Resistance
Resistance
“I’ve brought some food,” Star Swirl said, as opened the door to his house.
From the street, passersby would see that all of the lights in the house were off. If somepony had heard him, they would have believed he had just been talking to an empty house. However, as soon as Star closed the front door completely, two little fillies mysteriously sprung up from out of nowhere.
“What did you bring us?” Luna asked, poking her nose into the bags on Star’s back attempting to sniff out the answer.
“I’m afraid it’s the usual vegetable medley soup mix. But I do believe I have a little something for dessert you might enjoy!”
Star reached into his satchel and pulled out a small box. The label read: ‘Laffy-Taffy Chews’. Luna’s eyes widened at the sight of the candy treat. She started bouncing up and down with excitement around him.
“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!” she cried with excitement.
Star was quick to quiet her joy. “Shh, shh, shh! Hush now. You know you need to be quiet. Now go on and help your sister set the table for dinner.”
Luna quickly hurried off into the kitchen to start getting out the dishes. Celestia shyly smiled at Star.
“Th-Thanks again, Star.” She said, blushing. She quickly turned and headed after her sister into the kitchen. Lately, Celestia couldn’t help blushing every time she saw him.
As he set one of the bags down, Star flinched slightly. It had been a few weeks since he returned from the hospital, and he even returned to work, but he still felt the pain in his shoulder from time to time.
Despite his efforts to hide it, it was not lost on Ruby, who still felt responsible for causing his pain. He tried to make his flinch look like a spider had landed on his shoulder, brushing it away with his hoof. Ruby, completely unfooled, frowned guiltily, but said nothing. She grabbed the bags and headed back into the kitchen.
Star walked over to the window in his living room and peered out through the blinds. The neighborhood looked peaceful and quiet. Things had started to calm back down into a deranged form of normalcy. Ponies were going to work during the day and coming home in the evening. It was almost as though nothing were wrong.
But this façade was merely skin-deep. The brutal snow storms continued to rain down, day after day. Heat-Plows were running twenty-four hours a day, melting just enough snow for mobility yet not cause mass flooding.
Food prices were steadily rising each week. Tickets to the colonies were starting to become less costly than trying to feed your family. More and more families were booking passage on ships leaving for the colonies. Those that remained rarely talked, and when they did, it was mostly in hushed whispers.
Many suspected now, that the advertisements for the colonies were in reality the government’s way of saying they’ve given up on resolving the crisis on this world. The news seldom spoke of any progress or information regarding planetary cleanup plans. Most families remaining on the planet were those who could not afford passage and those on waiting lists.
The checkpoints had stopped, but Pegasus patrols were often close by if things got out of hand. Many ponies feared the soldiers, including many Pegasus civilians. But no pony dared to speak out.
Star walked into the kitchen to find the girls setting the bowls and cups on the table. Ruby was preparing the soup. She poured the bag of dehydrated vegetables and seasoning into the soup bowl. She closed the lid and placed the bowl in the Rehydra (Rehydration Cooker). Setting it to the soup option, it thoroughly hydrated and softened all the vegetables in five minutes. The vegetables would come out delicately soft and their flavors spread evenly throughout the soup. It was a great device for making a cheap meal taste like the real thing.
After they had their soup, Star gave the girls their taffy treat, which they happily grabbed and ran down to the basement to enjoy. Star and Ruby had converted the basement into a decent enough bedroom for the girls and Ruby to sleep together in. As the basement had no windows, it also prevented neighbors from seeing lights from multiple bedrooms. Star remained in the kitchen to help Ruby cleanup the dishes.
“Has she still been having the nightmares?” he asked.
“Yes, every night. She misses her father terribly,” Ruby answered.
Every night, Luna would awaken from a terrible nightmare. She dreamt of her father being killed before her eyes. The first time she had the nightmare, she screamed so loudly, Ruby nearly had to suffocate her own daughter to squelch the noise. As Luna’s nightmares continued, she no longer screamed, but would shake and cry each time.
“Has there been any word?” Ruby asked.
Star knew she was referring to her husband. “Actually I have some information on that,” he said giving a small grin.
Ruby’s eyes and ears instantly perked up. “There’s a group that’s been growing, that’s trying to stop what the Pegasi have done and fight back. I’ve been invited to join, and that’s just was I’m going to do.”
“What? Star, you can’t! What if something happens to you? Please, you mustn’t. That’s exactly how Sugar…”
Her throat cut her off, as her eyes began to water, thinking of her husband. He was captured, or possibly even killed, because he ‘joined a group’.
“Listen, these ponies might be able to find Bake! And possibly even get a message to him,” he quickly replied back. The hope in Ruby’s eyes glistened from those words.
