//------------------------------// // Rise of the Resistance // Story: The Nightfall Chronicles // by Sauron //------------------------------// Eternal Night had set, likely across all of Equestria, and Twilight couldn’t help but feel as though she failed. Of course, the revelation that her mentor Princess Celestia was truly behind this reign of literal darkness was disturbing and quite shocking, but even with this new revelation, Twilight felt the sting of failure. She didn’t care as much what Celestia thought, and her Royal Mission now held no value whatsoever, but the ringing defeat was still palpable. She was hiding out in the old library in Ponyville, left in shambles when Celestia had banned fictional books, and all the non-fiction books were held in the local Mage Society headquarters. The darkness that encompassed her inside the shadowy library was a shield, blending in with the rest of Ponyville. It was a cozy place, perhaps, in its prime, but now that it was abandoned, it was merely a quiet tree with empty shelves devoid of learning. The other mares explained everything earlier today, before leaving for their homes. She knew they were starting a resistance movement, and she knew it would be best if they overthrew Celestia, but part of her wanted to lock herself away in the forgotten library, a pocket dimension to erase her presence from the nightmare Equestria was becoming. ... Applejack had been brought by several guards back into Ponyville shortly after she returned to her farm, and was thoroughly questioned inside the barracks. She was just leaving after a particularly dull round of questions. She was ready to forget this nightmare and get back to Sweet Apple Acres where things made sense, but sadly, she did have work to do there, and it was harder than the regular chores. The world could be a complicated place, but the farm was simple. After all, how hard was it to understand that life revolved around bucking trees and making goods? Simple, and, at least for her, a nice, enjoyable life too, until that is, she had to tell her family about last night’s events and convince them that joining this resistance movement was the best option. Sweet Apple Acres came within view as Applebloom ran up to meet her big sister. “Applejack!” The younger sister cried out with joy at the return of her older sibling. “Hey there Applebloom.” Applejack replied happily, patting her on the head when she reached her younger sister. “What happened? Big Macintosh said some guards came to search the barn. Where’d you go?” She asked with curiosity and more focus now that she knew Applejack was back home. “I went with them into the Everfree Forest and on a small adventure. I’ll tell you more about it later, right now I need you to go on up to your room and finish the homework Ms. Cheerilee gave you today.” Applejack said, knowing that Applebloom shouldn’t hear too many details of what had happened, at least not at the moment. She had a feeling inside that told her this discuss with her family wouldn’t be particularly fun. Big Mac and Granny Smith went over to her as she walked into the dining room, they themselves were sitting down to a small meal. It was a little known fact that Big Mac was a stress eater. “Where’d you go runnin’ off to?” Granny Smith asked with slight ire in her voice when AJ had settled down at the table with Big Mac. “Sorry for just dropping what I was doing, but the Royal Guards were chasing after Nightmare Moon in the Everfree Forest, and I tailed along, figuring that we should make sure nopony breaks into or hides in our barn again. Basically, it was one huge fiasco that ended with some questions for me in the barracks back in Ponyville.” AJ explained and took a drink of some cool, refrigerated, Apple Cider. “Nightmare Moon? Isn’t she one of them big celebrity types? Why was the guards chasin’ her? Tax evasion?” Granny Smith began to go off on a tangent as Big Mac facehoofed and Applejack stopped drinking the cider to stop Granny Smith from going too far. “No Granny, Nightmare Moon is the legendary villain who Princess Celestia banished to the Moon 1,000 years ago. You remember that story, right?” AJ asked, as Big Mac looked on with uncertain eyes. “When you get to be my age you tend to forget a lot of things Applebloom.” Granny Smith told AJ. “Granny… I’m Applejack.” AJ corrected. “Oh…right, well I knew that.” Granny Smith said with slight embarrassment and then took a drink of her own