The Lunar Empireby ShaddeluimChaptersThe MinesMeeting and Freedom?A New HomeThe ChoiceHow it all BegunThe MinesI was only a filly when it all begun, I still remember that night like it was yesterday, all that destruction and death. Seeing that stuff changes a filly, but not me, it made me want to fight back. To fight for our freedom, to fight for the beautiful sight of our beloved sun. But I can't do that, not while I'm stuck in the mines, my friend Scootaloo and I have been here for ten years now. We've seen ponies arrive and die in these mines, no one ever leaves and no one ever escapes (Ponies usually don't live long enough to). That's all gonna change though, because we have a plan, but for the time being we work and we scheme. I walk down a mineshaft with a pickaxe held firmly in my mouth, there are ponies marching all around me all heading to the same place, their once bright colors have been dulled by the lack of sun and the dust from the mines. Most of them are either pegasi, like myself, or unicorns, with the occasional earth pony every once in while. There are guards standing on platforms above us, cracking whips every once in awhile. The guards assigned to watch over the mine are (or use to be) mostly unicorns, with a few pegasi to help chase ponies down if needed, but they're all as ruthless as Timberwolves. We call the guards, and all soldiers of the night, corrupted; because that's what they are, corrupted versions of themselves doomed to serve Nightmare Moon and her generals for ever. When a pony is corrupted they lose most of their physical appearances; their fur, skin, and muscles turn into a smoke like substance. Their bones become black and are visible beneath the smoke and the armour they wear, and their eyes are a menacing shade of red that leaves a pony shaking just by looking at them. "KEEP MOVING YOU WORTHLESS BUNCH!!" One guard yelled as he cracks his whip over the heads of the ponies in front of him. I looked over to my left to see Scootaloo ducking to avoid getting hit by the whip, although she'll never attempt it, but she has developed a slight fear whips during our time in the mines. It all started after we first arrived, a whip struck her face just above her right eye when she was trying to defend a group of younger fillies, it hit her hard enough to break the skin, she still has the scar it left behind, although her fur has grown over it over the years. I continue to look at her for bit, to make sure she was alright, after I was sure she was I looked straight ahead to see the end of the mineshaft. The main mine shaft goes from the living area to a giant atrium of walkways and other smaller mineshafts, we slaves gather at the same spot every day in this giant room to wait to find out where the different groups will be working. We all stood in the atrium pickaxes at the ready, the head guard, a unicorn stallion by the name of Drax (at least that's what the other guards call him), stood on top of a rock reading off the list of groups telling us which group is going where. The groups began to move to their areas and begun to work, leaving my group to be last one, the infamous Group D, full of the rebellious delinquents and troublemaker. Unlike the other groups which have about 25-35 ponies each, there are six members in my group including me and Scootaloo. "And finally Group D, you'll be going to shaft 13. I don't want any mishaps, the guards have been instructed to do what they wish with you six if you cause trouble. Now get to work!" The head guard yelled, my group began to walk towards our assigned area while I stayed behind. The guards begin close in around me, waiting to see what I do, I drop my pickaxe on the ground and sat down on the ground in silence. "Meadow Breeze isn't it?" The head guard ask me. I stare right into his red eyes and say nothing, the other guards begin to close in around me as i do so. "Why do you always cause trouble? It never goes well for you." "I don't Know, why do you always act like you care? I mean come on curve horn my good stallion, we all know you don't." I said trying push as many of his buttons as possible. "Actually....I'm not sure if you're even classified as a stallion anymore, you know being corrupted and all." I can see his anger growing with each word that I spoke, but before I could speak again, a heavy strike hit my left side just barely missing my wing. I fell to the ground gasping for air, I begin to shift my body in pain as I try to make sense of what just happened. Standing over me was one of the guards with a giant war hammer in his magical grasp, he looked down at me ready to strike at a moment's notice. I try to stand back up, but was stopped a kick to the side. "Not so tough now are you?" Drax asked me as he walked around me. "Your lucky I don't have you thrown in the pit for this insolence, but I know you'll do this again in a heartbeat. So here's what I'm gonna do: I'm gonna have you beaten and then thrown into the mines to work with the others, and if you stop at all, even if you are clearing rock out of your way, you're gonna get the whip. Have fun with the beating boys, I’ve got paperwork to do." Drax walked away after that, leaving the guards to have their sadistic fun, they kicked me, hit me with their whips and hammers. I'm clinging on to life at this point, the guards did a real number on me; my body hurts all over, my vision is blurred, I could feel blood seeping from my forehead and places on back. On top of all that my right front leg is badly hurt, it's not broken but I'll definitely wont be walking on it for awhile. I've been working like this for hours, every strike against a rock sends vibrations through my aching body, I begin to grow tired for the combination endless work and blood loss. I eventually collapse from exhaustion. "Get working or taste my whip slave!" The guard yelled when when he saw me. "I said get up!" He swung his whip towards me, I closed my eyes bracing myself waiting for more pain to come, but it never did. I opened my eyes to a yellow furred leg in front of my face and shadow covering me, I looked up to see an earth pony mare standing above me to act as a shield. The mare was around my age, her still brightish yellow fur and red mane suggest that she's new around here. Why is she here? Earth ponies are usually sent to the lunar farms not the mines, unless that she has a rebellious attitude of course, after all that's how I got sent here. "How about ya let her take a break, I mean look at her, she's about to pass out from how hard she's being work'd." The mare said. Her voice has a slight country accent to it, which is a little cute to listen to.... What's that around her neck? It's a red bandana, must be something important to her for her to wear it like that. "What's your name slave?" "Ma name is Applebloom." Applebloom? Where have I heard that before? "Fine, you all have thirty minutes to take a break, but don't expect to get another one any time soon." The guard said walking toward the mine's entrance. Applebloom moved from on top of me and began to help me to my hooves, Scootaloo quickly rushed to my side began to help as well. "Why did you do that?" I asked her leaning against Scootaloo's side "Yeah are you crazy? He could've killed you for that." Scootaloo said clearly and little annoyed by this new pony's actions. Applebloom seemed to be surprised by her attitude toward her, I looked over to Scootaloo, I could see the annoyance on her face, as well a bit of fear in her eyes. “Scoots it's ok. Don't sweat it Applebloom, Whiptail there is a bit spineless.” Applebloom seemed to relax a bit. “Thank you Applebloom, you really did help us out there.” I said as the other ponies in our group gathered around. We only do this when we’re not being watched by the guards, that’s usually at night in our bunks, every once and awhile we’ll get a chance during working hours. “Alright status report, how everypony doing on their missions?” A unicorn stallion by the name of Thunder Horn said once everyone was close enough. Thunder Horn is a bit bossy and arrogant for his own good, and he is the one pony that annoys me more than Drax. The beautiful voice of a young unicorn filled my ears, I couldn’t help but smile hearing it. The voice belonged to the beautiful Sweetie Bell, she’s a newer member of our group, but also one the only innocent ponie left in this cursed place. “We have everything we need, we’re just waiting for the other groups to get what they need” Sweetie said being careful she’s not to loud. The guards may be stupid but they have incredible hearing, on that note why are we talking about our plan now? “How about you Meadow, how are you holding up?” Thunder Horn asked me gently. “I’ve been better, but I'll live.” Thunder Horn may bug at times, but one thing is for sure about him, he cares about the wellbeing of others. “Thank you for asking.” “Your welcome, alright everyone if all goes well we’ll be out of this death hole by tomorrow.” “Breaks over slaves, get back to work!” Whiptail yelled snapping his whip in the air. We’ve been working for hours before we got to go back to the village, that is if you can call it a village. It’s just a bunch of shacks, that everyone has to share, a well and a farm to keep us alive. I forget how far underground we have to walk each morning, it doesn't help that it's downhill. I can hear whispers amongst the others, I'm not sure what they're saying but I’m too tired to care. I walk into my group’s shack and flopped onto my bunk, silently thanking Curve Horn for assigning me the bottom bunk. “Wake me when we’re free.” I said weakly to whoever was listening. “Wake up Meadow, we have a meeting first.” Scootaloo said walking past me. “Don't worry it’s in our shack this time.” “How did you manage that?” I asked picking my head up. “Wasn't me. It was all Thunder Horn.” “Remind me to thank him later.” I said sitting up in my bed right as the group leaders started to fill the shack. It’s time for the weekly meeting for the escape plan, it’s time to see where we are in the plan. Hopefully we can escape soon, I don't think I can last much longer doing this. Author's Note Yes I realize having the CMC in here