Attack of the Equine Empire

She could move her hooves again. They still hurt like hell, but she could move them. Applejack tried to push herself as much as possible. It was getting her somewhere. It had only been a day or so and she could almost stand. That's good, she thought. She was strong enough to take what the guards dished out. Or they went easy on me. She pushed that thought away. She wouldn't accept it. Only the worst beating they could have possibly given would have made her talk. She knew that for certain. Applejack stood up from her bed. She felt her knees shake. She tried to move her hooves to steady herself, to lock her knees. She failed, but Spike was there to catch her.

"Woah there," he said. He helped her to sit on the side of the bed. "I think you should get some more rest before you try standing."

"Ah'm fine," she said. "Just gotta keep workin' at it, and Ah'll be back to normal. All they gave me were a few bruises."

"Applejack, the bed still has your blood on it."

"They gave me a few cuts too. So what?" Applejack's head started to split open. She held it in her hooves and rubbed her temples, hoping to ease the pain somehow.

"If only I had some daisy and noodle soup," Fluttershy spoke up from the corner of the cell. "It'd be perfect for your headaches. And it would help with your sleep problem, too."

"Ah don't have a sleep problem," Applejack snapped. Fluttershy whimpered in response and Applejack immediately regretted it. She was happy that the pegasus was talking again. She fits so cleanly into the role of caretaker. Fluttershy couldn't do much in their minuscule cell, but she did everything she could. She most often pleaded for Applejack to get some sleep. No. No sleep. Not after the dream she only half remembered.

"I'm sorry," Fluttershy squeaked. It cut right through Applejack. She had so far been watching what she said in fear of her friend's returned silence. She hated herself for slipping up.

"No, no sugarcube. It's my fault. Ah shouldn't have snapped at you. Ah'm just tired."

"Because of your sleep problem," Spike pointed out. Applejack glared at him and he promptly averted his eyes and whistled a bit. The huge metal door to the cell scraped open. Two guards entered. The same two who had entered before. Spike and Fluttershy stepped back but Applejack didn't move. She just gave them a look of expectance. She wasn't truly expecting them, but the look on her face was a perfect mix of anger and annoyance to give off that impression. They walked up to her, and threw what looked like a dress next to her.

"What's this for?" Applejack asked.

"It's for you to wear," one of them said. "You have to look presentable. You've been requested to attend a meeting in the castle dining hall. Now put on the dress and get moving."

"What kind of meetin' is it?"

"An important one. So hurry up."

"Ah can't walk." No sense explaining why. They already know.

"Then we'll carry you," the second one said. His voice was full of subtle venom. "We have orders to bring you to the meeting."

"Ah'm sorry, but Ah'm gonna have to skip this one. Ah need to get my rest, and Ah really couldn't care less about your orders." The second guard didn't hesitate. A plated hoof shot out at Applejack. When it reached her face she fell back onto the bed. Her vision was replaced only by the sensation of pain. It lasted no more than a second. She opened her eyes and saw a purple and green blur jump on top of the blur that hit her. Her eyes focused to see the first guard hit Spike off of the now bleeding second guard.

"Fucking drake piece of shit bit my fucking ear off!" the second guard yelled. He sent a kick to Spike's stomach. The young dragon winced in pain. The two guards started hitting him in a very familiar way.

"STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!" Fluttershy yelled. They both halted mid-hit. They turned to her. One of them walked towards the pegaus. He stood at least a head taller than her. They locked eyes, neither faltering. Fluttershy couldn't say anything or else he'd hit her, but she didn't have to say anything. He tried to be intimidating without hitting her, but he couldn't match her. It was in the eyes. Applejack always knew there was something to that stare of her's.

"Put on the dress," he said to Applejack as he stepped back. The second guard gave Spike some space. Applejack glared at them. A certain bile had begun to form in her throat the more she had thought about the two guards while laying in the bed. Guilt had kept it in check earlier, but once she saw what they did to Spike the guilt was replaced with anger.

Even with that, she realized that there was nothing she could do besides make then angrier. She complied with the guard's command, and slowly but surely put on the dress. She was still too hurt to walk, so together the guards carried her. They each took a side, and her back hooves dragged along the floor as they moved. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Fluttershy didn't waste any time moving Spike to the bed. Applejack didn't regret what happened her. If it wasn't her, it would have been Fluttershy. She doesn't deserve that. She doesn't deserve any of this. Applejack thought of home.

