//------------------------------//
// Chapter Eighteen: Date With Death 
// Story: Rising Star 
// by Argonaut44 
//------------------------------//

“You’ve got thirty minutes.”
Checking her watch one last time, Elodea finished up packing her briefcase, wiping the nervous sweat from her face with a tissue she found in one of her jacket pockets. In the suitcase were three rows of identical shiny grey canisters, tightly sealed with a knob-like nozzle at the top, each fixed with a tiny metal release pin, not unlike a grenade. 
The previous night, Elodea had managed to get in touch with an old weapons dealing friend of hers who happened to live in Canterlot, and, more importantly, had just the stuff she was looking for. 
The others weren’t exactly sure what the canisters were for yet, though Elodea had been determined on bringing them, promising they’d come in handy. 
Elodea and her newest allies, the defectors Spice, Slick Sleeve, and Pink Mist, were preparing for their grand breakout attempt of a mutual friend, Lance Crestfall, who was set to be executed that very afternoon. They were standing next to a military carriage which Slick had acquired, believing it to be their eventual means of escape. It was parked in the middle of a lonely Canterlot street, the only movement being a gentle wind shuddering past them every now and then.
“I can make it back in time,” said Pink Mist, displeased with the role she had been given in the plan. She had been complaining all night and all morning, and by now Elodea was absolutely sick of her. 
“Now you’ve probably only got twenty-eight minutes, would you just go already?” Elodea said, turning around from the trunk of the carriage to scold the blonde-haired pegasus. 
“I’m going to screw it up, make one of them do it!” Pink demanded. 
Spice and Slick, who were leaning against a downed road block a few feet away, pretended not to have heard her. 
“Somepony has to keep that jackass busy, now stop wasting time, and go!”
Pink bit her lip and gave a long, exaggerated sigh, before accepting her role and taking flight, bringing the group down to three. 
“Come on, it’s time to start,” Elodea said, taking a final, passionate drag of her cigarette before tossing it to the floor and stomping on it. The two soldiers gathered what belongings they needed, and Elodea her suitcase, and altogether they began setting off down the quiet Canterlot street.


Half a mile away, in the high-up exalted gardens of Canterlot, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were seated beside each other, in a lushly decorated large pavilion. In front of the pavilion was a large open stone platform, containing only a small bench carved of stone with a curved indentation in the center, though it wasn’t meant for anypony to sit on. Sitting idly in front of the bench was a wicker basket, large enough to fit an entire watermelon. 
In the pavilion, the princesses were surrounded by an ensemble of guards, administrators, and government officials from near and far, all drawing in to witness what was expected to be a historic event. Each princess had their own custom-made marble throne, placed in the center of the regal pavilion, which was protected by an extravagantly large fabric cover. 
The courtyard surrounding the pavilion was rife with beautiful greenery, and was currently being occupied by a sizeable crowd of pony civilians, gradually growing in number every moment. For most of the ponies in the crowd of spectators, death was an avoided topic, something that was rarely discussed. Nopony was completely confident that it was ever morally correct to be celebrating.  It just wasn’t in ponies’ nature to cheer on death, even for deserving individuals. But for the past few months, when Equestria had suffered heavy blow after heavy blow during Queen Chrysalis’ endless rampage,  ponies in Equestria were becoming more and more dissatisfied. They needed to see some payback, possibly even some bloodshed, to see the world be made right again after so much terror. And, unfortunately for the alleged traitor Lance Crestfall, his reputation as a sick-minded, treasonous fiend was becoming popular with the people. He had become their scapegoat for all of their misery, and now they would get to have their revenge. 
 
Despite the crowd’s restless anticipation, Princess Luna was feeling anything but excited about the upcoming agenda of the day. Something about this entire affair felt undeniably wrong, but she couldn’t quite put her hoof on it. Regardless of who it was or how horrible the pony’s actions were, executions were always a miserable thing. Ponies from all over the city would gather, believing it to be some sort of festive occasion. But when it was all over, and the pony’s life had been taken, there was never any celebration. Just a bleak, quiet wave of solemn uncertainty, as if everypony was thinking ‘What if it had been me?’
Luna remembered those days, hundreds of years ago, when executions were all too common. She wanted to believe Equestria had progressed beyond such barbarism, but it seemed old habits truly did die hard. 
“Are you alright, sister? You look as though you’re about to be sick,” said Celestia, consolingly, to Luna, who was already pale in the face.
“...I can’t stop thinking that we’re making a mistake,” Luna said, passively, terrified of her own suggestion. The killing of a guilty pony was already a heavy weight to bear. But an innocent one? She wasn’t sure she could ever forgive herself for such an atrocity. 
“You must relax...It’ll all be over in a moment,” Celestia said, coaxingly. 
“I’m worried about Twilight the same. We should not have let her go, she could be in danger,” Luna said, struggling to calm her nerves. 
Celestia sighed, concluding her dear sister was giving into her emotional instability. 
“Twilight is very much capable of handling herself,” Celestia said. 
Luna sunk into her throne, distraught at the possibility of them having made a mistake about going through with this execution. 
“Your highnesses!”
Celestia and Luna simultaneously turned their heads to the right, where a pony was shoving his way through the organized lines of guards and officials. He was Gallant Stride, fitted with his spectacular golden armor. The broad-shouldered stallion marched up to the princesses on their throne, cheerful as ever.
“Commander, is everything alright?” Celestia asked, while Luna bitterly looked away, not in the mood for menial conversation. 
“Quite alright, your highnesses, I’ve just come to inform you that we’re due to bring the accused out in a matter of minutes,” Stride replied, cockily raising his eyebrows as he spoke, already riding the thrill of victory. 
Luna scowled to herself, unimpressed with Stride’s consistently pompous attitude.
“Very well. And have you heard anything about Twilight? Or Cadance?” Celestia asked, glancing at Luna, trying to prove to her sister that she did truly care about them. 
“We sent out the scouts, just as you asked. But they came back with nothing. We’ve concluded that Princess Twilight likely fled off into the hills somewhere, we can’t be sure. Perhaps she went searching for Princess Cadance?” Stride suggested. As per usual, he was lying through his teeth. The scouts had never been sent out at all, nor did Stride make any effort to locate Twilight. It was his understanding that the Princess of Friendship had already been defeated during the raid on Ponyville, of which Celestia and Luna still had no knowledge of. Stride had wanted to be a part of that raid himself, but Cellestrous insisted he stay in Canterlot to keep things going smoothly.  
Right after Stride had finished, Luna slowly raised her head up from her chair, finding his story extremely suspicious and uncharacteristic for Twilight. Even Celestia found his report to be mildly odd, though she withheld her confuddlement. 
“Double your efforts then, I can’t have both of them lost,” Celestia ordered, hoping Luna wasn’t right about Twilight being in danger. 
“We’re very limited on available patrols...I’m afraid another search will have to be put on hold for a few days,” Stride said. 
If Luna was suspicious of Stride before, now she was quite close to outright accusing him of deception right then and there. How could a top-ranking officer of Equestria be so resistant in protecting the safety of two of its princesses? Luna expected Celestia to question him further, yet the sun princess seemed minimally concerned. 
“Very well, carry on when you can,” Celestia said, dismissively. She hated to have to deal with bad news. 
Luna watched as Stride turned and strutted away, subtly shaking her head in disapproval. If Stride was indeed deceiving them, then his entire story about Crestfall’s treasonous behavior was probably all a lie, which meant they were sentencing an innocent pony to death. Luna’s heart began to race, as she struggled with what to do. If she was going to try and intervene, she would have to do it soon, but as long as Celestia’s will was superseding, she wouldn’t be able to do more than excuse herself from having to watch. 





