Everen waited for his opportunity, then he rushed up to the front wall between the guard posts. Note, Remix, Pine followed closely behind, moving to the blind spot with Everen.
"How do you intend to get through the window if it's barred?" Note asked quietly, so as to not be heard by the guards on top of the walls.
"Like this." Everen lit his horn and drew his sword with it. He slashed the bars quickly and quietly. "Let's move." the unicorn went into the prison, the others trailing right after him.
"Do you have any idea where the alicorn is?" Remix questioned, when all four of them were in.
"I'd wager she's in the center or the back of the complex. We'll split up, Note, Remix yo move to the center." Everen pointed down a corridor that would bring them to the middle of the prison. "If she's not there, then try to find out what's in the east and west wings. I'll take Pine to the south wing, and we'll meet up between the south wing and the complex center."
"Got it, c'mon Note, to the center." Remix moved down the corridor Everen indicated.
"Right." Note replied, following the earth pony.
"Let's get going Pine, we don't have any time to lose." Everen galloped down a south-leading hallway.
"Understood." Pine ran after him, wondering how Karilyn and Tia were doing.
The pegasi were at the start of the rock outcropping looking down on the fortress. Karilyn had her battle harness and shin guards, her sword strapped to her side.
"Ready to go?" Kari inquired, glancing back at the other pegasus.
"Just a second." Tia replied, wrapped gauze around all her hooves.
"What's with the gauze?" Kari asked curiously, staring at the mare.
"I prefer hoof-to-hoof combat fo my method of fighting." she answered, putting on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.
"I'll remember that, ready now?" Karilyn made a mental note to not get in a hoof fight with Tia.
"Ready." Tia confirmed.
The mares crouched down and moved slowly onto the cliff, staying to the center so they wouldn't be seen. They reached the edge of the overhang and looked over carefully, to make sure nopony was watching. When the coast was clear the pegasi leaped off the cliff and soared right onto the wall, taking cover in between two large crates. Tia peaked out from the crate and looked around, there were two nearby on the right, and three two their left.
"We should go left, less guards." Tia said, getting back behind the boxes.
"Plus it's a shorter route." Karilyn added, drawing her sword. "How many on the left?"
"Two that are close. We can deal with them and then move on." Tia answered, stretching a little to prepare for the task ahead.
They moved silently out from behind the crates and approached the ponies. Karilyn snuck up behind one and put her sword to his throat.
"Say anything, and you will no longer have a head." she whispered into his ear. The stallion gulped, praying that he would make it through this alive. Tia merely choked the other guard until he was unconscious. Kari looked at the mare in shock. "That seemed rather crude."
"Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Tia grinned, cantering over to the pegasus.
"Don't do the same to this one, I need to ask him a couple of questions." she backed up a step, a plan in mind. She looked at the guard in threatening manner, causing his eyes to shrink with fear. "And he's going to answer them."
"I am SO bored!" Catalina complained, groaning as she lays on the ground.
"How do you think I feel?" Kinetic rubbed his forehead, already sick of Cat's attitude. "Look, Everen paired us together for a reason. I'm not sure why but he did, and we should just bear through this and wait for his go."
"Well he should hurry up." Catalina stood up. "By the way, I've been curious about something."
"What's that?" Kinetic rose an eyebrow, not sure where this was going.
"What exactly is it you find so attractive about Tia?" the mare asked, her blue eyes glimmering.
"Well, for one, I love how she styles her mane; one large braid in the back with hair coming down on both sides of her face as well." Kintec stammered through an explanation, not looking at Cat. "She's stronger than she looks, and can probably knock out most stallions with one punch, and I sense heartbreak weighing on her shoulders. I want to be there for her, cause she needs a shoulder to lean on." he finished, gazing back at the earth pony.
"Good answers." Catalina smiled, genuinely happy to hear Kinetic's words.
"Alright, now tell me; what is it YOU find so attractive about Everen." Kinetic requested, poking a hoof in her direction.
"I like the way his mane is messy, but he carefully styles his tail." Cat started, sounding confident. "Plus he likes to wear clothes all the time, whether for style or for practicality. He's very resourceful, clever, and kind-hearted."
"That's a very well thought out response." Kinetic looked surprised, not expecting such a quality answer from her.
"I'm a good judge of character, and Everen's a really good guy." she said longingly. "And I realize that I probably don't have much of a chance of being his mare-friend, but I still want to be with him."
"And that is deep. There's more to you than meets the eye." Kinetic stated, chuckling a bit.
"Thanks, glad somepony finally sees it." Cat smiled again, and then suddenly turning serious. "Don't tell the others about this conversation, this is between you and me. Are we clear?"
"Crystal." the unicorn acquiesced nervously. "Do you think they've found anything yet?"
