Prologue
Luna stared out her bedroom window, gazing down into the garden below. She had a brief flashback, memories of the garden at the old castle, of her playing with her Celestia. But she could not live in the past, for it was gone and would never hurt her again. She was thankful that Twilight had taught her to let go of what she did in the past. Luna then heard a knock at her door.
“Princess, your sister has sent me to inform you that all of the princesses will come together for a meeting tomorrow.” A sun guard said, through the doors of her bedroom.
“Thank you.” Luna replied.
“A meeting, tomorrow? Well that’s quite odd. Why hadn’t Celestia told her sooner? Maybe it was a test. What could it be for? Ruling? Maybe it wasn’t a test at all, and Celestia just forgot to inform her sooner.” Luna thought.
“Oh and, Princess, your Night Guards are gone, just to inform you.” The guard said.
“Thank you, please go now, I must think now.”
What does he mean my guards are gone? Nopony should be able to tell them to leave except me. She turned from her window, and went to see if her guards were really gone. She walked across the room, focused on nothing else but the door. She stopped in front of the door and paused. What was she fussing about? As far as she knew, he was only talking about the door guards, and they actually should be on their lunch break right now. But then the next guards should already be here.
She opened the door a little bit and looked in both directions. Sure enough, there were no guards in sight. She stepped out of her room and walked to every point of the area that the guards should be at. Her guards were nowhere in sight. This is an outrage! The Night Guards would never just leave without informing her. But wait. She went back to her door. She remembered seeing a faint glow out of the corner of her eye as she left her room, earlier. She cast a simple moon spell, and the glow turned into a piece of parchment. She took the parchment in her magical grasp, and read what was on it.
Nothing. There was absolutely nothing on the entire scroll. But Luna wouldn’t give up that easy. She knew that her guards would not just leave empty parchment hidden. So she cast multiple revealing spells on the parchment. None worked, but she had one more trick in her book. But she would have wait until midnight.
Luna walked to her balcony, excitement coursing through her veins. She took the parchment into her magical grasp and held it to the full moon. She recited the words that would reveal the hidden message on the scroll.
“Per vim stellarum et lunae inlumina bit te omnis obscuritas lux lunae!” Luna yelled with her equestrian voice. Her eyes glowed white as the power of the moon and stars revealed what was hidden.
When the rush of power was over, she studied the parchment intently. All it had on it was two simple letters. S B.
“Oh, Celestia have mercy.” Luna said, tiredly. She knew what those initials stood for, and she know knew why her guards were gone. Shadow Blade, her eldest son. He had somehow snuck past the many protection spells Luna had cast on the castle grounds, and since he was a child of the night, was able to tell them to leave. But why would he? Was there some point to all of this, or was he just going to make a marvelous entrance, like he always did. Probably the latter.
Luna gazed down at Canterlot and whispered into the night “Welcome to Canterlot, my child.”
Luna felt a gentle heat caress her face. She rose up from her bed, confused. “Celestia?” Luna asked, slightly drowsy. Celestia had opened her curtains, and the light woke her up. “Good morning, I had to wake you up, the meeting starts in 10 minutes.”
“10 minutes?!” Luna exasperated. Luna dashed towards her wardrobe and snatched her crown and shoes. She galloped at full speed into her bathroom and fashioned her mane into a suitable style. In other words, it looked like it always did. She sighed. She might change styles one day, but not today.
“I’m ready!” Luna announced loudly. But Celestia had already left. “Well, i guess i’ll just go by myself . . .” Luna mumbled to herself.
Luna trotted out of her room and looked down the hall. Celestia was still walking down, and was about to turn the corner.
“You know it would be nice to have some company!” Luna shouted, hastily.
“No time!” Celestia yelled back. Some sister she was. Luna was fed up with this. She teleported right into the meeting room. Twilight Sparkle was already there, no surprise. Cadence wasn’t in the room, but Luna could hear her talking to the guard on the other side of the east door.
The room itself was in the center of the entire palace. There was an east, west, north,and south door. The room had a compass design to it.
