The Catalyst

You know, it seems that as of late, things have rarely been working out for me. I was imprisoned by a loving-princess-turned-harsh-dictator, my friends abandoned me, and I have not had a warm meal in a few years.

I was able to make it through a thought without being sarcastic. Holy shit.

Okay, Twilight, getting off-track. Gotta get the fuck out of this damn prison cell. It’s boring here. Celestia and her dictatorship.

I can hear loud footsteps coming down the stairs.

Speak of the devil. It’s Her Royal Highness herself. She doesn’t force the guards to carry her?

“No, Twilight, I find that them carrying me is not as important to me as them quelling rebellions.”

She can read my thoughts. Maybe I should just think what I want to say.

“That’s not a good idea. I know your mind can wander to places, Twilight. Very dark and inappropriate places.”

I found my voice. Only took some very uncomfortable egging on. “Is this really the time?”

“I know that you miss your friends, Twilight. But, honestly, I could care less. After all, they did abandon you.”

I would have killed her right there, but my hooves wouldn’t fit through the bars in my cell. “How did you even come into power? I know it’s a little…off topic, but it’s been nagging at me.”

She smiled. “Finally taking an interest in me, I see. Allow me to show you.” She made an image on the wall in my cell. I leaned back against the cold brick of the parallel wall and made myself at home. Images came to life.

“It was while you were away, saving your friends from their rather pitiful lives,” she explained. “I had been planning this for a while, you see, and I saw my opportunity. With the most powerful unicorn away on vacation? Remember what I told you when you went to go get your crown?”

My memory clicked. “The Elements are useless without Magic.”

“Exactly. The others were gone, but Magic was quite powerful. While it would have been a close fight, I’m sure, Magic would have bested me.

“I was able to lead you away from here. Without you, Equestria was powerless. I started small. Passing laws that took away small amounts of freedom, like regional curfews and full body searches. Then, I got bigger. Started making ponies wear uniforms, assigned jobs even if a pony didn’t have their cutie mark in that field. As I’m sure you could guess, some ponies weren’t happy, and organized protests. I had to take action. This was the first instance.” She pointed to the image, and it started moving.

In it, there was a large group of ponies. Some were holding signs, while others were speaking to the crowd. Every now and then, there’d be a “Yeah!” or a “No!” from the crowd. Celestia and her army of one hundred or so soldiers came into focus. Some had spears, while others had bows and arrows.

A brown pony with a blonde mane walked out of the crowd. “He was the leader of the protest,” Celestia informed me. “My soldiers knew what had to be done to maintain order, and they performed beautifully.”

Realization dawned on me.

“…and if you, Princess, would please restore our rights, we can pretend like this never happened,” the brown pony said.

“Thank you for the offer…” Celestia started.

In the movie, she motioned for the sword at her belt.

“…but I’ll have to decline.” In one fell swoop, she unsheathed her sword and removed the head of the brown pony.

That’s when the chaos began.

Ponies were screaming and running. The soldiers ran into the crowd and started butchering everyone in sight. Some pegasi tried to fly away, and then I realized why she had also brought archers. Their arrows brought every last ill-fated pegasus down. It was a complete massacre, and the one I used to call my mentor was responsible for it.

“No one questions my rule,” Celestia said, after the crowd had been reduced to a pile of dead weight. “I rule alone. My rule is absolute. No one questions my rule, and if they do, they die.”

The maniac had cut down about a thousand ponies without hesitation, and liked doing it. Her grinning soldiers had enjoyed it, too. Some had taken grisly trophies of their kills.

“You BASTARD!” I shouted at her through the cages, “You killed all of those ponies! They were innocent, and you killed them!”

“They weren’t innocent,” she snapped back. “They prevented peace. And it didn’t stop there. The press called it the Harmony Square Massacre. And there were four more. All in all, about five thousand ponies were killed for peace.”

“Peace? You don’t get peace through slaughter! You get peace through diplomacy!”

“And when I get to the human world…I will crush any resistance, especially the one that your so-called friends set up. I will personally kill every last one of them, and I will enjoy it. I will enslave and purify the human race.”

A loud explosion rocked the building. I could hear alarms and screams ring out.

“What in my name is going on out there…stay here. Oh, wait, never mind. You’re not going anywhere.” She laughed at her own joke.

She left me to my own devices.

Great. Alone again.

“No, you’re not,” said a familiar voice. The source of the voice finally stepped out of the shadows. Her pink coat, with purple wingtips, kind of blended in with her multi-colored mane.

Princess Cadance.

“Cadance? What are you doing here?”

She produced a small key. “Busting you out.”

She unlocked my cell door. “Why?” I asked her.

“We need your help. Celestia, as I’m sure you know, wants to enslave the human race. We are going to prevent that. Remember that portal to the human world?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, it was moved right around the corner. Follow me.”

Damn, that walk was short. In fact, it was so short and uneventful, I will spare you the description.

We had reached the thing. “You first,” Cadance said.

I stepped towards the portal.

“Stop right there or I will shoot!” another familiar voice commanded. I didn’t even need to see the white coat or two-tone blue mane to know who it was.

Shining Armor.

“Wait…Twily? Cadance? Why are you…doing this?”

“For freedom, Shiny,” Cadance said. “For real peace.”

“But I…thought that you sided with Celestia.”

“I did at first. And then she murdered over a thousand ponies.”

“I know but…why do things have to be so complicated?”

“I don’t know, honey. But I love you, okay?”

He smiled. “I love you, too.”

A loud shot rang out.

And a small pool of red formed on the white coat of my brother, matting his coat and staining it with its undeniable red. He collapsed.

“Shiny!” Cadance shouted, rushing to his body. “Shiny, honey, no…”

Celestia stepped out of the shadows, smoking gun in hoof and smug grin on face.

“Sorry, Shining Armor, but your incompetence cost you your life.”

Cadance looked up at Celestia. “You bastard! You shot him! Why did you have to do that?”

She shot Cadance.

“Same reason I must shoot you. Incompetence.”

I levitated the both of them and jumped through the portal, tears in my eyes.

I was not about to let her get away with this.

I needed to find my friends.

And, Luna as my witness, I was going to do it.