//------------------------------// // Under Their Muzzles // Story: Land of Misery // by UnKnownSalvation //------------------------------// Ch.8: Under Their Muzzles In the blackness of the sewer system, with only the light peeking through the sewer covers and a few lit lanterns on the walls, Zero and Twilight were now trying to figure out how they could reach the top without drawing unwanted attention. They were walking along on cobblestone paths that worked as walls to trap all the sewage into a river. There were small bridges connecting the paths and ladders on the walls leading up to the sewer covers. Zero climbed up a ladder to listen to see how many ponies were around and he kept getting the same answer. "Too many here too?" Zero whispered in disbelief, listening to the sounds of the crowd above them, realizing this cover is a no go and continued on with a sigh. "How many covers have we tried? Ten? Twenty? Fifty?!" Twilight shouted and started to think that they're not getting topside this way. "I lost count at five…have we been here before?" Zero asked, looking around and thought the current location was familiar. "I wouldn't be surprised if we were." Twilight retorted. "This is stupid! We're getting nowhere!" "SHH!" Zero hushed Twilight, before they realized that, coming around the corner, about twenty or so feet from them, was a light. The two quickly hid behind another corner, hoping to avoid detection as quickly as they could. When the light finally passed the corner, they saw it was a grayish unicorn stallion, dressed in elegant armor, floating a lantern with his magic. It didn't take a genius like Twilight to figure out what he was. "Ugh…why am I always stuck with sewer patrol? None of us have actually found anything down here!" The unicorn sat down a mace against the wall and then sat down next to the sewage river, his back turned to Twilight and Zero. Zero raised his hoof up to his mouth to tell Twilight not to make any noise. Zero snuck up behind the guard, grabbed the mace with his mouth and… *Whoosh* *Thud* Zero took the mace and clobbered the guard, knocking him out cold. "Sorry buddy, but you just picked a bad day to come into work." Zero said, putting the mace back where he found it. "Zero, what was that for?!" Twilight was shocked by her companion's action, but Zero didn't respond, as he grabbed the guard's tail with his mouth and dragged him to another lantern on the wall to see. After spitting out the tail, he turned and finally spoke up. "He said there was more than one of them down here, right?" Zero said with a clear smile. "Then all we need is another guard outfit and we can simple climb out of the sewers and no pony will give a crap! We can go anywhere in the city and not get noticed!" Twilight thought about the idea and looked at the guard. His armor was silver in color, with gold fabric underneath and he had a scarf with a royal emblem on it. The emblem looked like an alicorn silhouette over a crown. The scarf would be perfect for hiding their collars. "And where exactly are we going to find a set of armor my size?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow. Zero had already begun to strip the unconscious guard of his uniform. "These guys come in all shapes and sizes. I'm sure at least one should be close to your size! And if we can't find one, then I'll come up with something on the spot!" Zero said, getting the last piece of the uniform off and began to work at fixing the dent in the helmet. "That scares me a little…" Twilight wasn't fully confident in Zero's improvised planning, but his calm and confident exterior seemed to help Twilight from losing her mind with thoughts of hopelessness. Zero finished putting on the guard armor and turned to Twilight. "Well then, I hope it doesn't come to that, but with the luck you and I have been having, it's really anypony's guess." Twilight nodded her head in agreement. "How do I look?" Zero looked like an actually legitimate guard. The collar was covered and his cutie mark was completely out of sight. "Like a child playing with his dad's clothes but right now, you're all I've got." Twilight responded, showing a teasing side that surprised Zero a bit. "So there is a sense of humor in there. Yes, the indoctrination is going perrrrfectly." Zero said, rubbing his hooves together and faking an evil chuckle, earning another stifled giggle and an eye roll from Twilight. Zero grabbed the sleeping guard and hid him in a dark corner, hoping no one figured out who he is. "This really isn't the time for jokes." Twilight remarked. "Alright, I'll be good." Zero said. "Let's go get you some proper armor!" Zero began to walk. "Do you know where to go?" Twilight asked, uncertain of Zero's action. "No." Zero just shrugged with his smile never fading. "Do you know where to start?" Twilight asked wide-eyed. "No. So I'm just going to keep walking until I find what I'm looking for." Zero said bluntly. "Zero, they're not going to just come running around that