Chasing Shadows

Huffs and puffs echoed off of the damp, rock walls as the unicorn struggled to maintain his forward momentum. The putrid grime from the murky water covered his body from the neck down and filled the air with a foul stench, which was so overwhelming that he thought he could taste it. Yet he would absolutely not allow it to distract him.

The dark-sapphire pony in question knew there was only one way out, and that was forward. So he gritted his teeth and pushed ahead in a fury to get out of this hideous, disgusting place.

A deep splash sounded over and he gave a look over his shoulder into the shadowy depths he had been exploring for the last hour. He didn’t want to think about them, nor his experience in that place called a cell. Just thinking about the confined space brought cold chills down his spine, forcing him to look away, in the only direction he hoped would take him out of this hell. For him there was now a single goal, which he would obtain by the effort that he had put into planning over the past four months. Suddenly, the his immersed hoof fell on top of something particularly slippery, and it unexpectedly shot forward under him. Then a new goal suddenly presented itself, one that he had certainly not been expecting. He flailed in an attempt to keep above the pungent filth he had been wading through, but to no avail as the sound of splashing water echoed through the dark tunnel. It was starting to have an effect on his nerves, as his gaze occasionally fixated in the ceiling shadows.

The stallion made his way back to his hooves and wiped some of the dark-brown flecks out of his mane. The muck had now completely hid its natural maroon color, but even if it wasn’t sullied, it would still have been a tangled mess of locks no stylist would dare touch. The stallion blinked hard, trying his best to not rub his eyes

He blinked once again to clear them and then turned to look forward to the length of the tunnel. Then he saw it. His teal eyes turned to look ahead and his pupils, fully dilated from the darkness, shrunk slightly when they made contact with the light.

This was it. His goal was finally within reach.

It felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted from his heart as he started to head towards the dim light. The unicorn continued crawling onward until he arrived to the end of the adit. He grabbed the sides of the opening with his front legs and pulled with all of the energy he had remaining. After struggling and shaking his plot, he popped out from the orifice like a cork from a bottle.

Luckily, although he fell out headfirst, a pond below, rather than solid ground, prevented his neck from breaking.. The impact did leave him a bit dazed; yet, he recovered very quickly and tried to clean his face of whatever filth the water contained.

He paused and stared upwards. The skies were filled with a deep purple hue from horizon to horizon, and the blue moon reflected from the water, filling it in the celestial light

He felt his throat tighten and eyes moistened..

Then came laughter, bright and clear like ringing bells. The unicorn cheered loudly and splashed the water around him while crying tears of joy.

He had made it. He had escaped.

Quickly, his laughter died down, and the tears ceased. With a grunt, he pushed himself up to all fours before glancing up at the wall of dirt where the pipe he had escaped through was protruding. It was tall, very tall, and where the soil stopped the wall continued in the form of thousands of rectangular stones that circled around a tower which stretched up to the skies.

The prison.

He then ran into the night.