Chapters Not long after Discords second defeat an anti government group called Freedom rules every pony eternally overthrew the princesses. This costed them and every single pony living more than they ever could have comprehended. The group snuck into the castle during a meeting and gunned them all down. Then proceeded to fight there way through the castle to an on waiting truck and escaped. This was a moment that was forever known as, the turning point of the world. An emergency meeting was scheduled to discuss the plan of action. "Since the group struck at dusk the moon is now and has been raised for months with no pony to lower it." "I say we find another alicorn to do the same thing as the other alicorns." Said a tall tan stallion attending. "The populace is on the verge of widespread panic! How can you suggest something like that now you idiot!" Said an older grey stallion across from him. " Whoah cool it night sky, we've handled stuff like this before, remember?" "Oh yeah Blade, the princesses have been banished to the arctic before!" " We can't just sit here though. We need some pony to do Celestia and Luna's job. Ponies love and need the daylight. The last time I saw the sun was two months ago! Me and everyone else is sick of it!" " Our government and economy are in ruins! We need to stay here and keep the system and populace in check!" " And have Free come smash it again? No thanks!" " He does make a good point." Said a lighter tan stallion in back. " Shut up Golden honor!" Night sky had no idea why he was so riled up all of a sudden. He then looked at his flank showing stars on a night sky. Night was his element! Was he being so controversial because he wanted the night to last? No, even he was sick of no sun by now. What could he do to get every pony to agree with him? A smile then came to his face as he said. " Our government and economy are in pieces, and the sun will not raise. But no matter what they say, they can chase alicorns until they become one! But this is my home! When I was little it gave to me, I don't know about you but this seems like the perfect time to give back to the city!" Suddenly a roar of approval came from the crowd, and the decision was made. While Blade and Golden honor went alicorn hunting, every pony else would stay back and rebuild the economy and government in an attempt to make things better. Since alicorns don't grow on trees it would be hard. But Blade and golden honor were determined to succeed. " If I was an alicorn where would I live?" Blade muttered to himself. " Someplace high with lots of magic?" Golden honor guessed. "You're a genius!" "I am?" "No an alicorn would go exactly to a place like that. So they headed to the nearest fitting location, The mountain of mysticim. "Look for a home or anywhere an alicorn could hide." Though they felt like they were doing something morbid, they trudged on through the rocky trails and caverns. "I don't think we're getting anywhere with this Blaaaaaaaade! I see it!" "What!" "Fortress with the royal symbol on it! That'd be a best spot as any for our search!" "I'm marking it on our map! Tomorrow we might do it! Together, we can do anything! While the mountain was now a place if adventure and excitement, the Capitol was the exact opposite. The situation was flaring out of control. The riot control and covert ops were all there in an attempt to calm the populace. But at no prevail. The citizens were furious two ponies were looking for another alicorn. To them the entire government should be. "What can I do!" Night sky said. "The populace will not give up and we have exhausted our recourses." "Sir said a nearby guard, should we initiate code 22F3Y? " "Yes" Night sky said reluctantly. In present times this is a code which controls the populace by force. Also initiating a safeties off for all guards. Giving them the right to forcibly calm ponies down. As he had feared this enraged the populace even more and subsequently gave Free a message from above to act. In the Canterlot plaza Free gave a speech that opposed the order and told the civilians to fight back. But a rat in their midst alerted the guard and they arrived and beat them on the spot. Then orders were employed to amputate horn or wings and remove one eye, This was used to handicap them and show them what they've done with a now "pure" eye. The situation at Canterlot was terrible, better at the mountain and worse in another location soon to be described. She knew this. Atop a mountain in a stronghold a mare watched from her domain. She was knowing. And she knew what she was going to do about it.
Things were going from bad to worse. The farmer Appljack knew this well, crops would not grow at all and people were starving. Her job since fillyhood was to help on the farm and keep ponies from starving. Without the princesses to raise the sun and moon the agricultural cycle was off. Meaning with no sun the crops don't grow, the crops can't spread seeds and no more food is produced. Things were very bad here. Not just for the farmers, changing climactic conditions forced ponies to bundle up all day. The guard sends supplies, but only half make it with all the arms trafficking to build the largest private army. With those armies growing it was getting easier and easier to seize the supply convoys. Heck half of stalliongrad was dead because of supply shortages. The three main factions fighting over the supply routes were: The anti government group Free, the remnants of the military and the remaing guard. With the guard trying to keep the piece alone millions of supply crates are seized with only one of the factions encouraging it. With her mind on these things Appljack failed to notice the stairs to the basement farm. With a sickening crack she regained her senses she gasped at the rip across her front leg. She was horrified