Celestia came in through the north door, and glanced at Twilight.
“Hey there sis!” Luna exclaimed towards her sister. Celestia jumped, and then stared in awe at Luna.
“How did you get in here so fast?” Celestia asked, confused.
“Magic.” Luna replied.
“Where is Cadence?”
“Right here!” Cadence exclaimed. She slammed the door open and revealed herself, in a beautiful cyan dress with shimmering crystals.
“Why the fancy dress?” Luna asked.
“I was just at a meeting with a bunch of noble ponies from Manehattan. They’re rather . . . judgmental.”
“What was the meeting about?” Luna asked, investigating further. Celestia cleared her throat loudly.
“If you don’t mind, we will now begin the meeting.”
“If anypony dares try and speak of anything besides the subject at hoof, then they shall be stared at awkwardly!”Luna said, laughing under her breath.
“Luna, for the love of the . . . please be quiet.” Celestia replied sharply. “Now anyway I would like to discuss some important issues with all of you . . .”
“And now that has been settled, let’s hear what Luna has to say.” The discussion had dragged on for two hours. Twilight was writing notes, Luna was trying to keep herself awake, and Cadence was out cold.
“I would . . . like to . . . discuss . . .” Luna’s head hit the table and she started snoring.
“Princess, if you don’t mind, I would like to present a topic.” Twilight said.
“Of course Twilight.” Celestia replied. “Thank you, I would like to start-” There was a loud thud above them and then the gentle humming of hooves against stone.
“Ummm . . . I would like to start with the fact that Ponyville-” There was another loud thud and then silence.
“Alright, why is there thumping?” Luna asked, slightly annoyed. She had awoken on the first thud and heard the second.
“I don’t know.” Celestia replied. Luna saw the ghost of a smile on Celestia’s lips. Was there a surprise? What could it be for? Luna couldn’t think of any holidays or celebrations. When was Twilight’s birthday again?
Celestia suddenly teleported out of the room. They were left in silence. Luna looked over at Twilight, who wore a guilty expression.
“Twilight, what’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry.” The south door exploded behind Luna, launching her forward. Luna tried to look around, but she was to dazed to do much of anything. That was one hell of a party cannon. Luna would have laughed at her own joke, but she was currently almost unconscious.
“What’s going on?!” Luna heard Cadence scream. Luna looked up, and saw Celestia facing Cadence. Celestia held two Auxilia spathas in her magical grip.
“Celestia . . .” Cadence looked up at Celestia in fear.
“I’ll send Shining Armour and the Crystal Empire your body.” Celestia replied. She swung her right sword towards Cadence with frightening force, but Cadence dodged with surprising speed. Cadence kicked one of the guards in the face, and then grabbed his gladius. Celestia drove both of her swords down on Cadence, but Cadence quickly rose her gladius in defense. The swords met, and Cadence gave all her magical strength into keeping Celestia’s spathas away from her.
“You’re weak, Cadence, you’re nothing but a simple inconvenience in my plan.”
“Well . . . this inconvenience is a pretty big one!” Cadence teleported and Celestia’s swords struck the marble floor. Cadence teleported behind Celestia and leaped towards her. Cadence drew back her gladius, ready to drive them into Celestia’s back. She drove the gladius deep into Celestia’s flesh. Celestia screamed in pain, arching her back in an unnatural position.
Cadence flipped away from Celestia, and turned to Luna,”Are you alright?”
“I’m . . . okay.” Luna replied, slowly. Luna looked at Celestia’s body, and frowned. Did dead bodies usually glow red?
“You fool.” Celestia’s voice, slightly louder than usual. Her body rose from the ground, red energy snapping against herself. She stood, and looked directly at Cadence, one of her spathas pointing at her.
“You’re dead.” Celestia said simply. She then disappeared in a flash and reappeared right in front of Cadence. Her spatha was deep inside Cadence’s chest, blood pouring down to the floor. Cadence tried to say something, but only blood came from her mouth.
Celestia slid Cadence down her sword until she was just inches from her face. Red energy crackled in Celestia’s eyes, and she spoke a dark monotone that echoed throughout the room.
