//------------------------------// // Invasion and attempted regicide // Story: The Larson Rebellion // by bendelsohn //------------------------------// The Larson Rebellion Twilight stood outside the castle on the cold balcony, looking somewhat worried. A large storm had been approaching since the beginning of the day, and the weather ponies hadn’t scheduled it. Natural storms usually were a sure sign of trouble in Equestria. Of course, they had happened before, but while frighteningly powerful, and occasionally even slightly destructive, the damage was usually minimal and nopony had ever been hurt as a result of one. Nothing more than heavy rain and wind from the Everfree forest. Most of the time the weather ponies simply destroyed the clouds before they even reached a city, save for storms such as this that were too large and dangerous to fly near. However, the storm on the horizon this time seemed different than the other ones. It felt different. There was something off about it that Twilight could sense, but she couldn’t quite place what it was. She hoped that her intuition was off, and that it was just another natural storm. Nothing serious, she told herself. She left the balcony, not remotely reassured by her thought. She returned to her quarters, finding her book in the hope that it would calm her nerves. No sooner had she sat down to open the book than a loud knock came from the door. Twilight gave an exasperated sigh. “It’s open, come in.” The door was flung open by none other than Celestia herself, with an unusually serious demeanor. There was urgency in her voice. “Twilight, we have to go now. Please follow me.” Twilight looked at her, perplexed as to what could be so important. “Princess? What’s going on?” “Now Twilight. I’ll explain on the way.” Twilight hadn’t been expecting Celestia to be so serious. She was hardly ever that serious about anything. Twilight put down the unread book, stretched her wings, and moved after Celestia at a brisk pace. They quickly spiraled down the white stairways of the castle tower. “Celestia, what in Equestria is going on here?” “They’re coming Twilight. I never imagined they would be here so soon, I thought we would have more time to prepare. Our defenses aren’t ready, and frankly, neither are you.” “Who’s coming? Celestia, please just tell me what’s going on!” Celestia didn’t answer. Before long they had exited the castle, and were headed towards the city limits. The storm, which only moments ago had seemed hours away, was right on top of them. It didn’t rain. In the distance, Twilight saw a bright light come from the sky. First one, then many. Soon hundreds were streaking down from the clouds towards the borders of Canterlot. “Celestia please, I’m begging you, tell me what’s happening! I’ve never seen anything like this before!” Celestia didn’t look back at Twilight. She was transfixed on the streaks of lights falling towards them. “The Bronies.” “What?” “The Bronies Twilight. If they’re already here then that means we’re too late. We haven’t mobilized and the guards won’t be able to hold them off for very long.” “What in Equestria is a brony? I’ve studied every kind of astrological event and living creature you could imagine, but I’ve never even heard of that!” “They’re extradimensional creatures, members of a race known as the humans.” “Well why are they coming here? What do they want?” “They want you, Twilight. The Bronies are a splinter faction of their race because of their devotion to our world. Most of the time they watch over us from their own dimension, discussing our lives and finding the meanings of friendship for themselves. However, things began to change when you were coronated as princess. Bronies were incensed, saying that you were ruined by who you had become. Now I believe that they’ve come here to undo that by any means necessary. You have to get out of the city as soon as possible before they get to you, or they might try to hurt you, maybe even rip your wings off. I can’t let that happen.” Twilight stood with her mouth agape. She didn’t know what to say. Lights continued to stream from the sky, as the sounds of battle emerged from the distance. The sound of metal striking metal, peppered by occasional loud bangs or explosions. Twilight wasn’t sure what kind of technology the Bronies had, but she knew that whatever it was making those sounds couldn’t be good. “So are they all just a bunch of bloodthirsty maniacs then? Why do they even care about our lives if we’re in another dimension?” “Most of them are actually perfectly respectable people in their own universe. Even most of the ones that didn’t approve of your coronation were only mildly disappointed with my choice. It’s really just a small minority that is feverous enough to come here. There are just so many of them in their world that even small minorities can mean armies here in Equestria.” The sounds of explosions and shouting could be heard getting closer to their position. They were running out of time, and fast. A golden magical aura began to show from her horn. Evacuation sirens began blaring across the city. “Twilight, I’m going off the reinforce the Western flank. Find Shining Armor and get out of the city as soon as possible!” Celestia flapped her wings, and flew just over the buildings towards the front lines. Twilight was terrified. She began to run as fast as she could towards the barracks where her brother was stationed. She couldn’t think straight. The shouting grew louder as she approached the base. When she arrived, she found it was already too late. The base was enveloped in flames. Corpses littered the ground. She stared in horror. A young pegasus guard ran into view from around a corner and saw her. “Princess Twilight! Thank the sun you’re alive! Come with me immediately, your brother’s been waiting for you, and I don’t know how long our perimeter is going to la- AGH!” The unfortunate