Kleft's mind faintly remembered a mention of two royal brothers, but he didn't really know much about the two. He bowed and said "My apologies, your grace...s. I will do my best from now on to be in your greatest company." Glancing around, Kleft thought for a moment before saying "So... what happens now?"
"You will be following us to the castle, where you were supposed to wait for us with the rest of the Weather Guard." Tremalion said, but suddenly perked his ears up as if hearing something that Kleft couldn't, "I seem to be a little behind, I did not know that the Weather Guard was dissolved. But anyways, follow us Guard... What's your name?"
Back in simpler days, two figures convine in the darkness. They are used to the night and it's shroud. They use it well but this evening is clearly tainted by large news. The weighted atmosphere between them is unaberable. "So?" A heavy sigh: "It is becoming difficult." "I see. I'll have to leave your-" "No. You still want and should serve. We can still use you." "Oh yes?" "Simply, we must be quieter from now on." It shakes it's head back into reality as a vibration is heard. The message appears on the little HUD inside the mask as it mumbles commands. It simply reads: "They are here." It has memorised the address. It knows who thats talking about. Oh whoopie....It returns to the newspaper: Mark Co. is looking strong to continue their dominance over Strong Brandy the Fourth as they anounce a new CEO, Equest Dark Firemane, to replace Azul Mark. This will be a break in the chain of direct decendants as CEO for many a generation. Hmm, 300-odd words in and Ms Sue hasn't sunk her teeth into anything yet, that's novel. She must approve. Still, this Equest seems eager to be in the job to kick the old pony out before retirement. Maybe a good eye needs to be kept on him? Or this is paranoia. Or I don't like his face. All are possible. Better put him on the watch list.
"I am Kleft, your grace." Kleft turned to follow Tremalion. Weather Guard? This guy is... seriously old. Kleft watched the two for a moment before sighing. And to think I got off early today He kicked the ground beneath him. Wonder why I was never informed of this visit sooner...
Leo looked up at the big building infront of him. He could hear the beat from inside, strong and vibrating the ground beneath him. The whispers told him to not go inside, it was only trouble. He didn't listen. He looked around inside. It was a remade storage house, which contained a ton of ponies everywhere. There was platforms with ponies dancing on the walls, a bar in the corner and in the middle there was a the DJ booth. Well, it was more like they had dug out and put a new room just for the DJ. He made his way through the crowds to the bar and nicked to the bartender. The bartender nicked back and opened the way into the bar, which Leo stepped in and opened a door at the middle of the bar into a seperate way that lead to the DJ booth, which was, basically, the VIP room aswell. Cracky motioned a clapping motion, his glove creating and terminating a bang at the middle of his hands which flashed through the storeroom. The cheering of the crouds pumped him full of adrenaline. This party was gonna last a while, he was gonna make sure of that. Leo opened the set of double doors and walked into the very fancy room. It was all kinds of colors, with couches that had familiar faces sitting on them streamlined with the walls in the room and the DJ booth in the front which looked out over the massive croud jumping up and down to the music. The whispers had silenced in Leos head, showing their discomfort with his current situation. He ignored their silence and sat down beside Karl who welcomed him. "Oi, mate! Hows ya days been since we cryo'd?" Karl asked him, his clear semi-british accent showing with no muffling to it. Leo simply nodded as a "yes" and leaned back, letting the music invite him to a world of ecstacy. The party raged on, showing no sign of stopping. Everyone was there, the plan was nearing completion. The Clockmaker watched with interest on his own pawns next move.
(Weeeeee, time skip! That is, if you don't mind...) Equest stared at his computer screen, where instead of the once famous Anon Blog, was text superimposed on the seal of Equestria, stating how the site 'went against new media regulation rules, and was taken down for this violation'. He shook his head in anger, ever since Tremalion and Heculius came to Equestria, the clamp down had been swift and indiscriminate. If you said anything that even smacked of resentment or rebellion against the royal family, you would be slapped with a censorship and if you tracked down, arrested for sedition against the nation. Equest swallowed then pulled up a coding bar, "Time to see just how strong this censorship is!" he muttered as the keyboard glew from being wrapped in magic and code typed itself out at great speed across the screen.
