The Birth of a Rebellion

The train slowly stopped as it arrived to Ponyville’s train station. It was amazing that so many things happened in those two days, since Crimson arrived to Manehattan. And now he was back to Ponyville, where his trip started. Crimson wondered if anyone noticed thier presence the first time his expedition arrived to Ponyville. They were commanded to tell nothing about their trip. Only Twilight Sparkle and Zecora knew something about it…

He picked his backpack from the storage compartment and headed the door. When he landed on the platform he realised that many ponies got off at Ponyville. After a bit of observation, Crimson noticed that they were all journalists. Copper Compass had always been a bit of a show-off, and now that he had the opportunity to boast that he was the leader of an expedition, he had gathered all the possible media. This would help him to go unnoticed, as the amount of strangers that crowded Ponyville would have increased for sure.

The town was just like he had imagined it. Little houses of two floors painted in shiny colours that were organised around the town hall. When he came with the expedition he had almost no time to see the town. But he expected it to be less crowded. It seemed that Crimson wasn’t the only one that came because of the expedition. The streets were full of ponies shopping. It seems he also arrived in market day. He approached one of the stalls and bought a delicious apple pie for a couple of bits and laid on the grass of a nearby park to eat it. The sound of a river flow covered the noise of the market, creating a relaxing atmosphere. When he finished his pie, he laid under a tree and enjoyed the shadow. The day was wonderful, without a cloud in the sky. He could have stayed under that tree relaxing forever…

Suddenly a pink mare started to trot to him. She had a messy curled dark pink mane and blue eyes and a big smile on her face. He wondered who she was. Crimson started to wake up, picking what was left of his apple pie and turning his sight for a second. When he turned back the pink mare had disappeared. I wondered where she could be…

“Hi!” Said a voice at his back. Startled by the voice, he turned around quickly. It was the pink mare that was far away in front of him just a couple of seconds ago.

“How did you… but just a second ago you were in front of me, how could you…” Crimson mumbled. He couldn’t even imagine how she moved that fast.

“I’m pleased to meet you too! My name is Pinkie Pie. You must be new around here” She said quickly as lightning. “When I saw you eating alone I thought “Oh! He’s new around here, he must have no friends” and that’s too sad so I came, but now I realise you are not the only one… AH! I’ve got a lot of work to do, too many new alone ponies! They need a welcome PARTY!” She sentenced, and as fast as she came she disappeared.

Crimson was still shocked by what happened. That pony just appeared from nowhere and disappeared as fast as she came. This was too confusing, but at least he was lucky he wasn’t the only new pony around here. If you want to be unnoticed getting a party thrown for you isn’t the best way to do it. Crimson decided to have a walk before Pinkie decided to return as mysteriously as she left.

The town was full of activity. All the ponies at the market picked up their stalls as the meal time approached, while the other ponies headed to the restaurants of the town. He had to book a room somewhere before the town’s hotels filled up. Crimson spent the next hours looking around the town, trying to get some accommodation for the night, but it was useless. The journalists of almost every newspaper had occupied any kind of hotel, motel or anything remotely similar in the town. He could not spend the next two nights sleeping out in the open. HE was going to have enough of that during the next couple of weeks at least… After laying on a bench of the park for a while, he got an idea, something that he usually did when he arrived to new cities and didn’t got where to sleep.

Crimson headed to the library. Perhaps sleeping on a cushion on the floor of the library wasn’t the best rest you could get, but this method served him well on his trips across Equestria. But at those trips at least he could use as a pretext that he was in research mission for the Academy. He would have to imagine something better this time…

The library was a tree treated with transformation magic. Crimson had no chance to visit it the last time he was in Ponyville, before the expedition, and that was something he regretted then, but now he was grateful for having the opportunity. As he approached the building, he remembered why it was famous, considered by several architects of Equestria as the best building achieved with these kind of magic. Indeed it was wonderful. he knocked the door. He remembered that Twilight Sparkle herself lived here. He was so lucky that I haven’t met her jet. If she recognised him his entire plan could be spoilt.

The door opened, but instead of a mare, it was a little dragon that stood at the entrance. He stared at Crimson, and he stared back at him, pretty impressed. They spent around two seconds staring. Finally the little dragon broke the silence and asked.

“Yes? Do you want something or are you going to stand there staring at me?” The little purple dragon said. Crimson still could not stop looking at him, overall at his green spikes.