Queen Chrysalis and Violet Heirloom had escaped Ponyville before it was completely seized by Cellestrous, after another failed attempt to steal back the Queen’s Jewel. They were sitting together by a stream in the middle of a field of grass, the shadow of Canterlot looming overhead. 
“That’s where we’re headed,” Chrysalis said, pointing at the city built into the mountain face. 
“That sounds like a bad idea,” said Violet, washing the dirt off of a burn on her arm with water from the stream.
“That’s where Cellestrous is headed,” Chrysalis pointed out. 
“Yeah, so we’d be fighting her and Celestia...You don’t have to be a betting pony to know that’s suicide.”
“What about the city? We could save it from destruction, and its ponies too,” Chrysalis said, trying to win Violet over. 
“You don’t fool me. Like you care about random ponies.”
“If it’s our last chance to get that jewel, and it’s a chance we have to take,” Chrysalis said. 
Violet raised her head from the stream to Chrysalis, who was standing higher up on the hill. 
“We can’t defeat her while she has that jewel, you said it yourself,” Violet said. 
“This time we’ll be smarter,” Chrysalis argued. Violet rolled her eyes. 
“Whatever. I guess it’s worth a shot…” Violet said.
Chrysalis smiled, already picturing a future with her on the throne in Canterlot, with her changeling kingdom restored and every pony in Equestria submitting to her will. Glorious. 
She stared at the cloud-hidden city of Canterlot in the distance. It appeared so small from so far away, that Chrysalis felt as though she could just crush it with one hoof. Victory was so close, she felt as if she had already won. 





Crestfall had been moved from the royal dungeon to the less grandiose, harder-to-escape Canterlot Federal Detention Center. The cell he was being kept in was four solid walls of thick steel, his only source of light being a single dim light bulb stuck in the ceiling. It was frightfully cold on top of everything else, just to make his last few moments alive as painful as possible. He was sitting on the floor, as there was no chair or bench, counting the seconds as they slipped on by, wondering what he could’ve done differently to have avoided this entire situation. But the more he pondered on it, the more convinced he became that he made the right decisions, that he was in the right to stand up to Stride, and to stick with Starlight and Elodea and Dust Bunny, and that even if he was going to die because of it all, he had still done the right thing.
Outside that very building, were three ponies, two of which were hidden beneath suits of gold-plated royal guard armor. Elodea, standing beside them with her briefcase of shiny-grey canisters, was wearing a pair of sunglasses, doing the bare minimum to avoid being recognized in public. She was supposed to have stayed in the royal palace after all, and was still technically under arrest, but none of that mattered to her now, if it ever did at all. 
“Only use these if you’re out of all other options, got it? And don’t breathe any of it in,” Elodea said, handing over the briefcase to Spice, who accepted it with a shaky hoof. Neither Spice nor Slick knew exactly what she meant or what those canisters did, but whatever they could use to help, they’d take. 
“If we get caught, we’re dead,” Spice said out loud to herself, trying to overcome her nerves and embrace the adrenaline boiling up inside her. She rarely did field work at all, let alone things that involved risking her own life. She had spent her entire career as a soldier sitting behind a desk all day, which made this a drastic change of pace. 
“Then don’t get caught. It’s as simple as that,” Elodea said, smirking. 
“Now go on, you don’t have much time. I’ll be on the other side with the carriage, just like we said,” Elodea finished. 
“Right,” Slick muttered, trying to remember the lines he spent all of last night rehearsing. 
“We’ve got to free him in the next ten minutes, and get out of there in fifteen. We’re a second late, and the entire army will have us surrounded,” Spice said, her voice trembling. 
“Don’t worry about that, worry about not triggering the alarms, now go on! Get in there!”
Spice took one last deep breath and started walking forward towards the intimidating dark grey detention center, stiff and imposing. Slick followed close behind, both of their faces obscured by their golden helmets. If Crestfall was to be saved, they had less than fifteen minutes to do it. Time was definitely not on their side. 


