Date: 5th of October
Time: 9:43 A.M. Canterlot Standard Time
Location: Canterlot Castle War Room
It was tense in the War Room as it always was this time of year. in just a few hours the three leaders that currently occupied the room would begin leading their forces against each other like they did every year for the past five years. In a few hours, Equestria would become a battlefield once more for the next three months.
One of the leaders stood to her full height with a smile, "So it is decided, the Solar Shield will begin with Canterlot as its starting territory and the Crystal Keepers shall have control of Manehattan... And the Night Strikers shall control the Everfree." With each word she glanced between the two other leaders, her gaze lingering on her sister Luna the longest, she hated to admit to herself but her sister had very nearly won the Tournament last year.
"And the same rules as previous years apply correct..?" Princess Cadence, the guiding force of the Crystal Keepers inquired softly, and the Princess of the Sun nodded in confirmation.
The leader of the Night Strikers, Princess Luna stood quickly and took a deep breath, "Then we are wasting our time sitting here.... It is the same rules every year and everypony knows it. Victory at any cost, but no deliberate maiming or harsh torture." With a roll of her eyes she turned and made for the door of the War Room and neither Celestia or Cadence tried to stop her.
"This will be a long three months." Celestia sighed.
Time: 10:57 A.M. Canterlot Standard Time
Location: Cloudsdale
It had been an interesting day of preparing for Hunter, or "Sterling Blade" as most ponies knew the silver furred Pegasus. He had to get the Night Bringers together before Luna gave the order to meet at their base of operations for the year, and so far he had gathered most of the Night Bringers... But he still couldn't find Sapphire Dusk, an easily distracted but capable mare who was an integral part of the Night Bringer Squadron.
He ran his fingers through his cobalt mane in annoyance, fiddling with the gold streak momentarily, Sapphire was late every year... He honestly would have preferred his marefriend be a part of the squadron but she was a unicorn, and she had also joined with the Solar Shield this year, just like last year. It didn't bother him much, after all it was just a tournament... Though it was a big surprise with her on the firing squad at the end of last year's tournament.
Sterling was roused from his thoughts by a shiny blue and violet streak that came skidding to a halt on the clouds not to far from the rest of the Squadron, "Ah, Sapphire! Nice of you to join us... And it's only 1101 hours too! You're finally getting faster."
Sapphire just shook her head in annoyance, "Sorry I'm late Sterling, I would have been on time if my alarm had gone off...."
"Cut the crap Sapphire, you overslept again, you know it. I know it. Everypony knows it." Sterling replied cutting her off, "the only reason you're still part of the Night Bringers is because you're a good flier and because Luna picked you." They had this conversation every year and it had yet to get old, Sapphire was lazy and would always try and keep herself out of the line of fire... "Just get in formation, we leave as soon as Luna sends the order."
As if triggered by his words a swirl of midnight blue mist landed in front of the group and quickly reformed itself into their faction leader, Princess Luna. "The time has come my Night Bringers, we will travel to the Everfree to rendezvous with our troops." This statement garnered mixed reactions, their starting territory would be the Everfree... The Pegasi quickly regained their composures and bowed in almost perfect sync before taking off and started angling for the Everfree Forest in tight formation with Princess Luna flying ahead of them.
Faction Information: Night Strikers
Faction Name: Night Strikers
Leader: Princess Luna
Motivation: To spread the will and influence of the Night Princess to all corners of Equestria
Tactics: The Night Strikers faction relies heavily on its Pegasi squadrons to provide air support, intelligence, and weather control, often sending them to create large swaths of dark, rain heavy and lightning charged clouds to create extremely unfavorable conditions for the opposing factions. A sure sign that a Night Striker attack will occur is a thick opaque wall of fog quickly covering an area without warning, shortly thereafter the Night Striker Unicorn and Earth Pony regiments descend upon the area mercilessly while the Pegasi squadrons maintain the fog and provide support when necessary.
Starting Territory for current Cloudfall Tournament: The Everfree(providing easy defense of main base.)
Allies: n/a
Antagonists: Solar Shield and Crystal Keepers
Notable members: Hunter "Sterling Blade" Crane, Soarin, Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, and Vinyl "DJ Pon-3" Scratch
Troop species ratio(Pegasi:Unicorn:Earth Pomy): 3:21:37
Active Units: 4 Pegasi Squadrons(2 Assault, 1 Support, and 1 Weather Control), 13 Unicorn Regiments, and 25 Earth Pony Regiments
Specialized Unit: Night Bringer Pegasi Squadron: the Night Bringer Pegasi Squadron is a group of fliers hoof picked by Princess Luna to lead major offensives and to also deal with those who would undermine The Night Princess's authority
Reserve Units: 2 Reserve Pegasi Squadrons, 6 Reserve Unicorn Regiments, and 12 Reserve Earth Pony Regiments
Previous Cloudfall Wins/Losses: 1/5
Notable Events in previous tournaments:
14nth battle of Manehattan in the 3rd Cloudfall Paintball Tournament, two Pegasi squadrons and a regiment of Unicorns from the Night Strikers managed to hold the city despite overwhelming opposition from the combined forces of the Solar Shield and Crystal Keepers, starting the path toward the first Night Striker victory.
23rd battle of Canterlot in the 5th Cloudfall Paintball Tournament, despite the tactical and strategic advantages of Canterlot's position on a mountaintop, several regiments of Night Striker forces were overwhelmed and defeated by a seemingly endless flood of Ponies lead by Celestia and Cadence directly, on the last day of the siege, Princess Luna and her personal Night Bringer Squadron were captured and 'executed' in the Royal Gardens, ending the threat of a thousand year night once more.
