//------------------------------//
// Rebel Young 
// Story: For Everfree 
// by NPP6 
//------------------------------//

	Alarms blared as the race began. Magical detection fields, motion sensing spells, and to cap it all off, doors opening that weren't supposed to. In short, several dozen overlapping calls tore through the night air as the group of escaped prisoners sprinted towards their goal.
The external gate.
Right now the only thing left between them and their freedom was the massive gate in the outer wall of Discord's castle. There was only one problem: No matter how many times Midnight ran the calculations, they didn't have enough time to get the gates open before the guards caught up to them.
Fortunately the issue solved itself. While they were still about a hundred hoofs away from and to one side of the gate, it ripped off it's hinges explosively. Sunbeam stepped through, smoke gently swirling around her alicorn form, obscuring her just enough to make her reveal dramatic. "Midnight! Next time you go off on a hare-brained scheme to rescue my sister in the middle of the night, invite me along!"
"Not really a good time, can we discuss this later?"
"At least tell me why you didn't even ask me to come!"
"You were busy! Besides, nopony was getting past your butler! I did leave you a message!"
"Message! That wasn't even clear enough to qualify as a riddle!"
Luna's voice finally rang out in exasperation, "Can we please focus on the task at hand ponies!? Namely running for our lives!?"
Featherdancer shot her a smirk, "Naturally you've already noticed that the pace hasn't slowed in the slightest!" He was being deliberately loud on this one, "I think you're just pissed that Midnight's flirting with your sister instead of you!"
Midnight just groaned while the two mares' objections were summarily ignored.



They had been running for the better part of an hour now. To be more precise, they had been on the run for the better part of an hour now. After the first twenty minutes or so, they had found a hiding place, and Sunbeam currently had them crammed into the corner of a warehouse.
The opportunity was taken to perform a headcount, revealing that by some stroke of fortune, all thirty-nine ponies who had decided to flee with them had made it here.
The warehouse's small side door opened and Sunbeam stepped through, followed by another alicorn mare. Dust Runner was grinning from ear to ear as she took in the scene before her. "So Midnight, you decided to be a hero after all. Don't give me that look, we all knew you were struggling. Frankly it bordered on an identity crisis. Luna and Featherdancer were just the only ones crazy enough to say anything."
Midnight sighed. He must have been further gone than he'd realized. Although he suspected that she had largely been looking for a way to subtly let him know that Sunbeam had told her everything that was going on, including the act that they had somehow gotten themselves caught up in. "Shade, I presume that you and Celestia are likely the only reinforcements we can count on tonight?"
The mare nodded. "We can't contact Lace or Afterburner. Not necessarily a bad thing, considering."
"If we can't contact them, it means the draconequi can't find them, right?" Featherdancer joined the conversation.
Moonchaser replied, "Exactly. However the unfortunate part is that that also means we have no way out of the city."
"And we need to get someplace permanent before dawn," Midnight added, "At first light, they'll have patrols out looking for us and our portraits up everywhere. We've probably got a pretty bounty on our heads right now too."
"Even if it's just for one day, it should still work though, right? We can hole up for a day, maybe two, then sneak everyone out?" Featherdancer offered.
"Good point." Dust Runner nodded.
"So it doesn't need to be perfect, just really good. Useable." Moonchaser summarized.
There was a minute or so of silence before Midnight broke it, "I don't suppose anypony has any suggestions?" There was a chorus in the negative.
Sunbeam spoke up, "I... I might know a pony. Don't get your hopes up or anything, I don't know if he'll help us, but he's not exactly a friend of the Draconequi, so he might. I give it a one-in-three chance of him helping us."
"Better than where we're at now," Midnight pointed out, "I recommend we go for it."
Featherdancer's nod and Moonchaser's "I concur" soon followed.
Finally Dust Runner smiled at Sunbeam, "Well then Princess Celestia, lead the way."



