Hey there, I'm Selenite, the batpony helping Sunset and her lil crew here, they’re currently sitting at the back of my car, talking to themselves about the little plan they just hatched, fun stuff! But you might be wondering about other things aren’t you? Like say, why I decided to help her, share my entire car collection with a group of labourers, and drive around the group in probably the car I cherished the most. For any normal pony, such a proposition would be insanity, but fortunately for Sunset, I am no normal pony.
To make things short, I'm a batpony, and throughout the centuries bigotry against batponies has been a near constant after Nightmare Moon’s banishment. Only recently with Luna’s return has that outright hatred been subsiding, and I feel for the labourers protesting for their rights. The long answer? Well, it’ll take some time to explain.
The radio chattered as I drove the car, the early morning slowly giving way as Celestia’s sun rose. it’s still a 30 minute drive to the building, but from what the radio’s been saying, everything’s going well.
Alright, back to the story. I guess we have to start my story with “How, how in the world did I gain enough cash to get a nice penthouse, some nice cars, and possibly the best view of Manehattan around?” Well, after the war, my pockets stacked with money from the veterans’ bill Princess Celestia had recently passed, I immigrated to Manehattan in search for a job, while in the first couple of months I found nothing, I met this quite amazing pony by the name of Coco Pommel. She mentioned a play that she’s working the costumes on, and while we talked, Coco talked about how the cast of that play needed some actors to play a role.
I heard that, decided that “whatever pays the bill, works”, and auditioned for the play. I didn’t get the role, but I did get the attention of some of the judges, judges that were working on other plays in Manehattan’s Bridleway. 2 weeks later, I received a letter detailing another audition, an audition one of the judges is working on. I took the job, and my name was immediately out. Selenite, Batpony Extraordinaire! Playing as the Countess of Mount Foalia!
I went from being a rather renowned soldier, into the talk of Bridleway all of a sudden.
One thing led to another, I got an agent, and a career as a Bridleway Actress just opened up to me. I wouldn’t say that I am the best at my job, but when Princesses Luna and Twilight have seen plays worked by you, in all it’s acting glory and all that. I think that I know a thing or two about acting nowadays.
And to think that I was planning to work in a freaking factory when I arrived in Manehattan! Life does throw you a lot of curveballs. Not every player can hit a curveball, but it appears that this curveball was beneficial for me.
Not every pony has the benefits I have, and I have every intention of helping them if I have the ability to do so. Being a former officer, a high ranking one, within the Equestrian Military does have some… advantages in terms of organising stuff.
My train of thought was suddenly broken when I heard police car sirens blare up, a car carrying a bunch of very pissed off factory workers were being chased by a police vehicle. Its sirens blasting as loud as it can as the car swerved into another road, the cops too busy chasing the car to give notice to the visibly orange mare sitting right next to me. And they just speeded off, past us.
“Well, it seems your plan’s working.” I said, looking at Sunset.
“I know it’s pure chaos, but it is working.” Sunset responded. “You know why we need this type of chaos right? Instead of just teleporting straight into the tower?”
I nodded.
After the war, a couple of technologies were developed to detect and prevent instant teleportation, military operations with teleportations are always a constant pain in the rump back then. What was once a system designed for the war slowly turned into a system designed by the Police Force to prevent unwanted intrusion. True, the number of unicorns that can teleport like say, Princess Twilight or Starlight Glimmer are few and far in between. Nonetheless, while technologies to prevent teleportation spells are still few and far between, technologies that can DETECT teleportation are a very different story.
And the MMPD conveniently has an entire department dedicated towards detecting any magical emissions from teleportation spells. A department that must be working overtime. I imagine, when you have Starlight and Tempest disagreeing with who you take money from, that they would think some teleportation spells would be in play.
“Sorry for putting you in the spotlight though.” Sunset continued. “There’s no other way to get your cars into Ocellus’ hoof without some massive teleportation spells.”
“Eh, don’t worry too much Sunset. I have my lawyers, you don’t get to become a famous actress without some insurance.” I responded. “Anyway, I think we’re nearing the building. Wanna call Ocellus?”
