Welcome to the Resistance
The Saviors of Harmony
Chapter 1 – Welcome to the Resistance
Star Sweeper's eyes fluttered open slowly, allowing time for them to adjust them the dim light of constant twilight. She turned her head to the side slightly and stole a glance out the window of her small cottage, where she was given the perfect view of a small patch of sky. Some of the only sky you could see when trapped under the thick trees of the Everfree Forest.
The sky was the same as it had been for years. Stuck in the transition from day to night.
She sighed heavily and closed her eyes once more. Today marked the fifth year that she and the citizens of Ponyville had fled into the Everfree. Five long years of resisting the power of The One while other ponies continued to suffer under her influence.
A short knock on the side of the cottage caused her to spring up and lock her grey eyes on the dingy cloth covering her door. With little more than a thought, her silver magic levitated a small knife from the tabletop a few feet away.
Ever since coming to the Everfree Forest, a sense of paranoia had gripped Star Sweeper, as well as many other ponies. The constant threat of The One swooping down on them and the monsters lurking in the forest were an even bigger threat than that.
She lifted the utensil to eye level, ready to catapult it at whatever was out there assuming it meant her any harm.
"Ey Star, you up?" Star Sweeper visibly relaxed, setting the knife back on the table gently. She tossed off her blankets and rolled herself out of the bed with a groan.
"Yeah Apple Bloom, come in."
Immediately the youngest Apple family member pushed her way past the cloth over the doorway. Star Sweeper regarded the young mare with a small smile.
Apple Bloom rubbed her hooves on a floor mat, wiping all sorts of mud and grass all over it before stepping onto the polished floor of Star Sweeper's cottage.
The young mare had grown a lot since Star Sweeper had first come to know her in Ponyville.
She and her friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, were no longer fillies. Five years in the Everfree Forest forced them to grow up pretty fast. Though, with no chance to ever find their cutie marks, their flanks were as blank as always.
"Big Mac said ah should come get ya', we got some refugees from other cities waiting to be let in ah guess," the red headed pony shrugged, causing the worn stetson on her head to shift.
Star Sweeper recognized the hat. It had belonged to her older sister, and Apple Bloom rarely ever took it off.
Star Sweeper nodded her head slowly as her magic shot from her horn. She levitated a heavy grey cloak onto her back and snagged an apple off a shelf
"Does he know which cities they're from?"
Apple Bloom shrugged again and ran to the table. She helped herself a particularly juicy looking apple for and skipped back to the doorway with a smile.
"Nope, I did hear a few of em' talking bout' Los Pegasus and Cloudsdale, though."
Star Sweeper inhaled sharply and headed for the door. It didn't really matter where they were from, more refugees meant they were going to have to expand again.
The last time they expanded, they lost some good ponies to the beasts of the Everfree.
"Alright Bloom, lets go," Star Sweeper huffed and pushed her door cloth aside with magic.
Apple Bloom ran out in front of her and out into the settlement's dirt paths. Star Sweeper followed slowly, stepping tentatively. It had rained for the past six days, and the ground was nothing but mud.
Each step suction-cupped her to the ground, and a mere ten steps already had her breathing heavily. Star Sweeper watched Apple Bloom hop ahead of her, and silently wondered how she moved so quickly.
The former weather pegasus' had tried dozens of times to get the clouds to move so the ground would dry, but all their efforts had been futile. The Everfree was both a blessing and a boon to those seeking refuge in its trees.
The air was cool and thin fog swirled around Star Sweepers hooves as she stomped along. Around her, ponies were beginning to rouse and start their days. All of them having just as much trouble in the mud as she was.
The smell from fires began to waft through the air as the Cakes began baking, something that would probably never change, regardless of where they lived. Everypony else couldn't really argue, the smell of baking treats was a comfort as far as they were concerned.
Star Sweeper followed Apple Bloom slowly, stopping occasionally to greet some of the ponies that were out and about.
