//------------------------------// // Rescue // Story: The Journalist // by redspark //------------------------------// Chapter 16 The Rescue Nimble looked at the side of the dungeons. That place made her shiver even more than the rest of the shadow pony´s secret house (and that is saying a lot). She looked around, trying to decide which way to go, for the main corridor ended up dividing into three new ones. She groaned and walked to the right one. After some feet of walking the cells began. They were very grim, and Nimble wanted to be out of there soon. She looked from cell to cell, not seeing anything. How did the shadow ponies ever managed to build such an extensive dungeon below Canterlot? She was going to turn around and try the other tunnels when a voice caught up in her ears. It was faint, but she recognized it: Hightip´s. She smiled and moved as fast as she dared without making noise to the sound. She arrived at the cell the voices were coming from. “… so you see.” Hightip said. She heard the others move uncomfortably inside the cell. “We are doomed in here. If we don´t find a way out, soon they will also come for us.” Wait! Also come for them? Whom had the shadow ponies taken? She wondered that se she listened. “But Hightip, we are stuck here. There is no way out, and they never open our cell…” she heard Grey Stone say. Nimble smiled to herself. “If only Nimble would come…” Deepsqueak said. “And if Sunny…” she noticed that he stopped at saying Sun´s name. “Sorry, but I don´t see how we could get out.” Hightip sighed. “We need to have hope lads. I think we don´t need Nimble to keep taking us out all the time, or…” he stopped also while the name Sun Seeker hung in the air. “Why did they threw that damned knife!” Shouted Hightip. Nimble was surprised by that reaction of the unicorn. She decided it was her turn to step in. “Hello guys.” She said smiling as she stepped in front of the cell. The three ponies stood up. Nimble chuckled at the faces. “What? Still amazed at me coming to the rescue?” Deepsqueak was the first to speak. “Nimble! How glad we are to see you. We were beginning to think that you would not come.” Grey Stone nodded. Hightip smiled for a second, but he quickly returned to his normal serious-looking face. “Miss, Hoof, the guard has the keys, you must find him and take them from him.” Nimble nodded. “He is on a room not far from here in that direction.” Hightip pointed to a side of the tunnel. “Take it and come right here.” Nimble nodded when she noticed somepony was missing. “Wait, and Silent?” The three ponies inside the cell remained silent. Grey Stone sighed. “They took him like an hour ago, not sure where.” Nimble nodded. “Okay, I´ll get the key.” Inside her mind, a plan was forming. She needed to free them all before she could find Silent, and that was more important right now. She walked to where Hightip had said, and she saw a wooden door half open. She looked inside and saw a pony asleep in a chair. She smiled and entered, careful not to make any sound. She noticed the key on the pony´s hoof. Maybe it was going to be a little harder than what she originally expected. After some seconds of thinking, she slowly retrieved the key from the pony, careful not to wake him. The pony made a curious sound, and then moved a little, scaring Nimble, who thought that her plan had been discovered. She relaxed when she saw that the pony was still asleep. She took the key completely and walked slowly out of the room, closing the door. She then walked back to the cell. “Here” Nimble said, opening the door. The ponies went out, thanking Nimble. “Nimble, I would kiss you.” Grey Stone said. “But you know I won´t.” Nimble smiled slightly and nodded. “Yes, better not.” She agreed. Deepsqueak looked around. “How fool are those ponies? They left us alone with that lazy jailer, really?” He looked at Hightip. “The exit is that way.” He said, pointing to their backs from where Nimble had come. “Wait.” Nimble said. All the ponies looked at her. “We need to rescue Silent.” The ponies then looked at Hightip. The unicorn closed his eyes. Nimble could see he was thinking deeply. Really, he was considering leaving him there? Nimble didn´t waited for an answer. “I will not leave him, no matter if you all go. If I need to rescue him alone, I will.” Nimble said. Deepsqueak nodded and walked to her. “As will I. Hightip, I know you feel bad for Sunny, we all loved her but we cannot leave Silent. I know you think that keeping us alive is worth his sacrifice but…” Hightip groaned and technically SNARLED at Deepsqueak. “Do you not think that I am with that thought on my mind also? Who do you think I am, to leave on of my own in