Chapter 16
Principessa Mi Amore Cadenza was irritable.
The fact that she had been carrying a foal for the past nine months and her husband had disappeared may have had something to do with that.
She sat at a Canterlot cafe, sharing the best small talk she could with Lydia Snowlily while sipping at a cup of dandelion tea.
The past few weeks of giving relationship therapy, free therapy at that, was definitely not helping her mood, regardless of how much the tea was trying.
“You really are working too hard for a pregnant woman, Princess,” Lydia said, “Really, you should be resting.”
“This is resting,” she answered, lowering her cup of tea. “Really, it is, and thank you so much for your company, it’s been a real help.” Her eyes glanced at the table behind her. “Yes, a nice, peaceful, quiet, day is all I really need.”
At the table behind her sat a quartet of teenage mares, going on loudly about who was dating who and who was breaking up with who, the whole nine yards.
Loudly.
Almost as loud as Cadence’s grinding teeth.
“No way!”
“Yeah way!”
“Oh no, he di-in’t.”
“Oh yes, he di-id!”
She tried ignoring them.
Nothing really annoyed her as much as teenagers.
It wasn’t the rebellion. It wasn’t the drama. It wasn’t the attitude. It wasn’t even the teens themselves.
It was the hormones.
Or rather, their blatant misinterpretation of hormones as love.
It made her sick.
No. No you don’t love that colt from two blocks down that has three piercings in his left eyelid. You love the endorphin and serotonin flooding your still-developing brain.
Again, she was irritable.
And it really got under her skin when they told her that she didn’t “understand.”
“What’s there to understand!? I’m the Princess of Love! Short of Faust herself coming down to correct me, I am the official authority on all things romantic!”
She took a deep breath, cutting off her mental rant short to spare the imaginary teenager. “Really, Cadence. You need to stop doing that. There’s no point in starting an argument with yourself.”
Besides, she reminded herself, there are a hooful teens that are actually in love. A few that last longer than than a couple semesters. They were few and far between, but not impossible.
“Like you,” her conscious pointed out.
Yes. Shining and her were high school sweethearts. Thank you, conscious, for the reminder.
She took a deep breath, and let it loose.
“Calm down,” she whispered to herself. “You’re here to relax.”
“What about you, Ruby? Find any stallions that have caught your eye?”
“No, I haven’t. And you know I’m not looking.”
Cadence’s ears perked. What’s this? A teenager with sense? Was she actually waiting until she was old enough to really understand love before she jumped in with all four hooves?
Well...that was a very nice, pleasent surprise.
Maybe she had misjudged the small crowd behind. Maybe there was some hope for th—
“I’m a strong, independent mare who don’t need no stallion.”
The sound of breaking porcelain sounded as Cadence’s cup imploded.
Lydia stared at her with wide eyes. “P-Princess?”
“Calm down, Cadence. Calm down,” a voice in her head soothed. “It’s okay.”
“Cadence?”
“She’s young and stupid, don’t...just don’t blow up, please.”
The cracked teacup shards began to grind together, turning into a wet ceramic paste.
“Please! We’re in public!”
Normally, she would have listened to the voice of reason. Normally she would have let the comment slide.
But today, she was irritable.
“A-are you alright?”
Her eye twitched. “Excuse me, for one second, please,” she said, her voice sounding incredibly sweet, until it broke, before resuming its sweet tone.
She stood, turning to the table behind her, her best Princess smile cracking under the weight of her twitch. “Pardon me,” she said, her voice as sweet as honey. “Which one of you is Ruby?”
All four young mares looked up at her, before a red-and-gold coated pegasus spoke up. “Why do you care?”
One of her friends leaned over. “Ruby!” she whispered harshly. “She’s a Princess!”
Ruby blinked, before taking another look at the pregnant mare, her eyes going wide as she realized who she was talking to.
“I just overheard you girls, and had a question is all,” Cadence said, her voice sounding exceedingly sweet. “Is it true that you said that you are, and I quote, ‘a strong, independent mare who don’t need no stallion?’”