as she couldn't buck now as her front legs were used as support. Now she couldn't use the applied pressure tablet to generate power for the lights keeping a few preserved trees alive in the basement. That was not to be concerned now, she had to tend to the rip because she was losing blood. It wasn't fast but it was painful beyond measure. After calling Big Mac she had been able to get laid down on her bed. They had to then remove the bits of wood that had dug themselves into the exposed tissue. It was gruesome as many veins and and muscle tissue had been shredded. Not to mention the wood slivers. Big Mac had to take pliers and wrench them out, all came out with a vomit inducing squelch. After that the open wound had to be dressed, since they lived on a farm medical supplies were kept handy. That would have helped except for none of them had medical training, except for apple bloom who had learned simple first aid while trying to find her special talent with her friends. They wouldn't have called her in except for the fact that they were running out of options."Do I have to?" The filly said reluctantly. "We don't have much of a choice. You're the only one with any sort of medical experience" Big Mac explained "It was a first aid explanation at the clinic! I don't think I would be able to take on something of this level!" The filly argued. "Please Applebloom, you're the only hope we have." Big Mac pleaded "Okay" Applbloom said reluctantly. As the filly looked at the wound she wanted to throw up, but she had to do this. She got bandages from the medical cabinet she strained to remember what she had learned that day. Drawing at a blank she poured a little bit of the thing that cleaned out the wound diss something but she forgot its real name. Next she wrapped the bandage around Appljack's leg. It wasn't a hospital grade dressing, but for a filly it was pretty good. But with that problem out of the way they had to face their other problem. Without Appljack to buck the generator pads with Big Mac it would be difficult to keep the basement farm going. Problems problems problems. In another part of the town things weren't any better. With the economical collapse Fluttershy couldn't feed her animals enough and every one of them were hungry. She even sacrificed most of her meals and it still wasn't enough. Things were also getting more and more depressing as the weaker ones slowly passed away. Last week Angel had died, it was particularly saddening as even though Angel could be stubborn, he was one of her first animal pets. She was getting to the point of major depression, the animals tried to comfort her but who would comfort her when there were no animals left to do so? These thoughts circled around in her head as she tried to sleep that night. One thing she couldn't stop thinking about was the newly founded counterfeit organization. They illegally produced money so they could get surplus food or build another private army to go along with the rest. These people supposedly were under orders by someone, but every pony shrugged it off as a hoax. They assumed they made money to keep one step ahead of the slowly rebuilding economy. Even though it was slowly rebuilding itself with new vital jobs, it wasn't getting back to normal anytime soon. The next morning another squirrel died, they were dropping like flies now a days. She sadly prepared for yet another burial. She dug a hole in the ground with a shovel that had seen much use in the past few days and was now very dirty from use. After the hole was dug she placed the corpse in one of the little boxes she had made knowing this would happen. As she placed it in the ground she reminisced the times she had spent with her and her brothers and sisters. After this she placed a candle on the freshly closed grave and wept. She didn't just weep for the squirrel ,but for all that had happened in the last few months. Life can be a tragedy, she now understood this line for the first time since hearing Twilight recite it from a book. At the boutique things were also grim. The dressmaker Rarity had to take care of Sweetiebelle and herself in these harsh times. In these times ponies needed a leader or someone to guide them. Twilight would have been great at this, but only a week after Discords second defeat she was dragged away to a mental hospital because the guard feared her magic after she defeated two of the most treacherous villains in equestrian history. Sadly before Celestia could clear things up the hospital burnt down, no pony knows who started it and why. No survivors were found and all patients and staff were considered dead. These thoughts were interrupted by Sweetiebelle saying was headed to the club house to play with her friends. She said okay and to bundle up as it was biting cold outside and frostbite could easily occur. She got back to her thoughts and this time was on the subject of magic. It could be used as a good or evil tool depending on its user. Many feared unicorns with strong magic as magic can actually take over a unicorns body if he or she pushes their self too far. It only occurs in unicorns though because compared to alicorns they have a magic limit before they need a new form to comprehend greater magics. Ascension like this is incredibly rare though and had only had two documented cases of self ascension. Also there is one case of non self ascension as in a case that was destroyed many years ago that is remembered to this day. Transcending into a new body can be described as confusing because involuntary magic is taking place which can feel very strange if one is not prepared. Suddenly she thought about how she knew that. She then remembered with the cold outside here and her sister had been reading just to pass the time away. She had plenty of books because most buildings had bookcases and books