The Million Alicorn March
“I want a call to order!” A large grey Alicorn stood at the podium speaking into the microphone. He spoke to a crowd of hundreds of Alicorns. “The violence against Alicorns has tripled in the last eight weeks, which can be traced back to the propaganda nonsense spewed out by the counsel, calling out against Alicorns."
The crowd cheered angrily.
“There has also not been a single word as to the whereabouts of our Counsel Representative, Galafrea, who has not been seen since the Maretopolis disaster. There have been no arrests and no publicity; just more and more government rhetoric about the ‘Alicorn Terrorists’ non-sense! This has got to stop!”
The crowd cheered at his words.
Throughout the planet, all Alicorns were being targeted. Almost every single Alicorn had lost their jobs in past few weeks. Alicorn transport ships were being either impounded or commandeered by the counsel…‘for their protection’. Even the room they had to use for this meeting was the auditorium of a dilapidated, old schoolhouse that had been condemned.
“As our brethren are continually losing work, the counsel keeps advertising ‘work-away-from-home’ jobs for us!”
These words were met with jeers and boos.
“Not a single Alicorn who signed up for work has ever been seen again! Their families were promised a paycheck every two weeks, yet they’ve received only one paycheck for half of what was promised and none since!”
Many of the Alicorn mares cried angrily as they thought of their missing husbands.
“The counsel promised us that the Pegasi were working diligently to clean up the sky, but I haven’t seen a dent of change; just more and more clouds of never ending debris! Yet every Pegasi whose still willing to talk to us has told me there are no active projects to clean the sky!
“Something is terribly wrong here my friends. More and more transport ships are leaving for the colonies, while Alicorns are left with no work and no future. Enough is enough!”
The crowd cheered again, stomping their hooves into the ground.
“As your Vice-Counsel Representative, who might I add, has been denied access to every single counsel session since Galafrea’s disappearance, I say it is time we stand up! It is time to demand our rights! It is time to let the ponies of this world know we are ponies too! And we will not sit idly by while are homes and our ways of life are destroyed!”
The crowd roared. Every Alicorn in the room cheered Vice-Counsel Representative Macintosh Lemon Kai-Apple. Hundreds of Alicorns, including Sugar Baker, applauded his words. They had had enough.
Sugar Baker stood off to the side of the auditorium. Ruby had stayed home with the girls, while he attended the meeting. With his family in danger of starving, he had almost signed up for the work program, until he started to hear the rumors surrounding it. When he heard about this meeting, he made it a priority to attend.
From the podium, the Vice-Counsel Representative shouted above the din:
I want everypony to go home tonight; talk to your family; talk to your friends; tell every Alicorn you
know, that on this week’s end, we march! We will march from the White Horse City Unemployment
Center, where they cart off our kind for work, only to never be heard from again; to the United
Pony Capital building, where the counsel was first formed for the ‘peaceful cooperation of all
ponykind’. We will let the world see us as we are! We will show them that we are neither animals
nor terrorists! We are PONIES!!! We are PROUD!!! WE HAVE RIGHTS!!!!!”
The sound of the hundreds of hooves pounding into the dirt as they cheered could be heard over a mile away, like the thunder of an approaching storm.
“I’m going!” Sugar Baker told his wife that night.
“I forbid it!” Ruby yelled a whisper, trying to prevent the girls from waking up and hearing their conversation. She quickly went to check to make sure their bedroom door was shut and the lights out.
“Ruby, we have precious little money left. If something isn’t done soon, we won’t have any money left to buy food! Our rent is already overdue. We’re lucky the landlord is an Alicorn! Tom Boulder and his wife were evicted the second they missed a payment to their Unicorn landlord! But Rose needs to eat too! At some point she’ll have no choice but to evict us too!”
Ruby was getting flustered. She agreed with everything her husband said, except going to the march. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you,” she pleaded leaning into his chest and crying.