“I...did…”
“I see,” she said. “So that means that any married mare is therefore weak, right?”
“What?”
Cadence’s voice got suddenly dark. “All married mares are weaklings who need a stallion to tell them what to do, right? Isn’t that what you’re saying?”
“I—”
“Do I look weak to you!?” Cadence roared. “Do I look like some sort of push-over? Because if so, then I have a surprise for you! I’ll take you on! I will out fly you at nine months pregnant! I will out magic your friends with half my horn sawn off!”
“I—No! I—”
“So what then? Did you assume I don’t have a stallion? That I’m some ‘strong’ harlot off the street, who had a one night stand without protection?”
“No! No! I—”
“Well what is then!?” she roared.
“I-I-I—”
“Listen, Beauty Queen,” Cadence said, shoving her face forward into Ruby’s, “you want to be single, fine! Be single! I don’t care! I don’t think they’ll care either because it’s obviously no big loss on stallionkind! But I will not have all the married mares of the world insulted by a fourteen-year-old who thinks a weakling could ever survive a marriage! Understand?”
“Y-yes, Ma’am.”
“Good,” she said, her voice sweet once more, before screaming. “Have a nice day!”
The teens’ table thudded, having apparently gone airborne for a few moments, before the Princess of Love walked away.
“Check please!” one of the younger mares called, while the everypony else decided to give the pink alicorn a wide berth.
As she sat back down at her table, she gave a faint smile.
Finally, she’d have some peace and quiet.
<<<|Ω|>>>
Applejack did her best to not look directly at Silver.
She was also doing her best to stop thinking about the nuzzle he gave her.
That nice, warm, reassuring nuzzle...
Did I mention she was failing at it?
Silver walked ahead of her, gripping his hammer in his mouth and one hoof while hobbling forward on his other three.
“Buh tha Skuh’s Thilvery Thunthet, Ponish vere not made for thith.”
“Carryin’ a weapon with hooves? Gotta agree with ya on that one.”
“Koud be worth, thou…” he said around the haft.
She glanced at him. “If you think it could get worse, then Ah don’t want ta hear bout it. No tellin’ what that sick mind o’ yours will come up with.”
“Well thankths,” he said, mid eye roll.
He spat out hammer haft, letting it swing down to the ground. “Give me a second, my jaw’s starting to hurt.”
Applejack nodded before taking another three steps forward. She stared down the long hallway, her eyes trying to discern one corridor from the last. “Ah still can’t tell where we are.”
“Really?” Silver asked with a smirk. “I thought you had a great sense of direction.”
She turned to glare at him. “Fer someone whose jaw hurts, ya sure do talk a lot.”
“It’s a gift.”
“It’s something, alright,” she mumbled turning back to the long corridor.
Her neck still felt warm.
“So, uh...Silver.”
“Eeyup?” he asked, imitating her brother.
“Don’t do that,” she said before continuing. “Look, Ah know it’s kinda a personal question, but...well...ya never did tell me how you got yer cutie mark.”
Silver looked at her.
She looked at him.
He sighed. “Fine, but if you want me to talk, you’re taking Dustmaker.”
“Dustmaker?” she asked in confusion.
“The hammer.”
She blinked. “Ya named yer hammer?”
“Naming a weapon is an honorable tradition amongst stallions,” he replied. “It shows familiarity with his weapon, and, by extension, skill in its use.”
She smirked. “So did ya name yer other weapon too?”
Silver glared at her in a deadpan. “Just take the hammer.”
She took Dustmaker in her mouth, the glowing yellow stone still lighting the way for the two earth ponies.
“Well, let’s see, my cutie mark,” Silver said, speaking to himself as he massaged his jaw. “Alright, so my Mom, Celestia bless her, was a nice mare from Trottingham, she was very...hm...let’s say insistent, on teaching us to be gentlecolts. She would go on and on about the rules of Chivalry and what to do and not do in the presence of a mare and all that.
“My Dad, on the other hoof, was one of the roughest, toughest, meanest son of a bovine ya ever did meet. At least on a bad day. Mom says he was quite the charmer back when, but I never saw it.
