Shades of the Past

Seven years had passed since the fall of Equestria. Without the guidance of the Princess', the already insufficient army Equestria could muster lost a majority of its will to fight. The many towns and Cities fell, slowly but surely, they all came under the administration of New Pegasopolis, as the country had been renamed. In the first weeks after the incident, many refugees fled North towards the Crystal Empire, though facing the threat of critical food shortages and the ever-present threat of invasion, Prince Shining Armor had the rail lines leading north destroyed, forcing any other potential refugees to brave the cold, cruel Northern Wastes in the hopes of reaching the safe-haven beyond, or remain in Equestria and suffer under the tyrannical rule of the Military Dictatorship established.

To make matters worse; the country had been divided into a caste system, with the Pegasi making up the top of the social ladder; all required to serve as soldiers in the army, receiving proper education and all the rights of first-class Citizens. Unicorns took the rungs below the Pegasi on the new social ladder; treated somewhat decently due to their capabilities with magic. They too received a proper education, and were tasked with either researching new technologies, inventing new machines, or work in the factories if they were incapable of either of the aforementioned tasks. Earth Ponies, finally, found themselves living as the lowest of the low. They were treated, for all intents and purposes, as slaves; forced to work the fields regardless of where their special talent lay, growing food or mining minerals from the earth, both very grueling and demanding work.

The faith in the Princess' began to wane soon after they disappeared, without their Goddess' guidance, many ponies began to lose faith that they would ever return to save them from this waking nightmare they lived day-to-day. Their faith in Celestia and Luna collapsed all but entirely when it was revealed they didn't need the Princess' for the raising and setting of the sun and moon; the most powerful of Unicorns having been gathered by the Pegasi and promised entirely equal treatment so long as they could pull off the movement of the celestial bodies the Princess' were once responsible for, a task in which they delivered through great, combined effort.

During the relatively short 7-year time span, many advances in technology had been made; machinery had come a long way, for both the Military and Citizenry. Factories with proper assembly lines were among the first to be built, producing the tools of war and efficiency New Pegasopolis had now become infamous for. Rather than traditional weaponry; Swords and Spears, the Military looked into projectile weaponry and, using the explosive powder found in fireworks, discovered the ability to launch highly-destructive metal balls at lethal speeds out of inventions which came to be known as "Rifles" and their shorter, single-hoof held cousins; "Pistols". Alongside these great innovations, which made waging war with griffons that much easier; giant mechanized suits of armor were introduced; capable of fighting with the strength of a dozen ponies, while one piloted the fierce, destructive suit of armor, which while heavily armed and devastating; was slow, cumbersome, and incapable of flight.

As for the Elements of Harmony, other symbols of what the former Kingdom stood for, their fates differed, arguably better than the fates of others.

Pinkie Pie found herself deep within the Iron Mines located in the Foal Mountains, working long days, every day, for the past seven years. Her once vibrant pink coat and mane had dulled, the fluffy, chaotic, uncontrollable mane that once symbolized how energetic and full of life she was had gone flat, the curly hair now straight. She and the Cakes had indeed been discovered just hours after the incident, the crying of Pound and Pumpkin giving them away, despite their best efforts to keep the hysterical foals quiet. That was the last time Pinkemena had ever seen them, her entire life now devoted to mining Iron Ore along with other Earth Ponies.

Their attention was drawn to an exhausted worker who collapsed, a Pegasus Guard prodding the fallen pony with her hoof. "Get back up and keep working!" The Guard said harshly, the fallen working complying, barely able to stand on his own four legs.

"P-please... I... I need a break..." He said, looking as though he might collapse again at any moment.

"Oh a break, eh? You can take all the breaks you want; if you can survive through the Deep-Caves, of course, weakling!" The Guard said, pointing to a deep, dark hole in the earth that led to the deep-caves; a maze-like network of tunnels, presumably left by Diamond Dogs. A survey team had gone down there once only to return at half strength, those who had returned horribly wounded and speaking of a horrendous monster that lived down there. Since then, the mining company didn't dare expand into those caves, though the guards constantly harassed workers with promises of freedom should they make their way out of the Deep-Caves, several ponies having tried, their fates unknown.

The guard then looked around at the other ponies, noticing they had stopped and had their attention directed at her. "Back to work, weaklings!" She ordered, everypony complying, the sound of picks striking stone filled the mining tunnels once more.

Pinkemena sighed as she lifted her pick, struck the stone, lifted, struck, lifted, struck; she didn't think about life as it was before, as that only made this new, painful existence so much harder to bear. She heard a thud once more and turned her head to see that same pony from before had collapsed again, the guard approaching, this time with her pistol drawn. A gunshot rang through the tunnels as all looked on in shock, the dead Earth Pony being dragged out by a couple other guards. "I said; back to work!" The Pegasus exclaimed, the fearful ponies returning to their work without question. Pinkemena didn't bother shedding a tear. She'd grown too used to this by now, amazed she had the strength to continue these many long years. All she did now was mine, mine and hope that one day things might be different...

