//------------------------------//
// The Failing Plan 
// Story: Equestria’s Rebellion Of Heroes 
// by typervader 
//------------------------------//

“Eclipse, wake up,” she heard a soft voice tell her. When she opened her eyes, she saw Princess Celestia with a few guards. 

“Hello, Princess,” Eclipse said, bowing. As much of a rogue she was, Eclipse knew that in the presence of a pony who could—quite literally—banish her to the moon, manners could be a saving grace.

“Well, Eclipse, I want you to explain your actions and why you did what you did. I will then read your list of crimes,” the Princess told her.

“Well, I'm crazy. I hear the voices.” Eclipse explained. 

“And you do so without a hint of regret.”

“It’s not like I have the emotions to care for my actions.” Eclipse scoffed a little. “As if I’d need them!”

Princess Celestia stomped her hoof on the floor. “Very well, Eclipse,, here are your crimes: robbery, usage of black magic, mind control, avoiding arrest.” She paused, letting the crimes sink in, before resuming speaking. “However, if what you say is true, I want to help.” 

Eclipse didn't reply. 

Celestia walked around Eclipse, explaining what she meant.. “There is a special school for talented unicorns such as yourself, they can teach you to cope with these voices and harness your ability for the greater good.” 

Eclipse still said nothing. 

“I’m going to try to help you, but you need to release them from your spell,” Celestia explained. 

“They aren’t under a spell anymore,” Eclipse told her. Celestia stood there, taking in what she just heard. 

“So, you’ve released them?” Celestia asked her, confused. 

“Sure.” Of course it was a lie, but Eclipse needed her to leave, as she needed to form a plan to escape. Plus, Eclipse felt fear from Celestia, as she knew what power she had. Celestia walked away, leaving her alone.  Celestia looked at her, then looked at the guards who shared that look with her. 

“Well then, I am going to go talk to someone who can help you with your issues. I will return soon,” She said, before leaving. Something about her voice told Eclipse that she wasn’t totally buying the story. It was surprising, then, that she had even bothered to give the strange unicorn the benefit of the doubt.. 

Eclipse stood there, watching her leave, taking in what she said. 

Help? she thought. I don’t need help. No help at all. What I need is to get out of here.

“Any requests for dinner? I imagine you must be hungry,” said the commander. His voice, in a dry, sarcastic tone, carried an air of boredom with each word uttered.

In a biting snarl of a tone, Eclipse replied, “Hmmm. To start, I’ll have the tomato soup, with crispy croutons. Then for the main, I’d like some tomato and basil pasta. And for dessert a nice black forest gateau, with whipped cream.”

“Bread and water it is,” said the commander with a chuckle. He walked back down the path between the cells, fading into the darkness.

“And Nightbeam wants salad!” Eclipse called out from behind the bars. More chuckles responded, growing fainter and fainter until Eclipse was finally alone.




It took hours for Crescent and Hot Shot to convince the Royal Guard they weren’t under any spell, but eventually they were let out of the medical ward. The guard commander from the night before stood before them, tired. 

The Commander whinnied lightly to vainly keep himself awake.“Alright, you two are free to go. Crescent, be back for night watch tomorrow, and Hot Shot, you’re free to go.” He yawned. “We’ll deal with that savage appropriately, don’t worry.”

Crescent and Hot Shot looked at each other. This wasn’t going well. Hot Shot would be expected to leave the castle and Eclipse was in jail. They also knew the cult was watching them and wouldn’t likely risk the loss of their armor considering the value of each suit. It was clear they needed either a counter-plan or some sort of assistance. Maybe they could turn on the cult? Report it? But then again, there wasn’t any proof of their misdeeds besides the armor. Though, that wasn’t saying much; teleporting in and out while being in possession of armor possible made of dark magic had a nasty habit of ruining any sort of credibility.

It was a rock-ina-hard-place situation, and they obviously needed some help from the cult or a good plan. For now though, it was important not to break cover. 

