"Seven years dungeon, all of you!" Queen Eclipse shouted. "No trials, no exceptions!" Then she turned around and left the poor ponies to their grim fate. The guards started pushing all of them, and if somepony didn't move, it wouldn't be nice to watch.
She walked through the Canterlot castle. It had been a place for happiness and joy, but now everything was darker. And darker it would get.
Finally she reached the place she was going, to meet an old friend. She opened the doors and saw her friend already sitting in one of the towers chairs. She didn't give him a look, just continued to the balcony and looked out from it. The stress of everything to go wrong was strong.
"How soon is the time?" she asked. Outside she saw misery, sorrow, even death. But these were just steps she would have to take, in order to the plan to go right.
"I just need to make the final preparations, then the time will come. You don't have to be nervous, it will all be fine." The friend came to her side at the balcony and they both looked out form it. "This is necessary. You knew that this would come."
"But-," Queen Eclipse started. She had tried to come up with something smart to say in this conversation but her head was now empty.
"No buts. You need to take all that is left from Celestia, and let it go. You know, you have to do this."
"Yes, yes I do. But I thought not this soon." Eclipse hit her right hoof to the ground.
"The age of Celestia has gone, and the age of new dawn will come…" her friend said.
________________________________________________________________________________
*Five months earlier*
"Spike!"
A small, purple dragon popped his head out from the library, "What is it Twilight?
"Where is the book called "Natural Wonders"?" Twilight asked behind a huge pile of books.
"I think it's over here," Spike said, grabbed the ladder and climbed to get the book. "Yeah here it- *burp*!"
"What is it Spike?" Twilight asked. She looked a bit of afraid as she didn't want Spike to burn the book.
Spike looked back from the book, but couldn't hold it. He burped fire and a letter came from it. Twilight quickly caught the letter and started to read it.
"What does it say?" Spike asked and tried to have a look at the letter but Twilight wouldn't let him.
"Princess wants to see me in her castle as quickly as possible," Twilight said to Spike with a confused look on her face.
"Oh cool, I'll go pack our things!" Spike started to rush towards their room.
"Only me," Twilight says behind the letter.
"Huh?"
"Princess wants only me to come, all alone."
"That's odd…" Spike thought aloud.
"Yes it is… But still it's the princess so I have to go! Bye!" Twilight said and rushed out of the library, and started going towards the train station.
When she finally got in the train she read the letter again. The letter was not like one of the ordinaries she got from Celestia. The letter stated this:
"My faithful student Twilight.
I have now seen that Equestria needs to be changed. Big changes are going to be made, and I need you to be my assistant while the changes are being made. That's why I need you to come to the castle immediately, and only you. ONLY YOU!
Yours only, Queen Eclipse"
Big changes, Twilight thought, what could that mean? And why is the letters writer named Queen Eclipse? A lot of questions whirled trough Twilight's mind, and nothing could settle her. She only could guess, but knew that she would find out soon enough.
When Twilight came to the Canterlot station, she noticed right off the bat some things. There were guards yet again everywhere, but they were all in black, just like Luna's guards. And they were not nice ones. They pushed ponies around and told orders to them. In one corner, some stallion was getting beaten up. Twilight was horrified what she saw. She thought that she had to go to tell the princess what was happening in here.
"Are you Twilight Sparkle?" One guard had sneaked up on her while she was thinking. The guard looked even more horrifying up close than from distance. The guard was dressed in pitch-black armor and had a helmet on that had eclipse in its front side.
"Umm… Yes…" Twilight finally answered when she got courage to talk.
"The queen is waiting for you, follow me," the guard said and started walking. Twilight couldn't think straight. There were way too many questions. Why were there guards like these? Who is this mysterious leader and what had happened to Celestia?
Not even while walking the streets of Canterlot were her mind settled. When she had last time visited this place it was full of elegance, happiness and laughter. Now, the streets were covered in sorrow. A foal crying for her mom, ponies that looked like they hadn't ate for weeks, ponies kicked out from their homes. Twilight couldn't understand that what was going on.
When they finally reached the castle, Twilight had thought many questions she would ask. But then, she looked around her. The castle had been changed. Everything was darker. The windows had been shaded, the castle had been repainted black and all of the flags had been replaced with flags that had eclipses in them.
"The queen is in the throne room," the guard said and let Twilight go by herself.
She walked to the throne room door, and opened it. Then, she saw the queen.
"Princess Celestia…?" Twilight asked slowly.
The alicorn turned slowly around and looked at Twilight. She looked just like Celestia except she had black coat and, somehow, her mane was in many shades of black. The alicorn closed the door with her magic, and even her magic aura was black.
"I am not called with that name anymore. I am now referred as "Queen Eclipse." Queen works too." Queen Eclipse said. "But it's really good that you are finally here."
"Princess what is this? The guards were beating up people at the train station!" Twilight shouted.
"Didn't you get my letter?" Eclipse said with no expression.
"Y-yes I did," Twilight answered. She had not been excepting a question like that.
"And didn't I tell you in the letter that there are going to be changes. I just tested those changes in here," Eclipse answered without any emotion.
________________________________________________________________________________
*Six months later*
Darnicus was walking in the main corridor of the castle. Its walls were painted with blood, and dead bodies. The time has come, he thought. He looked at the door to the throne room. Two ponies came to his side and one of them told him: "I saw Twilight go in there! She can't beat Queen Eclipse on her own!"
"We cannot interfere," Darnicus said.
"What do you mean?" the other pony asked.
"What happens now is out of your, even mine, reach. We will just wait, and see what happens."
"Screw that!" the second pony said and started running to the door.
Darnicus set fireball on his hand and threw it on the poor pony. The poor pony burned to ashes in seconds. Darnicus turned around said to the first pony: "Nopony is allowed to go in there. Do you understand?"
"Y-yes, yes I do," the pony said. She was scared because her friend was burned to ashes in front of her, but she knew that she should do what the robotic minotaur had told her to do.
________________________________________________________________________________
"Why do you need me for these changes?" Twilight asks from Eclipse.
"Because you're my favorite student. And the best. It would be shame if your powers would go waste as a citizen," Eclipse said with no emotion in her voice.
"But what about if I don't want to help you?! You are not Celestia! I don't believe it!" Twilight cried. She couldn't believe that Celestia could turn into heartless monster.
"No, I am not anymore. I am Queen Eclipse. Not Celestia."
Twilight was now crying, crying because her teacher, no, mentor, maybe even secret love, had been turned into something so horrible.
"Soon, the changes will affect everyone on Equestria!" Queen Eclipse shouted and laughed.
"W-wh-what does the changes change?" Twilight asked behind the tears.
"Everything. There will now be taxes, those who do not have jobs become slaves for me, anypony who works in farms have to give 70 percent of their production to me, those kinds of things. I am offering you a position from my side. You would get good meals, be paid good, have many privileges and such. Otherwise you have to become one of the citizens. So will you help me?" Eclipse asked Twilight.
"I-I need to think about this…" Twilight mumbled and you could even hear as her brains ticked.
"I understand. Guards!" Eclipse called. "Escort my student to her chambers. I'll give you two days to make up your mind, then you have to choose."
And so Twilight was dragged into her chamber.
________________________________________________________________________________
Twilight didn't have much sleep for those two days. The chamber she was staying had a bed, a mirror and one table. There were one window where she could see Canterlot, but she didn't watch out much. There wouldn't be anything she would have wanted to see on those streets.
She thought that what could have turned Celestia into Eclipse. She had not seen Luna when she came to castle, maybe she had disappeared and Celestia got mental illness because of it. Or, she had killed Luna. Or maybe Discord had taken control of Celestia. That could explain the grey colors. But the stone Discord was still standing in front of the garden.
