//------------------------------// // Tome I Epilogue: Sic Semper Tyrannis // Story: Of Starships and Golden Armors // by Devona //------------------------------// "Hear, hear!" a brown-coated pony's voice echoed through the spaces pf the cobblestone street, sending shivers down the spines of many an onlooker. It was a special type of voice, one which could well ensure obedience if used in such a way, but in this case, simply seemed to pierce through reality itself with how it reverberated amidst the cold winds. The pony stood atop a small makeshift stage, made up of several ancient almost crates, and, clad in his beret, waved a stack of ink-smelling newspapers with his magic. "Hear, hear! A scandal emerging! The Princesses overthrown, Cloud Haze heading a new government! Hear, hear...!" Not long did it take for the pony to notice how his efforts attracted few, which soon prompted him to, amids the uncounted hoofsteps of a thousand others, undertake efforts to break through the struggle on the streets. Dance did he, shout like nothing else ever in the whole history of Equestria, roar akin to a Manticore, eventually even pick up his expensive megaphone and, having carefully wiped it clean from dust, shout like previously, sending terror-inducing soundwaves through the rioting crowd. "Hear, hear! How will the new Equestria handle itself? Is it the end of order? Hear, hear! A surge in nightmares claimed...!" In the distance, down the big mountainside Caterlot laid on top of, several large plumes of dark smoke could be seen, as scattered explosions accompanied the dreadful scene. A dragon or two appeared on the skies, attracted by all the commotion romoured to be taking place in this distant land. Not long did it take for the crowd to begin squirming in cheer and unspoken mirth as several guardsponies, clad in chainmail armour without any trace of the iconic gold, made their way to the announcer. Pah! One hit, two, and the makeshift stage slided right to the side, the brown unicorn falling flat onto the ground amidst a rain of newspaper sheets. Rising his head upwards, there was only one thing he could see; the stern expressions of the ones who had just made their way to him. "That's enough, pal. Anti-revolutionary propaganda will not stand." And just like that, without any furher fuss and having immediately subdued the felon, the new EUP took him from the streets, long not to be seen again. Equestria was being born anew. Celestia's panting drowned out even her deepest thoughts as she decelerated, finally making contact with the earth. Briefly losing balance, the princess slid a few solid meters forward, before a large, fallen trunk finally stopped her in place. Massaging the newly-acquired bruise softly, she sat down on the ground. This was the place. The border of the Everfree Forest. With a sigh, Celestia turned her head left, towards Canterlot, unable to stop a tear from gently dancing around her eye. It was a terrible sight indeed: the capital was aflame, with multiple thick plumes of smoke rising high above the rooftops. A swarm of pegasi flying about could be seen even from here, most heading in the general direction of the Royal Palace. From this angle, it looked almost like the whole city was about to fall down the mountain's slopes any moment now. The single tear rolled down Celestia's beaten cheek. How could this have happened... just how? This one, particular guard, somehow rising to such prominence. This one former guard who she fired for such insubordination, through a simple clerical error without a wiped memory, causing all this... ruckus! With the arrival of the humans, it was now obvious that aliens existed... and if those conspiracy theorists were right about that, then why wouldn't they be about all else? Like about the earlier extraequusian visits, or the malicious intents the humans held... Celestia chuckled briefly inbetween deep pants. Just a while ago, not that long at all, she was quarreling with the humans about the simplest of things... and yet now, here she stood, ridiculing those who thought the likeness of herself just moments ago. This revolution... it was so sudden, so... unpredictable. Perhaps unavoidable. The crowds gathered outside the Castle, the rioters, they simply... charged. They charged, and overwhelmed the EUP in a matter of seconds. And then, then they made their "prophet" ascend the throne... From the plains separating Canterlot from the Everfree, several plumes of smoke rose... these were former human bases, now overran with thousands upon thousands of fanatical believers of Cloud Haze and his "Lair of Knowledge"... Celestia flinched. It sickened her. How could she have ever allowed this to happen? How... how, how ever in the world... Suddenly, the princess felt a cascade of tears pushing against her eyes. She clenched them shut, trying in vain to keep it all in... "You Highness?" a voice called from behind her, gently and not at all alike to how it was even just a few days before. Turning around, Celestia revealed her face all covered in teary streaks. "We tried to push them away, but with such skeleton crews, there were more of them than we had bullets, so to say... If we are to live through this, we have to go. Now." Extending his hand, the human offered Celestia a small smile. Wasting no time, the princess returned it in earnest. "Thank you, noble sir Moreson." She was about to step into the forest, when with a corner of her eye she saw a dim lavender silhouette a bit deeper between the trees, one barely visible behind all the foliage, and yet with a clearly bowed head, tears dropping onto the surrounding leaves. Mustering all the strength for her voice not to crack, Celestia spoke up once again. "And you, my dearest Twilight Sparkle," she sighed, more in an effort to keep the barrage of tears at bay than anything else, before starting once more. "We shall make it out of this... I know we will. Like we always