Twilight calmly wrapped the clothing she had been given around herself, its dark purpleish, navy blue colour blending into the gloom of the tunnels beneath Neigh Orleans. All the ponies of the resistance had been given the clothing, which consisted of a hooded cape, a vest, and a scarf to wrap around her muzzle if she wanted, although she couldn't remember when they had agreed on a colour scheme. Sometimes she wondered just how in control of things she was. Not that she really minded as such. If these ponies wanted to take their destinies into their own hooves rather than leave it entirely to her, that was totally fine.

Finally she added the gift the blacksmith Iron Prize had given her; a small dagger, ornate, but no less deadly for it. At first she had no idea what they expected her to do with it, especially since it was designed in the earth pony fashion, to be used in the mouth, but soon came to realise that it was probably just meant as a fall-back should she exhaust her magic.

The problem was though that it was made to be strapped around one of a pony's front legs, held upside-down so you could hold your leg up and pull it out quickly, which was fine for a pony with four whole legs. Instead she had modified the straps to go across her withers and around her chest so the blade was held just in front of her left wing.

There was a knock at the door and Trixie entered, herself similarly attired. "Are you ready yet?"

"Almost." Twilight picked up the scarf and wrapped it around her head, "How do I look?"

"Honestly, you look like you have no idea what you're doing. I know we're meant to be stealthy, but some armour might have been nice."

"I'm still wondering where these came from. It's not like we have the resources to waste on silly uniforms. Perhaps I ought to talk to Daybreak at some point and find out just how much of this he's running."

"Aww, is somepony feeling threatened?" Trixie said in a mocking tone.

"Hardly. If he wants to take this entire thing over and allow me to concentrate on strategy, then he can carry on. Have the teams departed yet?"

"Yep. Mason should have made it to the guards' compound by now, Thorn's ponies should be ready, and Snowbright should reach city hall soon. All they need now is the signal. I can't help but wonder why you're sending Fleur, Octavia, and Summer with them though. Shouldn't they stick with us?"

"Fleur is one of the best lock pickers we have. If we want to break into the city hall quickly and quietly then she's our best choice, and Octavia and Summer would be better off helping Thorn apprehend the off-duty guards."

"Fine. Are we really going to take the off-duty guards from their own homes though? Seems rather like something the Duke would do."

"I know, but unlike the Duke we're trying to keep casualties to an absolute minimum. We've been over the plan a hundred times Trixie, don't you think its a bit late to start criticizing it?"

"Sorry, I guess I'm just nervous."

"Yeah, I am too. Come on, we need to get ourselves into position."

"Actually, our ponies left fifteen minutes ago."

"What? Why didn't you say so? Come on!" Twilight took to the air and flew along the tunnels while Trixie galloped along behind her. They exited by the docks, out into the cool night air, before turning back towards the city center, with Twilight flying much higher to avoid detection. She headed towards the large statue of Duke Ironhoof and swooped down to land next to Daybreak and the filly who were lurking next to the pedestal in the shadows.

"Glad you could join us," Daybreak said cordially.

"Sorry, I got distracted."

"By what?" the filly asked. "Getting dressed?"

"It's not like we wear clothes all that often, and I was thinking about the plan, and you know what? Shush." There was a glint as the light shone off the filly's grin. The sound of hooves started echoing around the square as Trixie approached, the poor mare looking like she was about to pass out from running all the way.

"Stupid *gasp* cheating *wheeze* alicorns!" She collapsed, her chest heaving as she fought to regain her breath. "You could have waited for me!" she wheezed plaintively once she had recovered a little.

"Sorry Trixie." Twilight looked around the square, trying to catch a glimpse of the other ponies that were supposedly there with them. She thought she caught a slight bit of movement from the top of a rooftop, but that was it. Clearly the clothing was a excellent choice for blending into the dark. Finally she turned to Daybreak, "Did you bring the stuff?"

"Sure did." He flipped open the satchel he was carrying, revealing a couple of small barrels of gunpowder. "Flag's over there," he said, pointing to a doorway across from them.

"Excellent." She nodded her head towards the statue, "And the best way to get the gunpowder in there?"

"Ah, well. After considerable deliberation with my companion here," he nudged his elbow against the filly, "we have concluded that there is a significant structural weakness at the rear of the statue."

"Really? Where?"

"Right under his tail." Daybreak grinned as he stifled his laughter.

"You don't mean..."

"Yep!" the filly said happily. "We're going to shove the gunpowder right up his ass!"

Twilight glanced at Trixie who seemed as amused by this as the others, "Is that really the weakest place?"

"Not really, but we thought it was nicely symbolic," Daybreak explained.

"Even though we're the only ones that will see it?"

"Twilight." The filly looked down for a moment before looking back with her eyes in full weaponised puppy mode. "Please... I. Need. This."

"This is the only reason you came with us instead of going with Fleur isn't it? Just to blow up the statue?" The filly's pout grew a little more.

"It was her suggestion after all," said Daybreak.

"Come on Twilight," Trixie said, "now you're just wasting time." Her horn started bubbling with black, purple, and green as she formed a spur of dark crystal about half as long as her body. She pointed it at the statue's rear and let it fly, the crystal punching through the bronze with a clang. Twilight felt herself clench in sympathy even though it was only a statue. "There. Daybreak, do the thing."

