The next morning came very slowly, but with no more nightmares plaguing Starlight. The six mares all woke up and prepared to eat a small breakfast and break camp, continuing their trek across the desert to the end of the rail line that would take them to Canterlot and Starlight's fate.
The earth ponies Applejack and Pinkie Pie worked together to get a large pot of water boiling so each pony could have some oatmeal. Rarity and Twilight both worked to get the tents broken down and stowed away in their saddlebags. Rainbow Dash was tasked with watching Starlight while Fluttershy took their canteens to find a nearby water source and refill them.
"Why not just tie me to a rock and leave me out here?" Starlight proposed snidely.
Rainbow glared back at her. "Because I want to see how Celestia looks at you after we tell her about all the nasty stuff you were doing to ponies in that village. You might even be sent to the moon for a thousand years like Princess Luna was."
Starlight glared back. "Good. Then I won't have to listen to anypony giving me gripe anymore!"
Rainbow tried to come up with a real stinger of a comeback line, but she simply huffed and ignored the unicorn prisoner. Starlight smirked, content with the momentary victory.
Fluttershy came back and Applejack plated everypony with food. As the six sat down to eat, Starlight spoke up.
"What? No food for prisoners?"
Twilight dropped her spoon full of oatmeal and looked at Starlight. "If we offered you some, would you eat it, turn it down, or try to make one of us wear it?"
"I see we can learn," Starlight mocks as Twilight goes back to eating oatmeal.
"You know, she's really being a stick in the mud," Rainbow said to the group.
"Yeah," Pinkie agreed. "She's been nothing but a party pooper since we left that village."
"Kinda hard not ta understand that," Applejack pointed out. "After all, we're takin' her to what's probably gonna be a jail sentence."
"Prison sentence," Twilight corrected, "but I think we all get it."
"You all get nothing," Starlight piped up, an aggravated tone in her voice.
"Yeah, yeah, we get it!" Rainbow said dismissively. "'We took your village! We ruined everything!' When are you gonna stop harping on that?"
Starlight narrowed her eyes at the pegasus. "Never."
"Please do try to tune her out," Rarity told her friends. "The way I understand it, one of her first punishments will be cleaning several very large loads of laundry, by hoof."
Starlight blew a raspberry at the mare and laid down, doing her best to tune out the ponies eating their breakfast. After about ten minutes, the food was finished and the dishes were given a quick wipe with a damp rag; the mares would clean them better once they were home.
As her friends gathered their things and prepared to move, Applejack approached Starlight. "Time to move."
Starlight looked up at her with a sneer.
"Make-"
She was cut off as a lasso landed on her neck and tightened.
"NOW!" the farm pony barked as she jerked the unicorn to her hooves.
Starlight let out a grunt as she was forcefully moved. "You don't have to be so rough about it!"
"Can it!" Applejack spat back. "Yer lucky after all ya said an' did last night I didn't hog tie ya and drag ya across the rocks fer long enough ta rip yer hide off!"
Starlight was dragged again, stumbling over rocks and nearly falling.
"You're gonna let her do this to me?" the mare asked Twilight.
The lavender alicorn looked at the unicorn with a cold glare. "After all you said last night, you're lucky that's all she wants to do. If I were you, I think I'd keep my mouth shut and do as she says. I may be an alicorn, and recognized as a princess, but that doesn't mean she has to listen to me, and I'm not about to tell her what she should and shouldn't do."
"Ya done heard her!" Applejack tells Starlight, giving another hard tug. "Get a move on!"
Starlight stumbled again but regained her hooves. She thought of complaining, but decided to just keep her mouth shut for now. The day was going to be long, and if the current temperature was any indication, it was also going to be rather hot.
It had been a couple of hours since the group had had breakfast and broke camp. Each pony was walking at an even pace, doing their best not to generate a lot of body heat and become exhausted. They took sips of their water to replenish fluids they were losing in the baking sun, and tried to find shady spots to keep as much sun off of them as possible.
"We're not lost, are we Twilight?" Rainbow asked, a bit of worry in her voice.
"No, we're not," Twilight answered. "We passed that rock formation when we walked out here originally. If my memory is right, we have about four more hours of travel until we get to the rail line."
"Pfft," Starlight blew a raspberry. "You have more than four hours going by those rocks."
Applejack glared at the unicorn and showed the rope in her hoof; a reminder to keep hold of her rather wicked tongue.
