PONIES IN ARMS 4. THE ONE TRUE RULER REVEALED

Chapters

The long chat on the way to Saltlick City part 1
The long chat on the way to Saltlick City part 2
Pulling into Saltlick City, and aquireing new allies
Questions with no answers
A long forgotten past
Fullfilling a promise to a friend- part 1
Fullfilling a promise to a friend- part 2
Harmony's bitter past revealed. The old chief's story part 1.
Royal Canterlot guard training.
Harmony's bitter past revealed. The old chief's story part 2.

The long chat on the way to Saltlick City part 1

DATE- CLASSIFIED
TIME- IRRELEVANT

(As we all fail, there is always a victory in the wind, which is what keeps life going. It is with that knowledge we all continue to strive for greatness)

War, we were now at war brought on by none other than the N.C.E, and their failure to see reason in what they had done. I now had 3 of them on the train bound and shackled prisoners of the battle that had just taken place. Former friends at that, which is what made this so heart breaking to all of us. "YOUR LEADER WAS CARELES, AND IT COST THE LIVES OF QUITE A FEW TODAY, YOU KNOW THAT RIGHT. FUCK YOUR ORDERS, AND FUCK THE N.C.E, WE WILL CARRY ON OUR MISSION, AND YOU WILL BE DELT WITH SOON ENOUGH!" I barked at the prisoners, taking into account that I had just lost 4 of my own I allowed those who were related to any pony lost a respite from duty for the rest of the day meaning they could rest, and mourn in their own way. I was their leader and they needed this, Harmony had taken a round to the flank almost obliterating the place her cutie mark would one day be and was getting looked at by the medical team.

I knew what this would mean for all of Equestria, and the far reaching effects it would soon have, however I had no since of guilt what so ever, why should I have, it was after all the fault of the N.C.E. and in my eyes Celestia herself. She had created her own military and knew exactly what it would mean after all. We also still faced the threat of the E.L.F, if only a shadow of its former self, they had proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were not above using nuclear capabilities, and to astounding effect I may add. In other words Equestria was about to face a war unlike any previous, and it would chose the absolute ruler of the land through military might and leadership. In other words, the revolution was about to be born. It would start almost that exact same day unknown to any of us with the defacing of several Celestia posters in Canterlot along with fires being set in the courtyard of the castle. I however was too concerned with the task at hoof to worry about any of it right now; I had to figure out how I along with my entire group of ponies was going to walk into a land controlled by griffons, and explain to them just what we were doing there. "An easy enough task" I said to myself with a chuckle.

As we continued on our way to the city I had a chat with one of our prisoners, unlike the major I had no intent on having these ponies join my ranks. They had opened fire on us without warning after all, and I wanted to see just what the N.L.R had in store for those opposing us. "I am sorry for your losses, but you have to understand we were under orders by Celestia herself to actively hunt you down, something about Stable Tech I don't know, but it was an order" "IT WAS AN ORDER, AN ORDER! WHAT THE FUCK? I know we are enemies of Stable Tech, but what does this have to do with pegasi of the Ponyville air defense wing, and mercenaries?" "I don't know honestly I have no clue, in fact it was almost as if the minute you went and joined the N.L.R Celestia knew it and handed down the order for your execution. Our commander even tried to talk her out of it, knowing that it would devastate the major, but she got an evil look on her face and had the order expedited almost knowing what it would do to him. Kind of twisted if you ask me, I wasn't even supposed to go on the mission but at the last minute one of the others got sick, it happened to be our top sniper from her very own protection detail. As if that is not odd enough, we weren’t even talking directly to her, rather a monitor with her on the other end goddesses only knows where from. Look, i know you don't have any reason to believe me and I don't blame you, but to be honest i have been talking to Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, along with the other members of the E.C.I.A, and i have to tell you, if i knew half the stuff i now know back when i joined the N.C.E, i would have joined the N.L.R instead."

At that I looked at the other so called prisoners, and thought back to what Buckshot had told me, knowing that I would one day get a chance to prove I had indeed learned from the major, and smiled at them. "Let’s keep chatting, and I’ll have some pony come and unlock your shackles ok, welcome to the N.L.R" Their eyes all lit up at this and we continued talking about all that they knew and were willing to share. It was indeed a lot to take in, as it turned out Celestia hadn't been seen since the beginning of all of this, and her sister was in fact making trips out of her base to regulate hostilities between fighting factions of raiders, and other new threats offering them a cause in which to stand behind, she was building a new Equestria in fact, an almost unified one at that. She had no care as to whether or not you were loyal to her sister, or her, instead she sought to pacify even the raiders of Blood Flank but they had no part of it and would go on to be the start of things to come in the future of Euestria, almost a dark wound that refused to close, spreading like wildfire. Their future generations would plague the wastes of Equestria as the world around became no better.

Luna was in fact looking to take the throne for herself, and she would do so at the cost of no pony if she could, she already had such a huge following throughout the land as it was that ponies would basically drop what they were doing and join her no questions asked. Whereas her sister was willing to put lives in danger just to support her rule, which is what ultimately would lead to open rebellion in the streets of Equestria, and the N.C.E becoming a force to be feared.

The long chat on the way to Saltlick City part 2

DATE- CLASSIFIED
TIME- IRRELEVANT

(Lose lips often can do more damage to an empire than even the ruler of the land can do)

The Pegasus I was talking to was running a huge risk and he knew it, but he felt it was vital that the truth be reviled to any pony that was willing to listen, even if it meant the enemy. The rest of the ponies he was with had nothing to say accept for agreeing with the one I was talking to every now and then, they were committing an act of sedition and they knew it they also knew that they had no reason to trust me in what I was saying to them, and for all they knew after they got done talking I would just kill them, something I had no intent on doing by the way. He kept talking and the more he said the more of a grave Celestia would need to dig out of in my opinion. All this time I was always brought up to not question our leadership, and to not listen to such stories, but this was too much to keep to one’s self and they knew it.

