//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Equestrian Civil War // by Palibakufun //------------------------------// The sun hung high over Canterlot, shining over all the busy citizens who were going about their normal day routines. It was 2:00 P.M. exactly, and on one of the streets below, something was happening. Some screams could be heard throughout the city, coupled by a few explosions. Ponies hurried away from the scene as quickly as they could, fearing for their lives. Some figures in dark grey robes all stood in the road, firing off magic missiles in every direction, not aiming for ponies in particular, but not caring if they did so happen to hit one. Buildings caught fire and explosions sent debris flying all over, causing even more injuries. In another part of the city, the same scene was being reenacted at the exact same time, more hooded figures firing off magic attacks at the citizens and surrounding buildings. Princess Celestia heard the explosions and shouts from her room in the castle tower and went out to the balcony to take a look. In three different parts of the city, from what she could see, chaos was erupting. Alarmed, she raised the alarm and dispatched the royal guards to the scene. As she headed back into the castle to warn more ponies, she found that even some of the unicorn guards were attacking, assaulting other guards and servants, as well as citizens that so happened to be in the castle at the time. Confusion was being spread, and Celestia didn't know what to do, if even part of her own guard were turning against her and everypony else. She made quick work of any bad unicorns she saw herself, and helped out other injured guards. Not all of the unicorns of the guard had turned, and she was sure that not all of the unicorn population had turned either. But there were a good number of bad ponies, and she had no idea where they had come from. Once the castle had been defended, and most of the situations within the city had been stopped, the citizens were all in an uproar about what had just transpired. None of the hooded ponies were able to be captured, for those who weren’t killed in the retaliation drank a liquid that killed them almost instantly, preventing any sort of questioning. All of this happened within a thirty minute interval, and it left seventy to eighty dead in the city, five dead guards, and a whole lot more injured and thousands of bits worth of damage had been done. The citizens of Canterlot were angry, and were storming the castle, wanting answers for what all had happened. Celestia exited to her balcony outside of her room to address the city in her Royal Canterlot Voice. “Please, citizens of Canterlot! Please, everypony calm down. Already I have my finest detectives on the case of what is going on! Nopony panic, for that will only cause even more civil unrest! Please, help collect the dead and wounded, and return to your homes. Rest assured that the royal guard is on full alert now, and that we will find out who is to blame for this attack!” The crowd was unimpressed by the speech, but could do little about anything. The ponies did as the princess asked, and several worked to collect all of the dead bodies and ID them and alert the families, and all of the wounded were taken to hospitals. Celestia had immediately called a meeting to order in the war-room, which hadn’t been used for a very long time. Princess Luna had been woken and was there, as was Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, and all the heads of the Canterlot Royal Guard. “I’ve called you all here to address the issue of the attack that happened about one hour ago. As you all know, three different attacks happened within the city, and several of our own guards even turned on us! What is strange, is that it was all unicorns.” “Have the unicorns been planning an overthrow of the government under our noses?!” a Pegasus guard captain called out. “Of course not! Had a wide-scale overthrow been planned, every unicorn would have taken part in the attack, and that obviously did not happen!” Another captain argued back. “Please, stop arguing!” Shining armor yelled. “We need to figure out who is to blame for organizing these attacks, and arguing amongst each other like that won’t get us anywhere!. Now, Princess Celestia, do you have any-“ Shining was cut off by the entrance of a Pegasus scout, who came from Manehattan as his armor suggested. “Please, excuse the interruption your Highness, but I bring urgent news from Manehattan: an attack from many robed Unicorns happened about an hour ago, starting at precisely 2:00.” “So it wasn’t just Canterlot…” Celestia mumbled under her breath. The rest of the room let out a gasp, and the outspoken Pegasus captain spoke up again. “See?! Unicorns all over the kingdom of Equestria are rising up against the country!” “Captain, silence your tongue, lest I have it rendered useless by one of our own unicorns!” Celestia threatened. “See? This is just as my fathered told me. You can’t trust a unicorn, with their blasphemous magic! Even our own princess makes threats to do harm by magic!” The room was starting to get uncomfortable, but another scout pony, this one from Cloudsdale entered the room. “Your Highness-“ Another scout entered. “Please, both of you. Have you brought news of attacks by robed ponies?” “Yes, ma’am!” One of the scouts called. “What, even from Cloudsdale?! How is that possible?” the Pegasus guard yelled. “Cloudwalking spells, sir! Every single one of them had cast cloudwalking spells. How they got into the city in the first place is unknown at this time, but we’re currently looking into it. Celestia put her hooves