A Rich Escape Plan
“They keep this place awfully dark.” Filthy Rich slunk behind his wife next to the walls of the compound. Fortunately, the floor was not bare stone, so, without any shackles on anymore, there was no sound echoing, except for the whispers of the two of them.
Of course, this means that they also had no idea where they were going. Going to the work yard was out of the question, and that was the only place they clearly remembered. Trying to remember that first day, full of fear and stress, was not getting them anywhere. So they were going to wander the facility, hoping to find something to help them leave, having to improvise.
“Yes… they never seemed to have difficulty seeing anything. Do you think they can see in the dark?”
“In the dark?”
Filthy Rich could make out an affirmative nod from his wife. “They breathe water, right? In a place with less sunlight, perhaps they can also see better in the dark.”
“... They are really like a whole different sort of creature, aren’t they?”
The conversation fell silent, leaving him to consider the unpleasant thoughts that they might have seen them as less than real ponies.
The fact that they were not actually out of danger was announced by the loud sound of clanking. Spoiled Rich perked her ears up, her whole body moving to an alert stance. Filthy Rich, for his part, started looking around in a panic.
Spoiled Rich backed up into Filthy, turning his shoulders around. “The intersection before. We need to go down the other direction,” she hissed, trying to keep her voice down. “Hurry.”
The two of them hustled back, attempting to stay quiet, ahead of the loud clanking announcing the marching of some soldiers. They cut down the side of a switchback, where there were even some boxes to hide behind, and they quickly found their way down there, down the direction away from their old holding cells. They turned around, peeking outside from the boxes.
Filthy Rich felt his heart beating in his chest loudly, as he tried to control his breathing. Looking at Spoiled, she had her jaw set and teeth grit, breathing deep breaths. Two guards in their coral looking armor, with spears mounted on their sides and helmets that only allowed their mouths to be seen, marched in at a quick pace, and they stopped at the intersection, and one of them turned to the other.
But the sound of clanking armor didn’t stop, and they looked around confused for a moment. Before they could say anything, there was the callout of a high pitched voice behind the guards, and a third guard came, running behind them, this one armed with a sword sheathed at her side instead of a spear mounted on her armor.
One of the previous guards barked an order to the new guard, and she panted heavily, and made a snappy salute, announcing something.
There was a grunt and a sigh from another guard, who then barked something else at the interloper, put her hoof to the back of her head and laughed.
The leader guard ordered something, and the three of them split up to look at the three pathways of the intersection.
Which meant, of course, the new guard was headed to them. Filthy Rich and Spoiled looked at each other in a panic, and both scrambled to find better hiding places. Spoiled found crevasse of boxes to crawl into the corner of, but as Filthy looked around in a panic, he realized there wasn’t anywhere to hide. As far as he could see, anyway, and he pressed himself into the corner by another box, hoping that the guard would trot by, not looking.
The guard trot by, not looking.
Filthy Rich let out a sigh of relief.
The guard’s ear perked, and she turned around, looking directly at him.
Filthy Rich froze, his heart pounding in his chest. The guard looked to the left and to the right, apparently not seeing Spoiled Rich, and looked down at Filthy Rich. She leaned down slowly to him, creeping slowly down, as if not to panic him.
The voice whispered a word.
His ears perked. He was expecting a foreign word. A word he could not understand. But that word… sounded a lot more familiar.
“Filthy, it’s me,” a voice whispered with insistence.
A shadow skulked up behind her, the dark form that Filthy knew was Spoiled. A form he knew would have drawn a dagger.
Filthy grabbed the mare in front of him, and yanked her back, creating a loud clatter of metal noise as the guard collapsed onto the ground, and Spoiled missed her stab. She glared at Filthy from behind the guard.
“Wait, I think this--” Filthy was cut off by a call from the other guards.
The other two guards charged, weapons attached to their sides. Spoiled leapt back from the guard on the ground, and Filthy attempted to extract himself from the guard, and stabilize himself, but was not fast enough, and quickly found a spear tip pointed at his neck. He backed up to the crates and wall behind him, and the spear came forward along to him.
Spoiled grit her teeth, looking behind her, into the darkness of the hallway behind her, and looked back to Filthy Rich, pinned against the wall.
The other helping guard helped the mysterious female guard up, clearly asking if she was alright, and she muttered something noncommittally. The spear wielding guard turned back to Spoiled, motioning her to join Filthy up against the wall. She cursed under her breath, gave a last quick glance at the mysterious hallway, and trot over to her husband.
