//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Through the Front Door // Story: A Locked Jewel // by JesterintheNight //------------------------------// The Locked Jewel Chapter 2: Through the Front Door “Oh yeah… I did do all that didn’t I?... I’m going to miss you two…” He said in a hushed tone, Lockdown’s eyes snapped to Jasper. Justice was a little confused by his words until… CRACK! Jasper slammed his elbow right into Justice snout breaking the stallions nose, he fell backwards pulling Jasper with him. Using the weight of the stallion against him, he leaned all his weight into his knee slamming it right into Justice’s throat cutting off his breathing. Lockdown quickly tried to buck him, but as he raised his hind legs they got caught in the small elevator stopping him for a moment. Jasper quickly undid his chain from the fallen ponies belt, Lockdown tried to slam his head into Jasper. Who swiftly dodged wrapping the chain around the stallions throat chocking him, Lockdown coughed once before his air was cut off. His hooves frantically tried to pull the chain away only without fingers that was hard as his hooves helplessly slipped on the chains. So with no other option he began to throw his weight around like a rodeo horse would, slamming Jasper into the elevator walls they began to sway a bit. Soon though the swaying stopped as Lockdown fell to the ground out cold. Unwrapping the chains from the stallion’s neck, there was a painful gasp and a few coughs but he remained knocked out. “H-How?..” A voice came, Jasper turned to Justice who was still struggling to breath. Moving to his belt, Jasper grabbed the keys from the belt and quickly undid his cuffs. As he came free he wrapped the chain tightly around his left forearm and gripped the cuffs like they were brass knuckles. Turn to the coughing stallion, Jasper’s eyes looked cold. “Simple, you never fixed the chains to human size. You see in my world, the chain is only 3 inches long so that criminals can’t move freely. But because you didn’t know that, you changed the cuffs to fit me. But the chain is long enough so a pony can walk but can’t run or buck.” He said, the fallen guard eyes widen in panic. He was right, they were long enough to be used as a weapon. But that idea never accorded to them since they were used to pony prisoners not freaks. “N-Nicely d-done. But…” Justice kicked out his leg at the panel, it smashed the panel inwards but the light on the elevator turned blood red. As it did a siren above them could be heard… … ….. “What’s going on?!” A blue mane unicorn said in a panic as the screen infront of him lit up, his horn was wrapped in a golden band. A light blue aura began to light up the screen, the screen read ‘Elevator DC Breach’. “DC? The elevator to the execution chamber? Wait… the inmate!” He moved quickly to a microphone turning it on “Attention all staff Inmate 621 has breached security in area DC! Prepare to secure Protocol Mantacore is in effect, kill on sight I repeat kill on sight!” The door to the control room busted open as the Warden entered the room quickly. “Dark Light, I want an immediate Life Detection Spell on that elevator!” Coming to Dark Light’s side he nodded as his horn once again lit up, the computer changed images to three life bars. “Guard Lockdown is in the red, Guard Hard Justice is in the yellow. Inmate Jasper Abbott 621 is in the green no damage sir!” The warden’s blood ran cold, Jasper had somehow managed to take out two guards without taking a hit! His mind began to race as he thought of how to combat this, he quickly moved to a nearby golden ring and slid it on. As he did his magic turned on, he moved back to the other unicorns side and lit up the screen beside his. “I’m dropping the elevator.” He said without a second thought, Dark Light eyes widen in panic “Sir we have two of our own in there!” Not listening Warden quickly activated the elevator drop “Drop in 3…2…1!” The screen indicated a successful drop, looking back at the other unicorn “Life Detection now!” The unicorn weakly nodded once, the screen changed to only two life signs. “Both guards are…dead sir. Inmate 621 escaped” Warden slammed his hooves on the screen breaking it with ease “How did he-“ His eyes widen… the ladders built for the human to repair and move easily without the worry of himself getting crushed… “The ladders…” He said, he quickly took off for the door but stopped quickly by the door turning to the stunned unicorn. “Light I want the elevator to the surface turned on now!” The unicorn commended, the other weakly nodded once before his horn lit up on the screen above his normal one “Elevator SA is turned on sir.” The unicorn turned to his commanding officer only to see he was already gone… … ….. “Close call…” Jasper said as he looked down at the fiery remains of the elevator carrying to once proud ‘Lockdown’ and ‘Hard Justice’. “Can’t say they were the friendliest, but rest in peace.” He said before climbing up the maintenance ladder, he had built these in his second year of prison convincing the old warden that they were needed. He was an old fool but the older warden was much kinder then ole Armorheart. Jasper began to pick up his pace of climbing, no doubt that Armorheart was already on his