Chapters I rolled around, careful not to bump into my wife who was lying next to me. I looked over at her and saw her staring at the ceiling. She looked over at me and smiled, before being reduced into a horrible coughing fit.
"Are you okay," I asked her. Her cough had been getting worse. She nodded, before sitting up in another coughing fit. She spit on the ground next to the bed, her spit red from the coughing sprees. "I'll try and pick up some antibiotics after I get off work, just stay in bed today okay."
"Yeah, go and wake her up and get her ready for school," she told me. Her voice hoarse and shallow. I kissed her, and got out of bed. I walked towards the door, which had a hoof sized hole in it. I pulled it open, walking out into the gray hallway. I walked over to my daughters door, which was the only cheery thing in the entire house, as the colors stood out against the gray backdrop. I knocked on the door, hearing the sheets on her bed shuffle.
"Yeah," I heard her ask me. I pushed the door open and smiled at her. She smiled back at me. "Is it time for my first day of school?"
"Yes it is, come on kiddo," I told her as I left the room. She hopped out of bed and gave a silent scream in happiness. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed some coffee grinds, a coffee filter, and poured some water from a jug labeled 'clean'. I set everything up and poured myself a cup of coffee. I looked behind me and checked to see of anypony was watching and reached into a cabinet and pulled out a small bottle of whiskey. I poured a shot in and stirred it up. I sighed as I sipped at the spiked coffee, which calmed my nerves and also woke me up. "Time to go kiddo, we have an hour before school starts."
"Alright dad, I'm ready," I smiled as she lead me out the door. She was so happy to be able to go to school, and not be cooped up inside all day learning from her mother. I closed the door as I stepped out, putting a bandana over my muzzle, as she did the same. We walked down the alley towards her school, passing by many beggars. Some held their hooves out, asking for money, but we just walked past. "Dad, why don't we give them money?"
"We don't have enough money for ourselves," I told her, her eyes looked confused, but she nodded. We slowly approached the crosswalk to the street, which already had a bunch of ponies standing at it, some beggars some working ponies. I looked at the walls and spotted several flyers and graffiti tags. Worship your true and kind overlords was printed on one, but somepony crossed out true and kind and put underneath false and belligerent. I pushed pass the ponies with my daughter right behind me. We finally got through the crowd and saw I saw what everypony had stopped to watch. Four ponies lie on the ground, bags over their heads and several guards around them.
"I sentence these ponies to death, for speaking against the true overlord and spreading rebel propaganda," one pony announced. He had a scar on his cheek, running up to his ear. He nodded at a guard who walked over to one pony, removed the bag from their head, revealing a mare with an orange mane and a dusty orange coat. She tried extending her wings, only to find them tied up. "Captain Spitfire, I, under the law of the Equestrian government, condemn you death, effective immediately."
"Fuck you, your government is a lie," Spitfire yelled out. She spit at the guard. The guard nodded at another, who drew his sword, and in one swift motion, cut her head off. Her body crumpled as her head rolled towards the crowd. The crowd roared in appreciation of the act, as the government killed another rebel.
"Come on," I told my daughter who couldn't see the execution due to her height. We kept walking, this time quicker than before. We traveled in relative silence, until we reached the school. The school itself looked like a prison building, with bars on the windows and shutters over doors. The flagpole flew the flag of the new government. The flag had a symbol for each of the pony tribes, earth ponies having a horseshoe, pegasi getting a wing, and unicorns a horn, all were separated by lines. Nopony knows what it means and nopony has enough gut to ask. We walked inside and we headed straight for the front office, which was guarded by two ponies in complete riot armor. The office itself was, like everything else, rather dull mostly dead grays and browns. "Hi, I'd like to register my daughter into your school."
"Name?" The secretary asked with complete boredom.
"Midnight Sparkle," I told her. The secretary looked at my daughter, who smiled a giant toothy smile.
"Okay, sign this form out," she told me, as I was given a clipboard with a piece of paper on it and a quill. The form was relatively short, asking questions like 'has your foal been subjected to any rebel propaganda' or 'when was the last time your foal ate anything healthy'. I quickly filled out the form, and gave it back to the secretary. She smiled at me, and then my daughter. "Okay, your daughter is in great hooves, if you'd just follow me dearie."
"Okay, bye daddy," she waved goodbye. I smiled and waved back, then was escorted off the premises by the security outside the office. I walked away from the school, heading for my job. I worked as a convenience store clerk, for the only remaining general store in Canterlot. I walked down the sidewalk, spotting more and more rebel propaganda then yesterday. They were getting more courageous.
