Hoofed by Your Own Petard

by Tortfeasor

You do Assist the Storm

Hoofed by Your Own Petard

Disclaimer: Consider this story disclaimed!

Chapter Three: You do Assist the Storm

Level one of the undercity was nearly as spectacular as the surface. Since no noble would ever sell to a commoner no matter how high the offer the wealthy commoners had retaliated by building large and opulent dwellings immediately below the surface. Four, even five story houses built solely to snub the nobles on the surface who would only ever sell to one another. In Twilight Sparkle’s wildest dreams she had a condominium or house on level one of the undercity. Realistically, if she got the job at the royal library she could get an apartment on level five. She could dream of an apartment on level four but a life of disappointments had taught Twilight never to get her hopes up about anything.

That was a lesson she was finding very difficult to remember after what had happened in the interview. On just her answers alone she didn’t think she’d make it in. She had been caught very much off guard and without reference guides she was shooting from the flank, hardly her strong suit. But Rarity, Twilight still couldn’t quite believe she’d met the mare in person, had almost seemed to take pity on her for the circumstances of their meeting. Part of Twilight wished it had never happened so she could say she had gotten the job or failed to get it solely on her own talents. But another, much larger, part insisted that Twilight not pass up any opportunity to escape from Touchy Hooves.

Levels two and three were normally almost like a visit to level one. Though not out and out wealthy the ponies who lived there were prosperous and knew it. Today though Twilight’s trip through levels two and three was almost deathly silent. The moon was still up Twilight noted as she passed down from level one to level two and the surface was lost to view. Normally she approved of Celestia’s attempts to reach out to all parts and levels of Equestria, but giving the Summer Sun Celebration to Ponyville was hopeless idealism. With a chuckle she hoped the sun would be up by the next time she made it up to the surface again in a few weeks.

“What in Equestria is going on?” Twilight asked nopony as she descended to level four.

The ponies of level four might not have been particularly wealthy but they were still well within the middle class. Normally level four hummed with the activity of commerce and day to day life. Today though Twilight saw ponies scurrying towards level three nervously. Many with saddlebags and not a few pulling carts towards the cargo ramps that serviced the undercity.

“Excuse me,” Twilight stopped at the door of a shop.

“Go away you foal!” Twilight was cut off by the door slamming shut before she could continue any further. From behind the door she could hear the sound of a hammer and nails. Why was the shopkeeper boarding up her shop?

Pushing her way against the building flow of ponies Twilight slowly made her way towards level five. Occasionally she would try to listen in to the conversations of ponies around her. Nopony truly seemed to know what was going on but they all seemed to agree that something bad had happened on the lowest levels of the undercity. Some ponies seemed convinced there was an uprising underway but Twilight doubted that. Ponies had been talking about the poorest ponies rising up for years, like legends about humans Twilight would believe it when she saw it.

Level five made her start thinking that maybe something really had gone wrong on the lowest levels of the undercity. If level four was nervous then level five was in out and out panic. Ponies were running about and Twilight could swear that she heard sounds of what could only be fighting and violence from the stairs ahead down to the level of the undercity she called home. What in Equestria could have set the lowest levels into riots? It couldn’t be anything with the Summer Sun Celebration; even Twilight only made it up to the surface every few weeks. The ponies of the lowest three levels saw the sun so rarely in their lives they could probably count the times on their hooves.

As much as she loved figuring things out Twilight forced all thoughts of ‘why’ from her head as she made it to level six. She was just a simple college student; fixing this problem would concern her only as far as it let her get back to school and work. Besides, pausing to think over questions of life was not a wise decision in the middle of a war zone.

A war zone was the only description that came to Twilight’s mind when she saw her home. The ponies of level six may have lived on top of a sometimes thin line separating them from the lower classes of level seven and below but compared to the lowest three levels they lived a good life indeed. Twilight didn’t know what had happened to the residents of the levels below her but these ponies seemed determined to pillage and raid their way as high as they could go. Given the reactions she’d seen as she descended through the undercity plenty of ponies seemed to think this could go on for awhile.

