Chapters Prologue: A Harmonic Organism
A harmonic organism.
Once upon a time on a distant planet, there was a nation called Equestria. A magical land that was inhabited by colored talking ponies. There were 3 types of ponies: Earth Pony, Unicorns and Pegasus. They were led by a fourth species, known as Alicorns. It is said that they were so strong, they were believed to be divine beings. There were only 2 alicorns leading the harmonic nation. Celestia; The queen of the sun and princess of harmony. She has been ruling over Equestria for over one thousand years. She cares deeply for her subjects and would do anything to protect them from any harm; and the same applies for her little sister: Luna, queen of the Moon and princess of order. She ruled with her sister for hundreds of years, however, she grew envious on her bigger sister because of the ponies enjoying the sun more. Her sister was also envious of other minor things, but those were passing sentiments. Unfortunately, this envy was different. It changed everything.
The memories of the tragedy possess an eternal clarity over the sun queens mind; every night, haunting her into the most pleasurable dreams. She reigned alone for one thousand years, offering the best to the weak and helping her subjects by all the possible means. Offering counseling for students and ruling the most prestigious school in the kingdom and encouragement to everypony who is down. But it seemed that there was no one that could care truly for Celestia. Inevitably, ponies found out about the act she did. And thus, demands for Luna to return and the current princess to take her place began. It caused great tension and sectionalism throughout not only their kingdom, but the entire world. As the world took the matter with greater care and debated with little pressure on Equestria (as this was not a pressing issue), the equestrians pressed on. They continued and continued until one day, the ponies who supported Luna fought them. From that day, Celestia formed a law that banned violent riots and sent patrols to ensure no fights or riots happen. Ponies became more anxious of Celestias decisions, and thus thinking the worst of her as the time passed. For the supporters of Luna, it was signal for change and great emancipation. For Celestia, this was the time she feared destiny will gift: The Prophesied Apocalypse of Harmony.
Will Equestria be the same again? Or shall it change into a ruined plain?
***
It was around 4 o’clock in the evening of a summer, there was a nice weather, in the capital of Equestria. Temperate, around 34 degrees Celsius, partially clouded, the rays of the sun piercing through the grey or white coat of the casually passing clouds.
On the balcony of the Capital’s highest tower, a tower which belonged to the Royal Palace, known as The Tower of Hope, because of its height, there was a white alicorn sitting on the white balcony which was surrounded by small fences painted in gold.
Celestia, the Princess and Ruler of Equestria, of whose grace was unmatched, stood over the mosaic of a golden sun which included the a blue crescent moon in it, the whole shape being surrounded by a playground of colors of blue, white and golden. Her eyes glancing on the districts of Canterlot, assisted by a simple telescope on a tripod but with priceless lenses, checked on the movement of the ponies under her tower, within the royal palace quarters and outside. The entire city looked like an entire organism from there. Streets being the veins, The ponies being the blood, and the guards being the immunity system, which were checking for certain viruses or diseases…which recently, started to appear.
‘It looks like another simple day…’ She signed mentally.
Although today wasn’t special day, Celestia could hardly distinguish the difference between the agitation of a ‘normal’ day and a ‘special’ day. But, today after tomorrow will be more than just a special day… today after tomorrow will be the day she had to present herself in Ponyville, since that day has a unique characteristic that not even Celestia can ignore.. Today after tomorrow will be the Summer Solstice, the longest day of a thousandth year. That day will be the Summer Sun Celebration.
As Celestia glanced over the innocent ponies below her eyes, she felt that she was filled by something so corruptive and unpleasant only another pony would have felt: Envy. She glanced one more time, this time at her ‘statue’ Guards, she secretly called them that way because they always stand still as marble statues with golden armor.
Shortly after finishing her eye patrol, she lifted her heavy body on her hooves, and advanced to her personal chambers.
‘How long have I stayed like this?’ She asked herself, slightly surprised that she has lifted herself so heavily.
***
Knocking sounds loudly invaded her thoughts as she returned to reality.
“Your Majesty! May we come in?” a male, deep voice asked.
Upon hearing the door, Celestia was rushing to get in her composure.
“Come in.” The white alicorn commanded. She could identify his tone with ease.
“Your majesty, is everything alright? We have heard sounds.” A guard asked
“Everything is alright, don’t worry, thank you for checking.” Celestia responded kindly.
The guards nodded, leaving the sanctuary of privacy and closing the door behind him.
‘In truth… nothing is alright… What was I doing? Was I that loud?’.
“The deepest cut is not made with the blade of the knife, is made with the blade of words and actions…” She whispered to herself. For some reason, she has a déjà vu when she says this.
She attempted to move to her bed, only to be interrupted by a grey smoke coming out from her open balcony doors, converting itself into a seal.
“Spike has finally perfected his firing skills and magic…” Celestia said smiling, recalling the event when the purple little dragon accidently sent a Heart Warming Eve letter to the raging fire within the fireplace during a cold winter.
“Let’s see, what my faithful student did today?” Celestia said smiling, she always enjoyed when she received a letter this way. Twilight was mainly the only source of true happiness for her, and moreover… it showed that she was something more than just a loyal leader.
My Dearest Teacher,
My continuing studies about pony magic had let me to discover that something really bad is about to happen. For you see, the mythical mare in the moon is in fact, Nightmare Moon, and she is about to return to Equestria, and with her eternal night. Something must be done so that this terrible prophecy does not come true.
I await your good response.
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle
“Oh dear, Twilight…” Responded grimly, before immediately going to the table and start writing:
My dearest, most faithful student Twilight,
You know that I value you diligence and trust you completely…
But you simply MUST stop reading those dusty old books!
My dear twilight, There is more to a young ponies life than studying, so I’m sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this year’s location: Ponyville. And I also have a more essential task for you to complete… Make some Friends.
You will have a carriage to take you and spike to Ponyville, tomorrow
Yours Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
PS: I have arranged that you will stay in the local library.
After re-reading the letter again,
“This should do. She can do it. But she mustn't know that what she found is true… she must discover it.”
“…you are a nightmare of the true moon…” Flashbacked on her mind like a ghost ever wondering in a haunted house.
“Nightmare Moon will return, and this time only my student can repair my burden.” She frowned as she sent the letter.
“Guards!” Celestia called.
“Yes, your majesty?” The guards responded while rushing in.
“Have it arranged that a carriage takes Twilight Sparkle, my student and her dragon from the Canterlot royal library to the Ponyville local library, tomorrow in the morning.”
“As you wish, your majesty. Anything else?” The guard asked.
“No, this is enough.” Celestia responded.
“As you wish, Your Majesty.“ The guard nodded, leaving the vicinity.
She looked at her hooves, thoughtful of the future ahead of her.
“I should start preparing…”
***
As hours passed, Celestia lowered the sun…and raised the moon… Filling herself with sadness, and utter disgust of the action of that white alicorn who banished her sister to the moon. How could she do that? After she raised the moon to its proper position and stars sprayed themselves on the sky, 4 particular stars surrounded the moon.
“The stars will aid her escape…” The princess whispered.
Celestia glanced over the capital of her nation. She saw a playground of lights, sharing and lightening the majority of the city. Ponies still walked, but in less numbers, and guards increased in number, as well as the number of patrols. Most of the viruses appeared at night.
She signed heavily, there were less than two days before the grand event and she knew what will happen. And only a her special student can do it, only her protégée can stop Nightmare Moon from throwing her nation and innocent ponies into victims of the curse of envy.
She slowly drifted towards the only source of possible relaxation which was used as a tool in the time of the host of one of the most blissful actions ever… the bed. As she took down her golden necklace, and put it in the wardrobe. As she took down her shoes of her same color putting them near her bed. The golden tiara, decorated by precious jewels and marking it as the symbol of authority in Equestria, was put in a safe. The safe that was made of secret materials and also enforced by Celestias strongest possible magic. She removed her eye lashes and advanced tiredly towards her savior.
And as she entered her bed, she made herself comfortable, and stared at the moon with a Unicorn head on it, the orb being slowly invaded by those 4 stars, she ultimately said:
“I’m sorry…”
***
Between the stars that sprayed the night.
Far beyond the moonlight.
Beyond the planet which inhabited Equestria.
Beyond the massive, spherical, locked cage, with the key on the lock.
A comet passed… changing its course dramatically away from the planet…
Ch.1: Summer Sun Celebration
Summer Sun Celebration
In the glory of the night and the shining of its sun, Canterlot and Equestria were covered. Little sound was made outside because of the early hour. However, as little as the sound may be, it beckons omens of destruction. Everfree Forest was as quiet as the night, which subdued the forest shortly after its arrival. Ponyville was more quiet than Canterlot, leaving nothing but the critters singing the songs that set the mood.
The sun princess was peacefully sleeping in her bed. Undisturbed by any intruding thought, creature or sound; And protected by her loyal guards.
The moon whispered in the books, and it will finally materialize its whispers at the night of this day.
Today was the grand day. It was the day in which the sun would receive its greatest appraisal. It was the day where the sun would take hold of the sky longer than any other time of the year. It was today that spoke hope and light and whispered darkness and omens
Today was the summer solstice. Today was the Summer Sun Celebration. Today was judgment day.
***
Celestia tiredly opened her eyes, from her bed, first realization is that she was caught in the trap of the silk sheets.
‘Great… Not again…’ She thought at the silky and comfortable trap.
After she is raises awareness of her surroundings, she glanced at the clock. 1 hour left until she lowers the moon below the horizon and raises the sun to the kingdom of the sky. Glancing at the calendar, she became aware of the specialty of this day. Today was Summer Sun Celebration. But this particular celebration carried a necessary sin that haunted Celestia for over one thousand years.
She attempted to get away from the cage of silk without magic. Not so bright. The trap would not let her go. And neither she was sure she wanted it to. But she had to get down.
‘You asked for it…’
When her white horn was surrounded with a very faint golden aura, she released herself with natural ease. After all, it wasn’t the first time she was rushed out of her bed.
“Good.” She said as she lowered herself from the bed, straight into her shoes.
She opened her wardrobe with her magic, leveling the jewelry on her body. After a symphony of clicks, she opened the safe and took the tiara, on her head, behind her horn, and placing it comfortably on her ears. The rest can wait. She needs to raise the sun and lower the moon.
The queen of the sun advanced to the balcony and realized she had forgot her telescope there, but it didn’t matter at the moment.
She spread her wings as much as her body would allow her, rose her head as high as possible, and closed her eyes in a calming manner. It wasn’t something new. She concentrated in establishing a connection with the symbol of the night and then with the symbol of the day. She focused more and more, and as she concentrated she found it more difficult to connect with the moon. Her horn glowed from a faint gold to gold and then to bright gold… and then something happened. She felt pain, as if the symbol of the night backfired. No ‘as if’… it DID back fire, and Celestia felt a strong pain in her horn, head and chest.
‘I will not be alone, Celestia… I have returned. I shall see you soon, my dear sister…’ The ghastly voice pierced the serenity of the Queens mind like a shard of ice into water.
And then the moon complied perfectly.
Celestia then raised the sun, with a familiar and bonded ease. She raised it, and then it let it go on its own… The sun and moon move on their own, they just need to raised and lowered.
After the white alicorn has raised the sun, her focus shifted from its daily morning task to the process of realizing what she said. What did she meant by “I will not be alone”? She was the only one she sent to the moon, right? She couldn’t-
“Oh no…” Celestia said horrified, aware of what may have happened under her nose the whole time. Putting her jewelry, she commanded
“So this is what she was happening… Guards! Tell the captain of the royal guards that I have to meet him urgently. Immediately!” Celestia demanded as she opened the door.
“At once, Your Majesty!” The guards responded and began to escort the sun princess to the private chambers of the Minister.
‘We must prepare.’ Celestia thought as she walked with the guards in an alert manner.
Only the sun knows what awaits her student.
***
“Good afternoon…” Said a certain lavender mare with a very curly hairstyle to a white unicorn with well-maintained mane and tail, diamonds as cutie mark, and blue eyes with lashes.
“Just a moment please, I’m in the zone…” Rarity responded, preoccupied on what to choose. Twilight didn't catch the last part.
“Oh yes! Sparkle always does the trick, does it not? Why, Rarity, you are a talent. Now, umm, how can I help youUUAAHAHA!” Rarity responded in shock as she saw the hairy storm on the unicorns head.
“Oh my stars, darling! Whatever happened to your coiffeur?” Rarity asked desperately.
“Oh you mean, my mane?” Twilight responded, puzzled by her sudden despair.
“Well it’s a long story… I’m just here to check on the decorations and I will be out of your hair!” She continued.
“Out of my hair, what about your hair?” Rarity responded as she pushed Twilight deeper into the chamber Rarity worked.
“Wait, where are we going? Help!” Twilight asked pleadingly.
***
In the orb of night, there, a mare of many thoughts and feelings…stood on a simple cliff.
Staring at the approaching keys of liberty.
At the keys of freedom… freedom not only for her.
But also for her nation.
And she wasn’t alone.
Behind the cliff, Behind her, stood individuals.
Individuals that once inhabited the symbol of peace and harmony.
***
“Good afternoon, Silver Point” Celestia said, making no effort to hide her annoyance after coming to the conclusion that after HOURS of searching, he wasn’t in the courtyard or within the palace. Sometimes the palace can be too big for comfort. Fortunately, she had the day scheduled for other affairs as well, so only the guards searched for him.
“Your Majesty, my greatest apologies for not letting you know where I was.” Silver Point bowed deeply and responded.
Silver Point was a Earth Pony with a dark blue on his coat, dark grey short mane while extended over his forehead it also lied lazily on his neck, tail being of the same color and style and touching the ground. His eyes were of dark purple The cutie mark was simple, but somehow imposing: Two spears crossed behind a golden shield. . He wasn’t the type to cause discomfort to the princess, as everypony else.
“Where were you?” Celestia asked colder than the ice, guards near her.
Silver Point never imagined he would hear a voice that could freeze his heart. His honesty spoke freely.
“Your Majesty, I was at the local Civil Security Station.”
“I will have you to explain to me the reason behind your visit later. I have some dire news that need your awareness.” Celestia spoke coldly as she nodded to the two guards.
The guards complied and left the two alone.
“Silver Point, there are less than 5 hour until nightfall comes to us… I want you to mobilize all the guards that are available, but in a discrete manner” Celestia began.
“May I ask why, Your Majesty?” Silver Point asked confused.
Celestia knew there was no point lying, so she explained:
“You see, the legend of the Mare in the Moon is real an-”
“Is real?!” Silver Point raised in panic and responded, but afterwards putting a hoof before his mouth, noticing the mistake of cutting her leader off.
The princess took a deep breath and continued, “Yes, it is real. And today this threat will return. This threat will hurt the innocent ponies and overthrow the Throne of Equestria. It is up to you and me to stop this. And only you must know of this, Silver Point.” Celestia finished.
Thinking at what he just heard, he responded: “Why would someone do such a thing? Why would somepony try and take you down? You are responsible for our order!” Silver Point said enraged.
“Save the flattering for later, you have work to do.” Celestia reminded the angry pony.
“Where would the guards be placed mostly, Your Majesty? Canterlot? Ponyville? Cloudsdale?” Silver Point was eager to strike anything threatening Celestia or the civilians.
Thinking deeply Celestia finally responded: “Canterlot…”
“Yes, Your Majesty! We will begin shortly!” Silver Point said, rushing out of the room.
‘My student is already in Ponyville, not to mention the possible chaos and panic there will be if the guards appeared. Canterlot has already a number of patrols, it will help me disguise the mobilization from the public. Cloudsdale, has its own defenses. I must not assume risks.’
***
On a distant, massive, frozen body, a small comet passed.
The comet changed its direction towards the planet.
And as the comet started to lower speed. It revealed its piece.
A flattened point of an arrow, with 2 streams of dark blue flowing from its back, advanced towards the white orb painted with cracks of blue.
As it advanced, it lowered speed, and then turned sharply, and then turned sharply again.
And it advanced slower and slower. Towards its main target.
It advanced and entered the metal structure orbiting the cracked pearl.
And as it landed into a gigantic room filled with boxes, gear and equipment, a part of the arrow, which was made mainly of glass, opened.
Revealing the individual controlling the arrow.
***
“Isn’t this exciting? Are you excited? Cuz I’m excited. I was never so excited. Well, except of the time when you walked around this town, and I was like ‘haaa!’. But I mean, really, you can talk that-” The pink mare stated only to be cut off by the orchestra that invaded the what-was-supposed-to-be silence.
“Ladies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the summer sun celebration”
Everyone cheering, except Twilight.
“In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this the longest day of the year. And now it is my great honor to introduce you…”
Twilight glanced at the moon, panic and anxiety starting to build.
***
Celestia was prepared to appear in front of everypony and raise the sun. But, a dark blue aura materialized in front of her. And as it materialized it became clearer and clearer that it was the nightmare of the moon: Nightmare Moon. The sun princess could remember every detail of what once was. The turquoise dragon eyes, the black coat resembling the night, the chaotic mane and her blue armor.
“You… I should have known you will return this early.” Celestia stated coldly.
“Surprise, sister. Don’t worry about time, we haven’t met for a while...” Nightmare moon said.
She then raised her horn to the ceiling , an aura of black and trims of blue surrounded her horn as she shot a beam to the ceiling. The beam spread itself from the ceiling, completely covering the walls with a black smoke.
The two guards were on position to attack, and so they did. They lashed at Nightmare Moon only to be shoved off on the wall by Nightmare’s own guards. A darker version of Celestias guards difference being: the dark brown coat, the golden dragon eyes, their black webbed bat wings and black and dark blue armor with nightmare’s eye on their chest. Celestia acted fast she used her magic to defend her guards by levitating the guards and literally smashing them in the wall. The royal guards took this opportunity and attacked the guards.
Suddenly, a blue laser shot her. She resisted by forming a shimmering golden shield around her and charged her horn for the next attack, spreading her wings and shifting to combat position. She charged her horn, and it glowed harder, stronger and blinder than one thousand years ago. Under the unbelievably hard and intense pressure of the laser Nightmare Moon launched, Celestia could either risk and break the shield conserving the energy from the shield into the laser, or attack now making less damage than she could. She chose the first option.
The shield broke, and Celestia immediately launched the laser straight at her attacker. Both lasers, pushed each other and pushed each other, to the left or to the right. The center of pressure was the beacon of white light surrounded the contrast of yellow and blue between the golden rays of the sun and blue wrath of the night. It continued to move, to the left and to the right, never in the middle.
The guards did their best to stop the bat-winged creatures from tackling their princess. And vice-versa.
“You. Will. Fall! You will no longer corrupt your ponies in loving the sun! They deserve to be free! AND THEY! WILL! BE! FREE!!!” Nightmare Moon yelled, beacon further to the left. With every shout, she pushed the laser further to her death nemesis.
Celestia winced, but did not back down. “I will not allow you to make my subjects suffer under the eternal night. Not only that they will starve to death from the lack of light the crops will have, but also stealing their liberty of choice! This will only and ONLY happen when I will die and all the ponies are subdued to your corruption! This is what my sister would say! the sister that was the very first victim of your corruption!!!” Celestia yelled and used more of her strength. The golden ray doubled in intensity and rapidly crushed the resistance.
“I have lost my sister… But I will not lose my kingdom!” Celestia pushed harder than ever, moving the beacon dangerously close to victory.
“I will not fall to your lies… again!” Nightmare moon shouted as she used the cover of the of the room to attack all sun-loving faces in the room. Millions of black, thin lasers shot from everywhere attacking the guards, falling in seconds and then they all attacked the bringer of the sun.
Celestia cancelled the laser and created a divinely golden shield around her, millions of lasers stroke directly, but she resisted… she had to! The Fate of Equestria was in her students hooves, but that doesn’t mean she will not fight to avert the risks! The millions of lasers were assisted by a big blue laser all simultaneously trying to pierce her formidable defense. She resisted. The more firepower there was, the more could be absorbed and re-used. Even the guards attacked Celestia, viciously bucked with the hind legs. With all the firepower, she still resisted.
“Die! Die, Tyrant, Die!” Nightmare moon commanded, blinded by rage, enhancing all the magic and amplifying her guards using the power of the moon.
Celestia was losing strength, she couldn’t keep the shield for too long. She has to find a way to repel this.
‘there are 2 options; either run or fight… So much firepower is hard to counter, especially if my source of power is not present… But running would be foolish… No... I will not run… I will not run from my past sins…’
Celestia teleported away from the attacks, but she got blocked, discharged and knocked out at and by the wall’s aura. Her tiara and herself were falling on the ground. A tear was running down her cheek.
Amused by it, Nightmare moon laughed maniacally; “You run tried to run?! You tried to run from the battle for Equestria?! You are a shameful and weak leader!” Nightmare moon deduced coldly.
“Take care of her!” she commanded, the guards complied.
‘And now for my beloved subjects…’ Nightmare moon smirked.
As she shifted into starry, blue smoke, the guards got closer to Celestia. They got closer to the fallen leader, closer and closer until they invaded the private space of the pony. They heard sounds, and checked for anything in the room which could move. Nothing discovered. They went back to Celestia.
“What a weakling, how did this got to be our nation’s leader?” A guard asked sarcastically.
“What a shame…” The other guard responded saddened.
