Through a Mirror, Darkly

Chapters

Metal Gear Rarity
On the Prowl
Restraint, You Have None
The Great Escape
Aftermath
Round Table Conference
Assuming Direct Control...
The Messenger
Rocks Fall....
Resources
Equestria

Metal Gear Rarity

'Well Rarity, it's time to put these skills of yours to good use.' The white mare thought to herself as she walked along next to the prison wall, 'I just wish my outfit was less, tacky.' the outfit she is talking about is a tight fitting black fabric body suit, designed and produced by Rarity herself, 'Though I suppose it does accentuate my curves nicely.'

As she hugged the wall a guard passed over head, silently Rarity waited, counting in her head, another guard passed by, and another. After the third guard passed by she pulled out a length of thin cord with a small flat piece of metal attached to one end of it, throwing it up into the gloom she heard a soft clink as the metal landed on the top of the stone wall.

'That silence charm needs recasting.' Pulling on the line to make sure the magi-magnet is holding she nodded in satisfaction.

Rarity again waited until the next guard had passed by before running the cable through a series of pulleys attached to the harness wrapped around her torso. As the rope feeds through a small application of magic causes the pulley system to take the slack out of the line. Slowly the alabaster unicorn stands on her hind legs so that she's spread eagle against the wall.

Again applying her magic the rope moves through the pulleys, pulling it's unicorn passenger up the wall, as Rarity ascended she couldn't help but be reminded of a spider. 'A lovely image darling, keep comparing yourself to those eight legged beasts.'

Just short of the top of the wall she stopped and waited for the next guard to move past. After he does she used her front legs to lever herself outward, doing a hoofstand on the side of the wall, before re-engaging the pulley system pulling on the rope and causing her to flip upwards into a two legged stance on her rear legs atop the wall. Dropping onto all fours she lands on top of the wall all facing her quarry, an ugly set of grey buildings that are almost completely featureless. The magi-magnet disengages from the wall and is pulled to rest against her body suit, ready to be used again.

She quickly jumped across the wall, levitating the magi-magnet and securing it against the other side, allowing her to hang down the wall out of sight. Another guard passed by above her and she breathed a little easier, she's inside the compound. Abseiling down she noted a number of automatons patrolling the inner grounds. Unlike pony guards these bipedal machines of metal don't get bored. On the ground once more Rarity retrieved the cable and magi-magnet, then pulled out a few round objects in preparation for the unlikely case she was spotted from a pouch on her belt.

Making use of the foliage near the wall to advance quietly around the complex Rarity slowly advanced towards her objective, avoiding open ground until she actually had to cross it. She stops briefly behind a bush and pulled out a small compass, the needle pointed away from the compound, looking up she saw the vent that is her method of entry to the complex proper.

"Just have to get across the nice wide open space between here and there, easy." Rarity laughed to herself, an automaton chose that moment to come around the corner and she freezes on the spot, although if it saw her it was already too late, "buck."

The large construct scanned the surrounding area, a vicious looking heavy crossbow tracking wherever its' 'eye' looked, ready to fire at a solid bolt of iron at a moments notice. It would get to her before she could even raise a shield. The 'eye' of the machine seemed to rest on her for a moment, but with a mechanical whir the automaton stopped 'looking' and continued its' patrol.

Once she was certain of her continued survival Rarity let out a breath of relief before beginning her long crawl across the courtyard, 'They better thank me for doing this, and I mean spa trip thank me, I do NOT like any kind of dirt, at. all.'

In the hotel room AJ and Dash felt a shiver go through them, before looking at each other.

"Spa senses tingling?" Dash asked the cowpony, when AJ nodded Dash voiced the thought they were both thinking, "Buck."

Back in the prison Rarity had reached the wall, and was using her magic coupled with a screwdriver to remove the vent panel, it was tense work, if an automaton walked around the corner now...

Quickly removing the first and second screws Rarity was working on the third when a tell-tale whirring caught her attention, looking up at the screwdriver she willed it to go faster, even as the whirring drew closer to the corner of the building.

She brought one of the ball shaped devices out and stared at the corner while maintaining the magic that was manipulating the screwdriver. To her relief the screw came away, allowing the vent to swing free on the one remaining screw. Hurriedly she levitated the magi-magnet into the vent, securing it in place just as a metallic foot appeared around the corner, heralding the presence of an automaton in mere moments.

Pulling the cable with her magic she quickly ascended into the vent even as the second foot appeared, followed by the main body of the thing, reaching out with her telekinesis she grabbed the grill and manoeuvred it back into place, holding it with her hooves she let the magic fade.

Inside the vent her breathing was deafening, a long moment passes, as the automaton whirs before it once again moves forward. Rarity let a breath out, 'darling, that was too close.' With the automaton gone Rarity used her magic to fix the vent cover back in place with a simple magnetising spell before she started crawling backwards down the shaft. 'maybe you shouldn't have panicked so much and you wouldn't be in this ridiculous situation.' she muttered internally as she finally finds a cross section to turn around in.

Properly orientated she began crawling forward through the ventilation system, stopping at every grill to look into the room it occupied. Marking her path with a simple way-point spell used by hikers. Eventually she finds what she's looking for, the shower room, manipulating her magic she began slowly removing the screws holding the cover in place.

Ten minutes later she caught the cover in her telekinesis and placed it gently on the floor, before abseiling down into the shower room. Detaching the rope she levitated it back into the vent system and replaced the cover, using the same magnetic spell as before to hold it in place.

Quickly threading a new rope through the pulley system she prepared herself for her excursion into the prison proper. At the door she listened patiently, when she heard nothing she opened it slightly. When nothing untoward happened she opened the door further and stuck her head out, looking left and right. Seeing nopony around she trotted out, closing the door behind her.

As she walked quietly through the corridor, her hooves muffled by a fetching set of thick black socks that matched her body suit perfectly, she looked around, trying to find any sign of a way to where she needed to be. Occasionally she was forced to duck into a room as she heard a guard moving down the hallway. After they passed however she quickly moved on trying not to waste any time.

After five minutes of this routine Rarity finally found a sign pointing her to the warden's office, following it she ascended a set of stairs into another corridor, trotting brazenly down the hallway she eventually stopped outside a door marked 'Warden'. Smirking slightly at the general ease of navigating the corridors she tried the door. Obviously it is locked.

Removing her 'keys' from their holster on her belt Rarity looked around as she picked her way through the door, not five seconds later the door is unlocked and opening as Rarity returned the 'keys' to their holster.

"Excuse me, I'm just here to pick up a few things." She spoke to the empty room as she closed the door behind her before moving across the room to the filing cabinet marked 'prisoner records'. Leafing through them she founds the one she wanted. "Block E cell 3, now, to get there from here..." Rarity again moved across the room, this time regarding the prison map occupying one section of the wall.

Finding her route Rarity 'tidied up' rearranging the office and leaving it spotless.

Moving quickly now, Rarity made her way through the corridors of the prison, careful to avoid the sections containing prisoners, lest they tell of her passing to a guard, unlikely but you never can tell what a pony will do to get an early release.

Finally arriving at E block Rarity breathed deeply, steeling herself for meeting the mare she'd heard so much about. Walking in, the inmates were asleep, as is the guard by the door. Gently, Rarity lifted the keys from his belt before making her way across the catwalk to cell 3.

Unlocking the door she stepped in, moving over to the bed and placing a hoof onto the shoulder of the sleeping mare. The mare stirred and groggily sat up, looking at Rarity through eyes that were only half awake.

"I've come to get you out of here." The phrase is all that is needed to snap the mare to full wakefulness, calmly the mare got out of the bed and eyed Rarity carefully. Her mane is short and frizzy and her coat hasn't seen proper care in what must be years, Rarity almost whimpered in sympathy.

"I don't know you, I know everypony in here, so who the fuck are you?" The question is quiet, said with a voice of steel.

"I'll tell you once we're out of here." Rarity answered, "but we need to hurry."

The mare merely nodded before she walked to the door of the cell, Rarity followed her out, closing the cell and locking it again, before returning the keys to the guard's belt.

The mare smirked, "Nice touch, but personally I would have broken his neck, fucking bastard."

Rarity shivered in disgust, this was the sort of pony they'd be recruiting?

The mare noticed this and spoke again, "You wouldn't think that if you knew what he did to me when I arrived. The guards here are all fucking scum, heh, fucking literally too."

The pair made their way down the corridor, occasionally hiding to avoid the eyes of passing guards.

The mare laughed, "If I had known breaking out would be this fucking easy I would have done it years ago." As they walk back through the prison the she suddenly stopped next to another door and looked at it, "hey," she called, "how much time do we have?"

Rarity looked at her watch, it's one in the morning, she started at half eleven, "not long, we have about half an hour."

The mare smiled, "plenty of time to get a few friends?"

Rarity looks at the mare, the smile reminded her of a book she read once, about dragons, "only one or two, but yes."

The mare nodded, "I have one friend here, and another, I suppose friend is fairly accurate, in the secure wing, how's that sound?"

Rarity looked around, no guards were about, "Any particular reason you want them with us?"

"Well once I've done whatever you want me to in exchange for releasing me, I've got my own business to take care of. I promised one I'd let her have an opportunity to help and the other, well, I fancy my chances for success more if she's playing for my team."

"and that agenda is?"

"My fucking business, not yours."

Rarity sighed and nodded, "Fine, but only if you can help me do it in under half an hour."

The mare smiled viciously once more, her eyes glinting with an almost predatory light and she flared her yellow wings for effect "I'll do it, or my name isn't Fluttershy."

On the Prowl

"I'll do it, or my name isn't Fluttershy." Fluttershy grinned as she opened the cell block door. Rarity repeated her stunt with the guard, lifting the keys off of her sleeping form before following the yellow pegasus to one of the cells.

As she inserted key into the lock Fluttershy stopped her with a hoof, "Wait." She stretched a wing between the bars, and tickled the pony shaped lump in the bed, "Time to wake up fatass." she softly crooned through the bars.

Instantly the lump bolted upright and hissed at Fluttershy, "I am not fat." The blanket fell away, revealing the pink mare underneath, her mane and coat in a similar state to Fluttershy's, "so Queen Bitch herself came down to say hello, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Fluttershy smiled at the Pink mare, who paused for a moment before smiling back, Rarity couldn't help but feel like the two were sharing some sick joke as she looked at their smiles, "Oh! why didn't you say so? I'm in, get me out of here."

Once again Fluttershy stopped Rarity before levelling her gaze at the pink mare, "Promise me Pinkemena."

The pink mare huffed before nodding, "You take all the fun out of this, you know that ice bitch?" She sighed, "I promise not to double cross you, Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

Nodding in satisfaction Fluttershy released Rarity's hoof, allowing her to unlock the door. Once it was open the pink mare bounced out, somehow making no noise as she hopped across the hard floor. Closing the cell once more, Rarity returned the keys to the guard.

"What was that? Boooo-ring, snap her neck!" the pink mare whispered in Rarity's ear making the white mare stiffen in shock, "Oh you are going to be so much fun..." Pinkemena mouthed at Rarity as she walked out the cell block.

"Ignore her, she likes to mess around with your head." Fluttershy whispered as she passed Rarity causing her to once more tense up in surprise, "Although she is right, you are a lot of fun."

Rarity breathed out before exiting the cell block, finding the other two waiting for her in the corridor. "All right Fluttershy, lead on please." Rarity nodded to the pegasus who merely nodded back and proceeded down the corridor, with Pinkemena bouncing at her side.

After a while the silence is broken by the bouncing pink pony, "So where are we going Flutterbitch? The barracks? Crack open some heads before we leave? How are we leaving anyway?" she looked at Rarity.