Starlight didn't take the warning. "I wanted my village far enough away from prying eyes that ponies would have to travel at least a couple of days from anywhere to get to it, including the end of the rail line coming from Canterlot, which I'm going to assume is the way that you all came?"
Nopony answered, which Starlight took as confirmation.
"You got until almost sunset before you even see the train station," she continued, leaning back against a rock and crossing her hooves over barrel. "I just hope your water holds out."
A sudden shower covers the lilac unicorn. Now drenched, she shakes off the excess and looks around.
Twilight is standing nearby with a glare on her face, a now empty water canteen held in her magic. "I will concede that you are probably right about the time," she tells Starlight, "but we're still going, even with this heat, and just for your little comment just now, you get less water for the journey."
"First you starve your prisoner, then-"
Starlight's retort is cut off by a hoof across her jaw. While most would agree that the unicorn had it coming, everypony is surprised by the one to finally do it.
"We. Are not. Starving you." Fluttershy seethes, rubbing her now sore hoof. "You have refused to eat. You have been insolent to all of my friends, and even me."
Starlight goes to roll her eyes, but suddenly finds herself caught in the pegasus' eyes. The unicorn suddenly gets a cold feeling, like ice cubes being ran up her back. Her body actually begins to shake a little from the sensation, and any further retort she has catches in her throat.
"You will get water," Fluttershy continues, "but only when Twilight says. You will also eat, but only when she says we can eat. Nopony here is going to be outright mean to you for no good reason."
The glare the pegasus sported seemed to intensify as she leaned in closer.
"So don't give us a reason at all."
Her peace said, Fluttershy turned and when back to sit down near her belongings and canteen. Rarity could see her friend trembling a bit, and elected to put a hoof on her withers as a show of support.
Starlight stood dumbstruck a bit as she tried to process this strange power the pegasus had. A part of her wished she knew how to do it; it would've helped greatly in the controlling of her village. She shook off the odd feelings the encounter gave her and prepared to make some kind of comment, but Rainbow Dash stepped in front of her and glared.
"She doesn't do that very often," the blue pegasus explained, "but I'd keep my tongue in my mouth. She might just get her rabbit friend to chew it off for you."
Starlight looked at Rainbow as if she was joking, but Rainbow just ignored the look at went back to her pile of stuff.
"We sit her for another ten minutes," Twilight told her friends. "Then we pack up and move out. We can't afford to burn anymore time than we already have."
Another hour passed and the seven ponies were still walking through the desert. Rainbow protested the decision to walk back from the village and wanted to fly back to the station and get the guards to come meet them the rest of the way. Twilight told her it was pointless with them being so close, and that she didn't want anypony to get lost, as the incident from earlier proved was all but possible.
"But Twi," Rainbow whined,"I'm a pegasus! I can fly up and see the lay of the land! Twenty bits says I can see the train station at the end of the line from here and fly there and back in under a minute!"
"That's not the point, Rainbow," Twilight countered. "We came out here as a group, and we'll go back as a group. Now, please, quit complaining. You're just working yourself up and making more body heat than is necessary."
Rainbow huffed as she decided to use her wings and hover over the ground.
Starlight ignored the conversation and elected to think about another escape attempt. It would be difficult, but she knew there had to be a way.
Right now, she was being held by Applejack, but she knew that somepony else would be taking over watch of her soon enough. Assessing the environment, she tried to remember the details that she had noted once before when she originally came out with the first ponies to start the village.
In her scanning, she saw a rock formation off to one side and recognized it, and immediately, a plan began to form in her mind.
Doing her best to look famished, she starts slowing up, and eventually trips and falls down.
"Back on yer hooves!" Applejack commanded her, giving the rope a sharp pull.
Starlight coughs from the pressure on her wind pipe. "Can't... go... any... further...." she gasped out. "Need... break... shade..."
"What's going on?" Twilight asked, having turned around to approach the earth pony and unicorn.
"Says she can't go on," Applejack explained. "Wants to stop somewhere shady."
Twilight frowned. "There's no shady spots around here."
"There," Starlight said with a pointed hoof. "Old mine... caved in... entrance still okay..."
Twilight considered the unicorn for a moment, but then turned and went to inspect the rocks. True to the unicorn's word, there was a mine shaft there, or at least the remains of one. The timbers holding the rocks up looked intact still. A look inside showed that it went back in for about three or four pony lengths, before it started to slope downward. On one of the walls was a lantern, and below it, a kerosene jug.
