//------------------------------// // Escape from TOM // Story: The Thousand Year Change // by Darthvalgaav //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer let out a sigh as she finished her lunch. The mess hall reminded her of the good old days, back when she was in Princess Luna’s School for Gifted Ponies. There were about twenty or so tables with ten cushions at each table to sit on. However, unlike the clean cushions she remembered, these were ragged old things with stains all over them. It took all of her will power to sit on one. Things were not going her way. During her meal, she had kept an eye out for any chance to cause an emergency situation that would unlock the magical restraint on her horn. She had hoped that she could sneak into the kitchen and start a fire or something of that nature. The problem, however, was that their meals were very basic, cold meals like plain apples. Then, there was the fact that her two guards watched every little thing she did. If she did try anything, they would spot it before it could cause the necessary crisis that she wanted. There was one other problem and that was the timing. In about a half hour, the shuttle that flew between the TOM and the Domes would be leaving. Meaning she had a very narrow window of opportunity to cause a distraction, and then make her way to the shuttle. Sighing again, Sunset picked up her tray with her mouth, much to her disgust, and took it to a bin marked ‘dirty trays’. Once there, she didn’t hesitate to drop it, leaving the unicorn mare to stuck out her tongue in disgust. Behind her, the two armored guards continued to watch her with an unwavering sight. One was a bright red unicorn mare, who had a mane similar to Sunset’s with a cutie mark that looked like a wand that was on fire. The other was a midnight blue pegasus stallion with a matching Mohawk styled mane and a cutie mark that looked like a five bolts of lightning. The two of them had been stationed at this TOM for the better part of a year with little to do till now. Before this, most of their days had been spent playing cards and breaking up the occasional argument. Now, however, the two had been given a very important job which they would see completed until they were reassigned. “Private Mana Burn,” came a female voice on the PA system. “Private Mana Burn, please report to the control office. There is a priority one message for you from Dome Three.” Both guards looked at each other in shock and confusion. A priority one message was usually something that member of the Shield Corps got, not the Royal Guard. They were serious situations that required backup. The most often case was when there was a crack in the Dome or something of that nature. The last time there had been a priority one message for members of the Royal Guard was during the Deep Tunnel Tragedy. It was also odd that they had contacted a member of the Royal Guard on a TOM, rather than get faster help from Dome Zero. “By the stars,” declared Mana Burn softly as she looked at her partner. “Blinky, do you think something happened?” “Most likely,” said Blink, resisting the urge not to yell at his partner for calling him ‘Blinky’. Now was not the time to scold her for using his bedroom name. “Maybe they can’t get in contact with Dome Zero or something.” “I hope everypony is alright,” uttered Mana, placing a hoof over her heart. “I have family there.” Mana then looked at Sunset, who had been watching the two of them. Slowly, the guard mare moved closer to her partner. “Do you think you can handle this by yourself?” “Don’t worry,” whispered Blink with a small smile. “I am a member of the Royal Guard, just like you. Handling one weaponless prisoner shouldn’t be that hard.” Mana looked over at Sunset for a moment before returning her attention to Blink. Slowly, she nodded, knowing that he could handle things himself. For a while, at least. Hopefully, whatever the message was about, wouldn’t take her from this TOM for very long. Without saying anything, Mana trotted off. “Alright,” barked Blink after a moment. “It’s time to get back to work. Move it!” Grunting, Sunset walked out of the mess hall as the one guard followed her. The halls of a TOM were anything but high tech. They had been drilled out by machines before the air tight outer doors were put in place. Along the walls were wires and electric light that looked like they could fall off at any time. It was sad, considering the technology level of the Republic, but the reasoning behind all of this was very simple. A TOM would only be mined for several years before it was no longer any good. There was little point in making this into a long term residence. Also, there were only a hoof full of ponies who could actually live here twenty four seven. Right now, it was only the two members of the Royal Guard, Sunset Shimmer, and the TOM nurse who had rooms here. As the two walked back to where Sunset had been working before her break, they began to pass by a white door every once in a while. These doors lead to other areas of the TOM, ranging from other mining tunnels to the shuttle station and the restrooms. However, Sunset was barely aware of them at the moment as her mind went into overdrive. ‘The number of guards has been cut in half,’ she thought to herself. ‘If I can catch him off guard, then I might have a chance to get out of here! But, is it worth the risk? If I try something now and it fails, then they’ll never let down their guard again! Buck, they might even decide it’s not worth it and put me in a prison pod. Maybe I should wait till they let down their guard a bit before I try to escape.’ Sunset then stopped walking and turned her head to the right, only to find one of the white doorways. Blink stopped a few paces behind her, wondering what the hay was going on. “Hey, this isn’t your stop, so keep moving,” barked Blink. However, Sunset didn’t seem to hear him. As she stared at the door, she continued to weigh her options. Right now was probably one of her best chances on breaking out of here. But, a safer route would be to wait until she had served her sentence, and then make a plan to get back at Twilight. By the time she was done, ten years would have passed, allowing her enemy and her family to lower their guard. ‘There is another option,’ said a small voice in the back of her head. ‘You could just forget about Twilight Sparkle and move on with your life.’ When that thought went through Sunset’s head, her eyes went wide. ‘Just think about how things have turned doing things the way you have. You have ruined your reputation. You have few bits to your name. You’re single not because you want to, but because you devoted so much of your time obsessing on ruining Twilight’s life. But, if you can just give up on this, then maybe things will get better.’ “Hey,” shouted Blink as he took a step forward. “I said get moving!” Sunset, much to Blink’s dismay, shook her head. The voice in her head had been right; she had spent many years of her life trying to ruin Twilight’s. If she gave up now, though, then what would have been the point of her life? All of those years would have been wasted. And, she couldn’t afford to wait ten years. Right now, Scootaloo was a filly and very vulnerable. There was no telling what that snot-nosed filly would be like once she had grown up. Not to mention there was a chance of her own magic growing weaker as a result of the suppression ring. “Alright,” growled Blink, taking another step forward. “I have had just about-” That was as far as he got when Sunset made her move. With a quick glance behind her to judge the distance between the two, Sunset bucked the lone guard. Blink’s eyes widened as he saw the attack coming. Opening his wings, he gave a hard flap to send him backwards as the attack from the prisoner hit his chest. Thankfully, his armor took much of the blow and his own actions minimized the rest. It still hurt, but it could have been much worse. Still, due to his actions, there was now a large space between the two. Seeing that her sneak attack had little effect, Sunset took off down the hall. She ran at a full gallop, hoping that he would have been at least shaken up by her assault. Maybe if she kept running for a while, she could go through one of the doors once she had lost sight of him. Then, she could slip into the shuttle bay while he searched for her. Her plan was short-lived as Blink flew past her at an amazing speed. Once he had past her, the stallion, while still in the air, spun around and struck her with his right forehoof. The force of the blow sent her off her hooves, causing her to landed head first into the stone wall next to them, before falling to the ground. She was about to get back up, however, part of her face was now covered in blood due to several cuts she got from the wall. That, plus her mane being all out of place, gave her the appearance of a crazed pony. “That was a mistake,” stated Blink in a firm tone. Sunset responded with a primitive sounding growl before tackling him to the ground. What came next was a wild flurry of hoof strikes aimed at Blink’s face, as Sunset’s instincts took over now that she was cornered. Sunset managed to land a single strike before Blink caught both of her hooves with his own. The pegasus stallion then used his hind legs to kick her off of him, knocking the mare against the wall once more. As the two got up, the worst possible thing happened. Behind Sunset was a door that had unfortunately chosen a wrong time to open up, with an earth pony mare to walk out into the same hallway they were fighting in. “Hey,” she shouted. “Whose making all that-” Before the mare could finish, Sunset made her move. She had scramble to her hooves quickly and ran towards the mare, startling her in the process. Blink saw this and tried to stop her, but Sunset had been much too close. The unicorn got behind the innocent pedestrian and wrapped one of her forelegs around the mare’s neck. “Don’t more!” barked Sunset between her pants. “Do as I say or else this filly will have a hard time breathing.” For a second, Blink thought about ignoring her. However, the purpose of the guard wasn’t just to protect the Princess and arrest criminals. Another part, the biggest part perhaps, was to protect the ponies of the Republic. With that in mind, Blink slowly nodded. “Good,” said Sunset with a sneer, ignoring the captive mare who was starting to cry due to fear. “Now then, I want you to deactivate my ring.” Narrowing his eyes, Blink slowly reached into his armor. After a moment or two, he pulled out a small black device. He held it up, so that Sunset could see that it wasn’t a weapon but the remote device for her magical suppression ring. As he continued to hold it, Blink looked directly into Sunset’s eyes. “Before I do anything, I want to say something,” said Blink as he held on to the device. “I don’t care,” growled Sunset. “It’s not too late,” said Blink, ignoring what Sunset had just said. “Once I deactivate the ring, there will be no going back for you. You have assaulted a member