Trapped
Chapter 17
Twilight, Applejack, and Discord were led out of the hall through a side door, two pegasi leading them and two following behind. The fifth member of the ambush flew above them. They walked through several short, wide hallways. All of them made of the same mountain stone and decorated with aging tapestries and oversized paintings. Twilight's gaze darted back and forth as she kept her head low, making a mental map of every turn, door and room they passed through. Committing every painting, piece of fabric, and outdated decoration to her memory as she hastily pieced together an escape route. The only problem was, how to get to a point where they could use an escape route. The guards still had their crossbows aimed directly at them, flapping their wings to hover above the ground. The overhead guard flitted his gaze to Discord every few moments, obviously marking him as the biggest threat.
Twilight had to share the sentiment. Every doorway and window they passed she expected him to seize an opportunity and make his move. Each time she tensed herself, ready to react and focus on protected Applejack and herself. And yet, every time, he didn't so much as take a step out of place. He marched between the guards in front and the two ponies, his head kept down, as if constantly ready to strike. His eyes were narrowed and glued intently on the guards leading the way. But he made no move. Twilight, despite being relieved that, so far, no chaos had erupted, couldn't suppress her growing frustration. He should be doing something. Why wasn't he? What was he planning?
They reached a spiral stairway leading downwards. The small rectangular windows along its wall showed the last remains of daylight were dying away. The bottom of the stairs opened up to what was the town jail. A black, barred gate greeted them, beyond which was a long, dark passage with numerous steel doors lining it on either side. The doors each had an impressive lock, and a small, slit for a window. At their foot, there was a second slit, no larger than a letterbox, meant for food to be passed to whoever was inside. The place was eerily quiet, and no matter how hard she strained her ears, Twilight couldn't hear any sound of ponies being behind the cell doors.
They were led to the door furthest from the entrance. One of the guards unlocked it, Twilight making sure to take note of where he pulled the key from. It was made of the same black steal as the door, and was surprisingly small and sophisticated looking. This wasn't some ancient lock designed hundreds of years ago. This was a modern creation by a skilled locksmith.
Once the door was open, the guard pony stepped aside, turning his gaze back to the trio. Without a word, they were ushered inside, the guards' crossbows aimed at the ready. Once all three of them were in, the guards closed the door again, the neat 'click' of the key locking it shut.
The three of them waited for a few minutes, listening to the sound of leaving hoofbeats. Twilight and Applejack's heads turning to follow the sound. Once they were sure they were alone Applejack gave a loud, frustrated huff, stomping a hoof against the stone ground.
“Well this is a fine mess if I've ever seen one! I can't believe these insane cultists were right here in town under our noses!” She spun to Twilight, waving a hoof at the door angrily. “Did ya hear what she was sayin' about unicorns and magic and whatever the heck else?! I know Oggie said these guys were outta their minds, but I've never heard such crazy talk in all my life! Do you even believe this, Twi?!”
“Ok, ok. We just gotta calm down,” Twilight said, her head turning back and forth as she took in every inch of the jail cell. There wasn't much to see. It was the same stone walls, floor and ceiling as everywhere else they'd passed through. Some ancient hay lay in one corner but besides that, the square room was completely barren. Not even so much as a chain against a wall. No windows, mouse holes, or cracks between the stone could be seen anywhere. It was in infuriatingly good condition.
Twilight growled to herself, walking over to the door and looking it over. “There has to be some way out of this place!”
“Why would there be? It's a jail cell,” Discord grumbled darkly. He'd lain down on the musty hay, the tip of his tail twitching back and forth irritably as he fiddled with a stalk in his claws. His ears were flattened as he scowled to himself.
Twilight ignored him, laying herself down flat to inspect the slot at the door's foot. It only swung inwards and she couldn't hook her hoof under it properly. Even if she could, it was too narrow to put her leg through it. Behind her, Applejack trotted closer, flattening herself as well to try and find a way to help.
“Did you hear what she said?” Twilight asked her as she struggled with the door, “About the stone?”
“Something about a pony called Blue Jay stealin' it,” Applejack said, watching her. “Ya said Blue Jay was the right hoof pony or somethin'?”
Twilight nodded, finally giving up on the slot and sitting back, shaking her hoof painfully, “Oggie said that Black Lavender was the unicorn in charge of The Defectors. Blue Jay was supposed to be his second in command.”