Steel was at work but he decided at break he would check his website. 'Democracyrules.com has been taken down due to new violations of a bill set up by tremalion' this was the screen that appeared in front of Steel Law. "Tremalion, huh, that Alicorn from the school textbooks is banning free speech. Thats a direct violation of article 4 sub-section 7 of the harmony act set by Celestia. He can't get away with this". He then went round informing all the Lawyers who didn't seem pleased with this violation. But Steel knew of one pony he could help with steel's knowledge of the law and his power. They could bring democracy back.
Ria, flying above her home, noticed a small group of ponies looking agiated. Frowning, she spun in the air, and, silently, the air pulled her towards their conversation. "Yes, the new laws set by Tremalion might cause an uprising.." one said. "Really? Do you think it would go that far?" questioned a stallion. "I don't know. But there are a lot of unhappy ponies right now." replied a purple mare
("Let's do the time warp again !!!" Ever since it's Mark co took it under it's wing, the Senate's power grew ten-fold. Crystal had transformed the senate from a small low time organisation into one of the 5 major corperations. It remains neutral in what they call "The Censorship War " but would rather stay out of the fire and smoke that it is causing. Some members support the royal family, while others support the changing events. Sooner or later, the Royal Family wont be able to rule Equestria forever....
"There we go, let's give this a shot." Equest muttered as he tried to hack through the censorship, this time, instead of taking down the censorship head-on, he found a hole in the security code and slipped into the servers responsible for the censorship. He then coded up a quick virus that although simple, would basically kill the servers and any computer directly connected to them, and then those computers would cause other computers directly connected to them to be unusable in a massive chain reaction. He set the countdown then back out really quick, then watched in anticipation at Anon's blog. 1 minute later, the censorship screen fell and the blog was revealed. Equest smiled at his handy work, then got to work on new Anon posts, this time, instead of just merely suggesting change and pointing out the flaws of the royal family, he talk directly about uprising and mass protests against the government in support of the Senate and true democracy.
(1 hour after the virus.) The Senate members sat down at a large wooden desk on the top of the buildings meeting room. At the head of the table was Crystal, followed by all other senior members and important figures of the senate. Shortly after the known virus killed the servers responsible for blocking censorship, they began their meeting. “Just moments ago, the server that has been responsible for censoring all known websites has been hacked and taken down from the internet. “ Crystal began. “We all have mixed opinions on who should we support, some of you want to support the royal family while others support the this anon figure and want to hear what he or she wants to say. Feel free to ask questions.” One mare raised her hoof in the air like a preschool student. “This is driving the senate apart, we have been divide between this....this pretend war. Should we divide the senate in half, allocating members into red and blue areas.” This question sparked an argument until Crystal interrupted. Questions like this kept going for the rest of the meeting. “I can assure you, you all might be afraid in the upcoming events but remember that I’m here for you. There will be no sort of rebellion or something like that in the senate, the questions do make some since but you all sound like children when asking them. Thank you for coming.”
Tremalion grumbled angrily, as up and down his old Hall of Valor, Heculius to his right trying to calm him down, and a floating ball of blue energy to his left, though it remained silent despite a hum that came from it, causing it to slowly pulse. "Brother, you can't jut expect that with a country as large as Equestria, and with much less respect for you, that some pony won't try to resist. And don't forget just why you were banished over a 1400 years ago; for fighting for the very ideals you are now trying to repress." Tremalion glared at Heculius for a few seconds before returning to his pacing, "But this time it's different. I have a feeling that even if we were to peacefully relinquish some power, that wouldn't be enough. This is going to end in one of two ways Heculius, we remain in power and the populace will have to deal, or we are overthrown and either killed or banished. And I would much rather it be us over them that leads this nation." Meanwhile, the energy ball silently ran calculations in its non-physical processors, and came up with much more grey than the black and white of Tremalion prediction. Presently, he concluded that if the royal family steppe down or relinquished majority power to a more democratic government, they had a 75 percent chance of being kept around. But that number grew abysmally small as he looked forward.
Ria sat at her computer, watching the recent Anon post about Uprising. "Ria?" Ria sighed heavily. "Yes?" she responded in a tired voice. "There is someone here to see you." "Can you ask them for identification, please?" "Please hold. "Much obliged." The room was quiet for a moment. "It appears to be your mother." "Ugh...... Alright, send her in." groaned Ria. The doors opened, and her mother stepped in. "RRIIIIIAAAAAA!!!!" called her mother. "Hi Mum..." said Ria glumly
Leo looked over the city, his friend beside him taking a smoke. "So, wha' ya fink o' da pa'ty las' nigh'?" His dusty companion said. "One hell of a hangover, that's for sure." The two friends chuckled at Leos comment, dust getting flinged around his friend. Leo narrowed his eyes and looked out, while his hoodie got blowed back from the wind. "But really now, do you think that the royals'll bring order back or will it take an overthrowing rebellion to put them in their place?" His gray friend threw lazily the cigarette off the roof and sighed. "Ye, dey won' las' long wifout some kind of new law, an' i dun' mean da law dey put ou' to'ay." Leo nicked and continued looking out, lighting a cigarette of his own. "Yea... but if a rebellion is gonna take place, you and i'll be in it. Right?" Max looked over to his shadowy friend. "O'course, mate. Yuu an' i, we' like, brothers." They knocked their hoofs together and kept on looking out, waiting for the other to go home or for something to happen.
A loud shriek rings loud and clear behind Leo and Max. Clatters and bangs sound loudly as doors slam and hooves pound across the floor. A black, slender figure slides into view. The cape he appears to be wearing billows behind him like a vapour trail. You can clearly see that he is wearing a shiny, plastic mask that manages to cover his whole head with a horn. He bolts and leaps past the pair, off the side of the building, into the wind and the cries of the ponies rushing after him with nothing but street below. "Stop him! He's got my hard drive!" One of the guests still present, flanked by mares, bellowed at the top of his lungs. The thin stallion appeared to catch a small tab on his ebony suit, pulling hard. The cape detaches from his neck but is still, very much attached by long cables around his chest. The cape billows out into a parachute, carrying the stallion across the rooftops and downwards to safety.
Ria sighs after the long visit from her mother. As much as Ria loved her, Celestia, could she talk. She hears commotion outside. "What the..." She runs outside, just in time to see a slender pony completely dressed in black, floating above the city. Turning quickly in a full circle, the air brings her to the floating figure quickly, but cautiously. "Erm... Sir? Are you all right?" she asked uncertainly.
Equest walked out into the streets from the main Mark Co headquarters in Canterlot, only to be instantly surrounded by reporters. He stopped, fixed his suit, ignored their questions, and slid into his awaiting limo after slidding on sunglasses. "you know where to go." He said to the chofeur, who began the drive to his house. He took out his cell phone and began looking at the estimated control of industries by Mark Co. All resource obtaining industries were almost entirely dominated by them, 70% of the services industry, 50% of the auto industry, and good shares of virtually every other industry in Equestria. What that meant was that he had a powerful hoof, and he knew it and just how to use it to bend the nation to his favor....
Steel was on his way to the law firm he worked with. He was tasked with telling Equest that Canterlot egalitarian law firm was offering a partnership with Mark co. He emailed the final copy and proceeded through the firms door. Heading into his office to type up and print his list of every sentient beings rights. "if there's going to be a revolution, I might as well get my ideas noticed".
"He-hey, that guy looks like Slendermare! But... with a horn..." Leo said, pointing at the stallion that had rushed past them both. "Ye, i' does." Max replied, a bit dizzy from the fast pass by. "An', de's a whi' ma'e pegasi floatin' 'round 'im now!" Max pointed out, pointing at the two ponies. Leo simply sighed and threw the cigarette off. "Well, i'm not dealing with any shady persons and i'm sure as hell not gonna deal with someone who looks like Slendermare." He said, walking back to the set of double doors that led to the stairs that went into the building. Max soon followed after, taking a glance back at the pony that had just been robbed. Leo seems... off, today. He thought to himself as he followed his dark friend. After they had reached bottom floor and had gone out into the street, Leo and Max parted, heading separate ways. The whispers echoed in Leos way, scolding him for not going after the slender stallion that had gotten away with the hard drive. "Oh, shut up. I don't want to mess with anything and get into trouble." Leo hissed back at them. They seemingly went quieter and instead gave him information instead.
The stallion silently lands in front of Ria, releasing the parachute with another hard tug on the cord. The cape then floats down to the ground while The Shade canters to a halt. The hard driver was attached to a belt around his leg. The voice he replied with was definitely male, but has been passed through enough filters to sound like a vacuum cleaner has gained sentience. "I'm fine. Forget my face." He breaks into a run down the street, heading out of sight.