“How?” she asked, trying not to get too excited.
“They wouldn’t tell me, because they don’t know if they can trust me. Of course the same goes for me, which is exactly why I did not tell them about you or the girls. We all need to be careful.
“I’m going to meet with them later tonight. If any thing should happen, head for my friend Mint Julep. She’s already hiding too many Alicorns as it is, but if I don’t return after a couple of days, make for her place during the night.”
Star Swirl handed Ruby a piece of paper with the address on it. Ruby took it and hugged him. “Please be careful,” she said, teary-eyed.
“I will.”
The alleyway was silent. Star looked around for signs of the contact he was supposed to meet, but saw nothing in the darkness. The furs on the back of his neck started to stand on end. If this was a Pegasus trap, he would be arrested any minute now.
After several minutes of waiting, a loud whisper called to him from the darkness.
“Face the dumpsters and shut your eyes!”
Star swallowed the lump in his throat and obeyed. “I’ve been caught!” he frantically thought. “This is the end for me!”
He heard the steps of somepony approaching him. They placed a blindfold over his eyes and prodded him to start moving.
“You may have captured me, you bastards,” he said, resigned to his fate, “but our cause will go on! We will stop you, and we will free the Alicorns!”
“Where not the Pegasi, you idiot!” one of his escorts said. “Now keep your mouth shut or the Pegasi will find us!”
“Oh,” was all Star could utter. He felt the blood rushing to his face as they continued to lead him into the back of a van.
As the van drove around town, Star couldn’t keep track of the seemingly endless number of left and right turns the van made. Star’s discomfort was accentuated by the quiet within the van, not mention the motion sickness he was getting from all the turning.
“So…where are we going?” he asked, hoping for a little conversation.
“We’re going nowhere,” a voice said. “Just stay quiet for now.”
Star could tell there were two ponies with him in the back of the van, plus the driver. With nothing else to do, but wait for them to arrive at whatever destination they were headed towards, Star leaned back against the side of the van and thought about all the events in his life that led him to be kidnapped and blindfolded in the back of a van.
As the van started to slow, Star realized they must be getting close and was starting to get antsy. When the van had stopped, he heard the driver’s door open and shut. As soon as the back door opened, Star tried to make a run for it, but with the blindfold still covering his eyes, he tripped and fell face first onto the ground.
“Star Swirl?” a soft voice called out to him.
As Star picked himself up off the floor, the blindfold fell from his eyes. He appeared to be inside an old warehouse. Only one or two lights were on, making it difficult to see. As his eyes adjusted, he could make out the shape of a unicorn.
“It can’t be?...Clover?” he said, not believing his unfocused eyes.
“You remembered!” Clover said rushing over to him. She gave him a hug. “My old mentor! You still have the beard I see,” she said giggling.
Star sighed. “The beard, the beard, always the beard! Pretty soon, everpony’s going to start calling me ‘Star Swirl the Bearded’! It’s good to see you too. But what are you doing here?”
“I’m in charge of our little group!” she said, nodding to one of the ponies standing next to her. He walked over to a switch along the wall. Several more lights turned on illuminating more of the warehouse. Star saw there were at least twenty more ponies in the room with them that he had not noticed before.
“Now when you say mentor…” the unicorn standing next to Clover said, questioningly. He doubted this wimp of a unicorn could have taught her anything.
“He used to tutor me with my Ancient Mythology homework back in high school,” she replied, smiling. “Never had the courage to ask me out, though!” She giggled as Star turned beet red. “So Star, you’ve decided to join our little group?”
Star regained his posture some. “Yes. I want to be a part of any cause that will help liberate the Alicorns!”
“Good!” said Clover. “First we’ll need to test you. Normally I would vouch for you, but in these times, we can’t be too careful.”
Clover’s horn started to glow brightly. Her eyes followed suit. Whatever spell she was casting, Star could see it required a tremendous amount of power. He watched as a large bubble formed over their heads growing outward, encompassing the two of them.
Star couldn’t help but admire how skilled Clover was with magic. He may have tutored her in Ancient Mythology, but she was always his tutor in magic, despite being two years younger than him.
With the bubble surrounding them, Clover spoke in a deep loud voice. “Star Swirl, you wish to join our cause, correct?”
“Yes.” he replied. His voice echoed around the bubble, surrounding them. The word became written and repeated throughout the bubble, before fading after a few seconds.
“You wish to work with all pony races together for the benefit of all ponykind?”
“Yes!” Star answered again, echoing throughout the bubble.
“You are now hiding Alicorns within your house! Is that correct?”
Star hesitated. Just as they couldn’t trust him outright, he could not give up that information so easily.
