The battle for Equestria
Chapter 1
"Reject the lies of Celestia. Push the tyrant from your hearts, and into the pits of oblivion!" A powerful voice echoed through the streets. "She wishes to scorch the lands in a poison sun, and to chain everypony in the shackles of oppression. Rise up, my friends, and fight for your freedom!"
More propaganda, polluting the air of Ponyville. It was becoming more and more common these last few weeks, and more vicious, violent. It made the Ponies of Ponyville nervous. There were reports of riots in Canterlot, supporters of Celestia and Luna, clashing in the streets. Apparently, much of the city was in need of repairs, and fires had lasted a whole week after it began. Rumours said the city had been in lockdown, supposedly to find the ringleaders of the attacks, and bring them to justice.
Blues hurried down the street, his satchels carrying a weeks' worth of rations. Food was becoming scarcer, and Sweet Apple Acres was struggling to supply everyone in the town. Big Macintosh had spent the last three days standing guard at the barn house, where they had stored the apples, in case somepony tried to take more than their fair share.
Blues sighed at the thought of that poor stallion, constantly wound tight, paranoid something would happen. He was so lost in his thought of his friend that it took him some time to realise he was surrounded by smoke. He gagged on the smothering air, and his eyes watered. Squinting, he was the cause. A large cross erected in the centre of the street, burning strong. Then the blue pony noticed something else. Nailed to the cross was a large, dark body.
"Down with the Dark bringer! Death to Luna, and may she rot in the depths of Hell!" yelled a tall, white Pegasus pony. He wore what looked like royal armour, but it was rusted, bent and jagged, as though it had been worn in battle. The Pegasus had gathered a small crowd, all gawking at the burning image of princes Luna, or as the dummy was attired, Nightmare Moon. Blues backed away, turning down a small side street, to avoid any more of these horrible shows.
After some time, he made his way back to where he was staying. Sweet Apple Acres. Big Macintosh had insisted he stayed with them for now, seeing as his home in Manehatten was currently in a bitter power struggle between Luna and Celestias supporters. As he walked up the path towards the farmhouse, he dwelled on his home. It was probably burned to the ground by now. He grimaced. Why the hell didn't the princesses just declare war instead of letting rioters do all the dirty work? At least in war they would both strive to keep the cities intact, so there would be little to rebuild, wouldn't they?
The blue pony didn't have much time to think on it any more, as his thoughts were interrupted by a tired, yet panicky voice.
"Blues, yer home, y'allright? I thought summin foul'd happened to you" said the voice. Blue turned around to find Big Macintosh only inches from his face. His eyes were wide, but his pupils were almost microscopic, and it was easy to see the shadows under his eyes, even though his dulled red fur. "I'm fine Mac, town was pretty quiet, 'sept for some Celestia radical mouthin off to everypony."
Big Macintosh sighed, and his ears dropped. "I'm glad you're safe Blues, I hate letting ya go into tha' place alone, I'm mighty frightened for any pony to be there these days" he said solemnly, looking at the ground. His eyes were fixed on a small pebble in the dirt, and he didn't look up, not at all. Blues cocked an eyebrow, something wasn't right. Big Macintosh was run down, yes, but he always kept up his spirits, for his family more than himself.
"What's happened, Mac?" the Earth pony asked. No answer. "Mac, come on now, what have you done?" Still no answer. "Please Mac, you can tell me, it's ok, you know you can trust me." Big Macintosh just kept gazing at the little pebble, as if expecting it to just jump up and make the world right again. After a long pause, when Blues was just about to turn around and leave him alone, the red work horse lifted his head. He looked as though he was on the edge of tears, very uncharacteristic of the normally cool headed colt. "They came running at the barn, they had torches..." He started shaking. Blues stared at him, not quite sure what do think. "What are you talking about, buddy? Who had torches?" He asked. Macintosh sighed, and looked behind him, signalling to the corner of the barn.
Blues looked at Big Macintosh, and then began to slowly move towards the corner of the barn. As he grew closer, he caught a smell in the air. It was rancid, like a Hydras breaths. Instantly, he knew what he would find, and braced himself. After a pause, he poked his head around the corner, and jerked back almost instantly.