"Do have any money to spare sir," I looked over at a small frail pony. I shooked my head and kept on going. I looked behind me and saw three ponies following me, including the older pony. I passed by an alleyway entrance and was pulled in. I looked at my aggressor and saw a pony who had a missing eye. He punched my muzzle, tearing my bandana. My nose started bleeding, from the punch. I was punched in the side of my face, hearing a sickening pop as my jaw popped out of place. I was kicked in the chest, knocking the wind out of me. I chocked on air, trying to get it back into my body. I coughed, spitting out a bloodied tooth. The four thugs quickly searched my body, stealing my money and fleeing. I lied on the ground, crying, not from the pain, but from the fact that I wouldn't be able to buy my wife antibiotics. I wiped my face, smearing blood into my coat. I stood up and continued on my way towards my job. My jaw was burning up, and I collapsed when I touched it. I walked in front of my job, and walked inside.
"Your late," my boss told me as I walked into the store. I looked at him, with a apologetic glance.
"Sorry, sir," I told him, as i walked in the back. I grabbed my vest and slipped it on, and started grabbing cans and bags. All of the food items had a label on them signifying that the Equestrian government has approved of them. My day consisted of stocking shelves once, waiting for anypony to come in and buy something, but nopony did as the prices were ludicrous. A bag of crackers is seven bits, which compared to a salary is like buying a pile of gold. My shift quickly ended, and I was handed a meager two bits, and I left. I passed by the school, seeing my daughter outside, talking with another foal. She saw me and joined me on our way home.
"Are you okay, your coats bloody," she asked me. I nodded at her, keeping my eyes on the ground. She went on to tell me about her day, how she learned that the government before the perfect rulers was a sick and horrible time, where nopony had freedom. I shook my head at this, as I remember stories of Celestia and Luna's rule where everypony was happy and it was better than now. "School was fun!"
"I'm glad," I told her. She kept laughing at what she learned today. We made our way home, as the sun slowly set in the horizon. The area where the alley connected to the road was empty, except for a reinforced cart used for hauling prisoners elsewhere. We turned into the alleyway, seeing it empty, no beggars anywhere. I opened my front door, letting Midnight in first, then I followed her inside. I closed the door behind me and was knocked to the ground. I looked up and saw several guards of the government standing in my house. My wife was lying on the ground with a bag on her head, my daughter next to her.
"Black Soot, I hear by condemn your whole family to death," the guard told me. My wife started struggling at the mention of death. I was picked up and placed next to my family. "Your family dies here, the lord demanded to kill you himself."
"Why," I asked. My voice was muffled, dew to the swelling of my jaw.
"You have committed crimes against Equestria and it's people by endangering the lives of ponies around you," the guard told me. I lied there, thinking of what I did wrong. "You have been accused of murder in the first degree and terroristic actions. Now let's get to the main event."
The guard walked over to my wife and removed the bag from her head.
"Golden Ray, you have been accused of plotting against the government and are sentenced to immediate execution," I cried as I lied on my side. I watched as the guards decapitated my wife, her head rolling over to me and lying next to my head. I cried out loud as my wife died right in front of me without me being able to stop it. The guard moved over to my daughter, removing the bag from her head. "Midnight Sparkle, you have been accused of espionage of government secrets to rebel opposition, you have been sentenced to death."
My daughter cried as she felt the cold steel touched the back if her neck. She looked up at me one last time while I balled my eyes out on the floor as my wife and daughter were about to leave my life.
"Daddy," she asked me. I looked up and watched as the sword raised up. "I love you."
"I love you too," I told her. Her head fell to the floor, as her blood shot out hit me in the chest. I closed my eyes and cried silently as I heard her body hit the floor.
"Come on, up you get," I was told by the guard. I was lead outside and directed towards the armored cart I passed by when I went home. I sat in the back of the cart, and cried. I openly cried and swore at myself for being a coward. I cried for the majority of the ride to the tyrant's castle, which was a new castle built for them only. The ride took a complete day to finish, but the guards wanted to get me there quickly, I could tell. "Now, you degenerate filth, when you see the lord you will only speak when spoken to and address them as my lord, do you understand?"
"Fuck you and your stupid fucking lord," I told him. He grabbed my jaw, and twisted it breaking it more. I collapsed in pain and started crying.
"Okay, stop the cart, I have to go back to Canterlot," the cart slowed to a stop, as the guard hoped out. Another guard replaced him, and we continued on the road.
