Black Powder

When the Air Still Smells of Peace I****

Day

-540

****

Ponyville

****

The snow crunched under Twilight’s boots as she exited her library. A yellow-striped orange scarf was draped over her neck and hung down over her chest. It swayed back and forth as the purple unicorn trotted through the powdery snow.

“Only three more weeks until Winter Wrap-up!” she thought excitedly.

She had already begun making preparations for the organization of the clean up and couldn’t wait to stretch her brain muscles over something other than a book for a change. Not that she didn’t like books, because she LOVED them, it’s just that it’s good to stir things up every once in a while.

It was possible she even loved books more than Spike...

Maybe…

“Nah!” she shook her head with a smile as she answered her own silly question.

Needless to say, her plans were getting more efficient with every winter. Last year, she almost wrapped up winter early.

Almost.

That was her goal this year and she would go to any length to accomplish it. Well, any length within reason of course. The images of the “Smarty Pants Incident” playing in mind causing her to shiver more than the cold did.

“Never again,” she thought with dread in her mental voice.

She could see ponies trotting and flying through Ponyville’s streets, going about their usual business. In the town market, she could see an orange mare selling apples from a cart. Maybe she should see how her friend was doing today, quality time is important after all.

Twilight’s stomach growled.

“Well, might as well levitate two quills with one spell.” she thought as she mentally chuckled at her own corny joke.

The unicorn trotted through the market, her boots crunching the snow beneath her. The town was bustling with activity today, as ponies shopped for bargain items left over from Hearth’s Warming and bought food that had been stocked up for the winter season by the various vendors.

Twilight took the time to take in the scenery. It was cloudy today, turning the normally blue sky into a sheet of light gray. Sugarcube Corner was decorated with Hearth’s Warming lights and streamers were still flowing in the breeze. A group of foals were giggling and dashing through the snow, happily enjoying their snowball fight.

The sentiment just felt right to Twilight. This was how winter in Ponyville was supposed to feel. That homey and peaceful feeling that makes you want to run outside and roll around in the snow. Create snowponies, go sledding or making a frozen fort for a snowball fight, perfect for a foal that wanted to play.

But Twilight preferred a more conservative approach. Sitting by the fire, a piping mug of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream warming her hooves with a good book levitated to her face. Hearing the crackling of the fire mixing with the laughter of foals playing outside or the howling of a fresh blizzard blowing through town.

Yes…that was more her style.

The orange pony noticed Twilight’s approach and smirked.

“Hey Twi! You hungry?” Applejack asked as she swiped one of her apples from the cart and held in front of Twilight.

She gazed into the sleek and shiny red skin of the apple with delight.

“Uh…yeah actually. How did you know that?”

“Just good with faces I suppose…” the farmer trailed off.

“…And the fact that you’re drooling,” she finished with a lighthearted chuckle.

Twilight eyes widened as she blushed with embarrassment.

“So THAT’S why my chin feels wet!”

She conspicuously wiped her chin with a hoof as her eyes darted back and forth, hoping no one had seen that.

Applejack laughed heartily.

“Ya don’t have ta hurt me girl. Just take the apple,” she quipped as she hoofed the fruit over to Twilight.

"Thanks. So I just wanted to ask you something real quick, if that's okay?" Twilight asked as she bit into the apple.

The juice was sweet and the fruit was in its prime. As she ate she gazed around town and finally realized how many ponies were in the square today. Must have been a pretty profitable day for the merchants.

“Anyway, what did ya wanna talk about sugarcube?”

Twilight cleared her throat and took a second to compose herself.

“Is Pinkie ready for her trip home next week?” she inquired.

“Well yeah, from what I’ve heard. She’s more excited than a coyote finding roadkill.”

“Are Rarity and Applebloom taking the same train?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, her and Sweetie are gonna see their parents in Canterlot. Pinkie’s rock farm is the next stop with Manehattan after that. You know, Applebloom’s been pretty excited. This will be her first time seeing Babs in the big city.”

