//------------------------------// // Awaiting Help // Story: Broken Armor // by TheUnknownPerson //------------------------------// --- I'd pull my head up and look at what I could see of the cell. Strands of my dark brown mane were hanging in front of my eyes. There's gotta be some sort of way out... I'd swivel my head as I looked around the cell; thankfully, there was a small hole at the top of the cell that was barred up, but still allowing some dim sun light to pass through. Cobwebs lined the corners of the cell The bars at the entrance of the cell are made up of some sort of tough rock... almost like obsidian. The floors and walls were made up of the same material as the bars,there were cracks and holes all around the room, even in the bars. I might be able to break it off. I'd put my hooves on one of the bars and tighten my hooves around it. Then I gave it a strong pull with whatever strength I could find. The bars still didn't budge, even after all of my strength had been depleted. "What did I say earlier? You're wasting your time." "Well, we can't just sit here! What if they come back?" "And what are you going to do, huh?! You can't break off the bars, we're too short to reach that hole in the ceiling, and I don't see any tools lying around, do you?!" "You aren't helping!" The mare growled, averting her line of sight towards the bars, and the dimly lit hall outside. Irritating mare! I rest against the bars, allowing myself to slide back to the ground and my anger to lightly quell. "Perfect... just perfect..." --- "-First off, we'd like to thank you all for being brave enough to join this search party. You're doing noble work, and we wouldn't dare think about sending you all out there if didn't have a choice." Princess Cadance said as she passed by the different crystal ponies who had volunteered. They all were of different shapes, size, colors, and races. "Secondly. you all are not to approach a changeling unless it is a life or death situation or you need to defend yourselves. They are extremely dangerous." "Third, do not stray far away from each other. The last thing you want to do is get lost out there." "And fourth, if you find any injured crystal ponies, return here immediately." Shining Armor said, finishing the warning. "You all will be accompanied by a member of the royal guard. However, if you do not feel comfortable with doing this, then we'll understand." Cadance said and gave a few long moments for somepony to step and back out of the search party, but not a single one did. "All right. You'll be leaving soon, so get ready. Once again thank you for your bravery. " Cadance and Shining began to trot away. The group dispelled after they had left. Queen Chrysalis is lucky I can't go. If I got my hooves on her... Shining let out a deep sigh. Princess Cadance and he trotted into the Crystal Castle. "Well, that went better than I expected." "Yeah. I'm just glad that we found the crystal ponies for the search party on such short notice. Just wish I could go with them." "Shiny, you know that you're in no condition to go with them, nor am I. Besides, if you were to go, what if Twilight were to find something while you were gone? We would have no way of getting to you." "Yeah... I guess you're right. Speaking of Twilight, I'll go check and see how doing." "Okay, darling." Cadance said as she trotted down the hallway towards her throne room. Shining trotted into a hallway to the right. Shining trotted down the hallway and found the large crystal doors that lead to the archives. He pushed the doors open and saw Twilight, her nose still stuck in a book. There were six piles of books stacked up around the crystal chair she was sitting in; Spike was even asleep on one. She had bags under her eyes and three shelves of the large first bookshelf had been cleared out. "Hey, Twi'." Shining shut the door behind him, causing a large thud. "Oh, hello Shining. I was just finishing up on another book." She yawned as she looked back at him. "I can see you've been studying." Shining trotted over to the chair she was sitting in, hovering over her. He looked over the book she was reading. "Hm... 