Respect Existence or Expect Resistance
The hiss of my can is the only sound in the street. My hood covers my horn and hides my face from the moon light illuminating the streets below. The wind whistles through the holes in my legs, sending shivers down my back. The hoodie traps my insect wings, preventing me from making a quick get away. The image finally starts to complete itself. A picture of the corrupt leader everyone worships, loves, and respects.
Respect. The word is so foreign to me. Nobody respects me. I have to fight for my right to live, my right to survive, and to prosper. You would think ponies who have so much respect for the different races would have respect for us because, after all, we are ponies. We're not alicorns, unicorns, earth ponies, or pegasi, we're a hybrid of insect-like ponies. We impose fear for simply needing love to survive?
WE are hated simply because we need the one thing people can give so easily!? We go through all this crap because nobody has a heart? I slammed my can down on the ground. It's a load of horsecrap! Why do we always play the bad guy!? If they can tolerate ponies with wings, a horn, even a pony made of crystals, why can't they tolerate us? What makes us different? Is it because we're part insect? Is it because of the radical stunt we pulled a while back?
What they don't know is that we did that to SURVIVE. That's what we fear the most, is dying because nobody gives a damn about us! Because they can't see past the skin, past the looks!
I step back to look at my work. The image of a changeling half turned into Twilight Sparkle, sat next to a message that read 'RESPECT EXISTENCE OR EXPECT RESISTANCE'. I'll admit it's a bit radical, but it's not like anything Chryssi pulled back at the wedding. I picked up my spray can, I step back some to admire the work when a shadow flies overhead. I hear a pony land behind me and instantly I run. I get caught in a light blue aura. I'm turned around to face the princess of the night. She sets me down, luckily my hood is up so she can't see my face, but the hood is removed and my face becomes visible to her.
I expect her to banish me or kill me, it's what they do right? Kill us because we aren't like them, because we don't have fur or a cutie mark, because we need love to survive and not food. I look up and face Luna, I'm not afraid to die, I'm not afraid of her. She stares at me with a nonchalant face, I can't read her emotions or anything. She simply looks at my art and looks back at me. I also step back and admire it. I'm done here, as long as people get the message, I don't care what happens to me.
"It's quite impressive." She says. There's a bit of admiration in her voice, but not much.
I nod my head in response.
"What inspired you to do this?" She asks. I look at her with my teal eyes.
"Why do you treat us like crap?" It silences her. She turns back towards the image on the wall.
"That I cannot answer. My sister, Tia, sees you as a threat. Why she does, I cannot fathom, for she is my sister. She has her right to her opinion."
"So her opinion is to kill and fight creatures who need love to survive?" She remains stoic. "Her opinion is that, we, ponies, just like her, are evil!? That just because we have insect like characteristics, we're a threat to her people!? Tell me that isn't the biggest load of bullshit you've ever heard?" She doesn't answer me.
The moonlight still shines down on us, her mane flying in the wind and sparkling none the less. To anypony else she would be intimidating. She was a princess after all.
"I do not hate you. You are as you say, creatures living, thriving, surviving. I would think my sister would have this way of thinking, not me. For I used to not value life the way others do. I wanted to be loved by my subjects too, loved and cherished like my sister. The ponies would bathe and rejoice in her sunlight, then sleep and ignore my night. I too wondered, what made me different from my sister."
"But that's individuality, it was between your personalities, not race." She sighed.
"Yes, but it's the same feeling." I thought about it for a moment.
It seemed to make sense, she was different from her sister, so she knew what it was like to be the outcast. She was hated, seen as a threat just as I am. She was accepted though, she got another chance, now she's loved, and people like her. We don't get that second chance. We never did and never will, and that's what pisses me off.
"You show little fear. Why is that? Why have you not fought back? Why have you not tried to escape?" I stand tall.
"I'm not afraid to die. I know I'm like everyone else. I hold myself to their level, to the level of society ponies hold. I am a pony, I just have a different appearance. I know that if they can tolerate pegasi, alicorns, and unicorns, they can tolerate us."
Luna nodded in understanding.
"You know that if my sister sees this, and she will see it, she'll try to silence you." I nod in agreement.
"That's the point. I want her to see it. I want her to see the hate she's caused, the hate she's spreading, the fear she's spreading. This is the only safe way to spread the word, and to attempt for equality." I put my hood up and snicker. " It's ironic really."
"How so?"
"All we need is love, and instead we get hate."
I begin to walk away, my next message ready for delivery. It's going to go nicely with the main square of Canterlot, where everypony will see it's word. Before I can disappear, though, I feel a hoof grab my shoulder. Luna looks at me with a determined gaze. She stares me in the eyes, the intensity increasing, but it does not make me flinch.
"You will not fight this war alone. I'll guide you through it, whether you want me to or not. I will not stand to see another pony turn to dark forces to survive and to be treated right."
Thank you, Princess." I bow to show my respect.
"Where are you heading now?" I point towards the main square.
"Right smack in the middle of town, where everyone can see my message, where they can see the truth."
"Be careful my little pony."
I smile big, bigger than physically possible. It wasn't because I had royalty helping me, no, it was because she had called me a pony. She had just show respect for my existence! She had respected my life, me as a whole, as a living thing. I picked up my can of spray paint and raced towards the middle of town. Adrenaline and new found strength coursed through my body. My heart was racing.
I saw a shadow fly overhead and towards the castle. I looked yonder towards my ultimate goal. The walls of the castle were my final destination. That was the prize jewel, like a diamond in the rough. It'd be my diamond though, my prize for my perseverance, but not the only prize. The prize waiting for me on the pedestal was not tagging the walls of the castle, but to gain equality and respect from the ponies of Equestria. I wasn't doing this for me, I wasn't doing this for the Queen, I was doing this for all my brothers and sisters looking for a safe haven, for safety, for happiness.
