The Seventh Element

Ponyville

Plan: Amass forces outside Canterlot in preparation for the final battle. Celestia will see them coming with more than enough time to react: this will be the largest war in Equestria's history.

Step one: Occupy Ponyville.

Getting the troops from the moon to Equestria was not particularly difficult. Soldiers and equipment had been moved through the portal, out of the Star Swirl Society and through the WhiteTail Woods. From the edge of the woods, it was only a short march to Ponyville, where, if they were lucky, there would be no resistance.

Luna stood a hundred yards out from the forest in an open field with Trixie, Colonel Mustang and the gryphon Captain. Gaia had stayed behind with Sir Klass to give "fire support" for the final battle from her buildings in the moon.

It was the most beautiful time of day. The time when the sun submits to the moon as she takes her place in the sky, made even more beautiful by the fact that Luna controlled it again. The darkness was overtaking the light. What better time for the Lunar Rebellion to start?

Luna nodded to Trixie, who nodded back. Trixie turned towards the dark forest and fired light blue sparks from her horn some twenty hooves in to the air. The tree line began to move and shift as ponies that had been invisible, due to their armor's dark color, came out of the forest in droves. They gathered in formations based off of combat roles and waited.

"Let's make this quick stallions! Ponyville, then Canterlot! Move out!"

Luna led the march to Ponyville flanked by her commanders, with Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity behind her followed by the thunder made by thousands of hooves.

Their first target was Sweet Apple Acres. It was on the outskirts and a perfect place to start. Applejack took the lead and led them through a roundabout path that brought them to the back door of the farmhouse.

"Captain, take your Gryphons in to the West Orchard, no flying we can't risk you being spotted. Colonel, take your stallions to the East Orchard, Trixie, give me a squad and have the rest surround the house and barn."

The commanders saluted and carried out their orders.

Luna, Applejack and five soldiers made their way to the house, staying behind the trees just in case. As they got closer,the sounds of talking ponies drifted towards them. Suddenly they heard a splash and a shriek!

"Sweetie Belle! Apple Bloom! Stop laughing! It's NOT funny!"

Luna peeked around a tree and saw three little fillies wearing capes. One of them was sitting in a tub of Alfredo sauce and was glaring at the other two who were rolling on the floor with laughter.

"What in tar-nation..." Applejack walked out of the tree line and towards the the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The others quickly followed.

"Applejack! We must be careful, we don't know what sort of presence the Solar Empire has here!"

"Which is why I'm gonna ask my sis-"

Applejack let out a grunt and fell as a small yellow blur tackled her to the ground!

"APPLEJA-!"

Applejack shoved her hoof in to her sister's mouth to keep her quiet.

"Applebloom, we're tryin' to stay hidden!" She glared at her sister.

"Oh, don't worry Applejack, the Solar Empire isn't here on the farm!" Scootaloo gave them a smile that dripped with Alfredo sauce.

"Yeah, this is where the Ponyville resistance is!" the tiny unicorn chimed in.

"Sweetie Belle?" There was rustling behind them as Rarity burst from the bushes, twigs sticking out of her mane, and made a beeline for her sister.

"RARITY," she screamed with joy as they hugged each other while Rarity's tears dripped on to Sweetie Belle's head.

The windows suddenly lit up. Sweetie Belle's cry woke the ponies in the house and judging off of the number of lights, voices and hooves stomping throughout the halls, there was clearly more than just Granny Smith and Big Mac in there...

All thoughts of stealth were tossed out as Luna began shouting orders, "You two hold the door, the other three, keep your eyes on the windows! Applejack, Rarity, take the little ones to Trixie!" She turned back to the forest and made a summoning gesture with her hoof. No less than fifteen soldiers came galloping out of the woods and took cover behind whatever they could in the yard. They took the rifles slung over their shoulders and aimed them at the door, which the ponies inside were now banging against trying to get out. Luna waved off the two ponies keeping the strangers in the building and stood as tall as she could in an attempt to look intimidating. Taking these ponies prisoner is preferable to death, she wasn't going to kill if she could avoid it.

