The Crystal Caves of Confuzzlation (Iota Force Issue #6)

by The Iguana Man

Chapter Four: Cells and Cellmates

The group continued looking around, as if there could have been an exit to the room that they'd all just missed somehow. However, after a short while, Truffle spoke up. “Well, I don't suppose any of you can walk through walls, can you?”

There was a general shaking of heads among the Manehattanites. “I mean, maybe it ain't impossible,” Caprice said after a moment, “but I ain't never seen nopony do that one.”

Truffle nodded. “I thought as much, but couldn't hurt to ask.”

Archer smirked. “Heh, can you imagine how stupid we'd look if one of us could do that and we just didn't think to ask or try it.”

Caprice chuckled. “Yeah, I guess. But since that ain't... Zat, what are you doin'?”

Zatrathan looked up from his apparent attempts to poke his sword into the ground and shrugged.

“To phase through solid matter's quite a feat:
A sword could pass through armour, shield and hide.
I didn't think I'd solve it quite so neat,
but hey, it couldn't hurt me if I tried.”

Archer smiled and gave a small chuckle. “Well, I'm sure you'll get it one day,” she said, causing Zatrathan to look up in surprise and, Icy could have sworn, get a very faint blush on his face. Seemingly not noticing this, Archer continued. “For right now, though, maybe it'd be a good idea if we shared what we can do so we know what we have to work with.” There was a murmur of agreement before Archer spoke again. “I can hit a bullseye upside down and blindfolded. Icy?” She spoke entirely matter-of-factly, not sounding particularly smug about this claim, just that it was the case and there was nothing more that needed to be said on the matter.

Icy shook her head, a little unprepared for the subject moving on to her so quickly. “Oh, um, well you probably saw, but I can freeze things and make ice.” She called up a small amount of energy into her wings, turned to the wall and flapped, sending a freezing gust that formed a block of ice on the wall.

“Yeah, felt that,” Caprice said, rubbing a hoof against her jaw in recollection of it being briefly frozen. “Gotta say, would not have called you bein' a pony under that illusion – I ain't never heard o' no magic like that, 'specially not from a pegasus.” She looked to Zatrathan, who simply shook his head and shrugged. “How's that work, anyway?”

Icy shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. Actually,” she thought for a moment, “you were obviously using some kinda magic during the fight, so you probably know a bit about how magic works. So, your guess is probably a lot better than mine.”

Caprice chuckled. “Maybe if I had one, but I got nothin'. Still, seems like a real useful trick.”

Icy looked to the side, a little embarrassed. “Well, I only found out I could do it a few months ago and I'm probably not as good as I could be with it yet. Sorry if that's a problem – I'm still learning.”

Caprice shrugged. “Hey, we's all still learnin'. That's what bein' a kid's all about, ain't it?”

“Speak for yourself,” Archer replied. “Not sure how much better I want to be.”

“Well, it can't hurt, can it?” Truffle asked cheerily. Archer looked like she was about to reply before he cut her off. “and as for me, I think it's less a matter of learning and more of growing. Sure, my gut may be magnificent, but I think I could still bulk up a bit more.” He gave another slap to his belly. “For the moment, though, it's enough for me – I've got a suit to protect my skin and fat to protect the rest of me. If you need someone to take a hit, I'm your colt!”

Caprice smirked. “Well, guess that'll give Wing a break. Speakin' of, Wing, you wanna... Wing!” she called to the filly, who had sat herself down, rested her shields against her sides and closed her eyes.

Rolling her eyes, Caprice rapped a hoof against a shield, sending a ringing sound through the area and jerking Moonwing into action. “Sorry, sorry, I'm here.”

Icy tilted her head. “Were you asleep?”

Moonwing shook her head. “Nah, I got all o' that. Sharpshooter, freezer, wall.” She pointed to Archer, Icy and Truffle in turn. “I just figured since we weren't going anywhere, I'd rest up a little.”

“O... kay?” Icy said, still a little unnerved. Sure, she was used to Archer and her perpetual relaxation, but when she was fighting, Moonwing had been incredibly active and energetic, but now she moved and talked as if she was half-asleep and falling.

“Anyway,” Moonwing continued languidly, “I'm sure you've noticed the wings.”

There was an awkward murmuring from the members of Iota force. They'd all noticed them, of course, but weren't sure how to bring them up without putting their hoofs in their mouths.

After a moment, though, Moonwing waved a hoof. “Yeah, I know. Don't worry about it, I'm used to the stares and the explanations. I've got a condition – Plumal Alopecia. Translation: my feathers all fell out. Happened when I was a lot younger, so I figured, hey, might as well use 'em for something.”