"I came in through the vents, I was planning on leaving the same way with Fluttershy, but I'm not so sure about that as an escape plan any more now that there are three of us."

At this Fluttershy stopped dead and eyed Rarity coldly, "You're fucking kidding me, how do you expect us to get out then? Why did you even agree to me getting more ponies?"

"Because it didn't seem like you would co-operate if I didn't let you." Rarity smiled weakly, "and the new plan is to release enough prisoners to start a riot and escape in the confusion?"

Fluttershy shook her head, "Okay, at this point I'm probably only going to meet whatever organisation you're part of just to say thanks for the rescue. The fact that you just walked in is ballsy I'll give you that, but the fact that you've only got some fucking half baked excuse for an escape plan is just fucking retarded." She smiled, "Not that it matters though, you've got me on hoof to drag your sorry flank out of the fire you made for yourself."

Pinkemena looked at Fluttershy carefully, "oooh I've seen that smile, I love it when you think like that." she jumped excitedly on the spot, "the results are usually, fun."

Rarity looked between the two, "What are you on about Pinkemena?"

Pinkemena turned to Rarity and raised a hoof at the white mare, "Okay two things, one: only Flutterbitch and my family call me Pinkemena, everypony else calls me Pinkie, if they know what's good for them. Two: Whenever Bitchshy gets that smile," she indicated Fluttershy, who was still smiling while a cruel light danced in her eyes, "it usually means something very painful, and entertaining, is about to happen to somepony, pray it isn't you."

Fluttershy continued leading the group to their destination, her smile still firmly in place. After a short while she called over to Pinkie, "Who do you reckon is on duty tonight?"

Pinkie moved until she was walking side by side with the yellow mare, "No idea, but it's time to give them a few nightmares, right 'shy?"

"You bet Pinks." Fluttershy looked back at Rarity, who was determinedly keeping her distance from the pair, "You may want to hang back at this next corner, dear rescuer. You might not like how we deal with the guards." Rarity raised an eyebrow but complied with her suggestion, wondering how two unarmed mares would deal with two armed guards.

What she heard next would have caused her white fur to go even whiter if it were possible.

"Wait is that? Oh Celestia above it is."

"Hm? Oh sweet feathery Luna, fucking hell."

"Please tell me this is a nightmare, they can't be here!"

"No! Stay back!"

"Please don't!"

"NO! HELP ME SOMEPONY!"

The shouts rapidly devolved into gurgles of terror followed by the heavy thumps of armoured bodies as they hit the floor.

Rarity peeked around the corner, slumped against the wall were two guards, their armour apparently ineffective versus the two mares who stood over them.

Fluttershy grabbed the face of one with her hoof, before letting it go scowling at the prone body of the guard, "That was barely any fun at all, fucking cowards." she muttered as she retrieved a heavy ring of keys off the belt of the guard and unlocked the door, removing them from the lock she tossed the keys to Rarity, "hold onto those we're gonna need them."

'What are these two?' Rarity thought as she followed the pair into the secure wing of the prison, wondering why they weren't originally imprisoned in this section. As they walked by each cell Fluttershy checked the occupant, before moving on. Looking at the cells Rarity realised that it would likely take a squad of soldiers to break into one, thick walls made up three parts of the cell, the last wall being made up with enchanted glass, capable of resisting brute force assault for days before even giving an inch. No wonder Fluttershy had her hold onto the keys.

Eventually they stopped outside a cell, the occupant of the cell was restrained by what looked like a suit of armour, which fully obscured any features of the pony within, and was secured to the floor by rigid supports forcing the pony to stand on four legs at all hours. Fluttershy and Pinkie whistled appreciatively. "I knew they locked her up tight, but I never realised they had to use a MSH to contain her."

"An MSH?" Rarity asked Fluttershy.

"A Magical Suspension Harness," Pinkie answered, "unlike an inhibitor ring it actually blocks mana perception, effectively rendering a unicorn 'deaf' to magic, also it's made out of magically condensed, enchanted arcanite, this entire prison could fall on it and that thing would emerge without a scratch, they only use them on the most dangerous of ponies." She looks over at Fluttershy, "Who is this pony anyway?"

Fluttershy spoke, not taking her eyes off the contained unicorn, "Our ticket out of here, Ms. Rescuer, Pinkemena, I give you, Twilight."

Restraint, You Have None

Rarity looked at the restrained pony, "and how is she our ticket out of here?" Fluttershy didn't answer, she grabbed the keys from Rarity's magical grasp and inserted them into the door, trying to find the right one to unlock it. "If she's as dangerous as you think I don't think they would just leave the key lying around."

Pinkie looked at the Fashionista like she was an idiot, "You really think the guards aren't going to take advantage of a prisoner? Especially one that can't fight back?" She looked over at Fluttershy, "Hey, Bitch Face, how mad are you accepting Greenhorn here as a rescuer?"

"You're welcome to go back to your cell any time Pinkemena, you're only here because I made a fucking promise." came the irritated reply.

Pinkie once again turned on Rarity, towering over the mare almost literally, "I don't know what sunshine rainbow crap you've been fed about this place but it is not a prison, it is a place to send ponies to be broken. While here guess how many rights you have? Zero. Guess how many fucks are given? Zero. This, is, Tartarus on Equestria, so get used to the idea, Greenhorn, of nothing in here being very nice."

As she finished Fluttershy finally found the correct key the click in the lock followed by a thunk as the door jumped inwards slightly, before continuing to open on its own. The trio of mares walked in, observing the restrained unicorn who remained motionless, not that she could have moved at all judging by the suit. An IV stood nearby, presumably to supply the nutrients for living to the prisoner.

"Who's there?" A voice rattled out of the suit, raspy and hoarse. It sounded weak.

Rarity stepped forward, closing the distance between her and the restraint "Relax, we're getting you out of here darling."

Silence echoed around the room before the raspy voice spoke again, "finally, it's about time Light sent somepony to get me."

"Actually we're getting you out at my request, we've never met, but I saw your prison break attempt, the name's Fluttershy. Though I'm expecting you to help me out in return for busting you out."

"Any rescue is better than no rescue, get me out of this thing and I'll follow you into bucking Tartarus itself if I have to." a series of coughs followed this statement.

Pinkie chooses that moment to step in, "So how do we get you out of that?" A silence fell over the room, as the mares realised the flaw in their plan.

"The guards would know in case of emergency, but I have no idea how you'd get them to tell you."

Fluttershy grinned wickedly, "Interrogation isn't a problem, we have that covered, we'll be back in a bit." She and Pinkie left the cell. Making their way back down the corridor towards the entrance.

Rarity looked at the restrained unicorn, feeling no small amount of sympathy for her predicament.

"Well that was probably the most I've talked in a while." The voice rasped to itself.

"I'm still here darling." Rarity told the restrained pony.

"Hm? Oh. I didn't notice, sort of been in this fucking restraint for eight years, you know?" Somehow despite it's dry tone the voice still managed to ooze copious amounts of liquid malice.

Rarity was aghast, denying somepony the sensation of feeling mana for that long would be like chopping off a pegasus' wings, or leaving an earth pony in a metal box, most ponies would sooner die by their own hoof than experience that sensation for a few days let alone years.

"What's your name? I didn't catch yours when we were making introductions, my name is Twilight Velvet."

"My name is Rarity." Rarity smiled thoughtfully, "Twilight Velvet, that's a nice name darling."

"It was my mother's, call me Velvet."

"So your name is Rarity huh?" Rarity jumped at the sound of Fluttershy's voice as she re-entered the cell. "Shame, I was this close to coming up with a name for you, something along the lines of moron, or retard."

Rarity looked round and paled at the sight of the previously yellow mare, she's now splashed from head to hoof in a red substance that gave off the distinctive smell of copper.

"Did you?"

"Relax, I left the guard alive, just, this was mostly Pinkie anyway, trying her hoof at physical persuasion for once, fucking amateurs." Fluttershy walked over to the restrained unicorn, "I have a way to release you but I want to be certain you're on my side once I do, do I have your word?"

"Obviously," a moment of silence, then the voice spoke again, stronger than before, "I will aid you in any endeavours until such a time that I consider this life debt repaid, I give you my word."

Nodding in satisfaction Fluttershy moved round to the side of the restraint, and began fiddling with something on it.

"Wait a moment, you're just going to take her on her word?" Rarity asked, "what's to stop her from just breaking her promise?"

Fluttershy looked over and tsked before going back to fiddling with the restraint, "You explain for the greenhorn Twilight while I unlock you."

"Okay, Rarity, how much do you think I own in this prison?" A slight pause, "Let me tell you, nothing. I have nothing else to swear by but myself, I am the last thing I own, and I do not give myself up easily. When I do you can expect me to stick to what I say, or else I will end up losing myself as well. That's the thing about prisons in Equestria Rarity, if a prisoner gives you their word and you understand that that means, you can trust them that they will deliver."

A series of clicks sounded within the cell as small screws holding the armour together were slowly ejected, causing the entire thing to collapse to the floor, revealing the occupant. Looking at her Rarity gasped in shock and horror.

"and as you can see I have even less than normal," the painfully thin unicorn rasped, "therefore I am even more determined not to lose it." She finished her statement just in time for her legs to give out, she was saved from the floor by the quick actions of Fluttershy, who caught her and hoisted the thin unicorn onto her back.

Rarity couldn't help but shiver at the sheer level of cruelty that had been exposed, she could count every bone in Twilight's body, her skin hugged tight against her ribs and her face was gaunt, Her mane and tail were long but matted and unkempt. Her eyes were squinted against the dim light of the cell and her lips were cracked from lack of water. In all she looked no different from a corpse.

"Alright, lets blow this joint." Pinkie yelled from the doorway

Twilight only smiled weakly, "I'd rather not 'blow' anything in the near future, blow up? definitely, blow? just, just no." her eyes finally adjusting to the light opened fully revealing a fiery determination on par with the hottest flames of hell. "Hold on a second please." she started breathing slowly, her horn flickering to life.

Rarity gasped at the sudden flux in mana, its passage actually causing a physical wind to manifest and blow around the room. All the while Twilight's horn grew brighter, it's weak purple light waxing to a deeper lavender in moments. The change it wrought in the emaciated unicorn was incredible, where once had been a thin weak pony now stood a unicorn mare in her prime, the magic in her eyes daring anypony to stand in her way.

Slowly Twilight clambered off Fluttershy's back, standing on legs that not moments ago couldn't have possibly supported her weight.

"How?" was all Rarity was able to ask.

"A spell I developed, It essentially converts the surrounding mana into a bodysuit, multiplying my strength several times, I designed it for when I got out of here." She looked at Rarity, "This allows me to walk on my own hooves, but underneath this I'm still how you saw me before."

"When did you develop it? Surely such an advance would be a benefit to unicorns everywhere." Rarity gushed, thinking of the unicorns who'd lost limbs and were otherwise bed-ridden.

Twilight smiled fondly, "I developed it six years ago. Only one other unicorn in the world knows how to cast it." She looked at her fellow unicorn, "Also it requires a large amount of magic to even cast and maintain, I can only cast it for ten minutes before my reserves will be depleted."

"But weren't you already in the restraint six years ago?"

"Yes."

Rarity looked at her completely confused "Then how? You were completely immobilized and from what I've heard the guards weren't exactly friendly."

Twilight smirked as she walked out the door, "I have my ways. Maybe if you're lucky I'll teach you a few things once we're out of here."

The quartet of mares trotted back out of the secure section, the three inmates chatted almost amicably the entire way. While Rarity walked to one side, slightly unnerved by them.