“You thought it would be that easy? You thought that you could foil my plan that easily?” Celestia used her magic, which had turned a crimson red, to slide Cadence farther down the blades so that she was face-to-face with her. “I am a god. You cannot stop me.” Celestia then threw Candace at the ground.
Luna looked up and spoke “Sister, why would you do this?”
“Because of you. You are in the way of me taking full control. Cadence is a fool. Twilight is loyal to me. You on the other hoof, you’re a true challenge. But why fight you sword to sword, when I could just kill you now.” Celestia took a step towards Luna, who was still trying to stand, and stabbed Luna’s right leg. Luna responded with a quiet groan and then silence.
“I will not be controlled by pain, I know to much of it to be intimidated.” Luna now stood. She stood weakly, but she was ready to fight. She summoned her dual wakizashis. They glowed with power, illuminating the dark room.
“You shall burn!” Celestia shouted in her equestrian voice. Celestia threw her spathas to the side and started to summon her spirit sword, a giant claymore. She spun it, and stood in fighting stance.
“That sword was always too big.” Luna said sharply, finally gaining enough mental strength to make bad jokes. She also stood in a fighting stance, but this was a stance meant for defense, opposed to Celestia’s aggressive tactics.
They both started walking in a circle waiting for the other to attack. Celestia finally leaped at Luna and shoved her spinning blade toward her sister. Luna , out of instinct, started looking for a fighting pattern, and found one quickly.
She would swing once, stand back, wait one second then launch herself while spinning the blade very quickly. Luna blocked the initial attack, waited for her to come at her again, then hit the spinning blade, flipped behind her sister and managed to land a decent cut on her back.
Celestia shouted in pain, and turned to Luna just quick enough to block a second time. Celestia started a flurry of attacks, and Luna didn’t have enough time between Celestia’s swings to see any pattern in her attack.
Instead Luna focused on looking for any opening in Celestia’s offense. She needed to find one soon, because she was still weak from her head injury, and she was struggling to keep up with the flurry of steel. Luna then thought of something.
“DAMN IT!” Luna yelled as loud as she could without using her equestrian voice. Celestia stopped for just a split second, caught off-guard by the sudden outburst, but it was enough for Luna to stop the assault. Luna then switched to the offensive and swung her blades extremely fast, making even Celestia wonder if she could block all of the attacks.
Just when Luna thought she had the upper hand, Celestia teleported behind her and stomped on Luna until she was basically swinging her blades in terror.
“That wasn’t very fair!” Luna yelled.
“Shut up peasant!” Celestia replied loudly. SHe drove her claymore straight down at Luna, forcing her to bring her wakizashis up to defend herself. Celestia smiled as she drove the claymore inch by inch, closer to Luna’s face, Luna, starting to shake a little.
“How does it feel Luna? Knowing you’re about to die? I’ll never feel that feeling, so I’m just curious.” Celestia said with a smirk. Luna started to panic slightly. Was she really about to die? Well, if she was . . . wait a second!
Luna yelled,” Umbra herba me!”
“What was that, some pitiful call for help?” Celestia asked, a sliver of uncertainty in her voice.
“Nope, I just wanted to yell out some random crap, you know hoping to confuse you and all.” Luna replied “Mater irrumator.” Luna would have laughed at that, but she was kind of bothered by the blade almost touching her muzzle.
Then north door exploded.
“Omnem operam placeam!” A familiar voice shouted. Luna looked to her left and saw her son, Shadow Blade standing there. He held a ko-katana in his magical grip, and a he wore a smile so smug you could’ve sworn he was talking to a foal.
“What’s up Aunt Celestia? Still into that fight club crap? This is a little far you know.”
“Shadow Blade.” Celestia said with venom in her words.
“You remember me. Well, I mean it’s hard to forget those puppy eyes I gave you when you said I would have to live on the moon alone for an undecided amount of time, but you know, after a hundred years it’s still kind of surprising.”
“I would never forget the face of a traitor.”
