The Seventh Element

First Contact

They were on their way to the Gryphon Kingdom and they had just passed under Cloudsdale when they heard a loud noise.

*CRACK*

Luna and Sir Klass turned around to see what the noise was. Off in the distance somewhere over Ponyville there was a sonic rainboom with a quickly fading rainbow traveling from its center, toward Canterlot. The colors weren't as vibrant as they typically were; they seemed darker, sadder even.

"I guess Applejack talked to them..."

"That's a shame." Klass said as he watched the rainbow vanish.

They stood there for a moment wondering what had happened.

"Come on, we have a long journey ahead of us."

The road they walked on went down the middle of large grassy plain where flowers of every kind grew in varying amounts. It extended a few miles in either direction, with large mountains in the distance that were responsible for making these grasslands a valley.

Luna had a pretty good idea of what had happened in Ponyville, she felt sorry for the six friends and wished there was some way to help them...

But she couldn't fix that right now. She had to focus on the task at hand, without the help of the Gryphon Kingdom there was no way Luna would be prepared for an attack by the pegasi of Cloudsdale for they would surely support Princess Celestia.

The gryphons tended to stay out of Equestria. In the past the gryphons and equestrians would frequent each other's kingdoms and Luna had good relations with them, but that was before her banishment and something seemed different now. She wasn't entirely sure how she would pull this off, but she had to try. Hopefully Sir Klass would have an idea, he did insist that he come along. She would have preferred Trixie, but she was overseeing transport through the portal. So far there had been no problems, but it was always good to play on the safe side, especially when your entire base of operations was on the moon!

"Sir Klass?"

"Yes, lady Luna?"

"What can you tell me about the gryphons? Before I was banished, our kingdoms had been friendly towards each other, but since my return I haven't seen a single gryphon in Equestria and I haven't heard of any of us going to their Kingdom either."

"My dear Princess! Nopony told you?" He took Luna's blank expression as a no.

"Luna, we have had some dangerously close calls with the Gryphon Kingdom! In fact a few hundred years or so ago we quite nearly went to war with them."

Luna stopped walking.

"What? But why? We were never hostile towards them in any way! How could our relationship deteriorate so quickly?"

"Well Princess, I don't live as long as you do, so what I know is from history books, but the Gryphons became militaristic about a century after you were banished to the moon. There was an incident with some traders going in to their territory and well- messy business that was! Their borders have been more or less closed ever since."

They began walking again.

"For no reason?... I refuse to believe my banishment had something to do with it, I was never very good at politics."

"I am ever so sorry, Princess, I don't know what to say. They just locked us out."

This couldn't be right. There had to be a good reason for it, Luna would have to give this some thought.

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It took them days of walking to get anywhere near the border, even to get out of sight of Cloudsdale seemed to take an eternity. The pair passed the time by talking about things that had transpired in the past thousand years, Luna's time on the moon, Sir Klass' life (he was an avid collector of steam driven devices that he had dubbed "steedpunk") and playing things like iSpy (which got pretty boring after the billionth blade of identical grass passed them by...

As they walked, the mountains crept ever closer turning their wide open valley in to tight bottleneck devoid of light and therefore lacking anything but dust, dirt and the occasional boulder now lining the road. Neither noticed the great wall in the distance.

"Princess Luna, I have been meaning to-"

Six stallions in the golden armor of the Equestrian military burst out from behind a grouping of boulders they had just passed and surrounded Sir Klass and Princess Luna.

Sir Klass just stood there and adjusted his top hat, but Luna had reacted in an instant! She used her magic to blast all of them off of their hooves and before the last one had hit the ground they were all immobilized. One pony had a dent in his helmet where Princess Luna had kicked him, another was frozen by magic, his eyes still darting back and forth and one had a nasty collision with one of the boulders, a small trickle of blood and spit coming from the corner of his mouth.

