It took a while for Rainbow Dash and Avina to acclimate to their new environment, but once they got past the initial uneasiness of their foreign surroundings, they grew fond of the boutique's many assets. For one, the shop was situated in the midst of the busiest strip in downtown Pontropolis, meaning they had a prime view of anything that might be of note. This also meant they could slip out of the building and onto the consistently populated sidewalks with ease, blending in with the dense crowd of Pons while running little to no risk of discovery.
That being said, Dash would have been lying if she said hunkering down in an old clothing store was anything other than dull. She, of course, had to stay hidden within the confines of its walls while Avina snuck out to gather whatever supplies they may need over the next few days, leaving the pegasus to find some way to stave off her boredom for the time being.
She scoured every corner of the shop, passing the time by searching through dusty boxes of apparel and laughing at ridiculous fashions that clearly belonged in storage. There were fluffy wool coats of every color in her mane, tight boots that stretched all the way up the length of her legs, and her personal favorite: an ostentatious bejeweled satin dress that fanned out over the hindquarters, yards of fabric dragging along the ground in a train from behind. Pontropolis had clearly gone through a number of questionable fashion trends, and sifting through the hodgepodge of absurd materials left Rainbow with something to do besides twiddling her hooves.
When she wasn't goofing off or napping, she and Avina discussed their plans for the upcoming Blood Moon Celebration. The Pon described in detail the layouts of the celebration, explaining the parades and festivities that would occur, as well as when they would have the best chances of slipping into the Council building.
The message they had received from Dahlia was cryptic at best, so several variables of their mission were left up in the air, and they could only speculate on what they would find that was worth staking their freedom on. Still, they could only hope that whoever the Councilpon sent to aid their coup would be able to fill in the blanks.
The two of them still harbored some doubts about Dahlia and her messenger, but this event could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to uncover the Council's secrets and expose their true nature. Thankfully, they wouldn't be going alone.
Avina was able to get a message to Xavir, who in turn filled Orwin in on the situation and agreed to join their quest. They would meet them at the boutique on the day of the celebration, and from there, they would carry out their strike on the Council.
That is, if everything went according to plan. Avina seemed to think it wouldn't. She paced around the shop at all hours of the night, restless with worry and anticipation. Rainbow woke occasionally to the tapping of her hooves against the wooden floorboards, and the Pon's anxiety was contagious, cursing the pegasus with many fitful nights of sleep.
On the day before the blood moon, the tension was stronger than ever. The air in the boutique was thick enough to cut with a knife, and Dash could tell that Avina was a bundle of nerves. In an attempt to help her unwind, she struck up a conversation with her. "So... big day tomorrow, huh?"
Avina ignored her, continuing the routine she had established of checking through their list of supplies and rereading Dahlia's letter, searching for some sort of hidden message she had yet to uncover.
Rainbow blew a puff of air out, rustling her mane and moving it out of her eyes. When she got no response, she flew over to the mare and tapped her lightly on her side so as not to startle her. "Hey, you know it's not the end of the world, right?"
Avina froze, the list dropping from her hoof as she slowly turned to face the pony. Her eye twitched slightly as she whispered, "Not the end of the world?"
Uh oh.
If she were a bundle of nerves before, she was now an explosion of panic, burying her face in her hooves and plopping onto the ground. She took deep breaths, attempting to calm herself as she uncovered her muzzle and reached behind to hold her tail in her lap. She squeezed it tightly as if the motion brought her comfort, saying, "You don't get it."
Rainbow Dash kept quiet as she sat beside her, attempting to read the Pon's body language and understand what she needed. She wouldn't consider herself an expert at consoling others, but she could tell when a friend was in distress.
"Everything in my life has led up to this moment," Avina explained, casting her eyes downward. "If tomorrow doesn't... if something happens..." She exhaled, fidgeting with the tail in her grip. "It'll be over. All will be lost."
Dash pondered her words for a moment before reaching a hoof over and placing it on her webbed one soothingly. "I know this probably isn't what you want to hear, but you're right. I'm not one to mince words," she confessed. "But that doesn't mean things will go badly. If we can hold onto the belief that everything will work out, then it probably will."
Her friend gave her a skeptical look. "I'm serious," she insisted, pulling her hoof back to rest her chin on it. "Y'know, back home, my friends and I went on a lot of crazy adventures. Like, I-almost-died-a-bunch-of-times adventures."
Avina cocked an eyebrow at her but stayed silent, permitting her to continue.
"Heh. Yeah, we did all kinds of stuff." Dash's excitement began to drain away as she recalled the memories. A glance at the Pon beside her reminded her where she was. She needed to stay in the moment.
"'Course, I was never scared," she boasted, leaning backward smugly. "Because I knew I had my friends by my side. We were together, so we got through it. Just like now."
She caught Avina's eye and told her, "You aren't alone in this—you have friends you can rely on." Her tone turned serious. "They can't be there for you if you don't let them. Trust me."
The red mare frowned at this, but the emotion swirling in her eyes signified that Dash's words had gotten through to her. "I suppose you're right," she relented, letting out a sigh and freeing her tail from her grasp.
They sat for a moment in comfortable silence before Avina spoke up once more. "Your friends," she murmured, "what are they like?"
Although the question sent a pang through her chest, Rainbow Dash answered her, describing each of the ponies that had grown to be more of a family to her than anything. She shared anecdotes from her time in Equestria, narrating their exploits and embellishing her own heroic actions. Avina chastised her for this last bit, catching onto her quickly as she listened to her tales.
As the night wore on, the two of them gathered their cushions together and huddled around the light of the lamp as Dash continued her stories, allowing them to wind down and, for the first time in days, enjoy a full night of rest.
Rainbow Dash woke to an eruption of sound accompanied by a shockwave that shuddered through the floor she slept on, tingling up through her legs and jolting her out of bed. She shot up and looked around wildly, trying to gather her bearings and pinpoint the source of the noise.
Flashes of light filtered in through the cracks in the windows; reds and greens and blues, one after the other, as shouts rang out from the streets. Rainbow dashed over to the entrance, peeking through the slits of wood to get a view of whatever was going on outside.
Dozens of Pons lined the streets, marching in unison toward the center of town in a grand parade. They wore extravagant costumes of red and orange; the mares in long, flowy gowns and the stallions clad in jumpsuits with puffy sleeves, all paired with ornate matching headdresses. A few floats made up the centerpiece of the procession, huge decorated carts that boasted moon-themed designs and banners supporting the Council.
As Dash stepped back from the window, she noticed that Avina was just beginning to rouse. She slept through all of that? She thought incredulously, unsure whether to be concerned or impressed.
The Pon sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she glanced over at Rainbow. "Sounds like the festivities have started."
"You could say that," she snorted. "Thought somepony had pulled off a sonic rainboom or something. Woke me right up."
Avina let out a yawn. "That's the blood moon for you. Brings out the crazy in everypon," she said, getting up and organizing the pillows and blankets scattered across the floor. "Which is why it's the perfect cover for our mission."
"Ohh," Rainbow drawled, "I get it. There'll be way too much going on out there for anypony to notice us sneaking into the building."
She nodded in response, shuffling through their packs to find something for breakfast and inviting the pony to eat with her.
The two of them laid low in the boutique for a few hours, listening to the parade outside and sneaking occasional glances at the festival while they waited for the others.
Orwin arrived as the afternoon turned into evening, gathering both of them up in a tight hug and filling them in on everything that they'd missed back in the slums. Xavir appeared shortly after, slightly out of breath but with several packs of extra supplies strewn over his back.
The group of rebels discussed the plans for their heist, Avina taking charge of explaining the details while Rainbow Dash reenacted her strategies, flying into the air and kicking at invisible enemies in a showy display of strength. Mostly, she was just doing it for fun, but she liked to think that her visual examples were helpful for everypony involved.
