Equestria's Freedom Fighters

Chapters

Vanhoover Harbor Raid
Infiltrating the Royal Castle's Basement
Aerial Raid Near Cloudsdale
The Everfree Hideout

Vanhoover Harbor Raid

You and three other ponies took a peek from the corner of the wall. Under the cover of the night, all for of you ran to the side of the building across the current one, avoiding the blaring searchlights mounted on the wall. Good thing you are all earth ponies, because you need to continuously run to avoid the lights and guards patrolling the area to reach your target.

Your target is the building closest to the docking area. It's a storage filled with food shipments for the royal castle. Successfully raiding the food supplies can be useful to keep yourselves alive, and perhaps use them to entice more ponies to join your cause. Not to mention it'll definitely annoy those in the castle.

"Well, there it is." One of your comrades speaks. "And the ship is about to dock too, just as planned."

You've discussed it before: You would time your raid with the arrival of a cargo ship. Once you've successfully stole some goods, you would take over the ship and use it to escape. The ship is expected to set sail again soon, anyway, making it the perfect getaway transport.

"How many guards do you see, Sharp Eyes?" The same pony glances to another, a dark green earth pony with yellow eyes. You know him as Sharp Eyes, obviously known for his good eyesight.

"Four just by the main door, two on each side." He reported.

"I guess one for each of us." The red mare in your group remarks with a smirk. Classic Heartfire. She is just not afraid of anything.

"Alright, there's a stack of boxes just near the entrance. Use it to creep closer, then ambush those motherbuckers!" The first pony to speak said, and you all moved to position, making sure not to get detected.

You got paired up with Heartfire to take out the guards on your left. Sometimes they would walk further from the other guards, you observe. You wait patiently for them to be the furthest apart to minimize any kind of risks.

"Bet I can knock the guard out faster then you." Heartfire challenged with a smile. You simply rolls your eyes at her. Looking back at the other pair, you see Sharp eyes pointing at the general direction of the guards, then he nods once, twice, and...

You sprinted at the pair of guards, catching them off guard and tackled one of them to the ground. You are quick to sock him in the face and drops your weight onto your other hoof, which slams into his neck. Greatly weakened from his windpipe suddenly got briefly cut out, you knocked the guard out cold with another punch. The only fight he'd given is his flailing hooves hitting you in the side a few times, but there's nothing too serious.

Looking around, looks like the others had managed to nullify the other guards as well. These are not exactly the Royal Guards or anything, so they fall pretty quickly. Sharp Eyes were quick to open the entrence into the storage once things are cleared up. It's almost pitch black inside, until you found the light switch to the left of the door.

"Heh, we got the motherload, boys!" Heartfire remarked.

Countless numbers of wooden crates are stacked on every corner of the building, each labeled with different words. It feels like being in a supermarket with any kind of food available, and you don't get to pay for it. You moved towards a nearby box that was labeled "Oranges" and sniffed it. Although it's rather faint, you can smell the unmistakable aroma of citrus on your nose.

"So! How many can we get, boss?" Heartfire turned to the boss of the group. Well, technically he's not the boss, but everypony just calls him boss.

"As many as we can, of course." He replied. "Right, when the ship had finished loading, we'll take it over and get outta here. See if we can smuggle some extra boxes on board too."

Heartfire and the boss made quick work of the few ship crews after the ship was loaded. With the signal from your fellow rebels from the ship, you and Sharp Eyes managed to sneak in a few more boxes worth of food onto the ship, making sure you move quickly before anypony suspects something is up. It delays the departure by a few minutes, but it shouldn't be too suspicious.

With the boss on the wheel, you take place on the front of the ship and see as it moves further from Vanhoover dock into the North Luna Ocean. You squeed in excitement, this raid is a success! The rebels will not feel hungry for a good amount of time, and in turn, a hunger strike on the Royal Barracks would demoralize them for the next fight. It's a complete victory!

"Heeeey!" Heartfire smacks your shoulder from the back. "Feels good, doesn't it? We're gonna have a victory feast with this!"

"Calm down, Heartfire. We gotta share the food we earned first." Sharp Eyes said.

It took you that long to recover from the impromptu friendly tap from the red coated mare. You massaged your back to ease the pain a bit.

"Yeah, I know, I know." Heartfire said. "Those Royal stinkies will not be happy, and that makes me happy."

Well, you can't blame her. The Royal Palace is the source of everything that can be considered terrible. All the resources they have seems to be focused on Canterlot, causing the prosperity of the other cities and towns to wane. Even though you heard that Canterlot is not a bad place to live financial wise, it's still controlled by the Two sisters strictly. Taxes were rather high, and you've heard rumors of ponies vanishing to be 'researched upon'. Just thinking what it actually meant sends shivers down your spine. Only the rebellion can shine down hope on the remaining townspony across Equestria.

"And you know what makes me happier? The fact that we're going to do the 'Wave of Liberation' plan soon! After the wave of attack hits all the towns and cities, we'll liberate Equestria from the Two Sisters!" Heartfire exclaimed.

Eeyup, the higher ups are planning to do a plan to attack all towns and cities simultaneously. It's the Freedom Fighters most daring and elaborate plan ever. With a hideout at almost every city in Equestria, a wave of attack in every way will surely overwhelm the Royal guards. Heck, even if Canterlot is not taken, the damage across Equestria will be too great for the regime to handle, and it'll be only a matter of time before Canterlot and the Royal palace fell with the ship.

"Hey, boss! Doing good up there?" Heartfire waved towards the bridge, even though she can't tell if the boss sees her. You and Sharp Eyes turns your attentions towards the back of the ship as well. The bridge is elevated rather high up, and you notice that the moon is almost on level with it. Looks like it's going to be dawn in several hours.

"Wait... what was that?" Sharp Eyes squinted his eyes.

"Huh? What do you see?" Heartfire asked.

You turn your head back towards the bridge. There doesn't seem to be anything out of place to you. Still, you know Sharp Eyes have better eyesight then you, so just to make sure--

"OH NO!" You hear Sharp Eyes yell in panic. "IT'S HE--"

BZAP!

At the next second, Sharp Eyes collapse to the floor, and you feel something warm splat on your face. It feels like time had considerably slowed down as you look at him. There's a clean circle hole on his head, blood pooling at the other side. You notice it has black marks on the edges, the work of a magic bullet. Your dinner knocks on your throat, almost making it's exit from your mouth.

"AAAAAHHH!" Heartfire screamed in pure shock. "SHARP EYES!!"

You dared to look at the direction the bullet came from, and the moon gives you the answer. There's a pony on top of the bridge's roof. But upon closer inspection, you realize you know who that is, and a wave of fear struck you in your heart.

White coat... Purple, long mane and tail... female unicorn... black vest and trousers... saddlebags...

This bitch is scary, ya hear? One of the mane eight, and specializes in taking out ponies silently. Those no good Royals call her "Rarity". Slippery as an eel, and trained in hoof to hoof combat. Said she has a special magic Snipebow, a rifle crossbow that can shoot magic bullets from a great distance. There's also rumors that she carries a thousand needles in that saddlebag of hers, and her magic is more then enough to send hundreds of them flying at once. Always keep an eye open, you'll never know where this mare will strike.

There she is, standing on the roof in front of the moon, her mane flows with the wind. She seems to be taunting by allowing her to be seen, and that smirk oozes confidence like no other. She's holding her rifle crossbow on the side, and you can see something glowing at the bottom of it.

"Take cover!" Heartfire brought you back to reality by pulling you towards the pile of boxes not far to your left. You two kept your head low, afraid you might lose it the next second. You held your breath, skitters to the other side of the box, and dared to take the slightest of peeks. She's no longer seen on the roof. You wonder where she might've gone, before realizing her potential destination. Coincidentally, Heartfire came to the same conclusion.

"The bridge! Boss is there!" The mare said. Without thinking, she took off running towards the bridge, with you following behind her.

You and Heartfire ran and ran up the stairs, going as fast as you can without ending up tumbling down the stairs. In the midst of your climb, you felt the ship rocks rather violently towards the front. It seems that the ship had came to a sudden halt.

BZAP!

CRASH!

You see Heartfire's eyes shrunk upon the rather loud noise of glass shattering. She gives extra effort to reach the bridge, which is actually not that far anymore. Opening the door to the room, you both ran inside to see what had happened. Sadly, your fears are true.

The boss is laying in front of the wheel, his blood forms a small puddle on the side of his head. The glass in front of the wheel has a circle hole through it, looks like a shot to the back of the head. Heartfire immediately went to your fallen brother, inspecting his body.

"Boss!!" You, too, took a closer look at the body, but it's clear that he is dead. Just like Sharp Eyes, the magic bullet went clean through his head. Heartfire spends several seconds mourning, before springing back to reality.

"G-Get the ship moving again!" She said. You briefly look around to find the throttle, once you locate it, you reached your hoof out to pull it.

"Ah ah ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you, darling."

As if time had frozen on you, you stop mid motion upon hearing a 'click!' and an unfamiliar voice. Ever so slowly you turn your head to the direction of the voice. There she is, the white mare with the purple mane. Her Snipebow aimed right at you with a magic bullet armed, her right hoof on the front handle, and her eye ready at the scope. A twitch in any muscle would turn you into a dead horse. You dare to move your eyeballs at Heartfire, but she too, is frozen with a look of fear. There's no getting out of this, it seems.

"Put you hoof down." She orders. You did as she said. "Good boy."

"You... you killed him, didn't you?" Heartfire asked.

"Hush, darling, I would prefer 'assassinate'. He never saw me coming." The mare, you remember her name as Rarity, giggled. "Now, let's go to the deck, shall we? It'll be easier for me if you outlandish ruffians were to rebel."

To be fair, the deck would provide more cover from her Snipebow should you manage to run from her grasp. You take a look at Heartfire, her face now shows some determination. Knowing her, she'll start swinging the moment you all reached the deck. But for now, you can only obey.

You start descending the stairs you ran up a few minutes before. Because it's too narrow for two ponies to walk side by side, Heartfire must lead while Rarity kept your head on her scope. You just pray that Heartfire don't immediately run off and leave you as a scapegoat.

