Virtue and Vice: Equestria

by enigmaMystere

Equus Tactics #42

Looking around at her fellow cellmates, Gilda decides to break the ice. “Alright, spill. It’s our first day here in prison. Who became a bitch and who got themselves some bitches?”

“I’ve always been called a bitch for a variety of reasons,” Winter offers, Mercury safely on his back.

“You… should not be so quick to admit that.” She tilts her head at him, her joke seeming to fall dead as soon as it reached him.

“Excuse me for not understanding prison lingo. I don’t exactly come here often.”

‘You should at least know that word, Win.’ Mercury huffs from his spot on the stallion’s back. ‘We hear it often enough.’

“It means female dog, doesn’t it?” The unicorn puts on a fake look of innocence.

‘We both know you know the other meaning.’

“Then you know why I call myself one.” He gets whacked in the back of his head with the twin tails of the fox. “Now who’s being a bitch?”

Ignoring the slight awkwardness of only hearing one side of a conversation, Dior raises a hoof. “I made a friend. I think I prefer that option to the others.” She turns and waves to the diamond dog outside their cell, smiling kindly. Fluffy waves back.

Maud comments simply. “I seem to have a cult formed based on my ability to dig. They called me ‘She who shakes the earth’.”

“Never trust a cult, Maud,” Winter says with a sigh. “Not even one that worships you. Especially one that worships you. It either leads to you being followed everywhere, people thinking you have crazy world-changing powers, virgin sacrifices being made in your honour, or all three.”

She tilts her head. “I just told them that if they wanted to be happier, they should get pets like Boulder. It seemed to work, they were smiling after that.”

“...pet rocks are really that effective?” The stallion begins looking at the various bits of granite and dirt around his cell with a new eye.

‘If that’s true, then I should get four for you.’ The fox smirks slightly. ‘Might help with your negative attitude.’

As she gets more comfortable on the bed, Maud finishes with a simple phrase. “Pets are therapeutic.”

“That proves Merc isn’t a pet. He’s the opposite of therapeutic.” Despite saying this, the unicorn gives his friend a scratch behind the ear and smiles.

Gilda speaks up. “I think I may have found us someone who will help, even if we never ask.”

Instantly knowing the possibilities of whom she’s referring to, Winter looks over. “Who?”

She shrugs. “Said his name was Thunderhooves. Looks like he was one of the buffalo bosses around here.”

“Chief Thunderhooves...” Winter nods and smiles. “Sounds like a guy we can count on. Think you can get his cell open tomorrow before they put him to work?”

“Sorry, I only know where they work him, not where he is.” She shakes her head. “But he looks like he tries to keep an eye on everything, so if he’s out and spots us, he’ll help.”

Fluffy taps on the bars to get her attention. “Free big buffalo early. Make freeing others easier. I take you to him tomorrow if other dogs not watching us.”

“We’ll take care of that part.” The unicorn smiles and pats Mercury. “They don’t pay any attention to us as long as we stay in one place. I doubt they’ll think to blame us when a few things go...awry.” He smirks.

‘Just gonna throw a few wrenches in the works.’ He pauses, brow furrowing slightly. ‘So to speak. I don’t think they actually have machinery down here.’

“Maud and I can go free everyone else in the confusion.” Dior smirks slyly. “Maybe we can find a way to differentiate the friendly dogs from the non-friendlies, too.”

Fluffy chuckles in his usual gravelly tone. “No need. Already found more allies. They want Alpha overthrown. Want to go back to regular digging.” He nods to the group. “When distractions start, they free slaves from carts and shackles and give them keys. You take prisoners in cells. Then battle. Any not fit to fight, we dig safe room for until we can escape.”

“Perfect!” She smiles at him.

“Now we just need to let the outside team know what’s going on.” Winter looks to Dior. “You still up for passing the message?”

The silver nymph salutes playfully. “Yes, sir!” She stands, moving over to the door. “Think you can help me sneak out, Fluffy?”

