that picture” I sheepishly smiled, trying to lean into his current suspicions and put on a guilty face. Just to sell it I gave a stare off of to the side, rubbing the back of my neck with the splinted foreleg.

“I'm impressed though with how you were able to reassemble the frame without damaging it, only to damage the nail it hung on.” With a smile, he trotted off toward the rope ladder, his closing presence catching the attention of the guard.

“Wait!” I called out. He turned around to face me once more, and I pointed to my ribs. “Can you double check this, just in case?” The guard above us didn't seem to care much, he still had the rope ladder rolled up above. But there was one more question I needed to ask.

The doctor walked back up, taking a look at my ribs, only briefly meeting my gaze from the corner of his own. “Make it quick.”

“Why does Iron care about me? He didn't show any-ACK!” I dropped my whispering instantly as he pressed on the most sensitive spot in my ribs, killing my train of thought with the pain that shot through me.

“You weren't just found in the mountains. Our Town keeps stashes of left over materials from the war, all hidden in caves all across these mountains. He found you in one of those.” The doctor raised a hoof and made a spinning motion, encouraging me to turn around and face my less sensitive side toward him. He kept whispering to me all the while.

“How did I get there?”

“I'm not privy to that. But Ether owed him a debt, so she agreed to give you a chance to join us. Considering how close the two are, your stunt really drove a wedge between them.”

“Why?” I asked aloud. It was a multilayered question. Why was I there? Why did the factory controller, who had shown me no particular favor thus far, think I had something of value. And why hadn't he at least tried to approach me straight up to try and get whatever he wanted from me?

Putting my inner confusion aside for the moment, I watched the doctor as he stood back underneath the wooden balcony. The guard threw the rope ladder down, and I watched Soothing Constant awkwardly fumble up the rope ladder as it dangerously sagged until all of his limbs and mouth were hooked on the rusted iron bars tied by the rope. Once secure, the earth pony guard above pulled up on the ladder to deny the three of us the same exit. As strange as the entire conversation had been, now it was just a matter of piecing everything together.

Trotting up to Amber Swing and Spice Chaser, I bent down and grabbed the remaining pick-axe in my mouth, turning my focus to what would be a daily meal, lean as it would inevitably be.

“I didn't know they let visitors down here. You must be a pretty special pony.” Spice remarked between swings. “Who was that supposed to be anyway?”

“Town doctor. Apparently they still want to take my mark and make me part of the town. They think it's some part of a Zebra Hex.” I could hear Amber growl through the mouthful of handle, but she didn't make an effort to add to the conversation beyond that. I bit down again and took another swing at the wall.

“Huh. Well, is it?” The unicorn asked, giving me a sideways glanced. All he received in response was a shrug. He didn't stop giving me the side eye until I tapped my skull with my now splinted-leg, reminding him of my memory problems. With that he turned his focus back to the wall, jamming the shovel into the hole I had chipped in and wedging his magic to move the earth.

“So are we still on?” He whispered, barely audible over the sound of our tools smashing into the wall. I gave a nod.

It wasn't even necessary to look behind us, I could envision the pile of rock and debris we had started pushing up beneath the platform as they formed a small incline. Off to the side, wrapping to the side of the overhang, was a series of knicks taken out of the wall, in theory just big enough to put the majority of your hoof on. We had made good progress in the last two nights, and assuming the guard tonight fell asleep like the last two, it would be an easy way out. The Doctor hadn't noticed it, and the guards never looked around while looking for food anyway.

My flight across the desert plain continued, only the beating in my chest and hooves on the ground answering the constant laughter. Once more I saw ponies, a pair of them, in the distance, only the slightest of deviations from my path to the sun.

“Hello! Would you like to buy food?”

“I'm going to be a mother!”

Spice Chaser and Amber Swing regarded me with the same large and barren grins that Fair Smile wore.

“You've got to get out! She's come for us all!” I pointed blindly above me, motioning toward the ever closing moon slowly crushing downwards toward us.

