//------------------------------// // Scarlet Beetle // Story: Violet Son Rising // by Griffon Lawyer //------------------------------// “ARE THERE ANY OFFICERS AMONG YOU? I BET THEY’RE PARTY MEMBERS! I BET THEY EAT SEPARATELY! YOU WHO IS IN SERVICE TO AN ARMY WHICH HAS MOBILIZED AGAINST THE PEOPLE! YOU ARE THE PEOPLE!” Scarlet Beetle walked up behind the Griffon shouting through the megahorn to the Reformisten soldiers on the far side who had no choice but to put up with the propaganda. “Zephyrus… your oatmeal is getting cold…” He shooed her away with his wing, “Back off! You’re messing with my speech!” Scarlet Beetle snorted lightly and trotted off to sit down next to Pretty Pond as the morning sun came up over the Griffking. The ponies and griffons had assembled together for breakfast, which was really just more apples and oatmeal that didn’t get added to the cooking pot last night. Beetle was still tired after all the work she put in last night to get this position up to speed, but it was honest earth pony work. Zephyrus continued screaming at his feathery fellows across the river. “RAISE YOUR TALONS ON HIGH AND DECLARE PEACE! FAITH! BROTHERHOOD! GLORY TO THE VAIDEVA! LONG LIVE THE VIOLET REVOLUTION!” Surprisingly enough, one of the Reformisten griffons acquired a megahorn of his own and shouted back across the river. “TAKE THE STALLION COCK OUT OF YOUR MOUTH BEFORE SPEAKING TO YOUR BETTERS, RACE-TRAITOR!” That really got Zephyrus worked up. Scarlet Beetle already knew where this was headed; two males screaming insults at each other usually ends up going straight down the toilet. “I’LL COME OVER THERE AND SHOVE THIS HORN UP YOUR ASS IF THAT TEACHES YOU SOME RESPECT!” Beetle looked up from her meal and noticed that a few of the other creatures around her were rolling their eyes at the shouting match between Zephyrus and the Reformisten griffon on the other side. Certainly it was unbecoming of a knight to lower himself to lewd toilet talk, even if it was the Reformisten on the receiving end. Even Beetle was starting to get annoyed by it all. Nevertheless, the shouting match continued. “COME OVER HERE, AND WE’LL TALK ABOUT YOUR MOTHER TOO! SON OF A CUCKOLD!” HOW MUCH DOES WINGFRIED AND EDLER PAY FOR THE WRETCHED WHORE OF A GRIFF YOU HAVE FOR A MOTHER!?” At that point, Beetle put her food down and walked over to pull Zephyrus down from his elevated post (he was standing on an ammo box to shout over the trenches with his horn). “Zephy, dear, you’re not going to convince anyone by appealing to their bad nature.” “If it was up to me, comrade, I’d have gone over there and finished them all off already! Why are we even waiting for an official declaration of war? We already take potshots at each other every day, so what’s the waiting for?” Beetle and Zephy went back to sit with the others as they ate, with Beetle sitting down right next to Pretty Pond. She looked up at Zephyrus and spoke up, “It’s immoral to kill, no? And they’re creatures too. ‘The people always generous, and the enemy lusting for vengeance, will break bread with all who have stayed in its bosom, exploiters and exploited. This way, when work begins anew, former bitter enemies will be side by side in the same workshops… in the same farms.’” Everyone was looking at Beetle as she spoke those words. Then they started to look at each other. The griffon knights here were all former members of the Rosewood Order, and participated in the Zeltstadt uprising against Count Dusktalon. Just a year ago, these creatures were at each other’s throats, and now they were here defending their common home from the greater evil. “Where have I heard that before?” Another Pegasus named Arctic Meadow spoke up. “The Conquest of Rice. Filip Redglad.” Beetle replied bluntly. It was dangerous admitting that you had indulged in any literature written by Griffonian Socialists, but the truth was out now. Beetle was one of the Socialists who did not join Povner during the fighting at Visaginas. She regretted not going there when Longsword needed her most, but it was pointless to stew over it. Everyone in Longsword who was not a Reformisten zealot living in hiding was focused on keeping the Black Cloaks out of Longsword. There were many people who opposed Golden Morning and Naujoji Grifonija; few remember that before the Constitutional Convention, they were just a fringe group with Esoteric ideas and a lot of popularity among the armed forces. Nowadays, it seemed like everyone was a Violet Guard from the very beginning. The Vaideva had an iron grip on the youth, that much was evident enough already with all of the posters and banners that seemingly appeared from nowhere. In the span of a few short months, almost the entirety of Longsword’s youth were marching. gun-in-hoof (or talon). “You should go tell them that,” Radiant Flash said to Beetle, pointing with a hoof to the position that Zephyrus previously occupied, “tell them what you just told us and see what they think.” Scarlet Beetle put her food down again and trotted over to the megahorn. She repeated the quote from Redglad’s book after giving a short introduction, “IN THE NAME OF ALMIGHTY BOREAS! A PLEA FROM THE PEOPLE OF LONGSWORD TO THE NOBLE GRIFFONS OF HELLQUILL! TURN YOUR RIFLES AROUND, BROTHERS! THE ENEMY IS BEHIND YOU AND THE FUTURE IS BEFORE US!” There was a long pause from the Reformisten trenchline. Beetle wasn’t about to get her hopes up, but it would be nice if the Refor- “SILENCE YOU EQUINE WORM! NOBODY ASKED YOU TO SPEAK IN PLACE OF THE GRIFFON!” Scarlet Beetle just sighed and went back to sit down with her comrades.