here!” Deepsqueak´s ears fell flat on his head. “But I cannot loose anyone. Sorry, we cannot.” Nimble spoke up. “Sunny? She’s fine.” Now all the ponies looked at her with astounded faces. “She´s… She´s alright? But we saw the knife…” He stopped. Hightip was the one that seemed more surprised and after some seconds more relaxed. “Are you sure? I mean, she was dying when they took us.” Nimble nodded. “I arrived at the base and found her in the floor. Yes, she had a pretty nasty wound but a little superficial, only that it was long. I took her to a friend of mine and left her knowing she´s alright.” Hightip smiled. Nimble had never seen that old unicorn smile like that. He always seemed serious, and never really smiled, but when he did it was different. This smile was… of relief. Why did he acted so caring to Sunny, and not so much at Silent? “Alright then everypony. Get ready to kick shadow´s buts, because tonight we will not run away like scared little fillies!” The three ponies nodded smiling. “We have something in our advantage and something in our disadvantage. We are less than them, at least five to one, but the good one is that they won´t be expecting us to simply appear when we were supposed to be on our cell.” He then began to tell them a plan. Nimble was surprised at how fast that old pony had made out that in seconds, but well… He was the leader for something. * * * * Nimble trotted beside Deepsqueak to the main entrance of what seemed to be a huge room like for speeches or something, only that it was empty except for a small cage in the middle. Nimble distinguished Silent Mane inside it. She grinned angrily. Day had passed this time, trying to hurt and KILL her friends, than try to capture them. He would pay dearly for that. Deepsqueak saw the cage. “Those ponies are just a terrible problem. I am tired of Shadows and stuff like that.” Nimble nodded. “Yes, and maybe tonight we could change all this problems in our favor for once.” Deepsqueak looked at her puzzled. “You see, if we make Shadow look weak, the rest of the ponies will not see him fit for a leader and he will be taken from the control of the ponyhood.” “Nimble, that´s…” Deepsqueak stopped. He had begun to shout. “Sorry.” He apologized. “That is a great idea!” He whispered. “But we need to secure Silent first. Obviously this is a trap. Maybe this won´t be a surprise after all…” He looked to the huge room, barely lit up by a small chandelier. The whole room was surrounded by shadows, which made Nimble shiver. Just then, the sound of a fight began to be heard on the other side of the room. It was the sign. Deepsqueak jumped from their hiding spot and ran towards the cage. He then began to try to open it. He looked around concerned for anypony that could ambush him while he opened it. Nimble walked beside him. “I´ll cover you, keep trying.” She said to him. Deepsqueak looked at her surprised for a second, and then he returned to work. Nimble looked around, searching for problems. Then, from the shadows, six ponies emerged. Nimble gulped as she saw their mouths rise in a creepy smile. She shuddered and prepared to fight them off. One was a unicorn, the other where earth ponies. Just then, two opened their wings and took flight. Well, and two Pegasus. Nimble positioned herself between the ponies and Deepsqueak. They would need to pass through her to get to him. The three earth ponies ran at her as the unicorn shot a magic bolt. Nimble jumped, evading the bolt then landed on top of one of the ponies. The Pegasus circled over her, waiting for a chance to attack her. Nimble kicked one of them as she jumped out of the way of another magic bolt. She then felt a hard pain in her back as she struggled to keep her balance. She turned and kicked one of the Pegasus who had just kicked her in the back, sending him to the ground and crashing hard. She heard a snapping sound and felt her stomach shake. She tried to ignore the shout of pain from the pony as the other Pegasus dived after her. Nimble took cover in one of the earth ponies. The Pegasus didn´t had time to turn and the two went sprawling in the ground. Nimble began to exchange kicks with the pony as the unicorn advanced at her. She only needed to get close enough to him to hit his horn… The Pegasus and the earth pony where back again on their legs and were running at her. Nimble turned and tried to kick them, but as she did so, one of the unicorn´s magic blasts hit her, sending her slmost upon the cage. She tried to stand up, but here legs didn´t responded. She saw as the Pegasus prepared to strike her. Just then, a brown blur crashed against the pegasus, sanding him away on the ground. Nimble took some