A great big ClusterF*** 4
I OWN AND REGRET NOTHING!
...III...
ANNOUNCEMENT!
I'M GETTING A BOOK PUBLISHED!
SUMMARY:
On the 13th day of the 13th month of the 13th year...magic will return to the world...and the streets will run red with the blood of the (semi)innocent...unless the world is saved by the most unlikely of hero's...baking cupcakes?!
The title is '13/13/13' and it'll be coming to a bookstore or E-Book site near you! Xilbris is the publisher, also available at Amazon, Inkitt and BarnesandNoble.
...III...
...Responses...
Gamelover41592: yep
RasenganFin: (shrug) Eh, I wanted to give you a surprise.
Wicked.A: No he's alive...barely...
The Howling Behemoth: yep...so how are you?
...
Bright Mac Apple and his wife Pear Butter were going up the mountain to make a very important cider delivery to 'Yourgonnadiebecausetheplotdemandsit-burg'- so named as the person who discovered it; Simon 'Onlyimportantbecausehewillcreateacitywhichwillindirectlyonedayaffectsomeoneofactuallimportancetotheworld' came from a long line of pink pony meta-benders.
They passed briefly by a sign that pointed to the bridge ahead and said; BRIDGE TO Yourgonnadiebecausetheplotdemandsit-burg OUTSTANDING!
"Well, golly! Were making good time! We should be done and heading home to our loving family within a couple hours!"
Excited to get this over with and go home the eager couple quickly ran toward the bridge-
SQUAWK!
The couple looked up just in time to see Granny Smith's personal messenger bird fly toward them.
"Huh, Granny usually doesn't bother us during a delivery..." Said Pear Butter out loud.
-Unless it's important." Finished Big Mac thoughtfully...the shrugs. "Eh, I'm feeling a might bit peckish in any case. How about we take a lunch break to read it?"
"Uh excuse me? Do you mind if old Gil goes on ahead of you?" Asks a rather ragged pony with a cutie mark of a black cat going beneath a ladder from behind their apple cart.
"Sure, go on ahead!" Said Pear Butter happily.
"Oh, thank you!" Shouts the pony as he prances on toward the bridge. "Oh, you don't know what this means to old Gil! I've had a rough life, but in the next town over I've got an opportunity to finally turn my life around and finally retire happily! Nothing's gonna stop old Gil now!"
CRACK!
And just like that, the bridge falls completely apart and the unfortunate Pony falls to his death.
The Apple couple gaped, "What in tarnation-
"What's going on here?!" Shouts a rather rotund pony in a business suite as he trots quickly toward where the mighty bridge once clung. He looks toward the sign and groans, "Oh for the love of- AGAIN!?" He shouts as he quickly bucks off the 'standing' bit. Leaving only; 'BRIDGE TO Yourgonnadiebecausetheplotdemandsit-burg OUT!'
"That's the fifth time a sign has been botched this week! That's it! I don't care if he's my brother-in-law! He's fired!"
While the politician goes down to the corpse to look for identification to alert his next of kin...and 'spin' the story of the disaster to best suite him...the couple tries to get their mind off what nearly happened by reading Granny Smiths letter...
Soon all thought of the bridge and the unfortunate pony's fate were quickly forgotten! Their little Sugar cube was a princess! They quickly canceled the delivery and ran home...oblivious to fate that would've befallen them in another universe...
...
Celestia and her entourage navigated the Crevice. Eventually Celestia was forced to create an opening to continue downward...
CRACK!
Unfortunately, despite Celestia's best efforts to be cautious, it was still enough to destabilize the area and cause a landslide...
Thankfully, no one got hurt. But the opening had been sealed up, and Celestia deemed it too dangerous to go that way again. So for better or for worse...there was NO going back...
They found an ancient, massive series of scaffolds- Apparently left behind by a previous expedition of humans -Which they then begin to use to climb the rest of the way down.
However, as they went further down...feelings of apprehension increased. Although the ponies were reassured that Celestia would guide the way...they couldn't help but be concerned over facing such a mysterious new adversary...