“You lost your feathers, so your next thought was to become Captain Equestria?” Icy asked, considering that thought process for a moment before smiling. “Nifty idea, good for you.”

Moonwing gave a slow, gentle laugh. “Well, I'm nowhere near that good yet. Like Caprice said, we're all learning. I've got the first few ricochets down pat, but I'm not able to make it come back to me yet. That's what the recall beam's for.”

The instant she finished speaking, Moonwing leapt suddenly to her feet, looking so alert and active Icy could scarcely imagine it was the same filly as a moment ago. Particularly since there had been absolutely no transition – one millisecond she seemed half-dead, the next she was more alive than seemed possible.

Once she was on her feet, she picked up a shield in one of her bare wings and hurled it at a wall. The shield spun through the air, bounced off the wall and hit another two before it started flying back through the room, though not towards its wielder.

However, Moonwing simply pointed a wing at the wall, a near-invisible beam of blue light shooting out from the metal covering on the tip of it. The beam bounced off the wall it was aimed at, crossing the area where the shield was about to be and bouncing off a second wall before fading into nothing. As soon as the shield crossed the beam, though, it altered its trajectory to follow it, bouncing off the same wall the beam was before returning to Moonwing, who jabbed her wing forward into the handles, taking hold of it again.

That done, Moonwing sat down again, rested the shield against her side once more and resumed her state of near-torpor. “So, yeah, that's my thing. Caprice?”

Icy shook her head, trying to parse the bizarre spectacle she'd just seen, but quickly gave up as she looked to Caprice, who was giving her a sympathetic smile.

“Yeah, that's Moonwing. On or off, nothin' in between.” She said before shrugging and picking up her violin. Plucking the strings a couple of times, she began tuning it as she spoke. “As for me, I'm just a musician.”

Zatrathan raised an eyebrow.

“A music mare, first class, one cannot doubt it.
But we both know there's nothing “just” about it.”

Caprice rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I know, Zat, I was tryin' to be all subtle an' dramatic an' stuff!”

“Well, we did see that energy of yours when you were playing,” Icy pointed out. “So, I guess you can cast spells through your music. Although, I thought spells were a unicorn thing – was it a spell?”

Caprice rocked her hoof sideways. “Eh, kinda-sorta-but-no-but-kinda. It was magic, yeah, but you might or might not call it a spell. Spell usually means somethin' real specific – a focused, constructed dose o' magic you usually need a horn for.”

Icy frowned, a little confused. “So, that wasn't focused or constructed?”

Caprice grimaced awkwardly for a moment. “Again, kinda, but not in the same way. See, it all comes down to how the various tribes' magic works,” she explained, though Icy was briefly confused when she pronounced the last word as ‘woiks’, but she got a handle on it before Caprice continued. “Way it's generally explained, unicorn magic is the magic o' change. It's about shifting things around, makin' or alterin' things, so ye need to get real specific about how ye cast it an' what yer tryin' to do.”

Icy's brow remained creased as she tried to parse this. “But... I've seen loads of unicorns do stuff that doesn't really change things. I've seen them detect stuff, hide stuff, teleport... I mean, telekinesis isn't really changing anything, is it?”

Caprice smirked. “Kinda, though it ain't as simple as that. It ain't just changin' one thing into another, it can be about changin' how the world works – bending space so's ye can 'port, bendin' light around an object to hide it or makin' light outta nothin' to show what ain't there, sendin' out pulses and sensors to find things. And telekinesis is just makin' yerself somethin' outta energy to pick up or push somethin'.”

She lowered her violin, leaning back as she got into the explanation. “Now, pegasus magic, that's the magic o' movement an' force. Course, they don't got the range of a unicorn, what wit' no horn an' all, but your magic's all about movin' stuff or puttin' force into it – weather, yerselves, ye even put a little force into clouds to make 'em solid enough to stand on. Course, I'm guessin' you already know this, since that's what ye've been doin' wit' those gust of yers, but I figured I'd go over it anyway – refresher-course, like.”

Icy looked at her wings, not mentioning that she wasn't actually aware that was how she could make her gusts – she had been doing them instinctively and just assumed they were part of her ice magic. Still, it did make sense that they were from her pegasus magic and served as a conduit for her cold energy.

Still, she didn't dwell on it long, as she was curious about the next part of the explanation. “So what about earth ponies? I know their magic can make them strong, agile, let them grow stuff and live longer, so what's their magic about?”

Caprice grinned, a twinkle in her eye that Icy recognized from many ponies, as well as Spike – they were getting onto her favourite subject.

“Life,” she said, plucking a string on her violin and creating a spark of green energy. “It's all about life – enhancin' it, channellin' it, usin' it. We can get a whole lot more life in us, pumpin' us up physical-like, or we can send it out. We can grow, we can heal, pump up our friends. Think ‘bout it: how many pegasus and unicorn nurses you seen?”

