“Wrath. That is the greatest sin. It turned my best friend, the loyalest and most dependable of ponies, into a monster that brought Hell where he walked. I had hoped that there would be something left of him when we clashed for the last time at the Crystal Heart. I had hoped that I could talk some sense into him, to put an end to the bloodshed. But wrath killed him. There was nothing left of him. Only rage, sorrow and the blood of his victims. There was no more Starburst. No more Honesty. Only Sombra. Only wrath.”

-Vigilant Sentry, former Element of Loyalty.

“Then I'll take you with me!” screams Applejack.

The words barely leave Applejack's lips before a blinding light of orange and red erupts from underneath her hooves, decimating the floor with a sporadic display of raw, energetic discharge. Shrapnel of jagged tile, floorboard and support explode in every direction possible, reducing the walls and ceiling to mere splinters in a blink of an eye and pushing a bubble of rubble through the rooms and out in the raging blizzard. Cold air and snow rushes in with the subsiding energy, mixing with the dust cloud, and Applejack feels a quick moment of weightlessness before landing on the floor below with a painful landing that knocks the air out of her and shoots cracks of pain all over her limbs.

There, Applejack lays, on top of rubble on the floor below, wheezing and shaking with thick, orange smoke rising from her hooves and the stench of burnt fur and cooked metal stinging her nose. She tastes copper and her throat feels itchy, and when she coughs, red blotches splatter on her hoof and torn garb. From there, she sees her cuffs are completely shattered, leaving just a pair of rings as markers to where they once were.

The ringing in Applejack's ears block the groans of the guards and the screaming fire alarms, and her vision swims as sprinklers spray frigid water all over everyone. She shivers and tries to push herself up, but freezes when she sees Warden Frost getting on her hooves, dazed and blinking blood from her eyes.

The two lock eyes, and when the Warden reaches for her pistol, a muffled gunshot rings out and knocks her off balance. The shot makes Applejack jump, and she tries backing up when another gunshot rings out and sends the Warden cashing on the floor, adding bloody petals to the now grungy water.

Warden Frost's guards try to return fire, but they are gunned down by a barrage of gunfire coming from behind Applejack. The exchange kills a few of the attacking guards, and as the bullets zip between the squads, Applejack covers Mosley's body with her own and squeezes her eyes shut, hoping and praying that they are not killed in the crossfire. She wants to scream, but keeps her tongue bitten so she does not do it. She cracks an eye open when she hears terrified wailing and sees Derpy curled on the ground with her hooves over her ears and tears streaming down her face. The shotgun pony is standing near her, sitting on his haunches and blasting away at the other guards, who are knocked off their hooves by the blasts.

In seconds the shooting is over, and after the last shot is fired, there is a deafening ringing in Applejack's ears and her ears flop down as she stares at the bodies. She barely gets a few seconds to stare before a hoof goes on her shoulder and turns her so she gets an up close look at Limestone.

The officer's face is covered in blood, tears and dust, and she is screaming something, but Applejack cannot make out her words. The ringing is fading in Applejack's, but her head feels light while her hooves are like warm jelly. While Limestone tries talking to her, Billy wraps Mosley in a magical aura and gently lowers him on his back and the shotgun earth pony helps Derpy stand up. The former mailmare is shaking so much that she needs the last spare guard to help her. The two exchange some words with Derpy and she nods and tries walking, only to have to resort to leaning against the shotgun pony.

“We need to go!” yells Limestone, her voice still muffled, but just clear enough to understand.

Applejack stares back at Limestone, eyes droopy and dazed and a string of blood slithering down her chin. “Go where?”

“Crap.” The officer turns to her superior. “Billy, she's in shock!”

“Get her moving! We can't stay!” says Billy, using his magic to reload his saddle.

Applejack looks around, her brain muddled in confusion, and she looks up at the missing chunk of building and points at it dumbly. “Did I do that?”

“Yes you did,” says Limestone quickly. She then crawls underneath Applejack's stomach and stands up, giving the dazed farmer a comfortable spot on the small of her back and ignoring the weak protests that come from her.

“Put me down. I can walk just fine,” slurs Applejack, grunting and awkwardly kicking her legs in the air while trying to wiggle her way off.

“Will you sit still?” hisses Limestone.

The shotgun pony carefully places Derpy on his back and looks at Billy, who is now levitating spare ammo from the fallen guards. “We gotta go right now. They probably got the whole prison going down on us by now!”

Billy nods and takes the lead, ordering the others to follow him. With Limestone, Shotgun, and the spare following Billy, Applejack gets just a fraction of a moment to look out the gaping hole. A zeppelin has changed its course from the rising smoke of the prison, and even though her brain is rebooting at the moment, she has enough sense to know that that is not a good sign.

“Contact!” barks Billy.

Gunshots ring out and chip away at the corner the unicorn ducked behind. The spare pulls out a cylindrical grenade from his vest, bites off a pin and bounces it off the wall so it goes around the corner. There is a scream, followed by a loud pop and a flash of light and more screams and painful swears.

Billy then pivots around the corner and unloads on whoever was on the other side, bringing the screams to an end. Billy stands still for a moment, smoke rising from his weapon and his ears turning slightly while Limestone keeps her eyes on the direction where they came from. Long seconds of silence pass before Bill carefully moves forward again, quietly ordering everyone to follow him.

Derpy whimpers and closes her eyes at the sight of the shot up bodies, and Mosley is too dazed from his injury to care. Applejack is not full there yet, but seeing the corpses certainly picks up its pace, and she tightens herself on Limestone while the earth pony carefully slithers past the bodies.

When they pass the massacre, the group goes to a staircase, which is checked by the spare, named Sight. They remain on the top while the pony goes forward, sweeping the corridor with his weapon.