And the two humans didn't even have that comfort! They were deeply worried not only themselves but their families! The 'Supreme leader' was EXTRA brutal to traitors...including their families...
While Tyrone was doing his own thing, Wendy took this opportunity to talk to Celestia about what was to be expected.
"Hey, your majesty? Uh...what exactly is the plan here?"
"Why I intend to open diplomatic relations with Eagleland, tell him that I do not condone his current domestic policies or his attempts to kill me and my citizens. It will then be my hope that we sit down and negotiate our current situation out." Stated Celestia warmly with a smile.
Wendy frowned at that, "Uh...okay, we have made it clear that he's not exactly the most reasonable of guy's, right? That he's more likely to shoot you down with his thousands of soldiers, right?"
Celestia draped a comforting wing over the clearly worried teen. "Worry not my dear, there is a reason why I historically use champions to fight on my behalf when I really should do so myself."
She smirked, "I believe the Griffins said it best. You don't hunt rabbits with ballista's." She said with great wit.
Wendy just looked at her baffled, so Celestia continued...
"whenever I am forced to the frontlines. Forced to take matters into my own hands and confront the enemy myself, I know 1000 thousand different spells in different methods of Combat that could aide me. I've forgotten more ways to deal with my opponent then I remember.
"But the Voice In front of my mind. Not the back. it's the very first thought I always have before I engage in combat or try to think how to solve a problem. A solution I have to convince myself every time not to do...use the sun." She says that last bit with concern.
"I could easily wipe almost all of my problems out. Except for a rare few, not many can withstand having a star dropped right on them. Or having solar flares lash out at them as liberally is a pirate whips a mutineer... But the problem is if I do that, not only will all of my problems be erased so will everyone and everything else for miles around."
"I can only Direct it. I can't shrink it down or cut off a small piece of it. Those solar flares don't have pinpoint accuracy. If I use the sun offensively, it would destroy far more than I could ever consider an acceptable amount of Collateral Damage."
My sister and the elements in the past are what kept me from being tempted or go too far when I desired to use my first option. Without her rhythm I am far too dangerous, too tempted and far too Willing to go too far to be an asset instead of a liability. it's why I prefer diplomacy or shows of power that I would rather not have to follow through with."
And then Wendy was shocked from her stunned amazement, as the princess immediately caused a forcefield to appear around her.
"Also your friend Tyrone has briefed me of what to expect and gave me a forcefield powered and enhanced by my magic to defend me against bullets and other things."
Wendy smirked, "Yeah, Tyrone's a bit of an overachiever..." She says with a happy smile.
Celestia saw this and smiled back, "Is he your special somepony?"
Wendy blushed, "I...well...look, he was the only friend who didn't bail on me after me dumb report got my mom executed-
"Wait, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I thought that was when you were in first grade?" Asked Celestia confused.
Wendy shrugged, "I got held back a lot...teacher didn't like my 'attitude'." She admitted that last bit with a smirk. "...He never did find out who replaced his wig with a racoon."
Celestia laughed at that, and the two girls continued their conversation...
Meanwhile, with the guys...
"Okay, no one can see us. This is your chance. Push me off this scaffolding." Said Tyrone suddenly.
Shining Armor looked at the young human stunned, "What!?"
Tyrone double-checked their surroundings. "Look, your little sister almost died because of me. If someone did something like that to my siblings...just push me off, kill me here and you can just call it an accident..."
Shining just frowned at him for a moment...then pushes him off the scaffolding. Tyrone braces himself for his well-deserved death-
...and then Shinning catch him with his magic and brings him back to safety. Shining Armour then briefly dusts him off, "There. Done. No can we move on to what's actually important?"
Tyrone was stunned, "What? But I-
Shining Armour continued, "Unless you named that thing the 'Kill-a-filly-inator 3000' I doubt you actually knew what your superiors- y'know, the ones who would have killed you and everyone you loved if you didn't -would do. And When you found out what the thing was going to be used for, you throw all caution to the wind and decided to do something stupid, reckless and utterly and completely heroic..."
Shining puts a comforting hoof on the boys shoulder, "I wouldn't mind working with you one day when I graduated into the guards, those 'devices' you built could really come in handy!"
