Lord of the Foals[Closed]

Jasmine didn't jump much from the sound of gun fire in the distance; over the past year she has become accustomed to hearing the sound of gunfire on a regular basis.

"I'm coming with you", Jasmine approached Bakewell.

"Thtarry and Thutter need our help to get out of there. If we encounter the foalth, I can try to lead them away thinthe they can't catch me. Pluth if they do, they uthually don't beat me too badly."

Jasmine took in a deep breath, attempting to calm herself before she leads Bakewell back toward her sister and her colt friend. She tries to beckon Bakewell into following her.

"Thith way!" Jasmine leads Bakewell to the corridor where Starry and Shutter last were seen, all the while trying to keep an eye out for any foals. She trots up to the maintenance locker and points with her hoof.

"Latht I theen them they were in here!" Jasmine tries to open the lock with her hoof.

Sundae struggled back up to her hooves hastily and in a panic. Flash was charging at her, and she had just spent the entire clip of her weapon firing at the ceiling. There was only one thing left for her to do, and that was to run away. Unfortunately, there were a bunch of ponies standing between her and the door. What worked in her benefit, however, is that only one of them was after her, and the other two were coming to her aid.

Sundae may not have been a very strong or smart unicorn, but she did have one notable quality, and that was her speed. Because of her small size and her agility, which rivaled that of Lightning Flash, she was able to dash around him toward Sky, who she remembered as one of the former security mares, slip between Sky's legs, and make it to the door while Lightning had narrowly avoided a collision with Sky.

Sundae ran down the corridors of the stable as fast as her hooves could carry her, shouting. "Help meeeee!!!" It would occur to the group that they should leave quickly, before Jack and his foals return to settle things. Gear was still locked in the cell behind them, and Einara was sprawled on floor unconscious, with a pretty nasty wound on her side. The armory was down the hall, with the drill in it.

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Jasmine, meanwhile, had indeed led Bakewell to the maintenance locker in which Starry and Shutter found themselves trapped. The two had been spared of any unfortunate encounters along the way.

Lightning's mind was just one huge fog right now and the last thing he expected was speed and agility of this one little foal. The words of Arc had been drowned out in his head just by his pure anger and he had continued his charge until the little filly managed to dodge around him. Nopony had ever done that before...

But when the pegasus tried to turn around and change directions, he noticed Sky was coming right at him. Lightning quickly leaped out of the way but because of that, he had lost precious time and the filly got away. Straightening his body, he would yell, "What the fuck was that for?! You let the filly get away!" Somehow, the pegasus managed to keep the 9mm in his mouth through all that. "Jack and the others are going to be here soon! Now what are we going to do?! Hmm?!"

"Does it really matter, you were going to kill a filly. A fucking Filly! What the fuck has gotten into you?" Sky counteracted Flash, there was no way this was going to roll with Sky. No way, She wont let Lightning kill a Filly for....She doesnt know why flash was going to kill her. She had to get this sorted out, but in the chaos in the moment she remembered about something, Gear.

"Hey lightning, Arc, help me get the door open. And if you dont calm down lightning im going to shoot in the hoof after all the crap is dealt with." Sky said as she tried to look for the key of the cell door, she was here most of the time. Sky knew a key was used to open the cell doors or a terminal, but they probably have it pass code locked. But in the end Sky would do both, terminal and look for a key.

(Can i get Einara's weapon? its something i want....)

Arc stood up on all four again, he could feel his leg throbbing in pain, but he probably could walk.

"I suppose noone of you have some Med-X?"
"Sky, we... you know, we'll explain later, now let's find a key to the cell and get out of here before they get back. The armory is our next stop, we need a piece of mining equpiment from there, and then we can get out of here through the tunnel in Overmare's office, that's how we got here, they don't know about it yet."

"Now, i can probably hack the terminal, but in case i fuck up, we should find the key too. And we probably should take the filly with us, she know's how we got in. Let Jack use his head for once, he can find the switch in Overmare's office on his own."

