COLD

by Shadow Spector

Episode 13: Hospital Heist

Episode 13: Hospital Heist

Opul waited patiently near the building outside of the hospital. She was used to being dirty and after not being exposed harshly to the massacre now known as the Community Theater, she was allowed to skip straight to waiting outside of the hospital while her friends got perfectly ready for their mission.

As she waited, she couldn’t help but believe she was lying to herself. She kept trying to justify her importance on the mission. She told herself that pulling out the wires to the machine was good enough to put her at risk like her friends, but she had a hard time buying that excuse. For some reason, she just felt that she needed to be there for them. Of course, to keep them out of trouble.

She stared out at the starry night, watching Luna’s beautiful creation. She was in disbelief that this masterpiece would extend to every part of Equestria, even to an undiscovered place like the community. It always baffled her to think that if one of the princesses went into the dreams of many, no one would be exempt from their stealth, but with the thought that dreams didn’t have a trace, she realized that perhaps some creatures have struck the Princess of the Night with worry. Maybe it even caused her to grow mad with concern at her inability to help.

The dragon shook the thought from her mind and closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of the night. She focused on any sound she could. She half-expected to hear the familiar buzzing sounds of insects in a forest, but there were no bugs in the desert, at least none she had ever seen in the community. The only thing allowed was the weather the community pegasi controlled.

She listened closer but didn’t hear anything, only the ringing phantom sounds that alerted her that nothing was happening. She was beginning to relax until she heard the whispering voice.

“Are we ready?”

Immediately, Opul broke her eyes open violently before something covered her mouth, muffling her scream. She fought as hard as she could against the mysterious force, believing in that moment she was prey.

“Calm down!” a voice loudly whispered. “It’s me!”

Opul was having a hard time shifting her mind back into a state of calmness, but she forced herself to listen. After paralyzing her body, she turned her eyes to see the concerned griffon staring at her. After a couple moments of awkward eye contact, she scraped his talon with her sharp claw, making him let go of her face.

Candid hissed back. “What was that for?”

“Why do you have to cover my mouth?”

“If you scream, our cover is blown. I wasn’t going to take any chances.”

Opul rolled her eyes. “Why is Droll not with you?”

“I don’t know. It’s not like we shower together.”

The dragon drooped both her eyes and mouth in disgust, causing the griffon to quickly think back his words.

“I-I don’t mean-.”

“Stop it. Don’t make it worse for yourself.” Opul turned the corner of the building she was hiding behind, focusing carefully on the hospital. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”

“Why do I always have to be the one with a plan?”

The white non-pony crossed her arms. “Well this was your idea.”

The griffon raised an arm up as if to object but instantly realized he was wrong. “Okay, we sneak in, see if we’re at risk for anything, then we sneak out.”

“That’s it?” Opul shook her head in disbelief, trying to imagine a scenario where this would be fully thought through. “What are you most concerned about?”

Candid took a deep breath. “Droll used a spray can on me for one of his magic tricks.”

As Candid spoke, Opul focused on a figure looming behind the griffon, causing the dragon to smile in a subtle manner before the griffon continued.

“It kind of stung a little and Droll admitted he sprayed some on himself to see if it was too much. He told me it had something to do with repelling these hedgehog-like creatures.”

Opul’s eyes looked passed Candid to focus on the shape getting bigger behind the griffon.

“And if it’s repellent to some creatures, it might be toxic to me and him. Droll might want to know if it’s dangerous rather than attempt to sneak up on me.”

Instantly the griffon turned around to the yak, giving him an unamused but playful look, but rather than a smile being on Droll’s face, it was just indifference.

Opul tried to put on a bright expression. “Scaring someone was already done today, Droll, so you’re too late.”

“Yak no try to scare anyone,” Droll spoke in a straight voice. “Droll just practicing stealth before mission.”

The dragon pursed her lips. “Well, before you got here, Candid-.”

“Can friends just go now?”

