Shattered Dawn gazed from the balcony of his tenement in the slums of the newly Liberated Crystal Empire.
He reminisced about the day the Equestrians first came to their empire. With everyone dazed from entering reality after thousands of years in the inky blackness of nothing, the Equestrian soldiers led by Shining Armour were able to seize power over all of the Empire with almost no resistance.
In the ensuing Chaos the Aristocrats of the old regime once more asserted themselves in their positions of wealth and splendour only this time swearing oaths of fealty to new conquerors sent from the farthest stretches of the world. Following this wave upon wave of Equestrian settlers flooded their kingdom seizing the choicest plots of land for themselves, leaving their previous owners to rot at the lowest rungs of the economic ladder.
This new system was only further fueled by the Equestria games which as part of a policy to Keep the Peace banned any Crystal ponies who couldn't pay the exorbitant fees of entry, despite the fact that it was the tax provided by these same Crystal Ponies which provided the Games with the necessary funds in the first place.
Shattered Dawn once more peered over the Crystal Empire seeing the stark difference between the slums on the outskirts of the town which were derelict things fabricated from scraps and a host of other undesirable building materials . All of them being towered over by the estates and manses lying closer to the city center, each house a different expression of it's owners desires some being massive, crystal structures belonging to the bourgeois of the Crystal Ponies, others being ill-ordered, multi-coloured mansions often belonging to Equestrian settlers.
What the den of opulence that lay before him didn't know that Crystal Ponies weren't just going to accept defeat that easily, oh no, there had been many clandestine meetings by influential Crystal Ponies who at first sight of the suffering of their fellow countrymen began to organise peaceful demonstrations and marches in the hopes that they would bring equal rights to the Crystal Ponies.
Shattered Dawn himself was preparing to leave for one such meeting, as he grabbed his We Demand Civil Rights Picket sign he left the dreary emptiness of his unfurnished one room apartment and headed for the city centre, proud in the fact that he would help contribute to the liberation of his people.
As he departed his home Shattered Dawn began to move past the rows of shabby, broken houses he saw children running through the streets, mothers calling out windows and men leaning against walls. However at the end of the road the concentration of ponies began to thin and there stood a large Equestrian checkpoint. Shattered Dawn hurriedly shoved his placard under his long coat as he approached the checkpoint.
They seemed to have popped up almost overnight, like pockmarks across the already sick face of the Crystal city. As he drew closer to the checkpoint the guards began to move out from the shelter. A bored looking Equestrian stood greeted Shattered Dawn, his rifle firmly in his hooves.
"What will be your destination and purpose in the inner city, citizen," the guard asked in a hazy tone. The Equestrians had barely managed to catch a wink of sleep as their hands were full working on simultaneously policing the newly acquired territory and also building the numerous checkpoints that dotted the city.
"I'm off to see a few friends in a tavern near the center of town," Shattered Dawn replied, telling what could be considered a white lie at best.
"Very well citizen, go on through," eyeing up the young stallion for any signs of dissent.
Shattered Dawn cocked his flat cap at the guard as he proceeded through the gate, he could see a cart with what seemed to be a large iron cage attached to the rear of it. The cage was filled with a handful of sullen Crystal Pony stallions. However Shattered Dawn couldn't even get a proper look at the group of detainees before the cart began to make it's way down the road, towards the Crystal Spire.
As his journey dre to a close he was startled to his feet by loud shouting coming from a thick Equestrian accent. He narrowly managed to dodge to one side of the road when a column of Equestrian soldiers went running down the small lane, they were followed by a small convoy of carts, each one filled to the brim with even more Equestrian soldiers.
Well the rally looks like it will be a lot more interesting Shattered Dawn thought to himself as he arrived at his destination.