"Mac, what the hell did you do?" He yelled, and suddenly felt his breakfast coming back up to greet the world. He managed to swallow it back down. Macintosh was just sat in the mud, his eyes closed, and his body trembling. "They were gunna burn th'barn. They wanted ta destroy all d'apples. That's all that we got left in them doors, and we gotta feed as many as possible with'm. They came at me when ah told em to scoot back t'town. I didn' think."
At this, he finally did break down. He buried his head into the dirt, allowing dark, brown tears to form miniature streams down the beaten path. His spirit was crushed. Just one wrong action, one spur of the moment act of rage, and the calmest colt in all of Ponyville, maybe even Equestria, had been reduced to crying like a filly without her cutie-mark.
Blues just stood there. What could he do? He couldn't abandon him, could be? The red stallion had given him a home, numerous times before the two princesses clashed, during the winter wrap up, and whenever the blue pony had passed through for a night. They had become good friends. Blues poured his heart out to the stallion, told him his darkest fears, his greatest achievements, even which mare or colt he mounted on a drunken bender every now and then. And now here he was, reduced to this, so far from his usual demeanour that it could be mistaken for a dream, or perhaps a nightmare.
"Mac..."He paused. "It'll be ok man, I promise you. I'll deal with this, I swear, just...go inside, go to bed and have a good, long sleep. You haven't rested in days."The stallion pulled up his head, his stream of tears seemed to have slowed. "y'know I can't do that Bluey, who'll watch them apples while I'm gone?" he asked? Blues rolled his eyes. He was getting stressed. Then again, should he leave the big guy alone? From what he had gathered from Granny Smith, the last time Mac had cried was when Applejack had left for Manehatten when she was just a filly. And he was only young back then. What would he be like now, with his kind of guilt hanging over him? No, he shouldn't leave the poor stallion alone, not while he was like this, it was too dangerous.
"Don't worry about it big guy, I'll go and ask Fluttershy to send over some help so you can go rest." Big Macintosh swung his head around, looking more confused now than upset. "What'll that little pussy willow do to help? Cry them varmints away?" He squinted, his new paranoia obviously flaring up again."
"Calm down big boy" Blues urged. "She might be a little timid, but I doubt anyone else could get a bear or some wolves to help them. Maybe she'll even call in a favour from that Manticore she's always harping on about. She knows how important your apples are, I'm sure she would lend us a hoof".
The stallion glared at Blues, but finally his eyes drooped, and he looked as though he could pass out. His stress, as well as the tiredness and guilt, had finally sunk in. His head lolled, and his legs, which looked almost twig-like in the dimming sun, began to tremble. Blues rushed up to him, and placed his neck under Big Macintoshes head, supporting him. "Come on big guy, let's get you to bed" he chimed, trying to sound as cheery as possible for the work horse's sake. He eventually guided his friend into the farm house, and towards the stairs. "Macintosh, are you alright?" came a voice from behind. Appljack. "I'm fine sis" he replied, without as much as a glance. "I just need some shut-eye, or I'll prolly do summin worse than I did to" Blues raised a hoof over the bigger stallions mouth "That's enough big guy, all that crap can wait till sunrise, ok?" He clenched his eyes, hoping Big Macintosh would drop the subject, so not to startle AJ. All he felt was the colt nod in submission, and keep walking up the steps.
Once Blues was confident the red horse could get to his room by himself, he doubled back to AJ. "Hey, Apple Jack, maybe you should go ask Fluttershy to send over a bear or some wolves or something, to keep any crazies from your apples." She looked concerned, yet accusing. "What happened Blues? I know when something's wrong with my own brother" she demanded. "He's fine, he's just tired and stressed out from guarding that damned barn. Just get Fluttershys help, I'm gonna make sure he's ok." And with that, he began walking up the stairs again. "Do NOT order me around in my own home, you blue freeloader" came a poisonous voice from behind. He looked back at the orange mare, his face sporting a look of pure dominance, something it was defiantly not used to. "Get. Fluttershy. NOW!" he retorted. Apparently, he didn't look like someone to mess with at that moment in time, because AJ turned on her hooves and made for the door. "Oh, and AJ" he added. "Tell that Pegasus that any carnivore she sends over will have enough food for the night." Now he was finished.