They looked out unto the fortress, thinking about those who had infiltrated it.
"Come on Note, keep up." Remix whispered loudly, slowing down to let the unicorn catch up.
"Don't rush ahead, we need to find the alicorn, not get ourselves lost." Note trotted up at his own pace, looking all around. "It won't do us any good if we can't find our way out of here once we've found the alicorn."
"But we have to hurry so we don't keep Kari and Tia waiting." Remix countered, waving a forehoof out in no particular direction.
"They can handle their own for a good while." Note massaged his temples, Remix's haste getting to him. "Look, let's just keep moving, if we stand around too long we'll get caught."
"Agreed." Remix trotted down the corridor, a bit slower than before, Note following a bit faster than he was. They soon reached a circular chamber with a passage going in each cardinal direction. "Hang on, let me do a geoscan." Note lit his horn rose onto his hind legs, slamming down with exceptional force. "This is the center, we came in through the north entrance. There's a large room crawling with guards to the right, and some kind of armory to the left."
"Note, this is Everen, I need a diversion. See what you can do."
"Just got word from Everen, he needs us to create a distraction. Any ideas?" Note relayed to the earth pony.
"What was that you said about an armory?" Remix asked, a grin spreading on his face.
"About thirteen meters to the left." Note clarified, catching on immediately. "Let's go, Everen sounded pretty urgent."
Everen looked into the long room lined with jail cells. "We're need that diversion soon. There're too many guards down here to confront on our own."
"Do you really think they can get their attention?" Pine questioned, unsure of the plan.
"I have confidence in them." Everen assured the mare.
"Okay." Pine sounded a bit more at ease, but she still had some doubt.
*BOOM*
"What the hay was that!" one of the guards shouted.
"Troupes three and four, check it out." another guard sound of hoofsteps could be heard leaving the jail-room.
"Now's our chance, six guards left." Everen moved into the room, galloped to the nearest guard, and threw him into another guard. Pine flew in overhead and landed on the other side of the room, three of the guards going after her. Everen faced the remaining guard, an ebony unicorn with blue eyes. Everen narrowed his eyes. "So what say you? Do you think you can defeat me?"
"Of course I can." the guard replied, confident.
Everen's horn took on it's green glow as he prepared a spell. The guard moved first, drawing a sword with his magic. Everen blocked the sword with with his own, and shot a bolt of lightning through the connected swords. The guard soared over Pine's head and into the opposite wall.
Pine was approaching the other two ponies facing her, the first one lying on the ground, pale and shivering. She bared her fangs, causing one of the guards to run in terror, the other making a desperate lunge at the bat pony with his spear. Pine bit the spearhead and shattered it with her teeth. The guard holding the spear, upon seeing this, passed out on the spot. Everen cantered over and looked at the pony on the ground.
"What'd you do to him?" he inquired, afraid of the answer.
"I'd rather not say, you saw the state the other guards were in after seeing that." Pine returned, spreading her wings to hide the pony on the ground.
"Right then, let's find that alicorn." Everen went down one side of the room, Pine going down the other.
"I think I found her." Pine called out, motioning for Everen to come to her. The stallion cantered to her and looking into the cell. There was a glowing amber sphere inside, a dull red shape in the center. Everen took the keys and opened the cell, once he was in the cell he pulled out the amber dagger Ethereal had given him. He stabbed it into the sphere, which then shattered, causing the ground to shake violently. Once Everen and Pine had regained their senses, they saw a dark red alicorn on the ground before them.
"Oh, no." Everen looked at the pony, concerned. Her wings were clearly injured, her fur matted and dirty, and her mane and tail were in a bad state as well. And there was one more important detail that Everen noticed; her horn was broken in half. "What happened to her?"
"Let's just get her out of here." Pine pulled one of the alicorns arms over her shoulders, Everen then taking the other side.
"I hope Kari and Tia have taken control of their side of the gate." Everen said. "Cause we need to get her out of here, now."
"Alright, I'll take the left tower, you take right." Kari gazed up at the towers on either side of the gate.
"Time to kick some flank." Tia responded right before galloping into the right tower.
"We'll see how this goes then." Karilyn shook her head, baffled by Tia's behavior. The pink mare drew her sword and rushed into the left tower. She ran up the spiral staircase inside the tower, encountering nopony until she reached the top. There she found three guards in full plate mail armor, two of them were armed with swords, and the third was smaller and held a dagger. Karilyn quickly disarmed the lot of them, throwing one of them down the stairs and knocking out the second. The remaining pony took off her helmet, getting on the ground and begging for mercy. "Get up then, you will help me with the gate when I give the order." Karilyn commanded, holding out a hoof. "Or else it's out the window for you."
