Three Days in Two Years

“Your proposal is acceptable, Mr…”

A handsome stallion looked up to Law with a smile, “Jack, Jack Of-Trades.”

“Jack,” Law motioned him forward, “It enrages me to know such anarchy exists. Celestia was far too lenient with her banishment system.”

Jack laughed, “Yeah, old Sun goddess denied my proposal every time I showed it to her. She never understood what those bandits were doing.”

The pair entered a chamber, “It is good that we bring an end to such horrors. If you excuse me, I have diplomatic inquiries to attend to.”

“No problem at all,” Jack waved, “I’m going to go ahead and start my project. Hire some meat heads for heavy lifting. Basic business stuff. I’ll send you a letter on our progress.” Jack walked away in a valiant gallop.

Law slicked into the chamber, sinking into a throne at a round table.

“Circles,” he growled menacingly, “No structure, no corners, no lines. I shall remove this abomination once our meeting is over.”

A rat faced unicorn sighed, “As long as we get this done quickly. I have rebels making a mess of my country!”

Law glared at him, “Rebels?! You unicorns used to be more than capable of enforcing your power.”

The unicorn king flinched.

“Now, aside from rebels, There are several matters to attend to.”

An elder unicorn presented a scroll. Law unraveled it to reveal a long list.

“Pirates… more criminals polluting my land,” Law pointed to a nearby guard, “I will not allow such atrocities! Send orders to all enforcers! Any and all crime will be punished by death!”

The room filled with gasps.

“Isn’t that harsh?”

“You’ve gone too far!”

“About time.”

“This can’t be real”

“Who are you to judge?”

Law slammed a claw on the table, “SILENCE! I will have absolute order! If a few rotten seeds get in the way than they shall suffer,” he glanced across the frightened faces, “If not death than they shall be imprisioned…” a few sighs of relief, “in stone.”

Unease shifting occurred as the world leaders looked upon the statues of Celestia and Luna.

“Now then,” Law looked over his list, “Hmm… that seemed to have taken cared of most of the list.”

A small dragon lifted his claw.

“You may speak.”

“Well, I’m not sure about Equestia’s economic status but I’ve heard of a place filled with gems north of the Crystal Empire.”

“Interesting,” Law took a few notes on a piece of paper set before his arrival,” I shall send investigators to peer through those mountains. We should have good relations with the Empire, yes?” He glared at a pink alicorn.

“O-Of course, I’m not sure what’s up there but I’ve heard stories throughout the Empire,” Cadence stated, “They say dragons made their home there.”

“Excellent, we shall,”

“Dragons that breath any element.”

Law towed over Cadence with a mean look, “Never interrupt me, understand?”

She nodded frantically.

“Next order of business, music and art…” he gave a frown, “Are now illegal, they create free thought. Which in turn causes change. Which causes disorder.”

The unicorn king hissed, “Ah yes… Very true. We can’t have such thing in an ideal society.”

The rest reluctantly stayed silent. Except for a minotaur.

“Hold up! The Minotaurs have deep roots in art. You can not outlaw a core center of our culture!”

“Your species is a stain on this world,” Law roared, “Be grateful I do not exterminate all of you. Oh, that reminds me. I understand you can not change your constantly changing home. Therefore, I am making it a law that all minotaurs be bound into their own mazes.”

“What? That prevents us from trade, work, meeting others! That’s a ludicrous law and you know it!”

Law nodded, “Very well, you shall be bound to your own city Labyrinth save for documented diplomates. No other minotaur may leave Labyrinth under penalty of Law.”

The minotaur sat down in defeat.

“As for the rebels mentioned earlier…”

The unicorn king grinned happily.

“They seem to be a minor nuisance. The unicorn kingdom has more than enough resources to take care of their own problem.”

The unicorn king’s eye twitched but knew well enough to stay silent.

Law dismissed the meeting. Returning to his throne in-between two stone statues of the previous princesses. Looking off to the horizon, Law contemplated Discord’s last actions and its connection to recent events.

‘I know you caused these troubles, Discord. Enjoy your stone prison. I shall await your mortals’ return.’

—————————————————————————————————————————————

“Bookworm… you don’t need to be here,” Rainbow Dash sighed.

“Nonsense, captain, a good first mate always keeps a good eye on her captain,” Bookworm chimed.

“In my bed…”

“Well it is pretty cold.”

Rainbow glared at Bookworm for several seconds before her message finally seeped through.