"Why do you have to kill us at the deck?" Heartfire asked. Actually, that's a pretty good question. There's no way she'll bring you down just for a precaution. She could easily kill you both at the bridge.

"Hmm? Because it's your lucky day. An order from my friend is to spare and capture as many rebels as possible." She reveals. That doesn't really help to ease your nerves, though.

"Then, why the deck?" Heartfire pressed further.

"Simple, my dear. From there I can signal for reinforcements with a flare to take back the ship. They will also escort you to the prison, where ruffians like you should be put in." She said as you exited the last door and stepped into the cold, open air.

"What about Sharp Eyes... And the boss? Why'd you kill them!?" The red mare in front of you stared at Rarity with one eye. You're not sure, but she seems to be signaling you to be ready.

"The one that saw me? Oh, you jest. Obviously I don't want any witnesses. And that stallion in the bridge? Well, I used him to get you two. Three is a crowd, and trickier to be put under my sights at all time." She explained, weirdly giving you a pretty detailed explanation. "I expect for somepony to be in the rebellion to be not too distracted by a dead body, but, ho ho ho, you act like you've never seen one."

"You... You motherbucker!" Heartfire gritted her teeth. Looks like at the very moment Rarity took her eyes off her, she's ready to munch on her flesh.

Rarity kept herding you to the center of the deck, where the most open space is present from the cargo boxes all over the ship. She motions you to walk forwards, before telling you to turn around and face her.

"Now you two stay there, and wait for the Royal guards to arrest you. Not that hard, I assume?" Rarity started to reach for her saddlebags. You hear Heartfire exhale loudly, making you look at her. She looks back at you, and very slightly moves her hooves to be in a wider stance. Then she glances back at Rarity briefly, before turning her head forwards again.

You know what she's up to. Rarity has her Snipebow in her magic. A weapon with that length is trickier to handle via magic, and you assume Rarity prefers to use her hooves judging from your first encounter with her. Plus, one would naturally look up when they launch a flare. It's really risky, especially since you're around three meters away from her, but you know at least one of you will make it. Even when it comes to the worst, being dead might be the freedom you seek from the rulers of Equestria...

You monitor Rarity's movements carefully. She just got the flare, which is actually a firework. She set the fuse on fire with her magic. Your eyes had never been so focused on a fuse before. The moment the firework ignited and flew to the air, Rarity, like you've expected, looks up to the sky. At that exact moment, Heartfire broke into a sprint, straight at the white coated mare. Realizing this, Rarity fires her Snipebow at Heartfire, but she turns her body and did a slide with her hind legs in front. The bullet barely missing her ear. Now it's your turn to sprint at her, there's no way she can reload that fast.

Heartfire tackles Rarity to the ground just as a light purple light shines down on the deck, which you assume is the flare. Your current priority is to neutralize this member of the Mane Eight, leaving the Royal army reinforcement to the back of your head. You quickly get to the action. The first thing you do is kicking Rarity's Snipebow, which she dropped not too far from her, as far as you can, making sure she cannot retrieve it at anytime.

Meanwhile Heartfire manages to sit on top of the white mare, getting a few punches to her face. However, Rarity were quick to retaliate, somehow shoving her off and, in a swift movement, quickly pins her into an armbar. Before she can break her hoof, however, you stepped in, kicking Rarity in the head. Her grip weakened, Heartfire punches her chin, and manages to get free.

"We got to dump the boxes! If we can't get the food supplies, neither can them!" Heartfire suggests, and you agree. You spot a pile of boxes on the side and looks at the side of the ship. The barriers are not that high, which you did not expect at first. Still, North Luna Ocean is almost calm all the time, so it's not completely illogical for a ship that always sails through calm waters would lack a tall barrier.

You move towards a pack of seven boxes and pushes the wooden platform under it. It's heavy, but you manage to push it to the barrier. With a helping hoof from Heartfire, you tilt the platform at an angle that allows gravity to take care of the rest. The boxes would surely sink to the bottom, where the Royal ponies will never get it.

As you move to another pack of boxes, Heartfire notices Rarity is standing up. She immediately charges head first at her, but Rarity dodges her attack. The red mare took a swing, but it's also blocked. Rarity twists the offending hoof down and throws Heartfire to the floor. She went for another grab hold, yet Heartfire manages to struggle and resist.

"K-Keep dumping them!!" Heartfire yelled over to you. Although you hate to leave her like this, you don't have much time before all hope is lost. Might as well do as much damage as you can.

This is where you really appreciate the fact that you're an earth pony. Another pack of boxes were sent to the bottom of the ocean thanks to your natural strength. You took a glance at Heartfire. She really started to struggle against Rarity, who reveals to be a natural fighter. She just dodges a left hook and jabs Heartfire on the gut hard. Of coarse, the red mare is no quitter. With a yell, she pushes Rarity towards a stack of boxes, slamming her back on the wooden crate. You better pick up the pace.

You pushed yet another pack of boxes off the ship. As you look around for more, you notice there are unsecured boxes on top of the bigger stacks, which are very high. With most of the box packs you can push from ground level is on the other side of the ship, you started climbing. Another glance down to Heartfire and you see her already injured quite badly, Rarity just kicked her with a buck to the chest, sending her flying to a stack of boxes. You're not sure how long she can keep Rarity busy.

You spot several boxes on top on the stack, and bucks a few of them off. Although some boxes shattered on the deck, you think that's good enough. Your legs starts to hurt, even you had your limits. There's one last box on this stack, and with a buck that demands extra effort from you, you send it flying to the ocean.

"Aaahh! AAAAHH!!"

That's Heartfire's voice! You take a look again, and were surprised to see her oozing blood from her hooves. On closer look, there are a couple of needles penetrating her coat and, terrifyingly, it pins her on a box. You forgot Rarity's other weapon: Her thousand needles. Watching it used in such a manner made you froze completely. On the corner of your eye, you see that Rarity manages to get her Snipebow back, and she's already aiming at Heartfire.

"W-WE WILL FREE EQUESTRIA FROM THE LIKES OF YOU!! LONG LIVE THE FREE--" BZAP!

So this is the meaning of being royally screwed. Now you're alone on a ship rather far into the sea, with an expert assassin and probably a dozen of Royal guards closing in on your location. Even if you somehow manage to defeat Rarity, you cannot possibly escape a squad of fully armed soldiers. Looks like the only thing you can do is to continue to dump the boxes. But your legs are already giving warning signs of overuse, and now, Rarity has her sights on you. After watching her kill Heartfire, you jumped to another large stack of boxes nearby and hid behind a box, hoping it will hide you from her line of sight.

There's so many things swirling in your head right now. You may dump a few more boxes, but that's it. Dumping ALL the boxes alone is just impossible. Will you be killed in the spot? Will you be captured? What happens when you got captured? Will they torture you? Use you as a training dummy? Be used as a teddy bear? Is this the absolute end for you?

Well, there's the option to jump into the sea, but you're not an expert swimmer. Even then, Vanhoover is the closest land, a place that's surely be on alert after your raid. And that's assuming you won't be found immediately after you jump off.

Screw the Royal guards, you're not going to give them the satisfaction of capturing you.

You took a deep breath, and plan to jump off the ship. However, a needle barely misses your hoof. Rarity had found you. You took some quick steps backwards, and get a running start. Then, you leap, feeling the gushing wind on your entire body. Maybe this is what freedom tastes like...

A searing pain from both of your legs causes you to scream, and you suddenly feel yourself falling. However, instead of falling straight down, you feel yourself swing on an arc towards the side of the ship. The inevitable crash to the side of the ship almost knocks you out, but you hang on.

Literally.

Looking at your legs, you see they've been penetrated by a few needles, two on each leg. But the main focus is the white wire attached to it. The wire ran up towards the deck, and you see Rarity looking back at you from the ship.

"...Got you, darling."

She started to pull you up with her magic. So this is as far as you can go. You got so far with your fellow rebels, but in the end, it only matters little.

As you got pulled on board, Rarity slams you down to the floor back first. At this time you've pretty much lost your will to fight. If you try to, she'll just riddle your body with holes with her needles. Not to mention that you're still reeling from hitting the ship's side, maybe jumping from the top of the box stacks wasn't such a good idea.

"I told you to stay still, but like the outlandish pony you rebels are, you just had to make trouble, didn't you?" Rarity looks down on you. She looks rather upset from your previous actions, but you can also see a slight smile from her. Probably because she realized that she've won. "And because of that, I don't think I want to keep you alive anymore. Dumping those boxes is a huge mistake."

Well, anything to make their lives harder, you thought. You have no regrets joining the rebellion. So many ponies choose to stay silent under the shadow of the Two Sisters, somepony had to act. If only you can contribute more, though, because your road ends here. Rarity pulls her Snipebow and puts you in it's crosshairs, aiming right at your head. At least being dead is better then getting arrested or doing nothing against the Royal Castle.

"Better luck next time, rebel scum."

BZAP!

Author's Note

You've met with a terrible fate, have you?

You won't always find yourself dead in every chapter, though, I promise! :twilightsheepish:

Oh, and if you're wondering how and why Rarity is on the ship, you can leave it to your imagination for now. There might or might not be an explaination for that...

Edit 9/11/2017: In case you missed the added paragraphs:

Infiltrating the Royal Castle's Basement

A male Royal guard and a female Thestral guard are standing idle by a door into the secretive basement of the Royal castle. Not everypony is allowed there, only a few of the most trusted ponies can access it. The guard's task is to simply identify any pony that attempts to enter the basement, and if they're authorized, that pony can go through the doors. The door itself has two keyholes on it, one key held by the Royal guard, and the other by the Thestral guard.

"It's so boring being on guard duty on the basement's entrance." The stallion complained, before looking at the Thestral. "You're having it hard too, batpony?"

"Nope, it's an honor to guard the basement, you know." She said.

"How can you withstand the 'not doing anything for hours alone'? At least there are other ponies somewhere else." The guard asked.

"Patience. We Thestrals have been taught to be patient to survive, because we're hunters." She smirked at the other guard.

"Guh, don't remind me that you batponies eat flesh and drink blood. That's creepy." The guard commented.

"I'll let that one slide." The Thestral rolled her eyes.

A black unicorn with cyan mane approaches the basement door, and both guards took notice. Wordlessly, the unicorn levitates a scroll of paper to the Thestral. She skimmed through it quickly.

