“This isn’t so bad is it, Silver?”

“Bite me.”

Dissero lay patiently on the bed he’d chosen, watching as Silver paced back and forth. They’d already eaten most of their food, and though they were still hungry, they had agreed it would be smart to ration it just in case. Silver had even managed to get some sleep, but now that he was awake he was nervous and restless, sending furtive glances at the wounded zebra every few seconds.

“We shouldn’t just be sitting around,” Silver insisted. “We need to be doing something, to get out there and actually look.”

“We are doing something,” Dissero said. He looked down at the image he’d sketched in the dirt floor, a hazy representation of the paths they had walked so far. “We’re meeting with rebels, to ask for their help.”

“Yeah well, I don’t like rebels.”

“I’d noticed,” Dissero deadpanned. He ran a hoof through his mane, sighing. “Nix is different from those Cell Spade mares, you know.”

Silver flicked his tail as he looked towards the door. “Whatever, Dissy. I’ll stick with you, just know that I don’t like it.”

Dissero smiled. “Yeah, I’ve got your back, too.”

“Shut up, you bastard.”

The door creaked as it was pushed open, and Nix stepped inside. Another pony followed after her, a tall unicorn stallion wearing a long coat that—

Dissero’s nose twitched, and a chill ran down his spine. It was leather, lined with fur.

The stallion shut the door with a rear hoof, pulling his hood back to reveal a wide grin and sharp green eyes. His white coat was painted over with thick red stripes, and Dissero could tell that his mane had been similarly dyed red, with only the faintest specks of green visible beneath it. He scanned the room, eyeing Silver and Dissero in turn. “So these are the runts, huh?”

Dissero blinked, glancing at Silver. The pegasus made a slight wave of his hoof, indicating that he would let the comment pass.

“These are the two I told you about, yes.” Nix walked past them, going to inspect the wounded zebra.

“Hello,” Dissero began. “My name is—”

“Shhh.” The stallion raised a hoof to his lips, cutting him off. “No names yet, those will come later, maybe. If I like you.” He was silent for a moment, and then began to walk a measured circle around them, eyeing them up and down. “So you pups want to join Cell Bloodhound, huh?”

“That’s right,” Dissero said cautiously, turning to track the strange stallion’s movements.

“Hrm.” Completing his circle, he came to a stop directly in front of Silver. “And why might that be?”

Silver looked the stallion square in the eye, opened his mouth, and said, “Cause this city is really pissing me off.”

“Hah!” the stallion exclaimed loudly, exposing the four sharpened teeth in his mouth. “I like you, dog!” he said, patting Silver on the back. He turned to Dissero, stepping closer to him. “And what can you two do for me?”

Dissero resisted the urge to lean back as the scent of the coat grew stronger, keeping his face carefully neutral. “We know how to handle ourselves in a fight. We’re smart, hard-working. We know how to work in a team… uh...” He trailed off, catching the stern frown on the strange stallion’s face.

“You’re not telling me everything,” the stallion said. He sat, rubbing a hoof against his chin. “Why would you do that, I wonder? Perhaps you don’t feel like you’re among friends. If you don’t feel like you’re among friends, maybe I don’t feel that way either.”

The stallion’s horn glowed a dark red, and there was a metallic rasp as a machete suddenly flew out from under his coat, enveloped in a matching red light, and leveled itself on Dissero’s neck. “Maybe you are a spy? Does the good Baron think he can so easily worm a rat into my den? Be careful what you say next, mutt. I don’t take kindly to rats.”

Dissero opened his mouth, but as he looked into the stallion’s cold frown, he found himself unable to speak. His heart was pounding, and he could feel a trickle of blood running down his neck. “Uhm, I uh…”

“Forgive him,” Silver said, “he doesn’t like talking about it. We spent some time on a smuggler’s crew in Gryphos, and ran our own airship afterwards. Believe me when I say that we’ve been in some tough spots and come out alive, and that fighting against the law isn’t exactly new to us. We aren’t your average Equestrians.”