The soldiers jumped off the door and six ponies burst through carrying swords, ready to defend their makeshift base. These soldiers were different from the Solar Empire. In fact, she wasn't sure they could actually be called soldiers. Most were in regular civilian clothing that was dirty and in tatters.

"Hold your fire! Drop your weapons and surrender, your Princess commands it!"

The "soldiers" looked at her standing above them and dropped their weapons, staring at the Princess in fear, or was it awe? Lunar soldiers came in to arrest them, but one was being rather belligerent. She was wearing an old-fashioned tactical vest, a green helmet with the letters "WW II" on it and camouflage painted on to her face.

"Da'g nabbit get off me! I'm not gonna let all y'all Empire whippersnappers take ma granddaughter!"

Applejack and Rarity must not have gone deep in to the woods, because at the sound of Granny Smith's voice, Applejack came running out of the bushes to her grandmother's side.

"Lower your weapons soldiers!" They did as they were told.

"Granny!"

"Applejack! Yer with these Solar bullies? What're ya thinkin' kid?"

"No, no Granny, we're the Lunar Republic! We're gonna fight the Solar Empire!" she explained it as if Granny Smith had no idea what was going on... She probably didn't.

"These fellers are yer friends?" She looked from Luna, to the soldiers and back at Applejack. She had a suspicious look on her face that suddenly changed in to a cheerful smile! "Well come on in then, I jus' baked the firs' apple pie this season!"

Realizing the mistake, everypony relaxed themselves and stowed their weapons.

Granny Smith led Luna, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy in to the house and explained what had happened in Ponyville as Trixie equipped the Empire resistors with armor and weapons.

After a minute or so of Granny's easily side-tracked ramblings Princess Luna cut in.

"So, essentially the Solar Empire came in to Ponyville and all of you resisted?"

"Dern tootin'!"

"Granny, I can't believe you organized all uh this by yourself!"

"I di'n't sweetheart, it was that crazy pink friend of yers." Granny leaned in closer, "She ain't been quite right since ya'll left, youngin'."

On cue, Pinkie Pie burst through the front door, slamming it against the wall. Her mane was not bright and fluffy like it usually was, instead it was dark and straight, which told her friends exactly what had happened. She wore a stone cold look on her face as she looked around the room. That all changed however when she saw Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy standing with Granny Smith.

Pinkie Pie let out a loud and dramatic gasp, before flying through the air, seemingly without the need to jump, and tackled her friends with a hug deathgrip! Her mane seemed to have changed to its normal state mid-flight.

"OMHYGOSH! IthoughtIwouldneverseeyouagainandiwasworriedthatIwouldhavetobebymyslefforeverandbecomeacrazycatponyand-" She paused to fill her lungs with a dramatic deep breath before continuing.

A gasping Fluttershy cut her off from the center of the hug, "Um, Pinkie Pie... I can't- I can't breath."

"Whoopsies!" She dropped her friends on the floor and stood smiling at the partially pummeled pile of pretty ponies before noticing Princess Luna. She let out another gasp of excitement and flew over to Luna, wrapping hooves around the Alicron's neck in a big hug!

"Princess Luna! My you've gotten big! It's nice to see you again, would you like a party?" The last question was so nonchalant, you would think that Pinkie threw parties willy-nilly every day! Oh wait...

"It's nice to see you too, Pinkie Pie." She returned the hug wholeheartedly, "I think the party will have to wait though, we're kind of in the middle of something here... Granny Smith says you have been in charge here?" Luna was skeptical that such a silly pony could lead a local rebellion, however, she was aware of a particular green pony with the same sort of characteristics.

"Weeeellll... Let's go upstairs!"Pinkie Pie bounced on all four hooves, up the stairs and out of sight. Her voice floated down the stairwell in a sing-songy tone."Come on slowpokes!"

The others followed the weird pony up the stairs and in to Applejack's room.

Applejack blocked the doorway at the top, staring in horror.

"You turned mah room in to a-a. A war room!" Applejack's mouth was agape as she surveyed her ruined bedroom. Most of her possessions had been pushed in to a corner and covered with her rainbow bedspread.

