I yawned as I stretched my arms over my head in exhaustion, only having recently woken up.

Looking around though, I found myself pleasantly surprised by a small change in schedule. The food trays were already inside of the room, one of them having been completely emptied.

"Seems that you finally woke up." I looked to my right and noticed Chrysalis, as awake and aware as ever, looking to me with a bored expression.

Oh joy, I overslept. That really ought to mix things up a bit!

... again, I'm joking.

"It would seem that thou hadst a peaceful slumber." I nodded in response to Nightmare Moon's comment, surprisingly managing to keep from being surprised by her sudden intrusion into my thoughts this time around as I stood up and made my way to my metal serving tray of the usual glop.

Beyond those differences, it's still dark, I'm still stuck in this room, and I still don't remember why.

Same old, same old really. Just a different coat of paint.

"Now then, if you would simply try to inform the guards of their negligence. I believe they have forgotten to pass me my usual serving." Turning to Chrysalis, I smiled and choked down another bite of glop.

"Alright, but only if you answer this right. What's my name?"

Here we go again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Princess? Is everything all right? You seem stressed." A fellow guard asked his monarch.

True to his words, Princess Celestia seemed absolutely a mess, magically rummaging through several layers of paperwork, signing over several papers while reading through several more. Bags were clearly visible under her eyes, several cups of tea or coffee were strewn around her, and her mane seemed to struggle to maintain its usual flow of elegance.

Things has gotten busy since the winter had begun and Celestia could only handle so much of it. Of course, it also didn't help that Discord was roaming around the castle after being 'reeducated' to control his chaotic habits. Truthfully, Celestia had thought this to be nonsense. Nonetheless, she allowed it, if only to please the friends of her prized student.

"I am fine." Celestia lied, momentarily looking away from her paperwork and giving her guard a kind smile.

"I have simply... had a lot on my plate. Nonetheless, I have been through much worse."

The guard gave a slight look of concern nonetheless.

"If you wish, you highness, I could send for somepony to assist you?"

Celestia simply shook her head and chuckled at this. She had done these reports on her own for decades, centuries even. Were things a bit difficult at the moment? Yes. But she didn't keep Equestria in the state of peace it was in by simply asking for help at the slightest of inconveniences. She was perfectly independent and capable, all obtained through years of hard work and effort. She could do this on her own.

She had for a long time.

Nonetheless, a thought of worry shot through her mind.

"Then again, I didn't have to deal with a roving Discord back then."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What to do, what to do?" Discord mused to himself as he floated backwards through the halls of the castle, paintings tilting by just a few degrees as he passed by them. He had been in this castle for over a month now: a month without any major acts of chaos to occupy him.

To him, it was like torture. He was absolutely itching to do something. Anything, really, but if the princesses noticed, he would have a lot of explaining to do... and he'd probably be turned to stone. Standing in one place and staring at the same thing for years on end, not fun. Also, birds tended to target him as a restroom he noticed.

Sure, he had turned some of them from deadly, powerful, and almost unstoppable beings of pure scaley destruction into chickens, but surely making it so that he needed to be cleaned every other week was a bit much?

"Hmmmmmmm... I was told not to purposely cause any chaos..." He recalls, a mischievous grin formed on his face as he began to rub his chin thought.

"... Then again, I wasn't told not to cause 'accidental' chaos." He tittered to himself at the idea. A delightfully devilish, yet technically correct idea. The best kind of correct!

Covering his eyes with one of his mismatched appendages, a small pepper shaker 'poofed' up out of nowhere. He giggled before 'accidentally' tilting and spilling a small amount over his nose.

For a moment he inhaled sharply, the usual symptoms of a sneeze beginning to show. Then, right at the precipice, just as he was about to exhale and let out that little bit of biological chaos that every living being has, he burped.

"Woops! Shouldnt have had that glass and wire burrito earlier." He commented, patting his belly as a small breeze of magic is blown down the halls of the castle from his gaseous exhalation, looking for something to interact with.

"That should hold me up for a bit. Though I do wonder what it will do... Ah, where's the fun in it if I spoil the surprise."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unbeknownst to Celestia, her sister Luna, or even Discord, the less than pleasant breeze had already selected a target with which to mess with. Flowing through the many halls of the castle, guards shivered as they felt an odd cold pass by them. Yet, they still held their positions like stones.

Soon, the breeze began to travel downwards, sounds of its fellow stray winds passing along it. It crisscrossed through the labyrinthine depths of the castle, occasionally blowing dust around with it through its journey. Reaching its destination after what had seemed like an endless search, the wind picked up in strength. It blew out torches as it readied itself for its last moment of freedom. Finally, slammed into a nearby door. Yet, it made no sound, breaking itself apart and losing all the magic and energy that it had gained. It's journey was done. The journey of the three behind the steel door it had collided with though had only just begun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Am not."

