Chapters Looking out of the viewport to the old world that she once knew, that blue and green ball that was home, Luna sat on her throne wondering why. Why did her sister not understand? They needed a change, since hard times had befallen the equines of the world. Through it all, Celestia had done nothing to help the suffering or stop the pain.
She stood by while her people died off by the thousands. All the while, Luna pressed her sister to see the wrong in the world, but she had not done a thing to stop it. Celestia knew her subjects were suffering famine from a war that nearly shattered the kingdom. How could she be the sister she knew? Luna had always thought highly of her older sibling- looking up to her, trying to be just like her. Maybe that had blinded her to what her sister truly was.
Luna stood up and her two guards snapped to attention. They followed their queen as she trotted out of the throne room, knowing the time was near. This would be the change that Luna had wanted all these years. In the halls all that could be heard was the clop clop, clop clop of the three ponies’ hooves; no one seemed to want to speak a word.
Viewing Bridge was a tunnel made of glass and steel, spanning the entire crater where the base was settled, like a single fruit in a bowl. Along the bridge was a moving sidewalk which could be used to move along the length of the bridge. But Luna wanted to see the base through the glass walls on both sides of the tunnel. Her work here was something to be admired.
It started nearly one thousand years ago, when Celestia banished her for treason. Her punishment was to spend a small portion of her life “grounded” on the moon. This was supposed to correct Luna and make her see the error of her ways, but it furthered her rage. The royal’s anger was felt by the ones who supported Luna in her blight, but they too were banished. They became known as “Luna Lovers,” the ones who betrayed Equestria. The ones who were open about their feelings were banished as well, with the first being a pony named Razgriz.
Razgriz was an alicorn with a long, blood-red mane and tail, steel gray eyes, and a faded red coat. This colt faced three problems in Equestria. One being he was born with all three races in him, making him an alicorn. It was a one-in-a-million chance this could happen, and even smaller still he would have "Magic Disorder" and "Wing Disorder" along with the power of being an alicorn.
The second thing he faced was that he looked a lot like a mare. The doctors could not find out why he was born like this. They said that just before the lunar rebellion, a lot of these births happened, along with a varying amount of other defects that had never been recorded in Equestrian history. And the last thing that Razgriz had faced was he liked the night more than the day. The lure of the stars and the comfort of the moon all seemed better to him than the blinding sunlight.
This colt was banished just days after Luna was, being that he took her place as the rebellion leader. He tried to rally more ponies behind the cause, and succeeded. Several ponies were made in charge of their own small groups that would all hide out until the return of Luna, and teach their children to pass down the knowledge of what really happened- how Celestia neglected her duties to the ponies of the land, and how she cast away her own sister.
Soon after Razgriz had set this in place, he was caught, and put on trial for war crimes even though there had been no war. The fight between Luna and Celestia was a one-on-one fight; Luna didn’t want her followers ending up with the same fate as her. Razgriz had confessed, knowing he would get the death sentence.
But by a stroke of good fortune, he was given a second option, which he gladly took- it was to be banished to the moon for the same time as Luna. This in turn would raise the question of how that was possible. Celestia had given him the Curse of Immortality for those thousand years, leaving him with only one pony to keep him company.
This had been a much better choice than death, or so Razgriz thought. When Luna was banished to the moon, she had a massive amount of rage. She had boundless hatred for her sister, her country, and herself. When somepony showed up, they would be facing her wrath. Razgriz was that pony, and he had to hide from her patron for many years. She wanted revenge more than anything in the world, and Celestia had sent her younger sister a toy to release her anger on.
However, Luna soon saw that it was doing her no good to smack around the only ally she had, the only one who she could talk out her feelings to. He was the one pony who she knew could understand her.
In the following years, Celestia had banished many of Luna’s followers, finding them in small uprisings all around Equestria. They were all given the same sentence: one thousand years on the moon, although this would be Celestia’s downfall after their banishment. Most of them were told that they were given the same immortality as Razgriz, but this was a lie. They would soon die off, another error of Celestia. They got married on the moon, and had many foals. Soon Luna had an own army at her command, ready for the time they would be let off the moon.
Luna greeted her forces as they trained, bowing to her. The great black pony reassured them to let them know that what they will be doing was morally right because their anger was justified. After this, Luna went to the armor bay, where all the hover tanks were being built. Two guards followed her down the rows of the Avenger class Hover tanks.
The tanks were crescent-shaped with two 7.5 magic cannons, the cornerstone of Lunar Magic Corporation. The way the weaponry worked in Equestria was from magic, and would create a blast in the area of impact.
Luna’s army was at about forty thousand strong, while her civilian population was about twenty thousand total. With these numbers, she knew would be ready for war when they could all return to Equestria in one week's time. And even though they were prophesized to return one thousand years after their banishment, Luna had other plans. She wanted to make sure they were ready for the war they were about to wage. She would wait for three years before returning to the home she once knew to fight the wrongdoings of her sister.
Author's Note
If anypony wants to make me some artwork for my cover, please let me know!
Electric Spark trotted around, his spiked red-and-blue mane and tail bouncing as he went along his route. His brown coat was covered up by a uniform, marking his rank, unit and nation. This pony was a part of the 45th Unicorn Sniper Unit, under the command of Rough Cut. He was a recon pony and had a keen eye for anything strange or out of order. His assignment was to look for and find any unusual activity in the area. He had no idea what that meant, only that he was given direct orders from Celestia to shoot off a warning flare if he saw anything.
The bored pony thought about the current position of the military of Equestria. There had been a heightened amount of activity recently in the Solar Empire Defense. As it was natural, Electric had questions to ask, but the only thing that was coming up lately was the second coming of Luna. It couldn’t be anything serious. It was said that she would be reformed after coming back to Equestria. Well, that was what one thousand years on the moon should do to a pony.
Electric stopped and looked around, taking a break from the trotting around the desolate woods. He put his magic assault rifle down, letting the sling slide off of his neck and releasing his grip. He gazed at the slight gleam of the moonlight coming off his Mark 12 MA17B2 rifle. Made for mobility and long term usage, Sunlight Industries made a very good standard for the Solar Military Forces.
A rustling in the bush to Electric’s right caught his attention. He lifted his rifle with magic, aiming at the possible threat. The bushes rustled again, and a rabbit hopped out, sniffing the air and looking at him. Electric dropped his guard, smiling a little at the creature.
He was about to continue walking on, when Electric felt the cold, smooth, rounded out barrel of a gun pressed to the back of his head. Turning around, he lifted on his night-vision goggles to be face to face with the Lunar Army Special Forces- the best of the best by the Lunar Army standards.
“Drop your rifle on the ground, slowly.” said the commander in a gruff voice. All of the LA pecial Operations ponies were dressed in pure black, all of them armed. One sniper, one support, one assault, and one heavy gunner. They looked ready to strike Electric at any time.
Electric couldn’t figure out who these ponies were. The only thing he knew was that these were Lunar extremists, ponies who were in the bloodline of those of the past that followed Luna’s ways, but he could be wrong.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?” Electric demanded, his voice a little shaky. He was trying to get a read on the accent from the commander and hoping to evoke a response from the other squad members. The accent was one that Electric had not recognized, and he couldn’t identify where the pony was from.
“We’re here to liberate Equestria.”
Someone smacked Electric in the side of the head with the butt of his rifle, knocking him to the ground. Everything went black as he was dragged off by the silent team.
“Ma’am, the scouting team is back, they have a hostage.” Razgriz said to Luna, with a bow.
“Very good, General, please tell the troops that we’ll be attacking just before dawn.” Luna answered, to which Razgriz bowed and left the room. He trotted through the base camp, seeing the few quickly constructed buildings for medical, production, barracks and headquarters. He went to the command post and informed the commanders of the timing of the pre-dawn attack. Afterward, Razgriz galloped to the aircraft hangar, which was right in the middle of their resupply field and aircraft production plant.
“Jelly Bean, you around, mate?” Razgriz yelled into the desolate hangar bay. His voice echoed off the aluminum walls and made him shudder. All the pilots were in their barracks, sleeping. Given Razgriz couldn’t find Jelly Bean in his bunk, he assumed that his friend was working on something.
“Yeah. I’m over here, by the bombers.”
Jelly Bean’s faint voice could be heard at the other end of the hangar. Razgriz walked over, admiring the squadron from the moon. His light hoofsteps sounded off the stone floor, made to store the attack squadron for the invasion.
The main air force consisted of attack fighters, the Oppressor Interceptor. These high-speed, lightly armored aircraft were great for shooting down bombers and escorting the Lunar Army’s own bombers. The sleek body and lightweight build made the Oppressor one of the top aircraft in Equestria.
Razgriz trotted to the end of the hanger, where he found Jelly Bean finishing up a bomb for a Draconequus bomber. The Draconequus was a fat and slow aircraft, mostly made for one-way missions, but the payload they could carry was worth the cost. Just one bomber could carry twenty-four one-hundred-pound magic pulse bombs, which have the force to blow up a small building.
Jelly had just finished putting the casing back over top of the internals when he noticed Razgriz trotting over. “Hey, buddy, how's it been lately? Since the move we haven’t been able to talk much.” he said through a smile. Jelly Bean was a very tall, black Andalusion pegasis white a white mane and tail. He stood about as tall as Celestia, so he towered over Razgriz
The two ponies had been friends since Jelly Bean was born. Razgriz took care of him while his parents were helping at the production plants. At the time, Razgriz was hesitant to become friends with anypony. They would all ether die before the invasion of Equestria, or in the fighting during it. So to avoid heartbreak, he had secluded himself to his training. Given that he could live for the whole time he was on the moon, his skills were beyond anypony in the LA or the SE.
