Chapter 1: In Which We Are Introduced

Author's Note:

Yes, the chapter name is a reference.

“And so, ever since we built the Orbital Friendship Station, also known as the OFS, Equestria has been a happy, friendly place,” said the teacher.
“But, Miss Cheerilee,” asked Sweetie Belle, “Why can’t we leave the borders of New Ponyville?”
Cheerilee’s happy smile turned into a frown.
“Now, don’t talk like that, Sweetie Belle,” warned Cheerilee, “You know that only government operatives are allowed to cross the borders of our towns. It is strictly forbidden by order of Empress Luna for citizens to cross the borders.”
“But, Miss Cheerilee-”
“No buts, young mare.”
“Yes, Miss Cheerilee.”

Sometime later, the school bell rang and the class filed out.
“Hey, you wanna hear something cool?” asked Sweetie Belle’s friend, Scootaloo, on the way out.
“So long as it doesn’t involve treason,” said Apple Bloom, another of Sweetie Belle’s friends.
“Well, it goes like this: there’s a rumour that Ex-Empress Celestia didn’t die of natural causes. Empress Luna killed her to become ruler!” said Scootaloo.
“Who told you this?” asked Sweetie Belle in awe.
“Twist,”
“Who told Twist?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Well, Twist told me that Bulk Biceps told her that Mrs Cake told him that Lyra told her that Derpy told her!”
“And what else?” questioned Sweetie Belle.
“I, um, didn’t hear the rest. Twist got hit with the Orbital Friendship Cannon.”
“I hope that that doesn’t happen to you!” said Apple Bloom nervously.
“I hope so too.”
They all looked up, hoping the OFS was on the other side of Equestria and hadn’t heard them.

***

“WARNING! WARNING! HATE DETECTED!” bleeped the monitor in the OFS.
“What kind?” barked the commander, Rainbow Dash, from the command chair. Her robotic eye focused on the info-screen.
“Treason, commander! Rumours about the Empress!” replied one of the ponies manning the station.
“Orbital Friendship Cannon?” asked another.
“Hmm,” pondered Rainbow Dash, “Was this a rebellion or just general rumours?”
“General rumours, commander!” said Rainbow Dash’s lieutenant, Spitfire.
“Well then, we’ll use the Orbital Friendship Cannon!” decided Rainbow Dash.
“HATE DETECTED!” bleeped the monitor again.
“Fire the Orbital Friendship Cannon!” ordered Rainbow Dash.
A beam of pure friendship shot from the tip of the OFS.

***

Sweetie Belle had never seen somepony get hit by the Orbital Friendship Cannon before. It was terrifying, and it was beautiful. Scootaloo was mid-sentence when a rainbow-coloured beam shot from the sky.
“ORBITAL FRIENDSHIP CANNON!” screamed everypony around her and ran.
Only Sweetie Belle stayed, rooted to the spot with terror. The rainbow-coloured beam of pure friendship hit Scootaloo, and faded.
“YAAAY!” cried Scootaloo, joyfully, “Friendship is magic! All praise the wonderful Empress Luna!”
Then she skipped off, happily.
“This is terrible!” said Apple Bloom, rejoining Sweetie Belle.
“S-S-S-Scootaloo... ch-ch-changed...” murmured Sweetie Belle.
“Are you alright, Sweetie Belle?” asked Apple Bloom, concerned.
“N-No.” said Sweetie Belle, simply.
“Yeah, I’m sure we should praise the wonderful Empress Luna,” said Apple Bloom, sarcastically, “All hail the sister-killer! All hail the tyrant! All hail the Great Oppressor!”
A second rainbow beam came from the sky and hit Apple Bloom.
“WAHOO!” shouted Apple Bloom in non-sarcastic happiness, “Empress Luna is the best empress!”
Sweetie Belle was now doubly traumatised, having seen both of her best friends be “friendshipified” by the Orbital Friendship Cannon. She quietly walked home, not even noticing when Derpy almost run her down in her Muffin-Mobile. Or when an Orbital Friendship Cannon beam turned Derpy happy and friendly as a punishment. Sweetie Belle opened the door, ignoring the fact her sister Rarity was not home. Rarity was never home. Not even on Sweetie Belle’s birthday. It might as well have been Sweetie Belle’s house, except it belonged to Rarity.
I wonder what Rarity is doing now, thought Sweetie Belle.