“No!” he called out, but the word did not echo. Instead it was absorbed by the bubble and was barely audible. The bubble then shouted back at him, “LIES!”
Star was scared, he had never seen magic like this, and now he may have put Ruby and the girls in danger. After a quick pause, the bubble dissolved away.
“Welcome aboard, Star Swirl!” Clover said to him smiling.
“I don’t understand, he said confused. “That bubble, it said I lied.”
“Not only are you the kind of pony who risks his own life to hide others,” she said, “you are also the kind who would try to keep them safe even if he thinks he’s amongst friends. I can’t think of a more qualified candidate.”
Star blushed slightly as he smiled. “I-uhm..thanks,” he said. “So what was that thing?”
“A revealer spell. Something I picked up after high school,” she said. “And now to business…”
Clover filled Star in on their plans and goals. They wanted to work with the Alicorn prisoners to stage a rebellion. They had started to smuggle food and weapons into one of the camps nearby. Clover had some Pegasi soldiers on her side to help keep the operation discreet.
“Would it be possible to try to locate an Alicorn in the camp?” Star asked, thinking of Bake.
“I’m sorry, but that would be too risky,” Clover said. “But if you’re willing to work the next shipment of weapons, you could pass a note. But it would need to be written so none but the recipient would understand. Would you be willing?”
“Definitely!” Star said, with surprising confidence.
Star checked his watch. ‘Twelve Minutes to three.’ He and two other ponies were huddled against a brick wall surrounding the camp. The wall faced an alley next to an old apartment building. No windows faced them, creating the perfect spot for hiding in the middle of the night.
They waited in silence listening for their cue. At three precisely, they heard the guard in the watch tower above their heads answering a call. His gaze turned away from them.
The Earth pony standing next to Star began digging and pulling up the ground under the wall. Star could tell this ground had been dug up several times before. Within moments a hole appeared. From the other side, a hoof reached forward into the hole.
Star lowered one of the bags down. Inside were small pistols that could be hidden easily. The hoof grabbed the bag and pulled it through. They lowered their bags one by one over the course of the two minute window they had, before the guard’s call would end. They needed to be completely finished by then.
As the last bag was grabbed from the other side, Star quickly took out a note from his pocket.
“Hey!” he whispered. “Do you know if Sugar Baker is in this camp?”
“What? I have no idea, there’s no time to talk–”
“Please if you find him, give him this…” Star handed the note to the hoof behind the wall. It snatched the note from his hoof.
“I’ll see what I can do, but no promises!” the voice called back.
They quickly replaced the soil and stone to make it look exactly as before with no signs of disturbance. The guard finished his call and returned to his post.
Star’s heart was ready to explode from the nervous stress bearing down on him. Despite his silent gasps, as they snuck away from the camp, his mind was racing with adrenaline. He really hoped his message would get through.
“Listen!” a voice whispered loudly to the group. Their voices settled down to listen to the elder pony. “We now know what the Pegasi are having us build. We are building their transport ships. They same ships they’re using to evacuate the planet leaving us here to die!”
Several voices in the group, huddled inside the barracks, growled in anger, but everypony had learned how to control their volumes, so their rage would not carry to the guards' ears.
“However, according to our engineer, these transport ships are not according to specification! They are not made for maximum occupancy, but rather for maximum artillery! They seem to be planning for a war.”
At once whispers raced across the room. The elder pony raised his hoof to silence them before their voices grew too loud. “Our friends from the outside are scheduling another delivery of food for tomorrow. The current ship is nearly complete and well guarded in building next to the factory. Between the weapons we’ve collected and next shipment of food, we should have the capability of taking the ship. This is our chance!”
More whispering spread throughout the room, however the whispers carried the tone of excitement amongst everypony.
“I need three volunteers for the next delivery,” the elder pony called looking around the barracks. Nearly three-quarters of the ponies in the room had their hooves raised. The few who did not, like Zeus, wanted no part of their plans and schemes. Next to Zeus, Sugar Baker had his hoof raised as high as it would go.
Three ponies were chosen, Bake was not among them. They pushed their way up to where the elder pony was sitting and began their plans for the next delivery.
As the group dispersed to their bunks, one of the ponies Bake had gotten to know pushed his way towards him.
“Bake!” he called running up to him. “You’re not going to believe it! I’ve got an actual letter for you!”
Bake thought he must have misheard him, but when he raised his leg with the letter in hoof, Bake became completely befuddled.
Taking the letter and unfolding it, a small note had been scribbled inside:
“Your prized gem is as safe as the sun and the moon are amongst the swirling stars.”
Bake reread the letter at least a dozen times before it fully sunk in. Tears began dripping from his eyes in floods.