“Well, as good as it can be, I guess.” Razgriz said.
“What do you mean by that?” Jelly Bean asked, concern in his voice.
“Well, ever since I was banished it seemed like a good idea to get back at Celestia, but now that we are really doing it…” Razgriz trailed off.
"I’m sure Luna wouldn’t do anything that wasn’t right, buddy. Her sister betrayed her, after all.”
"Maybe, but killing innocent ponies just to get back at her? Do Celestia and everypony that follows her really deserve that?”
Jelly Bean scratched his head, worried that Razgriz had fallen ill and that his judgment was clouded. He had been one of the biggest supporters of retaliating.
“Look, I don’t care who it is, if they follow Celestia, they are an enemy to the Lunar Army. Just remember that, Razgriz, and you’ll get through this.”
Jelly Bean put a hoof onto Razgriz’s shoulder in reassurance. Razgriz nodded, and snapped to a half hearted salute, which Jelly Bean returned. They went about their business after that- Razgriz wanted to get a wink of sleep before the first large scale battle of the war, and Jelly Bean had to finish his prep for his squadron of bombers.
-
“Ma’am, still no news on the patrol. We fear something may have happened to the spec ops scout, Electric Spark.” Rough Cut said to the white alicorn, bowing as he did.
“Alright. Send one team out to the last known location of the scout for a SAR effort, and deliver a message to the Elements to be here within the hour. We must be ready for the worst.” Celestia solemnly said.
Rough Cut galloped off to do as he was told. Celestia turned her head and looked out the window, rising from her throne to look at the moon.
“Oh, my sister... I’m so sorry for this.”
“So this has been confirmed?” Luna asked, galloping down the path toward the communications building of the Lunar Army home base.
“It has been, ma’am, several times. It’s Celestia alright. She wants to talk about peace.” Razgriz answered, trying his best to keep up with Luna.
“How is this possible? She hated me when she banished me, and I hate her!”
Razgriz fell silent, not wanting to remind her of his own thoughts on the matter. They arrived at the radio shack, and Luna burst through the doors, forcing them off their hinges.
“Everypony out of the room, I need the radio.” Luna said calmly, to Razgriz’s surprise. This order was well obliged by everypony save Razgriz, he was expecting to be allowed to stay.
“I said everypony, Razgriz. That includes you as well.”
Razgriz was shocked. This was the first contact with the Solar Empire, and Razgriz wanted to be a part of it. “Ma’am, permission to stay and listen, at least? It would help me to know what is going on politically.”
“No! We said we wanted to be alone for this!” Luna yelled in her Canterlot voice, turning to face Razgriz as she did. The only time he’d heard that voice before was her time as Nightmare Moon, but that was not Luna, that was a beast. Something that had been dormant inside her had tried to emerge.
Razgriz left the radio shack in silence, heading off to his barracks to get some sleep after the first bit of real combat he had faced. The same nightmare happened again, his senses filled with nothing but the powdery, warm snow falling around him.
Again he saw the figure in front of him. Razgriz stood motionless, unable to help the burned pony in front of him.
“Help me.”
-
Pop, popop, popop was the sound coming from Razgriz’s gun at the firing range. It was mostly a gun sighting range, but it was vacant at this time of night, giving Razgriz all the targets in the world. Using magic to levitate the gun, he fired shot after shot into the straw.
Through each puff of smoke that burst in front of him, he saw the figure from his dreams again, right where his target was. Pop, popop, popop. Again he would fire his gun, but he couldn’t get the image out of his head.
Razgriz gritted his teeth, switching to automatic and holding the trigger at the target, seeing the figure. It would not go away under the hellfire Razgriz had sent toward it. He drew his knife in his teeth, dropping his gun and running head on through the range at his target. At full gallop by now, Razgriz took flight, flying straight at his target. Wings beating furiously, he grabbed the target with his magic, tossing it in the air. Following it, he then proceeded to hack the straw pony into nothing but grass, cloth and rope.
“Whoa! What’s on your mind, man? You seem stressed out.” came a voice yelling out from the first firing position. It was Jelly Bean, looking at Razgriz with wide eyes. Behind him were some of the ponies in Alpha Battalion.
Razgriz flew back toward them, holstering the knife he still had in his mouth. He landed in front of Jelly bean and was silent for several very long seconds. Some of the Alpha Battalion ponies shuffled, all eager to find out why their commander and general was slicing up gun-range targets with a knife.
Looking back at his battalion, Razgriz snapped, “Well? Shouldn’t you all be asleep right now?”
He got a general mumbling of discomfort and disobedience. Razgriz lit his horn, making a sort of growl to reinforce his order to go back to bed. Without another word the Alpha Battalion shuffled off.
Razgriz briskly trotted off in the opposite direction of his battalion, not wanting to confront them at the moment. Jelly Bean trailed behind the red colt.
“So, I’ll ask again, what’s on your mind?” Jelly Bean pried.
Razgriz stopped trotting, and did not look back at Jelly Bean. “I thought I made it clear I don’t want to talk about it.” He said, through gritted teeth.
“Is it possible to even get a hint at it?”
“No. I don't want to talk about it.” Razgriz said coldly.
“Okay, okay. I’m just worried for you. Your battalion is worried for you. Ever since the battle you've been acting so… distant, and we don’t like it.”
“Look. I will deal with these problems on my own. In the meantime, I’m getting ready for my next mission.”
“Next mission? There was no attack planned for tomorrow.”
“It’s just for me, Jelly Bean. All I can tell you is it’ll take me about a week.”
“Okay… Well, how will we know if you have completed your mission?”
“You’ll just know.”
Jelly Bean cocked his head to the side. “And if you don’t?”
Razgriz turned around to face his friend, and paused for several long seconds.
“Then Equestria is doomed.”
Chapter 6
“No, no, the setup is all wrong! If you want the representative to agree to our terms than you need to cater to what they like!"
“Darlin', from the sounds of him, he don’t care too much.”
“Oh, coming from the barn pony who knows nothing of decorating.”
“This commin' from a pony who don’t even know the name of the representative who’ll be showing up!”
This was all that could be heard in the main hall of Canterlot castle- the bickering of Rarity and Applejack. Twilight sat at the head table, reading the profile of the General Razgriz, the pony who was supposed to be arriving in less than an hour. She looked over the top of the folder to see the two friends arguing about how the stupid room looked. Rarity wanted it to be black and deep blue, with the table being a dark red. Applejack said to leave it plain, fitting the nature of the General.
“We should put some gemstones along the edge of the tables.” Rarity suggested, only to get her hopes stomped on by Twilight.
“No.” The alicorn said, not looking up from her profile folder. “We don’t have any in supply.”
Applejack smirked, and countered Rarities’ idea.
“I think we should ship some apples from Sweet Apple Acers up here to have in baskets along the center of the table. Ya know, for snacking!” she smiled at Twilight, who once again turned the idea down.
“We’re having our meal catered due to the time constraint. We have exactly one hour to please him, loosen him up so he’ll see the error of their nation’s ways, and tell him why there should be peace. After that, we wait to hear what they want to do.”
This time it was Rarity’s turn to smirk at Applejack, who only stuck out her tongue in response.
“So we just need to talk nicely, and then they’ll end the war?” the timid voice of Fluttershy asked, only just audible over the chatter of the ponies. Twilight looked up from Razgriz’s profile, and the rest of the girls followed her gaze. Fluttershy shrunk down. Her friends were glaring at her.
“Look, Fluttershy.” Twilight said. “I know you want this to work, and trust me. So do I. But sadly, it may not work out, so don’t get your hopes up.”
Fluttershy looked at the ground, but nodded.
“Alright, so who is this General Razgriz Twilight?” Rainbow asked her purple friend.
“He is the General Razgriz. He was second in command back when Luna was first banished. Soon after she was, he was caught for continuing her work. They said that he had executed several troops for siding with Celestia. Basically, he was a monster. Though now he mainly handles the political work now.” Twilight explained.
“You should know that, Rainbow, you just got into the Wonderbolts. Isn’t that on the entry test?” the purple pony added with a tilt of her head.
“I don’t know, I kinda just fell asleep.”
“Wait, how in the hoof did you get into the Wonderbolts if you didn’t pass the entry test?”
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I just made the point of the fact that I can fly faster than all of them.”
“What? That worked?”
“Yeah. Well, it was during the physical. I scored with one hundred percent. It allowed me to just pass with a seventy.”
Twilight was seething with rage at this point. She had a hard time grasping the possibility of passing a test without writing it Applejack saved Rainbow Dash from a lengthy lecture by taking Twilight around her neck with her hoof.
“Let’s all just be glad that she got in ,huh? Say, the Wonderbolts are a part of the military, you should start finding out what is going on at the front, right?”
Rainbow Dash nodded solemnly. “It’s not going good. The first assault on an encampment south of Ponyville was a slaughter. They took about six hundred troops, scientists and construction workers as prisoners. And anypony who didn’t take that route… they were shot. By Razgriz himself, if what I have heard is correct.”
All the girls gasped.
“No, that can’t be right. The profile that Celestia herself wrote up for me states, ‘Was once a ruthless killer, but now only leads the political, strategic and civilian sectors. He is to be treated as trustworthy, and loyal. He will more than likely have a closed mind in the subject of peace, and therefore, you are to do everything you can to sway his mind towards peace at all costs.’”