Twilight considered the merits of stopping now versus waiting. It would take longer with this break, but they would be able to cool off much better in here, and possibly not use as much water. Another point in favor of that idea was the fact that the lavender alicorn had dumped her canteen on Starlight earlier, which was a clear mistake on her part; she was thankful that her friends were willing to share their water with her.
With the situation making up her mind for her, Twilight returned to the group. "What she said is true," she told her friends. "There's an old mine shaft that goes back for a bit. Felt pretty cool, so I think we should take a break in there and cool off. It might mean we take a little longer to get back, but we have less water on account of what I did earlier, so we should do what we can to conserve what's left."
Most of the group agreed, but Rainbow again protested. "Twi, I could-"
"No, Rainbow," Twilight cut her off. "I don't want us separated."
The alicorn closed the distance and spoke much more quietly to her friend.
"If she has some kind of plan or trick up her sleeve, then I want all of us there to be able to thwart it. You know I don't like saying this, especially since it strokes your ego so much, but you are the fastest of all of us when you use your wings, and we may only have seconds to react if she finds a way to try something in that mine."
Rainbow huffed in frustration. "Fine."
"Good. Now, let's everypony get into the shade for a bit. Pinkie and Rarity will go in first, then Applejack and I with Starlight, and Rainbow and Fluttershy bring up the rear."
The mares all nod in agreement, save Starlight, and made their way into the mine. Once inside, all of them look around at the interior, covered in dirt and cobwebs.
"I am SO going to get a double-no, a triple deep cleansing treatment at the spa when we return," Rarity complained while examining her hoof and producing a file from her saddlebags.
"So dog gone prissy," Applejack muttered as she tied Starlight to an overturned mine cart, confident the mare would not be able to get away or undo the knot without her magic.
"Umm, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked nervously. "Can we light that lantern?"
"Sure," Twilight replied, lighting her horn and shooting a spark at the wick, lighting up the cave. "There."
"Thank you," the pegasus told her friend, taking the lantern and placing it onto a set of crates and adjusting the flame, lighting up the cave further.
Starlight smiled; the pegasus wasn't paying attention to the crates, and didn't see the warning sign on the side. "Once I get this knot loose, I'll have a great distraction to help me get away from these mares."
"How long are we gonna stay in here, Twilight?" Rainbow asked.
"Not for too long," Twilight replied. "Maybe a half hour or so. Just enough to get cooled down some so we don't use up too much water."
"Speaking of," the pegasus gestured to her own canteen, "you don't think there's a spring head in here someplace to get more water do you?"
Twilight shook her head. "I don't think so. Usually you see greenery in places where there's water available, and I haven't seen any around here. Besides that, the underground water in a mine like this could be full of minerals that would do a whole lot of harm to your body than the water would do good. I wouldn't drink any water without distilling it first."
"Twi's got a point there, Dash," Applejack told the pegasus, and the three began conversing among themselves. Starlight took the break in supervision to assess the other mares and see what they were doing.
Rarity was working on a piece of needlepoint, her needle going a mile a minute in her magic.
Pinkie Pie had a notebook marked "Party Plans" open and was writing something down in it.
Fluttershy had found a lizard in the mine and was conversing with it as though it were a long lost friend of hers.
Nopony had their eyes on her, and she took the opportunity before it was gone. She looked over the knot the earth pony tied and she could see how to undo it, which she did rather quickly. She thought about taking the noose off, but that would've been quite stupid. Instead, she decided on making some kind of distraction, and an idea formed quickly in her mind.
"Hey!" she called out to the mares. "I need to go to the bathroom!"
"So?" Applejack looked at her with a deadpan expression. "Nopony's usin' the mine and I doubt anypony is gonna be here anytime soon, so just go if ya gotta."
"I don't need to go number one," Starlight replied, "and I don't think anypony here really wants to smell what I actually need to do."
The mares all looked at each other before they shrugged. Applejack came back over to undo the knot holding Starlight. As she rounded the cart, Starlight made her move. Quickly, she barreled into the orange earth pony, knocking her back on her flanks.
"Twi!" she cried out. "She's loose!"
The other two mares reacted quickly, with Rainbow Dash bolting at Starlight, while Twilight prepared a stun spell.