is a bit of a risk, but this is an AU so keep an open mind about it. Besides they're side characters really, anyways hope you enjoy the first official chapter of The Lunar Empire. Meeting and Freedom?We found that the best time for scheming is at the dead of night. Guards are the laziest then, you can do anything at this time. But we scheme, it all we can do without the risk of getting caught later on. Hopefully our schemes go as planed. The leaders of the various groups have filled the shack, they all sat based on what they do in this prison camp that they call a village. Every group of course has their own letter which then classifies what they do, and as such each group has a different objective for our escape. My group for example, we’re tasked with keeping the attention off of everyone else, I say I do a pretty good job at that. “Ok, is everyone here?” Thunder Horn asked looking over the room. “Peach Leaf isn't, she’s been sick lately.” One of the farmers answered. “Good to know, alright down to business. The floor’s yours Soarin.” Thunder Horn said turning to the one of the only other pegasus here besides Scootaloo and myself. Soarin is one of the three surviving members of the Wonderbolts, that includes both the reserves and the main group. I'm not sure who the other two survivors were, mostly because I wasn't one for stories, and Shorin had a lot of stories to tell. “Thank you Thunder, alright everypony where are we in the escape plan?” Soarin asked. The leaders began to give their reports one by one, each one saying what they accomplished and what still needs to be done. I was forcing myself to stay in the sitting position during the meeting, to be honest I wasn't listening, I was too busy trying keep myself from passing out from exhaustion. I was brought back to reality when I felt something touch my back. I turned to see what it was, I was surprised to it our resident nurse. “Nurse Redheart?” I asked quietly, being sure not to disturb the meeting. “Sorry if I startled you, you looked like you were in quite a bit of pain. So I decided make my way over and patch you up a bit.” She answered. Nurse Redheart is probably one of the nicest ponies here, always making sure the others are in good health and that their injuries are taken care of. She’s also the reason me and Scootaloo made it out of Ponyville alive. That day still haunts my dreams, all the death and destruction reducing Ponyville to nothing then a smoldering ruin. It’s a miracle that anyone made it out of that death trap at all, in fact half of the ponies in this work camp are the survivors of The Ponyville Massacre. “Thank you, but you didn't.....” “Meadow do you have anything to add?” Soarin asked. Guess he heard me talking. “No sir, I don’t have anything to add.” I answered, not even sure what the others have been talking about. “Good, now everything seems to be going as planned. If all goes well we’ll be out of by the end of the.....” Soarin was interrupted by a young foal running into the room looking panicked. It was one of group E’s, the Overseer’s personal slave group, also our eyes and ears inside the overseeing building. Infact I knew this foal, we call him Gusty, ones the logging groups found him outside the camp one day. They were surprised to find him to say the least, from what I heard he showed no fear to the guard overseeing the group, it apparently took an hour to convince the guard to not kill him. Almost two years later he became the youngest but most helpful amongst us. “SIR! We...have..a problem.” Gusty said while catching his breath. “What’s the problem Gusty?” “The General of Cruelty is on her way here for an inspection!” Gusty answered trying to keep fear from showing. He has every reason to be afraid though, Cruelty is the most cruel of the six generals, every time she comes to inspect the work camp someone usually ends up dead, most of the time it’s one of us ‘slaves’. “What! Are you sure?” “Yes sir, I overheard a messenger deliver the message to the Overseer himself.” “This isn’t good, if she arrives then we can kiss our freedom good bye. How long do we have before she arrives?” Soarin asked with clear worry on his face, if she got here before we escaped then our plan would be ruined, not to mention a lot of us would end up dead. “The messenger said she would be arriving any day now.” “Then we have no choice we have to escape tomorrow.” Soarin said clearly not happy about the news as well as having to shorten the timetable for the escape. Judging by how everyone is reacting, nobody's happy about this troubling news. The various group leaders whispered amongst themselves concerned what this means for the plan, I’m not sure what they’re saying but I can see the fear on their faces. Everyone in the room isn't sure we can pull off this escape plan in a few hours, especially if it took years to plan and prepare. “What about the sick and injured, most of them won't make the trek.” One of the group leaders said voicing his concern. “They're no safer here when Cruelty arrives, they have a better chance of surviving if we escape tomorrow.” Soarin said strengthening his argument, and of course he's right. Cruelty takes joy in brutally killing the sick and injured, weather it's one of her soldiers or a slave. “We don’t have a choice.” I said speaking over everyone else. “ We have to leave tomorrow, but we have to alter the plan for this to go well.” “What did you have in mind Meadow?” Shorin asked a little uneasy about the idea of changing a plan. He has every right to be, the plan change was needed but at the same time extremely dangerous. “The only way I see us getting out of this alive is by fighting our way out” The entire room went into an uproar, no one seemed to like my idea, not even Scoots seemed to like the idea that much. “How is that going to get us out of here alive Meadow? We’re trying to save lives, not lose them.” Thunder Horn said raising his voice above the others. “I say we go about this the way we planned, by sneaking out in between patrols.” “Do you really think we’ll get out that way? With Cruelty on her way here, I'll be surprised if they let us go to the bathroom without someone in their with us let alone go off by ourselves.” I said fully realizing where this is going. “How do you suppose we get out of here then, by fighting? And what would we fight with, farm tools and picks, against trained soldiers with actual weapons?” “Ponies have won battles with less, besides we out number them four to one.” Everyone has quieted down by this point, the only ones talking were me and Thunder. “Ok that’s enough!” Shorin said stopping our argument from continuing any further. “We’re going to do this as we originally planned, and we're doing it tomorrow. But we’ll be ready to fight if and when it's needed, but until then we’re going to head back to our respective bunks and get some sleep.” Shorin said explaining what we’ll be doing, and judging by the tone of his voice we don't have much of a say in it. Everyone left the room as they came in, leaving me and Scootaloo alone in our bunk for a few moments as we wait for the rest of our group. Thunder Horn returned shortly with the rest of our group, nothing was said for the rest of the night. Everyone knew what was about to happen, and they knew what needed tobe done. Applebloom looked around confused, if anyone here didn't know what they needed to do it would’ve been her. After all, she’s originally from one of the farming groups and got transferred to my group. “Hey Applebloom” I said drawing her attention. She looked over to me curious in what I wanted her for. I gestured for her to come over to where I was sitting, she slowly made her way over clearly unsure what to think. “I'm assuming you don't know what to do tomorrow, am I right?” I asked her. “Well yeah, I didn't even know we had an escape plan.” She answered searching the back of her head with her hoof. That's when I took notice to her hat, it was a regular tan cowboy hat. It made sense for to wear it during farming, if the sun ever shined. “Really? That's weird, the leaders were supposed to tell everyone in their group.” I said still focused on the hat. “Well the others didn't like me that much due to the fact ma sister is one of the six generals that made all this happen.” She said catching me a little off guard. “Wait really?” "Yes in fact this was her hat, before she got corrupted and all.” Applebloom said with sadness in her voice, she looked at her sister’s hat with a look of sadness and remembrance. “Hey don't worry, I'm sure there's a way to bring her back.” I lied, as far as anyone's concerned the corrupted have long been dead. “Anyways I called you over to let you know that you have a place in my group tomorrow. Just come find me and I'll make sure you and the others get out.” “Thank you, you and Sweetie Belle have been nicer then the others have been so far.” “Hey anytime, now go get some sleep. We got a busy day tomorrow.” I said laying down on the bunk, she seemed to like that idea and her way to an empty bunk. It was yet another restless sleep, the same nightmare of when this all happened visited me yet again. I have so often I'm not really scared by it anymore, but a new face I’ve never notice before was there. She was running away like the other towns ponies, but she wasn't with the group that went with Red Heart. I looked over to Applebloom she seems to of had the same dream, but yet it must be different due to the look on her face. She looked panicked but yet extremely sad, I know that face very well. Scootaloo would wake up with that face every night, she didn't take Rainbow Dash’s corruption well. Even to the point she’ll give anyone a dirty look for just mentioning her old idol. I took a look around the rest of room, the others are gathering their things but not for work. “What’s going on? Why is everyone gathering the supplies we gathered?” I asked Thunder Horn as he walked past me to presumingly wake up Scootaloo. “There's been a change of plans, we’re leaving right now.” He said kicking Scoots’ bed. “So gather everything you need and get your team ready, you're leaving with the first group.” “Why are we leaving now instead of