The Disharmonizers

by ApplauseJunkie

Rescue

The rebel base was equipped with an invisible air base, hidden by an illusion of trees and overgrowth to the point that it looked exactly like the forest surrounding it. On the airfield stood six sleek black jets, each with a camouflage spell cast on them to make them blend in with the sky in which they flew. It would be these jets that would get them to Canterlot to rescue Fluttershy’s friends from the clutches of Celestia.

Discord, Fluttershy, Twilight, Flash Sentry, Octavia and DJ Pon3 would be going on the mission together. Each jet had a three-passenger capacity, and they would need the extra space to get everyone back to the rebel base. Each of the six of them would pilot their own jet, giving them more than enough seats to fly everyone out. The plan was to fly into Canterlot, find the emergency exit that Twilight and Flash Sentry had used to escape, and get in and out from there.

As they put on their body armor, Discord could see that Fluttershy was visibly shivering. He realized how absolutely terrified she must be over the idea of facing Celestia’s guards in the dungeons of the Canterlot castle. “You don’t have to come with us if you don’t want to,” he said to her in a whisper.

Fluttershy shook her head. “N-no, I want to be there to rescue my friends. This is too important.”

Twilight smiled at her friend proudly, and Discord felt a similar expression tugging on the corners of his mouth. Every one of them was brave to go on such a dangerous mission, but it was especially brave of the timid Fluttershy to place herself in harm’s way for the sake of her friends. She must love them more than Discord had originally thought, which only raised his esteem for the painfully shy woman in his captivity.

In the Canterlot dungeons, Scootaloo dashed to the bars of the cell as the guards dragged Rainbow Dash around the corner. She was barely conscious, breathing heavily, and covered in cuts and bruises in the most painful areas, like her inner elbows and solar plexus. They tossed her back into the cell and she curled up on the ground, tears running down her face.

“Rainbow Dash!” everyone cried, rushing forward and pulling her up to a sitting position. They crowded around her, trying to support her, but she simply toppled back over and curled into the fetal position, hugging her knees in pain as though someone had just knocked the wind out of her. From the look of her, she had had the wind knocked out of her several times over.

“What did they do to you?” Applejack asked. Rainbow just kept crying, her body jerking violently with every gasping breath she took. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both started crying, too. They could hardly stand to see the invincible Rainbow Dash look so beaten down and defeated.

The agony on Rainbow Dash’s face wasn’t just from the obvious torture the guards had put her through. When she was finally breathing well enough to speak, she sobbed, “I told them everything…”

Some of the other women gasped. No one would have expected the loyal Rainbow Dash to sell out her friends, even in the face of torture. Whatever they had done to her must have been horrible beyond imagination. Her face was cut and scarred, and the back of her shirt was cut in enough places for them to see signs of where a bullwhip had been used on her back.

Outside the palace, in the dark of night, three practically invisible jets landed on the roof of a building across the street. As they disembarked, Twilight and Flash Sentry took the lead, showing the little group where the entrance was that they had used to escape the dungeons only a day earlier. They tried the door and found it predictably locked, but a snap of Discord’s fingers took care of that. In all honesty Discord probably could have gone by himself on a mission like this, but the others so wanted to help in rescuing their friends that he had made it a group mission after all.

Flash and Twilight hurried down the stairs with the rest of the group close behind them, all of them with pistols drawn ready to defend themselves against any guards they encountered on the way. Each pistol was equipped with a silencer so as not to alert the entire building the second one shot rang out into the echoey hallways of the dungeons.

Once inside they started searching the cells of the dungeon one by one, but found them all empty. No one else was being held downstairs because all other traitors to the crown were simply executed on the spot instead of imprisoned. It was a grim reminder of the totalitarian regime that Equestria had found itself under.

Finally they reached the one occupied cell in the dungeons, and Twilight whispered happily, “Girls!”

The women rushed to the bars of the cell, all of them whispering excitedly.

“Twilight! Flash!” Rarity fought to keep her voice down with excitement.

“How did you get out?” Sweetie Belle asked in a whisper.

“How did you get back in?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Boy howdy are we glad to see you!” AJ waved from where she held Rainbow’s head in her lap.

“They tortured Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo wailed quietly.

Fluttershy’s eyes filled with tears when she saw the state of her friend, bloodied and bruised. Discord snapped his fingers again and unlocked the door to the cell, and they all came piling out, with Applejack scooping up the completely disabled Rainbow Dash and carrying her out with them.

“Come on,” AJ whispered. “There’s no time to lose!”

They dashed toward the exit, but as they rounded the corner the found themselves face to face with at least ten armed guards, on their way back to the cell to pull out the next torture victim. Immediately the six that had guns unleashed a barrage of bullets, some of which found their mark but some of which simply bounced off their armor.

Unfortunately, the guards were much more heavily armed than just silenced pistols. They pulled out their assault rifles and rained down bullets on the little group. Fluttershy screamed as a bullet connected with her stomach, and immediately Discord’s mind blanked with rage. The pistols weren’t doing the job. They had hurt his Fluttershy. That was enough for him to take over. He snapped his fingers.

Every single one of the guards suddenly burst into flame. The hall erupted in screaming as the guards scattered, running in panic as they tried to put themselves out, banging into walls and running into each other, all of them wailing in pain as they burned alive.

The little group collected their thoughts after the initial shock of the fire, and shoved through the panicking crowd of guards and headed for the emergency exit. As they hit the stairwell the encountered more guards rushing down the stairs to investigate all the screaming, and instantly they were all aflame too. The yells echoed through the stairwell as the group forced their way out the door and into the night of Canterlot.

Those who were still capable rushed up ropes that led to the jets, then quickly flew them down to street level so the injured could board as well. Applejack loaded Rainbow Dash into the jet and strapped her in, hopping in beside her. Discord helped Fluttershy into their own jet, and the others who had sustained bullet wounds crawled into the passenger seats while Octavia and DJ hopped into the cockpits and in a roar of engines they were zooming off into the night sky.

As they approached the forest, however, they found the sky already full of jets. They circled around to not be spotted, squinting through the dark to see Celestia’s seal on all the planes, and realized with horror that the forest was ablaze with fire. They were bombing the entire forest.

Comments

[Sabrewolf9]

Awesome cliff hanger! May I make a few suggestions?

[Hopelessromantic]

Please update soon!!?