"If the N.C.E knew we were talking to you we would be killed on sight, I am now glad that the sniper was sick today, had he not been you all more than likely would be dead that is how effective he is. He is a remnant of the E.L.F and a deadly shot, I know what you are thinking, what is a former member of the E.L.F doing working for Celestia? Turns out he was in ponyville the night it was taken back by the EQNG, and was placed on reserve seeing as the E.L.F's top sniper was already in town. He got his chance to prove himself after Sure Shot was killed by the major, turns out he was quite a shot, and as the major was being taken out of the fight he gave the team that did the exfil a hell of a time. After the battle was over and the E.L.F was licking their wounds he came to Celestia and asked if he could join the royal guard, and she agreed to it thus giving him the training he would need to fulfill his purpose on the battle field absent of any emotion. You see, Twilight's brother excepts nothing but absolute devotion to the royal guard and was in fact the head of the guard, now he is in charge of training the N.C.E seeing as the major no longer has anything to do with it, instead he has been tasked with forming alliances with any city willing to help the N.C.E that is why he is in San Fransiscolt along with several other places at the moment via wireless meeting. The major is seeing more and more that the N.C.E is being squeezed on 2 fronts both with the remains of the E.L.F, and now an open war with the N.L.R and is starting to see what we all are. Allies are hard to come by seeing as most every pony is now focused on the upcoming inevitable battle and protecting what they own, and have worked so hard to earn from any pony dumb enough to have the idea that it now belongs to them. Look I know what is going to happen, and if you will have us we will gladly assist you in any way possible, I thank you for allowing us to join in the side we all know is the right one."

At that I now had 3 more ponies on my side. "The major would be proud" I thought to myself smiling. I was going to the back of the train towards medical in search of my love and second in command when she found me. "I'm ok Ruby, it’ll take a hell of a lot more than a simple round to stop this determined mare, now what do you say we go have some fun before we are dumped into goddess only knows and forced to do what we have been tasked with doing?" She said to me with a smirk. I looked at her with my ruby red eyes and winked, it was so fun having some pony to actually say I loved and knowing she loved me back made it all the better. I wrapped up my conversation with the new members of my unit, and gave them a hoof salute telling them to start getting to know every pony they would soon be fighting beside and they set to work on it. "Now for you my naughty filly" I thought to myself laughing. Needless to say our time was spent doing several activities, not a single one involved sleep, wink. "SALTLICK CITY IS JUST ABOUT 2 HOURS FROM HERE; I WOULD ASK EVERY PONY TO GO AHEAD AND START TO GATHER ALL YOU OWN AS I WILL NOT BE STOPPED LONG!" Smoky announced. It was almost time to fulfill my first act as a mercenary, and I was ready for anything.

As me and Harmony wrapped up what we were doing I had her gather her troops and supplies while Black Widow and I did the same. As we were getting done with this we could see the city looming in the distance. "Not quite what I was thinking it was going to look like I thought it was just going to be a bombed out hulk of what it used to be" I said to Harmony who was almost as supprised at what lay ahead as I was. It was an almost flawless city, sure it had been nuked but it didn't appear to have suffered near the damage Manehatten had. I asked Smoky about this and he simply told me to wait until we got into the city itself to better judge that.

Pulling into Saltlick City, and aquireing new allies

DATE- CLASSIFIED
TIME- IRRELEVANT

(In the darkest hour before the storm, one's actions will often lead them to the side that is sure to win in an upcoming conflict)

We pulled into what remained of the city at 01100 and were greeted by none other than a hoof full of griffons who seemed somewhat shocked at seeing almost a full contingent of ponies getting off the train. "Hold it right there you ponies, you know we don't allow your kind in this city right? Why don't you all just get back on your train and head back to where you came from before things get real bad for you all" A griffon calling himself Black Wing told us looking all of us over almost sizing us up for a fight. "We are not here for a fight; rather we are here on a mission of importance we have to get to stable 35 and fast. We are acting on behalf of Stable Tech, as soon as we are done I promise we will be out of your territory and never set foot here again ok” Black Wing looked at me and asked me if I knew of what had taken place between the ponies and griffons, and if I had why I would dare set hoof in griffon territory looking at me as though he was bracing for a fight

"Look, Black Wing is it? We aren’t here for a fight ok! if you want us out of your city allow us to do what we have to do, The lives of over 100 ponies hang in the balance and I don't intend on just allowing them to die ok!" "Fine we will allow you to take care of what you have to do, you don't seem to be threats and to be honest allowing ponies into our territory may actually help us with trade. It was Scar who was the one who made it an order to not allow ponies into Saltlick City and ever since he went into hiding we griffons have not had the best of luck in surviving the world these days. I mean hell with the ever present threat of the E.L.F along with the N.C.E we have been talking about asking the N.L.R for help, and seeing as you are in fact a major in the N.L.R I will take it upon myself to ask you, if you don’t mind having griffons in your army. I know that there is a war on the horizon and we wish to be on the winning side, again that is if you will have us" Looking at him with a half-smile on my face I simply said to the surrounding griffons, "welcome to the N.L.R any pony, or griffon willing to help us out is always welcome to join us" As soon as we disembarked the train and Smoky was pulling out of the town we were all led to city hall and shown the way to able 35. "Well that's just fucking great! I really hope that is a computer fowl up. If it isn't then we are in for a hell of a trot, and in to N.C.E territory at that" "Just fucking great, as if we don't have enough to worry about” I thought to myself.

At that I told my unit to follow us to the city hall with Black Wing and his griffons. "You all have the day off, take it to gather what supplies you will need for the trip ahead, and remember no drinking" They all looked at me and agreed to that, and in a flash they all were in formation right behind us. Upon reaching the city hall, Black Wing asked me to follow him to his office. "Now that you are here i need to tell you some things, things that are better left unsaid in company. Your second in command is permitted to stay seeing as she is a high ranking officer as you are. What I have to say is this, as the new leader of this city it is my responsibilities to make sure my griffons are safe and taken care of. I have lost quite a few of them to the N.CE, and have no intent on losing anymore! Seeing as we are now members of the N.L.R I highly doubt they will take it easy on us” Looking at a picture of a female griffon on his wall his eyes began to tear up, quickly replaced by a burning rage. With a voice on the edge of rage he told me that the N.C.E had assaulted the city in the past few weeks and had killed his wife in a battle costing the lives of several ponies, and griffons.