tonight, what’s going on?” I asked frantically trying to figure what's going on. Just then a male pegasus wearing heavy looking royal guard armor walked thru the door. “Is everyone ready? Because we need to go now!” The mysterious pegasus said in a commanding way. “Yes Captain, we’re all good to go, are your men ready to escort us out?” Thunder responded as if the Pegasus was his commanding officer. “Ok everypony let's get going, my men can't hold them off forever.” The captain said as he charged out the door. We begin to follow behind him as best we could, Scootaloo and Applebloom did there best to help me along. Sweetie Belle stayed close by as well, she’s the closest thing my group has to a nurse, it help that she received some training from Red Heart a couple years back. Pain raced through my body as we grow closer to the wall that surrounds our “town”. As we grew closer the more I was able to make out a hole in the wall. I could hear the sounds of battle grow louder behind us as well, I glanced back for a moment only to see actual corrupted soldiers fight who I can only assume to be rebellion soldiers. I look further back to see the embodiment of torture and pain herself. Her piercing red eyes stared us down, her long hair flowed down with a smoky wisp to it moving around her outstretched wings, just like the rest of her have a dark and smoky appearance to it. “Cruelty!” I couldn't help but yell out, the others looked back as well only to quicken their pace into a full sprint for the wall. We started to lag behind, Scootaloo was struggling to keep me going and Applebloom stayed behind to help push us along. I could see Sweetie Belle in front us trying to get too far behind the others or to far ahead from us. “Scootaloo get out of here.” I told her as I began to carry myself “What! I'm not leaving you!” She said almost shocked that I even thought about it. “You’ve been here long enough, it’s time that you go live the life you were meant to have.” “I won't be able to, not until the sun comes back. None of us will.” She was right. We grew closer to the wall, by this time the fight was right behind us and a few of the Rebellion soldiers broke off from the fight to ensure we make it. One in particular took over for Scootaloo and Applebloom, a female Pegasus wearing a lighter version of the royal guard armor. She had Sapphire blue eyes and white fur, she was a beautiful as freshly fallen snow in an untouched field. “Thank you miss...” I started hoping to get a name. “Winter, you may call me Winter.” She said. Her voice was as beautiful as she looked, she had slight Trottingham accent which made her sound distinguished in a way. Before I could ask her anymore questions an explosion went off behind me, I glanced to to see the wall behind me vaguely covered by smoke. I don't even remember reaching the wall let alone going through it. “Excuse me Sargent?” One the soldiers asked who I can only assume to be Winter. “Yes what is it private?” Winter asked in response. “The Captain want to talk to you.” “Very well, will you be fine on your own?” She said turning her attention to me. “Yeah I have a few friends to help me out if needed.” With that she flew off with the soldier close behind, the rest of us began to move forward following behind our rescuers to who knows where. Author's Note Sorry if the endensions are off, I was writing this chapter on my phone, can't really hit tab you know. A New HomeNothing worse than losing one’s home, although that hell hole wasn’t much of a home. But it was the closest thing to one, but it was one home anyone would be happy to lose. One can’t help but wonder what’s next, what dark hole are we about to crawl into for shelter, or will it be a hole at all?All I know it will require a lot of walking. We’ve been walking through this forest for hours now, we have no idea where we are or how far we have to go. The pain from my injuries have died down a bit, mostly because of the painkillers the Rebellion medic had on him. The white Pegasus that helped me out of the village has been walking next to me for the past hour now, not sure if it’s because she has too or if she wants to. No matter the reason I’m happy to have her at my side. We’ve been talking to each other for awhile now, mostly about our past lives and our memories of happier times. “So you use to live in Trottingham? How was that?” I asked. “It was alright, that is until the generals arrived at our doorstep.” Winter said walking around a rock that was in her way. “At least you didn't know a few of them.” Scootaloo said chiming in on our conversation. “Really? You knew them?” Winter asked clearly wanting to know more. “We only knew three of them, Sweetie Belle, over there, one of them is her sister, same as Applebloom.” I answered really not wanting to continue. “Which three did you know? If you don't mind me asking?” “Personally, I'd rather we changed subjects.” I answered really not wanting to relive the repressed memories. We continued walking in silence for a while, I could hear the other members of our little herd talking amongst each other. Some, like myself, were wondering where we’re going. The others were just happy to be alive, and we're talking what they wanted to do now that they were free. Better question is, what am I going to do, out of all the time I was stuck there, I’ve never thought about what was next. I then looked over to Winter hoping to find some sort inspiration. She was walking tall in her armor clearly proud to wear it, and I have to admit she looks amazing in it. She would look to the trees around us every so often, as if she’s expecting something to jump out of them. I then began to look around the forest we make our trek through, something about it is familiar. It has an almost dark presence about it, like that we’re constantly being watched by the trees themselves. Then it hit me. “Are we in the Everfree forest?” I asked hoping the answers was no. “Yes, it's the only place the generals haven't looked for us yet.” Winter answered. “Why is that?” “Don't know, something about this place keeps them away.” Winter said as she watched the trees around us. “But there are still Timberwolves here and there.” “Well that's comforting.” Scootaloo said chipping in the conversation. “Hey relax, they haven't been know to attack large groups like this one.” Winter said turning her attention from the trees for a moment. “Whatever, how much more walking do we have to do? Personally I would like to fly around for a bit.” Scootaloo asked extending her wings out a bit before pulling them back to her. “It's not far now, we should be there shortly. But I’ll have to ask you don't fly for the time being, for the risk of being seen by a patrol.” Winter answered giving Scootaloo a pleading look. Scoots stared at her for a bit as if she was arguing with herself whether or not to listen. I know that look well, she made it when ever I tried to drag her into something she wanted nothing to do with. Which admittedly happens a lot. “Fine, I can wait.” Scootaloo finally said after a good few minutes. She then lowered her head and quickened her pace a bit, eager to to get where ever it was we were going. Where were we going? This entire time I never once wondered where it was we were going, in fact how do we know where we’re going is safe. Is anywhere truly safe? The Generals have eyes everywhere in Equestria, they may very well have those same eyes here in Everfree, maybe I’m just being a bit paranoid. But I can’t shake this feeling that I’m being watched. “Hey Meadow?” The gentle but beautiful voice of Winter drew me back from my paranoid state. I looked over to her being sure that I seemed calm, or as close to calm I can be at the moment. “Is everything alright?” “Yeah sure.....why do you ask?” “You seem a bit on edge.” Winter answered with a worried look on her face, kinda reminds me of the look my mother gave me whenever she was worried about me. “I'm fine.” I’m the exact opposite of fine, my back is still bleeding slightly, but according to the medic I'm at no risk of passing out of blood loss due to my previous treatment from Redheart. But I can also began to feel the pain slowly returning again, which means the pain meds is wearing off. “How much further do we have walk?” I asked trying to change the subject. “We should be just about there.” She answered looking ahead of us. Out of curiosity, I looked ahead as well and to my surprise I see that most of the our group has vanished. I continued to watch as our ever shrinking began to disappear behind, from what I could tell, some sort of magical barrier. Honestly I never had a good experience with magic, mostly due to the fact that most of the magic I’ve seen was used to hurt me and my friends. Although the fact no has died from moving through this magical barrier yet, and that Winter seems tobe completely fine with this, helped put me at ease. “Here goes nothing.” I say quietly to myself as we began to pass through the barrier. Once we were through we were meet with a familiar sight, it wasn’t bad familiar but a good one, one you would be happy to see. In front of me was a vast village full of happy working ponies, they weren’t being forced to work nor did look like they were being mistreated. It’s like the scourge that are the Generals never touched this place, let alone seen this place. At the center of this village was what looked like tobe a tower of some sort, this tower stood taller than the rest of the buildings and seemed to made of stone. At the base the tower was surrounded by stone building, as far as I could tell this tower was the reason this village has remained hidden to the watchful eyes of the Generals. As I stood admiring the village, much like the others were, a group of Pegasi flew in front of us drawing our attention. The group of Pegasi landed in front of us, one of them drew my attention more so then the others. It was female Pegasus wearing an old brown flight jacket, her fur was yellow and her mane was light and dark orange. “Welcome to Sanctuary everypony.” The yellow and orange pegasus said with a gruff voice as she landed in front of the group of escapees. “My name is Spitfire, I’m the one in