The Legend of Archenold

Chapter 1

Where The Hay Are We?

"Hey. You awake?" Archenold slowly stirs, opening his eyes slowly, only to squint in the brightness of the lights. In a different location than where he was before, he shoots glances everywhere with a worried look on his face when he hears the sound of somepony's voice behind a wall. The voice sounds muffled for some reason to Archenold. "You awake yet, Sleeping Beauty?"

"Who... who are you? Daring Do? Is that you?" Archenold asks with worry and confusion.

"Ah'm sorry, sugarcube but Daring Do was... she was murdered." The strange voice replies Archenold shakes his head no in defiance.

"No... No she can't be. Who the buck are you and why do you spread lies?!" Archenold demands, still in denial.

"Ah'm bein honest with ya, Archenold. Daring Do was..." Apple Jack gets interrupted by Archenold.

"LIES!!!" He shouts. A new voice suddenly comes in.

"Be quiet over there or when the boss comes in, he'll make sure you die in the most painful way!" The new voice warns.

"Pardon him, warden. He's probably just having a hard time taking things in." The pony reassures.

"You think I don't know that?" The warden scowls.

"I'll ask once more. Who are you?" Archenold interrogates further. Without hesitation, the response came.

"Ah'm Apple Jack. Pleased to meet ya!" Apple Jack greets. Archenold slowly starts laughing.

"Wow. you... You really expect me to believe that? Apple Jack is one of the Elements of Harmony. A legendary pony. She's probably off somewhere in a shrine waiting for the chosen pony to come and retrieve one of the 6 magical runes." Archenold responds doubtfully.

"Archenold, listen..." Apple Jack gets interrupted again.

"How the hay do you know my name?!" Archenold growls.

"No one cares! Now shut up!!!" The ward yells again.

"Warden, if you'd please, let us talk! We aren't going anywhere or planning anything! Besides. We're both shackled against a wall. How the buck are we supposed to get away?" Apple Jack fights back. For a moment, there is silence. The ward then breaks the silence, seeing the logic in Apple Jack's words.

"OK Fine, but if you two escape in the next ten minutes, I'm calling down the boss for immediate action." The ward warns.

"Listen, sugarcube, no matter how many times you say Daring Do is not dead, forget it. What was the last thing you remember?" Apple Jack inquires trying to get her point across.

"I remember her screaming my name worriedly, then a bang... and... oh shit..." Archenold stops in revelation. A tear starts to well up in his eye, starting to drop down his face. "How... How did she... die?"

Two Days Ago...

"ARCHENOLD!!!" Daring Do Shouts as he starts collapsing to the ground. Then, something catches her ears. The sound of voices. She looks to the entrance of the massive room they are in to see a black figure for a second before hearing a bang. She shrieks in fear and pain as something hard hits her neck. Her eyes roll up, eye lids closing as she passes out. Her wings fall out of their resting place on her side as she falls. One of her wings falls onto Archenold's back before she passes out.

The next moment, Daring Do finds herself passed out on the floor in a jail cell, her vision blurry at first noticing the black outline of the cell bars. Soon, everything becomes clear.

"Where the buck am I...?" She asks herself. She hears the voice of a pony nearby.

"You're being held captive in the prison cell of the main Black Hoof Headquarters. You better enjoy yourself now while you can. The boss doesn't take kindly to prisoners. One of his tortures to make ponies talk is a machine that slowly pulls all  your limbs apart until your skin starts ripping causing it to bleed. It continues pulling ripping all the way through your muscles until it gets to the bone where it snaps right off. Without any limbs to hold you against the wall, you drop right into your own pool of blood, wishing you were dead. Then he just leaves you there until He takes you to some sort of operating table where you have one last chance of talking. If not, there's these circular blades almost like those on power saws on this one machine. Once activated, that's it. it comes down slowly until it gets to your face then starts shredding all the flesh on your face apart when it..." Daring Do Shrieks in fear.

"OK! OK! That's enough! I don't need to hear anymore." Daring Do pleads in nothing but fear. "Why are you telling me this?" Daring Do inquires in disgust.

"I'm forced to otherwise that will happen to me. I guess it's some scare tactic the boss has to help make ponies talk. Honestly, I gag thinking about it myself. Especially when I say it. Speaking of which, one second..." Daring Do hears the sound of gagging noises followed by some body fluids flowing into a trash can. "OK, I'm f... wait..." More puking is heard. "OK Now I'm fine." The ward reassures.

"You better be." Daring Do warns even though she knows she's powerless right now inside a jail cell.

"Well, it was nice talking to you. I was just informed the boss is coming soon." The ward informs, yet Daring Do couldn't help but wonder if that was despair in his voice.

"Wait, you seem kinda sad to stop talking." Daring Do starts again. "What's up?" there is a small pause before a response is heard.

"Well, I usually don't get to talk to much ponies. Whenever I do, it's usually when the boss is barking commands at me or when some henchmen are taking in a prisoner, and believe me when I say they aren't too nice about it. The inmates that usually come are either too anti-social or so mentally insane they can't even talk right. I don't even bother with them." The ward confesses.

"Hmm. Poor guy." Daring Do reflects. "Have you ever had a decent conversation before?" Daring Do wonders.

"No. This was the only good conversation I've had since my colthood." The ward replies. "If only I got to see your face better when the henchmen brought you in. Then I could remember your face when it's all over for you." Daring Do thinks she heard him sniffle in sadness.

"There's always time. You are the warden here." Daring Do responds thinking of a plan. There is more silence.