The diamond dog nods. Pulling out a rusty key, he opens the cell door to let her out. “Have many hidden tunnels as shortcuts. Some that Alpha not know of. We use them, we stay hidden if we are quiet.”

Winter looks up. “Any that go to the other cell rooms?” He has a hopeful expression on his face. Fluffy nods. “Think I could come along?”

The grey diamond dog looks to Dior, as if asking her for permission to bring the unicorn with them.

She gives him a nod and the stallion a knowing look. “He can come. I’m sure he’ll be quiet as a mouse.” She taps her chin, thoughtful. “Hey, have you seen an orange mare, by the way? Three apples on her flank?”

Fluffy nods again. “One visitor to town above. Know where she is. You want to see her?”

“I think he wants to see her more than I.” She gestures to Winter, smiling playfully at him. “Isn’t that right?”

The stallion pulls the brown hat on his head down a bit. “I’ve got something of hers that she might want back.”

“I can tell.” She shakes her head, turning to the diamond dog. “He can come. He probably would try to find his way to her, if we didn’t let him.”

The stallion sighs. “Dior, stop please?” He pulls the hat lower.

“Fine.” She shrugs. “You’re coming, though, right?”

Nodding, Winter pushes the hat back up, revealing the blush he thinks he had fought away. He lifts Mercury off of him and places him on the straw bed. “I’ll be back, okay? But don’t wait up for me. You need your sleep.”

The fox huffs, curling up in a ball. ‘Fine… I expect some food after all this, though…’

“As soon as we’re out of this mine, I promise.” He gives the kitsune a little nuzzle, then turns to Dior and Fluffy. “Alright, let’s go.”

Fluffy nods and opens Winter’s cell door as well, letting him step out. “Keep quiet. I show you passage. Sneak back to cells when you both done.”

They nod, and the trek begins. The passage is really little more than one of the many tunnels they passed before, but stopping partway through to go through a locked door that Fluffy unlocks. They tread carefully for a little while longer, stopping at another door that Fluffy opens.

“Orange pony in there, with other ponies. When done, go through path you saw. Use key.” He gives the unicorn a copy of the rusty key he had been using, then continues off down the path with Dior.

Sighing before taking a deep breath, Winter opens the door quietly and steps through. He’s in the middle of another narrow tunnel, but from the sounds of quiet voices, he can tell which way to go. Turning to his left, he trots down the tunnel, eventually emerging into a cell room similar to the one he and his team are temporarily living in. This one, however, is crowded with entirely earth ponies; most of them residents of Appleloosa, and all of them looking like they had seen better days.

Inside one of the cells, sitting down against the wall, is the mare from the photograph, though short one signature hat. Her green eyes happen to look up just in time to see Winter, narrowing before showing confusion, recognition, and hope in quick succession.

“If you think I’m the cavalry, you’re gonna have to wait a bit longer,” Winter tells the prisoners with a chuckle, keeping his voice low. “I’m just here to talk to a...friend, before that all goes down.” He makes his way over to the cell that the orange mare occupies by herself, unlocking the door with Fluffy’s key and letting himself in.

Raising an eyebrow at him, the mare speaks in a southern twang. “Since when does a pony unlock a cell to go inside it?”

He laughs a bit as he sits down beside her. “Applejack...this is me you’re talking to. Me, Winter Solstice. Since when have I ever done something ordinary?” He levitates the hat off his head and over to her. “Also, I think you dropped this a while back.”

“Ah, appreciate this more than you know.” As the hat plops onto her head, she adjusts it slightly, grimacing as her hoof encounters one of the tears. “Gonna have to get this fixed up once we get outta here.” She refocuses back on him. “Ah assume that since ya’ll can just stroll in here, you have a plan?”

He nods. “Most of the Tactics team, myself obviously included, have gotten ourselves ‘enslaved’. We’ve managed to get a few of the disgruntled diamond dogs on our side, and tomorrow, we’re going to begin our attack. You’ll probably be free before the dogs even come get you to put you to work.”

“Well shoot, didn’t take ya long, did it?” She grins happily at her friend. “Good to see all that guard training coming in handy. Guess we need to lay low until it’s time, then?”