Candid and Opul exchanged nervous looks but reluctantly agreed, following behind Droll as he approached the hospital.

Candid cleared his throat. “What took you so long?”

The yak just sighed. “Droll just need to return something.”

Opul gritted her teeth. “Are you okay?”

“No matter.”

“Do you want to talk about-?”

“Where entrance?”

The dragon gave a concerned breath before looking around. “The front doors are obviously closed. Tonight, there are many guards, so we have to be extra careful.”

Droll looked to his friends in a lack of emotion. “Any plans?”

Candid scowled at the yak. “Droll, you’re going to have to knock that off.”

“Deal with it!” he spoke a little too loudly.

Candid was instantly shut up, but after looking around to make sure everything was still alright, he spoke. “Okay, okay. Fine.”

Droll’s breath grew shaky, and he regarded Candid in a flurry of emotions, but ultimately stayed silent. With neither one of them willing to take the charge, Opul decided to step up.

“Isn’t the second floor for creatures that aren’t ponies?” the white non-pony asked for clarification to which Candid nodded his head reluctantly.

Droll sighed. “Degree said ponies higher priority.”

“Well if ponies are a higher priority, wouldn’t that mean that the upper floor does not have as many guards as the first?”

The griffon tilted his head. “What are you saying?”

Opul put a claw to her chin in thought. “Perhaps if we can enter in through the second floor, we’ll have an easier time not getting caught by the massive amount of guards.”

“Um, Opul?” Candid began, gesturing to his wings in a subtle manner.

“Who said anything about flying?” The single-winged creature marched ahead of her friends around the hospital while the others joined in confusion. “Although not every building has a fire escape to it, this hospital sure does.”

Opul continued to march around the building, finding the metal staircase that led to the second floor. “It’s amazing. The second floor was always meant for non-ponies. How did something so helpful to them get introduced.”

Droll whimpered from behind. “. . . Lenia suggested it. Pony concerned for-.”

“Okay, let’s stop talking,” Candid interrupted. “Opul, lead the way.”

In a disturbed fashion, the dragon traveled up through the stairwell. Her friend was in anguish, but she had no idea how to help him. Usually it was his expertise to make her and Candid smile.

When she got to the top, she focused back to her friends to see a griffon already at the top and a yak slowly but surely making his way there. She slouched before turning her attention to the roof of the hospital, looking for any ways to get in.

The griffon pointed to a glass section in the middle of the roof. “I think I see something.”

After a smile, Opul traveled slowly towards the designated section, careful not to let any of her steps on the roof be heard. She focused down into the skylight, carefully watching for many moments to see if anyone would pass by, but after a long while of focus, she finally reached her claws down to pry open the window. She lifted it up cautiously before turning to Candid and giving him a bright smile.

“Really secure place they have here, huh?” Candid pointed out.

Opul sighed. “Well, this is the level for non-ponies. Safety really isn’t a high priority.”

She lifted the lid to the skylight higher. “Okay, Candid. You carry Droll safely down there and just slow his fall so he doesn’t make much noise like a yak would.”

She turned to smile at the already present yak, but he was still expressionless. Instead, he just climbed over the skylight opening to get ready for Candid to help descend him. The dragon kept opening it widely as Candid carried his friend safely to the floor, but when the two safely landed, Opul’s strength was beginning to give way. She struggled in her fight against gravity, but before she could call out for help, her claws slipped, causing her to slip through the opening and begin falling down.

Immediately, the feeling of two furry arms wrapped around her torso, cushioning her fall before she could scream. She had enough willpower to stay quiet though since much of her survival came from her hiding.

The dragon looked up before staring into the lone eye of her savior.

“Hey . . .” Candid said awkwardly.

Immediately, Opul jumped out of his grasp before brushing herself down from anywhere that came into contact with her friend. After she was finished, she straightened herself back up. “ . . . thanks.”

Droll was staring up at the now closed skylight, oblivious to the interactions between his friends. “Skylit slammed shut.”