way to the surface to cut him off. Only difference was it led the to the old fortress morgue which was three floors below the surface; so he’d have to fight his way to the top. “Unless…” Jasper stopped and looked around, his eyes scanned the walls below. Not seeing what he was looking for, he looked up and smirked. “There it is.” He quickly climbed up a little higher til he reached his destination. A metal grate the size of an average pony meaning big enough for himself to fit through. Looking around a bit he saw the metal cable that was once attached to the elevator below. With one hand holding the ladder the other reached out to grab the cable, though it took a few seconds. Once in his hand he pulled it over with a bit of effort given its weight, slipping it between the grate holes it took him a few minutes to slip it back his way. “Alright…here goes nothing.” Moving as close to the ladder as he could he snaked his leg between the ladder steps to keep himself secure. Grasping the end of the wire, he began to pull it through more til finally it reached its end. With a few tugs he made sure it was safe before leaning back a bit, as he did the grate began to strain itself trying to hold the weight of the cable and the weight of a malnourished human. Only going half way back he knew he’d have to fully lean back to break the grate, so bracing himself he pulled hard on the cable snapping the grate right off. But in doing so the sudden release caused Jasper to flail a bit trying to keep himself from falling. His nails dug into the walls to keep himself steady, he put all his strength into pulling himself up. He grasped the ladder and climbed a bit higher til he got to the now open grate; pulling himself in. “This should lead to the surface without issues…” He said to himself, he crocodile crawled his way through the rust filled vent. “Geez this place is a mess” Mumbling to himself, he paused a moment before sniffing his collar. His nose scrunched up in disgust, when was the last time he got a shower or even a bath? Sighing lightly he started to move forward again til he made it to the end of the vent, looking up he could see the vent continued upward. Standing up fully he placed his hands on vent walls, then his feet before pushing himself up a bit. “Good thing I lost all that weight…” Pushing himself up more he quickly lifted his hands and slammed them hard on the walls before pushing his lower body up. Continuing his climbing movements he soon made it to the top and lifted his body up into a 45 degree angle vent he quickly made his way to the very top finally making it to the vent grate. “Where is he?!” The Warden voice cried out in anger, Jasper peeked out seeing several security ponies charging past his hiding place to the elevator door waiting for him to come out. “Shit…I was hoping to avoid ole Warden though I figured he’d be waiting here…” Leaning against the wall of the vent he watched them moving to the door, with little effort the Warden’s horn glowed a golden glow as it forced the door open. “Pegasus squad down there now!” He commanded, several pegasi ran past the others going to the now open elevator shaft. With little effort four of them flew down the shaft in an effort to find Jasper, which made the convict nervous. It wouldn’t take them long to find the open vent, though if they got in the vent it wouldn’t be as easy as it was for him to climb. So he had that advantage but should they just decide to fly back up they could tell the Warden. And he could figure out from blueprints where Jasper would end up, so it was time to think fast. “If I stay I’ll get caught, if I climb out they will spot me in seconds plus this vents grate is locked. To break it off would make a lot of noise, and no other vent to slip into…” He mumbled to himself, placing his right hand on his forehead to try and think. Stay get caught, slip out get caught/killed on sight. And the odds of beating them all was very slim more so with that donkey out there. His magic more than happy to blow a hole in him… What Jasper needed was a miracle… “Sir!” Jasper’s thoughts were cut off as a single earth pony ran past the waiting guards to the Warden, his helmet had claw marks in it. “Sir! Timberwolves have managed to climb over the southwest wall!” Jasper’s eyes widen, Timberwolves? They weren’t native to this part of the Everfree Forest. Worse thing around here were Ursa minors, and a few cockatrices. But no Timberwolves… “This is not what we need right now! Squad 2 and 5 assist the guards at the wall, Squad 4 go to the armory and get some Drakebombs. That will destroy those wolves!” The two squads charged out to help the earth pony while the other one headed to the armory, leaving only the Warden who awaited the pegasus squad return. Squad 1 must have been searching below for him, so this was his best chance. So summoning all his strength he lashed out with his legs breaking the old grate right off, it slammed against the floor making Armorheart wipe around to see what the noise was. “Timberwolves!?” He said, but as Jasper climbed out landing with ease on the ground the old captain glared at him. “You! You piece of filth! How dare you try an escape.” He said, Jasper smirked softly before stretching a bit. “You