The Equestria Offensive

Fort Celestia Military Base, 9:53 A.M., April 17th, 2013

“When I call your name, step up to the line.” Decision: a simple part of our every day lives. “Thunderstreak.” A decision is a fork in a one way road. “Winter Storm.” A fork in the road that we will never meet again. “Ace.” Every decision we make will forever change the coarse we ride in life that we can never go back on. “Midnight Flare.” And there was certainly no going back for Midnight. “You will all be sharing Cabin D. Grab your bags and head out.” A new day had risen, another challenge is born. Midnight’s enlisting had been one of the biggest decisions in his life. Moving away from his family and his friends just to protect them.

Today was the first in Midnight’s new life style. He was moving into his new basic training cabin. He and his new bunk mates found themselves with fresh buzz-cut manes, and short trimmed tails. The cabins were far from new, let alone had anypony cleaned them. Equestria hadn’t been to war for a good 80 years, so the need for a trained military wasn’t there. The twin sets of bunk beds took up most of the room in the cabin. They were made from hard wood bases that were surprisingly still standing, with torn up steel spring mattresses. The dark green covers on the be bed were torn up and a little too small for the beds themselves. The pillow cases had no pillows in them and had tears along them. The dark-green shades draping over the cracked window between the bunks barely let any light in from the outside. Their only source of light was the one light bulb hanging above them in the center of the cabin.

“Well, this sucks.” Ace, a brown furred pony, was the first pony in the cabin to say anything.

“I guess it could be worse.” Midnight added

“Yeah, I’ve lived in worse places in my life.” Winter Storm, a white unicorn with a sky blue mane and tail and a blank flank added to the conversation.

“Well, we have some time before training starts.” Thunderstreak said as he walked over to the bunk bed on the right of the room. “Maybe we should take that time to set up here and get to know each other.”

“Alright, that sounds good to me. Who wants to introduce themselves first?”

“Well, why not you Mr. alicorn?” Ace replied

“What do you mean, ‘Mr. alicorn?’”

“Well you don’t see too many alicorns running around. Everypony knows alicorns are rare occasions in the royal bloodline. I’m sure you’re gonna have a pretty interesting story.”

“Wait, I never knew I was part of the royal bloodline. How do you know that?”

“You learned it in school, didn’t you?”

“No, I went to flight school when I was young. You see, when I was young, I was supposed to go to Princess Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns, but the only magic I can use is fire. And after a tragic accident at the entrance exam, I left home for Cloudsdale for the better of my family. I went to Cloudsdale Junior Speedster Flight School when I got there. Actually, I think you might know the one of the girls I went to school with. You know the famous fliers group, The Wonderbolts, right?”

“Yeah, of course we do.” Thunder said as he hopped up to the bunk above Midnight.

“Well, the day I made it to Cloudsdale, I met their newest member, Rainbow Dash, heading to her first day as a paper pony trying to pay for flight school herself. I officially met her on our first day of flight school together. For the next 5 years, Rainbow Dash and I were the best of friends along with another filly named Fluttershy. About 5 years into our friendship, at summer flight camp one of the most tragic accidents that would affect our friendship for another 5 years, had occurred. Rainbow Dash was racing some bullies we had known from school. The bullies were making fun of Fluttershy so Rainbow Dash was racing to protect Fluttershy’s honor. As the race had just started, all of the racers unknowingly knocked Fluttershy off of the cloud she was standing on. Now, believe me when I say Fluttershy was not and still is not a strong flier. So I knew that she wasn’t just gonna come back flying up. Doing what any good friend would do, I jumped down and tried to keep her from falling to her death. On the way down, I saw something on the ground breaking her fall. I had stopped mid air go catch my breath in one of the most unfortunate places. Something, that I later find out was a Sonic Rainboom made by Rainbow Dash during the race, flew at me, knocking me through the sky, and destroying my left wing.”

“Wait.” Thunder interrupted. “You still have your left wing.”

“I’m getting to that. Don’t worry. Anyway, the Sonic Rainboom had landed me in Whitetail Woods. For the next few hours, I was crawling, bleeding on the forest floor, crying for somepony to find me. By the middle of the night, I had found myself bleeding out in a field in the middle of the forest. As I let out my final cries for help, an ominous cloud of purple smoke came down from the full moon and worked its way into my mind. After what felt like forever of continuous sharp stabbing pains all throughout my body, I had never felt more alive in my life. My body had grown twice in size. My tail and mane were made of fire. My left wing was made of fire. My hooves were flaming, and I wasn’t sure how any of this had happened. Then, I heard a different voice inside my head. She told me her name was Nightmare Moon.”

