1000 years ago Celestia, not Luna, went evil. She is slowly changing the land from a diarchy to a dictatorship. Luna is torn between bowing to her sister or fighting the one she loved most.
Celestia, not Luna, is going evil, and she slowly is changing the land from a diarchy to a dictatorship. Luna is then approached by a group of ponies who have a secret order that wants to take rule out of the evil hoof of Celestia and give it to Luna. The order believes that the evil sun that has scorched the land should set, to make room for the cool sweet moon. Luna does not want to hurt her sister, but if she does not act now, who knows what her sister will turn Equestria into?
Luna gazed up into the night sky. Her face contorted in a look of concentration as she elevated the stars into a beautiful array. Orion's belt had been particularly tricky lately, and It took all of her attention to get the three stars to line up just right. Luna was so enraptured by her task that she failed to notice the station that had quietly trotted up beside her.
"Um, princess?" the stallion said timidly
Luna jump and loosing her lazer-like focus and, the three stars she had finally gotten in place fell from their perfect alignment into a scattered mess. Luna turned around, suppressing the flash of annoyance at the interruption of her work. Luna always had time for her sisters ponies.
"What art thou doing in my chambers?" Luna half-wisperd not wanting to draw attention to her balcony.
"I have an important message for you, and it's crucial that you hear me out," the stallion replied a look of stony determination set on his face.
The use of the more common dialect of the working class caught her attention. She turned around, facing the stallion, the starry night sky momentarily forgotten. "What is so important that you saw it fit to disturb my labors?" Luna asked. The mare looked the station up and down assessing him with a carefully practiced eye. He seemed tense but steadfast, his hooves planted firmly but his eyes betraying just the shadow of worry. Never the less he stood his ground giving the air of a pony who could stair down a cockatrice if needed.
"Before I go on, I have to ask you an important question," the stallion said, his voice darkening. "Do you approve of what your sister is doing to Equestria?"
Luna paused for a moment, face blank and unreadable, before she queried, "Dost thou accuse my sister of some wrongdoing?"
The stallion did not seem perturbed by Luna's response, but instead just asked the question again. "Do you approve of what your sister is doing to Equestria?"
Luna thought about all the harsh rules Celestia had put into place, along with the expanded royal guard, which had had its name changed to the Solar Army. "No," she said. "No, I don't."
The stallion smiled and asked, "If you could stop her, would you do it?"
Luna thought for a moment before answering. "Yes, but only in a way in which the citizens of Equestria won't be hurt."
The stallion was practically beaming as he said, "Well, I represent a group of ponies who would like to dethrone Celestia and put you in change of Equestria."
Luna was taken aback. "Everypony thinks I'm a terrible ruler, and everypony is right. I can"t run the royal guard -- I mean, the Solar Army-- for a day, let alone a country, forever," she said, flustered.
"Everypony?" the stallion said, "or your sister?"
Realization hit Luna like a ton of bricks. "She was always the one that denied me a job . . . " Luna started in a soft voice, but as her anger grew, so did her volume. ''She was the one who removed me from my royal guard duties. She Is The One That Said Nopony Loves My Night! SHE IS THE ONE WHO TOLD ME NEVER TO DREAM WALK AGAIN!!!!" Luna turned her attention back to the stallion. "I'm in," she said.
The stallion smiled and handed her a note. "Welcome to the Moon Cult," he said, before he opened his wings (which Luna had not spotted before) and flew off.
Luna opened the note and read:
Next Tuesday morning at four o'clock
The basement of Sun Stiles, 234 N Ray Street
Password: eclipse
Luna thought about her sister and all she had done, and swore to herself that she would go.
Meanwhile, In Celestia's Chambers….
Celestia paced back and forth in front of a large pin-board covered with pamphlets. Some were on simple things, like the the new curfew, and others were on more important things, like creativity and other qualities that were not allowed in her kingdom. She smiled. "Now, what should my next pamphlet be about?" She thought to herself for a moment before grabbing some red and black pens and starting to write, a smile forming as thoughts became text. When she was finished, she put a picture of herself on the cover, standing tall and wearing her heavy metal chest plate and helmet. The helmet cut off into a crown around her brow. A normal pony's hair would be trapped under the helmet, but not Celestia's -- her fiery mane went through the helmet, making her look that much more imposing. And to Celestia, imposing was good. Imposing meant respect, and respect meant obedience. Then, on a whim, she wrote one word on the bottom in big white capital letters: OBEY. Then she put away her supplies and went to go get the pamphlet copied.
