-1010-

by -Hidden Identity-

It's All For the Best.

Twilight crept into the library. It was very late, and Spike was sure to be asleep. It would be best if she didn’t wake him, as there was plenty of study and work to be done, and the less Spike knew of this would be better for him. He was trustworthy and completely loyal, yes, but this was something new…something powerful. After all, this thing scares Celestia, and if the stories about what it can do were real, then it was best for everypony if it was kept in secrecy; for the moment, at least. Twilight moved upstairs and silently past the sleeping dragon and over to her private study on the upper floor. She did not use her private study excessively, as she really didn’t have a lot that needed to be kept secret from her friends. Even then, it wasn’t that the things she was dealing with were necessarily dangerous; it was just that occasionally Princess Celestia sent her notes or materials that were not for everypony to see.

Her study was small, but fit for working. There were a couple of bookshelves, crammed full of every type of book and essay. There was a desk, a few quills and inkwells, plenty of blank paper, and other basic objects that one would expect to find within a study. Twilight stepped in and closed the door behind her, locking it as she did. She levitated the 1010 scroll out of her saddlebag and onto the desk. It did nothing, but she remembered her experience in the House of Four Doors, how everything had simply dropped away until there was only her and the scroll. She could not quite place it, but she felt that the scroll was…watching her? Waiting for her to try and use it? Toying with her? It was an odd feeling, and one that Twilight could not place currently; there were still too many questions that needed answering.

Twilight checked the time, it was about fifteen minutes past midnight, so there wouldn’t be any tests of the scroll’s power until later on that day, and even then she needed something good to test it on. The fact that the balance had to be reset after the scroll was used was firmly implanted in her mind, so it was vital that she test it on something that would be easy to balance, with minor negative effects. But, there was no time to think of that right now, right now was the time to study and see what she could do with this thing until it was ten after ten. Celestia had taken the instruction scroll from her, but Twilight was a good student, and knew the value of taking notes and copying down important information. She had made no less than five copies of the instruction scroll, just in case. She unrolled the 1010 scroll and pinned the corners down. It was just as she had seen in the House of Four Doors, there was nothing on the scroll except for “1010”, written in dark ink, smack center of the scroll. Twilight stared at the scroll and the scroll stared back. Silence took the room as Twilight tried to decide what to do next. See what happens when it is activated and it isn’t time? Put it aside and see what the instruction scroll had in store for her to study? Twilight stared at the scroll and the scroll stared back.

“This can’t be all,” Twilight muttered to herself as she peered down at the letters. “Perhaps there’s something hidden?”

She summoned up her magic, a simple spell to reveal hidden text or writing. Immediately the scroll responded, the edges began to shine a pale crimson, it was very weak, but the reaction was immediate. Twilight smiled and moved her glowing horn closer to the scroll. The crimson light flared into intense red flames of magic that encased the scroll, blocking her out and hissing as a fire would. Twilight dropped the spell and backed away in one clean movement; the fire subsided. Keeping her eyes locked on the scroll, she summoned up her magic once again and levitated a quill from her desk, dipped it into an open inkwell, and waited. The scroll did not respond. She lowered the quill to the surface of the scroll and waited. The scroll did nothing. Twilight drew breath and, in painstaking slowness, drew a single line above the letters, and then proceeded to take the quill away. The line held, and then faded away, as if the paper claimed the ink for its own.

The results were interesting, no doubt, but useless currently. Well, perhaps ‘useless’ was incorrect. They demonstrated that the scroll certainly had power, and did not like to be tampered with. Twilight wrote down her finding and rolled the 1010 scroll back up and placed it at the top of the desk. She levitated the instruction scroll over to her and unraveled it. Once again she brought the revealing spell to bear, but it gave nothing back. The instruction scroll seemed to be clean, and relatively harmless, save for the fact that it was information, and information could be just as deadly as any tangible weapon. Twilight began to read the scroll once again. She had read it multiple times while the original was in her possession previously, but she there was always the feeling that she was missing something. Her first questions that she had asked herself when the instruction scroll had first come into her possession was who were Clockwork Chromatic and Silas Endeavour. Celestia had answered that question for her, but what Celestia had left out her books filled in. Clockwork had been a member of the royal guard before becoming an archivist, and had to quit because he had been injured quite severely by a rouge magic lightning bolt that had been cast during a training routine. Silas had been a mercenary for different groups of ponies in both Equestria and its neighbor. While he had never done anything too drastic, he was captured on the charge of treason, but Celestia had struck a deal that if he became an archivist, then he would be spared from having to go to prison.