"I say, Princess, that was a splendid display, that was! Poor souls... I don't think they knew you were the Princess, otherwise they may have thought twice..." Sir Klass looked at Luna's flowing mane, the crown she wore, her combination of horn and wings and the fact that she was larger than any normal pony, not to mention her cutie mark of the moon.

"Of course you would think that there were certain giveaways..."

"No, Sir Klass, I think they knew exactly who we were. Look at their armor." Luna leaned closer to the stallion frozen in place, his eyes locked on to hers.

"You have nothing to fear from your Princess, soldier." His eyes showed that he felt exactly the opposite.

"Sir Klass, this symbol on their helmets... I've seen it before. It was behind my sister when she threw Trixie and myself from the council meeting."

"That is a rather odd little symbol, isn't it Princess? What ever could it mean?"

Luna let out a sigh.

"Hopefully not what I think it means."

"What do you think it means Princess?"

"That she knows..."

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Princess Celestia was angry, furious even! How could she not have noticed, she had spies everywhere, eyes and ears in every corner of Equestria! How could she not know her own sister had started a rebellion against her? She had only been gone a few short weeks, and she has started a rebellion and tried gathering the Elements of Harmony. Why? Luna must know as well as she did that the elements won't help in combat. You can't kill anypony with loyalty or honesty. Maybe her trip to the moon had made her forget, nonetheless something had to be done about this and now!

"Princess Celestia? Did you hear us? Your sister is starting a rebellion!"

Celestia jumped a little in surprise. The news of her sister had thrown her in to her own little world. She had almost forgotten about the two young mares still in the room.

"Yes, Twilight, I heard you... This is troubling news indeed. Thank you two for bringing this information to me."

Twilight smiled from ear to ear as Rainbow Dash bowed her head in shame. Rainbow still felt like she was betraying her friends.

"It's our duty Princess. You and your sister should be working together, but when we heard Luna was trying to take control for herself, well we couldn't just sit by and do nothing."

"You two are braver than your friends, I thank you."

Rainbow Dash gave Celestia a dirty look, thankfully she didn't notice.

"What are we going to do Princess?"

Princess Celestia knew exactly what she was going to do, but she didn't want to scare off the only two elements she had, especially if her sister wanted them.

"When something like this happens to a Kingdom like ours, Twilight, sometimes we have to do things that we might not do under normal circumstances... Sometimes we have to do things that we don't like."

"What do you mean?"

"We have to become militarily strong and focused. We can't be the Equestrian Kingdom we used to be..."

The mares looked at their Princess in confusion.

"What do you mean Princess? What does that make us then?!" Rainbow's voice was thick with accusation.

In the few short minutes Celestia had known about the rebellion, a plan was already being formulated in her mind. It couldn't be any more perfect, really. What better way to turn her Kingdom in to what she always wanted it to be than a rebellion? A perfect excuse to recruit troops, take territory, spread her influence, create weapons of war... What better way to create-

She spoke with a wicked smile and a viscous look in her eyes.

"A Solar Empire!"

She used her magic to drop a curtain that had been obscuring the wall behind her.

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They arrived at the front gate of the wall that blocked their path to the Gryphon Kingdom, it spanned the entire valley, made completely of metal and stood almost 30 stories! It seemed to be wide enough to where the wall itself could house its own small city. They looked around a bit before they heard a voice from above them.

"Halt! This is the Great Northern wall! It is the only thing defending us from the Gryphons, you can't pass here!"

They looked up. Far above them, maybe halfway up the wall was a pony leaning over a railing where a walkway was clearly built in to the structure.

"It is I, Princess Luna! I demand that you let me and my companion through!"

"Princess Luna?! My apologies Princess." He turned around out of sight. "You there! Open the gate!"

They waited a moment, there was a loud mechanical *CLANK* like a lock sliding out of place and the gate slowly began to rise, revealing a stallion and his guards.

"Princess Luna, it is you!"

He was a unicorn stallion with a creme colored coat, a jet black mane and dark eyes. He wore an officer's uniform and gloves on his front hooves with odd markings on them.