Icy thought for a moment. “Well, there are unicorn doctors at our hospital…”

Caprice nodded. “Oh, yeah, unicorns are great for scannin’ an’ surgery an’ all. And it ain’t like any tribe’d have trouble wit’ learnin’ the theory and doin’ diagnosis an’ all that. But when it comes to the day-to-day healin’ an’ carin’? Earth pony, every time. Course, most of us can only do it by touchin' things or maybe sendin' it through the ground, but if yer good enough, there are...”

She put her violin to her chin for a moment and played a single, resounding note. As she did, a faint wave of green energy flew out and over the assembled ponies and, just for a moment, Icy felt a surge of strength and power in her. Her eyes widened at the sensation as Caprice smirked.

“...other ways o' doin' it,” she finished.

Icy shook her head, the surge of feeling taking a moment to get past. Fortunately, it seemed Truffle was more on the ball. This may have been due to his own earth pony heritage, as Archer also didn't seem as taken aback by it.

“And what about you, Zatrathan?” he asked. “I was familiar with the three kinds of pony magic, but I confess, I don't know much about how zebras do things.”

“Yeah, we only know one zebra,” Archer added, “and she's a real expert on potions, but we don't know much beyond that.” Zatrathan opened his mouth to answer before Archer's mouth again quirked up into a mischievous smirk. “Though, I gotta say, shooting lightning outta your sword? Way cooler.”

At that, Zatrathan seemed to choke on his words, a faint blush reasserting itself on his fur. After a second, though, he shook his head and began.

“Perhaps, but... well, allow me to explain:
though sword and potions use two different schools,
they're both a zebra's use of the arcane.
Our magic works through objects, crafts and tools.
For magic runs through more than living souls,
but dwells in every speck of stone and steel.
And though these things have not a being's goals,
they can be shaped, refined and brought to heel.
At times we bring an object's magic out.
At times we channel our own magic through it.
We oft imbue our power if there's a drought,
until, whate'er we want, the thing can do it.
And as for me, my sword is one such thing.”
He rapped a hoof against his sword, causing a surge of white energy to flow through it, sending out a ringing chime. He smiled as he finished:
“In short, while in my hooves, a sword can sing!”

Icy hummed as the rhyming explanation came to an end. “So, you're saying that what she can do with potions, you can do with a sword?”

Zatrathan shook his head, smiling.

“Alas, besides that, now, I am no master,
her craft can put most spells into a vial,
while I'm a much more focused kind of caster.
A blade-enchanter's not so versatile.
But still, for our most common group-objective,”
He tapped the sword again, a spark of black-and-white lightning shooting from his hoof onto the metal.
“I often find my magic most effective.”

Archer nodded. “Okay, so we've got a... blade-enchanter, you said?”

“We just call him a Swordcerer.” Caprice replied, earning a bashful smile from Zatrathan.

“Well, what they call it matters not to me,
it's blade-enchantment or it's swordcery,” he explained, rubbing the back of his neck and shooting Archer an apologetic and embarrassed look.

Archer, however, just took it in stride, giving him an easy smile. “Cool. So, a swordcerer, a life channeller, a shield-thrower, a sharpshooter, an ice-maker and a fatso,” she summed up.

“That's about the size of it,” Truffle added proudly.

Archer nodded. “Well, with all that, I'm thinking we can probably figure out some way out of here.”

There was a lengthy pause as everyone looked around the room, which remained thoroughly featureless, with utterly empty walls, floor and ceiling.

Caprice sighed. “Well, I got nothin'. What about you guys?”

Icy opened her mouth to reply when another voice interrupted.

“Well, are we having fun yet?” the distorted voice of the mystery filly echoed from the room around. On one of the larger flat surfaces, the image of her started fading into existence. “By the way, I should point out that these beasts... aren't...” She trailed off as the image fully clarified, her domed head tilting at the sight before her.

“What are you just sitting around for?!” she asked, the imperious tone to her voice gone. “Don't you know what danger you're in? These are hideous, inequine creatures from the deepest pit of Sombra's dark experiments and they absolutely will not stop until you. Are. De- you've seen through the illusion, haven't you?”

Archer smirked briefly. “No, we were just sitting down to have tea and a chat with these monsters – what do you think?”

The filly groaned, a hoof coming up to the dome and passing through the presumably-illusory crystal, the foreleg's motion suggesting the hoof was pressing gently against her forehead. “Great, just great! You couldn't just do what you were supposed to for five minutes, could you?”

