//------------------------------// // Mirror Darkly: Treacherous Times // Story: Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship(Season 1) // by Barrobroadcaster //------------------------------// The sun rose on its own the next day. It was a very closely-guarded secret in the Solar Empire that Empress Celestia and Empress Luna actually had lost the power to move celestial bodies over a thousand years ago. A secret that, many believed would be incredibly damaging to the empresses if it ever came to be known. Despite being a different universe, some things were the same and even more things were similar to the universe of Equestria. The power to move and reposition stellar objects was not accessible to ponies who practiced dark magic, much to the empresses' dismay. For the past thousand years since the departure of their parents, Empress Celestia had tried in vain to understand how to control the sun again to no avail. Like her pupil in this universe, it was a goal frustratingly out of reach. She often shunned even the sun's light, secretly ashamed to even bask in its glow. Perhaps that was why Celestia and Luna preferred Terra as the seat of their power, ruling from the new capital of the Solar Empire, the former city of Rome. Inside a new palace constructed in their honor, the empresses conducted their own research on magic while their Empire continued oppressing ponies and humans and forcing them to pay homage to two incompetent wannabe-deities. Though not all ponies or humans did so. The door to the depository slowly slid open. "Security system?" Nick said, reading the note. "Did you guys get visited by solicitors again?" "Ullllluuuhh… urrrr…" Dan shifted, the sound of the prosecutor's voice rousing him. "Dan!" the orange-suited human ran over to him. "Holy crap! Are all you guys unconscious?! The solicitors must've robbed us!" "Errrgg," Dan groaned, rubbing his head. "What have I told you about jumping to conclusions, Nicholas?" Nick peeled Spike off the floor. "And then they beat you all up and stole our quarterly tokens!" He then ran passed Dan over to Twilight. "And drank all our booze!" "Heh," Dan chuckled. Nick Wright may have been a birdbrained prosecuting attorney but once in a while, his tendency to jump to conclusions was helpful for weaving deceit. He had an uncanny ability to tell what those would first think when they saw something and used that to his advantage in court. While he'd yet to win a trial, he was definitely helpful to have around during legal proceedings. And Dan liked using him to bully and threaten to sue and countersue others. "And what was it you said again? I forgot." "I said, you weren't allowed to jump to conclusions… unless we could use it to our advantage." "Oh… can we?" Dan smirked slyly. "I'll let ya know next time we have solicitors." "Okay…" "Will you two stop being so loud?" Twilight asked, rubbing her head foggily as she got up. "We're actually not talking loudly at all," Dan said. "HANG ON!!!" Nick shrieked. "We can if you want to!" the dull-witted human said with a huge grin. Twilight held her head. "Oh gawd, it's too early for this." "Hungover again, Inquisitor?" Dan asked coyly. "What do you think?" "I think we've still got some emergency s'mores-flavored schnapps in the fireplace." "That's… not a bad idea," Twilight said, still holding her head. "Have there been any alerts today?" "Wouldn't know. I'm just getting up myself." "Oh yeah, there's been dozens!" Nick said, almost like it was good news he was revealing. "There was an attack last night!" "Great, if they hit something big enough, maybe we won't get bothered for a while," Twilight remarked, climbing into the fireplace. The unicorn stood up in the chimney, searching for a loose brick. Dan crept up from behind and closed the fireplace doors on the purple mare, locking her in. He reached down to hit the ignition switch when Twilight teleported herself out. The human grinned. "D-did ya find it?" Twilight looked back at him, less-than amused. "Eeyep. Found this, too." She smacked him across the face with a loose brick. Dan was momentarily knocked out again and fell to the floor with a whump! The mare discarded the brick, uncorked the schnapps and knocked it back like it was Berry Punch's Butt-Kicking Energy Drink. Chryz walked in from the kitchen, having already woken up. "There was an attack last night? What did the rebs hit this time?" "Uh… I dunno. I heard they hit Canterlot," Nick said, scratching his neck. "I actually came over here to find out in case you guys knew anything." "If they attacked Canterlot, why would we know anything?" Dan asked, getting up and rubbing the side of his face. Nick thought about that for almost a full minute. He repeated the words to himself, considering the question. "Errhh… because Canterlot's the capital?" Dan just shook his head slowly in disappointment. "If the attack was in Canterlot, good," Chryz said. "Maybe they won't bother us." "I somehow doubt that," Dan remarked. The door to the depository opened. Spike walked in, holding a scroll visibly behind his back. "Sooooo… who else heard the news?" "Another rebel attack," Dan said, taking a seat. "That's not really news at this point." The Solar Empire and Terran Empire both had something in common, especially since combining: rebels. Uprisings, resistance movements and would-be revolutions were commonplace for both empires even before they knew each other existed. When the Solar Empire conquered and absorbed the Terran Empire, it had the side effect of joining two rebellions. The human resistance movement on Earth and the pony