(Science 74, hacking the door terminal to unlock Gear's cell)

Shutter gave a very awkward nod from inside the Locker...he wasn't too sure what to do himself, but maybe it would be best to gether more infomation on the matter.

"Okay...So, what do we do now? We're trapped in a locker, and can't make any noise in case those foals come across us...I think we might be a little bit scr-"

It was at this point, that Shutter heard two familiar noises from outside the locker, as he peeked through the slit in the top to look out.

"Jasmine? Perfect! Is someone there with you? We're locked in!"

Lightning was still very angry and even more so that his own allies were trying to attack him. At least, that was what was running in his mind. "Fine! Shoot me in the hoof when it's over! But there's no way I'm going to calm down. Not after what those...demons did to my parents." Letting out a huff, he would turn and begin walking out of the door, totally ignoring Sky and Arc. He would look both down both ways before heading down the hall to the armory, checking if it was locked. If it wasn't, he would walk in and see what's inside. If it was, then he would sit outside and think about how to break in.

"Jasmine!" Starry exclaimed loudly, before quickly remembering to keep her voice down. "Jasmine, you need to get us out of this locker! We're locked inside, and even with Shutter for a pillow, this is incredibly uncomfortable!"

Starry tried to stretch from within the confined space, just to remind herself that the feat was impossible. "We need you to use that remarkable intelligence of yours to figure out a way to get us out!"

"Don't worry guyth, I'll get you out of there!"

Jasmine toggled the handle to the locker and pulled it to test the handle's strength.
Jasmine then looked around the room.

"Well I don't have anything to pick thith lock with. Bakewell I wath thinking, what if we could try blowing up the handle!"

Jasmine turned to the locker door and tried peeking inside.

"Thtarry, do you think that there would be any explothiveth left over in your room? I gueth we could blow up the lock or try prying the door open. It shouldn't be too difficult thinthe itth jutht a locker..."

Judging by the voices and lack of bullet-holes, both Starry and Shutter were thankfully fine. It did however re-raise the question as to where exactly the bullets had been fired and why. It would have to be a future problem. There were other things to focus on now.

Bakewell noted that she didn’t have anything (or any skill) required to attempt to pick the lock, but blowing up the handle seemed a bit excessive. She carefully reached out with a hoof and tested the handle. She pulled her hoof back nervously once the pegasus started trying to peak into the locker.

“I might be able to break the handle?” she offered in a hushed voice, in the earth pony’s mind she was already treading on acid-soaked-paper levels of thin ice as far as Jasmine’s trust was concerned. Would suggesting something different make it seem like she was trying to act superior? Would Jasmine think Bakewell was trying to make her look dumb in front of her long lost sister? The mare was scared to find out.

“I don’t know if that would help us though. I’m not really sure how these locker doors work so it might just make it worse for all I know. Maybe prying it would be better. Or explosives, explosives are fine too.” She quickly added to her suggestion as a forehoof kicked at the floor.

“Just, uh, be ready to run no matter what we do; all of these ideas will probably make noise.”

Violet glanced between the three older ponies, not quite sure what two of them just walked out of that got Lightning so mad. He mentioned something about his parents, but before she could ask for any clarification he angrily stomped out. Sighing and shaking her head, she turned to Arc as he attempted to hack into the terminal for the cell and get in, eyes glancing around to see if the ductwork led into the cell in case Arc couldn’t hack the terminal and a key couldn’t be found.

“Hmm...” she murmured as she turned her eyes to Arc’s wounded flank, quickly locating the bullet lodged inside. “You’re wound doesn’t look too bad, you’ll be a-okay until we get some medical supplies at least!” she exclaimed with a happy, bright smile on her face, which faded slightly as she glanced at the cell, and its sole occupant. “The colt in there, on the other hoof...If what I heard was right, they beat him up...pretty badly. I’m going to need lots of medical stuff to fix him up.” She glanced over at the zebra she knocked unconscious. “I’ll need some stuff for her too, although we should probably tie her up while we’re at it. She wasn’t a very nice zebra, even before the shooting stuff.”

