Worried for his friend, Gosling stood over Seville, watching as a medic began the labourious task of patching up the bloodied earth pony. Gosling gave no thought to his own wounds. All around him, his fellow soldiers were helping the wounded and rounding up the attackers. Pillars of smoke rose up into the sky and the acrid stench of things burning made everypony’s eyes water.
“I want recon patrols established immediately!” Hotspur barked. “I want these farmhouses around here checked! We need to know if those families are okay! Establish a perimeter! These pegasi came in hard and fast so check everything for a one wing radius!”
“Aye aye, Captain Hotspur!” a pegasus replied.
Turning to face his new friend, Gosling looked Hotspur in the eye. “You never told me you were a captain… I failed to address you as my superiour officer—”
“Stow it, soldier,” Hotspur said in a commanding voice. Some of his accent was gone, but not completely. He surveyed the world around him with a steely-eyed gaze, and his rage burned in his eyes like live coals. “You need to get some blood-stop on those wings.”
“I’m fine.” Gosling extended his wings and took a look. He didn’t like what he saw. Deep cuts, missing feathers, some of his injuries were gruesome to look at. Perhaps it was worse than he thought. With his adrenaline so spiked as it was, the pain seemed numbed, distant, but he was feeling it now that he looked at it. His lip curled back from his teeth as he hissed.
“Princess Luna said she would give me lashes if I failed to look after yous.” Hotspur spotted a medic hurrying along and shouted, “Hey, ya mug, yous get over here!”
The unicorn hustled over to Hotspur, who pointed at Gosling. Seeing Gosling’s wings, the unicorn pulled out a cannister of blood stop powder, and right away, he began sprinkling the powder over Gosling’s wings, applying a heavy dusting. Gosling sneezed.
The styptic powder had a marvellous cooling effect and Gosling’s wings now felt chilly. He stood with his wings out, extended, allowing the breeze to blow against his ribs. He felt a little shaky, a little dizzy, and his head was starting to ache. His wings were now dusted with white and streaked with crimson as the trickling blood scabbed over. Grooming his wings later was going to suck, of that there could be no doubt.
“Captain!” an earth pony shouted as he came running up. “Good news! We’ve made a very important capture!” The earth pony was breathless, his sides were heaving, and his eyes were glazed over with pain. “He’s still being subdued. He’ll be brought to you in a hot minute!”
“Good job,” Hotspur replied.
Turning his head, Gosling looked over at Bon Bon, who was getting a nasty gash wrapped up in gauze. He stared at her for a moment, and then, in a low voice said, “I’m guessing that you aren’t a candy maker.”
“Oh, I am,” Bon Bon replied, “but I am also special agent Sweetie Drops.” She gave Gosling a weary smile as the medic continued his work. “You delivered the very dispatch to me that told me to be prepared for this trip. It’s nice that Princess Celestia has found somepony to love.” The mare looked over at her green unicorn companion, and saw that she was busy binding somepony’s wounds. “That’s special agent Lyra. We’re both agents of S.M.I.L.E. You can expect to be hearing from us soon, Private Gosling. Ex Ignis Amicitiae.”
“Wait, yous is from the signal corps?” Gosling looked at the mare with unabashed astonishment.
“No,” Bon Bon replied, “but that is where we do about ninety nine percent of our recruitment.” She turned to look at Gosling. “Every now and then, we find a pony that makes for a worthy agent that isn’t from an intelligence background, and we recruit them. Like my friend, Lyra.”
“Wait, what’s this S.M.I.L.E. thing?” Gosling asked.
“You’ll find out soon, Private Gosling.” Bon Bon gave Gosling a wink, a nod, and a smile.
Lifting his head, Gosling watched as patrols began to take off. The situation was coming under control. A guard was being posted around the ruined, derailed train. Unicorns were using suffocation spells to put out the fire. There were times that Gosling envied magic. A simple air tight shield bubble spell that had all of the air inside of it sucked out had a wide variety of applications, and not just for subduing ponies.
Looking over to his left at the sounds of a struggle, Gosling saw a familiar pony being dragged through the dirt towards Captain Hotspur. It was the pony who had demanded that his tongue be cut out. Unable to help himself, Gosling laughed. It wasn’t a haughty laugh, or even an arrogant laugh.