Back up in the gardens, where the execution was to take place, Gallant Stride was walking around the battlements that surrounded the courtyard, past the rows of soldiers standing tall, who were keeping a watchful eye on the crowd for any possible threats to the princesses.
The wind rustled his white short-cut hair, as he stomped through the stone walkway towards the exit of the courtyard. He wanted to be the one to bring Crestfall to the chopping block himself, perhaps to satisfy some sort of personal vendetta against the rebellious sergeant. 
“Commander! Sir!” 
Stride came to a shrieking halt right before he ran into Pink Mist, who had just descended down from the sky, landing right in front of the disgruntled commander. 
“What? What is it?” Stride choked, flustered by Pink’s explosive entrance. She was out of breath, as if she had just flown halfway across the city. 
She wasted some time as she caught her breath, politely raising a hoof to tell him to wait. He glanced over her, still hoping he could make it to the detention center in time to join Crestfall’s escort. Besides the sensation of glory over Crestfall’s defeat, Stride was also suspicious of any possible rescue attempts, and wanted to be there himself to make sure his plan went accordingly.  
“Sir, Lieutenant Sparkshower has already sent an envoy to retrieve the prisoner, she sent me to tell you that your supervision is no longer necessary,” Pink said. 
Stride glared at her, unsure whether Pink was telling him the truth. 
“This order was given in the fifteen minutes I was gone?” Stride asked, with a raised eyebrow. 
“They’re already on their way, should I go back and tell the Lieutenant you refused to comply?” Pink said, her voice cracking towards the end, as she was slightly nervous to be so assertive with a superior officer. She was only trying to keep Stride away from Crestfall, though it seemed Stride was beginning to become aware that Pink’s intentions weren’t as logistical as she claimed. 
Stride took a moment to think things over, sighing and accepting that it would be unwise to interrupt the process. 
“Then I suppose I should take my seat. Won’t you come join me, Corporal?” Stride asked, catching Pink off guard. The commander’s piercing gaze was able to break apart her facade of confidence with one look. She considered escaping while she could before he started accusing her of treason the same as he did with Crestfall. 
Stride motioned with his head for her to follow him with a half smile. He wasn’t quite sure whether Pink was being honest with him, thinking it better to keep her close by in case she really was in league with Crestfall. 
Pink hesitantly followed Stride back the way he had just come through the castle battlements, trotting around the edge of the courtyard until they arrived back at the pavilion. Entering into the seating area for the high ranking officers, Pink was unable to ignore the collection of judgemental, beady eyes staring down at her, confused what a grunt was doing in the officers’ area.
Stride took a seat at the end of the rows of chairs, right in the center of the pavilion, behind and slightly to the right of Princess Celestia, who, along with her sister, were up front for the crowd to see. Stride did this intentionally, hoping that if Pink was revealed to be working with Crestfall, she wouldn’t be able to make it far, surrounded by royal ponies and two princesses. 
He called her over with his hoof, pointing at the spot on the floor next to his chair. She stood there, awkwardly, taking deep breaths every few seconds. She didn’t want to be the one whose job it was to distract Stride, precisely for this reason. He was already onto her, it seemed, and now she had nowhere to run. What she was sure of, was that she had to commit to what she started, and stall him as long as possible. 
They watched the crowd of ponies in the courtyard increase in size, Pink constantly checking to make sure Crestfall hadn't arrived yet. If the others failed to save him, she realized she would have to watch Crestfall be executed from just a few feet away. 





Ponyville was officially under new management. 
Cellestrous was sitting atop a toppled wooden wagon, drinking a delicious glass of wine, enjoying her victory over the ravaged town.
“Ma’am, we’ve got them all,” said Ruby Heart, approaching Cellestrous with a group of raiders following her from behind. But also among them were six ponies, bound in heavy chains and muzzled with leather straps. 
“Ah, our dear prisoners,” Cellestrous said, smiling as she jumped off of the wagon. Ruby Heart walked behind each prisoner after they were lined up before Cellestrous, knocking them down to their knees. Lyra Heartstrings was first, and then Nurse Redheart, Mr. Davenport the store clerk, Junebug, Cheerilee, and Octavia Melody, all terrified of what Cellestrous was planning on doing to them. 
“How tragic...Left behind?” Cellestrous asked, mockingly, reaching over with her hoof to grab her scepter. The prisoners cowered in fear, aware of the power that the Queen’s Jewel had, as evidenced by the destruction caused in their town.  
“Oh, don’t be so upset, darlings...You should feel honored. You’re going to fill the first ranks in my grand army of mindless slaves. Just like your friend Starlight over there!” Cellestrous said, glancing over at the mind-controlled Starlight Glimmer, who was standing nearby, expressionless. 
“Once I bring Canterlot to its knees, I will have legions of slaves, to carry out my will across Equestria!”
The small group of raiders, including Ruby Heart, all gave an enthusiastic cheer, as Cellestrous raised the scepter into the air, the green jewel at its tip beginning to glow like a warm hearth. She paused before going through with her mind-control spell, enjoying listening to the cries and moans of her prisoners as they fought to be released, to no avail.
“So...who’s first?”





