“Here it is!” Moonatik declares. “The big moment! The great return of Nightmare Mommy I mean Nightmare Moon!”
“Now for this part, I'm going to mostly draw from the memoirs of Warmaster Selenite herself… Okay, maybe exclusively the memoirs of Selenite. These are obviously going to be biased, I mean come on, but it's probably the best account there is. I know her, she thinks big, and her attitude broadly reflects those of Lunarists more generally.”
Extracts from the memoirs of Selenite Berzel.
On the 21st of June 1000, the night that the sun did not rise, Nightmare Moon was finally back.
I was in a strange state of vindication and shock, where I was absolutely certain that the night was going to come and had prepared for it, but when it finally happened I could barely believe it.
The whole town erupted into celebration, up and down every street in Fledermaus you had ponies cheering, waving purple flags, marching with torches, and chanting Lunarist slogans. I saw ponies run into the town hall to tear down Celestial flags, with a big fire right outside where portraits and busts of Celestia were piled up and burned along with other Celestial iconography. I was amazed we even had the portraits, apparently they were required in government buildings. The largest gathering was on main street, Mayor Moonbeam gave an impromptu speech where he declared that the town’s government formally supported Nightmare Moon and was in full rebellion against Celestia’s government.
So much more happened after that. Chief Greytail of the local PD announced he was forming a militia and that anypony who could aim a gun and listen to orders was welcome to join. Workers at the local small arms factory seized control of the facility and took hold of any outgoing shipments to be used by the militia. Stores and warehouses were broken into, with their goods distributed amongst the impoverished. Such spontaneous bursts of mass action are magical to witness and be a part of.
Chief Greytail contacted the slowly forming Lunar government, then based in Manehattan, and found himself directly in conversation with Saturn Hawkrich. Hawkrich told us that Nightmare Moon had appointed him as the commander in chief of all Lunar forces, and that Fledermaus wasn't the only town that had formed a militia in open rebellion against Celestia. Hawkrich ordered the militia to submit to his command and go to Canterlot as soon as possible. At the time, the town was grateful for Hawkrich’s various charitable investments into Fledermaus, and there had been questions about his loyalty to Celestia (or lack thereof) for years, so they had no reason not to believe him. The militia obliged, and we made our way to Canterlot.
…
The battle for Canterlot was honestly much easier than any of us expected. Obviously it wasn’t a cakewalk, but I mostly knew what to expect from the battle. While it’s impossible to know just how hot our trial by fire would be before we arrived, we came prepared.
We - the Fledermaus Militia - arrived around 5pm on the 23rd and were only engaged in battle for a few hours. With a steady stream of Lunarist militias coming into the city - well armed, well trained, and with the memory and traditions of our martial forebearers alive in our minds - they didn’t stand a chance. All the Celestials had was the support of the local population, but Canterlonian aristocrats didn’t join the barricades or anything. As if they’d ever put themselves in harm's way. The Royal Guard was clearly not suited to combat and had not adequately prepared for the overwhelming tide of Lunarists with superior numbers, superior tactics, superior training, superior equipment, and endless enthusiasm. The Empress herself hadn’t even arrived yet.
Our only disadvantage was our disorderly chain of command and the broad inexperience of our soldiers and officers. Several mistakes were made, and every Lunarist militia in the city was effectively fighting its own fight. Fortunately, we had so many advantages that we could press on regardless, but these mistakes got ponies killed, including Chief Greytail. While making our way up Wheat Street in the southern part of the inner city around 7pm, he left cover assuming it was safe only for a bullet from an unseen sniper to rip through his head. After that I took command of the militia, and we made better use of effective urban warfare tactics. Then we cut through the Celestial defences like a knife through butter. A knife that had been superheated through butter that had been left out in the sun.
Soon, Nightmare Moon herself arrived. Seeing her in the flesh, laying waste to the Celestial forces, was a gigantic boon to our morale and capabilities. Conversely, it was devastating to the Celestials in every manner. I saw her at this time, but did not speak to her. I’m certain that if I did get the chance to speak to her I would’ve been left stunned and speechless. Just being on the same block as her nearly had that effect.
