That Others May Live

by CptBrony

The Great Escape

The Great Escape

The four stallions sat in a circle in the middle of their little area, each one trying to think out a plan. They had spoken before and agreed that each of them would think of something, then they would collaborate and combine plans to make something that would work. They had been sitting in their circle for over an hour trying to think up ways to escape.

They were all lightly bound, but it was nothing that was easy to break out of. Of course, that might make a lot of noise, snapping the ropes that bound them. Aziz had already come up with a plan for that.

“يا شباب. I have an idea for getting out quietly.” he whispered.

“Let’s hear it.” Malik replied, eager for something. He had been quietly brooding more than planning.

“These ropes are tied around our legs, but they aren’t secured; with a little effort, we can slip right out.” He listened for the small grunts of approval. “One of us will get his hooves between the other’s legs, then that one will slip out and help the others.”

Rashid chuckled. “I had no idea you were like that, Aziz.” he joked.

“Learn something new every day.” Aziz replied, drawing stifled laughter from his teammates.

Without discussion, the first one to get between the legs of his teammate was Hamid, who had been silently listening the whole time. With a few grunts and misses, he was able to get his hooves behind Aziz’ restraints. Once there, he locked his position on the ground and braced himself against Aziz, who started to push off of him. His hind legs dug into Hamid’s gut painfully, but the stallion held firm against the legs of his teammate.

Soon, Aziz’ legs shot out from his restraints, almost sending him stumbling across the room, and Hamid flew onto his back. While they did that, Rashid and Malik worked on their own restraint, getting a similar result at the end of their struggle. Once two of the four were out, they set out to release the other two by roughly the same method, just the pusher standing up.

Now, they were all out of their restraints and ready to move out. But first, they had to go over their plan.

“Alright.” Hamid began. “What do we know?”

“We know that the mare Amel is out there; if she sees us, we come right back.” Malik said. “We also know that Duke and Frost are out there somewhere; they will have to actually catch us. But we can fight back now.”

Hamid nodded. “Good, good. But the way they are, they will have a distinct advantage in close fighting. How can we fight against them?”

All went silent for a moment. “I have an idea.” Rashid said. “We need to stand in a formation, one that will prevent them from sneaking up on us. That is where they will get us the most easily.”

“Yes, that should work!” Aziz whispered loudly. “We should be able to look around in all directions at all times.” He looked around, a thoughtful expression on his face. “One of us will go in front, mostly looking forward. One will go in the middle and keep an eye on our flanks. The last two will pair up to take the rear, taking turns looking around and to the rear.”

“But what’s the plan if they can get up to us to fight?” Hamid asked.

Rashid thought about the formation. “If the front runner ends up under attack, then the middle one will run forward and attack, maybe jumping over the front runner. The middle one is unlikely to be attacked, but if he is, the rear pair can work together to get him free. If one of the rear is attacked, the other will help. And because they shouldn’t be able to sneak up on us with this formation, if both in the rear are attacked, the other two will be able to react in time to fight back.”

Hamid smiled. “I like it.” Then something struck him. “What if they jump down from the walls, the way a griffon would come down on us?”

Rashid frowned, having forgotten about the high zones. “Uh, maybe...”

Malik piped in. “The middle one can look up there sometimes, since he has the least to actively look at. Anything he sees, the rears can see, so he can also look to the sky.”

“Very nice.” Hamid said. He liked planning things out; unlike Nedal, who liked to wing it and see what happened. These humans made him look like a total buffoon. “So that’s how we will travel. But what should we do to get away from here without Amel seeing us?”

The group went silent once again and thought about the situation. They had no idea where she might be out there, nor what rounds she might be making. There were two doors out of the room, plus two holes that served as windows that they could use.One wall was bare, so that left three avenues of escape in three directions. The doors would be nice because they would be the fastest to run out of, but they were the most obvious ways out, located on opposite sides of the room. The windows were both on the last side, but it would be substantially harder to get out of those without making noise.

The stallions looked once at each other, then nodded and each went to a window or door. Rashid and Hamid took the doors, and Malik and Aziz took the windows. To avoid being seen, the stallions approached slowly from the sides of the openings and kept a fair distance from the window to remain hidden in the darker room.