“Fine! If it bothers you so much I’ll leave,” Bookworm hopped out of the covers, “You said you needed to learn how to be a pirate but you don’t act like one.”

“You mean like that perv the Navy caught?”

Bookworm flinched, “Y-Yeah, maybe you’re right. You need a better role model.”

Rainbow shook her head, “Look the only other pirate I know well enough was Hoof-Beard and he’s at the bottom of the ocean sucking face with a mermare or whatever they’re called.”

Bookworm tackled Rainbow with an eager smile, “You met Hoof-Beard?! He’s become such a legend in the pirate world!”

“He had us going all over the ocean with some magic map just so he could declare his love for some fish.”

“Aw… That’s so romantic,” Bookworm cooed.

“Don’t get weird on me, Twi,” Rainbow jerked out of bed, “I-I mean Bookworm.”

“I really remind you of her?”

“Yeah,” She looked at Bookworm up and down, “Only difference is she had a horn.”

“An alicorn? What was she a princess or something?”

An awkward silence fell in the cabin.

“Oh… Do you… Do you love her?”

Rainbow kicked her out of the cabin.

“Why did you have to make it weird?!”

The door slammed shut, leaving Bookworm outside.

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Spike gnawed on an orange gem. The taste was equal to the hottest spice ever imagined.

After the incident with the book of time, several dragons left the temple. Thinking it was the end of days or just the end of the order itself. Very few dragon elders remained. The master gem gardener, the artifact keeper, the gatekeeper, the key master, and the grand elder were the only ones left.

In order they were;
Egon, a brown and green land dragon
Sparks, a bronze sky dragon
Onyx, a black and green land dragon
Lazuli, a deep blue sea dragon
and Blaze, a fiery sky dragon

As part of his newly acquired apprenticeship in the order; Spike spent most of the evening copying ancient textbooks into new textbooks.

He chewed on his gem slow at first but started munching on it faster and faster. Once the spicy treat was gone, he felt his stomach churn. A deep rumbled played in his belly. His throat felt hot and his eyes teared as he desperately tried to hold in what was coming out. The effort was fruitless. Spike expelled a torrent of flames. The orange flames painted the wall. He bashed his head against the desk when he saw the flame reduce both textbooks to ash.

“Is everything alright, Spike?” Blaze asked, walking in.

“I just burned one of those ancient textbooks and the book I was writing,” Spike mumbled.

“Oh dear, thankfully we had elder make emergency copies in case something like this happened.”

“Great,” Spike sighed look up at the ash marks, “Say, what sort of gems are these?”

Blaze stared at the sack of orange gems under Spike’s desk, “Those would be Pyrus Jasper. One of our prized element gems grown in our gem garden,” he gave Spike a suspicious look, “How did you obtain a full sack of them?”

“Egon said he had too many of them and needed someone to get rid of them,” Spike shrugged, “I figured that I could use a snack while working.”

“You best be careful with these gems,” Blaze scolded, “The Crystal Mountains have grown gemstones with deep magical properties. Any dragon that eats these gems are given an amplified boost to their breath magic. You can usually tell what breath each gem boosts based on color and taste.”

“Wow, so me eating one orange gem made my fire breath super powerful?”

Blaze nodded

“Awesome!”

“You will learn of them tomorrow with Egon. I suspect he purposefully had you ‘test’ those Jaspers to prepare you for your lesson,” Blaze chuckled, “I must warn you, Egon’s teaching methods are always… interactive.”

Spike felt little worry before going to bed.

What did he have to be scared of? He faced evil smoke monsters, angry ponies, and Twilight. What’s the worse that could happen in one day?

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Pinkie Pie snored loudly on a mat in the middle of a room. A large snot bubble inflated and deflated with her breath. It suddenly popped and woke her up. That was when she noticed Shuriken.

“You are an enigma to our species,” Shuriken stated.

“Hi Shury! Is it training time already?”

“No, just thought I could ask you a few questions.”

Pinkie sat up, “Okie dokie loki!”

Shuriken blinked then shrugged, “So you’re from Equestria, right?”

“Eeyup!”

“And you’re friends with unicorns…”

“Uh-huh.”

“How?”

“How what?”

“How could you make friends with those ponies?”

“I make friends with everyone!”

“Why?”

“Because making people happy makes me happy. I want to make them laugh, I want to see them smile, I hope they feel joy. That’s reason enough to be their friend.”

Shuriken sat in silence looking into Pinkies eyes, “I’ll never understand you,” he leaped up to a window, “You’ve given me a lot to think about. Good night,” he jumped through the window.