resistance movement on Equestria made contact through back channels and by bribing imperial officials. The two resistance groups joined forces, sharing resources and information on a level not seen in either planet's history. While their opposition gained strength, the Solar Empire overextended itself. The Empire's neighbors- the stalwart zebras, unstable donkeys, chivalrous griffons, honorable dragons, savage saddle arabians, rock-worshipping mountain goats and the isolationist sea ponies- had made it incredibly difficult for the Solar Empire to expand. Even the reemergence of their allies, the Crystal Collective, had only been a short-lived boon. Celestia and Luna had craved conquest and so invaded Earth eagerly. Too eagerly. The Terran Empire's capitulation had led to the Solar Empire's dominance over two worlds, more land, power and slaves than the two sisters had ever dreamed of. But the rebels on both worlds had also been eager to jump at the opportunity and began liberating towns, villages and camps on Equestria and some smaller cities on Earth. Celestia's armies, not as legion as they liked to believe, were unable to secure the vast territories of two worlds and so the resistance would strike, free groups and add more to its ranks while the Solar Empire diminished. Counterattacks were inevitable and large locations never stayed liberated for long but the resistance was unrelenting. The Solar Empire lost troops and resources while the resistance grew. "But this is Canterlot we're talking about," Spike said. "The Thrones of the Eternal Empresses of Equestria. The very seats of their power, the base of the Empire has been shaken." The small dragon almost salivated as he spoke. Unlike most dragons, Spike didn't adhere to the Code of Honor. He assisted Inquisitor Twilight Sparkle in her duties in the hopes that one day, he'd have the pleasure of watching the Solar Empire destroy itself. And when it did, he'd have a front row seat and all the gems he could eat. "I didn't think the Empresses cared much about Canterlot now that they had Rome," Chryz said. Twilight shrugged. "Maybe they left something important behind," she said, taking another guzzle of schnapps. This mare did not swig. "Canterlot's still the capital of the Equestrian side of the Solar Empire and it's where most of the royalty is," Spike said. "With the Empresses just getting moved into Rome, the resistance probably thought this was the perfect time to attack." "Maybe there's an official broadcast about it," Chryz said, turning on the television. "I doubt it," Dan said, taking a seat on the couch. "They won't make a report on anything until the Empresses tell them how to spin it." "Unless it's too big to spin," Spike commented. The t.v turned on, static at first, until the picture cleared. Color television hadn't been invented in Earth or Equestria, not in these alternate universes anyway, so the broadcast was in black-and-white. The image of a charcoal-black stallion sitting behind a news desk and glaring at the camera came into view. The head newscaster for the Solar Empire, Orrab, had a short, blocky white mane and a matching white goatee. He also happened to be the evil universe counterpart to myself and appeared to give most of the Empire's "official" reports. The stallion spoke with an offensively-shodey Russian accent. "…will be beings doubled for foreseeable futures. Glorious Empress Celestias and Lunas decree that thees act vill not go unpuneeshed. If you are to be shust tuning ins, ve are bringingst you live update of cowardly rebel attack perpetrateds last nights by resistance. Ve go now to zee security cameras footages of attack last night." The picture switched to an overhead view of Canterlot shot from a balloon. But, being a black-and-white video shot from up in the air at night, it might as well have been shot from a tin can onto a jet-black tape measure that someone poked a bunch of holes through. "As you can clearly see," which they couldn't, "cowardly rebels attacked from woods outside of city vith intent of to be causings much maze hems and deconstructions. Err, destructions. Anyvays, resistance ponies and humans launched much bombs into city by vay of catapult and airship." The screen lit up as several bombs exploded throughout the city. Massive white plumes reached up to the sky and showered fire and debris into the air. The eruptions blared out the screen a few times but they could easily make out shapes and other flickers of light scattered throughout the cityscape, ponies and humans from both the Resistance and the Empire exchanging fire. "Wow, the rebels really didn't hold anything back," Chryz remarked. A catapult close to the city, barely visible on the screen, launched a wooden barrel over the defensive walls of Canterlot into the city itself. The barrel exploded in the center of the street but rather than the explosion going up, the fire swirled outward in a cross pattern that stretched down the street itself, burning all in its path. "They even brought in the blockbusters," Spike said. "Meh," Twilight said. "What a waste of good booze." The Resistance was not a well-equipped fighting force like the Solar Empire's military. Being a rebel movement meant being on the move most of the time and so most of their weapons were either scavenged, built on-site or portable. They favored using catapults and trebuchet-like devices, sometimes mounted to vehicles like old Terran SUVs or chariots. Most of their attacks, if they weren't planning on liberating a town, involved harassing convoys and troop movement, destroying supplies and hindering