The People's Republic of Twilightlicious

by GeodesicDragon

Interlude: Twilight's Diary - Entry #5

As I look out of my office window, I can still see flames lighting up the night sky. The acrid smell of smoke continues to seep into the room, even through the closed windows, and the angry shouting of the people below still rings in my ears.

I never knew that people could get this upset over a hunting ban.

The riot began shortly after the law came into force, with the main hunting groups banding together to protest. The police force moved in to break up the demonstration, citing it as illegal, when things turned ugly quickly. The hunters began throwing stones, bottles, pieces of concrete, and anything else they could find, and the sheer ferocity of their attack soon forced the officers to retreat.

With the police beaten back, the rioters began setting fire to government buildings. They also began looting everything that wasn't nailed down, targeting several small shops nearby.

After an hour, the police regrouped and once again attempted to restore order. They failed, miserably, as the number of rioters had been steadily increasing over the course of the evening. The officers, despite their best efforts, were forced back — which ultimately left a gap in the perimeter they had established.

The rioters were quick to take advantage of this weakness, and surged through the gap to advance on the Capital Building. As they marched through the streets, overturning cars and smashing windows, they repeatedly called on me to either repeal the ban on hunting or to 'step down and go back to Horse Land.'

For the first time since I got here, I was afraid for my life. My friends were with me, but even they were worried. I looked out the window, a sea of people carrying flaming torches and other makeshift weapons greeting me, and began to cry.

But then another shout, much louder than the others, rang out.

"Protect the Princess!"

It was Geo. I looked around for him and eventually found him with a large number of his soldiers, all of whom were standing between the rioters and their ultimate goal... me. The soldiers were all equipped with shields and batons, much like the police had been, but they were also wearing gas masks.

"That's far enough!" Geo shouted through a megaphone. "This is your first and only warning: if you want to harm the Princess, then you're going to have to go through us first!" At these words, his soldiers started to beat their shields with their batons. "And I promise you we will not make it easy!"

The rioters responded by throwing a barrage of projectiles.

"SHIELDS UP!" The soldiers raised their shields, and a series of loud thuds filled the air as the projectiles landed. But the rioters weren't finished yet, and started throwing more objects. Through it all, I heard Geo yell, "INFANTRY, FORWARDS!"

The soldiers began marching forwards with their shields still held up to protect them, something which reminded me of tactics I'd read about the Royal Guard in Equestria using during the war with the gryphons some two-hundred years ago.

Some of the rioters began to panic, and ran away from the solid mass of soldiers which was slowly approaching them. Occasionally, from the rear of the advancing column, a few of the GDA troops would pop up and fire off tear gas canisters.

The canisters exploded amongst the crowd, sending their contents into the air and causing anyone nearby to drop to the ground.

"LOWER SHIELDS!" Geo's voice rang out again. "NOW, CHARGE!"

What happened next was the most amazing – and shocking – thing that I have ever witnessed. The GDA troops lowered their shields, shouted "For the Apocalypse!" and charged straight into the ranks of rioters. Those that weren't affected by the tear gas also charged, and a large-scale brawl erupted just metres away from my office.

I could hear the shouts of both sides as they clashed with each other, as well as screams of pain and anger. Beside me, Fluttershy was covering her ears, while the rest of my friends stood in silence to watch the carnage unfolding below.

I heard footsteps behind me, and saw Raymond in my peripheral vision. He watched the fighting for a moment, then spoke.

"I suppose we should be thankful that Geo decided to take his time when it came to withdrawing his troops," he said.

"We should be thankful, Raymond," I replied. "Because we would be in serious danger right now if those men weren't here."

"I'd rather not think about that, Twi," Rainbow Dash said. "What matters is that we're all okay. Right?"

I nodded. "That's true." I pulled the two individuals who were closest to me – Raymond and Fluttershy – into a hug, which the rest of the girls were quick to join. "At least, if things had gone wrong, we would have faced it together."

"Together." everyone spoke in unison.

We stayed like that, locked in our little group hug, for a while. Eventually, the noise from outside subsided, and silence prevailed. Geo, who was covered in blood which I doubt was his, strode into my office a few minutes later — then said just five words to me.

"You owe me a favour."

And boy, do I know it.

Author's Note:

Friendly reminder that I am no good when it comes to writing action scenes.

Anyway, this 'favour' that Geo now wants... what could it be?

(Also, yes, a riot did break out after the hunting ban came into effect.)