As Daybreak and Trixie fed the gunpowder into the statue's newly made entrance, Twilight moved to the doorway of a nearby building to prepare her own part in this. The idea was to destroy the statue, not the surrounding buildings, and it was her job to stop that from happening. She spared one last glance at the statue, and even though it was probably a trick of the light, or her imagination, the statue seemed to look grumpier than the last time she saw it.

She focused herself, and began preparing the spell that would allow her to shield the buildings in the square, but waited until the others joined her before casting it. Daybreak unrolled the last of the fuse up to the doorway she was in, "Okay, ready." Twilight raised her horn and unleashed the spell, causing a shimmering purple shield to quickly spread up the sides of the buildings, protecting them, while also being a bit sound proof because Twilight liked the idea of not losing her hearing.

Twilight had also warned that she wouldn't be able to maintain the shield for long, which was a complete lie seeing how she could almost match her brother's shielding abilities before she became an alicorn, but she didn't want to hang around casting the spell and wasting her energy if she didn't have to.

Daybreak passed a matchbox to the filly, allowing her the honour of blowing up the statue, "This is totally making up for all those birthdays I missed and got nothing for. Viva la revolution!" She lit the fuse and watched as it burned, trailing along the ground before climbing up and in through the hole at the rear of the statue. There was a crump that somehow went beyond hearing, and much to the filly's delight a jet of flame shot out of the statue's rear for a split second before it tore apart in a ball of flame, the head comically sailing off just to smack into the shield.

The shield flared with a hundred bright spots as the shrapnel tore into it, but it came nowhere near failing. After a few more seconds Twilight dropped the shield and they moved to inspect the damage. All that was left of the statue was the blackened pedestal and four smoking hooves, as well as the head, one side of which had been smushed almost flat after its meeting with the shield.

Twilight doused the flames and teleported the flag to her, unrolling it before jamming it into the pedestal. "Well," Daybreak said jovially, "If that doesn't get the guards' attention, I don't know what will."

Fleur squeaked in surprise as the explosion echoed around the city. Even though she had been expecting it, Fleur wasn't too proud to admit that she was tense enough that it shocked her. Even the steely Snowbright next to her had flinched.

Now that the signal had finally gone off all they had to do was wait for the guards around city hall to go and investigate. As predicted, the majority of the twenty or so guards that were reported as being here rushed off towards the explosion, and hopefully into Twilight's trap.

"Show time," Snowbright murmured from beside her before waving to the other ponies around him. Swiftly yet silently they charged towards city hall, the few remaining guards unsuspecting of what was to come, and would remain so as the quiet thunk of crossbows heralded their deaths.

Fleur spared a moment to look at the bodies and whisper an apology before following Snowbright up the steps to the hall. The other ponies kept watch as she attempted to pick the lock, the task taking her only a minute. She pushed the doors open with her magic, allowing two other unicorns to bring their weapons to bear and pick off the two guards waiting inside. Fleur was confused by these ponies; they seemed a lot more effective than most of their other recruits.

Snowbright looked around, checking the coast was clear before issuing orders. "Everypony split up, secure the treasury and records. If there are any more guards, take them out if they resist, or capture them if they surrender. We want this done as cleanly as possible remember." A large amount of the ponies spread out in small groups while some remained to guard the entrance. Snowbright pointed at the two unicorns carrying crossbows, "You and you, you're with me and Fleur."

"Are you sure he'll be here?" Fleur whispered.

"Mayors' residence is in the back part of city hall, always has been." He led the way through the building, the only sound being the gentle padding of their hooves on the carpet. A unicorn in a maid uniform passed the end of the hallway they were in and Snowbright darted around the corner after her. There were some heavily muffled screams and when Fleur went around the corner after him, he was already laying the unconscious but breathing unicorn on the floor.

Another couple of corners led them to the mayors bedroom, where it sounded like a male pony was having a good time while a female pony definitely wasn't. It was a sound that Fleur knew all too well.

Fleur kept an eye out while Snowbright and the two unicorn positioned themselves. Snowbright kicked the doors open and they all entered the bedroom where the mayor was making a young white unicorns life as miserable as possible, with her forehooves tied to the bed head while a young yellow earth pony sobbed in the corner, her front ankles rubbed red raw from rope burns.

"What is the meaning of this!?" the bloated grey and blue stallion shouted, leaving the unicorn alone for a moment to yell at the intruders. His eyes grew wide and his tone quickly changed as he saw how well armed they were, "Please! Please don't shoot!"

"What are you doing with those girls!?" Fleur demanded to know.

"Them? They're just orphans! Is this what this is about?"

"I don't want to hear this," Snowbright growled. He leapt on the bed and in one swift move, punched the mayor and knocked him out. "Asshole. Bind his hooves and take him to his office. If you happen to rough him up while I'm distracted elsewhere, it's fine, I forgive you."

The two unicorns tied the mayor up as instructed and dragged him off, leaving Fleur with Snowbright and the two fillies. Fleur gently untied the unicorn who, while a little bit bigger than the filly, was probably younger, as was the earth pony as well. "Are you really orphans?"

