Limping the through the streets of Canterlot, Longspear tried to put as much distance between him and the place.
In no time, however, he did arrive at the train station, only to find out that it was crawling with Maxspell's goons. No doubt they have already been told to capture him if they see him. Obviously that wasn't going to happen.
Putting his skills to good use, he sneaks around the guards, eventually making it to the caboose of a train that was stationed there. The whistled blew, the engine hissed. It was about to leave. Without hesitation, he sneaks inside right as it was leaving the station.
Sitting inside the caboose, Longspear examined his left foreleg. It looked pretty bad. It was a bloody mess with the bone sticking out. With an injury like that, he's surprised he was able to escape without collapsing.
"Ok, I've managed to escape the wrath of Maxspell with a broken leg. I have no idea where this train is going, but that doesn't matter. As long as it's far away from Canterlot, I'm okay with that! I just need some time to come up with a plan to save Twilight and the princesses, and fast, but first, I think I need hospital."
•••
Darkness. Pitch black everywhere. It seemed like an endless void when suddenly, a light appeared. It was small at first, but it got bigger and bigger by the second. It became some big, and bright enough, it was blinding. Then it started to clear. Eventually, the fluorescent lights on the ceiling could be seen.
Slowly opening her eyes, Appleseed quickly took in her surroundings. She found herself lying in a hospital bed in a fairly small hospital room. In an attempt to get up and walk around, she found out she couldn't move at all. She saw that her lower body was encased in a full body cast.
Looking around, she saw dome objects on a table next to her bed. On it were some flowers and a photo of a group of ponies, with her amongst them.
Just then, the door opened. On the other side, threw ponies trotted in. One was wearing a nurse's uniform.
"Well look who's finally woken up!" said one pony. She was a pegasus with a dark purple coat, and colorful mane with different shades of blues, greens, and pinks. It was like an aurora of colors.
"Nice to see you too Aurora Flash," Appleseed said to the pegasus pony in a sarcastic manner. She then went a placed her ancestor's hat on her friend's head.
"And how's are wonderful patient today?" asked the nurse, who was also a pegasus with white coat and sky-blue mane.
"Eh, I've been better Softheart."
"Softheart, did Appleseed get any cool, super powers from her accident? ‘Cause that was a pretty intense blast of magic?" asked a cheerful white, pink mane earth pony.
"Oh... um... I don't think so Sweetie Pie," Softheart replied. Sweetie Pie simply shrugged and focused her attention on her injured friend.
"Oh well, no biggie, but you what will you feel better in no time? A Party!"
Aurora rolled her eyes after hearing such a silly response. "Sweetie, now's not the time to throw a party."
"Aurora, when your friends are sick, and they need some cheering up, you MAKE the time!" Sweetie Pie replied.
"Um, alright then. Now Appleseed, we encased your body in a healing cast that should help treat your injuries much quicker. Plus, you get to move around with it. Aurora Flash, would you mind if I ask you to help me get Appleseed out of bed?" Softheart asked kindly.
Aurora agreed to help, and both pegasus flew up to carry Appleseed out of bed. They quickly set her back down on the ground. She winced a little bit expecting the pain that never came. She felt fine, as if she wasn't even injured.
"Woo-wee! Boy this cast is pretty amazin’! Thanks Softheart," Appleseed thanked in delight. Softheart simply gave a shy smile in response.
Suddenly, the door to the room burst open, revealing a frantic beautiful unicorn mare with a blue coat and purple curled mane. "Oh sear, I'm so sorry I'm late!" she cried frantically.
"Elegance, where have you been?!" Aurora asked in an annoyed tone.
"Well, if you must know, I was trying to get here, but getting stopped repeatedly by those roughens in armor outside. It seems certain some ponies have forgotten their manners!"
"Alright, look, we don't have time ta argue. So can someone please fill me in on what's been goin’ on since I was out?" Appleseed said.