She took the time to examine some of the structures, too. All the buildings were made of wood, so making sure they were structurally sound after all the rain they had just gotten was at the top of her to-do list.
A bunch of ponies without a place to live in a dangerous forest wasn't a very desirable situation.
"C'mon Star!" Apple Bloom's impatient yell drew the older mares attention, and she glanced up from the frame of a cottage. Apple Bloom waved at her from the entrance to the settlement, where Big Mac and a large group of ponies waited.
Star Sweeper scowled and began trotting over, this was going to be fun.
"Thirty-five," she mumbled to herself, having counted the new ponies as she approached. “It's a new refugee record.”
Big Mac raised his head and nodded, "Yeeeep."
Star Sweeper put a hoof to her head, rubbing the base of her horn as she examined all the ponies standing before her. They all shifted impatiently in the mud, annoyance evident on their faces. Star Sweeper fully expected more than a few fights to break out.
She already felt a headache coming on. "Well, where's Brass Bell? We'll need her help to settle them all in."
Big Mac shrugged his big shoulders.
Star Sweeper rolled her eyes, “great, our best guard pony is off gallivanting around somewhere, ignoring her post!” she groaned.
"Ah bet she got suckered into doing somepony else's work!" Apple Bloom sniggered.
Star Sweeper just shook her head and snorted. It was probably true, Brass Bell was too nice for her own good.
After taking a calming breath, Star Sweeper stepped forwards, "we'll just do it without her then."
Apple Bloom and Big Mac peered at one another. The edge in Star Sweeper's voice was unmistakeable and they suddenly felt bad for Brass Bell. Somewhere, a chestnut colored mare shivered.
"Everypony line up in front of the two of us, no pushing or shoving!" Star Sweeper barked at the huge group of ponies. Instantly, the weary looking group of refugees formed two single file lines.
This was the most frustrating part of admitting new ponies.
She and Big Mac had to take down all their names and trades, turn the paperwork into the mayor so the ponies could be placed in an appropriate job, and then Star Sweeper had the lovely task of figuring out where all these ponies would be living. That meant having to remap the settlement and expand. She hated both of those jobs with a passion.
With a sigh of defeat, Star Sweeper pulled a notepad and quill out of a pocket on her cloak.
The process went on for half an hour before Star Sweeper got to the end of her line. A lot of the ponies she had gone through would end up just being guard ponies. Almost every other occupation was already occupied, but the need for guards never ceased.
"Next," she mumbled listlessly and tossed a stack of paper into a basket that Apple Bloom had fetched for her. Two ponies, a pegasus and an earth pony, trotted up.
"Yo!" the very red pegasus greeted with a huge grin. His companion, the pale pastel colored earth pony smiled at her sheepishly.
She didn't even know the pegasus yet, and she was pretty sure she wasn't going to like him.
"Names please," Star Sweeper ignored his greeting and stared blankly at her levitating notepad and quill.
"Ember Spiral and Briarbreeze!" The pegasus took the liberty of spouting both their names, pointing a hoof to himself first, then to the mare at his side.
"And what job did you hold before coming here?"
The pony known as Ember Spiral flared his wings, and with a look of smugness second only to that of a noble pony, he exclaimed "I was the FASTEST delivery pony in Manehattan!"
Star Sweeper restrained the urge to roll her eyes.
"What about you?" she pointed the tip of her quill at Briarbreeze.
The earth pony shuffled her hooves awkwardly before responding softly, "I was a writer."
Star Sweeper regarded Briarbreeze for a moment. They didn't get many writers here, and she briefly wondered what job the mare would be offered before writing the information down.
She dropped the paperwork into the basket and glanced at Big Mac, who was just finishing with his final duo. A white pegasus and a yellow unicorn, both stallions.
She breathed a relieved sigh and turned back to her own pair of ponies, nearly fainting when she suddenly came muzzle to muzzle with Ember Spiral. How the bastard had closed the gap between them in the short instance she looked away, she did not know.