The guards made officious noises and bluster, like they were satisfied with themselves, and behind them, the guard with the sword drew something else from her armor. It looked like a black club of some kind. She quietly moved beside another one, and rapped him on the head solidly with the object.
The guard collapsed straight down, nicking Filthy on his neck, stinging but not deep.
The other guard wheeled around, staring at the betraying guard. His hoof came up and smacked the betrayer’s mouth, knocking the weapon out of it, and he further came forward and wrestled the helmet off of the betraying guard.
From underneath an orange mane billowed out. The mane of Dawn Crest.
The other guard backed up, obviously shocked. He started saying something, and Dawn made a face at this. The guard got more vehement, saying something outraged. Dawn Crest was saying something in the sea pony language, and getting vehement herself.
From behind him, Spoiled snuck up, her dagger ready for stabbing, and raised her head.
Dawn Crest protested in the sea pony language, and the guard whirled around, knocking back Spoiled with his forehooves. He stabbed menacingly at her, only to be struck in the back of the head with the club by Dawn Crest.
Spoiled spat the dagger out. “Now what was that?!”
“You were about to stab him!”
“He intended to enslave us, and might have killed us himself!”
“I didn’t come in here to save you by slaughtering my people.”
Spoiled Rich looked like she was about to retort but bit her tongue, and came back more sedately. “We just had two ponies come into our cell, intending on beating us and finding an excuse to harm us more.”
Dawn Crest sucked in a breath, and grit her teeth, she looked like she was about to say something, but no words came out of her mouth.
Filthy Rich forced himself up. “Staying here is no longer an option for us. Please tell us you have a plan to get us out?”
Dawn Crest shook her head. “Sorta. I was planning on heading for the sea sleds. Let you guys out toward the sea by some other exit, and take one out and pull you to a safe place.”
The two of them looked somewhat dubiously at Dawn.
“I did expect to have a day or two of planning.”
“Well, we don’t have that,” Spoiled Rich said. “So this will have to do, and we’ll hope that your plan is workable. Where is our exit?”
Dawn grimaced and slid her helmet back on. “That’s the problem. I haven’t looked around, and the only exit I know is only somewhat less dangerous than going through the front.”
“This is hardly less dangerous!” Spoiled Rich spat in a whisper.
They were at another entrance to the caves, a large opening, and on the outside, bathed in light moonlight, there were an array of huts, with occasional sea ponies milling about, and the light of a fire in a few places.
It was the living quarters for the worker ponies.
“We are going to be caught!”
“Relax,” Dawn Crest said. “We don’t have to go through the town. We just need to sneak around the side to the shore. Then we’ll swim to the gate, and I’ll go in and fetch a sled.” She slunk forward, making a clatter that seemed far less loud outside of the tunnels of the compound. “Come on.”
“Wait,” Spoiled Rich, whispered.
“What?”
“Are you going to be able to pull the sled by yourself? You are smaller than I am.”
Filthy looked at Dawn Crest. She was indeed a petite thing. “I admit, I find it unlikely you’d be able to pull the two of us.”
Dawn huffed. “Look, it’s not ideal, but I can do it. We just need to make sure not to get caught. Now come on.”
The three of them slunk around the side of the camp. Fortunately, the huts were not facing the wall of the cavern, that would be silly, and they had a pretty clear shot. At least, until the coast was rather near, and one of the huts was nearly pressed up against the cavern wall.
Dawn held up a hoof, halting them, coming up to a nearby hut, and peeking around the corner. “I only see one pony nearby, look.”
Filthy and Spoiled peered around the corner of the hut, and indeed there was one pony attending a fire, a largely built pony, too.
“I’ll sneak first. I’m the loudest, but if he sees only me I can probably explain it away. Then the two of you come by.” Dawn started slinking very slowly, behind the pony poking at the fire forlornly with a stick. She still made vaguely clinking noises, from the armor, but she slunk so very slowly… and slowly made her way past the pony, to the other side.
Filthy Rich let go of the breath he was holding, huffing in relief. Only two more. He looked back at Spoiled, and nodded. The two of them set out, sneaking along the same path. Filthy put his hooves down as gingerly as he could, trying not to wince as he could hear very faint shuffling noises, from his clothes, from the sand underneath him. It was like every tiny noise resounded loudly.