charge around here, so I expect to be treated with respect. Now that doesn’t mean I’m gonna chase you down if you don’t, we don't work that way around here. That doesn’t mean we don't have rules that we expect you to follow, that is you if you wish to stay.” Spitfire said taking a pause to look over everyone. “With that said, you all have a choice to make, it’s not one you have to make right away but it’s one you will make. You have three options, the first two are simple, the third one on the other hand not so much. Your choices are as follows; you could join those who work in the village or in the farms, or you could join the rebellion and take the fight to Nightmare Moon, or you could leave and try to survive on your own. The choice is yours, but like I said you don't have to decide right away, and you could always change your mind later on.” Spitfire said as she began to hover in the air. “Tomorrow meet up in front of the stone tower if you made up your mind, until then go get some rest and something decent to eat.” After that Spitfire flew off with the Pegasi that flew with her, I could also see Sorin fly off after her. The Rebel troops that freed us escorted us into the village, some of us were taken to a bunkhouse for new arrivals, the others (including myself) were taken to the infirmary to get any injuries looked at as well as any sicknesses taken care of. Author's Note Sorry this chapter took so long, kept getting sidetracked by life and other projects. The ChoiceChoices, some are easy to make. Others, not so much. Some you don't know if it’s even the correct choice or not, we all have to live with our choices regardless of what they are, even if that choice ends up killing. There's no escaping the choices you make, so better make sure each choice is the right one, but sometimes the right one can easily be considered a bad one. I lay waiting in the infirmary for the medical staff to take a look at the injuries on my back, as well to see if I have any unknown injuries that the medic might of missed. Being my slightly impatient self, I took a look around the pure white room, nothing special really, the room had at least ten beds, each being divided by a cloth curtain. At the side of each bed was an end table with various medical tools spread across the top, five of the beds were occupied by my fellow escaped slaves. Each not looking any better than myself. The doctor and the nurse was currently looking over a sick earth pony, from what I could see my best guess would be that it was Peach Leaf. “Glad to see she made it out.” I said quietly to myself as I watch the doctor do his job. Peach Leaf was one of the group leaders, I believe it was Group A, which was in charge of the orchards. Then again, I wasn’t very good at remembering which group did what. To be honest I didn’t really care. “You’re gonna be just fine Ms. Peach, if you feel any discomfort don't be afraid let us know.” The doctor said as he began to walk away from Peach Leaf’s bed. “Alright nurse, who's next on the list?” The nurse was a male unicorn, he had a light blue coat and a white mane. “The last one on the list, a Ms. Meadow Breeze, sir.” The nurse responded gesturing over the me. The doctor looked over to me and had a bit of a surprised look on his face, as if he has never seen badly injured escape slave before. “My goodness, I’ve never seen injuries this bad before.” The doc said trying to be quiet as he made his to me. To bad for him he’s terrible at whispering. “Good morning.... Meadow is it?” The doctor asked, which I just gave a simple nod in reply. The doctor began to look over me, checking every visible injury I have as well as seeing if I have any hidden injuries. “My my, how did you receive all these injuries? This is way worst than I originally expected.” The doctor said a little surprised. “Being rebellious in the mines, to draw attention away from my friends.” “I see...what did they hit you with?” “A war hammer, a few whips, but mostly hooves.” I answered wincing a bit as the nurse lifts my right wing a bit. The doctor and his nurse continue to look over me for a few more minutes, before stopping the doctor looked at his clipboard one last time before speaking again. “Well miss Meadow, there is something we can do for you.” The doctor said as he gently lowered his clipboard onto the table next to me. “Great! What is it?” I asked him a bit worried on what it is. “There is a low level healing spell I can perform, unfortunately it won't completely heal all your injuries but it will do the job.” I looked up to him, not entirely sure about what he’s about to do. The doctor’s horn began to glow a golden yellow as this healing energy wash over me, I could feel my injuries begin to heal. After a while I began to my strength slowly began to return, but not completely. I sat up in my bed and began to gently move my body, being careful not to undo what the doctor just did. I began to slowly flap my wings until I was certain that they were working properly and that I could not feel any pain. I then tried get out of bed and stand, only to fall right into the nurse’s hooves due to my legs collapse below me. At that moment I knew I wasn't strong enough to walk on my own. “As you just found out, the spell takes a bit of time to fully heal your body, so for the mean.....” At that moment I stopped buying attention to the doctor, partly because I found his voice a bit annoying and a strange sound coming from behind the room’s door. It almost sounded like someone was arguing, or multiple someone's. “Do you understand miss Meadow?” The Doctor asked drawing my attention to him once again. “Understand what now?” I said letting it be known that was even listening. “That your strength won't fully return until tomorrow morning.” The nurse answered, seemingly so that the doctor doesn’t have to repeat himself. “So I'm stuck in this bed for the rest of the night?” “That would be correct yes, but don't worry you're in a safe place here.” The Doctor said just as the infirmary doors were slammed open revealing both Scootaloo and Applebloom trying to push their why past what looks to be a guard. “What’s going on here!” The Doctor yelled over the commotion. “These two are trying get in past visiting hours sir.” The guard quickly replied as he pushes back against my friends. “All we’re trying to do is see our friends, everyone is worried about them.” Scootaloo said looking at the doctor a pair of sad eyes. I didn't know she knew how to make that look I could tell the doctor was a little annoyed with everything, and the nurse seemed like he could care less with what was transpiring. The doctor looked back and forth between the two mares, before letting out a sigh of annoyance. “It’s alright Shield, let them through.” He said before making his way out of the room. “Oh one more thing, don't keep the patients up. They’re going to need their sleep if they're going to get better.” The doctor said closing the door behind him. “How are you doing Meadow?” Scootaloo said drawing my attention away from the now closed door. I looked at her carefully, as if I was expecting something about her to be different. In fact there was something off about her, I just couldn't figure out what. “I'm doing alright.” I said sitting up a bit. “You know me, nothing can keep me down for long.” I added as I flex my wings a bit, only for me to wince from the pain that caused. I could see that neither of my friends believe me, but that they also want to give the benefit of the doubt. “Have ya thought about what you're going to do around here?” Applebloom asked with slight worry in her voice. To be honest, I haven't thought about it at all. Although I already an idea what I wanted to do for a while now, it's the same thing I've been doing ever since I was old enough in the mines. “I'm going to fight, but this time there's no holding me back.” Author's Note Yeah this took longer then I originally wanted it to take, oh well here it is. How it all BegunIt all begun the day Equestria was thrown into everlasting night, the day that Nightmare Moon escaped her lunar prison. Celestia was then banished to sun that day, never to be seen again. Our only hope was Twilight Sparkle, and her newly found friends, to find the Elements of Harmony and put a stop to Nightmare Moon's evil plans. Nightmare Moon was ready for them, she replaced the Elements of Harmony with their evil counterparts; the Elements of Chaos. The evil of these elements corrupted the six ponies and turned them into dark versions of themselves and gave them nearly unlimited power. They relished this power on the world, enslaving and destroying as they moved toward the capitol. Under the leadership of Shining Armor, the royal guard rallied against this evil threat, a long and bloody battle was fought in the streets of Canterlot, but in the end they were no mach against the power the Elements of Chaos. The royal guard were corrupted by the dark magic of the elements, they were turned into cursed versions of themselves, doomed to follow their new masters for the rest of their lives. Without the royal guard all of Equestria fell to Nightmare Moon and the Elements of Chaos's corrupted armies within the week. The rest of the world raised their forces to defend their borders against the darkness, but eventually fell and were enslaved. A few months later Sombra raised his kingdom again and marched his armies against Nightmare Moon's borders, a never ending war of darkness has begun. Years later, the creatures of the world have been turned into slaves, forced to work in factories, lunar light farms, or the mines. All to help the war effort against Sombra and his evil army. The lucky slaves became the personal slaves for the generals of Nightmare Moon's armies, the unlucky ones or the rebellious ones were thrown into the mines, never to see the outside world again. That's where me and my friends come in, we're the unlucky and the rebellious. My name is Meadow Breeze, and this my story of freedom, pain, and the fight for the sun. Author's Note Just for the record, this has been a story idea since when I first watched season 3 of FiM. It's also long overdue to be written, so you all will enjoy this story almost two years in the making.