He smiles back. “Yep, but once the time comes - and you’ll know when it does - feel free to do whatever you want. Run, hide, even join in the fight if you’re up for it. But I promise you that long before tomorrow ends, these caves will be abandoned and all the slaves will be heading back home.” He lifts a hoof and boops her nose playfully. “You included.”

Chuckling, she playfully bats his hoof away, smiling. “Ah’ll hold ya to that.”

Winter chuckles as well, glancing away briefly. He frowns a bit. “...if you don’t mind me asking...how’d you get caught? What happened, exactly?”

“Well…” Taking off her hat, the mare strokes her mane once before replacing the clothing. “...honestly, there ain’t really much to tell. Ah got a letter from mah cousin tellin’ me there was some strange stuff goin’ on over here in Appleloosa. He said he could use some help tryin’ to sort it all out. Ah get here, and half the town seems to have up and vanished. Think it was… mah second night here when they got me. Was half asleep, but all Ah remember is a bunch of em, a bag, and a nice blow to the back of mah head after Ah started buckin’ like there was no tomorrow.” She shrugs. “Not too much different than any of the other stories, ‘cept Ah actually wish they would have come for me sooner. Least then, Ah’d have been awake enough to take the varmints down a peg or two.”

The unicorn nods as he listens to her recounting of the events. When she finishes, he speaks up once again. “Have you met this ‘Alpha’ guy since you’ve been down here? Or that weird filly?”

She nods. “Yeah, actually, though ‘met’ ain’t the right word. Ah’ve only seen em once, mahself. Apparently they do a sort of weekly tour of all the progress that we make. Spotted em during one of those times.” Her body shivers a moment. “Something ain’t right about that filly with him…”

Noticing her shiver, Winter puts a hoof on her shoulder in worry. “Yeah...apparently Merc knows her, though...he hasn’t told me how. But I intend to find out before I do anything to her.” He grits his teeth. “Alpha, on the other hoof...he’s free game as far as I’m concerned.”

“Careful now, you know that temper of yers makes ya have tunnel vision sometimes.” She shakes her head. “That one’s called ‘Alpha’ for a reason. He ain’t small, he ain’t weak, he ain’t stupid. It won’t be easy to take him down.”

“The same can be said about me, you know.” He laughs lightly. “But you’re right. I won’t go after him until I know all his tricks are out of the bag. And even then, I’ll be on total guard.” He frowns. “That filly is what worries me, though...I’ve seen what she can do...or the aftermath of it, at least.”

Shaking her head once more, she replies. “Haven’t seen it mahself. All I know is that she makes me feels uneasy.”

He nods. “Same here. Makes me feel uncomfortable, nervous, like something’s about to go wrong...oh, wait, never mind. That’s just me around girls in general.” He smirks, trying to lighten the mood.

Lightly punching him with her hoof, she smiles once more. “Yeah, that’s you alright. Try to save it for after we’re out of here.”

The stallion laughs, pretending to rub at the spot she hit. “Only because you asked so nicely.”

---

The moon hovers overhead like an all-seeing eye. It’s luminous gaze wanders over the barren and rock strewn landscape of the Appleloosan area. One of the many outcroppings holds a secret, it’s surface marred by a large hole, and it’s function given away by the small piles of minerals to either side of the entrance. Hoofbeats are heard rapidly approaching from within.

A silver form emerges from the shadows of the opening, moonlight making her form stand out among the sandy landscape. She closes her eyes, letting the air of her surroundings wash over her for a moment. An ear twitches and she turns right, going off at an angle to the mesa she came from.

Her direction has her heading towards another gathering of stones. While nothing noticeable from afar, up close it appears to form a sort of artificial cave, as if the wind had tried to blow through this spot enough to leave a sizeable dent in the side. A few larger specimens of rock sit in front of an around the entrance, their red and orange hues muted in the low light.

She quietly approaches, knocking on the side of the formation carefully. “Anyone awake?”

