May 5th 1007
The sun slowly began to dip below the horizon as Whiplash made it to the bridge. The weather was turning for the worst as thunder rumbled far away.
But these things didn't matter right now for Whiplash. As Commander of the 5th Army, he was to be punctual to any and all summons from a commanding officer.
He could see ponies pulling out their umbrellas as rain slowly began to fall, but none of the ponies he saw was the one he was here to meet.
The commander received a message from the Minister of Defence himself a few earlier hours, asking for him to meet at the Atlanta Bridge on the outskirts of Canterlot. He quickly grabbed his coat and made it all the way here, looking for the Minister.
From the rumors the other commanders say, the Minister usually met in weird places because of paranoia of somepony murdering him. Not that he could blame him, the tension between the Nobility and the Military were at a breaking point, and several clashes had happened between Pro-Nobility Royal Guards and several soldiers.
"Commander Whiplash?"
The Commander in question almost tripped as he turned to face the voice. He turned to the face of a green coated unicorn, with a brown mane within millimeters distance of his muzzle.
"GAH!"
Whiplash quickly took one massive step back as he recovered from the shock. As he placed a hoof on his chest to control his breathing, he could hear the unicorn chuckling.
"Sorry, didn't meant to startle the living daylight of you mate," The unicorn said, while opening an umbrella over both of them. "Commander Whiplash, I presume?"
"Correct, Commander of the Fifth Army, at your service," said Whiplash while giving a salute, "You must be the Minister, aren't you?"
"Indeed, care for a trot?"
Whiplash just nodded as they both begin walking down the streets of East Canterlot.
"What did you call me here for Sir?" asked Whiplash, as the duo trotted past the market place, vendors closing up as the rain begin pouring more and more.
"It is a matter of urgency, the worst type of urgency," The Minister took a look at several ponies without umbrellas running past them looking for cover, "tsk, tsk, these ponies, they should learn to prepare for anything when going out,"
"Anyways, the reason I summoned you here today mate is because the fucking nobility has passed another bill to cut funding for the Military," said the Minister.
Budget cuts weren't surprising to Whiplash. He had been in the Equestrian Military to know that the Nobles would do everything to de-arm the military. It must have been the fifth time this year that the Nobility were calling for budget cuts.
"Well Sir, that isn't much of a surprise, the nobility always want to cut the Military's budget. So why is it so urgent?" Whiplash turn to the Minister to see him shaking his head.
"It's different this time, they want to cut the military budget by 15%, that means laying off about 4 divisions worth of Infantry and 2 battalions worth of the armored,"
Whiplash stopped in his steps. The Minister turned to face the frozen commander, his face neutral, analyzing the Commander's emotions.
"Sir... That's horrible. Most of the soldiers I know of come from the lower classes, some were below the poverty line before joining the military. If we lay them off, several of them, if not most of them, are going to end up on the streets," said the Commander, "Have you tried negotiating? Suggested lower cuts? What abo-"
The Green Unicorn waved his hoof, signaling to Whiplash that he already tried all of that.
"The Nobility are dead set on killing us, if they keep this up, you and me will be on the streets along with our comrades in arms. This brings me to the matter of urgency,"
Wait. Wasn't the matter of urgency the nobility cutting funding of the military? Whiplash tilted his head in confusion at the Minsiter.
The Minister took this as a sign to continue. "I don't think we can do much at all to stop the nobility, they decide all the funding in Equestria because contribute the most funds to Equestria, that's why tax rates are always so low. If we are to maintain the funding for our comrades, we have to strike the nobility so hard they'll have to listen to us,"
"Strike...the Nobility?" Asked Whiplash, in the history of Equestria; there had never been a successfully execution of a radical idea, like striking the nobility. The 763 Stalliongardian Revolt was put down by the Noble funded Royal Guard. The 851 Labor Day riots and attempted revolution was also put down by the Guard. "Sir, I don't think that's possible,"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, don't be pessimistic Whiplash. The reason revolts against the Nobility, and by extension Equestria, had always failed was because the revolters were always disorganized; while the Guard was organized. If we are to strike against the Nobility, we must be organized. The Guard had only encountered an organized force during the Changeling attack on Canterlot and look at how quickly they were overruned,"
Memories of the Canterlot Attack rushed back into Whiplash's brain. He was visiting his parents in Canterlot during attack. He had seen first hoof how quickly the Royal Guard were defeated.
"That is true Sir,"
The Minister closed his umbrella as the rain clouds begin to part above them. "Huh, I was expecting the rain to last much longer,"
Whiplash took a look at his surrounding and realized where they were. On the outskirts of Canterlot, he didn't see any other ponies around, there was a river nearby and only a few lights.
"Anyways Whiplash, because of the budget cuts I'm going to demob the 5th Army..."
As Whiplash was going to object, the unicorn raised a hoof to stop him.
"...and I need you to create a paramilitary organization and get them all in that organization,"
"Why the fuck do we need a paramilitary organization?" Whiplash said, "We need to strike the fucking nobility to get our funding back!"
The Minister let a small smile appear across his face, "That is the plan; create a paramilitary organization, so that we can legally keep our comrades armed, then, when the time is right, we march upon Canterlot and seize control of the Nation in one full swoop,"
That's when Whiplash realized something. The Minister wasn't planning a strike on the nobility, he was planning a fucking revolution against them. Revolutions will spill more blood than any strike would, and will cause more harm than good. This was not something he could get behind.
