//------------------------------// // Prologue - The Revolution // Story: Surrender or Death // by dessieh //------------------------------// My name is Twilight Sparkle and I was once known as Princess Celestia’s most faithful student. Now I'm called the newest princess of Equestria. Sitting on my throne, I am trying to prepare myself for my first duty as a princess. Everything I went through to make this far was still clear in my mind. To think it all began ten years ago with innocent studies in the library of Canterlot. I wanted to learn about everything, I even risked picking up some books from the forbidden section to sate my desire for knowledge. Unfortunately, there was a reason the restricted section was, well, restricted. In those books I found incredible inventions that could absurdly improve everyone's life in Equestria. However, none of them were new inventions, quite the opposite, they already have been discovered many decades ago. Celestia, later with the help of Luna and Cadance, hide all this knowledge away from the public in a forbidden section of the library. I still feel myself filling with rage at the thought of how much the good princesses could have done for the country and their subjects if they applied this knowledge to improve the quality of life for the residents of Equestria. So many lives that could be saved! Instead, the princesses preferred to use their immense power for their own use, without letting Equestria evolve. I spent months reading everything I could about this subject and every day my indignation grew more and more. It was unbelievable how the princesses seemed to try to prevent this knowledge to spread, as if they preferred the life of nopony to improve. My anger had grown so much that it was hard to keep facing Celestia and treat her right, but I needed to do this for the good of Equestria. If I showed my anger to her, she would find out everything and I would not have the opportunity to do something to change the future of my country. It was obvious that I, as one of the Elements of Harmony, had an obligation to change it. I needed to bring all that knowledge to the people of Equestria, even if it cost me my life. Thus, I told everything to my best friends and Spike. They were all insecure, my plan was truly risky, but in the end I managed to convince them that it was best for everyone. “If it's for the good of Equestria and you think it's a good idea, we are always with you, Twilight,” I still recall them saying it, it was our friendship overcoming their insecurities. They considered our friendship more important than their doubts. It is a shame that the best things do not last forever. We then began to command a rebel group. At the beginning there were only seven of us: me, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Spike. Later, other ponies joined, they were also unhappy with the way the princesses’s government. Soon we started to receive many other species, they didn’t feel represented by the princesses, after all the princesses always did everything for the ponies and forgot all the others. Gradually other rebel groups emerged in various locations of Equestria, I was not the first to want to change the government, but I was the first to really fight for it. I continued to live in Ponyville. So, with the help of my best friends, I took as my duty to prepare the rebel group of my city. I taught all the spells I knew and thought could help us. I taught unicorns and any other creature who could use magic. Rainbow Dash had been very excited to hear that she would teach her flying techniques to pegasi and griffins, even when some Wonderbolts decided to join our cause. Applejack taught the techniques she used to run the farm for all kinds of ponies and other creatures who decided to help us, after all everyone should know the minimum of defending themselves if the fight became more physical. The others helped as they could, Rarity used her incredible skills of sewing to create clothes which I later enchanted. This saved so many rebels from being killed in battle; unfortunately we could not make clothes for everypony. Fluttershy did not like the idea of fighting the government, much less when we wanted to make her persuade the animals to help us. Of course she accepted because of our friendship, but she just made the minimum possible and always seemed ready to give up on everything and abandon our cause. Pinkie Pie and Spike were left with the task of recruiting new rebels, ponies who were already unhappy with the governments of the sisters. I never wanted to involve Spike in that, but he wanted to help so badly, he was great convincing people. How could I say no to him? As I always went to Canterlot, I also coordinated the rebel group from there. My excuse to be in Canterlot was that I was missing my mentor, Princess Celestia, but then I could hardly stay near her and I used the excuse of wanting to visit the library. I always said I didn’t want to bother Celestia with my visits, and I tried to persuade the guards not to warn her about me. Neither me nor my friends taught in this rebel group, but we found other ponies competent