Candid turned to Droll. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Before a second of silence could pass, the distant sound of voices were heard. “Did you hear that?”

“That,” Droll answered his friend.

“Guards are suspicious now,” Opul panicked. “What’s our next move?”

“We need to find Degree’s office,” Candid said, looking around panicked. “The moment we know where it is-.”

“Second floor,” Droll said, staring down the hallway. “Three rooms down.”

Opul and Candid exchanged worried looks, but Droll just traveled ahead at his normal pace.

“Droll,” Opul called out as she and Candid followed him. “Why are you being so calm about this?”

“What there to worry about anymore?” Droll continued to march down the hallway.

When Opul looked behind, she saw the circles of light flying around the walls near the skylight, alerting her that the guards were on the lookout with their flashlights. She sped up down the hall, but Droll was still walking at the same speed as if nothing was on his mind.

“Can we hurry it up, please?” the dragon begged.

“Right here,” the yak said as he stopped in front of a room.

“It’s got to be locked,” the orange non-pony pointed out. “There’s no way we can get in before-.”

Without giving his friend a chance to finish, Droll clicked off his horn and swiped at the lock on the door, cracking through it with one aggressive swipe. Immediately, the door loosely opened and rather than ask questions, Opul pulled it open to burst through before the guards could get any closer.

Immediately, Candid got to work, searching through any files he could sort through. Opul was about to help when she noticed Droll slouching in the middle of the room. Even though she had no idea how to help him, she still wanted to try.

“Um, Droll,” she began, confused as to where she was going. “How, um, how did you know where Dr. Degree’s room would be?”

The brown non-pony sighed. “Degree was convinced to move office to make it closer to non-ponies.”

Opul was about to continue by asking who convinced him, but she had a feeling she knew the answer. With no confidence that she could help the situation, she decided to not make it any worse.

The dragon turned to her friend who was now going through a cabinet. The container resided next to the opposite side of the room where another exit was. The griffon was focusing on different papers but getting overwhelmed with them all.

“Here, let me help you,” she said gently, visibly relieving stress from her friend.

The dragon continued to look through the papers. “Do you remember exactly what the can looked like?”

The griffon searched his mind. “It was a tall can and it looked black. It’s name was some sort of repellent. Droll, what do you know about it?”

The yak just sat down in the middle of the room, staring out the window. “Glass look cracked to friends too?”

“Come on, Droll. Nothing’s cracked. Are you going to help out?”

Candid waited for an answer, but Droll continued to stare through the window, unresponsive as if he didn’t hear anything.

Through their searching, the sound of guards grew louder in the hallway outside, alerting the two that they needed to continue faster. They sorted through as much paper as possible, only focusing on anything that resembled a can until they found their closest match. On the sheet of paper, a picture of a tall, black spray can stood visibly with a description underneath.

Candid read quietly. “It says here that this is pukwudgie spray. Harmful specifically to the vicious creatures, it has no lasting effect on ponies or any creatures similar.”

Opul sighed. “Let’s hope that means you too.”

“It has to,” Candid said in a hopeful tone.

The optimism caused a subtle smile to spread across the dragon’s face, but before she could offer her thoughts, the overwhelming sound of talking guards sounded from beyond the door.

“Dr. Degree’s room has been broken into,” one voice whispered.

Instantly, the dragon’s eyes widened further than they ever had before. “Droll, we need to go right now.”

Droll sighed. “Does it matter?”

“Yes,” Candid said firmly, but the yak was still not moving.

From outside the door, another voice spoke up. “Go get back up. We might have dangerous creatures that have escaped.”

Opul ran to the other door in the room, opening it widely. “Droll we need to go now.”

After another moment of Droll not responding, Candid and Opul had the exact same idea. As a team, the two grabbed a hold of Droll’s arms, sliding him across the floor through the door. Right when Opul shut the door behind herself, the front door to the office bursted open as guards piled through in hordes.

