The Guard sat lazily on his chair, wondering when his next lunch break will be. There was a rock tossed to his side, he heard the noise, but did not pay much attention to it.
"This place gives me the creeps, darn rats are always making a noise." He said talking to himself as he layed his head against the brick wall, falling into a snooze. The white coated mare locked eyes on her target, she eases towards the guard hoping not to alert him of her presence; a hoof falls into a puddle making Rarity lose her balance and trips to the floor.
"You!" the guard yells in surprise, "How did you get out?! It's that horn of yours isn't it? Well how about I go ahead and hack it off." He reaches for his saddle bag hooked on his side, and pulls out a cleavage makeshift knife and points it into the air; looking at the white mare he stops to stare at the eyes of her helpless state. Immediately she squeals in fear.
"Please! I didn't mean any harm, don't hurt me. I just wanted to talk, that's all!" She never felt so afraid in her life before, she couldn't help but stare at her assailants eyes and burst into tears. Both ponies stare awkwardly at each other for a few moments, eventually the guard lowered his weapon and spoke to beak the silence.
"You got a lot of nerve to sneak up on me, do you think I am an idiot?! What did you think you could have done?" his anger rose as he looks at the mare. She stares dumbly at the guard unable to speak from her fear, losing patience he picks her up from the floor. "You like escaping from your cell? Well lets see if you can escape from this." He roughly ties Rarity up ignoring her shrieks and shouts, and drags her towards the cell block; after an annoying struggle the guard shoves the mare back into the cage. The Guard slams the steel door, leaving Rarity to sob.
Rarity calms herself after the whole scene as she mumbles in thought. "Well that could have gone smoother." She bashed herself internally for acting like a statue, she could have escaped instead doing nothing was all she was good for. After a long wait in the cell, a door opened close by; sounds of hoofsteps entered the cell room and stopped at Rarity's cell. The guard spoke behind the cell door, surprisingly in a calm tone.
"I'm taking you to our counsel to decide your fate." He opened the cell door and entered the room, in his hooves were steel chains; he wrapped Rarity with the chains with no hassle. Rarity couldn't move as if cold blizzardous winds shot down her spine and left her paralyzed. Rarity felt shivers as the guard locked chains on her, that pony could have killed her at any moment he wishes. Shoving the white mare to the front, they walked past the cells to the cave. Torchlights lit the hallways as they traveled deeper into the downward sloped cave. It was not long until they reached a opening which held a small podium and a circular patch of ground surrounded by muddy water. Rarity was sat in font facing the podium, soon enough ponies entered the room taking seats nearby; Rarity noticed the stallion she knocked out with the rock back at the hotel. The guard took his seat leaving Rarity alone feeling stares glaring all around her. She was scared but more in awe of how well organized these brutes were; the mutters and hushed tones filling the room made Rarity feel more enclosed around her surroundings. If this kept on she would probably lose her mind. After what seemed a life time a pony stepped out of the group walking to the front of the podium. The room fell silent, waiting patiently for the trial to begin.
" You, we call upon this pony for one simple demand. We search for the same jewel the Bright Sapphire gem; we have observed that horn of yours, that sorcery is something we have never seen before, we have also seen you use this witchcraft to find gems. If you have the power to find gems then you are more than capable of finding what we want." Rarity wanted to shoot back at the pony in anger. She thought these ponies were insane, gems are not to hard to find here in Equestria, did they really have to use violence as an ultimatum? "Your friend has told us about you; he has also told us about your friends. If what he says is true then I want to know more about pegasi and unicorns, Where Ponyville is and more about the land of Equestria." Rarity was skeptical, Equestria is impossible to miss, were did these crazies come from? There was a long silence, Rarity was not sure how to answer back, but in order to save Spike she is going to have to cooperate.
"I'll answer to whatever you ask." Rarity filled in the blanks to what knowledge the bandits had. Meanwhile some ponies brought Rarity a small meal. Soon Rarity understood the situation the bandits had. They came from a land known as Montrotere, a land deep in the heart of darkness. The inhabitants were savage, unknown to the modern world of Equestria. The land was in need of help, ponies and creatures alike were violently stealing from one another. The city spiraled into utter chaos leaving any sign of sanity behind. The pony at the podium was an elderly, he looked sick and did not seem like he would live much longer; though he had the most strength out of all the ponies, Rarity admired secureness and leadership this pony possessed.
"We will offer you a deal, lady Rarity; if you take our request to find the gem we will free your friend. But on the conditions that you will be monitored by our guards at all times, and you are not allowed to leave back to Equestria until we have the gem in our hands. Do you accept?" Rarity took some time to think about her decision, she could not leave Spike alone with these ponies, although they had some sense of decency they would not show the same kindness to Spike as they did to Rarity if she were to disagree. There isn't a way out of this deal either, she did not know here way out of here, and these ponies will lash out at her brutally if she tried to escape.
"Where do I start?" Rarity asked anxiously