Thief of the Frontline

Chapter 6

For Paper Cut, the day had gone by relatively quick.  He had spent most of it going over what to do once inside the armory and what to do if things went sideways.  He had been waiting almost two days for this heist, and the moment was finally here.  He was full of excitement but at the same time, nervous out of his mind.  He had never done anything like this ever before.  "What if I screw up?  What if I forget something?  What if I get us killed?!" he thought to himself as he paced around the room frantically while waiting to meet Nightfall.  "No.  Don't think of such things.  Keep your cool.  Nightfall will be there every step of the way and he knows exactly what he's doing."  He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before turning his head when he heard the sound of a door opening.

"I got some of my old stuff out," said Nightfall as he entered the room.  "Should come in handy."  He dropped a pair of old tattered saddle bags in the middle of the floor.  They looked like they had been ripped, thrown, at one point buried, and repaired with improvised patches.

Nightfall wiped some of the dirt off the top of the bags and opened one up.  "Hey Paper, can you bring my saddle bags over here?" he said as he pointed to the corner where they were usually deposited.

Paper levitated the bags up, placed them next to Nightfall and then sat down next to them.

"Thanks."

"What is this stuff?" Paper asked curiously as he looked into the older torn up bags.

"Mostly old junk that I don't need anymore," answered Nightfall as he sifted through the contents.  "I held onto it just in case, though."  He pulled out a few half empty bottles, a small utility knife, some rope, and a large piece of triangular fabric.  He held it up in his hooves and inspected it.  It was grey with a long row of sharp jagged teeth running its full length.

"Wow that is really cool!" said Paper.  "What is it?"

Nightfall responded simply by putting it up to his mouth and tying the two ends together behind his head.  He looked like a menacing predator that could tare a pony apart.  "Got to hide your identity somehow.  Just in case you get seen," he said from behind the mask.

"Cool," said Paper.  "Do I get one?"

Nightfall untied the bandana and held it out to Paper.  "Here, take this one," he said.  "You've got more to lose from getting seen than I do.  Besides, I bet it will look good on you."

"Thanks."

Nightfall transferred a few more items from his old saddle bags to his new ones and then stood up.  He walked over to a table and grabbed the five runes that they had made earlier that day along with a few other things and placed them into the bags.  He walked over to the door and motioned for Paper to follow.

When the two reached the now open air main room of the castle, they were greeted by Twilight.  It was almost midnight so Paper almost didn't see her, but there was just enough light being produced by a few torches and the moon for her to be visible.

"Hey Twilight," Paper said softly as not to alert anypony else that they were sneaking out.  "What are you doing up this late?"

"I thought I'd wish you guys luck," she replied.  "Be careful."

"Don't worry Twilight.  I've got Nightfall here to make sure everything goes to plan."

"I know.  Just... be careful," she said.  "I just... I don't want to lose another friend."  The darkness didn't do a very good job of hiding her sad smile.  Before Paper could go, she kissed him on the cheek.  "Good luck," she finally said after a moment of silence.

"Yeah... uh... thanks," he said as he blushed uncontrollably.  "I'll... um... see you soon."

The walk through the Everfree forest was mostly quiet because there wasn't much to talk about, that and Paper couldn't get his mind off of what just happened.

"Hey Paper," Nightfall called from behind.  He had noticed that Paper wasn't entirely "in it" a while ago and had stopped walking.  Without even thinking, Paper had continued on with out him.  This proved Nightfall's suspicions.

"What?" Paper said as he snapped back to reality.  He looked back to notice Nightfall walking up to him from behind.  "Oh, sorry.  My mind was kind of wandering there for a second."

"No problem," Nightfall said in the dark.  "Not yet at least.  Listen, when we're at our target, I need you alert."

"Right," replied Paper.  "Alert."

The two walked through the forest in silence for about five more minutes before that silence was broken by a question from Paper.

"So Nightfall," he began.  "Do you think that may have been... I don't know... a sign?"

"What?"

"You know.  Didn't you see what happened when we left?  Twilight.  Me.  I mean... It's definitely a maybe.  Right?"

"You and Twilight.  I think you've got as good a shot as anypony else.  So yeah.  It's definitely a maybe."

"Awesome!" exclaimed Paper.  Only half of the word was very loud as he realized he should probably keep his voice down.  "I really think I feel a connection or something between us.  It's like this feeling that I can't really explain, but it's awesome."  Paper was now smiling with glee as they walked through the moon lit forest.  He looked over at Nightfall to ask another question.  "Have you ever felt something like that before?"