Whatever the reason was she would have to choose. Take her offer, and become evil, but with a good life or she could just go back to Ponyville and became citizen, but with really crappy life. It would not be easy to choose…
________________________________________________________________________________
Twilight was going to have to tell Eclipse her answer today. She was not sure if it would be the right answer, but she thought it was the best. She was walking towards the throne room. She had seen some ponies who were going to the dungeons and they were all crying. When she walked into the throne room, Eclipse was already waiting for her.
"Ahh. There you are my student. Have you made your mind?" Eclipse asked curiously.
"Yes. It wasn't an easy choice, but my choice is that I will not help you," Twilight answers and starts crying.
Eclipse looks a little bit of surprised but the emotion wipes off fast. "So it will be then. Guards, escort Twilight here to her home in Ponyville."
The guards took Twilight and started taking her to Ponyville.
________________________________________________________________________________
Twilight was sitting in the train to Ponyville. Her mind was still full of questions. But the best question is "What happens next?" She thought using the Elements of Harmony against Eclipse. That would be the best idea, she thought. If she would have known…
When she reached the Ponyville platform, she saw things she didn't want to see. Eclipse guards. They had taken over Ponyville. Twilight followed the guards who were escorting her to her library. But right when she stepped inside she got scared. All the books were gone!
"Spike!" she shouted. But, there were no answer. "Spike?"
Twilight looked everywhere for Spike, but yet, he was not found. When she looked inside the bathroom (yes she searched from there too) she saw scratches on the mirror. The writing was surely made with a claw. They took me, stated the writing.
Twilight couldn't believe what she was seeing. They had took Spike. Why? The answer was waiting at the library's table. When Twilight walked past it, she saw a letter. She opened and read the letter.
________________________________________________________________________________
*one day earlier*
"So you have her in the castle?"
"Yes. I gave her two days before making her decision," Eclipse told her friend.
"Good. If it goes according the plan she wont come to your side. But there is still one threat…"
"And that is?" Eclipse looked curious.
"The Elements. Twilight may use them against you, in hopes of getting original you back."
"And what do you suggest?" Eclipse asked.
"Break them up. Take everyone and put them in different places."
"As… slaves?"
Her friend nodded slowly.
________________________________________________________________________________
"Eclipse has taken my friends and Spike and made them slaves?!" Twilight shouted aloud.
She had only one thing in her mind now. She had to go to find her friends. She ran to everyponies places, used magic, but nopony was found. Eclipse had really taken her friends. But she could still hop into the train and try to find them.
When she finally got to the train station a guard stopped her.
"Where are you going?" asked the guard with chilling voice.
"Umm… I want to use the train," Twilight answered in hopes of the guard letting her pass.
"Citizens can't use trains," the guard told her, and didn't let her pass. After a few minutes of trying to get around the guard, Twilight gave up.
Twilight didn't want to go home, not yet. She wanted to get a little bit of peace. So she walked. She continued walking even though started raining. She walked, and walked, and finally when she stopped walking, she saw that she had came to Sweet Apple Acres. Then, a little bit of hope came in her mind. She could go and ask Big Mac or Granny Smith that if they would have seen something.
But, when she went inside the farm, she knew she couldn't get answer from here. The farm was full of guards. And slaves. The slaves were collecting apples and tending the farm. The guards were supervising that they would work. She couldn't see Granny Smith or Big Mac in there. Then she lost all the hope, and went back home.
________________________________________________________________________________
*two months later*
Darnicus couldn't wait anymore. He knew that he would have to do this today. But he didn't think this would be an easy one. Eclipse had placed her in one of her cloud ships. It would be full of guards. But she was one part of the plan. When he found Pinkie Pie it was just pure luck. It wouldn't chance things too much. But the prisoner in here was important.
Darnicus was in the lowest floor of the cloud ship. The prisoner was in the tower. It would be hard to sneak past all of the guards. And then there would be the escape part too.
*RUMBLE*
The guards had just thrown something in there. Darnicus thought that he would now have to make his way to tower. He sneaked through the door and started making his way up. In the start it wasn't too hard, he just walked the stairs. But at one point when he was climbing the stairs, he heard two guard ponies coming down.
Crap, Darnicus thought. He quickly went trough the first door he saw. The guards walked past that floor. That was close, He thought. Then he looked around him. He was in a storage of some sort.
"Well, what do we have here…" Darnicus said. There were a box full of parachutes made for ponies. He couldn't use one of those, but the prisoner could. He hadn't really thought about escape, just how to get on board. But this, this would be the best idea for escape.
He continued his way up. After a while, he finally reached the deck. The ship was massive, it had over 30 floors. But the deck was full of guards. They were watching everything. Things happening below, and things happening in the ship. Then he saw one guard walking towards the door he was behind of.
Darnicus hid behind the door, and right when the guard had closed the door, it was sleep time for him. Now again he thought about getting past those guards. He would have to cause a distraction so that he could sneak past them. Then the perfect idea came in his mind.
"The ships on fire!" one of the guards shout. And indeed, one of the floors was on fire. Strangely, nopony thought about how a ship made from clouds could be on fire.
"Everypony, go to the floor over it and stomp the cloud!" a weather pony we all know shouted at the deck.
Darnicus was hiding in the floor just below the deck. Every guard at the deck rushed to the floor over the burning one. Darnicus just walked to the tower as nopony was at the deck.
Darnicus started climbing to the top of tower. The towers top floor was really, really small. There were just one cage and one guard. He didn't spend too much time planning. It was just one guard. Darnicus jumped at the guard and knocked him out. He looked into the cage and there she was. The one he was looking for.
"And who could you be? Actually, what are you?" former farmer pony asked.
"My name is Darnicus. I'll tell the answer for latter later. But now I am going to save you," Darnicus answered. "And I know who you are, Applejack."
"How do you know my name? And how do you think I could get out of here? I can't walk on clouds you know," Applejack asked from Darnicus.
"The, how do you know my name, is not important," Darnicus answered and opened the lock. "And you are going to get out from here with this," Darnicus said and threw a parachute to Applejack. Applejack quickly equipped the parachute and then Darnicus said: "Come on, hop on my back and I'll get us out."
Applejack didn't seem to be very happy about it, but she knew that this might be her only way out. She hopped on his back and they started climbing down the steps. When they finally got out from tower, a not-so-friendly face was waiting at them. Rainbow Dash was at the deck all alone.
"Rainbow..?" Applejack asked. But when she looked at the pony who was at the deck she could see differences to Rainbow Dash. The pony's colors were all black, and her cutie mark was just like Rainbows, but darker.
"Applejack… You should have stayed in your cage. It would have been so better for to you, because now I have to kill you," Rainbow Dash said over dramatically. She was wearing a high ranking Eclipse commander uniform. There were badges at the sides of the uniform. Darnicus had hoped that they would not hit into Rainbow Dash.
"You work for the quee-" Applejack started but all of the sudden Darnicus started running towards the ledge.
"What are you doing?!" Applejack shouted, while still being on his back.
Darnicus didn't say anything, he just jumped off the ledge.
"Damn it!" Rainbow Dash shouted and flew after them.
"Use the parachute to land, I'll take care of the Rainbow Dash!" Darnicus shouted to Applejack and released her.
Rainbow flew downwards with huge power. Darnicus used levitation magic and grabbed one cloud and placed it in front of her. Dash striked into the cloud with huge force but it didn't stop her, just slowed her down a little bit. Then she hit into Darnicus. They were both falling with a huge speed, and Applejack who had opened her parachute went past them. Then, Darnicus and Rainbow both hit the ground.