Stepping through the front doors of the detention center, Spice and Slick first came across a basic security clearance station, occupied by a lone royal guard who seemed to want to be anywhere other than where he was. 
“Reason for the visit?” the inspector asked, quickly examining their badges and clearance cards. 
“We’re additional security, for the execution. Orders from the Fifth’s Lieutenant,” Slick answered, having memorized that answer last night.
“‘K. Go on in,” the inspector said, hitting a button that buzzed open the door to the main lobby of the facility. The inspector leaned back in his chair and resumed reading the Canterlot Gazette, oblivious to their deceitful plan. 
“That was easy,” Slick muttered under his breath, as they continued into the lobby. 
“That wasn’t the hard part,” Spice replied, already terrified of being caught. 
They stopped in the middle of the lobby, which was a large grey room, filled with soldiers and officers caught up in conversation. The scale of the event had reeled in ponies from all over Equestria, now able to reunite with old friends in the service.
“Third hallway, into the east wing,” Spice said, remembering the directions from having gone over the map last night. They had no idea which cell Crestfall was being kept in. All they could do was assume he was being kept in maximum security, and head there first. 
Spice led the way, while Slick trailed behind, making sure they hadn’t been noticed. 
They slipped into the cold, dreary hallway, passing the occasional guard or janitor. As of now, they had yet to draw any attention to themselves. 
“This way,” Spice said, leading Slick around a corner. They were keeping a quick pace, wary of the running clock. 
The end of the hallway was close off, sealed tight with an impressive metal door that could only be opened with the right number combination and a magical seal, of which only a select few ponies were capable of unlocking. 
Luckily, Spice and Slick were already aware of this extensive security block, and had a plan to get around it. 
While Slick stood by and watched to make sure nopony was coming, Spice fiddled with the doorknob to a locked storage closet at the back edge of the hallway. Spice was using a small metal lock picker that Elodea had given her, though was clearly having a difficult time making use of it.  
“Do it like she taught you,” Slick said, beginning to fear how much longer they’d have before somepony strolled by. 
“Got it! Come on,” Spice said, triumphantly, after hearing the satisfying ‘click’ of the lock.
They quickly scampered inside and shut the door behind them. Inside the closet, they were surrounded by mostly cleaning supplies, nothing of great value. 
“What kind of place is this, they even lock the janitor’s closet?” Slick said, annoyed with the extra precaution. 
“Shut up Slick, and get up there, we’re barely gonna make it,” Spice said, motioning with her head up to the air vent up above. Elodea came up with the idea, recalling how she, Crestfall, and Starlight had infiltrated Ruby Heart’s warehouse back in Vanhoover. 
“Hold your horses,” Slick muttered, spreading his wings and jumping up into the air. The ceiling wasn’t very high, so it didn’t take much time at all for him to reach the vent, prying it loose with a small screwdriver, also courtesy of Elodea. Once Slick had the vent cover loose, he tossed it down to Spice, who caught it and placed it gently down beside some random cleaning equipment, inconspicuously. 
“Here,” Spice said, about to throw Elodea’s briefcase up to him.
“We’re not taking that,” Slick spat. 
“She said we might need it, just take it,” Spice said, giving him no choice as she threw it up into the air. 
He bitterly caught a hold of the case and shoved it inside the vent, before he went down to pick up Spice, holding her by her front legs. 
“Be careful, that hurts,” Spice whined, as Slick desperately struggled to lift Spice’s weight into the air. 
He managed to bring her up close enough to the vent for her to climb inside, Slick quickly following suit. He collapsed in the vent, his front legs exhausted. 
“What do you see?” 
“Nothing. Give me the light,” Spice said. 
Slick grumbled to himself, reached into his satchel, and retrieved the flashlight, throwing it up at Spice. She missed it, however, the flashlight tumbling on through the air vent ahead, lighting the way. Then both of them froze, when they watched the flashlight fall dangerously close to some sort of small red magical beam, stretching from one side of the vent to the other.
“Shit! What is that?! Did it hit it?” Slick asked, frantically. 
“No, no it didn’t cross, thank Celestia...That was close… Watch out for that, make sure you crawl over it...There may be more, I’ll let you know.”
“Luna help us,” Slick muttered, as they began their long crawl through the filthy air tunnels.   
 




Celestia took a cautious glance at the nearest clock, attached to a castle wall on the other side of the courtyard. 
“It’s almost time, sister. We should begin,” Celestia said to Luna, who didn’t budge at all in her seat. 
“Sister, I need you to be alongside me when I address everypony…”
Luna wanted to fly off, far away from here, to wash her hooves of this entire mess. But she was still a princess, and she still had duties to fulfill. 
She stood up from her chair a few seconds after Celestia did, and together they walked out from the pavilion to the stone platform.
“Citizens of Equestria!” Celestia bellowed, silencing the rowdy crowd in a matter of seconds. Before she could continue, Celestia noticed Luna’s distasteful, pouting expression, causing her to trip up her focus.
“It is with great regret that we’re gathered here today...To face the truth that one of our own has been working to bring about the doom of our great nation. I know many of you are scared and confused about all of these rumors that have seized hope of so many. It is true, that there is a pony out there wreaking havoc, destroying cities and taking the lives of hundreds...The identity of this pony is still unclear, but what is clear, is that this cannot continue! It is impossible for any of us to make sense of what could drive a pony to such horrible extremes...But that pony is not why we’re here...No, the pony in question now has been convicted of treason, murder, treachery, kidnapping, theft, the assault of several royal guards, and endagering the lives of nearly a hundred innocent ponies,” Celestia said, pausing to let the crowd release their wails of frustration and disgust. “And worse, this pony was caught assisting the suspect likely responsible for all of this mayhem! It is time at last we see retribution for the devastation we have suffered, we cannot cower any longer. Today is the first step to a world free of those who seek to oppress, and kill, and destroy…”
While Celestia carried on with her speech, back in the pavilion Gallant Stride was feeling invincible. He had successfully fooled them all, and now he got a front row seat to the reward of his deception. Despite his confidence in his plan’s success, he had a sinking feeling as if somepony was already trying to undermine him. Pink Mist, who was still standing right beside him, hadn’t moved an inch or made any effort to make a run for it since he brought her here, weakening his suspicions of her. Even though Crestfall only had a few minutes left alive, Stride couldn’t shake the fear that something would interrupt and ruin everything. But as long as Celestia was still on his side, he had nothing to worry about. 