Crescent saluted the commander. “Understood, sir.”

“Good,” the commander replied while rubbing his eyes. “This night has been a nightmare. Too much paperwork, I tell ya; my shift should have ended four hours ago. I’ll see you tonight, Crescent. I’ll need a full report on what happened.” With that the commander left the two of them standing there, wondering what their next move would be.

“We need to get Eclipse out of prison,.” Crescent finally said. “But I have no clue how to do just that.”

“I agree,” Hot Shot said with a nod. “There’s got to be an entire battalion of guard between us and her. Not to mention we’d be in serious trouble with a direct approach. I think we need to contact the cult for help.”

“Contact the cult? Are you mad?” Crescent answered. “We’d look like failures! They tasked us with this to prove our loyalty, remember? We’ll never get in if we don’t succeed.”

“That’s exactly why we should contact them. If they want it so bad, they’ll send help for us,” Hot Shot said sternly. He emphasized his point by stomping a hoof against the ground. “And remember where your loyalties lie. Remember why we’re doing this.”

Almost violently, as an anchor of dread filled his stomach, Crescent realized he had no idea why he had even agreed to this. Some cult kidnapped him and told him to essentially commit treason by stealing from the vault—in the very castle he was supposed to guard, under the noses of the beloved rulers, no less!

“Right, yeah, I remember,” Crescent said with a nervous smile. 

Hot Shot suddenly had an idea. He turned to Crescent with a smirk on his face.

“What’s with that smile?” asked Crescent. 

“I just had a great idea!” said Hotshot.

“That must have be a new experience for you” chuckled Crescent 

“Ha ha, very funny. Do you want to hear it or not?” 

Crescent looked around, to make sure nopony is nearby. Then, he nodded.. “Okay, then, go for it.” 

“Well, I was thinking. Our armour hides our faces and bodies, right? So why don’t we use it to bust out Eclipse, and break into the vault. Then we can all escape!” said Hotshot with a proud smile on his muzzle. 

Crescent sighed. “Under normal circumstances, I’d say that’s a stupid idea. But…” As he trailed off, he turned, and began walking towards the area with the vault. “These aren’t normal circumstances. Plus, I don’t really have any better ideas, and sometimes psychos like you are right.”

“I’m not a psycho,” Hot shot said matter of factly. “And where you going?”

“The vault, since i’m out of shits to give I’m just gonna rip the vault open with the armor,” Crescent.

“Is that possible?” 

“If not, then I’ll make it possible,” Crescent turned a corner out of sight. “Give the guards a big distraction for me!”

“Might as well.” Hot shot smirked before a thought hit him. “I hope Celestia isn't in the mood to fight.”





The vault door remained as impassible and impressionable as ever. Crescent’s hard, flat look could not pierce its bronze shell. He stared long and hard at it, analyzing the structure for any weak points. Crescent walked down the steps giving the vault door a flat look, and it seemed rather empty inside. 

”What did that yellow guy say again? Just think it and the armor responds?” Crescent focused a bit and soon both of his forehooves were covered in the armor’s coarse, black metal. 

He raised one of his hooves before punching the massive, heavily enchanted, ton of pure steel door. In a defying clang, it bounced off, sending a painful shock down his entire body. Apparently the door was not going to play nice. 




Hot Shot soon found himself deeper in the castle than he’d have liked. He distracted some more guards simply by going back in and running. In doing so, he was given the chance to kill them; yet, each time, he refrained from doing the act.  He ran deeper and deeper into the castle, heading down more flights of stairs; then he remembered the castle having a dungeon. 

The dungeon were not like the beautiful castle upstairs, but dark, damp, and cold. It was quiet and empty, and seemed to have been forgotten. 

He was confident he had lost the guards after him; then, he heard voices up ahead. 

