//------------------------------// // Chapter 22 - Resistance // Story: Tale of a Lost Scoots // by RDfan27 //------------------------------// “Well, to tell you that story, I have to go back a while. Back to when I was not much older than either of you. It was back around the time I met Honeydew. I lived where your daughter is at now. It’s a small town just over those mountains,” he said, pointing to a range of mountains to the East. “As I’m sure you know by now, most of the cities here are divided up among the different races of ponies. But, what you may not know is that there is one town where this is not the case.” “In this town, all three races of ponies live together. It is not out of kindness though, it is more out of necessity. Or at least, that is what most people think.” “I, as is the case with most ponies who lived there, was born there. My parents moved there before I was born. It’s a small, and rural town, where ponies who can’t afford to live in the big cities come to live. That’s what brought my parents there so many years ago. My dad was out of a job, so they were forced to move where they could afford to live.” “That’s how most ponies end up there, but most of them don’t stay because they have to. Granted, there are some ponies who are stuck there due to finances, most of them could afford to move elsewhere if they wanted to. But, they don’t.” “The real reason for this town… is the Resistance. As I’m sure you’ve figured out, the government here is not the greatest. It is run by pegasi, whose only focus is staying in power. They don’t care for the ponies they rule over, and they definitely don’t care about friendship or harmony.” Rainbow Dash interjected, guessing where this was going. "So, as long as the races stay separate, they stay in power?” Blazing Fire nodded. “Mhmm.” “But, haven’t ponies noticed this? I mean, if they really treat everyone that badly, then why haven’t ponies just banded together and risen up? This many ponies could easily overthrow one government.” Blazing Fire sighed. “If only it were that simple.” “What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked. “If the different races were willing to work together on anything, then there wouldn’t be any problem.” “Well can’t they see that they need to put this pointless feud behind them and work together?” “Some ponies have, and the government used it to their advantage. When ponies come together to rise up, they put an end to it quickly.” “But if there were enough of them, then the government wouldn’t be able to do anything. We just need to get enough ponies to realize that, and we’re set!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed triumphantly. “That’s a lot easier said than done. Most ponies aren’t even willing to try working together with ponies of other races.” “But why not?” Fluttershy asked. “There’s nothing wrong with other ponies.” “That may be true,” Blazing Fire said. “But that’s not what everypony here believes. Stories are passed down from generation to generation. Stories of death, war, violence…” “And the government has had a hand in it too. There have been times, times when revolutionaries seeded the public with visions of a future that embraced everypony, no matter what the race. But, every time that happened, the government has poisoned their message with propaganda or forced them into silence.” “What do you mean by ‘propaganda’?” Rainbow Dash asked. “It all has the same general theme: all other races are monsters that you should isolate yourself from. Earth ponies have stories of pegasi and unicorns, pegasi have stories about earth ponies and unicorns, and unicorns have stories of pegasi and earth ponies.” “But what about those police-ponies in Zatoka? They said they had heard a story about the land where we come from? About harmony and friendship between the races.” “That’s more of a legend, a ‘tall tale’ if you will. Few ponies know of it, and even fewer believe in it. For some, it’s a ray of hope, but for most, it’s just another phony story made up by dreamers.” “That’s terrible,” said Fluttershy. “Yeah, it is,” Rainbow Dash agreed. “But what does it have to do with Scootaloo?” “I’m getting there,” Blazing Fire said. “As I was saying earlier before I digressed, I used to live in this town. It was the middle of summer, and a new couple had just arrived in the town. “As I often did when new ponies moved to town, I went to greet them. I was a recruiter of sorts for the resistance. My job would be to greet the new ponies, make small talk, and inconspicuously see how open they would be to the idea of resistance. That is what I did on this occasion. The only difference was, I found out a whole lot more than I had originally intended. “They seemed to be a normal couple at first, and it was not hard to see that they, like many others, would be very open to the idea of resistance. I told them to meet me at the cafe the next day. When they arrived, I took them back into the main headquarters to talk with them more deeply about the cause. “Now, before I continue, I must point something out. I don’t know if you have met that many couples here, but as you can probably guess, a relationship between two ponies of different races is very uncommon and even frowned upon by many.” “I can see that,” Rainbow Dash said. “Well, these two ponies were one of the few exceptions to this trend. It was a pegasus and a unicorn. As I just mentioned, that is not something you usually see here, so I immediately began to question what brought them to the town. I first suspected that they came here for the reason that many couples like this come here, which is to avoid being outcasts in society. I quickly began to realize that this was not the case though.” “When they learned of our group, they were beyond relieved. They wanted nothing more than to get back at the government.” “What did the government do to them?” Fluttershy asked. “That’s what I asked, and apparently the government was the whole reason they ended up in that town. They had taken their