“Anyway, with these two as my parents, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that they had me. I was…” he snorted, “I was actually kinda bloodthirsty back when I was young. Got into a lot of scrapes and fights in my old neighborhood. Of course, that only got worse when we moved to Canterlot.”
He gave a slight smile at the memory. “Dad had gotten a new job, you see. A journalist, go figure, and we had to move. I didn’t like it, Mom didn’t like it, I think a part of Dad didn’t even like it, but all he said was ‘By Tartarus’ Squeaky Doors, we’re going!’”
Applejack snickered.
“So we moved,” Silver said simply. “Not a whole lot we could do about that. Of course, by this time, I had learned a little trick to help me cope.”
“Whas thath?”
“Well…” Silver said with a grin, “my Mom, being the pony she is, taught me the rules of Chivalry, specifically defending a mare’s honor. So what do I do? I begin looking for bullies that were messing with fillies, and then I took them down. I got to blame it on being chivalrous, and the only trouble I got was the scrapes and bruises I got. So for the longest time, I was putting bullies in the hospital with almost no repercussions.”
Applejack looked at him, eyes wide.
“Never said I was proud of my past,” Silver pointed out, “Celestia knows I shouldn’t be.”
There was silence for a moment.
“Anyway...so I went around ‘protecting’ a bunch of mares all over Canterlot, and...well...I began to like it.”
Applejack stared.
“The protecting, that is,” he clarified. “Yeah, I began buying into my own excuse. I began to actually go out there, kinda looking forward to finding somepony to protect. The fight was also kinda important to me, sure, but it was kinda nice to be that guy, you know? The guy everypony looks to in a time of need.”
Applejack nodded. She knew the feeling.
“And then, one day, it just kinda hit me. The fight was nice and all, but it was fighting to protect something that made it worth it. I just wanted to be there for somepony more than anything else. Next thing I know, I came home with a helmet on my flank. Once I was old enough, I joined the guard. Spent a few years keeping the streets clean, and have been protecting ponies ever since.”
“Huh,” AJ said. “Thaths an interesthing story.”
“What about you?” Silver asked. “How’d you get yours?”
She set the hammer. “Ah ain’t telling ya with a hammer in mouth, so ya best be ready to take him back.”
Silver smiled. “Sure, I can do that,” he said, taking Dustmaker by the handle.
“Well, as a little filly, Ah didn’t want to spend mah whole life on a muddy farm. Ah wanted to live the sophisticated life.”
Silver stumbled, sputtering his hammer from his mouth. “What?! You!?”
“Oh, hush and let me tell my story.”
<<<|Ω|>>>
They weren’t sure how long they had been walking, but they knew it had been quite a long time. Their path had been winding up and down, left and right, back and forth, and it was quickly becoming disorientating.
Of course, the fact that they had been stuck in this one hallway without any intersections had not gone unnoticed.
“Ya think maybe the Prince escaped through here?” Applejack asked, breaking the silence.
“Nah. Prince ould probabee have a more confuzing escape root.”
“What now?”
Silver spat out Dustmaker. “I said the Prince would probably have a more confusing escape route.”
“Nah, I heard what ya said, Ah just ain’t getting what you mean by that.”
“Oh,” Silver said. “His escape route would probably be easier to hide in,” he explained before taking the hammer back up.
“Ah see,” she said, nodding.
There was silence.
“What was it like, being a guard back before the war?”
He spat out the hammer again. “That depends,” he said.
“On what?”
“What division you were assigned to,” he answered simply.
“Which means…” she asked.
He looked at her and smirked. “If I’m going to talk you’re going to have to take the hammer.”
She sighed and rolled her eyes before grasping the haft in her teeth. “Did hey hav’ ta make id dis eavy?”
“That is the point of a hammer, yes,” Silver pointed out.
She shot him a glare.
He chuckled. “Well, alright then. So the Royal Guard is divided into a few divisions that each handle a different job. There’s the City Division, the Military Division, the Bureaucratic Division, the Hired Help Division, and the Castle Division. The City, Castle, and Hired Help Divisions were the ones that were most common before the war.
