Axel could feel the cold, night air swiftly brushing through his coat as his descent downward onto the unsespecting guard that had been guarding the entrance to the relay fortress continued. He could feel his mane start to become tustled beneath his cowl. His eyes narrowed as he moved closer and closer to his target.
It had been just over a week since he had discovered Princess Luna's tape, lying on the floor of his apartment, providing an explanation to the broken window and shattered glass that had been thrown across his home. The tape had inspired him, it gave him a cause, it gave him something to belong to, in a world where he had nothing.
Since as far back as he could remember, he had never had more identity than "Axel". He could not remember any parents, or any kind of life outside the orphanage. Despite being near adulthood, he even lacked a cutie mark. He had nothing, nothing except the Revolution. The very idea of no identity mocked him, haunted him even.
Axel... He hated that name. He always had. To him, it was only a symbol of his lack of identity. He couldn't change it now though, too many had grown to calling him by that.
A day didn't go by in his life where he didn't wonder how different his life would be if he had never arrived at the Manehattan orphanage, if his parents had chosen to keep him instead. As reluctant as he was to accept it, he knew that he was meant to be there, to find the tape, to restore freedom to his homeland. His homeland. The word stuck in his mind as he pondered on if he was even from Equestria.
Axel winced as he could hear the bones of the unsuspecting guard's back break underneath him, as the full weight of his body fell onto the guard's, knocking him face down unto the ground. He could feel his previously hidden dagger pierce the back of the guard's neck, and slide in between the vertebrae, quickly severing the jugular vein. The guard let out a slight moan before his body gave into the pain and became lifeless, blood trickling from his mouth, eyes open wide, staring endlessly into space.
It was the first time Axel had ever killed a pony. In that moment, he felt the heat of battle overcome him, gripping him and taking control of his actions, as everything that he did from that point on became pure instinct. He did discover one thing about himself that night. He discovered that he was a killer, and he knew that he was ready to kill.
As soon as the nearest guard's shout for help rang out in the air, Axel quickly performed a lightning fast front roll, so that he arrived parallel to the guard directly in front of him, the one who had yelled for help. Despite the guard's best efforts to retaliate, Axel was faster. Just as he emerged into mid-crouch, he reached for a new dagger from his belt, and, using the full motion of his body, sent it straight into the pale white chest of the guard, as his right hoof used the clock-like motion of the previous action to send the already bloodied dagger straight upwards into the soft flesh beneath the guard's jawbone.
He pulled both of the blades out simultaneously as he performed a nimble back roll, both to avoid the onslaught of blood from the recently slaughtered guards as well as to prepare for his next set of actions. He was right in doing so, for a new pair of guard's were on their way, most likely in reply to the cries for help from their now deceased comrade. Axel's mind raced as he thought on how to deal with his new adversaries.
His lightning fast instinct had saved his life that night. Almost subconsciously, Axel sent the two blades he had wrestled from the guard's lifeless bodies seconds ago flying at the two that had remained alive and were encroaching unto his position. One of the daggers had landed directly in between the eyes of the one guard, killing him almost instantly. The other launched itself in the throat of the guard opposite the first, sending him straight to the concrete floor.
Axel's enemies had been easily defeated. For now, at least. He rose to his feet, and began slowly making his way over to the entrance into the compound. He knew he had to act quickly.
After he had mounted it onto the number dialer, he watched as his sky blue code breaker typed an almost endless set of passwords. Numbers flashed, letters showed, sequences entered, all of the data scattered across the screen at Axel's fingertips. He found it funny how far beyond him the technology was, how complex it had all seemed to him.
He almost found himself hypnotized by the machine as he leaned his head closer to it with each passing second, his eyes pointlessly scanning the figures and symbols that revealed themselves before him. Even as his eyes began to water from the extensive amount of time that he had been glaring at the screen, he continued to look. He looked until it began to hurt, and then he persisted looking even longer.
The hypnosis was broken by a large jade green rectangle emerging on the screen, with the words: "Pass code entered" strewn across in a pale white. It had taken Axel a few seconds to register the fact that his code breaking attempts had been successful, catching himself still staring at the brightly-lit screen of the code breaker. He laughed to himself, at how he had allowed himself to do something that seemed so childish.
He pulled back his cowl as the doorway hissed open, to allow access into the royal database compound. Axel's black fur had blended well into the darkness of the night, granting him the blessing of stealth, a tool he used quite wisely. He was nearly invisible as he stood in the doorway, deeply gazing into the halls of the building he had just infiltrated.
As he looked further and further into the halls, he could see that security cameras had been set up to observe every angle of the building. "Hm", he said aloud, "I guess they don't bother to hide the cameras here", in reference to the fact that every single area in Equestria each had it's own set of hidden cameras, so as to allow Celestia and her accomplices to secretly observe every move of every pony at every second of the day, making sure they didn't "endanger themselves".
Walking down the hallway, Axel observed the many signs plastered to the walls, indicating the area they were in closest proximity to. He was searching for "database". His mission had been to infiltrate the compound, gather military information for the revolution, and return. It was a simple enough mission he had given himself. But he knew that nothing was ever as simple as one initially thought it was.
Turning the many corners of the building, his keen eyes searched the many twists and turns that made the compound their home. A sense of curiosity grew in Axel's mind as he noticed that none of the rooms inside the building were occupied. It was completely devoid of any workers, any life. "So then what were the guards protecting?" He asked himself silently inside his head.
He allowed the question to drift from his mind as he finally spotted the doorway marked "database" and trotted into it without hesitation. Axel could hear the echo of his hooftspes resonating throughout the massive halls of the database, sending sound waves reflecting off of the data lined walls, alerting what seemed like virtually nopony at all. The halls were void of any life but his own. Or so it would seem. He wondered if they had perhaps been relieved of duties that particular night. It was the middle of the week, and the nearest holiday was hearth's warming, and that was weeks away. Nopony should have been absent.
He tried hard to put the worrying thoughts out of his mind, as he now had to be occupied with the task of transferring the encrypted military information files onto his datapad. It was a simple enough process, but it was one that required all of one's attention to complete. He felt a slight jolt as he inserted the transfer cable into the data port located at the front of the computer, not quite hurting Axel, but surprising him enough so that he was forced to give the machine 100% of his focus, his eyes now beginning to become once more glued to an electronic screen.
There had been a multitude of individual files inside the database, causing a severe amount of confusion on the part of Axel. He was anything but a technological pony. Working on the computer that night, his faults in particular, had made him recall a time when he was much younger, growing up in the Manehattan orphanage.
