Capítulo 26: BNS Chapter 26 - Silent Escape
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Not forgetting to return the grate from the ventilation to its place, Alan and Trixie moved along the ventilation.
While making their way through the air duct, the couple tried to make as little noise as possible, due to which their speed was rather slow. When they reached the first fork, Trixie asked in a whisper:
«So, which path should we choose? I don't think that each of these turns will lead outward.»
Alan frowned slightly, and after a little thought answered:
«In fact, we can even go down to any room with an open window, or close to the exit, so it doesn't really matter which path we choose, as long as we are not noticed, otherwise we will definitely get a very negative reaction to our escape.»
«Negative? What could be worse than imprisonment?» Trixie was a little nervous and wary, as everything related to these griffins was quite frightening for her.
«Well…» Alan took a moment to think, which unconsciously triggered a fit of nervous anticipation in Trixie, «probably the next time they catch us, they won't be so kind as to just put us in jail." I think they're trying to get rid of us.»
Trixie looked at him with a frightened look, and stuttered:
«D… do you think t…they want to…?» Not daring to say it out loud, she turned pale as she ran her hoof over her neck, looking questioningly at Alan, staggering slightly in fear.
Seeing her condition, Alan realized that such conversations are a bit harsh for most of the inhabitants of this world, so he approached Trixie with a confident smirk, and hugging her with his hoof, said:
«Oh, don't worry. If it gets to the point of being spotted, all we have to do is kick a few asses and continue our escape. I'm quite confident in my abilities, and given that the most "greatest and powerful Trixie" is with me, the chances of success are almost one hundred percent, right?»
Hearing him parody her sublime manner, and feeling his sudden embrace, Trixie became slightly embarrassed, and trying to regain her spirit, hiding her nervousness, answered:
«T-that's right! Maybe my great and powerful magic is blocked, but that does not mean that the mighty Trixie herself is useless!» she tried to make her whisper sound as important and convincing as possible, though more for herself than for anyone else.
Smiling at her renewed spirits, Alan nodded, and selecting the right vent pipe, walked forward with Trixie following him. At some point, the ventilation became more sonorous, and a light breeze was heard outside the walls, which could not but surprise Alan:
"Don't tell me that this path leads outside the prison?" listening a little more, Alan could distinguish the typical street noise like footsteps or occasional conversations, which answered his question, "it seems so. I'm surprised this ventilation system permeates more than one building. Doesn't that make it harder for the air to circulate in the rooms?"
Seeing his thoughtfulness, Trixie quietly asked:
«Hey, pss… what's the matter?" Why did you stop?»
Glancing at Trixie, Alan replied:
«I think we have already left the prison building. I guess we're somewhere outside now, but I'm not sure where this pipe leads.»
Clotting her eyes, Trixie smiled happily, and quietly replied:
"So isn't that good? All we have to do is give a good kick to the pipe, and voila, we're free!"
Shaking his head, cooling off Trixie's ardor, Alan said:
"I doubt that by doing so, we will go unnoticed. I think it's better to move on, since it's pointless to bring ventilation to the street without installing a few grilles. I think we can just open one of them and go outside."
Trixie nodded, but still said:
"I suppose we can do as you say, although I think the sooner we get out the better."
Heading further down the vent, they felt the air currents intensify, and finally, after a minute, they reached a kind of dead end in the form of large rotating blades that drive air through the duct.
Luckily for Alan and Trixie, they didn't have to go through it, as there was a series of gratings three meters away leading to the street, one of which they happily used.
Once outside, the couple looked around, and found that they were in some kind of city back street, with a dumpster and a small transformer box with a power line leading towards an array of city houses.
Whistling, Alan said in surprise:
"Well, they did a pretty good job of equipping the city's infrastructure. I have never seen anything like it in Ponyville."
Hearing him, Trixie remembered her tour of different cities, and said:
«That's right, the only place I've seen this use of electricity to light rooms and other bizarre things was in Manehattan. In towns like Canterlot, and nearby settlements like Ponyville, for light, they usually use magic crystals made by learned unicorns in Canterlot itself,» then looking again at the transformer box, she added, «I always thought that Electricity was poorly understood, and that it is rarely used, and only by very wealthy cities, but to see something like this in this remote Griffon settlement...»
Even for someone like Trixie, it seemed too strange and incomprehensible. Adding that to the fact that they could strip a unicorn of its magic, the fear of these griffins solidified even more in Trixie's head.