Icy opened her mouth again to inform her that they had been fooled for at least that long when Archer pre-empted her, her smirk dropping. “Oh, I'm so sorry. Tell you what, when we find you, I'll put a few things in your mind so you can ignore 'em.” She held a sharpened arrow up to her forehead menacingly, a growl coming into her voice. “Mine are a little more direct, though. Good luck!”

The filly scoffed, her head-dome tilting up as she was no doubt holding her nose in the air, and spoke again, trying to regain some of the authority she'd had a moment ago. “You're the one who needs luck! It's not like it matters that you saw through the spell. Even together, you're not getting out of here. This place was designed to keep whole groups of grown-ups contained, I think it can hold you.” She giggled, the distortion on her voice giving it an odd tone. “Isn't it amazing? There's all kinds of locks, bars and traps that a prison can have and none of them are quite as effective as a simple room without a door.”

Icy frowned as she thought. She waited a moment to make sure she wouldn't get interrupted again before asking, “Well, in that case, why did you make us fight each other in the first place?” Not that she didn't understand why that could happen – when two hero teams met, odds were that some villain would force them to fight each other. It's just that there was usually a reason for it – the villain wanted them to destroy or weaken each other. If their prison was indeed inescapable, what was the point.

The filly shrugged. “Well, no sense taking chances. I can't see how you could escape, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't keep you busy so you don't have a chance to find a way. Still, no need to be worried. King Sombra knew how to build a prison, so it's not like you losers'd find a way out that I couldn't see.”

Icy thought for a moment. “Well, I mean, it probably wasn't him who built it. He may have designed it, but he probably made his slaves build it.” It was a point of pedantry, but Icy still felt compelled to point it out.

Archer snorted. “Yeah, too bad you don't have any slaves and you're not going to. Ooh, I've got an idea!” Her mouth rose into a nasty smile that looked positively surreal on her normally laid back face. “Why don't you make yourself some illusions of slaves. Insert 'em into your own mind instead, cause that's the only way you'd ever convince anyone you'd have ponies willing to work for someone like you. Who'd wanna work for...” She paused, the uncharacteristic hatred fading briefly as she thought about something. “Hey, what are we supposed to call you, anyway?”

The filly giggled again. “Do you really think I'm so stupid that I'd give you my real name?”

“Crossed our minds, yeah,” Moonwing interjected briefly.

“Hmph!” the filly huffed before drawing herself up. “Well, it doesn't matter anyway. You're never gonna get a chance to face me and use it, so you can call me whatever you like!”

There was a brief pause before Caprice shot off an ironic salute. “Can do, Cap'n Fartypants!”

The filly's posture slumped and, though Icy couldn't see her face, she just knew that it was levelling an unamused glare at Caprice, who looked singularly unfazed by the ensuing silence.

After a few seconds, the filly sighed. “Dammit!”

Caprice shrugged. “What, you don't like that one? How about Transparent Mare? Glassface? Ooh, ooh, I got it! The Crystal Dome!”

The filly groaned. “Couldn't you just call me the Mystery Mare or something?”

Caprice tilted her head from one side to the other, as if weighing the name. “Mmm, nah, don't really roll off the tongue.”

“Grah!” The filly held her hooves out from her head in exasperation. “I should have just come up with a fake name!”

“Don't worry,” Icy assured her, partially out of sympathy and partially because now she was thinking about possible names for her, “we could maybe make something from “Mystery Mare”. Like, how about... Miss Terry?”

Everyone turned to look flatly at Icy, who just shrunk a little and rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.

“Aheh, well, um, how about we just change a word a little to make something like that. Like Mystera or Enigmia or... Conundra or...”

“Oh, for crying out loud, would you sto-” The filly paused, a hoof passing through her helmet and going to her chin. “Actually, that last one's not too bad. Yeah, let's go with that. But anyway, it doesn't matter!” Conundra threw a hoof out haughtily. “It will do you no good while you're stuck in here. Oh, don't worry,” she added, her tone forcefully patronizing, “once I've got what I came for, I'll make sure the guards know you're down here. But by then, it'll be far too late to stop me.”

“What are you after, anyways?” Caprice asked, her face scrunched in thought. “Wouldn'ta thought Sombra'd have anythin' that'd interest you.” She looked up at the image of Conundra and put a hoof up to her chin, appearing genuinely baffled.

Conundra flicked her head-dome up. “Hmph! Shows what you know! He was famous for his skill with magic. Everyone knows he had dozens of powerful spells and this is where he figured them out and recorded them.”

Archer snorted. “Figures you'd be interested in dark magic. What, you wanna use it to try and force people to like you cause you can't manage it on your own?”

“Dark, Schmark!” Conundra responded, seeming unbothered by Archer's snipes. “I only want one spell, the adults can have the rest for all I care.”

