//------------------------------// // Ch. 21: Entrapment // Story: Sin // by MemoryLane //------------------------------// My eyes slowly opened, and it took my eyes a few moments to adjust. At first, I tried to rub my head, for I had a very splitting headache, but I couldn't. I fully opened my eyes(Which was only about halfway and looked up. My forelegs were chained and shackled to a wall above my head. I sighed, great... what now? I felt a slight chill make it's way up my spine as my back touched the cool and jagged wall behind me. I have no idea how long I've been here, but my forelegs were already starting to go sore. I turned my head to get a good look at my surroundings, which wasn't much. I appeared to be in some kind of cave. A very dark and black one, as it was. There were circular holes that lead off into different corridors. The only thing that kept the areas lit were strategically places torches. I felt like I was in a spiders nest. Ugh. I hate spiders. I turned my head to left now, only to see that same blue mare from before. I forget her name. But she was hanging away from me, roughly ten feet actually. She was still asleep, however. I let out a bored sigh. I considered going to sleep, but my forelegs were throbbing terribly, so much that I knew that that wasn't going to happen. Maybe I could just...relax. And finally just be with my thoughts. I love my thoughts. I like being inside of my mind, because frankly, my mind amuses it. It's what keeps me going. It's the only thing that makes me smile on a daily basis. Sure, I have a few friends that I play video games with, but they're just jerks. All they ever do is talk down to me because I'm a mare. Heh. It's kind of pathetic really. I find it hard to play my video games as of recently. I can never talk to other ponies. Stallions think they can talk to others however they want just because there is distance between them. It kind of makes me sick. I've never had actual friends. Yeah, I know. I probably sound like your regular teenage mare. Most ponies that say it don't mean it. They have tons of ponies around them that care. They either just don't see it, or they push them away to keep up the charade to gain the unnecessary attention of others. Which also makes me sick. I try my best to make friends. But it never goes well. I don't have that good of social skills. Which is something that I've known for a very long time. I actually just tried to make friends recently with Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Although I'm pretty sure they hate me. It pains me inside to know that I messed up again. I can never get it right! I'm going to spend the rest of my life alone, living in my house, on the couch doing nothing. I'm tired of being called a burden, and a lazy burden on others. Well, that's what my parents and a few of my "friends" told me. Soon enough, I began to believe them. I don't want to be lazy. But my mind won't let me. The little voice in my head tells me not to do anything. To just remain immobile. Before this, I can't remember the last time I've even left my house. I wished I could have some kind of friend. I wish I had what Applejack and Rainbow had. Sure, it was almost because of me that they got mad at each other, and I feel terrible about that. But what they have is definitely better than what I've had. By a long shot. I let out a long sigh as I snapped back to reality. I shook my head. I tried to stay in the moment, and not let my mind take over like that anymore. It only makes me sad when I think about stuff like that. But then again, being in the moment only depresses me also. Knowing that I'm held captive with what I presume to be one of the most annoying mare's in Equestria. I think her name is Vanity. Well, I probably shouldn't jump to conclusions. Everypony has something they don't tell the world. Something they bottle up since. I know I do, and so does Kindling. I was listening in on their conversation back at his cabin. Everyone has something. Maybe if I talk to Vanity, she's going through the same thing that I am. Psh, what are the chances of that? I stood there boredly. Sometimes I hated being so short, as my forelegs dangled mere inches away from the floor, where relief would be. I looked over at Vanity, she was lucky. She was taller than me on her hind legs, as her's actually touched the ground. I bet myself five bits that she would be boasting about that later. She is Pride after all. To get that role she must do it 24/7. I saw her begin to stir in her sleep . As she did, a few Changelings poked their heads through the door. Apparently, we have our own set of guards. Lovely! "Mornin' sunshine." I chuckled. To be honest, I had no idea what time of day it was. I hoped that it was still morning. "Hm?" She opened her brown eyes and looked around the room with worry, and eventually at her shackles. The guards thought nothing of it and went back to keeping guard outside of the room. "What the-!?" She shrieked, wiggling around in her shackles. "Where are we!?" She finally noticed me about ten feet away from her. She looked at me wide eyed, like she had just seen a ghost. "Narnia." She gave me a cold, hard stare. This is why you don't have any friends. This is EXACTLY why... "I mean, I think we're in the Changeling's nest..." I replied honestly. She struggled, trying to break free of the chains, and she thrashed her hind legs against the wall. If she would have done it any harder she might've started bleeding if you ask me. "You mean..." "Yeah. You got nabbed by Odysseus. Or whatever he was." Vanity stuck out her lower lip like she was about to cry. "But...but then how did you get here?" She asked me, and I chuckled. "I may be a gamer, but I still have a pretty slow reaction time." I chortled. Vanity raised an eyebrow, and I let out a slow sigh. "I got nabbed by a Changeling right after you." I deadpanned. I wasn't much for talking, but it's better than nothing I guess. "Oh..." She said, looking around the room. A vast look of confusion spread across her face as she did so. I couldn't help but feel bad for her. She's been harassed and tossed all around the place since we've first found her. I don't want to imagine what they did to her to get her to come to the castle in the first place. My first guess is that she was dragged against her will. But then again, Odysseus did say she was being difficult. But Odysseus was a Changeling... I tried to introduce myself, because I'm pretty sure she has no idea who I am. "I'm Ennui. You're Vanity right?" As if on cue, she flipped her rosy hair and smiled gorgeously. "Yes, that is muah!" She grinned. I don't know if now was the time to be...prideful. She was chained up on the wall for