Eventually, the time for action came when a knock sounded on the side door of the boutique. They braced themselves as Avina opened it, revealing the figure of a guard in uniform—and a familiar one at that.
Dash gawked at the Pon as he made his way inside, giving each of them a curt nod as he took in the boutique in its entirety. His fur was a soft violet, and she could just make out the faint lines of white across his face in the muted glow of the lantern.
She immediately recognized him by his demure stature, pinning him as the young guard that had been chastised for questioning her guilt in court. She blinked a few times as he greeted them, introducing himself as Leor and explaining that he was Dahlia's subordinate and had been tasked with providing them safe passage into the Council headquarters.
Avina stepped forward, placing herself fiercely between him and the others and asking, "How do we know we can trust you?"
Leor gulped, failing to hide the tremor in his voice as he replied, "Dahlia thought you might be hesitant. She asked me to give you this." He turned and reached into the pocket on his jumpsuit, pulling out a piece of paper not unlike the one the first guard had given Rainbow only days ago. He stepped forward slowly as if approaching a startled foal, proffering the parchment on his open hoof for Avina to inspect.
As her gaze settled on the item, Dash thought it must have been the first time she'd seen the Pon so rattled. Not when they'd snuck out of the Council building, been discovered at Orwin's, nor when the guard had appeared on their doorstep. This was different.
A flicker of recognition blazed in her emerald eyes, her nostrils flaring and her ears flattening as she stared at the note before looking back up at Leor questioningly. "How did you...?"
He only frowned as she trailed off, either unable or unwilling to answer the question that hung in the air.
After a moment, she sighed, "Alright. We're with you."
The streets of Pontropolis were packed—more so than Rainbow Dash had initially expected. Hundreds of citizens lined the streets, cheering and shouting as the celebration reached its peak. Darkness had begun to creep in, and the Orb slowly shifted from a blazing sun to the beginnings of a crimson moon, tendrils of red curling outwards and into the sky as the Pons below looked on in awe at its splendor.
Avina insisted that everypony disguise themselves in festival attire—elaborate costumes of reds, oranges, and golds that would allow them to seamlessly blend into the crowds of bystanders. Leor kept his uniform on while Orwin and Xavir wore matching red tunics with glittery gold bow ties, and Avina forced herself into an elegant dress that matched the color of their accessories, its sheer sleeves patterned with intricate, swirling designs of gold.
She noticed Rainbow biting her lip out of the corner of her eye and shot her a warning look. "Don't say a thing."
"I-I didn't," she replied, struggling to hold back the snort of laughter threatening to break loose. The fancy clothes did not suit the rough-and-tumble Pon she'd come to know.
Dash considered herself lucky that the traditional Blood Moon Celebration clothing was too revealing for her to wear, and so she was resigned to donning the hooded cloak that had become her signature look over the course of her stay in the city.
They scurried through the congested city streets, trailing behind Leor at a comfortable distance as they neared the Council building. Nothing could be heard over the cacophony of noise and Rainbow considered it ironic that the public had no knowledge of what was about to occur in the building of a government they held in such high regard. She wondered what they would discover that could prove the Council's guilt without a doubt and allow the city to fall back into the hooves of the Pons.
It won't be long until I find out, I guess, she mused as they climbed the steps to that awful structure, its jagged spikes and foreboding blood-red Orb looming over them from above.
The lobby that was previously brimming with fancily-dressed Pons was now completely devoid of them save for the receptionist stationed at the front desk. She simply nodded at them upon seeing Leor, allowing them passage to the hallways beyond without so much as a questioning glance, returning her attention to the colorful magazine held in her hooves.
Rainbow dreaded what came next, imagining the flights of stairs she had been forced to traverse during her last visit there, but she was pleasantly surprised when Leor veered away from the staircase and led them to a caged metal box.
"Wh-" Before she could utter a word, Avina shook her head, motioning for her to stay silent and follow Leor aboard the contraption.
It creaked under their combined weight and Dash shifted on her hooves nervously as it snapped shut around them before whirring to life and propelling them upwards.
The interior was cramped and stuffy, their flanks pressed up against each other as they gained altitude. Their progress was marked by a glowing number above the door that flickered and increased as they gained floors.
The lot of them held their breath as if the slightest movement could send the whole thing crashing down. After a few minutes, the elevator finally shuttered to a stop on the fiftieth floor and they gave a collective sigh of relief as the doors began to slide open.
However, what waited for them on the other side shot each of them to high alert, attempting to back up into the box before realizing that they had nowhere to run.
An entire squadron of Council guards awaited them in the lobby, scrutinizing their movements as they calculated their next move. A few of them brandished menacing pikes, making a ring around the exit. The others were empty-hoofed, but Dash knew they were nothing to be trifled with.
The two groups simply stared at one another until, as if in sync, the rebels jumped into action. Avina launched a hoof at the nearest guard, connecting with his jaw, while Rainbow Dash shed her cloak and shot into the air, using her advantage of flight to disorient the guards while the others joined in.
They fought back against the army, exchanging blows and evading capture, but they could only hold their ground for so long. They were outnumbered.
A hoof wrapped around Rainbow's hind leg, dragging her down as she beat her wings in an attempt to stay afloat, but one of the guard's staffs slammed into her side, knocking her off balance and sending her tumbling to the ground. She bucked and squirmed, but the combined weight of the guards restraining her was unyielding.
They pressed down on her wings and a click rang out from behind her, that sickeningly familiar bite of cold metal stinging her back and sending a shiver down her spine. She squinted her eyes shut and subconsciously stopped struggling upon recognizing the deficiency ring that had been secured around her middle. It wasn't until the sounds of fighting had diminished that she tore her gaze upward. The others were in a similar position as her, restrained by the squadron of guards and panting heavily from their efforts.
The thump of approaching hooves drew their attention toward the end of the hall, where a lavishly-dressed gray Pon sauntered towards them. As she came into the light, Avina let out a gasp. Her red dress hung over her like flames spilling from a raging fire, licking up her side and flowing past her smoke-colored haunches in an array of chiffon layers. A bright, extravagant headdress adorned her head, fit with cardinal columns that shot upwards in a similar manner to the pillars that topped the building they stood in.
Her sharp teeth flashed in a sneer as her cerulean eyes roved over them, stopping near one of the guards and whispering to him before her attention turned back toward them.
"Well, well, well," she drawled condescendingly. "Looks like somepon decided to stop in for a visit."
Her gaze flashed to Rainbow. "Or should I say... somepony?" A few guards chortled at this.
The imposing mare approached Xavir, motioning for her henchpons to release him. He stood shakily, refusing to make eye contact with anypony in the room as she dropped a small pouch at his hooves. "Thanks for your help, dearest," she told him with a cruel smile. "You can go now."
Xavir had the gall to look ashamed as he bent to pick up the bag of coins, weakly muttering, "I'm sorry."
Dash didn't even have time to process the betrayal as it slapped her across the face. She exchanged horrified glances with Avina and the others, who looked equally shocked by the turn of events.
The extent of his actions began to sink in: the first time she'd met him, when he'd claimed to have heard about her already, followed shortly by the discovery of their location. He must have been informing the Council of their plans from the very beginning.
"You rat!" Rainbow spat, struggling against the grip of the guards as the elevator doors began to close. "How could you?"
The elevator shut and, with one final shudder, carried him down to the stories below without allowing him so much as a chance to respond. Dash's mane fell in her eyes as she writhed, turning to glare at the haughty Pon.
"Send him away for questioning," the stranger said indifferently as Leor was stripped of his badge and detained.