"Are too."

We had reached the arguing part of our day yet again.

Nightmare Moon was likely sitting by and watching as Chrysalis began to stand again and I made my way to the steel door. As to what we were arguing about, it was whether or not I was a 'blubbering fool'. I really hoped that Nightmare Moon wouldn't have me shut up this time around. I was on a bit of a roll with that 'self-centered ladybug' comment and I really didn't want to lose it.

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am no- Whoa!" Panic. Pure, unadulterated panic. Not the kind that comes from an actual life threatening situation, or anything like that. Rather, its the type of panic that comes from leaning just a bit too far backwards on a chair and almost falling over. Yeah, that seems about right for what I felt right about then.

Flailing my arms, I continued to fall backwards for what seemed like hours. Okay, no, thats pretty overdramatic.

I just fell over and hit the floor with a thud, the wind being knocked out of me like a punch to the stomach.

I groaned, rolled over, and picked myself up. There was more than a little embarrassment in the back of my mind over the fact that I had apparently slid against the steel door and fell over. But, hey, I had a dumb little argument to win!

"Don't think this means you win, Chry-" Whatever I had wanted to say died in my throat as I realized something. There was something distinctively different about where I was. No longer was I in a dark little room with barely enough space to run back and forth for all of a second or two. Instead, I was in some sort of stone hallway, lit by scattered torches that hung from the walls. I ended up having to shield my eyes from the light ever so slightly. It practically hurt to look at the torches it had been so long since I've directly seen any real source of light.

Okay, uh... This is weird? Where the hell-

The sound of muffled metallic thuds softly echoed right next to me, so I turned and face the source.

There was a door there. A big one. One that was concerningly and vividly familiar. As I looked at it, all I could do was blink.

I was out... I felt myself smile to an unbelievable extent, my cheeks actually growing sore as I gave out a breath I didn't even know I was holding. I wasn't sure how, but I was out. I could leave! I could figure out why I was here, head back home, get my job back...

That was the plan for all of a few seconds. But, another muffled bang resounded through the hall, louder than the last two. Again, it came from the metal door.

... I could live with the guilt... I could know that they were trapped there while I lived happily... Yeah, who am I kidding, I absolutely couldn't.

Sighing, I gave out a silent curse as I looked over the steel door. I inspected every possible element that I could use to open it. All I saw though were two keyholes. One was for the door and the other for the slide they pushed our food through.

I had more than a few questions about why that that small opening needed a lock but could wait for later. Maybe I could go through the door again?

Pushing against the door, I let out silent sounds of strains as I tried to repeat whatever it was that had happened before. No matter what I did though, nothing seemed to be working.

The door must have been a foot thick, how the hell was I able to get through it before? Alright, lets think this over. Not like there's a time limit to work with.

"Ugh. I hate working the night shift." I froze as I heard the deep sounding voice of a guard resound through the hall.

Alright, fair enough. I guess I should have seen that coming.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ugh. I hate working the night shift." The royal guard complained to himself, having recently been ordered to watch the prisoners by the captain of the guard. He respected him and all, but this was just stupid. In his opinion, at least.

After all, the prisoners couldn't escape from their chamber if thy had tried. Two of them were too weak to use their magical energy and the other couldn't use magic at all judging from the reports.

Letting out a sigh, the guard turned the corner to the innermost dungeons where the steel doored metal chamber laid. To his surprise though, he couldn't really see the chamber. Not that it wasnt there, its just that the torches in the hall that all lead to the room, for some reason, were dimmed.

"What in Equestria?" He mumbled, making his way into the now darkened hall.

Being a Unicorn himself, he brought about the faint glow of his horn as he thought of an unspecific spell, trying to give himself at least a minimal sense of vision. Believing that he had enough light, he looked around the hall in the hopes of finding the cause of the issue. His eyes constantly darted left and right, his awareness at its utmost as he made his way to the chamber door. Each of his steps echoed in the hall, almost taunting him as he soon approached the steel doors of the prison chamber. To the side of the door, the guard saw several unlit torches piled into the corner of the hall, bits of burnt cloth still hanging of off as though they had only recently been snuffed out.

Before he could so much as question this sight however, the sound of metal clanging against the stone floor came from directly behind him.

"Who's there?!" Turning around, his eyes widening as he saw the bipedal prisoner was out of his chamber, a metal torch carrier having fallen next to him. There was but a single moment of tension between the two beings, each giving one another a cursory glance as though waiting for movement.

