Last time on 'We Jail Now' Quest:
>While Twilight and Pinkie went to dispose of the Helmet Head, you and Rarity confronted Fluttershy about what she knew.
>She was clearly upset about something involving her animals, but you couldn’t get anything from her before she retreated into herself.
>You and the others were dead tired and decided you'd all crash for the night at Twilight's house.
>When you got there no one was hope except for Spike who was sound asleep.
>Checked to make sure you didn’t have any major injuries or frostbite, then fell asleep next to the other ponies.
>Not long after, Twilight was shaking you awake, telling you the guards from Canterlot have arrived and are looking for you.
>You decided that being a fugitive would probably be a bad idea and revealed yourself to the guards.
>They immediately restrained you.
>You friends were upset, but you told them not to do anything crazy, that you were turning yourself in for whatever the Princess has in store for you.
>The two guards dragged you to the edge of town to a cart with a metal cage and restrained you inside.
You are Rusty Shackleford, a human who has found himself lost in Equestria with no memory.
Currently, you are being pulled away from Ponyville by two guards from Canterlot, named Bacon and Flatfoot, in a metal cage on a large cart. Two of your friends, Pinkie Pie and Rarity, follow closely behind looking very upset and seemingly unsure what to do.
"Pinkie, Rarity," You say, holding the bars at the back of the cage. "Listen, if we get attacked, you bust me out of here. These guards seem OK, but I don’t want to be caned food for some monster waiting on the road side."
"Oh dear, should we even follow along?" Rarity asks anxiously, look back towards Ponyville, which is still very close by. "I don't want to abandon you Rusty, but it doesn’t seem safe for me and Pinkie to hoof on this dangerous, dirty road."
"We'll I'm staying," Pinkie says defiantly and trotting closer along side you.
"Thanks," You say to Pinkie, her show of solidarity making you smile a little. With a thought coming to you, you hobble over to the front of the cage where the two guards are. One of them, Fleetfoot, is pulling the cart while Bacon is walking alongside, keeping a wary eye on Pinkie and Rarity.
"Hey, I have a question. Have either of you two met another member of my species before?" You ask.
"Nope."
"Yeah, until a few days ago, I hadn’t even heard of a humin." The unicorn guard adds.
"Listen you two, I'm going to be honest. I don't remember a thing before a few days ago. Nothing, not even my name. I can't imagine what kind of trouble I'm in. What is it that your Princess says I supposedly did?"
"The Princess has deemed you to be a danger to the safety of Equestria." Flatfoot says, continuing to pull the cart through the crunching snow. "We're to retrieve you and bring you before her for judgment."
"She wouldn’t tell us," Bacon adds.
"What are you doing?" Flatfoot whisper yells at the other guard.
"What?"
"Don't tell him that."
"What's wrong?"
"You're making us look bad. And the Princess."
"No I'm not."
The two of them get in a hushed argument. You look back at Pinkie, who gives you a shrug. You also see that Rarity has caught up, apparently deciding to stay. Ponyville is pretty far away now.
You take a seat in the cage, leaning back against the wall. You decide to keep an eye on the Everfree Forrest, looking to see if anything horrible is about to jump out on you and the others. From the looks of things, the path you're on follows around the edge of the forest, heading to the distant mountain range.
An hour or so pass and nothing really significant happens. Pinkie and Rarity are still following along. There’s still some snow on the ground, but now its just a few inches patched out. The guards have stopped arguing, walking beside each other in silence. And it's still dark out, but the overcast has broken away, revealing a glorious full moon and lighting up the night.
You're cold and tired and hungry, making you really wish you were still at Twilight's, sleeping.
(Missing lines here are Pinkie and /or Rarity commenting on the prolonged night)
"Yeah, that does seem strange." You agree with Rarity. It's been dark out for an awful long time. The guard says its noon, but you can clearly see a bright white moon and stars. something isn’t right here.