"Ah, Mr Nightray. You are authorized to enter the basement." She said.

Both guards takes a key kept in their person, two completely different keys, and inserts it into it's respective keyholes. A rather loud 'CLANG' rings through the room when the keys are turned, opening the double door keeping the basement locked from the surface. The black unicorn went through he door and went down the winding stairs into the basement below. Meanwhile the guards closes and locks the door again.

"I'm always wondering, what's down there? You batponies have excellent hearing, right?" The royal guard asks his partner.

"Oh, beats me. And frankly, I don't want to know."

The basement is a dark place in itself, despite the numerous firefly lamps on the wall. The corridors stretches into the darkness beyond, it's end is still unable to be seen from this spot. You relax your arcane nerves and the disguise spell finally wavers from your body. Dear the ancients, maintaining that spell all the way from the Castle's entrance to all the way down here really took the toll on your magic. You massage your forehead and the base of your horn to ease the pain a bit, before you continue to walk forward.

Hey, we got something real good. We have identified a pony that have access to the basement of the Royal Castle. You know, knowing what's really down there would help greatly, because all this time, it's all rumors and gossips. Some said it's a place to research magic, some said it's a place where those captured were tortured, some said it's a place for pony experiment, and so on and so forth. We gotta find out what those Royal ponies are hiding from all of us.

I know you'll be perfect for the job. Why? Cause you got that disguise spell with you, right? We'll knock that pony out, and you'll take his place down into the basement. Once you're in, find out what's in there, improvise, then get out. Should be pretty easy, right? Take care, expect the unexpected when you're down there. Do it for the Freedom Fighters!

The corridor must've been at least a kilometer in length, before you stumble upon something different then two black stone walls three meters wide on your sides. Those walls grows into a massive underground dome, with a noticeable circle pattern in the middle of the floor. As you take a step forward, a light blue glowing circle lit up, causing you to take half a step back. Soon, the room is lit by the light coming from lines, patterns, and runes on the walls. Illumination magic that flows through chalk, you thought.

Now that the lights are on, you can see what's exactly in the room. The circle pattern in the middle of the room had lowered itself a bit, creating steps to go down onto a small platform. There are three walkways onward. You decide to take a closer look by walking towards the mouth of the walkways. On the left is a hallway flanked by bookshelves, countless number of books are stored. You took one book at random, 'Electro Arcane', sounds a bit sinister. Unfortunately, you can't open it because it's sealed with a lock. You decided to not to tamper with it.

The middle one stretches a bit more before revealing a room that looks like a laboratory. There are shelves that houses all kinds of scientific tools, from beakers, test tubes, and alcohol burners. However, there's also a part of the room that's partially covered by curtains. You took a peek, rewarded by a chilling sight.

There's several beds lined up, but that's not your main concern. Rather, the table is filled with tools that one would find in an operating theater. The sight of syringes filled with unknown liquids, and surgical knives made you shiver. You decide to back away, and leave.

Now, only the right hallway remains. But as you enters that hallway, the corridor stops into a small circular room. There is, however, a white circle on the floor. You stood on it, and as you did, a panel appears from the floor within a hoof's reach with two buttons. One with an arrow pointing up, and the other is an arrow pointing down. An elevator. You pressed the down button, and the floor under you slowly descends deeper underground...

The elevator puts you into a world of darkness as it goes down. As soon as it touches the ground and stops, the lights went on, and it reveals yet another narrow corridor that leads to a reinforced door. You simply touched it with your hoof, and it opens automatically, revealing the room within. However, what you see inside made you conclude that you shouldn't enter.

First of all, you see several ponies suspended in cyan crystals, frozen in time. You don't know who they are, but they bear an expression of either shock, pain, fear, or their eyes glazed up. So perhaps, the rumors of ponies missing because they got kidnapped into the Royal Castle is not just empty rumors.

Second, there are more lab equipments and a bed in the middle similar to the room in the middle hallway upstairs. But you can't identify any of the equipment except the 'Magic inhibitor ring', a unicorn's most feared items. One of the tools has an arm supporting a small buzz saw, and another has sharp hooks. You dare not imagine what they're used for. The bed itself have restrains to put a pony's hoof in.

And finally, there's somepony in there, and she sees you. It's a pink unicorn with dual colored mane, purple and cyan', with a white cloak. You know who that is...

Pink... Unicorn... purple eyes... purple and cyan mane...

This mare is a mystery. What we know is, she's called Starlight Glimmer, one of the mane eight. Some said her magic is known to be very powerful, only second from the leader, Twilight Sparkle. Some said that she have her own special set of spells that only she can use. I don't know, there are no ponies we know that can tell about her magic. Be very careful if you encounter her, we don't know what she can do.

"Hey! Who are you!?"

Instinctively, you let out some 'Umm' and 'Uhh' before realizing there's no reasoning that can save you out from this. This basement is highly restricted, surely those that can come down here would recognize everypony else that can enter the basement. With that in mind, you turn around and broke into a sprint.

"Hey! Come back!" You hear her coming for you. There's no telling what she'll do to you if you get caught. You've a mission to do, that is to get information down here and report back to the hideout. What's hidden down here must be told to the rebels, and everypony else, the Royal Castle might be doing pony experiments!

You ran until you reach the elevator, but suddenly the pink unicorn appears a few meters in front of you via teleportation. A beam of magic flies towards your face, thank the ancients your shield managed to block it completely. When the beam stops, however, she's no longer there. Suddenly, you feel searing heat hitting you back, causing you drop to the ground. Somehow, she managed to get behind you.

"Who are you? How did you get down here?" She kept asking you, but you know answering them won't help your cause. You took a glance upwards towards the opening the elevator came from, and lit up your horn. In a flash, you're back on the upper level of the basement. You continue to run, reaching the massive dome once more.

But that unicorn is there.

You screech into a halt, and her horn shines a bright cyan. You hear her speak something in old Ponish, before, in a flash of bright light, a massive shield appears that covers the entire dome, trapping you with her inside.

"Since you're not going to talk, I'll have to conclude that you are an intruder." She declares. "With that, I won't let you get out from here alive."

You tried to teleport out from the shield, but your magic just fizzled out. No matter how many times you tried, you stay in the exact same place you're standing.

"Don't even try, this shield blocks magic signatures as well." She said, seemingly reading your mind. "You cannot run anymore."

Well, if flight is no longer an option, then fight it is. You stare down at your opponent. You're about to go toe to toe with a member of the mane eight, Starlight Glimmer, no less. You ARE known for your talent in magic in the rebellion, but can you even match her level of mastery? She erects this massive shield like it was nothing. You dare not take your eyes off her.

"So, I'm guessing you're one of those Freedom Fighters rebels I heard so much about. You actually have potential judging from your control of teleportation." Starlight slowly started to walk around you in an arc, her white cloak lightly flutters behind her. "You would be of use to us..."

Whatever position she got in mind for you, from her superior to a guinea pig, there is no way you'll ever join the current rulers of Equestria. The Two sister's rule shrouds everypony in despair. Resources that can be used to make life easier would be swallowed into the bowels of the Royal Castle for who knows what. Even here in Canterlot, most ponies were living on a 'just enough' standards. Other towns are worse, as your fellow rebels had told. If anypony opens their mouth against this, there's a good chance they'll vanish the next day. Now, you got a pretty good idea where those ponies went.

"Well, first things first, let's see how good you really are!" Starlight teleports several meters to your left before shooting a magic beam. Somehow you managed to guard yourself in time with a shield. Then, she teleports to the right, mirroring her attack. You dodge rolled to avoid the incoming beam, conserving your arcane energy.

The next thing you know is she's levitating several meters in front of you, launching yet another magic beam. You decided to meet her attack head on, and clashes your own magic beam with hers. Your magic are on even grounds with hers somehow. Soon, both beams dissipate, and Starlight lands on the ground again, smirking.

In a brief flash, suddenly she's almost nose to nose with you. Another flash, she's a bit to the right. Another flash, you can hear her teleporting to your left. Flash. Flash. Flash. Flash. She's teleporting around you with crazy speed, and you can never have a good look on her, or predict her next location. Suddenly, your train of thoughts were derailed abruptly when she lands a sucker punch on your cheek. Then, she disappears again.

"Over here!" You hear her voice behind you, and she kicks your flank, causing you to drop to the floor. Damn this mare, she's playing you like a damn fiddle right now.

Once again, she teleports around you, like a predator playing with her meal. Enough is enough, you know one spell that can stop her. Concentrating your magic on your horn, you whip your head up, and erects your shield, which suddenly expends into three times it's size. You can hear the oh so satisfying 'SMACK!' and Starlight yelp of surprise as she got thrown to the floor in front of you. You felt your pride build up as the pink unicorn get back on her hooves.

"Hmph, pretty smart. Guess you can still focus through that." She remarks. "But you're way too naive if you think that's my only trick."

You're not letting her do anything funny, and immediately fires a magic shot. She uses her own shield to absorb the impact, before retaliating. Your head shifts into high gear as you fight this deadly duel with her. Fire at her, then block or dodge her shots. You actually have a good amount of experience in a magic fight, but it seems that she's even better. Neither of you are getting hit, and neither of you are letting up the attack. You figure if you kept doing this, you might tire yourself out. So, with that in mind, you did a horizontal sweeping attack, hoping she can't avoid that.

She just teleports up and levitates in mid air again.

You hear her speak old Ponish, and her horn sparks small blue magic orbs that stays in the air. She did this multiple times while teleporting around to avoid your attacks. Suddenly, the orbs flew at you in groups. You managed to dodge the first wave, but you got bombarded by the second one. You feel several spots on your coat burn, causing you to groan in pain. Quickly standing back up again, you decide to switch into a different tactic. You teleported right in front of her, grabbing her from the air and dropping her to the floor. It seems you caught her completely off guard.

As she's struggling under you, her horn lit up, but you quickly use your hoof to press down on her horn's base, interrupting her spell. Your other hoof finds her neck, you've decided to strangle her to death while she can't use any spells. Her own hooves pushes your chin upwards, trying to free herself, but your grip is stronger. After several seconds pressing down her neck, you started to hear her gasp for air desperately. Her struggle got more desperate, and her horn sparks like crazy. Before you can finish her off, however, a raw burst of magic sends you flying across the room. You barely have any time to realize what just happened. As you recover from the blast, her violent cough rang through the room. Though slow, you both end up standing up at the same time. There's an expression of disgust and anger on her face.

