Comes forth the Elements of Freedom
Foal's Story
Silly how a book can be so fascinating for someponies. The fillies and foals were gathered around in a semi-circle listening to Celina reading the history of the Republic through the overthrow of the Blood King. Everypony in the group listen in fascination as she read the adventures of the six leaders of the rebellion which had laid the foundation to what had once been the Republic. It was a mixture of history and legend which brought up wonders to the ponies in the group, and I wondered how they lived, what did they wear and how awesome it might of been to serve with them. Celina's stories were always good compared to what the other teachers made us read, but she always asked us that we keep her reading a secret. She made all her students Pinkie Promise not to tell anypony else. "And it was after the six pony leaders defeated the Blood King and his followers that the foundations of the Republic were written. The war between the ponies of the land and those at sea was over and..."
Knock, knock, knock
Celina was interrupted before she finished. The Principle, a mare with light purple mane and a tree for a cutie mark, walked in accompanied by two security ponies in their militia uniforms and tall stallion in his officer attires. Celina tried to hide the book in her saddlebag but it was clear the new arrivals had seen it.
"Celina," began the Principle. "These officers believe you have infiltrated illegal printings into the establishment. If you'd be so kind as to accompanied them outside, they have a few questions to ask you.
Celina turned to us with a sad smile, as though she was silently saying goodbye to us. "I was happy to have known you all," she said. "I hope we will see each other again." She walked over to them slowly and left the room accompanied by the two security ponies.
The Principle looked over at us with a disdained look and said. "Come on all of you, back to your seats. I can see now trusting this mare to be your teacher was a mistake. This is why the Colonel Silver Cup will be taking over her class this year."
This is when we knew the last 8 months of the year would be our worst. But it turned out to be the rest of our lives pass graduation.
No longer would we get help, advises or support from our staffs. Never again did we have a story time or get a break. We understood now that the Republic we had once heard about in that story had been destroyed. No records were left, no inscriptions. Everything was censored and anypony who was crazy enough to pronounce the words rights, freedom, equality or unfair, unjust and dictatorial was never severely punished. School was tough, and nopony was here to make it easy.
* * *
"Come on, hurry!" shouted Nathan IronHoof as we were sneaking behind one of the old destroyed buildings. About two hundred years ago, the Republic had been overthrown by what was known as the Federation. According to our history class, the Federation came to the aid of the weaken Republic and annexed it to defend its territory from the Empire of Chaos. Now the world was divided in a great Cold War between the Empire of Chaos and the IDFO, better known as the Federation. I always wondered which parts of history were accurate and which had been fabricated to improve the Federation's image. I knew better then to ask though by fear of getting into trouble. Yet, following Nathan was probably going to get me there anyway. "Over here," he said.
The young Unicorn buck was barely a year older than me. We were the best ponies in our school's fencing team and he actually got his cutie mark by defeating me in a tournament. His parents had connections in the higher rankings of the militia, but this didn't give him immunity to the things he did to get noticed. On the overall, I think he just wanted a friend. "Where are we going?" I asked after we sneaked behind a patrol of militias and sentryponies. "We're going to get in trouble."
He just smirked and climbed into a broken window. I followed him, looking behind to make sure nopony saw us. I may have brought my identification papers in my saddlebag, if we were cough it wouldn't matter. "Alright, feast your eyes on this." I looked over at what he wanted to show me. A door. The look I gave him which called him an idiot made him roll his eyes. "You have to open the door to see what's on the other side René." He retort with a grin.
Right. I faked a smile and open the door. Now that I though about it, he could of used his magic instead of making me use my hooves. The door slid open and we entered a dark room. "So what are we doing here again? You never told me. ..." Coming from me I would expect him to finally answer me. My expectations were unsatisfied. He simply walked in and began exploring what looked like a neat apartment. Somehow he managed to drag me into breaking in somepony's home. Just great. "Listen," I began, looking around. "I should be going, and you should too. We're not suppose to be here and we're going to get in trouble."
"You really don't remember, do you?" I looked at Nathan which had stopped searching through one of the furnishers to turn to me. "It's only been like three years since she was taken. I think she..." He stopped. Trying to think what to say next.
"This... was Celina's home, wasn't it?" I asked with a bit of shame. He nodded. "Then why are we here? What are we looking for?" I asked desperate for an answer.
"René, do you remember the last story she read to us? I think she wanted us to do something about it."
"Do ... something? Like what?" I was skeptical.
