Chapter 6: Gym Mice
***
As she flew across Ponyville, Daring couldn’t help feeling a little… naked. She was once again not wearing her typical gear, but neither was she wearing her A.K. Yearling disguise. For the second day in a row. It was true even her fans often wouldn’t recognize her without her gear, but two days in a row in the same town was really pushing her luck. She had to keep telling herself that she was going to let the secret out anyway. Gliding down to the town library, and current residence of the local princess, she landed a few steps from the door.
She was well aware of the royal guards that were watching the entrance from unobtrusive hiding places nearby. Most ponies probably wouldn’t even know they were there, but Daring managed to spot at least three of them, and she suspected there were more. She didn’t let on that she knew, and instead simply went to the door and knocked. It was Captain Feather who answered.
“Welcome back, Miss Do. Come on in.” She said stepping back to let her pass.
“Thanks.” She said, gladly stepping inside and out of public view.
Princess Twilight and the fillies were all gathered in a corner of the main floor, resting on cushions with a book open in front of them. They all looked up as she entered, and the two fillies smiled.
“Hi, Daring!” Adikia said smiling and waving.
“Hi girls, princess.” Daring said with a wave and respectful nod.
“Just Twilight, please,” Twilight said almost on reflex. Then the realization hit her. “Oh, that’s right, we were going to go over those ancient records you found.”
Daring nodded.
“I knew I should have made a checklist,” she sighed and glanced back at the fillies. “Right… actually, do you think you girls could help with that? Did you know much about the alicorn imperium council members.”
“A little.” Ania said with a shrug.
“Well maybe you’ll be able to add to whatever Starswirl had to say about them. And actually, you might have an easier time reading these old records.”
She smirked. “Perhaps, but Starswirl’s horn writing tis very bad.”
Twilight giggled. “Yes, he’s still notorious for his horn writing among historians. You’d think living nearly two thousand years he would have improved, but even later in his life his horn writing was just as bad, maybe even worse.” She got up and stretched her wings briefly. “Well let’s get out those records and take a look. Hopefully we can place where all these prisons are on modern maps.”
“Hopefully,” Daring agreed. “And then I’ll be visiting them and making sure they’re still holding.”
In short order, Twilight retrieved one of the most complete maps of Equestria and the surrounding lands that she had and laid it across the table in the center of the main floor. The ancient scrolls they set in a pile to one side, as they began going through them one by one. Each had a record of the location of the prison, usually with a map showing nearby landmarks, then a record of the Alicorn imprisoned there and the crimes attributed to them. Most Ania and Adikia could only agree with, as they didn’t really know the alicorns in question. Though for many they had heard rumors that only seemed to confirm the crimes listed. Lastly, each record also had a description of the traps set on each prison to keep ponies from releasing them and how to bypass them.
“Ruby Sky and Latent Flame, imprisoned together… This one doesn’t list many crimes.” Twilight said somewhat surprised as she struggled to read the ancient writing. “Looks like they’re mostly just accused of enslaving mortal ponies. Though they were linked to a few crimes that were attributed to the council in general.”
Ania looked up from the scroll she and Adikia were looking at and frowned. “I doth remember mother saying once that Latent Flame was too timid a stallion for an alicorn. She did not think he belonged on the high council. Ruby Sky was his mate. Adikia and I didst only meet them once, when they came to make a request of mother, but I remember she seemed nice.”
Twilight frowned. “Do you think they might deserve a second chance?”
“I do not know… I didst only meet them once. Perhaps.”
Adikia nodded. “Ruby was kind. And their pony servants spoke well of them.”
Ania looked at her. “They did?”
She nodded. “I spoke with a couple when they didst visit the keep.”
Twilight looked at the list of crimes for the two. Really the only one they were truly to blame for was enslaving mortals and in the case of Latent Flame, forcing some of the mares he’d enslaved to be his mates. But if some of their “servants” spoke well of them; were they really forced? Or was that just the prejudice of the time that made them record it so? And Ruby; she wasn’t even a member of the high council herself. So, the charges of slavery were all that really applied to her. Perhaps they did deserve another chance. That was something she’d have to consider.