A small smile grew on the stallion’s face, and then into a grin as the machete floated away from Dissero’s neck. “Ah, smugglers! Airponies! And you say you spent time in Gryphos.” He rubbed a hoof against his coat proudly. “You know the scent of treated leather.”

Dissero gave a little nod. “We do.”

The stallion laughed loudly, the machete disappearing once more under the coat. “Nix! This pony thinks I’m some kind of cruel murderer, running around in this coat! Hah!”

Nix looked up from the wounded zebra, giving a quiet little “Hah” before returning to her work.

The stallion’s smile disappeared as suddenly as it had come, and he poked a hoof into Dissero’s chest. “This coat once belonged to a powerful pony in this city, one of the Baron’s own ministers. You will find that I do not kill without reason, unicorn. I wear it as a trophy, and to strike fear into my enemies.”

Another nod from Dissero. “Ah.”

The stallion broke out into a wide grin, stepping back. “Well, then! I think I could do with some seasoned smugglers at my side, and with time in Gryphos no less! Now we may introduce ourselves, yes? You may call me Lupus, and I am the fearsome leader of Cell Bloodhound, the last true rebels in Harmony City! Who might you two be?”

“A pleasure to meet you,” Dissero croaked, his heart just now starting to slow down. “My name is Dissero.”

“And I’m Silver Feather.”

Lupus placed a hoof on each of their shoulder’s, still grinning as he looked between the two. “Dissero and Silver Feather, welcome to Cell Bloodhound! But tell me: you said that you had your own airship. Surely you did not run it all on your own?”

Dissero shook his head, seeing his chance. “No, we had three others in our crew. They were captured with us.”

Lupus nodded emphatically, and Dissero picked up on a spark in his eyes, the look of a pony who saw a plan coming together. A look that he’d learned could be very dangerous. “Say no more, hounds, we will find your crew. I shall make it my first priority! Nix, take these ponies to the hide when you’re done here!” With one more exclamation of “Hah, Gryphos!”, Lupus turned and walked outside, leaving the clinic suddenly feeling very empty and quiet.

“Y’know what, I like him,” Silver said, a little grin on his face. “He seems nice.”

Dissero shot an appalled look his way. “What? Ponies like him are exactly why we left Gryphos!”

Silver met his gaze, nodding. “And ponies like him are exactly what we need right now, to get out of here. How long do you think The Shark would wait before he escaped, huh? Would probably burn the city down on his way out, too.”

Dissero could feel a sudden surge of emotion in his chest, a slowly rising anger that threatened to bubble up and burst out of him. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, and carefully suppressed the building rage, pushing it back down within him. “If I waited all my life before seeing that stallion again, it would be a thousand years too soon.”

Silver blinked, his ears drooping momentarily as he realized his mistake. “My bad… forget I said anything.”

Dissero nodded slowly, opening his eyes again. His ears twitched at a quiet noise in the corner, and he turned to see Nix, waiting patiently next to her zebra patient. He frowned as he saw that the blanket had been pulled up over the zebra’s head, his body completely still.

“Would you mind helping me move him?” she asked quietly.

Dissero looked to Silver, beckoning with his head. Together the two stallions approached the zebra, each going to one side and picking him up without a word.

They followed Nix through the curtain behind her, coming out into a smaller path that curved behind the clinic. At one end of the path was a small metal shack, little more than a roof held up by a few wooden beams. The rain was just a barely noticeable drizzle, the sun starting to set behind the massive wall that separated them from the rest of the world.

“Just set him down over here,” she said, pointing to the dry spot covered by the shack. “The Caretaker will come for him later.” The stallions complied, setting the body down on the dry dirt beneath its shade.

For a moment the three ponies simply stood there, looking at the body. Silver Feather broke the silence. “Did you know him?”

Nix sighed, closing her eyes and nodding. “I did.”

And just like that, the silence was back.

Finally, Nix turned away and began heading back inside. “Come on, let’s go.”

Dissero’s eyes lingered briefly on the body before he followed the mare through the clinic and out into the main street, Silver close behind him.