Tyrone was stunned...he was a hard time comprehending why the person who should hate him more then anyone...didn't..."
"By the way, you really shouldn't do this sort of thing without consulting your girlfriend..."
Tyrone blushed but came out of his stupor, "Wha- She's not my girlfriend... Then he sighs, "She's too out of my league anyway..."
Shining chuckled, "Man don't give up like that! Look at me! My girlfriend was a princesses and I won her over despite being nothing but an unpopular nerd who spent most of his time playing ogres and oubliettes with his friends in the basement..."
Dipper's ears perked with interest, "Ogres and oubliettes? Is that anything like Dungeons, dungeons and more dungeons?"
And thus sparked one of the weirdest friendships between the two most unlikely people...go figure...
...
"You let a little filly go to Manehatten all by her lonesome!?" Snapped Pear Butter angrily.
"Now hold on there! She was at that stage where her life was at a crossroads! I was just respecting her life choices is all!" Defended Granny Smith.
Bright Mac face-hooved, "Ma, your the matriarch of our clan. You've more then proven yourself a capable leader- But that dose not give you the authority to make such a decision for my child! ESPECIALLY without consulting me or Buttercup first!"
After scolding his Ma, Bright Mac went about organizing the rest of his Kin to head off for Canterlot for his daughter's coronation.
Meanwhile, Pear Butter sends off a letter...
...
Finally, they get to the outskirts of the city. At this time it was hard to see much of it. A great steel wall encircled the whole city. Having been told of the numerous defense systems, Shining quickly put up a shield to protect the entire group...bracing themselves for anything...they marched on...
...and on...and on...and on...and on?
"Something's wrong." Said Tyrone suddenly.
Shining looked toward his new friend while getting into a defensive stance, "What do you mean?" He asked cautiously.
"Were well in range of the sentry towers, they should've started blasting us by now!" Explained Tyrone.
"Begging your pardon, but why are you complaining that it's NOT?" Asked a guard irritably.
"No, Tyrone's right...something's off." Explained Wendy. "Look at the sky, none of the artificial sky looks like it's working."
Celestia remembers how they explained that there was an artificial sky built over Eagleland that was crafted to simulate the night/day cycle...she'd been interested to see such a thing for obvious reasons. But it seemed Wendy was right...the sky above the city was nothing but dark screens and other odd inert machines...
And as they got closer... "Okay, something is DEFINITELY up." Said Tyrone more then a little concerned...
The ponies just look confused at a mural on the outer wall depicting the Supreme leader...defaced and covered with the word 'LIAR' and 'HE BETRAYED US'.
"I take it this is unusual?" Asked Celestia.
"You could say that...there's a layer of dust over the paint so it's been here awhile...so the mural should've been fixed by now..." Observes Tyrone.
Becoming ever more anxious they continue on. They find a suspiciously unguarded trash chute, it takes some effort but as they enter inside-
"Sweet Faust, this place is in shambles! Did a war happen here!?" Exclaimed Shining in horrified disbelief as he beheld his first look of Eagleland...
"Uh...no, this is one of the poor district. it's always like this." Admits Wendy in resignation.
"Oh...wow...that's even more horrifying." Said Shining after a bit.
"Indeed." Groused Celestia as she crawled through the trash chute and beheld the grim sight herself. It was one thing to hear about simply from word of mouth, but to see it for herself...
The buildings looked like they'd been slapped together from garbage, the streets had sewage trickling down it's middle, and it smelled like someone died!...and Celestia wouldn't be surprised if someone did!
She was disgusted that a ruler would allow his subjects to wallow in such squalor. She put one hoof out of the chute to steady herself, Indeed she was seriously considering ditching the whole diplomatic approach and just-
DONG!
The instant her hoof touched the ground, a large ringing sound reverberated throughout the city. And all who heard it- and KNEW what it meant...looked to the source in a mixture of dread...and maybe...hope?
Naturally the ponies were spooked, "What in the blazes was that?!" Demanded Shining.