"Mmhmm," the earth pony said as she rubbed the tears from her eyes. The unicorns sobs also subsided slightly, but seemed too preoccupied with rubbing her sore ankles to participate.

"Did he find you in the street and bring you here?"

"No, he brought us from the orphanage. The matron said we had to come with him."

"And who is this matron?"

"Miss Tenderlove. I don't know why she wanted us to come here and- and- She's usually so nice!" The earth pony started crying again and Fleur picked her up in her magic, bringing her over to the bed before hugging her.

"Its alright, I know it hurts. Come on, let it all out." She comforted them as best she could as they held each other and cried. It also meant she noticed that their manes were the exact same cherise colour. "Are you sisters?" she asked when they had calmed down enough.

"Twins," the unicorn answered.

"Okay. I'm Fleur, and the pony glaring at us from the doorway is Snowbright. What are your names?"

"I'm Pickle," said the earth pony.

"And I'm Dolly."

"Wow, your parents picked really nice names for you."

"Actually," said Dolly, "our parents didn't name us."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did they pass away when you were born?"

Pickle growled, "No, they still live up in Stalliongrad as far as we know."

"Huh? But what... Oh. I see."

"Its all my fault!" Dolly burbled tearfully. "If I wasn't a unicorn this wouldn't have happened and we'd still have parents and not be here!"

"Shut up Dolly!" Pickle shouted as she again hugged her sister, "Its not your fault! Its not your fault!" she kept repeating.

They started crying again and Snowbright sidled over to Fleur, "What are they on about?"

"Their parents abandoned them because Dolly's a unicorn. Stalliongrad has real issues like that."

"I know that, but both of them?"

"They're twins and therefore Pickle's been tainted by evil unicorn cooties."

"That's stupid. Why are they here in Neigh Orleans though?"

"I don't know, but tomorrow I fully intend to find out. What about you though hotshot? Since when are you a hard as nails badass?" She only asked to distract herself from the situation and fully expected Snowbright to ignore her. Initially, Snowbright looked away from Fleur and she thought he wasn't going to answer at first as she suspected, but then he spoke, "Guess you'll find out at some point anyway. You know those ponies in the scary ass black armour?"

"How could I forget..."

"Well... I used to be one of them."

"Oh? Wow. What changed your mind?"

Snowbright sighed, "I didn't want to hunt ponies for sport. When I first joined the army I thought it was great, serving Duke and country, and I excelled enough to be picked out to join the hunters. I was so thrilled, and I flew through the training." Snowbright shook his head ruefully, "I can't believe I was so stupid back then. We were assigned to hunt down a mare in the forests around Hoof-ridge, who had reportedly assaulted a guard in Stalliongrad, severely wounding him."

"That sounds a bit below those guys' pay grades."

"I thought so too. I was expecting a simple hunt to capture the unicorn and hoof her off to the authorities in Stalliongrad for punishment, but my comrades didn't agree. When we found her she begged for mercy, said she hadn't done anything wrong. The others just laughed and killed her. I couldn't believe it. I remember staring into her cold dead eyes, the snow around her stained red with her blood, and suddenly, that job didn't seem so great anymore. When we got back to base in High Rock we were told it was just a training exercise, and that we had passed with flying colours."

"You mean..."

"The mare was actually innocent, yes. We hunted down an innocent mare, killed her, and laughed about it for a training exercise."

"Shit..."

"I couldn't take it. I deserted the next week and eventually ended up with Pierre, hoping to do good to atone for it."

"And these other ponies?"

"I've been training ponies like them for years, in preparation for exactly something like this. I've been waiting years to pay the Duke back for what he's done."

Fleur looked to the two fillies who were now quietly holding each other. "Yeah, he really has it coming."

"Yeah." Snowbright stared off into the distance for a second before shaking his head, "Well, the night's still young and there's plenty to do." He stepped aside and bowed deeply, "After you Fleur."

"Such a gentlepony, but I'm going to get these two cleaned up and find them somewhere to wait away from the bedroom while you all get things sorted here."

"I don't like this Octavia."

"I know Summer, I don't like it either."

"Do we really have to take their families prisoner too?"

"If we want this done as quietly as possible, yes. If having their families here stops them fighting back, then it's worth it."

Summer looked around at the ponies below them in the warehouse by the docks they were using as a temporary holding centre, every one of them an earth pony, before looking at the armed ponies that were technically guarding them. "It feels like we're the bad guys."

Octavia couldn't agree more as she watched a mare who was trying to comfort her screaming foal while her partner paced around uneasily. Part of her couldn't deny the suspicion that by trying to keep these ponies from the fighting, they were somehow making things worse. They had explained as well as they could why they were holding them here, and that they would release the families here as soon as they could, but how did it stop them fighting back in the long run? The option to join the rebels was made available, but none seemed inclined to take it.

The warehouse doors thudded open and a few dozen more ponies were led inside. A minute later Thorn joined them on the upper balcony, "There's only a few more groups to come and that should be all of them. It's getting harder to bring them here quietly though. That explosion riled more than just the guards up."