They walked through the city without speaking, and Dissero found his mind drifting, pondering the gaping wound he’d seen in the zebra rebel. He’d seen similar injuries before—a pony didn’t look much better if he was unlucky enough to take a cannonball to the chest—but there weren’t battleships roaming the streets, it had to be some type of hoofborne weapon. He’d have to tread carefully; a single mistake and he could end up the same, or worse, one of his crew could. Perhaps this wasn’t such a good idea after all, perhaps he should wait and learn more about the city first, perhaps—

“Thief! Get back here!”

A filly jostled him as she ran past, a burlap sack held tight in her mouth. Dissero looked up as the little foal skidded around a corner, a yelling pegasus mare hot on her tail, and his eyes passed over a nondescript, curled up shape nestled between a pair of dilapidated shacks.

A sense of dread rose within him as he looked closer. An old unicorn mare was laying there, her coat thin and ragged, her ribs clearly visible.

No, waiting wasn’t the answer, he had to act and do it quickly. At the very least it was a choice between a slow death in servitude or a quick one fighting back, and in that respect at least, Dissero knew exactly what choice to make.

It was dark when Nix began to slow down, raising her hoof to signal a stop as they came to the very border of the industrial zone. She looked around, taking care to scan the rooftops as well as the streets, and then beckoned them along as she picked up into a brisk trot.

The industrial sector of Harmony City was like another world at night, when the only light came from the pale blue glow of the magic streetlamps. The thick flock of airships, the network of towers, and the heavy cloud cover all came together to essentially block the sky out altogether, making it impossible for moon or starlight to reach the streets. If it wasn’t for the constant hum of the airship engines, the ever-present rain, and the distant roll of thunder, there would be no indication at all there the world even continued to exist beyond the streetlamps, it was so dark beyond their glow. As the scattered, flickering torches of the shantytown faded into the distance, Dissero couldn’t help but feel that he had crossed over some dimensional rift, into a forbidden realm between the living and the dead.

“Stay quiet,” Nix cautioned. “The guards won’t be gentle if they catch us here at this time.”

“Are we not supposed to be here?” Dissero asked, glancing down an alley as they passed. He saw nothing but pure darkness.

Nix paused at an intersection, responding quickly and quietly. “There’s no reason for a worker to be here at this time. If the guards see us they won’t bother asking questions.”

“Yeah? Well I won’t bother asking them any questions either,” Silver said. “What’s a few guards to seasoned brawlers like us eh, Dissy?”

“Silver, shut up,” Dissero hissed.

Silver raised a hoof in mock offense. “Alright, alright!”

Nix nodded. “Come on, it’s not much further now.”

She started down an alley and, with one last pointed glare at Silver, Dissero turned to follow. It was pitch black in the alley, with only the lit streets on either side to serve as guides. Dissero nearly fell over, bumping against the wall in the darkness, and his heartbeat quickened as he imagined the walls closing in upon him, growing tighter. He took a deep breath and focused on the street ahead of him, on the hazy outline of Nix’s head and the sound of Silver’s hooves. He found himself calming down, and didn’t even notice when Nix came to an abrupt stop at the mouth of the alley. He jumped in surprise as he bumped into her outstretched hoof and, looking up, saw her quietly raise it to her lips.

He felt Silver bump into his tail, and was quick to look back and relay the signal for silence. Silver frowned curiously, but said nothing.

Nix slowly lowered herself to the ground, her ears visibly rotating. Dissero followed suit, straining to pick out what she had heard over the humming airship engines, and felt Silver doing the same behind him.

There, he heard it! Barely noticeable, a distant metallic ringing, a soft rhythm growing steadily louder, louder, and then louder still. He heard heavy hoofsteps clip-clopping on the cobbled street, and then the scraping rasp of metal plates sliding against eachother.

Nix tensed, her ears going back against her head as she slowly slid further back into the alley, pushing the two stallions back with her tail.

The sound was right on them, now. Dissero noticed himself holding his breath, but didn’t dare let it go lest he give them away.

A pair of ponies stepped into view, patrolling in the middle of the street with an unnatural stiffness and near-perfect synchronization. They were the same armored guards Dissero had seen before, watching from the rooftop as ponies waited for a job, seeming all the more sinister in the dead of the night.