corner." "HEY YOU!" The two looked to see three guards running straight to them. The unicorn guard in the front was smaller than the earth ponies behind him…and just about Twilight's size. "Ah, you're just in time to help me with this escaped criminal!" Zero exclaimed, thinking fast. "Good work uh…" "Blaster." Zero replied, his head sweating with anxiety. "Good work, Blaster!" The lead guard said, falling for Zero's disguise. "That'll show that ass Blacklight that our town's own guards can take care of this matter!" The guard said in a condescending way. "You may have caught me but you'll never catch Zero! He's smarter AND brave than all four of you combined!" Twilight shouted at the guards, while Zero looked at her with astonishment. "You insolent little…" "Sir, permission to speak?" Zero was trying hardest not to worry about what Twilight had said. "Permission granted, soldier." "I just have one thing to say…WHAT THE HAY IS THAT?!" Zero pointed to behind the guards to draw their attention away. They all quickly turned to see… nothing; but as soon as they turned back to face Zero… *Whack* Zero bucked as hard as he could on the unicorn guard's face, sending him flying about three or four feet. Twilight, who figured out what Zero was doing, followed suit, as one of the guards was too busy looking at Zero to notice her hind hooves flying into the side of his face in time to react. The third guard rushed at Zero, but he was just a little too quick on his hooves and responded by tripping the legs out and Twilight hit the airborne target with another buck to the face. "Made ya look!" Zero exclaimed happily. "I can't believe that actually worked." Twilight said in astonishment. "I can't believe it either! I can't believe anypony on this world or any other could be this gullible, incompetent, and all around just stupid! And you said that they weren't going to just come around the corner." Zero said, running his fore hoof through his messy mane with a smug smirk. "Ok, I was wrong." Twilight actually admitted defeat to Zero for the first time since he met her. "Way to think you your hooves." Twilight complimented sincerely. "Thanks Light, but did you really mean that?" Zero asked. "Of course I did, Zero! That was really clever of you!" Twilight responded with a smile. "Not that. What you said before." Twilight's eyes darted away and her smile turned a bit more awkward with a blush, before she gave Zero her answer. "Well yeah, I mean, you've been making smart decisions for the most part and you've been very brave in the caves, against the guards, in the forest, and even here now when we're both at our weakest in the middle of a city filled with guards who want to capture us and kill us and you still can find a reason to hope, to smile, and to laugh." Zero gulped as he tried to work up something to say, but before he could, the unicorn guard began to stir. "Ugh…what happened…?" *Whack* Zero, annoyed with this moment ruined, kicked the guard yet again, knocking him back out. They looked at the now unconscious unicorn. With the moment gone, Zero figured it was time to get back on track. "It looks like this one is about your size…pretty small stallion." Zero muttered, inspecting the body before removing his armor for Twilight to try on. "Great! We can finally get out of this place!" says Twilight. "I don't know, Twilight, I kind of like it down here! What with the rats, the crystal green waters, and the unidentifiable substance that I may never get off my hooves actually make this place quite homey." Zero's sarcasm wasn't what Twilight wanted to hear, but at this point if she rolled her eyes anymore, she would get dizzy. "Here you go!" Zero placed the armor down for Twilight to wear. Twilight put the armor on, with some help from Zero getting the heavy metal on. "Why do these things have to be so heavy?!" Twilight exclaimed, as she wasn't expecting the armor to be THIS heavy. "Wells it would be bad show if they got stabbed in the kidneys, right?" Zero asked, shrugging then proceeded to hide the body of the stripped unicorn, but left the others out in the open. "Why are you only hiding one?" "You'll see soon enough!" Zero said with a wink. "Well let's see if it works." Zero said, walking up to a ladder proceeded to head up it, out of the sewers, with Twilight following up behind. When they opened the top, they weren't blinded by the sunlight as it was close to sunset. As they climb out, they are first seen by a lot of passing ponies, but are then ignored as they deemed nothing was out of the ordinary… except for another guard. "Hey! You two are supposed to be down there on patrol!" "Sorry Sir, but we have a problem! We believe that the escapees are down in the sewers and are taking out all the guards down there. We need more help!" The guards face turned to horror as he completely bought everything Zero was saying. "R-right soldier! Don't you move from this spot! I'll be right back!" The guard took off, running to find his commanding