***

Rarity was visiting the OFS up in space to inspect it.
“Is every system operating perfectly?” asked Rarity stiffly.
“Vinyl Scratch!” shouted Rainbow Dash, “You’re the one who does the numbers. Are they?”
“Yes, commander,” replied Vinyl, adjusting her goggles.
“Good,” said Rarity.
“WARNING! WARNING! HATE DETECTED!” bleeped the computer suddenly.
“Is this a system failure?” asked Rarity anxiously.
“Relax!” laughed Rainbow Dash, “It’s just that somepony down on the ground is causing hate, that’s all.”
Then she turned to the ponies manning the station.
“Rumours or rebellion?” she barked.
“A rebellion! It’s a rebellion!” said one of the ponies.
“Well, don’t just stand there, FIRE THE ATOMIC TACTICAL RAINBOOM-NUKE!” shouted Rainbow Dash.
“No!” cried another of the ponies.
Rainbow Dash turned, very slowly.
“What did you just say to me?” she asked, threateningly.
“That’s my daughter you’re about to kill!” whimpered the pony.
“Do I look like I care?” growled Rainbow Dash
She advanced on the other pony, who cowered back.
“Do you know how I got this robotic eye?” asked Rainbow Dash slowly.
The other pony shook her head almost imperceptibly.
“Back when I was a lieutenant I used to trust everypony. That was until Empress Luna called me and Lieutenant Fluttershy in for a promotion. Then she told us that only one of us could get it. We had to fight to the death to get it. I was sure Fluttershy wouldn’t do it. Then she vaporised my eye with her electro-stare and tried to kill me. I ripped her apart for that. She was my best friend before then. SO DO YOU THINK I GIVE A DAMN ABOUT YOUR DAUGHTER?!” she roared.
“And,” she continued, “YOU are going to push. The. Button!”
“No!” sobbed the pony, “I won’t do it!”
“Well then...” said Rainbow Dash, turning away.
She spun around, hitting the other pony in the chest. The other pony flew through the air and crashed into the bulkhead. She crumpled to the floor.
“Throw her out of the airlock,” said Rainbow Dash. Then she pushed the button to fire the Atomic Tactical Rainboom Nuke.
Even Rarity, who was in charge of executing rebels, was shocked.

***

Sweetie Belle woke suddenly from a deep sleep. She looked around, confused. Then she looked out of the window and saw the rainbow-coloured mushroom cloud against the black night. Satisfied with a reason, and no longer really caring about whoever had just gotten killed, she turned over and slowly drifted back to sleep.