“I was a part of the City Division at first, and what I did was work closely with the police to keep crime to a minimum. We worked where the police couldn’t go, and they moved where the Guard would be too conspicuous. It was pretty cool at times, watching it all come together. We did a lot of good work, shutting down crime almost completely in Canterlot. We also worked with the Hired Help Division. They’re the guards that get hired out by the rich and famous. It’s a little extra protection for them, and a few hundred bits to go into the Guard’s treasury.
“Then the Castle Division, they’re the kind of thing you really think about when you say ‘Royal Guard.’ They’re the guys that stand guard on the castle grounds and the throne room and all that. They’re kinda considered to be the top of the food chain and—”
An orange hoof was shoved into his mouth. “Sh!” Applejack hissed around the handle.
She carefully set Dustmaker down, before she began to move sideways to hug the wall.
“What is it?” Silver whispered.
“Ah’m hearing something.”
“What?” Silver asked.
“Ah can’t tell,” she whispered harshly. “Mostly ‘cause there’s a stallion jabberin’ in mah ear.”
He glared at her in a deadpan.
Her ears peaked again, swiveling as she tried to find the source of the noise.
Slowly, she began to make her way to the wall. “Ah think it’s coming from behind this wall.”
She began to move her head around, ducking down and bobbing her head around to find the source.
She stepped up, leaning against the wall, when the stone underneath her hoof clicked.
Both looked over at the single stone, before the wall suddenly slid away, into the floor, and opening a new passageway.
They blinked.
The two changelings that were on the other side of the wall blinked back.
Silver was first to react.
He roared, bringing his hammer down onto one of the changeling’s heads.
It flattened.
The other began to react, only for a silver razor-chain to wrap around it.
“Y’all ain't going nowhere!” Applejack said past the whip handle.
Any argument the changeling was going to make to that statement was then instantly silenced by Dustmaker.
Silver took a moment to check his surroundings. “You know, maybe that was the Prince’s escape route.”
“Ya think should find out where these two were coming from?” Applejack asked.
“Well, they certainly won’t be telling us where the throne room is,” he said with a smirk.
Applejack rolled her eyes and shook her head.
<<<|Ω|>>>
The two ponies snuck down the hall, doing their best to move silently as they made their way back from where the changelings had come from.
The gem on Dustmaker was dim, Silver favoring stealth at the moment over raw power, while Applejack had her chain gathered in her mouth, trying to keep it from clinking.
There was no talking as they moved, no noise as they carefully stepped on the carefully cut flagstones, doing their best to muffle their hoofsteps in the hallway. Their faces were carved in grim smiles of determination.
This new corridor was wider than the previous one, and had many more pathways branching off of it.
Luckily, there was a nice, long trail of changeling bread crumbs to lead the way.
Applejack suddenly whipped out her chain, the blades quickly wrapping around another changeling’s legs.
The blades gripped the exoskeleton, doing its best to dig into it, but not drawing blood.
Dustmaker finished the job, the gem glowing brightly as it slammed into the creature’s back before dimming again.
“Not a bad job there, Greyhairs.”
Silver didn’t even dignify that with a response.
The bronze and orange ponies continued to make their way forward.
“We done a good job keeping them quiet,” Silver said.
“What’cha mean?”
“We haven’t run into a large force yet, just these patrols. We haven’t set off the alarm.”
Applejack blinked. “Ah hadn’t even thought of that.”
Silver hefted his hammer onto his back. “Guard training. It’s useful every now and then.”
She blinked again, and gathered up her chain.
“Alright. Let’s move. I think we’re getting closer.”
“Closer ta what?”
“No idea.”
<<<|Ω|>>>
He had an idea.
Actually, it was more of an obvious, point of revelation through examining the situation.
You could say the evidence gave him a new theory, and quickly supported it.
They found the place they were trying to get to, is what I’m saying here.