“Just one, will that do for now?” One lump piece of the rocks detaches itself and walks toward her, revealing the dark red form of Hydro smiling at her.

“Yes, I suppose.” Dior smiles, walking up and gently nuzzling his cheek. “Did you miss me?”

He doesn’t speak at first, meeting her lips in a brief but deep kiss. He responds once he breaks it. “What do you think?”

She giggles, pecking him back before she strolls over to another couple boulders. “I missed you, too.” She taps on one of the rocks, causing a pair of purple eyes to peek out at her. “Wake up, now. I have some info for you all.”

The unicorn slowly sits up, rubbing her eyes with a foreleg. “I guess it can’t wait until morning, then?” A shake of the head. “Thought so.” She moves to the side, bumping the other lump with her hindleg. “Good luck waking him up.”

“Yeah,” Hydro agrees, “dropped like a lump after he was done flying around to get a good site for camp.”

“Brilliant.” Dior sighs, sitting down with her back against the cave wall. “So, we’re almost ready to take care of this. We have a few of them on our side, and we’ll be able to get more help from the others.”

Her husband sits next to her. “Glad to know things are going fairly smoothly down there. A bit of dissent definitely speeds everything up compared to an entire corrupt group. Are the others fairing as well as you are?”

“From what I can tell, they seem to be doing alright. Winter located Applejack - probably spending time with her as we speak - I made a friend out of our guard, and the dogs really can’t stand high-pitched noises.” The nymph looks up, frowning slightly. “Apparently, some of the diamond dogs formed a pet rock club at Maud’s behest, but it’s better than the cult that would’ve been…”

“Don’t drink the punch.” Vinyl flinches at the stares she receives. “What? Someone had to say it…”

The marble changeling clears her throat, gesturing to them. “Anyways, Sol says that you should sneak in at sunrise and be ready to rush in as soon as you hear the first sounds of a battle. No specifics, but I guess he figured you’d all know what to do.”

“Just do what we do best I guess.” The earth pony answers with a grin. “Kick flank to make sure everypony gets out and that this doesn’t happen again. If it keeps going this smooth, we might have this as one of our quickest missions.”

“I sure hope so.” She glances over at the unicorn. “By the way, do you have any earplugs?” The disk jockey nods and passes a small container over to her. “Thanks. This would definitely come in handy, if things go as expected.”

With a quick peck on the stallion’s cheek, she’s outside, hurrying back as quietly as possible. As soon as she’s out of sight, the white mare turns to the red pony, smirking playfully. “I bet you enjoy rockin’ that bod.”

Used to that particular quip, Hydro turns to her. “I think Enigma could say the same of you.”

“Hey,” she points to him, blushing fiercely, “I’ll have you know we’ve been doing our best to wait… not that it’s easy, but still!”

“That’s your choice, so that’s fine with me.” He lays down next to one of the rocks, his coat already blending in. “Just let me know when I need to start looking into places to buy tiny colored shades.”

She rolls her eyes. “Hilarious.” She turns to the side, muttering to herself. “Wonder if I should cancel that order…” Violet eyes glance to him once more. “Though I do have to ask… does it chafe, with her?”

He smiles. “Not from what I’ve heard. Seems like it only feels good to her.”

She curls back up, facing him as she lays on her side. “No, I mean, with her being stone, and all.”

“Not at all.” He shakes his head. “Except for her legs, she’s only stone where things would normally be chitin. She made sure to make herself very smooth unless she doesn’t want to be.”

“If you say so.” She closes her eyes, sighing softly. “Good luck with watch, the rest of the night…”

As the mare drifts off to sleep and eventually starts snoring, Hydro can only shake his head, looking back out over the moon-graced landscape.

---

The day begins just like the previous one for the team. Fluffy wakes them up early to bring them to work before disappearing to handle his own business, and they’re left on their own in a cave almost entirely devoid of life. Only a few other diamond dogs to act as guards are walking around, and none of them seem fully awake.