"That was to be expected though."

"Yeah, but when ponies see other ponies being forced out of their homes by armed ponies that aren't city guards, it tends to make them ask questions."

"But none of the guards or their families are fighting back?"

"Not really. Don't know about tomorrow though when we tell them they no longer have their jobs and that we're somehow the good guys despite turning their lives upside down."

"You don't think we're doing this all wrong do you?"

"Don't know," Thorn admitted. "Trying to keep ponies alive is good, but I haven't exactly tried to take over a city before so I don't know. If the Duke was doing this I imagine he would march an army in, kill all the guards, and maybe their families, slaughter a few hundred innocent bystanders, then burn down half the city just for good measure."

Octavia thought back to Prance and shuddered, "Then it's a good job we're not like that."

"I'm scared about tomorrow," Thorn said quietly. "If the ponies here don't accept what we're trying to do then our rebellion is well and truly over before it really begins. Even then, if they do accept it how are we to get ponies to change their ways and accept all ponies as equals? Especially the pegasi."

"Ponies won't like the pegasi being free," Summer said in barely more than a whisper. "The way some of them down there keep looking at me scares me." She wasn't lying either. Octavia found it hard to miss the angry looks and expletive ridden comments about how there was a pegasus there without a collar.

"That part's up to Twilight and Daybreak to handle," said Octavia. "I honestly can't say I envy them."

"Can we- Can we go wait outside Octavia?"

Octavia looked to Thorn for permission since she was technically in charge. "Might as well," Thorn said with a shrug. "If you start hearing screams, I dunno, do something or... something."

They slipped out through the doors that led to a small elevated loading platform over the main doors. They passed as silent witnesses as another group of ponies was escorted into the warehouse before lapsing into what could've been a companionable silence if it weren't for the fact that Octavia was becoming increasingly wary of Summer's behavior towards her after that kiss in the operating room.

"It's strange how quiet it is," said Summer. "You wouldn't think that the city is actually under attack right now."

"That was rather the point though."

"Well yeah, but... I don't know. Seems weird."

"Be thankful that it is quiet, because that means everything has gone to plan." Octavia kept on staring out into the street below, wishing that she could have a view over the city instead. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Summer shuffle a little closer.

"I'm scared Octavia, everything's going to be different after this." Summer again shuffled a little closer.

"It'll be fine Summer, you'll see." Octavia kept watching the street as Summer got even closer.

"But what if it isn't?" Summer lay her head on Octavia's shoulder, "I don't know what to do..."

"Thinking like that isn't going to he-" Octavia stopped as Summer began to nuzzle under her chin, but it wasn't the comforting kind of nuzzle shared between ponies. It was rougher, clumsier, and felt... hungry, or more accurately, desperate. While Octavia was not a wholly experienced mare, she didn't need to think too hard about what it was Summer wanted. What she couldn't work out, was why? Maybe she ought to have a chat with Fleur about this, since she reckoned that Fleur was probably the best qualified out of her friends here.

"Summer could you please sto-!" Summer cut her off by suddenly darting her head up and kissing Octavia on the side of the mouth. Octavia jerked her head away and Summer tried to follow it, only stopping when Octavia put a hoof on her chest and pushed her back. "What do you think you're doing!?"

"I-I-I only wanted to- to- I-I uh..." Summer stammered, her expression full of pleading and confusion. Octavia didn't know what to say without yelling, which Summer didn't need her to do as the pegasus was still far too timid and sensitive to take it. Instead she decided to deflect it as best as she could.

"Now really isn't the time Summer." She took her hoof off Summer's chest and looked her squarely in the eye.

"B-but-"

"Not. Now." Summer shrank back and moved away from her, leaving Octavia feeling frustratingly guilty about having to do that. She went back to watching the street, noticing at last the glowing blasts of orange magic arcing up into the night sky.

"Oh no... Thorn!"

A group of roughly thirty guards charged into the town square, their armour clattering as they ran. They slowed down as they found themselves confronted by, what was to them three unicorns, a stallion and two mares, one of which had three legs, and a young filly with a surprisingly suggestive grin on her face. If it wasn't for the fact that they were sat in front of the destroyed remains of the founders statue, which had an unrecognizable flag decorating it, and next to two piles of discarded weapons and armour the guards might have admitted they had made a mistake and left again.

The guard leading the group approached the three ponies, "What is the meaning of this? What happened here?"

"We blew the statue up," the filly said happily.

"What? Why?"

"To lure all you stupid guards here obviously."

"How dare you speak to me like that you brat!" The guard brandished his spear, "I'm arresting you all in the name of the Duke!" The guard advanced on the quartet, but was easily pushed back by Twilight's magic. "How dare you touch me with your magic you filthy unicorn-!"

"Alicorn actually." Twilight smiled warmly at the guard. After being all serious about forcing the other guards that had come here to surrender, Twilight had to admit it was nice to mess with these ones a little.

"And what exactly is a alicorn?"

Twilight spread her wings and wiggled them, "Tada!"