"What are you, a unicorn with no dignity? That's such a dirty trick!" She growled. "You rebel don't even know how to fight like a proper unicorn, disgusting!"

You ignore her insult and lit up your horn again, however, you feel an unstable spark of magic on your horn. Looks like her impulsive burst of magic did some damage. You stand down, thinking about being passive and giving time for yourself to recover. Starlight took the initiative and attacks first with a simple shot. You dodge and expect more, but she decide to stand down as well.

"If you want to play that game, be my guest... I've been wanting to use this, anyway." Starlight gives you a sinister grin that causes the hair at the back of your neck stood up.

Starlight shields herself and once again chants something in old Ponish. The shield burst violently, and gives you a sight to be scared at. There are THREE Starlights standing and looking at you. They simultaneously levitates to the air and moves in a synchronized circle motion.

"See if you can survive this!" All three Starlight speaks, before opening fire, raining magic bullets towards your direction. You cast your shield, it's the only way to survive that attack in your head. The bullets pound at your barrier relentlessly. You feel pain on your horn every time an impact hits your shield, but somehow you managed to hang on. The pink unicorn switches to a beam, but not just any beam. The three magic beam from the three Starlights merges into one, bigger beam. You kept your shield up, but like protecting yourself with a sheet of paper against a sword, the beam pierces your shield and hits you in your chest, pushing you until you hit the barrier. It feels like being pushed by a giant, searing red rod of steel with force.

You collapse to the ground, there's a big scorched mark on your body. The pain is surreal, feels like there's a burning hole in your chest. The effect of your shield got shattered also did a number to your horn, giving you a great pain on your forehead. It feels like the world is rocking back and forth, and your vision starts to blur. But you see Starlight walking towards you with a rather smug smile, her doppelgangers seems to have disappeared. You growl at her, your horn sparking wildly as you try to summon your magic again.

"Looks like it's time for me... to finish the job."Starlight's horn summons an arcane orb that's steadily grows larger. Looks like this is how she'll kill you, with a big magic explosion. However, you're far from giving up. You dig your inner focus, just one, clean, magic shot will stop her. Feeling your magic stabilize better, you fire the magic bullet right at the orb.

The orb's color changes to your magic's color.

What the...? That's not right...

"Gotcha." Starlight chuckled.

In an instant, the orb flew into your horn, and all your senses run amok. You see random moments in your life, you hear noises that you've probably heard before, you can't feel your body, and there's the most intense pain you've ever felt pounding your head. You can't even tell if you're actually screaming in pain, or flailing you body everywhere from the disorientation. You feel like you're going to throw up.

"Hello there." You hear Starlight's voice amongst the chaos. "If you're wondering what did I do, I simply seize control of your brain."

Your breath got stuck in your throat. This can't be. You have heard about this spell before, but most thought no unicorn can perform it, and it's considered to be forbidden. Basically Starlight can see all your memory, control all your nerves, and, the worst part, even temper with your organs. By simply sending the wrong signal, she can make you throw up until there's nothing left, or even change your heart rate into a dangerous level.

"Now, what should I do here..." Starlight asked rhetorically. "Make you blind? Deaf? Cut your ability to breathe?". You've felt fear like you've never felt before. She can do all those horrible things to you without remorse. At least you get a good look in your life before it'll be taken from you. Before the mare can do any of that, something seems to have picked her curiosity.

"Oh, what's this?"

You feel she's doing... something with one of your memories. You can tell because you're currently remembering that moment with great detail. You remember what you hear, what you feel, and what you see. Right now, she's looking at your memory about--

Oh no

"Hmm, so that's it, huh? Good to know." Starlight noted. A brand new wave of fear overwhelms you. She's not supposed to know about that! This is bad, REALLY bad.

"You know, I've decided a way to kill you. Tell me, what is the most precious thing for a unicorn?" Starlight asked. You didn't answer. Not only because your senses are still failing you, but you know Starlight can just probe that answer from your head.

"That's right!" What quickly follows is the feeling of similar to being electrocuted, and it feels like knifes are being jammed into the base of your horn. You can't even scream, the pain had clouded even the simplest command you can do.

"THEIR MAGIC"

A snap

Author's Note

Eeyup, if you're wondering who are the members of the 'Mane Eight' besides the Mane Six, Starlight is one of them. Who's the other one? Stay tuned!

What could've Starlight possibly found in your memory? Hmm... :rainbowderp:

Aerial Raid Near Cloudsdale

Alright, listen up! Those Royal think-they-can-do-anything has a plan to launch a new war airship towards here, Baltimare. I'm not sure how, but they know we have a base here, and that airship is designed to raze everything in it's path, including innocent ponies! As a part of our 'Wave of Liberation' plan against Canterlot, we will launch a preemptive attack to stop the airship from reaching Baltimare.

Here's where it gets tricky. That airship is located in Cloudsdale. So not only it'll restrict this mission to pegasus only, but remember that Cloudsdale is the base of the Wonderbolts. Our solution is to attack it just outside Cloudsdale, where resistance is a bit lighter. Not too long from now, it'll depart towards this city. I don't know how you plan to do it, but you must stop that airship at all costs! Because if you fail, I don't know how you'll cope with the fact that hundreds of ponies die because you failed.

With the briefing replaying in your head, you and the pegasus strike team assembled to bring the airship down keeps climbing to the sky. It's nighttime, so it's a bit difficult to tell how far you are from the ground. When the group of a dozen pegasus think it's high enough, the head of the pack speaks to you.

"Hold on." Gust Whipper is one of the respectable leaders of the Freedom Fighters, and she's the one who'll came up with a plan. "We should be high enough, remember that we must strike from above the airship to catch them off guard."

The lead mare started to observe towards the direction of where the airship is supposed to appear from. Meanwhile, a dark blue pegasus next to you nudges your shoulder.

"Hey, you ever partake in a mission this important?" He asked. Horizon is your loyal wingspony, even though he's a bit young. He's considered as a rookie in terms of experience, but you noted that he's a quick flyer, better then most of the fighters. Nevertheless, you told him that you've fought a battle in Baltimare twice, almost pushing the Royal guards away from the city entirely. The young pegasus looks at you with glimmering eyes.

"Wow, feels like an honor to fly with you tonight!" He said, and you chuckled. You never knew that your reputation can effect other ponies like him.

"Alright, mares and stallions, you see those dense clouds over there?" Gust Whipper spoke, pointing at a part of the sky that's covered by clouds. "That will be our ambush site. Might be some thunderclouds in the mix, so watch your flank."

With that, the group moves towards the designated spot. You take a look at Horizon, and he seems pretty eager. You just hope that it's not a mistake to choose an inexperienced pegasus like him to go along with you, considering the dangers and importance of this mission.

Hiding within thunderclouds is a tougher task then you'd thought. Although Gust Whipper doesn't seem to be fazed, some of the pegasus in the squad is shaking in their boots. You'll never know when the cloud is going to unleash lightning or any spark of electricity, nor you can tell how strong it'll be and what direction it'll go. Horizon, in particular, is very nervous.

"I'm... scared of electric shocks..." You hear him mumble.

As you look at the rookie, there's a thundercloud close to his left, and he doesn't seem to notice. You swiftly take position left of them, slightly pushing him to the right, where there aren't any thunderclouds nearby. He seems to be confused momenterily, but then realizes why'd you do that.

"This is tougher then I thought..." He commented. "But I guess the action of taking over an airship will cheer me up."

You smile and shook your head in amusement. Having experienced the horrors of war, you still wonder how rookies can think that fighting an enemy is a 'fun' thing to do. Better then being scared stiff or bawling on the floor, you suppose.

Gust Whipper suddenly give a 'psst!' to attract the squad's attention. She points down, and you see the tip of your target emerge from the clouds.

"On my mark. Fly straight for the deck, and take out anypony that tried to attack you." She said.

Your target soon reveals it's entire being into your eyes. The airship is big, the envelope is definitely more then a hundred meters long. Yet, the deck under it is only slightly less long. Magic armed guns are mounted on either side to defend itself from an aerial attack, just like what you're going to do, but you don't see anypony manning any of them right now. There's several levels under it too, perhaps to store ammunition and supplies, you thought. You waited until the middle section of the deck passed you, then Gust Whipper signals the attack.

"Attack! Long live the Freedom Fighters!"

The rebels clearly took the airship by surprise. You easily reach the deck without any resistance, looks like the Royal guards didn't have time to man the anti-air guns. A hoof fight broke out everywhere on the deck. Focusing on one guard amongst the chaos, you deliver an uppercut on a guard unlucky enough to be your opponent, followed by a low sweep to bring him down, and one last punch on the head, knocking him out. Too easy.

Looking around, looks like most of your fellow rebels are faring rather good, too. It seems you really caught the airship and it's crews with their pants down. Although, you spot some struggling, and you move in to help. Taking flight, you swooped a guard off one of the rebels, and throws him across the deck, followed by a flying kick to the gut. That's another one down.

You also managed to spot Horizion in the mess. He's rapidly zooming past a guard, hitting him every time the pegasus got close. You decide to give him a helping hoof. With the guard has his back turned from you, you grabbed him from behind and held his hooves, forcing both of you to stand on back legs. With one last flyby, Horizon's hoof smacks the guard's cheek with great force, knocking him out.

"That's quite cool!" Horizon grinned. Looks like his spirit is rather great.

Soon, all the guards are incapacitated, and the airship is successfully taken. Against a force that outnumbers you two to one, only two pegasus from your squad is badly injured. Gust Whipper orders them to be treated.

"We got somepony on the wheel, this thing is ours." She remarks.

"...Ma'am?" Horizon raises his hoof."What do we do now?"

Actually, you don't know either. The higher ups in the Freedom Fighters only told you to stop the airship, and you just did. The next step is all up to your squad leader.

"Let's give the Royal army a taste of their own rotten medicine. Let's turn to Cloudsdale. We'll wreck havoc in their base." Gust Whipper grins, a rather sick grin, you must say.