"No, no Axel, you're doing it all wrong", the head mistress had yelled at him, for he had once more managed to crash himself into one of the many trees on the planes just outside Manehattan. It was a phrase he had become accustomed to by this point, as he had heard it nearly everyday for as long as he could remember. "Watch Kaila".
It was the third week of orphan flight training. Axel had failed the training for the past two years, earning himself constant mockery on behalf of the older ponies of the orphanage. All young pegasi had been required to attend, although some were given better care than others when it came to the actual training. Kaila was one of those ponies.
She was a likeable enough person, and Axel had never held anything against her personally, she was just a little "too" likeable for the good of the rest of her peers. No matter how much they said otherwise, the caretakers of the orphanage had always paid special attention to her, making sure that her needs were met before attending to the rest of them.
She had come into the orphanage only recently, having a record of only two months in her new accomadations. She never talked about it herself, but it was rumoured that her parents were killed for high treason against the Celestian regime, or as the puppeteered media would call it, a "bear attack". It was for these reasons, along with their close age amongst other things, that she and Axel had become such good friends, developing a relationship no other pony could ever quite fully understand, nor deny. It was a friendship that had eventually grown into a partnership, when Axel discovered Princess Luna's tape that one fateful night. Kaila had always known the truth about Celestia, she had simply been to afraid to speak out, afraid for her life. Until now, at least, when Axel had given her the one thing she desired more than anything else. Opportunity.
Despite their friendship, Axel became jealous of her everytime annual flight school rolled around. She was a gifted flier, as was Axel. Kaila, however, was somepony who was easily instructable, while Axel's rebellious nature had landed him on a long list of charades, troubles with the law, and hospital rooms.
None of which ever quite managed to amuse the headmistress.
Axel had never had a good relationship with the headmistress. He secretly wondered if she had ever had a good relationship with anyone. Her angry tone still rang in his ears today, as if she had been haunting him, still correcting all his mistakes, of which he continued to make plenty of.
One day, when they were eating together, just a couple of days after she had moved into the orphanage, Kaila had asked Axel if the headmistress had ever had any kind of love life, to which Axel simply chuckled and replied, "Please, if I had a face like that, I would have sued my parents and ran away to the orphanage myself!", To which Kaila burst out laughing in reply. The fact that everybody else there lacked real parents as well, had given Kaila a sense of comfort, as if she had finally found somewhere she belonged. The same could not be said for Axel.
He had always despised the orphanage. Even though they had taken care of him all his life, he felt as if every bite he took, every second he slept in his bed, was simply them saying to him, "You need us.". He hated the very idea of such a thing. He had always been a rebellious pony, before he was even able to grasp the concept of rebellion.
He would always refuse to obey the simplest of commands, with the sole purpose of annoyng the headmistress, to prove to her that she didn't own him.
He could only imagine her reaction if the headmistress could see him now, stealing data files from an official government office, a crime punishable by death. Which, of course, wasn't saying much, in consideration that nearly everything was punishable by death nowadays. Axel had found an odd comfort in that thought. It meant that at this point, he had virtually nothing to loose, and a world to win.
He had always been fascinated by technology, even though he himself lacked any sort of technological prowess or ability. He could barely type, let alone hack into a highly advanced goverment installation database. It had become one of the few things he didn't question, in a world where nothing was true, and everything was false.
Even his own mind at times would lie to him. Sometimes, he would convince himself that he was the great Star-Swirl the bearded, or a majestic and mighty dragon. His lack of identity had allowed his mind to wander at times, seeking only a title for himself. A definition, of sorts. He had tried on a wide assortment of positions in his life. He had been everything from a farmer, to a baker, to a factory worker, he had even worked in the lingerie designing line for a short period of time. He was willing to try anything and everything to find himself.
"Yourself will find you", a young filly by the name of Applebloom once explained to him as he was picking up a new cloak he had requested the previous day. "What does that mean?", Axel impatiently asked in return, confused at the young fillie's seemingly non-sensical words. "It means that the more time you waste lookin' fer yer cutie mark, the more time you're wasting finding out who you really are, just trust me.", she said as she indicated to her own flank, which also blatantly lacked a cutie mark. The young filly had been visiting her aunt and uncle Orange, who had owned an apartment just across the street from the orphanage Axel lived in.
Realising that he had no time for recollecting, his mind now drifted back to the task at hand, and that task was to acquire the data files. Axel found that the database's security system was surprisingly simple, lacking little more than a 5-character passcode to gain entrance. His codebreaker was able to hack the system in seconds, as it began searching through each and every individual file faster than his eyes could follow.
He began to feel pointless by the time the codebreaker finally found the desired set of files. Axel could feel that the screen was hot to the touch from the excess of energy it had recently been forced to use as he gently pressed the "Sync. files" button. The process seemed designed for a two-year old. The simplicity almost enraged Axel, until he realised that he himself knew little more than a two year-old when it came to technology.
The process had seemed almost too easy. Kill a few guards, walk through an empty hall, and press a few buttons. Too easy... The words floated around in Axel's head, persisting, until they came true. This whole thing had been a trap.
"Well, well", a sharp and deep voice coursed through the air behind Axel, "It's a pretty sad day when Luna sends children to do her work." Axel was paralysed with fear, remaining motionless as the voice carried on. "You see, this whole routine was carried out as an attempt to judge just what we were up against in this revolution. I must say, I'm quite impressed", the voice briskly explained, "what you have in your hooves there is, in fact, genuine military strategic layout information.I'll tell you what, "Axel", in consideration that I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to kill you yet, I'd like to make a proposition. If you decide to take the easy way out, and simply hand me the datapad, then I just may consider allowing you to live."
Axel knew whoever was the source of the voice was now smiling a wicked and twisted grin. Feeling more threatened now than ever in his life, he willed himself to rotate clockwise a full 360 degrees, until he was facing the source of the menacing voice.
His throat went dry and his face filled with frustration, as he walked towards his enemy, which was then revealed to be Shining Armour, knight-commander of the Royal Guard. His furrowed brow lined with savagery as his evil grin mocked Axel's seemingly vain efforts. Contorted and ashamed, Axel finally brought himself to pause in front of Shining Armour and his heavily armed escort. Showing more reluctance at that moment than ever in his life, he slowly passed the jade green datapad he had been carrying from his hoof into the awaiting hoof of Shining Armour. He smiled as he grabbed the metallic object by the edge, taking the utmost of joy in Axel's humiliation. Still grinning, he met Axel's gaze, "Hm, alright then", he relented, "I don't think anyone with a strength of heart this weak will present any threat to us anyway. Enough blood has been spilled tonight as it is. Go then, return to your sad little life in shambles. Tell all your little "revolutionaries" about how I mercifully spared your life." Axel knelt down his head in a sign of submission, as he prepared to make his way out of the building.