“Nothing here.” Aziz and Malik whispered together. There was only an alley sized hall outside their windows.

“I got nothing.” Rashid replied after cracking his door open. His area was barren and open; a risky bet for running away.

Hamid was unsure of how to proceed. So far, he had decent information that Amel wasn’t in the other areas. That left his and the outside of the wall without windows. If he opened his door, he could be seen and his team could be reshackled in a much more efficient manner, reducing their odds of escaping.

He took a good look at the door; it was shoddily made, the type that he had seen in the less noble villages. Basically, it was several wooden boards loosely put together with holes in several spots. Hamid got as close to it as possible and peered through the spaces.

“I found her.” he announced quietly. Right outside, not ten feet away, was Amel, staring at the door. “It looks like she’s pretty intent on watching this door.”

The others all nodded. “Good.” Rashid said. “We’ll go out this other door nice and quiet, and take our formation as soon as we’re out of her reach.”

Rashid stood before the door waiting while the rest of the team moved in behind to get ready. Once they were stacked up, Rashid glanced back at them, eager to get out. From the back, Malik nodded to him. With that green light, Rashid silently pushed the door open and the stallions began to move out.

They moved quickly and quietly across the space and slipped into the corridor straight ahead of them. Rashid took point, followed by Hamid, then by Malik and Aziz. With a quick confirmation that they were still hidden, they moved out into the maze.

With Rashid on point, he decided what directions they would go. Before taking any turn or passing any intersection, he would slow down and take a quick look down each hallway to check for Duke or Frost. They had no idea if the humans would attack alone or together, so it was always better to check.

The stallions kept light on their hooves, trying their best not to make too much noise as they moved through the maze. To avoid making noise with each step, they figured out that they could put their hooves back on the ground from the side edge first, effectively making a rolling motion rather than a stomping one. They also moved swiftly without too many sudden stops or decelerations to avoid having their packs jingle or move.

Malik and Aziz were, by far, in the riskiest area of the formation. There were so many avenues of attack on them and so many fewer ways for their teammates to help them if an attack occurred. Because of this, their eyes were in constant motion, never taking more than a couple of seconds in any direction. The two were like a well oiled machine; when one was looking to his side, the other was looking back, and they moved in perfect sync. It was this action that might have saved them from a lot of pain.

“I think I saw one!” Aziz whispered loudly. The group slowed down just a little, enough to be able to listen to their surroundings. “Behind us!”

Rashid and Hamid both tried to think fast while Aziz and Malik turned around to see if they were being followed. If they stayed like this, they would be sitting ducks; the humans could probably see the weaknesses in their formation more easily when they weren’t moving.

“Circle up!” Hamid said, getting into position. The other three followed close behind. “Watch for movement. If you see something, get to running, we’ll remake our formation on the move.”

The stallions all held their breath; the world went silent, frozen, as they scanned the area. Nothing moved, nothing made any noise. It was like nothing was ever there. But they all knew better than that by now.

“Get back into formation and get moving.” Rashid ordered. He lowered his voice so that only his teammates could hear. “If you see movement again, we break into two groups and meet up at the end. If you get there, and after ten minutes no one shows up, go back in for them.”

He got three affirming nods, and the stallions began to move out once again. They all took the same positions as before, their pairs in case of a dash already decided. Now, as they moved, their hearts raced and urged them to sprint out of the maze, but the stallions fought their instincts. Fear of the humans and of failure drove them to go forward.

They moved through the maze at the same pace as before, but the movements of their eyes and heads picked up significantly. There was now the distinct possibility that they were being followed, stalked like prey, and they couldn’t see the predator. They had to remain totally alert and ready to act in case of an attack.

They hit another intersection, this one with a great deal more space in it and with several large rocks in the middle. Rashid looked around, but saw nothing. He slowed his pace, and consequently his team’s pace, as they moved around the rocks to check all the passages. Rashid made sure to keep one eye on the corridors and one eye on the rocks next to them. It was an excellent place for an ambush.

Hamid stared intently at the rocks. He could just tell that Duke or Frost was nearby, they had to be. It was like he could feel one of them watching him, their eyes boring into his skull. The rocks were positioned in such a way that, unless they broke formation, the stallions could never see all the way around it, so that seemed like the most likely hiding place. Unfortunately, he couldn’t keep starting at the rocks, as it was also his job to keep an eye on the sky.