“Would you like to buy some food?”

I didn't even bother grabbing the two of them, fleeing once again towards the fading light, the edge of the horizon now just faintly lighter then the rest of the black star-cloaked sky.

The moon bore ever closer. I didn't even have to see it to know. Frantically I continued looking side to side, a few other faceless ponies spread across the empty space. All of them equally happy and not caring of the impending doom or the laughter. I didn't even bother to grab their attention, knowing the the same hollow responses would result.

“In sameness, there is peace. Exceptionalism is a lie”

That was the shift change. It came in shifts of eight hours, and this was the last one of the day, which that saw the exchange of mined materials for food.

The new guard, this time a scrawny-looking pegasi, was the one to watch us. I continued to stare at him as his focus was on the small tray with the bucket of stew. I was familiar with Woe Tree, and the rumors that she gave more or less food depending on how well you were at the village tasks. It was like watching gears slowly click in his head, weighing the benefit of eating our daily keep of food to try and regain a bit more strength, or avoid the risk of being caught starving out the prisoners.

The three of us weren't doing super well either. It was tiring and exhausting to chip away and mine small bits of coal, or more frequently, pieces of iron ore, from the walls, and Tempered Iron' choice of food size was not working in our favor. Our inevitable escape was the only thing we were working towards. Though the planning beyond that point had been rough, and continued to show roughness.

“They aren't going to care to trade food. I say we get our marks, and get the hell out of here while the getting is good.” Amber Swing half-whispered, half-spoke at Spice Chaser, feeling free to talk at a higher volume about the escape due to the tape and it's static playing. That had been the main sticking point.

“We can't go back to Tennpony Tower empty-hoofed.” Was his response, and that had been his response every time the topic came up. And this meant it would be a bit of back and forth for the next several moments until the recording finally cut out.

I didn't bother giving them any focus, continuing to gaze at the hungry and indecisive Pegasus looking at what was supposed to be our daily meal. Irregardless if there was going to be any chance at getting some miraculous trade deal out of it, I wasn't looking forward to the idea of trapsing through the mountains on an empty stomach after only have two thin meals before it.

“Hey friend!” I shouted up to the Pegasus, breaking his longing stare at the stew. “Tempered Iron will surely want to get the coal and iron soon, but we can't share the fruits of our labor with our friends without you bringing the tray down!” Leaning both into the friendship gimmick and directly naming Iron hopefully would motivate him, either through the constant drilling about friendship, or through fear.

The light green pegasus gave me a longing look, taking one more short gaze at the rations before settling on a choice. The persuasion must have been enough, as I could see him positioning the bucket on the tray, spreading his wings and flying down to us. He spent only enough time on the ground floor to drop it off, before quickly flying back up. Even saying 'thanks' to the guards as an act of general kindness hadn't brought any response back to us, and I couldn't help but wonder if maybe there was a requirement that the guards were not allowed to converse with us.

Still, now that we had some food, I bit down on the tray and brought it over to my two newest friends. The two of them were sitting with backs to eachother. Amber had her everpresent scowl on her face, her nose sticking up to the roof. Spice bore a much more neutral look on his face.

“Still undecided?” I asked, sitting the bucket of stew on the ground next to them. “We don't even know how to get your Cutie Marks back right now.” They both reacted to that, a frown coming over both of their faces.

“I've just been so concerned about going back empty-hoofed that I didn't really think about that step.” Spice Chaser remarked, batting a small piece of stone rubble with his right hoof. “I've never failed anything like this before.” I turned to look at the mare, who was still looking up, but with a more somber look then her common scowl. She obviously had no interest in responding.

“Look. We all know that we're getting out of here tonight.” I said, balancing the ladle in my hooves and bringing the watery potato broth to my mouth for a sip. “We'll get to the vault, and get your marks out. If worst comes to worst, we can figure out some way to smash the glass and get them out.” Another sip from the ladle, and then I passed it to Spice Chaser. “Let's run through the other things you want done.”

