//------------------------------//
// The Earth Pony Manifesto 
// Story: The Earth-Pony Revolution (An Equestrian History Story) 
// by Quartez 
//------------------------------//

"Chapter Two: "The Earth Pony Manifesto"
The plans were set, the next morning when the the representatives of the princesses came to Ukrein to find Golden Eyes and Iron Fist waiting for them. "We've come for the food delivery" said Royal Mail.


"Forget it" said Golden Eyes "We're not letting the food we grew be given to others, especially unicorns and pegasi. You're violent and greedy and we're not dealing with you any-more, anything grown in our village stays in our village." 


Royal Mail looked utterly bewildered, then he looked at Mellow Yellow, the pegasi captain who had come with him; she pawed at the ground with her hoof and only occasionally raised her head high enough to look Golden Eyes in the face: 


"Oh well, we understand, but we really need that food because, um.." she went even quieter: "you grow most of Equestria's food and-" suddenly she stopped speaking as Golden Eyes interrupted: 


"Equestria's food??! This is ours!" Mellow Yellow was shaking and looking determinedly at her hooves as if trying to hide her face behind her mane, Royal Mail decided to take over: 


"With the Discord crisis ongoing we must present a united front, an Equestria divided against itself cannot stand-"


"Well maybe we don't want to be part of Equestria!" snapped Iron Fist "go back to those 'princesses' and tell them that this village stands on it's own!"


Royal Mail took one last desperate glance at Mellow Yellow, she wasn't the typical sort of pegasus and the only reason she had come was because no actual trouble was expected, most of the pegasi were helping the princesses in their fight against Discord, Mellow Yellow looked as if she was trying to get ready for some great effort and said with great speed and shaking of her voice: 

"Pleasegiveusthefoodbecauseifyoudon'tthepegasusarmywillcomeand-" 


Iron Fist looked as if he wanted to interrupt and she hastily squeaked: "I'dstopitifIcouldbuttheywon'tlistenbecausewithoutUkreinwe'llallSTARVE TO DEATH!" 


Iron Fist stepped forward and Mellow Yellow jumped back with a squeak of terror,  falling on her face then with another squeak she stumbled to her feet and hid behind Royal Mail, trembling and pressing her face to the ground as if trying to meld into the soil and become invisible.


Iron Fist was clearly exploding with joy on the inside, all his dreams of being threatening and ordering others around were coming true, he was ordering around a pegasus and a captain of the guard to boot and best of all, she was so timid there was no chance at all that she'd ever stand up to him. 


"Get out of our village" said Iron Fist in the voice he'd been practising in front of the mirror for years "Or we'll drag you out." 


"That's okay! Iwasjustleaving!" with that she shot away and didn't slow down one bit until she had crossed out of the Ukrein (a journey which took less then ten feet) she ran straight behind the sign which said "WELCOME TO UKREIN VILLAGE! HOME OF HAPPINESS!" 


There was a pause before Royal Mail resumed: "Cloudsdale will not stand for this-" 


the conversation stopped, Mellow Yellow had slowly and cautiously been glancing around the sign, her eyes were just visible from the side. As everypony became aware of this fact and looked at her, she gave a quick, quiet gasp of terror and quickly withdrew her head. 

They resumed: "Cloudsdale will send in the pegasus army if need be!" 


Iron Fist glared at him, "Yeah, you do that." 

Royal Mail took a final offended glance and then disappeared behind the sign to retrieve Mellow Yellow. She took off with Royal Mail as soon as he told her they were allowed to leave, but he had to hold her hoof for most of the journey until she stopped whimpering.



The news spread quickly; Cloudsdale was going to war with the village and they had to prepare, fast. 


Golden Eyes assessment of the situation was singularly unhelpful: "Right, we've not got any weapons, so I'll leave that with you" he said to Iron Fist, who quite enjoyed his first chance to intimidate others and couldn't wait to do it again.


Everypony was called to the town hall to get ready, Iron Fist made them all line-up with their hooves spread apart, it was something Iron Fist had probably seen in one of his books about the Pegasus army, which he kept under his bed and though nobody knew about. 

It was a very uncomfortable position to stand in and it wasn't helped by the "helmets" he made them wear, it was clear he wanted something like the helmets worn by the pegasus army, but their was nothing like that in the village (except the helmet Lustre had made Iron Fist for his birthday, which he was wearing). 

So most ponies had to make do with pots, pans, colanders, even chamber pots.

Iron Fist marched up and down examining his troops, Apple Scruff was wearing a mixing bowl on his head, to his left was a rather fat stallion called Berry Tongue he had a dark blue coat and a yellow mane and was wearing a large, shallow pan. 


On Apple Scruff's right was a dark brown pony with a black mane, called "Forge Line" he was a blacksmith and had hastily modified a metal bowl and the head of a push-broom into something which looked a bit like a passable helmet. 

Apple Scruff couldn't exactly hear or understand Iron Fist's speech, odd phrases like: "our foals' foals" or "this is just my opinion as an everyday stallion" could be heard, once the speech was finished everybody stamped their hooves on the ground in excitement and Apple Scruff joined in, so as not to be left out. 