"Y...You're right." There is another long pause before Daring Do hears the sound of a chair being pushed out and back into place. Soon enough, the warden peeks into the cell with a soft expression on his face. Daring Do notices he is a gray stallion with a brown mane and tail. His cutie mark is some hoof cups to show he is good at law enforcement. "You... You're..." He struggles to think of something, his expression obviously showing he is starting to care more for her. His expression hardens as the sound of double doors open. He looks in the direction of where the pony entered going on his hind hooves, holding one of his front hooves up in the air in salute. "Hail Cyphento!" He salutes as a pony in a black body suit covering his skin, mane and tail comes up to the cell and dismisses the ward. Daring Do can't see who the pony is because of a dark glass mask the pony is wearing that allows the pony to see her, but not let her see him.

Shit, well there goes that plan. Daring Do sighs in defeat at the thought of failure.

"Ahh! Daring Do!" The pony starts with a robotic voice due to a voice disguise hooked up to the glass mask. "So you helped out that blue fellow to the Jade Heart. Such a pity you two were so close to discovering its true potential. I guess all that raw power was too much for him to take?" Cyphento puzzles. "How come it took so long for us to finally catch up to you?"

"I don't know." Daring Do responds dryly. "Why do you sound like the Terminator?" Cyphento chuckles in a creepy robotic voice.

"That is just like you, Daring Do. I've always known you to be like that." Daring Do looks at Cyphento with confusion and disgust.

"And exactly what the buck do you mean by that?" Daring Do growls with a little curiosity. Cyphento turns to the warden who is sitting back at his desk filling out his paperwork who looks up at Cyphento when he notices him looking in his direction.

"Warden, look away now. If you catch even a glimpse of my image, remember that torture method you just recently explained to Daring Do." Cyphento threatens. The warden spins around on his desk chair to face the wall and close his eyes. "Now. To show you what I look like." Cyphento checks to make sure the warden is obeying his order before taking off his mask to reveal his true face. Daring Do gasps in shock as the revelation comes upon her.

"B..but...you...you're...how...?!" Daring Do stammers with questions racing through her mind nonstop. Cyphento puts on the glass mask, laughing.

"All in due time, Daring Do. All in due time. It's okay for you to look now, warden." Cyphento informs. The warden turns away from the wall to get back to filling out the paper work. "In the meantime, have a good night." Cyphento pulls out a pistol and aims it at Daring Do's chest. Noticing the gun, Daring Do starts backing up to the back of the cell.

"Y...You wouldn't!" Behind the glass mask, Cyphento smiles deviously.

"Good night!" He shoots Daring Do square in the chest letting her drop to the ground without any blood leakage. Cyphento starts laughing maniacally when the warden spins him around to meet his gaze.

"What was that for?! I thought you wanted to interrogate her! Instead you just come in, reveal yourself, and kill her! What the buck?!" The warden inquires mutinously. Cyphento smacks the warden square in the head.

"Never question your boss like that!" Cyphento warns with a hint of anger in his altered voice. "I thought you knew better than to stand up to me like that! You were so loyal! Unless..." Silence lingers in the room for a moment before Cyphento starts laughing again. "You liked her! Oh my Discord! You seriously like her!" Cyphento pushes the ward aside as he goes to head out. "Remember your place, warden. And to think I was just about to promote you." Cyphento scoffs before heading out the double doors. Holding his hoof to his head, the warden takes in the pain from the blow. Then he looks at Daring Do in her cell. A moment later, a tear forms in his eye.

He wipes off the tear and gets up with his attitude hardening. He goes over to his desk and starts working again. "I swear, in the name of Celestia, I'm going to..." He quits talking to himself as he notices some henchmen bring in an orange pony with blonde hair, a hat and freckles with red bands holding together some hair at the tip of her mane and tail. "No way. That's Apple Jack!" The warden exclaims to himself in surprise with his mouth gaping in shock.

Present Day

"When I was in the vent, I saw Cyphento take off his glass mask, but I wasn't able to see his face due to the angle I was looking at him." Informs with a sad tone in her voice. "I personally witnesses him shoot her in the chest." The story gets Archenold thinking.

"Hmm. Interesting." Archenold ponders for a while. Maybe... The ward could possibly help us out. Archenold decides to change the subject. "So How did you actually come to know that I acquired the relic when you weren't even there to witness it?" Archenold inquires rather curiously.

"Never underestimate the power of news! Spreads faster than parasprites in an apple orchard!" Apple Jack replies.

"Dang. It really spreads that fast?" A new voice chimes in to answer the question.

"Eeyup!" Archenold hears Apple Jack gasp in excitement.

"Big Macintosh! Thank Celestia you're here!" The jail cell next to Archenold's open with a loud squeaking noise from the metal bars. Then Big Macintosh comes to open Archenold's cell with the keys he acquired. He notices that Big Macintosh is crimson with an orange mane and tail as well. His cutie mark is half a green apple. The only visible physical features is the freckles on his face along with a huge scar running down his left eye. Big Macintosh is wearing an eye patch to cover what would look like a horrific battle wound. Archenold's cell opens up after Big Macintosh found the right key. He then starts searching for the right key again as he tries to free Archenold from his shackles. Falling to the ground after the last shackle was released, he sees his bow, arrow and knife fall onto the floor in front of him. He looks up at Big Macintosh. "I believe these are yours?" Archenold grabs his gear and gets himself situated.

"Thanks." Archenold thanks as he adjusts the strap on his arrow quiver. "Wait..." He takes an arrow out of the quiver and examines it. "Oh wow!" He notices the arrows are sharpened to a fine point along with some ridges in the blades designed to start internal bleeding by rupturing a few blood vessels. "Holy shit! Thanks!" Big Macintosh rolls his eyes before turning to Apple Jack.

"He swears too?" Apple Jack nods her head. Archenold speaks up again.

"So! What's the escape plan?"