Date: 5th of October
Time: 2:30 P.M. Canterlot Standard Time
Location: Canterlot Castle courtyard
Celestia always dreaded this part of the tournament... Making the opening speech which was different every year... Always revolving around the stopping of eternal night once more.
She inhaled sharply in preparation to speak in the Royal Canterlot Voice for the coming speech, "MY LOYAL SUBJECTS! THE TIME HAS COME TO YET AGAIN FACE THE THREAT OF ETERNAL NIGHT!" She paused for a moment to let the words sink in, of course the media and propaganda workers loved this time of year. More excitement occurred than normal.
"What of the Elements of Harmony?" One of the journalists asked loudly, Pen Stroke if Celestia remember correctly. He went through this motion every year, asking about the elements, when every year they'd already separated and chosen sides, rendering the elements all but useless.
"Yes... The Elements of Harmony..." Celestia began, dropping the Royal Canterlot Voice for the next few sentences, "The forces of the night, and our allies have fragmented their friendship.... The Element of Loyalty herself has fallen to the corruption of my sister and now serves the Night Strikers..." She added a bit more sad emphasis than was really necessary but it was all a part of the act.
Pen Stroke and the other journalists gave feigned gasps of shock at this 'revelation' and even the guards seemed to visibly flinch at the statement.
"What of the others?" Pen Stroke called out solemnly.
"My student the Element of Magic and the Element of Honest are both still faithful to the Solar Shield, while the Elements of Laughter, Kindness, and Generosity are loyal to our ally the Crystal Keepers." While Celestia hated these speeches it was in its own annoying way fun, "It is time for me to take my leave My Little Ponies... May the sun guide your footsteps and words." With these last words Princess Celestia left the courtyard.
Time: 2:43 P.M. Canterlot Standard Time
Location: 23,000 feet above the Everfree
High above the Everfree, the massive Cloud Fortress Night Star was concealed by the Everfree's unnatural weather patterns, it was an impressive feat of both Pegasi and Unicorn engineering, the clouds being solid and able to support weight and stop strong impacts, both physical and magical. The entire Superstructure was centered around a Magic Energy Coil that sustained the spells used in its original construction to make it solid.
This would be its first year of service in the tournament, and it was where Princess Luna, fully decked out in her midnight blue armor and flanked on either side by her Night Bringer squadron was addressing her troops. "MY CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT IT IS TIME TO MARCH FORTH ONCE MORE AND SPREAD THE GLORIOUS NIGHT FOR THE NEXT THOUSAND YEARS!!"
This time of year she always took a form similar to Nightmare Moon for the coming tournament though she only kept the form until after the speech and during the one day break in fighting during that occured on Nightmare Night.
"WE SHALL SHOW NO MERCY TO OUR ENEMIES, FOR THEY WOULD DEFILE OUR NIGHT WITH THE LIGHT OF CELESTIA'S SUN! WE MUST STRIKE DOWN THE SOLAR TYRANT!"
With these last words the assembled regiments of the Night Strikers burst into loud cheers and a few even fired their weapons into the air, sending magically accelerated paint into the ceiling of the supply dock of the Night Star, the only area of the cloud fortress able to house several regiments worth of troops at the same time.
Luna stopped speaking in the Royal Canterlot voice for the closing words of her speech, "Now.... Prepare for the coming battles, for our enemies are powerful. Let it not deter you, for you all go with my blessings."
Luna turned on her heel and walked out of the supply dock with her Night Bringers following behind her.
C.M.C. - Cutie Mark Combat Patrol Interview mini-chapter part 1
Date: 3rd of October
Time: 3:41 P.M. Canterlot Standard Time
Location: Cutie Mark Combat Patrol Headquarters-Ponyville Division
"Stupid bucking thing! Give me a sec girls! I'm having some trouble with my camera." A rather irritated Featherweight grumbled as he tried to get the video recorder to work. He was in the HQ of the semi-famous Cutie Mark Combat Patrol, formerly the Cutie Mark Crusaders, to get an exclusive pre-tournament interview with the three Paintballers for hire and hopefully find out which faction they would align with for the upcoming tournament.
"Let me see it," Scootaloo said rolling her eyes and took the camera from Featherweight before pounding the side of it once with her fist and then fiddling with the options, "there we go. That should do it Featherweight, sometimes you gotta be rough with your equipment." She giggled and tossed the camera back to him.
Featherweight caught the camera muttering a quite 'thanks' before switching the camera to record and setting it up on its stand, "Hello everypony, this is Featherweight with the Ponyville Times here interviewing Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom of the Cutie Mark Combat Patrol about the upcoming Cloudfall Tournament," Featherweight began and as he named the three off they struck a pose which almost made him facepalm but he managed not to do so and held back the blush that threatened to shine through his cheek fur, "now there's been a lot of talk and speculation about which faction you'll be working for this time around. Would you care to clarify?"
Sweetie Belle was the first to speak up, "Hm... As is part of our policy we don't reveal which faction we'll be working for until the Tournament actually begins, which is in two days, so sadly for you and everypony else that'll have to remain a mystery." She smiled softly as she finished her sentence.
"Though we will say that we've got a lot of offers from all three of 'em!" Applebloom chimed in after Sweetie Belle.
"Yeah, and some pretty big offers at that!" Scootaloo laughed, thinking about the rather ridiculous amount of Bits that they had been offered by every faction.
"Alright then, can't fault you three for not telling us who you'll be working with," Featherweight chuckled, "now moving on. The three of you have had great success in previous Cloudfall Tournaments, where would you say that the success comes from?"
This time it was Scootaloo who spoke first, "We had awesome teachers and the fact that the three of us are friends and not just co-workers."
