"Incoming!" The warning cry was followed by an increasingly loud whistling sound; with what power she could muster, the former ruler of Equestrian began shrouding the crystal castle in her protective spell for the umpteenth time heavily breathing during the ordeal.
While the former princess of friendship was busy helping her former professor, others in the room began taking refuge under their desks and chairs, hoping for some ounce of protection.
A loud, roaring sound, followed the noise, as large dust clouds, and bursts of orange flames could be seen in the eruption.
Opening her eyes for a brief second, The lavender alicorn looked on in horror at what she saw.
It wasn't the smoke residue that caused her to grow a sadden look on her face, nor the fact that the mare who had trained her for almost her entire life, fell down covered in sweat; But the image of the outside world is what caused her to walk towards the balcony, with her mouth agape.
The land was desolate, except for a few houses what withstand the blast, due to the missile's radius. But other than that, the land looked almost dead, as sounds of screaming, chaos, and absolute terror echoed the streets. Emotionally confused by such an event, Twilight mumbled out one question, "Why-" she quivered, turning back to her sweat-drenched teacher, "How could this have happened to my home, to Equestria..."
...Two Year Ago...
Like another day, it was a bright, clear-skied day; with many ponies going about their daily business.
The confectioners at sugar-cube corner were having their usual spring celebration sale; many of the agricultural and floral ponies opened up their kiosks with high expectation and even high aspiration. The sun shined brightly in the sky, with not too hot of a temperature, allowing many colts and fillies to go out and play.
The bustling streets of the small town were as crowded as they usually were when it came to the low-price sales at the farmers market, setting up for the spring celebration, or obtaining cleaning supplies to get some seasonal cleaning done while they had the time.
Although the day seemed uneventful one particular meeting was taking place later on in the day; an event held by the mayor of ponyville herself, one which pertained to that of the parliament, and Princess Celestia.
Later on in the day, a large meeting was held in the town hall building, the room was filled to the brim with almost every citizen, even some of the children decided to attend the important announcement.
Once all was quiet, the mayor entered the room with a deadpan look on her face and began he announcement.
"Citizens of ponyville ," she began "as most of you know, the upcoming Spring celebration is a time of fun and excitement-" she paused, her face shifting to a dispirited expression. "But I have just been given some, troubling news by parliament."
"Are they canceling the celebration !?" shouted one pony; his outburst was met with immediate dejected moans, most of which came from the children.
"No," she replied, "but something equally as saddening..."
Most of the crowd seemed confused by her last statement. "As some of you know, Equestria has been dealing with some economic issues." Her statement was met with several nods of agreement. "Well," she looked away in disillusion, "as of yesterday, a few members of the Equestrian parliament brainstormed, and collaborated on a plan to save us from this economic crisis."
Once again, the majority of the crowd seemed unaware of what solution that the legislature had agreed on. The princess of friendship herself, despite being Celestia's disciple and having family in royalty, had not the ounce of knowledge on what new plan, one formulated by her own government no less, was drafted.
A few ponies in the crowd began to cheer at the idea of their financial issues ending.
"Please," the mayor pleaded, "do not cheer this is something that, honestly has no need for excitement." The crowd quickly died down, now worried about what plan was being put into action.
With a deep sigh, Mayor Mare explained the soon to be enacted law, "As of this season, the parliament will vote on passing the Animal Companion Tax in three weeks or less. For the act itself; it will tax ponies who have ownership over any, and all pets."
"What!?" Shouted a rainbow-maned pegasus.
"The act will tax pet owners on, the residency of their pet, the goods, and services of any pet, including, food, hygiene products, accessories, etc."
This brought immediate outrage from the citizens, with most of them shouting such things as, 'how the hay can they do that!?', 'I already pay enough taxes as it is, fuck that!', or the common retort of, 'This is bullshit!'. Amongst all the angered yelling, one stallion seemed intrigued by this and asked the mayor. "Wait, how much is the tax rate?"
The mayor paused in thought, try to remember what was on the bill. "Well it's based on the number of animals you own, so...", she quickly did the calculations in her head, "about fifty percent."
"Again, what!?" The rainbow-haired Pegasus shouted once more, completely enraged by such a bogus charge.
Once more the room erupted in irritated and infuriated shouts. "Everypony-" the mayor, with what authority she had, attempted to quell the chaos that ensued. Attempt being the keyword, as each time she tried to control them, her pleas would fall on deaf ears.