“Yep.” Sunset responded, grabbing the radio and adjusting it’s frequency. Anyway, where was I, oh, right.
I guess explaining some “whys” are also in order.
Why, why would some famous actress of a Bridleway stage show be more than willing to help out a bunch of factory workers? It does sound perplexing doesn’t it? Well, if you know anything about batponies, and a lil bit of my own personal history. It would make the reasoning obvious.
But since you don’t know both, I guess I should start with my own tribe. Thestrals are pretty unique within Equestria, a mysterious fourth pony tribe that did participate in the formation of Equestria, although in a much more roundabout way. Batpony tribes were busy doing a little bit of Earth Pony work and a little bit of Pegasi work when the Windigo storm hit. Knowing that there were better lands in the south, we didn’t bother ourselves with going to that fateful summit of the three tribal leaders. We just straight up packed up and left.
When the other three tribes settled their differences and founded the first iteration of Equestria, our existence flew straight under the radar of all three of ‘em. They thought that Thestrals died in the freezing north, particularly since not only did our tribe not participate in the summit, but there are no visible signs of us in this new land of Equestria.
For a while, this situation persisted, even before Equestria’s first founding, relationships between Thestrals and the other tribes weren’t necessarily the best, so we decided to live more isolated, trading occasionally with the southern ponies for what we needed. It was only when Princesses Celestia and Luna ascended to the throne after Discord’s chaos did we start venturing out, primarily encouraged by the Moon Princess herself, but after Nightmare Moon, bigotry against batponies rose to unprecedented heights, and with a collective sigh and much regret, we isolated ourselves once more with the help of Celestia.
It’s only with Luna’s return did we start venturing out again. Although it seems that our second venture is looking more successful than the last one. Batponies served in the military at an unprecedented scale during the war, yours truly included. We became generals, ministers, factory workers, you name it, and the sudden inclusion of batponies into Equestrian life, although it did garner some consternation, didn’t result in the bigotry that we expected. Thank Twilight and her friends for that. Magic of Friendship and all that jazz.
But still, the question persists. Why did I decide to help them? If the history of the batponies, and their near constant isolation and bigotry thrown into them isn’t enough of an answer, then perhaps the history of a certain batpony, a batpony that encountered frequent bigotry by her employers even after her escapades in the Equestrian Military, a batpony that only got her lucky break because a certain cream colored mare decided to be a good enough friend and put a good word out about myself, should be good enough to be enough evidence that this is a cause i’m very sympathetic to.
I’ve encountered enough crap from some very horrible ponies, even nowadays. I won’t let creatures that are less fortunate than me encounter the same problems.
Gosh, that was a very long series of monologues ain’t it? I really need to stop my daily self talk sessions, this is getting a bit out of hoof.
Good timing as well, since I see the visage of the Manehattan Comms tower right now. The bright banner of the host, Morning Coffee, hangs proudly at one of the tower’s commercial spaces.
“We are approaching the building, tell Ocellus to meet us at the Underground parking lot. Also, bring whatever protesters you have to barricade the building.” I ordered, turning the car and heading towards the conveniently located underground parking lot. So far, so good.
We waited for some time, I noticed that all of Sunset’s group were visibly alert and on guard, probably not wanting to take any chances. I could see the air, already stuffy and hot within the car park, turn even more hot just by the situation alone. Corrupt cops duking it out against war veterans and the rector of the School of Friendship has a very real possibility of turning real bad, real quick.
It’s a good thing that the next car that arrived after us isn’t some police cruiser, but a loaned vehicle I just donated, this time, carrying a certain blue Changeling as its passenger. This Ocellus quickly jumped off the car as it stopped, trotted rapidly towards Sunset, and nodded.
“So, you ready?”
“As ready as I'll ever be Ocellus.” Sunset responded, “Alright, we just need all of you to form with the rest of the group of protesters outside. Starlight, Tempest, if any cops start shooting, I hope you can create a barrier big enough to prevent the bullets from coming through.”
Both of them nodded and trotted out.