________________________________________________________________________________
*One month later*
Twilight's life was dull. Everyday it was just the same routines. Although she had for some reason some privileges, maybe because she had meant much for Eclipse, still because she didn't actually have a job so she had to work at Sweet Apple Acres. But, she still wasn't a slave. Then she went back home, tried to find a spell that might make Celestia come back, went to sleep, woke up and back to working at the Sweet Apple Acres. Sometimes, she would go to a walk.
One day while she was on her walk, she saw three figures following her. She could easily spot followers, the guards had tried to follow her in secret many times. But these three were not guards. They all had capes on them, so you couldn't see their faces or bodies. One was an earth pony, one was... something and one was a pony that jumped around? When the pony tried to jump the weird one tried to kept her down as they didn't want to gather too much attention.
She didn't care about them too much, because she was about to get a book that could help her. She walked to the Ponyville town square and Lyra was waiting for her. Twilight just walked towards her and hitted her.
"Sorry," she said and continued walking.
Many wouldn't have seen anything weird in that, but if you looked closely you could see that when Twilight hit into Lyra a trade was made. Twilight took a book from Lyra that she had been holding under her stomach. That way no guard could have seen what happened. Right when the trade was complete Lyra walked away from Town square.
Twilight didn't know where Lyra got that book, and I am pretty sure she didn't care. But she couldn't wait to get back to the library as the book she got could solve all of this madness. But the mysterious trio was still tracking her. She thought that it would be wise to get rid of them and turned to side alley. When the three got to that alley there were three ways to go. They quickly separated and looked for Twilight. But Twilight had already got back to library and the mysterious thrio gave up.
Twilight quickly locked the door, because she didn't want anypony to disturb her now. She looked at the book she had got. Spells for the mighty was the books name. She started browse the pages in hopes to find what she was looking for. Then after a while, she found it.
"Counter spell. This spell makes other spells reverse their effects…" Twilight started to read when a knock came from the door. She hid the book behind other books and went to the door.
"Who's there?" Twilight asked trough the door.
"We just want to talk," came a strangely metallic voice behind the door.
"Oh no, I don't open my door to strangers."
"How about to a friend?" asked friendly voice behind the door.
A-Ap-Applejack? Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing. She quickly opened the door and shouted quietly: "Get in!" and dragged the three inside.
"Sugarcube!" Applejack said and hugged Twilight.
"Hey I want to hug too!" said a chirp voice behind one of the capes.
"Pinkie?" Twilight said and hugged Pinkie Pie who had taken her cape off.
"I have missed you girls so much!" Twilight tries to start but voice stops her.
"I am sorry but there is no time for chit-chat. We need to talk," said the third person with his metallic voice and took his cape off. The thing behind the cape was something really weird. It had two horns at each side of its head, it stood on two legs and it had two arms. It didn't have hooves, it actually had boots at the place, where its hooves should have been. It was completely covered in steel, and you couldn't see its skin, or maybe it didn't have one. Its chest, face, and forelegs and forearms were green. Its horns, hands and everything else was grey. It's retinas were purple and the iris was multi labeled and kept turning and turning. It didn't have a mouth, but at the place of the mouth were tubes that went into a machine that almost fully covered its back. It had slim figure, even though ordinary minotaurs have muscles.
"Who, I mean, What are you?!" Twilight asked from it.
"He is our rescuer, you silly," Pinkie said.
"Well technically I only saved Applejack and Fluttershy. You just hopped into me," The robot minotaur said like its normal thing.
"His name is Darnicus, and he is the leader of the rebels," Applejack told Twilight.
"Wait, Fluttershy is okay too?" Twilight hadn't heard anything else after she heard that Fluttershy was okay. Maybe she could use the Elements against Eclipse.
"Yes, yes, yes… We need to talk now," Darnicus said.
________________________________________________________________________________
The four sat at the Twilight's kitchen table. Twilight had made some tea, and Pinkie and Applejack took some with pleasure, but Darnicus refused.
"Now I believe you have some questions for me?" Darnicus asked from Twilight. Twilight was still a little bit of disturbed about his eyes. Actually she was scared of the hole damn thing.
"A lot actually. What are you? A robotic minotaur? And what are these… rebels? And what do you want from me? And is Fluttershy alright?" Twilight burst out the questions.
Pinkie Pie and Applejack just drank some tea and let Darnicus answer the questions. "What I am is not the most important thing right now. And the rebels are ponies who are tired of being under the reign of Eclipse. Fluttershy is okay, she is tending our medical station in our base camp, and what I need from you is a big, big thing." Darnicus answered. He had been waiting for those questions, and had prepared the answers for them.
"You need me and the rest of the girls to use Elements of Harmony and turn Eclipse back to Celestia?" Twilight asked with a some hope.
"No. The elements are useless as Rarity and Rainbow Dash are working for Queen Eclipse now."
"They are working for Eclipse?!" Twilight shouted. She didn't think that the element of loyalty would turn against her. It just couldn't be true.
"It's true sugarcube. Rainbow was the one who captured me," Applejack told Twilight with sadness in her voice.
"Twilight. I need you to help me and my rebels to destroy Eclipse," Darnicus said.
"D-destroy Eclipse… But can't she be turned back to Celestia? I-I know a counter spell that can turn her back and-" Twilight tried to say but Darnicus stopped her again.
"I am afraid it's not a spell that turned her into that."
"How do you know?! And how do you know so much about us?!" Twilight shouted and started to cry. Applejack and Pinkie Pie went and tried to comfort her.
"I saw it. I saw how she started to turn into Eclipse, day by day. And why I saw it, and why I know so much about you, is because I worked for Celestia."
"You… worked for her?" Applejack asked. This was new information for her as well.
"Yes, I did. I did things… Things I'm not proud of… But they needed to be done. I have worked for many evil things, like Discord," Darnicus said like it would be a normal thing.
"You worked for who?!" Both Applejack and Twilight shouted. Pinkie had found muffins so she was not interested in that conversation.
"It doesn't matter! All that matters is that will you help us Twilight?" Darnicus asked.
Twilight thought for a moment and then gave Darnicus her answer. "Yes, yes I will."
"That's wonderful sugarcube!" Applejack said.
"Now we just need to get out from Ponyvi-" Darnicus started but a loud knock came from the door.
"It's ECC! Hand the rebels to us and you will not be harmed!" said a stallions voice behind the door.
"Citizen control!" Darnicus shouted quietly. "We need to get out from Ponyville and fast!"
"I have a back door. We can use it!" Twilight told them.
The four got out from the back door. Darnicus closed the door and levitated a hole tree to stop the guards for a moment. Just after that the front door exploded in and the guards swarmed into the house.
"You can use magic?" Twilight asked him. She had never seen a minotaur, even if they would be robotic, to use magic.
"I can do a lot of things. But now we need to get out! What is the fastest way to get out from here?"
"Well, I guess we could get away from Sweet Apple Acres," Twilight told them.
"Is Granny and Big Mac okay?" Applejack hadn't heard about them after she was imprisoned.
"I don't know…" Twilight answers quietly. Both then look each other quietly as they know this is not the place for sorrow. They would have to escape, and fast!
________________________________________________________________________________
They all sneaked to the Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack was terrified about how Acres had been changed. There were spotlights, guards and spiked fence. She didn't believe that it was the same place. Darnicus pointed with his finger that they should go from the corn field. They all started to go in to the corn field, but then one spotlight caught them in the light and an alarm started ringing.
"Rebels in Area 227. Rebels in Area 227. Rebels in Are-" a mare computer voice repeated over and over again.
"Run!" Darnicus shouted and they all start running towards the fence.
