And back to the present time…
Former Captain Red Wing sat quietly on the top floor of the resistance’s capitol base with his back pressed against the wall. His mind was a tempest of uncomfortable thoughts and worries. It had been too long, far too long since Rainbow Dash had been captured. Too long with them all doing nothing but wait for her and many had ran out of patience long ago. Ponies were anxious, disgruntled, they were all here in the capitol and couldn’t stand doing nothing. Brass Hoof was constantly urging him to start the attack on the castle anyways, even without hearing from Rainbow Dash. She assumed their outsider friend was either dead or could never escape the dungeon.
But Red Wing had not lost hope and given up on her. He still trusted her to pull through and that’s why he was still listening to her request of not making a move until they got the signal from her Locator Crystal. Everything was completely ready, they just needed that signal.
He’d be lying if he didn’t say he was feeling just as anxious and worried as everypony else though. If she still hadn’t gotten free and found the barrier crystal at this point there was no telling what sort of state she’d be in right now. What kinds of things she had gone through in the dungeon, Red Wing didn’t want to think about it.
And still, the best he could do was have faith in that special pony who flew in here like a whirlwind.
Red Wing went over everything in his head again for the umpteenth time. The powder kegs and buildings they were set to demolish were ready. The fake rioters were ready. Other ponies had been recruited to make it more convincing as well. He had teams drilled on entering the castle from the sewers and secret passages he knew about. The frontal assault team was ready and waiting too. Everypony was ready.
They just needed Rainbow Dash.
He sighed and tilted his head back, staring up at the ceiling. Sitting around was the worst. It always was.
While he was thinking, the sound of sudden, panicked, hooves running up the stairs reached his ears. He was on alert immediately, standing up and pushing all of the errant thoughts out of his head. The door to the third floor room was thrown open, practically off its hinges, and both Brass Hoof and Star Petal rushed in. The mares had wide eyes and looks of surprise on their faces, sheer disbelief on Brass Hoof’s but a mote of happiness existed on Star Petal’s as well.
“What is it? What’s happened?” Red Wing asked the two of them, walking over at a brisk pace.
“I-It’s the master crystal!” Star Petal said. “Rainbow Dash has broken her Locator!”
Red Wing gasped and looked over at Brass Hoof, who nodded back at him. A grin then slowly appeared on his face. “She did it. She really did it. It’s finally time now.” He raised his head high and took in a deep breath, puffing out his chest. “Brass Hoof, Star Petal, we have much to do.” He looked to his Vice-Captain. “Send the message to the riot squad, the buildings must be blown immediately and the riot begun.” His gaze shifted to Star Petal. “Get every infiltration group ready, we have to be ready to invade the castle the moment the bulk of the Royal Guard leaves.”
He lifted a hoof to his chest and looked past them—to the future. “It’s time that we take this country back!”
The buildings set to explode were located on the northeast side of the capitol city. They had been chosen because they had a straight line of view to the castle’s royal chambers and Red Wing wanted the Queen and guards to see exactly what was about to happen. Practically the entire block had been evacuated as a precaution and the small amount of resistance ponies were holed up down the street with the plunger that would detonate the powder kegs, along with their other tools.
Lead Screw and Starry Kiss sat together inside of what had once been a pub. The stallion had his hoof resting on the plunger, the wires leading out under the door and down the street to the other buildings. Behind the two of them a dozen other ponies were gathered. All of them nervously sweating and clutching things like banners and picket signs tightly in their hooves.
“Well, here goes nothing,” Lead Screw said and pushed down the plunger.
The pair of buildings were annihilated in a fiery explosion that shot fire and debris into the sky, it was incredibly loud and shook the city for several blocks. Thanks to the dark sky and quiet nature of the capitol it was far more attention grabbing than it even normally would’ve been. In an instant destruction had come to the capitol, those in the castle facing this direction would’ve seen it immediately and in mere moments everypony in the city would soon realize what had happened. The fires continued to burn and burn, sending smoke up to join the black clouds in the sky.
“I think that did it,” Starry Kiss said to Lead Screw.
Lead Screw nodded. “Yep. That’s only the half of it though. We need to get as many ponies out onto these streets and protesting as possible. Come on everypony, we’ve got more work to do!”