He looked up; about fifteen feet up, there was something perched on the wall. As Hamid’s eyes widened, a big, toothy smile came across the face of Frost.

“UP HIGH!” he shouted, running to Rashid and pushing him forward. “BREAK!”

Behind, Aziz and Malik had no trouble following the plan, and both bolted down a random hall. Rashid took a second to look up and was greeted by Frost leaping off the wall in his general direction.

“AH!” he yelped as he just moved out of the way. Frost landed right next to him more gracefully than Hamid would have thought his body capable of. “Hamid!”

Hamid took the cue and rammed Frost, getting his body under the human, then throwing him off to the side and out of the way. The human made several grunts as he began to stand back up.

“RUN!”

The stallions hauled it into overdrive and sprinted away from the human as he got up to give chase. They knew that they could certainly outrun him, but odds were that he would outsmart them. As Hamid looked back, he could see Frost poking something on the side of his head and speaking, probably telling Duke where he found them all.

Rashid and Hamid raced through the maze, eager to escape and try to meet up with Aziz and Malik. “Wait...” Hamid mentally slapped himself. They had no way of communicating at all, not even shouting. They would just give away their positions; and while Duke and Frost only spoke Equish, if Amel heard, she could shout back what they said in Equish. Without any way to get in contact with their other two teammates, Rashid and Hamid had to just hope for that luck would let them run into their teammates.

Rashid took a sharp left, then stopped, causing Hamid to almost trip over him. “What are you doing?!” he asked as quietly as possible. Better safe than sorry.

Rashid took a moment to breath. “We can wait for him here. If he comes around the corner, we take him down, then use his own rope to tie him up. Then we can carry him away with us.”

“It sounds alright.” Hamid said. “But what if he doesn’t follow our path?”

“If he doesn’t, then we leave after three minutes. But tell me; do you think we lost him?”

Hamid didn’t have to respond to that; Rashid already knew the answer. With a jab of his hoof, Rashid had Hamid wait right next to him and get as low as possible, ready to pounce on the human when he passed.

They waited. And waited. And waited. Hamid began to grow frustrated, but stayed quiet since he couldn’t tell if someone was around the corner. He had no way of knowing how to tell how much time had passed, so when he eventually felt like the three minutes were up, he poked Rashid in the side.

“Let’s get moving-”

In an instant, Rashid was crushed to the ground under the force of a falling human in camouflage pants and shirt. He yelled out as he was crushed and pressed into the ground, trying to fight against the human but failing. Hamid looked over and blinked, unsure of exactly what just happened as Rashid was being tossed around and tied up.

“Hey!” he finally shouted, tackling Frost again.

Frost went flying to the side and off of Rashid, who went straight to getting the almost tied rope of off himself. Hamid placed himself between his partner and the human, ready for a struggle.

The human said something that Hamid didn’t understand, then lunged at him, arms outstretched and fingers spread. Hamid dropped low and shifted his weight forward, and as Frost went over him, he bucked up to throw the human into the air. Frost reacted quickly, getting his hands on Hamid’s rear and keeping himself stable as he was bucked up, and continued forward, onto Rashid. Hamid hadn’t even turned yet when he heard Rashid’s battle begin.

Rashid was face to face with Frost, slightly disconcerted by the crazy grin on his face and the widened stance. Rashid lowered his center of gravity and prepared himself to spring forward and fight as Hamid came back to continue his own battle.

Hamid went to tackle Frost from behind, but his loud hoofstomps gave him away easily, and Frost countered him by leaning forward and catching the stallion on his back. Getting a good grip on Hamid’s mane with his left hand and getting his right arm around the side of his neck, Frost performed a makeshift Tai Otoshi on the stallion, dropping him to the ground. Hamid groaned as Frost rolled him away to continue after Rashid.

Rashid was already after him, though; no group ever has its members take turns in a fight. Rashid placed his body in between the legs of the human and, with as much force as he could muster, rose up into the air, lifting the human with him.

Frost made a high-pitched sound, foreign to Rashid, as he fell off of his back and to the ground, clutching his groin. Rashid regretted having done it, but that was what he felt he had to do. He looked at Frost, then the rope, then back to Frost, and decided that he didn’t have the time or know how to tie up his human instructor. Instead, he walked over to Hamid dragged him to his feet.