The MinesI was only a filly when it all begun, I still remember that night like it was yesterday, all that destruction and death. Seeing that stuff changes a filly, but not me, it made me want to fight back. To fight for our freedom, to fight for the beautiful sight of our beloved sun. But I can't do that, not while I'm stuck in the mines, my friend Scootaloo and I have been here for ten years now. We've seen ponies arrive and die in these mines, no one ever leaves and no one ever escapes (Ponies usually don't live long enough to). That's all gonna change though, because we have a plan, but for the time being we work and we scheme. I walk down a mineshaft with a pickaxe held firmly in my mouth, there are ponies marching all around me all heading to the same place, their once bright colors have been dulled by the lack of sun and the dust from the mines. Most of them are either pegasi, like myself, or unicorns, with the occasional earth pony every once in while. There are guards standing on platforms above us, cracking whips every once in awhile. The guards assigned to watch over the mine are (or use to be) mostly unicorns, with a few pegasi to help chase ponies down if needed, but they're all as ruthless as Timberwolves. We call the guards, and all soldiers of the night, corrupted; because that's what they are, corrupted versions of themselves doomed to serve Nightmare Moon and her generals for ever. When a pony is corrupted they lose most of their physical appearances; their fur, skin, and muscles turn into a smoke like substance. Their bones become black and are visible beneath the smoke and the armour they wear, and their eyes are a menacing shade of red that leaves a pony shaking just by looking at them. "KEEP MOVING YOU WORTHLESS BUNCH!!" One guard yelled as he cracks his whip over the heads of the ponies in front of him. I looked over to my left to see Scootaloo ducking to avoid getting hit by the whip, although she'll never attempt it, but she has developed a slight fear whips during our time in the mines. It all started after we first arrived, a whip struck her face just above her right eye when she was trying to defend a group of younger fillies, it hit her hard enough to break the skin, she still has the scar it left behind, although her fur has grown over it over the years. I continue to look at her for bit, to make sure she was alright, after I was sure she was I looked straight ahead to see the end of the mineshaft. The main mine shaft goes from the living area to a giant atrium of walkways and other smaller mineshafts, we slaves gather at the same spot every day in this giant room to wait to find out where the different groups will be working. We all stood in the atrium pickaxes at the ready, the head guard, a unicorn stallion by the name of Drax (at least that's what the other guards call him), stood on top of a rock reading off the list of groups telling us which group is going where. The groups began to move to their areas and begun to work, leaving my group to be last one, the infamous Group D, full of the rebellious delinquents and troublemaker. Unlike the other groups which have about 25-35 ponies each, there are six members in my group including me and Scootaloo. "And finally Group D, you'll be going to shaft 13. I don't want any mishaps, the guards have been instructed to do what they wish with you six if you cause trouble. Now get to work!" The head guard yelled, my group began to walk towards our assigned area while I stayed behind. The guards begin close in around me, waiting to see what I do, I drop my pickaxe on the ground and sat down on the ground in silence. "Meadow Breeze isn't it?" The head guard ask me. I stare right into his red eyes and say nothing, the other guards begin to close in around me as i do so. "Why do you always cause trouble? It never goes well for you." "I don't Know, why do you always act like you care? I mean come on curve horn my good stallion, we all know you don't." I said trying push as many of his buttons as possible. "Actually....I'm not sure if you're even classified as a stallion anymore, you know being corrupted and all." I can see his anger growing with each word that I spoke, but before I could speak again, a heavy strike hit my left side just barely missing my wing. I fell to the ground gasping for air, I begin to shift my body in pain as I try to make sense of what just happened. Standing over me was one of the guards with a giant war hammer in his magical grasp, he looked down at me ready to strike at a moment's notice. I try to stand back up, but was stopped a kick to the side. "Not so tough now are you?" Drax asked me as he walked around me. "Your lucky I don't have you thrown in the pit for this insolence, but I know you'll do this again in a heartbeat. So here's what I'm gonna do: I'm gonna have you beaten and then thrown into the mines to work with the others, and if you stop at all, even if you are clearing rock out of your way, you're gonna get the whip. Have fun with the beating boys, I’ve got paperwork to do." Drax walked away after that, leaving the guards to have their sadistic fun, they kicked me, hit me with their whips and hammers. I'm clinging on to life at this point, the guards did a real number on me; my body hurts all over, my vision is blurred, I could feel blood seeping from my forehead and places on back. On top of all that my right front leg is badly hurt, it's not broken but I'll definitely wont be walking on it for awhile. I've been working like this for hours, every strike against a rock sends vibrations through my aching body, I begin to grow tired for the combination endless work and blood loss. I eventually collapse from exhaustion. "Get working or taste my whip slave!" The guard yelled when when he saw me. "I said get up!" He swung his whip towards me, I closed my eyes bracing myself waiting for more pain to come, but it never did. I opened my eyes to a yellow furred leg in front of my face and shadow covering me, I looked up to see an earth pony mare standing above me to act as a shield. The mare was around my age, her still brightish yellow fur and red mane suggest that she's new around here. Why is she here? Earth ponies are usually sent to the lunar farms not the mines, unless that she has a rebellious attitude of course, after all that's how I got sent here. "How about ya let her take a break, I mean look at her, she's about to pass out from how hard she's being work'd." The mare said. Her voice has a slight country accent to it, which is a little cute to listen to.... What's that around her neck? It's a red bandana, must be something important to her for her to wear it like that. "What's your name slave?" "Ma name is Applebloom." Applebloom? Where have I heard that before? "Fine, you all have thirty minutes to take a break, but don't expect to get another one any time soon." The guard said walking toward the mine's entrance. Applebloom moved from on top of me and began to help me to my hooves, Scootaloo quickly rushed to my side began to help as well. "Why did you do that?" I asked her leaning against Scootaloo's side "Yeah are you crazy? He could've killed you for that." Scootaloo said clearly and little annoyed by this new pony's actions. Applebloom seemed to be surprised by her attitude toward her, I looked over to Scootaloo, I could see the annoyance on her face, as well a bit of fear in her eyes. “Scoots it's ok. Don't sweat it Applebloom, Whiptail there is a bit spineless.” Applebloom seemed to relax a bit. “Thank you Applebloom, you really did help us out there.” I said as the other ponies in our group gathered around. We only do this when we’re not being watched by the guards, that’s usually at night in our bunks, every once and awhile we’ll get a chance during working hours. “Alright status report, how everypony doing on their missions?” A unicorn stallion by the name of Thunder Horn said once everyone was close enough. Thunder Horn is a bit bossy and arrogant for his own good, and he is the one pony that annoys me more than Drax. The beautiful voice of a young unicorn filled my ears, I couldn’t help but smile hearing it. The voice belonged to the beautiful Sweetie Bell, she’s a newer member of our group, but also one the only innocent ponie left in this cursed place. “We have everything we need, we’re just waiting for the other groups to get what they need” Sweetie said being careful she’s not to loud. The guards may be stupid but they have incredible hearing, on that note why are we talking about our plan now? “How about you Meadow, how are you holding up?” Thunder Horn asked me gently. “I’ve been better, but I'll live.” Thunder Horn may bug at times, but one thing is for sure about him, he cares about the wellbeing of others. “Thank you for asking.” “Your welcome, alright everyone if all goes well we’ll be out of this death hole by tomorrow.” “Breaks over slaves, get back to work!” Whiptail yelled snapping his whip in the air. We’ve been working for hours before we got to go back to the village, that is if you can call it a village. It’s just a bunch of shacks, that everyone has to share, a well and a farm to keep us alive. I forget how far underground we have to walk each morning, it doesn't help that it's downhill. I can hear whispers amongst the others, I'm not sure what they're saying but I’m too tired to care. I walk into my group’s shack and flopped onto my bunk, silently thanking Curve Horn for assigning me the bottom bunk. “Wake me when we’re free.” I said weakly to whoever was listening. “Wake up Meadow, we have a meeting first.” Scootaloo said walking past me. “Don't worry it’s in our shack this time.” “How did you manage that?” I asked picking my head up. “Wasn't me. It was all Thunder Horn.” “Remind me to thank him later.” I said sitting up in my bed right as the group leaders started to fill the shack. It’s time for the weekly meeting for the escape plan, it’s time to see where we are in the plan. Hopefully we can escape soon, I don't think I can last much longer doing this. Author's Note Yes I realize having the CMC in here is a bit of a risk, but this is an AU so keep an open mind about it. Besides they're side characters really, anyways hope you enjoy the first official chapter of The Lunar Empire.
