It's been awhile since that day. The day when I realized who I was truly loyal to. I always supported Luna and her cause, but with my job and life in Canterlot, I couldn't just abandon it hoping to stay alive. That was, until that day.
My name is NightDrawn, but you can just call me Night. As the head scientist and engineer of the New Lunar Republic,my life now is much different than it used to be. I used to be a scientist for the Solar Empire…a low-paid, unimportant worker. The machinery I invented was some of the most reliable and highest grade weaponry available, but I still wasn't recognized for my work. Loyalty to Celestia was mandatory though, as anyone who betrayed her would end up jailed or worse, hung.
It was October 31st, 1064 when the Great Revolution first began. That was the day when it would become apparent who truly cared for me. The Solar Empire had labelled all members or affiliates of the New Lunar Republic as terrorists and traitors to now “Queen” Celestia, and it was finally time for the two sides to split.
So, on that infamous and horrible day, I had been preparing my new Solar Sun Shield pillars located all around Canterlot's territory. These pillars would work together in unison to form a magic proof, unbreakable shield, which once activated in impenetrable from either side.
But as I was about to power on and test the S.S.S. out, I heard a cannon shot, and a quiet subtle boom as it hit the main wall protecting Canterlot. Then I saw them. The huge flying battleships painted a regal navy, bearing the striking crescent moon emblem with its long curved and empowering wings.
I stood transfixed as I saw them breach the gates, bombing our soldiers below with ease. As the attack began, their tanks rolled in, desecrating everything around them as they moved to take control of the biggest and most powerful base in Equestria.
"Night!" a frantic scientist shouted down from the escape carriage as I was programming and booting up the last S.S.S. pillar. He was with a group of my fellow scientists who were escaping early with the top secret scientific research.
"I know, I know!" I replied over the humming of the pillar's magical flow, "I just need to finish-"
A huge cannonball came down over our heads as it slammed with immense force into the outer tan brick wall of the mighty Canterlot castle. As we saw it hit the wall, the wind from its impact whipped at my mane and blew me off my footing. The carriage of scientists took off before it was flipped over by the wind too. As I was racing towards them a chunk of brick burst out of the explosion and smacked me in the head. The world I had once cherished went black.
I opened my left eye blinking until the blurriness cleared to see fresh crimson blood covering cracked walls. The ground was littered with dusty rubble which had settled after the cannonball tore a hole through the wall. But when I had tried to open my right eye, I could not successfully do so. I panicked and put my hoof up to my face to try to forcefully open it, but then I felt something odd.
"N-No. This can't be! How?!" I yelled as I felt the huge chunk of rock that had hit me earlier. It had buried itself into the socket of my eye.
As I frantically grabbed at it and tried to pull the large tan piece of rock from my eye, it blazed with an unbearable pain. It felt as if a thousand needles had been pressed into it, all of them at blistering hot temperatures.
A small dusty tear trickled down my impaled right eye. I heard Canterlot's citizens screaming while rushing out of their houses and buildings to see the damage and death, and take the preplanned escape route. As the streets and shops of Canterlot quickly became deserted, my unbreakable shield burst to life, trapping me and any other survivors inside. Celestia and her citizens had left me to rot.
I’ve been betrayed, I thought. So much horror and death. And there's no help for me...not even hope.
I turned my head away from the disturbing scene to call out my fellow scientists, but looking back, I could not find any of them.
"Hello?! Anyone there?! It's me, Night! I'm a Solar Empire scientist in the department of weaponry!"
No answer. I started to stand up a bit, looking to see if they had started for the escape route, but right when I tried stand, a large rusty beam smacked into my back.
Oh no! Don't tell me! I panicked in my mind once again, looking up to see that a humongous chunk of tan rock connected to the bent brown beam had pinned me down to the ground. I wasn't sure what damage it had done to me already. Broken my spine? Crushed my legs? Luckily I felt no misplaced bones in my body. I examined what I could from my position on the floor, but found I was stuck.
“Hey guys I found a Solar Empire punk over here!” a soldier’s voice called out from above me. He sounded as if he was on the New Lunar Republic's side, and he spit on me while yelling back to his commander.