Having enough of this, one pony finally silenced the hall with a clam and modest request, "WOULD YOU ALL JUST SHUT THE HELL UP, AND LISTEN TO WHAT THE MAYOR HAS TO SAY FOR SHIT'S SAKE!" Shocked by such an discharge, almost everypony in the hall turned their attention to the abrasive pony; the equine in question turned out to be one of the spa mares, the blue on to be specific. Contrast to her blue fur, her face turned beet red from the metaphorical spotlight being pointed at her.
"Well," she began slowly shying behind her pink sister "when you're working with the brashest pegasus in ponyville you pick up a few things." The attention directed at her now fell on to Bulk Biceps, who was as wide-eyed as the others.
With the crowd silenced, Mayor mare continued her speech, "Well," she awkwardly stuttered still affected by the missus mare's rage-fueled yell, "anyways, the vote is in one week, so please, if any of you have a heart let's show parliament that ponyville-no, that Equestria, will not submit to such an outrageous law!" The mayor's encouraging speech was followed by yet another uproar of shouting, not one of anger, but one of passion, of encouragement, of hope.
The meeting concluded on a more than uplifting note, with many ponies, leaving the hall in good spirits.
Although the meeting ended with a blithe crescendo, five, very-well known equestrians, and one baby dragon left the building with a sinking feeling in their stomach, a feeling of worry for a certain pale-blond pegasus, and her large group of animals.
"Poor 'shy," moaned Applejack, staring down with a saddened look, like Applejack, most of the girls' faces had mixes of concern, disillusion, or both.
Rainbow was the next to place her complaint on the matter, immediately going after Celestia, Sombra, and her 'goons' as she called them, "I can't believe Celestia or Sombra would do this," she scolded, "I mean, I know the economies been bad and all, but you can't just put tax on something you love, especially if it's living."
"It truly is sad darling," Rarity said, her usual posh tone was now attuned to a more serious one, "But what is there to do in such a short amount of time?"
Suddenly, the pink, hyperactive member of the mane six began galloping towards the Everfree forest. As she was closing in towards the entrance of the enchanted woods, her friends, mainly the cyan pegasus, orange cowpony, and lavender alicorn, finally caught up with her; the vigorous flier asked the baker, "Pinkie, where the hell are you going!?"
"To help on Fluttershy's opposition campaign, silly!" The pink mare giggled, making a full sprint for the forest, and entered the woodland area, as her coat was shrouded in darkness.
Somewhat dazed by their friend' actions, the five friends, begrudgingly followed their hyperactive friend into the deep woods.
In a nicely lit cottage, the element of kindness herself, Fluttershy sat on her couch, drinking Earl Grey tea and taking care of a mouse with a broken leg. The mouse had gotten himself caught in one of the gaps of the floorboard and, poorly, attempted to free himself, leading to him twisting his ankle in the process. Taking one small sip of her tea, she attended back to the rodent, "You poor thing," she cooed to the grey rodent.
As she continued working on the small animal, a loud knock at the door echoed through her almost quiet house. "I wonder who that could be?" Finishing up on her patient, the butter colored pegasus placed her tea down and trotted towards the door. When she opened the door, she was delighted to see her six friends. As happy as she was to see them, however, their sour expressions caused her smile to sink into a concerned frown.
"Oh, hi girls, what's wrong?"
The girls turned to each other with worried glances, wondering how their friend with handle the news. Spike was the first to speak to the worried pegasus. " 'Shy," he began, rubbing the back of his head with his claws, "This isn't easy to say, so I'll just say it."
Before Fluttershy could ask what the drake had meant, he began explaining about the Equestrian Council's decision, and the act as well. Once he finished his explanation, Fluttershy's yellow face had gone entirely red with anger, "How the hell could they do such a thing!" she bellowed, pacing around the living room, absolutely irate.
In an attempt to calm her friend down, Rainbow Dash trotted over to the enraged vet. "Now listen 'shy, it's not like it's over,"
The butter pegasus turned to her friend in confused irritation "There's still a chance, all we need to do is for everypony to vote against it." Without notice, the irate pegasus almost galloped to the door. With much force, she wrenched the door open and turned back to her friends. "Shy, where are you going?" Rainbow asked in bewilderment.