"H-Huh? Won't we get shot down immediately?" Horizon asked.

"I doubt it. This is supposed to be their airship, right?" She argued. "They won't realize something is up until it's too late. We'll bring their base down with this ship."

"How?" Horizon asked again. You hope Gust Whipper isn't that impatient with a rookie.

"An airship this big must be carrying some bombs. I'm sure it's not rocket science from there. We'll bail during the chaos." She explained.

That's a pretty daring plan, you must say. But if pulled off successfully, it'll be a big blow to Cloudsdale's garrison and the Wonderbolts in particular. Unlike the Royal guards, the Wonderbolts pose a bigger threat if allowed to take off. Their bombing runs and aerial superiority is a pain in the neck, and there's little to do about them when they're in a battle, because no pony can keep up with them in the air. The rebels thought of bringing the fight to the base, but it's heavily guarded, making infiltration or an attack hard to pull off.

"Well, I like it, if we get out alive." Horizon smiles sheepishly.

"Hey, it's freedom or nothing, rookie." Gust Whipper claims, before walking away, while giving an order to two pegasus to check the airship's lower decks. You also see her lock the wheel in position, to make sure that the airship stay on course.

You give Horizon a look that says "Welcome to the rebellion.". Looks like for some reason, he didn't thought he'll be partaking in a potentially suicidal mission. The pegasus gives you an uncertain look.

"...You ever had a near death experience?" He asked out of the blue. Well, to be fair, not really. You might've been in the rebellion for a while, and had been in some dangerous missions, but you've never been in a dangerously fatal situation. Thinking back, it's very lucky of you to have never been in that kind of situation. You tried to reassure him that everypony will get out safely. Gust Whipper is a top dog in the Freedom Fighters, surely she knows what she's doing.

"If you say so..." Horizon said. "Guess we're about to find out together, huh?"

You smile calmly. Looks like you started to really like being the mentor like figure for this young pony. Likewise, you feel he's glad to have you by his side.

Just as you're enjoying the moment, a loud 'CRASH!' is heard from the stairs leading down into the lower decks. You and Horizon are the first to notice it. As you two are about to inspect what caused the sound, suddenly the two ponies assigned by Gust Whipper to check the lower decks went flying out from the stairs. They landed with a thud right at your hooves, both badly bruised and unconscious, or at least you hope they just fainted. You recoiled a bit, these guys took quite a beating.

"W-What happened to them!?" Horizon speaks your mind. At this time, some other rebels had taken notice of this strange occurance, even Gust Whipper returns to the scene. The group's attention soon got distracted by a raspy voice, and the sound of hooves brushing against each other.

"Is that all you rebels got!?"

A blue female pegasus emerges from the lower deck, sporting in a uniform similar to the Wonderbolts without the hoodie, but where it's usually blue, had been replaced with red. What really caught your eye, though, is her mane has all the seven colors of the rainbow. There's only one pony who has that mane...

Blue female pegasus... Rainbow colored mane and tail... Magenta eyes... Usually in a red Wonderbolt suit...

Possibly the most dangerous member of the mane eight. She is called Rainbow Dash, and dash is a fitting name. She is known for her insane speed, said no pegasus can match her in flight. But her speed is not just limited in flight. If you ever got in close quarter combat with her, all she knows is to attack. Rentless as hell, and is almost an one mare army because of her speed. Don't let her use her wings, or you'll be in a world of pain.

The remaining group made a perimeter around the prismatic mare. She doesn't look fazed at all, however. In fact, after looking around her, she laughs. She actually laughs.

"That's all of you? Hahaha! I can beat you all with one wing tied!" She taunted. What a smug mare.

"Then let us help and break one of your wings." Gust Whipper growled. Oh snap, that's a pretty good comeback.

"You want it?" Rainbow Dash cheekily stretches one of wings out and waves them in a taunting manner. "Come get me!"

The next second, the pegasus turned into a blur of rainbow trail, already pummeling one rebel with ferocity. You and the others starts to close in on her to restrain her, but she's already done, her target is already a battered mess on the floor. Realizing the threat of this pegasus is too real, the rest of the rebels immediately swarm in her, but Rainbow barely got hit by any of them. With extreme speed, she defeats pony after pony. At one time, Horizon dives into the action, but one kick sends him flying back the way he came from. As you come to his rescue, you see Gust Whipper going towards the pegasus from the corner of your eye.

"She... kicks hard!" Horizon caresses his cheek, the place he'd been struck before. You help him get back to his hooves.

"N-no, I'm fine." Horizon flaps his wings, ready to charge in again, but you told him to wait and told him you're going in, and tell him to help the injured regroup. Meanwhile the last rebel besides you, Horizon, and Gust Whipper have all been defeated, but thankfully not dead. Speaking of Gust Whipper, now she's doing some hoof to hoof action with Rainbow, and somehow she didn't get knocked out in ten seconds flat by being super defensive. Punches after punches were blocked, you're wondering if Gust is actually using iron hooves.

"Heh... Heh... Stupid rebels." Rainbow delivers two jabs, one right hook, and a back hoof before finishing the sentence. "You think you can win?"

Gust Whipper didn't say a word, but you can tell that she's starting to struggle. You decide it's time for you to step in. Opening your wings, you zoom towards Rainbow. She sees you, and turns her attention away from Gust Whipper for a moment. Thankfully, you've predicted this from how she deals with Horizon. Turning as sharp as you can, you flew up, avoiding getting a roundhouse on your face. However, what you didn't expect is Rainbow is still able to grab your body by springing herself from the floor with her legs. Hugging you tightly, she brought you down to the floor hard.

For a moment, the world flashed and turned into a blurry darkness. You felt dizzy, and pain is radiating from your shoulders and head. You took a moment to recover, and just in time to see Gust Whipper getting kicked in the gut, sending her away. In the next second, Rainbow is over you, both hooves joined together over her head...

You protect your head from the smash. You felt your bones are that close to breaking, it was THAT strong. Rainbow wastes no time sitting on your chest and started beating your defensive hooves. You can block the early punches, but somehow she manages to slip through your hooves and started to pound your face left and right. You desperately use your hoof to push her off during the beatdown, but it did absolutely nothing. Suddenly, a dark blue swooped Rainbow off you and they tumbled together on the wooden deck. After recovering from the nasty punches given to you, you realize that it was Horizon that saved you. He was on top of Rainbow for a moment, but was quickly pushed off. Rainbow did a loop in the air and went down hoof first at Horizon. He barely dodges the attack as you watch Rainbow's hoof break through the first layer of wood, sending tiny splinters flying.

You got up on four hooves, and Horizon took position beside you. You ignore the fact that he's supposed to help the injured right now, and just be grateful that he's here. Rainbow wipes his cheek, and looks at both of you.

"What's wrong? Afraid to do a 1 v 1?" Rainbow smirked.

"Give up, there's two of us, and one of you." Horizon retorted. That won't help much, considering she just took down seven rebels alone.

"Make that three..." You hear Gust Whipper next to Horizon. She's flying with her front hooves dangling in the air. Looks like she's feeling quite the pain there when she blocked Rainbow attacks. The three of you are all injured in way, and Rainbow barely got hit. You snarled and tried to be as intimidating as you can, Rainbow simply brushes it off.

"Fine, I'll take you all on!" Rainbow dashes forward, targeting Horizon, who zooms away as you and Gust Whipper dodges to the side. You observe with disbelief at the two, Horizon is somehow only slightly less faster then Rainbow, allowing him to stay in front of her for a good while. Zig zags and loop da loops were thrown, but in the end, Rainbow tackles Horizon to the deck. You, who have been following their movements, were quick to push Rainbow away from your young companion. You even manage to punch her in the face a few times with jabs. Turning your body, you deliver a two leg buck, but Rainbow dodges and hit you hard on the side, followed by a roundhouse kick that turns your vision black until you hit the floor.

To the right you see Gust Whipper flying at high speed towards the blue pegasus, who noticed and duck underneath her as she puts her leg in front. Skidding into a halt, Gust Whipper tries again with a flying tackle. Unfortunately, Rainbow, perhaps in desperation, grabs you and uses you as a meat shield. The impact is mostly absorbed by your body as you somehow got thrown away from the two mares. Once again, you hit the deck hard. Parts of your body started to hurt badly when you move them, especially your hooves. Meanwhile, Gust Whipper is doing her best against Rainbow. The blue pegasus dodges hooks after hooks. Gust Whipper went for another hook, but she decided to feint it, and uses her other hoof, hitting Rainbow at the cheek. Annoyed, Rainbow Dash retaliates with ferocity, sending kicks after kicks. Gust Whipper can only block so many of them before she got kicked to the side.

However, right behind her is Horizon yelling a war cry. He flew up and went down with four hooves that would trample Rainbow if she didn't dodge to the right. Horizon is vulnerable after the attack, and Rainbow, with her speed, grabs him and brought him up to the air, before throwing him down. You notice that there's no way a pegasus can recover in time when thrown that close to the ground. Despite your injuries, you took off low and caught Horizon mid air. But the sudden extra weight causes you to crash straight away. Horizon, however, manages to recover quickly. Looks like your intervention had cushioned his fall.

"Are you alright!?" Horizon checked up on you. You nodded and smiled weakly. In truth, that crash rather hurt. To show him that you're okay, you slowly stood up on all fours, despite the initial wobble, and pats him on the shoulder. The dark blue pegasus looks worried, but eventually he nodded back. He looked at Rainbow, who's pinning Gust Whipper to the floor. The rebellious mare got hit several times in the face, before she grabs Rainbow's face and turn the tables.

You and Horizon rushed to aid Gust Whipper as she smacks Rainbow's head to the floor. When she sees you, she opens her wings and flew away, flipping Gust Whipper to the deck. She initially went for you, but Horizon got in the way, forcing her to put on the air brakes. Horizon swings his hoof at the mare, who casually blocks it and twisted it painfully. You took the initiative and pushes Rainbow away off your wingspony. Gust Whipper soon join you and you both started swinging. Rainbow either block your attacks, or dodge it completely. Soon, Rainbow tackles Gust Whipper to the deck. You tried to help her but a backhoof hits your face. As you recoil from the strike, you heard a nasty 'SNAP!', followed by a scream from Gust Whipper.

