Marked

by Eisen

Chapter 24: The Pursuit of Knowledge

Author's Note:

New song for this week's Chapter. Hope you enjoy it, and thanks for reading!
Click here to listen to "Pursued"

For a moment, everything was still. She carefully scanned her opponents with her eyes, not daring to ignite her horn in this critical moment.

All four guards are pegasi, and all of them hold a perfect combat stance. Physically, I am completely outmatched... She tried to see beneath their sunglasses, but couldn't manage to see anything. Power wise, I am an Alicorn, meaning my sheer energy could easily take out these guys... and yet... Her eyes glanced from Reach's smug smile to the cold, emotionless expressions on each of the fighters' faces.

"Wait, I am of no value to you dead Reach! We can talk this out!" Twilight said to buy herself a little more time as she looked over the brutes. The last one of these guys I fought put up a very difficult fight, even against my full power... but then again, I wasn't thinking strategically at the time. However... there was only one before, and there were way more than four of these guys in the barracks earlier. If I dispatched these guys, they could just send more...

Reach spoke up after a moment of pondering her words... or was he giving her time to think? Was he so cocky as to literally give her time to think about the futility of her position? "Dead? No, no I have no intention of killing you. However, I did need you to test out a very important project of mine before I launch it. It would have been easier with your voluntary choice to be a part of it, but no matter. If you'll just go with these four guards to the R&D department, we can get you equipped right away," he explained, vague as always.

She continued to think, as she remained in a stance that kept the four at bay. They didn't move, and something told her that Reach was savoring having royalty at his mercy. I could always try to destroy the room completely, that would take out everyone here. But... I don't know what this place is made of, and even if I destroy this room, more guards could still flood in... and then I wouldn't even have enough energy to try fighting them off!

She was running out of options, so she stalled briefly once more. "If I go with them...what will they do to me?" she questioned.

He answered straight away this time. "I can't quite tell you everything now can I? Suffice to say it won't hurt. You'll be testing out a power control rig for me. Now it's quite amusing seeing you stall, but I have a very important council meeting in a few minutes, and I do not intend to be late."

He was toying with her, and didn't even attempt to hide it. She bit her lip and closed her eyes for a moment, eliciting a slightly raised eyebrow from Reach. Then, her eyes opened, and she stood still. I might just be faster than these guys, she thought to herself. She had a plan.

She decided to use trickery rather than raw attack power. Her horn exploded in a brilliant flare burst, temporarily stunning the five people present, although Reach's unshielded eyes never showed any reaction. She immediately rendered herself invisible and, mustering her energy, she created an illusion behind Reach's chair of her standing there.

Given the loyalty the guard in the city displayed, literally giving his life for the Trident, she calculated that they would try to save Reach without a second thought. So to make them think she was a threat to him? It worked perfectly.

As they attempted to tackle the illusion, she used the opportunity to slip out of the door. Reach looked up at the facility pressure sensor map and a flash of emotion sparked in his eyes: anger. "She just walked out the door! Don't be subject to her tricks! After her!" They immediately shot towards the door in a diamond formation, charging through. "Morons, all of them!" he muttered, calming down. He sat back in his chair and sighed in annoyance, before pressing a button on the arm of his chair. "Linda. There has been a slight problem here. There will be no test subject for the rig, I want it reset to the original specifications within the hour."

Twilight bolted for the exit door, traveling down a fairly long hallway until she entered a circular room with a high ceiling. There were three ponies inside, all wearing blue sashes and sunglasses. The mare of the three turned around and yelled "HALT!", and the other two, unicorn stallions, charged her as she got to the center of the room. She looked back and saw two scanners much like those used in the Equestria games to keep others from using their powers. Disabling booths...

She distracted them with a dazzling light as they charged her, blasting and missing, and cried out to the blinded guards as they ran straight for the sound... and right into the disabling booths.

She blasted the desk to block the hallway as she heard the pegasi approaching, and ran towards the door which she hoped led out of this place. As she entered and closed it behind her, she noticed that the only thing here was a spiral staircase going up. She dashed up it as quickly as possible, and tried caving in some of the wall around the stairs to slow down her pursuers.

Twilight found only a blank door at the top, and swung it open, finding another door on the other side. Stepping between them, she discovered that the other door was locked and, knowing that the stair rubble wouldn't hold the Trident for long, she blasted open the wooden door, the splinters disintegrating to ash before they even hit the ground.

"SWEET CELESTIA!" came a cry of distress. She looked to see shocked guards wearing police uniforms, none of which seemed at all interested in capturing her.

"Princess Twilight?" one asked cautiously. "Shoot, if she'd done this sooner, I coulda used the prize money from that 'find the princess' contest. Hope the winner put it to good use," said a surprisingly laid back guard.

"Where am I?" she questioned, wasting no time.

"Uh... Canterlot Prison. Not sure why you came out of the board room though. Celestia put you on prison keeping duty or something?" he inquired curiously.

