The Equestrian Civil War

by Palibakufun


Chapter 3

Princess Celestia was pacing back and forth in her throne room. The room had been closed off to the public, and no Solar Court would be held, due to the recent happenings; the royal guard was on the tips of their hooves with security, due to the fear of another attack. Celestia even felt it necessary to dismiss all of the unicorn guards on duty for the rest of the day. She hated to do that, for she knew that trust issues were bound to start rising up all over Equestria now, but the risk was too great at the time; some extreme cautions were going to have to be taken.

Celestia was the only pony in the court, but ample guards were stationed outside every entrance. No pony was to enter, for she was very busy thinking. Thinking… The sudden event of a terrorist attack on Equestria just seemed so far-fetched. It had been hundreds of years since anything even remotely like this had happened.

About five years after Luna had been banished to the moon, a group of cultists that worshipped the moon solely mounted an offense against the castle, but that had been put quickly down. The intentions of those ponies were obvious: they were angry about Luna being banished. But this… Hundreds of unicorns all around Equestria, attacking and killing random, innocent civilians at the exact same time… There was obviously a head to all of this. Discord had nothing to do with it…

“Arg!” Celestia yelled out loud to herself. So many thoughts were rushing through her head that she was having trouble thinking straight. Suddenly, a flash of green light startled her, and a letter appeared off to her left. She grabbed it with her magic and unfolded it immediately, not bothering to read who it was from. She knew it was from Twilight Sparkle.

Celestia read the letter, her eyes quickly darting over the page. As she read, her heart began to sink in her chest. All of the assailants were known citizens… That didn’t sound good at all. She continued reading, and was glad to hear that all of the elements were safe. But when she got to part about Scootaloo, she had to hold back a gasp. A young filly… A young filly was dead at the hands of these unicorns. Celestia’s eyes shut as she tried to hold back a tear. Celestia knew all about the situation with Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash. The two of them had been sending her letters about how much they loved having each other’s as sort of sisters… She shook her head and forced herself to continue reading. The news about the community coming together was at least a nice thing, but the reasons behind it weren’t good.

As Celestia finished the letter, she nodded her head, agreeing with what Twilight had said: a trip was in order. The elements would probably be the best bet at investigating the entire situation. This was so dark though, she worried for their safety. This could turn up to be a dangerous cult. But normal guards wouldn’t be as effective as the elements. Their friendship together is what made them such a powerful fighting force. When they join forces, they’re nearly unbeatable. But that doesn’t mean that they’re immortal. She sighed and laid the letter over to the side. She retrieved some parchment and a quill from the table by her throne and began writing a reply.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I am extremely saddened to hear about the death of the young Scootaloo. I know how much she meant to Rainbow Dash. It raises my heart, though, to hear about the coming together of all of Ponyville after this tragic event. Please, don’t let this demoralize you or your friends too much, for you are correct: a visit is very much so in order.

I am writing you to let you know that I have arranged for a special carriage, flown by my own personal guards, to pick up you and your friends tomorrow morning at 9:00 A.M. It will arrive in town square of Ponyville. I expect you all to attend, for we have many issues to discuss when you arrive. Just as a forewarning, I am planning to send you and your friends to investigate this issue, so please relay a warning to them as well when you gather them.

When you arrive tomorrow, please go directly to my personal quarters. I have instructed all guards to allow you unhindered access, so don’t worry about being stopped. If you are stopped, raise some sort of alarm, for I am worried about the safety of even the castle at this point. One last thing, Twilight; please be careful.

Yours truly,

Princess Celestia

Celestia quickly rolled the letter up and sent it off to Spike. Celestia hoped that it would reach Twilight immediately, even though there was no need for a response, and they wouldn’t be coming until the next day. The entire situation had her in in a state of near-panic.

As soon as the letter disappeared, Celestia sighed to herself, but her ears twitched at a sound coming from the main hallway. It was a low hum… But what was causing it? The hum slowly got louder and louder, and Celestia could eventually make out voices.

“Oh dear, this can’t be good…” Celestia ran to the main door and opened it enough to poke her head out, looking at the two guards that were standing there. She looked down the hallway, seeing a massive crowd of ponies heading towards the door. “Guards!” She said, “Please, come in here. There’s no need to leave you two out here with a mob coming. Quickly, come!” The two guards dropped their still stance as soon as she said that, rushing quickly inside. The three retreated back from the door.

“I’m going to sit in my throne, you two take position on either side of me.” The two did as they were asked, and stood staring forward next to the princess. The mob reached the door after a bit, and there was lots of banging and knocking and shouting, “Let us in!”