really thought I’d just take my execution with a smile? I have something to do before I die.” He stated, Armorheart bared his teeth as his horn began to glow with its golden aura. “No doubt you’re planning to release your poison.” The captain said, Jasper didn’t say anything as he shifted his weight to his left foot to prepare for a fight. He had fought guards before Princess Celestia had him train with her Royal Guard in case he ever needed to protect himself from any pony who ment him harm. Despite sentencing him to this hell, she did treat him with a great deal of kindness… shame it ment nothing in the end. “Let’s just get this over with…” He said in a quiet tone, so only the old captain would hear him. As they stared each other down the only sound that could be heard was the battle against the Timberwolves outside the old morgue. Armorheart took one step toward Jasper, instantly Jasper took off in the opposite direction. “W-wait… HEY!” Armorheart was stunned for a moment before taking off in a quick dash after the fleeing inmate. Jasper quickly turned the corner with a bit of skid, he knew a fight against a unicorn would be next to impossible to winning without an actual weapon. And handcuffs for a human unless he can close the distance would be useless. “Come back here!” The pursuer shouted behind him, he turned the corner continuing after Jasper. Though with the lack of food in his system he knew he’d be caught in a matter of minutes if he didn’t come up with something… “Hey watc- you’re the?!” An earth pony in a white lab coat was ahead he was pushing one of the many carts that decorated the morgue halls. Jasper quickly dove over the cart, the pony beside it tried to charge for him. Only for Jasper to kick the cart right into the ponies head knocking him out cold, he then kicked the cart in Armorheart’s direction. “Like that will work!” The cocky stallion said dodging, Jasper glared a bit before continuing to run. He needed a plan and now, reaching the stairs to the floor above he skipped two at a time. When he reached the door at the top he quickly slammed it shut and took the cuffs off his left arm. Looping the chain around the handle quickly he wrapped the cuffs around a close pipe and latched the ends together. “That won’t stop him, but it will slow him down.” Jasper thought before grabbing a cart nearby, thankfully there was no body on it. Flipping it over to it was on its side he pushed it against the door, again to try and slow the angry Warden. Then…SLAM. Jasper looked up to see the small window seeing an angry stallion glaring at him. “S-Shit!” Jasper took off again, he couldn’t wait. It would only take Armorheart moments to bre-CRASH! Scratch that, Jasper looked back to see the door was against the wall opposite the doorway. Armorheart jumped over the turned over cart, well it work for a second or two. “I lost more time setting that up then gained.” He thought, moving past several tables against the wall he noticed they were tools used by the ponies for autopsies. Stopping for a second he looked over the table quickly he grabbed two of the tools. A hammer with a small hook on the end and some sewing thread, he could use these. And the best time was now. “F-Finally stopped running” Armorheart said slightly out of breath Jasper turned to him, he was breathing a bit heavy as well. This was the end of the chase and they both knew it, Jasper could run but in his shape he wouldn’t make it far. Armorheart is a perfectly healthy stallion, Jasper is an under fed human. Strength wise, Armorheart would beat him in that perfectly healthy or not. Speed, Armorheart. Experience, Armorheart. Toughness, Armorheart. And worse off, Armorheart know he has the easy win… “Wait…” He said, taking a single step back he put his hands behind his back both items in them. “I surrender…”Armorheart blinked a few times “What?” Was all he could say, Jasper smiled softly “I surrender” He repeated, Armorheart tilted his head a bit as if he hadn’t heard him until Jasper dropped the hammer. It clanged to the floor hard, the sound echoed through the halls til silence over took them. Not even the battle a few floors up could be heard, only their breathing. “You surrender? You do know I’ll kill you either way?” Armorheart said, he took one step closer to Jasper who didn’t move an inch. “I know… I just ask ya make it quick…” Armorheart raised an eyebrow at his final request, make it quick? Why in Celestia’s name should he make it quick? This human, destroyed an elevator, got two guards killed, climbed several floors, made him chase the bastard halfway around the morgue… He made it further than anypony ever did, with pure determination… “Fine… I shall honor your request for making it this far. Then I’ll erase you from history.” A cocky smirk pulled at his lips, that unicorn pride almost all horned ponies had. Armorheart moved his hoof against the ground once much like how a bull does to prepare itself to charge. And with that he took off, his sharp horn pointed right at Jasper’s heart. Closing his eyes Jasper prepared for the end. “Die prisoner!” He cried out as his horn pierced right through Jasper, Jasper slid back a bit grasping Armorheart’s head. Armorheart didn’t move though, letting him die on