As they approached to take care of Celestia… two swords were silently levitating behind the guards. She then opened her eyes and stroke, with the speed that rivals the snakes, the two lunar guards in the neck. The swords passed their necks, they yelled but, who would hear? Their golden dragon pupils dilated and they opened their mouths for air, they also tried to push the swords out with their hooves, but it was pointless they bled until they fallen to the ground. Motionless.
The bringer of harmony, the leader of the most peaceful nation and the most harmonic one, the bringer of the sun, the one that was supposed to be most peaceful of all just murdered.
“As I said, I will not lose my kingdom to your envy… I will not allow you steal their freedom either.” Celestia whispered.
While she was slight wounds, she had almost no energy… But teleportation was possible.
“I must reach Everfree forest, now.” Celestia teleported out of the room, leaving the 2 guards with swords in their neck untouched.
***
In the long lightened hallway.
The archer moved, he had his prey.
Advancing and sometimes evading some of his kind,
As if they were blind.
He reached a door, Which showed so much more.
A room full of bright squares, rectangles and sometimes triangles.
Filled of letters, numbers and sometimes forms, all changing, from different points and angles.
He moved further, to one of his kind.
Having information for the blind.
He gave him an object.
That will have its great effect.
***
“When I realized that you all are my friends!” Twilight ended her statement, and above her the 6th element appeared. Surprised but not too much she continued.
“You see Nightmare Moon, when those elements are ignited by the… The Spark, that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element… The Element of… Magic” As she finished, all six ponies were engulfed in a cocoon of light, and the pieces of the old artifacts merged into golden necklace with the cutie mark in form of a gem in the middle and a tiara with a star on top. They all united in the cocoon and 2 spinning rainbows lashed at Nightmare Moon.
The queen of the night, futilely created a shield… it was breached in an instant. She was caught in the tornado of rainbow, burning her rapidly. This was it, it’s over.
But then, something happened. The tornado got shattered by a black smoking shield with streams of crimson red. Nightmare Moon had her eyes tightly closed and she realizes that she wasn’t burning anymore. She opened her eyes slowly and the first things she saw were the wielders, in utter shock.
“H-How?” Twilight asked, still not recovering.
“Now, would you listen to the true story? How it all happened? What is not written in the books? Or would you like to continue fighting you?” Nightmare asked, taking advantage of sudden turn of events.
“Whatever you say will be lies!” A teal, rainbow colored mane and tail Pegasus said.
“Well… um… let us at least listen to her… if you know, she doesn’t hurt us…” The yellow Pegasus responded in her typical shyness.
“I will not hurt you, if I would, you would be dead long time ago. Believe me, I have reasons.” Nightmare Moon reassured.
“She has a point, sugar cube.” A orange pony said.
“It all started back to the day, when ponies still roamed free, and enjoyed the night… but my sister decided she should take this pleasure from me… for reasons-“
“LIES!” Rainbow snapped.
“Rainbow Dash! Let her finish…” Rarity said.
“…of her own benefit. She did a spell that made all the ponies more asleep during night. I don’t mean the ponies did not sleep at night, they also slept during day, but now they do nothing except sleeping during night, and they do anything during day, enjoying her sun, while ignoring my moon…” she said sorrowfully.
“How… horrible…” Rarity said, shocked.
“Moreover, when I asked her to talk about this, she ignored me and said, coldly, ‘that’s how it should be.’”
“The Princess would never say this! I know for so many years!” Twilight backfired.
“Yes, of course you do… the closer you are to her, The stronger the influence spell is…” Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes.
“HOW DARE YOU SAY THIS!” Rainbow boomed.
“It shouldn’t be this way…” the orange mare said, influenced by this story.
“Applejack?” The pink pony asked.
“I see equality for all ponies, whether they are unicorns, earth ponies, or Pegasus… or alicorn, but it was taken away! What would you prefer? To remain slaves of a spell Celestia made just for her interests? Or will you fight for what is right and just? There can be eternal night with light from the moon, mimicking the sun.” Nightmare Moon said as serious as ever.
“Only feather brains will join you! The princess would never do this to their subjects.” Rainbow responded loudly as ever
“The princess would never. Ever. Allow this to happen! I will stand by my princess!” Twilight slammed her hoof on the ground, determined to reject the fantasies she throws at them. She also knew that her friends would do the same.
“It is not fair for this to happen. I must stand against this.” Rarity stated firmly.
“Rarity? What are you doing?” Twilight asked confused, later turning into horror.
“I’m sorry girls but, everypony deserves equal attention.” Rarity moved towards the alicorn of the night.
“You’re making a grave mistake! You don’t even know if her stories are true! Please, stop!” Twilight said, extending her hoof towards her in an attempt to stop her.
“No, you are making a grave mistake… I will not stand against selfishness…” Rarity advanced and came close to the mare in the moon.
“A-Applejack?” Twilight asked, full of the greatest fear ever.
“If what she speaks is true, I will join her. I am an independent pony with an independent mind.” Applejack did the same as Rarity, letting her hat cover her eyes.
Twilight felt her heart sink.
“P-p-pinkie p-pie?” Twilight asked, desperation reigned in her eyes.
“No worries Twilight I will stay with you and our princess ‘till the end… she is too kind to even think such things.” Pinkie assured, staring evil into the eyes of the dark alicorn.
“Fluttershy? What will you do?” Rainbow asked boldly, but anxiety was in her too.
“I-i… I will join with the night ponies…”
“Huh? Come on Fluttershy, say louder!” Rainbow dash shouted.
“I will be… with… nightmare moon…”
“Louder Fluttershy! Plea-“
“I AM JOINING THE NIGHT!!!” Fluttershy boomed louder than an angry manticore with a sting in its paw. Her voice rang through the entire Everfree Forest, possibly through Ponyville as well. She dashed crying at her friends near the black alicorn, crying and crying at her decision to abandon her friends. And when she arrived, she was greeted by Applejack and Rarity, who tried their best to comfort her.
“You see? They know what is correct in this world! You should do the same. The offer still stands. However, attack my subjects and you will be punished.” Nightmare Moon resentfully stated.
She and the 3 ponies below her were caught in an aura of dark blue and vanished into thin air… Leaving the 3 ponies crying and sobbing in the darkness and the gloom around them.
“Ho-how could they do this?” Twilight asked, drowned in her tears.
“I… I… don’t… know…” Pinkie sobbed. Her usual happy curly hair flattened into simple straight hair.
Even Rainbow couldn’t take it. She landed, buried her face in her hooves and cried, saying nothing.
Then an orb of light came into the ruined chambers of the past.
“Twilight!”
“P-Princess Celestia!” Twilight said enough and jumped and hugged at her mentor, like a daughter seeing her mother.
Her mentor embraced the hug and gestured the rest to come. And so they did. All three were together in Celestia’s grasp and under her wings, crying.
“Shsss. Everything is alright… Everything will be alright” Celestia tried to reassure them, not sure how succesfull she was.
They were too sad to say anything… Just how terrible everything was… and every time they said that, Celestia could not say more than “It will be alright…”
‘I never thought she would mean this…
This is it…
We are …doomed’ Celestia thought stronger by the minute…
***
The archer’s prey was sent…
The prey of knowledge arrived at the mastermind…
The master thanked the messenger and gesture to leave…
And so he did…
What the master saw…
And what the master felt…
And a sin worth of over 6 billion kills…
Ch. 2: The Will of the Unknown
The Will of the Unknown.
On a distant galaxy, far away from Equestria, there was a planet. A large white planet with cracks of rivers that featured two rings crossing each other, but not perpendicularly. The frozen ringed pearl of the galaxy. While it had winter, it also had summer and a transitioning season. A total of 15 months. The planet and its moons were also surrounded by space stations, fleets and a defense ring, all constructed by the hosted species.
The planet also had 3 moons. Two which stood one near each other during the daylight. One which was solitude, but symbolized the night, and it was decorated with stars in a particular style. All were colonized.
One of the two moons that showed up during daylight was called Elysium. It was a rather large celestial body compared with the other two. It had a perfect climate that could host life without problems or terraforming. It was populated by the saurians during their first expansion, 3800 years ago. Elysium is characterized by its lush forests and rich fauna and flora.
The second moon was called Hekaz. At size, it was roughly half the size Elysium is. It was an oceanic moon, with a limited numbers of islands that could be seen from space. Storms and torrents were often present, but nothing too serious.
And the third moon, which symbolized the night, was the most mysterious of them all. It lived by the name of Hyria. It was the smallest of the moons, but it was also the most populated with military forces. Because no unauthorized personnel can enter the moons outer space, the population of the other moons and the main planet started speculating of what was on the moon. Curiously, the moon was simple. There was no life on it. No fauna, no flora, no water, no nothing. It looked more like an exhausted battlefield. No civilian saurian entered this area, and foreigners were excluded from passing this area. There was only one way to pass it, and this was through the security check the Hyria Guardians had to make, and then escort the person in question on the other side of the sector. Unfortunate pirates and illegal personnel were eradicated within seconds if they did not comply with the Guardians. Same was with civilians. Just what was on this moon that it was so well defended?
The main planet hosted the species known as the Saurians. They were known as one of the most powerful species in the known universe. And the other species knew this. With an unbeatable military power and enlightening technology in contrast with a strong culture, it was a product of many millennia. A product that symbolized union. A product that symbolized order. A product that symbolized hope. And the population was proud. Proud to be a Saurian, but not too proud to let arrogance consume them. It was a species that expanded greatly throughout the galaxy, and it was expanding through the universe recently as well. This civilization is led by leaders whose beliefs were those of equality in front of justice, honor and freedom. It was led by leaders by government that was dedicated to its population. The Saurians had a history of over two hundred years of democracy, and it is supposed to remain this way.
The current president of this civilization knows this. His name is Fenrir ‘The Silver Wolf’ Goldengod the IVth: A 22 saurian years old president in his 3rd year out of 5 years of his second term. He seeks to honor the freedom and current system the saurian people live in, but he also seeks to offer a greater place for his wolves to live in, as every true leader. He led the Saurian Equality and Democracy Party (SEDP) after his father died in a military incident. His work place was the ‘Palace of Order’, the government and parliament of the Democratic Union of Sauria.
***
Fenrir was, at the moment, in his private office fighting the paperwork. Reports, situations, private letters, private contracts, bills, newspaper… You name it.
‘Because not even the presidents get away from paperwork.’ He thought as he continued working on the everlasting papers. He put an orchestral song that calmed his mind and brought serenity to the soul. He never liked paperwork, but that does not mean he cannot make it enjoyable.
He had a thick fur that protected him from the cold weather. His head had the shape of a wolf, but black and strands of white fur covering all the upper part of his head and under his muzzle, white fur was located. Long, pointed ears as they were on the top of his head, were covered in the same pattern as the upper part of the head. A black nose in the front of the muzzle that covered his sharp teeth. Fenrir had a pair of azure eyes, which was a rather new trait in his family. Nobody had this particular color in his family. It made almost all those that talked to him feel calm, sometimes uneasy, as he tends to stare into others eyes. This stare combined with his current position, it was understandable for most.
He wore a pair of glasses that acted as a Heads-Up Display for his daily life. All the calls, news and everything else he wanted were all stacked up for him to look at. Suddenly, he receives a call from his secretary. He responds by simply thinking about it.
“Yes, Tarys?” He spoke in a calm and friendly voice. He had no reason to stress himself. He had no appointments today.
“Sir. There is a pilot of a scout craft, Star Seeker Alzus, who wishes to leave the data recovered from his expedition. He says it is important.” She responded, happy to hear that he is in a good mood.
“Of course. Bring him in.”
“Yes, Sir.”
And seconds later, there was a knock in the door.
“Come in, don’t be shy.” He said from the other side of his glass desk, monitors around him accompanied by over nine thousand papers, fighting to finish them.
The door opened slowly. The one who knocked did not dare to disturb the president. Or maybe he was nervous?
“Good afternoon, Mr. President. I have found a suitable target for our expansion efforts.” Said the one who came in, wearing his military uniform.
“Great news.” He said as he got of the chair. He was aware of the fact that his people were aware that he was a not-so-formal-and-serious-all-the-time president. But they knew that he does his job, it could be reflected in the living standards and reputation of his union.
“Please have a sit. And handle me data, while you are at it. Would you like some tea?” The president asked as he pulled the chair.
“No thank you, Mr. President. Unfortunately, I have other affairs that require my attention. Such as my squadron. Today is the birthday of a member.” The soldier responded politely and happy. Fenrir also had connections with the military personnel, as he occasionally enjoyed flying a military airplane.
“Oh. Wish him happy birthday from me. Just leave the disk on my desk, and go. Your team needs you.” He said smiling
.
“Thank you sir.” The soldier left the disk on the desk and moved for the door, just to be stopped by one more small remark.
“Hey. Try not to party too hard, if you know what I mean.” He and the soldier laughed at the subtle joke.
“We won’t sir. I promise.” And then, the soldier left.
After Fenrir took his tea from a table on the left of the room, he returned to his desk eager to see what was waiting for him.
‘Now let’s see, what we have here…’ He thought as he put the disk with one of the 3 points into the side of the monitor. The monitor devoured it all.
*Storage Hardware detected. Beginning scan for data*
In the meantime, Fenrir took a sip.
The monitor showed the triangle disk where it was positioned within and pointed certain parts of the triangle, showing information that was in a specific place.
But only one piece of information was found interesting. It was titled ‘surveillance report’.
“Expand the surveillance report and. Show everything, including the coordinates.” He said as he took another sip.
*Yes, Sir*
The computer began scanning.
*Data has been found, visualizing…*
And the data showed itself up, filling the left half of the screen with text, the upper right corner with a video of a planet and a moon and the rest of the screen with additional data.
The one sitting on the desk glanced at the text below the video while taking another sip. He spit his tea at the screen in shock at what he saw.
“What?! No… No… It can’t be…” He immediately picked up his cellular phone and prepared to call a contact a trusted friend with the powers little could dream of: Arceus.
“Come on, Come on, Arceus.” He said, losing patience fast as he began walking around the room.
“Yes?” A deep voice finally responded.
“Arceus. We have a situation. A bad one. A recent scouting craft discovered a rather interesting planet. Unfortunately, the planet is inhabited.” Fenrir made no attempt to hide his seriousness, just to be cut off.
“And? If it’s not inhabited there is no need for that much seriousness.” Arceus said, trying to calm his panicking friend.
After a dead silence that felt like decades, Arceus continued, his tone shifting to a more serious one.
“What’s so special about it, Fenrir?”
“It has some of those coordinates.” Fenrir responded grimly.
“…What?” Arceus’ voice was one of the most puzzled.
“Better come to my office inside the Palace Of Order now, I cannot say on the phone. It is something only you and me should know for now.”
“Alright, I am on my way. Fenrir. Relax. Let me get there, and we will find a solution. Drink some tea, while I am on my way. Ok? Bye.” Arceus closed.
Fenrir then put his phone in his pocket, looked at the ceiling and began asking:
“Is this supposed to be joke? What are you trying to do? This was never supposed to be seen again. So why are you doing this to me? What did I do wrong to deserve this? Why are you throwing this to me? What is your message?”
And then he returned at his desk, locking the information on his personal disk and destroying the original. All he had to do now, was wait for his friend to see this as well.
***
Princess of the Light and Sun was on her balcony. Alone. With no source of light. Nature shedding tears on the shattered alicorn.
‘I knew she will come back… But why is she doing this? Why does she have to risk everything just for attention… just for my death…Why does she have to lie?’
Meanwhile, every inch outside the private chambers was in full agitation. The air was no exception.
An state of emergency slammed the calm of the ponies. After 200 years, Equestria is at war again. And it mustn’t lose.
Twilight and her friends were back in Ponyville, prepared for the worst. They were helped by Celestia to ease the crushing pain in their hearts. But who would help Celestia have her killing pain eased?
She was all alone.
***
Nightmare moon stood with the 3 ponies under her dark wing, on the surface of the orbiting celestial body known as; The Moon. Nightmare moon stood unmoved, while her followers winced and opened their eyes just to be engulfed by confusion.
“Ah don’t understand. Why are we on the moon?” Applejack asked puzzled.
“The moon will be our base. It is the safest from Celestia.” Nightmare moon replied.
“Why don’t we just take the kingdom? It would be hard, but we can do it.” Rarity said, trying to offer a good idea.
“Now? We could very well commit suicide. They are unbearably strong. Even with the elements separated…” The black alicorn replied, slightly caught off guard from the question.
Fluttershy said nothing, her face hidden by her mane, starring into emptiness below her hooves.
“Follow me” The alicorn said “We are not alone.”
All four ponies began to travel an unseen road. They traveled and traveled through the beautiful whitish-grey wasteland, decorated above with a veil of stars, and their planet and their… Sun .
They traveled until they stopped over a cliff. Nothing could prepare the 3 wielders from what was before them.
Tens of Thousands of ponies living in an assortment of houses, bases and a castle, all extending itself over hundreds of kilometers. Various dots and lights could be seen. The castle was made of dark and blue material, foreign to the newcomers.
“This is the New Lunar Republic. This is your new home.” Nightmare moon said proudly.
***
Both the President and Arceus were walking rather fast towards the exit of the palace.
“How can this be possible in the first place? It was supposed to -” Arceus asked, just to be cut off.
“Status. Arceus.” Fenrir walked faster gesturing to be accompanied by 2 guards.
He sighed. “We will be ready shortly. Actually, we can depart for the shipyard. Are you sure you want to go too? It may not be safe, considering-” Arceus tried to reason, just to be cut off again.
“I will be fine, we will be on ship, on a safe distance from the planet. Data figured that they have nothing.” Fenrir stated directly.
“Data can sometimes be wrong.” Arceus countered.
Fenrir stopped, turned and glared. “That’s why plans and researches were and are made for this. And how much was it in total? 40 years’ worth of research into data gathering, Arceus. Data cannot be that wrong.”
“Still-“
“It’s an embarrassedly big ship we chose in relation to the overall ranking of the planet. You honestly believe something will happen to us? Remember our position compared to theirs.” Fenrir cut him off.
“Alright, Alright…” Arceus said, accepting bitter defeat.
They walked and walked until they entered an elevator and they ascended to the ground floor. And they headed for the compound, and then to the place where they wanted.
They arrived outside. All four of them. The fresh and chill air had a marvelous effect on their mood and health. Fenrir needed this. Snow was everywhere… on trees, on grass, on structures, even on their costumes and armors. It also snowed lightly. The sky was pretty clear, dark clouds pierced with rays of light and life, not daring to move… Signaling that the course of life was changed for the better. Fenrir was not sure whether the light rays were speaking the truth though.
But he ignored this and continued walking, alongside with the 2 guards and Arceus, at the same pace. Generally enjoyment would invade him, but now it wasn’t the case… This situation needed his attention badly, something only he and Arceus can solve. They walked on the path made by taking snow out of the way until they reached the main gate, which defended the compound from the outside. A car was waiting for them outside. They arrived at one of the guards.
“Mr. President, StarLord, your transportation is ready to go. Awaiting your command.” One of the 6 guardians at the gate stated.
“Let’s move. It is imperatively necessary that we arrive there as soon as possible.” Fenrir said.
After that he nodded, and Arceus turned to the guards; “Dismissed” was heard. The guards complied and left the palace.
The driver exited the car and opened the door.
“This way, Sirs” The driver said, his voice was patient and kind, yet serious.
They entered. Other 2 were also in the luxurious car. Judging by their costumes, one was admiral, the other was field general.
“Good day, Mr. President.” The admiral said.
“Gentlemen.” Fenrir replied, extending his arm to shake hands with the admiral and general.
The same happened with Arceus.
“To the airport. As fast as possible.” The general gestured and the driver complied.
The gates opened and the car started moving, no external sound entered, the only sound was the sound of their voices.
After a short silence, after other security cars surrounded the limousine, they began.
“And what is this ‘new target’ we have found.” The general began.
“It is an inhabited planet, we will take it easily; I want in-depth study on this one, and no shots fired, until I say so. This planet holds a particular interest. Understood?” Fenrir replied
“But why, Sir? What could be so special?” The admiral asked, definitely curious of this particular interest. Generally, Fenrir would just take it.
“It’s classified. You will find out soon enough… With his consent.” Arceus said, gently pointing the president out.
“Hm? Yes. Indeed…” He was caught thinking. “Very soon, Very soon…”
“With what spaceship will we arrive there? A planetary destroyer, maybe?” The admiral asked, slight eagerness present.
“Arceus? Show him. Show him, with what we will arrive there….” Fenrir grinned.
Arceus gave him a scroll, which unwrapped itself, revealing a big screen which lightened up, showing a document. Across the text and data, a picture caught his eye. It was the picture of a ship represented one of the flagships the fleet has.
“Driver, in how much time will we arrive at the airport?” The general asked, slightly inpatient.
“I will have the answer in a moment, sir” the driver responded.
“A very interesting choice, Sir, but-”
“But?” Arceus replied while his majesty cocked his eyebrow.
“We will arrive in 30 minute” The driver answered.
“Thank you” The general replied. ‘Blessed be the imperial emergencies’ He thought. Returning to the conversation, he received the rolling pad. He chuckled silently.
“But this ship may still not be enough safety of the president” The admiral continued, picking his words carefully.
“This choice was made by him personally, I protested, but he did not redirect his decision.” Arceus responded.
“May I ask why was this type of ship chosen? As far as I know, we use this ship for global invasions. A single ship in an unknown territory is very risky, sir. There can be many enemies of the Union present there, sir.” The general seriously stated.