They took her from the dungeons below to the castle above. It was emptier than before, but had the same number of guards walking around. They dragged her through the throne room, past Cornaria's ornate golden chair, up a flight of steps and into a cramped room hardly bigger than her cell. The steps were the hardest, for Applejack and the guards. The room they eventually entered was far more humble than the throne room. There were no extravagant wall decorations or red velvet carpets leading to a gigantic golden throne. It was a small room lit with torches and sunlight coming through slits in the walls, with a table and chairs located in the center. Sitting at one of the chairs was the unicorn Greyhorn. He was looking at various levitating pieces of paper when his attention turned to their entrance.

"What's all this?" he asked as he lowered the papers to the table.

"She can't walk, so we had to bring her up ourselves," one of the guards said hesitantly.

"She can't walk?" Greyhorn sighed. "Put her down and leave." They took her to the nearest seat and plopped her down without any care. He shot them a look telling them it was the wrong thing to do. The two guards made their exit as fast as they could. "I'm sorry about them. About what happened. Sometimes we're so determined to get what we want that we... we don't really think."

"Why am Ah here?" Applejack asked. She didn't want to hear his apology. She could tell how much fake sincerity it was laced with. Greyhorn frowned.

"I'm serious. You know that, right?" I don't know anything about you, she might have said. She instead stayed quiet. Greyhorn sighed again and leaned back in his chair. The silence was broken the sound of a door opening. Applejack turned her head and saw Cornaria being escorted into the room. Even with what was going on, she tried to look as proper as she could. Applejack didn't understand why she would even care. She noticed that Cornaria was wearing her mane differently. At first it didn't seem too different, until she saw that it hid most of her right eye. The small part of the eye that was visible was surrounded by dark purple skin. Cornaria sat down as far away from both Greyhorn and Applejack as possible.

No pony spoke. Silence hung low in the air. Greyhorn turned his gaze back and forth between Applejack and Cornaria. He had the look of somepony who severely didn't want to be where he was. Applejack had seen that look before. Ah've known the feeling, she thought. She looked up and saw that the guards who escorted Cornaria were still in the room, stoic and still as stone. They hadn't been kicked out like the guards Applejack knew. After a time that felt agonizingly longer than it probably was, Greyhorn finally said something.

"You both probably want to know what happened and why, so I will explain," he said. "You see, the nation that I represent, the great Equine Empire, has sent me to negotiate terms with your great nation of Mustangia, and now with Equestria as well."

Cornaria retained her regality while she asked, "Terms for what?"

"Our alliance, of course."

"You're jokin, right?" Applejack blurted out. She couldn't help but do it. The whole thing was too ridiculous. It took her a minute to realize there was a big, stupid grin on her face. She hid it as fast as she could. Greyhorn ignored her.

"For the longest time we have been trying to have council with both you, Cornaria, and Celestia. Both of you have shunned our requests. Even our Emperor himself offered to come here, and you denied him. That disrespect is something we have never seen the likes of before."

"You killed those guards who were loyal to me," Cornaria said. She didn't sound saddened. She sounded like a mother scolding a foal that didn't know what it did wrong. "You imprisoned and tortured my servants."

"This whole thing was supposed to be bloodless," Greyhorn admitted. "Your invitation to the Equestrians and the security measures you took because of it forced us to change our plans. But there's no changing it now. What's done is done, and here we are."

"Mah answer is no," Applejack said. She thought of the guard who died in front of her, but the image in her mind wasn't him. She saw Rainbow Dash bleeding at her hooves. She imagined him as Rarity and Twilight and Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. Anger made her veins pulse and her bruises hurt. If Cornaria felt the same, Applejack couldn't tell. The Princess was much better at hiding her emotions. In the very least, she wasn't as obviously terrible at it as Applejack.

"I agree with my... friend, Ms. Applejack. After recent events I must decline. In fact, your actions are no less than an act of war, and an insult to me and my people."

"Princess, if my country wanted to go to war, I wouldn't be sitting here right now. It has always been in my Emperor's best interest for our nations to work together in a more unified fashion."

