19: Breakout
A muffled thump from the other side of the door stirred no response from the captured pegasus. Nothing going on around him quite registered in his head as the only thing occupying his mind was his impending sentence.
Thunderlane sighed and let his head drop onto the table in front of him, ignoring the pain in his forehead. Since being chased away by some large, pissed off stallion, he had decided to hide and lay low at a friend's house, knowing that nopony would find him there as the owner of the house was away on business for a few weeks. It proved to be the perfect hiding spot, but once he had overheard two guards standing outside talking about how Princess Twilight herself was involved in the search for him, he decided to vacate Ponyville as quickly as possible. He had tried to escape under cover of darkness but Rainbow Dash had been lying in wait high above the town, swooping down on him and catching him off guard. Both pegasi went tumbling to the ground, both ponies fighting their hardest. Thunderlane caught Rainbow Dash in the chin with a lucky kick and managed to take off once more, but the rainbow maned pony quickly recovered and gave chase, easily catching him yet again and bringing him to the ground with a powerful body slam. The commotion of course caught the attention of a nearby guard patrol, and in no time at all he was bound and placed under arrest for rape.
Once under interrogation by one of the sergeants the gray pegasus quickly crumbled, confessing to his crime in hopes that he would be given a lighter sentence for cooperating. However, his hopes disappeared once he learned that one of the princesses would be deciding his fate, and thoughts of being banished to the moon refused to leave his thoughts. Now, just a few hours after being caught, he had been brought to the interrogation room yet again to await Twilight's arrival and sentence for his crimes.
As the door to the bleak room slowly opened Thunderlane clamped his eyes shut and let out a small whimper.
"Quit your sniveling and be a stallion. Your luck just changed."
Thunderlane's eyes snapped open at the sound of a strange voice. Standing in front of him was not a guard or Twilight Sparkle, but instead a pony clad in a black cloak and hood. As the strange pony shut the door Thunderlane caught a glimpse of the guard outside the room, but instead of standing at attention like he should be, the guard was unconscious on the floor.
"W-w-who are you?" Thunderlane asked nervously, his mind unable to think of what was going on or what would happen to him.
The pony in front of him ignored his question, and instead summoned an image of a familiar pony. "Do you know this mare?" the strange visitor asked.
Thunderlane nodded nervously. "Yes, yes, I already admitted that I raped Starshadow! I'm sorry! Please, just spare me, don't send me to the moon!" he said pitifully, tears streaming down his face.
The mysterious pony in front of Thunderlane adjusted his stance slightly and a deadly looking dagger floated out from beneath his cloak and moved towards where Thunderlane sat bound and defenseless. "No! No! Please don't kill me! I'll do anything! Name your price, I'll give you whatever you want!" Thunderlane cried out, struggling uselessly against his restraints. Moments later, the pegasus found himself pinned in place as the floating weapon cut away the ropes binding his wings and the stranger somehow unlocked the shackles holding his hind legs to the floor, freeing the cowardly pegasus. Thunderlane couldn't believe his eyes, and his panic subsided once the mysterious pony withdrew his dagger. "What... what's going on?"
Thunderlane's savior removed his hood, revealing a unicorn with a black mane and coat. "You even know her name... good. This wasn't a waste of time after all." Specter said.
Thunderlane moved forward to hug his liberator but quickly found himself being held against the cold floor again with his wings being twisted painfully by the unicorn's magic. "Listen, and listen well. I'll make you this offer only once. You may be useful to me and my mission, and if you swear by your life that you'll do whatever I say then I shall ensure that you remain free. However, if you double cross me or fail to complete the tasks I give you, I will make your death as painful as possible."
Before Thunderlane could answer, the room around them suddenly began shaking violently and the sound of a mare screaming could be heard from somewhere else in the building, murderous intent clear in her voice. A pitiful squeal escaped the pinned pegasus and if he could have moved at all, he would likely have jumped and struck the ceiling in abject terror. Thoughts of what Princess Twilight or whatever crazy mare was shouting upstairs would do to him swirled through his head; a painful death at the hooves of the mysterious unicorn before him suddenly seemed like a mercy compared to facing the wrath of the princess and her friends. Thunderlane quickly nodded. "Yes, yes of course! I'll do whatever you say!" he said, eager to accept the chance to avoid whatever wretched fate awaited him here.
Specter nodded and released his hold on Thunderlane. "Wise choice. Now stand still." he commanded as he cast a teleportation spell. A moment later both stallions suddenly disappeared from the interrogation room, leaving behind the unconscious guard outside.