The two kept trying to pull him to safety, but Droll wasn’t even trying to help them, causing the two to barely even travel.

“Opul, they’re going to catch us if we don’t hurry out of here,” Candid speedily said.

Opul huffed. “Well, what do you want me to do?”

The griffon's breath grew more shallow. He glanced through the window of the door they came from, only to see flashlights everywhere along with the sound of unfiltered searching.

"Droll, listen. I know it's a sad time for you, but now's not the time to be deadweight, m'kay?" The orange non-pony lifted one of Droll's arm's over his head as he began to pull again. "You just got to-." He was interrupted by a cloven-hoof falling, hitting into his chin on the way down.

In shaky breaths, the griffon finally mustered a "f-f-f-f-fine!" And with that, he released his grip and fled down the dark hallway in front of him.

From the other side of Droll, Opul flinched. "C-Candid, wait!" And just as quickly, the dragon let go and ran down the hall after him.

Candid was sprinting as fast as he could. He could not believe what just happened, but everything in his mind told him to just continue.

"Candid!" Opul called from behind, still trying to keep her voice down. "What are we doing??"

The griffon scoffed. "If he doesn't want to be helped, we can't force him."

“But just leaving him like that? I mean, what kind of friends are we?”

Candid opened his mouth to reply but just as quickly, he closed it. There was nothing he could say in a situation like this.

The two non-ponies stumbled along the end of the corridor, recognizing the same circles of light from before. The griffon slowly traveled close to Opul, watching to see how far they could get without getting caught.

“What’s our plan now, smarty?” Opul asked.

Candid slowed his breathing down to talk normally. “Same as before. We find a safe way out of here without getting caught. Another skylight would be good to find. If only the guards weren't surrounding the ones we came in from. We need to find another route that they wouldn’t expect.”

Opul thought for a moment. “Like the front door?”

Candid wanted lift up a clawless talon and call the idea stupid, but he began to humor the idea for a moment. If the guards were expecting stowaways to sneak out, they would be covering every secret exit of the building, but they wouldn’t care as much about the front entrance.

Candid continued to think about the validity of the idea before he finally nodded his head. “We’ll check the front door.”

After receiving a smile from Opul, Candid proceeded to check the locations of the guards again. They were marching back and forth through the hallway, carefully checking every inch of everywhere to make sure nothing went over their heads.

“So how do we get passed this?” Opul asked.

The griffon narrowed his eye in thought before getting an idea. “Ever played hide and seek in the dark before?”

The dragon just glared at her friend before Candid realized his mistake.

“Oh right, you’ve never done anything before.” Candid cleared his throat awkwardly before continuing. “Well, we’re the hiders and they are the seekers. They can only see with their flashlights though, so as long as we stay out of the light, we will be safe. But if the light hits us, we lose.”

“So we’re just avoiding the beams? Sounds easy to understand.”

“It’s all about stealth. Going to be harder without depth perception, but just copy my lead.” Candid marched out into the corridor, seeing several guards shining lights at the walls and looking. He focused on them to study their movements and noticed none coming their way. When the griffon looked back at his friend, she found her straining her eyes to see the griffon, but he could tell that he was still barely visible.

The dark orange non-pony crept to the walls silently, getting closer to a guard who had his flashlight pointed to the wall. The light beam wasn’t moving very rapidly, so Candid took his opportunity to silently hop over the beam, using his wings to carefully guide him through the air and land quietly on the other side. He only noticed his mistake when he remembered Opul.

He looked back in the direction of his dragon friend to notice a darkish-white figure slowly making her way to the light beam before stopping. She was shaking nervously but was still able to manage to be quiet. From the other side of the light beam, Candid got down to the floor, staring at a thin section under the beam that the dragon could slip under. Slowly, he beckoned from the floor, allowing for his friend to get on the ground and begin crawling slowly. As Candid watched, he noticed her tail slowly rising up, causing the griffon to freeze in fear, but before the tail could reach the light beam, it dropped down to the floor, allowing Opul to crawl peacefully the rest of the way.

