Chapter 2: It Begins
The warden was walking toward the staircase to the mysterious door.
The two guards at the bottom stood at perfect attention. "Open the door, the Princess wants me to check on our special prisoner" Said the Warden. The guards nodded and opened the door. The warden walked inside with one guard behind him. The room was dark and empty, except for what looked like a Pegasus-shaped cage with every limb held together by chains. The warden inspected the cage with great detail. "Not a scratch, dent, or heat mark" He laughed. "Good, I wanted to keep this cage nice, so that Celestia may see some of the torture she ordered me in" said a voice. The warden looked at the cage with amazement. "Your awake, took you long enough". "Warden" the voice continued "is it just me, or did it get really hot in here". The metal cage started going red with heat. The warden became frightened, so did the guard. "Run for it" Boom! The two ponies went flying, along with heated shards of metal. A Pegasus with a coat of Blue and a Grey stripe going along it's neck. Stood with a glow of heat surrounding it. "Oh, I needed to stretch, when your in a cage like that, you tend to get a little stiff " He said. He walked to the door, and investigated it carefully, he formed a little fire in his hoof, and began cutting the door, the guard outside the door called for helped, dozens of armed guards gathered in front of the cell, waiting for it to open. The door was fully cut, and it slammed on the floor in front of it. The door way was empty, then a great ball of fire shot out, hitting a few guards. The Pegasus walked out and looked around, taking in a deep breath. "Free at last" he said, guards came running at him with spears, he dodged one, grabbed another and tossed him at the third. He ran up the stairs and headed to the mess hall where the prisoners were eating. The Alarm sounded through-out the prison, everypony knew what that meant, a prisoner is escaping. The mess hall doors blew open, guards were on the floor, covered in burn marks. The prisoners looked at the Pegasus in awe. "well" he said after a short silence, "do you wanna leave, or do you wanna stand there with open mouths". Prisoners roared with excitement and charged out the doors and made a break for the main gate, the Prison's second in command had formed his most elite guards to hold the main gate. He pulled a guard aside. "Private, go warn Princess Luna, tell her that Trottingham prison has fallen, got it, Trottingham Prison has fallen". The private nodded and ran back towards the highway leading out of town. Prisoners broke into the armory and took all the weapons and armor they could carry. "Remember guys, do not harm the citizens in town, we need them for our new cause, the guards, do what ever you want, just make us look good". The prisoners agreed and charged toward the main gate.
The Captain stared at the prison gates, waiting. The gates burst open and prisoners charged out with great force. "Men, you are loyal soldiers of Equestria, we will not survive the day, but let's take a few of them with us!"
The prisoners charged out at the line of Armed Stallions and Mares.
The private was galloping down the busy streets, guards who were already in the town were evacuating civilians, the highway was packed with ponies trying to flee the battle going on at the prison. An officer was shouting over an intercom, "Please move in a calm and orderly fashion, do not panic, please prepare to board the trains in a few minutes." The private pushed his way through the crowd towards the highway, he got through and was on the edge of the highway when a few prisoners jumped him, they held him down while they searched his saddlebag. One of them read the letter, "Hey boys look what we got here, a message to Princess Luna, we can't let her read this now, we have a surprise for her and we don't want it to be spoiled." "What do we do with this one?" one of them asked. "Kill him, and put his body on display near the entrance to the highway."
(~)
Luna and her army were marching down the highway, about a half-mile from the city, but she could see the black funnel of smoke from the city, and the glow of the flames on the other side of the hill. "Lt. Longrange, take your platoon and scout ahead, report back once you reached the city limits." "yes ma'am" The Lt. And his platoon marched the highway, as they got closer, they saw chariots burning, blood covered some of them, some had blood trails that lead back towards the town, the railroad bridge was destroyed. The city was soon in sight, huge clouds of smoke rose hundreds of feet into the sky. Longrange noticed something on a sign as he neared the town, he moved towards and when he was close enough, he felt his gut churn. A lone pony guard was nailed by the hooves to a sign, with letters written under him saying, "No Guards Welcome". He ordered his men to fall back.
He met Luna and the convoy just on the edge of the highway, he told Luna what he saw. Luna was in tears, she did not see what the town looked like, but from the way Longrange described it, it sounded like Tatarus itself had risen. She ordered the convoy to move out towards the town, as they approached the 'Welcome' sign, the troops formed into 5 pony teams, all ready for anything. Luna drew her sword, she looked at the town of Trottingham, burnt, and quiet. "Let's move out", she commanded, walking in front of the troops. All was quiet as they entered the city, the bodies of pony guards were scattered across the streets. A soldier puked at the sight, and the smell, the smell of death, and burnt wood. Luna looked at the chaos with great sadness, tears fromed in her eyes.
Meanwhile, a squad of ponies were advancing down towards the square, a snap rang out, then a soldier fell, with a scream of agony, an arrow struck him right where his neck was exposed. The entire group scattered, trying to find cover. The wounded pony pulled out the arrow, blood oozing from his now open wound, he reached into his pocket, and pulled out a piece of paper, "Stamps", he said weakly, "take this, it's my will, cough cough, it's got some blood on it." Stamps peaked out from behind a have destroyed cart, he responded to the dying pony, "Spearhead, hold on, we'll get you in a moment". The sniper took the chance and aimed at Stamps, then an arrow flew into his vision, and found a place to land in his eye. He fell out of the second story window he was hiding in. A medic ran towards Spearhead, who was shaking. The medic was administering morphine to subdue the pain. Spearhead was crying, "Oh sweet Celestia it hurts, I don't wanna die." The medic turned to face the young stallion, "You're gonna be alright Spearhead, you're gonna go home, you're gonna see your family again." The bleeding stallion was starting to close his eyes, "Mama, mama, ma.. mama." Spearhead became quiet, and his head fell back on the ground, the medic pony checked his vitals, turned his head to the rest and shook it. The ponies stood there for a moment in complete silence, the medic pulled out a poncho, and covered the dead pony with it like a blanket. The group moved on, they had a job to do, and they did not want that poor pony's death to be in vain.
They approached the square, when all of a sudden, ponies armed with swords charged at the group, catching them completely by suprise. They reacted quickly and formed a line, drawing swords and sheilds. The horde of homocidal ponies slammed into them, killing 1,and losing 6. Luna's group heard the roars, and clashing of swords, "Double time it to the square, move!" The troops obeyed and drew their weapons, and charged towards the battle. The fight at the square was getting bloody for btoh sides, Luna's forces, got into formation, and charged the horde of prison ponies.
(~)
The square was covered with the bodies of prisoners and Equestrian national guard. Luna looked over the scene, and cried. "Princess, the town is clear, the escapees who didn't die surrendered." Luna looked at the captain, she was able to hold in the tears, she couldn't let her ponies see her cry. "Good, make sure the escapees are back in their cells, what about the civilians?" The captain cleared his throat, "our patrols spotted them in a camp outside of town, none of them were harmed, and not a single civilian was killed or injured in the attack, it was like the rioters left them alone, even the citizens said that they were left alone,and were even allowed to leave." Luna was both confused and amazed at this report. "That is excellent news to hear, let's hope that nothing like this will happen again, ever." Little did she know, this was only the beginning.