Even in the pale blue magelight of the streetlamps, the guards radiated an aura of dominance. The shining plates of their heavy steel barding gave them an equally heavy presence, their bulky, towering silhouettes like massive boulders that would move for no pony. The shaded visors on their helmets covered their faces completely, leaving nothing to beg or barter with as they stared coldly down at their victims. And the quiet ringing of their chainmail, visible under the gaps in their plate at the knees and shoulders, hinted at a swift retribution against any who dared cross their master. They were not ponies to be trifled with, and not ponies who particularly enjoyed trifling.

Dissero pressed himself even further against the cold stone of the alley as he watched the guards march past with wide eyes. One, two, three, four, they moved with an unnatural precision and control that sent a chill down his spine. Fixed at their sides, attached to their barding, were the same strange grey musket-like devices he’d seen before, the barrels leaking a soft, pulsating purple glow.

Steadily, they passed out of view. After several seconds, Nix stepped closer to the end of the alley, peering down after them. Soon the sound of their plate sliding against itself faded, and not long after their hoofsteps followed suit. All that remained was that cold metallic ringing and, finally, that too fell off into the distance, once again leaving the city silent but for the gentle hum of the airship engines above.

Nix straightened up once more, beckoning with her tail. “Let’s go, just a little longer.”

Silver and Dissero followed her across the street and into another alley, each of them looking down the street as they crossed. “Who the hell were they?” Silver asked.

“Quiet,” Nix said, running a hoof along the alley wall as she walked.

Silver flicked his tail, but otherwise didn’t protest.

“Here we are.”

Dissero frowned in confusion as Nix seemed to reach a hoof in to the wall, until he saw her draw back the curtain pinned up against the bricks. He heard a rickety wooden creak, and suddenly the alley was lit by a dim, flickering golden glow. Nix stood beside the source of the light, waiting patiently as she held open the trapdoor, set in a small indentation in the wall.

Exchanging a brief glance with Silver, Dissero peered down into the trapdoor to find a steep ladder awaiting him. He turned, placing his hind hooves on the ladder as he began the climb down.

Stepping off the ladder, he found himself in a squat underground room with rough dirt walls. Wooden beams were arrayed along the walls and the gently arching dirt ceiling, ensuring the dugout didn’t collapse in on itself. Lanterns hanging from the ceiling gave off a warm golden glow, illuminating the large wooden table serving as the centerpiece of the room. Decorating the table was a map of the Inner City, with annotations in red ink outlining key locations and notes, and small sketches of ponies spread across it at certain points of interest. Wooden crates were stacked in the corner, some open and some marred by cracks and holes, and spaced along the walls were narrow tunnels just large enough for a pony to crawl through, each one curving out of sight.

Silver Feather came up to his side, surveying the room curiously. “Quite the place they got here,” he said.

Dissero opened his mouth to speak, but froze as he heard a shuffling behind him, and felt something cold and hard pushed up against his ribs.

“You two’d best pray that Nix steps off that ladder within the next ten seconds.”

There was a moment of tense silence, followed by a wooden creak and the clopping of Nix’s hooves against the ladder. “Calm down, Salvo. They’re with me.”

“Good for them.”

Dissero allowed himself to breathe once more as the weight was pulled away, and turned around to see a light brown earth mare sitting behind the ladder, her dull green eyes watching sternly from beneath her short grey mane. He saw she had one of the strange musket-like objects that the guards carried cradled in her hooves, leaned lazily against her shoulder.

“It’s uh, nice to meet you,” Dissero said. He extended a hoof. “I’m Dissero, and this is my friend Silver Feather.”

Salvo didn’t bother to take the offered hoof, only looking over the two stallions with a sort of bored curiosity. After nearly a minute Dissero finally lowered his hoof, glancing at Nix uncertainly.

A young, and much more energetic, voice came from one of the tunnels. “Salvo, is Nix here? Did she bring her friends?”

