The Celestial Lands: Book 1

Chapters

Chapter 1: Rising Tensions
Chapter 2: The Arrival (Well, almost)
Chapter 3: A New Home

Chapter 1: Rising Tensions

They say what happens in the Lunar Republic, stays in it...

Luna was confused. Not the kind of confused you get on math tests, but confused. She was tired too, surely Celestia knew that her sister tried to sleep during the day. Celestia had asked Luna to meet her over a cup of tea, which was odd for the middle of the day. Luna still had to walk through half of the castle, since her room was on the opposite side, so she had time to think. She was mostly just thinking about her time on the moon. It had been haunting her lately, and she did not like it. As she got closer to the dining hall, where her sister was waiting, Luna noticed the guards. Of course there was usually guards there, but what caught her eye is that there was only solar guards, and lots of them. Where were all the lunar guards? She eventually came to the doors, where there was a line of guards, waiting to open it for her. As she entered through the golden doors, which on each side was embroided the sun and moon, her eyes fell on her sister. There were no guards in this room, just her. In the middle of the table was a tray with three cups, two to drink out of, and one to pour. On the side were cubes of sugar, and a small container of honey. It was all layed out neatly. Luna went to take her seat. Celestia was usually always smiling, but today her face was some grim. She puored their first cup of tea and drank it in silence, Luna looking questioningly at her sister. As she poured their second cup, Luna finally asked,

"Why did you call me here sister? I was trying to get some rest so I can raise the moon." Celetia stopped for a second before responding,

"I have called you here for some...dire matters." Celestia didn't make eye contact before continuing, " As I am sure you are aware, after your banishment ponis started to.... question my reign," she said, beggining her second cup. Luna simply nodded lightly, though with a bit of a different look as she poured a bit of honey in her tea. She liked it sweet. "And as of lately, fights have begun to break out in some cities. They arent huge fights, usually with no more than six ponies, but it can eventually grow, and I don't want that to happen. Although I have been expecting it," Luna smirked just a bit inside her cup. She had been expecting it too. "And hopefully you understand that we have to solve this, because you seem to be taking it well," Celestia finished. Luna nodded again,

"I do understand, Tia. We have to solve this," Luna said, though her mind was thinking otherwise. They finished their last cup in silence again. When they finished, Luna thanked her sister for reminding her and offering some tea. " I must be off to get some rest now," Luna told her. Celestia just put a small smile on her face. Luna opened the door to the hallway and turned towards the guards. The each took a small step back, scared. Luna just laughed a bit, "do not worry, we will have this all under control." The guards looked at eachother and returned to their positions. Luna then made her way back to her room, which was quite dark during the day, with a crescent moon in the middle of the floor. She lied down and slowly drifted away into sleep.

Stormlight was slightly dozing off in his quarters, trying to get a bit of rest in before patrol. The lunar guards always patrolled the night, under Luna's moon. He craked an eye open and turned his head towards the window. Judging by the position of the sun, it was around 5:50. He had to start his partol soon, seeing that the moon was slowly rising as the sun set. He looked around the room and noticed that most of his squad was already up. He yawned before climbing out of his cot and stretching his wings. He grabbed his armor from under the cot and slipped it on. When he finished the set, the enchantment took effect. His gold eyes turned to yellow ones with small slits. His wings went from feathery to more bat-like and his coat turned a dark grey. All of the lunar guard looked the same from the enchantment, so sometimes it was hard to tell who was who. That had been fatal sometimes, but it was mandated. Storm had found it strange that the solar guards seemed to try not to make eye contact with them. Must be some new rule or something. He and his squad finally finished preparing and went to eat before going to the main hall, where all the lunar guard prepared. They did their basic stretches before running a couple laps around the hall. You never know when something's gonna happen. After their stretches, the guard waited in silence for Luna for their assignments. Storm, of course, was up front, with his squad behind him. They waited for a while, and still, Luna did not show, until around 8:00. Luna finally came into the hall, where all of the guards saluted. She looked out among the crowd before speaking, "I have been thinking for a while, and as you all know, you are the guards of the Lunar Republic," the guards stomped once in response, "and the day has finally come, though I did not expect it so soon." Some of the guards looked confused,

"What do you mean princess?" One of the guards asked. Luna looked towards that general area,

"In some of the cities around Equestria, fights have begun to break out since my banishment, and they are over me and my sister. So it has finally come that the Republic must retalliate." The guard nodded together in response, for the lunar guard never really liked Celestia, but they didn't show it. "We need as many followers as possible, but for now, continue with your regular duties." The guards nodded again. Luna then looked towards Storm. "General Stormlight, I would like to speak with you." Storm was stunned by her statement. He gulped and nodded as he started to sweat a bit. Luna looked back to the rest of them, "You are all dismissed to your last positions." The guards stomped again before going their ways. Storm eventually reached Luna, looking a bit scared,

"You called for me princess?" Luna turned to him, and Storm noticed she didn't look mad,

"Yes, General Stormlight, I have a mission for you. You will be in charge of starting the conversion."

