Starlight Rising

A half an hour after the attack and abduction of the princesses, Starlight finally woke up. She peeked out the window to see what was going on as usually the sun wakes her up. When she saw that the sun was only half-way above the horizon she was stunned. She said to herself, "Now why the hay would Celestia only half-way raise the sun?"

The little sunlight there was shone in and woke up Spike. Spike wiped his eyes and asked, "Starlight, what's going on? Why are you looking out the window?"

Starlight replied, "Come with me, we'll be able to see more outside."

Spike followed Starlight outside and was stunned by what he saw. In the eastern sky he saw the sun only half-way above the horizon and in the west he saw that the moon had only been lowered half-way. He asked, "What do you think is going on?"

Starlight replied, "I'm not sure but let's head over to the palace. I'm sure the princesses will know."

Starlight headed towards the palace but at the gate she was met by something she did not expect, a unicorn guard covered in ooze. She asked, "What happened? Why are you covered in ooze?"

The guard replied, "The city was attacked by Chrysalis and her changeling army this morning. They have taken both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna captive and are taking them home with them."

Starlight fired some energy at the guard to melt away the ooze. She ordered, "Help me free the other soldiers that have been covered in ooze and then meet me back here so we can discuss this further."

Starlight and the guard headed off to free other soldiers. While they were doing this Spike asked, "Starlight, did you know this was going to happen? Is that why you were studying changelings and battle tactics?"

Starlight was not thrilled over the question as she took it as him accusing her of setting this up. She snapped, "Are you accusing me of making this happen?" She got in his face and continued, "No, you should know I would never set something like this up."

Spike asked, "I didn't mean it like that. I meant were you getting a feeling this would happen, like a sixth sense?"

Starlight replied, "Yes, I was. That is why I was studying battle tactics, changelings and geography. I have done enough studying that I think I know how we can take them on and I know where they live."

Spike asked, "And how is that?"

Starlight replied, "I'll discuss that with the guard once they are all freed of ooze. Now let's go, there are plenty of guard ponies to free."

After an hour all of the guard ponies were freed of their ooze and they gathered at the castle gates. Starlight arrived not much later and ordered, "Alright, follow me into the throne room, we need to discuss some things."

One of the guards asked, "Don't we need to get the pegasi guards too?"

Starlight replied, "No. This issue will only be relevant to the unicorn guard."

He nodded as Starlight led the unicorn guards into the throne room. Once she got them in there she called them to attention, "Alright, I'm pretty sure you know why you are all here."

The guard she talked to earlier replied, "Yeah, we are here about what to do regarding the capture of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna."

Another guard asked, "What are we going to do about it?"

Starlight replied, "Excellent question." Her voice became more stern as she continued, "We are going to have to march on Chrysalis's cave, rescue the princesses and wipe them all out."

One of the guards asked, "What? But we are royal guards! We are not an army built to go on the offensive."

Another guard added, "Princess Celestia never thought Equestria would need such an army so she never established one."

Starlight replied, "Well we're going to have to study battle tactics and train to be an army built to go on the offensive." She gave them a salute and continued, "As of right now, you are no longer guard ponies, you are soldiers and will train as such."

Starlight taking charge like this was not taken well by some of the now soldiers. One of them asked, "Oh, and what makes you so special? I don't even know who you are and who gave you the right to suddenly act like the one in charge."

Starlight replied, "I am Starlight Glimmer, Celestia's protege. Given that both she along with Princess Luna have been taken captive, Princess Cadence and Shining Armor are in the Crystal Empire and Princess Twilight is under the control of another pony, I have decided I will take charge."

One of the soldiers asked, "Wait a minute, so you, a unicorn mare, thinks she is going to be able to lead us into battle against Chrysalis and her changeling army?"

Another soldier added, "You do know it took a great amount of love energy from Shining Armor and Cadence to simply cast Chrysalis and her army back to their own lands don't you? You can't just march in there and defeat them without love magic."

Starlight replied, "Actually soldier, yes you can." Her voice became more determined as she continued, "We will march in there with spears and swords. While they may not seem like it, changelings are flesh and blood creatures like us and can be taken down in battle." She began to levitate and finished, "Why simply use magic to cast them out when you can kill them? It seems rather pointless to merely cast them out if you ask me."

One of the soldiers asked, "Wait a minute, how can you fly? You're only a unicorn."

Starlight replied, "I have had this ability for an extremely long time and it will aid us in battle."

A skeptical soldier asked, "Back to this battle you are talking about. How are you going to take part in battle when you have never even taken part in any kind of military exercise." He laughed as he continued, "I bet you'd snap like a twig in battle."

Starlight fired some energy towards the ceiling and replied, "I'm tougher than you think soldier and regarding military exercises, I will be training with you so I will be prepared." She and Spike headed for the door as she continued, "You are all dismissed. I am going to get fitted for armor and we will reconvene at 1300 hours at the base of Canterlot Mountain to begin training."

Now this impressed the soldiers as they did not expect Starlight to take part in their exercises. The fact that she would be training with them and had more of a warrior mentality when it came to dealing with enemies caused some of them to see this unicorn mare as more than just Celestia's protege, but as something more while others thought she was simply full of herself and would crack under pressure in training.

While they were headed to the armory Spike asked, "Starlight, are you nuts? I know you have studied battle tactics and have a tough personality but we are talking about going to war here."

Starlight snapped, "You know what Spike? I have been through a lot in my life and that nagging voice in the back of my head has been telling me that I'm the one to do this, that I will lead us to victory."

Spike asked, "If you were to lead them to victory and free the princesses, what do you think would happen?"

Starlight replied, "Well I think that once this happens, all of Equestria will see that magic alone isn't going to truly defeat an enemy. To truly defeat them, they along with their soldiers must be slain. With any luck, perhaps Celestia will see that a real army is needed and perhaps I could be put in charge of it."

While Spike pretended to support this, deep down he thought this was a bad idea. Not only did he believe that Starlight was being overconfident, he also had a feeling that she would not be able to free the princesses but would likely die in this battle and put the whole nation at more risk.