Meeting and Freedom?We found that the best time for scheming is at the dead of night. Guards are the laziest then, you can do anything at this time. But we scheme, it all we can do without the risk of getting caught later on. Hopefully our schemes go as planed. The leaders of the various groups have filled the shack, they all sat based on what they do in this prison camp that they call a village. Every group of course has their own letter which then classifies what they do, and as such each group has a different objective for our escape. My group for example, we’re tasked with keeping the attention off of everyone else, I say I do a pretty good job at that. “Ok, is everyone here?” Thunder Horn asked looking over the room. “Peach Leaf isn't, she’s been sick lately.” One of the farmers answered. “Good to know, alright down to business. The floor’s yours Soarin.” Thunder Horn said turning to the one of the only other pegasus here besides Scootaloo and myself. Soarin is one of the three surviving members of the Wonderbolts, that includes both the reserves and the main group. I'm not sure who the other two survivors were, mostly because I wasn't one for stories, and Shorin had a lot of stories to tell. “Thank you Thunder, alright everypony where are we in the escape plan?” Soarin asked. The leaders began to give their reports one by one, each one saying what they accomplished and what still needs to be done. I was forcing myself to stay in the sitting position during the meeting, to be honest I wasn't listening, I was too busy trying keep myself from passing out from exhaustion. I was brought back to reality when I felt something touch my back. I turned to see what it was, I was surprised to it our resident nurse. “Nurse Redheart?” I asked quietly, being sure not to disturb the meeting. “Sorry if I startled you, you looked like you were in quite a bit of pain. So I decided make my way over and patch you up a bit.” She answered. Nurse Redheart is probably one of the nicest ponies here, always making sure the others are in good health and that their injuries are taken care of. She’s also the reason me and Scootaloo made it out of Ponyville alive. That day still haunts my dreams, all the death and destruction reducing Ponyville to nothing then a smoldering ruin. It’s a miracle that anyone made it out of that death trap at all, in fact half of the ponies in this work camp are the survivors of The Ponyville Massacre. “Thank you, but you didn't.....” “Meadow do you have anything to add?” Soarin asked. Guess he heard me talking. “No sir, I don’t have anything to add.” I answered, not even sure what the others have been talking about. “Good, now everything seems to be going as planned. If all goes well we’ll be out of by the end of the.....” Soarin was interrupted by a young foal running into the room looking panicked. It was one of group E’s, the Overseer’s personal slave group, also our eyes and ears inside the overseeing building. Infact I knew this foal, we call him Gusty, ones the logging groups found him outside the camp one day. They were surprised to find him to say the least, from what I heard he showed no fear to the guard overseeing the group, it apparently took an hour to convince the guard to not kill him. Almost two years later he became the youngest but most helpful amongst us. “SIR! We...have..a problem.” Gusty said while catching his breath. “What’s the problem Gusty?” “The General of Cruelty is on her way here for an inspection!” Gusty answered trying to keep fear from showing. He has every reason to be afraid though, Cruelty is the most cruel of the six generals, every time she comes to inspect the work camp someone usually ends up dead, most of the time it’s one of us ‘slaves’. “What! Are you sure?” “Yes sir, I overheard a messenger deliver the message to the Overseer himself.” “This isn’t good, if she arrives then we can kiss our freedom good bye. How long do we have before she arrives?” Soarin asked with clear worry on his face, if she got here before we escaped then our plan would be ruined, not to mention a lot of us would end up dead. “The messenger said she would be arriving any day now.” “Then we have no choice we have to escape tomorrow.” Soarin said clearly not happy about the news as well as having to shorten the timetable for the escape. Judging by how everyone is reacting, nobody's happy about this troubling news. The various group leaders whispered amongst themselves concerned what this means for the plan, I’m not sure what they’re saying but I can see the fear on their faces. Everyone in the room isn't sure we can pull off this escape plan in a few hours, especially if it took years to plan and prepare. “What about the sick and injured, most of them won't make the trek.” One of the group leaders said voicing his concern. “They're no safer here when Cruelty arrives, they have a better chance of surviving if we escape tomorrow.” Soarin said strengthening his argument, and of course he's right. Cruelty takes joy in brutally killing the sick and injured, weather it's one of her soldiers or a slave. “We don’t have a choice.” I said speaking over everyone else. “ We have to leave tomorrow, but we have to alter the plan for this to go well.” “What did you have in mind Meadow?” Shorin asked a little uneasy about the idea of changing a plan. He has every right to be, the plan change was needed but at the same time extremely dangerous. “The only way I see us getting out of this alive is by fighting our way out” The entire room went into an uproar, no one seemed to like my idea, not even Scoots seemed to like the idea that much. “How is that going to get us out of here alive Meadow? We’re trying to save lives, not lose them.” Thunder Horn said raising his voice above the others. “I say we go about this the way we planned, by sneaking out in between patrols.” “Do you really think we’ll get out that way? With Cruelty on her way here, I'll be surprised if they let us go to the bathroom without someone in their with us let alone go off by ourselves.” I said fully realizing where this is going. “How do you suppose we get out of here then, by fighting? And what would we fight with, farm tools and picks, against trained soldiers with actual weapons?” “Ponies have won battles with less, besides we out number them four to one.” Everyone has quieted down by this point, the only ones talking were me and Thunder. “Ok that’s enough!” Shorin said stopping our argument from continuing any further. “We’re going to do this as we originally planned, and we're doing it tomorrow. But we’ll be ready to fight if and when it's needed, but until then we’re going to head back to our respective bunks and get some sleep.” Shorin said explaining what we’ll be doing, and judging by the tone of his voice we don't have much of a say in it. Everyone left the room as they came in, leaving me and Scootaloo alone in our bunk for a few moments as we wait for the rest of our group. Thunder Horn returned shortly with the rest of our group, nothing was said for the rest of the night. Everyone knew what was about to happen, and they knew what needed tobe done. Applebloom looked around confused, if anyone here didn't know what they needed to do it would’ve been her. After all, she’s originally from one of the farming groups and got transferred to my group. “Hey Applebloom” I said drawing her attention. She looked over to me curious in what I wanted her for. I gestured for her to come over to where I was sitting, she slowly made her way over clearly unsure what to think. “I'm assuming you don't know what to do tomorrow, am I right?” I asked her. “Well yeah, I didn't even know we had an escape plan.” She answered searching the back of her head with her hoof. That's when I took notice to her hat, it was a regular tan cowboy hat. It made sense for to wear it during farming, if the sun ever shined. “Really? That's weird, the leaders were supposed to tell everyone in their group.” I said still focused on the hat. “Well the others didn't like me that much due to the fact ma sister is one of the six generals that made all this happen.” She said catching me a little off guard. “Wait really?” "Yes in fact this was her hat, before she got corrupted and all.” Applebloom said with sadness in her voice, she looked at her sister’s hat with a look of sadness and remembrance. “Hey don't worry, I'm sure there's a way to bring her back.” I lied, as far as anyone's concerned the corrupted have long been dead. “Anyways I called you over to let you know that you have a place in my group tomorrow. Just come find me and I'll make sure you and the others get out.” “Thank you, you and Sweetie Belle have been nicer then the others have been so far.” “Hey anytime, now go get some sleep. We got a busy day tomorrow.” I said laying down on the bunk, she seemed to like that idea and her way to an empty bunk. It was yet another restless sleep, the same nightmare of when this all happened visited me yet again. I have so often I'm not really scared by it anymore, but a new face I’ve never notice before was there. She was running away like the other towns ponies, but she wasn't with the group that went with Red Heart. I looked over to Applebloom she seems to of had the same dream, but yet it must be different due to the look on her face. She looked panicked but yet extremely sad, I know that face very well. Scootaloo would wake up with that face every night, she didn't take Rainbow Dash’s corruption well. Even to the point she’ll give anyone a dirty look for just mentioning her old idol. I took a look around the rest of room, the others are gathering their things but not for work. “What’s going on? Why is everyone gathering the supplies we gathered?” I asked Thunder Horn as he walked past me to presumingly wake up Scootaloo. “There's been a change of plans, we’re leaving right now.” He said kicking Scoots’ bed. “So gather everything you need and get your team ready, you're leaving with the first group.” “Why are we leaving now instead of tonight, what’s going on?” I asked frantically trying