Opul got up in a panicked tone, but Candid just smiled in relief before beckoning for her to follow. They tiptoed through the hallway, watching out for other light beams that would block their path. Whenever a guard was a threat, the two would wait for the flashlight to angle away and provide a path for the two to get through. Throughout the moments, Candid was concerned his friend would fall behind, giving him the urge to grab her arm for security, but he quickly shot down this idea when he realized it wasn’t worth getting out of there alive if he had to deal with the embarrassment doing that.

After the two passed multiple guards in the hallway, they finally made it to the staircase.

“There’s a door here,” Opul whispered.

Candid turned to his friend slowly. “Yes . . . I can see that.”

The dragon scoffed. “No, I mean what if there are guards on the other side? We can’t see ahead of ourselves so we won’t know if we’re walking right into a trap.” Opul began to breathe heavier, worried about being so close to danger ever since what happened last time.

The orange non-pony regarded her friend in great emotion. “If I can help it, I’m not letting another friend get caught today. Believe me when I tell you this: I will be caught before you do.”

Opul took a deep breath. “I believe you. There’s never been a time where you didn’t tell me the truth.”

Candid smiled before turning to the door. After putting on talon on the handle, he froze, nervous at what was ahead, but after a few moments of deep breaths, he pushed it open to reveal the fortunately empty staircase.

“We’re almost there,” he beamed. “After you.”

Opul marched down the stairs first as Candid followed closely behind. When they reached the first floor, the painful thought settled in that there would be even more guards than on the first floor. After opening the main level door just a bit, it was apparent how much trouble they were in.

As if it were daytime, several light beams shown at once at a single location, shining all over and illuminating every spot.

“What do we do?” Opul asked.

Candid began to try and think of something but there was nothing. “Um . . . something will happen. Just like when we waited for the light beams to provide a path for us.”

Candid and Opul waited patiently, staring outside into the hallway, but nothing under their control was providing them with a solution. The two could only hope that there would be something that granted them safe passage.

From the hallway, a guard spoke up. “You’re sure there are stowaways here?”

“Yes,” a voice answered back. “I just heard them from the second level.”

From behind Candid, Opul whispered. “Were we that noisy?”

Before the griffon could reply, the sound of crashing sounded from the hallway on the opposite side of the front entrance. The orange non-pony watched as the ceiling caved in slightly and sawdust fell to the floor. Immediately, the multiple flashlights all focused on the location from where the sound came from, freeing up a zone in the hallway that led to the exit.

“This is our only chance, Opul.”

Candid pulled the door open and ran as quietly as he could down the hallway. Opul was quick to follow, and the two persisted, staring at the wide-open exit that continuously grew in visual size as the two non-ponies traveled to it. As Opul was gaining speed on the griffon, Candid stared back at the site where the two originally were, seeing the flashlights all diverting from their original spot to return to illuminating the rest of the hallway. By the time he returned his gaze back in front of him, he could see Opul having a head start, nearly at the exit. That was when the guards returned to their positioning and guarded the doors. Opul quickly stopped and hid against the white wall, using her best defense mechanism to give her limited protection.

Candid quickly flew to the ceiling, trying his best to hide as well. He placed both sets of clawless talons on the barrier above him as he continued flapping his wings, still careful not to cause a draft. The exist ahead of him was so close, yet it still seemed impossible to reach, but when he paid attention to his surroundings, he found a potential solution. To his left, against the wall, was a tray full of guard equipment. He focused on numerous guards about to return to their place right below him, but when he looked ahead to Opul, he saw that she was frozen in place, not able to move without being caught. And even if she didn’t move it was only a matter of time.

He looked back at the armor equipment, an idea forming in his mind. After he tried to think of another option, it was apparent to him that this was the only way to assure Opul’s safety. Without arguing with himself, he zoomed down to the equipment with great speed, hitting against it and knocking all of the metal on the floor.