The resistance group ran out of the old pub and into the street, there was actually a fair amount of scattered debris out there after the explosion but it wasn’t too bad. Some of the ponies raised their signs and others unfurled the banners, holding them together.
DOWN WITH THE INQUISITORS!
DOWN WITH THE QUEEN!
NO MORE VOX!
NO MORE DREAMWEAVER!
The signs and banners said all this and more while the resistance ponies themselves started marching down the streets and shouting for ponies to join them in an uprising against the tyrannical rule. While they marched down the street, other ponies started to come out from the woodwork and march with them. At first all of them were plants, ponies who had already been told to do this to make the riot seem more natural and maybe convince other ordinary ponies to join in as well. And it worked. At first it was a trickle—one or two at the most—but more ponies came in. The posters of Vox were ignored and torn down and the riot started to truly begin in earnest.
But still, many more ponies were afraid… they closed their doors and windows and hid inside, fearing the retribution of the Inquisitors.
It didn’t matter to Lead Screw or Starry Kiss at all, they loudly lead the resistance forces and the gathered civilians through the street. More signs and banners that they had made long in advance were handed out and whole entire groups started spreading out further and further through the city.
And all of it was well away from the castle itself. Far enough away where any havoc occurring at Hoofica Castle short of an explosion of its own would go unnoticed. The fake riot was masking the true revolution already. The ponies of the resistance just hoped their comrades were going to be as successful in their mission as they were.
“Come on, Starry Kiss! Let’s really raise a ruckus!” Lead Screw yelled as their parade marched down a new street. He could see ponies peeking out through their doors and windows, some of who may have had the courage to potentially join them. With a grin he ran over to a nearby building and tore a poster of Vox in half, right down her parted mane. “Down with tyranny!”
“Down with the Inquisitors! Down with the Queen!” Starry Kiss yelled even louder and the other ponies of the resistance joined in.
In the east wing of the castle, in one of its many rooms, the Queen stood with a gnarled expression of hate and fear on her face as she looked out at the explosion. Behind her, her husband—the King—stood like a blank ponnequin, not reacting at all to the blast that had erupted in their capitol. She was grinding her teeth back and forth when the doors to the room were thrown open and one of her Royal Guards entered.
“M-My Queen! There is a riot going on in the streets, a large group of ponies has gathered and began marching after blowing up those buildings. They are calling for an end to your reign and the Inquisitors,” he told her.
“How dare they… how dare they, how dare they!” The Queen glared out the window so harshly her eyes almost popped put. “This is my kingdom now! Dreamweaver gave it to me, how dare they try and ruin everything! What if he blames me if it all gets ruined?”
The guard gulped. “My Queen I believe for the moment that you and the King should move to your interior chambers and let us handle this.”
“You’ll handle it?!” The Queen roared at him. “I will handle it! I can’t let my love down! Send every Royal Guard you can out there to bring those disgusting ponies to heel. I don’t care what you do to them, just make sure something like this never happens again!”
He briefly glanced at the motionless King before nodding to her. “Yes, my Queen.”
With a bow he exited the room and left the two of them. The Queen clicked her tongue in annoyance and returned to looking out the window at the fire.
“How dare they… how dare they… how dare they...”
Outside the outer castle walls, close to the large gatehouse, Red Wing, Brass Hoof, Star Petal, and a small group of others gathered in waiting. They had their heavy cloaks on and were hiding out in a small alley, watching the gatehouse and the sky above it. They knew the Royal Guards had to be coming soon. As soon as whatever forces had been gathered left and were out of sight, they’d begin the true attack. The darkness of Hoofica was the perfect cover for their operation.
Everypony was silent, it was finally time after they had been anxiously waiting for Rainbow Dash to pull through. They knew what they were going to attempt was still dangerous regardless of the distraction and whatever knowledge Rainbow Dash had for them, but this was their country and fellow ponies they were here to save. Other groups were set up around the castle and below it as well. A magical spell from Star Petal would signal them that it was time to act as well.
They just had to wait a little longer for the Royal Guards to leave. Red Wing knew he hadn’t miscalculated, the Queen or Vox would have to respond to the riot going on. They had to. If they didn’t… Rainbow Dash and everypony else in the resistance were in a lot of danger.