Over and over as she snuck through the darkest shadows towards her apartment Twilight heard a cry that touched unpleasant memories just on the edge of being pieced together. ‘Nightmare Moon’ seemed to be the refrain of all the dirty, smelly, and generally angry ponies taking their vengeance on those literally and figuratively above them.

The door to her apartment building hung limply on its hinges. That was definitely a bad sign, but still far better than the buildings already burning or worse yet reduced to charred skeletons. It was even more definitely a bad sign seeing all the doors on the first floor hanging open. Most if not all with signs of being forced open. Clearly the rioters had been here and Twilight could only hope they had been here and gone. Twilight’s apartment was about halfway down the hall of the second floor. Her door had been forced open but so had the doors beyond.

Despite her fear Twilight crept into her apartment utterly silent. Since taking on the job at Touchy Hooves she’d worked late hours and had to deal with getting into her apartment without waking up her roommates. One research binge at the college library later and Twilight had discovered a spell to mute the sounds she made. Covering more ponies would take more magic than she could muster but for just herself even her meager abilities sufficed.

“Well what have we here?” Twilight had always imagined that if she met another blank flank they would bond over their mutual lack of cutie marks. The reality was proving disappointing to say the least.

The smells, the unkempt mane, the scars, none of those were particularly off putting. Twilight herself tended to neglect her mane if she didn’t have to work that night. But even before she saw her roommates’ unmoving bodies in the bedroom they shared the pony’s eyes and smile set off every alarm and self preservation instinct Twilight possessed.

“You’re a pretty one aren’t you; we can have some fun if you want.” Twilight knew she didn’t have a chance of winning a fight with her hooves. But as scared as she was it was all she could do to make her horn take on a dim magenta glow.

“Now don’t be like that, your friends didn’t wanna have fun so I had to show them how we deal with ponies like that on level twelve.”

Twilight Sparkle never believed she would have the magic to blast a pony through the wall of her apartment. Even after the intruding pony brushed her with one of his hooves and she did indeed blast him through the wall of her apartment she couldn’t quite believe it. Stumbling to the impromptu window she’d made Twilight gasped at what she’d done. She’d very nearly sent the pony through the wall of the apartment across the alley and surely nopony could live with their neck at that angle.

“I… I didn’t mean… I just wanted him to go away…” Twilight had killed somepony. Yes he said he’d killed her roommates, yes he’d wanted to do horrible things to her, and he’d probably done many bad things in the past but that didn’t change what she’d done.

Then her head exploded, or at least it seemed like it as the worst headache Twilight had ever had came crashing down on her. Her horn felt like it was burning and she was sure the pressure was going to break the poor thing. She reached a hoof up to her nose as she felt something warm running from it; her lavender fur came away stained red. Recognizing what came next didn’t make Twilight’s collapse particularly easier. As blackness closed in on her she noticed small sparks seemed to be coming from her horn.

“That’s new,” was all she managed before blissful unconsciousness took her.

If Twilight dreamed while she was out she didn’t remember anything when she woke. She didn’t know exactly how long it had taken her to get back from the library but a glance at the clock still thankfully on her small desk made her think she’d been out somewhere between two and three hours.

Stumbling to her hooves Twilight summoned her saddle bags to her, or at least she tried to. The surge of pain through her horn when she tried to tap into her magic nearly made her black out again. Worried that she’d injured her magic further Twilight made herself go grab her saddlebags with her mouth. She couldn’t tell whether she’d done anything to her magic in this place and even if she could she couldn’t treat herself. A blanket, a wilderness guide she’d checked out from the library dreaming she could go to Ponyville, and some canned food was all she needed to grab.

Fastening her saddlebags without magic was a bit of an adventure but in a few short minutes Twilight was ready to flee. With any luck the violence had moved on from level six and she’d be able to make her way out of Canterlot without interruption. Before leaving though she stopped to drape a blanket over her roommate’s bodies. She might not have known them very well but they weren’t bad ponies by any stretch and they’d deserved better.

