Sunset was pissed.

No, actually, y’know what? Saying she was pissed was underselling it way too much. She was utterly furious, and if like every inch of her body hadn't been tied up, she would be thrashing through the halls of the prison she was trapped in, knocking every head she came across.

Right now though, she was woozy. She’d been hanging upside down for what felt like days but was probably hours, and even though she’d been given some slack now and allowed to lie on her back, being bound and gagged on the cold stone floor didn’t do her any favors either.

Or maybe it was concrete? Ugh, Sunset wasn’t sure. Either way, it was grim. The prison she was sent to wasn’t a real jail or anything, it was more like a fort, and in lieu of using cells since those weren’t available, the prisoners were just tied up in humiliating and completely immobilizing bondage.

The walls were mostly an off-white, with specks of like blue and brown and black all over them from age until calling them ‘white’ almost felt like a lie. The only light was coming from a square hole in the roof, and Sunset was lying a few feet away from it in complete shadow.

She was tied mostly with rope, though there were leather manacles on her feet that allowed her to be hoisted upside down from the ceiling thanks to the long suspension rope looped through a silver link in the cuffs.

She had rope cinched above and below her knees, and above and below her chest, her arms kept behind her back tightly constrained, and her mouth was covered with a white cloth, with another damp wad of cloth on the inside to keep her mouth busy.

At the very least, she was able to keep her clothes. Her jacket was thrown on the floor so she was easier to tie up, but at least she wasn’t naked.

She sighed, fuming from her nose and grinding her teeth against the cloth in her mouth. She squirmed in her ropes as if by some miracle, this time there would be some slack she could work with. And her struggling only made her more pissed off, which made her sweaty and exhausted, which made her even angrier until she eventually tried to slam her hooves on the ground, only to be stopped by her bonds, eliciting a muffled scream as she gave up…

…for like five minutes, and then she’d try again. She wouldn’t stop, no matter what. She didn’t know what had happened to Twilight, but she was determined to go to her and rescue her.

Sunset’s ears twitched, and she let out a muffled grunt of confusion. She could hear a voice in her ears, faintly, but she couldn’t tell where it was from. She closed her eyes to zero in on that voice, but when she opened her eyes she wasn’t even in the prison anymore, she was in like a pitch black void with a single dark wooden door.

The door had a stylized emblem of a sun on it, and it looked vaguely familiar to Sunset, but she couldn’t place it.

“Hey,” Twilight’s voice rang out, and Sunset saw her standing by the door under a faint glowing light, “it worked!”

“Twilight?” Sunset asked in utter confusion, but then cleared her throat and drew herself up. “Ahem, Twilight? What are you doing here? Also where is ‘here’?”

“Nowhere,” Twilight shrugged. “Physically, we’re still in prison. But mentally, we’re travelling the planar dimensions of the mind.”

“What,” Sunset groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose, “what are you even talking about?”

“Basically, we’re communicating through my soul,” Twilight said proudly, smiling adorably and puffing out her cute chest. “I figured something like this might be possible after we connected during our fight with Applejack. This place you’re seeing is just your mind’s mental construct to make sense of this conversation.

“In fact, we’re probably seeing two different things. What’s yours look like?”

“Just a big void with a dumbass door,” Sunset moved toward the door and she couldn’t put her hand on the knob. It repelled her like when you have two magnets and you try to stick them together. “What about yours?”

“The library back home,” Twilight said softly, and Sunset’s ears folded back, before immediately perking up again. She was gonna rescue Twilight, and then everything would be fine.

“Okay, cool, so,” Sunset clapped her hands. “Got any ideas on how to escape? Or do I have to do all the work? Where’re you at anyway? Are you all tied up?”

“I am, yeah,” Twilight nodded.

“Nice,” Sunset grinned like a cat and Twilight just rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I’ll bust out and then I’ll rescue you. No big deal.”

“How come you haven’t busted out already?” Twilight asked drolly, crossing her arms and shifting her weight to one side.

“Haven’t wanted to,” Sunset shrugged. Honestly, that wasn’t entirely a bluff. Sunset had the means to escape thanks to her demonic powers, but… well, there were a lot of complications about using them and she wasn’t gonna unless she absolutely needed to. “But now that I know you’re safe and need rescuing, I can—”

“I don’t need rescuing,” Twilight shrugged.

“What?” Sunset balked.

“I spoke with Applejack,” Twilight explained, “and I think our odds are better if we work together with her and this ‘Rarity’ she’s working for. If we play along with them, we can—”

“They’re the enemy,” Sunset scoffed. Twilight was even dumber than Sunset thought sometimes. “We can’t work with them.”

“Why not?”

“Uhhh cuz they’re the enemy?” Sunset griped, looking at Twilight like she was a complete dunce, cuz she sure was acting like it. “I thought I just said that.”

“They’re monsters,” Twilight stated matter-of-factly, which clued Sunset in that she was about to get lectured, so she braced herself for it with a disinterested scowl. “But so are you. I don’t trust them, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t trust you that much either.”

“Wait, are you trying to imply that they’re the same as me?” Sunset balked, scoffing at that insult.

“Yes, basically,” Twilight said casually. “To me anyway, yes. It’s obvious to me that I need to work with the monsters of the Underworld to accomplish my mission here and return home, and I see no reason why I shouldn’t work with Applejack and Rarity if I can, as well as with you.”

“We don’t need them,” Sunset said coldly.

“I need all the help I can get,” Twilight replied, and Sunset clicked her tongue.

“Fine,” Sunset hissed. She opened her eyes in the real world, dispelling the illusory plane and the vision of Twilight Sparkle. Unfortunately, she was immediately and harshly reminded of her bindings.

She considered it for a sec, whether it was worth turning into a demon in order to escape. And for what? Just to rescue a pretty purple princess who didn’t need Sunset’s help? Bah, Sunset may have well just let her rot in her cell.

Okay, no, that wouldn’t do. Sunset still needed Twilight to power the soul, so… though, maybe Twilight was right and breaking out of prison was a little premature.

Hoofsteps distracted Sunset’s attention, and she craned her neck to look at the siren woman, Coloratura is what she was called by those other goons, as she walked into the big boxy room where Sunset was held.

“I hope you enjoyed your little break,” Coloratura smiled serenely as she stood by the contraption that controlled the rope around Sunset’s feet, pulling a crank that slowly lifted Sunset off the ground by her legs until she was hanging upside down a few inches away from the concrete, Sunset growling into her gag instead of further humiliating herself with a string of muffled curses.

Sunset waited patiently for Coloratura to leave before wiggling in her bindings, but she stopped pretty quickly. She realized even if she managed to get herself down, she’d just be stuck on the ground and it was pretty evident that she couldn’t untie herself down there either.

So screw it. Screw this prison, screw Applejack and ‘Rarity’, screw Coloratura most of all and y’know what screw Twilight Sparkle too.

Sunset was breaking out.

missed yesterday's update cuz reasons, so here it is today :>

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