"Ah, Colonel Mustang! When did you get stationed here? I thought you were still with that delightful old chap in the East!"

Colonel Mustang stopped short at the sight of Sir Klass, "Sir Klass? What in Equestria are you doing here?"

"I take it you two know each other?"

"Yes Princess, I grew up in Manearola near Sir Klass before joining the military. Let's step inside, we can discuss a few things in there."

Luna was nervous. The soldiers they had met out in the valley clearly weren't associated with this base, the ponies here were different and their armor was dirty and worn, especially compared to the pristine condition of the ones she had fought earlier. Klass seemed to know him however, so she was hoping that would at least buy them some time if things got bad...

The iron gate closed behind them with a thud, Luna could hear gears whirring and spinning as the locks reset themselves. The inside of the wall was cold and metallic with long hallways filled with piping and cables that ran along the ceiling and walls.

"I was given command of the wall shortly after your return Princess Luna."

"So you guard the border now then Mustang?"

"Yes. The gryphons have never tried anything however, so we just sit here, always at the ready."

They had reached a conference room on the lower level. The guards continued on down the hallway as Colonel Mustang led Luna and Sir Klass inside. Mustang closed the door behind them. His demeanor changed from cheery and friendly to one of complete seriousness.

Luna noticed and it put her on edge.

"What's going on? Why are we in this room? I swear if you're trying anything-"

A magic aura appeared around Luna's horn, she was ready for the sneak attack.

"Calm down Princess! I am not going to do anything to you!"

Luna didn't relax in the slightest. They had just been attacked by soldiers outside this wall and just because these ones didn't look like they came from this place didn't mean anything.

"All I want to do is send you on your way Princess, the longer you're here, the more danger you're in. We received orders from Canterlot to capture you if you tried to come through here. I however would like to know why I am being ordered by one sister to capture the other, it may be my job to follow orders, but as far as I'm concerned, you both rule this kingdom, not just Celestia."

Luna was still skeptical, but she lowered her guard. If this stallion had been ordered to capture her and she was still walking around freely, there must be a reason for it.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing. You can pass through freely, I joined to follow the orders of our princesses, not princess. However if there is something going on between the two of you, say oh I don't know- a rebellion perhaps? And maybe you needed some help, or even better some help from within the military itself, I may be willing. I am loyal to my Princesses, but if they were pitted against each other, I would have to choose and to choose I would need the whole story... Hypothetically of course."

'How does he know about the rebellion?'

That settled it, if this Colonel, all the way out in the middle of nowhere, had this kind of information, it must have come down through the military. Luna decided that Princess Celestia knew about her plans and that changed everything. But he was offering to help... An unexpected ally, but an incredibly valuable one. If she was able to get the gryphon's help and Colonel Mustang's then the gryphons wouldn't have to fight their way through this wall to get in to Equestria. It was an opportunity she couldn't pass up.

"So you will join us... If I tell you the story? That's it?"

"Only if Celestia is in the wrong."

"Well then-" she sat back on her haunches and started from the beginning.

Mustang's expression didn't change while she spoke and when she had finished her story, he simply nodded.

"Well Princess Luna, as I suspected, that is a very good reason. When the time comes, all you need to do is give the word and myself and my stallions will be there at your side."

There was a moment of silence...

"That's it? You just wanted to hear the story? No promise of special treatment after the war, or vast wealth, or- or- anything? There has to be a catch!"

"Why Princess?"

"You're offering to potentially sacrifice your life and the lives of your stallions based off of my say so. Nopony does that for free."

"Princess Luna... I took an oath to protect this Kingdom and serve its rulers. To obey any order given by a superior... There was a time, back when I first joined and I was a member of an expeditionary squad. There was a skirmish with some rouge ponies who we had to eliminate. They had been causing trouble in a small town and we suspected them in a number of crimes. I was given an order by our squad leader to take point and lead the charge up a hill... It was dangerous and almost certainly a suicide job, we all knew it and I refused. We argued, he threatened me with all sorts of military punishment, but nothing was going to make me kill myself for these backwoods rebel scum. That's when one of my squad mates, Apple Dan, volunteered in my place. The mission continued, we stormed the hill, Apple Dan taking the lead. He was a large stallion, the kind you didn't want to mess with. He charged up that hill so fast and so furiously, that I almost feared for the ponies at the top. When he crested the hill he was hit by magic from every direction- he seemed frozen in time as an Earth Pony bucked him in to the air and he came crashing down on top of us."