cider. “So, anyways, we ended up in the Everfree Forest and found Nightmare Moon in an old fortress or something, crumbling away from old age. And then, when we cornered her, this wall broke down and this stone started glowing. I had no idea what was going on, but Twilight, one of the ponies chasing Nightmare Moon, started acting all funny and tried to defend Nightmare Moon.” AJ went on as Big Mac looked on somewhat skeptically. “Hold on there, Sis,” Big Mac stopped his younger sister and held up a hoof. Granny Smith then spoke up: “Even if this pony you were chasing was Nightmare Moon, don’t ya think you're exaggerating a bit? Call me crazy, but I ain’t never seen a glowing rock.” She told her granddaughter in a gentle yet clearly doubtful tone. “Now just a minute! Are you saying that I’m lying about what I saw? It all happened I tell ya. In fact, after my questioning, I was there to help her escape from that trial they were gonna hold. She was really right about Princess Luna, after all.” AJ told her family. “Princess Luna?” Asked Granny Smith, confused with good reason. “Luna- uh… Nightmare Moon. See, Nightmare Moon is really a good pony. The story y’all heard from Princess Celestia was just made up to frame Princess Luna when she was banished to the Moon 1,000 years ago. Really, Celestia’s the evil one, (everypony else gasped, and Granny Smith almost choked on her cider) just like I knew all along. She’s never been the way she tells everypony she is. Now look, I’m asking ya’ll to please, just consider what I’ saying and join with me and Twilight and the others in the resistance movement under Princess Luna. We can change Equestria, make it a better place for everypony.” Applejack told them, starting to get on a roll and a serious speech. Everypony stared at her with a look of complete shock and concern. “Don’t ya think you’re being a little too…emotional? I think ya should stay away from them ponies and keep to yerself, we don’t need you getting thrown in jail too.” Granny Smith told AJ with a goofy wisdom that Applejack couldn’t disrespect, though in her heart, she knew she wanted to be a part of this movement. “Eeyup.” Big Mac replied, adding his usual sign of confirmation and agreement onto Granny Smith’s words. Applejack would have responded, but chose to be silent, for now. She had hoped she could recruit her family into the resistance, but it seemed that Celestia’s authority was a stronger force than her ties with them. … Rarity had quietly escaped the EUP barracks clean and free, and had gone off to her favorite café to enjoy a cup of tea. She could go home, but she figured she would talk with a few mages she thought might want to join the resistance. They always met at the café, and after a simply stressful day, Rarity couldn’t imagine anything much better than a cup of emerald fire tea, and truth be told, she actually wondered if they put in real emeralds to make it, because she could never seem to recreate it at home. After obtaining the beverage and sitting alone for a few minutes, she took her cup and headed over to the other mages who sat across the café. They were nervously discussing something, probably the fact that the sun hadn’t risen today, and when they saw Rarity move over to them they stopped talking as loudly and soon enough stopped talking altogether. “Good day everypony...err...evening, rather.” Rarity greeted cheerfully and gave a small smile. “Rarity.” Amethyst Star acknowledged. “Good...evening.” Diamond Mint parroted back to her. “Hey…” Lyra replied, sounding a little awkward. “Do you mind if I join you for a little while?” Rarity asked. “Umm…Sure.” Diamond Mint replied after looking at her friends. “Why thank you.” Rarity said, sitting down and placing her beverage on the table. “Seriously though, is the sun being fixed for damages or something? Is Princess Celestia on vacation? Why is the MOON out at noon?” Lyra asked, returning to their conversation as though Rarity had been there from the start. “Actually, I have something quite interesting to say about that particular topic. If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you something.” She told them as she carefully weaved her way into the conversation. “Going into a new fashion for the longest night in history?” Amethyst Star asked sarcastically. “Come on, at least let her speak her mind.” Diamond Mint told the other two. “I wanted to discuss Princess Celestia.” Rarity told them, careful not to raise