enough for that. Anyway, I was always there to make sure that everything went as planned. This was unquestionably the best phase of our friendship, we were having fun training and planning everything. Every moment we spent together, planning new lessons to teach the rebels or planning how we would take the power just made our friendship stronger. Our friendship had never been this strong. After a long while we were ready.Everyone had learned what they needed to and our devices were ready. I sent a secret message to the leaders of all the rebel groups. It was time for everyone to prepare to take the power of Equestria and in a week we would start the attack. We were finally going to defeat Celestia. Our emotions were mingled between the excitement of finally seeing our plan in motion and the anxiety of not knowing if every thing would occur as expected. But we knew that with the Elements of Harmony in our hands no one would be able to defeat us, not even the princesses. Unfortunately, we had no idea how wrong things would go. We had a spy in our group and she just decided to tell our whole plan to the princesses, ruining our element of surprise. So, when we attacked, the major cities of Equestria were protected. The Air Force, guards, soldiers and powerful spells prevented our attack. All Spitfire's faults! I hit my hooves on the arm support of my chair, letting the anger flow through my body. I forced myself to take a deep breath and calm down. I could not help but be angry at Spitfire, she, together with Soarin and Fleetfoot, delayed our victory by at least eight years. It was their fault many of our allies died, and what would be a peaceful takeover, without deaths, turned into a bloody battle with inestimable losses. I recall well the uncertainty that threatened to ruin the unity of our group. Everyone distrusted everyone. But the main suspects were some Wonderbolts, royal guards and other soldiers that once worked for Celestia. It didn’t take long for Spitfire to be revealed as a spy and leave with Soarin and Fleetfoot. Rainbow Dash for sure was the most disappointed about it. The leader of the Wonderbolts was her greatest admiration and nothing could disappoint the Element of Loyalty more than the lack of her element. Despite everything, she and the rest of us continued to fight, and we managed to take some villages and small towns. We soon discovered that loyalty was something lacking in the rebels, and even in my closest allies. Even Rainbow Dash eventually broke her loyalty to us, perhaps for seeing such disloyalty by people she liked. Some Wonderbolts followed Spitfire and went to fight for Celestia, and even Gilda left to fight for celestia, convincing other griffins to left as well. Rainbow was not the first to betray the friendship among the six of us. The first disappointment was obviously Fluttershy. She wasn’t happy to help us from the beginning, and she just needed a little incentive from Discord. Fluttershy said it would be safer for her beloved animals and for everyone else if she did not ally with neither side. She did not like the idea of ​​using the elements of harmony against other ponies and she knew that her going would prevent it. I can’t really blame Fluttershy, she had always been very influenced. Discord probably managed to persuade her to betray our friendship, using all the artifices which a Lord of Chaos has. But even he wasn’t able to make my friend fight alongside Celestia. Rarity didn’t take long to follow Fluttershy. She didn’t care helping the rebels, but only if she didn’t have to get her hooves dirty.. Even though she was the element of generosity, she was rather selfish. Of course she invented an excuse to abandon us, she said something about not wanting to risk the welfare of Sweetie Belle. I knew Rarity wasn’t speaking the truth, but that destabilized Applejack and Rainbow Dash. AJ had a younger sister, as well as a grandmother, who would not know how to defend themselves because of their ages. And Rainbow treated Scootaloo like a sister. Both were very concerned that something might happen to their relatives as well. The betrayal of the people closest to me were many. I think the only one who never left me was my little Spike. Of course I didn’t let him actually join the war. Spike was in Ponyville, which had become practically a neutral territory. So he was completely safe while we are at war. Plus, I sent letters almost every day to him, to be sure he was alright. Returning to the betrayals, even Shining Armor dared to let me stay with Celestia and Cadance. I remember well our discussion. He had been sent by Celestia to persuade me into giving up on fighting for the rebels. I tried to show him the good we would do for Equestria and how his help would be important to achieve this. But he had already been convinced by the lies of the princesses, mainly Cadance. Our discussion was awful. Amidst screams we said horrible things. He promised to do anything to prevent the princesses lose of power, he was keen to point out that this included battling his own sister. Obviously I also made my promises, I swore never to abandon the rebels, but