Chapter 11: Imprisoned
Consciousness slowly returned to Raindrops one sense at a time. For a seeming eternity she was only aware of the warmth of the body next to her, of the feeling of intertwined limbs, and for that time that was all she needed. Then she became aware of the sound of birds welcoming the dawning of a new day, it must be morning. A deep breath made her aware of the smell of jasmine, and of sweat, and other fluids. Finally, her flickering eyes adjusted to the light of day and she gazed at the still slumbering stallion lying next to her, his handsome face relaxed in sleep.
It had really happened! It hadn’t all been some sort of dream or fantasy! A gentle ache between her hind legs reminded her that this morning, for the first time in her life, she was truly a mare. Looking back she couldn’t believe that she had been so bold, so uninhibited. Just for once she had just let herself go, had been spontaneous and hadn’t hurt anypony, quite the opposite. It was just as well that Kindle had been at least somewhat prepared, had ensured they had used protection, the risk of pregnancy had been far from her mind at the time. She wasn’t in heat, she just felt like it when Kindle was about, she thought with a smile. Still, unprotected there would have been a chance the two of them could have produced a foal, even if only a slight chance. Not that she had thought of that at the time.
She tried to brush over the thoughts creeping into the edge of her mind like the rising sun, that for that and other reasons, last night might have been a mistake. That she should have waited. With a slight shake of her head she tried to drive those fears away, the decision had been made, and now the two of them would live with it.
The act itself, well her books hadn’t done it justice. True things had been rather more awkward and messy than she had been led to believe. But beyond that, words couldn’t describe it. The feeling of togetherness, of peace, of passion as they had moved as one and finally the calm once they had finished, the fire of anger that constantly burned in her heart finally quietened by the afterglow. She loved it, she wanted to do it all again, soon.
For the moment however she just wanted to lie there and just bask in the remains of the fantasy, but she knew sooner or later she’d have to return to reality. Once again Lyra would be worried about what had happened to her, she hadn’t said she’d be gone all night. Still, the unicorn could probably guess rather accurately why she hadn’t come back. She doubted Lyra’s little spy mission had discovered anything, but returning to the embassy would mean that it would be time to call it quits and go back to Equestria. Time to leave the griffin situation to the professionals. Her talk with Kindle last night had calmed her fears that she might lose him if she left, but still she didn’t want to go! Her wings instinctively contacted, pulling her stallion closer to her. The action caused his eyes to flicker as he awoke.
“My lady?” he said, his voice groggy. He yawned and glanced into her eyes, a smile blessing his face. “This is a very nice way to awaken on a morning,” he mused before stretching. Raindrops luxuriated at the feel of his muscles moving under her grasp. He winced somewhat as one of his wings twitched.
“Sorry,” she apologised, panic starting to rise in her voice. “I might have overdone it a bit, I hope you don’t have too much of a bruise from where I...”
He rested a hoof on her lips and once again she let the tension flow from her. “You are a strong mare and you shouldn’t have to restrain yourself. As I said you should be yourself more. I will survive a few bumps and bites.” He sighed. “We have to talk, I meant to tell you last night but you were rather persuasive,” she blushed a little, then cringed. She didn’t want to talk, talk meant harsh reality crashing back down on them, talk meant she had to be Raindrops rather than Storm Cloud. She didn’t want to talk; she just wanted to lie here, with him, on this cloud, forever. Her recently expanded perspectives gave her the perfect idea to delay having to return to reality.
“And your mouth was rather busy most of the time,” she said huskily, leaning forwards to plant a quick kiss on his lips. “It’s still early, maybe we can get in some more exercise before we talk?” She ran a hoof down his barrel towards his hind legs.
“No!” he said, stopping the wandering hoof with his own. She was shocked by the strength of his response. A shard of ice seemed to form in her guts, cutting up towards her heart. Why was this happening! Could she be wrong about Kindle? had he just wanted... just wanted her once? He must have seen the fear in her eyes as he repeated his objection more quietly. “No. It is not that I do not want us to be together. No, I would happily spend the whole day with you, my Storm Cloud, and the next and next.” He hugged her close. “I should have told you this earlier, I should have been stronger, but you are just so very beautiful.” He kissed her on the forehead then gently pushed away from her and stood. “There is something about me that I haven't told you. When we first met you would not have understood, but now I know you and you know me, and I know you can deal with it. That you can make the right decision and step into the light together with me!”
The cold feeling of dread once again started to wash over Raindrops and she to got to her hooves. What could it be that he wanted to say? Was he married? Was he going to move far far away?