"What do you mean princess?"

"You are in charge of converting Ponyville to the Republic."

"Why Ponyville? Why not Fillydelphia, or Manehattan?" Storm looked a bit confused.

"Trust me General, there is a good reason. Now, you will be bringing your armor and weapons, but you may not use them until you have to," she turned to him, "any questions?" Storm shook his head and saluted before taking his leave.

Chapter 2: The Arrival (Well, almost)

Storm was quite shocked at the moment. He didn't show it in front of the princess, but he was shocked. He had never been intrusted with important missions, let alone one like this. He was starting the conversion. The Lunar Republic would rise, and he was starting it. No, shocked wasn't the right word. Apprehensive, he told himself, yeah, that was the word. He was the only guard that was headed backwards, since Luna had called for all hands on deck, but he was excluded. He needed to get prepared. Luna had given him a huge bag of bits to start off with, along with giving him a small weekly allowence, until he got a job there. He was going there to bring it to the Republic, but Luna had told him that he was to get situated there and become a familiar face in the crowd. That would get more people to follow him. Storm realized that he probably had a really smug look on his face, so he replaced it with a light smile. Luna trusted him.

After a quick change of appearance, now that his armor was off, Storm packed his things. He realized that he wouldn't be bringing much, since he had been in the guard from quite a young age. It was the only place he had left, since his parents had abandoned him, and he never liked talking about it. Luna had put an enchantment on his armor to shrink it so that it could fit in the bag, but it would return to normal once being pulled out. They had thought about having him carry one of the new prototype "guns," but it had been disproved as they were too new to pony kind. Storm finished packing his things and threw the saddle bag over his back. The rest of his crew was finishing preparing, so he decided to brief them of his situation. They all nodded in understanding and wished him luck. He hoped he didn't need it.

The walk across Canterlot didn`t seem too long, at least to Storm it wasn't. Most ponies were in there homes, so nopony could see Storm mumbling to himself about that good reason to start with Ponyville, maybe because it was small? He shook it off as he neared the train station, where he purchased his ticket and got on the train, which was surprisingly well timed.
*****

Solarstreak quietly walked through the deserted streets of Canterlot, save the lunar guards here and there, trying not to be seen. Surprisingly he had been able to slip past the guards at the front gate. He had a brown duster on, with the hood covering his face, and a small knife tucked into it. All the other solar guards had been asleep, so that wasn't a problem. He was perhaps the only solar guard who knew of Luna's plans with her republic, and he had to get at least one answer. He was lost in thought when he turned a corner and was caught off guard at a small squad of three lunar guards. He quickly rounded back behind the corner and peeked out the side. The guard that looked to head the group had turned to the other two. He said something to them and pointed east. The other two guards nodded and walked off. Now was Solar's chance. He tip-toed, as quietly as he could, towards the guard, who was looking the other way. He slowly raised to his hind legs and quickly snatched the guard by his shoulder and head, pinning him against the wall.

"Wha- unhand me fool!" the guard said, clearly surprised. Solar magically grasped the knife from under his duster and took a quick swipe at the stallion's forehoof. He tried to reach for it but was pinned be Solar.

"Here's how this is gonna work:" Solar commanded, "I'm going to ask questions, and you're going to give me answers." Solar held the tip of the knife in between the guard's eye, who gulped. "Now, first things first, Luna is planning rebellion, correct?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Wrong." Solar dug the blade into the guard's shoulder, pulling it to the side and letting the stream of blood flow out, while simultaneously removing his chest armor. He was met with a cry of pain. "Now, who was the pony Luna sent to Ponyville?"

"I know of no such thing." Solar twisted the knife to its side and sliced the very end of his hoof off. "Arghhh! It was Stormlight!"

"Mhmm, and his rank?"

"He's a general. There, that's all I know!" Solar tilted his head back, and his hood fell off.