“They sound a lot more pleasant than this guy at least,” Daring said, reading over another of the scrolls. “Harrow. Crimes include: Enslaving mortals, of course, numerous counts of violent rape. Starswirl made a point of saying violent; one-hundred-seventeen known murders, another seventy-two suspected. Fifty-seven counts of torture; many of which included rape, murder or both…” She shook her head. “Definitely hope that prison is holding. The mortal coalition obviously wanted to make sure he didn’t escape either; they put some pretty wicked sounding traps on his prison.”
“He was one of the worst…” Ania said softly. “But the council didst let him do as he wished with the mortals he enslaved. They cared not.”
“It’s disgusting…” Twilight said softly.
“Looks like his prison is up to the northeast. In the crystal mountains east of Rainbow Falls. They really spread these out.” Daring said marking the approximate location on the map, then set about writing a translation of the listed crimes. Already near a dozen prisons were marked all over the map with only about half in Equestria itself, and they were only about halfway through the scrolls.
“Yes… By the description, this one is somewhere in the smokey mountains, but the lake it shows as a landmark isn’t on the map, so I’m not sure where in the range it is.” Twilight said
“Three thousand years… The lake could have drained or dried up, or it’s just not large enough to be included on the map. If I need to, I can fly over the range to look for it, or any large basins that might have once been a lake.”
Twilight nodded and just put a circle around the mountains and marked it with the initials of those imprisoned, returning to her own translation.
Ania and Adikia were also reading and comparing what their scroll said and what it showed to the map.
“There!” Adikia said suddenly, pointing to a spot on the map.
Ania looked and compared it to the map drawn in the scroll and nodded. “That doth look like it.”
Twilight looked as well, and her eyes widened in surprise. “Ghastly Gorge?”
“Yikes. That one might already be quarray eel food.” Daring said.
“Quarray eels live there?” Ania asked surprised.
“Yes, quite a few actually. Who was imprisoned there.”
“Wisteria… We never didst meet her. By rumors she was… not pleasant, but not as bad as some others.”
Twilight frowned; she’d have to ask Spike about her later. She actually wanted to ask him his opinions on many of those imprisoned. But she didn’t want to do so while Daring was around. Spike’s ancient past was still very much a secret. Which was partially why she hadn’t asked him to help as well. That and she had actually forgotten until Daring had shown up, and Spike had already gone with Rainbow for the day to test his limits. Twilight couldn’t help smiling thinking of Rainbow. She’d been pretty excited to see just what Spike could do with his new wings. Especially after he’d mentioned that he’d often had to keep up with Achlys.
“Hows it going?” Feather asked, joining them at the table.
“Pretty good; most of them we’ve been able to place on the map, but a few we’ve only got a general area,” Twilight told her.
“They’re all hidden though, so they’re all going to take some searching no matter what.” Daring added.
Feather didn’t respond, causing Twilight to look up, finding her guard captain staring at one of the marks at the map looking shocked. She glanced at Twilight. “Uh, princess, a word please.”
“Uh, alright.” She said getting to her hooves. Feather led her into the kitchen, closing the door behind them. “Something wrong?” Twilight asked quietly.
“One of the places marked on the map. The one way out west; if where you marked it is accurate, that would put one of the prisons right beneath the main changeling hive.” She said softly.
Twilight’s eyes widened. “You’re sure?”
She nodded. “I remember there being a section deep in the hive that was off limits to all but a few of the queen’s guard and the queen herself.”
“You think she knew about it, then?”
“Possibly. Noling except those few the queen allowed knew what was in those tunnels, though.”
Twilight frowned. “We may have to investigate that one ourselves then. I wouldn’t want to send Daring without telling her, and she may wonder how I know if I told her.”
