I Will not be Contained

by Eon333MS

New plans

Twilight was writing a letter to Princess Celestia about what had happened when they encountered the creature. About how it was intelligent, how it had nearly beaten them, and then took Fluttershy hostage etc..
Twilight stopped to think about Fluttershy, she had come back without a scratch on her but she was rambling about the creature being rather friendly once you gave it the chance. Twilight wasn't quite sure whether or not to believe this, especially since she had been on the receiving end of its fury. But then again Fluttershy WAS perfectly fine. Maybe the creature had some kind of mind control or something, she doubted that since it had no magic but it was still a possibility. Twilight finished her letter and had Spike send it to the Princess. Regardless of whether or not the creature was friendly, she still had to capture it and bring it to Celestia, hopefully this time it would listen to reason, and they wouldn't have to fight. Twilight went outside to go find her friends.

I woke up in Zecora's guest bedroom. I wondered if she was back yet, I got up and listened carefully, I heard someone humming, which must have been coming from Zecora. Sure enough when I entered the main room of Zecora's house there she was walking about, working on potions. "Hello Zecora where were you all this time?"

"I'm very sorry my friend. There was an errand I had to attend."

"What was it?"

"It was for my friend Applebloom. She was in a horrible gloom. She needed to mix a brew, for her school project was due. She was my friend, and I'd help her to no end."

"Oh yeah Fluttershy mentioned something about that."

"Oh me oh my. You've met with Fluttershy?"

"Umm that's actually related to what I need to talk to you about."

"Please explain, do not refrain." So I explained to her how I planned to leave the area. My plan was to head far away from here to one of the neighboring countries, probably the Gryphon lands since I had a general idea where to head. I also explained to her about how I met Fluttershy, and her friends, and why I had to leave this area. Needless to say she was a little shocked at what happened to her friends, and the fact that I was leaving. But she eventually accepted it, and she insisted on giving me some supplies to take with me. This sounded like a good idea so I agreed.

Once I was ready we prepared to say good-bye to each other. "My best wishes I send. Farewell I bid you friend." She said to me.

"Goodbye Zecora. I hope to see you again." I returned and with that I turned and started out on my journey to freedom.

Princess Celestia sat at her desk in her large office looking over the letter she had received from Twilight. According to the letter some of Twilight's friends brashly attacked the creature, and he had managed to fight them off, and take Fluttershy hostage. Fluttershy had come out of this ok, and claimed the creature was actually rather friendly. Celestia was pondering this new information, when Luna suddenly entered her room. "Sister has there been any news regarding the beast loose in Equestria?"

"Yes there has Luna. But didn't I ask you to call him by his name?" Celestia said.

"Sorry we forgot sister. But we-I don't understand why you insist on this, the creature is merely an animal is it not?"

"Luna Jake can think for himself, he's more than just an animal." Celestia said slightly shocked.

"Hmmm that's not what Tempest Reason tells us, he thinks the creature should be treated like a beast." Luna stated.

"Hmmm. I may need to have a little talk with Tempest." Celestia said. There was a long pause.

"I'm sorry Celestia, I guess I just don't understand the situation the way you do." Luna said feeling a little regret at having upset her sister in such a way.

"It's alright Luna. Now as for the new information well..." Celestia filled Luna in on what had happened in the Everfree Forest according to Twilight's letter.

Luna was in shock. "THAT MONSTER DID WHAT TO TWILIGHT!" She screamed.

"Luna please calm down."

"No this creature must pay for what it's done."

Celestia sighed, she knew there wasn't much chance in talking her sister out of this. "What are you planning to do Luna?"

"We-I requested several royal guard elites to report in a short time ago. Including one Captain in particular."

"Who?"

"Shining Armor." Celestia's eyes widened when Luna said this. "I will send him and his elite guard to the Everfree to capture the creature. What do you think? Armor could work with Twilight since they are brother and sister after all."

Celestia thought about this 'Shining Armor's presence would give Twilight some added moral after her defeat at Jake's hands, and there was almost no chance the creature could escape the royal guard and the elements of harmony. "I agree Luna send Shining Armor to the Everfree immediately."