After this Iron Fist had them race around in circles whilst he and his friend Paint Palette stood by and watched.

Paint Palette was a mare with a yellow mane and a pink coat, her cutie mark was (rather predictably) a paint palette. 


The two of them watched as the ponies ran in a circle, occasionally she took pity on them and asked Iron Fist to give them a rest, he occasionally obliged, although it was clear that he was torn between his friendship to her and his desire to appear as a tough and uncompromising soldier. 


Privately, Apple Scruff thought this seemed like a bad idea, now not only were they inexperienced but also tired and sweaty. 

on one of their rests Apple Scruff met a stallion named Silver Tongue who looked very distinguished, he had a dark green coat and a brown mane and beard.

he had apparently gone straight from his job (writing novels and text books) to helping Golden Eyes write some speeches and laws (for after Ukreign split from Equestria) and then was drafted into the army.

He was very tired, but was still determined to do his best; Apple Scruff was very impressed, not only at his dedication, but the mere fact that he could read and write and that his writing was good enough that many of his books were read in Las Pegasus and Vanhoover.

Silver Tongue claimed that according to Golden Eyes; then once the revolution was complete, everypony in the village would be able to read and write.


Iron Fist eventually allowed the exercise to end and set about "posting his troops", Apple Scruff was posted on the roof of a barn with Berry Tongue, like the rest of the army their "weapons" consisted of a pile of rocks each which they were to buck at the pegasi.

Iron Fist had called the two of them "Maniple Seven" Apple Scruff was sure this was another word which Iron Fist had gleaned from a book about pegasi, Apple wasn't at all sure what it meant or, indeed if Iron Fist knew what it meant, there was a good chance he was using it incorrectly. 


As clueless as Iron Fist seemed to be, Golden Eyes seemed to be even more-so, he wondered if the army needed to be on roofs, and Iron Fist had to remind him that pegasi could fly, Iron Fist's only instructions had been:
"Stay on the roof and if you see the pegasi, buck the rocks at them",
when Apple Scruff had asked him which part of the pegasi's body he should aim for he responded: 
"Aim for where it'll do the most damage" 
Apple Scruff didn't think this was very helpful, but pretended he understood. Iron also told him:
"Apple Scruff, don't let pegasi get past you"
Apple Scruff thought this was rather an obvious thing to say. 


Iron Fist didn't mention whether they should stand normally or in the pegasi army way he had taught them earlier, Berry and Apple had decided to stand in the pegasi way just to be on the safe side. 


At that moment Iron Fist shouted "PEGASI, INBOUND! FRONT LINES, OPEN FIRE!" 

Nobody seemed to know what this meant, a few of the ponies bucked some of the rocks and apples at the pegasi, but it quickly became apparent that they were too far away to hit, everypony stopped in embarrassment and then waited for them to get closer before resuming.

This time they struck, pegasi began dropping like flies, but there were hundreds of them, as they got closer Apple Scruff seemed to realise just how scared he was, he quickly turned and began bucking. 


The pegasi were clearly not the best the army had to offer, most of them were off fighting Discord.

It looked like the leader was a pale blue stallion with a rainbow mane and tail, he swooped about, avoiding the rocks; the first great scare was when the cider warehouse blew up; it seemed as if the pegasi had lit it aflame and the fire was spreading.

But the pegasi were taking heavy losses; Iron Fist didn't do any bucking himself, he merely shouted occasional phrases like: "GREEN TAIL, BY THE LEADER!" "LEFT FLANK, SUPPORT: GO!" 


The noise was so great nopony could hear him. 


The Panic was so great nopony could follow him.


And nopony even knew what he meant. 


Apple Scruff just kept his back to the rock pile and bucked, he jumped every-time he saw a pegasus swoop over his head, proof that he had missed; but luckily, they hadn't attacked him, they seemed to be trying to take out the buildings more then the ponies.

But then came the second great scare; Apple Scruff heard a cry and then he looked to his right, Berry Tongue was lying flat on the roof, a spear through his head. 


First Apple screamed, then he ran over to him, but it was useless, he was dead. 

"No! GET UP! THEY'RE ARE TOO MANY OF THEM!" 
it was finally too much for Apple; nothing seemed real, it was all a nightmare; it had to be, nothing this bad could happen. 

He was screaming, not just about Berry Punch; he was screaming about everything: "JUST STOP! HE'S DEAD, PLEASE EVERYBODY!" 


on instinct, he bucked at the rock pile Berry Tongue had left behind, there was a ringing noise, rock hitting metal.

The rainbow haired general, spiralled over Apple's head, sinking as he went, his helmet dented and arranged wrongly.

There was a pain like Apple had never felt before in his left flank, he screamed and looked behind him, there was a spear in his flank. 

He stumbled, he was sliding off the roof, he looked down, the sound of the battle all around him, the pain in his flank, it was too much.

Then, he passed out.