Chapter I: Uprising
"My spirit will rise from the grave and the world will see I was right.
-Adolf Hitler
*****2 Days After the Defeat of Nightmare Moon*****
A cold breeze gusted across the city of Canterlot, causing opened shutters to slam against their windows and the wooden merchants’ stands, closed for the evening, to creak in protest. Aside from the two Royal Guards standing watch at the front gates of the palace, the streets of the city were quiet, only dimly lit by the light of lanterns and the last rays of Celestia’s sun. Shadows danced on the walls as the candles in the lanterns flickered and blew in the wind, adding to the eerie effect of the twilight.
“Bloody hell, that wind is nice.” The other guard grunted in agreement at his compatriot’s words; despite the cooling air, the armour of the guards was trapping their body heat, which would make it a little uncomfortable to be standing watch for the next six hours.
In an attempt to make some conversation and break the pressing silence, the first guard cast about for a topic to speak on. “Say, Thunder, how’s your wife? And your colt, for that matter?”
Thunder Charge, the older guard in both experience and actual age, showed a grimace through his helmet. “Diamond is doing fine, from what she said last...they’ll be coming back as soon as the Princess lifts the evacuation order from Ponyville.” There was silence as the unicorn paused, letting the wind die down. “What about you?”
The other guard, another unicorn by the name of Arctic White, put on a nervous smile. “C’mon Sarge...you know I don’t have a wife yet.” True to his name, the younger unicorn was snow-white, with a snowflake as his cutie mark.
Shifting both his weight and his spear, Thunder Charge snorted. “You should find one...it’s better than being alone all your life, trust me.”
Arctic chuckled a bit, nodding his head. “Alright sir. I’ll do that.”
“Good.” The two ponies resumed their silence for a bit as the wind gusted again. The sun finally set, bringing a chill across Equestria as the nation settled down for the night.
Nearly two hundred leagues away, under the same night sky and in the heart of the Whitetail Woods, hundreds upon hundreds of ponies gathered around the ruins of an unfinished castle, waiting for the one who called them here to take the stage. They all knew what had happened a few days ago, and unrest and discontent was running rampant amongst the ponies; they wanted revenge.
A stallion, old but still strong, moved to the front and climbed up into what would have been the castle’s keep. In a flash of light, the unicorn teleported to the top of the scaffolding, enabling his voice to carry out over the masses. Even still, he put a charm on his voice box in order to magnify the volume of his speech.
“Fellow brethren!”
At the sound of the stallion’s voice, the mass of ponies grew quiet. A few even held their breath, not wanting to miss a single word the unicorn said. In seconds, the entire clearing was silent.
“Brothers...sisters! We gather here tonight to mourn the defeat of our great queen, the Princess of the Night, Nightmare Moon.” The stallion paused, looking up at the moon, where the imprint of their banished leader looked down on them. “Princess Celestia says she wants all of her subjects to have what they wish for, yes?! What if we want our queen to take her place?!” The collected mass of ponies murmured in agreement...isn’t that what the Princess’s policy was all about? “Celestia has ruled for millennia, with her sister shoved to the side as if she were only a figurehead...no more!” The ponies below were growing increasingly restless as the unicorn kept speaking, stirring the pot and causing their anger and passion to come to the fore. In the short time since the old unicorn had started speaking, the ponies before him had gone from being apprehensive and demotivated by the loss of their queen to being invigorated and fired up at the idea of seizing the throne of Equestria and bringing their queen back to rule the Eternal Night. “We are the only hope of our beloved queen’s revenge; together, we will enact justice upon the one who dared to strike her down.” The crowd of ponies cheered in approval of the unicorn stallion’s words; perhaps there was still a way for them to assert their queen’s rule...they just had to take the throne of Equestria and eliminate the one that had dared to banish their leader.
“So…” the stallion said, drawing back the attention of the ponies in front of him. “Go, spread the word! From here to the frozen north, down to the outpost villages in the southern deserts! In two days’ time, from this very location, we will march on Canterlot, kill the wretched Princess, and seize the throne for our queen! Bring your armour, your weapons! Be ready to fight!”
Another uproar marked the approval of the crowd of ponies, who immediately started dispersing. Flashes of light indicated unicorns teleporting away, some with a few other ponies in tow. Pegasi flew into the air and sped away, some tasking themselves with spreading the news to the farthest reaches of Equestria. Within minutes, the unfinished castle was again desolate, the wind whistling through the unfinished hallways. The pony that had made the speech was the only one that remained, and he was silent as he looked up into the moonlight. ‘My queen...we WILL find a way to free you. But first, we will depose that senseless sister of yours and you can claim your rightful throne upon your return. I ask that you help us in this endeavour, for the glory of the Eternal Night.’
Dropping his head from the sky and finished with his declaration of loyalty to his banished queen, the unicorn wordlessly disappeared in a flash of light.