The First Fall Revolutionby RangerOfRhudaurChaptersThe Senate Square DeclarationSenate Square RiotThe Morning AfterThe Senate Square DeclarationStarlight had arrived before the dawn, a mighty host arrayed in grey and black following her. One of Sassy's contacts in the capitol let her know, and she told Rarity in turn, dragging her out of sleep and into a waking nightmare. As quickly as she could, she made ready to leave, forgoing much of her makeup and taking a simple protein bar with her to eat along the way in lieu of breakfast. She picked out her outfit quickly, for once letting function overmatch form due to the need for haste, the only jewelry she wore her geode. Starlight had said that the Unmarked would be peaceful, yes, but she said a lot of things, most of which Rarity doubted highly. Bare minutes after she woke up she was on the road, the rising Sun finding her already out of the city limits. Her phone was buzzing like a bee with word from the others, though she never took her eyes off the road, or the spires of the capitol as it began to rise before her. Castellot, small though it may have been, was a wonder of the kingdom; the few buildings that surrounded the Palace and the other halls of power were all works of art, marble and slate rising gently from the ground like clouds on the wind. It was a city of spires, rising up where its kinsfolk spread out, reaching up to the stars even as Lake Canter plumbed the depths. She grit her teeth; she would not allow Starlight or her minions to knock those spires down without a fight. Speaking of fights, though, she was forced to slow down by a crude barricade, attended by two Royal Guards. They watched her approach, and one of them walked over as she came to a stop. The Guard gave a gesture to roll down her window, a command Rarity obeyed with some hesitancy; not all of Starlight's supporters openly wore the grey and black Unmarked uniform. "Morning, ma'am," the Guard said. "Would you mind stepping out of the vehicle? The captain gave orders for no vehicles to be admitted to the city, in order to minimize the chance of injuries occurring at the demonstration." Rarity nodded, understanding Shining's reasoning (try to minimize injuries by minimizing available weapons), and unbuckled her safety belt before stepping out of the auto. The Guard nodded at her, then asked, "Do you have any weapons to declare?" She smiled and shook her head; her magic was a tool and defensive implement, not a weapon, a point Twilight had argued with Sunset about exhaustively. Legally speaking, her geode was nothing more than a senior's cane, and who would deprive an old lady of her stick simply because it might be used in self-defense? The Guard nodded back, then scrawled out a quick receipt and handed it to her. "Take this to the station when you're ready to leave," he instructed. "They'll give you your auto back in the same shape as they got it. If you would give us the keys?" Rarity deposited them in the Guard's outstretched hand, took everything she needed out of the vehicle, then walked into the city while they called for someone to come pick the auto up. She glanced at the receipt, confirming that it was in proper order, then stowed it in her purse. She took a deep breath and released it; there would be no turning back, now, at least not without considerable difficulty. The road from Castellot back to Crystal City wasn't an unthinkable walk, but she wouldn't be able to outrun the Unmarked should they turn violent, and with her auto currently in the Guard's care regaining it would take too much time, between processing her receipt, confirming her registration, and actually taking her to it. No, the only way home lay ahead of her, though the Unmarked. She hoped that that road would be peaceful, that they would remain orderly whether the government accepted or denied their petitions, that passing through them would be as simple as passing through a cloud of steam at the spa. But that hope weakened as she saw the reinforced Guard presence on the empty streets; it appeared that dear Shining Armor didn't trust Starlight's reassurances that the Unmarked's demonstrations would be peaceful, either. "Please be safe, Rarity," whispered in her mind, Sweetie Belle's parting words as her parents had come to pick her up. "I love you too much to lose you." "You shan't lose me, sweetness," she promised her sister, ignoring the many physical kilometers between them. "And even if you do," she set her jaw. "I'll make sure that you lose several enemies in the process." She found the Unmarked in Senate Square, the plaza just outside the eponymous civic center. There were hundreds of them, a muttering horde of dark-clothed figures fenced in on three sides by Royal Guards. A thin gold line those Guards were, very thin indeed, a wall of glass-like protective shields held up by ranks of Guards no more than one deep. She frowned; a determined charge might be able to break through that wall, rendering the rest of the line useless. Shining's forces were stretched thin, it appeared. She dearly hoped not thin enough to snap. Where was the Captain in all this? She didn't see his purple armor anywhere in the line, or the crowds on either side of it. She looked up at the top of the Senate steps, the grand staircase rising up to the chamber's doors, but didn't see him among the door guards. Walking down it, eventually her gaze found him, two of his subordinates beside him, arms crossed and face unreadable as he looked down at the crude platform the Unmarked had raised at the stair's feet. Her gaze narrowed; Starlight and some of her cronies stood there, chatting happily amongst each other. Unequals among would-be equals they stood atop their shoddy wooden dais, a large sack of black cloth lying in the center. Fools, she curled her lip as she looked at the Unmarked. You prattle on about overthrowing tyranny, not realizing that your leader intends to make the thrones of those you overthrow her own. She is as committed to equality as Rainbow Dash is to fashion, and you would see as much if you but thought to look. She cast a baleful glance at the woman who had misled so many. Talking amongst those who Rarity took for her chief advisors, she resembled a queen holding court more than a revolutionary trying to lift up the downtrodden. Her behavior, her location, her role, even her clothes, more ornamented than those of those she called her equals, belied the nonsense she spewed. Following her was an action only explicable by having one's ears covered and eyes closed; anyone else would realize how hypocritical she was in a heartbeat. Before, Rarity had merely disliked her policies; now, she loathed the woman herself. More people trickled into the square, Sassy and the others among them. She smiled at them as they drew up alongside her, then turned back to Starlight with determination in her gaze; whenever she tried to sway them with her hypocritical folly, they would be ready to reply. That 'whenever' took a long time to come. Several times, one of Starlight's advisors whispered in her ear, clearly asking if she was ready to speak, and every time she shook her head. At first, this had confused Rarity, but then she'd realized; before she made her reply, Starlight would look out at the crowds, counting them. She was trying to draw an audience, turn her petitioning into a spectacle. Worst of all, that was clever; the bigger the crowd, the greater the chance that some poor fool would hear her and give her proposals serious thought. And if the larger crowd opposed her, she could simply explain it away as the 'elite' forcing those under them to do their bidding. A larger audience only helped Starlight, whatever outcome she received; win or lose, she would come out ahead. Rarity frowned; evidently, Starlight was only incompetent when it came to policy, not the political game itself. Eventually, she decided her audience was large enough and walked to the edge of the platform, to the thunderous cheers of the Unmarked. Shining's gaze followed her like a hawk, while the crowd outside the line of Guards stayed silent, aside from a few scattered boos. Starlight raised her hands for silence, and a hush fell over the whole square, even among her opponents; there was a command in her gesture, one that was impossible to deny. The silence stayed for several moments, before being broken by Starlight. "When I was a girl," she said, her voice ringing across the plaza. "my dad taught me a funny word; icosahedron." Some laughter that was so forced it seemed to come out of a can rose out of the Unmarked. "It means a shape with twenty sides. He showed me one, too, a little die with twenty faces. All of them looked different, but they were all part of the same thing. One shape, many faces. Hierarchicalism is the same; concentration of economic power looks different from concentration of social power, and both look different from concentration of political power, but that's only on the surface. Once you look beneath the surface, you see the truth; concentration of economic power comes from a desire to control others' money, concentration of social power comes from a desire to control others' friendships, concentration of political power comes from a desire to control others' relationships with the community. And what's the source for these desires? The thought that we're better than those others in some way. Or, to put it another way, the thought that we should be above them in the hierarchy. Concentration of economic power, of social power, of political power, they're all connected, all different sides of the same shape, the cursed diamond of hierarchicalism. One shape, many faces; many symptoms, one poison. "That's why the revolution must be total, must touch everywhere and everything; everywhere and everything is infected, poisoned by the same evil of hierarchicalism. From Cloudsdale in the west to Manehattan in the east, all of Homestria groans under the yoke of hierarchy. All, save us. We are the Unmarked, the free, the heralds of a new age. We've come here today, flying our markless banner and bearing a message, a ray of hope for those in darkness; 'All the darkness is the same,' we call out, 'and equalism is the light which will banish it away.'" The Unmarked roared lustily at that, before falling silent as Starlight raised her hands again, face grim. "But there is one face of this cursed diamond that's worse than the others," she continued. "one shadow darker than the rest, and it is that shadow specifically which we came to shine a light on. It is the epitome of hierarchicalism, the purest expression of 'I think I'm better than you, so I'll decide what you do' that I can find. Control of money, friendships, community, all of these are bad, but attempting to control the minds and