The final assault on Canterlot Castle was not vigorously resisted. A single line of defence, barely a few hundred Royal Guards, stood between the thousands of us and Canterlot Castle at 8pm. Their commander was zealous and demanded a defence to the death, but a sniper’s bullet put him down for good. Desertion and surrender from the Royal Guard followed, and we rushed into the castle and made it our own. The new standard of the Lunar Empire was raised from the highest towers, and the Empress herself was ushered into Celestia’s throne room no later than 8:45pm.
Unfortunately, the leaders of Celestia’s government were nowhere to be found. A captured Royal Guard told us the highest-ranking members of government and military, including Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Captain Shining Armor, fled the city via the castle’s secret passages and were on their way north to Bales. This later turned out to be true, if only incidentally as the fleeing Celestials did not intend to stay in Bales, but had little choice as nearly all railroads that went further north were sabotaged or occupied.
Either way, with the Equestrian capital in our hooves we elected to hold a great ceremony to officially declare the new Lunar Empire at midnight. It was indeed great at first, with many soldiers, moonspeakers, and other loyal Lunarists gathered for the most consequential proclamation the world had ever seen, but the tragic manner in which the ceremony ended is widely known. Once the Empress was stepping up to the throne, an explosion rocked the hall and tore the throne itself apart leaving a fiery wreckage in its wake. A bomber had sabotaged the ceremony, planning a bomb and detonating it right as the Empress was to take the throne. I was well out of the range of the blast itself, but it nearly made me deaf and almost threw me off my hooves. The Empress herself, despite being inches away from the explosion, was almost completely unharmed. Others were less lucky. Almost immediately 3 moonspeakers and 7 soldiers were killed, with many more wounded.
Instinct took over me. I had to act. Immediately I ordered ponies out to get medics to the scene and called out for medics myself. Then I sent every pegasus I could find to get rainclouds to douse the flames. Everyone else, I helped get out of the building as soon as I could. The Empress herself made a tremendous effort to get ponies away from the damage and into safety. The quick action of everypony involved ensured that there were few casualties aside from those hurt by the initial blast.
With everypony safely outside I took a moment to rest. A long night of facing war and terror had exhausted me. Five nights later the bomber was identified as Channel Coast, they were sentenced to indefinite petrification. In the moment though, we quietly and calmly ensured the wounded were treated as the Empress congratulated us for our swift response. Then, she singled me out of everypony present to highlight my efforts. I'd impressed her enough that she promoted me to command the force chasing the Celestials to Bales on the spot. Simple words cannot express my excitement without delving into obscenity. I guess you could say I “EEEE’d with happy”.
…
Before chasing the Celestials north, we carefully analysed our capabilities in Canterlot. In their hurry, it appeared to us that the Celestials only took what they could carry on their backs with large stocks of guns, ammunition, artillery, and vehicles left behind. The abandoned vehicles were everything from trucks to armoured patrol vehicles to several fully operational tanks, then only an experimental system. Only a small number of ponies, specifically some in the Night Guard who joined our cause, knew anything about how to operate a tank.
Our disparate and disorganised militia forces were brought together into more coherent units. A firm chain of command was established, backed by the word of the Empress. Standard equipment was given to the soldiers. Unit insignia was quickly improvised by repurposing gaudy purple cloths around Canterlot Castle and tying them into legbands, rank insignia drawn onto the legbands with marker pen. The few ponies with experience in tanks were assigned to operate them. After only a few hours of rapid organisation, a hodgepodge of a few local militias was brought into a proper army division, mobilised and ready for battle. Naturally, this division was named the 1st “Bringers of the Night” Division.
