Rossman was standing in front of me, with Fain standing anxiously at the open door. Rossman kept flicking his ears and looking behind himself, almost like he was expecting to be attacked.
"We don't have much time," Rossman said quickly. "Several of us are going to be exiting this facility and making a run for it. We considered taking you with us, but we ultimately decided that you would be difficult to contain without these facilities, and if you got away from us, there is too much chance we could be tracked down. So we are offering you a deal instead."
I was still exhausted from little sleep and the day before, but that got my adrenaline running. "What kind of deal?"
"This is a waste of time, Harmonist. Time we don't have!" Fain scolded.
Rossman got close to me and talked quickly. "We run, leaving you with the door open and tell you where to find the filly. In exchange, you tell me if anyone else has a copy of your complete research. I can't believe it all went up in flames when the Bastion blew its top. You had to have hard copies somewhere else. Where are they? Tell us, and we give you the chance to save that foal. With us gone, Royal Bearing won't be able to get a working ETS spell, and he might try to sell that filly to interested parties."
"Just my door?" I asked in bewilderment. "How many ponies are going to be left here that I have to get through to find Qīng Yǔ?"
"Six, and one human," Rossman replied. "Almost half of us are leaving. In about an hour, Henry is going to be getting up to feed each of you, and he'll notice Fain never returned your key yesterday. He'll find your cell empty and us missing. He'll certainly raise an alarm to wake the others at that time. They might assume we took you, so they might be inclined to believe you are not still here. It is up to you to figure things out on your own if we make this deal."
"You won't unlock the other cells?!" I harshly whispered. "You’re just going to leave them to this? I can't do this on my own. If you could at least unlock Wallace's, he could be a huge help."
"Fain only stole your key yesterday," Rossman whispered harshly. "We risked detection if we tried to grab the rest. You have to figure out how to deal with things yourself, but at least you will be free and not in your cell. All the dogs will be gone too. You only have to worry about Royal and his closest allies. Just tell me who has a hard copy, or we leave your door locked."
Royal would be in a rage. I had to get not just Qīng Yǔ, but everyone out. Otherwise, others would end up dead. Me accomplishing that was a longshot from hell, but it was impossible if I was locked up.
"Twilight Sparkle has a journal that covers everything regarding transformation magic. She is going to be performing an experimental piece of transformation magic very soon in Equestria. As for my research, in particular, the Pentagon has copies, but I don't know where they are kept," I answered quickly. "That's all I have. Is that good enough for your deal?"
"We fucking stopped by here for that!" Fain growled.
Rossman stepped back and nodded. "It confirms there are hard copies somewhere on Earth; that's more than we had before. Someone, somewhere, knows where they are. Knowing they are out there and where to start looking is more than we had. We will honor our deal. Good luck, Miss Blessing. I hope you make it out alive, and if you do, maybe we can discuss your research more in the future."
"Fuck it all," Fain hissed as she put a hand to her face. She removed it and looked at me. "This place has three levels; this is the middle level. Your filly is down on the third. It’s one big storage room, and she is in a locked closet at the back of it. It isn't a magic-proof cell like this. Living quarters and the regular exit are up on the first floor, but I'm assuming you'll just teleport out. If you get out, you'll be about ten minutes from an old dirt road that eventually leads out to highway forty. It's a whole lot of nothing for a long time, but maybe you can hitchhike. Not my problem; I just know I ain't a murderer, and I don't torture infants! Royal can go fuck himself; I'm out!"
Fain and Rossman exited, practically running, and left the door hanging wide open. Okay, this was happening.
I got up and stumbled out the door into the light and tried to get my bearings. I had thought it was a long hall, but it was actually one big circular room with steel doors all around me. There was a very obvious staircase, what looked like an area where the dogs had been, and a big square painted in white on the middle of the floor. I had to assume that these were all the cells, and one of the doors was the room they had tortured us in, but I had no clue which. There was no sign of Rossman and Fain. They really did high tail it out as fast as they could. I wish they had told me where the keys were before they left.
I tested my magic, just doing a small light spell, and was relieved when it worked. However they were dampening magic; it was just in the cells. I had that much going for me.
They said that Henry would be going by and feeding everyone soon. I needed to be off this floor before he did that. I ran to the stairs and saw that it was one set that went either up or down. Living quarters and a whole lot of trouble was upstairs while my goal was down, so I headed down.
The bottom floor wasn't completely dark, but it was dim, and there were large wooden crates everywhere that created a labyrinth on the open floor. There were crates of food, jugs of water, and bales of hay—everything they needed to stay here indefinitely.
I couldn't see anything past all the supplies they had stored; it was like a maze that I would need to get through. I hoped that the closet didn't have a steel door as well. I had no idea where the keys were still, so my best option was to try to blow the lock, and I wasn't strong enough to do that with a steel door. It was a problem to worry about if it came, first thing was finding the thing.