"Ya sure this is a good idea?" Big Mac asked Starshadow as they walked down the corridor to the holding rooms.
Starshadow nodded. "Y-yeah. I have to do this." she said nervously.
Applejack brushed up against the scared pegasus reassuringly. "Dontcha worry none, sugarcube. Big Mac 'n me will be with ya. No way that no good vermin will try anything with... what'n the hay?"
As the trio rounded the corner they saw a guard crumpled on the ground. They rushed over to the unconscious pony and thankfully found him still breathing, but when Big Mac checked the room where Thunderlane was supposed to be held all he found was an empty room. Unable to contain his anger, the large stallion slammed a hoof down on the table, leaving a large crack along the entire tabletop.
"Ah'm gonna go fer help!" Applejack shouted as she ran to get Twilight. Starshadow took over looking after the unconscious guard while Big Mac stood guard, just in case Thunderlane returned to the scene. It didn't take long for Applejack to return with Twilight and six more guards hot on her hooves. Two of the guards quickly took their fallen companion off to the hospital while the remaining four rushed off to search the barracks, but it was obvious that Thunderlane was gone. Now back to square one, the guards redeployed around Ponyville, the urgency to find the criminal now greater than ever. If he could somehow escape prison, what else was he capable of?
Her heart hurting more than ever, Starshadow felt herself fall into a depression, and Twilight quickly suggested that Big Mac and Applejack take the hurting pegasus back to Sweet Apple Acres and that a guard would be posted at the farm in case Thunderlane tried to attack her again. The Apple siblings agreed and were escorted home by two guards, leaving Twilight to try to solve how Thunderlane could have escaped.
The princess inspected the ropes that had been binding his wings to his body and saw that they had been cut. She also noted that the shackles bolted to the ground showed no signs of being cut or forced open, and to her horror she wondered if one of the guards had freed him. 'But... but we never saw anypony come out of the hallway, and that's the only way in or out of here.'
"Somepony teleported into the hallway here."
Twilight turned around and saw her bodyguard staring at her. "What are you talking about? That's impossible. Princess Celestia herself cast a protective spell around every guard building in Equestria to prevent anypony from escaping, so teleportation is impossible." she said.
"Any spell can be beaten if you understand its roots, princess." The bodyguard shook her head. "Somepony definitely teleported in and then teleported themselves and the fugitive out. I can sense trace amounts of the magical residue left over from the spell."
Twilight tried to sense the trace amount of magic left behind when such a complex spell was used but couldn't find anything. "There's nothing there. Maybe somepony tried and failed."
"I'm sorry, princess, but you're wrong. Watch." Without even the telltale flash of light or lighting of her horn the mare disappeared, leaving Twilight dumbfounded. The bodyguard reappeared moments later in the same spot she left, but now with a book in her mouth. Dropping it as Twilight's feet, the mare pointed at it. "This is from your library, proof that I did teleport there and back."
Twilight didn't need to question the book's authenticity as it had a number scrawled in the corner of the cover, denoting which shelf and what spot it belonged. "But... no, that's impossible. Nightshade, how did you...?" Twilight stuttered.
"I've been trained extensively on the nature of long term spells like magical barriers or protective spells. Such things cannot stop me. I can only guess that whoever has perpetrated this escape has had similar training." she said, somewhat surprised that a pony as powerful as Twilight apparently couldn't do so herself.
Twilight gulped, still in shock that somepony could circumvent Celestia's protective spell. She was also scared that her bodyguard was right; if Nightshade could teleport in and out with ease, did that mean somepony with the same ability freed Thunderlane?
The following days remained uneventful in Ponyville. The guards doubled their efforts to hunt down Thunderlane (along with an absolutely belligerent Fluttershy), this time going door to door and searching every building in the small town. APB's were sent to every city across Equestria warning of the dangerous fugitive, however, there was no sign of the pegasus and it seemed he had well and truly vanished. After three straight days of searching day and night, the guards in Ponyville finally dispersed, certain that Thunderlane was no longer in town. Everypony in town was happy to see the heavy guard presence disperse, Starshadow included, and Fluttershy was eventually talked out of personally searching every inch of Equestria by her friends. Finally life in the quiet town began to return to normal.
However, the peace didn't last long. As Starshadow was helping Applejack clean up yet another mess caused by a certain trio of fillies trying to get their cutie marks, a loud cry caught both mares' attention. They both looked up into the sky where they thought they heard the shout come from and saw a familiar rainbow streaking towards them.