The pegasus guards got in front of them first and Darnicus punched one in the face, Applejack kicked one, Twilight teleported through one and Pinkie… well… she jumped over the guard… Then came the earth ponies and one of them tackled Twilight. Applejack turned around and ran to the guard who was holding Twilight and kicked him hard into back of his head. You could even hear his skull crack. Applejack helped Twilight to get up. They both came to the fence, and Twilight teleported her and Applejack to the other side where Darnicus and Pinkie Pie were waiting. Then they all ran in to the forest.
________________________________________________________________________________
*Two days later*
"So, Twilight joined the rebels?" Eclipse asked from her friend.
The friend stretched a little bit and after that answered: "Yes. That means everything is going according to the plan."
"What happens next?" Eclipse asked.
"We send in the R.A.R.E…"
________________________________________________________________________________
Twilight couldn't believe such things as the rebels base camp could even exist. It was an old bunker. Its air was bad and lighting was dim, but it surely was one of the best hiding places. After she had hugged and talked with Fluttershy, she was called for a meeting. When she entered the meeting room, she looked at the ponies who were looking at her. There were Darnicus, Applejack, a stallion with moustache and… Scootaloo?
"Why is Scootaloo here?" Twilight asked.
"I'm pretty sure you know the reasons. I'll tell you a hint, she is our infiltrator," Darnicus answered her, almost sounding like the question didn't surprise him.
"How do you know about that?" Twilight asked.
"When I worked for Celestia, I followed you for six months."
"Wait, have you been stal-" Twilight asked furiously but the stallion stops her.
"We have better things to discuss now!"
The other ponies around the table agreed, and Darnicus said: "There are a lot of things that I have done, but now we need to discuss things that needs to be done." He opened a map on the table. The map showed the bunker and all the cities of Equestria. The map also had an X mark on it. It pointed into a mountain that is pretty close to Fillydelphia.
"To beat Eclipse we need to get a spell scroll from these ruins. Then Twilight must learn it…" Darnicus started.
"I won't do it," Twilight said suddenly.
Everypony was surprised. Everypony were so suprised that they couldn't say a word.
"And why wouldn't you do that, sugarcube?" Applejack asked.
"I want that Spike will be rescued first," Twilight insisted. She wanted to know that Spike would be okay, and she wanted to talk with him.
Everypony tried to think something wise to say but nothing came to their minds. Finally Darnicus opened his mouth.
"Fine. Scootaloo, find out where Spike is." Scootaloo quickly left the meeting. "But, before that we will go and find that scroll. Deal?"
"Deal."
________________________________________________________________________________
"So, who are we looking for again?" Asked an earthpony in Black Tactical Sneaking Suit. Shortened as BTSS.
"Twilight Sparkle. Former student of Princess Celestia," answered an unicorn in BTSS. Her mane and tail were black just like with the other two ponies beside her.
"I read an article about her once. Wasn't she the element of magic?" asked a pegasus. He was wearing BTSS too.
"Oh yeah… Boss?" The earth pony looked a little bit of confused.
"What is it?" their boss asked angrily. This wasn’t a subject she wanted to talk about.
"Weren't you one of her friends?"
The unicorn punched her in the face and threatened her: "Never. Say. That. Again!"
"Could we just focus getting into this bunker? There are two guards at the entrance," the pegasus said and pointed at the guards.
"It ain't that hard," the earth pony said and raised her hoof. In her hoof was a machine of some sort. She pointed the machine at one of the guards and then pulled from a small string that was attached in the machine. The guard dropped to the ground. The other guard ran to his fallen comrade. In this time the pegasus had flew over him and then grabbed him from his throat and strangled him in the air.
"Good. Now let's get inside the bunker," Rarity said to them.
________________________________________________________________________________
Twilight was going to get some sleep. She hadn't slept for a long time and now she needed some rest. It would be easier to sleep, when she knew that her friends were okay. She placed her head on the pillow and closed her eyes. Then she fell asleep.
"R.A.R.E forces!" came a shout from the corridor. A few bullet shots could also be heard. Twilight quickly jumped back to her feet, even though she was still pretty sleepy. She went into the corridor and looked at each side of the corridor.
"Twilight!" came a happy voice from Rarity at one of the ends.
"Rarity…?" Twilight said. She started to walk towards Rarity.
"Twilight, NO!" Darnicus shouted from the other end of the corridor.
Twilight turned around and was about to say something, when she felt a pinch at her flank. She looked at her flank and there was a needle. She tried to mumble something about it, but fell down and started to sleep…
________________________________________________________________________________
"Twilight, NO!" Darnicus shouted and saw Twilight collapse on the floor. "Buck!"
"Get the target!" Rarity shouted and the pegasus went to Twilight and lifted her on his back.
"You are not going to get her out from here without a scratch!" Darnicus shouted at R.A.R.E. He set a fireball on his hand and threw it into the other end of the corridor.
Huge scream of pain was heard, and the earth pony burned to ground. But Rarity and the pegasus had already ran away. Applejack, who had came to Darnicus'es side started running after them. She knew that there would be only one way out, and hoped that she would get to it first.
Turn left, right, right, left... Her mind told her. But just when she got to the exit, she saw the pegasus and passed out Twilight enter a portal. Rarity was still standing outside the portal.
"Bye!" Rarity taunted her and jumped into the portal. Just when Rarity had jumped into it, the portal closed.
Darnicus and Fluttershy came to the exit. Applejack was just barely holding herself, and she hoped that she wouldn't start crying. Fluttershy tried to comfort her but she herself was already crying. Darnicus seemed to be thinking their next move.
"What now?" Applejack asked. She knew that what they would have to do, she didn't just know how hard would it be.
"First, we need a new base. If the enemy knows where we are, it would be really, really bad thing for us. I know already one place, and that's probably going to be our new base." Darnicus didn't finish the sentence some why. "At the same time, some of us will go and try to save Twilight. Let's see if one of our spies gets any information where she will be placed. But, now, lets go and pack all our stuff." The three went back inside the bunker.
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Twilight slowly opened her eyes. She looked around. She had no idea where she was, or what had happened. She was in a cell of some sort, and then the reality hit her. She could remember that she had been knocked out, but not anything else. There were Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and a creepy robot minotaur that could use magic. But robot minotaurs don't exist? Right?
The place where she was, looked like a cavern. The place was pretty dark except there were few torches on the wall. There were two benches and a table outside the cell, but nopony could be seen. Twilight was wondering where she was, when Rarity stepped out from the shadows. She was wearing an elegant black dress, so beautiful, that everypony would be jealous.
"Twilight! You have finally woken up! It has been so long since I saw you!" Rarity said happily. Twilight remembered that there were something funny about Rarity, she just couldn't find out what.
"It took so long to drag you here. If I wouldn't have wanted to see you here I wouldn't have helped them to drag you here. It's so nice to see you," Rarity said melodramatically.
Twilight memory was coming back piece, by piece. Eclipse, friends, slaves, Darnicus, all of that just one at a time, came back. But when she saw Rarity's mane, she remembered the thing about Rarity. She grabbed the iron bars and shouted at her.
"How could you betray me and your friends?!"
"Well a lady like me, just couldn't live like those… Citizen ponies…" She said the word like they would only be trash to throw away. "I need my beauty sleep, you understand? And I didn't want to get my hooves mucky from working. You understand don't you?" Rarity asked like it was nothing.
"You have killed ponies! You knocked me out! You almost killed our friends!" Twilight just kept shouting. Her anger just grew and grew, when she watched Rarity in her fancy costume, and her mane was dirty, she had bruises and dear Celestia, had she even got any sleep?