"Those bastards had no care as to who they killed or why, they claimed to be acting under the orders of the leader of the N.C.E. It was an obvious lie due to us having a ham radio and being able to listen in on any and all communications they transmit as they get close to the city. I knew they were lying to me due to hearing them say that their leader was away in San Fransiscolt on business and that he wouldn't be participating in the battle, but that he wished them luck" "The major would not have gone along with a battle so far away from replacements, and I know this for a fact! I served under him for a time before joining the N.L.R, and have a personal bond with him; he would not just attack a city for the hell of it. If any pony would order such an act it would be the second in command, Twilight Sparkle's brother, he is the one who does a lot of the training and prep for missions. He trains the snipers, along with any pony involved with clandestine activities; I know this for a fact. Major Read would not order such a thing and I can assure you of that” He looked at me with a hint of distrust in his eyes. And I put that to rest by pulling out a picture of our old unit with me and Harmony in it and his eyes relaxed along with his attitude. "I trust you, and I don't hold any ill will towards the major, I only hold it towards the N.C.E in general now"

Questions with no answers

DATE- CLASSIFIED
TIME- IRRELEVANT

(Questions are often the wonderings of one’s mind, if we focus too much on the why we will never see the answer before us)

We talked for a few hours about what exactly had happened in the battle that had killed Black Wing's wife and in doing so I gained a new insight into the workings of the brand new N.C.E, "Celestia knows what she has done and we cannot allow her to continue to rule the land, as much as we all respected and trusted her she has gone power mad just trying to hold on to what little shred power she still possesses. The N.C.E has brutally ended protests in Canterlot using deadly force even those closest to her have seen a dramatic change in her. Any pony who openly protests her rule is either shot on the spot, or taken into custody and treated as a traitor to the crown. Canterlot has become a impromptu battle field and blood now runs in the streets the N.C.E is now a force mad with power and is led by a military genius in the major. I don't know if Equestria can take what is about to take place to be honest"

Black Wing had a very chilling point to be honest, what would the major do if he ever knew what we all had done? Would he personally see to our deaths, or send assassins after us after all he was now running the N.C.E and we were the enemy now. "I am going to take this time to explain a few things about the series of stories you are now reading, I am sure most of you out there who are reading this are a bit confused as to when this was written, or if is being written as we go along our merry lives in war torn Equestria. The truth is this, I am sure you have read the journal of the major and know that it was written after the fact, so to say it simply, this too has been written after the fact as well. The things that have come to pass will be revealed in time but I have this to say to you all. To remember the past is to relive past mistakes and wonder what might have been, if we forget to remember the past we are doomed to make the same mistakes that caused the very thing we are trying to forget, it is a balance between being obsessed with the past and actually learning from it, this is why I have not told any of you about a lot of the fun I and Harmony had, or the same goes for my time with the major, those were fun times, but the point of my story is to remember why we are where we are now and to learn from past sins and mistakes so we may never re live them again."

The very reason we were now at war was a complete mystery to any of us, the 2 sisters had seemed to be getting along in fact, so why were we now in the midst of almost a civil war? The answer to this burning question would remain unanswered until the very end of all of this. What we did know was that something had happened after the royal wedding between Shining Armor, and Cadence that would have a rippling effect on the land for years to come and would lead to the biggest and bloodiest wars any of us had ever seen, the outcome of which would reveal the one true ruler of our lands. If any pony knew what that secret was they weren’t saying a word, and it in fact was a banned subject in both armies. What I knew came from the major himself, it wasn't much and just added to the list of questions I now had in my head. I knew this much though, it was a huge deal to have put such a rift between the 2 royal sisters and to lead us all down this path.

I had other burning questions as well, such as what we were going to do once we reached stable 35. I knew nothing of stables and the only information I honestly had was the override code for the main door, that however was of no use if the over pony had changed the code themselves. In other words we had no clue what to expect, was it going to be a battle I mean we knew the stable had its own military and guard forces but would they actually put up a fight. We in fact were acting on behalf of Stable Tech and were going to oust a power mad over pony who in fact worked for Stable Tech, I had already lost a potentially capable leader in Black Velvet just getting here along with 3 others as well, and was not going to go into this guns blazing if it could be helped. That brought up a whole new series of questions, “Great, just fucking great it's going to be one of these days” I thought to myself as my head swam in questions. The stable was on the outskirts of N.C.E territory as well, and that being the case wouldn't it fall under the protection of them? It was a valid question and one I really didn't wish to know the answer to, we were already at war with them, and I wasn't sure us just trotting in and helping the stable would count as none hostile actions or not. This led back to that damned secret that had brought us all here in the first place.

That fucking secret was the reason we were now at war with former friends, I had half a mind to turn tail for Shattered Hoof Ridge and buck Luna in the gut until she spilled the beans on the whole thing, but thought better of it seeing as her sister had sent her to the moon, and I didn't wish to spend a 1,000 years on the sun. It did eat at me though, I had secrets all my own as did every pony in Equestria and beyond so what was it about this one that drove us to war? If only any of us knew that terrible secret we would not be where we were right now, and the 2 sisters would be the best of friends, almost having no need for the Elements of Harmony in fact, but as it was there had been something that had come between them, and not even the friendship of being sisters could stand it. More questions popped into my head during that whole damn day, I had no clue as to why but I knew if I kept my mind busy I wouldn't have to think about the losses I had taken, or the major.

Going over all I had thought about and what it would mean if any of my questions were answered the wrong way, or even the way I wished they would be I had to admit my head hurt like a bitch. My final thought on the whole thing was simply this, some questions are better left un answered if we dig too much into our minds eye what we get may be far different than actual reality, and besides questions are what add to the mystery of life.