Nathan saw the doubt in my expression and shook his head. "Listen. I believe she intended us to start a rebellion of our own. Just like in the old tails. I think it is what she would of wanted." I looked at him, shocked and afraid.
... "Nathan. That's. I mean, what if someone finds out? We could get in trouble. Or worst, we could get killed." I wanted to walk out, pretend I hadn't heard any of his plan. I didn't want to disappear like Celina. At this point I don't think I even wanted to know Nathan. "Nathan,"
I was interrupted by a passageway opening in the bookshelf. A young silver filly almost our age walked out. She was an Earth Pony with a long black mane, and like me she didn't have her cutie mark. "Senpai!" She exclaimed before running to Nathan and hugging him. "I've missed you so much Senpai." I wasn't sure what to think of this. The situation had suddenly shifted from serious to funny in a matter of seconds.
"It's good to see you too Himeko," Nathan hugged her back. I could see he really cared for her. "I was only gone one day." I pretended to look around while Nathan calmed his friend.
"So, you're telling me our teacher was in some sort of resistance, and had a secret passage in her home?" I ask while looking at the library passage Himeko had open. Clearly that wasn't the whole story. The concerned look Himeko and Nathan gave me showed that.
"Celina... had adopted Himeko here after her parents had escaped from the Empire's controlled territory and were then captured by the Federation under accusation of being spies. According to what Himeko showed me, there was once many branches of the Resistance fighting both the Federation and the Empire. That is, until the Federation captured the leaders in the Federation's territory. Celina was the granddaughter of one of the leaders. Now the whole Republic's legacy rests in Himeko's hooves."
I considered that, then I found that I didn't like where this was going. "You're telling me, that our hope to rebuild the Republic is in this filly's hooves? That's she's our leader?" I wanted to facehoof. This had to be a joke. A big prank which I wasn't seeing and then we could go back to our miserable lives. Once again I was disappointed.
"It's the truth, for the most part," Himeko had a determined look that wanted my whole attention. She had it. "If I read my biological history correctly, I am also the direct descendant of one of the six leaders of the first resistance. The great great great great great great granddaughter of the Alicorn princess who stood up to her father to oppose his blood rule."
I blinked. So this girl was a relic of the past, a princess and was now about to be the leader of a small resistance group of inexperienced foals and fillies. Alright. There wasn't any pressure. But was there a plan? "What do you guys have in mind?"
* * *
What I'd assume would of been the cellar behind the secret passage, hiding banned beverages other illegal goods, had turned out to be a complex tech room with computers, monitors and 3D printers disposed in a mess. It was surprising that I didn't trip over them. Then again, I was hovering slightly above ground to make sure that did not happen. The room was furnished with some sofas and tables which really looked as though they needed a good scrub. Finally, a fin line of blue... something on the wall served to poorly light the room. I had to admit despite the disorganization in the room, I had never seen anything like it.
Nathan pulled out some of the food he snucked out of the cantina and placed it in a small fridge in the corner. I had always assumed he was keeping it for himself, but now I knew it had served to feed Himeko all these years. "If we're going to raise the Resistance from the ground up," he said ever so confident, "we need hooves in all sectors. Sabotage, espionage, assassination, stealing, and much, much more."
"No kidding. But I think it'll be easier to manage such a thing if we had more ponies on our side. Ponies who will want to help us and know what to do about it." I reflected on what I'd just say and then asked, "Who else knows about your plan? About the resistance?"
Himeko raised a hoof and said, "So far, we're the only ones. If you're planing on recruiting, I don't have to tell you how risky it's going to be. What if we get caught? What if they infiltrate us? Or, what if they wipe us out?"
I turned to her. Clearly that was a real possibility. But we definitely needed the pony power for this. I looked around the room. "Say, what is all that for?" I asked as I pointed at the various machines. Clearly I knew what they were, but their presence here still eluded me.
Nathan gave a hint of a smile. "Celina put it here. I believe she thought these printers could make us some weapons rapidly. Unfortunately, we are missing some vital components to make it work. Silver, iron, sand, and a 3D image of the weapons we need to print."
"Not to mention a good programmer" Himeko finished.
"And the computers?"
Nathan shrugged and it was up to Himeko to answer that. "Research, observation, and sometime even cyber attacks. It will be one heck of a doozy once we figure this one out." Her smile made it seem as though it was going to be easy. I knew that was far from the truth.
We needed a programmer or two, some weapon schematics, a decent supply of materials and minerals, hooves who weren't afraid of getting dirty. I saw a small shelf nearby with a few books and the thought came to me. "Do we still have Celina's book?"