Illusion was walking down the hallways. He was on his way to his bedroom to get a gift for his marefriend, Claire.
All of a sudden, he heard a familiar voice say "There you are Illusion!" Illusion turned around to see that it was none other than his mother Princess Celestia.
"Hello mother, how are you today?" Illusion asked politely
"No time to explain dear, just get your royal regalia and meet us in the throne room . The Minotaurs are here." Celestia said.
"Why didn't they notify us?" Illusion asked.
"I don't know, but I know it's not a friendly visit, he's brought his comanders too"
"WHAT?!" Illusion shouted, clearly shocked.
"Don't shout Illusion.just put on your regaila and come down to the throne room now. Your sister and the rest of the royal family are waiting." Celestia said in a stern voice.
Illusion's little sister, Gaia was a human. Her skin was the same color as Discord's fur below his neck. This was because his grandmother, Discord's mother was a human while his father was a draconequus. She is currently youngest captain of the Canterlot royal guard while Valiant Heart is the captain of the royal guard of the Crystal Empire. She was only 19, while he was 23.
Illusion snaped his claw, and he appeared, wearing his regalia. What do they want? Illusion thought as he teleported to the throne room.
The Minotaurs and ponies were on thin ice with each other for a very long time. The only thing that was keeping them from declaring war on one another was the peace treaty signed by Princess Celestia of Equestria and King Golden Sword of Minotaurus after the war between the Minotaurs and the ponies. The Minotaurs declared war on Equestria, because he wanted to seize some goods from Equestria, like silk, and spices. The ponies dominated the Minotaurs, because the minotaurs may be strong, but at that time their civilization was new, so they didn't have many soldiers while Equestria did. The king then sent a letter to Celestia, saying that war was taking them nowhere and for them to end this war. The king did want to fight, but at this rate the ponies would win and the minotaurs would go extinct. He was requesting peace. Celestia agreed, and they forged a peace treaty. Equestria and Minotaurus had been great allies since then. Celestia even sent more soldiers to Minotaurus to apologize for the damage her soldiers had caused, even though it was Minotaurus who declare war on Equestria in the first place. The king, then felt guilty and apologized as well. He also sent some weapons to Equestria seeing as they specialized in making weapons. They had established trade shortly after that. Minotaurus and Equestria were on great terms since then. It was not until King Sterling came to power 20 years ago that things began to change. He wasn't your average ruler. He was snobby, arogant and very spoiled by his father the deceased King Silver Paladin. He was also racist. He didn't like hybrids and other species and thought minotaurs were above everypony else. He is on thin ice with all of Minotaurus allies, mainly Griffonia. The only thing stopping them from telling him this was his army. If they were to say it right to his face he would just declare war on their country right then and there. Since Minotaurus army had grown over the centuries it was now competing with Equestria, who had the largest army. Every kingdom's ruler may hate him, but they would do anything to avoid a preventable war. Unlike King Sterling, they put their subjects before themselves.
Once Illusion arrived, he saw everypony was present. His parents, sister, aunts Luna and Twilight as well as his cousins Nidra, Starburst, and Night Light Jr.
Gaia was a human with skin the color of discord's fur, she had a black mane [or hair for humans] with blue streaks in it tied back into a ponytail and hazel eyes. According to Discord, she is an exact replica of his deceased mother Aria. If Gaia didn't have those streaks in her hair, she wouldn't even be considered Princess Celestia's daughter.
King Sterling and his comanders, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Prince Flash Sentry, Prince Discord and Prince Supernova were currently in the throne room. Him, Starburst, Night Light Jr and Nidra were all wearing their royal regaila. Their regalia was silver like all the royal children. Everyone's [with the exception of Gaia because she can't get a cutie mark since she is a human and Night Light Jr who didn't have his yet] regalia had their cutie mark in the middle, made with colorful gems to match the colors in their cutie mark. Gaia was wearing her armor. Her armor was gold with a yin and yang symbol on it. Her helmet looked like Captain Shining Armor's helmet, except it was gold and the hair in it was black with blue steaks. She was currently keeping a watchful eye on the door to the throne room.
Suddenly, the door opened, revealing a rather displeased King Sterling, his expressionless comanders, one was green , another was a red female and the last one was a blue female with a red, orange and yellow mane that looked exactly like Spitfire's mane. A rather annoyed Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Prince Discord, Prince Supernova and Prince Flash Sentry.
