The Outcasts

It was a beautiful afternoon in the city. The birds sang their sweet melodies as they flew through the sky, the bees frequented the flowers that colored the streets and walls, and ponies went about their business, greeting each other in a friendly manner as they trotted about with hardly a care. Earth's Haven marketplace, always the busiest part of the city throughout the day with stalls being crowded by ponies of all shapes and sizes, all with bits to spend on the first exotic item they can get their hooves on, was the crown jewel of the city whose name it shared.

A grey mare was trotting along the road pushing a cart weighed down by a set of speakers, two suitcases, and a cello case to a spot nearby the market. She was flanked by two others who, to the untrained eye, were coincidentally walking the same direction as her. In all reality, they were following her to her destination. The only stallion of the trio walked closer to the grey mare.

"Octavia, are you sure we should be doing this? Steelmane's gonna tan our hides if he finds out what we're doing!" he whispered, worry lacing his tone.

"Calm down Trott. Steelmane won't know if he isn't here to see what we're doing. The guards'll be changing shifts soon, so we'd best do this quickly." Octavia's expression remained unchanged as she continued on down the street.

"I hope you're right Octy..." Trott walked further away to blend with the crowd. Not much time passed before Octavia found the spot she wanted, which was in front of a bookstore and a music shop that sat further inward than the rest of the buildings around them. Octavia began setting up her equipment casually. She was using a street performance as cover for something more devious...

The other mare of the group, Carrot Top, walked past where Octavia stood, waiting for her cue. The grey mare turned and nodded at her. That was the signal. Carrot quickened her pace slightly as she made for the market center. Trott was next in the sequence. He walked up to Octavia, and asked if she needed help. Octavia agreed, stating she was having trouble hooking up the speakers, which was when Trott was meant to hook up an acoustics detector that was programmed to wirelessly trigger a device that Carrot Top was just now placing on the statue of the city's leader. It was disguised as a large vase containing a flower bouquet with a plaque that read "To honor our glorious leader" on the side of the vase. It was a blatant lie. All of the equipment was in place, now came Octavia's part in the scheme. She flipped through her music sheet until she found her composed piece, then began playing. It was a rather sad, somewhat quickly-paced tune. The cellist's expression was that of frustratrion the whole time she played.

In the market center, the detonator for the explosives packed within the vase lit up, concealed by the false soil and flowers that were lodged in the top.

Passersby were watching Octavia as she played on, sometimes depositing bits into the shoebox next to her. This was it. Two more measures of music. She had just gotten to the final note of her song, which sounded like a low, drawn out hum, just as guards were walking past to change shifts. Finally the cellist finished playing. Here it comes...

BOOOM!! The explosion rang out from the market, and ponies started panicking and running about. The guards who were walking back to the barracks suddenly turned about and began galloping towards the market center, having dropped their weapons before reaching the unstable statue.

"What was that?" asked Octavia, feigning confusion.

"Something just blew up!"

"What?!"

"Stalwart's Statue! I-it's gonna fall" cried one of the guards.

"EVERYPONY RUN!!"

The statue began to topple forward into the street, landing with the heavy crack of stone against stone pavement. The plaque that adorned the vase was lodged in the side of a nearby building, with its true message visible now

"To our tyrant, Stalwart Shield: wake up and smell the flowers, you stuck-up bastard.

Stalwart sat back in his chair while the television in front of him showed news footage of his statue being destroyed by an explosion. The TV screen flashed and faded quickly to black.

"The lengths some ponies go to have others hear them... If they're tearing down one of my statues, then whomever's doing this could very well be at my throat before too long." he said, raising his eyebrows. The aged pony stood up from his chair and opened the large curtains that blocked out the sun from his room, allowing large sloped beams of light to pour through the windows. "I smell the putrid stench of revolution...." he said, each word dripping with hatred.

"Mister Shield?"

"GAH!" Stalwart whipped around with his hoof against his chest and his back against the wall, only to find Commander Steelmane standing in front of him. "For the love of nature man! Announce yourself beforehoof! Nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry about that sir. One of my guardponies said you wanted to see me earlier?" Steelmane asked casually. Stalwart did remember asking to see the guard commander some time ago.

"Yes, yes... I sent for you earlier." the old stallion said softly.

"Very well. I'm here. Now, what did you need me for Mister Shield?" the commander asked.

"Commander." Stalwart said, his calm tone returning.

"Yes sir?"

"I feel an uprising is starting to rear its ugly head. I want it stopped, commander."

"Umm... Sir?"