****
Luna stood there in her room as a moment of empowerment engulfed her. That moment was sadly short lived, as the realization about what she had decided to do hit her like a train. She was going to plot against her own sister, against Tia. But then again, "Tia" wouldn't treat ponies like this. Heck, she hadn't heard Celestia call anypony "My little pony" in years. Eventually Luna got herself so worked up that she decided to take a walk. She trotted to the door and threw it open, eager to get into the fresh night air. As she did, she heard a large bang and the door bounced back into her face. Luna carefully opened the door a second time, and found Celestia standing there with a large red mark on her nose.
"I'm so sorry, Tia, I didn't mean to hit you!" Luna cried, cheeks as red as the ink of the pamphlet that was smeared on her sister's snout.
"First off, you didn't bow, second off, you hit me in the face with a door, third off, NEVER call me TIA AGAIN!" Celestia bellowed, using her Canterlot voice to its fullest extent. "Now, LEAVE ME!" Celestia screamed, slamming the door back in Luna's face. Luna stood there, shocked, saddened, and disappointed . . . but also with a new resolve.
Tuesday morning 3:30 am Luna trotted through the Canterlot library, searching for a book on leadership, ruling, forms of government, or anything that could help her with the Moon Cult. Yet wherever there should have been a helpful book, there was just an empty spot. Eventually in one of the spots where a book should have been, there was a note that said: **Books too dangerous for public consumption. Moved to Celestia's chambers.** Luna smiled as she decided to go retrieve the book herself, plan forming in her mind as she looked out the window to see Celestia sitting on her courtyard throne, as she watched the army do their daily drills. Luna knew her sister would be out there at least another thirty minutes.
***
It had been easy to get the book from Celestia's chamber. It had been easy to smuggle the book to her chambers. It had not been easy, however, to figure out why Equestria had been changed from this 'Republic' to the diarchy. A republic seemed much more fair than Celestia and Luna (or just Luna) ruling by themselves. Luna spent several minutes reading the book before she looked up at the clock on the wall. 3:55. Luna shot up from her seat and quickly hid the book. Then she took a running start towards the balcony, and burst through the doors. She kept running until she was about to hit the banister, then opened her midnight blue wings and gave a tremendous flap. As she soared over her home city, she began to notice something: it wasn't as colorful or beautiful as it used to be. She made a mental note when if she had the power, to abolish all the anti -creative acts, first thing. Eventually she reached North Ray Street, and found an old rundown shop with a large sign above the door that read "Sun Stiles" in big golden letters. Luna knocked on the door
"Password," said a grumbly voice.
"Eclipse," Luna answered.
The door swung open to show a dingy store filled with bland regulation clothes. Luna did not spend a lot of time in the top half of the building, though, because she was ushered quickly through to the basement. The basement had a lot of differences, the first of which was that this room was packed full of ponies. Mares and stallions and even one or two colts and fillies were all facing forward, towards a large chair adorned with moon cutouts and a large podium. A tall stallion motioned for her to sit next to the podium. She did as she was told, and the proceedings began.
"All bow to the honorable Princess Luna," said the stallion. Everyone in the crowd bowed. Everything about the meeting was uniform and almost military. They went over several reasons why Luna was better than Celestia in the most unmoving way possible, while constantly bowing to Luna. Soon Luna had had enough. She stood up from her chair and walked to the podium.
"Look," Luna said, "I love that you all want to help me make a stand, but it won't work if we treat this like a military takeover." The crowd looked confused and unsure, but Luna didn't stutter. "Instead of one ruler versus one ruler, let's foment an uprising, and convince the people of Equestria that Celestia is wrong, and that creativity and color are good." The people of the crowd were beginning to perk up, and for the first time all morning they seemed excited. Luna's posture straightened as her confidence grew, and her words got stronger. "If we overthrow my sister I will not take lone power. I refuse to take full power. I propose a Republic, where each city will vote on a representative to be on the council that will make the choices." The room erupted into applause as cries and hoots filled the room. "Let's start campaigning," Luna said. "Now, is anypony here an artist?"