I highly suggest for you to reconsider Princess Celestia, King Sterling said. You have such a beautiful kingdom. After that monster you call a sister and that monsterosity you call a husband almost toke over Equestria I would hate to destroy it, but if you don't give back that land you call call Hoofington I will have no other choice.
Discord glared at King Sterling, his eyes filled with hurt and anger Celestia held his claw and gave him a sincere look,. Luna was also very offended by the comment King Sterling just made. She leaned against Supernova, who draped his wing over her, pulling her close. He was very mad. Nidra, Illusion and Gaia gritted their teeth in anger. They knew their parents didn't like talking about their evil days. To say that in front of their children was nothing, but disrespectful.
After five minutes of awkward silence, Twilight spoke up "How dare you! They have done more for their kingdom then you ever have. Who even made you king to begin with?!"
"Says the wanna be princess." Sterling sneered.
"Hey Princess Twilight earned her title and her rank amongst Equestrian royalty. She even saved this kingdom, with the help of her friends more than once!" Flash said outraged.
"She may have, but you didn't." Sterling argued back.
Flash glared at Sterling with pure hatred. Starburst was about to attack him, before Gaia used her arm to block her. She took her helmet off and gave Starburst a look telling her to stop. Gaia then took a step forward and said.
"Look, no matter how much you whine, argue or insult us we will not hand over Hoofington to the likes of you." Gaia said.
"Mark my words monkey girl, I will get Hoofington back...by any means necessary. Come on Blaze, Blitz lets leave." Sterling said
"Yes sir." They said in unison, but not before glaring at the royals.
After King Sterling and his comanders left Celestia spoke up
"I'm sorry you had to see that children" she apologized.
" No need to apologize aunt Celestia. Just who does he think he is, insulting mother and uncle Discord like that. We should have him kicked out of Canterlot." Nidra said.
"I agree." Illusion said.
"We couldn't, no matter how much we wanted to. He would just bug us more, until we heard him out." Luna said
"According to my records, The green minotaur is Commander Blaze and the red one is Commander Blaze. I would tell you what they were famous for, but I don't want to scar you guys for life." Gaia said
"Okay everypony, lets take some time to relax and get over this incident." Twilight said.
As much as Illusion and the other royal children [minus Gaia] wanted to ask their parents and Gaia about the incident, it was clear that they didn't want to talk about it right now.
"Okay." They all said in unison.
"I'll ask mom and dad about it later" Illusion whispered quietly so the others couldn't hear him.
Illusion was walking down the castle hallways, deep in thought. He wasn't looking where he was going and he bumped into somepony.
"Oh, sorry...Gaia?!"
"Hey Illusion, sup?" Gaia asked in her normal, casual tone.
"Nothing" Illusion replied, then he remembered why he was lost in thought in the first place. "Gaia can I talk to you in private?"
"Sure big bro" Gaia replied.
They went to the closest bedroom, which happened to be Gaia's bedroom. It wasn't all that classy, Gaia didn't want to go over the top with her bedroom. She had always liked to be treated like everypony else. The only thing that seperated her room from everypony else's was her bed. It was high above the ground. Gaia said it was more comfortable and no one had a problem with that. Her room was sky blue with a closet to store her armor, some formal wear for diplomatic summits and such, a lot of casual wear, her royal regalia, and....other stuff a human girl needs.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Gaia asked.
"The Minotaurs." Illusion replied "Why did they come here to ask about Hoofington now? King Sterling has been on the throne for about twenty years." Illusion said.
"I don't know Illusion, but I'm going to increase security in Hoofington and it's borders. I'll also go there myself if things get bad." Gaia replied.
"Okay.....um Gaia. Do you think mom and dad would let me go there too?" Illusion asked hesitantly.
"What! Gaia shouted. She was shocked, but quickly regained her dignity "I don't think so Illusion, but if you want I could teach you some stuff about fighting when I have some free time." Gaia offered.
"Sure, thanks Gaia." Illusion said.
"No prob big bro. Oh and about going to Hoofington with me, you can ask mom and dad about that during dinner tonight." Gaia said.
"Okay see you then." Illusion said while walking out the door.
"See ya big bro." Gaia said back.
Four hours later
At dinner it was just him, Celestia and Discord. Gaia was running late cause of work, Luna and her family had their own private dining room. After finding out about Luna's pregnency with Nidra, they decided they needed some privacy. Illusion wanted to ask his parents about going to Hoofington when his sister was here, because he knew he couldn't win in an argument against his parents alone. He needed back up. Then Gaia came into the dining room.