“I know, I know,” he said hugging his wife gingerly, “but it’s a peaceful protest, dear. Everypony has been told again and again that violence will not be our weapon of choice; only words and posters. The police will just have to sit back and watch.
Sugar continued to hug and comfort his wife as the stood in the kitchen of their little apartment. The graffiti had yet to be taken down as they couldn’t afford to repaint it. Upstairs, a small white nose was poking through the bottom of the door, sniffing the air of tension coming from down the steps. Celestia pulled her snout back and looked over towards her bed. Luna was fast asleep. She had curled into a fetal position and was making small noises as she dreamt.
Celestia carefully climbed into the bed, without waking Luna. She cradled her baby sister in her hooves and rested her head on the pillow, with her chin rubbing the back of Luna’s mane. Slowly, she drifted off to sleep with thoughts of her parents’ discussion floating in her mind.
Stars drifted across Celestia’s view. She was floating through space. She wasn’t flying, nor was she in a ship. She simply floated further and a further, drifting listlessly with no purpose or care as to where she was.
Celestia watched as the stars changed, and she could see a planet approaching her. It was a beautiful world with oceans and a large green continent. White clouds were small and spread out, leaving room for plenty of beautiful sunshine to come through.
She could see right down to the ground, where animals played merrily in the green grass. Birds danced in the air and sung to each other. It was the most beautiful thing Celestia had ever seen.
She saw the sun, very small, circling around the planet. She felt its warmth and glow on her face. Closing her eyes to enjoy it, she floated across the sky at peace. But the warmth suddenly disappeared. It grew cold and Celestia started to shiver. Opening her eyes to see what happened, the light from the sun and dimmed. Its rays retreated into itself. Celestia watched as the sun exploded. A massive wave of fire spread outwards. She screamed as the flames enveloped her.
“AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” Celestia screeched, waking from the nightmare. She panted heavily, her heart attempted to remove itself from her chest.
Luna had instantly woken from her sister’s shouting, and started to scream too, not sure what happened.
“Girls! Girls! What’s wrong!?” their mother burst in worried.
“Mommy! The sun exploded! It’s gone! It’s all gone!” she screamed crying.
Ruby quickly went to her daughter’s bedside. She sat down and comforted her daughter with a hug.
“There, there. It was just a nightmare. There’s nothing to worry about.”
Luna, a little scared from her big sister’s screams, and also a little jealous of their hugging, crawled over and wiggled her head under their hooves to join in the hug.
“Aww, girls. Would you like to sleep with your father and I tonight?” their mother asked tenderly. Both girls nodded. Celestia sniffled and wiped the tears from her eyes.
The girls were starting to get too big for them all to fit, but they snuggled tightly together in their parents’ bed and drifted once again back to sleep.
“Mmm. Oh, this is so good Star. Thank you!” Sugar Baker said chowing down on a veggie-patty sandwich. He and Star Swirl were sitting at a table in a Patty King fast food restaurant. The prices on the menu had all doubled in recent weeks, and a sign stood next to the menu saying, ‘Apologies as our prices shift with the rising food costs.’
“Don’t worry about it, Bake,” Star Swirl said. “Now that StarCars is producing both transport ships and hover-cars that can reach the colonies, everypony who held stocks in that company is now a wealthy pony. Besides, unlike some other ponies, I don’t forget who my friends are!”
As he said that, many of the ponies who were staring at the pair of them quickly turned away. Even when Sugar Baker ordered, the cashier reluctantly entered it into her terminal.
“Hopefully we’ll get through to them this weekend,” Bake said calmly. “Maybe we’ll get them to see reason for once.”
“I wouldn’t count on it Bake,” Star said more sternly. “Ponies are looking for a scapegoat and nothing else. I even heard the investigation into the Maretropolis disaster has stopped. They don’t want justice. They want somepony to take the fall so everypony doesn’t set their sights on the Counsel.”
Taking a bite from his sandwich, Star continued to speak while chewing. “And another thing, …I don’t think you should go this weekend, Bake… I think this will only make things worse.”