"What do you think!?" she chided "I'm going to start up my campaign, and make sure that, that law never sees the light of day!" With that, she exited the cottage, leaving behind several confused ponies and dragons.
Two weeks later
The town hall building of Ponyville was booming with noise, with many ponies of the town happily partying as they waited for the results of the vote. On a large teleprompter, live video footage displayed on the Equestrian News Network of cuts between the two news anchors discussing the events of the polling, and the vote percentages. Somewhere in the center of the building, Fluttershy happily hummed, waiting for the final results of the vote. As she waited, all of her friends walked up to her. "Wow," Rarity gasped in surprise at the events of the party, "I wasn't expecting a turnout like this."
Fluttershy looked at her friend with a determined gaze, "Well obviously everypony would be here, they want to make sure that this vote doesn't go through." Fluttershy stared back at the screen with exhilaration.
As Fluttershy stared at the screen with excitement, Rainbow trotted over to the yellow pegasus with a worried expression, failing to keep her smile intact, "Look 'Shy," she began "I don't want to break your spirit or notin', but aren't you afraid that this bill will pass?"
The butter yellow pegasus waved offer friend with a dismissive hoof, "I have nothing to worry about Rainbow, I have complete trust that everypony here will make the right decision I'm-" Before she could finish her statement, Mayor Mare walked up on stage announcing the incoming votes.
"Alright everypony please be silent," she commanded, everyone in the room went completely quiet, "the votes are coming to a close, let's watch!" The mayor, as well as everypony else, watched in anticipation. On the screen, the two anchors were finishing their conversation as they were about to announce the results of the vote. "Alright," Mayor Mare said with excitement, "With a vote of-" she paused as she continued to stare at the screen, her smile faltering, "with a vote of forty-to-twenty the bill...the bill passes." Everyone looked on at the screen in bewilderment, the entire room was dead silent.
After what seemed like a long moment of silence, small groups of ponies began piling out of the building, and soon, only the mayor, the group of eight remained. Fluttershy stared at the screen with wide eyes. After staring at the teleprompter for a good ten minutes, Applejack walked over to the pegasus to consult her, "Fluttershy," before the farm pony could even touch the mare, Fluttershy burst into tears and ran out one of the pew rows, and out of the building.
The group of seven stared at the double doors with worried glances. Starlight was the first to speak up, breaking the long silent tension, "Do you think she'll be fine?" she asked concernedly.
"I'm sure that she'll be fine," the rainbow-maned pegasus reassured her, "I mean, it's not like this will change anything...right?"
Nine Months Later...
In the center of Ponyville, there stood an old bar owned by the Apple Family. Inside the old tavern, many of the patrons of Ponyville were either sitting in one of the several booths, enjoying the company of their friends and partners, or sitting on one of the bar stools by the bar alone. Among the many lonely mares and stallions, there sat a yellow pegasus, her mane was disheveled sporting a slightly darker, redder tint.
The yellow mare gulped down her glass of whiskey, a disgruntled look on her face; slamming down her glass, she glared at the bartender as if signaling him for another drink, "Another drink, and would it kill you to fuckin' add a little somethin' to it," she demanded, pushing her glass in front of the lime-green stallion.
The stallion frowned at the pegasus command and denied her, " Look lil' filly, I think you've had enough-" the lime-green stallion's shirt collar was clutched by the mare, and she looked back at him with dead, yet enraged eyes.
"Look here fuck face," she began "if you haven't noticed, I've been having a tough year, and the last thing I need, is some skinny green asshole like you tell me I've had enough," she pulled the stallion closer to her face "so why don't you go back there and get me a drink before I go behind this table and gouge your fuckin' eyeballs out."
The stallion's face paled after hearing the pegasus's grotesque threat, slightly shaking over her intense brooding stare. After she released him from her tight grip, he turned back to the row of assorted mugs and glasses and began pouring yet another glass of whiskey for the mare.
The moment the drink was placed in front of pegasus, a group of six ponies entered the bar with worrisome expressions, "Fluttershy," a white unicorn mare exclaimed with a mixture of delight and worry. As group quickly trotted over to the mare, the pegasus quickly downed her drink, pulled out a large sum of golden coins, got up from the stool and trotted towards the exit of the bar.