"Sorry I'm late everypony. I had to train some new recruits, and send a group of guards to Hoofington. The Minotaurs could attack without notifying us. Seems so much like the king to do that." Gaia said.
"It's alright dear, and could you give me a list of who you sent to Hoofington please?" Celestia asked.
"Okay mom, I'll give it to you tomorrow morning." Gaia replied.
"Thank you darling." Celestia said.
"Hey dad, you okay? I mean with the minotaurs and all." Gaia asked.
"I'm fine dear thank you for asking." Discord replied.
"Mom, dad I need to ask you something" Illusion asked.
"What is it honey?" Celestia asked.
"If things go wrong in Hoofington..........can I go there with Gaia?" Illusion asked.
"WHAT!" Celestia and Discord shouted at the same time.
"Your a prince, Illusion we need you here. Besides, you don't know how to properly defend yourself you could get injured out there, or worse. I'm not sending my son out to die!" Celestia said
"Neither am I." Discord said.
"Gaia is a princess and your sending her out to fight but not me! I'm the older sibling and she's just got chaos magic. I have that and alicorn magic!" Illusion argued back.
Everyone in the room stared wide eyed at Illusion. After realizing what he had said Illusion covered his mouth.
It was true, Illusion was more powerful than Gaia. This was, because she wasn't capable of holding both chaos and alicorn magic She was originally born with both alicorn and chaos magic, shortly after her birth the doctor said that she couldn't survive with both kinds of magic without a horn to channel the magic. They didn't want to risk making an artificial horn, so to extract the magic they needed atleast 3 ponies bearing the same kind of magic. Since the only known ponies with chaos magic other than Gaia were Illusion and Discord they were forced to extract the alicorn magic. It was a sensitive topic for Gaia.
"Seriously Illusion? I'm on your side here, and you just go and remind me how weak I am. You know, " Gaia said, hurt.
"Gaia your not weak." Celestia said in a stern tone.
"Sweetie your mother is right. Your not weak.Your, actually one of the strongest people I know." Discord said
"No I'm not! Your all stronger than me, even Lance is stronger than me, and his father is a unicorn while his mother is an alicorn! Yes I am weak and I always will be!" Gaia said before teleporting away.
"Look what you've done Illusion!" Celestia said. "You think I'm going to send you to Hoofington after this?! You have just proven to us that your an immature foal! If you'll excuse me I have to go comfort my daughter." Celestia huffed, then teleported away.
"Dad....." Illusion started.
Discord just snaped his eagle talon. In a flash a storm cloud appeared over Illusion and zapped him.
"That's what you get for hurting my baby girl." Discorld growled at Illusion then teleported away to find his wife and daughter.
"I-I'm s-s-sorry" Illusion said with tears in his eyes. He quickly fell to the floor and started crying.
In Gaia's room
Gaia was doing some push ups in her room. She was wearing a baby blue shirt and dark blue sweatpants that went up to her ankles. Her build she gained from all her training was impressive. Her strength rivaled, even Del himself. her, Del, T and Prism often competed with each other when she visited Ponyville with her brother. T mostly just competed cause his sister, Claire forced him to... and to get Annie's attention. She got up to wipe sweat off her brow with her towel. She was about to do some sit ups when Celestia knocked on the door.
"Honey...it's me. May I come in?" Celestia said in a soft tone.
"Sure mom." Gaia replied.
Celestia entered the room and stood beside her daughter, who had started doing her sit ups.
"Gaia could you please stop your sit ups for a minute I need to talk to you." Celestia said.
Gaia got up and sat cross legged on the floor and looked at her mother, who had sat beside her. Celestia wrapped her soft, warm wing around Gaia and pulled her close.
"Gaia.......you know Illusion.......didn't say that to you on purpose....right?" Celestia said.
"Yeah.....sorry about overreacting at dinner mom." Gaia said.
"No Gaia you have nothing to apologize for. Illusion just spoke out of line. I'll make sure to have a word with him later." Celestia said.
"Mom.........it's not his fault. Can you just drop this?" Gaia said.
"No I can't. Your my daughter Gaia, if anypony makes you feel weak and powerless they got to talk to me about it" Celestia said in a stern, but motherly tone.
"And me as well" a familiar, sinister voice said.
"Dad?" Gaia said.
