It was dark, but then it was always dark here, the only light coming from the moon that hung low in the sky, heavy and bloated. A baleful, all seeing eye that poured dirty, lambent light onto the city.

The streets were busy with ponies going about their business, illuminated by the harsh glare of sputtering neon as shops loudly proclaimed their goods to the city at large, competing to be the gaudiest display. The effect was only enhanced by the rain that drizzled down over the city, catching the brightly colored lights and throwing them back all twisted and distorted.

Hooves clicking on the pavement, I ducked my head further back into my hood. The heavy canvas cloak did a lot to keep off the rain. It did even more to hide my identity.

As I walked, I saw a colt run up to a poster of a midnight black mare crowned with a mane of shifting stars, identical to the thousands of others pasted around the city, and pull out a can of spray paint. The hiss of aerosol cut through the quiet babble of the street as he wrote a single word in dripping, blood red letters over the mare's face.

When he was done, he took off at a sprint, his hooves splashing over the wet pavement. He didn't get far before I heard shouts and the rapid tattoo of running hooves. If he was lucky, it would be quick, if not... well, there were rumors about just what was in the lower levels of the palace.

I hunched my shoulders some more and kept on walking, the bloody letters dancing on my eyelids every time I closed them.

Resist...

I hammered on the door and then, out of habit, looked around. The street was still empty, this was a bad part of the city, and that's saying something considering how bad most of it is, and no one in their right mind or on legitimate business would be there.

Still, just because I didn't see anyone didn't mean there wasn't anyone there. There could've been dozens of spooks watching me, and I never would've known it.

The door opened a crack and a dark eye peered out suspiciously.

"Who are you?" a querulous voice demanded. "What do you want?"

I pushed back my hood and stepped back a pace so the sickly, yellow light of the moon could illuminate my face. "It's me, Kal. Weaver. Now let me in before someone sees."

"How do I really know you're Weaver? You could be a spook in disguise..."

I sighed and resisted the urge to try and force my way inside. The empty street was really starting to unnerve me.

Steady, Weaver...

"Who else would it be? No, don't answer that," I said. "Look, I've known you since I was just a tiny little colt. You were the one who helped bandage me up after I flew into a tree when I was still learning how to fly. Your knee aches whenever it rains, which is almost all the time, and you have a constant pain in your left side that you don't want to tell your wife about because you're afraid she'll worry. It's me Kal, now let me in!"

The door swung open and I hurried inside. Kal, a dark blue colt with untidy green hair, slammed it closed once I was inside, almost catching my tail as he did.

"You're the last one here," he reported, locking the door. "We were starting to get worried that you'd been picked up."

"Not tonight, I got lucky."

I followed Kal into a backroom filled with ponies. Unicorns, pegasus and earth ponies of all ages and genders were huddled in furtive conversation that died away as I came in.

"Hey all," I greeted, as I came in. "Any news?'

"Weaver, you're late. We were worried."

I sighed and turned to face Gray, the de facto leader of our little group of revolutionaries. I didn't know his real name, he refused to tell anyone just in case we were captured, but he was old and crotchety and Groucho seemed like too obvious an insult. So I just called him Gray.

"I'm sure you were, now like I said, any news?"

He nodded, his wrinkled old face lighting up like, well, a light. "Indeed, for tonight is the end of the Empress's dark reign, for from her very palace I have stolen a book of magic, older then this city!"

I suppressed as sigh as he went on and on, and looked around the room. I found Dawn sitting against the far wall, her pale gray coat catching the light in a way that made her look absolutely breathtaking. I've always been a bit sweet on Dawn, I'm not afraid to admit, but she's always seen me as more of a kid brother then anything else so I try not to publicize it. She flipped her pale orange mane out of her face and waved to me.

Smiling I made my way over and dropped down next to her. "What's got Gray so excited?"

"You might know if you actually bothered to listen to him," she admonished gently, her eyes dancing. She didn't like Gray anymore then I did. "But basically he managed to steal a book of magic and he's convinced that one of the spells will bring forth the Elements of Harmony."

"What?"

"Thank you for that outburst, Weaver," Gray grumbled as the whole room stared at me. "As I was saying, I am convinced that this spell will cause the Elements of Harmony to manifest, and with their power we will be able to combat the Empress and drag her from her throne."

"The first thing she did when she took that freaking throne was destroy the Elements of Harmony, everypony knows that," I replied.

"And yet, I believe this spell with be able to manifest the Elements anyway. I've had Dawn researching and going over the spell all day and we're both convinced that it'll do just that. Right, Dawn?"

"Well, not quite," Dawn said awkwardly. "It's quite a complicated spell, and while it does reference the Elements, I'm not sure that it will actually cause them to manifest. I'm not really sure what it will do, actually. I'd like some more time to study it before we try it."

"But you are ready to cast it?" Gray pushed.

"Well, I suppose, but-"

"Then that settles it. Cast the spell as soon as possible. I want the Empress off that throne and dead as soon as possible."

And that's when there came a knocking, a rapping, at our chamber door. A dozen pairs of eyes turned as one to focus on the door.

"Kal," I said after a moment. "You said we were all here, right?"