Alan decided to look around to understand how and in what direction they should move in order to get out of this town. Realizing that they are actually not as far from the wall that separates the residential sector from the military as he thought.
Smiling, Alan said:
"Hey, just look. Looks like we won't have to sneak around to get to the wall. Although I assume that getting over this wall will not be so easy."
"If it wasn't for this damn thing," the mare pointed with her hoof at the magic blocker on her neck, "I would have teleported us to... well... definitely somewhere I could…" the last part of Trixie said with slight embarrassment.
Saying this, Alan looked around the corner of the house where they had climbed out of the ventilation, and after making sure that no one was nearby, he took the surprised Trixie by the hoof and carefully ran towards the fence, skirting several more adjacent buildings, keeping close to the walls to avoid possible witnesses in the windows.
Once almost next to the fence, Alan stopped abruptly, and pulling Trixie into his arms, he quickly pulled her over the nearest shelter, where he pressed her against the wall, thus finding herself in a very piquant position with her.
The blue unicorn was very embarrassed at first, but quickly came to her senses, and was ready to be indignant, but her mouth was covered by the hoof of Alan, who showed her the sign "Shh" pointing around the corner at a pair of patrol Griffins walking along the wall of the fence.
Trixie quickly realized what was happening, and although she stopped resisting, she was still extremely embarrassed by their current situation, and thought:
«Does he really have to cuddle up to me like that?»
Then looking at the focused stallion a little more, and finally realizing that he, by the way, is one of the hottest stallions that she has seen during her entire tour. For this reason, the course of her thoughts has changed a little:
«А… although… to think about it, it's not such a problem… for me…» this thought didn't come to the mare without redness on her face.
While Trixie was distracted by her thoughts, Alan listened to what the patrolmen were talking about:
"Damn, these guys from the science department definitely have feathers in their brains, because of their crazy inventions, we have to hang around the hole they made for the third day already," the one who spoke was a young griffin with brown eyes, and black feathers.
His partner with a lighter brown plumage immediately answered him:
"No, no, no! You are thinking in the wrong direction," he said in a rather excited tone, "better think about the potential of what could make such a massive hole in a thick armored fence! What cool guns will we get when they finish their development? Just imagine, a unicorn appears in front of you with its insignificant horn, and we are like "ZAP", and take them out with our new blaster. Isn't it cool?
Shaking his head, the dark-feathered griffin replied:
"That sounds great indeed, but I'm afraid that these things will explode right in our hands, making holes in our bodies that are just as frightening as in the fence. Until I am convinced that the new weapon will be safe, I am not going to touch it."
"Ah, that's up to you. Okay, let's hurry up, the breached wall's security isn't as bad as it sounds. Yes, we will be a little bored, but on the other hand, we are practically on vacation and we can do whatever we want. It is unlikely that anyone will take advantage of this hole, as everyone is trying to stay as far away from our military unit as possible."
Listening to their conversation, Alan became more and more tense, as the discussion of new weapons does not bode well for Equestria. Finally relaxing, Alan said quietly:
"Judging by what they said, they are targeting the magical part of Equestria the most, I think Celestia will definitely not like this news. And I'm generally silent about Twilight, she may even have a panic attack," then he looked at the mare in his hooves, pressed against the wall with a flushed face, and quickly releasing her said, "oh, I'm sorry! It was an extra situation, so I hope you're not angry."Hiding her embarrassment, Trixie quickly stepped aside, and cleared her throat in a hoof, replied with restraint:
"I… it's okay…" leveling her tone, she quickly raised her feigned confident manner, and said, "although you do not meet the standards of the great and powerful Trixie, I am ready to forgive you for your oversight."
Seeing how she states this with a reddened face, Alan only raised an eyebrow, but did not comment on her words. Turning his gaze towards the departed patrolmen, Alan thought for a while, and decided to share his thoughts with Trixie:
"I think we should follow them. Given their talk about the broken part of the wall, I think this may be our only ticket out. What do you think?"
Hearing his question, Trixie finally came to her senses, and since she had listened to half of what the griffins were saying, she pretended to be thoughtful, and, as if finding his plan reasonable, replied:
"Yes, I think it makes sense. This is exactly what we need to do…" having said that, she quickly looked away, hiding her face from Alan.
Accepting her answer and not noticing her expression, Alan nodded and said:
"Very well, then it's settled. We will carefully pursue them, and when we get to the destroyed part of the wall, we will think about how we can get beyond it."Having said this, they proceeded to carry out their plan.