Starlight took care of both in one go, dodging underneath the pegasus while kicking her hoof into the dirt and into Twilight's eyes, blinding her.
"Rarity!" the alicorn called out to her friend. "Stun spell!"
Starlight reacted quickly and barreled into the white mare, knocking her backwards and causing her to lose concentration.
Rainbow had recovered and prepared for another attack, but Starlight decided it was time to enact the biggest distraction of all. Grabbing the lantern in her teeth, she smashed it down onto the crates, breaking it and causing flames and oil to engulf the wood.
Applejack prepared to grab her, but stopped and stared in horror as she now recognized the label on the side of the crate.
"EVERYPONY OUT!" she shouted as she high tailed it for the outside. "THOSE CRATES ARE FULL OF DYNAMITE!"
The other mares look at the crates and see exactly what Applejack saw.
"You heard her girls!" Twilight screamed to her friends. "Get out and take cover!"
All six mares made for the exit, leaving Starlight alone. She chuckled to herself. "Those dumb mares," she said aloud. "They turned their backs for one second and gave me all the time I needed."
Quickly she shed the noose around her neck and left it on the ground. Next, she grabbed an old cloth and smothered the fire, making sure it was completely out before she headed to the secret door. Finding the lever, she tripped the trapdoor, sending the pile of rocks into the pit.
Starlight looked to the entrance and frowned. Any minute, the six mares would come back into the mine to see why there hadn't been an explosion, and then they would chase after her. She jumped over the pit and made her way deeper into the mine. She would find a way to get the ring off her horn, and then she'd find a way to trap those mares down here before making a more permanent escape.
Twilight and her friends were laying on the ground as far away from the mine entrance as they could manage, hooves covering their heads. None of them dared to move, not wanting to be caught in what was sure to be a rather large explosion. The alicorn waited for several minutes before her curiosity got the better of her. She stood up and started to cautiously approach the mine.
"What the hay are ya doin' Twi!?" Applejack called out to her friend.
"That dynamite should've blown up by now," Twilight answered. "You girls stay out here. I'm going to check it."
"Like Celestia you are!" Rainbow said as she made her way in front of the mare. "I should go. I can get out of there before the dynamite has the chance to blow up!"
"And I can teleport out if it goes off and collapses the mine entrance. That is going to be much quicker than digging through rubble to find a body."
Rainbow went to protest but Twilight raised a hoof. "I can also teleport the dynamite somewhere out of the way where it won't hurt anypony. Honestly Rainbow Dash, I'm probably the best choice of all of us as far as handling explosives; I have read up on them many times over the years."
Seeing as she wasn't going to convince her friend, Rainbow Dash just gave a nod.
"Don't do anything stupid in there."
"That's kind of ironic, Dash."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"
Twilight didn't answer. Instead, she continued into the mine, looking ahead to where the crates were. She noticed the cloth over top of them and carefully lifted it up. The flames had been put out and that there didn't seem to be any immediate danger of explosion. She was putting the cloth back down when she noticed a piece of paper attached to the bottom crate, only slightly singed by the flames. Taking it in her magic, she read it and frowned. "I gotta get the girls," she thought as she teleported outside.
When Twilight popped back into existence, the five mares all rushed up to her. "What happened?"
"Starlight played us for fools," she said with a slight edge of anger. "This note was attached to the bottom crate of the dynamite. Listen to this:"
Twilight then read the note aloud for her friends.
"Pyrite,
Do not use this dynamite in the mine. The ponies who sold it to us pulled the wool over our eyes! The dynamite is nothing more than clay with a little gunpowder sprinkled into it. It's nothing more than a glorified sparkler!
I'm going to Canterlot and getting a batch of the real stuff. Keep working with the pick-axe until I get back. Don't forget to fill up water at that well we found either right away in the morning or before you go to bed at night.
Feldspar."
"That snake!" Applejack seethed as she stomped her hoof into the dirt. "She knew that dynamite wasn't real and faked the whole being too tired routine to make an escape!"
"She won't be gone for long," Twilight assured the earth pony. "We're going into that mine, and we're not leaving until we bring her out. Follow me!"
Twilight ran back into the mine, with her five friends following. The alicorn lit up her horn as she leapt over the pit where the cave in once sat and continued down into the mine.
"You're going to pay for all of this, Starlight" she thought as she and her friends went deeper into the mine, intent on catching the fugitive mare before she was gone for good.