her voice too high. “What about the Princess?” Diamond Mint asked as a look of intrigue crossed her eye. “Can you promise to keep this confidential,” Rarity asked and continued after the three mares nodded, “Last night- er- this night? Anyways, as you know, I went with Twilight Sparkle, the lavender unicorn who came over yesterday to enlist help from our chapter, and I ended up chasing down Nightmare Moon. Now, at first, I figured she was just a rough and unfashionable villain, much like you probably do, but I discovered something else entirely. As it turns out…Nightmare Moon is really Princess Luna, Celestia’s sister who tried to prevent a reign of tyranny and absolute law, the very one we live under! Not only that, Princess Celestia has been lying to us all about many things and covering up the things that Luna did to stop her up with the legend of Nightmare Moon. I’ve joined her group and I want to know if you’d have the same interest.” Rarity explained, having lost their interest by the end. “OK...well...I’m not entirely sure if you’re joking...but if you aren’t...are you crazy?” Amethyst Star asked as if Rarity had just offered them a trip to Tartarus. “Yeah, on top of the whole ‘Princess Luna Resistance’ thing, which I don’t know if I can believe either, this whole idea of joining you sounds…” Diamond Mint told her but trailed off at the end, allowing Lyra to speak up and finish the thought: “crazy...stupid...probably suicidal.” “I understand your skepticism, and if one of you were in my place I’m sure I’d have a similar reaction, but I beg of you, please give this some serious thought.” Rarity reasoned with them. “OK, hypothetically, if this scenario was completely true and we knew it, how exactly would we help you?” Lyra inquired as she took a bite out of her cookie. “Well…” Rarity began to reply and looked around nervously, not having quite established many details about their rebellion’s actions. “You don’t have any plans yet, do you?” Amethyst asked. “Well, I don’t, but that isn’t exactly my place...I’m sure Princess Luna is plotting out the next several moves as we speak.” Rarity tried to reassure them. “Rarity...in all honesty, I just don’t know if you’re telling us the truth, and even if you are, I’m still not sure that it’s the whole truth. On top of that, You stand absolutely no chance against Celestia's forces, and I’m not going to take the chance of ending up imprisoned for a rebellion that will certainly end before it accomplished anything.” Diamond told her. “Yeah, maybe if you’d come to us with an army of a thousand ponies, a more developed rebellion and actual, concrete plans about it’s work we’d join up with you...but the way it is? I doubt any ponies would be foolish enough to jump on the sinking ship you’re sailing.” Lyra added, causing Rarity to look down at her tea in extreme disappointment. “Oh, very well then...I must be going now. If you’ll excuse me,” Rarity bade them farewell and stood up before leaning in and adding in one last thing, “remember...you must keep this a secret. Please, please do.” “We will Rarity. No sense in you getting killed sooner rather than later.” Diamond Mint assured her as the fashionista paid for her tea and left the cafe. … Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had left the barracks together, but they separated when they reached the market area. Fluttershy went off into the fields to talk to her closest friends, which just happened to be animals, and Pinkie Pie went off to talk to her closest friends, which just happened to be anypony she could possibly talk to. Pinkie was desperate to talk with anyone about the new resistance movement… except for the guards of course. She was a little spacey sometimes, but she wasn’t about to let any guard figure out she was planning to overthrow Celestia. She ran back to Sugarcube Corner and up to her room, spending a good 15 minutes making messages. She then exited and ran out into the streets. She approached the passing Jetstream and called out. “Psst…hey, here, take this.” Pinkie Pie said and handed out a folded piece of paper. “Oh…what’s this Pinkie?” Jetstream asked. “You have to read it to find out silly. I’m not gonna just go around telling everypony in person that I’m part of a new resistance movement to overthrow Princess Celestia…duh. Let me know if you’re in or not!” Pinkie said and trotted off to find another pony, leaving Jetstream standing alone in utter confusion. She opened