"Are you sure about this sir?", one of the guard's spoke out, "He seems pretty dange-" the guard's words were cut short by Shining Armour's hoof violently striking his temple, knocking the now lifeless guard across the room. His bones could be heard fracturing as he collided into the hard surface of the wall, sending chills of fear down Axel's spine. "Go then, leave", the knight commander dictated, "I've no wish to be in your disgusting presence any longer." Axel wore the face of a terrified young foal as he began galloping out of the compound, no obstacles in his path, the halls still deserted.
After emerging outside, he pulled back his cowl and allowed the cold night air to flow gently through his tussled red mane as he looked out across the landing pad, out onto the brightly lit skyline of Manehattan. His eyes beheld each and every individual light of the many buildings. He could see his apartment complex, and realised just how insignificant it was in comparison to the rest of the city. He saw his old orphanage, and wondered if the headmistress was still working there. He felt sorry for the young foals that now lived in his old home. Confused and lost were no ways to live one's life, he knew all too well. Even from the compound suspended high above the city, he could still here the hustle and bustle of Manehattan. He could feel the heartbeat of the city inside himself. He was a part of it. He always would be. Manehattan was home to so many unique people. The tailor, the craftsman, the architect, the designer, the accountant, the mailman, the mayor, the popper, the aristocrat. People had come to the city from all walks of life, all classes, all positions, all livelihoods. All Manehattanites. For the second time in his life, Axel was proud to be apart of something greater than himself. The city had a life to it, as if underneath all of the standard sounds already present, there was another. He listened intently, all his attention trained unto Manehattan. It was the breath of the city, the sounds of all the vastly different people living and striving within it.
He once more felt the wind blowing through his mane, as he watched the city before his eyes, stood upon a world at his feet, and sensed a revolution laid out before him. This was no longer a battle for Equestria. This was a battle for the fate of the age-old idea of freedom, a battle for liberty, for a posterity free of the evils of tyanny and injustice.
Axel's meditation was sharply interrupted by fierce shouting released from deep within the compound. "What the hell is this!?", it cried out, "Damn it all!". Axel smiled. He had given Shining Armour the Winter edition of Playbrony.
Maybe now the Solar Empire would understand just what they were up against. Laughing to himself, Axel fully extended his long and cerrated black wings that blended into the pitch black of the night sky, made his way towards the edge of the landing pad, and lept out above the city.
Air flowing through his feathers, he set his eyes and heart on the roof of his apartment complex, and dived downwards. His heart rate increased when he realised he was now being pursued by a pair of Royal pegasus guards, most likely under orders of Shining Armour. He basked in the intensity of the dive, of the adrenaline, the thrill of the chase. Life threataning or not, Axel was having the time of his life.
The guards had closed almost all the distance between themselves and Axel by the time they were nearly at the underforestry of Manehattan. The street lights illuminated Axel's thrill consumed face, as the pursuit continued. He made a sharp turn into a nearby allyway, hoping to lose his pursuers.
The attempt was in vain, as they were now even closer behind. Axel then turned a full 90 degrees until he was facing straight upwards, and began scaling the broad side of one of the many skyscrapers of Manehattan. He could see the great deal of confused faces of the ponies inside as his ascent rapidly carried on. Axel knew this city like the back of his hoof.
The cosmopolitan metropolis Axel had always made his home appeared as a maze to outsiders, the likes of which he prayed to himself his pursuers were. Otherwise, this would be a very short chase. His prayers were answered as the top of the skyscraper was now beneath Axel.
He executed a tight barrol roll downwards, knowing exactly where his destination was. The action had roughly catapulted him between two street lights outlining the local underground train station. Hoping the guards were still at the top of the skyscraper, Axel flew into the doorway of the station.
He then landed his hooves on the ground, and ran through the crowd of confused and bewildered faces, in the direction of the nearest soon-to-be departing train. As if out of a movie, he launched himself onboard the train seconds before the doors shut closed behind him.
He panted heavily as he practically fell onto the chair he had selected. An onslaught of mixed reactions bombarded Axel. The train was filled with questions of "Who are you", "What do you want", "Why are you in a hurry". Axel answered none of these, and only continued his panting even louder as the train slowly began to make it's way out of the station.
He could sense the traintrack moving underneath, the sounds of the wheels hitting the railway. It had reminded him of his childhood. He hadn't ridden the train in years. "Funnny", he thought, "I picked now of all times to remember my childhood.
Looks of curiousity came upon his fellow train riders, confused at his laughing. By now, Axel was sure they thought he was crazy. It really didn't matter all that much to him anyway.
What mattered was whether or not the guards that had been pursuing him knew the city as well as he did, and whether or not they would be awaiting his arrival at the nearest station. He looked out the windows of the train, like he would do when he was a young foal, his mind always growing ever the more curious about all asptects of life. Axel was a child at heart. He always would be.
He could the train speeding by underneath his hooves. The city had once more spared his life. Luck had become on of the many elements that Axel had always been forced to rely on. He wasn't necessarily large, or menacing for that matter, so for him, intimidation was always out of the question. Axel resembled a fox, in many ways. Mostly in terms of personality, such as his quick whit, guile and charm. Even physically he resembled the fox in ways. He had a sly stature, quick movement and deception being his ally in battle.
"The fox", he thought as the train emerged now outside of the tunnels, travelling now along a supposedly 100 year-old bridge. The very thought of such a thing fascinated Axel, just like a great many other objects and aspects of life. The wooden bridge then gave way to yet another underground tunnel, this one not illuminated in the slightest, the halls ridden with nothing but darkness. Axel found it funny that at that moment, the only thing between everyone on board and an unexpected death was the wiring in the train's headlights. Life and Death. Black and White. Light and Darkness. Good and Bad. "What do they all mean?" He asked himself silently in his mind, allowing such contrary words to float around and nag his curious mind.
Such contradictory words were never as they seemed. That night, he had discovered that nothing was completely contradictory, as most had come to believe. He laughed as he thought about how he had learned more about life aboard the train in one night than he had learned throughout all of his many years in school. Feared began coursing throughout his veins as the train began to slow, indicating that arrival at the nearest destination was now only a short time span away.
The train had pulled to a complete stop. It was a large possibility that his pursuing guards could have known the city well, and were now scanning each of the many train stations, looking to brutally slaughter their prey without pity or remorse. Without thinking twice about it. "The beasts", He thought.
The doors of the train slid open. He tensed. He prepared to leap, to strike. The thrill of the impending fight that might not even occur took hold of him. He held his breath, the cold night air flowing through his teeth as he rapidly inhaled, almost at a paint. He waited, until the doors finally slid open.