have." Celestia cracked a small, clearly forced smile, before finally taking a step forward. And just like that, without any fuss, any signs of the loyalists gathered on the edge of the Everfree vanished without a trace, and the rustling trees remained as the only thing betraying their nearby presence. As the big, regal, ornate doors finally closed and crowds of ponies vanished behind them, Cloud Haze allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. He was now alone in here, in the vast royal Throne Room of the Canterlot Castle... the former Canterlot Castle, now renamed as Imperial. Save for several most loyal guardsponies of the new EUP standing by all entrances, there was no breath in the room besides his own. Light, seeping through the empty site of a stained glass window-in-construction, reflected softly off his hastily forged royal Tiara. Long gone were Bright Flower and the others, viciously betrayed, one could say, and left in the avalanche of faces that surrounded the capital... long gone was the Lair of Knowledge, dismantled in all but name. Long gone were his swaying beliefs, now all but cemented. Now, oh, now - now was Cloud Haze's time for power, and for revenge. The former guard chuckled under his breath, as he turned and headed towards the royal Throne. Dancing between the various columns, he stepped lightly, allowing himself a bit of levity and happiness. The concerned sights of the surrounding guards mattered not. Not any longer would he, the noble Cloud Haze, care for the emotions of others, for what they thought. No, now it was him who mattered, him who could show everypony outside who was right all along. For once, just once in his life... not mess up. Bah, moreso even, ascend to legendhood! Be the one who makes Equestria powerful, who shows these aliens their lies, and makes them regret all the mischievous tricks they had planned. But most importantly, for now... It was over. The battle was done, it had concluded. And it had been easy. The only thing still eluding them... him... were the princesses. The very ones who tried to destroy his career, and nearly made him plummet. Finally reaching the steps of the Throne, his Throne, Cloud Haze let out another sigh as he walked past the small staircase and placed his flank firmly on the pedestal. Looking a bit to the side and biting his lip, the former guard couldn't help but wonder how his family was now feeling. His family, those who he had not showed up to since the royal betrayal. The ones he was now sure would have shunned him if he did... but now, they saw him here. They surely must've heard, right? The revolution was omnipresent. There was no escaping it, and reportedly the news had reached even the Dragon Lands... Letting his eyes close softly, Cloud Haze slowly gave in to the tiredness of the entire day of bitter work, and let himself doze off, slowly but surely drifting into the realm of sleep, as his head cocked right to the side and the royal Tiara fell down all the way to the floor, colliding with it to the accompaniament of a loud crackle. As Cloud Haze drifted softly into the sleepy embrace of Celestia, pictures began forming in his head... slowly but surely, he saw the charging crowds and himself at the center, with a stretched out front hoof, pointing right at the golden EUP's barricade. Then, his perspective shifted as he flew over the whole ordeal, as if an outside force was controlling him. He saw the Princess scrambling for a way outside, a few humans jumping down the mountain desperate to escape the incoming cascade of hatred. Then, he became Celestia, seeing through her eyes as she took to the skies. All these dreamy pictures mingled in his mind, as they swirled and mixed with each other uncontrollably. All these pictures, so different, yet all concerning the same thing... all, every single one, about the battle that had just taken place. The first shift of royal power in millennia. The first change in millennia. The first, and only, revolution in Equestrian history. It was a glorious moment indeed. The crowds gathered had been bigger than ever before, having been repeating their chants and slogans for days already. They were tired; everyone was. And so, as the hearbeat of thousands roared in unison, it was enough for the leader, the one spokespony, to give a signal to charge. Even despite all that'd been happening, the EUP were utterly unprepared for such eventuality. Even still, Cloud Haze had no idea what came over him in that moment. His mind battled itself constantly, even now, when he saw so clearly that his actions brought about only and solely good. What was it? The heat of the moment? The lust for revenge? Did he feel lust for revenge at all, or just justified desires? No! He had to show the world. That was not only his duty, his right, but the new Imperial Prerogative. But what if, what if all this was just a figment of not his imagination, but rather all the emotional trauma? Cloud Haze's eyebrows frowned through his sleep, and his head began to shake. He saw himself, fighting with his family. He saw himself being banished, then facing Celestia. Celestia, whose tears fell right onto his fur, before her horn pierced him absolutely. Did he still fear upsetting the one who betrayed him? How? Why? Or were these just some sleepy, dreamy spirits...? Wait... sleep? Dream? He wasn't awake! He now knew all he saw was but his subconsciousness, but... was that really better? Before Cloud Haze's hazy mind could ponder the issue further, the pictures began dissipating... through the opaque image of a crowd he could now vaguely see the steps to the royal Throne, the stained glass windows, the guards... and suddenly, with a loud gasp, the stallion awakened anew. Looking frantically over his surroundings, he noticed but one thing: his royal Tiara, fallen and laying right before his hooves. Still exhausted, with a big frown and through suddenly teary eyes, Cloud Haze struggled