“Behold!” Kindle proclaimed, “See the glory that has been granted to me by Celestia herself, that I wish to share with you my dearest Raindrops!” There was a flash and Raindrops was forced to avert her gaze as the figure of her lover was enveloped in gold. She blinked and gaped as his form was covered by a horribly familiar suit of armour. For a moment Kindle, her Kindle, stood there glowing like the sun then his mane burst into flame and his beautiful golden eyes were replaced by a harsh white glow.
“The Voice of the Sun!” she gasped, her senses spinning.
“Yes,” he exclaimed, “That is the title I gladly bear, and in that role I ask you on behalf of my mistress.” He knelt in front of her his golden eyes looking up into hers. “Will you join me as a member of Queen Celestia’s Court?” He held out a hoof to her.
The solid cloud beneath Raindrop’s hooves seemed to twist, her legs didn’t seem to be able to hold her any more. She couldn’t catch her breath, the whole world seemed to be spinning. “Kindle,” she managed to gasp, “what did you do with Kindle!” she tried to force her body forwards but it seemed frozen in place. She had to fight, had to do something, had to get her lover back, rescue him from wherever this monster had taken him. Something had to be done to make the world make sense again.
“Do with Kindle?” asked the Voice in confusion. “My lady, I am still here.” He reached up and removed his helmet. The glow of his eyes faded and the fire in his mane burnt out. “I will always be here.” He gently reached out to help the fallen mare in front of him. “I am sorry if I have...”
“Don’t touch me!” she screamed, pulling back her leg as fast as she could. “Get away from me!”
“Please, Storm Cloud, calm down. I know this must be a shock but just think about things rationally! You need to...” his voice seemed to fade away into a buzz. His lips still moved but nothing making any sense made its way into Raindrops’ shocked ears.
“No, no, no, no, no!” she cried. This couldn’t be happening, this must be a dream, a nightmare, she was still asleep, still lying safely in Kindle’s arms. The cloud seemed to shift again as she tried to stagger to the side. She needed to get away, to get away from the monster that was wearing her beloved’s face. Lyra, she should get back to Lyra, or Cheerilee, or her mother, or anypony who would know what to do to make the world make sense again. She staggered back and her hooves lost purchase as she flopped over the side of the cloud and fell towards the ground below.
“Raindrops!” cried the Voice as he reached out for her, spreading his wings and leaping after her. Almost without her conscious control Raindrops’ own wings spread and she soared back up into the sky. Without a thought she turned her body towards the embassy. “Wait, where are you...” began the Voice from somewhere behind her until it was silenced by a wild blow from her hind legs. The buck slammed into his left wing near the joint where it met his body. Much of the force was absorbed by the golden armour that covered his form, but the remainder was still enough to make him cry out and fall spinning towards the ground. But that didn’t matter to Raindrops, the only thing that mattered was getting home, to get the world to make sense again.
* * *
It seemed like only a few moments later that Raindrops stood in the room she and Lyra had shared in the Embassy. She had a vague recollection of having smashed her way in through the window, the glass in her coat bearing witness to that, but before that was just a lot of time that she didn’t want to think about, couldn’t think about. For the moment all she needed to do was to find Lyra, Lyra would fix things. But there was no sign of her there, she’d thrown aside the bed and the few furnishings in the room but that hadn’t made Lyra appear. Raindrops’ still badly shocked mind eventually decided that her friend must be somewhere else in the building and almost tore the door from its hinges to try and get to her.
“Lyra!” she cried, tears leaking from her eyes. “Lyra, where are you!”
There was the clattering of hooves from one side and she turned to see a trio of rather frightened looking guards. For some reason their armour seemed to have been hastily repainted a splotchy yellow colour. Their eyes bulged as they saw her and they brought their weapons to bear.
“It’s her!” one of them exclaimed.
“Didn’t she fight a dragon or something?” whispered another.
“Forget the dragon, look what she did to the bucking door!” the third gasped. Raindrops looked at the shards of wood that remained in the frame, had she done that? It didn’t matter, only finding Lyra did.
“We should arrest her, take her to the ambassador, Haymaker or that Smoke mare,” suggested the second, not taking her frightened eyes off of Raindrops as she wiped sweat from her brow.
“Go on then!” said the first.
Looking pained, the second stepped cautiously closer as Raindrops stood there in the doorway, her mouth hanging open. “I arr... arrest you in the name of Queen Coron... I mean Queen Celestia,” stammered the guard.
Raindrops stared at the guard in astonishment and did the only thing she could think of. She dropped to the ground and burst into tears for a world gone totally mad.
* * *
All things considered, thought Lyra, this isn’t a bad dungeon.
