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// Something Rotten 
// Story: Timed Ramblings 
// by Midnight herald 
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	The turnout was pretty good, considering how short-notice the announcements had been. Getting Pinkie to deliver them discreetly had been a heart attack waiting to happen, but she was more tactful than most gave her credit for. Knowing her, she’d probably gotten notices into everyone’s house without ever getting in view of the library.

Ponies of all ages, all tribes, sat around the edges of the barn, silent and wary in the dim lighting. A few still covered their faces and marks, but through these meetings more and more had become comfortable with each other, comfortable enough to let others see who they were. Applebloom made her way onto the jerry-rigged stage and looked out at them, raising her right foreleg and stomping it down once with a resonant thwack.

Years of hard labor had toned her down to a stocky, ropy mass of hard muscle. Her horseshoe left a half-inch dent in the oak flooring. She hated her own strength. It was just another reminder of her lost potential, her abandoned dreams. Sweetie joined her, facing towards the crowd in solemn solidarity. She left space between them, just enough for a stunted pegasus. It was tradition between them now. In times of true darkness, we turn to traditions as a North Star, as Granny would have said.

Apple Bloom cleared her throat and began, her eyes flicking to every face in the crowd. “This town was granted to us by the benevolence of Princess Celestia. But this town is still what we  made it. We wrap up winter, we build and rebuild our schoolhouses, we live here, we farm here, and we die here. As all of us know and agree, something rotten is sitting on the throne. Something rotten on the White Mountain. Something rotten in our own library.

“We all know that Twilight Sparkle used to be a model citezen, one of us. Salt of the earth, warmth of the hearth, all that. But recently, it’s been hard to tell. I was overjoyed when she first Ascended. I thought, ‘A princess in Ponyville? Now we’ll get the things we need. But Princess Twilight Sparkle couldn’t help us, wouldn’t help us, She’d call it a conflict of interest, or say she wasn’t a fully respected princess yet and didn’t want to petition anything radical... she had a hundred different ways of dressing it up, but the point is, she wanted nothing to do with us. And that was fine. Ponyville could get by without a Princess. We’d done it for nearly a century. So we were friendly with her, and everything was about the same.

“But you know what happened.” Hushed murmurs ran through the crowd like a static charge. “That’s why you’re all here. Every one of us lost something when it happened. When we needed her most, our Princess was off making nice with a bunch of Dragon dignitaries. And she was so damn entranced by them, so damn interested in what they had to say that she could care less about what the Everfree was doing to us. To our town. To this farm...” She swallowed heavily. “To my family. She couldn’t even spare one day for us, after all we’d given her, after all we’d done.
“She’s apologized time after time, and she helped rebuild the town with her own two hooves, but apologies don’t give back the dead, and we can rebuild houses. It’s the broken families that’ll never mend.” The barn was so still, so silent, so full of emotions stretched out on tenterhooks that Apple Bloom swore she could hear her mane moving against her neck. All eyes were glued on her, the familiar fervor burning deep and proud in everypony.
“This brings me to why I called you all here tonight. You all know that money and time to spare are rare ‘round here these days, but I finally finished something that’ll be sure to give us a leg up on them,” she announced. She turned to the shrouded lump behind her and pulled the dropsheet off it with a quick tug. 
A collective gasp ran through the barn as they saw it. There was an even representation of awe and fear in the faces she could see, but every pony had respect for the machine. Every pony had respect for her. It was almost nauseating, a pony like her being raised high in her townspeople’s eyes.
TIME------------------
It glinted in  the warm lamplight, sharp and sleek. They could tell she’d built it mostly from scrap, but it still looked dangerous, all edges and gears and ancient runic symbols. It was frightening, unwieldy, asymmetric. It was terrifying, and it was perfect.

“I reckon they’ll never see this coming. So why don’t we strike while the iron is hot? I called on you in particular because I thought you migh support me in this venture. If you’d rather not, you can leave now and wash yourself clean of the whole affair. Just don’t try to stop me.” 

She waited as a number of the ponies left, looking off to the left. Her sister’s one good eye shone with a conflicted  pride, her scarred muzzle set into a firm, stubborn frown. She smiled at Apple Bloom for a passing moment before studying the wheels on her chair with a singular fascination.

Apple Bloom turned to the ponies still standing, a smile born of vindictive glee on her face. “Tonight, I say we let the Princesses know that their kind isn’t welcome in Ponyville anymore,” she shouted. “Who’s with me?”