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// Chapter 6: The Streets of Canterlot 
// Story: The Story of Reik: The Communist Revolutionary: MLP 
// by Reik 
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	ONCE AGAIN REIK plummeted. He didn’t doubt his decision to jump, it was the only way. Attacking head on was flat out suicide and surrender was not an option.

His cap immediately flew off his head, unfortunate he thought. The ground could not be seen through the blizzard and Reik guessed he had been falling too long for it to be survivable, he didn’t fully register that once again he was at deaths door, or was it that he simply didn’t care? He didn’t dwell on that thought. Suddenly, it was as if the center of the storm had embraced him in a freezing cold.

The snow cushioned Reik’s fall. He quickly began to sink in the white ocean and paddled franticly to avoid being lost in its depths. He came out of the mound onto a cobblestone path, snow filling the gaps in the masonry. Vladimir appeared at his side and pulled the black pony to his hooves. Reik looked up into the night sky in a daze. The worst of the storm was upon them, and visibility was reduced to barley one block. Snow was everywhere. Reik, after such a quick transition from the warm interior to the freezing exterior of the spire, broke into sporadic shivers. His bones rattled in their sockets. Vladimir, immune to all but the worst of winter’s arsenal pushed Reik forward. “Come on comrade, we are leaving!”  Reik snapped out of his daze and fell back into reality. “Y-yes c-comrade, let u-us m-m-make our escape.” The words passed over chattering teeth.  Reik glanced at his hooves. A black cap with a hammer and sickle sewed to its front lay, half buried on a pile of snow. He gathered it up, brushed off some excess snow and continued following Vladimir. The revolutionaries ran down the road against the storm, neither knew where they where or where they were going, escaping was their only objective. 

“STUPID, STUPID, STUPID” Reik repeated the phrase in-between mumbles and chattering. “Pray to your vanity? That’s terrible, all the time I had to think about it and that’s what I come up with.” Reik and Vladimir made a sharp turn into an alley; the three pursuing guards overshot them and continued down the main road. “Comrade, it was fine, if they catch us we’ll be lucky to peel potatoes’ for the rest of our days.” Vladimir’s tone was one of urgency and annoyance. The pair slowed as the alley came to a dead end, as he ran Reik franticly scanned the walls for a ladder or staircase they could use to escape. Vladimir, instead of slowing, increased his velocity and crashed through a wooden door at the end of the alley. Seeing as all of these buildings will be rubble and ashes in a few hours it doesn’t really matter anymore thought Reik. He followed the grey pony through the splintered doorway. The building was small, just a straight hallway leading to another door with one staircase along a wall. Vladimir could be seen at the end of the hallways ramming the lock on the door, sparks flew as he smashed his armored head against the metal. Voices and hoofsteps could be heard up the stairs. “Who are you, why are you in my house?” roared an elderly pony as she stepped down the staircase. “I’ll call the guards on you robbers!” Reik was in little mood for subtlety. “Where might one find a flyer?” his casual tone was brimming with urgency. “Did you just break down my door? Why is that guard destroying my door?” Reik turned to Vladimir who had just finished his task, the lock lay in scrap at his hoofs. “Vladimir, would you be so kind?” Reik asked. Vladimir grunted and advanced on the old pony, she cowered against his towering form. “We are in a hurry you old mule.” His tone was dark. Reik had no doubt that his grizzled partner would snap the old pony in two if given the command. The old pony shrank under Vladimir’s withering gaze. “T-there’s one in a guard post down the street, o-on 3rd street. Please d-don’t hurt me.” Vladimir turned to Reik, awaiting an order. “Well, times-a wasting.” Reik said as he began to walk out the door and into the freezing street. “Oh you may want to leave this building seeing as the whole castle will be a bonfire in a few hours,” Said Vladimir with a cheery smile as he followed Reik out the portal. 

Sirens were ringing up and down street and echoing across all of Canterlot as the pair raced down the narrow road. The snow fall was slowly decreasing but the visibility was still next to nothing. Reik’s coat dragged through the snow. “Comrade, I think we made a wrong turn at the last intersection.” Vladimir roared over the wind. “That was an intersection?” Reik responded. The blizzard quickly became attributed to at least three wrong turns since they left the old pony’s house. Reik pulled his watch close to his face and wiped away a quickly forming film of fog. The timer read nine fifty five. The operation had started around nine o’clock and they had been running for nearly an hour. Reik grinned. His plan was on schedule. 

