Chapter 47: For The People
Orange Incorporated, Horseshoe Bay: August 2028
Inside of Applejack’s office, Big Macintosh and Applejack scowled at each other. She sat behind the desk defensively, while he stood firm, his head held tall.
“Why can’t I reason with you, AJ?” asked Big Macintosh.
Applejack shook her head. “You union folks are talkin’ nonsense. Y’all ain’t gonna convince me to raise wages in a recession, when our oranges are sellin’ for half of their old price.”
Big Macintosh frowned, gritting his teeth. “You wouldn’t even raise wages before, when it was a good economy, when oranges sold for more... and I’m your own kin!”
Applejack said, “I ain’t a nepotist. I’m honest. You may be my brother, but you’re still unskilled, Big Mac. Anypony can harvest fruit, and you’re easily replaceable. It ain’t my fault that you didn’t get into management like I did. You shoulda known that you can’t work with your hooves your whole life. Equestria is changin’. There’s newfangled technology and free trade with the Second Duchy. The future ain’t in what you can do with your muscles; it’s in what you can do with your mind. For Canterlot it’s magic and machines; for me, it’s management.”
Big Macintosh said, “Nope. The future is in ponies carin’ for each other, like I cared for you after ma and pop passed. This is how you repay me? Your employees live in shacks on the beach, and can’t afford real houses. A pregnant donkey mother gave birth right in the field, and she just had to keep workin’. What sorta future is that? That ain’t what Granny Smith woulda wanted. She wanted families to look out for each other.”
Applejack scowled. “Don’t you dare lecture me about Granny Smith! You’re half the pony she was. Were she alive today, she’d be sick that you’re over forty and still harvestin’ trees! She wanted us to excel, to be the best. You have two children now, and you’re providin’ for ‘em with just a minimum wage job and an Orange employee discount? Don’t blame me for givin’ you that job; blame yourself for not strivin’ for more!”
Big Macintosh hung his head low in silence for a moment.
“I reckoned you’d say that, AJ. I was prayin’ it wouldn’t come to this, but you’ve left us no choice…”
A voice from outside the office shouted, “Big Macintosh! Is is time?”
“Eeyup!”
Applejack’s office door burst off of its hinges in a shower of splinters. Six muscular donkeys and earth ponies stormed into the office.
“You’re right, Applejack; things are changin’ in Equestria!” Big Macintosh exclaimed. “The workers are risin’ up across the nation: Hollow Shades, Manehattan, Horseshoe Bay. Orange Inc. belongs to the workers now, and not the corrupt Oranges and bad Apples!”
Applejack gritted her teeth. The workers approached her desk. She sprang out of her chair, turned around, and jumped through the open window of her first-story office, landing on the grass with a thud, and ran away.
Dodge Junction
Silverstar sat inside of a small trailer on the outskirts of Dodge Junction city, a wad of chewing tobacco in his mouth as he read a newspaper. The Princess had issued an arrest warrant for Starlight Glimmer, wanted for inciting riots in Manehattan. She could now be anywhere in Equestria.
If I were still a sheriff, I’d help catch that thug, he thought. But Silverstar hadn’t been a sheriff since he’d lived in Appleloosa years ago.
Silverstar spat into a bucket on his floor, covered in pizza boxes, apple cores, and other garbage. He gazed forlornly at the trailer walls, which told his life’s story.
An assault rifle hung above a mantle, and above that, a panorama of Appleloosa. On another wall proudly hung a shiny gold medal and key to the city that he’d received back in 2022 for twenty years of service as the town sheriff. The key could open no doors anymore in the destroyed town, making it about as useless as a talking bigmouth bass from Rich’s Barnyard Bargains. Nevertheless, it still held sentimental value to ex-Sheriff Silverstar, just like his nifty horseshoe-in-a-bottle that Pumpkin Cake had made for his birthday once. Despite her sass and backtalk towards him, she was still a good pony, he thought.
The walls were also plastered with newspapers, all from the Dodge Junction Journal. As the biggest city near Appleloosa, just to its east, Dodge Junction had taken particular interest in Appleloosa’s plight during the Great Racial Wars. After all, they reasoned, were Appleloosa to fall, Blueblood would’ve had a clear path to attack Dodge Junction and its half-a-million residents. He then could’ve seize Dodge’s cherry orchards, coal mines, and railroad yards. As a mostly-earth pony city, Dodge’s fate would’ve been atrocious. Even though Appleloosa did eventually fall, Dodge was thankfully never under serious threat, as it had a large Equestrian military base nearby.
From left to right on the trailer wall, the Journal’s headlines told the story of the Siege of Appleloosa. “Appleloosa a Ripe Target For SK,” then “Appleloosa Sheriff Forms Self-Defense Militia,” then “SK Train and Appleloosa Invasion Derailed.” The last two headlines read, “Appleloosa Captured, Silverstar Orders Retreat” and then “Pound Cake Destroys Appleloosa in Rainboom, Residents Escape Slavery.”
Silverstar regretted how he handled the situation. He wished that he’d been able to stay and fight, perhaps organize an underground resistance in Appleloosa after its capture. He wished that he could’ve done more for the townspeople. It had brought tears to his eyes when Pound Cake destroyed the town. Throughout the Siege, the Dodge Junction Journal had been sympathetic towards the Sheriff, painting him and the ASDF as heroes who’d held the line and fought fascists in Appleloosa so that they couldn’t make it to Dodge Junction.
Silverstar was much harder on himself than the Journal was. Losing the battle in Appleloosa had always rubbed him the wrong way. He wasn’t a hero for merely doing his job, he thought. A true hero went above and beyond, and despite the odds in Appleloosa having been stacked against him, he couldn’t help but blame himself. He just wished he had a second chance.
The doorbell rang.
“Come in, it’s unlocked.”
The door swung open.
“Applejack? Fancy seein’ you here,” Silverstar said, grinning.
Applejack gave him a big bear hug. “It’s been so long, Sheriff Silverstar!”
He shook his head. “It’s just ‘Dogcatcher Silverstar’ now, Applejack. Appleloosa is long gone, and here in Dodge I round up animals.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Somepony like you, catchin’ dogs? If I might be frank, that’s beneath you, Sh—uh, Silverstar. Why not get back into policing?”
Silverstar shrugged. “I just can’t, after Appleloosa. Too many bad memories, I s’pose. I mean, are you still buckin’ apples?”
Applejack sighed. “About that… You’ve likely heard about how crazy it is. All the cities are havin’ riots. I just got kicked out of Horseshoe Bay by the union folks. They’ve taken over all of the orchards, offices, and on-site housing. They sacked my home.”
Silverstar nodded. “There’s been no riots in Dodge Junction, thankfully. I’d love to have you here, but as you can see, my trailer’s a mess…”
Applejack shook her head. “That ain’t a problem. I don’t judge.”
Silverstar smiled. “Make yourself cozy, then.”
The Royal Palace, Manehattan
As the evening faded, Princess Luna sauntered into the royal palace courtyard, ten by ten meters. Nightshade, nirnroots, and other nocturnal plants grew all around. Grasshoppers chirped, and owls hooted. A soft, black cat purred and brushed up against Luna’s fetlock. The courtyard was a sanctuary of the night’s glory. It was the most tranquil place in bustling Manehattan.
But the serenity was a veneer. With the riots and wanted ponies on the lam, security was tight. Bat-winged guards surrounded Princess Luna, wielding spears and crossbows. The weapons, though antiquated, were still deadly. The batponies could throw and shoot them quite accurately, and could shatter magical force fields. Their echolocation let them see invisible ponies who tried to sneak past them, and they could disable attackers with a piercing, painful shriek. Their fangs were sharp and deadly.
According to urban legends, the batponies were immortal, bloodsucking vampires. Of course, they didn’t suck blood, and were quite mortal, but Luna never dispelled the rumors. After all, the more menacing that the public thought Luna’s guards were, the less likely that anypony would try to assassinate her.
The palace was surrounded in recently-installed faraday cages, with the courtyard an exception, since Luna needed to magically move the celestial bodies from it. It was open-air, but was still surrounded by a powerful force field that could block sniper fire and prevent unicorns from teleporting in. With all of these measures in place, Luna felt safe.
Luna gazed up at the evening sky, where the sun hung just above the western horizon. She powered up her horn and laid the sun to rest, slowly submerging it like a graceful swan into the firmament. Purples and pinks shrouded the sky for fifteen minutes in a beautiful sunset. Equestria might’ve been in a recession, but the greatest show in the world was free. Once darkness had covered the land, Luna brought out the crescent moon, and gazed with satisfaction at the night. Her night.
For many centuries, moving the celestial bodies had always been Luna’s pride and joy. Sometimes she took it too seriously, such as when, out of jealousy towards Celestia’s beloved days, she became Nightmare Moon. But to her, and to Equestria, the days and nights were paramount. Of all of the monarchs’ ceremonial duties, like holding galas or celebrations, moving the celestial bodies was the most vital. Not only was it far more functionally useful, it was also a display of the Princess’ harmonious rule over Equestria for everyone to see. So long as the sun and moon glided through the heavens, ponies knew that their princesses were safe in Manehattan, caring for the people by giving them the warmth of the sun each day and the respite from its ultraviolet rays each night.
As for Equestria’s enemies, like Zaporizhia of the Zebra Empire, the celestial bodies displayed the power of the alicorns. Each sunrise and sunset over Zebrica painfully reminded Zaporizhia that he was no representative of god, and had no true power. What sort of god couldn’t even claim domain over the heavens? When little zebra foals asked their pious parents what made the sun move, they would either have to reluctantly concede that alicorns did it, or they would have to lie to credit Zaporizhia. Ultimately, a kingdom built upon lies could not stand.
As Luna gazed at her completed tapestry, a flash of light burst through the courtyard. A unicorn with a jet-black mane and coat appeared. The batponies raised their crossbows, firing at the unicorn intruder. The bolts whizzed by, and the spears cracked the air, harmlessly passing through her. The intruder bounded towards Luna, undeterred.
Luna powered up her horn and teleported to the opposite end of the courtyard. The unicorn followed, and the batponies shrieked their terrible screech towards the intruder, hoping to paralyze her. But this didn’t happen. Instead, the screech hit Luna, making her double over on the ground, putting her hooves to her ears in pain.
The unicorn reached the writhing Luna. With a surge of energy from her horn, she ripped Luna’s cutie mark from her flank. Luna winced as she felt weak. The unicorn disappeared instantly, taking Luna’s cutie mark with her. The batponies shrieked as Luna’s jaw gaped in disbelief at her blank flank.
Now, she had no power to raise the moon or sun anymore.
Luna’s guards rushed her inside the palace. They ran to Twilight Sparkle’s chambers, where she had been readying for bed.
“Oh my, what happened?” she exclaimed, running over to Princess Luna. Luna’s head hung low, her normally flowing mane having lost its luster. Luna merely shook her head, her eyes misty, as her guards relayed the story to Twilight Sparkle of the mark-stealing intruder.
“This must’ve been Starlight Glimmer. I-I had no idea she could turn intangible; I mean, that’s such a rare spell,” said Twilight, stammering in shock.
Luna sighed, gazing off into the distance for about a minute.
“I’m really sorry this has happened, Luna,” said Twilight. “We’ll catch Glimmer; we’ll interrogate her and get your mark back, I promise.”
Finally, Luna said, “I appreciate it, Twilight Sparkle. Until then, we should conceal this incident from the public. We would not want to cause widespread panic, or embolden the rabble. Rather, we should protect your own mark, for if both of us lose our special talents, we wouldn’t be able to move the sun or moon… and that would cause a panic.”
Twilight nodded. Luna was right about not causing a panic. But then she thought for a moment. If Glimmer could turn intangible, then most of Twilight’s security was useless. Sure, the palace had faraday cages now, but she couldn’t just hide in her palace for the rest of her life like Blueblood had lived in his bunker. Now more than ever she had to make speeches, try to calm the riotous mobs and concerned protesters, but public appearances would leave her a sitting duck. Twilight’s mark wasn’t safe on her own flank anymore. Indeed, there was only one place that it would be safe… the last place the thief would think to look.