“She said something about him killing this Lavender guy,” Applejack summarised, thinking it over with a hard frown. “Sounded like he was still alive. Don't really see that mare lettin' the guy stick around with how mad she sounded. He probably ain't hidin' out in that fort, then.”
“Meaning the stone's not there any more either,” Twilight finished, fixing Applejack with a serious stare.
Applejack gave a drawn out sigh. “Which means... we're high and dry and ain't got nowhere ta go from here.”
“Yeah...” Twilight said, turning to stare at the metallic door.
There was a long pause, each pony running this new information through their heads. The thick walls of the cell echoed the silence around them. After a while, Twilight took in a shaking breath, held it for a moment, and then let it out. Applejack turned to her when she did, watching her face. After another moment of silence she finally spoke.
“So... what do we do, Twilight?”
Twilight said nothing for a few minutes, her gaze locked unseeingly ahead of herself. She then adjusted her wings and stood up. “I don't know about this missing stone, or Blue Jay, or any of that stuff. But right now the first thing we need to do is get out of this building, find the others, and leave. We can try and think of something when we get away from here. But let's take this one step at a time.”
Applejack nodded, getting up as well. “Good advice. So, first thing's first; we gotta get outta this cell. Uhm.... any ideas?”
Twilight bit her lip. She gave the door another glance before looking over the room again. It stubbornly refused to give her any new answers. Her gaze rested on Discord who hadn't moved since he plopped down to sulk. He was staring at the wall, his chin in his paw as his claw idly picked at the hay and snapped stalks of it one by one.
Twilight felt her throat tighten. She didn't like to admit it, but no matter how angry she was with him, she wasn't so petty to deny they could use his help.
She sighed, swallowed her pride, and then spoke up; “Discord, can you do anything to help?”
“Pardon?” He snapped his head up to blink at her, woken up from his brooding.
Twilight gave him an annoyed stare. “I said, can you do anything to help us get out of here?”
He stared at her for a few moments before he sunk, his ears flattening again as he fixed her, to her surprise, with a rather toxic glare. “And what, exactly, would you have me do?”
Twilight stared back at him, wide eyed. She shook her head and frowned back, but with considerably less venom. “I dunno. That's why I'm asking. Could you do something to move this door, maybe?”
“Like what?” He snapped, sitting up. “I may be stronger than you ponies are, but I am by no means that strong!”
Twilight's frown darkened as she felt her patience strain at his tone. She bit back her anger, “Do you have any magic working for you at all? Maybe you can make this slot bigger or-”
“No I do not have any magic working for me, Princess Twilight!” Discord interrupted her, getting to his feet.
“Well, you got any other plans?!” She snapped back before she could stop herself. “I don't hear you coming up with any bright ideas on how to get out of here!”
“Twilight...” Applejack said nervously.
“Maybe that's because there is no way out of here!” Discord yelled back, turning and pacing in place, keeping his gaze locked on Twilight. “Did that ever cross your oh so intelligent mind, Celestia's Faithful?!”
Twilight made a noise in disbelief at this, frowning hard at him, gritting her teeth. “We're not gonna get anywhere if you just sit there and sulk instead of at least trying!”
“So what?!” He stopped, throwing his arms out. “What would you have me do, Princess?! Melt down the door?! Turn it into pudding and we eat our way out?! Teleport us away?! Summon a giant crab to free us?! Shocking as this news may be for you, magic, isn't, WORKING! I can't do anything! We are stuck, Princess! We are stuck in this pitiful pony cube with no power to break out!” He stared pacing back and forth again, growling at the floor, “Never in all my life would I have ever seen myself caught and held prisoner in a crude stone box made by pony hooves with no hope of escape! I should laugh so hard I could weep!”
“So you're just throwing up your hooves and giving up?!” Twilight slammed a hoof against the ground. “Is that it?! You think it's too hard so you're not even gonna try?!”
“Don't try and take the high and mighty road with me, Twilight Sparkle!” He spun back to face her, stabbing the air with a finger. “If it weren't for you we wouldn't even be in this situation!”
“Me?! What did I do?!” Twilight yelled back.
“Guys, this is seriously not the time to-” Applejack tried her best to intervene but neither of them seemed aware that she was in the room.
