The banging heard from the office Berry Punch, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle were outside of had stopped right after Twilight had finished explaining her game. Dumbfounded, Dash just stared at Twilight with her mouth hanging open. Berry, however, didn’t flinch. Much like how Dash was when the colt that charged at them earlier had his brains blown out. Berry asked a question.
“That thing comes off when you unlock the padlock right?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“Throw it over here.”
Twilight decided not to ask questions, and reached into her saddlebag to take out her needle brace from earlier. Throwing it over at Berry, Twilight sat down on the carpeted floors. Berry went over the brace. Feeling over the holes where previous needles had been, she had felt blood around them. Berry wasn’t sure if she’d seen one of these braces before, but it sure as hell was familiar. So a different key unlocks the braces. Which probably means that Berry’s key that unlocks all wouldn’t apply here.
“Hey, Berry?” Berry looked up at Twilight. “You mind handing over your knife?” Berry saw no harm in giving her knife to Twilight. As she did so, the trio started hearing screams coming from inside the office. Dash, once more feeling useless, couldn’t help but speak up again.
“Those rules can’t really comply if we didn’t read the note right? I never saw the note on the door yet, I mean, I didn’t even get to read your note.” Dash had a point.
Berry, had however, given up trying to talk some sense into Rainbow Dash. Anything said against Dash would end with Dash firing back words faster than the speed needed to cause a sonic rainboom. Her new line of words combined with the screams coming from the office, had forced Berry to break the rules. Just this once. She could feel her sanity cracking under the weight of deciding. Berry asked for her knife back in exchange for Twilight’s needle brace. Twilight complied.
She had a short argument between her sense to help others and her obedient mind that followed rules. If I interrupt this test, I might be able to save Applejack. Her mind rebutted. Or mess it up worse. But... Then again, if this goes well, she’ll be safe before her test finishes, who knows? She might not make it without help. So I’m guessing that interrupting would be the best option for now.
However, her mind fired back with logic that Berry herself didn’t know she had. You were smart enough to follow the other rules, and you made it safely here. Are you REALLY going to risk your life trying to safe another? Think of the implications. If Applejack dies, then that’s just one less pony. But if anything were to happen to you, the others would be really, really screwed. So whatever you choose, it had better be what’s right.
Having Applejack is the same as adding a new asset to the list of ponies we have as allies. Wouldn’t want to fight anything on your own, wouldn’t you? The rule obedient part of her brain went silent.
Berry must have been arguing for quite sometime before she heard a thud from within the office. By then Berry’s mind was made up, and she decided to follow the same approach as Dash, though with another method. Remembering what the note from the burnt cottage had said about the gold key, she took it out of the saddlebag and hastily fitted the key into the padlock securing the door. The key fit perfectly, and the padlock came off without much resistance. 1 key unlocks all.
Berry knew that she was taking a grave risk by breaking the rules, but she felt safe knowing that a brute like Rainbow Dash and a sorceress like Twilight following her around. The way Dash had tried to fight off that colt. Berry hadn’t seen what Twilight could do, but from what she’s heard, she’s a very good sorceress indeed. And she might eventually need Twilight’s leadership skills to help everyone pull through. How she and the others defeated Discord. How she, Dash and the others vanquished Nightmare Moon.
As the deadbolts on the other side of the door started unlatching, Dash was eager to just charge in, her wings already flapping with enough speed to mess up Twilight’s mane. Berry’s mane was no exception either, as the wind from the flapping impacted the ground. It was like a downdraft, but rather backwards. Once the deadbolts were done unlatching, the door opened outwards, as if to make the warning note clear that there’s only a way out, and not a way in of this room.
The room was dark. Some of the light from the hallway had pooled into the room, though only around the door frame. In the room, hung a single lantern lit by an orange flame. Several other lanterns were also hanging from the walls, lit with the same dimness as the orange flame in the centre of the room. The three ponies stepped into the room, with Rainbow Dash cautiously gliding in first, still dark despite the lighting. Twilight lit her horn for a moment, wrapping her horn with an orange glow. The beeping in Twilight’s collar had started the moment she started. Immediately the light in the hallway dimmed by a little, but the lantern in the room had brightened considerably. The room, now having enough lighting, could be looked around with ease.