It was quite spacious, at least ten body lengths in each direction, easily enough to do some really dramatic pacing. It was clean as well, although she was glad she hadn’t needed to use the chamber pot provided yet. There weren't any windows in the stone walls, the cell was probably carved from the rock the embassy sat on, but one whole wall was made out of bars letting her see across to a similar cell opposite where Captain Lightning and the Shadowbolts were held. Whatever poison Haymaker had used on his blades seemed to be long lasting. The stallion didn’t seem to be dying, but he’d only awoken a few times in the hours they’d been held and when he had he hadn’t made all that much sense. The Shadowbolts were even worse, there hadn’t been a peep out of them as long as she’d been here. Still, overall not a bad prison, seven, maybe eight out of ten shackles, wouldn’t mind being incarcerated again. She signed, it was rather depressing that she’d been locked up enough to start actually rating her cells. She didn’t even know why the embassy came with a dungeon.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been locked up for, she had fallen asleep for some of the time. She guessed it was probably morning by now, she was starting to feel hungry. After she’d been captured Smoke had spent a bit of time interrogating her. That had mostly consisted of threatening her and yelling at her to tell the smaller mare what she’d done with Kindle, she’d even started to plead for his return by the end. Lyra thought that she’d finally got it through to her fellow unicorn that she didn’t know where Kindle was and she’d left. The whole thing had left Lyra with a clawing dread as to whom Raindrop’s paramour actually was.
Maybe she should be trying to find some way to escape but there didn’t seem to be anything she could do. There was a heavy duty inhibitor on her horn stopping her from using her magic and nothing around she could use to pick the lock. There weren't even any guards in sight to try and trick. She was flexible, but the bars were positioned close enough that there was only just enough space to fit a hoof between them. It seemed hopeless, at least Raindrops was still free, even if she didn’t know where she was right now.
Lyra was broken out of her revelry by a crash as the door to the prison area was swung open. Lyra’s heart surged as she saw Raindrop enter, but then dropped as she saw a group of guards following her, spears held out in front of them. Her spirit further lowered as she saw her friend was moving like a zompony, the fur around her eyes matted from tears, what had they done to her! She leapt up and reached through the bars towards her friend. “Raindrops!” she cried.
“Lyra?” mumbled the pegasus. She blinked and some life started to return to her eyes, then she gave out a sob and fresh tears fell. “Lyra!” she sniffed.
The guards swung open the door and Raindrops rushed into the cell clutching hold of Lyra like she was a life raft in a storm. The weight of the distraught pegasus pulled both of them to the ground. Lyra reached up a hoof and ran it through her friend’s mane, trying to comfort her. It was shocking to see her like this, Raindrops was one of the strongest ponies she knew and normally so reserved, what ever could have been done to her to make her act like this? To make her break down? “What did you do to her!?” she snarled at the guards, her grip tightened protectively against her friend.
“We didn’t do anything, dame,” said one of the guards looking nervously down at her hooves.
“She was like this when we found her,” said another.
“We don’t know what happened to her,” continued the first.
“We shouldn't be talking to the prisoners,” hissed the third guard grabbing her colleagues and dragging them out of the cell before locking it again. “We need to report this to somepony.”
“Raindrops,” said Lyra gently as the guards left. “What happened? What’s wrong?” She tried to put on a calm facade but inside she was in turmoil. She’d been pinning her hopes that Raindrops could rescue her, would know what to do, but now to see her friend like this...
“He,” sobbed the younger mare, “he-he seemed so nice and then he, we, it was perfect,” she broke down into another torrent of tears, “he was somepony else,” she finally managed, “he wasn’t who he said he was. I was just so stupid, just a stupid, silly little filly.” She finally managed, a spark of her old anger returning.
“It wasn’t your fault,” cooed Lyra, she was beginning to get a fairly good idea what had happened. From what Smoke had said Kindle was actually working for Corona and presumably had tried to seduce Raindrops to her side. Raindrops must have found out about the deception, leaving the poor filly heartbroken.
“I lo-really liked him,” she sobbed, “What sort of pony does that? I’ve always known I, I was messed up inside, how I’m always angry, but how sick must I be to not have seen who he really was?”
“No! None of that,” said Lyra sharply, “This is not your fault, you’re not sick, or messed up, you’re you, you’re kind and loving. He tricked you, you did nothing wrong.” She met Raindrops’ reddened eyes for a long moment and she thought she saw the mare nod before bursting into further flows of tears. “It’s ok,” she said gently running her hoof through Raindrops’ mane. “I’m here for you and I’m not going anywhere.”