bodies of others is beyond them. But, you may wonder, what could possibly allow someone to control the mind and body of another? The answer is one word; magic." Canned hissed rose from the Unmarked as Starlight continued, "The scourge of magic is the peak of hierarchicalism, the ultimate end of its philosophy of control. Magic attempts to enforce the user's will on those around them directly, not indirectly like with economic concentration. Magic is hierarchicalism without mask or disguise, commanding others with the only justification being, 'Because I'm stronger than you.' People claim there are hundreds of different kinds of it, from blood magic to runes to magic songs, but those are all just different sides of the same shape, the shape of tyranny. Some might say otherwise, say that magic's just a tool or a gift, and they're right; if you're willing to ignore whether something's right or wrong, magic is a useful tool, a gift to those who love forcing others to do what they say. Magic is no gift, it's a poison, a weapon, the ultimate expression of the hierarchy. Magic is tyranny, pure and simple. Of course," she shrugged. "words like these require evidence. Evidence," she pointed at the sack. "which we will now provide." Two of her minions untied the sack and pulled it down, revealing its contents. Contents which caused Rarity to gasp. There was a woman inside of it, a woman who collapsed to the ground as her support was removed. She was forced to her feet again by the two who'd taken her out, each of them grabbing one arm and hoisting her up before carrying her to the edge of the platform, beside Starlight. She looked horrible, stick-thin and pallid-skinned, her limbs withered branches that looked like they would snap in a strong breeze. Her nose and lips were broken, her fingernails claws, her cheeks sunken cliffs; beneath her sackcloth uniform, Rarity didn't doubt that she would see glaring ribs. A frizz of stubble was all that remained of her hair. But her eyes were unbroken, cruel gleaming carnelians sunken into her skull that danced around like embers in a fire. The light of intelligence still glinted in those eyes, an intelligence she had faced before. "The courtesy of Homestria's hall," Adagio Dazzle sneered. "has somewhat lessened of late." "Silence," one of her captors ordered. "Adagio Dazzle is the hierarchical ideal," Starlight said as her captive fell quiet. "She attempted to enslave us using the most hierarchical of methods, magic, attempting to force her choices on us because she thought she was better than us. She failed, yes, but she still tried, and she didn't fail due to any effort on the government's part. When she struck Canterlot High, where was the Royal Guard? What was the government's response to this would-be warlord? Nothing. And what was the government's response when disaster struck that same place again, during the Friendship Games? Nothing. What did the government do when we cried out for protection from those who used magic? Nothing. "This is why we came here today, what we are petitioning for. We are not asking for revolution or political power, we are asking for protection, protection from those who seek to oppress us, whether by mundane means or magical ones. The government has failed to protect us from magic in the past; we cannot allow it to do so in future. Hierarchicalism is an evil with many forms, a root with many vines that choke us no matter where we turn. It will be the effort of a lifetime to prune all those vines, cure all the symptoms of the poison, but this vine cannot wait. We must destroy magic, before it destroys us." The Unmarked cheered and roared lustily at that, while Rarity stared wide-eyed at Adagio. She didn't like the Siren, to say the least, but the state she was in was simply pitiful. She was filthy, tattered, she didn't look fit enough to walk. Just what had Starlight done to her? Was this a preview of what she could expect to have to endure, should Starlight come to power? "Should we destroy magic before it destroys us?" the Siren asked, her shaky voice somehow overpowering the roar of the crowd. "Or before it can oppose you?" "Quiet," came the order again. But it went unheeded this time, Adagio continuing, "Have you told them about your studies in magic, Starlight? I have a feeling they'd find that interesting. Or what about that suit of deepstone amor you bought? That ought to raise a few eyebrows." "Ignorance is no defense against an enemy," Starlight replied, her face stern as stone. "I study the arts of the enemy so that I can better counter them. Be quiet; just because I have to read what my enemies have written doesn't mean I need to hear their voices." "And here we come to the heart of the matter," Adagio darkly chuckled. "The idea that, if you fight monsters, you're free to be a monster." She turned to the crowd of Unmarked. "What pity or mercy does a monster deserve, after all? Why should you grant them what they are not themselves willing to give? What do the hateful deserve but hate, what do the violent deserve but violence, what do the destructive deserve but destruction? What do I, who attempted to put you all in chains, deserve but chains of my own? An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, the law of nature. Fair, and just. But if you're going to give chains for chains, then be honest about it, and if you say that you'll grant mercy stand behind your word. All of you, all Homestria, prattle endlessly about mercy and kindness, turning the other cheek and being compassionate to your foes. But when I come along to test your words, you prove as false as her," she jerked her head at Starlight. "and I find mercy as sweet as lemons. You all keep going on and on about how all are equal, then turn right around and claim that you're morally superior to me, despite having acted not so differently. You chain the one you call slaver, torture the one you call injurer, act monstrous towards the one you call monster, and still you dare to call yourselves better than me. Chain me, torture me, act monstrous towards me if you wish, but at least have the courtesy, the courage, to do so openly, to acknowledge what you're doing. I will call it justice, but I will not call it 'mercy' or 'compassion.' You call yourselves 'merciful' and 'kind;' I call you hypocrites and liars." All eyes were on the Siren as the square fell silent. All eyes were still on her as that silence was broken by her death-rattle. "Protect Starlight!" one of the people holding Adagio up barked as he dropped his gurgling charge. As he and the others bundled Starlight off the platform, Rarity stared in horror at the twitching corpse. Something had buried itself in the Siren's throat, flying through the air too fast to see. One moment Adagio had been glaring out at the crowd, the next she'd been gasping with a round stone lodged in her neck, the stone evidently sharp judging by the blood seeping from the wound. She felt her breakfast (little though it was) coming back up her throat, but pressed it back down as she grit her teeth; she couldn't lose her head now, lives were at stake. "Sassy," she ordered her wide-eyed friend. "take the others to the station and help them get their autos back. I'll stay here to try and help coordinate the evacuation." "We're not abandoning you," Sassy protested. "Besides, one person won't be able to direct a crowd like this. You need us, Rarity, unless the idea of being stampeded endears itself to you." She tsked, but accepted. Before she could begin trying to calm the skittering crowds, though, one of the Unmarked jumped to his feet and laughed. The sound boomed across the square, grating over the stones. "Look!" he laughed, pointing accusingly at the dead Siren on the abandoned platform. "Not only can the elite not protect us, they can't protect their own! Their champion was killed in the center of their power; how can we trust them to protect us on the periphery? Enough is enough! Unprotectors out!" "He's right," another Unmarked mumbled. "She was the elite's elite and they still let her die." "Or killed her themselves," another growled. "She wasn't useful to them anymore, after all, and what does a hierarchist hate more than something they can't use?" Rarity bit her lip; there was a tension in the air, like the calm before a storm. Turning to the person on her left, she tapped them on the shoulder and whispered, "I think now would be a wise time to withdraw." "Does it matter?" the laughing boy asked. "Either through action or inaction, the elite killed her, one of their own; why does it matter how they did it? Unprotectors out!" "Yeah," the mumbler nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Unprotectors out!" "Unprotectors out!" the growler roared. The chant went through the Unmarked like a wave. First three, then ten, then a hundred, then every Unmarked voice crying, "Unprotectors out! Unprotectors out! Unprotectors out!" They began pressing out, quickly butting up against Shining's golden line. On the other side, Rarity and the others had done what they could to pull the crowd back, rousing the spectators from the spell the demonstration had woven over them and sending them away. Few had left of their own volition, waiting and watching almost in anticipation, held in sway by the anger in the square like auto accident witnesses were by the carnage of what they saw. Evidently, Rarity wryly thought as she sent another Man running to the station, the self-preservative instinct was suppressed by the expectation that others would soon fail their's. "Unprotectors out!" the Unmarked roared as they pushed against the Guards' barricade. "Unprotectors out! Unprotectors out! Unprotectors-" Senate Square RiotNobody knew who struck the first blow. The Unmarked claimed it was the Guards, the Guards claimed it was either the Unmarked or an overzealous counter-protester, and none in the crowd could recall seeing exactly where the blow was struck, let alone who had dealt it. In a way, it didn't matter; once the first spark had been lit, the demonstration went up like a tinderbox. As if by some unspoken order, the Unmarked rushed the Guards, screaming unnatural battlecries. The line largely stood firm, but the few gaps the Unmarked managed to punch through it allowed them to reach the civilians behind. Screams of fear and pain roared in Rarity's ears as the crowd, too late, broke and ran. A passing arm smacked her around the head, but instead of unbalancing her it brought her back into focus. She couldn't let herself get lost in the riot's haze; the other civilians, Sweetie Belle back home, needed her to keep her head. Shaking it to clear it, she looked around, gauging the situation. Situation: not good. The Unmarked had managed to tear several holes in the Guard line, holes which