Gear's cell was electronically locked, though there were ways to manually open the door in case of power failure. The door only locked from the inside, however, and could easily be opened from the side everypony was standing. Violet, Arc and Sky gathered around the terminal, and with the pressing of a few buttons, the door opened.

Behind the door was an incredibly disturbing sight. The room was covered in blood stains, some of them fresh. There was a pile of bones and rotted flesh in the near corner of the room, garbed in the bloodied and tattered remnants of stable jumpsuits. Beneath the pile was an enormous stain, what might be expected from an enormous pool of blood, and from the pile emanated the most foul stench imaginable, one which could not be detected through the thick walls of the cell.

Across the room was scattered a number of tools and weapons. There were several stable security batons, some chipped, fractured or broken from extended use. There was also a set of blood-soaked brass hooves, which the ponies would recognize were not native to the stable.

Leaning against the wall of the room, lying above a fresh pool of blood, was Sky's coltfriend, Gear. He was still wearing his stable jumpsuit, which was heavily tattered. The large rips in his jumpsuit displayed his massive bruises and untreated wounds. His hooves were not only cuffed, but they were cuffed to every other hoof. There were in total eight cuffs across his legs, constricting them and binding them together painfully. Two of the cuffs were redundant, serving no practical purpose but to insult. Across his neck hung a pair of keys, one which could unlock the cuffs. It was a cruel taunt on the part of the foals, who had gagged Gear, preventing him from using the keys.

Gear was laying down, breathing the foul air of the cell heavily through his nostrils. He lacked the energy to stand or barely even move; a sign of his malnourishment, but his good eye was opened wide, staring at the cell door fearfully ever since he heard the foals return and the shooting begin. He seemed inexpressibly relieved when he saw Sky and the other ponies on the other side of the door. He shut his eye, and a single, dry tear seeped through his eyelid.

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Lightning trotted the short distance toward the armory down the corridor. It was, as he might have expected, locked. He glanced around for something he thought might help him access the room. There was a terminal on the wall, and the lock itself could be picked if Lightning had the tools for it. On the ceiling was a grate, which could easily be removed if Lightning simply flew up toward it. He wouldn't fit in the ventilation shaft, though, it would take a filly or a colt to fit, and there was no guarantee that it would lead into the armory, though it certainly seemed likely.

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Bakewell and Jasmine didn't have much time to put a plan in action, as they could hear hoofsteps approaching from down the hallway. Somepony was galloping, fast! They barely had time to react before the pony was already upon them!

It was Maple Leaf, the stable's doctor. He was an elderly stallion, with a gray mane and a light-brown coat. He was running very fast, for a unicorn of his age, and he had levitating alongside him a doctor's bag, as well as a larger bag which was filled with things.

When he spotted Bakewell and Jasmine in the hallway, he stopped in his tracks, and dropped his bags in surprise. He would recognize Jasmine and Bakewell, though, and was relieved to see that he had not run into a foal past curfew.

"Jasmine? B-Bakewell?! What are the two of you doing out past curfew? How are you back?" The second question was clearly aimed toward Bakewell.

Arc tried to fully perceive the room, but he just couldn't. This made no sense. "Why? H-how?", he asked silently. The gang of foals made this?

"Sky, help me with him, we have to get him to the medical. Violet, would you go and find Flash, and tell him we're ready here?"

Arc could feel something snapping inside him. The televised slaughter was something impersonal for him, hoewever tragic event it was, but here... here he could smell and see and feel the suffering and pain of... he dared not to think of the number of souls that perished here.

Arc carefully floated the key from Gear's neck and started to gently release him from his bounds.

