Escape from Arora Ridge Quarry

Sunny grinned as she ran through a field of long grass, daisies and daffodils. It was a beautiful day, the sun beaming down from the glorious blue sky above her.

Running slightly ahead of her was Izzy. Her mane and tail fluttered in the wind as she galloped along. She looked back at Sunny excitedly as she began singing...

Up ahead is a sky growing dark
Where it leads is a big question mark
And I’m scared that I’ll end up
A pony gone missing from Pegasus-ing

Sunny beamed as she caught up to Izzy. They galloped alongside each other as they kicked up the seeds from a patch of dandelions.

But you’re not alone
You got a pony in your crew

Izzy beamed as she nudged Sunny in the side.

I do? Who?

Sunny grinned as she took the lead, following the path as it began to curve back and forth.

I'm lookin' out for you
When you're off track
I got your back
You can rely on me
I'm lookin' out for you

Izzy laughed excitedly as she put on an unnatural burst of speed and overtook. Sunny gasped and her eyes widened as she suddenly found she couldn’t keep up. The faster she tried to go; the more Izzy pulled away. “Iz, slow down!”

However, Izzy didn’t respond. The gap between the pair got wider and wider until, suddenly, Izzy screamed as she disappeared downwards. “SUNNNY!”

“IZZY!”

Wide-eyed, Sunny skidded to a stop at the edge of a black, seemingly bottomless abyss that had just swallowed her friend. Desperately, she looked around for Izzy. However, there was no trace of her. “No, nonono,” she panted. “Iz! IZZY!”

Without warning, the abyss grew larger, and the ground disappeared from below Sunny’s hoofs. “Woah!” she screamed as she plummeted into the blackness.

It felt like she was falling for an eternity. Then, she started floating, her hoofs treading thin air.

“Where am I?” she gasped as she looked around. “IZZY! Izzy, where are you?”

Suddenly, five spotlights turned on, one by one. Sunny’s eyes widened, and she gasped. “No. NO!”

Within each pool of light, there was a bell-shaped cage. Locked within each cage was one of Sunny's friends. Their forelegs were shackled, and each had a muzzle locked to their faces. Pipp and Zipp were wearing straps around their wings and Misty and Izzy had restrictors clamped around their horns.

None of them moved, they were all sat looking down forlornly. They looked as though they’d completely given up any hope of rescue.

Sunny gulped before narrowing her eyes with determination. “Hold on everypony, I’m coming!”

Desperately, Sunny tried to activate her powers. However, her eyes widened when nothing happened.

“What? No!” She grunted, closing her eyes as she strained with effort. “C...Come on, work!”

Suddenly, Sunny’s eyes shot open. She gasped as she found herself sitting in a cage. Her forehoofs were shackled and a muzzle covered her face. The cages containing her friends floated around hers, rotating around and around.

No! NO! Nononono!

Suddenly, Sunny gasped as Allura appeared. She was huge, towering over all the cages as she laughed maniacally.

“Just remember, you can’t escape,” the huge Allura sneered. “Just remember, I’ll capture all your friends.”

Sunny desperately panted for breath as she stared back at Allura with widened eyes. Suddenly, everything was engulfed in a bright white light.

Sunny screamed into her muzzle as her eyes shot open. She’d been awoken by the lights in the hut turning on and she lay on the mat, panting for breath.

It...It was a dream... I can’t escape... She gasped as her eyes widened in horror. NO! Please! NO! I can’t... I can’t

She struggled to breathe as she felt her heart pounding. Then, she desperately looked towards the port in the wall. Feeling a prang of relief as she saw the LED flick to green.

I have control… Yes! Yes, I do! I’m getting this thing off my face so I can breathe!

She scrambled to her hoofs and quickly moved towards the port. Shoving the muzzle in as soon as she arrived. A few clicks and she pulled her nose free, immediately taking a deep breath in through her mouth.

She sat down and began breathing deeply. In through her nose and out through her mouth. “I…I’m okay,” she gasped between breaths. “I’m okay.”

Suddenly, she gasped. Her eyes widened and she froze as she heard a familiar voice in her mind.