Twilight recalled a magical mishap she’d had right before her ascension to alicornhood. But this time, the spell would be deliberate. She ordered the batpony guards out of the room. Not even they could know her plan. Her horn powered up.
She said, “Intangibility is a hard spell to counter. But as Trixie and Amethyst Star both showed with Pumpkin, it can be countered with deception.”
Luna’s flank now bore Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark, while Twilight’s flank was bare. Though not for long, as she summoned a paintbrush and painted her flank to look like her sparkle mark was still there.
Luna chuckled, taking the paintbrush to conceal Twilight’s cutie mark and paint her own over it. “Very clever. Glimmer wouldn’t look on my flank for your cutie mark, or for any mark at all. If she tries to steal your mark from you, she will find herself unable.”
Twilight Sparkle nodded. “And best of all, you can still do what you love the most: raise the sun and moon.”
Luna beamed, giving Twilight Sparkle a giant hug.
“Thank you so much, Twilight.”
Twilight said, “Just make sure that you turn invisible whenever you go into the courtyard to raise the sun or moon. We wouldn’t want Glimmer or her spies knowing that it’s you, and not me, doing it. If she tries the same stunt again as tonight, it won’t be as easy if she can’t see you.”
Luna nodded. “We cannot let this Encampment continue, Twilight Sparkle. It is tearing this country apart. It threatens us. We must take action to stop it.”
“You’re right, Princess Luna. We will.”
Fillydelphia
Inside of Police Lieutenant Raindrops’ office, she read the newspaper in shock. Protests had spread to every major city in Equestria, with a few spreading to the Second Kingdom and Cloud Confederacy. In Manehattan, five police officers had been killed, and twenty were injured. But fifteen protesters had been killed, and hundreds were injured, many of them paralyzed or blinded. Though Fillydelphia had remained peaceful, two fatalities and dozens of injuries had also been reported from Applewood, Horseshoe Bay, and Baltimare.
Raindrops had never seen such terrible policing. The police were supposed to support the community, not stand against it. Such police brutality was unacceptable to her, but to Twilight Sparkle and Luna, it was part of keeping the big cities safe. That morning, the princesses had instructed police departments across Equestria to use all nonlethal force deemed necessary to protect lives, property, and civil order. Of course, to Raindrops, what the princesses really meant was that the lives of protesters didn’t matter. “Nonlethal” force frequently turned lethal, such as when shapeshifted frogs were squashed.
Raindrops’ badge sat on her desk. Over the past few days, she had contemplated resigning. This was exactly like the corruption under President Lightning Dust in the Cloud Confederacy, which had now spawned Encampment-inspired protests in Cloudsdale. As Raindrops gazed at her badge, her heart sank in her chest. She needed to find a new job.
She picked up the badge between her feathers, opened her door, and started down the hallway towards the chief’s office.
“Ah, Lieutenant Raindrops,” said the chief, a portly, yellow earth stallion named Big Cheese. “Come in and have a seat. Ol’ Jetty and Crusty have caught wind of another strike planned at the JSUC factory at 3:00 PM. Only this time, it’s a strike for the workers to get back to work. Those ASDF guys can’t make up their minds, can they?”
Raindrops shrugged. “They want a better life for their families.”
The Chief sighed. “Look, Dropsy. I know you’re in Equestrians For Action. Now, your political affiliations on your own time is your business. But here, I expect you to do your job. Right now, we need to prevent violence or arson at the JSUC factory.”
Raindrops tilted her head. “Why would the ASDF burn down a place they wanted to work at? The Fillydelphia Encampment has been vastly peaceful. It’s not like Manehattan. Not a single cop has been injured here. Not a single building or car has been burned.”
Big Cheese nodded. “It’s our job to keep it that way. These protests all feed off each other. I have good intel that the ASDF is pre-mixing molotovs for this afternoon. Even in a recession, that factory is an important asset to this city. Now, I’ve assigned our best unicorns to this. You’ll lead a team of riot police to guard that factory. If these strikers attempt to breach the line, if they throw even a single bottle, you’ll cast a gravity spell on the factory. That’s a proven tactic to break up these protests. Your earth and unicorn riot police will be given suction-cup horseshoes to keep themselves grounded, but the rioters will all fly down the street.”
Raindrops’ jaw dropped. “This is highly irregular, sir! Gravity spells are dangerous and unusual for in crowd control. Only the Mareicopa Militia uses them, and those guys aren’t even an official police force. Canterlot uses them, but that’s the Second Duchy.”
Chief Big Cheese responded, “Gravity spells worked great in Mareicopa. Notice there isn’t an Encampment in that city, or one in Canterlot anymore.”
Raindrops said, “When Duchess Sparkler and Fancy Pants broke up the Canterlot Encampment with gravity spells, five protesters died. We have plenty of other non-lethal methods to use if we need to: tear gas, rubber bullets, or bean bags. But not even the Manehattan PD uses gravity spells. It would be like breaking up a protest with the want-it, need-it spell. Ponies could get broken bones. What if, instead of falling back down to the street unharmed, they slam into a lamppost or the side of a building? They could die!”
Big Cheese held up a hoof. “The Princesses have authorized our departments to use any non-lethal force we need to preserve the public order. As Chief, I deem we need a gravity spell to protect Fillydelphia. You have your orders, Lieutenant. If you won’t comply, then give me that badge and I’ll find somepony else who will.”
Raindrops felt the cold brass of her badge, still between her feathers, as she contemplated laying it down on the desk and resigning at once. But Big Cheese had said, “I’ll find somepony else who will.” The ASDF and the Encampment wouldn’t back down, and there would almost certainly be a few minor scuffles at the strike. So the gravity spells would get used no matter what.
Unless…
Lieutenant Raindrops reached with her free wing into her holster, whipped out her gun, and pointed it at the Chief.
“Hooves where I can see them, Chief Big Cheese! You’re under arrest for dereliction of duty, for taking bribes from Jet Set and Upper Crust, and for conspiracy to commit mass public endangerment!”
Big Cheese chuckled. “I knew I shouldn’t have hired you onto the force, Dropsy. Lightning Dust was right to sack you in Cloudsdale. Here I thought that you were a true Equestrian patriot, defecting from the Cloud Confederacy, but you’re no better than the rioters.”
Raindrops narrowed her eyes as she took a pair of hoofcuffs in her mouth and slapped them on the chief’s hooves with a clink.
“The EFA are true Equestrian patriots.”
Raindrops walked the Chief down the hallway, pressing a gun against his flabby back. Raindrops’ comrades stared in shock as she put him into in a holding cell. The bars clanked shut with a slam. She explained the charges to the booking officer, who nervously obeyed Raindrops and booked his own chief for corruption and public endangerment.
“I am now the acting Fillydelphia Chief of Police,” said Raindrops, turning to the other officers standing around. “Does anypony take issue with that?”
“This is highly irregular,” said one officer.
Raindrops chuckled. “We live in highly irregular times.”
“We are Manehattan! We are Hollow Shades! We are Horseshoe Bay! We are Equestria!”
Organized Labor and her union workers chanted in front of the JSUC factory as lines of factory security stood between them and the doors. The riot police stood along the side of the protest. Jet Set and Upper Crust walked down the steps into the yard, standing behind their security. The crowd booed upon seeing them.
“Give our jobs back! Give our jobs back!” the laid-off workers demanded.
Jet Set floated a megaphone to his mouth and spoke.
“The war has been over for two years. I understand your frustration. With peace, the arms business has declined. What should we do? Start selling weapons to foreign powers like we allegedly sold to the Zebras?”
Organized Labor shouted back through her megaphone. “It’s your responsibility to not conduct treason, to employ workers and pay them a fair wage!”
The crowd cheered.
Upper Crust took the microphone from her husband. “Perhaps we should make weapons and throw them into a hole in the ground, just so you could have a job? Pay ponies to waste resources? Would that make you all happy?” she quipped.
The crowd cheered. Upper Crust buried her face into her hooves, and Jet Set scowled at the crowd.
“Let’s pull a Horseshoe Bay and take back what’s ours!” shouted Organized Labor.
The strikers advanced on the factory security guards, who retreated back towards the factory steps, waiting for the riot police to start pushing the strikers back. Unlike Big Cheese had predicted, the strikers carried no molotovs, but were insistent about getting into the factory.
Jet Set turned to Upper Crust and whispered in her ear.
“Where’s the gravity spell we were promised?”
“Not here,” said Raindrops, who swooped in on them. She grabbed the microphone from Upper Crust.
“The police are with the people!” Raindrops shouted. “Fillydelphia PD won’t take orders from the Princesses or their cronies anymore. They are unlawful rulers, and Fillydelphia doesn’t answer to them or the oligarchs!”
The strikers cheered.
Organized Labor shouted, “Back to work again, everypony! Go make munitions!”
The workers stormed through the door and into the factory, cheering and hollering. Ten minutes later, acrid smoke started pouring from the stacks, the thickest and blackest that it had in two years. Floor managers barked at employees, but only in an encouraging way.
At the end of the evening, a giant pile of assault rifles, anti-tank weapons, and bullets sat on the end of the conveyor belt. The factory workers cheered at the fruit of their labor.
Manehattan
Princess Twilight, Luna, General Spitfire, Manehattan Police Chief Copper, MPD Sergeant Cuffs, Jolly Doodle Donkey, Pound Cake, and Rainbow Dash all sat around a table at the royal meeting room. The protests outside were so loud, they could even hear them indoors.
“Thanks for coming to this meeting, everypony: military officials, police officials, and opposition leaders,” said Twilight Sparkle, looking at each one of them and smiling nervously.
She continued, “I’ve called you all here over an urgent matter of law and order. The Encampment has been going on for months. They’ve made many demands: some reasonable, some not. But gradually, they’ve become more violent.”
Pound Cake opened his mouth to object, but Rainbow Dash shook her head.
“Not yet,” she whispered in his ear.
Twilight Sparkle continued, “Manehattan’s Parliamentary Square has turned into a virtual warzone. I commend the EFA and the Equals for keeping guns out of the square this summer. The combatants have only been armed with improvised petrol bombs, sticks, stones, and slingshots, so I haven’t sought a military or national guard response so far, only riot police.”
Sergeant Cuffs said, “We demand that the Encampment observe local assembly laws, and reins in the troubling violence that has already killed five officers.”
“You first. Stop police brutality,” said Pound Cake.
Twilight Sparkle cleared her throat. “As I was saying, so far this has just been a police issue. But events yesterday in Filly raise concerns. Police Chief Big Cheese was unlawfully detained by a rogue lieutenant, who ordered the police to stand down against a strike. Activists have seized businesses all over the city. Hundreds of Fillydelphia shops have been looted in the chaos. The mayor’s office, courthouse, and city council were occupied. But most disturbingly, a group of ASDF union members seized the city’s largest munitions factory. They’ve started the assembly lines up full blast, pumping out thousands of small arms. The ASDF is allied with the EFA and has protested with you before. Pound Cake and Rainbow Dash, we fear that you’re fomenting armed rebellion.”
“That’s a total lie!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “There’s no ‘armed rebellion.’ Here’s the scoop. Police Chief Big Cheese wanted to use gravity spells on peaceful strikers, on your order.”
Twilight said, “We authorized any non-lethal methods deemed necessary to protect the civil order: tear gas, rubber bullets, shape changing spells, etcetera. We didn’t mention gravity spells specifically, but those are non-lethal, too.”
“Tell that to those dead unicorns in Canterlot who were smashed against brick walls just for protesting the nobility,” Pound Cake scoffed. “You never should’ve made Sparkler a duchess. She’s more like a dictator: unappointed for life and drunk with power. Just like—”
“Point is, Princesses,” said Rainbow, interrupting Pound Cake, “Drops wanted to get… well, the drop on ol’ Chief Cheese. She arrested him for taking bribes from JSUC in exchange for using city police for strikebreaking. That shady cronyism went on for years. Drops wouldn’t take it anymore. The strikers wouldn’t let a factory be run by ponies who sold out Equestria to the Zebras during the Racial Wars. So they nationalized it.”
