The Earth-Pony Revolution (An Equestrian History Story)

by Quartez

Snowstorm in Ponyang

Chapter Seven: "Snowstorm in Ponyang"

Nopony seemed to want to address it, or admit that it had ever been different, it was a simple fact: they were allied with King Sombra.

At once things began to change and fast; the abundant stores of food seemed to have disappeared shortly after Golden Eyes, iron Fist, Moody Blue and Paint Palette had returned to the UBBR, and for a few days nopony had anything to eat except grass.

Apple Scruff had lost even more weight and he wasn't alone, but Iron Fist seemed to have lost nothing, in fact, paradoxically he seemed to have gotten a bit fatter.

But it wasn't long before more and more trains were arriving from the Crystal Empire filled to the brim with food, nobody questioned the alliance with Sombra for long, it was hard to when he kept helping them.

More and more buildings were being built by Crystal Ponies, they came early in the morning, worked with great speed and efficiency and then went back to the empire at night, by rail.

Thanks to their efforts Ponyang city was a lot bigger and nicer, Apple Scruff's house had had another two floors added to it and now that he had learned how to read and write he had passed his books on to Big Bad John (who he felt deserved them most of all).

There was now a whole new part to the UBBR; a bridge had been constructed across the Hayseed Swamps making it much easier to come and go and a new city (called Stalliongrad) had been built near the Weather Factory.

Nopony seemed to mention the fact the Sombra had destroyed the Weather Factory, it was vaguely implied that the royal sisters were the ones responsible and these implications grew more and more severe until it was just generally understood that it was all Celestia and Luna's fault and that they were the sworn enemies of the UBBR.

There was no word if they were ever going to rebuild it the Weather Factory, but nopony mentioned a lot of things, Electron Shell was one; Apple Scruff couldn't find her after the trip to the Crystal Empire and nopony knew where she'd gone.

Everypony else who'd been on the trip to the Crystal Empire was unavailable, Iron Fist, Golden Eyes, Moody Blue and Paint Palette spent their time in the school house and a sign had been screwed to the door announcing that nopony else could come in; sometimes guards were outside, in helmets and armed with spears.

Once or twice Apple Scruff had been told that it was his turn to be a guard and he did it, hoping that he might see one of the ponies from the trip as they went in or out, in the hopes that they'd tell him where Electron Shell had gone, but he never saw them.

As the months passed Apple Scruff's leg got less and less stiff, but it still hurt when it was cold, which was getting more and more common, for some reason nopony could account for, the UBBR was getting colder and colder, the farms were almost certainly useless now, but with so much food coming from the Crystal Empire, there was no real need for them any more.

The whole of the UBBR seemed to be getting ready for war, ponies were drafted at random into the army and given helmets and armour and spears and taught to use them by soldiers from the Crystal Empire.

Apple Scruff had already been trained and it seemed as if everypony else had.

Armoured carts were being made and ponies were being pulled into newly-constructed weapons factories to make them, there was a general climate of war and hatred; posters seemed to be everywhere showing pictures of Celestia or Luna with cat-like eyes, sharp wings and blood soaked fangs; trampling over foals or crushing cities beneath the hooves with captions such as:

"THIS IS THE FACE OF THE ENEMY!"

"YOUR LAZINESS SHALL BUY LUNA'S VICTORY!" and

"ROYAL HORSESHOES SHALL NOT TRAMPLE THE MOTHERLAND!"

Sometimes these posters would take the opposite approach and show UBBR citizens winning some great victory, saying things like:

"GOLDEN EYES CLEANSES THE WORLD OF FILTH!"

"THE WRATH OF THE UBBR SHALL CRUSH THE TYRANTS OF EQUESTRIA!" or

"THE MARCH OF IRON FIST'S ARTILLERY CANNOT BE STOPPED!"

New songs were now being circulated, all with a military theme; such as "The March of Iron Fist's Artillery" Apple Scruff's favourite was a song about a mare who's husband had gone away to war, he felt that it was, ultimately a very nice love song and it was played practically everywhere.

The day when all of the UBBR stopped came whilst Apple Scruff was at the Spear Factory, he was attaching the spear heads onto staffs, when somepony entered in military dress; he shouted for everypony to assemble before "The Ponyburo Building".

Everypony seemed to be rather confused by these instructions; but they soon realised that crowds were forming out side the schoolhouse, it had changed quite a bit since being made, the crystal ponies had made it larger and more extravagant; in front of the building there was now a large statue of a mare and a stallion (both Earth ponies) standing on their hind legs and putting their hooves together, it seemed as if they had changed the name as a final step.

Since this was the "Ponyburo Building" it stood to reason the Golden Eyes, Iron Fist, Paint Palette and Moody Blue were the "Ponyburo" as they were the only ones allowed inside.

Everypony was shivering, the cold had gotten worse and seemed to everyday, Apple Scruff's war wound throbbed painfully.

Golden Eyes spoke briefly, his words though few, caused the whole of Ponyang to freeze: "I have come to inform you of an unfortunate development, our nation has been betrayed by King Sombra; we are now at war with the Crystal Empire, Sombra's troops will be upon Ponyang in four days time, I will now turn over to Iron Fist for evacuation plans."