Stellar was exhausted. She had been pulled out of her cell by two very strong unicorns to go work in the archeological pits even deeper than where she already was. The mare had already refused to be taken in so easily, but her protests met with angered ears. She was going to work whether she wanted to or not. Due to these conflicting ideals, the guards were called to pull her out. They didn't have an easy time at it. Even when she was being kicked, punched, and struck by low level magic spells, she still carried on. Much to the amusement of the first lieutenant who served as warden of the facility, the two guards ended up with bruises, black eyes, and sore muscles and bones.
Shadowrette discovered that the dig site was a gigantic assortment of tunnels and bridges made from dirt and brick. It looked like an ant hill. There were many other ponies like the ones from the sewers, but they weren't as joyful nor well fed. All of them looked miserable when they pulled stones and dirt out of the holes. Stellar was just glad she was back in her cell, as ironic as that may be. A thought to passed through her mind, though.
"Hey, I didn't see you at the...holes," She said to the pony in the cell in front of her own.
"It wasn't my day today. I don't get any 'free time' on account of me trying to escape."
"Oh...You didn't tell me your name earlier."
"It's 'Ruined Life'," he shrugged.
"Wh--"
"That's what my parents put on my crib when they dropped me at the palace. Besides that, I don't really have a true name."
"I'm sorry about that, but at least that's better than what I went through."
"I suppose it's a tragic story of loss and broken hearts?" The stallion teased while taking on a dramatic pose.
"If I could reach you, I would strangle you."
"But you can't." The stallion chuckled. "Look, I've gone through enough of these sob stories that I feel nothing about them myself."
Stellar couldn't accept what she just heard. She had gone through such a trauma herself that even if she didn't show it, she felt for those around her. Everypony had to bring up something to wall up their wounds, and many of them used their attitudes to do that. This stallion, however, wasn't like that. He seemed...apathetic towards Stellar, but she didn't know him enough yet to make any conclusions. After all, she has only known him for an hour. What kind of weirdo would automatically assume something about a person they just met? Stellar chuckled at that laughable thought.
The mare gave up her attempts at understanding this stallion and went back to quietly sulk in a corner. Life watched her calmly walk there and confusion ran across his mind. All the others immediately gave up trying to escape this place when they were sent there. Why didn't she do the same? Several hours later, in the twilight of the night, Life was awoken by quiet chattering. Climbing off his dirty mattress on the floor, he went to inspect the sound's origin and, with a bit of directional listening using his ears, discovered that they were coming from Stellar. She was talking to the wall.
"Well that was fast. It barely took her, maybe, eighteen hours?" Life started to whisper-yell at Stellar to attract her attention but not that of the guards. "Hey, filly. What are you doing?"
"I'm not a filly!" Stellar whisper-yelled in protest. "I'm talking with the shadows. They've always played with me when I was younger."
Stellar smiled at the wall and laughed heartily. Life's face contorted as he became more and more lost within the confines of this mare's mind.
"So she was always like this? Eugh. Looks pretty but has a rotted mind."
"Okay then, but keep it quiet," Stellar whispered.
"Keep what quiet?"
"That's none of your business."
"Wh--"
The door of Shadowrette's cell quietly clicked then slowly slid open, leaving the proud mare to flaunt her ego and smile at the stallion who looked at her in disbelief. Stellar turned around and whipped her tail at Life, then quietly trotted away.
"Wait! Please! I have to get out of here!"
Stellar stopped at Life's pleas and went back to his cell unwillingly. With a sigh, she asked:
"And why should I? I barely even know you."
"B...Because I've been here since I was born. I don't know what the outside world looks like. In fact, barely any of us here even know what it is or what it's like. We don't even know WHO lives up there. Maybe you and your 'shadows' could help me-us, to get out?" Life gave a nervous-but-pleading smile.
Stellar skeptically eyed him from head to hoof and was about to just leave, but the shadow following her told her of its plan. The mare smiled evilly and looked back at Life.
"Cover your ears if you don't want to become deaf," she said before executing her own suggestion.
"What? Why? Why do I...have...to..."
The stallion's hooves instinctively reached for his ears when he saw the shadows being created by the white crystals started growing longer and longer. At the specific moment that Life felt like his heart was relieved of all forms of gravity, all the cell doors from around the complex immediately were ripped out of their sockets and clanked into each other, falling loudly on the floor. Ponies big and small slowly walked out of their cells and looked around in confusion, at which point Stellar raised a hoof in the air and yelled:
"Freedoooooooooooom!"
The others immediately cheered the same, and everypony began rushing to the end of the long hallway. Stellar was amongst them, but Life was just confused and wondering how he was going to leave his cell with all these ponies running amok. No pony seemed to care, but lights in the ceiling all lit up in a straight line, progressively lighting up as the power went down the hallway. It was at this moment that Life felt his heart enter his throat. There were hundreds, if not thousands of shadowy masses swirling around the walls and ceiling, with more following the group of ponies.
"Hey! Wait! Ugh. Now how am I going to find the exit?"
The stallion waited impatiently for the most opportune moment to jump into the stampede. He had no opening until there was nearly no pony left, allowing Life to calmly trot into the corridor and avoid the few latecomers. Before he continued his certainly futile attempts at escaping, the stallion noticed something strange amongst all the cells. While the shadows had cut or torn off the bars, only one set remained intact.
"Why is that one still closed?" Life thought aloud.
Leaning in closer to get a better look amongst the few ponies still galloping away, the stallion noticed a figure moving in the shadows. Its mane was in tatters and hung limply over the pony's face like dried hay. An eye was released from its imprisonement behind the disgusting mass, revealing its bloodshot appearance. Whoever that was, they appeared miserable and completely depressed, but this was of no concern to Life, so he shrugged it off and left his own cell. He would certainly be returned later anyways.
The hallway was practically empty now, but Life knew this place all too well. The guards were waiting around that left turn at the end of this long path and had certainly already paralyzed every pony. Life was skeptical about all of this and just walked towards the turn with the expectation of everypony being on the floor and he, being the only one to not have rushed, would have to put all the prisoners back in their cells. By himself.
His face quickly twisted from apathetic to complete fear and disbelief. There were thousands of shadows swirling around the complex. While it was just a gigantic, open hole with uneven floors on multiple levels, the shadows and escapees were everywhere. This was the main area of the prison. It simply looked like a mound of uneven rock with several holes in the walls around it. The rounded wall directly to the right of the hallway exit were several metal pathways built into the brow, stone wall. It was here that guards would generally patrol and shine the gigantic spotlights all around the place. But now...
Ponies were running through the holes in the wall holding the platforms. The guards all around looked like they were being devoured or drained by the shadows. The worst situations saw the shadows tearing off spotlights or throwing guards into one another. It was the worst jailbreak Life had ever seen...not that he ever saw many to begin with.
"Where is she?" Life wondered as he looked around. "There!"
The stallion had spotted Stellar looking around for guards not yet attacked by the shadows then ran through a pair of metal doors that looked like they were punched open. He didn't know why, but he was determined to follow her, so follow her he did. All he needed to do was sneak through the mass of fighting ponies and angry shadows. Some of them fluttered quickly towards him, but slowed to a stop, wiggled around a bit, then parted around him. Life was confused as to what these things were, but at least they were fighting WITH him.
"Woah. The lights are broken. Ah!" Life put a foreleg up to shield his face from the flickering lights. "So annoying. Where did Stellar go?"
"You won't go any further, corrupt one! I don't know how you did it, but I, the warden, shall block you. You shall not pass!"
The stallion peeked around the corner to see the tight hallway spacing out into a large, open room with many barriers and equipment designed to scan newcomers. The gray warden in his yellow uniform was standing behind a plethora of guards who hid behind barriers of tables and chairs. The unicorns had their horns ready, the earth ponies held what looked like taser guns, and the pegasi did the same, but while they flew.
"No. I'm getting through. I'm tired of you all constantly attacking me just for what I look like and pairing with this Sombra guy. I don't even know who that is and no pony wants to tell me!" Stellar shouted.
Both Life and the guard mouthed 'She doesn't know who Sombra is?!'.
"You have on the count of three to stand down," the warden said.
"No. I'm going through!"
As the two continued to fight, the stallion could see more shadows moving on the ground and over the barricades slowly and discreetly. When they were finally over everypony, including the pegasi, the barrage was split into two and smashed onto the two side walls. The scanning equipment was also torn off its hinges and tossed aside, letting Stellar hurry through.
"Thanks, shadows," she said.
"St-Stellar! Wait up!" Life yelled
The guards were struggling to free themselves, but were incapable of doing so. The Warden simply cursed under his breath as he helplessly watched Life and the others escape. The stallion could smell it. A oxygen that tingled his faintest memories. He KNEW what it was. It wasn't metallic or stuffy like his prison air. It wasn't toxic and dusty like the air from the digging sites. No. It was clean, cold, and fresh air. He took in breath after breath, his mind entering an ecstasy while he followed Stellar to the open world. He could see a light going through his eyelids and opened them to see their provenance. Was it another blockade at the top of this diagonal?
"Ah! My eyes!" Life shouted in pain.
The stallion tumbled onto the floor, sliding into Stellar's hind legs in the process.
"It's so bright! What is this light? Stellar? Where are you? Stellar?"
As his eyes readjusted to this new world, the stallion was not met with gigantic fields of grass and trees. He couldn't see the lakes or the blue skies. He couldn't even see the blue light of a beautiful day. All he saw was a wet ground and an immense army waiting for him. They had surrounded the exit of the prison which sat underneath a gigantic crystal column. Was it a column? He couldn't tell.
"Well, it was good in the long run. I had fun," Life chuckled. "Everything just happened so fast. You were here for just a day and already we've all escaped. Ha. Haha!"