simply because knowledge is very important in equestria, because in a place like this it is always useful to know what to do in case something attacks you. Aimlessly thinking Rarity failed to notice Sweetiebelle now bundled up leaving the building. As she walked the once sunny streets of ponyville she took in what was really left of it. A place that is broken and imperfect words her big sister would use. After ten minutes of walking she reached her destination. The clubhouse has seen better days but surprisingly still kept itself together. As she ascended the ladder she got inside revealing Scootooloo and Applbloom were already there. She was about to say hi when she looked closely at Applebloom, she had something on her legs. Then she knew it was the same thing that covered the ground when she cut herself, the same thing that splats out of a pony who just had a limb cut off. It was blood. Since she was saying hi as she thought this it came out like hi how are why is blood on your legs? It sounded rude but she couldn't contain it. "Okay, you remember when we took that fist aid thing at the clinic? Well it really helped earlier when Appljack ripped her leg open and Big Mac said I was the only one with any knowledge on the subject. Worst experience of my life so far, blood was everywhere and I felt like puking the whole time!" She ended, "Was it really that bad?" Scootooloo said. "If you were there you'd understand. As these fillies were talking up on mount mysticism two explores were coming closer to finding the new ruler of their land. And one step closer to making the discovery that would destroy the ever crumbling equestrian even more. The mare looking through her monitors was smiling as she knew what was going to happen next as if it was just one piece of the puzzle. I love this part she finally said. She had been awaiting this and she knew when they showed up. It would be perfect. As if she could relive it over and over and over.
Up on mount mysticism, Blade and Golden Honor were trudging towards the stronghold. "Holy mother of, that place is huge!" Golden Honor said in awe. As they kept walking Blade answered,"If you were an alicorn you'd probably want a place to stay. A place with wing space, and a high magic concentration. Basic needs of a pegsasi and unicorn." Blade finished. "Why? Unicorns don't need lots of magic in an area, and pegasi can live in confined spaces? Golden Honor asked. "Involuntary wing and magic activity. If a pegasi is in the sky moving without flapping, the brain flaps for them. And when a unicorn is in an area with very little magic, the horn tries to release magic on its own to balance out the magic levels." Blade explained. As they trudged on they asked and answere many questions like this. Finally they got to the gates of the immense stronghold. As they approached the gates swung open, revealing a large field with a path leading up to what looks like the palace but more decrepit. "Holy mother of, this place is not the ideal alicorn habitat. I thought they loved interacting with ponies?" Golden honor questioned. "Looks like some pony tried to build here, that or many." This statement was correct because as Golden honor observed, he saw many plots that looked like foundations. "By Celestia you're right, but who would want to build in a place like this?!" Golden honor stated. "Some pony out of their right mind." Gathering up the little courage they had left, they journied up to the palace. Back in Canterlot it was getting to a code red. Ponies were rampaging and rioting. Without a princess to keep order they slowly strarted going insane. The mare with the monitors loved things like this. And she knew a little way to spice things up, using her favorite state of mind, paranoia. Not even a day later the ponies were conspiring because of a broadcast they had heard. The government claimed as a hoax, but that only heightened the paranoia. We're they keeping an alicorn hidden away to keep testing this new governmental format? These questions plagued the populace and gave them yet another reason to hate the government. In ponyville things weren't any better. Maybe worse, at sugar cube corners the cakes were working very hard to make food for every pony. If this wasn't bad enough Pinkie had gotten sick from withdrawal. When ponies went hungry sugary treats weren't an option so they were excluded. Without her daily sugar intake she got sick and had no energy. Just talking tired her because talking fast as usual without any energy can be hard. Energy it's a very important thing, it isn't just needed at the bakery, but a certain pegasus needed it too. Rainbow dash required a ton of food to keep her healthy and meet physical requirements. Even though Derpy was happy to share her almost unending supply of muffins, doctor whooves had a time machine so they didn't trust that. In fact all the pegasi were desperate because of the amount of food needed to fly. These were desperate times, and desperate times called for desperate measures. These desperate measures were taking place on mount mysticism at that exact moment. Blade and Golden honor were coming closer and closer to reconsidering as they drew nearer to the palace. It was all grey and looked a lot like the Canterlot palace, making it even creepier. "Do we have to do this?" Golden honor said scared half to death."Unless you want things to stay like this forever." Blade said back, as they approached the doors Golden honor said,"No way I'm going in there!" Pointing his hoof at the unnervingly black doors."We made it this far, no point in giving up now. We started this hunt, and I intend to finish this." With these he dragged Golden honor up to the doors, opened them and walked in. While it was very dark and forbidding they continued. At the throne room esque area they stopped in front of a