“And you’re not to let her out of her cell for any reason. The enchantments should block out all magic from being cast, but she’s still a threat if she escapes.” The voice was clearly an officer or official of some kind, most likely  talking to guards.

“They must be talking about Eclipse. Who else could it be?” Hot Shot as he walked forward. 

He quietly trotted down the tunnel, trying to keep to the shadows. The sound of clip-clopping indicated hoofsteps coming his way. . He quickly ducked into a dark corner of the hall and he saw a pony walk past. The pony looked like he was wearing heavy Royal Guard armor, with a full helmet and carrying a large halberd. Hot Shot had never seen a Royal Guard armored like he was, but he had no time to question it then. He knew he had to free Eclipse while he was here, or at least make sure she was okay.

He crept down the hall as the heavily armored soldier clanked past him. Eventually he could see to Royal Guards standing in front of a heavily chained iron door. After concluding that those two must have been the ones whom the previous guard had been talking to, he thought for a second on how he would get past them.. They were in the way, and there was no way to sneak forward. If he just charged at them they’d at least be able to raise the alarm before he could bring them down….unless...

The armor! His suit made him faster than he’d ever gone before, and he was sure he could make it to the end of the hall with no real issue and bring them down before they could call for help.

He issued the command, and the armor covered his body again. He could feel the power coursing through him. He bolted; in an instant he was on top of them. 

“Huh?” was all one of the two could mutter before they were both out cold on the ground.

A quick search of the two rewarded the key to the cell. He quickly opened the door and peeked inside. There he could see Eclipse chained to the wall. 

Hot Shot quickly looked around before shutting the stone door behind him. Eclipse peeked up and saw him. 

“Oh, hi, Hot Shot,” she said in her usual tone. “So you do care about me after all. What a surprise.” 

“Well, if I were to leave you, who knows what the cult would do. I really don’t.” Hot Shot puffed, trying to make himself feel better. He really did care about the young mare, even if she was strange. 

“Anyway, do you have a plan to get us, and the crystal, out of here? I really don’t feel like going to an insane asylum,” she told him.

“Easy. The armor should do the trick.” Going over to the chain, he pulled on it and triedt o cut it with his wings. He soon broke the chain off, and Eclipse was able to stand, barely. 

“Ah, sorry,” she said, noticing his somewhat concerned look. “They didn’t give me much food, and well, the captain sorta beat me a bit. Thought he could break me. He really didn’t.”

“I can tell.” Hot Shot turned, and began walking out.

“Anyway, do you have a plan?” she asked, walking the best she could. 

“Crescent is going to find the crystal and we plan to get out here. There are a few guards outside, you up for a fight?” Hot Shot asked her.

“Honestly, no. My magic is gone and drained, and not even the armor was on. I need to get Nightbeam back as well.”

“That worthless doll?”

“I need Nightbeam.” Suddenly, she had her hooves on his shoulders. Her eyes, wide and wanting, stared back into his. Hot Shot sensed something he had thought Eclipse was incapable of expressing: earnestness. “Please,” she added, and her tone of voice reflected the plea.

After a moment, Hot Shot nodded. “Alright, I will distract them. Get what you need and meet us back in the main hall.” 

Hot Shot once again set out to distract the guards as Eclipse moved towards the captain’s room. 

As Hot Shot rounded the corner out of view, Eclipse slipped into the Captain’s room. He was busy writing at a desk and had not seen her yet. Many thoughts of what to do to him floated around in her head, each with a separate voice. This pony had beaten, threatened, and done terrible things to Eclipse to get what he wanted to hear out of her. He had nearly killed her twice in the process and it was unlikely Celestia either knew about the pony’s methods or cared to ask for plausible deniability. 

She could hear him mumbling. “With two weeks….hmm...no….add three.” 

Eclipse’s magic was drained, but not completely depleted like she had told Hot Shot. The armor now free from the rooms’s magical repression, she could feel tugging at her mind, as if asking to be used again.

