//------------------------------//
// Chapter 24 - War 
// Story: For the New Lunar Republic 
// by Moxypony 
//------------------------------//

	The skies over Canterlot were covered by a dark layer of clouds which the sun failed to burn through despite being at the center of Celestia’s power. An ill omen.
Barfrost sat in an old shop near the Canterlot train station, his sword resting tensely on his hooves as he and the rest of his squad waited. All the civilians had been cleared from the area and all of the plain-clothes ponies in the train courtyard were actually Imperial SpecOps soldiers, his mind drifted back to his briefing with General Sparkle.
“Our inside source in the NLR says that the assault will be coming tomorrow.” she said, looking out over her assembled troops, “They have captured a train and plan to launch a sneak attack from within the heart of the city by hiding their troops onboard. They expect their soldiers to be let loose on a civilian center, and they will be taken completely by surprise when their sneak attack turns into an ambush. Each of your individual commanding officers will give you your position and standing orders. Good luck, Equestria Prevails.”
They could see the train now, it pulled into the station a little faster than was normal and wasn’t at a complete stop before it hit the end of the tracks. It wasn’t moving terribly fast when it hit the platform, but fast enough that it left a number of deep cracks in the concrete. Its engine idled audibly and the plain-clothes troops in the square eyed it suspiciously as it… did nothing…
Several minutes ticked by and the train doors didn’t even so much as open. “Do you think they’ve noticed something is up?” one of Barfrost’s squadmates asked in a hushed tone.
“Can’t be,” their Sargeant said, shaking his head and leaning close to the window to try to see a bit better, “There’s nothing here to give us away…”
The agents approached the train to check it, opening the doors by force and entering the train, disappearing from view of the gathered troops in the shops around them.
A few moments later, they came rushing out of the train, one of them waving his hooves and shouting, “Abort! Abort the mission! Get out of—“ 
An explosion ripped through the square, each of the train cars erupting in flame and sending burning chunks of steel and glass scattering throughout the square. The agent who’d been trying to warn them was caught in the blast almost immediately and Barfrost only just managed to duck in time to avoid having his face sheared off by the window in front of him smashing into a million pieces, he cowered on the ground, covering his head against the falling glass and was enveloped by a wall of flame.

*   *   *   *   *

A cloud of dust and smoke spread from the train station in the midst of the city and as soon as it had enveloped the rooftops of Canterlot’s buildings hell descended upon the city. Out from the clouds shot hundreds of pegasi, some dragging carts bearing ground troops and others merely divebombing the city, dropping bombs and capsules which released more smoke to keep the city obscured in a deep haze.
Moxi dropped out of the clouds carrying Dreamcatcher, both ponies garbed in NLR issue fatigues. The pair plummeted towards the first clear landing zone the pegasus pony could see. The ground was already filling with both NLR and Imperial soldiers and she could see the sparks of impact as blades met on the battlefield.
“There!” Dreamcatcher called over the roar of wind, pointing his hoof towards a relatively empty park, “That’s probably as close as we can safely land, we won’t help anypony if we get blown out of the sky!”
Moxi nodded and plunged towards the ground. The Solar Empire soldiers who made up the entirety of the park’s current population converged on them, but the duo made short work of the small squad and within moments each of them was either dead or rapidly approaching it.
“Alright,” Moxi nodded, turning her gaze towards the spires of Canterlot Palace, “we’ve got to move quick, no telling when Celestia will decide to dirty her own hooves, and I’d rather not give her the opportunity.” Dreamcatcher nodded and the pair tore off into the city streets and into the chaos of battle.