Nightfall was caught slightly off guard by the question.  It took him a second, but he soon answered it.  "Yes," he said.  "But it was a long time ago."  He continued with one final, almost inaudible whisper after letting out a faint sigh.  "Almost to long."

Before Paper could ask anymore questions about the subject, they stepped out from the darkness of the forest and into the slightly less dark open space outside of Ponyville which had just come into view.  It was time to get to work.  Nightfall wanted nothing more than to get this all over with, but he and Paper took their time as they walked into town as to not raise suspicion from any guards.  As they made their way toward the small stone bridge, Paper noticed Nightfall continually looking over his shoulder.  He seemed a little stressed.

"You all right, Nightfall?" Paper asked as they walked through the dark streets.

"Yeah," replied Nightfall through slightly heavy breathing.  "It's just been a while since I last did anything like this.  There are some old memories that... well... forget I said anything.  We need to focus on the task at hoof."

When they reached their intended destination, Nightfall and Paper checked to make sure nopony was watching and then slid down the creek bank.  Nightfall opened the wooden door and peeked into the small dark room, checking to make sure it was clear.  After scanning the surroundings, he opened the door all the way and stepped inside.  Paper followed close behind into the small room.  When they were both inside, Nightfall closed the door.  It was now completely pitch black.

"I can't see a thing," said Paper.

"I'm working on it," said Nightfall as he dug around in his saddle bags.  He pulled out a flare and set it a light.  The entire room was lit up by the bright red light causing shadows to dance and shimmer across the stone walls.  "Now then, let's get this tarp up."  He grabbed a corner of the dark blue tarp that was still laying where he and Twilight had left it.  He pulled it to the side and revealed the hole in the floor that led to the tunnels.

Paper stepped down into the hole and walked forward into the dark passage using the brick wall to guide him.  Nightfall followed close behind with his flare held in his teeth and stepped up in front to take the lead.

"Alright, into the unknown," said Nightfall as he continued forward.

The ground was soft and the brick walls were sort of slimy with water and mold.  The air was noticeably much cooler and humid than on the surface.  There were many cobwebs and spider webs hanging from the ceiling and on the old wooden supports on the walls that smelled of fungus and wood rot.  The flare that Nightfall held was very effective at burning these away.

They walked for only a minute before coming to a dead end.  The end of the tunnel was much newer than the rest of the walls.  It looked more solid and better constructed.  The bricks didn't have nearly as much mold growing on them.

"Your time to shine," said Nightfall.  He took one of the runes out from his saddle bags and handed it to Paper who took it in his magic.  Paper spread the rune open onto the wall.  He pinned it in place with a few small magic anchors, a good substitute for the push pins that couldn't be pushed into the brick and concrete.  The half inch wide anchors glowed slightly before turning back to normal.  The rune was now firmly in place.  Paper took a few steps back and pointed his horn at the wall.

"Here goes nothing," he said.

Paper's horn lit up faintly for a second as the rune also glowed faintly.  When his magic got stronger and brighter so did the rune.  In just a few seconds, the symbols where floating and spinning around brightly as a small flame ignited in the center.  The flame grew and grew and soon engulfed the entire wall which fell to pieces like tissue paper.

Paper looked up and admired his handy work as Nightfall walked past him.  "Good work," the batpony said as he passed.

The two ponies walked on for a few second more when all of a sudden Paper seemingly fell through the floor.  There was a loud splashing noise as disgusting green water flew up into the air along with brown sludge.  Nightfall jumped back and looked at his friend who was now standing in dirty ground water up to his belly.  Paper had an unamused look on his face.  "You got to be kidding me," he said.

Nightfall held out a hoof to help Paper out of the small underground pond.  "You okay?" he asked as he helped him out.

"Yeah, I think so," replied Paper.  "Just a little cold, is all."

When Paper was out of the water, they walked on through the muddy cave until coming across yet another wall.  This one was the same as the last. Nightfall tossed Paper another rune who took it and set it up on the wall in the same manner as before.  He performed his spell again and the wall fell apart.  When the bricks and ash fell and the small cloud of smoke cleared this time, instead of revealing more tunnels, the hole opened up into a well lit room full of exactly what they wanted.  Guns.  Lots of them.

"Just like we rehearsed, Paper," said Nightfall in a whisper.  "Grab what you can.  Fast."

After tying his bandana, which he had managed to keep dry, around his head, Paper started placing as many small boxes of ammo into his bags as he could.  At the same time, Nightfall went to work taking as many rifles as he could at once and leaning them into the corner right next to the hole they had created in the wall.