Keeping close to the walls and outbuildings of the houses, Alan and Trixie followed on the heels of the patrol gryphons, and after ten minutes, they saw a large building covered with shiny steel, one of the walls of which seemed to be melted through with something. Opposite this fused wall of the building was the very wall of the fence, in which there was also a fused hole, which made it clear that the source of these destructions came from this very building.
Swallowing nervously, Trixie looked at Alan and asked:
"Um… Are you sure it's worth the risk for us to move to this place?" then she noticed how Alan, looking at her with a smile, raised an eyebrow, she tried to defend herself, "i.. it... not like I was afraid or something! Not at all!" then, in a slightly cautious voice, she continued, "but shouldn't we be a little more careful? I mean, this holes doesn't look promising…" after saying that, she pointed to the burnt-out walls.
Laughing, Alan replied:
"Don't worry, going ahead is not my style. I planned to follow their movements for a while, and only then take further action," then, Alan turned his gaze to the building covered with shiny steel, and added, "plus, I would like to find out what caused this destruction. At the very least, when we get out, we can pass on some information to Twilight and the others."
Feeling no enthusiasm within herself at the thought of trying to approach this building, Trixie nevertheless agreed with this decision, as she understood that something dangerous was happening in this strange city, and the princesses should know about it.
Carefully approaching the steel building, Alan and Trixie followed along its walls, towards the corner, and looking behind it, they saw both guards talking about something, standing at the right edge of the hole.
Looking at them, Alan couldn't help but chuckle.
"Hah, even the guards themselves understand that it's better not to stand in the place where an incident has already happened once. Which is actually a good thing, since their reluctance to approach the hole itself gives us a chance to quickly sneak past them. The main thing is that they do not notice us."Just as they were about to tell Trixie this, they suddenly heard a voice behind them.
"Ah? What are you doing here?"
Frightened, Alan and Trixie turned around and blinked their eyes in surprise, as there was no one behind. Looking at each other, they tried to understand what had happened until they heard another, already familiar voice:
"Well, our bigheads are finally ready to reveal some information, and are calling high-profile officials for a meeting."
The speaking voices came from behind a half-open window, which was located on the side of a steel building not far from their hiding place. Exchanging glances, Alan and Trixie nodded to each other, and cautiously moved under it. Looking in unnoticed, they noticed a griffin, who gave the order to send Alan to the cell.
He stood in front of the table of the griffin woman, who sat with a calm, tired face, her paws folded into the castle. Letting out a weary sigh, she replied:
"What, now? Honestly, I have enough worries already, why do they decide to do something like this so suddenly?"
Smiling, the griffin man said:
"Well, although I already managed to notice your... incident. But as you yourself already know, the orders of the "knowers" are not discussed," then he shifted his gaze to the pile of papers lying in front of her, and with an understanding face added, "and wouldn't this be a legal way for you to take a break from paperwork? Take a cue from me, I appointed my trusted assistant to handle my business in my absence. I advise you to do the same."
Seeing how her face was lost in thought, he decided to add:
"We still have a little time before the start of the meeting, so if you assign someone to take care of your reports right now, then we can drop by the cafe and grab a bite to eat, I'll treat you."
Looking at him, the griffin girl sighed and answered:
"Okay, maybe a break really doesn't hurt," pressing a button on some device, she spoke:
"Freezer, I'm going to a meeting hosted by the 'knowers' and I'm leaving you in charge. I'm not sure how long I'll be gone, so I'm expecting you to be able to sort out some of my urgent reports."
When she finished speaking, an enthusiastic response immediately came from the speaker of the device:
"I understand you, Miss Tira, you can rely on me!"
"It's great if something happens, you can call me on the communicator, but it's better that nothing happens, do you understand me?" She said the last part in a frightening tone, causing even the griffin standing next to her to let a slight shudder pass through his body.
"T-that's right, Miss Tira," Freezer replied with a slight nervousness in his voice.
Satisfied with the answer, Tira said:
"Wonderful, then I'm leaving, get to work as soon as possible. Good luck!""Well, Mr. "I treat you", take me to the cafe. Just remember, you suggested it yourself."
Smiling triumphantly, the griffin answered her:
"Of course, please follow me, I know a great place that serves excellent medium rare meat."
With that they left the room.
