The World is Quiet Today
The World is Quiet Today
By: TheCrazyAsian A.K.A. Feasttalon
I can see the sky, it's beautiful at this time of day. It's a perfect mixture of red, orange, and blue right now. There's the sound of chains clanking as I slowly shuffle to the balcony, trying to savor the view in front of me. I can see the skyline of Canterlot crystal clear right now, the shapes of various buildings outlined in the rising sun. Thought where I remember some buildings being there are none, and many that do survive are deformed, with chunks torn off the top or sides. Remarkable that Canterlot Castle wasn't blown to bits either. As I look down I can see the Royal Guard, or as they're was called now, the Republican Guard, is assembling in the flat field where the Royal Canterlot Sculpture Garden had been.
I lean forwards and feel the cold railing against my hooves, right now all I want to do is get away from all of this. Leave Canterlot and all of the problems I haave behind and start afresh. I want to soar through the sky again and go somewhere safe, some where nice, but I know that's not going to happen. You can't fly without wings right? "Precautions against attempts to escape" they called it, they couldn't have been more right.
Here I was, trapped inside a palace that she had turned into a prison. Of course you're probably wondering who this "she" is, the person that turned this once magnificant palace into the morst glamorous prison ever. She goes by many names, the leader of "The Glorious Revolution", "The Savior", "The Magnificent One". Those words make me turn green, not out of envy, but out of sickness and utter hatred for the pony that had done this.
How could my student, my personal protégé, have done this to me. After all that I had done for her, the blood, sweat, and tears I had poured into training and taking care of her. The time I spent with her in the middle of the night, helping her with new spells and this is how she repays me. My kingdom was gone, now turned into a "republic". Now they have no need for a monarch so I was stripped of my title and privileges. To finally get rid of me there was the show trial, the rigged jury, the biased judge, and of course his biased sentence. It was all made so that there would be a speedy and public trial, just not a fair one.
"I sentence the defendant, Celestia, to death by firing squad for War Crimes and Crimes against Ponykind." The words still ring in my ear, I am never able to get them out of my skull. And the reruns of the trials on PNN didn't help either, that's all they showed these days anyway, just my trial, and my sister's, interspliced with pieces of propaganda about "The Glorious Revolution" and our "Great Leader".
It wasn't just the sentence that angered her, oh no. It was the hypocrisy of the situation, had the rebels not committed war crime. Where were the trials for those responsible on the rebels' side. The trials for the man that burned down most of Trottingham, he was just doing "What was necessary for the security of his army", "security of his army" my flank.
Or what about the deaths of half the ponies that were put in the P.O.W. camp outside of Las Pegasus. Death by "Natural Causes", such a blatant lie. Everyone in her empire, or the war scarred burned carcass of it, could see the bruises on the dead corpses and the knife wounds that they didn't even bother covering up. That's the new "Republic" for you, lying through their teeth 24/7.
All the "Equal Representation" and "Democracy" was just talk. The only pony with power here was her, the pony that controlled the "parliament" and the courts. Twilight Sparkle. Just saying the name made her teeth grind and her eyebrows form a scowl. To even call this a government was a gross overstatement. It was a motley crew of incompetent buffoons, who had somehow managed to convince everypony with their empty promises and rhetoric.
The Bureau of Public Saftey? They can't even make their own offices safe from attacks, let alone control an entire nation. She had seen their incompetence first hand, there had been a giant billboard advertising jobs with them and one days it wasn't there anymore, along with the building. All that was left was a pile of rubble. Nice to know someponies are still fighting for the Solar Empire, and haven't betrayed her like Twilight.
As she continued to stare down at the empty field when she caught a glimpse of a white stallion with a blue mane being led through the field. She could recognize him anywhere, Shining Armor. Celestia tried to listen to what he was saying to no avail, though what was happening required no words. Shining Armor was being blindfolded and tied to a wooden pole that was stuck into the ground.
Then, from somewhere she couldn't see, five unicorn stallion appeared, each one wearing a black hat with a red, white, and blue circle on it. The official headwear of the Revolutionary Guard, sponsored by mass murder. The stallions took their place at the far end of the field and lined up their horns. Celestia moved back, not wanting to see what was about to happen. She turned around and stared at the blank screen of her T.V. and just waited. After a few seconds there was the sound of a few shots and the shouts of, "Long live the Revolution!"
Shining was a good stallion, strong and loyal to The Empire, he should have just fled and saved himself. But he had to have tried to rescue her with the rag-tag force of soldiers, of course it didn't work. His team ended up killed and he was captured, promptly given a fake trial, and sentenced to death for "High Treason". What did he think this was, The P-Team? He should have just went home and asked his sister for forgiveness, and not risked his life again, he had done his fair share, rushing into battle and staying in forsaken outposts commanding decimated armies. Maybe he could have lived, he should have lived, he was the brother of "The Great Leader. Then again, the revolution shows no mercy.
His execution was probably staged just for Celestia to watch, to see her closest advisor die from trying to save her. It worked, she went back inside and slumped down, she wanted to get onto the couch next to the television but she found her legs heavy as lead. She was stuck there, emotionally drained. Of course many ponies had died fighting trying to save the empire, but none had been executed for trying to save her. She felt as if someone had removed her organs and left her inside empty.
Then there was a knock at the door and a loud voice that said, "Inmate number 7868123-C place your front hooves through the slot in the door." Celestia summoned the last of her strength and stood up and walked over to the door, there a slot open in it, she turned around and stuck her hooves through. Then the feeling of cold steel that had wrapped around her hooves disappear and the voice then said "Step forwards and wait for the door to open, when it does slowly walk bakwards on four hooves until you hit the wall.
Celestia walked forwards and waited for the sound of the metal door creaking open. Then she walked backwards before stopping as she hit the wall, she stood still and was rewarded with the last pair of hoofcuffs being removed. In the same gruff voice he commanded, "Follow me." The stallion then walked to the stairs to the left of the Princess. The stallions grey coat almost touching her face, and his wings tickling her nose.
Celestia slowly trotted to the stairs, and slowly went down. Left hoof, right hoof, and the cycle repeated over and over again until she reached the ground floor. Light poured in through the holes where the stained glass windows were, piles of broken stone littered the hall. This was her palace, the palace that was now her prison.
She continued to follow the stallion through the halls of the broken castle. Celestia thought of her life and all that she had done, all that she poured into Equestria through her work. All the sleepless nights, all the long days arguing, all of the work she had done and this was how she was repaid. The stallion then took a left and after a minute she was bathed in the rays of the sun once again.
Here she was on death ground, no pony's land, the place that no ruler should ever be. Then it all went dark, she couldn't see anymore, "Oh well" she thought. Now being led by two ponies she was dragged across the dirt field and had her hooves tied behind her back, with a pole between her hooves and her.
There was a creaking sound of a metal door opening and the clop sounds of hooves hitting hard packed dirt. Then it all stopped and there was one voice, a voice she knew. "Any last words?" the voice asked. Yes, that voice was unmistakble, the owner had many names; Great leader, my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.
Celestia, with last of her strength, said, "I die with my nation."
Then, in quick succesion, there was the sound of magic being cast as spells of various colors ripped through the air towards the dethroned monarch. Then she went limp and fell forwards, her mane loosing its color and glimmer. It became grey and her life ended.
The voice then said, "Nice, work her sister is due for execution in 15 minutes, you want to stick around?"
End of Chapter One, the One and Only Chapter.