“Come, we need to find Aziz and Malik.”

Hamid nodded back, and the two stallions ran off to find their teammates, leaving Frost curled up on the ground and groaning in pain.

Aziz and Malik were unsure of how to proceed now that they were out of harm’s way. They hadn’t discussed any plans after breaking formation and running, a foolish lack of forethought on their part. Now, they were lost and at an intersection, and couldn’t decide where to go.

“How far did we run?” Aziz asked, checking the rear and above.

Malik shrugged and sighed. “I don’t know. We ran fast, and we ran pretty long, I think. I have no idea where we need to go now.”

Aziz sighed in response, feeling disappointed at their situation, and wordlessly moved on, taking a right at the intersection. Malik followed, glad that Aziz was willing to take the lead and make the decisions. That was another problem that they had as a group; none of them had ever lead before. Nedal had always told them what to do, so with this bizarre new freedom to choose their way, the stallions were in unfamiliar territory. The humans were forcing them to think for themselves.

Of course, if the humans were right, they would likely always have to think for themselves in unfamiliar territory. That’s how the humans say they operate, so that was how the stallions would have to operate. They were taking a bunch of low-ranking soldiers and making them into a highly trained special missions unit. They each had to become leaders in their own rights.

Aziz just kept on walking, keeping the crunching below his hooves to a minimum to listen to their surroundings. Behind him, Malik was watching the sky and behind them, not listening as much as he was watching. Aziz kept his eyes forward, trained on anything in front of him.

Aziz was only watching for movement, whereas Malik tried to look for anything that seemed out of place. Though nothing seemed odd at the moment; there were rocks, small and large, jagged and smooth. Holes and little ditches in the ground, not big enough for a human to hide in. Up high, there was nothing but a dome shaped ceiling. They would occasionally pass bushes on their journey, some small, some tumbleweeds, though those were uncommon to say the least in Saddle Arabia, and they took on various shapes and colors.

Aziz passed a big one that would be perfect to hide behind, or even under. Just to be safe, Malik went around the other side of it to check for feet or hands or other human parts under it, as well as to see if Duke was on the other side. Frost was chasing Rashid and Hamid, so he was accounted for.

Malik let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding when he saw nothing. Instantly regretting it, he turned his attention to the air in a fit of paranoia, only to catch nothing.

“Damn humans and their tactics.” he grumbled.

“Hey, hurry up. We can’t get so far apart.” Aziz said from up front.

Malik sighed behind Aziz and began to walk forward. Aziz kept his eyes forward, not willing to risk letting his eyes drift and potentially get them attacked. He heard Malik trip.

“Malik, hurry up-”

Aziz turned around to see that the bush had come to life and was covering Malik’s mouth as it pinned him to the ground and began to tie him up with a rope. Stunned, but only for a second, Aziz figured that it had to be Duke in the bush, somehow wearing it like armor, only for stealth. Masterful camouflage, it was.

“Malik!” he shouted as he ran forward. His steps never faltered as the Dukebush turned around to face his new foe, more rope in hand. Aziz saw that he was forming a circle with it, probably to tie up his legs with, and looked for a way past. “Can’t always get an easy way...” he thought.

Instead of sidestepping the way any smart warrior would, Aziz upped his speed and leapt at Duke through the loop, jaw open wide. Duke wasn’t able to close it fast enough, and Aziz’ snout rammed into his chest, sending him back and onto the ground. With the rope tied around his torso, Aziz went straight to getting the ties off of Malik so that it would be two on one.

It was for not, however, as Duke recovered quickly and got back on Aziz right as he finished getting Malik’s back legs untied. Still unable to walk, Malik was forced to just watch as Duke, his face hidden and instilling more terror than if it wasn’t, expertly moved the rope around Aziz and tied up the rest of his body. When he was finally done, he let out a big, throaty laugh and dropped Malik to the floor.

The two stallions glanced at each other, angry at how easily they were taken down, and tried to think of a plan to escape. They had to be fast, for Duke was poking the side of his head and saying something, likely telling Frost to get over here to pick up the prisoners.