'The New Age of Spells'. Have you found anything yet?" "I've found some things that could be similar to your injury, but nothing for certain." "Hm. Well, do you need anything?" Shining offered. Twilight looked down at Spike for a moment, then back up at Shining. "I think Spike could eat a gemstone or two when he wakes up." "Okay. I think we can spare a gemstone or two. But do you want anything? You look like you could use a rest." "No. I'm all right." She turned back to the book and began to read again. "All right. I'll have a servant bring the gemstones to Spike later. If you need anything, come to me or Cadance." Shining trotted towards the exit. "Okay." Shining turned trotted back to the door, but stopped once he laid his right fore-hoof on the doorknob to open it. "Oh, and Twilight?" "Yes?" "Cadance and I are thankful and appreciate that you're trying to help, if you didn't know." He pushed the door opened and stepped out. "You're welcome. B.B.B.F.F." --- I sighed. Guess there's no way to get around this. I don't really have a choice but to trust her, do I? "Look, maybe we got off on the wrong hoof. My name's Rocky Diamond. What's yours?" I said, trying to become acquainted with the mare in this strange situation. Her name is a start, right? "I'm Lance Force." Lance Force crossed her hooves across her chest and looked towards the cell exit. I could vaguely see her cutie-mark, which was of a lightning bolt, puncturing through steel. Might as well get to know her if we're going to be stuck here a while. "So, what do you do?" "I'm a competitive flyer representing the Crystal Empire." "Okay." I'd say. I could faintly see her wings, noting that the coat of them were white. Her mane looked purple, but I couldn't really see very well because of the little light I had. "What do you do?" "Oh-- I'm a miner. You see, I give the government their gemstones and crystals so they can build. I also am a reserves member of the guard; I come in when they're running low on the members of the main guard. Well, I was until Chrysalis attacked..." My voice took on a hushed tone towards the end. The situation is bad enough, don't need to remind myself and her of life back home. Lance looked outside of the cell. "Who was that pony beside us? They called out your name after--" "None of your business." Lance interrupted, turning her head away from me. Jeez... I was just asking a question. I looked over to her and noticed something. She seemed a bit... off. As if she was worried about something. "Are you all right?" "I'm fine. Just-- don't talk to me." Lance kept her eyes planted on the cell door. However, I could still see her anxiety "You're worried about that mare, aren't you?" "..." She didn't respond. Hay, I don't even think she cared about my concerns. "I'll take that as a yes..." "Will you just shut up?" "Fine." --- Twilight yawned as she closed another book and put it on top of the seventh pile. Hours later and I've only found three or four spells that could do it... Twilight looked down at Spike, who had woken up a few minutes ago. He was eating a gemstone that a servant had brought in a few minutes ago. "So, how was your brother? Was he okay?" Spike asked as he tossed in the last bit of the first emerald gemstone into his mouth. "He can't make spells anymore..." Twilight said somberly. "Oh..." Spike said as he looked up at Twilight, giving her a sympathetic stare. "I-I'm sorry, Twi'." "It's all right. Thank you." "Are you okay, Twilight? I mean, it must be hard dealing with this." "I don't know Spike..." Twilight said. They both sat in silence for a moment. "Maybe you should get some rest. I can tell you're tired, and you could probably research more effectively if you got some sleep." "I guess you're right. Let's clean this up and then I'll go ask Cadance." Twilight's horn glowed with her raspberry aura, as she lifted two slabs of books and put them on the bookshelf. Spike helped along and grabbed a small stack for himself. --- AHHHHHHHHH Twilight's eyes jolted open as she heard the scream echo throughout the room and the hallway. That sounded like Princess Cadance! Twilight pulled the blanket off of her body and rushed outside of the room. She galloped through the halls, trying to find the origin of the sound. "Cadance!? Where are you!?" Twilight called out. "Get away from me, you monster!" BOOOM A magical beam burst through the wall in front of Twilight, knocking her down and catching her off guard. Twilight managed to glance up at the beam before the magic died off. The aura was light blue. Twilight rushed up to her hooves and galloped through the weak rubble of the wall. Once she entered, she saw that Cadance was being pinned against the wall by Shining Armor. "Shining?! What are you doing?!" Twilight asked as she rushed over to Shining and tried to pull him off to no avail. "Stop! You need to go with