"So you're the 'Queen' of block E, no wonder your name sounded familiar." Twilight smiled, "I'm a fan of your work, I'd hear about it from time to time as the guards walked past, they all deserved it."

"As I said I witnessed your attempt at a breakout, eight years ago, I have to say" Fluttershy grinned, "I might not have liked it at the time, but eventually I saw a certain, magnificence, to it regardless. That was way back before I took control of this dump, it was only my second week inside."

"I remember that, but I only heard about it, that was you?" Pinkie asked the lavender unicorn, who merely nodded in affirmation, "now I see why the Ice Bitch there wanted you on our team." She looked at the unicorn with a mixture of respect and joy, "We might actually pull this off."

Twilight raised an eyebrow, "Pull what off? I'd prefer to know what I'm going to be doing."

Fluttershy looked over at Rarity, who looked back with interest, "Fine I'll tell you, because honestly at this point Greenhorn isn't even a threat to us any more if she doesn't like what we're planning. We're going to kill the Princesses."

The Great Escape

Here's some mood music for your enjoyment.

Twilight looked at Fluttershy, "Why didn't you say so? Even if you didn't want it, I'd still try to help. Those tyrants took everything from my family." The three looked at Rarity expectantly, but were surprised when they realised that the mare was nodding approvingly.

She looked at the three of them "Well darlings it seems are goals are roughly the same," she smiled, "The group I'm with is the Movement Against Royalty in Equestria, our primary goal is to remove Celestia and Luna permanently from power."

Fluttershy stopped in shock, "Are you saying what I think you're saying Greenhorn?" Rarity nodded, "All right then, since all our goals seem to roll neatly together we can stop beating around the bush." She walked in front of the other three ponies and turned to face them, "Step one: get out of here, Twilight Velvet, hope you're up for some magic, Step two: follow the greenhorn to her base, don't fail me Greenhorn, Step three: come up with a plan to strike down the fucking sisters."

"Step four: profit?" Fluttershy looked at Pinkie with a look that could freeze a fireball, causing the Pink mare to smile like she had just won the lottery.

Fluttershy turned to Twilight, "Can you get us out of here?"

Twilight looked thoughtful for a moment, "Theoretically I could teleport myself and one other out, but I've never tried teleporting before, so it's risky." She looked at Rarity, "could you get yourself and one other out?"

"That was the original plan darling, though it will have to be Fluttershy who comes with me."

"Alright, Pinkie, put me on your back." As the pink mare did this Twilight asked Rarity, "Where are we meeting?"

"Room 404, Acre Hotel, my two companions should already be there."

"Alright." with a flash the healthy image that has been covering Twilight disappeared, once more revealing the thin unicorn beneath, "hold on Pinkie this may be a little rough." A sharp twist in space surrounds the pair as the magic Twilight channelled bent and tore reality around them, with a pop they disappeared from the prison in a lavender burst, and reality snapped back to normal, leaving Rarity and Fluttershy alone in the corridor.

Fluttershy advanced on Rarity, "You better get me out of here Greenhorn, if I end up back in a cell, you can bet your sorry plot that I will make this a living hell for you. Are we clear?"

Rarity nodded and began walking back down the corridor, towards the prisoner showers. As they make their way back through the prison they were suddenly deafened by the sound of an alarm. As it wailed up and down the spectrum the two broke into a run.

"That's the breakout alarm! I told you you should have killed the guards!" Fluttershy yelled as the two rounded a corner, coming face to face with a squad of guardsponies.

Reacting swiftly Rarity pulled out a thin canister and tossed it to the floor between her and the guards, using her magic to activate the fuse hidden within. White smoke billowed out of the tiny stick, quickly filling the corridor and obscuring the pair from view, reaching out and grabbing Fluttershy's shoulder Rarity yelled aloud, "Quickly! Back the way we came!" Before pulling the mare with her to one side of the corridor.

The guards heard this and thundered forwards through the smoke, attempting to chase their quarry, once they had passed the escaping duo continued galloping down the corridor, throwing caution to the winds as they drove headlong towards freedom.

Entering the shower room after several near-misses with more guards Rarity lifted the grill down, while Fluttershy took advantage of the momentary pause to quickly shower the blood out of her coat, As Rarity grabbed the rope tucked inside the vent with her telekinesis Fluttershy flew up into the vent system, sliding in smoothly and waiting for Rarity to join her. Moments later Rarity appeared at the vent opening and pulled herself in, levitating the cover back into place behind her once more.

As the pair advanced through the tunnel they heard the entire prison waking up, the guards shouted as they tried to figure out which prisoners were missing and the prisoners cheered as they realised some of their own number were making a strike for freedom.

Using her waypoint spells, Rarity guided herself and Fluttershy back along the metal vents as they crawled in silence the echoing shouts within the prison took on more desperate tones as the guards realised they couldn't find any trace of the missing prisoners.

Approaching the exit Rarity finally broke the silence, "Once outside you'll fly away and draw their attention, while I get out over the wall, good luck." As she finished speaking she removed the outside vent and abseiled out of the opening, Fluttershy followed but immediately took wing flying her way to freedom.

"You aren't so bad Greenhorn, see you on the other side." she shouted at Rarity as quickly vanished into the night sky.

Rarity galloped across the open courtyard, levitating the magi-magnet ahead of her and fixing it to the wall as she went, preparing for her escape. An automation spotted her and gave chase, it's heavy bolts shattering the masonry as they impacted, missing Rarity only by a few inches at most.

Serenely calm, even in the face of such danger, Rarity pulled on the cord as hard as she could, accelerating her towards the wall with unreal speed, the automaton rapidly falling behind. As her acceleration caused her to leave the ground she stretched her legs to form an X shape with her body while casting another spell. Stretching between each of her hooves a blue field flickered into existence, catching the air as it rushed by catapulting her upwards into the air.

As she neared the wall she once more disengaged the magi-magnet and her speed carried her safely beyond the walls of the compound, a few more bolts flying by as she finally flew out of sight of the automaton. As she soared through the air she couldn't help but give an exhilarated laugh, even as guard pegasii took wing in an attempt to catch her.

Smirking as they gave chase she cast the magi-magnet onto a building ahead of her, reeling it in again to increase her speed to levels only matched (and surpassed) by her friend Rainbow Dash, twisting slightly to vary her flight path she led her pursuers on a merry but short dance through the tall buildings of Ponyton, giving them no clear line of sight with which to employ their crossbows, with no hope of catching her the guards soon gave up the chase.

Having lost sight of her pursuers Rarity smoothly glided back down to earth. As she landed she cancelled her spell and magically stripped her bodysuit, packing it into a saddlebag she had on underneath it. She looked back at the prison, now some distance away and lit up like a hearths warming tree. Smiling like the cat burglar she is, Rarity allowed herself to finally relax, "Mission accomplished."

-That Morning-

The Warden was not having a good day, last night at least three high profile criminals had escaped, he massaged a temple with a hoof before continuing to his office. This was not going to look good on his quarterly report.

What really got him though was how they had escaped, nopony was certain what had happened one moment, business as usual the next four guards are unconscious and prisoners are escaping. The real insult was that only one pony had been seriously injured, and apparently that was while two of the escapees were extracting information to help the third.

The warden didn't blame the injured guard for breaking under the tender ministrations of Fluttershy and Pinkemena, either one was bad enough on their own, as a team though... The warden shuddered, 'That poor bastard, he's lucky to be able to even think straight.' He thought to himself as he pushed open his office door.

Walking into his office he sat down and held his head in his hooves, massaging his temples to ease his growing headache. A knock at the door made him sit up, "Enter."

The guard walked in and saluted, "Morning sir."

"At ease, what is it?"

"One of the automatons last night attempted to stop a unicorn who was fleeing the compound, we don't think it was prisoner Five-P-Four-R-K-Thirteen, as she wouldn't have been able to run."

The warden leaned forward, finally some news he could work with, "So they had outside help. Any ideas about who did it?"

"Unfortunately not sir, all we can ascertain from the silhouette is that it was a mare."

Sighing the warden looked down at his desk, finally noticing the note that had been left there.

I had a lot of fun playing in here.

Hopefully next time I can have more.

Lots of Love, Opal x

A resounding crash signalled the wardens desk being flipped on it's side, and was followed by a deafening scream of "DAMN YOU OPALESCENCE!"

Aftermath

*Knock knock*

Rainbow bolted upright, looking around at the sudden noise and kicking Applejack awake while she did so, keeping her quiet with a hoof pressed to her lips as she cocked her head and listened.

*Knock Knock*

Rolling off her bed she cautiously approached the door and placed an ear to it, listening for anypony outside.

"Are you sure," *cough*, "This is the right place Pinkie?" The voice of what must be an ancient pony asked on the other side, it sounded like a bunch of dry leaves had developed the power to speak.

"Sure I'm sure, you know you're really light, I could carry you all day!" came the hyperactive response of another mare, this one sounding significantly younger

"Pinkie, focus." Again the older mare, Rainbow was having to almost strain her hearing to hear her, "I would kill for a glass of water right now."

"Just magic some up."

"Pinkie, that doesn't work, it may look like water and taste like water, but unless I gather actual water it will only be magical residue, and have no effect."

Rainbow takes her ear off the door perplexed by the conversation going on outside, one is clearly a unicorn and the other isn't even magic savvy. Judging from the fact that this 'Pinkie' was carrying another pony with no apparent effort pointed at her being an earth pony.

*Knock Knock*

Making sure Applejack was ready Rainbow unlocked the door and opened it slowly revealing the pair on the other side, "Can I help you?" Rainbow asked as she regarded the pair who looked her up and down in return.

"Maybe this is the wrong room Velvet," the pink earth pony told her companion, "I don't think Rarity was part of the Mares Pride movement."

Rainbow felt herself going red in the face, "Hey! That was one time! and they paid good money for a mascot!" she shouted at the pair who had raised an eyebrow each. She shook her head, "anyway you two know Rarity?" when the pair nodded Rainbow ushered them inside, closing the door behind them. "Where is she?"

Pinkie laid Twilight on Rainbow's bed, the lavender mare relaxing into the soft sheets with a groan of contentment, before she answered Rainbow's question. "Greenhorn and Ice Bitch shouldn't be far behind us, since she was stupid enough to walk in with a plan to only get her and 'shy out, Twilight had to telport us both as far as she could." her face goes green, "Teleporting tastes weird I don't recommend it..." she looks at Rainbow and Applejack, leaving the question hanging openly.

"I'm Applejack, this is Rainbow Dash, and y'all are?"

"I'm Twilight Velvet, call me Velvet, and that's Pinkie. Can I get a glass of water?" As Applejack pours a glass for Twilight the unicorn looks around the room, taking in details with a critical eye, "so this is a hotel, seems minimalistic."

"You never been to a hotel old timer?" Applejack asks the unicorn as she places the glass of water nearby.

"I'm twenty." Is the deadpan response.

Applejacks eyes widen in shock, "Twenty? But you look..." she indicated Twilight's body, getting a good look at it for the first time. "uh...." she stuttered as she tried to think of a way to break it gently.

"Like a corpse, I'm pretty aware of how I appear, there were plenty of windows on the way here." Twilight deadpans, her voice a little stronger after a few sips of water, using a little telekinesis she wraps one of her legs and lifts it off the bed, "my muscles atrophied a few years ago, as I am now I'm literally no stronger than a newborn foal." Lowering her leg she takes another sip of water. "but don't worry about my usefulness, I've developed a few techniques to get myself mobile, give me a few months and I'll be able to walk mostly unaided."

Rainbow looks at the mare uncertainly, "I did some basic stuff in biology, no way you could get you muscles back that fast, and magic won't cut it."

