He entered and locked the door behind him.
There were at least two guards next to every entrance of the room, all armed and armored with the latest equipment. Some were ponies and some others were changelings.
There was only one deer standing higher than all the other on the far side of the room. His equipment barely fitted him even though they had been adapted for his size.
This room used to be a storage for all kinds of furniture. Cushions, mattresses. shampoos, cleaning material... This whole place was supposed to be a hotel after all.
Now the walls were covered with maps, papers and photos. All displayed different regions of the continent. Pins pinned strings onto the maps, connecting places all over the room with pictures of noticeable creatures. Tables were displayed under the pictures with stacks of papers and files.
In the middle of the room was a round table with a map of Equus on it. All of the continent was blackened by the hegemony dark black color. Wooden figures of different creatures had been put everywhere across the map. They were more on the western side of the continent.
The place was sparsely lightened. The only source of light were desk lamp dispatched on the surrounding tables and a few laps hanging from the ceiling. Any creature not directly next to a table would be barely noticeable.
Fourteen creatures surrounded the central table, including Schach Spiel. They gave each other’s mean looks before turning their attentions to Schach. He counted in his head.
Five changelings, two deer, one griffon and one penguin, five ponies or, more precisely, one earth pony, one unicorn, one pegasus, one crystal pony and one thestral.
We still lack yaks, buffaloes, and polar bears...
He licked his only fang and approached the table. The atmosphere was bitter.
"I'm glad to see all of you made the trip here without much problem. " He began while scanning the other a second time." Good. Then let’s begin our annual reunion. I hope all of you read each other’s reports."
Of course they didn’t.
" Well, in fact I did Unternhemer Shach. And couldn't help but to notice how evasive some of them are. " One of the changelings accused, looking at the thestral.
" Oh yeah? You think that's easy to get info? The southeast is in utter chaos even outside the jungles. I'm already risking my life pledging this cause to others over there. " The thestral responded, clearly annoyed by the remark.
" Well, our cause being a minority and harsh terrain doesn't seem to have bothered our dearest friends of Olenia for their reports. And elusiveness is not something I can reproach to penguins and griffons either. It seems to be mostly a pony problem."
Here we go again.
Year after year, step by step, Schach Spiel had managed to create a vast web of contacts with various groups all over the hegemony. All who were discontent with the status-quo were possible candidates for his cause.
Of course, "Change the situation for a better. newer tomorrow" was vague and many chooses to hear it as they preferred.
Shach had his own vision of their rebellion, a union of all creatures in a coalition of equals for a better future. Most didn't share this idea.
For now, this wasn't a problem. Their common despise for the hegemony was enough to keep them together regardless of goals or ideologies.
The plan for now was to unite as many groups as possible under this one goal and when the time would be right, they would rise in unison against the hegemony.
When that would happen inside divisions would become an issue. This would be the final test for him. Rise up and maintain their unity until final victory and be able to impose his vision over every other.
They now had cells a bit everywhere on the continent. Western Equestria was basically under their full control at this point and Olenia was also a stronghold of theirs. The south was still out of their reach even if they were present. Northern Equus was more complex.
If the penguin lands, Nova Griffonia and what once was Stalliongrad were well under their influence, their distance to the heart of the rebellion was a serious issue.
They had a sustainable influence in the crystal protectorate and in the changeling land but almost nothing in eastern Equestria. It was just too far, to complicate to infiltrate and too well guarded by resistance cells and Lilac. Finally, they had no contact within Yakyakistan or with the polar bears.
Disputes were frequent when all those groups had to get around a table and discuss. Put almost every races of the continent and almost every ideologies in the same room and ask them to be a functional governing body. Good luck finding compromise between changeling military, communist ponies, and nationalist deer.
But he had to do it. And today he wasn't in the mood for infighting.
" You'd be glad to put another of you bugs on the throne after her wouldn't you?" The grifoness shouted.
