The Fall

by Writer12577

Chapter Ten: Travelling

”Our main objective is the meeting room that’s in the middle of the ground floor. Getting there will be hard, I say it here and now. We got bogeys up and down, left and right.

“That’s why we need all of you to concentrate, to do your best and for Celestia’s sake follow the orders even more flawlessly than ever before. I don’t like losing my squad members.”

Everypony in the room agreed with a sharp “Sir Yes sir”.

“Okay, eyes and ears open, I’m telling the plan only once. Screw it up and you’re dead.”

Everypony fell even more silent than they had already been.

“We got multiple guards up in the balconies. Dash, they are your primary targets. Total of three. One per balcony. Silent kill and move on, no slowing down. We need to get in as fast as possible to reduce the chance of getting spotted.”

Rainbow nodded. This would be easy. Three slices and she’d be done.

She wanted to go, to fly and to take the Rebels down right at that moment, but knowing that Sarge wouldn’t be too happy with that, she forced her wings to stay furled and listened just as closely as the others got their orders.

“As Dash gets us clear, we go towards the main door. No pointy comments about using the main door. I mean you, Sparkle.”

Rainbow could see Twilight frown a bit.

“Once we get there, the door has to be opened. It’s locked for sure, so we need to use force. AJ, you prep up something to blow that door in. But just that the door explodes and maybe causes some minor chaos among the Rebels. And position it so the shards fly into the building this time.”

Applejack clearly blushed under her stetson she had refused to take off. Sarge hadn’t been too happy when he had got a two-inch shard of wood into his side after a practice mission.

“Okay, in the best case scenario, the enemies are distracted by the explosion. Simply pick them out. No need to spare rounds. Dash, if possible, provide covering fire and some support from the second floor.”

So, kill three guards and silently join the firefight? Sounded good for her.

“Let’s say that we managed to take everypony out without getting noticed. The next part is going to be tricky. We can’t just run into the meeting room. We’d be dead in seconds.

“What we need to do, is to utilize our skills in surprises. Dash, I’m overusing you now, but you’re on the grand prize. You start the attack.”

Rainbow nodded. This was starting to sound even better.

“On the second floor, there is a huge hall in the middle of the house. On the floor of the hall is a small cross. We managed to sneak a rat in and he scratched it into the floor.

“The cross indicates the spot where the grand prize is sitting. The floor is made weak by the very same rat. What you need to do is to hit the floor with the pistol you will have with you, directly into the cross. It will come apart, creating a hole big enough for you to see through. Remember to be up in the air as you hit it or you will go down with the floor.

“When it comes apart, immediately take the shot. One shot into the head. After that, get the hell out of the building before they start shooting at the hole. Don’t wanna get any extra holes today, eh?

“Rest of the team, when Dash takes the shot, we ambush the room. They will be busy shooting at the roof and we should be able to take them out with no problems.

“Dash, as you’re out, regroup with Sparkle. Wait for us to come out and then we can celebrate.”

The whole group cheered. If they would succeed now, the world would be safe again.

“Dash, when you’re ready.”

As soon as Rainbow heard those words she dashed out of the doorway of the cleverly camouflaged tent used as a temporary base and towards the distant building that was currently used to host one of the most important meetings of the Rebellion.

“This is base, mission go. Good luck Dash, go in on my mark.”

“You got it, Sarge. Dash out.”

The plan was perfect. Just what could go wrong?

----»«----

Rainbow had been regretting her decision to take the shortest path for the whole trip. It was in a horrible condition. Small rocks and lumps were all over the path that was supposed to be flat. Holes big enough for a hoof to go knee-deep in occupied the worst parts, eager to take in some new victims.

It looked and felt like the Rebels had dragged a train uphill as a training session and let it come down with no rails.

But there was no going back. The collision her weight had managed to cause a few hundred meters after she had started the trip made sure of that. Being still unable to fly, she was stuck on the path even worse she had seen in Ponyville, not even accurately knowing where it led.

Life was good.

The surroundings were not making her feel any easier. High cliffs with big loose-looking rocks on their edges reached over the path, casting disturbing-looking shadows on it. But they had a good side, too. The sun wasn’t able to join the torture as the rocks generously stopped the beams from reaching her fur.

And just behind the corner, the cliff ended and a completely clear part of the path began, going on and on towards the horizon.

“Aww come on!” Rainbow shouted, perfectly aware of the fact that it was not too wise in such mountain-y area. But she didn’t care. She was supposed to be out of the avalanche-zone.

Or that was what she had though.

