The Dusk
"Why'd you do it, Applejack?" Rainbow Dash asked, pacing the interrogation room.
Applejack sat quietly, one cheek bruised and swelled, an eye blackened, but her gaze steeled with the resolve of a pony committed. Her hat had been confiscated from her, and some of her mane had been torn out in the scuffle, but she remained largely unharmed.
"Why are ya standin' by a pony that's lied ta us since before we were born?" Applejack countered.
"Because she's the Princess!" Rainbow snapped, "I thought you would understand how much loyalty meant to me."
"Ah always figured you'd be loyal to somepony who was loyal to you," the farm pony spat, "not a tyrant who doesn't trust you enough to tell the truth."
"Sometimes you have to have a little faith in ponies, AJ." Rainbow sighed, "Celestia has her reasons for keeping secrets - not everypony needs to know everything."
"It ain't just the lyin'!" Applejack said, "It's the fact that everytime somethin' gets out a' hoof, everypony quits bein' able ta function without the Princesses!"
"We've been over that!" Rainbow scoffed, "We're Celestia's back-up plan! We're the reason nothing ever goes horribly wrong!"
"So Celestia's plan is to have everypony dependent on us instead a' themselves?" Applejack laughed, "That's plum silly!"
"I thought you, of all ponies, would see the truth of things, AJ." Rainbow sighed, "I guess I misjudged you."
"Ah reckon ya have." the farm pony said, every word dripping with finality.
Rainbow left her friend in the darkness of the interrogation room.
*-*
Luna paced the halls of her de facto palace - Appleoosa's town hall - deep in thought. Outside, Braeburn and Apple Bloom were getting the pioneer ponies and even a few of the buffalo riled up over Applejack's kidnapping, but this was one of many problems currently far from Luna's mind. What was on her mind was what Celestia had said regarding Discord.
"Why would he tell her, and not me?" she asked the empty room.
"Because I thought she'd see reason." Discord said. Luna spun to face the draconequess with equal measures surprise and caution. "From what I've seen, Celestia always proved to be the more... mature and level-headed of you two."
"You can add that to your list of misjudgements." Luna said.
"Indeed I can." Discord said, a touch of sadness in his voice, "I never thought she'd try and imprison you, and now poor little Applejack has been taken prisoner."
"You almost sound sincere." Luna chuckled gravely, "And yet, even you can't hide your excitement. You're loving this."
"Revelling in anarchy and enjoying it are two separate things." Discord explained, "As a spirit of chaos, I take a measure of... comfort in situations of turmoil, it's true. But even I would not wish what is about to unfold on Equestria."
"What is to unfold?" Luna asked.
"You don't need prescience to see where this is going, Luna." Discord frowned, "Suffice to say, nothing pleasant. Please, make amends with your sister and compromise."
"Certainly not!" Luna shouted, "I cannot believe you are taking her side! I always thought-" she cut off, sharply.
"Thought what?" Discord blinked.
"I always thought that you and I were... kindred spirits, of a sort." Luna explained with a shrug, "I believed that you would confide in me over my sister."
"Are you jealous?" Discord managed a grin.
"Only a little." Luna confessed, "I feel almost betrayed that you would tell Celestia about your... premonitions, but not me."
"Luna," Discord sighed, "Celestia is the ruler of Equestria-"
"We are the rulers of Equestria!" Luna shot back, "Together! We were supposed to rule together! Yet, all anypony sees is Celestia, the ruler! I am just as much a ruler as her! And now I have ponies who will back me, and support me, and worship me!"
"Luna!" Discord blinked, "This doesn't sound like you. Why in Equestria would you want ponies to worship you?"
"Leave this place, Discord!" Luna demanded her voice becoming a thunderous tremor, "You are not welcome in the Lunar Republic!"
"Luna, please!" Discord clasped his hands together, pleadingly, "If you stay down this path, it'll only lead to heartache and disaster!"
"LEAVE!" Luna bellowed in the Royal Voice, throwing Discord to the ground, "AND NEVER RETURN!"
Discord blinked, startled by how sudden Luna's mood changed. Steeling himself, he gave Luna one final, withering stare before snapping his fingers and vanishing in a puff of smoke. Luna stood there, visibly shaken by her own outburst. She blinked away tears and returned to pacing. First her sister had turned on her, and than Discord. Or had Discord turned first? Had he ever really been on her side? Had anypony?
*-*
Celestia watched the moon lower and night ebb away. At least Luna was keeping up with her duties rather than fighting her. Below her, standing in rank and file were hundreds of stallions in gleaming, golden armor that reflected the waning moonlight. They stood surefootedly, in precise rows and columns, eyes hard and waiting. Waiting for her.
Celestia felt some trepidation. She could not recall a single instance in the last five centuries where she had ever needed so many guards in one place. It surprised her that she even had several hundred guards within Canterlot as reserves. No, she had far more in reserve. Thousands, across Equestria - and tens of thousands more, if she only asked for them. With a sigh, she gathered herself and ascended with the sun.
It rose, brighter than anything on the surface of the planet. The stars dimmed and faded with its arrival, even their majesty feeble in comparison with this lord of the heavens. Celestia felt her powers grow stronger in its light. The sunlight glinted from the polished gold of the assembled guards and Celestia radiated in all of the glowing fire of the star. Her cutie mark blazed, as lively as the sun itself. The guards stomped their hooves in salute to their Princess of the Day, and she reveled in it. Such power at her command. It was better than old times, for there was no question of loyalty here; not here in her own palace.