“Well, it can’t get much worse, but if possible, could I ask another favor, Star?” Bake asked in a more concerned tone.
“Anything Bake, what do you need?” Star replied, looked at his troubled friend.
“Would you-”
“I’m sorry but I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” the manager of the restaurant interrupted. He was a thin dark yellow Pegasus, wearing a uniform of orange and white vertical stripes.
“What for?” Star Swirl asked angrily.
“I’m afraid some of our other guests have made complaints. We feel it would be best if you took your food to go.” The manager fidgeted as he spoke sensing a rising conflict that was inevitable.
“Now see here!” Star screamed. “We’re paying customers! There’s no reason to kick us out!” He felt such an anger bursting from within him, he was not entirely sure he could control it.
“Please sir, you should know better than to bring um…one of your um…‘friends’ here. If you could please just leave quietly.
Sugar Baker looked at his fuming friend. “Star, it’s not worth getting into it here. We need to deal with the problem at its head; not at some fast food manager over a sandwich.”
“Fine! We’ll leave, but since you don’t like us in your company, you probably don’t like us eating your food. Here let me give it back…” Star Swirl rose from the table staring angrily at the manager. He leaned back and spat a wad of food he had been chewing on directly into the manager’s face.
“GET OUT!!! Get out now, or I’m calling the police!” The manager screamed, wiping the food off his face. He reached for his CommBand, a small band worn around the hoof with a holographic display for contacting other ponies. Before he could select the police, Star and Bake hastily left.
“You shouldn’t have done that, Star!” Sugar Baker said looking at his frustrated friend.
“Maybe not, but it felt good” Star Swirl said.
They looked at each other for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing.
“I think you got him right in the eye!” Bake said, holding his side as he laughed.
They continued to laugh and joke as they walked back to Sugar Baker’s apartment.
While everypony would have loved a nice sunny day for the march, as usual, it was cloudy and gloomy. But the snow had momentarily ceased, which many considered a blessing.
Thousands of Alicorns showed up at the unemployment center that morning blocking the traffic on the ground. Thousands more flooded the skies bringing transportation in that area of the city to a standstill.
Macintosh Lemon Kai-Apple, known to his friends as Mac-Apple, stood on the top step of the building. As the morning kicked off, everypony spread the word to sync their CommBands to the same channel and set them to public audio so all may hear.
Behind him the police were already starting to prepare for potential conflicts. Mac-Apple had been given assurances that the police were only there for crowd control and safety. They wanted the march to go peacefully and non-violently. Nevertheless, all of the police were in full riot gear.
They carried various weapons, some non-lethal for crowd control, like a sonic grenade that would send out high pitched frequencies at extremely high amplitude to render nearby ponies unconscious. They also carried force-field generators which would encapsulate large groups, in order to detain them.
However all police officers also carried hand guns, loaded with magic-coated bullets. These bullets could penetrate Unicorn and Alicorn shields.
Mac-Apple spoke aloud to the crowd over the CommBand link:
Good morning my fellow ponies! Today we show the ponies of this world who we
are! Today we demand our right not to be treated like animals; our right to
have our kids educated; our right to work; our right to be treated as decent
pony folk! Join with me!
Mac-Apple leapt off the steps and soared above the heads of the crowd on the ground. The Alicorns in the air cleared room for him to pass. He made his way to the head of the gigantic crowd. As he did, he saw several Earth, Pegasus, and Unicorn ponies spread sporadically throughout the crowd, joining their friends in protest.
Taking his position at the crowd’s head, they marched. Many on the ground, many in the sky, thousands of ponies began the protest. Many held different signs and banners such as:
"Alicorns are Ponies Too!”
“One World, One Race, All Ponies!”
“Bring our Husbands home!”
“Where is Galafrea?”