Hour after hour, Twilight poured over the two scrolls, not daring to activate her magic too close to the 1010 scroll after the last reaction, and finding nothing special on the instruction scroll. She yawned and exited the study. Spike was already up, as his bed was vacant, and the sun was over the horizon. Twilight’s sleep-deprived eyes looked over at the clock; it was a little past seven, which gave her time to find something to test the spell on; and perhaps something to eat.

“Good morning Twilight,” Spike called out cheerfully as Twilight descended the stairs to the main floor.

“Hmm? Oh, good morning Spike.” Twilight shook her head in an attempt to remove the tiredness from her eyes.

“So, what did you find out about the odd scroll that we managed to bring home?”

The purple unicorn hesitated. She did not want to lie to Spike; after all, he was her number one assistant. But, she reminded herself, it was in order to keep him safe from potentially dangerous knowledge. Besides, it did not concern Spike. If he needed to know, then she would tell him; but until then it was to be kept a secret.

“Oh, it wasn’t anything important. Just an old spell that was used to…teach ponies different types of spells, and in this case it was spells that required multiple steps to perform.”

“Oh, ok.”

Suddenly, Spike belched out a small burst of green flame, out of which came a newspaper.

“What’s that?” Twilight asked, pointing a hoof over at the rolled up newsprint.

“It’s Manehattan’s newspaper. I decided to have it sent to us every morning so we could see what news there is all over Equestria. After all, Manehattan is the biggest and most cosmopolitan city in Equestria; and that means if there is news they are the first to know.”

“Good idea, Spike. So, is there anything interesting today?”

Spike began to flip through the pages, skimming the headlines and the matching pictures. He merely shook his head.

“Nothing good?”

“It’s just that there seems to be a lot of unruliness in Equestria since the Changeling attack. Crops are going bad, the economy is steadily getting worse, there’s a drought since Cloudsdale hasn’t received sufficient water to supply the rest of Equestria, and there’s even been those who are vocally doubting the Princess.”

“What? Why?” Twilight ran over to look at the newspaper with Spike.

“Well, Celestia didn’t see that Cadence was an imposter, and once the disguise was dropped, she tried to fight Chrysalis off, but lost. So, there are ponies all over Equestria who are saying that Celestia is loosing her touch, so to speak, and that she should be replaced.”

Twilight was shocked. “That’s ridiculous! Everypony makes mistakes! We should be forgiving and understanding when somepony makes a mistake, or falls short, just as we would want.”

“I agree with you,” Spike replied, looking back at the newspaper, “but, you have to admit, her mistake just about caused Canterlot to fall. It’s not something that you can just forget.”

“They will forget though, everything slips away into time in the end.” Twilight sighed and glanced up at the clock. It was seven-thirty. Then her mind clicked. “Did you say that crops have been failing?”

“Yeah, all over Equestria. Remember Applejack’s concern the other day?”

“That’s right, she said the entire south field wasn’t growing anything worthwhile.” Twilight paused, taking another look at the clock. Let’s see, she had a reason, time, and it would be helping a friend. Above all that, it was a minor bit of magic compared to what 1010 had apparently done in the past, so it should be easy to balance. She needed a test, and the troubles of the world were all too happy to give her one.

“I’ll be back in a little bit.” She informed Spike as she started out the door.

“Where are you going?”

“I just want to go see how Applejack is doing, now that you mentioned that she could be having some troubles. Maybe she could use some help.”