Looking up at the image, Icy's attention was briefly drawn to Caprice, as she noticed a tiny little smile that came onto the corner of her mouth for a fraction of a second before it dropped. Had she been in front of her, like the image of Conundra was, it would have been blocked by the hoof resting on her chin. Still, she did notice it, so had it on her mind when Caprice asked, “Really? Don't remember him havin' any illusion spells in his arsenal.”

Conundra gave a single sneering laugh and answered just as Icy was opening her mouth. “Don't you know anything? He had loads of illusions. Of course, most of them are public, but this one's stayed secret: his Dream of Dread Despair!”

Icy shut her mouth halfway through the explanation, thankful that Conundra had answered so quickly. Caprice's question had been a brilliant move – if Conundra had been after an illusion, she'd feel motivated to rub her superior knowledge in Caprice's face. If she hadn't been after one, she'd be insulted by the assumption she was a one-trick mare and feel motivated to defend herself with what she was really after. It was an excellent way of getting information... and Icy had been just about to congratulate Caprice on it and thus ruin the whole thing.

Fortunately, she was distracted from her self-recriminations by Truffle's response. “Sounds pleasant.” He said, giving the image a concerned look.

The filly giggled. “Oh, it was one of his most powerful, most dangerous spells. It went down inside you, searched through your soul to find the one thing that scares you more than anything else, the thing that you'd do anything to stop happening, the thing that would destroy you. And then it doesn't just show it to you, it puts you right in the middle of it. You can't run from it, you can't escape it, you can't tell yourself it's not real. As long as you remain in it, you are stuck! Think of it – think of the one thing you're most afraid of seeing... and think of somepony who could show it to you whenever she likes!”

There was a pause, during which an image flashed into Icy's mind of herself, floating on a tiny platform in the middle of an ocean that covered the whole horizon and that she couldn't see the bottom of if she tried. She imagined the surface she was on shrinking rapidly, forcing her hooves together more and more until...

She was brought out of the image by Archer's growling voice. “You sick little bi-”

“Hey, relax!” Conundra put a hoof up placatingly, though her voice still carried a sense of superiority as she said it. “It's not like I wanna use it on anyone. I'd never cast it unless I had to. I just wanna have it. Besides,” she chuckled haughtily, “it's not like I'll have the chance to use it on you. By the time the guard comes for you, I'll be long gone. Anyway, I should probably go – Sombra's Inner Sanctum isn't gonna open itself. Toodles!” And, with that, the image started fading, returning to a blank wall.

No sooner had that happened than Archer let loose an arrow, hitting the wall exactly where the Conundra's head had been only a moment ago.

There was a moment of pause before Truffle spoke up. “We've got to get out of here. We've got to stop her.”

Archer sneered. “Stop, kill, these are words.”

Icy frowned, unused to seeing Archer like this. “Are you okay?” she asked.

Throughout their previous adventures, Archer had had scarcely a moment where she wasn't completely relaxed and confident, bordering on detached at times. Yet, now, something about this situation had clearly gotten to her.

“I'm fine,” Archer snapped before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. “Sorry, I just... I hate it when ponies manipulate me. Or anypony. You should always be your own pony, and if someone tries to control you...” she trailed off with a grunt.

Icy briefly considered pointing out that Conundra had done more than try to control them, but thought better of it.

Truffle nodded. “Yeah, Archer's got a bit of a thing about mind manipulation. I mean, more than we all do.”

Icy nodded – almost everypony knew that mind control was one of the most horrible things one could do to another pony, but it wasn't exactly a prospect that most spent a lot of time worrying about. Archer, though, was clearly different as she thrust a hoof forward.

“Nobody bucks with my mind. Nobody!”

Icy gulped at the venom behind her words, thankful that no adults – or Dinky – were here to hear Archer's language.

After a moment, Zatrathan stepped forward and put a hoof on her shoulder.

“For what small consolation you may find,
that spell controlled your senses, not your mind.”

Archer looked up at him, still frowning. “Yeah, I know and that really doesn't help much,” her face softened and she put a hoof on his, smiling wanly, “but thanks for trying.”

The moment her hoof touched his, Zatrathan blushed once more and, after a second, withdrew the hoof, looking intensely awkward.

Fortunately, the moment was broken when Icy asked, “Wait, that's how that illusion worked? I thought illusions were just images you put in the air.”

Zatrathan sputtered for a moment before Archer patted him on the shoulder. “Don't worry, I got this one.” The pat seemed to only increase Zatrathan's stammering, but she paid it no mind.