One of the pegasi that was dragging the prisoner stopped and saluted Captain Hotspur. He stood, a rough grin upon his scarred face, and when the prisoner snarled, the pegasus kicked him in the face, causing the captured pony to groan in pain.
“Captain Hotspur, I present you with former Captain Tarbean.”
“Look alive fellas, we has ourselves a traitor here.” There was something mean and dangerous sounding in Hotspur’s voice, something unpleasant that held the promise of violence. And not common, garden variety violence, but terrible, horrible, awful inner city violence. There were no curbs here, but the rails might do in a pinch.
The prisoner stared up, his eyes glittering with hatred. The two pegasi glared at one another, both of them seething, each of them had murder in their eyes. Hotspur looked away and turned to face Hush. After a moment, Hotspur’s gaze fell upon Gosling. After short time spent in thoughtful contemplation, he returned his attention to the prisoner, known as Tarbean.
“This changes things,” Hotspur said in a low, quiet voice. “You ain’t some civie that we has to subdue. No… you's a turncoat and a traitor. Oh, we’re gonna do things to yous… bad things. Real bad things. We has our own way of doing things in the Broncs, don’t we Gosling?”
Stepping forward, Gosling nodded. “Captain, do we has a padlock and a pillowcase?”
“No,” Hotspur replied, “We has a Hush though.”
“That’ll do, Captain.” Gosling’s teeth clinched and the muscles in his jaw clenched.
“Ain’t nothing worse than a turncoat and a traitor,” a nearby earth pony said as she stood watching. She stood in the middle of a growing crowd of bloodied, battered looking hard cases, all of whom looked hungry for more violence.
“We need him alive,” Bon Bon said in a fearful voice.
“Don’t get your tail in a knot.” Hotspur’s wings flapped against his sides. “He’s gonna live… but he ain’t gonna wanna live.” Hotspur looked over at Hush and gave a nod. “Hush, see that he is made cooperative.”
No sooner had the words left Hotspur’s mouth than the big draconic hybrid pony responded. A wing shot out, unfurling with terrific speed, and the end of it connected with the side of Tarbean’s face. The prisoner rolled over, writhed on the ground, but didn’t make a sound.
“We has ourselves a tough guy here.” Captain Hotspur frowned, shook his head, and then spat on the ground near where the prisoner kicked and twitched. He stepped back, glanced over at Bon Bon, who was now scowling, and then returned his attention to Tarbean.
“You turned against the sisters… why?” Gosling demanded.
Not far from Gosling, Seville snapped a picture and an automated quill was scratching down every word said into a notebook. The bloody, battered earth pony had a look of grim determination upon his face, and there was anger as well. He had suffered at the hooves of the attackers.
There was no answer from Tarbean and this made Gosling angry. Hotspur, seeing anger on Gosling’s face, made a gesture at Hush. The big draconic pegasus stood over Tarbean and began prodding the prisoner’s back, just behind his wing joints. After a few pokes, he smashed his hoof right into the tender place between the ribs and the hip bones, and just below the spine.
This time, Tarbean shrieked in agony as his legs kicked and scissored. He let out a pained wail, which subsided into wheezing, gasping panting as he curled up into a fetal position.
“Future Prince Gosling asked yous a question. Yous would be wise to answer. Hush, if this clown don’t answer, I want you to do that again.” Hotspur let out a cruel, heartless sounding laugh. “He’s gonna be pissing blood for a week.”
“Hey…” Gosling found himself in an odd position. As much as he hated the pony laying on the ground, this felt wrong. He didn’t like the way Bon Bon was staring at him and he didn’t much care for the look of disapproval on her face. Gosling took a step forwards and stood beside Hotspur. “No more of that… if we start torturing them, they’ll start torturing us, if they capture us.”
“They already do,” Hotspur replied as he scowled at Gosling. “One of our scouts had his feathers plucked.”
Rage bubbled through Gosling’s mind and in that moment, he knew that if he gave the order to have Tarbean beaten or killed, the soldiers present would rush to do it. It bothered him that he was tempted. He thought about the attack, he could smell the burning, the stench of blood was heavy in the air, and the former Captain Tarbean had turned upon the sisters.
“Why did you do it?” Gosling asked. “What did you think you would accomplish? Do you understand how stupid you are? Seville didn’t even need his camera… Princess Luna could go into any of our minds and discover just what your faces look like, and your voices. You’ve picked a fight that you can’t win.”
“And that is why we fight,” Tarbean said in a weak, whimpering voice. “This is tyranny… we have no choice but to obey them… to do everything they say… we have no means to resist them… we have no means tell them no. The sisters rule over us all, whether we want them to or not. We have no choice, we have no voice, we have no option but to do as we are told… and that is tyranny. There will never be equality as long as they continue to rule… the three tribes were united and sought equality, but one tribe still remains above the others.”
“You don’t even understand what the sisters protect us from… they’re not tyrants,” Gosling replied, shaking his head. “We are free to do as we please. They’re not holding us down. We have our own sense of agency.”
“Not from where I see things, even now, I am being oppressed—”
“You just attacked us and probably killed a bunch of your former brothers and sisters!” Gosling snapped. For a moment, he was certain that he was going to lose his temper, he was positive that the command to have Tarbean beaten or killed would slip out of his mouth. He took a step back, sucked in a deep breath, and fell silent. This was not a time to debate politics.
“This whole equalist movement is a bunch of bunk.” Hotspur shook his head. “What it really is, is a thinly veiled pony supremacy movement that has managed to con a bunch of weak minded idiots into believing Starlight Glimmer’s misguided notions about equality. Yous guys hijacked her movement, twisted its already messed up ideals, and then yous made it worse. Now you prey upon the weak minded, the morons, the soft headed types, yous feed them this stream of garbage about equality and tyranny, and you’s advancing your own messed up agenda, hoping to somehow gain your own private little kingdom.”
“They believed that by capturing Gosling, they would have a bargaining chip.” Bon Bon moved to stand beside Gosling and she looked down at the prisoner. “You wanted concessions, a platform to make a statement, and an exchange of captured prisoners. You believed that Princess Celestia would agree to your demands so that you would return the one she loves.”
Turning his head, Tarbean glared up at Bon Bon, hatred visible in his eyes.
“You go out and you recruit among the homeless, the helpless, and the desperate. It was easy to infiltrate your little cult. It was easy to locate your cells. We have agents everywhere. You aren’t as clever as you think.” Bon Bon gave the pony on the ground a sad shake of her head. “You’ve made deals with the crime families of Manehattan. You’ve conspired with others. And I’m almost certain that with enough time and effort, we’re going to find ties between you and the press… your goal is instability. By making the sisters look bad, by making them look like they have no control, or that their control is slipping, you can draw more and more ponies to your cause, a cause that leads to a dead future, a dead world, as there is no life and no world without the sisters.”
Gosling’s eyes narrowed as he pondered Bon Bon’s words. This was a different sort of war and it didn’t have conventional battlefields. If this was going to be fought, then the conditions that made ponies receptive to the messages of the equalists would need to be addressed, to be dealt with. Poverty would need to be addressed. The homeless, the helpless, and the desperate would have to be dealt with. The causes would have to be addressed.
It was a war of ideologies.
Woo boy.. this ties in with there comment of Goslin appealing to/being a mouth peaice for the poor even more.
This reads and feels all to real in the world today
Looks like gosling is getting a abrupt lesson in guerrilla warfare.
As an experienced player of the 4X strategy genres, I can tell that this is gonna be a very long and drawn out war, with no real winners, just those who loss less then others.
Keep up the epic work! Look forward to what ever you have in store!
Fascinating.
7294746
Nah, real gorillas wouldn't support this sort of...
(Wait for it...)
... monkey business. Of course, that's...
(Wait for it...)
... ape-arrent. Gosling has plenty of new causes he can...
(Wait for it...)
...chimp-ion.
Is Hush a thestral or a kirin?
7294792
Is he from Hogwarts? Nope. This does not have a crossover tag!
He's a lunar pegasus. His race is expanded upon in other Weedverse stories.
how i like violance done right
7294749 Kinda like the one humanity has been waging ever since they discovered the concept of deities.
You looking at it from the bottom, the princesses look like tyrannies that only grow worse as their numbers went up.
