//------------------------------//
// Escape Velocity 
// Story: The Dream Quest of Unknown Equestria 
// by Lobstercraft 
//------------------------------//


Seventh Chapter:  Escape Velocity


Phillip was disappointed to hear the news. “But this doesn’t soften my resolve!” he declared. Luna looked conflicted. Phillip also noted she was speaking softer and without the royal ‘we’. It was adorable, but at the same time he sort of liked being shouted at. 
“I will not betray my sister,” the pony stated. “Not again.”
“I respect that,” replied Phillip. 
“But I also don’t want you killed.” 
“Come again?” Phillip didn’t hear that right.
“My sister is coming tonight to make certain I’ve destroyed you.” 
“Oh.”  Okay maybe he did. 
“But alas, I cannot.” Luna sank to the floor. “You must understand that she isn’t cruel. It’s simply that the situation is so dire that extreme measures must be taken. There can be no exceptions.”
Phillip felt the magnitude of the situation as the energy drained from him. At the same time, he thought of all of the horrible atrocities his race seemed to make sport of. “Yeah, I suppose so,” he replied. How could he refute such a claim? Equestria must stay unknown.
“I am going to retire to my chambers for a few hours.” Luna said as she rose to her hooves. She headed for the door of Phillip’s guest room. There seemed to be new life in the tortured mare; perhaps a thought had occurred to her? She wiped a tear from her eye and spoke with determination, “In three hours time, I will return… and I will kill you.” 
With that she left. A guard closed the door and Phillip stood there wondering… but not for long. “Fuck that jazz.” Phillip quickly found a quill and some parchment on the nearby desk. He wrote a note before peeking out his door and discovering no guards in sight. He strapped on his ‘tactical espionage action’ headband and snuck his way to where Luna’s royal chariot was stored. There he found a bat-pony hanging out. “Hello!” he declared, walking casually towards him.
“Uh…” the bat-pony looked around, “Hello.”
“Her Highness has retired to her chambers for the day, but before she did we had a brief conversation. It was mentioned that she had dropped a trinket her sister had given her.”
“That’s awful,” the bat-pony said with suspicion.
“As you probably know, the princess and I have been getting along as of late.” Phillip continued, “So I’d like to repay her in some small way. I didn’t make the best first impression, you see. So, I was wondering if you’d help me go and recover the trinket. You could get the credit; I just want to know I did something nice for her.”
“Why didn’t she send a search party after it?” asked the guard.
“Beats the hell out of me,” replied Phillip, “But let’s take advantage of the situation and score some brownie points!”
“I don’t know…” said the bat-pony., “There’s kind of a ‘no humans in Equestria’ rule.”
“She said it was over a forest…” Phillip began, watching the pony’s facial expression for any sign that they hadn’t in fact flown over a forest. “…so nobody would have to know. You could have the credit and I could just feel good about myself.”
“Huh.” The bat-pony thought a moment.  “And what’s in it for you again?”
“Just feeling good about myself… have you never done a good deed anonymously before?”
“No,” he replied.
“Oh,” said Phillip with surprise. “Must be unique to humans then. So is that a no? I mean, I guess you could just go look on your own, but we’d cover more ground as a team.”
“That’s a no,” replied the bat-pony. He then remembered how sad Luna seemed on the return trip. 
“Alright,” shrugged Phillip, “I’ll just make her a card. I guess getting credit is pretty sweet, too.”
“Wait,” said the bat-pony, “Alright I’ll help you, but you can’t leave the forest, you got that?”
It was a stupid move on Phillip’s part. I mean, what if the bat-pony had overheard the conversation about Phillip’s death sentence? It was a bold lie, but fortune favors the bold.