Cole stumbled out of the Jefferson tunnel with dust covering his clothes and face. He did his best to wipe it off before taking in his surroundings. He mentally kicked himself when he realized where he was.
He had stumbled into the Warren, or as people not from Empire City would call it, the Hood. It was known for having large amounts of homeless people since the Warren had a large amount of apartment buildings. Since the downfall in the economy the amount of homeless got larger and larger. Cole had heard some rumors that the homeless, or transients, had banded together and seized control of the Warren in a similar fashion to the Reapers takeover of the Neon District, and began calling themselves the Dust Men.
As he took in his surroundings he realized one glaring issue about the Warren. It was pitch black, not a single light or billboard was on. Which meant that Cole was in a very bad situation.
Great. No power, separated from the rest of the group, and this area's probably crawling with armed, homeless psychos. He thought as he called Moya on his strap-mounted phone to get the location of any substation that he could recharge so that the Warren would have power again.
"Hey, Moya," He said as he clicked the call button, "I'm stuck in the Warren, are there any substations near me that I can recharge?" He finished as he waited for a response. After a couple of seconds of silence he tried again. "Moya?" He asked as he looked down at his phone. He mentally kicked himself again when he saw a small bullet lodged in the device. How it didn't punch through the phone though was a mystery.
No communication, no power. This day just keeps getting better and better.
1 Hour Later....
"Fluttershy, did you see anything?" Rainbow asked as she met back up with long haired medic.
"It's to dark in that part of the city to see anything." Huffed Fluttershy as she crossed he arms over her chest in frustration.
When the tunnel began to collapse the duo immediately found holes in the crumbling ceiling and flew out of them, forgetting about their friends in their shell-shocked state. They had been flying around the areas in the Neon District and the Warren along with the river separating them for their friends.
"I just wish we could've gotten at least one of them out of there!" Rainbow exclaimed as she slammed her fist into her palm. "I don't want to wake up tomorrow and find out that they all died down there!"
"Relax," Fluttershy said as she placed a hand on Rainbows shoulder. "They're all really tough. I doubt that one collapsing tunnel would kill any of them, especially if they are together."
"What are you talking about?" Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"Well," She began, "Alone, each one of us is a force to be reckoned with. But together, we're unstoppable. We've rescued entire trains, liberated an entire portion of a city from a brutal gang, found said gang's fortress and defeated their leader."
"So?" Rainbow asked, still not understanding Fluttershy's words.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is, well. Friendship is power, and from the looks of things," She said as she looked towards the Warren. "We're going to need all the friends that we can get."
Before Rainbow could laugh at the corniness of that speech her phone began to ring. It was a number that she didn't recognize.
"Hello?" She said as a very loud and familiar voice rang blasted through the speaker. "Twilight! We are alive! You can stop yelling into my ear." A few seconds passed before Rainbow spoke again. "Yeah, Fluttershy's with me right now, we were searching the areas around the tunnel for you guys." Rainbow put the phone on speaker and lifted it away from her face.
"I don't have a lot of time so let's make this quick. We don't know where Cole, Pinkie, Rarity and Applejack are right?" Twilight asked.
Before Rainbow could respond a good portion of the Warren's street lights and buildings lit up.
"We just found Cole, kinda." She said.
"Is he recharging the substations?" Asked Twilight.
"Yeah," Replied Rainbow as she and Fluttershy flew towards the raised bridge. "Hey Twilight? Any chance you would know how to lower a bridge?"
"No, but Trish knows someone in the Warren who does."
"Your with Trish?" Asked Rainbow.
"I woke up at a medical camp where she was working at. Some Girl wearing a combat mask and tinted goggles brought me there. Anyways, look for a man named Roger Miller, he's an engineer. He'll probably know how to lower it."
"Right, see ya, Twilight." She said as she hung up.
"Okay Fluttershy, let's go to work."
Twilight hung up the phone and walked towards the girl who had rescued her. She wore grey sweatpants and a familiar black hooded jacket with a blue shield insignia on the right side of the chest. The girl also wore a black combat mask that covered her nose and mouth, and her eyes were covered with a pair of aviator goggles with tinted lenses so that her eyes were hidden. It was a silly look, but it kept up that 'mysterious savior' thing if that's what she was going for.
"Alright," She said, Crossing her arms over her chest. "If you want to work with me, I'm going to need to call you something other than 'girl'."
The girl placed a hand on her chin, obviously not wanting to give Twilight her real name.
"Call me Nightmare Moon, or Moon for short." She replied, her voice slightly muffled by the combat mask.
Twilight's mind stopped. First the jacket, now the nickname? There were so many similarities, but it couldn't be her. There was no way.
"Alright then, Nightmare Moon. You said you know someone who can lower the bridge on this side?" Asked Twilight.
Moon nodded, "Yes, but he was captured by a squad of Reapers, I'll need your help if we're to rescue him." She immediately dashed off after finishing her sentence, prompting Twilight to do the same.
The duo reached the park where the Reapers were keeping the engineer known as Lou hostage. Moon dashed behind a large boulder before she was seen. Twilight slid in right behind her, hands sparking with energy.
"There's only a few of them, we can rush in and take them out before they knew what hit them." Twilight whispered as she prepared to charge the Reapers.
"What about the guy on the bridge?" Moon asked.
"Huh?"
Moon pointed to a bridge that was overlooking the scene. True to her words, there was a Reaper walking back and forth on the bridge. "We should use precise shots to take every one of them out. I trust you can hit the one on the bridge?"
"Yeah, just give the word." Twilight replied as she got in position to take him out.
"Now." Moon said as a bolt of concentrated red lightning hit one of the Reapers in the head, incapacitating him. Twilight's bolt hit the guard on the bridge right in the forehead, sending him flying over the railing. After the last Reaper fell the duo moved in to secure Lou.
"Are you alright?" Asked Twilight.
"Jeez, that was insane!" He said as he got up. "Did Roger send you?"
"Yeah, we need you to help lower the Stone Canal Drawbridge." Twilight replied.
"Get me over there and I'll see what I can do."
After defending the engineer for a few minutes he was able to lower the drawbridge. When Twilight caught sight of Rainbow and Fluttershy on the far side she began to sprint over there, Moon following closely behind.
The two groups met in the middle of the bridge. Twilight immediately tackle-hugged Fluttershy and Rainbow the second they were in range.
After a few minutes of catching up the two flyers noticed the newest member of the group.
"Who's this?" Rainbow asked as she scanned up and down the girls form, assessing her from what she could see.
"This is Nightmare Moon, or Moon for short. She helped me get Lou away from the Reapers and got me out of the tunnel."
Before Rainbow could ask anything else her phone began to ring again. She looked to see Applejacks number. She picked it up and was greeted with a very frantic sounding Applejack.
"We need ya'll down by the prison NOW!" Was all she said before she hung up.
"She said that we're need at the prison." She explained.
Then let's move." Twilight said as the group dashed over to the Warren.