Chapter 7: Battle at the Castle
Inferno's minions were all over the place in the Everfree Forest. It was difficult to move around, but Darkwing and Rainbow Dash often hid in the trees and waited till they were sure the coast was clear before they could move again. Although she wouldn't admit it, Rainbow Dash was actually starting to get a little scared. Was it because of the spooky surrondings of the forest? Was it because of the criminals that roamed around the forest like they owned it? Or maybe it was a little bit of both.
"I'll give you this, you must have nerves of steel to deal with punks like these all the time," she whispered to Darkwing.
He was quiet at first as two more minions walked past, then he responded back to Rainbow Dash, "I don't have nerves of steel, I get scared as much as any pony would, but when trouble comes, I have to suck it up and press on. Now quiet, I need to keep an eye on this duo down below."
Rainbow nodded and went quiet at once.
Darkwing watched the duo of minions circling the area for about three minutes, then going into the fouth minute, the first of the minions walked away for some reason. Darkwing didn't care to know, this was his chance of finding the hideout.
Without warning, he jumped down from the tree and tackled the minion aganist another tree.
"Darkwing?! But I..." his mouth was covered up by Darkwing's hoof.
"Shut your mouth you fool, don't want attention being drawn to us. Now where is your boss Inferno?" But the minion didn't answer the question, which got Darkwing angry. "Alright you little punk, you got two choices here. You can either tell me where he is with no trouble, or I'll beat the truth out of you. Your choice."
Fearing Darkwing would actually hurt him, considering all the stories he heard from his pals in the criminal group, he gave an answer.
"You'll find him in the castle of the two sisters," he answered. "He figures it's the best place to hide out since nopony goes there anyways." Darkwing glared at him firmly. "I'm telling you the truth, honest, please don't hurt me."
"Fine, I won't." And he backed up from the minion. He then dashed off, with Rainbow Dash following close behind.
The first of the two minions returned, shocked at seeing two pegasi flying in the forest, "was that the Darkwing Pony our boss has been hunting down? I thought he drowned in the waters of Ponyville."
"Somehow he survived," said his buddy. A smirk came to his face, "but he'll never find the master."
"Oh? And why do you say that?"
"Cause I sent him and his little pal to the Castle of the two sisters, that's where we send any nosey ponies remember?"
The first minion chuckled, "he's done for. Master Inferno will never know about Darkwing's return."
After running and flying through the Everfree Forest, Darkwing and Rainbow Dash arrived at the rope bridge connecting the canyon with the forest, to the land the castle of the two sisters sat on.
"If that Inferno nutjob has hurt my friends, I'll make him regret his decision," grumbled Rainbow Dash as she smacked her hooves aganist each other. She was about to fly over, but was stopped by Darkwing, "why are you trying to stop me?"
"Something's not right."
"What?"
"Inferno never leaves a chance to be found, even with the hideouts. So why was it so easy to get to?"
"Maybe he didn't think anypony would come here?" suggested Rainbow Dash.
Darkwing shook his head, "no, he's too smart to think that way. We're going in, but be cautious and don't let your guard down."
Slowly, the two pegasus ponies made their way across the rope bridge. It seemed to take forever for Rainbow Dash, mostly due to her being scared of what was waiting in that castle this time. The only other time she had been scared of this castle was the night she and Applejack tried to find out who the most daring pony. It resulted in them being seperated and getting scared over little things, and each other. This time though, it wasn't a game, this was a matter of facing criminals and saving her friends.
Finally, they reached solid ground and slowly walked into the front hallway.
"Not bad, it's certainly better than some other buildings I've gone into," Darkwing thought to himself.
As they walked along, he heard a small sound, like some pony hitting a rock.
"Rainbow, get behind me."
"Why?"
"We're not alone in here."
No sooner had he said that than he and Rainbow Dash found themselves surronded by a large number of Inferno's minions. Some looked shocked, while others stared angerily at Darkwing.
"I thought he was gone," one said.
"Does it matter? We need more practise anyways, and by destorying him and his girlfriend, we'll get that."
"I'm not..."
"Rainbow, stay quiet and stay down," Darkwing said firmly. He charged at a small group of minions and started attacking them. He punched the first one with his right hoof, ducked from an attack by a second and smacked him hard with a punch of the left hoof. Another minion tried to hit him from behind again with, yet another two by four, but this time the minion was hit by Rainbow Dash.
