A Princedom Divided - Book 1 of The Princess and Her Guard Duology

by Moonlit Novel

Chapter Eight: The Line is drawn; War is Nigh

Chapter Eight: The Line is drawn; War is Nigh

“Princess Luna, I formally request to join you, to save Equestria, all I ask in return is that you help me save Cadence” said Shining and my jaw dropped, I mean sure I expected him to ask for help with Princess Cadence, or even to aid us, but this...

“Are you sure you want to do this? If you do my sister is sure to brand you a traitor, and if Cadence does not agree with your decision, you may be fighting to protect her, but without reward” said Luna and Shining clenched his jaw for a second.

“I would rather fight to protect her and have her hate me for it for the rest of my life, than to worry about her being killed” replied Shining Armor, all the while I remained quiet, I had my own princess to protect, and she was standing in the same room.

“Moonlit, what is your opinion?” asked Luna and I silently cursed the fact I stood up to become the main strategist.

“I think that it is highly likely that he did tell us the truth, but there is also the chance he is lying” I said before closing my eyes, “I am warning you now Shining Armor, if you ever, willingly, harm Princess Luna, or her cause, I. Will. End. You.” I said with absolute conviction, so much so Luna took a step back from me as well apparently I had worried her so I threw her a caring smile, the one you would give if you loved someone, and truly cared about their welfare.

“I understand, Moonlit, and I expect nothing less. I am not sure if you know this already or not, Princess Luna, but Moonlit here does love you.” said Shining a light smile on his lips, the kind you get when you know that you are sharing good news.

“I already know, Shining, and you fall under his command, he is in charge of the Unicorn forces of my Evening Armada, as well as my Lunar Guard” said Luna and Shining nodded not even arguing, it seemed he was truly intended to do whatever it took to save Princess Cadence.

It was harder to convince the rest of, the “Evening Armada” as Luna had come to call us, that Shining Armor was one of us now. Not that we thought it would be easy, though eventually Luna had enough and in her “Royal Canterlot Voice” commanded that Shining was one of her soldiers and would be treated as such.

The small town of Ponyville was a boon, it had enough food to feed itself and our forces all without draining its own resources, all thanks to the Apple Family Apple Orchid. Add that to the fact the town joined us so willingly we had one of the best positions in entirety of Equestria, especially since word had came in about several other cities, and towns, joining us some so willingly it was gratifying, Manehattan was one such city, apparently one Babs Seed was a very convincing filly in the city, when she heard about Luna needing the support of her city to defend them against something that apparently overtook her sister, she rounded up the young and youth of the city and convinced the adults to support her.

Unfortunately however for every city that joined us there was a city or town that didn't or a city or town that attempted to kill the scout. War was so close that tensions were already mounting from it...

Soon the dragon Spike came running up to me, holding in his hand a scroll that apparently came from Celestia.

“I got a reply!” said the young dragon and I nodded before motioning towards the town hall in which Luna had taken up for a temporary residence as she and the other generals attempted to deal with Formalities.

“This way Spike” I said and both he and I walked into the building...

“... And I say we can't do that! It would be suicide! Even if we had the troops, attacking Canterlot would-” Golden Sword quieted down as soon as he saw me, Luna glanced at me and smiled and motioned for me to come closer, “Princess I thought you didn't want him in here and that is why he was outside.”

“I was outside Golden Sword because I assumed you were dealing with formalities, not strategy” I said curtly and Luna chuckled lightly.

“I warned you, Golden Sword, that trying to form a plan without our main strategist would be a bad idea” said Regal Star and I gave her a slight bow of the head which made Golden Sword huff slightly but otherwise no response in the negative.

“I apologize, Moonlit, we had gotten so caught up in the discussion that we forgot to send someone out to get you” said Luna and I smiled shaking my head.

“It is alright, Princess, however I do have to agree with Golden Sword about attack Canterlot, while we have a lot of support, we lack the forces as of this moment to even attempt such an attack, not even the surprise factor would give us even a glimmer of a chance in victory” I said and Luna nodded sadly.

“Even with all of these Pegasus on our side?” asked Regal Star and I nodded grimly.

“We lack the armor to fight them, and only one small Pegasus village joined us, and although the majority of all the pegasus towns and cities have a large number of supporters for Luna, the majority in those settlements still hold loyalty to Celestia. Now as to why I am here, Spike, the response from Celestia” I called and the young dragon walked into the room and with a bow handed the letter to Luna who took it and started to read it. She then crumpled it up and threw it in the fire disgusted not even giving us a chance to read it for ourselves.

