Hannah Hawes, Shop Assistant
The Escape
Admiral Biscuit
Dr. Caballeron spends an indecent amount of time gloating, almost breaking into a full monologue once you've been searched, disarmed, and successfully tied up.
Tempting though it is, you don't tune him out and plot your escape straightaway—after all, he might inadvertently give you some useful information for later.
You get a good count of his henchponies, cataloging which ones look tough, which ones don't, and which ones are injured. There are fewer than you expected, which could mean that he left some behind guarding exits, or on his airship, or else his crew hasn't had as much luck as you and Daring when it came to avoiding traps.
Not that that's particularly relevant at the moment. And to be honest, some of his gloating is well-deserved. He caught you, after all.
For some reason you can't fathom, once he's done with his gloating and proverbial mustache-twisting, he starts to order his henchponies about, apparently forgetting that you're still in the room with him and overhearing everything he says.
The most important tidbit of information you gather is that this room did not contain the Orrery of Antikythera, and Dr. Caballeron still doesn't know where it is. All hope is not yet lost.
It takes about ten minutes before he and his henchponies finally disperse, and you keep an eye on the exit they passed through as well as you can, watching the ponies disappear down the hallway. Two of them stay behind long enough to close the door behind them, and you carefully note which stone they push to activate the door. That could be useful information for when you find yourself in the hallway later.
You can't be completely certain, but it looks like he didn't leave any guards behind stationed just outside the door, which is a mistake; one that you'll be exploiting later. As soon as you escape.
Unfortunately, this isn't the first time you've been tied to a chair.
The henchponies were reasonably competent, and certainly used enough rope. More than enough, truth be told.
But they forgot that the chairs weren't anchored to the floor.
Given enough time, you could break a leg off of your chair, and that would likely loosen the ropes enough to let you escape. If she gets partially free first, Daring could buck a leg off yours . . . but all those plans rely on the key phrase 'given enough time,' and that's something you don't actually have. Before too long, he’ll have the Orrery, and while he'll most likely hold off on using it until he's safe in his airship and well clear of the temple, even if he and his henchponies exercise due caution, you'll still be struggling with your bonds while they make their escape.
“Daring?”
“Yeah?” Your voices are muffled—they also gagged both of you.
“I'm going to scoot my chair more towards you, and see if you can scoot towards me. So we're facing each other.”
“You've got a plan?”
“Yeah.” It's not a great plan, but it's better than none.
The next few minutes are spent painstakingly inching your chairs towards each other, until you're close enough to kiss.
“Sit still,” you tell her. “Let me get your gag off.”
“How are you going to—hey!”
Being tied up in a ruined temple is a great team-building exercise. Really cuts down on personal boundaries. You lean your chin right up against her mouth and slowly work her gag down. Once she figures out what you're doing, she helps, pushing with her tongue and working her lips. It's a good thing that ponies haven't invented duct tape, or this plan never would have worked.
Finally, you get her gag free, and as a bonus, all the working around has loosened yours considerably. Now that Daring has full command of her mouth, she pulls your gag down easily enough. “I don't mean to criticize, and I'm glad to have this off, but I don't see how it's going to help all that much. Unless you were thinking I was going to gnaw through the ropes.”
“I had considered it,” you admit. “Your teeth are a lot better for it than mine are. Ropes are basically woven grass, after all.”
“It’d be easier if I could get to any of the knots—“ That was something they had considered, and they'd knotted the ropes underneath the chairs. And then to add to the difficulty, they'd used earth pony spellcraft to tighten them.
“I've got a knife,” you tell her. “They missed it when they were searching me.”
“Where?”
You tilt your head down.
“You're kidding me.”
“No self-respecting girl leaves home without her tactical bra. Besides the knife, I've got a firestarter and a garrote in there.”
“Almost makes me wish I wore one,” Daring mutters. “But your hands are tied, and—“
You can see the gears in her head turning.
“Dammit.”
Being tied up in a ruined temple is a great team-building exercise. After a few false starts and stretching the collar of your shirt beyond repair, Daring finally manages to get the little zippered pouch open and pulls out the knife. It's thin and compact and has a little plastic cover over the blade because it's as sharp as a scalpel.
“Alright.” Ponies can talk easily around things in their mouth. They get a lot of practice at it. “What do you want first?”
“Can you get my right arm free?”
“I think so, yeah.”
“Be careful—there's some pretty important veins in there.”
“Got it.” She dips her head down and a minute later your right arm is free.
After that, things are fairly simple. You take the knife from her and slice the rest of your bonds first, then cut her free.
You adjust your shirt the best you can and then crouch down next to Daring. “Alright. I'll go after Dr. Caballeron; you steal his airship and be ready to rescue me.”
“Got it.”
“And if we’ve got time, we can hack the rope bridge down on the way out. That'll slow him down some.”
“Sounds good.” She reaches out her hoof and you make a fist and bump it, and then you go your separate ways.
You've lost most of your equipment, but you've got rope and the element of surprise.
Hopefully, that'll be enough.