"You rebel scum are all the same, you talk a big fame, but you have no real fight," the guard told me. I sat and cried on the floor, for what felt like hours. The sky was black, and the stars gave me little hope, their symbol of freedom being lost on me. I closed my eyes and pictured my wife and kid, I went to hug them and kiss them, but they vanished before I got close. I cried in my head, feeling the tears roll down my face telling me I was crying noticeably. The cart slowly stopped as I cried. I looked up and wiped my nose on my forehoof, my tears and snot matting my coat down more than it already was. "What the fuck, why are we stopping."
"There's and over turned cart up ahead," one of the drivers told him. The guard hopped out of the cart and walked around to the front. I stood up and watched the guard make his way for the cart and start searching. He came back from the cart unharmed, and told the drivers just to go around it. He went back around the side, then we flipped. The cart went airborne as another cart t-boned us. The cart rolled for a while before it landed on it's side. My body was in an immense amount of pain. One of my legs was broken to a point where the bone tore through my skin, one of my eyes didn't see anything, my neck felt broke. I heard somepony get in the carriage and pull me out as I started to faint from the pain.
Author's Note
Feedback would be appreciated
I heard voices all around me, muffled and distorted like my head was under water, but I could breathe fine. I opened my eyes slowly, letting my eyes adjust to the blurry lights. I noticed shapes moving to my left, a blur in the haze of lights.
"He's awake," I heard someone mumble. It took me a second to figure out what they mumbled. I opened my eyes a little quicker, pausing every so often to let then adjust to the light. "Careful, take it slow."
"Where am I," I asked my mystery figure. I finally opened my eyes all the way, seeing a giant overhead light booming into my face. The mystery figure apologized, then turned the light off. "Who are you?"
"I'm Twilight Sparkle, one of the last resistance members and the only remaining Element of Harmony bearer," the pony told me. Color quickly came back to me as blobs turned into shapes then into figures. Before me was a purple alicorn, Twilight Sparkle, an ugly scar stretching up her face from the tip of her muzzle to corner of her eye. "Or at least to my knowledge I'm the last element bearer."
"Where am I," I asked, moving my leg to my face to try and scratch my nose, but my leg was restrained to the table by a leather strap. I shook the restraint a few times, but got no where.
"You're at the only remaining rebel safe house in all of Equestria," Twilight told me. She nodded at a pony across from me, who started undoing the restraints. "Come on, let's see if you can still walk."
"Wait, what," I asked, horrified. I quickly sat up and checked my legs, rubbing them up and down. I remembered the bone sticking out of my leg at the crash, but my legs didn't have any noticeable damage.
"You're legs are fine, but your muscles might not be able to support your wieght," she told me. I put a hoof on my chest, and breathed out a sigh of relief. She grabbed my leg and slowly helped me get off the hospital bed. "You've been asleep for about three months, so take it easy for a moment."
"Three months," I asked as my legs touched down on the linoleum flooring. I felt my legs wobble, but I quickly set all four hooves down. I went to take a step, and felt a wave of nausea roll over me. Twilight grabbed my leg, holding me upright.
"Careful, your body isn't used to immediate stress," she told me as she helped me along towards another room. "Let's get you something to eat."
"Thank you," I told her, she looked at me with a questioning glance.
"What for," she asked me, we walked into a room full of tables, but no pony was sitting around in there.
"For saving me," I told her. She sat me at a table, and walked over and grabbed a tray and put some food on it. She walked back over to me, placing the tray in front of me.
"I didn't save you, that was Three Horns," she told me. She sat across from me, and watched as I ate my food. The food was just mashed potatoes with gravy, but it tasted like pure bliss compared to the fake food the government claims is good.
"Wait, only you nine, I thought you would have had more rebels," I asked them. Everypony looked directly at me at the sound of my voice.
"We had the remains of the Wonderbolts, but they were captured in Canterlot," Twilight told me. My mind replayed the scene of the execution, the anger Spitfire felt, and the happiness of the crowd. "And after the attack on the safe house in Canterlot, we lost almost everypony else, it's now just us."
"I'm sorry," I apologized. She shook her head and smiled. She turned to the other ponies in the room.
"I'm Three Horns, I saved your sorry ass," a pony with a brown coat announced. His mane was shaved in rows, giving his mane three rows of hair. The outer rows of his mane were black, and the inner row being white.
"Thank you, truely," I told him. He gave off a hearty laugh, almost a roar, as if my gratitude was a joke.
"I like you, we're going to be good friends," he told me as he finished off his laugh.
"I'm Nurse Magenta," a pony with an adorable nurse outfit introduced herself. She looked like one of the dolls my daughter had. My daughter. My brain raced back to that one scene playing on repeat over and over. At some point I collapsed and I started sobbing. I snapped out of it when a bucket of water was poured on me.
"Are you okay, you had a seizure and were out of it for a minute there," Three Horns told me. I coughed, as my tears burnt my eyes.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I told them. I was lifted to my hooves by Three Horns and Twilight. I coughed a few more times as I was placed back into my seat.
"I'm the cook, don't worry about my name," a pony in a white chefs greeted. They kept on greeting me, until we went back to Twilight. There was Light Switch, the maintenance pony of the rebellion, Morning Star and Broken Flail were siblings, brother and sister, who fought for the rebellion, Blue Tooth, another medic, but he was a registered dentist before the uprising, and Petal Stem was the farmer in the rebellion, she grew food for the rebels.
"I hate character introductions," I mumbled to myself as I blanked several of the ponies, I remembered Three Horns', Twilight's, and the siblings names as they were the most interesting.
Author's Note
Everytime I wrote Three Horns, I either wanted to put Dog instead of Horns or I wanted to add Divide after Horns.
I awoke to the sound of rain pattering against the window. I sat up and stared around my room. I saw more than I did yesterday due to the darkness. The room had two pieces of furniture, the bed and a desk, but there were piles of books and papers all around the floor. Someone tapped on my door, so I assumed it was tike to get ready. I walked to the door and opened the door and walked out into the hall. The hall had some paintings in it, some I ignored yesterday due to my current predicament. I walked down the hall, until I heard the sound of metal scraping metal. I broke into a gallop when I heard a scream come from the boardroom. I ran into the boardroom, seeing ponies in full riot gear attacking the rebels.
"Please, help me," I heard Twilight yell out. I was frozen as the rest of the rebels were subdued, and quickly executed. Their heads all rolled about three feet away from them, bleeding from the eyes. "You failed us."
"No, I didn't," I told her, as the sword sliced through her neck muscle. I turned to run, but ran into two ponies. My wife and child. "No, it cam't be."
"You failed me daddy," my daughter told me. I collapsed and started crying. "Why did you fail me daddy?"
"I didn't fail you, I didn't have a choice," I told her, between sobs. I heard a thud, and looked up to see my daughter's body, headless. Her head was on the floor.
"You failed me daddy, don't fail your new family," she told me, as I felt a pony grab me, and quickly slice my head off.
I sat up, coughing as I wiped tears from my face. Rain tapped against the window. I looked around the room once more, seeing the piles of books and papers on the floor. On the desk, I saw a bottle of pills, with a piece of paper on it. I got out of the comfy bed. My legs wobbled slightly, but I held strong.
I made my way over to the pill bottle and read the note, which was written in very fancy handwriting, 'Take these for your flashbacks and nightmares, L'. Who is L, I shook my head as I placed the note next to the bottle. I checked the bottle, and saw no name, just how many I should take. I quickly took two pills, and swallowed it down with saliva.
"Are you okay," Twilight asked me from my door. I walked over and opened it, seeing a bed head Twilight standing before me. "I heard you screaming."
"Yeah, I'm fine," I told her, a smile growing on my face. She nodded, and walked back to her room, and I walked to the boardroom. The halls had the same paintings from my nightmare, so I guess I did pay attention to them. I opened the door to the boardroom, seeing the siblings, and Three Horns, all talking about something.
"Okay, so why are we breaking into the basement," I asked. The plan didn't make sense as to why we would be doing.
"We are breaking so we can steal the food and materials in the basement, and we're going to see if we can talk to the minister," he told me. The door opened and Twilight came in wearing a very posh dress, one that would be counted as middle class to a noble, but now the nobles were the middle class. "Perfect timing, you and Twilight will be going in together, here's your outfit."
"Um, thanks I guess," I thanked, as I stared over the suit. It was simple tuxedo, with a gem encrusted in the pocket. "It looks great, how are they so clean?"
"We have our ways, but go get dressed and we'll be getting ready on our end," Three Horns told me. I stood up, placing the outfit over my beg as I went to go get dressed. I made my way out of the boardroom and back to my room. Once in my room, I quickly threw on the dress shirt, finding a note in my pocket. I looked at it and found two tickets to the party. I left my room and my way back to the boardroom. I walked in and saw Twilight sitting at the table. I walked over to her and gave her the ticket. "Okay, so if l everything is in order, it's time for you two to leave."
