Imprisonment did not agree with me. You’d think I would be alright with being locked up in a room with a bunch of books to read. I’d spent plenty of time exactly that way in my tower, back when I’d been Celestia’s student. The only difference was which side of the door the locks were on. Apparently, that was an important difference. I might not have wanted to go out and talk to random ponies or something, but the fact that I couldn’t ate at me. It cast a dark shadow over everything I did to try and keep busy.
At least I’d made some progress with all the information I’d pulled out of Metal Mome’s head. I had all the information on his golems, but the thoughts had been a bit jumbled. I suppose the one good thing I could say for my confinement was that I had enough time to get all that sorted out. If I ever got a chance, I’d like to take a look at his golems and see what I could do with them. I’d already thought of a couple fun new upgrades I could add to them. Pity I would probably never get a chance to do that. Even if I did manage to break out, the EIS had probably seized Mome’s golems. I could probably build my own from scratch with enough time and resources, but I wasn’t likely to get those.
I’d discovered a rather big problem with my plan for reforming Freeport: even if I did escape from EIS custody, they’d keep chasing me. Strumming hadn’t given up the first time I got away from her, and she wouldn’t if I pulled it off again. Enacting any kind of grand plan to change Freeport would never happen if I was constantly on the run from Equestria’s spy service. Even if I managed to stay one step ahead of them for a while, it was probably only a matter of time before Celestia decided to just take matters into her own hooves. I might have all the skills of an archmagus, but I didn’t have enough to stay hidden from her if she was really looking for me.
I groaned and flopped down on the bed. There was no point thinking too far ahead of myself. First I needed to actually escape from the EIS, then I could start worrying about how I would keep my freedom. Besides, Puzzle would probably know a lot more than I did about how to stay hidden in Freeport, so I might as well hold off on worrying about that until I freed it too.
Before I could move on to a more productive line of thought, somepony pounded on my door. A second later, Strumming loudly called out, “Hey, Bacon-mane! You’re not using the toilet or anything right now, are ya?”
“No!” Just hearing that question made me blush a little. “Why would you even ask something like that?”
The door opened up, and Strumming strode in, grinning at me. “I just didn’t wanna walk in and catch you on the pot. It’d be really weird and awkward for both of us, not to mention kinda gross.” She gave me a quick once-over. “How you holding up?”
I gave the most poisonously sweet smile I could manage. “You’re giving me the best prison food I’ve ever had, and my cell is the nicest one I’ve ever been in.” Technically true, since I’d never been imprisoned before, so any experience defaulted to the best. “Aside from being illegally held against my will, I'm just peachy.”
Strumming rolled her eyes and nudged me in the chest. “Oh don't be like that. You can’t spend all your time living in the past and whining about every bad thing that happens to you. You still have it way better than anypony else would in your horseshoes. Besides, this is just a transitional period. I know things are a bit rough right now, but in couple of weeks you'll be back home in Canterlot, and all of this will seem like a lifetime ago.”
I grunted, since actually saying what I thought about that line of horseapples probably would’ve gotten me in trouble. Considering I was planning on asking Strumming for a favor, I should probably try not to antagonize her too much. Not that she’d ever let my attitude get to her too much, but why take a chance? “I'm bored. There's nothing to do in here but read.”
She scoffed. “I thought you liked reading? Your profile said you had almost no social life because you were always studying. I guess that figures—knowledge is power, and you’re pretty fond of power.” She tapped her chin, then smirked at me. “And hey, they always say power corrupts too, so I guess it’s no surprise that all that studying kicked you down the path to the dark side.”
I took a couple deep breaths and reined in the urge to snap at her. “Yeah, I like reading a lot. You know what else I like? Chocolate cake. That doesn’t mean I want chocolate cake all the time for every meal.”
“Are you kidding? Chocolate cake for every meal would be awesome!” Strumming’s grin quickly faded into a frown. “Damn, now you made me hungry for chocolate cake. Soon as I’m done here I’m gonna go get some. Could get you a piece too, if you want.” Her frown vanished, and she nudged me in the stomach. “Though maybe not. The life of a scholar isn't that great at keeping the pounds off, especially once you get older and lose that teenage metabolism. Imagine what Princess Celestia would say if I brought you back all fattened up.”
“I don’t think one piece of cake is going to turn me fat,” I grumbled. For that matter, I didn’t especially care for her comments on my scholarly lifestyle either. It’s not like I was horribly out of shape or anything. I’d been healthy enough to handle myself in the fight with Mome and his crew, after all.