“You will see, you have to trust me. if my calculations are correct….” Fenrir said.
He paused as all three listened;
“This ship can win us a planet from attempt one.” He grinned devilishly, like an evil emperor…
***
‘No, I will not let this to happen. My subjects are not to be indoctrinated…’ Celestia thought, as she walked to the government’s main room, where all the politicians were, almost all of them. Lunar parties left, all of them.
Celestia advanced in the room, all the solar politicians were on their seats. Deafening silence that was in the room was threatened by the sun princesses’ hoof steps. She advanced in a hurry, though maintaining her composure, towards her second golden throne, and made little effort to make herself comfortable. She also noticed an Earth Pony, with grey coat, short, pitch black mane and tail, black irises, a cutie mark formed out of a crying eye in an open scroll and a feather pen positioned in an ink bottle and a serious composure. He knew way too well what will happen. He was the Prime Minister of Equestria, Social Policy. He was wearing a very formal suit, with her majesty’s symbol on his chest. He was glancing everywhere, waiting for reactions at the news.
She began. All ponies in the room knew what will happen, the guards defended the doors from the outside.
This was the very first emergency governmental meeting in Equestria. If the long past is forgotten.
“Mares and gentlecolts, I am assured that you all are aware of the new posing threat to our nation. I am assured and aware of the fact that all of you were in chaos as this emergency state came unannounced, as well as this meeting. But for those are not aware, let me inform you the reason this meeting this takes place: Nightmare Moon has returned.”
Some gasped and others remain still. Social Policy remained unmoved. He knew this.
“Yes. And this time, she has supporters, supporters willing to give their lives to what is they call freedom.”
More looked shocked, and the others were a bit shaken. But, Social Policy remained the same. He knew this also.
Yet, no one dared to speak.
“And as the situation was not bad enough, I was informed that all possible supporters of the moon, from politicians to simple ponies, were transported to the moon.”
Same result, even to Social Policy. Only that he chuckled silently.
Celestia glanced at him, obviously hearing the noise, but ignored it. Was he expecting this as well?
“But, the worst is yet to come. Yesterday, I was attacked by Nightmare Moon and two guards. The purpose of this attack was to terminate me, but this attempt failed. Later the same date, I was witness to a tragic event which ultimately lead to this emergency status.”
She made a short pause, to let the words sink in. Social Policy was curious, he suspected this will happen, but what tragic event lead to this? After the pause, she continued:
“The wielders of the Elements of Harmony, have Broken.”
Every single pony gasped and jaws dropped at this news. Social Policy was no exception. He stared in utter shock at her leader, unable to comprehend what was happening. He definitely did NOT expect this to happen. He was the third to know all about those elements and never ever thought such thing would happen.
“Y-your majesty, may I ask how this happened?” The voice of Social Policy accompanied by a combination of an accent from any sophisticate pony who lived in Canterlot and any simple pony who lived in Ponyville
Celestia stared and continued.
“Three of them were deceived by the moon’s lies, but it matters not now, as today I received a letter stating the independence of those ponies, calling their nation, presumably located on the surface of the moon, the New Lunar Republic. And finally, the letter ended with a threat that stated that my sun has ended. To be understood; it is a declaration of war”
Angry glares and hatred came towards Celestia, but she wasn’t the target. The republicans were.
“Now that you are all informed of the current situation, I will kindly ask Prime Minister Social Policy to explain the measure that were taken and are to be taken.” Celestia said, finishing her speech and making herself more comfortable on the cushions.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” He began.
“Dear colleagues, friends and patriots. Many measures were taken against this new threat. First of all, a silent mobilization of the army was made by the captain of the royal guards, with Her Majesty’s command. However, in parallel, another silent, more general preparation of the national army was made. However, its efficiency was limited since this preparation did suffered of tardiness, ultimately resulting at the events you heard earlier.
“Furthermore, the number of patrols has increased significantly in every city, particularly the cities of high importance, regardless the type of interest. The ‘Triple Legacy’ cities: Ponyville, Cloudsdale and Canterlot, are the ones that suffered most of those changes, as they are the most important cities.”
He made a deep pause, letting them understand what he was saying.
“For the social response plans; the population is to be informed and usage of counter influential weapon is to be allowed. The point of this act is to reduce to null all thoughts of more ponies moving towards the moon… And for the political aspect, I informed Her Majesty about my suggestion, however I have not received a response.”
“And what would your suggestion be, Mr. Policy?” One pony asked from the crowd sitting calmly, majority pleased with what they hear.
“My suggestion for the external policies was to inform all allied nations about the situation, and to pursue them to take proper measures, whereas this threat appears to have unpredictable traits or tactics. And for the internal policies, I recommend the national recognition of the name ‘Equestria’ is to be substituted with another name, to underline our situation, and not our allies nor us are to confused by the fact that we all are equestrians. The recommended name is The Solar Empire, provided of our current resources, policies, and territory we currently have. Article 424, in which Equestria allocates 100% of all disposable and unallocated resources to the military funding instead of civil service and civil society maintenance program, is to be signed as well.”
Some nodded, others were confused, and most thought deeper than ever.
After silence and silent chattering, Social Policy asked;
“Who accepts the terms suggested by now?”
343 Hooves out of 564 were risen.
“Who rejects the terms suggested by now?”
200 hooves risen.
“This being said, Your Majesty, we await your wisdom. Should those strategies pass and begin to take shape, or should they be changed.”
Celestia thought and thought, after 4 hours which were actually 1 minute of utter silence, Her Majesty spoke.
“Those strategies are to be applied, in the fasted possible time. And furthermore, Article 424 is to have its effect starting from today. Equestria has decomposed into a state of civil unrest and war. This situation will not be tolerated by us. Let the Solar Empire build a road towards a brighter future for us all.” Celestia said accompanied by a wave of applause, and signed the documents given by the Prime minister, including the Article 424. Celestia signed that one immediately.
‘May this end as it begun: fast…’ Celestia thought as she signed all the documents.
‘These, these lunatics… they will destroy everything…’ Social Policy said in his mind. Disgust was in his mouth.
***
“President On Deck!” Arceus announced.
Fenrir passed the self-opening white double door together with Arceus in a big, silver round room filled from sides to sides with computers and people working at those computers. In the middle there was an holographic projector showing a projection in three dimension, small enough not to overwhelm, but big enough to understand its details perfectly. It showed a planet and a moon, arrows pointing out in different points of both bodies, showing climate, natural life, and population among other details.
He glanced at a huge glass in front of the room, which had a considerable number of words and letters all colored in blue and red, filling the space just enough not to obscure the big picture of the scene: the infinite space and one planet with its satellite, decorated by the sun. A typical scene. Nothing else was around: no nebula, no ships, no nothing. Just them.
He then glanced a little at his rightful position of the bridge. It was a chair on the opposite side of the window. I was higher than the rest of the chairs.
He walked and went down the five stairs, ultimately reaching the glass. With just a thought his visor activated, filling his vision with the data in the same manner. This particular model was a military HUD, with just one lens on his right eye and a small body on his right side of his head. The planet was trapped in a green matrix, meaning that it could be taken in this moment. Arceus chuckled.
“We can take it now. Why not?”
The President smiled and turned around, targeting the throne of command. But then he went to stare to the hologram. Absorbing the data from this point of eternal information. He then returned to the glass where the Star Lord was standing.
He smiled and said: “Those who do not know the past are condemned to repeat it… I thought you knew past.” He said smiling.
“I know it, but they cannot do much, if any… and honestly, what else do you want to do with it?” Arceus responded realistically.
“You will see, we have to play this c-“
The ship had an earthquake as the room turned bright red, and as the moon exploded with dark energy.
*Warning: Ultra-High Energetic Discharge Detected!* The female voice of the ship snapped
“Begin scan. IMMEDIATELY!” Arceus snapped back at the ship.
*Commencing. Alert on Deck was activated.*
The bright red began to blink for a minute then it returned to normal. But everything that was digital and related to the planet, moon, and sun was jammed, letters and numbers changing chaotically; Whatever data they had on the planet was lost…
“What in the name of great goodness happened?” Fenrir asked, taken away by the explosion.
“Sir! It appears that the moon discharged itself with negatively charged energy.” The second in command responded, still recovering data.
“How is this possible?” Arceus said.
“Heh, now you believe me?” Fenrir responded.
Arceus gestured to the second in command to take distance and gather information, and so he did.
He got closer to the president, and whispered anxiously “You knew all along, did you?”
The president laughed silently; “You had no idea of this. But, this discharge can easily pose a threat to us. This is not your usual planet.” He whispered back.
Arceus gestured to the second in command and asked: “What are the options? Be. Honest.”
“Given the current received data, there 2 options, we further study from distance the event and the planet… or…” The second in command began.
“Or?” Arceus interrupted.
“Or we enter in invade the planet and its moon, conquer it, and ultimately study its effects up close. However, we will need time to whether assume total control over the local species. Second option recommended.” The second in command ended.
“Can it be done in this moment?”
“Yes, Sir.”
Arceus sighed and turned to the president of the union. “Fenrir? Your call: Save or Conquer?”
Fenrir glanced at the planet, the matrix was blue to red, to yellow, to green and again. The spherical form of the matrix changed constantly. Same with the Moon, just way more chaotically, the matrix could barely be a sphere. The trustworthy and faithful main capital assistance device (Or M.C.A.D.) has failed the president.
The decision was to be taken alone… Save Or Conquer?
Crisis at the Heart of Harmony
“Everything has a beginning. And everything has an ending.” Fenrir prophesized in their silence.
“Mr. President?” Asked the second in command.
Fenrir leaned to Arceus and whispered his intentions. This was the beginning of the end. A nod was given from Arceus to Fenrir in agreement to his intentions and he gestured to the Second in Command to go away. Fenrir then proceeded towards his private chambers afterwards, as he had to prepare to execute his grand plan.
“Attention hangar crew. Mr. President and the captain of the ship request a transport ship, security teams are requested as well. Estimated time of our arrival is ten minutes.” Fenrir read through his visor the message his friend sent him regarding on what the hangar crew received.
The President left the bridge. Further advancing to his destination: His private chambers. Through the silver hallways, his kind walked and saluted. From soldiers to engineers and other ranks and positions, he passed and saluted, from side to side and even dodge some of them. He walked and dodged until her arrived at his destination, his private chambers the door opened and revealed it
The chamber was not very big. A small room which had in the front a giant glass, revealing stars and stars and stars and stars. On the left there was a desk with a monitor on it, and a touchscreen keyboard which appeared to be incorporated in the desk. Sharper to the left, there was a simple bed. On the right there was a bookshelf that filled the wall until it abruptly stops because a television was filling the rest of the space, but the bookshelf still surrounded the television.
Fenrir has one intention. And that was to get to the computer. This particular computer has the sole role of helping him begin his plans. And he has a plan that was did not include the expected answer of his friend. He walked, slowly closing the distance between them. When he arrived and took a sit, he opened the computer by simply vocally commanding it.
And the computer responded.
*Good Day, Mr. President. What is your command?*
"Open copied classified folder: EQ.2.H4R.101.T3R." He commanded, his hands ready to press on the keyboard.
*Password required.* The computer revealed a box where the password was supposed to be written. The password was top secret and only personages of security access level-U are allowed to write it. Let alone that the computer had also other security systems, such as the keyboard responding only to specific fingerprints or voices. The computer could easily recognize the person writing, since it had a personal list of fingerprints, and based on that, it allow to user to either access the highest secured documents, or on the opposite: the user is not allowed to do anything on the computer.
Fenrir wrote the password instead of speaking it. Even though he was in a phonetically isolated room, it does not mean he could not be heard. He was very aware of the possible consequences this planet can have on his union.
*Done* The computer said instantly.
From here, through the documents and folders, Fenrir created a new folder titled ’Present times: 3865’. This folder was supposed to keep track of the events that will happen on this planet. After the folder was made, he took two pieces of paper, he took a pen and then he began writing. One began with ’Dear Princess of the Sun,’. The other began: ’Dear Princess of the Night,’
***
Nightmare moon walked through the streets of the republic, everypony cheering her return. Occasionally, “Our hero!” and “For the Republic!” alongside with other thousand different quotes could be heard. Lunar guards had her escorted to the castle.
The three ponies were astonished by these praises, not because they were towards their leader, but those were also towards them! They were never so praised their entire life.
“I have big plans for you, my little ponies. Your decision of joining the moons pure cause has greatly helped us in our effort. After to Emancipation, we have full independence from those foolish sun-loving faces, and we can free the ponies from the hallucinations the sun provides.” The princess of the night said.
“It was an honest decision.” Replied applejack, pride in her voice.
“There simply must be equality for ponies, not only in rights.” Rarity continued.
Fluttershy said nothing… she just walked, ignoring the crowd… just doing her best not to look shaken.
They walked until all four ponies and the guards were in the royal courtyard. One does not simply have the power to see how big the courtyard is. However it was decorated with statues, fountains, guards and even parks for the public. But the public entered and exited only though a single gate. Wait, parks? On the moon?
“Your Majesty? How come plants grow here?” Applejack asked dumbfounded.
“I have used a spell, to make the surface of the moon mimic the surface of our planet. Are you ready to prepare for you training, ponies?” Nightmare moon responded blankly.
“Training?” Rarity asked, a bit shocked.
“Training in the military arts. You have joined us, now you are one of us. A fighter for justice. But even fighters must be initiated. After all, you have the powers the Ancients gave you, wielders. Well? You may start later if you want, but, the sooner the better.” Nightmare moon responded, serious in her tone.
After minutes of silence, all 3 responded: “Yes.” “Let us begin.” “…umm, yes…”
“Very well, then…” She glanced and gestured at a team of three guards to come to her. They complied and when they arrived, they bowed deeply. Judging by their equipment, they were elites.
Pointing out the most decorated out of the three, a simple earth pony with a shining blue coat and turquoise eyes, she said;
“This is Crescent Sword, he is the captain of the royal guards, he will be your tutor.”
Turning her gaze at him she said;
“Take care of them, as if they were my own, understood?” She asked coldly.
“Yes, Your majesty.” Crescent replied.
“Follow him.” Nightmare moon said, then leaving with two royal guards for the palace.
“Shall we?” Crescent asked after raising with his guards.
The three ponies nodded and followed Crescent to a polar opposite site of the courtyard. By the time they were there, teams of 2 guards the least were everywhere. Tens of royal guards training with swords and spears, while unicorn guards trained in offensive, defensive and supportive magic. All groups of guards were directed by a captain, telling when, what and how to do what they were told. They were in the military wing, where justice prepares its swift acts and skills. They reached a building about the size of a gym. Near the door it was written, ’Newcomers and beginners’ .
This was the place for the three wielders, and as they entered, nothing could prepare for what was inside.
***
The sun was rising in Ponyville, and nothing happened special happens… except over one hundred guards that invaded Ponyville.
Twilight galloped at the chariot, surrounded by 20 royal guards, that also contained Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. The jumped in and yelled ; “MOVE!”. Today was the day.
The guards complied immediately, they set of for Canterlot. Spike was left to take care of the library.
“Twilight, why does princess Celestia has to see us again?” Rainbow dash asked, adrenaline taking her.
“Let’s read the letter again shall we?” Twilight responded. Clearing her throat, she began:
“My dearest student,
I hope that the current events in Ponyville did not affect you greatly, there is a matter of virtually infinite importance you, your friends and I have to discuss back in Canterlot.
All I can say is; the world needs you now.
The captain of the royal guards, Silver Point, will await you tomorrow in the morning in front of the palace.
Take care,
Princess Celestia”
“Wonder what this could mean, could it be?” Rainbow replied, frightened of the answer.
“We will know when we arrive there. Until then, we can only hope that what happened to the moon last night was just in our imagination…” Twilight responded.
Pinkie, who is generally exited, now was scared of the future ahead.
“Twilight?”
“Yes?”
“Will things be okay?”
“I-I…”
She also asked herself the same thing this morning, but the latest events contradict her hopes. Could harmony really be gone?
“I, don’t know…” Twilight finally responded, staring at the ground.
“Don’t worry both of you, we are in this together, event at worst.” Rainbow reassured.
“Thanks, Dashy.” Pinkie responded, her voice was getting better.
“Miss Sparkle!” A Pegasus guard yelled.
“Yes!” Twilight yelled back.
“We will arrive in Canterlot in a few minutes. I have to inform you that her majesty is slightly impatient, so when we arrive, I recommend you go at her straight away!” the guards yelled back.
“Yep, this is bad…” Twilight nodded.
“Princess Celestia is always patient, always… she never was impatient. Not with me, not with anypony. This can only be bad news.” Twilight continued.
Her two friends gave her an anxious stare.
“CANTERLOT, STRAIGHT AHEAD!” The captain boomed.
“Oh. My. Celestia.” Yelled the expression on their faces.
From the distance, Canterlot looked unchanged, but the closer they got the more armed it was… the more it looked like an impenetrable fortress.
They arrived at the royal palace, and from there they galloped towards the captain, who wasted no time to escort them to the princess. Speed was essential, and they galloped faster than ever, Rainbow dash flown at the same speed with them… which was considerably fast.
After galloping through the large hallways, they arrived at the throne room, and the doors opened slowly, revealing her majesty in an outfit that resembled, no… it WAS an entire golden armor slightly resembling the mare in the moon’ s outfit, but at the same time completely different. Golden gauntlets, long until her knees, full armor covering her entire body except the neck, head and legs. She was wearing her usual tiara, but at how the armor matched it, it suggested that it was a set, also, all of her body having a glowing white aura with rays of golden light occasionally bursting out from her armor like light reflected on her armor. Her face had a worried and serious form. She gestured the guards to leave, and the doors were closed by them.
“Twilight, we have very grave problems…” Celestia said grimly.
“What has happened to the moon, Princess?” Twilight asked desperately.
“The moon… has discharged itself with old, wasted and dark energy of nightmare moon accumulated during the time when she was imprisoned, with a new, more aggressive and evil energy. Ultimately, signaling that they want a horrible event to happen. They emancipated to prove that they want war.” She responded grimly.
“WHAT? Why is she doing this? Can’ t we just talk this out? Why is she lying?” Twilight was even more worried. Her mind was everywhere, Why is all this happening? Why the lies? Why the discharge? Why the betrayal?
Celestia shook her head;
“My student, for over 10 years I have tried to do this in a diplomatically manner, but it failed… It is not a ’she’. Is a ’them’, and I am not referring to your friends here.” Celestia responded coldly.
They of stared in anxiousness, confusion and surprise. What could she mean?
“Wh-Who is this ’they’, Your majesty?” Rainbow dash asked.
Celestia closed her eyes and spoke: “This ’they’ call themselves, the New Lunar Republic. And they are supporters of Nightmare Moon.”
They all gasped in shock.
“WHAT?” Rainbow dash yelled in shock.
“Yes, your friends are not the only ones lied to, unfortunately. there were more ponies than just three, however, the three of them are more important than the possible army she has.” She responded.
“But why is she lying?” Twilight asked, angrier by the minute because of what she hears.
“I have only one theory, to kill my will to lead and take over the throne with little effort of sustaining it. She believes that the population has the strength to overcome the government and that it is easily influenced. A simple, efficient and strong army with multiple impacts. ” Celestia responded flatly.
“But why are ponies against you?! How can they believe those big and stupid lies?” Rainbow said, already angry enough at what she hears.
“Yeah! You are one of the best princesses I have ever seen! If it wasn’ t for you, Ponyville would be nothing but a simple settlement!” Pinkie supported. “How can applejack be so, selfish?” She continued.
Celestia shook her head again;
“She is not selfish, she is deceived by the Mare in the Moon. Returning to Twilights question, my theory is that she also wants my will finished so that I can have taste of what she felt a thousand years ago. She wants revenge as well.” Celestia was saddened of what she just said.
“There must be something we can do against this! We cannot let you fall! We mustn’ t let something we don’ t want take over our nation and banish our good leader!” Rainbow dash echoed through the throne room.
Pinkie and Twilight agreed loudly.
Celestia fought the tears forming inside he, for what she was about to ask them, was completely opposite to Rainbow’ s description.
She took a deep breath and-
“We must join the army!”
“What?” Twilights and Rainbows voices asked.
“We must join the army! What didn’t you understand? What else we can do for the princess?” Pinkie pie asked sarcastically.
Celestia’s stare leaked fury but quickly regained composure. Sighed and then delivered another stare that rivals even those most petrifying. This is it. The ponies winced slightly at such stare and were confused and also slightly scared, at least on the outside. On the inside, all three ponies were dead locked in panic. After one minute of awkward silence, Twilight asked innocently:
“Princess? Are-Are you alright?” After a dead silence from their princess, and anxiety rising in the air;
“No, Twilight, I am not. You three are unaware of the dangers you are putting yourself into.” Celestia spoke with a frost that if it was physical, would freeze the blood out her student. Twilight never saw this side of her.
“But princes-“
“No, Twilight. None of you do realize what you are putting yourself into. The military service is, contrary to popular belief, the most terrifying experience a pony could have in his or hers life, especially in a war. I cannot guarantee much if you join the army, on the contrary. I cannot guarantee your safety nor your return, either. All I can guarantee is that when you enter, after a little time you will be marked for life or more precisely: traumatized from what you may see on the field.” Celestia responded coldly and darkly, purposely putting accent on the word.