" You need us more than we need you." A changeling retorted.
" I agree with the bug for once. They apologized, get on with it chicken." A deer said in the cacophony.
" Every creature SHUT UP! " Shach screamed.
" I-"
" I said. SHUT.UP." He interrupted before any creature could respond.
The room went silent. All gazed at him, and he gazed just as much at them. Only the buzzing of light bulbs could be heard.
" Today, I saw a colt and a nymph playing together in a park. They got separated by their parents before anyone else then me could notice them. I thought it was sad to see a friendship between our two races die so quickly." He related like a simple anecdote.
"..."
" Do you know how much they cared about each other’s races? " He looked at every creature. " They cared just as much as I care for your personal opinions right now. So now we are going to have a meeting like it was planned, to better our common organization. If any of you make a single more stupid comment, I'll have no hesitation in replacing you with someone else. Understood?"
The grifoness raised her claw with a defiant grin on her beak. He gave her a harsh stare. She silently lowered her arm and lost her confident face.
" Talk." He spoke.
" No, it's fine. I don't have anything to say. Sorry."
" Then tell me about our situation in nova Griffonia. I haven't heard from you in a while." He ordered.
" Nova Griffonia is Nova Griffonia. As much as the bugs are trying, they don't hold a strong rule over us. They have the big cities, but the countryside is dominated by various resistance groups and small communities. We aren't a majority but in a country where pretty much every village have its own ideology, we're pretty good. At least we're well organized."
" If we rise up, do you think Nova Grffonia would follow? " Emerald, the crystal pony, asked.
" We would, and some other groups would do to but mostly for their own benefits. We'd have to subjugate them which basically mean taking over Weter.
"Griffons are rebellious but if we can't convince them that we are the best solution for them they won't do anything. If we can promise them jobs and better living conditions, you can be sure they'll join us or at least let us be.
"We'll only have to get rid of the most radical ones who'd never join us no matter what. In the case of the frontier, it’s even easier. They'll submit to the first organized armed groups that enter their valleys and give them something to eat. I must thank the 'lings, the information they gave us would make a coup in Weter almost guaranteed if we do it in the next months."
" What information? I haven't heard anything about that." Shach asked to the changelings.
"We managed to inform the griffons of the Heer reorganization in Nova Griffonia. Apparently, there is a lot of unrest in the Manehatan protectorate. The high command moved a lot of troops from the north to the east, which mean the penguins land and Nova Griffonia are running on minimal changeling garrison right now.
"Most haven't noticed because of how decentralized the northern protectorates are but numbers don't lie. I'll give you a copy after the reunion." Colonel Varex explained, seemingly flattered by the griffoness compliment on his intel service.
" I can confirm. There were already few changelings in Pingland but now they're almost nonexistent. Except the collaborators in the government there isn't any creature that could stop an organized uprising at the moment.
" They're trying to make us believe nothing changed from before but our data are clear, they don't care enough about us to redirect more troops in our frozen homes. What is truly stopping us is our lack of equipment otherwise we have already won." Jorgle, the penguin, added.
" If you can do a few terrorist attacks in key ares I can justify the sending of weapons in the region to compensate the lack of soldiers. I'll give everything you need to steal them. I can't send millions, but a few should already help you, just don't break them before the real fight. " Varex proposed. Jorgle nodded in response.
" Good to see you can work together. So, the north is secured at least on paper. What about the west?" He turned to the deers and changelings.
" As you probably can imagine there is no way we can launch an uprising in the changeling lands. " Mervis, the industrialist changeling presented. " Most of the changeling who are sympathetic to our cause are in occupied territories anyway.
"However, we can use the little we have to disrupt whatever we can in the first days of the uprising. Communications, supplies, disrupt the chain of command, spread misinformation... Little things that won’t win a war but can confuse the hegemony and delays their reaction.
" I must also add that our strongest hold is in Olenia and western Equestria. If we can reach the border and start bombing the changeling land it would be a serious strike at morale."
