“Most all of you don’t know what comes next now that we’ve left Gentle Creek behind,” Red Wing said to the gathered ponies of the resistance the morning after their retreat from the city. They had migrated once more to a secluded group of hills to the south. As expected, only a couple of ponies freed from the prison had come along with them, the rest having gone their own way. “But now I think we have enough experience working together and enough resources that we’re now ready to continue on with our main goal: saving this kingdom.”
A number of resistance ponies and Rainbow Dash glanced around at each other, wondering what was coming next. She was excited for whatever it was though. The opportunity to finally deal with these bad ponies and help rescue Hoofica was filling her with passion.
Red Wing took a deep breath. “It’s for that reason that we’re finally returning to the capitol. Discreetly for now, but returning nonetheless.”
“We taking the fight directly to the Queen and the Inquisitors?” Tango asked from the crowd.
“More or less, though it’s still not going to be that simple. I’ll explain to everypony when we get back to the capitol. Fortunately we still have friends there and certain plans have already been made for our arrival. We’ll be able to enter and lay low without the Inquisitors finding out about us,” Red Wing said.
“Any questions?” Brass Hoof asked them.
Rainbow Dash certainly had a few, but not for right now.
It looked like everypony else had trust in their leaders as well, nopony raised a hoof or any sort of objection.
“Good then,” Red Wing grunted. “We’ll need to move at night and it’s still a long way from here to the capitol. Sorry to say that it’s going to be a long and boring trip.”
Rainbow Dash normally would’ve rolled her eyes or groaned in annoyance but the sheer fact that she was now finally on her way to the capitol just made her feel relieved.
It indeed did take a long time for the entire resistance to cover the northern half of Hoofica as they made their way south to the capitol but it was at least unmarred by any trouble with the Inquisitors. And now it was finally over. The huge capitol city loomed ahead, its sprawling mass of dark homes and buildings all lumped together in tight streets and blocks. Huge, but claustrophobic. Even though it was night and the dark sky canceled out nearly all normal light, Rainbow Dash could still make out a large amount of the city thanks to the frequent strikes of lightning everywhere.
At one point it probably looked like a normal city—a bustling and happy capitol for the large kingdom of Hoofica—but now it was a dark reflection of the kingdom. Depressed and unwelcoming looking.
The gigantic castle that rose over it all only added to that effect. Rainbow Dash looked up at it and the five spiraling towers, each bigger than the last, that reached up towards the sky. Her eyes fixated on the tallest one, where the pony known as Dreamweaver supposedly lived.
The resistance right now, all clad in their usual cloaks, was discreetly entering the city by hugging the sides of an artificial canal that fed into the city, leading to a whole array of aqueducts, pipes, and the general water and sewage system that worked through the entirety of the capitol. Being such a large city it was just one of several that connected to surrounding rivers and lakes. Red Wing apparently had detailed knowledge of the sewers and their group was getting ready to meet a few friends who would take them to their next base.
With things the way they were in the city, they also didn’t really have to worry about anypony being out and seeing them. And apparently the Inquisitors and what remained of the city guard hardly cared enough to really guard much at all anymore. The entire kingdom had fallen to malaise.
Thunder rumbled in the sky as they finally reached the actual city and the resistance gathered in an empty outdoor lot next to the canal, surrounded on all sides by large stone walls. The canal itself continued underground, feeding the water through a large metal grate. Directly above it was a metal gate that led either into the city or right into a building for treating and managing the water. Either way the gate was closed right now and it didn’t look like the kind of thing that you would open up simply by knocking.
“We’ll hold here for a second, somepony will be on their way to open this up for us shortly,” Red Wing said.
“How are they going to know we’re here?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“With this,” Red Wing said and pulled something out of his cloak. It was a small yellow ball, crystal, almost like a large marble. He dropped it onto the ground and shattered it beneath his hoof.
Rainbow Dash was perplexed but only a minute later and she heard a grinding noise come from the large gate as it started to raise.
It only lifted up enough to allow a pony in without bowing their head down but it was at least open. Behind it stood a gruff, rusty stallion in overalls. He saw Red Wing and reached out a hoof that the leader of the resistance gladly took.
“Bout time you came back,” the stallion said.
“It’s certainly been longer than I would’ve wanted. Is everything prepared?” Red Wing asked.
The stallion nodded. “You bet. Got a number of places safe for all of you and trustworthy contacts across the city. Whatever you need, whatever you plan on doing, we’re set up for it.”
“That’s all we need then,” Red Wing nodded. “We have a lot of ponies and things to transport in to our new base, lead the way if you would.”
“Right this way, just be as quiet as you can.”
Red Wing looked back out at the rest of the resistance. “You heard him. Carry your things on in but walk as quietly as you can, no talking. We’ve still got a lot of work to do once we settle in.”
