//------------------------------// // Chapter 36 — The Rescue // Story: Dictators Of Ponyville // by Dragon-In-Black //------------------------------// Applebloom started to run towards the garage, Sweetie Belle hot on her tail. After Scootaloo had left, the former apple farmer didn’t know what to do or say. Fear gripped her heart in an iron hoof. She didn’t know what she could do or what she would do, but she knew that she had to do something. Applebloom refused to allow Scootaloo to hurt innocent ponies in Equestria simply because of Gabby Gums. “Why are you following, Sweetie Belle?” Applebloom asked while looking back at her unicorn friend. It made no sense to her that Sweetie would follow. From what had happened the last few months, Sweetie seemed to be on Scootaloo’s side. Then again, the unicorn had always adopted that look of indifference. “I may hate the ponies of Ponyville, but I do not want to start a war with Equestria, that is way too much,” Sweetie Belle replied, this time, with a look of sorrow on her face. “Really? You always seemed to pick Scootaloo’s side,” Applebloom noted with a surprised look. “It may have seemed that way, but I am a neutral party, but if I have to pick a side, I lean towards you,” Sweetie Belle revealed with a smile that had not been on her face for many months. The smile she once had when all was well in the world. Applebloom smiled before turning a corner and dashing towards the door to the garage. She knew that Princess Luna was in danger. They were shocked when they found they found one of the rulers of Equestria in their small justice-filled country. Nonetheless, because she was there illegally, Luna had been arrested. To their knowledge, Princess Luna had been treated as fair as possible. She was a ruler after all, and with that came prestige, so she was put in prison for respectable members of their society who were accused of crimes. Essentially, the time when Scootaloo has to take her role seriously. Applebloom forced the door open, causing it to fly and scaring the security guards around the garage. The guards looked further surprised when they saw Supreme Leader Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. “Guard! Is Spike here?!” Applebloom frantically questioned while looking at the different empty cars. “Uh… no Supreme Leader, he is at the military base…” the guard replied while sweating. Applebloom sighed while looking at the different cars. “Now is not the time for a date, Applebloom,” Sweetie Belle chastised her apple farmer friend. “I know! But he’s the only one I can trust other than you now!” Applebloom angrily spoke. Realising her words, she took on a sad look. “Sorry, Sweetie,” Surprisingly, Sweetie Belle hugged her. Applebloom returned the hug, her hooves reaching around to the unicorn's back. When both of them calmed down, Sweetie Belle took a step back and smiled. “It’s okay, Bloom, I shouldn’t have joked like that, especially in this situation.” Sweetie Belle spoke with a guilty smile. “I have a driver's licence, so I can drive us wherever you want to go,” Applebloom raised a brow in surprise. “You're a Supreme Leader, like me and Scootaloo, you don’t need a driver’s licence.” Sweetie Belle shrugged and looked to the guard. “Guard, which car can we use?” “Any car Supreme Leader,” he replied and looked back towards a small metal box that hung behind him. He pulled out a key and opened it, revealing multiple car keys and pulled out a set and handed it to Sweetie Belle with a bow in respect. The marshmallow-coated unicorn looked at the number and made her way towards the car, Applebloom in tow. The car was similar to the others, it was water-driven and built from metal and wood. There were five seats, two in the front and three in the bags and a trunk where bags and other things could be put. In the front was the driver's seat and passenger seat. Sweetie Belle sat inside the driver's seat and Applebloom sat in the passenger seat. The unicorn filly started the engine and began to drive towards the exit. It surprised Applebloom that her friend could drive. However, she couldn’t contemplate for long before she directed the unicorn towards the military base. Their prisons were mostly located inside the base because they still didn’t have the same type of police force that Equestria had. The military had more power and because of it, it had become a more military dictatorship. Sweetie Belle floored it towards the highway, driving like a lunatic, drifting around other cars and trucks, causing the other drivers to honk in anger. The unicorn smiled a little, drifting to the left and the right before flooring it towards the exit that led to the base. “Yer driving like a lunatic!” Applebloom yelled, holding on to anything for dear life while her pupils turned to pinpricks. “I know, but we need to get to the base. You wanted to go there, right?!” Sweetie yelled back entering the exit and driving at a high speed towards the military border, only slowing down when they reached the checkpoint. When the soldier motioned for Sweetie to stop, she did and lowered the window. The two Supreme Leaders watched as the soldier marched up to the driver’s window. Applebloom snickered when the soldier’s eyes nearly fell out of his sockets and bowed respectfully. “Supreme Leaders!” He spoke with a frantic voice. “I apologise for stopping you, you can drive!” With permission, Sweetie Belle started to drive again, this time, at a slow pace much to Applebloom’s relief. They drove inside the base and weren’t surprised to see the large military holding different weapons while looking at Capper who was holding a military speech with Spike standing to the side with his claws behind