Piece by Piece

by Eltirions

Omake 2: Prison Break

12 December 1008

For an Empire which was devoted to the night, and especially given the fact that it was the middle of December, Jungle Trek was certain that the uncomfortably warm atmosphere was intentional to drive him insane.

That wasn’t the most annoying thing in his holding cell, of course. The constant pitter-patter of water droplets hitting the floor was fine to watch for the first week or so of his stay but had gotten old fast after that. Now, it was the only thing that broke the eternal silence that he remained in, barring the occasional visit by the Imperial Magician.

His ever-so-slight attraction to the unicorn had worn off fast by the third interrogation. He hadn’t spilled any important secrets just yet; it was probably the only reason he was kept alive, after all. The Disciples in the South-East had rarely given quarter, and he doubted these Lunarists were any different. Knowing that fact alone had helped him keep his trap shut, even if Sunset Shimmer was nothing if not persistent.

Perhaps the most annoying thing to him, however, was the lack of knowledge coming in. When the Lunar forces had come into the South-East and destroyed any semblance of non-partisan opposition, Jungle had quickly gone from talented general to the practical leader of both the natives who fought against the new regime and the remaining mercenaries who hadn’t jumped ship in the collapse. Doctor Caballeron, of course, could not lead from the front despite his objections; it was too dangerous, considering everything. His exact location was a tight secret shared between himself, former general Sweet Water, and the most trusted of the native chiefs.

Jungle desperately hoped that they could continue without him. Keeping cooperation between natives and mercenaries was no easy feat, and neither was keeping the latter from bailing out of Equestria itself or surrendering for hopes of leniency. But Sweet Water was competent… most of the time. Perhaps she had pulled them together after he had gotten captured; she might even be planning his rescue at this very moment.

Or she could have fled and let the resistance cells collapse into nothing. It was a roughly equal chance, all things considered.

Hoofsteps sounded outside the cell door, prompting Jungle Trek to get off his bed. The fifth bucket of cold water had finally gotten it into his skull that the last thing he should do when a guard or Celestia forbid Sunset Shimmer arrive was be in bed.

Sleeping on a cold and wet bed was not fun at all.

When the door opened, Jungle expected to see a Lunarist uniform behind it, whether it be the Imperial Magician or just a member of the Guard here to bring him his daily meal. Instead what he got was a ragged pony in a torn uniform, looking quite the worse for wear. He was breathing heavily, cuts and scratches evident everywhere from his torso to his hooves.

“...I’m guessing you aren’t here for an interrogation,” Jungle commented, waiting to see what would happen. This kind of trap didn’t seem like Sunset’s style, but you never knew.

The pony shook his head. “Nope. We’re, uh, organizing a prison break. Technically our main target was the IIS headquarters, but we figured that hitting two targets at once would give us more time before reinforcements arrive. Plus, Sunset’s compound relies more on secrecy than security, and once we got info that both the Imperial Magician and Nightmare Moon herself were going to be busy in Ponyville…”

“Yeah, I get it. Well, thanks for the save, I guess. Name’s Jungle Trek, formerly of Aztlan.” Jungle held my hoof out, which he shook weakly.

“Shining Beacon. Member of the Celestial Resistance, or at least what’s left of it.” He smiled weakly, perhaps as a distraction from the terrible situation they were both in. “We’re not doing so great anymore, especially after the IIS starting hitting us hard. Not down for the count yet, though!”

Jungle moved forward out of his cell, the pony getting out of the way to let him through. To his left was a solid concrete wall, and to his right stretched a long hallway, an intersection at the end of it. “Wow, the end cell. What an honor,” he commented.

The resistance member nodded. “I figured that you would be an important prisoner, being at the back, though I had hoped you would have been one of us. Still, uh…” he motioned towards the hallway. “Maybe we should get a move-on? We don’t have all evening, you know.”

“Oh, right.” The two of them started galloping down the hall, though Jungle noticed Shining stumbling once or twice. Whatever fights he had gotten into, it hadn’t let him go unpunished. He was half-tempted to help the injured pony along, but that would have slowed them both down, and the last thing they had was time to spare.

Down the hallways they went, the concrete walls giving no indication of where they were going. There might have been a sign or two that he missed, but it wouldn’t have mattered if there were. Since, you know, he’s illiterate. So instead, he put his faith in his newfound ally, letting Shining take the lead as they turned left and right and right again.

Soon, the sound of gunfire reached their ears, slowly getting louder and louder. Shining let out a curse before pulling out a bolt-action rifle Jungle didn’t even notice he had, with a design he didn’t recognize.

It was at times like these Jungle wished he had his old rifle back.

The next corner they rounded, the battle unfolded itself for them to see. Prisoners and the Celestial Resistance alike were fighting in the room ahead, both against the Lunar Guard that was armed and firing back. What was worrying was the fact that while they outnumbered the Lunarists, many of the prisoners he saw were unarmed, and the few ones that were seemed to be terrible shots.

The Guard, on the other hoof, was not.

Shining Beacon and Jungle Trek nodded at each other once before galloping into the fray, The former ran to the left and fired, dropping a thestral with a headshot, while the latter slid down behind some makeshift cover the prisoners had made. A green Earth Pony was sitting next to Jungle struggling to reload his rifle.

“You know how to use that thing?” he asked him. When he shook his head, Jungle grabbed it and the bullets he was holding. “Then let me borrow this for a second.” Like clockwork, he yanked the lever back, letting the spent shell fall to the ground, before pushing it back into place. Then he got up, took aim, and fired at the nearest Lunarist. They dropped, he got back down, and repeated the process.