They both stood, huddled in the hallway, watching with wide eyes as four dozen changelings scurried around the room. A large column of living stone stood in the center of the room, surrounded by a dozen green pods. The rest of the room was filled with alcove-like cells, each occupied by a griffon.
Silver placed a hoof on Applejack's shoulder and pulled her back into the shadows. They took ten, quiet steps backwards before they turned and walked away for a moment.
“Alright, so we found some prisoners,” Silver said.
“And we’re going back to save them right?”
“Orders are orders,” Silver replied back.
“Right.”
“That being said,” Silver said with a smirk, “We can fill multiple objectives.”
“Are you sayin’ what I think you’re sayin’?”
“Only if what you’re thinking is what I’m saying.”
She smiled. “That’s good enough fer me.”
<<<|Ω|>>>
Mesil Sunseeker simply had no more tears to cry.
She had been trapped in there for a month now, forced to watch her son, Aglus, float in whatever dream they had him in.
He called out to her at times, only to comforted by an figment disguised as her. She watched him live in false bliss, only for the changelings to come and eat away at him.
They had explained it to her, to all of them, just for the sake of torment.
The victim dreams. They dream of a world that slowly becomes their utopia. Everything they ever wanted, and the cocoon traps the feelings of love and contentment. Once they ripen, the Changelings consume these feelings, and permanently take them from the victim.
After a while, they can’t feel anything.
Their Utopia becomes empty.
They have nothing left to live for.
Some end their lives in the dream.
Others live the rest of their lives in misery.
Either way, they simply thought their life wasn’t worth living.
Mesil couldn’t take it. The thought of her little boy becoming unfeeling hurt her. He would never enjoy her chocolate chip cookies again, never smile under the sunlight, never feel his heart leap at the sight of a pretty lioness.
The only two things that kept her from leaping up and tearing him from that horrid trap were the bars to her cell and the threat that another changeling so gleefully showed them.
One of the lionesses had been clawing at them through the bars, roaring curses and obscenities for a solid minute before the changelings had singled out her daughter’s pod.
A changeling horn lit up, and the pod erupted into fire. In a flash the pod and hatchling had been turned into a pile of ash.
Mesil could still see the now-silent mother, who simply stared at the pile of grey dust, her eyes frozen wide and mouth hanging open.
She looked broken.
And one wrong move on her part could put her in the same position, staring at a pile of ash for all eternity.
She slumped against the wall of her cell, trying to keep from being singled out.
Her boy…
Her little boy…
What was going to happen to him?
She sighed.
Suddenly a high-pitched whistle broke the silence, and she turned back towards the bars.
All eyes fell onto an orange pony in gold armor and a large, wide-brimmed hat.
“Howdy,” she said, smirking, a bladed chain at her flank.
Instantly the changelings responded, wings buzzing and horns glowing as they began to surround the mare.
“Surrender, pony. We have you outnumbered.”
She smirked, before another form shot through the air above her.
Mesil almost missed it.
A hammer head slammed into the ground, crushing a changeling’s head between the stone and metal.
“That you do,” said the hammer-wielding stallion. “But we have you outmatched.”
<<<|Ω|>>>
The Hammer of the Pendragon and the Lady of the Deathly Chain stood back to back as the changelings surrounded them.
Dustmaker was especially effective, the power jewel in its head making every blow an earth-shattering force.
Applejack’s chain was far less so, the tough exoskeletons keeping the razor blades from doing proper damage.
That does not mean it was useless.
The chain now acted as a whip, wrapping around legs and necks before the earth pony yanked them in close for a powerful buck.
A changeling’s horn lit up, only for the chain whip to crack at it, fizzling out the magic.
“By Faust’s Holy Herd, there’s a lot of them.”
“Ya said that already,” Applejack noted, before sending her hoof into another fanged face.
“I thought it was worth repeating,” Silver said.
“Not really,” she answered back.
“Well there are a lot of them.”
“So what are you going to do about it?” she asked with a smirk.
Silver took a moment to look around the room. “We need to get these prisoners out.”
“Got a plan?”
“A pretty destructive one.”