"Eeyup!" Big Mac had been standing next to a wall with the word "first" hung on it. All of the walls seemed to have been numbered.

She glared at Big Mac as if it were somehow his fault that she now had to sleep on top of the war room's pile of discarded strategies, maps and plans.

Luna was taken aback a bit by how fast they went from sneaking around outside, to about to shoot Granny Smith, to being hugged and offered parties by Pinkie Pie, to arguing about the current decorations in Applejack's room.

Luna walked up to the table in the middle of the room. It had a large map of Equestria underneath a zoomed in, more detailed map of Ponyville. The map of Ponyville had a large red "X" over the town market.

Pinkie Pie kept her rediscovered bubbly personality as she spoke, "The Solary Empire has soldiers here, here and here" she pointed to three separate points on the map. "But we think if we attack them at this big ol' "X", we will make the meanies go away there, then we can get the rest out of Ponyville pretty easy! And with you guys it will be cake! Oh, I do hope it's carrot cake. I do love carrot cake- oh no! CHEESECAKE! That would be soooo much better!" Pinkie Pie gasped again as a new thought popped in to her crazy little head, "Cheesecake, cupcakes!"

The rest were a bit unconvinced by Pinkie Pie's ability to distract herself.

"Big Mac? Fluttershy blushed and looked away as Big Mac turned to her, "D-do you think she's right?"

"Eeyup!" He was a stallion of few words, but he was never wrong.

"That's good enough for me Princess! What's the first step Pinkie?"

Pinkie Pie thought for a second before turning to the wall labeled "fourth" and staring at it intently for nearly a minute, nodding occasionally.

"Good idea!" She turned to Luna, "You can have the Ponyville soldiers, Princess! They are your citizens after all!"

"Thank you Pinkie Pie. I have a plan in mind, but first I need my co-"

"Commanders?" Colonel Mustang entered the room followed by the gryphon Captain and Trixie. "Trixie sent messengers as soon as you found out about the resistance. Good thing too, I was about to flame a few of the resistors when the messenger arrived."

"Good timing then, Trixie!

"I, the great and PO- Erm, I mean. My pleasure, Princess."

Luna and her commanders gathered around the table.

"Trixie, I want you to take your group to these ponies here," She pointed to a small "x" near Twilight's tree house. Mustang, you go here, She put her hoof over the "x" near Rarity's house, "I want Pinkie's forces to take the third position. Will you be leading them Pinkie?"

"Nope!"

"You are Big Mac?"

"Eeyup!"

"I'll go with ya then! I can't let my only brother go by 'imself!"

"Eeyup!" Big Mac smiled at his sister.

"Captain, you're with me. We're going for the market. As soon as everypony is done, come to the market to reinforce us. Try to make as little casualties as possible! Let them run if you must, but I don't want to kill any more than we have to."

A few moments later they were standing in the brisk night air. It was a clear sky tonight, allowing the moon and stars to light the streets well enough to make sneaking difficult. Luna watched as Mustang, Trixie and Big Mac led their soldiers off to Ponyville.

"Are you ready Captain?"

"At your command, Princess."

"Take your gryphons in to the sky and do your best to stay out of sight until we begin fighting. It shouldn't be too hard with the cover of darkness, but stay alert! I will call you down to ambush them."

The Captain gave a sharp whistle and took flight, followed by his gryphons. They flew in to the sky and were shortly lost in the dark blue backdrop of the night.

Luna looked back at the troops she led. There were more than two hundred of them, and they were just a small fraction. They had come from the moon with everypony, but there simply was not enough room in Ponyville for all of the soldiers to fit. Most stayed in the woods and prepared themselves for the battle that would surely come after Celestia realized that she had lost a town so close to the capital.

She waved her hoof towards the battalion commander. He saluted her and gave the order to start the march on Ponyville.

They entered the town near Rarity's house, where the Solar Empire and Colonel Mustang's stallions were already fighting each other. Mustang swung his head in a sideways motion, sending a wall of fire from his horn straight towards the Empire's defenses, causing their front line to fall apart as Major Hoofstrong led a charge towards their now disorganized and fleeing forces.