up the paper to find a crudely drawn propaganda poster in red crayon, depicting Pinkie’s views on Celestia with a large, red, X over Celestia’s portrait, also drawn by Pinkie Pie. All in all…it was a mess, and the mare simply rolled her eyes and trotted off, leaving the poorly made and rushed propaganda poster lying crumpled up in a puddle at the side of the street. Meanwhile, Pinkie had handed over a few more posters and left just as many ponies standing in the same confusion that Jetstream had been left in. Finally, she bumped into a royal guard, who questioned what was on the paper. “Paper? What paper? This? Oh, silly filly, this isn’t paper…it’s uh…my lunch!” Pinkie managed to get out before putting on a fake smile. “Lunch?” The Guard asked, raising an eyebrow and gazing into Pinkie’s face, no, into her soul. “Uh…yeah, paper is an essential part of anypony’s healthy diet.” Pinkie said before crumpling up the few remaining posters and taking a bite from the large ball. “…” The guard simply stared blankly at her and kept his eyebrow raised. “Yummy yummy…” Pinkie Pie faked and continued to chew. “Right…” He walked away and left Pinkie Pie standing there eating the paper. When he had gone far enough away for Pinkie to feel safe, she spit out the paper and tried desperately to cleanse her tongue from the vile propaganda…even though it was made by nopony other than herself. “Well great, there goes a good 4 minutes of drawing and red crayon.” Pinkie said to nopony, as nopony was there. Pinkie trotted off and pondered her next step. Those Royal Guards were tough, and smarter than they looked. Since she had no more paper at Sugarcube Corner and her crayon supply was dangerously low, she decided to go to the store to get more, but the store was in the marketplace, very near the barracks…enemy territory. “Oh well…somepony has to do it…so here goes.” Pinkie said, at first determined, then cheerily, and she pounced away in her usual Pinkie glee. The market place was fairly empty, but there were a couple of guards there, observing the populous and ensuring that theft and plots against the Princess did not occur. “Excuse me sir…how many…red crayons do you have?” Pinkie asked the stallion at the arts and crafts booth. “Umm…we only sell crayons in packs of 12 or 1728.” He replied. “So, how much for a pack of 12 red crayons?” Pinkie asked, her eyes shifting from the vendor to the guards and back more than once. “Well we don’t sell packs of just one color. If you want a red crayon then you have to buy an entire assortment. Each 12 pack is one bit.” He informed her. “Drat…I only need a red. Well, what about paint? How much for a tube of red paint?” She asked and dramatically flipped her mane up to cover her face as a guard walked by, not noticing the gesture much. “Four bits for a gallon and 12 bits for five gallons.” The stallion answered. “Alright, then I’ll buy 12 packs of 1728 crayons .” She told the vendor. “I only have one. I didn’t think anypony actually wanted ‘light neon electric lime green’ as a color of crayon.” He admitted. “Well, then I’ll take the gallon of paint.” Pinkie stated as she set four bits on the table. “Here you go. Anything else?” He asked as he set down the tube in front of her and took the bits away with his hoof. “Have any paper?” She asked, again eyeing the guards. “Sorry, we sold out when a guard came by and told everypony who would listen about how paper was an essential part of anypony’s healthy diet.” He informed the disappointed mare. “I knew that would catch on!” Pinkie said somewhat proudly and walked away with her paint. “Is she…crazier than normal today?” The vendor asked another customer, who was in line after her. “Maybe a little bit…yeah. Go figure. That’s Pinkie I guess.” He replied. Since she had no paper, Pinkie decided the best option was now graffiti. She moved quickly and quietly to avoid the guards and painted her propaganda messages all around town, much to the chagrin of many shop owners and cleaning ponies. One particular instance went downhill, that being when the owner of the orange stand came back from his bathroom trip and found her painting his oranges. But it wasn’t all bad, he thought she was trying to make ponies think they were apples, and the guard who was alerted was able to be persuaded that painting oranges different colors helped them get riper more quickly. The orange stand owner wasn’t as easy to persuade, but some slick bargaining, or in this