“Get down!” A brown coated earth pony with a mane the color of blazing fire shouted at Moxi and Dreamcatcher, beckoning them to the small barricade he and several other ponies were crouching behind, small explosions seemed to be erupting from the opposite side of the barricade as well as the streets and the walls of the surrounding buildings.
The pair hurried to obey, Dreamcatcher taking some shrapnel in the leg from an exploding shop window beside them. They slid the last few feet and pressed their backs up against the barricade, turning to face the earth pony. “Agents Moxi and Dreamcatcher, NLR Special Operations,” Moxi shouted, feeling another blast shake the barricade, “give me a status report!” 
“Colonel Firebrand of the 12th,” he introduced himself, gesturing towards a red unicorn pony who was alternating between ducking behind the barricade and popping up to loose magical blasts down the street, “and this is my second in command, Lt Col Autumn Leaf. We were trying to flank the Imperial troops the rest of our unit is fighting on Mane St, but they seem to have read our move. They sent a group of unicorns and they’re pummeling us with magic blasts, the only unicorn we have is Autumn Leaf, and it’s six against one!”
Dreamcatcher, chanced a peek around the side, just barely ducking back behind cover in time, as was evidenced by the singed hairs at the end of his mane, “Can you get us back to Mane St to regroup with your unit?”
Firebrand shook his head, “No, the route back is too exposed, if we try to move from this position my troops will be torn to shreds.”
Moxi growled and considered opening fire on the enemy unicorns with the rifle strapped to her back, but decided against it, in her training she’d found that the thing was prone to jamming, and without any of the lab technicians she wouldn’t be able to fix it on the field.
Moxi eyed their surroundings, scooping up a particularly large shard of glass from the street and angling it to get a look at the enemy troops. The Imperial unicorns were pretty well dug in, and Moxi searched their location for some weakness they could exploit.
“Autumn Leaf,” Moxi said, grabbing the unicorn by a shoulder, “how much power do you think you can exert with one of those energy shots?”
She shook her head, “not to much, if I want to be able to sustain it. I can definitely do some damage if I get a direct hit, but beyond that…”
“And if you don’t want to sustain it?” Moxi asked, “How much energy can you put into a one-shot?”
Autumn Leaf blinked at Moxi in confusion, but responded regardless, “Well I could probably deal about as much damage as a standard issue grenade, but it would still have to be a pretty close hit in order to take out all of them.”
“Or,” Moxi said, “a spectacular miss!”
Dreamcatcher eyed Moxi in confusion and Firebrand slammed a hoof on the ground, “You’re talking nonsense, are you really suggesting Autumn cripple herself for nothing!?”
“Bear with me colonel,” Moxi waved a placating hoof, “Autumn, if you can get a hit on the building next to them with your strongest blast, the debris falling on them should at least incapacitate them.”
Autumn Leaf looked hesitant, but nodded and began building up energy in her horn. “Now hold on,” Firebrand called out, “what if this doesn’t work? If Autumn blows all her magic on a single shot we won’t have any more covering fire. Even if it does, you’ll be stranding her in the middle of an active warzone with no means of defending herself!”
“Firebrand,” Autumn said, she spoke softly, her eyes turning to gently meet the colonel’s, “I can do this. Besides, I’ve got ways to protect myself beyond my magic.” Autumn Leaf smiled weakly at the stallion, and Moxi could see his shoulders sink in acquiescence. She saw the look that passed between the two, and felt sorry for Firebrand that she had to ask Autumn to risk herself.
Autumn Leaf turned from behind the barricade without a moment’s notice and let loose a magical cannon blast. The energy tore into the wall of the building beside the enemy’s position, and true to Moxi’s plan, the rubble from the newly ruined structure fell directly onto the Imperial troops. The magical blasts ceased at once. 
“Excellent,” Moxi said, turning to face the gathered troops, “we need to find the quickest route to the palace, do any of you know the way?”
“I do,” Firebrand spoke up, he turned to face Autumn Leaf, “Autumn, complete the task we came here for and then rejoin the rest of the unit, you take command until I come back.” 
“But sir-!”
“No buts,” he snapped back, “you’re in no condition to show them, and your fighting condition has been weakened. Your mind is still working at peak capacity, so use it and lead those ponies into battle. That’s an order.”
Autumn Leaf snarled and her eyes filled with tears, but she snapped to a salute and led the other gathered ponies off down the street. Disappearing from sight within moments. Firebrand watched her go with a wistful look before turning back to lead Moxi and Dreamcatcher down a side alley.