"Your my baby girl, and I love you. If somepony makes fun of you they are gonna face my chaotic wrath!" Discord said.
"Thanks mom and dad." Gaia said and hugged them both.
"Your welcome dear." Celestia and Discord said in unison and hugged her back.
After a couple of minutes they broke the group hug. Then they heard a knock at the door.
"Come in" Gaia said.
Illusion hesitantly opened the door and walked inside.
"Illusion is there anything you want to say to your sister?" Celestia asked knowingly.
"I'm sorry about what I said at dinner." Illusion apologized.
"Hey it's cool bro." Gaia said holding out her fist for a fist\hoof bump, which Illusion gladly excepted.
Suddenly a unicorn guard came through the door.
"Captain Gaia! It's an emergency!" the guard said panicked.
"What is it private Nelson?" Gaia asked in a professional tone.
"We've lost contact with the soldiers we sent to Hoofington. We think the minotaurs are behind this." Nelson said.
"I'll be right there." Gaia said.
"Please hurry Captain." Nelson said before leaving.
"Mom, Dad, Illusion I have to go." Gaia said.
"Don't let us stop you from doing your job." Celestia said.
Gaia snaped her fingers, and in a flash she was wearing her armor. Then she teleported away.
In the guard headquarters
Gaia appeared outside the guard headquarters. She quickly entered, knowing there wasn't any time to waste. When Gaia entered the room every guard saluted her, and she returned the gesture.
"Captain. We lost contact with the troops when they were 30 kilometres south of Hoofington. By the looks of it they were ambushed by the minotaurs."
"Good to know first lieutenant Golden Sword." Gaia said.
"Captain, they're hacking into the computer system!" a guard said.
Before Gaia could respond King Sterling appeared on the screen
"Hello puny ponies and monkey girl." Sterling said. "I told you I would get Hoofington back by any means necessary." Sterling taunted.
"King Sterling!" a familiar voice boomed.
"Princess Luna" the guards, including Gaia bowed before the princess of the night.
"If you release our soldiers and stop your siege of Hoofington before it begins we can forget about this entire incident." Luna said.
"I'm afraid I can't do that your majesty." Sterling said. He, then disappeared from the screen.
"How should we respond Princess Luna?" Gaia asked.
"I don't know Captain. I will address the situation to the high Princes and Princesses tomorrow. Captain you will be required to attend."
"Of course your highness." Gaia responded.
In the throne room the next day 8:00 am
At the summit, Princesses Celestia, Luna and Twilight and Princes Flash Sentry, Discord and Supernova were all present. Gaia was there as well. After Luna and Gaia explained what had happened the previous night Flash Sentry spoke up.
"I think we should consider this an act of war against Equestria and that we should respond." Flash said confidently.
"I don't know, the minotaurs are a strong race...and their army is almost as big as ours." Twilight said.
"Permission to speak freely your highnesses?" Gaia asked.
"You may." Supernova said.
The minotaurs may be strong, but I think that we are stronger. Their army may be big but not as big as ours. I think we should declare this an act of war." Gaia said.
"Let us vote on it. All in favor of going to war?" Celestia asked.
Flash, Supernova, Discord and Luna rose their hooves and Discord rose his eagle talon.
"It's settled then. We shall make the announcement tomorrow morning. Captain, have your soldiers ready by sundown tommarow to depart to Hoofington." Celestia said.
"Of course your majesty." Gaia said.
The next morning 10:00am 2 hours before the radio broadcast.
Celestia had decided to send Illusion with Princess Twilight and her family to spend the night there. She didn't want him to interfere in this matter. She knew that she wouldn't send her sister, Princess Luna into the battle field if she could go in her stead and she knew Illusion would do the same with Gaia. He was her son after all. Just to be on the safe side Celestia had asked Twilight to put up a barrier around Ponyville's borders, to prevent him, and only him from teleporting away. She had also sent a guard to spy on him, in case he tried to find a loophole. Then Gaia entered the room.
"Princess?" Gaia called out.
"Yes Captain." Celestia replied.
"My soldiers are ready to leave, so I gave them one last day to see their families and spend time with them. Should I go to Hoofington with the others as well?" Gaia asked.
Celestia stared wide eyed at Gaia. She didn't want to send her only daughter to war.
"Gaia...skip the formalities right now." Celestia said.
"Mother.......should I go?" Gaia asked again.
"Gaia.....you may, but promise me something first." Celestia said.