case, confusion, managed to quiet him down and let the issue go to rest. Sadly however, her first day of recruitment didn’t go so well. … Fluttershy retreated from the town to the meadows to find her animal companions. Given all that had happened, she was about ready to get some sleep and cuddle with her Angel Bunny. She still felt a little nervous about breaking Twilight out of jail, and in truth this whole ordeal made her uncomfortable in many ways, but given all that she had heard, she knew that no matter how hard it was, she had to fight back. It was the right thing to do. Of course, that didn’t change the fact that she simply wanted to go home and hide in her closet with angel, away from all of this. The meadow was calm and quiet, as usual, but the animals seemed to be in complete disarray. “Oh my! What’s happened here? What’s wrong?” She asked, her voice retaining an urgent quality while still quieter than most ponies normal talking. “Quack, quack.” A duck beside her in the river responded. “Oh my! I’m sure this will all blow over.” Fluttershy tried to reassure the duck, who had related to her the worries of the animals that the moon was out of place, and inside, she knew they were right. She was lying. It was almost too much for her; she couldn’t stand the thought of lying to her animal friends. “Chirp, chirp, chirp.” A nearby wren told Fluttershy, who got even more red in the face. “I-I’m pretty sure this will all work out…” She repeated, realizing she soon going to crack like an eggshell over a bowl of cake batter. “…” A nearby turtle let out a sound that was almost inaudible, but Fluttershy heard it loud and clear and wondered if her face could get any redder. “W-Well…I…I-I don’t…I’m sure that…” Fluttershy crouched down into a small yellow bundle of fur on the grass and shut her eyes as the nearby animals gathered around her. The bunnies, bears, fish, turtles, birds, and other critters staring her down, Fluttershy broke down. “Ok! Ok! I admit it! Something is wrong! Equestria is in terrible danger! Princess Celestia is really the one who caused this problem with the moon! Why? Because she’s really evil and Nightmare Moon is the good princess! That’s why! And, yes, before any of you ask, I am joining the resistance group with Pinkie and the others.” Fluttershy nearly screamed out the last part and calmed down when all the critters silently stared at her. “Umm…so…yes, something is wrong, but it really isn’t anything to worry about. The resistance is going to end this tragedy before too long…I hope.” Fluttershy asked them. “Growl…” The bear told her. “Quack.” The duck reaffirmed. “You want to help? But that would be risky…not to mention dangerous! Are you all sure?” She asked them, hoping desperately they would deny their desire to join the resistance cause. Ponies were one thing, but animals were entirely another. “Chirp.” The wren answered, signaling their desire to help. “Oh…oh my…well…O-Ok…but you have to promise not to do anything too dangerous now.” She told them and continued to fight herself inwardly for letting them take such risks. The poor critters... … Rainbow Dash paced back and forth in the dark room, the only light was on the wooden table where the suspect, a certain Earth pony stallion was being questioned. She was the only guard questioning him, a perk of being a non-commissioned officer with some weight around that particular guard chapter. In fact, the only reason they were even holding this stallion was because Rainbow so desired to speak with him alone, causing a false charge to be brought to his name, which was actually pretty typical of the Guard. She had the perfect plan to get a few members into the resistance. “OK, I’m not going to ask again, so let’s make this easy on everypony. You know why I brought you here, so just tell me what I want to know.” Rainbow told the stallion with fierce intent in her eyes. “I haven’t done anything wrong! That filly, she’s a liar! I didn’t come near her!” He told her energetically and emphatically. “Ewwwww...never mind!” Rainbow closed her eyes and headed over to the door, calling a guard in and whispering orders to her as she took the suspect away. Rainbow shook herself a little and tried to get the image of that creep coming towards an innocent filly out of her mind. Hopefully the measures she put in place would prevent any such thing from happening in the future. She inhaled deeply and in a rare moment of slight self doubt, began