//------------------------------// // Chapter 28 Prison Break // Story: Super Stallion // by PioneerofImagination //------------------------------// Far away from Canterlot Princess Celestia was in a prison nearly outside the equestrian border. With over half a dozen abnormal trouble makers that lead an attack on the castle she ordered tighter security after all captured and defeated. She was there to see if the upgrades were satisfactory and to her surprise Twilight came along with her. "Twilight I still don't get why you wanted to come along with me."  "Why not it's a great way to see new places and meet new ponies," Twilight answered with gusto.  "Well I don't think you want to get too close to some of the ponies here."  "Princesses please stand back!" One of the nearby guards said as he gathered close to quite a few other guards.  "Is something the matter?" Twilight asked. "No we're just doing a prisoner transport and this is one of the more troubling ones," the guard answered as a rather large gate opened, revealing Chrysalis. 1 guard was walking in front of Chrysalis while holding a chain that had its other end connected to a collar around her neck 2 guards were beside her and another 2 were right behind her.  "Come on, get a move on your highness," one of the guards in the back said and tapped one of her legs, getting her to move faster. Chrysalis started walking but suddenly she stopped. "What is she doing?" Another guard asked and suddenly she turned her head to where the 2 alicorns were and had a seriously angry look.  "Twilight Sparkle!" Chrysalis said with a growl surprising the guards as that was the only thing she said since she got locked up. Twilight and Celestia got ready if she was going to try something but 1 of the guards hit her with a taser that nearly dropped her. "Don't get any ideas changeling now get up and get going!" Chrysalis was then forced up and was taken down the hall to her cell. Celestia then took Twilight down a different hall and they stopped in a break room. "Well that was a bit scary wasn't it?" Princess Celestia asked.  "Maybe a little, but I know how to handle that overgrown stink bug." "Perhaps but she isn't the only one that might be a problem. Are you sure you want to stay here?" "Of course!" Twilight once again answered with gusto causing Celestia to be rather suspicious.  "Twilight, is there something you aren't telling me?" "What are you talking about?" "Twilight if you want to get something off your chest I'm all ears." "No, there's nothing on my mind." Hearing that Celestia sighed.  "Twilight, you get mad at me when I don't listen to you and now when I offer to listen to whatever is bothering you, you don't want to tell me." Hearing that made Twilight lower her head rather ashamed.  "You're right, I'm sorry Celestia. The thing is, I know it's silly but I've been avoiding that castle." "You mean the one that appeared in Ponyville?" "Don't get me wrong, that castle is amazing but it just doesn't feel like home."  "You really liked that old library didn't you?" "Yes. It was so awful how it got destroyed by Tirek." Twilight then felt so bad she actually dropped to the floor and Princess Celestia dropped beside her putting her wing on top of Twilight.  "Oh Twilight don't be sad I know change can be hard, when I moved from the castle Luna and I grew up into the one that was made in Canterlot I didn't like it 1 bit. But over time I gave it a chance and realized it wasn't that bad at all." "Also maybe you could remodel it," a voice from behind said, causing both alicorns to stand up and turn around. When they did they saw it was Prank Master or as Celestia pointed out a while back Clover the Clever. Before either Twilight or Celestia could do anything several guards came in and grabbed her by her forelegs. "We're sorry your highnesses, she slipped away for a second."  "One of your friends is a fashion designer isn't she?"  "Well yes but how did you know that?" Twilight asked. "Oh Celestia told me she talks about you a lot and sometimes mentions your friends." "Well yes," Celestia said after a little cough. "I may have mentioned Twilight once or twice to you as I've come to visit you here." "Are you kidding me?" Clover then looked towards Twilight. "She brags about you all the time, you're her pride and joy.” “Well I wouldn’t go that far.” “But didn’t you say last time we talked that you couldn’t love Twilight anymore if she was your own daugh-"  "OKAY!" Celestia interrupted nearly using the royal canterlot voice and walked over to her old friend and guided her out of the room with the guards. "TwilightI'llberightbackjustwaitrightthereokaybye!" Celestia then left the room asap as she didn't want Twilight to see her face was red as a cherry. "Well it's nice to see your original personality is coming back along with your memories, but why did you have to remember that?"  "Because the core of comedy is timing."  "Well as embarrassing as that was, it shows just how much progress you've made." "Oh yeah there's this new treatment they've been using on me and let me tell you I feel better YOU FEEL WORSE!" That last part almost made the guards back off.  "That magic canceling collar is on good and tight right?" One guard whispered to another who nodded his head. “Good.”  "So I see you still have a way to go before you can get out of here." Clover opened her mouth but Celestia held out her hoof. "Not counting the several times you've escaped. I wished you could have stayed in that mental hospital, but you kept escaping there too. You’re kind of the main reason I wanted more security here.”  "Well it's nice I motivate you, I WANNA SHOVE PUDDING DOWN MY JAMMIES!"  "I think it's time you went back to your cell," Princess Celestia said. "Agreed," the guards said in unison. After Clover was taken off Celestia was about to make her way back to Twilight but stopped in her tracks.  "Maybe I should check on a few other things real quick, it would give Twilight more time to forget what Clover was talking about." Celestia made her way around via wings but made sure not to get too close to any of the prisoners who were out of their cells and in the courtyard. There Scar Flank was playing an intense game of cards and seemed to be on the verge of losing. "I'm not sure how you got all those bits here Scar Flank but I know what I'm going to be using them for," the prisoner Scar Flank was playing said. "Don't count your chickens before they hatch. This duel isn't over just yet." "Oh please none of your monsters are strong enough to take mine down." "Not on their own but all 3 of them can make way for another that can." "Wait all 3, you don’t mean-" "That's right!" Princess Celestia didn't know the game they were playing but from what she saw Scar Flank made quite the comeback. "Ah yeah come to poppa," Scar Flank said after winning. Elsewhere Emo Pony and Dr. Arachnid or as they've been going by again Brush Stroke and Ruby Shores were in a group session.  "Well I'm certainly glad that you 2 decided to come back. It certainly helps morale here when the "supervillains" decide to come to these," a criminal psychiatrist with the group said. "If you want to redeem yourselves it really starts to set an example." "Well hopefully we won't be known as those for long," Brush Stroke said.  "I think it's going to be much easier for you than it will be for me," Ruby said. "Half the prisoners here adore my sister."  "Well maybe we can talk about that a little. You were very angry at your sister for a while weren't you?" "Angry is too pleasant of a word really." "Then what word would you go for?" "Well I'm not too proud of this so it's not all that easy to talk about it." Suddenly Ruby was hit by a sphere that would make him more honest.  "Brush Stroke what have I told you about using those emotional spheres on other prisoners?" "What? It'll help him talk about his feelings."  "What have I told you?"  Brush Stroke then gave an annoyed huff. "To not to."  Celestia then made her way back to Twilight as she wished not to keep her waiting while in a prison of all places. As she made her way back she rather desperately hoped that Twilight wasn't going to bring up anything Clover brought up.  "Okay Twilight I'm back." "That was faster than I thought." "I was?" "Yes, I thought that you'd want to talk to Clover the Clever a little more." "Well I can do that later, besides I didn't want to keep you waiting."  "Oh I'm fine I brought a few books to keep me company." After reuniting with Twilight Celestia continued to look over the prison with her. Before long they made their way back to the courtyard where Twilight caught a glimpse of a certain pegasus on a bench press. "Come on, come on, lift lift lift!" The pegasus tried to push up but the barbell was hardly moving and the pony with her was about to help her lift it. "Don't you dare!" The pegasus then lifted it enough to put it in place. "Yes, a new personal best, I'll have it beat by tomorrow."  "Perhaps it would be quite wise if you didn't push your body in a reckless manner." "I'm the best Gentleman Thief and the best push themselves so that they can stay the best. Don't forget it." "I shall attempt to remember that valuable information in the future. At any rate is this all you wish to proceed with in our little free time?" "Well if you could figure out how we can get out of here we can do all sorts of things." "Yes, that has proved quite difficult even for my intellect. But perhaps we can get some insight from the individual that has escaped from this facility on several occasions now." "You think I didn't try that already but whenever I try talking to Prank Master I can barely make any sense of what the heck she's talking about."  "From what I've listened to, those 2 haven't quite made much improvement in terms of turning over a new leaf, most of all the female pegasus," Celestia mentioned.  "Speaking of leaves, I can't seem to find Pony Ivy." Suddenly an alarm started nearly making the princesses jump. "What's going on?" Before Celestia could answer, several guards ran over to where they were.  "Princess Celestia Princess Twilight we need to get you 2 out of here and we need to do it right now!" A guard said. "What's going on?!" Twilight asked.  "A fire broke out and somepony has screwed with the controls so now the doors won't close." Twilight and Celestia were escorted to a safe area where quite a few other guards were going as well to quickly form a plan. But before anypony could get there giant plant roots appeared and ripped the area apart. "Uh Celestia." "Yeah Twilight." "I think I figured out where Pony Ivy is." The plant roots spread out more grabbing and separating the guards but Twilight and Celestia managed to stay together. Pony Ivy then appeared from below the roots. "Hello my royal beauties." "What do you think you're doing?" Celestia asked while protectively putting one of her fore legs in front of Twilight.  "Well I would explain that but this wasn't even my idea." Suddenly the plant roots broke the floor below. Both Celestia and Twilight instinctively used their wings but Pony Ivy jumped over to Celestia and before she could do anything, kissed her right on the lips. "What are you doing!?" Twilight asked, shocked and a little horrified.  "I planted one right on her lips, pun you better believe was intended. Now your precious princess is under my control." "And you think I'm just going to let you control her?"  "Oh don't you worry about that. You're going to be joining her." Pony Ivy jumped at Twilight but she summoned a barrier around her stopping the green menace and forcing him to fall.  "Catch me!" Celestia then swooped down and grabbed him and he safely jumped off her when she got low enough to the ground. "Good now capture the other alicorn and bring her to me." Celestia then looked up to Twilight and flew straight at her. Twilight got out of the way and dodged several stun spells as well. Twilight tried to reason with her former teacher but it was no use. "This isn't over Pony Ivy. I'll be back and I'll rescue her and stop you." And with that Twilight teleported from Pony Ivy's sight. "Perhaps I should have put her under my control first. Oh well no matter 1 alicorn should be enough for the next part of the plan. What was that again? Oh yeah getting the others together and out of here." While Pony Ivy walked off with the brainwashed Princess Celestia, Twilight flew into an empty cell and cast an invisibility spell on herself in case somepony came in. "Okay things went from okay to utterly horrible in seconds, but there's no need to panic. I just need some back up, some super backup." Twilight was about to call Super Stallion when suddenly the floor below started to break forcing her to fly again. Another giant plant root appeared and managed to grab her foreleg. While she managed to get away the root had grabbed her bracelet and broke it. "Pony Ivy! Do you really need to spread those things all over, there's hardly any room to breathe?" Scar Flank called out not too far away from where Twilight was hiding. "What are you complaining about? These things are keeping the guards at bay," Pony Ivy called out right back. Twilight teleported away and found a place where half a dozen guards were already together and planning a counter attack. Twilight overheard that the guards used water spells to put out the fire. Shortly after that they ran out to find more guards and do something about the roots. "Darn it they left before I could talk to them," Twilight said as she undid the invisibility spell believing it was a safe enough place. "Why did that plant root have to break my bracelet? Now I'm stuck here and I don't even have Celestia to help me! None of my friends are here. I've never read a book on something like this I don't even-" Twilight stopped as she was beginning to mumble and even cry a little.  "My my you are quite afraid aren't you?"  "Who said that?" Twilight turned to a mirror and to her shock and horror she saw not her own reflection, but the shadow pony that nearly took back control of the Crystal Empire King Sombra.  "Sombra!?! No it can't be you were defeated when Spike and I found the Crystal Heart." "Yes that was quite the close one wasn't it but with my remaining magic I cast a spell that allowed me to place a small piece of me deep within you."  Suddenly a realization hit her. "Wait a minute, Spike! That was you wasn't it?! You were the one that gave him that curse from the Equestria Games and made his heart stop." "My my you are a clever one aren't you? Yes I was the one that stopped his heart. When I was pushed back from the Crystal Empire, my essence still remained just outside it. There I traveled to the train you eventually left in and placed myself in you and a little bit in your little pet." "He's not my pet!" "Whatever. When I placed myself in you I laid dormant waiting to grow stronger." "Stronger? What are you talking about?" "My so many questions, such a curious little filly you are, I suppose that's why you have such a lust for learning and knowledge. I planned to grow strong, feeding off the darkness in your heart. Your anger, your hatred, your sadness, your fear. At first I thought that it would take a while to get strong but you got in quite the argument with your teacher when you returned that sped my recovery up quite a bit."  Good thing he wasn't around during my brother's almost wedding and afterwards. "If you feed off anger and fear when you make Spike's heart stop you did it to make me scared so you could get stronger faster." "Clever clever clever no wonder you became an alicorn. Such great potential imagine what you could do if you studied under-" "Yeah I'm gonna stop you right there because I know exactly where you're going with this and no. I'm not interested in being your student. I already got involved with Discord."  "But imagine the power you could do with the combined power of the spirit of chaos and the shadow ponies." Sombra then showed a warped version of Twilight as a shadow pony helping him take over Equestria.  "No! Now leave me alone!" Twilight then created a magic burst that made most of Sombra and all of his vision vanish. The only remaining part of Sombra in the mirror was half of his face on the rest of Twilight's reflections.  "Well done, but I am not without my talents. That may have pushed me back but I'll be back, a large quantity of anger or fear should do it. And with the environment you are in I imagine that won’t be long." And with that Sombra vanished.  "Okay that's 1 problem out of the way for now, but 1 I really really need to take care of later. But for now I need to get out of here so what can I do?" Twilight then went off to find the guards. Meanwhile, Pony Ivy with the help of the brainwashed Princess Celestia had no problem whatsoever getting the rest of the rogues and their stuff together. "Now we just need to find Emo Pony and Dr. Arachnid." "Nuts to those guys Ivy, we need to get out of here before the riot ends," Weather Warper snapped. "That wasn't part of the plan and besides my roots will keep anypony who wants to stop us at bay for quite a while."  "All the same, we should still get a move on before a certain flying earth pony shows up," Scar Flank said, who noticed that the motionless Princess Celestia was starting to shake her head a little and her blank stare was becoming less blank. "Hey she's starting to snap out of it, give her another shot." Pony Ivy then kissed her, putting her back under his control.  "All right let's get going I'll race you ready set go!" Weather Warper then suddenly flew right off annoying Scar Flank. "Get back here you idiot we need to stick together!"  "She'll be fine, just put the pudding with the paddle and pond and the pea pod will plush pulse pretty patty penguins," Clover said clearly off the treatment.  Back to Twilight she did a good job getting a lot of the guards together and helping them push back and restrain quite a few of the prisoners. The roots tried to get in the way but Twilight was able to handle them as well. "Nice work Princess Twilight," one of the guards said. "Nice? I'd say more like excellent," another guard said. "Yeah thanks to her we've taken back about half of the prison already," a third guard said. Suddenly several prisoners jumped from above to try and grab her but before they could they were each tasered from behind by Ruby knocking them out cold. After restraining them he followed Twilight's group from above who came across a prisoner that had a guard in a choke hold and was holding a knife to his throat. "Stop right there, all of you!" The prisoner called out. "Come in closer and I'll paint this whole prison crimson with this guard's blood."  "Not on my watch," Brush Stroke said who hit the prisoner from behind with a fear sphere causing him to let go of the guard and act crazy before Ruby jumped down and tasered him.  "Are you okay?" Twilight asked. "Yeah I'll manage your highness. I did a little recon when I got grabbed by that loon. There's a large group of prisoners making a serious mess and pushing back quite a few other guards." The guard then turned to Brush Stroke. “By the way, thanks.” “No problem,” Brush Stroke answered. “Emo Pony, those spheres of yours mess with emotions that could help stop the rioting prisoners," Twilight said.  "Well they would, except there's a lot of them and I have very little supplies. At least I do now." "What do you mean?"  "Well you see Princess Twilight because of my good behavior the staff eventually trusted me enough to let me make more of special items under supervision. They helped quite a few ponies here deal with their internal problems and before long I even made more potent items to further help ponies." "Get to the point, Brush Stroke! There's a riot literally right around the corner," Ruby said. "Well excuse me for having a little pride in doing a job well done Ruby. Anyway I had a lot more but Prank Master thought it would be funny to throw it down a ventilation shaft." "That's all?" Twilight asked. "Couldn't you just go after it?" "I would, but the said vent went all the way to the tunnels, where Chrysalis is."  "Chrysalis?!"  "There's numerous tunnels under the prison and it wasn't long before the guards put her down there for safety reasons,” Ruby said. “They only bring her up for sessions to help get her brain fixed. Otherwise they just toss fruit and vegetables down there every day or 2 and leave her alone." "Yeah, who's not getting to the point now?"  "Touché. Point is the plan of yours won't work, princess."  "Because Chrysalis broke all those supplies."  "Well, no actually at least I mean we don't know for sure," Ruby answered. "Then there's a chance. How do I get down there?"  "You can't be serious princess," Brush Stroke said. "What about Chrysalis!?"  "She won't be a problem now. How do I get down there? We don't have much time." The guards then showed Twilight to the elevator. Some of the guards wanted to come down and back here up but she believed it best if she went alone. "Princess are you sure?" One of the guards asked. "Yes you all need to hold things down while I go down. I shouldn't be too long." "All right but be careful, Chrysalis is dangerous and I still have the bite marks to prove it. Those teeth are sharp as knives." Twilight made it down and quickly and quietly looked for the supplies while also keeping on guard in case Chrysalis popped up.  "All right not too many vent drops to check I'll be out of here before that overgrown stink bug even knows I'm-" Twilight was suddenly grabbed by Chrysalis who bit Twilight's leg which made her scream in pain. "HE WASN'T KIDDING!" Twilight got free by hitting Chrysalis in the eye and flying off in her confusion. "I need to stop the bleeding before I pass out." "Feeling scared again are we?" Looked up around as she used a spell to heal the bite and saw various flaming red eyes.  "Sombra?"  "Yes, I rather like these tunnels. Perhaps when I return I'll build another castle right here." "I'm not scared of Chrysalis Sombra!"  "Maybe not but I'm sensing quite a bit of fear and panic from the ponies above trying to prevent the chaos. Discord would be rather proud right now. It's enough to make me stronger and fill the caves with your deepest darkness fears." "You set a trap in your castle that tried something similar and that didn't work either."  "But I bet it's more than capable of preventing you from reaching your previous supplies that you honestly think haven't been destroyed by Chrysalis yet." Just as Sombra said that, Twilight saw it was exactly what she was looking for.  "Well look what we have here." Twilight then picked up the bag of supplies and held it up high. "There's always hope." Just then Twilight was attacked again by Chrysalis who pinned her to the group as Sombra watched from the cave wall.  "Well it seems you have your hoofs full I'll check back later," Sombra said before disappearing.  "Twilight Sparkle! You broke my brain, now me break you!" "Hit the books Chrysalis!" Twilight reached into her saddle bag and whacked the changeling queen in the face with the biggest book she had. It knocked on the ground and before she could get up, a plant root broke through the top of the tunnel grabbing Chrysalis and pulled her up. Twilight made it back up and gave Brush Stroke his supplies.  "Wow these are almost mint condition nice work," Brush Stroke said. "And just in time I might add because that riot is coming our way," Ruby Shores said.  "Okay but there's 1 more problem. Just because I have these doesn't guarantee that they'll make contact with the numerous targets coming our way."  "You can leave that to me," Ruby then drew calculations and figured out how he, Brush, Princess Twilight, and the guards could the upper hoof. Such as forcing rioting prisoners into 1 spot so 1 sphere could be used on them all. Twilight also used her magic to pull guards out of the line of fire. Thanks to Brush's supplies and Ruby's plans the guards subdued almost all of the prisoners and the few remaining made their way back where the riot started.  That's where Chrysalis was pulled and with Prank Master, Pony Ivy, Weather Warper, Gentleman Thief, the still brainwashed Princess Celestia, and Scar Flank. "How the heck are the guards taking back the prison so quickly?!" Scar Flank asked.  "It's no problem we got all our stuff back and all of us combined can beat everypony here," Weather Warper said.  "Well if you want to put bits on that bet let's take down the guards," Scar Flank said clearly ready for action. "Perhaps it be best to not provoke our enforcer adversaries and-" "Let's get pudding!" Prank Master interrupted.  "Did we really have to bring her?" Prank Master then got a pudding cup out of nowhere and shared it with Chrysalis who licked the cup like a dog. "And for that matter her as well?"  "The master planner guy that planned this whole thing wanted all those that played a big part in the attack on Canterlot Castle Weather Warper." "Well who is this guy exactly, Pony Ivy?" "Once we find Emo Pony and Dr. Arachnid and get out of here you can meet him, Scar Flank." Just then Ruby and Brush made their way through the last few rioting prisoners. "Well speak of the devil it's you 2 hurry up let's get out of here!" "Yeah how about no."  "What? Did you hit your head or something Arachnid we're about to escape. Now come on you too Emo Pony." "That didn't work out for us last time, here ponies have actually finally started to listen to me and it's Brush Stroke." "And my name is Ruby Shores, sister of the pony of pop Sapphire Shores." "Well whatever you want to be called now, we need to get going." Pony Ivy then made 2 roots reach out to grab them but Twilight cut them with her magic before they could reach them.  "I think the whole lot of you have caused enough trouble, it's-" BLAM  Twilight was cut off when she was shot right in the head by a magic beam from a rioting unicorn prisoner that was so strong it slammed her into the wall.  "Princess Twilight!"  "Are you okay Princess Twilight?"  "Who shot her?"  "We have to get to her!" "We're coming Princess Twilight!" "Huh Twilight?" The various guards calling out snapped Celestia out of Pony Ivy's mind control and when she saw her former student on the ground and even bleeding her jaw nearly hit the floor. "TWILIGHT!" Celestia then started flying to get to Twilight but Pony Ivy had a root carry him to where she was.  "Maybe a kiss will help you both feel better," Pony Ivy said before jumping down but this time Princess Celestia countered with a right hook that sent him to the wall knocking him out and causing the giant roots to stop in their tracks.  "Hey guards, the roots have stopped now's your chance!" Ruby called out. "Yeah, do any of you know some strong stun spells?" Brush asked.  "No, not really, do you," the guard closest to Brush Stroke asked.  "Yeah actually." The guard then got out a key that removed the magic canceling collar and Brush Stroke didn't hesitate to try and blast her former comrades.  "All right it's to get out of here now!" Weather Warper then placed her staff on the ground creating a giant fog and when it cleared the rogues were gone.  And so was Twilight.  "Twilight! Twilight! No no no! Guards spread out! Form several parties, find Princess Twilight! Find her now!"  ***  Twilight who managed to get out of the prison woke up and found herself in a strange room she didn't recognize and when she tried to sit up she was stopped by the pain of her pounding head. "Oh I see that you've awakened she'll be happy to see that." "Who are you and for that matter, who am I?" "You don't know who you are?" "No, I can't remember who I am."  "That's quite a problem but I bet she can help." Before Twilight could ask the pony was gone who returned with a mare.  "So I heard you've lost your memory, that is too bad but I can help you. In more ways than 1 actually."  "Who are you?" Twilight asked as the mare stepped into the light of the room from the window. "Oh, you can call me Starlight Glimmer.”