“So...” begins Applejack uneasily. “What's going on?”

“A friend sent us to keep an eye on you and figure out a way to get you out,” says Limestone.

“Yeah, but we've had to seriously improvise because somepony-” Shotgun looks at Mosley “went apeshit on everypony. Not naming any names, but somepony seriously screwed the pooch and we'll be lucky to make it out alive.”

“We're going to make it,” says Billy, motioning Limestone to keep her weapon trained down the hall, and after she obeys, he glances at Applejack. “We're going to make it and get your family back together.”

Applejack's heart picks up speed and a candlelight of hope burns in the darkness that has occupied her heart and mind for so long. Yet, that small light is enough to make her eyes water and create a large smile.

“You are?” asks the farmer. A part of her wants to be skeptical of their claim since she barely knows them, but they have already done a lot in such a short time span that it will be downright stupid to doubt them. Besides, she sees no lie in Billy's eyes.

Billy nods, but before he can say anything, a set of hooves banging on metal steps echo in the stairwell and Shotgun peers over the edge, smiling seconds later.

“It's Sight!”

Sight gallops into view and motions everyone down the stairs. “Our wagon is behind the guards, but the parking lot still has plenty of vehicles we can use. If we hurry we can get one before they seal us in!”

“No time to waste, then. Let's move!” orders Billy.

Warden Frost's eyes flutter open and a weak wheeze escapes her lips as her hoof slides under the frigid water. Puffs of frozen air form around her muzzle with every breath she takes, and her snarl contorts from the stabs of pain all over her chest and limbs. She looks at her dead guards floating in icy water, then down the hall where the traitors went.

“Targets have exited the building and are now in the parking lot,” crackles a mare over the radio belonging to one of the Warden's dead guards.

“Corral them in. Make sure they do not escape!” says another mare.

Frost dips her head in the water to retrieve her revolver, ignoring the taste of copper and dirt that clings to her tongue. With the revolver in her mouth and dirty, red water dripping off of her muzzle and weapon's barrel, she growls through her teeth, expands her wings and takes flight out of the hole in the wall.

With the snow falling more rapidly, the group weaves their way through the parking lot, going past rows of little motor-wagons, all equipped with armored plating and snow tires. Why they are not stopping to snag the closest vehicle is a mystery to Applejack. Until she realizes that it might be a little hard to cram seven ponies inside a vehicle that barely holds three in most cases.

“There's a transport two rows down!” says Sight.

Applejack strains her neck and sees a mini-train with a covered back end, painted white with enormous treads replacing its back wheels and snow tires on the front, and its cattle-guard replaced with a plow. Even though riding on Limestone's back is still grating her nerves and a small army of prison guards are swerving into the parking lot in their vehicles, a smile does form on Applejack's muzzle. She is so close to freedom that her body is trembling and she can puke from pure excitement.

That joy-puke, unfortunately, turns into a needle filled cough that leaves Applejack's throat feeling scratched up and stains her hoof in droplets of blood. After coughing, she wheezes and wipes her mouth and runs her tongue along her lips to get rid of the awful taste of copper.

“Ya gotta be kidding me,” mutters Applejack weakly.

“Stay behind the vehicles!” orders Billy.

Right as he says that, a string of three gun shots crack the air, dulling out the screeching tires and shouting guards, and Sight flips head over tail and crumbles to the ground, motionless and bleeding profusely from a line of wounds on the back of his head and on his back.

Limestone swears and skids to a stop, as does the others. Before Billy can turn his weapon to the source, Warden Frost lands on top of Mosley, pushing Billy into the ground, and she slams her hoof against the back of the turncoat's head. The unicorn's muzzle crunches against the asphalt, spraying the dirty snow in red, and as he cries out in pain, she turns her revolver on Shotgun and pulls the trigger.

A single round goes right between his eyes, jerking him back and throwing Derpy on the ground. The pegasus yelps and rolls around, kicking up snow in her mad scramble to get up, and Warden Frost turns her pistol on Limestone, but one earth shattering crack later, and she flies off of Billy and lands on her back, gasping for air.

After Limestone shoots Frost, Applejack wiggles herself off of the officer and screams for her uncle as she gallops towards him. However, a line of bullets race across the parking lot and blow off pieces of the asphalt around the Element, with one going clean through her hoof.

Applejack screams and collapses to the ground from the hot lead slicing through her flesh and chipping her bone. She has only felt one thing that comes close to this pain, and that was when she had a portion of her body ripped out when she entered the Void. Getting shot is not nearly as painful, though, but it is still high up there.

“Applejack, get to cover!” yells Limestone, using a parked vehicle as cover to return fire on the guards. She is forced to duck down when a barrage of bullets strike the vehicle, wrecking it with dozens of holes that blow out its tires and shatter one of its windows.

Tears freeze on Applejack's face as she clutches her injured hoof to her chest, sobbing and grinding her teeth while she writhes on the ground. In seconds, her prison suit becomes slick with blood and the red liquid bleeds past her hoof and dribbles down her injured limb to the snow.

“Ya bastards!” cries Applejack.

Blinded by fury, Applejack slams her good hoof into the ground. All of the fire inside of her is channeled through her hoof and explodes towards the army of guards. A jagged trail of pushed up ground illuminated by orange and red lights speeds towards the advancing ponies, but with the sharp rocks popping out of the ground, they scream and dive for cover. The sharp rocks stab at the vehicles' undersides, ripping them in half or tossing them in the air, where they land near guards or on top of of other vehicles, splashing debris all over the ground and shrouding everything in a cloud of dust.

Applejack falls limp on the ground, coughing and wheezing for air as her insides feel like they are being ruthlessly shredded by a demon. She presses her bleeding hoof against her stomach as tight as she can and uses her other hoof to drag herself to Mosley, whimpering and blinking the haze out of her eyes.