No guards. All that awaited him was a decently sized group of ponies all making their way to their places of business, as indicated by their well dressed attire and briefcases. Axel wasted no time in getting to where he needed to be.
Knowing that taking flight was the equivalent to a target being painted on his back, Axel began trotting through the busy, overcrowded streets. Manehattan revolved around the night life, that much he had known since he had known for as long as he had lived there. Now he only needed a strategy to manuever through this sheer chaos.
Bumping nearly everypony in his path, Axel began shoving his way through the thick ocean of ponies all around him. The responses he had earned himself were not exactly positive, or favourable. But that made little difference to him now. The thicker the crowd the more chance he had of survival.
He never imagined himself in this scenario. He had never imagined himself outside the orphanage, although the desire filled his mind everyday of his life spent in the "Prison of a lifestyle", he had called it. He had never imagined himself stepping out into the world, becoming a part of something greater. Making a difference.
He had always been taught that the beat of a single pegasus's wings on one side of the world could result in a typhoon on the other. It was now that he finally understood the meaning of those words. It was now that he finally had an identity, and a place to call home.
And very entrance to that home now stood in front of him, looking more inviting now than ever before. He almost decided to glare at the entrance, before realising that his very life was in danger. Slowly, he made his way up the 4-step set of stairs the composed the secluded entrance into one of the many operating bases of the revolution now dotted all across Equestria.
After stepping in, the light tap of hoofsteps patting along the wooden floor, he was engulfed by darkness. Knowing exactly where he was going, he lightly stepped through the small and narrow hallway, passing multiple apartment rooms, including his own, before reaching the supply closet.
He had always assumed that nopony would ever be able to guess what was truly hidden in that closet. Nopony outside the Revolution ever came here, and the closet entrance itself gave nothing away. Inside, however, was the gateway to a whole different world.
He lightly wrapped his hoof around the door handle, lightly twisted, and pulled the frail wood until it was just slightly past his own body, and then began his venture down the dark flight of stairs concealed within, closing the door behind him. Unlike the rest of the apartment complex, the stairway was dimly by candlelight along the walls, so as not to allow the light to be seen from the outside. The heat from the operation base down below then rose up into the stairway, giving Axel a feeling of hospitality, and the feeling that he was finally returning home.
He stepped down onto the dirt floor of the headquarters. It had been quite a while since his hoof had felt the powdery sensation of dirt. He earned himself several curious glances as he rubbed his hoof lightly around in the grainy substance.
"Uhm, sir?", his close friend, Esellbuck inquired as he stood in front of the doorway, very little light shining through as they were now behind a massive curtain, "Your speech is ready".
"Very good.", Axel hastily replied, embarrassed at his fascination with dirt, "Pull back the curtains".
"As you wish", Esellbuck said in return, now spinning the mechanism belonging to the curtains' movement systems.
Axel couled feel the initial breeze of the warm dry air upon his nearly frozen black coat. The first crack of light began to show through, and then did nothing but continued to widen. Axel, at first, squinted his eyes to hide himself from the blinding light. But, he knew he had a duty to accomplish, and wasn't about to let a little bit of light to stop him.
The curtains had now been fully pulled back, and before Axel stood the many patiently awaiting and anticipated faces of the Manehattanite revolutionaries. Each now awaiting from their leader a great speech. One that would be heard through the ages and written in the annals of history. Axel, however, hated public speaking with a passion.
Sweat began dripping down the side of his face as worry and fear overcame him. Something inside him knew, however, that this simply had to be done. He shakingly leaned his head closer to the mic., licked his lips, took a deep breath, and began to speak.
"My fellow Manehattanites, Equestrians, businessmen, warriors, scholars, and patrons. Today we are gathered deep below our fair city, united by a goal. A cause, if you will.", he said with conviction, taking long breaths and pauses, "And I'm sure you are all well aware of what that is. It is often said that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step... This belief can be no more evident, then at this very moment. For it is in this grim hour, that the dim of light of hope shines upon us.", Axel took a deep breath, and swallowed a small portion of spit that had gathered in his mouth, and carried on, "For a shimmer of hope has now reached us. I have with me, in my hooves, a datapad containing military layout information of the Celestian royal army. This document is a symbol of what one pony can do if they put their mind to it. From this, our revolution will grow, so long as there is determination in our hearts, the undying belief that freedom is the most precious thing we have left, that all ponies are born to live free. The history of Celestia is a long and ancient history of grievances, oppression, slaughter, betrayal, concealment, propaganda, and violence. For too long have we lived under the iron hoof of her reign! It pains me to say that the rest of Equestria reminds blind, and in some cases, it is a blindness provoked by the hatred against our revolution by the ruling classes of Equestria. As well as others, some sadder and more despicable, it is the product of the dazzling glitter if mammon. But we stand united, awakened. So long as the concept of sovereignty exists as the prerogative of nations and of independent peoples, as a right to all, we will not accept the exclusion of our peoples from that right. So long as this world is governed by those principles, so long as the world is governed by those concepts that have universal validity because they are universally accepted and recognised by all peoples, we will not accept the attempt to deprive us of any of those rights, and we intend to renounce none of them. If they are unwilling to accept the spirit of our revolution, that liberty is ever more sacred than blood, then there must come a time when we must stand together and declare that we don't want them! That we don't need them! All we need to begin with, is a dream, that we can achieve more. All we need to have is faith, and that dream will come true. All we need to do, is act, and the time for action is now! So I say to you, Celestia, that so long as our blood still flows, so long as our hearts still beat for freedom, for liberty, and a future no longer held by your bondage, then our knees will never bend to your tyranny! For now, in this hour, all of you who are ready to fight and to die for this cause, I bid you stand!"
Mammoth cheers erupted from the audience, as the heads of over 5,000 ponies rose up like a wave engulfing the crowd. And now Axel was done. He had performed what was necessary, and no longer had any wish to remain behind the podium.
Making his way off the stage, Kaila had approached him from a nearby hallway connected to the back of the stage area, where Axel's room had been located. "I guess this is why your our leader", she said to him as he walked past, tired and weary.
"I suppose so", he mustered sloppily, exhausted from all that had occurred that night. He was done for now.
He slowly opened the door to his room, which at that point was a complete and utter mess. Old food and clothes strewn across the floor, stains on nearly everything stainable. None of which Axel cared about.
After reaching it's edge, he practically fell into his bed. He was nearly swallowed by the extreme comfort. He then gently rested his weary head upon the goose feather pillow he had been given by Kaila last Hearth's Warming.
His eyes managed to stay open just long enough for him to cast his stare outside his bedroom window, into the night sky. The bright white of the moon shone brightly against the pitch black sky. Axel knew that so long as the moon still shone, that Luna was still out there. That she was still alive, fighting, living for the cause.
