Phil lay crumpled on the muddy ramp, his coat caked with filth and blood. The cold seeped through his bones as he struggled to move. His once-proud wings were still bound, trapping him on the ground. Not that he had anywhere to fly to - the sky overhead was solid stone. He wasn't sure how long he spent lying there, barely breathing. Phil knew pain and defeat - no player could climb as high as he had without facing his fair share of sacks and interceptions. No loss on the field could ever equal the stakes in front of him now. Lives were depending on him - the ones he would help escape, and the nation they hoped to liberate.
He tried to stand and crawl his way back, but his heart just wasn't in it. After a few seconds, his legs gave out, and he closed his eyes. How was he supposed to know how powerful unicorn magic could be? Starlight thought he could smuggle that crystal, but she probably didn't plan for a skilled unicorn examining him from only a few feet away.
Maybe he slept after a while, or at least dropped unconscious. Place and time were vague things by then, punctuated only by the ache of burned flesh and the throb of his heartbeat.
"Phil!" Moire's voice broke through the haze of pain, her light blue wings moving anxiously as she approached. "He's up here!"
He looked up in time to see a bright pink mare appear around the corner. If the others were nearby, they were far enough away that his eyes never focused on them.
"Looks bad," she whispered. "Worse than she did to me. How did you upset her so badly?"
"How did you live?" Moire added, prodding his flank with one hoof. "I've never seen a pony take spell burns like this before."
He grunted in response, trying and failing to form words. They seemed to get the gist, because Pinkie dropped down beside him.
"Let's get you out of this mud, Phil," she said. Without waiting for a response, she slipped her head under his chest and hoisted him onto her back. Phil winced as the movement sent fresh waves of agony coursing through his body. He no longer had enough energy left to wonder how a pony smaller than he was could somehow carry his weight with ease.
She carried Phil past the rows of despondent prisoners. He barely noticed them, only seeing brief flashes of pity and hope. Every step jostled and tore at his wounds, but he never managed more than the occasional pained moan.
Then they were in a familiar cavern. "This might hurt," Pinkie said. "Just get ready."
Magic touched him again, though clearly not from her. The glow came from elsewhere, reflected across the gloomy space. But not to torture him this time, just lowering him to a makeshift bed of straw and tattered blankets. They offered him a cup of brackish water, which he took in shaky hooves.
"Thank you," he croaked. "Wasn't... sure..."
"Drink," Fluttershy ordered, more confident than he'd yet heard from her. "Don't try to talk. Just swallow."
Time passed. Phil drifted in and out of consciousness, vaguely aware of the medical care being administered by his fellow prisoners. Rarity tended to his wounds, wrapping and bandaging the burns, while peeling away the charred feathers. More than once, he tried to tell the truth - reveal their sorry state and hopeless escape. The words never came.
Eventually, he slipped into the sweet oblivion of unconsciousness and thought no more.
Then he was awake again. He couldn't say how long had passed - there were no windows, or any other visual signs of the time he'd lay there. He moved, and found his limbs stiff and aching.
"You're awake, perfect." Someone loomed over him, appearing out of the gloom. It was the bat pony Moire, with several bits of bent metal resting against her wing. "Roll to your other side. Lock's there. We have to get those chains off your wings, or they'll keep cutting circulation until you lose them. Whoever locked you like this obviously didn't care what could happen to you."
He nodded weakly, then flopped to his other side. The view wasn't much better on that end - a straight shot of stone walls covered in black mold and condensation. "Like this?"
She approached his other side, resting one hoof gently on his shoulder. "Hold still. If the lock's moving, I can't get it open."
He nodded, settling back against the ground. Not exactly a pleasant sensation, his body ached where he had already spent far too long holding still on the ground. This was not the way to recover from an injury.
Soon she was over him, several bits of metal stuck into her mouth. She worked them through the lock, tapping with faint mechanical clicks.
"She took the crystal," he whispered. Phil could keep the secret close, too ashamed to admit his failure - but what would that help? They needed to know the score to pick their play. "It's gone."
"I know. We checked for it while you were out," Moire snapped, not looking away from her work. "Don't think I'm not furious. You were supposed to be my ticket out of here. Years in Tartarus, and finally someone offered a way out. You had to throw away our escape."
"He didn't give it up without a fight," Pinkie said. "Look."
"If I had a way to hand it off..." he began. But whatever defense he was imagining didn't matter. Nothing mattered, other than the missing crystal. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry," Moire repeated, her voice bitter. She lowered her head again, and a few seconds later, a loud click echoed from beside him. Something slipped off his body, heavy metal links tumbling to pile up on either side of him. "There. Lock open. You're welcome."
"You're rather nimble with those, uh... tools," Rarity said, speaking from nearby. "That couldn't be two minutes."
Moire gathered up her little bits of twisted metal, tucking them under a wing. "Maybe I was here before the world ended. Maybe I deserved it." She looked away, her ears folding flat. "I thought that there was a way to make a difference. All those mistakes I made might not matter so much, if I actually did something good. Helping the Elements of Harmony escape fit the bill. Guess that's bucked up now."