Slowly Raindrops started to relax, her sobs becoming less frequent and her body uncurling. This was the most upset Lyra had ever seen her friend. A flame ignited in the unicorn’s heart; she hoped she’d get a chance to see Kindle, she’d do... well, something to him, something unpleasant. “It’s all going to be ok.” She hated to lie to Raindrops but the poor filly needed the support right now and she was going to be there for her.
* * *
The two of them sat together for a while and gradually Raindrops felt her tears dry, the ground under her hooves seeming to stabilize a little. Finally she could bring her mind to follow a rational train of thoughts again.
She was glad that Lyra didn’t try to push her to tell her what had happened. She’d been so very stupid! Why couldn’t she have seen what Kindle had been? Was she really so desperate for a stallion to want her that she’d just overlook the fact that he worked for the Tyrant Sun? When she thought back to what he’d said, what he’d done, it seemed so obvious but she had ignored it all just because a handsome stallion had smiled at her, she was pathetic!
Why had she believed all of his sweet sweet lies? Her eyes started to water again and she pushed her muzzle deeper into Lyra’s comforting mane, feeling the mare hug her back. Now she’d given away something she could never get back, something she should have saved for her true love. Maybe love wasn’t even a real thing, if she could be so easily fooled maybe she didn’t deserve to have a special somepony.
While she raged at her own stupidity she half listened to Lyra’s own story. About what the unicorn had found out about Quizzing and Haymaker and her attempt to flee from the embassy and her eventual capture. If only Raindrops hadn’t been so stupid she might have been able to help, have gotten both of them and captain Lightning to safety, this whole thing was her fault. If she hadn’t been so obsessed with Kindle she might have even noticed Quizzing’s behaviour in time to get them away from this madhouse days ago.
“So what are we going to do?” asked Raindrops pulling back from Lyra and rubbing her reddened eyes with a hoof.
“I don’t know,” her friend admitted, “maybe we can escape, the guards don’t seem all that competent really.”
Raindrops stood and walked over to the bars giving them a shake. There didn’t seem to be any give in them. She yanked at them with more force, they bent slightly but not by enough for either of them to get out. It didn’t seem like they could escape that way. “Even if we did get out, where could we go? They’ll be guarding the teleport room and if we get away from the embassy we’re still in griffin territory. We don’t have any friends here.”
“There’s Gilda, she seems to be on our side. Maybe some of the other griffins would help us?”
“I don’t know if we can rely on her,” it wasn’t like they knew the griffiness that well. Gilda had terrorised Ponyville until Raindrops had beaten her but then seemed to consider her a friend. Who knew what was going on in the griffin’s head. They couldn’t really trust anyone here.
“Maybe the girls will realise that something's up and come to save us?” said Lyra hopefully.
“I’m sure Quizzing will keep sending them telegraphs to tell them that everything's fine here.”
“They’re smart, they’ll see through that.”
“Maybe, but it might take a while,” Raindrops sighed. “I wish Cheerilee was here, or Trixie, they’d know what to do.” Her friends wouldn’t have been tricked by Kindle, they weren't silly foals pretending to be an adult. She sniffed again feeling her eyes start to water.
Suddenly the door to the prison swung open with a screech and a horribly familiar voice could be heard. “I’m fine Smoke, you don’t have to act like a mother hen,” said Kindle, “it’s just a few bruises, she probably didn’t know what she was doing. You shouldn’t have locked her up,” he continued, his voice sharper, “you know how I feel about her.”
Raindrops caught a glimpse of the smaller mare’s crushed expression as the burning figure of the Voice entered and she found her attention drawn fully to him. Now that she knew his true nature she was surprised that she hadn’t realised that Kindle and the Voice of the Sun were the same pony. Despite all the illusions they had the same certainty of body language, the same voice. The were the same pony that she’d thought she might have a future with. She felt her eyes prickle and her legs start to shake again. No! She cried internally, No! She wasn’t going to let him see how upset she was, she wasn’t going to let him see her cry.
“Storm Cloud!” he cried as he turned towards her, a smile on his face, “You’re alright!”
“My name is Raindrops!” she growled setting her face, trying to keep the emotion from her voice. Behind her Lyra stood and stepped forwards.
“She doesn’t walk to talk to you,” said Lyra.
“Dame Heartstrings, this is between me and Sto-Raindrops,” said the Voice sharply, “please be quiet.”
“You don’t-” began Lyra furiously.
“Lyra,” said Raindrops, her voice wavering a little, “it’s all right, I think I need to talk to him.”
The Voice nodded eagerly and turned back to Raindrops. “I am sorry you have been imprisoned like a common criminal, I’ll get you out as soon as possible.”