"Wait, please!" The guard's begging faded away as his former peers dragged him down the hallway. "Mardeen!"
She simply huffed, "What a nuisance."
Mardeen... the blue pegasus paled as she connected the dots, finally comprehending the gravity of the situation they'd stumbled into. Xavir must have reported the entirety of their plans to the Head Councilpon herself. In that case, they were royally screwed.
Mardeen looked down at the remaining three intruders with a considering expression.
"Shall I request backup, ma'am?" A guard asked, banging his pike against the carpeted floor.
"No, that won't be necessary," she gave them a wicked, catlike smile and flipped the satin of her festival attire extravagantly. "What can a powerless pony and two street rats hope to accomplish, anyhow?"
Avina growled at this but made no move to contest her restraints.
The victorious Pon's lip curled as she sneered, "Come," before trotting back down the hallway she'd appeared from.
The three of them were hauled to their hooves and prodded down the foyer as they trailed after her, each of them flanked by two guards that allowed no room for escape.
"You know, I'm quite surprised you made it this far," Mardeen said thoughtfully. "You ponies are usually pretty thick in the skull, and those that do escape don't last very long."
"What did you do to them?" Rainbow grit her teeth, nearly trembling at the force of the anger welling up inside her.
The Pon ignored her, turning towards Avina. "And you... did you really think your little 'resistance' would get very far? I mean, seriously, what could a bunch of worthless beggars accomplish?"
Avina seemed to be having a hard time controlling herself as well, the fury in her emerald eyes roiling like a raging storm. Orwin, for his part, seemed to be maintaining his composure, but she could tell by the tight set of his jaw that he was similarly disturbed.
The group was led up another set of stairs, but instead of another hallway, they were met with a set of heavy steel doors. Mardeen let out a content "hmph," shaking her head slightly and loosening a necklace from under her garment: a thick line of string with a golden key attached to the end. She took it in her teeth and plunged it into the keyhole, turning the mechanism with a click and unlocking the door.
What they witnessed inside shook them to their core.
Almost the entire upper floor of the building had been opened up, merging into one enormous room with a gaping ceiling and unfinished flooring and walls. They were escorted in and the metal doors slammed shut behind them with a boom, but Dash hardly even registered the sound as she gazed in horror at the sight before her.
The vast, factory-like space was sectioned off into three zones.
To the right, a large wheel was mounted to the floor. Its wooden spokes extended outwards, acting as handles to the earth ponies that labored in pushing them in an arc. They sweated at the manual labor, and the effort seemed to sap them of their energy.
To the left sat a massive chunk of ore that must have weighed the same as a dozen ponies combined. An array of unicorns were gathered in an arc around the rock, attempting to lift it together with their magic. They strained under the task, drops of magic sparkling from their horns as they struggled with the rock's size.
Towards the back of the room were large metal ducts producing a steady current of air. Several pegasi flew in place against the torrent of wind, their manes flowing behind them as their wings beat furiously against the gusts.
Everypony wore a deficiency ring: the pegasi around their necks, the earth ponies had individual bands clamped on their hooves, and the unicorns had a miniature version of the device clenched around their horns. The devious instruments glowed red as the ponies worked painstakingly at their respective jobs.
In the center of the factory, a large cylindrical glass tube extended from the floor up to the roof, where it reached into the outside air and up to the Orb. It seemed to be alive, surging with azure tendrils of light that writhed against the glass as if begging to be released.
Suddenly, a buzzer sounded. Its jarring pitch startled the workhorses, and as they slowed to a stop, the devices they wore began to power down, the rings' red glow dimming and cutting off their magic. A door opened from the side as several other ponies miserably filed in, taking the place of those that had been working as they shuffled towards the exit on the opposite end of the room. The guards stationed by that door checked each of them individually as they lined up, unhooking the pegasi's rings from around their necks and clamping them shut around their wings before letting them pass. As the last of them were escorted out, the buzzer played once again, and the new shift began their work.
Rainbow Dash, Avina, and Orwin could only gape at the display in stunned silence, struggling to fathom the magnitude of what they were witnessing.
Mardeen let out a bout of malicious laughter as she watched the hope drain from their eyes, reveling in her moment of triumph. "Isn't it lovely? It's quite nice of me to give all these ponies something to do, don't you think?"
Dash didn't bother to hide the disgust on her face as she regained her senses, absorbing what the Pon had said with a furrow of her brow. "What is wrong with you? Why would you do this?" she spat viciously, unable to rein in her wrath at the sight before her.
"You'll never get away with this, Mardeen," Avina chimed in, her voice dangerously low. "You won't be able to keep something like this secret after today. The Pons of Pontropolis have a right to know-"
"QUIET!" Mardeen struck her across the cheek, hard. The mare's knees buckled under the force of the blow, but she stayed upright, showing no sign she'd been hit except for the dark scarlet blossoming across her already red muzzle.
The Head Councilpon cleared her throat, adjusting her headdress atop her head before continuing, "Pontropolis has no need to know of this, pet. Not yet, at least. You see, we've found a way to siphon the magic of the ponies into a tangible form through the use of the deficiency rings," she explained, gesturing towards the cylindrical glass container in the center of the room. "It's transferred into this capsule, allowing us to draw on the power of the Orb and combine their magic within the vessel."
"The Orb's magic?" Avina asked, horrified. "You're draining it?"
"Oh, don't be so dramatic. How do you think we power the city? All those luxuries enjoyed by the upper class—which I assume you wouldn't know anything about—would be impossible without the magic of the ponies. The Orb's power is just an added bonus. Eventually, though, it'll be more than that." There was a manic glee to her as she exclaimed, "We're in the process of creating a way to inherit the magic ourselves. Imagine! Pons with the ability to fly with real wings and perform real magic! We would be unstoppable."
The ponies at work didn't even spare a glance at them as they labored on. Their hollow eyes, flat manes, and ruffled, dull coats reflected their shattered state of mind, draining any hope left in the remaining resistance members. These ponies were completely broken.
A spell of nausea hit Rainbow then, stirring in her gut and prompting her to screw her eyes shut to combat its effects. Her mind spun at this revelation, and the bits and pieces of information she'd gathered during her stay in the city began to click together like pieces of a puzzle: the unfamiliar technology, her capture and treatment as if she were a prisoner, the knowledge she'd gleaned from Avina and the rest of the resistance. "You never meant to give me a fair trial." The words slipped past her lips in a murmur. "I was a target the moment I stepped hoof inside this city. All of us were."
She fixed her stare on Mardeen, the queasiness dissipating as a hot, unbridled fury took hold of her. She ground her hooves into the concrete and thrust herself forward, charging at Mardeen in a burst of rage. She managed to slip past the grip of the sentries flanking her, but before she could reach her, she was intercepted by the sturdy bodies of the guards that had moved to surround the Head Councilpon. She collided with their uniformed chests with a thud before falling backward onto her haunches.
"Tch. You ponies... always so self-righteous. No matter." Mardeen flashed her a wry grin as she glanced over at the lifeless workers. "You'll get to join them soon enough."
Dash let loose a snarl in response, fighting against the guards that had taken her in their grip after her attempted attack.
The silver Pon's humor faded, her contempt for the three of them slipping past her facade as she narrowed her eyes in their direction. "You are traitorous filth. You've done me a great favor by showing up at my doorstep." Her demeanor lightened as she tilted her chin loftily. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a celebration to attend. Ta-ta." With a flashy tilt of her headdress and a flick of her hoof that sent the colorful layers of her satin dress billowing behind her, she took her leave.
Rainbow, Avina, and Orwin were shoved out the same door the ponies had left through. The two mares struggled the entire way, while the bulky stallion dragged his hooves on the floor with a downtrodden expression, his large tail and stocky build forcing the guards to lug him the entire way.