The prisoner was the first to react. He sprinted towards the guard, stumbling as he grabbed the torch carrier that landed on the floor. The pony, in a state of shock, was barely able to do little then watch as the prisoner reeled back and bashed the pony over the unprotected part of his helmet. For the pony, everything went black, but not before he could let out a single magically transmitted message.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Shit!" I thought to myself as I knocked the pony unconscious, flinching slightly as I heard a solid 'clang' followed by the thud of the unconscious pony's body. At least I had hoped he was unconscious. I really didn't need to start adding charges of murder onto whatever else it was that I had done.

... Okay, yeah, he's breathing, I'm good.

I was hoping to just take away his keys without him noticing me, but it looked like this damn castle had it out for me. Then again, my original plan wasn't exactly perfect either. After all, if he had re-lit the torches, he would have seen me anyways.

I guess I'm more of a big picture kind of guy. That explains why I just worked on the blueprints before...

I inhaled slowly through my teeth as I gave a silent apology to the guard knocked out before me and tapped his snout a few times. Once I was sure he wouldn't suddenly wake up, I bent down and began to search him for his keys.

At first, I couldn't find anything and was ready to give up and look for some other way of opening the door. But, just out the plain sight, I noticed a small bit of brass under his armor of white metal and gold. I flipped him over carefully, still not wanting to hurt him any further than I had, and quickly noticed a keyring by where his cutie mark would be. Three keys hung off of it.

I let out a mental cheer as I grabbed the keyring and made my way to the steel door, stepping over the unconscious body of the unicorn with care. No less than a second after I had gotten there had I begun to look through the three keys, testing each of them out on the door. Of course, with my luck, it ended up being the last key. The brass key with teeth in the shape of a semicircular oval.

I turned the key, quickly taking a step back as the door seemed to come to life on its own. Several steel mechanisms grinded and moved against themselves, likely enchanted to do so as it unlocked the previously impenetrable door. Soon, the door pushed open. It was by just a crack though. I had to pry it open the rest of the way, which wasn't exactly easy. I hadnt realized just out of shape I was until I found myself sweating and panting as I dragged the door open, a resounding thud feeling as though it shook the world directly around me as the door slammed against it hinges.

I could only put my hands on my knees as I felt sweat drip down my face and to the floor. I glanced up and smiled as, sure enough, I saw Chrysalis looking at me from the corner of the room. She was wide-eyed and mouth agape, laying down on her stomach with her legs tucked below her as the faint torchlight from further down the hall shined partially into the room.

"Hey... miss me?" I panted, giving a wave as I catch my breath. Yeesh, three months in a small dark room with single servings of food a day really aren't great for the ol' fitness plan, are they?

"Thou... thou hast returned." Still scares me when she does that. Nonetheless, I felt a chuckle leave my lips as I heard her voice.

"Of course I did. You didn't think I'd leave without you two, did you?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As a matter of fact, that's exactly what they both thought. After Jeremy had somehow phased through the door, Chrysalis began to bang on the door with all her might in an attempt to follow suit. Suffice to say it didn't work as she soon gave up, moving to the corner of the room and attempting to sleep off the anger and misery she had felt. Nightmare Moon, having no way of following through the door either, settled on keeping Chrysalis' mind company as she did so.

So when the door's lock clicked, Chrysalis' head shot straight up and Nightmare Moon quickly severed their connection as the door began to grind open. The time was agonizingly long before the hunk of metal was dragged away, revealing a now sweating and panting Jeremy who looked up to the room and waved, smiling as he did so.

He had the chance to escape. That much was certain. Yet he chose to stay back and help the two. There would be no time to dawdle on these thoughts, however, as Jeremy straightened himself and spoke once more.

"We'd better get going. The sooner we get out of here, the better. Oh, and you may want to watch out for the guard on the floor." Nightmare Moon, though none could likely tell, felt both shock and a slight spike of concern as Jeremy spoke of the unconscious guard. Without a word, she made her way over to his body. It was not out of a sense of concern for the health of the stallion that she did this, however. Rather, she was much more concerned over the fact that the guard had been a unicorn.

Chrysalis seemed to have a similar fear, her eyes widening and she quickly looked to her bipedal roommate.

"Wait, how quickly did you knock him out?" She asked, a sense of urgency in her voice.

Jeremy blinked, raising a brow at the question.

"Um, I don't know. Maybe, five seconds after he saw me?" Chrysalis' eyes narrowed as she looked to her roommate.

"You foal! In that time, the guard could have called for help through the use of his magic!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Uh... Did pony magic work that way? Look, I never exactly questioned it, but from what limited experience I have seeing unicorns, there's no way he could have possibly cast a spell so quickly!