The stallions were confused, though, when Duke’s body language seemingly became panicked and he started talking faster. They still could not understand what he was saying, but it was clear that he was not happy at the moment. Duke just sighed after a while, said one last thing, then turned back to the stallions on the ground.

The human plopped himself down in front of Aziz and looked thoughtful. Then, out of nowhere, he picked up a jagged rock off the ground and poked Aziz in the side with it, eliciting a loud yelp from him. “What the hell!?” Aziz shouted, unhappy.

Before he had even finished yelling, Duke was back to the side of the corridor, looking like any other plant. “Aziz?! Malik?!” someone shouted from the distance. It must have been Rashid or Hamid. “We’re close to you; don’t move!”

Malik and Aziz looked to each other, knowing fully well what was in store for their friends if they came to their rescue. “To hell with it.” Malik thought. “I can’t let my teammates get captured.” He took in a deep breath and, just as Rashid and Hamid came around a corner thirty feet away, he bellowed, “THE PLANT HERE IS DUKE! WATCH OUT!”

The two stallions, now coming down the hall, looked straight at the plant and, determination burning in their eyes, they ran at it with all the force they could muster.

“OH SHIT!” Duke thought.

The stallions rammed him and sent him rolling fifteen feet in the other direction, ripping apart his plant disguise and exposing the human underneath. With him dealt with, Rashid and Hamid turned their attention to their incapacitated teammates and went about untying them with great haste.

“Thanks.” Aziz said as he stood up. He looked at Duke, who was on his hands and knees some distance away. “He’ll be alright?” he asked.

Rashid chuckled. “Better off than Frost.” Malik got up and walked over, both his and Aziz’ eyebrows raised, and tried to get more on that. “It isn’t important right now. Right now, we just need to get out of here.”

“Amen to that.” Hamid replied.

The four stallions got back into formation and jogged off, eager to get out of the maze and complete their first major training simulation.

Comments

[Ponytime]

I understand you wanting to not make the Humans seem Gary Stu but a kick to the balls wouldn't stop a soldier let alone a PJ. Same with a tackle or charge or whatever that was.

[GodOFInsaNity666]

3106158 your forgetting that not only are they different species, but also these are HORSES not PONIES

[Ponytime]

3106455 It doesn't matter. If a Marine got his balls slammed open with a hammer and his life or anothers was in danger he would do his job. Granted that wasn't a life or death situation but he wouldn't have curled up into a fetal position and cried.

[Ogatasensei123]

great chapter, definitely action packed and suspensful, good work as usual.

3106158
yeah, I'm fairly sure that basically getting kicked in the nuts with the equivalent of four legs would send anyone to the ground. Even a s00per 1337 pararescueman 0perator.

[CptBrony]

3106158
It would, actually. The reaction to being hit there is not a mental one at all; the groin is a highly sensative nerve center, like the solar plexus. The body's natural reaction is defensive; it's duty is to keep it's weakest zones under constant defense, and so that is what the body does. A person can keep going, but that person will not be nearly as capable or stable on their feet as they were before. Trust me on that one; as a martial artist of thirteen years, I can tell you that it works wonders.

[Ponytime]

3108142 Yeah they won't be as capable (no shit) but they could still keep going. However since this was training I guess it doesn't really apply.

[CptBrony]

3110637
3111040
As much as I enjoy reading other people's discussions on close personal combat, I can see that this discussion has clearly gone south and become off topic; unfortunately, I feel I need to turn it off. I won't have arguments on any of my pages. If you wish to continue your discussion/argument, do so in PM's.
It isn't a ban on intelligent discussion; keep it purely to facts, no personal attacks. But this is my rule. I would like to see it followed.

[Ogatasensei123]

3111553
My apologies, I had no intention as to come off as caustic as I did, it's just that the way he phrased his comment made it seem as though he had been in such a situation, and it just so happens that I have doubts as to whether or not he has is all. Once again, my apologies.

[CptBrony]

3111577
I accept your apology. And I hope that the issue is resolved.

[Frosthowl]

3116878 i share the same Feel

[Moonreaper666]

Gives a Splinter Cell feel to me

[Astropye]

I can't help but feel that the ponies just had enormous luck, and Frost and Duke were caught off guard by their tactics.