to pace around the room, looking down as the anxiety of an early rebellion’s needs began to weigh itself on her shoulders. The door to the chamber was suddenly opened by a doubtlessly clueless guard escorting another suspect, this one a mare, hitting Rainbow in the face. Rainbow angrily stepped back as the mare began to giggle. “Ma’am...I’m SO sorry about tha-” began the guard, looking worried at his carelessness. “Leave!” Rainbow cut him off and breathed in deeply again, preparing herself to deal with a mare who didn’t take her seriously. Upon regaining her composure, Rainbow stared deep into the eyes of the mare, getting in her face and letting a semi-awkward moment pass before she spoke up. “Alright, let’s get serious,” Rainbow began and backed away a little before continuing, “I don’t want to waste any time, so I suggest you answer my questions quickly and honestly.” “What if I don’t?” The mare questioned merely for the sake of ticking Rainbow off. In response, Rainbow smirked and got closer than ever before, so much so that their eyes were almost touching, “Then things will certainly get...interesting.” “Ok, spit it out. What am I here for, I didn’t do anything.” “What would you say if we have you on charges of dissent?” “I’d say you’re crazy! I’ve been minding my own business since I got out of jail last time! I’ve hardly gone out of my house at all in the past week!” The mare objected. “But isn’t it true that you hate Celestia’s rule? Isn’t it a fact that you’ve openly expressed to me and other guards before a disdain for it?” “Hey, that isn’t fair at a-” “Is it true?” Rainbow repeated, a bit louder this time. “...I’m not saying anything else!” “What? No, no, no, no, just answer the question! Yes or no?” Rainbow urged. “Forget it! I won’t say anything else to you!” “C’mon! Yes or no? It’s not like it’s hard!” “...” The mare remained quiet and Rainbow sighed deeply as she called for a guard to take her away. Rainbow’s brilliant had plan backfired. As a guard, it was the perfect question for a legal trap. If Rarity or Applejack asked it, it might have worked and she may have opened up about wishing to change the way their society was, but not with Rainbow Dash, local pegasi guard extraordinaire. Rainbow groaned at her inability to recruit anypony. The situation made it difficult to get through to anypony, but she still thought she was better than that. Rainbow knew she was able to do it, but thus far it wasn’t working out at all. The next suspect, another stallion and dealer of black market items in the past, was walked in by a guard and left sitting alone as Rainbow turned to face him. “I’m just gonna be brutally honest with you, I know about your secrets.” The stallion blushed madly and his eyes went wide. “Wait a minute! HOW did you figure it out? I DEMAND to know how you figured out my addiction!” “...Well, i was actually talking about your rebellious attitude and desire to overthrow Celestia, but that addiction stuff is interesting.” “OH COME ON! Hold on! Hold on!” He pleaded, attempting to keep himself out of as much trouble as possible. “Look, I’m not here to bust you for anything I’d ordinarily like to; I just want information about dissenters in Ponyville.” Rainbow confided in a tough, proud, yet oddly gentle tone. “There are no dissenters in Ponyville. That’s crazy. We’d get put down by you and your guard friends in no time.” “C’mon. Don’t play dumb with me, I know how this town works,” Rainbow told him, raising her voice and tone slightly. “Nothing is going on here, you guys would be all over us; we wouldn’t stand a chance.” “So you aren’t involved in any resistance movement? You haven’t started any rebellions?” “I never formed any gang of dissenters or anything like that. I swear by Celestia’s… uh… commanding presence?” The stallion protested, sure now that he was looking at at least three weeks of jail time. “Don’t play this game with me. I know you Joe, you can’t hide any secrets from me.” Rainbow told him, pacing in front of the table once again. “...You don’t remember my name, do you?” The stallion asked, ruining the moment for Rainbow and absolutely killing the mood. “What does that matter? I know you as the perp! Got it!” She told him with fire in her eyes, once again getting in his face and a little too close for his comfort. He remained quiet as she stood with her front facing away from the table. “Alright, enough messing around. I’m growing impatient. Tell me what you