She dreamed.
She dreamed of light.
And she dreamed of dark.
There was a bird.
She could see a hunter, hidden in the trees with an old-fashioned shotgun.
The bird was sitting on a branch.
The hunter looked through the sights.
Sweetie Belle wanted to call out to the bird, to warn it, but she could do nothing but watch, and it wouldn’t have understood her anyway.
The hunter took aim.
The bird sung.
BANG!
The bird flopped off the branch, a stain of crimson flowing from its head.
Sweetie Belle felt like crying.
Then the hunter aimed at her.
The hunter pulled the trigger.
Then the dream changed. Now she was at the execution of that big rebellion a year ago. The one her sister had performed. She had seen it on television, but in the dream she was there.
“Rebels, by order of Empress Luna, you are to die for your treason!” said Rarity.
“You’ll never crush us!” shouted a rebel.
“Yeah!” said another rebel named Sunspot, “Luna is a sick twisted old mare!”
Sweetie Belle had known Sunspot personally. She had liked him, he told jokes.
Rarity walked over to Sunspot. She grabbed his chin.
“That’s Empress Luna, rebel!” Rarity hissed.
Then she walked back over to the firing squad.
“FIRE!” she ordered.
The dream changed again. Now it was the day that Empress Celestia had died ‘of natural causes’. The same day her sister had been appointed Chief Executioner.
“I am terribly upset by this tragedy,” Empress Luna said on the television, “But I will try my best to keep order as your new empress.”
That was also the same day that the subservient git Twilight Sparkle had been made Advisor to Luna; the same day that Pinkie Pie, New Ponyville’s old baker, had been sentenced to execution after being exposed as a psychopath who murdered ponies in her basement; the same day Applejack the farmer had ripped out the throats of her family (minus Apple Bloom) as a loyalty test to Empress Luna and been appointed head of the Special Forces Ponies as a reward; the same day the kill-happy Rainbow Dash had gotten the promotion to Commander of the OFS after tearing apart Lieutenant Fluttershy; the same day General Mi Amore Cadenza had mysteriously disappeared; and the same day things had generally gone screwy.
Just as Empress Luna was making the announcement that contact between towns was now forbidden, the dream changed.
Sweetie Belle saw Celestia and Luna, not wearing their robes. Around them, she could see a strange version of Equestria. There seemed to be no technology, and everypony was... happy. Sweetie Belle supposed this was before technology was discovered, and Celestia and Luna were “princesses”.
Suddenly a fire broke out. She could see the silhouette of Empress Luna. The two princesses cowered in fear, as the Empress burned their homeland to dust.

Sweetie Belle woke, shivering and drenched in a cold sweat.
“Is this another dream?” she asked nervously, to the darkness around her.
“No,” said a voice.
Sweetie Belle almost jumped a mile with fright. She fumbled for the light switch. Her sister stood there, dressed in undercover-style clothes.
“Hi, little sister,” said Rarity.
“What are you doing here?” asked Sweetie Belle cautiously.
“I came to spend some quality time with my, um, sis!” smiled Rarity.
“No you didn’t,” said Sweetie Belle.
“No I didn’t,” confessed Rarity, no longer smiling.
“Well why did you come here?”
“I came to warn you.”
“Warn me what?”
“Look, I know you think I am a complete scumbag who kills ponies.”
Sweetie Belle nodded vigorously.
“Yeah, well, do you have any idea what Empress Luna would do to me if I didn’t do all that?” asked Rarity.
Sweetie Belle shook her head.
“They’re the kind of things that make that psycho Pinkie Pie and her hacksaw look like a fluffy bunny rabbit. Anyway,” – Rarity looked around nervously – “Even though you have a perfectly good reason to hate the Empress, your dream tonight technically count as treason.”
“The OFS monitored my dreams?!” gasped Sweetie Belle.
“Yeah, and I know because I was up there,” said Rarity, “They can’t call an Atomic Tactical Rainboom Nuke this close to the center of town, so they’ve dispatched some Special Forces Ponies to take you down.”
“What do I do?!”
“Leave! Now! Before-”
Suddenly there was a loud bang and Rarity fell to the floor with a scream, a hole in her foreleg.
“Rarity, you traitor,” said Applejack, her robotic jaw fizzling as she spoke.
Sweetie Belle screamed and tried to run, but was stopped by three suit-wearing Special Forces Ponies.
“Nuh-uh, li’l Sweetie Belle,” drawled Applejack, “You ain’t goin’ nowhere! And, as for your sis’, well, you have learnt politics in school, right? You do know what the Empress does to traitors?”
Whilst Applejack had been talking, Rarity had accustomed to the pain. Now she raised her hind leg and kicked Applejack hard in the chest.
“Ouch!” cried Applejack and reeled back, giving Rarity enough time to grab Sweetie Belle and throw her through the gap.
“Rarity!” wailed Sweetie Belle.
“Go! Go!” shouted Rarity as Applejack got to her hooves.
Applejack made a grab at Sweetie Belle but she had already taken off.
“Leave her!” Applejack said to the Special Forces Ponies who were leaving through the door, “Miss Executioner here is the main threat.”
Rarity put her hooves together in prayer.
“Oh great Star Swirl the Bearded, forgive me of my sins,” she began.
The Special Forces Ponies loomed around her.

