//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: RESCUE, Part II // Story: The Untold Story of the Equestrian Civil War // by mint20 //------------------------------// Chapter 9: RESCUE, Part II The Untold Story of the Equestrian Civil War “AND YOU BROUGHT SOME OF YOUR ‘FOLLOWERS’ WITH YOU. HOW CUTE.” “Buck!” exclaimed one of Twilight’s followers, a pegasus. “Secrecy is gone. We have to break open this castle. Let’s go!” The two ponies quickly ran in the direction of the castle doors, only to be stopped by squadron of six Imperial guards. “Great,” said the pony, readying his spear. He had never entered any actual combat, but that was not about to stop him from trying to serve Princess Twilight. “Well, well,” said Celestia, sitting regally on her throne. “Look what I caught.” “Yeah, yeah,” said Rainbow Dash, dismissively. “You caught us. Well done, and all that.” While Rainbow was trading insults with Celestia, Twilight glanced around the throne room. She quickly noticed Princess Cadance, for she was tied up and under guard near Celestia. Averting her eyes, Twilight blinked twice, refocusing on the Prin- no, she refused to think of Celestia as a true Princess of Equestria anymore. Not after all that had happened, thanks to her. Of course, this was hardly the end of this political crises, but whatever. Returning to the moment, Twilight took the moment to ask Celestia a question. “Why did you take Cadance prisoner? What purpose would that serve, other than to antagonize the Empire and the ponies within it? After all, you have no guarantee that in her absence, Shining Armor would be sympathetic to the ‘Solar Empire.’” “Shining Armor? Really, are you so ignorant to the politics of the Crystal Empire?” Celestia sighed. “It wouldn’t hurt to enlighten you, I suppose. If the Princess of the Crystal Empire is indisposed, imprisoned, overthrown, dead, or otherwise unfit to rule, power is temporarily transferred to the next-of-kin of the sovereign. In this case, Shining Armor, Prince-Consort of the Empire. In the meantime, a council of the most prestigious families in the Empire deliberate on who to name the next Emperor - or Empress - of the Crystal Empire. The process is known to take months, even years. And in the meantime, the acting head of the Empire finds his power very limited.” “And you plan to use this period of inactivity to your advantage.” “Of course!” she smiled. “At least you have some grasp of my plans. Maybe you aren’t hopeless yet.” “When word gets out about your actions, the ponies of the Crystal Empire will demand action!” replied Twilight. “They will not allow you to abduct their Princess!” “Perhaps that is correct,” replied Celestia. “But you’re assuming that they will ever learn that I was the one who abducted her. Perhaps blame will be shifted onto...somepony else…” Twilight grimaced at the implications of this. “Of course, in order for that to work, you and your companions may never be allowed to leave.” The fight was not going well. That was clear to all of Twilight’s supporters. For every Imperial guard they disabled, two more took his place, just around the corner. And now they were starting to take their own set of casualties. One of them had gone down under the onslaught, and, unfortunately, the others could not afford to stay and fight over his unconscious - or maybe dead - body. Two others had been wounded, one badly enough that he could no longer fight in any meaningful way. This left only two ponies capable of fighting, again, one had taken a minor injury. But they were making progress, at least. Slowly but surely, they advanced through the corridors of castle, fighting their way to doors of Canterlot Castle. The question remained, however, if they could make it before they were all killed. “Move! Move! Move!” A lull in the fighting had opened up, and two of the guards ran through. They took a left at the next intersection of doors, and saw the great doors that separated Canterlot Castle from the outside streets. With renewed hope, the two ponies charged. Smashing the doors open, both of the ponies yelled, “Ponies of Equestria United! To arms!” There was a battle cry, as ponies of Equestria United took up weapons that they had concealed for most of the day and ran to Canterlot Castle. The Imperial guards within the Castle were taken completely by surprise and found themselves in rout, the loyalists driving them back in fight after fight. It should be noted, however, that most of the fighting involved a lot of holding back. Neither side really wanted to kill their opponents. Not yet, at least. That would come later. “To the throne room!” shouted one of the guard. “Liberate Princess Cadance!” The army of the loyalists let out a mighty cheer as they surged forward again. Shattering the tired and battle fatigued Imperial lines, they charged through the throne room doors. As they did, Twilight quickly encased Princess Celestia in a magic-dampening spell. It would not last for long, but maybe just enough for them to get out of the room before she retaliated... The guards with in the room were caught by surprise, and the entire room was thrown into disarray. The loyal ponies used this as cover to break Cadance’s ropes and ferried her out of the room first, in accordance with Twilight’s orders. However, not everypony made it. As they escorted Twilight and Rainbow out, the Solar Princess broke free from the damping spell with a yell, and quickly cast three spells to stop them from escaping. Twilight saw this, and cast several counterspells, again trying only to stall for long enough to break the line of sight between Celestia and the party. The spells allowed Twilight and Rainbow to get away, but the two ponies bring up the rear of their party were not so lucky as they were roped back into the room. Using magic, Twilight quickly reached out with her mind to as many of her party as she could. Counting some twelve minds and herself, she called that close enough and cast a risky teleportation spell, bringing as many of her followers as she could to their headquarters, the room the Council of Harmony had had used earlier. When the teleportation spell concluded, Twilight quickly collapsed as the spell absorbed her energy, and she past into the soothing hooves of darkness. “Come on Twilight, you can’t sleep forever,” came the words. Groaning, Twilight opened her eyes and looked up. Rainbow Dash was standing over her. “How long was I asleep?” “Almost three hours,” Rainbow replied. “Anything happen?” “You could say that,” she said, glancing over her shoulder. Twilight became dimly aware of hustle around her, as ponies around her were arming themselves. She quickly sat up and asked, “What’s happening?” “The Lunar Republic is happening…”