Instantly, the guards at the front entrance focused on the sound, allowing Opul to burst out the doors into safety. Candid watched as she made her way out, but then saw the multiple flashlights pointing at him. Without letting himself go down that easy, he flew out of the beam with great speed, jumping up to the darkness of the ceiling and zooming down a separate hallway as fast as he could, racing to beat out the light beams.

Droll felt the painful tug of Opul’s grasp on his arm.

“Well what do you want me to do?” she asked.

The griffon's panic was obvious to Droll as his friend looked away. Finally, his attention was brought back to the yak. "Droll, listen. I know it's a sad time for you, but now's not the time to be deadweight, m'kay?"

From the ground, the brown non-pony felt his arm raised above the griffon's head, but he did nothing to sustain it in the air. The lack of balance soon became apparent, and while his friend was saying something, he felt his cloven-hoof slip, hitting against something before falling to the ground.

From beside him, Candid held his chin before eventually making out a mere "f-f-f-f-fine!" before finally leaving for good. And before he knew it, Opul too was quick to abandon him.

The yak wanted to be surprised, but he was having trouble feeling anything at the moment. He wanted to speak, but the only thing going through his mind was the sound of a dozen hoof steps making their way to his location. Why would he have to be surprised at those two leaving? They didn’t seem to care about abandoning their other friend either.

Suddenly, there was a louder thought in Droll’s mind than that of the hoofsteps that were already upon him. He knew that if Lenia was there, she would never approve of Droll giving himself up for this. Something so stupid was never an option Lenia would approve of, and there was no way that he was going to upset her.

"What yak do?" He asked himself, staring up in the darkness before the answer finally came to him. "Fight . . ."

Droll rose to a stance as the sound of guards came up behind him.

"Freeze!" One guard said as they shined a flashlight on him.

“Droll do this for you . . .” He said, still staring off into the darkness.

As soon as one guard placed a hoof on him, he took off stampeding down a separate hallway, valuing his life for the first time in what seemed like forever. He crossed multiple rooms in his sprint, but through all of his actions to escape, the noise he made caused the guards to study his exact location. His only goal was to escape down the nearby stairwell, but he knew that if he went there, the guards would just follow him and track him down to the main level. He had to make them think that he was still on the second level so he’d have a clear shot at escaping through the first level.

Droll continued running, pounding his cloven-hooves against the floorboards in order to increase his speed. He could hear the sounds of the guards in hot pursuit, pointing their flashlights across the hallway to try and see him. Quickly, he turned a corner and began running as quietly as he could to mask his location before he tried to duck into a random room to hide. As he went inside the indent just outside the door, he was met with a locked door, to which he removed his horn once more to cut through the lock. With the door now opened, he ducked inside to wait.

For many minutes he listened to the guards shuffle outside in search of him, but Droll continued his patience, knowing he couldn’t rush his freedom. The only thing he heard in his wait besides the constant marching of guards was the heart-rate monitor from some poor non-pony who wasn’t receiving any attention. Droll disregarded that though to focus on his end goal. His needed a clear path to the stairwell and lots of noise to keep the guards on the second floor.

He went over his plan in his head before he finally came across a moment of silence where he could only assume the coast was clear. Timidly, he poked his head outside to look both ways and see that no one was waiting for him on the other end. As he traveled quietly down the empty corridor, he looked behind him to see that the nearby staircase was behind him, but he knew that if he was going to make noise, then it couldn’t be next to his escape route.

He was nearly at the end of the corridor when he found a bookshelf loaded with so much material, it seemed like the floor was breaking below it. Droll knew this was the scapegoat he needed, and after sizing it up, he proceeded to kick out the base of it. It was when it started falling towards him that he realized it was probably time to go.

Droll immediately rushed out of its path as he made his way through the corridor. The sound of the bookshelf violently colliding against the floor was enough to make him jump, but he persisted in his efforts. He had to make it to the closer second stairwell on the opposite side from where his friends ran to. The noise behind him was so big that he figured it must’ve broken through the floor in the process, but it was just the noise he needed to make his escape.