Queen Chrysalis" "Stop! You're hurting her!" Twilight managed to pull him off, only to be slapped hardly. She felt the sting of the slap on her cheek, the tears well in her eyes, and she felt the sting of betrayal. "What's gotten into you-!" Twilight stopped immediately as she looked up at Shining. His eyes were the same as a changeling's and fangs had grown from his mouth. --- Twilight Sparkle jolted up from the bed covered in cold sweat. She looked around the bedroom, and thankfully, there wasn't any danger to be seen. It was all just a nightmare... thank Luna. Twilight let out a deep sigh of relief. I was just freaked out after reading that transformation spell. As if Queen Chrysalis knows how to cast that spell. Princess Celestia would never share that knowledge with her. "Hey Twi', are you okay?" Spike asked, curled up at the foot of the bed. Twilight hadn't noticed he was there because of her nightmare. "Yeah Spike. I just had a weird dream." Twilight wiped the sweat off of her forehead. "Are you going back to bed, or are you up?" "I'm going back to sleep, Spike." Twilight rested her head back down on the pillow. "Okay, well goodnight." Hopefully. Twilight sat in silence for a while, unable to fall asleep. Something was bothering her. Queen Chrysalis wouldn't no that spell. There's no way. Princess Celestia wouldn't teach her how to. It's just impossible. The answer to that still remained uncertain in her head. --- Lance hadn't talked since... well, I asked her. I guess I crossed my boundaries; I do feel bad, but it was just a question. She could've answered it if she wanted, and she obviously doesn't. Although, I don't think she has to be such a stubborn foal about it and pout. I let out a deep sigh and cleared my throat. "I apologize if I've overstepped my boundaries. I'm simply trying to figure out who the hay I'm going to be in this cell with if we're going to be stuck in this cell for awhile." Lance didn't respond. Irritation began to bellow in my mind. "Her name is Blooming Lily." Lance said, her voice slightly trembling. It was obvious that she was worried. "S... she's my little sister." Horseapples... I'm a jackass. "Oh... I'm so sorry. I didn't know." Now I understand why she was so reluctant to try and escape. They could kill her... "I just hope she's okay." Lance said as she looked back over at the entrance of the cell. As if she was expecting somepony or a changeling to burst through. "S'va! Move crystal pony!" "O-okay... just please... d-don't put me back in that p-place..." Lance jumped up from her spot and pressed her head and her hooves against the bars. Speak of Discord... I guess that's her. "Blooming!" Lance jumped to her hooves as she saw two more changelings walk towards our cell with a filly who I guessed to be Blooming Lily. One of the changeling guards opened the cell door and threw Blooming. Blooming landed beside me with a thud. She just laid down beside me as the door of the cell slammed shut. "Blooming, are you alright?!" Lance nearly pounced on her, leaning over her. Blooming trembled as she picked up her upper body with her fore-hooves and immediately vomitted. "Blooming?" Lance rubbed her back. A small pool of vomit had collected beneath Blooming's mouth. Tears trailed down her dark red cheeks as she looked over to Lance and rushed up to her, hugging her. "L-Lance... it was terrible!" Her sobs echoed around the room. Poor mare... "I know, I know. Don't worry. You're safe now. They won't get your hooves on you again" Lance stroked her sisters mane gently. I trotted over to the two sisters and sat down beside them, making sure to avoid the puddle of vomit, and sat down at the wall beside them. I made sure to give them plenty of room. "T-there were so many ponies... they were stacked up in a pile! They were so pale... the eyes were rolled into the back of their heads... it was so h-horrific!" Blooming sobbed even harder into Lance's coat. Her fore-hooves trembled in utter fear and shock. "You're safe now. You know I won't let anypony or any changelings hurt you." Lance said firmly. I sat there beside them, confused as what to do. I think they should be alone right now... I got up from floor, trotted back over to the opposite wall, and sat down. We shouldn't try to test Chrysalis. Otherwise, we all could be like Blooming over there. And it's nothing against her, it's just that you aren't going to be able to think straightly when you're bawling your eyes out after seeing what she just described to us. ---