“Good night! Don’t let the tantalus bite!”

—————————————————————————————————————————————

“WHAT?!” Sunset screamed at the top of her lung.

Flim and Flam rushed in her room, “What is it, Sunny?!”

“Was it a nightmare?”

“A spider?”

“WORSE!” Sunset threw a newspaper at them.

Flam took the paper and read. Eyes widened, he gave the paper to Flim.

“We just got into this gig!”

Flim coughed in disbelief, “How can they do this to us? How could they do this to Equestria?”

“We make a killing playing manager to artists, now it’s enough to throw us in jail!”

“That’s not going to happen,” Sunset groaned.

Flam quirked his eyebrow before Flim pointed out the rest of the article. A cold sweat drenched them.

“W-What do we do now?” Flim asked.

“Oh, I’ll tell you what we’re going to do.”

Flim and Flam looked at Sunset Shimmer. She wore a pair of pink star shaped shades, a fluffy cyan scarf, and a green guitar.

“I’m taking you ‘hostage’ why we- I go on tour,” she jumped down, “There has to be other ponies who make a living off of music. Even more listen to it. I say we start a rebellion with the very thing they deny us!”

“Profit?” Flim chirped.

Flam and Sunset rolled their eyes.

Sunset lit her horn and struck her guitar. A wave of sound pushed Flim and Flam out her bedroom door, “WE’RE GOING TO ROCK AND ROLL!”

—————————————————————————————————————————————

“Oh dear me that is fabulous!” Rarity cried.

“Thanks, the charcoal smeared a little but I managed to make it work,” a small filly smiled.

“You’ll become a wonderful artist one day.”

A guard coughed loudly, “Is- Is it ok for me for move now?”

“Yes, oh I’m terribly sorry for forgetting about you. Dawn was so eager to show me her drawing.”

“It’s ok. How do I look?”

He posed in a velvety sage jacket with gold trim. The design was similar to a Neighpolean commander uniform. With the little fabric and trinkets she could find, Rarity would be able to replicate the outfit for everypony in town. A rebel army has to look appealing to gain numbers after all.

“Thank you for your time, you may go,” Rarity smile shaking the stallion’s hoof as if he was a friend, “As for you, Dawn, I am ever so grateful to have an artist like you here.”

The filly smiled and giggled.

“Have you shown your mother? I think she’ll love the work you did.”

Dawn nodded enthusiastically and darted off.

Rarity sighed, relaxing in her chair. One day and she became the leader of a full blown rebel force. The stories she read, while over romanticized, helped her slightly. She knew she wouldn’t find her special somepony but knew the importance of changing the current political state. Dictatorships didn’t last long, which boosted her confidence, but she did not want to overestimate the ponies around her. These were simple town ponies after all, maybe a few military minds.

It was going to take a lot more than pretty pictures and clean uniforms to get this rebellion moving forward.

—————————————————————————————————————————————

A loud bang echoed off the front door.

“Iron Will welcomes you to his maze,” Iron Will answered.

A very similar minotaur walked in with a sad expression.

“What troubles you, Iron Guard?”

“Law said minotaurs can not leave Labyrinth!” Iron Guard cried.

Fluttershy eeped as Iron Guard fell forward. She scurried off the floor just in time to be swept away by some dust clouds.

“Iron Guard apologies,” Iron Guard grumbled, “Iron Guard knows Iron Will’s job calls for him to leave the city. Iron Guard is sorry.”

“Um… I’m sorry but I don’t understand,” Fluttershy raised her eyebrow in confusion.

“Iron Will can not make money,” Iron Will deadpanned, “What did this Law say?”

“Law stated that no minotaur will ever leave Labyrinth. We can still import good but all exports are illegal. Law threatens to turn anyone to stone if they disobey!”

“Oh my,” Fluttershy trembled, “T-There must be something we can do? You can still give motivation to other minotaurs, right?”

Both minotaurs quirked their brows at Fluttershy.

“Minotaurs are naturally aggressive. We need lessons to calm down not get mad,” Iron Will explained.

“Oh… ok…”

“Iron Guard has an idea,” Iron Guard examined Fluttershy, “This pony might fit where we can not. Iron Guard knows a few… ‘friends’ that could help us out. If this pony is willing to help them.”

Fluttershy quivered. She looked at Iron Will. His pleading eyes forced Fluttershy’s decision.

“o-ok…”

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Zecora’s mother explained all details to Applejack.