Next to the door, a cabinet stood. In the middle of the room, a metal chair with a headboard. Behind the chair, complex machinery that probably nopony but Twilight would know about. In front of the chair, collapsed on the floor, lay the subject of their concern. An unconscious, but very much alive Applejack lay on the floor. Her mane was a tangled mess as the rubber band that usually kept her mane kept was not in place. Her hat, along with some shards of what seemed to be glass, was right next to Applejack. Upon closer inspection, Twilight saw that around the glass, there was a sky-blue liquid that seemed to have been inside the glass. To the right to Applejack, a wooden table was bolted to the floor, with a note pasted on it. Twilight, carefully stepping around the glass shards on the floor, checked on Applejack. Applejack’s hoof was broken terribly and there was a rather mess of blood on the floor and the little wooden table from the repeated bangings.
“Her hooves are cold. Though her face is still warm. She has a cut between her eyes I think she got when she collapsed onto the floor. Hey girls, check this out.” The two mares stepped over, also careful not to step on the glass shards. Twilight pointed out to the marking on Applejack’s neck. It was as if someone had lassoed her. Hard. Berry couldn’t even imagine having such force on the neck.
Berry turned her attention to the note on the little wooden table, while the other two mares continued checking Applejack. Word by word zipped by Berry’s eyes as she had a brief scan of the note. Alarmed, Berry called out to the other two mares before something terrible could occur. “Girls! Don’t step on the glass!” The two mares looked down at their hooves, glad to not step on any.
“Like we actually wanted to.” Rainbow Dash said flatly.
Twilight glared at Dash. Rainbow Dash felt like backing away, but seeing as to how the glass shards around her would wound her hooves, she merely hovered above ground. Twilight, on the other hand, carefully stepped over the shards on the floor. Twilight had almost tripped over Applejack as she tried to do so. However, she safely got away without stepping on any of the glass shards. Feeling that it wouldn’t be fair for Applejack to be lying around glass shards, Twilight levitated Applejack to the front of the cabinet near the door. She carefully set Applejack down as her collar’s beeping started intensifying.
“Twilight, do you have anything that can cure poison?” Berry was frantic.
Startled, Twilight tried to remember if she had spells that could possibly help. Bringing up only two spells, Twilight explained to Berry. “Depends on what kind of poison you’re looking for. I have one spell for poison and one spell to cure the state of being poisoned.”
Berry’s face was uncertain. There really is no difference between the two right? A spell for a poison could mean an antidote, but that might require items to work. On the other hand, I’m not that sure either if Applejack is really poisoned or not.
Twilight raised a question. “Why do you ask?”
“Because the glass shards was a glass syringe and the liquid was inside that syringe on Applejack’s hat.” Rainbow Dash answered. The fact that Rainbow Dash had read the very long note without either Berry noticing surprised them both. Twilight, however, didn’t notice the note. Yet.
“And how are you so sure?” Twilight was being skeptical, like the time Pinkie had told her about her Pinkie sense. And everypony knew how that turned out. Before Rainbow Dash gave one of her infamous, infuriated answers, Berry held a hoof up to Dash’s muzzle, and pointed to the note pasted on the small wooden table in front of the steel chair. Twilight walked over to the wooden table, careful not to step on the glass shards and the liquid surrounding it. It was then that Twilight realized that the cut between her eyes had probably been from one of the glass shards that had the poison.
Her eyes scanned the note with the same speed as Berry’s eyes when she had read it. However, the look of dread on Twilight’s face, was much graver than the expression that displayed on Berry’s face earlier. Berry was going to question Twilight’s face, when she turned back to Applejack, whose hooves were starting to turn blue. This surprised both Applejack and Berry. While the two was still wondering what was happening to Applejack, Twilight had begun to cast a spell.
At first nothing had happened, or so it seemed. Twilight asked Berry to check Applejack’s pulse while she continued with her spell. The beeping of her leather braces started, and a black and blue glow shine came out of Twilight’s horn. Berry put her hoof up to Applejack’s neck, hoping to get a pulse. Finding none at all, she proceeded to press her head against Applejack’s chest to listen for a heartbeat.