For love.
Author's Note
Be kind to those who need it most
We're all people, we all deserve respect
~Xela
I watched as Princess Celestia stood up to the podium. The other princesses were there as well, each must have had some contribution to it. It had been over 3 months since Luna had started helping me with my campaign. Most of the graffiti was cleaned up, leaving bare spots all over town. There was one piece kept though. One I am especially proud of, one that truly conveyed how I felt about society.
The picture was of a changeling, it had a hood on, and was spray painting on the castle wall. It portrayed a a light blue sky with lush green grass running everywhere. The focus was not on the landscape, it was on a changeling and a regular pony. Both looked at each other with love in their eyes, the pony was giving her heart to the changeling, in a physical manifestation. The changeling was doing the same, a physical representation of a heart flowing from it's body to his partners.
When it was first seen most ponies didn't know how to react. In fact, they just stood there and stared at it, like it was an object not of this world.
Guess it's technically true, it is not of this world. It's been unheard of for so long. Changelings and ponies living together. Even to me that sounds crazy, almost like a fantasy that will never be true.
Everyone settles down as Celestia comes to the mic. She has a serious look on her face, her mane shines brightly in the sunlight. She looks more powerful than she really is, almost as if she's a goddess herself, which is what everyone associates her with.
"My little ponies," She begins.
"As you all know, there has been a recent vandalizing of our town's buildings. Up until a few days ago, I too thought that it was vandalism. The picture you see before you is not one of violence, hatred, anger, or disgrace. But one of happiness, tolerance, and love. The changeling attack during my niece's wedding spurred fear from many of us, the fear of being devoured and having our lives ripped right from our hooves. How long has it been since that incident? 8 months? We see changelings as a threat to our society, ones that we should be rid of. To those of you who believe this, I have only one question. What have they done other than that stunt? They have not terrorized us, hurt us, nor attempt to overthrow our government. Time and time again, we close out ponies and living things that ask for our help in a unique way, some more radical than others, but it still remains. Changelings rely on their ability to change, to deceive us, but has it occurred to anyone that that deceit is the result of fear? Fear of being outcast, rejected, hated, by our society? I have never thought of changelings as good, only evil, but that was off of one incident with them. My sister, Luna, was trying to convince me of their good, their joy that they can spread. I didn't believe her until my eyes saw this, masterpiece, you see before you. This not only represents the harmony that can occur between old enemies, but the friendship and love that can occur between ponies of different looks, between ponies whose hate can be changed into love. I am still reluctant to allow this, but I will only know if I try."
I looked around and saw some ponies wiping their eyes. I was confused though, what did she mean by allowing this? What was she talking about?
"Changelings are now allowed to live in Equestria, not as lesser versions of us, but as equals. As the ponies they truly are."
A thunderous applause rose out from the crowd. So many ponies were clapping and smiling. They had truly been turned to allow changelings into their lives. They respected our lives, us as a people. I could not have been happier.
I lowered my hood and walked up towards the stage, towards Luna, towards my new life. I was free, I no longer had to hide who I was, I didn't need to wear this hoodie anymore. Freedom. The word rang inside my head a thousand times, over and over again. I felt completely renewed, because today, I was no longer a changeling, I was a pony, I was equal!
I had achieved my goal, after 3 months of fighting, of hiding, of waiting, I had finally done it.
A few ponies noticed me and gasped, but nothing more. The few that did caused a chain reaction, soon the whole crowd had parted and formed a circle around me. I wasn't nervous, why would I be? I was happier than anything, happier than I hoped I could be. I had a smile on my face as I walked up to Luna. She smiled back at me, and in return I bowed. Celestia turned to face me and gasped herself, as did the other princesses. They all looked at me with curiosity, then Luna decided to break the news.
"Tia, you remember when you asked me if I knew who was doing the graffiti?"
"You don't mean..." She looked at me.
"Yes, Tia, this little pony right here is responsible for the pictures."
Celestia hesitated a bit, seeming to be caught between admiration or shock. I waited patiently, I had waited for this moment for so long, and I finally got it, I could wait for an opinion. Just as she was about to say something, I felt a sharp pain in my back. I looked down to see a red hue trickling down my side.
I turned around to see a white unicorn staring at me with ultimate disgust. His horn had smoke coming from it. He struck me in the back, not only that, he had ripped my wings right off me. I felt myself grow weak, then collapse on the ground, and that's when all hell broke loose. The screams of ponies running in all directions was drowned out by the ringing in my ears. I was awake long enough to see Luna strike the stallion down with so much force that it sent him off the edge of the railing.
There was a large thud sound, confirming the stallion had fallen and hit the ground, hard.
The ringing filled my ears up to the point of no hearing.
Luna grabbed my shoulders and shook me violently. Next thing I knew she had teleported me to what seemed to be a hospital. Doctors rushed to my side and began sticking me with needles and fluids in an attempt to keep me alive.
I was fading, fast, my life flashing before my eyes, then blocked by the brightest light I had ever seen.
One thought kept running in my head, one thought that kept me alive. That was going to keep me going throughout the rest of my life.
The civil war I started with my spray can was not yet over. Even as I closed my eyes I knew this. I knew one thing that mattered.
I still had work to do.
Author's Note
So what do you guys think? If it sticks and looks good then I'll keep it.
I was listening to Eminem's 'Till I Collapse' which is why this might have a darker tone to it.
Thank you to everyone who made this story a success. Hopefully the epilogue will do good, and yes I know it's a cliffhanger, but for now, let's leave this story as it is.
The original plan was to just have the first chapter be that. No epilogue, no sequels. Nothing. Maybe that'll change later on, but not now.
One again thank you for everything.
~Xela