Mustang paused. He seemed to be struggling, holding back his emotions, clearly trying to force himself to continue the story with his dignity intact. His voice cracked slightly.

"I was looking out only for myself and it cost me a friend. It cost the Apple family a brother, a father, an uncle, and a son. I know that if I had led the charge, we would have taken the hill with no casualties except maybe my own, but instead we had to retreat, regroup and extend the fight for another three days. I was out for myself, that's where my loyalties were, Apple Dan's were right where they should be. With his Kingdom. He was given an order and he followed it through. I will never forget that day and because of it I now know where I stand in this world and that is under a right and just ruler... That would be you Princess."

There was silence.

"Thank you Colonel Mustang." What more could be said?

He nodded to her.

"As I said Princess, we are loyal to a just ruler. When you need us, we will be there.- Now. Let's get you out of here. Those soldiers that attacked you are from the Solar Empire and they'll know where you're headed now."

"Oh, you saw that did you Mustang? Yes I think we did a fine job of-"

"Solar Empire!?" What in Equestria was the Solar Empire?

"Yes, Celestia sent an Equestria-wide message explaining the events of the last few days, demonizing you and saying that we could no longer be a peaceful kingdom with threats like you around, so she created the Solar Empire. Very militaristic, cruel and efficient. She is doing a very good job of turning the population against you Princess."

She was impressed. Colonel Mustang and his soldiers had been exposed to the propaganda of her sister and yet they hadn't lifted a hoof against them since they'd been there. They were disobeying direct orders from Celestia herself because they thought that Luna might be the victim... It really was the most impressive act of loyalty she had seen.

A large earth pony burst in to the room, slamming the door against the opposite wall! He had the same color coat as Colonel Mustang, except he had no mane. Instead it seemed that all of the hair had traveled to his face in the form of a large blonde mustache, save a small curly tuft that drooped in over his forehead. He was large and muscular with a cutie mark displaying a torn shirt and orange sparkles.

"Pardon the interruption, sir!" He stood at attention. "Princess Celestia has given word that she will be sending a small battalion of soldiers to help 'defend the wall'. They will be here in less than six hours!" The only sign that he spoke other than the fact that you could hear him, was his mustache bouncing up and down.

"You know what to do Major."

"Yes, sir!" The Major gave a salute to the Colonel "Your highness" He bowed and left the room.

"This is going to make things difficult for us Princess. Major Hoofstrong will take care of preparing our troops, but you won't be able to return safely from gryphon territory this way and it's really the only path..."

He sat lost in thought.

"What do you suggest we do Colonel?"

He sat for a moment longer before speaking.

"There is no choice... We're going to have to fight off Celestia's forces... Okay Princess, this is what we're going to do; You need to leave as soon as possible. When Celestia's forces arrive we will treat them as we are expected to. Whether you get the support of the Gryphons or not, you will need to return this way, so when you are close you will have to signal us and we will begin our fight against Celestia's forces."

"Can you take out a battalion by yourselves?"

Mustang gave a hearty laugh!

"Princess, please! We're a giant wall, there is nothing around for miles and miles. What do you think we do to entertain ourselves? We're the most well trained soldiers you're going to find in all of Equestria, we can take out a battalion of Solar Empire troops!"

"I do believe we should get going then!"

"Agreed." The two turned towards the door.

"It was good to see you again Sir Klass..."

"I couldn't agree more Colonel Mustang."

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When the pair had left sight of the the wall they heard a strange sound. Like multiple pairs of powerful wings beating the air.

They looked up just in time.