Rainbow shook her head. “No. Spitfire herself told me that she had a friend stationed there, and that she got an SOS transmission from him. It said that they were going around to the different buildings and killing everypony one by one.”
All the girls looked shocked, but Fluttershy in particular was shaking.
“I-Is he g-going to k-kill us?” she stammered out, almost tearing up as she did so. Applejack trotted over to comfort her.
“No darling, I don’t think he would do that. It’s wrong, and it would escalate the war very quickly.”
Twilight looked at the clock in the room. The General was supposed to be here at two; he had five minutes left.
“Girls, get ready. He’ll be here soon.”
-
Razgriz trotted back and forth in front of the conference room. He had done his pre-meeting briefing on the flight and learned a lot about the girls. They were all friends, and close friends at that. Second was that they possessed the powers of the Elements of Harmony. They had beaten many foes together with the power of friendship.
This baffled the general. How can you defeat anything with an idea? All that Razgriz knew about defeating enemies were spells, swords and guns. Lots of guns. He shook the thought off. He needed to concentrate on the task at hand. He desperately wanted peace for both the nations, but the terms were outrageous for the Lunar Army to surrender to.
When it was precisely two o’clock, the general knocked on the large doors. They swung open to reveal the girls sitting at an oval table. The room was brightly lit, and there was an odd sort of sparkle to the white walls and floor. Around the table were seven comfortable chairs, one of which was not occupied.
Razgriz noticed immediately that the six ponies sitting the remaining chairs were looking at him. There were two earth ponies, two pegasi, one unicorn and one alicorn, like himself. The earth ponies and pegasi sat across from each other, and the alicorn sat at the head of the table. All of them had elemental necklaces on, with the princesses on a crown.
“Hello General Razgriz. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Applejack.” Twilight said, stepping off of her chair to meet the visitor. Razgriz Bowed to her, which caught the princess by surprise. She bowed in return, and got another surprise. Razgriz snapped a sharp salute to Twilight, and said, “General Razgriz reporting for the conference. Permission to sit down?”
Twilight had no idea what to do. She looked toward her rainbow friend (who was in a military organization) for guidance. Rainbow Dash saluted herself, and nodded her eyes toward it. Twilight attempted a salute, and gave Razgriz permission to sit down. He nodded and sat down. Rainbow Dash giggled at Twilight the whole time Razgriz seated himself. At this point, there was awkward silence for about a minute. Razgriz was the one to break it.
“So, one minute has gone by. You now have fifty nine minutes to tell me why peace is a good idea.”
Twilight shuffled, ruffling her wings. “Well, I was hoping you could have some food with us, and then we could talk about the negotiation.”
Razgriz shook his head.
“Sorry, protocol forbids it.”
“Um, not to be rude or anything, but why?”
“Poison.” Razgriz blankly said.
“Oh. Wait, you think we would poison you?”
Razgriz just shook his head, not wanting to say more than he needed to.
“That may be true but we thought you were sent here to kill us!” Pinkie blurted out almost joyfully.
“Pinkie!”
“Darling!”
“What in tarnation Pinkie!”
“What? It’s true! Fluttershy said so herself!”
“But that doesn’t give you the right to say it in front of our guest!” Rarity cried.
“I know honesty is my thing, Pinkie, but ya might want to keep these feeling down.”
“Oh, so like the fact Celestia suggested an ambush to kill Razgriz?”
“Pinkie!” all the girls yelled at the same time.
This kind of bickering went on for some time. All the while Razgriz sat there, his smirk growing bigger and bigger. At some point, Twilight gave up, and her head hit the table, making a loud thump. This somehow grabbed everyponie’s attention. They all looked at Razgriz, who still had the biggest smirk on his face.
“I’m sorry you had to see that, General.” Twilight said apologetically. She then mumbled, “If my friends weren’t such dolts then this would be done by now.”
“I guess the report to Luna won’t be a good one?”
She looked up to see Razgriz still smirking.
“What is so funny?”
“Oh, nothing. It’s just the profile of you ponies spoke so highly of you all. And by the way, all of what you said, Pinkie, it’s not very surprising.”
The girls looked confused, and unsure of how to respond.
“Oh good! I thought I had said something bad!” Pinkie cheerfully spouted. A couple of the girls gave her a death glare.
Twilight simply gave Razgriz an ‘oh, for bucks sake’ type of look. Razgriz smiled and mouthed the words “It’s okay.” to her, to which she smiled in response.
“Besides, if you had nothing but trust in me, you wouldn’t have the Elements of Harmony with you.” Razgriz said, pointing to all the girls in a sweeping motion. The girls instinctively covered their necklaces with a hoof, and Twilight took her crown off.
“How did you know about our elements?” she asked slowly.
“You think you ponies are the only ones that do research?”
Razgriz looked at the clock. His aircraft would be back in a few minutes to pick him up, and if he wasn’t there…
“Look, I need to get going now.” Razgriz said, standing up. The girls blurted a flurry of words, but Razgriz kept walking until Twilight stopped him.
“Look. Please, don’t say anything bad about us.” Her ears drooped down.
“My brother… he’s in the Royal Guard. I don’t want him, or anypony else, to get hurt if they don’t need to. We can end this war, here and now.” Twilight said, poofing up a document.
“This letter states that you will surrender your forces to us, and for all of your troops to go through a screening process to see if they are fit to live in Equestria. If they are, they will live under a guard for a while, and if they are good, they will no longer be watched.” Twilight explained. She was about to say more, but Razgriz held up a hoof.
“I can’t sign that. That job lies in the hoofs of Luna. I’m sorry, Twilight, but you will just need to wait.”
Razgriz started to walk away, but Twilight called out his name and he turned again. She held out a hoof, her mouth opened as if wanted to say something, but couldn’t. Razgriz supplied the words for her.
“Maybe after this is all over… we can hang out sometime?”
“With my friends? Or just you and me?”
“Whichever you want, Twilight.” Razgriz replied with a smile and a very brief wink. Twilight blushed and averted her eyes. With a nod of his head, Razgriz walked off to the pick up zone, leaving the ponies confused as to how a pony like this could capture Twilight’s eye.
The ponies stood in silence for a minute, then Rarity cleared her throat.
“Darling, did he just…”
“Just drop it Rarity.
“But-“
“Drop it.” Twilight said, still looking where Razgriz was a minute ago. She sighed deeply, closing her eyes, and wandered off to her room here at the Canterlot Castle to get some sleep. The rest of the girls did the same. Even though it was early in the day, they all felt like that they would need it.
“So, I assume it went well?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know damn well what I mean. The meeting.”
“Oh, yes. That. Razgriz went there, chaos ensued, and now there is a hoof to point for blame, and the war will continue. Everything is going as planned.”
“Everything except Razgriz.”
“What do you mean?”
“He isn’t the aggressive pony that time told of. He’s… soft. If he can’t continue his old ways, he’s a threat to our plans.”
“I understand.”
“I don’t think you do. You must find a way to anger him. Or else this could all fall apart, and Equestria will be doomed.”
“Alright, I’ll find something.”
“I trust you can do this without my help?”
“I can, I’m not as naive as you remember.”
“Alright. ‘Till next time.”
-
Razgriz trotted out of his transport onto the home base of the Lunar Army. He saw Jelly Bean waiting for him, bouncing on the spot. Razgriz could only assume his friend was told the mission.
“So, did they tell you their terms?” He asked Razgriz.
“I assume you were told them already. They were in the transmission that was sent to my tank.”
“Yeah, but you got to talk to the Elements of Harmony?”
“Yeah. What of it?”
“What of it?” Jelly Bean scoffed. “They are only the most highly respected ponies below the princesses. And you’re to have peace talks with them!”
“Well, they weren’t really peace talks.”
“Then what were you doing there?”
“Let’s just say I didn’t find anything new out. Other than Twilight Sparkle’s the leader of her little friendship circle, and they’re some of the most skittish ponies I’ve ever seen.”
Jelly Bean scratched his head, tilting his gaze to Razgriz’s blush.
“Anything else?”
“No. Just go back to your bombers, dude, it’s likely we are moving out soon.” Razgriz said while trotting off at a brisk pace, leaving Jelly Bean to wonder alone.
-
Razgriz was in the war room, planning the movement of the troops. At this point he had found out that Luna wanted to fight. Razgriz had informed her on the way back from the meeting what they wanted, leaving out the fact that they were at each other’s throats half the time and that they wanted to end this before it started. Luna only wanted to show in force what the Lunar Army was after.
The general looked at the magic projection of Equestria. With this he could view any city, town or objective with the flick of a hoof. He zoomed the projection onto the town that they were to invade. It was a small town just north of their location, called Ponyville. It seemed like a quiet town, a place that anypony would want to live in. Thankfully, they were not going to fight for it.
The Lunar Army was going to call upon its sleeping army to help in their fight. If everything was set in place, and remained the way Razgriz left it, there would be thousands of ponies in the Lunar bloodline. All these ponies knew what the signal was to assist their leader, and it was a song.
Razgriz loved the idea. He trotted over to a radio in the room. He used his magic to tune it to the designated channel, and levitated over an old record player. Grabbing an envelope, the general extracted an old record out of it labelled Night Time Waltz from it. The black record had only one side to it, and Razgriz placed that side face up on the record player’s table. He turned the radio on, the device transmitting to several command tanks at the edge of the Everfree forest. These tanks had loud speakers on the outside of them for this reason.
