Uprising

Flaming Halberd stood there, staring off into space. He wasn't accustomed to war, most of his life it had been during peace time. But this was different, after Celestia was cast out of Canterlot and Final Ascension took power, the entire world was a much darker place. His personal guard kept everyone out of Canterlot, which now was surrounded by glowing blue crystals growing out of the ground. The rest of Equestria was patrolled by securi-droids as he called them. They were simple rectangles with one eye, two arm cannons, and treads. They attacked any pony who disobeyed Final Ascension, and would also attack at the slighest provocation, they were more of bullies than security.

Flaming Halberd used to be a member of Celestia's personal guard, now he was just another pony finding themselves in the unfortunate circumstances of the current era. He sat up, and started to get dressed. Final Ascension required all ponies wear a special collar, it had a red light in the middle, if you tried to leave the areas you had access to, it would shock you, and alert the Secui-droids of your location. They'd drag you back to the city you came from at best, and sentence you to death at worst. It was a chilling thought.

Flaming put his shirt on, trying to make it hide his collar, but it wasn't doing much good. He shurgged, and sighed. He opened his front door, which was starting to come off it's hinges, most of the city was in disrepair. He walked out into the open air, and smelled the decay all around him. He say the ponies walking, their heads hanging down, they were in despair. They looked helpless. All of the life and purpose was knocked out of them by this oppression at the hands of Final Ascension. Flaming couldn't help but wonder why no one has done anything to try to stop him, or it, or whatever it was.

Flaming walked into town square, all of the TV screens in the area suddenly flicked to a shadowy figure, which was assumed to be Final Ascension, he had on a gasmask with several wires sticking out of it. Suddenly an alert sounded. "The Master shall begin speaking, everypony's attention is mandatory". Suddenly a firm but muffled voice came out "Hello my subjects, I assure you, that the recent events are to all of your benefit. My rule has brought so many advancements, and it will continue to. I will bring Equestria into a new age of enlightenment." He continued to talk but Flaming just kept walking. He saw a mare who had dropped her suitcase. He went over to her, but a securi-droid came over and tased her, she fell over flinching.

Flaming, out of instinct, grabbed the droid, and ripped it's eye socket out. It glitchily bellowed "Stop, YOU'RE VIOLATING VIOLATING-Viol-Sto-Stop-Violating" then it shorted out. The mare thanked flaming, but he had to run, now the droids would be looking for him. He quickly thought back to the service tunnels that had initially been put in when Final took power. They weren't used anymore and connected most towns in Equestria.

He ran to the closest sewer grate, and jumped into it. Securi-droids swarmed the town center, but he was gone. Flaming dropped down into a damp puddle of...what appeared to be some kind of murk. Probably water that has been there since the purification plant was destroyed. Final had made sure that in order to get water, cities would have to do so directly through him. Flaming walked over to a door, he recognised this, this was the door he wanted.

The door was made of steel, and it had a blue light in the center, it was standard for getting into the access tunnels. Suddenly he heard "SCANNING: SUSPECT IS AT ELEVATION -15 DEGREES". He opened the door and ran inside, it closed automatically behind him. He had to run, he looked for a place to go, these tunnels twisted and turned, which seemed to be his sole advantage at this dark time in Equestria's history.

He ran to the closest side tunnel and hid in what appeared to be an air duct, he heard the door opening and the treads of securi-droids. "SCANNING: SUSPECT NOT FOUND". He heard them head off in a different direction, the sound of their treads fading. His hooves were trembling at this point. These droids were relentless killers, and nothing more than that. His breath was unsteady, and slightly echoed through the vents. He crawled down the vent, and decided to see where it led.

It took him a while, he was crawling through the air ducts, past fans, and other things. He could head the noise of the treads above him from the securi-droids that were no doubt pursuing him. He was just trying to get somewhere, it didn't matter where he was going, as long as it was away from those droids.

He kept crawling, and eventually found the other end, it led to what looked like an air regulation system. He opened the panel and crawled in. He saw a panel that appeared to control the air distribution system over the entire city. He walked up to the panel. "This is great, finally, I can put an end to this mayhem" he said. Flaming put his hoof on the panel, and suddenly, to his surprise, a bright red light flashed. And suddenly from behind him, a voice bellowed

" I have you right where I want you" followed by a quick laugh in a deep muffled voice.