“Okay,” Twilight indulged talking to herself just to hear anypony speak, “I know there’s a way out of the city down through level twelve but I’ve never been down there and that could get really dangerous in a hurry. I also know there’s a few ways out on the surface and I’ve been there but that could get really dangerous in a hurry.”

Up or down? Down or up? On the one hoof there might not be many ponies on the lower level and if that one pony was any indication she might blend in as a blank flank. But on the other it was just as far to go up and if there were going to be any places left in the city where it was still safe they would be in that direction. Up, surely Princess Celestia would return from Ponyville to put an end to this and she would start from the surface.

It was much more difficult making her way up to the surface than it had been down. For one the lower level ponies seemed intent on not just raiding and pillaging but actually holding the levels of the city they had taken. Barricades blocked access to much of the undercity and hastily organized roving gangs kept the remaining locals cowed.

Not that the flag they were flying, as much as a flag could fly underground, helped. Pitch black but for a white circle, representing the moon Twilight figured, with what appeared to be the Mare in the Moon. Maybe that was supposed to be the Nightmare Moon they’d been shouting about on her way down?

At last Twilight reached the surface, and what little hope she had died. The moon still hung high in the sky. Something had gone beyond grievously wrong with the Summer Sun Celebration. More than that the castle was ablaze, and it looked to have been going on for awhile. If nopony could care for the royal castle itself then what was going on was very serious indeed.

Kicking herself mentally for once again philosophizing in a war zone Twilight set off away from the main entrance to the city. It was far too obvious a choice for fleeing ponies and no doubt the ponies behind the revolution would be watching it closely. She knew of some caves at the back of the city however that led to a small path down the mountain. A much more laborious journey but what was important was that she made it out alive.

“Not feeling so high and mighty right about now are you?” Twilight heard a familiar voice, “That will teach you to mess with the Nightmare Children. Not that you’ll live long enough to put the lesson to use.”

“Shady!” Twilight burst around the corner happy to at last see a friendly face on this crazy day, or was it night? Twilight’s happiness withered as she stopped and looked at what was happening.

“What’s going on?” Shady had donned robes the same black as those flags and was surrounded by several other tough looking ponies. In the middle of all of them, looking somewhat the worse for wear, was Rarity, the pony Twilight had unfortunately quite literally run into earlier at the library.

“Twilight!” Shady seemed disturbingly happy for such a situation, “I’m so glad you made it out of all this alive! I wanted to tell you about Nightmare Moon, I really did, but I couldn’t convince the others you were trustworthy. They barely took me in at first and I lived down on level eight.”

“What are you talking about Shady?” Twilight really, really wished she could use her magic right about now. “Why are you dressed like that? What are all these ponies doing? And what are you doing to Rarity?”

“Celestia’s rule is over, Twilight.” Shady’s smile was definitely creeping Twilight out, “Nightmare Moon has escaped her prison and brought about nighttime eternal. Now all the ponies like Rarity who lived high up under the sun and on our backs are going to pay for everything they’ve done to us. Join us Twilight, you’ve had to push harder than any of us to get ahead and it’s just sheer luck that you had a chance to get out of the undercity.”

Twilight couldn’t believe her friend was some sort of crazy cultist. Well maybe not a crazy cultist since they appeared to be doing a good job of taking over Canterlot but still. Even so it never crossed Twilight’s mind to accept Shady’s offer. There would be Tartarus to pay for these ‘Nightmare Children’ when Celestia returned. But at the same time she couldn’t figure a way out of this without far more magic than she’d ever had.

The decision was taken out of Twilight’s hooves as Shady and the other ponies with her took on a blue glow and shot several stories into the sky before abruptly reversing course. None of them being pegasi the results were predictable if grim.

“That was certainly unpleasant,” Rarity walked towards Twilight with her horn glowing brighter than Twilight could ever imagine her own horn managing, “I detest violence but I refuse to die here. I remember you and you look quite harmless, but they looked harmless enough to catch me by surprise. So should I thank you for distracting them or finish the job?”