“In a few blocks,” Firebrand said, looking over his shoulder as they wound their way through Canterlot’s back alleys, “there will be a straight shot to the palace. If Imperial resistance isn’t too heavy, I’ll leave you there. I must regroup with my troops.”
“Keep in mind, Colonel,” Moxi snarled, “that what we are attempting will benefit the entire republic. Don’t get selfish on us!”
“Selfishness has nothing to do with it, agent,” he barked back, a heated emphasis on the last word as he skidded to a stop to face Moxi, “Spec Ops may win battles, but it takes soldiers to win wars. My troops need me and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you stand in my way back to them!”
Moxi growled and was about to snap back when Dreamcatcher reached out a hoof between the pair. “We don’t have time for this,” he said, his voice remaining calm, “Firebrand, lead us as far as you can. Moxi, bear in mind that stealth is still our greatest ally, even in the midst of an active warzone. The Colonel isn’t trained for these types of missions and it’s honestly in our best interest to let him go when he’s led us where we need to go.” 
“Fine,” Moxi spat, “well, Colonel? Lead the way.”

“Amber, Bellflower!” Autumn Leaf called out to the pair of unicorns, “Come with me and lay down some suppressing fire, if we’re going to take this sector, we’re going to need to be aggressive!”
The two hurried to follow her orders, lobbing shots of magic at the enemy’s position while a small team of earth and pegasus ponies worked their way to bridge the gap. 
Autumn felt naked without her magic, but her tactical experience had been enough to allow her to overwhelm the soldiers who’d been pinning down her unit initially and they’d made remarkable progress since. She could see the city center in the distance and heard the sound of fighting from the neighboring streets getting louder. From the sound of it, the assault was going remarkably well. 
“Which means it’ll all go to shit soon enough,” she sighed, nothing ever works out this well…
“What was that, ma’am?” 
“Nothing,” she shot back, returning her attention to the combat around her, “keep up the good work, Amber,” As she spoke, the strike team breached the defensive perimeter that the Imperial troops had set up, the earth ponies making short work of the weaker bodied unicorns. 
“Alright,” Autumn shouted, “take a moment to catch your breath, we’ve got to keep moving!”
Soldiers broke out canteens, guzzling down water to replace the fluids they were visibly losing. Autumn eyed all of them, searching for any weak points that the enemy might exploit, but while she scoured her troops, a nearby shop door burst open. 
Autumn had her dagger unsheathed before the sound of the door slamming open had finished reverberating through the street, but she needn’t have bothered. The unicorn who came to greet her, while clearly posh and elegant as a noble, was also quite clearly not a soldier.
“You shouldn’t be out here, ma’am,” Autumn said, returning her dagger to its sheath, but still regarding the newcomer suspiciously, “please return inside until the combat has passed.”
“You’re from the New Lunar Republic?” she asked, her voice was posh, but tinged with a gentle fear, “my name is Rarity, and I need to ask for your assistance.”
“Rarity,” Autumn reeled at the name, “I’ve heard Command Chief Rainbow Dash speak of you. She was never terribly certain what to think of you, ma’am. Said she could never get a feel for what side you were on.”
“Well I’m on the side of decency, my dear,” Rarity replied, indignantly, “I obviously didn’t want to believe the claims about our Princess, but I’m not one to ignore what stares me in the face. Now if you’ll assist me, please?”