"It's in his best interest, is it?" Cornaria said. Her voice changed, and she developed a mocking tone. A sarcastic smile grew on her face. "He cares so much for me and the ponies of Mustangia? Is that it? All of this awfulness over the past few days is out of the kindness of his heart?"

"Yes," Greyhorn said. His voice remained calm and unchanged as he spoke. "If it was up to me, you wouldn't have a head right now." Cornaria's smile was gone, replaced with a frown and a furrowed brow. It was all in the way he said it. It didn't come off as a threat or some kind of attempt to establish dominance. It came off as a simple truth. It was enough to send shivers down a pony's spine. Applejack was hoping for something like this. She knew he wasn't who he said he was, and the more she watched him the more she learned. What Ah'm gonna do about it, Ah don't know yet, she thought. But she felt in her bones that she was going to have to do something.

She wasn't going to just sit back and listen, though. "If it was up to you?" Applejack asked. She had an uncontrollable desire to just start pushing buttons and see what would happen.

"Yes," Greyhorn said. He looked between the both of them. "I'm under strict orders to make peace with Mustangia. I'm loyal to my Emperor, but I've always thought actions spoke louder than words, and the only thing that can truly drown out the words is blood. What I'd do is, I'd grab your mane with my hoof, drag you from the castle, kicking and screaming, and drop you right down in Bastion Square. I'd stomp on your legs and wings to make sure they were broken, and as you crawl around, crying for help, I'd take my sword and I'd remove your head with however many swings it would take." Once again, there was silence in the room.

Greyhorn didn't wait for a response. "So, let's discuss the terms," he said with a smile. He levitated the papers in front of him and split them evenly among the the three ponies. "Cornaria, those documents are your agreement to become a protectorate of the Equine Empire. This opens up trade between our countries, creates joint military interests and management, allows free travel of Equine Empire citizens between the countries, gives governing responsibilities to both nations so that you can work more closely with Emperor Seromors and our Senate, and all the little things that come with our new relationship. Applejack, your proposal is much simpler. That merely guarantees that, as a representative of Equestria, you give your word that your country won't retaliate in any fashion to what has happened here until Celestia meets with Emperor Seromors."

"What kind of name is that?" Applejack asked in a mocking tone. Greyhorn looked at her with annoyed contempt. Applejack took some pleasure with that, even if it was only a little. The feeling passed quickly. Yer just gonna make him angry. That's not the way to do it. She had a strong desire to make him angry. Her bruises started shouting at her. They yelled at her to be better than him. To do everything the best way she could. She wanted to yell at Greyhorn. Call him the worst things she could think of. Jump over the table and buck him in the face. But she couldn't. She had to reign in her anger. She had to be smart. She owed that to Spike and Fluttershy. To her other friends, wherever they were. And to her family back home. An image of somepony, she didn't know who, but somepony standing at Sweet Apple Acres flashed in her head. The pony was telling Granny and Big Mac that she had died.

"It's a title," he said, bringing Applejack back to the table in the small, stone room. "Our Emperors give up their birth names and choose new ones. This meeting isn't really about the culture of my country, so I suggest we-" Cornaria let out a laugh. "Is there something funny about what I said?"

"I'm sorry," she said through her giggling. "When you said culture, I just couldn't hold it in." There was silence once more. Cornaria was giving Greyhorn a smile full of venom and glee. Applejack wanted to smile too, but stopped herself when she saw the building rage within Greyhorn's eyes. Both her and Cornaria wanted to hurt him anyway they could, Applejack knew that. But that wasn't the way to do it. Just accept the deal and wait for Celestia to bring help, she thought. She hated that she had that thought. Part of her wanted Cornaria to blast a hole between Greyhorn's eyes. She hated that she had that thought too.

"Cornaria," Applejack said, "Ah don't think it's a good idea to talk like that."

"And where do you get off telling me what to do?" she shot at Applejack. "I wanted Celestia here, but instead I got her teacher's pet Princess and her low born friends."

"You don't seem to be taking this meeting very seriously," Greyhorn said.