to figure what's going on. Just then a male pegasus wearing heavy looking royal guard armor walked thru the door. “Is everyone ready? Because we need to go now!” The mysterious pegasus said in a commanding way. “Yes Captain, we’re all good to go, are your men ready to escort us out?” Thunder responded as if the Pegasus was his commanding officer. “Ok everypony let's get going, my men can't hold them off forever.” The captain said as he charged out the door. We begin to follow behind him as best we could, Scootaloo and Applebloom did there best to help me along. Sweetie Belle stayed close by as well, she’s the closest thing my group has to a nurse, it help that she received some training from Red Heart a couple years back. Pain raced through my body as we grow closer to the wall that surrounds our “town”. As we grew closer the more I was able to make out a hole in the wall. I could hear the sounds of battle grow louder behind us as well, I glanced back for a moment only to see actual corrupted soldiers fight who I can only assume to be rebellion soldiers. I look further back to see the embodiment of torture and pain herself. Her piercing red eyes stared us down, her long hair flowed down with a smoky wisp to it moving around her outstretched wings, just like the rest of her have a dark and smoky appearance to it. “Cruelty!” I couldn't help but yell out, the others looked back as well only to quicken their pace into a full sprint for the wall. We started to lag behind, Scootaloo was struggling to keep me going and Applebloom stayed behind to help push us along. I could see Sweetie Belle in front us trying to get too far behind the others or to far ahead from us. “Scootaloo get out of here.” I told her as I began to carry myself “What! I'm not leaving you!” She said almost shocked that I even thought about it. “You’ve been here long enough, it’s time that you go live the life you were meant to have.” “I won't be able to, not until the sun comes back. None of us will.” She was right. We grew closer to the wall, by this time the fight was right behind us and a few of the Rebellion soldiers broke off from the fight to ensure we make it. One in particular took over for Scootaloo and Applebloom, a female Pegasus wearing a lighter version of the royal guard armor. She had Sapphire blue eyes and white fur, she was a beautiful as freshly fallen snow in an untouched field. “Thank you miss...” I started hoping to get a name. “Winter, you may call me Winter.” She said. Her voice was as beautiful as she looked, she had slight Trottingham accent which made her sound distinguished in a way. Before I could ask her anymore questions an explosion went off behind me, I glanced to to see the wall behind me vaguely covered by smoke. I don't even remember reaching the wall let alone going through it. “Excuse me Sargent?” One the soldiers asked who I can only assume to be Winter. “Yes what is it private?” Winter asked in response. “The Captain want to talk to you.” “Very well, will you be fine on your own?” She said turning her attention to me. “Yeah I have a few friends to help me out if needed.” With that she flew off with the soldier close behind, the rest of us began to move forward following behind our rescuers to who knows where. Author's Note Sorry if the endensions are off, I was writing this chapter on my phone, can't really hit tab you know.
A New HomeNothing worse than losing one’s home, although that hell hole wasn’t much of a home. But it was the closest thing to one, but it was one home anyone would be happy to lose. One can’t help but wonder what’s next, what dark hole are we about to crawl into for shelter, or will it be a hole at all?All I know it will require a lot of walking. We’ve been walking through this forest for hours now, we have no idea where we are or how far we have to go. The pain from my injuries have died down a bit, mostly because of the painkillers the Rebellion medic had on him. The white Pegasus that helped me out of the village has been walking next to me for the past hour now, not sure if it’s because she has too or if she wants to. No matter the reason I’m happy to have her at my side. We’ve been talking to each other for awhile now, mostly about our past lives and our memories of happier times. “So you use to live in Trottingham? How was that?” I asked. “It was alright, that is until the generals arrived at our doorstep.” Winter said walking around a rock that was in her way. “At least you didn't know a few of them.” Scootaloo said chiming in on our conversation. “Really? You knew them?” Winter asked clearly wanting to know more. “We only knew three of them, Sweetie Belle, over there, one of them is her sister, same as Applebloom.” I answered really not wanting to continue. “Which three did you know? If you don't mind me asking?” “Personally, I'd rather we changed subjects.” I answered really not wanting to relive the repressed memories. We continued walking in silence for a while, I could hear the other members of our little herd talking amongst each other. Some, like myself, were wondering where we’re going. The others were just happy to be alive, and we're talking what they wanted to do now that they were free. Better question is, what am I going to do, out of all the time I was stuck there, I’ve never thought about what was next. I then looked over to Winter hoping to find some sort inspiration. She was walking tall in her armor clearly proud to wear it, and I have to admit she looks amazing in it. She would look to the trees around us every so often, as if she’s expecting something to jump out of them. I then began to look around the forest we make our trek through, something about it is familiar. It has an almost dark presence about it, like that we’re constantly being watched by the trees themselves. Then it hit me. “Are we in the Everfree forest?” I asked hoping the answers was no. “Yes, it's the only place the generals haven't looked for us yet.” Winter answered. “Why is that?” “Don't know, something about this place keeps them away.” Winter said as she watched the trees around us. “But there are still Timberwolves here and there.” “Well that's comforting.” Scootaloo said chipping in the conversation. “Hey relax, they haven't been know to attack large groups like this one.” Winter said turning her attention from the trees for a moment. “Whatever, how much more walking do we have to do? Personally I would like to fly around for a bit.” Scootaloo asked extending her wings out a bit before pulling them back to her. “It's not far now, we should be there shortly. But I’ll have to ask you don't fly for the time being, for the risk of being seen by a patrol.” Winter answered giving Scootaloo a pleading look. Scoots stared at her for a bit as if she was arguing with herself whether or not to listen. I know that look well, she made it when ever I tried to drag her into something she wanted nothing to do with. Which admittedly happens a lot. “Fine, I can wait.” Scootaloo finally said after a good few minutes. She then lowered her head and quickened her pace a bit, eager to to get where ever it was we were going. Where were we going? This entire time I never once wondered where it was we were going, in fact how do we know where we’re going is safe. Is anywhere truly safe? The Generals have eyes everywhere in Equestria, they may very well have those same eyes here in Everfree, maybe I’m just being a bit paranoid. But I can’t shake this feeling that I’m being watched. “Hey Meadow?” The gentle but beautiful voice of Winter drew me back from my paranoid state. I looked over to her being sure that I seemed calm, or as close to calm I can be at the moment. “Is everything alright?” “Yeah sure.....why do you ask?” “You seem a bit on edge.” Winter answered with a worried look on her face, kinda reminds me of the look my mother gave me whenever she was worried about me. “I'm fine.” I’m the exact opposite of fine, my back is still bleeding slightly, but according to the medic I'm at no risk of passing out of blood loss due to my previous treatment from Redheart. But I can also began to feel the pain slowly returning again, which means the pain meds is wearing off. “How much further do we have walk?” I asked trying to change the subject. “We should be just about there.” She answered looking ahead of us. Out of curiosity, I looked ahead as well and to my surprise I see that most of the our group has vanished. I continued to watch as our ever shrinking began to disappear behind, from what I could tell, some sort of magical barrier. Honestly I never had a good experience with magic, mostly due to the fact that most of the magic I’ve seen was used to hurt me and my friends. Although the fact no has died from moving through this magical barrier yet, and that Winter seems tobe completely fine with this, helped put me at ease. “Here goes nothing.” I say quietly to myself as we began to pass through the barrier. Once we were through we were meet with a familiar sight, it wasn’t bad familiar but a good one, one you would be happy to see. In front of me was a vast village full of happy working ponies, they weren’t being forced to work nor did look like they were being mistreated. It’s like the scourge that are the Generals never touched this place, let alone seen this place. At the center of this village was what looked like tobe a tower of some sort, this tower stood taller than the rest of the buildings and seemed to made of stone. At the base the tower was surrounded by stone building, as far as I could tell this tower was the reason this village has remained hidden to the watchful eyes of the Generals. As I stood admiring the village, much like the others were, a group of Pegasi flew in front of us drawing our attention. The group of Pegasi landed in front of us, one of them drew my attention more so then the others. It was female Pegasus wearing an old brown flight jacket, her fur was yellow and her mane was light and dark orange. “Welcome to Sanctuary everypony.” The yellow and orange pegasus said with a gruff voice as she landed in front of the group of escapees. “My name is Spitfire, I’m the one in charge around here, so I expect to be treated with respect. Now that doesn’t mean I’m gonna chase you down if you don’t, we don't work that way around here. That doesn’t mean we don't have rules that we expect you to follow, that is you if you wish to stay.” Spitfire said taking a pause to look over everyone. “With that said, you all have a choice to make, it’s not one you have to make right away but it’s one you will make. You have three options, the first two are simple, the third one on the other hand not so much. Your choices are as follows; you could join those who work in the village or in the farms, or you could join the rebellion and take the fight to Nightmare Moon, or you could leave and try to survive on your own. The choice is yours, but like I said you don't have to decide right away, and you could always change your mind later on.” Spitfire said as she began to hover in the air. “Tomorrow meet up in front of the stone tower if you made up your mind, until then go get some rest and something decent to eat.” After that Spitfire flew off with the Pegasi that flew with her, I could also see Sorin fly off after her. The Rebel troops that freed us escorted us into the village, some of us were taken to a bunkhouse for new arrivals, the others (including myself) were taken to the infirmary to get any injuries looked at as well as any sicknesses taken care of. Author's Note Sorry this chapter took so long, kept getting sidetracked by life and other projects.