they began pouring through like ants. Shining had pulled back to near the top of the steps, barking orders into his communicator, clearly trying to direct what was rapidly becoming a battle, but even with the Guards from the rest of the city coming back to reinforce the square they were clearly outnumbered. Those Unmarked who weren't fighting to reduce those already low ranks were loosing savage cries and charging the civilians, every so often running one down. She didn't want to think about what they did after that. Then one of them charged her, teeth glinting like fangs in the light, and she let him come. Once he was within reach, she showed him the mistake he'd made, easily using his momentum to flip him over her shoulder. He spiraled away into the crowd, eventually slamming into one of his comrades and knocking them down. "Sassy," she told her jaw-dropped friend. "I know how little sense this is going to make, but please listen; we can't run away. They'd ride us down long before we managed to reach our vehicles. We need to fight them off, or at least hold them long enough for reinforcements to arrive." Pin ducked under a punch from an Unmarked before retaliating with one of his own. "And how do you propose we do that?" he asked, voice sharp. She flicked a glance at Shining atop the steps. "Get to Captain Armor," she replied. "He'll know what to do. If he asks, tell him one of Twilight's friends sent you." "What about you?" Coco nervously asked. "Why don't you come with us?" She took a breath as she put a hand on her geode. Exhaling, she felt the familiar tingle of her magic, and gently smiled at her slack-jawed friends as they saw the construct gems dancing among her fingers. "I already know what I need to do," she replied. "Give the Unmarked even more of a reason to hate me." She was going to need a spa day after this, and probably an aspirin or two. While Sassy and the others tried to sneak their way over to Shining, she was trying to draw the Unmarked's attention, something she was succeeding at rather too well. Since she'd fired off her first gem, it felt like a third of the Unmarked were trying to attack her, and while fighting with her mind wasn't the same as fighting with her muscles that didn't mean it was any easier. Every blow they struck on one of her gems was a throb in her brain, while every blow she struck with them was a crick in her neck. As another Unmarked jumped out at her and she smacked them away, she wondered just how much pain she could endure, and just how long it would take her to find out how much was too much. A cry somehow pierced the roar of the battle, and her eyes trained hawk-like on a woman standing defensively in front of a young man, an Unmarked wielding a plank of wood like a cudgel before her. A quick mental shove sent the Unmarked reeling, and the woman turned in Rarity's direction dumbfounded. She mouthed "Go" at her, hoping that she understood, and found her hope quickly fulfilled, the woman helping her companion up and bearing him away, one of his arms wrapped around her shoulder. Another Unmarked appeared in the corner of her eye, and she was forced to turn away. Sweat dappled her brow as the day wore on; more Unmarked challenged her and fell, more civilians managed to escape, and eventually she saw Sassy and the others jumping up the steps towards Shining. A hand landed on her shoulder and she prepared to strike, but turned and saw that the hand belonged to a smiling Guard. She smiled back at them, and beamed as she saw their companions; they were rallying, regrouping. They stood a chance, now. Heart aflame, she joined them as they pressed towards another cluster of their comrades, forcing through the besieging Unmarked. Now they were twenty, her making twenty-one, forming up into a wedge in an attempt to join Shining and the rest of the Guards on the stairs. They marched, batons and shields and constructs singing through the air, but found resistance thickening; three-quarters of the Unmarked must've stood against them, surrounding them and trying to claw their way through. They were about fifteen meters from the steps when the first Guard fell, dragged down and swallowed up by the besieging horde. The last Rarity saw of them was their terror-stricken eyes and reaching hand, a hand which disappeared just as her fingers were about to brush it. They pushed on, making it about a half-meter before the next Guard fell. Their foes' ferocity seemed to grow as they advanced, Unmarked who had at first only shouted or slapped the Guards' shields now savagely tearing at them, trying to rend their armor and mangle the flesh beneath. But still, they pushed on. They made it three meters before the next Guard fell, two more swiftly following them. They were being overwhelmed, the wedge was breaking. Desperately, Rarity used her gems to shore up the gaps in their wall, though the spots dancing in her vision as the Unmarked pounded them didn't bode well for how long she'd be able to hold them. She held out long enough, though, the Guard who'd first found her managing to reorganize the survivors and lead a counterattack which bought them some breathing room. With legs like lead, Rarity passed the ten meter mark, and felt her spine shiver as another Guard fell with a blood-curdling shriek. But not all was lost; Shining was coming down to meet them, along with those Guards who'd managed to find their way to him. The last quarter of the Unmarked were doing their best to hold them off, though, and it was an open question whether he'd manage to reach them before they joined their fallen comrades. They were slowed almost to a halt at the eight meter mark, two more joining the fallen in the process. The Guard who'd initially found Rarity would have joined them if not for a well-timed construct, a feat the spike of pain in her brain would make difficult to repeat. They crawled another half-meter, and then they were ten, and then nine. Rarity peered through her sweat and weariness at the steps; Shiny was still coming, but too slowly. They would fall before he could reach them, unless they did something drastic. Gathering up as much energy as she could into her hands, Rarity prepared to do something drastic, something she was unsure she would survive. "Guards," she told her comrades. "I'm going to put as much as I can into this. Once I fire, start running; if they manage to recover before we reach Captain Armor, we're done for." Not giving them a chance to respond or the Unmarked a chance to prepare, she bent to the ground and reached out with her magic. Razor-thin, impossibly thick crystals formed under the feet of their besiegers, and with one last command Rarity ordered them to rise. The energy behind her command gave out as it approached the edges, but it was the center that was most important for it to strike, and there it struck with self-sacrificial desperation. The Unmarked between them and Shining were cast aside as if by a whirlwind, while those on the edges of the avenue so cleared were either themselves unbalanced by Rarity's gambit or the other victims of it. The way was open, but not for long. "Go," she coughed, blood pouring down her nose as she began stumbling down the path. The Guards followed her and quickly overtook her, though two of them, brave hearted boys, tried to stay back with her to protect her. She waved them away; if the Unmarked caught her like this, they would simply add two more bodies to the pile. She wouldn't tolerate having their deaths on her conscience, anymore than she would have Sweetie Belle's. They left, and now it was just her, hobbling down the cleared road, desperately trying to outrun the roar of the approaching Unmarked wave. Shiny and the others were coming to meet her, forming a beachhead in the riotous sea; if she reached that spit, she would be safe. She would be able to see Sweetie Belle again, she would be able to live for her sister. She was a stone's throw away now, the Unmarked bellowing towards her, but Shiny and the others were louder than them. Sassy's voice was as shrill as Sweetie Belle's, and it was her sister's hand she saw stretching out towards her. With the last of her energy, she leapt and reached for that hand. Then a club took her behind the head, and all went dark, Sweetie Belle's crying face being swallowed up by a sea of clawing hands. The Morning After"We lost twenty-seven Guards in the riot," Sergeant Razzaroo reported. "Twenty-five of the bodies have been found, the other two remain missing. About eighteen Unmarked died, five of them to wounds from non-Guard individuals, and thirteen others have been taken into custody. Civilian casualties are still coming in, though at the moment there are only five confirmed deaths, thankfully." "How many missing?" the woman she was reporting to growled. Razzaroo swallowed. "At least four, ma'am, quite possibly more. Again, reports are still coming in. It's looking like the riot was largely confined to the square, though, aside from the incident at the station impounding lot." "And because of that incident," the woman growled again. "if we want to chase them, we have to go on foot. They planned this." "It's looking that way, ma'am," Razzaroo nodded. "Their withdrawal was too orderly for it to be otherwise." "Keeping a reserve so that they have a fresh rearguard as they left," the woman grumbled. "taking as many of their wounded with them as they could so we have fewer suspects to question, leaving their vehicles by the lake so they wouldn't be confiscated on entry." She barked a laugh. "Clever." "Yes, ma'am," Razzaroo nodded again. Then, hesitantly, she said, "If I may, ma'am, one of those missing, Miss Rarity Belle?" The woman's fists clenched. Razzaroo paused, then continued, "She saved my life, ma'am, used her magic to hold off the Unmarked until I managed to get back to my feet. She... she saved the rest of our squad, too, with that last trick of her's. I... it was an honor to serve with her, ma'am." "She's not dead," the woman hissed. "You hear me? She's. Not. Dead. Missing is not dead." "I know, ma'am," Razzaroo tried to soothe her. "I'm just saying... I understand why you were friends with her." "Am," the woman sharply corrected her. "I am still friends with her, because she's not dead. Any leads on whoever killed Adagio?" "No, ma'am," Razzaroo sighed. "Most of us are still stumped by what killed her. That stone thing's like nothing we've ever seen before. We have no idea where it came from, who used it, or how they made it. We barely know how it works. The only lead forensics has been able to give us is that it was probably thrown from a high point, though there's no lack of those here." "Hm," the woman grumbled. "How long until we can start pursuing Starlight?" "At least three days," Razzaroo swallowed. "We need to