“Now, Sonata, I'd like you to distract the cops as much as possible, make yourself as distracting as possible. Create weird faces, taunt them, do whatever. If we can take off the head of the protesters, then that’s all the better for us.”
“Definitely!” the Seapony mock saluted, before she then set off to the parking lot herself.
“And Selenite. I know I'm already asking a lot of you, and it’s not in my place to ask for more, but would you mind acting as overwatch for the protesters? Point out some areas that they want to occupy, some areas they want to stay clear off, warn them of incoming police cruisers, all that stuff?”
I nodded without hesitation. “I’ve already helped you this far Sunset. Count me in.” And rapidly flew out of the parking garage.
I guess it’s time to show these police fools why me and my friends were called ‘Luna’s finest’ during the war. A single flap of my wing, a little bit of concentration, and I'm immediately overlooking the entire building from the sky, many ponies, buffaloes, changelings, and labourers of all species started congregating. And yet, I can visibly hear the police sirens from afar.
Alright, let’s get to work.
I’m nervous, and I shouldn’t be.
A short elevator ride took us off of the parking lot and into the main lobby of the big skyscraper, one does not need to be observant to see the thousands of protesters barricading the building, all of this just from the word of a single Changeling…
I could see their banners, bright, colourful, and brimming with dissatisfaction and anger. Some banners sported the same words i’ve already seen, but some of them sport new phrases, some of them sporting rather pointed reminders to the factory owners of who actually works there, while some of them focuses more on the discrimination non-pony species encounter in the workplace.
All of them are angry, and all of them look very passionate, some of them are cheering us very, very loudly, so loud that even inside the lobby of this building, with the marble pillars and a very visible glass wall separating us from the protesters, their cheers reverberate through the glass windows.
We both nodded and waved at the protesters, trying our best to not stand out as we made our way to the receptionist’s desk. A rather elegant wooden table with a glasses wearing mare sitting behind it. There is a small metal placard in front of her, and it reads ‘Silver Lining.’
“Welcome!” She greeted, her voice visibly chipper at seeing both of us. “I assume you are the two ponies that Selenite sent for?”
“Yes. We are.” I responded. “Sorry for the commotion outside, it seems that the protesters are rather rowdy aren’t they?”
“Oh, don’t worry about a thing Miss… uhh, Shimmer. We’re so used to protests happening in Manehattan at this point, it’s fine.” Silver Lining replied, her tone seemingly meant to comfort both of us. “Well, Morning Coffee is practically ready, take the elevator behind me, and just click on floor number 48. After that, it should be pretty straightforward.”
“Thank you.” Ocellus responded, promptly leaving her as we both made our way past the wooden table, and into the rather grand lobby room, we trotted rather quickly, walking past several busy employees and quickly reaching the elevator. I immediately pressed floor 48, and I felt like there’s a small uptick of gravity in my hooves, as expected from an elevator going up.
“Whew.” Ocellus sighed. “Are you still sure about this? I mean, you did show me the documents, and I did agree to expose it. But uhh, are you still sure? We are going to be taking a step into the unknown you know?”
“Yes.” I answered, no hesitation in my voice. “We are going to talk with Morning Coffee, expose the secrets of this weird ‘Society’ or something, and hopefully this will force the Princesses to take action. I wouldn’t be the pony I am today without having some empathy, and the dialogues Gladmane has with his associates are just… ugh.”
The blue Changeling nodded, her face visibly forming a disgusted visage the moment I mentioned Gladmane. “You can say that again.”
We talked a little bit more during our ride up, more about her labour situation, how Manehattan’s doing nowadays, and a bunch of other miscellaneous topics, some of them related to what we’re gonna do, some of them completely out of left field. Throughout this conversation though, I realized more and more that Ocellus could very well be the Element of Generosity, just hearing her talk about how it’s natural for reformed Changelings to share love to another species, and how this relationship is mutually beneficial for both the Changeling and the individual receiving love, and how she has been relatively generous with what little stuff she has, organising soup kitchens, helping the downtrodden by organising food collection services in conjunction with her regular job and her labour organising is very nice to hear.