As soon as the echoing of her words had stopped, a small rock stumbled down the side of the cliff just behind her.

Everything was going just perfectly.

She picked up her pace and ran out of the way mere seconds before a huge boulder smashed the part of the path where she had been standing.

She didn’t stop until she had reached the next cliff that was near the path. But she didn’t stop because the avalanche had stopped. No, she stopped because of the fact she could already see the highest towers of the grand city in front of her. They were only distant figures, thought, but she was close. She was only mere kilometers away from her target. She wanted to just run there and find a spot where to stay and rest, out of the burning sun and the hoof-killing path.

What was stopping her?

The huge, about two hundred meters long suspension bridge that looked like it was older than Granny Smith and in twice as bad condition.

Why did they even build such things in the mountains? Why not a safe-looking and feeling stone bridge? They had those in Ponyville, in Canterlot, in everywhere! But nope, let’s build a bridge that will collapse surely just so that ponies will be scared to death by just looking at it and thinking of crossing.

Rainbow sighed. The world sure wasn’t making this easy for her. She was trying to save it and it just kept on putting obstacles on her way.

She kicked the ground in frustration. She managed to hit a rock that was just there, behind her, facing the cliff that was sure to have some rocks that were eager to fall down.

And that’s exactly where the rock hit. It managed to push one of the rocks out of the way of the others, freeing them. The others noticed their chance and started peacefully rolling down the cliff. Due to the laws of physics, the other rocks gained some speed whilst coming down, taking some more rocks and dust with them.

And soon enough there was a huge avalanche heading towards the bridge.

Rainbow didn’t waste any time. She had already ducked under the sustainable-looking cliff, hoping that the rocks would just roll over it.

And for her luck, for once, they did so. They took the bridge as their main target instead. For a good two minutes rocks, dust and other stuff that had managed to sneak in rolled down into the small ravine that was under the bridge.

When the avalanche finally ended, the bridge had snapped in two.

But the good thing was that there was a huge pile of rocks and dust on the place of the bridge, allowing one to cross safely.

Rainbow couldn’t believe her luck. Though, it was only reasonable for her to have some good times after the earlier events.

But it wasn’t her problem by now. She had a bridge, Canterlot was visible in the distance and she would be there by sunset. Then she would just have to find a place to stay in, plan ahead and cut the head off of the snake.

She walked over to the nature-made bridge, stepped on it, made sure it could withstand her weight and crossed it.

The bridge was actually strong enough to be passable. The probably hardest part of the trip was behind. The remaining two kilometers should be mainly downhill.

As Rainbow took a good look down from the edge of the bridge, she could confirm this as a fact. The downhill kept on going for a good one and a half kilometers and after it the path was basically flat, save for the small uphill before the town.

She took the first step, expecting something to happen. But as she stood there, eyes wide open and ears perked up, nothing even moved. Looks like her luck was turning.

As she took a couple more steps, she could feel that something had changed, though.

The path was now completely flat, feeling like a cloud against her tired hooves that had suffered from the earlier joke of a path. Her luck sure was turning.

She started heading down the path, towards her current destination that was now easily visible in the horizon.

----»«----

The grand city looked even better from the back. The path had led her to the backside of the city that not many ponies had seen. It was supposed to be a restricted area, but nopony was there to guard it now when the Rebels were in control. Good for her.

From the back she could easily sneak into the city. But the problem was sneaking whilst inside the borders city. The outside might have been clear of Rebel guards, but the inside was sure to be full of them. From what Rainbow knew, Rob was paranoid as hell, not letting anyone except his trusted ponies to come close by when he was not guarded extremely well, and even not then unless necessary.

But today Rainbow would just have to find some place to stay overnight, as it was far too dangerous to try and sneak into the castle in night when it was silent and there were even more guards doing the night shift.

Finding the house would be easy. Now as the peace-loving ponies had either fled, gotten killed or transported to some place other, most of the houses were abandoned.

Rainbow wasted no more time thinking and started descending down to the borders of the beautiful capital.

The borders were actually about-a-meter thick walls. Yes, there were walls around Canterlot, but just the backside. They were built back in the times when Luna had gotten banished in order to protect the town. The forces who aided Luna with her plan had actually snuck into the town from the backside.

But being part of the Royal Army, Rainbow knew some pretty useful tricks.

She took a decent-sized rock that was located next to the path, lifted it up and rammed it into the wall. After repeating this a few times, she had managed to form up a nice hole that she could fit through.

She threw the rock aside and went through the freshly-made hole in the wall.