"Not so talkative after I break your wing, huh!?" Rainbow taunted. That mare just broke Gust's wing. You must help her! Luckily, there's Horizon to help you out. With a flying kick, he sends Rainbow flying across the deck. With Horizon standing guard, you help Gust Whipper get to her hooves. You notice a small trickle of blood escapes Rainbow's nose. Horizon must've broke her nose, atta boy!

Meanwhile, you just noticed that the other rebel members are starting to regroup. They are all very injured, but able to stand up with a bit of support from their comrades. Looks like Rainbow had the odds stacked up against her this time. You also see that the skies had cleared up, revealing something in the distance. Rainbow also notices it when she looks back behind her. Cloudsdale is within sight, around probably 5 kilometers from your current location.

"Ngghh.." Rainbow zips past everypony and towards the wheel. You remember seeing Gust Whipper lock the wheel, and just as you thought (and thankfully), Rainbow couldn't turn the wheel to steer it. It's even worse for her because Horizon keeps harassing her by zipping near her, threatening her with a hoof everytime. Finally, Rainbow gave up trying to steer the wheel, just in time for Horizon to land a hoof to her cheek, sending her tumbling down the deck.

"So this is what you rebels are trying to do." Rainbow stood up on her hooves again. "Fine, you left me no choice..."

With that enigmatic message, Rainbow flew away, off the airship, and to the dark sky above. Wait, is it over? you thought.

"That mare..." Gust Whipper, who's right next to you, gritted her teeth. "Regroup! We should abandon the plan to Cloudsdale, steer this airship down."

"Huh? Why?" Horizon flew to towards the rebel leader, along with the less injured rebels.

"She'll try to alert Cloudsdale about us, no doubt." Gust Whipper said. "With that speed of hers, a Wonderbolt squad will be all over us in minutes. We better land in the Everfree Forest below, and get help from our hideout there."

You look over the railing and see the forest below. The Everfree Forest hideout is the most elusive of all the Freedom Fighter's hideout. The Royal guards can never find it's exact location, making it the perfect hiding spot. With the rebel squad too injured to fly all the way back to Baltimare, looks like this is the only option.

"Hey." Horizon nudges you with his hoof. "You okay?"

In truth, everything above your chest hurts. You can't move your shoulders without feeling pain, and there's a sore spot on your cheek. You flap your wings, and they seem fine. You hover a few centimeters off the ground for a few seconds before landing, yep, you can fly just fine. Now it's your turn to be concerned with Horizon's condition, who noted your worried look.

"I'm good, mostly..." Horizon massages his left shoulder as he said that. "Damn, I've never seen a pegasus fly that fast! I swear, she can break the speed of sound if she wanted to!"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!

You barely have time to register what just happened. A massive force from the airship's right side blows everypony off their feet. You crashed to the railings with such force that it gave way, but by sheer luck you manage to hang on, avoiding a potentially dangerous tumble. You also feel the airship rocks violently to the left. You can see Horizon not far to your right, the railing barely preventing him from falling.

"Wh-What happened!?" He's impressively quick to fly to the deck, probably to help his fellow rebels. If only he'd look to his left, though. You open your wings and flies back to the deck. By now, the airship is slowly stabilizing, but the deck is still tilting to the right.

That's when you see it, a rainbow colored ring just above the deck on the other side. You also notice that there's an orange glow on the airship's envelope. One of the rebels yelled, "The ship is on fire!", much to everypony's horror. Everypony must get off this ship, now!

"Fly off the ship! Get to the Everfree hideout everypony!" Gust Whipper ordered as she rallies the rebel squad together. In panic, some took off immediately, before realizing the injured ones. You help a rebel nearby get to her feet. She got a black eye, but looks like her wings are fine. As she managed to stand up on all fours, another rebel take over and help her take off. It doesn't take long for everypony to take flight one way or another.

Wait a minute... Didn't Gust Whipper had one of her wings broken? Crap! You just remembered!

You spotted the mare being one of the last few on the ship, you ran at her, but you stumbled from the pain on your hooves. As your face is on the deck, you can feel the airship is dropping altitude fast. You tried your best to stand up again, but it's even more difficult now that the airship is falling.

"What are you doing!?" Gust Whipper seem to notice you. "I told you to get off the ship!"

Not without her, you ain't leaving her! You flap your wings and flew towards her, grabbing her body and attempts to fly off. Oh god your body hurts! Your hooves threatened to give away as you took flight. Gritting your teeth, you flap your wings faster then ever, trying to manuever yourself off this falling airship. Suddenly, you see the burning envelope looming closer towards you. You can't possibly dodge it in time, not the two of you...

A loud 'whooosh' rang through the air, and you're pushed to the left, off the airship safely. It's Horizon, his impressive speed had saved you.

"I'm not leaving you all behind!" The pegasus hold Gust Whipper together with you, and you three leaves the burning airship to fall to the forest below.

The survivors hovers above Everfree Forest as they watch the airship crash and burn to the ground. You, Horizon, and Gust Whipper is in the middle of the flock, supporting each other. Some of the remaining rebels also needed somepony to help them stay afloat.

"Ten... Eleven... Twelve... Well I'll be, we all survived somehow." Gust Whipper counted the remaining pegasus. Amazingly, none of your fellow rebels had fallen in combat.

"Ha... We did it...! We stopped the airship!" Horizon said. The other rebels all expressed their happiness to be alive with cheering. Well, it could've went better, you thought. But in the end, your mission is to stop the airship from reaching Baltimare, and with it being set ablaze on the forest, Baltimare is save from it. You looked at Horizon, young flier had saved the day. If he wasn't there when you tried to save Gust Whipper...

"Everypony, listen up!" Gust Whipper said, catching everyone's attention as they finished celebrating. "No doubt the Wonderbolts will be dispatched to see what happened. Dive into the forest and straight into the hideout. Once we're all in a better shape, we'll return to Baltimare."

The order had been spoken, the flock of pegasus started to descend into the forest. They know where their hideout is, so they won't get lost in the Everfree. Looking at the sky, you see Cloudsdale in the distance, partially covered by the smoke from the burning airship. This is the path you choose, you chose to be a rebel, you chose to put yourself in danger, and it's for a better Equestira.

But as you look closely, you see a trail of rainbow towards the floating city. Usually, rainbow brings hope and happiness, but that rainbow seems tainted, as if the red color is made from blood. This won't be the last time the Freedom Fighters cross paths with Rainbow Dash.

Yet, maybe the victory you've achieved today is the reason you saw that rainbow. Maybe there is hope for Equestria.

Author's Note

See? I promised you won't always find yourself dead! :pinkiecrazy:

Longest chapter so far as well.

By the way, is there anything amiss from my writings? Or the story? Constructive feedback and criticisms are always welcome! :twilightsmile:

The Everfree Hideout

Life could be worse for you. At least, hanging around in the Freedom Fighter's Everfree hideout is better then being a homeless and bitless pony on the streets. It looks rather cool, though. The rebels had built some buildings around trees and some treehouses as well, making this hideout almost impossible to be seen from the sky. Of course, all the rebels know how to reach this place, that's what you've been taught when you first joined the rebellion, and it's still fresh in your head.

Yep, you just joined the Freedom Fighters recently, about one and a half month ago. You just can't make a living anywhere, until one of the rebels found you and took you in. Of course, you have to be their brother in arms in return. Everypony is quite nice around here, at least better compared to those Royal Guards. You've never been into any action yet, unfortunately. So far, you've been earning your keep as a watcher, keeping an eye around the hideout for any suspicious activities. The almost invisible treehouses are perfect lookouts. You always wanted to live in a treehouse anyway. Since your first time on the job, there's really nothing major to report. It's always the same Wonderbolts patrol above your position, or sometimes Thestrals do it at night.

Tonight, however, is a different night.

Coincidentally, it happened when a group of rebels are away to do a raid on a nearby town called Ponyville, so at that time, the hideout is rather empty of members. A sound similar to a distant thunder caught your attention, and as you looked up, you see a rainbow colored ring in the sky, next to a big airship. You alerted one of your superiors, a dark green, silver maned unicorn called... Actually, you don't know her real name. You just call her 'Sister Vine' because she told you to.

"Oy vey, that is something, alright." She said as she reached your position and watches the spectacle. You notice the airship started to fall as it caught on fire. All ponies on board, or at least the ones that managed to escape, are all pegasus. The airship soon crashes on the other side of the forest in a big orange fireball, and you see the survivors started to fly down, towards the hideout's general direction. You're about to warn everypony, but Sister Vine stops you.

"No worries, they are friendlies. Only rebels know where our hideout exact location is." She assured. And, true to her words, the group of pegasus are fellow rebels. You noted that they're injured, and remembered that one of them had her wing broken.

The hideout turn their priority to heal the pegasus squad, and you got to help. You were assigned to heal a dark blue pegasus, who got pretty bad bruises on his hooves and face. You wrap one of his hooves, he said it got twisted the wrong way, and gives his wounds come Comfrey cream, a plant that can be found in the forest. It's been proven to be effective to heal wounds and bruises. Once you're done wrapping his hooves with bandages, he gets up from his seat to face you.

"Thanks." The pegasus smiled, and offers a hoof. "My name is Horizon, by the way."

That's a bit out of the blue. Nevertheless, you told him your name, and gives Horizon a brohoof. You asked him what happened to him and why is there a burning airship that crashed to the forest.

"Yeah, about that... That's the regime's weapon. When we tried to use it against them, we got shot down by a mare... One of the mane eight." He explained. That's quite the story, something that's always nice to hear for somepony that haven't got any action. "Anyway, our leader told us to hide here because it's extremely likely we've alerted Cloudsdale, and a Wonderbolt squad might be on their way..."

As you're chit chatting with the pegasus, you see a female dark green pegasus with her wings wrapped on her body, accompanied by another, approaching you and Horizon. Sister Vine is also amongst them, talking to the pegasus with the same color of her.

"Whoa, you two look so similar, coat, mane, and all." Horizon noted, looking at Sister Vine and the female pegasus.

"That is because we're siblings." Sister Vine said, surprising the both of you. "This is Gust Whipper, my dear younger sister, and I am Vine Whipper. Call me Sister Vine, if you wish." Oh, so that's her real name. Sister Vine still sounds better for you, though.