It was like clockwork. Get up, fire, get down, reload. Get up, fire, get down, reload. Over and over, like a machine. It was instinctual at this point; he got up, ready to fire, only to see that the battle was already over. They had won.

Too many of his own lay dead. Others, wounded, a few crying out with pain. Jungle handed the rifle back to the Earth Pony he had taken it from, before trotting over to where Shining Beacon was standing.

“I had sent all the prisoners I found back here. We were supposed to keep this room secure and move as a group once we had gotten everypony, with few casualties.” He grimaced. “Looks like we underestimated how quickly they would get here, however.”

Jungle shrugged, though he still had the decency to avert his eyes from the fallen. “That’s just how it goes,” he said simply. “Sometimes you mess up, and ponies die. When you’re a leader like this, it’s just a part of how things are. What’s important is that we keep moving. More of them won’t be far behind.”

“I’ve already told the ponies who can to help carry out those who can’t. We seem to have enough uninjured ones to get everypony out… I just wish that it wasn’t because so many of them are dead.”

He was about to respond when Jungle noticed something extremely familiar in the corner of the room. “Excuse me, I need to check something.” Walking over, he saw an injured pegasus, a bullet wound in their left front leg. “Where’d you get that hat?”

The pony looked up. “This one? I found it in one of the rooms while we were getting out. Why, is it yours?”

Jungle answered by taking it off their head and putting it on his. “Yes, thank you. Now come on, we have to get out of here.” Pulling them up, he helped them over to the other end of the room, where everypony else was already filling out.

The sound of the stampede approaching was barely audible at first, but it quickly changed as the room almost felt like it was shaking. Now it was Jungle’s turn to let out a curse. “Buck, they’re already here. Shining, take this pegasus and get out of here with the rest of them! I’ll hold them off as long as I can.”

Shining looked as if he was insane. “What? No, we have to get you out of here! Come on, we can all make it if we-”

The Aztlanian responded by shoving the third pony towards him and picking up a rifle. “That wasn’t a request, now go! GO!” Shining Beacon still looked like he wanted to argue, but held his tongue and silently started half-pulling the pegasus further down the hall. Once he was sure they weren’t coming back, Jungle turned back towards the room they came from and aimed his rifle down the opposite hall, taking a deep breath.

It was only seconds before the guards came bursting in.

One immediately went down, adding yet another pony to Jungle’s kill count. “The prisoners are armed! Don’t let them escape!” one thestral yelled out as they took positions behind the cover Jungle was formerly behind.

And so the routine began again. Fire, duck, reload, repeat. The only difference was that these guards were much more experienced; only a few of his shots managed to hit their intended targets, and even fewer of them were lethal. It was clear that these were the elite guard now; the former ones now dead at his hooves were just the recruits.

The pivotal moment came only minutes later, when Jungle got up to fire once more, only for his gun to click empty. “Oh, bucking damn it!” he said, realizing he was finally out of ammo. The guards seemed to realize this too, as they began charging and firing a lot more recklessly than before. Jungle threw his gun at them before getting up on his hooves and running as fast as possible in the direction Shining had originally gone.

Around just a single corner, a metal door lay at the end of the hall. Desperately praying that it was finally the end of this cursed place, Jungle put on a final burst of speed, slamming the door open and closing it behind him right as gunfire began sounding and hitting the wall now behind him. He broke the lock behind him; hopefully, that would buy him some time.

Though, perhaps he wouldn’t need it. Jungle was finally outside, though where he was not quite sure. All he noticed was the setting sun in the far distance, and the non-descript compound he had left behind him. But where he was didn’t matter, when he was finally a free pony once again. A wanted fugitive, yes, but he was already used to that. He’d just have to lay low, keep quiet, and hope that this would all just blow over with time-

“Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused me?!”

Oh, great. Standing before him was none other than the one, the only Imperial Magician of the Lunar Empire, Sunset Shimmer. She was looking quite pissed off as well, stomping the ground with a hoof. Any chance of escape immediately went out the window, as with the last month in mind Jungle already knew there was only one outcome possible at this point.

“Well, you do have to admit it was a pretty great prison break, am I right?” he asked, completely and intentionally trying to annoy Sunset further. “If you make it into a movie, I’d totally be willing to act myself out.”

Sunset’s jaw clenched, and Jungle swore he saw steam come out of her ears. “The Empress is going to hear about this, and she is not going to be happy with me. If you didn’t have information I still needed, you would be dead right here and now. Instead, I guess I’m going to have to find more creative ways to get what I want.”

He scoffed as her horn lit up with magic. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. This is the part where you knock me out-”

And that was the exact moment that everything went black.

Author's Note:

This sequel to the first Omake was, as it happens, not written by me but by the creater of Jungle Trek, Big Saij, who I relentlessly bullied persuaded into writing this. Because of that it doesn't follow the two-week schedule.

Anyway, thanks to Big Saij for writing this; go check him out, his fics are great too.

Comments

[The Great Scribbly One]

Diablos Ex Sunset! Poor old Jungle Trek, at least he got a better outcome than most BBC guest stars who say they'll hold the baddies off.

[shining paladin]

awesome chapter mate keep it up cant wait for the next chapter

[ShiningBeacon]

Can I put “Resistance Leader” on my Résumé?

[Eltirions]

11147180
Yes.