Twilight wanted to protest her innocence but her mouth had dried so much she couldn’t get a word out of her mouth. Her eyes though apparently spoke her terror well enough as Rarity let her horn cease glowing.

“Come along,” Rarity whirled about to start walking the way Twilight had been headed, “I haven’t a clue what’s going on here but somepony certainly saw you with me. These ‘Nightmare Children’ seem to have it out for me and you’re guilty by association after this.”

Still futilely working her jaw Twilight scrambled to her hooves and began following the other unicorn towards the city exit.
Rarity appeared to know where the caves out of Canterlot were located as she kept a quick pace towards the mountain pausing only to avoid roving gangs of ponies with those black flags. Twilight was beginning to think that maybe she couldn’t have found the caves in this maze of shops and mansions. Knowing which area of the city they were in was one thing but the surface could be as much of a maze as the undercity ever was.

“Well, well, why am I not surprised to see you here?”

“Trixie,” Rarity turned to face a blue unicorn with a white mane waiting in the shadows near the cave entrance, “your being here isn’t terribly surprising either. Shall we play twenty questions or will you come right out and say what your part in all this was?”

“So nice to see your brains haven’t been rattled around by all this. Yes Trixie is responsible for all this. Celestia never appreciated me as her student. She never realized how it made me better than other ponies, put me above them. So when I learned about Nightmare Moon and her return I sought out her followers and agreed to help them overthrow Celestia. I told them when Nightmare Moon would return and how to overcome the police and guards. In exchange, Trixie stands below only the queen of Equestria and everypony is going to know it and act like it!”

“Oh kill me now!” Rarity sighed, “I mean it. If I have to live in a world where you’re in charge of things then I choose death. Twilight do be a dear and find my sister to tell her about this.”

“Sorry, Trixie is not that kind.” Trixie laughed. “I want you to fight me with everything you have. You’re all Celestia has left and I want to beat you totally. Everypony will see it and they’ll have no choice but to finally admit that Trixie truly is the greatest pony to ever walk Equestria!”

For the third time that day Twilight watched as what she was sure was certain death left her alone. She was at that point ready to simply accept it as something out there not being finished laughing at her expense.

“Why that little…” Rarity on the other hand seemed to be reacting with barely contained fury.

“Um, what do we do now?” Twilight decided to interrupt the other unicorn before she could go storming off to get them both killed.

“Ponyville,” Rarity calmed herself with a visible effort, “my little sister was there for the Summer Sun Celebration and I’d like to make sure she’s come out of all this unharmed. After that we need to start looking for a way to bring back Celestia. Like I said I never knew anything about this so I haven’t even the faintest clue of where to start.”

“A library,” Twilight muttered as they started into the caves out of Canterlot, “Trixie said she knew Nightmare Moon was coming. It must have been written down somewhere and that book might have clues of how Celestia defeated her in the first place. It’s all I can think of right now.”

“It’s more than we had to go on a minute ago.”

--

Rainbow Dash loved and hated her custom made saddlebags at the same time. She loved them because being set further back than normal saddlebags meant they covered her blank flank. She hated them because setting that weight so far back made her inherently unbalanced when she flew.

“I don’t get it,” Rainbow Dash tugged a few last straps tight, “why in Equestria do we need to bring all this food? It’s just Canterlot I mean Fluttershy and I could go, get either of these ponies you wanna talk to and be back in a day.”

“If only it were that simple.” Applejack had ditched the curled mane and tail for tying them at the ends with simple red hair ties. The appearance was distinctly at odds with her cultured Manehatten tones. “There’s no guarantee that Trixie or Rarity are still in Canterlot. If we wind up walking all the way to Baltimare we’ll want to put off buying food as long as we possibly can.”

“I’m not exactly rolling in bits,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, “but I’m pretty sure that even if we have to chase them to Baltimare or wherever all the markets aren’t going to magically disappear or anything.”

“Um I don’t know about that,” Fluttershy spoke softly as ever, “it’s been almost a day and the moon hasn’t moved. If Nightmare Moon doesn’t bring the sun back up how are ponies going to grow food?”