She skirted the battle, leaving Mustang to do his job while she did hers, not matter how much she wanted to help, she knew he would be fine without her.

They passed buildings in various stages of vacancy. Most were still and silent, with boarded up doors and windows, with that look that suggested they had not been lived in for months. Only the occasional building had lights on, but the tenants had most likely already fled due to the fighting. They walked down the street and rounded the corner only to be pushed back in to cover by a blast of orange magic.

The next street led directly to the market and was heavily defended. The opening to the plaza had been blocked off with sandbags that had been set up to keep ponies out and create a defensible position. Luna poked her head around the corner only to be forced back by several blasts of magic from the unicorns behind the sandbags. In the short glimpse she was able to get, she knew that this was going to be a tough fight.

'Okay, we need a better position than this, all we have is this simple corner and that isn't enough to fight back from. We're pinned down.'

Luna looked across the street at the spot she needed soldiers in order to fight back. There was no cover and even more importantly no way to get them there.

'Wait- The armor!'

Luna remembered the demonstration she had seen on the moon base. Hopefully it would last long enough to get them to break their front lines.

"Alright, listen up! It's time to put your armor through its paces! I want the fastest we've got to lead the charge, we're going straight for them. Unicorn artillery and squads one and two, I want you to give cover fire. Squad four, I want you in that building" She pointed her hoof towards a building on the corner of the market closest to them, "to provide us cover. Gaian med group, bring any injured back here. We're doing this quick and we-"

A feathered body smashed in to the ground nearby to the sound of clanging armor and breaking bones, catching everypony off guard. There was no time to try and figure it out, she could only assume the gryphons had been found by the pegasi from Cloudsdale. Time to act.

"Go, now!"

The different squads went in to motion, all tapping the gem's on their armor, activating their shields in near unison. The Gaians were already tending to the fallen gryphon as Luna stepped around the corner, eyes glowing, ready to fight. She began to walk towards the Solar Empire, surrounding herself in a shield and slowly picking up her pace until she was in a light gallop. When the others had caught up to her, it was an all out sprint towards the Empire's soldiers.

The Solar troops opened fire on Luna and her soldiers as they charged the barrier. Magically launched projectiles bounced off the shields created by the armor, flying off at odd angles and hitting the houses and stores that lined the street as the soldiers providing cover started shooting at Celestia's soldiers with their new weapons. The training had paid off, many Celestians were being hit not in their armor, but in the small bits of exposed flesh. The weapons did just as advertised, not necessarily killing, but definitely taking them out of the fight as some were hit in the face or simply overwhelmed by the impact of the hot lasers. Luna's horn glowed as she tossed aside the sandbags, creating a hole for her ponies to punch through the defenses.

They hit fast and they hit hard, knocking ponies out of their way as they broke the front lines. The fighting began as Luna's soldiers moved foreword to support the melee fighters and create a defensible position. The market was large and open, not very good for cover, and the Solar Empire had either not had enough time to set up defenses, or they thought nopony would be able to get to them. In their defense, they had only expected some rebels from Ponyville, not the entire Lunar Republic!

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"Ma'am, the Lunatics are attacking the Plaza! They've broken through our front lines and are slaughtering us with some sort of magical weapon!"

"Magical weapon?" Her curiosity at a weapon that could harness magic gave Twilight pause. She shook her head to help her refocus, "There can't be many of them, rally the troops, we're going to put an end to this before it gets anywhere near Canterlot!"

The Solar Empire soldier saluted her and began barking orders at his subordinates, gathering for a counterattack. Time was of the essence and she had to do her Princess, the rightful ruler, proud! She was her most faithful student after all, and such a title came with responsibilities. Unlike Rainbow Dash who was feeling better about siding with Celestia, but still wary, Twilight had accepted the Princesses explanations and taken up the defense of Ponyville with enthusiasm.

Soon Twilight was leading her troops to the Market where they could hear a battle raging, clashing of metal, screams of ponies, a strange sound that must be the magic weapons and the occasional gryphon's screech!