Sky looked at the door when it first opened, the smell was a horrific smell she has never smelled before. She nearly gagged when she entered the room, her mind just stopped and she threw up in a corner of the room. But she lifted up her head to see Gear, the green earth pony tied up in hoofcuffs. Sky immediately ran to his side, she knelt to his side to see his tear from his eye. This was something Sky wouldn't expect to see, even for foals they were crazy kids who had to be stopped. But Sky just stayed at his side, She saw the Key on his neck. These kids were a crazy bunch, Sky heard Arc say about taking him to medical but she couldnt move. Flash had the right idea, they needed to die and no amount of begging and mercy would save them.

"Gear im here, im here to save you." Sky said softly to his ear as she began to sob over him. She turned to arc with tears still in her eyes, "Yeah we should."

The light filtering in through the slits in the locker door was just strong enough to give Jasmine a view of the two trapped ponies within. As horrible as Jasmine felt about their misfortune, she couldn't help but find their current situation comical as she tried to suppress a giggle. She let go of her funny thought as the sound of hoofsteps approached them. Jasmine was ready to flee before seeing what appeared to be the stable doctor. Her suspisions were confirmed as she heard Maple speak to her and Bakewell. Jasmine flew a circle around the space practically singing with joy.

"Oh Dr. Leaveth, I'm tho happy to thhee you again tho thoon!" Jasmine lands and closes the distance between her and the doctor disregarding his personal space.

"Do you have a thaw on your pony? Thtarry's trapped with her coltfriend in a locker, and ath wonderful ath thith thoundth we need to help them break out. If you do, maybe you could help uth thaw the hingeth off the locker!"


Jasmine smiled at the fortune the gods bestowed upon them.

Bakewell crouched into a combat position as soon as she became aware of the hoofsteps. No chance in Tartarus was some teacher-murdering parent-torturing foals about to take her without a fight. Especially since Jasmine, Shutter, and Starry would all end up in trouble as well if she failed. The mare thankfully managed to prevent herself from jumping the elderly medic as he approached.

“I doubt there’s anywhere I’m welcome that would be considered legal during the curfew. I was hiding in the bathroom before I heard that Starry and Shutter needed help.” She answered truthfully as she respectfully nodded her head in greeting and trotted up to the doctor. “As for how, you guys… um… left the door open.” The mare explained as her eyes fell to the doctors bag in hopes that it would contain something useful for getting Starry and Shutter out.

She waited for Maple Leaf to respond to Jasmine before adding a nervous request “Oh, and I know this isn’t the best time, but you’re a doctor and all…” She pulled onto her hind legs and tapped her forehooves nervously. “…I went into the classroom. Mrs. Smiles… uh… bit me. I washed the wound out in the bathroom and bandaged it as best as I could, but you’re a doctor. Should I be…” She gulped audibly. “worried?”

There was no smile on Violet’s face when she entered the cell with the others. Now much closer, her glowing silver eyes saw the full extent of the damage wrought on the colt. Suffice to say, it wasn’t pretty.

“Multiple fractures along entire skeleton, severe bruising on over 50% of body, multiple broken ribs, severe blood loss, internal bleeding, infection due to exposure and untreated wounds...” murmured the filly, clinically listing off the colt’s numerous injuries. This was unacceptable, this is the kind of thing she’d only do to the worst slavers, and even then unless she had Red Eye himself in her hooves she wouldn’t of done it this long. Regardless, she very much doubted that this colt was guilty of any crime of that magnitude, so there was no justification for this. And she doubted that he was the first, more likely than not others were brutally killed here before he was tortured like this. Jack and his followers, the ones that condoned this at any rate, where now no better than raiders to her. And she killed raiders.

Turning to Arc, she nodded, slowly, and trotted out of the cell, stopping when she neared the still-unconscious zebra. She stared down at the mare, considering just snapping her neck right there. She saw how she acted, she knew what went on in that cell and more likely than not had a hoof in beating the colt and anypony else that was unfortunate enough to be in there. She didn’t deserve to live.