They ventured down a long, barren hallway that was just as lackluster as the factory they had seen. The place was crawling with guards, two of them stationed in front of each of the tightly secured doors that lined the walls. Dash could only assume these were the ponies' quarters, and the thought made her heart ache for her exploited kinsfolk.
They were thrown into a destitute room at the far end of the hall. It was completely devoid of any color or decor, and the flat, gray walls contained no windows. Thus, when the steel door shut with a bang behind them, they were enshrouded in utter darkness.
It wasn't long until Avina and Orwin had given up.
The younger Pon still had a fire within her when they were first locked inside, scrambling around the room in search of some kind of exit and desperately scraping at the door with her hooves. After an hour or so, however, she'd slumped back onto her haunches and dropped to the floor with her snout buried in her hooves.
There was a somber air that clung to Orwin ever since they were first captured by Mardeen, and he wouldn't allow himself to hold onto any semblance of hope that they would escape.
Rainbow Dash had other things in mind. She paced about the room, her hooves clicking against the frigid concrete as she mulled over their predicament. She was just as upset as her friends, perhaps even more so upon seeing the state of the other ponies, but she had to stay optimistic. If she didn't, who would?
She chewed her lip as she weighed their options. She wasn't usually the brains of the operation—Twilight was almost always the pony to come up with an ingenious plan to solve whatever problem was thrown their way, but here she was. She had to think of something. What would Daring do?
Just when she was about to give up, a thought struck her. She imagined a lightbulb flashing to life above her head as she had a rare stroke of genius. She peered up at the iron door barring their exit. It was smooth and solid, with no way of seeing through to the outside. Or through to the inside, for that matter. The murmur of hooves against cement from the other side snapped her to attention.
Without bothering to explain her plan, she prodded Avina with her hoof. "Hey," she said in a rushed whisper, "Pretend to be injured and get a guard to open the door."
"What?"
"Just do it, okay?" the pegasus hissed before turning to explain her intentions to Orwin. He, too, wore a doubtful look, but they didn't have any better ideas.
"Owww," Avina groaned unenthusiastically.
"You gotta sell it!" Rainbow clicked her tongue.
Her friend rolled her eyes before yelling, "OWWWW! IT HURTS!! OH, PLEASE, SOMEPON HELP!"
Dash pressed a hoof to her mouth, stifling the snicker that threatened to break through at her dramatics. She put on a good show.
Within a few seconds, there was a light tapping at the door. "W-What's wrong?" A male voice filtered in from beyond the threshold.
"ORB ABOVE, HAVE MERCY! AAAAHHHHH!!!"
Rainbow shuffled Orwin to the side of the room, where they waited as the door slowly began to creep open. Light trickled in, illuminating Avina's slumped form on the floor as she clutched her tail between her legs sorely. The guard scrutinized her dubiously before cracking the door open just a smidge further. That was all the opening they needed.
The cyan mare dashed from behind the cover of the open door, wrapping her hooves around the guard's forelegs and jerking him forward. He was knocked off balance as he tumbled into the room, falling to a heap on the floor. Before he could make a move to get up, Avina rushed forward and shut the door while Orwin wrapped his elbow around his neck, holding on tight until his squirming seized. The Pon fell to the ground, unconscious.
Following Rainbow Dash's plans, Orwin stripped the guard of his uniform and donned it himself, using the keys looped around the belt to unlock her deficiency ring. She looped it around her neck, leaving just enough girth to allow her to remove it without it looking suspiciously loose.
The three of them slipped out the door—which Avina had left open just a crack—and locked the soldier inside. They shared affirmative nods before venturing down the hallway with Orwin in the lead. The two mares hung their heads demurely as they trudged forward, masquerading as subdued prisoners.
Just as she thought, the guards keeping watch in front of the cells paid them no mind. Similarly to the ponies they guarded, the Pons seemed to share a sense of despondency, and there was a dazed quality to them as they patrolled the halls. The broken state of mind of the prisoners seemed to have somehow rubbed off on them. She wondered if they were even allowed to leave the top floors of the building, fated to serve out the rest of their duties within the hallowed walls of an institute that abused and extorted innocents.
She couldn't worry about that now. They were on a mission, slight hiccup or not.
As they neared the end of their backtracked trail and approached the workroom, they were questioned. "State your business." The two stallions standing guard by the doors weren't quite as morose as the others, but they still wore a deep-seated indifference.
Orwin kept his voice impressively level as he told them, "These two are finally ready to help out, so I brought them with me to swap shifts."
The guards exchanged frowns. "Workers should be escorted through the—"
"The other doors, I know." The brown Pon let out a sigh, glancing at the guards as if they were old friends. "Look, it's been a long week. I received orders to rotate shifts with whoever was stationed here. I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone by dragging these two new recruits along."
When the two of them were still unsure, he added, "Unless you want to take it up with Mardeen."
This did the trick, as they were clearly not up for doing anything outside of the bare minimum for their wages. Orwin shot Rainbow a wink as he unlocked the door and led them in. He informed the guards stationed inside the workroom that there was an emergency down the hallway, creating some vague excuse to get them to leave. Somehow, it worked.
With the room clear except for the ponies laboring away in their respective jobs, they'd made it. Now it was up to Rainbow Dash.
She leaned down on her forelegs, shaking her head until the ring slid down her neck and over her ears before clattering to the floor. The creaking and groaning of the wooden wheel being pushed along slowly and the electric fizzle of the magic surging in the center of the room filled the air as she scanned her eyes across the ponies gathered before her.
In a flash, she flew up to the center of the chaos, hovering just beside the glass container of plasma as she raised her voice to a shout. "Everypony, listen up! You're free!"
Not a single eye turned in her direction.
She flew around the room, waving her hooves erratically. "Hellooo? Anypony home? Don't you want to get out of here?"
They didn't so much as flinch or twitch an ear in acknowledgment of her words.
"What in the—" she let out a groan, frustrated that she was being ignored, again, but by ponies that should have been on her side. "We need to go back to EQUESTRIA!" She cried, hoping that last word would evoke a reaction out of at least one of them. She couldn't believe what she was witnessing. How long had they been stuck up here, withering away under Mardeen's rule? Were they too far gone?
She exchanged worried looks with Orwin and Avina, who seemed just as at a loss as she was. She ran her hooves down her face exasperatedly as she slowly sunk to the floor, landing on her haunches with a defeated thump. "Celestia help me," she muttered, looking up at the beams of red moonlight that shone through the gaps in the ceiling.
"C-Celestia?" A hoarse whisper from her right shot a thrill through Rainbow as she jumped to attention. A pale green unicorn with a frosted pink mane had taken her eyes off the rock and looked at her in wonder.
"YES!" Rainbow nearly lunged at the mare, her raspy voice rising an octave. "Princess Celestia!"
Her excited shriek echoed throughout the room, and several ponies halted their work to turn their heads toward her. The light began to return to their eyes as murmurs broke out throughout the crowd, and Dash flew back up to the top of the room where they all could see her.
"Everypony, you need to listen to me. I know you've been trapped up here for who knows how long, but I can help you escape if you can trust me and my friends." She gestured to the two Pons waiting on the outskirts of the assembly. Avina gave a sharp nod and Orwin waved sheepishly at the attention. "We need to work together in order to get out of here and bring Mardeen down for what she's done to you. Who's with me?!" She pumped her hoof into the air triumphantly, and the room burst into a chorus of cheers as they repeated the motion in support of her leadership. "Now let's get your magic back. In the name of Celestia!"
