//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: Dusk Rises 
// by The-rogue-shadow 
//------------------------------//

 Dark red hoof prints followed Twilight as she walked toward the open window, her eyes burning with rage. Behind her, Jean's pained screams were mixed with the panicked stuttering of Max and Archangel's desperate attempts to calm the two griffins down. She looked back at the scene, and the expression on Jean's face brought a tear to her eye. 
"Dusk! You be careful. By the look of these wounds, this new weapon has a lot of power." Said Archangel, still doing his best to stitch up the hole in Jean's side that was made by the tiny lead ball. Twilight stared at him, and at the entire team.
"So do I." She told them, charging her horn with magic that took the shape of fire. She then turned and dived from the window sill, unable to enjoy her few moments of free fall like she usually would. Teleporting to the nearest rooftop, Twilight began to gallop as fast as she could toward the factory in the industrial zone, her mind focused on destroying the new weapon, so that no one would be hurt again. The city was nought but a blur as she sped across the rooftops, gravel crunching beneath her hooves. 


The long afternoon shadows from the smokestacks blacked out an entire city block, and Twilight realised just how much of an eyesore the place was, even in the industrial zone. The griffins had placed more guards behind the chain link fence, and Twilight counted a dozen sporting the new weapon. She moved quickly, disappearing behind a nearby stack of wooden pallets. Taking a deep breath, Twilight cast a relatively easy spell that gave her the ability to see anyponies' line of sight, represented in her vision as a cloud of yellow mist. She decided against using the invisibility spell, purely because she wanted the energy to teleport should she get into trouble. Sticking her head out from behind the pallets, she saw a pair of guards walk past with their backs to her. After a quick check to make sure that she was clear, Twilight dashed after them, staying low and as silent as possible. When the two guards turned a corner, Twilight struck. She dived onto the one with the firearm, sticking her hidden blade into the back of his neck, then doing a flip off his back and slicing the throat of the other one before he could react. She dragged the remains behind a low wall, using a spare piece of tarp she found to conceal them. She then made her way to a nearby door, using the dirty window to check for signs of yellow mist before proceeding.


Inside, the sounds she had heard on her last visit were louder, as though the factory had gone into overdrive after her escape. Twilight came across an observation room that looked out over the production floor. The reinforced glass had been warped near the bottom by the heat rising from the furnaces below.
'I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like for the workers down there.' She thought, catching the briefest glimpse of a young pony galloping amongst the machinery. The realisation suddenly hit her that she had no way of destroying the entire building, let alone getting the workers out before she did so. An extremely loud whistle suddenly erupted from somewhere in the production area, and for a moment, Twilight panicked, fearing she had already been discovered. But then she realised that it was in fact the signal of the end of the work day. The ponies and griffins that had been scurrying about like ants in the rain abruptly dropped what they were doing and left, the odd cheer echoing across the cavernous expanse.  She stood still for a moment, stunned that such a lucky thing had happened to her. 


Twilight made her way down the nearest staircase, hoping to find something on the production floor that she could use to disable or blow up the factory. The furnaces they were using relied on the use of coal, unlike the ones that Pinkie had told her about that used superheated oil instead. Pinkie had destroyed a Minotaur compound with a single explosive charge attached to one of the furnaces. Twilight had nothing like that at her disposal. A yellow mist appeared in the corner of her eye, and Twilight instinctively dived for the floor, using a pile of scrap metal to hide.