“I want my Maul back.” That was the first thing Amber contributed to the conversation since I joined in. “And I want to take it to that pig-breeder's face.” It wasn't hard to tell that she was referring to Tempered Iron.

“I want to talk with Woe Tree about trade.” He took a sip of the broth. “If I have to go back empty-hoofed, it would be easier for me to do so if there was something to come back with, just a paper with a 'no' written on it would be better then nothing.” Spice levitated the ladle to his marefriend, both of them looking over their shoulders at eachother, both getting a slight smile before she grasped it in her hooves.

I reached for my satchel, unclipping the latch and pulling out the plastic binded book and piece of graphite. “Let's formulate the plan then. Without fighting like yesterday.” I didn't bother looking up from the book, instead rolling my eyes upward to glare at both of them.

“I can't help it if he wants to be ridiculous!”

“I can't help it if she wants to be stupid!”

The two frowned at eachother, Amber Swing dropping back into a scowl as she sipped from the ladle.

I shook my head, planting my hoof on my splinted-leg on the book, holding it open at the entry I had first put in.

Our Town

Cutie marks: Two lines, akin to an equal sign.

Population: 200-250, split into three shifts. No significant interaction between these shifts outside of morning singing and evening meal.

-Glowing Ether (Unicorn, female)

-Woe Tree (Unicorn, female)

-Tempered Iron (Unknown, assumed male) (Earth Pony, Male)

-Water Margin (Unknown, unknown) (Pegasus, Male)

Contacts:

~Fair Smiles (Pegasus, Female)

~Soothing Constant (Earth Pony, Male)

And I began adding to it.

Goals:

Primary: Get Cutie-marks back

Secondary: Let Amber talk with Tempered Iron

Let Spice talk with Woe Tree about Trade

Recover Weapons

The thought crossed my mind to talk with Iron about his interest in me. However, I decided to shake that off. For starters, if the book was found by any of the town residents, an entry dedicated to killing a town leader probably wouldn't go over well, so just registering it as 'talk' would get the message across for the three of us, but wouldn't be a warning to anypony else. But saying 'talk' with Iron would get the message across. After all, I doubted that if we met with Iron or Woe Tree, it would be with all three of us together.

I looked back up at the duo. The three of us agreed not to eat the last of the daily ration until shortly before making the escape, as food was going to be an issue regardless how you cut it, so it would be better to save as much of it as possible for last. While I had suggested carrying some of the broth in my canteen, we all quickly agreed that such an idea wasn't the most practical thing, and it would be better to try and cram snow from a mountaintop into it for water, rather then the broth.

“Maybe I'm wrong.” I spat the graphite back onto the book to gaze at my fellow prisoners. “You want to stay, but you don't have a pressing need to stay.” I pointed at Amber. “If what you told me is true, you could probably forge yourself a new hammer.”

“There's not going to be another one like that. It's what I got my cutie-mark off of.” She glumly replied.

“You've changed the head and handle on it each at least six times” Spice remarked.

“A new hammer wouldn't be the same.”

I focused on the unicorn now. “And you want to leave but feel you can't?”

He gave a deep sigh. “I spent all my life trying to get into Tenpony.” He stood up and took a few steps away, looking toward the guard on the wooden outpost behind us. “While we could live somewhere else again, I don't want to throw all the work that got us there away.”

I thought about the town leaders for a bit. Of the four ponies with any power in the village, Woe Tree seemed to spend the least amount of time with the other three. Tempered Iron and Water Margin had been in the cave and helped with trying to secure my mark, and having talked about my new friends' experiences it was the same for them. But how? While my experiences in Water Margin's training field made it plain that I could handle myself in a controlled fight, the pegasus had an advantage in height with flight, not to mention the various guns which would probably have ammunition as well. I didn't have any ideas on how to get around that. There was also the possibility that even talking with Woe Tree wouldn't help my friends get their cutie marks back.