“But I thought Nightmare Moon was just an old pony’s tale.” Ace added

“That’s what I thought. But after she entered my mind, I was convinced. But of course, she wouldn’t just save my life like that without a price. She had the power to control my actions. She wanted me to kill everyone that had ever hurt me in my life, including my best friend, Rainbow Dash. I spent the next five years fighting Nightmare back; trying to keep her from killing my best friend. Many innocent ponies had died, along with a few that I wanted to kill. After about five years, I had met Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy with their new friends in a town called Ponyville. Rainbow Dash had actually made friends with my little sister, who was originally from Canterlot, and Princess Celestia’s main student. At this point, the real Nightmare Moon, not the one in my mind, was removed from Princess Luna by the new holders of the Elements of Harmony, who just happened to be Rainbow Dash and her five friends. So their plan was to use the Elements to remove Nightmare from me, but Princess Luna had told them that it would revert me back to my dying state, so they had the princesses there ready to use their magic to heal me after Nightmare was released, which their plan was very successful. After I was revived, I finally got the chance to tell Rainbow Dash that I loved her. Lucky for me, she felt the same way. But unfortunately, right after our first kiss, I heard Nightmare’s voice in my head again. I wanted to keep my friends safe, so I fled Ponyville, determined to find a way to get rid of Nightmare. For a whole year, I lived in New Fillhi with a pony named Zero training my fire magic, and learning to control myself. On the exact day one year after I left Ponyville, I told Zero that I was leaving, but she didn’t want me to go because she loved me. But since I loved Rainbow Dash more, and because I promised her I’d be back, I had no choice but to leave for Ponyville. Though most of the day, Rainbow Dash was curious to see if I was cheating on her for a year, I still had a good day. I met my new friends at a birthday party, I spent most of the day with my new girlfriend revisiting our home town of Cloudsdale, and we even had sex for the first time.”

“Woah woah, what? Storm interrupted him. “You mean you’ve been tapping that?”

“Well of course I do. We’ve been together for years now.”

“Well” Ace spoke up, “Come on, then. Tell us already.”

“What?” Midnight asked

“How’s the sex?”

Midnight hesitated, looking back and forth at his bunk-mates, all impending his answer. “...Amazing...”

“Wait a second.” Thunder budged in, “If I remember right, all of the celebrity articles say that Rainbow Dash is single. What’s that about?”

“Yeah, I just found that out at the last Gala. She keeps me a secret from her fans because she’s the kind of pony who loves eating up attention. In fact, I was the one who got her the audition for The Wonderbolts.”

“So one thing you haven’t told us yet.” Storm added, “Whatever happened to Nightmare Moon? Is she still in your brain?”

“As far as I know, Nightmare Moon is gone for good. Last I saw of her, was when she took over Zero in Ponyville and made her try to kill me. Luckily for me, I learned I’m fire-proof. But I kinda feel bad for Zero. The princesses had came in at the right time and killed Zero leaving no traces of her or Nightmare Moon. But enough about me already. Let me hear about the rest of you.”

“I guess I’ll go next.” The first to offer was Thunderstreak, a light gray pegasus with a blond mane and tail with black stripes running through them. His eyes were a dark crystally blue and he never seemed to crack a smile. “My name is Thunderstreak.” Midnight could here in his voice that he wasn’t from Equestria. “And I am a prince from Kouma. I was raised in the palace in the city of Uma. Ever since I was only three, I was trained to fight with the art of the sword and the magical gem embedded onto me beneath my fur. I left Kouma when I was thirteen, and settled in Equestria with a large group of Kouman ponies. We founded the town of Ryoko in southern Equestria, where I was to share Kouma’s culture with Equestria. I have been living in Ryoko ever since then, still learning to fight everyday. And, at first, when I would’ve had no plans of joining any war and soiling my honor. But something tragic that had happened only two weeks ago forced me to fight to defend that honor. I was just returning to Ryoko after a trip to Canterlot to meet with the princess. As I returned that night, I saw one thing nopony would ever want to see. A great fire roared through the sky over Ryoko. The very town that I had sworn to protect was burning to ashes right before my eyes. I had no idea if the town was evacuated or not. And coming my way was a small fleet of griffins lead by a general much greater in size than any griffin I had ever seen in my life. I had no choice but to fight him for the honor of those who might’ve died, my honor, and the honor of Kouma. He didn’t seem to care when I confronted him. In my attempt to kill him, I got one good slash across his face with my katana before he threw me at a tree in his frustration and knocked me out. When I woke up the next morning, I had seen Ryoko was left as nothing but a pile of ashes. I had no choice but to find Princess Celestia. When I made it to Canterlot, just a few days ago, she told me that Caeli had declared war on Equestria. So, when she asked if I would fight along her side, I enlisted right away. And that is why I am here with all of you right now; to fight to honor of Ryoko, Kouma, and my own.”