Rarity turned on the spot and reentered the shop, the Carousel Boutique. Autumn was still wary of trusting her, but followed regardless. “I moved my shop from Ponyville to here not terribly long before Pinkie started that priesthood of hers,” Rarity called, walking up a spiral staircase, “I couldn’t stand what was happening to the pegasus ponies when the war broke out, but if I’d openly opposed Celestia I’d have been branded a traitor. I wouldn’t have helped anypony like that. So I maintained my neutrality.” 
She reached the upper levels and rapped several times on a heavy wooden door. A slat opened in the door to reveal an eye, which looked Rarity over quickly before slamming the slat shut. The door swung open, revealing the upper rooms of Rarity’s store and a sight that truly shocked Autumn. “Empty night,” she gasped. Several dozen stallions, mares, and foals sat cramped into the hidden room, all of them pegasi.
“When the racial tension got too extreme,” Rarity said, gesturing to the huddled ponies, beaming at the insignia on Autumn’s fatigues, “I gathered all the pegasi who couldn’t get out of Canterlot and hid them here, but now that you’re here,” she smiled, “you can get them outside the city limits, can’t you?”
Autumn’s heart sank as she turned to regard the fashionista, “What?”
“Well, surely you and your troops can escort them outside the city limits, can’t you?”
“I’m sorry, Miss Rarity,” Autumn shook her head, unable to meet Rarity’s eyes, “but this push needs all our soldiers to have a chance at success. We can’t spare the pony-power to escort your civilians out of the warzone.”
Rarity bristled, “You’d just leave them to die?” 
“I’d rather save the entire species for tomorrow than a few dozen for today,” she snapped back, “you may have forgotten, but if we lose this war nothing will stand between the enraged citizens of Equestria and the pegasi. I’m sorry, I truly am, but sometimes sacrifices have to be made, and if I must do so for the greater good, I will make those sacrifices.”
Rarity looked as though she was about to scream, but a soft voice from behind them cut her response off before it could leave her lips, “Perhaps I could be of assistance.”
Autumn turned back to the direction they’d entered from to see an unmistakable figure approaching them. “Fluttershy!” Rarity exclaimed, rushing forward to embrace the leader of the Equestrian Peace Corps, “Thank heavens you’re safe! I’ve been so worried about all of you!”
“It’s good to see you too, Rarity,” Fluttershy said, returning the hug. The yellow pegasus pony was clad in standard Peace Corps attire, but she had accessorized it with a golden necklace adorned with a glowing crystal in the shape of a butterfly. “Some members of the Peace Corps are gathered outside; they should be able to get your ponies to safety. Pinkie and AJ are here too, we were hoping that maybe there was still some chance of brokering a peaceful resolution before the battle here gets out of hoof. Will you join us?”
“Fluttershy,” Rarity said, her voice trailing off slightly, “do you really believe that we can accomplish such a thing? Look around you, things have escalated far too much already, there is no way to console both sides here.”
“I’m sorry you see it that way,” Fluttershy frowned, “but even so, perhaps you could join us in trying to do what little we can. Perhaps if we all work together, we can save two friends…”
Rarity eyed Fluttershy’s necklace skeptically before turning to regard a cabinet beside her work bench. Within the cabinet, Autumn could just make out a faint glow. “Perhaps you’re right,” Rarity said, “I suppose even if we can only save one or two ponies, it would be worth the effort…”