“Sorry, didn’t know being born was a crime.” Shadow Blade replied with sarcasm. He then stood in an offensive stance, and swung his sword in the air.
“Let’s fight aunt, i want to see if you can still swing that thing, you’re so old.” Shadow Blade said with fake pity.
“You will regret fighting me.” Celestia replied with despise. Shw she swung her claymore around herself and stared at Shadow Blade with hate. Shadow Blade then dashed of so hard that the marble cracked under his hooves. He drove his blade forward, directly at Celestia. Celestia brought her sword up, preparing for the blow, but it never came. She turned turned around, and then she saw nothing.
Shadow Blade sighed in disappointment as Celestia’s head rolled around the room.
“I thought she was a better fighter than that.” He then turned to Luna, and smiled.
“Hey mom.”
“Hey.”
Author's Note
This chapter has a lot of introduction in the beginning, so just be prepared. Comment if you have any ideas about what I should do. Not that i'm out of ideas, I would just like some different views. Thanks for reading!
The Leaders
Two years. Two years since Luna almost died. Two years since she reunited with her son. Two years since Celestia became evil. But it has felt like an eternity to Luna, hiding in the the shadows as she watched her sister take control over Equestria. In the two years that Luna hid, Equestria went to hell. Guards “patrolled” all towns and villages. The guards were often caught violently beating innocent ponies, or even raping mares. Celestia issued laws that made it almost impossible to get enough money to keep anypony well fed. Taxes were raised to impossible heights, and anypony who didn’t pay or couldn’t pay, was jailed.
Sometimes Luna had to be physically held back by one of her companions to keep her from revealing herself. She hated standing by and watching others live in pain, while she hid comfortably with her son, and others.
The mane six had split up, putting their loyalty for the princesses before their own friendship. Twilight has always been loyal to Celestia, and she joined the Solar Empire as the head strategist. Rainbow wanted to join Luna, but she had secret feelings for Twilight, so she joined the Solar Empire as the general of the Ariel Division. Celestia threatened to kill Apple Bloom and Bic Mac if Applejack didn’t join her. Having no choice, Applejack joined the Solar Empire, as the leader of the Ground Forces.
Fluttershy witnessed her family's death. They were killed by guards. Her father and brother were both killed immediately, while her mother was raped then stabbed to death. She would’ve been killed herself if Luna hadn’t saved her. She joined the New Lunar Republic as the leader of the Stealth Squad. Pinkie Pie and Rarity were both imprisoned. And Luna is going to use this opportunity to finally come out of hiding and fight back against the Solar Empire. The New Lunar Republic were going to execute their first mission.
All the leaders gathered in the meeting room. The room consisted of a large, iron oak table in the center, with spruce walls surrounding them. The walls had many charts and maps pinned to it, results of reconnaissance missions. They all stood around the round table, the meeting just beginning.
“Hello everypony, welcome to the first official meeting of the New Lunar Republic.” Luna stated with pride.
“We all know why we’re here. You’ve been bugging us about this damn meeting for weeks.” Iron Rose, the head strategist, replied rudely. He had a short, very dark red mane, and a dark grey coat. He wore a smile so stunning it could make any mare fall for him instantly. But it might work if he wasn’t such a jerk.
“Shut up Rose!” Steel Rose, Iron Rose's older sister and the leader of the Ariel Squad, yelled with annoyance. Steel Rose had exactly the same mane and coat color, but her mane was longer, and her smile was less stunning. Not that she smiled much.
Luna stared at both of them until they got the impression she wanted them to be quiet.
“Now that’s done, let’s begin with the meeting.” Luna said strongly. A mare walked into the room and started passing out maps and papers full of words to each member of the meeting. Each one of them started observing the maps and papers, filling the room with no sound except that of shuffling papers. But the silence was broken by Starken Bart, the leader of the Ground Squad.
“What exactly is this a map of?” He asked in his naturally strong voice. He had an ivory mane, and a white bear. His coat was a rusty color, and he stood taller than anybody else.
“The prison where Pinkie Pie and Rarity are being held.” Luna replied.