Twilight merely smiled, "I have my ways..."

Seeing she wasn't going to say any more Applejack turned to Pinkie, who only shook her head, "nope, not talking to you until Flutterbitch gets here, she's the boss for now!"

Rainbow narrowed her eyes, "stop calling Fluttershy that."

Pinkie stood up and squared up to the prismatic mare, "I'll call Bitchshy anything I want, she doesn't mind, do you?" Her gaze jumped behind Rainbow.

Dash's eyes widened and she whipped around to face the window, "Shy!" the exclamation died on her lips, there was nopony there, Dash felt her heart sink.

She was snapped out of it by a laughing Pinkie, "Hahaha! Are all Rarity's friends this much fun? I am so on board with this, and not just because I get to rip the princesses a new one, priceless." She rolled on the floor her sides heaving with mirth, on the bed Twilight also suppressed a smile

Rainbow virtually exploded, "Hey! Where do you get off doing that?" Pinkie stopped and looked up at the steaming cyan pegasus, "You have no idea what I went through when Flutters was taken to prison! I thought she was dead until I saw her that day!"

Pinkie sneered at her, "Some friend you turned out to be then, letting her be dragged into that hell hole alone."

Dash deflated slightly, "I did my best to get her out, I figured at the time I would do better from the outside." The pegasus lowered her head, "I can never make it up to her after what happened in flight school..."

Surprisingly it was Pinkie who reached out and enveloped the upset pegasus in a hug, "shush," she stroked the back of Rainbows head with a hoof, "it's good to see you can at least think straight when faced with a situation as fucked up as that, you did the right thing, nopony blames you."

"Well this is a first for you Pinkemena."

The soft voice causes both Dash and Pinkie to stiffen in shock, as one they turn to the window where Fluttershy is now hovering, "I have to say I'm surprised that you're actually fixing a pony's head, rather than breaking it." Her eyes switched to Dash, "Hello Rainbow Dash, its been a while."

Dash leapt to her hooves and she charged at the pegasus mare, "Fluttershy!" she cried as she grabbed the mare in a tight embrace, "You're all right." she breathed, another shudder racking her frame, "I'm sorry I never came to get you."

Fluttershy returned the embrace, "It's okay Dash, I heard everything from outside." She lifts the pegasus' gaze until it meets her own, "I don't blame you in the slightest."

Applejack steps forward, "Sweet as this is and all, where's Rarity? She should have been with you."

"I'm right here darling," Rarity stated as she walked through the door, depositing her saddle bag on a nearby hook, "Rarity reporting in, mission successful."

Applejack smiled at her friend, "Glad to hear it Rares, anything interesting happen on the side?"

Rarity looked at the three former inmates, "I learned that these three actually share our goal."

Applejack raised her eyebrows in surprise, tilting her stetson back with a hoof, "Really now?" She looked at the three ponies in question, "well that's good to hear." She turns to face them and clears her throat, "Greetings to y'all I'm Applejack, you've already met Rainbow and Rarity." She gestures to each mare in turn before continuing, "Now, y'all know that our objective is to remove the Princesses, and that we ain't fussy in how it gets done, that's where you come in. Y'all have the experience to aid is in that pursuit."

Fluttershy looked unimpressed, "and how do you help us? We bring the experience and the muscle to the table, what about you?"

Applejack smiles at the yellow pegasus, "We bring knowledge and certain skills, like Rare's expertise in getting y'all out of under the guards noses."

Fluttershy smirked at the orange mare, "When we left the alarm was on," Applejack's smile faltered a bit, "Greenhorn and I were running for our lives," Applejack's smile weakened considerably, "and Twilight Velvet and Pinkemena only escaped when I told them my plan." Applejack's smile vanished.

From the bed Twilight muttered, "Sloppy planning and poor execution, D-." She looked over at Fluttershy, "Also, call me Velvet."

Fluttershy spared the emaciated unicorn a glance before continuing, "You've got guts I'll give you that, and you have some skills. But having them and using them are two different things. You got lucky tonight, next time you might not be so lucky."

"We've been fine up until now, everything else we've done has gone under the radar." Rarity coughed slightly, "Yes Rares I know, it wasn't until we decided to break y'all out that we were a little unprepared." Applejack admitted to the still unimpressed ex-prisoner.

"And that almost came back to bite your flank."

The two stared at each other across the room, the tension could be cut with a knife. After a while Applejack finally spoke again, "All right then, what would have y'all done differently?"

"For starters I would have asked about the layout of the prison from ex-inmates, they're easy enough to find thanks to the records bureau, from that I would've made a basic map of the layout of the prison. With that done I would observe the prison for several days and gather intel on the number of guards on patrol and the schedule for changes. After I have all that I would check the weather schedule and wait until conditions were ideal to get into and out of the prison with my rescuee, making accommodations in the plan for more if possible." Twilight spoke from the bed her eyes closed as she mentally listed off the steps. She opened her eyes and regarded the room, "although they say hindsight is 20-20."

Applejack sighed, "Y'all are right. We could have planned this whole thing better." She sat on the edge of the bed, "The plan sounded good on paper, though I guess it didn't translate that well in the end."

"Plans rarely survive first contact, with anything." The voice of Twilight once more issued from atop the bed, "Also, I can guarantee that there will be guards out searching for us, you don't just break three ponies out of a maximum security prison and expect nothing to happen, so, what's the plan now?" She looked pointedly at Applejack.

Applejack nodded appreciatively, thanking the lavender unicorn for the second chance she'd been given silently, "If y'all would follow me I have that covered." She stated, pulling a simple briefcase from beneath the bed.

-9:58 that same morning-

"Granny come on, we'll miss the train!" A middle aged pegasus stallion called. The guards looked at the elderly unicorn passing below their vision, her hooves shaking as she supported herself with a cane.

"Do you need help ma'am?" one of the guards asked approaching the elderly mare.

She looked around at them before smiling toothily, "Aren't you a gentle colt! thank you deary but I think I can manage. I may be old but I am not helpless yet!" The mare rambled as she continued down the platform to the waiting train, where the pegasus stallion waited impatiently.

"Come on granny the rest of the family's all on board." The stallion hurried and fussed about the old mare guiding her onto the train much to her chagrin, "Let off you damned fool, you'll bust me hip!" The argument continued down the carriage as the pair tried to find their seats. Entering a compartment they found themselves in the company of four other ponies, who stared at their abrupt entry.

"Sorry, wrong room." The stallion mumbled to the surprised occupants before ushering his elderly charge along.

When the door closed the four ponies looked at each other and shrugged, before returning to their conversation.

Outside the conductor looked at his watch before blowing his whistle, waving his baton at the train, and hopping into the rear car. In the engine box a team of ponies shovelled on more coal and with a groan and spinning of wheels the train pulled away slowly, the eight pony team at the front digging in as they set off, out of the city.

Round Table Conference

"LAST STOP, BALTIMARE STATION, LAST STOP BALTIMARE STATION." The conductor bellowed as he stepped down from the rear car, as the crowd of ponies dispersed along the platform he sighed happily, even as he almost tripped over an elderly mare who seemed hell bent on beating her young pegasus escort to death with her walking stick.

"Excuse me ma'am." The elderly mare merely smiled at him before continuing to beat the you colt over the head with her weapon of choice.

As he reached the locomotive itself he breathed in the salty air of the nearby city, salt air and steam, seaside and trains. His two great loves. He poked his head inside the drivers cabinet. "al' right you lot, station crew will be here in a bit so rest easy for now." the ponies within smiled in relief, a few cheers going up from the earth ponies responsible for pulling the train.

Soon enough the relief did turn up and the train was taken away and put in a siding to await the next day of use.

Fluttershy stepped down from the engine, her coal stained face smiling as she realised that they had done it. Making her way to the staff room to clean up she couldn't help but skip a little, it had been so long since she felt the cool breeze on her fur and been able to enjoy it.

Four mares stepped out of the station, Rarity took the opportunity to wish them all luck and maybe she'd see them on holiday later, advising them to stop by her shop if they could, before heading that way herself, leaving the three holiday makers to find their hotel.

The two guards headed towards the barracks, before they turned down a side street and were lost to view, moments later Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash emerged from that same side street chatting animatedly about their 'holiday' while carrying two flower patterned suitcases between them.

The conductor went into the staff room shortly after Fluttershy, a minute or two later Applejack emerged followed by Fluttershy as the pair talked about their day of 'work.'

-'Belle's Boutique' not long after that-

"I have to say Applejack that was neatly done," Rarity congratulated the farm pony as she entered the store followed shortly by Fluttershy.

"Shucks, it weren't nothing really Rares." The cowpony replied.

Fluttershy nodded as she passed Applejack, "I have to admit, this particular plan was well thought out at least, and I have to say shovelling coal all day did have a certain... charm to it." she admitted as she settled into one of the plush seats that occupied the waiting area, "not that I'd do it regularly mind."

Applejack nodded, "I hear ya, a good day of honest labour never hurt anypony."

"Although where did you learn to be a conductor?"

Applejack grimaced, "A life of roaming will teach a pony many things."

"I don't think AJ will let us keep the armour Pinkie." Rainbow called as she entered the building lugging her suitcase in and dropping it to the floor with a resounding crash as the armour within clattered noisily.

"Awww, but I could have sooo much fun in it!" Pinkie complained as she hopped in her suitcase somehow staying on her back.

"That's what I'm worried about." said Rainbow as Pinkie grabbed the suitcase handle, whipping it over her head and sending it sailing towards where Dash's suitcase had landed.

A moment before impact however it was seized in a glowing purple radiance before bursting open, revealing a very pissed Twilight Velvet, "When I get my muscles back I will be glad that stuff like this will be difficult to pull off." she glared at Applejack, "luggage? Really? I mean I agree with the concept of the plan and all but..."

A hoof on her shoulder stopped her, "It was easier this way and you know it, you are the most wanted criminal here Velvet." Rarity told her.

"Just because I know it doesn't mean I have to like it. But regardless of that, very well done Applejack. You combined your skill and knowledge to come up with a plan to get us to Baltimare undetected, B."

"What? Only a B?"

"I deducted marks because you made me luggage." She looked at Applejack, who was shooting her a look that said 'you do better' "fine, A-, and only because you're good at what you do and overall nothing was too objectionable, except the luggage part."

Rarity moved to the back of the store, opening a small wooden door and gesturing towards it, "might I suggest we continue this conversation downstairs darlings? I imagine that they have descriptions out on you three by now."

The mares filed past her and made their way downstairs into a small circular room Pinkie carrying Twilight once more, the unicorn complaining about the indignity of it all.

As the mares took their seats around a large table the room took on an expecting air.

"Are you waiting on me?"

At the sound of the voice of a stallion the room froze, when a hoof fall echoed around the room each of the mares reacted differently. Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash all relaxed in their chairs knowing who the owner of the voice was. They each then remembered that the other three wouldn't know, and would likely presume the worst.

Fluttershy and Pinkie each assumed the worst, and reacted accordingly. Fluttershy spreading her wings and taking to them, hovered near the ceiling scanning the room for the intruder, Pinkie followed suit, only in her case staying low to the floor and looking around in much the same fashion.

Twilight didn't move, instead her horn flashed purple and snare like tendrils of magic whipped out, racing around the room trying to find the intruder. Latching onto something she pulled, whipping the owner of the mysterious voice into the table cracking it clean in half with the force of the blow.

Seeing their target Fluttershy and Pinkie both leapt towards the prone stallion intent on restraining him and getting some answers.