“SUNNY! I’ve learnt this new messaging spell. I’m sorry, it won’t let you reply, I'm working on that. Don’t worry though. Whatever’s happened, we’ll save you! It doesn’t matter how bad things might seem. We’ll find a way, I promise. Don’t lose your hope!”

Sunny shook her head as the message ended. She gasped again as a spark of hope ignited in her heart.

“Misty? Misty, is that really you?" Her head twitched.

She'll capture my friends... Her eyes widened in panic. “Misty, no! Don’t come, she’ll capture you all!”

Tears began falling from her eyes as her sides heaved in sorrow. The spark was seemingly snuffed out as a fog of despair descended within her mind.

“I…I can’t get away. T…They can’t save me. I…I don’t have any hope!”

Much later, Skysurf groaned as she felt Giselle pushing her from behind. “Will you stay still?” she hissed.

“I can’t, there’s no space,” Giselle whispered back. “You need to get closer.”

“We’re plenty close enough,” Skysurf grunted before gasping. “Get Down!”

They both flattened themselves between the rocks that they were hiding within. The Nirik that Skysurf had spotted walked past without noticing them.

“This isn’t good,” Giselle hissed. “I thought you said there weren’t many patrols.”

“There wasn’t this many yesterday,” Skysurf grumbled. “It’s okay, I see Sprout coming.”

Sprout was indeed approaching with a loaded cart behind him. He gasped as he passed the Nirik and couldn’t help feeling surprised as he spotted Skysurf emerge from the rocks and wave a wing. He glanced back to the Nirik before pulling in closer to the rocks and slowing enough for both Skysurf and Giselle to scramble under his cart.

“I was starting to think you’d abort,” he hissed.

“So was I,” Giselle grumbled.

Skysurf frowned. “It’s fine, just remember we’ve got a long time to hold on.”

“I’ve got it,” Giselle muttered. “You worry about yourself.”

“Sush,” Sprout hissed. “Don’t talk now unless I do.”

It was a while before Sprout finally started nearing the watchtower. Under the cart, Giselle couldn’t help grunting as she struggled to hold on.

The dust had been stifling and now her forelegs were starting to burn. Unsure how much longer she could hold on, she looked worriedly at Skysurf.

Skysurf nodded knowingly in response, she was feeling it too. However, they both felt relieved as they heard Sprout grunt.

The grunt had two objectives, firstly to let Skysurf and Giselle know they were close to the watchtower. Secondly, Sprout began putting on a show. Flicking his tail and making it look like he was being attacked by flies.

He veered off course and closer to the watchtower than normal. His actions being covered by the tail flicking and grunting, the Nirik above didn’t suspect a thing and carried on as normal.

Sprout tried and failed to suppress a grin as he neared the door of the watchtower before coughing loudly.

This was the signal for Skysurf and Giselle. They both quickly dropped from the cart and let Sprout continue on his way. Skysurf nodded towards the door and Giselle gave a confident grin in response.

They got up and started moving towards the door. However, just as they arrived, it suddenly opened.

They both froze, wide-eyed in shock, as they looked at the two Nirik that had just emerged. The Nirik meanwhile both stopped and cocked their heads. Seemingly unable to fathom how a Hippogriff and Griffon were stood before them.

Meanwhile, Sugar passed Sprout with an empty cart. He grinned before winking at her and nodding. She smiled in response, assuming all was going to plan.

However, as she got nearer to the tower. She spotted the situation that Skysurf and Giselle had found themselves in. Gasping, she broke into a gallop and barrelled down the small hill towards the watchtower.

The two Nirik narrowed their eyes and started to growl. Having seemly worked out their response to finding the two out-of-place creatures.

Giselle narrowed her eyes and prepared to pounce at the Nirik. She looked at Skysurf, indicating she should run.

However, Skysurf gasped as she spotted Sugar galloping towards them at breakneck speed. Desperately, she pushed Giselle up against the wall of the watchtower, out of the way.

The Nirik both blinked with confusion, cocking their heads again. They weren’t expecting Sugar to gallop between them. Let alone her cart to biff them up the backsides as it gamely followed along behind her.

Sugar continued to gallop as the two Nirik went flying into the air and landed in heaps someway away. They both quickly got up and gave chase, snarling loudly as their manes flared brightly.