Discord destroyed Ponyville, Law turned Discord into stone, ponies rebuilt Ponyville, and Zecora found the Everfree to be eerily calm ever since.

“Woo- Nelly,” Applejack sighed, “Glade everyone’s alright. Discord’s a lot better than he used to be.”

“When order becomes overbearing, chaos becomes a thing of harmony.”

“That’s sillier than Pinkie Pie on fruit salad,” Applejack hummed, “Wonder how she’s doing…”

“Your friends displacement is temporary. Once you’re up to the task, you will reunite in Ponyville.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Applejack clapped her hooves, “So what is there to do here?”

Zecora’s mother chuckled, “I will be teaching you all I know. Which is less than my daughter but far more valuable,” Applejack leaned forward, “First I’ll teach you our language. Speaking your is tiring and I don’t know all the words.”

“Alright, seems fair,” Applejack sat back, rocking her chair.

“Then we visit the ponies made out trees.”

Applejack fell backwards.

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Twilight yawned.

She just finished the last book on the Badlands. Celestia apparently found this place but deemed it too dangerous for ponies. Dragons made small homes in the western region where they hoarded gems, gold, and other treasures in the volcanic landscape. One would have to be delirious to go there without protection. Twilight remembered the time Spike went on a quest to find other dragons.

“Tired, princess?” Teddy taunted.

“Yeah, what time is it?”

“Around 11. You still want to go to Equestria?”

Twilight nodded.

“Fine… Follow me,” Teddy turned around.

“Wait! I need some rest first.”

“Oh wow. I’m so sorry princess. I didn’t know you wanted to die from heat stroke!”

Twilight backpedaled with wide eyes, “It can’t be THAT bad out there…”

“You’ve been here one day,” Dewy stated, “We’ve been here for our entire lives.”

“When you put it like that,” Twilight sighed, “Is it really that safe at night?”

“No,” Teddy and Dewy answered.

Twilight fell on her belly. She covered her head with her hooves and growled.

“Better get going,” Dewy lifted her up, “Teddy’s already gone.”

“WHAT?!”

Twilight galloped out of the store. Searching for Teddy, she found him waiting for her by the door.

“Ready?”

Twilight growled.

“Good, train’s leaving.”

“Train?”

The two started walking and talking.

“The Helios Chariot. It’s Sunshine’s favorite slave’s idea.”

“Equestria outlawed slavery.”

“For everyone who isn’t royalty,” Teddy glared, “Jack used to be a native of the badlands.”

“What happened?”

“Sunshine. He begged her to take him back to Equestria. Once he was there… everything went to Tartarus.”

Twilight noticed a wall of wanted posters. Many of them listed small crimes like littering or public intercourse. About half of them listed serious crimes including murder, arson, theft, and vandalism just to list the boring stuff.

She noticed Teddy’s wanted poster that listed treason.

“Um… Teddy…”

“Jack’s posters. He has one for Luna too. Never put on the bounty walls but still.”

“What did you do to get treason on yours?”

“Hate Celestia, love Luna. Same as everyone else in Badlands.”

Twilight twitched her ears as they came to the train station. A lot of ponies from the bounty wall were there. She could’ve sworn she saw some from town earlier today. The moonlight shined on many masks, weapons, and armor of numerous deranged ponies who probably had their brains cooked in the desert heat.

“Wow! Never thought I’d see this many hunters in one place without something blowing up.”

Twilight recalled learning about Hunters from the books she read.

Banished ponies on an endless search for fame and fortune. No better than grave robbers or bandits. Difference was a hunter would talk to you before killing you in the most painful way they could. A common trait in hunters was living in Badlands and a bad case of psychosis.

An idea hit her, “Teddy… Are you a hunter?”

Teddy chocked on a laugh, “Don’t be silly. I usually stick around town to help my family. That’s about it.”

“He’s what you’d call a uh… personal aid or something like that.” A large stallion told her.

“Oh… ok,” she whispered to Teddy, “Why are they all here?”

“Probably because Jack hires these guys to do his dirty work.”

“HAHA Train’s boring guys! Last one in scrapes the bottom of the barrel!”

The crowed rushed in the now open train. Twilight gave a worried look. Teddy was not amused.

“Relax. I’m just dropping you off to Helios. One of Jack’s guards will help you from there.”

“Aren’t you wanted for treason by them?”

“Pft, What’s the worse that could happen?”

Teddy walked into the train.

“I wish you didn’t say that…”