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!

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:

"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.