As the floating dust clears, the guards are seen scrambling for cover or dragging the wounded to cover while Limestone fires off bursts in their general direction, keeping them unable to return fire. While this happens, Mosley shifts on the ground, his glazed eyes drifting to random spots, blinking just as slowly as his sluggish movements, but when he sees Applejack crawling to him, his eyes lock on hers.

The older stallion grinds his teeth in an agonizing wince, pushes himself up on his hooves and hobbles towards Applejack. A trail of red snakes down his chest, and his eyes are heavy as his chest heaves from his struggled breathing. Seeing her injured Uncle make his way towards her in a nigh trance like state, oblivious or ignorant of the exchanging gunfire, Applejack extends her good hoof towards him.

“Uncle, stay down!” cries Applejack.

The symbol on the bowl of her hoof pulsates a soft glow again, and when a bullet strikes the ground at Mosley's hoof, she yells and slams her hoof on the ground again. A wall barely her height erupts out of the ground, covering her group in a layer of stone, and showering everyone with shattered asphalt and once again covering the area in a cloud of dust. The shaking ground causes the stallion to stumble, and right as he is about to fall over, Derpy gallops to his side and uses her body as a prop, with him resting against her side and her hoof pressing against his chest.

Applejack and Derpy lock eyes, and the Element flashes a painful smile before she coughs into her hoof again, wheezing shakily and flopping on her back to stare at the darkening sky. Her hoof clutches her stomach and a weak, raspy whimper leaves her trembling lips as her eyes drift shut.

The frost, the pain in her gut, it is almost entirely unbearable. She feels her hot blood pump out of her shot hoof with every pulse and the hoof she used to protect Mosley throbs and stings from the electric knives poking at the lines of her symbol.

Another barrage of gunfire is exchanged and Applejack squeezes her eyes and clenches her teeth as hard as she can as she rolls on her side, shivering from more than just the cold. She tries a mental peptalk to get herself up, but every shift, every beat of her heart and breath her lungs take is like a hook digging into her flesh.

“Stay awake, Applejack!” says Limestone desperately, her voice distant and faint.

Applejack opens her eyes and sees Limestone laying down and using the vehicle she is behind as cover as she reloads her weapon, casting concerned looks at her between her work.

The officer finishes reloading and locks her eyes on Applejack. “Stay awake!”

She then gets up and fires off a burst, and Applejack's eyes drift shut once more, dragging her into darkness. Seconds or minutes later, her ears flick from a booming voice piercing the chaos of the war zone she is trapped in.

“CEASE FIRE! CEASE FIRE!” orders Billy.

Applejack's eyes flutter open and she sees Derpy hastily approaching her, with Mosley slumping against the transport and Billy walking towards her, dragging Warden Frost. Both are bleeding profusely, with the unicorn's face drenched in blood and constantly sniffing blood and his horn glowing softly to amplify his voice and levitate the Warden's revolver. He has his large hoof wrapped around the Warden's neck, and despite her resistance, he is still dragging her bloodied body across the parking lot like a doll. Occasionally the unicorn will aim the weapon at the guards when some move their positions to try to get a better shot, and he hisses at Warden Frost to shut up when she gulps for air or mutters swears.

“Let Warden Frost go!” shouts one of the guards, his voice barely being heard over the speeding wind that is biting everyone with its frosty teeth.

“LET US OUT AND YOU CAN HAVE HER!”

Derpy grabs Applejack and gently lifts her up, and the Element has to grab her former mailmare's barrel for support as she is half walked, half dragged to where Mosley is. The pegasus tries to lower her down gently, but accidentally drops her against the armored vehicle, giving her a splitting head ache on top of her other pains.

“Sorry,” says Derpy quickly in response to the pained cringe scrunching Applejack's features.

“No, you will release her right now!” yells a guard.

Billy presses the revolver's barrel against the Warden's head. “I WILL PUT A BULLET IN HER HEAD IF YOU DON'T GIVE US A PASSAGE!”

Warden Frost chokes and tries in vain to pry his hoof off of her neck. “You won't do it.”

Billy's eyes flick to Frost. “How do you know?”

“Because-” the Warden swallows “-if you kill me, you and your friends will be dead in seconds.”

Billy growls and shuffles towards Limestone and Applejack, dragging the Warden along using his magic and keeping her in front of much of his face while her weapon digs underneath her chin. She gags and desperately swallows air as her legs awkwardly kick at the snow while her tail drags on the ground and her wings bat the air weakly.

“Limestone, get that transporter,” orders Billy.

Limestone nods and gallops towards the transporter. She sits on the snow and removes a pair of pins from her pocket and begins working on the lock. Even in the cold temperature sweat crawls down her forehead as her tongue and hooves work to twist and turn the lock on the door, and after a couple of minutes of tense silence, the door clicks and the officer slides inside.

Limestone unlocks the back passenger door and orders Applejack, Mosley and Derpy inside. Applejack wastes no time in guiding Mosley inside, even though her legs feel like jelly and her insides feel torn and shriveled, and Derpy helps the former farmer inside when her legs almost give out when she tries to climb inside. After muttering a quick thanks to Derpy, Applejack scoots herself close to Mosley and snuggles as close as their bodies will allow when he drapes his hoof around her. Derpy goes in last and Billy uses his hindleg to kick the door shut while Limestone contorts her body in an awkward position to peel off the dashboard cover an work on the network of wires and gems.

“How long?” asks Billy.

“Give me a minute,” says Limestone, her tail flicking and brows scrunched as she finagles with the wires of the vehicle.