As much as she wanted, she cannot ask them to join the army, on the opposite. She doesn’t want to lose them, not because they are the wielders, but because they are simple volunteers with innocent lives.
“We don’t care! We have won so many wars, we cannot simply stand aside when we can do something!” RD said, determination was in her blood now.
The other two agreed harder, but agreed nonetheless.
She drifted down her throne and switched gaze to a window, and moving towards it. Upon arriving, she stared at the outside, then switching gaze to the three ponies on her left.
“I will allow you 5 minutes to rethink, this decision is not to be taken on spot, you will tell me after 5 minutes. Discuss… my honest opinion is that you should not join, but let my opinion not influence yours.” Celestia finally responded, colder than ice.
“But-“ Rd tried to reply only to be cut off;
“Discuss! Those five minutes are to be used to the fullest.” The alicorn’ s glare was burning fire for Rainbow Dash.
'Please, let them change their mind…’ The princess thought full of hopes. After all, she equally high chances that this would or would not happen
After 5 eternal minutes; they spoke, louder than ever;
They will join the army.
“Are you sure?”
“Ye-“ Twilight was cut off
“Your majesty, an emergency letter has arrived.” The guard galloped and bowed, left the letter and left the room, closing the door.
Celestia opened the letter. It wasn’t a scroll. A simple rectangular paper case. She saw those things long time ago.
When she read the very first words; ’Dear Princess of the Sun,’ she stopped reading and turned her gaze towards the three ponies. It couldn’t be something so important, it could wait a minute, right?
“It is your last warning, should you join the army and risk your lives or should you return home and live your lives as usual. This decision will change your life forever.”
The wielders did not waste time, they looked at each other and responded with a determinate gaze;
“We will fight!” All three said in unison.
Celestia frowned, mentally.
“Very Well, then. Unfortunately, because of my duties, I cannot and will not be able to train you, the captain of the royal guards will.” The alicorn responded.
Her horn glowed slightly, and guards lead by Silver Point entered.
“Yes, Your Majesty?” The captain asked blankly.
“Take those three mares through the military training, now.” Celestia commanded.
[Be gentle, but harsh, if possible harsher than softer… They are the wielders of the Elements of Harmony, I do not want to lose them on the battlefield.] Celestia spoke telepathically in the mind of the captain.
He nodded and left with the three complying mares and two guards.
She then turned her gaze at the letter. Skim reading a legitimate amount of words, she found out someone wanted to make a visit to Canterlot. Could this be a scheme of the NLR? She continued reading the letter until she reached the end. She froze on her greaves… For what was written, was not to be mentioned anywhere in Equestria, and at the same time, it woke up a part of her mind that was supposed to be exiled forever.
The letter ended as ’Most sincere regards, President of the Galactic Democratic Sauria; Fenrir GoldenGod.’
’The letter consisted of a visit? Then a visit they will have. And it will be one they will remember.’ Celestia thought as she rallied her royal secretary to make the preparation.
Tears Of The Sun
Nightmare Moon walked in her private room. She walked through the dark blue hallways, decorated with flags of a winged crescent moon and a star on top of a needle which was located on the middle of the crescent moon, guards, and eventually pillars. She walked until she arrived at two huge blue doors, with their symbol on the middle of each. She opened the door and she immediately located humanoid entity sitting on a chair, waiting.
The entity was a green scaled creature, with large lizard eyes, sharp teeth, claws on top of the five extensions what was known commonly as ‘hands’, and a long, thin tail. He was wearing a uniform, maybe? It was a style foreign to her, whatever it was wearing, he surely looked like a prophet. This was Salzar. An representing prophet sent from an alien species as a sign of their support for their cause. He represented the Reptilian Empire; The strongest species in the Universe, if his words spoke truth. And Nightmare Moon had no reason to doubt. While she did not see the technology herself, she saw some guards and came to a simple conclusion: Do not fight them.
“Good night, Nightmare Moon.” Salzar spoke in an amused tone.
“Good night, Salzar.” Nightmare moon responded.
“You received a letter, from ‘The President of the Galactic Democratic Sauria’. This person is the leader of military activity in the Universal Council, it letter states that he desires to make a visit.” Salzar said, again half amused of the content of the letter.
Nightmare Moon did not see the letter herself, but she knew that that name was not Equestrian. An alien species wishes to join their cause? She could not let this opportunity disappear. She did not waste time.
“And how shall we prepare for this visit?”
“Just do as I told you, and everything will be alright. If everything will go as planned, you-“
“We will have the firepower to get our freedom!” Nightmare cut off the reptilian.
He made a heavy sigh in frustration; “Yes, now I will make a list of things that must be done regarding his visit. It must be understood that a failure in such visit, will result a dramatic downfall in firepower for you and your republic.” Salzar continued.
“I know, how and when should we begin?” The night queen asked, eager to start.
“We will start in a few minutes, just let me do the list and I will return. When I return we will begin. In the meantime, if you want, inform your population, for this will be grand.” Salzar responded as he left the private chambers.
“So be it.” Nightmare responded, leaving the room and announcing her population, they simply had to know about this.
***
“When shall we depart? From what I see though the screen, they are preparing. They should be ready by the time we get there.” Arceus said, making a co-analysis between his visor and the Selsius. The visors’ lens was different from Fenrirs, as his is be blue, Arceus’ is red. Of course, the color is a matter of choice, and it could be easily modified from the settings.
After a few seconds of thinking; Fenrir responded.
“Meet me in the hangar in 2 minutes. We are about to make a diplomatic visit.” The president said as he departed.
“Ok. Nervous?” Arceus asked, but Fenrir did not respond. Maybe he did not hear?
He was looking at a city that was on the largest mountain apparently. He saw ponies everywhere, all types of colors, all types of species: unicorns, Pegasus, earth pony, and an alicorn.
‘For the first time, all of us have the chance to see what the universe was supposed to be like with our own eyes. Fenrir knows this. And he also knows that this will have a feeling a particular frightening when he will meet her. Let’s hope that the forgotten past; Destiny did let it pass. ’ Arceus thought, as he made final notes with his mind on the visor.
It appeared that this civilization was not so advanced. No machinery was seen, no weapons, no planes, nothing that Arceus could classify as ‘technology’. Just swords and golden armor. Then something caught Arceus’ eyes; were they levitating something? This couldn’t be. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Fenrir will have a surprise.
‘Maybe we have underestimated them. Damn past will never go away. It seems the past evolves into the future.’ He then ultimately turned around and began walking for the hangar.
“Second in command, in control!” Arceus spoke when he finally passed the door.
Passing through the door, Arceus walked at an alert pace, although the world gave him all the time, his mind did not, and neither did his recent discoveries. He just had to arrive at the hangar. He gestured to two imperial guards to escort him to the hangar. His walking, his face, and his tone were breaking the militaristic march of his steps by occasionally commanding “Clear The Hallway!”. The closer he was the faster he walked. The guards were keeping up with him. He walked, dodged and commanded until he arrived. Two door opened by themselves and released vision on the hangar bay four.
The hangar bay had the form of a half cylinder, with the cross sectional area having the radius of 500 meters, and a length of an approximation of 5 kilometers, blinding lights were set in a straight line, and their symbol hung on flags on the side of the launch pad. Millions of containers, saurians and planes of all types were scattered around the hallway. Loud voices, the sound of engines and containers sometimes clashing invaded the ears of the well suited Starlord.
He took little time in examining the hangar as he went to the right, along with the guards, this time even at a faster pace than earlier but, nonetheless kept its pace. Entering a teleporter, he reached the destination, the prepared transport.
“Starlord! Sir!” A random engineer appeared.
“Yes? Make it short please. I have to see the president urgently.” Arceus responded in his serious tone.
“Sir, the transport preparation suffers a setback, it is a setback of 5 minutes.” The engineer reported.
“Alright, but hurry. We have important meetings to attend.” Arceus responded in the most serious tone he could find.
“At once, Sir!” The engineer then dashed to the ship to finish it.
The Starlord spied with his eye for someone in particular. His closest and oldest comrade, President Fenrir. Seeing him advance was a sign of relief, as there was less time wasted searching for him.
“Everything alright? You look a bit moved.” Fenrir asked worried.
Arceus shook hands with him and spoke; “Yes, I have some… interesting, news for you.” After this, he gestured the guards to leave.
Noticing this, Fenrir turned his gaze into a serious one: “What happened?”
“The local species have the ability to levitate objects.” Arceus answered.
“What? Are you serious? Like, really serious?” Fenrir was shocked indeed of the news. Arceus sent him a few pictures through his visor. After Fenrir examined them, it was clear he was worried.
“Not in my wildest dreams, I could imagine they have these powers, I heard legends, but I never thought it was real. Let’s keep an eye on them. Who knows what surprises they may still have.” Fenrir said, his azure eyes speaking only words of worry.
Arceus, then decided to change the subject to something more imminent: “Are you ready? We are about to enter a world of which we can either learn much, or lose much. Whenever you are ready, we are ready.” Arceus said, as he showed the armed forces that will escort him on the planet.
After thinking for a while, he sighed, responded and stared into his comrades eyes:
“The past will never go away, for those that mean good, they carry its sins. Let’s go. Let’s see what fate has prepared for us, and let’s see if we agree with it, or we overthrow it.” Fenrir responded. And he entered the ship, all of them entered the ship, waiting for the lift off to harmony happen.
***
Everything was in place. The sun’s rays were piercing through the grey clouds. There was total silence. Everypony was in their positions. Anything but a whisper of a wind was made.
Celestia was never so serious, in fact, she could melt diamonds with her glare. That’s why no pony dared look her in the eyes, question her orders or even ask what is going on. Naturally, the whole city found out, and it wasn’t much time until the rest of the cities in equestria knew also. Cloudsdale was keeping an eye out for unusual flying objects, while Ponyville was crawling with guards and guardians. There was total secrecy when it came to the other nations, they will know in due time. Right now, she has to focus on the imminent alien activity. She hoped for the best of the best, especially that they had peaceful intentions. If they had peaceful intentions, it will be Celestias job to make them understand what is going on, without destroying the planet.
In the Royal quarters; there was total silence. Nothing dared move. There was literally nothing living there, except plants. No guards, no gardeners, no politicians. The wind was ever so whispering through the trees, forcing the chattering of their leaves to break the silence. Every single very important pony was in the front, while the rest were given a day off, since the princess knew that this will be a detailed visit, castle included. Celestia made sure that the palace was at least twenty times more presentable than the Great galloping gala. Only occasional guards were seen, defending the important wings and rooms of the palace, but they were scarce and the majority were in the front, containing the crowd. However, despite their stone faces on the outside, on the inside there were ponies like anyone else.
In front of the palace, the crowds of ponies were controlled by the guards, so that no panic would be installed. As controlled as they were, the mixture of feelings that surrounded them was untouched. Some were awestruck as if a Superpony was coming, other scared for their lives, and others curious of their appearance and technology. The city was in total control, no general panic installed because the guards were more present in the city rather than the palace. All this silence made Twilight and her friends more anxious than ever, even though Twilight was dying to know of their technology and basically every-single-thing-related-to-alien-activity. But, in truth, no pony could knew what will happen. When they will arrive here, in the heart of their homeland. It can be salvation or extinction for them.
Every pony in front of the palace formed a semi-circle that surrounded the entry gates that led to the palace doors. Celestia was standing in front of the door that led into the palace, while at her left the closest were Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie together with a few guards and on her right, Twilight, Social Policy and another set of guards were emplaced. Silver Point was sent to ensure every guards was doing his or her job and check if everything is in place and no special activity was happening. Even though this was aliens visiting them, she knew this was still war time
And then a peculiar spark of light in the sky shone on the Celestias eyes. She knew that light was not natural, therefore it was them. They arrived. The peculiar shape of the supposed transporter was approaching the Canterlot, cutting the air through its metal shape. Celestias face suddenly changed. It no longer was one of seriousness, but one of great contempt. Twilight saw this, and she suddenly felt nothing more of her anxiousness and curiosity. She felt worried. Why was Celestias face suddenly one of contempt? The transporter landed at around five hundred meters from the palace entry.
This was it.
*5 Minutes earlier*
In the transporter, the President, the admiral and the guards were all ready to enter Equestria.
“Arrival in 5 minutes. Hope you guys are ready, intel tells me they seem to be really prepared, guards containing unarmed looking ponies. And the leader, a big winged and horned horse with the rainbow hair is waiting at what seems to be the palace entry. Radar-checked around the palace as well. Nothing out of order. Good luck, wolves.” The pilot spoke through the radio at the waiting saurians.
[You ready?] Arceus asked telepathically.
“What we will find there, will be something that will look primitive compared to us. No real technology can be seen on this planet. But even though they are not advanced technologically, they have managed to achieve something that nobody managed to do. And that is social harmony. We seek that harmony. But this harmony is rare and this one, right here, is plagued by a civil war. We are here to ensure that this harmony will remain unharmed. So let us see what lies before this very door. Be ready, my fellow saurians. For we are about to enter the social utopia you were long promised.” Fenrir said to Arceus and to the rest of the elite guards.
“Yes, sir!” The guards responded.
“You know? For the very first time we find a species that is non-affiliated to anything outside our galaxy and the Universal Council Galaxies. This surely is special. I hope we can establish stable relations with them.” Arceus said to Fenrir.
[Me too.] He replied blankly.
The ship then landed. “This is it, wolves. Good luck out there and be careful.” The pilot said and the front door slowly opened.
***
Celestia was anything but calm. Her face was showing a great level of self-control, but beyond the stone mask, there was an entire storm of emotions. She had to play this carefully, she couldn’t miss this once in a lifetime opportunity.
As the door from the transporter opened, it revealed nothing but 2 individuals that stood in from a group of guards. The group evenly split by the flanks, their supposed weapons being ready to be pointed. In the meantime, Twilight was asking herself why do they look like they are in battle positions. They were medieval compared to the aliens, so why be like this? To protect the group leader, even though it looked like he was wearing the most plated armor she may have seen in her entire life?
The group leader was wearing a black armor with white lines that were symmetrically spread in contrast with runes that appeared to be in a language that was not equestrian. It also had big shoulder plates slightly reaching over half his head, and occasional and discrete electricity was travelling around the body armor. He also had a cloak but if was equally divided in three black, dark blue edged, rectangles. One on his left back, one on his right back, and one in the middle of the back. All extending down to his feet, but the middle one reached first.
While Twilight was studying the armor and the equipment of the aliens with hardly controlled eagerness, Celestia was studying the appearance of the leader and his supposed assistant. He was wearing an black, elegant, military uniform with a sword on his right and platinum shoulder plates and vertical stripes of onyx on each of his sides. A long, black cloak could be seen from his back. His fur pattern was similar to the leaders, except that his face was covered in white fur instead of only a half. His eyes were similar to the presidents, but they were sky blue to white instead of royal azure.
Judging by how the alien guards were behaving, Celestia knew what will follow after the eternal silence that entered in the city. This wasn’t a matter of winning someone on their side. The president was staring and looking together with his assistant at the city. They looked more serious than before. This was bad Their expressions alone yelled that if they fail, it’s all over not only for them, but for others as well.
And then, the alien leader looked at Celestia. Much to Celestias surprise, he gave an honest smile and began walking towards the palace entry, guards surrounding them enough not to invade their private space. The group was walking in the same manner as the president: calm, yet enthusiastic pace. Incredibly enough, she could identify his interest by his walking and the way he looked at the houses around him, even smiling to some civilians. Not even his accidently bare fangs, which it were supposed to be hidden, did not affect the mixture of curiosity, happiness and pure cheer in Celestia’s heart.
The Front guards again dispersed evenly on the left and right, positioning at the level of the ponies by crawling. But the president and the other one did not stop until they were in front of Celestia. She realizing that all the wolf-man had approximately the same height as her. And after extending his arm he spoke.
“Good day. I am President Fenrir Goldengod of the Saurian Intergalactic Democratic Union. It is an honor to meet you in person, Your majesty. I have been long waiting for this moment to happen, and it appears that we finally have chance to meet. I sincerely hope that we can establish a peaceful and prosperous relation between our kinds, despite our racial differences.”
Celestia smiled at his statement. She extended her hoof and then they shook them. Palm to hoof.
“No, Mr. President. It is our greatest honor and privilege to have the chance to be visited by us. Let us have the relations we both desire, for our nation and for our subjects or population. I am more than eager to cooperate with you for the future of our civilization, and sincerely hope for the best in our road to peace.” Celestia replied.
And then she was spelled by this pair of azure eyes. They reassured Celestia. It was nothing to worry about when she was looking at them. They hosted sincerity, serenity and kindness rarely politicians she met had. They ensured her that this will be a good meeting. One that will help her subjects. Those eyes made Celestia calm. Those eyes made Celestia feel like any problem could be resolved. This eyes made Celestia feel safe in their embrace.
After making a tour of the palace, the group entered a big room with a big, circular, bed with red covers and golden support. He also saw a balcony entrance, that should be how she checks her city. Fenrir paid little attention to the room but he spotted a small table with cushions on one side and a very comfortable looking chair on the other. On the table there was a bottle of water, and two refined glasses, assisted by a plate of royally assorted fruits. By the looks of it, Fenrir deduced that this is a private chamber, namely, her private chamber. Celestia used her horn to pull the chair away from the table so that the president could stand. This reminded him of his friends warning back at the ship.
“Shall we?” Celestia asked Fenrir gently.
“Of course.” Fenrir said, turning to Arceus, he continued.
[I will meet you at the ship.] He transmitted. Arceus nodded and left the room, the door was closed, leaving the two alone.
Fenrir approached the chair, and took his sit; while Celestia took hers.
And then they began. After a uniquely pleasant conversation, regarding the species, traditions, and such, Fenrir brought an inevitable question. It was time to find out about what is happening in this supposed utopia.
“May I ask how much it took you, Equestrians, to bring your species to full colony on the moon?” Fenrir began, with a slight tone of easiness.
Celestia frowned; she knew this was inevitable. The point of lying was worthless, and she needed support; in the great war that she was fighting. She had no choice but to tell him. To tell him the truth about the New lunar republic; and their reasons for war. It is the moment of truth.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t intended in sending ponies to the moon…” Celestia began, her tone being serious, showing no hints of other emotions. She glared at Fenrir, and he realized. It seemed that Fenrir was curious and slightly worried by the answer, so he has slowly leaned towards Celestia, trying to give a comfortable air to the princess. He could not back down now.
“What has happened?”
Celestia realizing his intentions, she closed her eyes and shifted her head to the right. “I have sins… sins that returned to haunt me and my subjects.”
Fenrirs ears were pointing to the sky, catching every single sound. It is of utmost importance to know what happened, as his sense of fairness demands. He did not let silence hung in the air. After a short pause, he continued asking.
“Those sins you speak of… Can I know of them, Princess?” Fenrir asked in a curiously, picking his words carefully.
Princess Celestia took a deep breath and explained barfly, clearly and fully the rise of the Nightmare moon, one thousand years ago. She did not omit any detail. Why would she? In contrast, Fenrir’s reactions were mixed: from curiosity he ended up in confusion, alongside with the remains of assurance and anger within him; as he recalled what he just heard. His facial expression showed little change, however, his eyes were more revealing. It showed… contempt? Could she actually win his trust? After little time, he spoke:
“Let me summarize this: This pony, the ex-co-ruler of Equestria and your younger sister: Princess Luna, because of her jealousy or envy, she turned into a creature of the night: known as Nightmare Moon. With black coat, dragon and turquoise eyes, and a blue mane and tail that represent the stars and that it flows seemingly at random, has returned to bring eternal night over your nation and ultimately take over the throne and seize the royal crown for herself. Moreover, an interesting turn of events happened; this pony has supporters that want the same thing: Eternal Night and this mare in the moon as their sole ruler.” Celestia nodded silently and Fenrir continued.
“And the only chance to take down threat, in a clean manner, is to use the artifacts known as the Elements Of Harmony. However, the wielders were separated by presumably the words of Nightmare Moon. Even with the power of friendship tying them up, three ultimately left you and the other three wielders remained with you.” Fenrir stopped for confirmation.
“Indeed. It seems you understand situation pretty well, Mr. President.” Celestia said smiling. Fenrir smiled back and continued.
“Thank you.” He replied and continued speaking.
“From what else I understood is that these supposed ‘lunar ponies’ who are supporters of Nightmare Moon, declared both war and independence under the name of the New Lunar Republic. Technically forcing you to change your nations name to The Solar Empire in the attempt signaling the world that Equestria has a civil war, and also cutting the possibility of both of you being seen politically as one nation. Did I miss something out?”
“No, you did not. I am impressed, Mr. President. Generally, the situation is complex enough to confuse most ponies.” Celestia said smiling slightly.
“Let’s just say that I have a fast understanding of events. It’s all in the experience” He chuckled.
Fenrir, who heard the story fully, was not very sure what to think of what he said, after this conversation, and after what Celestia said she has done, she to be seen as a tyrant? His glare could not be moved away from the white alicorn who was still watching her hooves, was she fake crying? Was she saying the truth? In Fenrir’s eyes, a civil war could be the most desperate act of rebellion a civilian could make against their ruler. Maybe, Celestia lying to him? He has heard only one side of the story. No time to waste.
“I should leave, it is getting late. My apologies.” Fenrir said responded.
“I understand. Although, I am curious on how will you leave the planet.” Celestia responded puzzled.