It was all just about what Nightfall expected.  Around one hundred rifles stood up on racks.  One row along the wall opposite to their improvised entrance, another row that ran the length of the room in the middle, and one more on the wall they had entered through.  There was a large stack of boxes full of ammunition on the left side of the room.  Paper was currently stuffing his saddle bags and an even larger burlap sack that he had brought with him with the boxes.  Next to that were several large barrels, no doubt that they were filled with gun powder, but what really got Nightfall's attention was something on the right side of the room.  It was something covered by a white sheet and stood on a tripod.  It wasn't any longer than a normal rifle, but it appeared to be much thicker.  He pulled the white sheet off and gazed at the beautiful piece of deadly firepower.  It was a cylindrical weapon with a hoof crank on the side of the body.

"That looks useful," said Paper from across the room.  "That's some sort of machine gun, right?"

"Yes, yes it is," Nightfall frowned a little.  He didn't want to touch it.  Something that could kill so many in such a short time shouldn't even exist to him.  He wanted to destroy it, but a part of him was urging him to take it with him.  "This is probably worth a ton," he thought to himself.  "I could easily sell this thing for quite a large amount of bits."  Nightfall forced the thought out of his head.  No.  He wasn't that pony anymore.  He was Nightfall.  The good version of him, at least he hoped so.

Nightfall turned away from the angel of death and started stacking more rifles in the corner.  After clearing out all the racks, he looked over to Paper who was just finishing with the ammo and horns of gun powder.  He looked around at everything they had collected and immediately noticed a problem.  There was too much.  Fortunately, he had anticipated this.

"Um... Nightfall?" said Paper frantically while trying to remain quiet.

"What is it?"

"I hear hoof steps.  They're coming closer I think."

The two stood still for what felt like an eternity.  They listened carefully.  A set, no, several sets of footsteps could be heard from outside the door that connected the armory to the rest of the compound.  Nightfall rushed to the door doing his best to keep his steps as light as possible.  "Grab all you can and get out," he said to Paper in a firm tone.

Paper obeyed Nightfall and took all he could.  His saddle bags were filled with ammo and the bag he levitated was filled with gunpowder.  In addition to that, he grabbed ten rifles and flung them onto his back along with a few more horns of powder.  He ran to the large hole in the wall and stopped.  "What are you going to do?"

Nightfall had already propped several rifles up against the door to keep it closed.  "Making sure they don't get through.  Go!"  He pulled one of he gun racks up against the door.  Only seconds after, the door handle turned.

"What the hay?" a voice said from the other side of the door.  "Is somepony in there?  Open up!"

For Nightfall, this was just one big alarm that told him that it was time to go.  He had over stayed his welcome.  He rushed over to the corner where he had stacked all the rifles.  On his way he kicked the machine gun over onto its side.  He pulled twenty rifles onto his back and left the others in the scattered pile.  While putting the guns on his back, the guards outside started banging on the door.  Nightfall tipped over a barrel letting the gun powder spill onto the floor.

There was a loud knock on the door and Nightfall looked up to see it open a little.  Another knock came and a single guard poked his head through.  "Stop!" he yelled when he saw Nightfall.  Nightfall responded to this by grabbing a lantern that was hanging on the wall.  He dropped his saddle bags on the ground and then threw the lantern to the ground, letting it smash and shatter on the stone floor.  Fire engulfed the barrels.  Nightfall ran through the hole in the wall after Paper.

Paper was running as fast as he could with all the gear he was carrying.  He heard somepony yell stop which made him run a little faster and before he knew it, Nightfall was right next to him with a load of rifles, but his saddle bags were missing.  As they ran, Nightfall grabbed the rifles off of Paper's back which made it easier for him to run.

"KEEP GOING!!!" yelled Nightfall.  "GO GO GO!!!!"

When they reached the room where the tunnel entrance entered, Nightfall climbed out of the hole and helped Paper up before running and crashing right through the door, almost knocking it off its hinges.  The two ponies ran right into the night where it was way to dark for Paper to see.

"This way," said Nightfall.  "Follow my voice."

The two ran along the creek toward the Everfree forest for only a few seconds when a loud "BOOM!" erupted from behind them.  Paper stopped and looked back to notice smoke and fire shoot out of the doorway they had just exited.  The night was illuminated just enough for him to see the stone and mortar of the bridge crack and crumble as the structure collapsed in on itself.

"Damn!" exclaimed Paper.  He was only able to stand and admire the destruction for a few seconds before feeling a hoof tug on his shoulder.

"Come on," Nightfall said.  "We have to get out of here."

