Appease the Military, or face revolution.
Thursday, 5th June 1036
We're running out of food to farm. The magical pots we had in the castle are dying out. It seems that we have only about 6 days of food left. By the end of this week we have to leave the castle, in the first time in 30 years. 30 years. My Faust, it's been so long. So long since we came here, bunkered down here. Rarity's hair had started to grey, along with the rest. Mine is not. Of course it hasn't, i'm a fucking alicorn. Huh.
I don't want to return to the outside, we don't know how Equestria is. We don't know who is in control of Equestria. We don't know if our relatives are alive.
Equestria, Equestria, how did it go all so wrong? It was our fault of course, if we hadn't demobilised the army, this wouldn't have happened. I should tell why you, the reader, what happened. Or is it dictate? I am talking on in my room and my enchanted quill is writing down, is it quilling? The term of how i communicate the story to you is not important, the story is.
It was... Faust what date was it? 'Portant thing is that it was around June, roughly the same date as today, thirty years ago. Thirty years ago... Me, Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadance were in a meeting for a new budget. The Treaty of Vraks was recently signed. Formalising Thorax as the King of the Changelings, and the Changeling Kingdom as a satellite of Equestria. The proposed budget from the Privy council, the council of nobles, was almost the same as last year, but had significant cuts in the military budget, arguing that with the Changelings formally our satellite, we didn't need such a big military, a military with the amount of personnel totalling around 2.3 million. The proposal would cut more than sixty percent of the existing budget, and would force the military to cut down on size, from the army to the R&D departments, they would be cut down. Freeing more funds to go into social security services and allowing the government to cut taxes, notably taxes on companies.
Princess Luna was opposed to the proposal, stating that the military was still needed to protect Equestria as we never knew when the next attack could be, Princess Celestia countered saying that the taxes were becoming on the average citizens, and that the funds freed up could be used to help them instead of funding a military conflict halfway across the globe. Cadance and I fully backed up Celestia's plan, we wanted the best for our citizens, and cheaper healthcare and more social services seem like the plan to go. At the end, Luna was finally convinced and she relented.
The Military protested the move, along with the Minister of Defence, but after some pressure from Celestia, they backed down and demobilized more than half of their personnel. And suddenly there was an influx of unemployed citizens that trickled into the cities and towns of Equestria, the newly upgraded social services couldn't support the sudden influx of clients and with the recently cut taxes, collapsed. The now unemployed soldiers became disgruntled, and with help from the Minister of Defence formed a paramilitary organization, the Partisans . The group, officially registered as a political organization, identified itself as the New Equestrian Order, with the Partisans as it's personal army.
They began protesting against the government, staging mass rallies across the nation. Many other political parties formed a coalition against them, led by the EPP (Equestrian Prosperity Party), a party led by Nobles with the intention of empowering themselves. They formed the Anti-NEO Coalition (ANC), and began battling the Order on the streets. Princess Celestia tried addressing the issue during a press conference, pleading for both the Order and ANC to stop the fighting and come to a peaceful compromise. Then, she was attacked.
An assassin pulled a pistol at point blank range at Princess Celestia and the bullet scarred the right face of her head. He attempted to fire another bullet at the Princess, but the pistol jammed. I don't know if that was a miracle or a curse.
Soon after, the assassin was caught, and the ANC blamed the Order for the assassination attempted, the order denied and said that ANC staged it to discredit the Order. And as Princesses of Equestria, including me, attempted to calm the public down, bullets flew.
I was roused from my sleep by Spike and Starlight, a Royal Guard was in the hallway, we were quickly brought down to the aula, i saw the rest if my friends and their siblings there too. A royal guard briefed us on the situation, and we quickly learned on what had happned.
The first shot was shot in the middle of the night, an organised police force attempted to arrest the Minister of Defence, but it seemed like that there was a mole in the task force as the police force got caught in a firefight against a joint Partisan-Army force. And like a match in a sea of gasoline, set Equestria ablaze. From Manehattan to Las Pegasus, Partisans battled the ANC for control of the cities, and reports from Canterlot suggest that the city was ablaze.
We were herded by the Royal Guards towards to the Train Station, we were only a few meters away when it blew up.
The pain spreaded across my face, i couldn't see out of my right eye as i got up. Screams and cries rise up as gunfire broke out. From admist the gunfire, i somehow could understand the orders of a royal guard, telling us to run for the Castle of Two Sisters. With all the power i could muster, i teleported me and my friends and several royal guards there.
As soon we got there, i passed out.
When i woke up, i was shocked to learn that my right eye was regrowing, probably something to do with my alicorn abilites. The Royal Guards who were teleported along us had fortified the Castle. If any Partisans tried to take it, the ten Royal Guards would fight every centimeter and make em' bleed. But they never came.
We waited and waited. The Crusaders were bored, so we took turns entertaining and teaching them. AJ began farming in the magical pots we found in the Castle. Rarity began fixing up some parts of the castle, and Fluttershy taught the animals to look out for any Partisans. I taught of ways to improve our armor and Rainbow Dash learned the ways of the Royal Guard while Pinkie Pie cooked us food.
Days became Weeks became Months became Years became Decades.
It's been three decades now, the magical pots ran out of juice, we need to leave this castle now. We don't know what the world outside is. And i'm scared, but i have to be brave, at least look brave for my friends and our valiant Royal Guard, we will be ready and face the Partisans.
Hopefully, we will all fucking live through this.
- Princess Twilight Sparkle, the leader of the Everfree resistance.
Author's Note
*cough* *cough* Coup D'ont is the unfinished prequel, *cough* *cough*