"The madsteeds destroyed one of my statues!"

"Stalwart, I don't think-" started the commander. Stalwart stopped him and turned the TV back on. The news coverage of the explosion played again, and once the plaque bearing the message directed at Stalwart showed, the screen went dark again. The commander stood there, gawking.

"Now do you see?! There's a revolutionist waltzing about on the streets of my city, and he's bound to be at my throat before long! I need you to hunt this cur down, and ensure he hangs!" Stalwart spat. The commander hesitated, but nodded and quickly trotted out the door. Knowing one of his cohorts might have done this could very well put the Outcasts in danger, so he had to make sure this, or anything like it, didn't happen twice. As he continued along the corridor, he thought over which member would go so far as to set up a bomb to demolish a landmark meant to honor a dictator who passed himself off as a righteous leader, fair and just. He already knew it wasn't Sugar Buzz... Pinkie was crazy, but she wasn't that crazy. Maybe it was Trott, who had by far the worst grudge against Stalwart Shield. Could he have done it alone? No, no... He'd need help. The commander had no choice but to hold a meeting in the false cellar to find who did it.

The sound of muttering snapped Steelmane out of his thought process.

Oh buck me... Why him of all ponies? The pony Steelmane was referring to was a hunter who retired due to having a timber wolf slash across his aiming eye during a struggle, and always seemed to go a little bit nutty if Steelmane was nearby, claiming he could smell something that "didn't belong". The only reason Stalwart kept this stallion in the force was because of his keen nose. He could track down a pegasus, unicorn, or mutant by smell. Unfortunately for Steelmane, that meant he could smell any of those races on him, though the scent of pegasi was the most prominent. The commander gave the hunter's doorway a wide berth before galloping off towards the atrium.

The false cellar was packed full of Outcast members. Steelmane was livid, pacing back and forth with his sword held like a cane while everypony else sat in silence. The commander finally stopped pacing and spun his sword upright in his hoof, holding it straight up. He took a sharp breath in through his nostrils.

"Alright. I'm not in the best of moods right now, so you'd best pipe up if you know who it was. Who in the name of Stalwart had the gall to go and BLOW UP A STATUE IN BROAD BUCKING DAYLIGHT?! Do you know how many ponies could've been killed by that? Again, who did it?!"

"I told ya he was goin' t' be cross, Octy." Trott whispered.

"Trott! Octavia! Both of you up here, NOW." The two guilty ponies hurriedly trotted up to where the commander stood. Steelmane scanned the crowd, then brought his glare back to the pair standing in front of him. "Who else was with you?"

"Carrot top was with us, Mister Steelmane sir... We had her place the explosives." Octavia answered reluctantly. Steelmane pointed the tip of his sword at the orange-haired mare, and she rushed up to stand with the other two guilty ponies. Steelmane eyed each one for a moment. He took in a deep breath.

"You do realize pulling a stunt like that could have Stalwart's guards kicking in our doors within the next hour, right?" The commander's tone was suddenly even again, though anger still laced each of his words. All three ponies nodded slowly. "And if we start striking earlier than we should, it's going to make things harder for us later, right?" Again the three ponies nodded. Steelmane sighed. "I don't know whether I should commend you or convict you three for pulling that. That took guts, but now just isn't the time. We need time to build a decent size force before we break Shield's back... Dismissed." said the commander before sheathing his sword. After everypony was back in their places, Steelmane called for everyone's attention. "Because of the oh-so-bold move carried out by our three warmongers, the old bastard's jumpy. He's ordered those responsible to be strung up at the edge of the city should they be found." Several ponies started to panic.

"Wait, what?!"

"Is he outta his gourd?" Several more panicked remarks followed before Steelmane unsheathed his sword and chopped it into the edge of the table. Everyone fell silent.

"You heard me. The dictator's gonna hang one of his own for putting on a fireworks show. Now, I'll have to wait a while before I can tell him the pony responsible hoofed it to the forest. He'll probably fall for it and tell me not to follow, so the gates'll have more guards afterwards, but that means a few less on the inside." With that out of the way, the commander called for a round of drinks to lighten up the mood and get everybody's mind off of Stalwart's newly imposed threat. He figured they could all use a breather, especially the ones who just got the brunt of his frustration.

He was the one who needed that breather the most after today... Another move like that, and his superior would be searching every nook and cranny for the Outcasts. Knowing Stalwart as well as he did, the old codger would eventually calm down, and things would go back to normal. He wouldn't forget what happened, but he'd calm down.