“Yes, sorry I… My name is Crimson Zephyr, and I wanted to speak with the librarian.” He said. The dragon still looked at him. Crimson started to get nerveous… “And I’m sorry. I’m just not accustomed to see young dragons like you are. I hope that these awkward moments don’t occur to you usually…” He tried to apologize.

“Don’t worry; this only happens when someone new arrives to town, something that lately happens everyday… My name is Spike!” He said, smiling. Crimson was glad he wasn’t offended by the awkward moment. “I’m sorry, but Twilight isn’t at home right now. She’s at Zecora’s, but I guess she’ll arrive soon. Anyway, what do you wanted?”

“I’m a journalist of the Manehattan Daily. I came here because of the expedition, as you may guess… But I’m doing another research also, and I heard that Ponyville had an interesting library. I wondered if I could take advantage of any of the books here, so I decided to give it a try.” He said as he wondered if it would be enough for the young dragon to let him in.

“I think Twilight wouldn’t mind, but you will have to wait until she arrives to take any of the books. I don’t want you to pry on her notes. It’s nothing personal. Get in.” He said. He clearly distrusted Crimson, but at least he let him in.

The library was amazing. Thousands of books covered the walls, organised in bookshelves integrated in the tree itself. Only a couple of doors and a staircase interrupted the continuous lines of books. Spike headed to one of the doors and turned to me.

“Do you like coffee?” he asked. It sounded like Celestia’s blessing to Crimson. “I’m going to make some. Twilight told me to prepare a lot for tonight; it seems that she’s going to be busy.”

He nodded and smiled. A coffee was something he just needed right now. He spent some time speaking to Spike. He was kind and extrovert. Crimson asked him about how he could have ended up living in a library in Ponyville and how he met Twilight. He told him about his life in Canterlot and the adventure that brought them to live here. Crimson was captivated by his story. He had heard a bit about the story of how Twilight and the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony beat Nightmare Moon before, but hearing it directly from one of the protagonist was amazing. They spoke until Twilight arrived, a couple of hours later.

“Spike! I’m back!” She shouted as she opened the door smiling. After noticing Crimson’s presence, her expression changed. “Spike! I thought I told you that I didn’t want journalists at home! I’m upset of the interviews, and I’m too busy right now for another one!” She said, clearly upset.

“I’m so sorry if I’m not welcome, miss Sparkle. But you must not blame Spike, as he followed your orders perfectly.” Crimson quickly intervened. “I’m not here to interview you or to ask you anything related with the expedition. I came here because I needed some information for an article I’m writing and I wondered if I could use some books of this library.” He said, giving Spike a wink.

“Oh! Of course…” she said, relaxing. “I can help you to look for any book you may need, if you tell me what your investigation is about.”

Crimson’s mind was blank. Quickly trying to think about something before she could suspect anything, he started to recall his expedition to zebra lands, seeking for something that could be curious. Suddenly, he got an idea and, though it was a bit weird, he decided to give it a try lacking of nothing better.

“Well, I’m actually doing a very specific research, comparing the zebra guerrilla tactics with the old pegasi war tactics.” He answered, trying to sound as convincing as possible. Twilight stared at him, puzzled by the answer.

“It is a curious field of investigation indeed … But I think I have got something that might help.” She said, and turning to Spike she asked “Spike, can you bring me that old copy of Pegasi History and the copy of Pegasi across the ages?”

“Yes Twilight!” He said, and instantly he ran to one of the bookshelves, looking for the books.

“For the zebra part… I’m not sure if we have any book related to their war tactics here, but it’s true that I never looked for anything related to that matter…” She said as she turned to me. “Anyway you are free to use any book here in the library, but if you don’t mind seek before we have dinner. I’m going to have a busy night and I will need this whole room for my investigation. You can use the studio behind that door to do your research.” She said, heading to the staircase. Suddenly she stopped and turned around. Looking at Crimson she said “And I’m sorry for being so harsh before, I’ve had a hard day.”

“Don’t worry.” He answered. Apparently satisfied, she turned around and went up the stairway.

Crimson stood thoughtful in the middle of the room. For sure Twilight was doing some research for the expedition so Crimson would have be careful and leave tomorrow early in the morning. He couldn’t run the risk of being discovered by any of the members of the Academy… Suddenly he felt a touch at his back and turned around. It was Spike.