secure the city, make sure none of the Unmarked stayed behind. Captain Armor wants us to try to track down whoever killed Ms. Dazzle, too, but he'll probably be willing to call the search off if it goes cold. And," her voice faltered. "there's going to be a memorial service, for the-for the missing and fallen." A heavy silence fell. After a moment, "When?" slashed through it. "As soon as the city's secured," meekly answered it. The woman's knuckles were almost bone-white. "Keep me updated," was ground out of her teeth, quickly followed by a brusque, "Dismissed." Razzaroo saluted and prepared to obey (and escape the volcano waiting to erupt), but she was stopped on the doorstep by a call from the seething woman. Hesitantly, Razzaroo turned to look at her, and asked, "Yes, ma'am? Did you-did you need me for anything else?" No reply came for several moments, moments that dragged on almost as long as the riot, until the woman, her voice grudgingly cheerful, said, "Congratulations on your knighthood." "Thank you, ma'am," Razzaroo puffed out her chest. "I'll try my best to do it honor." "You can do that by finding the girl who helped you earn it," the woman replied, what little cheer she'd forced into her voice quickly leaving it. "Dismissed." With a nod, Razzaroo obeyed. Once she was out in the hall, she paused, waiting a moment by the door. Within seconds, a bestial roar and the groan of a desk tilting over greeted her ears. Spearhead had come by early in the morning and ushered her and Radiance out of the lab. Protestors in the square, he'd said. They said they were peaceful, but Captain Armor wasn't taking any chances. He had her and Radiance brought to a bunker, a stronghold beneath the palace where the princess and her councilors waited, the senators hunkering in the Senate itself. While Rarity had faced the storm in the square, she'd paced in the sanctuary, unable to do anything more than listen to what faint sounds echoed down to the chamber and wait for Shining to give them the all-clear. Eventually he did, after the Unmarked withdrew, and the news he brought back was better than they'd expected; though they'd broken the line early on, the Unmarked had largely kept to the square, and stout resistance on the part of the Guards had prevented them from swarming the Senate. The twenty-five dead had not given their lives in vain; the interference they'd played in the Unmarked's assembling had saved far more than twenty-five. But it was Rarity that had really turned the tide. The distraction her magic had provided allowed the Guards to regroup, a majority of the Unmarked turning their focus on the magic-user and away from the more conventional threat of the Guards. "She saved the kingdom," Shining had said. But not, it seemed, herself. "Silver Blaze," Sunset sniffled. "Setting Star. Uncle Lightburst. Rar-" She smacked herself. No. She had to remember what she'd told Razzaroo; Rarity wasn't dead. She didn't know how, but she knew that she was still alive, somehow. Maybe it was her magic, maybe it was their friendship, whatever the method might have been, she knew that Rarity wasn't dead, as surely as she knew that her parents were. And whatever it took, wherever she was, Sunset would find her, even if she had to tear Tartarus apart brick by brick to do so. She looked down at the toppled desk. Pointless. A useless waste of energy, energy she should have spent finding Rarity. Grunting in effort, she righted it, then went to work putting her things back in order. A knock came at her door. "Come in," she called. Shining obeyed, still in his full armor, helmet slung under one arm. "Miss Shimmer," he nodded to her. "Captain Armor," she nodded back. "What brings you here? Any new leads?" He shook his head, a response she'd expected, and replied, "No. Forensics is still checking out the murder weapon for Miss Dazzle, and none of the missing have been found." "She's not dead," Sunset snapped. "You hear me? Rarity's not dead. I know she isn't. Until you show me a body, she's not dead." "With all due respect, ma'am, your friend isn't the only person missing," Shining replied. "Sir Doseydotes only managed to rescue one of the Majesty sisters, and there are plenty of others who you don't know that still need to be accounted for; Honeydew Hum, Amberlocks, Fade Away... I understand your concern for your friend, but there are others who deserve consideration, too." "I know," she sighed, rubbing her temples. "I'm just sick and tired of everyone acting like she's dead." She tapped her geode. "I know she's not. I don't know how, but I know it. Anyway," she sighed. "what brings you here? Or is this just a checkup from a concerned colleague?" "This is a warning from a friend," he replied, voice softening. "one who's been in the same situation you have. You want to do everything you can to find out where your friend and the other missing people have gone. I'm guessing you want to do the same regarding stopping the Unmarked?" Frowning, Sunset nodded. Shining nodded back, then said, "In that case, what you need to do is simple; restrain yourself and stay here. Your mission needs you more than your friend does." "What?!" Sunset laughed in dismay. "That doesn't make any sense! How is me doing nothing going to help?" "You won't be doing nothing," Shining reassured her. "You'll be doing what you need to, staying on track with your mission. The Guard will stay on track with its mission, serving and protecting Homestria, in this case by tracking down those lost after the riot and punishing those responsible. We'll do our mission, but we need you to do your's, too." Gently, he cupped her stunned face. "I know it's hard to stay back like this," he said. "Back in the Square, there was nothing I wanted more than to jump in and help my brothers and sisters in arms. Eventually I did, but only when I saw that I could step away from watching and ordering people around. I only let myself leave my mission as commander and coordinator once I saw that it was safe for me to do so. That's one of the most important lessons the Guard drilled into us; the mission comes first." He bowed his head. "I had a friend at the Academy, Jazz Matazz, great guy. We could always count on him to cheer us up or make us laugh, kinda like that pink friend of your's. One day, though, we were on a training mission in Baltimare, me, Jazz, and a few others. Most of us were on edge, even Jazz, though he barely showed it; a gang from Griffonstone was trying to set up shop in the area, and the rumors about what they did to Guards... They made some of the veterans scared. So, of course, we ran into them. "We were providing the mayor with an escort while she was going for a walk when ten of them jumped out of an alley. Our sergeant drew his staff and ordered us to take the mayor to safety, and for some reason we thought that running back the way we'd come would be a bad idea. We took her with us, me, Jazz, and the other two, down an alley, hoping to circle around back to the station. Most of the gangsters followed us, though, at least half of them, and it was a fighting retreat. If that alley hadn't been so narrow, forcing them to come one at a time, we would've died. Green as we were, it was still a close thing; I can't remember how many times my armor saved me from a knife, or let me shrug off a knuckleduster. "And then I tripped. My feet got confused, and I tripped. I was on the ground, and that meant I was as good as dead. One of them, a real nasty-looking piece of work, tried to finish the job, but Jazz jumped over me and blocked it with his staff before clocking their jaw with it. And then Jazz, my friend, my idiot friend, turns his back on them and asks me if I'm okay. I am, at least once I manage to get to my feet, but the knife that slips into his knee from behind means he isn't. He takes the knife out, and feeds one of the gangsters it, but the damage is done; he can barely walk, and he's bleeding, a lot, so blood loss is probably going to set in soon. We could try to tourniquet it, but the gangsters have almost cleared the corpse from out front, and they're not going to wait patiently while we bandage up his leg. "I still try to save him, throw one of his arms around me like they do in the movies, but he takes it back off. 'I'm done for, Armor,' he says. 'Staying to help me will just add another corpse to the pile. Go, I'll hold'm off as long as I can.' I try to argue with him, tell him that I never leave a buddy behind, and he replies, 'Never leave a buddy behind, Armor, but never ever leave the mission behind. Go; I don't need you, but the mission does.' And I," he bowed his head. "I left him. He was right; the Guard always said, 'Never leave a buddy behind, but never ever leave the mission behind.' If it's a choice between a buddy and the mission, we're taught to choose the mission every time. Painful as it might sound, that's right; a friend is only one person, but a mission's many, and if worst comes to worst and you have to choose, everyone agrees that the right thing to do is choose and save the most you can. I made that choice, and got the mayor to safety. We got backup, went back to that alley, and... Jazz was dead, though they didn't manage to make off with his gear. The sergeant survived, somehow, though they lost an eye in the fight. They tried giving us medals... but I'm getting sidetracked," he shook his head. "The point is, there are times when you have to choose between giving everything for a friend and completing a mission, and most of the time the best choice, the right choice, is to stick with the mission." "I won't just abandon Rarity like that," Sunset snapped, tearing up. "I'll make it so I don't have to choose; I'll save everyone." "Can you?" Shining asked. "Is it possible for you to save everyone? You're just one person, Miss Shimmer, and history's shown, time and time again, that one person can't do everything." "History is nothing to me," she snarled, slamming her fist on the table. "I don't let history write me, Captain Armor, I write it. I shape the world, not the other way around. You say that history dooms me to failure?" She pounded her desk again. "I say, 'I'm the master of doom.' It wants to decide my destiny?" She humorlessly chuckled. "It's welcome to try." "This time will be different," Shining murmured. "History's shown how false those words often are, too." Her horrifying smile transformed into a gruesome grimace. "Out," she ordered, her voice flat. Shining bowed, and obeyed. He left, closing the door behind him, but waited for a moment as Razzaroo had. An inarticulate scream of rage and grief followed him as he walked away. HAVE YOU SEEN ME? Rarity Belle Celestia Majesty Honeydew Hum Amberlocks Fade Away Darling Dahlia If you have information regarding the location of these individuals, please contact the Royal Guard at 1-982-201-0***
The Senate Square DeclarationStarlight had arrived before the dawn, a mighty host arrayed in grey and black following her. One of Sassy's contacts in the capitol let her know, and she told Rarity in turn, dragging her out of sleep and into a waking nightmare. As quickly as she could, she made ready to leave, forgoing much of her makeup and taking a simple protein bar with her to eat along the way in lieu of breakfast. She picked out her outfit quickly, for once letting function overmatch form due to the need for haste, the only jewelry she wore her geode. Starlight had said that the Unmarked would be peaceful, yes, but she said a lot of things, most of which Rarity doubted highly. Bare minutes after she woke up she was on the road, the rising Sun finding her already out of the city limits. Her phone was buzzing like a bee with word from the others, though she never took her eyes off the road, or the spires of the capitol as it began to rise before her. Castellot, small though it may have been, was a wonder of the kingdom; the few buildings that surrounded the Palace and the other halls of power were all works of art, marble and slate rising gently from the ground like clouds on the wind. It was a city of spires, rising up where its kinsfolk spread out, reaching up to the stars even as Lake Canter plumbed the depths. She grit her teeth; she would not allow Starlight or her minions to knock those spires down without a fight. Speaking of fights, though, she was forced to slow down by a crude barricade, attended by two Royal Guards. They watched her approach, and one of them walked over as she came to a stop. The Guard gave a gesture to roll down her window, a command Rarity obeyed with some hesitancy; not all of Starlight's supporters openly wore the grey and black Unmarked uniform. "Morning, ma'am," the Guard said. "Would you mind stepping out of the vehicle? The captain gave orders for no vehicles to be admitted to the city, in order to minimize the chance of injuries occurring at the demonstration." Rarity nodded, understanding Shining's reasoning (try to minimize injuries by minimizing available weapons), and unbuckled her safety belt before stepping out of the auto. The Guard nodded at her, then asked, "Do you have any weapons to declare?" She smiled and shook her head; her magic was a tool and defensive implement, not a weapon, a point Twilight had argued with Sunset about exhaustively. Legally speaking, her geode was nothing more than a senior's cane, and who would deprive an old lady of her stick simply because it might be used in self-defense? The Guard nodded back, then scrawled out a quick receipt and handed it to her. "Take this to the station when you're ready to leave," he instructed. "They'll give you your auto back in the same shape as they got it. If you would give us the keys?" Rarity deposited them in the Guard's outstretched hand, took everything she needed out of the vehicle, then walked into the city while they called for someone to come pick the auto up. She glanced at the receipt, confirming that it was in proper order, then stowed it in her purse. She took a deep breath and released it; there would be no turning back, now, at least not without considerable difficulty. The road from Castellot back to Crystal City wasn't an unthinkable walk, but she wouldn't be able to outrun the Unmarked should they turn violent, and with her auto currently in the Guard's care regaining it would take too much time, between processing her receipt, confirming her registration, and actually taking her to it. No, the only way home lay ahead of her, though the Unmarked. She hoped that that road would be peaceful, that they would remain orderly whether the government accepted or denied their petitions, that passing through them would be as simple as passing through a cloud of steam at the spa. But that hope weakened as she saw the reinforced Guard presence on the empty streets; it appeared that dear Shining Armor didn't trust Starlight's reassurances that the Unmarked's demonstrations would be peaceful, either. "Please be safe, Rarity," whispered in her mind, Sweetie Belle's parting words as her parents had come to pick her up. "I love you too much to lose you." "You shan't lose me, sweetness," she promised her sister, ignoring the many physical kilometers between them. "And even if you do," she set her jaw. "I'll make sure that you lose several enemies in the process." She found the Unmarked in Senate Square, the plaza just outside the eponymous civic center. There were hundreds of them, a muttering horde of dark-clothed figures fenced in on three sides by Royal Guards. A thin gold line those Guards were, very thin indeed, a wall of glass-like protective shields held up by ranks of Guards no more than one deep. She frowned; a determined charge might be able to break through that wall, rendering the rest of the line useless. Shining's forces were stretched thin, it appeared. She dearly hoped not thin enough to snap. Where was the Captain in all this? She didn't see his purple armor anywhere in the line, or the crowds on either side of it. She looked up at the top of the Senate steps, the grand staircase rising up to the chamber's doors, but didn't see him among the door guards. Walking down it, eventually her gaze found him, two of his subordinates beside him, arms crossed and face unreadable as he looked down at the crude platform the Unmarked had raised at the stair's feet. Her gaze narrowed; Starlight and some of her cronies stood there, chatting happily amongst each other. Unequals among would-be equals they stood atop their shoddy wooden dais, a large sack of black cloth lying in the center. Fools, she curled her lip as she looked at the Unmarked. You prattle on about overthrowing tyranny, not realizing that your leader intends to make the thrones of those you overthrow her own. She is as committed to equality as Rainbow Dash is to fashion, and you would see as much if you but thought to look. She cast a baleful glance at the woman who had misled so many. Talking amongst those who Rarity took for her chief advisors, she resembled a queen holding court more than a revolutionary trying to lift up the downtrodden. Her behavior, her location, her role, even her clothes, more ornamented than those of those she called her equals, belied the nonsense she spewed. Following her was an action only explicable by having one's ears covered and eyes closed; anyone else would realize how hypocritical she was in a heartbeat. Before, Rarity had merely disliked her policies; now, she loathed the woman herself. More people trickled into the square, Sassy and the others among them. She smiled at them as they drew up alongside her, then turned back to Starlight with determination in her gaze; whenever she tried to sway them with her hypocritical folly, they would be ready to reply. That 'whenever' took a long time to come. Several times, one of Starlight's advisors whispered in her ear, clearly asking if she was ready to speak, and every time she shook her head. At first, this had confused Rarity, but then she'd realized; before she made her reply, Starlight would look out at the crowds, counting them. She was trying to draw an audience, turn her petitioning into a spectacle. Worst of all, that was clever; the bigger the crowd, the greater the chance that some poor fool would hear her and give her proposals serious thought. And if the larger crowd opposed her, she could simply explain it away as the 'elite' forcing those under them to do their bidding. A larger audience only helped Starlight, whatever outcome she received; win or lose, she would come out ahead. Rarity frowned; evidently, Starlight was only incompetent when it came to policy, not the political game itself. Eventually, she decided her audience was large enough and walked to the edge of the platform, to the thunderous cheers of the Unmarked. Shining's gaze followed her like a hawk, while the crowd outside the line of Guards stayed silent, aside from a few scattered boos. Starlight raised her hands for silence, and a hush fell over the whole square, even among her opponents; there was a command in her gesture, one that was impossible to deny. The silence stayed for several moments, before being broken by Starlight. "When I was a girl," she said, her voice ringing across the plaza. "my dad taught me a funny word; icosahedron." Some laughter that was so forced it seemed to come out of a can rose out of the Unmarked. "It means a shape with twenty sides. He showed me one, too, a little die with twenty faces. All of them looked different, but they were all part of the same thing. One shape, many faces. Hierarchicalism is the same; concentration of economic power looks different from concentration of social power, and both look different from concentration of political power, but that's only on the surface. Once you look beneath the surface, you see the truth; concentration of economic power comes from a desire to control others' money, concentration of social power comes from a desire to control others' friendships, concentration of political power comes from a desire to control others' relationships with the community. And what's the source for these desires? The thought that we're better than those others in some way. Or, to put it another way, the thought that we should be above them in the hierarchy. Concentration of economic power, of social power, of political power, they're all connected, all different sides of the same shape, the cursed diamond of hierarchicalism. One shape, many faces; many symptoms, one poison. "That's why the revolution must be total, must touch everywhere and everything; everywhere and everything is infected, poisoned by the same evil of hierarchicalism. From Cloudsdale in the west to Manehattan in the east, all of Homestria groans under the yoke of hierarchy. All, save us. We are the Unmarked, the free, the heralds of a new age. We've come here today, flying our markless banner and bearing a message, a ray of hope for those in darkness; 'All the darkness is the same,' we call out, 'and equalism is the light which will banish it away.'" The Unmarked roared lustily at that, before falling silent as Starlight raised her hands again, face grim. "But there is one face of this cursed diamond that's worse than the others," she continued. "one shadow darker than the rest, and it is that shadow specifically which we came to shine a light on. It is the epitome of hierarchicalism, the purest expression of 'I think I'm better than you, so I'll decide what you do' that I can find. Control of money, friendships, community, all of these are bad, but attempting to control the minds and bodies of others is beyond them. But, you may wonder, what