The quiet journey through the building and the outer parts of the city began. It was a more industrial part of the capitol they had entered, even more claustrophobic and labyrinthine than the rest. The group proceeded slowly and quietly, winding through dirty alleys, down narrow streets, under stone bridges, and behind other businesses until they reached what looked like an abandoned three-story building. The brick that made it up had lost all color and paint from it while the windows were boarded up completely and a heavy padlock rested on the front door. The roof was also falling apart and missing most of its shingles.
“It doesn’t look like much… and it aint really, but it’s safe and it has a large basement that leads into the sewers for your needs. Just did some recent construction on it,” the stallion told Red Wing as the group stood in the empty street before the building.
Red Wing nodded. “This will work."
The stallion then took a key from his overalls and unlocked the padlock for them, hoofing the key over to Red Wing after. “There you go. Just contact me again after you’ve got things sorted here and I can tell you about everything else.”
“I will, thank you, friend.”
The resistance spared no time heading into their new base. On the inside, Rainbow could see that it was just as bad and shoddy looking as the outside. There were only a couple of chairs and tables on the first floor and against the back wall a bunch of rolled up mats and blankets were being kept. Didn’t seem like she was getting a bed here. The second and third stories were more of the same, while the large basement was used for keeping all their supplies and the powder kegs in for the time being.
“Home sweet home...” Rainbow Dash muttered to herself.
“Don’t get too relaxed just yet,” Brass Hoof said to her as she placed a powder keg down on the ground. “We’ve got another big group meeting coming up. The Captain has an announcement to make.”
Rainbow Dash could only assume that it would have to do with what their next move was. She was excited for it.
Getting everything done inside their new base still took a while and Red Wing was paranoid enough that he sent some ponies out as sentries to keep watch over the nearby streets and buildings. By the time it was all finished up he, Brass hoof, and Star Petal had everypony gather on the third floor. The three of them were standing together with the rest of the resistance patiently waiting to hear what they were going to do. What was the plan now that they were here? How were they going to save Hoofica?
“I told you all that I would reveal what our next plan was when we arrived safely here at the capitol,” Red Wing started. “There’s a lot of thought that’s gone into this but I have to tell you that there’s no simple solution to anything. We’re vastly outnumbered and we also have next to no idea what’s going on in that castle or what Head Inquisitor Vox and Dreamweaver are fully capable of. So we decided to focus on one thing to break their control of the kingdom; the crystal that powers the barrier. Destroy that, and their control falls. If Hoofica is returned to normal it will be an immense psychological victory for us and everypony will know that with them now being able to leave, they can’t be threatened or captured so easily. Essentially, we want to bring hope back to everypony living here. So that even if we’re captured or killed in our attempt to destroy the crystal, the Queen and Dreamweaver can’t keep oppressing everypony.”
“We also believe that by now, most of the Inquisitors and Royal Guards who still side with our enemies have realized their mistake. They’re still following along just out of loyalty and fear. If we can destroy the crystal and show them that we’ve brought Hoofica back to normal… I believe many of them will side with us or at the very least stop fighting. It’s also likely that going for the crystal may also allow us to capture the Queen and potentially force a peace, and even possibly undo the brainwashing spells on the King and get all of this taken care of right then and there.”
“However there are obvious issues with this plan. While we can break into the castle and enter through the sewers and other secret passages I know about, the royal chambers are a different matter. Not knowing exactly where the crystal is puts us at a disadvantage. Every second wasted is a second Vox and the rest of the Inquisitors will use to come after us and put a stop to what we’re doing. And we can’t win a prolonged fight against their full forces. So that being said… there is a plan I’ve come up with. A dangerous and reckless plan, but we need to find out exactly where that crystal is.”
Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up. Dangerous and reckless, huh?
“What we need...” Red Wing slowly started again. “Is for one of us to get intentionally captured and taken to the castle dungeon. From there you’ll need to get free and somehow find the location of the crystal. After that the rest of us will attack the castle. It’s impossible to infiltrate in a simpler way to figure anything out.”
A number of the other resistance ponies looked scared, worried, and uncertain. The thought of being at the mercy of Vox and locked up in that castle’s dungeon was not something any of them wanted to experience. Rainbow had to admit it wasn’t exactly a great plan, and there was a lot clearly being left out on how it was going to work. That said, it somepony had to do it...
“So what I’m asking from all of you is if there are any volunteers who would like to undertake this dangerous mission?” Red Wing asked the assembled resistance.
“No offense, sir-” Tango said from the crowd. “But from what you’ve just told us I don’t see how you can expect anypony to-”
“I’ll do it.”
The raspy voice cut over the crowd of ponies and everypony in the resistance turned to look at one of their newest allies.
Rainbow Dash calmly stared back at them all before looking Red Wing dead on. “I’ll do it.”