Half-Hour Horses

by HoofAndQuill

Alone Together [Sad?]

(The Prompt: Not with a bang, but with a whimper.)

(Warning: Sad depending on interpretation of the last scene. It's left intentionally vague.)

Princess Twilight Sparkle furrowed her brows as she tapped her glowing horn lightly to the stone door. Her horn flicked and went out on contact, and then lit again as she pulled back. "It's... obsidian. The whole room is."

"And that's bad?" Rainbow Dash eyed the door cautiously, having already nearly split a hoof kicking it while it was shutting.

Twilight nodded. "It's not impossibly strong or anything, if we had tools we could break out easily. But we don't, and it's a natural magic dampener. There's no way I can break us out of here, or teleport through it."

Rainbow landed on the floor, favoring one hoof. "So, what, we just sit here?"

Applejack's voice carried from the other side of the small room they were all in. "Don't you fret, Sugarcube. I got two saddlebags of apples and cider, we'll be fine waitin' for rescue."

"Oh!" Pinkie Pie's smile almost lit the otherwise lightless room by itself. "It'll be like a slumber party! Come on girls, let's dance!"

Twilight only hesitated a moment before smiling. "Keeping our spirits up is important, a party might be fun!"

Rarity's horn glowed, and multicolored lights shone through the room, lifting all their moods as the party kicked in.

--

The small, dark room was quiet again.

The walls were black, smooth, and depressingly undamaged. Neither of the unicorns had their horns glowing, and so all six friends sat there in perfect darkness. The silence was so deafening and complete that the other five all jumped at the quiet sound of Fluttershy's voice. "I hope Angel is okay."

"Really? Your little bunny? We're stuck in this stupid castle and you're worried about that?"

"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack frowned in the direction Rainbow's voice had come from, and carefully moved toward Fluttershy. She put her hoof around the shivering pegasus' withers. "Don't you worry, Fluttershy. Angel's smart as a whip and his bunny friends don't ever seem t' have trouble stealin' my apples."

A moment or two passed, and then Twilight spoke. "I hope Spike is alright. I left him in charge of the library, and... he's only a baby dragon."

Rainbow Dash's voice carried a hint of remorse. "Spike's a tough dragon, he'll be okay. I left Tank with Scoots, so... he'll be fine. They'll all be fine, Fluttershy."

Applejack lay down next to Fluttershy, taking comfort on the warmth of the other pony's coat against hers. "I'm more worried about Big Mac an' Apple Bloom. We all got family, they must be worried sick."

--

"Applejack! Lay off it!" Rainbow Dash snapped out angrily.

Applejack stopped her hind legs a moment before her hooves would have hit the wall again. "I just can't take it anymore, Rainbow! I gotta get out of here!"

Rainbow stamped her hoof on the floor. "You can't break the wall, we've all tried, Applejack. But you're being loud and you've been at it for hours!"

"An' just what in the hay am I supposed to be doin'? Just sittin' here waitin' for-"

Pinkie Pie sat up quickly, and spoke just a bit too fast. "Hey! How about we play I Spy? I'll go first! I sp-"

Applejack stamped on the floor, making a much lounder clap than Rainbow had. "Quiet, Pinkie! It's black as pitch in here an' there ain't nothin' to see anyway. Even if we had a light, all you'd see are broken cider bottles from your darn fool jugglin' nonsense!"

Pinkie wilted against Fluttershy's coat, her voice quiet. "It was an accident..."

"Hey! Leave her alone!" Rainbow stood up and glared in the direction that Applejack's voice was coming from. "It's not her fault we're stuck. Twilight was the one that wanted us to explore this stupid trap-filled castle to start with!"

Twilight's horn lit brightly, and all the ponies stopped and blinked in the sudden brightness. When they looked again, however, Twilight didn't seem angry. Her eyes brimmed with tears. "Please girls, I know this is hard, and our tempers are short, but... I'm sorry, I didn't mean... I'm sorry."

Rainbow Dash looked down, and rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. Applejack scuffed at the floor. After a moment or two, both walked over to Twilight, and hugged her close.

--

The silence hung heavily over the group, in the darkened chamber.

Every little shuffling movement made just enough sound to draw everypony's attention, and so nopony really wanted to move. Even Pinkie Pie just lay limply against Fluttershy's wing now, having given up any attempt at making her friends smile.

This time, it was Rainbow's voice that broke the silence. "I always thought I'd go out flying."

Nopony answered her for a few moments, and she spoke again. "You know. Fighting a dragon or something. Something really awesome like that. Save the day but then, boom, gone, and everypony remembers me for that."

Applejack spoke carefully and evenly. "Don't go thinkin' like that. But uh... I sorta hoped I'd go surrounded by my family. This ain't too far from it."

Rarity didn't lift her head from her forelegs. "I at least had hoped for the dignity of being buried in some sort of glittering dress."

Pinkie's voice was low and miserable. "I didn't EVER want to go."

Princess Twilight lit her horn just a little, allowing the bare, glimmering outlines of all her friends to be visible. She spoke with obviously false confidence, even though her dry throat made it a bit raspier than normal. "We'll be okay, girls. We're not... dying here. Somepony's sure to rescue us."

Her friends didn't look impressed, and just lay their heads down again. Twilight's horn flickered, and then went out.

--

Spike panted heavily, coughed, and then took a deep breath. Sure, this probably looked easy. It's just breathing out, right? But you try breathing out hard, over and over, for half an hour. Easy really isn't the word.

He took another deep breath, and blew out flames at the lock again. The stone took a lot of heat to get to melt. The top edge of the little cut he'd managed glowed, and bits of molten stone dripped away from it. He blew out air until his lungs ached and he felt completely drained, and then he gasped for another breath.

He took a few seconds to catch his breath. "Twilight... Please be okay. I know it's been a long time, but I couldn't figure out where you were, and, and I don't even know if you can hear me in there, but you've got to be okay."

Another hour of breathing out fire passed before he heard the stone creak, and then saw the latch on the trap snap. The door dropped down into the floor, and the light fell across several ponies laying on the floor inside. They didn't react. Spike took a step into the room.

"... Twilight? Girls? Are you all okay?"