When there was just the one princess, you could turn to the crime families to find a leg up. As the number of princesses went up, more and more came under their eyes. Luna could find out what you were thinking of while sleeping. Twilight has a map used to find 'problems'. But is that helping most of the poor? They can help with their powers, but their powers could also be useful for tyranny.
But even with all the new princesses many of the poor and helpless find their are not being helped in the system. While at the same time it is harder to get help outside of the system. Then a group comes along that helps you, and points out that the princesses have not been helping. How long has there been such a large homeless, and helpless population in Equestria? Ponies are living and dying in a everyday hell.
If this group had not shown up, would the princesses have ever helped the weak that the group are recruiting from? While Gosling was able to use the guard as a way out of that life, the guard can't recruit ever poor person.
From the end of this chapter it looks like the combo of Gosling becoming a prince, and this group is what will finally get the princesses to see and deal with the problems that their people have been facing for years.
It is not that the equality movement is good. It is that the movement is showing the government that they have failed the people. On top of that Gosling's rise has also lead the princesses to push back ageist the nobles, who are not really noble, and stop appeasing them. In a way it is funny. By using their power more, they look less tyrannical.
The princesses have never been the bad guys. Just the more powerful they grow, the worse they look when they don't help people. There is a thin line from uncaring, to cruel. All it takes is someone convincing you that the princesses are not just letting you suffer, they have a hand in it. And the more powerful you think they are, the easier it is to think they could have a hand in it.
7294867
I love comments like this one. It shows that people are paying attention.
Thank you.
7294795
I think you misinterpreted my comment, all wanted I to know was what species Hush was, not if he somehow came from another universe. This is a valid question since you called a lunar pegasus, leading readers to think he is a thestral/bat-pony, but you have consistently described him as being part dragon thus making him a kirin/dragon-pony.
Wow, they are a parallel to actual terrorists.
They rely on the outcasted, loney, povertish, hungry, and feed them ideals. Just to fight a cause the tops believe is unjust.
Although, they are different, not religious or symbolic for one. Though the basics are there. If anything, the reasons here are just, "shit is bad, and you're not helping."
But this is of course that kind of war. Ugh, wars of espionage are for more headache inducing than combat. At least it ain't an assassination war, i am not here for another read of THH Nemisis.
7294791 Shut up.
Just...
Just shut up.
Oh my God.
7294894
For those who read the other stories, they know that the lunar pegasi descend from dragons.
7294840 I know right, ponies have done something we hare incapable of, uniting despite race for a common goal, like survival.
7294791
Nice to see someone that can monkey around with words as you do. they will soon be crying out to the guard to lemur alone. ( apologies to SS & E) These baboons don't stand a chance.
7294925
That's not true, the bulk of the world united against the Axis powers in WWII against a bunch of racial supremacists who were out to eradicate all those who they deemed inferiror simply because they didn't look, act, or even think like them. And in our case we've had one too many incidents of uniting to survive only for one group or another to lord what everyone needs for themselves or a selective group. We don't have two millennia-year old people ruling over us. And unlike the ponies, we're bipedal meaning we can use our forearms to hold things such as spears and swords while unless they're using magic or wingblades, have to hold such things either in the crook of their foreleg or in their mouths. Plus you forget it took nearly freezing to death before the three tribes united and no doubt there were more struggles afterwards as to who should lead the new nation as the three couldn't trust that the pony in power would be unbias and not give special concessions to place their tribe over the other two (which is why the Alicorns rule Equestria).
7294967
7294791
You've all gone bananas!
7294925
Problem is, we learned how to survive without banding the entire human race together first, and we never had any great outside force to unite against either. Now we've got all this racial bullshit getting in the way. It's sad, really.
Where are hostile alien races when you need 'em? I guarantee we'd unite lickety-split if an alien race began attacking Earth. Well, if they did that and everyone knew, I should say.
7295029
Oh come now, you're not gibbon us enough credit.
Durian my time on this site I have seen the wurst puns ever. Why one time I saw someone trade a sausage for a seagull. I guess you could say he took a tern for the wurst.
I came here for the feelsy fluff, and it was good.
Then I was hit with raw emotional turmoil, balanced well against the aforementioned fluff. It facilitated some of the best character exploration and growth I have seen, and it was good.