Billy nods and carefully moves along the front, keeping his grip on the Warden and his eyes on the guards, who are now forming a wall and making a line of weapons aimed at him. Even though Applejack is inside the transport, her weakened heart still pumps hard and her battered lungs tighten like her throat as her pinprick eyes flick to every guard preparing to shoot them all to Hell.

“We'll be okay,” assures Derpy.

Applejack swallows and flicks her eyes to Derpy or only a fraction of a second before looking back at the line. “I got a hard time believin' that.”

Outside, Billy keeps walking slowly in front of the transport, trying to keep the antsy feeling gripping him under control. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots a group of three guards slithering behind a row of parked vehicles, and he slams his body against the driver's cabin of the transport and pulls the Warden closer to him so her back is pressed against his barrel.

“Hey! Don't you move one step closer!” yells Billy. The guards cautiously stand up from behind their cover and aim their weapons at him, and he growls and presses the revolver hard underneath Frost's chin, making her wince. “Back up!”

The guards keep their weapons raised, but their hardened expressions falter to concern.

“Billy, you're a good guard, don't make this worse for you than it already is!” says one of the guards.

“Save it! I don't even know you! NOW BACK UP!” shouts Billy viciously.

Just then, the transport's engine sputters, hums, then rumbles awake, belching out puffs of sparkling, dark exhaust. Billy continues glaring at the three ponies, and in turn they remain stationary and keep him in their crosshairs. He does not even break eye contact when Applejack leans over the seat to open the front passenger in.

“Ya better get in here,” says Applejack.

Without saying a word, Billy awkwardly climbs inside the transport with the Warden and slams the door shut, and then he looks at Limestone out of the corner of his eye. “Get us out of here.”

Limestone nods and moves the speed lever up and guides the large vehicle through the parking lot using careful movements of her hoof to steer the steering orb.

“You are all dead,” says the Warden.

“Shut up,” snaps Billy.

Applejack watches the three guards that approached Billy reluctantly back away and speak into their radios, which, in turn, causes the line of guards to part as well. The transport they commandeered drives through the parting of vehicle, and Derpy decides that now would be a great time to wave her farewells to the guards with a big, cheese-eating grin and big swings of her hoof. The hostile glares, vicious snarls and cocking weapons the guards respond with sends both Derpy and Applejack shrinking into their seats, with the former farmer really wishing she had her hat to cover her hot face with.

“Smooth,” mutters Applejack.

“I was only trying to be polite,” says Derpy sadly.

Mosley only shakes his head and gently rubs his injury as he coughs quietly.

Limestone increases the speed of the transport when they enter the main road, and Applejack looks out the back passenger window to see the guards trailing them in their vehicles. Her ears perk and her hart skips a beat when a distant thud and flash of light shakes the earth and lights up the gray air with a ball of orange and red. Some gunshots ring out in the distance and Applejack once again slides down in her seat, finding herself trembling from more than just the cold and her throat tightening and her eyes getting wet once more.

“Oh, boy,” she says quietly.

Mosley slinks the hoof that is not pressed against his wound around Applejack's shoulder and pulls her in close to him. She jumps at first from the sudden contact, but when she sees that it is only Mosley, she swallows and smiles warily at him as she snuggles up against his side. Then Derpy pushes herself against the older earth pony and meets his annoyed frown with a bright smile.

“I like cuddles, too,” says the ex-mailmare.

Mosley's frown remains, but his shoulders go slack in defeat and reluctantly lets the pegasus snuggle up against him, but he does not move his hoof from his wound.

“Limestone, pick up the pace. The quicker we get out, the better,” says Billy.

Limestone nods and increases the speed yet again. The hum of the engine gets louder and the outside world zips by all the quicker, and as this happens, Billy tightens his grip on the Warden and in turn, she glances at everyone in the vehicle, then outside, then at everyone again. Seeing this, a sick feeling in her gut that is not related to her curse warns Applejack that shit is about to hit the fan. Again.

With a war cry of her own, Frost suddenly awkwardly swings her cuffed front hooves at Billy's maw, making him yelp and his bloody face crash against the window, staining it in a circle of red. The Warden then bucks Limestone on the side of the head, also making her head hit the window and causes her to put the vehicle in a terrifying swerve that bashes the sides of the transport against the gates lining the walkways. Limestone swears and clutches her head as her hoof desperately tries to get the steering orb under control, and Billy wraps his hooves around Frost's waist and struggles pulls her away from Limestone as she viciously kicks the officer.

The transport's wheels screech against the ground and Applejack and Derpy scream as the outside world becomes a blur of gray with powdered snow flying all around them. The Warden slams the back of her head against Billy's chin and as his head snaps back, she awkwardly elbows him in the ribs. The unicorn curses and uses his magic to bring the revolver against Frost, but she pushes the weapon up right as he fires, dinging the metal ceiling and slicing Limestone's thigh with a ricochet round just as she straightened out the vehicle.

Derpy and Applejack shriek with fright and duck down with Mosley, and Limestone cries out in pain and presses one hoof against the oozing wound while her other hoof attempts to straighten out the vehicle again. As the vehicle snaps in place, everyone lurches forward, and Billy and the Warden lock eyes, growling savagely and still wrestling each other for the revolver. While this happens, Limestone looks in the mirror, panting and shaking from pain, and sees the small army of armored vehicles chewing up the road as they zoom towards them with an insane burst in speed, leaving a heavy cloud of snow and dust in their wake.

“Shit!” Limestone throws the speed lever in full throttle and the engine roars and spews out a thick plum of dark, sparkling exhaust as the combination of steam and gem power push the engine to the limits. “Hold on!”

