//------------------------------// // Break Free // Story: Applejack at the Edge of the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// Applejack placed a hoof on the cell door and grinned while the others watched. Not just the eight others in her cell, but the various other prisoners in the detention center gathered where they could watch her. Almost every single pony was incredibly confused by what she was doing. The cell bars, doors, and the locks were made out of solid steel and enchanted too. No earth pony could break them. “What are you doing?” Miss Valentine asked. “You’ll see—just give me one second,” Applejack replied. Applejack closed her eyes and listened to her heartbeat. She focused and pulled a vibration from it, gathering it in her hoof, and turning it into a powerful tremor that she focused into all three cell locks at the same time. The ponies all felt a strong vibration hum through their cells before the three locks on the cell doors exploded with incredible force. “Whew,” Applejack wiped a bit of sweat from her brow. “Needed to make that a bit stronger than I thought I would.” “What was that?” Amethyst asked, gawking with her mouth hanging open as she walked up to Applejack and looked at the annihilated remains of the lock. “Nothing,” Applejack said and pushed the door to their cell open. “Okay, anypony else coming with me?” “Miraculous!” Vahar shouted and stomped out. “Come everypony! Let us follow Applejack and free the others! The Warden and the Citadel of Al-Karamaretel shall no longer get away with this!” “Sounds good to me,” Miss Valentine shrugged and followed her out. Meanwhile the other two cells full of ponies started to leave as well and the large group filled up the narrow hallway leading back to the door of the detention center. Applejack stood in front and held up a hoof to stop the others from just running out or anything. The door ahead was still locked and she’d need to break through it too. It must’ve been soundproof too or else the guards certainly would’ve heard the commotion by now. Miss Valentine, Amethyst, and Birdseed stood by her side, waiting for Applejack to act. It seemed all of them had willingly deferred to her after her speeches and her ability to break open the cells caging them. “I just want to say one thing first,” Applejack said as she walked up to the door. “No killing. I know the guards might not follow that, I know they have spears and they really might not hesitate to use them, I know it’s going to be dangerous. But we should be better. We can’t meet wrong with wrong. So all of you, just incapacitate, or run away if you’re really in danger. But no killing.” “I’m in agreement with that,” Miss Valentine nodded. “None of us have ever done something like that anyways,” Amethyst shuddered. Applejack looked over her shoulder at the crowd of ponies from the other cells. “That all good with you too?” “We’re just businessponies for the most part—we hardly want to fight at all,” a stallion answered. “Fair enough,” Applejack nodded and grinned. “Time to get out of the detention center then.” She placed her hoof on the door. “This’ll be a little easier.” She got a thoughtful look on her face. “In fact… I think I’ve got a good idea on how to deal with those two guards on the other side. Wouldn’t want them running off and tripping an alarm or something.” “What do you mean?” Miss Valentine asked. “Just watch,” Applejack said and sent a tremor into the door. The deadbolt was snapped in half and the two sides of the door slammed open—and smacked the two unicorn guards into the walls. Their armor crunched between the door and the wall and the two of them collapsed in a heap as soon as the doors pulled back after being forced open by Applejack. “Ouch, that’s a broken bone or two,” Miss Valentine said as she stepped out and took a look at the unconscious unicorns. “Might have overdone it...” Applejack winced. “Nice work,” Birdseed said, impressed. “Applejack, you truly are a mare of miraculous talents!” Vahar shouted from behind her. Applejack rolled her eyes. “Thanks, Vahar. Now come on everypony—we’ve gotta get down to the other prison and rescue the others! Once I’ve gotten them out of their cells I’m going to go take down the Warden!” “I think I’ll join you for that, you might need help,” Miss Valentine said. “First things first though, let’s go!” Applejack said and ran down the hall while the few dozens of newly freed prisoners followed. Just a short distance of running though and- “Did you hear that?” “It felt like a door exploded!” “I can hear ponies running through the halls!” “Was there a breakout?” Applejack snorted. “Figures—too many guards in here for nobody to hear what just happened.” “Not a problem. Just