Raindrops blinked, what was he saying, could he still think... No, this must be some sort of trick. “I don’t want anything from you,” she said, stepping back from the bars.
“Raindrops,” he stepped closer, his voice gentle, “I’m sorry about earlier, I should have been less abrupt, my sudden change must have shocked you. I’m so sorry I scared you but you must recognise that I’m the same stallion that you know, the same stallion you made love to.” Behind her Raindrops heard Lyra’s gasp of shock, she closed her eyes tightly trying to stop a further burst of tears, what must her friend think of her now that she knew?
“Shut up,” she snarled, “you’re not the stallion I knew, I lo- I liked Kindle, not the Voice of the Sun.”
“My lady,” said the Voice reaching up and lifting his helmet from his head. Instantly his mane returned to its physical form and his eyes to the piercing yellow colour she used to think she could get lost in. “I am Kindle, and I am the Voice of the Sun. We are the same stallion, the stallion who admires you, who cares so much for you,” he reached out a hoof and gently ran it down her cheek. She pulled back violently as if his touch burnt her.
“No! No! It was all lies, you just wanted to confuse me, to try and get me to turn to Corona. You never felt anything for me. All lies!” she snorted, her voice and body trembling with emotion.
“Raindrops,” said Kindle gently. “No.” He sighed. “Truly my first meeting with you was happenstance. I had left a meeting with the ambassador and paused to admire my queen’s sunrise when I met you. I was curious, I had heard much about you so I did practice deception and let you believe that I worked in the embassy. Then when you met me in my role as the Voice of the Sun, although your beliefs were wrong you still spoke with such passion. I was further intrigued. I felt myself drawn to talk to you again, so I came to your window. I had intended to try and persuade you to turn to Equestria’s true ruler but I found your company delightful.” He smiled. “The night just seemed to fly past. When I asked you on a date it was spur of the moment, I had not planned it, I swear by the sun. As for yesterday, truly I found myself just wanting to spend time with you. As I said I found myself distracted from my work by thoughts of you. And last night, last night was no deceit, everything I said, everything I did I meant. My only regret is that my deceit lasted so long. I should have told you of my true nature earlier. I did not enjoy fooling you.”
Raindrops felt her head spinning. His words sounded so much like Kindle, like she wanted him to be, but he worked for Corona. Things couldn’t be that way, this had to be some sort of trick. “Everything you said about liking me despite how I can be, was that all true too?”
“Yes, of course. Your strength, your skills, they shouldn’t be hidden, think of everything you could do for my queen. How useful you could be to her, if you submit to her you could stand at her left hoof as I stand at her right. We could stay together forever then, bound to her service!” His eyes, despite remaining unenchanted, seemed to take on a glow. “She would forgive all your sins against her if you only bowed down to her, you have been tricked by her sister into thinking Celestia is evil but I know deep down you understand her glory, as I do. If you were to join me in the light of truth then it would be a sign to the whole of Equestria that anypony, even one of the element bearers, can throw off Luna’s shackles!”
Raindrops swallowed hard, trying to keep down the taste of vomit. Why didn’t she see this side of Kindle before, see this madness. How could her feelings have blinded her so much to reality? “You’re crazy,” she said quietly.
“No! No, you don’t truly believe that, do you,” he said, “you’ve seen me, seen my heart and I know you liked it. You know the truth, just submit to the queen and everything will be fine. We don’t have to fight, we can be together, please, Storm Cloud. Can’t we stay together?” He looked at her pleadingly. “~A whole new world~” He sang.
Despite herself Raindrops found the words coming unbidden to her lips. “~A whole new world~” she echoed. She couldn’t bring herself to meet his gaze, she had felt so strongly for him just a few hours ago. How could things have changed so quickly? “Maybe we can... just... If you really want me, give up on Corona. You must see that she’s wrong, that she’s sick!”
Kindle flinched back as if he had been struck. “Raindrops,” he said, his voice hardening, “I told you if it came to a choice between you and my work, you and my queen, there could be no choice. She is my very life, I care for you but she must come first! I choose the divine over the profane.”
“Then we can’t be together,” she said, turning away so he didn’t see the tear streaking down her cheek.
Kindle paused then nodded. “Truly we are like Rhomeo and Fillyet, out houses forever at war.” He gave a wan smile.
“They killed themselves Kindle,” she said turning back her face hard, “that’s not romance. Romance is just a bunch of silly stories.” She spat. “We didn’t have a romance, we just had lies.”