She silently called upon her armor and could feel it recharging her magic, quickly regaining her lost power. Instinctively, she knew whatever black magic went into these suits was beyond ordinary capabilities of ponies.

“I know you’re here.” The Captain looked up from his work. “And I know what you’re going to do to me.”

“Then you might as well not struggle.” A magical aura emitted from her horn, and she pointed it towards his neck. “Tell me what I need to know.”

Looking at her, without a hint of fear in his eyes, the captain said, “Like I would tell a monster like you.”. 

“You really shouldn’t be fighting me right now,” Eclipse said, staring back at him. I can make you feel pain like you never felt before.” She used her magic to slowly lift him into the air. A poison spell shot from her horn and towards him, causing him to start coughing blood.

“Now tell me where Nightbeam is,” Eclipse told him, weakening her magic so he could speak.

“I… don’t know… who that is.” 

“My doll. What did you do with him?” She then threw him against the wall, this time firing a few magical blasts towards him. 

“I... I...I tossed it in the trash...” He pointed to the small trash bin right next to his desk. She scurried over to it grabbing her doll from it and hugging it close to her chest breathing a sigh of relieve of relief. She opened up her chest piece and stored Nightbeam in there to keep her safe. “I was going to incinerate it too”

“You wanted to burn my friend?” Her jaw cracked, and with a pulse from her horn, she raised him in her telekinesis grip. She applied a forcefield around him as she cast a fire spell. “Then you shall have the same fate as you had tried to give to him”

She walked away from the captain as his body caught fire, slowly burning off his skin. The fire making it’s way to his face. His agonizing screams pierced the air as Eclipse walked away with a satisfied grin.


[img]https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTP97Q2Kxtt7YX9jtpZFIluTpeGz4q9vJgAIANOLy1vxqRPO-mHbA[/img
]

Crescent ran up to the office as the desk clerk called guards were busy going around the room with communication devices trying to asses the situation.

“Is the guy red or gold!?”

“Wait he broke out one of the prisoners, which one!?”

“Is he flying in or out of the castle, which one is it!?”  Crescent approached one of the guards.

“Soldier i require your assistance.”

“I’m sorry Lieutenant, but we have our hooves full as it seems, there’s some armored mercenary or thief in red armor causing chaos on floor 2 or 3 or both for all we know!” The guard in command threw up his hooves as he neighed in frustration.

“Wait,” A unicorn guard butted in, “I’m getting reports that he may have just broken into the 3rd and 4th floor.” 

“I”m aware soldier, i believe it might be a misdirect!” Crescent replied to the commander grabbing the his attention as more and more ponies rushed back and forth in the confusion.

“What do you mean sir?”

“I believe it might be a misdirect for the captured prisoner Eclipse to steal from the vault!”

“How would you know!?” One of them asked.

“I’ve seen these tactics before.” 

“Where?”

“The changeling attack on Canterlot! I think changelings are trying to break in and steal something from it! They did the same thing during the wedding when nopony was watching out for the vault and it caused us no end of trouble to get the artifact they stole back!” Crescent smashed his hoof into the desk. “I need the vault key to get in there and see if Eclipse got in somehow and if not guard it!”

“But the wards!” One in the back yelled.

“She has black magic, she can do stuff we can barely imagine she could have phased through the door!” Crescent yelled before thinking on what he said ”Wait....would that have worked?”

“I’ll go with you sir!” A mare private grabbed the key with her fumbling hooves before running to Crescent. Who stopped her by putting his hoof on her shoulder and staring deeply into her eyes.

“No, private those Guards need you to help assess their situation and help them organize ,without you those ponies could die, all i can do now is look around a dusty vault but you, you can do so much more me than me right now.” The young mare sniffed at his words before giving him a salute.

“You're right sir, I’ll do my best!” Crescent smiled at her before grabbing the key.

“I expect nothing less, go assess the tartarus out the situation!” She ran back to her desk grabbing her communication devices and yelling out information. Crescent smirking victoriously ran out the door and back to the vault.