She directed them to the large vial in the center of the room as they repeated her mantra, joining her as she bucked her hind legs into it, creating a small splinter in the glass upon impact. The earth ponies joined in, hitting their shackles against it, while the pegasi bumped the rings around their necks into it. As they smashed the devices into the glass, they broke apart and fell, freeing the ponies of their restrictive grip. Some burst into tears at the release, and others were only fueled by the sudden freedom. Meanwhile, the unicorns gathered around Orwin, who used his keys to free them of the rings around their horns. They, in turn, used their magic to help one another and join in the fight.
The fracture in the tube developed into a spiderweb of cracks, spreading quickly and extending up the glass as they pressed their might against it. With one last push and a sickening crunch, the capsule burst. Colorful auras of magic swirled outward as it shattered, the electric blue melding into purples, greens, and reds upon being released. It glided throughout the room, twisting and turning above them as the sparkling light was absorbed by the ponies who gazed up at it in awe. Their dull coats regained their natural hue as the color returned to their bodies, and their eyes lit up with the sparkle they'd previously lacked.
Cries of relief rang out as ponies hugged one another and wept. The magic above them filtered out through the doors on either side of the room, returning to those that were locked away in their rooms.
Rainbow Dash flew to Avina and Orwin with a smile so wide her cheeks ached. Before she could say anything, a commotion near the doors caught her attention. A wave of guards stormed in, demanding to know what was going on. The ponies, now strong enough to fight back, backed up into a protective circle as the guards closed in on them.
A deep rumbling started then, and the vibrations were so strong they nearly knocked Dash off balance as the tremor ran up her hooves and out to the tips of her wings. It was as if the whole building was shaking, a massive groan erupting from the woodwork as the floor began to tilt ever so slightly.
As if on cue, the guards descended upon the ponies. Swaying building be darned, the two groups clashed in an intense battle. The pent-up rage of the ponies, coupled with the guards' steadfast sense of duty, made for a brutal battle. Pikes enveloped in sparkling unicorn magic flew from the Pons' hooves, pegasi dive-bombed the ranks, and earth ponies took on the forces in hoof-to-hoof combat.
Caught between joining the fight and using it as a diversion, the crossroads tugged at Dash's heartstrings as she retreated with Avina and Orwin at her side. She took in a deep breath and exhaled, knowing what needed to be done. "We need to free the others!" She called out over the clamor of the attack, hurtling towards the door with her friends in tow.
They galloped down the halls, opening the cells and freeing the trapped ponies with great ease now that they didn't have soldiers to get through. She explained as much as she could to the rescuees, but they simply had no time. Her instructions to go to the main room were unneeded, as the roar of the fight filtering into the halls was enough to pique their interest and warrant further inspection. They looped around, exiting through the doors on the opposite side of the workroom and returning to where they had started.
As the rumbling beneath their hooves grew even stronger, Dash shot up into the air above the battle, screaming to make her voice heard. "WE GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE!" A bright flash of scarlet from the exposed roof above them bathed the place in red, and the fighting ceased. It was a menacing omen if she'd ever seen one.
Despite their feud, both Pons and ponies alike seemed to understand the urgency of their situation. Several of them were knocked off balance as a shockwave rippled throughout the building, emitting a fantastic rumbling noise that sent everypony running toward the door.
Avina shoved herself to the front of the crowd, herding the terrified, trampling bodies behind her as she made herself the first to access the colossal steel doors. Unsure of her intentions, Rainbow flew towards her, watching as she pulled a key out from the folds of her dress—the same one Mardeen had worn around her neck—and used it to unlock the door, sliding it open with a mighty screech.
She moved aside as the panicked ponies filed out quickly, prisoners and guards alike sharing the small exit in an attempt to escape the crumbling building. Upon seeing Dash's questioning look, she smirked, "Silenthooves." The three of them lagged behind, ensuring that nopony got left behind in the scramble for the door before trailing after the group.
As they headed towards the stairs, Rainbow stopped, shouting, "Wait!" before rushing down a side hall she'd observed earlier, frantically searching for a familiar face. She found Leor locked in a small room a few yards away, seemingly abandoned by whoever had been tasked with guarding him. "Orwin, the keys! Hurry!"
Leor thanked them as he joined in the scramble for the exit, holding back the questions that were surely begging to be answered. As they rushed down the stairs, everypony and everypon around them had the same idea: escape the building. Businesspons and staff members rushed about in a mad dash for the exit, paying no mind to whom they might have bumped or stepped on in the process.
Why in Equestria did they have to be so high up?
They raced against the clock, stampeding past hallways and leaping down stairs as the world came crashing down around them. When they barreled down the final set of stairs and collapsed onto the polished marble floor of the lobby, they were panting, sweaty messes. Everypony had gotten out before them, seeing as they'd come from the top floor, and Dash prayed that nopony had been left behind in the mayhem above. There were, however, a few lingering individuals at the main entrance.
The Council was gathered in the center of the lobby, all five members pacing the lacquered tiles as they deliberated. Mardeen was screeching like a chicken with its head cut off, throwing out curses and insults that Dash mentally added to her vocabulary. "Those guards are USELESS! Abandoning their posts because of a little turbulence? Unbelievable! What do we pay them for? Somepon needs to get up there and figure out what in the name of the Orb is going on right now!"
The tall Pon that had led Rainbow's initial hearing—Damon—spoke up. "It's ridiculous, dear, but what can we do? At this rate, we'll be squashed like bugs if we stay."
"Yeah, we should seriously get out of here while we still can," a short, plump stallion with a ferocious goatee added nervously. She didn't recognize him from her trial; she searched her mind before landing on a name she'd heard Avina utter in disgust: Lughis.
"Are you kidding me? NO! We're not going anywhere!" Mardeen was practically foaming at the mouth, taking short, rapid breaths as she screamed at her colleagues.
"This is insane..." The last male Pon grumbled, beginning to shuffle towards the door.
The other mare of the group glanced up from beneath the brim of her hat then, catching sight of Rainbow and the others. Leor spoke her name, then clamped his mouth shut. His eyes blazed wildly as he realized what he'd done. Her eyes widened, but before she could disguise her reaction, it was too late.
Mardeen snapped her head towards them, seething. She pinned them with her stare, those deep blue chasms threatening to swallow them whole as she took a trembling step toward them. "You—" She paused, then stopped. Slowly, she looked back at Dahlia. Her vision narrowed, piercing into her with an icy glare. "No..."
Dahlia began to shake, retreating a few steps as the Head Councilpon closed in on her. Her peers only watched with mild interest as Mardeen descended upon her like a wolf hunting its prey. "It was you, wasn't it? All this time," she chuckled dryly. "I always knew you were soft. But seriously, siding with them? With ponies? I thought you were better than this."
Mardeen leaped upon her, tail thrashing violently as she collided with the other mare in a flurry of silver fury. She clamped her teeth down on Dahlia's shoulder, and another quake of the infrastructure sent both of them sprawling onto the floor. The dark green pon yelped in pain as her hat slipped off her head in the spat, falling onto the ground beside her much more gracefully than she had. Even Damon and Lughis seemed a bit off-put by their leader's erratic actions, unsure of how to react.
Luckily, Rainbow Dash wasted no time in jumping into action. She charged at Mardeen, forcefully shoving her off balance and away from her victim. Her friends were instantly by her side, Leor helping Dahlia up and Avina and Orwin placing themselves on either side of the pegasus as she stared down at the disgraced ruler with derision. "This has gone on long enough, Mardeen."
Avina spit at her, the glob landing on the floor right beside her head with a wet splat. "The Pons will never see you the same," she cast her gaze around the room, landing on each of the Council members. "Not after what you've done. They will know the truth. What you did to those ponies—what you did to your own citizens. You're... traitorous filth." She growled, quoting Mardeen's earlier insult. She stated a few of the many atrocities they'd committed as she stalked toward them. "Your tyranny ends here, Mardeen. Once and for all. Starting with this cursed building."