Twilight left without hearing Spike’s response; knowing there was a good chance that it wasn’t too important at the moment. It didn’t take incredibly long to get down and back from Sweet Apple Acres, but she wanted plenty of time to find a problem that would be adequate to test 1010 against, and sufficient time to ensure that she knew the procedure backwards and forwards. This last thought made her smile. She had already memorized the procedure for the spell, she had it down the first night the instruction scroll had come into her possession. She was a good student; she knew the importance of studying, and committing whatever she needed to memory. Still, better to be safe when dealing with anything potentially, or confirmedly, dangerous.

About twenty minutes later she had arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. The barn and house were empty, so it was a fair bet they were all down in the fields. Twilight made her way down into the massive grove of apple trees. Above her the not-yet-ripe apples shimmered and reflected the bright morning sunlight. Birds chirped from their nests high up in the branches, and underneath her hooves the still-wet leaves padded the rocky ground. It seemed to her that everything was as it should be here, but, then again, the Apple family was not here. It was not long before she had moved out of the first grove and into the next. She could not hear voices coming from further down within the trees. The words were not quite clear yet, but the general tone was one of anxiety. She moved closer, slowing her pace as to not make as much noise. It was not a problem that she visited; at least not that she knew of. If they were too busy then she would leave, but the hope of finding something to test her newfound power on urged her to keep listening and moving on. She moved ever closer to where the voices were resonating, she could now make out that it was Applejack and Big Macintosh arguing over something, but the words still managed to elude her. Twilight moved off the trail and crept around behind the trees. It was not long before she had a view of the earth ponies talking, but she wasn’t looking at them. The entire field before her seemed to be rotting away. The brown fruit lay, half decomposed, on the ground, and the trees themselves seemed to be withering. It was strange that this crop failure had not affected the entire orchard.

“Twilight?”

Twilight looked back from the orchard to the pair of ponies who now watched her.

“Oh, hi Applejack. I had remembered that you said there was some trouble with your crops, and I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help you.”

“Why were you creeping around the trees instead of using the path?” Applejack asked.

“I though that you and Big Mac were arguing about something, so I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“Well that’s gracious of you, Twi.” Applejack half-smiled. “No, we were just discussing what we were going to do about this here crop failure that has sprung up.”

“It looks pretty bad.” Said Twilight as she moved down to join the pair. “Do you know what’s causing it?”

“Some sickness, I reckon.”

“Eyup.” Big Mac added.

“The thing is, it started just after the wedding business, along with all of the other troubles in Equestria right now. We thought that we could stop it, but it continues to spread regardless of what we do.”

“Troubles?” Twilight pressed. It was not that she didn’t know about the various problems that had popped up, but everypony might have something new to add to the list.

“You know, the drought, the decline of the economy...have you heard that some ponies don’t think that Celestia is fit to rule anymore?”

“Yeah, Spike was telling me about that earlier. I’m hopeful that it will all just blow over soon. Celestia isn’t perfect, but the good she has done significantly outweighs the bad and the mistakes. We all need forgiveness, as we all make mistakes.”

“That’s well said, Twi.”

“Eyup.”

“But still,” Applejack continued, “I mean, I agree with you, but I am worried that with everything that is happening that they might gain more support, enough to be a concern.”

“I hadn’t thought of that, but you are absolutely right. With the droughts, the crops, the economy…”

“The Everfree.”

“The Everfree…wait, what about the Everfree?” Twilight gave Applejack a confused look.

“There have been a lot of strange creatures seen closer to the edge of the forest recently. I mean, the forest is strange regardless, but the ponies who have traveled in there have reported sightings of things that were either completely new to us, and others that have, up until now, only lived deep within, towards the center. There have been no attacks, and no towns are in danger, yet, but it’s just another thing to worry about.”

“Eyup.”

“What sort of things are we talking about here?” Twilight inquired.

“I don’t know much about these things, but I heard about something called the “Shilo”, that apparently haven’t been seen in decades. Don’t know what they are though.”

“Ok, I’ll do some research. While I’m here, is there anything that I can do to help you with your crops?”

Applejack sighed and shook her head.

“Mighty kind of you to offer, but I don’t know what would be helpful to try and what would be harmful.”

“I completely understand. I hope that they do heal up in time for the applebucking season.”