"Wait! Hold on there he's friendly he's friendly!" Shouted Applejack as the murderous trio descended on the unlucky stallion, "don't go harming my brother would you?" The three mares backed off slowly, keeping a wary eye on the still body resting in the ruins of the table. "This is Macintosh Apple, we call him Big Mac." She shook the large stallion with a hoof when he didn't respond she leaned down and shouted in his ear, "Big Mac, caravan's leaving without you!"

Instantly the stallion sat bolt upright a panicked look in his eye, before remembering where he was, "Hello Applejack, anypony get the owner of that carriage?" he shook his head, grimacing in pain as he greeted the rest of the room, "hello all." he waved, "I didn't mean no harm, I shouldn't have said hello like that. Though I do suppose I deserved a good decking for running into you so heavily like that on the station at Ponyton Applejack."

Applejack smirked, "and I thought I had you that time, after all you did hoof the case over to Rarity."

"You may fool many ponies Applejack but you can't fool your own brother."

Fluttershy rolled her eyes, "Hello Macintosh, I'm Fluttershy, this is Velvet and that's Pinkemena."

Big Mac raised an eyebrow as he regarded the trio, "lovely to meet you all. I am sorry if I upset you." He moved to the far side of the room, and the mares moved back into their seats around the slightly wrecked table, which was repaired in another lavender flash by Twilight.

"Well anyway," Applejack coughed, breaking the awkward silence, "I asked Big Mac here to come down and meet y'all, he works on getting us our supplies where we need them, without him the whole movement wouldn't really be able to do anything outside Baltimare."

"So you have a supply network then? That's surprising considering the competency displayed up until now." Fluttershy muttered.

"The entire clan of Apples helps out, all the Apple nomads from here to Los Pegasus are in on our little resistance, as such we can have supplies anywhere we need them in a few days at the most, the disguises we used to get out of Ponyton? Delivered that same day by Big Mac when we arrived at the station, admittedly there were only four disguises but we were only expecting to be having to disguise four ponies, not six."

"I myself am the current head of the nomads," continued Applejack, "but Big Mac is filling in for me while I'm 'missing'." She nodded her head at the large stallion, who nodded back, "We use Rarity's business, 'Belle's Boutique' as a means of securing some funds for our operations, Rarity supplements this with her earnings from *ahem* other pursuits."

"She steals from rich ponies."

Applejack sighed, "thanks Rainbow, yes, in her spare time Rarity goes for 'walks' she's actually generated quite a reputation for herself as the cat burglar Opalescence."

This time Fluttershy looked genuinely impressed, "I see, so you're the infamous Opalescence that has been driving the law forces insane."

Rarity blushed slightly, "What can I say? I'm a naughty mare. I like relieving ponies of those heavy gems and bits they insist on hiding away."

"Now I see why you would struggle planning a breakout, your targets are usually more, well, pocket sized." Fluttershy and Rarity shared a smile.

"Finally Rainbow Dash here acts as our scout and recon pony, she gets the info we need that we can't get from the ground. She's also good in a fight

Rainbow sat up proudly, "and I'm fast too, nopony is faster than me."

Applejack nodded, "She's right, I've never seen anypony go as fast or perform manoeuvres as well as Rainbow does, personally I reckon she puts most pegasii to shame, no offence Fluttershy."

"None taken, Rainbow was always one of the best, if not the best, when she was at flight school with me."

"And that's our entire team, we're small but we can get the job done." Applejack finished with no small amount of pride in her voice.

Fluttershy applauded politely, "Well I can say that I'm impressed, and for the right reasons too." She looked at the other two ex-prisoners then rested her chin on her hooves, "but first let me give you an idea of what we can do, I am Fluttershy, I command the respect of any member of the criminal world who went to Ponyton maximum security prison. I have contacts throughout the underworld that owe me more than a few favours for, 'services rendered' while in prison. Otherwise I specialise in extracting information from ponies through more, physical means."

"She means torture." Pinkie stated nonchalantly.

Fluttershy shrugged at the assembled ponies, "Prison is hell, I was the queen of hell, I didn't do nice things every day."

Pinkie takes her cue and continues, "I'm Pinkemena Dianne Pie, call me Pinkie, I have over ten thousand convictions and I'm almost as widely respected as the Ice Queen over there. I specialise in causing distractions and extracting information in less, bloody, ways than Sadistshy."

"She means non-physical torture." Fluttershy finished, smiling sweetly at Pinkie.

The room looks expectantly at Twilight, "I'm Twilight Velvet, I was convicted of being a dangerous pony twelve years ago, and locked up in Ponyton maximum security prison, eight years ago I staged a breakout, the spells I used caused extensive damage to the prison. To contain me further I was imprisoned in the secure wing and encased in a Magical Suspension Harness. That was my state of being for the last eight years, I specialise in magic and pretty much only that."

"Wait, y'all were imprisoned since you were eight?" Applejack stuttered in disbelief. Twilight only nodded, confirming the orange mare's thoughts. "Dangerous how?"

Twilight sighed and answered, "Having too much magic potential to control safely, according to the prosecutors."

"If you were imprisoned then how were you able to learn magic like teleporting? I though you had to be at least in college to even look at the process of teleporting." Rarity asked her.

Twilight smiled a secretive smile, "I have my ways."

"Y'all keep saying that." Applejack pointed out.

"and until I'm certain I can trust all of you that's all you'll get out of me." She looked at Fluttershy and Pinkie, "Even if you use torture to try and get more."

The pink mare stalked over to the unicorn, looking her in the eye, "Is that a challenge?"

Twilight smirked, "If it was it would be one you could never win."

"Either way," Big Mac finally broke his peace from the other side of the room, "you all seem to have skills that the others could use, so I suggest you try working together." He looked at all six of the mares critically, "and try not tearing each other to pieces."

Tipping his fedora to all assembled as he quietly left the cellar, "You know how to contact me, it was nice meeting you all." he stated as the door closed behind him, leaving the six ponies to settle their differences alone.

Fluttershy looked at Applejack, "So, what's next on the agenda?"

"Now," Applejack stated, "We send a message to everypony that the sister's time has come."

Assuming Direct Control...

"And how do you propose we do that?" Fluttershy crossed her forelegs, "Don't get me wrong it's a good start, but how are we going to do it?"

Applejack looked nervous, "Well, I was hoping y'all would have some ideas..."

The abused table suddenly felt a sharp impact as Fluttershy head-butted it, "You've got to be fucking kidding me." She looked up from the wooden surface, her gaze intense enough to make water catch fire, "Why even bring up the idea if you don't have an idea."

"I ain't an ideas pony, I'm just the best we have."

"Congratulations, you just inherited the Greenhorn title from Rarity." Fluttershy looks over at Twilight, "okay, Velvet you're clever, ideas, go."

Twilight nodded, "give me a day and I'll have some for you, I'll need an idea of the resources we have though."

Fluttershy turned to Rarity, "Rarity, you and Greenhorn" she waved a hoof at Applejack, "will find a way for me, Pinkemena and Twilight to move around Baltimare unnoticed, we need to appear local."

Rarity nodded, "I'm certain we can come up with something Fluttershy."

"Rainbow Dash, Pinkemena." Fluttershy glared at the final two, "The two of you will get me a full list of the resources we have on hand, you will deliver a copy of that list to Velvet A.S.A.P, are we all clear?" The other five nodded again, "Good, dismissed."

"Who does that pegasus think she is?" Applejack complained to Rarity as the unicorn virtually flew around her storeroom, "She just waltz's in and takes control of everypony."

Rarity passed the irate mare, carrying several long bolts of cloth in her telekinesis, "I know darling, but you have to admit she does know how to get things done, and the best ponies for the job."

"And calling me Greenhorn, what's all that in aid of?"

Rarity smiled as she focuses on lifting a set of measuring tools down, "I actually think it means she cares."

Applejack looked at her incredulously, "How'd you figure?"

"I think he only calls ponies Greenhorn when she thinks they can do better than they are currently." She checked the items wrapped in her telekinesis, "I think that's everything don't you? I'll put this upstairs then we can go get your supplies Applejack."

Applejack looked at the mountain of cloth and thread, "I dunno Rares, I don't think I see enough silk in there for her majesty."

"You called?" The voice from the doorway caused Applejack to whip around, stood leaning against the door was Fluttershy, she did not look impressed. "I don't mind chit-chat while you work, but listen closely Greenhorn," She began advancing across the room, causing Applejack to back away slowly "if you don't want the guard arresting us faster than you can say 'civil disturbance' you will keep in mind that I have a plan while you do not. Are we clear?"

"Yes Fluttershy." Applejack managed to squeak out, thoroughly intimidated by the prison-pegasus' stern gaze.

"Good." Suddenly Fluttershy was all smiles, "it's nice to see you working at the job you've been given," she looked from one to the other, smiling gently "keep up the good work, Rarity.... Greenhorn." with that she left.

Applejack looked at Rarity, "Rares, I don't get that mare at all, one minute she's like Tartarus incarnate, the next she's the friendliest mare I've ever met, just what has she been through to come out like that?"

Rarity shook her head, "From what I understand prison was rough on her, on all three of them, they certainly didn't paint me a rosy picture while I was in there." shaking her head to clear away such thoughts Rarity cantered out the door calling over her shoulder, "I'll be back in a moment darling! We can head out to the market then!"

"This, is, beautiful." Pinkie whispered as she beheld the object of her affection. Like lightning she zoomed around it observing her quarry from every angle, "200 millimetre, variable payload, push/pull fuse, auto-balancing wheel system, zero metre turning circle, kickback reduction, and a reinforced frame." She wiped a tear from her eye, "Bucking beautiful." She looked at Rainbow, "I don't care what you say this puppy is mine."

Rainbow looked nervously between Pinkie and her new love, "Uh, whatever you say Pinkie, we've never found a use for it."

Pinkie looks shocked, "Never found- NEVER FOUND A USE FOR IT?" she grabs Dash around the shoulders with one hoof, while waving in front of them with the other, "The possibilities are endless!" She pats the smooth top of the object, caressing it gently, "with this you could do almost anything," She stared at Dash intently, grabbing her shoulders with both hooves and shaking her "do you even know what this thing is exactly?"

"Uh..."

Pinkie threw Rainbow Dash away, her eyes fixated once more on her one true love, "This is a genuine, Grade A, made by Havena Blast himself, All-Purpose Cannon!" she glomped the barrel fiercely, "Only a few of these were ever made!"

Rainbow picked herself up from the now slightly ruined crates where she had landed, "So, it's valuable right?"

She's tackled off her feet by an enraged Pinkie, "You are NOT selling him!" She roared in Rainbows face, she quickly zipped back over to the cannon hugging it like a foal and whispering to it, "she didn't mean it, don't cry, Pinkie's here for you."

Rainbow picked herself up again, "Pinkie, we don't even have any ammo for it."

Pinkie looked at her for a moment before she facehooves, "you silly filly, the cannon converts anything into ammo, all you have to do is use this dial, and the enchantments do the rest, converting what you put in to what you want out."

Rainbow trotted over, looking at the indicated dial, "That dial doesn't even have anything on it."

"I know!" Shouted Pinkie joyfully.

"Isn't that, you know, bad?"

"Opposite, it means it can be anything!" Pinkie looks at the cannon, "Havena Blast's cannons are notoriously difficult to reset, finding an unused one like this, jackpot!" She instantly started stroking the cannon again, "Not that you being neglected was a good thing." she assured the mute weapon.

"Uh, right," Rainbow called as she flew away towards the rest of the unchecked inventory "well I'm going to continue with the listing, you can deal with your cannon."

A faint shout came over from where she left Pinkie "His name is Reginald!"

