Hold Your Horses: A My Little Pony Story

Prose sat down on a bean bag next to Ginger Blush.

“That… that can’t be true, right?” Prose asked. “There has to be a way to escape.”

Apple Crumble spoke up before Chorus or Ginger could.

“Please don’t try to escape. It makes me sad watching new arrivals try to escape. The same thing happens every time.”

“What happens?” wondered Chorus.

“Limbo…” Fizzy interrupted and subsequently trailed off.

“Limbo?” Ginger questioned. “Like… the party game?”

“Nothing like the party game,” Fizzy elaborated. “Whenever anypony tries to escape, Effie always catches them, and she always sends them to Limbo. It’s like a place between here and Equestria. Nopony really knows what happens there, except that nopony ever comes back from Limbo.”

Prose put her hooves over her face.

“So, the punishment for trying to escape our imprisonment… is another, potentially worse imprisonment?”

“Correct!” Apple Crumble affirmed. “That’s why ponies like Fizzy and I try to make the best of Time Jail. It’s really not all that bad. There’s plenty of ponies to meet, and plenty of books to read, and I personally find the TV very fun to watch.”

Chorus closed his eyes and tried to process his options. Images of a panicked and worried Sombra clouded his vision. He imagined the thought of losing Sombra forever, of losing Ponyville forever, of losing Equestria forever.

“No,” he blurted. “We’re escaping. We have to escape.”

Fizzy’s eyebrows tilted with concern. “I know how hard it can be to accept it, but I promise you there’s no way to escape. I’m telling you this out of concern for you. I don’t want you three to get sent to Limbo. Nopony knows what even happens in Limbo.”

Ginger Blush remembered Savoir Fare, and thought about how worried he must’ve been after her abrupt disappearance. Images of his face overtook her mind. She worried about her poor cat, Maple, who wouldn’t even know what happened to her. She looked over to Fizzy, then to Chorus.

“I agree with you, Chorus,” she spoke. “We’ve saved Equestria like twice. I think if anypony can be the first to escape Time Jail, it’s us.”

Apple Crumble sighed.

“We’ll be sure to remember you when you three are in Limbo. Good luck, I guess.”

The ponies half-ignored Apple Crumble’s warning and turned towards each other.

Prose stood up from her bean bag and gestured for her friends to follow her. She led them to one of the many cafeteria tables set up in the room, where they all promptly sat down.

“We’re getting out of here,” she whispered hopefully. She turned towards a vent screwed into one of the walls not far away. “Are you ponies thinking what I’m thinking?”

Chorus and Ginger followed Prose’s gaze and looked over at the vent.

“I don’t know, Prose,” Chorus sighed. “Don’t you think that’s a little… predictable? Like, don’t you think ponies have tried that before?”

“It does seem a little obvious…” Ginger commented.

Prose looked at her friends as a smile crossed her face.

“I bet the other ponies who’ve tried it never used a cloaking spell,” Prose illuminated.

Chorus and Ginger looked at each other.

“Prose, you saw what happened the last time I tried to use my magic in here. I don’t want to feel that again. My magic doesn’t work here,” Chorus lamented.

“We don’t know that, exactly,” Prose distinguished. “We know your magic doesn’t work against Effie’s magic. We don’t know what happens when you try to use your magic on just us. We’re not her magic. We’re just us.”

Chorus contemplated Prose’s idea. He brought one hoof up to his chin.

“I guess you could be right,” he admitted. “It might be worth a shot.”

Ginger spoke up. “Are we sure? If we fail… it could mean being more hopelessly trapped and lost than we already are…”

Prose looked at Ginger with determination in her eyes. “What other choice do we have, Ginger? We can’t just stay here and waste away for the rest of our lives. I have to get back to Equestria–back to Twilight. Don’t you want to get back to Savoir Fare?”

Ginger looked down in concession.

“I guess you’re right,” she conceded. She turned to Chorus. “Do you think you could cast a cloaking spell?”

“I haven’t done it before, but it’s not exactly the toughest spell in the book. It’s got a simple directive and a simple product. I think I can handle it,” determined Chorus.

“So, let’s do it. We climb into the ventilation, and look for some sort of back door; some sort of way out. Effie has to be able to traverse from here to Equestria. All we have to do is figure out how,” Prose plotted.

Chorus sighed. “Let’s do it.”

The ponies inconspicuously positioned themselves near the large vent on the wall, and Chorus began his cloaking spell. He began his music quietly and softly, careful not to draw the attention of anypony nearby.

Through the dark and to the light
We’re going to get out of here
Make us hidden in plain sight
Let us become crystal clear
Pink magic swirled out of Chorus’s horn and wrapped around him and his friends. Before their eyes, they became invisible to each other.

“It worked!” Ginger whispered.

“Okay, okay,” Prose spoke. “I’ll go first. Just follow the sound of me crawling. I’ll open the vent now.”

Invisible Chorus and Invisible Ginger watched as the vent seemed to magically pop open as Invisible Prose discreetly popped the cover off. Chorus and Ginger listened as they heard Prose’s hooves connect with the metal of the vents. Chorus followed after her sound, and Ginger followed after Chorus’s. They crawled quietly through the vents, careful to listen for where Prose was leading them. They traversed the ventilation system, following lefts and rights, inclines and declines, searching for a place they might escape.

“I see a light up ahead,” Prose whispered. “It might be a potential escape route.”

The ponies inched closer and close to the light until they came upon the backside of another vent cover. The light was coming from an office–presumably Effie’s office. Prose peeked through the vent slits and observed the surroundings. It may have been Effie’s office, complete with blueprints, maps, plans, and a desk, but Effie was nowhere to be seen.

“This might be our best means of escape,” Prose whispered. “Effie has to keep some sort of escape instructions in her office.”

“Well, let’s get down in there then,” Chorus suggested.

Prose scooched up close to the vent cover, and carefully pushed it outwards. It easily slipped off of the wall, and noisily clattered to the floor. The ponies winced at the sound. One by one, they stepped quietly out of the vent and into Effie’s office. The cloaking spell had worn off, and they could see each other again. They immediately began to explore the office, searching for any hope of an escape. Ginger picked up the white nameplate on Effie’s desk. The Final Pony, it read in glowing green text. The ponies continued to mull about the office.

Suddenly, without warning, the door to the office abruptly swung open. Effie stood in the doorway.

“The vents. Really?” she laughed. “I thought you three were more clever than that.”

The ponies stared in horror at their captor.

“You know, I had a feeling I was gonna have to send you three to Limbo. Thanks for proving me right, I guess,” she insulted.

Before the ponies could fight back or even protest, a green light shot out of Effie’s horn and engulfed all three of them. Just as quickly as they were brought to Time Jail, they disappeared entirely from it. Effie closed the door on her now vacant office, and returned to business as usual.