Applejack resisted the urge to turn to him. “Sounds like fun.”
SIlver smashed another head in. “You open up the pods, I’ll work on the cages!”
“You got it!”
The two ponies jumped away, Applejack already galloping for the center pillar, chain flashing.
Silver leapt forward, the gem on Dustmaker shining like a second sun. “Get away from the door!” he yelled, before slamming the hammer head into the gate.
The gem flashed, and the iron bars to one of the cells all but disintegrated. “Go, get out of the room!”
The griffon was about to object, a part of her still fearing for her son, when she saw Applejack run past.
The razor chain flew by, biting into the pods, before slicing away at the tops.
Heads began to pop out of the new holes.
The now freed griffon mother ran into the room, and scooped up a young lion from his pod.
“Get along, ladies!” Applejack called as she stood in front the archway opposite the one they came in from. “Come on! Git!”
Silver smashed open another cell, and the griffons began to evacuate, rushing to get behind Applejack as she whipped and bucked any changeling that got close.
Silver broke through cage after cage, slamming changelings to the side as he made his way through the room.
Before long, all of the cells had been emptied, and Applejack was joined by a few of the older boys in keeping the changelings back.
Silver took a quick look around the room.
No other griffons that he could see.
Alright.
Here’s hoping that it doesn’t bring down the mountain.
Silver charged the center pillar, before bringing Dustmaker around.
Dust was made.
The pillar exploded, showering the surrounding changelings in powdered stone.
The roof began to rumble.
“Retreat!” One of the changelings yelled.
They ran, funneling through the back arch as carved flagstones began to fall from the ceiling.
Silver hit the ground running, booking it for the gathered griffons. Large chunks of stone began to fall, and a stream of smaller rubble began to pour into the room.
“Alright, Silver,” Applejack shouted, “let’s get—”
“Help!” a voice called from the room.
“My baby!” a griffon cried.
Both ponies both turned to look back at the room.
A young lion was pinned under a rock, his right wing crushed.
Applejack ran in, weaving between falling rocks and debris.
Silver sighed. “By Canterlot’s Crazy Cart Routes,” he mumbled before tossing Dustmaker at one of the young griffons. “Hold this until I get back.”
Applejack slammed into the boulder that had the young griffon pinned. “Come on, kid, we need ta get you out of here.”
Her back hooves slammed into the stone, her powerful buck trying to dislodge it from the griffon.
“Look out!” the griffon yelled, pointing up.
She looked up just in time to see a massive stone falling down on her.
She raised her legs and caught the small boulder, almost getting crushed under it.
Silver galloped up to her. “Are you nuts?!” he asked, slamming bodily into the rock.
“Ah’m trying to save him!”
“By getting yourself killed!?”
“Shut it!” she yelled back, sweat pouring from her brow and soaking her hat.
Silver slammed into the boulder again, even as more rock began to fall.
“Where’s yer fancy hammer, huh?” Applejack asked.
“Like I was going to leave a bunch of newly-freed prisoners unarmed?”
“So we’re going to die because you thought you should be a gentlecolt! Great!”
Silver shoved against the boulder again.
“I’m free!” the griffon yelled.
“Alright!” AJ yelled. “Let’s get on back—” a second boulder landed on the first, and the earth pony buckled under the weight.
Silver was next to her in a second.
The two ponies heaved, lifting the rock up.
“Go, Kid, get out of here!” Silver yelled.
The griffon was gone.
“What are you doing, Silver?” the cowpony asked.
“Keeping you alive!”
“Not for long at this rate!”
“Better than not trying!”
The rubble began to bury them.
“Go, Silver. Ah’ll keep the rock up for you!”
“I ain’t leaving you behind!” Silver yelled back, as dust began to cloud their vision.
“Ah can hold the rock by myself long enough to let you through!”
“No you can’t!”
“What’d you say!?”
“You can’t hold this rock alone!”
“And just what do you mean by that?”
“I ain’t gonna let you die so I could get away!”
“And why not?”
“Cause I’m a protector, darn it!”
“Well too bad!”