"U-uh...." she stepped back from Ember Spiral to regain her personal space, "you're free to go inside now, you know."
Ember Spiral nodded his head, his grin getting bigger, "I know, you should tell Briar and I your name first though.”
Star Sweeper stared at the pair with wide eyes. They stared back with equally wide eyes, as well as gigantic, overly friendly smiles. This was starting to creep her out, but she decided to comply with their request.
"It's, uh, Star Sweeper."
She instantly regretted her action.
Ember Spiral and Briarbreeze looked at each other, apparently pleased that Star Sweeper had told them her name. Then, without a word, they suddenly assaulted Star Sweeper. Assaulted her with hugs.
It took a moment for her to register how violently her personal space had just been torn from her before Star Sweeper reacted.
"What in Celestia's name are you doing!" She cried and ripped both ponies off her with magic. They rotated off the ground slowly in silver auras, grinning from ear to ear.
"Hugging our new friend, of course!" Briarbreeze giggled, losing all signs of her former shyness.
Star Sweeper smacked a hoof to her face, now she didn't like either of them!
"We're not instantly friends because I told you my name!" Star Sweeper sputtered furiously and tossed both of them inside the gate. They sailed through the air and landed with a splat in a muddy two-pony pile outside the bakery. It didn't stop them from laughing uncontrollably, though.
Star Sweeper marched in with Big Mac, and Apple Bloom pulled the gate shut behind her. With the basket of paperwork floating aloft over her head, Star Sweeper trotted towards the biggest building in the settlement, the town hall.
She stopped mid step and glanced over her shoulder quickly, throwing an angry glare at Ember Spiral and Briarbreeze.
"Welcome to the Everfree Resistance, you freakin weirdos!" she howled, then continued on with the hope of never interacting with the two ponies again.
Fate, unfortunately, has a great sense of humor.
The Saviors of Harmony
Prologue
Ten days before it happened, an old blind mare appeared in Ponyville.
She spoke of the day when the sky would shine with the light of both day and night. The light would not be good, but evil, because why would both sister's domains try to dominate the sky at the same time if not for some evil purpose? Hardly anypony stopped to listen.
Five days before it happened, the sun and moon suddenly refused to move from the sky.
The old mare continued to speak. Darkness was coming, nothing could stop it. Nothing, not even the Elements of Harmony. More ponies began to listen to her words, and word of the princesses' silence spread across Equestria.
Three days before it happened, the bearers of the elements, along with the baby dragon Spike, heroically traveled to Canterlot.
None of them returned. As the old mare continued to preach, even more ponies began to listen.
The day before it happened, Spike stumbled back to Ponyville.
Beaten, bruised, and exhausted, the little dragon only spoke once sentence before falling into unconsciousness.
"The two have become one, and the six lights have gone dark."
Now everypony listened to the words of the old mare, even though she had long since retreated to the Everfree and no longer spoke.
The day it happened was the day everypony understood.
An Alicorn appeared, her form flickering between two different tones. One black and the other white. She bent the cosmos to her will and forced everypony to their knees with merciless brutality.
She was the One, and no other. The six extinguished lights pounced upon the land, spreading the One's influence with unholy speed.
And so the little ponies fled to the Everfree forest, escaping their home of Equestria, for it was Equestria no more. The old mare was waiting for them within the trees and spoke again.
"Not even the Elements of Harmony can stop The One now, but you cannot expect the elements to stop anything when they are no longer harmonized."
She scanned the crowed of ponies, her gaze was scrutinizing even though she could not see. Then she began to walk away, fading into the trees like a ghost as her voice echoed hauntingly.
"Who is brave enough to save those who will save us?"
She disappeared completely as Canterlot Castle filled with blinding light. After the light faded, a towering, twisted citadel stood in the Castle's place, its spiked peaks mocking everything the ponies had held dear.
Five years later, it still stands as a pinnacle of despair for all those who dare lay eyes upon it.
After so long, who would rise up to fight back now?