know. You can’t keep this up forever, we’ll keep you here as long as we need to.” Rainbow told him. “But I haven’t started any resistance movements! Even if I wanted to, you would crack down and arrest us all! It’s no good, not anywhere I’ve ever been in Equestria! My dreams are hopeless! Oh, did I say dreams? I meant...” He finally let out and shrank down in the chair, worried something bad would follow. “That’s what I’ve been waiting to hear.” She told him, happier than he’d ever seen her. “Huh? What did I miss?” He asked. “Join my resistance movement. Well…technically, it’s not mine, it’s Princess Luna’s Resistance, but we need ponies like you to join us and help us fight Celestia’s tyranny. Are you in?” She asked, actually smiling, however slightly, and held out her hoof. “…Hey, nice try Captain, but I know that trick already. My brother was arrested the same way down in Fillydelphia. Thanks, but no thanks.” He told her and leaned back in the chair feeling pretty confident in himself. “A trick? Are you nuts or something? I’m serious! Why is EVERYPONY so PARANOID about me today? Join this resistance group! We need ponies like you! Don’t leave Equestria hanging!” Rainbow encouraged him. “Sorry, but it won’t work.” He told her and closed his eyes in silence, not saying another word despite her pleading for the next minute or so. Finally she let him out and had the guard stationed by the door escort him out. “No luck?” A fellow guard asked Rainbow. “No…he’s...uh...he’s a tough one…but I’ll get him to crack sooner or later. There goes Ms. Nice Pony.” She told the fellow guard mare and watched as the suspect was escorted out. “You OK, Captain? You seem a bit off today.” The guard commented, much to Rainbow’s aggravation and annoyance. “Huh? Fine. I’m fine. Just send in the next one.” She quickly told the mare before stepping back into the questioning room. … A quiet knock awoke Twilight from the light sleep she was resting in. “Twilight? Are you there?” Rarity whispered from beyond the closed door. “Rarity? Hold on, I’ll let you in.” Twilight told her and opened the door, letting the white mare into the dark library. “My word darling…I don’t think I quite noticed it before, but this is actually a depressing little hide out. I suppose it’s functional, but it needs some serious touch ups.” Rarity commented as she entered with a sack she was levitating. “What’s in the bag?” Asked Twilight as she shut the door behind Rarity, making sure nopony was watching them. “I just brought you a little food, I imagine the prison food was quite…disturbing.” Rarity told her and unwrapped the back to reveal a daisy and daffodil sandwich “Thank you Rarity, I haven’t eaten in awhile. Where’d you get this?” Twilight asked as she levitated the sandwich up to her mouth to take a bite. “I stopped at a café after we sprung you out, they make the most divine tea of any professional café in Ponyville, but I also wanted to get something for you. Until we figure out where to go and what to do, it really isn’t safe for you in Ponyville, and probably not anywhere in Equestria for that matter.” Rarity told her with slight concern. “I know, but I feel so useless. This entire day has been one long nightmare. I can’t just hide from Celestia forever, at some point I have to do something.” Twilight told her friend in-between bites of her fantastic sandwich. “I’m sure you do, and I’m sure that can’t be easy, but we have to be realistic about this, you can’t just go out in public anymore, you’re a wanted criminal.” “I know, I know...its just hard. Especially knowing that everything Celestia told me was a lie...every standard, every rule, every measure I lived my life by have suddenly become fake.” Twilight confided in the fellow unicorn, eyes lowering to the floor in what could be described as shame or pity. “I...I honestly can’t say that I know what that feels like…”Rarity admitted, “but I do know that Celestia can’t hold us down, not with a resistance of proud and strong ponies like us.” Rarity encouraged. “Do you really think so?” Twilight asked the mage in all seriousness. “Of course, Celestia got into power with trickery, scheming, and back stabbing, and I fully believe that such tactics will only lead to others using them against you. It may sound unelegant, but I believe that she’s overdue for a shocking realization that her Kingdom isn’t quite what it seems, even if we have to be the ones to shock her.” Rarity replied. “It looks