And with that thought supplying him a sense of comfort, Axel slowly closed his eyelids, and fell to sleep.
It had been just over a week since he had discovered Princess Luna's tape, lying on the floor of his apartment, providing an explanation to the broken window and shattered glass that had been thrown across his home. The tape had inspired him, it gave him a cause, it gave him something to belong to, in a world where he had nothing.
Since as far back as he could remember, he had never had more identity than "Axel". He could not remember any parents, or any kind of life outside the orphanage. Despite being near adulthood, he even lacked a cutie mark. He had nothing, nothing except the Revolution. The very idea of no identity mocked him, haunted him even.
Axel... He hated that name. He always had. To him, it was only a symbol of his lack of identity. He couldn't change it now though, too many had grown to calling him by that.
A day didn't go by in his life where he didn't wonder how different his life would be if he had never arrived at the Manehattan orphanage, if his parents had chosen to keep him instead. As reluctant as he was to accept it, he knew that he was meant to be there, to find the tape, to restore freedom to his homeland. His homeland. The word stuck in his mind as he pondered on if he was even from Equestria.
Axel winced as he could hear the bones of the unsuspecting guard's back break underneath him, as the full weight of his body fell onto the guard's, knocking him face down unto the ground. He could feel his previously hidden dagger pierce the back of the guard's neck, and slide in between the vertebrae, quickly severing the jugular vein. The guard let out a slight moan before his body gave into the pain and became lifeless, blood trickling from his mouth, eyes open wide, staring endlessly into space.
It was the first time Axel had ever killed a pony. In that moment, he felt the heat of battle overcome him, gripping him and taking control of his actions, as everything that he did from that point on became pure instinct. He did discover one thing about himself that night. He discovered that he was a killer, and he knew that he was ready to kill.
As soon as the nearest guard's shout for help rang out in the air, Axel quickly performed a lightning fast front roll, so that he arrived parallel to the guard directly in front of him, the one who had yelled for help. Despite the guard's best efforts to retaliate, Axel was faster. Just as he emerged into mid-crouch, he reached for a new dagger from his belt, and, using the full motion of his body, sent it straight into the pale white chest of the guard, as his right hoof used the clock-like motion of the previous action to send the already bloodied dagger straight upwards into the soft flesh beneath the guard's jawbone.
He pulled both of the blades out simultaneously as he performed a nimble back roll, both to avoid the onslaught of blood from the recently slaughtered guards as well as to prepare for his next set of actions. He was right in doing so, for a new pair of guard's were on their way, most likely in reply to the cries for help from their now deceased comrade. Axel's mind raced as he thought on how to deal with his new adversaries.
His lightning fast instinct had saved his life that night. Almost subconsciously, Axel sent the two blades he had wrestled from the guard's lifeless bodies seconds ago flying at the two that had remained alive and were encroaching unto his position. One of the daggers had landed directly in between the eyes of the one guard, killing him almost instantly. The other launched itself in the throat of the guard opposite the first, sending him straight to the concrete floor.
Axel's enemies had been easily defeated. For now, at least. He rose to his feet, and began slowly making his way over to the entrance into the compound. He knew he had to act quickly.
After he had mounted it onto the number dialer, he watched as his sky blue code breaker typed an almost endless set of passwords. Numbers flashed, letters showed, sequences entered, all of the data scattered across the screen at Axel's fingertips. He found it funny how far beyond him the technology was, how complex it had all seemed to him.
He almost found himself hypnotized by the machine as he leaned his head closer to it with each passing second, his eyes pointlessly scanning the figures and symbols that revealed themselves before him. Even as his eyes began to water from the extensive amount of time that he had been glaring at the screen, he continued to look. He looked until it began to hurt, and then he persisted looking even longer.
The hypnosis was broken by a large jade green rectangle emerging on the screen, with the words: "Pass code entered" strewn across in a pale white. It had taken Axel a few seconds to register the fact that his code breaking attempts had been successful, catching himself still staring at the brightly-lit screen of the code breaker. He laughed to himself, at how he had allowed himself to do something that seemed so childish.
He pulled back his cowl as the doorway hissed open, to allow access into the royal database compound. Axel's black fur had blended well into the darkness of the night, granting him the blessing of stealth, a tool he used quite wisely. He was nearly invisible as he stood in the doorway, deeply gazing into the halls of the building he had just infiltrated.
As he looked further and further into the halls, he could see that security cameras had been set up to observe every angle of the building. "Hm", he said aloud, "I guess they don't bother to hide the cameras here", in reference to the fact that every single area in Equestria each had it's own set of hidden cameras, so as to allow Celestia and her accomplices to secretly observe every move of every pony at every second of the day, making sure they didn't "endanger themselves".
Walking down the hallway, Axel observed the many signs plastered to the walls, indicating the area they were in closest proximity to. He was searching for "database". His mission had been to infiltrate the compound, gather military information for the revolution, and return. It was a simple enough mission he had given himself. But he knew that nothing was ever as simple as one initially thought it was.
Turning the many corners of the building, his keen eyes searched the many twists and turns that made the compound their home. A sense of curiosity grew in Axel's mind as he noticed that none of the rooms inside the building were occupied. It was completely devoid of any workers, any life. "So then what were the guards protecting?" He asked himself silently inside his head.
He allowed the question to drift from his mind as he finally spotted the doorway marked "database" and trotted into it without hesitation. Axel could hear the echo of his hooftspes resonating throughout the massive halls of the database, sending sound waves reflecting off of the data lined walls, alerting what seemed like virtually nopony at all. The halls were void of any life but his own. Or so it would seem. He wondered if they had perhaps been relieved of duties that particular night. It was the middle of the week, and the nearest holiday was hearth's warming, and that was weeks away. Nopony should have been absent.
He tried hard to put the worrying thoughts out of his mind, as he now had to be occupied with the task of transferring the encrypted military information files onto his datapad. It was a simple enough process, but it was one that required all of one's attention to complete. He felt a slight jolt as he inserted the transfer cable into the data port located at the front of the computer, not quite hurting Axel, but surprising him enough so that he was forced to give the machine 100% of his focus, his eyes now beginning to become once more glued to an electronic screen.
There had been a multitude of individual files inside the database, causing a severe amount of confusion on the part of Axel. He was anything but a technological pony. Working on the computer that night, his faults in particular, had made him recall a time when he was much younger, growing up in the Manehattan orphanage.
"No, no Axel, you're doing it all wrong", the head mistress had yelled at him, for he had once more managed to crash himself into one of the many trees on the planes just outside Manehattan. It was a phrase he had become accustomed to by this point, as he had heard it nearly everyday for as long as he could remember. "Watch Kaila".