A particular story stuck with me though. Ocellus mentioned about how, during one Hearth's Warming Eve, she was walking back home, and met a pony that she’s sure is freezing, other ponies just seemed to ignore the plight of this certain pony, but Ocellus noticed her, and not only brought her back home, gave her free hot cocoa and allowed her to sleep for the night, but even allowed her to stay in her house for like, 6 months until she could get a job and a new apartment. Talk about being generous, even I don’t think I could host somepony for half a year.
I probably need to talk to Celestia about her, she’s definitely a strong candidate for the Element of Generosity.
The elevator dinged, its doors opening, revealing to both of us the interior of a rather stuffy studio, crew ponies busy taking notes, making sure the radio equipment’s working, and in the center of it all was Morning Coffee, a white coated, brown haired Stallion, standing in the center of it all. His face looked rather chipper for someone regularly hosting a morning radio show. His face lightened up as he saw both of us. “Ah! Just the two ladies I needed. Come in Come in!”
We both entered into the radio room, a mix of foamy, noise cancelling material and some regular radio equipment I wouldn’t expect existed in Equestria at all. I saw metal microphones hanging off of the table, some comfortable leather seats, and most importantly, all of us were present in the room with Morning Coffee in tow.
“So, the show will start in like, 5 minutes. So just prepare everything you have and we’ll go from there, okay?”
We both nodded, and I started sharing documents with Ocellus. We discussed in detail which part we’re going to talk more, which part we’re going to talk less. By the end of the 5 minutes a clear plan formed within both of our heads.
Showtime.
“Aaaaaaand goooood morning Manehattan!!” Morning Coffee screamed through the radio. His shrill yet enthusiastic voice reverberating throughout the room. “I am your host, Morning Coffee, and you’re listening to Morning Coffee for Manehattan! How y'all ponies doing? Well I hope, another day of work and work and work and work, sure is a bit boring isn’t it? Well, worry not! For I have some rather spicy news items for our listeners. Here we have madam…”
“Sunset Shimmer.”
“And here we have!”
“Ocellus.”
“And these two ladies have just uncovered some rather interesting bits of evidence. Evidence that might SHOCK all of you to the core ladies and gentlemen!”
He then signals for both of us to start whatever it is we want to do.
“Well, thank you Morning Coffee.” I started. “Yes, it is indeed shocking, i’m sure some of you listeners might know of Ocellus here, and yes, this is the same Ocellus, leader of the Equestrian Labour Organisation standing right beside me here. I am also sure that the main points of resistance against Ocellus’ organisation is the mares and stallions within the Manehattan business community. Well, after a bit of digging, it appears that we have uncovered some serious bits of evidence that might prove to be rather… well, disturbing.”
“Morning Coffee, how about we start with the Business Community’s various plans to assassinate some of the leaders of the ELO?”
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I have been through many things in my life, even through both wars, but oh my goodness! What you’re seeing here is the real deal folks.” Morning Coffee said.
“Well, that’s just the tip of it.” Ocellus replied. “We have discussed hmm, planned assassinations, cajoling with politicians, corruption, oh right! How about oligarchy huh? We have even more of Gladmane’s letters with some of his business friends here, let’s see…. Ah! Here it is. The subject reads ‘cooperation.’ Let me just read to you the contents of the letter.”
I glanced at the clock, it has been some 1 hour and 30 minutes since the radio show started, and Ocellus has just finished reading yet another series of letters from Gladmane, this time detailing Gladmane’s treatment of his workers, and just how horrible they are.
Wait, the show ends in an hour and 30 minutes right?
“Well, Ocellus and Sunset. I have to say, this is quite a shocker, I certainly never expected that such a wide conspiracy was right under our noses! I’m sure we will hear more about this in the coming days ladies and gentlemen, nonetheless, we are out of time. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I would end the show myself. But I think I'll let Ocellus end it, I think that it would be appropriate at the very least.”