The weak link was their lack of training and their tiredness. We were mere militiaponies whose only combat experience was their experience in Canterlot the last night. Orders from above were to pursue the Celestials as quickly as we could, so there was no time to stop and train. Some of the militias had received covert training before the revolution broke out, but not nearly enough ponies to form an army. Many of these ponies hadn't slept since Empress Nightmare Moon's return, myself included, and we needed sleep or we would risk a disastrous battlefield performance by the time we caught up to the Celestials.
Fortunately, owing to Empress Nightmare Moon's magical experience, she was able to deliver a unique blow to Celestial cohesion and morale through the form of oneiromancy (known colloquially as dream magic). Empress Nightmare Moon herself infiltrated the dreams of the Celestial high command to sow discomfort and fear in their minds. It had a devastating effect on the abilities of the high command by filling their minds with panic and fear whilst denying them restful sleep. Also to our benefit, there was a ceaseless series of random, uncoordinated raids by small Lunarist partisans harassing the moving Celestials, further adding to the confusion and fear. Much of this was incidental, but these were the seeds that later sprouted into the Lunar doctrine of Shock and Awe.
After a short rest, we loaded the ponies, tanks, and guns of the 1st Division onto trains and sent them north. We left Canterlot at 7am. Train transport was significantly quicker than driving the tanks manually would’ve been, thanks to Equestria’s expansive rail network and the tanks' low speed and low operational range. The track had been scouted and surveilled while we rested, with no threat of interception and sabotage discovered. Our forces disembarked 7km away from Bales at around 9:40am and continued the rest of the journey by road. Other Lunar militias further north had cut off roads, effectively encircling Bales.
Given that there was no way they were going to leave the city, we opted to gather strength on the edge of the city rather than rush into battle. We issued a swift ultimatum to the enemy, broadcasting on radio and on loudspeakers that they had four nights (96 hours) to surrender unconditionally. We also gave the four-night window to allow civilians to evacuate the city before the battle begun. Ponies streamed out of the city over the course of the four nights. That ultimatum expired with no word from the enemy, so our artillery roared.
When we finally made contact with the enemy, they were even worse for wear than they were in Canterlot. Their defences were better prepared and thus progress through the city was considerably slower than it was in Canterlot, but on the whole we were facing an exhausted and demoralised foe. It was the combined result of Empress Nightmare Moon’s oneiromancy, our military supremacy, and their steadily mounting number of defeats. Steadily we made progress through the city. On the 30th of June the city was effectively under our control, the only remaining Celestial forces were holed up at the old textile mill. By the 3rd of July, they had completely surrendered.
The largest challenge we faced in the seizure of Bales was Mi Amore Cadenza herself. Owing to her alicorn power, conventional weapons were useless against her. Even taking direct hits from tank cannons and heavy artillery barely slowed her. We eventually brought her down by overwhelming her with stun spells, at least a dozen unicorns all firing on her at once in rapid succession. In retrospect, we probably should’ve done more to study the anti-alicorn tactics of the Empress’s ancient legions before our departure.
Following their capture, Celestial leadership saw sense. Rather than continue their hopeless struggle, both Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor fully surrendered to the Lunar Empire on behalf of the dying Celestial government. Cadenza’s announcement of surrender was broadcast across the whole nation, and it wrecked Celestial morale.
…
This all said, the most stubborn foe we faced in the late civil war, was not any of the Celestial loyalists, but the various radical left-wing insurgents of Baltimare. On the 6th of July 1000 the city descended into chaos as radical leftists declared the Baltimare Commune. The new government in Baltimare was composed of many bickering factions each with their own interests and aims, but they were briefly united by staunch opposition to us and the Celestials.
A small Royal Guard garrison was stationed in the city prior to the civil war, and it was soundly defeated in the first night of the Communard insurrection. In the following months, the Commune moved to secure sources of food, mostly seeking to seize agricultural land in the area around Baltimare and by seeking aid from other socialist movements elsewhere in the world. However, in September their advance was halted by our forces in a series of battles I was not present for. After that, the Baltimare frontline was stagnant. At least, until the arrival of the Chiropterrans.