The sudden speed throws Billy and Warden Frost against the seat, and Limestone narrows her eyes at a line of armored motor wagons pulling out from behind buildings to form a blockade. The transport buckles and rocks everyone inside like helpless goldfish in a bag as it bullies its way through an opening, spinning the motor wagons away and flinging bent metal, broken wood and shattered glass everywhere. With the big gap created by Limestone's stunt, the trailing party zooms through and those that are not too damaged from the failed blockade are quick to give chase as well.

Hearing the army of engines, all roaring at different strengths, Applejack looks out the window again, and her she almost turns into a marble from how petrified she becomes from seeing their pursuers. There must be at least two dozen vehicles going after them, and with Warden Frost and Billy still wrestling for the revolver, she is not sure if they can lost long. Especially since the Warden is kicking Limestone every chance she can get, causing the earth pony to swerve and bash their getaway vehicle against fences and buildings..

The wrestling ponies growl and swear, and when the revolver fires off another round, it goes right past Limestone's nose and cracks the driver window. Limestone shrieks and jumps in her seat, momentarily losing control of the steering orb and causing the large vehicle to swerve and turn itself into a bulldozer. The plow on its front shatters the wooden walls of the building that the runaway vehicle has targeted, slamming broken timber after broken timber and coffee mugs, donuts and other essential office supplies against their shell. The combined devastation of the fat wheels, treads and plow of the transport easily decimate the furniture and make quick work of the fridge and coffee maker, and when they burst out on the other side, the front door hitches a ride on the plow and a sign reading 'DRIVE SAFE!' gets stuck on the window.

“I can't see anything!” yells Limestone. The Warden kicks her in the cheek again and she yelps and swerves yet again, but the door does pop off and bounce down the road, splintering along the way, and a portion of the sign hits a lamppost, knocking it off the windshield and giving Limestone just enough time to bank left and avoid a brick wall. It does not give her the chance to block a kick to the kidney that sends her keeling over and coughing with tears in her eyes. “Billy, get her under control!”

“I'm trying!” growls Billy.

During the struggle, Frost's revolver goes off again, but this time it only clicks, and the Warden pushes the gun close to Billy's chest as she goes bloody nose to bloody nose with him.

“You're out of ammo!” snarls Warden Frost.

She jerks her hooves down, throwing the revolver to floor, then punches Billy in the liver. The unicorn grunts painfully and as he keels over, she slams his head against the dashboard, clambers over him, and pops out the door and leaps right out into the snow. The open door is quickly broken clean off by a lamppost and it bounces down the road, never to be used again and leaving a gaping hole that blows ridiculously cold air in everyone's faces.

“What in tarnation!” yells Applejack over the frosty wind rushing inside. She looks out the window and sees the battered pegasus rolling in the snow, where a couple of the armored motor wagons swerve to a stop near her. Her eyes bulge from pure surprise when she sees the Warden stagger to her hooves and use a wall to keep herself from falling over. “You have got t' be kidding me! She's still up!”

“There's gotta be earth pony blood in her,” grumbles Billy, his voice muffled from having his hoof pressed against his face, which does little in stopping the bleeding.

Applejack snaps her focus on Billy. “What's that supposed t' mean?”

Billy stares at Applejack, but since his blood covered hoof is still against his face, it looks like he is wearing a red muzzle. “Don't tell me you are offended by that.”

Warden Frost's world goes into a sickening spin after she pushes down on the handle and uses her shoulder to push the transport door open. As quickly as she leaps out, she hits cold, hard ground and feels her bones snapping and cracking as she rolls and bounces in the snow. When she lands to a stop, she is stomach down in the snow, coughing and hacking with strings of blood dribbling past her lips.

Her eyes are hazy and her lungs feel heavy as she wheezes and pushes herself up, barely able to use her limp wings to help her stand. Once standing, she coughs a glob of bloody mucus in the snow and stumbles to a wall for support, feeling like her lungs are getting clawed at with every breath she takes. Seconds barely pass before two armored motor wagons swerve to a stop in front of her, each producing a pair of guards that gallop to her. However, despite how glad she is to see them, she is too livid to form even the smallest of smiles.

She tastes blood, she is sure the inside of her body is punctured like fancy cheese, and the worst part is, her prison is a complete mess.

“Ma'am, are you okay?” asks one of the guards anxiously while his partner levitates her on his back.

“I'm fine,” says Frost, wheezing and coughing and wincing from the painful reaction her body receives.

“Ma'am, we just called a medical team. We'll get you taken care of,” says another guard.

“What about the other injured guards?” asks Frost.

“We're taking care of them as best as we can, but it is a mess. Reports are coming in of posts being overrun and prisoners stealing weapons after they beat our guys to death. We're losing ground and fast!”

Frost growls and points towards the radio pack on the guard. “Give me your radio.”

The guard nods, positions himself next to the Warden and levitates the headset on her, and as he does this, she ignores the pain from the strains in her arms as she turns the dial to give her the signal she wants. Once she has the signal, she licks her lips, takes a deep, shaky and painful breath, and turns on the radio.

“Attention all guards, this Warden Frost Flower speaking. Your prime objective is to retake the prison at all costs. Every prisoner that resists is to be killed on sight. No exceptions. This rule will be in effect until the prison is ours once more. Over and out.”

Warden Frost clicks off the radio, slumps on the guard's back with a ragged sigh and closes her eyes, wanting so much to fall asleep and wake up in her bed so she can wright this day down as a nightmare and not some life altering hellish event. Though, despite her best efforts to stay awake, her closing her eyes does bring her to sleep, because when she opens her eyes again, she sees she in the back of the wagon, right next to a small clinic where more of her guards have fortified or are being carried in.

Outside, a nurse barely opens the door and reaches for Frost before she is stopped by the Warden's hoof.

“No,” says Frost with a shake of her head. She looks at the two guards she rode with and adds: “You two need to take me to the radio center immediately.”