“See, there are two kinds of illusions: mirages and phantasms. Mirages are like you said – pictures of things you craft out of magic light that anyone can see... or hear or smell or whatever. Phantasms are pictures you put directly into the senses of whoever you're trying to trick. You don't put it in the air, you put it in their eyes... or put it in a place where it gets transmitted into their eyes, at least.”

Icy nodded. “Okay, I get it, so you use a mirage if you want everypony to see it and a phantasm if you only want a few ponies to. Like how she wanted both sides of the fight to see the other as monsters, but not their own side.”

Archer tilted a hoof back and forth. “Yeah, that's part of it, but there's more to it than that. See, the thing about mirages is that they're not that flexible. You can control them and give them a bit of programming, sure, but they're still pretty limited in what they can do, so they're often not great if you're trying something complex. They can't shift and change depending on what's happening that well. Phantasms are a lot more adaptive, cause a pony's mind'll usually fill in the smaller gaps in what they're seeing.” Archer did not sound happy at that prospect, but continued nonetheless. “Course, the problem with phantasms is that, since they're more in your mind, if you can spot the lie and believe that it's not real strong enough, you can break through the illusions. With mirages, even if you know it's not real, you're still gonna be seeing it.

Icy thought for a moment. “Okay, I think I get it. So, phantasms are more convincing than mirages, but mirages don't have a risk of getting shaken off.”

Archer nodded. “That's about the size of it. Course, often mirages'll do the job if it's simple enough. I mean, technically invisibility counts as a mirage.”

Icy tilted her head. “Huh. You know, I'm kinda surprised you know so much about this kinda thing, Archer, if you're that... you know...”

Archer smirked, her normal confidence now mostly returned. “Hey, just cause I hate it doesn't mean I'm stupid about it.” She rolled her eyes. “Besides, I work with Alula – you learn a thing or two about tricking ponies.”

Icy giggled briefly before turning away and looking around the room, seeing the others either already looking around or beginning to after listening to Archer's explanation.

“It's good to know our foe – her magic's shape.
But for right now, let's focus on escape.” Zatrathan said after a moment.

Archer looked over at him. “You got anything yet?”

“Nothin' so far,” Caprice answered as she wandered the room. “But keep lookin' – bound to be somethin'.”

Icy nodded – no matter what Conundra had said, there had to be some way out of the cell. After a moment, she sat down and closed her eyes, trying to think.

The way they'd got there was from a teleportation trap that Sombra must have laid. It made sense that it would send them somewhere without doors, since teleportation would give him a way to take things in and out, but would prevent the prisoners from doing so – even if the victims could teleport themselves, they'd have no idea where they were and couldn't risk teleporting blind, lest they wind up in a wall.

Of course, teleporting ponies remotely was also immensely impractical, but the room clearly had some kind of connection to wherever Conundra was transmitting from, so that presumably allowed for easy transporting.

It briefly occurred to Icy that this room might not be designed for teleporting things out of it at all – just to keep any intruders prisoner until they starved. However, she quickly dismissed that thought – there had been no previous prisoners or remains when they'd been sent here, so there must have been a way to remove them.

Fortunately, her train of thought was moving fast enough that she didn't dwell on how macabre that thought was.

Still, if ponies didn't die here, there must have been some way to send them food and water. However, teleportation solved that problem as well – sure, it was a lot of effort to go to, but it made sense that Sombra would do so in order to ensure ponies didn't escape. That said, it probably wasn't him who did it – he was the emperor and the one doing the experiments these caves were infamous for, so he presumably got his servants to do the duty of keeping the prisoners alive. Besides, he couldn't be down here all the time, so they must have been the ones teleporting things...

Her eyes shot open and she stood up. “There is a door! There has to be!”

Moonwing opened her eyes as well, though far more languidly and without rising. “How d'you figure?”

Icy smiled. “Well, if it was just Sombra who was dealing with whoever got sent here, he could do it all through teleportation but his servants couldn't. And since they were the ones who must have been in charge of taking care of prisoners at least some of the time, there must be some other way out of here. That probably means a door, since any teleportation portals out of here could be used to escape easily.”

There was a pause as everyone considered this. After a moment, Zatrathan spoke up.

“Perhaps, but other means could be achieved.
Suppose things got sent in, but not retrieved?”

Icy hummed, considering this. That may have been possible. However, after a moment of looking around, she shook the thought off. If that were the case, where was all the stuff that had been sent in. Or at least the mess that they made. In fact...

Icy smiled as she shook her head. “No, they'd still be here. Plus, even if they did get retrieved, who was cleaning the cell afterwards? I don't think Sombra himself would wanna spend his time worrying about that.”

There was a slightly longer pause before Caprice nodded. “Okay, so if there is a door, hows come we can't see i-” Her hoof impacted her forehead with a resounding smack. “Don't answer that, realized the moment I said it.”

