Chapter Four

Celestia woke up early in the morning, expecting to walk up in her room in the Canterlot Castle. But once she opened her eyes, she saw she had fallen asleep in the Ever-Free Forest. The sun was already up, but the sky still reeked of darkness and evil. The solar princess heard voices beyond the trees in the forest.

Celestia searched for the source of the noise. She soon found it; the voices came from a town with wooden houses and lots of ponies all around. Ponies where wandering the shops in the town. She was surprised to see the small area looking normal, but then she noticed two specific mares.

Celestia saw both Pinkie Pie and Rarity walking through the streets. The scars on the white unicorns face wanted to make the princess of the sun vomit as much as she had when Twilight killed Lyra.

She backed away, trying to not be noticed by anypony. The white alicorn walked through the darkened forest, so many questions buzzing through her head.

She stopped in her tracks at the sound of rustling bushes from behind her. Celestia turned around, but saw nothing there.

“Don’t move…” a voice from the other direction sounded. Standing near a thick tree stood a unicorn with a brown body and white mane holding, a crossbow with his magic.

“Oh fuck. Princess Celestia. How are you alive? I… I mean,” the stallion said, speaking with an accent the white alicorn was able to recognize as Saddle Arabian.

“Who are you?” the alicorn goddess questioned the stallion.

“That’s not important now. Come on, follow me and I’ll tell you,” the stranger ordered. The solar princess didn’t question the stallion, and followed him through the forest. They quickly reached a small dirt covered house. The two entered the small home; the stallion set his weapon against the wall.

“Sorry about this … set up princess, but I don’t have anywhere less to live.” the white maned unicorn stallion apologized.

“It’s alright uh … you never told me your name.” the princess replied.

“Ah, Da. My name is War Zone, resigned leader of the Saddle Arabian military,” the stallion answered.

“Well, War Zone do you know what happened here?” the princess asked her most pressing question.

“What? How do you not know what happened?” the stallion asked out of curiosity.

“I don’t know. I only woke up here a couple of hours ago,” the solar princess explained.

“Da, I see. Well I don’t know what happened exactly but I can brief you,” the stallion explained.

Celestia nodded her head and the stallion started. “Seven years ago today, during a Grand Galloping Gala, Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash turned on you and killed you.”

"Afterward, Equestria was ruled by them. Twilight ruling Canterlot, Pinkamena ruling eastern Ponyville, Rarity ruling west Ponyville, and Rainbow Dash ruling Clouds Dale,” the Saddle Arabian pony continued.

“But why would they do that, and what about Applejack and Fluttershy?” the solar princess continued her questions.

“I don’t know why they would do this, but about the other two,” the stallion started answering. “Fluttershy still lives in her cottage; sometimes she sneaks out to visit me. Applejack... well no pony knows where she is. After going to see Twilight six years ago she disappeared. The last pony to see her was Fluttershy, but she would never tell,” the military pony finished.

“So the celebration later today … is to celebrate my death?” the princess of the sun asked yet another question. The stallion nodded his head.

War Zone turned around before asking, “Would you like anything to drink?”

“No, I’m fine. So you avoid Twilight and the royal guards?” the princess tried to start a new conversation.

“Da. I use to live in Ponyville with Red Bow and her brother Marksman, but once things turned bad I left.”

“Why did they not come with you?” the princess asked.

“They didn’t want to be on the run from the government,” the stallion explained.

“So why don't other ponies try running?” the princess asked.

“They don’t because Twilight keeps a list of every pony in Equestria. Due to me being from Saddle Arabia, I never became an official Equestrian Citizen.”

“Sorry if I’m annoying you with questions, but why didn’t you go back to Saddle Arabia?” the princess tried to make that her last question.

“Only three months after gaining power Twilight ordered her armies to attack Saddle Arabia, then the Crystal Empire etcetera, etcetera,” the Arab pony answered. Celestia looked down in sorrow at the news she just received from the stallion. Both of them remained silent, and in silence they sat for hours.

___________________________________________________________________

A chariot approached the giant castle of Canterlot. Inside sat two pegusi. The chariot landed on a pad outside the castle, near which stood a lavender alicorn. Rainbow Dash and Green Fire stepped out of the golden chariot.

“Hello Twilight,” the cyan Pegasus greeted the still blood covered alicorn.

“Rainbow, Green Fire,” Twilight greeted them back.

“Great to see you again Princess Twilight.” The green maned Pegasus bowed in respect. The cyan mare looked down at the co-leader of the Rainbow Factory then back up at the alicorn princess.

“How have things been for you Twilight?” the cyan pegasus asked.

“It’s been the same for the past seven years. I take it’s been the same for you?” the alicorn replied.

“Yeah. Noting changed since. So, is everything ready for tonight’s celebration?” the rainbow maned pony questioned.

“Type Write had everything set up overnight, so yes.” Twilight answered.

“Ok. That’s good then. Are the governors here yet?” Rainbow Dash questioned. Before the lavender alicorn could reply, a voice sounded from behind her side.

“All but Pinkamena and Rarity.” The three mares turned their heads to see a pegasus stallion with a grey body and blue mane. One of the stallion’s wings was gone, and he had a couple of scars on his face and body.

“Rains Storm!” the yellow green pegasus said, running over to her old friend.
“Hello Green Fire. It’s been awhile,” the crippled Pegasus said.