"Well for starters, Equestria has fallen under the wrath of Queen Black Iron, which means that we're pretty much screwed." Aurora replied. Appleseed frowned when she heard the news, but then noticed a smile creeping up on her face.
"But don't worry, I have an idea on how we can fix this,"
Now Appleseed's jaw dropped. "Wait, yer telling me that YOU know how ta fix all this?! I hate ta burst yer bubble there partner, but you have no idea who you're dealin’ with. Ah mean, look at what she did ta me!
"Which is why we're all going to do this together, and the first thing we need is to get one of those guards to reveal any important information, that way we can sneak into Canterlot."
"Oh Please. They're not gunna spill their beans ta us."
"You don't know if you try!"
Appleseed was lost for words. She was too annoyed to continue this argument. She then went and sat down in the wheelchair that Soft heart had brought for her and all five ponies left the room and down towards the hospital entrance.
When they all exited the building. Appleseed frowned at the sight of the city. Buildings were in ruins, Guards were everywhere, and garbage and debris littered all over.
"Look at this place," she said in a depressed tone.
"All the more reason we should stick with my plan," Aurora reminded her.
In the distance, they notice a gray stallion limping towards them.
"I say, who is that young stallion coming this. He looks oddly familiar," Elegance said. All five ponies looked closely at him.
"Hey, I think I've seen before. Yea! He's the guy the hangs around with Black Iron all the time! Forget the guards, we'll use him to get us to her!" Aurora Flash said.
They all grew quiet as he limped past them and made his way inside the hospital.
"Oh dear, did you see his leg? Oh, I got to go help him!" Softheart said anxiously as she began to flutter towards him, only to be halted by Aurora.
"Softheart, I know you have good intentions, but you can't heal him yet. We need him alone first. Sweetie Pie, do your thing," Aurora commanded. Sweetie Pie shook her head before bouncing off after Longspear. She caught up to him and bounced in front of him blocking his path.
"Hi there! I never met you before, which means you're new here! Are you passing by or planning on staying here?" she asked excitedly.
"Um, just passing through, I guess. Hey, do you know where the doctor is, I really need someone to tend to my leg here," Longspear replied.
"Ooh, my friend Softheart can help with that. She's a nurse here, which means she's good at tending broken legs!"
"Great! Where can I find her?" Longspear asked looking around the lobby, only to have Sweetie Pie turn his head back towards her with her hoof.
"Oh she's around, I'll make sure to let her know you need assistance."
"Well I need assistance NOW! So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find this 'Softheart' character and have her patch me up!" Longspear said as he limped around the white and pink mare and limped towards an elevator, only to have a rag pressed against his muzzle. He tries to fight back, but something was making him sleepy, very sleepy. Eventually, he passed out on the hospital floor unconscious.
•••
Longspear slowly began to awaken. He squinted his eyes, trying to block out the bright light shining above him. Outside of the circle of light was nothing but darkness.
Struggling to move, Longspear noticed that he was bound to a chair. He did notice that his broken was treated and is now in a metal cast.
"Hello? Is there anyone here? I'd like to know where I am and why I'm here," Longspear said.
"SILENCE!!!" a loud, low, booming voice called out for within the shadows. "We ask the questions, and you only talk when you're spoken too, understand?" Longspear nodded in fear.
"Who are you, and where do you come from?"
"M-m-my name is L-Longspear a-and I j-just came here f-from c-c-Canterlot."
"Who do you work for?"
"W-well, I-I used to w-work for M-Maxspell and Twi- er Black Iron."
"Who is this Maxspell you speak of?"
"S-she use to work for P-Princess C-Celestia, but now she um... is kinda having a p-problem in her life that she's dealing with."
Silence. The voice didn't ask nor respond
"Um, I hope you don't mind if I ask, but who are y-" Longspear was cut off when he felt a hoof slapping him in the face. What he saw standing in front of him made his blood run cold. There was a pony wearing a dark cloak. He couldn't see the pony's face since it was covered in darkness.