“Is everything alright, Bake?” the letter bearer asked.
“O-Oh Yes. Fine. Better than fine. Incredible even.” He blubbered back through his sobbing.
“What does it mean?” he asked.
Bake wiped his eyes and sniffled. “It means, my wife and children are safe!”
“That’s amazing, Bake! I’m so happy for you.” He padded Bake on the shoulder half-heartedly. He was happy to hear his friend got word on his family, but the fate of his own family was still a complete mystery.
“Soon.” Bake thought to himself. “Soon, I will be free of this place and I will rescue you. Wait for me…”
“Twelve minutes to three,” the nervous unicorn said to himself. “Almost time.”
The three ponies waited for the guard to receive the call giving them their window. Thirteen minutes had past.
“I don’t like this,” one of them whispered. “The call was never late before!”
“Give it another minute,” another said. “It’s possible there’s a simple obstacle on the other end that needs to be dealt with.”
After an additional thirty seconds, the guard in the watch tower lifted his hoof answering the call. He promptly turned away giving them their window. The Earth pony in the group began digging quickly to open the hole.
As soon as it appeared, a hoof from the other side reached through. They lowered one of the bags of food into the hole. The hoof grabbed it and pulled it through.
Enormous, bright spotlights turned on, illuminating both sides of the wall. The Alicorn prisoners and rebel ponies on both sides were completely visible. They tried to run but were immediately surrounded.
The rebels were escorted inside the camp where they were joined by the Alicorns that belonged to the hooves in the hole.
“Move! Up against the wall!” One of the Pegasus soldiers screamed.
“They were sneaking in food sir!” Another soldier reported.
“I see. Well, we can’t be having that now…Turn and put your hooves on the wall.”
The Alicorns and ponies were lined up against the wall. Behind them several soldiers stood in a line, their guns aimed straight at them.
“Ready…Aim…” One of the rebels tried to make a run for it. The soldier giving the orders took out his pistol and shot the pony right in the back. He fell into the snow.
“Let’s see...where was I,” he said rubbing the gun against his temple. “Oh yes, FIRE!”
Instantly and silently, all the Alicorns and rebel ponies collapsed to the ground.
“Sergeant, take care of that mess, would you? He said, waving his pistol dismissively.
The soldiers began to cleanup the bodies. From the barracks, many watched in horror. A few tried to go after them, but were restrained by the others.
“Look! There is nothing you can do for them!” one of them said holding a pony back. “All we can do is make sure we succeed and put a stop to it ONCE AND FOR ALL!” The struggling pony caved, letting his hooves fall to his sides.
Zeus lying in the bunk with Bake, turned to him and whispered, “THAT is why I want no part in your crazy-ass plans! I got a plan of my own, and it’s called ‘NOT DYING!’”
Bake stared emptily into space. He heard the commotion, saw the flashes of the light from the guns. “That could’ve been me,” he thought. More than the thought of dying, it was the thought of never seeing his family again that scared him most.
“Good work, Private!” Commander Hirkain called to his subordinate. “Thanks to your intel, we were able to stop that Unicorn/Earth Pony plot to undermine my authority!”
“I-uh. I mean yes Sir. Thank you Sir!” Private Pimsey responded, sitting at his desk in the commander’s office.
“You just keep digging; see what you can find out. See how deep you can get, Corporal!”
“Y-Yes sir!..uhm…Corporal?”
“That’s right,” the commander said, proudly. “It’s about time you earned it, Pans…I mean Pimsey. Corporal Pimsey. You can be proud soldier. You’ve shown true loyalty.”
“Y-Y-YES SIR!” Pimsey saluted, puffing out his skinny chest.
“NOW GET BACK TO WORK, Corporal!” the commander barked.
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Happy New Year!
I decided to release tonight instead of tomorrow, since people will most likely be out celebrating and enjoying lots of Sweet Apple Cider!
You may have noticed the title change (turns out there was already a story called 'The Great Pony War' so I wanted to separate it in case people got confused).
Since I was lazy in getting a chapter out last week (the nerve of me celebrating the holidays!
) I made this chapter twice as long with a good plot twist to make up for it!
Enjoy!
P.S.: I might start posting every 8 days now to switch up release days (bring in some fresh meat for the grinder!
)
Slight flaw in your logic, Zeus: You're going to frikking freeze to death.
Fascinating alternate take on the formation of Equestria. I look forward to more, especially how the three tribes end up on the same planet and how Celestia and Luna make it there themselves. Oh, and how the tech level dropped so precipitously. I suspect two alicorns may have had a hoof in that...
Oh Pimsey, ya stupid Pansy. Why must you have been a spy like that?
1912503
Right on target!