an obstacle,” Miss Valentine grinned. “Any ponies who can fight—or at least think they can fight—get in front and protect the others!” Applejack shouted to her group. Vahar, Diamond, Emerald, Opal, and Topaz immediately moved out of the way to let others get in front. “You cowards,” Amethyst shook her head at her friends. “Hey—we’re still helping!” Opal said. Applejack and the ponies in the lead with her turned another corner and came out into a larger, much more open hallway, that led to numerous other corridors and rooms. There, right in front of her and coming towards her, was a squad of armored guards. A mix of Minotaurs, griffons, and ponies, they were all surprised to see the newly freed prisoners out here and most quickly leveled their spears at the group. One of the ponies shouted to a griffon beside him. “Sound the alarm and alert the Warden!” The griffon nodded and flew off down another corridor before Applejack or anypony else could stop him. “You prisoners had best get back to your cells!” A Minotaur shouted at them in the meantime. Applejack completely ignored him and started running at the guards. “Come on, everypony! Get ready to jump on them and take their weapons away!” The guards, seeing that she wasn’t surrendering, started running to meet her. Once they were in motion, Applejack slammed a hoof down and sent a tremor through the metal floor. It broke apart some of the panels, warped others, and sent screws and nails flying up. She couldn’t just destroy the floor as if it was made of stone or wood, but she could warp and bend it enough to cause all of the oncoming guards to trip as the tremor passed under them and shook them up as well. You might as well have been asking ponies to balance on a stick during an earthquake. The guards that were running full force fell onto their faces, sending a deafening clang throughout the entire room. A lot of them dropped their spears and let them go rolling or bouncing away. “Now! Get them!” Applejack shouted to the others. Seeing the guards go down, the other ponies sprung into action. They along with Applejack tackled the guards and knocked or pulled their remaining spears away, dogpiling on top of them and trying to detain them or knock them out. It was only a single squad of guards so armored or not they were still outnumbered quite a bit. Amethyst used her magic to yank the helmet off a Minotaur so Miss Valentine could kick him in the back of the head and take him out while Birdseed jumped onto a pegasus and put him in a sleeper hold. Applejack as well helped out, tapping a griffon’s armor and making it explode off him—he didn’t have the guts to fight after seeing that happen. The rest of the guards were either knocked out or surrendered after seeing how outmatched they were and Applejack’s group had a brief moment of respite. As well as a moment to savor this quick victory. Of course, Miss Valentine had to bring up the obvious. “We still have to knock the ones that surrendered out—we don’t have time to do anything else with them and we can’t let them regroup with other guards.” “Now hold on-” Applejack held up a hoof and walked over to the three guards that were still awake. “Do you three promise not to come after us? We don’t want any trouble.” “Are you kidding?! I’m gonna sock you good once I get the chance!” An earth pony guard yelled at her while the other two groaned in annoyance and shook their heads. Applejack rolled her eyes. “Okay yeah, just knock them out.” Miss Valentine did so. “Right,” Applejack nodded. “Let’s get down to the prison fast, we still have a long ways to go!” An alarm rang out throughout the entire Citadel building. Loud enough that everypony had to cover their ears for a moment. After a few loud rings it quieted down and a familiar crackling buzz of static came from the ceiling. Bzzt! “Attention, this is the Warden speaking. There has been a prison breakout in the main building. All guards are being asked to come to the main building immediately to quell the problem. Those manning the Citadel’s front gate are to close the gate for the rest of the day and lock down the Citadel. That is all.” Bzzt! “You know he doesn’t exactly sound worried,” Amethyst raised an eyebrow at the ceiling. “Well we’re going to show him that he should be,” Applejack said. “That’s right, honey,” Miss Valentine smirked. “I’m worried,” Birdseed grumbled. Applejack gave him a playful tap on the shoulder. “Relax—you’re doing good. We all are. So let’s hurry up and double the pace, there are more ponies to save!” Most of the guards summoned to the Citadel really had no idea what to expect or even where to go. This provided an advantage to Applejack’s group as they sped single-mindedly to their destination. Applejack always stayed in front to be the first pony in danger, and the first pony to protect the others, either jumping right at the guards or using Hoof of the Earth to disable as many as she could. The group with her was tired, not having the energy she had to begin with and having stayed in their cells for far too long, but they pushed themselves to keep up and fight through any guards in their way. It wasn’t long before they arrived on the underground floor Applejack had been at earlier, close to the prison. She could sense many guards coming with Hoof of the Earth—though at this point the commotion in the building was so loud everypony could hear the guards coming from all around. Perhaps by now though there were some who knew where the group was going and were going to attempt to corral the other guards down to the prison. Applejack clicked her tongue. “I’m thinking we’re going to have to change plans a little bit—I’m not going to have the time to break open every cell down here before a whole army arrives!” “So what then?” Miss Valentine asked. “We don’t need to fight all the guards—take down the Warden and use the radio, broadcast, thingy, to let everybody in the whole citadel know what just happened. Like I said earlier, the guards won’t fight if they learn they aren’t being paid anymore. So while I go to deal with the Warden everypony else should just barricade themselves inside the prison and hold off the guards until then. It’s safer than trying to fight in the open or escape,” Applejack explained. “Sounds like a plan to me,” Birdseed said. “You just don’t want to put yourself in anymore danger,” Amethyst scoffed. “And is that wrong?” The stallion raised an eyebrow. “It aint,” Applejack said. “All of you be careful—I care a lot more about you not getting hurt than I do myself.” Rounding another corner and the group came out into the hallway leading to the large prison doors. Applejack smirked when she noticed no guard had bothered checking and locking the doors back up. That was a nice half-second she could save. Applejack kicked the doors open when she reached them and let her group in, where she saw that the formerly listless ponies of the prison were all on their hooves, mired in confusion and panic, shouting and yelling at each other. None of them could possibly know what was going on outside their prison. And now here was Applejack and a party of free ponies barging in here. Some of them who were recognized as previous residents. The shouting increased as quite a few ponies from Applejack’s group ran to reunite with friends and family. The situation was getting a little out of control so Applejack handled it in the best way she knew how. “All of y’all listen to me!” She shouted and slammed her hooves into the floor with enough force that even without it being enhanced by Hoof of the Earth it would’ve shaken most of the prison. “I can’t rescue all of you right now but I’m going to free some of you from your cells. You’re going to have to defend yourselves and work together because a lot of guards are going to be coming here. Don’t let that worry you too much—you’re in good hooves. Just stay safe in here and soon everything will be over, I promise!” Despite the fact that her words didn’t really calm anypony down, Applejack moved to the left side of the prison and went to the nearest cell door. She ignored everything else—working as fast as possible—and sent a tremor into not just this lock but the locks on the several cells that were directly joined to this one. Just doing a bigger version of what she did earlier in the detention center. In sequence, all the locks exploded into pieces and the shocked prisoners were able to finally leave their cells. Applejack didn’t bother waiting for anypony to say “Thank you” before she ran to the other side of the prison and did the same with the few cells there. Meanwhile the prisoners were being rounded up and given a much more detailed filling in by Birdseed, Vahar, and Amethyst’s friends. As soon as the other cells were blasted open, Applejack caught her breath and steadied herself. “Okay… time to face the Warden.” A hoof was placed on her back. “But not alone, honey.” Applejack looked up to see Miss Valentine standing beside her. “You don’t have to-” “I want to give that Warden a piece of my mind. Besides, you don’t know what you’re up against. None of us do. You might need my help,” Valentine said. “M-Me too!” Amethyst skidded up to them. “I don’t want to just sit around here waiting for you to save the day, I want to fight! And my magic might come in handy, let’s take on the Warden together!” Applejack grinned and nodded. “Alright… together.” With the two of them Applejack walked over to the main group, seeking out Birdseed and Vahar in particular. “The guards are going to get here real soon, we need to leave and get on the way to the Warden without being seen. Do you think you can handle things here? Will you be okay?” “I don’t exactly like the three of you leaving when you alone probably count for 90% of our muscle but if all we need to do is hole up in here then whatever,” Birdseed shrugged. “I’ve been in enough near-death experiences, what’s one more?” “The Wondrous and Majestic Vahar shall make sure absolutely no harm comes to anypony!” Vahar shouted and stabbed her hoof towards the ceiling. “And she will most definitely not breakdown and cry either!” Amethyst turned her gaze to her friends. “Diamond, Opal, Emerald, Topaz, I want you all to do the best you can to save the prisoners. Even if things get dangerous—I believe in you!” “You’ve got it!” Diamond saluted her while the others smiled. “Come on! Let’s do this!” Miss Valentine smirked. Together, while guards still continued to rampage and run through the Citadel on the way to the prison, Applejack, Miss Valentine, and Amethyst ran out together to sneakily pass them and get to the Warden’s office. It was going to be a long trip considering where he was, and they’d probably have to hide from a lot of guards on the way, but Applejack believed it could be done. And she trusted her friends and her new allies who she might not have totally considered friends just yet to also protect everypony else. Bzzt! “Attention, this is the Warden speaking. There is a prison riot underway. Every guard must go to the underground prison immediately. Ignore the rioting in the town. That is all.” Bzzt! “Rioting in town?” Miss Valentine raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like something flared up thanks to what we started,” Amethyst grinned. Applejack wasn’t quite as happy—though she knew it might leverage the amount of trouble everypony else in the prison had to deal with. “I just hope nopony gets hurt—we’ve got to stop the Warden now!” “Are you sure this is the right way?” Amethyst asked Miss Valentine. “For the last time—yes! This is the right way, we should be getting to the private hallway that leads to the Warden’s office soon. This is the only place it could be!” Miss Valentine growled in annoyance at her. Applejack, who had been throwing out sensory tremors the entire time the trio had been running through the Citadel building, silently agreed with Valentine. She was getting more and more of a picture of the building in her head and at the limit of her senses she could “see” a single long hallway going back and back to the far side of the building. And luckily (for them) there weren’t anymore guards they had to dodge at this point. Every guard had long since left this part of the building. It would just be the Warden to deal with. Something Applejack admittedly was still a little worried about. Five minutes later the three of them rounded a corner and came to a lone—and long—hallway that stretched west. It was devoid of anything, even the floor and walls appeared much smoother than the rest of the building and the lights in the ceiling were much brighter than normal. At the far end of the hallway the three could make out a single large double-door with a pair of golden handles on it. The three ponies couldn’t help gulping in unison. There was an odd atmosphere emanating from this place. But they needed to go there. They needed to bring down the Warden who was hiding behind those doors. Applejack ran fast towards them and the other two followed right on her heels. The sound of their hooves clattering against the steel floor echoed through the entire hallway. Applejack didn’t just recklessly charge through the door, she stopped in front of it and waited for the others to skid to a stop behind her. Taking a deep breath—she placed her hoof on one of the door handles and used Hoof of the Earth to check out the door. “It’s not locked,” Applejack frowned. “He knew we were coming,” Miss Valentine’s eyes narrowed. “He’s been waiting for us.” “And he’s just inviting us in?” Amethyst wondered. Applejack bit her lip and sent another tremor into the room but although she could sense a living creature in there it wasn’t clear enough for her to see anything else. It made her uneasy, her scouting was failing her. “There’s definitely somepo—something in there. But I can’t tell anything else.” “We need to be careful. There’s no telling what’s behind that door,” Miss Valentine said. Amethyst gulped again and tried to wipe away some of her sweat. “I-I’m ready.” After another breath Applejack nodded. “Me too.” She grasped both door handles and pulled the doors open, and the three of them stepped into the Warden’s office.