“We could always kill Ether.” The two of them stopped dead and gave me a blank stare. “If she's out of the picture and we keep Water Margin and Tempered Iron occupied or killed, there's nothing stopping you from talking to Woe Tree.” I pointed a hoof to my unicorn companion. “In fact, that could put you in a better bargaining position because she couldn't talk from a position of local power.”

There was a long moment of silence.

“When did an empty-head like you start thinking?” Amber Swing remarked, a smirk crossing her face.

“...Strange Flank...” He leaned in closer to me. It was a bit insulting for him to use the same term for me that everypony in the village had used, but I didn't exactly have a normal 'name' to use. “You know why we can't do that.”

I merely nodded. “You can't do that.” Things were starting to fall in place in my head. “But you two don't know me. No pony here knows me.”

“There's one problem with that.” Spice Chaser flatly remarked. “You've been in here with us for three days. We're all going to escape together. There is no way that they wouldn't associate Glowing Ether's death with us.” He turned his focus back to the wall, half-heartedly swinging so as to preserve energy for tonight.

It was a good point. I hadn't spent much time with Woe Tree, not even holding a conversation with her. For all we knew, such chaos might see her dig her hooves in and continue focusing on the isolation that had kept the village hidden for so long.

“What about you?” I stopped mid-thought, looking towards the earth pony mare who had also stood up, looking straight at me. She put a hoof down on the pick laying beside her and gripped the handle as it flipped up toward her mouth, never breaking eye contact. “And I'm not talking about your 'woe is me I can't remember anything' shit.” She muttered around the handle.

I continued starring at the page. While I felt a bit of fellowship with my new friends regarding the marks on our bodies, our circumstances were polar opposite. They knew what their purpose in life was, and had been forced to give it up. Unlike the two of them, I still had my cutie-mark. Whatever my purpose was in life, it was still part of me, just forgotten.

“Do you even have anywhere you want to go once your out?” Spice Chaser asked, digging into the side of the cave wall once more, freeing graphite and fragments of coal from it.

The question was multilayered in it's own right, and only heightened the gulf between me and the two of them. No 'where are you going'. The only place I had known, for about a week, was this village I was a prisoner in admist the mountains. Oh sure, I could extrapolate from what others told me about the world beyond and the conflict within it. But whatever place I had in it, if I ever had one, was lost to the black void in my mind. And I didn't even have a name to hint at my prior place in the world.

“Once the Enclave have finished leveling the Wastes, there's not going to be much left.” The mare cut in. “Actually, maybe things could get fun again. Everypony out to bash some pegasus skulls in, up to Nightmare Moon herself!” I could hear her ramming the pickaxe into the cave wall with hints of excited vigor. “Everypony out for themselves, no more factions beyond friends!”

I could hear Spice Chaser sigh to the side, abandoning a point I had already heard him make before. “If Manehattan and everything else isn't completely leveled, maybe we can see about getting you put up in Friendship City.”

The small city that was on the outskirts of the Manehattan ruins, located in the bay to be exact. He had mentioned it a few times before in passing and how he had lived there before moving to Tenpony Tower itself.

“I-” I bit my tongue. It was so tempting to ask about what would happen if that wasn't the case, if the outside was in total war like had been discussed. “I'd appreciate that.”

He looked over his shoulder, giving me a warm smile. “I thought you would. After all, what else are friends for?”

It wasn't my past or my purpose. It wasn't even a guarntee. But it was a kind possibility for a future beyond this. And for now, it was one of the best things anypony had offered me. I met his smile with one of my own, standing up and joining them in picking at the walls.

The moon bore ever closer. I didn't even have to see it to know. Frantically I continued looking side to side, a few other faceless ponies spread across the empty space. All of them equally happy and not caring of the impending doom or the laughter. I didn't even bother to grab their attention, knowing the the same hollow responses would result.