A purple unicorn stood up and began talking. "I'm Melody, and I am a musician. I have been keeping it secret for a while, but now in the promise of a new future, I'm ready to tell the world." There was a pause, everyone staring, before the room bust out with yelling.
"I'm a racer," one blue pegasus mare said.
"I'm an artist and I'm proud!" an older stallion yelled.
The room was full of people shouting, screaming their secrets-turned-strengths to the heavens. Luna waited for the crowd to quiet down before she spoke. "All right, everypony, let's get organized. Artists in the far corner," Luna pointed to the left back corner before continuing, "Musicians other far corner." She pointed with her hoof and continued talking. "Elite flyers and racers in the middle. Magicians in the left corner, designers in the right corner, writers by me." Luna finished talking and everypony obeyed. Soon the room was separated into six groups. Luna smiled.
"Now, everypony decide who should be the representative of your group. Take a few minutes of trying to convince everypony why you are the best to represent your group," Luna said.
The princess of the night watched as her own little republic was formed. Eventually six ponies made their way toward her. The first was Melody, who was sent up within the first minute of the elections from the musician group. She walked up to Luna and took her place next to her. Then a pink pegasus mare with a wind-blown blue mane and a bashful attitude came up and introduced herself as Firefly from the elite flyers group. Next came Nexus, an orange unicorn from the magic group, Bella, a gold earth pony from the designers group, and and an older earthpony stallion with a brown coat came forward from the artists. Finally a white pegasus colt no older than thirteen stepped forward from the writer's group, with a pen behind his ear. He said his name was Ink Velum. Finally the team had been formed.
"So," Luna said, "let's make a plan. We need to plan some act to convince people that freedom is worth fighting for."
Melody spoke first, eager to put her idea out. "We could compose a song about rebellion."
"Good!" Luna exclaimed. "How long will it take?"
Melody scrunched up her face in an expression of thought. "Two weeks," she said.
"Maybe we should hold another shorter meeting to decide what to do with the song," Nexus suggested.
"All in favor, raise a hoof," Luna said, and everypony in the circle raised their hoof.
Bella was next to speak. "We could make some type of clothing to signify unity, so that we can identify each other on the street."
"I think that's a great idea," Firefly said, "as long as it doesn't mess with my wings!"
"Ok," Luna said, "if there are no objections, let's do that." No pony made an objection, so Luna went on, "Now we need a name, because The Moon Cult doesn't exactly fit the message we are sending."
"Moon Rise," Melody suggested.
"How about Star Wing?" Firefly said.
"Shining Stars," Bella added.
"Shining Stars!?!" Firefly scoffed. "Sounds like some silly kid's play."
"Well, it's better than Star Wing!" Bella challenged.
Through all of the chaos came one voice that had not been heard all meeting. "What about The New Luna Republic?" asked Ink Vellum. Everyone stopped to look at the little colt.
"All in favor of The New Luna Republic, say aye," Luna said.
And everyone in the room, circle or no, said "Aye!"
The last meeting had been a major success. All the members of the council had decided to let Melody and her group start work on the song independently. The circle also decided (with Bella's grudging approval) to postpone the making of the symbolic clothing until the emblem was made. That had led to the biggest decision of the night. They were going to ask everypony in the art group to draw an emblem, and then they would vote on which one would be the emblem of the republic. Luna just hoped that this meeting would be that much of a success. She walked into Sun Stiles after reciting this week's password, and quickly headed to the basement. She entered to find all the groups in their respective places with the exception of the art group, who were quickly setting up their paintings and drawings of emblems. Their leader, Paint Stroke, was hurriedly helping ponies hang up their art. Once everypony showed up, Luna started the meeting.