huge monitor. Suddenly it snapped to life, they couldn't see the onscreen mare very well as she was in darkness. But it implied that she could see them much better. "Welcome to the kingdom! The kingdom of everyone! All the ponies live it here! No pony is bound by morality, ethics and even Celestia forbid, good and bad." After this she laughed, not a good laugh but a terrifying laugh that sounded maniacal in every way. "So why are you here? Did you meet any of the lovely sunkects? Or gaze upon the architecture? Come on, I won't kill you without a reason." After this came another burst of laughter. Now it was clear that she was probably insane. "Are you an alicorn by any chance?" Golden honor blurted."Why do you ask?" The mare said in a calm yet unnerving voice. Then on the screen a bit of off colored darkness took shape. Wings! Blade thought, just need a horn and. Before he could finish thinking the mare lifted an object off a nearby table and dropped it. Alicorn alicorn alicorn, cool it Blade get yourself together! "This may seem poorly timed but, will you be the new high princess of equestria?" Blade announced. "Why me? I just rule a lovely sunny kingdom with nice ponies and good buildings to stay in. As you guessed I am mentally handicapped, yet you're asking me?" She explained. "Just so you know the moon's been out for months!" Golden honor stated. "We need an alicorn so we can get the sun back and keep the kingdom in check." Blade told her. "Are you sure? Because I might make things worse than before." She told them. "Mostly people want the. Sun back. You give them back the sun, and they will be pretty satisfied." Blade persuaded. "Okay, but if things get worse you are going to regret it." That day Blade and Golden honor returned successful. They told her to raise the sun the next morning. While many said they were lying everybody like that got quite a kick the next morning. After 2 months and 12 days, the sun was shining again. But this was just the beggining, the beggining of the end. And nobody but the princess knew this. Most were very happy about this and celebrated all the day. But on a more political scale, things were just beginning. Many changes were made soon after to help with rebuilding of society. First the Capitol was changed to the castle to officialize its new title. Second the council had moved there as well to ensure safety and prosperity of the populace. Many of the ponies had called the castle fort saving grace, and that soon became its official name. Saving Grace, hope comes in small clusters but belief is what makes us carry on. That was the motto of the new Capitol. Next the foundations laying everywhere were turned into buildings. People were liking this more and more and more in time. Law was another important to be considered but the crime doers were always stopped by ponies wearing black armor with helmets showing red eye goggles. With a symbol on top, two crossed horns and a star. The image put on their flag. Seems right. One creepy thing is that no matter the severity of the crime, the punishment was always up to the princess. Little things were addressed with labour, but anything major was addressed with the room. The room was the place where the princess personally handles the worst of them. None of them have ever come out, ponies could only think of the terrible things she could have done to them. But Blade tried to push those aside as he sat at his desk filing registration papers for building farming and all those other things. Even though he and his co workers were working overtime to get things started, having the sun back was worth it. The sun coming back was a miracle. Applejack Big Mac and Applbloom could finally get outdoor farming done again. And all the dead trees fertilized the soil which named the apples grow at a break neck pace. Soon the food situation was better and no pony went starving. Through all the political and public problems they managed to find another alicorn. Though some of the new laws were questionable she couldn't remember it but one of them was just out their. Then it hit her when any pony was found guilty of crime they have no charges against them, while the latter are sent to torture. Call herself contradictory but she just couldn't get over that. We're those the desperate measures? And if so, to achieve what?
Arms race, what does that phrase mean to all the ponies. What does it mean to you, these questions were asked on the fateful day of the convoy attack. Much needed supplies came in and were loaded onto a truck. This truck would go to the distributarionary center to divide it among the places where they were needed. About three miles into the trip they had to stop because of an oddly upturned truck in their way. Expecting an ambush the armed forces transporting the supplies set up a perimeter until the last couple of trucks containing command showed up. After a few tense minutes the trucks pulled in. One soldier walked up to the pony in command, "Sir we have set up a perimeter around the.." This was met by a knife straight through his head sending a mass of gore onto the truck. Before any pony could react multiple soldiers ripped off their uniforms revealing bulletproof vests. Then they proceeded to pick off the troops while shouting Revolution! As loud as they could. In 10-20 minutes the entire convoy was a mess of corpses, gore and assorted weapons littering the ground. The attackers then drove the convoy into a secluded hanger nearby with the acronym Free sprayed on the door in bold yellow letters. Days later Blade and Golden honor were resting in the barracks discussing the hiest that had been recently pulled off. "That must have took months to plan." Blade exclaimed, "I know right? Not to mention equipment personnel and intel!" Golden honor exclaimed in response. The group assumed to be Free had gotten a score of 22,000 bits in weapons equipment food and medical supplies. These things seemed impossible but they continued to amaze them with the scale and skill of the heists. The royal guard in the capital are raising security for convoys and especially the shipment of money from the more profitable areas of the rebuilding equestria. The money was kept at the royal bank of Canterlot and was worth at least 67.5 thousand bits! More than three times the groups recent take from the hiest. Negotiators were sent to meetings with Free to try to come to an agreement over supply distribution. But these attempts failed and the guard was able to distribute less and less supplies over time. On the day of the next shipment to the bank security was as high as ever meaning more guards were there than ones guarding every other bank and base. They were expected to strike for the money there, but they were wrong. Under the cover of darkness Free raided the national treasury in the capitol. They got away with 59.9 Million bits in cash! This sent an entire wave of protest at the government to try to negotiate with free again and give in to them. This time the princess would show up, but only on a monitor brought along by one of the guards. The meeting was set up in ponyville so both parties had to travel less. As they all got seated the monitor sprung to life, Free's commander who like all the other ponies was in a full body suit for identity reasons sat himself in front of the monitor. "So miss princess, many want us to come to an, agreement. Is that not clear?" The pony said in a deep voice. "Most are just angry with you for the messing up of the equestria in the grand scale of the roads on the convoy relating for all time." She said in that kind if screechy tone, this was followed by that laugh yet again. "What were you talking about? Are you tricking me?" The leader said in an accusing tone. "No sir the princess states she is mentally handicapped" one of the guards explained. "Oh well as it may seem we want to of for you something." He said his voice lower than usual. "All crimes must be forgiven and we want to make a base near the Capitol for our cause. In exchange for our seizing of any violent activity for now." He offered, "That is the deal then or the seal which binds together our words but just for now making it all in good sense meaning books and in all the world..." The princess stated before another round of laughter. "Me and my group will take that as a yes, for now. And with this they disappeared, leaving the nearby guards to wonder how long this false tranquility will last. The answer? Not very long, since the robberies Free had become infamous and hated through equestria. Tensions rose when the ponies demanded something be done about them. So the guard went to the princess. "The seal has almost burned out to cause the fire to fire up to burn and ravage?" The princess responded without any clue of the true meaning. The assumed she was talking about the horrible war or something that would ensue breaking the treaty. That or once she lost a seal in a freak campfire accident but that was very unlikely. So they tried to put it off for as long as possible. The longer it takes for war to break out the better. Talk of war had already begun spreading across the united territories. Eventually it reached a certain clubhouse on the apple farm. "Did you guys hear about the fighting that might happen?" Applebloom asked her two friends. "Yeah, but Rarity doesn't seem interested in it that much." Sweetiebelle answered. "I don't know anything about a war, my parents don't tell me much about what's happening nowadays." Scootooloo responded. "You know we could ask Appljack." Applebloom blurted. Agreeing that it was a solid idea the trio went searching. After an hour or two they found her in the west field. "Hey Appljack can you tell us about the war?" Arguably this was a bad idea but they couldn't help themselves. "We'll its a bad thing. Now run along." Understanding the subtle not right now they walked back to the club house. Surprisingly some other pony was doing the exact same thing right then but a long way away. Blade paced all around the barracks because he just didn't know what to do. The people were on the.verge of rioting again and that was not a good situation to be in. So the committee of civil and governmental decisions was called up to help. Somehow they actually decided to attack them in a hope to show them who's in command. So on a cold morning next week squad was standing outside of the main Free base. "I can't believe I'm doing this." Blade remarcked. Then they hit a switch and opened up the hanger door. To the astonishment of the squad they were waiting. It was an ambush! Only 3 squad members survived and those 3 suffered major physical trauma. They had taken in a lot of bullets. So the surgeons had the task of taking pliers and extracting the bullets from the internal organs before they could be treated. They all came out soaked in blood. After that the surgeons had to close the bullet holes by stitching. Blood was everywhere making the task harder and slipperyer. Since they were surgeons they were used to blood but the amount of bodily trauma caused was immense. It was questionable whether or not they would survive. In the royal meeting room the council was discussing the fact that they had a rat in their midst and they had to get rid of him or her. At that same time a pony was on the phone. "Yeah there freaking out, I'm gonna have to lay low for awhile even though I'm the last pony they'd suspect their doing interrogations with every pony! So see ya next time boss, Freedom rules every pony eternally." And with that the pony put down the phone and walked back to the barracks. "Hey blade how you doing?" Golden honor greeted his friend.