While it is common knowledge now, everypony was shocked when it was revealed that Chiropterra was a real place.
First came the cargo vessels stocked with enough munitions and rations to last a multi-year campaign, then the passenger ships brimming with battle-ready soldiers announcing undying loyalty to Empress Nightmare Moon. We were sceptical at first, but Her Highness reassured us that the strangers from across the sea could be trusted as loyal warriors. Then they went into combat and were by far the best soldiers any of us had ever seen, like they were all hardened veterans of a years-long conflict. Against the Legions of Chiropterra our enemies shattered like glass. Glass that had been shot with a cannonball. Chiropterra had announced itself to the world in a blaze of moonlit glory.
I quickly developed a working bond with two Chiropterrans whose names are now famous, Auburn Leaf and Lucent Eclipse. We shared similar interests and were around the same age, so we naturally got along at first. For ponies who had just come here for the first time I was surprised at how they were full-on fluent Equestrian speakers, even if their accents were alien to me. Over the centuries Chiropterra had agents all across Equestria studying the evolving Equestrian language and ensuring that the most up-to-date version of it was taught in their schools, as to ensure that their legions would always be ready to fight in and govern Equestria. I was stunned that even down to the language they were strictly disciplined!
But, then I spoke a bit more with Lucent and Auburn, and I realised my earlier enthusiasm about Chiropterra was misplaced.
In their isolation, Chiropterra was ruled by the so-called “Her Imperial Majesty’s Legionary Council”, which formed a vicious regime that combined theocracy and stratocracy. All citizens were born into Legions, and a brutal caste society often determined one's lot in life at birth. While “pure-blooded” descendants of the original legionaries usually rose high through the ranks and descendants of natives were typically stuck at the bottom, some exceptions existed to this rule. Natives were enslaved and put under the control of the Native Affairs Commission, which kept them in horrible conditions and used them in brutal menial labour that was, in the end, essential to the development of Chiropterra and to equip its armies. Labourers and their children would be kept in bondage until they either proved their devotion to the state or dropped dead.
To make matters worse, some labourers were used as test subjects by the Legionary Medical Research Department, a task force of scientists, researchers, and engineers responsible for investigating medical and biological breakthroughs for the greater good of Chiropterra. The LMRD had no limits in how far or how invasive its researchers might’ve been.
I thought it was abominable. There is no room for slavery in the new millennium.
For the record, and I want there to be no misunderstanding about this, Lucent agreed with me and thought Chiropterra needed reform. I relayed these thoughts to the Empress at the first opportunity I had. Thankfully, she largely agreed with me and resolved to make reforms to Chiropterra once the civil war was concluded.
The task of retaking Baltimare mostly fell on the Chiropterrans, as Equestrian forces were largely occupied with sweeping up Celestial resistance elsewhere in the country. First hoof accounts tell me that the Legionaries tore through the Communard forces in the rural areas surrounding Baltimare and braved stiff urban resistance. From then, they engaged in brutal building-to-building fighting that gripped Baltimare for weeks resulting in frighteningly high casualties, military and civilian. The Commune was finally defeated in late January 1001, thus ending the civil war and solidifying our Empire as the supreme power in Equestria.
“If you’re still reading then you’re probably a little interested in what happened with Selenite and the Chiropterrans. And there is a story there! Literally, it’s a story, it’s on my profile! First story by publishing date on there!” Moonatik laughed. But his laughter came to an abrupt stop as his face sank. “Shit, that’s a little too meta, isn’t it?”
“Right!” He bangs the desk. “If you've been reading all the way, you know pretty much all you need to know about everything from the foundation of Equestria all the way up until the moment Nightmare Moon became Empress. From here, I'm going to go a little non-chronological. Might reorder things to be more chronological after the fact and I'll give dates where I have to so it doesn't get too confusing, but aside from that I'll present events in the order I feel like. Though really, you can pick documents and start reading in any order you like. So what's it gonna be?”