"Welcome," she said in a proud voice, trying to boost the energy levels in the room, "to a very important meeting of the new Luna Republic Movement." There were a few cheers from the audience, as if Luna's excitement was contagious. She pulled out her agenda, which had been hastily thrown together at the end of the last meeting. Announce that we will be voting on an emblem, and then bring up Paint Stroke to show off paintings. "Today we will be voting on the emblem of the republic." Luna motioned at Paint Stroke to come up. "Here's Paint Stroke to start off the voting."
***
The final two contestants stood in front of their entries.
"Now," Paint Stroke said, "the two contestants will explain why their paintings should be the emblem, and then the final pole will be taken."
A tall unicorn stallion walked up with a canvas in the grip of his magic. The canvas in question held the image of a dark navy blue shield with a black crescent moon in the middle, and a four-pointed star at the top. On the base of the shield was a faint golden yellow box, off which the words 'Let the Moon Shine' were clearly visible. "Now," the unicorn said, "I think this should be our emblem, because it represents how we are willing to defend the night in all its glory, and that we will let the moon shine on forever!" The unicorn stepped back to his place in line with applause ringing in his ears. Then a pegasus mare stepped forward, her painting held up by a stand. The painting was simple, yet amazing and … strange. It was of a sideways crescent moon with wings on both sides. The wings were different than anything anypony had ever seen. They were sharp cut and bold. Their feathers were spread out, and in between the tips of the feathers was a star, held to the crescent moon by a bold line. "I believe this should be our emblem, because it shows we are not afraid to be different, creative, and original. The wings on the moon represent our ability to take Equestria to new heights," the mare finished, and stepped back to her place to deafening applause. Paint Stroke stepped back up and began to speak. "All who vote for this emblem," he pointed at the unicorn stallion's emblem, "go to the left side of the room." About one third of the ponies went.
"Looks like we have a winner," Paint Stroke said, pointing at the strange painting that the pegasus had entered.
After the emblem was decided, Luna called together a meeting of all the leaders.
"So," Luna said, turning to address Bella, the leader of the designers group, "now that we have an emblem, do you think you could make the clothing piece?"
"Yes, I'll get my group organized and designing right after the meeting," Bella answered confidently.
"Good," said Luna. "Now, how is the song going, Melody?"
"Good," Melody replied. "It should only be about another week."
"I think the flying group should get something to do," Firefly put in. "We haven't done anything yet."
"I think both the magic and flight groups' contributions would be more extreme, and should be saved until after we are known," Nexus said.
"I agree. We need to make a first move before we do anything drastic," Bella said.
"I agree," Ink velum affirmed.
"I think we should start out strong," Firefly argued.
"But then we would be putting all our cards on the table at once. Are you sure that's smart?" Bella questioned, tone raising ever so slightly.
"Well, we would go out in a blaze of glory!" Firefly exclaimed.
"Yes, but we can live longer if we don't start with something big," Bella shot back.
The argument escalated, until -- "QUIET!!!" Everypony in the room looked at Melody.
"Don't get your tails in a wad, you two!" the usually soft spoken Melody exclaimed. There was a bit of silence before Luna spoke up.
"Firefly, if you wait until we've made our first move, you can put on a more grand show," she said.
"How about a poster?" Nexus asked.
"How would we pass them out?" Paint Stroke wondered.
"A pamphlet!" Luna exclaimed. "I can sneak it in as one of Celestia's new pamphlets!"
"I think that's a wonderful idea!" Bella exclaimed.
"It seems good," Firefly put in.
"I could get my group working on a cover," offered Paint Stroke.
"And the writer's group could get working on the inside," Ink Velum said.
"Wait," Nexus interjected. "What about Luna?" All the members of the council sat in silence as the true gravity of the situation set in. "She will be seen as a traitor to the empire. Celestia will have the entire army after her, as well as every tracking spell known to Ponykind."
Luna gulped down the lump that had been forming in her throat. "I'll leave Canterlot," she said quietly. "I'll go to the old castle -- the one in the Everfree Forest."
The room was dead silent. Everypony turned to stare at Luna. It was widely known that the Everfree had been cursed with a spell to make it wild, so no pony would try to leave Equestria.