A long forgotten past

DATE- OVER 1,000 YEARS AGO
TIME- IRRELAVENT

"Sister I would like to introduce you to King Sombra, King Sombra this is Princess Luna. I'm quite sure you two will hit it off almost as well as me and Discord have" The princess of the day told her younger sister as she introduced the two. Celestia and discord had been seeing eachother for quite some time and knew Luna had her eye on the king of the Crystal Empire for a while now. Even though Discord was the god of chaos Celestia saw a bit of humor in him and would only tell him to take it easy on the chaos if it happend to get out of hoof. Luna however was very weary of him and had little if anything to do with him. She did however mention to him that she always felt like the odd one out what with her sister haveing a love interest, and he talked to Celestia about it.

This was the start of events that unknown to anypony at the time would lead Equestria to war years down the line. That single event would lead to secrets, lies, betrayl, murder, and all out hate between the two sisters. What both Luna and Celestia didn't know was that both Sombra who despite seeming inocent but harsh when need be was in reality a cruel unkind and evil king; and despite seeming charming and funny at times Discord who was infact the ruler of the land was ultimately useing Celestia and cared nothing for her. Both Discord and Sombra plyed the two sisters driveing a wedge between them and in turn bulstered their respective positions of power. As the two sisters got closer to their loves they drifted apart as sisters Sombra would ultimately be the one to corrupt Luna by showing her the power of evil, not just dark magic but how to be evil.

As time went on one secret would come into play years down the line; it would be this secret that would lead to the formation of the N.L.R. The more time Luna spent with Sombra the darker her heart would become; ironic since both she and Celestia eventualy would turn on him and banish him in the ice of the arctic north; along with turning Discord to stone. Luna would ultimately see that Discord was evil and Celestia the same with Sombra. What history refuses to remember is that Luna truely loved Sombra and he truely loved her; however evil he may have been Luna actualy enjoyed it. The ultimate secret that would lead Equestria to war years in the future is this. King sombra before his banishment talked to Luna about star magic; the same magic she would later use to Become Nightmare Moon. What Sombra would ask would linger in her mind during her exile in the moon and lead to the formation of the N.L.R and the ultimate showdown between the two sisters in the future.

This one thing the king asked has never been included in texts, arcives, or verbal history. This grim dark secret that Luna has kept to herself is this. What King Sombra asked of the alicorn he loved was to use star magic to overthrow Celestia; not just overthrow her but to weaken her magic useing the power of the stars thereby ultimately being able to kill her. Luna had no responce to this; at first she slapped him and told him they were through and thought about telling her sister; but tell her what, it was a crime punnishable by death and she loved him. In the end she used star magic to preserve him in a state of shadow when they banished him. What neither of them knew at the time was that they were destroying a vital part of Equestria since he alone knew where the Crystal Heart was hidden thus snuffing out an entire civilization for over 1,000 years.

Luna's heart if it wasn't already stone due to the corruption of Sombra was made even more so by her exile. After her return she never forgot Sombra's plan and set to work on her own. She would play inocent to pass as reformed, but always would carry with her the thoughts of a long forgotten past; long forgotten by history, but not by those who lived it. It infact became written law to never ask or talk about it at the exact time news laws were created while Luna was in exile thus makeing her actions when she returned illegal and punnishable by death.

Author's Note

Ok everypony first authers note; woohoo lol anyhow i have been extremely busy with work as of late. That being said this particular story in the series is going to be jumping around alot to show how not just Luna, but the rest of the cast are fareing in wartorn Equestria. No Princess Twilight hasnt come into play as of yet; will she eventualy yes. That being said this story will also serve as a kind of history lesson on Equestria as well. Hope you all enjoy.

Fullfilling a promise to a friend- part 1

DATE-IRRELEVANT
TIME-N/A

As we continue through this journy called life our actions begin to define who we truely are.

" I can't believe we are now at war over secrets and lies" Said the grey mare whom I had grown to love; as she looked out over the ruins of Saltlick City. The once proud city was called the silver capital of Equestria at one time, and was home to some 200,000 ponies; it's wealth was shared with all Equestria and it was a very popular place to be seen. Those days were however, long gone. When the war broke out the griffons that populated a large portion of the city saw that ponies could not be trusted and ordered all remaining ponies to leave. The city soon after was hit with a single nuke, hitting just on the northern border, but still haveing enough energy to level most of the outer city. This is where stable 35 comes into play, and why we were now here.

Black Wing sat at the window with Harmony and as he spoke we could all see the pain, heartache, and anger in his eyes. "This war has taken alot from all of us; some small, and others everything we hold dear, but so long as there are citizens willing to fight for good there will always be an Equestria!" He had a point, so long as there were citizens willing to fight for good, there infact would be an Equestria; infact this war wasn't about land, rather it was based on ideals. Those ideals were what drove the war, each side had the notion that they infact were fighting for good, and that very ideal is also kept the war machine going. From the simple factory worker doing his duty to princess and country, to the soldier on all sides; each thought they were working twards that one ideal. However with war comes loss; an inevitibility we all have faced, and the one task nopony wants to deal with; the delivory of that letter to a family. Digger's family would soon be getting such a letter, as would 4 more familys. I would soon be sending Dinky to the homes of the 4 I had lost on the way here; and was infact writeing the one for Black Velvet's family with tears in my eyes. The tears were for all casualtys of that encounter seeing as they were friends, and former friends. I also had a strong resolve to fullfill my duty to Digger and get to stable 35.