the Solar Empire as much as they could and then retreating. They preferred guerrilla tactics and often their attack groups involved squads of ponies and humans working together using vehicles like quad bikes or motorcycles to strike fast and then retreat. Heavy weapons, they used sparingly. The heaviest of all resistance ordinance encountered so far was a device the Solar troops nicknamed the "blockbuster." Consisting of a large barrel of highly-compressed volatile liquids, blockbusters were usually launched into larger cities by catapult, gunship or pegasi where they could literally set fire to a block if potent enough. The nature of the blockbusters made them dangerous to those who handled them as well: they were cheap, easy to make and had to be shaken up before the mixture became explosive. The resistance sometimes rolled them down hills into Imperial fortifications. Supposedly, the resistance manufactured them by the dozens in old soda bottling plants and breweries. This led to even more restrictions on alcohol and beverages. "They even rolled out the gunships," Spike remarked, looking at the screen. Every so often, a Flutterbird buzzed the city, strafing the streets. A flare from the ground rose up to chase one of the craft as it flew by but missed, hitting a building instead. The resistance was cautious with what few aircraft it had, so that was the last time it was seen they were seen that night. "I can't believe it. They actually tried to take Canterlot." "I'm not so sure about that," Dan said, squinting to view the screen. "What are you talking about?" Chryz asked. "That has to be like the whole rebel army right there. They don't ever commit gunships unless they're really going after a target." "Or they're trying to send a message," Dan said. The attack was ruthless, that was certain but it wasn't tactically significant. Canterlot, the capital of the Solar Empire on Equestria, was undoubtedly the most heavily-fortified cities on the planet. The royal family and a good portion of the military were stationed there as was a portal to Earth. If necessary, reinforcements from the new capital in Rome, not to mention the Empresses themselves, could easily transport from one position to the other to defend them. An attack against either location while this link was active was foolhardy, knowing one would face reinforcements from without and within. "What do you mean?" Twilight asked, finally taking an interest. "What was their message? "Screw you guys!" or something?" "That's always their message," Chryz said. "I'm unsure," Dan said, rubbing his chin. "They know they couldn't have held Canterlot. So why attack it? If they wanted to send a message, they would've gone after the monuments or the statues, defaced them to prove they can. They could've tried to destroy the city, burn it to the ground…" he shifted, thinking out loud. "But then why engage inside the city itself?" "Because screw you guys!" Twilight pumped her hoof in the air. "Send 'em all to Tartarsauce and burn this mother-bucker down!" "Heheh," Dan chuckled. "My dear, one does not simply walk into Mord-err, what I mean to say is, one does not simply walk into the lion's den," he said, smiling. "The wise hunter sets the trap outside the den and waits for the lion to leave. And if he gets desperate, he smokes the den." Chryz laughed at the thought. "You definitely sound like you've been smoking something, monkey boy." Something caught Dan's eye about the Flutterbird as it passed by in the rewind. The Enclave were the only ones who were supposed to use the aircraft to support and reinforce the front lines. It wasn't too hard to believe the Resistance had stolen several of the gunships to use but… was it too convenient? The Enclave in this universe were an offshoot group of Pegasi meant to function as an emergency tactical reserve for the Solar Empire. But in reality, most everypony knew that they objected to violence and usually fulfilled the role as emergency medics and doctors rather than reinforcements. The Flutterbirds had been originally built as assault craft but had been modified to serve as rapid air ambulances and evacuation vehicles. There were rumors the Enclave even treated members of the resistance. Dan looked at the symbol on the side of the chopper intensely as if seeing something for the first time. It was a large, red cross, the kind normally seen on the side of the aircraft of late. But something about it made him suspicious. He stood. "I think I'll check up on Canterlot myself… see how things are." "Ooooh, sounds exciting!" Nick said, biting his fingernails. "Can I come with you, Dan?" "No, Nicholas, you stay here and uh… do… stuff." The other human looked puzzled. "What kind of stuff?" "I'm gonna head out now, you guys take care," Dan said, moving to the door. None of them tried to stop him. "Pick up some more wine while you're out!" Twilight yelled. "And none of the cheap stuff!" The door slammed shut and Dan was out it before anypony could say anything else. Whether he came back at all, they only vaguely cared. "So, who's going to get blamed for the attack?" Twilight asked. "General Gash," Spike said, claws clasped behind his back. "Word is, Empress Luna herself is going to execute him when she arrives." "Wait…" Chryz asked. "Isn't that guy like… Dan's boss? In the army?" The small dragon grinned. "Eeyeppers. Definitely going to be a big opening soon." Twilight smirked. "And you didn't tell this to Dan because… why?" Spike smirked as he watched the human through the window. "Because I think our good friend Dan needs a surprise every now and then."