Sure, I took a second or two to knock him out, but-

"She is correct. We have checked the guardspony and found magical residue from a telecommunication spell."

Oh... Oh, I screwed up. I screwed up bad.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia let out a sigh of happiness as she looked over her previously immense pile of paperwork. There was only one more paper to sign. The last paper of the season. Granted, she would likely have much more work thrust upon her by the end of the day, but she had done it all on her own.

Bliss in her imminent reach, she began to bring the quill down to the paper, her magical grip surrounding it in its usual golden glow. Just as she was about to make the last signature though, a group of her and her sister's guards rushed into the room, practically braking down the door in the process. The sudden occurrence caused Celestia to flinch, the quill in her magic's grip jutting forwards and through the paper. Celestia could only blink as she looked at the hole that was now in the form, a breath escaping her as she realized she would need a new copy to sign.

She was already mentally tracing out the processes she would need to perform as she turned to look towards the guards, stopping only as she saw the look of grim seriousness behind their many muzzles.

"Your majesty, we received an urgent relay message from one of the other guards. One of the three prisoners from far below has escaped and we lost contact with Glasscannon!" Celestia froze at the news, shock being the first sensation to hit her as her jaw tensed. Within a moment though, she recovered, realizing just what had been said. Her eyes narrowed as she put on a serious expression of her own.

"Ready yourselves to capture and retrieve!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Go! We need to go, now!" I yelled at the two, pointing to the hall that I assumed would lead us out of the dungeon. Specifically the literal only passage that there was.

It wasn't much of an option, but it was certainly there.

Chrysalis nodded, rushing past me and rounding the corner before I could even react. I blinked as I watched her, never having seen her move that fast... or that much. Behind her, for just a moment, I watched a small round shadow followed. It left a small wispy trail as it went along, seemingly marking and staining the ground before just as quickly disappearing.

Again, I blinked.

So that's what she looked like. I was honestly expecting something a little more intimidating or sizeabl-

FUCK, RAMBLING AGAIN.

Shaking my head, I mentally scolded myself for not focusing as I turned and began to run down the hall myself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As quickly as she could, Celestia teleported herself and her guards down to the lower most dungeons of the castle. Where she had been others would have seen little more than a flash of white as well as a slight breeze from the displacement of air. Normally, she wouldnt risk such precise teleportation with such a large group of ponies, but she had to act quickly before any of the three had any chance to escape.

She had to recapture the prisoner that was out and keep this situation under control. If anypony learned of their escape, it would case panic without a doubt.

Fortunately for her, though unfortunate for another, this prove to be difficult.

Immediately after teleporting into the now darkened hall that led to the steel chamber, Celestia felt something impact against her. It was barely enough to move her, but it was certainly enough to surprise her. Looking down, she could barely make out the shape of the very prisoner she had been informed had escaped, now rubbing his head as he recovered on the floor. She took a moment to look over the prisoner, wondering how he had escaped, before then illuminating the hall with a single flash of magic. To her chagrin, the steel door to the chamber at the end of the hall hung open. The chamber itself, even worse, was completely empty.

She felt her teeth begin to grind involuntarily as she glared down to the human before her, who had been shielding his eyes from the sudden burst of light.

She leaned her head down towards the prisoner and spoke in a low yet clear tone, making sure to speak each word with a careful precision that could slice through silk and steel.

"...Where. Are. They?" She practically growled. The prisoner, though shocked at her presence, wasn't swayed. Maybe it had been how long he had been in the chamber. Maybe it was as a result of the pain he felt from falling to the floor yet again. Maybe he was just in a bad mood, or maybe it was just instinctual, but the prisoner felt his own jaw tense as a sense of irritation overcame him.

As he picked himself up off of the ground and dusted himself off, acting as though he weren't being glared at by the mare that moved the sun over the world above them and a battalion of her guards, he found his thoughts wandering for a clever response. Something. Anything.

He looked towards her and gave a glare of his own. If looks could kill, Celestia would have been killed a thousand times over. Then again, the human would have been killed over a million times, and he knew this. Still, he finally found the words.

"How about you check up your enormous a-" He was cut off rather quickly as a metal tray hit him over the back of the head. His eyes shrunk to near pinpricks as he quickly gained a dazed look and fell to the ground. Behind him was the royal guard by the name 'GlassCannon', an oddly shaped bruise clearly visible through his metal helmet as he glared at the creature he had just gained his vengeance upon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damn it universe, couldn't you have at least given me a five second head start!?!

Next Chapter: Chapter 4: Time Suffers [Here Again] Estimated time remaining: 15 Hours, 26 Minutes