“What serendipitous timing they have,” Princess Luna scoffed.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Maybe not good timing for you, but Drops’ actions check out. Look at the indictment.”
Twilight asked, “How fair of an indictment can you get when the courthouse is occupied by Encampment protesters? No prosecutor on earth would deny charging the police chief when there’s an angry crowd outside of his office. But that’s not justice; that’s mob rule.”
“It’s the only way to make sure that those crooked judges and prosecutors in Filly respond to the will of the people and not to bribery,” said Pound Cake.
“Your Encampment is turning into an armed rebellion,” said General Spitfire. “The JSUC factory is pumping out weapons. There isn’t any war on, Pound Cake, so what are the guns for? I’m not stupid. I’m the one who taught you military strategy, remember?”
“Those ponies need jobs and work to do,” said Rainbow Dash. “They have a right to work at JSUC for a decent wage. We’ve nationalized the factory for the people, just like you should’ve done years ago, Twilight. The workers are making guns, but then they’re turning right back around and melting the steel down to make more guns again. Unlike when ‘Jetty’ and ‘Crusty’ owned JSUC and sold to the Zebras, none of those guns are leaving the factory.”
Spitfire laughed. “Do you two honestly expect me to buy that? I can’t believe that I ever even considered you for the Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash. My scouts have seen ponies taking next-generation sniper rifles from the factory. What I’ve actually found out is that one of your boys is right outside, northeast I'd say, with an infrared scope.”
Rainbow Dash shook her head. “There should be no shrinkage, no guns leaving the factory. I’ll chat with Organized Labor and Raindrops about that. I don’t know who you saw, but he wasn’t one of our guys. We’re all unarmed.”
“Spitfire, why are you siding with the princess, here?” asked Pound Cake. “You remember Cloudsdale. Corrupt oligarchs ripped that city away from Equestria. It was your home. The pegasus elites were greedy and didn’t want to do their fair share to defend Equestria. They appealed to greed and selfishness, rigged the vote, and put their crony Dust in power. She says she stands for the pegasi, but she only stands for herself. Sound familiar?”
General Spitfire shook her head. “I’m a general, not a politician. My only job is to defend Equestria. Whatever law JSUC broke, whatever law Big Cheese broke: that’s up to the courts to decide.”
Sergeant Cuffs said, “Your armed gang is running around Fillydelphia imposing mob rule, burning cops to death in the streets of Manehattan.”
“The situation is deadly and must end immediately,” said Chief Copper.
“The officers are right. We can’t tolerate vigilantism in Equestria,” said Twilight Sparkle.
Rainbow Dash laughed. “Oh, yeah? You tolerate it in Mareicopa just fine. When Pumpkin Cake seized that city, you enabled her, Twilight. You legalized the Mareicopa Resistance and their magic. You gave Copa special status, you let Pumpkin keep a charm as dangerous as a thousand guns, and you ignored her ‘lobbying’ when she paid off every local lawmaker. Funny how you’re only worried now, when it’s students and labor activists armed with sticks and stones—instead of some fatcat sorceress’s private army with tanks and RPGs. Which is worse?”
Pound Cake nodded. “You’re so hypocritical, Princess.”
Twilight Sparkle’s jaw dropped as she threw her hooves in the air. “Pound Cake, you were at that meeting two years ago. It was a compromise. You twins agreed to not cause any more trouble, in exchange for the magic laws remaining on the books nationally like you wanted, but with Copa getting to override that locally like Pumpkin wanted. I let her keep her militia and the Alicorn Charm as a precautionary defense of Mareicopa’s special status. Treaties have to have teeth or they can be broken; just ask the buffalo.
“You say Pumpkin is dangerous, but she’s healing terminal cancer patients and delivering babies with magic. I’d happily let her keep the alicornium and her militia for her to keep saving lives. She’s become a model magician. But you? Raindrops? Starlight Glimmer? You’ve been a thorn in my side since the war ended. Right now, a dusty tank or RPG locked in a desert warehouse is far less dangerous than the molotov cocktails and rocks you’re throwing at police officers in the streets of Equestria’s capital.”
Spitfire said, “And again, I don’t care what stupid excuse you give about making guns and remelting them down like you’re grinding experience points in an RPG—the game, not the rocket launcher—even if that were true, you still have instant access to weapons of war whenever you want.”
Twilight Sparkle nodded. “How do we know that you won’t start an armed rebellion?”
Pound Cake said, “You don’t yet. So we compromise, just like you did with Pumpkin.”
Rainbow Dash reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a piece of paper.
“Here are our demands,” she said, reading from the paper. “In response to overwhelming public will, Princess Twilight Sparkle and Princess Luna will resign immediately. Equestria will transition from a monarchy to a democratic republic with an elected president and prime minister. The president will conduct diplomacy and national defense, while the prime minister will sign bills into law and have veto power.”
“You’ve rejected more bills than a vending machine,” said Pound Cake. “Equestria voted for the Party of Laborers in a landslide last election. The voters want Equestria to become a progressive welfare state like the Stirrupeans have. We didn’t vote for some secret oligarch council to pull the strings on an unelected alicorn princess to protect their pocketbooks. We didn’t vote for ponies to die in the streets without homes, food, or healthcare.”
Twilight Sparkle nodded. “I understand that I’m unpopular right now. I think it’s temporary, due to the recession, but the Encampment would disagree. So I‘ll concede to a few demands. How about we only give up our powers to sign legislation, and snap elections for prime minister are held. That pony can sign off on universal healthcare, antidiscrimination laws, public works, the whole shebang… but I won’t be responsible for shackling Equestria’s ailing economy with endless regulations. That won’t be my legacy.”
Luna nodded. “We always strive to make our subjects happy. If they are displeased with us, we will reform, but the violence must cease.”
Rainbow Dash shook her head. “That’s not good enough. You have to give up your power over defense and diplomacy, too. Surrendering Tall Tale and Vanhoover was the most cowardly, disloyal act in history. And JSUC and the Oranges were on your own council, Twilight, but somehow you didn’t seem to notice them helping out Equestria’s enemies. You should’ve just thrown all those friendship letters to Princess Celestia in the trash; you’re a bad judge of character. We need a president who’s accountable to the people, who they can vote out of office for big mistakes like yours.”
Twilight Sparkle sighed. “JSUC and the Oranges were a huge oversight, I admit, but I never abandoned the Northwest, Dash. I had my reasons to surrender, but I’m still loyal to those cities. Maybe if you’d sat in my chair, you'd see things differently. I've never stopped the struggle. In fact, after you leave, General Spitfire and I will discuss our latest Northwestern strategy. But it’s officially peacetime now, so my options are limited. A president would be similarly limited. But fine, I’ll give up those powers, too. Luna and I will retain only our power over the sun and moon. Equestria will be a constitutional monarchy with the real power wielded by elected officials, and Luna and I will just raise the sun and hold fancy galas. Surely, that’s acceptable?”
“Ceremonial duties only, like the monarch in the Uneighted Kingdom. That’s fair,” said Pound Cake. “When will the first presidential elections be?”
“How about early November?” asked Twilight. “That gives several months for candidates to campaign. Then, I’ll spend two months training my replacement. Come January, I’ll transfer my powers.”
Rainbow Dash and Pound Cake looked at each other and smiled.
“In exchange, you have to agree to no more violence on the Encampment, and you have to surrender the buildings you’re illegally occupying: the Manehattan library, the Fillydelphia city hall and court, the Orange Incorporated offices and housing, etcetera,” said Twilight Sparkle.
“No,” said Jolly Doodle Donkey. Everypony looked at him.
He said, “There will be no monarchs in Equestria, ‘ceremonial’ duties or not. Raising the sun and moon is the people’s collective responsibility. It shouldn’t be up to a single alicorn. Look at how Blueblood’s unicorns threatened Cloudsdale with the moon; it’s an easily-abused power. You could always just threaten Equestria with the moon if you wanted your executive powers back. It’s unfair.”
Twilight said, “Raising the sun and moon is only a ceremonial duty, like holding a gala. It’s lot more efficient to have a single alicorn do than a team of unicorns.”
Jolly shook his head. “That’s another thing. Alicorns are an unnatural affront to equality. Just because you have a horn and wings, that doesn’t make you better than anyone.”
“No, it just means that I can fly and use magic, while a pegasus or a unicorn can only do one or the other,” said Twilight Sparkle. She chuckled. “Oh, and I guess that I could also farm like an earth pony, but no one ever brings that up.”
Jolly shook his head. “Alicorns are unequal. If you’re the monarch just because of that, people might start to look up to you. Unicorns will covet your wings. Pegasi will covet your horn. Donkeys will covet both. How can we ever be equal with you looming over us as ‘monarch?’”
Twilight Sparkle sighed. “This is a stupid conversation. Forget cutie marks; the only way you’ll be ‘equal’ in your communes is if you take pegasi’s wings, unicorns’ horns, earth ponies’ hooves, cows’ udders, sheep’s follicles, and whatever makes donkeys tick. Take both sexes’ genitalia. Then you’ll all be equal… in impotence. Or is that really your secret plan after you get done with cutie marks?”
Jolly chuckled. “You’re right, ‘princess’; this is a stupid conversation. Since you won’t listen, you can count the Equals out of these negotiations.”
Jolly Doodle stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
“That’s not very jolly of him,” said Pound Cake.
Twilight Sparkle said, “So, does the EFA and the monarchy at least have an agreement, then? I will hold elections in November, in exchange for the Encampment forswearing violence and leaving the occupied buildings. You may still remain on Parliamentary Square only.”
Rainbow Dash and Pound Cake both nodded. Twilight Sparkle smiled.
“Excellent. I’ll have it drawn up in writing, and we all will sign it.”
After the agreement was signed and the leaders of the opposition left, Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the government officials remained in the meeting room.
“I do not trust them, Twilight Sparkle. Especially not the Equals, Jolly Doodle, or Starlight Glimmer,” said Princess Luna.
Twilight Sparkle sighed. “I gave them almost everything they wanted. They should all be happy. The Equals will just have to live with the compromise, since Equals only number less than five percent of the total protesters. For now, we need to get this crowd under control. Sergeant Cuffs and Chief Copper, please ensure that the activists leave those buildings in a timely manner. Thank you.”
Cuffs and Copper nodded, stood up from their chairs, and shook the princess’ hooves. Only Luna, Twilight, and Spitfire remained in the room.
Twilight said, “General Spitfire, I would like you to move national guard battalions towards the east coast. Hopefully, they won’t be needed, and the agreement will be kept. But I want you to station a few thousand of them near Fillydelphia and Manehattan, just to be safe. That gun factory worries me.”
General Spitfire nodded. “I’d hate to have a repeat of Tall Tale and Vanhoover on the east coast. But the good news about the Northwest, is that the plan’s going well. As an update, after we blew the dam, the cities switched to coal fired plants and emergency backup generators. The power is really spotty, and the juice will run out entirely within a month, leaving the Northwest with zero electricity. Zecora’s gotten the drowsilia potions mixed, and has an assassination plan for Zaporizhia. As soon as the power goes out for good, it’ll all come together. Zap gets killed, outages, civil unrest, police drink the potions to try and restore order, they all die, then we swoop in, mop up the remaining militants, restore order, and rebuild the dam.”
“Quite a complicated plan,” said Princess Luna. “Once again, I reiterate that it would’ve been easier had we never surrendered the cities to begin with.”
Ignoring Luna, Twilight Sparkle asked, “You’ve told me before that this plan needs tens of thousands of national guardsponies. With this plan, could you still spare the extra soldiers for Manehattan?”
Spitfire shrugged. “Depends on how long the unrest goes on. Hopefully they stick to that agreement. Should I give the Manehattan guard firearms and live ammunition?”
Twilight Sparkle said, “Absolutely. Arm them as well as you’d arm the military. Give them a few grenades and flamethrowers in case things get really nasty. I won’t let the Encampment kill more police.”
Spitfire nodded. “It might be hard trying to contain the east coast and also trying to take back Tall Tale and Vanhoover at once. The timing is pretty terrible on this.”