"Hold on, let me check something." Said Tyrone as he brought out his laptop and began to hack the city grid, ordinarily this would take a while- even for him -but today-
"Whoa! What happened!? It's like the whole network has fallen to pieces! How- Nevermind, I'll figure it out later...I think I can still access- Got it!"
He showed a security camera he managed to hack and pointed at a...clock tower?
"Uh...what are we looking at?" Asked Shining confused.
"That's the nation's clock tower, it's hands never move...except when something BIG is about to happen- at least according to local superstition anyway. The last three times was the day before The 'Supreme Leader' came to power, the week before the Synth uprising and..."
Tyrone trailed off on that last one as he got a dark look on his face- "Well, it doesn't matter. What dose matter is that not only dose this show that us bringing you here might have bigger consequences then I thought...but look."
He points to the screen, "When we were here last, the clock was at 7:00...now it's 7:02. The clock only ever moves by 1 minute intervals so-
"It's moved not once but TWICE since you saw it last." Realized Celestia outloud, her inner-scholar was interested in this seemingly strange arcane building. But she knew there was no time to inquire of it, for if what they said was accurate...something else had happened while they were away...and by the look of things...it had been something BAD...
...
Meanwhile, on a nearby roof. A lonely scout is awoken from his slacking by the bell and angrily looks around for the source through his binoculars...and sees HER. The white Devil herself.
He goes very pale, "Jimmeny crickets!" Quick as a flash he goes down the nearby zip-line screaming; "THE PONIES ARE COMING! THE PONIES ARE COMING! THE PONIES ARE COMING! THE PONIES ARE COMING! THE PONIES ARE COMING!" He shouts at the top of his lungs as he jumps between rooftops...his voice echoing...
...
THE PONIES ARE COMING!
An elderly man looks up from his schematics...
...
THE PONIES ARE COMING!
A woman looks away from the mirror she'd just smashed in rage...
...
THE PONIES ARE COMING!
A man larger then life looks up from his morning wine with interest...
...
THE PONIES ARE COMING!
The strangely dressed man looks up from the corpse on his table...
...
THE PONIES ARE COMING!
A man in an odd mask looks away from the face he'd just pounded into pulp to hear this news...and smirked...
...
THE PONIES ARE COMING!
A man clad in fine robes opened an eye to see this new interruption to his meditation while levitating in mid-air...only to scoff in annoyance... "About Bloody time"...
...
THE PONIES ARE COMING!
All across the burning husk of the once great nation...many heard this news...
Many wondered...feared...hoped...hated...dreamed...and schemed...
...
THE PONIES ARE COMING!
The whole group looked up and listened as the screams rebounded. Tyrone sighs, "Well, cats out of the bag. Soon the whole city will know were here."
"Just as well, this was never meant to be a covert operation." Stated Celestia simply, "In fact this might be for the best, the sooner we meet with someone in charge the sooner we figure out what has happened here."
And thus they continued on...and were more and more horrified at what they saw. "Huh, so the garbageman aren't doing their jobs either." Said Tyrone as he observed the corpses piled up in the streets instead of carted away...
...well...the ponies were horrified anyway. The humans just seemed to take it in with resigned indifference...which in a lot of ways, made the whole situation all the more unsettling to the ponies.
"How are you guys not freaking out!? There is a rotting corpse of a little girl- who couldn't have been much older then my little sister! -here who was clearly living in the gutter with a sign saying, 'Will have sex for food!' here for crying out loud!" Exclaimed Shining Armor finally.
The two humans just look at each other...then back to Shinning, "Do you know what we call that down here in Eagleland?" Asked Tyrone flatly.
"Uh...no?" Asked Shining confused by this sudden change of topic.
"Tuesday", Explained Wendy dismissively.
Shining just blinked confused, "I...what?"
"Look guys, this is the world we live in. You might be visiting, but we lived here 24/7. Here, unless you were lucky enough to be born in the top 1% or sell your soul to join the military...you don't get a lot of options." Explained Dipper.
The ponies could do nothing but be stunned by this...here they were experiencing horrors the likes of which their race had ever seen...and these humans were treating it like it was as natural as Celestia making the sun rise! HOW COULD ANYONE LIVE LIKE THIS!?