While Trixie turned pale from the griffin's words about meat, Alan was thinking about something intensely, and after a few seconds, nodding to something, he said:
"Trixie," having managed to attract the attention of a pale mare, Alan continued, "I'm going to get inside and look through her documents for useful information," covering Trixie's mouth with a hoof, who was about to say something, Alan continued seriously, "I need to you watched the surroundings, and in the event of the appearance of the guards, you gave me a signal, and immediately hid, did you understand me?" Asking a question, he carefully removed his hoof from her mouth.
After looking at Alan for a while, the mare nodded, but said:
"I really don't like what you're about to do. So promise me you'll be quick."
Smiling slightly, Alan nodded and replied:
"Of course, I'll be quick. One hoof here, another there."
With these words, he quickly used the bracelet to remove the latch blocking the opening of the window more than it was, and opening it to the full, he quickly climbed into the room.
After looking around, he walked over to Tira's desk and began skimming through her paperwork. Much to Alan's regret, he did not find anything other than personnel decisions and reports on the recent disaster.
Biting his lip, Alan desperately searched for something that would bring them at least a little information, but the more documents he looked through, the more disappointed he was in his decision to get into this office. That was until he heard some strange squeaking from a drawer in her desk.
Blinking in surprise, Alan immediately opened the box, and saw something that he did not expect.
"No way… it's a tablet!" quickly recovering from a state of shock, Alan took this little thing out of the box, and thought, "damn, I didn't expect that they went so far as to invent tablets," then he remembered his goal, and smiling thought, "although now, thanks to this, I have a good source of information.
"I'm sorry, Freezer, but you'll have to report the missing equipment to your boss."
At that moment, he heard someone approaching the office door, and not daring to linger for a second, he quickly left Tira's workplace, and jumped out the window, frightening the waiting Trixie, after which he quickly closed the window by turning the handle with magic, to snap it. After that, taking the surprised blue mare by the hoof, he led her a little away from the window, clinging as tightly as possible to the wall.
After waiting for a while, and making sure that Tyra's assistant did not suspect anything, Alan sighed in a relaxed way. Realizing that there is no danger, Trixie asks:
"Well? Did you find something?"
Grinning, Alan takes out a tablet from his bag and says:
"Oh yeah. There should be a lot of information here, I'm sure that there is also the information we need."
Looking blankly at the rectangular thing in Alan's hoof, Trixie said:
"Information? In this little thing? Is this one of those fancy magical artifacts?"
Alan thought for a second and then said:
"Well… something like that. Do not fill your head with unnecessary things, now we can fully concentrate on the escape!"
"Finally! The great and powerful Trixie needs some great and long-awaited shower."
Grinning, Alan nodded to the mare to follow him, and together they carefully approached the corner of the steel building, and looking behind it, they found the same guards. Only instead of keeping watch in both eyes, they found a more interesting activity, and now they were playing cards.
"At this rate, they will lose their jobs," Trixie couldn't help but comment.
Slyly smiling, Alan replied:
"Maybe, but it's even better for us, since we don't have to wait for the right moment, since it has already arrived. The main thing is that a more competent pair of guards do not expect us on the other side."
"Obviously they will be there. It would be too good if the guards were only on one side," Trixie said with a slight causticity in her voice, after which she added, "and when we get caught by them, they will put us back in this damn cage."
Rolling his eyes, Alan asked:
"And why in your scenario are we necessarily caught and imprisoned?"
"Because they already did it once!" Trixie replies, not without irritation.
Laughing, Alan replied:
"Yes, but you were disoriented after the teleportation, and I gave up to get to you, so don't think that they are so scary and effective. If we really run into the guards, then we will simply kick their asses," here Alan looked at Trixie with a smiling squint, and added, "but if you are so afraid, you can just stand aside while I deal with the guards."
Hearing his words, Trixie immediately straightened up, and frowned at Alan, saying:
"The great and powerful Trixie is not afraid of anything or anyone! I'm just tactfully considering all the options, and I'm... ready to fight... well... if it necessary," the last part of her speech she delivered was not as confident as at the beginning.
Nodding with a slight smile, Alan replied:
"Alright then, I'm sorry I doubted your greatness. Then, we begin the operation "Escape from the lair of griffins".
Having said so, Alan and Trixie decided to proceed with their plan.
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Silent_Dude
Silent_Dude This chapter was written over the course of a week, under constant pressure and fatigue from looking for additional income, so it came out a little not as good as I would like. The next chapter will already be much better, as I was able to temporarily solve some of my problems.
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