As she got closer to the door, a bright purple light flashed in front of her, and after the light quickly dissipated there stood the princess of friendship herself, "Twilight. Fuckin'. Sparkle," she hissed, "How awful it is to see you."
"Fluttershy..." Twilight said in a sympathetic tone, "Listen, I know It's been a tough year with your animals being gone, but you can't shut yourself out like this, " the lavender unicorn trotted over to the yellow mare attempting to console her, "I know what it's like-" before she could even finish her statement, the mare pushed the princess away, and continued her trot towards the door.
Before she stepped out, Fluttershy turned back to her former friends with an intense glare "You don't know shit," she muttered "All you lost was your house, but that got replaced," her usual quiet, calm voice, lowered to a deeper tone, "You know what I lost," the six friends looked at one another with confused glances, before finally turning back to the disheveled pegasus, "...Lives, families, children, things you girls will never understand."
Fluttershy turned her glare at Rainbow Dash and Twilight, "At least you two got to keep your pets," without another word, Fluttershy walked out of the tavern, not even noticing a slightly taller, and winged, Spike.
The drake attempts to quell the pegasus but ultimately fails, seeing that the mare was too far away. Once the irate mare enters the Everfree forest, the group of six exits the tavern to stare at the forest in bewilderment. The purple dragon turned to the princess of friendship with a concerned glance "I guess it didn't work huh?"
Inside a dark, and deathly empty cottage, Fluttershy sat on her couch in silence and stared at an old picture of her, and her favorite pet, Angel Bunny. Although his name contradicted with his personality, he was an undeniably cute little thing. She continued to stare at the image with a furrowed brow, her anger continuing to seethe from the events at the bar, "I don't need any of those little bastards," she hissed "All they did was hold me back!"
As she exclaimed this, her body began to shake, and her vision became blurry, "I don't need Harry," her voice became hoarse with every breath, "I definitely don't need Timmy," large tears rolled down her cheeks as she continued to stare at the picture.
"And I don't need..." pausing mid-tirade, her throat becoming tighter with each word, "I-" She dropped to the ground and began balling her eyes out, her wails of loss and despair echoed through the dark house, "Angel, I miss you!" She sat there sobbing for what felt like an hour.
Unknown to the sobbing mare, a pure-white rabbit stood on the window sill with sorrow in his eyes; he had always taken his mother for granted, but seeing her in such a state made his stomach sink. His expression of sorrow changed to that of absolute hatred as he turned to the sound of two giggling mares somewhere in the far off woods. He turned to the distance of the noise and spoke, "Do not worry mother," he said, as a sickening grin grew on his face, "we'll make everything right again." The bunny leaped off from the sill and walked closed to the noise.
It was another nice day in Ponyville, which isn't saying much, considering every day in Ponyville is always nice. The skies were clear and vibrant as usual, various ponies and foals were going about their usual business, the birds were, however, not singing, as they usually would. Instead, many of the singing birds were sitting around, mostly bathing, feeding their young, or simply lounging about. Among the birds were groups, or rather, packs of animals that were also lounging about, not really doing much.
One of the animals in the group was a large brown bear, who was currently busy constructing signs, writing on them with a pen he happened to find while traversing the Everfree forest. As he continued to write on the make-shift boards, a rustling sound could be heard in a grove of nearby bushes; the bear cocked his head up wondering who was entering their domain.
Walking out of the bushes, with a trout in her mouth, and nearly drenched in water, was the pet of the element of honesty, Winnona, "Winny," Harry called out to the female Border Collie, holding back a bit of a chuckle after seeing her current state, "I'm guessing you had pretty good hunt?"
The Collie simply walked over to the bear and dropped the dead fish onto his sign, "Yeah," she responded apathetically "let's go with that." Contrast to what the others might have believed, Winona did not speak with a southern accent like her owner.
Shaking off the water with much gusto, she sat back in her spot, which was a tree next to a set of emerald green bushes. The next to walk out of the groves was a snow-white Turkish Angora cat, her usual purple bow missing on the top of her head, her mouth had a slight discoloration of purple around it, "Well," Opal huffed "Thank ya for the help, Winona." Yet another contrast to their owner, Opalescence spoke with a thick southern accent.
The aforementioned Collie looked at the southern feline with annoyance and then proceeded to ask her about the whereabouts of some berries she was supposed to procure, "Opal, where are the berries?"
