• Published 4th Sep 2020
  • 874 Views, 68 Comments

In the Shadow of the Moon - DefiantPosition



After being set free by Nightmare Moon, Celestia has to live a normal life. However new problems loom overhead.

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Providing Happiness to Everypony

It was morning in Ponyville, the sun was slowly making it's way up and ponies were preparing for another day of work. The train from the Lunar Castle had just rolled in and six ponies plus one dragon walked out. The white unicorn at the front was telling the rest about Ponyville.

"I do have to warn you that things have changed since you were last here." Rarity told the others.

Applejack wanted to ask how so, but then she saw it with her own eyes. The town in front of her was nothing like she remembered, Ponyville used to be a colourful place full of happiness and joy, a place where fillies and colts where playing in the streets and the merchants would sell their goods at the market place and have fun conversations while doing so.

This place was the complete opposite. The streets were almost completely empty and the small amount of ponies that were outside hurried to their destination as quickly as they could, not making eye contact with anypony. It was like they were afraid that some unseen monster hiding in the shadows would snatch them away if they weren't quick enough or stopped to even look at anypony.

"RAINBOW DASH!!!!"

A happy yell pierced through the silence. Before anypony could react the blue pegasus was tackled by an orange blur.

"Scootaloo?!"

"I thought I would never see you again."

"I am back now, don't you worry. How have you been holding on?"

"Well things have been dull since you left but things are improving. Yesterday Cheerilee told us about the Shadowbolts and how they are the greatest flyers around, even better than the Wonderbolts! Next week they will be here for a show and our queen donated tickets to all the foals and fillies. Maybe we can go together!?"

Overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of her almost-sister, Rainbow Dash could only answer with an uncertain yes.

Rarity turned to Applejack.

"Applejack darling, how about you also see you family before I tell you what happens next? We will meet at the town centre in about an hour."

"Yeah good idea, I wannah see how mah family is holding on and how the farm is doing."

"Actually... your family doesn't own the farm anymore." Rarity spoke nervously.

"What!!! WHY?!"

"You should ask Big Mac. I only know that he sold it but I don't know why. They live in Strawberry Street, next to the mayors office."

The orange earth pony went on her way to see her family while the rest of the group went towards the town centre. It didn't take long for Applejack to reach Strawberry Street, she remembered Ponyville well. After looking around for a little bit to see which house belonged to her family, she saw her brother Big Mac cleaning the front garden of what she presumed to be their house.

Applejack immediately ran towards her big brother, embracing him in a warm hug. At first Big Mac didn't know what hit him but when he saw his little sister he couldn't help but cry a little. He hadn't seen Applejack for about a year, he didn't even know if she survived or not. But now he knew and that was enough for him.

"You miss me brother?"

"Eyup"

More words didn't need to be said by either one of them, they were reunited again, that was all that mattered. However there was somepony else who was a strong but most certainly not silent type.

"Applejack!!!!!"

Before she knew it Applejack had something yellow and red hanging around her neck and she could hear sobbing.

"You came back! Ah missed you soo much."

"Ah know you have sugercube."

It didn't take long for Granny Smith to notice that something was going on outside and she also joined the little reunion.

"It's good to have you back."

Applejack released a breath she didn't know she was holding. It was good to be with her family again after being away for almost an entire year. After telling her family about everything she had done while away, there was only one question on her mind.

"Why did y'all sold the farm?"

Big Mac, Apple Bloom and Granny Smith shared a sad look and Big Mac spoke up

"Ah think it is better if ah show you."

Ponyville is not a huge town so it wasn't a long walk but when they finally got to the farm, Applejack could not believe her own eyes. Sweet Apple Acres was still there were it always has been and ground was still full of apple trees however now there were guard towers and barbed wire fences around the perimeter, and there were guards everywhere. Also instead of the Apple family working the farm there were now hundreds of ponies working on the land but all of them were wearing some kind of prison clothing. Above the entrance to the farm stood a sign saying 'Providing Happiness to Everypony'.

It was a sad sight to see. Even from a distance it was clear that most of the prisoners were suffering from malnutrition, some of them looked like they could collapse any second. The guards meanwhile were bristling with energy, constantly walking around while shouting orders at the prisoners. When one of the prisoners, a white stallion with light blue and white hair and three snowflakes as a cutie mark, fell on the ground, one of the guard immediately rushed to him. But instead of helping the stallion on his hooves the guard beat him furiously, the sound of which Applejack would never forget. When the guard was done he simply left, leaving the poor stallion where he lay.

"What in Celestia's good name happened to our farm?" Applejack muttered.

Big Mac tensed up and looked around to see if nopony was within hearing distance. Once he was satisfied he moved close to Applejack and whispered in her ear.

"After Nightmare Moon took over she started setting up work camps and putting prisoners to work in them. The Night Guard who are in control of the work camps decided that they wanted to use our farm, we of course refused but then the Night Guard took control of the farm and gave us two options, work with them or leave. So we choose to leave, we didn't want to partake in the torture of our fellow ponies."