I said I would always leave my heart open for him and, when Shining realized his mistake, he would have his place with me and the rebels just waiting for him. Maybe my BBBFF, my Big Brother Best Friend Forever, now notice that I was right and wants to ally with us. Tears streamed down my face without my realizing. I took a deep breath and dried up my tears. I could not let them see me in this state, at least not now. Almost a year after this discussion, remained in our group, of our friends, just Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Pinkie also left us, but I can’t blame her. Is there something the Element of Laughter could hate more than wars? Nobody laughs in wars, we only see pain and suffering. I even thought that Pinkie Pie would be the first to abandon us, but she managed to resist with us for almost a year. It is hard to handle a war, I know that, it was hard for me too. The Element of Honesty was not able to hide her dissatisfaction with everything and her willingness to give up on everything about this war and go to her farm, take care of the trees, animals and especially her family. It did not take long for Applejack to decide to go. But she left on good terms with me, I understand the necessity of AJ and I just pointed out how much we would miss her. Rainbow Dash didn’t take things so well. She was the Element of Loyalty and saw everyone going away, leaving their friends behind. In the fifth year of the war, Rainbow was with one of our groups, they tried to take a city near Canterlot. Unfortunately, the group was unsuccessful and she was captured by Celestia’s soldiers. All our attempts to recover Dash were in vain. In a week she was present at one of our attacks against the cities of Equestria, but fighting against the rebels. We had the opportunity to have a quick conversation. She actually apologized to me because of it, but Celestia convinced her that our cause was wrong and she said she was more loyal to Equestria than to our friendship. And it was obvious that she was glad to finally be a Wonderbolt and work with Spitfire. Apparently, Rainbow was the second in command of the Wonderbolts. The tears turned to roll down my face, but I didn’t make any effort to stop them. I knew that soon some guards would appear, but I had the right to suffer for all my friends. It was not healthy to keep so much pain inside me. I stayed nine minutes crying, until I calm down. I dried my tears again and went back to my thoughts. Nine was also the number of years, after the war started, it took us to change our fate. We won and lost many territories, many of our fellows died, as well as we killed many of Celestia’s soldiers. Nobody knew how the war would end, and everyone was afraid of the rebels lose. When Queen Chrysalis appeared in our campsite, everyone was concerned. If she had managed to sneak among our group without us realizing it, how many other changelings would be there too? But we talked a lot. She and her subjects also suffered under Celestia’s government, they were not monsters. The changelings mainly ate love, but they could also feed on other positive feelings such as friendship. Celestia didn’t allow any of the changelings live in Equestria, which forced Chrysalis to take extreme measures, like invading Canterlot. Chrysalis said she was only concerned about her poor subjects, that she considers as her children. I knew this wasn’t the whole truth, Chrysalis also wanted power. But Celestia didn’t have to keep out all changelings and treat them as monsters. She wanted the changelings to be discriminated and never accepted in Equestria. And I wouldn’t allow myself to be like Celestia. Despite everyone trying to convince me that allying with Chrysalis was crazy, I managed to persuade them that it was better in this way, they weren’t the monsters that Celestia told us. Our union was sealed and our progress in the war was unbelievable. Only one year was necessary for us to take all Equestria save Canterlot. With the defeat of the Crystal Empire, Shining and Cadance managed to disappoint me again. The two didn’t accept the defeat with their empire, they fled cowardly to Canterlot, taking shelter with the other princesses. Canterlot then had the magic of three alicorns and Shining Armor, an expert on shields, to protect them and prevent the passage of the rebels. Even with the help of the changelings, it seemed impossible to conquer Canterlot. I debated much with myself about what I should do. The best idea I had was extremely dangerous, not only for me, but also for everyone around me. My idea was to go to the now abandoned Zecora’s hut, and take the Alicorn Amulet. I already had been in her hut, and searched for something useful, since she had a lot of potions. I ended finding the amulet. I was afraid of someone finding it and trying to use it against us, so I preferred to hide the amulet in another place of her hut. I knew well what could happen and all the risk that followed with it. But I also knew that if the princesses were able to recover and form a counter attack, we had a good chance of losing the war. We had been able to contain the ponies of the