Mardeen loosed a guttural wail, so primal it sent each of them reeling back in shock. She shot to her hooves and lunged at Rainbow Dash, but this time somepony else intercepted her.
That unfamiliar Councilpon butted his head into her side, taking hold of her forelegs and pinning her to the ground while the building began to shake even harder around them. "You lying scum," the stallion said with disbelief. "You've always treated us like dirt, even though we're supposed to be a team. You never changed, did you? Keeping all these secrets, hurting all these ponies. You're a disgrace."
"Praiteon—" Dahlia began to speak.
"Go." He told them, his voice firm. "I'll hold her down. Just... go." Mardeen writhed under his grip, but he was resolute. He'd made his choice.
As they bolted towards the exit, Dash spared one parting glance over her shoulder. Praiteon nodded to her.
The city streets were in utter chaos. As they made it out of the headquarters and down the stairs, the ground began to shift beneath them. They'd barely crossed the bottom of the steps and jumped onto the sidewalk when an ear-splitting explosion reverberated behind them.
In one terrible, swift motion, the building collapsed in on itself. Shards of shrapnel flew out from huge clouds of dust, debris raining down from the site of the crash. Rainbow and the others were just out of reach of the destruction, retreating onto the street and watching, horrified, as the city was plunged into total disarray.
The guards that had escaped the building before them had managed to secure the premises, blocking off the perimeter and keeping civilians away from the wreckage. Thus, there didn't seem to be any casualties—only minor injuries and distraught mental states. Large vehicles with flashing lights were parked at the scene, and officials attempted to bring order to the pandemonium. Pons with huge, professional cameras were perched at the front of the crowds, capturing the event on video and snapping candid photos.
Fearful shouts and cries of panic filled the air as the dust settled and the rubble of the building came into view. A radiant crimson glow permeated the clouds of dirt, pulsating outwards from the remains of the building. Dash's ears flattened in anguish as she gazed upon the grand, luminous Orb, nestled amongst the soot and debris. A large crack ran down the center of it, and the blood moon's sheen seemed to dull around the rift.
The devastated Pons wept at the sight, calling out in agony at the state of their beloved monument. If things were bad before, the sight of the Orb sent the city over the edge. The festivities that had been going on in the town square only served as obstacles for the Pons rushing to the barrier set up around the Council headquarters. Parade floats, stands, and performers were stuck in the midst of the surging crowd.
Just when she thought things couldn't get worse, two Councilpons were dragged out from the wreckage by mechanical arm-like devices that were able to lift large chunks of debris and locate them. They were severely injured, but alive, and quickly rushed to a hospital. Mass hysteria ensued.
Rainbow Dash attempted to shake herself out of her stupor, looking over at her friends, who were similarly overwhelmed by the turn of events. She turned towards the crowd, pinpointing the dozens of ponies that they'd liberated. She flew over to where they were starting to disperse into the mass of bodies, calling out to them and gathering them in one spot on the outskirts of the scene. Meanwhile, Avina and the others worked to calm their own kind, speaking hurriedly with the guards and explaining what had occurred.
"Stay together, everypony," Dash shouted to the equines. They were frantic, pressing up against one another in an attempt to soothe their frazzled nerves while the foreign world around them fell to chaos.
She frowned, scanning her eyes across the mob of creatures as an idea sprang into her mind. She flew over to a nearby unicorn who had a sparkling, star-shaped cutie mark. She whispered to her before addressing all of the ponies, filling them in on her plan and earning their reluctant agreement to help. With all of them on board, she flew up into the sky, hovering in front of the rubble with the Orb at her back. She cleared her throat before saying, "Attention, Pontropolis!" Her magic-enhanced voice boomed throughout the city, drawing the attention of everypony gathered in the square. "My name is Rainbow Dash. Write it down. I know you all may not be the biggest fans of ponies, but you better listen up anyways."
Not that they have a choice, she mused, impressed with the spell that allowed her to speak loud enough to be heard all the way back in Equestria. The crew below pointed their cameras up at her, and her face was broadcast onto a large screen on the side of a nearby building. Aw, sweet! She flipped her mane and flashed a toothy grin at the equipment before regaining her composure and continuing, "When I first arrived in this city, I was taken into custody and treated like a prisoner. I didn't understand what I did to make everypony hate me. But that's just it—I didn't do anything. None of us did." She waved a hoof at the ponies watching her below. "Your Council told you lies about ponykind. They turned all of you against us so they could get away with all kinds of stuff.
"Some of you might have heard of the resistance. The Pons living on the outskirts of town created it because they wanted to fight back against the injustices of the Council. I'm sure none of you have even stepped hoof in the slums," she assumed, narrowing her eyes at the posh citizens. "But things are bad down there. Pons are starving. And Mardeen hid it from all of you." A shockwave of distressed murmuring spread throughout the crowd.
Somepony shouted out, "That can't be true! Pontropolis is a Utopia!"
Dash shook her head sadly. "No, I'm not lying to you. If you don't believe me, go see for yourself." She went on to explain what had happened in the building, detailing how Mardeen had kidnapped and locked up the ponies, practically enslaving them in order to harvest their magic. She laid out the crimes that the Head Councilpon had committed and the cruelties she and the rest of the Council had allowed to befall innocents.
As the Pons listened to her story, supported by her friends, a few helpful guards, and Dahlia herself, their outrage only increased. Their anger became directed at the Council, pinning the blame for the whole incident on their leaders. Avina took things over from there.
She commanded the attention of the crowd, bolstered by the help of Dash's new unicorn friend, and spoke her piece. "Fellow Pons," she started, "I am just as upset as you are. I have lived with the knowledge of the Council's cruelty my entire life, and I thought that starting a rebellion to overthrow them would fix all of our problems. If we could just get rid of them, things would be all right. But I was wrong. Our troubles run much deeper than that. The moment we decided to place our lives in the hooves of Pons that had no business making decisions for us was the moment we set ourselves up for failure. And this is the result of that." She raised a hoof, pointing at the damaged Orb behind her. She was silhouetted against the blood moon, her shadow stretching forth from her position atop the stairs. She looked... regal.
She continued her speech, rallying the Pons to her cause, while Dash put her second plan into motion. She gave the signal and the earth ponies galloped forwards, pushing their way through the crowd and making way for the unicorns to venture forth. The pegasi flew up to join Rainbow Dash, following her as she led them past Avina and to the glowing Orb.
The earth ponies cleared a path through the rubble and the unicorns approached the moon, gathering in a band around it and, as one, pointing their horns toward it. They each released a beam of power that joined together and enveloped the Orb in a united aura. Their magic shimmered across it, sweat beading their foreheads as they strained to meld the crack in its side. They might have been somewhat out of practice and still getting the hang of their full abilities, but slowly the fissure retreated, disappearing back up its side and leaving the sphere complete once more.
Cheers rang out from behind them, and the drained unicorns turned to offer small waves and nervous smiles at the praise. Next was the pegasi.
Led by Rainbow Dash, they flew up to the Orb and encircled it, pressing their forehooves against it and beating their wings as the blue mare ordered, "Up!"
They began floating upwards, lifting the moon from the rubble and hoisting it into the sky. As they propelled several yards above the ground, it began to feel lighter and lighter until, at some point, it was as if they were transporting a cloud. It moved upwards of its own accord, and as they released it from their grip it continued to elevate higher. It soared above, taking its rightful place in the heavens and slowing to a halt when it was settled back in its original home. It seemed to shine even brighter upon returning to its place among the clouds and everypony's eyes were on it, basking in its scarlet radiance.
