Choice

by AnOrdinaryWriter

9

You spin around, facing the pink pony at the end of the hall who eyes you with a buoyant, and yet wicked grin. Bursting into a full on sprint, you charge at her.

In a split second, Pinkie Pie’s brows crease into a frown, and she stops walking toward you. She didn’t expect you to do that.

“Derpy!” Pinkie shouts. As you continue to gallop in her direction, you hear a sudden thrash of wings behind you. The sound rises in volume and a heavy gust of wind hits you in the back. On instinct, you duck down, and out of the corner of your eye, you see the gray mare soar over you before colliding dead on into Pinkie’s chest like a bowling ball, causing the two mares to fall to the ground.

You don’t waste any time in leaping off the ground and making a run for it, speeding down the hall in the opposite direction. You hear the voice of Derpy crying out in concern for Pinkie Pie, and then an order barked by the pink mare to catch you before you escape. That’s when you hear the sound of wings being deployed again and then the jet like sound of the mare flying after you.

You push your legs to run faster to get out before the mare can catch you. Unfortunately, you are not fast enough. A stabbing pain shoots through your side as you suddenly feel yourself propelled off your hooves and you collapse to the floor, rolling to a stop.

Your attempt to stand proves futile when pain causes you to fall right back down. Everything hurts, especially your side. A pair of hooves land next to you before two forelegs wrap themselves around you as to assure that you won’t get away. You wouldn’t be able to though, you know that for sure. Derpy’s assault against you must have broken at least a few ribs.

“I caught the pony, Pinkie!” Derpy exclaims proudly, however her expression falls when she sees Pinkie Pie clutching the side of her ribcage, wincing with every breath inward.

“Hang on, I don’t feel too great,” Pinkie says, grunting again from pain and screwing her eyes shut. “I think something might be broken.”

Derpy’s ears fall. “Oh no! I’m so sorry, Pinkie, I didn’t mean to—”

“Its okay, a few broken ribs isn’t the end of the world. You did well, but lil’ old party pooper here decided to ruin everything!” she shouts with a glare aimed at you, but regrets that as she lets out another pained groan and curls further into a fetal position.

You struggle to get out from Derpy’s grasp, but her hold on you is too strong, and in the condition you’re in, each movement is a very painful one. The gray mare growls in frustration. “What do we do with the party pooper?”

“Throw the pony in the cell for the night, we’ll figure it out tomorrow,” Pinkie says.

Derpy nods, and faces you. “We’re gonna teach you some manners, naughty pony!” There is a brief pain in the side of your head, and you lose consciousness.

***

When you wake up, you find yourself surrounded by a thick darkness. Your head hurts badly as though thousands of nails are being nailed into every part of your body at once.

As you recall your situation, you are suddenly wide awake, and your eyes dart around your surroundings to discern where you have ended up.

Surrounding you is a set of vertical, thick metal bars that section off a tiny section of a much bigger room which, once your eyes adjust to the darkness, you realize is the same room you woke up in before. You’re trapped in some sort of prison.

You start looking for a way to escape. As you get up though, spikes of pain suddenly shoot through your side and you fall back down, caught off guard. Right, Derpy had crashed into you and broken your ribs. That would be trouble.

Carefully, you stand again. The pain is milder, but your midsection still burns, like your being held above a burning fire. You then start looking for a way out. From what you can figure out, the iron bars are A: sturdy, and therefore not breakable, and B: too close together to squeeze through to the other side.

At the far end of the cage is a barred door that has been padlocked from the other side. After a brief analysis, you determine that, although you may not be getting through there using your body, the door is rusty and weak, a quality you discover when you attempt to open it and the door nearly tumbles off its hinges.

Now you just need something to break the door open. Something that can be used like a crowbar. You walk around the cage for a little while, making sure that your kidnappers don’t come back down while you’re awake. During your search, you find that the top part of one of the iron bars looks to have been chipped. When you reach up to grab it, it wiggles in place. With a good pull—mustering through the resulting pain in your side—you manage to tear it off quite easily.

You bring it over to the door and slip the end in between the door and the frame, before pulling back on it. The door creaks in protest, budging bit by bit, until the door pops open with a deafening tear of metal that pierces the air and echoes loudly through the room.

Hoping that neither Pinkie nor Derpy were within earshot to hear that, you open the door wider and step out into the room filled with Pinkie Pie’s sadistic decorations. Who would have thought that a mare as happy and cheerful as her would have been a mass serial killer, no less Derpy, the mailmare who always brought a smile to everypony’s face with her day to day attitude…?

You start walking toward the hallway out of the room, eager to get out of there as soon as possible, only to stop in your tracks when you hear a distant creaking of wood at the end of the hall and a rush of light floods into the basement.

You back up into the room and hide in the nearest corner as a pair of bouncy hoof steps begin making their way closer to you. Remaining quiet, you listen out, and the steps continue to get nearer and nearer. You don’t dare to budge, not intent on getting caught by her.

Eventually though, the footsteps begin to fade until their completely gone. This causes you to wonder if Pinkie left. If so, you can make a run for it, and get out while you’re still alive.

You find yourself stumped on your next course of action.

Stay Hidden_____________________________________________________________________________________________Run for It