of the Royal Guard and taken a hostage, both far more serious crimes than your original one. If you manage to escape here, it will only get worse. There will be no future for you. Princess Luna will turn the Republic upside down looking for you.” “Shut up!” roared Sunset. “But, right now, it’s not too late,” said Blink as if Sunset hadn’t said a word. “If you let her go, I will do everything in my power to write this off as a lapse in judgment. Try to let them go easy on you or something. You’re a smart pony. You should know this is a good deal.” Sunset lowered her head, giving Blink the impression that she was thinking about it. But, he was wrong. Instead, Sunset moved her head, so that the tip of her horn was now pressed against the mare’s neck. The poor mare began to sob, but didn’t struggle for she was afraid that if she did, she might get stabbed. “I won’t say it again!” screamed Sunset. Nodding, Blink put the device in his mouth and pressed down. As soon as he did, a vertical line appeared on the ring. From the line, the ring began to retract until it was a half-shaped ring that fell to the ground. Grinning, Sunset’s horn began to glow green and, a moment later, so did the rest of her head. Blink’s eye’s widened as he watched a small chip-like device appear next to Sunset’s head. ‘The tracking device,’ he thought as Sunset’s magic let go of the device. Once it hit the ground, the unicorn mare smashed it with her hoof. “Much better,” she said. “Now to get off this rock.” Blink’s wings tightened against his body, while he gritted his teeth as he watched Sunset’s horn begin to glow once more. He assumed that she was going to use a teleportation spell to take her right to the shuttle. But, that was where it was going to end for her. Once she vanished, he would get to the communication console. There, he would be able to tell the control office to lock down the shuttle doors, and then have Mana Burn hunt her down. Mana’s signature spell, as well as her only one, had the power to drain all of the magical reserves from all unicorns within a certain radius. However, the spell Sunset cast wasn’t teleportation. Instead, the mare began to shot multiple green energy blasts in Blink’s direction. Acting quickly, he managed to dodge the first three blasts. Sadly, his luck ran out as the last two made contact. The first hit him in the chest, while the second struck his face. As the stallion fell to the ground, a smile appeared on Sunset’s face. On both his armor and face were large scorch marks. Right now, he was either out cold or dead. Either way, it didn’t matter to Sunset who teleported away, leaving behind her captive who began to scream for help. Sunset reappeared on the shuttle, hearing the crew gasp in surprise at her arrival. Before anypony could do anything, the crazy mare had enveloped them all in her magic and tossed them out of the small craft. Then, using her magic, she closed the door before making her way to the bridge. As for the crew, they instantly made their way out of the shuttle bay, knowing that if the shuttle took off, then they would be sucked into the vacuum of space. The shuttle was basically two rooms. The first was a one pony control room, or as it was also known as the bridge, while the other was a large open room that could carry a couple dozen ponies. The outside looked almost like a cylinder, except that the ‘bottom’ of the ship was flat. But, Sunset didn’t care about the storage, or what the outside looked like, as she raced to the only room that could control the ship. By the time she got to the control, a warning buzzer began to sound. Sunset ignored it and proceeded to opening the outer door. Slowly, the doors began to open as Sunset began to warm up the engines. As she did this, two small ‘wing’ protracted from both sides of the shuttle with a small engine on each. Then, just as the doors were about halfway open, they began to close. ‘Oh no they don’t’, screamed Sunset in her mind as she narrowed her eyes. ‘I have come too far to be stopped now!’ Once again, her horn began to glow green as a similar glow enveloped the doors. For a moment, nothing seemed to change, causing her to double her efforts. As sweat began to appear on her forehead, the doors stopped moving momentarily. Seeing that she was finally making progress, Sunset’s horn emitted more magic than ever before in her life, as she began to force the door open. Eventually, the strain the door was under from the machinery trying to close it, and the magic trying to open it, proved to be too much as it broke, allowing Sunset to fly out of the TOM. As she maneuvered the shuttle, Sunset knew that they would be onto her soon. Luckily for her, she had a secret lab back in Dome Nine that would be the perfect place to hide for the time being. There, she could plan her next move, and then get her revenge on Twilight Sparkle! -x- “Why won’t you let me in?” demanded Shining Armor to the guard at the door. For the last hour or so, Shining had been trying to get into the surveillance center, so that he could ID the purple colt that was with Twilight and the others. However... “As I said before, you are not allows in here while you are off-duty,” noted the lunar guard for the hundredth time. Shining Armor’s friends let out a collective sigh. They had hoped to get in and out, so they could attend their tournament, but now it looked like they might just miss it. Of course they could just leave their obsessed friend, but they could not do that. Not after all the times he had been there for them. The only one who had left was Gaffer, who had to use the restroom. “Look, I’m a Captain-” began Shining. “Of the Shield Corps,” interrupted the guard. “I am a member of the Royal Guard, and as such, I take orders only from Captain Shadow Blade and Princess Luna. Also, why would a member of the Shield Corps need to look at security footage?” “That’s because-” began Shining Armor, however he stopped when he noticed a pony walking towards them. It was Shadow, looking at him with a hardened expression on his face. The bat stallion looked at the guard, then at Shining, and lastly at Shining’s friends. His eyes seemed to rest on Gaffer for a moment before giving him a slight nod. He then turned his attention back to Shining. “Captain Shining Armor, would you mind following me for a moment,” said Shadow in a calm tone. “There is something of great importance that I need to speak to you about.” Shining could hear it in his voice. This wasn’t a request; it was an order. As Shadow turned around, Shining waved to his friends, saying that he would be back in a little bit. The two stallions walked for a bit in total silence. The only sound that could be heard was their hooves clopping on the ground. Then, once the two were alone in a different hallway, Shadow whirled around at a speed that made him look like a blur, and struck Shining Armor in the face with his forehoof. The force of the blow knocked the white stallion to the ground, blood dripping from his lips. “Shadow!” yelled Shining Armor as he wiped the blood away. “What in the name of the stars is wrong with you?!” “What’s wrong with me?” roared Shadow, glaring at his future brother in law. “I was going to ask you the exact same question! What do you think you’re doing, trying to use the surveillance system for your own personal usage?” “H-how do you know about that?” shakily demanded Shining Armor as he got back up. “Gaffer contacted me when he told you all he was going to the bathroom,” said Shadow. “And be thankful he did, or else you wouldn’t be getting so easy right now!” “Look, I just need to-” “You need to think, that’s what you need to be doing,” growled Shadow as he interrupted Shining Armor. “Do you know how tired some of the others are with this need you have to protect Twilight from threats that only exist in your mind? Do you know how many have gone to Princess Luna to complain about your crazy behavior?” Shining Armor turned his head to look away, not wanting to hear the words that were being said. “You should thank your lucky star that Princess Luna is still defending you. I don’t know if it’s because she finds some of it amusing, or if she understands you, but it won’t last forever. Sooner or later, she’s bound to get tired of this as well. She might demote you, or even fire you! And, how do you think Twilight will handle that? That you lost your job, because you couldn’t stop worrying and freaking out about her?” “You couldn’t understand,” said Shining Armor as he gritted his teeth. “I think I do,” replied Shadow. Shining, on the other hoof, whipped his head around to glare at the bat pony standing before him. “No!” screamed Shining in rage. “You don’t understand! You could never understand! Twily is the only family I have left! I promised my parents that I would take care of her. “That was the last thing I ever said to them. So, how could you possibly understand how I feel! You don’t have-” Shining Armor stopped in mid-sentence, realizing what he was about to say. Shame washed all over him, seeing the pain in Shadow’s eyes as the other stallion touched his scar with his right forehoof. “S-Shadow, I’m sorry,” said Shining. “I didn’t mean it.” Shadow sighed. “I know you didn’t,” said the bat pony as he put his hoof down. When he next spoke, his voice was calmer, but still held a great deal of power in it. “And, you are right, I could never understand how you feel. I’ll never get the chance to be the cool big brother that I always wanted to be. That’s been taken away from me forever. But, that doesn’t mean that I don’t have a pony I want to protect. “I love Twilight. You know that I do. The last thing that I want is for her to be hurt. But, we can’t protect her from everything. She’s going to make mistakes, just like everypony else. All we can do for her is be there to support her and help her recover. It doesn’t matter if it’s a small one or a large one.” “I,” began Shining, but stopped for a moment to take a breath. “I never meant for any of this to get out of control. When we were still living together with the Princess, everything was fine. I could keep an eye on her. But, then she moved out, wanting to make a life for herself. She…she just did it out of the blue. And, I guess I got, well, scared. I just stared to image her doing certain things in particular and began to freak out.” “When did those start, if you don’t mind me asking?” asked Shadow. “Miss Honey Pots’ Sex Ed class,” said Shining with a shudder. Shadow shuddered as well, remembering how detailed that class was. “Anyways, can you try and calm down a bit?” asked Shadow. “Or, at the very least, talk to Twilight before you go crazy?” “I’ll-” began Shining, but was interrupted as a guard came running up to the two. “Sirs,” said the guard as he quickly saluted the two. “I have bad news. Sunset Shimmer has escaped and is on the loose.” The guard began to give them the details about the escape. As he did, the two stallions exchanged a look that said that they would finish this later. For right now, they had work to do.