“Just do your best. I have faith in you, General Spitfire,” said Twilight.
Spitfire smiled. “Thanks, Twilight. I won’t let Manehattan fall like Tall Tale did.”
On the top floor of an abandoned warehouse in Manehattan, Jolly Doodle sauntered in. The lights were dim, and only a lone, dark figure stood in the shadows.
“The Princesses refuse to step down, Starlight Glimmer. They’re giving up most of their executive powers, but they’ll still be in charge of the heavens,” said Jolly Doodle, frowning.
Glimmer sighed, stepping out of the shadows. “I would have thought they’d got the message. What, do I have to take both of their cutie marks? Though, honestly, I’m surprised that Luna agreed to even give up anything. Perhaps I scared her straight. Signing my arrest warrant was a grave mistake. My work isn’t done, I see.”
Jolly Doodle chuckled. “What should I tell the Equals?”
“That we will continue the struggle until we overcome. Behind the scenes, I’ve already made a powerful ally in Organized Labor and the ASDF.”
Thousands of Encampment members gathered around the stage where Starlight Glimmer used to hold her cutie mark revivals. Others used the stage to sing protest songs, like Lyra and Bon Bon or Bray Z. Stirrupean politicians, who had been voicing their support for months, gave speeches. A month ago, a mayor of a large Trottish city had spoken. Today, a legislator named Foules from Prance took the stage. She was a popular politician who’d penned many social and employment programs in Prance, including universal health care, universal housing, paid maternity leave, and seven weeks paid vacation.
“Citizens of Equestria! We, ze people of Prance, proudly stand with jou in jour struggle for democracy! In Prance, it took many jears for us to remove ze shackles of monarchy, but we did! It took courage, strength, and conviction from our people to depose the king, but he was not invincible!”
The crowd cheered.
“Never surrender, keep protesting! Someday, Equestria will be a proud democracy, and ze government will care for ze people! No ponies will starve, or die, or go sick in ze streets. Unicorns won’t cast dangerous spells. Donkeys and cattle will be equal to ponies. It is like zis in Prance today, and will be like zis in Equestria soon! Thank jou.”
Foules took a bow, and the crowd applauded her. She left the stage and passed out fresh croissants to protesters, talking and mingling with them.
Rainbow Dash took the stage. “Thank you, Foules. Before our next guest, I just want to remind everyone that our agreement with the Princess doesn’t allow camping out in the library or any other public buildings. The library needs to be vacated by 8:00 PM this evening, so if you’re staying there, please gather your things. We want to make this as smooth as possible. Thanks! Next up, we have Twilight Sparkle herself to deliver a brief message.”
Twilight Sparkle took the stage to a mix of boos and cheers.
She said, “Greetings, Encampment. I hope that, rather than resort to any more violence, you all put your energy into the democratic process and supporting the your chosen candidates in the upcoming elections in November. I will peacefully transfer power when the time comes, and I will remain only a ceremonial monarch. Though I continue to personally oppose government intervention in the economy, I will not stand in the way of parliament or the new prime minister should they decide to pass those laws. Thank you.”
Everypony cheered Twilight Sparkle as she left the stage. After she left, various performers and musicians took the stage, singing protest songs all afternoon.
Inside the Manehattan Public Library, Jolly Doodle Donkey, Hoops, Dumb Bell, and dozens of Equals and homeless ponies stood peering out of the windows in anticipation. A grandfather clock read 7:55 PM, and the day was growing dim.
Columns of riot police marched down the street, right towards the library.
“That’s another one with a pistol in his holster,” said Hoops, holding a pair of binoculars in his hooves.
“Oh gosh, that one has a machine gun! He’s wearing camoflage!” Dumbbell exclaimed.
Hoops and Dumb Bell both turned to Jolly Doodle. Jolly shook his head.
“We have our orders from Starlight Glimmer. We’re staying right here in this library, whether these riot police like it or not. The Equals didn’t sign that agreement. We’ll continue to fight.”
The clock struck 8:00 PM, as Sergeant Cuffs got on the megaphone.
“This building is unlawfully occupied! You will vacate immediately!”
Dumb Bell and Hoops both turned around and mooned the officers through the windows. The Equals and homeless in the building hollered and cheered, and they ran over to join the display, which lasted about ten minutes.
“Aah!” Dumb Bell exclaimed, as he fell flat on his face, knocked over. The library windows shattered into shards of glass as tear gas canisters flew through. The stinging, noxious fumes filled the air, and sparks from the canisters caught some trash on fire. Homeless ponies rushed to stamp it out, but it spread to their clothes, and soon engulfed a bookshelf.
“You bastards! We’re not leaving. This is our home!” Dumb Bell shouted. As homeless ponies and Equals fled to the fire escape, he reached under a table, retrieved a double-barrel shotgun, and fired both barrels out the window towards the officers. With a loud blam, an officer fell to the street.
After this, gunfire erupted all around, as the remaining windows shattered and the smoke and tear gas started to pour out. Dumb Bell coughed and wheezed, reaching into his saddlebag for more shotgun shells. But before he could reload, his head exploded like a watermelon hit with a sledgehammer.
“DUMB BELL!” Hoops shouted. He rushed to pick up the shotgun, but Jolly Doodle bit his tail as sniper fire hit the sides of bookshelves, scattering splinters and bits of paper everywhere.
“Come on! We have rifles on the rooftops. Let’s get out of here!” Jolly urged.
Hoops nodded and flew to the other end of the library with Jolly, where they rushed out a window and into the sky, towards the top floor.
The darkness had just fallen. Lyra Heartstrings, Bon Bon, and their backing musicians stood on the stage of Parliamentary Square, playing their songs. One was a slow, melodic ballad about caring for others, followed by a peppy acoustic love song. They had just launched into a ska-punk tirade against the establishment when a tear gas canister landed right in the bell of the saxophone.
Thinking quickly, the portly saxophonist stallion jumped on top of his instrument like a soldier catching a grenade, grinning at the other band members. His elation was premature, as the pressure of the gas built up and spewed out, knocking him flat. Lyra and Bon Bon coughed as tear gas entirely filled the square, and gunshots rang through the air.
The audience dispersed in every direction. The backing musicians bailed offstage, while roadies grabbed the gear and ran towards the tour bus. A gunshot rang out, and a bullet punctured the side of an amplifier, with copper wires splaying out everywhere.
Bon Bon dived off the stage, jumping with her bongos strapped to her back. Lyra teleported, her lyre held in her magical grasp, following behind. More gunshots rang out in the distance.
“How could they shoot at us? We’re just performers!” Bon Bon exclaimed.
“What a bunch of rotten cops,” said Lyra. She peeked out from the side of the stage, over the wooden floorboards, towards Celestial Street, stealing a quick glance before pulling her head back down.
Merely thirty meters away from them, Celestial Street had become a warzone. National Guard troops wearing camouflage and carrying assault rifles stood behind police, who were now armed with sidearms in addition to rubber bullets and tear gas. The line advanced towards the square, as a bulldozer slammed through one of the barricades, shoving old furniture and sandbags out of the way. Rioters threw molotovs towards it. With a gunshot, one of the cocktails burst open in a rioter’s hoof, which itself splintered with a sickening crunch as he fell to the floor, rolling around and wailing in agony as the fire consumed his fur. A pegasus with a rifle swooped over the bulldozer and fired at the driver. The windshield turned red, and the dozer stopped in its tracks.
“How does it look?” asked Bon Bon.
Lyra hung her head low. “Awful. Our guys are getting shot. The police don’t even care who they hit.”
“Then we have to leave! It’s not safe!” Bon Bon exclaimed, tugging at Lyra’s mane with her hoof.
Lyra shook her head. “No. They need us.”
Bon Bon’s jaw dropped. “We’ll get shot at!”
“Maybe, but we’ll fight back.”
Bon Bon groaned. “With what, your lyre? You’ll whack them? And I’ll smash their head through a bongo? This isn’t a cartoon, Lyra!”
Lyra rolled her eyes. “We won’t hit them with instruments, you dingus… we’ll play them. We have to encourage our side to fight! Ever hear of a bard?”
Lyra smiled and galloped over towards the tour bus. Bon Bon sighed and bounded after her. They rushed inside the bus, shutting the door as the sides were peppered with more stray gunfire. The tour bus had had most of its windows covered up with decals and graphics of the band. The glass was bulletproof, providing protection from the stray gunfire.
“Step on it!” Lyra shouted. The bus driver, a tie-die shirt wearing stallion who stank of marijuana, nodded and put his hoof on the gas. The bus honked as the engine turned on.
“Where we goin’, Lyra?” he asked, turning back. “The square ain’t safe, and I can’t get by that road with the dozers and cops.”
“We aren’t going that way,” said Lyra. “Head to the royal palace! If Twilight and Luna think their cops can shoot at peaceful musicians and wreck our show, then we’ll bring the show to them!”
“Okay. I’ll take the Lunar Boulevard; there’ll be less traffic,” said the driver.
“Let’s hookup our onboard sound system,” said Bon Bon, turning and reluctantly grinning at Lyra. “If we’re going to be bards, we should do it right.”
The bus drove around the stage, honking as rioters and police officers jumped out of the way to avoid getting run over. It eked out a path between the rows of burning Encampment tents and throngs of rioting mobs and police. After thirty tense seconds, they reached the exit ramp of the square where vehicles could leave. Three police officers stood blocking it off, holding out their hooves.
“They won’t let us leave!” the bus driver shouted.
“Keep going!” Lyra urged.
“But I’ll run ‘em ov—”
“I said keep going!” Lyra shouted.
The bus rammed towards the exit, honking its horn. The police officers shouted at the driver to stop, but he leadhoofed the pedal. One officer drew a hoofgun and fired through the windshield and at the engine, but the driver ducked behind the wheel. Oil leaked out over the ground, but the bus plowed through the three officers and others who had run onto the scene.
“The check engine light’s on, dudes," the driver noted, rounding onto Lunar Boulevard. They now had a straight road to drive to reach the palace several blocks away.
“Oh, as if that’s our biggest problem right now,” Bon Bon scoffed. She looked through the back window. Officers were racing after the bus, but so were hundreds of protesters, who cheered on Lyra and Bon Bon and assaulted the cops with rocks and baseball bats.
Lyra said, “They want a show, Bon Bon! Let’s grab our instruments! Driver, stay under twenty so they can keep up.”
“What are we even going to play, Lyra?” asked Bon Bon, grabbing her bongos in her hooves.
Lyra shrugged, her lyre floating in her magic. “I don’t know. Something… uh, combat-y, I guess? Honestly, I didn’t even think we’d make it this far!”
“Why don’t we play that new song we wrote? I think that now’s the time,” said Bon Bon.
Lyra nodded, and took the microphone. “Alright, everypony! You wanted a show, here’s one!”
“Follow this tour bus!” Bon Bon added.
The running crowd cheered as the musicians’ voices poured through the speakers atop the bus, and raced down city blocks as they tried to keep up with the traveling band. The lyrics began.
“It’s time for a change to make the world a better place
Put love in our hearts and smiles on our face
Just a little change is all we need to save the day,
to drive out all the greed and take our needs away!”
Protesters cheered, chasing the musical bus like schoolchildren running after an ice cream truck. Police ran after them, pegasus officers soaring through the air, earth pony officers galloping, and unicorns teleporting along. Shop windows, mailboxes, and benches were coated in gunfire and consumed by flames in a blazing trail of destruction. Looters gleefully emptied out electronics stores and stole telephones and radios, knocking over trash cans and setting cars on fire.
“Don’t loot!”
“Stop! You’re making us look bad!”
“Quit discrediting our movement!”
Dozens of protesters locked hooves around the shops to stop looters from destroying them, as looters tried to push and shove past. A police unicorn appeared and blasted the entire group with a piercing noise spell.
“The other day I saw a mare
who said she had no change to spare
when a homeless pony asked her for a dime.
But if he’d ever seen her house
with every hedge and marble fount
He’d know her soul was black and full of grime.”