“Yeah, sure, one piece won’t do it. But then you decide that since a little cake didn’t do any harm, you can have a bit more. Then a bit more, and a bit more, until one day they’re hauling you out of your house with a crane because you’re too fat to stand up on your own.” Strumming pulled a bag of potato chips out of the seemingly endless supply of them in her saddlebags. “That’s why you gotta watch what you eat, maintain a healthy diet and all that. And hey, you said you were bored and wanted something else to do to fill up your time? How about some exercise? Plenty of room here for some situps and pushups and stuff. Besides, you’re a prisoner now, and everypony knows prisoners love exercising. Gotta fulfill those stereotypes.”
I scoffed and dismissed that as more of Strumming being her usual weird self. How such a strange pony wound up as a spy, I would never know. However, once I stopped and thought about her suggestion for a bit... “You know, that's not a terrible idea. Is there any way I could get out of here to run some laps on a track or something?”
Strumming shook her head. “Sorry, this is an embassy, not a gym. There’s a weight room the guards use, but other than that we don’t have much in the way of actual facilities.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not like I have to have a perfectly maintained jogging track to get some exercise. Just some room to work with; I can run along the walls or something.”
She answered with a knowing grin. “Running along the outside perimeter of the embassy? Now that sounds like a good way for you to get yourself into trouble. And since it’s my job to keep you out of trouble...”
A bit of irritation slipped into my voice. “Yeah, sure, as soon as you take me outside I’m gonna run for it. 'Cause I can totally get away when you've got a suppression ring on my horn and dozens of guards watching me.”
She smirked and poked me in the ribs. “I said you could get into trouble, I didn't say you would actually manage to escape. Very different things. This whole process will go a lot easier on you if you never try to escape, and that’s a lot easier to manage if you avoid temptation. So yeah, running around on the outer edge of the embassy is out.”
I glared at her, grinding my teeth. Something about that mare just never failed to get me pissed off. “Well there has to be something I can do. I'm going nuts being locked up all day, every day. There's not even a window in this room!”
The spy stuffed a couple potato chips into her face. “Oh, I get it. Going a little stir-crazy are you? In that case, I’ve got some good news for you. We finally managed to find a ship whose captain didn’t mind us converting a chunk of his cargo bay into a nice magically secured holding cell for you. Soon as we finish setting everything up and making the other arrangements you’ll be outta here and on your way back home.”
“Yay, I can trade being locked up in here for being locked up on a ship.” My voice was just bursting with enthusiasm. “So basically, it’s the same as being here, except the food will be worse, and I might get seasick. That’s really something to look forward to.” I scoffed and started pacing around my tiny cell. “This is nuts. You’re treating me worse than a criminal. Even prisoners get to see the sun every once in a while. What do you think Princess Celestia would say if she found out you have me locked up like this?”
“You kinda are a criminal, Sunset. You broke the law.” She grinned and wrapped one of her legs around my neck. “But hey, let’s not focus on the negative stuff. It’s not healthy. Now you weren’t planning on doing anything if I let you out for a bit, were you? ‘Cause you might be right that the Princess would say I overdid it a bit with your security. The thing is, I can live with suffering a bit of royal displeasure from overzealously guarding you.” She shrugged and ate a couple more chips. “It’s not like I’m being nasty just for the sake of being nasty or anything. Worst case, I might get scolded a bit and told not to do it again or whatever. But if I decide to go easy on you, and then you get into more trouble or even manage to escape from me ... well, that would get me into a lot of trouble.”
I groaned and flopped back on my bed. “It’s pointless. Even if I did escape, you'd keep coming after me. Or you’d get fired, and they’d just send somepony else after me instead.” Probably someone a lot worse than Strumming, too. Sure, the spy was incredibly annoying and pretty ruthless, but some of the stories I’d read about warlock-hunters were terrifying. Admittedly, a lot of those stories came from darker times when the magi had to enforce the laws a bit more harshly, but I’d rather not push my luck.
Strumming leaned back against the wall and grinned. “You’re right. If you ran for it I’d chase you. And you have to realize, bacon-mane, there isn't anyplace you can go where we can't find you, grab you, shove you into a crate, and ship you back to Canterlot. The only real difference is how much trouble you cause, both for us and yourself.” She finished off her bag of chips. “I mean, escaping and going on the run would really mess up your whole plan for proving your innocence. Everypony knows only the guilty ones go on the run.”