"Duck!" Applejack yelled out. Both ponies barely managed to duck in time as Rainbow Dash hurtled just inches above their heads. Once again showing off her talent, the rainbow pegasus looped back around and skillfully landed right in front of the two shaken mares. "Gosh darnit, Dash, ya'll are gonna run somepony over one of these days. Bad enough that Starshadow here is missin' out on her performances this week, she don' need a broken neck on toppa everything." Applejack scolded.
Rainbow Dash held up her hoof. "Not now AJ, look at this!" she said excitedly. Reaching into her saddle pack, she produced a copy of the Ponyville Express, holding the newspaper up so her two friends could read the cover story.
Starshadow and Applejack's eyes went wide as they saw a photo of Vinyl Scratch running from a group of guards, the words 'DJ Pon-3 Destroys Los Pegasus' in bold letters above it. Grabbing the paper from Rainbow Dash, Starshadow read over the article.
A peaceful night at the Canterlot Orchestra's performance quickly turned into a nightmare of unprecedented proportion as renowned musician Vinyl Scratch, aka DJ Pon-3, went on an unexplained rampage through the city of Los Pegasus. The concert was brought to a halt after a small wardrobe malfunction by one of the orchestra members, and as reporters gathered at the rear entrance to await an explanation of what had occurred the violent DJ came out of the building and began to attack the reporters.
The rampage soon continued to the several newspaper offices, including The Seaddle Times and The Los Pegasus Daily. Damage estimates soar up into the hundreds of thousands, and as the local guards responded to the destruction, the DJ ran leading guards on a two hour chase around the entire city. Even while being pursued by an overwhelming number of guards DJ Scratch found time to cause more mayhem, panic, and fear, all of which stopped only when she was too tired to continue running.
In an immediate response to her brazen and surprising actions, a representative from Los Pegasus Music Studios announced the following morning that the studio has terminated its contract with the DJ, saying that they of course do not wish to be associated with such an unbalanced, questionable mare. Mere minutes later, High Tail Records in Manehattan also announced that they too were dropping DJ Pon-3, immediately terminating their contract with her and ceasing all sales of her records, as well as immediately cancelling all upcoming shows. "We cannot condone such activity like the choices Ms. Scratch has made last night. After holding an emergency meeting with top executives, we unanimously voted to cancel our contract with Ms. Scratch immediately." says Top Pick, CEO of High Tail Records.
Analysts estimate that DJ Scratch's break from the two record companies will result in a 12 million bit loss for potential earnings for her in the next five years. "Why Vinyl went on this chaotic rampage is an absolute mystery, but the end result will absolutely be an end in her career. Nopony is going to risk signing on such a potentially dangerous and violent mare." one expert says. It is doubtful that any clubs or concert halls will also take the risk in hiring DJ Pon-3 independently due to this turn of events.
Local guards report that Ms. Scratch was freed sometime the next day on bail. DJ Scratch paid off the damages she had caused to the equipment and newspaper offices and also agreed to stay out of Los Pegasus for the next year. It is unknown where DJ Scratch has decided to go now or what she may do now that her music career has been silenced.
Starshadow and Applejack reread the entire article just to make sure that they had correctly seen what was printed before looking up at Rainbow Dash. "When did..." Applejack started to ask.
"I got it just this morning, but supposedly this all happened three days ago." Rainbow Dash said before turning to Starshadow. "I don't get it, though... she was supposed to be leaving for some concert in Manehattan tomorrow. What the hay was she doing in Los Pegasus?"
Starshadow shrugged. "I thought she was still at home here in Ponyville. This... this has to be a mistake."
Applejack nudged Starshadow. "Go'n, Ah can clean up the rest of this here mess." she said, knowing how anxious both Rainbow Dash and Starshadow were.
"Thanks!" both pegasi mares shouted before making haste for Vinyl's home. They reached the house in record time, genuine concern for her friend giving Starshadow's wings the strength to almost keep pace with the other pegasus, and Starshadow led the way inside.
"Hello? Vinyl?" Starshadow called out. Technically being her home she had no hesitance in walking around, but Rainbow Dash was busy looking around, surprised that it was nothing like she had imagined. Finding nopony around on the first floor, both mares ventured upstairs and made their way to Vinyl's room. Her bedroom door was cracked open and Starshadow and Rainbow Dash could hear two ponies inside talking to each other;
"No, you put your hoof here... yeah, like that. Now start gently, don't want to start off too hard."