“Guess they got us up first since we were the last to start working yesterday,” Winter mutters. He’s back to being in the middle of the room, beside the cage that the dogs insisted on locking Mercury in once more. This time, they don’t even bother trying to put Winter to work, having learned their lesson from the day before.

‘At least it’s beneficial to us, right?’ He paws at the latch on his door. ‘I wish they’d let us stay in the cell, though. Then we could do more…’

“It’s better this way, I think.” Winter looks around as a few other slaves are brought out, barely awake. “Getting a full view of the room makes this easy.” Angling his body and lowering his head so the diamond dogs don’t see what he’s doing, he lights his horn and starts to focus.

Seeing what he’s doing, the fox lowers his voice, speaking as the magic fades. ‘Will that work for all of them? Or just the ones that aren’t in use?’

The stallion smirks. “If it’s in this room, it’ll work. This is where we’re trying to bring the dogs, don’t forget. Then they won’t be focusing on the prisoners.” He looks around at the room, which at a first glance looks entirely the same. “Now we wait, and then let all Tartarus break loose.”

‘Good.’ He glances at his friend, hopeful. ‘You’ve got it with you, right?’

A nod. “The dogs don’t seem to care if I have a book with me for ‘passing the time’.” He shows the blue tome to the fox.

‘Great to know.’ He sighs in relief. ‘We need that close by, just in case things go south.’

Winter nods again and glances back. The dogs are just beginning to hitch the slave ponies up to the carts, and he grins. “Pull back the curtains. The show’s about to start.” As sneakily as he can, he levitates a rusty key up and hovers it near the lock on the cage, waiting for the right moment.

The chihuahua diamond dog from the day before steps up to Gilda, harness in her paws. “Bird stay still while I secure this.” She places it on the griffon’s back and moves to the side, about to lock it shut when a loud creaking reverberates through the area. The dog leaps back as the carts fall apart, the side of the nearest nearly falling on top of her. She rounds on Gilda, pickaxe in her paws. “What did you do?!”

“I looked at it funny.” Her avian eyes narrow at the pickaxe.

The canine growls, swinging her tool up over her head. “See if bird can do that without-” She lets out a yelp as the top of the improvised weapon falls off, landing on top of her tail.

All around, other dogs are beginning to have similar problems. Carts everywhere are losing wheels and completely collapsing before the slaves can even be put into the harnesses. Pickaxes are losing their heads and falling into two worthless pieces. And in all the commotion, the dogs are too busy trying to figure out what the problem is that none of them notice a solitary unicorn unlocking the cage in the middle of the room.

“Griffon! Here!” A familiar grey diamond dog hisses at Gilda from a nearby tunnel, unnoticed by the frantic canines. “This way!”

“One second!” With a swift motion, she yanks the handle out of the chihuahua’s hands as it jumps around in pain. With a swift crack over the head, she lays it out flat and tosses the handle away, heading toward Fluffy. “Alright, let’s go.”

The battered canine struggles to her feet as the griffon runs away, growling angrily as she grabs her club. “Bird pay for that!” She races after her, blind to everything else going on around her.

As she charges into the tunnel after the escaping griffon, she gets blocked by a larger brown diamond dog that steps into her path from a connected tunnel. “Stay back.”

She looks up at him, confused and annoyed. “Bird fleeing! We need to stop bird!”

He glares down at her. “Bird helping. Leave bird.” Reaching down, he grabs a club of his own. “You not pass.”

The chihuahua stares blankly at him, unsure what to think. “What are you saying? Alpha get mad if we don’t stop bird!”

“Alpha not be Alpha after today. We done with Alpha.” His eyes narrow further. “Leave bird.”

She looks from him to the tunnel and back, whining softly. “But bird hit me with stick.”

“Ah, walk it off,” Winter comments casually as he trots by, Mercury on his back, heading down a nearby tunnel. “Don’t be such a bitch.”

---

As the chaos spreads above, Dior and Maud rush down a tunnel together, hurrying to the cells. The path is clear, the dogs not on their side currently preoccupied. The nymph glances at the mare, trying to stay serious despite the keyring hanging from the pony’s mouth. “We need to make sure they’re all uninjured. Can you do that, Miss Pie?”