Twilight smiled at that.

“Pinkie didn’t forget her ticket again, right?”

Applejack didn’t answer.

Twilight frowned.

“Where is she?”

****

Twilight found Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and surprisingly Fluttershy, hanging out by the pond outside of town.

Pinkie was ice skating, doing flips, spins and the occasional hoof-stand in an attempt to impress her friends. Rainbow was wobbling on her skates like a newborn foal, grimacing in frustration. Fluttershy was gently tapping the tip of one of her hooves onto the ice with an uneasy expression.

“Oh come on Fluttershy! Just hop in! Like this! WEEE!” Pinkie screeched as she launched herself off of the ice and spun gracefully in the air.

“Ahh!” Fluttershy squealed as exactly two individual snowflakes made contact with her face.

“Too cold…” she whimpered softly as she backed away from the body of frozen water.

There was another loud scrape as Pinkie stuck her landing perfectly, causing the struggling Rainbow Dash to fall face first into the ice with a loud smack.

"Pinkie! Ahh--Ack!" Rainbow glared at her chipper friend as she started to recover from her embarrassing fall.

"Some athlete I am..." Rainbow thought as she sighed, blowing her breath on the ice in front of her.

Twilight noticed the cute blue eyes of her friend blocking her vision, complementing the oblivious grin on Pinkie’s face.

“Oh hi Twilight! You wanna play!?” she yelled as she waved a hoof.

“Um, no thanks. I’m good."

She remembered what happened the last time she had tried ice skating.

“Suit yourself!” Pinkie replied as she pulled a banana out of seemingly nowhere and began munching on it.

“Pinkie Pie! How many times do I have to tell you to stop messing me up!? It's really cramping my style."

The pink pony giggled.

"But look at the bright side Dashie! At least you look super adorable in your little skates on your little hoofsies! And--and--" she explained as she batted her eyes at the pegasus.

“Little?! Adorable!? What do I have to do to get taken seriously around here?!” she complained.

Pinkie completely ignored Rainbow Dash's plight as she turned back to Twilight, smiling wide as ever.

"Are you sure you don't want to play Twilight? You and Rainbow Dash can have a contest to see who wipes out first," the pink pony suggested.

"Hey!" Rainbow yelled.

“Actually Pinkie, I just wanted to know why you’ve forgotten your train ticket…again.”

Pinkie stopped sniffing Rainbow Dash’s snout like a puppy and turned back to Twilight once again.

“Oh no, I have it actually! Here it is!" she chirped happily as she held out a rolled parchment on her hoof.

"Hmm...this ticket looks kind of--wait."

Twilight's eyes shot out of her face as she recognized the paper immediately. She snatched away the parcel with fear and dread running through her body.

"No!"

Twilight's voice quivered.

"Pi-P-Pinkie?"

Pinkie Pie frowned for the first time that day, almost dropping her half-finished banana.

Twilight hissed, her words dripping with venom.

"Is this my twenty thousand word essay to Princess Celestia?"

Pinkie bowed her head and squealed like a little filly that had just gotten caught by her mommy. She shrunk to the ground as she shifted her eyes back and forth between Twilight and the snow-covered earth, her face sad. She resembled a guilty puppy that had broken something expensive.

"And did you DRAW ON IT WITH CRAYON!?"

On the the letter to the Princess was Twilight's original message, overwritten by large jumbled letters in green crayon reading:

THIS IS A TICKET. PLEASE LET ME IN.

"I thought...you know. Maybe they'd buy it," Pinkie attempted to defend herself.

It had a giant green smiley face flanking the urgent message on each side.

"PINKIE PIE!"

****

Red Mane Valley

Southwest Equestria

****

“So I said: NOT this time bud! And into the ravine he went!”

Laughter from the table resonated throughout the bar as a middle-aged stallion finished his punch line.