"Well," Opal began, a look of embarrassment plastered on her face, "while Ah was walkin' back, I got a bit hungry and well,"
Every animal in the proximity groaned loudly with indignation, "Goddess dammit Opal, that's the second time this week!" Winona shouted in annoyed anger. The canine promptly lefter her shaded spot, walked up to the embarrassed feline, "How the hell are we supposed to survive if you keep eating our rations."
"Well sorry, Winona, but unlike you, some of us weren't prepared for the wild," she responded angerly,
Winona narrowed her eyes at the Angora with irritation, "Oh sure, go and blame everything except yourself, you're just like Rarity-" she paused mid-rant, pondering on other comparisons, in fact, you're no better than those ponies who put us here, always willing to push everything out of your way so you can get on top..."
Winona went on with her tirade, and once she was finished, she turned to the white cat and noticed the cats face now wore an expression of anger, the corners of her eyes we glistening as tears began to form. It looked as if she were ready to yell, but was holding back, shit "Opal, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you like that, " she raised her paw, and placed it on the felines back to console her, "It's just been tough for me leaving the Apples and all that."
The cat glared at the canine in anger, "You say that like we're not all suffering," she hissed at the collie.
As a way to diverge the tension of this situation, Harry asked the whereabouts of a certain rabbit, "Speaking of suffering, where is Angel?"
Once he mentioned this, the grove of trees ruffled again, and out stepped the previously mentioned hare; his white coat was dirty, covered in a good amount of scratches. His right eye was closed shut and had a purple bruise on it; Angel's right ear, although it had a small gash, a line of blood could be seen trickling down it. His friends looked at the rabbit with a mixture of worry and fear. Winona walked up to the bruised hare, her motherly instincts dialed-up, "Angel, what happened to you!?" she asked concernedly.
The rabbit looked up at the canine with neutral eyes before coldly replying how he was beaten by a duo of ponies, "Two ponies, one unicorn, the other earth," ignoring the collie Angel walked as he continued on about his encounter, "I didn't even do anything, they just came up to me, and beat the shit out'ta me-" he turned back to the pack with eyes filled with fury- "just because they could."
Many shocked gasps followed after Angel's explanation, "Why would they do that!?" a young timberwolf in the crowd asked, hiding behind a large tree once everyone looked at him.
Angel glared at the young wooden-golem wolf and reuttered his last words, "I just told you, 'because they could'," Angel then limped towards a tree stump and promptly sat down upon it. The moment Angel laid his back on the stump, a large ruckus began, as many panicked that some ponies might be out to hurt them, or worse.
In an attempt to quell the small panic, Harry walked into the middle and announced his plan to reinstate the animals into Equestria, "Everyone listens to me!" the panic quickly subsided, and every animal within the proximity looked up at the bear, "now I know it's been a tough couple of months, but I think I have the solution to our problems!" the bear announced ecstatically.
Intrigued by the bear's announcement, Angel lifted his head and stares into the grizzly's direction, "And what would that be?" he hissed.
The bear cleared his throat, "Well," he rubbed the back of his head in worry, "I was thinking that maybe we could, work of the equestrians as laborers?" Harry said quickly. An uproar of anger was met with this idea, Harry once again attempts to quell the audience, "Listen," he began, with only a few animals turning their attention towards him, "What I was thinking was, we could prove our usefulness to them, and as such, prove our worth and let us live with them again."
"You really think that's a good idea?" Opal questioned
"I'm sure it'll work," Harry turned his gaze to a family of beavers, one mom, and two sons, "In fact, I sent Woody and Bucky downtown in Ponyville to help with a reconstruction job."
The beaver mom glared at the bear with a mixture of anger and shock, "You sent my husband out to work with the ponies that kicked us out!"
"Amber trust me, I've seen them build dams for you and your little ones, I'm sure once they come back, they'll bring good news about their job." In terms of how Harry had planned it out, the beavers reconstruction job would be a domino effect of having other animals work odd-jobs in Equestria; as long as they had come back with good news, everything would fall into place.
"We've got some bad news," Harry's thought quickly ended as he heard those words. He turned around to see see the two male beavers he had sent out to help the equestrians, both were covered in dirt, and were covered in a good amount of splinters and bruises. The wife of the first beaver ran up to her husband, with fear in her eyes, and hugged on to him tightly.