Not knowing what else to do...they kept walking...and heaving their lunch...
One of the cadets; Peter Photo who likes to moonlight as a part-time photographer was taking picture of it all. When asked why he simply said, 'this is horrible...and yet...I feel like it's a story that needs to be told. People need to KNOW this, REMEMBER This...to make sure it NEVER happens again to ANYpony ever again...'
Despite the situation, Celestia can't help but admire the sentiment and gives her blessing to continue...
In the meantime she'd discovered something else rather curious. There were many propaganda posters; some where of the 'Supreme Leader' to make him more god-like and demand obedience...these were all defaced with derogatory slander- an action that according to Wendy would usually have been unthinkable as defacing even one poster would usually see mass-executions and cutting the nearby districts of their rations(Celestia once more could barely contain her disgust/horrified disbelief over this). There were also posters calling arms against 'synths' that were actually unvandalized, but before Celesta could ask about this- or what a 'synth' was -she saw the most curious posters of all.
They were the propaganda posters that demonized Celestia and all pony-kind, as well as blame them for all the country's problems...but that wasn't the curious bit-
Why lie? I'd do her...
This message was repeated and plastered over every 'demon' pony picture- especially images of a 'demon queen' Celestia.
The ponies looked over to a now VERY flustered Tyrone and Wendy in bemused curiosity(both from the posters implication AND finally getting a reaction from the seemingly unflappable humans).
"Hmmm...perhaps you can elaborate?" Asked Celestia with a snicker.
Tyrone blushed but tried to compose himself, "Uh...well, the thing is...there's...(cough's nervously)...despite the large amount of government-sponsored xenophobia...there is actually a large percentage of...well...'bronies' who find ponies...'appealing'?" He says that last part sweating bullets.
An equally awkward Wendy face-palms, "Oh for the love of- SEX! Okay!? They're is a surprisingly large amount of humans that want to have sex with ponies and Celestia in particular is a HUGE sex-icon! But nobody admits to it because being a 'pony sympathizer is punishable by death!"
Now it was the ponies turn to be flustered(openly discussing sex in any shape or form simply didn't happen in pony culture(1))...well except for Celestia, who simply looked amused.
Celestia would be lying if she said she'd never found non-pony species attractive. She can, and at a few points in history 'has' hooked up with Hippogriffs, Griffins and so on...
"Well, it's nice that you humans admit to it at least. My little ponies would never have the nerve to admit all the 'magazines' dedicated to me that they swear they keep for the 'articles'." She teases with a giggle as most of her guards- both Stallion and Mare -suddenly look mortified over the 'mom' of Equestria knowing about 'that'...and wondering in panic if she knew everything 'else'."
In any case, they moved on- after Tyrone reassures a teasing Wendy that he was still into 'human' girls -...the jovial atmosphere was quick to die in all the suffering and poverty they saw around them. Worse, was uneasy silence that fell on them...and the feeling that not only were they not alone...but being watched...
FINALLY they reached the...rich district?
"Dang, I figured your rich would be living better but this is just as bad as the rest of the town!" Noted Shining confused...and then became even more confused by how startled Tyrone was!
"No...this is wrong! The rich district is the cleanest, safest, important and most beautiful part of town- at least according to what I see online, 'pheasant's' like me aren't allowed -something's gone wrong!"
Indeed, the whole area looked like a war had gone on...as did the multitude of figures approaching them!
"Saints protect us dear wife! Look at the fop's that approach us! Have they come to rob us?" Asked a malnourished, skeleton-like man wearing a bunch of broken kitchen utensils as armor.
His similarly malnourished and armored wife smacked him in the back of the head, annoyed. "Of what you dunce?! The dirt in our pockets?!" She sighed, "Why couldn't you have died instead of our car?"
The group of just as malnourished and equipped humans looked at the group of ponies in a mix of confusion, waryness, and bewilderment. And the ponies did likewise.
"Ponies from the word above! They will be our leaders!" Shouted a ragged and cloaked man wearing an orange safety cone.
"No, Scott. Our group already has a leader, he's Dave." Said Foreman.
"Hey." Said a brutish, large man politely.