“The door is not locked!” Celestia called to the door. Some of the ponies heard, and the door quickly swung open, and the mob burst into the room. Celestia took notice, that there were no unicorns among the crowd. Not a single one.

“We demand-“

“You demand? YOU demand?!” Celestia called out loudly, almost slipping into her Royal Canterlot voice. “You burst into MY throne room, and still have the audacity to DEMAND? All of you SILENT!” Celestia’s voice echoed through the courtroom. The crows shut up immediately, and the two guards flinched.

“I clearly said to the whole city that there will be no court today, so what makes you all think you can burst in here?”

“We are outraged that you are letting an uprising happen right under your nose and aren’t doing a sing-“

“DON’T you DARE finish that sentence! It has been approximately two hours, and you want me to fix something that’s over? I have spies and detectives sent out all over the city and every other city!”

“That’s not what we mean!” Another pony called out. “We mean that you’re not dealing with the unicorns! Some ponies went through the bodies of the unicorns that died in the attack, and they were all well-known citizens of Canterlot!”

“Yes, I know. The royal guard and I are looking into it! You are going to have to give us time!”

“Why do you need time?”

“Yeah, just lock all the unicorns up!” The crowd all began talking extremely loud over each other, forming into a muddy sound.

“SHUT UP!” Celestia yelled in her full Royal Canterlot Voice. Not just the room, but the whole caste, and possibly the whole city shook with her anger. “How can you all possibly turn on your fellow citizens so quickly?!”

“You mean like they did to us?!”

“What about the unicorns that didn’t participate in the attack? Not every unicorn was a part of what happened!”

“But what if they are just waiting?”

“Can you stop for just a minute to think about what you are saying? You’re asking me, half unicorn myself, to erect laws that discriminate against an entire breed of ponies? Can you not see how silly that sounds?” Celestia was really started to get frustrated with the crowd. They weren’t stopping to think, and were just reacting on a whim.

“She’s right!” Celestia sighed at the one pony who- “she IS part unicorn! Why would she help us?!” The crowd went into a complete uproar at that statement. The mob started to move closer and closer to Celestia, who sat in her thrown, unflinching.

“EVERYPONY OUT!” her voice boomed. “I WANT YOU ALL GONE, OUT OF MY CASTLE! IF YOU CAN’T SHOW ME THE COURTESY OF ALLOWING ME TO FIX THIS IN A NON-VIOLENT, NON-DISCRIMINATORY WAY, THEN I SHALL NOT SHOW YOU THE COURTESY OF STAYING IN MY THRONE ROOM! NOW EVERY PONY GET OUT OR I WILL HAVE YOU FORCEFULLY REMOVED!” This last speech was broadcast over the entire city. Besides being so angry to yell that loud, she wanted the entire city to just leave her alone long enough to think.

The crowd stood still and silent, staring at the fuming princess. One of the ponies spoke up. “We’ll be watching you Celestia! If this issue isn’t resolved quickly, we’ll take the matters into our own hooves!” The crowd began to file out of the throne room, mumbling among themselves as the door slammed shut behind them. Celestia stood, breathing in deep and staring at the door. As the ponies disappeared though, she sighed, and her eyes closed, tears forming in them. The angry panting turned into sobs as the princess broke down right there, dropping to the floor and crying into her front hooves. The two guards broke attention to tend to her.

“Princess, are you alright?”

“No I’m not alright! One single incident occurs, and now the entire city, maybe the entire kingdom, is threatening to revolt and inquisit all of the unicorns in Equestria! Peace for the past hundreds of years has spoiled the citizens, and they don’t know what pain feels like anymore, and now that one bad thing happens, they’re losing their minds because of it. This is really bad… I hope Twilight and her friends hurry as fast as they can tomorrow…” Celestia slowly stood up and sniffed, her face now wet with tears. Her legs were shaky.

“I-I need to write a letter to somepony who needs more love than I do, right now…”

***
Twilight was finishing reading the letter Princess Celestia had sent back to her. For a good minute, she stared at the last line on the page: “Please, be careful.” It made Twilight really think about the situation. How often did she have to worry about her own safety when traveling in Equestria?. “Are we all packed, Spike?” Twilight called when she snapped out of her little daze.

“Yes, we are! So we’re leaving for sure?”

“Yes. The princess has arranged for a carriage to shuttle us directly to Canterlot. It will meet us in town square at 9 o’clock tomorrow morning, so we need to make sure to get plenty of rest tonight.”

“Getting any sort of good sleep tonight will be hard…”

“Yeah. I know what you mean…” Twilight sighed. The day’s events had affected her greatly, but she was too tired by it all to be too sad about it. She was luckily to personally not have lost anypony that was close to her, but just thinking about poor Scootaloo… “Okay, Spike, I need to go tell the girls the plan for tomorrow. I’ll try and be back as quickly as possible, okay?”

