In the Shadow of the Citadel

Twilight walked by an alley as a squad of Metrocops passed her with little interest. It had been 5 years since the Seven Hour War, and Twilight was no longer the ruler of Equestria, or anything for that matter. She'd been living in hiding ever since the fall of her kingdom, too ashamed of her failure to show her face to the ponies she once called her loyal subjects. Twilight was living a new life, with the scars of the past to haunt her every second of it. Every citizen was issued an ID and clearance tag, which she wore clearly on her shirt along with the branding of The Combine. Her false identity was named Dusk Shine, and was an off-colored grey with cloudy blue highlights in her hair. She walked into the small café outside the Train Station, Café Baltic, which was one of the only places she frequented.

"Hey Dusk, How are you?" The barista asked. He was Topaz Glint, a male in his mid 20's with a sand colored coat and peach hair.

"Okay I guess, same as usual. You?" Twilight responded.

"Good, good. Business has been well this week, with the new relocation trains coming in Wednesday and all," The barista said, upbeat. No matter what happened, Twilight noticed, he always seemed to keep a positive outlook on matters.

"Man, I feel bad for those people, y'know? They settle down, make a life, and then get uprooted and shipped off by The Combine to a place like this."

"Maybe it's not all bad right? Getting relocated here is great, City 17 is the best one around!" He replied gleefully.

"I suppose. Get me my usual, will you?" She said, taking a seat at the 2 person table by the front window.

Soon, Topaz emerged from the backroom with 2 cups, and set one in front of Twilight before sitting down himself. Topaz and Twilight had become good friends since she'd 'come' here, and he was really the only person Twilight ever talked to.

"Just the way you like it." Topaz said, taking a drink from the cup in his hand. She picked up on small personal details about Topaz, including the milled base of a horn. When the Combine arrived, they practiced the horrible act of cutting off the horns of unicorns so they couldn't use magic against them, and also restricted the use of Pegasi wings. The unicorns would grind off the jagged edges of their horns to make them more subtle, and were called by the derogatory term "millers" because of their milled horn. However, Topaz didn't care one bit that he was once a magic-wielding unicorn, and was happy with his current life.

Twilight sipped her hot beverage lightly, watching the creamer swirl in the brown liquid. "Topaz...Would you mind if I asked you a personal question?"

Topaz blinked for a second. "Sure, not at all."

"Do you remember anything of your old life?"

This made Topaz think for a moment. "Well...I don't remember much, but I remember our leader. She was...very beautiful and powerful, but in an inspiring way. Princess Twilight Sparkle was her name. We did very well under her rule, but after 20 something years...Well, you know what happened then." He chuckled.

Twilight frowned internally. "She's gone...She's a weak failure now." She looked aside, out the window and into the square. "I don't remember my old life..." She lied. "All I remember is waking up on a train coming into that station."

"What matters is now, and what you're going to do with this life, Dusk. I don't think about who I used to be, I think about who I am, who I'm gonna be." He smiled across the table at Twilight.

Twilight smiled, but only on the outside. On the inside she was drowning in the thoughts of her failure as a leader, and how she was cowering behind this mask, too afraid to tell them the truth.

The sound of a Combine APC whizzing by pulled her back into reality, and she looked out the window as another one followed, and then another. She cringed, and looked at Topaz. "I sure hope that's not my block."

"You should probably go take a look. They'll hunt you down if you don't show for an inspection. Catch you later Dusk."

Twilight took her hot coffee, and walked briskly down the street towards her apartment block. The Metropolice conducted periodic inspections of all the apartment buildings in City 17 to flush out rebels and resistance members, and you didn't want to be in the same block as someone who was hiding rebels. If they found you, everyone on that floor is a suspect and a potential conspirator. Twilight always dreaded inspections. Metropolice were known for beatings and brutality, because no one was brave, or foolish, enough to speak out against them. Citizens were killed or seriously injured by Metrocops every day, and those who resisted were shipped off to Nova Prospekt. Twilight let out a silent sigh of relief as she rounded the corner, and saw the APCs hastily parked outside the neighboring apartment building. She stopped just before the door to her building, as she saw the squad of Metropolice forcefully eject a citizen from the building, and proceed to beat him with their stun batons. The yellow energy coils were stained red with the man's blood, and out came 5 rebels all handcuffed and equally bloodied. She cringed and hurried inside her apartment building. The elevator was still out, had been for at least a week, so she took her normal route and climbed the several flights of stairs to her floor of the building. She plugged the key into her door, unlocking it slipping in the open doorway and shutting the wooden door behind her.

"God damnit Twilight, get it together! Stupid bastard knew the consequences for hiding rebels, stop feeling sorry for him!" She shook herself, before walking into her bedroom and proceeding to strip out of her civilian fatigues. She unclipped her bra and let her breasts breathe as she slipped on a loose fitting tank top. Twilight then walked into her small bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror, running a hand through her wavy hair. Only it wasn't her hair, it was this false image's hair. She turned off the light as she left the bathroom, and plopped down on her bed. It was still morning, so she could get away with dozing off and taking a nap.

Twilight woke about 3 in the afternoon, and realized she had been asleep for a lot longer than a nap. She would change into her civilian outfit, before leaving the apartment, and then the building. She walked into the square again, but this time into the train station, the very same station where she'd 'arrived' into City 17. She got in line, and came up to the window soon.

"A round trip ticket to the Industrial District please," Twilight said, and was then prompted to hand her ID to the Metrocop manning the booth. She did so, and was presented with her ID and a ticket, which she grabbed from the counter and walked into the main station. It was bustling with citizens, most of them new arrivals from other cities, victims of the cruel game of relocation played by The Combine. She sat down on the bench, and soon a horn sounded, signaling an inbound train. She and several other citizens rose from their seated positions, and waited as a passenger train slid into the platform track. She boarded the train, and sat near a window and watched as the train departed the station for the Industrial District.

The train's horn blared again as it reeled into the station. Twilight had returned from her excursion to the Industrial District, and got off the train when the doors opened. She smelled the scent of oil and lubricant, as well as smoke and diesel fuel from the numerous trains sitting idle at the station. The civilian trains were much older than the Combine's Razor Trains, and far less efficient by still running off Diesel power. The razor Trains ran off electricity, and had almost 3 times the torque and load capacity of the civilian trains, yet the Combine insisted they remain in service. Twilight shook her head, and continued back to her apartment.

Twilight passed a group of Metrocops who paid no mind to her as she entered her apartment building. She climbed the same, monotonous flight of stairs to her level, and entered her apartment once more. Not 10 seconds later, the looping inspection alert message came over the PA system in the block. "Oh hell, lets hope this one goes smoothly." She could hear the steady thumps of boots as the Metropolice came marching up the stairs. She hoped they passed her floor, but a harsh rap on her door threw this hope out the window and solidified her fear. She reluctantly turned the handle, and the door was forced open by a squad of Metrocops. She was forced against the wall, and held by her wrists by one of the cops. The squad proceeded to search every inch of her home, before throwing her out of her room and against the hallway wall.

"What are you doing?! I didn't do anything!" Twilight said frantically. She was silenced by a stun baton to the side of her head. She looked down the hall, and her fear deepened as she saw one of her neighbors thrown to the floor and beat with stun batons until he bled. 2 rebels were thrown out after him. "Oh god...This dumb bastard has doomed us all..." She thought as she was cuffed and taken down the stairs. She was forced out the front door, and shoved into the back of an APC.