"Oh, I am taking it seriously. I've put in a lot of thought and I already have my answer. War. Munstangia declares war on the Equine Empire. It will fight to the last pony to see you out of our home. We'll see how you like being dragged through the streets and beheaded." She was standing now. Her chair was on the floor. The two guards stepped forward to restrain her but Greyhorn signaled them not to. Her voice started getting louder and louder. "And we won't stop there. No, we won't settle with that! For this insolence, for this idea in your head that putting a sword to my throat would allow you to do whatever you want, for that we will march on your land. We won't stop until every single one of your fucking cities are burned to the ground. We will salt the earth for your actions here."

"You keep saying 'we' as if anypony but you would want this war," Greyhorn said. He began to raise his voice as well.

"I've done my research, Greyhorn. I know about your nation's ways. A bunch of peasants have their villages burned down by some dragons a century ago and they suddenly think they have the right to build an empire? A brutal dictatorship built upon the backs of those you see as lesser than you. Anypony would fight to be rid of you."

"Hypocritical, considering you and your family are no different."

"How dare you!" Cornaria slammed her hooves upon the table. "How dare you slander my family like that! My ponies love their country! They love me! They'd do anything for me! I know it!"

"You have a funny definition of love, don't you think?" Greyhorn was standing now, too. "I've also done my research. How long has it been since your last armed revolution? Twelve years. How long until the next one? You've been a disaster with running Mustangia. You make terrible and meaningless decisions while your ponies starve and resort to crime or die. They hate you, Cornaria. They've always hated you. They've hated every single ruler that's come out of your family."

The confrontation had turned in Greyhorn's favor. "Say what you will about me," Cornaria began, her voice quivering and her body starting to shake, "don't you dare say anything about my family!"

"Why? It's true! You've all been unfit to rule this country and the ponies here have hated you for it. They've hated you, your parents, your-"

"No!" she shrieked, cutting Greyhorn off. It was so loud and full of pain that it made time stand still. The guards, Applejack, even Greyhorn, it seemed, were all taken aback by it. Cornaria's eyes began to water. Her breath and her body were both shaky. "My mother and my father were loved by their subjects. They died for this country. They died, so that I could live. So that I could lead it. I am not going to lose it. I can't lose it." She was breathing heavily. She tried her best to maintain her composure but it was impossible at this point. It was all she could do not to break down right there, right then.

"Cornaria," Greyhorn said. His voice was soft. Applejack knew better than to think he was as sincere as he sounded. "You've already lost it."

Her face showed an expression of a pony trying her best to hide complete and utter despair. A tear rolled down the dark purple skin around her eye and onto her cheek. She turned and ran out the door without saying another word. The guards moved to stop her but Greyhorn said, "Let her go." A few seconds passed before he let out a deep sigh. "She won't go far. Find her and put her in her room."

"Both of us?" one of them asked.

"I'll be fine here." They left without any further objections. Applejack didn't know what to say. There was nothing she could say.

"Seromors told me something before I came here," Greyhorn said. "He said, 'Greyhorn, the world is changing. It's changing faster now than it ever has before. The only thing we can do is change with it, or get left behind.' Cornaria is one of those ponies who will never change. She's a  dying breed. The old monarchies are failing. Mustangia, Germaney, Zebrica, Prance, the Griffin Kingdoms, Saddle Arabia. They're all a few poor decisions away from being overthrown. The only ones that seem remotely stable are the Crystal Empire and Equestria. Why do you think that is?"

"Ah don't know," Applejack said. Greyhorn chuckled.

"I expected a 'Because we're better,' or at least some pride in your country." He sat back in his chair. "As for the Crystal Empire, I think it's just a relief to not be a slave to Sombra. Give them a few years, and it'll be like all the rest. Equestria, however, is much more deeply rooted in its loyalty."

"Celestia's better than the others. She's always been there for us," Applejack couldn't help but say. She surprised herself with how quickly she defended the Princess. She could tell where he was going with his little speech, and speaking up seemed like nothing more than instinct.

"It's still unclear to me whether it's because you're all afraid of what would happen without somepony to move the sun, or if it's because you've deified her and her sister so much."

Applejack didn't pretend to recognize the word deified, but she could guess what it meant. She reckoned it meant something like looking at a pony and not seeing what's wrong with 'em. Applejack may not of known that word, but she wasn't stupid. She knew what he was getting at, and wanted the whole thing to be done as soon as possible.