It was the third week of orphan flight training. Axel had failed the training for the past two years, earning himself constant mockery on behalf of the older ponies of the orphanage. All young pegasi had been required to attend, although some were given better care than others when it came to the actual training. Kaila was one of those ponies.
She was a likeable enough person, and Axel had never held anything against her personally, she was just a little "too" likeable for the good of the rest of her peers. No matter how much they said otherwise, the caretakers of the orphanage had always paid special attention to her, making sure that her needs were met before attending to the rest of them.
She had come into the orphanage only recently, having a record of only two months in her new accomadations. She never talked about it herself, but it was rumoured that her parents were killed for high treason against the Celestian regime, or as the puppeteered media would call it, a "bear attack". It was for these reasons, along with their close age amongst other things, that she and Axel had become such good friends, developing a relationship no other pony could ever quite fully understand, nor deny. It was a friendship that had eventually grown into a partnership, when Axel discovered Princess Luna's tape that one fateful night. Kaila had always known the truth about Celestia, she had simply been to afraid to speak out, afraid for her life. Until now, at least, when Axel had given her the one thing she desired more than anything else. Opportunity.
Despite their friendship, Axel became jealous of her everytime annual flight school rolled around. She was a gifted flier, as was Axel. Kaila, however, was somepony who was easily instructable, while Axel's rebellious nature had landed him on a long list of charades, troubles with the law, and hospital rooms.
None of which ever quite managed to amuse the headmistress.
Axel had never had a good relationship with the headmistress. He secretly wondered if she had ever had a good relationship with anyone. Her angry tone still rang in his ears today, as if she had been haunting him, still correcting all his mistakes, of which he continued to make plenty of.
One day, when they were eating together, just a couple of days after she had moved into the orphanage, Kaila had asked Axel if the headmistress had ever had any kind of love life, to which Axel simply chuckled and replied, "Please, if I had a face like that, I would have sued my parents and ran away to the orphanage myself!", To which Kaila burst out laughing in reply. The fact that everybody else there lacked real parents as well, had given Kaila a sense of comfort, as if she had finally found somewhere she belonged. The same could not be said for Axel.
He had always despised the orphanage. Even though they had taken care of him all his life, he felt as if every bite he took, every second he slept in his bed, was simply them saying to him, "You need us.". He hated the very idea of such a thing. He had always been a rebellious pony, before he was even able to grasp the concept of rebellion.
He would always refuse to obey the simplest of commands, with the sole purpose of annoyng the headmistress, to prove to her that she didn't own him.
He could only imagine her reaction if the headmistress could see him now, stealing data files from an official government office, a crime punishable by death. Which, of course, wasn't saying much, in consideration that nearly everything was punishable by death nowadays. Axel had found an odd comfort in that thought. It meant that at this point, he had virtually nothing to loose, and a world to win.
He had always been fascinated by technology, even though he himself lacked any sort of technological prowess or ability. He could barely type, let alone hack into a highly advanced goverment installation database. It had become one of the few things he didn't question, in a world where nothing was true, and everything was false.
Even his own mind at times would lie to him. Sometimes, he would convince himself that he was the great Star-Swirl the bearded, or a majestic and mighty dragon. His lack of identity had allowed his mind to wander at times, seeking only a title for himself. A definition, of sorts. He had tried on a wide assortment of positions in his life. He had been everything from a farmer, to a baker, to a factory worker, he had even worked in the lingerie designing line for a short period of time. He was willing to try anything and everything to find himself.
"Yourself will find you", a young filly by the name of Applebloom once explained to him as he was picking up a new cloak he had requested the previous day. "What does that mean?", Axel impatiently asked in return, confused at the young fillie's seemingly non-sensical words. "It means that the more time you waste lookin' fer yer cutie mark, the more time you're wasting finding out who you really are, just trust me.", she said as she indicated to her own flank, which also blatantly lacked a cutie mark. The young filly had been visiting her aunt and uncle Orange, who had owned an apartment just across the street from the orphanage Axel lived in.
Realising that he had no time for recollecting, his mind now drifted back to the task at hand, and that task was to acquire the data files. Axel found that the database's security system was surprisingly simple, lacking little more than a 5-character passcode to gain entrance. His codebreaker was able to hack the system in seconds, as it began searching through each and every individual file faster than his eyes could follow.
He began to feel pointless by the time the codebreaker finally found the desired set of files. Axel could feel that the screen was hot to the touch from the excess of energy it had recently been forced to use as he gently pressed the "Sync. files" button. The process seemed designed for a two-year old. The simplicity almost enraged Axel, until he realised that he himself knew little more than a two year-old when it came to technology.
The process had seemed almost too easy. Kill a few guards, walk through an empty hall, and press a few buttons. Too easy... The words floated around in Axel's head, persisting, until they came true. This whole thing had been a trap.
"Well, well", a sharp and deep voice coursed through the air behind Axel, "It's a pretty sad day when Luna sends children to do her work." Axel was paralysed with fear, remaining motionless as the voice carried on. "You see, this whole routine was carried out as an attempt to judge just what we were up against in this revolution. I must say, I'm quite impressed", the voice briskly explained, "what you have in your hooves there is, in fact, genuine military strategic layout information.I'll tell you what, "Axel", in consideration that I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to kill you yet, I'd like to make a proposition. If you decide to take the easy way out, and simply hand me the datapad, then I just may consider allowing you to live."
Axel knew whoever was the source of the voice was now smiling a wicked and twisted grin. Feeling more threatened now than ever in his life, he willed himself to rotate clockwise a full 360 degrees, until he was facing the source of the menacing voice.
His throat went dry and his face filled with frustration, as he walked towards his enemy, which was then revealed to be Shining Armour, knight-commander of the Royal Guard. His furrowed brow lined with savagery as his evil grin mocked Axel's seemingly vain efforts. Contorted and ashamed, Axel finally brought himself to pause in front of Shining Armour and his heavily armed escort. Showing more reluctance at that moment than ever in his life, he slowly passed the jade green datapad he had been carrying from his hoof into the awaiting hoof of Shining Armour. He smiled as he grabbed the metallic object by the edge, taking the utmost of joy in Axel's humiliation. Still grinning, he met Axel's gaze, "Hm, alright then", he relented, "I don't think anyone with a strength of heart this weak will present any threat to us anyway. Enough blood has been spilled tonight as it is. Go then, return to your sad little life in shambles. Tell all your little "revolutionaries" about how I mercifully spared your life." Axel knelt down his head in a sign of submission, as he prepared to make his way out of the building.
