"No, absolutely not. It'll be a lot harder Neo. If I go, your already slim chances get a lot slimmer."
"So be it. There's no way, in all of Equestria, Dragon Country, the Gryphon Kingdom, the northern wastes and the Southlands put together that I'm leaving you behind to take the blame for my escape."
"Neo... I..."
"I know... splintered loyalty is something I certainly understand."
"Splintered loyalty?"
"Yeah Rose! I get that this place is your home, and that how much ever it's changed it's still your home and all your family and friends are here. But I also understand that you're the best friend I ever had Rose, and you want to help me get out of this place."
I sighed and rested my head on the cool stone floor. "If I slow you down..."
"Then I'd rather die next to a friend then on a chopping block all alone."
Who was I kidding, he knew the danger. He knew it better than anyone. I sighed deeply and picked up a rock from the floor.
"You are incredibly stubborn. Fine I'll come along but you have to follow my directions TO THE LETTER. Understand?"
His face lit up the darkness around him. "Fantastic! What's the plan?"
"Alright, here it is." I picked a rock up off the floor and started drawing out my plan in a moonbeam shining on the stone, "I'll pick the locks on your cell with one of my feathers, don't ask why I know how to do that, and between the two of us we should have enough strength to get the dungeon door moved. This late at night the guards are either dead asleep at their posts or simply not there at all, so all we have to do is sneak through the halls to my old room in the servants quarters. I have a map there of all the secret passageways in the entire castle that my friends and I have found so far. While I haven't traveled it myself, there's a path on it that leads straight out from the citadel and out of Capitol City to a meadow outside city limits. I guess it's for if the royal family was ever in danger and needed to skip town on short notice. If all goes well, than we should be far away from the city before the sun rises. From there, I think I know the general direction to go to get you back home."
Neo looked ever my etchings on the ground but he still seemed confused. "This seems fairly straightforward to me, Rose. How are our chances so slim?"
"Well, my room is on the other end of the castle, first of all. Second, while the dungeon is probably unguarded, the rest of the citadel will be heavily guarded for sure. And third," I paused in my explanation to ruffle my wings uncomfortably. "Third, in order to get the map we'll have to walk through the servants quarters without waking anypony up and most of them really hate me now that they all think I'm a traitor." Despite the seriousness of the situation, I found cause to roll my eyes. I doubted that any of them had even bothered to find out the truth before they believed what anypony told them. Of course... I suppose I wasn't so different myself not too long ago.
Neo sighed. "We still have to try though. Even if not for my own safety, even if not for yours, my folks back home are probably worried sick about me and somepony needs to warn them about what the alicorns are planning. Who else would even be willing to bother about them? You're the only friend I have here, Rose."
An unwanted pang of sadness struck my heart, I wasn't sure why at the time. The glow coming from Neo's eyes reminded me of twin moons. Somehow, the darkness of the underground cellar didn't seem as lonely when I saw them.
"Then it's settled I guess... There's really no preparations to make so I guess it's now or never, huh Neo?"
His yellow eyes nodded in the blackness. "Now or never."
Using the tip of one of my feathers, I carefully picked the locks and opened the cell door.