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// Chapter 4 : Hope and repressions (Warning Mature) 
// Story: The Vanhoover's Filly 
// by Altia Sky 
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A month had passed since the tragic events, and the situation had evolved considerably over the last month.

A decisive Changeling breakthrough forced the Equestrian troops to retreat as far as Las Pegasus and Cloudsdale.
The Crystal Empire was in no better shape: the Changeling had managed to reach the outskirts of Crystal City and control the entire western region known as Crystal Farmland.

The Changeling had an aggressive occupation policy, arresting all ponies of fighting age according to their criteria, i.e. from 12 to 50 years of age, i.e. practically the entire population. To avoid nests of resistance, the Changeling moved a huge number of ponies to other occupied regions, notably Olenia and Polar North.

As the war wore on, an enormous sense of patriotism, unprecedented in Equestria, began to emerge, and desperate measures were taken.
At a concert in Canterlot by the Canterlot National Orchestra, directed by Octavia Melody, a song specially written for this conflict was performed: "Equestria is calling us"


Singing victory opens the gate;
Freedom guides our steps;
And from north to south the war trumpet;
Has sounded the hour of battle;
Tremble, enemies of Equestria
Changeling drunk with blood and pride;
The sovereign ponies advance;

Equestria calls us;
Win or perish;
A pony must live for Equestria;
For Equestria, a pony must die;


A patriotic song taken up by many ponies around the continent and in the Crystal Empire where crystal ponies changing the term "Equestria" to "Crystal Empire".

In New Mareland, a famous patriotic song also emerged during the conflict, inspired by "Equestria is calling us", called "The song of the Marelanders"


We were in the heart of Griffonia;
Jealous guardians of our land;
When under a magnificent sun;
Sounded those victorious cries;
Shouting, singing, onward;

It's us Marelanders who've come from afar;
We've come from the colonies to save the land;
We've left everything, our parents, our friends;
And our hearts are full of invincible ardor;
For we want to carry high and proud;
This beautiful flag of our whole Equestria;
And if somepony should touch it;
We'll be there to die at his feet;
Beat the drums;
To our love;

For the country;
For the fatherland;
To die far away;
We are the Marelanders!


In the months before the arrival of the Changeling, many ponies formed volunteer militias to swell the ranks of the routed regular army.
The real breath of fresh air for Equestria came when Stalliongrad entered the war and sent its equalist pony army, known as the "Red Army" to the Equestria front, while a second army, joined by troops from the egalitarian Republic of Nova Griffonia, joined the armies of Yakyakistan to the north against the Changelings.





Meanwhile, in Vanhoover, the town was under Changeling occupation, with summary executions and arrests a daily occurrence. Worst of all for the population was the "Love Tax", a tax imposed by the Reichkomissariat of Changeling occupation with the aim of extracting love from the ponies in the area. Extraction is a painful and exhausting process, adding to the famine caused by the Changeling requisition of food and consumer goods.

The little filly's daily life has been severely affected by the occupation, and many of her friends have either disappeared, left with their families or been killed. Last week, it was her friend from down the street who was executed by the Changeling for treason and rebellion. The Changeling took sadistic pleasure in executing their prisoners by forcing the extraction of love to the point of no return, or more simply, to the victim's death. A long and painful method.

The Changeling adapters of this practice were often the most fanatical of the Changelings, those who belonged to the VOPS, the Changeling intelligence and political police service.

Repression intensified all too soon, as the regular troops of the Changelings' Grand Army left for the front, making way for VOPS fanatics and occupying forces. Meanwhile, the Equestrian resistance movements quickly took shape, and before long each region had its own movement and network of resistance fighters.
A famous resistance song was born in Vanhoover: "The song of the free ponies"


Friend, can you hear the black flight of the Changelings on our plains?
Friend, can you hear the muffled cries of the country in chains?
Resistance fighters, workers and peasants, the alarm is sounding!
Tonight the enemy will know the price of blood and tears!

Come up from the mines, come down from the hills, comrades!
Rifles and grenades out of the straw!
Murderers with pistols and knives, kill quickly!
Saboteur, watch your pack, dynamite!


A vicious circle of ever-increasing, violent resistance and ever-bloodier repression was set in motion. In all this chaos, some took advantage of the situation, some of the ponies known as BSC for Butter, Straw and Cheese, because they were the goods that sold best on the black market.

The Changelings rationed the entire civilian population, a sad end to the year 1011.

But in the midst of this spiral of torment and pain, an event occurred that could have become a myth, a legend so much so that it was hard to believe. At the end of the year, in the midst of the year-end festivities at the front, Changeling soldiers began to sing from their positions, followed by ponies.

Intrigued, the soldiers of both armies stopped fighting and began singing together from their respective positions, the changelings starting with a song from home, then the Equestrians singing a song of their own, following the changelings' rhythm.
This kind of evening ceasefire spread to certain parts of the front from north to south.
Most surprisingly, in the north near Bales, a Changeling unit had agreed a ceasefire with an Equestrian unit and the Crystal Empire unit, for an evening to rest, bury the dead and gather in their honor. What followed the next day was that neither side wanted to resume the battle, and the enemy soldiers had even played an Equestrian sport together the night before.

An event reported in all the Equestrian Alliance press, but censored and denounced as propaganda by the Changelings. On the other hoove, the reactions of the various high commanders on both sides were terrible for the troops who had taken part in these "reconciliations".

On the Changelings' side, the commander and his men were sent to the north of the continent to keep them away from Equestria and prevent them from rebelling or deserting.

On the Equestria side, the commander was demoted and sent to a training camp for new recruits far from the front, and his soldiers were dispersed to garrison posts outside the combat zone in south-eastern Equestria or on the continent of Griffonia.

In the face of death, we are all equal.