This was something that Applejack could only agree with, to profit from the suffering of others was immoral and she was glad that her family rejected it. It also made her realise just how bad the Lunar Empire truly was. Nightmare Moon may have given many speeches about the rights of batponies and creating a just society. But those were just hiding the truth, that this was a nation of fear and suffering.

It was also at this moment that Applejack decided that she was going to continue her resistance against this tyrant. The only reason she agreed to surrender back in the Crystal Empire was because she realised that saying no wasn't an option, especially when her friends also surrendered. Of course she had thought about actually doing nothing and going along with Nightmare Moon's plan and just living in peace with her family and friends. But seeing what happened with her family's farm and the truth about Nightmare Moon's regime, it reinvigorated the flame of resistance inside her.

Meanwhile the rest of the main 6 were having their own tour of Ponyville. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were talking with each other.

"What are the Shadowbolts exactly?" asked the blue pegasus.

"They are the bravest and most amazing flyers in the world. They even have some former Wonderbolts in their ranks. According to Cheerilee, Nightmare Moon wanted an elite group of flyers within the Night Guard consisting of both ponies and batponies, to protect her. But other than guarding our queen and protecting our Lunar Empire they also perform amazing shows." Scootaloo told while bouncing up and down in excitement.

"How are you doing at school?" Rainbow Dash asked, trying to figure out more about live in Ponyville.

"Well it school isn't as fun as it used to be because since Sweetie Belle left it is just me and Apple Bloom. Cheerilee had to leave for a couple of weeks when the school began again, she said it had something to do with being re-educated but I have no idea what she meant by that. Other than that we learn't a lot of new things that I had no idea about. Did you know that Celestia was a brutal tyrant? She always seemed so kind but Cheerilee told me that she used to imprison ponies that disagreed with her."

Rainbow Dash felt a weird mixture of happiness and sadness. On one hoof she was happy to see Scootaloo again and to see her being so happy and excited, but on the other hoof that what Scootaloo was so excited about, was Nightmare Moon's propaganda. It was sad to see that her "almost sister" had fallen in the clutches of Nightmare Moon's lies. Not that she resented Scootaloo for doing so. No she was still a filly and she would believe anything that a figure with authority, like Cheerilee, would tell her. And even Cheerilee was probably forced to tell those lies.

It was clear to the rainbow maned pegasus that not only had Nightmare Moon won the war but that she was also well on her way to win the peace. Part of her had hoped that Nightmare Moon was going to be a benevolent leader and that nothing would change except some cosmetic differences. But the more time she spent in this new Ponyville the more she realised that she had underestimated the new queen's cruelty.

Fluttershy was looking around, curious to see how her home town had changed. The building were the same as when she left, even some of the businesses were still active, like Suger Cube Corner and Dr. Fauna's clinic. The last one brightened Fluttershy's mood a bit, too many animals had suffered during the war and she was happy to see that some still cared about them. Her mood soured again when she remembered Angel. Fluttershy hadn't seen him since she left, if they were going to live in peace Fluttershy hoped that she would be able to do so with one of her closest friends.

After several minutes of walking the group reached a small cafe called "Berry's Fresh Refreshments". When the group went inside, Twilight Sparkle noticed that the place was mostly empty except for the owner Berry Punch, one mint green unicorn sitting in a corner whispering to a beige earth pony and finally a batpony stallion wearing a trenchcoat sitting at the bar.

The group took a seat at one of the tables and berry Punch approached them to take their orders. Everypony present ordered something to drink.

"Hey Berry, how has life been treating you?" Twilight asked.

Berry Punch took a nervous glance at the lone batpony in the corner before answering in a slightly louder than necessary voice.

"Things have been going great! Nothing to complain about. Under the reign of our benevolent leader life has only improved."

It was clear to Twilight that Berry was lying through her teeth and that the answer was meant more for the batpony than for her. Nevertheless she decided to play along.

"I am so happy to hear that."

After saying goodbye, Berry Punch left to get their drinks. This was also the time that Applejack rejoined the group. Flurrershy was the first who spoke up.

"How is your family holding up?" She asked.

"Absolutely horri-"

Rarity was frantically making shushing gestures to Applejack and pointing towards the batpony in the back of the cafe. Applejack may not have been the smartest pony but she definitely wasn't stupid either, and she quickly put two and two together. Applejack moved closer to the group and continued while whispering.

"Man family is doing fine but the farm has been turned into a prison camp."

"The entirety of Ponyville feels like a prison. I haven't seen a single pony smile. But the important part is that our friends are still alive." Fluttershy spoke up.

"I agree, things could have been much worse." Rainbow Dash said.

"Indeed, you could have been death or imprisoned. But if you want to stay outside prison then it is in your best interest to accept Nightmare Moon's plans for you." Rarity told the rest while using her magic to pick up a bunch of files from her bag.

"What are those?" Asked Twilight.

"These are your new lives."

Author's Note:

I am so sorry for the big delay. I experienced my first case of writers block during this chapter, also a while back I joined a submod for Equestria at War as an artist which is taking up a lot of my time and finally my study requires a a lot more work than expected.

What do you think of how I wrote Applejacks dialogue? I try to copy what I read in other stories and the show, but let me know what you think.