"You can come out now pony. I know you are there." Said a voice, as Twilight silently cursed herself. She didn't move, hoping that they were bluffing.
"Come now, don't be shy. I just want to talk Dusk. That's your name right?" He said, and Twilight reluctantly stood to find herself facing a group of about twenty griffins, all armed with the firearm weapon. In the centre stood a griffin she recognised. He wore the robes of a council member and had stood beside Prince Alistair on the day that Twilight had assassinated him. He was younger than some of the other council griffins she had seen. He looked as though he were around Gilda's age, and of a similar build. Twilight stared at him, waiting for him to make the first move, but he just stared back at her, the smallest hint of a smirk on his face. 
"Do you like the new toys?" He asked, taking one from a guard, and twirling it in his hands.
"It's quite impressive." Said Twilight, her eyes darting around for some means of escape. She would have teleported, but reasoned that she had come too far to quit.
"It is, isn't it? We call it the Flintlock. A tiny lead ball is blasted out of the end of the barrel by the use of gunpowder. The same stuff we put in cannons on ships. Exciting stuff. And in a week, we shall be rolling these out to the front lines. Can you imagine the devastation that will occur once these are in the hands of every single warrior out there? It will be… Lunacy." He said, shooting Twilight a strange look. 
'Lunacy?' Thought Twilight, as her eyes narrowed.
"And I must say, it looks absolutely terrifying in the light of that Sunbeam." She replied, completing the exchange. He nodded, winking at Twilight. She smiled out of pure shock.
"That it does. Would you like to meet the inventor?" He asked, waving his hand. An older, skinny griffin with a long, thin moustache walked forward, standing next to the council member with a scowl on his face. 
"Now this is interesting Dusk. Did you know that he is the only griffin in the city to have the plans for these? Locked away in his office where nogriffin can get to them. And to think, you were so close to killing him and destroying all of this. Every single Flintlock could have gone up in smoke as simple as one… two… three." He said, and as the last word left his mouth, the griffin swung the Flintlock to the left, holding it up against the head of one of the guards. At the same time, Twilight leapt, extending her hidden blade and teleporting as she did so. She landed on top of the inventor, her blade going into his windpipe as the council griffin pulled the trigger. The skulls of four of the guards exploded into red mist as the inventor exhaled his last breath. 
A moment of silence came across the room as the remaining guards stared at the two killers, unable to move out of sheer shock. Twilight removed her blade from the inventor's throat, turning her head to face the guards to her right. 

"Move." Said the council griffin, as he picked up one of the dropped firearms, and fired it, causing another guard to violently recoil from the force of the projectile and fall down. Twilight jumped off the freshly made corpse and onto the nearest guard, slashing her blade across his face as the others levelled their weapons at her. They fired, as Twilight braced herself behind the safety of the guard's body. A multitude of loud bangs and tufts of smoke filled the air, as her makeshift shield was torn apart by the weapons. A single ball grazed Twilight's shoulder, creating a deep gash in her skin. She grit her teeth against the pain, allowing the guard to collapse in front of her. Behind her, she could hear the guards screaming after being shot. The griffins in front of her rushed to reload as she bounced from head to head, slashing and stabbing, splattering's of blood spreading over the walls. 


As the last guard fell on Twilight's side of the room, she turned to find the council member watching her, wiping his hands on his blue robes. The smile on his face made Twilight uneasy and after retracting her blade and making certain her hood was down, she walked up to him cautiously.
"I think we make a good team, don't you?" He asked, as he started to unbutton his robe, much to Twilight's confusion.
"I have two questions." Said Twilight, keeping a close eye on the griffin.
"Only two?" He said, smiling, as he sat down on one of the many boxes that were littered throughout the room. He was too relaxed and happy for Twilight's liking.
"Firstly, who are you, and second. How did you know our code? And lastly, why?" She asked.
"That's three questions." 
"You're right, answer them." She snapped, filling her horn with magic and illuminating her face. The griffin raised his hands in a gesture of peace.
"Hey hey, relax. I'm actually on your side. My official title is Councillor Aurora. But you can call me David. As for your other two questions, well… They have the same answer. You aren't the only resistance movement out there Dusk. Okay, so you are the most effective, I'll give you that.  I am a member of the Griffin Solar Empire. We believe that the city would be better off if we made peace with the ponies and created an alliance with Celestia. And we even have permission from Celestia herself to fight in her name. I personally approached her not long before the war broke out, but I haven't heard from her in a while." David told her, and Twilight could tell that he was sincere by the tone of his voice. She decided not to tell him about Celestia's death, not seeing it as appropriate at that moment.
"If you're a member of the resistance, then how come you are a councillor?" Asked Twilight, still suspicious.
"It seemed like the best way to cause upheaval from the inside. My group isn't like yours, we have a tendency to fight according to the laws around here. But then I saw you in action on the day of Alistair's death, and…. I was inspired. I requested to be put in charge of this project simply because I knew that it would attract your attention." He replied, getting off the box and making his way toward Twilight. Once he stood directly in front of her he kneeled, bowing his head.
"What are you doing?" She asked nervously.
"I, David Aurora, hereby pledge my services to you in the name of Princess Celestia, until such a time as my heart stops beating or our mission is complete." He declared, every word was clear and precise, as though he had practiced it a hundred times. Awkwardly, Twilight smiled and patted him on the shoulder, prompting him to stand, firing off a quick salute as he did so.