She had little time. "Listen you're not involved. You never saw me. All of you, go home. You are officially royally pardoned." She ran out, leaving the guards to laugh and walk calmly out of the room and off to the staff room. Nobody else needs to get caught up in this...

After checking back and barricading the door to keep the Trident guards from getting out, she ran and ran along the prison halls, hearing faint banging from behind...

Twilight stopped briefly as she saw Ruby in a cell, lying by herself, with no visible injuries. "Ruby! I'm so glad you're okay! What happened?" the relieved princess asked hurriedly.

Ruby however had been knocked out before the black unicorn had exposed "Tara" as the princess, so she merely looked at Twilight strangely, silent as usual. Figuring this out, she hesitantly turned to keep running, and nearly ran into Gray Gravel, who was somehow out and about.

"Good gravy, It's great to see you two in one piece!" Gravel exclaimed. Twilight took a brief second to process that he was even there, given that he seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Gray! I'm so glad to... wait, how did you get out of your cell?" she asked, dumbfounded.

"Oh yeah! Turns out, Canterlot prison uses MY locks! Didn't even need a pick!" he stated, absolutely beaming.

Twilight was impressed, but heard running far behind her in the halls. "Look, no time to explain, but get her out of here. I'm heading to the Canterlot mountain peak, there's a cave near the top. If you get out, I'm there. I've gotta go," she said, not even waiting for a reply as she bolted away.

Eventually, she entered the minimum security wing. She couldn't hear the hoofbeats anymore, and was almost free of this place. Just a little bit further--huh?.

She found Shining Armor in a minimum security cell. He immediatly saw her and made eye contact. "What...?" she questioned, almost involuntarily at the sight.

Shining had an uncanny sense of what his sister was thinking, must be a BBBFF thing, and thus with her one word, he knew what she was looking for. "I was thrown in here and blamed for excessive consumption of intoxicating substances. The guards who put me in here didn't seem like my usual guys. They gave me the impression that this accuation was some kind of warning. It's a charge that'll let me stay captain of the guard, but I'm still in here for two more days," Shining explained.

Armor could tell she was in a hurry, and she was, but she needed another ally. She calculated her risk, and remembered what Reach said about curious princesses... Cadence wanted to know the truth long ago. And if something goes wrong... I think she would back me up. It was a dangerous gamble, but a one day buffer? She shouldn't be in that peak for too long, unless something happened. Two days was good for backup.

"Listen, bro, when you get out, and ONLY when you get out, tell Cadence to investigate the Canterlot Mountain Peak. And bro... thanks for everything. It'll be alright soon," she assured him, hearing the hooves enter the wing. With a nod to each other, she ran away, and finally reached the exit, running out into the daylight.

The princess looked up above to see the peak looming above Canterlot... and beside it, Celestia's watch spire. Ironic... her end goal was so close to her starting point, and yet she had come so far to find it.

Twilight looked defiantly at the spire, and could nearly feel Celestia's gaze from up there. There's no turning back now. Only truth, she thought, and disappeared into the crowds.

Comments

[badninja]

So the truth is out there. Go Twilight reveal the truth and set the ponies free! Cue X Files theme.

[QueenChrysalisForever]

I read this all in one night. It is 5:12am now. BUT NOW I AM GOING TO GO CRAZY WAITING FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER! Great story, very intriguing, edge of your seat the whole time kind of thing.
I'm surprised this doesn't have more views, it totally deserves them!

[Eisen]

7041557
7041564

Looks like I still have a lot to improve upon in the realm of grammar, and I thank each of you who has helped me out in the comments with it!

[Hillbe]

"Oh horse feathers the floor sensors . . . I got wings!"

meanwhile in ponyville. . .
Oh Spikey
Oh Rarity
Oh my gosh ohmygosh ohmygosh!
more cider
more bunnies
mo apples!
my cutie marks are bubbles!

[Eisen]

7042294
Perhaps, then, she would only do something like that if someone very close to her would be harmed worse otherwise. Just saying.

[Dlaf rferg]

I really like the story. Literally the only nitpick I have is the random capitalization. Like, literally the only nitpick. The spelling is great, the grammar is great, the plot is great, and you even make music for each chapter. Amazing.. And I use random capitals all the time, so if I were to post a story, it'd probably be a lot like this. Except with not as good plot. Or themed music for chapters.

[Fourpony]

Uh...Canterlot Prison. Not sure why you came out of the board room though.

So the "contest" covered all of Equestria, not just the Crystal Empire?

Listen, Bro, when you get out, and ONLY when you get out, tell Cadence to investigate the Canterlot Mountain Peak. And bro...

Since when has Twilight called Shining "bro"?

[wlam]

The story is interesting, but the writing quality really took a nose dive in this chapter. Typos everywhere, clumsy grammar and so forth. Dunno what's up with that. It was a lot better before.