Twilight Sparkle was doing her best to ignore her raging headache, putting every ounce of effort she could muster into leading the Ponyville refugees to safety. They had made a great distance already, and weren’t too far from the road to Canterlot. Every step they took, the more hope everypony began to feel. They may have lost their town, but they did still have their lives, which were enough to be thankful for. 
“Twilight!” said Rainbow, darting through the air beside the purple alicorn. 
“Rainbow?” Twilight replied, hoping there wasn’t anything wrong. 
“Twilight, uh...We’re missing some ponies.”
“What?!” Twilight exclaimed, shocked. 
“You said everypony was here!” Twilight said. 
“They were with us, I think they got separated from the group,”
“Who?”
“Lyra Heartstrings, the schoolteacher, Octavia, a few others…” Rainbow said, “I want to be the one to go back for them,” Rainbow said, feeling personally guilty for losing track of them. 
“Rainbow, I can’t let you do that. It’s too dangerous,” Twilight said, firmly. 
“But Twilight, we can’t just leave them,” Rainbow said, distressed. 
“We need to get everypony here to safety...We’ll get everypony back, trust me. But we have to be patient, and be better prepared, ok?”
“Ok…” said Rainbow, though she still wasn’t completely on board with Twilight’s decision. 
Twilight hadn’t even had time to reflect on her strange reunion with Starlight, as she was so distracted by the burden of bringing all these ponies to safety. 
All she could do was promise herself that everything would turn out alright. If she didn’t believe in a happy ending, then there would never be one. 





Somehow, Crestfall could sense that his time was about to run out. He rose to his hooves, preferring not to be dragged out on the floor. He could kill a pony for a cigarette. 
Staring into the reflective metal of his prison cell door, he expected it to open wide to reveal a host of soldiers, but instead, he was caught by surprise when a loud clanging sound began ringing through the cell. 
He slammed his hooves over his ears and spun around, to find some sort of metal air vent cover resting on the floor. He slowly tilted his head upward, and then smiled from ear to ear. 
“What in the hell took you so long?” 
Spice climbed out of the vent first, victorious, having finally located Crestfall’s prison cell after three failed attempts. 
Crestfall stood below her and caught her as she fell less than a foot’s distance. He set her down, and was doubly surprised to see Slick follow out after her. 
“Both of you?” Crestfall said, in disbelief, “I didn’t think you cared that much,” Crestfall said, relieved to be rescued. 
“I don’t know if you were aware of this though, but now we’re all trapped in here,” Crestfall said, as if the other two were complete idiots. 
“Would you be quiet? Here, you’ve got to put this on,” Slick said, taking off his golden helmet, and removing the pieces of armor from his body and legs. 
“What?”
“It’s the plan. Not my plan. I wanted to blend in with the escort, but apparently your girlfriend found that too predictable,” Spice seethed. 
“She’s not my-ow!” Crestfall yelled, after Slick whacked him over the head with a golden shin plate
“I said put it on, damn you!” 
“They won’t be able to recognize you, it’s...Wait, do you hear that?” Spice said, nervously turning to hear the fumbling of keys in the cell door. 
“Shit! Lance! Hide!” Spice said, rushing over to the right side of the doorway, Crestfall following her, dragging the rest of Slick’s armor with him. Slick, now appearing as just an ordinary pony, quickly slumped down to the ground, trying to get into character. He noticed the air vent cover was still out on the ground, but figured there wasn’t time to move it, as the cell door was already opening. 
“Alright, traitor, time to...What the hell?” said the guard pony who had just stepped inside. He was young, and seemingly inexperienced, much to Slick’s relief. 
“Fuck, that’s bright,” Slick said, shielding his eyes from the light bursting in from the doorway. Spice and Crestfall were hidden, crouched in the shadow of the door, on the other side of which was the baffled soldier. 
“Who the hell are you?” the guard asked. 
“Who am I? Why the fuck do you care, asshole, get the fuck out of here, leave me alone,” Slick said, waving the soldier off. 
“This is Cell A187! Lance Crestfall is supposed to be in here!” the soldier said, “There’s an escort waiting just down the hall!” 
“Lance Crestfall? No, no, he ain’t down here, buddy, cuz if he was, I’d have done him in myself already. The pony’s a true menace to society...Check your numbers again, dickless, and let me enjoy some peace,” Slick said, turning his back on the soldier and shutting his eyes. 
“This has got to be some kind of...wait…” the soldier said, noticing the stray air vent cover on the floor.
Slick opened his eyes to the sound metal against skull. He jumped to his hooves to see Spice and Crestfall standing over the soldier, who had just been whacked in the head by Crestfall’s hard metal helmet.  
“Nice one,” Slick said triumphantly. Their victory was short lived, Slick frantically raising a hoof in the air. 
“Wait!” 
The soldier, as they were about to discover, ended up having the last laugh. Right as Crestfall was knocking him over the head with Slick’s helmet, the soldier extended a hoof towards the emergency lever, right on the wall in the cell doorway. As the soldier collapsed to the floor, his hoof went down with him, pulling the lever down. 
Immediately, the alarm began to sound off, startling the trio into action. 
“Put that helmet on, we’ve gotta get out of here,” said Spice, stepping over the soldier’s unconscious body. Crestfall came last, after shoving his head inside the helmet, effectively disguising himself in plain sight. 
The trio walked out of the still-open cell door and down the small hallway into the main hallway, which was cast in a terrifying dark red light, ponies running around like mad, unsure where to report to and what was happening. 
Taking advantage of the chaos, the trio rushed down the hallway, Crestfall and Spice both placing one hoof on Slick, who was still pretending to be the prisoner. 
“Hold it you two!” yelled somepony ahead of them. Crestfall recognized the pony instantly, Lieutenant Bronze Beam, a stern, no-nonsense leader, who was never fond of Crestfall’s independent-operator style. There was a small squadron of soldiers following Bronze in a tight line, all of them confused as to what the alarm was about. 
“Where’s this prisoner being transferred to? And what’s his ITN?” Beam demanded, halting the trio in their place. 
“I can answer that, my ITN is four-six-five kiss my ass,” Slick said, hoping to distract the lieutenant with some disrespect. Bronze was already frustrated with what he believed to be a fake alarm, but now he was furious. 
“Corporal?”
“Sir! The transfer orders are from the Fifth’s Lieutenant!” Spice barked. 
“You understand we are on lockdown right now? There will be no prisoner transfer! Nopony is leaving this building! Do you understand?” Bronze demanded, having to yell over the blaring noise of the hallway alarm. 
“From the Fifth you said?” said one of the ponies in the squadron of soldiers behind Lieutenant Bronze. The pony stepped out of line, narrowing his eyes directly at Spice. Crestfall kept his head down, hoping none of them would recognize him through the slits in his helmet. 
“I’m from the Fifth, and I don’t know about any order about a prisoner transfer,” the pony said, doubtful that Spice was telling the truth. Lieutenant Bronze’s eyes darted between the soldier and Spice, unsure what to think.
“The orders came from just a little bit ago. Commander Stride suggested it, you can bring it up with him or your Lieutenant, if you’d like,” Spice said.
The soldier slowly backed away, still skeptical of Spice, who maintained her act despite the fear bubbling about inside her. Bronze however, was still unconvinced. 
“What’s in that case, Corporal?” Bronze asked. 
Everypony glanced down at the briefcase resting on the floor next to Spice’s hoof. 
“Nothing of interest, sir,” Spice said, aware that those suspicious canisters, which were more than likely illegal, would definitely raise red flags. 
“Oh, it interests me. Open it. Now,” Bronze commanded. 
“Sir, you really want me to open this briefcase?” Spice repeated, glancing at Slick, who understood what was about to happen. 
“I’m going to have to insist,” Bronze said, coldly. 
The entire hallway seemed to be frozen, the trio facing down about twenty soldiers in total, all waiting for Spice to open that briefcase. 
Spice opened it facing her, and, with one quick motion, managed to lift the pins of three of the canisters, tossing them at the floor and spinning around to make a break for it. Slick did the same, as did Crestfall, who had no idea what she had just done. Though, neither did she. Bronze backed away, confused as a mysterious red gas began to rapidly escape the three canisters, expanding into the air, filling the hallway up completely. 
“That’s poison!” yelled Bronze, tasting the acidic gas on his tongue, “Somepony get those...oh...Celestia,” he muttered, as he collapsed to the ground. 
“Get the Lieutenant out of here! Lock down all exits! Don’t let them escape!” yelled the lone sergeant of the group, who had his hoof wrapped around his nose and mouth. However, ponies were more concerned with escaping the poison gas more than they were with chasing down Crestfall, however. One canister was able to fill about three hallways, three could very well flood the entire facility. The gas wasn’t strong enough to be deadly, though it was extremely pungent and could easily cause a pony to fall unconscious in seconds. 