"I don't mean any harm! I’m trapped and cannot attack you even if I wanted to!" I yelled up at the pegasus flying above me. Now that I think about it, he actually had dark black, leathery wings, similar to those of a batpony’s. But did they actually enlist batponies to their army?
“Kill him! He’s just another one of those corrupt Celestia-hailing mules who’s trying to survive,” a booming voice answered back, probably from the batpony soldier’s commander.
"No please! I'm hurt and weak! I swear I mean no harm!" I pleaded to the batpony in hopes he would not kill me just yet.
"And why exactly should I keep a worthless unicorn like you alive?!" the soldier yelled back down to me.
"Because if you kill me, you and everypony else here will die!"
"Yeah like I haven't noticed that already" the grey thestral replied calmly, pointing his hoof up towards the orange colored shield trapping them all in.
"Yes but I can shut it down I promise! I invented it!"
The batpony and his fellow soldiers looked sharply at each other, realizing that I did in fact wear a white labcoat bearing the Solar Empire's emblem.
"And why should I believe this?" He answered back, flying closer to me. As he stared at me with no pity, I read his name tag patch, Night Striker, a soldier for the New Lunar Republic's ground army.
"Because I'm your only way out of here! Do you know what they will do if you stall? They'll come back around and deactivate the shield temporarily to bomb you all to death! Do you want that?!"
"You bastard!" The short-tempered soldier yelled into my face, cocking his gun to fire at me.
"STOP!!!" A voice called out from behind us. A buff, navy blue stallion jumped in between me and the batpony soldier, shielding me from the gun's evil tip, "Don't kill this innocent pony! I know him! He's of no harm to you!"
The grey batpony whipped his outstretched, bony black wings propelling him back a few feet in reaction to the unknown stallion's appearance. The stallion protecting me wore gold-plated armor, with the Solar Empire's emblem welded into its breastplate.
"Who are you?! A Royal Guard?! Haven't you fled already?! It doesn't matter! You'll die too!" Striker shouted back, holding his gun up to the stallion's head.
"I don't think it would be smart to pull the trigger," the threatened stallion replied, pulling out some sort of ID and showing it to the New Lunar Republic soldiers.
"Ahhh, so you're Nexus. A spy for our side, who's in the Royal Guard? Talk about loyal!"
"Yeah well save the argument for later soldier. And get the rusty beam off our only hope before he gets crushed by it!"
A group of stallions rushed over, heaving the beam up and off my back. Then a doctor trotted over and started examining the bones throughout my body, his eyes going wide when looking at the rock jammed into my right eye. I decided to keep shut about the eye and its future, since he did not have time to examine it.
"Alright soldiers! Pack up and let's see if -- what's your name?" Nexus said glancing at me.
"My name is NightDrawn. But you can just call me Night, sir." I replied while standing back up, clenching the cracked bloody rock that had buried itself in my eye socket.
"Ok then Night. Lead the way and don't fail us."
I guided the troops throughout the wreckage of the buildings and houses, and found the alleyway where I had installed one the the Solar Sun Shield's power boxes. As we all approached the intersection of two alleyways, I found the power box I had been checking up on earlier. Jumping up on top of the large mechanical box that looked similar to a tesla coil, I punched a key code into its screen. The orangish glow around the bulb of the box sputtered out, and a good portion of the shield nearby grew faint leaving an open passage out of Canterlot.
"Hurry everypony! The Solar Empire will notice soon enough, and the deactivation only lasts for thirty minutes. Maybe even less if they notice and reactivate it!" I called down to the soldiers below, pointing my hoof toward an escape alley that led out of the once glorious Canterlot.
As the stallions, batponies, and other creatures of the New Lunar Republic's army flooded out, the doctor approached me once again, this time staring intensely at my right eye.
"About earlier," the doctor said while looking closely at my impaled eye, "I saw that the rock appears to have...completely destroyed your right eyeball."
"So I'll never be able to see out of it again?!" I replied nervously, my heart pumping ten times faster as I jumped down from the lifeless shield box.
"Well not naturally..."
"What do you mean by naturally?"
"I'm afraid we'll have to...replace it...with a mechanical one." The doctor said while a soldier stood forward and struck me in the back of my head, making the world go black once again.