“Yeah, sure, there’s no point in trying to do anything.” I sighed, staring up at the blank ceiling above me. “So is there any way I can just get a bit of time to see the sun?”
Strumming frowned, tapping a hoof against the ground for a bit. “I suppose we could let you mill about the embassy garden for a while. It’s closed off, so there’s no risk of you trying something that’d make all our lives more complicated.”
“Thanks.” I nearly choked on the word, but showing a little bit of gratitude for her magnanimity was the smart move. “Could Puzzle and Kukri join me?”
The spy shook her head. “Don't push your luck. The changelings have to stay in isolation if we don’t want a lot more trouble with our security. The kid we could handle, but if Puzzle got loose ... well, I’d bet it probably knows how to beat all the usual tricks for identifying a bug.” She chuckled and shot me an easy grin. “Relax, they’re fine. We're keeping the kid nice and spoiled with candy and toys.” Her eyes rolled back in thought. “Or is she a larva instead of kid, since they’re bugs? But she’s still bug-shaped, not in some kind of larval state. So I guess calling it a kid works. Anyway, Puzzle's been through a lot worse than being locked up in solitary for a few days, so you don’t need to worry about that one either.”
I glowered at her, less than amused. “Well can I at least see them? I’m sure you can arrange something with enough security to ensure they don’t break loose and swap with somepony the instant you blink.”
“I probably could arrange something like that if I really wanted to,” Strumming conceded. “Not gonna happen, though. We’re busy setting up a high-value prisoner transfer while also trying to keep the fact that we have you and your changeling buddies under wraps. I’m sure the Council already suspects us, but as long as they can’t prove anything, their options are limited,” she finished with a smug grin. “So ... yeah, I’ve got my agents pretty busy already, and I can’t really spare the time to properly secure a meeting for you and your pet bug, especially when you’re leaving in less than a day. Sorry-ish.”
She didn’t sound very sorry at all. The way she flippantly blew me off was really starting to get under my skin, and now that I wasn’t likely to get any more favors out of her by smiling and pretending to be nice, I decided to put her back in her place. “You know, I might be a princess one day. And I have a very good memory.”
I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised that the threat made absolutely zero impression on Strumming. She wasn’t amused or offended, and she certainly wasn’t the least bit frightened. She just shrugged and waved my warning away. “Given the direction your life’s been headed lately, I wouldn’t bet on you picking up a princesshood anytime soon. I’m pretty sure using dark magic is a big no-no for potential princesses. Hay, I don’t know why you ran off, but I’m at least eighty percent sure it’s because you lost your shot at princesshood.”
She was half right. I hadn’t lost my chance, but I’d definitely run into some massive obstacles that would’ve taken a long time to overcome. Not that I was about to admit that to her. “Yeah, I’m sure some low-level spy is an expert on who Princess Celestia is considering granting ascension to.”
“You’d be surprised what a mare in my position can learn.” I was tempted to punch her in the face a couple dozen times to wipe that confident little grin off her face. “And it’s a pretty safe bet that if you ever did become a princess, you’d also be seeing things my way. Princess Sunset is gonna have to be a lot older and wiser than Sunset the Runaway. I figure at some point that will include realizing that I’m right.”
“If I were you, I wouldn’t bet anything I cared about on that.” I answered her smug smirk with one of my own. “I hope you like far reaches of the frozen north, 'cause if I have any say in it, that's where you'll spend the rest of your life.” Let her freeze her wings off somewhere so cold the caribou never went there.
To my utter annoyance, Strumming just shrugged that threat off. “Honestly, from what I’ve heard it isn’t all that bad. My parents spent a while in the station there back when I was a kid. Actually worked with your mom once or twice. Trust me, all the snow and ice isn’t a bad thing in the least. It just means that six months out of the year everyone’s too busy staying next to a nice warm fire to actually get up to any funny business.” She chuckled. “Besides, I can go searching for the lost treasures of the Crystal Empire while I’m up there.”
Ugh, that old mare’s tale. Celestia only knows how many ponies had gone searching the lost wealth of the Crystal Empire. None of them had found it in more than a thousand years of looking, which meant it was a pretty safe bet that there wasn’t anything to find. Personally, I would bet that whatever treasures had survived the Empire’s fall had either been snatched up by scavengers long ago, or wound up in the hordes of those two dragons who lived up in the frozen north. Everyone knows dragons love collecting jewels, gold, and anything valuable.