A crackling started to come out of the speaker. The song began. It was played to fillies of the Lunar bloodline, and which they had remembered off by heart. Once the tanks started to play, they advanced into the town, driving at full speed and cranking the song as loud as the speakers would permit.
Some ponies fled, and a few others merely stopped what they were doing. The braver ones had their ears perked, unsure if what they were hearing was real.
And indeed it was. The call for more hooves was here, and over half of Ponyville was ready to answer this call.
A low rumbling was heard at the Lunar Army base later that day, accompanied by Night Time Waltz. Razgriz trotted to where it was coming from, and saw several tanks along with a hundred ponies behind them. All of them were chatting with each other, probably discussing whether or not they thought this was real or some sort of elaborate joke.
The tanks came to a halt by the base boundaries. Razgriz flew up to the hatch of the lead tank, and knocked. The commander of the tank popped his head out, and the general asked for the mic of the speaker system.
There was some slight feedback, causing the ponies to cringe. Razgriz cleared his throat, and with more effort from the tank commander, the sound became clear.
“Hello, everypony, and welcome to the Lunar Army FOB. I am General Razgriz, lead strategist, political negotiator and battle commander. I can only assume you all must have questions, which will all get answered soon.”
He took a moment to ensure all eyes and ears were on him. They were.
“But first, we need to figure out where all of you fit in in our puzzle of an army. If you would all form a single file line and follow me to the processing shed, we can get you enlisted.”
Some cheers could be heard. Razgriz glided down from the top of the tank and led his little herd of ponies to their destination. Luna was waiting at the door, still and silent like a sentinel. Taking flight just above the ground, the general flipped around to face his small group.
“To let you all know, just nod toward Princess Luna and walk inside, please. Remember, hat is how you will address her at any time you are outside. Is that understood?”
Razgriz got a general “yes” response from the ponies. They all did well; they nodded her way as they walked inside, some a little more than others. Once everypony was safely inside the building, the door was closed, and they were all seated to learn about the history of the Lunar Army. Razgriz and Luna remained outside, and for once, Luna was smiling.
“You look happy, Princess.” Razgriz said, but felt a shiver as he spoke. This was the first time he’d seen her smile like that in his memory.
“This plan of yours has been impressive, General. Who would have imagined that a ballroom dance would be successful? I only hope it works for the bigger cities.”
Razgriz tilted his head. “It will work as long as we hurry. If the Solar Empire learns of our plans, it’ll be over before it starts. We have to move the tanks into the cities within the next twenty four hours.”
Luna nodded.
Razgriz was stunned.
“Tonight? I’m sorry, Princess, but we just had peace talks. How can we be ready for an attack?”
“The talks were to lure them into false hope, General. You should have known that. We’re going to begin the campaign against my sister. We will move our troops into Appleloosa and Dodge City. Then, we take the east coast cities.”
Razgriz was silent for a moment, unsure of how to tell his goddess this plan was doomed to fail.
“Look. Luna. We need to activate the sleeping population if we want to win this war. If we can divide most of them, then we can attack them with much greater numbers than we have now. In just a few days, we can double our army and damage theirs.”
Luna was silent for several seconds. When she spoke again, her voice was almost a whisper.
“Prepare for an assault tonight.”
-
“I trust you have a good reason to risk contacting me. I thought we said I would contact you.”
“I know, and I’m sorry, but there’s been a complication. Razgriz had a plan in place I forgot to tell you about. He set in place that around half of the Equestrian population would be of the Luna Lover’s blood. He could awaken an army right under your nose.”
“You do know what this means, yes?”
“I do. An attack is planned for tomorrow. He likes to be on the front line. You should be able to tell which tank is his. Knock it out, and the general’s out of the picture.”
“You have confidence the Solar Empire can do it?”
“Yes.”
“Alright. Rough Cut will be commanding a counter attack. Let’s make sure they face off.”
“You sure he can face Razgriz?”
“What did I say about your faith in the Solar Empire? It’s settled.”
Night fell more quickly than Razgriz would have liked. Now was the time to start preparations for the second attack. The tired general sat down in the open hatch seat of his tank, not wanting to have to stay cooped up in his tank while they headed for Appleloosa.
“Hey, Razgriz!” He heard Jelly Bean calling out to him.
“Hey.” Razgriz answered in a mutter.
“The air force is ready to move out. The bombers won’t be in it, and the escorts will be flying at altitude increments to avoid any surprises. They’ll be flying in VTOL formation. Anything I left out?”
“Nope. Sounds good.”
“Alright. How about we hang out once we move all the bombers to the new airfield?”
Razgriz did not reply.
“I’ll catch you later.” Jelly Bean trotted off.
Razgriz drove his tank to meet up with the convoy. With the signal from Luna, the advance started, and they took off through the Everfree toward Appleloosa.
A solid hour of driving will bore anypony. The general was trying not to fall asleep, as the sleep schedule was shifted for all the ponies at this point. Razgriz rubbed his eyes, yawning as he looked into the woods.
A shadow moved up ahead. It looked, and sounded, big, cracking fallen branches and stirring up debris as it moved. Razgriz ordered a silent halt for the whole convoy, grumbling to himself.
The column slowly came to a stop. Razgriz kept his eyes wide open, trying to figure out what the figure was. Was it an animal? Bears weren’t uncommon in the forest.
“Everypony, power down their tanks and go silent. Be on the lookout for enemies.” Razgriz ordered.
Within a minute the noise of engines stopped. All the tanks settled onto the ground, and Razgriz’s ears gave the area his full attention. Movement, ponies speaking- nothing unusual. That was when he heard it. It was a slight chatter, breaking twigs, and then hushed voices.
“All tanks power up! Ambush!” Razgriz yelled.
Just as he spoke, the tank behind Razgriz exploded in flames. The forest was briefly lit up in a flash of fire, and the saw the troops in front of him, less than a hundred meters away.
Razgriz closed his hatch, turned his tank on and loaded a magic shell. He aimed at what he thought was a group of ponies huddled behind a tank and fired. Another fire ball engulfed the ponies standing near their cover, and they went running.
“Yeah!” Razgriz yelled. “All tanks in the column follow me to the right in line formation. Engage as you go. We need to flank them!”
Razgriz lead the column at high speed through the difficult woods, dodging trees in the darkness and trying not to break the barrel of his tank. FWOOM! The sound of a rocket flew over Razgriz’s tank. He looked in the direction of the shot, and a bipedal tank was crashing through trees toward him. This one was huge. It was taller, and had a bigger command cab. In the moonlight the general could make out a marking on the tank- a film reel and scissors. Odd thing to put on a tank, Razgriz thought.
“Alpha two, take over as column leader and get our boys out of here! I’ll take on this one!”
“Roger that Alpha one! Breaking off from you, good luck!”
Razgriz spun his tank around and slid it sideways to fit through some trees. All the while the bipedal tank continued to charge through the tree line to get to its target. The general fired a shot at the tank, but it was shrugged off. He tried again and that shot missed. The enemy fired several rockets toward Razgriz in retaliation, and he was hit not once, but twice. Both shots hit the frontal armor of his hover tank, and the alert indicator said he had lost some hover power.
“Damn! Alpha six and seven, break off from the column and assist me!”
“Got you, boss! Alpha seven on me!” Alpha Six said. The two tanks charged the Solar Empire tank from the side, firing as they went. The tank stopped in place and turned its turret toward the two tanks coming to Razgriz’s aid. It shot a spray of rockets. They all hit, blowing them up.
“Lunar home base, we’re under attack! Do you read me?” Razgriz said, his voice shaky with fear. “Lunar Base this is Razgriz, we are being ambushed, I repeat…”
BOOM.
Another rocket had hit Razgriz’s tank, this time taking a chunk of armor out of the turret.
“Oh, you wanna play? Let’s play, then.” Razgriz said out loud, just to himself. He kicked his tank into gear, and started an advance toward the enemy tank. The two tanks charged at high speed toward each other, firing as they went. Playing a game of chicken, they were only fifty meters away from one another. They got closer and closer and just before they collided, Razgriz spun around and hit the gas to slow down, switching his tank off. The Solar Empire tank tripped over his and went for a tumble.
Razgriz yelled in celebration, only to have his hopes crushed as quickly as they arose. The Solar empire tank had managed to stand back up. It fired a rocket at Razgriz, and it struck home.
Shrapnel sprayed the alicorn inside of his tank, ripping everything apart. Razgriz was barely able to throw up a protection spell around him. The tank caught fire and exploded, sending Razgriz skyward. He recovered in midair and started flying at the tank at full speed.
The determined alicorn dodged a few rockets launched at him in desperation, and started to charge a spell. He went to fire it at the tank, but it blew up in his face. He was sent into the ground from a magic spell failure.
Razgriz was on the ground, stunned. He looked up at the sky, expecting a swift death. The hatch of the tank opened up and something was speaking.
“Oh, dear Luna, this will not end nicely.”
Razgriz heard the trotting of the pony walking over to finish him off. He saw a brown pony walking closer, looking down at the wounded alicorn. He did not speak.
“Well? What are you waiting for?” Razgriz snarled, his voice more angry than afraid.
The brown pony lifted his head high, his eyes hooded, and turned to walk away.
“Hey! What the hell was that?” Razgriz yelled, but it was if the pony was deaf. His cutie mark was the same as the mark on the tank. Razgriz stumbled to his feet, groaning from the paint.
“Why don’t you just me?”
The stranger stopped.
“I don’t kill a pony that can’t fight.”