There was none.
“Twilight! I think we’ve lost her!” Berry exclaimed, and looked as panic stricken as Rainbow Dash did. Twilight picked up the pace, ignoring the fact that it was almost three seconds after the first spell. Aiming her horn at Applejack’s head, Twilight blasted out a bright orange light just as another needle pierced the top of her saddlebag. Twilight knew that the other leather braces wouldn’t start unless the first one finishes. Another two more.
Blood began to flow back into Applejack’s hooves, turning them back to the orange she was before they turned blue. Twilight continued as she still wasn’t satisfied with Applejack’s condition. Firing a beam of, what seemed to be, lavender and yellow at Applejack, another needle pierced the top of her saddlebag. One more. Applejack was starting to breathe again, but was still unconscious.
Twilight concentrated more of her magic onto Applejack. Twilight’s horn, thought shining like a lighthouse, shot out a ray of light so dark it made Luna’s night look bright in comparison. As the light seeped into Applejack, the last needle of the needle brace in her saddlebag pierced the top of her saddlebag. Twilight didn’t care. Because Applejack was stirring.
Groaning, Applejack coughed several times before she opened one eye to squint at Twilight’s face, looking down at her. Managing only a little smile, Applejack once more collapsed into the world of unconsciousness. Though if you asked Applejack, she would just say that she just went to sleep. Applejack had cuts and bruises from glass shards on both the floor and on her hat. Berry let out a sigh of relief.
Another fighter has joined the party. Berry was, however, unsure of Applejack’s condition. Before Berry opened her mouth, Twilight interrupted her.
“No need for thanks.”
“Stop being so modest. You just saved a pony’s life!” Berry could have shouted, but realizing that there might still be others on her floor and the floor below her, she tried her best to keep her voice, along with the other’s voices, low. Loud enough for easier communication among the ponies, but not loud enough that other ponies nearby could hear.
“To be honest...I found out about the cure when I was going through a book I took from the Royal Library. So I guess it’s the bad things that save people as well.” Twilight stuck her tongue out a bit and blushed.
Rainbow Dash stood guard by the door while Twilight inspects the trap that Applejack was strapped to. Berry went through the cabinets by the door. Berry had found another weapon in one of the two drawers in the cabinets, intended for Applejack, should she survive her test. It didn’t seem much like a weapon. It was circular ring, most probably for the use of ponies as it would fit their hooves, but it reminded Berry of one of those horseshoe stores in Canterlot that sold high heel horseshoes. In the middle of the circular ring was a tiny slit. Next to the tiny slit, a little button stood out, the only bump in the whole ring. Berry clicked it, and a blade sprang out of the slit, narrowly hitting Berry’s other hoof.
Applejack’s shallow breaths can be heard as the other three ponies went around doing their own separate things. Not that Berry minded. She was looking for something else in the cabinets. There should be another note somewhere in here. Berry had to shake the cabinet several times, catching the attention of Rainbow Dash and Twilight, before a note fell out.
Hello Applejack, if you are reading this note, then you have survived your test. However, in your journey to pursue your friends, you will surely meet a few other ponies along the way. These ponies can either be your ally, or your enemy. In case things don’t go as planned, I am leaving you a weapon once used by assassins during the war of Germaney. You should be able to reach the little button next to the slit of the metal ring with your other hoof. This blade should be sufficient for your uses.
And the note just stopped at that. There was a key with a string and a note tied to it. Your way out. Berry kept the key anyway. She took the note as well. Checking the second drawer, she couldn’t find anything but a few more bandages. Keeping them, Berry turned her attention to Twilight, who was still checking out Applejack’s trap.
“You know, that knife of yours really is a modern miracle.” Startled by Twilight’s sudden question, Berry said nothing, leading Twilight to continue. “I’ve read somewhere in a book at the library about that knife being used in foreign regions of Equestria, meant for war. When you push the button, the blade discharges outwards at whoever or whatever you’re aiming at and almost always hits it’s target.” Like I didn’t know how it worked already. Berry rolled her eyes.