He nodded and the bottom dropped out of my stomach. I knew the answer, but sometimes you just have to ask anyway.

"Then who's out there?"

"This is Captain Bolt of the Artemi," a voice boomed, as if in response. "Open up in the name of the Empress. Come out peacefully and you will not be harmed!"

There was a moment of silence and then the room exploded into chaos as somepony screamed, "Raid!"

I was already running at that point, dragging Dawn along behind me, when the door smashed inward and ponies dressed in ornate black and blue armor decorated with tiny silver stars poured into the building. The Artemi, the Empress's own enforcers. The secret police to root out the plots and revolutionaries that infested the city like parasprites.

There was a back door that opened into a remote alley, though. If I could get us there, we'd be fine. Dawn's magic would let her slip away without a problem, and once I took to the sky there was nothing under the moon that could touch me.

But we were only halfway there when the door broke inward and a pair of Artemi stormed in. Of course, they were nothing if not thorough.

Swearing I tried to reverse course and ran right into Dawn. We went down in a tangle of limbs right as the lead Artemi, a petite looking female unicorn, opened fire.

Literally.

A bolt of cerulean flame leapt from her horn and sizzled through the air where I had just been to splash against the wall, leaving a charred rosette.

Behind us the main room was in chaos as desperate conspirators threw themselves at the Artemi. One of them was on the ground, blood trickling from underneath their crumpled helmet. But for the most part it wasn't going well, the air was filled with the smell of smoke and burnt hair.

The Artemi are thorough, and ruthless. No one was going to make it out of here alive.

Choking on smoke, Dawn gained her feet and seized my tail in her mouth. I had a nice upside down view of the unicorn as she sent another bolt of cerulean fire whizzing by my head, and then we were in a side room.

"You have a plan, right?" I asked as Dawn locked the door. Peering around I noticed that the room was rather devoid of such useful escape features as doors or windows. Gray had picked this building as a meeting spot because he felt that only two entrances would make it more difficult for the Artemi to raid.

Apparently he forgot that, during said raid, unconventional means of exit, such as windows or skylights, are rather important.

What the room did contain was several pieces of heavy furniture and a musty old book sitting next to a carefully drawn magic circle.

"Maybe," Dawn replied, picking up the book. "Like I said, I don't think this spell will manifest the Elements. It's really complicated, but what I can make out involves a gate of sorts..."

"A gate? To where?"

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "But if you'd rather stay here..."

"Oh shut up and get to work," I snorted. We shared a quick smile and then she turned to the circle, her horn beginning glow with a soft, silver light.

The door rattled as somepony tried the handle, and then shuddered violently as they tried to force it open.

"Uh, Dawn? They know we're in here..."

"I need a minute or two, shove some furniture in front of the door or something. And try not to make too much noise, I need to concentrate."

"Yeah, I'll just stick my head out there and ask them to keep the sounds of death and violence to a minimum," I cackled as all the adrenaline sloshing around combined with the smoke to make me light-headed and slightly loopy.

There was loud snap and static arced through the air, causing my hair to stand on end as a... a rip opened in the air. That's the only way I can describe it, a jagged line of darkness that hung in the center of the circle.

"Is that what's supposed to be happening?" I asked nervously as more static crackled through the air.

"Shut up, Weaver."

" ...Is that a no?"

I looked around nervously, heart hammering in my throat. Static lightning crawled along the walls, snapping and sparking. The heavy smell of ozone was mingling with the smoke to make the air nearly unbreatheable.

"Come on," I hissed. "Hurry up!"

"This isn't like opening a door," Dawn snapped, sweat trickling down her face. "It's like trying to balance stacks of dishes while juggling chainsaws."

"Screw the dishes, just focus on the chainsaws!"

The door shook in its frame as the rip twisted and writhed in the air, a line of impossible darkness that seemed to somehow bruise the very air around it, but it stubbornly stayed the same size. Fighting to keep my breathing even and to not inhale too much smoke I started shoving furniture in front of the splintering door. "Dawn," I called, my voice panicked and sing-song. "Whatever you're going to do you should do it now."

"I already told you, this is a complex spell, if I don't keep it all in balance there's no telling what could happen."

"I don't care if you shatter all of space and time like cheap glass," I screamed as a heavy hoof smashed through the door and turned a small table into kindling. "Just frickin' do it!"

Dawn let out a frustrated snarl and there was a complicated moment where I was in a burning building that smelled of flour and baked goods and in a closet with acrid smoke rasping at the back of my throat.

Then the moment was over and I was in neither place, just tumbling into darkness as the rip exploded outwards.

---

Author Notes: I know many of you are crying foul. Not only is this Grimdark, but it's also about OC's!

I know.

Now, I'm not a fan of OC's or Grimdark stories, but I wanted to try something a bit different for this piece, and to do that I needed more leeway then the mane six afforded. Now, don't worry, this is going to include all your favorite ponies, but I needed to do some stage setting first. And since these are shorter then all my one-shots, I should end up updating more then just once a week. And don't worry, I pledge not to make these characters Mark/Mary Sues because I hate those.

As always, criticism, reviews and ratings are always appreciated. So grab a cup, can or bottle of your favorite beverage, sit back and enjoy.