The Modern Equestria Project: The Sword and Shield · 11:54am Sep 6th, 2013
The Equestrian Royal Guard is regarded to be one of the best armed forces in the world. Stemming from humble roots as the watchmen of a small town named Canterlot, the Guard is now a formidable entity that acts as Equestria's shield and if necessary, its sword.
The Guard consists of four branches: the Royal Army, the Royal Air Force, and the Royal Navy, and the Office of Shadows and Secrets. Each has different organizations and regulations, but they are united under the mission to protect the realm and its citizens at all costs.
Traditionally, the Guard is only deployed against hostile forces as a last resort. However, that does not mean that Equestria does not give its soldiers the best training and equipment there is to offer.
The gold-armored Guardspony is most commonly seen in times of peace, and rightly so as the armor itself is mostly ceremonial. Despite this, they are highly capable of holding off superior weight in numbers as demonstrated in the Changeling Invasion, where thirty Guards held against nearly a thousand changelings for forty minutes without access to wartime weapons and armor.
If they can do this, what more can a combat-ready Guardspony do?
The answer is quite obvious.
A combat ready Armspony usually wears magically lightened and reinforced tungsten carbide plate over a Kevlar and carbon nanofiber weave undersuit. Often times, additional enhancements such as time dilation 'Haste' charms or point-barrier shield charms are placed on hard points in the armor. Specialists have access to armor variants that enhance their capabilities, such as spell batteries for unicorns and light, boost-equipped units for pegasi that allow them to 'sprint' past their normal speed limits for short periods of time.
There is also wide array of armaments available, from the basic REA-556 assault rifle to devastating heavy weapons such as Hammerstrike rocket launchers or Moonsong sniper rifles.
Armsponies can also count on artillery, armor, and close air support in the heat of combat.
Artillery options range from spells thrown by unicorn specialists to massive 155 millimeter 'Shatterer' howitzers and 'Sunflare' plasma artillery. Armor support can be a 'Chariot' IFV or 'Sleipnir' APC, sometimes even a 'Thunderbearer' assault tank.
Generally, earth ponies make up the backbone of many units due to their high strength and endurance, even in adverse weather and hostile climates, while pegasi and unicorns take up support and scouting roles sometimes drawing the ire of their more mundane counterparts, but these cases are rare. However, this does not mean that other types of pony cannot shine on the battlefield.
Unicorn snipers and skirmishers for example, are dreaded on the battlefield due to their ability to render themselves invisible, relocate quickly after each shot, and use a wide variety of offensive and defensive spells on the fly, while pegasus combat medics save hundreds of lives by being able to quickly move wounded and deliver supplies across the battlefield.
They say that when the infantry come, the Princess has come to take her rightful place.
That said, the Air Force certainly doesn't dally around when it comes to the act or art of war in the air, not when it is descended from one of the oldest militaries on Equs. It is composed of mainly pegasi, for very obvious reasons, and is usually called upon for first response to threats coming from inside and outside the border.
Pegasi, while not as large as Dragons or as deadly in melee combat as the Griffons, are known for their speed and maneuverability due to their small size. This coincidentally gives makes them harder targets to hit. In addition to this, many pegasus strike teams are capable of controlling the weather.
Fighter wings are organized in groups of four to six, with one pegasus carrying the lightweight-but-powerful detection and electronic/etheric warfare gear Equestria is known for. The rest provide firepower in the form of under-wing machine guns or light munitions.
Heavier units include wyverns, which resemble feathered dragons in appearance. They are often armed with heavier machine guns and auto cannons, and are equipped with special harnesses that allow them to carry a handler, and a load of bombs or missiles used for heavier work.
However, the advent of airships and the mass production of aircraft allow unicorns and earth ponies to take to the sky and fight. Trials are underway for the first ever fighter plane in Equestrian history while earth ponies and unicorns have served aboard many airships, both combat and non-combat, throughout history.
The RAF owns and maintains several 'cloud bases', the most famous of which is Cloud Base Aurora, from which the REAS Prince of Steel and her battlegroup operate. Normally, Aurora is stationed above Stalliongrad in order to optimize airship construction by reducing the time needed for resources to travel to and from the slipways.
Should push come to shove, any attacking nation will come face to face with the full might of Equestria's airborne arsenal. Five Prince-class airships, three hundred wyverns, and ten thousand fighting ponies will stand against any threat, above and beyond sea level.
In comparison, the Royal Navy appears atrophied next to these two branches. It has little surface assets, and is mainly focused on coastal operations including search and rescue. This apparent impotence against hostile threat is intended.
While it is true that the Royal Navy uses mostly cutters and corvettes, it also operates several ballistic missile and hunter killer submarines, among other underwater assets. Due to the secrecy behind the nature of this branch, it is impossible to gain further information on Equestria's last resort, whatever that may mean.
The fourth, and most clandestine branch is the Office of Shadows and Secrets. It is responsible for tracking down potential threats to national security and providing the royals information on these so that they may form an appropriate plan of action. It is also rumored to be behind the assassination of Warlord Ravenous and his coterie in the Winter Campaign following Princess Twilight's ascension.
It's second purpose is to facilitate protection for the Alicorns, taking on names such as the Twilight Sentinels, Sol Force, the Midnight Watchers, or the Crystal Eyes in order to avoid suspicion.
These four make up the walls of Equestria, providing the realm the security it needs to flourish.
I'm interested in this modern Equestria thing.