Princess Celestia nodded, "Yes, nice to meet you all too. I'm Princess Celestia-
"Oh, boy. Have you come to conquer us? Not that we would be complaining...or have the ability to stop you...we'd just like a head's up is all."
Celestia shook her head, "I simply wish to talk to this...'Supreme Leader' of yours."
The gang looks surprised, then exchanges knowing looks. "Right, sure. We'll take you right to them..." They said with a dark smirk that snet chills down then ponies spines.
...
On the way over, this gang finally reveals what happened to Eagleland While Wendy and Tyrone were gone...
"Well, first the clocktower did it's thing. Naturally, this caused a bit of a panic. Especially considering what happened the last several times- he coughs nervously -anyway... Then 'V' showed up on every TV screen-
Quickly, it's explained that 'V' is a mysterious, legendary hacker who occasionally helps out anti-Supreme leader sympathizers and other 'dissident' groups.
-So anyway, he goes showing everyone the attack the kid and the red head pulled against the ponies(but only mostly the fillies- except in the images it was made to look like that Celestia going to the astral plain was actually her getting incinerated and killed as well - getting killed, not what happened after apparently), and this gets everyone excited. We thought at long last all our suffering, sacrifice, and 'preparation' was finally going to pay off! At long last the war against the 'pony menace' the supreme leader promised would happen!"
Dave winces as he realized he'd just said, 'pony menace'...in front of a bunch of ponies, "Uh, no offense." He says quickly to them.
Celestia waves a dismissive hoof, "It's fine. Now what happened next?"
"Yeah, and why would V show something that makes the Supreme Leader look good?"
Dave shrugs, "A few of us wondered that too...but turns out this was just step ONE of a far greater plan!" He balls his fists up in anger and reveals how a few days later a second, secret, LIVE broadcast was shown throughout the city. One revealing the unshakeable, all powerful, God-like SUPREME leader...in a complete hysterical panic!
Dave and the rest of his crew snarl, "He and the rest of his inner circle were planning to steal all of Eaglelands money, food, resources...and then leave the rest of us to rot and face your wrath alone! They also revealed how their 'pony menace' propaganda was total BS and they just used that as an excuse to justify treating the rest of us like trash!"
Tyrone frowned at that... "That probably made everyone very angry." He says as he looks around once more at the now ruined rich district.
Dave smirked, "You could say that..."
Celestia looked at him confused/suspicious, "You...said that you were going to take us to the Supreme leader? Where is he exactly?" The past hour they had been led more and more into the broken ruins of what had once been a rather opulent district...she was starting to get a bad feeling about all this...
Dave smirked as he turns the corner, "Why he's where all the other no-good traitors are! Where they belong!" He gestures wildly to the center of a plaza...
The ponies gasp in horror! Wendy and Tyrone are stunned!
In the middle of the central plaza...right in front of the burnt out ruins of the Supreme Leaders mansion and his luxury parliament house. Was none other then the Supreme Leader and his inner circle...their corpses mutilated, strung up and burnt to a crisp. Their bodies displayed for all to see in a macabre fashion, horrific slurs spray painted all over their remains!
While they sit their stunned, Dave continues the tale.
He tells about how everyone- even a large majority of the military! -rose up in fury and rushed the rich district, slaughtering everyone and razing it to the ground!
Tyrone frowned at this, "Wait, what about the defense systems? The electro-barriers? The synth-defenders? The defense-drones? The secret police?"
Dave shrugged, "No idea, most of all that was offline when we showed up! No one questioned it! But as for the secret police- pauses to chuckle -turns out those morons were having a 'party', they were so drunk we overran and killed most of them before they even knew what was happening!" He laughed at that last part.
Meanwhile, a shell-shocked Celestia walked up numbly to the grisly display of corpses. She'd largely held her tongue to most of the unspeakable things she'd witnessed here among the humans...but this was too much!
Despite how 'first contact' went, she'd been genuinely excited to meet and discover a brand new species! New chances for her and her little ponies to form bonds of friendship!