"These tunnels predate the poneekin transport network," Sunbeam was telling the group as they walked through tunnels dimly lit by horn glows. A faint echo accompanied her voice, "They're actually from before the rise of the draconequi. Nopony has an accurate map anymore they're so old. Originally they were used for transporting goods around the commercial and industrial districts, keep from clogging up the surface roads. Some of them are still used for that, but we left the 'known' sectors a while back. We are offically off the edge of the map right now."
"So why don't we just pick a spot down here and camp out?" Somepony in the crowd asked.
"Not a good idea," Sunbeam replied with a shake of her head. "There aren't many things down here that could hurt a pony, but there are a few, and I count seven foals in this group. I'd hate for something to stumble across us at a bad time. Also, there'd eventually be trouble with a patrol, because this is his territory."
"His?" several voices this time, some more familiar to Sunbeam than others.
"Hold on a moment, you'll see for youreselves soon enough." They turned a corner and saw torchlight coming out of a tunnel branch ahead. That was enough to quiet their questions for a time. After another ten minutes or so however, somepony started to voice an inquiry, only to be shushed by the mare. "We're here."
They turned one last corner and found themselves in front of a large set of double doors. A scrawny looking colt was laying down in front of them, his makeshift armor making it apparent that he was supposed to be on the job instead of taking a nap.
The colt jumped like he'd been struck when Sunbeam nudged him with her hoof. He landed in a salute, to many giggles from his audience. Sunbeam simply sighed and hoofed him something. "We're here to seek an audience with your master. He's not expecting us, so we recognize it might take as long as five minutes for your comrades to prepare to receive us. If you perform promptly, I'll refrain from letting slip that you were sleeping on guard duty."
The colt nodded and examined the silver object she had hoofed him. His eyes went wide and sleep visibly fled from his system, prompting him to turn on his hoof and haltingly march over to a tiny alcove in the wall next to the doors. He placed the object in the alcove, leaned forward and whispered something to it. A hoof came through what Midnight noted was a very clever disguise field and curtain combination and retrieved the object.
After a brief moment of waiting, the doors began grating open. Four more ponies in insufficient armor - all looking to be in their early teens, about Featherdancer's age - stepped out and flanked the entryway. One of them forced out, "You are permitted to enter," in what was likely an attempt at formality. Unfortunately his one-size-too-big helmet made it seem childish, and several more giggles had to be stifled.
That's one thing to be grateful for at least, Midnight grinned ruefully as he realized it, there's a lot of tension being relieved by these over-the-top ponies.
The group of ponies stepped through the portal into what had once apparently been a warehouse. Now a large chair had been set up on a pedestal of sorts to resemble a throne. The balcony running around the room that Midnight guessed had once been used to make it easier to move goods with a block and tackle had also been put to good use, there were four or five archers on every wall. Inadequate for this group, but he imagined that it must have been quite menacing to those who regularly visited this court.
Voices could be heard floating through a curtained archway behind the throne. Or rather, Moonchaser corrected her own silent observation, a voice. One specific pony's raised voice. "So help me, if this is another dispute on profit distribution I-" a brief pause "Well why didn't you say so? Who is it?" pause "What?! Her?! She is here!? You idiot, that's the first thing you should have told me! How long have you kept her waiting?!"
The curtains flew apart as a young stallion came through, cinching up the strap on his velvet red cape as he did so. His eyes quickly scanned the group and Sunbeam headed off any confusion by stepping forward. "Everypony, I present you to Rebel Young, the Thief King." She turned to face the colt in question. "Hello Rebel."
Rebel stopped short and gasped. "The Mare in the Mist. I don't believe it. What happened to you?"
Sunbeam sighed, "It's a long story, although I'm going by Celestia these days."
The caped pony blinked in surprise, then he took on a pensive look as twos started adding up with twos. "I see. You know that you've exposed yourself greatly, don't you?"
Midnight, Moonchaser, and Featherdancer all stiffened as it occurred to them that Sunbeam had just blown her cover. Perhaps more shocking was the mare's response, delivered with another sigh, "It couldn't be helped."
Rebel nodded slowly, "I feel we have much to discuss, though perhaps not before all of these gentleponies. And I'm sure you've come to ask for a favor that we will need to discuss as well."
The mare returned the nod. "Even so." She turned to the crowd. "Princess Luna, Midnight Star, Shade Darkwing, please come with us. Your aid may help with explanations. Featherdancer, please take charge of our little band." Decoded, Featherdancer, you're the only one I trust to come up with a believable cover story that won't dig us in even deeper if needed, everypony else, I need help negotiating.
Act or no, her words and presence conveyed the weight of a princess in control, and they moved quickly to obey.