“But, ma'am,” starts the driver.

The Warden shoos the nurse away and glares straight ahead at the plumes of smoke rising around her prison with the fires of determination purging all desires to rest. “Don't start. Take me to the radio center. This needs to end and I will make it end.”

“Keep it steady!” barks Billy.

Limestone grits her teeth as their transport swerves around another corner, tires screeching in the snowy asphalt and clumps of dirty snow being kicked up. The vehicle fishtails and briefly comes in contact with one of the many brick building, sending slivers of paint, wood and brick bits dancing in the air. She quickly straightens the vehicle, slamming Applejack against the door with Derpy and Mosley pressed against her in the process, and zooms forward again. With the vehicle now on a fast and steady course Billy magically unclips the weapon on his battle saddle and grabs it with his hooves.

“What are you doing?” asks Limestone worryingly.

Billy loops the seat belt around his hoof and leans out the gaping hole where the door once was, hooking his hoof on the top of his seat and propping his back legs against the seat so he is sitting on the door frame.

“Billy!”

The unicorn fires a translucent blue ball at the closest vehicle. The ball hits the vehicle in the center of its driver's cabin, splashing it with energy that flips it in the air, end over end. As the vehicle spins, debris of wood, bent metal and glass fly from its crushed front and it smashes nose first into the snowy road, splattering the ground with broken metal and wood. It lands on its back, popping loose its pipes and engine, spraying hot water and pouring hot coal and energized gems, and its slides on its wrecked roof until it hits a pole. From there, it spin and swipes at another motor wagon, caving in its side and sending spiraling out of control and getting t-boned by another vehicle. Said t-boned vehicle flips and crushes the top of the driver's cabin, creating a fender-bender that throws the wagon off and pushes up the back of the one it hitched a ride on. Before too long, there are screeches and more sounds of collisions, but with the pile-up in the front, all anyone can see are the already damaged vehicles bobbing from the newest additions to their pile.

“Huh. That actually worked a lot better than I thought it would,” says Billy as he lowers his weapon, his eyes wide with surprise.

“Uh, guys, I hate t' be the negative one, here, but what're ya gonna do 'bout them gates?” asks Applejack.

To make her point clearer, she points ahead at the barbwire gates leading to the main gate, which is surrounded by a thick wall with turrets aimed at them.

Limestone pales, but Billy slides back inside and pushes the speed lever to full throttle without her consent. The officer cannot get a word of protest out before the vehicle roars and lurches forward, pushing everyone back in their seats. All the mares scream as the scenery becomes a blur, and Applejack barely sees the outside ponies dodging the barreling vehicle. She also barely hears the pings and cracks of gunfire over the roaring of the engine and the tough rubber and treads grinding against the gravel.

When they hit the first gate, it is knocked off of its railing and smashes right into the windshield, causing cracks to appear all over it. The gate remains on just long enough for the second gate to get a taste of a speeding vehicle, which yields similar results. Only now the cracks get bigger and more numerous, and pieces of the front end splinter off or a bent horribly, exposing portions of the inner mechanics of the motor wagon. By the time they reach the last gate, it is impossible to see through the windshield and Billy and Limestone have to punch it out, cutting their hooves a little bit. The piece of glass protecting them flies off, giving the millions of flakes of snow the perfect chance to stab at everyone like tiny frozen daggers.

Limestone swears and shields her face with her hoof while Billy focuses his eyes on the main gate and charges his horn. Applejack watches the horn's glow becomes more intense as the main gate get bigger with every passing second. With its growing size, the pressure in her throat builds and her heart thumps harder in her chest as the bullets from the guard towers create a show of sparks from bouncing off of the armor plating of their vehicle. Just when Applejack thinks Billy is going to collide head on with the gate, the unicorn fires off another blob of magical energy.

Like his last victim, the gate is obliterated by the power of the blue ball. The bars are blasted out of their sockets, shattering concrete and brick and gutting the gate house. The debris and all of its dust flies out into the open field and the mini-train plows through it, getting a collection of cracks and dents from the rubble that bounces off of it. The mini-train bobs and shakes as the tires and treads run over the mangled bars and crush the chunks of brick and cement, but even with the abuse of the tires, the bullet holes riddling the armor, the lack of windows and the smoking engine, they are still going strong!

With them now speeding through the frozen wasteland, Applejack's heart is racing so fast it is creating rainbows in her chest cavity and her blood has turned into pure adrenaline. She giggles and pokes her head out the window, ignoring the freezing wind blowing through her mane as she watches the prison and its rising smoke shrink rapidly.

She can't believe it!

She is out! At long last she is free from the prison and that damn hole in the mountain!

She can just scream for pure joy, and scream she does!

“Yeehaw! Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout! I can't believe ya pulled it off! That was amazing!”

Applejack leans over the seat, grabs Billy and plants a big, wet kiss right on his cheek, not caring about the blood covering both of them. The unicorn's face burns bright red instantly and Limestone gives Applejack a downright hateful glare. Seeing the look that the officer is giving her, Applejack retreats back into her seat, smiling sheepishly and flushing with embarrassment.

“Sorry 'bout that. I got a little carried away,” says Applejack, but that does nothing to alleviate the silent glare Limestone has aimed at her. “So, what's next?”

“Survive,” says Limestone sourly.

Applejack frowns at the officer. “Look, just 'cuz yer a little crab that don't mean ya gotta pass your moody attitude on to us.”

“No, she's right. Warden Frost is more than likely assembling a search party for us and will call in help from the EIB, the Royal Guard and the Stalliongrad Guard,” says Billy. He then points ahead of him, adding: “And there is also that oncoming blizzard we gotta go through.”