I thought about trying to threaten her with some other horrible assignment, like going undercover as a dung shoveller or staking out one of the gryphon slaughterhouses, but at best Strumming wouldn’t care, and worst she would find some other way of turning my threats against me. So instead I unleashed the nastiest scowl I could manage.
Naturally, it didn’t work. “Now come on, turn that frown upside-down!” Strumming grabbed me by the cheeks and forced my mouth into a smile. “You can't control how the world works, but you can control your attitude towards it. Being grouchy is only going to make you and everypony around you feel worse.”
One of my eyes started twitching. “Let's just go outside before I decide that the best form of exercise I can get is to try and murder you with a dull plastic spoon.”
“Go for the eyes,” Strumming suggested. “Just about anything’ll mess somepony up if you stick it in their eye, no matter how poor of a weapon it is. You might not be able to kill me that way, but you’d definitely ruin my day.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Strumming grinned and slapped me on the back. “I think that’s the first time you actually listened to my advice. See, we’re already making progress! Though I think I’m gonna have to keep an eye on you next time you have a spoon.” She paused, then snorted to herself. “Heh. ‘keep an eye on you.’ I wish I’d planned that.” She stretched her wings, then went to the door and opened it. “So, let’s get that walk in before you make with the spoon-stabbing. If you behave yourself, we can make this a regular thing once you’re back in Canterlot.”
Classic prison management: give me a few minor privileges to encourage good behavior, and give me something to lose if I acted up. The worst part was, it would probably work.
Strumming led the way out of my cell, letting me just tag along behind her. I was a little surprised by the lack of manacles, but I guess there wasn’t really much need for them. There was no way I could outrun Strumming, not to mention all the other guards in the embassy. Much as I didn’t want to admit it, she was right that I wasn’t in the best of shape. I’d relied on my magic to stay mobile in the fight with Mome and his pirates, and as long as I had a suppression ring on my horn, that wasn’t an option.
Stepping out of my cell did at least give me a bit more freedom to actually study the ring. While spellcasting was still out, I could at least do a little bit of passive magical perception now that I was outside of the magical dead zone and test the defenses a bit. No surprise, the ring on my horn was heavy-duty enough that I didn’t have a prayer of just powering through it. I had a pretty strong suspicion that Celestia had made the thing herself. It would have to have been her or one of the archmagi—nopony else would have the talent to contain me.
If I ever wanted out of this cage, I would have to find some way of beating the ring. There was no way I could escape with my magic locked down. The sealing spell would keep me from removing it myself, and as far as I knew, Strumming was the only pony in Freeport who could remove it. I could always cut my horn off below the ring, but that would be excruciatingly painful, and I’d still be stuck without my magic until it grew back, and that could take months. Maybe even years.
Well, nothing for it but to keep thinking and hope an opportunity presented itself. Maybe Strumming would finally make a mistake, and I’d be able to get out of here. Puzzle had gotten me away from her, so she wasn’t infallible. I just needed to beat her.
I put that issue aside for the moment as Strumming led me into a nice little enclosed garden. It was pretty small, but big enough for me to walk around some and I could finally see the open sky and feel the sun on my face. I never realized how much I’d liked the sun until I’d been locked away from it for a bit. I guess that figured, though: it was Celestia’s sun after all. For that matter, I had a sun on my flank as well.
Unsurprisingly, the garden was full of plants native to Equestria. Freeport’s natural vegetation was pretty sparse, especially since just about every usable bit of land was on the islands was either urbanized or devoted to agriculture. The nice big cherry tree in the middle of the garden was an especially nice touch.
Strumming grinned at me. “Pretty nice, isn’t it? I mean, it wouldn't be a proper embassy without a garden for us to do all our plotting and scheming in. Plus, this way we can have nice little garden parties.”
I started slowly circling around the place, taking all the sights in. There was a nice little walking path along the edge of the garden, lined with crushed basalt gravel that really stood out against traditional Equestrian marble architecture of the embassy itself. I guess when it came to lining a garden path, nopony wanted to pay extra to import the stone from Equestria, so they’d just used local stuff instead. “So this is where you plan the child kidnappings from?”
The barb bounced right off Strumming. “Sometimes, but only if I have to.” She directed a faintly concerned frown my way. “And don’t forget that the ‘child’ you’re talking about is a creature with an uncontrollable biological need to suck the love out ponies in order to survive. I’m sure you like it, and it likes you back, but all you’ll be is another meal if it gets hungry enough.”