Dissero looked over to see a young pegasus stallion, his inky black coat and mane making a stark contrast with his vibrant blue eyes.

“Hey there!” the pegasus called, waving as he climbed out of the tunnel. He approached them eagerly, grabbing Dissero’s hoof and reaching for Silver’s good wing with his own at the same time. “I’m Moon Dream! I heard you guys were joining the Bloodhounds!”

Silver grinned, shaking wings with the excited young pegasus. “You heard right. I’m Silver Feather, and this here is Dissy.”

Moon Dream cocked his head, looking to Dissero. “Dissy?”

Dissero rolled his eyes, a little smile on his face as Dream’s outgoing excitement washed away the awkward silence hanging in the air. “Ignore him. It’s Dissero.”

“Alright, cool!” Dream leaned in and lowered his voice into an exaggeratedly loud whisper. “Don’t mind Salvo, she warms up when you get to know her.”

Salvo meanwhile remained absolutely silent and immobile, though somehow she still managed to make Dissero feel suddenly very judged and inadequate.

Nix stepped up to the table, glancing over the map upon it. “Is Lupus still out?” she asked.

Salvo gave a little nod. “Raiding a moonstone dump.”

Nix frowned, looking up. “I haven’t heard any explosions tonight.”

“They left at dusk,” Salvo said, shifting her stance into a more comfortable position.

With a grimace, Nix grabbed the map in her mouth and carefully rolled it up, leaving the table bare as she set it on a nearby crate. “I guess I’d better get ready, then.” She opened another crate, reaching a hoof inside and pulling out bandages and clay jars smelling sharply of herbs.

“Do you think something went wrong?” Moon Dream asked, looking between the two mares. His earlier enthusiasm had faded, replaced by an anxious worry.

“What’s happening again?” Silver asked.

“Well,” Salvo began, “Lupus took a raiding party out to hit a moonstone dump at dusk. If everything went according to plan, then he would’ve blown it up and returned here an hour or two ago.” She paused, looking up at the closed trapdoor above her. “But there’s been no explosion, and it’s not an hour or two ago. That means something went wrong, and if something went wrong, then there will be wounded.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “Best be prepared.”

“Maybe he was just delayed?” Dissero suggested, watching as Nix carefully laid out her supplies at the head of the table. Now that the map was pulled off of it, he could see old bloodstains soaked into the wood.

Salvo shook her head slowly. “Lupus doesn’t get ‘delayed.’ Either things happen on time, according to plan, or everything goes to Tartarus.”

Almost as if to prove her statement, the trapdoor chose that exact moment to slam open, the sound traveling through the cramped little dugout like a gunshot. Hurried voices came down from above, impossible to distinguish from each other, the words all running together to create simple message of urgency. Dissero heard hooves clambering down the ladder, and an earth pony fell heavily into the room, his thick layers of clothing stained with blood and his face blackened with ash and gunpowder.

Nix rushed to his side, reaching a hoof out for his bleeding shoulder, but he pushed her away. “I’m fine, see to Top first.”

Dissero watched as he stumbled over to a corner, leaning on a crate as he pulled bandages out and began to wrap them around his shoulder. Several more ponies spilled into the hide, all with stained black faces and most with blood soaked into their clothes. The wounded limped off to the side, allowing their comrades to begin seeing to their injuries even as they grunted in pain, many of them allowing themselves brief smiles of relief as they settled down in their safehouse.

“Out of the way! I need some space here!”

Dissero felt himself pushed bodily aside as Nix barreled past. Lupus was right behind her, gritting his teeth as he levitated an unconscious pegasus mare onto the table. Dissero felt his legs go weak as he saw what had happened to the mare: her right foreleg seemed to have been blown off, the tattered cloth tied around the wound thankfully hiding the more gruesome details. Ponies rushed back and forth across the room, huddling around the table, and Dissero soon found himself forced towards the edge of the room.

He felt a hoof tap on his shoulder, and turned to see Moon Dream beckoning to him and Silver. “C’mon, let’s get out of everyone’s way.”