"Fine then, be that way! It's so sad that you aren't on our side! But unfortunately, I can't talk with you too much, as Queen Eclipse wants to meet me. Ciao!" Rarity said to Twilight, and started to walk away.
"Rarity! Get back here! I will never join you!" Twilight shouted behind the cell she was in, and then she was all alone again.
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Twilight had been in the cell for days. She didn't know the exact time as there were no clocks nor sun to see. But she knew that she had been in there for a long time. Once and a while a guard came in, to give her some food and then the guard always left.
She thought in that time a lot of things. She thought about what were her friends doing, what was happening in outside world and would she ever get out. She just kept thinking these things over and over again.
Then while she was thinking a black alicorn came to her. Twilight watched as Eclipse came a few steps away from her cell. Twilight stood up and asked: "Came to laugh at me?"
Eclipse just shook her head and answered: "I thought that you might want to rethink my offer. Remember it? You come to my side and I will give you plenty of food, drink and other luxuries. What do you say?" She offered her hoof to Twilight.
Twilight couldn't think straight. One part of her wanted her to go to Eclipse's side. She just couldn't keep living like this. The other part was stating that she couldn't betray her friends. But some of her friends were on Eclipse's side. But if she would go to her side, then she would have to do a lot of bad things. Her mind kept fighting, and finally she made her decision.
She placed her horn on Eclipse's hoof. Eclipse smiled, almost laughed, but then Twilight casted the counter spell. Except that the cell that she was in gave her a small zap. Eclipse quickly pulled her hoof back, and then said to Twilight: "I'll take that as a no. Well you have plenty of time to think in here." And she just walked away.
Twilight was shocked. The spell hadn't worked! So that means, Celestia wasn't turned by a spell. And that means Darnicus was right. Twilight started crying. She wouldn't ever get out from here…
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The meeting room in rebels base, was full of ponies. They were all listening as Darnicus told them how they should move the stuff to new base. After that matter, had been talked over, he came to a new subject.
"So, from the intelligence that Scootaloo here gathered," Scootaloo smiled at everypony, "It seems that they have taken Twilight into the castle dungeons. It won't be easy to get in there or out. And we have to do this quietly. Otherwise, the rescue team will be killed. So we can't send more than five ponies in there, meanwhile others are going to start moving everything into the bunker at the mountains." Darnicus took a small break before he asked: "So, who will go and try to save Twilight with me?" Darnicus asked.
"I will!" Scootaloo shouted almost instantly.
"Me too," Applejack said.
Two other rebels said that they would come too.
"I won't lie. Most of us will probably die in there. But it's for a noble cause. I won't make you come with me, but I really could use some help," Darnicus preached them. But, everypony still wanted to come with him.
"Rescue team, go and pack everything we need. Food, tents, supplies. This journey will take more than just a day. Everypony else, start moving to the new base. And Fluttershy is in the lead when I'm away," Darnicus said and the rescue team went out from the meeting room. The rest of the ponies started to think who will move what to the new base.
But, the rescue team quickly packed everything they needed and left in about an hour. They all knew the dangers of this journey. I don't know what made them do it, but I know that they were brave ponies.
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The rescue team had placed a camp in the forest pretty close to Canterlot. Scootaloo and Applejack were watching Canterlot with binoculars and the rest were making food and placing tents.
"So, what do you think about this situation?" Scootaloo asked Applejack.
"What situation?" Applejack asked.
"Rescue mission, that weird minotaur, the rebels?" Scootaloo specified.
"Hmm… Well, I can't say a lot about this rescue mission. I don't know how are we supposed to get in, or out. I can't even think any way to find Twilight from those dungeons. The rebels are alright, but that weird minotaur… If you want to hear the truth, he kind of scares me," Applejack answered honestly.
"Yeah…" Scootaloo said quietly and looked through the binoculars. Few minutes of silence came, but was soon interrupted. "Look, look!" She shouted and gave the binoculars to Applejack. "Up in the tower!"
Applejack didn't first see it, but after looking into there for some time, she saw them. Eclipse, Rarity and Rainbow Dash were talking in there. Rainbow was wearing an ordinary military colonel suit, but Rarity was wearing a beautiful dress. They seemed to talk with someone, as they didn't look at each other. Then all of them nodded, and Rarity and Rainbow Dash left.
But somepony, or something walked to Eclipse's side. They both were standing on a balcony. Applejack still didn't quite see what that thing was but it was standing on two legs, it had two arms and… Two horns? Just when Applejack saw that, the thing on the balcony turned its head in the direction they were, and the binoculars flew from Applejacks hooves.
"Buck!" Applejack said and ran to the binoculars. She quickly placed them on her eyes, but she didn't see nopony else than Eclipse.
"What was that?" Scootaloo asked from Applejack.
"Umm…" Applejack didn't want to tell the honest truth, not this time. At least not yet. So, she didn't say anything. It could have been anything in the tower, her mind tried to convince her. But still, she was pretty sure that the thing at the balcony had been a minotaur in metal suit.
"It would be for the best if we would go back to camp," Applejack told to Scootaloo. Applejack would have some questioning to do.
________________________________________________________________________________
When they came to the camp it had became dark. Moon was shining in the sky and the stars glowed brightly. Darnicus and the two other rebels were sitting at the campfire watching the sky.
"This is life at its best isn't it? Watching the sky at a campfire, nothing to worry about," said the earth pony named Clyde at the camp fire. He was one of the rebels who had came to their help in this quest.
"Nothing to worry about?" pegasus named Rasberry asked.
"Shut up!" Then Clyde saw Applejack and Scootaloo trotting their way and shouted at them: "Hey! Over here!"
Applejack was nervous. If the minotaur up in the tower really was Darnicus then he had seen Applejack. But Darnicus was just sitting at the campfire, watching at the moon. It seemed that he was deep in his thoughts.
Darnicus knew that, that was the same moon, but this wasn't the same place. He still remembered the old times. When he had played with his friends and looked at the shops that had all kinds of styff, ran to his ho…
"May I talk to you for a second?" Applejack interrupted his thoughts.
"Well, yes of course," he answered to Applejack after the surprise faded away.
Applejack led him into the forest and the others just stayed at the campfire.
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After Applejack and Darnicus had walked for five minutes, Applejack finally got courage to ask.
"Were you in that tower?" She asked from Darnicus.
"Where you got that thought?" Darnicus stopped, and looked at Applejack..
"I could swear that it was you in the tower."
"Would it matter if it was me?" Darnicus answered.
Applejack was surprised that this thing didn't hide it. "So I would know that you aren't going to betray us!" Applejack said angrily.
"Well, maybe I was and maybe I wasn't," Darnicus said mysteriously.
"Buck this, I am going to tell the others," Applejack said and turned back to the way the camp was.
In a brief second, Darnicus had grabbed Applejack from the throat and smashed her into a tree. Then he held Applejack against the three. His eyes slowly turned from purple to red, and then he said with slow, cold computer voice: "You will not interfere with the plan. I have prepared this for two years." He threw Applejack roughly at the ground. Applejack got her mouth full of dirt, and she coughed it up.
Applejack was seeing only red. A thing that she had thought that would be a friend, was actually her greatest enemy. An enemy who didn't only threaten her life and friends, but the hole Equestria. Darnicus walked closer to her. From the ground she kicked Darnicus with her powerful legs. Not even strange thing like him, could stand the power of Applejacks bucking legs, and he flew away form Applejack.
He quickly jumped back up, but wasn't waiting for Applejack to charge straight into him. Applejack knocked him against a tree, but the Darnicus took the opportunity and tripped her over. But when Applejack stood up, she saw fire blazing on his hand.
"Take one step, and there won't even be time to scream," Darnicus said calmly.