The final rays of the sun were snuffed out in the distance, salvation gone forever. I gave one more look over my shoulder at the Alicorn and her moon. Her gaze at me was finally broken by her moon, the massive sphere inexorably barreling closer and closer to my head.

Still I ran towards the everdistant horizon, hoping in vain that I could outrun the moon, outrun her wrath. I put my head down and continued the run, only seeing the shadow from the moon gradually overtaking me, slowly covering the entire empty expanse in darkness.

Time was out.

I passed the ladle back to Amber, my hooves going back to the lilac-colored book open on the cave floor in front of me. The dreams I had over the last three nights was just the same nightmare repeated time and time again, only bits and pieces more of it coming back to me night by night. Still, a pulse pounding nightmare was more then anything I had dreamt prior to this point. But it had never gone past the crashing moon point, a fitful awakening following each time.

Spitting out the chunk of graphite, I removed my hooves and let the book shut itself. “Remember.” I whispered to my friends. “It might be the middle of the night, but darkness won't hide everything. We only sprint to the mountains when there aren't anymore shadows to use.”

The two of them had relayed to me early on that our earthen prison was underneath a house at the end of the two rows that made up the village, closer to the Ministry Mare's personal residence then the mountain path leading out. We still didn't have an agreement on what to do after getting their marks back, we had all agreed that the choice would be better made at the vault rather when the two of them were back to normal.

Once more I looked at the the guard on the wooden outpost. He had fallen asleep sometime ago, discipline plainly not his strong suit. The candle light projected just enough illumination to make our pile of loose rock visible. The nicks we had made in the wall above it were harder to see, but at close range they were visible enough.

“Let's blow this cave.” Amber remarked, finishing the last bit of the soup. Unlike me, the two of them had no items of their own to take, the mare opting to nick a pick-axe while the unicorn stallion took a shovel.

Once underneath, I gingerly stepped my splinted-leg on the rocks, checking to ensure it wouldn't start sliding out from under me when I put my weight back on it. It gave no fightback, only slightly shifting as I put my full body on it. Now an extra few feet taller I gingerly reached forward and touched the wall, dragging my hoof against the wall until...

There. I could feel the first indent that would be for one of my rear legs. With a quit 'psst' I signaled Spice Chaser to give me a push, nothing straining but enough for my own weight to lead me falling off the wallside. I reached higher to where I could faintly see the shift in shadow and magic-light to hide another notch, reaching my unbound front leg to that and heaving my entire body up, the telekinesis shoving me against the wall.

Another notch, a continual push, and another stretch. My hooves barely fit in the notches we had made, and the higher ones were a lot harder for me to trust. It wasn't that I doubted Spice's ability to cut in, but a hole gradually chipped out with telekinesis wielding a shovel and pick wasn't as soothing as something I could have cut in the wall with a tool in my own mouth. Even my fellow earth pony friend's hoofwork would have been easier to hold confidence in, as that would also have been in easy reaching level and I could brace my weight off of it without injuring myself it the rock gave way.

Confident or not though, the unicorn's work was good enough to get me up. At the highest point notch, I reached out and to the left, trying to get a grip, however slight, on the side railing. I could feel the telekinetic shove starting to fade, but before it faded altogether I was able to hook my left leg around one of the rail's vertical beam, tossing my body sideways toward it and wrapping my right around a separate beam.

Crack

The time for silence was over.

Cra-SNAP

I yanked myself upwards, feeling the right most beam splintering apart near the base from my weight alone. My chest thudded onto the wooden platform as I exhaled, my bodyweight balanced firmly on the platform. A bit of shuffling from my front hooves and I was fully on the platform, right behind the guard who had fallen asleep in a half standing-half slouching position on the opposite side wooden railing. Despite so loudly breaking one of the beams into a near-break, he had not awoken.