When on the other side, she took a quick look at the map. It also had a minor map of Canterlot. The Palace was to her left, so she obviously was located in the Western Canterlot. It wasn’t the rich part of the town, but it would do well. It was closer to the palace, for some reason, and it would be easier for her to sneak into the castle tomorrow.

She put the map back into her saddlebag, took a good look around and started heading towards the Palace, whilst still staying in the shadow whenever it just was possible.

After a good three minutes of running, she had found the house of her dreams. As an observation spot, that is. It was big, it was empty and it had a window facing right towards the Palace.

She tried to open the door. For her slight surprise, it was open. But it was only good for her. No need to start lock-picking at this hour.

As she went in, she could smell the stench of minor rotting. It was probably coming from the kitchen. Knowing that she didn’t have to go there, she just ignored it, shut the door and dropped her saddlebag down.

The house was dark, of course. In any other situation Rainbow would have started looking for the light-switch, but now she just had to deal with the darkness. She would plan tomorrow, when the sun would be giving her some light.

She had only two more things to do. Eating and trying to sleep before the big day.

Eating would be easy. Her stomach had been notifying her about the growing hunger for the last two hours and she was relieved to finally be able to take a snack.

She dug up the foil-wrapped square from her bag. The smell of cinnamon reached her snout. She un-wrapped the sandwiches and immediately started to chomp them down.

It was only minutes when she had already consumed two of them. She wrapped the third back into the foil and put the now clearly smaller package back into her bag. Whilst doing so, she pulled out a single bottle of the cider. She’d have to drink something, but responsibly this time.

She opened the cork and chugged down three mouthfuls of the warm yet still so refreshing liquid. After that she sealed the bottle and put it back into the bag. Eating was done.

She took a one last look at the room, making sure that everything was fine and collapsed to the floor, not even bothering to look for a bed of any kind. The floorboards were good enough.

And as she fell asleep, the pictures of her friends arrived, and for a brief moment she was with them again.

Comments

[Writer12577]

Things are going on fast, due to the fact I have some free time in my hands.

Plus, I'm eager to start on a new project (which I actually have already done. New fic is cooking up.). Apologies for the readers who have their read later -piles stacked up through the roof, three chapters in four days is true now.

If you really read what I said earlier, forget it now. The next chapter will be the finale. But no worries, as it's the finale, it's going to be BIG!

Yes, I hate to end this this soon. This had potential and all, but I've just managed to get my back against the wall with my decisions here. Once again, sorry.

And yes, killing will occur. Loads of killing. In both flashbacks/memories and in real life.

The last chapter will, of course, be a bit longer than the normal 2,000-2,500 words. Therefore, writing it will take time. Don't expect it to be up tomorrow.

I think I can't tell you more... Till then!

You know the routine by now. I'm counting on that.

[DuskTwirl]

Awww. It's almost over?

[Writer12577]

1453384

Yes. That's just what I'm feeling right now, too. Deep deep depression.

But everything has to come to and end. This one just ended a bit too early for my liking.

But still, it's my longest fic in words and in chapters. It's a milestone.

I have been thinking of a sequel. I've also been thinking about something that would tie it together.

But will those become reality? Over time we will see.

I'll do my best to end this in a worthy way. Finale is currently 2,5k words long and more is coming steadily.

[Writer12577]

1462235

Okay, I see you utilize your position as the semi-official volunteer proofreader of this story well. That's why you got the position anyways. No, I totally didn't just make that title up in a lack of creative openings...

Well, I have been thinking about that, too. Ain't good for the fic to write while your head is leaning against your table due to the fact you can't find the power to keep it up. But, as I get all of my ideas at nearly-nighttime, I prefer to write in the evening/night. And maybe a little because of the fact I'm a bit busy on a regular weekday. But anyways, thanks for caring!

That's what you get for being a Finn. Before starting to write, I had no idea about the English punctuation rules, as they differ a lot from the respective Finnish rules. Now I have some idea, but occasionally these happen. Also, minor tiredness might have been involved . Fixed.

I actually am well aware if the fact that mid-sentence "notes and additions" like that should be surrounded with commas. One of them just managed to find a way to hijack my system and run away. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Well, you're right. That mistake is on me (aren't they all?). Fixed.

Oh I wish I'd be. Roaming around with Rainbow, taking down Rebels and all... But yes, you're right. I ain't and that mistake has to go. Fixed.

I see that I wasn't clear with this thing. Remember the bag Mara had? Rainbow decided to have a little peek. I left it out of the story, but kinda left that sentence there... I shall keep it there, though, as I find it understandable even if the original part it is referring to is now missing.