money, and made their lives a living Tartarus until they had no choice but to move to our town.” “Whoah, they can do that?” Rainbow Dash asked. “They can do anything! They’re the government! Everything that happens, they control!” “But why would they do that? That makes no sense!” Blazing Fire paused and took a deep breath. “I know it doesn’t. Or at least… it didn’t at first.” “It was late in the evening. We had been talking all day, and all of the others had long since cleared out of the room, so it was just the three of us left in the room. I decided to ask them what exactly it was they had done to make the government so mad.” “Reluctantly, they answered, after some pushing. Apparently, when they had first gotten together, a little after they were married, they were approached by a government official. This official offered them a large sum of money. So large, they couldn’t refuse.” “Well, what did they have to do in return?” Fluttershy asked. “That’s the part that still hurts me to think about. They… they were asked to foalnap little fillies and colts.” Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both gasped loudly in surprise, Fluttershy’s front hooves shooting up to her mouth. “W-what!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “B-but w-why would they do that?” Fluttershy asked incredulously. “I know, I know, but you have to look at it from their perspective. They were a young, new couple, who was short on money. They were offered enough money to make all of their dreams come true, and they were absolutely assured that the foals wouldn’t be harmed.” It took a minute, but Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were eventually able to calm down and slow their breathing to a more normal rate. “It still isn’t right,” Rainbow Dash said after a minute. “I know it’s not, and I never said I agree with it, but it’s what happened. That being said, they were one of the more reluctant ones to agree to it. The money is usually just too much for ponies to resist.” “So, they reluctantly agreed and took part in it for a short while. At first, everything was as the official had said it would be. They were paid their sum weekly, as long as they reached their quota of one foal every two weeks.” “And then it all changed. One time, they had just foalnapped a small filly and were reluctantly delivering her to the same drop-off spot as usual. This time, it did not go so smoothly though. Right as they met the pony who had arrived to pick up the foal, the filly made a break for it. She struggled and squirmed until she finally broke free, at which point she ran.” By this point, tears were streaming down Blazing Fire’s face. “Sh-she tried so hard to get away. She ran with everything she had, tears pouring out of her eyes as she cried. She wanted nothing more than to get away. To get back to her family. To be held in her mother’s arms once more.” Both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy also had tears in their eyes by this point. “The couple was stunned. They couldn’t get the foal. They just couldn’t. That’s when the stallion who they were supposed to meet jumped in. He ran after the foal, catching her in no time. She wouldn’t stop trying to break free, so he just… h-he just… killed her. Right there in front of the couple. Just killed her with no regret. No remorse!” Blazing Fire stopped himself, seething with rage. He took a deep breath before beginning again. “That’s what made them stop. They couldn’t have lived with themselves if they took one more child… so they didn’t. They met with the officer again and told him they were done.” “The officer warned them not to. He said they would regret it, but they didn’t care. They couldn’t keep doing it, so they stopped. That’s what made the government so mad. They took away all of their money, took away any chance of them getting employed, and tarnished their reputations. That’s how they ended up at our town.” “And that’s why Scootaloo is not safe. You can’t just go get her, because if anyone in the government were to find out, I’m afraid of what may happen.” Rainbow Dash nodded slowly, fighting to hold back her emotions. “Okay. I see. So… what can we do?” “Well, as I said before, it’s too risky for her to go anywhere, but I can take you to her.” Rainbow Dash’s eyes lit up in excitement at this. “Really?” she asked. “Mhmm,” he said with a nod. “Awesome!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she turned and wrapped a startled Fluttershy up into a massive hug. “I can’t believe it! Finally! We found her!” she exclaimed loudly. Blazing Fire chuckled. “Yes, I know. I’d be excited too.” He sighed internally. ”You have no idea.” “When do we leave?” asked Rainbow Dash hurriedly. “We can leave right now if you want.” “Yes!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, hopping up to her hooves only to be stopped by Fluttershy. “Umm, Rainbow. Don’t you think we should go tell the others first?” We don’t want them going on a wild goose chase. And then wouldn’t they be worried when they couldn’t find us?” “Oh yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, her ears drooping. “How about I send Honeydew to go get them? She could tell them what’s going on, and then they could all meet up with us at the town,” Blazing Fire suggested. “That could work,” Fluttershy agreed. “Yeah, that sounds good,” Rainbow Dash said. “Well alright then. I’ll go tell Honeydew what to do while you two get ready to leave. Where can she find your friends?” Rainbow Dash paused. “They should be at the hospital still. There were two other fillies with us. The sisters of two of our friends. They also got taken and escaped. The only catch was that one didn’t make it out unharmed. She’s got a broken hoof and they’re not releasing her until tomorrow,” she said Solemnly. Blazing Fire nodded in understanding. “You all are very lucky ponies. I’ll tell Honeydew where to go and I’ll be right back so we can leave.” Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both nodded. “Okay,” Fluttershy said.