“Oh, Raindrops, don’t say that. I have seen your heart, seen the real you. I know that this-this shell you put around yourself isn’t you, you are warm and caring and free. Don’t let Luna’s lies, her society, force you to hide who you really are,” he rested his hooves against the bars. “You don’t have to be locked away like this. Just say you will follow me, will follow Celestia and I can free you...” His voice hardened. “This is your last chance.”
Raindrops looked down at the floor, a whole spectrum of emotions and thoughts running through her. She didn’t know what to think, what to feel. She had cared for this stallion, had given him her body, and he had lied to her, had hidden so much of himself. But still he was offering himself to her, she knew she could never join Corona but was there some way she could keep Kindle? Not The Voice, not this zealot that now stood in front of her but Kindle, the stallion she had cared about, that she had lain with. She looked up again, slowly glaring at her he returned his helmet to his head and locked it into position. His mane burnt and his eyes took on their unnatural glow. For a moment she didn’t know which of his two personas she was talking to any more. Did Kindle put on an enchantment to become The Voice? Or did The Voice sometimes wear a pony skin to pretend to be Kindle?
“Just submit to my queen’s glory, her majesty, accept her dominion over all things and the world can return to what it should be!” cried The Voice beseeching. “Let her give shape and propose to your life as she did to me. Let her raise you out of the darkness into the light of her glorious day!”
Raindrops saw it then, that there was no Kindle, maybe there never had been. That even before Corona had returned from her exile he had always been the Voice. She had just been too stupid, too love blind to see it, but never again! She hardened her resolve, trying to silence the final stirrings of the heart which sang that said she could change him, make him into the stallion she thought he could be. She used the flame of anger always burning in her breast to weld a steel plate over the rest of her emotions. “Oh, Kindle,” she cried, “Of course I’ll join you!” She leant forwards, pushing her muzzle between the bars and puckered her lips.
“Oh, my lady!” exclaimed Kindle with a smile, seeming blind to her mocking tone. “You don’t know how happy this-” he moved forwards to meet her but before the kiss could connect she wrapped her hooves behind his head and slammed it forwards into the bars with stunning force.
“I hate you!” she screamed. “You! And your queen! Can go! And burn! For all I care!” she cried, punctuating her words by bouncing the stallion's head off the bars again and again.
“Stop!” came a voice from somewhere near Raindrops’ head. “Please don’t, he’s not worth it,” said Lyra struggling to holding her friend back.
Feeling the anger within her ebb, Raindrops released her grip and let the stallion drop to the ground, blood pumping from his muzzle. She looked dumbly at her still shaking hooves for a moment as if they belonged to somepony else. In front of her the Voice staggered back to his hooves swaying in place, a look of anger on his face. “If you-” he wiped the blood from his face, “If you will deny me, deny my queen, then you can rot here forever!” he bellowed, no longer the urbane stallion he had previously seemed, now a ranting madpony. “I have time, all the time I need, sooner or later, one way or another, you will see the light!” Giving one last hateful stare at Raindrops he turned and stomped from the prison.
* * *
Raindrops slumped back against the bars, the anger in her dispersing and leaving her feeling leaden and cold. She curled her legs and wings around herself seeking to disappear from the world. To her surprise she felt another body against her own and a leg resting across her back and pulling her closer.
“Well, that was a thing,” said Lyra awkwardly.
“I’m sorry, I’m really really sorry,” mumbled Raindrops, “I should have seen who he was, what he was. I was so stupid!” she thumped one hoof against the ground.
“Hey, come on, none of that,” warned Lyra, “I don’t think there’s a pony alive who hasn’t been won over by a pretty face now and again. And, well he’s no Bon Bon, but he is handsome, you’ve got good taste on that front. Well maybe not quite so pretty now that you smushed him up a bit.”
Ranidrops couldn’t help but let out something approximating a giggle at that.
“That’s better,” said Lyra, “You’re hardly the first mare to end up liking the wrong stallion, or mare for that matter. I could tell you a few stories you know, I was all over Lucky Clover for a while back when I was a filly.”
“Did he turn out to be a solartic who was trying to seduce you into the worship of the tyrant sun as well?” asked Raindrops dryly.
“No, but it did turn out he wasn’t really going to become a professional hoofballer like he told me!” Raindrops found the side of her mouth inching up of their own accord at that. “See? that’s better,” said Lyra hugging her friend a little tighter. “Once this is all over I’m going to buy you a huge tub of ice cream and we can both talk for hours about how all stallions are lying bastards and we’re better off without them.”
“I... I think I’d like that,” said Raindrops.
“So... what he said about the two of you...” said Lyra awkwardly.