Feather nodded. “I… I suppose I should have told you where the hive was sooner…”
“It’s quite alright; I know all too well how ponies felt about changelings after the Canterlot invasion. I can certainly understand you wanting to protect your former home." Twilight assured her. "You don’t have to worry though: you have my word that Equestria isn’t going to attack the hive. And hopefully we can protect them from accidentally freeing the alicorn imprisoned there.”
“Thank you, Twilight.” Feather said with a grateful smile.
Twilight smiled in return and nodded. “Well, better get back to it. I’ll be sure and send Daring to check all the prisons in Equestria itself first, and we can make plans to investigate the prison at the changeling hive ourselves, though it may be some time before we can.”
She nodded. “If I’m right about those tunnels the queen restricted access to, then she’s known for some time. Hopefully that means she’s not intending on freeing the alicorn herself. But there’s always the chance she might accidentally free them.”
“Or they might manage to break free themselves,” Twilight agreed.
~~~
“So why does the gym have a wrestling ring?” Diamond asked looking over at the square platform surrounded by ropes.
“Cause wrestling or boxing can be good exercise, and a lot of fun!” Scootaloo answered, sitting on one of the benches and doing hoof curls with some weights.
It had been a quiet day at the gym apparently. But Bulk Biceps had been there as he often was when he wasn’t working one of his multiple jobs. He’d been more than happy to show the fillies how to use each of the machines the gym had, though several were too big for them to really use yet. He’d also shown them several exercises they could do with just free weights, though Scootaloo and Apple Bloom had already known a few of those. Diamond hadn’t though, and while she wasn’t used to so much physical exercise, she had found herself enjoying trying out the different machines.
Scootaloo looked at her with a decidedly devious grin setting the weights down. “You want to wrestle, Diamond?”
“Uh…” She glanced at Apple Bloom, recalling her promise to try everything they did. “Okay, but I don’t really know how.”
“It’s pretty simple really, you just try to pin each other down.” Sweetie said with a shrug.
“Well, there’s a bit more to it than that.” Apple Bloom put in. “There’s a lot of rules about things you can’t do; like you can’t kick or punch, and you can’t choke each other… basically you try not to actually hurt each other.”
“It’s just for fun,” Scootaloo said climbing up into the ring under the ropes. “Come on.”
Diamond nervously followed, climbing up and following Scootaloo to the center where she turned so that they were facing one another.
“You’ll probably want to take off your tiara for this,” Scootaloo pointed out.
“Oh, right!” She wore her tiara so much that she often forgot she was wearing it. Taking it off, she looked around for a safe place to put it. Going to one of the corners, she reached up, hooking it over the top of one of the poles that held the ropes. Returning to the center, she couldn’t help feeling like something was missing without the familiar weight on her head.
“Alright, first to pin their opponent for a three count wins the round!” Apple Bloom said, taking the role of the ref from the side of the ring. “Ready… and… go!”
Diamond was not ready for how quickly Scootaloo moved. The moment Apple Bloom said go, she slammed into her, catching her low against the chest and lifting her up, toppling her over backwards. The next she knew, she was on her back with the pegasus over top of her pinning her forehooves down above her head. She tried using her hind legs to push her off, but they were off to one side and Scootaloo was keeping low enough that she couldn’t get them under her to get any purchase.
“One… Two… Three! First round goes to Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom announced.
Scootaloo grinned and released her, letting her roll back to her hooves. “Wanna go again?”
To her own surprise, she actually did. She wanted to see if she could do better. “Yeah!”
“That’s the spirit!” Apple Bloom cheered. “Round two!”
Diamond took her position opposite Scootaloo again, this time taking a more stable stance, making sure she was ready to spring into action.
“Ready… and… go!”