Twilight and her friends were gathered together to make another attempt at catching the Everfree creature. "I'm gonna give that thing some payback. for what it did to us, and especially Fluttershy." Rainbow declared.

"Wait...ummm...please don't hurt him he's really nice." Fluttershy pleaded.

"Now Fluttershy ah know yah had some kinda talk with the thing while he had yah in the Everfree. But he viciously attacked us just before that." Applejack argued.

"He was defending himself." Fluttershy answered.

"Regardless we still need tah bring him to the princess. Remember?" Applejack reminded.

Fluttershy thought for a moment, she didn't want any trouble for Jake, but she was loyal to Celestia, and didn't believe the princess would hurt Jake. After thinking for a minute Fluttershy realized that they would still go to capture the creature whether she went or not, 'poor Jake might get hurt if I don't go along.' "I'll go but only to make sure you all don't hurt him."

"We'll try, but no promises." Applejack said, then looked over at Rainbow Dash and said in a stern voice "Right Rainbow?" Rainbow scowled and looked away.

"Alright girls are we all ready to go?" Twilight asked. Her friends announced they were. "Then let's go."

"Okie dokie loki." Pinkie Pie said and together they set out for the Everfree Forest.

Jake was on his way out of Equestria. The Gryphon kingdom was pretty far away so he decided to take a short cut, the short cut however brought him uncomfortably close to the town. But he decided that the amount of time he would save was worth the risk.
He walked out of the Everfree Forest and stepped into the open field. He was greeted with bright sunlight, and shielded his eyes for a moment. once his eyes adjusted he looked around, he suddenly felt very sad, he was leaving another place he had almost begun to call home. It made him think of his real home, and how he'd probably never return there.
Once he got over his sadness, he started walking in the direction he needed to go, but before he got too far he heard voices he recognized. It was those six ponies from before. "So how are we gonna catch this thing this time Twi?" "Let's try talking to it first." Jake wondered to himself 'What should I do?' but it was too late, the six ponies got within eye distance of him and spotted him.
The six mares looked at him clearly surprised to see him outside the forest again. Rainbow recovered first and dashed at Jake. Fluttershy shouted "Wait stop." Rainbow remembered that Fluttershy had asked them not to hurt the creature and stopped before she slammed into Jake but the look on her face told him that she didn't want to stop. She flew back to the others, Jake lowered his guard.
Twilight stepped forward and cleared her throat. "Ahem creature could you please come with us?"

"My name is Jake, and no thank you I won't." He answered.

Twilight sighed "Why not?"

"Because I don't know what you all want from me, you could easily be leading me into a trap, and I'm trying to get out of here."

"You're leaving?" Twilight asked.

"Trying to."

"But you need to come to the princess."

"Why." Jake asked.

"Probably so she can help you." Twilight answered.

"I'm not interested right now. Now if you'll excuse me I've got a long journey ahead."

"Wait you're obviously an intelligent creature let's talk reasonably."

Jake stopped when she said this, and turned around. "I told you my name is Jake." With that said he turned and continued walking.

"Twi we're not getting anywhere with this. I'm gonna knock him out." Rainbow said, and charged at Jake again.

"Rainbow DON'T!" Fluttershy, and Twilight yelled.

Jake had his back turned and was unprepared for this attack, although when he heard he tried to turn around to brace for the incoming attack, but he was too slow. Rainbow crashed into him and sent him flying into a tree. Jake was on his knees from that, but forced himself to get back up. Jake dropped the pack that Zecora had given him, and pulled out his spears. Now ready to fight Jake stared his enemy down.
Rainbow stubbornly made another dash at Jake, who jumped away causing RD to crash head first into a tree. Applejack pulled out her lasso and threw it over Jake. Jake struggled but was caught, and fell on the ground. "Guess that takes care of the problem Twi."