"Y-yes maam." the mare complied getting off the ground and moving to the gate control.
On Tia's side she had three unconscious stallions, all of which had bad bruises all over their bodies. They looked to each other and then out to where Kinetic and Cat were waiting, expecting their arrival soon.
Kinetic looked up suddenly, alert. "That's the signal. Everen needs us to move now."
"To the gate!" Cat shouted dramatically.
They trotted down to the gate side by side. The two guards at the entrance glared at the oncomers, suspicios.
"Hey there big colt, when do you get off?" Cat asked pressing herself against the stallion on the right.
"Ah, what?" he looked utterly shocked by her forwardness.
"NOW!" Cat spun around and kicked the guard solidly in the side of the head with a hindhoof.
Kinetic blasted the other pony away. He gazed to Catalina, surprised. "I wouldn't think you to be a hoof fighter."
"I'm usually not. I prefer stiletto knives or a whip." Cat replied with a wink.
This compelled a face of terror from Kinetic. "Let's just be ready to open the gate."
"Sure. What do you think that explosion was a while ago?" Cat asked, curiously. "I know it's a bit late to ask, but I didn't think to before."
"If I had to guess, I'd say they needed a diversion, so someone blew up an armory." Kinetic surmised, leaning against the door.
"That's rather perceptive." Cat found his probably accurate guess to be unexpected.
"I know war, I've been in one after all." Kinetic flinched after saying that remembering the scar on the back of his right ear. He brought a hoof up to it, recalling the pain.
"Well I hope that explosion did the trick. We can't wait here forever." Cat leaned against the door as well.
"We've got to shake these guys, we can't have them all following us back to Coldurim!" Note stated, galloping at top speed through the hallways.
"I know, but it's kinda hard when there're so many." Remix countered, running alongside his friend.
Note glanced at Remix, a sly look painted on his face. "Magic music combo?"
Remix merely smiled knowingly in response. The two stallions ran into a courtyard, the gate in site. They both turned around, Remix pulling out a music player and a mini-speaker, and Note lighting his horn aglow. Remix hit play and Note cast his spell, amplifying the music and making half of the contingent following them drop to the ground, clutching their ears. Remix threw the music player, which exploded, and the two of them readied themselves for the fight to come.
"Get to the gate, now!" shouted a voice from another entrance to the courtyard. It was Everen, he and Pine were half-carrying a dull red alicorn with them. Remix and Note ran to them ready to defend their friends. "Remix, help Pine with the alicorn. I'll cover our exit."
"What're you going to do?" Remix inquired, taking one of the alicorns arms.
"You'll see." Everen answered vaguely. They all made it to the gate, which was slowly opening. Everen stood his ground as the remaining guards rushed at them. He lit his horn and waited a few moments. He rose on his hindhooves and stomped the ground hard. A large dust cloud rose up between Everen and the guards. "GO!"
The group of friends fled the fortress, Tia flying from her tower, and Kari carrying a pony with her. They all met up at the exit and galloped into and through it. None of them stopped until they reached Pine's garden.
"That, was insane." huffed Note, thoroughly exhausted. The others all laughed at this, amazed that they had just pulled off the rescue mission.
"So, who'd you bring with us Kari?" Everen asked, staring at the short, skinny mare still in full plate mail armor.
"She's one of the guards, but she helped me to open the gate. And I don't know why, I just feel I can trust her." Karilyn explained, looking all around the group.
"My name is Jynx Vex, but I'd prefer to be called Vex." the mare said, taking off her helmet to reveal her simple orange mane, cream colored fur, freckled face, and cyan eyes.
"Well then, it's nice to meet you Vex." Everen bowed, afterwards turning to the alicorn. "Come on, let's get her to town hall."
All of the ponies began to move towards town hall, except for Jynx. She stood around, unsure of what to do. Everen noticed this and called out to her. "You coming?"
She looked up in surprise. "B-but, I'm not sure I'd fit into your group. Are you sure you want me around?"
"Karilyn trusts you, and that's good enough for now." Everen assured her. "Now come on, we should hurry if we want to get there unnoticed."
Everen removed his cloak and spread it over the alicorn to conceal her. When they arrived at town hall Note held the door open for everyone. Everen stepped forward and looked around the room. There was no sign of Ethereal anywhere.
"Hey Everen, there's a note on the door with your name on it." Remix said, shutting the door.
Everen cantered over and took the paper off the door, reading it aloud. "'To Everen Shamrock; sorry, but something has come up and I had to send your dragon somewhere she'd be safe. She's in the nearest town outside of Coldurim. If you have the alicorn, take her with you and protect her, when she wakes up, she'll explain everything.'" when he finished reading he looked up it fear. "Tsui!"