Applejack's pleasant mood might as well have been executed in front of a crowd of children at that point, for right in front of them is, in fact, a blizzard. However, this blizzard is something she has never seen before. In Ponyville, when the pegasi did the annual blizzard, it was mostly calm, just a lot of snow with some strong winds, sometimes it got a little heavier than normal if the Cloudsdale Weather Factory needed to get rid of excess snow.

This blizzard is not a white wall of gentle snowflakes floating around in a breeze, though. This is a wall. A big, gray wall of frozen fingers made of billions upon trillions of icy splinters raking its way over the landscape. There is nothing by gray and black, and even all the way forward and speeds straight towards the gray fingers that rake the landscape. Mountains, sky, clouds, all of it disappears in the cloud of ice, and Applejack's jaw drops, as does Derpy's. Mosley keeps his mouth shut, but his eyes about nearly explode from his sockets from how large they have grown. How they did not see that monstrosity until now is beyond Applejack, but now she is too worried about getting killed in a snow storm rather than how they missed something right in front of their noses.

“Holy Hell,” mutters Applejack.

“That doesn't look normal,” comments Derpy.

The chilly wind that blows through the gaping holes turns into an ear breaking, screeching wind that stabs at everyone's faces with frozen flakes. Applejack can feel her skin shrink under her coat and even with her ears folded down they still feel like they are being violated by frosty talons and screaming demons.

“Everypony buckle up! We're going in!” yells Billy.

“What!? Are ya nuts!?” screams Applejack.

“Do you see any way past that?”

Applejack has nothing to say about that, so she sits down, buckles up, and with the help of Derpy she buckles up Mosley as well. As this happens, Billy's horn glows again and a light red bubble forms around the vehicle, covering everyone inside with a warm aura. With this happening, Applejack cringes and she and Derpy hug Mosley tight as tight as they can while Billy remains mostly collected as he stares down the storm.

Limestone swallows and her muscles become tense like pulled wire as her pupils shrink and her ears droop at the sight of the storm. “Billy... if... if we die in this storm I'm going to be really mad.”

Billy furrows his brows and uses his magic to strap himself and Limestone in. “Me, too.”

Seconds after that, the snow slams against them, violently rocking their vehicle and blowing out their ears with its screaming. The heat bubble keeps them safe from the onslaught of the snow and cold, but Applejack is certain that Limestone is driving blind because all she can see is a blend of gray and dark gray with a shade of yellow and red from the headlights and the magic bubble reflecting off of the snow.

Normally in a situation like this -or as close to being an escaped convict with turncoat guards plowing through a blizzard as possible- Applejack would mutter a quick prayer of protection to Celestia. However, with the betrayal of her goddess, she resorts to grinding her teeth, keeping Mosley in a death grip, and squishing herself against her seat, hoping that they will live through this insane stunt.

Inside a radio room, Warden Frost is sitting on a stool staring at the communications set with distant eyes, listening to the overlapping chatter of her guards fighting back rioters, whom have turned into full on enemy combatants in most cases. It is something she thought she would never hear, but here she is now, sitting on a stool, broken and bloody with a unicorn mare trying to treat her of her wounds while her prison is turned into a war zone.

“Club and Pie just went into the storm!” says a stallion over one of the radios, his signal fuzzing in and out and being distorted by the strong winds blowing against his tower.

The Warden's eyes bulge, and she lunges forward and slams her hoof against the communication's button on the radio, much to the annoyance of the medic working on her and the internal cry of agony of her body. “What!?”

“Club and Pie drove right into the blizzard! Should we pursue?”

“Negative. Do not pursue. The blizzard is too dangerous. Stay on the perimeter and help secure the prison.”

“Roger that.”

The other end clicks off and Warden Frost slouches in her seat, exhaling explosively, only for her body to convulse and lean over from a terrible coughing fit that leaves her shaking and tasting copper. The medic asks if she is okay, but she ignores her and glares straight ahead at the array. The radios are now saying how the guards are working to crudely fortify their grounds, but with their numbers stretched thin because of the riots and the fact that many of them were killed or injured because of the violence, the task is more daunting than she wants to admit. It will be pure insanity to not call for aid from the Stalliongrad Guard or the Royal Guard to quell the insurrection inside her prison.

Thinking about the sudden turn of events brings a burning pain to her eyes and stuffs a lump in her throat. It is not because of the beating her body went through, but at the core, it is the very idea that so many of the ones she commanded perished or got hurt. Their lives are her responsibility, just as the safety of the prison itself is her biggest task.

She has failed.

She has failed everyone and all the families that are connected to the fallen.

She has failed herself.

She has failed Celestia.

“Ma'am, might I make a suggestion?” says a unicorn stallion that approaches her, named Cuffs.

Without taking her eyes off of the communication rigs, Frost sniffles and blinks tears out of her eyes, trying to keep her gaze hard and her ears from falling. “Go on.”

“We still got a good number of pegasi. We can easily clear out the storm and send a convoy after them while our unicorns and earth ponies hold the prison,” says Cuffs.

Warden Frost shakes her head. “It won't work. If we were able to tame the North's weather we would have done it by now. Besides, their tracks are long covered by the snow, so it will be pointless.” She links her hoof to the medic and pushes herself up, grunting in pain, and she limps away, slowly with her head down and a line of tears snaking down her cheek. These tears, however, are no longer from pure pain, but are now laced with a consuming wrath that wants nothing more than blood. “Radio the groups and tell them to send two unicorns each to meet me at Professor Dust's office if they can spare it.”

“What's going on, ma'am?” says Cuffs while the radio operators give out the Warden's instructions.

Warden Frost scowls at the unicorn out of the corner of her eye and weakly ruffles her feathers. “I'm placing Professor Nebulous Dust and Meriaclock Whooves under arrest, and I am not taking any chances with them. I know they had something to do with this mess and if I have to rip their limbs off to get answers, then so be it.”