With a kick I knocked the rope ladder off the side as I took a look at the guard. Leaning against the rail behind him was a rifle, just like the ones that Water Margin and Fair Smile had been wielding earlier. Immediately I bit down on the strap and tossed it over my shoulder, right afterwards ejecting the magazine. TO my surprise, it was completely empty. While I hadn't seen these guards ever point the rifle at us, only knowing to expect them form watching them change position, this was an..unsettling development. How would the guards have defended themselves against violent prisoners? Quickly I smacked the magazine back into place, my focus going back to the rope ladder, giving it a rough yank between my teeth.

Amber nearly matched me when it came to weight, if not being heavier due to extra muscle. The only thing that let me pull her up as quickly was the telekentic glow on her hindquarters, as Spice pushed her up with magic while I yanked with my strength. “You...find a key?” My fellow earth pony escapee whisper-asked upon reaching the top.

“He has nothing except an empty gun.” I walked over toward the door, looking right at the handle and the keyhole beneath it. The key hadn't been left in the lock either. It was as if the guards just walked in without a way out.

Of course! That made a lot more sense. The guards didn't need to be so strict with watching us if they knew that we wouldn't be able to get out. They guard wouldn't have any ammunition, just the threat. That way, if he was overwhelmed, the prisoners wouldn't be able to shoot back. Same with the lack of a key, in the even of an attempted escape, nopony would be able to just steal the key and evacuate. Granted, the three of us could just storm through when the morning guard came and opened the door, but that wouldn't be for several more hours and would undoubtedly put us under a much tighter timetable whenever the nightguard didn't leave. And depending on how late in the morning the shifts changed, we might be outside in the morning light, or worse, just as the entire town began their morning song.

“Give me a hoof, Strange Flank!”

I looked around on the planks, hoping to find something to force a break in the lock. For a moment I thought of grabbing one of the screws that was attached to piece of rail I had damaged with my weight, but a quick look at those nails showed that they were too wide to use for a kamikaze unlock. Instead, I bit down on the rope ladder along with Amber, giving it another rough yank.

Once Spice Chaser climbed up to the platform as well it was easy to tell he was winded from helping push me and Amber up. I pointed to the door, and he gave me a few seconds of blank staring before shrugging.

Our gaze uniformly swept across the platform, then back to eachother's eyes, uniformly and silently asking the same question: 'now what?' I winced just a bit as the metal in the mare's ears reflected the nearby magical candlelight into my eye-

That was it. “Amber. Your nose piercing.” I whispered harshly. She raised an eyebrow, cocking her head to the side as if I was crazy. Again I motioned to the lock. She obviously didn't get it. “Nose piercing. To pick the lock!” I whispered a bit louder with a bit of anger. For another second she stared at me blankly, and I could have blown a fuse in frustration if not for Spice leaning next to her ear and whispering something that helped her understand.

A few seconds later I had the piece of curved metal in my mouth, struggling to angle it with the lock. Spice stood beside me with Amber behind, both anxious for me to pick the lock. “When I say to-” I whispered toward my unicorn friend “-you need to magic-grab the bottom of the lock and push like you're using a prybar.” He nodded. Twisting the decorative metal between my lips, I carefully lined it up to the top of the hole, feeling it grind against the metal of the door's lock.

A click. The first pin pushed right to the top, with almost no resistance whatsoever. The second went into place just as easily, only for it to drop out the moment I moved the end of the piercing deeper into the lock. A sigh escaped my lips as I had to go back and reset the same pin. And then do it again even after the third pin went in place. Third time was the charm, and the final pin slotted into place without issue.

I gave a nod, and I could faintly feel the buzz of telekinetic grip tickling my chin before it pushed up and to the side. The lock disengaged, and I tossed my splinted hoof to the handle, gripping it and yanking it open.

We were out.

Achievement Unlocked: The Great Escape: Sneak out of the cave prison non-violently, and in less time then it would take to dig an underground tunnel that would still be twenty feet short.