"I SAID NOT TO TALK UNLESS SPOKEN TOO!!!” the pony screamed when suddenly, a light lit up the entire room, revealing three other ponies, and one standing at a doorway, near a light switch.
Longspear saw whom the pony in the cloak was, who turned out to be a dark purple pegasus mare wearing a mask around her mouth. She then turned to face the pony near the light switch while taking off her cloak and mask.
"Sweetie Pie! Why did you do that?!" she asked furiously.
"What? It was really dark and I couldn't see. Besides, why are you interrogating him in the dark? Sounds really silly if you ask me Aurora Flash," she said while munching on a cupcake.
Aurora rolled her eyes at her before returning her attention to her captive.
"Alright, since Sweetie Pie here blew my cover, I guess I'll introduce ourselves. My name is Aurora Flash, you already know Sweetie Pie, and that's Softheart, she fixed your leg by the way, and that's Elegance and Appleseed," Aurora said pointing to each specific mare she named. Longspear was surprised when he saw Appleseed standing in front of him alive and well.
"Appleseed, you're alive?" he asked.
" Surprised ta see me huh? Well it jus' goes ta show ya that it takes whole lot more ta bring this pony down," Appleseed responded.
After taking in his surroundings, and the level of the situation, Longspear began to chuckle, and then burst out laughing.
"Oh man, are you kidding me? And for a second there, I thought I was actually in some serious trouble. You had me worried there, although, I will admit, you did do a good job putting on such an act until it got ruined. So what do you say if you just let me go and pretend this whole incident never happened," Longspear said, only to have Aurora Flash slap him in the face again.
"Don't underestimate us. We're scarier than you think. Now why don't you cooperate with us, or else we'll have to resort to other methods of making you talk."
"What kind of methods?"
"You'll see," Aurora replied with a suspicious smirk on her face. Longspear was beginning to grow impatient.
"Well then, what do you want from me?"
"We just need to figure out a way into Canterlot."
"For?"
"So we can defeat Black Iron of course."
Longspear felt like he was losing his marbles after hearing what he just heard. He then turned to Appleseed, as seeing she's the only serious one in the room.
"Is she being serious?" Longspear asked.
"You betcha, an believe me when ah say that when she's talkin' serious, she means business," Appleseed replied.
"And all of you guys are on board with this?"
"To be honest, we really think this is a bad idea, but after seeing what has been happening recently, I don't think we have a choice," Elegance replied.
Longspear sighed in disappointment before looking up at his captives.
"Well believe it or not, I myself am trying to do what you all are doing. The only difference is that I'm going after a different mare while trying to figure out how to rescue another three at the same time."
Everybody looked at him with confused expressions. Aurora quickly changed her expression to a determined one.
"And just who are you going after, and who are rescuing?" Aurora asked.
"Do you remember me mentioning a mare named Maxspell?" Aurora nodded. "She's the one I'm going after," Longspear replied.
"And who are you rescuing?" Softheart whispered behind her mane.
"The Princesses, ALL three princesses."
"Huh?" was what all five mares said simultaneously.
"Pardon me darling, but what do you mean three princesses when clearly there are only two," Elegance replied.
"Nope, three princesses, and one of them happens to be Princess Twilight," Longspear said. Everyone else was once again confused and in disbelief.
"What do you mean the third one is Princess Twilight? She was pony napped LONG ago!" Aurora argued.
"Then you're going to laugh when I tell you that Black Iron is actually Twilight herself. Have none you seen the resemblance?" Longspear asked.
"Ya know, now that ya mention it, I can kinda see a resemblance between tha two," Appleseed said.
"How do we know you're telling the truth? For all we know, you could be lying to us, just to get us off Black Iron’s trail," Aurora said deceitful. Everyone else exchanged looks and began to slowly move closer to Longspear. The fear he felt before was coming back to him now.