…
Many also chanted these slogans as they marched. The massive crowd stormed through the streets of White Horse City. Some ponies in nearby buildings closed their windows and curtains. Some stared angrily at the marching crowd. Only a few were brave enough to venture to the sidelines of the march. Unfortunately, none were supporters.
"Terrorists!”
“Murderers!”
“Freaks!”
...
These were some of the words shouted at marching ponies.
A group of Earth ponies waited for the crowd to reach them. As the passed, they reached into their sacks and grabbed several balloons filled with paint. They flung them into the crowd. Some were aimed at their faces, getting paint in their eyes. Those hit were mortified.
One cried out, “Police! Stop them! Arrest them! DO SOMETHING!!!” The Alicorns shouted staring at the police who simply stood on the sidelines, doing nothing.
“What happened to keeping the peace!?” another Alicorn screamed.
The police continued to do nothing. One of the Earth ponies chucked another balloon into the crowd. He looked over to the cop nearest him, who was also an earth pony. The cop smiled at him and gave him a wink.
With the cops failing to act, one Alicorn tried to snatch the bag away from the ponies flinging the paint balloons. The officers finally reacted. Running up to the Alicorn, the winking cop grabbed his magic-enhanced baton and started beating him with it.
The baton held a magic capacitor, enabling it to shock those hit into submission. The Alicorn was quickly rendered bloody and unconscious. Several nearby Alicorns jumped in to try and stop the cop. They grabbed him and pulled him off of the bloodied pony.
They tried to restrain the cop without returning the attack, but it already backfired. The moment they grabbed the police officer, his CommBand sent the message out to every cop in the march. They began attacking the crowd.
The first thing they did was to throw their sonic grenades into the crowd. Every officer had an ear-piece both protecting them and providing audio communication. Hundreds of ponies in the crowd began collapsing from the sound. Several Alicorns flying in the air began plummeting out of the sky.
Chaos erupted, and, despite every effort Mac-Apple had made to keep the march non-violent, he quickly found himself fighting against the police as well. He saw one officer had already switched from his baton to his hand gun aiming at one of the Alicorns. Leaping at him, Mac-Apple tried to wrestle the gun away from the young cop.
A round had discharged from the gun. The cop fell over dead, shot in the chest. This was the worst possible thing that could have happened. At the instant the cop’s vital signs stopped, a message went through the CommBand link to every officer, giving the green light to use lethal force.
Shots were being fired into the crowd all over the city. Some Alicorns tried to fight back using their magic to snatch the weapons away from the police and firing back on them. The march had been reduced to a massive battle scene.
Onboard the P.S.S. Flying Thunder (Pegasus Security Ship), hovering a mile above the city, Commander Hirkain had been patiently monitoring the march as it progressed. The ship floated high enough to see beyond the endless clouds covering the planet and once more see the sunny sky. Many ponies onboard would try to sneak as many glances as they dared as they worked.
“Sir, the Alicorns have started attacking the officers on the ground!” Private Pimsey reported from his terminal.
“As usual Pansy, your incompetence is on a delayed timer!” the commander bullied the young private. “Now tell me the moment one of them is killed.”
Commander Hirkain did not particularly like the pathetic weakling of a soldier before him, but enjoyed having him around to belittle and boss around. It gave him the air of superiority he so deeply enjoyed. As such, every ship the commander transferred to, he started taking the young private with him.
Pimsey stared at his terminal in angry silence. He hated continually being called ‘Pansy’. It reminded him of his belligerent father, who would mock his lack of strength and courage. But since he dare not speak up to the commander, he remained glued to his terminal, watching the situation on the ground.
Staring at his screens, he saw the report he feared come in. He couldn’t believe it. He knew that the march would probably end in arrests, but…He almost tried to hide what his terminal was showing him with his hooves. But the flashing red alert was clearly visible to Commander Hirkain.
“Well Pansy?” he barked. “What’s the alert say?”
“I…uh…um…it says…sigh…it says that an officer has been killed. The green light has been given for the police to use lethal force.”
“Good work private!” The commander complimented Pimsey, much to his confusion.
“Sir?”
The commander sat down in the Captain’s chair, connecting to his shipwide communication network. “Attention all Pegasus Winged Assault squads, you have the green light. All terrorists are to be eliminated. We will protect the lives of the officers on the ground and in the air at all cost. Go! Go! Go!”
“Sir!? We haven’t been given the green light! This is a police matter, the military doesn’t have jurisdiction!” Pimsey spoke up, genuinely horrified by the order given.
“Don’t talk back to your superior officer pansy!” Commander Hirkain hollered back at him. His compliments toward the private were very short lived. “There are good cops being murdered by terrorists, and the military has every right to take charge in terrorist affairs! Now keep your eyes glued to those screens and keep track of their progress. I want continuous reports of the number of terrorists remaining, Private!”
Pimsey could do nothing but stare at his screens. His mind quickly drifted off into thoughts of what horrors were occurring on the ground, appearing as a bunch of words and figures on his screens.
The loading docks and jump points opened all around the ship. There were four other ships hovering above the cloud line. All doors and hatches opened on all vessels. Pegasi soldiers, dressed in black military flight gear, with oxygen masks and flight goggles to protect them from the ash and dust in the clouds, jumped off the ships in numbers reaching over a hundred thousand. They dipped into the clouds making their way to the crowds below.
Histeria had broken out in the crowd as thousands of Alicorns tried to escape the police who were using both lethal and non-lethal means to subdue to them. Those that were trigger-happy fired round after round into the crowd, watching the Alicorns and ‘Alicorn-lovers’ fall dead to the ground.
Some officers did not see the point in such senseless bloodshed. They tried to use the more effective traps and non-lethal weaponry to capture and safely arrest the rioting Alicorns.
Some younger officers were so afraid they held their guns out pleading with Alicorns to surrender; the result being either a dead Alicorn and a traumatized officer, or a dead young cop.
As fighting continued on the ground, more fighting continued in the air, as Pegasi police and airborne Alicorns clashed. Bodies plummeted from the sky.
Few ponies on the ground or in the air noticed it, but those that did, froze in the tracks; including some of the officers. A tremendous black cloud was growing through the debris clouds. It grew and spread faster than any storm anypony had ever seen. What looked like a massive hurricane came down upon them. The first lightning to strike blasted with the sound of a thunderous cannon.
A massive explosion struck the ground, blasting dozens of ponies apart. Ponies everywhere started screaming as they tried to evade the attack. The Pegasi soldiers came down upon them firing into the crowds.
Dozens of soldiers carried pulse cannons, like the one that caused the first explosion. Its rounds were compressed Monoceros Particle (Mcp.) rounds that upon impact, triggered a sub-atomic reaction, detonating with a blast radius of twenty-five meters. Each Pegasus could carry up to ten rounds in the jackets.
The rest of the hurricane of soldiers carried ‘Silent Storm’ rifles. These terrors compressed miniscule amounts of Mcp.’s into each other, creating a burst of energy, focused into a laser, and firing out the front of the barrel. They were named ‘Silent Storm’ rifles because their shots carried no sound and travelled at near speeds of light. Because of the small amount of magical energy needed, the Mcp. cartridges could be used to fire over two thousand rounds in a single charge. They fired at a rate of four bursts every second. The silent rounds ripped through the crowd decorating the Alicorns with holes.
Macintosh Lemon Kai-Apple, kneeled before the pony he killed, sobbing. His hopes and dreams were shattered. His plan had led his lemmings to the water to drown. He knelt on the ground staring at the destruction before him. Alicorns continued to fall out of the sky. Ponies all around him were collapsing riddled with holes in them. A small red dot appeared on Mac-Apple’s temple a moment before it was replaced with a hole, boring straight through his head and out the back. He fell dead upon the body of the pony he killed.
What was supposed to have been a peaceful march, would come to be known to many as, ‘The Million Alicorn Massacre’