Archangel Of The Rebellion - A New Lunar Republic Fanfiction

It was the early hours of the morning, and the stoic moon had once again been suppressed by the burning behemoth of a star, the Sun, with its now infamous sickly yellow rays that took as much life as it had once bestowed. The convoy had rode triumphantly into Trottingham a few hours before, and now Archangel was starting to wish they hadn't. Trottingham had only been freed from Celestian control recently, and the results of the extended oppression by the Tyrant could be seen everywhere; houses were boarded up, the occupants forcibly extricated from the premises by officers of the Solar Empire. The streets were obscured by the telltale signs of rioting, pollution and corruption, with graffiti completely covering the walls and waste blocking the roads and pavements. Simply put, Trottingham was a ghost town, the only signs of inhabitance glimpsed for a brief moment through doorways and windows before they were hastily bolted shut.

They had deposited the emergency supplies in the town centre in order to draw a crowd for Princess Luna's scheduled speech. However, it seems that even the promise of food, fuel and weapons isn't enough to help mend the broken town.

Archangel was patrolling the town when he found another NLR soldier, a crimson pegasus with an orange mane, wrestling with one of the townsfolk. The sight of this made Archangel's blood boil, for the pony was clearly poor and defenceless, unable to even put up a fight against the trained pile of testosterone beating her into submission.

The soldier had clearly lost his patience with the elusive residents of Trottingham,

"Get to the damn town centre, you bitch! Princess Luna will be here soon!" he roared, before he found a hoof in his face.

The power of Archangel's kick propelled the pegasus through the nearest window, the ponies cowering inside watching the brutal display bursting through the door with screams of terror. Archangel tried to assist the broken pony lying at his feet, but she also scattered as a flaming bullet, bellowing in rage, collided with him, and they hit the ground in a ball of violence. The pegasus got to his feet first, and proceeded to attack the still recovering Archangel. However, the Earth Pony kicked out at his attacker's legs, knocking him to the floor and the two reversed roles, Archangel now beating the living shit out of the pegasus. They continued like this for a while, until Archangel finally landed a blow on the soldier's temple knocking him out cold.

Archangel just stood hunched over for a while, catching his breath. Eventually, he looked up and took in the sight of several Trottingham ponies watching him warily. They had probably gathered round to see the commotion, Archangel thought. Slowly, he raised his hooves in a gesture of peace. Some of the ponies started at this movement, but none of them ran away. Now's my chance, Archangel thought nervously.

"I apologise for the actions of my subordinate here," He kicked the prone form by his feet. "We didn't come to Trottingham to torture you, we simply wanted to give you some emergency aid. Also, Princess Luna, sworn enemy of the Tyrant, is arriving soon to give a speech in front of the town hall. The NLR is your ally, not your enemy."

Archangel searched the faces of the gathering crowd. Most of them still seemed suspicious, but then a starving little foal stepped forward out of the audience.

"Did you bring food?" She asked, as if hope had been something that no-one had dared to even think about for fear of disappointment.

"Yes." The crowd gasped in astonished elation and hurried with with new-found vigour towards the Town Square. Archangel exhaled deeply in a relieved sigh, having finally brought the citizens around to their side. But it wasn't over yet; if Luna's speech goes down badly, then his efforts were for naught.

Archangel trailed behind the crowd, carrying the pegasus on his back. He was younger than Archangel had assumed he was, only about 18 years old, and he wore a necklace with a symbol medallion on it, a pair of burning wings; Archangel guessed it was his cutie-mark. Admittedly, he was impressed with the young pegasus, as he had been able to fight a pony who was larger, older and far more experienced. Also, the speed at which he flew during their skirmish was beyond belief. Archangel doubted he had seen any pegasus pony move at such speeds before in his life.

Just who was this kid?

"You cunt." A voice from behind him said.

Archangel turned his head, and looked his passenger, who was now awake, in the eyes. They glowered at each other. "Shut up and stop complaining."

"I was just doing my job before you came in and ruined everything."

"Why don't you go tell that to the pony you nearly killed."

There was a noticeable pause.

"No-one tells me what to do. No-one. Not even that Archangel guy."

The way he said that made Archangel smile. He was scared. "Really? Not even Archangel?"

"No."

"See, I heard that he murdered his own family. And that he's so efficient, so psychotic, that he gives even Celestia nightmares."

"S-Shut up."

"Whatever. What's your name, kid?"

"The name's Rolling Thunder. And I'm not a kid." Archangel heard Rolling Thunder's teeth clench.

"Whatever you say, kid. But this isn't a playground anymore. And you aren't the school bully, either."

"You're just ASKING to be punched in the face." Despite themselves, they both laughed. Archangel liked this kid.

After a bit more banter, they settled into an awkward silence that continued all the way to the town centre, where NLR medics were tending to the broken townsfolk, while both Archangel's and Rolling Thunder's squads were keeping watch for any attacks from any Chaos or Solar forces. Archangel left Rolling Thunder, who had sustained heavier injuries from their fight, with the medics and returned to his squad, where he was tasked with the job of being a bodyguard for Princess Luna during her speech.

As if on cue, the Goddess herself finally appeared, soaring majestically over Trottingham before landing gracefully on the podium, her stern royal gaze commanding her previously restless audience to quieten into a respectful silence.

Princess Luna cleared her throat, and began her speech:

"Citizens of Trottingham, until very recently, you were under the oppressive rule of the Tyrant, Celestia. You were treated like slaves, subjected to endless propaganda and many of your friends and family were taken from you, never to be seen again. I realise that your spirits are broken, that you do not believe that Celestia can be overthrown, but I do not agree. I promise you that if you, and others like you, offer us your support, we can win. For you see…"

Archangel watched the proceedings with his attentive eyes. He was impressed by the way the Princess managed to inspire confidence and camaraderie with her words. It was almost as masterful as the way Princess Celestia impressed fear and hopelessness upon your soul with her speeches, forcing you to submit to her control.

A flash of movement in the crowd caught his eye. A pony garbed in rags that obscured their features was moving closer to the stage. Archangel’s gut was rarely wrong, and now it was telling him not so subtly that was something big was about to happen, and that this pony was going to be the cause.

Quickly, he pushed through the crowd, which was slowly growing as other Trottingham ponies that had been in hiding the whole time started to join the audience. Luna noticed him causing a commotion, and imbued her words with magic in order to keep the crowd's eyes on her. Now, the soldiers who had also noticed the suspicious pony started moving through the gathering of enthralled ponies too. The target must have noticed them, because he bolted towards the front of the crowd.

Out of nowhere, a red blur, Rolling Thunder, extricated the ragged pony from the crowd and threw them to the floor some distance away. He quickly restrained and tore off the rags obscuring the male pony’s face, revealing blank eyes that glowed with an unnatural light. A mind-control spell. This pony had been ordered to assassinate Princess Luna, but the amazing Rolling Thunder saved the day, he thought proudly.

"ROLLING THUNDER!! MOVE!!" Archangel shouted from behind him, pulling Rolling Thunder back to reality. He looked down and his heart stopped.

A bomb, beeping merrily, was strapped to the pony's chest.

He shrieked and leapt into the air, high above the subdued suicide bomber. He looked down and saw Archangel running at full speed towards him,

"What are you doing, you mani-?!" He suddenly realised what he intended. Archangel, in almost suicidal disregard for his own life, ran forward, tore the bomb off the pony and threw it with all his might into the air, where Rolling Thunder, with his limited control over the weather, summoned a powerful wind that threw it far, far away from Trottingham, where it exploded with no consequences.

"…And we will defeat Celestia. We will take back our home from her ruthless, destructive dictatorship. We will win, for the glory of The New Lunar Republic! WHO'S WITH ME?!" Luna bellowed to the roaring crowd.

"NLR, NLR, NLR, NLR!" The crowd went wild. There were even patriotic tears in their eyes.

Archangel and Rolling Thunder watched the Trottingham bow in fealty to Princess Luna, who received their oaths gratefully.

"Hey, you still haven't told me your name, you know." Rolling Thunder stated, with subtlety akin to an angry manticore.

Archangel sat quietly for a while, gazing at the rising moon, before answering, "Archangel."

Rolling Thunder’s face split into a wide childish smile. "I knew it."