Today was the day of my...drainage.
It was the crack of dawn, before any of the guards woke up to escort me to the machine to have my magic drained.
I have two objectives: stay alive...okay, three: stay alive, get out, and get that book. There is something Captain is hiding from me - and probably something of value to me, too. And I intend to find out.
I don't know why Captain even bothered imprisoning me. When I realized that this fortress had no restrictions on my magic, my plan became all the more easy. I started my escape by using my magic to pry open the bars in my window. If I were to pry open the bars of my whole cell, not only would that be an especially loud task, but would also be what Captain and his guards are expecting. So I had to take the alternate route out of her. Which, to be honest, was not very well conceived, since I hardly knew at all where I was or how to get out. But every building has an exit. I just had to find it.
And first thing's first: I am not leaving without that book.
I poked my head out my window to find a thin ledge below me. I had no idea where it led, but since this was my only pathway to freedom, I had no other choice. I slowly climbed out of the window - hoof first - until my hoof touched the cold, hard steel underneath. Then the other hoof, and I found myself flat against a concrete wall, a gentle breeze flowing through my mane. I looked up. More building was above me, followed by a cloudy, misty sky. I looked down, and under my lavender hooves was at least twenty stories of death. I was high up. And the city below me was populous and industralized. It looked nothing like Equestria! In fact, there was technology present which didn't even look like it could be from my era of time!
...Am I in the future?
I had no time to stop and question that. Whatever year it was is irrelevant. I am not home, and that is what's important. I started inching my way to across the ledge, carefully watching my fragile hoofing as I got closer and closer to a corner. It was an extremely unsettling move, but I managed to swing myself around the corner and continue down the ledge to another window on the same floor. This one was not barred up. So I got right up next to it, grabbed hold of the edge, and climbed in.
Luck was with me.
I may have ended up causing quite a rokus when my body hit the ground below, crashing into particularly loud armor, much like the body armor of the unicorns of this society who are trying to kill me. If I put some of this garb on, they might not recognize me. After all, Squire was my size, and he's Captain's assistant.
It took longer than I desired, but I put together a decent coverage of armor over my body. I paid close attention to the coverage of my face, so nopony would be able to identify me. Then I exited what I figured was an armory, and quietly proceeded through the long, empty hallway the armory led me to. I passed a few guards, who did not so much as raise an eyebrow to my presence.
At the end of the hall was an elevator, which I assumed was the main method of transporation for the Temporal Manipulation Squad. In front of the elevator was a map. I studied it, and found the location of the command center, which, since I have begun vertical transportation, did not seem like a challenge to reach.
I entered the empty elevator, punched in the floor for the command center, and was lifted upward to my destination. I was greeted by another hallway, and two large guards who stood in front of the doors to the command center. I had encountered these same two unicorns time and time again: Private and Sarge, with their horns still restored and everything.
"Can't let you do that, Twilight Sparkle," one of them - I'm not quite sure which one - said.
How did they know it was me?
"Captain has ordered us to take you down," said the other.
I immediately charged up my horn, and sent a violent blast of light to the doors, the guards jumping to the sides of the room to avoid the blow. Captain's throne was in sight, book and all.
"Oh, no you don't!" they exclaimed in unison. One of them sent a magical lasso and threw it my way. I tried to run or teleport out of its range, but I was not fast enough. I was in its grasp, and, no matter how much I struggled, I could not free myself.
They snickered with delight.
"Go get the machine to drain her magic," one of the guards said to the other. "I'll stay here with the mare: make sure she doesn't escape."
The other unicorn nodded once and headed into the command center to retrieve the machine.
"Captain's not a rule-breaker," said the unicorn who was staying with me. "When he makes a promise - he keeps it! And he promises to send you home. And, you know, even if he wasn't one for keeping promises, he has to send you back home so your presence here doesn't further corrupt the space-time continuum. As if that's even possible, but still. He'll take you home. You will just be an earth pony. A poor, helpless, little, lavender earth pony."
I grimaced.
"Maybe next time you will think twice before jumping through time and messing with the future."
I closed my eyes, charged up my horn, and sent a painful shock pulsating through my veins. Yes, it did hurt, but the counteractive magical attack discharged the lasso, and freed me.
"Hey, you can't do that!" screamed the guard. "You have an appointment with our drainage machine!"
I shot a powerful beam of light to the guard - right at his horn - but he was as quick as I was, and shot a more powerful-looking red beam of light at me. Our beams intersected, and we became engaged in a magic duel once again. This time, whomever's beam was weaker would lose.
We kept at it, his beam going strong, mine determined to win. He pushed mine back, but I took a deep breath, and forced every bit of my strength and energy into my beam, causing his to recede. Harder and harder I pressed on, until my beam made contact with his horn, and shot him back. He landed a short distance in front of me, finally starting to fear my wrath.
"Please! Don't hurt me!" he begged.
"If I was gonna kill you, I would've done it already," I said.
I spawned a lasso just like the one he spawned on me and tied that bastard up.
"You stay here."
"Staying here - no problem."
I hopped over him and entered the command center, where the other guard was just entering, using his magic to carry the machine with him.
"Hey, how'd you escape your trap?"
I spawned another lasso, and instantaneously threw it at the other guard, tying him up just like the first one.
"Next time, think twice before imprisoning a pony genius," I snarled. The machine collapsed nearby, making a thundering booming sound; one loud enough that surely Captain - wherever he was - would have heard it.
I wasted no time and approaching Captain's throne, and bringing out the book that I desired. I then made my way back through the hallway, past the tangled-up guard, and to the elevator, where I punched in the L button and waited patiently as I plummeted down to the earth.
Once I was outside, I just ran to a safe distance. With the book in my magical grasp and my body covered in armor, I had no problem posing as an escort and was unseen by the many other unicorns in large armor who passed me by.
I ran for a few minutes before I finally had to take a breath, the pain in my head coming back from all that spellcasting I had just done back there.
I sat myself on a boulder which had a flat enough surface on which to rest my plot. I took a breath, and brought the book into my sight. It was old and dusty, so I blew on it, and revealed the cover.
It read The Anthology of Twilight Sparkle: Equestria's Most Significant Unicorn.
What?! What the hell is this? What is this book doing under Captain's throne? This doesn't contain any information about him! Just me! I rapidly flipped through the pages with my magic just to quickly verify, and I was correct: this book was the same one Dr. Zimmermare had shown me. It wouldn't give any information on Captain or who he was or anything.
So, what was it under his throne? Unless...
My eyes widened. It hit me.
A hoax.
Captain must have swapped this book for the real one while I was sleeping, and then made off with the real one in an effort to hide it from me. He must've known that I would escape, and, more thoroughly, my exact escape plan. It did seem a little too easy.
Darn it!
Now I still have the book to find. Captain must still bear it.
So...where is he?