Now that's what you call a case of "great short term memory". I forgot it. Well, I think I shall fix this in chapter eleven. So, some more clarifying up to come.

Once again, huge thanks for you enthusiastic support. I really, really like writing this to you wonderful readers. And yes, gore is good.

More will take some time, though, due to the fact I'm going to end this big! The current finale is at 2,500 words and has just got to the end of the first flashback session. I still got some waking, planning, executing the plan, surprises, more flashbacks and the epic ending to write. All in all there should be a loooooong chapter coming up.

And yes. We meet again, FUZZYNESS!!

Oh, and HUGE thanks for the fav! Really means a lot to me, especially when it's from such a great friend. (I think I can call you a friend due to all the things you have done for me.)

[Silver Moon]

Only one more chapter??? You made Fluttershy cry.
Out of all the worst things that could happen, this is the! Worst! Possible! Thing!
But… I like this story. I LOVE this story! Oh well, all good things must come to an end. Sigh.
Anymoo, I only found a few mistakes this time. Here they are.

”Our main objective is the meeting room that’s in the middle of the ground floor. Getting there will be hard, I say it here and now. We got bogeys up and down, left and right.”
“That’s why we need all of you to concentrate, to do your best and for Celestia’s sake follow the orders even more flawlessly than ever before. I don’t like losing my squad members.”
Assuming this is the same pony talking, the second quotation mark is not needed. When one character is speaking over two or more paragraphs, every paragraph must start with a quotation mark. However, only the last paragraph should end with a quotation mark.

A few times you have written “everyone” instead of “everypony.”

“The plan was perfect. Just what could go wrong?”
That does not have a problem, but I

“But being part of the Royal Army, Rainbow knew some pretty useful tricks.”
Does the Royal Army still exist, or did it get disbanded? It seems that Rainbow is on her own. So, assuming that she is no longer part of the army, you need to change the tense from present to past. “Having been part,” instead of “being part.”

“As of an observation spot, that is.”
This might just be me, but this sounds… odd. I feel it does not make sense, although I do get what you mean. Does that make sense? Probably not. Sigh. Ok, perhaps if you took out the “of” or replaced the “as of” with “for.”

Although I dread it, I am looking forward to the ending. Lots of killing sound good. Fun, too. After all, you cannot spell "slaughter" without "laughter!"
As for the fav, no problem. It is beyond deserved. And yes, I think you can call me a friend.

As always,
MORE GORE!
Awaiting more,
And SPREAD THE FUZZYNESS!!!!

[Some Kinda Brony]

1462286 Op, stop making me sad. It hurts.
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[Writer12577]

1468080

Yes, I share those feels. But I've driven myself into a corner here. But, there might be a sequel written someday. *Hint* *Hint*

I was originally intending to use two higher-ranked officers to organize the attack, but removed the other one. I thought that it was better to do it with only a single Sarge. It made the squad better on some level. I see that I managed to leave the quotation marks behind... Thanks for pointing out, as always! Fixed.

That's what you get for not thinking about what you're doing. Everyone is taking everypony down... Fixed.

Yeah, just what could go wrong.... You'll see more about that in chapter eleven. Not going to spoil

The Royal Army lives in Rainbow, in the ponies that are against the Rebellion. The suicide bomber we saw was a member. The pony Mara took down was a member. Rainbow, of course, is a member. Her friends were members. Even though it's not such well-organized and elite group as it used to be, it still lives in the spirit of the good guys.

Yes, it should be "as an observation point". Fixed.

I'm looking towards it, too. I've got a week-long vacation now, so writing will happen. It's going to be big, I can already say that. Only the first flashback-part alone took a bit over 2,500 words.

And once again, thanks! Those words really bring light to the rainy and dark Finnish fall. Thank you, friend !

As always, writing more. FUZZYNESS is going to be spread.

[Writer12577]

1468164

Well, I might try.

And oh, prepare. The finale is going to have a really sad element. Flashbacks are nasty, take that as a hint.

[Some Kinda Brony]

1468182 You bastard. The life-gun isn't going to work, is it?

[Writer12577]

1468187

I had a life-gun? Oh shit...

My mind is not functional anymore. I forgot the life-gun...

God dammit that would have made a great chapter... Uhh...

Well, I'll have to see how I solve this...

New chapter?

Sequel?

Uhh...

[Some Kinda Brony]

1468213 Fuck it. Fuck it all. We've been talking about that since the beginning. Screw it all. All of it.

[Writer12577]

1468222

Ugh...

I have to meditate...

Meditation solves things...

Uhh...