I scowled at her. “She's still just a kid. Besides, it’s not like Equestria hasn’t managed to be friends with other races that have carnivorous inclinations.”
I might’ve said more, but my hoof came down on a large piece of gravel in exactly the wrong way. The chunk of rock poked up into the frog of my hoof, then wedged underneath my horseshoe, getting nicely jammed in where it could keep poking me every time I took another step. “Ow! Celestia's teats!”
Strumming smirked at me as she trotted over to check on my hoof. “What was that about your mother-figure’s teats?“
I blinked in surprise and felt cheeks warming. “Shut up. I got a rock stuck in my hoof. I can't control what I say on reflex.”
Her smirk widened. “Sounds like you need even more help than I thought.”
“Shut up!” I grumbled and continued walking, just to get away from her.
Strumming frowned and quickly caught up with me, staring down at my wounded hoof. “You alright? If you’re actually admitting it hurts right in front of me it must be pretty bad. Lemme have a look at it.”
I growled and turned my wounded hoof away from her. “I just stepped on a rock the wrong way. It stung a bit, no big deal.” I shot her my best angry, resentful glare. “Why do you care? Planning to spend a while gloating about how if I’d just listened to you I’d be back in my room instead of having a stubbed hoof?”
Strumming let out an annoyed huff. “Believe it or not, I am trying to do what’s best for you. I don’t spend all day up in some ominous evil tower, cackling about my latest plan to make you miserable just so I can say ‘I told you so.’ The truth is, you have a knack for making terrible decisions along with a complete inability to admit to your own mistakes. If somepony doesn’t set you straight every once in a while...”
“And you’re more than happy to nominate yourself for that role, right?” I scoffed and got back to walking, partly just so I could turn my back on her. My hoof was still stinging, but I could deal with a little pain.
“Actually, it was Celestia who gave me the job,” she shot right back. “You know, the pony you call your real mother?”
I wasn’t sure if I bought that. To be honest, I still wasn’t sure where Strumming sat in the EIS hierarchy. When I’d first met her, she made it sound like she was a low-level agent, but if she was just some nobody, I doubt she could whistle up a dozen embassy guards to act as her personal thugs. Or be authorized to risk sparking off a huge diplomatic incident while grabbing me. And if she was being literal about Celestia putting her in charge of me...
Urgh. Conversations are so much easier when you’re not talking to a pathological liar.
The next time I passed by her, Strumming grabbed me by the shoulder. “Stop and listen for a bit, Sunset.” I reluctantly did so, and the spy took a deep breath then deliberately met my eyes. “Do you think I like the idea of you doing things like dabbling in black magic, or ending up dead in a ditch somewhere in Freeport? Come on, give me some credit.”
“Yeah, sure, I totally buy that you’re just looking out for me.” I snorted and pulled away from her. “That’s why you tried to manipulate me into signing a confession.”
“Believe it or not, that was for the best.” Strumming sighed and rubbed her face. “Sometimes it's just easier for all involved if the defendant fesses up and begs for a lighter sentence. Especially in your situation: you don’t need to get tossed in jail or cut loose on your own, you need Celestia to give you some guidance and finish your training.” She landed in front of me. “Sunset, can you honestly tell me that you’ve done a good job with your attempt at living on your own?”
I growled and walked around her. “Yeah, I can. I did what I had to do with Metal Mome, and I saved a lot of ponies’ lives doing it. I should be getting a medal for what I did, not being tossed in jail.”
Strumming stared at me incredulously. “Oh. Wow. I gotta say, Sunset, you are really good at rationalization and rewriting the past to cast yourself in a better light. You’ve already forgotten that the only reason all those civilians were in danger in the first place was that you dragged them along with you. I’m kinda curious to just sit back and see how much more you’ll embellish the truth after a couple years.” She smirked and nudged me in the ribs. “Then again, if you’re that good at lying, maybe I oughta be offering you a job...”
“I am not lying!” I growled and stomped, only to instantly regret it since I came down on my bad hoof. “Agh! Endless night!”
Strumming frowned after me as I started walking again despite the pain throbbing up from my injured hoof. “You sure you're alright? You’ve got a bit of a limp.”
I shook my hoof a few times, but couldn’t dislodge the rock stuck in my shoe. “It's just sore. The rock jabbed me right in the frog...”