officer. "Dumbass." Zero and Twilight then disappeared into the crowd, trying to draw as little attention as possible. "Ok, where did Conner say to go?" "He said find a pub called "Paradise"!" "Then that's where we go! Let's see if we can get directions." Zero walked up to a random blue pony. "Hey you! Do you know where the Paradise pub is?!" Zero pretended to be a guard to avoid suspicion. "Uh… I-I-It's just down the road! Please don't hurt me!" Obviously she was about to piss herself. "Looks like you get to live today." Twilight joined in, faking a masculine voice. They both took off down the street where the pony had been pointing. "Think we may have overdone it, Zero." "Yeah, I think the death threat was a bit too much." Sure enough, just down the street as the mare said, was the Paradise bar. "Let's hope this works…" "I know it will work!" Twilight said with a warm, hopeful smile. Zero returned with one of his own and the two walked in. When they walked in, they received a few glances, but every pony in the room continued on with what they were doing when Zero and Twilight sat down at the bar. The bar itself seemed well kept all around, though appearances can be deceiving. "How can I help you gentlecolts?" The bartender that asked was a brown stallion and welcomed the two with a smile. "New life." Zero muttered under his breath but was loud enough for the bartender to hear. "Through that door." The bartender looked over to a door on the far side of the room that had a sign saying "Employees only". "Thanks." Twilight said quietly. They both got up and managed to make it to the door with no trouble. They climbed up the stair and after a while, they began to hear something. "They pay… oh they will pay… and when they do… OH it will be so satisfying!" Twilight and Zero both stopped halfway up the stairs and looked at each other as they listened. "It's all prepared… now I just wait… and then… and THEN… IT WILL BEGIN! HAHAHAHA!" "I have the sneaking suspicion we found Sprocket." Zero whispered with a fake puzzled look on his face. "Whatever gave you that idea?" Twilight asked sarcastically. They both continued up the stairs to see something along the lines they should have saw; a room filled to the brim with books, gadgets, gizmos, and tools... lots and lots of tools, all placed an a controlled disaster kind of way where only the pony who put it there would ever find it without actually looking for it. "*Clears throat* Excuse me?" Zero said to the mumbling mad colt. The stallion had a yellow coat with spikey white mane and a tail that was pitch black in certain places. One would assume he may have electrocuted his tail... or spilled paint on it. He was wearing goggles and writing on a piece of paper. His cutie mark looked like a gear. "KWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The unstable stallion panicked at the sudden surprise. Add to the fact that Zero and Twilight were still dressed as guards were enough for any stallion to have a heart attack. Before anypony in the room could react, a blue streak flew from behind a curtain and tackled Zero to the ground, knocking his helmet off. "Take this you scumbags!" Just as he was about to attack again, the pegasus stopped. "Val?!" Zero looked up to the pegasus and couldn't believe it. "Speed?!" Zero looked at his flank to be sure and spotted a three lightning bolts, black, white, and light blue cutie-mark on it. The tail and mane was black and the eyes the same lime green. It was him alright. "W-Why are you here?!" "It's a funny story actually…" Speed rubbed the back of his head with his fore hoof. "Give me a sec; I got to go find Sprocket." Speed walked back behind the curtains, leaving a confused Twilight and an displeased Zero. "Zero…" Zero didn't respond to Twilight. 'What's wrong with him? Isn't this his best friend?' 'Speed… I hoped I didn't have to see you again…' Zero thought, staring towards the curtain his friend was behind expressionless. ()()()()() Meanwhile, Back at the Library ()()()()() "Sir! Everything is in place as you've specified!" a guard that appeared to be Blacklight's second in command. "Did you double check?" Blacklight was standing outside on the library balcony. "I did better than that! I quadruple checked!" "Good. And the escapees?" Blacklight turned to look at the guard "We have confirmation they have arrived in town and have made contact with the resistance." "Good work! If this goes right, they won't need a doctor…they'll need a mortician." "Sir. I don't think anypony will go to the funeral…" "You'd be shocked how many would show up for the funeral of their "last hope"." Blacklight said, chuckling evilly through his helmet. "But what happens if they overwhelm us? That Zero character looks pretty powerful and crafty and if Twilight Sparkle gets her magic back…" "Don't worry!" Blacklight exclaimed, cutting the guard off. "I've taken the necessary precautions." "What do you mean sir?" Blacklight doesn't answer, as he proceeds to laugh with great delight.