" In Olenia our greatest tool are your various enterprises. " Svenya, one of the deers, continued.
"They can provide many of us well paid jobs to survive and finance the resistance. Your image among the population is good and even if many will never accept to fight for a changeling, many other could see our rebellion as the last chance for Olenia to break its shackles.
" The strongest resistance groups are the one we are financing, helping and support with weapons and material. We have managed to infiltrate every stratum of the protectorate, but it is still not enough to assure us victory. The Olenian people would be willing to rise, and we can expect many uprisings and insurgencies, but the changeling presence is vastly superior to ours.
"I don't think we can do better than we already are. We can expect to take a few cities and gain control over the more rural lands but without a proper army we won't be able to free my beloved country."
" I have a question for the bugs! " Honeycrisp Apple interrupted. " How much of the Heer and VOPS do we have on our side? Because it doesn't feel like you slowed down on hunting the resistance lately."
The first changeling to respond was Chitine.
" It is more complicated than that. We do have spies and contacts in every level of the military and secret services but they can't just stop fighting resistance like that. We cannot influence the hegemony in any meaningful way right now.
" I understand your frustration Mr.Apple but the only moment we'll see who is on which side will be during the general rebellion. Before that, we can only guess how many ponies or changeling will join us."
" And when are we doing that?"
" We need something to destabilize the hegemony first. A massive increase in uprisings, the death of multiple important leaders, an assassination of the queen-"
" Yeah, about that, couldn't we just kill her ourselves? "
" This would be highly unconsidered." Rebutted Syris before Chitine could say anything. "An assassination attempt on the queen would be a sign of weakness from the hegemony but not a proof that our rebellion would succeed.
"Whatever we do, there are still much information out of our reach in the hegemony's structure. We need a clear sign that the system is flinching to assure us that we won't fail our uprising and this sign cannot come from use directly. We only have one chance so we need to use it wisely, otherwise all the blazes we have sow will fade out after our deaths."
" One of you bugs should just disguise as a military, go into her stupid tower, rush her at the first possible moment and make yourself explode. " Tornado Rainstorm, a dark blue pegasus, shouted from across the table before spitting on the carpet.
" Are you insane? This is impossible, Vesalipolis has become a fortress over the past few years. Its already a miracle that we managed to create a small network of contact in it. A terrorist attack on the high tower is just as suicidal as it is impossible.
" At best this would just discourage changelings from joining us, at worst it would give the queen's guard a perfect reason to purge the government and rampage the protectorates."
Again....
" Pfah! Who cares if changelings join us or not? What would that change? They already crush us like leaves on the road, they don't need justifications to raid us. Every day we wait is a day we permit the hegemony to kill more ponies. "
" We suffer too. Stop acting like only you ponies are being send to camps or torture and kill."
"Enough. " Schach tried to calm the situation.
" Because we are. All of you creatures are the ones acting like you are suffering just as much as us. You have no idea what it's truly like to be oppressed. None of you know. We ponies were the ones protecting the continent before the war, everything was fine a this time. Now it's OUR duty to bring this order back may you like it or not. "
" How dare you! " An enraged Svenja growled.
" Oh, you think so? I don't remember Equestria flying to the rescue of Olenia when panzers rolled into Vaverfront or even help us during the food shortages or help stabilize Nova Griffonia.
"Hay! You couldn't even prevent the crystal empire from being banished back then. Maybe our thestral friend could also remind you how well you treated them. Do you know there was reasons why Stalliongrad was founded in the first place?" Tatianna Kronstadt sarcastically added.
" ENOUGH YOU IMBECILES!" Schach screamed, stomping the table with both front hooves.
Tornado Rainstorm tried to respond but as soon as he tried to open his mouth his jaw was closed shut by an aura of green magic.
Schach horn glowed; his fangs apparent. The pegasus was projected onto the wall, falling on the floor heavily.