"Are you ok, you seem upset; I know it must be hard for you to have to write those letters, seeing as they were all close friends and had become almost family. Don't be so hard on yourself Ruby, this is war and it is inevitable to suffer losses; I know, trust me" Black Wing was sitting at the table with me as I hid my tear stained face in my hooves. "I.. I just wanted them to see the wrong in what they were ordered to do; I.. I didn't want any of this to happen. They just executed her in cold blood" I sobbed into his wing as he embraced me. "How do you think I feel Ruby; i've lost my wife damn it! I suffer every day because of that but I tough it out, because that is what she would want. You sitting here feeling sorry for yourself isn't accomplishing a damn thing! Think of Digger, do you think he would want you to sit here while the ponies of stable 35 suffer? HELL NO! You made him a promise to go to that stable, and seeing as he is now dead you owe this to him"

Meanwhile in San fransiscolt a train was just pulling into the city under an appropriately gloomy day. Smoky knew this was going to be hard, and had asked the family to meet him at the station. (I regret to inform you of the death of your husband Digger; he was killed doing what he always did, doing the right thing. He was killed by members of the workforce he was with for fraterniseing with members of the N.C.E and divulgeing secrets about Stable Tech. He didn't suffer as it was a quick death; but that i am sure will not give you as much peace as this bit of information. As his last act of a life dedicated to doing what was right hundreds of ponies will soon be saved; thanks to his final act of good.) The family stood on the platform of the station embraceing one another along with Smoky for what seemed like hours in the misty morning. "I assure you Rose, your husbands final act of good is going to be fullfilled"

After meeting with Digger's family Smoky went to the hotel where Major Read was staying.

Menwhile some thousnd miles away in the former city hall of Saltlick City, preporations were being completed for our long trek into N.C.E territory, and unknown to any of us at the time; an encounter that would put us all to the ultimate test.

Fullfilling a promise to a friend- part 2

DATE-IRRELEVANT
TIME-N/A

When we spend our time wondering through what we think is hell, it really isn' that big of a supprise when we finaly reach it.

We all looked back at the ruins of Saltlick City from a hill a few miles from the city, the giffons circleing overhead along with the pegasi. We were a very impressive sight to see what with the amount of ponies, wagons, supplies, and weapons we had and for a brief second I thought we were invinceable; that is until Harmony snaped me back to reality. "Day dreaming already, wow that didn't take long; hope it was about me" She said with a chuckle. Looking to her now scarred flank I shuttered a bit, suddenly my thought vanished. No, we werent invinceable at all; just getting here I had lost 4 good ponies includeing a very capeable officer so perhaps invinceable was not the right word.

Hell; we were trotting through a varitable hell, the dessert streatched on for miles in every direction. How and why the N.C.E both held onto and wanted this goddess forsaken dessert was beyond me. Sure at one time this place was the silver capital of Equestria, but after the war broke out all mineing stopped and ponies fled leaveing the small outposts and crude mineing towns abandond. Any radiation that dispersed throughout the land then changed the creatures that called it home into grotesque abominations of their former selves. In other words this was a liveing hell and somewhere in all of it was the pit; I love medifores don't you, they add so much to a story. We encoutered said creatures on no less than 4 occasions, you know the common garden veriety taranchula, lizard, scorpian, and snake; now imagine if you will them on steroids; yeh fun. It's my story and I'l tell it as I please thank you very much lol. On the third night of our wonderfull journy through hell we came to an abandon town apptly named hell, I know ironic right, and something new, bodies. "Storm fly overhead and scout ahead in the town, these bodies are only a few hours old and i don..." I was cut off by a gunshot inside the town.

"EVERYPONY GET DOWN! FLANKING POSITIONS, MOVE!" Every pony snaped into battle mode and quickly got into position; my snipers were on the cliff to the side of the town and Storm along with his pegasi and Black Wing and his griffons scaned the ground for any movement. What happened next was an utter shock to us all; ok so you remember those creatures on seroids right? Now imagine if you will a lizzard on an overdose and that is what we saw. The beast had a pony in it's claw and was; I shit you not, knawing at his head like an apple. A shot rang out and the poor pony's head exploded, yup what an appropriately named town. Following the beast were 5 N.C.E troops, each fireing their wepons into it and only pissing it off; I ordred my snipers to aim for it's head and in 4 muzzle flashes 4 .308 rounds took it down leaveing the 5 ponies stunned.

*I am captain Night Wind and these are what remains of a 10 pony scouting team, thank you for killing that thing. We have been fighting it for going on 6 hours and as you can see it had the upper er claw i guess" The black stallion said to me as we finnished our bottles of beer. I looked at him not knowing what to say; so I asked the obvious question. "Why does the N.C.E want this crappy dessert? It's not that welcomeing and is filled with creatures like that, there must be something of value out here; besides silver that is" He looked at me quizicly for a minuet before responding; "To be perfectly honest we don't know, Celstia gave the order that we patroll this place and that we report anything we find to her command so I am gussing there is a reason. Say arent you Ruby" I felt the sudden tension in the air. Stepping from the barstool he was on and stumbleing twords me he gave a hearty laugh; "By Celstias beard it is you!" He then gave me a hug and peck on the cheek; I may have blushed a bit, but if you tell anypony I'l deny it. Looking at him closer I did know him; we had shared guard duty once and uhhhm yeh details, details. What it wasn't like the major and I are married, and besides it was Kill Shot's idea; sue me. The look on Harmony's face as he hugged me was one of shock.. no more of confusion.

"Night Wind is it really you? I thought you were killed in that attack in Baltimare!" Everypony looked at Harmony who had tears in her eyes. Ok so massive incomeing shock in 3,2,1. "HE'S YOUR BROTHER! I thought your family was killed" I said in shock as the 2 starred at eachother gripping their weapons; oh yeh we were still in hell and nothing good ever comes from that.

Author's Note

Ok so the story is going to take a slight detour, seeing as Harmony' backstory would take a complete story all its own so this will be the condenced version comeing up.

Harmony's bitter past revealed. The old chief's story part 1.

DATE- 10 YEARS AGO
TIME-N/A

No matter how hard we try to out run our past we all must inevitably face it. It is only then that deep wounds can begin to heal.

