//------------------------------//
// Decay 
// Story: Politics 
// by Dai Kirai 
//------------------------------//

	"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature, and has no chance of being free unless made or kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
— John Stuart Mill


6/1/14 4:01am, Canterlot Castle, Equestria
Luna sat in the throne with its gold filigree, her spot at night and her sister’s during the day. The throne room was different by night, lit with an ethereal light from behind the stained glass windows to remind ponies it was actively night. Everything was cast in a shade of gray that never diminished what it was cast on, from the red carpet that connected the gold and purple throne to the large wooden double doors, nor the marble floor or pillars. It was all to remind ponies that the world was large, but to Luna it wasn’t enough as egos kept being drug in.
“Now listen here you cud chewing-“ 
“Cud chewing? This coming from a pony that-“
“ENOUGH!!!” Luna yelled, relying on the Royal Canterlot Voice. “Mr. Hagglesworth and Mr. Penny Pincher. Twas it necessary to bring this before the court? Could the lower courts not solve this dispute?”
“NO! They sided with him!” Both stallions yelled. “I demand a change in our contract! I want an additional ten percent!”
I should have gone to Earth, it would have been less hassle, let Celestia deal with her court. Setting it at night made it no better. Luna glowered at the two ponies petitioning for their distribution contracts. Greed was unbecoming. “For wasting our time, thee shall pay the court 100 bits each, and 200 for rampant greed.” Tia does have more experience with composure and dealing with foals. “Guards, Remove these fools.” She stood, pointing a hoof at the offenders.
When two Lunar Guards stepped forward with their slit eyes and bat wings, the two businessponies couldn’t get out fast enough. 
“That’s all of them Your Highness.” Her ‘assistant’, another Lunar Guard said from next to the throne.
“Finally.” The Princess of the Night yawned, doing her sister’s work as well as her own was too much effort, and politics was not her thing. 
BANG! BANG! The sound something crashing on wood echoed through the Throne Room from the Antechamber. Spears materialized in the hooves of her guards except for a select few that drew hoofclaws as the lights dimmed. Her guards worked best in the dark, their cat-like yellow slit pupils allowed their eyes to take in more light while their tufted ears worked better at picking up subtle sounds than a normal pony’s. A charcoal grey pelt helped them blend into the darkness while their dark violet armor gave protection. 
“I already told you once. You can’t go in there.” Lunar Acerola scolded from behind the doors. 
“I told you! I have to get in there. I have a letter for Princess Luna from Princess Celestia!” A familiar rough and squeaky voice sounded from behind the door. 
The Lunar guards narrowed in on the door and as much as Luna wanted to see how her guards performed, if there was a letter from Tia at this time of night it must be serious. She could always find some other way to test their ability.
There was only one non-bat pony in the Throne Room, and that was a unicorn. Even with the different species they all looked similar enough with their amber cat-slit eyes, onyx black fur with tufted ears, lavender manes all cut to the same length. Even their armor was the same with their wisteria and plum colored armor; the only difference was the inclusion of bat wings versus a horn or nothing, even the few pegasi in her employ had bat-like wings. It was a simple spell just like the one used for the Royal Guards, and just like them, every Lunar Guard appeared male.
 “Let her in!” Luna ordered her guards.
Before the alicorn finished speaking, with a speak only possible through military precision and drills, the doors were opening and a polychromatic blur shot in to crash at Luna’s hooves.
Rainbow Dash looked exhausted with her fur matted in sweat and wings laying askew. There was also a paleness to her features, but she retained enough strength to raise onto her hooves and passed over the letter.
Luna took the parchment in her pale blue magic, the scent of ash wafted from the parchment and the pony that brought it. The letter held the sigil of her sister emblazoned in the wax used to seal it. 
Rainbow Dash stood on her shaky hooves and turned to leave. “I have to get back.” She mumbled.
“Hold thy horses.” What clever phrases humans come up with. Luna read the correspondence, guards growing tenser the further she read. “Lunar Acerola, front and center.” She ordered devoid of her usual emotions.
The guard ran to her and saluted. “Get ALL the castle guards up and mobilized. You have five minutes to have the Lunar and Royal Guards assembled as well as every medical pony you can find, I don’t care if you have to drag them out of bed kicking and screaming.”
Lunar gave Her Highness a befuddled look but was never a pony to question her orders. 
“Does that mean I can go back now?” The tired pegasus asked.
“No. You know what happens if anyone goes through the portal twice in less than a day, we cannot risk an Element Bearer.” Before the headstrong mare could object again. “Poppy and Xander, you are to keep this pony under guard, she is not allowed to leave the castle for any reason, throw her in a cell if you have too.”
Rainbow took flight and dashed for the open doors only to be tackled by an armored bat-pony. Mare stood over mare. “Do not resist.”
Luna left her more than capable guards as she went to the front gate. The doors closed and locked behind her, undoubtedly Xander not taking any chances. They aren’t Griffons. Changelings, that’s what these creatures remind me of.
And she had other things to do while the guards gathered.