“Thank ya, but I think it would take a miracle to get this field ripe and stop the sickness.”

“That could be arranged.”

“Beg pardon?”

“Never mind, goodbye.”

“Bye Twilight.”

Twilight began to trot back home, deep in though. There was a multitude of issues that could be addressed through the 1010 scroll, but, being so new to the spell, was it wise to try and address something as large as, say, the economy, or the drought? Even if she did, what would balance it that wouldn’t have even worse effects on Equestria? She remembered how the spell had been balanced through the destruction of another kingdom in the past, so it was possible to send the balancing power somewhere far away, but to be unsure of where it would end up could be equally as damaging, and could come back around to harm Equestria in the end. No, it was better to simply test the spell on something simple, something like Applejack’s farm. If it is worthwhile, if it actually works, then perhaps she could dream a bit bigger.

It was just a little past nine-thirty when Twilight arrived back home. She quickly prepared for ten after ten, laying the instruction scroll and the 1010 scroll out on her desk in her private study. Spike was gone for some reason, so there was really no reason to lock the door, but something told her it was a good idea to. She had a little less than thirty-five minutes before she tried the thing, but that was thirty-five minutes to look up what in Equestria a “Shilo” was.

“Shilo…Shilo…mythical creatures perhaps?” Twilight mumbled to herself, glancing over the extensive bookshelves.

She removed the book and flipped through it to no avail. The Strangest Things was next, but again she was unsuccessful. Pages flipped and time passed as Twilight searched for the odd creature, but without success. Whatever this thing was, it must have been hidden for decades if she wasn’t able to find it here. She glanced up at the clock once again; it was two minutes past ten. Time to get to work.

Twilight headed back up the stairs and into her private study. The scrolls lay, waiting for her. She paused, trying to think of anything that might have worked its way around her though process, but nothing came to mind. Find a problem, upset the balance, ensure that it works, reset the balance, survey the consequences, and repeat if she deemed it worthwhile to use 1010 to solve the problems of Equestria, as long as the aftermath of using the spell wasn’t too catastrophic. Besides, in this particular situation she was aiding a friend in need through what seemed to be the only means that could help currently, surely nopony would criticize her for that. Five minutes past the hour, Twilight’s heart began to race slightly. She could not understand the emotion she was experiencing currently. She had been anxious about trying out new, particularly hard spells previously, but had always been in control, and had never actually worried her to the point where she had been incredibly nervous as she was now. Well, she reminded herself, her entrance exam all those years ago did get her quite nervous, to the point of despair even. But that had been so long ago, and she had learned so much since then, not to mention having grown in her skills and ability when it came to the magical arts. Magic was her life; it consumed both her mind and her time in majority, contested only by her friends. Twenty seconds to go before it was ten after ten. Twilight focused on the rotting trees and crops of the Apple family’s farm, and the despair that had been evident on the faces of Applejack and Big Macintosh. She could not back down because of a little bit of anxiety, not when the well-being of her friends was on the line, as wells as perhaps finding a cure for the many ailments of Equestria itself. It was time.

The clock made no sound as the second hand marked the beginning of the sixty-second period, and yet Twilight heard a loud bell ring inside her head, marking the beginning. She cleared her throat, gathered her thoughts, and cast her doubt and fear into nothingness as she turned to focus on the 1010 scroll that waited expectantly before her.

“Let it be known to the magic and the power that I, Twilight Sparkle, am disrupting the balance.

The left-handed 10, of the 1010 marking in the middle of the scroll, glowed a dull silver in response to the breaking of the balance.

“I am breaking the balance that will be restored within a period of twelve hours by another command put to the scroll of an opposite command of the one that caused the disruption.”

Once again the 1010 scroll reacted, as the left-handed 10 increased the intensity of its silvery light, piercing any shadows that dared to exits within its presence.

“I disrupt the balance by commanding that the farm known as Sweet Apple Acres, located within the town of Ponyville, will be healed from the disease that has infected its crop, and furthermore that it will become immune to this sickness.”

Twilight watched as the scroll seemed to consider what was being asked of it. As it silently mused, she reflected once again on what she had been taught by the Princess, that at this moment all magic and energy from every corner of the world was flowing together in harmony, that the seamless joining of a mass variety of powers were coming together, and she was bending them all to her will. She smiled. Twilight could almost feel the magic run through her, the exhilarating rush of unlimited power bowing before her, and she had it all. Everything, the elements, the living, the dead, the immortal, the earth and stars were hers to command, and there was not a single pony who could stand in her way. She was the master of all. Life and death were hers to command, the fate of others in her hooves. She…was scared. The scroll brought her back to reality as the right-handed 10 lit up in such a way to match its left-handed brother. Twilight smiled once again, it had been accepted. The balance was disrupted, and Applejack’s worries about the fate of her livelihood and family business were over. Twilight would wait for a little while before visiting them once again to see the fruits of her labor, and the fruits of their farm. She silently congratulated herself and reached forth with one hoof to move the 1010 scroll once again to the top of her desk, but hesitated, suddenly remembering what the activation of the spell had done to her. She had never felt that way before; something about the spell had revealed a part of her she didn’t know existed. Or perhaps it wasn’t that it had been hidden previously, she had had all energy, magic and power running through her for a brief moment…could that have created something new? Something dark? No, it couldn’t be. She couldn’t have just grown another personality/mentality; it was impossible. Still… Twilight sank down into a sitting position and bit her lip in thought. She had, up till now, never desired to be ruler of anything, or anyone. Yes, she did enjoy being a leader at times, but that wasn’t the same as holding the lives and fates of others in your hooves. Was that what Princess Celestia did? Hold her subjects in such a way that she could smite them at any moment? It was no secret that Celestia’s power was incredible, and it would be no surprise to Twilight if the Princess could do something drastic if necessary. No wonder there was talk of replacing her. They were saying she failed to protect them, yes, but now that the most recent threat had passed, who could stand against her now? Maybe it was time for a certain regime to fall…

“No!” Twilight yelled into the silence. She gasped and shook her head. Had she really just said that? “I am loyal to the princess, and I would do well to remind myself that.”

If she really was loyal, then why did she go as far as theft of a priceless and extraordinarily powerful object during the time that the Princess was showing her just how much she trusted her?

“The Princess trusts me, and I must uphold her trust, and should there ever come a time where I must stand and use these things to save Equestria, I need to be able to use them competently.”

Still, that is a pretty low thing to do; stealing a priceless object from a vault that Celestia herself showed to you in faith that you were the best choice. Way to go Princess, you chose incorrectly. Look at me now.

“Stop it!” Twilight’s eyes flashed furiously as she yelled at herself. “I am her loyal student, and I do not condemn her!”

The internal argument was silenced. Twilight waited for her own response, but it never came. She nodded, satisfied, and walked back down to the main floor of the library. She paused for a moment, envisioning the meeting with Applejack and seeing the result of her…tampering with natural events. Applejack would be, naturally, very surprised; even to the point of disbelief. It would, on the whole, be a very happy meeting, and no doubt the Apple family would want to have some sort of celebration. The news would travel quickly across Ponyville, and perhaps beyond to some of the more populated cities in Equestria. After that, who knows what would be the outcome of this news? She might learn about other small problems that she could mend, but the more she used the spell, the more curious other ponies would become, and the more they would try to discover what was healing them and their plights. Word would eventually reach Celestia herself, and there was the very good chance that she would recognize the power necessary to perform these actions, and then it would all lead back to Twilight, so how to disguise that? Fixing small problems do not exactly point to a spell that has been locked away for centuries due to its incredible power and devastating and blood-soaked past. But the fact that something negative must happen after every fix is a telltale sign that can, and probably will, be recognized by interested parties. But, Twilight reminded herself, Equestria isn’t exactly in the best of times currently, so another negative aspect, especially if it happens to be small compared to the others, would most likely be overlooked by the general population.

Satisfied with her thought process, and consideration of consequences, Twilight once again set out to meet with Applejack again. It was turning out to be a very good day after all. For the Apple family, it was probably one of the best days they had ever had the privilege of experiencing. What was the word that was used for such amazing occurrences? Miracle. That was it. It was a miracle, what happened to the Apples, in a couple of very literal ways as well. The dusty road she trotted on was pleasing to the senses, and the environment was ideal for walking. She passed a couple of ponies who smiled warmly at her. Life was, very simply, very swell. She took a deep breath, and enjoyed the feeling of the clean air filling her lungs. But almost immediately the clean air turned foul and she coughed. A most unpleasant though had dared to intrude upon her bliss, but it was a worthwhile interruption. If Twilight randomly came down to the farm not one hour after her last visit in order to see how the crops were doing…that’s suspicious behavior. Suspicious nothing, it basically screams ‘It was me, I did something.’ Twilight stopped in the road and frowned. She had not considered that previously. She moved off to the side and mused silently. She could simply wait for a couple of days and then go back, but word will have gotten out already, and it would be impolite to not go and see immediately, not to mention strange. Very simply, if something fantastic happens, you go and see immediately. The only excuses that were acceptable were: you’re dead, somepony very close to you has just died, you are a very long ways away, or it doesn’t concern you in any way, shape or form. Otherwise, you show up. But, what about if you just let the word travel first, and then do exactly what the rule said? Show up then. That was an idea, let somepony else tell her what happened, act surprise, and gain anonymous praise from everypony, while avoiding suspicion. Twilight smiled.

***

“Hey mate!”

The onyx-colored eyes closed and the heavy frame rose and fell in a sigh.

“Mate?”

“In here, Flailer.”

A grey pony with a pure white mane and tale peeked in a doorway, grinned, and entered. The latter, who had been sitting patiently inside, narrowed his eyes at the guest. Flailer might be useful, loyal, and very apt at his job, but was he ever annoying. Flailer was very lanky, and almost slunk when he walked. His eyes were very white, with a hint of indigo in the center to mark some sort of consciousness. Flailer had been feared in his hometown, regarded as some sort of natural reject. As a result, Flailer had become irate from the constant insults and whispers behind his back. So, he did what he did best to those ponies who looked down upon them: flailed against them. He was a madpony when he fought, having no sense of elegance when it came to fighting, but simply flailing his hooves around, striking anything that came close. His cutie mark reflected this, being a flail, which seemed repetitive, but it did drive the point home. Flailer was embraced by the underground society in Manehattan for his loyalty to those who were kind to him and gave him something to do. He respected his betters, but would never back down from a fight. Nearly killed him several times, trying to tangle with unicorns who had no qualms about using their magical ability to crush their enemies.

“Oh, hey there mate. How are you?”

The onyx eyes shifted to Flailer’s white ones. Flailer averted his gaze.

“Aggravated, simply. I have been troubled lately.”

“With what?”

“Have you been following what ponies all across Equestria have been saying?”

“A bit, mate. What are you talking about?”

“There are a lot of ponies who believe that Equestria is the way it is currently because of our ruler.”

“Celestia?”

“No Flailer, the other ruler.” Came the sarcastic reply. Flailer was loyal, but oh my, could he be stupid.

“I don’t know about any other ruler.”

Another sigh.

“Yes, I mean Celestia.” He quieted, deciding how much he wanted Flailer to know. “There has been talk about…replacing her. No longer trusting our well-being to a single pony. Letting the masses have the say.”

There was a moment of silence.

“What?” Flailer asked, blinking stupidly.

“I mean, that we might have the ability to finally not be on the bottom anymore. Look at you Flailer, you have never been anywhere else besides the pits of society. Hated at home, used by others. Haven’t you ever wanted to be something more?”

“I don’t really know. I guess I never thought of it before, what you said.”

“Look. You’ve been my friend for many long years, and we have had some good times. But if there is unrest among the lowlifes of Equestria-“

“Like us?”

“What?” Flailer backed away as the other rose to confront him. “I have had my share of trouble, my share of service, and having to give everything I rightfully earned to those who believe them better than me, but I am no lowlife. All I am is unlucky, and a victim of unfortunate circumstances. But, as I said, if ponies are starting to raise their voices, then we can have profit and gain here. You and me, rulers of Equestria, how do you like the sound of that?”