Scootaloo leapt forward again, but this time Diamond lunged forward to meet her. They collided in the middle, each getting a foreleg under the other’s and for a moment Diamond managed to hold her there. But it wasn’t long before Scootaloo broke the stalemate. Without warning she spun to the side, getting out of Diamond’s hold and throwing her off balance. She was forced to put her forehooves down, and with Scootaloo now at her side, all she could do was brace herself. Scootaloo slammed into her side, trying to push her over. Diamond tried to hold, and for a moment succeeded in remaining upright, but then Scootaloo got a forehoof under her barrel and lifted while still pushing against her side. Diamond’s hooves on that side left the ground and there was nothing more she could do as she toppled over, Scootaloo landing on her side. Then she felt the pegasus wrap one forehoof around both of hers, pinning them. She tried to get her hind legs between them to push her off, but found they were trapped as well, unable to get any real purchase against Scootaloo’s back.
“One… Two… Three! Scootaloo takes round two!” Apple Bloom announced.
“You put up much more of a fight that time.” Scootaloo said as she released Diamond once more. “You’re a lot stronger than you look.”
Diamond blushed a little. “I’m just glad I managed to hold you as long as I did…”
“Wanna try one more?”
“Sure!”
“Alright then, round three!” Apple Bloom said grinning.
Diamond and Scootaloo took their start positions again, facing each other.
“Ready…” As Apple Bloom began, Scootaloo suddenly got a devious grin, one that made Diamond a little nervous. “And… Go!”
Immediately Scootaloo jumped back, throwing herself against the ropes, and wings buzzing began pushing them back. Diamond could only stare as a recent school lesson they’d all had in potential energy came to mind. And with how far Scootaloo was stretching the ropes back… She lifted one hoof, considering running, but it was already too late. Scootaloo snapped her wings shut and all that energy in the stretched ropes propelled her forward. Diamond knew better than to try to stop the pegasus projectile. When Scootaloo slammed into her, wrapping her forelegs around her, Diamond let herself be tackled, the two of them tumbling across the ring to end up in a heap at the far side.
Despite perhaps gaining a few bruises, Diamond burst out laughing and a moment later Scootaloo did as well.
“Get away from my daughter you ruffian!”
Diamond looked up in surprise. “Daddy!?”
Filthy Rich was charging across the gym toward the wrestling ring, clearly intent on protecting his daughter.
“Daddy we’re just playing!” Diamond insisted.
“Yeah we were just wrestling.” Scootaloo insisted, getting up off of Diamond and letting her up as well.
“Scootaloo wasn’t actually trying to hurt her.” Apple Bloom added.
Mr. Rich skidded to a stop looking surprised. “You were just playing?”
“Yes, Daddy.” Diamond told him, going over to the side of the ring where he was. “We were just having fun.”
He looked between them clearly unsure, then decided to let it go, turning toward Diamond. “What are you doing here, honey?”
“I wanted to hang out with Apple Bloom and her friends today. They thought it would be fun, and it was! Mr. Biceps showed us how to use all the weight benches and some exercises to do with free weights, and then Scootaloo and I were wrestling.” She blushed. “Scootaloo won.”
“Diamond, these aren’t really activities for a proper young mare.” He admonished.
“I don’t care! It was fun!” Diamond was surprised herself to find that that was true. For once she didn’t care in the least that she wasn’t acting like a proper highborn mare.
“But you could get hurt!”
“Not with Apple Bloom here!”
Apple Bloom nodded. “Yeah, even if one of us did get hurt on accident, I’d just turn back time and stop it.”
His eyes narrowed looking over at Apple Bloom. “So you’re the one that’s been filling my daughter’s head with those nonsense stories. Diamond, I told you, nopony can turn back time! Now come along, we’re going home!”
Apple Bloom sighed and her shoulder lit up. The next instant they all watched everything reverse until when Mr. Rich had first arrived. When she released the spell, his eyes went wide. “What just happened!?”
“Ah reversed time.” Apple Bloom said simply.
He stared at her in shock for a moment then looked at Diamond Tiara.
“See, I told you.” Diamond said sounding rather satisfied.
“How…?” He gasped.
“Magic from another world.” Apple Bloom told him. “You don’t have to worry about Diamond’s safety, she’ll be safe with us.”