Twilight went through Applejack’s trap one more time before trying to explain it to Berry. Rainbow Dash came back in to listen to Twilight’s short explanation. Twilight took a deep breath, and begun.
“As both of you probably know from the note on the little wooden table, this device is called a garotte. But the history behind it is very fascinating. Since Applejack was from the country part of Equestria, she must have known much of the garotte. However, when executions discontinued with this method, nopony ever heard of this device ever again. It’s amazing how whoever is doing this, managed to rebuild, or get hold of such a thing. The ones back then were wooden, but being metal, this one was made to make sure that it was inescapable. The ones back then could be broken out of, though it would result in injury. But I don’t see how a little injury could be worse when compared to dying in a garotte.”
That last line really sounded what the madpony had written on the notes. This made Berry shiver. Twilight, however, paid no heed to her reaction and continued explaining.
“Now, this one is a bit more complicated than the ones back then. Instead of having the executioner tug on the ring, this one had a rope tied on one end of the ring protruding from the headboard. This meant that it was all mechanically engineered to work. So whoever is responsible for all this doesn’t want to get caught.”
“Like we’d ever let a mad son-of-a-buck like him or...her go free! If this continues then there’ll be more ponies in danger! You saw what happened to Applejack right? And not all unicorns are as advanced in magic as you are! You’re probably the only unicorn that could revive a dead pony! Except Princess Luna and Princess Celestia of course. But they wouldn’t be risking their flanks coming here and saving ponies now would they?” Rainbow Dash had practically yelled at Twilight, and glared at her, waiting for an answer.
“True be that, as the Princesses are always busy doing things that require their doing. However, I’m sure that I’m not the only pony that can revive the dead. Zecora could probably resurrect a dead pony, but she’s probably better at doing that compared to me!” That was probably true as well, seeing as to how Zecora was raised in a somewhat medical but traditional environment. “Anyway, whoever is doing this is trying to cover his or her tracks, and so far they are succeeding! I’m sure that somehow he’ll make a mistake while we progress.” Twilight sighed.
“Provided we don’t get attacked and die along the way.” Dash’s tone was flat. Oh colt, this part of Dash is back. Berry shook her head and signalled Twilight to continue explaining Applejack’s trap.
Twilight drew another deep breath before continuing. “Now, by mechanically engineered, I don’t mean completely. The force tugging on the rope came from a series of metallic gears behind the chair was from a generator running on the sort of diamonds and jewels that are rather hard to find. But the diamonds and jewels are not destroyed as they can still be reused for other purposes. The power the generator gets from diamonds and jewels is strong enough to operate the gears to tug on the ring, but not strong enough to pull it all the way, which probably explains the 45 seconds given to Applejack as written in the note.” Twilight was interrupted by the sound of hoofsteps going up the stairwell they came up.
Berry, going all Overly Protective Parent mode, gave orders to both Twilight and Rainbow Dash. “I’m going to go check on who or what is approaching. I want the both of you to have your weapons drawn, ready to battle should you have to, and watch for the glass on the floor, as well as the blood. The last thing you’d want is to slip on the blood and have the glass puncture your skin. I’m going to leave my saddlebags here just in case I don’t come back. Now when I leave I want you to close the door so the deadbolts would latch. The key out of this room will be in one of my saddlebags.” Twilight and Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement, and armed themselves. Twilight with her blowtube and cyanide darts, and Rainbow Dash with Applejack’s switchblade from the cabinets. Berry took her ballistic knife by the hilt and was ready to bite on the button to shoot the blade out. She left her saddle bags before carefully stepping out into the corridor. Twilight casted a short spell, and the room they were in and the hallway Berry was in had equal brightness.
The sound of hoofsteps approaching got louder with every passing second. Berry hid in the doorway of the adjacent office, hoping that it’d give ample cover for Berry. The other two ponies had closed the door, and Berry was glad that the deadbolts had started to latch again. Now it was Berry, and whoever or whatever was approaching. Berry was waiting for the right moment, when suddenly the right moment when suddenly the hoofsteps stopped. There was a thump sound. Berry slowly inched her head out to see what was happening.
The last thing Berry remembered was firing her blade at a unicorn before being whacked unconscious by a metal pole.