"Gates..." a whisper came, enough to wake the rgay colt enough, but not quite enough fully snap him out of his sleep," Gates!" The yell caused his eyes to shoot open. He found himself in one of the corners of the library, leaning against the wall. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were standing right in front of him while Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack were putting books back on the shelf.

"See, Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash said to the yellow pegasus," I told you he'd wake up if you were more assertive about it. Like I said, you gotta speak up more." Gates could figure that the first voice he heard was Fluttershy's and the second was undoubtedly Rainbow's.

"I didn't want to startle him..." Fluttershy replied softly," he only had a little over two hours of sleep, I wouldn't want him to be cranky." Gates got back to his hooves. His knees were weak and his muscles were sore - he hadn't slept in the most comfortable position. He didn't exactly have a peaceful sleep either, which only strengthened the fact that he really had to focus - he couldn't let other things slow him down.

"Yeah, good point," Rainbow said giggling," if Gates normally hands out flank-kickings like he did earlier when he's well-rested, I'd hate to see him on a bad day."

"Heh, today you just might," Gates remarked as he walked by the two pegasi into the center of the room." You said a little over two hours...how long did I sleep?"

"Oh not long at all dear," Rarity replied," only about two and a half hours, we woke you as soon as we got back."

"Buck..." Gates muttered, upset that he had wasted so much more time than he had wanted to. It had only been a half hour more than they had planned, but he never wanted to sleep in the first place, all sleep did was bring back... unwanted things.

"So," Gates said, picking up one of the many books scattered across the floor and placing it on a nearby shelf, "what did you guys find out?"

"Well," Twilight began," We were pretty surprised to find out that almost everypony was still here. Safe in Ponyville. From what we can tell they only captured ponies who tried to fight back." The six ponies sat down in the middle of the room and the mares told Gates their findings.

"Nothing too special," Twilight finished her story," nothing that can help us figure out what to next."

"What to do next..." Gates mused. "As much as I hate to admit it, I have no idea what our next move should be, either. I know we won't find it just sitting around here, but I have no idea where we can go or what we can do."

"Well we gotta do something," Rainbow barged in. "I can't stand sitting around here waiting, especially when Pinkie and Spike are out there somewhere."

Gates couldn't agree with Rainbow more. They had to get going. "You're right, even if we don't know exactly what to do, the answer sure as hay isn't just gonna magically appear while we wait around here."

His friends collectively agreed and got up to begin heading out the door. Twilight seemed to linger as the others began to leave the library.

"Twilight," Fluttershy asked, noticing her friend's odd behavior, "is everything okay?"

"Yeah... Yeah, I think so," Twilight responded slowly. "I just had a weird feeling, like we were forgetting something - something we really need."

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Pinkie Pie snuck into the stairwell, keeping on the tips of her hooves to keep silent. Two guards stood talking a few feet away at the top of the stairs. Pinkie kept close to the wall and the shadows as she peered over the railing down the stairwell. There were two guards positioned on each of the floors below her as well.

The guards standing behind her turned to go back into the cell block where she came from. Pinkie started to panic and did the only thing she could think of. She jumped over the railing and dangled from it, out of eyesight. She failed to realize that she would be dropping right in front of the two guards posted below her. She hung just to the left of their sight line as she hopped down, landing on the floor with an audible clop.

"Hey," one guard said to the other, "did you hear that?" The other nodded as they charged their weapons, fully illuminating the area around them, far better than the lanterns on the wall could. But Pinkie already swung from the spot where she hung, landing with her back hooves on the railing heading down to the next floor. The guards swept the small area around them, finding nothing.

Pinkie slid down the rail quickly on her hind legs as the guards on the floor ahead came into sight. She knew she wouldn't be able to avoid them if she went all the way through. The pink pony took aim of the stairs across the stairwell and dove from the railing she had slid down. Pinkie barely manged to land on the stairs without making too much noise. She slipped down the stairs and walked up to the unguarded door at the bottom. She lifted her hoof to open it...

Locked.

Pinkie felt a shudder go through her body. "Oh no, not now..." she said slowly," ear flop...eye-flutter...knee-twitch. That means...uh-oh!" Pinkie sprang straight up in the air as the door she stood in front of slammed open. She found herself suspended in the air above two guards, about to fall right on top of them. She shot her four legs out and propped herself up above the door. The two guards walked by and began to close the door behind them. Pinkie knew she wouldn't be able to hold herself up for long, and the door would most likely remain locked when it closed again. Which left her only one option. She summoned all of her strength to shimmy out the door with out the guards noticing. She dropped to ground just as the door behind her closed.

Pinkie stood up quickly and shaking some dirt out of her coat and mane. Her eyes widened as she looked out on the landscape in front of her. Hundreds of guards shuffled around the open area. She had forgotten about all the guards she had seen when she first arrived. Pinkie ducked behind a crumbling statue as a group of about a dozen guards trotted by, guiding a line of ponies. She looked into the crowd and saw Firefly. It was her cell block's line - she had to hurry if she didn't want to get caught. She hopped into the back of the line and followed along the wall, occupied cells .

Pinkie knew she saw Spike on this floor when she first arrived. She slipped out of the line - a tricky maneuver since she was the only pony not shackled. The guards would have seen her if she didn't gallop just behind another patrol who didn't notice they had a new acquaintance. She stopped behind another crumbling statue. The amount of debris made it relatively easy to move about without being seen - broken pillars, overturned statues, remnants of ceiling. No wonder there were so many guards all around the castle. Pinkie shot a look back at the line she had left - they were checking the lists to make sure everypony was there. Pinkie had to hurry. She checked the cells, one by one, not getting too close as to draw attention. She didn't need to get too close to see all she needed. A small purple dragon looked very different from a pony, obviously, and she figured Spike would be the only one locked up here.

After about two minutes of searching Pinkie found what she was looking for. Spike sat quietly in the back of a cell, arms crossed with a look of pure righteous anger on his face. Pinkie hated seeing her friend locked up and so upset, but she had to get back into that line. She noted exactly where Spike was and began sneaking along the floor as she got closer to the line-up again.

The guard taking role stopped at the spot where Pinkie should have been standing, but Pinkie was still a few feet away.

Firefly noticed and did the only thing she could think of. She fell straight back, pushing back with her hind legs, pulling much of the line back to the ground by the shackles. Pinkie Pie took the opportunity of the confusion to slip back into the line. The guards weren't exactly sure what had happened, but it was enough for them to ignore Pinkie's absence. They yelled at the line of ponies, threatening to take away rations for the next week for their outburst.

They lead the group back upstairs into their cells. Pinkie and Firefly whispered as they were corralled back in. "So you found Spike I take it?" Firefly said under her breath as the guards undid the shackles around their hooves.

“Yuppers!" Pinkie said happily," did you get what you need?" She said lowering her voice to a near whisper.

"Wasn't even a challenge," Firefly said lowly as she went back into her cell," I'll get to work on this thing." She pulled a piece of paper and a small bottle of into out from a knot in her mane.

"So tomorrow we just-" Pinkie started to say before she was cut off by the colt one cell over.

"I know you two are up to something," the colt said angrily," and now we don't get food because of you foals. You're gonna pay for this. I promise."

Pinkie looked at Firefly, she seemed unconcerned. Instead, she focused on the letter. Her nonchalant manner put Pinkie's mind at ease. She knew nothing would keep them from helping their friends. She eased into the corner of her cell and began to drift off to sleep. She would need the rest,they had a big day ahead of them tomorrow.

Next Chapter: Chapter Sixteen - Out of Thin Air Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 48 Minutes