Discord threw his head back and gave a loud, fake laugh. “Oh, you have to be joking! Where do I even start?!” He started counting off on his fingers, “You ignore my advice when I tell you there's something suspicious in this town! you disregard every single thing I have had to say on this trip not even considering for a moment that maybe, just maybe, I might have a better idea of what I'm talking about than you do! When I say something that, despite being true, clashes with your oh so precious world view you automatically write it off as nonsense! You spend all your energy focusing on how much you despise me instead of paying attention to things around us! Frankly I find it remarkable we haven't all been eaten by mountain trolls by now! You have been hostile, irresponsible, and selfish this entire expedition and blaming your own narrow-mindedness on me! And you're surprised it has gotten us in trouble?!”
Twilight felt her cheeks burn as blood rushed to her face. The words stung, and they stung hard. She gave her wings a meaningless flap, fighting back angry tears. “And what about you?! Are you saying you're the innocent, misunderstood victim getting bullied here?! For every useful thing you've said on this trip you've said a thousand other things for no reason other than to scare us, or make us angry so you could get a reaction! You said whatever you could think of just so we could give you a single ounce of attention! You act like you're five years old!”
“Oh well, I am so sorry that my behaviour would affect your concentration so much you'd allow your friends' lives to be put in danger!” Discord put his paw and his claw to his chest mockingly. “Please forgive me! I had no idea my very existence is such a burden to you! Please! Allow me to volunteer to go first when those ponies come back so you can at least have five minutes without me before they start with you next!”
“Now that's enough!” Applejack said loudly, taking a step forward.
Twilight shook her head, hard. She felt furious tears run down her face. “They're not gonna get a chance to do that!” She fixed him with a hard stare. “We are going to get out of here! But we need your help!”
“And I've already told you, I can't do anything!” Discord flapped his wings at her, his tail swirling back and forth. “Do you think I want to stay stuck in here?! Do you think I enjoy the fact that we're trapped here while Fluttershy is outside in this town by herself?! Rarity is still with them! And you can trust me that once these maniacs are done with unicorns, eventually they'll start with the pegasi as well!” He broke his gaze away from her, looking around the cell himself, a panicked frown crossing his face. “Oh yes, I am far happier being locked in here while the others are by themselves out there! No, this is far nicer! I enjoy picturing what they'll do to Fluttershy when they catch her! I enjoy the idea of her getting hurt! It's an absolute delight!”
With this last statement he swung out with his tail, slamming it hard against a wall. There was a rain of dust, but otherwise the cell refused to change in response to the blow.
Twilight coughed, breathing in a mouthful of the falling dirt. Beside her, Applejack took a few, long strides forward, standing herself dangerous close to Discord and glaring up at him with a no-nonsense expression.
“Alright, now I've just about had enough of this temper tantrum,” She turned and shot Twilight a hard look, “From both of ya'll!” She turned back to Discord. He stood as if made of stone, glaring down at her as if he was gonna lash out and eat her at any moment. She was unmoved by the expression. “Look, I get it. You're scared and you're worried. But panicking ain't gonna solve anythin'.”
“I am not scared!” He yelled furiously, raising himself as high above her as the roof would allow.
“I don't care what ya call it!” Applejack said. “Whatever it is, it ain't helpin'. Now calm down.” She turned around, facing Twilight. “And that goes for you as well, Twilight.”
“But he's being so-!”
“I don't care!” Applejack said sharply. “I don't care if he just told ya you're actually a duck he turned into a pony and your whole life is a lie! This ain't gonna get us outta here any faster and it ain't gonna help anypony still out in the town.” She gave Discord a glance over her shoulder. “It ain't gonna help Fluttershy if ya lose it 'cause some crazy pony pulled a fast one on us.”
Twilight bit down on her tongue, taking a series of deep, hard breaths. She raised a foreleg and started rubbing at her face, trying to wipe away her tears.
“And so what if we do get out, and everypony is fine, and there's a nice symbolic rainbow and they've won over the entire cult with the magic of friendship?!” Discord snapped at Applejack, although the anger was fading from his voice. “What then?! There is no stone for us to steal, Applejack! It's too late now! We have failed! This whole quest was pointless!”
“Maybe it was, and maybe it wasn't,” Applejack said bluntly, her expression not so much as flickering, “But like Twilight said; that ain't what we gotta focus on right now. First, we find a way out, we get together with the others, and then we can talk about the rest of this mess.”
