Eclipse held the second guard by the neck as almost a dozen other gang members closed in.

Dust Demon and the two rebels stood next to him. The train car was still silent, the ponies inside waiting for either a proper signal or for things to get very bad, very quickly. Whichever came first.

Without warning, a black blur came through and smacked into one of the mine guards. He fell to the ground as the blur ricocheted off of him and into a second guard. Then a third. Soon, the majority of guards were on the ground, mostly out cold, the rest moaning in pain.

Eclipse knocked out the guard he was holding then reached out with a hoof and caught the random projectile as it flew past, quickly putting it on top of his head.

Dust Demon double checked his vision.

Eclipse grinned as he patted his pirate hat. “Because shields are too mainstream.” He swung a cutlass though the air, holding the blade in his right hoof as he once again showed off an uncanny ability to balance on his hind legs alone. “Charge!”

The wall of the train car burst outward, the entire side of the car opening up and spilling out the remaining members of the rebellion, including Braeburn and Silverstar. Cactus Star stayed on board, taking cover from the fight. Her father, however, was a flurry of hoof punches as he decked a pair of guards at once, charging into the nearby barracks not long after.

Dust Demon nudged Eclipse. “Think he needs help?”

A guard flew through the second story window of the building, shattering the glass on his way out. This feat was doubly impressive by the fact that it was an earth pony and not a pegasus that was doing the flying.

Eclipse shook his head. “I think he’s good.”

The entire left section of the building collapsed in on itself.

“Let’s… just stay out of his way.” Eclipse muttered, following a trio of the rebels and Braeburn into the mine proper, where you could hear the inner guards and the prisoners having their own quarrel.

The mine entrance was normal enough. After several dozen yards, however, it opened up into a cavern. It was reminiscent of a quarry, just underground, with a path down just to the left of the entrance. The bottom of the quarry was a blur of movement as miners and rebels fought the better equipped but outnumbered mine guards. The sides of the mine shimmered with several bright, vibrant colors.

Braeburn frowned. “Rainbow dust. Should’ve known there was a load of this stuff.”

Eclipse grunted. “Mining seems like tough labor just for a drug.”

“That’s just it, Eclipse.” Braeburn muttered. “Rainbow dust can be found in a lot of places, needing a lot of different ways of extraction. No matter how it is, it’s rare as rare can be. Stuff is worth… well, too much.”

Finished with his explanation, Braeburn followed the trio of rebels they had come in with down the path, meeting and engaging a retreating group of mine guards along the way.

Eclipse remained at his elevated position to view the battle. Most of the miners were in the fight, beating down the forty or so guards in the mine. A group of five guards had gotten separated from the main group and backed into a corner. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the corner was directly below Eclipse’s vantage point.

He raised his cutlass into the air. “This epic slaughter brought to you by,” The group of guards looked up as Eclipse jumped down. “the letter ar!” He swung down with his sword, slicing through the shaft of one guards’ spear.

“Sorry bout that.” Eclipse grinned, back-hoofing the guard on his left. “Couldn’t resist.”

A pegasus guard jabbed with his spear, but a swift deflection sent the weapon spinning away. Eclipse jabbed, catching the pony in his side. He spun, deflecting another spear.

A unicorn fired a spell at Eclipse, but he ducked underneath it, causing the energy blast to go into the wall of the mine. Eclipse kicked, sending the wounded pegasus on a collision course with the guard who had gotten his spear sliced in two.

“What is going on here?!” a voice screamed over the sound of fighting.

The guards paused, turning to look at the source of the voice, as did the rebelling prisoners. The rebels, who hadn’t been as affected, turned when they noticed that the fighting around them had ground to a halt.

Standing just inside the mine entrance stood an earth pony mare with a bright purple coat. Her mane was an electric yellow, contrasting sharply against the dull coloring around her. Guards and prisoners alike shrank back when she ran her gaze over them. Her icy blue eyes twitched a little whenever she saw one of the rebels, easily distinguishable by the fact that they weren’t as intimidated by her arrival.

When she spotted Eclipse, her eyes widened in surprise. “What is this?” She asked, pointing at him. “What is a pony doing on two legs? With a ridiculous hat?”

Eclipse shrugged, a small smile on his face.

“This certainly isn’t something you see everyday.” The mare drawled, waving her mane out of her eyes with a hoof.

Eclipse leaned against the wall. “It isn’t everyday you take part in a minor revolution.” He replied, shrugging again. “Best to make it as memorable as possible.”

The mare smiled a bit. “I like you. Caused a bit more excitement than on a normal day.” She reached into her saddlebags with her head and grabbed a whip from one of the bags. Twisting her neck, she cracked the whip, causing most of the prisoners and a few of the guards to flinch. It was clear that most, if not all of them had felt its sting.

Eclipse grabbed his cutlass and hat, rolling the two together before unrolling an unfilled balloon. Blowing into the end, the balloon expanded into a paper bag with a series of loud pops. Eclipse opened the bag, releasing the smell of fresh popcorn into the mine.

The mare arched an eyebrow as she unhooked her saddlebags, letting them fall to the ground. She leisurely trotted down onto the same floor of the cave that the fighting had been taking place in. By the time she reached the bottom, Eclipse had finished his popcorn, much to the chagrin of the guards standing next to him, as he now shoved them all away and placed each of his legs in a wide circle around him, preparing to jump, dodge or charge as the situation warranted.