"Abomination!" The other guards all brandished their weapons too, suddenly making things seem a lot more serious. The lead guard charged once more, only to again be pushed back by Twilight.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Why not?" Twilight nodded to Daybreak who waved a hoof and a second later a crossbow bolt shattered off the cobblestones in front of the guard who stepped back quickly. He looked up and around, finally noticing the large number of ponies pointing crossbows at him and his fellows from the rooftops.

"That's why."

"Are those our crossbows? What is this? Who are you ponies?"

So that's where Fleur's been getting all these crossbows. "We are the Mareitania Liberation Front, a working title, and we are here to liberate Mareitania from the clutches of the Duke. Now if you would be so kind as to surrender, relinquish your arms and armour, and enter the concert hall behind us, we would appreciate it. Otherwise we will be forced to open fire on you."

The guards milled around for a moment before their leader dropped his weapon, clearly unwilling to go up against such odds. "Fine, you win."

"Good choice." Twilight picked his weapon up and placed it on the pile as the other guards dropped their own weapons and removed their armour. The doors to the hall behind them opened and Trixie gestured for the guards to move inside.

"Once the Duke hears about this!" the leader said in an extremely open ended threat.

"I hardly expect him to not to," Twilight said, sounding a lot more sure about that than she felt. What the Duke was going to do about this actually had her extremely worried.

The guards entered the theatre and the doors were shut behind them, allowing Twilight to breathe a sigh of relief. "I thought for a moment that they were going to attack," said Trixie.

"Me too. Quite frankly I'm surprised that they've all surrendered without too much fuss."

"They're only city guards, don't expect them to be too brave," said Daybreak as he moved the last of the armour into its pile. "If we were up against soldiers we'd have a much harder fight on our hooves."

"I doubt even soldiers would go up against those odds Daybreak," said Twilight.

"Not in small numbers, but where you find one soldier, you'll probably find a few hundred more not far behind him."

"Is this really worth worrying about right now?" asked Trixie. "Lets just focus on the fact that we've taken over Neigh Orleans without anypony really noticing."

"Until tomorrow," Twilight said grimly. The fact that they had taken control of the city without anypony really noticing also meant that they had to tell the ponies here that it had actually happened. Otherwise all they might notice is a ruined statue and a few less guards wandering around.

"Hopefully, most of the city will remain largely autonomous," said Daybreak. "We're in no position to suddenly have to oversee every little thing that happens here."

"Oh please," the filly drawled sarcastically, "apart from scaring ponies and making life hard for anypony that isn't an earth pony, what does the Duke and his cronies actually do?"

"They do get things done, believe it or not. They might not stick their nose into everyponies business, but they do have to keep the country running to some degree through taxation, enforcing laws, maintaining trade routes and all that." Daybreak frowned as he thought about what he had said, "We suddenly have a lot of work to do, don't we."

"We'll work it out as we go," Twilight assured him. "I happen to know some very knowledgeable ponies who might be able to help us out if we get totally stuck. Besides, from what I've seen, most taxes are either spent on the army, controlling the pegasi, and stupidly expensive riverboats. Almost everything else has mostly been left to ponies to sort out themselves. There's no education system, no hospitals, no decent transport links... Wow... We really do have a lot to do."

"Can we just focus on taking down the Duke?" Trixie said a little nastily, "You can't build a new system until the old one is torn down."

"Actually I'm thinking we can do both simultaneously," said Twilight. Trixie just rolled her eyes and stalked off, clearly uninterested in discussing policy.

"Lets see if this stupid plan works first..." she muttered.

"It's- It's not stupid, is it?" Twilight wasn't exactly a military strategist by any means, but she thought they were doing alright.

Daybreak shrugged, "Considering the situation, yeah, it's not too bad. But lets face it, the Duke totally played us and forced us to act a lot sooner than we should have. If he marches an army in here next week we'd have no hope of holding the city."

"Hopefully they'll still be too busy with what's happening in Prance to rush down here and stop us. I'm sure you've told me this before, but how big is the Grand Army?"

Daybreak tapped his chin as he thought, "At a conservative estimate, about thirty to thirty five thousand soldiers."

"Oh. Wow. That's a lot of ponies." Twilight wasn't about to admit it but she suddenly felt like their little coup in Neigh Orleans seemed laughable.

"Try not to think about it too-" Daybreak's attention was drawn by one of the ponies on the rooftops shouting to get his attention.

"Daybreak! Distress signal from the guards compound!"

"Shit... Twilight?"

"On it. Can you and the filly handle things here?"

"Yes yes, of course," he said as the filly saluted eagerly. "Just take Trixie and go."

"Right. Come on Trixie, let's go!" Twilight took to the air and swooped over Trixie, picking her up with her magic as she passed.

"Putmedown!Putmedown!Putmedown!" Trixie screamed almost incoherently as they gained altitude.

"No time for running there Trixie!" Twilight shouted as Trixie burbled one long continuous stream of screams mixed with expletives as they soared over the rooftops. She angled towards where the shots of orange magic were still shooting up into the sky.

"Twilight!" Twilight looked down to see Octavia and Summer along with ten other ponies running down the street she was about to pass over. "Why are they signalling for help?"