“We’ve got to hurry!” Spice yelled, trying to outrun the cloud of red gas chasing them. She was leading them back to the lobby, hoping they’d be able to escape there. As they ran through the building, Spice was releasing more canisters, trying to cover their escape at all costs. 
“This is insane,” Crestfall muttered to himself, “What the hell is that stuff?!” Crestfall said, coughing out some of the sulfur-smelling gas.   
“No idea! Ask your girlfriend, she’s the one who gave it to me,” Spice replied, running out breath the faster they went. 
“For the last time, we’re not-” right before Crestfall could finish, they ran into an entire squadron of soldiers coming towards them from the opposite direction. 
“Is that them?” asked one, unable to see through the foggy red air. 
The trio took advantage of the soldiers’ hesitation, dashing out a double doorway into the main lobby, reaching temporary safety. 


“Sir, we might have an issue.”
Those were the very last words Stride wanted to hear. 
Pink Mist took a step back to make way for this messenger pony who had just arrived at the pavilion floor. Celestia was still giving her speech, so he had to speak quietly. 
“What issue?” Stride said, his face a cold, ghastly color.
“The alarm’s been set off at the prison...ponies are panicking,” the messenger said, “The Lieutenant said you might want to go see for yourself,” he went on.  
Stride made some expression that Pink couldn’t quite describe, a sort of deep perturbance rustling inside his mind. He slowly rose from his seat, retaining his calm and collected demeanor so not to disturb his fellow guests, and turned to Pink. 
“Come with me,” he said, his words sharp and painful to hear. 
She meekly followed behind him as he trotted off away from the pavilion, irreverently ignoring Celestia’s speech. He always had to do everything himself. 