"That wasn't exactly how I wanted things to go, but what's done is don-What!" Twilight started to say, but stopped when she noticed Jake was getting back up. Unseen by the ponies he had been cutting the rope with the end of his spear, and had finally cut himself free.

"Why you varmint! Ah loved that rope!" Applejack charged at Jake who charged back, but at the last second Jake jumped to his left and stuck his spear out to trip Applejack. "Whoa!" Applejack yelled as she tumbled. Twilight and Rarity charged at Jake together blasting sleep spells as they ran. Jake dodged the shots (which were rather poor anyway), and rolled in between Twilight and Rarity. They stopped once Jake past them and turned around. Twilight received a boot to the head Rarity was whacked with the back end of Jake's spear, and then thrown into the oncoming Rainbow Dash.
Jake was about to go back into the fight when he caught sight of Fluttershy. He suddenly remembered that these were her friends and realized he didn't want to hurt them. So he started thinking of a plan to get away from them and slow them down. He looked around and spotted the tree Rainbow had crashed into, apparently the impact had made the tree nearly ready to fall over. While Jake was trying to think of a plan Applejack came from behind him and hit him with her hooves. "Owww." Jake countered with his spear but Applejack blocked it with her fore-hoof and tried to jab him again. He dodged and leapt on her back, when she was surprised by this Jake hit her in the side of the head and leapt off before she could try to buck him off, and began running toward the tree. Rarity and Twilight tried to blast him with more magic, but he simply just jumped out of the way and started running towards the tree again.
He ran behind the tree and prepared to knock it down, but Applejack came sneaking up behind him. At the last second Jake heard her and dodged to his left, AJ's hooves struck the tree, and it went down. 'That works.' Jake thought, and ran over to the tree to see what else he could do with it. There was a large hole in the tree, large enough to fit a pony in. Suddenly Jake got an idea.

"Het! Rainbow One! You're too slow! You couldn't hit the side of a barn if it was right in front of you!"

Rainbow Dash was completely enraged by this "WHY YOU!" She dashed as fast and hard as she could at Jake, who jumped out of the way. Rainbow couldn't stop in time, and got stuck in the knothole. Without wasting any time Jake began pushing the tree down a nearby hill.

The ponies watched as the tree rolled down the hill with Rainbow Dash still in it. Jake turned to them and said "I guess you better go save your friend." and with that Jake grabbed the bag of supplies Zecora had given him, and took off into the forest.

I ran through the forest as quickly as I could. Forget the shortcut, if I stuck to it they'd catch up to me quickly once they freed their friend from the tree. By running into the forest I could lose them as long as there wasn't anything to slow me down like a pack of Timberwolves.
I ran past Zecora's house, and began to think about her again, but I couldn't get distracted now, I had to keep moving. I was getting worn out. The fight had been tiring enough but all this running was making it worse. But it will be worth it if I get away. I realized I was getting close to the river where I had set up my original shelter. I started to get a better feeling at this memory and quickened my pace.

All five of the ponies chased after the rolling tree, Rainbow was wailing as she rolled down the hill. Fortunately the tree was bent in such a way that prevented Rainbow from getting hurt on the ground whenever the tree rolled over. Applejack had retrieved her rope and made a new loop for it. Swinging it over her head she tossed it at the tree and managed to wrap it around a thick and sturdy branch. She slammed her hooves on the ground and pulled back with all her might. Fluttershy and Pinkie grabbed the rope and pulled to help Applejack like a game of tug-o-war. Rarity and Twilight ran past them and tried to use their magic to stop the tree. The tree began to slow down more and more until it finally stopped.
Fluttershy flew over to Rainbow and began to pull her out of the knothole. Twilight and Rarity helped with their magic and there was a loud popping sound once Rainbow was free. Now that she was free she began ranting about how the creature had tricked her.

"I can't believe that thing pulled something like that! Where is he I'll show him a thing or two!" Rainbow shouted.

"He ran into the forest." Twilight answered.

"Wait then why didn't any of you go after him?" Rainbow asked.

"Because sugar-cube you were tumbling down this hill in that tree. We had to save yah." Applejack answered.