A volley of molotov cocktails landed in the lobby of the Pursuit Bank head branch, flames crawling over carpets and climbing up to the chandeliers as bankers and customers screamed in terror. Firefighters rushed with buckets of water and hoses to put out the blaze. Encampment protesters formed pony chains around the firefighters, protecting them from assault from the arsonists.
Up in the night sky, Pound Cake soared, watching the total pandemonium below. His heart sunk as police and national guards fired automatic weapons towards the crowds. They could easily hit unarmed ponies, he thought, since everypony was just too mixed together. Only a few protesters on his side had weapons, but most of the authorities did. A guardspony with a flamethrower set the Encampment tents alight as protesters ran in terror. Five bulldozers smashed through barricades, plowing into crowds.
The Princesses had betrayed the agreement, Pound Cake realized. Nonviolence could only work if both sides were peaceful, but Sergeant Cuffs had sent in armed police, and General Spitfire had sent in the National Guard to clear out the library. It reminded him of the cowardly acts of King Blueblood when he forced a ceasefire by bringing down the moon over Cloudsdale, terrifying everypony into submission. Now, Twilight and Luna were taking a page from Blueblood and doing what they were best at: trampling on their subjects. Just like with the Zebra internment, or Hayseed’s farm, or the strikers in Fillydelphia. After slaughtering the protesters, Pound predicted that the Princesses would tear up the agreement and claim that the Encampment had broken it. Then they’d stay in power forever.
Not anymore. Right then, Pound resolved that there would be no more terrorism. No more greed. No more selfishness by the few at the expense of the many. Not from the oligarchs, Pumpkin Cake, or Twilight Sparkle. The people’s voices would finally be heard. As Pound Cake floated towards Lunar Boulevard, the strumming of an electric lyre and the banging of bongos met his ears, interspersed with gunfire, explosions, and shouting. Though the road in front of the tour bus was clear for three blocks, columns of national guardsponies and police were closing in on an intersection to cut off the route between the bus and the royal palace gates. All were heavily armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
Lyra and Bon Bon are down there! he thought. I have to help them!
The wind whipped at Pound Cake’s mane as he raced towards the bus, coughing and breathing heavily from the thick smoke all of the fires were billowing out.
Lyra and Bon Bon’s song continued over the bus loudspeakers,
“The oligarchs who run the show
don’t care about us down below;
they sip their wine and give us all a scoff.
You’ll find them high above the streets
where they look down on those in need;
It’s time to climb right up and throw them off!”
The bus was closing in on the royal palace, weaving in and out of parked and abandoned cars on the street, and was now just a block and a half away. National guardsponies were tightening the noose on Lunar Boulevard, as three armored personnel carriers pulled out into the intersection to intercept the bus.
“Stop immediately, or we will fire! This is a restricted area!” the national guards called out over the loudspeaker.
Ignoring the orders, the bus continued careening forwards, its engine vrooming and roaring as it drove faster and faster.
They were half a block away. Pound Cake knew that the bus couldn’t stop in time. He had to save the riders. It was too close to the ground to do a sonic rainboom, and there were way too many innocents around, but Pound Cake still had one nonlethal move that would work at such a short distance.
He dove down at a forty-five degree angle, racing to beat the bus towards the roadblock of carriers and guardsponies, who were loading magazines into their rifles and clicking back the safeties. His mane whipped at his face, as his lungs burned in agony from the smoke and air mix. He placed both hooves out in front of himself as a white cone formed.
As Pound Cake swooped down on the roadblock, the shockwave knocked national guardsponies back, ripping guns from their hooves, as they fired blindly into the air. A rocket at the end of a launcher exploded right in the face of the pony holding it. The carriers slid a meter or two, not enough to topple over, but enough to make a gap for the bus to pass through.
“It’s time for a change to make the world a better place
Put love in our hearts and smiles on our face
Just a little change is all we need to save the day,
to drive out all the greed and take our needs away!”
The bus passed through the intersection as the mob ran after it, beating up the dazed and dizzied national guardsponies and taking their weapons. Cars honked and swerved out of the way to avoid hitting the bus, which crashed right through the ornate brass gates of the royal palace. In the palace driveway, a black royal guard vehicle exploded into a fireball as a rocket whooshed through its window.
As the bus engine sputtered in protest, it lumbered up the driveway, past the burning car, and smashed into the grand mahogany doors. The ponies in the crowd stormed up the driveway, through the busted doors, and into the royal palace.
Twilight Sparkle and Luna stood barricaded inside of the large, formal dining hall. Dozens of protesters, rioters, and looters had swarmed into the palace, with the sound of hoofsteps outside a telltale sign that more were coming. The batponies and pegasus royal guards stood by the thick dining hall double doors, weapons in their hooves, as the banging and crashing at the doors grew louder and louder. Chefs and waiters cowered under tables.
The princesses’ horns were both glowing white with telepathic magic, as they rapidly discussed their next options far quicker than they could verbally.
“Twilight Sparkle, we must stay and fight. The rabble shan’t treat the royal palace in such an undignified manner! We are princesses and must act such!”
Twilight Sparkle glanced at the double doors, which were now bulging after being repeatedly banged on with hooves.
She shook her head. “No, Luna. It’s over. This is a lynch mob. Only one of us even has a cutie mark. We only have six guards in here with us. We don’t stand a chance against who knows how many angry people out there.”
Luna scoffed. “The great Princess Twilight, former Element of Magic, who has fought back dragons, chaotic spectres, and hordes of verminous incubi... is backing down at the sight of a mere lynch mob? Is it because you don’t have your cutie mark, and I have it? Reclaim it and fight like a valiant mare!”
Luna floated Twilight’s cutie mark back onto her flank.
Twilight sighed audibly, and replied, “This mob isn’t like that. So what, I go out horn blazing, and your guards go out crossbows blazing, and do what? Kill everypony? Yeah, that’ll look great in the media—”
Three gunshots interrupted Twilight’s thoughts. Determining that they hadn’t come into the dining room, she continued.
“Or what, arrest them all? We can’t detain hundreds of people. Not even the entire Manehattan PD can. Have you looked out the window lately? It’s a warzone!
Images of the raging street battles and riots flooded into Luna’s mind from Twilight’s.
“These thugs are now armed with shotguns, sniper rifles, and whatever weapons they’ve brought from Fillydelphia. A dozen officers have been shot, and we already have nine confirmed police fatalities tonight. Need I also remind you that Starlight Glimmer is still about? Now would be the perfect time for her to waltz into the palace unopposed and steal my mark.”
Luna rolled her eyes, but nodded. ”I suppose that you’re right, Twilight Sparkle. But this bloodthirsty mob won’t let us go quite so easily. We can’t just surrender; they’ll have our heads on the chopping blocks.”
Twilight chuckled. “Who thought anything about surrendering? Just because we shouldn’t stay and fight, doesn’t mean that we surrender. We’ll retreat. Since you’ve given back my cutie mark, I have a plan. Now, I can’t teleport us out from here, because of the faraday cage, but there’s another way out.”
She conveyed the images to Luna, who nodded.
“Batponies! Prepare to screech on my mark,” Luna commanded.
Her six guards nodded. With a flick of Twilight Sparkle’s horn, the bar in front of the door floated off, and it burst open. Twenty looters and rioters burst through the door, until Luna stretched her hoof out. The batponies screeched so loudly that it made the police unicorns’ noise spells sound like tired yawns. The intruders all fell to the floor, and the princesses ran down the long hallway towards the front door.
All around, looters had stolen or smashed priceless vases, little bits of precious porcelain littering the hardwood floor. Glass shards rained down from shattered chandeliers. Paintings were defaced, with a twirly mustache drawn on Pona Lisa, the moon on Luna’s Night stabbed through with a knife, and the cans of soup by Dandy Warhorse smeared in fecal matter.
“Soup cans aren’t art. I think it’s an improvement,” said a vandal who was busy ruining yet another expensive painting.
“Oh? I honestly can’t tell the difference,” another vandal chuckled.
An onlooker sighed, shaking his head. “To think that the princesses would spend millions on luxury items while people starve in the streets.”
“Hey, here they come! Let’s get ‘em!” said the first vandal, pointing with his hoof at the incoming princesses. But just as he did, he found himself pushed down the hallway by Twilight Sparkle’s gravity spell. She and Luna stretched their wings out, gliding on the gravitational gale until reaching the giant front doors and the broken-down tour bus. The mob pointed and shouted at the princesses, but they disappeared into the night sky, appearing several miles east, above the sea.
“That was a close call,” said Twilight Sparkle.
“Where shall we go?” asked Luna.
“My brother and Cadance have said that I’m always welcome in the Crystal Empire. Ponies there, at least, still really like me since Spike and I helped saved them from Sombra. It’s peaceful there, too, with no riots reported. I think that we can lie low until everypony in Manehattan calms down. Then, we’ll come back.”
The midday sun hung over the city of Manehattan, with the grey haze from burned out storefronts still filling the air, as firefighters battled the last of the many small fires that dotted buildings throughout downtown. The police and national guard, though, were nowhere to be seen. With nopony to direct its mass anger towards, the riot had subsided for the moment. Even the opportunistic looters from the evening before weren’t out and about. After all, only a monster would take advantage of such loss of life.
Parliamentary Square had become a scene of massive sadness and wailing, with hundreds of people crying. The wooden stage where Heartstrings and Bon Bon had played was now a makeshift memorial. On the sides hung dozens of photos of protesters who had died the evening before. Hundreds of flowers sat on the floorboards. All across downtown, protesters who’d been exuberant the prior evening and chanting slogans now desperately cried out the names of loved ones, searching through burnt tents and buildings for any sign of them.
Doctor Stable, Pound Cake, and Rainbow Dash stood near the stage, paying their respects.
“It’s so surreal… I haven’t seen anything this depressing since the war,” said Pound Cake.
“How many are dead?” asked Rainbow Dash.
Doctor Stable sighed. “It’s a tragedy. Fifty Encampment protesters were shot dead by police and national guard. Ten of the Equals died of smoke inhalation in the library. About thirty or so other civilians and bystanders on the street died in fires, by being trampled, etcetera. The police say that twelve of their guys were shot dead. Then, we have hundreds of injured on all sides.”
Pound Cake frowned. “This wasn’t a riot. This was a massacre! Somepony needs to answer for this. Spitfire, Twilight Sparkle, Luna, Sergeant Cuffs, the whole leadership!”
The people on the unusually-quiet square turned towards him, hearing his rage.
Rainbow Dash shook her head. “It’s terrible. I have good news, though. We finally got Alrica Pones’ attention. Parliament is having an emergency vote this afternoon. The lawmakers are all being dragged back from summer recess.”
Former Speaker Mare—now just Minority Leader Mare ever since her Equestrian Voters Party had lost its majority—ducked and tried not to make eye contact as she was hustled up the parliament building steps in Manehattan. Dozens of people crowded around her, most of them sobbing, but a few of them furious.
“Princess Twilight and Luna have to go!” they shouted.
“This is all you Voterites’ fault!” one pony shouted.
Minority Leader Mare’s heart skipped a beat. One more reminder that she was in danger. Though she had already figured this out when two muscular pegasi interns from the Party of Laborers arrived at her summer home in Horseshoe Bay early that morning. They’d pulled her out of bed and made her fly with them to Manehattan for an emergency vote. They were roughing her up somewhat, pulling her along her with her hooves as they escorted her into the building, but they were also shoving ponies in the crowd away who tried to get too close to her.
Why didn’t I just stay in local politics? she lamented.
A cool blast of air hit her as she entered the rotunda. Dozens more Encampment ponies stood inside, booing and jeering at her.
“You’d behehehter vote the right way!” a sheep bleated. Two unicorns with ski masks on their faces, equal signs on their flanks, and shotguns floating in their magic stood beside the chamber entrance doors. They nodded at the pegasi, and the doors swung open.
“To your seat,” the muscular pegasi barked at ML Mare, and practically shoved her down the carpeted steps.
Not one to argue, Mare took her seat on the right wing of the chamber. Other members of her party arrived slowly over the next thirty minutes. None of them wore suits or had styled their hair, and it looked like most of them had been dragged out of bed like her. One senator wore a giant bandage on his flank. Was it an unrelated accident, or had they beat him up?