"I don't know!" she shouted back as she glided down to just above the group. Seeing how they were all running Twilight thought to put Trixie down with them, but the mare had curled up into a foetal position and didn't seem to want to move from it.

"You go on, we'll catch up!" Twilight nodded in confirmation before putting on a burst of speed and pulling back up over the rooftops. Once she reached her destination she headed down to where Mason and a large number of his ponies were pushing against the large wooden gates at the back of the compound, the front having been blocked with a upturned cart. She also noticed that Fleur and Snowbright had arrived before she had and were helping to brace the gate.

"What's going on here?" Twilight asked as she gently placed Trixie on the ground, who looked like she was going to kiss it for a moment before thinking better of it.

"They're here!" Mason roared at her.

"They? They who?"

"Those pricks in black armour, four of them. Killed ten of my team before we even had a chance to trap them in here. Poor bastards never stood a chance." Twilight folded her ears back with guilt. She had sent a large number of the unicorns she had trained in magic with Mason, figuring that their magic would be better suited in the close quarters here where crossbows wouldn't be. Apparently she had sent them to their deaths against a foe they couldn't hope to match.

There were shouts from the other side of the gates, and a second later they bulged as the ponies inside tried to break out. Twilight added her magic to the mix and the gates quickly moved back shut.

"They'll get out eventually Twilight," Trixie said, having recovered enough to form coherent sentences. "We can't keep them in there forever."

Twilight bit her lip as she thought about it, her eyes twitching side to side as she sought a way out of this predicament. She looked to her right, noticing that Octavia's ponies were running up the street towards them, an idea that she really didn't want to do forming in her mind. "Archers and Adepts form a line," she commanded. The archers formed a line while the others looked at her funny.

"What the hell's an Adept?" one of the ponies holding the gate asked.

"Magically trained unicorns!" Twilight snapped. "From now on you're called Adepts because its shorter! Now form a line with the archers. Everypony else behind the line and I'll hold the gate."

The others did as she commanded, quickly getting into position either in line or behind her. There was another push against the gate but she held it long enough for the others to get into position. "Prepare to fire, and ignore the ponies in the black armour, you'll only be wasting your energy."

She reversed her efforts on the gates, pulling them open and revealing a large group of guards whom seemed totally unprepared for the gates opening of their own accord. "Fire," Twilight said weakly.

A hale of crossbow bolts and magic blasts cut into the guards, the darkness giving way to a cacophony of almost inappropriately bright and colourful lights as each unicorn added their own individual magic to the attack, along with streaks of black as Trixie lent her own efforts to the bombardment.

Twilight couldn't bring herself to attack as well though, and winced as the wave of raw magic practically pummelled the foremost guards into mush, the guards behind them screaming as the overpowering wave of magic washed over them. Twilight was almost thankful when another hale of arrows put them out of their misery.

Thick silence filled the air as many of the unicorns reeled in shock from the sheer destruction they had just unleashed. Twilight wished she had prepared them for this, but truth be told, she was totally unprepared for this as well. She had never seen magic used to kill another pony since such things were forbidden in Equestria. Even the changeling invasion hadn't been enough to warrant that kind of magic being used.

Four figures sauntered out through the open gates, one smaller than the others, stepping around the bodies like they were little more than inconveniences. "Well well well," said the smaller of the armoured ponies, her voice deep and darkly seductive, "I'm impressed Twilight Sparkle. Our dossier on you said you would choose the none lethal option at all costs. I guess losing that leg must've changed your mind a little."

"What are you doing here?" Snowbright asked, his voice tense.

"My word, is that little Snowy? I always wondered when I might see your traitorous face again. Must be my lucky day. As for what we're doing here, you almost killed one of us and that's not something we take lightly. That and you're apparently trying to take over the city which is somewhat frowned upon by the Duke."

"You don't scare us," Trixie said, full of conviction.

"No? We might once our comrades free the other guards."

"You're bluffing."

The mare shrugged, "Makes little difference to me if you think I'm bluffing or not."

Twilight wasn't about to risk calling her bluff, not now. "Trixie, Fleur, Octavia, Summer, Mason, and Snowbright stay here. The rest of you get to Thorn and Daybreak."

"But she's bluffing!" Trixie insisted.

"And what if she isn't Trixie? We didn't know they were here so there could be more!" The other ponies split up and galloped off to where Twilight had said, leaving the rest to face the newcomers.

The leader of the hunters faced off against Twilight, her intended target very clear, and scraped her hoof on the ground, something which Twilight sorely wished she could do right now. She charged forward and Twilight took to the air, just out of reach as the other hunters sprang forward in their own attacks.

Snowbright took one on while Fleur helped Mason take on another, leaving Trixie, Octavia, and Summer to take on the remainder. Twilight turned her attention back to her own attacker who was pacing around beneath her, "You know, if you won't come down here I'm going to have to go after one of your friends instead. Maybe the pegasus..." She turned and ran towards Summer, stopping only when Twilight landed in front of her.

"Leave her alone."

"Oh please, I'm going to have to kill all of them eventually. No point wasting too much time." She spun around and bucked at Twilight who jumped back just far enough to only feel a breeze on the end of her nose. The hunter turned to face her again and Twilight backed off before really wishing she had all her legs because she couldn't hit with her front hooves decently with only one leg, and she couldn't buck properly either, removing two staples of hoof to hoof combat from her.