“And why do we need a map of this compound?” Caramel Grass, the temporary leader of the Medic Squad. She had a beautiful golden mane that flowed down to her legs. Her light grey coat shimmered in the gentle light of the room. She was the dream of most stallions, but she tried not to get attached to anyone. She was probably the only one in this room who hasn’t lost anypony, and if she fell in love, that might change.
“Well you can’t just rush into an enemy compound unprepared.” Luna said as if it were obvious. Caramel Grass’s jaw dropped. Starken Bart smiled. Fluttershy remained as still as a statue. Both the Roses stared at her in awe.
“Why?! We aren’t prepared! We don’t have many soldiers! We don’t even have a leader of the Demolition Squad!” Caramel whined.
“But that will all change when we successfully pull off this extraction.” Luna replied calmly. “Pinkie Pie and Rarity both have connections that could get us more soldiers. Pinkie Pie will lead the Demolitions, and Rarity will take your place as leader, and you will become second-in-command of the Medics.”
Caramel Grass stood silently for a few seconds. Then she fell over, unconscious.
“Damn it Caramel!” Starken said as he caught her, looking at Luna for orders.
“Just lay her down on the bench over there.” Luna turned her head towards the wooden bench against one of the walls. “Make sure to fill her in on what she missed.”
“Yes, General.” Starken Bart replied. Luna smiled at what he said. She had never asked any of them to refer to her as ‘general’, and it made her happy to see he was doing it anyway. She considered him loyal.
“So, back to the matter at hand, Fluttershy will be the leader of this mission. She will lead a group of 30 soldiers from the Stealth Squad, 10 Medics, and 15 heavy troopers from the Ground Squad. Her objective is to eliminate all enemies on-grounds, an estimated 50, and extract Pinkie Pie and Rarity.”
“No ariel soldiers?” Steel Rose asked.
“They have Sky Watchers. Another optional, but highly suggested, objective is to remain undetected until Rarity and Pinkie Pie are off the grounds.”
“Why are there so few guards for such valuable targets?” Iron Rose asked.
“The enemy is trying to make it look like there is nothing of interest. It’s supposed to operate as nothing but a Imperial communications base, and they do it rather well. They do exactly what a normal base would do, and it’s suspected that some of the soldiers don’t even know that there is anypony besides the normal ones.”
“What are you going to do during this operation?” Starken asked.
“I will be sitting in the War Room with all of you except Fluttershy. We will all communicate with our soldiers via my telepathic ability.” They all started thinking and talking about what soldiers to send and where the drop spot will be and general talk about the operation. The conversation went on for a while until Luna spoke up.
“Oh . . . One more thing.”
“Yes?” All four of them replied at once.
“Shadow Blade will be joining the operation. He will be Fluttershy’s second-in-command.”
They all looked at her with horror.
“Oh dear.” Fluttershy said with little enthusiasm.
Luna walked down the hall just outside of the meeting room. She sighed, tired, and looked at the floor. It was pretty. The end of the meeting didn’t go well. They argued for the last ten minutes of the meeting, and it was all about why the hell she was letting him go on the mission. In the end she just threatened to remove them from their ranks if they continued questioning her.
In all truth, she wasn’t letting him go, she was forcing him to go. She felt that he needed to learn to play nice with others. He wasn’t very good at that.
That’s also part of the reason she had Fluttershy leading the mission. She was darker than before, but she still the nicest pony Luna knew. She knew Fluttershy wouldn’t treat Shadow like dirt. And that would make him a little easier to get along with. She just hoped that Shadow Blade held up his end and actually did what she ordered him to do. Shadow Blade was the only soldier she ever knew who actually defied an order and did something else. She knows that he knows that she can’t just kick him out, that would be cruel. He came and saved her, and she’s keeping him alive.
“Interesting conversation you had in there.” Shadow’s sudden comment made Luna look up. She was lucky she knew him well, otherwise he would make her jump much too often.
“Yeah, nopony wants you on the mission, except Fluttershy.” Luna replied.