“I have my own methods, Your Majesty. Farewell, Princess. We shall meet again, when the time comes. And I offer you my promise of bringing peace through a collective effort.” Fenrir spoke as soon. He raised from the chair and dissipated into a beam of light, ultimately disappearing from the room.
‘I hope your are right, Fenrir. Although, I hope your title precedes you. I hope you are different.’ Celestia thought coldly.
The thoughts of chaos and civil that can threaten the ponies on this land have returned to disturb her. All the pressure in her heart now migrated to her mind. Her hard, frozen and cruel sense of tactic was fighting her caring, warm and yielding self. An eternal battle waged over by the recent events. It was a battle that tore Celestia apart. She could not just do nothing against the rebellion. It would mean dead ponies. She could not just give up her crown for peace. It would mean oppressed ponies. And she could not kill the rebel leader. It would mean not only scared ponies, but a broken leader. No. A broken bigger sister.
‘Why is the world so cruel and full of consequences?’ Celestia thought to herself as poured a glass of water.
‘I should have been a maid!’ She chuckled as she drank some water. She then slowly moved towards the balcony with the glass of water levitating. She stared in contempt at the moon, with a sudden realization.
‘May peace find you, my little sister. Help is on the way. I promise I will banish you from the curse you were inflicted with, even with the ultimate sacrifice.’
Ch. 5: Undercover of Night
Undercover of Night
With the visit on the planet finished, Fenrir now had another problem on his hands back at the ship. Meeting with his friend in the command room, an atmosphere of pressure greeted him. Arceus made no effort to hide the reason and began speaking directly.
“Fenrir, there were recent sightings of three unknown ships. We eliminated them as soon as they did not respond to any of our communication efforts. Judging by the sizes and numbers of ships, we catalogued them as raider squadrons. Though their origins are unknown, we believe they were pirates.”
Fenrir, who just came back for the visit to the moon, now faced a crucial decision. To either continue the visit to the moon or postpone it, though it will most likely be a forfeit. Because the situation was bleaker than it looked. There was no way any ship could enter these coordinates unless someone gave it to them. Not only they were the most secret coordinates that were unrelated to the Saurian Union, but also those coordinates were lost. Not the black market, not the deepest archives of the highest possible authority in the universe had them and not even their own archives. Fenrir, who only saw these lines of code decades ago, had them written on a piece of paper and kept it closest to him and Arceus only. It was a heritage of the past. Should this heritage be known by unsafe hands, it could mean disaster for the local species. With so much secrecy from both of them regarding the subject; How did those ships receive the coordinates in the first place? There were only two answer in the presidents mind.
“I see. And how much time did those ships stay in the sector? And more importantly, how much resistance did they have in terms of firepower and combat experience?” Fenrir asked, his gaze meeting his friends eyes with unmatched seriousness.
“They did not last more than fifteen minutes in the sector, with a 5 minute fight. They had an impressive non-combat equipment: Tier III visual cloaking devices, comet-class afterburners, adaptive shields, excellent maneuverability and also discrete jammers. They were loaded with Flak cannons Mark IV and Plasma cannons Mark V and Tadeus-Class Missiles. Above average equipment, and judging from the way they fought, I believe they were something more than just some ordinary pirates. They did have military experience, as they proved it from their own maneuvers during combat.” Arceus responded, cold in his voice.
‘Tier III Cloaking devices, Saurian equivalent being the Phantom class: Illegal and unobtainable for the civil society. Military Standard issue in the Universal Council army for advanced recon missions, to see such a thing you need something to augment your vision. Comet-Class afterburners: Legal and obtainable. These are used by mostly skilled racers and are too dangerous to be used by non-professional racers. Adaptive shields…’ Fenrir temporarily broke his line of analysis.
“How were the adaptive shields?” The president asked.
“They were slightly above average adaptive shields. Cargo analysis suggests that it was Class III; damaged, mind you. When we analyzed it, we compared with one first-hand example and they were weaker. And you know those shields have an awfully large span.” Arceus responded as he looked at the sector landscape, searching for anything out of the common letting Fenrir back to his trail of thought.
‘And the discrete jammers are the surprise here. Illegal punishable with one of the five ultimate penalties if you are see carrying it anywhere and you do not have authorization. Top military class jammer; the black market forces can’t reach this thing unless it makes a mini war with the defenses of the bases where it is held. These jammers are do not damage the signal of anything, but it hides and deletes all the possible signals a ship could have, as if it wasn’t there at all. You need a special type or radar for that. And that radar is harder to get than the jammer itself.’ Fenrir chuckled at the thought.
‘As for the armament; it seems they were quite prepared. Flak cannons to blast the interceptors away and plasma cannons to inflict strong damage from long range. Tadeus-Class missiles: Anti-Capital missiles. Used by missiles frigates to cripple the command ship of the fleet and also greatly damage the hull of any capital ship with a rather weak hull. Again, illegal and unobtainable except through black market. No surprise on that… the missiles are not as defended as they may look, compared to the rest of the equipment.’
‘Damn... That much equipment on just one ship would mean those have to be smuggled all-purpose H-class ships. Heavily armed, damn fast and agile AND equipped with military equipment that black market barely if at all have? I don’t like this. Either these pirates have an insider. Or they were not pirates.’ Fenrir revealed mentally.
“Arrange a meeting with the line of command on this ship in a few hours on the subject of recent events. The meeting with the New lunar republic can wait. Send in scouts throughout the sector and keep me up to date with everything regarding non-friendly activity. Don’t let anything unsupervised.” Fenrir commanded and then left the bridge for his private chambers.
And as Arceus was carrying out the orders, a thought ran through his head: ‘Wait. New Lunar what?’
***
“Hey, Twilight?” A whisper talks in the darkness lightened by the moonlight.
The darkness responds with murmurs.
“Twilight. Wake up.”
“mmmgh. What? It’s twelve midnight, Rainbow. We have to sleep. Tomorrow we are going to train.” Twilight finally woke up to respond, showing little effort to hide her annoyance.
“Where’s Pinkie Pie?” Rainbow asked silently. And after a moment of silence…
“Hi!” Pinkie chirped.
“SHHHHH! Pinkie! Quiet!” Twilight
“Oops. Sorry.” Pinkie responded.
“So. How about a walk in the middle of the night?” Rainbow dash offered.
“Are you crazy? In the middle of the night? In a military base? What are trying to do, Rainbow? Get us into trouble?” Twilight asked, she really wanted not to have this conversation.
“C’mon, Twilight. A short one. Nothing bad will happen. We have military training. We can do this. Plus, I can’t sleep. And I thought you may like it.” Rainbow argued.
“I’m for it.” Pinkie responded.
“Pinkie! Don’t you want to sleep?” Twilight asked desperately.
The military training was very intense for her particularly. While she enjoyed magic lessons, if she could call it ‘enjoyment’, don’t even get her started on the physical exercise. She was ‘the adorkable bookworm’ as the soldiers mocked. Al books and no sports; this is how they saw her. Despite her friends protests and comfort, she felt left out. Having an entire military training camp mocking you was not the best thing somepony could ask for. The good thing is that the magic section of the camp ‘worshipped’ her for her talent. Although she was undergoing in a different training procedure, in her free time she sometimes offered to help other soldiers who could not do that spell. There weren’t many friends to make here either. Possibly because of the civil war affecting everypony.
“The punishments are huge if you try to sneak out. I can’t let you go. What if you get into trouble? What then?” Twilight insisted.
“They won’t find us. Some of us have special physical training.” Rainbow said proudly.
“And other have special magic training! Come on Twilight, it will be fun!” Pinkie exclaimed silently.
“Which are partially complete. Sorry but no. And that is final. I am not going to put myself into a broken body tomorrow because you want to have fun and feel adrenaline. And neither do I want to face the ‘court’ of this place either.” Twilight finally responded as she turned around and tried to go to sleep.
“Suit yourself.” Rainbow dash said as she went down, opened the window and waited for pinkie pie.
“Night Night, Twilight!” Pinkie said as she jumped out the window.
“Yeah, good night. We’ll be back in no time. Promise.” Rainbow said after sending a short gaze to her friend and then after leaving the room, she closed the window silently.
And so they left. Rainbow dash and Pinkie pie left for a simple walk outside the base. Leaving Twilight to her sleep. But what they did not know is that Twilight, at the moment they left the room, she woke up from her bed and glanced at her two friends.
***
Rainbow dash and Pinkie Pie had a simple objective: to go outside the base without making any noise, have a walk in the Canterlot Public park. They had the night on their side and with their military training should let them pass with ease. So they began.
Together, they sneaked at the side of the pavement, between bushes and went behind high objects so that they stayed hidden. Rainbow dash could not fly, since she would be discovered in a second from her position and pinkie could not jump since she would be discovered in a second from the noise. So they walked slowly and sneaked cleverly. Shooting glances at every corner they were. Left and right, no activity? Go. They repeated the action many times. Staying hidden in the bushes when a couple of guards passed by, controlling their breathing so that they will not be heard. Fighting their negativity, so that they do not quit their mission.
They continued and proceeded with such tactics until they reached the exit of the base. Guarded by two ponies in the inside and two on the outside, they needed a different plan.
“Ok. We made it this far. No backing down now. Any plan, Pinkie?” Rainbow asked as silent as the night.
“Let me see. We can’t get through them, they will see us. We can’t jump the wall, they will see or hear us. We can’t sneak either, they can get us. What is we use a transport?” Pinkie looked around for a minute and she saw a caravan of supplies.
“That.” She said pointing at the caravan. “That can help us get through them. It’s a caravan of supplies, maybe it goes outside?”
“Pinkie, that caravan has ponies loading of the supplies. How are we supposed to get through them?” Rainbow asked dumbfounded.
“Oops, didn’t see them sorry.” Pinkie smiled sheepishly.
“What’s worse is that they won’t any earlier than tomorrow either. If only Twilight was here.” RD sighed.
After a few minutes of looking everywhere, they realized they didn’t plan this all the way through. Both sighed silently and started to return to their rooms.
“Not yet.” A familiar voice objected.
Suddenly, the two ponies were in the Canterlot park. They were surprised, but they were more happy when they turned around and they saw a familiar ‘adorkable bookworm’ figure behind them, smiling.
“Twilight!” Both exclaimed as they ran to hug her.
“But how? Didn’t you say you wanted to sleep?” Rainbow dash asked confused.
“I decided that sometimes I have to put my friends interests before mine, especially when they are doing crazy stuff and possibly get in trouble. So I decided to follow you. You were good. I barely caught you.” Twilight responded happy.
“Oh, Twilight. Without you we would not have some fun! You are not even the bookworm they say you are.” Pinkie exclaimed smiling.
Twilights response was a stare. “Hey!”
“Sorry! Didn’t mean to.” Pinkie smiled sheepishly again and RD laughed.
“Alright I have a watch. We have two hours of a walk. Then I would want us to go back and get some sleep, since the training is, you know… hard.” Twilight suggested.
Her friends agreed to stay two hours in the park. They never had a real break from the training and the rules inside the training base. So they had a relaxing walk in the park. And they lay down under a tree. Away from the stress. Until a question that was stressing Twilight out finally broke out:
“Hey, Girls? Do you think we will make it out? Alive?”
RD and Pinkie pie looked at each other. From the looks of it, they were also asking the same question themselves. It was a big question. Odds are that they may not make it out alive and be killed by some lunatic. It was a war, after all. Ponies die sometimes of unknown reasons. There were so many ways to die in a war that it was overwhelming. Bleeding out, poisoned with some plant, cut with a sword, killed with destructive magic, physical death like broken parts of the bodies being hit hard. Anything could happen. Ant just the question alone stroke fear in Twilights heart. But she would not quit. She would not disappoint her mentor. That is, if she did not disappoint her already. After a period of silence, one pony spoke.
“You know what? Whatever happens, it happens. We can’t predict the future. If we could we would not be in this position. We would be a happy world. Not that we are not happy, no, but we are distressed. We are cursed with the spell of war. Misery, despair and bloodshed. This is what characterizes a war. None of us want to kill our own kind. But we can’t help it. In defense of our dreams, we send people to their deaths. Whether there is an afterlife; a place where everypony lives happy with their loved ones, dead or alive, to be away from the horrors of this life and live somewhere safe where nothing can attack, terrify or even disrupt your inner peace. I will let you decide that. War happen everywhere, and we can’t help it. We cannot prevent war. We are not princesses. We are not war heroes. We are not even simple heroes. It is our own decision whether we want to die in a war or not. It is in our very essence to determine our future. This is why we have cutie marks. This is why some of us decide to go for a different destiny. There is nothing written for us nowhere. We craft our own destinies. And we will craft this one as well. Whether we will make it out alive or not. This is your very own decision. Good luck finding out.”
And Twilights jaw dropped alongside with the second pony at Pinkie Pies determined response.
***
Nightmare moon waited patiently for Salzar to return with the preparation plan for the visit. However, when he returned, Salzar had other intentions in mind. He did have the list, but he also added another paper to the list.
“Your Majesty. How are you this night?” Salzar asked.
“I am fine. Waiting for us to do the preparations. For the visit. Do you have the list?” Nightmare moon replied.
“Indeed I do. However, I also wish to add that the Saurians will not be able to attend at the current period of time stated in the letter. I have received a letter of their own right here. I recommend we keep the list and use it as soon I receive another letter from the president, don’t you think?” Salzar showed the letter to the queen.
As much as she was surprised, she was more afraid. The letter says that the president could not attend since there was an attack and they have to ensure it is safe for him to leave. Nightmare Moon knew that they had no defense whatsoever against attacks from space ships. They were defenseless. She put the letter away and accepted the situation.
“From what I understood from the letter, this attack stopped the president from visiting us. How can we ensure that we are protected from such attacks?” Nightmare moon asked, her gaze meeting Salzars.
The ambassador ginned and responded simply: “Let me worry of that. You just ensure that your resistance is successful.”
With that, Salzar turned around and left. Nightmare moon used this opportunity of having the letter to analyze the writing of both the old one and the new one. Closing the door, she levitated both letters in her blue aura, she aligned them perfectly one behind the other. She focused and her eyes glowed slightly. Being now capable to see every single letter, curve and size of both letters, she also checked with her magic if the new letter was the same type of paper and ink as the old one. And after a detailed analysis she came to horrible conclusion.
The letters were both from the president.
Vox Populi
Fenrir and Arceus were moving on a rapid, yet calm pace. They were about to meet with their advisors in a private meeting room to discuss the situation of the supposed pirate ships. Ever since the president learned that equestrians inhabited the planet, he knew it would have been an exception. Because the scout plane sent had the mission to discover a planet, preferably not inhabited. so that it could be conquered by them. Letting alone the fact that that scout must have had some pretty dumb luck finding the planet, his union was growing fast, really fast. He had to find more land, otherwise not only there would be consequences, but he may risk his master plan not taking place.
The way the two wolves walked was a contrast of serenity, yet urgency. Because if they, particularly Fenrir, walked in an alert pace, there would be suspicions. Suspicions that they do not have full control of the situation. The president was in no need of such suspicions. He needed total control, or else who knows what could happen. However, the fact that a group of elite pirates, equipped with advanced optical camouflage and really good combat hardware and also special training, showed up in ‘lost’ territory, made Fenrir uncomfortable, not to mention a 15 minute presence around the planet. Thank goodness for no survivors. The question was: who gave them the coordinates?
“Fenrir, what are you going to say at the meeting? What would you suggest?” The familiar voice of his friend snapped Fenrir out of trail of thought.
“We will see, but right now, I am afraid that we have done the stupidest mistake of overestimating our reliability of very own crew. We should move faster, Arceus. fitting that we should plan and revise from now. I want this meeting to use the whole time.” Fenrir replied, raising the pace.
“True. I have made a throughout analysis and a brief report regarding the three ships. Currently there is not activity in the sector.” Arceus replied, sharing his friends feelings of urgency.
“I see. Do we have a clear confirmation that they are rogue pirates?” Fenrir asked back.
“Unfortunately, they could not have entered the sector unless they used they warped in.” Arceus responded.
“Why is that?” The President asked with an expression of pure confusion.
“There is a cloud of self-concentrated energetic photons that does not allow ships to fly pass it. Its location is well beyond the current imposed sector limits. Everything trying to pass will have the hull disintegrated, if the speed is too slow. It cannot be seen by the naked eye, and neither with the visor unless linked with the ships main computer system.” Arceus supported his statement.
“Give me that report.” Fenrir snapped.
As Arceus gave the report, Fenrir had a lingering thought of stopping into his tracks and make the meeting in the hallway, listened to his friend with great interest. This was telling in his face that there was a leakage of information, specifically the coordinates of this planet. The fear of an insider agent on the Selsius was increasing more and more. They had to do something about it. Not only that Fenrir hated spies more than treachery, but this ship contains some of the most classified information his union ever had, especially regarding the Equestria. The last thing he wants is a leakage to the press or worse, his enemies.
As they continued talking they have finally arrived at the meeting room. The meeting room was a decent sized, round room, with only a round table, with supports made out of metal and the rest was made out of finely made, slightly green, crystal glass. The table was surrounded by chairs that looked like some business chairs, rather than simple chairs. They were made out of a rare type of black leather that could barely be found anywhere outside their galaxy. The chairs could rotate and move, as they had wheels under. The room was lighted fully, revealing the contrast of dark blue and pitch black the walls had, however the only light that should be open was the light above the center of the table. Other decorations were holographic projectors that could be seen around the roof, but most were near the central lighting.
Fenrir and Arceus took they seats. The presidents’ seat was similar to the chair on the bridge: more comfortable, and more decorated than the others. Same with the one Arceus was sitting on, it was the second most decorated of all. The rest looked the same. As Fenrir waited for the advisors to come, he swiped the table with the side of his hand and revealed the documents the table was hiding. This was more than a table, it was an entire computer. A highlighted border came in visual, marking the space the President was allowed to use, visible. Even though the space given could be used, the space outside could not be used by no one due to fingerprint security. Only the president could, if he wanted full control of the table. The table had all the information stored in its memory. Because there was a cloud network inside the ship, he had all the information on his table. They also had external universal internet, because of the infinite numbers of satellites spread throughout the universe and because of the future-generation antennae. But this access could be blocked, either at a small scale, like one computer, or on a wide scale, like the entire ship. Arceus and those beyond him only had access to this.
“Where are they?” Fenrir asked, impatient seeing this as an opportunity to organize his documents better.
“I think they are still preparing.” Arceus responded as he did the same.
“What? They should be here by now.” Fenrir replied, more impatient.
“No. Just look there, at the clock.” Arceus said smiling and pointing at a clock on the wall. They came earlier than they should.
Noticing this, Fenrir smiled and then it grew up to a short laughter. And his friend joined him in the laughter. However, a monstrous growl came from the room, and the laughter stopped dead.
“What was that?” Arceus asked, with his hand on his revolver. He always carries a personal defense weapon, as every Saurian VIP.
“I think that I should go eat something.” Fenrir said embarrassed.
“Go, there is enough time. I will wait here.” With this said, Fenrir jumped to the canteen. He didn't need any of the exotic food now. He wanted to see how the food everyone else was eating nowadays. After all, he was once one of them.
***
As Fenrir returned from the canteen, after savoring a simple sandwich, he saw that the seats were full, except his chair.
“Sir.” One of the advisors said as he got up his chair and bowed. The rest did the same.
‘These wolves multiply in my absence.’ Fenrir thought as he drifted to his chair.
“Welcome advisors. I have gathered you here today, to discuss the events of yesterday and also the future actions this ship will take, in an attempt to end this local civil war as fast as possible. Without making a large act of violence. You will find all the information necessary inside the tables’ memory. Furthermore, I would like some clear and solid advice on what to do with regarding the recent sightings of the unidentified ships. Let us begin.” Fenrir stated, as all the lights turned off, except the only light source above the table.
All that it was to be seen was the table, and what was around it. The advisors remained silent for a few minutes or so, so that they could analyze the information gathered and recovered. Fenrir waited patiently on his chair. Thoughts about what he said started to linger through his mind. There was also a message from the Universal Council as well. It was very simple:
‘The Universal Council seeks that you, President of the Saurian Democratic Union, Supreme Coordinator and Marshall of the Universal Councils’ military activities, Fenrir Goldengod the Fourth, eliminate this chaotic activity that these species is plagued with while maintaining a complete, absolute and total silence regarding any information of the planet. You are to eliminate the civil war in total discretion by any means necessary.’
This meant that the situation was far more than just a simple civil war. The Council sends messages to him and gives him orders, but never ever before happened that he was asked to finish something by ‘any means necessary’. This meant that he could easily destroy one side completely, and get away with it, or even being rewarded for doing it. He could destroy the NLR and conserve the government currently in power, but risking the supposed freedom of the ponies who live on the planet. Or he could destroy the Solar Union, and let a new government take the power. Fenrir was not sure if this was the wisest choice. He did not hear the NLR part of the story yet. And while the rebel forces were fighting for freedom, there was no evidence to suggest that there is no democracy inside the SE either, which made things worse.
“Sir? We are ready to give you our advice.” One of the 10 wolves spoke.
“I’m listening.”
“Sir, I have consulted my colleagues regarding the situation the Selsius is in. We came up with 3 options: The first option is to enforce the sector security level, by deploying the necessary equipment for maintaining a secure sector that will forbid any unauthorized warp-ins, however this will lock the ship into the sector as it has to offer the necessary supplies for the ships. The second option is to consult ourselves with the Councils’ members regarding the situation, through the usage of a video meeting by means of the universal satellite array. And the third option is to leave the planet in the state that it is and enroll our own research campaign. Furthermore, the resources our planet has will greatly help us understand the situation of the planet, as well as offering some background information.” The advisor ended.