conquered cities, but I was not sure if it would last with the victory of the princesses in Canterlot. The ideal would be attack now when they were weak, which would only be possible with the Amulet. I discussed it with my allies, including Chrysalis, and all were against it. They were right, it wasn’t safe. Though I know some new protection spells, I do not know if any would actually work with the amulet. But I convinced them that it was worth trying. I even told them that if things got out of control, they should drop their differences with the princesses and join them to defeat me. If they were not able to just defeat me, I gave them carte blanche to kill me, I knew it would be better they do it than to allow me to destroy everything for which we fought. I didn’t have much time to practice my protection spells until one of our group returned with the amulet. I couldn’t waste one more second, if I decided to train for another day, perhaps Celestia had already planned the counterattack and would win the war. I had discovered a spell able to repel a certain object after a predetermined time of contact with someone’s body and that was my main bet to get to take off the Alicorn Amulet. While the rebels passed the message that we were ready to attack and everyone prepared themselves, I prepared my spells. They demanded enormous concentration and I wanted to make sure that they would work in the right way, the future of all Equestria and my life depended on it. We traveled to Canterlot, trying not to attract much attention. Just me and my main allies were part of the small group that would begin the attack. After I destroy the barrier, the others would show themselves, so we would prevent the princesses to be ready for it all. When I put the Alicorn Amulet, I understood perfectly well why it was so hard to take it off. It was amazing the power that I felt coming from me, I felt like I could win alone against the three princesses. Of course I haven’t yet felt the corruption taking my mind, my spells were working well. Me and the others unicorns in my group come together to break the barrier. It didn’t take long until we could break the barrier enough to allow the passage of a large group. I knew I should take off the amulet that instant, but I preferred to take my chances with it a little more. The amulet made ​​me feel very confident and I was sure that I could spend more time with it without problems. While my group had defeated the first guards and the rebel groups from the nearby towns approached, I used a spell that I had never tested before. It was a spell that prevented the use of any kind of magic in the place where it was used. I had studied the architecture of the castle enough to know where the prisons and some other important points for the princesses were. I first concentrated on putting the spell in the prisons and then in the throne room. I noticed that my protection spells were working and soon one of them would repel the amulet away from my body. Instead of trying to enchant any more rooms in the castle, I tried to make myself immune to spells I had just cast in the castle. I didn’t know if it had worked, since it didn’t take long for the amulet fly out of my neck after that. The protection spell worked better than expected. I quickly placed the Alicorn Amulet in my bag and went to help the rebels in the battle. I still have the amulet with me, but I do not intend to use it again. I don’t know if I could resist to its corruption another time. We needed three days to conquer Canterlot. After ten years of fighting, we did not expect such a quick victory. We arrested the three princesses, Shining Armor, and all the others who fought against the invasion. The civilians who agreed to renounce their fidelity to the princesses and to support us were released, they were also victims of the princesses, they had no choice but to stay in their homes waiting for the end of the war. The barrier worked for both sides, no one could enter and no one could come out. I admit that it was hard for me to believe that we had won. It has been ten years of fighting, but finally we were in the power. After so much pain and suffering, we could rest. We were going to recover the cities and their citizens, then we could implement the reforms that I so desperately wanted. But of course, nothing is that easy. Yesterday I had the worst possible conversation with my allies, they want me to talk to all our major prisoners and decide what will be their fate. They will be hanged or will have to apologize publicly to the rebels and beg for his forgiveness. I will hear what they say and decide if they are truly sorry. Their life will be in my hooves. My allies gave me the night to get used to the idea and soon the first prisoner will appear here, in the throne room. At least they agreed to leave my friends and my brother last. I don’t know if I will be able to… The sound of footsteps interrupted my thoughts. The guards were coming and I should prepare myself for the first sentence. I saw them coming from afar and I took a deep breath. I ordered them to approach, I was ready to fulfill my obligations.