She snorted as she stood several yards away from him. “Most ponies call me Royal. Now what kind of name would a gentlestallion like yourself have, hm?”

Eclipse matched her icy blue gaze with his steel-gray own. “Eclipse. Undecided whether it’s solar or lunar.”

Royal cocked her head to the side, not understanding. Eclipse face-hoofed, realizing that an eclipse in Equestria was as possible as a magical talking pony was in his own. Best not to quote that.

Royal cracked her whip again, before lashing it at Eclipse. He grinned, his eyes turning a bright crimson. Before it could reach him, the whip changed size, growing shorter and fatter in Royal’s mouth. The handle of it turned into a rattle, while the end of the weapon grew a pair of eyes and fangs.

Royal looked down to find herself holding a fully grown diamondback rattlesnake. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she simply tightened her hold on the poisonous serpent’s tail and slung it around, slamming it into the ground several times until she crushed its skull.

Royal tossed the dead reptile away, glaring at Eclipse. “Well, that was fancy. Thought it was just an illusion at first, then the taste came on.” She spat onto the ground. “I’ll be cleaning my mouth for a week.”

Eclipse levitated a bag over to her. “Try some popcorn.”

Royal gave him a surprised glance before accepting the gift. “You aren’t taking this very seriously, are you?”

Eclipse stomped his hoof, causing a chunk of rock to jump up and slam into Royal’s stomach. The mare grunted in pain, taking several steps back and dropping the popcorn she had just been given. “You don’t want me to.” he said, smiling.

Several hoof falls could be heard as someone entered the mine.

Sagebrush and Silverstar trotted into view as several of Silverstar’s ponies trotted down the path into the main section of the mine/underground quarry.

Royal spared them a glance, but otherwise pointedly ignored the newcomers. Her outside guards had been defeated and she knew it, but she would at least take down the earth pony in front of her before surrendering.

She charged at Eclipse, who jumped up onto a floating black cloud. There he stayed, simply hovering in the air, like some kind of pegasus with clipped wings.

“Come now, darling.” Eclipse said mockingly, laying down on the cloud. “We both know how this is going to end. After all, it’s already said and done.”

Royal glared at him. “I don’t know what you are, Eclipse.” she spat his name like it was venom. “But you won’t get away with this.”

Eclipse rubbed his chin. “Weird. It’s usually the good guys who say stuff like that.”

Something flashed in Royal’s eyes. “Good?”

“Yeah.” Eclipse continued. “Like, rescuing buffalo from slavery, fighting an evil, drug fueled gang, came here on the princess’ orders… You know, good.”

Royal’s eyes flashed magenta for a moment. Her eyes became unfocused and she shook her head several times. After another moment however, he eyes flashed again and she returned to her previous state. “Good won’t get you anywhere. You need more reason than that.”

Eclipse narrowed his eyes, taking a deep interest in his next choice of words. “All right then. How about, ‘not being a bad guy?’ Maybe, ‘not becoming the face of fear when it comes to these prisoners’. Or your own men, from the way they’re acting.”

Another brief flash. Again, she returned to her scowling, glaring self after a moment. In that moment however, Eclipse managed to see enough to burn an image into his brain.

Same mane, same coat, same eyes. Her expression softened a bit. It was enough to make a drastic difference. He couldn’t get much more before she switched back.

Eclipse frowned. This was unlike anything he had encountered up to this point. After a moment of still silence in the mine, Eclipse heard a voice in his thoughts.

“In a nutshell: your victims become loyal to you.”

Eclipse zoomed his thoughts in, focusing on the word ‘loyal’. “By Celestia…” he muttered under his breath.

Royal glanced back to the mine entrance. Eclipse tensed. She took off, climbing directly up the side of the mine up to the path.

Eclipse charged after her, using his ever constructing cloud-bridge to put himself on an intercept course. Unexpectedly, Royal jumped off the wall, towards Eclipse. She kicked him in the face, using him as a launch pad to get up onto the path to the entrance.

Eclipse shook his head, turning on the power of honesty so she couldn’t surprise him like that again. “After her!” he shouted to anyone nearby.

With his new power, Eclipse saw the magenta aura surrounding Royal, giving away her current state. She dove under or over the majority of rebels, minors and even the remainder of her own guards that she encountered, smacking a few out of her way if she couldn’t get around them.

One of the rebels tackled her to the floor, but she rolled out of his grasp and took off again.

Eclipse landed in front of her, dodging several jabs. He reared back, preparing to punch her, when he saw an orange phantom limb reach out and block his blow. He adjusted, aiming a little over the orange hoof. His blow caught her in the throat, her block having been evaded.

She kicked at him, but this served little more than a distraction while she hit his forehead with her own, a resounding crack echoing through the mine. Reeling, Eclipse backed up several steps as Royal charged past.

By the time he recovered, she was already out of the mine. Desperately following her, Eclipse slid to a stop outside the mine, unable to find Royal or any hint as to where she went. Several rebels moved about, but none of them had noticed the bright purple and yellow mare exit the mine.

Eclipse stomped his hoof in frustration, his blood beginning to boil. “First that thing on the train, now this?” he thought to himself. “What’s next?”