Strumming frowned down at my hoof as I struggled to make my gait as normal as possible to disprove her claim that I was limping. “We better have a doc look at it, just to be safe. The last thing I need is you getting an infection and having your hoof fall off or something. I’m pretty sure Celestia’d get mad if I only brought most of you home.”
I grumbled and waved her away. “Yeah, sure. We can do that once I'm done walking.” I started up another lap around the garden, continuing onward in spite of the low, steady throb shooting up my leg.
The spy scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Fine, be stubborn about it. You’re only hurting yourself.”
She was probably right about that, but I certainly wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of hearing me admit it. Instead, I walked five whole laps around the garden just to spite her. And myself, I guess, since I’m the one whose hoof was hurting. Maybe Strumming did have a bit of a point when she said I had self-destructive tendencies.
After the fifth lap, I’d had enough of hurting myself for no other reason than sending Strumming a message. Strumming stood by the door, watching me with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. “Ready to have that hoof looked at now? If you wanna keep being stubborn, I can help you find a couple more sharp things to jab it on. ‘Cause I gotta say, watching you make yourself miserable for no damn reason at all is really putting me in my place.”
I brushed past her on the way back inside. “Fine. If you really care that much, send a doctor down to the prisoner's cell. Can't have the dangerous criminal interacting with the normal ponies at the infirmary, can we?”
“Oh, spare me the pity party.” She cut in front of me, then pointed down a hallway. “We're taking you to the infirmary. Less wasted motion that way.”
I ignored her directions and walked right past her, heading back to my cell. It was probably a longer walk than the one to the infirmary, but I didn’t care.
Strumming flew over and caught up to me again, grabbing me by the shoulder. “No, we're getting you treated. I’ve been pretty tolerant of your stupid stubborn streak, but I have to draw the line when you're hurting yourself out of sheer bullheadedness.”
I growled and did my best to pull free of her, but her grip was too solid. “Let go of me!”
Strumming gave my shoulder a quick shake, her patience finally fraying a bit. “Sunset, stop acting like a child. I know you're unhappy, but this isn't helping. You’re smart enough to have read an anatomy book at some point, so I know that you know bad things can happen if you injure your frog and don’t get it properly treated. Besides, this will let you stay out of your room for a bit longer. Maybe we can even do something else for a bit once you’re bandaged up.”
I planted my injured hoof on the ground for a bit more leverage, gritting my teeth as I pulled away from her. “I'd rather be in a dungeon cell than spend one more minute with you!”
Strumming released me, and for a moment I thought she actually looked a little stung by my barb. She let out a loud, exasperated groan. “Feather it! Fine! I’ll take you back to your cell, okay? Dear Celestia, why you’re being such a pain in the plot about this...” She trailed off, grumbling to herself as she changed course for the dungeons. “You know, you make it pretty hard for somepony to help you.”
“I don't care.”
“You should.” She trotted up to the entrance to my temporary holding cell and opened the door. “You’re gonna have a pretty miserable and lonely life if you keep pushing away everypony who wants to help you or be your friend.”
I trotted back into my cell, heading for the bed so I could get off my sore hoof already. “Whatever.”
Strumming sighed, and I could almost hear her teeth grinding. “Wash your hoof and get a bandage on it, I’ll send a doctor to have a look at it once you’ve had a bit to calm down. You’re probably due for a fresh bandage on your side, too.”
“Yeah yeah...” I got back up and walked to the door, but only so I could shut it in her face.
Despite the door in between us, I could clearly hear Strumming’s next words. “Feathering teenagers. I don’t get paid enough for this horseapples...”
I heard her hooves tromping away and waited another minute or so just to be safe. Then I hopped up onto the bed and turned my hoof around to get a better look at it. The rock I’d stepped on was still wedged between my shoe and the hoof itself. I leaned in, carefully gripped it in my teeth, and removed it. My hoof didn’t stop hurting the instant I got the rock out, but the pain went down to nothing more than a dull ache.
I put the rock down on my pillow and gave it a quick inspection. Pretty big, but flat enough that it hadn’t jabbed my hoof too badly after I stepped on it. The bottom side had a reasonably smooth surface, but alas I’d stepped on the rougher top instead.
“Not perfect, but it’ll have to do.” I quickly stashed the little rock inside my pillowcase. In all likelihood, nopony would even think to ask about what happened to the stone I’d stepped on. Especially after how pissed off I’d left my chief jailor.
Phase one of the escape plan was complete. Now I just needed to finish up the rest of it before they loaded me onto a ship tomorrow.