Now this story is veering off into a political thriller, which built up all this time without me realizing it was going to happen. The conflict promises to be one where, while one side is technically in the right, all save a handful of those involved are not bad people. Starlight's Harrison Bergeron-esque pseudo communistic cult has warped into something definitively more Marxist without vilifying those who actually believe in it (as opposed to those who use it to manipulate others to serve their own ends), but the impending class struggle promises not to be classist, because the protagonist is one of the poorest of the poor, who got lucky when he was swooped into a fluff-and-turmoil filled romance with the nation's ruler, but otherwise might have been one of the people the equalists swooped up to do their dirty work.
Did I get all that right? Because damn does it look like its going to be good.
7295013
That's half true. We hated russia. Everyone hated russia. The main reason we invaded Normandy was because we feared at the Soviet Unoin's current rate they would "liberate" all of Europe. The took the time to invade Finland after all.
And the whole nuke deal, while against germany, was also against the Russians. And we worried a lot more about soviet spies than german.
And the best part, the reason for all that. Communism!
Plus, even through the war, not all of humanity was united, most of Africa was not in the war, and besides the Tuskeeki Airman, there where almost no blacks in combat jobs due to "inferior combat ability"
Humans suck.
Oh dear. This story just keeps building.
7295643
Either you need to re-take World History and Geography classes or you just have a vendetta against Russia (Russia only join the Axis powers of World War II cause Stalin was trying to buy enough time so that the Russian government could get its act together). And it was Germany not Russia that we took Normandy, France from.
7295815
Sadly, in most American schools, they do in fact teach some pretty sorry revisionist history.
One of my history textbooks when I was in grade school actually said that Russia was part of the Axis. I got in trouble in school for saying otherwise, and then got in even more trouble when I tried to prove it. I think I was in the fifth grade or so. We also had to watch some stupid cartoon turtle telling us to duck and cover, and the teacher told us that if we hid under our desks, we would be saved from nuclear annihilation when the evil Russians launched their unprovoked attack that they were sure to launch any day now.
7295828
Which country do you live in? Russia or Trumptopia?
7295865
I live in the USA... the land that was stolen from my people.
7295869
If you mean from the Europeans or Asians then you are solely mistaken as they stole it from the Native Americans who were here first. Or are you one of those people who believes that man never actually landed on the moon?
7295875
I am actually native american. Hence my comment. Lots of revisionist history about that too.
7295882
To the victors goes the spoils! And history.
7295815
They barely cover WWII in school mate, hardly at all.
True. Except the first bit. It was a non-aggression pack. And they split Poland. No join.
Well aware of that. I said "The main reason we invaded Normandy was because we feared at the Soviet Unoin's current rate they would "liberate" all of Europe." as in, 'Russia got it's act together and would spread communism throughout it's path! (which it did) Okay Brits, we need to make sure they don't get that far, some glory for us then!'
And we where much more worried bout' Russian Spies.
7295828 i never did get that.
7295894 sad, but true. History is muddled.
You know in Texas they are changing the textbooks to not use the word "slave". It's ridiculous! It's part of our history! It's jacked up, yes, but it needs to be told.
Wow this chapter has really sparked the flames of discussion. I kinda wish that I could add to these discussions but alas I just can't compete. Oh well great chapter and all that other good stuff.
7295267
Ow, ow, OW!
THESE PUNS ARE PAINFUL!
It's time to meat your match.
7296352
Meat my match! I have never seen sausage a thing. I would be willing to put up a steak against that happening. Most of the people I go up against I make hamburger of, they just can't take the
pun-isment, and I end up the wiener. It is fun to rib someone every now and then and watch them start something that turns and bites them in the flank. That said I will not try to chop a fellow brony down
so I will just live and let liver.
7296457
You're nuts, I tell you!
7296352 well i find them rather punny
7296584
You think I'm nuts! You should pecan on one of my friends, the one named Hazel.
She was dating this doctor. The doctor just loved daiquiris and on a date one time the doctor ordered one made with hickory nuts. When the bar tender brought the drinks and said “Here's your hickory daiquiri doc" she left him. Just shell shocked I guess.