Finally, Speaker and Majority Leader Alrica Pones took the floor.
“Fillies and gentlecolts, thank you for attending this emergency parliamentary session. For those who are unaware, an act of massive police violence was perpetrated here in Manehattan last night against the Encampment protesters.
“The Encampment has been peacefully protesting all summer for basic rights that all people are entitled to: sustenance, healthcare, and equality. Though there have been a few minor scuffles before, and a few bad apples, the Encampment has been vastly unarmed, vastly peaceful. Yesterday was no exception. However, acting upon orders from Twilight Sparkle, General Spitfire sent in the national guard armed with automatic weapons, flamethrowers, and rocket-propelled grenades to Manehattan.”
The crowd muttered and gasped. Even Minority Leader Mare was taken aback.
Pones continued, “During a tense standoff at the Manehattan Library, the guard opened fire on homeless ponies. This began a riot, with national guard and police given shoot-to-kill orders. As a result, over eighty ponies are now dead, with fifty of them protesters who were shot to death, the rest civilians. Almost all of the dead were unarmed. A dozen officers died as well.
“There is plenty of blame to go around. We can blame institutions like the police, national guard, or the oligarchy. We can blame individuals like General Spitfire, Sergeant Cuffs, or Police Chief Copper. We can blame our inherently unequal and unforgiving society. All of these people and institutions will be coming under scrutiny in this legislature, and I assure my Encampment friends that change will come very rapidly.
“Today, though, the people’s elected representatives will voting on one despicable institution: the monarchy. Princesses Twilight and Luna have had unquestioned, unrestrained, absolute power. This has caused deaths of innocent civilians by starvation, disease, and now, by police brutality. To change society as the Encampment seeks, we must first change its leaders. Even the worst president is better than the nicest monarch, because at least a president is accountable.
“Thus, there will be a vote on the following question: should the Princesses be removed from power and replaced with elected executives? Should Equestria become a republic?”
Minority Leader Mare tentatively asked to be heard.
“Will there be no time for a debate?” she asked.
“No,” said Alrica Pones. “The time for debate was over as soon as police fired on unarmed protesters in the streets. We vote now, Minority Leader Mare. It’s time for the people to be heard.”
“But the constitution doesn’t—”
“It will be changed!” exclaimed Alrica Pones. “You are out of order, Minority Leader Mare. Sit down!”
ML Mare shrunk back in her chair. The muscular pegasi shook their heads menacingly at her.
This vote was a mockery of Equestrian representative government, she thought. How could a proper vote be conducted with no debate, with no warning, and with thugs roughing up legislators and threatening that they’d better vote the right way or else? What would happen if she voted no to removing the monarchy? Would she be removed from parliament? Beaten up? Shot to death by an “unarmed” protester?
Minority Leader Mare didn’t want to know. She voted to abolish the monarchy. The measure passed overwhelmingly, with only a few token no votes, and about twenty abstentions. Whether or not the vote was legal de jure under the constitution was a matter for the courts, but de facto the Princesses were nowhere to be seen. Rumor had it that they’d fled to the Crystal Empire.
Equestria was no longer a monarchy, but Minority Leader Mare refused to call Alrica Pones’ unlawful government a “republic.”
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This chapter really speaks to me i see where the protesters are coming from but it still seems that pound isnt operating on any sort of logic like his sister..... While she just wants to live well and be left alone pound seems to be going out of his way to cause trouble (whether he know it or not) he also seems to be blind to the fact his own porteters are far from innocent. It also doesnt help he wants to shackle his own sister for her gifts and most of the time his party seems to go out of there way to potray her as some kind of monster. Is it really better to punish people for being more gifted then their peirs? Also why do the protesters seem to be so illogical? They dont seem to fully grasp what they are really asking for and that many of the things they want will likely only hurt there economy more.
I don't really know how they are going to get to the crystal empire.But still amazing chapter!And also,Where is spike anyways?
There is so much diversity it hurts. I feel like Twilight Sparkle and Luna are out of line. Spitfire is out of line. The national guard is out of line. In my country, the police work for ME. ME!!!!! You know, the TAX PAYER?!? Pound and Rainbow I think are the best option at this point. I don't care how innocent their compatriots are, they have people who can reign them in, unlike Pumpkin Cake who seems to demand so much for a gift. That would be as if Jesus Christ demanded money for turning the water into wine, much less feeding all those people with the fish and bread. (I'm not a christian, I just felt this story would be a good one to compare to Brother and Sister.) Also, Starlight Glimmer is a monster hehe. I don't like her for what she's doing, I like her of HOW she's doing it. She's manipulating so many ponies in an ingenious way. What she's doing, is basically like offering speech and hearing to a deaf person as long as they "worship her."
There is so much diversity in this story it hurts. So many ethical debates can be based upon this story alone! Of course Mr. CartsBeforeHorses, you could totally pull a genophage on the Krogan. (This is a metaphor. You should totally look it up :P ) I would love for this story to have a happy ending where everything is fixed, but morals have been thrown so far down the drain, I could care less the the entirety of Equestria was nuked to the ground. This is such a fantastic story, I am loving where this is going!
I really don't like this story. Everyone is acting like jerks in this and the princesses don't deserve to be removed from power. It isn't even their fault! I say just end this thing already, bring friendship back, and make everyone get a life already!
I apologize if this sounded a bit harsh, but the truth is, I am not used to this kind of madness, war, and stuff in MLP: FIM fics. I wanted things to go back to the way it was before Blueblood started acting up, before the deaths, before everyone turned on one another. Twilight's purpose is to spread friendship and help make friends, not war. That is why she was OoC right in this story as is the good guys.
I wanna see a Martin Luther King happen.
- I don't think either side can shoulder all the blame. The EPA was all for a compromise, but the Equals had to act like spoiled children when they were already ahead in the negotiations. Of course, the police shouldn't have resorted to lethal violence unless they were under potentially lethal attack. Getting mooned isn't enough to bring a violent response.
- No. "Vote our side or die (or be jailed at the very least)"? No. That isn't legal whatsoever. I'm in favor of a republic when the monarchy isn't beneficial, but a government created by mob violence and rule... well, look on the results of the French and Russian Revolutions, and on the reigns of terror and civil war that followed. Honestly, when you see what misery those "revolutions" brought, it's hard to try to support them.
-Zap and every petty crook and criminal of a leader will try to wring as much advantage as they can out of the disorder. Obviously, not all ponies support the new republic. That could mean civil war, with Twilight and Luna being leaders of the "White" army.
-The revolution breaks Twilight and Luna's participation in the plan, but the rebels already there will have plenty of opportunity to take back the cities themselves. Of course, if civil war doesn't occur, one of the first acts of the rebels might be to go straight for the cities and take them back, no matter what the cost.
6162401
Life isnt like that and saddly there is no turning back after war bevause it brings changes. I think your real problem is that this story is too "grown up" for some one like you. Your one of those people who wants everything to stay the same and for everyone to be happy when there arr so many problems that have been left unrepaired. I admire the author of this story for going the extra mile and showing all the real problems that they would face after a large scale war i hate it when lazy fimfic writers just gloss over everything once the fighting has stopped because it would be unsavery. So how about this you either stop reading and pretend that everything is ok in the story like a child trying to read a true story or you can grow up and deal with the fact stories like this are becoming more and nore common as many brony mature and start to see the "real" world and reflect what they see in there storys. So please grow up or go back to only wantig the show if u want only happy endings.
6161762 The protesters all have their own economic and political theories that they're operating on, and a lot of them differ from each other. The Equals are more communistic, given that they live in a commune and share resources and jobs and everypony is theoretically supposed to be equal. As Twilight Sparkle pointed out, there can never be any true equality with as much diversity as we see in the world of MLP between the species and races. Perhaps they could all be transformed into amorphous blobs or something?
Pound Cake's group, the Equestrians For Action, though, idealizes the socialist/capitalist mixed economies that we see in Europe (Stirrup). Sort of social democracy states like Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France (Prance), etcetera. They do believe that at least some of the capitalist system should be preserved, but that it should be heavily reformed to remove the massive sorts of inequality, racism, speciesism, etcetera. So they kind of believe in capitalism-light. They would likely argue that their policies ultimately help the economy in some way, for instance universal healthcare would allow ponies to not go bankrupt or untreated when they get sick, so they could get better, get back to work healthy, and spend their money on other things in the economy. Mandated paid maternity leave, in their argument, might promote more couples to have children, which would contribute to the economy. If they ever did acknowledge that their policies would hurt the economy, they would then argue that profit making isn't everything, money can't buy you happiness, etc.
Of course, to have all of those social programs, you have to pay for it somehow. At least in the real world, that almost always leads to deficit spending and debts that grow bigger year after year as a percentage of GDP. The compassion of socialists exceeds their ability to pay for it, and they are spending money that hasn't even been earned yet, that will be taken from our children and grandchildren in the form of taxation. The go-to solution is raising taxes on the rich, but taxing the rich will only go so far. There is simply not enough money from them to take, even if you taxed them at 99% of their income. And if you do that, they'll just quit working, move someplace else, or use some sort of loophole or deduction to avoid paying that much.
The reason that Pumpkin Cake is so despised in the story is severalfold. I think some of it might have to do with jealousy. Some of them might be jealous of her power, her money, her success. Other reasons might be because of hatred or irritation. Gaining Mareicopa its special status and forming a private militia as Pumpkin did certainly earned her a few enemies like Rainbow Dash, and her lobbying of local politicians earns the ire of Pound Cake, who believes that to be bribery and immoral. Many others likely feel the same way. There is a good argument to be made that monies influence on politics might be excessive and lead to corruption.
But the biggest reason I think, is that these protesters view her gifts as not actually belonging to her, but instead belonging to society. It isn't right, they'd say, for her to profit from Phase Healing, because she has a duty to society from having been born with a gift to heal everypony she possibly can, regardless of ability to pay. To charge money for her services and live a very comfortable life as she does, many of them would consider immoral.
There's also the issue of exploitation. To many of them, it would be wrong for Pumpkin to profit off of ponies who have no other alternative but to come to her, because that is basically preying on them. Pumpkin would see herself as merely being one side of a two-sided transaction with willing participants. They would argue that you can't be a willing participant if you're a terminal cancer patient, or you're about to deliver a baby but can't afford the service in a hospital.
I do believe that Pumpkin Cake wins the argument, though. At the end of the day, if Pumpkin's clinics were outlawed, she'd be worse off by not making money anymore, and all of her patients would be worse off because they'd either not receive treatment, or receive it someplace else and have to pay more for it there. But to some of the protesters, outlawing Phase Healing would actually be a preferable outcome to Pumpkin's "exploitation." But who in that situation is being exploited? Who's the victim at Phase Healing, when both Pumpkin and her patients are better off for Phase Healing having existed?*
Then the protesters might argue that they still do want her to practice medicine, but in a "fair" way. Perhaps, they'd say, instead of taking money for services, she could just heal all comers to her clinic. But powerful as she may be, Pumpkin is still just one mare, and she will never be able to heal everypony who could use it. So who gets treated, and who doesn't? Under Pumpkin's system, it's whoever can shell out the cash. Under the EFA's system, it's whoever happens to be in line the earliest, which itself is largely a component of chance. The EFA would argue that free care after waiting in line would be a fairer system than whoever pays gets treated. But how is that any fairer of a system? Just because you happen to get in line first, you get treated first? That's no fairer than just because you happen to have $10,000, you get treated first.
So in an answer to your question, the hatred for Pumpkin is based on a multitude of factors. Some of it is based on ideology. Some of it might have a compelling case or argument for it. But much of it is based on emotion rather than logic. It's either based on greed, or jealousy, or hatred, or misplaced 'compassion.'