"Uhhh... right, Reginald." Rainbow shook her head and continued writing the list of items in storage, "Pinkie, you are so random."

Fluttershy walked into a storm of paper. More accurately she walked into a mass of paper being levitated around Twilight as she came up with ideas from a throne of cushions.

Fluttershy cleared her throat.

Twilight simply carried on scribbling whatever idea she was working on.

Fluttershy cleared her throat a little more forcefully.

Twilight paused, studying the paper in front of her before screwing it up and tossing it aside.

Fluttershy had had enough, "Velvet!" she shouted at the oblivious unicorn.

"AH!" the unicorn screamed as she flinched in surprise, breaking her concentration and causing a mass of paper to finally pay heed to gravity.

Having miraculously not suffered any paper-cuts Fluttershy excavated herself from the mountain of paper, giving Twilight a withering glare as she did so, Twilight smiled back sheepishly, trying not to laugh as Fluttershy stumbled out of the collection of papers.

Finally free of the heavy reading material Fluttershy got round to addressing Twilight, "So I take it you've had a few ideas then." she indicated the mound of paper.

Twilight nodded, "A few, though it depends on what sort of message we're going for, and how this whole thing is going to pan out." The paper separated out into two stacks with a burst of magic, Twilight indicates the left stack, slightly smaller than the other, "this is if we're being quick about the whole thing, striking before the Princesses even realise they're in danger." She looks at the right, "and those are for if we want them to sweat."

Fluttershy considers the two piles, "We'll have to have a meeting to decide this, make a few ideas for each pile and flesh them out." she looked at the twin piles of paper, "though I have to say this is more than I expected."

Twilight smiled, "I..."

"have my ways." Fluttershy finished for her, "you're going to have to let us in on these 'ways' sooner or later Velvet, or we'll stop trusting you."

Twilight scowled at being interrupted, "Any idea of the target we want to hit for our 'message'?" she asked.

Fluttershy didn't even hesitate, "Make it military, failing that sympathetic to the sisters, no civilians involved, even as collateral, we don't need them to make us seem like monsters."

"Considering that we already are," muttered Twilight as she levitated a clean sheet of paper over and began writing on it, "Right, I'll see what I can do." Sensing the conversation wouldn't yield anything else Fluttershy left the room, leaving the mare to her work.

As she closed the door she heard Twilight mumble, "Military targets, what do we know about military targets?"

"Applejack, what about this one?" Rarity held up the bottle for inspection.

Applejack gave it a glance and sighed in defeat, "Rares don't you know anything about makeup? All these brand labels are horseapples, you need ones like these." she held up a significantly plainer bottle.

Rarity looked between the two containers "But darling, that one isn't guaranteed to last a week like this one."

Applejack rolled her eyes "You believe everything you read on them bottles Rares? I would've thought you'd know that its all done on hair kept in a clean lab, makes it accurate when they say 'it lasts up to a week.' on the bottle."

"Really?" Rarity quickly placed the bottle back on the shelves, "No wonder I never seemed to get it right when I was younger."

Applejack lifted down some mane extensions regarding them briefly before throwing them into the basket on her back.

"Darling, what's the point of buying mane dye and extensions? Surely with one you don't need the other?"

Applejack hoofed some more merchandise into the basket as she answered, "Because both look horribly fake without spending a fortune, which we can't afford if we're doing this for three mares, but if you dye them I found that extensions can look as natural as hair can be." She looks over at her friend, "besides two of our guests are pretty short on manes to dye."

Rarity looked at her friend, "Okay Applejack, I'll concede that you're the expert here." She lifts down another bottle, "Ooh, it says here you'll smell as fresh as a daisy if you use this."

Applejack looked at the ceiling before dragging her hat over her eyes. This was turning out to be a long shopping trip.

"Ugh if there is one thing I truly detest about that prison you were in it's the state that you're in now." Rarity groused as she ran a comb for what must have been the millionth time through Twilight's mane attempting to get the mass of hair into some semblance of order.

"Right, and the wanton abuse of ponies, the starvation, and overall treatment wasn't a fucking issue?" Fluttershy asked from her chair in front of Applejack, glaring daggers at the white mare.

"Hold still Fluttershy, I need this all to go on right if you're going to go outside and not get caught." Applejack admonished the annoyed pegasus, dabbing at her face carefully with a woollen pad.

Rarity winced slightly, before giving the brush another careful tug, "You know what I mean darling, the treatment notwithstanding," She grimaced and as she carefully worked through another knot, "you'd think they'd at least allow you to clean yourselves properly."

"Don't worry about it Rarity, Flutterbitch is just angry she's being pampered like the bitch queen she is." Pinkie quickly ducked behind Reginald, using his solid frame as a shield in case the yellow mare should throw something heavy.

"Did ya have to bring that up here?" Applejack asked Pinkie, eyeing the cannon like it might explode, "It ain't going anywhere with out ya, nopony else even understands how it works."

"But without me he'd be lonely!" Pinkie hugged the barrel of the cannon, "and his name is Reginald!"

Twilight looked at Fluttershy, "Does she always anthropomorphise objects?"

"Only the ones she really likes." Fluttershy looked at the happy couple, Pinkie was now buffing Reginald's barrel with polish she'd produced from somewhere, "Though I've never seen her name one before. I put it down to Pinkemena being Pinkemena." Twilight gave her a look, "I gave up trying to understand."

Twilight eyed Pinkie with a look a scientist might give an extremely interesting petri dish, mild excitement, already turning ideas over in her head.

Rarity stood back and admired her work, "There finished!" she breathed ecstatically. Twilight's mane and tail now hung straight their deep purple run through with a paired strip of pink and lighter purple. "Go on, give us a twirl darling!"

Rolling her eyes Twilight focused, A flash of lavender filled the room, as it dissipated Twilight stood on her magically reinforced legs before she grimaced and did a little spin on the spot, her mane and tail flowing gracefully around her, when she finally stopped she found herself being defensively glomped by Rarity.

"Applejack, we can't cut even a single hair off of Velvet's head! I won't allow it!" The fashionista cried as she hugged the other unicorn protectively, "Did you see how gorgeous it looked? A mane like that is to die for!" she ran her hooves through Twilights mane, treating it now with almost reverential care, "The glamour! the beauty! I've always dreamed of having hair like this!"

Applejack shook her head, "fine, but we're gonna have to dye her coat a new colour, if that's okay with you Velvet."

Twilight looked at her own mane, which still had a Rarity shaped attachment, "That's fine by me, long hair has it's uses after all." She lay back on the floor before dispelling her enchantment, replacing the image of health with her usual appearance once more.

A nervous rainbow Dash stuck her head around the door, "You done being girly yet?" she asked the assembled mares, "Why'd you want me up here anyway?"

"To get an idea of how we're going to be doing this." Fluttershy answered, "I take it you want to be in on the process that lets us decide how much those tyrants suffer Dash?"

Dash looked at Fluttershy and nodded, "Though I don't see what there is to decide," she noted as she flew over to a nearby sofa, "Those two should suffer as much as possible for what they've done." she added as she took her seat.

"I for one agree darling," Rarity said as she moved to begin her treatment of Pinkie, "those brutes have earned everything we're going to throw at them, and more."

"I can't say I've been treated as rough as y'all have," Applejack commented, "but I can tell you that my family will not rest until they're put down." she stomped a hoof for emphasis before going back to adjusting the make-up on Fluttershy.

Twilight nods in approval, "I agree with you all, those monsters should pay dearly for what they've done."

Fluttershy looked at Pinkie who merely nodded, she turned her head to face the others, "So we're all in agreement then. The sisters will suffer for every pony they've ever hurt, then eventually, maybe, we'll let them finally expire." She smiled wickedly at the thought of her waiting finally yielding results, "I can't wait to get started."

The Messenger

The warden stood in his uniform, nervously he adjusted the collar. Before him stood the doors that quite possibly lead into what he could only describe as tartarus. Nearby a pair of guards stood in the full armour of the royal guards, flanking the door and providing an additional air of menace to the overbearing construct.

The warden gulped and looked at his watch, maybe they had forgotten, he could just leave and nopony would ever be the wiser.

"Their imperial majesties, Princess Celestia of the Sun and Princess Luna of the Moon, Protectors and true rulers of all Equestria will see you know." One of the guards spoke, before the great doors split, opening silently as the guards pulled them apart.

Moving between the intricately carved gold and silver working that made up the entrance to the most dangerous room in Equestria the warden couldn't help but feel himself breaking into a cold sweat. Moving into the throne room proper he made his way down the centre of the carpet before stopping a good distance from the dais and kneeling before the twin thrones of the regal sisters.

"Rise and look upon us, faithful servant." The clipped precise tone bade him.

Raising himself back onto four hooves the warden kept his gaze firmly focused on the carpet in front of him, waiting for one of the two sisters to address him.

"Speak, why are you here and not containing the lawless elements of our kingdom?" an equally clipped voice as the first demanded.

Keeping his eyes firmly locked on the floor the warden began his report, detailing the breakout of three prisoners by a fourth pony. A pony that had been a thorn in his side for many months now, Opalescence. As he concluded his report he felt the eyes of both monarchs on him.

"We see, and who were the ponies that so casually escaped your grasp?"

The wardens blood was as ice, there was no way he was ever leaving through those throne room doors alive, "Fluttershy, a minor criminal who was convicted eight years ago, Pinkemena Dianne Pie who holds the record for criminal convictions for a single pony, convicted nine years ago, and," he gulped, desperately hoping that he would see mercy, "Twilight Sparkle." The last name needed no additional information to clarify who it was, the name Sparkle was infamous throughout Equestria.

The warden saw only a brief flash before he opened his eyes. Looking down all he saw was white, looking up his eyes widened in amazement. Even as he asphyxiated, the life slowly leaving his system with every heartbeat, his eyes couldn't leave the spectacle before him. Equestria, in all it's glory hung in the heavens like a great jewel.

Back in the throne room the royal sisters regarded the spot where the warden had been a moment ago with cool indifference.

"Incompetent fool." Said one as she got up and strolled to the window looking out onto the Everfree outside, "What do you think of all this, dear sister?"

The other walked over to share the view with her, "The games these ponies play are entertaining, but wearisome." she looked at her sister, "As much as I enjoy their constant efforts to please us they do get on my nerves."

"I agree, we indulge them once a year with the Grand Galloping Gala as it is, yet still they complain about the state of things."

"So what do we do this time sister?"

"We? They are far beneath our position, let those who care about such games take their turn at the board. After all, watching these mortal fools pit themselves against one another is always entertaining."

"We may need to set the ball rolling on this one though." With a flare of magic another pony appears, she hurriedly prostrates herself before the royal pair, even as she gets over her surprise at being so abruptly summoned. "Take a message to the inquisitors office, rogue elements are in Equestria."

"Yes your majesty." With another flare the pony is gone once more, leaving no trace of her having been there at all.

"You gave the message to that one? An interesting ploy dear sister."

"If they can't handle this much they were less than nothing to begin with."

Rocks Fall....

The convoy moved slowly through the Hayseed Swamps, the guards around it keeping a weather eye for any dangers that could lurk within the marshlands around them. It would be a shame to have come so far only to lose what the had at the final hurdle.

At the head of the convoy sat Captain Har Dars finally relaxing after a month of wandering around Dragon and Diamond Dog territory, he glanced back at the four carts behind him, each filled to the brim with prizes of various natures, from gold to gems, precious ores and perhaps most importantly, slaves.

Only diamond dogs of course, the day a pony could command a dragon to do anything they wanted was the day that Tartarus would freeze over in the Captains opinion. As much as the Captain liked having diamond dogs to pull the carts for him it didn't half take effort to teach them not to try and burrow underground when they thought they had a chance of escape.