"And what's with the weather?" You start laying into the guards. "The pegasi in Ponyville had no idea where it came from and couldn’t seem to do anything about it. And I heard that your Princess Celestia is M.I.A. Whats the deal here?"
"Well," Bacon says. "The rumor going in Canterlot is tha-"
"Shhh," Flatfoot says, baring his teeth angrily. "Ixnay on that day."
"What?"
"Stop telling the prisoner things."
"You know," You say, wishing you could fold your arms smugly. "This is sounding a lot like what Twilight told me about with the elements of harmony and that Night Mare Moon."
"Yeeaah," Pinkie says, looking up at the sky suspiciously.
"I agree," Rarity trots up along side the two guards. "The two of you are holding something back and we want to know what it is. It is your job to protect the subjects of Equestria, isn’t it?"
"Well," Bacon says, mussing. "I'm fairly sure that the Princes-"
Flatfoot smack the other guard in the back of the head with his wing, cutting him off.
"Hey!"
"Are we going to be doing this all day? Stop spreading rumors. You're only going to cause trouble."
"The guards disappear, the lines of communication get cut, and monsters start attack all the cities and villages. If I wanted to take over a nation that is exactly how I would do it. Please tell us what you know."
Both guards, in unison turn their heads, looking back at you. Then they turn back and huddle their heads together, having a heated hushed discussion. You can't quite hear what they are saying exactly, but from the tone and body language, you can tell Flatfoot is continuing to be negative. Rarity and Pinkie both seem equally lost.
"OK fine," Flatfoot says and unhitches himself from the cart. "We'll stop here for lunch. We'll... talk."
The cart has parked in a craggy area, a bit always from the edge of the Everfree and just starting to reach the mountain area. There’s still a few trees around, but far more spread out. With Pinkie and Rarity's help, the guards start a small camp fire on the side of the road and unpack some food from the bag on the cart. Pinkie wedges some bread through the bars of the cage for you and you tear into it with gusto.
"Alright," Flatfoot says, sitting by the fire while the others are eating. "What do you want to know exactly? We can't tell you everything. It's... complicated."
"OK, first off, What's going on with the Princesses?"
"Yes, the fact that not only has Twilight not had any word from Celestia, but the two of you are being so tight lipped about this during a crisis like this is simply concerning." Rarity says.
The two guard ponies look at each other. Flatfoot gives a shake of his head at Bacon.
"The Princesses are fine," Bacon says, his tone monotone and rehearsed sounding. "They are both working hard at seeing Equestria though this difficult time."
"Okaaay," You say slowly. "Then what's going on with the crazy weather? I thought the pegasi ponies took care of that."
"That we're not sure of." Flatfoot says, coming clean. "Right now everyone is just speculating. Some think it probably has something to do with what's making all the monstrous creatures acting crazy. Others think that one is causing the other. But to honest, no on knows."
"Fair enough," You consider all this, keeping a wary eye back to the Everfree Forrest. It seems clear and calm. "But why am I considered to be so dangerous then?"
The two guards exchange looks again.
"We... don't really know." Flatfoot says.
"Yeah. The Princess herself sent us on this mission. She didn't tell us much. We're still not completely sure what you even are."
"So how long have you guards been on the look out for humans, then?"
"A few days ago." Bacon says, "The Princess made a decree and messages were sent to all the major towns to warn them."
"But, with the trains mostly out and roads and skies unsafe, news has been slow."
"Hmm," You think about this. Your memory only goes back a few days. Maybe something happened back then?
There’s a loud chink and thud as a few small rocks, the sound making everyone in the little camp jump. Rarity immediately shines a light with her horn in the general direction, up the ridge. There’s a few small lose rocks cascading down the side, but no sign of anything else.
"Looks like we have company."
"What do you mean 'we'?" Rarity says, backing up to the cart. "Your safe in a nice metal box."
"Should one of us go see what that was?" Pinkie was. She and the other two ponies are standing in a circle by the fire.