Razgriz wanted to hear more, but his wounds demanded he rest. It seemed like his leg was broken. The exhausted, bleeding general returned to his tank, and started to run to where there was sound of fighting from the convoy he had left.
It took only a few minutes before two tanks from the Lunar Army showed up. They were two tanks from Bravo Battalion, and the crew of each helped Razgriz into the second tank. They transported the general back to the home base for medical help. They could not have known that soon, he would not be the only one.
“What do you mean, he’s alive?”
“I just couldn’t. It wasn’t right. He couldn’t fight, so I spared him. Besides, he’s got a broken leg. He won’t be fighting back anytime soon.”
“I gave you the order to kill him, or die trying.”
“I’m sorry.”
“He’s still alive. This means this operation was for nothing. Nothing. Now, you get out of my sight. I cannot deal with this right now.”
-
Razgriz was given a sleeping spell while he healed. He was monitored in the medical bay of the Lunar Army FOB. He was hooked up to medical equipment to keep track of his vitals, but other than that, it was up to time to heal him.
He dreamed of nothing for most of his rest, seeing nothing but blackness in his mind. The silence scared him; knowing what true darkness was like, having to hide from Luna for many years. Razgriz had thoughts on the war at hoof. He bashed this pony he encountered on the battlefield.
How dare he leave me like this… I would rather be dead at this point. He thought.
“Well that’s no way to talk.” A voice said, startling him. It wasn’t his, and it wasn’t anypony he recognized. It was far away, as if someone were yelling across an open field.
“You know, you’re very lucky at this point. Rough Cut’s the only pony in the army that would leave you like that.”
Razgriz had only one thought at this point. He knew somepony had entered his mind through telepathy magic. It was very advanced, and mostly used to read minds. Razgriz was taught how to counter it, and started his defence.
Rubber ducky, you’re the one! You make bath time so much fun!
“Ow! That really hurts my head!”
Good, so get out of mine! Razgriz thought in reply, making it as loud as he could.
“You really need to knock that off. I’m trying to help you.”
Can’t hear you! Not listening!
“I can tell you’re in a deep sleep. This must be magical sleep induction. You know, I can hang around all day pestering you to let me talk. I don’t think you’ll be waking up anytime soon.”
Razgriz stopped making loud noises at this point.
“What do you want?” the sleeping colt relented.
“Oh, good, you’ve warmed up to me.”
The voice trailed off, going silent for a moment.
“There!” the voice said as a purple mare popped up in Razgriz’s vision. He gasped.
“Twilight?”
“Good! You remember me.” She said. Her voice sounded much clearer now. “Although it could do some good for you to show yourself. It would make talking to you a lot easier.”
Razgriz had just come to realise that his form was not present.
“All you need to do is concentrate and-“
“I have been alive for ten of your lifetimes Twilight, I know how this works.” Razgriz blandly said, making his form appear. Razgriz now stood as himself in front of the princess.
“Alright, what did you invade my brain to tell me?”
Twilight sighed slightly.
“Well, I knew that this was the only way that you would talk to me. I needed to tell you what I recently found out.”
“And that is?”
“This war is a hoax.”
“What? How so?”
“Well, as you know, after the faction wars that tore the county apart back before Equestria was founded and Celestia and Luna took over the government, it is said that once they formed Equestria Luna tried to kill Celestia out of jealousy of everypony playing in the daylight and-“
“Whoa whoa whoa. Luna raised the Lunar Army under the impression that Celestia ignored her ponies’ pleas for help in the wake of the faction wars. So she tried to overthrow her sister to make the country right.”
“That’s why I’m talking to you. I was able to acquire some information from some POWs that we have.”
“…”
“I didn’t hurt them if that’s what you are thinking!”
“I don’t know. You’re in my head, you should be able to tell what I am thinking of.”
“I’m not that deep into your thoughts. I can only understand what you want me to.”
Razgriz held back his anger, wanting to learn more.
“Well, what did you learn?”
“Just your side of the story. Pretty much word for word of what you just told me.”
“Well then this is possibly just a bias from both sides. They just told us what we wanted to hear.”
“That would be the first guess. But I wanted to confirm what I heard. So I looked in the archives for the events of the time. I am one of four ponies that have access to this information. And I was able to find reports on the whereabouts of Celestia and Luna in the last few days.”
“And?”
Twilight paused for a few moments.
“From the reports of my side, Celestia went missing for three days just before Luna declared her intentions. It says she went to Manehatten to talk to the mayor at the time about new infrastructure.”
“That’s odd. Luna went AWAL for the same three days. She told us that she was going to meditate on the matter of how her sister was acting. When she came back, she declared war with Celestia. I was one of the few ponies who sided with her right off the bat.”
“Yes. All this is true. It is also apparent that something may have happened during those three days between Celestia and Luna. It says that Luna talked to Celestia once during those three days. They were seen together one day before the war started in Cloudsdalle. They were flying to the Weather Factory apparently.”
“Does all of this have any credibility?” Razgriz inquired.
“No I don’t think so. It said that the information was given by an anonymous pony.”
“Well then what are we fighting for?”
“I have no clue; all I know is that some things just don’t add up on the political side of things.”
Razgriz was silent for several seconds, pondering if this pony was really telling the truth, or just trying to shake him up.
“Do you think that this war is for nothing?”
“I have always thought that, but now even more so. This just points the finger at not just Luna but possibly Celestia as well.”
“But both sides were told their queen was the one under the knife. So it always has been this way then.”
“Yes but-”
“Twilight. This war is in full swing now. We can’t stop it.”
Razgriz felt light headed, and Twilight’s image blurred slightly.
“You’re waking up Razgriz. We only have another minute tops.”
“Well then, all we can do is try to live through this war. I hope I never have orders to kill you, you’re a wonderful mare.” Razgriz said with a small smile. Twilight blushed slightly, shying away a little.
With rapid a movement, Twilight leaned forward and gave Razgriz a quick kiss on his lips. He stood there stunned as she broke away, a heavy blush on her face.
“We’re in a dream, buck it.” Twilight said, a caring smile on her face. “Good luck.”
Razgriz awoke to a slight shaking on his right shoulder. All he could feel was his whole body like it was beaten with a large club. The red alicorn looked to his right to see his friend Jelly bean standing over him, smiling.
“Hey buddy, how are you feeling?” he asked, pointing to Razgriz’s right hind leg, which felt like it had healed.
“Like shit.” Razgriz said with a groan.
“Well it’s good to know you are still you.”
Razgriz give him an odd look.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, the unicorns said they felt a magic presence around like no other, like someone was trying to get inside your head. Did you see anything odd in your dreams, do you remember?”
Razgriz knew precisely what this was about, but slowly shook his head to avoid any sort of panic among his friend.
“No, nothing odd. I didn’t dream much at all.”
“Well that’s good. Guess your body was just doing what it could to heal itself. Not a whole lot is known about the alicorn anatomy.”
Razgriz shifted slightly.
“What happened anyhow? I mean, after I engaged the tank.”
“Well, the convoy took more hits, and that tank showed up as well. It wiped them out.”
Razgriz sat up, and buried his head in his hooves.
“All of alpha too?”
Jelly Bean lowered his head.
“Only Alpha nine, eleven and fifteen crews made it, and they are in critical right now. The rest were executed before the rescue showed up.”
“This is all my fault. How many kills are credited to the commander on the assault?”
“Who would that be?”
“The big bucking tank that I took on and failed! How many did he kill?” Razgriz yelled in anger. Jelly Bean rubbed his hoof slowly.
“Seventy-six lives lost due to his actions, another fifty-four due to the rest of the ambush.”
Razgriz gritted his teeth, knowing full well that it was not possible for the Solar Empire to know what city they would have taken. Somepony tipped them off. The rout itself was all up to Razgriz as to what way to go. Nopony else would have known other than the ponies in the column and Luna.
Infuriated, Razgriz unhooked the cables attached to him, and took out the IV he had in his hoof. Rolling out of bed, he stood on the cold tile floor, only to be brought down in a shout of pain. He collapsed onto the floor, keeping a string of curses inside him. Jelly Bean quickly trotted over to Razgriz and offered to help him up. Razgriz took his friend’s hoof, and slowly got up.
“Look, your back leg is shot. Stay in bed and heal up, the war can fight on without you for a while.”
Razgriz simply flared his wings, and slowly lifted off the ground.
“I still have my wings and three legs. Let’s go.” He said, slowly flying to the door.
“Go where? If I may ask.” Jelly bean inquired. Razgriz spun around, hovering slightly above the ground.
“We may have a traitor amongst us.”
“So we need another way to get rid of Razgriz now.”
“Of course. But what other ways are there?”
“There’s always the moon.”
“That would require the Elements, and I think Twilight has been in contact with him. She thinks she’s so sneaky, but I know all ways of magic communication. Regardless, I have surmised that she likes him.”
“How can a mare like that love a colt like him?”
“Love is a very strong word at this stage. Maybe more like a crush.”
“Regardless-”
“Well, I really have no idea. But maybe we could use that to spark something inside them both.”
“How so?”
“You’ll see. I will start preparations for it. In the meantime, keep Razgriz away from the front for as long as you can.”
“Anything else I can do for the time being?”
“Take care of yourself. Maybe once things heat up a little more, you can go AWAL for a few days and we’ll meet up. You know I still care for you, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Then I will talk to you next time.”
-
Razgriz flew over to Luna’s main command tent, where she was mulling over counter attack plans for Appleloosa. Razgriz came in and did his best to land for a salute to her, which she ignored.