“I see. I want you to give me further detail on why and how you ended to these suggestions.” Fenrir asked.
“Sir, the first suggestion, the one in which we should enforce the security of the sector, was a suggestion based on the fact that the Selsius hangar capacity can host ships up to the size of capital destroyer class. Though the ship is not supplied with them yet, the current level of fleet hosting the ship has in its hangar bay is enough to ensure that no possible warp-ins will remain present more than ten minutes. We strongly believe that the Equestrians are unaware of the actions we are taking in this sector, as our location was not compromised and intelligence shows us that the planet is correctly equipped with the necessary astronomical equipment either.
“The second suggestion, regarding the consultation with the members of the Universal Councils’ members, was made based on the principle that the members may have more experience decisions in this situation. And the third suggestion, our leaving, was taken based as a ‘last resort’ plan. We believe that if none of the suggestion will give the desired outcome, our homeland may be capable of offering additional information and guidance in this situation. However, leaving the planet can result a lack of information in the events that can happen while we are gone, including another warp-in. Yet, if we are to return to Sauria, we will also receive fresh supplies and equipment to further help us in our quest of resolving the situation.” The advisor finished responding.
Fenrir remained silent for a period of time, deep in his thoughts.
“President Fenrir. We await your wise decision.” One of the advisors spoke after a silence that lasted longer than anticipated.
[You know that whatever you choose, there will always be a solution to overcome the problems that are to be faced. But remember Fenrir, the decision you will take can affect the outcome of the entire civil war in the long run, so… no pressure.] Arceus said telepathically.
But Fenrir did not react positively. He remained silent. Arceus was right. Whatever he decides, there would be a solution to the possible side-problem, but the solution may never come on time. He had to take a decision now. Either he enforces, use more resources and return home faster. Or consult the members, and then receive a wiser choice at the exchange of risking a political mess, with his name on it. But then he would know how the Universal council knew about this planet. Or leave for Sauria, making a more suitable preparation of the ship, consult with his own council, and then return to Equestria. But because of how little they know overall, both about the war and those pirates, the evolution of the situation can change in his favor or not. He may even lose important events, such as a public interpretation. Or a raid or even worse: capital ships.
Either way, he had to take a decision in this moment. After a fifth wave of thought, he finally managed to take a decision. Looking at his advisors, he spoke. He chose to take the biggest risk of all.
***
Nightmare moon was in her private chambers, gazing at the eternal sky that will soon engulf the ponies with their sun-loving faces. As she gazed at the stars and at her planet, she saw something that resembled a shooting star. It looked like a shooting star, yet it burst form not moving to an incredible speed in a blink of an eye, and then disappearing completely.
*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*
“Come in.” Nightmare moon commanded.
The door opened and revealed the familiar figure of a scaled reptilian came from through the door.
“Have you seen it?” Salzar asked blankly.
“See what?” Nightmare moon asked, bitter-sweet her tone was.
“Don’t act foolish. The… ‘shooting star’” Salzar replied, aware of the queens’ tone.
“How did yo-“
“Because I saw it in on my way here. That was the Saurian Capital Ship ‘Selsius’. The place where the Saurians keep their command center in the area.”
“I see.” Nightmare moon responded nonchalantly.
“They left most probably to resupply. If they left so early, it means that either the attack was severe. I cannot know how severe, but you have to move fast and takeover the government of equestria, before-“
“Before what?” Nightmare Moons’ tone raised like fire. The situation was a more dire by the minute. Not only that this lizard was putting a heckload of pressure on the queen, but he was beginning to annoy her as well. There was one thing that could stop such an apocalyptic event. The Elements of Harmony. And Salzar knew that.
“I think you know what I will say…” Salzar ended as he turned around and disappeared into the shadows, leaving nightmare moon alone staring at the planet with the dark thoughts of the past.
***
Twilight and her friends finished their training at their normal schedule and were allowed to roam free inside the city of Canterlot. Even though they had that escape. Good thing they were left undiscovered. They could also leave the capital if they wished, but it would be harder to return since the civil conflict affected the transportation and they would have to go through all the security checks. As normal as this was, it was as time consuming as possible, even though the officers do not intend that. Right now, she and her friends had no intention in leaving Canterlot because they still have to finish the training they are supposed to have.
She was on her way to meet with the girls at a café, and discuss their usual days as well as more serious subjects. The Civil war and the aliens who might be floating around their heads right now, for example. She walked at a casual pace, knowing that the café was close from where she was. Although she didn't like it, it was almost inevitable not to talk about those two subjects. Or about her other friends. Even now she still asks herself the same question, ever since the incident happened.
‘If they were our friends, why did they leave us?’
This was just another question that was haunting Twilights’ mind. But as she walked, trying to find an answer to this question, she arrived at she destination. And there was Rainbow Dash, no PinkiePie. The unicorn saw Rainbow Dash waving and signaling to come closer, and so she did. She approached the table where her friend stood and sat down.
“Hello, Rainbow Dash. Where is PinkiePie?” Twilight asked turning her head from side to side in the search of the pink pony.
“I don’t know, she said she will- GAH!” Rainbow dash backed away in surprise as she saw the pink pony jumping out of nowhere.
“Pinkie! Stop doing that!” Rainbow dash responded in frustration.
“Oh, Dashie, You said you like this type of thing!” Pinkie said, cheerful as ever.
“Yeah, but not on me!” Rainbow dash responded, still recovering from the shock.
“Really? I don’t remember that. Anyway, what’s up? Except the sky, of course. And the clouds. And the sun.”
“Nothing much.” Twilight sighed.
“Yeah, unfortunately there is so much going on in the city, that we don’t know what is up and down.” Rainbow dash said, laughing at what she just said.
The two ponies remained silent. Ever since they were betrayed, Pinkie entered in a deep depression, blaming herself for what happened. They did their best in helping her get out of this state. But every time her friends were mentioned, it would make it only worse. It appeared that she ultimately got over it, and that they could talk about the war and related stuff to it, but not to mention her friends because it would return her to her depressed state. Twilight realized that Pinkies’ depression was characterized by long, flat hair and a negative, hostile, closed in behavior.
“So? What is todays’ problem?” Pinkie asked, eagerly waiting for the opportunity to bring smiles.
“Don’t you think Princess Celestia is doing nothing against those rebels? I mean except the waves of guards, and the obvious belief that ‘Celestia is right, Nightmare Moon is wrong’ thing, I haven’t seen her doing anything else more special.” Rainbow dash started, followed by a silent repetition of her name from Twilight.
Pinkie Pie was silent for a minute. Normally, she would have a hoof under her chin. But this time was different, she was staring at the table, her face was hidden under her, curiously, still curly hair. When suddenly:
“Yeah! I think we should make something to tell her that we want war! That we want our Princess to stay!” Pinkie said, cooling her friends with her determination.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “And what should it be?”
“I don’t know, something loud! Loud enough that even Ponyville would hear us! No. Something so loud that all of Equestria would hear us!”
“Maybe not something that loud but, maybe something loud enough so that the princesses would hear us but, silent enough not to blow everyponies ear.” Twilight said, while thinking of a solution to the risen problem.
“Yeah, but what? I can’t think of anything.” Rainbow said while sipping from her cider.
“Oh! I know! A concert!” Pinkie responded.
“A concert?” Twilight said, followed by Rainbows’ confused stare.
“Yeah! It’s not too loud, but it’s loud enough to be heard by the princess!” Pinkie argued smiling as usual.
After her friends gave it a thought, they agreed. And before they knew it, they already planned what each will do. Where the concert would be and when it will be.
Ch. 7: Protection Protocols
Protection Protocols
A target was set for the Selsius. A target of great knowledge and power.
The Universal Council.
Immediately after the Selsius docked at the station, the president together with his special protection force stormed through the station, the place where he should go was clear: The Command Wing. The name says it all; it was the rather large side of the station which was responsible of the governmental administration of the known universe.
As Fenrir stormed through the unfortunate ones that were in his way, his protection team was threatening them to keep the distance or severe punishment will be conducted to the one daring to close the distance between him or her and the president. Fenrir did not like A target was set for the Selsius. A target of great knowledge and power.
The Universal Council.
Immediately after the Selsius docked at the station, the president together with his special Presidential Protection Force stormed through the station, the place where he should go was clear: The Command Wing. The name says it all: it was the rather large side of the station which was responsible of the governmental administration of the known universe.
As Fenrir stormed through the unfortunate ones that were in his way, his protection team was glaring at them to keep the distance or severe punishment will be conducted to the one daring to close the distance between him or her and the president. Fenrir did not like this. He was born to be leader, but not the type of leader that would distance himself from the ones around him. Quite the opposite. But here, of all places, he had to ‘prove his position’ to the main leaders of the council; in which he, ironically, was member of. By now, everyone was making way for him to pass. Everyone got the message: ‘Do not get close to the president, or risk being shot’.
The president approached a door. It looked like a simple door, if you ignore the 2 behemoths of soldiers standing at the sides of the door. Those behemoths were so big, they were double his size; and when it comes to brute force, a squadron of 5 could put down a revolt in record time. The door itself was an automated double door that could not be passed through if the guards did not allow it.
“Halt! Name, Species, position and Identification Card.” One of the guards snapped while blocking the door with a projected shield.
“Fenrir GoldenGod, Saurian, Total Commander of the Universal Council Army. Those 4 wolves are my guards. They will come with me.”
“No. Only the ones who have political implications within the council are allowed to enter. The guards will remain here. Otherwise you will not be allowed to pass this door.” The other guard replied firmly.
“I think you did not understand me. Those guards are my escort. If they are not coming with me, I will be sure that the council is notified of your absurd attempt to make fun; As every single politically implicated personage must have an escort. And I if I do not have my escort the council will be notified.” Fenrir was starting to lose his patience.
“No.” The guard said again; with a smirk on his lips.
'Oh so you are enjoying this? Fine. I can enjoy this as well.’
This was the last straw. Fenrir hated when people were trying to abuse of him or of their power. He also knew better than the two guards; as he actually knew the rules around. Fenrir nodded at the guards in around him and they soon pointed the weapons towards the behemoths. The behemoths started to panic slightly, as they know the leader of the Universal Army was not Saurian for nothing.
“You think I will stand for your petty and absurd behavior? I will have you know that the council have been notified about your behavior, and I was given permission to apply deadly force if you continue such absurdity.” Fenrir then took from his pocket his identification card to prove his identity; all while staring at the rather agitated guards.
“Well? It’s either us, or you. Now hurry up and make the decision, before you will regret it.” Fenrir showed his ID card to them.
Fenrir was aware that his guards would shoot them dead as soon as he gives the signal. He was also aware of the fact that there may be civilians either sneaking or be lost. This would just be beneficial, as they would see him as a person not to be messed with, and if people believed that it was anarchy in the council; he could easily blame it on the ones responsible with the security.
The guards let him pass afterwards without hesitation. They were scared. Fenrir could feel it. He didn’t actually inform the council, but he would do it the moment a third ‘no’ was spoken.
The wing was highly decorated and it has hallways that the eyes cannot see end of length heights beyond clouds. The station was larger than most planets he ever met, but it was one of the most accessible systems, since there were teleporters everywhere and at short distances. In the hallway there were many ambassadors, diplomats, world leaders, etc. There were of many species as well, however most of them were Reptilians. A normal side effect since the reptilians controlled the council.
The hallway was decorated with large curtains that were hanging on left side. There were almost like overly long flags. There were flags of many colors, but the ones most eye catching were the ones that represented the Reptilian Union.
‘Show-offs.’ Fenrir thought as he passed through the serenity of the hallway compared to what was on the other side of the door.
‘Everything non-reptilian, regardless of how prestigious or important it is; it will never shine like the reptilians.’ Fenrir thought sarcastically. And he was right. The reptilians were showing off a lot compared to other species. He still failed to understand why are they doing this.
‘Alright. I need to find my embassy here; and notify them of my requests. Things go faster when more capable hands are involved. Or in a future case… hooves.’
***
Before Fenrir left to talk to the Saurian ambassador about the tasks he has to accomplish, he left Arceus the task to inform the Council of his own galaxy about the recent discovery. The council of their origin galaxy had a simple, yet imposing name.
The Augustian Council.
Arceus was in his private chambers. The president specifically requested this information to be transmitted secretly, so Arceus decided to use the ships built-in antennae to deliver an encrypted and live transmission through the satellites that are spread throughout the universe. Luckily, because of their position within the Government of the Universe, they could isolate a channel for private use; as Fenrir suspected that those satellites are monitored by certain ‘Private Information Agencies.’
He was in his private chambers. A room which looked pretty simple. Bookshelves on the left and right walls, a glass window behind the chair which was facing a desk. The desk was neatly organized and a holographic screen was just beyond his desk, representing the pending request to talk with the members of the Council. Arceus made a plea to talk with all members of the council, and thus he had to wait because they had to gather.
Equestria was a situation well beyond what people might understand. It has a history. And that history was, and it still is, supposed to remain a faint memory of the old generation that shall never return in the present or future life of any generation. He knew that Fenrir had to handle the problem with care, because the Universe, unlike the Saurian fading generation and the vast majority of the old generation, did not forget one bit of what happened to them.
Furthermore, no real personalities, other than the bridge crew… no, all the crew of the Selsius knew. Because not even the strongest can stop someone of talking about something. In reality, it is only a matter of time until the whole Union finds out, and in the end; The Universe. Fenrir and Arceus have to act fast. They don’t know how much time they have until the word goes out. And what’s worse: If no action is taken on Equestria, secret or not; It has chances of over 95% of becoming a colony of ‘Racial mixtures’ rather than a planet with full racial independence and power.
There was once harmony on that planet. There has to be again. No matter what.
*Arceus, the Council is ready to begin the conversation*
“Put them on screen.” Arceus stated with his dry voice.
“It is an honor to have the chance to have a conversation with the leaders of Augustia once more. Good day, members.” He continued.
“Good day, Starlord Arceus. We would like to know why did you convoke the council. We presume it is a matter of importance.” One of the members spoke.
“In truth, this is a matter of great importance, Councilors.” Arceus responded blankly.
“And, pray tell, what is the subject of great importance?”
Arceus took a deep breath, put his hands one over the other and began explaining.
“Due to the level of secrecy required, I would like you to follow a series of steps, as direct statement could risk information leakage. Please access the Council historic archive and enter the following code in the index search, on behalf of the Leader of the Council; Fenrir GoldenGod the IVth: EQ.2.H4R.101.T3R”
All the members looked a bit confused, but they did as they complied. It was unfit of Arceus to have such an approach, but this was necessary. And after a short period of time, the council members threw daggers with their eyes at Arceus.
“Mr. Arceus. This subject is classified ‘T3R’. This stands for ‘Terminated’. What is the meaning of this?”
“The ‘T3R’ classification is no longer valid, Councilors. Due to our current position, details are hardly possible to release. However, I will be available to leave the core information to you.”
“Yes. Please continue.” The members were looking at him so intensely, it made Arceus feel like a child on stage.
“The conclusion of an exploration party left us to believe that the planet in question hosts sentient life forms that are bare perfect resemblance with the records. However, the current species is under the state of political division and entered an possibly very extensive civil war. Official visiting parties were sent to only one side, namely the species that are living on the planet, for information gathering regarding the civil war and covert analysis of the species genuine origin There has also been an warp-in of a squadron of three pirate ships that was immediately eliminated. In this moment, we seek guidance on what should we do regarding this planet. That is all.” Arceus finished.
“We see. What is the president’s plan in combating this rather interesting situation?” Another member talked.
“I believe Mr. President wishes to claim the sector under the influence of the Saurian Democratic Union by political means. All military factors are taken into consideration only when sector security in under discussion. We do not wish for military dominance in our claiming attempt. I will send you the data gathered until now for further analysis.”
“Understood. We thank you for informing us on your performance, Starlord Arceus. Your information was certainly… revealing. Inform President Fenrir that this council shall not interfere with your attempts.” The council stated.
“I thank you for offering me a chance to inform you on a short notice and we also thank you for allowing us to proceed. Have a nice day.” Arceus said as he closed the conversation.
He was not sure whether it was a good idea for the Augustian Council to know. But Fenrir is a skilled politician in a very strong position. He has to have Equestrian Sector for themselves. Even if it meant war with a certain species that may want it.
***
Ambassador Salzar had received urgent orders to meet with the Mare in the Moon. Because of the surprise visit of the Emperor, he had to prepare the New Lunar Republic for the worst.
‘Inferior, impudent and greedy Saurians. Thinking they can take over protection protocols over Equestrian sector without proper formalities. We will see about that, Mr. Fenrir.’
He got his guards and used a hidden teleporter inside his embassy to get to the castle faster. If he does not do something about this, the reptilians on the moon are in trouble. Because of the Protection Protocols Fenrir acquired, he is allowed to even isolate the space around the planet and moon and keep away everything they want and keep full surveillance on both the planet and the moon. It would enter a ‘Quarantine Zone’ if he knows Fenrir well enough.
He teleported directly into the castles’ main courtyard. Packed with 4 guards, he was about to pass through all the royal guards the nasty way if necessary, just to reach the queen of the night.
He marched quickly, no guard dared defy the will of the angry looking reptilians armed with guns that were arguably bigger than the guards themselves. And as they closed the distance between the door to the throne room and themselves, Salzar was moving quicker and quicker. Until they finally arrived at the door, which was brutally kicked open by two of the guards, allowing Salzar to enter the room.
Nightmare Moon, in a second, engulfed the daring reptilians in her magic, snapped the poor lizards’ necks killing them instantly, turned them around, and pointed the weapon the dead guards have in their hand towards the intruders ready to kill the rest of them. Just to realize in horror she killed two of the guards that protected her only reliable contact for the Universe. She glanced at the guards who pointed their guns at her, with bloodlust in their eyes.
She expected a punishment of some sorts, but Salzar only did one thing: He laughed. The look in his eyes bared no trace of anger.
“I see that you are already prepared for the worst, eh? Oh don’t worry about him, he is just a lizard. Nothing special.” Salzar looked actually pleased with what he saw.
‘Just a lizard? Is this how you treat your subordinates? Just some lizards?’ She thought as she left the lifeless corpse down.
“My deepest apologies, but I-“
“I am not here to kill my guards and discuss petty apologies. I am here to inform you about dire news.” Salzar shifted his tone to much grimmer one, his eyes striking Nightmare Moons soul.
“Those being?” The queen as well, became more serious as she noticed the reptilian guards leaving.
“The Saurian president has obtained Protection Protocols for your planet and moon. If you do not know what they are, they give the right to the bearer to do whatever they want with the target in question as long as it is protected by the bearer of the protocol.” Salzar said.
“I fail to see the negative effects on this news.”
“I will tell you the negative effects. The negative effects are that they can and will throw you on a quarantine zone. This means that they will isolate you from the outside universe and nothing will come out or in without them knowing. I will not be able to offer assistance from the outside. Neither should they know that there is a reptilian embassy on this satellite. If they find out, this will escalate into a universal scandal, with severe consequences! And let alone should you or we allow to continue your war!” Salzar always hates creatures he has to explain to, and because of this; he tends to be angrier than usual. This was no exception. But here, he made a mistake.
Nightmare Moon closed the doors and locked them shut using her magic. She had enough. She engulfed the representative with her magic and shoved him onto on the floor, keeping him paralyzed by her magic. Then she closely advanced until she was over him, her hoof on his chest.
“Let me remind you to whom you are speaking to, Salzar. You are speaking to the Queen of the Night and Moon. I am the leader of the rebellion that sought to overcome the tyranny those sun-loving faces are to foolish and blind to see. I am the demi god of the night. What are you? You are a mere representative lizard whose only magic is that of giving orders. You are a preacher who talks more than does. And let me tell you exactly what are to me.” Nightmare moon approached her head closer to his, piercing his living soul and drifted her hoof towards his neck, ready to crush him.
“You are nothing for me. A government who more talks than does is nothing but useless institution. Your embassy is the same. I am aware of what you are doing to my ponies and guards, representative. This is not your home, you filthy reptilian. This is your working place, and I am your boss. You will help us eliminate the Solar Union by any means, or we will help ourselves with some of your equipment, understood? And don’t think that we will be at fault of this, because you will never have the chance to leave this place alive. You will either stop your aggression over me and my subjects, or there will be consequences, am I clear?” She finished, beginning to press on his neck hardly but not too much.
Salzar was horrified by the turn of events. He could not breathe at all because of that iron hoof she presses on his neck. Furthermore, turquoise dragon eyes were filled with fury and even a spark of deathly intentions were just making the situation worse. He did not have a choice. He either accepted what she told him, or he will die. The guard apprehension took her not more than 1 and a half seconds to execute. He thought that this species was a primitive one, it appeared to be at least. He had no choice but to accept, and so he did.
Nightmare Moon then released him. He could finally breathe normally. She backed away and looked at a window that revealed nothing but the starred sky. And 5 seconds later, her ethereal mane lashed at him, engulfing him completely and pulling him in the air. Her horn began to glow.
“Wh-What are you doing?!” Salzar began to panic. What else could she want? He was unarmed and for some reason, the blasted guards did not hear him!