“Wait.” Midnight interrupted. “I think I might know the general that you’re talking about. Did you happen to catch his name?”

“No, I didn’t. All I can tell you is that he was very large and muscular with glowing yellow eyes and a beak chipped on the left.”

“Yeah...that’s what I thought...His name is Fortis. Just about a week ago ago he came to Canterlot to declare Caeli’s demands for Equestria, and he killed my father for speaking up and defending the princesses. I joined the war to kill the griffin who broke my family.”

“And we’ll be fighting by your side the whole way.” Ace said. Ace was a tan earth pony. He wore a hat, much like Applejack’s, but grey with a black sash wrapped around the center, and an Ace of Spades playing card tucked into the sash. His left ear was pierced with a golden ring, and he had black leg-bands embedded with gold worn on his front legs. His mane was black and red, and he had a scar along his left eye.

“Thanks. I’ll definitely need the help getting there. So Ace, let’s hear your story next, then.”

“Um...alright...my name is Ace. I’ve lived in Fillydelphia for my entire life. I guess you could say I’m nothing special...just your run of the mill city pony...I’ve spent most of my years researching...anatomy and psychology as...hobbies of mine...

“Oh...so why did you join The Royal Army?” Midnight asked

“Just thought I’d...get away from it all and be helpful to Equestria...” Ace never seemed to be able to make eye contact with anypony in the room the entire time he told his story.

“Oh...well good for you, then...” Midnight said “He’s hiding something, I know it. I don’t know what about it, but I just know there’s more to him than what he’s telling us.”

“So, what about you, then?” Midnight turned to Storm. “What’s your story?”

“My name is Winter Storm. If you can’t tell by my accent, I am from Caeli. I was born in Caeli while my parents were captured slaves. By Caelian law, slaves aren’t aloud to have children, so they had to raise me for five years until I was old enough to work for Caeli. Because of my parents crime, they were executed publicly while I was forced to watch with the rest of the slaves. The griffin in charge of the slaves and who ruled the execution was General Fortis. I hate him more than any griffin I have ever met in my entire life. I suffered back breaking labor for ten years until an underground black operations squad from Equestria snuck in and broke the slaves out. The bright blue sky over the green tree-lined horizon of Equestria that I saw as we crossed the border was the most beautiful sight in my life. I was so happy, I forgot I had nowhere to stay. The military couldn’t take me in, and most of the slaves had a home to go back to. I was forced to live on the streets of Canterlot. I developed a bad drinking habit buying vodka with the bits that I managed to scavenge and steal. That was all until Princess Celestia found me sleeping in an alley way. After I  told her my story, she gave me a place to stay in the palace. I’ve been living there ever since; hoping that I would get the chance to seek my revenge. So when Celestia told me we might be going to war with Caeli, I was proud to take her up on her offer. Honestly, Midnight, I wouldn’t mind killing fortis myself. After all, he killed both of my parents and forced me into slave labor for 15 years.”

“As would I.” Thunder added, “He burned down Ryoko. Killing him would be the only thing that could restore my honor.”

“Well, let’s make a deal then. We’ll all go after Fortis, as a team to see who can have the honor of taking his life. If we all get the chance to kill him together, we’ll take it. Alright?”

“Good deal.”

“I agree. It would make this an honorable challenge.”

“So it’s settled. We have a deal then. Here, this is something a friend of mine showed me. It’s called a Pinkie Promise. Let me demonstrate. Cross my heart.” He marked an imaginary X over his heart. “Hope to fly.” He then made a fluttering motion with his front hooves. “Stick a cupcake in my eye.” Finally, he pretended to put a cupcake in his eye. “Got it? Now, do it with me.” He started to do it again, slowly so the others could follow. Questioningly, the others did as asked, and went through all the motions. “Alright then, it’s done.”