Equestrian Civil War
2 months after The Great Purge
35th Lunar Platoon
"Psh, can't believe we've been holding on for 2 months now." A silver-maned unicorn utters, looking towards the open field from his vantage point and leaning back at one of the antiquated piston-operated 10cm High-Angle Artillery/Anti-air gun, while drinking water from his canteen.
"Yeah, 2 months covering the rest of the Republic with these old guns... Good thing we haven't been overrun here at Ponyville, but that might be because most of their forces are still focused on the northern front. Anyway, Thunderer, ever wonder how those guys fighting us feel? I mean, they'll be as shocked as much as the next pony, right? Having to fight your neighbor, and all..." Another unicorn adds, scratching his greenish mane with his right hoof.
"I have a feeling those guys are fighting for themselves, not for the Empire. They'll get killed if they don't. Makes me feel bad taking them out." The stallion known as Thunderer responds. "I doubt you feel that way though, Orion."
"Nah, I'm just doing what's right." Orion responds. "And who came up with these callsigns anyway..."
"The right thing... is hard to define. Killing is never good, but neither is letting your family die." Thunderer once again replies, with a slightly deeper tone. "How the hell did all this start, anyway..."
"I'm guessing you were one of the volunteers from Los Pegasus. Let me tell you why this happened." Orion then starts to sit down and talk about the past with Thunderer, canteen in hand.
Canterlot Castle
Before the War
"No!" Luna's voice echoes through the castle's hall, standing right in front of her is her sister, Celestia. "Sister, why must you treat them with such harshness! We must take care of them! We shouldn't be ruling them with an iron fist! "
"Those impotent ponies speak nothing but heresy to our people, and some of them are gullible enough to believe such lies. These people need to learn their place, Luna. And I want you to help me do that." Celestia utters, turning away from Luna.
"T-that i-is not s-something you would say, sister! W-who are you, and what have you done with Celestia!"
"Who am I? You must be kidding. I am Celestia. I am the absolute." She replies, tilting her head towards Luna, glaring at her with sharp, almost reddish eyes. It became clear for Luna. She's changed. She's no longer her sister. Or rather, She's not her sister at all.
"I-I refuse to obey such orders!"
"Then I shall consider you an enemy." Celestia replies, much to Luna's shock. The blue-maned alicorn takes a few steps back as her sister's horn glows red, clearly different from her usual pinkish aura. Luna grasps the situation and decides to charge her own magic up as well, then as Celestia fires, she counters it with her own, but unfortunately, Celestia's power greatly overwhelms that of Luna's. She lies down on the castle mats, weakened and unable to move, staring at the roof as her "sister" leans in on her.
"Be grateful. I shall give you one last act of kindness. Rather than subjecting you to death for treason, I shall banish you from this land. Guards, take her away."
The golden armor-clad stallions slowly make their way towards Luna, placing her in chains, then taking her away from the castle grounds. However, as they do this, Luna notices something from the emotionless guards... their eyes are as red as blood. Something big is going on.
As they make their way past the grounds below the castle, Luna notices the increased military presence around Canterlot, with both Canterlot's Army and the Royal Guards searching homes and interrogating citizens. Little did Luna know that Celestia was planning on purging those ponies and stallions whom she deems weak and useless. Luna is then surprised to hear her sister's speech...
"Canterlot has been used and abused by the weak for far too long. We must be able to hold our ground against those complacent idiots who dare threaten our peace. True, I have massive amounts of magic power, but I cannot take on them by myself. Thus, I ask everyone here to offer their lives in the name of making a greater land. A greater empire, with us leading the way. We must build the Solar Empire. However, in order to do that... we must remove those who ruin us from within."
As Celestia finishes, Luna notices that the reddish color on her eyes glows once more, leading her to think that "she" is afflicting the citizens with some sort of magic. Right afterwards, some ponies, bound by chains by the Royal Guard, are taken out of the area, who notice Luna having the same treatment as them.
"P-princess Luna, what is happening?" One of the ponies ask.
"M-my sister... she is no longer herself..."
"Looks like plenty of ponies and stallions are being thrown out by Princess Celestia, but I never expected you to be targeted as well, Princess Luna."
"I refused to follow her orders... for they were... cruel."
Just as she finishes, Luna and the rest of the purged ones are unbounded from their chains and left behind by the guards, but what shocks Luna most is the number of those who were purged. A thousand or more is her estimate, made up by commoners and simple plebeians.
"Princess Luna... what do we do now?" Another one of the displaced ponies asks, worried at their situation.
"For now... We must go there." Luna responds, pointing her hooves at the direction of Ponyville.
"Ponyville, huh." A voice rings out from the skies. The ponies below look back and see Celestia above them, elegantly flying around with her wings. "From now on I shall consider my standing with you as neutral, as for now, you are not my priority, thus, I will give you this chance to live your lives. But should I sense even the faintest amount of hostility from you, or anyone for that matter, I will have to use force. I must take my leave, I have other tasks at hand in the form of Cadence." She then flies out of the area, leaving the purged ponies frightened.
After this event, which came to be known as the Great Purge, Luna and the rest of the ponies took refuge in Ponyville, where, despite warnings, they established garrisons and gun emplacements made up with antiquated guns in an effort to hold off the Solar Empire. Ponyville then became known as the capital of the newly-established Lunar Republic, under the leadership of Princess Luna, however, their existence was not acknowledge by the Empire itself, and was disregarded by Celestia as a small terrorist group, in an effort to downplay their cause to the Empire's residents, despite the fact that it was only a few miles away from Canterlot itself.