"And y'all are any different?" she asked. The question he was waiting for. She could see it on his face.

"The Equine Empire chooses its leaders based on ability, not lineage. Any unicorn stallion can be elected to the Senate, and any great citizen of the Empire can be chosen by his peers to become the Emperor."

"So everypony's just peachy in yer neck of the woods?"

"Why shouldn't they be? Back home, everypony knows their place. The rebellions, like the one that took place right here a decade ago, are all born from disillusionment. Not despair. Not poverty. Those have always existed and they always will. Revolts are created when ponies who aren't satisfied with their lives start thinking that they deserve better. That wouldn't happen in my country. Ponies are born with the lives best suited for them. No offense to you, but you won't see an earth pony joining the senate anytime soon." He let out a laugh. Applejack glared at him and his smile quickly disappeared.

"I'm just saying," he continued, "it works. It's worked for a hundred years..." there was a pause where a normal pony would say, 'and it'll keep working for a thousand more.'

Just send me back to my cell, she thought. But she didn't want to go right away, though. First she wanted to go to Cornaria. Applejack barely knew her, and part of her even hated the stuck up Princess, but she still felt for her. Ah know what you're feeling. With your parents... Her whole body ached. She knew Cornaria was off somewhere crying. She wanted to go to her, comfort her like Fluttershy would, make her laugh like Pinkie, do something. She hated sitting still and hurting. She needed something, anything to do to make things better.

"I'm sorry. I ramble sometimes. Anyway, the more important issue." He pushed forward the agreement. "This little piece of paper needs a signature. You don't need to sign it now, but it needs to be signed sooner rather than later. And the longer you make me wait, the more impatient I'll become." Applejack's bruises throbbed with pain and she thought of the first time she met Greyhorn.

"What's Alicorn's Bane?" she asked.

"Don't change the subject," he spat at her. His frustration was growing palpable.

"You asked me about it before. It seems important to y'all. What is it?" And why do y'all want it so bad? For once, Greyhorn seemed hesitant to speak. His mouth made the smallest possible movements, as if talking through his response without anypony noticing. Before he could say anything somepony else did it for him.

"Careful, Greyhorn. We don't want too many ponies knowing about your secret little scavenger hunt," Windswept said as he entered the room. Applejack's stomach turned a little when she saw the smug smile on his stupid face. Greyhorn sunk into his chair and sighed.

"Oh gods, Windswept," she heard him say under his breath.

"I'm glad that my presence cheers you up so much, but if we could move past your obnoxious disdain and get down to business that'd be great," he said. He turned towards Applejack. "What's she doing here?"

"We were negotiating the terms," Greyhorn said.

"Is that the reason for the blubbering mess I saw being dragged from the throne room? Applejack seems to be taking it better than Cornaria. Rather than anguish you're feeling anger. And a lot of anger by the looks of it." He wasn't wrong. Applejack was never bothered with wearing her feelings on her sleeve, even at a time like this.

"And the same results with both of them," Greyhorn said as he levitated Cornaria's treaty towards himself.

"That is why you leave the administrative aspects of our operation to me, and the stabby-stabby torture aspects to you."

"You mean my operation, don't you? The one that I planned and put together and chose to bring you in on when I could have easily let you wallow in the dungeons with the rest of them?"

"Please," Windswept chuckled as he walked around the table, "without me you wouldn't have gotten nearly as far." He plopped the stack of papers he'd been carrying in front of Greyhorn. He flipped through the first few and had a look of dread on his face Applejack never thought she'd see from him. "I don't think it wise to discuss today's tasks with an Element of Harmony here," Windswept said, looking at Applejack.

"Ah'm sorry," she said, "but Ah'm not really in a position to leave right now."

Greyhorn waved his hoof. "I'll send for some guards to get her. It doesn't matter if she hears a few things before they get here. Let's just get through this so I can get some sleep."

"Alright," Windswept said, his eyes not breaking off from Applejack's for a long time. "We have officer's reports, new equipment requests, etc etc, just the usual. There are a few things that need attention. Firstly, there was an issue with one of the maids and some of the soldiers, ahem, mistreating her."