After the joyous applause had ceased, Rainbow addressed the citizens of Pontropolis one last time. "Everypony—er, everypon! This is the true nature of ponies. Our magic is not something to fear or control—we use it to help others, not to harm them. I hope at this point you've learned that not everything can be taken at face value," she quipped, glaring down at where Mardeen had initially emerged from the wreckage before turning her muzzle skywards. "The Orb is magic too, you know? And it is strong enough to survive and continue shining its light down on all of you without the weight of the Council holding it back. You, too, can survive this setback."
She looked out at the mass of Pons, taking in the expressions on their faces: scared, angry, sad... hopeful.
"I don't know what direction your government will take next, but I do know one thing: whatever comes next will be new and different, and maybe even a little bit scary, but it's nothing you won't be able to handle. A friend of mine showed me that change doesn't happen overnight. But with the right ponies—Pons—and the right ideas, anything is possible. The future is in your hooves."
Rainbow Dash descended from her vantage point in the sky, landing beside Avina and sharing a soft smile with her. The Pon not only returned the gesture but threw her hooves around her, wrapping her in a tight squeeze. Dash blinked, surprised at the affection before returning the hug. After a moment, she reared her head back and gave her a smug look. "Wow, you're actually a big softie, aren't you?"
Avina withdrew, pulling her hooves back as if the pegasus had burned her. She scowled at her, but she couldn't hold the expression long. When her lips threatened to curve back upwards at her friend's ridiculous wriggling brows, she smacked her on the nose. "Whatever. I'm just glad everything turned out all right."
"Me too."
Slowly, the Pons began to push forward. The guards allowed them past as they hesitantly approached the ponies, murmuring apologies and introductions. They took the initiative to make amends, and the ponies received their efforts warmly, conversing with them as they began working together to clear the rubble. The Orb wasn't the only thing being repaired that day.
At the same time, a group of well-dressed Pons approached Rainbow and her friends. According to Avina's startled expression, they were important. The well-to-do mares and stallions peppered her with questions, turning to her for guidance on what would soon be known as a dark day in their city's history.
She forced a polite smile, frazzled at their attention and unsure how to respond to the unfamiliar topics they presented her with. She glanced at Avina, who only watched, amused, as she squirmed. "Look, I'm not somepony that can help with something like this," she explained. "But I do know the perfect Pon for the job." She grinned at Avina, who was quickly bombarded by the elites. Thankfully, she seemed to be taking it in stride.
She excused herself as Avina addressed their issues, scanning her eyes across the other activity in the main square. She spotted Orwin helping with the excavation crew, using their machinery to tear through the remains of the building. Leor and Dahlia spoke with the Council Guards, who had since taken Damon and Lughis into custody, and allotted duties, helping to keep the troops organized. Everypony was mingling together, supporting one another, and bolstering each other's spirits as they worked to repair the heart of their city. Despite the positive turn things had taken, Rainbow felt a sinking feeling in her gut.
What was she supposed to do now? A lot had happened, yes, and not in the exact way they'd anticipated, but surely this was the resolution they'd been hoping for. She turned to point a piercing stare at her flank, willing her cutie mark to glow. Everything that had occurred thus far only proved further that there was a serious friendship issue at hoof. How else would you describe the mess she witnessed in front of her own eyes? She'd clearly solved the root of the problem that had presented itself: freeing the ponies, dethroning Mardeen, repairing the Orb. So why wasn't she being given a way home?
With Avina and the others occupied, Dash took the opportunity to slip away from the scene and skulk off through the crowd. Ruminating on the events fresh in her mind, she veered down the road she'd seen the medics take earlier that evening.
She trotted down the sidewalk, mind ablur as she dodged the pedestrians lingering on the outskirts of the commotion. The roads had been shut down in all the chaos, so the paved concrete was speckled with onlookers that shot her wary yet curious glances. For the most part, she was able to avoid detection—opting to go by hoof helped in this manner—but her luck ran out soon enough.
"Rainbow Dash!" A male voice called out, drawing her attention. The stranger stepped out from an alleyway between two buildings, and as his features were illuminated under the light of the moon, she gasped.
"You. How did you find me?"
"You're not hard to miss."
"What do you want?" She narrowed her eyes at him.
"I'm so sorry," Xavir pleaded, his ears flattening as he fixed his gaze on his blue hoofs ashamedly. That charm that he'd displayed upon their first meeting was nowhere to be seen as he groveled before her. "Please let me explain. I had no other option—"
"I don't want to hear it." Rainbow had to stop herself from biting his head off, reigning in her temper and keeping her legs firmly planted on the ground. "I don't care what reason you had for doing what you did. Loyalty means a lot to me, dude, and you blew it."
She sighed, shaking her head. "I'll be frank. You were a bad friend, and I know everypony deserves a second chance or whatever, but the bottom line is that I'm not obligated to forgive you." She wondered if she was making a mistake in her decision to let their fractured relationship remain in this state, but she felt no desire to pick up the pieces that he'd shattered with his actions.
He seemed a bit taken aback at this, but after a moment he nodded sorrowfully. "I... I understand. I'm sorry for what I did, and I'm thankful for what you made of it. I wish you the best." He turned and left, his tail dragging along the ground dolefully as he disappeared.
She appreciated his words, but his betrayal was still a fresh wound. They wouldn't be making friendship bracelets anytime soon.
Rainbow continued her jaunt, reaching the hospital and letting herself inside. There didn't seem to be as many patients as she had anticipated, which was a relief. She spoke to the receptionist at the front and was allowed access upstairs and to the back of the clinic, where the two Pons she was looking for were resting.
The hospital was similar to the one they had back in Ponyville, but it employed much more advanced technology. Digital screens with wellness questionnaires lined the walls and miniature cleaning devices swept the floors of their own accord, swiftly dodging her as she trotted by. She spotted an elevator similar to the one she'd taken in the Council building but chose to take the stairs instead.
Finding her destination wasn't hard—two guards were posted just outside the room she seeked. Mardeen and Praiteon were placed in a joint room with a dividing wall placed in between their beds. She didn't bother to knock before entering, helping herself to the complimentary candy placed on a counter beside the door.
The room was empty but for the two patients and a nurse clad in a white uniform that matched the interior design of the room. She was checking on Mardeen, who was slumped over on her side with her eyes screwed shut. Despite her position, she seemed to be awake, simply trying to avoid the nurse's prodding and questioning. Praiteon, however, was fast asleep. One of his legs was in a cast, elevated above him, and there was a bandage wrapped around his forehead. Still, he looked stable.
Dash hesitated for a moment as the medic finished her duties and set her clipboard down beside the bed, giving her a curt nod before leaving. She exhaled and approached Mardeen.
The Pon shifted, sitting up and squinting her eyes open at the sound of her incoming hoofsteps. Her hazy blue irises gained a modicum of clarity as she recognized Rainbow Dash. Yet, instead of the unhinged anger and volatile behavior she'd witnessed from her earlier that day, Mardeen was sullen. She stayed quiet as the pegasus approached, hardly acknowledging her presence as she settled beside her bed.
Dash stared at her for a long time before she found the will to speak. "You're rotten, you know that?" Mardeen's glassy eyes flickered to her, but she couldn't read her emotions. "I'm sorry for what happened with the building. I didn't mean for anypony to get hurt. But... I'd be lying if I said I didn't think you deserved it. Maybe that makes me rotten, too."
The corner of Mardeen's lip curved downwards. "I've learned a lot from my time here, but something I realized today was that not everything has to be forgiven. I'm not a bad pony for being unable to move past something that's hurt me." Rainbow sighed. "If you really do want to be forgiven, though, then now's your chance. Start racking up some good karma by helping me. Tell me, how can I get home?"