Those NLR scum blew up a city center, Barfrost thought, dragging himself from the remnants of the crumbling building around him, sure, the buildings were abandoned, but they had no means of knowing that! They could have just killed countless civilians!
“Is anypony still alive out there?” he heard a voice call from nearby.
“I am!” he returned, “Private Barfrost, reporting for duty! The rest of my squad is dead, but I’m still ready for action!”
“Excellent,” a unicorn approached him, using his magic to push away the rubble obstructing him, “we need every available pony on the front lines, the NLR is making a push for the palace and they’re gaining ground!”
Barfrost grit his teeth as he looked at the land around him. The blast had leveled the entire shopping district, buildings reduced to rubble, here and there he could see the stains from where his fellow soldiers had been crushed by the collapsing structures. “Just tell me where to go, sir” he said through clenched teeth, “and tell me who to kill.”

“I should have known there was no way it would be simple,” Moxi muttered to herself as she, Dreamcatcher, and Firebrand glued themselves to a wall to avoid being seen by the Imperial troops standing between them and their straight-shot to the palace, “nothing’s ever simple for us.”
“Without this route,” Firebrand growled, “it’ll take much longer to get anywhere near the palace. We damn sure can’t take them by ourselves.”
“Good fing you ain’t by yaselves, then,” came a disembodied voice, a grin appearing from nothingness to continue framing the words, “innit?” 
“Chesh,” Dreamcatcher muttered, “how did Doolit’s gang find their way into the warzone.”
“Ah, gettin’ into a warzone ain’t so tough,” she said, her full body appearing and waving a dismissive hoof, “i’s the gettin’ out part what poses a problem.”
“Fair enough,” he muttered, “where are the rest of Doolit’s thugs?”
“Off helpin’ the rest o’ you lot, ain’t they.”
“So what help are you going to be then,” Moxi snarled.
“Ain’t me what’s gonna help here,” she said, gesturing towards the street ahead of them, “s’him!”
No sooner had she said the word that a dozen heavy metal orbs dropped into the midst of the Imperial troops. They had barely time to recognize the bombs at their hooves before they went off, spattering the walls of the nearby buildings with ash and gore.
“Hell of a fing that is!” The unmistakable voice came from the street ahead of them and Moxi and Dreamcatcher stepped out onto the cobblestones to be met with the grinning face of Chaser Doolit. “’ello Dreamcatcher,” he said, tipping his hat, “loverly ta see you lot again.”
“Yeah,” Dreamcatcher muttered, eying the stallion’s handiwork with disdain, “peachy.”
“I’ve fulfilled my duty,” Firebrand growled, turning to charge away, “the rest is up to you.”
“Hmph,” Moxi grunted, “fair enough. Let’s get going, Catch.” 
“Right behind you.”

Rainbow Dash gasped out in pain as she felt her foreleg shatter against the hard cobblestone street of Canterlot, the gasp quickly turned to a snarl, however, when she turned to face Twilight Sparkle. The purple unicorn mare was scowling at the downed pegasus.
The city burned around them, NLR and Solar Empire alike giving the two mares a wide berth as they fought one another to the death amid the glowing orange light of the burning structures around them.
“I gotta say, Twilight,” Rainbow said, getting back to her hooves and using her wings to keep from putting weight on her broken limb, “I never would have believed it would end this way.”
“After you abandoned your element,” Twilight snarled, “there’s no other way it could  have ended.”
“I abandoned nothing!" Rainbow shouted back, “Nothing, save for the will of a madmare!” She looked down and regarded the crystalline lightning bolt set into her golden necklace, whose glow she had not seen since the day she joined the fight, “The elements abandoned me, not the other way around, Twilight. I remain loyal to my ponies and I remain loyal to the cause of what is right.”
“You are loyal to lies and propaganda!” Twilight roared, “You were willing to turn on the mare who has protected and provided for us for longer than any of us have lived on the word of a mare who has already shown her desire for power and domination! You are a traitor, Rainbow Dash! You are no element of Loyalty!”
The two mares faced one another, each one attempting to bore through the other’s eyes with their own. After a time, Rainbow Dash took to the sky, charging her old friend with her sword held ready, the time had come for these things to come to an end.

“This is wrong,” Moxi said as she and Dreamcatcher arrived at the castle gates, “there should be more guards here…”
“Maybe they’re all off fighting in the city,” Dreamcatcher spoke with no real conviction, glancing around them to search for threats.
“Or maybe they’re right behind you,” came the snarling, aristocratic voice of Radiant Sol from behind them.
Dreamcatcher reached for his knife, but was knocked from his feet and sent rolling across the cobblestone path by a blast of magic. Moxi took to the air, narrowly managing to dodge the alicorn’s sweeping blade. 
Finally getting a good look at him, Moxi could tell that the alicorn hadn’t managed to escape the facility in Salt Lick City unscathed. Large burns streaked his flank and his hair was burned down to the scalp on his right side.
“Moxi,” Dreamcatcher yelled, getting to his hooves and drawing his knife, “go! Now! Finish the mission!”
“I’m not going to leave you to do this alone!”
“I’ll be fine,” he smirked, eyeing the assassin with wary eyes, “the mission is more important anyway, I’ll take care of this!” 
Dreamcatcher momentarily screwed up his face in concentration before opening his eyes to reveal a change. His pupils had become slitted, like those of a dragon and were emanating a soft, silver glow. Both ponies stood off against one another, each one’s body visibly bristling with magical energies.
Damnit, Moxi mentally swore, I won’t be of any help here anyway. With that, she took off toward the palace, leaving Dreamcatcher to deal with the assassin himself.
“Alicorn versus Shaman, eh?” Radiant Sol remarked in a conversational tone.
“Just like old times,” Dreamcatcher chuckled, and, without another word, the pair set about their grim business.