to her face, wiping some tears that were forming in her eyes. The entire room stood stunned, and she let out a soft sniff. “Please, tell me, were many ponies killed in the attacks on these other cities?” “Yes! 115 reported dead in Manehattan!” “45 dead from Cloudsdale.” “254 dead from Hoofington!” Celestia gasped at the numbers. So many ponies dead… They had to get to the bottom of this. “Please, if you will excuse me, I need time to think…” Celestia quickly exited the war-room, sobbing quietly, and Luna quickly followed her, leaving the captains of the guard to argue and bicker amongst themselves. Celestia hurried to her room, walking into one of the windows and looking out, trying to stifle her cries. Luna quickly followed her, and stood beside her to try and console the sadness the solar princess was feeling. “Sister, I’m so-“ “No, Luna, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have stormed out like that. It’s so unbefitting of a princess to be so… unprofessional. It’s just… hearing the news of so many dead, innocent ponies disturbs me greatly. There’s no telling how many of these attacks have happened all over Equestria, and why they happened… I wonder… Twilight! I hope she’s okay!” Celestia hurried over to her desk, and pulled out a blank sheet of parchment and a quill, and began to write quickly: Dear Twilight Sparkle, I’m writing to check up on you and make sure that you and your friends and the rest of Ponyville are faring well. Canterlot has just come under attack by a group of dark robed unicorns, and it has left many ponies dead. Sadly, it seems the attacks are not isolated to Canterlot, but have also been reported in Manehattan, Cloudsdale, and Hoofington. I feel that these incidents have been mimicked in other places as well, though. Please, respond as quickly as possible to this letter. Yours truly, Princess Celestia The Princess rolled up the letter as soon as her quill left the page, and sealed it and sent it off to Spike to be delivered. Luna approached her sister slowly, nuzzling into the white princess’ neck. “Please, sister, don’t worry yourself too much on this. I know this is hard for you to deal with, losing so many subjects, but it pains me much to see you distraught. I only ask that you don’t let this issue affect you too much. The entire kingdom is going to be relying heavily upon your guidance in a time like this, and you’re going to need to be there for them.” Celestia smiled as her younger sister tried to make her feel better. She was so happy to have her sister back; Luna was the best pony when it came to cheering her up. Though she wasn’t quite cheered up, it was good to know that Luna cared much for her. “Thank you, Luna… But I’m afraid of what many ponies are going to think about this attack. Since it appears that only Unicorns are a part of the attack, unicorns everywhere are going to be ridiculed by the population and distrusted. I’m afraid this effect may even stretch to us, dear sister, and distrust is something we can’t afford right now, for as you said, Equestria is going to need me… need us.” “We’re just going to have to show as much support for the kingdom as we can, to try and prevent a loss of trust, and hopefully avoid a big crisis.” Luna replied. Celestia nodded. “I think we need to return to the war-room. We sort of left the captains there, and I fear more arguing might have sparked…” The two princesses hurried back to the room where Celestia’s fears were confirmed, as they could hear yelling down the hall as they got closer. “-because unicorns want to be the dominant race and rule over Equestria!” “That’s stupid! Why should we care about ruling Equestria, when the princesses are already alicorns!” Another captain rebutted. “Maybe the princess are in le-“ the Pegasus captain cut his sentence prematurely as the two reentered the room. “Captain Steel Burst, might I remind you that the punishment for traitors is the casting away of any sort of positions of power?” Luna said as Celestia and she walked back up to the table. “Bah! So our sad princess has returned! Give me one reason that we should have either of you lead us over any other pony in this room” Celestia beamed livid at him. Insulting her for being sad about losing so many innocent ponies… “Captain, stand down!” Shining Armor called out. “You would defend her, you-“ “I said stand down!” Shining Armor shot a spell at the Pegasus captain, catching him off guard and causing him to tumble over in surprise. When he got up to say something, his mouth was completely missing. He could make no sound. “Maybe that will shut you up for a minute! Arg!” This royally pissed off the captain, so he jumped over the table at Shining, who caught him instantly in his levitation. “Captain, not only have you spoken out against the princesses themselves, but also against a higher rank! As the head commander of the Equestrian Royal Guard, I hereby banish you from your command as a captain of the royal guard! Dismissed!” Shining dropped the captain and undid his spell, giving him back his mouth. “Fuck you all!” He said and immediately ran out of the room. The rest of the occupants merely stood and watched the scene unfold. “I’m sorry your majesty, shall we continue?” Shining said as he looked over to Celestia. She was staring at the map of Equestria on the table. Celestia let out a sigh and looked over to Shining Armor. “Shining Armor, I don’t know what to do, truthfully, besides wait for our detectives to uncover what is going on. It’s a shame that even the upper ranks in our own military are turning against unicorns so quickly. That worries me for what it might be like everywhere else in the world…”