"Okay mother." Gaia said.
'Promise me that you'll come home...alive." Celestia said.
"Mom.......I can't make any promises. There is a chance I could die, but for you, dad and Illusion......I'll try but I make no promises." Gaia said.
"Okay...Gaia." Celestia said.
"Remember mom, I'll always love you. You, dad and Illusion each have a special place in my heart and I'll love you all till the end." Gaia said.
Celestia couldn't take it anymore. She walked up and hugged Gaia with both her strong angelic wings. Gaia returned the gesture with her arms. Gaia broke the embrace and said.
"Better say goodbye to dad. This might be the last time I could ever see him." Gaia said.
"Of course dear. Go on now." Celestia said.
As Gaia left Celestia watched as she left, worried.
Discord's Chaotic realm 1 hour 55 minutes before broadcast
Discord was in his chaotic realm creating chaos. After he got married to Celestia, he used his old home as a chaotic base. He gave his children and Celestia the spell that allowed them to enter incase they had to tell him something something important. Gaia teleported inside to see that Discord was wrecking havoc on some ponies, probably illusions created by his magic. Discord turned around. When he saw Gaia he smiled and said.
"Ah Gaia just the pony I wanted to see." Discord said. "I've come up with a prank to pull on your mother. Wanna help me pull it off?" Discord asked smugly.
"Not now dad I need to talk to you." Gaia said impatiently.
"What is it dear?" Discord asked.
After telling him about her going to Hoofington, Discord's smile faded, but only a bit.
"Good luck out there. Make sure to kick those minotaurs sorry butts for me while your there. Be careful too. I expect to see you alive when you get back." Discord said.
"I'll try dad, but I make no promises." Gaia said. "I'm gonna miss your humor dad." Gaia sighed sadly.
"Don't talk like that Gaia. You will come back. I know you will." Discord said in a stern, but fatherly voice as well.
"Ok dad. I love you." Gaia said.
"I love you too sweetie never forget that." Dis cord said. He, then picked up Gaia and hugged her like a teddy bear. Gaia hugged him back.
Since she had said goodbye to Illusion the previous night, without giving the reason away entirely as per her parents orders. They wanted to keep it a secret from all the royal children except Gaia until the war started.
Ponyville 10 mins before broadcast 11:00 am
Illusion, who was disguised as an earth pony named Coal. Coal had a black mane and coat, and green eyes, was talking about the whole minotaur thing with Starburst, T, Annie, Del, Prism, Claire and Candy in Sugarcube Corner.
"When Gaia talked to me before I came here....it felt like she was saying her last words to me. That she knew she would never see me again."
Illusion said.
"She is captain of the royal guard dude. It's a risky job" Starburst said.
"Star's right Illusion, Gaia's not the Captain of the royal guard fer nothin. Ah bet she knows alot about how to defend herself." Del said.
"Plus with what you just told us, there could be a war, and Gaia might not come out of the battlefield alive. Don't worry darling, we're here for you and we'll help you through this." Claire reassured her coltfriend.
All of a sudden, the music stopped and was replaced by a familiar booming voice.
My little ponies! Minotaurus has laid siege on Hoofington. Equestria will take this as an act of war on Equestria and we will respond! We will not stand and watch, while there is a force endangering our nation like this! We have sent soldiers over there to aid Hoofington's policing force in the fight and they will arive there by sundown. My own daughter...Captain Gaia is also going to fight.
"Mom?" Illusion gasped. He was so shocked, that he dropped his Coal disguise.
"Guess that answered your question." Prism said.
Before anypony could reply, a voice said
"My son is stationed in Hoofington!" a worried mother said.
"Oh no this isn't good!" another pony said.
"Look it's Princess Starburst and Prince Illusion! They'll know what to do." a pony said.
Everypony started asking them both a lot of questions. After a few minutes Star had had enough and flared her wings and said
"BE QUIET!" she said.
Everypony went mute.
"Thanks Star." Illusion said. "Citizens of Ponyville we were not informed of this before hand and we are just finding out about this like all of you. If you stay calm, we can go and focus on the situation at hoof instead of dealing with an angry mob. Now if you can kindly go to your daily activites we can get to the castle and discuss this with High Princes Twilight Sparkle." Illusion said in a political manner.
The crowd made room for them to go through almost immediately.
"Thank you." Illusion told the crowd. "See you guys later!" Illusion told his and Star's friends.
"See ya!" They all said in unison.