"Stallions of the Royal Guard," Celestia began, voice as fluid and passionate as liquid fire, "I call upon you this day to defend Equestria from her enemies. My sister, Luna, has once again betrayed her oaths to all of Equestria, and resists all talks for peace. She has taken control of several cities and turned her own bodyguard into an army poised against us. We must take action, swiftly and without mercy, before this spreads out of control."
The guard stallions were still, their hard eyes on her face alone. They were surprisingly grim beneath the blazing gold of their armor, though Celestia could understand that. She was sending them to battle - something that none of them had faced more than a few times. Not only that, but battle against other ponies, ponies they had known as comrades only a few weeks before. Celestia felt the icy tendrils of doubt enter her mind at the thought. She shut it out before it could take root.
"You will go to Ponyville and take it back, in the name of Equestria!" Celestia declared, rearing onto her hind legs, "You shall ride the dawn's light and bring illumination to the citizens of Ponyville!"
A few of the guards' eyes widened as she talked, and Celestia could tell she had struck some sort of chord with many of the soldiers. There was something in their expressions, something in their eyes that seemed to glow brighter than the sun behind her. A spark she had seen in Luna's eyes, and in the eyes of her supporters.
Zeal, she thought, but the word didn't quite fit. No, it was more than zealotry. It was something much deeper and truer than that. Celestia slammed her hooves back into the marble of her balcony.
"Now, my ponies!" Celestia said loudly, her voice carrying over half of Canterlot, "Ride! Ride and bring truth to the deceived in Ponyville!"
With a chorus of cheers, the guards departed in a great gallop. She could still hear their cheers - and the cheers of everpony watching them - as they exited the city's gates. The walls were packed with ponies of every stripe, whistling and cheering long after the Royal Guard, in their hundreds, disappeared over the horizon.
Celestia blinked as she realized what it was she had seen in the eyes of the Royal Guard when she had spoken to them. She indulged in a smile at the thought.
Faith.
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5297816 Lol, thank you. I know the Luna Gamer meme is a little old, so I've heard, and really didn't mesh with the overall theme of the fic, but I figured "why not?" Had to fit something silly in there somewhere. Anyway, thank you for reading it, and I'm glad you liked it.
plz make a sequel :3
5298959 It's currently a work in progress, but I'll try.
5305968 That's a good one, actually. Thanks :D
5330783 Very astute, my friend. Scarlet Banner is representative of Karl Marx and Lenin, sort of like "Old Major" from Animal Farm, whereas the Mare of Steel, Crimson Sun and Pink Pots are representative of Stalin, Mao and Pol Pots, respectively. Every revolution has its... unpleasant members. In France, it was Robespierre. In America, it was tarring and feathering innocent tax collectors. Sad, but true.
5387779 Thanks for all your reviews :D
I admit, my writing is a little slapdash and fast-paced. I tend to write these things as inspiration hits me, and they often fit together... oddly as a result. Still, besides that, I'm glad it was enjoyable. It's sort of my first floundering step in MLP fanfiction.
THE ABSOLUTE BEST NLR STORY I'VE READ. THIS NEEDS MORE LIKES
6345544 Well thank you. I'm glad you read it, but I kind of ruined it with the sequel.
And all the guards killed everyone in Ponyville including the mane 6, the cmc, and various background ponies. The end
oh wait... you made a sequel...
6356480 Yeah, not too proud of the sequel... I really went into left field with it.
The massive plothole of the Lunar Republic and Solar Empire, is that it requires people to basically disregard all we know for a fact about Celestia and Luna.
Same goes with a lot of fannon involving them.
And this is after I read the story and sequal too.
8648985
Well, I did write these when I got into the fandom. And they sort of spiraled into subplots with dead ends. I've actually been thinking of scrapping them and trying this from an AU angle, so as to avoid working around the established universe (and constantly changing junk every time a new season comes out).
8663833
Would make sense more that way. If you can come up with a believable "reason" for them to be like that. And put it that way because I'm still waiting for a believable one to ever be invented.
Zero luck so far. Doesn't mean I'll ever ddwnvote it though.
8663858
I was fiddling with a fantasy AU where events proceeded much the same as seasons 1-7, but they aren't ponies. There wouldn't be any precursor civil war/revolution stuff. Setup boiled down to Spike and Starlight unintentionally sparking conflict between Luna and Celestia. There wouldn't be a "New" Lunar Republic because there was never an old one. Still have to disregard a lot of the show, though.
Finished a chapter, but I'm notorious for never finishing fics, so I try to produce five or so chapters before uploading.
I like this a lot. You clearly thought through what needed to be done to set up for a grander tale. I didn't feel like anything done or said by the characters was a betrayal of character and I could really see them doing this stuff. It helps that Celestia has had almost zero character development. I have to wonder how Shining Armor and Cadance see all of this.
I have only one question that wasn't answered sufficiently: why is the Royal Guard going on foot to Ponyville when they have trains that go straight there, and Celestia herself has been shown to teleport between Canterlot and Ponyville. Of course, going straight to Ponyville by train would be a terrible idea, but they could stop the train a few miles out and then go the rest on hoof.
8648985
The best thing about this fic is that we see how everything breaks down. While it wouldn't make any sense what so ever for the NLR and Solar Empire to exist at once during Luna's banishment, few things are as unstable as the balance of political power. They could rise and fall next to each other multiple times until they destroy each other completely, or until a third faction gets involved.
8719585
Eh, I didn't think the plot points through very well when I wrote this. I also derailed my ideas a lot! Hahaha!
kill meI appreciate you saying such about my work. I tend to look back on this view unfavorably, but I'm glad readers still like it, and especially that they don't see it as a failure.