Spice, Crestfall, and Slick casually walked through the lobby, which had yet to be infested with the malicious red gas. Ponies were anxiously waiting around, unsure whether they were in danger or not. 
They marched back up to the inspector pony, who was now standing at attention, alert and ready. 
“Nopony leaves,” he said, before Spice could even argue anything. 
“This prisoner escaped, we got a hold of him, but he needs to be taken to a safer location…”
The inspector pony was nearly convinced, though the policy still stood. 
“Nopony leaves,” he said a second time, hoping they would just give up and leave him alone. 
Spice angrily approached the inspector pony, who seemed a bit threatened by her vigor. 
“If that pony isn’t taken to a secure containment facility, he could get away and help that traitor filth manage an escape attempt. Is that what you want?” Spice asked, glaring at him. 
Against his better judgement, the inspector hit a button to unlock the doors. 
Their exit to freedom was just steps away.  
Spice went first, casually walking outside as if she hadn’t just staged an arguable terrorist attack on government property.  
“Where’s Elodea?” Crestfall asked, following Spice outside, taking a good deep breath of the outside air. 
“She was supposed to meet us out back, we’ve got to go around to get to her,” Spice said, jogging down the steps to the sidewalk below, the other two quickly catching up. 
“I can’t believe we made it,” Crestfall said, unable to process how relieved he was. 
“We’re not out yet, sarge,” Slick said. 
“I’ve never heard you talk like that to an officer, Slick, you oughta clean your mouth out with some soap,”
“Your neck was on the line, I figured I’d make an effort,” Slick said. 
They ran down a nearby alleyway to reach the other side of the detention center building. Spice came to an abrupt halt, however, Crestfall and Slick nearly running into her. 
“What?”
“Get back!” Spice said, grabbing the other two and throwing them back against the wall. 
“Could you be less gentle?” Crestfall said, rubbing the back of his head in pain. 
“The carriage is done for,” Spice said, regretfully, after taking another look at the street around the corner.
“What?” Crestfall asked, unsure what she meant. 
“See for yourself,” she said, stepping out of the way. Slick and Crestfall peeked over, and saw what she meant. 
The carriage that Elodea had been with was toppled, two of its wheels blown off, practically non-distinct from a pile of burning rubble. 
“Get back! There could be ponies nearby!” Spice said, reeling them both back out of sight. 
“That was our ride out of here?” Crestfall asked. 
“Was,” Slick emphasized. 
“She’s alive,” Spice said, bluntly. 
“What? Who?” Crestfall stammered, worried Elodea was dead or not far from it. 
“Elodea, I think she’s alive,” Spice said again.
Crestfall took another look, and saw Elodea lying on the ground near the carriage crash, covered in burns and bruises, seemingly half-dead.  
“We’ve got to help her,” Crestfall said. 
“We can’t risk it, It’s probably a trap,” Spice said, hoping Crestfall wouldn’t ruin the plan after its miraculous success. 
“No,” Crestfall muttered, standing up from his crouched position. 
“Wait, Lance!” Spice called out, unable to stop Crestfall as he ran out from the alley. 
Slick sighed and followed after him, Spice reluctantly doing the same. 
They hung back, making sure they weren’t about to be attacked, while Crestfall ran up to Elodea, kneeling down beside her. Her eyes were closed, and at first he believed she was dead, though after listening to her heartbeat, he was relieved to find that wasn’t the case. 
“Elodea,” he muttered, shaking her around a bit, as gently as he could. 
“Wake up!” he said, holding her limp head with his hoof. He was near tears, unwilling to let her go after finally realizing how he felt towards her. 
Her eyes blinked open slowly as she came to and got a bearing of her surroundings. 
“Soldier boy?” she asked, through wispy breaths. 
“What the hell happened to you?”
She coughed to the side, her sinuses clustered with smoke from the fire that had engulfed the carriage.
“They were following me...It’s a trap...Crestfall, it’s a trap,” she said, before falling back unconscious. 
He raised his head just in time to see around fifty soldiers begin to surround them, revealing themselves from their hiding places. 
“Spice? Gas?!” Crestfall yelled, desperately. 
“We’re out,” Spice said, having left the empty briefcase back in the alley. 
Crestfall cursed under his breath, as he and the others were completely encompassed by a full battalion of soldiers. 
“Crestfall, my dear boy…” said a low, gruff voice from the back of the crowd of soldiers. It was Gallant Stride, tugging a terrified Pink Mist alongside him. He threw her into the street to join the others, having already deduced she was helping them. Slick helped her up, the group now all together again, though under rather unfortunate circumstances. 
“It was a nice try, really,” Stride said, with a delightfully malicious grin. 
Crestfall, still kneeling over Elodea’s unconscious body, was fuming with rage, glaring at Stride with an unquenchable fury. 
“Pout all you want, Sergeant. I do believe that was your last hope,” he said, victoriously. 
“Arrest them, bring them all back to the gardens...It seems we’ll have more than one execution to be performed today,” he said, laughing all the way. 

Crestfall, Spice, Slick, Pink, and Elodea, who was still unconscious, were all subdued without a fight. None of them saw any point, what with them being surrounded 10 to one. They were each put in chains, and brought back to the gardens, where Celestia was still giving her speech. 
“Hold them here, I’ll let the Princess know what happened. Lieutenant, you come with me, validate the timeline of events,” Stride instructed, walking off with one of the officers. 
Elodea was propped against the ledge of the battlement wall when she woke up again, shocked to find the cold sensation of metal cuffs fastened around her hooves. She couldn’t find the words to express her disbelief and disappointment, realizing they had all been defeated. She was glad Dust wasn’t here to see this.
“Hey,” said Crestfall, who was waiting in line right next to Elodea. There was a row of guards on either side of the prisoners, lined up along the edge of the battlements, waiting for the cue from Celestia to bring them down to the platform. Stride was still making his way down to the pavilion, so Crestfall figured he had better say what he wanted to say quickly. 
“Hey,” Elodea replied, forlorn over their hopeless situation. She had tried hard, and was even confident in their success, but still failed. For once in her life, she had been committed to doing something good for another pony, and now she was going to pay for it with her life. But she didn’t feel bitter, or even afraid. It was the effort that counted, after all. She knew that if she had left Canterlot as she planned, she would probably end up the same miserable junkie she had wasted so many years of her life as. She had found meaning, but at the worst cost imaginable. 
“Tough luck, huh,” Crestfall said. 
“Yeah.” Elodea said, watching Celestia finish up her long-winded speech. 
“So uh...Do you want to-” Crestfall began. 
Elodea was way ahead of him, putting her arms around the back of his head and pressing her lips against his, savoring her last moments on this good green earth. 
They both felt like they were alone in the world, like nothing could spoil the moment, despite the knowledge of what was waiting for them in a few minutes. 
Crestfall held her in his arms after she gently pulled away, the two of them slowly rocking back and forth, trying to ignore the fear of what came after death and focus on the happiness they had found in each other. 