But the pony didn’t look away from the fire, and as Filthy and Spoiled grew closer, they heard him muttering to himself, lost in thought.
Filthy Rich crept along, passing the pony far too close for comfort, but he was on the other side, and then, from behind him, he heard a clatter. His heart stopped and he slowly rotated his head, to see his wife having knocked down a tall metal kettle of some sort.
And the pony behind them turned around, his eyes wide like discs. The pony reared up and looked like he was about to shout, but almost as short a different shout, although not very loud, came from Dawn Crest from the side.
She ran up, frantically saying something in the sea pony language. The pony seemed stunned by this action, and began to converse with Dawn Crest.
Filthy Rich looked back at Spoiled, who mouthed ‘sorry.’ He snorted and shook his head, the mistake already forgiven.
Dawn was holding a conversation, imploring the sea pony to do something, no doubt let them go, gesturing back to Filthy and Spoiled.
Spoiled took a step forward, putting a hoof on Dawn Gleam. “Dawn… I think you should convince this pony to come with us.”
Both Filthy and Dawn stared at Spoiled. “What? Why on earth do you think I could--”
“When we escape, he is going to be blamed for our disappearance. If he wasn’t before, he definitely is now, if we have to knock him out first. He’s been blamed for all our attempts to escape so far.”
Filthy gave a second look at the stallion, and it clicked. This was the stallion that was appointed caretaker for Spoiled. The one that was punished for her sneaking off the other day. The one that was clearly not in good favor by the leaders of the camp, as a result.
Spoiled continued. “The other ponies barely tolerate his actions, and they probably already suspect him of being a traitor. He has no future here, and his only real option is to come with us.”
Dawn turned to the other pony slowly, and said something deliberately. The other pony’s demeanor changed immediately. He protested. Dawn pressed, with a half astonished tone, and he started protesting more vehemently.
As the unable to be understood argument continued, Filthy looked at Spoiled.
She leaned over to him. “To be honest, I don’t think Dawn could pull the sled alone. It was fortunate we ran into this specific pony,” She whispered, a smug smile appearing on her face.
Filthy stared at her. This pony… all of the things that happened to him were her fault. The ostracisation of the other ponies. Being blamed for her actions because he wasn’t able to control her well enough. His situation was her fault. And now… in order to make sure we could escape… she was asking him to come along. He looked down to the knocked over kettle, and realized it wasn’t even on their sneaking path. It would have to have been knocked over deliberately.
Filthy looked back at the conversation, and Dawn was asserting something strongly, and the other pony, despite being larger, was clearly in the throes of doubt. He was shrinking down, making himself look small, his ears were laid back, his expression conflicted.
In one final summoning of courage, the work pony stood up, saying something definitively.
In response, Dawn Crest took off her helmet, and the pony was taken aback. With the same conviction, she declared something else, then, a moment later, followed it up with a gentler thing.
The worker pony had one final conflicted expression, but sighed. He said something, almost resigned, but looked into her eyes and nodded.
“Alright, he’s in.” Dawn spun around and started marching off. “Come on.”
Filthy filed in behind the worker pony, next to Spoiled, who had a satisfied grin on her face, but all Filthy felt was a sense of unease.
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I didn't choose the tough life. The tough life chose me.
Well, we knew Spoiled Rich was evil from the show, so it's not that much of a surprise.
That flowed correctly as far as I could see.
8494405
You mean... how the Riches interact with the adventurin' lifestyle?
8494637
Well, I was hoping it would still seem at least a little twisted, to be responsible for the situation you later exploit to convince someone you're their best hope to be safe.
8495131
I know you knew I was worried about whether Sand Castle's presence would seem intrusive, but what did you think of it from a not-flow perspective?
8495168
I'm not sure what the other perspective I should be looking is. Everyone made sense and no one felt suddenly out of character.
Makes sense. Spoiled played dirty but I would have done the same thing.
Spoiled Rich is one cold, calculating, evil waifu.
I like seeing Spoiled act so cunning. It makes a lot of sense to me. One doesn’t climb social ladders without some skill at manipulation.
Sand Castle is likely better off with them, anyway. Maybe he’ll find a new lifestyle where his weaknesses don’t matter so much.
That, or he’ll die. Oh, geez, I hope he doesn’t die!
8506981
Cunning's her game.
If "better off" could mean "no longer part of an empire devoted to conquering the land and enslaving them" probably!
Of course, he also gets to throw away his old life and dreams, too!
Yaaay.