Sunset Over Equestria

by Vict0r1994

Chapter VIII: "The Equestrian Dream"

Author's note: I changed general Ironwill's name to Ironfist, so that he wouldn't be confused with Iron Will, as the names were truly similar and this is only a heads-up for the previous readers of the story. Also, I have to say that the beginning of this chapter is going to be very descriptive, and you might not like it as much as the ones to come, (sorry for that) but the information was needed to create a clear social background for the further chapters and it is essential for understanding the rest of the story, so you MUST read it! - to paraphrase Rarity :)) Enjoy, and please tell me about spelling/grammar mistakes! I'd really appreciate it!

The next few days in Canterlot passed by very quickly for the six mares. Shining Armor was accused of treason and plotting against the regime after Ironfist reported the events of the night to Goldengem, and was removed from both the position of chief investigator and captain of the royal guards, being replaced by the very pony who betrayed him. He was demoted to the rank of general, and was not able to propose Twilight’s theory anymore. Goldengem motivated his actions publicly by saying that there is no evidence to support Shining’s theory and that “Political instability and conflictual tendencies in the military which might lead to a devastating civil war are the last things Equestria needs in these troubled times”, but, as this statement was heavily criticized by many officials, including some chief investigators who were still loyal to Shining Armor, he was forced to show his first display of tyrannical leanings early on in his leadership.

Many ponies agreed to the fact that there was no real evidence to prove Lightningrose’s guilt either, needless to say that Luna’s involvement was merely a supposition and also a very improbable one, so Goldengem went over public opinion, replaced every opposing chief investigator with politically subordinated officers and after no more than a week staged a full anti-Lunar coup d'état in the senate, consolidating his power and increasing his number of enemies in Canterlot for a short period. The removed senators organized protests for the crowning of Princess Luna as the new ruler of Equestria in the aftermath of the autumn coup of 1002 A.N.M.B, but as time passed and the reforms Goldengem implemented benefited their businesses and increased their wealth, most of them started to support the new regime.

In only a few months, several edicts changed the face of Equestrian society. Public education and healthcare budgets were cut down to 0, all trade unions were illegalized and many safety regulations removed, taxes decreased almost to the point of nonexistence so that the economy could develop at a faster pace, and many investments in expensive agrarian and military research were made. The farmers of Equestria initially enjoyed the low taxes and the prospects of a brighter future, but all their hopes were shattered by the prices they had to sell their products on. The much-richer aristocrats modernized all their means of agricultural production by building irrigations and purchasing fertilizers and machinery, thus making the way of hard work of the peasants obsolete. The country Earth Ponies could never afford the newly invented modern tools of production and were forced to work tirelessly for their bare survival, many of them choosing to sell their lands and come into cities where industrialization was at full scale.

They would get a dangerous or poorly paid job there, and some of them had been forced by the circumstances to employ their little fillies as well. Competitive entrepreneurs like the FlimFlam Brothers grabbed several apple orchards, and started monopolizing the whole national cider market with their almost instantly-generated low price cider, sending thousands of Apple family members out of business. In less than three years, because of their flourishing business which sold both cider and cider-making machines to other big landowners, they expanded into apple sales on national scale as well, and provided a tough competition for the small farmers of the country.

As Goldengem aspired to the riches of the dangerous Dragonlands, military production and research companies were granted special privileges such as non-taxation and lack of any kind of safety regulations, and the invention of the rifle and the first artillery guns came pretty quickly, offering the possibility of a very dangerous Earth Pony and Pegasus army which could accompany the magical divisions of Unicorns. In order to colonize those barbarian territories and steal their riches, the king needed a very strong and expensive army which could literally face “the flames of war”, so he did also enact the “decree of the everlasting sun” before December 1002, interdicting the generation of snow from the weather factory, and stipulating that all winter-related holydays (like the New Year or the wrap-up) are due to be cancelled forever, just like the winter itself, in order to achieve bigger harvests and generate even more economic growth at the expense of the poor. As these directives were followed suit by the weather factory, many opposition and protest movements erupted over the nation, but none of them grew popular as they had all been brutally appeased by the military, the methods the regime used varying from simple beatings to imprisonment or even lethal gunfire every once in a while. Ponykind had never faced such a tyrannical regime, powered by the greedy thirst for gold and blood of a leader who did everything to achieve more power, even if that meant concentrating all the wealth in the hands of a rich elite.