“Here you have the books Twilight recommended” He said. Crimson grabbed the books with his magic and floated them to the table at the middle of the room.

“Thanks Spike.” He said, and started to look at the bookshelves. Perhaps the idea of researching about zebra guerrilla tactics wasn’t bad at all. Zebras were well known for their flair for camouflage and infiltration, something that was more than proven to Crimson during his expedition to zebra lands. Using these natural abilities, combined with their talent for brews and potions, they developed techniques that enhanced them, such as the body combat Fallen Caesars style. Perhaps reading about these tactics could help on his adventure. Taking into account that Crimsom’s plan was to be invisible until he got a better idea, it could really be a great help…

He spent the next two hours searching among the bookshelves for anything related with zebras, until he found a book called “Pocket guide for the zebra explorer”. This book caught his curiosity. It wasn’t surprising that Twilight didn’t noticed the existence of this book, as it was really thin and stuck between two huge tomes of potion making. Opening it, Crimson realised that it hadn’t more than a hundred pages. Heading to the index, he found that the book contained more information that it could seem initially. Brews for invisibility, tracks detection, poisons and antidotes, camouflage in forests and plains… the book contained almost everything any pony who wanted to be on somepony’s track could desire. Crimson smiled, realising that his luck started to change.

“Found anything?” Spike asked. Thought he actually found something, Crimson wasn’t sure if wanted to share his discovery with Spike and Twilight. This book could prove to be really useful, and having it would help him for sure.

“Thought I did, but it was just another book about zebra brews” He lied, as he sliced the thin book under his vest. “I think I’ve searched enough. I guess you don’t have the books that I need to make the analysis of zebra tactics, but anyway the books about pegasi should be useful”

Suddenly he noticed the light of the dusk coming through the windows. It was time to take everything to the studio, and to have dinner. He decided to go to a restaurant, trying to pretend that some companions of the Manehattan daily where waiting for me. Before he left, he dropped his backpack and the pegasi history books on the desk of the studio and picked some bits to pay his dinner.

Crimson looked for a restaurant. Every place was full, again. After searching for a time and realising that Ponyville wasn’t prepared to host such a big amount of visitors, he just gave up the idea of eating in a restaurant. Desperate, Crimson approached one of the waiters at one of the restaurants and almost begged him if he could make him a sandwich. After waiting for almost half an hour, he got his sandwich and, trying to stay as far away as possible from the mass of ponies that crowded Ponyville, he headed to the same park where he had lunch. The moonlight now reflected on the smooth surface of the river and the murmur of water created a relaxing atmosphere. Laying on the ground, he started to eat. He was starving.

After eating his sandwich, he gave a fast review to everything that he had to do before the expedition. Buying some canned food and materials should come first, followed by a visit to Zecora’s. He had to get some more herbs, and overall the invisibility brew, if he wanted to follow Copper’s expedition. Also some kind of cloak could be useful, as the unpredictable weather of the Everfree forest could become a problem. With this in mind, he started to head to the library. He decided to make a checklist.

Ten minutes later, he was at the library’s door. Knocking, he patiently waited until Spike opened the door.

“Hi Spike.” Crimson said as he walked inside. The room was a complete chaos, with gigantic piles of books spread in regular circles, almost as if they where pillars holding up the ceiling.

“Be careful with the piles. They are pretty unstable, and touching any of them will probably make them all crush” Spike said, almost whispering.

“I guess Twilight has started her research.” Crimson said, as both headed to the studio’s door. Crimson turned around, and when he found a hole in the wall of books, he got to see Twilight. She was floating several books around her, scanning them at an impressive speed. He noticed that Spike opened the door of the studio, and, as silently as possible, he got in. He now understood what she meant with needing the whole room.

Crimson opened his backpack and got the logbook out. He hadn’t read the logbook since he left Manehattan...

We were outcasts, exiles. Many of the founders of Equestria were considered now as criminals. All we wanted was to express ourselves freely, developing the culture and technology of the ponykind. Resigning ourselves to this new situation, we headed to the north, to the old lands where ponies used to live in. We thought we could use any of the now abandoned old cities to settle down and try to prosper. We weren’t few, and our knowledge was great. Many ponies that were not directly exiled sympathised with us, and joined our exile. Earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns, all together sought a new opportunity, far away from the land we loved.

