Chapter 1
The Escape
June 7, A.C. 1014
Testing was always hard for him. Every time he thought he was done, there was another manticore to strangle or another puzzle room slowly filling up with lava. The thing was, whenever he successfully completed a test, that automatically amped up the next test even more, until he was nearly pushed to his limit. Finally, after a death-defying series of jumps across a fiery chasm, he reached the end goal and heard the sound that signaled the end of the test.
"Very good!" The scientist observing clicked his microphone off. The hologram slowly powered down and the chamber door slid open, revealing a very tired red stallion.
"Thanks, doc." The stallion walked over and leaned tiredly against the door frame. "Are we almost done? It's about lunchtime." The scientist glanced at the clock, then looked back with a smile.
"Of course, Number Seven." The red stallion gave a fake smile and trotted into the elevator, pressing the button for Level 4. The elevator groaned into life and slowly sank the 20 feet to the cafeteria. He looked up in the corner at the small security camera watching his every move. He considered cracking the lens, but thought better of it. The scientists acted nice and sweet, but they could devise some nasty punishments, and everypony knew they were all prisoners, so it was better to just cooperate. Although some cooperated more than others.
As the elevator came to a halt, Seven could hear arguing coming from the tables. The stallion came around the corner, bumping into a skinny blue pegasus.
"Oh! Sorry, Eighteen," he said. The small pegasus smiled happily at him.
"That's okay! I'm sure it was an accident."
"What's going on in there?" Seven asked. Subject Eighteen looked behind him with a frown.
"Oh, just a couple of ponies not getting along."
"The others aren’t picking on Thirteen again, are they?" Seven stepped into the cafeteria to find most of the research subjects already seated. One particular group stood out from the rest.
"Give it back!" One of the unicorns shouted. It was a young colt. He was a sort of blue-lavender with a short purple mane, and stood a little farther from all the others. There was an older female pegasus keeping a book out of his reach.
"Or what, mama's colt?" She was surrounded by another male pegasus, an earth pony, and a unicorn.
"Or I'll get the guards! That’s facility property!" The small colt's eyes started to glow a soft yellow.
"Oh, I'm sooo scared!" said the mare. She was a frightening creature, electricity crackling around her white body, standing Seven's hair on end. Her own bright yellow mane seemed to have a mind of its own, moving of its own volition. She apparently thought no foal would ever be stupid enough to mess with her, and seemed oblivious to the building tension in the colt's stance.
"GRAA!!" His horn glowed a bright yellow, temporarily blinding anypony too close, and a magical blast of yellow flame shot the pegasus across the room and into a wall. It also pushed him backward several inches. The pegasus was disoriented a bit but unharmed, and quickly got back in the air.
"Why you little..." she growled before a unicorn researcher jumped in front of her.
"Alright, alright! Break it up!" After the two calmed down, the scientist spoke more evenly. “Nopony fights. Those are the rules. If this happens again, you’ll all be cell-bound for the week.” None of them apparently enjoyed this concept. Walking to the cafeteria was the only unregulated exercise the subjects ever got, unless they had lounge privileges, which had to be earned. Being cramped in that tiny, sterile room would be worse than Tartarus for most of them. After the ponies all began moving back toward their tables, the scientist sat back down at the staff's table. One of the others spoke.
"And while you're at it, no flying." The pegasus slowly floated back to the floor. The mare glared back at the staff with a flash of sparks, then sauntered away. The Lightning Gang was led by Subject Seventeen, otherwise known by her chosen name Thunderspark; the group of ponies were notorious in the facility. Seventeen could summon raw electricity from ions in the air around her, generating more than enough charge to kill a full-grown manticore if she pleased.
Seven trotted over to her and got more than a little upset."Why were you picking on him?" he asked. "What has he ever done to you?"
"Because it's fun! And why not?" she said, looking over her shoulder with a smug grin. "It's not like he can do anything about it."
"It seemed to me like he was handling himself just fine." She frowned.
"Either way, I was obviously winning," she said, the door sliding open to accommodate her.
"That's not how it looked to me."
Seventeen stopped dead in her tracks. Sparks began to gather around her eyes, and the automatic door beeped and whirred, angry at not being able to close. She turned back toward Seven. Her voice sounded strained, as if she might snap at any moment. She got closer with every syllable, pausing in between eye twitches. "Did you... just imply... that I... am a loser?"
Seven was scared, but he hoped to Celestia that it didn't show. "Maybe." A look of rage briefly crossed her face, followed almost immediately by frightening calm. She leaned forward until she was inches from his face. Her eyes narrowed.
"You watch yourself, Seven. I could kill you with a twitch of my ear. You have no idea what I'm capable of." She turned around and sauntered out the cafeteria door.
Seven walked over to where the book had fallen and levitated it in front of the colt. “Here you go.”
"Thanks, Seven,” he said in his deceptively innocent-sounding voice, taking the book in his mouth and placing it in his saddlebag.
"No problem," he replied with a smile. "Seventeen thinks she's all that, but she knows the rules just as well as anyone else. Still can't control the powers, huh?"
"No, but I'm getting better. I can boil a cup of water now! Not much, but it's a start."