"It's too dangerous," Nexus said, breaking the silence. This opened the lid on the bottle, and the whole room started to try to convince and even plead for Luna not to go. Luna waited a second before --
"QUIET!" Luna exclaimed. "I can use the old castle. It has so many enchantments that it should hold up." Luna faltered. Did she really want to turn her life upside down like this?
"But how will you communicate with us if you are half way across Equestria?" Melody asked.
Luna thought for a moment, gears turning as she scoured her memory for a useful piece of information. Finally she remembered a spell that had been a pet project of hers. "I had been working on a spell I called the Set Point Spell before we left the castle. The spell was supposed to let some pony place down one "set point" and then create a door that leads there out of thin air. I already have a set point in my old room, and with help from the magic group, maybe I could re-establish the link."
"That could work," Nexus affirmed.
"OK," Luna said, gulping down her fear. "Let's get to work."
Luna ran around the room frantically trying to organize the the creation of the pamphlet, magic door, and symbolic clothing, all while thinking about whether or not to go through with this crazy half-baked plan. In other words, Luna was stressed. The three cups of coffee weren't helping, and although the drink wasn't calming her nerves she had it dangling in her magic along with her clipboard and quill, so she could stay awake while checking on preparations.
"So," Luna said to blue unicorn stallion from the magic group, "How will the portal work again?"
The stallion smiled. "Well, you already set a waypoint in the castle, so all we need to do is reopen it and attach it to a door frame. Then you just need to use a specially modified activation spell to establish the link."
Luna nodded her head. "And is the gate sustainable for long periods of time?" she asked.
"Yes," the unicorn replied. "Once the spell is put in place, it can run indefinitely."
"Good," Luna said, satisfied with the stallion's answer and the incredible speed of the perfection of the spell. "Thank you for the update."
Luna walked away from the unicorn and was heading towards Ink Velum to check up on the progress of the inside of the pamphlet, when --
"LUNA!!" Bella yelled, trying to capture the alicorn's attention. Luna turned around to find Bella beckoning for her to come over to the side of the room sectioned off for the designer's group. The alicorn trotted over and reached out with her magic to move aside the hastily created barrier between the designers and the rest of the group which Bella had insisted on, since she wanted a private place for her group to work. Luna was only stepping though a gap in tattered curtains, but the difference was huge.
"WOW!" Luna exclaimed, staring at at the bustling mass of ponies. Several of them were making advanced measurements with metallic instruments that Luna could not name. Others were making drawings and concept art of a beautiful amulet. Each sketch was an improvement on the last, as the design grew more and more intricate. There was also a group of unicorns (some from the magic group, others designers) blasting away at and putting various charms and enchantments on an assortment of metals, jewels, and stones. This organized chaos was only held together by Bella, who was running around with a checklist similar to Luna's.
"Luna!" Bella exclaimed excitedly. "We just finished the final modifications on the prototypes, and we would like you to look it over." She started to walk over to a table on the far side of the room, and Luna followed close behind. The two mares reached the table and stared down at its contents. There on the table were six dazzling amulets depicting the emblem of the new Lunar Republic. They had obsidian wings and some strange silvery white rock as the moon. The crowning jewel was that each of the stars were different colors, and made of a polished metal that glistened with a magic aura.
"Wow," Luna said. "Just WOW!" Her mouth was wide open in a look of pure awe.
Bella blushed but proceeded to explain the amulets features. "Well, my group and I thought that we should have a different color star for each group to represent originality, and for the rest of the amulet to be the same to represent unity," she explained. "As an added bonus, we got the magic group to help make it, so it will stay attached to you without needing an article of clothing to put it on." Bella picked up an amulet with her magic and put it to her neck. Then to Luna's astonishment, it vanished.
"Where did it go?" Luna exclaimed, visibly confused.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Bella said. "You can only see an amulet if you're wearing one." Then Bella levitated the blue amulet to Luna's neck, where it attached itself firmly. Suddenly Luna could see the gold amulet that was attached to Bella's chest by no visible means. "The stone is laced with a masking spell to make it invisible to every pony who isn't wearing an amulet themselves. We thought it would be a good idea, because then the solar army could not see them."
"That's brilliant!" Luna exclaimed. "Do you know when you could make more?"