Like the wife, Harry quickly walked over to the duo of beavers; greatly confused by their appearance, "What happened?"
The wife was about to chastizes the brown bear until her husband intervened, "We were doin' what you told us eh," he began his report, "They were a little reluctant, but they allowed us to work for them," Bucky paused, remembering the violent abrupt end of their job, "It was going fine until, well, Woody here, accidentally, took a bite out of the support beam." Bucky glared at the other beaver, while everyone stared at Woody in confusion.
Backing up in fear, Woody quickly explained himself "Look, I just thought that the beam looked a little off eh, so I thought I would just take a little bit off, and-" The beaver began to rub the back of his head in shame of what he had done, "I guess I took off too much, eh?"
"After that fiasco, the owners got a few kicks in before we were finally able to get away."
As they were talking, Harry had put his hands into his face, drowning in the disappointment of the, This was supposed to work he lamented as he moved his paws to the top of his head, and clutched his hair, Why didn't work!?
"I'll tell you why it didn't work," Harry's eyes widened as he heard those words, surprised as if someone here had read his mind. Turning to the source of the voice, he saw the white bunny sat up, with an angered scowl, "we're animals!" Everyone gasped at his outburst, a large majority of them taking an umbrage to it, Angel quickly attempted to settle everyone down, so he could better explain himself, "what I mean by that, is that we have animal instincts that have have been tarnished because of those goddamn equestrians," He hopped off the stump, and began his rant, "Why should we cater to their every whim, why should we have to care for them-" he turnd his head back to the large of animals, "When we could rule over them."
Timmy, no longer hiding behind the large tree, glanced worriedly towards the rabbit, "What do you mean?" he asked inquisitively.
"What I mean is," he paused mid-explanation, and began his speech with alight hum...
"You and I are the same...We don't know or care who's to blame" he slowly began walking from the stump and to the center of the pack.
As he walked, his arm shot-up, and pointed at the glowing sun "But we know that whoever holds the reins, nothing will change," he turned his head to Harry, who unknowingly, still held a wooden sign in his paw, and narrowed his eyes at him in displeasure, "our cause has gone insane!" Harry, in embarrassment, placed the board down.
Continuing this speech, Angel made his way back to the stump and stood proudly,
"And these battles, they can't be won" As he sung, a young beaver found a projector that happened to be placed in front of the large tree that Timmy had hidden behind a few minutes ago
"...And these tyrants, always overcome," Angel pointed at the youngling and signaled him to turn on the projector.
Without a second though the young kit turned on the projector on an image popped up on the bark of the tree. On the tree were various, unflattering and edited pictures of the four princesses, And do you want them to live on, and on and on? The next image shifted to a map of all Equestria,
"Why split these states when we can be only one!"
The next slide showed the same map, but instead of the various flags that identified the different countries, every county was red, and there was on a single symbol in the center of the map.
The symbol itself appeared to be a white claw tear, and behind it was a dark-green triangle.
"And must we do as we're told?"
"Must we do as we're told?"
The slide appeared to be animated, as it went back to the frame of the current equestrian countries, and then slowly, the red color began to fill each empire, until every nation was completely filled with red.
The slides shifted to different images of various show-dogs competitions, as well as other images of ponies hitting or hurting their pets out of anger. Many former pets, specifically, Winona and Opal, began to remember the times in which both of their owners hitting them for the most minimal of actions. An unbridled anger awoke in the two, with memories of being put on display or doing assinine tricks, and then there was the abuse some animals suffered when under the 'care' of their owners
"You and I fall in line"
"To be punished for unproven crimes"
"And we know that there's no one we can trust"
Flipping to the next slide, an image of the pack's primitive ancestors showed up, "Our ancient heroes, they are turning to dust!"
He turned back once again to the crowd, "And these wars, no matter how far; does anyone know who the cause of them are?"He paused in the middle of his song, waiting for a response from the crowd, and was met with numerous confused stares.
With the question left unanswered, Angel continued his song, "They just promise to fight them all on and on" The image behind him shifted back to a now still image of the map,
"But soon we will see, there can be only one!" His song reached a crescendo, as his voice seemed to get deeper with each line.
He turned back to the tree, where the projector displayed the image, and soon, the words of this soon-to-be nation were splayed above the map, "The Great Empire... The Great Empire of Animalia!"