his back. The apple farmer blushed, seeing the sharp look that her drake-friend held. Sweetie Belle whistled teasingly at her friend which did nothing to lower Applebloom’s blush. However, when she remembered the reason she was here, she immediately lost it and put on a mask of seriousness. “What’s the plan?” Sweetie Belle asked while putting the car into park and getting out of the car along with Applebloom. The former farmer didn’t respond and put her sight on the prison building with thirty soldiers that surrounded the building, making sure that no creature escaped. The building was made from yellow-coloured bricks and a large metal door with multiple locks. The red-maned filly quickly made her way over to the building with brisk steps, Sweetie Belle hot on her tail. When the soldiers noticed the two Supreme Leaders make their way over, they straightened their backs and gave a salute when they were close enough. “Hello, Supreme Leaders!” The leader there spoke with respect and a bow. “How can we be of service?” “Can you lead me to Princess Luna?” Applebloom asked with a neutral look on her face, much to Sweetie Belle’s shock. The soldier didn’t show his emotion on the matter and simply bowed. “Of course, Supreme Leader,” he replied. “Follow me,” He opened the door with the help of a large amount of keys. When the satisfying ‘click’ was heard, he opened the door and allowed his rulers to enter first. The inside of the prison was dirty. That was the first thing Applebloom noticed. There was a smell of garbage with plastic bags littered around the floor. There was a disgusting smell that reminded Applebloom of when she lived on the farm. However, the smell was much worse and it made her wrinkle her face. There were three floors in total. The first floor contained simple criminals who stole or robbed other ponies around Ponyville, and the second floor contained hardened criminals who committed acts of terror around Ponyville, terrible things that Applebloom refused to think about. However, on the third floor, were the most “dangerous” criminals that Scootaloo deemed evil. Apparently, they were a threat to the regime they had built. However, due to Scootaloo being one of the three Supreme Leaders, her word is the law. To either side of them, was a silver-coloured staircase. The Soldier led them up the staircase, and then another. “How has Princess Luna coped?” Sweetie Belle asked, her shock all but faded, adopting a look of curiosity. “She is shocked, to say the least,” he replied with an informative tone. “She has yet to be interrogated.” “What?” Neither expected that. “You mean that Scootaloo didn’t interrogate her or any other soldier?” “No, Supreme Leaders,” he answered. “No creature has spoken to her other than when it’s time for dinner.” Falling into another silence, the soldiers’ claws made a clicking sound whenever he took a step. It echoed throughout the prison but no creature said anything—too afraid to make any noise when two of the three Supreme Leaders were there. The soldier was a blue-feathered Griffin and emerald-eyed even if he was blind in one of them. He wore a dark green suit with a white-buttoned shirt and black tie and a green soldier hat with the symbol of the hammer and sickle along with the two crossed swords. The symbol that Applebloom once was proud to wear… but now… it displayed the secretive hateful state of Ponyville. Ruled by three fillies that never truly forgave the ponies of the town… Suddenly, the soldier stopped, causing Applebloom to accidentally fall over, not seeing him stop. The soldier jumped and turned back to see his Supreme Leader on the ground and I felt the fear instantly. “I’m so sorry, Supreme Leader!” He immediately gave her his hoof and Applebloom smiled sheepishly. Getting back to her hooves, the former farmer saw that it was a large metal door, similar to the one she entered through from the first floor, but this one looked… heavy like it was difficult to open. Then again, Princess Luna is an alicorn, so it isn’t surprising that one of the co-rulers of Equestria was practically forced to have a heavy cell with anti-magic and anti-flying spells, rings and suits. “Has she made any form of resistance?” Applebloom asked, turning to face the Grifffin who shook his head in response. “No, she didn’t fight back, at least in prison. She did try to fight back when getting arrested. But to my knowledge, she was stabbed in the back by one of our soldiers which caught her by surprise.” Came the chilling revelation that made Applebloom and Sweetie Belle’s blood turn to ice. “She… what?” Sweetie Belle spoke her usual look of indifference wiped from her face, replacing it with a look of fear. Her pupils were pinpricks. She started to sweat and breathe heavily. “She was… stabbed in the back?!” Applebloom asked horrified, mirroring Sweetie Belle’s look. The Griffin winced. “Yes… that was my reaction. Princess Luna tried to evade the military when she was surrounded. She attacked one of our own which made them frightened. The spell she used caused a small explosion, causing them to fall back but one of them that was behind her rushed up behind her and stabbed her, subduing her,” he explained, knowing that it wouldn’t even remotely soothe them. The two fillies turned to face each other. That was the last thing they expected. In fact, that was something they prayed wasn’t the case, however, just looking at the soldier they knew that he was telling the truth. “Please… open the door so we can discuss with her,” Applebloom ordered while leaning against one of the walls, feeling the cool marble stone through her suit. The soldier used a sizeable golden key and there was a very loud ‘click’ that resounded throughout the prison, however, there was no other sound. The Griffin used all of his strength to open the door, which barely moved if it wasn’t for the help of Applebloom who came to her senses. Sweetie Belle walked inside a narrow pathway the same size as the doorframe until she came across another door, this time, wooden that looked broken with small splinters falling down to the stone floor. The marshmallow-coated unicorn carefully opened the door, turned the knob and was flabbergasted when she heard a click. She pushed the door and it creaked and groaned as it swung gently, revealing a small room. Applebloom’s hoof steps echoed behind the unicorn, forcing her to step aside and allow her friend to enter the room. The room was pitch black, only lit by the open doors of the prison lights from the other side. There were prison bars inside the room leaving very little room for its prisoner. Inside the metal bars, was the once proud Princess Luna. The Princess wore a suit to prevent her wings from moving and had three rings over her horn to prevent her from producing magic. Her mane was frazzled and dirty and her tail was in no better shape. Her coat looked dirtier than the mane and tail. They couldn’t see her facial expression. “Hello, Your Majesty,” Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and the Griffin bowed respectfully. There was no response from the Equestrian royal prisoner. “I’m sorry for what happened to you,” There was still no response. Because they couldn’t see her face, they were unsure what she was feeling. Applebloom approached as close as she could, close enough to see a shimmer of the mouth of the Princess of the Night. “Princess Luna, on behalf of my part of the regime, I apologise, I didn’t even know until recently that you were inside the country. I know my words might not mean anything, which is why…” The words died when she noticed the Princess turn to look at Applebloom. The former farmer froze when she met the gaze she had expected but never anticipated just how piercing it would be. Even Sweetie Belle and the Griffin gulped and took a step back. Finding a little bravery, wanting to finish her sentence, Applebloom continued; “...I want to break you out,” The effect was immediate. Sweetie Belle gasped and the Griffin cried; “Supreme Leader?!” all the while making sure that they didn’t make loud noises which proved to be difficult when the prisoners were quiet and the revelation left them gobsmacked. Luna’s cold piercing gaze didn’t show any hints of further expression. She simply stared at Applebloom. What the three didn’t expect, was a small smile that started to display itself on her lips, stretching wide enough for them to see that they were dry and cracked. “I always did know that there was some good in you, Miss Bloom, Belle… pardon my ignorance, I do not know your name?” Luna did her best to look apologetic towards the Griffin who did his best not to blush and downplay it. “I’m no Griffin important, Princess,” he replied with a wave of his claw. For any outsider, it must have been the weirdest thing they had seen. Here, a prisoner of a tyrannical country spoke with respect to two of the rulers as well as a soldier of the same country. Just when Applebloom opened her mouth to speak, there was a loud sound that made the Griffin turn pale. The sound itself resembled the one for rockets during New years, but this one sounded so much… louder. It was like it was one large rocket of great magnitude. Their nostrils were assaulted with the smell of something burning, causing Sweetie Belle to yell in fright and Applebloom to look all over the place. “Guard?!” Applebloom yelled with demand. “What is going on?!” “I don’t know!” He shouted, but his eyes told Applebloom a different story. “We have to get out of here!” “Are you stupid?!” Sweetie Belle retorted. “Whatever is going on outside is outside! Which means that we should stay inside!” “I know! I meant that we should get down to the basement!” He explained while making his way over to the door in haste. “The soldiers inside and I, can protect you from Princess Celestia’s tyrannical weapons!” “Now is not the time for politics!” Applebloom cried in frustration. “Open her cell and guide us to the basement!” “Are you for real?!” Sweetie Belle asked while looking at her friend in shock which disappeared after she accidentally inhaled too much of the exhume from whatever was making that loud and terrible noise. “Yes, I am!” Applebloom shouted fiercely while motioning for the soldier to open the cage to Princess Luna. The princess of the night didn’t intervene in the squabble. The soldier hesitantly made his way to the cell and checked through his keys in distress trying to decipher which key it was, but in his eyes, it was all a jumbled mess. It was as if the keys were moving around on their own until he tried a few but to no avail, until he managed to find the right one and swung the cell open so hard, he accidentally bent it slightly in an odd angle. However, just when they all started to make their way to the door and go to the basement, there was a loud, thunderous explosion that made the entire building shake so hard that the group fell to the ground. “Oh no…” muttered the Griffin with despair. “She destroyed Canterlot…” What he wasn’t aware of, was that the others, including Luna, had heard him. Their heads spun in his direction so fast they feared they would accidentally break their neck. Luna had a concerned gaze, followed by a cold demanding voice. “What did you say?!” The Griffin lowered his head to the floor, looking at the dim lights hanging from the ceiling. “Supreme Leader Scootaloo… has destroyed Canterlot,”