"Vinyl, I don't know about this. It feels... it's too weird, especially with you watching me."
"Aw, come on Tavi, you've seen me do this plenty of times. Give it a try."
"Ahhh!"
"Woah, calm down, Tavi, like I said, start slowly. Yeah... yeah, just like that. Now you're getting it."
Starshadow's face turned beet red after hearing the small bit of conversation. "Maybe we should come back later." she whispered to Rainbow Dash. However, Dash's curiosity was piqued, and she had to get a peek at what was going on inside Vinyl's room and continued forward. "Rainbow what're you doing?!" Starshadow hissed again.
Rainbow stopped and turned to look back at Starshadow. "Just a peek. I gotta see what they're doing in there." she replied.
Starshadow could see by Rainbow Dash's curious look that she was intent on finding out what was going on. "No, we should leave!" she hissed, but Dash shrugged and took another step forward. Panicking, Starshadow grabbed Rainbow's tail with her teeth and yanked back.
"Hey!" Rainbow hissed, trying to pull free. "Just... lemme see!"
A brief tug of war battle ensued, but the difference in relative strength was soon made clear. With one final tug, Rainbow Dash caused Starshadow to lose her footing, causing the small pegasus to crash into Dash. The momentum carried both of them forward and they both tumbled into Vinyl's room, terrifying Vinyl and Octavia by the surprise entrance. Tangled on the floor together, Rainbow Dash and Starshadow looked at each other before looking up at the other two mares inside. Octavia was standing behind one of Vinyl's dual turntable stations, Vinyl standing behind her showing her how to use the complex equipment. Starshadow breathed a sigh of relief as Rainbow Dash sheepishly grinned up at them. "Uh, hey... what's up?"
"... and then we caught the train from Canterlot back here." Vinyl finished explaining. All four mares had relocated to the living room downstairs and found a comfortable seat while Vinyl and Octavia told Starshadow and Rainbow Dash what happened in Los Pegasus, minus certain details of the wardrobe mishap.
"But didn't you have a full schedule with the orchestra planned?" Starshadow asked Octavia, remembering what Starsong had said before leaving for Los Pegasus.
Octavia nodded. "We did, yes, but... things changed after that night. Our manager had to cancel our planned shows in Los Pegasus due to Vinyl's... actions." she said. "Your sister was going to come back to Ponyville with us but the manager asked her to stay to work on some new pieces he wanted to try. She should be coming here in the next few days."
Starshadow couldn't help but flutter her wings in excitement at the thought of being able to spend time with Starsong again. Though they had just seen each other a week ago, it wasn't nearly enough time for the two siblings to catch up with each other.
Vinyl noted her roommate's excitement. "Huh, I'm surprised you're that anxious. I thought it would be impossible to break you away from your stud Big Mac for more than a day. Don't think I didn't notice that you haven't been home since I left. You've been over at his place getting rutted into the ground, haven't you?" she asked with a sly wink.
Starshadow and Rainbow's looks instantly dropped, both mares looking at the ground. "What, did I say something wrong?" Vinyl asked cluelessly.
Rainbow Dash explained what had happened in Ponyville the last week or so, Vinyl and Octavia both rendered speechless during the story. When she had finished speaking, Vinyl got up and hugged Starshadow to comfort her, Octavia soon following suit.
"Wow... I'm so sorry, Starshadow." Vinyl said. "I just can't believe that he would... he always came to my shows, even came early to help carry stuff in and set up it up. He never... I never imagined he would..."
Vinyl's thoughts trailed off as an awkward silence now hung in the air. "Hey, no worries. If I can catch him once I can catch him again." Rainbow said, trying to lighten the mood.
Just then somepony knocked on the front door, and when Vinyl opened it up with her magic Applejack walked in. "There ya'll are. Ah was wonderin' where ya'll disappeared to."
"Sorry AJ. We got kinda wrapped up in their story." Dash said.
"Ah'll say. It's almost time fer supper. If ya'll wanna come on back ter the farm Apple Bloom an' Granny Smith have been cookin' up a storm all day, an' Big Mac is breakin' out a barrel of cider."
Rainbow Dash's ears perked up at the mention of her favorite drink. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" she shouted, zipping over Applejack's head and out the door, flying as quickly as she could for Sweet Apple Acres. The four mares left behind laughed at Rainbow's never ending enthusiasm for the Apple family's special cider, and with much less urgency they walked back to Sweet Apple Acres.