After a few steps into the crates, I heard footsteps coming down the staircase. I quickly hid behind the closest box and perked my ears—definitely footsteps, not hooves. This would be Henry coming to get the food to feed everyone.
I didn't dare try to peek out from my cover to try to see him. The last thing I needed was him raising the alarm that I was down here. I briefly considered incapacitating him somehow. If he was about to take food to the cells, he would be raising an alarm anyway. Trying to get him was a non-starter, though. If anything went wrong, they would get the notice that I was down here. If he found the cell empty and their turncoat compatriots gone, they would probably focus on trying to figure out where Rossman and the others had run off to with me. They might even take time checking each of the cells to see if anyone else was missing. I cursed myself for not thinking to at least close the door to my cell behind me; that might have bought a few minutes more. I should have thought of these things. I was failing as a rescuer. Oh well, no use worrying about it. Well… plenty of worrying about it, but nothing I could do about it now.
Hmm, if they were going to check the cells, that would include checking on Qīng Yǔ. I would need to move fast as soon as he went back upstairs.
It felt like an eternity holding my breath, daring not to move even the tiniest bit, while Henry gathered the food. I was rewarded after a few moments with his footsteps going up the stairs. I needed to move, and I needed to move now.
I ran, dodging around crates as I pushed towards the far side of the room. In places, there were so many piled close together they effectively made a wall that forced me to detour, slowing me down further. I didn't have time for this!
My ears perked, and I skidded to a halt, finding the closest crate I could find to hide behind.
Royal was raging. "Go ahead and check the rest! I need to check the foal! We are screwed if we manage to lose them both! I don't care if every one of those forsaken lost ones got away. They aren't as important as the Apostate and the foal! When I find Rossman and the rest, I'll kill them! Get me a headcount on who's deserted!"
Royal must have known the quickest path to the back, and it luckily didn't involve coming near me. Still, I cowered down and listened. Could I ambush him? He was magically stronger than me, most ponies were stronger than me, but he seemed a cut above that if his blast that had taken Salt Shaker's head off was any indication. There was no way I could overpower him by magical means. It would be like asking an infant to wrestle a bodybuilder to the ground.
I heard a door open. "The foal's still here. At least we have that," I heard Royal say with relief. I listened to a kicking sound and the sound of Qīng Yǔ crying out in pain just before the door slammed, and my rage flared almost high enough to drown out my fear. "Don't even think of running, stupid filly!" he spat.
"You could have just pushed her back with magic. You didn't need to kick her!" an unfamiliar mare angrily shouted at Royal. "That's probably why we have all these defections. This isn't how ponies are supposed to behave. We're supposed to be better than this."
"Don't question me! Go find Fain, if she hasn't defected too. I need to make a phone call to see how we get out of this mess!" Royal snarled. "You can bet that traitor Rossman is going to anonymously tip off the authorities with our exact location. We need to figure out where we're going quickly. Find Mid Rift! Make sure he didn't turn traitor too. If he did, getting out of here quick is going to be hard."
"Don't count on it," the other replied. "Dog Bite got all his dogs out without making a sound while going by us, the only way he did that is if Mid Rift portaled him out. I'm betting Mid Rift is gone too."
"Shit!" Royal shouted. "Just go get the head count and let me make this call."
Whoever had been talking to Royal did not take the path back that they had in, and instead came much closer. I heard her stopping and starting her trot over and over again. She either didn’t know the path as well or was scared that someone might have been hiding down here. It was hard to track where she was going to end up with the way the room echoed and her non-straight path. I just cowered as close to a crate as I could and hoped for the best, resisting the urge to close my eyes.
Then she walked right in front of me.
She was one of the mares from Pony Hope that had tried to lynch me, I recognized the face instantly. She paused and looked right at me. I panicked and started to light my horn to fight but she held up a hoof as if saying to hold, and then looked back behind her.
"What's taking so long for you to go upstairs?" Royal screamed. "Are you so stupid you forgot where the stairs are?"
She scowled at the insult and glanced at me again. "I thought I heard something, but it turned out to be a rat. I'll go check on everypony upstairs." She then walked away.
Thank you, God! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I heard her going up the stairs and started to creep closer to Royal. I had to take him out without him noticing, but I needed to see him to get a clear shot. I needed to see him before he could see me, because if he did, I was done for.
"Royal Bearing, why are you calling us? We told you never to call unless it was an emergency." a robot sounding voice annoyingly barked.
The phone call might distract him. That was good. I continued to creep, holding my breath.
"The Apostate got away. I've got a mutiny on my hooves. Rossman and his team are gone, they took Sunset Blessing, but they didn't think to take the filly. Police are probably going to be told where we are soon, and I might be without Mid Rift. I need somewhere to go."