“Friggin' illusions.” Archer grunted.

As if synchonized, Archer and Caprice began scanning the walls in opposite directions. Of course, their methods were very different – Caprice began tapping the wall as she moved along it, her ears turned towards the wall and twitching as they heard the sounds she was making, while Archer simply began looking intently at the walls, her eyes moving quickly but minutely as she scanned for anything suspicious.

After a couple of minutes, Caprice called out, “Got it! Should be right here!” She pointed at what, at first glance, appeared to be a perfectly ordinary section of wall. And, worryingly enough, it appeared to be that on second, third and fourth glance as well. In fact, as Icy trotted up to where Caprice was pointing, she wasn't even sure that she could see anything wrong with it at all. There was a slight bit of incongruity with the reflections, but it wasn't nearly as much as the illusion that had hidden the hatch and Icy was almost inclined to think that she was imagining it.

“Yeah, that's a fake bit alright,” Archer said from behind her, as if answering her thoughts. Icy wilted slightly before Archer continued. “Good one, though. Almost didn't see it myself.” Unfortunately, even if that had been said that to address Icy's embarrassment, she was too disturbed by the idea that Archer was responding to her thoughts to feel relieved.

Fortunately, Caprice spoke before she could be more worried about the matter. “Yeah, even the sound and echo was almost right. Dunno why this one was so much better, but at least there was some way o' seein' it. Or hearin' it, at least.”

Archer rolled her eyes. “Who cares, as long as we can get outta here. Don't suppose any of you can get rid of the illusion.”

Zatrathan smirked, rolling his neck as he drew his sword.

“Allow me to dispel this false blockade.
Such trickery shall break before my blade!”

He leapt forward, his sword outstretched before him as black energy ran along it. It slammed into the wall, only for the energy to surge out in a circle, seeming to unpeel the image of the wall as it went to reveal a thick wooden door.

However, the instant the image had almost faded, the remaining image of the wall glowed brightly and the energy receded, the illusion reasserting itself. Zatrathan grunted as he poured more energy into it, but the image kept forcing it back.

“Let it go, I'll mark it!” Archer called, managing to fire three arrows in the time it took her to say that, one going into the crack between the door and the wall and one into each of the two locks. Zatrathan didn't appear to let up, but after a moment, the illusion rushed back towards the centre and closed around his blade, knocking him away a little and making him blink rapidly, trying to recentre himself.

“This glamour's power, if that did not suffice,
is more than any child could exercise.
I failed,” he blushed and looked to Archer, “and didn't heed your wise advice.
And so, for that, I do apologize.”

Archer clapped him on the back. “Hey, no worries. Least I got a good enough look to mark it. Speaking of, don't suppose anyone's good with locks?”

Caprice rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, we're city ponies. You think we don't know our way around locks?”

There was a pause as Moonwing and Zatrathan looked at her.

“Actually, I think that's just you,” Moonwing said after a moment.

Caprice rolled her eyes, pulling a set of picks out of her pocket and approaching the door. “Guess we're lucky this don't need eyesight, else we'd be screwed.” She pulled out the arrow that had been sent into the lower lock and set to work, taking a moment to get the picks into it.

After a few seconds, she looked up. “Okay, looks like this is a good lock... and an old an' heavy one, too, so this may take a little while. And I'm pretty sure I can feel there's a bolt on the other side too – talk amongst yerselves about what to do 'bout that.” And with that, she turned back and focused intently on the invisible keyhole.

The others thought about that.

“Don't suppose we could just ram it until the bolt comes off – the door did look pretty old,” Icy suggested

Archer shook her head. “It is, but the hinges are on this side, so it opens in. We'd need to pull it open somehow. Mind you, the gap between the door and the frame was large enough we might be able to squeeze something into it.”

Zatrathan looked at her, impressed.

“In mere seconds, seeing how it narrows?
Your eyes are even sharper than your arrows.”

Archer smirked. “Oh, they can be. Depends how much I wanna see what I'm looking at.” She caught his eye and raised her eyebrows briefly, sending him into another fit of blushing and stuttering.

Icy frowned, unsure how to feel about what she was seeing. “Um, Archer, could I have a word?” She jerked her head towards the empty end of the room before trotting over there, Archer following.

Once she was as far as she could get from them, she lowered her voice and asked, “Are you okay with him? You seem like you're... well, I don't know, really, but you seem kind of off.”

Archer smiled pleasantly. “Oh, relax, I'm just teasing him a little. I figured, after how I had to convince him I was real, it'd be kinda funny. I'm sure he's fine with it.”

Icy looked back at the group, seeing Zatrathan just about manage to get his blushing under control while discussing something with Moonwing. “Are you sure about that?” she asked.