Months came and the Empire was geared for war. It's target was Cadence's Crystal Empire, which had bolstered their defenses in the past days to prepare against Celestia's attack, however, Celestia had a trump card she was willing to play.
Landships.
Naval Warfare was common in the early days, but their restriction to the waters didn't allow them to completely destroy enemy fortifications and units. Thus, putting such firepower on the land would seriously be able to turn the tide of any battle. Such was the idea of none other than Celestia's greatest student...
Twilight Sparkle.
And in the short time of one month, they were able to construct 3 of these newly-conceived landships. They were named the Blizzard class, in tribute to one of the earliest ship classes in Equestrian history. The ships within it were Blizzard, Deep Snow, and Gathering Clouds, which were poetic names of historical Equestrian ships. Powered by magic-feeding engines with huge tracks and armed with magic-enchanted shell-firing 5 inch guns, they were able to wipe the Crystal Empire's defenses easily.
"And that's how it went. The day Celestia decided to bust down Cadence's doors, the other cities began to set up defenses and even go as far as attacking the empire. Manehatten began setting up emplacements everywhere, Vanhoover has some guns up in the Gorge as well, and Baltimare's ships are cruising round Manehatten, heck, Cloudsdale even tried to take Canterlot from the skies... well, we all know how that ended up."
"The day Cloudsdale fell from the sky... and the Pegasi got weakened. Celestia took control of the weather..." Thunderer cuts in, knowing Cloudsdale's fate.
"You're half-right. Most pegasi got weakened, but only the ones not under Celestia's influence. After the Cloudsdale raid, the Empire's own pegasi were given some sort of "independent magical weapons" or something like that if I remember correctly... it allowed them to fire small projectiles, even without possessing magic themselves. And all we have is these guns the old Buckers Shipbuilding Company made."
"Hey, at least we got something... Oi, Monarch, what are you doing here?" Thunderer asks the newly-arrived blue-maned unicorn by the name of Monarch, taking a seat right next to Orion.
"Oi, didn't you know? It's your time to go get some supplies again." Monarch responds, swaying her mane a bit as she talks to Thunderer.
"Ah, that's right! I forgot!" Orion exclaims, as he is paired up with Thunderer on supply recovery duty, which involves going through Canterlot's defenses to pick up food, water, and weaponry from loyalists and infiltrators.
"Come on, we hafta go!" Orion once again shouts to Thunderer, now getting out of the area and heading towards the green-maned unicorn, but not before turning back and talking to Monarch.
"Hey Monarch, you sure you're fine out here?"
"Not to worry, Conqueror's on her way as we speak!"
"Good enough. Say hi to her for me."
"Will do!" The cheerful blue-maned unicorn replies as she waves her hoof towards the two stallions heading off.
"Uh, hey Thundy, I got a tip from one of our loyalists that some sort of weapon is being stored in an abandoned warehouse, mind checking it out after we pick up some food?"
"Don't call me Thundy. Anyways, weaponry's not on our agenda... we got Repulse's team on that one, right?"
"Look at it this way, if this turns out to be a big catch, we just might be able to use it for our own operations, right?"
"Greedy as ever, ain't you. Fine then, but if that place has Royal Guards crawling around I won't risk it."
"Who would? Life comes first, eh?"
"No use dying if you can't do anything." the two utter in unison, as the phrase is the unofficial motto of the 35th Platoon, well, to them, it is.
"Come on, let's pick up the pace. We can reach Canterlot before sundown if we hurry."
"So, what's the disguise for today, Orion?" Thunderer asks, as they move through vegetation to avoid getting seen by Celestia's sentries.
"Pan-paka-paan. We got Royal Guards for today." Orion announces with a bit of fanfare, showing the contents of the ruck sack he has tied around his neck.
"That could be a blessing or a curse."
"Why's that?"
"Royal Guards form up three times every day, are closest to Celestia, and only a few of them are enlisted..."
"Wouldn't it be easier?"
"No, you dummy, that means there's a chance Celestia's already familiarized the appearances of her own Guards! We can't even make up identities while wearing this!"
"We'll just have to figure it out once we get there, don't get too paranoid, Thundy. It messes up your mind."
"Don't call me Thundy. And I'm not paranoid, just thinking ahead."
"Well, here we are. Didn't notice it. Soooo, wanna put this on right now?"
"No way! We'll get busted even before we enter the gates!"
"Why's that?"
Thunderer sighs. "Because no Royal Guard leaves the city!"
"Ah."
Thunderer facehoofs himself and looks at the mountain.
"That's the entrance. That's where liberty died, and truth was denied." Orion states, in an attempt to kill the awkward silence.
"This path is also where the Purged Ones were sent away on chains, set on a one way trip to hell..."
"uhm... Let's enter the gates?"
"Yeah. Canterlot awaits."
Author's Note
Hey hey hey! An engineer here, with a new story.
A couple of years ago I was bad at writing fics, then I went over and wrote fics for a different fanbase until I got better, I guess... I just decided to get back here and maybe write something up.
I decided to go with an NLR fanfic set on an alternate universe, since I kinda like the idea of Luna going toe-to-toe against her sister... (whatever the cause may be.)
And for clarification purposes, Landships are tanks.
Reviews are greatly appreciated, they'll help me a lot.
