Equestria Underground-Book I: Hope Is Magic

A nervous white earth pony stallion sat across from Starlight’s desk, nervously wringing his hooves and avoiding her stare. “A-and so, that’s why I’m here today, M-madam Mayor.”

“I see. That is quite the problem. I mean, who just cuts down another pony's tree like that?” Starlight wrinkled her nose, a little annoyed at the situation. “I will send an arbiter down to see how much the tree was worth and the city will pay the difference."

The stallion, Double Diamond, perked up enough to actually look Starlight in the eyes. Clearly the previous mayor wasn’t the most accommodating individual. “Really? Thank you! Thank you so much, Miss Glimmer!” He dove forward and shook her hoof hard enough to make her bounce in place.

“Easy there. Just be sure to go through the proper authorities next time. I still have a lot of work to get done.” It was true and in fact, Starlight had a meeting with the town defense to add some anti-magic barriers around the town to stall the Royal sister or their generals in about a hour.

“Sorry,” he smiled sheepishly and bounded for the door. “Thank you again! You have a great day, Ma’am!” He then exited just as a dark blue pegasus mare entered carrying a stack of papers.

“Another satisfied customer?” She grinned. Night Glider had been brought in to replace the previous mayor’s assistant and was so far up to snuff. It was also a plus that she was a genuinely nice pony to be around. “I don’t know how you do it.”

“It’s not easy. I will say that right now but with the sunscreen spell I put over the town, the citizens are a lot happier. Although it is exhausting having to cast it every week.” Starlight said as she took the papers form Night Glider.

“You know, you could just ask for some of the local unicorns to do that for you,” Night Glider suggested, taking out a notebook and quill. “You’ve got enough on your plate as it is.”

“As much as I would like to ask, most of the unicorns are so out of practice that it's really sad that most can only do levitation or nothing at all. It's why I started that magic kindergarten. To prevent that from happening with the next generation.”

“And the citizens are eternally grateful. Heck, my niece is going on and on about how much she’s enjoying school and she even can’t stay still for five minutes. Still, you don’t want to run yourself too ragged. We’re going to be needing you for a long time, Starry!” She punctuated this with a friendly elbow jab.

“I know, I know. I will tell you what. After the meeting with the Town defenders, I will take the rest of the day and tomorrow off for some rest okay?” Starlight suggested as she rubbed her side from the jab.

Night Glider snorted, “You better. Otherwise, I will haul your overworked flank out of here myself. Oh, and by the way, Party Favor sent you an invite for the upcoming Summer Solstice Festival.”

“That's a town-funded event so why is there invitations?”

“Beats me. Now finish that paperwork, go to that meeting and get some rest, Starry.” With that, the pair hugged and Night went back to her duties as Starlight started on the dreaded but much needed paperwork.

The town hall meeting room was chalk-full of the town’s very few ‘skilled’ unicorns, some earth ponies and a crew of pegasus surveillance specialists. The air was thick with worry and tension as they took their seats and all eyes turned towards the new mayor. Night Glider sat beside Starlight and patted her shoulder reassuringly, giving her friend and boss a you-can-do-it smile. The other members watched in anticipation as Starlight rose and cleared her throat.

“After extensive analysis of the Sisters’ previous wars, it has become apparent that they enjoy making the final blow to claim all the glory. What we need is a way to prevent them from doing that, should we ever be discovered.” Starlight began. ”I propose that we set up anti-magic barriers in the eastern mountains that will buy us enough time to escape into the caves in the southern mountains.”

Uproarious shouts boomed in the small space as ponies leapt from their seats in protest. An elderly earth pony was helped to his hooves as he pounded on the floor with his cane, causing the rest to fall silent. “And why in tarnation would we do that? Most of us have lived here for generations! My great-great grandfather was one of the town founders and my family’s lived here ever since. Besides, where would we go? Are we really going to abandon our home, our way of life?”

“I understand your concern, Iron Hoof but this isn’t about the past. It’s about saving the foals who will die if we are caught with our tails up.” Starlight then gave everyone a stack of papers detailing the Sister's cruelty. “That’s just in the town east of the mountains. We have a real opportunity to make a difference here and I want to make sure we plant the seeds for that to happen.”

The crowd chattered amongst themselves. An earth pony mare stood up. “My little Wind Dancer is nearly fourteen, the new age for mandatory recruitment! I’m not letting my baby enlist in anypony’s army, especially not in one for those tyrants! I’m with the mayor. We need to move.”

“We aren’t moving yet, Dancing Drops but we do need to have those barriers and the tunnels scouted mapped and possibly a small group to go build a new town ahead of time in case we are discovered.” A unicorn mare said as she looked over the reports Starlight passed around.

Night Glider nodded towards the mare. “Firefly’s right. How long are we going to just sit around and let Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon’s cronies come into our home and shake us down for ‘protection fees’ and soldiers for their feuds? The time to act is now. Mayor Starlight is offering us a way out. I suggest we should take it.”

“I can see your point but I myself will die to protect as many as I can.” A pegasus stallion said as he was the most recent one to come off duty because of a rather nasty loss of a wing.

Iron Hoof scowled. “And that’s the problem with you young ones! Fight or flight, that’s your solution for everything! You can’t outrun or fight back against a river. All you can do and go with the flow and hope you aren’t swept away. This is rebellion you’re talking about! How many rebellions are crushed every other week?”

“How many had back up plans or terrain advantages?” Starlight asked an excellent question as most rebellions happened in large cities like Manehatten, or Trottingham. “We also aren’t announcing our presence but rather we are hiding in plain sight.”

“Have you forgotten about the princesses’ spies? They’re everywhere! I say we stop with this foolishness before the Generals come for our heads.” Iron Hoof stated with finality and took his seat.

“Iron hoof, if there were spies here, the Generals would of been here the second that magic kindergarten went up.” Firefly pointed out.

The old stallion grumbled but said nothing else. A young mare beside him stroked his shoulder. “You must forgive my grandfather. He’s lived through the worst of the town’s past ills and wishes for its continued survival. Despite this, I don’t want to see my friends and families torn apart like their ancestors because of the princesses’ malice. We can’t do nothing.” She smiled sweetly at her grandfather, who warmly returned the gesture.

“I understand, Brass Hoof but the one thing that is bothering me is where we can get the materials to even make the barriers in the first place?” Dancing Drops asked.

Double Diamond stroked his chin. “Why don’t ask the nearby towns for help? Surely there’s got to be a few ponies that are as tired of this reign of terror as we are.”

Everypony collectively facehooves before Starlight speaks. “Double Diamond, the nearest town is at least a week’s trot away not to mention we can’t trust the other towns because of the previously mentioned spies. We will have to mine for the resources or start some rock farms.”

Brass Hoof spoke up. “It’ll take time and serious pony power, Mayor Starlight. At least a month or two to really get what we need and that’s if we work with little to no breaks.”

“We will have to keep up the rouse and when the next Official comes around for the fresh batch of recruits, we will be forced to give them at least a few of our foals but with any luck, that will be at least six months of prep time before they send somepony out this far.” Starlight said sadly.

Night Glider cleared her throat. “Right, I say it’s time for a vote. All for Mayor Starlight’s plan?” There was a lull of indecision before a hoof raised upward. It was followed by another and a few more. “Okay and all opposed?” The hooves from before dropped to make way for the ones in opposition of the new mayor’s proposal. “Right, the decision to back the new mayor wins by three votes. Everypony ready yourselves for tomorrow. We’ve got some serious work to do.”