“How have you been since the factory accident five years ago?” Green Fire asked the stallion.

“I’ve been fine. Is everything going good for you?" the stallion asked.

“Mostly everything,” the green maned pegasus replied.

“Why? What’s wrong?” the blue maned stallion questioned.

“Rainbow Dash has been keeping me awake at night killing ponies at the factory,” the yellow green mare whispered to the crippled Pegasus.

“Ah, I see. Well anyway... Twilight, I will show them any new additions to the castle for you,” the grey Pegasus announced. The Equestrian princess walked off while the other two pegusi followed Rain Storm through the halls in the castle.

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“So that was all the new rooms in the castle. Do you remember where everything is?” the grey coated stallion asked the two mares. Both of them nodded their heads as they continued to walk through the giant castle.

Rain Storm lead the other two pegusi into a large room in the center of the castle. The rainbow maned pegasus seemed bored through most of it until they came upon a wooden door with a cobblestone arch around it.

She knew that the dungeons were behind the small portal and quickly said, “Rain Storm, I’ll catch up with you later.” The grey stallion turned his head around.

“Ok. We’ll be in the dining room when you when you’re done.”

“Yeah whatever,” the rainbow pony replied before walking toward the wooden portal. She stared at the door for a couple of seconds before opening it.

Inside was a long, dimly lit cobblestone hallway. The rainbow pegasus proceeded down the hall, walking by multiple cells with blood on every wall, very few having a prisoner in them. She quickly reached another stairway at the end of the hall and descended even further into the dungeons. At the bottom was a huge hallway that lead down multiple other halls. The cyan coated Pegasus walked straight down the main hall. At the end was a single cell which had no torches on the inside.

“Hello?” the factory boss called into the cell.

“Huh? Rainbow?” a voice from inside replied.

“So I see Twilight didn’t kill you yet,” the Rainbow pony announced to the darkened room.

“And why would ya be happy ‘bout that?” the voice responded as a figure came into view. Once the figure did, Rainbow Dash was able to confirm who the voice belonged to. The pony inside had an orange body and a blond mane, with cuts and scars across her body.

“Hello Applejack,” the cyan Pegasus said.

“Why did y’all come here,” the orange farmer asked.

“I came down here to check on you,” Rainbow Dash explained.

“So, you’re not what you think of yourself to be like,” the blond maned earth pony replied.

“What the hell are you talking about?” the rainbow mare questioned.

“If ya were the way you think you were you wouldn’t care ‘bout anypony,” the orange mare explained.

“Screw you Applejack. I am exactly what I think of myself,” the cyan pegasus nearly shouted.

“Well, if you are, then why would you check on me?” the farmer pony questioned.

“Because I care …” the pegasus stopped herself. Applejack got a kind smile on her face at what Rainbow Dash was about to say.

“See. You do care,” the orange mare said to the rainbow one.

“Fuck you Applejack. Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you! See, I don’t give a SHIT about you,” the Rainbow pony said before turning around and ascending back up the stairs into the hall.

The entire time she was thinking, “Applejack. I don’t care about you at all. If you think I do then you’re a bigger bump ass than Dark Horizon”.

___________________________________________________________________

The solar princess and the brown unicorn stayed inside the small house all day, until the sun started to set.

“The supposed Gala starts in an hour,” the unicorn spoke up.

“I still just don't get how any of them could do this. They would never do anything like this,” the princess nearly whispered.

“Well … if you what to know the full story, there’s usually a speech given by Twilight on how it all started around ten o’clock,” the Saddle Arabian pony said.

The solar princess looked up at the stallion and said to him, "Well I would like to know the full story but, how are we going to get in?”

“I don’t know, but if you want to I can help you out because … I’m a little curious about the entire thing myself,” the stallion explained.

“Ok. Should we get going then?” Celestia asked. War Zone nodded his head, and quickly grabbed his crossbow and a bag of arrows. The two walked out of the small house; the moon was shining in the sky. Celestia opened her wings to fly off but stopped at a new thought.

“What about you? You can't fly.” the sun goddess asked.

“You should know Twilight isn’t the only pony who can teleport,” the white maned colt said before disappearing in a flash of light, and then reappearing right beside the princess.

“Meet me near the window near the dining room,” the stallion said before disappearing again.

___________________________________________________________________

Celestia landed near a couple of trees outside the window. She looked around and saw no sign of War Zone. As she was about to call out his name the stallion appeared beside her.

The stallion nodded his head in the direction of the window. The two ponies crouched behind the window, watching the others eat and drink, most of them with nervous expressions on their faces.

“How are we going to hear anything from outside the castle?” Celestia whispered to the stallion.

“I was actually hoping you would know a spell that we could use to disguise ourselves as other ponies,” the white maned stallion admitted.

“Well I do know one spell, but only alicorns are capable of performing it,” The white alicorn said.

“Well, If you don’t mind, could you disguise yourself and get in and get out once the speech is over?” the stallion asked with a nervous voice.

Celestia thought for a second before nodding her head. “But who should I disguise myself as?” the solar princess questioned.

“Do you know what Red Bow looks like? I know she never goes to these things,” the military pony explained.

Without a reply Celestia used her magic, and an aurora of light appeared. Once the light dimmed she was no longer there. Instead of Celestia was a red pegasus pony.

Author's Note

I dont have anything to say.