When Celestia finally finished her speech, Gallant Stride was waiting at the ready behind her, eager to reveal that four other ponies had been added to the list. He meant to approach her, until the thundering sound of the city horn sounded off, its deep ringing shaking the entire city. Celestia turned to Luna, confused as to what had happened. Even Gallant Stride, who normally had a hoof in everything, was utterly perplexed. 
“Your highnesses!” called out a young pony pushing his way through the crowd up to the front. Celestia peered down at him, her mouth slightly ajar in confusion. 
“They’re back! Princess Twilight! Ponyville’s been attacked! They’ve come here!” he exclaimed. Celestia reeled back in surprise, and, without much delay, took flight, Luna doing the same, eager to find out what exactly happened. 
Stride was left standing on the platform, realizing that Twilight had indeed escaped the raid on Ponyville. He turned and stormed off, temporarily thwarted. 
“Keep the prisoners in the royal dungeon, I need to go,” Stride commanded to one of his subordinates. He was too close to victory, he wouldn’t that pesky Princess of Friendship stop his plans so soon. 
Celestia and Luna found Twilight in the city square, surrounded by Canterlot ponies, fretting over the princess’ wretched battle-worn condition. Celestia was absolutely dumbfounded by what she was witnessing, an endless streaming of Ponyville refugees flooding into the city. 
The two princesses landed next to the city fountain, right in front of Twilight, who was exhausted after a long day of traveling. 
“Twilight! Are you alright?! What’s happened?” Celestia asked, fearful of whatever caused such disarray. 
“We weren’t ready for them...They took Ponyville,” Twilight said, her voice quivering, as if she was about to cry. She blamed herself, though knew there was little she could’ve done without risking the complete destruction of her beloved town. She tended to cause mayhem when she let her aggressive emotions dominate her.
“What? Who?” Celestia sputtered. 
“Those ponies that Dust Bunny here was telling you about,” Twilight said, nodding at Dust Bunny, who was near the front of the crowd, trying to keep a low profile, “It’s real, Princess, there’s an army of ponies trying to take over Equestria...They’re real…” Twilight said. 
“We need to get some ponies to a hospital,” said Rainbow Dash, who was hovering in the air nearby. 
“Twilight, how can this-” Celestia began, though Twilight had no tolerance for Celestia’s hesitations. 
“Princess, those ponies will come here next, we need to prepare the city for a siege...They have a weapon of great power,” Twilight said. 
“What weapon?” Luna asked.
“The Queen’s Jewel,” Twilight answered. 
“The Queen’s Jewel? Impossible, it was sealed away long ago, nopony could be able to find it,” Celestia said, defiantly. 
“No, they have it, and they used it….” Twilight said, still aching over the loss of Ponyville. 
Celestia sighed, acknowledging that it was her reluctance to believe Twilight that may have helped bring about this terrible situation. 
“Then I owe you an apology, Twilight....Take your wounded to the hospital, We’ll begin preparing the city.”
“Thank you, Celestia,” Twilight said, breaking into tears, relieved to not have to be fighting with her own mentor anymore. They embraced, Celestia still a little frazzled by the suddenness of this news. Gallant Stride arrived at the scene, escorted by his entourage of soldiers. Dust Bunny recognized him, and remembered that Crestfall’s life was currently in danger. 
“Wait! Princess!” Dust Bunny cried, nervously approaching Celestia. 
“Yes?” Celesita asked, regaining her clarity of mind. 
“My friends! You’re not really going to kill them, are you?” Dust asked, worried what the answer will be. 
Celestia sighed, realizing she had been too quick to judgment earlier, and that perhaps a little time to think things over was the best course of action. 
“They’ll remain in custody until everything can be sorted out. There seem to be more pressing matters…”
“But Princess-” began Gallant Stride, though it was clear that Celestia had already made up her mind. 
“Must you be so eager to spill blood, Commander?” Luna asked, still highly suspicious of Stride’s true intentions. 
“Commander, call for aid to the city. It appears we are going to be facing an attack very soon,” Celestia said, Gallant turning red with frustration.
“Princess, you can’t possibly believe that-”
“Now, Commander. Do it now,” Celestia ordered, becoming fed up with Stride’s constant attempts at counter-persuasion. 
He snarled at Twilight and Dust Bunny, turning and shoving his way back through the crowd of ponies. 
“Thank you for listening to me, Celestia,” Twilight said, graciously. 
“I should’ve believed you from the start, Twilight...I promise you, we’ll get all these ponies back home, safe and sound.”
Twilight smiled and nodded, as a lone tear fell down her cheek. All she wanted was for everything to be made right again. Repairing her relationship with Celestia was a start, but Starlight was still out there. It had to mean something, that Starlight made an effort to buy Twilight a chance to escape back at Ponyville. It had to mean that Starlight still cared about her. That hope was enough to drive Twilight back to action, to do everything in her power to prepare the ponies of Canterlot for a siege, to get her old life back.