True, it had sounded like their leader would be trouble...but she'd dealt with such things with other world leaders before(although admittedly even Chrysalis wasn't as horrible as he was apparently). She'd been confident that after he'd been dealt with everything would go smoothly!
...but it wasn't just their leader...it was the entire race! All of them! Doing all sorts of horrible things to themselves and each other! Never before in her long life had she seen such wicked things! It was almost too much for her heart to take...
She hung her head in sadness and shed a tear, "I'm so...disappointed...I never thought I'd meet a species like humanity...I thought they'd be better then this..." she said outloud to herself sadly...
"HEY!
Celestia looks up and sees the angry Foreman approach.
"Now where do you get off!? You weren't here! You don't know what it was like! People were starving! 1000's of people were dying of starvation and thirst everyday! Not just adults but KIDS too! They kept telling us ponies were eating everything, when all the while they were just eating 5 meals a day while I was forced to bury my five year old nephew in a MASS grave after my brother killed him so he wouldn't have to watch him starve to death! That is common down here! Parents killing their children to end their suffering is COMMON here! My own sister died of a very easy to cure fever since we have no hospitals here, while the rich had doctors every 8 ft in their district! And all because those greedy jerk hoarded all the resources and blamed YOUR people for all the problems! So, yeah. When we learned the truth, we got ticked! I DARE you to go through the same thing and not want to rip someone apart! You go through that, you can tattoo 'disgraceful excuse for a living person' on my forehead, but until then SHUT THE BUCK UP!" He panted in exhaustion.
Celestia stared at him in shock and shame for a moment...then slowly walks away in sad resignation...Deciding that she couldn't really do much else. What could even be said about that?
Getting into a shouting match over who knows the dirtiest, most evil ruler would solve nothing. What of her own experiences could she bring up that could even compare? Discord? Sombra?
Discord was little more than a child who has the power to make the world his playground. Sombra was cruel but he had been utterly pragmatic in his cruelty. He hadn't let his slaves go sick or hungry at least
Dead slaves were one less mouth to kiss his hooves after all. Mutating them into monsters was pointless as a well trained squad of loyal, well fed soldiers could accomplish the same with less chance of rampaging.
But this leader...this Ming Jol-ik...this monster...the things he'd allowed done to his people, made them go through...there were no words...
And much as she was loathe to admit it...the Foreman was right...what right did she have to judge those who went through such hardships? And yet...she couldn't bring herself to let things go as they were...especially if the humans intended to interact with her ponies after all this!
Tyrone sees a sad Celestia walk away and lay down despondently...and he goes to her. Even though he still preferred the company of human girls, ponies still had a beauty to them- especially mares -Celestia most radiant of all. And to see a pretty girl sad, was never good far as Tyrone was concerned.
Taking a page he remembered from a 'pamphlet' he'd found in his Grunkle Stan's room he came up to her and lightly scratched her behind the ears.
Celestia's eye's widened...and she purred happily. She then nuzzled him affectionately, then went very red as she realized what she was doing and abruptly stopped embarrassed.
Tyrone took his hand back quickly, "I'm sorry, I was just trying to make you feel bet-
"I didn't say stop", said a still flustered Celestia. Tyrone quickly continues much to Celestia's enjoyment.
After a moments silence...Celestia begins to talk, "I could go on for hours about all the problems I have with you humans...but their all mainly iterations of phrases like "How could they allow this to happen?", "you just let these children die?", "you have to work together." and so on..."
Tyrone nods, "Exclamations of disbelief and horror generally sound the same after awhile." He affirms.
Celestia looks up to him warmly/hopefully, "Then...perhaps you could help me understand?"
He smiles and begins to address her issues and explain...
The reason why garbageman pick up the bodies and just throw them into the incinerator? ...Because they can't afford to treat the body with any real respect given how often they have to do it, and the closest thing to it they can give is to make sure the body is off the street before it results in even greater sickness around it.
Why didn't they give the children any food? Because 'everyone' barely has enough food to keep from starving. Kindness and generosity is not a luxury everyone can easily afford in a society like this.
If anything, the kids with the 'have sex for food' sign was hardly the most desperate they've ever seen. And at least they hadn't went out to try and kill anyone for their food. Seeing children around here with weapons tear into adults like a swarm of locusts is not a rare sight.