"Wow bro, I can't believe you're joining the royal guard. Will you be able to meet the princesses, or will you just be a city guard" The young filly asked as her brother packed his things. He looked at his sister and smiled. "I have no clue what to expect to be honest sis, my recruiter told me about so many different jobs, and also told me that officers get better pay along with being able to choose where they go. The royal guard isn't just in Canterlot after all silly. I'l have to complete my training before I do anything" He picked his gear up off the bed and motioned for her to climb up. "Why are mom and dad so mad at you Night Wind; is it because of dad's nightmares" Their father was a former chief in the Equestrian Navy and carried many scars from it. He had seen battle and was even involved in a skirmish involving the Unikranians that had taken quite a few ships down; he still remembered it as though it were just yesterday. "Dad is just trying to make me see the error in my choice, he means well, but also knows this is what I want to do, I mean all my friends have joined so why shouldn't I, anyway I have to get moving. Got to be in Canterlot by morning tomorrow." As he packed his things and walked out the door Harmony remembered one of her dad's stories.

"Daddy could you tell us another of your navy stories" She asked her father. "Well I already told you quite a few, I don't know if I have any left to tell" He responded, trying to avoid telling yet another boring story. "Come on pleeeeease!" She persisted, and the old chief knew that she wouldn't give up until he told her a story. "Alright come over here and sit down" Harmony excitedly sat next to her father as he cleard his throat and started. "I am going to tell you a story that I normally don't tell other ponies, We were part of a battle group at the edge of the South Equestrian Sea....

We were just doing a routine patrol of the border of Equestrian territorial waters. There were five ships in the battle group all 4 stacker destroyers, the finest ships we had in the fleet at the time. I was on the bridge of the rear ship of the battle group, a ship named the RCS Trottingham. The other ships were the RCS San Fransicolt, the RCS Manehatten, the RCS Fillydelphia, and the lead ship was the RCS Las Pegasus. The captain of the Las Pegasus was in charge of the whole battle group. Now from listening to some of the crew of the Las Pegasus, the captain was not happy with his current naval career and wanted to prove himself in battle. After hearing this I knew that this mission was going to get ugly real fast; and sure enough, we receved an order from the Las Pegasus to make a course change to bearing 270, that means that we were going straight into international waters even though we had strict orders from Celestia herself not to venture east out of Equestrian waters. However the captain of my ship was a straight laced individual and followed the order from the Las Pegasus with the other ships; I could tell that he had the same feeling in his gut that I had.

After going about 80 nautical miles into international waters we heard a call over the radio; "Unidentified vessels, you have entered Unikranian waters; change your course now" I had never heard of Unikrane mind you, and neither had anyone else. It wasn't even on any of our maps. Not long after we heard the captain of the Las Pegasus gave the order "All ships prepare to engage, this is going to be a fight for the history books." After hearing that I turned to our captain but before either of us could say anything a shell went right over our bow and then another radio call. "Change your course now or we will be forced to engage." We looked in the direction that the shell came from and I could see only two ships. However these ships looked a lot different from ours. I grabbed a pair of binoculars to get a better look at them. I did not see any smoke coming from the stacks and yet the ships were moving about 32 knots. There was only one gun on the bow of the ship and other than that I did not see anymore visible weaponry and the flag they were flying had 2 stripes, one blue, and one gray with a white shield in the center.

My captain gave me a look that said he had a bad feeling; it was a thought mutualy felt throughout the ship. However it was five ships with four 4-inch guns a piece against two ships with one gun a piece; and judging by the impact splash that I witnessed not too long ago I'd have to say those were 5-inch guns.

Author's Note

As I have said, I will be collaborateing with a friend. This will be the first ever mentioning of where his oc comes from, it is a place called Unikrane, a very naval oriented place, and as such this will also be the official introduction to the EQN.

Royal Canterlot guard training.

DATE- N/A
TIME- IRRELIVANT

Name- Night Wind

Race- unicorn

Blood type- O-

Division assigned to- Bco second guard training battalion 3rd brigade

Special training required- N/A

You are hereby assigned to a training command of the Royal Canterlot guard, your choice in joining the Royal guard is greatly admired. From this day fourth you will be held to a very high standard; that standard is what every guard strives for. your next 12 weeks are going to involve extencive training in both proper conduct when dealing with royalty, the way to deal with dificult and complex situations, and how to put a rest to any and all situations that would call for imideate controll. after this next 12 weeks you will be able to call yourself the elite of the the elite. This training is both long and taxing on an individual thus if you wish to back out at any time the only time avalible to do so is during in processing; there will be no reprocussions and we will not look at you any differently. If you decide to continue training it will be up to us as your instructors to train you to the best of our abilitys, and we hold ourselves to a certain standard; that standard is this. We strive to train every one of our recruits as we are trained; we will never ask any pony to do anything we will not do ourselves, that being said we will make sure you are going to be the best you can be as soon as you graduate and are sent to your duty station; weather or not you are assigned to Canterlot castle, or some place different you will always be a Royal Canterlot guard and shal always conduct yourself as such.

"When I give the order to disembark this bus you will do so in an orderly fashion no questions asked do you all understand!" YES SIR! came the response from every pony on the bus. "Now I would like to welcome you to the hardest 12 weeks you will ever endure in your lives, it will be taxing, it will be hard, but at the end of it all you will all leave here knowing that you are a Royal Canterlot Guard; a feeling many consider a unique honor. Many have come before you and still many more will follow, who knows it could be one of you on this bus giving this same speech to another class in the future; but for now you are just recruits. It is up to the cadre here to mold and shape you into guards, and may I say we do a damn fine job of it thus far we have had a 90% success rate, the other 10% is not due to drop outs either; as I have said it is going to be a very tough 12 weeks and injuries do occur, not once however have we had a failed class" We all looked at each other and gave a combined gulp, what had we all gotten ourselves in to? Sure it had seemed like a good idea at the start but the more this pony in fatigues talked the more we all wanted to run for our lives. Oh yea he was still talking by the way, "Now as soon as this bus stops you are all going to grab your crap and stand in formation on those yellow hoof prints, if I hear so much as a peep from any of you other than yes sir I will pt you all until you drop, do you understand!" YES SIR! we all shouted in unison; and with that we grabbed our stuff and began our introduction to basic, well not quite basic yet, rather a week at reception which we would all come to realize had no affect on the upcoming 12 weeks of hell.