After lifting them out of said burrow, followed by a 'reminder' about the status quo the dog would be put back in front of the cart and the convoy would continue on. Not here though, even the dogs were smart enough not to go digging in the treacherous swamp. Their claws would do them no good versus a hydra, a beast the captain had been swift to remind them of.

Of course the odds on meeting a hydra were slim to none, after all if there was a high chance of it happening the captain would never take this route voluntarily. Not that he would ever tell the dirt mutts that of course.

The Captain smirked, the dogs should be pretty much lining up to get into Equestria, considering the sort of lives they lead. Quite literally under the feet of the dragons. Add to that what Equestria was offering, lovely accommodation and at least a meal a day if a lucky dog ended up in Vanhoover's famous national park.

The rest, well they would probably end up down the crystal mines under High peak, not so nice but at least they were adding to society, rather than living down some mud hole in the middle of the dragon lands. Where all they did was eat so they could dig and dig so they could eat, madness.

The captain was snapped from his daydreaming by a pegasus scout, "Sir, there's a crossroads ahead. There's a camp there, several carriages in all."

The captain was suddenly all business as he looked at the scout, "Affiliation?"

"Ponies."

The captain scowled at the guard, "I know that who else would be here? Are they nomads? Bandits? Guardsponies? What?"

The pegasus looked uncomfortable, "I'll go and check sir." He took wing once more, quickly vanishing down the road into the distance.

"Get ready colts, we could have possible hostiles ahead." The captain shouted as he pulled back on the reigns, slowing the caravan to a halt, "I want two units on either side of the road, one more ahead of the carts, and three behind them." As the guards moved to fill his demands the captain couldn't help but smile.

If he got a little extra today, well. He only had to hand over the stuff he had got in the dragon lands, 'other goods' would be a nice bonus to line his saddlebags with.

A few minutes after the guards took their positions the pegasus scout returned, saluting and giving his report to the captain, "Sir, the caravan seems to have apple clan markings, there are about twenty ponies grouped around various fires, an unknown number could be within the carriages themselves."

The captain nodded, "Good, lets do this by the book then." He signalled and the units on the side of the road began advancing into the trees, making their way towards the crossroads.

"Sir?" The captain looked at the now unnerved pegasus, "they're ponies."

The captain sighed and shook his head, he never liked dealing with ponies fresh out of boot camp, "No private, they're Apple Nomads, gypsies that are a strain on Equestria, they eat our food and drink our water." He looked back down the road as the unit in front of him started advancing in measured steps, "Besides, these are obviously bandits posing as Apple Nomads, killing them will be doing Equestria a favour, and we'll also be able to retrieve the goods they've stolen from honest working ponies."

"Shouldn't we check? I mean, I think I did see foals."

Again the captain shook his head, "An obvious ruse, trust me private, we march past and they'll jump us, kill us, and sell everything that we have worked so hard to gather. This is a pre-emptive strike, kill them, before they kill us."

"But what if they're really Apple Nomads?"

What happened next caused the righteous, heroic image the young colt had about the guard to shatter mercilessly, and forever be replaced with the cold gaze of his captain as he casually said, "Oops."

The captain looked at the camp, the scout was right around fires he could see a number of ponies wrapped against the cold, no weapons were in evidence and on each cart was emblazoned the symbol of a single red apple. "Move in." He muttered to the nearest guard who signalled to the rest of his comrades.

A murderous tide of steel descended into the camp on three sides as the guardsponies stormed in cutting, down the figures around the fires without pause. The brutal assault was over in mere moments as the last of the figures surrounding the fires toppled.

One of the guards looked at the victims, "Sir? You might want to see this."

The captain sighed and walked into the camp, if he got his hooves dirty because some bleeding heart wasn't okay with a little pest control....

As he approached the guard and the figure he stood near he finally noticed the problem. 'That isn't a pony.' he thought as he inspected the thoroughly impaled ponyikin, 'we've been had...' even as he thought it, a large rock breached the canopy above, crushing a number of guards as it impacted the road below with a dull boom.

'What the fu-' was all the guard captain managed to think as another dull boom echoed in the distance, before the captain could even complete his thought he felt himself being lifted off his hooves by a large steel fibre net that had come out of nowhere. As it carried him off down the road before landing with a crash of metal the remaining guards fell into disarray.

One guard however saw their opportunity and acted, swinging their spear into one of the nearby fellow guardsponies, cutting him down in one stroke, not even flinching as warm blood splashed onto her muzzle the guard grinned maniacally.

This action caused the nearby guards to stare at their comrade, as if waiting for their lack of attention another rock crashed though the canopy, crushing them where they stood. The traitor guard turned to the remainder and smiled like a wolf, "You may want to surrender now."

The guards paused, waiting for orders that would never come, more rustling in the canopy preceded the heavy presence of another rock descending amongst the panicked and confused company, killing several more guards as it smashed into the ground.

The traitor guard swiftly cut down several more guardsponies compounding the chaos even further. If a guard looked up to see if a boulder would bludgeon them the traitor would run them through the throat with her spear, if they kept an eye on the traitor they would be pulverised by the rocks that rained down from the canopy every couple of seconds.

A few unicorns among the guards attempted to form a shield over the company but found their efforts were negated each time by several powerful impacts, each accompanied by a dull boom that sounded like thunder, shattering the shield as it formed.

Very quickly the guards threw down their weapons in the face of their hopeless situation surrendering to an enemy they couldn't even see.

"You cowards! It's only one pony! Kill her!" the captain shouted from the net he was ensnared in, he continued shouting words to that effect until he was silenced by a dark hoof descending and crashing into the road surface, mere centimetres from his face.

"Actually I think you'll find there are a few more ponies than just her, you fucking scum." The black clad pony told him gently, as she walked past, "Good job Turncoat, go get cleaned up, Circe and Opalescence will take care of the hostages."

The traitor pony, Turncoat, walked out the mass of remaining guardsponies nodding to her black clad compatriot and walking past two more who had emerged from the side of the road to join her, "I'll go with Thunderhead and Buttercup and see what they were carrying shall I Hurricane?" her question was answered with a nod from her leader, she waved a hoof at a shadow in the canopy which raced off down the road in response.

As Turncoat walked away she looked back and smirked as a twin aura of lavender and light blue wrapped around the living guards, holding them for the foreseeable future. 'So this is what a good plan feels like. Okay Fluttershy, you've convinced me, we play your way.'

Fluttershy turned away from Twilight and Rarity who were putting the finishing touches on the guard's multi-hewed prison and walked over to where the captain was still struggling with the heavy net, his chest heaving from trying to lift the thing which was far heavier than any net had right to be.

"I wouldn't bother, it's imbued with a gravity spell." She told the struggling captain as she removed a horn ring from her saddlebag, the captain saw what she intended to do and struggled violently, trying to cast a spell he felt the nets weight on him increase until it was almost impossible to breath, "Did I mention it absorbs magic? Might want to stop doing that." admonished Fluttershy as she stood on his face, pinning it to the floor and allowing her to slip the ring on with little effort.

"Who are you?" The captain asked, gulping down air as the pressure on his chest eased off.

"I'm Hurricane, the leader of M.A.R.E." The mare smiled at him with all the sweetness of a hungry hydra "and I need you to deliver a message for me."

Resources

"Nice shooting by the way Buttercup, you and that cannon-"

"Reginald!"

"-Of yours really helped keep them on the back hoof." Turncoat looked around, "I don't see your can-er-Reginald, did you leave him back up the road?"

Buttercup shook her head, "Nope! I used the storage enchantment to pack him up so Reginald and I could never be apart." She sighed dreamily, a misty faraway look in her eyes "He was so good for his first time..."

Leaving the smitten mare to her daydreams Turncoat carried on walking down the path, making her way towards the guards convoy, wondering at the mechanics of such a relationship, then promptly trying to remove such thoughts from her head by thinking about anything else.

Before long Buttercup had caught up and was bouncing along at her side, "So Turncoat," the hyperactive mare began, "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

Thankful for the distraction from her thoughts Turncoat answered, "I was taught how to survive when I was still a little filly, before I even got my cutie mark." Turncoat stopped and stared at Buttercup, "Fighting and hiding were just two of the lessons my parents and granny taught me. Apple Nomad's have to fight to survive."

The pair continued in silence, finally arriving at the guard convoy where Thunderhead was already waiting for them, as they approached she waved them over. "They've got a fair bit of stuff here," The pegasus began, "But there's one problem, they've got d-dogs with them too."

Turncoat swore under her breath, this made things a little awkward as far as 'retrieving the goods' went. "All right Thunderhead, go ask Hurricane what she wants doing with the dogs, me and Buttercup will start shifting the other stuff."

With a nod Thunderhead shot back down the road towards the others.

"You not kill us?" A gruff voice asked from nearby, looking to the source Applejack saw a large Diamond Dog observing her with great interest, "Why? All ponies hate Diamond Dog, ponies take from homes, make slaves." he supplemented in broken Equestrian.

"That's those bitches on the throne Dog, we want them dead." Buttercup answered him.

His brow furrowed in confusion, "Bitches are on throne of pony-land? Diamond Dog for harem then?"

Turncoat facehooved, "What she means is the princesses are responsible, and that we want them dead." She laughed, "Though I wouldn't be surprised if they had to force others to give them a roll in the hay."

She was joined in her laughter by Buttercup and the Dog, who had realised the slight mistranslation. Their laughter stopped though when Thunderhead dropped back in.

"What'd I miss?" She shook her head, "Nevermind, Turncoat, Hurricane says to" She formed air quotes with her hooves, "do what you like, she isn't interested in them."

"If I free y'all would you just leave and not give us any grief?" Turncoat looked at the surprised Dog.

The dog had been expecting enslavement or death, but her one of the ponies was offering him freedom, "What catch?" he growled, wary of the pony's games.

"We keep this stuff," Turncoat waved a hoof at the laden carts, "Other than that you're free to go, If I kept y'all from your families I'd be no better than the princesses." Buttercup raised an eyebrow but said nothing and Thunderhead nodded in approval.

The diamond dog shrugged, the trinkets didn't matter and gems were plentiful, "Deal." he growled and held out his manacled paws. A key was inserted and the manacles fell from his wrists moments later thumping dully into the road below.

A tense moment passed before the Dog nodded in thanks massaging his wrists as he did so, "Maybe not all pony bad like I thought, I remember you all, need help ask Earthclaw pack." He lumbered away towards the rest of the Dogs, barking gruffly as he went, causing many of the Dogs to adopt looks of happiness.

No Dog complained when they were released many in fact offering their thanks to the three ponies, before long all the dogs were free and running back towards the dragon lands, leaving the three ponies to look over what they had 'acquired' from the guards.

"So any of y'all got a bright idea on how to carry this?" Turncoat asked her two companions, "All six of us couldn't pull more than half if we tried."

"Why don't we just load it all onto three carts then?" Thunderhead suggested, looking over the five carts now lying abandoned in the road.

"It'd weigh to much to pull anywhere," Turncoat prodded one of the carts with her hoof, "also the carts would likely break from the strain." she muttered, scowling at the poor quality of the carts.

"You know we could just use magic," Buttercup suggested, "Reduce the weight, make it easier to pull, or just teleport the whole lot back to the base." she glanced at her two companions, "you know you guys suck at finding simple solutions."

Turncoat scowled but conceded the point, as Thunderhead flew away once more with their plan for Hurricane, Turncoat couldn't help but feel a little put out, at one time she had lead this team through thick and thin, now here she was, taking orders off a manic little pegasus fresh out of the slammer.