time to see who had been. “Silent!” She exclaimed. Silent smiled at her and helped her rise. “You´re alright.” She said happy. “Yes, I am.” He looked at the five angry-looking ponies walking towards them. “I saw how you fought them, care to show me a little more, please?” Nimble smiled. “With pleasure.” She said. Both ponies along with Deepsqueak threw themselves at the five incoming ponies. Nimble fought directly against the unicorn. She needed to disable him fast. After some exchange of kicks she managed to hit him in the horn. The unicorn fell to the floor, crying like a baby and clutching his horn. Nimble would have laughed at that but she was immediately attacked by the Pegasus. Seconds later, the Pegasus was on the floor with Silent on top of him. Deepsqueak smiled as he looked at Silent. “We should go to help Hightip.” Silent reminded. The two nodded and went running at the sound of fighting on the other side. * * * * Hightip and Grey Stone weren´t so lucky against their enemies. After their first attack, more and more had begun to arrive. Hightip alone was fighting seven, while Grey Stone was against Five. Hightip saw other four shadow ponies arrive, which made him begin to lose hope. Then, he heard the sound of more ponies joining the battle. He recognized Silent in them. They had made it. Nimble ran and tacked a pony that was about to hit Hightip in the back. Silent walked to him, fighting enemies like if it was normal. “Hightip, thanks for coming.” He said. “Don´t thank me yet, boy. We need to get out of here first.” Silent nodded and attacked the ponies with even more strength than before. Nimble joined him and together they fought pony after pony after pony… I some minutes they were all the way on the middle of the room. Soon, the others joined them. “They are regrouping.” Grey Stone said. “It is our chance to escape.” Hightip nodded and he ran, leading them all out of the room, and soon out of the dungeons. They entered the room where Nimble had fought the unicorns. Nimble saw that the three unicorns she had taken out were lying sleepily on the side while the other unicorn looked to the door, surprised. “You… you made it?” he said, sounding surprised. Hightip was about to throw him a blast of magic when Nimble interrupted. “Wait!” Hightip stopped. “He let me pass after some… things happened.” The Pegasus stopped covering his head, which he had covered when he noticed Hightip beginning to throw him a blast. “What exactly happened here?” Deepsqueak asked, looking at all the mess and then at the unicorns on the floor. Nimble felt her cheeks turn slightly red. “Well, I needed to pass through this room first to go for you.” The ponies looked at her (again) surprised. “You, alone, fought three unicorns?” Silent asked. The unicorn nodded. “Four, actually…” He took a step back when Silent looked at him menacingly. “You took four…” Hightip asked. He looked around. “Well Miss Hoof, I´d say you have a greta story to tell us when we get back, because it seems we lost a lot of things while in our absence.” He walked at the door. “But we must go now.” Everypony nodded and walked to the door. “Wait…” The unicorn said. Nimble stopped, followed by the rest. All looked at him. The unicorn gulped. “I´d like to go with you.” He said. Hightip looked at him. The unicorn looked uncomfortable at the way Hightip stared at him. Nimble understood that feeling. The same stare had been used with her on her first day. “Come along, but I´ll need to see some things first before I can accept it.” The unicorn smield and nodded. “Thank you!” He began walking towards them “Wait!” Silent said. “Wait, all of you, wait!” He looked and pointed at the unicorn. “He´s a shadows pony. How don´t we know he´s playing a trick on us?” Everypony looked at Hightip. Hightip nodded. “He maybe, but that would mean we will not get more ponies if we keep thinking like that.” He looked at Nimble. “Tell me Miss Hoof, what do you say?” Nimble looed surprised. Where they actually asking her? “Mmm… well, he did let me pass, and spoke about how honor was poor on Lower Canterlot…” She looked at the unicorn in the eyes. “In truth, I trust him he is not cheating on us.” Hightip nodded. “Then it´s decided.” He said to Silent. “He´s coming.” He turned but stoppe. He looked slowly back at the unicorn. “But be warned, a single reason you give us to believe you will beatray us, and you´ll regret ever coming to life, understood?” The unicorn nodded. “Alreigth, now that that is clear, we need to get our of here. “I know the way out.” Nimble said. “Though it´s a long fall.” Silent laughed. “Nimble, long falls are nothing to me…” Nimble at the ponyhood´s Cell Rescuing Silent