As the four ponies reached the farm AJ led them to the barn instead of the main house. None of the three other ponies suspected anything as Applejack held the barn door open and motioned Starshadow to enter first. Starshadow found it somewhat odd that all the lights were off, but as soon as her rear hooves cleared the doorway all the lights came on and a blizzard of confetti came raining down from the ceiling.
"Surprise!" a group of ponies yelled out, but Starshadow didn't quite hear them, all her attention focused on making sure her heart was still beating after being caught completely off guard. As her eyes adjusted to the sudden increase in light she saw that the barn had been decorated with brightly colored streamers and balloons. A group of ponies stood in front of her, some she had already met before and some new faces.
"W-w-wha-what?"Starshadow managed to stammer, but she was interrupted as a bubbly pink pony came bounding up to her, their faces almost touching as the pink pony began to start 'talking'.
"So how'd you like the surprise? Were you surprised? I hope you were surprised because after all it is a surprise party!" the pony said in a pace almost too quick to understand.
All Starshadow could do was nod, causing the pink pony to put on the biggest smile she had ever seen.
"That's awesome! I knew you'd like it! Oh, my name's Pinkie Pie, by the way! I meant to throw you a Welcome to Ponyville party but when you arrived to town I was back home visiting my parents and sisters so I didn't get a chance to see you and by the time I got back Twilight told me what had happened and that throwing you a surprise party wouldn't be a good idea so I held off on the party until I heard that they caught the pony who attacked you but since he escaped again I figured you would need a cheering up party! So do you like it? Huh?"
Starshadow was stunned that a pony could talk so quickly and for so long without needing to stop to breathe. All she could manage to respond with was another slow nod and a soft "Y-yeah". Thankfully, that was enough for the pink party pony who gleefully bounded away, allowing the other ponies in the barn to welcome Starshadow to the party.
Applejack came up and playfully pushed Starshadow. "Ah gotta admit, ah was worried for a tick that ya'll was gonna clean up that mess Apple Bloom an' her friends made fer me ta keep ya busy while Pinkie here was settin' up too quick." she admitted. "Ah hope she didn' offend ya before with her explanation an' all."
Starshadow shook her head, a small smile on her face. "No, it's fine. It's... this is kind of nice." she said.
Applejack smiled back. "Glad ta hear, sugarcube. C'mon, lemme introduce ya to everypony."
The party went on well into the night, and sometime after midnight the last guests said goodbye and headed home, leaving Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Starshadow, and Big Mac alone in the barn. Before Starshadow could even lift a hoof to start cleaning up the large mess Pinkie stopped her, insisting that she would clean up by herself. The pink pony dove into a nearby pile of hay and wheeled out a blue cannon, but as Starshadow opened her mouth to ask why in Tartarus she had a cannon, let alone how it would clean up the remnants of the party, Applejack led the confused pegasus outside. "Trust me, ain't worth wonderin' how." she simply said. Once Big Mac had also exited the barn a loud explosion could be heard coming from inside, and seconds later Pinkie left the barn, waving goodbye as she rolled her cannon home. A quick peek inside the barn showed that Pinkie Pie had indeed somehow cleaned up the entire mess with the cannon, but Applejack once again shook her head. "Ain't worth it." she said again.
As the three ponies walked inside, Starshadow stopped Big Mac before he went upstairs. Guessing correctly that the pegasus wanted some time alone, Applejack bid the two goodnight before heading up to her room, leaving the two alone downstairs. Big Mac wasn't sure what she could want; she had avoided eye contact with him most of the night in the party. "You okay?" he asked her.
Starshadow couldn't bring herself to look at him, instead keeping her gaze on the floor. "Do... do you hate me, now that you know my past?" she asked him.
"Of course not." Big Mac replied almost instantly. "Why would Ah?" Starshadow was unable to answer him, so Big Mac pulled her into a gentle hug. "It was brave of you to tell us your past, and Ah am sorry that you went through all that. But it does not change how Ah feel about you now. Ah still want you as my special somepony."
Starshadow fought back the urge to cry again and pulled away from him. "Really?" she asked, hoping for a certain answer.
Her hopes held true. "Eeyup." he replied.
Both ponies leaned forward and shared a gentle kiss, both of them smiling once they broke contact. "You gonna stay with AJ again tonight?" he asked her.
Starshadow blushed slightly. "Actually... can I stay with you tonight?" she asked nervously.
Big Mac nodded. "Eeyup."