I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.
-Fantine, Les Miserables
"Move!" Sweetie Belle shouted, darting through the street. Behind her she could hear the clatter of hooves as the prisoners of Canterlot Castle's dungeon hurried after her. They wheezed and panted, their limbs aching. They had been confined in those cramp cells for weeks and now that they had finally been given a chance to move freely they found that their imprisonment had robbed them of much of their strength. Even Iron Will, who had managed to bury an alicorn 4 inches deep into the concrete, was beginning to tire.
The only thing going their way was the fact that the guards that were chasing after them were just as worn out. It said much about the state of the kingdom that the new Royal Guard had been allowed to get fat and soft. Harmony had brought a lapse in protocol and allowed them to become lazy, thinking that the good times would last forever. The only thing healthy on them was their lungs as they screamed for the prisoners to halt and return to their cells.
"Do they honestly think we are going to do that?" Iron Will snorted, keeping pace with Sweetie. Be it her youth or simply luck, but of all of them Sweetie was the most fit and only the minotaur could match her stride for stride.
"They believe that you will do the honorable and peaceful thing and stop. That is how things are in Equestria."
"Do you practice saying such garbage in the mirror so you can say it with a straight face?" Trixie asked, smirking slightly at the glare Sweetie sent her way. She hung in Iron Will's grasp, looking utterly put out that she was being treated like luggage but smart enough to realize she would never be able to make it if she tried to run on her own; the world was still pitching and swaying even after 10 minutes. The blow to her head coupled with the stress of the escape was getting to her.
It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that staying in Iron Will's arms meant she had to 'cuddle' next to Faith.
The silver alicorn had lapsed into unconsciousness the moment they burst onto the street. His body was mangled and he had simply lost to much blood to be able to fight the blissful darkness. Trixie rubbed his forehead gently with her own, not caring in the slightest that the silver fluid ('ichor' her mind whispered) was coating her head and getting into her wound, mixing with her own blood. There was still a very good chance that he was going to die and she needed the contact to remind herself that he was still breathing.
But that was all. It wasn't anything else, despite the looks she was getting from the others.
"What's the plan here?" a buffalo prisoner named 'Great Storm Chaser' grumbled. He and his tribe were use to long runs and though he was out of shape he was still able to keep up with the rest. When a few of the weaker prisoners began to stumble and fall he, along with a few of the bigger, stronger prisoners, had stooped down and hefted them onto their backs. Sweetie Belle had stared at them in surprise when they did that and Chaser had rolled his eyes at her.
"You believe that we would leave any of them behind?" he had said. "We are brothers and sisters now... we are of the same tribe and if one must be left behind then all of us will be left behind. That is friendship, little one... that is harmony; not the foolishness your queens spout."
The white unicorn had nodded at this, wanting to argue but finding her mouth unable to say the words.
"We have to get out of the city," Sweetie Belle told them, pulling out of the memory and focusing on the task at hand. "If we can make it off the mountain we will have a chance."
"How do you figure?" Iron Will asked, lashing out with his right leg and kicking away a wagon that had fallen in their path. He pivoted and with a mighty strike sent the structure flying through the air, crashing down behind the very last member of the escape party, blocking their pursuers' path.
Sweetie Belle grimaced before speaking. "Much of Equestria is... untouched by the guard. There is simply too few of us to patrol every inch of land."
"That's how it was before," a lime green pegasus named Shred Deal stated. "I use to run trade routes from Equestria to Detrot... there were always the occasional robbery but there was little the guard could do about it. They could never fully invest in protecting the trade routes because it would leave other areas, like the coast lines or the mountain passes, under-protected.
"The same is true now," Sweetie Belle stated, turning right when she saw a dead end baring down on them. "My sister and her friends are focused mostly on the towns and cities; they figure that if they control them and are able to promote harmony there, then they had little to fear from the forests and the wild."
"That is stupid," Trixie stated plainly, looking away from Faith's shivering form. "Do you realize how many ponies make their homes outside the limits of the cities and towns? There are gypsy camps in every forest and the nomads in the deserts south of Appleloosa-"
Sweetie Belle grumbled, cutting her off. "I know that but..."
"But you didn't want to argue... you couldn't argue," Chaser stated.
The white unicorn sighed. "Yeah." She took a shuddering breath but kept running. "Listen, if we can just find a gate we can get down the mountain and into the forest. We'll be safe then and we can regroup... maybe find a somepony who has magic-"
"Unlike you," Trixie snarked.
"-and they can remove the magic cancelers. That will even up the odds."
"We'll never make it off the mountain," Shred Deal said. He glanced back at the rest of the party, all 30 of them, and shook his head sadly. "They just don't have the strength to keep up."
"We are NOT leaving them!" Chaser snarled.
"I am not saying we leave them but we have to think of something else!"
"Why walk when we can ride?" Flam called out. He had caught the tail end of the conversation and was now racing to catch up with the leaders of the herd. "Would that not be better?"
"What are you talking about?" Trixie asked impatiently.
Flam puffed out his chest. "There is a reason the queens merely put me in the dungeons instead of brainwashing me. They had me working on something... something that would allow them to show their might and prevent enemies from across the sea from disrupting their plans. I tell you, it is a brilliant design." He gave them a wink. "Of course, i might have put a few flaws in that would prevent it from working... but it will only take me 5 minutes to correct them and make her ready."
"Why would you make flaws that are so easy to correct?" Iron Will asked.
Flam grinned so wide it was a wonder his face didn't split open. "Ah, it is clear to any inventor that if you wish to keep business flowing, you put in a few flaws so the customers must keep hiring you to repair them."
"That is... so dishonest!" Sweetie Belle complained.
"You are brilliant!" Trixie said with a laugh. "You know where this... thing... is?"
"Of course my lovely lady! This way!" Flam turned right and led the group away from the mountain pass and back towards the cliff face. Iron Will paused only long enough to erect another barricade to prevent the guards from following before charging back up to the head of the herd.
After 5 minutes Flam halted before a massive warehouse that sat on the very edge of Canterlot. He knocked on the door and when the guard answered he gave him a quick headbutt, sending the stallion down. "Ooooohhh... that was tough on the old noodle." Shaking himself, Flam threw open the doors and gestured at the device that lay within. "There she is... my baby."
The prisoners craned their necks up... and up... and up.
"Well... that will do," Trixie whispered in awe.