A single sound of confirmation muffles its way around the keyring as the mare nods.

Things lapse into a mildly awkward silence. Seeing the distance they’ve yet to cover, the nymph decides to voice something that’d come to her a while back. “So, back when we met in the base… I noticed a slight spike before you walked up to me…” She keeps one eye on her and smirks slightly. “Was that because I’m stone, or because you’re interested in mares?”

In keeping with her reputation of having a constant legendary poker face, Maud looks blankly at the nymph before doing a clever bit of mouth work so that the ring now hangs on her muzzle instead of in it. “Spike of what?”

“If I’m not mistaken…” She frowns, her gaze turning to the ceiling. “I think it was desire… might’ve been just plain interest, though.”

“They are similar in some ways.” Maud manages to keep her voice flat even when running. “I naturally am intrigued by new forms of stone, and a living being made of stone is extremely interesting. Also, while it was unconnected to any feelings at the time, I am equally open to both mares and stallions.”

Dior smirks slyly. “Is that so?” She slows down as they near a branch in the path, turning to face the mare. “So you don’t have a preference for the form of either gender?”

“I don’t.” She confirms. “I like to judge what’s on the inside because the outside can sometimes not tell the whole story.”

“Good to know you’re not petty.” She gestures to the left. “You take that way, I’ll take the other. We’ll meet back where Fluffy made the safe area with the ones we free, okay?”

“Okay.” Maud nods once more before turning away, only to turn back almost immediately. “Will you tell me later why you asked those questions?”

“Yes, I will.” She smiles and waves, running down her chosen path. Blinking, Maud turns back around and heads down her own tunnel.

Dior doesn’t have to travel long before the narrow path widens out into a large room; the same as the one they dropped Winter off at the night before. She approaches one of the cell doors, talking to the ponies inside.

“It’s going to be alright, now. We’re all going to get out of here.” She turns her attention to the lock, holding up her hoof. “I just need to take care of these tumblers…” She places the frog of her hoof against the metal, tapping it a few times in multiple locations. “These are terrible bars…”

The nymph presses against the hinge, the metal warping under her touch. “So full of impurities…” She takes care of the second and moves the door off to the side. She turns to the ponies inside, concerned. “Is anyone injured? Can you all walk?”

Most of the ponies stand up, looking no worse for the wear aside from some small bruises or cuts. However, one earth pony stallion, only a little younger than the other prisoners, is clearly limping with a bad hind leg.

Dior winces, looking to the other ponies there. “Can someone help him while I get the others out?” She turns to the other door, frowning deeper. “Buck… this one’s better quality…” She sighs, sitting down before it. “I guess I’ll have to wing it…” She holds up her hooves, the very tips flowing into thin rods, one with a flag. Leaning in close, she slips both of the items in, trying to figure out on the fly how to do this. “The movies make this look so damn easy…”

It takes a few minutes, but she starts to get the hang of it, slowly trying to turn the lock. “Careful… almost-” She cuts off as the stone breaks off her hoof, causing her to glance between the jagged edge and the mechanism for a second or two. “...screw this.” She scowls, placing a hoof on the lock and pulling, wrenching it entirely free of the door. “No lock, no block.” She tosses it to the side and opens the door. “There. Now everyone’s-” She stops, staring at a ball and chain on one of the prisoners. “...free?”

The prisoner, a light yellow earth pony with a brown vest and matching hat similar to the one Winter had dropped off the night before, just gave his chained leg a tug to show how solid it was. “Sorry if this throws a wrench in yer plans, miss, but Ah don’t think this’ll come off easy.”

Dior grits her teeth, forcing a small smile for him. “Not a problem. I don’t think I’ll be trying to pick this one, though.” She waves a hoof. “Don’t want to lose too much of myself, after all.” She moves next to him, grabbing the black sphere with her magic, straining with the exertion. “I’ll just… carry this, for now… until we can do something about it…”

The pony shakes his head. “Jus’ leave me behind. Ah ain’t gonna let mahself become a hindrance to yer plan.”