"Here you are, Horizon. Your wingspony is looking for you." Gust Whipper said. You look at the pegasus that still hasn't said a word. Looks like a friendly pony, though.

"I'm not going anywhere, you know." Horizon walks next to his wingspony, then turns to you as he motions his hoof towards the pegasus. "Doesn't talk that much, but a very respectable partner." You exchanged smile with the silent pegasus.

"So, Wonderbolts will be upon us, eh? We have to get low and set up our watchers and guards." Sister Vine said. "Let your group rest and recover, sister."

"How do you plan to keep them away?" Gust Whipper asked.

"I will have ponies keep guard and watch the perimeters. If they do land to scout further, we'll take them out. We have a big advantage in the forest." Sister Vine said. The unicorn lead her sister and the group away from you, before returning to you.

"You should get back to your spot, young one." She patted you in the mane. You blushed a bit, and remembers why she is called 'Sister'. Sister Vine is like a mother to all the rebels, always taking an extra care to make sure you all will be alright. You heard from somepony that she'll the one who would be most hungry if the rebels are short of supplies because she prioritizes food to her rebels. Standing side by side with a kind pony that always smiles can't be the wrong path in life, right? Nevertheless, you proceed to return to your post.

You don't remember how long, but it only took several minutes before something else happens to catch your attention. A band of friendly rebels passes your post and into the hideout. It's the group that left earlier to Ponyville. However, what really concerns you is there's an unknown yellow mare in the middle of the group, a leash is tied on her neck and wings. Perhaps a prisoner? Your curiousity made you go down and look.

You see the leader of the group talking to Sister Vine, a silver male earth pony. You don't remember his name, but you do know he often talked about how much he hated the regime, even making fellow rebels uneasy with him. He's the kind of pony that would slowly kill his enemies and finds delight in every second of it. The fact that he brings a prisoner means there's something about that yellow mare...

"...And this mare is smack in the middle of 'em!" The stallion said, presenting the yellow mare to Sister Vine, who looked surprised to see her. The yellow pegasus stares back with equal intensity.

"My word, how can you possibly end up here? Fluttershy, is it not?" Sister Vine asked.

Fluttershy? She can't be talking about 'THAT' Fluttershy, can she? How does she look again?

Yellow female pegasus... Pink, long mane and tail... Dark cyan eyes...

Don't ever let her look fool you. This mare, called Fluttershy, is mostly a backline supporter. You know, being a medic and tactician and such. But don't think she's harmless, she can defend herself. There's not much we know about her, but it is rumored that she has some kind of hidden power... Be extra careful with her.

It can't be... That's 'THE' Fluttershy!? One of the mane eight!? Right here captured by the rebels!?

"How unfortunate for you to be captured by us, Fluttershy. Maybe we are a bigger threat then you think?" Sister Vine smirked, looking a bit smug.

"You think you can use me as a bargaining chip? Sister Vine?" Fluttershy shot back with a stare. Looks like somehow she knows about Sister Vine as well. Either she's just that notorious, or the Royal Castle got good intel. Without warning, the silver stallion puts his head between Fluttershy and Sister Vine.

"Oh, we can use you for more then that, pretty mare..." He caresses her cheek with his hoof. Suddenly, Fluttershy smacks him with one of her hooves. Unprepared, the stallion fell to the floor, while the rebels that's surrounding Fluttershy started to restrain her. Her leash were pulled so hard that she's forced to stand on her back legs, while the other rebels punches her in the gut and face a few times.

"Stand down." Sister Vine ordered, then she turned her head towards the silver stallion. "Get a hold of yourself, Silver Grin. I need her for something." Oh yeah, that's his name, Silver Grin. He doesn't look to happy now that he got a bruise on his cheek. He stares at Fluttershy, then back to Sister Vine.

"As you say. Put her in a cell." He commanded his band of rebels, who immediately started to herd Fluttershy somewhere. As you watch her being sent away, you barely notice Sister Vine walking towards you.

"Young rebel, maybe you should keep an eye on her. She's important for my plans." She said. Did you heard that right? You're going to do an important task of guarding one of the mane eight? That's quite the honor you got! You admit, you're quite excited to do something important for the rebel's cause. It's the least you can do to repay their kindness of having you.

But... there's also this nagging feeling at the back of your head. Your task is important, VERY important. Much more important then keeping watch on the forest. What if you mess this up? What if Fluttershy escapes when you take a snooze? Will the rebels cast you away if that happens? As if sensing your troubles, you feel a dark green hoof wrap around your shoulder gently.

"The mightiest of trees grow from a mere sapling. It will endure many trials, before it'll be unshakeable by the winds." Sister Vine said. "Do not worry yourself too much. You will partake in more important things as you grow."

That's quite the pep talk, you must say. She is right, if you were to be a strong rebel, you will have to do missions and tasks that's demanding. This is just the start, and you promise yourself to make sure it went well. Nodding a 'thanks' to your superior, you walk towards the direction you see Fluttershy is herded into. She'll surely be brought to the prison...

The rebels have their own jail to keep the prisoners they've captured. It's a bit rare for them to get prisoners, but Sister Vine seems to like the idea of ransoming the Royal Castle to get bits and such. Unlike most rebels who doesn't tolerate any peace or negotiations, the leader of the Everfree Hideout prefers a non lethal way to aid her cause. It's not like she cannot lead a battle, though. All the attempts the Royal Army made to scout the Everfree ended up in failure thanks to perfectly executed ambushes and traps by the rebels.

Today, the prison is empty, very empty, with the exception of the cell furthest down the corridor. You see somepony standing near the bars. It's Silver Grin, looking into the room behind bars with a couple of rebels. As you get closer, you see the yellow mare sitting next to the wall of the confined space, glaring at the rebels.

"Heh... You are so lucky that Sister Vine wanted to keep you alive, you know that?" Silver Grin hissed. "Imagine what I'll do to you after you slapped me... Huh?"

One of the rebels noticed your presence and informs Silver Grin of you. You explain that Sister Vine wanted you to keep an eye out for Fluttershy. The stallion looked a bit skeptical, something that bothers you a bit.

"But that's just like her, giving a task that's this important to a rookie." He chuckled. You're not sure how to take that sentence. "Well, I'll leave now. Heard Vine wants the upper ranks to rally. Have fun with her." With a grin, Silver and his rebels leaves you alone with that yellow pegasus. You notice there's a stool behind a table just across the cell, and you help yourself into a seat. Now that you're alone, you can focus on studying your... captive. Heh, having a prisoner under you seems a bit too surreal for someone as green as you, you thought.

Fluttershy's long mane partially covers her right eye as she keeps watch on you with her left. You notice some bruises on her body, probably from her capture and the little fight in the hideout. Her face shows some fight in them, which means you must stay alert. Who knows if she can actually pry those bars apart if she wanted to?

"What are you going to do to me?" Fluttershy speaks. You shrugged. You honestly have no idea what Sister Vine is planning by keeping her here. But, considering she's one of the Mane Eight, she can be used as a great bargaining chip. Sister Vine must have something big in her mind. Not long after that, you hear somepony walk into the corridor.

"Is anypony here?" A voice called. It took you a moment before you realize it's Sister Vine's sister, Gust Whipper. Her front hooves were covered in bandages, along with her body. One of her wings is in a cast, tucked to her side by the bandages.

"Oh, excuse me. Did you, perhaps, see a silver earth pony around? My sister is looking for him." She asked. She must be talking about Silver Grin. You told her that he was here, but went away somewhere, saying that he's looking for Sister Vine.

"Hmm hmm, what happened to you?" Fluttershy looks at Gust Whipper, whose reaction is less then pleased. The injured pegasus approaches the iron bars holding Fluttershy.

"See this? This is what your regime does." Gust Whipper shows her broken wing and bandages, her face clearly shows some rage. "But it'll take more then a broken wing to stop me."

"Now, it wasn't me that broke your wing." Fluttershy stood up, staring back at Gust Whipper. "Are you actually blaming me for this?"

"You think you can play innocent, slut!? You're with them! You're with the ponies that would do this!" Gust Whipper smacks the iron bars, baring her teeth menacingly. You flinched a bit. She's kinda scary...

"Oh! But it's you rebels who disturbs us first!" Fluttershy countered, stepping up to the cell door, putting her front hooves on them. "You think I like what's going on right now? There's a reason why I never went to the front lines myself!"

"...Really... You're just scared to get hurt, aren't you? Coward!" In a flash, Gust Whipper bucks the door. The force is enough to knock Fluttershy back to the ground. She looks shaken for a moment, before her glare returns. "At least when I kill that rainbow maned pegasus for what she'd done to me and my squad, I don't have to worry about you trying to save her."

This time it's Fluttershy's turn to slam the door. She violently got back up and throws her front hooves to the iron bars as hard as she can, a newly ignited anger burning in her eyes. Wait, did you mean that literally or figuratively? It looked like her eyes flashed a bright red...

"WATCH. YOUR. WORDS." If looks can kill, all your bones would've been shattered by the yellow pegasus. Gust Whipper had struck more then a nerve there. Afraid that things might get out of control, you told Gust Whipper to hurry along, gently pushing her away from the cell. Thankfully, she decided to stop as well, but not before giving a snarl back at her foe. Likewise, Fluttershy locks her sight at Gust Whipper until she's out of sight. This is actually not good for you, since you're the pony who's supposed to stay with the prisoner. Now that she's angry, you just pray she won't let it all out on you...

You groggily lift your head from the table. Goodness gracious, you feel sleepy. You thought you're used staying up all night as a watcher for the rebels, but for some reason you're struggling to keep your eyes open last night. It looks like you fell asleep for a couple of hours.

Wait, you fell asleep? Shouldn't you be keeping watch over Fluttershy? Oh crap! She might be missing right now--!

Oh, wait, she's still there, in the cell. Looks like she's asleep for now, and it's better that way. Knowing she's part of the Mane Eight, she must've been something to be in that deadly group. She does look rather cute though when she's asleep. Maybe her hidden ability is to overdose somepony with her innocent cuteness, causing a heart attack?