"Don't worry; it'll get easier as you get older." Suddenly somepony tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around to see a peach earth mare standing behind him.
"Hey, Seven!" The mare gave him a smile. She had shimmering orange hair that was held up with a band, and her cutie mark was a sunrise above a sea of waves.
"Oh, hi, Sierra!" he said with a smile.
Sierra, a.k.a. Subject Twenty-Three, was a recent acquisition of the facility, and one of the few ponies in the facility that they all knew by name. The scientists still called her by her number, but strongly discouraged anypony being called by name, probably in an attempt to further isolate the subjects. She had come to the facility only 6 months before; she had purportedly grown up mostly in the outside world, her ability to talk to the dead being easy to hide. She said she came from another facility, but Seven didn't believe her, though he kept it to himself. Most of the others had been there since they were colts or younger. They all tried to get her to talk, but she seemed very reluctant and never gave up anything noteworthy.
Sierra grabbed Seven’s hoof and he blushed slightly. "Come on, I heard they're setting up a pool table in the lounge!" She started for the door but stopped when she realized he wasn't going to follow her.
"I'd love to play pool, but...I'm not really allowed in there anymore, remember?" The floor had light burn marks from Thirteen's outburst and the stallion's hoof kicked up a couple of tiny grains of black dust as he walked over toward the food line. He decided to get the lemongrass sandwich and walked down the line levitating his tray, with Sierra close behind.
Sierra began speaking in a low and angry tone. "They shouldn't keep you out of there just because of one little incident," she argued. Seven chuckled darkly.
"I don't think I would call it 'little.'"
"Maybe not, but I would. Fourteen was barely even bruised."
"He was unconscious for almost an hour," Seven replied flatly.
"Well, it's not like you did it on purpose; he was provoking you." Seven seemed to pay more attention to getting his food.
"I appreciate the support, Sierra, but it's their call." He set an apple on his tray. "I have to follow the rules." He then walked over slowly and set his tray on the empty table nearest the line. "Everyone does." Sierra simply sighed and walked into the hallway.
Seven slowly walked down the hall of cell rooms. Several ponies had already gone to bed, even though it was still an hour before lockdown. He yawned; the day had been long, and he was ready to hit the hay. Suddenly, he was jerked into one of the cells without warning. A hoof clamped over his mouth and he was gently lowered to the floor.
"Huh? Ten, is that you?" A lime stallion looked out into the hallway to check for other ponies. When he turned back Seven saw his glasses resting on his horn, his flat, pale red mane mildly frizzy.
"Alright, Seven. Here's what's gonna happen..." Seven raised an eyebrow.
"Wait, what's going on?" The stallion clamped his mouth shut with a hoof.
"Hush!" He whispered. "Twenty-Three told me to help get you out of here, and that's what I'm gonna do." He started laying out blueprints of the facility.
Seven's mouth hung agape. He couldn't believe it! Sierra was helping him break out!
"Shh!" said Ten. "We don't want to be overheard!"
"Hey!" said Seven softly. "I thought that, I didn't say it!"
"Sorry," he apologized, "can't tell the difference sometimes. Now, I have a job to do, and I don't plan on getting caught!"
"They're going to see us on surveillance!" He looked around nervously at the many cameras on the walls.
"Don't worry; I put my cell cameras on a short-term magical loop. And let's just say I got these blueprints through a friend." His horn glowed blue, and after a little concentration a shiny black ball appeared in front of him. There was a puff of smoke, and after it settled, Seven could see that the orb was now on a chain.
"What's this for?" he asked, slipping it on.
"It's a magical orb that will make you invisible," Ten explained. "But it only works for 12 hours, so you have to leave tonight." Seven smiled and began playing with Ten's hair, but he did not appear amused.
"I can still see you," the stallion said flatly. Seven jumped back with an innocent smile on his face.
"How come?" Ten sighed.
"Because I made the orb," He stood up and pushed Seven through the doorway. "But don't worry. Nopony else can, including the cameras."
He leaned his head against Seven’s and touched his horn to his forehead. Suddenly he could see clearly the way to go to get out of the facility; up the stairs, past the manager’s office, and out the door. Wow, was it really that easy?
Ten leaned away, and the vision abruptly ended, but he gave him one last thought. Best of luck.
Thanks, he thought back, and began walking down the hall.
Seven trotted down the hall, chuckling at the confused guards who thought they heard hoofsteps. He stopped at Sierra's room to say goodbye, and he heard her speaking to someone.
"Please keep him safe, Mom. I don't know what I'd do if he got hurt." She raised her head, allowing him to see a few tears stream down her face. "That's the only reason I forced Ten to break him out. He deserves better than this dump, he deserves freedom. He doesn't even know his own name!" She sat there for a minute, silent, like she was listening to someone speak. Then her eyes briefly grew wide, causing her to look startled. She turned to Seven and spoke. "Take off the necklace."
The stallion stepped back in surprise. He sighed and removed the orb. Sierra smiled and ran towards him. She grasped him in a tight hug.
"Good luck." She kissed him on the cheek and slipped the necklace back over his head. She walked back to her bed and laid her head down. The stallion lowered his head, and walked quietly toward the stairwell.