Flailer smiled and slunk back forward. “Sounds pretty good to me, mate.”

“I’m glad. But right now all this is words. Nopony has the guts to go against an alicorn, much less two-”

“Two?” asked Flailer.

“There’s another one, but she only comes out at night. As I was trying to say, nopony has the nerve to go against an alicorn alone. We have an idea, and idea that is so very real to so many ponies. If we can make this idea a reality, then we can become so much more than we are right now. How would you like to live in Canterlot?”

“I would. It looks really good.”

“It’s better than nice, my grammatically challenged friend, it’s amazing. I grew up there. How do you think I got my name?”

“I never thought about it.”

“Believe me, I didn’t think you had. Now then, what is my name?”

“Ras.”

“That’s correct, Flailer. It’s Ras: a combination between the name of a powerful ancient god and the title of a wealthy noble, or lord, of another country that I forget the name of at the moment. So what am I? A god, or a king? Very simply, I’m both. Ras the usurper. Ras the destroyer. Ras the creator. Ras the ruler.”

“How long have you waited for this?”

“A surprisingly intelligent question, Flailer.” Replied Ras, “long enough. For many years it was to simply be something more than what I am now. I was raised by wealth, but never got to truly enjoy it. Do you understand?”

“No.”

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t concern you. So, my friend, tell me what you think is the first step in starting a revolution?”

“Um…” Flailer tilted his head slightly. “Getting more followers?”

“Close, you have to get the idea out there first; it has already been spread by the newspapers that flow from Manehattan, Las Pegasus, Canterlot, etc. The idea is out there currently, so it makes our job easier. Now comes the step you just mentioned: recruiting. We already know that there are ponies who share our same ideals, but a revolution is a very fragile thing to form. If the ponies who follow the idea begin to believe, even for a moment, that they cannot win…then they leave. We can’t allow that to happen.”

Silence followed. Flailer was busy piecing together everything he had just heard, while Ras sat back down. Ras was a powerful unicorn, who excelled at manipulation of others at their expense. He was a pony who looked like he was in charge, and deserved to be feared. It was not an inaccurate statement, as he was the type who believed that the ends justified the means. In many ways he was one of the best ponies one would ever have the privilege to meet, as he was true to himself. He never faltered in his personal beliefs, and met every goal he set for himself. He could be charismatic if he wished, but he found the ability rather useless. His cutie mark was direct juxtaposition to the rest of his natural hue: a bright golden sun with an odd red symbol in the center. He had never quite figured out what that symbol was, but it did not matter to him. This was the only bright aspect that one could identify when observing Ras. He was one continuous shade all the way through: onyx. His horn, eyes, mane, coat, hooves, and tale were all stained the same dark color. His favorite way to pass the time was to bide the time and wait. If there was anything he was good at, it was waiting until the timing was exactly right to strike.

“Ras?”

“Yes?” Ras looked back over at his loyal friend.

“How do we, you know, get ponies to follow us?”

“What do you mean, Flailer?”

“I mean, that there must be other ponies who think that this is a good time to get power for themselves. How do we get them to come with us instead of them?”

Ras’ eyes widened, but it was rather impossible to see that in the dark of the room. Twice Flailer had surprised Ras with a good question that he wasn’t supposed to have the capacity to think of. Perhaps Flailer was becoming smarter, which could be better or worse.

“Simple,” Ras half-grinned. “we give them a reason to.”

Comments

[-Hidden Identity-]

Wow, one month later I finally get around to finishing chapter two. Yeah, I'll try not to procrastinate quite as much with the next one.

[That_one_guy]

...

None of this is a good thing. Well, trauma train departs in 3.... 2...

[-Hidden Identity-]

690660
Actually, I'm going to be really nice and let everypony have a happily ever after. Oh, I'm so very funny sometimes.

[That_one_guy]

703606

The way this story is probably going to pan out, it'll be really hard to end on a happy note. Playing God is never a good idea. NEVER.