Bella smiled. "We can have the whole movement outfitted by next meeting if you want."
"That's great," Luna said, placing her amulet back on the table and starting for the exit, needing to check on Ink Velum and Paint Stroke. "Keep me posted."
Luna stepped out of the makeshift fashion studio only to be stopped by the very stallions she had been looking for, holding something between them. It took Luna a few seconds to process what it was, then she got it.
"You're done already!" Luna said, shocked.
"Yep," Paint Stroke said. "One pamphlet on why Celestia is corrupt, on what the New Lunar Republic is, and on creativity and freedom."
Luna took the paper up in her magic and read through it. The cover was a beautiful picture of the emblem with Luna standing tall, erect,and gorgeous in the background. The inside, though, was the real star of the show. It was persuasive but in a way that didn't seem too demanding, and it was written to make the reader want to do something. And even as Luna was reading the pamphlet, all doubts of what had to be done faded in her mind. She looked up from the pamphlet and smiled. "Good work," she said, before going to collect the other group leaders.
***
"The plan is simple," Firefly said. "Luna goes to the press office, gives them the pamphlet in an envelope, says it's from her sister, and gets the heck out of there."
"You remember the spell, Luna?" Nexus asked.
"Yep," Luna said.
"Once you're in the castle we will connect with you from here," Nexus said.
"OK," Luna replied.
There was an awkward silence in the group as the realty of the crazy and possibly fatal plan sank in. Luna stood up. "I better get going," she said, as she walked out the door.
Luna walked though Canterlot on autopilot, not really thinking about her steps but about how she was walking towards her impending doom, and how every step led her closer to her certain demise. After what seemed like no time she reached an imposing building with a large sign that read "Canterlot Press" in bold print. Luna walked into the building, a bead of sweat on her brow. She trotted through the lobby, walked up to the front desk, and said the lines which she had been rehearsing in her head since the plans conception: "I have a pamphlet directly from Celestia. You are to distribute them to all Equestria." Luna straightened her back and tried to sound commanding. "The pamphlet, by direct order of Celestia, is to be kept secret until distributed, and is to be seen by only those who absolutely need to."
"YES, MA'AM," said the pony at the desk, before taking the envelope Luna handed him.
Luna got out of the press building before starting to hyperventilate as the realization sank in. The air suddenly felt cold as she conjured the door and walked swiftly through the frame, making her escape. Princess Luna had just committed high treason.
Luna stepped out of the portal and sealed it without a second glance. The princess of the night took a few steps before sitting down right in the middle of the room, and then she did something that she didn't want anyone to see her doing: Luna cried, hot tears slipping down her muzzle as she heaved out great sobs. Her whole body shook as the powerful sadness forced its way up her throat and out. "What have I done?" Luna thought, as she envisioned her sister's face. It smiled down at her, and Luna imagined her sister's fire-like hair turning back into the ribbons of flowing color that it used to be. She imagined her sister's current armor falling away, and remembered her sister dressed in gold necklaces and glittering shoes. She had just betrayed TIA, her sister, her best friend. The only one that will live forever with her.
"Now what do I DO?" Her thoughts came out as words out loud as she asked the one question that had plagued her mind ever since her sister had started taking over. She continued just to sit there and cry for a while, until she looked up at the clock, and realized it was almost 2:30. The New Lunar Republic in its entirety would be here in 30 minutes to start setting up base, and she, its leader, was a total mess. Luna picked herself up off the floor and headed by memory to the bathroom nearest her bedroom. As Luna walked down the halls she noticed everything seemed to be exactly as she had left it.
"It better be," Luna mumbled under her breath as she remembered all of the conservation spells she had put on this place without her sister's knowledge. It had been hard to cast the spells, and even harder to do so without alerting her sister. Luna paused and made a decision. She would no longer call Celestia ''sister.'' She was her enemy now. Yes, she had given her sister the benefit of the doubt for far too long. Luna reached the bathroom and splashed water on her face to wash the tears away, then she looked up into the large ornate mirror and stared at her own reflection. She straightened her back and lifted her chin.
