Old Ideas and New Memories

by Dark Side of the Rainboom

Part II

Luna collided with the soft earth. She wearily stood up, an impressive feat to be sure. Though normally should not be applauded for their ability to stand, one should be applauded for their ability to not be dead after such a plummet. Luna was uncertain where she was. Still in her disguised form, she looked around at the surrounding area. It was dimly lit, but not from the sunlight, which, when Luna looked up the hole she’d fallen down, could not be seen. The light in this case came from what looked to be green mushrooms. They emitted a soft bioluminescence. Dripping water could be heard, but there were no nearby pipes to create such a noise. Luna at once thought of turning back into herself and flying up to help in the explosion. Help save ponies from the explosion, that is. However, she was distracted when the very same unicorn stallion from earlier appeared from the darkness.

“Who are you?” Luna demanded, “Speak!”

“Who are we? Who is any of us? I am, he as, you are; we’re all together. One. However, on this occasion you may call Maenon.”

“What?”

“Apologies, tradition dictates I must ask now for your name,” Maenon stated.

“I am…,” Luna didn’t know what to call herself. She hadn’t really thought that far ahead. Quickly, she decided upon the first thing that came to mind. “I am Mu,” she declared.

“Mu?” Maenon pondered, “Of course it is.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Luna asked.

“All are connected, Mu. Come, we must away; else we risk detection by the powers that be.” With that he turned and bolted off into the darkness once more.

“Wait!” Luna called after him. What did he mean by that? She wondered, but her responsibility as co-ruler of Equestria dictated she return to the surface to help her ponies. She looked up, but at once noticed the hole she fell down no longer remained. It was replaced by a jagged stone ceiling, the teeth of stalagmites consuming the space of the cave. Realizing her only hope of escape now relied on Maenon, Luna, that is, Mu ran after him. Her journey took her down a long, narrow corridor with jagged stone walls. The farther she went though, the more smooth the walls became, until the natural forming stone was replaced with not so natural brick (though technically, since the bricks are clay and clay is natural…). She wasn’t even sure where she was going. Hay, Maenon might not even have gone down this corridor. Even still, he could be a figment of her imagination. She could be dreaming. Luna might even be back in Canterlot Castle, asleep at another boring economics meeting. Oh, wait, there he is.

“Ah, so you finally arrived. Did you get lost? No matter, you’re here now. Shall we continue? We still have quite a ways to travel and I’d hate to lose the daylight.” Maenon kept moving forward.

Luna looked around, wondering how he knew what time it was. She knew, of course; her magical attunement allowed her to always know what time it was.

The pair continued down the hallway until a literal light at the end of the tunnel signaled their end. The duo emerged from the tunnel into a large cavern, as big as the Grand Hall in Canterlot. But not as grand. And not a hall either. More like a damp domed stadium. But not for sports. The entire cavern was alight with the sounds of ponies. Some sat around fires laughing and talking. Others stood in front of tables peddling wares. One particular vendor was selling those green mushrooms as both a mortar and a medicine. There were tents of varying sizes and shapes all around the ground. Luna was astonished.

“This is astonishing,” she said, “I had no idea a settlement like this existed.”

“Then we’re doing our job,” a mare said. She had a rose pink coat with hazel eyes and a darker hot pink mane. She was an Earth Pony, and her Cutie Mark was that of a gardening hoe and a wood saw.

“Who are you?” Luna asked.

“I could ask the same of you. I am Tradere, leader of the FPP.”

“I am Mu,” Luna said, looking over the pony in front of her.

“Hm. Well Mu, do you believe in freedom and choice? Do you believe everypony has the right to decide for themselves what they want out of life? Do you believe that the good, moral ponies of this world deserve better than what they’re sometimes given?”

“Uh… yes?”

“Well then Mu,” Tradere gestured behind herself at the settlement, “Welcome to the Crossroads! There will be a meeting in the main tent at the center of town in five minutes. I welcome you to join us.”

Tradere walked away, leaving Luna to her own thoughts. Maenon walked up behind her. “Curious, isn’t she?”

“What do you mean?” asked Luna.

“What does she mean by ‘freedom’? Freedom to choose? But what? Choose what you’re given, what’s already on the table? Or freedom to walk away and make your own path?” Maenon circled around Luna, then walked behind her.

“I don’t understand,” cried Luna, but when she turned around, nopony was there. Luna searched for her partner, but he was nowhere to be found. She cautiously walked to the center of town, wondering just what Tradere’s meeting had in store. As she approached the already massive crowd, she noticed a raised platform where Tradere stood, looking over the ponies before her. Seated next to her were a couple stallions and mares, and… Maenon! How did he get up there? Luna tried to move through the crowd, but the mob of excited ponies proved too thick. She shouted Maenon’s name, trying desperately to get his attention, but the noise drowned her out. Tradere raised her hoof and at once summoned a silence over the crowd.