He started for one of the tunnels dug into the wall, flapping his wings momentarily as he climbed inside. Exchanging a quick glance with Silver, Dissero followed suit, careful to keep to the peripherals of the tight little room before squeezing into the roughly hewn tunnel.

Coming out the other side he found himself in a narrow hall, with several little cubby holes dug into the walls. Each one was a little different, with different shapes or different depths, some impeccably smooth and others rough enough to pass for a natural deformation. Personal effects were scattered about them, and a few had little sacks or clay pots tucked away inside. A few lanterns hung from the wooden beam running along the ceiling, their warm orange light giving the hall a very cozy feeling.

“This is where we sleep,” Moon Dream said, passing a hoof over the sight proudly. “You two can go ahead and pick a couple for yourselves now.” A pained scream leaked out from the tunnel, muffled by the dirt.

“Which ones are open?” Dissero asked, a chill passing down his spine as another scream reached his ears.

Dream’s smile faltered. “Uh, any one that doesn’t have things it it.”

Scanning the room, Dissero was surprised to see that the majority of the makeshift bunks were completely barren, decorated only by cobwebs and faded hoofprints. There were probably at least twenty dug out, maybe even thirty, but no more than ten showed any signs of life.

“Guess you guys are on some tough times, eh?” Silver asked, walking down the hall as he inspected the open bunks.

Dream looked down at his hooves, scratching at the ground. “Salvo says that all of these bunks used to be full. New ponies would have to dig out their own when they joined.”

“Has she been here a long time?” Dissero asked, looking back to the tunnel as the screaming came to a sudden stop.

“Yeah!” Dream nodded emphatically, his enthusiasm coming back. “Salvo’s the oldest member of Cell Bloodhound, besides Lupus of course. She’s his second-in-command!”

Dissero frowned, thinking back to the quietly judging mare which had threatened him when he first arrived. She didn’t look very old at all, she couldn’t possibly have been with these rebels for long. What kind of leader was this Lupus, that the oldest member of his cell looked just a couple years older than Dissero himself?

Silver seemed to be thinking along similar lines. “Do your ‘raids’ usually turn out like that?” he asked, pointing a wing towards the tunnel.

Moon Dream’s ears drooped as he looked away. “Well, no uh, not usually.” He paused, looking back up. “Salvo says that Lupus can be rash sometimes, but they’ve always gotten me back safe.”

Dissero’s ears flicked at the sound of somepony climbing out of the tunnel behind him. He turned to see Salvo watching him, her eyes reflecting a sort of resigned exhaustion. “Lupus will be taking you two out to find your crew tomorrow morning. I advise you get some sleep,” she droned. “You should go to bed as well, Dream.”

“Already?” Silver asked. “Didn’t he just have a drastically failed mission?”

Salvo moved her shoulders in an almost imperceptible shrug. “He doesn’t like waiting.” With that she climbed into the bunk closest to the door, curling up in the incredibly smooth little cubby, and closed her eyes.

“I would listen to her if I were you guys,” Moon Dream said, squeezing into a much rougher bunk further back. “She gives good advice.”

Dissero and Silver Feather spent a few more minutes looking through the vacant bunks before finally settling on a pair near the back, figuring they should make sure there were other empty ones around for when they found the crew. As he bid goodnight to Silver and curled up in his bunk, Dissero couldn’t help but ponder who had slept in it before, and who had been the pony to originally dig it out. He could practically feel the body of its previous owner in the pony-shaped imprint at the center of the bunk. What had happened to him? To all the other rebels that once populated Cell Bloodhound?

Lost in thought, Dissero almost didn’t notice as the rest of the rebels filed into the rugged barracks, all of them eerily silent. Many had bandages wrapped around fresh wounds, walking with limps and winces of pain. They all quietly climbed into their bunks, with the last one pausing only to put the lanterns out.

Laying there in the pitch black, in a cramped dugout carved out beneath a city built on the back of slaves, a metropolis on the very edge of the Known World, Dissero found himself wondering just what, exactly, he was getting himself into.

Author's Notes:

You take the blue pill, the story ends. You head back to the front page and read whatever you want to read. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.