By now the Royal Guards and Inquisitors should have had plenty of time to mobilize their forces. On the inside, Red Wing was probably more anxious and worried than anypony, but he masked it with a cold exterior. He needed to be the strong, unmovable stone, for his ponies. At least it was easier now. With action happening in the city and the resistance finally being able to start the revolution to save Hoofica. Waiting they may still have been, but it was an easier type of waiting compared to sitting around and doing nothing in that old base.
And their waiting was well rewarded.
The sound of the massive gatehouse gate opening up reached their ears and the ponies of the resistance watched as dozens of black-armored guards, earth ponies and unicorns, ran out onto the street and started heading in the direction of the riot. Above them, black-armored pegasi also flew out over the roofs of the capitol. Fifty, a hundred, maybe more, were going to quell the riot. Red Wing worried for the ponies causing the distraction, but they had an important part to play and he had his.
The ponies hiding in the alley waited until all of the guards who had left the castle were well away and the gate had closed. There was no way they could sneak through the gate but they had a much simpler plan anyways. Once it was safe to come out the whole group left the alley and went to the outer wall of the castle. Again, the darkness cause by the barrier was actually their greatest weapon at the moment. With the dark sky, their cloaks, and the fact that everypony’s attention would be drawn elsewhere, they could easily get over this wall probably without being seen at all.
Half their group was pegasi, including him, each of them grabbed another pony and they flew over and dropped down to the interior of the castle grounds right beyond it. The entrance to the castle, the huge doors up the ramp and steps that led into the entry hall, was directly ahead.
“Alright, Star Petal. Let the others know it’s time to attack.” Red Wing ordered.
“Yes, sir,” the unicorn nodded and her horn briefly lit up while she closed her eyes. After a mere second of concentration she was finished and a smile graced her features. “It’s done. The attack on the castle has begun.”
“Then let’s not keep Rainbow Dash waiting!” Red Wing threw off his cloak and extended his wings, rising into the air. “Everypony! For Hoofica!”
“For Hoofica!” The others cheered and the entire command party flew and charged up to the main entrance of the castle.
The two black-armored guards who shortly after saw them coming were gawking in disbelief.
Meanwhile, all throughout the lower levels of the castle, beneath the west wing in particular, groups of resistance ponies were breaking up from the sewers and coming in through long forgotten secret passages. Servants of all sorts were left flabbergasted while the remaining Royal Guards left behind were quickly being overwhelmed. However—no Inquisitors had been sent just yet to deal with the riot. All of Head Inquisitor Vox’s forces were still inside Hoofica Castle. And it wasn’t long before they came into contact with the resistance and some real fighting broke out. The castle was turning into a frenzied nightmare of conflict and screams.
Still though, the bulk of the forces loyal to the Queen were gone now and it was the best opportunity Red Wing and the others had to find the barrier crystal and destroy it.
Now the battle to save Hoofica had truly begun.
In the highest tower of Hoofica Castle, Dreamweaver stood in front of the massive glass sphere that was filled to the absolute fullest with the deep black liquid. So dark was it that light could not escape from it. The viscous liquid swirled around inside the sphere, churning and pulsing with every second, far more active than it ever had been before—almost alive.
He was smiling at it. His eyes gazed across the surface of the sphere, the electrodes and wires attached to it, the pipe down near the bottom with the valve sealed shut, right at pony height.
“Hey, I get the feeling you aren't listening to me again?” Vox asked him, standing back closer to the door. “Did you hear what I just said? We’re under attack, my old boss is here and I’m pretty sure you’re going to become a target of his. My Inquisitors are fighting them right now but a lot of Royal Guards were ordered by the Queen to go deal with that riot—which I’m pretty sure is a distraction.” She blinked as Dreamweaver failed to respond. “The Queen’s in danger too, they seem to be trying to break into the east wing and get to her. Isn’t the crystal keeping the barrier up with her? What if they get to it?”
Dreamweaver didn’t respond. Vox rolled her eyes and whistled.
“Yo! What’s going on? What are we going to do about this? Cause I’ve been helping you since you let me do whatever I wanted without retribution, but now we’re-”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Vox raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”
“It doesn’t matter. The attack. The Queen. None of it matters,” he turned to face her with a proud smile on his face. “It’s finally ready.”
“So then?...” She looked behind him at the huge orb.
Dreamweaver nodded. “Yes. It’s time, Vox. Fetch me my daughter.”