"Wait, you have to believe me! I mean, how else could I know this stuff, and plus, my code of honor clearly states that I can't lie, so you have to believe me," Longspear pleaded, however, not all of them were buying it. But one pony standing in the back, with her blue mane covering half of her white, pale face, stood there trembling. She wanted to go and intervene, but her nerves wouldn't let her. Finally, after building up enough courage, Softheart quickly moved in-between her friends and Longspear, pleading them to stop.
"Softheart, what are you doing?" Aurora Flash asked.
"You need to stop! He's telling the truth!" Softheart replied frantically.
"How do ya know he's tellin' the truth?" Appleseed asked.
"Sometimes, you just need a little kindness to see the good in people," Softheart replied sweetly.
A few minutes had passed, and everyone else finally backed off of the two. Softheart smiled and went ahead and untied Longspear's restraints, freeing him.
"Gees thanks, I don't know how to thank you, considering you've already done so much for me," Longspear said to her.
"Oh um, it was nothing," Softheart said nervously behind her mane. Longspear quickly moved towards the others.
"Ok, I don't care if you like me or not, but it's important for you all to trust me. Now I can probably get us into the city so we can begin with the rescuing, but in order to do that, we're going to have to do this as a team. So, are with me or not?" Longspear said. After exchanging glances, everyone came to an agreement.
"Appleseed, are you sure you're going to handle this?" he asked.
"Jus tell me what ta do. I'm sure ma body can handle a little more," she replied to which Longspear smiled. Aurora Flash was the last one to go on board with this.
"All right, but if you get us all killed, then I'm going to haunt you for the rest of your life," Aurora said threateningly.
"Great! Now the execution is tomorrow morning, so here's what we're going to do."
•••
Alone Twilight sat on Celestia's throne. She couldn't move due to the fact that Maxspell's magic was keeping her body still from moving. She just sat there with no one else but her thoughts. She just couldn't stop thinking about the execution in the morning. She couldn't bear watching her remaining two friends die in front of her. She tried to come up with a plan, but rather did not bother doing so considering her body was not under her own free will. Suddenly, her thoughts came to a hilt when she felt something hit her right cheek.
"Psst, Twilight," a whisper sounded near the broken windows. Twilight could barely turn her head to see who it was until Longspear entered her field of vision.
"Longspear? What are you doing here?" Twilight asked while Longspear climbed up into the throne room and approached her.
"I'm going rescue you," he replied before noticing all the cuts, bruises, and the black eye on Twilight's face.
"Whoa, what happened to you?”
"You can thank Maxspell for this. After you left, she tried to insert more of her dark magic into my mind, but somehow it kept rejecting it. So in a fit of rage, she took her anger out on my face, and then left me here," Twilight replied. A wave of anger consumed Longspear.
"Oh that's it. When I get my hooves on her, then she'll be the one whose head will be mounted on the wall!" he said seething with rage. "Where is she?! I'll tear her limb from limb! Hell, I should just turn her into glue for all I care!"
"Longspear, calm down!" Twilight said urgently.
"Calm down?! I know that mare is evil, but she just crossed the line!"
"You can have your revenge later, and I can probably have myself healed up if I regain control of my magic, but right now, you need to calm down and tell me about how you are going to rescue me."
After taking a few deep breaths, Longspear was able to hold himself together.
"Alright, alright. Now here's what I was going to explain to you earlier." Longspear said before explaining his entire plan while receiving a lot of different facial expressions from Twilight.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" she asked.
"Nope, but what other option do we have?"
"I guess you're right. Just DON'T MISS alright?"
"I'll try." Longspear replied. Just then, the sound of hooves was growing louder and louder along with the sound of some pony complaining and giving out orders.
"Oh no, she's coming back!" Twilight frantically said when she saw the look of anger in Longspear's eyes.
"Longspear, you have to get out of here! Like I said, you can have revenge later, just go!" She urged him to leave so that he wouldn't get exposed. He finally returned to reality and rushed toward the windows.
"Are you going to be able to sneak out of here?" Twilight asked.