"You know when I met her I didn't like her either." Buttercup's sudden breaking of the silence almost caused Turncoat to jump out of her skin, "She was softer back then, that changed quickly though. Before I knew it I had a contender for top pony in the prison." Buttercup sighed, "Unlike her however I had no loyal minions to throw around, the bitch steamrollered me. But do you know what happened afterwards? She invited me to a tea party, a fucking tea party."

"What did you do?" Turncoat asked.

"I turned up, she commended me as an adversary, we had tea and discussed the finer points of getting what you wanted. In all it was.... nice. I was sour at first about the new pony beating me, but I quickly realised how much better she was at the job than I was. In a few weeks if Queenie wanted Queenie got, didn't matter if you were a prisoner or a guard you couldn't hide from her." Buttercup smiled at the memory, "She treated me as her equal though, I was the only pony inside she didn't treat like dirt." Buttercup met Turncoat's gaze, "if she didn't like you, trust me, you'd know about it, albeit briefly."

As they sorted through the goods they were joined by Opalescence, who Hurricane had sent to aid in the transport of the goods. Before long the goods were magically marked and sent to a beacon under the base where it joined the weapons and armour that had been removed from the prisoners.

Their job done, they returned to where the others were who had finished dealing with the guards. Hurricane gave them a nod as they walked by, before returning to providing her instructions to the guard captain.

"You remember the message, because if you don't well I won't be very happy with you meat," She told the bound captain who fumed silently from his embarrassing position.

Thunderhead had to but a lid on her mirth again when she looked at him, the stallion looked so ridiculous hung up like that, 'I wonder if we hit him hard enough would sweets fall out?' she thought as she looked at the bound stallion, 'There is never a bat when you want one'

Confident her message would be delivered Hurricane turned to the others, "Circe? Are you ready?" The unicorn nodded from where she stood, not answering in case it diminished her concentration, "Do it then."

Acknowledging the command Circe bent her considerable power into the space in front of her, for a moment nothing happened, then the air rippled. With a noise similar to the sound of thunder a pillar of energy appeared before the pony, only a few hooves taller than an average stallion. The pillar split in the middle forming an opening in the air a void of white outlined with purple hung just above the road. Her task mostly done the unicorn finally spoke, "Ready."

The others didn't hesitate for a moment as they dived into the open portal with the other five through the unicorn followed. As the guards looked on the shimmering portal collapsed in on itself with another dull boom leaving them to struggle to escape their bonds.

Fluttershy turned to the others, none seemed the worst for wear after the teleport, except Twilight who was being supported by Rarity, "Good job everypony," Fluttershy congratulated the others, "Operation Informer was a great success."

Pinkie looked at her, "Your mission names suck almost as much as your code names do." her mind briefly going back to earlier that day.

"While we're doing this we can't use our real names," Fluttershy told the group, "As such I came up with codenames for each of you based on your skills, when on a mission you'll refer to each other by these names, understand?"

The other mares nodded, it seemed logical.

"Okay, I'm Hurricane, since I'm in charge of this thing."

She pointed a Applejack, "your brilliant job with the disguises and general knowledge of infiltration and espionage mean you're now 'Turncoat'"

"You already have a codename so giving you one now is unnecessary, 'Opalescence'." Rarity nodded, smiling slightly at the mention of her familiar alias.

Next in line was Rainbow Dash, "From what I remember of our time together at flight school, 'Thunderhead' seems to fit you best Rainbow." The other pegasus considered for a moment then nodded, satisfied that her name was suitably awesome.

"Velvet you only really have one specialisation, and that is magic so you can be 'Circe'" Twilight nodded her expression showing her indifference to the entire exercise.

Finally Fluttershy's gaze fell to Pinkie, "and you, Pinkemena, can be....." The pink mare looked at her attentively, hanging on her every word, "Buttercup, because it's the only thing I could think of." Fluttershy finished quickly, before steering the conversation onto another topic leaving Pinkie to fume silently over her name.

Fluttershy shrugged, "You didn't object at the time," she turned away before Pinkie even opened her mouth to respond, "Now onto more important matters, Applejack."

The orange mare looked up from where she'd taken a seat, "Yes Fluttershy?"

"You let all the dogs go, I wanted to know why exactly you did it the way you did." Fluttershy's tone was neutral, as was her expression, leaving Applejack completely lost about how she felt about it.

"Because I'd be no better than the Princesses if I didn't, you saying I should have left them? Made them pay to be released?" Applejack stated defensively, deciding honesty was the best policy when dealing with the yellow pegasus.

Fluttershy scowled, "I was never arguing the validity of that decision, I just wanted to know exactly why you decided to do it how you did."

Applejack looked withdrawn for a moment, she leant back and waved a hoof at the other seats scattered around the meeting room, "Then sit down it's a long tale."

As the others took their seats Applejack shifted so she would be comfortable, "To know why I released all the D-Dogs without getting anything out of them you'll have to understand why I even joined this organization, so sit back and I'll begin..."

Equestria

A quiet cellar, nothing unusual about that, a click and a battered projector stutters to life and a mare wearing a stetson walks forward and begins talking as the slides change in the background, her face completely deadpan as she speaks with no emotional inflection in an accent that seems like a little bit of everything.

"Equestria, land of the free," An image appears of ponies being lead into a plain building with barred windows. border patrols along a massive wall of stone.

*snrk*

"home of harmony," Pictures of protest groups, rioting and violence.

*snort*

"ruled by the benevolent-" A particularly graphical scene of some military executions.

"*cough*-shit"

A picture of the royal seal, "Royal Pony Sisters, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. For the entire recorded history of Equestria these two rulers have looked after-"

"Themselves."

"the int- Consarn it Dash, I'm trying to give a briefing here." Applejack stared at the blue pegasus pony who was lounging back in her chair with a look of contempt on her face.

The pegasus in question rocked forward and placed her hooves over the chair in front, "Really? Because it sounds like you're kissing the Princess' plots from here."

The cowpony started going red and put a hoof to her hat, attempting to calm herself, running the hoof along the brim and its' collection of marks of wear and tear.

"Rainbow, Applejack," Another voice speaks, from across the near empty room, "can you two stop antagonising each other like this?" A white mare steps into the light thrown off by the projector, "We're not going to be able to get anything done like this and need I remind you I have a business to front."

Applejack looks at the mare and nods apologetically, "Sorry Rares, I'll try and keep this short," as Rarity returns to her seat Applejack flicks a few slides ahead, "as I was saying, until Rainbow kindly jumped the gun, the tyrant sisters have ruled for as long as any pony can remember. All of us here have experienced that tyranny first hand, such as my family never being allowed to put down roots, or Rarity's rejection from the 'upper class' because of her parents low-born status."

"Or my expulsion from flight school."

Applejack looked at Dash, but allowed her this small outburst, "either way, in each event the Princesses had a direct hoof which leads us here, we need to remove the princesses from power and return that power to the ponies that need it."

The room was silent for a moment before Rarity snorted, "I'm sorry darling but I hardly think a flight school dropout, a homeless earth pony, and a socially locked unicorn are going to do that."

Applejack merely nodded, "I know that, which is why we need to get the ball rolling, my family is already on board, we need to get more ponies."

"and how darling, do you propose that?"

Applejack smiled for the first time, it was a smile predators normally used, "Recruit straight from the source, Dash knows what I mean."

Dash rockets up in her seat, "you don't mean..."

"I do."

Dash rockets up to the orange pony and hugs her tightly, quietly muttering all the while "Thank you."

Rarity looks from one to the other, "I'm sorry but what are you talking about?"

Applejack gives her a level gaze, still sporting that predatory smile, "Get your speciality gear, we're going to Ponyton maximum security prison." The slide changes over to an image of the royal seal, burning.

Ponyton is one of the greatest cities in Equestria, situated just outside the Everfree forest it serves as a gateway to the forest itself, wherein lies the castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, there is a saying amongst Equestrians, 'all roads go through Ponyton.' In of itself the statement is not a lie, the city acts a the hub for all trains and commerce for all Equestria and is the venue of the rich and powerful.

As the three o'clock train pulled in from Baltimare Big Macintosh Apple looked around the platform nervously, he was dressed in a long coat and a fedora, with a suitcase sat to his side. He forced himself to breath, 'Come on Mac, just get on the train.' Checking once more for anypony watching him Mac slung his suitcase onto his back and moved down the platform.

Moving through the passengers who're leaving the train Mac runs into a young couple, causing him to drop his suitcase as he bowls the young stallion over. He picks himself up and looks over, the stallion is likewise picking himself up, "Dreadfully sorry about that young colt." Mac says as he dusts himself down before picking up the couples suitcase and returning it to the care of the unicorn mare who is also dusting off her partner. With a tip of his hat Mac picks up his suitcase before continuing down the station and boarding the train.

The couple shrug at the briefness of their strange encounter and continue into the city, leaning on each other as they take in the sights and sounds of the best Equestria has to offer.

Darkness falls quickly across Equestria, and when the daily lives of ponies stop the night time pursuits begin squads of ponies patrol the streets, keeping watch on the various establishments, making sure nothing is getting too rowdy. While patrons of those establishments keep a careful eye on the guards, making sure they aren't going to be around when things inevitably do.

Across the city a different kind of activity is underway. Not one of revelry or one that occurs in privacy, no, this activity is well outside the bounds of the law. A small group of ponies are gathered in an alley looking over pictures and blueprints of a building.

"Guards, magical automatons..." Rarity lets out a low whistle, "It's not Ponyton maximum security prison for nothing I suppose."

Applejack looks up, slightly concerned, "But not a problem, right?"

Rarity shakes her head, "I know I'm good, but this..." she chuckles slightly, "Is a challenge I will relish to the utmost."

Applejack nods and waves down Rainbow, who was keeping watch at the far end of the alley, "So what's the plan then Rares?"

Rarity looks at the attentive pair, "Well I have a plan to get me in, then get me and her out again." She looks back at the blueprints, "Exiting is the easy part, entering is tough but doable, finding who we're looking for is going to be tough. are we even sure she's here?"

Rainbow looks over, "I've been keeping my ear to the ground," she smirks, "odd I know but I like to know where she is, if she isn't in the regular prison she'll be in the secure wing. They won't move her out," she scowls, "it'll be a waste of resources."

Rarity nods, "Well lets hope she's not in the secure wing, even I'm uncertain about getting in and out of there. Considering what she's in jail for I don't think she will be though." As she talks she runs her hoof over the appropriately marked sections of the prison.

"Rares, enough stalling, we're burning moonlight." Applejack reminds her.

"Well with the stuff you and Dash got I'll be entering here," she points at the middle section of the Eastern wall.

Dash looks at the location, "but that leads through the offices surely you'd be better going in here." she points her hoof at the Western wall.

Rarity smirks triumphantly, "as would anypony else trying to stage a breakout darling, we already know that wall is the most heavily guarded." she traces her hoof along the map following a route that tracks round the Northern part of the building before stopping near a marking on the map as she speaks, "I will circle round the Northern part of the building before entering this ventilation shaft here, from there I will try and free the target and start a riot, allowing for escape."

Applejack nods, "Expected operation time?"

Rarity quickly does some maths in her head, "Best case I find what I'm looking for immediately, in and out twenty minutes tops, worst case I have to go to the secure wing, anywhere up to three hours."

Applejack shakes her head, "three is too long, you have two. Provided you aren't spotted we can always try again."

Rarity rolls up the map and passes it to Rainbow, who shoves it into her saddlebags, "Until hope is returned." she whispers and trots away

"May we not falter." The other two whisper back as they head back to the hotel.