The Gathering Storm

by WiskeyMikeOne

Chapter 6: Ascension

Chapter 6
Ascension

I spent the rest of the following day with Applejack repairing the barn and trying to find out more about this new, dark world. Celestia promised AJ that as a thank you for saving Equestria twice, she and her family would be exempt from joining the military, what a lie! Applebloom and many other fillies and colts were too young to join the military but there was now a cadet force that prepared fillies for service.

I kept asking AJ about the wars that the empire was waging, what was going on, which countries have fallen and who stood up to Celestia and the Empire. It turns out nearly all ponies rebelled, the rebellion lasted three weeks then Celestia stepped in and used her magic and armies to banish ponies to the three settlements.

“Who led the rebellion?” I asked AJ.

“Princess Cadence.”

“Ah. What part did you and your friends play in the rebellion?” I asked as we both started clearing up the shattered remains of the barn door.

“Well it was only me, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Rarity who rebelled”

“Why only you four? What about Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash?” I knew what AJ was going to say next

“Oh yeah... well Twi remains loyal to Celestia as she always has, being her personal student and all, but Rainbow Dash was wounded, she was in hospital when the rebellion began.”

“Wounded?”

“Yeah, you know that pony that the empire is looking for? He was her wing man. He shot her down out of jealously, why if I ever get my hooves on him I would make him regret hurting Rainbow Dash”

“Oh...what happened to her?”

“She ejected out of her aircraft but landed badly, her left wing was busted up really bad. She can’t fly no more.”

My heart sank, I did that to Dashie. My only friend, it was my fault. Flying was her life.

“Oh yeah, I never got your name?” AJ asked me

I was hoping that she wouldn’t ask that question, I looked around for inspiration. AJ`s back was turned as she was lifting some wood to get started on rebuilding the barn door. I thought to myself Gate lock, no, wishing well, no, Apple tree, no, Cart wheel, yes!

“Cart wheel”

“That’s a nice name, judging from your accent I take it you’re from Trottingham?”

“That’s correct.”

I didn’t know what was easier, being interrogated during my training for the Royal guard or AJ asking me all these questions. Right now I would go with interrogation. Thinking on your hooves is hard and I had to remember all of this in case she was to introduce me to somepony who was going to ask me the same questions. It was now midday, I helped AJ with the finishing touches to the barn door.

“There we are, good as new” I said but Applejack was looking at the ground and crying.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get her back. And the Empire.” I turned away and headed for town.

“You, what can you do?!” AJ shouted out of frustration

“Find some ponies who want the same thing as I do. Payback.”

I swore to myself and to Faust then and there that the Empire and Celestia will pay for what they have done not just today, but for everything. The wars, the segregation, my betrayal and most importantly to me, Applebloom and all the other ponies in Equestria and in conquered countries.

I walked through the main square, there was nopony about. I passed the alley with my wanted posters on. In the next alley, I saw some movement in the shadows and heard whispering, I stopped to look. There were two cloaked ponies facing a wall that was covered in empire propaganda posters. The two ponies stopped what they were doing and looked at me, not wanting any trouble, I kept on walking.

The following morning I headed back into town to see how Applejack was doing. The entrance to the alley that had to two cloaked ponies in last night was packed with ponies, I made my way through the crowd. I heard some ponies talking in the crowd.

“Who would do this? Will the empire be angry with us?”

The wall of posters was vandalised, “the sun shall set, Tyrant, Open your eyes”, “down with the empire” and “ROE” were written all over the posters in black paint. Nice job, I thought to myself, but who were the cloaked ponies and who were the ROE?

“The criminal always returns to the scene of the crime” I looked around to see if anypony was looking suspicious, I could read the signs easily, all Royal Guards had training in lie detection. I started moving through the crowd, trying to get a better view of all the pony's’ faces, nothing unusual but when I left the crowd there was one pony by himself at the back. He looked at me then turned away.

“Gotcha!”

I followed him, keeping a good distance away so as not to alert him, maybe he would lead me to the ROE. I lost him near a building that looked like a carousel. He obviously went around it so I waited for him to come back around. I hid behind some old dummies that looked like they were used to design clothes, when he passed me I grabbed his shoulder and span him around to face me.

“Who are you?”

Before he could answer the sound of horns broke the air, it was the empire. The chariots flew over head and headed to the alley which was now on the other side of town. The vandal broke from my grip and ran towards the forest. He wasn't going to get away from me, if he hated the empire and so did the ROE then I was more than willing to join.

I knew the forest like the back of my hoof. The vegetation was thick in this part of the forest, even I didn't venture into this. Twigs on the floor were snapping as we ran over them, the pony turned so sharply left that I nearly over shot, he was determined to get away.

We came to a clearing in the vegetation; the pony ran into a hut that was made from a tree stump in the middle of the clearing and slammed the door behind him. The door was old and worn it felt like it would fall off if I tried to knock it so I banged on the hut itself.

“Listen I’m not here to arrest you or anything. I’m here to join you!”

The door creaked open; I hesitated for a moment then went inside. The room was in darkness when the door shut behind me. A voice came from the shadows.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Cart Wheel and I’m interested in joining your group.”

“Why?”

“Why? I think the past 24 hours are a big enough reason don’t you think?”

There was a pause before the lights came on. The room was full of ponies looking and pointing makeshift weapons at me, one pony just had a broom. There were at least twenty or so ponies all cramped into this old hut. Did I have it all wrong, were they fugitives just like me and were they here hiding from the empire?

One pony approached me; she was old and had a grey mane and tail with glasses. She looked me up and down.

“I’ve never seen you in Ponyville before?”

“I’m new in town, I’m from Trottingham”

She walked around me, looking me up and down, judging me.

“How do we know we can trust you?”

I had to think fast, all eyes were on me, I could hear whispers from the crowd. I had to tell a white lie.

“My little brother was taken away from me yesterday. My father is a unicorn and my mother is a Pegasus. Before the train took my father away, he made me promise to look after my brother and I failed. There was nothing left for me at home so I decide to leave and find my brother, wherever he may be”

“How old is he?” said the old pony

“Seven...”

The whispers now went away and were replaced with sobbing

“You will find a lot of stories similar to yours in this group, we have all been affected. I lost my husband, Bon Bon lost her best friend and Caramel lost his girlfriend and brother. I’m Mayor Mare, pleased to meet you.” We shook hooves.
“We are about to start our meeting, you are more than welcome to join.”

“Thank you.”

In the middle of the room was an old circular oak table that had clearly seen better days. Around the table were four chairs, the rest of us had to stand, there was no room to sit on the floor either. The mayor sat down on one of the chairs and so did another three ponies.

“Mares and stallions, I call to order the seventh meeting of the Republic of Equestria. Let’s begin by congratulating Bon Bon and Caramel for their successful mission last night.”

All the ponies started clapping, Bon Bon and Caramel took a bow and I now knew who painted the graffiti over the posters. “I’ll have to congratulate them later” I thought. A very brave act, if they were caught we might never have seen them again.
“Now, onto the first item on our list, Cheerilee? Has the empire issued a warrant for Bon Bon and Caramel’s arrests yet?”
“No Mayor, they are going to pretend it never happened. The graffiti has been washed off but I think we got our message across.”

“Excellent, Mr Rich if the Royal guards ask you about your missing stockpiles of paint at Barn Yard Bargains, you say?”
“There was a break in last night and two pots of black paint were stolen.”

“Good.”

The meeting went on until sunset, I listened in to get up to date with all that was going. I found out that Russhire had fallen so did the Fillypines, technology had advanced slightly within the empire and their numbers grew thanks to the conscription and folding conquered countries armed forces in to their own. The Empire was fighting the remnants of Russhire forces that escaped and retreated to an unknown location.

They were a major thorn in the side of the empire. That much was clear.

But I was still thinking of poor Applebloom, Big Mac and AJ. But what was playing on my mind the most was Rainbow not being able to fly anymore. I did that to my only friend, she would never forgive me in a thousand years and I don’t blame her, I wouldn’t forgive me.

“Good, that is everything I wanted to cover in this meeting. Cart wheel do you have any questions?”

“Yes Mayor.”

I made my way over to the table. Mayor Mare was to my right, Filthy Rich to my left, nurse Red Hart to my front and Cheerilee with her back to me. All eyes in the room were now focused on me; the table was full of parchment and ink quills. I made some room to put my hooves on.

“What exactly is the ROE?”

“I thought you might ask that, we were set up after the rebellion collapsed to unite all breeds of ponies together in one group so we can communicate with each other. We are also trying to resist the empire, not fight it.” Mayor Mare stood up and started walking around the table.

“Today was a tragedy; the empire had no right to break up families like that and in public as well. We have vandalised Imperial property before in the other sectors but not on this scale. In Cloudsdale a statue of Celestia was cut down, in Canterlot the Royal plaza was vandalised. And of course towns and villages throughout Equestria played their part too.” Mayor mare had now returned to her seat. “Up until today we were just uniting together to stay strong in this dark time. But after today we all are going to make the Empire’s life even harder, now is the time to start thinking about upping the ante.”
I took a minute to let it all sink in then I spoke.

“So let me get this straight. The ROE is a movement to unite all ponies in Equestria, now you’re turning into a resistance movement, making the Empire’s life hard. Uniting all ponies together under one faction and saying no to the Empire. Maybe what I have learned in the Solar Army might come in handy after all.”

“You were in the army? How long?” said Filthy Rich

“I only made it past basic training and then I hurt myself in an exercise preparing for the invasion of Russhire, I was discharged because of my injuries. I offered to stay on and work in an office but the empire wanted healthy ponies in their forces.”

“What happened?” asked Nurse Red Heart

“I was a paratrooper, my chute didn’t deploy. My legs were busted up but not broken. So to be on the safe side the Empire decide to let me go.”

I could hear murmuring again from the crowd, maybe the lie of being a soldier in the empire was a bad one. The Mayor spoke.

“You can join only on one condition; you teach us what you know about combat. We need to defend ourselves.”
“Is that it, sure, where do I sign?”

Comments

[Nightspawn]

“Princess Cadence.”

Well, Thats new...