"Oh yeah. Thanks for that by the way." Her five friends smiled at her when she said that, and Pinkie said "You're welcome."

"Well now unless anypony disagrees I say we go into the forest and catch that thing." Rainbow said and the others nodded. Together they galloped back up the hill and into the Everfree Forest.

I made it to the river and spotted my shelter as I ran past huffing and puffing. I smiled as I saw it, I was almost out of the forest now, just a little farther. I ran past many trees, the area I was running across was slowly getting clearer and clearer. Finally I was outside the forest. There I stopped to catch my breath and get my bearings. Phew. That was a long run, but I was on my way to freedom, which is great. I started walking in the direction Zecora told me the gryphon kingdom was located.
After I was walking for a little while I stopped. I heard a noise not too far ahead of me. As I listened I heard the steady clip clop of hooves on grass. Ponies... A lot of ponies. I started to hear the ponies talking to each other. They were saying things like "I'm not sure why Princess Celestia wanted us to take this road. But orders are orders." "Does anypony actually think something's going to happen?" Based on what they were saying I assume they are royal guards. 'No I can't be caught. Not here not now!' I turned around and ran, but one of the pegasi flew up very high and spotted me.

Shining Armor was leading his elite squad towards the Everfree Forest, and then on to the town of Ponyville. His orders were to capture the creature that was currently on the run in the Everfree Forest, but also to partner up with his younger sister if he couldn't find the creature on his own while heading to Ponyville. He was dressed in his purple and gold armor and carried the usual equipment issued to royal guard. Suddenly one of his pegasi troops shouted that he had spotted the creature. Shining and his troops, consisting of ten pegasi, and ten unicorns ran forward until they all spotted the creature. The troops came to a halt waiting for Shining's orders.

"Move out and surround the creature." The troops did as they were told, Jake was trying to run away, but he was quickly surrounded. Jake dropped his bag of supplies, and picked up his spears.

"Stay back. I'm warning you!" Jake shouted. Shining was surprised 'So the rumors were true the creature could speak.'

"Listen here creature, uhh, what's your name." Shining asked.

Jake was surprised at this question "Jake." He answered gruffly.

"Jake. You need to come with me. I'm ordered to escort you to Princess Celestia. So if you could please lay down your arms and come with me."

"Sorry I can't do that."

"Can't or won't?"

"Both."

"Why not?"

"I'm not going back just to become a lab experiment that's why!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about."

Shining stopped to think. He had no idea what Jake was talking about. But he decided to take the conversation in a different direction. "What exactly are you?"

"Oh no I'm not doing this again."

"What do you want-" Shining started to say but was interrupted by Jake.

"Look I'm not going with you. None of us have to fight so let's just go our separate ways so nobody gets hurt."

Shining paused at that, 'The creature was actually offering, or more correctly negotiating for everyone to leave safely? Clever, and honorable. Maybe this creature had a noble soul.' This gave Shining an idea. An idea that wouldn't endanger his troops, but might let Jake escape if it didn't go as planned. "Jake I have a proposition that may satisfy both of us."

"What is it?" Jake asked.

"I will challenge you to single combat. If I win you come with us to Princess Celestia bound just to make sure you don't try anything."

"And if I win?"

"I will allow you to go free until I meet up with my sister, at which point the search for you will continue."

Jake thought about this. He really didn't have much of a choice, he could either fight his way through all of the guards, or fight just one. Even if the one was lying to him fighting him on his own for a while without the aid of his buddies would give Jake an advantage.

"What do you say?" Shining asked.

"The way I see it, I can either fight my way through one of you, or I fight my way through all of you. I accept." With that said the two combatants walked into the center of the circle of the royal guard elites. Some of them were talking amongst themselves "Is the captain nuts? What does he think he's doing?" "Relax Armor's got this."

Jake thought he should ask one thing before they start. "What's your name?"

"Shining Armor." He answered circling his opponent. Jake thought to himself 'Okay that might be the silliest name I've heard so far.' The two took their stances and prepared to fight.

