New Sun

"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.

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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.

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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.

________________________________________________________________________________

"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.

________________________________________________________________________________

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.

________________________________________________________________________________

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.

________________________________________________________________________________

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."