Applejack was unsure what she should do. She could charge into him again, but the fire blazing on the minotaurs hand, looked real. And, how could a minotaur even light fire? When Applejack was thinking what she should do, Darnicus had figured out his next move.
He threw the fireball, just few steps away from her. Applejack automatically hopped away from the blast, and Darnicus was expecting that. He took one sidestep and Applejack almost jumped to his hands. He again grabbed Applejack from her throat, and lifted her into air.
Applejack started to cough, but still asked one question from him: "Why are you doing this?"
Darnicus slowly lowered Applejack, so that their eyes greeted each other. "Look into my eyes…" he said calmly. Applejack looked at his eyes, and then, his eyes started to change. Images started to flash in his eyes, and Applejack couldn't do anything else than look at them…
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"Where could they be?" Scootaloo asked at the campfire. Darnicus and Applejack had left into the forest ten minutes ago, and it was really dark.
"I don't know, maybe they are collecting something to eat?" Clyde suggested.
"Or maybe they were attacked?" Rasberry suggested.
Just when Rasberry had said that, Darnicus walked back to the camp, carrying Applejack in his hands.
"What happened?!" Clyde jumped back up, and it looked like he was waiting someone to attack them.
"A bear attacked us. It hit Applejack, and she fainted. I then quickly grabbed her, and ran away from the bear. It seems it didn't follow us," Darnicus told them.
"Is she going to be okay?" Scootaloo asked.
"She should be fine. She just needs some rest." Darnicus placed Applejack inside her tent, and went back to the campfire. They talked about what they would do if something would go wrong, and then they went to sleep. They would have to continue to look for a way inside Canterlot tomorrow.
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When Applejack woke up, it was already midday. She crawled out of her tent, and looked around. Nopony could be seen. But the fire was still burning and the tents were in place. They could have been attacked and everypony except her taken to the dungeons, or maybe everypony was doing something. The latter soon became the most likely as Rasberry walked back to the camp.
"Oh, hey AJ!" He said with a chirp voice.
"Umm… Hey… Where is everypony?" she asked.
"Well, the creepy metal robot thingy and Scoots went to look for a way to get inside Canterlot. Me and Clyde went to get something to eat, if we have to stay in here for a longer than just few days." Rasberry placed a basket full of apples down.
"Hopefully not. I don't like being this close to Canterlot," Applejack said and took one apple from the basket.
Clyde came back from the woods too, with a big load of wood. "Oh, hey Applejack!"
Applejack just raised her hoof and took a bite from the apple. Suddenly, Scootaloo ran to them and started telling something, but the words didn't make much sense as she was so exhausted.
"What is it?" Clyde asked.
"We… *huff* found a way… inside Canterlot…" She finally said.
"Really?! That's great news!" Rasberry started.
Applejack just looked at the ponies, and kept eating the apple.
"Darnicus… *puff* wants to see you… at the edge of the forest…" Scootaloo told them.
"Well, I guess we should go then," Applejack suggested.
"Yeah!" Clyde and Rasberry both shout. Their spirits were high, but for how long?
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When the ponies came to the edge of the forest, it looked like Darnicus was sleeping against a tree. Because of that thought, they jumped a bit when he said: "The way in is over there." Darnicus pointed at a road, that had over 50 wagons on it.
"Wagons…?" Applejack asked.
"We just quickly jump into one. That's all we have to do."
"But isn't that a little bit of dangerous? What about if we get caught and…" Clyde started, but Darnicus interrupted him.
"Have I said that this will be a risk free operation? Didn't I tell you that we will what probably die on this mission?" Darnicus stood up, and stared at Clyde.
"Uhmm… Umm… Yes you did…" Everypony would be scared if a robot two times bigger than you would stare at you.
"Good." Darnicus turned back to the others. "If we want to save Twilight, me must act now!"
Others agreed, and they all started climbing downwards the hill.
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As they climbed down, they saw that none of the wagons had drivers. It seemed that the wagons were pulled by somepony or probably ponies in the front. Darnicus jumped into a one, Scootaloo and Applejack into other one and Rasberry and Clyde into the last one.
Scootaloo and Applejack waited. Seconds felt like minutes, and minutes felt like hours. The wagon was full of boxes. There was a small gap behind the boxes, so small that adult pony couldn't fit into it.
Applejack felt her heart jump to her throat, when the road changed from gravel to asphalt. Then, they heard two ponies talking to each other.
"So these are the new weapons?"
"Yeah. Heard those things can hurt pretty badly."
"Did we ever have some real weaponry?"
"I guess the spells would count…"
"How did we pegasus and earth ponies even fight changelings who could use magic?"
"I don't know… Wait, did you hear that."
Few step sounds came closer and closer to the wagon. Applejack grabbed Scootaloo and placed behind the boxes.
"Wait, I want to fight!" Scootaloo whispered.
"Not today," Applejack answered and forced her to go behind the boxes. Then she turned away and prepared to fight. Her heart raced as she knew, that if they would look into the wagon, her death would what probably be certain.
But, for her surprise, the guards didn't look into their wagon, but into the wagon where Rasberry and Clyde were.
"REBELS!" one of the ponies shouted. Then there came few fight sounds, screams and silence. Neither Applejack or Scootaloo knew who died and who lived. All that they knew was that the wagons started moving again.
In about five minutes a knock came to their wagons side. A metallic hand waved outside the wagon. Applejack and Scootaloo both jumped out from the wagon, and Darnicus showed them, that they should go into that dark alley. They took a little break in the alley.
"Where's Rasberry and Clyde?" Scootaloo asked.
Darnicus only shook his head. The ponies took it as a gesture, that they should just carry on.
________________________________________________________________________________
Step by step, they got closer and closer to the castle. They tagged in the alleys, and only ran across the streets when it was needed. Applejack almost tried to save a family from beating, but Darnicus stopped her.
"There is no time for that," was the only thing he said.
Applejack's only wish was that Scootaloo would not have been there. She feared that the things she would see could traumatize her. The things happening in there were not for fillies.
Finally after few hours, they had crossed the city and were close to the gates of the castle. They took a break in shadows help.
"How are we going to get in?" Scootaloo asked. Darnicus looked at his left hand and in the forearm, a panel slid open. Behind the panel was some kind of screen and he pressed it few times and looked at it.
"Well, the best answer would be climbing or flying, but there are guards posted on the wall. Second answer would be digging, but we don't have time for that. And then…" Darnicus stopped and thought for a second.
"What is it?" Scootaloo asked.
"Yes, it is the only way…" He pressed the screen few more times. Then, he turned and looked at the ponies. "The entrance to the dungeons is in the gardens. Twilight is kept in the lower sections. That's all I know. I don't know if Eclipse has changed the place where to get into the dungeons. And promise me, when you find Twilight, find a way out of here as quickly as possible."
"What are you going to do?" Applejack asked. She knew the answer, but she hoped that the machine wouldn't do it.
"The last resort. Go from the side, so they won't hopefully see you." Even though his voice was metallic, they could still feel that there was sadness in his voice. "Wait for sometime in here, just in case."
Darnicus walked away from the shadows and walked in from the gate. Then spotlights started to aim him and guards rounded him. Applejack and Scootaloo, went in from the gate and quietly walked in the shadows that the wall created.
Eclipse came to a balcony, and shouted with her royal Canterlot voice: "So thou has came and decided that thou shall join us?!"
"No, I have not!" Came the answer from him. Somehow, he could use the royal Canterlot voice, or something that was as pretty powerful too.
"Then there is only one more thing you can do for me!" Eclipse stated and walked away from the balcony.