"Sir, are you enjoying your time here," a pony asked me, dressed in a waiter's attire. He had a tray on his head that had three wine glasses full of, presumably, wine, a little bowl of some white pills, and a pile of cigars and a box of matches. He lowered his head, presenting the items to me. "Would you be interested in anything, sir?"
"No thank you," I told him. He lifted his head up and continued on. I kept looking around until I saw the food table. I walked over, grabbing a grape and went to eat it, until it was knocked out of my hoof. I looked over and saw Twilight, who shook her head.
"I found it, follow me," she told me. I followed her to the basement. We passed a line that said no unauthorized personnel past this point. "Hurry up."
"Hey, hold on," I heard a voice behind me. I kept going, following Twilight into a room. I heard the pony's hooffalls on the steps. I looked around, grabbing a shovel from a rack of gardening tools and got ready to swing. I closed the door, and got ready to swing. The doorknob rattled and the door opened, I saw a muzzle and I swung. The pony ducked under the shovel, grabbing it and pulling it from my grasp. "What is your problem!"
"Uhh, nothing," I told him. Twilight stood next to me and a smile grew on his face.
"I see what'a going on, sorry for interupting," he told me. He quickly closed the door and left us be. I don't know what he thought was going on.
"Well, that was easier than I thought was going to be," Twilight told me. We waited for a minute, then left the room, and quickly ran farther down the stairs. We finally made it to the basement and ran over to the only window in the basement. I opened it, and held it open. I watched Three Horns climb over the fence surrounding the castle, followed by the siblings. They noticed us and ran over to us.
"Good job you two," Three Horns told us. The three slid down into the window, and landed on their hooves. "Now we wait for a while, at least until the party finishes, then we go have a chat with the minister."
"Why are they ministers," I asked. It was term I had never heard anypony call the overlord's overseer's.
"It's a term that I've always called them, they're actually just minions," he told me. We sat around for a while, I eventually took off my tuxedo as the humid basement was making me sweat and the tuxedo drew attention to this. After a few hours of playing a game of cards, we heard the first waves of ponies leave the castle. We slowly made our way up the stairs, passing by the room full of gardening tools, and up into the main foyer. Three Horns quickly ran ahead, followed by the siblings. I sat and waited, until three guard ponies rolled down the stairs, except their uniforms were missing. Three Horns and the siblings appeared over the lip of the lip of the stairs and were dressed in the guards uniforms. "Come you two, hurry up."
"Alright, calm down," we quickly ran up the stairs, passing by the guards, and making our way with Three Horns. We soon entered a room that appeared to be a boardroom of somesort, but instead of a normal wooden table, a crystal table with a map on it set in the center, surrounded by seven thrones. A green dragon sat in one of the seats. A bucket of gems in one hand, he sat eating away at the gems.
"Sir, we found these two trespassers in the basement," Three Horns told the dragon. The dragon looked up from his meal, dragging his eyes across the five of us. His eyes stopped on Twilight, and he froze. "NOW!"
Twilight, Three Horns, and the siblings immediately jumped to action, going for the guards. I jumped towards the dragon, tackling him from his seat. I pinned him down, knocking his gems from his hands. His tail slashed at my chest, cutting a large gash in it. I bit down on his tail, until I heard a spine tingling crack.
"This is for my daughter you dragon fuck!" I yelled at him, until I was pulled off by Twilight. She looked down at the dragon, who cried silently, holding his tail in his arms. "Let me at him!"
"Calm down, we can't kill him, yet," Twilight told me. She looked at the dragon with a look of disappointment. Three Horns ordered the siblings to kill the guards, which they did quickly. They piled the bodies up, and set them on fire. The room quickly smelled of burning flesh, until the fire died out. All that was left was a pile of burnt ponies. "Three Horns, do you think you can get Spike back to the hospital?"
"Yeah, I can do that," Three Horns told her. "You two, go and get the food from the basement and put it in the back of the loading cart out front."
"Please, Twilight, don't kill me," the dragon, Spike, pleaded. He was picked up and thrown in a cage. Twilight placed a spell over him to make it sounded like he was barking. The siblings left the room, making their way to the basement. Twilight brought a forehoof to her face, wiping away tears.
"Did you know him," she nodded, and pointed at the throne next to the one the dragon was sitting in. It had her cutie mark etched into it. "Do you want to leave?"
"Please," she told me, before walking out of the room. I stayed behind for a second. Her throne's cutie mark glowed slightly, in harmony with the other throne's cutie marks. A rainbow storm cloud, a trio of butterflies, a trio of apples, a trio of dimonds, and a trio of balloons. "Are you coming?"
"Yeah," I told her following out of the castle.