The brown non-pony continued to rush through the hallway, masking his location with whatever stealth he could use. He listened as the guards gathered to the crash behind him and the yak knew that whatever time he bought himself wouldn’t be long. From traveling at such a fast pace, he was able to make it to the stairwell and get through the doors without a guard noticing him.

Droll rushed down the stairwell to the first floor, confident that all of the guards were now on the second floor and it would give him a clear shot at the exit. He dashed into the first floor with no guards as expected. He focused down the hallway at the corner where the exit was, and he knew how close he was. All he had to do was get there.

He continued his trek down the corridor at full speed, imagining that nothing could stop him until he heard the horrifically loud clatter of metal from down the hall next to the exit. Instantly, Droll saw flashlight circles cover the entirety of the hall in the distance, alerting the yak that he needed to find a place to stop.

He scanned the room numbers that were barely visible before his eyes caught on a room with the word Pawnee spread against the wall next to it, labeling the room. Instantly, Droll recognized it as Radiance's private hospital room, and he knew that the guards wouldn’t enter there, making it the perfect hideout until everything was normal. Without hesitating, Droll got to the indent in the hall where the room was, and he sliced the lock on the door, allowing for him to enter through.

From outside, he heard the loud marching of guards rushing down the hallway in pursuit of the stowaways, causing Droll to sink back deep inside the room. He held his breath. Aside from the marching sounds of the guards, he could only hear the consistent beating of a heart rate monitor.

Droll turned towards a window right beside a gurney, seeing latches on it that he could use to escape, but before he could mess with them, he heard the sound of the door behind him open and close. Before Droll could panic at being caught, he heard the familiar sound of his friend.

“Droll?” Candid asked. “Oh dear, Droll. You’re safe!”

“No talk to yak!” Droll snapped.

Candid drooped in guilt. “Droll, I’m sorry for leaving you back there. I didn’t know if there was another way. You weren’t moving, and I thought we all were going to die if we stayed for you.”

Droll nodded his head in understanding before his curiosity overtook him. “How Candid manage to pick same room as yak?”

The griffon smiled. “This was the only room with a broken lock, the only room I could get in.”

Candid spoke gently, as if happy to see his friend again, causing him to fly over to Droll right beside the gurney. They heard the sound of guards shuffling outside, prompting Droll to begin working on the latches on the window. Before he could get very far, he could hear the sound of the door behind him open up.

Instantly, Candid and Droll ducked between the gurney and the window, hiding their presence from any guards looking for them, but instead of hearing the sound of a guard leave the room to continue to search outside, the familiar sound of a stallion spoke up.

"That's strange," Radiance began. "Someone will fix this lock tomorrow."

Candid looked at Droll before whispering. "Why's he here? Is Nightfall sick or something?"

Droll shook his head. "No. Would've made community news . . ."

“I’m sorry,” Radiance continued as he made his way closer. “I wanted no threats today, but it seems like that got foiled.”

Droll listened to the stallion walk across the room and sit down on the gurney. “Do you remember what today is, honey? Today is the 5th anniversary of when we first arrived here. Can you believe time passed by so quickly?”

A few seconds of near-silence went by as the heart-rate monitor partially filled the empty void. That was until the silent sound of sobbing was heard from the community leader.

“I-I-,” he stuttered. “I just wanted to make sure you were alright. I know everyone wants me to spot putting you through this, but I won't. You're going to make a full recovery. I know it. I love you, sweetheart.”

After a few more seconds of silence, Radiance got up and sighed before marching out of the room.

Candid rose to a stance. “What was that all about?”

Droll barely heard his friend. He blinked back a tear as his breath grew heavy. “No . . .” He rose to a stance as well, slowly walking around the gurney. “No . . .”

Droll looked down at the gurney, seeing the light-green earth pony rest peacefully with a red rose in between her hooves.

Team COLD