A guard attacked Darnicus. With his metallic fist, he punched the guard's face in, and the pony dropped dead on the ground. Two fires flashed in his hands and one flew to right, setting multiple ponies on fire. In seconds their bodies melt to bones and ash. The other flew into a spotlight, causing it to blow up. The pony operating it, flew from the wall and the hit the ground. Bones cracked and the pony stopped moving at all.
Now, many of the guards were surprised, because the thing could hurt you from distance too. But, as they started to realise what was happening, all of them attacked at once.
Darnicus'es eyes burned bright red.
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Applejack saw Darnicus shout at Eclipse, who was standing in the balcony.
"Come on AJ! We need to find Twilight!" Scootaloo tried to push her.
"Oh righty." They made their way into the garden as Darnicus got every guards attention.
Applejack and Scootaloo passed the statues, and Applejack got shivers when they passed Discord's statue. Then, Applejack hit into Scootaloo.
"What is it…" Applejack started but didn't finish the sentence. There was a huge crack in the castle's wall. There were two guard towers, now unmanned, on each side. There was also a huge pit, that was probably used for transporting slaves. This was, no doubt, entrance to the dungeons. Applejack and Scootaloo trotted inside.
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The dungeons started as a basement. Nowadays, the basement doesn't exist as it was demolished in the way of mines. As you went deeper, you would eventually hit into one of those old mines. Many, many years ago, ponies had mined the precious crystals that somehow grew under the castle.
The crystals had many purposes, but mostly they were used as magic banks. Unicorns would charge them with their power of magic, and then those crystals could be used as power for many devices. Even Darnicus'es suit used those for power!
But lets get back to the story.
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When Scootaloo and Applejack got into the dungeon, they soon found out, that the guards posted there hadn't went up to the ground. There was an area that had walls surrounding it and only ways in or out were two gates. The guards watched slave ponies mine crystals. AJ and Scootaloo looked for a way to continue deeper.
They saw a guard coming their way, but the guard hadn't seen them, so they hid behind few crystals. Soon, the guard pony walked pretty close to them and, conveniently, turned his back for them. Then Applejack got an idea. She quietly went behind him, and *BONK* the guard would be passed out for a few hours. She dragged the guard behind some crystals and then stripped him from his armour.
"Wait are we going to act as guards?" Scootaloo asked.
"No, I am. You're going to be a slave," Applejack told her.
"WHAT?!" Scootaloo shouted.
"Don't shout! I meant that I'm going to act as a guard and hopefully that way we can get deeper."
"Oh… That makes sense."
The plan was ridiculous. I mean, those things work only in movies! But, well, here's how it turned out. Applejack, wearing the guards armour that prevented the guards from seeing her face. In front of her walked Scootaloo, making the best sad face, she could.
When they got to the first gate, a guard pony shouted from the top. "Bringing a new slave?"
Applejack answered with a low voice: "Yeah, a rebel." I hope this works, she thought.
"Rebel? That filly?" The guard didn't seem to think that a filly could be a rebel.
"Yes, now let us through," Applejack demanded.
"Alrighty then." The guard shrugged and let them go through. Now they would just have to get through the second gate.
"Hey! Let us through!"
The guard, who controlled the second gate, looked at them and asked: "Why?"
"I have a rebel here!"
"So? Shouldn't she just go mine with the others?"
Applejack hadn't thought that, and slowly she started getting more and more nervous. "Umm… Eclipse's orders!"
"Really?" The guard still hesitated about letting them go.
"Yes. Um… She said that this rebel would have to go in the same place as Twilight Sparkle!"
The guard eyes flashed when he heard the word Twilight Sparkle and he flew down from the controls. The guard was slightly bigger than Applejack, and much more muscular. "Are you new one here?"
"… Yes." Applejack almost panicked as the guard looked into her eyes.
"What unit are you from? You are awfully small to be a ordinary guard."
Applejack didn't know any other guards than the ordinaries. But, then, three letters flashed in her mind. She didn't know where she knew them, but she thought that they would be the best shot. "I'm from H.C.U."
Hearing the three letters had a radical impact on the guard. "Oh! You should have said so! Of course I will let you trough!" The guard flew back to the controls and opened the gate. Applejack and Scootaloo made their way through the gate. "Just keep heading straight and you will find Twilight Sparkle's cell!" The guard shouted.
Both Applejack and Scootaloo were relieved. The plan had worked, against all expectations. They went behind the crystals and Applejack took the heavy armour off. It would have only slowed them down.
As they ventured more and more downwards, the less guards there were. Few times they almost got discovered, but with quick thinking, they always got away without being seen. I will not tell you about what happened there as it would take me way too long.
Finally, the path became smaller and smaller. Light was dim and only few torches lit the walls. The air was cold, and it was pretty hard to breathe. Then, the path opened into a bigger room. The room was as dark as the path, but this room had a small table and two chairs in it.
And, in the opposite wall, was a small cell.
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*Guard coming from left.*
*Guard coming from right*.
The AI in Darnicus's head kept saying to him. He evaded a lighting coming from an unicorn, and threw a dead guard on top of him.
He lit one fireball and threw into a guard who was just equipping a battleback.
"AI, will Applejack and Scootaloo find Twilight?" he asked.
*Possibility is 76 percent. But the possibility of them to get out is 32 percent.*
He kicked one guard and other one got a punch in his face. The guards seemed start using battlebacks and it would be pretty bad for him.
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Battleback is a piece of machinery that a normal pony can use. It's made from metal and it uses magic crystals as it power. Battleback works so that a pony can shoot either lightning or a fireball, just by pulling from a small string. There are one for each, one for lighting and one for fire.
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But, all of the sudden, all of the guards left. They just retreated. Darnicus thought that it was pretty weird, as the guards don't retreat just like that.
"AI! What the hell is going on here?!"
*I have no idea. But I would recommend you to look behind you.*
Darnicus turned around and instantly got a kick in his head. He flew few feet into air, hit to the ground and instantly jumped back up.
Right in front of him was a minotaur, two times bigger than him, wearing heavy plated armour.
"You shouldn't have killed my friends, brother." The minotaur mumbled. The minotaurs armour was rather impressive. It's grey colour shined in the moonlight, and on it's edges were golden decorations. This minotaur must had been in Celestia's army for a long time.
"Look, just forget the code. You don't need to call me your brother. Let's just get this over with."
The minotaur drew out a sword, no a big claymore, that could cut a cow in half. Darnicus was one of those things that didn't fear anything, except Slenderpony, but this creature in front of him, could be actually a battle worthy opponent.
"AI, what is this things weak point?" He asked.
*No idea. I should also point out, that magic is running low. It will take at least half an hour to charge back.*
Great, Darnicus thought.
The first attack from the minotaur successfully hit. But, luckily the suit that Darnicus was wearing prevented him from dying. For now. He, yet again, flew into the air, and hit into the ground.
"Ok, that's it. I'm done playing games." Darnicus stated. He stood up and apparently, his suit could do more than just magic. Two blades appeared from his forearms hand end. The blades shined blue and had weird runes in them. The blades were 20 inches long, and sharp as Tartarus.
"Arlurs!" The mighty minotaur in front of him shouted.
"So you know these? And then you know how deadly these are!"
But the minotaur showed no fear, only braveness. The minotaur swung the claymore vertically, but Darnicus hopped aside, and the claymore hit the ground. The second swung came sideways. Darnicus jumped into the air, but right when the claymore was under his feet, he stomped it to ground, and the minotaur released it from his hands.
"Huh?" Was the response from the minotaur. Right after that statement Darnicus punched him. The blade in his forearm pierced the armour, but didn't kill the minotaur. It seemed that the armour was really thick, or this minotaur could take pain.