Nightfall led them through the creek  for several more minutes, not stopping until they were well within the Everfree forest and far out of the visual range of anypony who was in Ponyville.  "I think I might have woken up the neighbors," he said jokingly through heavy breaths.

"How in Equestria did that happen?!" Paper frantically asked.  "We almost completely cleaned out that place, no way there was enough gunpowder left to cause that big of an explosion."  There was just enough moonlight shining on them for Paper to notice that Nightfall wasn't wearing his saddle bags.  "What did you do."

"I may have left them a little present," he said calmly.

"You planted a bomb?!"

"No, I dropped it and let it get set off by the fire.  I didn't have time to properly plant it."

"Why?"

Nightfall looked like he wasn't completely aware of what he had just done.  It was if every action of his was being controlled by complete instinct.  "We had to cover out escape and destroying any evidence we may have left.  What else was I supposed to do?"

"Setting the fire was enough.  You didn't have to blow the tunnel to oblivion."

"Well it's to late now.  Let's get back to the castle."

Solar was awake in his bed thinking about the days to come.  All the plans, the timing, the execution had to be perfect.  There was to much on the line to fail.  He looked over the plans that laid in front of him.  He started making marks on a map and writing a few words when he heard something that sounded like distant thunder from outside his window.  He got up and walked over to it and looked out into the night.  Above the horizon, he could barely make out a pillar of smoke rising into the sky from the direction of Ponyville.  Without hesitation, he ran out to the main entry hall where a few other ponies had gathered.  "What's going on?" he asked.

"No one knows," a random voice answered.

The group moved outside onto the main steps where they watched the smoke and argued about what they all thought it meant.

"Are bucking dragons attacking?!"

"No, can't be.  Not enough smoke."

"Maybe it's just a fire."

"Yeah, but that doesn't explain the boom."

"Could have been an underground gas line explosion."

Their questions were all answered about half an hour later when Nightfall and Paper walked up from out of the trees.  Their coats were matted and soaked with sweat.  They both dragged their exhausted, mud covered hooves as they approached.  Nightfall looked like he was prepared for war with how many rifles he had on his back.  Paper looked equally ready with his over stuffed saddle bags.

Solar ran toward the two.  "What did you two do?!" he yelled angrily.  "Is that..." he pointed in the direction of the smoke which was now starting to fade away, "...because of you?"

Nightfall shoved a rifle into Solar hooves.  "You're welcome."  He walked past him and toward the small crowd that had now gathered, dropping the large bundle of guns on the ground.  "So who wants a gun?"

The ponies all erupted in shouts of joy and huzzahs.  Any doubt or distrust in Nightfall had instantly vanished from existence within the band of rebels.  He was a hero to them now.  Nightfall looked back and shot Solar a confident smile that conveyed the word "Checkmate."  It took him a second to contemplate this, but Solar realized what Nightfall had just done only seconds later.  Some how Nightfall had found out that he didn't trust him, so he carried out a mission to gain the trust of every last pony around them and worst of all, it had worked.

"All he's done is painted a big target on us!" Solar yelled.  It fell on deaf ears.  They were all to busy celebrating.  Even Twilight was up joining in on the excitement.  "We're all bucked!" he yelled.  Yet again, deaf ears.

Paper and Nightfall, along with a few other ponies, were busy clearing out an old room that wasn't being used.  This would be their new armory.  The room was about the size of the average bedroom.  Like the storage room that Nightfall had claimed as his bat cave, it had no windows.  There were several tables that had been collecting dust for quite some time, they would now be used for the first time in the sun knows how long.  Foxtrot walked in with a on rifle his back and carried it over to Nightfall.

"This is quite the beauty you've brought us," he said as he clutched the rifle in his hooves.  "Type Five Fast Action Combat Rifle.  Hoof crafted stock, military grade mechanism guards to keep the dirt out, enchanted shock buffers to make it durable, and mass produced by the finest gunsmiths right here in Equestria.  Nothing says "We mean business" like one of these babies."

"So you like it?" asked Nightfall with a worried a smile.

"Heck yeah I do," Foxtrot replied.  "When I was in the guard, the best thing I was ever issued was a Type Three.  Solid firearm, but more range, and power combined with the light weight design of the Type Five makes it look like a toy some kid got for Hearths Warming."

"Well I'm glad you like it."  Nightfall said.  "You can repay me and Paper here with a little favor."

"He can?" Paper said confused.

"Alright,  I knew there would be a catch to this.  What can I do for you?"

Any happiness that was once displayed on Nightfall's face had long disappeared and been replaced by a worried, almost troubled look.  "I need you to go back to the royal armory in the morning.  Paper and I can't go because we'll have to lay low for a while."