could possibly allow someone to control the mind and body of another? The answer is one word; magic." Canned hissed rose from the Unmarked as Starlight continued, "The scourge of magic is the peak of hierarchicalism, the ultimate end of its philosophy of control. Magic attempts to enforce the user's will on those around them directly, not indirectly like with economic concentration. Magic is hierarchicalism without mask or disguise, commanding others with the only justification being, 'Because I'm stronger than you.' People claim there are hundreds of different kinds of it, from blood magic to runes to magic songs, but those are all just different sides of the same shape, the shape of tyranny. Some might say otherwise, say that magic's just a tool or a gift, and they're right; if you're willing to ignore whether something's right or wrong, magic is a useful tool, a gift to those who love forcing others to do what they say. Magic is no gift, it's a poison, a weapon, the ultimate expression of the hierarchy. Magic is tyranny, pure and simple. Of course," she shrugged. "words like these require evidence. Evidence," she pointed at the sack. "which we will now provide." Two of her minions untied the sack and pulled it down, revealing its contents. Contents which caused Rarity to gasp. There was a woman inside of it, a woman who collapsed to the ground as her support was removed. She was forced to her feet again by the two who'd taken her out, each of them grabbing one arm and hoisting her up before carrying her to the edge of the platform, beside Starlight. She looked horrible, stick-thin and pallid-skinned, her limbs withered branches that looked like they would snap in a strong breeze. Her nose and lips were broken, her fingernails claws, her cheeks sunken cliffs; beneath her sackcloth uniform, Rarity didn't doubt that she would see glaring ribs. A frizz of stubble was all that remained of her hair. But her eyes were unbroken, cruel gleaming carnelians sunken into her skull that danced around like embers in a fire. The light of intelligence still glinted in those eyes, an intelligence she had faced before. "The courtesy of Homestria's hall," Adagio Dazzle sneered. "has somewhat lessened of late." "Silence," one of her captors ordered. "Adagio Dazzle is the hierarchical ideal," Starlight said as her captive fell quiet. "She attempted to enslave us using the most hierarchical of methods, magic, attempting to force her choices on us because she thought she was better than us. She failed, yes, but she still tried, and she didn't fail due to any effort on the government's part. When she struck Canterlot High, where was the Royal Guard? What was the government's response to this would-be warlord? Nothing. And what was the government's response when disaster struck that same place again, during the Friendship Games? Nothing. What did the government do when we cried out for protection from those who used magic? Nothing. "This is why we came here today, what we are petitioning for. We are not asking for revolution or political power, we are asking for protection, protection from those who seek to oppress us, whether by mundane means or magical ones. The government has failed to protect us from magic in the past; we cannot allow it to do so in future. Hierarchicalism is an evil with many forms, a root with many vines that choke us no matter where we turn. It will be the effort of a lifetime to prune all those vines, cure all the symptoms of the poison, but this vine cannot wait. We must destroy magic, before it destroys us." The Unmarked cheered and roared lustily at that, while Rarity stared wide-eyed at Adagio. She didn't like the Siren, to say the least, but the state she was in was simply pitiful. She was filthy, tattered, she didn't look fit enough to walk. Just what had Starlight done to her? Was this a preview of what she could expect to have to endure, should Starlight come to power? "Should we destroy magic before it destroys us?" the Siren asked, her shaky voice somehow overpowering the roar of the crowd. "Or before it can oppose you?" "Quiet," came the order again. But it went unheeded this time, Adagio continuing, "Have you told them about your studies in magic, Starlight? I have a feeling they'd find that interesting. Or what about that suit of deepstone amor you bought? That ought to raise a few eyebrows." "Ignorance is no defense against an enemy," Starlight replied, her face stern as stone. "I study the arts of the enemy so that I can better counter them. Be quiet; just because I have to read what my enemies have written doesn't mean I need to hear their voices." "And here we come to the heart of the matter," Adagio darkly chuckled. "The idea that, if you fight monsters, you're free to be a monster." She turned to the crowd of Unmarked. "What pity or mercy does a monster deserve, after all? Why should you grant them what they are not themselves willing to give? What do the hateful deserve but hate, what do the violent deserve but violence, what do the destructive deserve but destruction? What do I, who attempted to put you all in chains, deserve but chains of my own? An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, the law of nature. Fair, and just. But if you're going to give chains for chains, then be honest about it, and if you say that you'll grant mercy stand behind your word. All of you, all Homestria, prattle endlessly about mercy and kindness, turning the other cheek and being compassionate to your foes. But when I come along to test your words, you prove as false as her," she jerked her head at Starlight. "and I find mercy as sweet as lemons. You all keep going on and on about how all are equal, then turn right around and claim that you're morally superior to me, despite having acted not so differently. You chain the one you call slaver, torture the one you call injurer, act monstrous towards the one you call monster, and still you dare to call yourselves better than me. Chain me, torture me, act monstrous towards me if you wish, but at least have the courtesy, the courage, to do so openly, to acknowledge what you're doing. I will call it justice, but I will not call it 'mercy' or 'compassion.' You call yourselves 'merciful' and 'kind;' I call you hypocrites and liars." All eyes were on the Siren as the square fell silent. All eyes were still on her as that silence was broken by her death-rattle. "Protect Starlight!" one of the people holding Adagio up barked as he dropped his gurgling charge. As he and the others bundled Starlight off the platform, Rarity stared in horror at the twitching corpse. Something had buried itself in the Siren's throat, flying through the air too fast to see. One moment Adagio had been glaring out at the crowd, the next she'd been gasping with a round stone lodged in her neck, the stone evidently sharp judging by the blood seeping from the wound. She felt her breakfast (little though it was) coming back up her throat, but pressed it back down as she grit her teeth; she couldn't lose her head now, lives were at stake. "Sassy," she ordered her wide-eyed friend. "take the others to the station and help them get their autos back. I'll stay here to try and help coordinate the evacuation." "We're not abandoning you," Sassy protested. "Besides, one person won't be able to direct a crowd like this. You need us, Rarity, unless the idea of being stampeded endears itself to you." She tsked, but accepted. Before she could begin trying to calm the skittering crowds, though, one of the Unmarked jumped to his feet and laughed. The sound boomed across the square, grating over the stones. "Look!" he laughed, pointing accusingly at the dead Siren on the abandoned platform. "Not only can the elite not protect us, they can't protect their own! Their champion was killed in the center of their power; how can we trust them to protect us on the periphery? Enough is enough! Unprotectors out!" "He's right," another Unmarked mumbled. "She was the elite's elite and they still let her die." "Or killed her themselves," another growled. "She wasn't useful to them anymore, after all, and what does a hierarchist hate more than something they can't use?" Rarity bit her lip; there was a tension in the air, like the calm before a storm. Turning to the person on her left, she tapped them on the shoulder and whispered, "I think now would be a wise time to withdraw." "Does it matter?" the laughing boy asked. "Either through action or inaction, the elite killed her, one of their own; why does it matter how they did it? Unprotectors out!" "Yeah," the mumbler nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Unprotectors out!" "Unprotectors out!" the growler roared. The chant went through the Unmarked like a wave. First three, then ten, then a hundred, then every Unmarked voice crying, "Unprotectors out! Unprotectors out! Unprotectors out!" They began pressing out, quickly butting up against Shining's golden line. On the other side, Rarity and the others had done what they could to pull the crowd back, rousing the spectators from the spell the demonstration had woven over them and sending them away. Few had left of their own volition, waiting and watching almost in anticipation, held in sway by the anger in the square like auto accident witnesses were by the carnage of what they saw. Evidently, Rarity wryly thought as she sent another Man running to the station, the self-preservative instinct was suppressed by the expectation that others would soon fail their's. "Unprotectors out!" the Unmarked roared as they pushed against the Guards' barricade. "Unprotectors out! Unprotectors out! Unprotectors-"