“And I don’t care about being a proper young mare!” Diamond insisted. “I’ll behave and mind my manners when I need to, but I’m not going to stay at home bored all the time just because that’s what being a proper young mare means! Life is short, I don’t want to waste it!”
“But Diamond, honey; if you want to get anywhere in life, you need to know how to behave in high society!”
“I already do! And I’ll behave properly when I need to, but not all the time! I want to experience things, to have fun! Besides,” She gestured to the crusaders, “except for Sweetie sometimes, they don’t act like high society ponies at all, but they’re friends with a princess! So maybe being a proper young mare isn’t the only way to move up in the world!”
He looked at her a moment more, then glanced at the crusaders and back to Diamond. “Honey, I just want what’s best for you.”
She smiled. “Then let me have some fun!”
He sighed. “Alright. Just be home in time for dinner. And tell me next time you decide to hang out with Apple Bloom and her friends.”
Diamond blushed, realizing she’d forgotten to tell her father her plans for the day. Usually, she and Silver Spoon would just be hanging out somewhere around one of their houses. So with Silver Spoon unavailable today, he’d probably expected her to be at home. “I will.” She told him reaching through the ropes to give him a hug. “Thanks daddy.”
He hugged her back then glanced at the others a little awkwardly. “Sorry for interrupting.” He said, before turning to go.
“Daddy, remember what I told you?” Diamond said stalling him. “Apple Bloom saved your life.”
He looked back, then looked at Apple Bloom. “Diamond did tell me what you did, and though I didn’t believe her at the time, I suppose she was telling the truth.”
Apple Bloom nodded.
“In that case, I am very grateful for what you did. You saved my life; I don’t know if I could ever repay you.”
“That’s alright, Mr. Rich. Ah couldn’t leave Diamond cryin’ like that, not when Ah could do something about it.”
“Well, in any case, I am in your debt.” He looked over at his daughter and smiled. “I suppose Diamond could do far worse when choosing new friends.”
“She’ll be safe with us, Mr. Rich.” Apple Bloom assured him.
He looked back at her and smiled. “I’ll let you get back to what you were doing, then.” He said and with that, finally turned to go. They were all silent for a few moments after he was gone. Eventually, it was Diamond who broke the silence.
“Sorry about bringing up you being friends with the princess.”
“That’s okay, you were just using it to make a point.” Sweetie Belle assured her.
“And Ah definitely get not wanting to be a high society mare all the time.” Apple Bloom assured her. “Mah sis told me she tried living the high society life in Manehattan when she was our age. She said it was the most boring few months of her life!”
“It’s not all bad…” Diamond said feeling a need to defend the high society lifestyle. “But it can be boring at times.”
“It’s just not for everypony,” Sweetie Belle said.
“Yep, definitely not for me.” Scootaloo agreed. “So you want to wrestle anymore, Diamond?”
She giggled softly. “I think it’s pretty safe to say you won.”
“How about we do a little tournament!” Apple Bloom suggested. “Scoots beat Diamond, so now Sweetie and I have to go, then the winner takes on Scootaloo!”
“Alright! I’ll ref then!” Scootaloo said moving to the side as Diamond also jumped down out of the ring.
Sweetie rolled her eyes. “Like there’s any question at all who will end up going against Scoots…” she said but got up in the ring anyway.
She wasn’t wrong. It ended up being Scootaloo vs. Apple Bloom for the final of their tiny tournament. And in the end, it was Apple Bloom who was the victor. Diamond had fun though, even though she ended up losing completely when she and Sweetie wrestled for third place. She was surprised by the unicorn filly’s strength; she was much stronger than most unicorns their age, probably due to all their crusading. Diamond did manage to win one round though, so that was something at least.
~~~
Twilight looked up as the door opened and Spike entered the library followed by Rainbow.
“Remind me not to race Rainbow ever again…” Spike groaned, going over to a convenient cushion and collapsing on it.
“Hey, you did great!” Rainbow said with a grin while heading for the table where Twilight, Daring and the fillies were still at work. “So how goes the translating?”