"Stay quiet and stay down? I don't think so!" she said firmly. "You didn't get me out of jail to just stand by and watch. You said you wanted my help, well now I'm giving it." Extending her wings, Rainbow Dash took off and started smacking the minions about, making many go flying.
"Show-off," muttered Darkwing before he punched another minion standing behind him.
Still, he did allow her to help him and soon the group of minions were down and out cold.
"Well I say that takes care of the welcome reception, now let's get that Inferno and teach him a few lessons," said Rainbow with determination.
She was about to fly off, but found her tail being grabbed, "I need to make a sign saying 'stop grabbing my tail'."
Darkwing however didn't let go, so Rainbow flew down till all four hooves were on the ground, and that's when Darkwing let go of her tail.
"This isn't the hideout," he said firmly.
"What? Are you kidding me? There was a large number of ponies here trying to beat the living snot out of us."
"Something I forgot to mention is that Inferno also has a place to send nosey ponies looking for him, and sadly many ponies have fallen victim to this trap, with many never being seen or heard from again."
Rainbow gulped hearing that.
"If I had to guess," Darkwing continued, "I'd say this whole castle is infested with minions."
Right on cue, a second wave of minions appeared, this time they were carrying big pieces of wood either in their magic or their mouths.
"They're not going to let us leave, are they?" Rainbow asked.
"Nope, not a chance." Both ponies got into fighting stances once more, "get ready Rainbow Dash, everything before this has merely been practise."
Inferno was in his hideout, enjoying a nice meal of spagetti with tomato sauce when one minion knocked on his door, "What is it? I'm trying to enjoy lunch."
"Sorry to interupte Master Inferno, but word's coming in from the Castle of the Two Sisters. Two ponies have entered and are fighting our guys."
Inferno raised an eyebrow, "and who would these ponies be?"
The minion looked down nervously, "one is that Rainbow pegasus, she got out of jail, and the other..." the minion paused.
"The other one is...?"
"It's the Darkwing Pony, master."
"WHAT?!" he exclaimed. He shot upright out of his seat and his lunch went everywhere. "I was told he drowned in the waters of Ponyville. How did he escape?"
"I don't know Master, he just did."
Inferno snarled, "Blast it all, he'll soon find my hideout." Then a smirk came to his face, "then again, maybe it's a good thing if he comes here."
"Uh Master, are you sure about that?"
"Yes, cause now I have a chance to destory the pony with my own hooves, and while we're at it, we get one more prisoner." He cackled to himself, "even slight little hiccups can turn into advantages for me."
"Of course Master," said the minion and bowed as he left.
Back at the castle, Rainbow Dash was using all her energy to fight the minions that were trying to hit her. She often had to duck down low when two or three pieces of two by fours tried to hit her in the face.
"Whew, that was close," she gasped.
The minions however had hit Darkwing at least five times with their two by fours. But just when they thought he was finished, he suddenly spun round, hitting them in the legs and when they started groaning in pain, he smacked them in the faces, knocking all but one out cold. The last one was now too injuried to fight back.
"Darn buggers," muttered Darkwing.
Now that he wasn't surronded, he was able to go back and help Rainbow Dash. Punching and kicking, the two ponies fought hard and before long, knocked the ponies down to the ground. Some were out cold, while others groaned in pain.
"You do this every single night? I can't imagine a job that's harder than this," she commented.
"Well be thankful you're a weather pony and don't have this sort of thing to deal with."
"Actually, I'm a Wonderbolt now. I recently gave up my job as weather pony."
Darkwing was surprised to hear that, but soon the shocked look disappeared into a smile, "so you got to live out your dreams eh? At least one of us accomplished their dreams."
He walked over towards the only minion he kicked down that was still awake.
"Now, where is your stupid boss Inferno?"
The minion spat some blood out of his mouth, which landed on Darkwing's suit, "like I'd tell you. The master is a busy pony, he doesn't have time to deal with a piece of garbage like you."
"Really now?" Darkwing raised an eyebrow. Then he saw something in the pony's saddlebag, which was laying next to him. Inside was a bottle of hot sauce, but not just any hot sauce, it was Inferno hot sauce. The hottest kind of hot sauce in all of Equestria.