"Are you sure about this sir?", one of the guard's spoke out, "He seems pretty dange-" the guard's words were cut short by Shining Armour's hoof violently striking his temple, knocking the now lifeless guard across the room. His bones could be heard fracturing as he collided into the hard surface of the wall, sending chills of fear down Axel's spine. "Go then, leave", the knight commander dictated, "I've no wish to be in your disgusting presence any longer." Axel wore the face of a terrified young foal as he began galloping out of the compound, no obstacles in his path, the halls still deserted.
After emerging outside, he pulled back his cowl and allowed the cold night air to flow gently through his tussled red mane as he looked out across the landing pad, out onto the brightly lit skyline of Manehattan. His eyes beheld each and every individual light of the many buildings. He could see his apartment complex, and realised just how insignificant it was in comparison to the rest of the city. He saw his old orphanage, and wondered if the headmistress was still working there. He felt sorry for the young foals that now lived in his old home. Confused and lost were no ways to live one's life, he knew all too well. Even from the compound suspended high above the city, he could still here the hustle and bustle of Manehattan. He could feel the heartbeat of the city inside himself. He was a part of it. He always would be. Manehattan was home to so many unique people. The tailor, the craftsman, the architect, the designer, the accountant, the mailman, the mayor, the popper, the aristocrat. People had come to the city from all walks of life, all classes, all positions, all livelihoods. All Manehattanites. For the second time in his life, Axel was proud to be apart of something greater than himself. The city had a life to it, as if underneath all of the standard sounds already present, there was another. He listened intently, all his attention trained unto Manehattan. It was the breath of the city, the sounds of all the vastly different people living and striving within it.
He once more felt the wind blowing through his mane, as he watched the city before his eyes, stood upon a world at his feet, and sensed a revolution laid out before him. This was no longer a battle for Equestria. This was a battle for the fate of the age-old idea of freedom, a battle for liberty, for a posterity free of the evils of tyanny and injustice.
Axel's meditation was sharply interrupted by fierce shouting released from deep within the compound. "What the hell is this!?", it cried out, "Damn it all!". Axel smiled. He had given Shining Armour the Winter edition of Playbrony.
Maybe now the Solar Empire would understand just what they were up against. Laughing to himself, Axel fully extended his long and cerrated black wings that blended into the pitch black of the night sky, made his way towards the edge of the landing pad, and lept out above the city.
Air flowing through his feathers, he set his eyes and heart on the roof of his apartment complex, and dived downwards. His heart rate increased when he realised he was now being pursued by a pair of Royal pegasus guards, most likely under orders of Shining Armour. He basked in the intensity of the dive, of the adrenaline, the thrill of the chase. Life threataning or not, Axel was having the time of his life.
The guards had closed almost all the distance between themselves and Axel by the time they were nearly at the underforestry of Manehattan. The street lights illuminated Axel's thrill consumed face, as the pursuit continued. He made a sharp turn into a nearby allyway, hoping to lose his pursuers.
The attempt was in vain, as they were now even closer behind. Axel then turned a full 90 degrees until he was facing straight upwards, and began scaling the broad side of one of the many skyscrapers of Manehattan. He could see the great deal of confused faces of the ponies inside as his ascent rapidly carried on. Axel knew this city like the back of his hoof.
The cosmopolitan metropolis Axel had always made his home appeared as a maze to outsiders, the likes of which he prayed to himself his pursuers were. Otherwise, this would be a very short chase. His prayers were answered as the top of the skyscraper was now beneath Axel.
He executed a tight barrol roll downwards, knowing exactly where his destination was. The action had roughly catapulted him between two street lights outlining the local underground train station. Hoping the guards were still at the top of the skyscraper, Axel flew into the doorway of the station.
He then landed his hooves on the ground, and ran through the crowd of confused and bewildered faces, in the direction of the nearest soon-to-be departing train. As if out of a movie, he launched himself onboard the train seconds before the doors shut closed behind him.
He panted heavily as he practically fell onto the chair he had selected. An onslaught of mixed reactions bombarded Axel. The train was filled with questions of "Who are you", "What do you want", "Why are you in a hurry". Axel answered none of these, and only continued his panting even louder as the train slowly began to make it's way out of the station.
He could sense the traintrack moving underneath, the sounds of the wheels hitting the railway. It had reminded him of his childhood. He hadn't ridden the train in years. "Funnny", he thought, "I picked now of all times to remember my childhood.
Looks of curiousity came upon his fellow train riders, confused at his laughing. By now, Axel was sure they thought he was crazy. It really didn't matter all that much to him anyway.
What mattered was whether or not the guards that had been pursuing him knew the city as well as he did, and whether or not they would be awaiting his arrival at the nearest station. He looked out the windows of the train, like he would do when he was a young foal, his mind always growing ever the more curious about all asptects of life. Axel was a child at heart. He always would be.
He could the train speeding by underneath his hooves. The city had once more spared his life. Luck had become on of the many elements that Axel had always been forced to rely on. He wasn't necessarily large, or menacing for that matter, so for him, intimidation was always out of the question. Axel resembled a fox, in many ways. Mostly in terms of personality, such as his quick whit, guile and charm. Even physically he resembled the fox in ways. He had a sly stature, quick movement and deception being his ally in battle.
"The fox", he thought as the train emerged now outside of the tunnels, travelling now along a supposedly 100 year-old bridge. The very thought of such a thing fascinated Axel, just like a great many other objects and aspects of life. The wooden bridge then gave way to yet another underground tunnel, this one not illuminated in the slightest, the halls ridden with nothing but darkness. Axel found it funny that at that moment, the only thing between everyone on board and an unexpected death was the wiring in the train's headlights. Life and Death. Black and White. Light and Darkness. Good and Bad. "What do they all mean?" He asked himself silently in his mind, allowing such contrary words to float around and nag his curious mind.
Such contradictory words were never as they seemed. That night, he had discovered that nothing was completely contradictory, as most had come to believe. He laughed as he thought about how he had learned more about life aboard the train in one night than he had learned throughout all of his many years in school. Feared began coursing throughout his veins as the train began to slow, indicating that arrival at the nearest destination was now only a short time span away.
The train had pulled to a complete stop. It was a large possibility that his pursuing guards could have known the city well, and were now scanning each of the many train stations, looking to brutally slaughter their prey without pity or remorse. Without thinking twice about it. "The beasts", He thought.
The doors of the train slid open. He tensed. He prepared to leap, to strike. The thrill of the impending fight that might not even occur took hold of him. He held his breath, the cold night air flowing through his teeth as he rapidly inhaled, almost at a paint. He waited, until the doors finally slid open.
No guards. All that awaited him was a decently sized group of ponies all making their way to their places of business, as indicated by their well dressed attire and briefcases. Axel wasted no time in getting to where he needed to be.