The pegasus cough as he tried to stand.
" As for you." He walked around and stood next to the pegasus. " We need to work together, and you clearly are incapable of doing so. Like I said earlier, you will be replaced by someone else. I'm sure the equestrian resistance is filled with ponies less stupid than you."
Tornado tried to jump on him but was only met by a changeling hoof in his face.
He grabbed his muzzle as blood started to pour from it.
Schach Spel looked around the table.
The changelings were satisfied, the deer were still bitter by Tornado comment, the ponies seemed relieved and stressed at the same time, the griffoness seemed amused and the penguin was occupied looking at a map and writing info in a notebook.
" For those who might have a similar opinion, I'd like to remind you why we have created this whole machination in the first place.
" Because we want a better future for all creatures on Equus, a future without the hegemony tyranny. I know some of us might not believe in the first part of this idea but for as long as we need to work together, we all must accept it.
" We are not liberating and rebuilding Equestria or the changeling lands. We are a fire that will burn it all and rebuild everything from ashes. "
All looked at him with doubtful eyes. Tornado stood behind him, ruffling his feathers. Schach turned to face him.
" And for your information, yes, we changelings also suffer from the hegemony. I have lost countless friends of every race in Chryssalis's camps. I have lost an eye to a resistance attack and yet, I still came to talk with them not for revenge to move forward together .
" Ponies may have taken my eye but it only helped me to see more clearly how it was the hegemony who truly took it from me. I suffered from Chryssalis's minions repression longer than any ponies."
" Oh yeah? I'd like to know how. " The pegasus defiantly asked.
" When I was still young, the queen's guard broke into our house. I don't know what they looking for or why they were here. The only thing I know is that this day, I lost my father. I tried to stop them but I was no match. One of the queen's guards made me look at my father in the yes while they beat him up.
" I tried to look away and flee. One of them levitated me in his magic and torn off my left fang. While this happened you ponies were playing in your precious land of friendship and magic. And you did nothing to stop it."
He made a head sign to two guards on standby.
They took Tornado and left with him through a small door in the back of the room. Another guard closed and locked it behind them.
" C-Can we continue... Unternehmer Schach? " A febrile Emerald asked with ears down.
Unternehmer.... My pony workers were the first to call me that after hearing changelings use it. They use it as a title. A sign of respect and deference...
Schach spiel walked back to his place and arranged his glasses on his muzzle.
" Let's continue. I'd like to hear about the crystal empire. "
" We managed to get a deal with the communist in crystal city. They'll accept to fight with us on the conditions that we give them some power after we take control. They also want to have direct contact with all our cells in former Stalliongrad territory. We accepted. "
" You did well. We will need troops if we want to get Trimmel to capitulate. Beating the Supreme commander of the Heer would be a great victory. While we are on the subject of him, m-"
He was interrupted by a rumble of knocks on the main door. The two guards instinctively took their weapons and pointed at the locked doors.
" Open the door! I have critical information to pass! " A half muffled voice asked.
Every creature in the room took their weapons in hoof, claw, or magic. Schach looked at the guards and nodded.
As soon as they unlocked the door, a yellow coated earth pony rushed into the room. He was thin, he must have arrived from the factories recently. He seemed exceptionally exhausted and also ecstatic.
" What is the meaning of this? I asked not to be interrupted. Explain yourself."
The pony looked around the room. He seemed crazy, like he had seen something impossible. He tried to jump on Schach but was quickly stopped by the guard who retained him.
His eyes, that hadn't time to accommodate to the darkness of the room, desperately searched for light.
" Som-Something happened. We were listening to the radio, and we received a message..."
The pony had difficulty breathing. Schach slowly approached to hear him better.
His eyes opened wide as the pony talked into his ear. All the other leaders of the rebellion leaned to try and hear.
The Unternemher turned to his staff. His face was blank, and his eyes looked worried. He looked at all of them one by one.
" Something is happening in Manehattan. "