But, Violet was a clever filly, and a pragmatic one. She knew that the zebra, for the moment, was more use to them alive. There were probably things she knew that would be very helpful, if they could be coaxed out of her. And the filly was very certain that she could do that. That didn’t mean she was just going to leave her there though, unbound. Floating over two sets of hoof cuffs, Violet quickly bound the zebra’s legs in a cross-pattern, ensuring that she couldn’t escape when she woke up. With that done, the filly exited the security room and glanced around the area, both looking out for any other foals and to find Lightning. She quickly spotted the pegasus standing in front of a door and set off towards him, trotting over.

“Hey! Light!” she called as she approached. “We got in, but that colt’s really in bad shape! If we want to save him, we need to move fast, I’m not sure how long he’s going to last!” she exclaimed, glowing eyes glancing at the door to see what got Lightning interested in it.

[Hoofcuff Einara]

[Look through the armory door to see what’s inside]

Lightning frowned as he found the armory door locked. "Of course...even the dumbest foal in this stable would know to keep this door locked." There was a terminal nearby though but he was terrible at trying to hack computers. "Damn it...there's got to be a way to get inside." Looking up, the pegasus noticed a grate. There was no way he was going to fit inside though.

His thoughts would be broken when he heard the filly, Violet walk up to him. Lightning would turn to look at her then back up at the grate. "We'll get Gear some medical attention soon. For now, I need you to do a job for me. See the grate up there? I'll fly you up there and I need you to get into the armory and open the door. There's no time to explain but there is a drill inside that we have to get. It could be our only way out of here."

Pausing, Lightning took in a deep breath. He knew that he should probably explain himself a little for his actions but the situation was urgent. They didn't have any time to waste. All he would add was, "My parents may have just sacrificed their lives for this drill so please, let's just get it and get out of here."

"Oh! Doctor Leaf! I am so glad you're here!" Starry exclaimed from within the locker, with a huge sigh of relief. "As much as I was looking forward to sleeping with my coltfriend, I really would prefer to do it someplace other than a locker! It's so cramped in here!"

Starry didn't actually have much more to say than her opinion, as it Bakewell and Jasmine had basically asked all the important questions already, and Starry would prefer to make small-talk after she had been freed.

Doctor Leaf looked utterly confused, as he had just been barraged with a whole wave of information and hadn't the time to process it. He shook his head in confusion. Bakewell attacked by Sunflower Smiles? The stable door open? Three ponies thought dead, returning after a year? Bakewell being nice?!

Through it all, there was only one thing he could think to ask. "Starry Night found a coltfriend? ...Shutter knows she's different, right? A colt like him must have gotten desperate."

Doctor Leaf shook off the thought. "Now isn't the time for idle banter! You heard those gunshots, right?! There are some ponies who need our help! There should be a spare set of keys inside that locker, on the overhead shelf. Just push it through the grate, and you can get it unlocked. After that, come with me! I'll need your help!"

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Arc had unlocked Gear's cuffs, revealing massive purple marks beneath them. The cuffs had been very tight, and it was a bit of a miracle that Gear hadn't entirely lost circulation to his hooves.

Gear opened his good eye, and looked straight into Sky. After Arc had removed his gag, Gear tried speak. His mouth formed shapes, as he struggled to put volume to each syllable. The struggle proved too great for him. He closed his mouth, so that he could form a weak smile to greet his marefriend, whom he had thought dead.

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Violet would have indeed detected a very large drill behind the armory door. It was small enough to be hoof-held, but it would need to be wielded by a very strong pony. It was probably intended for diamond dogs and griffons to use, given the physical strength that would be required to wield it, and the grooves for paws or talons.

What else Violet would find, which would be of particular interest, was the possessions of everypony who had entered the stable! All of the equipment had been lazily tossed into a pile of their saddlebags and weapons.