The Head Councilpon stayed silent, closing her eyes and refusing to respond. Just when Dash was about to give up and leave, she rasped, "I've failed as Keeper of the Orb."
Rainbow's brow shot up. "You've got another fancy title? Seriously?"
Mardeen slowly sat upwards, gaining back enough energy to glare at her. "Whoever is Head Councilpon also becomes Keeper of the Orb. The knowledge surrounding the sacred monument is passed down from Keeper to Keeper, and we are sworn to protect it, and by extension, Pontropolis."
"Well, you did a terrible job of that, huh?"
She narrowed her eyes. "I suppose you don't want to hear about it, after all."
"I suppose the ponies don't deserve to know why you held them hostage and stole their magic, then?" Dash retorted.
She couldn't get a read on her. Mardeen was awful, but she was so much more reserved now than she had been back in the tower. If she were crazy, she'd think she seemed a little remorseful, even.
The Pon groaned before saying, "Whatever. The bottom line is, there's much more to the Orb than you may think. I cannot expose all of its secrets but I can tell you that it is the reason you're here."
Dash's ears perked up at this. "What do you mean?"
"Its power has a... a sort of gravitational pull to it. It draws in other beings of magic, such as yourself—by any means necessary."
"I don't understand."
"You are not of our world," Mardeen said thoughtfully. "I can only assume so, anyways. There is nothing like your kind here. Perhaps that is why the Orb is so desperate for those who share its... qualities."
"So, you're saying the Orb... pulled me here? What the hay does that mean?"
Mardeen frowned before looking around, settling on the clipboard by her bed and taking it into her hooves. "Think of it like this." She drew several long, parallel lines across the paper, splitting it into thin grooves. In the narrow section on top, she drew a circle. "Here's the orb," she said, pointing to it and motioning to the entire strip. "And all of Reptarus. And these..." she motioned to the array of sections separated by lines that stretched down the sheet of paper. "Are the other worlds. Dimensions. Timelines. However you want to think about it."
Dash tilted her head as she tried to make sense of the Pon's crude drawing. "Uh-huh..."
Mardeen added dotted lines that extended from the circle and stretched down to the sections below. "This is the Orb's reach. Seeing as it's always you ponies that show up on our doorstep, I'd say your home is right... here." She pointed to the area directly beneath the imagined Reptarus. "Your proximity allows its magic to seep into your reality pretty easily, I'd say. Either luring you here or taking advantage of ponies that are already physically or psychologically vulnerable. That last part's just a theory, though."
Rainbow's head was pounding. "Wow. We repaired that thing out of the goodness of our hearts, only to find out it's the reason we were even here in the first place?"
Mardeen shrugged, thrusting the clipboard from her hooves and throwing it over the edge of the bed. It clattered to the ground harshly, sending an echo throughout the sterile room. "Guess so. Now leave me alone." She laid back on her side.
Guess she's not as regretful as I thought, Rainbow scoffed, somewhat startled by her sudden action. "Hold on," she said, shaking the mattress slightly with her hoof to get her attention. "How do we get home?"
"Escape its pull," she muttered, voice slightly muffled by the pillow. "Leave the city and go far, far away where it can't reach you. Only then will the way home be revealed."
Cryptic, much? Still, she supposed it made sense. Somehow.
Although the conversation with Mardeen hadn't panned out exactly how she'd expected, she'd gotten some good information; even if she didn't understand half of the things she'd said. Regardless, she knew what she had to do next.
Rainbow's farewell to her new friends was, for lack of a better word, emotional. She couldn't wait to get back home and put this whole nightmare behind her, but at the same time, she hated to go.
She'd grown accustomed to sneaking around Pontropolis, sharing jokes with Orwin and intentionally getting under Avina's skin. They'd become closer than she thought they would, and the prospect of never seeing them again effectively took the spring out of her step.
Rainbow had told the ponies how they could return to Equestria—omitting the fact that the information had come from Mardeen—and they agreed to leave as soon as possible. The aftermath of the collapse of the Council building, which was quickly coined "The Worse Thing to Happen in the History of Pontropolis," was, above all else, messy. Dash found the nickname for the disaster humorous, but the Pons seemed to take the matter very seriously. She and Avina had become celebrities overnight, their faces plastered on signs and billboards throughout the city as they were hailed as heroes for revealing the truth and healing the Orb.
Avina was up to the challenge, stepping into the vacant role of leadership and ensuring the safety and security of Pontropolis's future, along with the help of Dahlia and the other elite Pons of the city. Dash couldn't imagine a better Pon for the position and was ecstatic to see her in the role that she'd always deserved.
Despite how busy everything was, the Emergency Relief Council, whose name was unanimously changed to the Emergency Relief Organization, provided the ponies with all of the equipment and supplies they would need to traverse the desert. The morning after the day of the Blood Moon Celebration, they were ready to depart. Avina headed the small group that had gathered to bid them farewell at the gates, along with Orwin and a few other familiar faces. As they geared up to make the journey back home, Avina pulled Rainbow aside to speak with her privately.
"Rainbow Dash," she said, a small smile on her face. "Thank you for everything. I don't think any of this would have been possible if you hadn't—"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," she interrupted her with a well-natured poke of her wing. "Don't be gettin' all sappy on me, now."
Her smile dissolved into a forced scowl at her banter. "You're impossible."
"Impossibly cool, I know," she shook her head facetiously. "What are you gonna do without me?"
"A lot more, actually, since I don't have to worry about sneaking you around everywhere."
"Touché," Dash snorted. "Seriously, though, I'm gonna miss you. Thank you. For... everything." She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly as Avina beamed at her. She hadn't seen the Pon this upbeat in, well... ever.
"Thank you," she repeated. "I never thought a day like this would come."
Her words might have been general, but Dash knew exactly how much they meant to her. She looked around at the crowd gathered at the gate. Pons and ponies, hoof-in-hoof. They'd made a lot of progress from the time Avina was a filly.
"Your mom would be proud of you," she murmured. Tears sprang to Avina's eyes at her soft words, and she had to wipe them away with a red hoof. "And everything you've accomplished... I bet your dad would be floored." This got a giggle out of her. "But... nopony's prouder than me to call you my friend."
"Thank you."
They shared a warm, genuine smile and a small laugh before Dash's expression turned serious. "Can I ask you one last thing?" Avina nodded. "What... what did Leor show you that made you freak out? Back at the boutique?"
The Pon gulped, rubbing her forelegs together nervously. "It..." she sighed before reaching back and pulling out a clump of fabric from the pocket of her cloak. "I'll show you."
The tan material had a thin black circle inked on it, along with a line down the middle and a few strokes that zig-zagged around it in a manner resembling a snake. "This is...?"
"My dad," she said. "This was his family's insignia... before... well, you know."
"Oh, wow... so...?"
"I spoke to Dahlia and... she knew him, way back when. She believes he's still out there. Alive." Her tail twitched anxiously.
"Do you?" The pony's magenta eyes were filled with concern as she considered her friend.
"I don't know. I want to," she smiled sadly. "And I think that's enough. Maybe, in the future... Pontropolis will become a place he can return home to."
"I'm sure it will." Rainbow pulled her into a hug, holding tight until the signal came that it was time to go. She brushed her wing across her shoulder comfortingly before turning to leave.
As they passed through the gate and into the unknown, she spared one last glance behind her at the city that had been a prison, the site of a revolution, and finally, a home away from home.
She raised a hoof in the air as she hovered just past the threshold, waving to the individuals she owed her life to. Whatever the future had in store for her, she knew deep in her heart that she would always have friends here.
"Goodbye."
And, just like that, she was gone.