We settled down at the old former capital from the unicorn’s nation. The castle and the surrounding lands were devastated, so we made all the possible efforts to settle down a stable agriculture, in order to sustain our “new” city. After a year, the change was noticeable. Green fields surrounded the castle, restored to its former glory. The city was rebuilt using all the advances that we made in pony technology and magic. The streets had magical empowered streetlamps and we started to build a teleportation portal, difficult task due to the lack of gems necessary to complete the proyect. But we didn’t surrender, and we progressed.

A new spirit rose between the exiles. Once we settled down, and had a stable sustain, most of us were able to return to their former investigations. Everyone contributed on everything possible. Turns where organized, making every pony, no matter if he was an earth pony or not, work at least one day per week at the fields. Though criminal behaviour wasn’t common, we set down a police force. Bit by bit we progressed, as the lack of resources was compensated with great efficiency and hard work. The atmosphere of brotherhood and camaraderie favoured the appearance of what I had desired for so long… Democracy. We founded a new parliament, but this time it wouldn’t be composed only by “noble” ponies, rather than by anyone that got enough votes to get in it. It was wonderful. Ponies were finally ruled by ponies again, and all our efforts were compensated. With time, new exiles came to our city, as the word of our success spread through Equestria and Celestia’s regime grew stronger and repressive.

After a couple of years, we received an outcast by own will that we never expected to receive. Princess Luna itself, accompanied by her own personal guard, arrived to the city, now named Philopolis, a name that I personally disliked, but most ponies found adequate. She requested to speak at the parliament. There, she stated that she decided to exile herself, indignant by the repressive attitude of her sister’s regime. She spoke with conviction when she spoke about how she admired what we achieved during our exile, and that she wanted to be part of it, part of the democracy. Many critical voices rose up, as many of the parliaments distrusted the princess. Even thought she helped us during our peaceful rebellion against the censure, some ponies thought that she was the one that betrayed the rebellion, as the attack Celestia did to the rebellion’s core was of surgical precision, impossible to achieve without a great amount of information. The debate on the “princess issue” carried on for days. Meanwhile the princess was allowed to stay in the city. When the debate finished, the opinion was unanimous. She would be allowed to stay, but she would be unable to present herself to the parliament as a candidate. This last part was more polemic, but it was finally approved by majority.

The next few years were…

Crimson stopped reading as the door started to open. He quickly hid the logbook under one of the books about pegasi history that Twilight had recommended me, fearing the she would get in and discover it. Instead, it was Spike carrying a coffee cup.

“Twilight thought you might need a coffee to stay awake.” He said, smiling.

“Thanks Spike, it was just what I needed”

“If you need anything else just give me a call” he said, closing the door behind him.

He turned and uncovered the logbook. It was almost unbelievable what ponies achieved at least a thousand years ago… Crimson heard rumours that said that stable teleporting portals were being investigated right now, with unsuccessful results, and that was only one of the things considered as impossible that this book said that existed a thousand years ago. But how could all this knowledge had been forgotten?

He stared for a while at the books Twilight lend him. If he wanted to protect his cover, he would have to take some notes about what was in the books… That wasn’t difficult, but it wouldn’t allow Crimson to do anything else tonight…

He headed to the door, opening it. He saw Spike lying on a cushion next to the staircase, sleeping. After, he turned his sight where Twilight was before. She was exactly in the same position, but now surrounded by floating papers and notes. Crimson didn’t want to break Twilight’s concentration, so he approached Spike silently. Shaking his arm smoothly, he woke him up.

“Sorry Spike, but I need some parchment, ink and a quill to take some notes. Is there any left?” He asked, thinking on how much parchment Twilight could have used to have such an enormous quantity of notes floating around her.

“Yeah…” He yawned. After stretching himself a bit he headed to the closest drawer, opening it and taking out a quill, an inkwell and parchment. “We have a lot of these hidden all around the library. Anyway, Twilight always manages to run out of everything… Anything else? I’m a bit sleepy…” Spike said, yawning again.

“No, that’s all.” He said, floating everything in the air. “Thank you Spike.”

