Rise of the Earth Pony Rebellion

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Rise of the Earth Pony Rebellion - Chapter 2

"I am Shadow Flare..." the stallion said, introducing himself. He glanced around at the audience noticing all of the different kinds of ponies that he had gathered. 'Hmmm... How shall I start...?' Several moments passed. Everypony was looking up at Shadow Flare with confusion.

"Well, he has no horn, so he can't be another 'Great and Powerful' Trixie..." Spike whispered towards Twilight who was as confused everypony else, "but he is kinda scarring me a little...is he ever going to say anything?"

Shadow Flare's face lit up, as if he had an idea. He cleared his throat and finally began to speak, "My apologies, friends," he kept a light little smirk on his face, narrowing his eyes half way glancing through his audience again as he spoke, "it's just that I've never had this, uhhhh...big of an audience before."

Rainbow Dash giggled, "This guy's a joke!"

Shadow Flare heard Rainbow Dash's giggling but chose to ignore it. "Anyways... My little ponies! I have traveled far and wide to each and every city, town, and village in order to speak with you all!"

A giant banner covered the stage behind Shadow Flare. The Earth Pony coat of arms was on the banner, a sun was located in the top left corner, a field on the right, weeds on the bottom right, and flowers on the left. Twilight Sparkle recognized it from the Hearth's Warming Eve play.

"Actually, in all honestly, I'm more interested in giving my little speech in front of my fellow Earth Ponies. But, if any unicorn or pegasi wish to stay..." He seemed very reluctant to finish his statement, but did so anyway, "I suppose you can." Shadow Flare said, slightly irritated. "But be forewarned, friends, you might not like what you hear. If any of you wish to leave now, then do so. This is your first and final warning so clop clop!" He clopped his hoofs together and pointed his hoof away from the stage.

Everypony was now murmuring, trying to decide what they should do.

"What do you think, Twilight? Should we stay?" Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight was a little suspicious of Shadow Flare. He seemed nice but whenever he mentioned the unicorns and pegasi he seemed a little...upset. What was that all about anyway? "I would like to hear what he has to say."

"But we STILL don't even know what he's going to say!" Spike interrupted. "Can't we just get back to the picnic? He's BORING me!"

"Stop complaining, Spike. He might have something interesting to say." Twilight said, glaring at him.

"What about Rarity and Fluttershy? They're probably wondering where we are!"

"It'll be okay, I'm sure they'll understand. What about you two? Are you guys going to stay and watch?" Twilight asked, referring to Pinkie Pie and Applejack.

"But Ah course, sugar cube," Applejack replied, "Ah'm a little interested mahself."

"How bout you, Pinkie Pie?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I'm still waiting for the fireworks!"

"Typical Pinkie Pie." commented Twilight.

As the five decided to stay, the crowd dimmed down a little. The few pegai and unicorns that were in the crowd either flew or left away. However, there were still some pegai and unicorns in the audience as well, interested in what Shadow Flare had to say.

"Are we ready then? Excellent." Shadow Flare cleared his throat once more. "Fellow Earth Ponies!" He stopped and realized the mistake he made, "...and friends. I am Shadow Flare, a scholar and alchemist from the kingdom of Canterlot. I am a pursuiter of knowledge, I value my very intelligence over my life." He cocked his head up, eyes closed, and placed his hoof on his chest.

"Egghead." whispered Rainbow Dash.

Shadow Flare glared at Rainbow Dash. He, however, chose to ignore her once more.

"Anyway, I'm not here to tell you who I am, but rather why I'm here. Our race has had to endure many hardships from all sorts of things, cataclysmic weather, feral and ferocious beasts, dark magic, just to name a few... BUT the two things that stand in our way the most are the pegasi and unicorns!"

"WHAT!" Rainbow Dash yelled outraged. "Why I oughta..." She attempted to zoom over to Shadow Flare but Applejack grabbed hold of her tail using her mouth. "Hold on there, partner!" Applejack said, muffled.