Up in the watchtower, the two Nirik that were on watch hadn’t seen Skysurf and Giselle. However, they had seen Sugar galloping down the hill. Therefore they were already running down the stairs.

Skysurf and Giselle gasped as the door was flung open again. They stayed frozen against the wall as the two Nirik ran past after Sugar.

Panting, they looked at each other before Giselle pointed towards the door. Skysurf nodded in response, and they headed inside.

Inside the watchtower, the pair gasped at the racks of collars, bridles and straps that covered one of the walls. Opposite, there was a large set of grey control panels which were covered in buttons and lights. Straight ahead of the door were the stairs that led up to the top level.

Skysurf pointed to herself and indicated she was going to look upstairs. Then she pointed to Giselle and then at the racks. Giselle silently nodded and moved towards them.

Above each rack, there was an image of a creature. Giselle presumed they indicated what each collar was for and looked for the Nirik ones first.

Meanwhile, Skysurf carefully went up the stairs. She confirmed the floor above them was empty before quickly coming back down. “We’re alone.”

“Good, take a look at this,” Giselle responded quietly.

She held up one of the collars, showing Skysurf the back which had an illustration of a Nirik.

“At least we can’t get them muddled,” Skysurf winked.

“Yeah, look at the wing straps,” Giselle frowned as she pointed.

Skysurf blinked and looked at the straps, gasping as she spotted the illustration of a Griffon and Hippogriff above them on the rack. “I…I didn’t think they could be the same. I’ve not seen a Griffon wearing them.”

“Let’s grab at least one of everything.”

“Agreed,” Skysurf nodded. “But let’s be quick about it.”

Meanwhile, Sugar was still galloping as fast as she could. The cart bumped and banged along as she struggled to keep ahead of her pursuers. It was a massive burden and she was quickly starting to tire.

Her heart sank as she realised, there was no way for her to escape. It was only a matter of time until she would be caught. However, she grit her teeth as she pushed herself to keep running. Hoping an opportunity would present itself.

Unfortunately such an opportunity didn’t get a chance. Sugar gasped as one of the Nirik pulled out and ran alongside her.

She tried to speed up but the Nirik slammed into her side, pushing her from the hard-packed roadway and onto the rough and rocky verge.

The cart banged and clattered, its already abused wheels couldn’t take the additional punishment. There was an ear-splitting crack as they shattered and the cart instantly dived to the ground.

Sugar cried out as the cart became a massive anchor that roughly pulled her to the ground. Grunting, she tried to get up, but the Nirik were quickly upon her and pinned her down.

Puffing and panting as she lay on the ground, Sugar struggled against the Nirik’s grasp. However, she quickly realised she was going nowhere and stopped. Her fate was in the flaming hoofs of the Nirik now.

She closed her eyes, hoping that Giselle and Skysurf had been successful.

Back at the watchtower, Skysurf grunted as she hid the last of the collars. “Come on, Sprout will be here soon.”

“You need to take a look at this.”

Skysurf frowned as she turned and looked towards where Giselle was standing. She was looking at one of the large control panels on the other side of the room. As Skysurf walked over towards it, she noticed what looked like a tape player. It had two tapes, one slowly rotating whilst the second was not.

“This could be something to do with the purr,” Skysurf gasped.

“I bet it is," Giselle nodded. "I'm sure I saw speakers on the tower outside.”

Giselle reached towards the tape that wasn’t moving. However, Skysurf grabbed her claw to stop her.

“What?” Giselle blinked. “This could be critical to shutting down the purr.”

“I know but it’s too risky,” Skysurf sighed. “What with Sugar attempting a runaway. We don’t want her in more trouble.”

“Pfft, the Nirik will just put her in confinement,” Giselle frowned before gasping in realisation. “She…She saved us...”

“Exactly, Sugar sacrificed herself and that’s what makes taking that too risky.”

“How?”

“Hopefully, she’ll just end up in confinement. But if we take that then it might draw Allura’s attention. We can’t risk doing that to her.”

Giselle grimaced as she closed her eyes. However, she nodded and moved towards the door. Skysurf sighed and looked back at the wing straps. She sighed and ruffled her wings before following.