Prologue
~~~~~~
They want you to believe that Equestria is a happy place. They want you to believe that all the evil there was banished. They want you to believe that the Elements of Harmony created never-ending peace in Equestria. They want you to believe that Twilight Sparkle and her friends saved the world from destruction countless times.
What they want you to believe is a lie.
~~~~~~~
“So, Princess Twilight… what will it be?”
Twilight looked toward the sky. Above her was the mighty Terek, who had drained all of Equestria of all its magic in a matter of hours.
He had drained all but her.
Up a little further, her friends were trapped in glowing see-through bubbles. They were imprisoned by Terek, who was hoping to pawn them off to Twilight in exchange for her rare alicorn magic.
Twilight was having a very bad day.
Her precious library/living quarters had been destroyed by Terek not a half hour earlier. Now, she was being forced to choose between her friends and her own welfare.
Twilight cared deeply for both.
She also knew her choice would affect the future of her kingdom greatly.
This knowledge did not prove to be very useful.
Finally, Twilight reached a decision. It wasn’t hard. She knew she was making the right choice.
“I can make new friends,” she said confidently. “My alicorn magic is more precious than anything in Equestria. My friends aren’t worth much. They can be replaced.”
As usual, Twilight chose herself.
Terek stood in silence. He was still getting over the shock of the fact that someone had actually said ‘no’ to him.
Terek’s voice pierced the air. “You said the princess would do anything for her friends!”
A strange creature that appeared to be a mash-up of all sorts of different wild animals turned in his magic bubble as he said, “It appears I was wrong.”
Terek smiled evilly. “Then it appears I will be having an early lunch.” He reached towards the nearest bubble and plucked out the pony inside.
“Pinkie!” Twilight screamed. She was beginning to wonder if she had made the right decision, after all. She didn’t care about her friends very much, but she didn’t want them to die, either. Especially not because of her own screw-ups. Alas, just as Twilight began to fly skyward to save her friend, Terek began to chew.
~~~~~~
Everything went downhill from that point.
Twilight did eventually manage to defeat Terek with the aid of her remaining friends, who only helped her because they were nice (and because they didn’t want to die).
However, immediately after his defeat, the Elements of Harmony disbanded on account of Twilight’s newly-discovered jerkiness and Pinkie Pie’s untimely death that resulted from it.
Without the Elements to reign in evil, it began to show itself once more. Not only that, but with no one to stop it, evil began to flourish in Equestria in place of the friendship that had once ruled, but without the Elements to fuel it, was soon powerless.
The princesses Cadence, Twilight, and Luna went into hiding in an attempt to preserve Equestria’s royalty for a time of great need, leaving the evil Princess Celestia to rule over the land the other princesses had abandoned. She, being the one who had ordered the creatures of chaos and evil to come to Equestria in the first place, commanded them to leave Equestria so she could resume her rule. She became the First Dictator of Equestria in pony history, which, when you’re an evil empress, is quite the accomplishment. She expanded the Equestrian territory so that it covered much of the world, dividing the continents into Ruling Divisions so that she could govern her kingdom more efficiently. She changed Equestria, and many would agree not for the better. To this day, she rules Equestria with an iron hoof all because one pony made a very bad decision.
`````
I am standing on the edge of a cliff.
Why am I standing on the edge of a cliff, you may ask?
To be completely honest, I don’t really have the slightest clue.
My best friend Draven stands next to me. She has a look of sheer excitement on her face. She’s so brave. I don’t know what she sees in me as a friend, seeing as next to her, I’m a humongous coward. We don’t really have much in common, but we’ve been friends since we were little kids. I don’t really remember how we met, which must tell you something about how long we’ve been friends.
“This is it, Star!” She has to yell over the high-pressure wind being blown relentlessly into our faces. “Dead Mare’s Drop! Every flier’s worst nightmare! We’ve been training in this canyon for months, and I say it’s about time we flew the whole thing in one go!” She shifts her flight goggles over her eyes and adjusts her position. “You ready to conquer this piece of hollowed-out rock?”
“I’m not so sure about this, Draven,” I say nervously. “Practicing dives off this cliff at night is one thing, but flying through the whole thing in broad daylight is another. This place is forbidden, remember? We’re in unicorn territory right now, and we’re classified as pegasi in Celestia’s database. If we get caught, the Celestial Guard will have to get involved, and I personally am not that fond of the Guard, myself.”
“Don’t be such a wuss,” Draven snorts. “The Guard isn’t as tough as everybody thinks. I could take them any day. You know that.”
“Yeah, but even if we get away with it, we’d be reported! I really can’t afford a Mark on my Record right now, especially not so close to the Reading.”
Every Equestrian citizen has a Record. If you break a rule, you get a Mark on your Record. The Reading is a sort of holiday where Celestia basically goes to every house in Equestria and tells you how many times you screwed up in the past year. I usually don’t do so well on Reading day, seeing as I have Draven as a friend. The only thing that makes the Reading qualify as a holiday is the fact that we get the day off of school (the only good part about the Reading). I hate Reading day, but then again, so does everyone else, except for the goodie-goodies who don’t do much of anything but sit around doing whatever they can to not do anything wrong for twelve months straight. I’ve heard there’s a prize for citizens who don’t get a single Mark on their Record for a full year, but it’s probably just a rumor. I mean, really, who’s so perfect that they don’t do anything wrong for a whole year? Certainly not anyone I know, nor anyone that I’ve heard that rumor from.
Draven just rolls her eyes and stares at me. Her flight goggles magnify her eyes so that it feels like she’s staring into my soul. “I’ve got everything under control,” she assures me.
Right before she jumps off of the cliff.
And, being the kind and respectful friend that I am, I jumped off the cliff after her, yelling, “You are a first-class idiot, Draven Jackson!” all the way.
I use my magic to pull my own goggles over my eyes as I scan the canyon for a certain first-class idiot.
Yes, I’m an alicorn. So’s Draven, but she prefers the thrill of flight to sitting in a study reading spell books.
After a few minutes (and a few speed boosts. Let’s just say I don’t use my wings as much as my horn), I finally spot Draven as a speck along the horizon. As I draw closer, I confirm my suspicion. That’s her, all right. Her flashy red mane against her golden pelt is unmistakable. I use a Freezing spell to temporarily disable her wings, and then swoop down from above to save her tail.
“Now let’s get out of here before we run into any more trouble,” I mutter half to myself, half to Draven, who isn’t too terribly happy about being balanced across my back while flying several miles above land.
As we come in for a landing, I hear noises from up above. I look up to see five or six members of the Aerial Assault sector of the Celestial Guard.
“Hey, I see ‘em!” one guard says.
“Let’s bag them before they get away!” another shouts.
“Cruscrudcrudcrudcrudcrud,” I say under my breath as I scan the canyon for a way out aside from up.
I decide to try the opposite.
I cast a spell that temporarily turns my horn into a laser cannon and aim at the rock directly below me. I prepare to make a dive.
By now, Draven’s wings are thawed out. I can tell she’s caught on to my plan, too, because she’s prepping to dive, as well.
We fold in our wings at exactly the same moment and plummet into the hole I created. Once underground, I continue to blast at the rock in front of us while Draven takes up the rear, making sure the guards don’t follow us down the tunnel. They shouldn’t be able to, though. By my calculations, they’re too bulky to fit through the tight entrance, much less squeeze through the rest of the tunnel. As we burrow, I can’t help but notice noises from up above. I know it’s more than likely the guards, trying to find another way after us, but it’s unsettling nonetheless.
At last, we have tunneled our way out of the canyon. The guards still think we’re in the tunnel, and they have their ears pressed against the rock, trying to locate us, when we are actually flying right above them.
We fly towards our village in silence.
Finally, Draven speaks. “I’m sorry I dragged you into that. I thought it would be fun. I guess I was…” Draven chokes on the final word of her apology. I don’t blame her. She’s always had a hard time admitting she’s wrong.
“It’s ok,” I comfort her. “Let’s just go home.”
`````````
There are probably a few things you should know about “home sweet home” before I continue.
Ever since Dictator Celestia took over Equestria thirteen years ago (also known as the Fall of Twilight’s Kingdom), she has decreed that all ponies should be segregated based on whether or not they have wings or horns or none of the above. Each kind of pony was sent to live in a certain place in their Ruling Division, like in the Dark Ages, which, in a way, have returned. The unicorns stay in the mountains, the earth ponies continue to tend the land, and the pegasi are stuck in the sky.
So the Three Factions were formed within each Ruling Division in order to ensure that everyone stayed with their own kind.
The earth ponies live in the Faction of Landlie, where they may continue to provide food for themselves and the other Factions.
The once regal unicorns have adapted to life in the desolate mountains of Bedrock, where they may practice their spells in peace (also home to an awesome team of scientists and engineers who created all kinds of cool tech for the other Factions. I own pretty much every piece of machinery Bedrock Labs has ever made!).
The pegasi live on the floating island of SkyStone, where they control the weather.
Now, you may recall that Draven and I are alicorns, an extremely rare breed that is basically a mash-up of unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony. You might have also noticed that there isn’t a place set aside for alicorns in Equestrian society these days. In fact, we have reason to believe that Celestia is the only other alicorn alive today, and Draven and I both agree that since she’s such a total creep, she’d probably put us to death to protect her crown if she had to, seeing as it was decided at the dawn of Equestria that alicorns are the only creatures fit to rule it.
Draven and I live in SkyStone, even though if I got to choose (which I don’t) I would probably live in Bedrock. I think Draven would stay right where she is, though. She loves flying more than anything. We were born in SkyStone; therefore, we live here for the rest of our natural lives.
Anyway, right, back to the death thing. We’ve figured out a system that lets us live here without attracting suspicion, even if it does make us look the slightest bit ominous.
```````````````
As we draw closer to the floating hunk of rock we call home, I pull my cloak out of my saddle bag (though I prefer the term ‘satchel’) and fasten the stopwatch-shaped clasp around my throat. I pull the hood over my face, completely covering my horn. I look to my right and notice Draven doing the same.
We come in for a landing at the Sky Docks. We pull our flight goggles down to our necks and slip them into our satchels just as a rather large group of tourists come waltzing in. We manage to blend into the crowd.
Why are we doing this, you ask? Because it’s illegal to go flying and use the Sky Docks on Tour Days for the little kids at the SkyStone’s only school, S.T.E.A.M (Science Tech Engineering Art Math). Teachers take a class of little foals and their parents on a tour of the ‘Stone every Sunday, which is usually the only day Draven and I both have clear schedules and have time to hang out. I spot my little brother Fez (he’s a little over five years old) in the crowd of children and slip beside him.
My brother notices me and whispers, “What are you doing here? Weren’t you going to hang out with Draven today?”
“Something came up,” I hiss back. “Right now we’re just trying to go home. I haven’t been on this tour in years. From here, what way is it to the Barracks?” The Barracks are in the center of the ‘Stone, and it’s basically just a huge town where everyone in the SkyStone lives. It extends all the way around the island in a huge circle, leaving a little space around the edges for the Docks and a few Public Assistance shops (Police Station, Fire Department, Tech Support, etc.).
Fez just rolls his eyes and points directly behind us. “You really are clueless, aren’t you? We left to start the tour about ten minutes ago. You know how to get home from S.T.E.A.M. You figure it out,” He snorts.
That little brat! Still, he must know I broke a rule of some kind, which is probably the only reason he helped me. He knows that if I break a rule and my parents find out about it, he gets punished, too. According to Celestia, it’s so we can “learn to take responsibility for one another’s actions.” And vice versa, which really sucks. “Let’s go,” I call to Draven.
We trot away from the crowd towards the Barracks. When we get to the gate to the Barracks, we show the guard on duty our Citizen Passes (basically our one-way ticket to getting anything around here, even meals!) and he opens the gate for us. Then we go our separate ways as I head down Crystal Street and Draven goes down a nearby alley (her favorite shortcut to Diamond Drive, where she lives, which is all the way on the other end of the town).
It’s a daily routine for the two of us. It’s the fastest way home no matter where we land in, seeing as the Barracks are in the Center City, as I previously mentioned.
I swoop towards house address 42 and scan my Pass to open the door.
I am instantly greeted by a face full of Fez.
“Fez!” I gasp. “How did you get home so fast?”
“I was bored, so I followed you home. I’m sorry if following you home is illegal all of the sudden.”
“It’s called stalking, you creep,” I snort. “If you’re going to act like a creep, you have to at least use the right vocabulary. And stalking is illegal, for your information.”
He has a weird expression on his face. “Um, what’s vocabulary again?”
I’m so sorry. I can’t resist. I have to slap myself in the face. SLAP! Ok, that’s better.
I unhook the clasp of my cloak and let it fall to my hooves. No reason to hide who I really am among people who already know. I scoop my cape off the floor and put it back in its compartment in my satchel. I make my way to my room on the second floor of our house.
Once I get inside, I pull my laptop out from under my bed. I know I have a homework assignment that I forgot about that’s due tomorrow about ‘How Celestia Rose to Power.’ I probably need to start on that.
By: Star Frost 3/16/28 History
Many years ago, there were four princesses who ruled Equestria together. One of these princesses was one who would later be known as Dictator Celestia, Bringer of the Sun.
Thirteen years ago, The Mighty Terek essentially brought about the Fall of Twilight’s Kingdom (see previous report). For a brief time afterwards, Equestria was in chaos. The other princesses abandoned their responsibilities, leaving Celestia to clean up the mess Twilight had made. Celestia from there moved to take complete control. She built a new economy and government from mere scraps of old Equestrian society, which is truly admirable.
Star- Dictator Celestia? See me after class!
-20 full page at least! -10 LATE D-
``````````
The next day at school, I email my report to my teacher 5 minutes before class. Unfortunately, she doesn’t check her email until lunchtime; therefore she has the nerve to count it late! Can you believe that? Apparently, we were supposed to print the reports and have them on her desk before homeroom. How the flip was I supposed to know that? Anyway, when she hands back our reports, I look at my grade in surprise. A D-? I’ve never gotten lower than a C+ my entire life! As I notice the note on the bottom of the page, my heart sinks.
Awesome. A trip to the teacher’s desk to get chewed out while everyone else enjoys a relaxing free period in the courtyard.
I’m antsy for the rest of the class. Yeah, I’m just so excited to hear a lecture from my least favorite teacher, Ms. Hightide. Most kids call her The Howler, but anyone who’s ever said that on school property is ‘mysteriously’ laid up in the hospital the next day with a dislocated wing.
Why do they call her The Howler? It’s because she’s notorious for always having something to say. She never shuts up! So you can see why I’m not exactly thrilled to get a lecture from Jaws herself.
I vaguely hear the sound of the school bell in the background. Everyone gets up and moves to the door, including me. I’m hoping she’ll forget I was supposed to meet her at her desk.
“Ms. Frost? Did you forget about our little appointment?”
I cringe. A few kids notice the commotion and start chuckling.
“Ms. Frost! I don’t like being kept waiting!” The Howler’s lips are pursed tightly in an angry little expression. More than half the class is full out laughing now. The other half is still chuckling. Meanwhile, I’m just frozen in place. I pull my hood farther down my face, praying that no one will give me away.
“Starla Ramona Frost! I demand that you step out into the hall with me!” The Howler howls. Now the whole class is laughing like crazy, except Draven. She looks frozen, too.
She mouths something to me. “I’m so sorry.”
I’m still blushing madly. I’m seeing red. Not from the laughter. From the fact that she had used my full name to get them to laugh. I’ve always hated my name, especially my middle name. I can’t even bring myself to say it, it’s that awful. And don’t even get me started on what Star is short for. Starla? What were my parents thinking?
After what seems like forever, I finally regain feeling in my legs and wobble towards Ms. Hightide.
She makes an angry noise at me. “Took you long enough,” She snorts. “Come with me into the hallway, please.”
She says it almost like I have a choice. That’s always how she says everything, though. She sounds so important, so regal. The way she talks is way more admirable than that what she says.
But, of course, we all know that I don’t have a choice. So I follow Ms. Hightide out of the classroom.
“Class dismissed,” She says to the rest of the class.
As Draven blows past me, she whispers something in my ear. “I’ll wait for you.”
She’s such a good friend.
As the door clicks shut behind us, my teacher whispers, “You’re right, Star.”
“Sorry?” I ask.
“You’re right about Celestia. She’s a dictator above all else, even if no one else is brave enough to admit that. But I can see that you are.” She pauses before going on. “I know you and Draven are alicorns.”
I feel like she just sucker-punched me in the gut. How is this possible? We were so careful! “How did you find out?” I stutter finally.
She smirks. Suddenly, she doesn’t look very old. Youthful, even. “What matters is that I knew. Now, I’m about to say something important, so listen carefully. You and Draven have the power to save Equestria. This land has been tainted by my sister with evil and greed. But I have reason to believe that we can heal it by uniting against her.”
With a start I realize who I’m really talking to. “Princess Luna?” I squeak. I’m fully aware that my eyes are wide as saucers, but I just can’t help but stare. “Aren’t you dead?”
Her form flickers. I suddenly see the tall, sleek shape of the lost alicorn princess in question. “It’s me, but don’t say my name here. It only weakens the disguise. And no, I am not dead. Cadence and I went M.I.A, nothing more. We need your help to save Equestria from my sister. You see, she has been expanding Equestrian territory to cover nearly all the world. If she succeeds in her mission, then there won’t be a pony on Earth safe from her. Will you aid us?”
“I’ll have to talk to Draven,” I say immediately. I’m an expert at avoiding making quick decisions. Lesson one for the beginner: make up an excuse as to why you need some time to think. If that doesn’t work, try lesson two: change the subject.
Luckily, I don’t have to go that far. Luna nods and says, “Go back to class.”
I find Draven kicking at rocks outside in the courtyard, obviously waiting for me. I walk over to her and tell her everything Luna told me.
“So… do you think we should do it?” I ask when I’m done.
“Of course we should do it!” She says. “An underground rebellion against Celestia? What could be better?”
“Ok, but Luna said we have to try and spread the word as discreetly as possible,” I remind her, remembering the first time we flew through Dead Mare’s Drop when we were little, and the next day at school, she was bragging about it like she had won the lottery or something. We must have gotten at least ten Marks for that.
She sighs. “Ugh, fine. Lead the way, your highness.” She does a fake little bow, and I can’t help but laugh. Regular Draven is anything but regular.
``````````
At the first rebellion meeting, it’s just Draven, Luna, Cadence and I sitting in an underground base that the princesses had constructed years ago to act as a bomb shelter during the Landlie Blitz.
“So,” Draven says after a few minutes. “Our rebellion has to have a name, right? Have you guys picked one out already?”
Utter silence.
“Really? You guys have been planning this thing for thirteen years, and you didn’t think to name it? That’s kind of sad.”
So we start going around giving suggestions about what the Alliance should be called.
“Rebel Rockers?”
“No.”
“Solar Exterminators?”
“That makes it sound like we’re trying to get rid of light!”
“Luna Republic?”
“Shut up, Luna.”
“Celestia’s a Creep Co.?”
“Accurate, but a bit too long.”
“Four Horns?”
“Huh. I can’t find anything to complain about there. I say we go with it!”
“Yeah!”
“Ugh, fine.”
And the Four Horns Rebellion is born!
For the rest of the meeting, we make plans about how we can spread the word about our cause. Luna has an idea to put posters all over Equestria in random places, seeing as we can all go to any and all of the factions.
Later, when I ask how all the Factions are going to get to the bunker, Cadence explains to me that the base is spread out over all the Factions by use of strategically placed warps.
As we get ready to pack up for the night, Draven pulls me aside.
“Are you sure we can trust them?” She looks sort of…scared.
“Why? Did they do something weird while I was getting graph paper from the reserves for the blueprints?”
“No, but…they’ve been missing for over a decade! What reason do they have for waiting until now to rebel?”
I just stare at her. It’s been a really long time since she’s said anything remotely logical. And even longer since she’s said anything so utterly true!
What reason did they have for waiting such a long time? What if they’re imposters of the real Cadence and Luna? What if they work under Celestia?
Then I think a little harder. Why would anyone-especially Celestia- try to fake something like this? What would they get out of it? If they were trying to stop the rebellion, why would they hire someone to pose as them and tell them to start a rebellion? Answer: they wouldn’t! It’s not in the least bit logical!
So I say, “I don’t think they’re faking this. What would they get out of that? Besides, we’re in too deep to back out now. We have no choice but to keep moving forward.”
Draven looks at me with surprise. Then she shakes her head vigorously. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just a little out of it today.”
I nod. “Let’s get out of here.”
~~~~~
The instant I get home, I’m given a warm welcome by my dear, sweet mother.
“Where have you been?” she demands. “You were supposed to be home an hour ago! Routine House Inspection is due to start in five minutes!”
I freeze. I had forgotten all about the Inspection.
The House Inspectors (needless to say, they work under Celestia) come at least once a month. To quote ‘Queen Celestia’s Code of Conduct for Citizens’:” House Inspections take place in order to ensure that no citizens partake in treason or any other questionable activities. In order for the Inspection to be valid, all members of the household are required to be within the house during the Inspection period unless on medical leave, or the family in its entirety is put under house arrest until the next routine inspection so that our citizens can learn to take responsibility for one another’s actions. The Inspectors are required by law to do a routine Inspection at least once a month to their assigned Household(s). If this law is broken, or if they are discovered to have intentionally left something questionable out of their report, said Inspector will be severely punished.
Sorry I printed the whole entry on House Inspections, but the big catch to the Inspections is that underlined part. I was almost late for the Inspection. We could have been put under house arrest because of me. In other words, I was cutting it pretty close.
“I’m sorry, everyone. I completely forgot today was our Routine Inspection. It won’t happen again, I promise.”
“It better not,” Fez mutters. “I’ve heard they cut off food delivery if you’re put under house arrest as an extra punishment.”
“That’s just a rumor, Fez,” my dad says. “Unless you have the nerve to be late for Inspection sometime, I guess we’ll never find out if it’s true or not.”
“John, don’t encourage him,” my mom scolds.
“I’m sorry, River,” He says. He leans in to peck her on the cheek just as someone knocks on the door.
“The Inspector!” My mother (literally) flies at the door in her rush to open it. My dad ends up kissing air and his puckered lips turn into a frown. Mom never gives him enough attention, which is kind of sad.
Sure enough, a strong-looking unicorn stallion stands in the doorway. I can’t help but notice he has the Celestial Guard’s crest as a cutie mark.
“My name is Shining Armor,” he says. “Captain of the Celestial Guard and a former prince of Equestria. I’ll be your new Inspector.”
“What happened to Flash?” Fez asks. Flash Sentry was the name of our old Inspector. He’s done Inspections for us since before Fez was born.
Shining Armor suddenly looks highly uncomfortable. “Something came up,” he says nervously. “He got…uh… reassigned! Yeah, reassignment! He got assigned to a different house. He got a promotion! New route and everything! I’m so happy for him!” He smiles, but you can tell it makes him very uncomfortable to do so. I can tell he’s lying. For one thing, he’s stuttering a lot. He shouldn’t have had to think about it that much. The only question is why would he want to lie about Flash getting relocated? Did something bad happen to him that Shining Armor doesn’t want to talk about?
“Yeah… good for him,” I say slowly. Shining’s awkward smile wavers. He can tell I’m not buying it.
“Can we get this over with?” my mom asks impatiently. “Food is due to come in about fifteen minutes.”
“River, don’t be rude-“ my dad starts, but he doesn’t get the chance to finish, due to a certain someone’s hoof shooting into his mouth (aherm, Mother).
“Of course!” Shining Armor says. He looks extremely happy to be over the Flash topic. “I’ll get right on it.”
He trots around, doing his Inspection-ey who-knows-what, while the rest of us stand around like idiots, waiting for him to finish.
Typical.
After about fifteen minutes of Inspecting the house from top to bottom, Shining Armor finally leaves.
“I wonder if the Rations are here yet,” my father ponders as the door clicks shut.
“Well,” my mom replies. “Why don’t you kids go check the Chutes while your father and I set the table?”
“Ok!” Fez zooms out the door, slamming into me on his way out. I fly after him.
Just outside our house is a wooden shed in the yard that contains my family’s Ration Chutes.
Another entry found in a Celestia favorite, ‘Guide to New Equestrian Life’ explains more about Ration Delivery than I could ever pull from memory, so I’ll just let it tell you how this whole thing works: “RATION DELIVERY-Once a day, a team of certified Celestial Guards send containers full of food Rations to every house in Equestria, based on the vegan-vegetarian diet of the average pony. How do they do this, you may ask? Well, it all starts with the farmers in Landlie, planting and tending to their crops. The pegasi in the SkyStone send a weekly rain to Landlie, so that their crops will flourish. In a matter of weeks, the crops are ready to be harvested and taken to Bedrock, home of the unicorns, where the unicorns cast special spells to preserve the food, and infuse it with extra nutrients so you can get all you need for the day from a single meal. Then, the Celestial Guards pick up the crops from the Sanitation Centre in Bedrock after a thorough cleaning. They then deliver the crops to every house in Equestria by use of Chutes. Everyone in Equestria has a Chute that begins in an underground Food Faculty and ends in their own front yard.”
There’s a little more about the protocols for correctly storing leftovers after a meal, but it’s basically a ton of important-sounding ways to say “stick it in your fridge.”
“Got it!” I hear Fez fumbling around in the shed. Then a crash. Then I see four round tupperware containers rolling across the lawn.
I help Fez to his feet and pick up the containers he dropped.
I hear our mom from inside. “Star? Did Fez drop the food again?”
“No, it was me this time,” I lie. I wink at Fez. He looks really surprised. Then he smiles and takes two of the containers. His and mine.
As we all sit down at the table, I can’t resist peeking inside my container. The wonderful smell of hot grain enters my nose. My face starts to feel warm as the steam from the tupperware blasts my face.
“Rice again,” I inform everyone.
Fez groans. “We just had rice!”
“I think I read somewhere that Landlie’s crops aren’t growing as well this year,” I pipe up. “That grain is one of the only things they can grow quickly.”
“Oh, Star, that’s ridiculous,” my mother says.
“It would explain why we’re having so much rice lately,” I point out.
“Mom, are there any leftovers from last week? I’m in the mood for curry again,” Fez whines. “I don’t think I can stomach any more rice.”
“Young colt! There are boys your age in other countries who would give anything for a mere spoonful of your rice,” our mother scolds. “Not to mention that rice is a main ingredient in curry!”
“I’ll get the sporks,” I offer quickly. I hop down from the table and go over to the silverware cup by the sink. I hate it when my parents get burnt up at Fez like that. It happens a lot, though. Our parents don’t come from Equestria, so when Fez makes some boneheaded comment like that, they’re always the first to remind him that they had to hunt and compete for food and shelter when they were young. The way they see it, Equestrians don’t do any real work anymore. Everything’s already provided, so we don’t ever have to worry about anything, which I guess is true.
Hopefully the rebellion will fix that.
```````
The next day, I leap out of bed and get ready before the sun is even up.
At the Four Horns meeting the day before, the other Horns and I made a plan to post advertisements for the Rebellion in random places all over Equestria in no distinct pattern, which would make them much harder to track.
I can’t wait to get started. I leave a note for my family just in case they wake up before I get home (off 2 hang w/ Dra. BRB. Love, Star) and take off into the dawn with a stack of papers under my arm. I had agreed to start by visiting the earth pony territory, Landlie.
I pull my cloak over my face to make sure the hood covers my horn, and make sure that the cape is long enough that it hides my wings completely before starting my rounds.
I pin up posters everywhere I can think of where it would make sense. Night clubs, day clubs, alleys, bars, you name it. Pretty much every place you would think rebellious teens and young adults would hang out.
Just as the sun begins to peak the horizon, I head back to the SkyStone. Once in the safety of my home once more, I got to my room and call Draven on my Holo-Txtr (Bedrock Labs’ biggest accomplishment. A phone with a built in tracking device!) and inform her that the advertising was a success.
“That’s great! I’m still in Bedrock, but I’ll probably be done soon,” she says.
“Ok. Meet you at Dead Mare’s Drop?”
“Wouldn’t miss it,” she replies.
I grab my flight goggles off of my desk and race to the canyon that I was once terrified of.
Now it will soon become a beacon of my strength.
It’s time for phase two of the rebel plan.
`````````
By the time I reach the Drop, I see that Draven has already arrived.
“Are you ready?” I ask her. Part of me kind of hopes she’ll say no, that she wants to wait a bit longer.
“Absolutely.” Darn. I forgot who I was talking to.
We take our positions at opposite ends of the canyon. Then we ready our horns.
We aim.
We pray.
We fire.
We can’t believe it when it actually works.
But there it is. The Four Horns symbol (four unicorn horns jutting out of the edge of a circle with a pair of wings on the sides) now blazes above the canyon, clear as day. We know we have a few minutes tops before the Celestial Guard show up, but we can’t help but marvel at our creation.
We bro-hoof.
We take off.
`````````
By the time we return to the Barracks, the ‘mysterious symbol’ is the mystery of the century. Ponies everywhere are in frenzy.
Some are taking it as a ‘message from the stars.’
Others call it a ‘hostile threat against Equestria made by a bordering country.’
Some ponies aren’t even interested.
But so far, no one, I repeat, no one, thinks the symbol (which could be seen as an act of vandalism) is an act of rebellion!
This is, of course, the only thing we want them to think!
It disgusts me. All that hard work and no one understands.
I decide to vent by starting a text chat room with Draven.
~~~~~
XStarMinate enters chat room
Dark_Has_Fallen enters chat room
XStarMinate: Dra, the plan failed!
Dark_Has_Fallen: Ya, I noticed :P
XStarMinate: Do u think Cadence + Luna r mad?
Dark_Has_Fallen: probz
XStarMinate: THANKS FOR MAKING ME FEEL SO MUCH BETTR
Dark_Has_Fallen: u asked. I have something that will cheer u up, tho :D
XStarMinate: Wut?
Dark_Has_Fallen: I have a recruit! I found him @ Bedrock!
XStarMinate: O ya? Who?
BeaconOfDeath enters chat
BeaconOfDeath: Wassup? :D
XStarMinate: Dra! Lazarus? Rlly? :G Excuse me while I gag.
BeaconOfDeath: RUDE ALERT
Dark_Has_Fallen: Why u so judgmental? So laz is my bf. Why u act so weird around him?
XStarMinate: Why r u here, Laz
BeaconOfDeath: I wanna join ur cause. Celestia is a creep. Im totes in.
XStarMinate: anyone else coming
upinflames enters chat
upinflames: yes. Me. Im here too
XStarMinate: who r u
upinflames: luna sent me. Also im torchwood im in ur homeroom @ school star
XStarMinate: o ya I know u :D
BeaconOfDeath: why she get smileys? I want smileys.
Dark_Has_Fallen: Here Laz :D
BeaconOfDeath: :)
upinflames: can we focus pls
XStarMinate: srry TW
upinflames: it ok
Dark_Has_Fallen: so u 2 want 2 join rebels
upinflames: ya
BeaconOfDeath: Ill do anything for mylady :3
*XStarMinate barfs all over computer
BeaconOfDeath: gross
XStarMinate: don’t judge u 2 r disgusting
Dark_Has_Fallen: ANYWAY IM SENDING INSTRUX ON HOW TO GET TO BASE TO UR COMPUTERS
upinflames: thx I just got it
BeaconOfDeath: ya me 2
XStarMinate: see u @ next meet!
``````
The next meeting is absolutely packed. Not just Torchwood and Lazarus (you know, Draven’s boyfriend), but a ton of other ponies, too!
“I guess more people saw the connection than we thought,” I mutter to Draven as we prepare to get on the podium so we can give a speech. I don’t think she hears me, though, because she doesn’t answer. Or maybe she does, but she doesn’t say it loud enough for me to hear.
We get on the podium to address the crowd, who erupt into cheers when they see us.
“I would like to begin,” I say. “By telling you who your trainers will be. Your trainer will be a single pony from each faction who will help the rest of you do what you need to do to be the best you can be!”
I turn to face a certain part of the crowd. “Torchwood Burnbelle,” I say over the sound of cheers. “Please come to the podium.”
Torchwood flies sheepishly towards the podium. “Yes?” she says bravely.
“Would you like to be the pegasus trainer and the leader of the Winged Squadron?”
Torchwood looks taken aback. She swallows hard before she says, “It would be my honor. I won’t let you down.”
I nod to Draven, who steps forward with a jean jacket vest. A pair of wings is hoof-stitched on the front, signifying that the wearer is the leader of the Winged Squadron. “Please put this on and secure your position as a leader,” I say.
Torchwood slips it on. Every pegasus in the room bursts into cheers as I yell, “I give you General Torchwood!”
I step back. Draven steps forward. “Lazarus Gallopey? Is Lazarus here?”
She calls into the audience.
Lazarus steps forward, his normally pale face now a shade of crimson with embarrassment. His horn begins to spark a bit as he walks slowly to the front of the room.
It’s absolutely priceless.
“Lazarus,” Draven says. “Will you be our unicorn trainer and leader of the Horned Squadron?”
“I will,” he replies calmly.
Draven presents him with a different vest, this one with a golden cone (that I later discovered was supposed to be a unicorn horn) embroidered on the pocket. He puts it on. The unicorns go wild as Draven kisses Lazarus.
“Dra! Not on stage!” I scream. They ignore me. Nothing new there. “Er, I give you General Lazarus!” I say. Luna helps me shove them behind a curtain, seeing as they appear to be completely oblivious to everything around them.
Cadence is the next to present a leader of a Squadron. She steps on the podium and tells an extremely sorrowful story about the new Soil Squadron leader.
“Ditsy Doo has just as good a reason for hating Celestia as all of you. Once upon a time, Ditsy Doo had beautiful wings. Alas, one day, Celestia tracked her down and ordered one of her guards to chop off her wings and force her to live as an earth pony, and to this day, she doesn’t know what she did to deserve such a fate,” Cadence says.
Ditsy trots up on stage. “I just don’t know what went wrong,” she says pitifully. She’s wearing a thin cape that covers most of her back, but I can still see the stumps where her wings used to be.
“Ditsy Doo,” Cadence says. “Will you be our earth pony trainer and leader of the Soil Squadron?
“Of course!” Ditsy says. She is then presented with a vest with a seed embroidered on it. “I give you… General Doo!”
As the cheers from the earth ponies die down (and a few from the pegasi), Luna steps forward to give an announcement of her own. “Your trainers may be your individual leaders, but don’t forget that the four of us have the power to completely override any order they may give you should that be necessary. You will obey our commands as well as theirs. That is all. Dismissed for training! Follow your group leaders to your training rooms!”
About two minutes later, it’s just the four of us standing in a now empty room.
“It’s getting late,” I say. “Curfew will start soon. I better get back home.”
The only reason I’m not dissing curfew right now is because Celestia lets her ‘little pets’ out at night. And by ‘little pets’, I mean the evil chaos monsters that she sent here so people would elect her for queen in the first place.
Luna nods. “Yes, you and Draven should probably head for home. You don’t want to be flying about after dark. Celestia does have friends in high places, after all.”
I go over to one of the warp panels. I step on the tile, and a glass cylinder erupts from the ground, trapping me inside. I’m not nervous, though. I know that’s what’s supposed to happen.
I press a button on the side of the glass. The warp panel beneath my hooves begins to glow.
And I suddenly cease to exist.
I feel like I’m being ripped apart, every last molecule tearing away from me in perfect unison. Then, I get the feeling that my molecules are being bunched back together and shoved through a pipe I can’t fit through. And in the middle of all this, all I can think about is all those times me and Draven made tunnels under the canyon to escape Celestia’s guards. Oh, the pain, the pain, please let it stop. I’m getting squeezed through the tube so painfully slowly. It hurts. Pain, pain, pain, pain, pain.
Is this what it feels like to go insane? I can hear Draven’s voice. And even though I don’t exactly have a mouth at the moment, I start to scream. I can feel myself being pulled out of the warp panel.
The world returns. I see Draven standing over me, clearly out of breath. “Two more seconds,” she pants. “And you would have been dead.”
I pass out.
~~~~
By the time I wake up, it’s long past curfew. It’s too late to go home now. Monsters will roam the streets and the skies until morning.
“How long was I out? What happened? Where are we?” I ask.
“You were knocked out for about two hours,” Draven says. “ And Luna says the warp responded negatively towards you because you have entered rift-space at some point in your life, and rift-space is the opposite of warp-space, and so warp-space basically wanted to kill you.”
“Ain’t that peachy,” I say sarcastically. “But… what’s rift-space?”
“Luna says it goes by a lot of different names, but the most common is Heck. I mean, the other word for Heck. I’m not allowed to say it.”
“Oh, me neither. But that doesn’t answer my third question. Where are we right now?”
“Luna and Cadence’s underground bunker hospital,” she answers, as if that’s the most obvious answer in the universe. “Obviously. Where else would we have been able to take you past curfew?”
“Nowhere, I guess. Am I good to get up now?” I ask hopefully.
“Yeah, I guess. Get up, my little patient,” She jokes.
I leap out of the sickbed. My legs wobble a little bit, but I straighten myself up before Draven notices. She leads me out of the makeshift hospital and back into the main hall. “Did I take on any physical damage?” I ask her.
“A little,” she replies. “Charred mane and loss of a few brain cells, but aside from that, you’re good to go!”
“Wait, brain cells? Draven, losing brain cells is bad!”
“Calm down, it wasn’t much! It was just a little irreversible brain damage!”
“Brain damage is bad, Draven!” I scream.
She sticks out her tongue at me and crosses her eyes.
“Stop making derp face, please,” I say.
“Derp,” She replies.
``````````
By the time I get home, I’m ready to drop. Unfortunately, my parents aren’t done with me yet.
“Where on earth have you been?” My dad says to me.
“Dad! What are you doing up? You nearly gave me a heart attack!”
“I was waiting for you to come home,” He replies calmly. “You’re home late almost every day now. I want to know why.”
I can see I’m not getting out of this. My dad must have a built in lie detector or something, because he busts me for it every time I try.
So I tell him everything. Stupid, right?
Surprisingly, he doesn’t interrupt me. He just stands there quietly and listens. When I’m done, he surprises me yet again. “I want to help,” He says softly.
“Dad, no. It’s dangerous. You could get hurt,” I gasp.
He chuckles. “So could you.”
Touché.
He smirks. “I used to do this all the time when I was younger. Your mother and I would save entire planets from destruction. The Doctor and River Song, off to save the universe.” He smiles fondly as these memories from long ago return to him.
Any normal pony would have had a million questions for him, but I only had one. “Why did you stop?”
His smile gets even wider. “God, you really are just like me. I honestly don’t know why I quit, but I know I’d love to start again.”
I grin back at him as I say, “Welcome to the Four Horns Rebellion.”
````````
As I wake up the next morning, I realize suddenly that it’s been at least a month since I looked at myself in the mirror. I hop out of bed and stride over to the full-length mirror that I have bolted to my closet door.
Even though so much has changed in the past few days, I don’t look any different than I did before they started.
Short, spiky blue mane? Check. My sleek, shiny, silver coat? Check. Same-as-ever scrawny legs? Check. And my never-changing cutie mark, a golden stopwatch? Check.
I sigh. Nothing has changed since the last time I looked in the mirror.
Then something weird happens.
As I’m closing the closet door, my hoof brushes the glass. As it does so, for the split second that my hoof is against its surface, my reflection changes. Startled, I take my hoof off the glass. My reflection returns to normal. Carefully, I place my hoof down once more. My reflection shifts again.
Standing in front of me is a creature that looks like me, but not like me. It’s taller than me, stands on its hind legs, has hands instead of hooves, and has a really tiny muzzle. Aside from that, however, the similarities are uncanny. Her spiky blue hair, pale skin, and turquoise eyes immediately make me uneasy. She has on a battered jean jacket and pants that look like they’re made of some cotton material. The jacket has the word ‘FROST’ embroidered on the pocket. My eyes are drawn to her necklace. A golden stopwatch pendant dangles from a chain around her neck. She’s exactly like me in every way, right down to her fashion sense. I mean, if I wore clothes often, I’d definitely wear what she has on. I can tell she’s eying me, as well. When she sees my cutie mark, her eyes widen as she glances down at her own necklace. I press my hoof deeper into the glass. She does the same with her hand. We keep going farther in until a hoof shoots out of the mirror and clocks me in the jaw. My hoof, which had morphed into a fist through the mirror, did the same to my doppelganger.
The punch sends us both flying backwards away from the mirror. I’m suddenly looking at myself again. I start to panic. Enchanted portal mirrors are incredibly rare, almost as uncommon as alicorns. They serve as gateways to other, better worlds. Parallel universes coexist with portal mirrors.
I call Draven and tell her to book it to my house.
I hear a knock on the door about five seconds later.
“Have you ever tried teleporting while flying at sixty miles per hour?” She says much louder than normal.
“Um, no?” I reply nervously.
“You should! It’s so awesome!”
“Uh…”
“You’re gonna have to speak up, I think I’m a little deaf in this ear now!” She yells.
“Just come upstairs with me,” I beg her. I know that if she wakes up any of my family members, I’ll be in huge trouble.
“OKAY!” Draven hollers.
“Quietly!” I hiss through gritted teeth.
When we get upstairs again, I tell Draven to stand in front of the mirror.
She obeys.
I tell her to press her hoof against the surface of the mirror.
She obeys. She’s absolutely silent for about six seconds. Then she screams. She’s wiggling and thrashing and bumping into everything, and her reflection is doing the same, because she still hasn’t taken her hoof away. It’s actually kind of hilarious. If I weren’t her friend, I’d definitely be laughing my head off right about now.
“Take your hoof off the glass,” I say as calmly as I can around snickers.
She obeys. It takes a few minutes to get her to calm down, but when she does, all she can say is, “What… was that?” She still looks terrified, but at least she isn’t taking it out on my room anymore.
“I just figured out that my bedroom mirror is actually a portal to another dimension… and how in the HECK did you not just wake up my family?”
She shrugs. I sigh.
“Have you gone through the mirror yet?” She asks.
“No. My first instinct was to tell you,” I reply.
“Well, let’s go already!” She flies through the mirror, and her reflection does the same, landing beside me, now in pony form.
“Tell me what species you are,” Draven orders me (us?) on either side of the mirror.
“Pony,” I answer.
“Human,” Other me answers.
“What’s our favorite flying spot?” I ask reflection Draven (even though she isn’t really a reflection anymore, seeing as she’s on my side of the mirror).
“Dead Mare’s Drop,” She answers immediately. Then she frowns. “How did I know that?”
I start to get excited. Reflection me looks pretty darn happy, too. “Because if someone goes through the mirror, they retain the memories of their copy as well as their own! If we can spread the word, it will be a revolution in cloning,” Me and other me say together.
“You two are nerds,” The Dravens say together. The Dravens switch sides again so that we’re each in our own world.
Then we strike a conversation. You might think it would be hard to talk to someone exactly like you. I mean, what would you talk about if you both knew everything the other knew? Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. Sure, we share similar memories, but they aren’t the same because we aren’t the same species. Other me can’t fly or use magic, but I can’t do some things she can, either, like write with my hands, because I don’t have hands. We share the same knowledge, but with slight variations.
We just sit and chat for close to five hours. Draven has to get back home before mealtime, so we just tell the portal us-es to check on the mirror soon, because we’re going to meet them there and talk more tomorrow.
I can’t wait for tomorrow.
```````
When I get out of bed the next morning, I decide to go for a walk around the Barracks, which I haven’t done in a while.
The second I leave my house, I notice something strange about our street.
Probably the fact that there are ‘Wanted’ posters all over the place depicting the Four Horns symbol rather than a single person.
I try coming up with a few possibilities as to how something like this could have happened.
~Someone told Celestia (Duh)
~She (or one of her men) saw our posters (oops)
~She (or one of her men) snuck into our last meeting and gathered information about our cause. No, if she had done that, then she could have stopped us then. There wouldn’t be a point to the posters!
I pick up my phone and call Draven. “Have you been outside yet today, Draven?”
“No, I just woke up. Why, is something wrong?”
“Everything’s wrong! Someone must have leaked about the rebellion! There are posters everywhere! We need to call an emergency meeting,” I hiss, covering my mouth with my hoof just in case someone can hear or see me.
“I’ll alert Luna and Cadence,” She says immediately. “They have all the rebels’ contact information. They can get the word out quickly. We might even be able to get the meeting together tonight.”
“I appreciate you being optimistic about this, but I don’t think it’s humanly possible to alert that many people on such short notice,” I point out.
“Well,” She says. “It’s a good thing we aren’t human.”
```````
I didn’t think she could do it, but she did. Draven managed to get every single member of the rebellion to come to the emergency meeting in a single day. I notice a few new rebels in the crowd (including my dad), but the majority are familiar faces.
Once everyone gets settled, we call our meeting to order.
“I assume everyone has noticed the wanted posters that can be seen all over Equestria,” Draven yells.
Nervous murmurs ripple throughout the crowd.
“It either means that we need to be more discreet when putting up ads,” I say. “Or one of you in this entrance hall ratted on us. We honestly don’t know which is the reason. The posters probably didn’t help, either way.”
Literally everyone in the hall turns to glare at Luna, because the posters were her idea, and everybody knows it. She just blushes fiercely and lets out a nervous laugh.
“This does not mean we have given up,” Cadence adds quickly. “We just have to be more discreet when spreading the word, and it probably wouldn’t hurt to be more careful with who we accept.”
“So, from this point onward, we Horns and your personal trainers will have to interview every new rebel as a precaution,” Luna calls.
The entire crowd groans simultaneously.
“Dismissed for training,” All of the Horns say together. We had agreed that there would be an extra training session at this meeting so that the Renegades wouldn’t fall behind in their preparation. Preparation for what, exactly?
We think that now that Celestia knows of our existence, it’s only a matter of time before she declares war. She’s had to deal with countless rebellions before Equestria’s New Age, and how did she deal with those? She went to war, of course. Torchwood, Ditsy, and Lazarus have all agreed to get extra practice in with their troops whenever they can and get our reserves ready for battle. We aren’t being paranoid, just careful. With maybe a hint of paranoia.
After everyone in the hall has cleared out, I say, “I’m gonna follow the pegasi. Torchwood told me they’re doing some kind of obstacle course. She’s been working on it for weeks, and she says that she’s been staying late trying to finish it! She says she’s finally done, and she really wants at least one of us to oversee the course. I told her I’d do it, so I’d better take off.”
Draven rolls her eyes. “Ever heard of too much information?”
“Oh, and Laz said he was teaching the unicorns Weather spells today. I told him I’d come, but I also made a promise to Torchwood… do you think you could cover for me, old buddy old pal?” I smile at her, even though it’s kind of hurting my mouth. Yes, it’s that forced.
Fortunately, I don’t even need the smile. I keep forgetting that Lazarus and Draven are head over hooves in love with each other. She’d probably do anything for an excuse to spend more time with him than she already does. “Ok, I’ll go check out his class. I’ll gladly do it!” She looks happier than I’ve seen her in days.
“Run along, lovebird!” I call after her. Not that I need to tell her twice. By the time the word ‘lovebird’ is out of my mouth, she’s already long gone.
So I head off to the pegasus training room.
As I open the heavy door made from pure titanium (Luna and Cadence didn’t have much material to work with when building this bunker, or else they would have picked something way lighter for the doors, like maybe glass), my eyes are instantly drawn to the humongous structure in the center of the room. The Obstacle Course. It has to be.
The floor is littered with pegasi of all sizes, shapes, and ages. They appear to be doing push-ups… with their wings. That has to hurt. Torchwood is dashing around the room, making sure ponies are doing their proper exercises and getting on to the kids flying around the training room, which Torchwood appears to have decorated to look like a gymnasium. The kids in flight are tossing a ball made of clouds to each other, dribbling against the metal support beams, and shooting the cloud ball into basketball hoops. “Dribble! Field Goal! Get down from there and do your warm-ups!” Torchwood screams. When she notices me from across the gym, she immediately runs from the kids towards me.
“Star! I’m so glad you could make it! Do you like my obstacle course?”
“I love it! But how did you get it in here? It’s huge!”
“Well, Laz may or may not have teleported it in here from his studio,” She confesses. “But I did build it by myself!”
“It looks really tough! Can you walk me through how you’re supposed to do it? I can’t even tell where you’re supposed to start, it’s so complicated!” I’m telling the truth when I say that you can’t tell the starting line from the finish line.
“Ok!” She says eagerly. “So you start here, and then you go up, building up speed, and then as you come down the track, you swerve to avoid the hurdles while at top speed. Then, you fly over this ditch. Fall in and you’re immediately disqualified. And then you fly over here and zigzag around these cloud cannons, and then you run across these tightropes with clouds balanced across your wings, and then you drop the clouds in these baskets!” She points at a couple of hoof-woven baskets at the end of the tightropes.
“Oh, is that all?” It didn’t look that hard. Sure, it was a lot of stuff, but it wouldn’t take very long to do it quickly.
“Yeah, but you have to go around three times. In order to pass the Obstacle Course challenge, the initiates need to have no less than three clouds in their baskets. Finishing first isn’t always priority,” She says matter-of-factly.
“Do they know that?” I ask.
“Nope. They think it’s just a race. Quality of work comes before finishing quickly. That’s a lesson I intend to teach them because I think it’s an important one to teach kids. My mother taught me that one, and I will never forget it.”
“What happens if they get less than three clouds in their basket?”
“They have to do the race over and over again until they figure it out,” She says with a smile. “Oh, wait, what time is it? I guess it’s about time to get some people on the track!” She blows her whistle and reads two names from her clipboard. “Littletree and Swiftfeather! You’re first on the track!”
Two ponies come to the front of the room. One is much bigger than the other, and the smaller of the two looks almost like she’s about to cry. “Who’s that?” I ask Torchwood, pointing at the smaller pony.
“Oh, that’s Littletree,” She says. “One of my best flyers. What she lacks in size she makes up for in speed and agility. Unfortunately, she’s not very confident. Swiftfeather could break every bone in her body, and everypony knows it. Let’s just say Swiftfeather got to the top of the class for a reason aside from speed. She’s more like the kind of pony who’d have her own regiment in a war.” She picks up a checkered flag from off the floor and raises it in the air. “On your marks… get set… go!” She lowers the flags and the racers take off.
Let me just say for the record that Littletree is amazing. She’s so swift! So agile! She dodges each obstacle with ease, almost as if it ceases to exist. If she ever ends up being a famous racer after we bring down Celestia’s empire, I’m definitely going to be one of her best groupies. Who knows? She may even revive the Wonderbolts someday.
Swiftfeather, on the other hoof, is not fast. In fact, she’s downright slow. Her strength, however, makes up for lost time. For example, rather than bother going around the obstacles, just to save time, she goes through them. Littletree gets her first cloud in the basket. However, Swiftfeather, thinking she has a better chance of winning if she doesn’t stop to retrieve the clouds, swoops right past the cloud pickup spot on the track.
“Swiftfeather is disqualified,” Torchwood shouts as soon as Swiftfeather crosses the finish line for the first lap. “Littletree has won the race by default.”
“What?” Swiftfeather screams. The rest of the class flies up to Littletree to congratulate her.
“Swiftfeather will have to redo the course next week. Hopefully, that will give you enough time to think about why I disqualified you,” Torchwood tells a mortified Swiftfeather. “Next pair up to race is Prism Dash and Seles.”
Two more ponies fly up to the track. This time, both racers make it to the end. “Prism Dash wins the race!” Torchwood calls. “But Seles also completed the secret task, therefore she does not have to repeat the race.”
“Secret task?” Swiftfeather asks, eyes wide. Not that anyone hears her. They’re all too busy sucking up to Prism to notice she ever said anything.
As the races continue, it becomes more difficult to tell them apart. They begin to blend together after a while. After what seems like forever, I hear a knock on the door. “Could you get that, please?” Torchwood calls. “I’m not supposed to take my eyes off the race in case somepony cheats.”
I walk over to the huge door and push it open. Standing before me is an angry, wet Lazarus dragging a miserable looking young pony by the arm. “I’m so sorry,” she gasps. She looks like she’s about to cry. “I didn’t mean to…”
“Silence!” Laz screams at her. “I’ve had enough of you today! First, you flood my studio with what was supposed to be a drizzle. Then, you cause a tornado that nearly kills everyone! You really and truly are a natural disaster, kid. Maybe a pegasus will have better luck controlling your magic bursts. They are all strangely weather related, after all.”
The little girl bursts into tears.
“Laz!” I yell. He’d always been rude and insensitive to the feelings of everyone around him (that’s why I worry about his relationship with Draven), but I’d never known him to make a young foal cry! “She can’t help it if her magic gets out of hand (out of hoof?)! You’re her teacher! You’re supposed to help her through this!”
In the midst of this argument, no pony has noticed that the little girl has suddenly developed a terrible fever. Or that her eyes suddenly have lost all color, or that her tears have begun to evaporate into steam. Or that her horn is beginning to spark.
But everyone notices when the storm starts. Storm clouds and lightning come roaring out of the girl’s horn. Thunder booms and echoes off the walls. Water begins to seep in through cracks and leaks in the walls and ceiling. “We’re all going to die,” I murmur. “Everyone get to the exit,” I yell over the sounds of the storm.
Just as I say this, an especially fierce wind blows the door shut just before the door is coated with a thick frost. “Melt it!” Torchwood screams. “Melt the ice!”
“There’s too much water!” I holler back. “If I try to light a fire here, it’ll just be extinguished!”
“There has to be another way out,” Lazarus says frantically. Suddenly, one of the holes in the roof gives way. The water is in.
“Help anypony who can’t swim out first,” I command. “We can get through this.” I conjure a small waterproof bubble around a young pegasus who appears to be struggling in only three feet of water. “Help me out, Laz!”
“On it!” He begins casting all kinds of spells, ones I’ve never even seen before. Torchwood helps some pegasi get up near the ceiling so the water won’t reach them as quickly.
Meanwhile, I fly down and try to see what’s wrong with the girl. As I draw near her, I notice that she isn’t wet. Then I realize it’s because she’s so hot, the water surrounding her evaporates when it gets within three feet of her. “She’s burning up,” I mutter. She has burn marks all over her skin, and I notice that only some of them seem recent. Has this happened before? Her mane is on fire, and is streaked with lightning bolts. I take a step closer. A wave of intense heat washes over me. I take a step back and I’m suddenly freezing. “I can’t get close to her!” I say. “I don’t know what’s wrong!”
The water level is steadily rising. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what I can even do to try to make this better. Everyone is still looking for a way out, but they’re also counting on me to stop this, just in case. Laz is still going around casting protection spells, but his power is weakening. He can’t fly. He’s going under.
I surprise everyone (especially myself) by flying to him and saving his life seconds before he drowns. He’s fainted, but he’ll live as long as I can keep him above water. I hear frantic pounding on the door, shave-and-a-haircut style. Draven. It has to be. Shave-and-a-haircut knock is our code. There’s a blast of light and the door explodes. Shards of ice go everywhere. Standing in the doorway is the silhouette of my dear friend, her horn smoking from using the laser. She blows it out and grins. “Did you miss me?”
Best I’m-about-to-save-your-life-now-suck-it line I’ve ever heard.
She runs over to the little girl. The heat wave strikes her before she gets within two yards of her. Draven’s pelt, for a split instant, is the same shade of crimson-red as her mane. She takes a step back. Her horn begins to charge. Magical energy flows up through her horn, a brilliant shade of purple, the same color as her eyes, and strikes the child straight through her heat field.
The little girl’s eyes begin to regain color. Her horn stops glowing with her own magical energy. Her temperature returns to normal. The water level is no longer continuing to rise, which is good, seeing as it had almost reached the ceiling where all the pegasi were stranded.
“I have never been so happy to see you in my life.” I take a deep breath for the first time in several minutes. Under the water, I had been supporting myself with water resistance spells, but my magic was wearing out. I probably would have drowned if Draven hadn’t come when she did.
She smiles at me. Aside from the girl, Draven is the only pony in the room who isn’t soaking wet. She helps me to my hooves before turning to the foal. “Are you ok?” She looks deeply concerned for the child.
“I’m fine.” The girl pauses before saying, “Thank you.”
` “What’s your name, young one?” I inquire.
“Storm. Storm Jackson,” She replies.
I turn to Draven. “You have a little sister?” I ask with surprise.
“She’s my adoptive cousin,” Draven confesses. “From my dad’s side. His sister never married, but she always wanted kids, so she adopted Storm. Storm doesn’t know her real last name, so she just uses my aunt’s.”
“You truly do learn something every day,” I mutter just loud enough for Storm to hear. She flashes a quick smile, but disguises it quickly, before her older cousin can notice.
“Your dad’s sister is a unicorn? How is that possible? I mean, she’d have to be a unicorn if she could adopt Storm, right?” I can’t wrap my head around it. It doesn’t make sense. An all-pegasus family can’t give birth to a unicorn. Where would the magic gene come from? Then again, I guess that means that there isn’t really an explanation for Draven and me either.
“It could have been a birth defect,” Draven says. “Although the most likely cause is that somewhere in our family history, a unicorn was present, long before Celestia’s rule. It wasn’t illegal for the different ponies to co-exist back then. But when my dad’s sister was born, Celestia had her sent to an orphanage in Bedrock because she didn’t want a unicorn to live in a pegasus family.”
“Oh,” I reply. I feel silly for not noticing that sooner. Of course ancient genealogy might have had something to do with it. But I’ll admit I never have heard of separation at birth if a pegasus has a unicorn child. That is just plain cruel. Could that have happened to me or Draven?
I take a look around the gym.
The water levels may have stopped rising, but the pegasi are still trapped near the ceiling because the water levels didn’t go down, either. I quickly cast the Laser Horn spell that I usually save for escape routes in the canyon and make a large hole in the floor. The water begins to drain into the crater as I continue to hollow out the floor. Soon, the court is almost completely dry, and I patch up the floor with a Try Again spell (it’s a form of time travel spell where you replace one thing from the present with something else from the past or future. Invented by Starswirl the Bearded). The pegasi, looking quite embarrassed, fly down from the ceiling.
I look at my friends. Laz looks really mad, and Torchwood appears to be giving Storm the stink-eye from across the room. Draven pulls her little cousin closer with her wing. Meanwhile, Storm is petrified with fear. Her eyes are wide as saucers and her flesh a ghostly white.
“Storm,” Draven says softly. “It wasn’t your fault. I understand your magic has an emotion lock. You can’t use it unless you’re experiencing extreme emotion. I know because I was the same way when I was younger.”
Storm’s eyes widen. “Really? But… you’re so good at magic. And I’m awful!”
Draven laughs. “You want to see good at magic? You go talk to her.” She points at me. I feel myself start to blush. “The point is, I was bad at magic once too. But I practiced. Somepony actually took the time to teach me. And that’s what I want to do with you.”
“You… want me to practice?” Storm still looks confused.
“NO! Well, yes. But I also want to teach you myself. I want you to be my own personal student. What do you say to that?” Draven smiles at her little cousin, and I see so many emotions radiating off of her. Joy, pride, enthusiasm, and happiness are just some of the ones I see.
“OMG YES!” Storm screams. She starts bouncing around Draven, saying, “Yes, yes yes!” over and over again. Draven looks just about as happy as Storm does, but I guess she must not have that emotion thing anymore. I honestly didn’t know that’s what I was really helping her with when I taught her magic when we were little. I guess even really close friends have secrets.
`````````
The second I open the door to my house, I notice that something is wrong. It’s far too quiet. Usually, around this time at night, Fez is screaming about the unfairness of having to take his bath, Mom is arguing with him, and Dad is yelling at everybody to be quiet so that he can read.
Instead, I hear nothing. It’s dead quiet, which hasn’t happened since Fez was first born. It’s also way too dark. There isn’t a single light on anywhere in the house, which is odd. I open the door just a crack, wondering if this is some sort of holiday. It suddenly hits me. Today was the Reading. That’s the only reason we were even able to have the emergency meeting today, because there wasn’t any school. I open the door the rest of the way and see my family tied to chairs with thick rope with gags covering their mouths.
I start to scream just as I feel a hoof press against my mouth. It muffles the sound. “Now, now. We’ll have none of that,” Celestia hisses in my ear. I begin to panic. I try to break free from her grasp, but she holds me tightly. I see Shining Armor standing in the corner of the living room with an odd expression on his face. He holds a length of rope, which you can tell by the jagged ends has been recently cut.
Celestia finally releases me. I immediately turn on her, super-charging my horn and say, “Let them go.”
Celestia grins evilly. “Do you honestly think I’m going to turn them over without a second thought? I want you to do something for me first.”
“Why are you here?” I need to distract her long enough to give my family a chance to escape on their own. My father will no doubt think of something if I give him enough time.
“Well, today was the Reading, and, well, you have been a very bad girl lately.” Celestia clears her throat as she begins to recite a list of broken laws from memory. “Acts of rebellion, convincing others to commit acts of rebellion, hosting illegal gatherings that unite all the different kinds of ponies. And that is just the beginning, young one. Those are just the ones I can remember. I also have a proposition for you.”
“What do you want?” I risk a glance at my parents and little brother. My dad is shooting me a glare that says, “Keep her talking.”
“Easy. I want you to shut down the rebellion.” She smiles. She thinks she’s won.
“No,” I say simply.
She snorts loudly before readying her own horn and aiming it at my family. “There is more. If you fail to comply, I will erase the memories of your family. Not entirely, mind you, that would kill them, which would make me look bad. I will only erase their minds of all traces of you. They will not be harmed further and will resume their normal lives. I will also make a movement to declare war against your rebellion. On the other hand, if you surrender unto me, I will rescue your family. I will send them to another land far from here, and they will remember you. However, you will never see them again. Your rebellion will be crushed beneath my hooves, and you will be imprisoned as my slave.”
I glance at my father. He’s shaking his head ever so slightly. He’s telling me not to give in. He’s right. I lose no matter what I choose, so I may as well keep the rebellion going long enough to even have a chance in defeating her. Then I realize that this is every bit like the choice Princess Twilight made exactly 13 years ago on this day. The fate of Equestria now rests in my hooves and I don’t know what to do. But I have faith in my father. I trust him. He may already have a plan, for all I know. So I decide to heed his advice.
“No,” I repeat. “We will go to war, and we will be victorious. My family will be better off without me in their lives. I’m too dangerous.”
Celestia’s smile falters. “Are you certain?”
I grin. “Of course. Even if I agreed to your terms, which I don’t, you’d still have to convince Draven, Luna, and Cadence to agree to do the same.”
Shining Armor’s eyes widen. “Cadence? You know Cadence? But… Queen Celestia told me that she was dead.” He looks completely crestfallen.
“Yes, she’s alive!” I say. “She misses you terribly. She tells me about you every day. She wants to see you again, Shining Armor.”
“Silence!” Celestia screams. Then she takes a deep breath before saying with a smile, “You have two minutes to say your goodbyes. Shining Armor? Come to the kitchen with me, please.”
The two stalk out of the room. I race towards my family and rip the gags out of their mouths. I try to cut the ropes that hold them down, but I can’t. Celestia must have used a deadlock seal. Deadlock seals prevent magic from working properly. There are only a few spells that can destroy a deadlock seal, but my magic isn’t strong enough to cast them. I begin to cry as I realize this really is the end. This will be the last time I see my family.
My mother shushes me. She smiles and tells me, “It’s okay,” although she’s crying too.
My father kisses me on the cheek and tells me how proud of me he is.
Fez asks our parents, “Will I be an only child when Star’s gone?” I can’t help but laugh. I glance at my stopwatch.
“You will be in a little less than a minute,” I reply.
We spend the last minute we will ever have together just kind of standing around, embracing each other and saying, “Goodbye,” to each other over and over again.
Celestia strides into the room about one minute later. “Your time is up.” She begins to charge her horn. “Now stand aside as I do what must be done.”
Shining Armor pulls me back. “There’s no going back now,” He whispers. “Just stand back and let her do what she has to.” He’s begging me not to do this, to simply stand back and do nothing.
Celestia has finished charging her magic and releases it onto my family. “I love you,” I whisper. But no one hears me over the screams.
Everything after that is sort of hazy. Shining Armor sweeps me off my hooves and says something to Celestia. I’m too depressed to bother with paying attention to his words. Celestia’s eyes widen as she screams something (I think it was, “You can’t! You know too much!” although I cannot be certain) and shoots a laser beam at us. Shining teleports us out of the house just as she blows out a huge chunk of the wall. I see my family still tied up through the hole. They appear to be knocked out, although they might be completely dead. I’m not sure of anything right now.
The only thing I know is that I am a horrible person. I sacrificed something that wasn’t even mine to give for the sake of something that is destined for failure.
Shining Armor swings me across his back. I’m vaguely aware of the fact that he is running away. He is now asking me a question. I don’t exactly care what about, but I might as well try to help him. He did just save my life, after all.
“Where can we go? Someplace safe that not many ponies know about?” He sounds desperate. I suddenly realize that he must have quit his job back there. He must have noticed this wasn’t right when he learned that Cadence was fighting against it. Does he really love her that much?
“I can take you to the rebellion base,” I answer. “But in order for people to trust you, you will have to give them insider information. Starting the instant I teleport us into the bunker, you are our inside man. Got it?”
“Got it,” He says immediately. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know about Celestia. I was her right-hand man for a long time.”
“Good,” I reply. “Let’s get going.” I raise my horn into the air. Shining Armor keeps running as I cast the teleportation spell.
Seconds later, he’s running through the base with me balanced on his back. “Can you walk?” He asks me.
“Why wouldn’t I be able to?” I question.
“I think I read somewhere that ponies who suffer a loss sometimes take a really long time to recover. Weeks, months, or even years are spent getting over it. Sometimes they lose the ability to speak or hear or walk because they’re too depressed to care.” Wow. Shining Armor just explained the last two minutes of my life in mind-boggling detail. Job done, Shining.
“Well, sure I’m depressed. Who wouldn’t be in a situation like this? But there’s work to be done,” I say.
“Work?” Shining Armor looks confused.
“Didn’t you hear Celestia back there? She just declared war on us, and we need to be prepared.” I glare at him. “It’s time you chose what side you’re on, Shining.” I call up Cadence and tell her that I brought someone to see her. Suddenly, there’s a burst of blue light. Cadence stands in front of us. Her eyes fall on Shining Armor and she stops in her tracks.
“Cadence!” He gasps. He races towards her and wraps his hooves around her in a hug.
“Shining?” Cadence looks astonished. “But… how? I thought you had died! According to the newscasts, you were one of those who died when Terek stole magic from Equestria all those years ago.”
“That’s what Celestia told me about you,” Shining says. “I’m so sorry I didn’t realize you were alive sooner.”
“It’s ok,” Cadence whispers. “I still love you.” She kisses him on the cheek. Shining starts blushing madly as she whispers something else in his ear. “We’ll be down at the bunker hospital if you need us,” Cadence says aloud.
“I need you now, actually,” I mutter. “Celestia just declared war upon us. I need help getting everyone gathered together.”
Cadence tears herself away from Shining. “What?”
“You heard me. We are at war with Celestia as of today. We need to rally the troops for an emergency meeting. We need to get everything organized before the first attack, which will probably be very, very soon.”
````
Cadence and I call up Dra and Luna and tell them we need to have an emergency Four Horns meeting. Not with the Renegades, just the four of us, the ones that started it all.
We talk about a lot of things at the meeting (most of which has been declared “confidential” and I therefore cannot share with outsiders to the rebellion), but we finally settle on this: I’m going to write a book about our story. All of it, everything since the beginning of the rebellion, and maybe even before that. And everything that will happen to us in days yet to come. A record of our adventures to spread the word that will encourage others to help fight back. But this book will not be published in Equestria. It would be too easily detected, and Celestia would discover it immediately. I’m sending it to your world, the human world, through the enchanted mirror in my bedroom.
And once it’s written and published, when someone reads it, it will be one more person informed of our cause. One more person who will have the chance to join us. I should probably get started, so that I will get done sooner. I know it sounds crazy, but if you’re reading this, that means it’s working.
Prologue: They want you to believe Equestria is a happy place…
THE END (Until book two, “A Good Mare Goes to War”)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I have so many people I want to thank for this book’s creation.
To my mom, to whom I owe two bucks for buying the notebook that would later become the manuscript (and dad, for encouraging me to write this thing in the first place).
To Vivian Mache, my friend, companion, and inspiration. Thank you for introducing me to MLP and helping me find all those ways to poke fun at various aspects of the show. You also suggested that I kill off Pinkie, which even though it doesn’t really contribute to the storyline, I think I might be able to wiggle it in there somewhere in the next book (hint hint).
Viv’s Note: MWAHAHAHAHAHA!
To Michelle and Liz, for being my proofreaders and the only people at my new school who talk to me on a regular basis. You guys are da bomb (in a good way)!
To the creators of MLP. How do I begin to say how much this show has helped me? Not only does this book exist thanks to you guys, but it also made me a better person as a whole. For that, I tip my hat to you (tips imaginary fedora and puts on a fez).
I must not forget everyone who’s ever read my blog, Parody and Darkfall’s Video Channel (Vivian is Darkfall, I’m Parody. The thingy to get to the site is parodyanddarkfall.blogspot.com)
I would like to thank my cats, Aurora and Desmond, for being the fluffiest, cutest, most snuggly pets ever.
I would also like to thank everyone else I’ve ever known, EVER. Even the people who hate my guts for reasons unbeknownst to me (you know who you are).
AND I would like to thank you, dearest reader, for spending eight dollars of your well-earned money plus tax on a book that some nerdy twelve-year old kid wrote. For that, I am eternally grateful. I hope you enjoy this book for the rest of your life (or at least for the few minutes that you spent reading it).
About The Author…
HADLEY KENNEDY is a nerdy twelve-year old girl who dreams of being a comic book artist, but has decided to write this book in her spare time because she has nothing better to do than write a fan-fiction about a T.V. show she likes but pretends she hates. She spends her time writing stories, drawing manga, reading manga, watching assorted T.V. shows (MLP, FMA, Doctor Who, Lost, ect.), snuggling with her cats, riding her scooter, doing homework, and playing video games with her dad. She lives in a small town in Tennessee (no, I’m not telling you where exactly!) and wants to use the money she gets from this book to blow on Doctor Who key chains and t-shirts at Comic Conventions. She still lives with her parents, but not because she doesn’t have a job or anything (well, that too), just because she’s still in middle school. She is very grateful that you have purchased this novel and she hopes you’ll stick around for the next one. If you wish to send her suggestions for the next book and want to have a chance at being in the acknowledgements, send an email to hadleywho42@gmail.com with your input and your name (it can be a fake one).