"Come on, I can sneak into any place I want! I was a thief remember?” Longspear said as if he'd been asked 'why is water wet?’
He finally jumped back down and was on his way, leaving Twilight smiling for the speck of hope she had been granted.
•••
The sun was slowly rising over the horizon.
Every pony was gathering around the palace entrance.
A large gallows were constructed at the entrance with two noses, both wrapped in magic.
All the guards rallied a crowd of ponies below.
Several other guards surrounded the edge of the gallows. One began playing taps on a drum.
Celestia and Luna slowly trotted up to the nooses. Everyone was shocked when they saw the two in a horrible condition. More than half of their bodies were covered in metal casts. Their faces had cuts, bruises, and a scar or two.
Twilight and Maxspell were next to trot up onto the gallows, with Maxspell moving Twilight behind the Princesses. Just like before, they were all shocked when they saw her face's condition.
Maxspell noticed something odd about her. She looked very anxious, but she set the thought aside thinking it was probably because she was about to see the death of her only friends in this world.
Twilight however, was anxious what was going to come to her.
Maxspell trotted up towards the edge facing the crowd.
"Mares and gentlecolts. I am pleased to see so many of you here to witness the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one. Today you will watch the death of a corrupt kingdom, and watch a better one rise up from the ashes that your children, and your children's children will live in. The heart of this retched monarchy will soon beat for the last time." Maxspell announced. Using her magic, she lifted the nooses and settled them around the two sister's necks. She then approached them and whispered something to them.
"Don't worry, I'll take good care of your precious kingdom," she said before turning her attention to a guard standing by a lever.
"On my mark... and... NOW!!!"
•••
Longspear watched the gallows as the guards trotted around it through a sniper scope. Aurora Flash and Appleseed both were lying down beside him.
"You sure this is going to work?" Aurora anxiously asked.
"As long as everything goes according to plan," he replied. He then saw Maxspell and Twilight trot up onto the gallows. He kept his sights focused on Maxspell with his trigger hoof itching. He could have ended that mare's life if he wanted to, but he took a deep breath and remembered what Twilight said.
"An' what exactly are ya aimin' at?" Appleseed wondered.
"Just the one thing that's essential to Maxspell."
"Which is?"
"You'll see."
After a few minutes of waiting, he finally saw his moment to act. He watched carefully as Maxspell finished her speech turned to the Princesses for a few seconds, then turning towards the executioner. Right when she said now, he pulled the trigger. The bullet traveled faster than the guard's reaction time and was able to hit its target; the fire ruby in Twilight's crown.
She stumbled back a little bit while Maxspell was blown back a few feet. The magical connection was disrupted, thus releasing its magical grip on both Twilights body and the nooses.
Twilight slowly began gaining control of her body again, and quickly noticed the lever had been pulled and the trap doors underneath the Princesses hooves were open.
Without hesitating, she used her magic and quickly cut both ropes before they snapped taut, causing the two ponies to fall to the ground hard. Twilight rapidly jumped of the gallows and fluttered down to where the princesses were. She wrapped her legs around them and called upon her magic to teleport away from the area.
They teleported from rooftop to rooftop until they reached the one Longspear and the others were on and were teleported away.
•••
Maxspell slowly got up while rubbing her head. She felt very confused and yet again, very worried. Did somebody shoot her? She did feel a sharp pain in her head, not to mention being flung a few feet away. She felt around her head in search of a bullet hole. To her relief, there wasn't one. Then she noticed something else. Something that ignited pure rage deep within her.
She saw the two ropes that were cut and dangling with nothing hanging at the end, and worse, all three princesses were gone.
She quickly approached the nearest guard and gave him an order.
"I want you dispatch every single guard we have. Find them and bring them to me alive! I need their hearts pumping, for now. GO HURRY!!!" she commanded. The guard saluted and all the guards on the gallows quickly left, leaving Maxspell by herself.
"You will be mine princesses. It won't be long now."
•••
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