“Fluttershy, huh? I can’t see her with the shy way she is, wanting somepony like me on the mission that she will be leading. And why wasn’t I invited to the meeting anyway?”
“Two reasons. One, you have no official ranking in the army yet. Two, everypony hates you. That good enough for you?”
“Wow, never realized you were the blunt type.”
“Just stating the facts.”
Rainbow Dash’s Point of View
Rainbow Dash and Twilight sat in Twilight’s room. Twilight was laying on her mattress, reading some book. Rainbow sat on the floor, thinking about stuff. She looked kind of glum, and Twilight noticed.
“Rainbow, are you alright?” Twilight asked with concern. Rainbow looked up at the beautiful purple mare sitting in front of her. She had started to have feelings for her ever since she saved them from Discord, and her feelings only intensified as the days passed. But she was nervous to admit them, especially with the recent events.
“I’m fine . . . just thinking.” Rainbow replied. Twilight’s concerned look didn’t go away and Rainbow started to blush a bit under the stare of her friend.
“Your cheeks are red . . . are you sick?” Twilight asked. Twilight jumped down from her seat and examined Rainbow’s face. Rainbow turned a darker shade of red as Twilight drew closer and closer to her face.
“Twilight . . .” Rainbow said quietly.
“You don’t seem to have a fever. But your cheeks are still hot.” Twilight said, ignoring Rainbow. Rainbow stared into Twilight’s eyes and marveled at how endless they were. Twilight looked back at Rainbow, gazing deep into her eyes. Rainbow decided she would make her move.
Rainbow moved closer to Twilight, wrapping her hooves around her neck. She basked in the warmth of Twilight’s body, hugging her tight. Rainbow then brought her lips to Twilight’s, gently kissing her. Twilight shivered, causing Rainbow to pull her closer.
Twilight licked Rainbow’s lips, and Rainbow immediately responded by opening her mouth. Twilight’s tongue slipped into Rainbow’s mouth, and Rainbow loved it. At first she let Twilight explore, but then she started to fight Twilight’s tongue with her own. They went on like this for what seemed like forever, until they finally stopped to take a breath.
Rainbow pushed Twilight against her bed, and looked down at her. She gently kissed her once more on the lips before saying something she thought she would never say,”Twilight . . . Can I sleep with you tonight?” Rainbow didn’t think Twilight’s face could get any more red, but it did.
“Do you mean . . .?” Twilight gestured towards her lower legs. Rainbow realized how her question might have been a little misunderstood and panicked.
“NO! I mean . . . not that I would mind . . . but I just meant I want to sleep in your bed with you . . . tonight.” Twilight kissed Rainbow.
“Yes. I would love that.” Twilight used her magic to pull the covers over both of them, and they snuggled together.
Celestia’s Point of View
“What do you mean, you don’t know where he is?” Celestia asked sharply. She was seeking the location of Shining Armor through one of his guards. He kept saying he left and didn’t say where he was going. It was a horrible lie and she was done with it.
“Have you ever branded cattle?” Celestia asked with poison in her words.
“No. Why?” Celestia turned to him and slammed his head against the wall. She used her hoof to hold him down and pulled a brander out of some flames nearby. She observed it as she held it in her magical grasp, then held it in front of the guards face.
“Do you see that? That’s the sun.” Celestia held it in the air, then screamed.
“PRAISE THE SUN!” Celestia pressed the brander firmly against the stallions cutie mark, burning into his flesh. He screamed and thrashed, trying desperately to get away from the heat.
“STRUGGLING WILL ONLY MAKE IT WORSE!” Celestia yelled maniacally. He kept yelling until his throat was incapable of making noise. He then resided to just whimpering. Celestia noticed his lack of movement and removed the brander. She looked down at him and sighed.
“Are you ready to tell me where he went?” Celestia asked.
“Go to hell. Luna will defeat you and bring order!” Celestia was enraged by his statement and cast fire spell on him, and watched as he burned to death. His screams echoed through her mind, and it filled her with a certain satisfaction.
“Praise the sun.” Celestia said once more. “For what else is there to praise?”