“Luna, we have a problem.”
“Yes, General, we do. You aren’t healing in bed, that’s the problem.”
“No, ma’am. I mean we may have a traitor in the ranks.”
The whole room went silent. The few commanders looked at the general in confusion.
“Razgriz. You better have good reason for this.” Luna said, barely holding back her anger.
“Our column was ambushed, ma’am, as you may know. There were only so many ponies that could have known where we were. Even you didn’t know where we were, all you knew was what time the attack was planned for!”
“And?”
Razgriz was taken aback. “And, this could only mean that somepony reported where the column was when we were ambushed!”
Luna did not respond. She looked back down to planning the next assault.
“Are you listening to me, ma’am? We have a legitimate threat to our missions in the future, and you’re just snuffing it off?”
“I am not! I am planning a counter attack on Appleloosa! Why are you so concerned about this?”
“Because seventy-six ponies died from the command tank of the Solar Army! Died!”
“Yes, I’m aware, General. This is war, and if you can’t accept the loss of a few troops, then you might as well leave the army sector and go back to the production plants on the moon.”
Razgriz stood in shock as Luna continued to plan the next phase of the attacks. The colt slowly flew off, trying to clear his thoughts of this interaction.
Was it possible that Luna knew of the traitor? No, no that couldn’t be true. She wanted a new reform and wouldn’t let anything stop her.
Flying off to the portal to the moon, Razgriz warped back to his old home. It took a while for the change of scenery to set in, but it felt nice for Razgriz to be back on the moon. Ponies welcomed him back like a hero, and he smiled. But under the smile was a hidden goal. He had to find out what really happened one thousand years ago, to sort through the truth and lies.
Razgriz had access to every piece of literature in the Lunar Army. This helped his search for what was going on. At this point, he was going off of a bit of info given by Twilight- who was on the other side of the fence, raised by Celestia, and had caught the general’s eye. All of this lead the alicorn to think that this was just a hunch, but he had to be sure.
The librarian of the Lunar Army Archives led Razgriz to the restricted section. The unicorn opened the gate with his magic, and let Razgriz inside. Just before the librarian closed the gate back up, a voice called out to wait. It was Jelly Bean. He argued with the librarian to let him in, but wasn’t able to join Razgriz until the alicorn colt himself told the librarian it was permitted.
“Thanks. Razgriz.” Jelly Bean said, to which Razgriz also nodded.
“I hope you have a good reason to come to be here.”
“I do. Luna told me to watch over you, make sure that you don’t hurt your leg.”
Razgriz hesitated, but let Jelly Bean accompany him.
“So what are you looking for?” The enthusiastic pony pressed him.
“Stuff.”
“Um, okay.”
Jelly Bean stood in silence at the side of his friend as he muttered to himself, looking for something.
“Is there any way I can help you out, Razgriz?”
“Nope. I’m an old-timer, I think I got it.”
“Alright, then.”
Jelly Bean sighed as he sat down, sorting through some old books. He lazily flipped through them as Razgriz continued his search. There were books on old spells, creatures that no longer existed, and tales that had been forgotten by the average pony. The general needed the archives of the documents that were written back in the time of Luna’s rise.
-
After several hours of searching, Razgriz gave up. He had turned this section of the library into a flurry of books, pages and unfurled scrolls. Every book was out of place, and none of them held the key to the answer to Razgriz’s questions. It was as if there was something that Luna wanted to hide from even her closest ponies.
Maybe Twilight was right after all. But this could also mean that Twilight was trying to send him into a panic, trying to find something that was not there. Maybe she’d planned this little chase for Razgriz.
“So, I guess you didn’t find what you wanted?” Jelly bean asked, breaking the silence.
“You know what? Yeah, I didn’t. Can you help clean up?”
“Sure.”
Razgriz used his magic and was able to get most of the books to where they needed to be. Jelly Bean helped put what was left in the proper place.
“What about all the paper?” Jelly Bean asked, to which Razgriz then did one last thing, using magic to cause a flux in air flow, and channelled it to sweep all the pages into one pile. Razgriz smiled at the face Jelly Bean had, but saw that his friend was looking behind him. He turned to see that what looked like a hidden room had been opened up in a wall, by the flow of wind that Razgriz summoned.
In this room was a single table, with books leaning against each other in a row. The desk looked like a basic working type, with one thing odd about it. As Razgriz walked toward it, his heart started to sink. He felt thoughts of despair, and something that seemed like grief.
Razgriz blinked once and he was taken away from the room and into a battlefield. He had no control of his body, or any idea of what was going on, as if he was paralyzed and hallucinating. He looked around with huge eyes, wide with fear, and saw somepony he recognized.
It was Twilight, and she was getting shot at. Several troops and tanks were chasing her, firing at the purple mare like a deer running for its life. Ragriz tried to call out to her, but nothing came out of his closed throat. Not one sound emerge. All he could do was watch.
Twilight turned to try and fight, but cried out in pain as she was hit with a bullet. She hit the ground hard, and the troops stopped advancing, and turned around. The mare was still moving.
Razgriz, with all his might was able to move one hoof forward, and let it sink down to the ground. He then was able to force all of his limbs to start working, and ran toward Twilight. He skidded to a halt beside her, resting her head in his hooves. Her mane and tail were singed away, her eyes faded.
“R-Razgriz…” she mumbled in the faintest whisper.
“Twilight, I’m here.”
The colt was unsure how to react. What he was feeling was love, he knew that. Although he had never felt it at any point in his life, even during bucking season, he knew that this was it. What he had been looking his whole life for. It wasn’t revenge on Celestia, or to fight for his life every day. No, it was this beautiful, smart mare resting in his hooves, and she was dying. She reached up and gave the general’s shoulder a weak shake.
“Razgriz.” She said more clearly.
“Yeah?”
“Razgriz!” she yelled it this time, like she didn’t know Razgriz was there. She shook his shoulder even harder this time, calling the colt’s name several times while doing so.
“Twilight, I’m here for you!” Razgriz yelled, but she didn’t respond any differently. She just kept yelling out his name, not taking any sort of understanding of the fact that Razgriz was holding her. She slowly closed her eyes, and stopped speaking, The defeated alicorn started to cry, letting the tears stream down his face without even bothering to wipe them away.
“So you’re saying Luna and Celestia rigged the war from the start?”
“Yes! How much more do you need to hear? Celestia and Luna went AWAL for three days, then war was declared. In this document, it states the intentions for the two of them to stage this whole thing for its people!”
“Why would they want to kill off ponies of their own nation? That’s kinda far-fetched, General.”
“Think about it! Discord was just over thrown, the kingdom in shattered remains. The population was starving, they needed a solution. If you give them something to strive toward, to prepare for, then this reboots their strength. The best would be the victors, and the best qualities would be the ones remaining.”
“Razgriz, are you sure about this?”
“Yes. I need to get to Canterlot.”
“What for?”
“I need to find Twilight. Her brother is married to the queen of the Crystal Empire. She can help us! Maybe we can win-” Razgriz trailed off as Jelly Bean drew out his side arm.
“Sorry General, I can’t let you do that.” He said coldly.
“Jelly Bean… What in the name of Luna’s starry night sky are you doing?”
“Following orders.”
“What orders? We have a chance to end this right now! No more ponies need to die, no more hate needs to be spawned! Our nation has been rebuilt! If we plunge into war it’ll crumble back to nothing!”
“No. The old plan is the only way. The hatred is still there. If we try for peace then war will erupt for sure, but it will be out of our hooves. I also fear your heart has been diluted.” Jelly Bean’s voice seemed to be getting louder with every word. “That mare, Twilight Sparkle… she caught your eye, didn’t she?”
Razgriz had a shocked look on his face. “Oh, please. We knew you had contact with Twilight a long time ago.”
“We? What do you mean, we?”
“Like you said, Luna and Celestia rigged the war. You don’t think that they wouldn’t talk to each other about it?”
Razgriz attempted to talk, but could feel his words fade into nothing as they left his mouth.
“Why did they let you in on this?”
“Because you trusted me enough to talk about your feelings!”
Razgriz was silent.
“I was the one that recommended you go for peace talks, I was the one who reported the location of the convoy for the ambush! You know, you should be thanking me! If I didn’t kill you here and now, you would die some other way, possibly a very painful way…”
Razgriz’s eyes narrowed, and his face hardened.
“So, you think you can beat me in a one on one fight?”
Now it was Jelly Bean’s turn to be silent.
“Well, now it’s my turn. What were you thinking when you took on this mission, huh? I’m sure you were given it right after I showed sympathy for the SA. Right after I talked to you, blabbing to Luna... Tell me if this is in the ball park.”
“You can’t talk to me that way, Razgriz.”
The alicorn scoffed.
“I can speak to you however the hell I want. How’d you explain killing me, huh?”
Jelly Bean slowly cracked a smile.
“You say I can’t beat you, and that there’s no way to get around it even if I did.”
Jelly Bean raised his radio up, as if he was going to speak into it.
“You’re right, I can’t win, but I really don’t think you can win against the Lunar Army.”
He clicked on the radio, Razgriz assumed onto the general channel. “This is Jelly Bean, reporting in.”
“Jelly Bean this is Luna. What is it?”
“I have confirmed that Razgriz is a traitor to the Lunar Army, and must be detained.”
“Roger that, Jelly Bean. Wait one-”
It took only a few seconds before Luna’s voice could be heard over the loud speakers all over the moon, and the FOB in Equestria.
“All members of the Lunar Army! This is Princess Luna. I have just been informed of a sobering fact. One of our own has turned to the other side. He was one of our biggest supporters, and one of my friends. His name is Razgriz. He is to be shot if seen.”
At this moment Razgriz lunged at Jelly Bean, and the black colt started to pull the trigger of his gun. Razgriz, knowing he would try that, teleported away from him. The bullet hit the wall. Jelly Bean looked around the room to attempt to defend against his old friend, but the alicorn never showed back up.
“I know, it’s sad to hear this terrible news, but we must remain strong. If we work together then this will not happen again.”
Luna’s voice was heard everywhere as Razgriz attempted to get back to Equestria. He knew they had every inch of the moon mapped out, and he wouldn’t be able to hide for long. He needed to get to Twilight. Maybe he could mount a defence if he could convince Twilight and her friends to join him. He also would talk to Cadence and see if her empire would help.
“As far as I know, Razgriz is on the moon right now. If you can, guard the portal with your lives, and stop him from returning to Equestria.”
At this moment, Razgriz was tense. There was only a short time before it would become impossible to get back. He put on a burst of speed, flying as fast as he could between ponies like they were inanimate blobs of color.
When Razgriz got to the portal, he saw that there were several guards already there. If he killed them, it would only solidify the claims against him. That wasn’t an option.
With magic activated, Razgriz lifted his rifle and slowly flew it in silence across the lunar fields, around buildings and alleys, firing one shot into the air. The alicorn moved the gun into a building, firing off a few more, and repeated the process until he was out of ammo. Razgriz looked back to the guards at the portal, and they headed toward the gun fire, taking the bait.
Razgriz drew the gun and flew rapidly toward the portal, not wasting a second of the distraction. Once he was standing just inches away from the portal back, he reloaded his gun. Pointing it toward the top, he fired off a full magazine, hoping to scare off anypony at the other end. It worked.
Once he hopped through, there was a crowd of ponies cowering behind some form of cover. There was a handful of tanks that had their guns trained onto the alicorn, and VETOL aircraft hovered low above the ground.
“There he is, open fire!” A commander yelled out, to which Razgriz threw up a shield to deflect the onslaught of spells, bullets and tanks rounds hitting him. He teleported behind the lines of the attacking Lunar Army forces, flying at top speed away from them. Razgriz’s heart was pounding, his mind was racing, and his magic was being depleted. And the more he used…
The red alicorn hid in a small tent, one of many command centers for the different companies of the army. Razgriz quickly looked outside, seeing the pursuing forces. He hid back inside, looking around, and his heart sank.
Inside the tent was a lone colt.
“You- you’re Razgriz, the pony everypony is looking for!” the colt said. He was shaking, electric-yellow mane trembling. Razgriz held up his hoof, making a quiet shushing noise toward the colt. He nodded in response.
The general poked his head toward the entrance of the tent once again, seeing something run past the doorway. After about a minute, he could hear the forms moving off to continue to look for him. Razgriz looked back to the colt, still shaking in fear.
"What’s your name, kid?"
"S-Storm Chaser, sir."
"Alright. What’s your company grouping?"
Storm Chaser had to think for a second, his mind unfocused in fear. Razgriz waited in silence, looking at the other colt in anticipation.
"C-company 7, Alpha Battalion."
"Wait, you're with Alpha?"
Storm nodded. "Yes sir, I am."
"Did you come in the wave of ponies from Ponyville?"
Another nod.
"Alright. I used to be the commander of that battalion."
Storm Chaser's eyes widened, but remained silent. Razgriz rubbed the back of his neck in silence, contemplating what to say next.
"So, I assume that you'll go report that you saw me when I leave?"
Storm started to tremble even more, water forming in his eyes.
"Don't worry, I won't kill you. You can go report it to whoever once I am gone. Just tell them that I knocked you out so you won't get executed, dude."
Storm once again nodded, his trembling fainter. Razgriz nodded to the colt, and slowly flew out of the tent, wondering about how this foal had acted, how the fear in his eyes told the entire story. He must know his life was done for, over before it even truly began.
Razgriz shook his head. Now wasn’t the time for this- the escape wasn’t over yet. He still needed to get off the base and out of their reach. As the general flew around the base, looking for the best way to escape, he could still hear Luna talking about the tragic loss, and how they needed to make sure that the whole base needed to crack down on the “traitor shit”, as she put it.
Jelly Bean had come onto the intercom at this point, talking about what the next move was.
"Everypony, listen up! New update on the location of Razgriz. He was spotted in the southern end of the base. All units more in for an intercept!"
Razgriz's heart sped up. He bolted away for toward the mountains in the south, the Badlands. The chase had begun, and soon Ragriz had to roll and duck to dodge the hail of bullets around him. The colt was nearly home free. All he needed to do was lose his pursuers.
The sound of cannon fire was deafening, the bullets innumerable, and all throughout this Razgriz was filled with hate, fear and sadness. He nopony to turn to, nopony to trust, and nopony to help him. Fleeing through the forest, the desperate Razgriz put some distance between the Lunar Army and himself. Soon, the sound of gunfire faded to nothing, as the pursuing army lost sight of their target.
Razgriz continued to fly. His wings felt like they were on fire. The only safe haven that he could go to was the Badlands to the south of Ponyville, or the source of all evil. It was the last place that the exhausted general wanted to go, but he knew that he could hide there, and not be hunted by anypony.
But all he knew was that this was the place of all evil. By this, he thought it was a metaphor, a meaningless phrase intended to scare foals into staying away. He did not yet know it was a place where only true evil can be found, where one had to face their greatest fears. It would be a tough time for the alicorn while he discovered secrets even the princesses of Equestria would fear. The truth is always stranger than what the imagination fears.
Razgriz was standing in a barren field, nothing but dirt and scrubby vegetation around him. He felt the cold winds hit his coat, sending chills all over his body.
The baffled pony looked to the sky to see snow starting to fall. He held out his hoof in wonder, as it was the first time he'd seen it in a millennium. The snow hit his hoof, but it was not cold. This snow was warm, and it didn’t melt once it touched something.
Razgriz tilted his head to one side, held in wonder at this feat of magic. More snow landed on him, and when he brushed it off, it crumbled to dust. Were these... ashes? He could see a pony in the cloud of ashes falling around him. The pony was moving slowly, almost limping in his direction. Razgriz wanted to help, but he suddenly realized that couldn't move.
He was paralyzed, as if his hooves were held down by creatures. The form got closer and closer until it was visible, and it made Razgriz want to look away.
The thing in front of him was barely a pony. Its skin was peeling off, all its coat, mane and tail had fallen out, and its eyes were holes devoid of life. Covered with glass, it was as if somepony had replaced its eyes with fake ones. The monster pony reached out its left hoof, covered with bleeding skin, and groaned out through cracked jaws, “Help me.”
Razgriz awoke screaming, covered in sweat. Once he could catch his breath again, he sat up straighter, unsure of what this dream had meant. He hoped it wasn't a sign of what was to come.
The clunking was all that could be heard from the movement of the ponies as they loaded rounds into their tanks, ammo boxes into aircraft, and bombs into bomb bays. A few troop transports were being loaded with some ground troops. The whole point of this attack was to send a message to Luna’s sister- "We are here, and armed for a war".
All the troops got into their respective positions, manning the armor of war they were assigned to. The sun broke over the horizon and the ponies became restless. The ground troops sat in silence, all of them looking at the bottom of the armored pony carrier they were sitting in. Pilots went over one last check before starting their turbines, and tank crews loaded a magic burst into the breach. The radios of the hundreds of vehicles were filled with static, and then, Luna’s voice could be heard like a voice from heaven.
“All units, advance to your first designated waypoint. You have fire-at-will authority. I repeat, fire at will authority has been given to all units. Your objective is to obliterate any resistance you find on your path to the other side of the enemy base.”
At this, everypony at the controls of a vehicle surged forward at top speed through the woods toward the enemy camp. Everyone was eager to be the first one to fire a shot at the Solar Empire. All the aircraft on the airfield took off in VTOL (Vertical Take-Off Launch) form, and cruised over to the target area. Razgriz was in a command tank variant at the head of the pack, giving orders to all the tanks and APCs on the front.
“Razgriz to all commanders, please advise me when your unit has engaged the enemy. Also, be warned, don’t get an itchy trigger finger. Make every shot count. Is this all understood?” the general asked, to which he got a "Yes, sir" response from every team commander.
“All bombers, open bomb bay doors and pick a target. Let’s carpet these bastards!” the bomber flight commander, Jelly Bean, called out. He and his flight flew at low speed toward the camp. Enemy fighters were spotted in the distance, and were starting an approach vector toward Jelly Bean’s flight of bombers. The escort group broke off to take them head on. Jelly Bean flicked a switch, and the payload doors for his Draconequus bomber opened, showing the twenty-four magic bombs ready for deployment.
“General Razgriz, this is Commander Jelly Bean. My bombers are ready for our primary attack run. We have the Solar Empire frontline camp in range. Please advise on our next move.”
“Jelly Bean, this is Razgriz. Please start your run. Just watch for our allies on the advance. We are about two miles from the frontline. Are you going to attack the units as well as the buildings?”
“That could be possible. Is this an order or a request?”
“A secondary objective. Just be careful of our troops. It would be best to send yourself and a few of your best pilots to do this task at low altitude… No, scratch that. Luna wants you to hit the units first with everything you've got and wipe the base off the map before we move in. Keep the following targets as untouched as possible- the refineries, the research labs, the production plants and the power plants. I will send the locations of everything to your squadron’s HUD.”