Blues ascended the stairs, making his way to Big Macintoshes room. When he opened the door, he found the poor guy on the floor, having collapsed from his tiredness only inches before his bed. Blues pulled off the covers and threw them over the sleeping beauty, and gazing down. He sighed to himself. He would go out to the barn early the next morning. If Fluttershy had been able to send anything over, hopefully they would have gotten rid of what was left of the two radicals behind. If he could clean everything up, maybe he could convince Macintosh it was just a bad dream after all. He gazed at the sleeping figure on the floor. He bent down and gave him a quick lick on the nose. "Sleep well big guy, you don't deserve any of this."
He looked out of the window. The sun was almost set, and the moon was just peeking from behind the mountains. It made Blues snort. At least those two bitches could still do their jobs, for now.
Chapter 2
The sun peered through the crack in the curtains. The dazzling orange caused particles of dust to glint like fiery stars. Blues clenched his eyes shut, trying to block it out completely. After a moment, he realised the futility of it, and raised his head. Shaking the sleep from his eyes, he squinted around, looking for the red ponies' small alarm clock. As usual, it was perched on a small table next to the bed. He squinted his eyes a bit more, trying to make out the time. "The hell? Ten in the morning? And the suns only just coming up?" he whispered to himself, in mild irritation.
He groaned, and slammed his head down into his pillow, which gave an uncharacteristic grunt. His eyes shot open, then looked down towards his nose. Since when was his pillow red? And when did it start smelling so good? His eyes lost focus in tired though, and then he remembered whose room he was in.
"You mind not hittin me so hard there, Bluey? I don't think I'm so inclined to have a colt such as yer'self poking round my behind" said a drowsy voice, as the red fur shifted. Blues pulled his head back. Right next to where his nose had been, was a great big green apple, sliced in half. Even closer than that was a short, cropped tail. "Erm, I...I didn't..." The blue pony began, before Big Macintosh raised his head. His mane was sticking up every which way. "Dun worry 'bout it" he said, his eyes drowsy, but a smile on his face.
Blues pulled himself up off of the floor, and stretched his legs one by one, and stopped, one leg in the air, when he noticed the red stallion staring at him, eyebrows raised as high as they would go. "What?" Blues asked "What's wrong?" Macintosh seemed to be...blushing? It was hard to tell under his already red fur, but his ears gave it away, their insides flushed redder than usual. "Erm, Bluey, you know its mornin', right?" He inquired. "Yeah, so wha..." Blues slammed himself back down to the floor. "OH MY GOD I'M SO SORRY" he yelped, his face a more obvious red than the work-horses. "Why the hell don't we wear clothes in this damn town?" He buried his head in his hooves. Big Macintosh let out a small chuckle. "Dun worry 'bout it, Blue. Taint nothin I aint seen before between my own back legs." Blues blushed harder at the thought, but shook it off before Big Macintosh noticed.
He waited for a while, until he was more presentable, the finally got up. He shook his mane back into something resembling its usual shape, and then made for the door. "You coming down stairs, big guy?" he asked. He noticed Macintosh was hesitant, his smile faded back into the frown of last night. "Ah don't think I can, Blues" he said, sitting up on the floor, but his head down low. "I don't think I wanna expose AJ and Applebloom to someone like me." His eyes were fixed on a crack in the floor boards now. This gloomy version of the red stallion really wasn't pleasurable to see. "They'll be fine, they won't even know" Blues reassured him, a hoof on his shoulder.
It took almost an hour before Blues could coax the work horse from his room, and that was only because they were both too hungry to bear. As they both descended the stairs, he was quickly pushed aside but an orange blur, and shoved again as it dragged Big Macintosh into a room, and slammed the door. Blues shook his head, recovering. He could hear Appljacks raised voice from behind the door, but he didn't try to make out the words. She would kill him if he found out he was eavesdropping on her. He waited at the bottom of the stairs, listening to the muffled sounds of AJ, who seemed to be very distressed. Blues instantly knew what she was talking about. He dropped his ears, hoping that the red stallion would be able to handle what his sister had in store. Was she distraught? Hatful? Ashamed? The blue colt shuddered at the though. What if Big Macintosh was kicked out, exiled from the Apple family?
After a long period of AJs frantic voice, it went quiet. Then a deeper, more masculine voice, still inaudible, came through the door. It was short, maybe only a few words, but followed directly by muffled sobs, from what sounded like both the Apple siblings. Blues prayed that Macintosh was ok. He jumped to his feet as soon as the door swung open, gently clunking against the wall. Big Macintosh was the first out, directly followed by his sister. The fur around his eyes was dark and matted with moisture, and his tail was directly under his legs. But his head wasn't low to the ground, but held up, making the stallion look as though he had regained at least some of his soul. Applejack looked the same, hey eyes reddened, and her tail curled. However, she bore a faint smile. She shoved her older brother in the side, towards the kitchen. "Don't worry big brother" she said, in a low, calm voice. "It'll be ok, you did what you had to, like any good brother would." He walked off, towards the kitchen. Applejack looked after him, and then turned sharply towards Blues.
"I take it you know what he did last night" she stated, firmly. He could only nod his head. "You better understand what this is doin to the poor feller, I aint seen him bawl like a foal since he WAS a foal, ye'hear?" He nodded again. "Now he aint got much in the way of close friends, he aint the social type, but I want you to stay with him as much as y'can, make sure he's alright, and that he don't need to do what he did to the next pony that thinks he can take away what food we has left." She eyed him, sternly. More like an irritated mother than someone holding true contempt. "You're good for Macintosh, as much as I hate to say it. You and Caramel are the only ponies he gives a candied apple about, besides his family. So make sure he don't do nuthin stupid, y'hear?" Blues nodded again, looking at the ground. "I wouldn't do anything to hurt Macintosh" he said. "That guys been good to me since the day we met, he's always been there when I need him. It's only right that I do the same for him."
Applejack looked him over. "He won't be too upset for long, I recon. Nothin gets him down for long, and I'd bet my mane that this won't either. But we need him to be strong now, with all that Equestria's comin to these days." She sighed. Now that Blues thought on it, it was the Apple family who stood to lose the most from any war. Their family was large, and closely bonded.
He nodded one last time, and made his way to the kitchen, while Applejack went to wake Applebloom. Big Macintosh was nursing a bowl of oats, staring at it more than eating. After a while, he bent down, took one bite, and pushed it away, as if it had done something wrong. His face was bland, devoid of any form of emotion. "How you feelin, buddy?" Blues asked. "I knew Applejack would understand. She knows you better than anyone" he said, trying to reassure the colt. He just looked at Blues, his eyes looked different. Not hollow as Blues had expected, but like a glass half full. He still had the spark that everyone saw, that gave him the respect of everypony that he met, but they looked like fragile glass. He closed his eyes. "I don't know what ta do, Bluey." He said. "I know I did what any pony would have done in that situation, the entire Apple legacy is tied up in that barn, it means everythin to all the Apple family. That's where AJ had her first Apple family reunion. Tarnation, it was the first place I ever mounted a...mare. It's part of the Apple legacy. An' the apples, they keep half of Ponyville from starvin, with food so hard to come by these days. I wouldn' let ANYpony harm that old building." His voice was breaking towards the end. Part of his usual flame seemed to reignite, only for it to die right away. "But I still killed them colts. Wha' if they had foals at home?" He rested his head on the table.
Blues searched for something to say, to help the poor stallion out of his rut, to help him put a lazy smile back on his face. "Then their foals would be better off, not having some crazy, barn burning bastards teaching them about the world." He stamped a hoof to the ground, to drive his point home. Big Macintosh stared at him, a little dumbfounded at his friends' sudden bitterness. His ear twitched as an awkward tension started to fill the air. Blues felt nervous, had he really just said that? He had to break the silence. "Erm, well, if it cheers you up, I guess I could just let you mount me and blow off some steam..."Yeah, that would REALLY make things less weird. Big Macintosh looked even more startled, his eyes wide, and his pupils like pin pricks, which was his expression for what felt like a year. Suddenly, his lower lip started to quiver and distort into what could only be described as a frowning smile. Then, after a second, he burst into an awkward, inhaling laughter. A true country bumpkin laugh. Blues spent a few seconds startled, before he realised Big Macintosh had thought he was joking, and joined him in this laughter. "Oh Bluey, I hate you for makin me laugh at a time like this." He choked out, his voice rasping from the pain his awkward form of laughter must have caused.
Blues smiled, bumping his head gently to Macintoshes in affection. "Glad to make you smile." He said. "I doubt I could handle a stallion as large as yourself, anyway" he joked, to which the red horse replied "How would you know?" with a somewhat suspicious look on his face. Blues paused. "Erm, well, you weren't exactly discrete this morning, yourself." Was all he could think to say. "Pfft, look who's barkin, five-legs" was his reply, to which they both resumed their laughter.