*I should add a caveat here. This does assume that birth and surgery by intangibility is safe as Pumpkin says, and not risky as Doctor Stable says. With a terminal cancer patient who would die anyway, I think they're still better off even if there is some risk involved. With just a regular childbirth, that's honestly up in the air because it depends on how big the risks are. One of the risks might be that Pumpkin somehow loses her concentration, and accidentally phases a young child and its mother together. We saw what happened when she lost her concentration in Chupacabra Stadium, which is that ponies were fused into the dirt and crushed. Thankfully for Pumpkin and those mothers and children, it doesn't appear that this has yet happened to her during her time delivering babies. But there is a slight risk that it could happen.
6162005 Thanks!
I'd imagine that the princesses will use a mixture of flight and teleportation. The Crystal Empire is just northwest of Manehattan, so it's not too far for them to go. Worst case scenario, they disguise themselves and take a train.
Spike hasn't been in the story as much as I'd have liked. Honestly, I just couldn't find a role for him to play. My official explanation is that he likes to travel, and spends a lot of his time visiting far-off, exotic countries like Oatstralia or Mexicolt. But I will try to have him make an appearance soon, I promise
6162251 Why thank you, I'm glad you like the story so much. I'm honored
The national guards and police were worried about an armed rebellion after the munitions factory in Fillydelphia was seized. Most of the protesters on the Encampment remained unarmed during that bloody evening, but a few of them had snuck in shotguns and rifles, particularly the Equals who were the brunt of the conflict between police and protesters. Then a lot of them still had molotovs, bats, knives, etcetera. In a situation like that, where there's thousands of protesters packed into a small space like a city street and a few of them have guns or other weapoons, there will likely be innocent people shot even if no one intends to do so. Though we do see at least a few instances of excessive use of force by any definition, such as burning tents to the ground with a flamethrower. The initial use of tear gas into a library, full of flammable books, would also probably count.
The analogy comparing Jesus to Pumpkin Cake is an interesting one, but I think incomplete. For one, Pound and Pumpkin are both very powerful, but they're not all-powerful as Jesus was said to be. They also are neither sinless nor perfect, and both have some significant character and emotional flaws. (I've taken deliberate steps to not make Pumpkin Cake a Mary Sue, much less a messiah, and the same is true for Pound)
The biggest difference in the fish and bread analogy vs. Phase Healing, is that unlike how Jesus had an unlimited amount of food to go around for a huge crowd, Pumpkin Cake is still quite limited in how much magic she can cast. There are millions of people around the world who could use just her child delivery services alone, much less her surgery and tumor removal services. Inevitably, even if she works 60 hours a week, millions of potential patients will go without care from her.
So the question then becomes how does she decide who gets treated, and who doesn't? Her current system is, whoever can pay gets treatment. The system that a pony like Pound Cake would want her to adopt, universal healthcare, would be that she treats anypony who comes to her who needs her services, regardless of their ability to pay. That would increase the demand for her services by quite a lot, and there would be massive waiting lines outside of her clinic even longer than currently. That or there would be a waiting list without a physical "line," but it would still be just as long. Or perhaps it wouldn't be based on first-come, first-serve, but on a care lottery where names are picked at random. Whatever the case, not everypony would get a chance simply because there's not enough hours in the day, and there isn't enough magic in her horn, to cure everypony. Inevitably, some ponies would either die while waiting for care in the weeks or months-long line, or would have to seek it elsewhere.
So given the option between two systems, one in which care is given based on ability to pay, and another where it is given based on whoever happens to be next in a very long line, or whoever's name is drawn from a "care lottery," how is the latter inherently any fairer than the former?
Your analogy with Starlight Glimmer is also interesting, but she doesn't require worship or admiration from anypony whose cutie mark she takes (or equal sign she gives, in the case of non-ponies). She doesn't really see herself as worthy of any admiration or worship for what she does, as she sees it as her duty. In that way, she's an interesting foil for Pumpkin Cake, who believes that her own gifts confer no such duty upon her towards others. For her, the concept of duty doesn't exist outside of acting in her own rational self-interest. If she happens to help others along the way, that's great for them, but she doesn't act for their sake. Even Pumpkin's charity care on Free Care Fridays is borne more out of a desire for good publicity for Phase Healing than anything else.
I do like your Mass Effect analogy as well. Hopefully all of Equestria doesn't get nuked, but time will tell...
Thanks again for reading the story, and I enjoy reading and responding to your comments! 
6162401 It can be rather jarring to go from reading an MLP story where everypony usually gets along and peace and friendship are the order of the day, to one where there is war and division in Equestria. But I maintain that the show and those stories you mentioned are told through the lens of a child's eyes, to preserve their innocence.
-Hasbro doesn't show sex scenes, but does anybody doubt that the ponies have to reproduce somehow? Why do they marry each other and seem to show at least some g-rated romantic intimacy?
-Hasbro doesn't show death scenes, but does anybody think that everypony in the show is immortal? If they are, where are Applejack's parents? Why isn't Granny Smith as healthy and as capable as Applejack?
-Hasbro doesn't show graphic depictions of war, but is it really that far-fetched that, for instance, if the buffalo and Appleloosans couldn't have resolved their differences with diplomacy, or with pies and "fun" weapons, that they'd eventually resolve them with guns and bows?
My story is deliberately designed to delve deeper into the world that the show portrays. I demonstrate that under the veneer that Hasbro must maintain to have their cartoon and sell their toys to little kids, the world of Equestria is just as full of war, lies, deceit, pain, and suffering as our own world.
I have marked the story with a "dark" tag and rated it Teen to reflect the more mature themes.
Given the social structures we've seen in Equestria, how could there *not* be war and division? Equestria isn't heaven. If you were a Crystal Pony, wouldn't you try to kill or fight back against Sombra? If you were in Canterlot and the changelings had invaded, wouldn't you try to kill or fight back against them? If you wouldn't, would no one else, either?
Twilight Sparkle has usually acted to spread friendship when practical, both in the show and in this story. However, when faced with a dilemma that she doesn't believe can be solved by friendship, either in this story or in the show, she does resort to other decidedly non-friendly or forceful actions. She can't always just make friends with her problems.
How was Twilight and Spike "killing" Sombra in the show any different from having Blueblood killed in this story? Both stallions were threatening peace and security, and she didn't solve the problem by using friendship. She solved it through brute force.
How was her casting the want-it, need-it spell on crowds of ponies so that she could get her report to Celestia done, as in the show, really any different from the zebra internment ostensibly to protect Tall Tale, other than a question of scale? In both instances, she later admitted she'd made a mistake, but we can clearly see that her judgment isn't always perfect.
Twilight Sparkle does not always solve all of her problems through friendship, even in the show, because not all problems are solvable through friendship.
Anyway, in regards to your concern that this story is becoming too long, I will repeat that I do have the ending planned very soon. I've already hit most of the points that I wanted to hit on, and the rest of the story from here on out will be the climax, and then wrapping things up. There will be 50 chapters in total, plus an epilogue that I've already written. I hope that you stick around for the ending, bearing in mind that this story might be a little darker than the show or some of the other stories on Fimfiction.
I also hope that you enjoy how it ends.
6165030
I apologize for what I said. I'm just not used to this sort of madness in a MLP franchise thing. You must understand how I feel why things aren't the same after Celestia's death (am I the only one who feels like she will pulled a resurrection here?).
Also, I have a feeling that Twilight and Luna were set up to be overthrown by mysterious forces but that's just me. I find it upsetting how Equestria would turn on its princesses who are trying their best to help them, but no one is ever happy.
Anyway, as far as you did your story, you go ahead and do what you want. As long as the true evil (I hope it isn't the princesses) are taken down at the end.
6165056 There's no need to apologize, my friend. You had a legitimate concern, and it's my job as the writer to address that. I'm pretty thick-skinned when it comes to writing and taking criticism, so you didn't hurt my feelings at all
The shootings on the Encampment were rather suspicious indeed, and I'm glad that you caught that because I deliberately wrote it that way. Both sides were shown definitively to have guns, and both sides suffered casualties from shooting. It's entirely possible, and left open for interpretation in the story, that not all of the shooting of the 50+ protesters was done by the national guard. It could be that, given the next-generation sniper rifle with an infrared scope mentioned by Spitfire, somepony took that gun from Fillydelphia and shot a bunch of protesters in Manehattan to garner sympathy for their cause and provoke anger against Twilight Sparkle. But it's also possible that the police freaked out and started shooting everypony on sight, because Spitfire told them to avoid another repeat of Tall Tale "at all costs."
I'm kind of a fan of conspiracy theories (though there's only a couple of them that I actually believe, I'm not a kook like the tin foil hat folks
), and actually have a 10-20,000 word story coming up soon about a conspiracy in Appleloosa, that I hope some of my fans will read.
As with most conspiracy theories, the general public of Equestria might never know what truly happened that evening in Manehattan, because there will always be room for doubt. And I doubt that there will be any sort of official investigation launched, because the shootings really turned out to benefit the oppostion a lot more than the princesses when all was said and done. So if the narrative works for the new government, why do an investigation which could turn that on its head?
6163891 You're right on the money with most of your responses, I think.
I would just add the caveat that the line between lethal and nonlethal force can sometimes be blurred. Raindrops and Chief Big Cheese's discussions is not unlike ones that I'd imagine that police departments have all the time. They certainly echo critics of police brutality that I hear in the media. For instance, tear gas canisters can cause fires if they land on flammable objects and the sparks ignite a flame, but usually they don't.
That fateful evening, the first police action was to use the tear gas canisters, and it wasn't because they were getting mooned, it was mainly to disperse the Equals from the library that they were illegally occupying ten minutes past the 8PM deadline. Certainly that might have been disproportionate. Then, obviously things only escalated from there with Dumbbell pulling out a shotgun and firing on the cops. That drew the first decidedly, unambiguously lethal police response of firing back at him with a rifle.
Revolutions are certainly a tricky business, and aside from a few peaceful ones, like against Franco in Spain, or the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, they almost all have some sort of bloodshed accompany them. I think that when you have enough people in a society who desire to be free, and they can all work towards a common goal, the chance of violence is decreased. Whether Equestria is such a case will remain to be determined in the next chapter
We will have to wait and see what the repercussions for Spitfire will be after the shootings. The plan to retake Tall Tale and Vanhoover was her baby (and Twilight's) and it will no doubt require some coordination from her or some of the top commanders at least to pull it off.
6166107 I see. But I'm with (former) Maybe Mare on this.
I don't know who to side with right now in the revolution.
Wow, things have gotten really dark this chapter, I feel like we are staring in the face of the collapse of Equestrian civilization, not from any one giant threat, but from too many too close together for the center to hold. That said, despite this being a particularly dark chapter overall, the scene of Luna's moon-garden was still cute, and Lyra & Bon Bon's musical charge was hilarious and awesome! (I imagined it looking a lot like this:
-The Equals are primarily to blame, I feel like the government and the other protestor groups just kind of accidentally egged each other on in the fog of war, unfortunate but realistic.
-This question is difficult for me. In any kind of real world scenario, a republic/constitutional monarchy is vastly superior to even an enlightened monarchy, and a moral imperative. That said, a big part of why I love the show is watching alicorn princesses swan around in fancy crowns giving orders, so I was super bummed out that Twilight even conceded that much. And of course the vote was immoral, with those thugs threatening congress.
- Is there any chance Stirrupean allies will step in and restore order, or at least find ways to help Twilight and Luna? I think every non-crazy government in the world has a strong interest in keeping the alicorns efficiently moving the celestial bodies, and there is probably some law or treaty many nations have giving them the right to intervene in Equestria if said nation's own day-night schedule is threatened. Also, I hope Diamond Tiara and the other oligarchs caught a quick plane to Stirrup or Canterlot or somewhere safe, I don't want to see them hanging from lampposts, not even Jet Set and Upper Crust.
-I don't see how the plan to take back those cities will go forward, unless Spitfire overwhelmingly supports Parliament and marshals her forces in line. I feel like all almost all of the Equestrian continent is going up in flames now, everyone is too weak from riots, revolution and sabotage to really fight each other.
Oh, are Lyra and Special Agent Sweetie Drops Ok? I wasn't clear on that point.
6168280 Glad you liked the Heatstrings and Bon Bon scene. That's a cool Rock Band video, and yeah that sort of thing is just what I had in mind
For the last song I planned on putting in the story, I wanted it to be as fun and memorable as possible and serve as a bit of comic relief in the middle of a dark chapter.