“It’s worse than that,” Applejack went on, “even if they don’t know exactly what’s happened ponies are going to know something has gone dreadfully wrong. They’re going to start hoarding supplies, especially food, if they don’t know when or if they’ll be able to grow more.”

“Well, okay,” Rainbow Dash sulked, “but we’re all packed and if Pinkie Pie ever shows up we can get going already.”
“Right here sillies!” Pinkie Pie hopped into the room, saddlebags already packed, “I’ve been waiting for you for like forever. Now let’s go save Equestria so we can have an awesome party to celebrate!”

She hadn’t even known the pink pony for a day but Rainbow Dash had already learned that the wisest course around Pinkie Pie was to just go along with her and not ask questions. Down that route lay a dark, dark place it was scary to even think about.

Applejack had suggested they simply take the road from Ponyville to Canterlot. Rainbow Dash was the type of pony to argue with authority for the sake of arguing but not in front of Fluttershy. Applejack said her heartfelt farewells to Granny Smith and Big Macintosh. The other three politely thanked them for taking them in without question on such short notice.

“Applejack! Applejack!” Two fillies came running up to them from Ponyville at met them at the gates of Sweet Apple Acres. “We found something!”

“What is it sugarcube?” Applejack’s ability to switch seamlessly between a drawl and Manehatten was impressive, but Rainbow Dash would never admit it.

“There are pictures of you and my sister up all over Ponyville,” a white unicorn filly with a pink and purple mane, her name escaped Rainbow Dash, held up some papers to Pinkie Pie.

“Hmmmm,” Pinkie Pie took the posters, “that’s not good. Looks like Queen Meanie doesn’t like us very much.”

“Let me see those,” Applejack seemed to stick to the drawl around her family, “sedition, rebellion, treason. If I cared a lick about Nightmare Moon I’d say we were gonna be in serious trouble just standing next to you Pinkie Pie. But I don’t really care about her, so there.”

“Oh yeah!” Applejack’s sister piped up, “there was one more. Any of you recognize her?”

The four of them crowded around a picture of a lavender unicorn with a dark blue mane with pink stripes. Rainbow Dash noted more than anything that the spot for her cutie mark on the wanted poster was blank. All of them quickly concluded that they had never seen this mare in her life.

“If we find her I say we let her tag along,” Rainbow Dash said, “anypony Nightmare Moon doesn’t like is okay in my book.”

“I’m okay with that,” Applejack crumpled the posters into a little ball and tossed them onto the ground, “but first we’ve gotta find another way to get to Canterlot. The road isn’t gonna work if half the guards are looking for us.”

“Um the Everfree Forest isn’t a place many ponies go.” Fluttershy was again barely speaking loud enough to be heard. “But that’s because there’s lots of dangerous creatures. So it’s a bad idea, just forget I said anything.”

“No can do!” Pinkie Pie shouted, “We’ll be in Canterlot before any of those creepy crawly thingies in the forest know we were even there!”

Applejack hugged her sister goodbye and after sending the two fillies back towards the farm they turned off the road and headed into the darkness that was the Everfree Forest.

Comments

[i_am_the_jam]

You seem to jump a little in the action.

And where did the posters come from?

[Tortfeasor]

>>i_am_the_jam: Not quite sure where the jumps are. Parts of it are supposed to be a bit jerky since Twilight Sparkle has no clue what's going on and is getting large parts of this dumped on her. And like I said I originally drafted Twilight sneaking into and out of her apartment. It was repetitive, kind of boring, and didn't add much to the story so it died a horrible death at the hands of the delete button.

You've caught me in kind of a bind with the posters question. I do plan to bring that sort of topic up next chapter and answer it but now it kind of sounds like I forgot it this chapter. And I can't prove it definitively without sending you my whole outline and spoiling the whole story. So I'll give you half of the answer that cropped up this chapter. Nightmare Moon already has lots of adherents among the lowest classes of pony society. They're uneducated in large not stupid. So she can get her followers to step into lots of roles as needed. There's another half of the answer but it would spoil part of next chapter so you'll have to wait for that.