to pick the crown back up. Princess Luna, Diarch of Equestria and Raiser of the Moon... was not happy. Sitting on her bed, all she could do was look through the window of her cabin leading straight into the starry cosmos. The ship was just now docking with the Imperio in Unum, so noone was there to accompany her, all the crew busy running errands and tending to their own duties across the vessel. As such, Luna was left alone with but her thoughts to entertain herself. Gazing blindly into the abyss, right hoof supporting her chin, the Princess lost herself in her own mind... This was it... the "demonstratory flight". Only recently did Luna learn that the humans hailed, in fact, from a whole another dimension... this changed things quite dramatically, and the Swarm didn't seem as such a big threat anymore. But then again, if the humans could come to Equestria, the Swarm could as well, right...? All of this, it was just plainly, simply, so confusing... there was too much, a lot too much. When she returned from the Moon and had her true form returned to her by the Elements of Harmony, she was joyous not only to return to her sister's side, now again accepted, but also to rule the land by her side... Oh, how have things changed since then... how she learned the burdens of being a truly equal diarch... And now... they were here. Through a cascade of colours and the bending of time and space themselves, in the human dimension... far from their homeworld, as she'd been told, and through a risky split-second interstellar jump far from the frontlines as well, but in their dimension nonetheless. Still, there was one thing that bothered Luna more than anything... They had never planned to travel dimensions themselves on this flight... well, not so quickly, that is. What happened, was... something else. According to Stanley, who had hurriedly informed her of all the developments before rushing to the bridge, they were 'booted' out of the ponies' realm... which did not bode well at all. And if they had been booted out, that meant that the link had been closed, severed, cut... demolished. It was no more. So... what were the chances it would be established again...? A small tear appeared below Luna's left eye as she sniffed quietly. Somehow, her mind was all too eager to go against logic... logic, which dictated that the humans must've known how to go back, if they had managed to travel to her world once already... but... if they did, then why hadn't they done so yet? Maybe it required preparations, and there was no reason to think the travel wouldn't be possible in just a small while... however something, somewhere... still made her feel like all this... it wasn't going to be so simple. Suddenly, a small hiss thrusted Luna out of her thoughts as she jumped slightly, startled. Turning her head to face the cabin's entrance, she saw a familiar face indeed. Despite all the circumsatnces of right now, Luna couldn't help herself but cast a tiny smile at the sudden sight. "So... here we are. You made yourself comfy?" Stanley asked, casting a small smile of his own. He was wearing large, baggy trousers coupled with a rather loose T-shirt. It was but the second time the Princess had seen the human without his armor on, and it still didn't cease to baffle her just how muscular the soldier was... "You could say that. We... have been in thought..." Luna's eyes wandered downwards briefly, before once again focusing pleadingly on Stanley. Understanding her without words, he walked up to the Princess, sitting right next to her. Nodding her thanks, Luna continued. "What if we don't manage to come back... what if... what shall our sister think, how will our subjects react... will they despise us even more?" She looked up at the trooper, her face all covered in streaks of tears and her mouth slightly agape. In a move dictated perhaps just by pure attachment, Stanley stretched out his arms, letting Luna fall gracefully into his embrace. Caressing her mane softly, the soldier spoke out. "You know... there aren't enough people in this world who even try to appreciate us for who we are... but from what I've seen of your world... the situation might just be a tiny bit better." He smiled, practically to noone as his companion couldn't possibly see his expression, knowing full well just how terribly out of turn his current actions were, and that the sole reason he had been spared further reeducation in the first place was nothing else than Luna's demands. A while passed with the two stuck in an embrace, both lost in their own thoughts. Suddenly, Luna let out a sudden sniff, followed by a deep, deep sigh. "Does thou... do you... really think so...?" This time looking the Princess straight in the eyes, the soldier responded with another smile. "Yes, Your Majesty. I do." They embraced each other once more, before the soldier allowed himself to continue. "And I can tell you, now and again, that we'll find our way back to Equestria. Sooner or later, however things unfold." Stanley squeezed the Princess tighter, waiting a few second before he continued his little speech. "And I can promise you that through all we experience here, no matter if good or bad... I will stand right beside you." Suddenly, a short burst of light emanated through the cabin, coming straight from the porthole on the wall. As Stanley and Luna turned their gaze in its direction, they couldn't help but spot a big shooting star crossing the starry canvas. Looking at it felt... strange. As if all in the universe aligned just for this moment to transpire... and for the first time in a while, Princess Luna, Diarch of Equestria and Raiser of Moon, allowed herself to cast a small smile. ~Fin~ Thank you all so much for tagging along for this journey alongside Stanley and Luna, and a massive thank you to all the readers for trusting me to write a story about the property and universe you all love. Hopefully, our journey is only just beginning.