The ChoiceChoices, some are easy to make. Others, not so much. Some you don't know if it’s even the correct choice or not, we all have to live with our choices regardless of what they are, even if that choice ends up killing. There's no escaping the choices you make, so better make sure each choice is the right one, but sometimes the right one can easily be considered a bad one. I lay waiting in the infirmary for the medical staff to take a look at the injuries on my back, as well to see if I have any unknown injuries that the medic might of missed. Being my slightly impatient self, I took a look around the pure white room, nothing special really, the room had at least ten beds, each being divided by a cloth curtain. At the side of each bed was an end table with various medical tools spread across the top, five of the beds were occupied by my fellow escaped slaves. Each not looking any better than myself. The doctor and the nurse was currently looking over a sick earth pony, from what I could see my best guess would be that it was Peach Leaf. “Glad to see she made it out.” I said quietly to myself as I watch the doctor do his job. Peach Leaf was one of the group leaders, I believe it was Group A, which was in charge of the orchards. Then again, I wasn’t very good at remembering which group did what. To be honest I didn’t really care. “You’re gonna be just fine Ms. Peach, if you feel any discomfort don't be afraid let us know.” The doctor said as he began to walk away from Peach Leaf’s bed. “Alright nurse, who's next on the list?” The nurse was a male unicorn, he had a light blue coat and a white mane. “The last one on the list, a Ms. Meadow Breeze, sir.” The nurse responded gesturing over the me. The doctor looked over to me and had a bit of a surprised look on his face, as if he has never seen badly injured escape slave before. “My goodness, I’ve never seen injuries this bad before.” The doc said trying to be quiet as he made his to me. To bad for him he’s terrible at whispering. “Good morning.... Meadow is it?” The doctor asked, which I just gave a simple nod in reply. The doctor began to look over me, checking every visible injury I have as well as seeing if I have any hidden injuries. “My my, how did you receive all these injuries? This is way worst than I originally expected.” The doctor said a little surprised. “Being rebellious in the mines, to draw attention away from my friends.” “I see...what did they hit you with?” “A war hammer, a few whips, but mostly hooves.” I answered wincing a bit as the nurse lifts my right wing a bit. The doctor and his nurse continue to look over me for a few more minutes, before stopping the doctor looked at his clipboard one last time before speaking again. “Well miss Meadow, there is something we can do for you.” The doctor said as he gently lowered his clipboard onto the table next to me. “Great! What is it?” I asked him a bit worried on what it is. “There is a low level healing spell I can perform, unfortunately it won't completely heal all your injuries but it will do the job.” I looked up to him, not entirely sure about what he’s about to do. The doctor’s horn began to glow a golden yellow as this healing energy wash over me, I could feel my injuries begin to heal. After a while I began to my strength slowly began to return, but not completely. I sat up in my bed and began to gently move my body, being careful not to undo what the doctor just did. I began to slowly flap my wings until I was certain that they were working properly and that I could not feel any pain. I then tried get out of bed and stand, only to fall right into the nurse’s hooves due to my legs collapse below me. At that moment I knew I wasn't strong enough to walk on my own. “As you just found out, the spell takes a bit of time to fully heal your body, so for the mean.....” At that moment I stopped buying attention to the doctor, partly because I found his voice a bit annoying and a strange sound coming from behind the room’s door. It almost sounded like someone was arguing, or multiple someone's. “Do you understand miss Meadow?” The Doctor asked drawing my attention to him once again. “Understand what now?” I said letting it be known that was even listening. “That your strength won't fully return until tomorrow morning.” The nurse answered, seemingly so that the doctor doesn’t have to repeat himself. “So I'm stuck in this bed for the rest of the night?” “That would be correct yes, but don't worry you're in a safe place here.” The Doctor said just as the infirmary doors were slammed open revealing both Scootaloo and Applebloom trying to push their why past what looks to be a guard. “What’s going on here!” The Doctor yelled over the commotion. “These two are trying get in past visiting hours sir.” The guard quickly replied as he pushes back against my friends. “All we’re trying to do is see our friends, everyone is worried about them.” Scootaloo said looking at the doctor a pair of sad eyes. I didn't know she knew how to make that look I could tell the doctor was a little annoyed with everything, and the nurse seemed like he could care less with what was transpiring. The doctor looked back and forth between the two mares, before letting out a sigh of annoyance. “It’s alright Shield, let them through.” He said before making his way out of the room. “Oh one more thing, don't keep the patients up. They’re going to need their sleep if they're going to get better.” The doctor said closing the door behind him. “How are you doing Meadow?” Scootaloo said drawing my attention away from the now closed door. I looked at her carefully, as if I was expecting something about her to be different. In fact there was something off about her, I just couldn't figure out what. “I'm doing alright.” I said sitting up a bit. “You know me, nothing can keep me down for long.” I added as I flex my wings a bit, only for me to wince from the pain that caused. I could see that neither of my friends believe me, but that they also want to give the benefit of the doubt. “Have ya thought about what you're going to do around here?” Applebloom asked with slight worry in her voice. To be honest, I haven't thought about it at all. Although I already an idea what I wanted to do for a while now, it's the same thing I've been doing ever since I was old enough in the mines. “I'm going to fight, but this time there's no holding me back.” Author's Note Yeah this took longer then I originally wanted it to take, oh well here it is.
How it all BegunIt all begun the day Equestria was thrown into everlasting night, the day that Nightmare Moon escaped her lunar prison. Celestia was then banished to sun that day, never to be seen again. Our only hope was Twilight Sparkle, and her newly found friends, to find the Elements of Harmony and put a stop to Nightmare Moon's evil plans. Nightmare Moon was ready for them, she replaced the Elements of Harmony with their evil counterparts; the Elements of Chaos. The evil of these elements corrupted the six ponies and turned them into dark versions of themselves and gave them nearly unlimited power. They relished this power on the world, enslaving and destroying as they moved toward the capitol. Under the leadership of Shining Armor, the royal guard rallied against this evil threat, a long and bloody battle was fought in the streets of Canterlot, but in the end they were no mach against the power the Elements of Chaos. The royal guard were corrupted by the dark magic of the elements, they were turned into cursed versions of themselves, doomed to follow their new masters for the rest of their lives. Without the royal guard all of Equestria fell to Nightmare Moon and the Elements of Chaos's corrupted armies within the week. The rest of the world raised their forces to defend their borders against the darkness, but eventually fell and were enslaved. A few months later Sombra raised his kingdom again and marched his armies against Nightmare Moon's borders, a never ending war of darkness has begun. Years later, the creatures of the world have been turned into slaves, forced to work in factories, lunar light farms, or the mines. All to help the war effort against Sombra and his evil army. The lucky slaves became the personal slaves for the generals of Nightmare Moon's armies, the unlucky ones or the rebellious ones were thrown into the mines, never to see the outside world again. That's where me and my friends come in, we're the unlucky and the rebellious. My name is Meadow Breeze, and this my story of freedom, pain, and the fight for the sun. Author's Note Just for the record, this has been a story idea since when I first watched season 3 of FiM. It's also long overdue to be written, so you all will enjoy this story almost two years in the making.