“Oh nothing. Just a precaution measure.” She responded calmly as her she turned her head towards him.
With a horn glowing in a blue aura and turquoise eyes who turned into an otherworldly white, those were the last thing that Salzar saw before darkness engulfed his vision.
Nightmare Moon, after dealing with the reptilian, decided it was time to take the war on her own hooves. No more help from nobody. Leaving the room, she advanced towards a rather restricted wing of the castle: The War Wing. With her destination set in mind and escorted by her forever present guards, she advances towards the war room. Everypony who sees her steps aside and bows, showing the respect they hold for their liberator. As they should. It was only normal for them to show respect to the one that saved them from poverty or any other problem they had on Equestria. Here, they were equal. Everypony had everything they needed to survive: A shelter, food, water, air and anything else that was a necessity.
It was then that her pride hit her. She had crafted this lunar haven for over one thousand years. All the magic she used to create this haven: the atmosphere on the moon, the facilities and utilities that are considered basic and among other things, a government and an entire army. She was aware that one thousand years was a long period of time, so she made sure that the army traditions and training will be different of those from the sun-lovers, for her sweet revenge that is. After all, her sister may be more of the peacekeeper, she was definitely the one of that she should fear the most. With the elements of harmony split, she had no valid reason to fear the solar wielders of harmony, since they were useless if they were not united. And something tells her that they won't be united for a long period of time.
The Mare in the Moon, passing a pair of doors that were heavy and possibly unbreakable, was revealed a large room full of bowing ponies, maps and decorations assorted with their symbol. flags and weapons. This was the war room. And in the middle of the room was a large table that was keeping a map of Equestria and its neighborhood countries. Flags were sticking out of the cities that were in Equestria, to symbolize their side. Red was for the Celestia. Blue was for the Republic. There were no blue flags sticking out of the map, yet. The queen commanded the still bowing ponies to return to what they were doing before, and then approached the large map. The objective was simple: subdue Celestia and conquer Equestria. Easier said than done. While she was constructing her nation, Celestia may have been constructing a super-nation. It was obvious that the Solar Empire is better at anything: more ponies, stronger military, more supplies and many other ways. However, if she was waging war on the hearts of the population instead of waging war against Celestia, then she may win the war. Her advisers, aware of the plan, already gave her possible plans on how to capture as many cities as possible to damage the morale of the sun-lovers. Ranging from groups of small towns to medium-sized towns, she could only choose one option due to their limited resources. She briefly studies the map, as one small error can cost her the only chance to establish a stable presence in the nation. She took in consideration all the options, and then she silently replaced one red flag with a blue one above Appleloosa. The higher ranks, who understood the gesture, begn preparation the soldiers.
***
It was a bright day and the beginning of a new week in the Royal Canterlot Training Camp. Twilight and her friends were awake and were training for over six hours now. Waking up at six o'clock was something that their bodies got used to. Silver Point was over-watching their training today. The trainers assigned to the wielders were executing his request clearly but still harshly. He did nothing about it.
'With all due respect, Princess Celestia. But those ponies, heroes or not, are in the same boat like all of us now. This is a war, and they won't receive special treatment from us on the war. But they will receive 'extra-special treatment' from our enemies.'
Currently, having his coat dyed in pure white and wearing the golden armor proudly, he was overseeing the training of Rainbow dash at the moment. She was doing exercise on the ground of all sorts: running, gymnastics on the ground and the classic wing-ups. Currently, she was doing some gymnastics and she clearly hates it. It could be seen in her eyes. She would smack trainer dead if she wasn't in a military base. Gritting her teeth, she continued doing gymnastics for flexibility, her wings were tied so that she would not spread them. Her eyes were still spitting hatred at the trainer. No words were spoken though, she make progress with her discipline. But she is making it too slow.
"Maybe you will want to stop looking at us so hard and try to buck up, soldier! This is not a bar! You're in the army now! And you will treat your superiors with respect! Am I Clear ?!" Silver Point shouted. Unfortunately, he shouted loud enough to make Rainbow Dash lose her equilibrium and fall. He then responded accordingly. "Is that all you've got?! A small shout and you are on your ground?! Here on the ground you will hear louder sounds and screaming than my bucking voice! What are you? A filly? Or a mare?! My voice is nothing less than a simple wind blow compared with what you will hear on the field! Now get back up and try again! "
After Rainbow dash got back up in a split second responded loudly back. "A mare, sir!" Her glare was a mixture of anger and determination to show him who was the boss at gymnastics while her body was sitting stone straight.
"Oh yeah?! Prove it, soldier! Prove it this trainer right here if you dare!" Silver Point shouted back.
"Sir, yes sir!" She responded accordingly as she began the moves again.
Then, Silver Point smirked as he left for another one of the three hoof-chosen ponies. The pink one, Pinkie Pie. An odd one, if you ask him. She sees everything as a game. That is why she chose the harshest possible trainer he could get his hooves on for her. He needs to make sure she doesn't freeze to death when she sees blood or dead ponies. As he arrived, she was exercising with a group of stallions. All the stallions were galloping for the fastest speeds on an fifty lap course. Interestingly, the pink pony was not bouncing like the first days he first saw her. Instead she was galloping like the rest. Approaching the mustached trainer he asked: "How many laps did they do?"
"Thirty one, sir. The times are pretty good, too." The trainer responded with his deep voice.
"What about the pink one?"
"Her timings are good as well, she needs some improvements though. I'll make sure to make a work out of her, sir. But what impresses me is that in her eyes there is nothing but determination. I, who have trained so many ponies, would have expected her to have a more childish behavior, but it was wrong it seems. I also expect her to drop after a couple of weeks, but i don't get my hopes too high either."
Silver Point nodded. "I see. Carry on. Give me a report on her after you are finished."
He then left from the circuit, deciding to make a visit to the magic wing and see how the training of possibly the most important pony in the base undergoes. He walked, passing through the occasionally passing soldiers that saluted him. The magic training area was one of the better guarded ones, as it included many things unicorns required but not earth ponies and pegasi. Still, when it comes down to physical training, they are all the same for him.
After a while, he arrived at the training area of the unicorns. He could smell the magical essence in the air, and he is not even an unicorn. All those unicorns must be working very hard. Surprisingly, when he arrived at the saluting trainer, he saw her. Twilight Sparkle. Reading. Like the rest of the ponies. Some were doing spells, but most were reading. Before Silver Point was about to yell the ears off the trainer, he wanted to make sure of one thing.
"Is this how they learn new skills?"
"Yes, sir. At the moment, the soldiers were performing strong magic and thus needed some mental relaxation as it seems they are over-stretched." The trainer responded.
Silver Point had no idea how this works, but this trainer was, well, the only known blood descendant of Starswirl the bearded on the record and by his request, it's kept secret. He was also 'on par' with the director below Celestia and the Canterlot school of Gifted unicorns on magic, just that they were on different fields, from what he heard. So most probably he knew what he was saying. So he cut to the chase.
"How is Twilight Sparkle? The purple one."
"She is special. She has very strong magic inside her. It just needs to be honed, and it will be honed. I even begin to understand why Princess Celestia chose her to be her protegee. Truly, a remarkable and gifted pony. Also a pleasure to have around, helping other ponies with the spells she can do but they can't." The trainer responded as he arranged his glasses.
"I see. Very well then, carry on. Report to me when finished." Silver point commanded as he left for his private chambers, waiting for the reports to come in.
***
After many hours, it was finally the time.
Nightmare Moon and her one-thousand worth army were waiting patiently around the small and quiet city of Appleloosa. They had it surrounded, five groups of soldiers and one group of royal guards and their queen positioned themselves around the city at five kilometers distance from the center. She had many reasons for choosing this city. Firstly, she already had agents and supporters in the city, considerably more supporters than the other cities. She had no idea how, but maybe it was from the supporters already present. This could make it far easier for her to conquer it. Secondly, it was very small. And with so many supporters, there may not even be a fight after all, although she would not risk. Thirdly, its only connection with Equestria is through the railway station. This could help greatly in defending the city, since the only direct line is a single building. This could also allow her to move forces around faster and, if the city did not warn Canterlot, secretly as well. Not even Celestia would be so crazy to make her forces move on hooves from Canterlot to Appleloosa. It was too much. And finally, there were a bunch of tribal groups that could make use for the republic. All they needed was convincing, and that was no problem. After all, they were fighting a propaganda war as well. Influence was one of their biggest weapons.
Anyhow, they were waiting for the signal from the insiders whom Nightmare Moon sent. As soon as they received the signal, the army would then enter Appleloosa and take it over. However, they were waiting for almost half an hour, and no signal emerged. The queen was getting impatient and slightly worried. What's taking them so long? Were they caught? They had five minutes left before they systematically infiltrated the city. After one minute, a blinking light could be seen from the clock tower. That was the signal. All groups cautiously marched simultaneously towards the city. Approaching the city more and more until they finally entered. Everything was so silent in the city, no lights were open, windows closed and no pony outside. The soldiers scattered around the city, making sure this was no ambush. It certainly looked as if it was an ambush, the moon moved to the skies only two hours ago. Nightmare Moon and the royal guards marched ever so alert towards the city hall. They had to assume command of the city should they have a chance to sustain their influence. They were at the door, just about to open it.
When suddenly a loud "HALT!" was heard, and ponies immediately appeared out of nowhere. Their armor confirms it: they were soldiers, possibly patrols. The royal guards took they position, ready to strike at one move or at one simple command. Crescent Sword, who was wearing his royal commander armor, had his sword ready to be pulled out and strike. Same did the soldiers. The officer of the patrol began to speak.
"Nightmare Moon. You are under arrest for causing insurgency and rebellion across the Solar Empire. You and your forces will surrender now, or you will be taken out by force."
All Nightmare Moon did was laugh. "You? Take me out? Ha! You and what army, my dear? You are outnumbered. You may as well give up, as the ponies in this city declared their allegiance to us, the true leaders of the land." She finished, attempting to play mind tricks on them.
However, without another response, the iron-armored soldiers charged at the republicans. In response, the republicans dragged their swords out and charged as well, assisted by the royal guards. Nightmare Moon used her magic to attack the soldiers with thunders and Crescent dragged his decorated and enchanted sword to assault the officer that dared threaten his queen. The loud clashing, screaming and wood breaking invaded the ears of everypony in the area, yet the population was at rest. Without hesitation, Nightmare Moon rose in the sky and used her horn to conjure a teal-colored laser that attacked the enemy, dealing as much damage as possible. Solar pegasi were sighted and lashed at the queen just to be stopped with her magic and thrown brutally to the ground. Some were screaming in pain, others stayed there motionless. Some even got up and tried to attack her again, yet they were tackled by her personal guards. With that problem taken care of, Nightmare Moon shifted her attention at giving support to her army. She also saw her commander clashing swords with the enemy officer.
Crescent was ready to strike, yet he was alert of his surroundings and the battle around him. The officer, a big bulky pegasus, charged at him once more. Crescent, who was more agile than that brute, dodged the attack and counter-attacked. The brute, in response, did the same. Their swords clashed, the striking sound of iron swords pushing each other deafened the ears of both wielders. But they did not yield. Their stare met, hatred being shot like a laser towards each other. Those sun-loving, lying little ponies will know the truth. They continued pressing the swords. The one who won the battle will live to fight another day. The officers eyes were showing his prideful side, as he was winning the contest of brute force. Crescent knew this, and quickly thought up a plan. He disengaged, jumped back and, using the moment of swing of the brutes sword in his advantage, he then released and re-positioned the sword in his mouth in midair and finally delivered the deadly strike in the officers neck, leaving him to fall on the ground, blood coursing out the fresh wound.
Dragging his sword out the brutes neck, he turned around for another one. Just to see that the sun-lovers were defeated. Many fellow republicans were alive, cherishing the victory along side with the landing Nightmare Moon. However, the cheering was louder than the soldiers. Could this be? It was. The population itself was cheering the victory as well! Not most of it, but all of it. It seems the queens agents were doing their job better than expected. As the queen landed, Crescent closed the distance with nightmare and three other guards did the same. Regardless, they had to defend their leader. Everypony was cheering the name of Nightmare Moon and their liberators.
'They are all so happy... What did Celestia do to them? Crescent thought grimly, alert of the crowd.
"Citizens of Appleloosa. From today on, until the end of the stars, you are free. Free from the shackles which Celestia encased you in. Let this city be the first city that will shine the symbol of liberty with pride and glory. Let the victory of Appleloosa be the genesis of a new era of prosperity and kindness. For we fight for all of our fellow ponies across the whole land. We will fight the tyranny that was imposed upon you for so long. Celestia will fall, and with her fall, a united Equestria will rise! For a United Equestria!" Nightmare Moon spoke to the crowd that was cheering louder than ever.
This was their first victory. The small city of Appleloosa. A small city it was, but there was one thing she remembers for so long that made her proud. One sentence that drove her all those years to be who she always wanted to be.
'Every legend took baby steps at first.' She flashbacked as a familiar white face appeared in her mind.
Back in Canterlot, Princess Celestia was sitting in her throne room, examining the reports she received yesterday afternoon from Silver Point and from all other cities. Such reports contained clear and detailed numbers about their military supplies and civil protection readiness, as well the number of times the local authorities in the city fought with the rebelling population. Unsurprisingly, in a few reports and from she overheard, the supporters of the moon called those that are for the current crown holder of Equestria the 'sun-lovers' or 'solars'. In response, the 'sun-lovers' called the supporters of the moon 'republicans', 'rebels' or more newly 'lunatics'. Celestia would not call them any less than 'republicans' or 'rebels'. Firstly, because whatever may seem the case, she will always show some degree of respect towards her enemies, particularly for those that are misguided. She would fight them, that is for sure, but she would fight them cleanly. However, she wasn't afraid to taint the light with darkness if there is no other option to ensure the survival of Equestria and her ponykind. Secondly, whatever her name was, for Celestia, she was still her little 'Luna'. And this war was sometimes tearing her apart more than the war tearing Equestria itself. She knew all of what happened now was just the calm before the storm, but she also knew that Luna would not want to go too far with killing her population because from the looks of it, she was trying to wage a propaganda war. Celestia knew this, and she knew that this was a very effective way to win a civil war. The classic 'population overthrows government' scenery she was looking for though, will not be easily won over. Not if she had something to say about it.
Resuming her continuous study of the reports, there were no major problems that could be seen from any city. The other trinity member cities, Ponyville and Cloudsdale were fortified up to 90%, Manehattan was ready to defend itself as well. The local authorities there are particularly strong and trained for urban warfare and riot control. In Fillydelphia, nothing happened. No riots, no contact with the rebels, nothing out of the ordinary. Their report reminded that Fillydelphia population allegiance to the Empire is at 150%. It was the only city to report in such manner. While the Trinity cities had sworn allegiance to Canterlot, Fillydelphia did not, and yet it is one of the most loyal cities in across the nation. Hoofington, Stalliongrad and Trottingham, which formed the Mountain Defense Line, reported few incidents that were taken down fast. And from Appleloosa, it seemed there was little to no trouble going on. The sherrif was doing his job well, it seems. Also, the patrols reported no activity from the rebels. She was particularly worried for Appleloosa because of its rather far distance from the capital and supplying is hard because the only contact it has with anything in Equestria other than the horribly long roads is the railway station. That is why she sent stronger patrols there. The farther it was, the greater the risk for an attack.
Having read through all the reports, she grouped them and she was about to give them to her secretary, who would then give them to Social Policy, the prime minister. Unfortunately, ever since the war, he lost much of his power over military business. But he would have to cope with it. Celestia knew many more things than Social Policy regarding wars, and she knew a lot about the rebel leader as well. She simply had too many advantages over him. And as she gave the papers from the secretary, the royal high messenger burst loudly the throne room. Despite everypony in the room bursting, Celestia remained unshaken.
"Your majesty!" The messenger desperately galloped, bowed and then spoke.
"Your Majesty. My deepest apologies for bursting in such manner, but i have an urgent telegram from Fillydelphia." He said panting.
"Very well, hand the telegram to me, please." Celestia spoke in her calm composure.
The messenger then proceeded in handling the message and then left the throne room. The telegram had the form of a black letter, with the Fillydelphia coat of arms being the seal of the letter. This meant trouble. All the time. Ignoring the fact that all black letters are kept confidential and generally brought bad news, the black letters are a serious rarity across all of Equestria. She carefully removed the seal with her magic and then she began reading.
Dear Princess Celestia,
A few hours ago, at the approximate hour of 23:21 during nighttime, we received a report from our observers dispatched throughout the deserted lands of Western Equestria. The report received from our observes reveals an already finished separatist movement inside the small city of Appleloosa. The point of the movement is suspected to be a conquering operation. Unfortunately, in this moment, the city of Appleloosa has been conquered by the separatist nation New Lunar Republic. Due to the lack of higher clearance, Fillydelphia did not sent a counter attack. Appleloosa is first city in Equestria to fall under separatist control. However, with your request, a national-scale search can covertly be conducted to ensure such surprise attacks are no longer happening.
In this telegram you have received the following: the informative letter regarding the situation of Appleloosa and a full copy of the report that was made based on what the we received from the observers. The actions Fillydelphia took as a response to this movement are disclosed in the copy of the report. We await confirmation.
Have a nice day,
Golden Sword.
'Golden Sword is too specific and formal for his own good.' Celestia thought bitterly.
She then opened the copy of the report to check one thing. The thing she searched was found, but it totally contradicted what she received from the report from Appleloosa. The report from Fillydelphia mentions clearly that the population greeted the separatist movement. This meant only one thing: she was lied to. Reading that specific portion of the report just to make sure she read correctly, Celestias face dropped any single hope of a smile in exchange for ultimate pokerface. She couldn't afford any reaction due to the ponies in the room. She just lost Appleloosa. And she is aware what this meant. This meant that they could now run secret operations around all of Equestria. She could turn the nation upside down in a matter of days! That is, if the separatists had the chance and the supplies. And they won't.
She requested two pieces of paper, one for the Golden Tiger, the other for the rest of Equestria. She would write to the Golden Sword after she finished the letter to all of the city halls that have a railway station. She wrote the letter in the clearest way possible. It was an a simple, clear and concise order: to stop and reject all trains that come from Appleloosa or leave for Appleloosa without royal order from the highest in command: Celestia herself. She also ordered that anything, supplies, ponies or even simple letters going or leaving to or from Appleloosa will be boycotted and sent back. She then took another piece of paper that was destined to go towards the military high command. It was clear and concise order: all patrols that were destined to go to Appleloosa will cease the act immediately. The separatists will use every opportunity they have into their advantage. They could scavenge the military equipment or worse: take prisoners of war. She made sure that there were no opportunities for them to use. The only thing she could not stop was the self-sustainability of Appleloosa because of its apple acres. And if Celestia knew Luna well, they she didn't waste over one thousand years wondering and thinking on her sins. No, she didn't. She also knew that if Equestria finds out the their 'freedom fighters' arrived from the 'heavens of the stars' to save them, that will cause the real problem with her subjects. It would persuade them to fight. And Celestia will not have one bit of this. Not on her watch.
'If the you want to play with my cities, i dare you to. But i will not let your plague spread to my subjects, Luna. You won yourself a city at the end of the world. Good luck supplying it and making good use of it when nothing will even get out of the city. While you still have the time, that is.' Celestia thought as she finished the letters for the city halls and military high command.
The war began. And Celestia will be the first to inflict the real casualties. She could feel it.
***
He woke up in a foggy vision and a weakened body. The heat was barely bearable for him, and he lived for so long in such heat. Maybe from all that running and fatigue. His head was throbbing in pain, as if a million boulders hit his head at the same time. He could not make much of his surroundings, either. He did not see the sky nor the ever expanding desert sand. Was he inside somewhere? His memory was as foggy as his vision. Nothing much of his memory could be recalled. He knew his name, his age and anything else to check if he had amnesia or not. But he did not remember much of the recent events. All that he remembered was making sure there were no rebels just yesterday afternoon. And by nighttime, while sleeping, he heard marching. Deciding to neglect his duty, he abandoned the city as soon as possible, hidden from view of course. And when he was long gone, he heard the sounds of battle and screams from afar. But that was all he remembered.
He tried to get up, he had to tell the princess about this. But before he knew it, a group of two large and furry figures entered his chamber. One of them began to speak.
"No. You are hurt. You will remain here until your wounds recover. Relax. You are safe here, sherrif Silver Star."
The sherrifs vision needn't to get clearer, he realized the two were buffalo, but before he knew it, his body failed to comply with his efforts to wake up and fell into a deep sleep once more.
***
Back in the New Lunar Republic, Salzar was managing the backyard of his embassy accordingly. With no knowledge on why he woke up with the hardest brain-ache he ever had in decades, he continued to organize that part embassy since Nightmare Moon was not open for visits. And frankly, he did not want to see her Her Majesty at the moment either. Little did he know what was lurking in the void skies... Until now. Flashing lights appeared from the stellar sky of the moon. And they flashed widely and clearly. From every single part of the sky he could see. His heart just dropped into his stomach and his breathing accelerated rapidly. He hoped in despair that such lights were from simple pulsars, yet his mind knew better. No, he clearly knew what this was. It was the his impending doom... No.
The Republics impending Doom ...
*Entering system: Equestria. Sector ownership: Saurian Union.* The female robotic voice finished.