"I am princess Luna, and I am not Celestia's puppet anymore. I AM MY OWN PONY!!!!" Luna thundered the last part in the royal Canterlot voice, something her sister had forbidden her from doing. But Luna didn't care; she was done playing by her sister's rules. It was about time for her to start writing her own.
===**===
The castle was a busy place for the first time in years. Ponies started to set up work places and meeting rooms in the new ample space. The change of base had come in the nick of time, because the old headquarters in the dingy basement of Sun Stiles had become so crowded that it was standing room only. Now each group had its own workplace, and there was even room for more frivolous things, like a break room and a ballroom. The focal point of the castle, though, was the assembly hall. The assembly hall was a large room where hundreds of seats ringed a stage in a half-circle. On the stage was a podium that glowed with the slight dark blue aura of amplification spell that had been put on it by a careful horn. As Luna looked at the podium, she silently wondered if Nexus had purposefully chosen a spell that was a dark blue because it would match her coat.
Behind the podium were seven chairs. The one on the far left side was draped in an orange banner embroidered with stars. The chair next to it looked similar, except its banner was sky blue, and instead of stars the cloth held the image of clouds and swirls of what seemed to be wind. The next chair had an ivory colored banner that held the image of an intricately stitched ink pen. On the far right was a chair with a brilliant gold banner with a sewing needle stitched into it. Next to this was a chair with a red banner that held the image of a paint brush painting a single stroke, and then came a chair with a dark blue banner that showed elegant music notes. Finally, in the middle of all of these seats was a tall throne with a moon and stars painted on its back. It was stunning and beautifully done and the stars seemed to be made of gems. It was obvious to anyone that stepped into the room that the chair belonged to Luna.
===***===
Luna sat in the meeting room with five of the six ponies in her main circle, waiting quietly for Nexus to return with news of how their pamphlet had worked. Everypony was nervous, tired, and frazzled.
"This is the second day in a row that I've run on coffee," Luna thought. "It can't be good for my health. Then again, falling asleep and missing the news that my sis... I mean, Celestia, is hunting me wouldn't be good either." A shiver ran down her spine as she thought of the thousands of guards that were probably searching for her right at this moment.
"Eh hem." Bella was the one to finally break the silence. "I have a special announcement about the amulets." Everypony in the room turned to Bella, and as she spoke she explained all the enchantments and symbols. Then she asked the group a question. "Look, my group and I had the idea of giving each group a color. Is everypony ok with that?" Everyone gave their assent, and Bella continued. "Ok, we made light blue stars on the amulets for the elite flyers group, orange stars for the magic group, dark blue stars for the music group, ivory colored ones for the writers and gold ones for my group, the designers." Once the excited unicorn finished, she passed out amulets to all the group leaders except Nexus, who had not yet arrived. She put his amulet on the table in the spot where the stallion would soon sit.
"Almost forgot," she said, as she turned to Luna and levitated an amulet out of the bag. "This is yours, Luna," Bella said, and she levitated the amulet over to Luna. Its star was a deep midnight purple, lined with the colors of the other groups. The colors seemed to orbit the star and the star itself glowed with a soft gentle light reminiscent of a full moon. "This is beautiful," Luna said, as she put her amulet on, awestruck by the craftsmanship. "Thank you."
At that moment the door opened, its hinges making a loud creaking noise as the mood in the room shifted back to its previous grim state. Nexus entered the room, his face unreadable as he walked to his seat. He took a few seconds to get comfortable in his chair before he spoke. "All of Equestria received the pamphlet without delay. There have been small incidents of graffiti that seem to be pro NLR, and Celestia made a formal statement that the pamphlets were dangerous, which means we got her attention. Also, Luna, you have been stripped of your title and your authority, and there is a pony hunt going on to arrest you."
"Looks like we hit a pretty hard blow," Firefly exclaimed, and although her words were confident, her voice cracked.
"Yeah," Melody said. "I just hope we can withstand the counter attack."