“Then let me go in your stead. You are in no condition to move, much less make arrests.”

The Warden glares at him, but he looks back at her firmly and with concern weighing heavily on his shoulders. She looks at the rest of the guards in the room, and while some are still working the radios, the ones staring at her share the same worry as Cuffs.

She does not want to let him go because she wants to deal with Nebulous personally, but Cuffs has a good point and she knows it. She can barely move without the pain ripping through her body and the guards will be slowed down because of her injuries.

Defeated once more, Warden Frost sighs, lowers her eyes and nods her head. “Very well. Put the two in solitary cells separate from each other when you have them in your custody.”

Cuffs nods. “Yes, ma'am.” He then points at two unicorn guards and motions to the door. “You two come with me.”

They obey without question, and when the door closes, Warden Frost runs her hoof through her mane, trembling and biting her tongue so she does not whimper. All she can do now is silently pray that the discord will end and that no more of her guards will get hurt.

From the warmth of his office, Meriaclock and Nebulous watch the thick, gray cloud of snow engulf the frozen wasteland like a flame drained off all its color. The former is furious, barely able to keep still as his muscles, eye, and wings twitch, whereas the latter is sipping a cup of steaming coffee, apparently too calm for his own good about the chain of events.

“I really like this coffee. I think its Nantucket. It tastes like Nantucket,” says Nebulous in a disgustingly carefree tone.

Meriaclock snaps to the Professor. “How can you be so calm about this? Our subjects got out!”

“Getting them out was always part of the plan,” says Nebulous calmly. He blows on his coffee and takes another sip before continuing. “This is just different than what we wanted, and a lot more exciting, I might add. Besides, we got a taste of what Applejack and Mosley can do, and I was not disappointed in the slightest. They are perfect for the experiment!”

“Oh, really? Applejack coughed blood half the time! She is almost completely worthless. We should have Mosley as our Invoker and put that hick in another spot if we can find them again.”

Nebulous finishes his coffee and sets the mug down on a counter. “I would agree with you if not for one thing. Jackie is our Invoker because she is an Element. She may not think she is one, but the Elements have not reset, so she is still connected to the Elements of Harmony. Plus, she has been into the Void as a filly, which gave me reason to believe she has direct lineage with Starburst Quartz. And I was right. Believe me, I had to quadruple check my double-triple checks like five times to make sure that her blood samples and lineage were not screwing with me.”

Meriaclock frowns. “She still coughed blood half the time.”

Nebulous shrugs dismissively. “Yeah, well, going through the Void generally screws you up somehow. You should know that, considering...”

Nebulous nods to Meriaclock's wings and the pegasus frowns and self-consciously presses his wings tighter against his body.

“Jackie is perfect for the role,” continues Nebulous, looking back out the window, smiling gleefully. “Her position as an Element, her genetics and the energy absorbed in the Void make it so.”

Meriaclock sighs and rubs his brow. “Well, guess what? She is still in that damn blizzard, and if that blizzard kills her and Mosley then we're screwed.”

Nebulous chuckles. “I always have a backup plan, especially for a scientific experiment this valuable. We can always find another Thaumaturgist to put in the Void, but should our dear Element perish in the snow we always have another one we can use. Well, technically he's an ex-Element, but my insanely extensive research has proven that every Element Bearer is left with residual power, and he also has the perfect genetic traits just like Jackie.”

Meriaclock arches a brow. “Applejack and her band of friends is the first group of Element Bearers we've had in over a thousand years, numb nuts.”

Nebulous grins deviously, and walks closer until they are mere inches from each other, his smile growing wider, thus visibly making the pegasus uneasy. “How right you are, Meriaclock, my friend. But there are certain things in this world that defy age and death, and when this is all over, I will give you one, for you have been such a great assistant after all these years.” He grabs Meriaclock's face with his hooves and presses his nose against his, grinning wider and his eyes glowing green with a pendant underneath his suit. “All we have to do is survive him and our trials, and we won't have to fear death any longer.”

The echoes of chalk on stone bounce off of the walls of an empty, domed chamber barely illuminated by glowing crystals. The chalk is shrouded in a green aura as it glides along the rough surface, leaving its trails of faintly glowing white, painfully slow, yet expertly crafted so there is no chance of error. There is already a massive circle made, and now the chalk glides to make the finishing touches of an outline of a curving alicorn, and after the winged unicorn is drawn, it moves to make the top of a tree. Carefully following the trail of the chalk is a stallion unicorn in a full body painting suit, wearing tinted goggles, thus keeping his features completely hidden.

The Painter stops after making the first curve and stares at a faded mural on the wall. Despite age sucking away most of the colors, an elegant, eight point compass with six circles can still be seen. Five of the six circles are on the outside, and the sixth one is in the center. Each circle is supposed to have a picture in them, if the faded and cracked collection of colors are any indication, but only three can be seen to a decent degree. The first is three obelisk shaped gems clustered together, the other is four stars gathered at a swirl, and the third is a shield with wings.

He stares at the mural for a few seconds before an amulet underneath his painting suit flashes green, prompting him to resume his careful drawing, feeling nothing but disgust rotting his insides and coating his thoughts in bile. It seems fitting to him that this chamber, once a hallowed place many centuries back, is where he will accomplish the goal he has been striving for for over a thousand years. One final act of much deserved desecration for their sins against him and his Teacher for doing the right thing, and one final act to end the illegitimate reign of the Elements and the Sisters of the Heavens.

All of the pieces of his puzzle are found, and almost all are in his custody, awaiting their fate. But when he has the rest of his sacrifices gathered, he will finally be able to complete his mission after waiting for over a thousand years.

He will finally unchain Sirius.