Twilight had used a tracking spell to help locate Jake, and all her friends were following right behind her. Applejack and Rainbow were arguing with Fluttershy about whether or not the creature could be reasoned with. "Fluttershy something friendly wouldn't just come out and attack us like that." Rainbow said.

"Well that's exactly what you did Rainbow. Does that make you unfriendly?" Fluttershy answered.

"What!? No I mean-" Rainbow stammered but was interrupted by Applejack.

"What Rainbow means is the varmint is unruly, he can't be trusted, and he needs to be stopped for everypony's good."

"Well you trusted him not too hurt me when he took me hostage. And I came out just fine."

"Girls enough! I can't concentrate on the spell with all this arguing." Twilight exclaimed. "I'm a bit stuck right now too so that doesn't help."

"Why are we stuck Twi?" Rainbow asked.

"Well something here isn't making sense."

"What?"

"Well the trail spreads out in several directions here, and I don't know why, any excess trails should have vanished a while ago. "

"Can you tell which trail is more recent than the rest?" Rainbow asked.

"Well yes, but I'm still trying to figure out how his other trails are still here."

"Look Twi we can worry about that later okay? Right now the creature is getting further and further away, and we need to catch it."

"Ummm...Rainbow his name is Jake." Fluttershy said, Rainbow just gave her a hard look.

Twilight sighed. "You're right girls. But this brings me to another interesting anomaly in his trail. A lot of his older trails lead in pretty much the same direction."

"So?" Rainbow said confused.

"So, I would like to find out if he has a gathering place nearby."

"OK sounds good to me." The ponies began walking in the direction the trail lead, and soon wound up near Zecora's house. Twilight stopped, some of the trails led straight into Zecora's house! It wasn't the current trail they were following, but several of the older ones went to and from Zecora's hut.

"Girls." Twilight announced.

"Yes?" They all answered.

"The creature has been to Zecora's house."

"What!" Everyone except Fluttershy, and Twilight yelled.

"Ummm. Actually I already know this." Fluttershy said.

"What!" Everyone else yelled.

"Fluttershy you were keeping information from us?" Twilight said shocked.

"I promised Jake that I wouldn't tell, so I didn't."

"But-he...we-we could've captured him without any problems. We could-" Twilight stopped herself as she thought about what Fluttershy said, and tried to calm herself down.

"I made a promise to him Twilight. I wasn't going to break it."

"I understand Fluttershy." Twilight chuckles to herself. "You know being here reminds me of the time we first met Zecora." Twilight and her friends begin to think about the time they met Zecora... and suddenly they all come to a realization. They'd pretty much been treating Jake the same way, only worse.

"Ummm... Ah'm thinking maybe we should try to find that creature and apologize to it-him." Applejack said and the others agreed except for Rainbow Dash.

"I dunno." Rainbow Dash said.

"Oh come on Rainbow, yah don't think yah went a might overboard at some point around him?"

Rainbow Dash thought for a moment. "Alright, but I'm still gonna get him back for getting me stuck in that tree, and rolling me down the hill." The others laughed at this. Once Twilight finished laughing she went to see if Zecora was home. There was a note on the door that informed anypony that she had gone out to get some supplies in the northern section of the forest.

"She's not at home." Twilight informed the others. "But now I really want to know how Jake's old trails are still being picked up by my tracker spell?" Twilight pondered this for a moment listening to suggestions from her friends.

"Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he stayed here for a long time." Fluttershy suggested.

"Or maybe he traveled those paths more than once." Applejack suggested. Twilight pondered these ideas, she started to remember what effects these variables would have on the tracker spell, and suddenly she figured it out.

"Of course! the longer an individual stays in one place the stronger the tracking spell becomes, and the same goes for when somepony travels from one place to another more than once. Good thinking girls."

"Aw shucks it ain't nothin." Applejack said.

"Now let's get back to finding Jake." Twilight said, the others nodded and the began following his trail once again.