And so on and so forth...but in the end it all boiled down to...
"You ponies have never been this desperate. I've seen grown men go on fasts to the point of death just to let their families have another bite, only to crack in their last few moments and turn violent, desperate for food."
"Hunger. Thirst. I'm not saying you ponies don't know hardship. But our entire society is built on the suffering on the many for the luxury of the few. You can't possibly know what it's like to not even remember the taste of bread. Or to be so desperate for meat you would eat your own fingers." Points to a man with only three fingers on his hand...and in the middle of eating of eating the third."
Celestia's eye's widen in horror. "By Faust's holy mercy- CAPTAIN SHINING! GET THESE PEOPLE SOME FOOD FOR THE LOVE OF HASBRO!"
Shining quickly obliges.
The people gasp and fall on the food like starving badgers(several ponies yip in pain as many of their hooves get nicked by their teeth!
"They bear the sweet mana of the overland!" Exclaimed Scott excited.
Tyrone smirks at this, then turns back to Celestia while still scratching behind her ears.
"Desperation. Real desperation and utter refusal to lay down and die? That's the world we live in here."
Celestia looked over at the spectacle thoughtful...it was all so horrible...and yet...she couldn't help but wonder: 'What would I do if I were that hungry?'
In any case she turns to Tyrone(without disturbing his lovely ear scratching), "Y'know...I must say that despite all the horrible things I've seen since coming here...I can't help but admire you humans tenacity and will to survive and overcome anything. I don't think most- or ANY of my little ponies could handle even HALF of what you have clearly endured here...it's hard not to respect that."
Tyrone thanks her warmly as he continues scratching her ears...and listening to her purr...
She then speaks again, "I don't think I can really understand why anyone would do this would do this- points to the disfigured corpse of the once 'Supreme leader' - or why a leader would do such unspeakable things to their subjects in the first place and honestly I don't believe it right to try and shame you for something I cannot understand. Judging you by our standers just wouldn't work here I fear...but let me be clear. If after all this your people are to live among my ponies. To share their lands, their homes, their warmth and care. If you wish to live as you wish to live, then this- again gestures to the horribly disfigured corpse - All of that and anything likes it, can't be tolerated. It must End here. Do you understand? All of this anger. A revenge- that I genuinely can't say was unjustified -has been taken. Your freedom won. Your kind shall not commit acts such as this upon My Little Ponies."
Tyrone continues to scratch behind her ears but looks at her a bit annoyed, "...You act like were just a bunch of murderers. Look I can understand that you've never seen violence quite like this. But we're not all blood hungry. Like you've said, we took our revenge against those that deserved it. We won't do anything as long as your ponies don't start anything."
"Can I trust you on that?"
"Well, I can't speak for everyone else. But Me and my loved one's? Yes. Mostly everyone else? Absolutely."
"Most?"
"I can't guarantee their won't be some who liked what we did here a little too much. Or that all the jerks that ran our land into the ground didn't survive this purge and aren't still skulking about somewhere. But that's why we have to be careful and try our hardest not to screw up. We're not having history repeat itself because some moron realized cutting peoples heads off makes him feel better about how fraked our lives used to be."
Celestia thought on that...while also purring under his ear scratching ministrations..."
"...Very well, I suppose that's a fair assessment...for now..."
"Hey you two stay like that for too long, I'm going to get jealous!" Teased Wendy.
Tyrone's flustered floundering got a laugh out of everyone...
...
No one notice the figure in the shadows... "I have them in my sight's...do you wish me to terminate...?" There's a pause... "I understand." And like that...the figure disappeared as quickly as he came...
…III...
TO BE CONTINUED?
1. you had to feel sorry for what Pony culture would go through the next several years...
AN: A strong Thank you to Wolvenstrom for helping with this chapter!
AN: I know it says "in-progress" but really I just don't like boxing myself into a corner. For now this is more of a one-shot that I might continue one day...but probably won't.
But, hey. Feel free to use whatever elements you want from this, if you want! Or maybe give me ideas?
Love me, flame me, review me