Crescent used the key to unlock the door. The vault door’s locks started to unlock and the spells keeping the door from harm fell. The gigantic door opened with a grind and inside was a lone crystal on a pedestal, seemingly the only item in the entire vault. It was obvious to Crescent that the crystal was in here alone for a reason, and the cult wanted it for something big if they would infiltrate Canterlot Castle just for the crystal alone. 

“Okay let's see if i can just grab it, or if i’m going to have to pull a daring do.” Deciding to play it safe he formed his armor over his hooves as he reached for the crystal.

“Hi” Crescent jumped at the sudden noise bumping the pedestal knocking the crystal on the floor.

“Sweet Luna, Eclipse.” Crescent cursed glaring at the black mage of a mare. 

“Let’s grab it and go, i’m sick of this castle” Eclipse grabbed the crystal in her magic and put it in her tattered cloak.

“At least alarm didn’t go off.” Crescent said with a sigh of relief before he heard the sound of galloping nearby.

“You do know silent alarms exist, right?” Crescents eye twitched as Eclipse’s horn started to glow.

“Son of a bi-” Crescent’s curse was cut short by the Eclipse teleporting them out.





“How did they get so organized!” Hot shot yelled pinned to corner of a hallway using his wing to shield from the constant volley of arrows and crossbow bolts. One minute he was flying around toying with them before a grapple hook forced him to crash into a hallway where a group of guards were waiting two forcing him into a corner with a twin attack from warhammers and now forced to use his wings as shields instead of flying away. 

“Ugh.” Crescent moaned in annoyance from the shadows as his armor started to form around him. “Eclipse teleport me above them.”

“Okay!” Hot shot yelled as a throwing axe nearly missed his knee. “I’m officially willing to talk!”

“No your not!” the ceiling above collapsed as the black ironclad warrior, Crescent, crashed between the guards and Hot shot the arrows bouncing off his massive glowing red claymore. “We got what we need, let's go!” 

Crescent swung his sword sending a magical shockwave that not only sent the guards into the wall hard enough to embed them in the stone and broke all the windows in the hallway.

“Oh shit!” Crescent panicked not intending to give his swing that much power. “Eclipse get us out of here!”

Eclipse rolled her eyes before teleporting them away as her entire armor glowed powering up her spell.





The trio arrived in the room they left from, several of the cultists including Sentinel were waiting for them. Once they arrived, Sentinel approached them.

“Although it was a bit choppy, you got the job done. The crystal if you please?” He held out his hoof. 

Crescent raised an eyebrow at him. “We went through all the trouble to get it, I think you owe us at least an explanation as to why the cult wanted it so badly.” He held out the crystal and Sentinel took it from him.

“I doubt you would understand, but then again, I frankly don’t fully grasp our leader’s plan. She needs this for something, that’s the most of what I know to be completely honest. She’s very careful with who she tells and what she says. It’s a powerful artifact and we, the cult, need it in our plans to overthrow Celestia and the other princesses. Is that good enough for you?”

Crescent wasn’t happy with the little information he was given. After all the risk they took to steal the crystal, they were given almost no risk, and as of yet, no reward.

Sentinel continued. “I would like you to take it easier on future missions. That guard captain didn’t need to die and it was supposed to be a stealth operation. I guess I am to blame as well however, as that kind of mission doesn’t fit all your skill sets. I have something more your speed prepared now.” He pulled out a map and gave it to Hot Shot. 

“Wait what about killing the captain?” Crescent turned to glare at Eclipse. “You didn’t?”

“How do you know it was me?” Eclipse shrugged at his glare.

“It’s obvious you're already a criminal, and you were the closest one to him!” Crescent yelled. “They are gonna hunt us down if we’re not careful about hiding our identities!”

“What about his family and friends?” Hot shot pointed out.