Instead she took to the air again, performing a little loop de loop to gain momentum before kicking out with her rear legs. The hunter side stepped the attack, lashing out to catch Twilight in her ribs as she passed. Twilight fumbled her landing, falling onto her side as her leg slid out from under her.

She reached out with her magic and pulled one of the fallen guards spears towards her, holding it point first towards her attacker who snorted with amusement. "Really?" The hunter reached out a hoof and touched the point of the spear, ruining Twilight's hold as the runes on her hooves destabilised the telekinesis field, making her drop it.

Twilight backed off again, her options horribly limited. Even Trixie was having more success as she launched crystal after crystal at her opponent. The crystal crumbled into nothing as soon as it touched his armour, but it seemed to be enough to stagger him. "Why won't you die!?" Trixie screamed at the stallion she was fighting.

Twilight turned her attention back to the pony she was fighting just in time to dodge the right hook aimed for her face. The hunter continued with her momentum, bringing her back left leg up to kick Twilight. Twilight tried to teleport away, but found herself unable to as her horn flickered and died. The kick met her jaw with a meaty thwack knocking her away several meters, and she barely had time to recover before the hunter was on her again.

She managed to get her back legs up under the hunter and kicked her up and away to land with a clang on the cobblestones a few meters away. She rolled onto her hooves as the hunter did, facing off against her once more.

Mason roared, drawing their attention as he smashed his opponent in the face with a heavy hoof, staggering him enough to allow Mason to grab him under the neck and over the back. Fleur dashed forward, and with unerring accuracy stabbed her horn though the left eye hole in his amour.

The hunter screamed feebly and tried to struggle out of Mason's hold but failed. Fleur braced herself and thrust her head forward, scraping her horn on the edges of the hole. The hunter went limp and Mason staggered with his weight as Fleur tried to pull herself free. She eventually did so, flicking a trail of blood over her back and face.

"Shit!" Fleur swore as she rubbed her eyes, "I got blood in my fucking eyes!" Summer helped her while Mason went to assist Snowbright who seemed unable to do much to his opponent due to the armour.

"You'll pay for that!" Twilight could almost feel the rage radiating off her opponent, and took to the air again as the hunter attacked with a scream of anger. She flew over the hunter and lashed out with back right hoof, kicking the hunter in the head. Apparently she wasn't fast enough though because, before she knew it the hunter had grabbed her leg and slammed her into the ground before grabbing her around the neck in a strangle hold.

"Help!" she gasped in a voice barely louder than a whisper. They must have heard her though because a moment later Octavia was wrestling the hunter off Twilight's back long enough for the alicorn to recover. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Octavia returned to the fight against her own hunter, leaving Twilight to fight alone again, which was rather unfair considering her disadvantage. She emitted a bright flash of light from her horn, disorienting her increasingly angry opponent.

"I'm going to kill you Twilight Sparkle! But first I'm going to slowly and painfully kill all your friends in front of you!" the hunter taunted. A pretty weak taunt all things considered. Twilight once again took off, seeing as how she stood no real chance with little effective magic and a seriously off-balance fighting method otherwise.

She dived down, kicking Trixie's opponent in the back of the head before Trixie fired another barrage of the dark crystals she was so fond of. The hunter staggered backward until his rear was to the wall of the compound. Crystals started growing up his legs which he kicked off easy enough, but as soon as he put a leg down they would start growing again. They were just a distraction though, as Trixie cut a line down the wall behind him before pulling it over onto him. The wall broke up as it landed on the pony, but it was obvious that he didn't survive.

There was a crack as Snowbright grabbed the head of the pony he was fighting and vaulted over his back while Mason held the hunter's rear. That hunter too slumped to the ground, his head facing almost one hundred and eighty degrees to where it should be.

"It's over," Twilight said to the remaining hunter as she landed amongst her friends in front of her. "Surrender, and you'll be treated fairly."

"Never!" The last hunter seemed almost feral as she charged at Twilight. Trixie jumped to defend Twilight and grabbed a chunk of the fallen wall, raising it and bringing it down on the back of the hunter. Whether it was intentional or not, she brought it down on the middle of the mare's back with a horrible crunch.

The mare fell, her rear legs trailing uselessly out behind her, but she kept coming, dragging her body along the street towards Twilight. Twilight scrambled back, but the mare just kept coming like she was possessed. Twilight picked up the chunk and smacked the mare around the side of the head, "Stop!" Twilight begged, but the mare just kept coming.

Twilight slammed the chunk down onto her head, but even though it slowed the hunter considerably, it didn't stop her. Survival instinct took over and Twilight slammed the chunk down onto the mares head again and again, "Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!" she cried with each hit, "Leave me ALONE!" She kept hitting the hunter with the chunk, even when it was obvious that it was no longer necessary; the hunters helmet was severely bent out of shape and blood was leaking out of the gaps.

She didn't stop until Fleur grabbed her head and forced Twilight to focus on her, "Stop Twilight, she's gone. It's over now."