“Uh, sir? Interrogative. That leaves us with the AA guns, anti-tank guns, barracks and hangars. All of those are tiny targets and will cause us problems. I recommend that we take out the barracks and power plants after your units knock out the AA for us.”
“I will recommend that, Jelly Bean.” Razgriz said. Jelly Bean had to wait less than a minute for the reply.
“That would be a negative on your request, Jelly Bean. Sorry, Luna wants what I asked of you done. The info is showing up on your HUD now. Please relay the information to your pilots.”
Jelly Bean felt a hint of anger. He and his pilots stated to attack the Solar Empire’s troops, with Jelly Bean dropping the first wave of bombs at five hundred feet. The magic pulse bombs crashed into the earth like fists of pure magic pounding down from Luna herself. Jelly Bean howled in delight as his bombs struck home on unsuspecting Solar Empire tanks and AA trucks. The air raid siren blared throughout the production camp, and the troops were awoken to the chaos.
Razgriz’s tank and the rest of his battalion were the first to break into the opening. There was fifty yards of open ground before the first buildings were available for cover, so it was a slight turkey shoot for the Lunar Army. The Solar Empire had already stated relocating their tanks to meet up with the LA attack.
Razgriz spotted the first tanks that his battalion was to engage, and they looked nasty. They were bipedal tanks with rocket launchers on their sides like arms, and the legs had backwards-pointing knee joints. The bodies of these massive, two-story-tall monsters looked like they housed the pilots.
“Everypony in A Battalion, aim for the viewport on the front!” Razgriz yelled into the microphone, spotting the weak points. All of the battalion stopped their tanks, aimed, and fired. The sound of gunfire began, launching spell-based shells towards the metal beast. Most of them fell short or overshot the thing, and it returned fire with a volley of unguided missiles. All of those also missed, fortunately. Razgriz trained his gun sights onto the first tank, and fired.
BOOM! Went Razgriz’s gun, the magic shell went flying forward toward the lead SE tank. It hit just where Razgriz wanted, going through the metal and glass. The rocket storage was hit and the whole machine went up in a flurry of colors, fire and missiles. The tank’s legs gave out and it hit the ground with a thud.
“First tank down! Score one for the Lunar Army!” Razgriz said, to cheers from the rest of the attacking force.
“Alright, everypony, listen up. We need a squad to flank around the units and hit them from the side. Everypony else, escort the ground troops and knock out the AA guns as soon as possible for our bomber boys. All battalions divide your tanks up as need to take on these tasks. All Alpha battalion tanks, follow me, we’re driving right down the center to draw some fire from the other objectives.”
Soon, the base was swarmed with small skirmishes. One larger fight was going on in the center of the camp, around the Weapons Production Center.
“Razgriz, two tanks right side, two hundred meters out!” one of the tank commanders called out on the radio. They were down a lane of scrap metal and parts for smelting.
“I see them, engaging. Alpha five and six, engage as well. Seven through fifteen, keep the fight going. Everypony else, disband for now in pairs and assist all other parts of the fight.”
Razgriz and his two comrades turned their hulls to face the oncoming tanks, and started blasting the rushing foes.
“Their range has dropped to one hundred meters, they’re going for a ram!” Alpha five said. Alpha Six managed to knock out one of the two rushing tanks, causing it to trip over itself, hitting the ground hard and tumbling from its momentum. The other one hit Alpha Five with full force, knocking it over and causing both of the armored vehicles to go up in flames.
Razgriz hurried out of his tank to try and help the ponies in the Alpha Five tank, but a magic detonation tore the tank apart. The red pony was thrown back and struck his head off of his tank. With his ears ringing and his skin feeling seared like the outside of a steak, Razgriz hobbled back to his tank and entered carefully, only to have his friend's excited voice trying to grab his attention.
“Razgriz, this is Jelly Bean. The bombing's going great. We've managed to hit most of the stationary defenses, the barracks and most of the airfield. All that’s left is the ground forces, but there's so many of our guys thrown into the mix that we can’t drop the rest of our payload. Permission to RTB with my flight and debrief with the pilots?” Jelly Bean requested.
“Jelly Bean, this is Razgriz. Permission is granted to RTB. Just let Luna know that we are wrapping up soon. Hey! Knock that son of a bitch out now!” Razgriz had yelled that last part on the general communications channel, then went silent to Jelly. He smirked at this and ordered his flight back to base.
The battle had calmed once the timer hit fifty minutes. The base was taken with minimal losses, save a couple tanks from each battalion and a few of the special operations ponies were wounded.
“This is Princess Luna, commander of the New Lunar Army.” Luna started over the loud speakers of the command tanks of the battalions. “I am speaking to all Solar Empire troops still alive. The base is now ours. Come out and surrender. We will protect you, and accept you as one of our own. If you oppose us, you will be executed.”
The only thing that could be heard was the mumbling from the engineers, wounded troops, and scientists being rounded up for processing. Razgriz popped the hatch on his tank, hopped out and glided for a short distance, landing on the ground at a trot.
Razgriz went to the headquarters of the base, noticing the destroyed rubble as he walked in. Some chunks of metal girder and glass continued to fall as tanks rumbled by outside. From what he could tell, one bomb had been dropped on this place. It was probable that this caused a break in the chain of command, making the troops get closer than they should have been.
“I see everything went well here.” Luna’s voice came from behind Razgriz, startling him. He turned around and nodded to the royal mare.
“Yes, your highness, we took the base with only slight resistance.” Razgriz said, pawing the ground with his hoof. He was drawing a mushroom in the dust and Luna gave him an odd look.
“Is there anything you feel you need to tell me, General?”
“No… well, yes. There is.” Razgriz was biting his lower lip at this point. He ruffled his wings in unease as Luna stared down at him.
“I just…” he paused, unsure if he should speak his mind.
“Well, spit it out! We don’t have all day, you know.”
“I don’t think that we should be doing this.” Razgriz blurted out, shivering as if cold. The mere thought of this was high treason, and Razgriz was the last one that Luna would have expected to hear this from.
“What do you mean by this?”
“I just think that we could have talked it out with Celestia. You know, been more peaceful about it?”
Razgriz was shaking so much at this point he swore he was making the ground shake. Luna trotted past the frightened pony, making him shrink down. She stopped beside a window, saying nothing, but sighing deeply.
“Razgriz, you know we tried that back before we were banished. The only reason I am not going to have you executed for saying this to me is because you were there one thousand years ago. You, other than my sister, are the only other one who knows precisely what happened during my final days, making you the best political item I have.”
“A-alright.” Razgriz managed to say. His throat seemed to be closed tight, his mouth was dry, and his chest felt like it was going to explode outwards from the tension he was feeling at this point.
“Just remember, don’t ever say anything like this to any of the troops or I, ever again.” Luna said coldly. Razgriz only managed to nod.
With a flash of light and a gust of wind, Luna teleported away from the base. Razgriz let out a long sigh, then trotted back to his tank, and was about to radio for A Battalion to meet up until somepony tried to contact him. They had left a message on the voice recorder, so he played it.
His eyes got wider and wider with every word of it.
“Razgriz! Can you hear me?” Jelly Bean yelled, shaking Razgriz violently.
“Huh…? Where am I?”
Jelly Bean stopped shaking him at last. “Something happened, I couldn’t tell you what. Some sort of spell, I think. You just stopped moving, then ran forward and fell to the ground. Then you, ah…”
Jelly Bean trailed off, rubbing his fore-hooves together.
“Yeah?” Razgriz pressed.
“You were… crying. Were… were you seeing things while this was happening?”
“Y-yes, I was.”
“What did you see?”
Razgriz was unsure. His friend had been there for him for years while they were still on the moon. He had matured quite quickly given he was pretty much raised by Razgriz.
“Alright, I’ll tell you. But swear not to tell anypony?”
“Yes. Under Luna’s shinning moon, I swear I won’t say a word to anypony.” Jelly Bean promised.
“Alright. I was in a battlefield, and I saw…” Razgriz hesitated, and swallowed before he continued. “I saw Twilight Sparkle. You know, the head of the Harmony girls? She was being shot at by ponies… I don’t know who, but she was under fire. She got hit, and I ran to her. She tried to tell me something, but you woke me up.”
Jelly Bean’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“I see… Is that it?”
“Yeah. Why do you care?”
“Well, it might just be a side effect of the coma spell we put you under when your leg broke.”
Razgriz eyed his friend hesitantly. “Alright, then. Let’s take a look at the books on this desk, huh?”
Jelly Bean stood still, clearly unwilling to help.
“No? Chicken.” The general taunted, finally smiling a little.
Jelly Bean gritted his teeth at this remark, and stayed back to avoid getting hit from any other trap spells.
“Jelly Bean, I found it!” Razgriz declared after a couple minutes of shifting through the few books.
“And? What is it?”
“It’s documentation of every transaction, act and law, made with Luna’s signature.”
Jelly Beans eyes widened.
“Why do you need this?” he asked slowly.
“You’ll see.”
Razgriz slowly flipped through the very old book. He went back in history, seeing the events that were signed off by Luna while she was on the moon. Then Razgriz came to the page he was looking for. The date which war was declared by Luna on her sister. He turned one more page and gasped.
“What is it?” Jelly Bean asked slowly, almost like he was preparing for something. The red colt didn’t even look up, and eyes wide ad unblinking, he said,
“This war has been set up from the start.”