Senate Square RiotNobody knew who struck the first blow. The Unmarked claimed it was the Guards, the Guards claimed it was either the Unmarked or an overzealous counter-protester, and none in the crowd could recall seeing exactly where the blow was struck, let alone who had dealt it. In a way, it didn't matter; once the first spark had been lit, the demonstration went up like a tinderbox. As if by some unspoken order, the Unmarked rushed the Guards, screaming unnatural battlecries. The line largely stood firm, but the few gaps the Unmarked managed to punch through it allowed them to reach the civilians behind. Screams of fear and pain roared in Rarity's ears as the crowd, too late, broke and ran. A passing arm smacked her around the head, but instead of unbalancing her it brought her back into focus. She couldn't let herself get lost in the riot's haze; the other civilians, Sweetie Belle back home, needed her to keep her head. Shaking it to clear it, she looked around, gauging the situation. Situation: not good. The Unmarked had managed to tear several holes in the Guard line, holes which they began pouring through like ants. Shining had pulled back to near the top of the steps, barking orders into his communicator, clearly trying to direct what was rapidly becoming a battle, but even with the Guards from the rest of the city coming back to reinforce the square they were clearly outnumbered. Those Unmarked who weren't fighting to reduce those already low ranks were loosing savage cries and charging the civilians, every so often running one down. She didn't want to think about what they did after that. Then one of them charged her, teeth glinting like fangs in the light, and she let him come. Once he was within reach, she showed him the mistake he'd made, easily using his momentum to flip him over her shoulder. He spiraled away into the crowd, eventually slamming into one of his comrades and knocking them down. "Sassy," she told her jaw-dropped friend. "I know how little sense this is going to make, but please listen; we can't run away. They'd ride us down long before we managed to reach our vehicles. We need to fight them off, or at least hold them long enough for reinforcements to arrive." Pin ducked under a punch from an Unmarked before retaliating with one of his own. "And how do you propose we do that?" he asked, voice sharp. She flicked a glance at Shining atop the steps. "Get to Captain Armor," she replied. "He'll know what to do. If he asks, tell him one of Twilight's friends sent you." "What about you?" Coco nervously asked. "Why don't you come with us?" She took a breath as she put a hand on her geode. Exhaling, she felt the familiar tingle of her magic, and gently smiled at her slack-jawed friends as they saw the construct gems dancing among her fingers. "I already know what I need to do," she replied. "Give the Unmarked even more of a reason to hate me." She was going to need a spa day after this, and probably an aspirin or two. While Sassy and the others tried to sneak their way over to Shining, she was trying to draw the Unmarked's attention, something she was succeeding at rather too well. Since she'd fired off her first gem, it felt like a third of the Unmarked were trying to attack her, and while fighting with her mind wasn't the same as fighting with her muscles that didn't mean it was any easier. Every blow they struck on one of her gems was a throb in her brain, while every blow she struck with them was a crick in her neck. As another Unmarked jumped out at her and she smacked them away, she wondered just how much pain she could endure, and just how long it would take her to find out how much was too much. A cry somehow pierced the roar of the battle, and her eyes trained hawk-like on a woman standing defensively in front of a young man, an Unmarked wielding a plank of wood like a cudgel before her. A quick mental shove sent the Unmarked reeling, and the woman turned in Rarity's direction dumbfounded. She mouthed "Go" at her, hoping that she understood, and found her hope quickly fulfilled, the woman helping her companion up and bearing him away, one of his arms wrapped around her shoulder. Another Unmarked appeared in the corner of her eye, and she was forced to turn away. Sweat dappled her brow as the day wore on; more Unmarked challenged her and fell, more civilians managed to escape, and eventually she saw Sassy and the others jumping up the steps towards Shining. A hand landed on her shoulder and she prepared to strike, but turned and saw that the hand belonged to a smiling Guard. She smiled back at them, and beamed as she saw their companions; they were rallying, regrouping. They stood a chance, now. Heart aflame, she joined them as they pressed towards another cluster of their comrades, forcing through the besieging Unmarked. Now they were twenty, her making twenty-one, forming up into a wedge in an attempt to join Shining and the rest of the Guards on the stairs. They marched, batons and shields and constructs singing through the air, but found resistance thickening; three-quarters of the Unmarked must've stood against them, surrounding them and trying to claw their way through. They were about fifteen meters from the steps when the first Guard fell, dragged down and swallowed up by the besieging horde. The last Rarity saw of them was their terror-stricken eyes and reaching hand, a hand which disappeared just as her fingers were about to brush it. They pushed on, making it about a half-meter before the next Guard fell. Their foes' ferocity seemed to grow as they advanced, Unmarked who had at first only shouted or slapped the Guards' shields now savagely tearing at them, trying to rend their armor and mangle the flesh beneath. But still, they pushed on. They made it three meters before the next Guard fell, two more swiftly following them. They were being overwhelmed, the wedge was breaking. Desperately, Rarity used her gems to shore up the gaps in their wall, though the spots dancing in her vision as the Unmarked pounded them didn't bode well for how long she'd be able to hold them. She held out long enough, though, the Guard who'd first found her managing to reorganize the survivors and lead a counterattack which bought them some breathing room. With legs like lead, Rarity passed the ten meter mark, and felt her spine shiver as another Guard fell with a blood-curdling shriek. But not all was lost; Shining was coming down to meet them, along with those Guards who'd managed to find their way to him. The last quarter of the Unmarked were doing their best to hold them off, though, and it was an open question whether he'd manage to reach them before they joined their fallen comrades. They were slowed almost to a halt at the eight meter mark, two more joining the fallen in the process. The Guard who'd initially found Rarity would have joined them if not for a well-timed construct, a feat the spike of pain in her brain would make difficult to repeat. They crawled another half-meter, and then they were ten, and then nine. Rarity peered through her sweat and weariness at the steps; Shiny was still coming, but too slowly. They would fall before he could reach them, unless they did something drastic. Gathering up as much energy as she could into her hands, Rarity prepared to do something drastic, something she was unsure she would survive. "Guards," she told her comrades. "I'm going to put as much as I can into this. Once I fire, start running; if they manage to recover before we reach Captain Armor, we're done for." Not giving them a chance to respond or the Unmarked a chance to prepare, she bent to the ground and reached out with her magic. Razor-thin, impossibly thick crystals formed under the feet of their besiegers, and with one last command Rarity ordered them to rise. The energy behind her command gave out as it approached the edges, but it was the center that was most important for it to strike, and there it struck with self-sacrificial desperation. The Unmarked between them and Shining were cast aside as if by a whirlwind, while those on the edges of the avenue so cleared were either themselves unbalanced by Rarity's gambit or the other victims of it. The way was open, but not for long. "Go," she coughed, blood pouring down her nose as she began stumbling down the path. The Guards followed her and quickly overtook her, though two of them, brave hearted boys, tried to stay back with her to protect her. She waved them away; if the Unmarked caught her like this, they would simply add two more bodies to the pile. She wouldn't tolerate having their deaths on her conscience, anymore than she would have Sweetie Belle's. They left, and now it was just her, hobbling down the cleared road, desperately trying to outrun the roar of the approaching Unmarked wave. Shiny and the others were coming to meet her, forming a beachhead in the riotous sea; if she reached that spit, she would be safe. She would be able to see Sweetie Belle again, she would be able to live for her sister. She was a stone's throw away now, the Unmarked bellowing towards her, but Shiny and the others were louder than them. Sassy's voice was as shrill as Sweetie Belle's, and it was her sister's hand she saw stretching out towards her. With the last of her energy, she leapt and reached for that hand. Then a club took her behind the head, and all went dark, Sweetie Belle's crying face being swallowed up by a sea of clawing hands.
The Morning After"We lost twenty-seven Guards in the riot," Sergeant Razzaroo reported. "Twenty-five of the bodies have been found, the other two remain missing. About eighteen Unmarked died, five of them to wounds from non-Guard individuals, and thirteen others have been taken into custody. Civilian casualties are still coming in, though at the moment there are only five confirmed deaths, thankfully." "How many missing?" the woman she was reporting to growled. Razzaroo swallowed. "At least four, ma'am, quite possibly more. Again, reports are still coming in. It's looking like the riot was largely confined to the square, though, aside from the incident at the station impounding lot." "And because of that incident," the woman growled again. "if we want to chase them, we have to go on foot. They planned this." "It's looking that way, ma'am," Razzaroo nodded. "Their withdrawal was too orderly for it to be otherwise." "Keeping a reserve so that they have a fresh rearguard as they left," the woman grumbled. "taking as many of their wounded with them as they could so we have fewer suspects to question, leaving their vehicles by the lake so they wouldn't be confiscated on entry." She barked a laugh. "Clever." "Yes, ma'am," Razzaroo nodded again. Then, hesitantly, she said, "If I may, ma'am, one of those missing, Miss Rarity Belle?" The woman's fists clenched. Razzaroo paused, then continued, "She saved my life, ma'am, used her magic to hold off the Unmarked until I managed to get back to my feet. She... she saved the rest of our squad, too, with that last trick of her's. I... it was an honor to serve with her, ma'am." "She's not dead," the woman hissed. "You hear me? She's. Not. Dead. Missing is not dead." "I know, ma'am," Razzaroo tried to soothe her. "I'm just saying... I understand why you were friends with her." "Am," the woman sharply corrected her. "I am still friends with her, because she's not dead. Any leads on whoever killed Adagio?" "No, ma'am," Razzaroo sighed. "Most of us are still stumped by what killed her. That stone thing's like nothing we've ever seen before. We have no idea where it came from, who used it, or how they made it. We barely know how it works. The only lead forensics has been able to give us is that it was probably thrown from a high point, though there's no lack of those here." "Hm," the woman grumbled. "How long until we can start pursuing Starlight?" "At least three days," Razzaroo swallowed. "We need to secure the city, make sure none of the Unmarked stayed