Would Violet allow Lightning to lift her toward the grate, she would easily be able to crawl over into the armory. She could sense through her unique vision a ventilation shaft leading directly toward a grate over the armory's interior.

Sky noticed and heard violets response to his condition, then she looked on to gear. The big loveable stallion now lay here in the cell, nearly dead and bleeding. And if violet was right he might not even make it but, its like she wouldn't try to save him. Sky saw that he smiled, and in the moment Sky kissed him on the lips. She might not be able to do this again, but after a while she let go and teared up a bit more, "im going to try and save you gear just hang on for a while, please." Sky said as she stood up and went over to the zebra, she took the zebras weapon and hung it around her back. "Arc help me with Getting gear up," Sky said with no emotion what so ever on her voice, as she tried to pick up the earth pony.

Violet glanced at the door as Lightning explained the situation, a grin growing on his face. “I think there’s a bit more then a drill in there...” she said to the pegasus, her eyes tracing the vent into the armory. Her grin faded a bit though when Lightning explained what exactly went into locating or getting this drill...Suddenly what the pegasus said earlier made a lot more sense.

Another reason to make sure Jack didn’t live.

The filly didn’t say anything for a few moments, she merely nodded at the pegasus, her horn glowing slightly. And then the metal grating of the vent fell to the floor with a clatter as she removed the last bolt holding it up.

“Well? Lets go.”

Starry fumbled about within the locker. She was struggling to look upwards, at the shelf above them, which Starry hadn't noticed. She couldn't see much of anything on the shelf, except for something that looked like a toolbox hanging over the edge of the shelf(which didn't reach all the way to the front side of the locker). She couldn't exactly move the keys if she couldn't see them, so there was only one logical thing to do.

Starry grasped the toolbox in her magic aura, and began sweeping it from one side of the shelf to the other, back and forth. as she did so, metal objects started to rain down on her and Shutter. Loose nuts and bolts, a screwdriver, some duct tape... and eventually, a pair of keys!

"Aha! Found it!" Starry exclaimed, after the two had been thoroughly barraged by falling objects. She levitated the keys up from the floor of the locker, which she could barely angle her head to see, and tossed them through the grate. "There! Now you can get us out of here!"

Lightning perked his ears slightly at Violet's words. Looking down at the filly, it was obvious that she saw more than a drill inside. Something that caught her interest at least. He didn't say anything more as the filly used her magic to release the grating and open up the path to the vent. "Let's do this."

Lowering his body, he would wait until Violet leaped on his back or climbed on or something before opening his wings and taking off. The pegasus though would physically wince as he forced his body off the ground and into the air. The bullet wound stung like hell but he wouldn't let it slow him down. Lightning steadied his flight under the vent before giving Violet a nod, "Stay safe, Violet. Don't get lost."

The filly flashed Lightning a smile as she crawled into the vent, her eyes glowing. “Don’t worry Light! I get into vents all the time. I know my way around them!” she reassured the pegasus before slipping into the ducts.

Eyes glowing, she quickly navigated the ductwork into the armory, lightly dropping into the dark room. Eyes glancing around, she quickly spotted her saddlebags and snatched them up, strapping them to her side as she looked around for any other medical supplies among the party’s supplies. She brought her own of course, but she didn’t expect to have to deal with injuries as severe as Gear’s, she’d probably go through all her supplies just trying to stabilize him, and every bit counts. She was sure she could explain the situation to them later.

After scrounging up any supplies she could, both from the party’s gear and in the armory itself, she turned to the door. With any luck, she could quickly find a way to open the door from the inside and haul the drill out of here. She was reasonably sure she could lift that thing out of there with her magic.

[Look for any medical supplies among the party’s possessions.]

[Look for any leftover weapons or armor in the armory, preferably anything pointy and knife-like.]

[Look for a way to open the door.]