Four alicorns and a pegasus stood around a hearth. "So," the slate grey pegasus with the sky blue mane, Rebel Young, broke the silence, "Sunbeam the street thief becomes a princess. That's an interesting twist of fate. Or perhaps an overly large con. Either way, I'm curious, how did it come about?"
The alicorns all groaned or sighed. Sunbeam continued speaking for them, "It was largely an accident really. That execution spell went wrong and turned us into alicorns, then dumped us out in the middle of the forest."
"After that I'm afraid it was my fault," Moonchaser offered, "I made a stupid mistake, and a full-scale prisonbreak was needed to save me."
"If you're going to shift that far, I'd say that this one's squarely on my shoulders. Although I suppose you could say that it began when we gave Discord's interrogators those pseudonyms and ridiculously fake titles. I needed to give the ponies something to believe in, so I identified Luna as 'The Princess of the Night.'"
Dust Runner piped up next, "It snowballed after that, when they figured out that Celestia and Luna were sisters, they decided that Celestia must be the 'Princess of the Day.' Doesn't help that she comes across as older and that kind of fits preconcieved cultural notions relating night to youth and day to adulthood."
"And eventually it just kept getting easier to just keep going along with it." Rebel Young finished for them. "I can see how it all happened, it's completely insane, but I can see it. I will warn you though, and especially you Sunbeam, this kind of con can get out of hoof very fast. Better find a way to wrap it up before it comes back to bite you."
Dust Runner perked curiously, "Excuse me, but exactly what about this makes it particularly dangerous as a con? Aside from the obvious life-and-death stuff we already knew about?"
"Because this is the kind of con... Where the worst case scenario is that you pull it off. Imagine if nopony ever figured it out and you won the war. Imagine getting saddled with the leadership of a country just because everypony thinks you're the 'destined princesses.' I know you especially would hate that Sunbeam, you despise power and authority. Openly." As Rebel was talking he noticed the uncomfortable look on Midnight Star's face and his conspicuous silence, but after half a heartbeat the other stallion met his eyes and gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head, so he let it pass. After years of being the Thief King, Rebel Young knew how to tell when somepony had a secret that he most definitely did not want to know.
Sunbeam meanwhile casually shrugged, "Well, the way I figure it, there's probably just over seventy or so draconequi that we'll have to take down personally, face-to-face. Now I'm not planning on dying myself, but it'll be a long war, and Celestia just might not survive if things come right down to it."
Rebel Young barked out a laugh, "And Sunbeam, just how many times do you think you can die and still have ponies believe it? How maany times can you fake your own death before they figure you out?"



Midnight was speaking from in front of the Thief King's throne. Somehow he had managed to become Luna's top general and Right Hoof Pony, and therefore spokesstallion. "...these conditions of hiding, being underground - sometimes literally - meant that while we do have some sontacts and support from all walks of life - yes, including the royal courts - the greater majority of those loyal to the princesses are those who were already on the other side of the law. High Treason Against the Draconequus Empire is a crime, and one apparently most easily committed by those who have already committed other crimes."
Rebel Young saw that the hypnotic effect of the other stallion's droning had reached just the right point, half-asleep ponies would question things far less. He had to hand it to this Midnight character, he could explain things to a ridiculous point. It was honestly slightly amusing, but it was time to step in. "Which is actually quite beneficial today, as we're going to have to break several laws to get you out of the city. Anypony who wants to stay here with my band is welcome to, you'll find yourself quite safe here. But you will be expected to pull your weight, those with moral scruples will be respected, but if you don't have skills that can help around the camp, some level of thieving will be required to earn your keep. Also bear in mind, the fewer of you we have to smuggle through the walls, the safer it will be to do so and the less likely that the refugees will get caught."
"I would suggest that you think on this," Sunbeam's voice carried around the room. "Rebel Young has graciously extended his hospitality to us for the coming day, but at nightfall you will need to have your answer ready."
Featherdancer stepped up to the foot of the dais and turned to face the room. "That sounds like my cue, since the mundane job of reading out sleeping assignments got left to me. Alright, first up we have..."