***

Luna stood in front of the assembled guard ponies, her dark blue mane a mirror to the night sky, stars of pure magic twinkled as her mane and tail blew in an ethereal wind. What caught the guards’ attention though was not only what she was wearing but what she wasn’t. Gone were her simple silver horseshoes. Gone were the crown and necklace of darkest black emblazoned with her symbol; the moon. 
Instead, the Princess of the Night wore more metal than she had in a long time, since she had been NightMare Moon. It was a newer design from the last 500 years that her sister had commissioned in case the need ever arose. The jackboots rose to her knees in a burnished silver. The helmet covered the sides and top of her head without obstructing her vision and without, what Luna had regarded as tacky, the hornblade. A device that would let any horned pony slice through an enemy, but most often a spell was more effective. Its main purpose was psychological against the Griffons, a reminder that air control did not insure victory. Her barrel, chest, and hips were covered by the same polished metal and emblazoned with images of the sun and moon, with enough space to not interfere with her wings. 
Every squad was lined up with military precision by the front gate without the two factions mixing, it only equated to a couple hundred. The doctors were huddled at the back, barely ten doctors were there with fifteen nurses along with boxes of gear somepony had been smart enough to bring. 
The last time Luna had seen this many guard ponies amassed it was through the eyes of NightMare Moon by the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. Before that was the Great Griffon War, and before that was Discord. Every time the army got smaller but the fighting more intense. The battle with the Griffons had cost over 2,000 soldiers their lives. 
Luna stood erect. How would Tia do this? 
But you aren’t your sister. She never would have given into jealousy and risk her ponies.
Fine. How do we do this?
“Equestria has been attacked by humanity and we may be at war.” As Luna looked among the huddled mass, that may have been the wrong choice. The medical ponies took several steps away from the guards, one step because they knew horrors enough about surgery and their imagination run wild about ponies missing pieces, and the other because what moments before had been tired guards now were something else. Eyes narrowed along with eyes, every one was now fully awake and those holding weapons gripped them tighter, their expressions reflected in her armor. 
“Squads B and C of the Royal Guard and squads C and F of the Lunar guards will stay at the castle. You will have to perform double duty to make up for the missing guards. The rest of us are going to Ponyville.” Four squads of ponies departed back into the castle, their job wouldn’t be easy; Equestria rarely had a surplus of guards. “Lunar squads A, D and E will go through with the doctors to Bridal Lake; Celestia will have orders for you there.”
When was the last time we had a war? Chrysalis was an incursion. Luna had to run through the history of her absence, and though Equestria had some skirmishes, border disputes, and monster attacks, the last war she could think of was the Griffon Kingdoms.
“The rest will stay in Ponyville. Whatever Royal Guards are left will guard the portal, no nonpony gets through. Twelve of you come with me, the rest take the Embassy. They tried to kill Celestia. They may be planning a second attack here.”
“Any special orders? How are we to apprehend them?” 
Luna understood the question; humans had guns, effective and deadly weapons and would have alarmed access points. It was also no secret there was at least one basement level, but they also had no magic protection, just a wall. “Subdue. Remember there are civilians, but your safety comes first.” Civilians meant nothing to the humans. What would my guards do if they knew ponies had died?


***


Tony heard small footsteps outside his bedroom door as it opened. He was a light sleeper, often rolling over to check on his wife, the woman who would disappear in the night. The Ambassador reached across the evergreen sheets; when his hand met only cloth, he remembered Aiko was out on training. 
Maybe she got back early. “Aiko?” Still partially asleep.
“Did thou know?” The voice was high, soft but stern.
The voice sounded wrong, it wasn’t his wife, it sounded accusational; something Aiko rarely was. Tony’s still groggy mind focused on the dark outline against the pale wall, effervescent hair blowing despite the windows being closed and little air circulation, the spot itself emitted a chill breeze. The center of the mass reflected what little light filtered into the room through closed curtains. 
This has to be a dream. What would a Princess be doing here? And where are my guards? The human Ambassador absently wondered.
But the shape spoke again “Did thou know, human?” There was judgment this time, the feel of a judge ready to lay a sentence on the perpetrator of some heinous act. 
Tony’s mind jump-started as he shot up in his bed. Looking towards his bedroom door stood two guards. These weren’t his guards which were slumped on the floor, these were two Lunar Guards standing on either side of the simple door. He shifted his gaze back to Princess Luna. His heart racing, wishing he had listened to Aiko about more guards to replace her. 
“Do not worry thyself.” The creature spoke rooted where it sat. “They shall live if not wholly intact.”
Anthony looked back at his two prone protectors and hoped Luna wasn’t lying to him.
“Now, answer thy question.” With each iteration the breeze flowing off the alicorn drop in temp along with her voice. “Did thou know?!”
“You can’t be here.” He had to regain his composure, something that had all but evaporated after he saw the new ‘guard’s’ slitted eyes and glints of sharp metal off their hooves. The translator had to remember other cases, the power of words. “This is United States property as agreed upon. Unless you have an order rescinding that and prior notice, this will be viewed as a Declaration of War. You have already attacked United States citizens!”
Tony saw his breath as the temperature plummeted, the alicorn rising to her hooves to tower over the sitting human at her seven feet. 
“Our two societies are already at war! Thy colleagues bombed our embassy!” Her eyes began to bleed a white smoke that slowly filled in her eyes as she spoke. “They have killed civilians and tried to kill our sister!”
“T-there has to be some mistake.” The human faltered as the deity stepped closer, eyes ablaze. “If this happened, it doesn’t mean that we did it. You know not all humans follow the same leader.”
“We know that very well. But these three were part of security here. They attacked with a plan.” 
Tony saw that Luna was regaining control of her emotions, he had been known for the occasional outburst. “I’m sure we can sit down in the morning and discuss this. Get both parties to-“
“There will be no discussion. Our guards have already taken your Embassy and thou are now a prisoner, same as your staff and guards. We will ‘talk’ in the morning.” Her outline became softer, blurred with the walls behind her. “Celestia should already be interrogating thy mate for her crimes.” Her body dissipated into mist that wove itself out his bedroom door.
Anthony stared at the door, at his new guards and his new prison. The guard’s ears were in constant motion for noise; if they were anything like his wife then sneaking out would be impossible and painful. 
He remembered a failed Halloween prank, the only one he’d ever attempted. It can’t be. Aiko wouldn’t do this. She’s a military instructor. Anthony stayed up, trying to reconcile what he had been told with what he knew and figuring how who the other two humans were.