guardsman was cut short by an arrow piercing his armor. The arrow was black and thin, certainly not like anything used by Equestrians. He sputtered on the ground. “G-get out of here....” and closed his eyes. Before Twilight could even register this, a score of two legged creatures rushed around the corner. She could hear them shouting things that didn’t seem to make sense. “Down with M.A. Larson!” “This wouldn’t have happened if Faust hadn’t left!” “I want to cum inside Rainbow Dash!” Soon enough, one of them saw the terrified purple alicorn. He screamed to the others “There! Bring truth to the false princess!” They began to charge towards her. She turned around to run, only to find the same situation behind her. She was too frightened and unfocused to attempt a teleportation spell. She flapped her wings desperately, but she was still inexperienced at flying. They reached her before she could even get off the ground. Extending her wings had only served to allow the crazed Bronies to get a hold of them. Two humans flanked her head and grabbed her horn, preventing her from using any magic to escape. She struggled to get free, but the strength of the crowd of humans was too much for her. One particularly tall brony came in front of her. He wore long, dark robes, and a cardboard horn on a headband. Blue plastic wings protruded from his back. He began to speak to Twilight. “Twilight, we know that what you have become has destroyed who you are. We are sure that now that you are Princess, you will forget your friends. The show will become only about you. The dynamic has indisputably been ruined.” Twilight pleaded “But I’ve only been Princess for a few days! I’ve been so busy I haven’t even had a chance to talk to my friends! I was even planning to meet with them again next weekend! And what do you even mean by the dyn-” “SILENCE! We have come to bestow justice upon thy abominable form. We will return you to who you truly are. It is for your own good. This hurts us just as much as it’s going to hurt you.” He threw his dark robes into the heavens, revealing a long curved sheath. He drew out the blade, slightly bent and more than a little bit dirty. She made out the words “stainless steel” etched across the base of the blade. He stood in front of Twilight and raised the sword above his head, the blade pointed towards her left wing. He screamed “FOR FAAAAAAAAAUST!” and began to bring the blade down on Twilight’s restrained appendage. She closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable. Suddenly, a blast of magical energy flew over her. the hands keeping Twilight in place were forced away by a wall of arcane power. The mass of humans flew backwards into a pile some distance behind her. She recognized the magical signature of that energy. She opened her eyes. Her brother stood before her, horn glowing furiously, drops of blood staining his face. “That should have immobilized them for now. Are you alright Twilight?” Twilight stared at her savior. Tears began to well up in her eyes. “I- the Bronies, they were going to...” She began to sob. Shining Armor ran over to her and embraced her. “Twilight, I’m so sorry, but we have to get out of here immediately. Our forces will hold out as long as we can, but it’s only a matter of time before they take the city. Once we lose Canterlot, it’s a sure bet that Ponyville will be next. A small town like that can’t possibly hold out against this kind of firepower. We’ve got to evacuate to Manehatten as soon as possible, and from there we can seek refuge in the Gryphon Kingd-” Twilight cut him off. She had stopped crying. “They’re going to take Ponyville next?” Shining shot her a confused look. “Yeah, it’s within striking distance from Canterlot, and it’s important to your history as well. Why?” Tears still stained Twilight’s face, but they no longer fell. “I’m not going.” Her brother looked at her in shock. “What! Are you crazy? We’ve got to get out of here the first chance we get! This city is a lost cause Twilight!” “No it’s not. I’m going to stay and fight.” “Twilight this is no time for heroics! We’re already being overrun!” “That’s an order from a princess Shining Armor! If fighting here means saving Ponyville then I’ll do whatever it takes! After all, I’m an alicorn princess, and having me fight alongside your men would certainly give them a morale boost wouldn’t it?” Shining Armor looked skeptical. “Twilight, can you even defend yourself? You don’t have any combat training!” The conversation was interrupted by a beam of light crashing down not too far from where they stood. When the smoke cleared, the form of another brony revealed itself. It wore a yellow T-shirt with Fluttershy’s cutie mark, and carried a pitchfork. “You disgust me Twilight. How the hell am I supposed to clop to you if you have wings? Die!” It ran at full speed towards Twilight, pitchfork turned towards her chest. Twilight didn’t seem fazed. She was ready this time. Focusing on the ground under the human, she shaped her magic into a cone made of solid rock. Then, when he grew closer, she pulled the stone spear from the ground, impaling the human. He dropped his pitchfork, uttering a few last words. “I can’t... feel my... diiiiiiiiick...” He slumped over, motionless on the stalagmite. Shining Armor looked impressed. “Oh, nice death spike Twily.” “Thanks, I have studied some combat magic. I’ve even read up on a bit of swordplay, even though I never thought I would have to use it.” Shining Armor spent a moment deciding his next move. “Alright, fine, you can stay and fight. But my men are taking a beating. We need to fall back and regroup. Then we can plan a counterattack.” Twilight nodded understandingly. As the retreat order was given, ponies frantically left their stations with crossbows and swords in hoof. All of them had the feeling that it was going to be a very long war. The sky was stained black from the fires below.