"Uhhhh…. Thank you?" She said, not prepared for something like that. David nodded, visibly relaxing back to how Twilight had seen him before. 
"So… David. Do you have any plans for blowing this place up?" Said Twilight hopefully. David just smirked, walking back to the box he had been sitting on and opening it. Inside were ten sticks of dynamite. Twilight's eyes widened when she saw them, mostly out of shock, but part of her was excited to see the explosion that was coming. The two set the dynamite all around the factory, looking for places that were going to do the most damage. Twilight stumbled across a room that was filled with barrel upon barrel of gunpowder. As she set up the explosive, she found herself growing more and more excited. 
Once all of the sticks had been laid and connected together onto a single fuse. David and Twilight lit it and ran. They managed to cross two full blocks before the explosion ripped through the building, sending a wave of heat and force that almost made Twilight trip. When they thought they were far enough away, Twilight and David turned to watch the building burn. The smokestacks luckily fell backward when they collapsed, crushing the outlying buildings in the compound. The fire brigade arrived after a while, forcing Twilight and her new companion to flee before guards and other authority figures turned up. 


David followed Twilight through the streets, as griffins and ponies all watched the enormous cloud of black smoke drift across the sky, blotting out the last remnants of the sunset. Twilight was already hearing whispers of her name, and how she must have been the one that did it. Most of them were pleased as they spoke, but the occasional citizen expressed their outrage at such an act so close to the Spring festival. As they got closer to the church, Twilight led him down an alleyway that branched off in the opposite direction, before turning and using her magic to pin him against a wall.
"Well thank you for your help, but I'm still not sure if I can trust you." She said, placing her hooves on either side of David's head.
"I learnt this little trick from a very unusual pony that had an obsession with a blue box." She smiled, as her thoughts quickly turned to her friend The Doctor. She touched her horn to David's forehead, sending a pulse of purple energy into his mind. It was a strange experience for her, as David's memories and deepest secrets appeared in her own mind's eye. She concentrated, narrowing the memories down to his recent ones, catching a brief glimpse of Celestia amongst it all. 


Twilight pulled her arms away, her smile growing at the same time.
"What in the hay was that?" Exclaimed David, starting to struggle against the magical bonds. Twilight released him, and he collapsed onto the ground, his muscles weak.
"That just showed me that you are sincere about helping me, and that I can trust you. Now come on." She said, beckoning him to follow her. David walked shakily, as if he hadn't slept in days. They entered the church through the front door, not bothering to check to see if there were guards, as they both reasoned that the guards would be busy with keeping the factory clear of looters.


They climbed to the top of the tower, with Twilight going ahead of David, both to prepare the others, but also because he was climbing very slowly. When she entered to octagonal room, she found Archangel and Max still crowded around Jean, who, much to Twilight's joy, looked like see was breathing normally. She walked in silently, sitting down next to Archangel.
"How is she?" She asked, looking at the pool of dried blood that was caked to the floor around Jean, as well as Archangel's hooves. 
"She's going to be okay. I think. I stitched up her wound as best I could, gave her a sedative, and we have been watching her sleep for the past couple of hours. And I assume your mission went swimmingly, judging from the incredibly loud sound that echoed across the city a little while ago." Said Archangel, giving Twilight a pat on the back with his wings.
"It did indeed, and I also managed to add another member to our little team." She told them, gesturing at the door behind her with perfect timing, because just at that moment, David walked in the door. 
"David?" Exclaimed Max, getting to his feet. The look of shock on his face was the last thing Twilight expected.
"Max?" Asked David, equally as shocked. The two stared at each other as Twilight and Archangel gave each other questioning glances.
"So how do you two know each other?" Asked Archangel quietly. 
"David's my ex-boyfriend." Replied Max.