//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Seeds of Equality // by vexinkora //------------------------------// The seeds of Equality Luna walked through the halls of the Canterlot castle. She passed by her sister-Celestia's door and decided to peek in. The “Princess” was reclining on a pillow, being fanned by two of her servants. By the looks on their faces, they weren't having nearly as much enjoyment as Celestia. A green flame appeared before her to reveal a letter. “Ah, Twilight Sparkle's newest letter eh?” Using her magic to grab a grape and put it in her mouth, she quickly scanned the contents. “Well that is good news indeed. I see no hint of treason in this letter.” “Are you really that afraid of her, your highness? She is just a filly after all.” one of the guards commented. “Silence! And it is not that I am afraid, she is my student and the loyalist of my subjects...still, she is very powerful indeed and if she chose to rise up against me, against us, there is little we can do. Especially with her power to make friends with anypony.” Luna was appalled, Twilight Sparkle was a great pony, maybe even one of the best ponies that lived. Twilight and her friends had saved Equestria from Discord. They had saved Luna from her own...darkness. Twilight would never betray Celestia and for Celestia to spy on her that is...that is...with a sigh Luna left the doorway defeated. She had entered her chamber and opened a secret wall to her own private room. It was a sanctuary, a place where she went to think, to wonder, to escape. “Dearest sister.” Luna said to herself in the darkened room. “I had thought you had learned from your mistakes but it seems corruption had once again taken over you.” Luna exited the room and went off flying away from Canterlot. Even being in the same castle as “her” made Luna ill with disgust. As she was flying, she began to think about Twilight and her friends. She remembered one night in particular, nightmare night. Luna had finally returned from yet another mission her sister had sent her on. She now had enough time to pop in on Twilight and thank her for the second chance. As she went to Ponyville all the little fillies, and for some reason a giant chicken, had screamed and ran away from her. She couldn't blame them for turning their backs on her, especially after what she had done, but she never thought the reason for it would have been vicious rumors spread by Celestia. Rumors accusing her of everything from extortion to cannibalism. It was then, in her darkest hour of rage and insecurity that Twilight had once again came to her rescue. She had taught her through games and lessons that it was okay to laugh and okay to be herself. Even though the real lesson came from that little filly who had requested her presence the year later, she still thanked Twilight for her hard work. As Luna thought more on this subject she had came to a group of earth ponies busting their flanks to harvest crops. She also noticed two pegasi flying in air right above them. “You know what's funny?” One of the pegasus asked, addressing the hard working earth ponies. “You're working hard and we're not hardly working.” The two ponies broke into tears of laughter at this, but their laughter came to a sudden halt as Luna descended upon them. “Why aren't you two working? You should leave these people to their business and attend to yours.” Luna said, her serious tone left no confusion. “Well...uh...you see...princess.” One of the peagasi stammered, trying desperately hard to avoid Luna's wrath. “We already finished our jobs.” the other pegasus chimed in, he had an arrogant attitude that made Luna wanna bring him down a few pegs. “It's not or fault that Celestia gives the earth ponies the hard jobs and we pretty much sit around all day. In fact we were just helping the earth ponies do their jobs by motivating them.” both of the pegasi laughed at this. “Well if you wanted to help you could have just said so. Looks like these ponies need help harvesting crops, so get down there and start pulling them out.” Luna smiled triumphantly at her degree, the one thing she could not stand was inequality. “But that's not fair!” one of the pegasi exclaimed. “We did our jobs, why should we do theirs as well.” “Because you said you wanted to help.” Luna gave a laugh of victory as she flew off knowing justice was done, still, she couldn't help thinking about what the pegasi said. If Celestia had changed than why was it still the earth ponies taking the front of the assault? Tears streamed down Luna's face. Equality in Equstria was a lie, Celestia being a ruler for the people was a lie. Luna didn’t want to go back to that dark place, she couldn't go back to that dark place...but something needed to change.