The timers were a crucial aspect of the operation. Every moment and aspect of the operation was planned by the hour and minute. Guard patrol schedules, cache detonations, optimal darkness for stealth, and guard response times, each one planned and accounted for.  Reik was not fazed for their predicament in the city. He had given the plan schedule two hours In case of unexpected difficulties. But what scared Reik was that they were making no progress through the blizzard. The way things were going, they would have to continue banging on doors and interrogating civilians. Vladimir’s sudden cry of warning brought Reik out of his thoughts.

REIK GROANED AS a pair of guards descended from above and blocked their path. He eased his pace until he was behind Vladimir. The guard ordered them to halt, Reik wondered to himself if they ever honestly believed criminals would follow that command. Vladimir lowered his head exposing his pickelhaube helm he had acquired in Reik’s study. His old standard issue helm was, in a small act of defiance, cast aside. For a second Reik was overcome with nostalgia, he was reminded of those days long past where he and Vladimir would run through the roads of Canterlot, fleeing from guards no different than the ones pursuing them now. Reik grinned broadly, relishing the kind memory.  Only one guard fully registered the threat the charging pony posed. Only one guard scrambled out of his path, the other was caught in his rampage. Vladimir ran the guard through; the spike on his helm made a mockery out of the guard’s armor and lacerated into his flesh. With a quick jerk of his neck, Vladimir casted the guard to the side of the road and continued down the street, specks of blood flying off his helm and staining Reik’s coat. As they turned down another alley Reik glanced at the downed guard, his ally was at his side pulling him towards an open door. Reik noted that the guard’s wounds were light, the pony would live. They disappeared as the revolutionaries turned around the corner.  

“There, comrade.” Vladimir groaned as he made his way towards a section of wall along the road. As Reik followed he could make out a wooden sign attached to the stone wall. At first glance the sign appeared to be a crudely drawn grid pattern, but quickly began to make out labels, structures, and levels; he was looking at a map of Canterlot. 

Reik scanned the map. His sudden stop brought an end to his endorphins and the piercing cold returned to his joints. His vision became shaky and his breaths became short and frequent. He closed his eyes and manually controlled his breathing. When he opened his eyes his vision stabilized enough for him to register the map. The city had gone through many alterations since his departure and where he expected to find alleys and courtyards he found walls and homes. Reik found 3rd street; it stood on the third level of the massive city. Due to Canterlot’s construction on the side of a mountain, the city was split into three levels. Each level was walled off from one another except for roadblocks constantly manned by guards.  Their fall from the study sent them down to the second level and the main road leading to 3rd street was only two blocks from their current position. But how to remove the guards thought Reik. Sirens continued to echo throughout Canterlot, once the guards organized they would be finished.

“They must not be allowed to gather their numbers.” Said Vladimir as he pointed to a large structure on the third level marked on the map. “That is the guard’s headquarters. If we can knock it out they will fall into disarray.” Reik nodded in agreement. “But how?” he questioned. The two stood in silence, each formulating and scrapping plans to destroy to great building. Reik turned and looked up, in search of their target. The storm had subsided significantly and while snow was still falling from the heavens visibility was just enough to make out some of the towering spires of Canterlot. The guard headquarters stood as the second tallest spire, it tore into the sky before breaking off into two smaller spires connected via walkways. Windows began blinking with lights as the headquarters rumbled into life in response to the revolutionaries’ presence. Reik formed a plan and rounded on Vladimir, “Is there a cache nearby?” Vladimir looked at Reik, a look of curiosity on his face. “Yes, its-“He looked to the map for guidance, he pointed to a corner a block past their current location. “Here, but why?” Reik’s voice quickened. “Are there rockets or fireworks in it?” Vladimir thought for a moment, the majority of the explosives in the caches where either scratch built or stolen. He remembered when secretly raided Canterlot’s storage of celebratory fireworks. “I suppose some might be in their but-“A light bulb in Vladimir’s head flickered into life. A murderous grin spread across his face, “Yes, I think I stored some there.” Reik nodded and looked back at the map. “Take out the building and meet me at the guard post on 3rd street and remember” He fixed a threatening glare on Vladimir. “Try as hard as you can to not kill anypony, I’d hate to start a new society with someponys blood already on my hooves.” Vladimir gave a grunt that Reik assumed was some form of conformation. “With haste my friend.” Reik said before breaking into a run down the street. Vladimir was alone. He glanced back at the map, memorizing the layout one last time and charged down the road towards the cache. He relished the thought of destroying the guard headquarters.