Reason to Destroy

1:00 PM, 23rd day of the year 1004.  Three hours before Vinyl's concert.  Eight hours before the coronation celebration.

Luna watched Vinyl as she disappeared around the corner of a building.  She almost wished that she hadn't sent her friend on such a dangerous mission.  However, it was essential to their plans and the escape route was in place.  She would be out of there in plenty of time.  While Vinyl left to prepare, Luna turned her mind to another importance piece of the revolution.  Turning Twilight Sparkle to her side.  This was an essential part of gaining support.  If ponies thought she was making another attempt at gaining power for herself, such as the time she was possessed by Nightmare Moon, they would not follow her.  But, if she had another princess on her side, that would make all the difference.

"Well...  It couldn't hurt anyway..."  Luna teleported back inside her castle.

Before she brought Twilight into the plan though, she would need someone to influence her.  Twilight would not be an easy to one to convince of the necessity to turn against her mentor.  Being taught by Celestia for years, Twilight was perhaps, one of her most loyal subjects.  The planned revolution could not be revealed to Twilight's close friends either, they were loyal to Twilight, and by extension, Celestia.  Suddenly, Luna had an idea.  She would need to talk to an "enemy" of Twilight's.

Luna whinnied with laughter.  "It's quite amusing how they pretend to hate each other."  She thought to her herself.  "Trixie will be the perfect ally.  She hates the current regime, and is close to Twilight whether either of them will admit it or not.  She is still living in Ponyville I believe."

With this objective in mind, Luna walked around to the back of her castle and lifted a trap door concealed in some bushes.  A worn staircase lead down a dark unlit passageway, the air smelled stale and ancient.  Luna could have used a train to Ponyville, but that would be too slow.  She could have used a magically assisted long-range teleporter, but every one of them was traced by Celestia.  Therefore, she had her own transportation in place, and hidden for just such an occasion as this.  Luna proceeded down the hallway, lighting the way with a magical glow from her horn.  She reached the end and pushed open a creaking stone door.  A spacious stone-walled room opened up in front of her, it was lit by veins of glowing white crystal flowing through the walls and ceiling.  Directly in the center of the room was an enormous conical crystal resting on the floor, coming to a point, and connecting to the ceiling.  It seemed to give off an aura of magical energy that Luna could physically feel against her skin.  This device took in magic and amplified it for the user's needs, in this case, a heavy duty transportation spell.  She had designed it herself under the influence of the demon, Nightmare Moon, all those years ago.  She shuddered slightly when the memory of those times crossed her mind.  Then, steeling herself and blocking out the bad memories, she began to channel her magic into the monolithic crystal in front of her.  Slowly, a tendril of her magic reached out and touched the crystal, bleeding into it and filling it with power.  Once the it had been sufficiently charged, Luna reversed the stream.  The magic flowed from the crystal filling her horn with a torrent of magic that swirled around her like a hurricane, throwing out bolts of energy that discharged into the air.  Her eyes shone with power as she released the magic into a mighty teleportation spell.

**********

4:05 PM, 23rd day of the year 1004.  Five minutes after Vinyl's concert.  About five hours before the coronation celebration.

Vinyl didn't know where she was, or where she was going.  After she was dragged off stage she was thrown viciously into a cage attached to the back of a magically drawn cart, in which two Equestrian Law Enforcers sat.  Vinyl could tell they were talking as she lay in the cage, but she could not make out any specific words.  During her ride in the cage, all she was aware of was the occasional bump in the pavement and the murmur of ponies watching in fear as she passed.

"I hope those other guys in the band made it out all right."  Thought Vinyl, although she was already fairly certain that they hadn't.  "Fuck!"  She swore as the cage went over a particularly jarring bump, driving the wire of her prison into her already bruised body.  The ponies controlling the cart just laughed.

Eventually, the sounds of the bustling city of Canterlot stopped completely, and Vinyl felt the cart going over what was probably a hastily made dirt road.  She could make out bits of the enforcer's conversation now that the sounds of the city were gone.

"Why the hell are we taking this conspirator to the detention centers?"  Said one of the enforcer's through a filter that changed his voice to a deep almost robotic tone.  They were designed to sound unfeeling and intimidating.  "Let's just blow her scumbag brains out right now and be done with it.  I hate checking in prisoners, the paperwork is fucking endless!"

"No!"  Shouted the other enforcer in an almost imperceptibly higher tone, with the same voice filter.  "The Administrator himself wanted this one alive, she may be linked to something larger than a normal open act of sedition.  She will NOT be killed until the Intelligence Council has gotten the needed information from her!  Do I make myself clear?"

The other enforcer muttered something indistinguishable, and Vinyl heard nothing more from them.  Finally, the journey was over and the cart stopped.

"This is E-114 requesting permission to enter Detention Compound 4-C for purpose of turning in political prisoner for processing."  The enforcer with the higher voice, who seemed to be the other's superior said into a radio.

"Permission granted, proceed through into the first room, turn over the prisoner, and return to your normal duties after filing the necessary acquisition forms."  The radio crackled back.

The lower-ranking enforcer mumbled something, and Vinyl heard the swoosh of a large door opening.  The cart moved a little farther then came to a stop again.  Closing behind them, the door shut with a thud.  Vinyl heard some other ponies without voice filters walk in and start talking to the enforcers, she then noticed someone had come up and opened the cage door.  Another pony, a unicorn apparently, yanked off her hood, pulled her out of the cage with a telekinetic spell and dumped her unceremoniously on the cold metal floor.