“Brothers and sisters!” she started, “I have never lied to you! So believe me now when I tell you that the time for talking is over! The time for running is over! The time for being pushed around is over!” She paused for the cheers of the crowd then continued when they settled down. “The time for justice is now! Now we must remove our silk gloves, and dirty our hooves with revolution! For too long we’ve sat idly by while the well to do CEC step on us! Some say we have no hope against them. That their weapons are too powerful. That we cannot win. Well to that I say that I do not believe in their numbers. I do not believe in their weapons. I believe in one thing and one thing only: the power of pony will!” Applause.

“Oh how fortunate that the subjects they administer don’t think. Well today, the shackles come off! The blinders come off! Today, we will revolt! And tomorrow, we will live like kings!”

Luna stood in place, dumbfounded, as the crowd roared around her. They chanted and cheered and applauded so loud, that the princess was afraid the cavern ceiling was going to collapse in on them. Slowly, the crowd dispersed, and all that was left was the stage. On it stood Tradere and Maenon. Luna slowly crawled her way up to the former.

“What did you think?” Tradere asked.

“Was it true?”

“Every word of it,” she said. “By the end of today we will thrive as a great town once more. Now I must go, the battle will start soon. And it will be then that truth wins out over lies.”

Luna watched Tradere trot away for a second time.

“Hope is a powerful thing,” a voice said from behind her.

“Where’d you go off to Maenon?” Luna asked in a quiet voice.

“Hope can topple nations, sustain life, and free spirits. Hope can blind you if you let it. It can deafen you to the point you hear only that which you want to. Would I discount hope though? Would you? That remains to be seen.”

“Wait a minute!” Luna spun around but met only air. Tradere ran up to her.

“Here!” she said, throwing Luna a Morningstar.

“What are we doing?” Luna asked, grabbing it out of the air.

“Funny. C’mon, let’s go!” Tradere ran to the front of another large mob, each pony armed with weapons, be them homemade or scavenged. Luna followed suit.

“Are you ready for a new beginning Mu?” whispered Tradere. Without waiting for an answer, she turned to face the makeshift army, “ARE YOU READY FOR A NEW BEGINNING?!” she bellowed. The crowd responded in kind. At once 100 pegasi lifted off into the air, carrying large ropes tied to the ground. The land they were standing on was actually a giant platform. 50 unicorns all used their magic to destroy the cavern ceiling and then protect the ponies from the resulting falling boulders. When the army reached the surface, Luna found herself right in front of Lunagrad’s town hall, which quickly became a warzone. Ponies charged forward, screaming a bloodcurdling battle cry. The town guards were quickly overwhelmed as the surprise attack left them completely unprepared. The hall was flanked on one side by a river that split the city in two. The rebellion attacked from the other three sides. The guards were trapped.

“Forward!” demanded Tradere. The army stormed the gates to city hall and rushed in like floods through a broken levee. Luna followed Tradere to the top floor, where the revolutionary bucked in the doors leading to a meeting room. Gathered around a table, six ponies didn’t even look up at the intrusion. Instead, the watched as a unicorn sunk a knife into a cake, cutting it into eight slices.

“Your tyranny is at an end!” shouted Tradere, “The Cake Eater’s Coalition is no more. Today, the Free Pie Party will rule!”

“Wait, what?!” Luna exclaimed.

The unicorn who had cut the cake looked up. From behind his small spectacles, his blue eyes looked over Luna. He had a peach coat with a shortened, brown mane. His cutie mark was a white star on a blue banner. “And who is this? Is it someone new?”

“This is Mu,” Tradere answered, “Don’t try to change the subject. No longer will a pony be forced to eat cake, and give up their precious eggs, flour, sugar, and milk to you all so you can satisfy your lust for cake. You keep it all for yourselves, and share nothing with the general populace. Now we will all have pie. There will be pie to share. Pie for everyone!”

“Is that so?” the unicorn laughed, “You may have won this fight, but what makes you think you can keep it that way? Not everypony can handle pie. Not everypony likes pie. And what’s this about sharing pie with everyone? What’s that, one pie for every pony? For most that would be enough, but what happens when, perhaps, a pony has eaten his entire apple pie? What then? Does he say he’s satisfied? Or does he wonder what it would be like to have blueberry? Who does he take that pie from? No, the only equality you’re going to see is equality in poverty. Come, have some cake. It’s Germane Chocolate. You too Mu. At the top you can have any flavor you want. When someone is controlling what type of pie you can eat, all that you’re going to have is discontent.”

“I just wanted some milk,” Luna said meekly.

The unicorn laughed again, “You can have that too.”

“Never!” Tradere lunged at the group of ponies. Luna didn’t want any part of that and bolted out the door. As she ran back down the stairs, an explosion rocked the town hall, and Luna lost her balance. She fell down a flight of stairs and crashed through a large window, plummeting into the river below.

Down…

Down…

Down…

Author's Note:

I sort of went with a different approach. Originally, it was going to be silly. You'll find no more of that here. I would change it, but for some reason I kind of like the tone shift. Also, the good 3/4 of this story is made up on the spot. It was only in the end where I really tried to go for something. Let's see if it works out. That being said, no proofreading either. It's almost time for bed and I want to get this thing out ASAP.