“Well, you wanted that gem…” a gruff voice said from the other side of the rickety door, “I’ll let you keep it for an hour.” it snickered.

The ramshackle door flew open and two bodies were tossed inside followed by a sapphire blue gem. The four legged figure placed an hourglass down on the stone floor and walked out the door. Shutting it and putting a large timber across it’s outer frame.

Daring thought of how to get out of this. her wings had been taped to her torso, forehooves wrapped in tape as well, leaving her unable to operate anything she could reach. To make matters worse, her companion, a mare by the name of Rarity was bound as well, with a studding ring over her horn to prevent the use of magic.

That wasn’t the worst part. A thick plastic bag had been belted quite tight around both of their heads, putting a deadly timer on escape. Daring wasn’t sure she’d be able to get out of this. She controlled her breathing as the plastic echoed in her ears, slow and steady as she sucked in the bag to her muzzle and began to nibble at it, trying to get a hole in the barrier to get more time.

Rarity was screaming, the harsh eardrum assault in the small room was too much to bear. If she didn’t stop, she would pass out in a few minutes.

Ignoring the panicking mare, she stretched a rear hoof up to the collar to see if she could dislodge it. Upon a slow inspection, she found it quite tight and felt what was a lock through the toggle bars. Buck. Moving her hooves in the tape binding provided no help either.

Rarity had been thrashing on the floor, her screaming stopped, replaced with a deep chested heaving, starving for air that had all been used up. Daring wasn’t faring well either, her air was becoming thin. Being able to fly was a blessing, she was used to a thinner atmosphere, allowing her to fair better in this situation. But even she was working against the clock.

Rarity was the key, while she had them hunting the gem laying at the base of the door, she was also the way out.

“Rarity,” She said softly into her ear, the voice coming through the bag quite muffled. “I need you to stay calm.”

The unicorn was wide eyed and sucking the bag into her muzzle trying to get at the air just a few millimeters away. Her face was a pale blue already, her eyes seemed glazed over and staring into the abyss.

“I need to get that studding off your horn, then you need to get the key from the hourglass and unlock yourself. Do you…” Daring paused as her vision started to haze over, “Understand?”

Rarity gasped, unable to say anything but she nodded lightly. She needed more time as her breath was growing shallower by the second.

Daring bent over her friend and grasped the tail end of the collar. She pulled hard, placing her hoof against he shoulder. She tugged at the belt and slowly worked her hoof under it.

Black spots started to appear across her vision and her chest began to heave heavier. Rarity was kicking her rear hooves as she began to slip into unconsciousness.

Her persistence paid off, she felt a rush of air past her hoof and into the bag Rarity was being suffocated by. In a minute she would recover, but it wasn’t enough. With her other free rear hoof she brought the hourglass over.

Daring was nodding off, her head becoming numb and fuzzy.

“Sorry… about this.” she wheezed and placed the hourglass under Rarity’s limp head and then fell over onto her, smashing the glass.

Shards of thick curved glass bit into the bag and sliced it open, along with ribbons of her hair and into her cheek. Daring then moved to the front of the mare and bit down on the ring through the bag. She managed to work it off and it slid from the opened bag to the floor.

That was all Daring could do. She had been fighting off the darkness for too long. Her body stopped responding and slumped over. At least she gave Rarity a chance. Hopefully she was going to come around before it was too late.

Blackness took her.

Then she was cold. Comparably colder than a thick hazy fog that had been floating around her head. Colder than the fire that had burnt her lungs to a crisp so long ago. It was a good cold. She didn’t know why. She didn’t know where she was or why she was sleeping.

“Miss Do!” a voice whispered harshly into her skull. “I think they are coming back.”

It was Rarity.

Crisis averted.