//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: RESCUE, Part I // Story: The Untold Story of the Equestrian Civil War // by mint20 //------------------------------// Chapter 8: RESCUE, Part I The Untold Story of the Equestrian Civil War “When we are done here, remind me to either give Steel a metal or banish him,” said Twilight, trying hard not to breath in through her mouth. “Got it,” said Rainbow Dash in a muffled voice. “I am inclined to favor banishment,” came the words of the guard at point. “That’s enough, now.” It had been a day since Steel Shield had found the weakness of Canterlot Castle. In that time, Princess Twilight had gathered a squad of six ponies, including herself, to infiltrate the castle and free Cadance. And now, Twilight was trying hard to not think about what this tunnel had recently been occupied by. “So, if the whole ‘secrecy’ part of this plan goes south, what do we do?” asked Rainbow. As the six ponies were grossly outnumbered, their plan relied on secrecy and surprise to liberate Cadance, with a fair helping of luck, to succeed. “I told you already, Rainbow,” sighed Twilight. “If we are discovered, one of us has to make it to the doors to the castle, and open them. I have stationed twenty of our followers out there in case things go wrong.” After a moment, she added as saw the end of the tunnel come into sight, “Remember, everypony, our mission is the safe rescue of Princess Cadance. Everything else is secondary.” “Yes, ma’am!” “Shh, we’re almost out.” After a minute or so, the party found themselves next to secret door. “Good luck, ponies,” Twilight whispered, and eased the door open. Peeking her head out, she looked around. This particular hall was empty. “Let’s move!” exclaimed Twilight softly, and the other five ponies crawled out of the tunnel, into the castle. “Split into pairs! Rainbow, you’re with me. If you find the Princess, get her out. Don’t worry about us, we will find our way out.” The ponies nodded. “Move out, then!” As Twilight’s followers started their search, Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight. “Alright, Twilight. Let’s do this!” “Let’s,” said Twilight, and closed her eyes. “Wait-what are you doing?” “Quiet,” she ordered. “I’m trying to find Cadance’s life-force.” “Oh.” Twilight immersed herself in the familiar rivers of magic and cast her mental probe outwards, searching for minds of others. She found the other ponies of her squadron without any effort, but, for some reason, all the other minds in the tower where hidden from her sight. Frowning, she expanded her search. Then, once again, all hell broke loose. “TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!! I KNEW YOU WOULD COME!” came a powerful yell that made Twilight’s very bones vibrate. What was odd about it, however, was that is lacked a definitive source, but instead seemed to come from all around them. “That isn’t...” started Rainbow. “AND YOU BROUGHT SOME OF YOUR ‘FOLLOWERS’ WITH YOU. HOW CUTE,” continued the voice. There was no mistaking it. “It is,” confirmed Twilight. “She knows! We need to move! NOW!!!” Grabbing Rainbow in her magical grasp, she ran down the nearest available corridor. “Dispatch as many guards as you need,” ordered Princess Celestia, while sitting majestically on her throne. “I want their little ‘raiding party’ brought before me! Now!” “Yes, Your Highness!” “And...now as a good as a time as any. Let us see how our two...special recruits...fare against Twilight’s little friends. Bring them to me, in case our visitors break through our lines of defense.” “Are you sure that’s wise, Your Highness? After all-” “Just do it!” Twilight heard the clamor of many hooves as she ran forward. Slowing down, she braced herself, quickly reviewing the hooful of combat spells she had bothered to study. Selecting a few of the non-lethal ones, she dropped Rainbow Dash onto her face, and awaited the onslaught. A second or two later, a dozen or so Imperial guards turned the corner. Seeing her, the guards lowered their spears, and, with only a second or two worth of hesitation, they charged. Twilight took a second to sigh, for she was hoping that the guards would not have the mental ability to attack. Closing her eyes, she chose one of her non-lethal spells, and quickly “glanced” over the structure of the spell in her mind’s eye. Noting a mistake in the structure, she quickly amended the spell by adding an exception. Observing that she had very little time left, Twilight quickly did what was referred to as ‘packing’ a spell, which is the final step before releasing the spell. Once that completed, she released her hold, and the spell took action. It should be noted that the time from Twilight’s sigh to casting of her spell was just over one and a half seconds. The spell that Twilight had composed originated right next to her fur, and raced outward in all directions. When the lavender light impacted the Imperial guards, the ponies were thrown backward like so many rag dolls. They were unconscious - but not dead - before they hit the ground. The spell dissipated a meter or so after hitting the Imperial guards. Twilight felt a small wave of weariness flow over her, as the spell took its toll. Shaking it off relatively fast, she looked down and smiled at Rainbow Dash, who was not rendered unconscious, thanks to the last-second exception Twilight added. Rainbow got up slowly, and looked at the fallen guards. In a somewhat shaky voice, she said, “Heh. I could have taken ‘em.” Twilight chucked, then ran onwards, the pegasus right behind her. As the two ponies continued to run through the halls, they encountered several other, smaller Imperial squadrons. Most of them, Twilight knocked out with her refined combat spell she had recently used. The others, Rainbow disabled them with a few fast punches. “Where are we?” asked the pegasus after one such scuffle. “I mean, do we even know where Cadance is? And how did Celestia even realize we were here?” “I...I messed up,” Twilight admitted. “When I conducted my scan for Cadance, I fell into a trap laid by Celestia. She knew almost immediately.” “This trap…” mused Rainbow. “I didn’t get a very good look at it,” confessed Twilight. “But from what I could tell, it was an incredibly complex design. Not one that Celestia would normally have up at all times.” “So, you got nothing on Cadance?” “No,” she replied. “Though, I imagine that if I was Celestia, I would hold an important prisoner such as Cadance close to me, where I could keep a close eye on her.” “So...the throne room?” “Yep. Which is more likely than not the most heavily guarded area in this building.” “Yipee.” After two more skirmishes, Twilight and Rainbow found themselves in a long, wide corridor. At the end of the corridor, there stood the two doors that undoubtedly belonged to the throne room. “Let’s move!” exclaimed Twilight, hoping against hope that Celestia was outside the room, overseeing some other part of Twilight’s raid. Charging up her horn, Twilight then selected another spell, this one targeted at the doors to the throne room. Letting it loose, she sent a ray of lathander light at the doors. With a loud bang, the doors flew open. Casting another spell, Twilight used her magic to attempt to kick up dust and the like in the room, to shroud the view of any guards that may be in the throne room. The dust, guided by the purple light distinctive to Twilight, flew up. However, after rising for only half a meter, it encountered a more powerful barrier of pale gold, which wasted no time in overpowering Twilight’s purple and forcing the dust back to the ground. “Uh-oh,” said Twilight, as there were only two ponies that she knew of that could outright best her in that manner. She was not eager to speak with either of them. “What?” asked Rainbow, oblivious to the contest. “Stop!” she ordered. “We can’t-” Too late. Within a second, the counterstrike had enveloped them, and a powerful magic pulled both of them into the room, and slammed the doors closed behind them. “Welcome,” said Celestia, dryly. “I have been expecting you.” “Oh,” said Rainbow. “Crap.”