behind. Captain Armor wants us to try to track down whoever killed Ms. Dazzle, too, but he'll probably be willing to call the search off if it goes cold. And," her voice faltered. "there's going to be a memorial service, for the-for the missing and fallen." A heavy silence fell. After a moment, "When?" slashed through it. "As soon as the city's secured," meekly answered it. The woman's knuckles were almost bone-white. "Keep me updated," was ground out of her teeth, quickly followed by a brusque, "Dismissed." Razzaroo saluted and prepared to obey (and escape the volcano waiting to erupt), but she was stopped on the doorstep by a call from the seething woman. Hesitantly, Razzaroo turned to look at her, and asked, "Yes, ma'am? Did you-did you need me for anything else?" No reply came for several moments, moments that dragged on almost as long as the riot, until the woman, her voice grudgingly cheerful, said, "Congratulations on your knighthood." "Thank you, ma'am," Razzaroo puffed out her chest. "I'll try my best to do it honor." "You can do that by finding the girl who helped you earn it," the woman replied, what little cheer she'd forced into her voice quickly leaving it. "Dismissed." With a nod, Razzaroo obeyed. Once she was out in the hall, she paused, waiting a moment by the door. Within seconds, a bestial roar and the groan of a desk tilting over greeted her ears. Spearhead had come by early in the morning and ushered her and Radiance out of the lab. Protestors in the square, he'd said. They said they were peaceful, but Captain Armor wasn't taking any chances. He had her and Radiance brought to a bunker, a stronghold beneath the palace where the princess and her councilors waited, the senators hunkering in the Senate itself. While Rarity had faced the storm in the square, she'd paced in the sanctuary, unable to do anything more than listen to what faint sounds echoed down to the chamber and wait for Shining to give them the all-clear. Eventually he did, after the Unmarked withdrew, and the news he brought back was better than they'd expected; though they'd broken the line early on, the Unmarked had largely kept to the square, and stout resistance on the part of the Guards had prevented them from swarming the Senate. The twenty-five dead had not given their lives in vain; the interference they'd played in the Unmarked's assembling had saved far more than twenty-five. But it was Rarity that had really turned the tide. The distraction her magic had provided allowed the Guards to regroup, a majority of the Unmarked turning their focus on the magic-user and away from the more conventional threat of the Guards. "She saved the kingdom," Shining had said. But not, it seemed, herself. "Silver Blaze," Sunset sniffled. "Setting Star. Uncle Lightburst. Rar-" She smacked herself. No. She had to remember what she'd told Razzaroo; Rarity wasn't dead. She didn't know how, but she knew that she was still alive, somehow. Maybe it was her magic, maybe it was their friendship, whatever the method might have been, she knew that Rarity wasn't dead, as surely as she knew that her parents were. And whatever it took, wherever she was, Sunset would find her, even if she had to tear Tartarus apart brick by brick to do so. She looked down at the toppled desk. Pointless. A useless waste of energy, energy she should have spent finding Rarity. Grunting in effort, she righted it, then went to work putting her things back in order. A knock came at her door. "Come in," she called. Shining obeyed, still in his full armor, helmet slung under one arm. "Miss Shimmer," he nodded to her. "Captain Armor," she nodded back. "What brings you here? Any new leads?" He shook his head, a response she'd expected, and replied, "No. Forensics is still checking out the murder weapon for Miss Dazzle, and none of the missing have been found." "She's not dead," Sunset snapped. "You hear me? Rarity's not dead. I know she isn't. Until you show me a body, she's not dead." "With all due respect, ma'am, your friend isn't the only person missing," Shining replied. "Sir Doseydotes only managed to rescue one of the Majesty sisters, and there are plenty of others who you don't know that still need to be accounted for; Honeydew Hum, Amberlocks, Fade Away... I understand your concern for your friend, but there are others who deserve consideration, too." "I know," she sighed, rubbing her temples. "I'm just sick and tired of everyone acting like she's dead." She tapped her geode. "I know she's not. I don't know how, but I know it. Anyway," she sighed. "what brings you here? Or is this just a checkup from a concerned colleague?" "This is a warning from a friend," he replied, voice softening. "one who's been in the same situation you have. You want to do everything you can to find out where your friend and the other missing people have gone. I'm guessing you want to do the same regarding stopping the Unmarked?" Frowning, Sunset nodded. Shining nodded back, then said, "In that case, what you need to do is simple; restrain yourself and stay here. Your mission needs you more than your friend does." "What?!" Sunset laughed in dismay. "That doesn't make any sense! How is me doing nothing going to help?" "You won't be doing nothing," Shining reassured her. "You'll be doing what you need to, staying on track with your mission. The Guard will stay on track with its mission, serving and protecting Homestria, in this case by tracking down those lost after the riot and punishing those responsible. We'll do our mission, but we need you to do your's, too." Gently, he cupped her stunned face. "I know it's hard to stay back like this," he said. "Back in the Square, there was nothing I wanted more than to jump in and help my brothers and sisters in arms. Eventually I did, but only when I saw that I could step away from watching and ordering people around. I only let myself leave my mission as commander and coordinator once I saw that it was safe for me to do so. That's one of the most important lessons the Guard drilled into us; the mission comes first." He bowed his head. "I had a friend at the Academy, Jazz Matazz, great guy. We could always count on him to cheer us up or make us laugh, kinda like that pink friend of your's. One day, though, we were on a training mission in Baltimare, me, Jazz, and a few others. Most of us were on edge, even Jazz, though he barely showed it; a gang from Griffonstone was trying to set up shop in the area, and the rumors about what they did to Guards... They made some of the veterans scared. So, of course, we ran into them. "We were providing the mayor with an escort while she was going for a walk when ten of them jumped out of an alley. Our sergeant drew his staff and ordered us to take the mayor to safety, and for some reason we thought that running back the way we'd come would be a bad idea. We took her with us, me, Jazz, and the other two, down an alley, hoping to circle around back to the station. Most of the gangsters followed us, though, at least half of them, and it was a fighting retreat. If that alley hadn't been so narrow, forcing them to come one at a time, we would've died. Green as we were, it was still a close thing; I can't remember how many times my armor saved me from a knife, or let me shrug off a knuckleduster. "And then I tripped. My feet got confused, and I tripped. I was on the ground, and that meant I was as good as dead. One of them, a real nasty-looking piece of work, tried to finish the job, but Jazz jumped over me and blocked it with his staff before clocking their jaw with it. And then Jazz, my friend, my idiot friend, turns his back on them and asks me if I'm okay. I am, at least once I manage to get to my feet, but the knife that slips into his knee from behind means he isn't. He takes the knife out, and feeds one of the gangsters it, but the damage is done; he can barely walk, and he's bleeding, a lot, so blood loss is probably going to set in soon. We could try to tourniquet it, but the gangsters have almost cleared the corpse from out front, and they're not going to wait patiently while we bandage up his leg. "I still try to save him, throw one of his arms around me like they do in the movies, but he takes it back off. 'I'm done for, Armor,' he says. 'Staying to help me will just add another corpse to the pile. Go, I'll hold'm off as long as I can.' I try to argue with him, tell him that I never leave a buddy behind, and he replies, 'Never leave a buddy behind, Armor, but never ever leave the mission behind. Go; I don't need you, but the mission does.' And I," he bowed his head. "I left him. He was right; the Guard always said, 'Never leave a buddy behind, but never ever leave the mission behind.' If it's a choice between a buddy and the mission, we're taught to choose the mission every time. Painful as it might sound, that's right; a friend is only one person, but a mission's many, and if worst comes to worst and you have to choose, everyone agrees that the right thing to do is choose and save the most you can. I made that choice, and got the mayor to safety. We got backup, went back to that alley, and... Jazz was dead, though they didn't manage to make off with his gear. The sergeant survived, somehow, though they lost an eye in the fight. They tried giving us medals... but I'm getting sidetracked," he shook his head. "The point is, there are times when you have to choose between giving everything for a friend and completing a mission, and most of the time the best choice, the right choice, is to stick with the mission." "I won't just abandon Rarity like that," Sunset snapped, tearing up. "I'll make it so I don't have to choose; I'll save everyone." "Can you?" Shining asked. "Is it possible for you to save everyone? You're just one person, Miss Shimmer, and history's shown, time and time again, that one person can't do everything." "History is nothing to me," she snarled, slamming her fist on the table. "I don't let history write me, Captain Armor, I write it. I shape the world, not the other way around. You say that history dooms me to failure?" She pounded her desk again. "I say, 'I'm the master of doom.' It wants to decide my destiny?" She humorlessly chuckled. "It's welcome to try." "This time will be different," Shining murmured. "History's shown how false those words often are, too." Her horrifying smile transformed into a gruesome grimace. "Out," she ordered, her voice flat. Shining bowed, and obeyed. He left, closing the door behind him, but waited for a moment as Razzaroo had. An inarticulate scream of rage and grief followed him as he walked away. HAVE YOU SEEN ME? Rarity Belle Celestia Majesty Honeydew Hum Amberlocks Fade Away Darling Dahlia If you have information regarding the location of these individuals, please contact the Royal Guard at 1-982-201-0***