The two opponents stared each other down circling around each other looking for an opening to attack. Jake decided to strike first and swung his spear out hitting Shining in the side of the head. It would have been a decent hit, if it wasn't for Shining's helmet which absorbed most of the blow. 'Dang it!' Shining took this moment to begin his attack, and show Jake just how much of a disadvantage he was in.
Shining created a magical blade from his horn and began to swing effectively at Jake. Jake began to parry Shining's blows with his spears, but it was clear that any advantage he had with the dexterity of his hands was surpassed by the unicorn's magic. Shining's parries were getting harder and harder to block, he had to make a move NOW! Jake quickly moved around the side of his opponent, rammed the wood end of the spear into Shining' face and followed up with a good hard kick. Shining clearly felt that and recoiled from the blow. He refocused himself and began to parry with Jake once again. It was at this moment when Jake fully comprehended just how tired he was after running through the Everfree Forest.
Shining parried blow after blow until he made an opening and hit Jake in the stomach with his front left hoof. Jake had the wind knocked out of him, but quickly got back up. Jake ran forward and used one of his spears to vault himself into the air and swing down at Shining, however Shining quickly swung his magical blade at him in midair and knocked him back to the ground. Jake got back up and spit some grass out of his mouth. Then charged at Shining again. Shining decided to abandon his magical blade and instead grabbed one of Jake's spears out of his hand with his magic. Jake and Shining began to parry again, but Jake made a mistake which allowed shining to get some good jabs at Jake. Jake managed to narrowly avoid theses by moving his body to the left and right very quickly, and jumping at the right time. Still it was close. Jake realized that Shining had a lot more combat experience than him. But Jake could still win, he just might have to fight a little dirty.
Jake always preferred to fight honorably, but he also believed there was a time to use every advantage you could, and considering what probably awaited him if he lost he decided it was worth the risk. Jake scooped up a handful of dirt from the ground and ran up close to Shining. He flung the dirt into Shining's face getting some of it in the eyes. "DAH!" Shining flailed his spear around wildly, but Jake easily avoided this and began to pound Shining wherever he could as much as he could. Some of the surrounding guards booed while this was going on. Shining's eyes were clear again and he bashed Jake with his front hooves. Jake fell to the ground, but rolled and got back up. Jake's muscles were starting to feel really sore, he couldn't keep this up much longer.
Jake charged forward again and managed to find an opening in which he brought his spear down onto Shining's forehead. After that Shining shoved Jake back with his hooves again. Jake picked up another scoop of dirt and threw it at Shining, but Shining was ready for it this time. Shining brought up a magic shield just before the dirt could hit his face and proceeded to parry with Jake again. It was at this moment Jake realized he was going to lose. Shining parried harder and harder and suddenly managed to knock Jake's other spear out of his hand. Shocked for a moment Jake reached behind his back and pulled out his trusty metal pipe and charged forward for one last strike. Miraculously whether Shining made a mistake, or just dumb luck Jake managed to avoid Shining's spear or block his blows enough to get a good hard strike on the side of Shining's head. But it wasn't enough, Jake was at his limit his strength was giving out on him. Shining noticed this and proceeded to bring hard blow after hard blow at Jake wearing him down with each strike, it was hard enough blocking a spear with a metal pipe but Jake's weakened state only made it worse. Finally Jake couldn't even stand up anymore and fell backwards onto the ground. He managed to block one final blow before Shining yanked the metal pipe out of his hand and made a good hard strike against the side of Jake's head, nearly knocking him out.
Eyes barely open Jake felt something metal against his throat. Forcing his eyes open he saw it was the end of a spear Shining was holding against his throat. Jake knew exactly what Shining Armor wanted him to do. Jake barely managed to groan out. "I ... yield."

They pushed me into a sitting position, and then put handcuffs (or would they be hoofcuffs?) on my hands. I didn't even try to resist, I had given my word, and I had lost. Besides even if I wanted to resist I didn't have the strength to do so right now. At least they let me keep my hands in front of me instead of behind me. The ponies pushed me to my feet, and I barely managed to get up. They shoved me clearly wanting me to move forward. My legs ached so much! This was going to be a long hard trip.

