//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Battalion Wars: Equestria // by mathwiz617 //------------------------------// 6:00 AM, January 16; Frontier Command Center “Say that again, Brigadier,” General Herman spoke into the radio. “What was that about the princesses?” “These ponies believe that their leaders actually control the sun and moon, General. What’s more, the citizens can control the weather, perform actual magic, and many other things we thought were impossible.” “I see,” Herman said thoughtfully. “Do they have any proof to back up these claims?” “Well, the unicorn I talked to, Twilight Sparkle, showed me teleportation, and one of the pegasi brought down a raincloud and poured water all over the recon. She then flew around it fast enough to dry it off. It’s pretty clean now. One of the grunts even has video of it. Speaking of the soldiers, Twilight cast some cloud walking spell on them, and they were able to literally walk in the clouds. A few of them even chose to sleep up there. Apparently, clouds are very comfortable. The ponies departed at dawn, however. I wish I had gotten a chance to speak to the others, but I did give Twilight one of our backup radios. They gave us a map, but it’s not to scale. Pretty, though.” “Just get back to Fort Omaha, Brigadier. I want a full report of everything you learned by tomorrow.” “Yes, sir.” 11:30 AM; Ponyville “Spike!” Twilight shouted, slamming open the door to the library. “Are you up yet?” “I am now,” the tiny drake replied. “What’s up?” “I need your help researching something,” Twilight answered. “I need to look up any myths about humans, specifically the Solar Empire and the Iron Legion.” Spike shrugged. “Alright, but I think somepony recently came by and borrowed most of the mythology books, remember?” “Let me guess,” Twilight said. “It was Lyra, wasn’t it?” Spike looked at the ledger. “Yep.” Checking the shelves, he added, “It seems like she left the books about the Elements of Harmony, Nightmare Moon, and a few others. You want to start there?” Twilight sighed. “You start here. I’m going to visit Lyra. I have a feeling she will know more than we can get out of these books.” 12:00 PM; Ponyville Twilight knocked on Lyra and Bonbon’s door. After a second, the mint green unicorn opened it. Recognizing Twilight, she asked, “Are those books I borrowed overdue?” “Not yet,” Twilight said. “However, they are what I came to talk to you about. What do you know about humans?” Twilight saw Bonbon slam her hoof into her face. Lyra motioned for Twilight to come inside. “We can discuss it in my room,” she said. Walking upstairs, Twilight saw that a large map covered one of Lyra’s walls. There were large circles around three of the continents: one to the east, one to the south, and one on Equestria. Inside the circles were some symbols: the one to the east had a pair of crossed lightning bolts with a helmet, whereas the others were depictions of the sun. Twilight recognized the sun over Equestria; it was the same one used today. The other symbols were a mystery, however. “Where do I even begin?” Lyra asked. “Just so you know, all this is just a theory.” “Begin about two hundred years ago,” Twilight said. “That’s the period in time I’m interested in.” “Oh, you want history, not descriptions?” Lyra snickered. “Alright. About two hundred years ago, there were two major nations. I haven’t found their names, but I do have rough illustrations of what their national symbols might have been.” Lyra pointed to the two symbols on the map. “The Solar Empire and the Iron Legion,” Twilight said. “Princess Celestia mentioned them recently, but I haven’t been able to find any more information on them.” Pointing to the sun symbol, she said, “That must be the Solar Empire, which would mean the other is the Iron Legion.” “Really? Princess Celestia just gave you that info?” Lyra was amazed. “I’ve been asking for any info she might have on humans for years, and never even got a response. I guess that’s one advantage to being a Bearer of Harmony. Any way, those names make sense. So, the Iron Legion had begun a global war, crushing all that stood in their way. The Solar Empire mustered an army, striking back. They had made it to the heart of the Legion’s territory. After that, the book mentions a “Cenotaph”, and then there are no more mentions of humans for the next two hundred years.” “Hmm… what about humans themselves? What did the books say about them? Their mannerisms, specifically.” “That’s a little trickier,” Lyra admitted. “It seems that humans were all different. Obviously, there were warmongers among them, like the Iron Legion’s leader. I’d imagine that there were peace lovers, too. However, I think the peace lovers in the Solar Empire knew that to achieve peace, you sometimes must fight for it.” Twilight nodded, casting an anti-listening spell around the room. “You’ve been a great help, Lyra. Now, what I’m about to say doesn’t leave this room until Princess Celestia makes it public knowledge, ok?” Lyra nodded eagerly. “First, I believe every word you’ve just said. Why? Yesterday, I met some humans.” Picking up a quill, Twilight drew another circle and symbol on the western continent. “The humans I met called their nation ‘the Western Frontier’. This symbol was on their helmets. According to their leader, the Iron Legion has been destroyed, while the Solar Empire still remains. I feel that getting in contact with the Empire may be key to understanding Equestria’s place in this world.” Lyra nodded again. “You may be right,” she said. “I figured that the Solar Empire and Equestria had some positive history between them, due to the symbols being so similar. I did find the name of the Empire’s leader at the time: Empress Qa-Len. Perhaps one of her descendants will know more?” “Perhaps,” Twilight agreed. “The human I spoke to did mention a ‘Staff of Qa-Len” having the ability to call down the power of the sun. Maybe Princess Celestia left that as a backup plan in case the Legion couldn’t be defeated by normal means? This is all very interesting. Well, I have to write a report about this to the princess. I’ll be sure to mention how helpful you were.” “Thanks, Twilight,” Lyra said. “Come by anytime.”