god sakes. Well I can't really be talking, because I am as well. "Well...nice to meet you, I guess." I mumbled the last part so that she couldn't hear me. Luckily, she didn't, as she turned her head to look at the shackled. I did the same, only to feet my heart drops. The chains were very large, and was definitely impossible to bust through. There appeared to be a key hole, but I couldn't reach it. "You got any ideas on how to get out of here?" I asked her. I'm usually the one with the ideas. You can pick up a lot just from playing video games. I really wish I would have paid more attention. I looked down at her, not in a weird way, but because I was curious. I've always been interested in cutie marks for some reason, and deciphering them. I noticed that her's was a magnifying glass surrounded by little sparkles. Well, that's not hard to figure out. "Nope." She shook her head. "I'm sure the others will save us. I've always wanted to be a damsel in distress, you know! Oh, maybe my knight in shining armor will finally come and save me!" She giggled. I rolled my eyes. She can't be serious. I saw a glint come from one of the Changeling's that was guarding the door. I think one of them had the keys. "Hey...I think they have the key..." I whispered over to her. She followed my gaze and looked as well, only to see her eyes shimmer. "But how are we going to get OVER there?" She whispered back to me, a little louder than I would have preferred. Luckily, the guards didn't hear us. I just shook my head. "So..." I wanted to try and talk to her to pass the time, but I'm not sure if she was up for it. "Huh?" "Where do you live?" I asked, thinking of ANYTHING to break the awkward tension between the both of us. Awkwardness is a mare's worst enemy. "Uh...Fillydephia." She replied. I was a little confused for a second. "So, a pretty mare like yourself...comes from Fillydelphia?" I had to make sure. I very much doubted that. Fillydelphia, to put it bluntly, wasn't a very nice place. It was full of crime. I know, I've been there once when I was just a little filly. It reeked of pollution. I even saw a young stallion get mugged in the alleyway. Looking back on it now, I realized how wrong I had phrased what I told her. I don't roll like that. I'm not sure about that one pink mare I saw earlier, but definitely not me. "Yeah? Is that hard to believe?" She started to get a little agitated, so I decided not to question it further. "I'm from Vanhoover." "Well, that explains a lot." "What?" "I think one of the guards is leaving..." She said, looking back at the guards. She was right, I overheard that one of them was going on break, and the other one(Who happened to have the keys) was telling him that he'd be fine alone for a little bit. So the other Changeling left. "This may be our chance..." I said. But, like before, I didn't know what to do. Vanity hung her head, and that's when a thought came to my head. Vanity had a green hairband, with a little leaf on it. "Vanity!" I shouted, I immediately shushed my mouth as the guard looked in again after hearing me. I didn't say anything, and I coughed a little bit, pretending to be hungry and tired, and miserable. With a sick smile, we went back to guarding. I whispered over to Vanity. "Is the little leaf on your hair band plastic?" I looked back up at the shackles above me. The key hole had three slots, and strangely enough, her leaf had three points on it as well. Maybe...just maybe... "Yes...why?" "Give it to me." I told her, and she frowned. "But...but my hair!" She grunted. She kind of reminded me of...me. "Do you want to get out of here!?" I loudly whispered, a little afraid that I'd startled the guard once again. Luckily, I didn't. She sighed as flipped her hair, sending the green hairband into my hoof. Might I tell you, it was pretty impressive accuracy if you ask me. "Years of hair flips." She winked at me and I grinned. I positioned the leaf so that it would line up with the key hole. At first, it didn't work, and I almost felt like screaming. It was difficult doing this because I couldn't exactly see what I was doing with my hooves in the way. "Turn it around!" Vanity whispered. I let out a soft sigh and did as she interacted, and to my surprise, the shackles opened, sending me face first on the ground. Unfortunately, the fall also broke the hairband. I rubbed my head. "Ow..." Great, now I have an even bigger headache. I looked at the door, it appears that the guard wasn't at all alerted. I let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't going to be easy to get the keys. I was going to have to...heh heh take him out. This is just like in one of my favorite video games: "Prison Escape 3"! I looked around for anything that I could use to knock him out. I know that I needed to find something hard and blunt(Heh...I could use Vanity's ego...) because the second he notices that I've escaped, he'll shout for backup. That's for sure. To my dismay, there didn't appear to be anything. But that's when an idea came to my head. Oh God. I'm so going to go to hell for this. Vanity egged me on silently, telling me to "go for it!" This wasn't going to be easy, now I know why video games usually come with a warning saying "don't do anything you see in this game at home." But hey, rules were meant to be broken, right? I snuck up behind the Changeling guard, and grabbed him. First I placed a hoof over his mouth, so he couldn't scream for backup, and I placed my other hoof over his neck. I had no idea if this was going to work, but I gave it a shot anyways. My right hoof, I jerked left, while I jerked my other hoof to the right. He let out a muffled cry as he realized what was going on. This is when I noticed the small knife that he had clutched in his hooves(?) before a loud CRACK echoed throughout the corridors. His eyes went glossy as he slumped to the floor. Did I...Did I just...? "You...killed him!?" Vanity whispered, still taking into mind that there's still more Changelings around. I stared at his body, trembling. "I...I..." I felt like vomitting, but I held it in. Be strong Ennui. You did it because you had to. I reached over the guard's body and blindingly grabbed the keys. That's when I realized that I couldn't just leave him there. The other guards would know that something was definitely up. So before I unlocked Vanity, I moved the guards body over to the darkest corner of the room, where you couldn't see him unless you actually walked into the room. I unlocked Vanity and she hugged me with joy. "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" She repeated as she hugged me. I forcefully pushed her away. I wasn't a hero. I was a murderer... And I always will be. Please forgive me...