Silver sighed and rested her head on the table. It was raining, and she couldn't help but close her eyes and want to drift off to the quiet pattering on her windows and roof. The wall facing the outside was darkened, so Silver could only see the car lights below. (It was also very dark out) Heavy, menacing clouds covered the sky, leaving a cold and desolate feeling in the air.
She kept the lights off in the living room. She didn't want people peeking in on her reading. Ponies who read books and manuscripts were preferred to be kept at an arms length away. Ponies who usually read these old history books have had the stereo type of 'conspiracy nut' stamped on them for life. Despite having the 'freedom of speech', President Luna always shut down and arrested the conspiracy nuts if they brought her or the Rebellion into the mix.
Silver closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip. Potts was a nutjob, just like the rest of the professors. Just like her father. Silver turned her head so her muzzle was squished on the cool surface of her desk. She let a long, frustrated groan escape her, and she couldn't help but notice the fact that she was fretting over a simple stack of books.
Since all of her homework for her other classes were done, she lifted her head and reached for the dusty manuscript (which were now wrapped in a thin layer of latex). Silver was only able to rent one, and she hadn't got to reading it yet. It was the smallest, only a few pages wrapped in a leather binding. Setting it in front of her, she opened it up to the first page and began reading.
'For how long have we fallen? These brothers and sisters of mine call for me, but my hooves are stones deep in the earth, rooted in the idea of freedom. How have my winged and horned siblings and cousins gave in to such anarchy and darkness? The Lady of the Night has betrayed their freedom, and banished the sun from the sky.'
Interesting, Silver thought as she tried to grasp the difficult language. It was old, very old, and Silver squinted at it as if to make it clearer.
'Alas! These fools think she will spare! I laugh and shout at their deliberate ignorance and their jubilant will to follow like young ducklings! Fie, fie on your ignorant behavior! The night is a cage and the moon is the lock holding you back. For do not forget your brothers that fell to the moon's wrath and misjudgment.
Perhaps I should let you all fall, and be in torment! For the queen of betrayal, the general of hate, this is nothing but a brush of dust off her shoulder. She throws our mother out, banishing her to the depths of darkness and mange.'
Hello, Silver thought. "'Throws our mother out', huh?" she typed something onto her notepad on her com, and continued to read. That sounded like a rebellion to Silver.
'Perhaps I should have let you fall into the fire, cold moon! You spat on our mother and sent her to the dark without so much of a goodbye from her children! Aye, but the sun sets every day. She falls behind the mountains and seas, leaving her warm light for another time. There comes a time when the moon must rise and have her night of glory, letting her cool light wash the ponies below. She has hung in the sky and let the world burn, not letting light give way to the ones who fight the fire! She brutally rid those with the ability to take flight and bend reality by drowning them! Their screams are almost far more than I can bear. She leaves us wingless, seedless ones here, so as to rule over us in her paper castle. She destroys the land itself.
But the moon also has to set as well. When that day comes, the church temples will ring with joy as the moon sets behind the mountains, resting for her sister, the bringer of life! The sun will rise with the clouds, and she will triumph over the moon with a glory that leaves us unable to speak! Aye, my siblings, we will rebel against the cold moon and bring back our mother, the all golden sun in the celestial above!
Yet the moon will plot, and the moon will plan.
For how far have we fallen?'
No way, Silver thought, her jaw dropping. The book, the history book, said that the very president that protected the night and the day, had started the Rebellion for no reason. Silver couldn't help but feel a bit cynical.
She jotted down a few other notes, then closed the book. She turned to her com. "Com?" she called softly. The com beeped and blinked.
"Yes?" the com's smooth voice echoed through the room.
"Send a message to Professor Potts." the com beeped in response, then projected the message box into the air. Silver began to type rapidly.
'Professor Potts, I read the last manuscript, and the information inside of it was... misleading. It says something about President Luna being the instigator of the Rebellion and overthrowing the Queen for no reason. I don't know why, but I'm inclined to believe it. I mean, what you said about Luna not saying anything freely, it seems like she's afraid to let something slip. These history books are only able to be accessed by the most State loyal professors and officials that would never believe this, and the other manuscripts said the same thing. There's too many connections to ignore this.
Write back soon please. Silver.'
Silver bit her lip, her hooves shaking. "Send, please," Silver whispered, sitting back in her seat. The com beeped, and the message box closed with a snap. Silver took in a shaky breath and put her head in her hooves.
Many minutes passed. The lights of the cars that passed the upper roads flashed by her windows, causing the room to illuminate. Silver looked back at the manuscript and frowned. Usually, manuscripts could be scanned for similar results online; text sites that had similar content. Perhaps this one could be scanned as well.
She took the manuscript and scanned the text over her com.
Suddenly, the com beeped and red lights flashed, the projection turning on and flashing new results, one after another. New links of discarded news reports, voice recordings and videos popped up and flashed before her eyes. The videos and recording overlapped each other, showing death and torture and horrid things that the State has done to them out of nowhere.
News reports of houses and towns burning down, the President's wrath, executions, new law and secret speeches of hate filled her vision, and Silver frantically tapped the off button, trying to close the ghastly sight that was before her.
Finally, she highlighted the links, copied them and punched the reset button on her com. The screen went blank. The silence was gratefully accepted by Silver, and she sunk her head into the desk and sobbed. She sobbed for a while, despite the whirring of the com trying to restart.
How could this happen? How could she want to be a keeper of something so horrible? Silver let herself cry and wail and inwardly curse the State with all her being. She continued to cry.
The com in her bedroom beeped through the silence.
Silver shook her head and wiped her eyes. After a few moments, she grabbed the book and inspected the cover. A Pegasus, unicorn and normal pony were circling arrangement of jewels. They looked so sad, Silver thought. All three were crying, and they were looking at the sky that held the moon. The moon was dark, and it was scrawled like it was meant to look menacing and cruel as it hung over the ponies' heads. Silver shuddered.
The ponies of the State loved the night, and the night was a cherished time. There were festivals for the moon and the stars, and the moon decorated every flag and building in the city of Canterlot. (And every other town for that matter) Speaking out against the moon or making the night look frightening was strictly morally wrong and illegal in the State of Mėnulis. Clearly, a State Temp was not the author of this, Silver thought.
The com in her bedroom beeped again. Silver growled and walked into her room, leaving the manuscript and her restarting com behind. The room was completely quiet, so Silver tapped the com's message button.
"You have one new message from I.B Potts. Would you like to view or have me read it?" The com's voice asked.
"View," Silver ordered. There was one word in the message.
'RUN!'
Silver's mouth dropped open, her eyes widening into sheer horror. She tapped the smooth surface to exit to the home screen, but the com beeped furiously and spat sparks at her. Silver gasped as one landed on her ear, searing her fur and skin. The screen suddenly changed from its usual, cool blue to an angry red. The words: 'WARNING, YOU ARE IN VIOLATION OF THE STATE OF MENULIS' CONSPIRACY ACT. FEDERAL AUTHORITIES ARE ON THEIR WAY TO COLLECT YOU.'
Silver let out a scream and ran into the living room, looking at her com's projection screen. It too was an angry red, and the same warning was scrawled in official letters with the State's seal behind it. Silver's eyes began to water up once more, and she backed into the corner.
"No!" she cried, hanging her head. Go away, her brain told her. Escape! Silver crouched in the corner, shaking her head and crying. "No, no!" she wailed again. All her hopes, all her dreams of becoming a loyal citizen, one who would just blend in, was ruined. She would never become a Temp now. She would never be able to live quietly.
Run! Something inside her snapped. Without thinking, she ran to her bedroom, grabbing a scarf and a hat, carrying it in her teeth back to the living room. She threw them into her saddlebag and grabbed the manuscript, tearing off the bottom of the cover that held the tracking device and the State's emblem. She tore the back of the com off (the one with her past memory logs) and tossed it into the bag as well. She galloped into the kitchen and grabbed her money jar and threw that in as well.
She stuffed them into her saddlebag and clipped it shut. She glared at the warning that was still flashing and angry. "Not today," she said sourly, spitting on the com.
She stifled a scream as there was a pounding on the door and an angry yell from behind it. Silver bit her bottom lip and began to breathe faster. That was the only way out...
… but it wasn't. Silver, despite the commotion, turned her head slowly to the wall facing the outside. The glass wall. Silver took a step back, bracing herself. It's going to break, she told herself.
In a rush, Silver reared and galloped for the door at full speed. She flashed past the com and the desk and to the window, ducking her head and ramming into the glass at full speed. Nothing happened at first, she bounced back and fell on all fours. Imitating what had happened just that morning, she leaned on her front hooves and bucked the glass as hard as she could. A small crack snaked and crackled its way up the window, and Silver tired again and again, her hind legs growing sore from the force of the glass.
The pounding turned into an all out ramming of shoulders and hooves against her door, and finally it burst open, leaving Silver wide open. The Feds glanced around at first, then looked straight at her with their shielded eyes.
Silver knew what to do now.
One of the ponies pulled their gun out and aimed at her, their calm expressions unsettling. The pony with the gun aimed and fired, but not before Silver jerking out of the way of his aim and kicking a fraction before he pulled the trigger. The force of the bullet and her kick was the thing that finally broke the glass, shattering it into billions of countless pieces. The glass fluttered out over the street below, the wind catching them and hurtling them to the busy street below.
The Feds stood their ground with awe as Silver turned to them, her scarf covering her muzzle. A few moments passed, and when one of the ponies leaped forward to grab her, Silver stood on her hind legs and jumped up and off the oncoming Fed and out the window, plummeting down the side of the building.