"Where am I?"  Vinyl asked, with a touch of panic in her voice.

"Shut up conspirator."  The superior enforcer said, and kicked her hard in the stomach.

Vinyl screamed in pain involuntarily, it felt as if one of her ribs had been broken from the blow.

"Keep your prisoner quiet unless you want to go in the cell with her!"  Roared one of the prison workers.

"Yes sir!  S-sorry sir."  The enforcer answered.  "You better shut the fuck up!"  He seethed at Vinyl through his teeth.

The other enforcer glared at him, and turned back to the prison workers to discuss the paperwork.  Vinyl choked back any further cries of pain, and lay still to avoid the wrath of the guards.  With her vision now unobscured, except for the blur of tears that had automatically formed in her eyes from the kick, she took a moment to look around the room.  The walls were of white concrete, the floor and ceiling were constructed from steel plates connected together with rivets.  A single light bulb let out a desolate, depressing glow that seemed to say.

"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."

It was a room that perfectly reflected the Equestrian law enforcement, cold and unfeeling.  Parked in the center, was the cart and cage Vinyl had made her journey in.  Two prison workers were still talking to the enforcer officer, while the third worker who had pulled her from the cage stood in the corner staring off into space.  The inferior enforcer stood next to her, glaring down at her sulkily.  Or at least that's what it seemed like, it was hard to tell since everything but their eyes was covered with armor, wiring and speakers for the voice filter.

"And that's pretty much it."  One of the prison workers said to the officer.  "You and your partner may finish these forms in my office and then return to your duties.  We'll take it from here."

"Thank you sir!"  The officer saluted and walked towards a connecting door that was apparently the door to the office.

"Yeah, whatever..."  The other enforcer mumbled and slouched after his leader.

"Political prisoner."  The lead prison worker, a brown pegasus, said as she glared at Vinyl.  "So you're a traitor, huh?"

Vinyl tried to hold back a laugh in spite of the situation.  She didn't succeed, and she winced as a searing pain shot through her cracked ribs.

"Yeah, I'm a 'traitor'.  If you call playing some music being a traitor these days.  Heh, what a bunch of killjoys you are.  My mom wouldn't have been very happy, but I thought I was a grown up now."  Vinyl grinned slightly, she was obviously making them angry, but strangely she wasn't thinking of the consequences right at the moment.

The lead worker's face did not change.  "Take her to her cell.  The Admin wanted her alive, but you don't have to be too careful with her, if you know what I mean."  She smiled cruelly at Vinyl.  "Now get her out of my sight!"

The two other prison workers quickly complied, they both grabbed one of Vinyl's forelegs and dragged her through a sliding door and down a hallway.  When they reached cell number nine they dropped her legs.  Vinyl looked up, but they didn't open the door.  Suddenly, the worker on her right  turned toward her and hit her in the face sending her sprawling across the floor.  Her glasses shattered from the impact and snapped in half.  The other worker punched her in the back, then opened the cell door and threw her in.  Her broken glasses followed after her, hitting her in the face.    After the guards walked away, the cell door slammed shut, and the Vinyl's hoofcuffs fell off.  Being deactivated by some design of the cell.  Vinyl stared at her shattered shades in disbelief.  Her father had hand made them for her, before he had been conscripted into the Equestrian Defense Force and never returned.  The events of the day seemed to suddenly appear to her, like a nightmare that she could never wake up from.  Emotion smashed into her like waves from a raging storm.  A single tear fell down her cheek.  Then another.  Pretty soon she was curled up on the floor sobbing with the glasses between her hooves.

**********

1:06 PM, 23rd day of the year 1004.  About three hours before Vinyl's concert.  About eight hours before the coronation celebration.

Luna appeared in a clearing of Everfree Forest on the outskirts of Ponyville.  The shockwave from the extremely powerful spell made the trees around her bend briefly, as if hit by a strong wind.  Blades of grass were blown into the air and starting slowly floating back to earth.  The crack of energy scared off all wildlife for a good sized radius around her.

"Now where do I start?"  Luna wondered as she looked at the trees around her still swaying from the impact, and all different kinds of animals running quickly disappearing into them.  After walking around in a few confused circles, Luna started off in the direction of Ponyville.

**********

Ponyville was one of the nicer towns in Equestria, even rivaling Canterlot.  Perhaps it was because Celestia's student lived there and she had seen fit to dramatically lower the tax rate.  Whatever the case, none of the building were in disrepair, the grass was green and well groomed, and the ponies were wealthier than most.  Luna was rather annoyed that whenever she walked by anypony, they would insist on bowing and only speak to her when spoken to.  This was one of the things the revolution must end.

"I'm looking for Trixie Lulamoon."  Luna projected her voice, but not so loudly as to scare off anypony as she walked into Sugarcube Corner.  "Has anypony seen her?"

The ponies looked at her fearfully, but one of them raised a hoof.

"She lives in the library, Your Highness"  A female pegasus said quietly.  "Princess Twilight gave it to her before she moved away.  She used to live in a home made shack on the edge of town, until a few days ago."

"Thank you."  Luna said and left the scared ponies, some of them still bowing.  "This is going to be even easier than I thought."