The door into the corridor you're in creaks open, making you look to your right. It's Sister Vine. Why is she here though? Maybe to check on you and the prisoner?

"Is she still there?" The dark green unicorn peeks into the cell, and breaths a sigh of relief. "Good. Although, I have to inform you of your current situation. Come." You follow Sister Vine away from Fluttershy's cell. Once you've far enough, she started to explain the situation to you.

"I'm afraid things will be a bit harsh. Wonderbolts, Royal Guards, and even Thestrals were spotted more frequently above the forest. This time, they really threaten our hideout's secret location." Sister Vine explained. "We have to position almost all of our ponies in the forest to stop anypony that may find this place."

You reflexively turn your head towards the end of the corridor, where Fluttershy currently is. The Mane Eight is a very powerful and influential group in the Royal Castle, only second from the Two Sister themselves. They definitely have the authority to deploy an entire army to sweep the Everfree Forest. Now you're wondering if keeping Fluttershy here is a good idea at all, since she's only attracting unwanted attention. However, Sister Vine dismisses your idea.

"It's weird. I do reveal that we have her held as a prisoner of war, but they still won't listen to our demands. And I think 'leaving the Everfree Forest's airspace alone' is not that demanding." She continued. That is rather weird. Would the Mane Eight really leave one of them as a scapegoat? No, it can't be possible. You remember how angry Fluttershy is when Gust Whipper said something about killing 'the rainbow maned pegasus'. You remember one of the Mane Eight have that characteristics. That has to be an insight of the group's relationship, right?

"...Anyway, I've brought you these." Sister Vine made a sack of... something, appear via teleportation. As you inspect it's contents, you see a bunch of apples inside the bag. You ask why did she brought you so many apples. Are some of them for the prisoner?

"Actually, they are all for you. You see, this is a bit unfortunate, but for the next few days, you will most likely be alone." The unicorn reveals. "We're deploying almost all of the rebels to intercept any scouting party lurking in the Forest. The hideout will be pretty devoid of our brothers and sisters."

Welp, okay. The alone part is not much of a problem, because you sometimes do have to keep watch at night all alone in the forest. But the 'alone next to a potentially dangerous mare with only iron bars separating you two' part is pretty intimidating. It's not like you have a choice, though. If the Royal Army find out the location of the hideout, it could be disastrous. Looks like you have to be a stallion and do your task. You nodded to Sister Vine, who hands you your supply of apples.

"By the way, try not to feed the prisoner too much. A weakened enemy is easier to handle. But don't starve her to death either." Sister Vine said before leaving.

It's been sixteen hours already since you met anypony else except Fluttershy. The chilling night air creeps through the prison, the only solace to the unusual silence. The moon shines from the small window in the cell, lightning the room a bit dramatically. You took another apple from the sack, you haven't had dinner, and your stomach is hungry for food. However, as you took a bite, the unmistakable noise of a rumbling stomach reaches your ears. It's Fluttershy, you noticed. The mare seems to be much more docile then before, her eyes looked a bit... sad.

"Mmmph..." Another rumble emits from Fluttershy's belly. She looked at you as you take another bite from your apple. You notice her pleading eyes. They seemingly make her look like a fragile mare, although you suspect there's more to her then that.

"C-Can you...?" Fluttershy pointed at your sack of apples. You keep staring at her eyes, looking for any sign of her true intentions. But the only thing that appears from your head is the fact that she's pleading. Either she's genuinely pleading, or she's a great actor. However, Sister Vine did say not to starve her to death. You took an apple on your hooves and motioned it at the mare, asking her if she wants one.

"Please... You still care about ponies, don't you?" She said. Her eyes seems to be testing your empathy. You told yourself that you only do this because Sister Vine told you to, but a small part of you felt sorry for her, despite her affiliation. You got off your seat and reaches the apple out at her direction. Fluttershy's eye briefly widened, and she slowly made her way to the door, never breaking here eye contact with you or the apple.

The pegasus reaches her hoof out, trying to reach the apple you're offering. Not without caution, you carefully -perhaps too carefully- hand the apple over to her. In a flash, she grabbed it, put it near her mouth, and started eating the apple hungrily. You hear her emit a sigh of satisfaction as she continues to munch on the treat. Again, she looks at you, seemingly thanking you judging from the look in her eye. Gosh, who knew one of the Mane Eight is this adorable? You should give her another apple, because she wants another one...

Wait, wait. No, you shouldn't do that. You blinked a few times, what were you thinking? She's still one of them. Just because she's an adorable mare doesn't mean she's a good mare..... is she?

"I want another one." She said softly, looking at you. "Um... Please?"She said she wants another apple. Should you give another one to her? You kept observing her expression. She seems like a different mare from yesterday. Her gaze now seems to be soothing, lacking any kind of trickery, hate, or aggression like when she confronted Gust Whipper. Did she really change overnight?

Well, she did say please. Your hoof grabs another apple from the bag, and gives it to her. She smiled at you, she actually smiled a genuine smile as she took a bite. Contagious as a cold, you can't help but smile back.

"Thank you." She looked at you with a happy face. Boy, she is adorable. You kept staring at her eyes as she finishes the apple quickly. Those red eyes are just so beautiful. Maybe she doesn't need to be kept in a cell, she's not that dangerous. Besides, she can't run away from the hideout without getting lost in the dangerous Everfree Forest, right?

"Do you have more? I'm still a bit hungry..." She lowers her head a bit, seemingly a bit shy. Oh, you definitely have more, don't know how many, but you got an entire bag of apples right here. You're about to hand her the bag, but you realized it's too big to fit through the bars. Silly you. Looks like you need to use the door to give it to her. Luckily, the key never left your side.You watch Fluttershy follow your movement as she gets near the door along with you. You unlocked the door. You stepped into the cell with her.

The light of the moon flashes into your eyes.

You blinked a few times. Wait, what happened? Why are you dragging the bag along? Why are you in the cell-- Oh crap!

Before you can react, something tackled you to the wall, making you drop the bag and the key. You feel your hooves pinned to the wall by something firm. As your mind is still wondering what had happened, you see a figure mere centimeters from you. The moonlight soon reveals who, or what, it really is...

You're staring back at Fluttershy's red eyes, but you notice her coat seems to change into a more dull shade of yellow. Her pink mane is a bit more unkept since the last time you remembered. The real horror, however, is her mouth. It houses two sharp fangs poking out from it.

What the hay!? Ponies don't have fangs!

"Awww... You're so easy to be manipulated." Fluttershy said in a mocking tone. Still having no idea what's going on, your eye wanders about, until they caught view of Fluttershy's wings. Instead the normal, feathery wings all pegasus have, her wings looks more like those Thestral ponies. That's not how it looked like before! Did Fluttershy... transformed into this? The mare in question moved her head to nuzzle your neck with her nose, making you shiver.

"Let me tell you a secret." She whispered. You can feel her fangs brush against your neck. "I can transform... into a Thestral." Now her tongue slithered across your fur. As you shiver again, you feel her tongue doesn't feel like a pony's tongue.

"And while I'm like this... I can feed."

What followed next is a really sharp pain emitting like an earthquake from your neck. Your scream got caught in your throat as your entire body stiffened, unable to respond to your brain. Your ears are ringing, and you can hear Fluttershy making slurping noises as you feel her sucking your blood (It got to be blood, right?). A wave of chilling wind courses through your body as you feel yourself drifting away.

"Mmm~~" The monster of a mare let out a hum of pleasure as she give your neck an extra powerful suck.

Your body feels colder then usual. Your head feels light. Your vision starts to blur. Your heartbeat quickens, unwillingly supplying the hungry monster more of your life essence. You feel your body slowly slump against the wall, then everything went black...

Where are you? What happened?

Are you dead?

".........ey..."

"...Is....ead?"

".....sti...l...ld..."

"...e mov...!"

"...ill alive...!"

"..ank goodness!"

You move your hoof to your head, which in itself, took a lot of effort as the world slowly forms around you. You notice there's something tugging your hoof, and when you can make out your surroundings, realizes it's an IV with red liquid flowing into your hoof, presumably blood. A blanket also covers your body, providing a bit of warmth. Before you can do anything else, though, you see a dark blue pegasus and a white mare standing next to you. You recognize the pegasus is Horizon, the rebel you helped the day before.

"Are you okay? We thought you're dead!" Horizon said, both worry and joy is present in his voice. "You're really lucky that I stumbled upon you by chance... You've lost a lot of blood." Your eyes widened upon the word "Blood". That's right, you're keeping watch over Fluttershy, until for some reason, you decide to enter her cell. That's when she... she...

"It turns out that mare can transform into a bloodthirsty Thestral somehow." The white earth pony said. "She escaped the jail and stole a firework flare... Thankfully, we managed to recapture her in the forest when she stumbles on one of our group before she can use the flare."

Well, that's good to know... You just hope that this time extra precautions were made to stop her from escaping again. Soon, Sister Vine enters the room. However, you noted her expression seems... unusual. Instead of her usual soft smile, her face is as stiff as a rock. She looks at you with concern, before walking next to you.

"Poor you... I should've known better then only assigning you to keep watch on her." She brushes her hoof with your mane. "Are you feeling alright?" You nodded. Although you're feeling lightheaded, cold, and fatigued, you're alive and well. Sister Vine smiles briefly, before turning serious.

"I joined the Freedom Fighters to stop such fate from befalling anypony. Look what she've done to you... The regime is truly filled with despicable ponies." She said. "Be strong. As you recover, we will continue our fight to save Equestria from these horrible ponies."

Having tasted a dire situation, you feel something burn inside you. You felt that your life in the future won't be as easy. Joining the Freedom Fighters gives you a home, but you realize you must fight against the odds to protect it. It's a giant fight for survival. Who knows what will happen to you during this fight. Will you survive to see the end, or will you perish first? That thought scares you a bit, but you don't consider living under the regime as a choice. Too much ponies had suffered under the Two Sisters, and you can do something about it.

You just hope you won't make the same mistake as you did when you keep watch on Fluttershy. As heartless as it is to say this, words doesn't work anymore, only... bloodshed.

It's a cruel world you're living in.

And only the Royal Castle is to blame.

Author's Note

Direct continuation, horray!

Close call, huh? But once again, you survived! :twilightsmile: