//------------------------------// // 2 - Prison // Story: Reborn, Death, Again // by Hidden_Night //------------------------------// Anonymous munched on his in prison meal, potato salad, not the kind of prison meal he was expecting. He was hoping for more of an unusual slop of mysterious goop they find in the dumpster. Damn you prison regulations! Give him a reason to complain! He’ll just have to settle for complaining about the chains making too much noise when he moves. How do you even chain hooves?! Though, it was weird to be eating alone in his own section of the dungeons. Amenities were nice enough, wood bed, a wood table, and no window. It was deserved though, he was evil, or at least that what his character is. As it turns out, working with Nightmare Moon is very much frowned upon, especially when your reason is, ‘I was bored.’ He’s going to keep committing to the evil bit until otherwise. So what would an evil horse do? Escape of course! Anonymous turned to his stationed guard, standing just outside the prison bars. The guards usually swap shifts quite frequently to deter any escapes, it was honestly pretty annoying. He didn’t have a chance to escape, so going stealthily was out of the equation here. Therefore he’s going to use his patented five step program to get out of jail. Step 1: Annoy the guard. “So whatcha in for?” Anonymous leaned in The guard beyond the bars sighed. “Sir, we’re not having this conversation again.” “Daw you’re no fun!” Anonymous chuckled, he’s been pestering Frank for a while. How Frank got his name off a hay dog brand into becoming a guard was anyone’s guess, but he didn’t care. He had the most normal horse name so that was something. Frank didn’t respond, only silence from him. “Well, for me. It all started after six mares beat me up in a forest.” “Gah. Stay here.” Frank had enough, he did not want to listen to the same repeated story about how Anonymous could’ve won that fight. He just didn’t feel like it. Then he left, Frank just walked off to the other parts of the dungeon. Leaving Anonymous alone. “Alright! Step 2!” Anonymous clapped his hooves then immediately stared at his hooves as he wondered how does his hooves work. Always being able to grab stuff without magic is useful, close range Telekinesis. Wait, he’s supposed to be breaking out. Anyway! Step 2: Break Anti-Magic Ring Anonymous had to be careful to not break the ring. His plan was to depose of its anti-magic properties and keep it on his horn. Though, he couldn’t get a good look at the ring placed around his horn, but he could see silver and some sort of crystal in the center. The crystal glows. His mind wanders a bit as he formulates a minor spell discharge. Why is he casting a spell? Well the ring only blocks magic from leaving to formulate spells. It does not nullify, it only blocks. If it did nullify, it would destroy the magic within the pony as well. It will need to hit a certain sweet spot to actually delicately crack the crystal, but anonymous decided that was too much work and decided to be drastic. He head butted his horn against the table. Anonymous winced in pain as he felt the shock down his horn and into his head. Rubbing the crystal with his bound hooves proved one thing. It was resistant to blunt force. Not immune, so he went back to bashing the ring against the table. Why use magic when use head? An age old question barbarians ask when fighting wizards before getting frozen, stabbed, and set on fire. With enough of his horn being threatened with breaking he pulled back, and rubbed the crystal yet again. A crack! A slightly deep one at that, and with that crack, Anonymous shoved his magic into the crack of the crystal and shattered the ring in half. It gave Anonymous minor pain as the ring shocked his horn as it broke. “Ow. Well…I can’t win them all.” Anonymous slowly realized what he has done. He broke the ring, this severely ruined his plans. He’s going to have to expedite the process, by a whole day now. It was a two day break out, now’s he’s going any%. “Fuck it, let’s go through a wall.” Anonymous said to himself and promptly pointed his horn at the stone wall. A blue light surrounded his horn and he rushed towards a wall. Being sectioned off means at least one of the walls had to be dirt. He was definitely underground, it wouldn’t be very Dungeony if it wasn’t. He can worry about supports for the tunnel later. Step 3: DIG, DIG, DIG The sound of his drilling caught the attention of Frank, who quickly rushed back to Anonymous’ cell. His ears of caught wind of some strange sound. Taking to investigate, he saw Anonymous horn first against one of the walls. “Hey! What are you doing?!” Frank took a step to the side and pushed his hoof against a secure button. This button was supposed to overload the anti-magic ring and give a quick shock, but it didn’t work. He pressed the button again. “What the?” Anonymous flicked his head back and tossed a rock out of his way. “Fucking rocks…” The rock hit Frank square in the helmet and he jumped back from the ding the rock made. “Hey! Stop right there!” Frank had to draw upon his sword and shoved a key into the lock of the cell. Sliding the door open. Anonymous only turned and smiles. “Oh hey! Perfect timing actually. There wasn’t any—” Anonymous stepped aside from the pommel of the sword being swung at him. “—posters from what I can see.” He just continued like nothing happened, but continued to simply move out of the way of any swings towards his person. It wasn’t hard, just annoying. “What? I thought you were a pushover! You lost to civilians!” Frank was clearly annoyed. Anonymous could only chuckle at this. “You see my dear Frank. You’re just but a guard, they’re the heroes. I only lose to heroes.” Anonymous conjured a bubble around him, which caught Frank’s sword, keeping it in place. “You said you lost because you didn’t want to kill them.” Frank’s anger was rising, his hooves gripped onto the handle of his sword to try to free it. “Duh, I could recognize heroes when I see them. Even if for the first time. They remind me of a kid’s show I used to watch.” Anonymous