Her brother Filbert just can't macadamia thing he just works for peanuts at anything he can find.
Well just in cashew were wondering I 'm going to stop here and go to the beech and drink some kola.
7296022
In Germany, it's the other way around.
We spent most of 9th and 10th grade talking about the Third Reich and WW2. Not that it is not important, don't get me wrong, but we only briefly talked about what came after, mainly the DDR and a bit of the Cold War, almost nothing about West Germany. I didn't hear more than a sidenote about the RAF terror.
That bugged me. I love history, every bit of it is important.
7297562 well im not suprised bout the RAF thing. Since mostly america was dropping shit tons of bombs and most of Germany's casualties with the RAF where over Britain.
7297511
ARGH!
THE PAIN!!!
A traitor... I think you all know how I feel about TRAITORS... Hang him by his testicles with barbed wires covered in acid with an electrical current running through it after having given him a potion that promotes Wolverine levels of tissue regeneration at the cost of increasing sensitivity by 100 times.
7294907 Before anyone gets the idea, I'm not taking sides or saying one person is right and the other is wrong, I'm just pointing some things out.
I believe what misunderstanding there may be on this matter stems from the fact that in virtually every other story (aside from the Weedverse apparently), the Lunar Pegasi are classified as "bat-ponies" with the name 'Thestral' given as their race's (un)official name. Granted, there are a few stories where the physical differences from the standard pegasus (i.e. eyes, ears, wings, etc) are simply illusions brought on by their armor just as the armor of the rest of the Royal Guard turns all of their coats white, but the white fur illusion has been debunked by the fact that guards with different coat colors have been seen in the show and other official materials. There is only one other story that I personally know of where the bat-winged ponies have a draconic heritage; I do not recall the name of said story, but in the story Luna used magic to infuse the blood and power of a dragon into her friend/lover who was a standard Pegasus, although this isn't a true draconic heritage.
The fact that the Lunar pegasi are a different species than standard pegasi was confirmed by both M. A. Larson and Lauren Faust via Twitter posts, where they specifically state that they come from "[d]eep caves inside the mountains". Granted, dragons come from deep mountain caves as well as bats, but the bat heredity is further reinforced by not only every single reference to their differences being 'bat'-like wings but also the official licensed chapter books, specifically Princess Luna and the Festival of the Winter Moon wherein Luna's guards, who are bat-winged pegasi or Lunar Pegasi are described specifically by their "bat-like wings" as well as even the guards' names being references to bats; two of Luna's guards in the book are named Echo and Nocturn, references to a bat's echolocation ability and to bats being nocturnal.
Again, I'm trying to say anyone is right or wrong. I'm just pointing out possible reasons for the misunderstanding.
On a side note, I'm loving the story thus far, keep it up Kudzu!
Also,
That styptic is laced with some heavy pain-killer because standard styptic, whether in powder or pencil form, is painful as bloody hell when applied to a wound. Trust me, I know. Many standard styptic powders contain benzocaine to help with this, although the initial contact is still not terribly pleasant.
s3.amazonaws.com/bronibooru/ed19e3421b9aaad5989203500b12664b.jpg
7300909
I am dead!
Captain Hotspur? That's a fun additional detail.
Ooo, I like it.
Oh my, now that's an interesting twist.
Honestly, that's kind of a hard question. While we as fans know that Celestia and her ponies have the common good in mind with how they govern, there's definitely an argument that an unelected, eternal monarchy is a questionable way to govern a mortal population of citizens. Now, that's not to say that these guys are going about things the right way, they clearly aren't based on their described tactics. But I can see where the root objection comes from.
7297579 I'm not sure if it's my place to say this but I think you misunderstand what he said about RAF. I think he doesn't mean the British Royal Air Force but the left wing terrorist group die Rote Armee Fraktion. Their leaders eventually committed suicide in prison.
7307682 It's already dumb, because Starlight Glimmer started a town OUTSIDE of Equestrian Rule. In fact, last time I checked, it was STILL outside of the Rule of The Two SIsters in terms of Canon. Hell there's a reason that there is Open Court!
I mean yes the Sisters DO control a lot, BUT they are hardly tyrants and certainly not evil ones. The biggest problem I can say about them, is that they are out of touch with the Commoners.