Raindrops cringed. “Its... it’s true, we were... together last night, he, he was my first,” shame dripped from the words. “It seemed so good, so nice and then...” she trailed off.
Lyra ran a hoof gently through Raindrops’ mane. “Did he... did he force you?”
“No,” she shook her head gently, “no I just wanted... I wanted to have some fun, to just be with somepony... It seemed the right thing to do. I was just so blind and stupid,” she growled, “I know what you must think of me.” She turned away from her friend.
“I think you’re a mare who made a bad decision, who was tricked. You’re only equine like the rest of us.”
“What will the other girls think of me?”
“They’re your friends, none of them will think any less of you for it.”
“Please don’t tell them!” panic sounded in Raindrops’ voice. “I don’t want them to think... I don’t want their pity.”
Lyra sighed. “I won’t tell them if you don’t want me to, but you should talk to them. None of them will pity you, they’ll understand.”
“Thanks Lyra,” Raindrops slumped further onto the other mare feeling some of the stress bleed out of her. “I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve a friend like you.”
“You’ve been a really good friend as well,” said Lyra nuzzling against the pegasus.
“Now kiss!” came a muffled voice from nearby.
Both mares’ heads shot up, their ears swiveling in shock as they tried to work out where the sound had come from. Confusedly, Lyra stretched out her hoof through the bars to where the noise seemed to have emanated from and knocked on the floor, there was a hollow thud. With a grinding sound the stone lifted and was pushed aside. Bootheel’s head popped out of a hole just large enough to fit a pony. “‘ello!” he said cheerfully.
Raindrops blinked in surprise. “What are you..? How..?” she muttered.
“There are secret passages all around this place you know. Don’t know who built them,” he shrugged, “I found one in my room when I was first stationed here and I’ve been mapping them out since.”
“Who puts a secret passage in a prison!” she asked in confusion.
“Somepony who thinks they might get locked up?” said Bootheel. “I don’t think this place was always a jail, those bars look new.”
“You betrayed us!” exclaimed Lyra, finally finding her voice. “You got us captured! You said you wanted to join Corona!”
Raindrops tensed, looking back and forth between the stallion and her friend. She’d forgotten that part of Lyra’s story, she’d never entirely trusted the stallion. True, he had been helpful in Oaton, but she could easily see him betraying them to save his own coat.
“You believed all that!” said Bootheel eyes wide. “Look I might be a lot of things-”
“Loser, pervert,” muttered Raindrops with a scowl.
“That’s fair,” said Bootheel nodding happily, “but I’m no sun lover.”
“You attacked captain Lightning,” said Lyra.
“That idiot was about to get himself and probably the rest of us killed, do you really think we had a chance against all those guards?”
Despite herself Lyra found her head nodding at that.
“I made sure I’d get confined to quarters for a bit,” continued Bootheel, “Once I was sure they didn’t think I was going to escape I nipped into the tunnels and had a bit of a look around, tried to figure out what they were doing.”
“And?” asked Raindrops.
“I overheard that Smoke mare talking to Haymaker about moving the teleport thingy. They’re planning to take it to one of Corona’s bases, then send out a message to your friends and ambush them when they come through. They capture all the element bearers and there’s nopony left to beat Corona when she decides to try and take over.”
“Trixie or Cheerilee would see through that wouldn’t they?” asked Raindrops. “They’d know it wasn’t us.” Hopefully the princess would be able to deal with her sister as well.
“I don’t know,” said Lyra slowly, “They could probably send out some convincing story or another to get them to come.”
“Yeah, well apparently they can’t move them without that code thing Lightning gave you. They hoped to get it from the captain but,” he nodded towards the soldier’s insensate form, “whatever Haymaker stuck him with apparently won’t wear off for a day or two.” With a grunt Bootheel heaved himself out of the tunnel he had emerged from. “Right, I better get you out.”
“Wait a minute, how long were you down there?” asked Raindrops. Fear gripped her heart that the stallion might have heard about what she and Kindle had done, she didn’t want to be the butt of barrack’s room gossip.
“Not long,” said Bootheel looking a little shifty, “I arrived just in time for your heartwarming moment. Well not just my heart you know, it touched a few other bits of me.”
“Bits which I’m sure nopony else ever wants to touch,” growled Raindrops.
Ignoring her, Bootheel examined the lock, his tongue sticking out in concentration.
“Can you pick it?” asked Lyra.
“Nope, I think I might have to take a more direct approach. I’ll be right back.” With that he headed towards the door from the cells.
“I don’t trust him,” hissed Raindrops once Bootheel was out of sight.