The minotaur kicked Darnicus again but this time he was prepared. Darnicus grabbed his feet, and using the suits hydraulics, he threw the minotaur over his head. The minotaur smashed into ground.
That was when Darnicus saw a small hole in minotaurs armour.
"AI, get me a picture of that weakness!" A small picture came to upper right of his visor.
*It seems that the back of his neck can be seen through that hole. I advise you to pierce your blade through that point.*
The minotaur stood up and picked his sword. He charged at Darnicus and swung the heavy claymore right at him. Darnicus countered the attack with his blades and tried to climb on the minotaurs back. But the minotaur grabbed Darnicus and threw him away. This time, when he hit the ground, he didn't jump back up.
Darnicus was laying on the ground, breathing hardly and the minotaur came to end his life. But, Darnicus wasn't near the end. Just when the minotaur was about to give the finishing blow, Darnicus tripped the minotaur with his legs. The minotaur collapsed on his stomach.
Just when the minotaur was getting back up, he felt somebody jumping onto his back. Then a blade pierced his the back of his neck. The minotaurs huge body crashed back down to ground. Darnicus was standing on the body. The blades went back into his suit. His suit was bloody, just like if he would have been slaughtering cows recently.
But, it wasn't a break time for him. As soon, as the blades pulled back, fireball missed him just by inches. The ordinary guards seemed to be again wanting to fight against him. All of the guards had equipped battlebacks, so that they could do damage from the distance too.
Hopefully those ponies will get out of there alive, Darnicus thought.
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"Twilight!" Applejack shouted. She couldn’t wait to see Twilight's face again, even though she had been kidnapped just one week ago.
Twilight was laying on her back. She didn't know what time it was, what day it was, what season it was, she practically didn't know anything that happened outside world. First she thought she was hallucinating. But when Applejack and Scootaloo came closer she mumbled the words: "A-Applejack?"
"Twilight! Dear Celestia, are you okay?" Twilight looked horrible, her mane was ugly as buck, she was nothing but skin and bones and she had bruises all over her, as the cell gave her a sap always when she tried to use magic.
"I… I'm not hallucinating?" She stood up and asked.
"Of course not!" Scootaloo threw behind Applejack.
"We're here to save you!" Applejack told to Twilight.
Twilight, finally realising she isn't hallucinating, could have screamed for joy but she didn't. Instead, she said: "The keys are on the table."
Scootaloo quickly ran to the table and grabbed the keys with her mouth. Then, she ran back to the cell and opened the it. Twilight came out from the cell and instantly hugged them both.
"Oh, it's so good to see you! What time is it? What day is it? Has the winter came yet?" Twilight started to bombard them with questions.
"Umm… Sugarcube, it has been a week since you were taken."
"Ohh! We'll we should get out of here. Let me just teleport us out of here…" Twilight said, but got stopped by Scootaloo.
"No! We have to go and get Darnicus!"
"That thing came with you?"
"Well, yes. And she's right. Twilight, without him we wouldn't be here."
"Ughh… Fine…" She really wanted to get out of here, but it seemed that would have to wait for a moment.
A fireball flew over their heads. The cell what probably had an alarm spell on it. There were two guards firing at them with battlebacks.
"Twilight, can you teleport us to the garden?" Applejack asked.
"I think so." Twilight started to cast a teleport spell and before they could say banana, they were already at the garden.
"Where is Darnicus?" Twilight asked.
"He should be right around the corner."
When they turned around the corner they saw, Darnicus fighting only two guards. There were bodies everywhere, and Twilight covered Scootaloo's eyes. A giant minotaur was dead on the ground and Celestia knows how many guards he had killed.
He burned one of the guards and then cut the other ones stomach open. Then he saw the ponies who were looking at him.
"My little ponies! You're okay!" he shouted. He was rather scary thing to see, covered in blood and all.
"Yes, we are but we need to get out of here! Get over here and we'll teleport out of here!" Twilight shouted.
Darnicus started running to them, and Twilight started to prepare the teleport spell. But just when Darnicus would only needed to take few steps, lighting pierced through him.
The ponies watched as lights went out from his eyes, he stopped breathing and collapsed on the ground. They looked up and saw Eclipse, who was standing on the balcony. She had casted the lighting that had killed Darnicus.
Just when Applejack would have ran to his body, Twilight teleported them out of there.
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They found themselves in the nearby forest, pretty close to their camp. All of them were exhausted from everything. Applejack and Scootaloo because of finding Twilight, and Twilight because of the teleports. Their manes were ruined and they had bruises all over them.
"What the buck, Twilight?!" Applejack shouted at her.
"That thing died! You saw it yourself!" Twilight replied to her.
"But what if it didn't?!"
"His eyes turned off and he stopped breathing! That thing worked on electricity and that shock probably fried all his circuits! And probably insides if he had any! There was nothing we could do!"
"But what if…!"
"STOOP!" Scootaloo shouted. "Fighting now is ridiculous! The guards are going to what probably come after us so we should get back to the camp!"
The two ponies stopped fighting and they both stayed quiet until they got back to camp. Finally at the camp, Applejack said one thing to Twilight. She was sad, not only because two ponies had died, but their greatest asset had died too. "Maybe you were right. He probably died in there."
Twilight answered her, but now with anger, but with the truth. "Maybe we could have saved him, if I wouldn't have teleported us."
"Look, it's alright. We will get trough this, don't worry. Tomorrow after a good sleep, we will start our journey to the new base." Applejack answered.
They made fire and roasted apples in it. After they had eaten, all of them went to sleep. There would be a big journey tomorrow, and they should get their power charged up.
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Meanwhile in the castle
*Brains: undamaged*
*Brain status: in stasis*
*Heart: undamaged*
*Heart status: stasis*
*Machinery status: working*
*Applying reboot…*
The AI wrote few texts and a huge shock went trough Darnicus's body, making him twitch and turn uncontrollably. A second shock was given and finally his machinery started working again. His heart and brain came back from stasis and slowly his eyes opened back up.
Darnicus was lying on a bed. He stood up and looked around him. He was in his own room in the castle, no doubt. His desk, his paper clippings on the wall, everything was still in place. He tried the door, but like he was excepting, the door was locked.
He sat down at his desk. He opened few of the drawers and took one picture out of one. He looked at the picture, and felt like his heart had been stabbed. But, he knew that he wouldn't join them in a long time. He placed the picture on his desk and looked out from the window in front of his desk.
A knock came from the door. Darnicus turned around in his chair and looked who would come in. The door opened and a black alicorn stepped inside his room.
"Darnicus," Eclipse said.
"Hi Eclipse. You gave me pretty big shock didn't you?"
"Was it too big?"
"Nothing that I couldn't handle."
"Good to hear. So, what now?"
"I'll take the lead from here. You just prepare yourself, ok?"
"Yes. Should I inform the troops of you leading this operation?"
"Yes you should. And while you're at it, could you call Rainbow Dash in here?"
"She will come to you." Eclipse went out from the room and left Darnicus with his thoughts.
I wonder if Twilight does what I except her to do, he thought.
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After about thirty minutes Rainbow Dash finally knocked on his door. The door opened and she stepped inside. Darnicus was still sitting at his desk, looking out of the window.
"You called?" She asked.
"Yes I did Rainbow. Would you take a look this?" A piece of paper levitated to her, and she took it with her teeth. "That is the current location of new rebel camp. There are positioned at least 1000 rebels. Take 700 soldiers with you and arm them with battlebacks. I believe you know what to do next?"
"Yes I do."
Rainbow made honor to him and started to walk to the door. Just when she was about to step out, Darnicus said one last thing.
"Bring me Fluttershy alive."