It takes a lot of skill, talent, and planning to get an underground rebel organization set up. You have to make sure new ponies are trustworthy, or there could be a security breach. You need to find investors to keep finances in check. But most of all, you need followers -- ponies who strongly believe in your cause. In most cases this takes a lot of time, like months or years. But this wasn't most cases. Many ponies didn't like Celestia, either because of the oppression, or the army presence, or how they were constantly reminded that they were nothing compared to the radiant ruler of Equestria! Two weeks. TWO WEEKS is all it took for some prodigy magician to come up with a truth spell to help make sure that higher ranking officials weren't spies. Investors from Canterlot and the pooled resources of the whole movement had created a fairly large financial cushion. And followers? That part wasn't even hard. Adults, teens, and even a few foals had flooded to Luna.
Some of the bigger cities like Baltimare and Manehattan had to have two bases set up, because of the sheer amount of ponies. Nexus had been hard at work connecting all the bases with waypoints, choosing a hall near the center of the castle to be the convergence point. This and the fact that this was where Luna was staying made the Castle Everfree the hub of the N.L.R. With the recent expansion, there had to be some changes made to the government. First off was that the group leaders were now just the directors of their groups, not the leaders of the Republic. The group leaders now had a title, too: Movement Directors. This new title earned them a silver glow around their amulets, which was there for both identification and security purposes. All the group leaders thought the change was for the best, because now most of the localized decisions were made by voting. One of the first votes that had been taken was the vote on who should be the representative of the Everfree in the Council of Shadows. The Council of Shadows was the group of ponies who made the big decisions in the N.L.R. The council consisted of one representative from each group and Luna. The elections had lasted one whole week, and eventually Melody came out on top. She earned a purple sheen on her amulet, which made the object appear to shine with darkness. The color and 'shine' of the amulet could only be described as a pitch black night. This showed her position.
The rebellion had gotten very large, and very real, very fast. Luna had been so meek, but in the past couple of weeks she had had a re-emergence of her old brash, well-spoken self -- the one she used to be before Celestia had taken full power. Slowly Luna stopped being the obedient filly that Celestia wanted her to be, and started being the strong princess she was. She started doing things she had wanted to do for so long. One of those things was her beloved dream-walking. Luna had thoroughly missed roaming ponies' dreams and giving them peaceful slumber. She also missed giving speeches. She had an old equestrian accent that made her words pleasant to the ear, not like the new equestrian style that used shortened words and a fast pace. When she wanted to be, she was a convincing speaker, for her true age and wisdom showed through.
For the first time in what seemed like forever, she would be speaking in front of a large crowd again. The crowd in question would be huge; the entire Manehattan division of the N.L.R. would be showing up, and if the notes Proper Grammars had supplied her with were correct, that meant about four-million ponies. Adrenaline pumped through the Princess of the Night's heart as the railcar crested a hill. The car was traveling at what seemed to Luna like daredevil speeds, the world passing by in a flash though the plexiglass windows. Railcar was a standard form of transportation in Manehattan. The fast machines were used to export goods from the many factories that employed most of the city's population. The car was small, and barely fit Luna, Melody, and the small entourage of ponies who were helping coordinate the event. The car also had a very pungent smell that reminded Luna of the time she had fallen into a vat of magical transformation byproduct. She had smelled like industrial waste for weeks. There was also a slight smell of paint, which was probably from the graffiti that covered the walls.
"We are approaching the city," a stallion with an ear piece said in a level tone. "It should be just over the next hill."
Luna's jaw dropped as the city came into view. The first thing she saw was a statue of Celestia standing on her back legs, wearing a beautiful robe and a crown, and holding up a torch with a sun on the end. The statue was very well-maintained. It gleamed like the sun. The statue looked like it was the only thing that had been kept up, however; the city itself was very run-down. Windows were broken, metal was rusting, and the whole city was covered in a layer of grime and graffiti. Even the huge pony head on the top of the tallest building in town had not escaped the vandalism. The city had been built to be the capital of Equestria before Celestia decided to abandon it for Canterlot. The city's layout was unique; it had tall sky-scrapers and an organized grid of streets that could be found nowhere else in Equestria. Only a few buildings were spared from the elements, and these buildings were the factories -- tall buildings that emitted streams of smoke and ash into the air.
"I knew Manehattan wasn't well off, but I never knew it was this bad," Melody said, with a slight note of horror in her voice.