***

“Forgive me, Empress Luna, but I bring bad news,” said Applejack nervously, limping in to the throne room.
“The Empress is busy, Applejack,” snorted Twilight Sparkle, the Empress’ personal advisor, her robotic horn crackling.
“But this is important!”
“Everything’s important to you. ‘Oh no, one pony has been rebelling! We’re all going to die!’ ‘Oh help, one of our minor assistants is calling the Empress names! We’re all doomed!’ Please.”
Applejack went red in the face.
“It’s about the Chief Executioner and her sister!” she burst out.
Twilight turned a steely gaze.
“I could have you executed for speaking out of turn, Applejack. You wouldn’t like that,” she said menacingly.
“With all due respect, Twilight,” said Applejack, “There will be no executions until we find a replacement Chief Executioner!”
Now Empress Luna was paying attention.
“A replacement, you say?” she purred.
“Yes, Empress.”
“Why?”
“Rarity- the old Chief-”
“I know who the old Chief Executioner is!”
“Yes, well, Rarity turned traitor when she warned her sister I was comin’ to get her.”
Luna paused.
“Sisterly love...” she mused, “I never had it. Go on, go on.”
“Anyway, Sweetie Belle escaped.”
“Sweetie Belle escaped?!”
“Yes, and we were forced to kill Rarity.”
“You let Sweetie Belle escape?!”
“I couldn’t help it!”
Luna got off her throne and stalked towards Applejack.
“I put a lot of trust in you, Applejack,” she said ominously. “So I expect you to do what you are ordered to do. Your mission priority was Sweetie Belle. And you. Failed. Your. Mission!” she roared.
Applejack cowered back. Behind the Empress, Twilight looked vaguely amused.
“And you know the price of failure,” Luna continued.
She struck Applejack with the back of her hoof and Applejack crumpled to the floor. Twilight was laughing now.
“But you are a valuable asset. Get back up and keep searching for Sweetie Belle. And don’t act like that; you had your jaw kicked off by your big brother. One punch will not kill you. Tell Rainbow Dash, too,” she said, walking back to her throne.
Applejack got up, groggily, and left, the laughter of Twilight ringing in her ears.

***

Sweetie Belle ran. She did not know where. Only that it was terrifying. She continued to run, not stopping lest the Orbital Friendship Cannon hit her. Eventually she reached the boundary wall of New Ponyville and came to a halt. She banged on the wall to no avail. Behind her she could see some Special Forces Ponies.
“Help me!” cried Sweetie Belle, “Somepony help me!”
Suddenly a hatch opened in the wall and a blue foreleg shot out. It was followed by the rest of the pony, a stallion with a white beard and a wizard’s hat and cape on.
“Halt!” shouted one of the Special Forces Ponies, “You there! Blue stallion and white filly!”
The blue stallion ignored the SFP, and threw several small metal things at them.
“Sonic grenades!” shouted one of the SFPs.
“Move!” shouted another.
The grenades went off with a huge bang that left Sweetie Belle’s ears hurting. It seemed to have momentarily deafened the SFPs, who were clutching their ears in pain.
Sweetie Belle stood there for a second, not knowing what to do.
Then the stallion turned to her. His hat had been blown off in the explosion, to reveal a unicorn horn.
“Come with me if you want to live,” said the stallion.
Sweetie Belle took his outstretched hoof and he pulled her through the hole in the boundary wall.
The SFPs were coming to their senses.
“Stop them!” one shouted.
But Sweetie Belle and the stallion were gone.
“The Empress isn’t going to like this,” said an SFP nervously.

“You know, um, kid, you were very lucky that you ran to the barrier on the edge of Equestria,” said the stallion, “The SFPs can’t follow us without orders directly from the Empress.
They were on the other side of the wall, and were going through a sort of tunnel.
“But, who are you?” asked Sweetie Belle, confused.
The stallion paused.
“My name is Star Swirl the Bearded,” he said.

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