Waitresses were trotting from place to place serving drinks all the while. The bar was dimly lit by a few lanterns placed on the tables and at the counter, where a bartender was cleaning a mug with a rag.

“Man, that is ridiculous!” one of the ponies responded.

Laughter died down as the hilarity of the joke faded. A more serious topic intervened.

“Yeah, so I heard that the government funding for the mine is being cut…” one stallion trialed off.

The smiles that had graced the faces of the hard-working miners melted away instantly. Everypony froze on the spot, some staring at the speaker in disbelief. Some started shaking their heads as they let they let their gazes downcast, while others' faces distorted in frustration and anger.

“Are you kidding me!? Again!?”

“This is outrageous! How am I supposed to pay for my house!?” another stallion complained.

“This sucks man! They KNOW we depend on that funding, why are they cutting it?” a younger miner griped as he pounded on the table with a hoof.

“I think I know.”

The young gray stallion answered him as he joined the miners at the table. He calmly sat at the table and picked up an unclaimed mug that had been placed by a waitress a shortly before. They all turned to this pony, surprised at his timely arrival.

“And who are you?” a burly stallion asked him.

The young gray pony looked at him with a blank stare before answering.

“That’s not important. What IS important is that your funding has been cut again.”

“Yeah, we kinda went over that already. What's it to you? I've never seen you around here before,” an annoyed worker replied.

“And do you know why?” the gray pony inquired.

“…No. I guess we don’t. You wanna enlighten us Star-Swirled?” the older stallion mocked coldly, his demeanor becoming dark.

“Well, since millions of taxpayer bits are being spent on foreign aid to places like Saddle Arabia and the crumbling Kingdom of Gryphonia, the government thought it would be necessary to cut funding for this entire province," the stranger explained coolly, taking a swig of his mug.

The miner ponies now exchanged looks of disbelief.

"That is the most ridiculous theory I've ever heard. The crown would never turn their backs on their citizens for something as stupid as foreign aid. You're just being silly, kid."

The gray pony scoffed.

"Believe it or not, your province is being cut. Red Mane is getting neglected by Canterlot, and for what? So two countries that nopony gives a rat's ass about are getting benefited by your bits? I can't believe you ponies would just take that lying down. Especially you bunch, considering your entire lives are resting on this."

One of the miners turned towards the young pony and glared at him.

"How about you keep your crazy theories to yourself kid? And who are you exactly? Cause I know for a fact that you're not a Red Maner."

The gray pony smiled as another one of the miners stood up.

"And why would the crown ignore us anyway? Do you have any idea how much money we make for Equestria? We are important. There's no way the princesses would be stupid enough to neglect us."

The gray pony let his now empty mug drop to the table with a victorious smirk.

"So...how much of that money are you actually getting back again?"

A rewarding silence filled the room as none of the earth ponies were able to answer the unicorn.

"That's what I thought."

The gray pony rose from his seat and swung on his cloak, the chair creaking onto the wooden floor as he threw the hood over his head. He turned back to the group at the round table and gave another smirk that looked very eerie from the shadow of the hood.

"Such a pity that a proud and strong land has to bow to the likes of Canterlot. Have fun dealing with your financial woes. Good day."

With a simple teleportation spell, the mysterious colt vanished. The miners looked at each other, dumbfounded. They could have sworn that unicorn left an eerie chill behind him as he teleported.

Something...something wasn't right about that pony.

"Can you believe that guy and all of his cryptic bs? What a creep!" one pony spoke up.

The miners returned to their drinks as they began to think long and hard about what that strange pony had said. Were they really being used by the government? Where was all of their money going anyways?

One of the miners stood up out of his chair, the glow of the candlelight reflecting off his middle-aged face.

"That weird pony may have been a nut, but he was right about one thing. We can't take this lying down. This is Red Mane dammit, and our voice will be heard."

His companions both nodded and voiced their agreements, some raising their mugs in a toast while nodding in affirmation.

"We need to organize a formal complaint. We need to protest."