He nooded and turned around, collapsing on the coushing. Crimson went back to the room, and opening the books on pegasi history he started to read…

Crimson woke up with his head lying on the table. He spent some hours reading and taking notes before falling asleep. After scanning the first chapters of the book, the ones corresponding to the period before Celestia’s reign, he found something interesting. Pegasi were excellent warriors. Crimson found at least four wars against griffin recorded, each one with detailed war tactics and strategies used against them. After taking notes of everything he found interesting, he just rested his head on the table and fell asleep. The library of Ponyville, despite its size, was really well provided. He took his notes and the logbook from the table and floated them inside his backpack. Today was going to be a long day, and he didn’t want to leave anything back. He floated the books on pegasi history and opened the door. The main hall of the library was now completely tidy. It was incredible, regarding how the room was last night. Crimson walked into the kitchen, where Spike prepared more coffee.

“Good morning Spike. Did Twilight finish her work?”

“Yeah, she was still awake when I woke up, organising everything again. She’s been under a lot of pressure these days, as the princess herself asked her to do a report about the dangers of Everfree forest for Copper Compass, the leader of the expedition, two days ago, and she’s been snowed under with work since then.”

“I guess she’s sleeping right now… Would you mind to tell her that the books she recommended where exactly what I needed? And also give her thanks for allowing me to stay for the investigation. I need to do a lot of work and I doubt I’ll be able to come back to tell her by myself.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered” Spike said, as he passed Crimson a cup of coffee. He drank it in one long gulp and headed to the main door.

“I must hurry now; I’ve got tons of work to do. Nice to meet you, Spike!”

“See ya, Crimson.”

The day was bright and cloudless, but he wasn’t going to have time to enjoy it. Today was the day the expedition would leave Ponyville, and Crimson had to go to Zecora’s and get some invisibility brew for himself. If the expedition followed the same route he did, it would cross manticore’s territory, and they will have to stop at Zecora’s.

He headed to the market. The checklist he made last night should contain all he could need. The first thing was getting the food. He would need more than the one that he could bring from his apartment at Manehattan. Shortly afterwards he had almost filled his backpack with all the possible kinds of canned food he was able to find at the market, and still he had some bits left for the cloak and some ropes though he didn’t know where to buy them, and the time was of essence. After a while asking ponies around town about where he could buy the cloak, Crimson was sent to a boutique in the outskirts of the village. As soon as he got in, he was received by a little white unicorn filly.

“Welcome to Rarity’s Boutique. My name is Sweetie Belle. How may I help you?” She said as fast as lightning.

“Sweetie Belle!” said a white unicorn from the rear of the store “I have told you that I do not need any help around here! Just go out with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom.”

“But sis…” she complained “I just want to help! You are just far too busy to take care of everything alone!”

“Just don’t complain and do it Sweetie Belle!”

“Shoot…” said the little filly as she walked through the door.

Crimson felt pretty awkward.

“Is this a good moment?” He asked, as he realized how stressed did the mare look like.

“Yes, yes… It’s just that I’m a bit overwhelmed by work, that’s all. How may I help you?”

“Well, I was looking for some kind of dark green cloak with a hood…”

“It seems like the cloaks had become trendy after all. I’m sorry, but I can’t sell you any of the ones I have got, they are all reserved for the expedition members.”

It seemed like Copper Compass had planned everything carefully. But Crimson needed a cloak, and he wasn’t willing to spend more time searching, so he decided to improvise.

“Oh, that’s a pity.” He said, using the most pompous and stuck-up accent he could achieve. “I admired the incredible labour you were doing for the cloaks of the expedition, and I decided that I should take one of those wonderful cloaks to Canterlot. I had a party tonight there, and I wanted to show this wonderful product to all my guests” He said, while he lightly touched one of them. He turned to look at her. She had a spark in her eyes.

“I got her” Crimson thought

“Oh well, perhaps I can arrange something... But only if you promise to promote this boutique”

“But of course, my lady. I’m a stallion that keeps his word.” He said with that accent again. He could barely stand hearing himself speaking like that.

She headed to the back part, and quickly she brought a dark green cloak with a hood. It was just what he needed.

“Thanks my lady, I guess this will cover the cost of this wonderful cloak.” As he said this, he gave her the bits left in his bag. He would have nothing left for the ropes, but he could manage without them. She looked satisfied, so Crimson turned back and left the boutique. Vanity was such a defect, so easy to take advantage of. He still felt bad for her. It was obvious that she had been working so hard to make each coat for the expedition that he felt guilty for lying to her.

Suddenly Crimson felt a hit on his side. He flew some meters on the air until he landed on the floor. Confused, he tried to stand up, but suddenly something stopped him. He looked up, trying to discover what had attacked him.

“Crimson! You owe me an explanation!”