“Thank you Morning Coffee. Firstly, I must say my thanks towards the millions of labourers that are members of our organisation, it is truly with your support that our cause has reached so far, secondly, I thank Sunset Shimmer and her group for finding these sets of papers and informing the ELO about it. If it weren’t for her, this opportunity to expose the corruption within the Manehattan business community would not be possible, and thirdly, I must thank Morning Coffee for willingly hosting both of us in his show. You have provided a platform for exposing just how far this conspiracy has reached.”
“I implore you, Manehattenites of all kinds, to bring accountability within the Manehatttan Business community. I wish that we all just worked constantly and received good wages, but, as these papers have shown, even the most ‘well intentioned’ stallions won’t give us the pay that we worked for. If you want to join the organisation, just meet one of the protesters currently protesting at the building where this show is held, or go to the ELO headquarters in your respective boroughs. It will be the one building with the logo of Equestria and multiple appendages holding it, with a black hammer in the center. We will never decline any willing volunteers, and we need all the help we get.”
Ocellus then nodded, and then the show immediately cuts towards a commercial break. Morning Coffee looked at both of us, before he then grabbed something from a bag below the table, and started unveiling a checking book, and a notebook.
“Alright. So that is pretty disturbing.” He said, writing down a check. “And I am not going to associate myself with those kinds of disgusting ponies, you said you need any form of assistance right? How does a check for 50,000 Bits sound?”
We both opened our jaws, Ocellus then frantically nodding at the request. “Don’t worry, I was born in a poor family myself, some nothing farmers just outside Manehattan. I know what it’s like having no way out. Just consider this a helping hoof.” Morning Coffee said, ripping the piece of paper and then giving it to Ocellus. “Just use it wisely.” He said, before he then grabbed a notebook and started writing.
“There is a member of the Equestrian Diet that I know of, although she doesn’t work in Manehattan. But she does have a good ear on helping underrepresented individuals, here’s her Phone Number, get into contact with her. Last time I heard, she’s working on the same thing but in Las Pegasus.”
He ripped the paper apart and gave it to Ocellus. His face was smiling as he gave it. “Now get out of here and make a difference!” He declared, both of us nodding and promptly exited the building.
The first thing I noticed as we exited the elevator was just how significantly more sizable the crowd had gotten. There were now I think hundreds of thousands of Ponies and other species protesting outside the building. A police presence has now visibly formed, but judging at just how huge the crowd has gotten, I don’t think provoking them would be in the police’s best interest.
The second thing that I notice though, are two Alicorns talking to each other right in front of us. The morning sun reflecting on both of their forms perfectly. Almost as if they’re being backed by the sun from behind.
“Well, yeah i’ve thought about it. But don’t you know just how difficult it is to organise a snap election? I mean, screw the Mayor, and probably all the City Administration for that matter, but what about maintaining governance? What about some temporary administrators from other regions?”
“Do not worry too much, young Twilight Sparkle, I might have spent my millennia in the moon but I am not without experience. My sister has given me a full mandate to rule all of Manehattan if necessary. Night Court will be adjourned for the moment, but if it means cleaning up Manehattan, then it would be worth it.”
“Princess Luna? Twilight?” I asked. “What are you two doing here?”
Both of them turned their attention towards us. “Ah! There you are Sunset.” Luna greeted. “We just heard of your little radio interview with Morning Coffee, and we came here as fast as we could.”
“Needless to say, S.M.I.L.E is launching an investigation into the Manehattan Regional Government and for the moment, all their authority has been suspended.” Twilight complemented. “Anyway, can we talk about this further? Like, in a more private setting?”
“Uhh. First of all, good morning your majesties.” Ocellus greeted. “And secondly, maybe my house? Although i’m not sure about the crowd out there, I probably need to announce something or they’ll suspect I’ve been foalnapped or something.”
“Worry not Miss Ocellus.” Luna responded. “I have convened your staff and have informed them of our urgent need to discuss things with their leader. I have assured them that no harm will come towards you.”
The blue Changeling blinked a couple of times, seemingly surprised at the Night Princess’s initiative. “Uhh, well, sure I guess. You do know where my apartment is right?”
“But of course, I have asked your staff that same question. Now, we shall go.”
A sudden flash of dark blue enveloped all of my senses, and we were gone.