Champagne was pouring in crystal glasses in Canterlot, while the ponies of Equestria were living in poverty and were constantly struck by pandemics such as malaria due to the lack of proper health care. By 1006 A.N.M.B, the preparations were over, the needed coal and gunpowder resources secured, and the war against the Dragonlands had begun. Ponyville did not escape the marauding reform either. Twilight had lost her job as royal student tasked to write friendship reports immediately after they arrived at home and remained nothing but a librarian, Rarity’s business went bankrupt as big clothing companies produced their commodities on assembly lines now and she didn’t want to leave Ponyville to take a designer job, Applejack suffered from the same problems as every farmer in the country, Rainbow Dash did not have to clear the now more-restricted weather anymore and was left unemployed, Pinkie Pie had fewer and fewer clients at the Sugar Cube Corner after Filthy Rich’s Mc’cupcakes expanded in the little town with a new bakery, and Fluttershy was devastated when massive deforesting was started at the beginning of 1004 A.N.M.B for the construction of the new Ponyville diamond mine, jewelry refining plant, ammunition plant and the auxiliary apartment buildings for these facilities, as thousands of forest critters were left homeless. A new Ponyville was being built, and it didn’t resemble their nice, quiet and happy home any longer. The home of the elements of harmony was thrown in disharmony by greed and lust for power, and, at least according to a still happy and humorous Pinkie Pie, Discord could take lessons on chaos from Goldengem, as chocolate rains are much tastier and better than plagues and “NO HEARTH’S WARMING EVE PARTIES!”…

Had it not been for Rarity’s gem finding spell and Spike’s eager contribution in collecting them, all these vicissitudes would have affected the group just as much as the rest of Equestria. However, it was not the case, and the gem-selling business, along with a few luxury dresses Rarity was able to sell from time to time, provided enough income to help the less fortunate members of the group and to finance the group’s endeavors.

Since the first day the six mares got back home, Twilight red everything about the Codex Tenebrarum and made trips all over Equestria to search for the original and for Trixie, but her effort proved to be fruitless. Months of tireless research passed by, but the ancient book remained a mystery and the mare who probably stole the pages and the time spell was missing and was nowhere to be found. It was like Trixie vanished from existence, as nopony knew anything about her whereabouts since Celestia’s death, not even the representatives of the Bank of Eqvancashire in Blackburg! Her friends helped or accompanied her in every possible task, as they were all saddened by what happened to ponies everywhere because they couldn’t solve the puzzle of the Royal murder. Even Shining Armor would come from time to time to check on the progress and help with information.

Despite being buried in work, Twilight observed that her bigger brother was somehow distant and confused every time he came in Ponyville, and one winter night she persuaded him into telling her what thoughts haunted his mind. A wind of change and unholy warmness of February blew in from Cloudsdale, stroking the mane of the two unicorns over the once-frozen fields of a quiet little provincial town, now peculiarly disguised in a sick poison joke of endless green.

“It’s horrible, Twi! It’s just… too much. So, so much! Yesterday, I was tasked to “stop” some ponies who protested against the no-winter holidays reform in Manehattan “by any means possible”, and I was even ordered to use lethal spells against the protesters! Yet, I made a pledge to protect this nation, to do anything for its interests and its well-being and to serve its government, no matter how bad or good it is, so I had to finish my mission. A good soldier must serve the nation, but a good brother must always help his little sis, and those things can’t happen simultaneously any longer! Celestia knows Twi that I love you more than I love everything in this world and I will never betray you or stop helping you, but I love my country too and I don’t know what to do! I want to join the underground Lunar resistance and stop fighting my fellow ponies, but my soldier obligations won’t allow me! You know that I’d never cross my word Twi, so I have to serve Goldengem as well as long he is the ruler…”