She scowls at him, eyes narrowed. “I’m not going to just leave you here. I’m going to get you out of here if I have to carry you.” She pokes his muzzle. “Got it?”

“An’ what if ya get caught? Ah reckon ya can’t run fast carryin’ me or some heavy ball.”

“I don’t have to run.” She smirks, turning her attention back to the entrance to the area. “I can handle myself, and protect everyone that needs me to.”

Almost as soon as she finishes speaking, a metal door partway down the tunnel slams open, and a dark red diamond dog storms out, running for the room of cells as soon as it notices Dior. Within seconds, the dog is in the nymph’s face, an iron club in its grasp. The other slaves shy away. “What you doing here?!”

She stares at him for a moment before walking around him, leading the stallion behind with the chain attached to his ankle.

“Hey! I talking to you!” With a loud growl, the dog swings its club at the nymph, striking her in the side of the face.

She stumbles to the side, falling against a wall as the ball drops to the floor. Her head hangs low as she stands back up in silence, legs trembling slightly. As the dog moves to ready another swing, a piece of stone falls on the ground, clattering against the floor.

Dior slowly lifts her head, revealing a crack down the side of her face and an intensity in her eyes that wasn’t there before. In less than a second, she swings out her foreleg, a blade emerging from her hoof. She swiftly closes the distance between them, stabbing the dog in the arm holding the club, causing him to cry in pain and drop the weapon.

She leans in close, barely-restrained fury filling her voice. “You’re lucky that’s all I did, mutt. Apologize, then leave before I cut something off.”

“S-Sorry!” the dog replies in a pain-filled voice, clutching at his arm to stop the bleeding. He starts backing away, then turns and makes a run for it, calling out to the other dogs that the slaves were rebelling.

Dior sighs, letting the blade retract back into her leg. “So much for subtlety.” She turns and looks at the ball, staring at it a moment. With blinding speed, she lashes out and smashes it, turning to the stallion it was attached to. “Better?”

The former prisoner looks shocked, but nods. “Y-Yeah...thank ya kindly...”

“Good. I needed to get that out of my system.” She turns to leave but stops, staring at the lone form still in one of the cells. Frowning, she approaches the orange pony, shaking her shoulder. “Hey, wake up. This is no time for a nap.”

“Rah… get off me ya varmint…” One hoof swipes the white one away as the form stirs, letting out a yawn. Blinking, Applejack looks around, noting the lack of ponies in her cell. “Shoot, didn’t sleep through the whole rebellion, did Ah? I got dogs to pay back.”

“No, it, quite literally, just started.” The nymph looks down at her hoof, frowning at the scarlet staining the marble. “I hope that can come out…” She shakes her head and nods to the tunnel. “Come on, Applejack. If we hurry, we can see the last of the fireworks. Just remember, some of the dogs are on our side.”

“Well,” she begins as she stands, “Ah can try not to hit em, but no promises Ah won’t be a mite twitchy around em until I can tell which ones are on our side.”

“I think it’d be the ones who aren’t attacking you.” Dior giggles, draping a wing across her back. “Maybe we’ll get to see Fluffy. I’m sure you’ll like him.”

“Winter mentioned him...is that really his name?” The two walk out of the cell.

“I technically gave it to him, so I’m not really sure.” She scratches her chin. “I wonder how everything is going with them…”

---

“Slaves escaping! They fighting back!”

With those words coming from the bleeding diamond dog charging out from a tunnel into the main area, the chaos and confusion of their equipment falling apart quickly gets even worse as they try to grab whatever weapons they can - clubs, broken pickaxes, or even large rocks. Anything to prepare themselves for the rebellion.

At the same time, a thundering of footsteps comes from another tunnel as a wave of, now former, slaves run out. The charge is led by none other than Gilda, who takes flight as soon as she is able; and Chief Thunderhooves, who bowls over a half dozen dogs before the rest even knew what hit them.