"The Princess was right! They recruited the Gryphon Empire! Hurry up stallions!"

Twilight picked up the pace leading her 150-some odd troops to the market. They were getting closer and when they rounded the corner, they were met with the full sight of the battle all at once; Ponies fought in hoof to hoof combat as Solar unicorns and Lunar soldiers, with their magic weapons, fired at each other from a distance. Bodies fell from the sky as the gryphons and Cloudsdillians fought viciously in the sky above their grounded allies. Twilight's eyes were drawn immediately to Princess Luna. It was hard to miss an Alicorn, especially one causing as much damage as she was. She was surrounded in a magical aura that formed to her body, probably a side effect of the magic she was using to tear holes in the Empire's ranks. Ponies were thrown against solid objects, in to the air or even at each other as Luna dispatched every soldier that threw themselves at her.

Throughout the entire battlefield, Twilight noticed a trend; They were losing. Bad. Even in the short time she watched, Lunar troops were finishing their opponents and taking notice of Twilight leading her Solar stallions straight for them, ready to assist their allies. Before they got the chance however, Princess Luna turned towards them. Her eyes began to glow as the streets were filled with the sounds of metal and wood groaning, cracking and tearing. They didn't realize what was happening until Twilight heard a loud snap and crumbling noise. She looked at the building closest to her and had little time to react as brick and wood and glass tumbled down on top of her and her soldiers.

Twilight closed her eyes in fear. There was a flash of white light.

[color=#dff7700]"Twilight? What are you doing here? Why aren't you in Ponyville?"

Twilight's eyes were still closed, she knew where she was. She had instinctively teleported herself back to Canterlot. She kept her eyes closed a little longer, delaying having to disappoint her Princess.

"Twilight?" Rainbow Dash had apparently been in the room with Celestia.

"Twilight? What happened?" She was getting angry, and making it worse would end badly.

Twilight bowed her head in shame.

"Ponyville is lost Princess... Your sister is coming."

The fire of Celestia's hair seemed to have worked its way behind her eyes. She shook with rage and was nearly engulfed in her mane that had grown in heat and intensity at least tenfold.

Twilight had made it worse.

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"Eighty-six dead, one-hundred and twelve captured. No allied casualties."

"Seventy-two dead, twenty-seven injured, one-hundred and thirty-two captured. No allied casualties."

"One-hundred and ninety-seven dead, one-hundred plus injured, thirty captured. One allied death, thirteen injuries."

"Thirty dead, twunty-one injure', two-hundr'd and fifteh captured. No ally casual-tees."

"Eeyup!"

"We, um- we're treating all of the hurt ponies and gryphons. I-I think most of them will make it Princess..."

The town was secure, and the Lunar forces were gathering at the edge of Ponyville, ready to march their way to Canterlot and fight for their Princess against fellow ponies, who were only trying to do the same.

The battle was short but viscous. Luna knew that there would be deaths, but even with so many ponies and gryphons captured or just injured, it was more than she could bear to hear. Luna dismissed her commanders and stood in the Applejack's war room by herself.

It was the Captain's report that troubled her the most, that was after all, the battle she was in and she knew that most of those deaths were caused by her.

'How can I expect them to let me lead if I'm responsible for killing them? Even if we win this civil war, I'm going to have ponies that don't like me. I won't be able to lead, I won't be wanted, I won't be worthy...'

But she had to tear down that building! There were over 100 soldiers coming at them and they hadn't completely finished with the ponies they had been fighting. It was the quickest and most efficient way. She saved more lives than she lost.

'I have to stay strong. I'm the leader of this rebellion and falling apart now will make things worse on everypony involved. I'm committed, I need to see it through.'

Worst case scenario, if she still felt like she did now, there was no rule that says an Alicorn must govern Equestria. All she needed to do was worry about the moon.

Luna let out a deep sigh.

These were thoughts for later. Fighting herself now was only going to get everypony killed. She walked over to the window and watched as the sun rose and bathed Sweet Apple Acres in the morning light.