We all stood on our yellow hoof prints as the cadre took stock of their new class of bedraggled, and frightened ponies; many of which hadn't seen sleep in almost a full day. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Shining Armor, captain of the Royal Canterlot Guard; I along with my fellow officers and cadre would like to welcome you all to the 1st brigade 3rd recruit battalion, during the next week you will be taking your first steps in becoming a royal guard, you will be issued your uniforms, be given your inoculations, be introduced to the proper etiquette in dealing with royalty, and take the first of many pt tests. It is the responsibility of both my cadre and me to see to it that you are treated both fair and evenly during both in processing and basic training, if for any reason you feel as though you are being treated unfairly by an officer, or nco please let the moral officers know immediately and it will be dealt with, other than that my cadre will never ask any pony to do or say anything they would not do or say themselves, we all conduct ourselves as professionals, and we expect you all to do the same; is that clear!" YES SIR! We said in unison as he once again welcomed us and then let his hounds loose. Before any of us could think we had drill sergeants in our faces and the once quiet atmosphere was filled with the yelling of orders, and the occasional whimper from those who had been a bit too slow to do something as they did pushups. We were led to the mane cutting building where our manes were.. cut, even mine which had been already cut by my father, something the barber pony wasn't too pleased with obviously; though I was able to tell him about who my dad was, and got a nod of approval from not just him, but the drill sergeant who was making sure we all got our mane cut.

From the mane manecut building we were then led to the administration building where we filled out more paper work than we all thought was even possible to exist. After that we were led to a room decked to the brim with ribbons, flags, and photos of not just guards, but different places throughout our world; including one of Princess Luna shaking the talon of a griffon over what looked like a chess board of all things; under the photo was the caption, (The mighty Princess Luna is no match for Gold wing and his witty chess abilities, thus ends the most epic game of chess in history.) There were pictures of many different places and events that somehow gave us all a since of ease at our choice in career, especially the picture of Canterlot Royal Cemetery with the caption (GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN.) The room seemed to exude pride and patriotism, pride for being a Royal Canterlot Guard, and patriotism for all Equestria. So of course this would be the room where we were to recite our oath of enlistment.

"I Night Wind do solemnly swear to both uphold, and live by the code of the Royal Canterlot Guard; that being this, I will always be loyal to both Princess Luna, and Celestia respectively. I will always conduct myself as a royal guard both on and off duty, and I will make it my duty to give my life for those I am sworn to protect from both foreign and domestic threats if the need shal ever arise. From the day I graduate til the day I am either killed, or retire I will always be a Royal Canterlot Guard."

From the administration building we were then led to the chow hall, "finally, food thank Celestia" I thought to myself with a slight rumble in my stomach realizing just how long it had been since I had last eaten. "Ok recruits you have 10 minuets to get your food, and eat it. "What! 10 minuets, that's hardly enough time to enjoy a meal" I thought to myself shoveling food down my throat as fast as I could getting the vast majority of it down before being told to form up and march who knew where. It was just about 0100 by the time our night finally ended upon reaching our barracks, and assigned bunks; but not before being told we would be waking up at 0500.

"You have got to be bucking kidding me! Please tell me he is jokeing; seriously please someone, anyone tell me that was a joke" I thought as i laid my head on the pillow and thought back on everything that had taken place that day. "What have I done, and how can I get ou of it" Yeh in the end asking stupid questions got me no where, and I eventualy fell asleep; AT 0230! Yeh this was going to suck.

"Please peach, I promise it will be fun; trust... WAKE UP RECRUITS! Wait I don't remember this happening; FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!" "Well this assclown had better have a good reason to be waking me up at this goddess forsaken time or I swear to Luna I'l kill her" I rolled over in my bunk trying to filter the light out of my eyes and tried to get back to my...er dream, yeh dream. Looking down at the blankets I could see that it was certainly more than just a regular dream and noticed that the entire platoon was looking at my..uhm unfortunate situation.

"Well then recruit Night Wind, shal we all wait for you to uhhm; relieve yourself of that" "Gulp.... Why does she have to be a she; of all the worst things that could ever happen this is the.. worst.. possible thing!" "Damn she's cute.. er uhm fucking hell" I just dropped into the front lean and rest position and waited gaining a slight chuckle from her and.. "Wait did she just grin at me"

...

"And that is the proper way to interact with both Princess Luna and Princess Celestia respectivly; any questions on what we have gone over?" No pony raised a hoof and the light grey mare continued the lesson on proper etiquette of dealing not only with royalty but also castle staff as well. "Dear sweet fucking Celestia this is boring" I thought to myself looking over to the blue coated corpral at the back of the classroom; she was the very same mare that had woken us up a few days ago. I know what you all are going to say right now so don't say it. "Yes I know it's wrong and I'm not even in the royal guard yet; why am I even entertaining these thoughts. Damn it Night Wind snap out of it you fool." Mentaly kicking myself I saw the whole class eyeing me. "1.2.3.-1 1.2.3.-2" As it turned out I in my stupid thought bubble had been holding up the short break between the current class and the next class in the same room. Ok I'm going to admit this right now; let's just say by graduation I could just about lift 2 times my own weight; slight exaduration but you know what I mean.

...

The week in reception was finaly over and I wanted to piss myself. "I'L ASK AGAIN RECRUIT.. WHAT IS YOUR NAME; AND THIS TIME SAY IT LIKE YOU HAVE A PAIR... UNLESS YOUR A MARE. IN WHICH CASE YOU ARE IN THE WRONG BATTALION!!" PRIVATE NIGHT WIND DRILL SERGANT!" "GOOD NOW GRAB YOUR CRAP AND FORM UP!"