clicked his tongue and shot a quick beam of magic towards Frank’s sword, knocking it out of his hoof. “Gotta really dig into the memory for that…” Anonymous said quietly to himself. “What do goats have to do with this?!” Frank resorted to using his hooves, swinging at Anonymous with less fines and more speed. The bubble did not budge. “Keep forgetting this is pony land. Anyway. Talk’s been nice, I’ve planted enough seeds to run with intrigue now.” Anonymous turned to the hole in the wall and slowly climbed in side. This caused his bubble to collapse. “What?” Frank stopped swinging and looked at Anonymous, using his mouth to tug on his tail. “Say hi to the Sun Horse for me!” Anonymous used what he learned from the orange horse and kicked Frank upside the chin and sent him away. Anonymous did yelp from having some hair from his tail ripped off. “Wait, I need to cover the hole…” Anonymous slid backwards and out of the hole. His eyes darting around to try to find anything useful. “Bowl?” He lifted his bowl containing his food. “No, too small, spoons?” His magic lifted a silvery spoon, it was odd they didn’t invent plastic yet. “I’m not digging with spoons again.” His eyes turned to the knocked out guard on the floor. “I’ll just use him.” Step 4: Poster After slotting Frank’s butt to plug the hole, Anonymous soon found himself into the hole in the wall yet again, using his horn to drill into the dirt across from him. “Okay. I’m in deep enough. Okay!” He took a deep breath and his blue drill turned yellow. His entire body now donning a new yellow glow. “Drill!” His mind only had one purpose now. To drill! His body spinning rapidly at one point, his horn, and began to move quickly. The ground behind him collapsing as he continued to move forward. Everything was a yellow blur until he found the point where the ground ends. His momentum shot him from the side of the mountain and sent him flying. “Wooo! Wait isn’t the ground supposed to be up? I didn’t even go up. What is…” He turned his head and saw the side of a large building moving away, then upwards. “Shit. I went through a mountain.” Anonymous winced at the damage he probably has done to the mountain, but now’s not the time for caring, he had to spread his limbs wide to catch as much of the wind as possible. He didn’t want to die to falling like this. Step 5: I WANT TO LIVE! He had to think and fast, if he could weave together a complicated spell to slow his fall, or teleport to the ground, or crash into that conveniently placed cart below him. “That'll do, just have to aim at the cart and…” He closed his eyes and shot a spell downwards from his location. His body pressed against the top of the cart and with a boing he flipped off the cart and onto the dirt. He heard someone call out, a feminine voice but Anonymous had enough, he just closed his eyes. He also hasn’t slept in three days, but that probably wasn’t important. It was time for a fat nap, but someone was poking him with a stick on his ass. “Please tell Trixie you’re alive! Trixie cannot risk her show in Ponyville being late!” The poking individual called out behind him. “Okay. Jeez. I’m not dead. Just very tired.” Anonymous sighed, he did not want to deal with a child in a strange complex. Once he turned to see who was poking him, now he’s suddenly dealing with an adult with a strange complex. “Thank Celestia. Trixie was just about to run. Where did you come from?” The blue mare who Anonymous could only assume is Trixie is currently pressing her presence towards him. She does have a cute wizard hat. Anonymous looked around, this was such a good place for a nap. Grasslands and a decent distance away from the mountain he just shot out of. So he had to answer in a half truth. “The sky.” “Haha. Trixie is amused.” She bit off a tiny bit of sarcasm. “But where did you come from?” “Don’t worry about it, I missed up a spell and now I’m out here, and did you say something about a show?” “Yes. I am the Great and Powerful Trrrrrixie!” She stood up on her hind legs and spreads her forelegs out. Her cape flowing from magically created wind. Anonymous checked the amount of magic he was absorbing, she wasn’t that strong. He thought of an idea, she could be the echo of that purple magic girl. The purple unicorn seemed to be knowledgeable and reliant on friends. Trixie here is not very strong and boastful. Why not become his own villain and train Trixie himself and rule this place with an iron hoof? “Say. Quick question, I know I just failed a spell, but I’d like to teach you.” Anonymous smiled. “Trixie does not accept offers from strangers who fall from the sky.” “Is there a reason?” “Trixie may have had some…” Her face turned a little red with embarrassment. “never mind. Pegasi fans are not the best.” She hurriedly attached herself to the cart. Anonymous watched and slumped his neck. “But I’m not a Pegasus.” “Trixie can see that.” She was ready to walk away. “Well. If Trixie doesn’t want to learn about cool spells such as this.” Anonymous had to show a spell, also she has basically an RV and couch surfing seems like fun. So he did what he could, and may or may not have shoot a giant laser beam into the side of a tree. The bark breaks and shifts from the impact. “T-Trixie can do that. Observe, for this is the only act you’ll be getting!” Trixie closed her eyes and shot a wimpy laser beam into the tree, leaving only a slight burn mark. Anonymous had to get her somehow. “Impressive, but I can teach you how to be stronger.” “Trixie feels there’s a price.” “There is a price, a great price. I would like to sleep on your couch.” “Trixie does not agree to these terms.” “Floor and I’ll clean up, and be your stage hand. This cart has a stage, right?” “Trixie will…errrr.” She shifts in place, “Fine!” Trixie asserts herself, standing back up tall and pressing her hoof against Anonymous’ chest. “If you don’t help Trixie at her Ponyville show, she will dump you in that backwater town.” “Fair enough.” Anonymous smiled. From evil grunt to evil mentor. This is going great! He should get a resume for future evil leaders, being evil is awesome!