Rainbow shuddered just seeing it. She didn't like peppers or hot sause as it was too hot for her taste buds.
Darkwing reached over and broke the lid off of the bottle, "are you sure you don't want to tell me where Inferno is?"
The minion pony groaned, but remained firm, "I won't say a word. I won't even open my mouth," and he mimicked closing his mouth with a sipper.
Darkwing smirked, "oh I'm sure we can find a way to get your mouth to open up. Now it's your choice, you're either going to talk, or the sauce goes in and we'll force you to tell us."
The minion pony refused, but as he saw Rainbow Dash walk over and Darkwing bring the bottle close to his mouth, his fears got to him.
"Alright! Alright! I'll talk!"
Darkwing pulled the bottle away, "go on then, tell us, where is Inferno?"
The minion pony groaned, "leave the Castle of the Two Sisters, go back into the Everfree forest, take ten steps and go right. You'll go down a path to his new hideout."
"Anything we need to know about the hideout?" Darkwing asked, bringing the hot sauce bottle over to the pony's mouth.
The minion pony moved his head back, "uh yeah, there's plenty to know. Flying in is impossible for those who don't work for Inferno. He has pegasi ready to strike you down as soon as you go in there, sneak in threw the bushes without making a sound and you'll be fine. Don't bother going in through the front doors, or you'll be attacked by unicorn guards. Also on the inside, there are earth pony guards who know martial arts."
Rainbow Dash looked firmly to him, "how do we know we can trust your words?"
"I think in these circumstances, we can trust this pony," said Darkwing. "Thank you very much buddy." He lifted his right hoof and punched the guy's lights out. "Lights out you fool."
He placed the hot sauce bottle down, then got up.
"We better get out of here, we've given the third wave enough time to reach us."
"How bad is the third wave."
"DUCK!" shouted Darkwing. Both he and Rainbow ducked for cover as spears flew past them, going at break neck speeds. "Should I answer that question?"
"No."
"Plus Wave 4 is the worst one, so let's go!"
Moving quickly, Rainbow Dash and Darkwing flew out of the Castle of the two sisters with the ponies flying after them. Thankfully, they were able to get into a tree and hide out of sight. The minions looked around for them, but couldn't see them. They soon walked or flew away to continue the search.
"Wow, now that was too close," whispered Rainbow Dash. "You know something, you're more entertaining than many of the superheroes in Spike's comic books. You even have a catchpharse, you just need a catchy tune. How should it go? Daring pony of mystery, champion of..." But Rainbow was cut off by Darkwing placing a hoof over her mouth.
"Are you trying to get us caught?"
"Sorry."
"Besides, I'm not better than those heroes in those comic books. They at least are loved by ponies, as for me, well you know. Now come on and let's get that short sided fool. Let's Get Dangerous." He suddenly realised what he said, "ugh, the sooner we beat him the better. I don't want to become a comic book hero."
"Hey, you never know, you could end up with comic book stories about yourself."
"Don't count on it, now come on."
With Rainbow now being silent, they walked away from the Castle of the Two Sisters and into the forest. After ten paces, they reached the path. From here, they had to be super quiet. Darkwing went in first, followed by Rainbow Dash. Above them were the pegasus guards, ready to strike anypony who was crazy enough to go down their pathway. To say going through the bushes was easy going would be lying, as some bushes had thorns in them and it took all of Rainbow's strength to keep herself from screaming. Darkwing didn't even flinch.
"He gives himself less credit than he deserves," Rainbow thought to herself. "He is like those super heroes in the comic books."
After about nine minutes of crawling through the bushes, the two ponies emerged on the other side and found themselves face to face with a small castle, no bigger than the trees.
"I've flown over this forest hundreds of times, and I've never seen anything like this before," Rainbow commented.
"That's because of the unicorn guards he has," said Darkwing. "They use their magic to hide this place from sky views, but it's useless from ground level."
He then began looking around the area, trying to find some way of getting into the structure. Finally he found one, "quick question; can you swim?"
Rainbow walked over and looked to a pond of disgusting looking water, "You can't be serious."
"Completely serious, now follow me." He folded in his wings, jumped into the air, and dived into the waters below.
"Yuck," Rainbow muttered. She took in a deep breath and followed Darkwing into the water.