Discord flopped back down, crossing his arms on the ground in front of him as he scratched at the stone floor with his claws, an acidic expression on his face. For a moment it looked like he wanted to say something else, but seemed to change his mind at the last moment, glowering at the floor instead.
“Applejack's right,” Twilight spoke up. She sat down in place, rubbing at an eye with a hoof before turning to look at them both.
“Of course she is, she's just repeating what you said!” Discord snapped at her.
“I meant,” Twilight hissed at him, “She's right about... the other stuff too.” She shifted in place, breaking eye contact. “It doesn't matter what you say to me, I shouldn't let it get in the way of actually doing what's important.”
“I believe I said that before she did.” Discord grumbled.
“Well then you were right!” Twilight yelled, fixing him with an angry glare.
Discord said nothing, glaring back at her. He gave a huff and turned to sneer at the wall beside him instead.
Twilight watched him for a few moments. Applejack leaned forward into her line of sight. She pulled a slight face and tilted her head in Discord's direction, meaningfully. Twilight swallowed, sighed, and then cleared her throat.
“Look. Discord,” She started. He didn't move, but she saw his eyes turn to stare at her through his frown. “You drive me crazy. You really do. But...” She faltered. She clicked her tongue and gave an aggravated groan before plowing forward. “You always say things which make me angry! And they make me angry because... well... you say a lot of things that I don't like hearing. Especially because I kinda sorta know... you're telling the truth.”
Discord showed no reaction to this, but he kept his gaze on her, staying silent. Applejack sat down, her gaze locked on Twilight as she gave a soft, encouraging nod.
Twilight continued, “I don't think you're very nice, and you don't choose the best way to say things. But it's only when you say things that I know are true that I really get upset.” She pulled a pained expression, “Maybe if I wasn't so hung up on those things, this wouldn't have happened.”
Discord kept silent, but he turned to frown at her straight on. Something was behind the glare though. He still seemed angry, but a slight hint of confusion was there. If Twilight didn't know better she'd call it uncertainty. Applejack shot her a small, soft smile as Twilight took a deep breath, getting ready for the plunge.
“If it really is my fault we got into this, then I'm sorry.” She stood up, adjusting her weight self-consciously but not breaking eye contact. “I don't know what we're going to do about the stone, or Blue Jay, but right now we need your help. I'm worried about the others. You are too.” She softened her expression. “Is there anything you can do?”
Discord stared at her. He looked deeply conflicted, his claws frozen in mid-scratch on the floor. He turned to look away, his ears flattening once again, but not in anger. His eyes ran slowly across the entirety of the room, a light frown settling on his face. He pushed himself up and walked over to the steel door, sitting down to inspect it himself.
Applejack came to stand beside Twilight, watching him. Twilight felt a soft nudge in her side from an elbow. When she turned to her friend, she was greeted with a warm, gentle smile. The farm pony stared at her for a moment before turning back to the door, waiting.
Discord rubbed his chin with a paw before taking a step back. He held both paw and claw in front of him, cupping the air as he stared hard in concentration at the space between them. From where they stood, Twilight could see the tendons in his hands tense up. He was frowning to himself, hard, almost as if in pain. She could see him grit his teeth.
A long, drawn out moment passed, and then Twilight saw it. A small, glowing orb of white started to spin in the space between his hands. A tiny, faint, flicker of magic. She held her breath. Seconds ticked by as the small orb grew in size, painfully slowly. Beads of sweat formed on his head as Discord strained with effort. The small collection of power flickered, faltering. With a small gasp, Twilight stepped forward. She lowered her horn, standing close to Discord as she closed her eyes and focused as hard as she could on the glowing marble of light. She forced everything she had into her horn, her shoulders tensing painfully hard. The fur along the back of her neck all down her spine stood upright. Slowly, a sensation of heat grew in her horn. She focused in on it, blocking out everything else. Her entire being homing in on only that small, tiny spark. There was a sensation like a static shock and she felt it shoot itself free. The glimmer of purple swirled itself around the collection of magic Discord was trying to keep in existence. The ball made a telltale sound and popped with a flash of light.
The door clicked open.
Stats
Page generated in 0.025 seconds
Total duration
672 users online
1,147,344 hits today, 2,571,732 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
4828716
Of course he does. Who wouldn't want used panties?
YES!! TEAMWORK!!
Perfect. And this is the chapter that earns my like. I love how Discord's character is developing, and Twilight's as well to a lesser extent. It doesn't feel like anyone's out of character, it's that they're growing, and that growth feels so natural, the change doesn't feel out of place.
Discord, as a character, is growing, but he's still Discord.
You've probably never even played D&D, have you?
"Twilight, despite being relieved that, so far, no chaos had erupted,"
I see what you did there!! And I LOVE IT.
"I don't care if he just told ya you're actually a duck he turned into a pony and your whole life is a lie!"
That part made me giggle, I don't know how you came up with something so brilliant!
(Please excuse me if I formatted those quotes wrong, this is my first comment.)
4861849 While I liked this story long before this, TheMessenger pretty much wrote in clear, concise words just how I feel about this story and the brilliant writing, plotting, and storytelling, with all the characters perfectly portrayed, especially Discord--all while having them develop in ways that change them, but staying true to their character. I will never stop loving this.
Not sure I saw any other issues, or at least any that really stood out to me.
Amazing chapter, by the way! Can't wait for more, as usual!
YAY! :D
i do hope this means Discord wont get hurt! but still teamwork! :D
great chapter and i love how Discord actually is scared for his friends so yay more character development.
SEE I TOLD YOU!!!!
4861849 Oh thank you very much
It's inevitable that characters will change in a story, but I suppose my real concern was whether it was believable of the character. This chapter is a very important one for Discord's development, so I'm very happy to hear you feel it flowed from what has happened previously and wasn't just this "Oh, he has to develop now!" trigger switch.
4862253 Oh dear, I hope it's not really all that painful to read.
I'm doing my very best to keep every-one in character and not doing what I refer to as “character assassination” just for the sake of drama. But although the characters may do certain things which are not really... commendable, I like ALL of the main six, and have no intentions of writing them with disdain for who they are. I hope you like the story, but if it's not your cup of tea that's fine too. I hope at least my intent comes across clear, even if it's not to your preference. Thanks for reading! 
4862311 Chapter 18: Rocks fall and everyone dies. The end.
4862400 That's alright. I've never used the quote format so I have no idea how it works. Thanks for reading!
4863763 Not exactly playing with lightning is it?
But yes, there is still a tiny bit of magic there it seems.
4864497
Kek was top
derpicdn.net/media/W1siZiIsIjIwMTMvMDYvMDcvMThfMTJfMDRfNDAzXzM0MjUzMV9fc2FmZV9tZW1lX2ltYWdlX21hY3JvX3Bob3RvX2ZpbmlzaF9zcG9pbGVyX2NvbG9uX2VxdWVzdHJpYV9naXJscyJdXQ/342531__safe_meme_image%2Bmacro_equestria%2Bgirls_photo%2Bfinish_spider-dash-man_camera_spoiler-colon-equestria%2Bgirls_neat.png
You know shit really has hit the fan when Discord is down to the power level of the least talented wiz(z)ard ever.
I was getting ready for an emotional make out scene between Discord and Twilight...
Looking forward to the next chapter!
That was a fun update!
Hmm... Where to begin... First off as far as the story goes you've been keeping things fairly well paced so that, when a scene like this comes along, it's believable. In the show a scene like this would've been much shorter for time constraints, that said, I don't see too much of a problem with this. Are Twilight/Discord a little OOC? Yeah, but only when compared strictly to the show, it's been set up so that this is more character development than being OOC, perhaps a bit of a stretch, but within my suspension of disbelief.
And outside was Queen Elizabeth who'd thought to knock the guard out and get the key.
Discord face-pawed, "Oh Faust, it's like "Day of the Doctor" all over again."
I had to.
The Life and Lies of Twilight The Duck.
Ooh, I really like where this chapter's gone, with tensions coming to a boil and then Applejack forcing both Twilight and Discord to put a lid on it. I was expecting it to come down to Fluttershy, but I think Applejack works even better for the role. Twilight's finally acting like a Princess of Friendship with the apology. Discord didn't actually apologize in turn, because that's not quite his thing, but his renewed efforts to help were more or less his equivalent of it. That moment at the end where Twilight helps Discord unlock the door - that was perfect. Neither of them could do it on their own, but if they put aside their differences and worked together, they could succeed. Indicative of future character development, I hope.
Is that a Princess Tutu reference?