"No, that’s stupid." Flatfoot says. "So long as we stay together and in the firelight, we'll be safe. Remember our training Bacon?"
Bacon nods, his expression serious and determined. The two guards put themselves in a loose block between the ridge where the noise was from and the other ponies.
"I can help you." You say, tying to get the guards' attention. "I've helped stop a lot of monsters that attacked Ponyville over the last few days."
"It's true!" Pinkie says, vouching for you. "Rusty's a hero. We should let him out."
"Absolutely not!." Flatfoot says, turning to Pinkie. "Your safety is our priority, followed by bringing him into custody. We're not letting him out until we get to Canterlot. Isn’t that right Bacon?"
.....
"Bacon?"
Looking around the camp, Bacon is no where to be seen. Your attention was on Pinkie and Flatfoot for a moment, you didn’t see or hear a thing.
"Unless you feel like hitching yourself and the other two up to the cart and running until we reach Canterlot, you need to let me out."
"Shhh!" Flatfoot shushes you loudly, examining the area where he last saw the other guard.
"Jelly cube, Helmet Head, giant spider." You list off, counting them on your fingers. "All attacked Ponyville, all sent packing. I can help. And I saved Rarity and her sister in a fire. Isn’t that right, Rarity?"
..."Rarity?"
"Rarity?!" You call out, but shes gone, just like Bacon. Pinkie comes over, standing in the general area where Rarity disappeared. She plods the sand, but doesn’t find anything.
She's gone.
"Please, let me out! I have to help! She's my friend!"
"Fine!" Flatfoot yells and gallops over the the cage. You make sure to keep an attentive eye on both remaining ponies as the guard fiddles with a ring of keys he pulls out from somewhere under his armor. He find the key he was looking for and...
...falls. The sandy soil directly under him seems to be suddenly unable to support him and he shoots down into the ground like a stone in water. It happens so fast he didn’t have time to make a sound. The key ring falls to the ground on a rock nearby.
"Pinkie! Get on the cage!" You hop to the side of the cage, reaching for the pink pony. She immediately hops up, climbing hoof over hoof up the bars like its a jungle gym. In a few seconds, she's standing on top of you.
"What do we do, Rusty? Can you get out?"
"Hold on," You go over to the side closest to the keys. They're very close, but the bars aren’t very wide and your hands are bound. You simply can't get your limbs out far enough to reach. "Agh! I can't get the keys!"
Inventory check:
You disassemble the little herbal bag Zecora gave you, taking out the draw string. You tie it around what remains of your old knife for weight and, with your limited dexterity, try to hook the key ring with your makeshift grapple.
Miss.
Miss.
Got it!
But lost it.
Miss!
You keep at this for a few minutes, Pinkie standing directly over you, watching with excited interest. Every time you hook the ring, her smile explodes and deflates when you miss it.
"Almost. This time for sure!" She call down to you.
"Yeah yeah," You say, trying not to get irritated. You wing out the knife handle out and nearly drop it when the whole cart shakes.
It starts sinking into the ground. Not as fast as the others, but faster then a boat sinks. Sandy soil is shooting up around the sides, almost jetting out of the ground.
As the cart lowers down, you get closer to the keys and give it one last desperate shot.
Miss.
Before you have time to reel it in, the sand has reached bars of the cage. You're not able to pull the knife handle though it.
The sand is pouring in through the bars now and the cage is quickly sinking into the ground with the rest of the cart. You grab the top bars with your bound hands, trying to keep your face in the air. Pinkie is looking down at you, her expression desperate and fearful as she tried to plod the bars with her hooves.
"Rusty!" The sand is has almost enveloped the whole cage, but hasn’t filled the interior entirely. Pinkie is now starting to run out of room before she's at risk of being in the sand.
"Pinkie!" You look straight up at her, eye to eye. "Just run."
"But-"
"Run! Do it!"
Pinkie, reluctantly, hops off the cage and you lose sight of her. Seconds later, the cage is completely covered, sealing you in darkness.