“My sister has declared us traitors to her new Solar Empire and now we most likely will lose a large amount of supporters for our cause” she said angrily and I sighed which caught her attention, “And she also declared that if we attempt to destroy the harmony of day and night that there will be no safe haven for us” I sighed once more, but this time in relief, she had just granted us a boon and had not realize it.

“Princess-”

“Moonlit, they already know that we are on a first name basis, as I am with most of this town, so do not feel obligated to call me by my title” she interrupted and I nodded with a small smile.

“Luna, if she has seen fit to call us traitors and to rename the Princedom of Equestria into the Solar Empire, then perhaps we should come up with a name for our movement ourselves.” I said and she looked at me with sad eyes.

“I know, Moonlit, but I fear what would happen if we did that” she said, “I fear that if we do that than we are admitting that we are traitors” I smiled sadly

“The damage is done already thanks to your sister. The only thing we can do is to embrace her title for us, as traitors, knowing that Rainbow Dash the element of Loyalty is on our side, and point this out to the naysayers” I said, Golden Sword and Regal Star nodded in agreement...

- - -

“And you want me to tell off the guys who call you a bunch of traitors?” asked Rainbow Dash, Luna nodded, “And I thought just getting ready for a fight was bad, is this going to be a fight, or just a bunch of words being thrown around, `cause Twilight is so much better at that than I am and she's on the other side” Luna smiled at that.

“Twilight may have more experience than you, but I am years more than her.” said Luna and Dash looked at her biting her lip obviously conflicted, the falling out was one thing, and it was possible that given time they could repair the rift that had formed between them. However if she did this then it was possible that she would never heal that rift, that their friendship will truly be over...

- - -

“SIR!” said a unicorn in freshly made armor, as he ran up to me, “Sir! There are SE troops heading towards the town, from the north east, about 10 hours away at full speed!” he told me and my gaze hardened, so the Solar Empire decided to attack us first, that was a bad choice as now we had a legitimate reason to fight; self-defense.

“Go gather the other generals and Princess Luna, NOW” I ordered and he gave me a quick salute before rushing off, 'So tolls the bell of war...' I thought sadly however my face remained stony as Golden Sword, Regal Star, and Luna all rushed to me, “Did the soldier inform you of what is happening?” I asked and Luna nodded as did my fellow generals. “Then I must ask you to gather the troops, it is time we had a name, and time we fought under a flag that is our own.” I said before turning to Luna and described to her the flag I was thinking of, the flag that was soon conjured into existence by the Night Princess...

Within minutes the entirety of our fighting force was rounded up and I took the stage, holding my head up high I announced Princess Luna and allowed her to take the stage. Oh no while the speech was my idea, I was in no way going to deliver it myself. Not through cowardice, no, rather due to the fact it would be so much more powerful coming from Luna's lips rather than my own.

“My sister has decided to throw the first salvo at us, by sending troops here, to Ponyville. I do not doubt she is sending more elsewhere, planning on rooting out our influence before we have too many supporters for her to quell. What she does not understand is that we are now an idea, and an idea cannot be destroyed. The Darkness comforts us, the shadows protects us. We strike from the darkened cloak of night, but think not we lack the courage to stand in the light. We are the New Lunar Republic, Pride of the Evening Armada! And we will not be destroyed! FOR THE REPUBLIC!” she shouted and the response was instant, every single soldier there cheered, and shouted back

“For the Republic! For the NLR!” And so began the terrible march, the march that led us to a war that nearly destroyed us all... 'The March of The Dark Flags...'

Author's Note:

OK so a short chapter, but this is because I am hitting a point where I have trouble describing things, I have never done well in combat scenes, with the exception of a few. Also I would like to give a shout out to Arkane on youtube for giving me permission to use part of his video in this

Comments

[Discospider1997]

Woah NLR!!!

No?

Just me?

Okay...

[Moonlit Novel]

4377447

The entirety of the NLR vs SE war will be in this book and then near the end we will discover what caused this and in the next book the fight will no longer be NLR vs SE, but the NLR & SE vs Sorry no more spoilers

[Discospider1997]

4377940 oh you tease...

[Moonlit Novel]

4378449

I know when to tease and when not to, well with writing What? Did you think I meant something else?

[Discospider1997]

4378921 no, not at all
*shiffty eyes*

[Moonlit Novel]

4379067

you did! No worries