I think that a republic that's accountable to the people is usually preferable to a monarchy, but would definitely agree with you that the Encampment, and particularly the Equals, have many thugs among their ranks. A republic is a lot more susceptible to the whims of the mobs, and whatever is popular at the time, and popular =! right. We'll have to see what Equestria's elected representatives already in parliament do to try to heal over the divide in their country. They're basically the only prominent national leaders left in Equestria, and will have to organize an interim government and new elections to prevent total anarchy. It might also be a good idea if parliament found a way to replace Twilight and Luna in their day/night cycle job.
Stirrup might intervene in Equestria, they might not, but I think it's rather telling that some of their top politicians came over and kinda almost encouraged the Equestrian people to revolt. Not directly, but in so many words, like Foules with a *wink wink* *nudge nudge* against the monarchy, and then her more outright support for social and economic policies that Twilight Sparkle and Luna wouldn't support themselves. At the very least, I think that we will see more such "encouragement" from Stirrup, and who knows what that will entail.
If the Equestrian parliament fails to re-establish the day/night cycle themselves, the other countries that are stated to have pony citizens, like the Uneighted Kingdom, Prance, and/or Oatstralia might direct their unicorns use magic to restore day and night from within their own countries. Or, they might not, because it's mentioned that they all have pretty strict laws against magic use, and they might not want any teams of unicorns in their country to be magically trained enough to be able to move the sun and moon. Granted, moving the celestial bodies is just a really strong application of telekinesis, a spell that not even the biggest nanny state in the world would ban, out of sheer impracticality as even fillies and colts seem to be able to learn it. However, if those countries outright encouraged their unicorn populations to take up levitation as a civic duty, rather than just begrudgingly allowing them to as a privilege, it might make the unicorns ask why it's not legal to use other, more advanced spells. And if they are encouraged and end up training in levitation enough, that would make it easier for them to learn those advanced spells clandestinely.
The Second Duchy might take up the mantle, as they have plenty of unicorns and liberal magic laws, but given their actions with the moon and Cloudsdale earlier in the story, that might make the rest of the world a tad uncomfortable. The only other option is to have Twilight and Luna keep doing it from the Crystal Empire, but given that they've just been deposed, who knows how that would go over.
Lyra and Special Agent Sweetie Drops did indeed survive.
6169605 I know you are using only canon from seasons 1-3, so I'm not sure how you are deciding on the magical effects of moving the sun and moon, but from the book The Journal of the Two Sisters, it was costly for unicorns to move the sun and moon. Each time they performed the ritual, a portion of their magic was permanently drained away. By rotating the unicorns who did this and having very large numbers, this was kept to a manageable level, but after the Windigos there were not enough unicorns to swap in to counteract the draining, and Starswirl the Bearded himself was drained of all magic. Starswirl had the alicorn sisters raise the sun and moon because according to him, they are immune to the drain, but Celestia and Luna were different from other alicorns, their special talents let them actually gain magic from raising the sun and moon. The sisters used this ability to restore Starswirl and other unicorns' magic, and it is heavily implied that this magic the sisters gain every day is actually the secret of their immortality. Anyway, my point is I doubt most unicorns would actually want to raise the sun and moon if alicorns are available, at the very least it would be exhausting. Canterlot and Stirrup may have their citizens perform this duty if it becomes necessary, but I feel like they would try to get the alicorns to keep doing it if at all possible, and by extension try and make sure the alicorns keep their cutie marks.
That's what surprises me about Stirrup, I would think their highest priority would be keeping the alicorns raising the sun & moon. Even if large groups of unicorns in Equestria or Canterlot happily take on the job, it seems pretty obvious they will try and do something like charge the rest of the world a fee, including Stirrup, rather like Cloudsdale charges for weather services. I suspect Stirrup will regret their encouragement soon.
6170763 The sun itself doesn't drain magic per se in this canon, but it still does require an enormous amount of magical power to move, including from the alicorns. Even Princess Celestia, in TTWU, succumbed to centuries of over-exertion, mostly accrued during the time when it was just her raising both sun and moon without Luna. A millennium of double duty finally did her in, and the re-instatement of Luna in 2010 was too little, too late, akin to somebody quitting a decades-long smoking habit at age 68 but still dying of lung cancer at age 72.
For Stirrup, their opinions might be nuanced. Prance is a full republic that went through their own revolution years ago, so would be more supportive of the idea of removing the princesses from power, even from ceremonial duties. The Uneighted Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy without the monarch personally exercising power, so they might be supportive of the more pragmatic approach of having the monarchs take on a purely ceremonial role including the day/night cycle as was agreed to by Twilight Sparkle and the Encampment initially. The other countries of Stirrup might all have their own takes on the issue as well.
Then, of course, within each of those countries, you might have various political parties or factions that agree or disagree with the Encampment's goals.
Their foreign policy might be seen to make no sense. Maybe that's because it really isn't coherent, and their ideological concerns trump any pragmatic concerns. We can see the same thing in the foreign policy actions taken by real-life Europe and the US. It doesn't seem to be driven by any guiding, coherent principles. Even if they were, these principles seem to be netting little benefit to the countries that espouse them. Some of the foreign policy is even downright self-harming and dangerous. That is to say nothing about the disastrous war and destruction reaped on the targets of this ideology on the fringes of Europe. I could list many examples, but I'm sure you already know many of them
In the same way, the foreign policy of the Stirrup in this story might seem to make no sense or be counter-intuitive. That's because it's meant to be written that way. Ideological concerns about democracy and social welfare take the driver's seat, while concerns about international stability and the day/night cycle take a back seat. In the next chapter, we see how that plays out.
6171022 So to summarize, "if it seems like they're being idiots... it's because they're being idiots."
Also, good to see a bit more detail on Stirrupean countries, thanks for that.
6171465 Sure thing. And yep, that summary is pretty accurate, lol.
While I admire what pound is trying to do I can't help hope pounds dream falls apart maybe from lack of unity. I don't hate him but at the same time I hate his stupidity and blindness to the unstable groups that are with him (for now..that can change quickly). In a dark way I'm hoping that after they start enforcing there new laws and regulations they start to see that there generosity exceeds the ability to pay. I can just see as the Equestrian bit becomes inflated and worthless and the factory's and mines run out of material. All leading to one revolution after another with the new government seeing just how bad there economic situation is leading to there inability to give the people what they want (leading to another revolution). At the very least I would like to see an AU where pound goes to the princesses in the crystal empire to beg for help only to be told "no".
6193703 I wouldn't say that Pound is blind to the extreme groups like the Equals, more that he has tolerated them up to a point because until now, they've had a common enemy. In the prior chapters, he did seem to be concerned about Starlight Glimmer taking cutie marks against ponies' wills. He also doubted that taking cutie marks, even voluntarily, was even a good idea at all. Now that Twilight and Luna are gone, it will be interesting to see how Glimmer and Pound get along, or if they get along. They're both pretty dominating personalities (and so is Rainbow Dash, though to a lesser extent as she seems to have settled down in her later years), so there can easily be some clashing there.
I agree about their generosity exceeding their ability to pay. They'll either have to go into massive debt and end up like a pony version of Greece, or they'll have to tax the rich so much that they flee to Canterlot or the Crystal Empire, or they'll have to print money and devalue their currency into hyperinflation. The financial aspects aren't as emphasized in this story as maybe they should be, since it's primarily about the socio-political aspects (plus a good bit of action to keep it interesting), but in the next chapter, Equestria's growing national debt will become a bigger concern.
That would be ironic if Pound Cake went back to the Princesses and begged for help, but I don't think he would be willing to admit that he needed it.
orig06.deviantart.net/4ad1/f/2015/094/3/9/starlight_glimmer_s_propaganda_by_mysticalpha-d8ntk29.jpg
what she claims, but does not stand by
No, it wasn't. The senators were all kidnapped and there were armed guards outside to make sure they voted the right way. those token nos and twenty abstainers? What do you think is going to happen to them? They're dead.
This is the French Revolution all over again. These rioters have become worse than what they were trying to change. And this behavior of all of them is OOC. Your story has gotten stupid repetitive at this point. It's been going like this for a while: 1. Something bad happens.
2. They riot.
3. The alicorns lose more power by rolling over and agreeing to what can laughably be called compromises, because the last compromise wasn't enough, or didn't work out, so it's 100% the fault of Twilight and Luna. And hey, even if they had the best arguments in the world, the other side wouldn't listen to them anyway. I've seen stronger melting ice sculptures than these two.
4. Something contrived and really bad happens because someone (in this case the equals) decided to do something bad.
5. Pound and/or Pumpkin both become bigger asshats and less relatable.
6. see step two.
You'd better have a rockin' end game here, because it looks like you're making it all up as you go. Which in of itself isn't bad. That's how I do it, but there needs to be a little direction, and I'm not getting that. We don't have any chapters to take a breather. None of this flows naturally, and none of their decisions make any sense. These characters have turned into caricatures.
Oh, and let's discuss the awful scene where Starlight takes Luna's cutie mark. So, we know that Starlight can do that to powerful ponies. She did it to Twilight. But you do have to remember that 1. she led them into a trap and 2. they were on her turf and she pretty much held all of the cards. Here, she had to do a whole number of implausible things to get Luna's mark and escape with it.
1. She had to disguise herself. Okay, that part was easy enough.
2. She had to go up to the heavily guarded palace where she can't use magic except in a little 10X10 place. And she's one of the most wanted mares in the country.
3. She has to know exactly how long Luna is there, how many guards are with her and what they can do. Which is something she can't possibly know.
4. She has to get up to that balcony (again, without magic) without being detected by anyone in the heavily guarded palace. Or just a maid.
5. Then she has to get to the balcony, turn intangible, grab the cutie mark, and get off of the balcony. A few things here she didn't know/didn't make sense.
a. She didn't know if Luna had some kind of anti-intangibility spell, especially considering someone who is constantly at odds with them (Pumpkin) is a master of it.
b. She didn't know that she had enough magic to maintain the spell and rip the cutie mark off of a powerful alicorn.
c. She didn't know that Luna would be stunned like she was. If she wasn't stunned, Luna would have left her as a scorch mark on the ground before her horn lit up halfway.
We know from the show that Starlight is not more powerful than even Twilight, so trying to take a fighting Luna on while maintaining her intangibility spell is laughable. She's not that powerful. Even Pumpkin Cake can only do it for a few minutes at a time, and that's if she's just focusing on the intangibility part. But you're trying to sell it to me that she has the power to turn intangible, rip Luna's mark off, then teleport far away (she'd have to be far, because the guards are going to tear up the whole city for her and probably shoot on sight. Outside the castle and she's caught right away) all in the span of about thirty seconds.
This is especially illogical in a story where you yourself put limitations on the intangibility spell so that it's wielder wouldn't become OP. But that only applies to Pumpkin and not Starlight?
d. She didn't know that the batpony screeches wouldn't render her immobile. Which brings me to another point
i. Why didn't the batpony screeches affect her? Don't say because she was intangible. That's BS. It's a sound-based power, right? As in sound waves? Sure, maybe they can control the direction and volume, but at the end of the day, sound waves are sound waves. If sound waves didn't affect her when she was intangible, then both her and Pumpkin would be deaf when intangible. And heck, probably blind, too. But we know that's not the case. She can still hear things. So that sound spell should have knocked her flat. Also, Luna can be affected by it? You'd think that since she's been their princess for thousands of years, she'd develop something so that their sound blasts didn't affect her for this very reason.
e. She didn't know that she could teleport away. She shouldn't have been able to. That platform is for raising and lowering the sun and moon. Making it so that any potential assassins can't teleport away would be smart, right? But hey, Twilight hasn't been smart once this story. Why start now?
So yes, I leave you with a video clip of how it should have gone:
So yeah, sorry, dude, but I'm filing this in the "really bad moments in the story" folder. Right next to the moon over Cloudsdale.
Yay, I wrote you an essay again! (and of course, no venom intended in any of this) so... your move.