He opened his mouth to speak, but Moire silenced him with a hoof. "No, don't talk. Stand up; we need to look at those wings. If they're broken, we might have to amputate. Otherwise, you'll die."
He shuddered at the thought. What would happen when he got back to Earth, if they amputated a limb humans didn't even have?
He stood - legs shaking, body screaming in protest - but still he stood. Compared to the rest of his body, his wings responded quickly. Aside from a few scorched feathers along the edges, there was no sign of Tempest's interrogation. "They feel good. About the only part that does."
Fluttershy circled past him, moving into the dim candlelight. "That's weather magic. Pegasus ponies usually store it in their wings. They're the last to burn. Otherwise, we couldn't do a very good job at controlling lightning."
One more entry to his list of insane, impossible things.
Moire prodded at each wing in turn, pressing until he folded them closed again. "Looks good. No infection, no breaks. Guess we don't have to call the barber." She stalked away, vanishing into the shadowy gloom of their cave. "This is the part where we get used to this. Poison water and slop for food, wasting away down here. Can't wait."
"I would like to know what happened, precisely," Rarity said. "Tempest Shadow found the crystal on you? Where did she break it?"
He looked away. "I didn't see her break it. During the interrogation, she must've felt it on me. Not sure how. She left it on her bookshelf. Didn't seem like she cared much about it."
"They're useless for tracking in the other direction," Rarity explained. "Whatever unicorn cast it could easily sever the connection if they felt somepony pulling."
"Wait a minute!" Pinkie exclaimed. "You said Starlight would poof us away with that crystal. We just need to get it high enough that we're not underground anymore. Right?"
He nodded weakly.
"That means if we can get the crystal back, we can still escape!"
Phil couldn't help but smile at Pinkie's boundless optimism. ``I guess so. If we could make it into the warden's office."
"Indeed," Rarity agreed. "But we must gallop. There's no telling when the warden might move it. I'm afraid I know no way to track a tracking spell. We shall need a solid plan to reach that office before she does."
"I've... written some things down," Fluttershy whispered. She held up her hoof, depositing a bundle of rotting paper onto the desk. "All the different places animals live down here. And everywhere else. We could use it."
"Perfect!" Rarity exclaimed, as soon as she had a good view of the map. "Gather round, everypony. We have work to do." They huddled around the improvised map of the prison. Even Moire joined in, with a perpetual scowl frozen on her face.
Phil's injuries weren't gone - but despite the pain, they weren't serious enough to debilitate him. He could still move. That meant he could still fight. He had another chance to get things right. He pointed at the crudely drawn checkpoint on the map. "We'll have to make our way past this checkpoint right before the guards change shifts. When they're exhausted and bored; that's our best chance to slip by unnoticed."
"Morning," Moire grunted. "Four hours. Ish. Can't see the moon."
"I can distract them!" Pinkie suggested. As mere seconds passed, her mane seemed to inflate and illuminate, curling around the edges. What kind of pony magic did that? "I've got a few distractions saved up for emergencies."
"Excellent idea," Rarity said. "I'll be waiting in the wings to take more drastic measures if the need arises. But you must bait them to open the gate - that metal is warded against all my magic."
And so, they continued, discussing every obstacle that stood between them and the office. With every word, he felt his strength returning. His hopes were battered, but they were not yet dashed. They could still fly free. He could still see Starlight Glimmer again. And maybe his home too, when the time came.
"It all boils down to this," he said, about an hour later. His injuries still ached, but they wouldn't stop him now. He couldn't let them, or else he'd be imprisoned until the rebellion found some other pony to take on this insane mission.
"Get past the checkpoint, break into the barracks. Make it up to the Warden's office, then activate the crystal. Anything I'm missing?"
"Oh sure, nothing," Moire said, "Except there are dozens of armed trolls in this prison. Our magic is drained, you?re half barbecued, and we don't even know if the crystal is still up there."
"It's there," Rarity said, confident. "I know that pony - she's proud. If she kept it, it's because she hoped to offer it back to Phil during their next conversation. Perhaps she wanted to turn him into a double agent? Daring, but futile. She should've known that he's a stallion who won't break."
Phil nodded. "Work for a king who treats ponies that badly? No chance."
"Escaping with a plan like this?" Moire added. "The jury is still out on that one. But maybe that's not so bad. I've spent enough time in dungeons. I'd like to live for Equestria - but if I have to die for her, I'll take it."
There was precious little to prepare. These ponies owned almost nothing, and wielded so few tools they might use in the escape. A few bundles of clothes, odds and ends for Pinkie's ``distraction,'' and they were on their way.
I can't believe I'm doing this, Phil thought, as they crept slowly towards the ramp. The guards waited above on the other side of a magically reinforced gate. To be free, they first needed to cross it. Wait until the team hears about this.
tf-sential