The song's tone was almost hypnotic, everyone was enticed by each line, but it was not just the song that got their attention, it was instead, the idea of a revolution. Sure they were a small group, but with both the song and the idea implanted in their minds, they were restless, "Animalia!" A male otter shouted, and another in the crowd shouted, and soon various other animals, even Opal and Winona, began yelling out the fictional country's name.
Soon, everyone was under Angels command, and once he realized this, he ended his speech, and stood up to the crowd, "Bothers and sisters," he began as his voice returned to its normal octave, "Today, no longer will we be pushed around by these Equestrians; today is the day, we fight back not just for our right, but for this planet, the one they ruined and pillage."
"What shall we do Mr. Angle?" asked a young bear cub
Angle jumped from the stump, and hopped over to the inquisitive cub, "Do not fret young one," he reassured the bear, "I have a plan."
With the day coming to an end, Celestia's sun floated down and was replaced by the moon of Luna. Everypony went back to their homes, and went to bed, ready for the next day. Everypony of course, except for two mares, who were camping out in the Everfree forest; Lyra Heartstrings and BonBon, both sat near a campfire, taking in the beauty of the night sky. The fire crackled nicely, as the two mares roasted their marshmallows, "This was a great idea BonBon," Lyra complimented the cream-colored earth pony.
The candymaker smiled sheepishly at her friend compliment, "I thought it would be a nice little break from the humdrum of our usual lives." The mint green unicorn smiled greatly as she took a bite out of her marshmallow.
The two mares gorged on their gooey treats in delight, until a rustling sound could be heard in the back, which was then followed by an ominous wind whistle; the mint-green unicorn turned to her friend in fear of what could be behind the forest, "Bon Bon, what was that?" she asked the cream-colored earth pony, her voice shaking with anxiety.
The Earth mare looked at her friend with an annoyed, yet worry-filled, glance, "It's probably nothing," she reassured her friend; However, the scared unicorn was not convinced in the slightest. Bon Bon sighed, "Will it make you feel better if I go check?"
Lyra eyes shot wide open to the suggestion, and quickly negated the idea, "Bon Bon no!" she exclaimed. Ignoring her friend's demands, however, Bon-Bon went over to the groves of bushes and checked around them.
After a few good seconds of searching, the candymaker sighed in relief when she found nothing, "See," she began, "I told you there was-" Bon Bon never got to finish her sentence, and she never would, as a wooden spear stabbed all the way through the back of her neck, blood gushing heavily from the puncture. Bits of skin, muscle, and coat could be seen on the tip of the spear, which was in full front view of the mare as if it were mocking her.
As the spear was quickly whisked back into the woods, the once cream colored mare, fell over from the shock, and in a matter of seconds, died on the spot. Lyra sat on her log, as still as she could be, staring deeply at the corpse of her friend. She stared at the body for what seemed like an hour, and finally, began to scream out in despair, "BON BON!" she quickly leaped from her make-shift seat and ran towards her friend's body, but before she could get there, another spear punctured the right side of her body which caused her to fall to the ground in pain.
Lyra laid on the ground, sobbing both in pain and in mourning of the death of her friend; the blood of whom was quickly leaking towards the mint-green mare. The bushes rustled once again, and behind them, stepped out a group of various animals, one of whom the mare had met before, "A-Angel!?" she cried out. The bunny, however, didn't respond, and instead, he snapped his paws and signaled a large brown bear, and said bear walked to the side of Lyra where he was stabbed, and picked up a large stone, "What the fuck is this!?" she cried out in a mixture of dread and fear.
The cotton-tailed bunny walked over to the petrified mare, and spoke, "It's really a shame," he said disappointedly, "You won't be able to see my plans come to fruition," the bear raised the rock over his head, and stared the mare with neutral eyes, "But I guess some must sacrifice themselves for the future of others."
"What are you-!"
Angel lowered his head to Lyra, his eyes closed, and grinned with a happy smile,"Thank you so much Ms. Heartstings!"
With all his might, Harry hurled the rock onto the crying mares head, bits of brain matter, skull fragments, and blood exploded on to the ground. Angle, his grin still plastered on his face, was covered in the ponies brains and blood; while many were grossed out by the display, many stared at the mare with neutral faces, thinking of this act as the greater good.
Angel, his face still covered in blood, turned to the group, "Now my friends, it is time to relocate!"