Twilight felt like they were very close to Jake, the trail seemed to be getting a little stronger meaning they were getting closer. When the six ponies arrived at the River they noticed something odd. There seemed to be a strange little structure somepony had built. They stopped to look at it.

"Who do you think built this?" Fluttershy asked

"It must have been Jake. Who else could it have been?" Twilight answered.

"Why would he build such a stupid thing like that." Rainbow asked.

"It's probably a simple shelter he built to stay dry when it rains Rainbow." Twilight said.

"It looks dumb." Rainbow mocked.

"I'm sure he did the best he could in the time he had. Could you really do any better Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked.

"I'd just build a house out of clouds. Easy peasy 1-2-3eesy." Rainbow boasted.

"Well Jake probably couldn't build a house of clouds. So he had to stick with this. At least until he found Zecora." Fluttershy said.

"Whatever." Rainbow dismissed.

"Girls let's get back to following the trail." Twilight said as she began to head in the direction it lead. The others followed after her and soon enough they made it out of the forest. "We're very close now the trail is extremely fresh. Something must have slowed him down here. Come on let's hurry." Twilight and the girls ran ahead, but spotted something they hadn't expected. A group of royal guard soldiers were gathered around something. "Royal guards? What are they doing here?" Twilight asked.

"Let's find out." Rainbow said flying ahead.

Jake looked up and saw the rainbow Pegasus flying above the group of guards. "Whoa you caught him?! Hey Twi they got him!" 'Twilight does that mean that those six have caught up with me too. Oh this is just great.' Jake thought.
Twilight walked towards the royal guards, she couldn't believe that they'd actually managed to catch the creature. But as she got closer she was in for another surprise. "Shining!" "Twiley!" Brother and sister ran towards each other and hugged. Jake wondered how they knew each other, 'Were they boyfriend and girlfriend? No they were probably brother and sister.' He thought as he remembered that Shining was supposed to meet up with his sister. After the hug Shining and Twilight talked for a minute. Then they came back towards Jake and Shining spoke to him. "My sister says you fought her and her friends. Since she's my sister I should probably hit you for that, but she asked me not too, and I think you've taken enough of a beating already. Still I want you to apologize to my sister."

"Umm. Actually Shining I wanted to apologize to him."

This surprised Jake and he asked "What-wait why are you apologizing to me?"

"Because my friends and I acted rashly and attacked you without good reason. So we're sorry, and we'll make it up to you if we can."

"Could you let me go?"

"No sorry I can't do that."

Jake scowled "Of course."

"What are you afraid of?" Twilight asked.

"Don't mock me. You know exactly what I'm afraid of?" Jake exclaimed.

"I assure you I don't know what you're talking about. But Princess Celestia will be fair to you." Twilight reassured.

"Yeah sure. Just like when I was treated fair when I first arrived here." Jake fumed.

"What do you mean?" Jake remained silent. Twilight sighed Jake wasn't going to answer her.

"If nopony has any objections let's continue on to Canterlot Castle." Shining announced.

The guards pushed Jake forward, and he began marching, although after a few steps he fell over.

Fluttershy gasped and quickly flew over to Jake. "Oh my gosh. Are you okay?"

"Fluttershy?" Jake quietly spoke.

"He's in no shape to walk all the way to Canterlot." Fluttershy declared.

"Why do you care about that thing?" A royal guard Pegasus asked.

"He has just as much right to live as we do." Fluttershy stated. Shining assessed the situation before him, weighing his options before coming to a solution.

"Alright I'll send for a chariot to be sent from Canterlot to pick us up while he rests." Shining announced.

"Alright you just lay down and rest, I'll take care of you." Fluttershy reassured Jake. But Jake wasn't really paying attention, instead he was thinking about how he could escape. He had promised not to try anything and be taken to Princess Celestia. But nothing said he couldn't escape after that, and some of the supplies Zecora had given him might just help with that.