so easy on paper. In the confines of a chart or a list, the goal seems so within reach. But in reality...this is the hardest thing we’ll probably ever do. Celestia has surrounded herself with guards, mages, and pawns to do her will. We’ll have to be fast, smart, and strong at every moment. If we have just one slip up, it could have the potential to land us all in jail...or meet a worse fate.” Twilight reasoned with a tone that was more ominous than anything else. “...Did anypony say it would be so easy?” Rarity asked the lavender magical student, admittedly shocking her greatly. “So then...you understand just how difficult this will be?” Twilight asked Rarity in confirmation. “I do.” She responded firmly and then shut her eyes and smiled, causing the entire library to brighten up a bit and prove her true elegance and beauty, leaving Twilight rather speechless. Somehow, this unicorn, this mage of seemingly so small skill, had not only shocked Twilight, but made her question why she even spoke up in the first place. Either way, Rarity’s resolve was remarkably grand, illustrating her confidence in their movement and the willingness Twilight was sure she had to make such dangerous sacrifices. “Good. I’m glad to have ponies like you fighting alongside me.” Twilight stated after a small moment of silence. ... It was nighttime when the six ponies gathered at the Library and left for the outskirts of town, but only the clocks held any indication that it was actually night, as opposed to day. The six ponies quietly left town, headed into the Everfree Forest, and approached the tall ruined fortress of stone where the Element of Honesty, and Luna, awaited. Princess Luna had already arranged for the seven of them to meet here at 12:00. They would be discussing further courses of action, and report any progress they had made during the day -or perhaps it was night. Luna stood at the top of the main staircase as the ponies entered. "Come in, come in. We have been awaiting your return." the alicorn mare said "please, accompany us to the library and recount thy achievements to us." The mares followed the dark Princess down several hallways, before arriving in a large room filled with shelves stacked high with books. Twilight Sparkle gasped. "I've never seen so many books before. Not even the Palace's Library has so many..." "Indeed. Our sister loved books as much as we did, once. It is a shame that she prohibited reading for fun... We are grieved at the generations of ponies who lost the joy of reading... but we digress. Come, tell of your exploits." "Well..." began Applejack, "Ma family doesn't want anything to do with the resistance. They- They're afraid I'll only end up in jail like my cousin Caramel." "My friends in the Mage Society fear for me too." Rarity put in, "They, how shall we say, lack confidence in my ability." "Well, I haven't heard from any of my friends yet, except you guys of course, but I'm sure they'll totally agree that it will be fun!" Pinkie stated enthusiastically. "Uh, I wouldn't exactly call takin' on Celestia fun, Pinkie." Applejack said. "I obviously couldn't accomplish much..." admitted Twilight, "How about you... Fluttershy, was it?" "W-w-w-well, I g-g-got some animals t-to join." the yellow pegasus put in meekly, "Uh, if that's alright with you girls." "Bwa-ha-ha! Yeah, like animals can hel-" Rainbow Dash was cut off suddenly by Twilight's hoof. "We'll take all the help we can get, especially since we have so little right now." Twilight scolded, "Unless you raised an entire army today, Rainbow Dash?" "Well, uh... you see, hrm." Rainbow Dash mumbled, at a loss of explanations for her failure. "I... didn't get anyone to join up." "Weren't you the one bragging that you could spot traitors a mile away?" Applejack accused. "And didn't you work as an EUP guard recruiter a ways back?" "Well, I found a bunch of traitors... but none of them believed me when I tried to get them to join!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, her frustrations from today finally getting to her. "You try getting ponies to think you're a rebel, while you're in a Guard uniform. It isn't easy." Everypony was silent for a few moments. Finally, Luna spoke. "It seems as if everypony has had trouble finding allies... perhaps tomorrow will bear better results. Now, we bid thee goodnight." As the dark mare exited, all the other ponies felt the weight of their task crushing down on them. To be Continued...