"What have I done" That was all I could think as he went down the rows of ponies along with the rest of his pack of dogs. Every pony seemed to have the same thought raceing through their heads as most did pushups or simply stood dumbfounded; this was going to be a long 12 weeks.

...

"If you can't trot faster than that recruit than I'm sure there is still space with the kitchen staff! Now I want to see cantering damn it" I had always been a crappy runner and it didn't help that I had recently stopped smokeing and my lungs felt as though they were on fire. "Private Night Wind are you going to die on me? That would break my fucking heart" The drill sergant asked as I caughed and wheezed; I could hear the smirk on his face and with renewed vigor I raced past him to his satisfied yell of "NOW THAT'S WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR: keep it up and in no time you will be able to out run even me, not today though" He said with a hint of pride and suppriseingly a smile.

...

"Welcome to the gas chamber; or as we like to call it, the tear factory" It had already been 2 weeks and the drill sergants had begun to take on an almost friendly demenor and had become more like actual teachers rather than heartless yelling beasts. We would have long discussions after chow about life and the royal guard; they would tell us more indepth things we were learning such as how to deal with the task of keeping notonly the 2 princesses safe but equestria as well. A few even talked about the day Nightmare Moon made her appearance since they had been there.

"Let me tell you; you do not want to get hit by lightning, trust me I still have the scar to prove it" We sat there in awe as he told us what happened afterword and how even to this day a few guards still were weary of Princess Luna, almost senceing something a bit.. off about her but never saying so or showing so either. They also shared some information on Luna's night guard as well telling us that they were hoof picked by her and her advisers. They hardly were ever seen during the day and infact had their very own brigade heavily fortified compound and only trained at night. We were also told that the princess herself would often chose a few of the outstanding class members from the graduateing classes and they would receve special comendations as well; I thought about that for a bit, and made a mental note of it as well. I had always been a night pony and infact had a night job in Baltimare where I was from working at a small caffe; before joining the royal guard that is.

....

"Come on Night Wind kick his flank, we know you can!" Sweet fucking Luna in heat this was fun; it was ofcourse hoof to hoof combat training and I had the biggest grin on my face as my second opponent went down in a cloud of dirt and a quite satisfying "umpf" "Ok who's the next contendor to take on Private Night Wind who currently is 2 and 0" A large earth pony named Cinder Block raised a hoof. "Looks like we have a good match ahead of us then; you both know the rules and the time limit so I want a clean match got it" "YES DRILL SERGANT!" we both said shakeing hooves. "READY.. FIGHT!" "Finaly, a worthy opponent" I thought as he rushed me; I quickly stepped aside and he harmlessly ran past me; turning to face him Iowered my head pushing my centre of mass into my chest and bulldozed right into him sending a loud yet satisfying "umpf" from him as he hit the ground. "Now to end this" I thought outloud as I attempted to pin him. I quickly realized that it was going to be a long match however as he used his mass to throw me off; stumbling to my hooves I was met with a sweeping kick to my right front leg sending a loud "SNAP" through the air as well as a loud cry of pain from me. Now a normal pony would have laid down and given up after breaking a leg; but.. I'm not a normal pony; standing on my 3 good legs I prepared to end this. He had a look of confusion on his face as I got up and said "LET'S END THIS!" through gritted teeth. Even the drill sergants had a look of shock on their faces as he ran full tilt at me again; this time I was ready though and had already turned my back to him; narrowing my eyesI reared up as he inched closer; 3..2..1 I bucked as hard as I could connecting with his nose. It was over in a blink of an eye; he landed hard and was out before he even hit the ground. A loud collective gasp was all anypony could hear as the medical staff rushed to us; getting up again I grogely asked "did I win drill sergant" before limping over to my friend to see if he was alright.

...

"Night Wind.. Night Wind... WAKE UP!" It had been almost a full month since my leg was broken, and though still sore I was determined to keep training; even if it meant haveing to join a new fresh class. My leg would never be the same afterwords and I was put on perminent light pt. So here I was, in a new class as well as CinderBlock who's nose and jaw had been broken; laying in my rack being woken up by my new best friend; after the whole incedent we were roomies in the hospital and aside from the whole you broke my leg; well you broke my nose and jaw thing, we shook hooves and started chatting about life before training and from there became best friends.

Author's Note

Yeh I know; "Why do you keep on doing this for certain charectures? and where is all of this going? Relax people it'l all make since in the end ok, bear with me lol

Harmony's bitter past revealed. The old chief's story part 2.

It was then we were given the order to attack. The Las Pegasus began opening fire on the ship closest to us. She was then followed by the other ships in our battle group; all that was, but ours. Our captain instead gave the order to turn back; away from the fight. The XO was more or less angry; "Why are we turning away from the fight! It is five ships against two!" He yelled at the captain. He just simply told the XO to turn around, our shells were bouncing harmlessly against the two ships as they returned fire and both five inch shells slammed into the bridge of the Las Pegasus, turning it into twisted steel and aluminum; through my binoculars I could see blood pouring out of it. However they kept on steaming along, I assumed the OIC of the engineering department had taken over. Then the rest of our battle group started lining up for a torpedo strike; something strange happened before they could attack however, about 7 or so strange objects came out of the back of the two ships in a trail of fire. They shot into the air before leveling out and streaming out toward the four ships still fighting. Not more than 30 seconds later those weapons slammed into the side of the Las Pegasus, the San Fransiscolt, the Fillydelphia, and the Manehattan. There were a series of explosions sending all four ships to the bottom of the ocean.

By this time we were already steaming out of there. We were scared we were going to die, because we had just lost 4 ships in less than 7 minutes; while those other two were barely scratched, we also knew they could go faster than us. The strangest thing was... They just let us go; after the other four ships in our group had been sent to the bottom, those two ships just turned around and left. I'm guessing that they knew that we were retreating and had decided that we were not worth chasing down.

"So what did you think Harmony?" The old chief asked his daughter, "Was that a good story?"