“I’m not sure, he’s right that if Lightning had fought the guards he would have gotten hurt. Him pretending to switch sides probably saved us,” said Lyra
“‘Pretending’” mocked Raindrops, “He’d probably do anything to save his own skin, it’s not like most stallions find it hard to lie! I bet he’ll tell us we need to get to the teleport thing and unlock it now.”
“But that would make sense, wouldn’t it?” asked Lyra. “We need to get away from here.”
Raindrops started to pace back and forth around the cell like a caged cat. “I don’t know, maybe, maybe not. They might just want us to unlock the thing so they can use it to fool the rest of our friends. I don’t know, I just don’t trust him!”
There was the sound of a muffled conversation from nearby and Lyra strained her ears to try and figure out what was being said. Then there was a crash and a thud. A moment later Bootheel returned dragging an unconscious mare in a guard uniform behind him.
“What did you do to her!” exclaimed Raindrops rattling the bars.
“I’d sort of hoped to persuade her to just give me the key,” he shrugged, “but she didn’t fall for it. Don’t worry she’ll be fine, and I got the keys. This as well.” He held up the device used to affix and remove the horn locks. Lyra gave a sigh of relief as the nullification device was removed and she could power her horn again.
Raindrops muttered something about Bootheel probably enjoying hurting mares but still helped him lay the stunned mare out in the cell before locking the door behind them.
“Right, now the three of us better make ourselves scarce. There’s a passage which leads to the chariot bay, I checked and it’s not guarded any more. There’s a friend waiting for us down there. We can probably steal the air carriage and get away before anypony realises we’re gone.”
“What friend?” asked Raindrop’s suspiciously.
“I bumped into one of the locals when I was leaving, she said she knew you.”
“One of the locals?” said Lyra, her brow furrowing.
“Gilda?” asked Raindrops.
“That’s her name,” said Bootheel nodding, “She wanted to come storming in here to help you, but I told her to wait.”
“What did you mean when you said you met her when you were leaving?” said Raindrops advancing on Bootheel. “Were you going to run without us?”
The stallion looked down and shuffled his hooves. “Well I thought I might be able to get help, it seemed a waste if we all got caught. I was looking for a way out when I bumped into Gilda.”
Raindrops’ eyes blazed and she grabbed Bootheel and shoved him against the nearest set of bars. “You were going to leave us to rot, you coward!” she yelled.
“Hey! What's the point of me getting captured as well? Then nopony could have gotten help,” said Bootheel struggling in her grasp. “I came back for you didn’t I!”
“Raindrops,” said Lyra resting a hoof on her friend's shoulder. “We shouldn’t be fighting, we need to work together against Kindle and Haymaker.”
With an annoyed grunt Raindrops let the guard drop to the ground. “I did try to save Va-save some of the staff,” he protested, “but they weren't near any passages near them.”
“I don’t trust him,” Raindrops muttered.
“I know you’re upset,” whispered Lyra as Bootheel picked himself up glaring at Raindrops, “but you can’t take it out on him. I know who you’re really angry with.”
“Fine,” growled Raindrops as she tried to get herself under control. She took a deep breath. “We better go then.”
“We need to get Lightning out first,” said Lyra.
“The Captain?” asked Bootheel looking at the insensate form in the other cell, “he’ll just slow us down.”
“We can’t just leave him here, he knows how to unlock the teleporter.”
“He doesn’t look like he’s going to be talking any time soon,” said the guard leaning down to check the officer.
“We’re not leaving him,” said Lyra stamping her hoof before stepping forwards to unlock the lock on the captain's horn.
Bootheel looked back and forth between the two resolute mares. “Fine,” he sighed unlocking the door, “but I’m not going to carry him.”
“I will,” said Raindrops hefting the captain’s form onto her back without much difficulty. He squirmed for a moment but gave no other sign of waking.
“What about the rest of them?” asked Bootheel, pointing at the four Shadowbolts.
Lyra rocked back and forth in uncertainty for a moment; she wanted to help them but there was no way they could move all of them. They were safe here, right? Nopony had hurt them so far, they didn’t have any secrets the solartics wanted, did they? “We’ll have to leave them,” she said eventually, hoping she wasn’t wrong.
“If you want,” said Bootheel with a shrug. “Down here then,” he started to clamber down the hole he had emerged from. A few moments later Lyra started after him, her hooves struggling to hold onto the ladder embedded in the wall. Raindrops noted her friend had her tail firmly held between her legs to prevent the guard beneath her getting a show. Hefting the dead weight of the captain onto her neck she moved to follow. The feeling of the stallion on her back made her uncomfortable but she gritted her teeth and tried to ignore it.