"Why do you need me to go to the place that you just blew up so badly?"  Foxtrot didn't understand.

"That's just it," Nightfall replied.  "I didn't mean to blow the place up."

"Then why did you plant a bomb?" asked Paper Cut.  "You aren't exactly making sense."

"It wasn't that big of a bomb.  Just big enough to destroy what we couldn't carry," Nightfall explained.  "That's all I wanted to do, but... for some reason the entire place went up in flames.  Even with the barrels of gunpowder, there shouldn't have been big enough of a blast to knock out the entire bridge.  What did I miss?  What details did I not pay attention to?  How did I manage to screw it up?  I have to know!"

"Whoa whoa whoa," Paper said quickly.  "I think you're taking this a little to seriously.  We got the guns and got out without any problems.  Don't let one little miscalculation bother you.  Even if it really wasn't that little."

"I still have to know what went wrong."

"I'll take care of it," Foxtrot assured him.  "It's the least I can do."

Twilight walked into the room followed by a few other ponies at that moment.  "Paper, Nightfall!" she said happily with a drowsy smile.  "It's good to see..."  She interrupted herself with a yawn before resuming. "...to see you made it out okay."  Twilight looked like she hadn't slept in a while, almost like something was keeping her up.

"Hey Twilight," Paper said to the sleepy alicorn.  "Are you okay?  You don't look so good."

"I'm fine," she said before yawning again.  "Thanks.  It looks like you guys were successful in your mission.  I'm glad to see that."  She sounded just as tired as she looked.

"Um... Twilight," Nightfall began.  "You might want to get some sleep.  You look more tired than Paper and I and we were the ones running for our lives.

"I'm just a little tired, that's all."

"Riiiiiiiiight," said Nightfall before letting out a small suppressed yawn of his own.  "Anyways, I'm going to go ahead and hit the sack myself.  No doubt Solar is going to be all over me in the morning."

"Same," said Foxtrot.  "I'll investigate the outpost for you in the morning, Nightfall.  See if I can find out anything relevant to your situation."

The two left the room after wishing Paper and Twilight a good night and leaving them by themselves.  Twilight was barely standing and began to lean on the wall as one more minute passed.

"Why don't I walk you to your room," Paper suggested.  "I'd be more than happy to help you out."

"What?  Oh... sure," Twilight said now half asleep.  "I guess I..." she yawned yet again.  "...could use some help."  She obviously had something going on that kept her from getting any rest.  Surely she couldn't have just gotten so tired so fast.

The walk through the hallways of the castle was slow and mostly quiet.  There was the sound of the crickets chirping from somewhere outside, but besides that, it was completely peaceful.  Twilight had to lean up against Paper as she stumbled tiredly with him.  The two didn't get very far each minute, but Paper really didn't mind.  He was more than happy to let Twilight use him as a mobile support.  He felt comfortable when he was around her.

After several long minutes, they finally made it to Twilight's room.  Paper opened the door into the dim room and helped Twilight in.  The bed wasn't very far away from the door which made things a bit easier.  Twilight was now almost fully relying on Paper for support as her legs gave out on her one by one.  Paper managed to walk her over to her bed and then set her down in it.  After pulling a blanket over her, he turned around to leave when something on the floor caught his attention.

The book.  Ever since Nightfall had visited the Archivists and gotten it, Twilight had been unable to pull herself away from it.  It was laying in the middle of the floor open to about the first quarter mark.  There were a few photos, seven to be exact, scattered around next to the large historical documentation.  Paper walked over to them to pick them up, but before he could neatly tuck them back into the small envelope that was attached to one of the pages, he noticed that one of the photos was of Twilight.  She wasn't an alicorn.  She was a normal unicorn like him.  This presented him with so many questions.  How is possible that she was at one point a unicorn?  How did she become an alicorn?  Paper would have to ask Twilight later.  He looked at the other pictures curiously.  "Who are these ponies?" he wondered to himself.

One photo was of a pink earth pony with balloons for a cutie mark.  Another was of a light blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail.  The third was of an orange earth pony with a cowboy hat.  Next was a white unicorn with a dark purple mane and after that one was a photo of a shy looking pegasus with a long pink mane and yellow coat.  The final picture was of all six mares in a group, all smiling and looking as happy as possible.  Twilight was in the middle of all of them.

It didn't take long for the realization to hit Paper Cut.  These were her friends, but why were they in a big, dusty history book?  Paper looked down to read the title of the chapter that was printed in bold letters on the old page.

The text read, "The Fall of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony."