//------------------------------// // The Epilogue // Story: I'll Always be Here for You // by The Abyss //------------------------------// “I still can’t believe that we’re in this dump,” Brick Lump muttered under his breath. He and his wife were waiting in line at the prison cafeteria to get some dinner with the rest of their fellow imprisoned degenerates. It had been three weeks since they had arrived at the Canterlot Penitentiary and every day had been hell. Instead of being thrown in the castle’s dungeons like he had feared, they had been sentenced to the prison on the edge of the city, right on the edge of the cliff overlooking the valley where they had once lived. “Yeah, you’re tellin’ me...” Tranquil Breeze said. “Why did we even bother having a foal? Hell, we should’ve used protection if we had known... she would have given us this much trouble.” Brick Lump limped forward, his empty tray balanced in his good hoof. As soon as word got out that they were foal beaters, the other inmates had taken it upon themselves to instill a little fear in them. They had quickly discovered that foal beaters were considered as bad as rapists and murderers. They had to constantly watch their backs for fear of another beating, hence the reason why he was limping. As soon as he got in place to get some food, Brick held out his tray to the pony behind the counter. “I’d like a good ol’ fresh salad with all the trimmins’,” he said with a wry smile. “Heh, not today,” the earth pony serving today’s meal replied as he threw a disgusting-looking white slop of whatever the chefs had put together. “We do, however, got some of da best chow on da block.” “Thanks,” Brick said dryly as he grabbed his tray. He pushed it along the counter, letting each pony behind it place their portion on his tray. When he reached the end, he pulled it off the counter and balanced it on his back. He took a few steps forward, and before he knew what was happening, the stallion in front of him bucked his bad foreleg, making him drop his tray of food. He felt another blow hit his side, and just like his tray, he dropped like a rock. As he tried to get up to fight the one who attacked him, he felt another hoof impact his chest, knocking all the air from his lungs. He struggled to breathe, clutching his chest with what used to be his good hoof. “That’s what you get, you piece of shit,” he heard somepony mutter. Brick couldn’t respond, for he was still trying to catch his breath. Somepony pushed his head down into the food that he dropped, making him groan and close his eyes. It took him several seconds before he could get air in his lungs, and as soon as he did so, he lifted his head to try and find his attackers. As much as he hated to admit it, they were always able to disappear back into the crowd before he discovered who they were. That hadn’t been the first attack, and he knew that wouldn’t be the last. Brick picked himself up and wiped the worst of the mess from his face. The white goop that he’d been served stuck to his fur like a weak glue. He knew he wasn’t going to get anything else to eat, so he went and found an empty table. His wife sat down next to him a few seconds later with her tray full of food. He eyed it and her with envy, for he’d been the target of most of the attacks. Where she would just get pushed around a bit, he’d be subject to full beatings like the one he’d just taken. He hated going to bed hungry. “Here, eat,” he heard his wife say, surprising him. She pushed her tray closer to him and dug in. “You’re going to need your strength for what we’re planning to do tonight...” “Yeah, yeah... alright.” They mostly ate in silence, keeping their eyes on anypony who came close to them. The two of them finished just in time to hear the buzzer sound off, letting everypony know that dinner was over. Brick stepped into line with his wife in front of him, and under a guard’s order, they went back to their cells. As soon as they stepped back inside their small cell, the guard slammed the door shut then locked it with a quick flash from his horn. They shared a cell in cell block A. Normally, each pony would get their own cell, but the warden thought it would be funny to lock the two of them up in a single cell. Their tiny room had one bed that hung from the wall, complete with a small pillow and blanket. There was a small toilet in the back next to the tiny window, hidden by a low wall that barely gave them enough privacy. Their door was nothing but several thick steel bars, giving them no privacy from the patrolling guards. “Okay... you’re clear!” Tranquil Breeze whispered under her breath. The guard had just turned the corner. It would be at least another half hour before he came back around. “Alright... and Breeze?” “Hm?” She looked over her shoulder when she felt his hoof on her back. “Thanks for the food back there,” he said softly, rubbing his wife’s shoulder. “That was pretty nice of you.” He cracked a hesitant smile, something he hadn’t done in the past month. Tranquil Breeze didn’t respond for a few moments, but she put her hoof over his and grasped it tightly. “You’re welcome, dear...” She turned around and checked for the guards again. When she saw that they were clear, she released her husband’s hoof. “You should go see if you can finish. I’ll let you know if somepony is coming.” “Okay then,” Brick said. “I’ll call if I get through...” He moved to the back of their cell, got a good grip on their toilet, and moved it aside, revealing a hole big enough for a pony to fit through. He didn’t make much noise, thankfully, so he lowered himself down and crawled down into the tunnel. It was a tight fit, and was just barely big enough for a pony. He crawled and pulled himself all the way through the darkness until he bumped his head on the wall he had stopped at the previous night. “Crap... shoulda saw that comin’,” he groaned, rubbing his sore head. He found the spoons that his wife had stolen from the cafeteria weeks ago and started chipping away. Every five or so minutes, he tapped on the rock face with a hoof, trying to hear any differences in sound. Two hours later, it changed. Instead of the dull thud he was used to hearing, he couldn’t believe his ears when he heard the pitch change. He chipped away at the rock frantically, and a couple minutes later, he broke through. Moonlight flooded the tunnel, momentarily shocking him. He used his hoof to push several bricks down the side of the mountain, then poked his head out of the tunnel. Just as he had suspected, they were on the side of the prison that sat on the edge of the cliff, perfect for a pair of escaping convicts. Adrenaline flooding his veins, he threw himself out into the open air and flapped hard, stretching muscles that he hadn’t been allowed to use for weeks. He turned around and latched onto the mouth of the tunnel with his forelegs, then whispered as loud as he dared, “Breeze! I made it! We’re free!” He waited rather impatiently before he saw his wife crawl around the bend. “Woah...” she whispered in disbelief. “You actually did it...” She poked her head out and looked around, then laid a small kiss on her husband’s cheek. “So... you gonna let me out or what?” “Oh! Heh, sorry dear,” Brick said as he backed away, hovering several feet from the opening in the cliff. “We should get out of here soon; the guards should be coming back around anytime now.” Just as he finished his sentence, all of the lights in the prison flashed on above them. Alarms sounded off and the two of them heard numerous guards yelling. “Ready for part two?” he asked with a confident smirk, holding out a hoof for her. “Part two?” Tranquil Breeze asked as she took flight. She eyed his hoof but didn’t take it; flying was pretty hard holding hooves and she didn’t want to jeopardize their escape by doing something so needless. “Part one was escaping. Part two will be us getting our revenge on that... thing,” he spat with distaste. “that put us in the joint in the first place,” he said, a snarl distorting his face. “For now, we need to lay low and bide our time. And when the time is right...” he trailed off with a menacing smile. “We strike.”