“Brother, you swore to protect Equestria and the well-being of everypony, and those are the very things Goldengem destroys! Cutting Health and Education budgets for the military and offering privileges to the elites until the farmers are starving and the middle class is destroyed are all attacking the well-being of Equestria! By betraying him you won’t even betray the government you should serve, as the rightful government of our country opposed him and was dissolved this autumn! Shining, you were always my BBBFF and I love you too more than the light in my eyes and the sun on a cold winter day, and this is why I tell you that you should stop following these orders! You can protect Equestria by helping the few remained Lunar rebels in Canterlot give the throne to the rightful heir or by helping us get the time spell and bring… <sobbing> Celestia back, not by working for a heartless monster who destroys everything. You are the best, Shining, and I’ll always trust you!” Said the magenta unicorn while pulling her bigger brother into a tight hug and letting her tears flow.

He was rendered speechless by the reaction of his beloved sister, and did nothing else but letting out a sigh and pulling into the hug as well. Before parting ways, he looked Twilight in the eyes and tried to force a smile on his visibly pained face.

“I’ll always be here for you Twi, and if Goldengem ever threatens you, I’ll fight him and all of his armies to protect you, but for now, I must obey my government. An honest stallion never crosses his oath.”

These were the last words he said before leaving that night, and the white unicorn never mentioned the cruel deeds he was forced to commit in any other meetings. The first year had passed, leading to no breakthroughs in the research of the six mares, exactly like the second or the third one.

Many things happened until the year of 1006 A.N.M.B, like Big Mac’s recent recruitment in the armed forces after the apples realized that they could no longer live only on their farming earnings, or Spike’s growth in height of approximately 10 inches which allowed him to stand almost at the same level Twilight or Rarity did, although he was far even from becoming a teenage dragon.

It was a nice spring morning in Ponyville, and Applejack and Fluttershy were heading back home after a meeting at the library. Fluttershy would usually go home with Rainbow Dash, but as the blue pegassus didn’t show up at the meeting today, she left with the other pony who lived in the town’s outskirts.

“I just can’t believe what happened all this time, Applejack! The princess gone, our beautiful forest cut down, Ponyville becoming unsafe with all this soldiers and grumpy scary ponies in the new quarter… It’s really bad. I have to take care of thousands of animals now that their former home is gone, and I’m really worried about your brother now that he left to fight the big, mean and scary… dragons.”

“Don’t worry Fluttershy! Ah’m sure Big Mac’s gonna’be just fine! He’s a strong stallion.” Said Applejack partly to calm herself, not only to confort her friend.

“Anyway, ah don’t how ah’m goin’to buck’em apples now. Ah’ve got a full orchard to harvest, and ya know how’ah handled that much apples by mahself last’ime.”

“You should ask Rainbow Dash. She is a good friend in need, and we don’t want you tired again.”

“Ah know… An’now that that magical items shopkeepa’ from Blackburg sent us a letter ‘bout Trixie, Twilight may need me to go an’investigate, and mah family needs help too. What the hay? Ah should go ask Rainbow Dash, but Ah s’ppose she might be busy today as she didn’t show up.”

“She said that they needed her at the Wonderbolts Academy. The instructors were mobilized in the war, and the best students have to train the new recruits themselves for a few days, but she’ll come back in one or two days. I need help too with finding a few rabbits who ran in the Everfree forest when their home was destroyed. I, I… I’m afraid they will starve or be eaten by some horrible beast in that scary Celestia forsaken place.”

“Ah can help you with that. Winona and me make a great team when it comes to tracking livestock… ah mean, animals.” Applejack corrected her mistake after she met a seemingly furious gaze from Fluttershy, and her friend’s face lightened up immediately.

“You would? Oh thank you so, so much, Applejack! But I wouldn’t want you to let your family down. You are busy with the harvest, and”

“No worries sugarcube! Ah’d neva’ miss a chance to help a friend. Besides, this’ll be an easy task if Ah can find somepony to help me buck those apples today. Ah don’t have the time to wait for Rainbow… Hey, what’s all that fuss about?”

The two turned their attention towards a nearby street which led to the new quarter. Several shouts could be heard from the far end of the street, and a very big crowd of ponies was amassed in front of a huge building with big cylindrical furnaces.

“I don’t have any idea. That is the place where they make ammunition for their evil killing machines. I don’t want to go there. It’s a dark and… dangerous place.” Pointed out Fluttershy with fear in her voice.

“Come on Fluttershy! Ah s’ppose takin’ a look wouldn’t hurt anypony. Maybe the new ponies ain’t so friendly’n happy, but Ah still think we should help’em if they’re in trouble, and get to know’em better!”

“Okay. I just hope the soldiers with evil killing machines aren’t the cause of the problem. A look wouldn’t hurt us, but they can.”

“It’s okay, sugarcube. Nopony’s gonna’ be shot in mah town! Not even if that fancy tyrant comes’here wit’his own gun. It’d be mah pleasure to buck the hay out of him!”

“If you say so. Pinkie Pie said the new ponies are nice too, but the soldiers and some of them seem a little bit dangerous.” Concluded Fluttershy with resignation as she couldn’t stop her justice-loving friend from intervening. She also wanted to help any pony in need, even the ponies who lived now on what used to be the house of her animal friends, so she was supporting Applejack’s decision, but she feared the fact that Goldengem might order his ponies to dispose of them if they kept meddling in his affairs, like searching for Trixie and helping his opponents in the same time.

As they got closer to the factory’s main entrance, they saw a big group of ponies gathered in front of the plant with several banners, and a considerable number of soldiers standing close-by and shooting cold looks at the workers. The workers seemed to be led by a crimson earth pony with a golden mane, who kept shouting protest slogans from the middle of the group. The two mares could not see his cutie mark, as many ponies, even some fillies, stood alongside him, but they could hear some kind of song when they got closer.

We won’t work another minute
We won’t work another minute
If the fillies are still beaten
If the fillies are still beaten
And the strike we will not stop
And the strike we will not stop
Till the wages don’t go up!
Till the wages don’t go up!
Basic rights is all we wanted
Basic rights is all we wanted
Trade unions must be founded!
Trade unions must be founded!

Every phrase was sung at first by only one pony, and then a chorus of hundreds of ponies would follow. This description of the working conditions made Applejack’s conception of Goldengem even worse. Some members of her family were now working in factories, and she knew they had a 12 hours workday, a wage which isn’t big enough to feed an entire family and machines where clumsy or even negligent ponies could get their hoofs chopped, but the employment of fillies and corporal punishment upon them? That was a new low.

After the song, the crimson pony proceeded immediately with a lecture which seemed to be addressed to the ponies around him.

“We will never go back to work unless they make some concessions! Not a hoofstep back, comrades! We work 12 hours a day at very high temperatures and humidity only to get a miserable wage which forces us to employ even our little fillies if we want to afford medication or a bed we could sleep in! Many of us had to sell their lands and bring their families to their new homes, and those can’t even afford to feed everypony properly! The food is cheap and plenty now, sure, but our wages are so low that we can’t afford anything else! Businesscolts such as Fancypants, Flim and Flam or Filthy Rich expand their business empires and their luxury mansions every day because of the wealth we create, while we have to see our fillies remaining uneducated and hurt in acid spills or beaten if they take a break! There’s no backing away! We are the engine of Equestria, comrades! We want the rights Celestia gave us, or the proletarians will rise up!!! We’ll stand in solidarity with the workers of Manehattan, Stalliongrad, Canterlot and all of Equestria until this tyrant falls in the fires of revolution!”

After this mysterious crimson stallion finished his passionate speech, a wave of sounds which could be described as a hybrid of cheers and battle cries erupted from the crowd, apparently putting the soldiers on alert.

“Silence! There is no negotiating! Strikes are illegal according to the decree of the reformation of labour, and we will use force if you don’t go back to work immediately! This is the last warning, slackers!” An officer who had just arrived shouted this words, but the crowd reacted by cheering more vehemently and by starting to shout in chorus “We won’t back away!”.

