Pegasus Season

Twilight moaned.

"Oh brony..."

Non-earth ponies were not allowed to go out into the streets at this hour, but Twilight Sparkle could hear Bronyvistus' amplified voice even in here. He was holding one of his famous motivational speeches on town square. It was always the same stuff, repeated over and over again in order to expel "stupid thoughts" from the audience's heads, as the great leader put it.

In order to cheer up the unicorn fillies who were sharing this room with her, Twilight used her magic to bring a horn-warmer to life as a primitive puppet, moving its "lips" to mimic Bronyvistus' speech.

The fillies giggled, perhaps for the first time in days.

"In times where everything existed in abundance, you used to think that life was precious, a value in itself. This is a dangerous misconception! This is not the right way to look at it, and now that things have changed, it is important that you shake that illusion. Face it, my little ponies: life is a resource like any other! What matters is what you build out of it. If you want to build a truly great and healthy herd, a real community, some lives are more useful than others. Some are utterly useless, and some are even downright defective..."

You could laugh at these speeches, or vomit.

But what was breaking Twilight's heart was the applause.

"HEIL BIG BRONY!"

Followed by a single, cheerful exclamation the ponies in the crowd weren't quite able to trace back to it's origin:

"I can't heal him! I'm not a doctor."

Twilight smiled, feeling a little better. She recognized that voice.

-

Twilight was sharing her food rations with her new room mates, but it simply wasn't that much to go around. She got a bigger share than other unicorns because of her work in the committee, but still.

She looked once again at the 'Wanted'-Poster she had found on her way home. It was about Pinkie Pie.

'Pinkemina "Pinkie" Diane Pie', it read, 'Traitor. Number One Enemy of the State. Dangerous and Unstable. Wanted alive for due process (AND THEN WE HANG THAT BITCH)'

Pinkie, Rarity and Fluttershy had vanished since the day of the explosion, but there had been a series of mysterious... pranks since Bronyvistus had risen to power.

Whatever Pinkie Pie had been doing, she had not tried to contact Twilight. She knew that there were good reasons for this, but it still hurt. She felt so very alone.

-

Which is also why she was so happy when she saw Applejack again.

It was just another day at the office. The workhorse walked by her desk without even looking at her. She wasn't wearing her hat anymore, instead she had attached a black ribbon to her right front hoof.

"Applejack! I haven't seen you in AGES!"

"Oh, hi Twilight..."

"What are you doing here?"

"A request, in the name of the Earth Pony Youth... more flyers. They told me to consult with Bronyvistus on this."

"You're with the... Earth Pony Youth?"

"Sure am. Young minds need care, just as seeds that shall grow into mighty trees."

"You seem really enthusiastic about this..."

"No offense, Twilight, but you wouldn't understand. It's an earth pony thing. Now if you'll excuse me..."

"You don't want people to see you talking to a unicorn, isn't that right."

"No! No. Maybe. Look, let's talk some other time, I'm kinda busy right now."

"Oh, I understand, I mean, I have so much to do myself... Like, calculating food rations that keep the pegasus ponies slightly above the point of starvation while making them lethargic enough to keep them from flying around...?"

"Splendid."

"Indeed."

Applejack disappeared in Bronyvistus' office. Twilight felt like crying, but by now she had mastered the art of containing herself.

-

Another earth pony came storming inside, spitting a large paper roll on the floor and starting to rant as soon as his tongue was free.

"She did it again! How does she even do this? I need colts to search the town for other profanations! We need to take them down as quickly as possible. Ring the Police station."

"May I see...?"

The colt snorted, but allowed Twilight to unroll his find.

It was one of the motivational posters that could be found on almost every wall nowadays. It was showing Bronyvistus in a white robe and a heroic pose. The background was the eternal night with Celestia's artificial stars. There was a clock tower with the hands on midnight, supposed to represent the "Zero Hour" of the new Pony civilization. The particular thing with this poster was that Pinkie Pie had left her mark. Twilight tried very hard not to giggle, though this was exactly what Pinkie invited the reader to do: "Giggle at the Ghostie".

-

Applejack blew her whistle again.

"Come on, Applebloom. You need to exercise a lot more! I'm the Youth leader. I can hardly allow my own sister to be the least athletic pony of the whole bunch, now can I? Just follow my lead..."

"I don't know, Applejack... I don't really feel like doing extra training..."

"Sugar cube, it doesn't matter what you 'feel like'. We need you to be strong. Do it for the family. For the herd."

"It's not going to do my friends any good, though."

"You'll soon have a lot of friends again, Applebloom."

"I already have friends."

Applejack sighted.

"Oh, Applebloom... I know this is hard for you to understand, but believe me, it is for the best..."

"Pinkie Pie says that Scootaloo is starving. She is going to die."

"No, I'm sure that..."

Applejack frowned.

"Pinkie Pie, eh...? Tell me, Applebloom... Where did you meet aunt Pinkie? I haven't seen her in ages. I'd love to have a little... chat with her."

"You're not going to tell Bronyvistus, are you?"

"No. Nooo. I just want to see if she's alright, and such. And who knows, maybe I can convince her to end her little hide-and seek with the committee... Wouldn't that be a nice reunion!"

Applebloom didn't look very convinced, but finally she said:

"Okay. I guess you know what's best for her. I'll show you."

"That's a good filly."

Applebloom was leading her older sister to a little shed in the backyard of a unicorn family that had been deported to Muzzle Street.

"That's strange. We already searched this part of town. Several times! Are you sure it was here?"

"You'll see."

Applebloom opened the door of the shed and invited Applejack in.

After the workhorse had walked inside, the filly slammed the door.

"What in TARNATION...!"

When Applebloom opened the door again, her sister had vanished.

She giggled, quite pleased with herself.

-

These Posters. You could really find them everywhere these days. They were making Rainbow Dash sick. As if she hadn't been sick already.

She felt like an old mare, every step being an exploit. Her wings were cut and tied behind her back according to the new regulations, but she wouldn't have been able to fly anyway. These reduced food rations were starting to take their toll.

With nothing else to do, Rainbow Dash would patrol through the pegasus ghetto and make impolite noises with her tongue whenever she discovered another piece of propaganda.

Like these new flyers, for instance.

Some of the newer ones showed Applejack in a triumphant pose, and they read 'EarthPonyYouth: DAMN STRAIGHT!' .

"Yeah, right...", Rainbow Dash snorted.

Part of her now wished she had swallowed Applejack the day the workhorse had been shrunk down to the size of a mouse by a mutated plant. An opportunity missed, if there had ever been one.

Why, there was a new poster. Rainbow was shocked. This one had her name on it! What was this all about?

'No one can deny that Rainbow Dash's athletic achievements have inspired thousands of ponies nationwide.

Yet there are always two sides to a medal. It is well known that the young pegasus pony is mentally and emotionally unstable. The overuse of certain illegal substances might be a factor. Not to mention her rather ambiguous feelings towards other mares...'

"That's not true!", Rainbow Dash protested, "I do NOT have ambitious feelings towards other mares!"

Her face was changing colors at an impressive speed, none the less.

-

She turned away from the poster, only to stumble and fall.

"Hey! Don't just leave stuff on the floor! I..."

Then she saw what she had tripped on.

It was a tiny pegasus filly, barely breathing. One could count all the ribs.

-

There must be a way, Twilight thought, There must be some way to get more food to the pegasus sector.

She was already playing the administration, succeeding in smuggling some provisions by having the rations of one day delivered independently by two crews at slightly different times. But she needed to be careful. If she did it too often, if she got caught...

But she would have to try harder. Even though she wasn't allowed to visit the pegasus camp, she could tell. She was working with the numbers. She knew where this was heading.

Twilight was going on, day after day, unable to figure a way out of this vicious cycle. The escape plans of the Resistance seemed so far out of reach... Their oppressors had lost most of Their initial powers, and yet there was still no where to go...

She looked up from her work and jumped.

Applejack was standing in front of her desk. Staring right at her with eerie, empty eyes.

"A-Applejack... How long have you been standing there?"

"A while. Listen, Twilight, could I talk to yah for a second?"

"So now you want to talk to me, what..."

"Official EPY business. I need your help to choose the right paper for our brochures."

"Brochures? But..."

"Let's go to the supply room. Like, right now."

-

Applejack locked the door behind them. The lights went on and off. Twilight recognized this: someone had temporarily turned off the surveillance.

"Listen, Twilight, I got mahself hypnotized. Pinkie Pie and the others caught me. I'm supposed to deliver a message to yah. Don't worry, I'm not going to remember any of this. If I would, I would probably help Bronyvistus to catch yah. I'm very sorry for all that is happening right now, but, yah know... that's just how it is."

Twilight sighted.

"It's alright, Applejack. Just tell me what you've got for me."

And then Applejack started talking in Pinkie Pie's voice.

-

Just when she had finished, the lights went on and off again. Twilight unlocked the door.

"Twilight...? Why are we in this room?"

"I think you were looking for something, but you didn't quite remember. Are you feeling alright?"

"I guess so..."

A young earth pony colt rushed into the office.

"Sister Applejack! We need you in the pegasus sector! It's a full-scale uprising!"

"I'm on mah way!"

Twilight was trying to hold her back.

"They are starving! They're locked up! No wonder they're mad! Applejack, you can't..."

"I can, and I will. A mare's gotta do what a mare's gotta do. You just return to yah desk."

-

Princess Celestia and her minions had installed an electric fence around Ponyville, powered by portable generators, at least until they would get the main generator back on the grid.

A defensive wall against the darkness, as they called it. Similar barriers separated the unicorn- and pegasus-sectors from the "native" earth ponies.

Rainbow Dash was yelling into an improvised megaphone.

"DOWN WITH THE FENCE! DOWN WITH THE FENCE! WE'RE NOT AFRAID OF 'BIG BRONY'! HE IS... NOT THAT BIG!"

All around her, pegasus ponies were chanting as well, and knocking their hooves on the ground.

They started throwing objects at the electric barriers, again and again, in an effort to make it overload. What finally proved successful was one of Rainbow Dash's ideas, involving buckets of a liquid that shall remain unnamed for the purpose of this account.

"THAT'S RIGHT! PEGASUS FREEDOM! LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!"

"My, look who we have here. At the head of the revolt, none the less. Why am I not surprised, Rainbow Dash? Why can't you ever play by the rules?"

"Applejack? I... I can't believe you're with these creeps!"

"I do what I have to do. For the good of the herd."

"Oh yeah...? I guess that means I'll have to do THIS..."

The pegasus pony swung around and knocked Applejack to the ground with her hind legs.

Standing above the workhorse and bringing her face close enough to hers to smell the blood on her snout, she said: "Now listen, you..."

Without even opening her eyes, Applejack kicked Rainbow Dash in the air.

"It is ON. Let's 'buck us some fowl, everypony! Yee-HA!"

-

As intense as the battle was, it was doomed to be short. The pegasi were starved, and they had the wrong reflexes for a fight on the ground. After a while, the earth pony teams were just rounding them up and beating them to pulp at their leisure.

Bronyvistus was holding a speech in front of the tallest building in the street.

"Good work, everypony. Now let's bring some order into this. Those who offered the most resistance will get the harshest punishments, starting with the leaders of the insurrection..."

"That would be you, little turkey...", Applejack said, dragging the semi-conscious Rainbow Dash over the ground by her tail.

"Excellent, maid Applejack. Please follow these colts and deliver the pegasus to the chamber of justice."

"Uuuh, the chamber of justice..."

"Please, Applejack...", Rainbow whispered, her eyes filled with tears, "Don't do this... Let me go..."

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

Applejack pulled Rainbow into a former grocery store. The two earth pony colts were pointing to a great, rectangular opening on one of the walls.

"If you would be so kind, maid Applejack."

"My pleasure. And in you go. See you around, sugar cube..."

And so she tossed her in.

"So what is this anyway? Some sort of solitary confinement?"

"Solitary confinement! You crack me up, sister. It's more of a... waste disposal."

"Oh", Applejack said.

And then, very slowly: "A whatnow?"

"It's a meat grinder."