his horn in peace… “Ha…Ha…” Jasper wheezed a bit in pain, Armorheart raised an eyebrow but was unable to see Jasper. “Ya missed.” He said, Armorheart’s eyes widen as Jasper wrapped his arms around his neck. With a sharp jerk upwards a few pops were heard, Armorheart began to frantically kick his legs out. Though they slid on the stone floor helplessly til Jasper threw the struggling unicorn into one of the table breaking it with ease. “Y-You bastard!” He coughed in pain, he could feel one of the tools stabbed into his back leg. Pushing himself up with his front legs, he saw a small trend in the human’s hand. “What is t-that?” His eyes followed the string it led right to him, his eyes then looked up to see the other end of the string was somehow attached to the golden ring on his horn. “I’ll take that” Jasper said with a small smirk on his lips he tugged the string once; pulling the ring clear off the fallen unicorns horn. The ring flew through the air with which Jasper caught it slipping it into his pocket. He then released the string and walked over to the hammer picking it. “How did you survive!? I s-stabbed you!?” Armorheart screamed, Jasper blinked at him a bit confused. He then looked at his chest, nothing not a single scratch. Armorheart’s eyes widen in panic, he was unstoppable!? Jasper then smiled softly, he opened his left arm a bit there was a hole on the left side of his prison clothing. “That good thing about being human? You can make it look like you’ve been pierced if you time it just right.” Jasper said, he then chucked the hammer right at Armorheart. Who tried to push himself up in a hurry but in struggling fell back down in pain, how had he missed!? How had he fai- CRACK! And with that sound, the hammer collide with Armorheart’s horn breaking half of it off. The horn flew into the wall stabbing right into it, as for Armorheart he fell unconscious from the impact. His head slammed onto the floor, but he was alive. Jasper breathed a bit heavy, he gently touched his chest cringing in pain. “That’s a broken rib…” He said, he could feel the rib stabbing into his left lung. If he wasn’t careful he could have a pierced lung, the Warden had a harder head then he expected. Walking over to the tools on the floor he kneeled down carefully picking up a chisel and a normal hammer. Gathering some tubing used to drain blood from the body, he placed the chisel on top of the hammer head. Tightly wrapping the tubing to the chisel and hammer he crafted a makeshift pick, he could use it to climb the wall. “Just hope it holds…” Jasper said before taking off in a sprint though the pain in his rib was enough to make him stop once in a while. Taking small breaths to prevent his lung from hurting; he carefully moved to the first floor, til finally… “The courtyard…” Jasper said, it was quiet didn’t the guard say that there were Timberwolves? He took a single step, a soft crouching was heard. Looking down he saw it; grass beautiful green grass. Kneeling down his fingertips gently glided over the soft grass, carefully plucking one of the blades he brought it to his face. “It’s really grass…” He said with a smile, shoving it into his mouth. Biting into it he tasted the bitterness, it was fresh grass. He exhaled, it tasted amazing strangely. Moving his gaze up he saw the sky, the moon had just come out. “Shame…” He admitted, he woulda loved to see the sun again. He had been in prison so long, remembering Celestia’s sun was impossible. But hell, what would 12 more hours hurt? Taking another step he heard another crunch, then another, another, then thud…Thud? Looking down he saw a helmet. And a head inside it… “Huh?” A faint growling was heard as Jasper looked behind him. Timberwolf…wolves. There were several logs and branches moving around in a wolf shape, and all the strange animals were staring at him. With neon blue eyes, taking a step back from them he tripped backward landing hard on his back. The sharp pain in his lung made him cough several times, thankfully it didn’t pierce. “S-Shit.” He cursed under his breath, as he looked up he could see one of the wolves sniffing his left leg. It didn’t seem interested in biting him though, sliding back a bit to put some space between him and the wolf. He rolled to his stomach and began to crawl slowly to the front door. Noticing it was slightly propped open by a body of one of the guards, must be he was trying to escape the wolves. But why weren’t they attacking him? Glancing back he could see all eyes were on him at the moment, but they didn’t seem interested in attacking him. Almost like they were searching for something… but what? As he slowly crawled to the open door one of the wolves leaped down from the wall landing right in front of him. Stopping right in his tracks, Jasper couldn’t help but look up. There was a timberwolf that was easily double maybe even triple the size of the rest. It’s neon blue eyes watching him… “The alpha…” Jasper whispered, it took one step in his direction. It was challenging him to a fight, or was a test to see if Jasper would attack first? Jasper looked down at the ground, he knew fighting a timberwolf would end in his painful death. “I won’t fight you…” Jasper said, the wolf lashed out slamming its head into