"You managed to lose her despite all the resources we provided you? How could you be this incompetent! When Poly Glot failed, he at least didn't cost us this much money! You should have just killed her right away instead of trying to pry that spell out of her! She's dangerous. She must be eliminated! That's what you were hired to do! Not chasing after ETS!"
Wait, what? I paused where I was and continued listening. I silently begged him to say a name. Please, say who you are talking to. I need to know! The voice was going through some sort of electronic synthesizer. Hearing it alone gave me no clues who it was.
"I've still got the filly!" Royal protested. "I can get her to you!"
"Idiot, we do not need her to be brought to us. Threats against her work from anywhere. Get to Omaha and give us a call when you get there. If you make it, then we shall discuss things then. Until then, you are on your own."
"Wait! Don't hang up!" Royal pleaded. I then heard him buck something large. "Damn it! What am I going to do?" He repeated several times. I heard him start crying. "Got to find that cat carrier, get that filly in it, and get out of here. Just teleport out and start running. Can't trust anyone here. Just get the filly and go. I'm sorry, Prim. I didn't get to avenge you. I was stupid and I let that bitch get away."
He broke down into incoherent sobs, but I heard the door for the closet opening again. He was as frustrated as he was going to get. It was now or never.
I got up and ran, criss-crossing through the rows of crates. I cleared them, and saw him by the closet door, cat carrier shakily held in his magic, and Qīng Yǔ struggling against his sloppy grip as he tried to force her inside it. I charged up a blast as I ran and let it rip.
It missed him, striking the door and blowing it into wood chips. I missed. The most important shot I could take, and I missed!
He instantly brought up a shield up and turned to face me. His eyes fell on me and practically exploded with hate. "You! I'll kill you!"
I barely jumped out of the way of a blast, throwing up a shield as I did. It missed me, but hit the wooden crates behind me, and the resulting explosion knocked me through the air. He charged up another shot, and I didn't know how, but I blink teleported just out of the way, but was knocked down to the ground as the magic connected with more crates to explode in a shower of splinters. Another blast came right after that, and this time the end of my tail got caught in it and caught on fire. I rolled, swishing my tail about, and started chucking burning wood at him. He put a shield up to block them and then grabbed a mid-sized crate in his magic and threw it at me. It connected, and I found myself dazed on the ground, surrounded by burning wood.
He advanced slowly towards me, his mouth twisted into the most hateful sneer I had ever seen on a pony, distorting his features into something that barely resembled a pony face. I wasn't strong enough. I couldn't fight him. How was I supposed to win this? It was impossible!
"You took my wife from me! You made me look like a fool! You think you can come in here and throw down with me?!" he savagely snarled. "I'm not a screw-up! You're the screw-up! Everything you do leads to misery, one mistake after another! Now you think you can play the hero? All you do is make mistakes, and this is going to be your biggest and final one!"
A sudden realization came to me, and a glimmer of hope. I made mistakes… I made a lot of mistakes—more mistakes than most could ever make. That meant I had what I needed in order to win.
I glared up at him, defiant. I felt like pissing myself, but I had to do this. I needed to piss him off even more than he was now, hard as that might be to accomplish. I needed him to do something big and poorly thought out.
"You're right. I've a lot of mistakes, a lot of mistakes that will haunt me for the rest of my life, but I got nothing on you," I said snidely, lighting my horn, but holding back. I had to wait for the right moment.
He lowered his horn and pointed it at me. "Shut up!"
"I mean, look around you," I continued, as if each word wasn't likely my last. "Everyone abandons you because you disgust them so much. Not even that psychotic human could stand you. The only thing you will ever be successful at is showing how wrong Shimmerism is."
"SHUT UP!" he said, shaking his head.
"And your wife… the one you want so much to avenge? What do you think she will do when she hears you murdered in cold blood? When she hears you were going to torture a foal. Is she going to say you're her hero, or is she going to recoil in terror and say she wants a divorce from that monster?"
I was Sunset Blessing. I took whatever I had and made something more from it. I couldn't overpower him through raw force of magic, but I could use his. I had my magic, his magic, and a lifetime of knowledge learned from mistakes.
He reared up on his hind legs preparing to throw everything he had into one last blast to erase me from existence. My horn dimly lit up as I kept talking. "But one thing about mistakes—" He brought his hooves down and I merged my magic with his, joining with his simplistic spell and adding new spell runes to his sloppy use of force, sabotaging his spell from within. "—you learn… how badly things… can go wrong," I finished in a whimper, imagining my wife's last moments alone.
His horn exploded.
A fiery inferno erupted from where his horn had been, Royal disappeared from my view as he was engulfed in fire. I turned to shield my eyes and was knocked back, feeling agonizing pain as the part of the fire struck my shoulder and neck and I felt the fur burn straight down to the flesh.
The last thing I thought before I blacked out was a prayer that Qīng Yǔ had been sheltered from the blast.