Archer nodded. “Totally. I mean, maybe he's getting a little flustered, but it's all in good fun.”

Icy nodded, not entirely getting it but familiar enough with hearing about such things to have a vague idea of what was going on. “Okay. But, well... you don't actually feel anything like that. Do you?”

Archer's smile dropped as she thought about this. “Well, to be honest, hadn't really thought about it. But, well...” She turned to look at him. After a moment, her smile reappeared. “Actually, you know what? Why not? He's kinda cute!” And with that, she trotted cheerily back to the group, with Icy following, even more confused than when she'd left.

Still, when they arrived back, Moonwing spoke to her, helping her forget it for the moment. “Icy, when Caprice is done, you think you could freeze the door around where the bolt is?”

Icy looked over at the area the door had been visible in, seeing that Caprice had finished with the first lock and was moving onto the second.

“I guess so,” she said after a moment, “but I don't see how that'll help – it'll still be there, just frozen.”

Zatrathan smiled. “The temperatures and ice crystals you make
should make it brittle, helping it to break.”

Icy tilted her head – she had no reason to disbelieve him, even if she didn't quite understand. “Okay, I guess, but then how do we get it open?”

Truffle stood up. “Just let me and Miss Moonwing handle that.” He trotted away from the group, heading towards one side of the cell.

Icy didn't have much time to dwell on this as Moonwing stood up slowly, picking up her shields and indicating for Icy to follow her to the door.

It took Caprice another minute or so to finish with the second lock, but eventually they heard a heavy clunk as she turned one of her tools around, the lock audibly sliding open.

Moonwing gave the invisible door a few experimental pushes up and down its height until she apparently found what she was looking for.

“Feels like the bolt's here, Icy. You wanna...” She trailed off as she felt around the area the final arrow had been lodged in, indicating the door's edge.

Nodding, Icy placed her wing against the area she'd pointed to. It was somewhat surreal to feel wood where her eyes were telling her there was crystal and that sense only increased as she started pouring her energy into that area, making her feel the cold and the ice forming even as the crystal she was seeing stayed constant.

While she was doing that, Moonwing had picked up one of her shields and was wedging the edge of it between the door and the frame, pushing it hard until, once Icy had finished, she'd got it in there firmly enough for it to remain free-standing.

After a few more seconds of pushing, she nodded to herself and backed off a couple of steps. “Okay, Truffle, looks like we're ready.”

Icy turned to Moonwing, unsure what she meant for a moment before something moved in her peripheral vision. Turning, she saw Truffle running at a dead sprint towards the door from the side. Her eyes widened as she understood what was happening... and then, a split second later, understood that she probably shouldn't be in the way of it.

“CANNONBALL!” she yelled as she dived out of the way, rolling to a stop just in time to see Truffle impact the shield with a colossal clang!

The shield turned along the fulcrum the frame provided, not even bending a little. The illusory wall, on the other hand, seemed to give an almighty groan before shards of wood sprayed out of it and the door behind it flew open through it.

Truffle groaned as he picked himself up. “Wait,” he said, shaking his head to get his bearings back, “isn't “cannonball” supposed to be for diving, not running?”

Icy shrugged as she too got to her hooves. “Well, yeah, but that never made sense to me – who drops a cannonball into a pool? Cannonballs are supposed to be fired, not dropped.”

Truffle looked to the side in thought for a second before shrugged. “Well, I guess I can see that. In any case,” he waved a hoof through the false wall, sending it far past the area the door would have allowed it, “after you!”

Icy smiled as the group filed towards the open, if invisible, door, Archer cautiously poking an eye through to see what was beyond. Whatever was there was apparently safe enough for her to poke the rest of her head through, followed by the rest of her.

Icy's smile grew. They had a chance.

---

“When's the next train to the Crystal Empire?” the cloaked figure asked, its voice a rasping growl.

The pony in the ticket booth blinked at the image in front of him. “Er, in about three hours.”

The figure nodded, the hood covering its face not revealing a millimetre of its flesh. It dropped a small pile of bits onto the counter. “One ticket there, please.”

As the pony in the booth printed out the ticket, the figure looked down the train tracks. “I'm coming for you, Icy Flight. Believe me, I'm coming.”

Author's Note:

Any day where I'm able to give a full explanation of a scientific, or in this case magical, phenomenon in the form of a Shakespearean sonnet, I think, is a good day.

Comments

[CMC4TW]

Wait. Fire Eyes? Eh, I guess he's bound to return at some point.

[Herald of Opera]

Almost everypony knew that mind control was one of the most horrible things one could do to another pony

Canon aggressively disagrees, but see the author's note from the previous chapter.

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

Outstanding work as always.