Applejack had at least been allowed to continue farming, though she was far, far away from Ponyville by now. She and Big Mac had stayed together for the past seven years, bucking apples, pruning the trees, tending to the crops and livestock, only this time it was different. Rather than working their own farm at their own pace, they worked with many other ponies, trying to fill production quota's set by the government in Cloudsdale. They only took home a small fraction of the food they harvested, the rest going for distribution across the entire Empire of New Pegasopolis. The guards kept their watchful eyes on the ponies working the fields, day in and day out. Occasionally a farmer would be caught trying to sneak extra rations, and would be publicly whipped as a result. Once she'd witnessed the execution of a young mare who tried to escape the farms, in a desperate bid to flee the tyranny of the Pegasi. Not all guards were like this, far from it; one in particular rather forgiving and kind, at least compared to the cruelty of the others. Applejack herself had tried sneaking extra rations once, the aforementioned guard having seen her and though he made her replace the stolen food, he hadn't informed his superiors, sparing her the sting of the whip.

The hours here were long and grueling, little time for rest being had, crowded living conditions in the makeshift town established for them didn't help either. Still; Applejack and her brother endured, their only advantage over the other ponies being they were born and raised to do this; many ponies here had many different professions and talents before all this, which made it that much harder for them. Through it all, Applejack and Big Mac had stayed strong, trying to help other ponies wherever they could and trying to keep faith in the Princess' alive, though as time had gone by, even Applejack began to wonder if they truly had been abandoned...

Rarity's new purpose in life was a far cry from what it had been before. True, she was still in the business of design, though as opposed to glamorous dresses designed to be absolutely stunning, she found herself responsible for designing weapons of war, destruction, and, considering her most recent project, damnation for a close friend of hers, though she was kept unaware of this fact. She held a pencil in the air with her magic, putting the finishing touches on her schematic for a new suit of armor; this one pony-sized as opposed to the great, giant, lumbering mechanized suits that could be seen infrequently around the country.

This suit featured a reinforced exoskeleton, designed to enhance the strength of the user while allowing them to retain their agility. It had a built in IV system to drug the wearer, with what; Rarity couldn't say; she wasn't an expert in the field of chemistry. Alongside this; there were built-in weapons, such as a short, sharp retractable blade and a filtered mask designed to provide immunity to gas-based attacks. The design was clearly meant for a pegasus; though she had plans made for Unicorn and Earth Pony variants as well.

Rarity wasn't very fond of designing such tools of bloodshed and oppression, but then what other choice did she have? Non-Complience wasn't an option, as that could very well lead to death... or worse. The comer fashionista-turned weapons designer gave a sigh a Military Officers from Cloudsdale entered her workshop, followed by several guards.

"Are the designs ready?" An Officer asked, not wasting any time with idle conversation.

"Just a moment..." Rarity said, adding a few minor details to the design. "There; finished."

"Thank you, Miss Rarity. Your country will benefit greatly from your expertise." The Officer said with a nod, taking the schematics and leaving with the guards.

Rarity sighed again, setting her pencil down and slamming her hoof down on the table in frustration. Tears filled her eyes as she thought about the hundreds, no; likely thousands she'd be responsible for killing, thinking about all the suffering that blasted suit would cause, to the poor pony forced to wear it and the people having to deal with it. In a fit of anger, she threw a chair against the wall, tears streaming down her cheeks as she resigned herself to her fate, leaving the broken chair on the ground; too tired and frustrated to care anymore. The white unicorn took a deep breath as she lay on her bed, trying to get to sleep; memories of the past years haunting her in her sleep...

The sun began to dip behind the horizon, another day coming to a close for the oppressed ponies of New Pegasopolis. This night was to be particularly eventful, however; especially for the East Pegasopolis Detention Center; an isolated prison-complex where many were taken and detained for transportation elsewhere. On the outskirts of the small wooded area surrounding the prison, a group of Ponies emerged from the underbrush; their leader wearing a red bandana around her next and a cowboy hat, an ammunition belt ran across her chest with a holster for her pistol resting on the top; over her left shoulder.

"You sure this is where she is, Applebloom?" One of the ponies asked, the entire group looking to their leader.

The young filly had grown a lot in the past seven years; those she knew back in ponyville commenting on how she looked a lot like her sister... She was still blank-flanked, though her Cutie Mark had taken a back seat among other priorities; she and her friend crusading for something very different now. "If ah wasn't sure, I wouldn't have brought us all here. Besides; ah have absolutely no reason not to trust mah informant." The southern-pony said, a flashing light from the hills above and the empty railway below signaling the others were ready and in position. "Right; everypony stay low and get as close as you can." The resistance-leader said as she and the several dozen other ponies with her crept along slowly and silently, approaching the walls of the fortified complex. A great feeling of tension and anxiety present as they crept closer and closer. Failure wasn't an option here, if all went according to plan; they'd be in and out before the Pegasi knew what hit them, and if not... Then they'd deal with the situation as it developed; but failure wasn't an option.