Canterlot Castle

"How could we let such a thing happen!?" Luna's words echoed loudly in the halls of Canterlot Castle. Many of the castle's staff surround the throne room entrance, looking inside to see what is causing so much commotion. Inside were Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and two humans. The staff looked in awe at the two armor-cladded humans, many had never seen a real human before. They could see Luna pacing back and forth in front of the humans, doing most of the talking for her sister, who casually sat on her throne, seemingly cradling Princess Twilight in a protective hug.

"Letting one of our fellow Princesses into your land, human, was something we knew we should have objected to!" Luna continued to shout and pace back and forth. Her teeth clenched in anger and her expression was full of anguish.

"For the last time, stop calling me human. My name is King Johannes Drachenkopf." Johannes crosses his arms as Luna stops in her tracks and glares at the human king.

"We care not for your name! My full concern is towards my fellow monarch! How dare you humans lock her in a dungeon, and break her spirit!" Luna lashed out, causing the second human to step forward.

"Her condition was not of our doing, in fact, we were the ones who helped rescue her." The second human spoke, who appeared to be female.

"Aurora is right. If it wasn't even for our efforts, your fellow princess would have perished in the walls of Blackstone." Johannes spoke again.

"It doesn't matter who did what! You, humans, have done nothing but fight amongst yourselves for millennia, your kind is war-driven and violent! We should not have allowed Twi-" Luna was ranting until cut off by the very loud voice of Celestia.

"Luna! That is enough!" Celestia's voice was loud, and horse. The three stop their bickering and look to the sun alicorn. Her eyes were full of tears as She held a whimpering Twilight within her wings. Twilight's missing horn obvious for all to see. "Regina Aurora and König Johannes are not to be blamed for what happened. Shining Armor has already submitted his report."

Luna, despite being filled with rage, relents. Her sister was already full of anguish, and she wished not to contribute more to it. Luna goes back to angrily pacing to herself when the two humans look up at Celestia, who only looks down at them with the most hurt eyes they have ever seen.

"But please..." Celestia spoke softly, turning her head away again to continue comforting her pupil. "I need to hear it from your own mouths... did you truly help rescue her? You were not the ones who did this to her?"

"Yes. It was our armies that besieged the city where she was held captive." Johannes spoke calmly, not wanting to anger either of them further.

"Shining Armor orchestrated the whole attack, but it was our forces that supported him to make it possible. We lost a lot of our men... and..." Aurora had to turn away before she could finish her sentence, hiding the ever-growing hurt expression on her face. Johannes wasted no time in comforting her, placing his hand on her shoulder, turning her around, and hugging her.

"What is the matter?" Luna asked, turning to see the two humans. Aurora began to sob into Johannes's shoulder, as the latter looked to Luna, and then to Celestia.

"Her father, King Gabriele Santamano... was slain," Johannes replied, causing Luna to soften her eyes slightly. Celestia even pulls her head away to look at the humans again. Aurora still had her face dug into Johannes's shoulder as the king looked at them both. Celestia opened her mouth to say something, but Johannes responded before she could say anything. "Yes, it was by the same heathen that harmed your fellow princess, Léone Trompeur."

Twilight's eyes crack open and she lets out a loud gasp as soon as that wretched name is spoken. Her breathing quickened and her heart rate skyrocketed. Celestia notices this and quickly comforts the distraught alicorn. Luna looks back at the humans after noticing Twilight's reaction.

"Trompeur? That is the name of the heartless one who has caused so much pain?" Luna asked, to which Johannes nodded. Luna lets out a small sigh and looks to the ground. "And now she is in control of all the human lands to our west. Prosecuting her for her crimes will not be easy."

"Try impossible," Johannes spoke sharply. He looked away as he found all eyes were upon him again. "She now has magic. I don't know how, but that bitch somehow managed to harness magic. She wiped out our armies in a blink of an eye. The small amount of soldiers we brought with us as we fled cannot stand against her, and now her army is now tripled now she controls both of our kingdoms as well... it's over... Der Krieg ist verloren. (The war is lost)."

"No."

Everyone's heads shoot up at the very weak-sounding voice. It came from one source, Celestia. Everyone looked to her, but she was looking down, at Twilight. Twilight uses her bloodshot eyes to look at Johannes, who looks at her back.

"It's not over... The time I spent as Léone's prisoner... I learned of her plan. She wants to form an empire." She pulls away from Celestia and stands on her own hooves. Though still looking malnourished and weak, she stood strong. She took a single step forward and almost crumpled. Celestia was quick to aid her with her wing, to which Twilight used it to steady herself.

"Patriam is not her goal... She wants the entire continent. She wants to conquer all... and make all lesser races in her eyes as slaves...She is coming here with her army... and she won't just stop at Equestria... she'll conquer Griffonstone, Mount Aris, Yakyakistan, the Kirin forest, she'll attack them all!" Twilight stumbles again, causing Celestia to pick her up with her wing. "The war isn't over... far from it... it's only just begun..."

Johannes looks at Twilight as a dreadful look befalls his face. Aurora even peeked out from Johannes's shoulder to listen, and her face was full of fear. Luna, however, looked calm, the calmest she had been so far.

"To war then," Luna said, causing Celestia to quickly look at her.

"Sister..." Was all Celestia could choke out.

"You heard Twilight Tia, Trompeur has her hungry eyes set on our land, our ponies, our country. Now is not a time to roll over and show them our soft underbelly. For the crimes Trompeur has committed in harming an Alicorn princess, the murder of monarchs, and the annexation of neighboring kingdoms, she must pay. And with all those crimes, she plans to commit them again, this time to Equestria, we must stand our ground." Luna spoke proudly, her voice radiating defiance against the upcoming foreign aggressors.

"If you plan on taking that Schlampe down, then I will offer all that I have left." Johannes took the massive battleax off his back and rested the bottom on the floor. "You have my ax, and the rest of my men who fled here with me. For Germania, and Johan Drachenkopf, my father."

"As well as me." Aurora stepped forth, no longer crying. "For Italia and my father, I will aid in taking back our homes."

Luna smirks at the two humans. Their combined armies will give them a fighting chance. Luna looks back up at Celestia, who had gone back to comforting Twilight. Celestia looks at Luna, a worried, but hopeful look in her eyes. For she knew, as well as everyone else... War was coming.

Author's Note

Picking up this series again with a new entry into the story! WHOOO!!! With a lot more witting experience under my belt, I plan to make this story better than the last! I will also be updating the previous fic, to fix my paragraphing and so forth! Hope you all are looking forward to more of this story, as it's my first crack at a 100% original story, not a crossover this time!