Annoyed, the officer whispered something to another soldier, and in a few seconds, without other words, he shot a bullet in the air to calm the spirits, and then addressed the protesters.

“Very well, you lazy slackers! You asked for it! If you don’t go back to work immediately, we’ll open fire on the fillies on charges of collective insubordination! You don’t believe me? I sent a team to infiltrate the building on the other side so that they could aim at the fillies in the back. Sergeant Lonely Flyer, take positions and order your team to ready their weapons!”

“Sir, yes sir!” replied a voice from the inside of the building, where a handful of soldiers could be seen aiming their guns at the crowd.

“This is a shameless abuse!” “Murderers!” “How could you?” “Mindless slaves of the tyrant!” or “Please, spare our fillies gentlecolts! They did nothing to you!” were just a few of the cries which could be understood in the desperate rumbling of the workers now.

“Hold on a sec officer! The mayor’ll neva’ approve this ‘buse, and neither do Ah and mah friend here!
We’re elements of harmony and your king needs us, so you’d better stop now! Right partner?” Said Applejack with a lot of confidence, while Fluttershy seemed to be shaking behind.

“Well, I guess. You are really mean, sir!”

“Damn sure he is! Nopony ain’t gonna’ be shot in our town!”

“Stay out of this miss! This is not your business and I receive orders only from my superiors, not from the “elements of harmony”. Your princess died a long time ago, and so did your power! Now you pile of slackers will either get in the factory and work, or your fillies will join this loudmouth’s princess! Soldiers, seize their leader!”

Applejack could barely keep herself from bucking the officer’s flank, but she knew that the Goldengem’s ponies were capable of anything and she priced the lives of the little fillies too much to risk it. She could just imagine Applebloom being forced to work into a factory 12 hours a day and shot by some heartless pony! The little fillies seemed just as innocent as her sister, only a lot dirtier and sad. What kind of heartless beast would threaten to kill them only to achieve its goal?

“Applejack, we should go! We can’t help them now! We will when we find evidence and bring the princess back!”

“Ah s’ppose we can’t, but when will we find evidence, Fluttershy? Ah can’t let ponies be treated like that, ‘specially helpless’ittle fillies! Ah guess… <sigh> Ah guess Ah’ll just help’ya with the bunnies and hit the hay then.”

The workers returned in the factory defeated, while the leader was fired and hit a few times by the soldiers. The two mares left the street before seeing the end of the scene, but a certain stallion followed them panting heavily.

“Miss, Miss! Wait up! I never got the chance to thank you for trying to help us! I’m Redstar!”

“Well howdy there stranger! Ah’m Applejack, and this fine mare here is Fluttershy, one of mah best friends! Say, aren’t you the pony who led those workers?”

“I merely organized them, Applejack! I wouldn’t say I was their leader. Anyway, it doesn’t matter now as they fired me and I won’t be able to do it anymore. Again, thank you very much for trying to help us. Both of you! It was a very kind gesture.”

“No problem. Hey, are ya by chance lookin’ to earn a few fair bits now that they fired ya?”

“Well, in fact, I do. Why?”

”Ah happen to be a farmer, and ah need some help buckin’ trees and pullin’ carts. Ya seem to be storng’nough to handle it, so, interested?”

“Count me in! I’m eager to work as long as it for the good of the common pony folks of Equestria! You don’t even have to pay me. I know how those big landowners give you a hard time, and it’s the least I could do after you tried to protect the fillies back at the plant!”

“Ah have a feelin’ you and Ah are gonna get along just fine, partner! I appreciate how ya stood up for the poor pony folks back there!”

Applejack parted ways with Fluttershy at the river, and promised to visit and help her later now that she had got some help for bucking apples. Afterwards, she and Redstar went down the way to Sweet Apple Acres. She hoped to get to know this mysterious stallion better, and maybe they could even become friends as he seemed to be a hard-working social justice-advocating pony as well.

The sun was getting up on the sky, and the two Earth Ponies were trotting towards the wide green orchards of the apple family, unaware of the importance their meeting will have in Equestrian history.