"Ever since the beginning of time, we've all always had to suck up to these fools! All for three lousy things; the weather, sun, and moon. But, think, my little ponies...did we really need them in the first place? NEIGH, I SAY! For I have discovered through my constant research that these ponies have been fooling us all along! Their powers have absolutely NOTHING to do with these things. There's a force known as 'Mother Nature' that does these things automatically. But you already knew that, after all, we work HARD to grow our crops. However, the unicorns and pegasi do nothing to provide us our sun, moon, and clouds! They leave it all to Mother Nature! They've taken credit for something they cannot even do! And, because of this, they've been stealing our food and crops for centuries!"

"What? That can't be true...can it, Twi?" Applejack asked in disbelief.

"Of course not...at least, I don't think so..." Twilight replied, unsure of what to think. "I've always read that the unicorns and pegasi were the ones to supply the Earth ponies with the sun, moon, and weather."

The herd of ponies were now in an uproar.

"You're wrong!"

"It can't be true!"

"Preposterous!"

"Where's the fireworks!" Pinkie said, joining the mob.

"Now, now, my friends, I told you from the very beginning that you might not like what you hear... But it is the truth. But, now, you're all probably wondering, 'why should we even care? Most of that was in the past anyway,' and you're right. Nowadays, these things don't truly matter, simply because the unicorns and pegasi do not bribe us for these things, it is now their jobs. But it's not just the past that I'm concerned of. It is their attitudes and personalities. We all know that a majority of unicorns are a bunch of snobbish fools who think they are far superior than us just because they think they're 'high class.' And of course, the pegasi are a bunch of brutes who love to stir up trouble for their own amusement. These ponies think they're all big and bad because they have powers that we do not. And I wish to put them in their the place."

Everypony looked at one another, worriedly.

"Do not fret," Shadow Flare said, cooly, "I do not wish to do harm, or at least any MAJOR harm, to these two races. I simply want them to be put in our place. After all, they have no need of their powers, remember? Mother Nature can take care of the sky, not them. I plan to create a small rebellion of ponies to infiltrate Canterlot and FORCE Princess Celestia to make everypony a regular Earth pony like us! Then, when we are all equal, we can FINALLY obtain true ever lasting peace! WHO'S WITH ME! Equal! Peace! Peace! Equal!

The audience looked unsure for a mere moment, but then agreed with Shadow Flare. They clopped their hoofs and chanted "Equal! Peace Peace! Equal!"

Shadow Flare grinned wickedly.

"This...is not good." Spike said, worriedly.

"We need to warn the princess!" Twilight exclaimed. "Pinkie Pie, you and Rainbow Dash got get Fluttershy and Rari-"

"Equal! Peace! Peace! Equal!" chanted Pinkie Pie happily.

"Pinkie Pie! What are you doing?"

"I'm just joining the crowd! Equal! Peace! Peace! Equal!"

"Ugghhh..." Twilight groaned. "Applejack, you and Rainbow Dash got get Fluttershy and Rarity and meet us at the train station, got it? I'll go on ahead with Pinkie Pie."

"Will do, sugar cube..." Applejack said, slightly irritated. She pushed her way out of the crowd and started galloping towards the park.

"What's wrong with her?" Rainbow Dash questioned.

"Maybe Shadow Flare got to her. Hurry up and join her, she might need some comfort."

"You got it!" Rainbow Dash replied, zooming past the crowd to catch up with Applejack.

"Pinkie Pie, are you coming or not?" Twilight looked to her side, but noticed Pinkie was missing. "Where did she go?"

"Over there!" Spike pointed out. Pinkie Pie was on the stage with Shadow Flare. Shadow Flare looked at her like she was a complete nut. She pulled out her party canon, lit up the fuse, jumped inside, and flew across screaming "PINKIE PIE FIREWORK GO!" A hue of pink filled up the sky along with Pinkie's face. In the distance, Pinkie Pie was slowly drifting down with a parachute on her back.

"How did she...?" Twilight shook her head. "No time for that, c'mon, Spike, let's just go to the train station!"

"But what about Pinkie Pie?" he asked.

"Don't worry about her, she'll be fine, I'm sure."

"Okay..."

"To Canterlot!" Twilight yelled. Spike jumped on to Twilight's back and the two began to make their way towards the train station.

Shadow Flare noticed Twilight galloping away. "Heh heh, to Canterlot indeed, young Twilight Sparkle," he murmured to himself, "To Canterlot indeed..."

TO BE CONTINUED