“Charge!” The buffalo’s cry rings out throughout not just the cavern, but through the surrounding tunnels with its volume. The former slaves mirror the cry as they follow their leader into battle.

From the opposite end of the room, coming out of another narrow tunnel are a familiar unicorn stallion with a fox on his back. This time, however, they’re followed by even more former slaves; specifically, the ones willing to back them up in the battle to escape. Any who didn’t have it in them to battle, or were too injured to try, were taken to the safe room by Fluffy and the other allied diamond dogs.

“I think it’s time to send these dogs to the pound,” Winter says with a chuckle.

‘My exact sentiments.’ Mercury lowers himself, getting ready to leap off his back. ‘Throw me in a cage, will-’

“Sol!” Dior emerges from one of the side tunnels, waving to him. “Applejack and the others are safe, now!”

Winter turns to her and grins, noticing the slaves following behind her and one orange mare in particular. “Great! Think you can get me re-equipped?”

“Sure, one sec!” She swings her foreleg, the sleek blade flying out and to the right of the stallion, striking a dog in the shoulder. “Oh… oops?”

The unicorn smirks as he turns to the dog, who dropped its club after the knife pierced its shoulder. Quickly, he grabs the club in his magic and slams it straight into the dog’s face, knocking it out cold and enabling him to retrieve the dagger. He glances at the hilt, which looks as though it were made out of glass. “Vestige, great to see you again.” He begins making his way over to the nymph.

Dior opens up the stone of her hindlegs, the blades there quickly dropping out. “Yeah, I don’t want to chance hitting you with these, so I hope this is good enough!”

Nodding, Winter picks the two up with his magic and swiftly levitates them over to him; on the way, he quickly turns one around to point at a dog advancing on him, stopping it cold. One false jab from the green-tipped blade, and the dog scurries away. “That’s three. You still got Verdict?”

She whines, looking at him pleadingly. “Can’t I use it, for a bit? It’s much more sturdy than my stone weapons…”

“If you think you need to. Just don’t try using magic on it.” He twirls the three knives he’s acquired around himself. “Now to get the others from Gilda...”

“Vision and Vendetta, right?” She smiles, holding up a hoof to reveal the tip of the remaining dagger. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it. I just want to make sure these guys get to safety, Sol.”

Winter nods, his eyes glancing at one orange earth pony near the back of the group. “Right. Keep them safe.”

“I will. And maybe you and your mare friend could go get drinks together after this.” She winks and starts moving to the larger tunnel, leading the former earth pony slaves behind her, including the farmer attempting to hide her blushing face beneath her hat.

Having no hat to hide his own reddening features, Winter settles for simply turning away and glancing back at Mercury with a stern look. “Not. One. Word.”

He tilts his head at his friend, smirking slyly. ‘Not even these four?’

“You know what I mean. Don’t act dumb. You don’t fit the role as well as I do.” He starts galloping around the room as he looks for Gilda.

‘Really, Win, stop hating on yourself.’ Mercury huffs softly. ‘It’s kinda painful… besides, we need to stay alert for any sign of that Alpha character, and self-pity’s distracting.’

Ducking under the swinging arms and clubs of the diamond dogs that take notice of him, the unicorn laughs. “I think Alpha will make himself known well enough when he decides to crawl out of his little hidey-hole.” One club smashes into the ground right by him, and on reflex, Winter stabs his green-tipped blade - Viper - into the offending diamond dog’s stomach.

The fox groans, clinging onto his friend as hard as he can, not wanting to be flung off. ‘Who knows when that’ll be?’

“Probably whenever he realizes these mutts aren’t gonna do much to stop us.” He twists the dagger around before pulling it out, and the diamond dog collapses. “Play dead...good boy.”

The silver fox stares at the wound, grimacing slightly. ‘You sure that wasn’t a bit much, Win?’

“If that club hit me, I’d be dead. Just call it karma for attempted murder.” He turns away from the dog and continues running. “Sometimes, being the good guy means you have to do bad guy things, but for a different cause.”

Mercury looks warily at his friend, concerned. ‘If you say so…’