"I'm sorry Sir, I don't think I can help you with that,"
The Minister simply laughed, but there was no emotion to it, a mere imitation of one. "I was expecting you to say that. Anyways, Colts, take him out,"
Before Whiplash could comprehend what the Minsiter said, somepony grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the floor. As he tried to get up, something collided with his face, and that was the last thing he knew.
Minister Medical Atlas looked on coldly as two of his soldiers threw Whiplash's body into the river. He knew General Whiplash wouldn't get behind a revolution against the state. He was too scared to break a few eggs so that the other eggs could live.
Fortunately, the other generals didn't had that type of problem. General Spitfire was all for it, stating that the nobility had been profiteering off the Wonderbolts for quite some time. General Fire Storm and General Pontgomery both came from families that had been swindled the nobles several times in the past. While General Buckshot had seen first hoof what the nobles did behind closed doors. The rest of the generals were all disgruntled and pissed with the Nobility, and all wanted payback against them.
"Good job colts, time to get out of here,"
Author's Note
Criticism is welcome.
Equestria was led by a Diarchy, Princess Celestia and Luna. Beings with enough magical poweress to move the celestial bodies themselves. Despite their magical abilities and immortal status, no leader rules a nation alone.
After the founding of Equestria. And the subsequent arrival of Princess Celestia and Luna, the newly founded kingdom faced a major issue. A financial issue.
The Earth ponies were mostly farmers and carpenters, they couldn't spare any bits for the kingdom or risk going into poverty. The Pegasi on the other wing, didn't had any established trading system, and still relied on the bartering system. But the Unicorns, oh the Unicorns. They were different from both the Earth ponies and Pegasi. The unicorns established an economic system way before the founding of Equestria, which gave plenty of time for certain unicorn families to become rich, and eventually becoming Nobles.
The nobles were the backbone of Equestria. Without their support, Equestria would collapse into economic chaos.
Their wealth enabled to control government policies, and the Princesses had to play nice with them in order to keep their support. None dared to challenge them.
Except for one institution. The Military.
Under the control of the House of Atlas, and supported by Princess Luna. The Military was a formidable foe to the Nobility. While the Nobility had money, the Military had weapons.
Like the Nobility, the Military could influence governmental policies, always with the rumors of taking over the Government if Celestia didn't listen. This set up the Nobility to fight the Military.
Time and time again, Celestia had to balance Equestria between a possible economic collapse and a possible military takeover every time a new policy, a new budget proposal, or just about anything was to be officialized.
But with the banishment of Nightmare Moon, and the fire of Atlas Manor, the Military was thrown into disarray. Giving the nobility time to strike its foe into the depths of history. Cementing the nobility as the sole faction power within Equestria.
And for a thousand years, Equestria was subjugated by the nobility, with its power unrestricted, and Celestia was powerless to stop most of their scheming.
But with the return of Princess Luna, the sudden revelation that the a descendant of the House of Atlas was still alive and living in the neighboring state of Griffonia Nova and his subsequent return to Equestria, and the refounding of the Equestrian Military. The Nobility was thrown into shock as one of its most ancient opponents had returned and challenged them once more in the policital sphere.
And the battle for control of Equestria continued on in the shadows.
16 September 1001
Prince Blueblood looked across the many faces in the dining room along with him. With him being at the head of the table.
Several faces had looks of boredom while several had faces of contempt; as if knowing what he was going to say.
"Stallions and Mares," he began, "I fear for the continuation of our Noble Houses are in jeopardy,"
As he finsihed the last word, many began murmuring in fear of what could possibly be threatening their Houses.
"Now, now, settle down," He said while tapping a spoon against his wineglass with his magic. "Our houses in jeopardy once more because of one thing, the Military,"
The murmuring continued once more as nobles speculated why could the Military ever be a threat to them.
"I know oh all are probably wondering, how could the Military ever face us, with us controlling almost all governmental posistions? Quite simple, it's because they don't care for governmental positions, or possibly even the government! Way back, back a thousand years, our Noble ancestors battled the savage military in the political sphere for Equestria! And when their vile leader, Globe Atlas and his lackeys died in the fire of Atlas Manor, the Military was thrown into disarray and we were able to stomp them out! And add that with Nightmare Moon's banishment, the Military had no more supporters in the government to help them, and they were wiped out!"
The murmuring stopped now, everypony had their ears glued to Blueblood's words.
"But now, the Military is back with a vengeance to stomp us out. It seems that despite most of the Atlas family dying in the fire, one of the sons of Glone Atlas wasn't there at the time, and instead settled in Weter, up there with those griffonian peasants. And his descendant has returned to Canterlot once more upon hear of the return of Princess Luna, and has used his silver tongue to bring back the Military! I fear my fellow nobles, that he plans on fighting us once more that like his ancestors did. And finally put an end to our Noble Houses!"
Blueblood paused to look at the nobles gathered. All with wore a face with fear, fear of losing to their noble statuses and wealth forever. A fear that Blueblood could manipulate.
"If you fear for our survival, if you fear for your family's glory, if you fear for the Harmony of Equestria, then join me, my fellow Nobles! In a Crusade against the Corrupt Military once more!" He raised his glass of wine as others followed suit with shouts of agreement.
"Let us toast to the defeat of the Military once and for all!"
"To the defeat of the Military once and for all!"
And they all downed their drinks and began plotting of ways to challenge the military.