With a fleet larger than one hundred ships, ranging from station constructors to the latest destroyers and carriers and even planet destroyers, Fenrir was ready to enforce their presence on this sector. Equestria, once a land of harmony, is plagued by this civil war. He will put an end to this. And this time, he were serious. And there was nothing that could stop him. Fenrir even decided to bring a space legend on his newly acquired sector. Something that will scare off the biggest fleets that dared trespass this sector. The legendary flagship that was supposedly decommissioned after the Second Intergalactic War. The flagship served the Dictator and ended the Second Intergalactic war. The flagship with a history of countless planets conquered, wasted or even turned totally destroyed. And turning hundreds of species extinct in the first fifty years of service. This was the aging pride of the Saurian Star Fleet.
This is the 'Armageddon': the Saurian-Class Flagship System Conqueror.
.
Three times bigger than the Star-Class Fleet Command Selsius, the Armageddon poses as the symbol of war for the Saurian Union. Armed with special and unique, almost paranormal weapons and technology that only the Saurians could conceive, this ship outdated all the Council ever came up with in regards of space warfare. Nothing that touched this ship was ever disclosed. And only the best of the best in planetary system warfare entered this ship. It's colors and design were inspired from space: as dark as possible, to barely be detected by either the blank eye or telescope. Radars were a problem if the ship was attempting to flank a base or try to ambush sector, though the problem could easily be countered if they had their discrete jammer ready.
Entire empires cowered at the sound of a Saurian-class ship, let alone the Armageddon. It was an intergalactic legend. Hybrid energy weapons that could destroy entire frigates or destroyers with just one shot. The ship did not need specialized weapons against small ships, because the reactive shield thundered them into wrecks. It also absorbed the energy from enemy fire by merging the energized enemy fire with the own shield and supplying more power of the shield. A reactive hull that literally returned firing back to its original shooter, sometimes the shot being even stronger than it originally was. Its rather heavy weight however, slowed the ship down if there wasn't enough power to the engines. But this did not mean that it could not warp into sectors. On the contrary, its advanced integrated computer could easily and precisely calculate the location where it could warp and combined with its firepower, rarely (if at all) there were any survivors if there was the case of an enemy space base. And the tales of those survivors were short-lived however, since they were too spectacular to be believed for good. The Saurian laboratories and military architects from all around the Union made a breakthrough with the design of the ship. The breakthrough was the fact that the exterior could barely be seen during the night or in space. Because the ship was huge, a cloaking system would be too expensive and only maintenance of this ship was way too high for its own good, the laboratories managed to merge metals into a special type of reactive metal that looked like the deep sky itself. The whole exterior of the ship was made with this type of metal (there were no glass panels, interior HUDs were showing the exterior together with information about hings outside) and combined with the discrete jammer, it did not exist at all. It was perfect for decisive surprise attacks.
However, the Armageddon was not unstoppable. Like all of their capital ships and large ships, it was impossible to fully power the whole of the ship. It was clear as day for them that with the resources they have from all of their colonies and territories and treaties, they could create anything from everything. And they did so, just that their creations needed a ridiculous amount of energy to be fully powered including: engines, weapons, shields, and even computing power sometimes. However, basic life support systems and core functions of the ship and its computer had their own generator that was separate from the ships main core. The main core was capable of powering and entire overpopulated planet and all it's satellites. Yet, that one full core powered at maximum safe capacity in proportion of 50% to 60% all of the ships shields, weapons and engines by default.
Fenrir began speaking. "Attention fleet. This is President Fenrir speaking. I want this sector defended against any possible trespassers. Whether they are pirates or not, allies or not, if they are not members of the Augustian Council, they are to be shot without any warning. None of the trespassers are to be left abandoning this sector once they enter. That being said, begin the sector enforcement. The plans will be sent towards the construction fleet and as soon as this transmission is over, you will begin to construct the necessary space stations and defense emplacements assigned in the plans. As for the rest of the fleet. Proceed in creating the capital patrol squadrons and establish the patrol routes accordingly. Also, establish escort force for the construction ships. If you see any non-Augustian ships, shoot them down. That is all for now. Proceed accordingly. Flagship out." The President finished speaking to the microphone provided by the visor as the ship sent information the fleet. The fleet then proceeded accordingly.
[It's about time we arrived. Good thing Hekaz still had some fleet left after maintenance. Reserves, yes, but this doesn't mean they were urgently needed either. After all the security there is there, and also knowing that our orbital gates are all linked to other Saurian sectors that are again protected like our homeworld is there, I think Hekaz can spare those reserves. Nothing could attack it, and we are not at war. By the way, can I have a word with you privately?] Arceus asked his friend telepathically.
[Of course. Come to my private office.] Fenrir said as he left. Arceus followed after letting his trustworthy second in command in control. As soon as they arrived in Fenrirs considerably larger office, this time with a HUD that was made out of small hexagons and far more decorated walls and floors, Arceus wasted no time beginning the conversation.
"Fenrir, I understand what Equestria means to you. It means a lot to a lot of species, as well, should they know it still exists. We both know what will happen if we pull back now, however. We already risked a lot abandoning it in the state which it is. I had to go to great lengths to get this fleet out of Hekaz. My justification was that we may have found a world that can be our new colony. Of course this was thin lie. Both of us know what this world means. Nobody on this planet or on that moon knows. Nobody from anywhere inside this sector knows. But the Universe did not forget, Fenrir. And what scares me most, our people may have not either. I fear for all the scandal you will face when all this breaks out. And lets not forget the fact that the Apocalypse is here. This ship has it's history with wars. Although I understand why you sent it here, I don't think you are fully aware of the risks you are taking, Fenrir." Arceus ended in a worried tone.
"I am fully aware of the sacrifices and risks I have in my hands now. But this is truly the miracle we just have to nourish. We have to ensure that this planet will remain in it's harmonic state. We are not here simply decide who is going to win. We are here to because we are the peacekeepers of the universe. And this is a title we will maintain. We will maintain it with utmost dedication. We will be sure that Equestria will survive. This is the last resort for harmony. We are the last resort for ever-lasting peace on this nation. This is the last resort of our impossible dreams. The dream of a world without wars. Without corruption. Without poverty. It is our duty as the Peacekeepers of the Universe to stop this war from destroying such nations. And we will fulfill this duty. Or die trying. For every world deserves a second chance to live a life of eternal balance. We will handle this, Arceus. It's not our first war. It's my not the first time we are in such a situation. We can handle it. We will handle it. Don't worry of the press wither. I fought them as well. I'm not scared." Fenrir responded confidently. His fiery blue eyes could confirm this.
Arceus, deciding that is not worth pursuing the matter, he ended chuckling: "You are crazy, my friend... Really crazy. I like that. But let's not get too crazy, alright?"
"Hey, better to be crazy and daring rather than a being a normal and anxious wolf, right?" Fenrir laughed.
He continued. "Don't worry, my friend. I know what I'm doing. And believe me, this world will be the first pillar of hope for harmony for the Universe when we are done with it." The President ended smiling as he pulled the bottle of wine and two glasses telekinetically, poured wine into the glasses and then gave his friend a glass, who took it by hand. Fenrir took the glass of wine by hand as well, ready to fill their simple, yet respected tradition. Because they have a passion for wars, the tradition says that at the beginning of every war they participated, they drank a glass of pure red wine, to symbolize the blood or life force of their enemies being drowned and absorbed. And at the end of every war, they drank a glass of pure white wine. To symbolize the blankness war leaves behind disappearing, letting reconstruction and recovery begin.
The two clanged the glasses together and spoke in order. The highest in rank always spoke first:
"For the wars..." Fenrir began.
"...in the name of the future" Arceus ended.
Smiling, the two drank the pure red wine and putting the glasses on the table, leaving for the Eclipse Civil War.
***
Celestia stayed yet again in her throne room, contemplating at the recent events as she looked at the mosaic that was made for Discords defeat. Although today was supposed to be another day of reports, it was far more than that. By her request, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Twilight were to be examined by the Princess privately, to see how mentally prepared they are. She also had a lingering but dismissed thought of offering them a second chance to abandon military service, but that would be immoral and unfair. Just because they are the wielders, this meant nothing for the military service for Equestria, or rather said 'The Solar Empire' . The everlasting feeling of contempt for herself intensified over the past few days: her own exiled sister returned, the New Lunar Republic, the volunteers who have no idea what war is to join the army and the total isolation of Appleloosa. This should have never happened. The Elements of Harmony were supposed to purify Nightmare Moon; so why didn't they? Celestia didn't fully believe the idea that Nightmare Moon broke the friendship between the six ponies. They had old relations, save for Twilight, whom might have been more than happy to be friends with. Deception would be the case. But then again, she could not believe that the elements were not used against Luna first. Nightmare Moon could not survive the power of such magic. Not a single chance. Maybe she have had a separate power to help her out? She could feel the storm approaching. The firestorm of chaos war delivers.
But there was no time to think as Silver Point entered the room, with Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie standing behind him ready and willing. Celestia smiled and dismissed the captain. With him leaving, it was time to see how did they survive.
"I hope you have manged the military training well for you may enter the battlefield very soon." Celestia spoke firmly.
"Yes we are, Princess. Let them try to get us!" Rainbow responded alongside with the united agreements from Pinkie and Twilight.
"Though, Your Majesty?" Twilight asked humbly, unaware of the interruption she made in Celestias analysis.
"Yes, my dear Twilight?"
"I have been asking myself for some time, and this may seem a bit too intruding but: Who are the alien species and what are they doing here?" Twilight asked, trying her best not to take the question back.
Celestia then used her magic to phonetically isolate not just the door, but the entire room. "The Saurians... My knowledge of the is limited and it should remain hidden from the ears and eyes of the everypony, my little ponies. This are things that must remain secret. However, I shall share with you a portion of my knowledge, but only if you are prepared." Celestia ended, with her typical poker face.
This time, instead of the three little ponies thinking through the supposed consequences of such information, they immediately agreed and said they were ready. Celestia could already see the training changing them. They were taught not to hesitate. Something they did in the past. Despite this may have consequences later on, Celestia decided that they deserve to know.
"I trust you made the right decision, Twilight. This alien species you speak of are known as the 'Saurians'. Their leader, whose name is President Fenrir Goldengod the IVth, is the leader of the Saurian Intergalactic Democratic Union. Such Union represents an immense power throughout the Universe. The President seeks to end this civil war with minimal casualties and ensure our peace is re-established the way it was. If we win their support, this war will be over before they even know it. They are the ones who truly have the power to end the war with one strike. They are peacekeepers, and they seek pure justice in their actions."
"So why don't we win their support? We are the ones that are attacked. Shouldn't it be fair that they protected us then?" Twilight spoke her confusion out.
"It is not as simple as it looks. We may have been attacked, but we have been attacked by rebels not by another universally recognized nation or state. They have the full right to suspect that we deserve to be attacked, because this is an insurgency. Those insurgencies happen only when the government of a nation completely fails to either please the population or to succeed in improving the state of the nation."
"Or when there are lies in the middle of everything..." Rainbow Dash answered as she crossed her hooves in midair.
Celestia shook her head. "They are fully entitled to believe what the NLR tells them. They do not know much about us, and the case of NLR seems more plausible based on the reasoning of the question 'If the Solar Empire was so good, why did the New Lunar Republic rise in the first place?' Ponies don't simply leave the planet, make a separate state and then declare war on the original state because it was too good for them. On the contrary. While we could prove to them this is the movement of Nightmare Moon who is vengeance-driven and that she deceived many ponies, the war effort would be damaged. And this will risk the Solar Empire. The Presidents decisions of this Civil War can be affected by our actions,yes. Yet, in an unknown impact.
"I wish I could speak to you more on the matter, but you have to return to your training. I hope you know what this means and if we lose it." Celestia ended with a steely gaze as Silver Point was ordered telepathically to return them to their military training routines. They all bowed and left, leaving Celestia contemplating again. She failed to analyse their mind correctly. And another question had risen in her mind.
'Am I too kind for the good of my own nation?'
***
The atmosphere was relaxed in the bridge of the flagship. Arceus already scattered and watched the fleet and the whole scenery, with the planet and moon and sun, through the large HUD that displayed it whole They wanted to make this place more than a sector, because this place was more the a sector. It housed Equestria. The President and the Starlord felt as it was their duty to nourish this world. He knew how bad war was. He knew too well what could happen to this world. They also knew that were the catalyst of either their doom or their balance. There was no way him or Fenrir would allow any non-saurian alien forces or species or even material enter the atmosphere. This world needed to be pure and concealed from the darkness of the world.
Starlord Arceus knew the situation of Equestria and the Eclipse Civil War because Fenrir told him on their way back to Sauria. And he analysed the situation while he was overseeing the enforcement operation. There is The New Lunar Republic. The so-called 'rebels'. They claim they fight to eliminate the tyranny Celestia covertly imposed and brainwashed Equestria. Although there is no real evidence to back this up, there was evidence that would go against them. Namely, NLRs very own supporters and population. If Celestia would use a mass mind control or memory wipe telekinesis power, then why are there supporters in the first place? Celestia seemed as if she was strong enough to make such spell yes, but neither did they truly have the chance to collect more data about this. If only that group of ships did not attack in the first place, they would have met with the leader of the NLR and understand this better. There was no clear connection between Celestia and Nightmare Moon at the moment other that they were once co-rulers and blood related. It was interesting for him this, because he always thought of the concept of families being united forever and at worst. So why would one of them start an entire war against her own nation and her sister. Vengeance? Although acceptable for many, and ultimately accepted by him, why would she risk the lives of many civilians? Could she be insane or misguided?
Suddenly, a small group of overlapped red triangles with their point upside down appeared from the sun. This was bad news. Renegades. And judging by the numbers and the symbols that was not a squadron of small ships; but an small fleet of renegades. And from the looks of it and it's distance and direction being showed, it was clear. They headed towards the planet. Already the other ships in that side of the sector signaled him of this enemy activity. The fleet needed to be destroyed. They were going far too straight for the planet. And their scanners now proved it. There were harvester-class ships there as well. They want Heaven? Then they will have to pass through its gates first.
Arceus immediately activated the battle stations alarm. His visor immediately connected with the on-board ship and displayed all the information the ship offered about the enemy fleet. He then began to speak towards the fleet. "Attention all fleet. Flagship speaking. Enemy activity present in the sector with the clear intention of damaging the planet. Use of deadly force is authorized. No warnings offered. Do not let them get close the planet or moon. Any damage dealt on this planet or moon is unacceptable. Begin offense. Flagship out."
His position was very disadvantageous. The enemies were on the other side of the sector. Luckily, there were small fleets at their flanks. But if they arrived there before the fleet got dangerously close to the planet, the fleet was dead before they knew it. "Activate engines for combat situation. Escort fleet: disengage from the Apocalypse and engage in conflict with the renegade fleet. Shoot their engines down if possible. They must not close the distance with the planet too much." Suddenly, the ships speed was immensely boosted. However, due to its size, it was still relatively slow compared to the big escort fleet who already outran the main ship.
Below the scenery, there was an animation: A rectangle that stretched through the lower part of the HUD, showing in the middle a green planet, on the right a group of blue ships that had the form of their own capital ships, behind the group there was only one big ship: them. On the left red ships with their own form. A line connected the planet with those ships. Left side had a red line with an occasional white orb going towards the planet in a rhythm and the line disappeared behind the group of red ships. Same with the left side, but it was blue and it disappeared behind the their flagship, the white orb starting from both the ship and the fleet at a faster rhythm. That was the distance calculated, with a time on top of the planet. They had little time. Those ships were fast. But theirs were faster.
After one or two minutes, the fleets from the sides of the ship were fighting the enemy, lasers of a multitude of colors and occasional rockets could be seen by the zoomed vision that was provided for Arceus by his visor. The escort joined shortly afterwards. At less than halfway thorough to the danger zone. One saurian at the computer then began to speak to the Starlord. "Sir, we are in range for firing the long range artillery cannons."
"Very well, commence firing and proceed advancing. Turn the ship horizontally at 90 degrees as soon as the side cannons are in the calculated range." Arceus responded as he saw the beams of white and light blue and blue lights piercing the space for their unfortunate prey.
'They will not have this planet. Not on my watch.' Arceus thought as he prioritized the targets for the cannons. But he came fast to a realization. The ships were evading the attacks and made it harder to hid from that distance. This was getting worse by the moment. Arceus needed to act fast. He will not accept such stubbornness from renegades. It was time to show the superiority of the Saurian ships.
"Activate the E-Web. Transfer maximum acceptable amount of energy into the engines core. I want 100% as fast as possible, the rest goes into weapons. Shields will have only 10% on a temporary basis. When we reach the correct position for cutting their path with the planet, turn the ship 90 degrees left and transfer all the energy to the weapons systems and the shield generator. All engines will have the least energy. Execute! Now!" Arceus said angrily. Those ships were too smart to be renegade and far too well organised too. And then the visor provided him with elements of the fleets cargo and equipment. It was clear as day now. He was dealing with them wrongly. Those are not renegades. Those are mercenaries. Arceus contacted the whole of the fleet immediately after re-checking the equipment the enemy ships had.
"Warning. Saurian fleet. The enemy we are fighting against is not a renegade or pirate ship. Those are mercenaries ships. Switch battle tactics immediately. The Apocalypse will be there shortly." He ended as he saw the distances close faster and faster for the blue, slower for the red because of the E-Web. Also, the tactic was working. The damage sustained by the engines of the enemy fleet were damaged and slowed them down. And shortly after, the slowed ships began to explode, one by one. From the looks of it, they were doing very well. This seemed to be an easy victory. And before the Apocalypse arrived, the enemy fleet was teared apart. No survivors. But the problem was the surprise debris that was falling in the ocean or even on the ground! That had to be stopped. Who knows what catastrophe that may create. The heavy planetary interceptors sent from the carriers were already pursuing the debris, tearing apart into small pieces the falling metal meteorites. It was until Arceus finally received confirmation that the debris was destroyed and it didn't hit the planet, when everything calmed down a bit. The side fleet was not even attacked during their desperate run.
Arceurs suddenly remembered how the E-Web was made. The Saurian Government before Fenrir issued an order to continue development, from the government before, a means to counter the missing 50% or 40% Saurian capital ships (like the Armageddon and smaller ships as well) suffered. But during that time (and also during Fenrirs Presidential term), there was literally no energy source compact or strong enough to achieve such impossible task. With the pressure of the old government stronger, the Saurian Space Warfare Science Department attempted a different approach on the problem: If it was impossible to get resources that will create the desired energy core, why not allocate the energy provided by the main core instead? And this is what happened. After years extensive research, they managed to discover a way to successfully transfer energy allocated to one part of the ship (such as engines) to another part of the ship (such as weapons). The idea on its own seemed one that could be worth following, so the old government did not reject the concept. A few months later, the department managed to create the E-Web: An advanced network that was designed to connect all of the ships engine, weapons and shield generators and the main core that will then be capable of transferring energy from one point to another instantly, efficiently and leakage proof. The government approved the project the moment it saw its full effect unfurl. And this is what made the Saurian ships so different from the rest too: the ability to change a large ship from an impenetrable fortress into a total destroyer into an ultra fast pursuer at will in the blink of an eye. And what was even better, the energy transfer was never total unless the captain ordered. It could let some energy for the shield and weapons while the engines were fully powered, for example. No other species thought of this concept before hand, giving them the edge in space warfare they needed and the time to improve this system so well that nothing could replicate it.
Getting back to the space theater, there was a deaf silence. All of the fleet remained in full combat readiness shifting their position into a formation, while the construction fleet hurried the operations. They will remain like this until the flagship gets out of the combat awareness situation. The Apocalypse moved and moved. Until it in front of the planet and proceeded into turning its side towards the origins of the attack. It could be felt how the ship turned around slowly, not to turn anything inside upside down or to the sides. It was a stable turn. And the HUD remained the same, showing the scenery as if the ship did not turn at all. They remained like this, until small patrols were dispatched throughout the sector. And suddenly, a bigger group of mercenary ships showed up. This time, judging by their equipment and size and even design, the fleet was directed not directed towards the planet but to them. Both fleets stood there, motionless. The Saurians knew what to do.
'Crap.' Arceus thought as he mentally issued the orders through his visor. Twenty orders at a time. Arceus was ready for another round. Commanding the ship to make the energy transfer. It was not moving from here. Engine power was completely transferred to the secret equipment the Apocalypse had, as a safety measure.
And then it came to him.
"Sir! We have confirmation of a nation-wide unrest across Equestria. There are riots in ten different cities, including the capital!"
'Double Crap.' Arceus had no choice at the moment but to dismiss military intervention. It was the worst possible moment for an riot time.
"Worse sir, we detect abnormal readings on the surface of the nation in those specific locations." The map of Equestria was showed on the upper left corner of the HUD. It showed targets at a forest, a pathway through the mountains and a city.
'Triple Crap.' Arceus stared at the red triangles. But then he smirked. 'It will take more than that to put me into trouble, Life.' He thought proudly. "Planetary surveillance will remain active and will keep an eye on the on-going Blitzkrieg in the background. In this moment I want all wolves at their battle stations. The ship and the fleet as a whole will now be under specific attack. Activate fleet-wide-cross-command linkage protocols and brace yourselves for imminent armed contact." He ended with his hands behind his back, standing there with his fleet under his command, ready to fight.
He smiled like an evil mastermind. 'Let games begin. He thought as the Saurian fleet was fully formed up and began closing the distance, with the Apocalypse firing cannons already.