"Not one of my soldiers," Greyhorn said as he wrote something on a piece of paper and sent it flying down the halls with his magic. "I'd bet my horn it was one of the undisciplined goons you hired. Until we find out for sure, get her out of the cells and into one of the suites. I'll put ponies I trust on her."

"Well there's some issues with that... but I can explain later. Next, there was an incident at the barrier last night. Guards caught a group of ponies trying to get through. The report suggests four or five of them. They captured one and they think they killed another, but they couldn't confirm it."

"I'll be down to talk to the one they captured later today- finally, you're here," Greyhorn said as he looked up from the papers. Two guards entered the room. In fact, it was the same two that escorted Cornaria in earlier. A large and muscular red stallion and a a thin, teal one.

"You asked for us sir?" the teal one asked.

"Take her back to her cell," Greyhorn told them. They nodded and made their way towards Applejack.

"Wait!" she cried. They stopped and she turned towards Greyhorn. "Put all the prisoners in rooms inside the castle, out of the dungeons."

"Excuse me?" Greyhorn asked. It was half disbelief and half laughter when he said it.

"She didn't even say please," Windswept chuckled.

"If y'all want me to sign your piece of paper, then you're gonna put everypony you took prisoner and put them in those nice rooms in the castle. Ah won't do it otherwise." It was at that moment that Applejack took everything that had happened, everything that she had gone through, all the anger, all the sadness, all the feelings of powerlessness, everything she had inside her, and she focus every single solitary ounce of it into one stare. She wanted the stare to pierce through rock. She thought of Fluttershy's stare, and tried to channel it. She was solid at that moment. Everything moved around her but she remained still. She didn't even breath.

The target of her gaze was Greyhorn's own stare. He didn't flinch, and some irrational part of Applejack thought that meant it didn't work and she should just give up. But she didn't give up. Even something as small and insignificant as what she asked for seemed like some grand prize, some lofty goal to achieve with this stare. She didn't even blink.

"The Royal Guards," he said, with a pause that almost broke Applejack. "stay in their cells. The staff, and your friends, can get the rooms." She breathed a massive sigh of relief, but tried her best to hide it.

"Greyhorn, I don't think that's a very good idea," Windswept said. Greyhorn waved his hoof.

"Windswept, shut up," he said, annoyed. "Guards in the cells, our own stallions all over the palace, nothing's going to happen and I don't need her to be mad at me right now. I've got enough of a headache as it is." He rubbed his temples as he turned to Applejack. "Are you going to sign the damn paper now? Because if not, then can you please leave us to our business?"

Applejack smiled as best she could, and tried to push herself up from her chair. "For the love of... you two. Take her to one of the rooms, then get Beta squad on moving the others." Applejack felt hooves take her. They weren't rough with her, so she didn't resist.

They took her out of the room. When going down the stairs they lifted her in a surprisingly gentle way. They walked through the throne room. "I'm glad that the Princess finally shut up," the teal one said. "Could barely here myself think over her wailing."

"This is a painful time for her," the red one said. You have no idea, Applejack thought. She could see the tears on Cornaria's face. She was still there, in that little room, crying. Applejack's bruises ached when she thought of it. They moved out of the throne room and into the large hallways of the palace. "Here we are," the red one said as they stopped at an ornate door. Applejack recognized it as one of the rooms where her friends stayed when they first arrived at the city. That made her smirk.

They opened the door. The room was similar to the one she had, but it wasn't the same one. Either that, or she forgot exactly what hers looked like. The two guards dragged her towards the bed. "You know," the red one said, "Greyhorn's not all that bad. Not all the time."

"Windswept's a piece of shit, though. We'll give you that one," the teal one said. They lifted her onto the mattress. They started back towards the doors.

"Can Ah ask you somethin'?" Applejack said as she sat up.

"By all means."

"The mare, who got mistreated by some soldiers..."

"Who?" the red one asked.

"Do you mean the maid who died today after she got-" the teal one started before being elbowed by the red one.

"What does she mean to you?" the muscular guard asked.

"Nothin'," she said. "Just... nevermind." She laid back down on the bed to rest. Everypony gets comfier beds now, she thought. She may have gotten them that much, but she didn't get them out of the pit of rattlesnakes yet. At least, not yet.