Twilight collapsed into Fleur's legs and burst into tears, "I didn't want to! I didn't want to! Why wouldn't she stop!?"

Fleur held her and gently rocked back and forth, "Shh... It's alright Twilight, we know you didn't want to. It's over now."

"I didn't want to..." The others headed into the compound, checking the mostly intact guards for survivors. Fleur stayed with Twilight though, comforting the alicorn as best she could. Twilight rubbed the tears out of her eyes, "I'm a monster."

"I killed one of them too Twilight, we all did. Are we all monsters too?"

"No."

"Then you aren't either. This is war Twilight. Ponies are going to die."

"But I don't want to kill ponies," Twilight murmured, entirely without conviction.

"And you think the rest of us do? Apart from maybe Trixie that is. Twilight, I know this is the first pony you've had to directly take the life of and its a shock, but you really need to pull yourself together. I've never killed anypony either, and now I'm here literally covered in the blood of a pony I've killed and I'm not freaking out!"

"But Celestia taught me that every life is precious, and should be preserved. I'm the Princess of Friendship Fleur! I shouldn't be killing ponies!"

"You think Celestia's gone through her entire life without killing anypony? Because that's incredibly naïve if you do. Before they found the Elements of Harmony how do you think they solved their problems? Why do you think they found the Elements? Because they found the one thing they couldn't kill! Heck, even the death penalty was still being used until a couple hundred years after Nightmare Moon's banishment!"

"But-"

"No buts Twilight. You need to pony up and realise there is no way around this! Why do you think Celestia and Luna attacked Sombra's empire?"

Twilight wasn't sure why Fleur would ask that of all things, "To save the crystal ponies from death and enslavement, and to protect Equestria."

"Exactly. You want to save lives and free the pegasi? Then fight this war, because the killing will never stop until the Duke is gone. Now seriously Twilight, pony up. You're starting to embarrass yourself."

Was it really that simple? Take lives to save more lives? No, if she thought like that then she was just as much of a monster as those she was fighting, even with altruistic motives. But Fleur wasn't wrong, as Celestia's hooves were hardly clean of blood. Maybe it was as simple as doing what is right, even at the cost of lives. Maybe even at the cost of herself. Even though she hadn't done it or seen it, she knew that Sombra had been utterly annihilated by the crystal heart, and she didn't feel a shred of remorse. When she fought Tirek she had wanted to destroy him, burn him into ashes and bury him. Why should fighting these ponies so bent on following the commands of an evil pony like the Duke be so different in her mind?

Because most of them are just doing a job and are in fact completely redeemable, was the answer she came up with to her annoyance. But she did feel different about it now. If those ponies wished to redeem themselves and join her then she would hardly stop them, she only had to give them the chance.

She still felt like crap about it though.

Twilight got up and rubbed the last of her tears out of her eyes, "Okay Fleur, you're... You're right. I guess we better get back to work."

"Hey Twilight!" Snowbright exited the courtyard towards them with a glowing black rock under his leg, "I found an anti-jump stone. What do you want me to do with it?"

"Can you turn it off?"

"Uh-nope, these things are permanently on. You can contain them in a lead lined box though."

"Do it then. Who knows when something like that might come in handy. At the very least it'd be interesting to study. I'm heading back to Daybreak, so you guys keep working here and I'll send you some help as soon as I can." She didn't wait for a reply, instead taking to the sky as soon as she could. She flew around the city, checking the city hall and the warehouse on her way. All seemed quiet so clearly that hunter had been bluffing.

The square seemed quiet too, with many of the ponies no longer on the rooftop. She circled downward, landing in a heap by the statue as her tired front leg crumpled under her weight. "Ow."

"Twilight! You're alright!" The filly ran over and jumped on her, reminding Twilight of just how bruised she was.

"Yep, just peachy. The others are okay too. Is everything okay here?"

"All quiet," said Daybreak. "Did you beat them?"

"Yeah, they're... dead." The word felt horrible to say.

"Ah, I thought I recognised the haunted look on your face. First pony you've killed?"

"First pony I've killed with my own hooves."

"I'm hardly speaking from experience here, but it'll get easier Twilight."

"It shouldn't be easy, and I hope it never becomes easy."

"Okay, what I should've said then was that it should get easier to cope with." Twilight snorted.

"So wait..." The filly looked around the square, "That's it then? We won."

"Mmhmm."

"Huh. That was kinda underwhelming."

"We're not done quite yet."

Author's Notes:

I've come to realise that until now all I've planned are plot points; everything else is made up as I go and I'm horribly whimsical when it comes to throwing random stuff in, (as an example Summer was added because I randomly wished I had brought Coco Pommel along for this rather than Octavia because I thought it'd be funny to have Trixie treat her like a doormat, and it kind of grew from there.) Anyway, now I'm actually having to write those plot points into chapters I'm like hur-durr, I don't know what I'm doing! I'm already prone to doubting myself over my writing so when I really think I'm writing complete bollocks, I'm inclined to think it's true. It's kinda hard, especially when I don't exactly enjoy criticism either, due to deep seated emotional reasons. (Constructive criticism only peeps!)

Right, well, I think that's enough self depreciating brain dribblings out of me.