“Well not just translating. We’re also trying to place the prisons on modern maps.” Twilight told her. We’re most the way through, though a few locations are pretty vague.”
“Some of these alicorns though; the things they’re accused of…” Daring trailed off shaking her head.
Twilight nodded. “Yeah, most of them, it’s no wonder why they were so hated… There are just a few though, that I have to wonder if it would be worth giving them another chance.”
“Huh… So you going to go look for some of these prisons, Daring?”
“That is the plan.” Daring said, copying down the information from another of the scrolls.
“I was thinking; maybe I should go with you. That way I could take an amplifier and have a way to stay in contact with Twilight.”
“Amplifier?” Daring raised a brow.
“Amity Arcanum Amplifier.” Twilight clarified. “They use the power generated by the bonds between friends to amplify a pony’s abilities. But they also have a communication spell that also works off those bonds.”
“Really?”
Twilight nodded. “The second-generation amplifiers should have enough range for most the prisons in Equestria, maybe a bit further; but I’m not sure exactly what the range is.”
“Couldn’t you just give me one then?” Daring asked.
“Uh… well it probably wouldn’t have as long range for you wearing it.” Twilight said a little awkwardly.
“Why?”
“Well, they work off the bonds of friendship and well… I mean, I’d consider you a friend and all, but…”
“I get ya. We’re not nearly as close of friends, so they’d have less range, is that it?”
Twilight nodded. “And wouldn’t amplify your abilities as much. It would still be a good idea for you to have one, though.”
“You may want to take some time getting used to it, before you do anything crazy.” Rainbow warned. “They tend to amplify your weaker abilities a lot more than stronger ones. Anyway, I was just thinking it would be a good idea to stay in contact so Twilight will know right away if something happens. So far, the prisons we’ve seen have both had deadly traps.”
“Starswirl left descriptions of the traps on each prison as well as how to get past them,” Daring said dismissively.
Twilight frowned. “Yeah, well Rainbow does have a point. Even with knowing how to get past the traps, there’s always the chance something might go wrong or the trap could even malfunction. I’d hate for you to get killed for this.”
“Don’t worry, Princess; I do this kind of stuff all the time.” Daring said confidently.
“But just in case, I want you to stay in contact; that way if worse comes to worse, I can ask Rekaj to turn back time and warn you.” Twilight told her.
“Rekaj?” Daring asked.
“He’s the dragon that gave Apple Bloom her magic.” Twilight told her.
“Oh right, Rainbow mentioned him. She said he’s from another world?”
Twilight nodded. “That’s right…”
“Oh yeah, Twilight, last night Rekaj mentioned he was going back to his world for a time to take care of some things.” Spike said from where he was still resting. “He did say we’d still be able to contact him the usual way though.”
“Okay, that’s good to know. I guess if it came down to it I could just ask Apple Bloom as well.” Twilight said, thinking. “Anyway, I think it would be a good idea for Rainbow to go with you to the first few prisons you check. You can both take an amplifier, and while you’re out there, we can test the range you get from it. If you get enough range from it to stay in contact; you can probably go solo after that; but if not, then at least Rainbow will be able to.”
“Heh, alright. Guess you’ll be coming along for this one, Rainbow.” Daring said with grin. “Once we finish up translating all these and figure out where we’re going.”
“Yeah, that part isn’t something I can help with… reading ancient texts isn’t really my thing.” Rainbow said looking over at the scrolls.
“We art almost done.” Ania said adding another scroll to the pile of those they’d completed.
“So how many prisons are there anyway?” Rainbow asked as she scanned all the marks on the map. “Looks like quite a few.”
“Thirty-five.” Twilight told her. “Well thirty-six, but one was obviously Achlys’, so we crossed that one off the list.”
“I think we’ll check the ones in northern Equestria first. Maybe these in the northeast.” Daring said gesturing to a few marks that weren’t too far from each other.
Twilight nodded in agreement. “That would probably be as good of place as any. Let’s just make sure there aren’t any more in that area, then you can make your plans.”