Jasper’s. Knocking him effortlessly onto his back, rubbing his head several time to try and push the pain away a new pain replaced it. A sharp stabbing pain under the skin, a pain so intense he couldn’t breath. Out of fear of what may happen, gasping a few times in short breaths. The alpha watched him for few moments before quickly growing bored. It took its huge paw of Jasper’s chest before walking away to join the rest of the pack… “T-This is my c-chance…” Jasper gasped as he quickly got to his feet and limped towards the open gate. Stepping over the body, and slipping through the small space…He was free, he took his first step out the open gate to see the Everfree Forest stretch out in front of him… “Phase 1, escape. Phase 2… find the virus…” Jasper thought as he limped into the dark woods. Leaving that god forsaken prison for good… … ….. “Rarity, thank ya’ll fixin’ Applebloom dress up.” A certain tan earth pony with three red apples on her flank said, she took her brown stetson off placing it to her chest. Showing her gratitude to one of her best friends, her emerald green eyes looked up to a light gray unicorn with azure eyes. The white one smiled gently placing a hoof one her violet colored mane, carefully pushing it up so it bounced once or twice. “But of course dear Applejack it was my pleasure, after all she’ll need to look her best for a fall formal at school.” The female unicorn said with a somewhat arrogant smile on her face, the two chatted for a bit back and forth why the earth pony walked her friend to the front gates of her farm. As the two said their goodbyes the farm filly looked up seeing several dark rain clouds coming from the Everfree Forest. “Ya’ll sure ya won’t want to stick around til mornin’ those clouds sure don’t seem too friendly.” The cowpony said, the unicorn looked to the clouds as well with a somewhat nervous expression. But she knew she needed to head straight home, she had a new client who needed a dress made within two days. And an overnight would be out of the question if she wanted to make the deadline in time. “No, no dear Applejack. It’s quite alright, I’m sure if I hurry I can make it home in time. Besides” Her horn lit up with a light blue aura as her saddle bag opened up. Her magic lifted a white umbrella out of the saddlebag, with a small click it extended open. And finally the cloth opened up revealing a three diamond design on it, lifting it with her magic it floated in an almost graceful fashion above her. “I came prepared” She said with that almost smog smile, her farm girl friend rolled her eyes but had a carefree smile on her lips. “Alright Rare, ya’ll becareful ya hear?” Her friend said in a concerned tone, Rarity simply nodded before her horn lit up. The glow of her horn lit the dirt path ahead of her as she trotted along in the dark. “My, my it’s getting dark rather quickly this evening.” She said to herself, glancing up at the skies she could see rainfall heading her way. Knowing she’d better pick up the pace, her trot turned into a gallop though she wasn’t quick enough as she saw the first drop of rain hit the dry ground in front of her. Sliding to a stop to confirm what she thought she saw, she moved the umbrella aside and held out of hoof. Sure enough a single drop hit it. “Maybe I should of accepted Applejack’s invite after all…No! I have a deadline, and I’m going to meet it!” She said with determination, though as she began to set off in her gallop once more all she saw was mud as her face planted into the earth. It took a few moments to figure up what just happened but she quickly got to her hooves. “My mane! My beautiful mane!” She cried out, as she franticly placed one hoof on her violet mane to try and clean it she took a single step back. Her back hoof stepped on something solid, a rock? Turning around she could faintly make out a large dark mass. “What’s this?” She said, leaning down the glow from her horn lit up a face of some strange creature she had never seen before. “Sweet Celestia!” She jumped back dropping her umbrella in the mud, running quickly to a nearby tree she dove behind it trying to hide from the creature. But after a few minutes of getting soaked by the rain, and there being nothing but the sound of water hitting the muddy earth. The unicorn slowly moved back, her horn lit up twice as bright as before so she could be a safe distance in case she needed run. As the glow hit the figure on the ground she nervously spoke out, trying to sound braver then she was… “E-Excuse me… A-Are you o-okay?” As she spoke out, the creature open one of its eyes revealing a dull amber color. The amber eye watched her for a moment before it closed in exhausted, it took a deep breath but stopped as it coughed several times. Despite never seeing a creature such as this before, that cough sounded painful. “D-Do you need assistance?” The somewhat worried unicorn said, she watched the creature for a moment who didn’t move aside from breathing. She knew whatever it was wouldn’t last the night in this weather, nor would it survive whatever injury it had received. So her magic picked the umbrella up once more and brought it over to fallen creature covering it from the downpour. “Don’t worry little darling, I’ll take care of you…”