“Fuck him, he was an asshole with a torturing fetish.”  Crescent said “I’m more concerned with him being the captain.”

Sentinel cut in. “We don’t kill ponies if it can be avoided. Understand that we’re not murderers. I don’t care who he was, he didn’t have to die. Now the Royal Guard is on the lookout for ponies with your armors. You need to make sure not to be caught. If you’re not careful, they may catch onto us and it’s not good for any of us. Petty revenge can be dealt with on your own time, but not when you’re working for me or my master.” Sentinel cleared his throat. “I’m not going to let you slaughter ponies. We’re the good guys remember? I don’t care what he did to you or why you hated him, his death was unnecessary and a risk to us all.” He glared at Crescent. “You need to train. Clearly you’re not in full control of your abilities in the armor, and if any of those soldiers in the castle died from your attack, it’s all on you.”

“....what?” Crescent sat back on his haunches. “No, no i just hospitalized them, they'll live”

“I can’t be so sure.” Sentinel said sternly.  “You sent them into the stone walls. The armor the guards wear isn’t built that strong. By Celestia, you broke the windows with the force of impact!” He cleared his throat and lowered his voice. “Let me be clear, either learn to restrain yourself in the armor, or don’t use it. It powers us up drastically as you witnessed. Practice when you can, it’s better to be safe than have dead ponies as a result of our actions.”

“I’ve killed before, but not like that they were doing their jobs not attacking innocents or trying to kill someone, i...i..i’m a murderer now.”

Sentinel reminded him. “We don’t know if they’re dead either. However we can’t erase the past, what’s done is done. You have three days before you need to get to work following that map. Get your affairs straightened out and make sure your departures aren’t suspicious…..you specifically Crescent, as a member of the guard you need to be extra careful.” 

“You're right, I need to return this.” Crescent held up the key. “Eclipse blast me with a spell, make it look like you knocked me out.”

Eclipse shrugged and hit him hard with a blast of magic, enough to knock him down and leave an impressive scorch mark on his chest, and leave him in serious pain..

“Thanks.” He wheezed out. “I’ll tell them you knocked me out.”

Sentinel frowned. “That’s a bit excessive, but it’s believable. I’ll have some of my men heal you, but the mark will remain. You’ll need it anyways.”

“Alright, I’ll be here. They will have me leave at some point. You two need to leave.” Crescent explained. Sentinel soon left with the crystal and hoof, leaving the three of them in the room. 

“Well, they haven’t seen Hot Shot’s face, and they already know Eclipse escaped.”

“They could get suspicious that you would absent for so long” Hot Shot said.

“That’s why i got to go.” Crescent got back to his hooves as he nodded towards Eclipse as her horn glowed and teleported him back. Crescent leaned against the wall as the scenery changed to that of canterlot castle.

“Let’s do this.” Crescent moaned out as he began to limp his way to the office. Mumbling curses as he limped up the stairs to the office.

“Lieutenant!” the mare private from earlier ran up to him and supported his weight enough to help him stand up properly. “What happened!?”

“The bitch blasted me, she took whatever was in the vault.” Crescent hoofed over her the key. “I failed.”

“There’s no time for that, i’m taking you to a medic.” Despite being a petite mare she had no problem as she hooked his injured leg over her withers and started to easily guide him out the door.

“Thank you private, sorry i never caught your name.” The private smiled at him.

“It’s private Squeaky Clean.” Crescent snickered and smiled at her.

“Cute name.” She blushed and smiled.

“Thank you sir.” Squeaky kept guiding him to the medic until they were both stopped in their tracks by a voice that made Crescent grind in his teeth

“Excuse me Lt. Blade, i believe you can shed some lights on recent events.” A voice spoke from behind the both of them.

”Oh great Celestia’s lap dog.” With Squeaky’s help he turned to face Princess Twilight sparkle and her pupil Starlight in tow.

“It’s good to see you again Princess.” Crescent seeth bearing his fangs