"Uh-oh, you've seen me. We can't have anypony knowing who I am." He smirked and the guard's eyes widened. Solar flipped over the body to its back and the guard whimpered for a moment. He grasped each of the guard's wings with his aura and started pulling. The guard started to cry in pain, as he was immobile. Solar kept pulling until he heard a sickening noise and both of the wings came apart from the guard's back, the bone still attached and covered in blood and pieces of muscle, and threw them aside. He flipped the body back over and noticed the guard's eyes were covered in tears. He grabbed its head and smashed it against the wall as he heard a crack and the guard's body went limp. He then proceeded to dig the knife into the guard's chest and pull down, splitting the stomach, and pulled it back up. He finished by impaling the knife into the guard's face and left it there as lakes of blood pooled around the guard's leaking body. Solar got up and dusted himself as he pulled his hood back on, starting to make his way towards wherever he was going.

Author's Note

I told you it would get gory... Please leave feedback. I want to make this a good story so point out anything. I will also be taking OC requests as characters in the story, so comment or message me if interested. Lunar out.

Chapter 3: A New Home

They surrounded him. Countless numbers of them. Restless, undying, unforgiving, and never sleeping. He would decapitate them, stab them in the chest, cut off every limb and still, they lived. They were also faceless, with dark specks of light where their faces should be. He wanted nothing to do with it, but he wasn't in control. He was a monster, and forever would be...

"Hey! Wake up man, your scaring the ponies here!" Storm jolted upright, drenched in sweat, on the small space he had in the train car. A dark grey pegasus pony stallion with a deep sapphire blue mane was shaking him violently. "Dude, what was going on?" He asked, a look of small concern on his face, along with the other ponies in the car. Storm stuttered for a second before calming himself down, realizing it was only a dream, no, a nightmare. He looked around at the ponies in the car.

"Ugh, I'm not quite sure..." Storm replied, "I guess I was just having a bad dream." Storm shuffled around trying to find a comfortable spot in the small car.

"Looked to be a pretty bad one at that." The rest of the car was silent, probably from Storm's ghostly presence. Most Ponies were bright and sunshine, whereas Storm, as somewhat implied in his name, was not all sunshine and bubblegum. Not saying he was never happy or excited, just his casual mood was like that, and his dull colors probably didn't help. Nothing happened for about another hour, until Storm was looking out the window and noticed a sign that said: "Welcome To Ponyville! Three Miles Ahead."

"Looks like I'm getting off soon, this next stop is mine," Storm called out towards the car, which wasn't paying attention.

"Your going to Ponyville? So am I!" The grey Pegasus replied towards Storm. He punched Storm in the shoulder playfully. Storm turned back around. "Name's Silver Rain. You?"

"I'm Stormlight. Nice to meet you. So, what're you going to Ponyville for?"

"Ah well, as I eventually grew up, my parents forced me out of the house. I really enjoy exploring, so its no problem for me. I just heard that Ponyville was a nice place to settle down, so I decided, why not?" He gleefully smiled. :So, why are you headed to Ponyville?" Storm's mind broke for a second before he realized what was happening and jutted out,

"Me? Oh, I, uh," I can't just give away my mission "just got tired of Canterlot. It's really noisy there, and ponies are not as friendly." He waved a hoof in the air, yawning. "So, I kinda just left everything behind and hopped on the first train. The fact that it's hanging off the side of a mountain was another factor too," he pointed out. A voice suddenly cut off the conversation. It was coming from a speaker, so it must have been the conductor or something. He stated that they were only five minutes from the station.

~~***~~

The train finally pulled up to the station in what seemed like more than five minutes, but Storm had probably just lost his sense of time. After all, there is a time change from Canterlot to Ponyville. The conductor waved off to the station manager and started the engine up as the train chugged off. Storm gulped as he looked towards the town, with it's lights flickering in the windows. Silver leaned a hoof on Storm's shoulder as he too looked at the happy little town, "Well, welcome to our new home town. Come on!" Silver called back, heading down the stairs. Storm took another look at the town.

"Whelp, looks like I may be here for a while," He murmured to himself.

Off at the far end of the station, a pony under a brown hooded duster leaned against a column, watching the two stallions. As they made their leave, the hooded pony flared up his horn and teleported to Celestia knows where.

Author's Note

Holy Crap! This took way too long to write! I'm gonna be writing shorter chapters, but it'll mean that I can post them faster. After finals in two weeks, I should have a lot more time. Anyway, I started adding people's characters.

OCs:

Silver Rain: Jcn840