“I’m not going to let you stay here!”
A mix of granite pebbles and dust had them buried to the knees.
“And Ah’m not going to let you die!”
“Just go, AJ!”
“You go!”
“Stop being stubborn!”
“Take yer own advice!”
“I’m don’t want to let the mare I love die!”
Applejack went silent, staring at him, eyes wide.
“Darn it, AJ!” Silver yelled. “Why are you the only who has to be strong? I’m here! I want to help! Let me help you!”
She stared.
“By Celestia’s Massive Wingspan, mare! How can I be there for you when you won’t let anypony help you?”
Applejack was silent.
Stones and rocks began to pile up around them, closing them in a small pocket of air.
“And now we’re both going to die,” Silver said glumly, “because no one left, and I sucked at trying to tell you about my plan to go get my hammer and break me out.”
The last stones fell, and they were soon encased in darkness, knee deep in rubble.
There was silence in the darkness.
Silver couldn’t even see the end of his muzzle.
No one said anything for a long second.
“I think the rubble’s supporting the stone,” Silver said.”I’m going to let it go for a second. Get ready to catch it.”
Applejack said nothing.
“Yeah. Yeah, I think it’s stable. We’ll be alright until we run out of air.”
“Ah...You love me?”
Silence.
“You...you really love me?”
“Well...I...uh...um…” he stumbled, before croaking out a mirthless laugh. “I was kinda counting on being dead for this conversation.”
“You...you do, don’t you?”
He sighed. “Yes. Yes I do, Applejack. I….love you, boss.”
She was silent for a moment, and Silver wondered what her face looked like.
Something warm brushed against his lips.
What was—?
A kiss.
That was a kiss.
He was blushing so hard he almost lit up the small air pocket enough to see.
“Ah, uh, kinda love you to.”
“O-oh…” he said.
“D-did you have to call me boss, though?”
“That’s just how awkward it feels for me,” he answered.
“Well, for future reference, I’d much rather you didn’t.”
He smirked. “Noted, Ma’am.”
They shared a chuckle.
Then it was quiet again.
“By Cerberus’ Sixth Nostril, this is a terrible time to die.”
“Cerberus’ Sixth Nostril?” she asked.
“I make these up on the spot, alright? They can’t all be masterpieces.”
She laughed.
He gave her a slight smile, which he then realized was pointless in the pitch blackness.
“Well...I guess all we have left is to wait for the end,” Silver said.
“Don’t talk like that.”
“Well, I’m not seeing too many other options.”
Silence.
He lifted a hoof, and reached out for her.
Finding her soft side, he felt around until her found her neck before nuzzling her. “At least we got those prisoners free.”
Whump.
Both of their ears perked in the darkness.
Whump.
“Is that?” Applejack asked.
Whump!
“I think it is,” Silver answered.
Whump!
A small landslide of stone shifted in the darkness.
Wham!
Dustmaker broke through, and light filled the small pocket.
“They’re here!” someone shouted. “They’re alive!”
Before they knew it, the two ponies had been lifted up and out of the pit and into a large space that had once been the roof of the dungeon.
“They’re alive!” the griffons cheered, hugging each other now that they were finally free.
Dustmaker made its way back into Silver’s hooves as the crowd showered both ponies in thanks and praise.
Silver looked to Applejack.
Applejack looked back.
Then Silver smirked.
“Alright, Ladies and Gentlegriffs! I’ve got some news for you!”
The griffons all turned to him.
“We have ourselves a jailbreak.”
--------------------------------
Ta-Da!
“Hey, look! It’s a chapter!”
So it is.
“What took you so long?”
Christmas.
“Huh?”
I work in retail.
“Oh!”
Anyway, guys. Thanks for being patient, I hope you enjoyed. It took me a while to crank this one out, but I got it!
“So who’s next?”
That would be Spike and Rarity, who are going through the whole thing much quieter than anyone else.
“So what’s going to happen there?”
You’ll just have to wait and see.
“Okie-Dokie-Lokie! See you all next time!”
Be sure to comment!
Bye!