Knowing that taking flight was the equivalent to a target being painted on his back, Axel began trotting through the busy, overcrowded streets. Manehattan revolved around the night life, that much he had known since he had known for as long as he had lived there. Now he only needed a strategy to manuever through this sheer chaos.
Bumping nearly everypony in his path, Axel began shoving his way through the thick ocean of ponies all around him. The responses he had earned himself were not exactly positive, or favourable. But that made little difference to him now. The thicker the crowd the more chance he had of survival.
He never imagined himself in this scenario. He had never imagined himself outside the orphanage, although the desire filled his mind everyday of his life spent in the "Prison of a lifestyle", he had called it. He had never imagined himself stepping out into the world, becoming a part of something greater. Making a difference.
He had always been taught that the beat of a single pegasus's wings on one side of the world could result in a typhoon on the other. It was now that he finally understood the meaning of those words. It was now that he finally had an identity, and a place to call home.
And very entrance to that home now stood in front of him, looking more inviting now than ever before. He almost decided to glare at the entrance, before realising that his very life was in danger. Slowly, he made his way up the 4-step set of stairs the composed the secluded entrance into one of the many operating bases of the revolution now dotted all across Equestria.
After stepping in, the light tap of hoofsteps patting along the wooden floor, he was engulfed by darkness. Knowing exactly where he was going, he lightly stepped through the small and narrow hallway, passing multiple apartment rooms, including his own, before reaching the supply closet.
He had always assumed that nopony would ever be able to guess what was truly hidden in that closet. Nopony outside the Revolution ever came here, and the closet entrance itself gave nothing away. Inside, however, was the gateway to a whole different world.
He lightly wrapped his hoof around the door handle, lightly twisted, and pulled the frail wood until it was just slightly past his own body, and then began his venture down the dark flight of stairs concealed within, closing the door behind him. Unlike the rest of the apartment complex, the stairway was dimly by candlelight along the walls, so as not to allow the light to be seen from the outside. The heat from the operation base down below then rose up into the stairway, giving Axel a feeling of hospitality, and the feeling that he was finally returning home.
He stepped down onto the dirt floor of the headquarters. It had been quite a while since his hoof had felt the powdery sensation of dirt. He earned himself several curious glances as he rubbed his hoof lightly around in the grainy substance.
"Uhm, sir?", his close friend, Esellbuck inquired as he stood in front of the doorway, very little light shining through as they were now behind a massive curtain, "Your speech is ready".
"Very good.", Axel hastily replied, embarrassed at his fascination with dirt, "Pull back the curtains".
"As you wish", Esellbuck said in return, now spinning the mechanism belonging to the curtains' movement systems.
Axel couled feel the initial breeze of the warm dry air upon his nearly frozen black coat. The first crack of light began to show through, and then did nothing but continued to widen. Axel, at first, squinted his eyes to hide himself from the blinding light. But, he knew he had a duty to accomplish, and wasn't about to let a little bit of light to stop him.
The curtains had now been fully pulled back, and before Axel stood the many patiently awaiting and anticipated faces of the Manehattanite revolutionaries. Each now awaiting from their leader a great speech. One that would be heard through the ages and written in the annals of history. Axel, however, hated public speaking with a passion.
Sweat began dripping down the side of his face as worry and fear overcame him. Something inside him knew, however, that this simply had to be done. He shakingly leaned his head closer to the mic., licked his lips, took a deep breath, and began to speak.
"My fellow Manehattanites, Equestrians, businessmen, warriors, scholars, and patrons. Today we are gathered deep below our fair city, united by a goal. A cause, if you will.", he said with conviction, taking long breaths and pauses, "And I'm sure you are all well aware of what that is. It is often said that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step... This belief can be no more evident, then at this very moment. For it is in this grim hour, that the dim of light of hope shines upon us.", Axel took a deep breath, and swallowed a small portion of spit that had gathered in his mouth, and carried on, "For a shimmer of hope has now reached us. I have with me, in my hooves, a datapad containing military layout information of the Celestian royal army. This document is a symbol of what one pony can do if they put their mind to it. From this, our revolution will grow, so long as there is determination in our hearts, the undying belief that freedom is the most precious thing we have left, that all ponies are born to live free. The history of Celestia is a long and ancient history of grievances, oppression, slaughter, betrayal, concealment, propaganda, and violence. For too long have we lived under the iron hoof of her reign! It pains me to say that the rest of Equestria reminds blind, and in some cases, it is a blindness provoked by the hatred against our revolution by the ruling classes of Equestria. As well as others, some sadder and more despicable, it is the product of the dazzling glitter if mammon. But we stand united, awakened. So long as the concept of sovereignty exists as the prerogative of nations and of independent peoples, as a right to all, we will not accept the exclusion of our peoples from that right. So long as this world is governed by those principles, so long as the world is governed by those concepts that have universal validity because they are universally accepted and recognised by all peoples, we will not accept the attempt to deprive us of any of those rights, and we intend to renounce none of them. If they are unwilling to accept the spirit of our revolution, that liberty is ever more sacred than blood, then there must come a time when we must stand together and declare that we don't want them! That we don't need them! All we need to begin with, is a dream, that we can achieve more. All we need to have is faith, and that dream will come true. All we need to do, is act, and the time for action is now! So I say to you, Celestia, that so long as our blood still flows, so long as our hearts still beat for freedom, for liberty, and a future no longer held by your bondage, then our knees will never bend to your tyranny! For now, in this hour, all of you who are ready to fight and to die for this cause, I bid you stand!"
Mammoth cheers erupted from the audience, as the heads of over 5,000 ponies rose up like a wave engulfing the crowd. And now Axel was done. He had performed what was necessary, and no longer had any wish to remain behind the podium.
Making his way off the stage, Kaila had approached him from a nearby hallway connected to the back of the stage area, where Axel's room had been located. "I guess this is why your our leader", she said to him as he walked past, tired and weary.
"I suppose so", he mustered sloppily, exhausted from all that had occurred that night. He was done for now.
He slowly opened the door to his room, which at that point was a complete and utter mess. Old food and clothes strewn across the floor, stains on nearly everything stainable. None of which Axel cared about.
After reaching it's edge, he practically fell into his bed. He was nearly swallowed by the extreme comfort. He then gently rested his weary head upon the goose feather pillow he had been given by Kaila last Hearth's Warming.
His eyes managed to stay open just long enough for him to cast his stare outside his bedroom window, into the night sky. The bright white of the moon shone brightly against the pitch black sky. Axel knew that so long as the moon still shone, that Luna was still out there. That she was still alive, fighting, living for the cause.
And with that thought supplying him a sense of comfort, Axel slowly closed his eyelids, and fell to sleep.