“Okay. Please hurry home Twilight.”

“Don’t worry, Spike, I will.” Spike looked like he was about to cry himself. Twilight smiled sympathetically at the young dragon, walking over to him and giving him a small kiss on the forehead. “Everything is going to be okay, Spike, don’t you worry. You, me, and the girls will get this all straightened out.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’m positive. Do you trust me?”

“Of course I trust you!”

“Good. Then I’m going to make a promise to you right now. We will make it through this whole thing, and no one is going to get hurt anymore. Understand?” Spike nodded. “Good. Now, I will be back as soon as possible.” Twilight kissed Spike again and then quickly trotted out the door towards Sugarcube corner. Pinkie was the closest, so she might as well start there.

Twilight burst into the door a bit louder than she meant to. “Mrs. Cake!” Mrs. Cake shrieked and ducked behind the counter.

“Ack, the unicorns are back!”

“No, it’s just me, Twilight Sparkle! I need to speak to Pinkie right now, it’s an emergency!”

Mrs. Cake slowly peaked out from behind the counter. “Oh, okay then. She’s upstairs, but I think something is wrong with her. She hasn’t come down since she got here…”

“I’ll talk to her and see what the issue is then. Thanks.” Twilight went up the stairs and found Pinkie’s room and knocked. “Hello, Pinkie?” Twilight put her ear to the door. Pinkie didn’t answer, but she was in there. Twilight could hear sobs coming from in the room. “Pinkie, please open up!”

“I’m sorry Twilight, I’m really not in the mood to talk right now!” Pinkie was obviously trying to hide the fact that she was crying from Twilight, but it failed miserably. She broke into more sobs after she finished her sentence.

“Look, Pinkie, please let me in. You sound horrible, and I have something important to tell you!” Twilight could hear a sigh, and then hooves walking, before the door cracked open, and an eyeball looked at her.

“What do you need?”

“I just need to talk to you.”

“Fine, come in, I guess…” Pinkie opened the door the rest of her way. Pinkie was revealed, and her normally poofy mane and tail fell flat to her sides, and the pink color in her coat seemed dulled.

“Pinkie, you look horrible right now. I think we need to talk.”

“I’m sorry Twilight, but you can’t do anything to fix it…”

“No, but I know what you’re sad about, I bet. And I can at least try to make you feel better. That’s what friends are for, right?”

“I guess so…”

“So are you sad about what happened today?” Pinkie nodded slowly. “I know what happened was a tragedy that never should have happened to us, or to anypony in the kingdom. I mean, why would anypony kill another?”

“I don’t know! And it makes me so sad to think that ponies like that exist, and so many of them! It just happened right out of the blue, just like that! So many bad ponies…”

“But Pinkie, we have to be strong. The elements of harmony are what Equestria needs right now. You, me, and the rest of the gang. Princess Celestia has called us to Canterlot tomorrow morning, and we need to be packed and ready in town square at 9 o’clock in the morning.” Pinkie flinched at the mention of town square.

“What? So soon? I don’t know if I’m up for it, Twilight…”

“Please, listen Pinkie. What is it that you like to do, more than anything else in the world?”

“Make other ponies happy.”

“Right! You are probably the friendliest pony in all of Equestria. I mean, what job can be more important than making others happy? Not much.”

“D-do you really mean that, Twilight?”

“Yes I mean it!” Twilight leaned in and hugged Pinkie tight. “You’re probably the best friend that anypony could possibly as for! You’d give your life for anypony, I bet. That’s something to really be admired in you. I know it’s going to be hard, but if you want to make anypony happy, we’re going to have to get to the bottom of this mystery, and find out why that attack happened, before another one is launched.”

“Another attack is planned already?”

“Well, not necessarily, but if a terrorist group like that attacks once, they’re not going to stop there. They probably have even more grand schemes planned than that.”

“That scares me to think about…”

“It scares me too. But us and our friends together can tackle any obstacle! I know we can!”

“Y-you’re right, Twilight!” Twilight saw the sheen start to return to Pinkie’s coat, the colors seeping back in. “We need to stop those bad ponies from hurting anypony else!” Her mane and tail slowly began to curl back up, until she looked like her old self again. She wiped her wet face with a hoof and sniffed, a smile finally back on her face.

“Yes! I’m glad you’re feeling better, Pinkie.”

“Thank you so much, Twilight! I really needed that pep talk! I don’t know how I can thank you! Maybe a party?”

“The party will have to wait, Pinkie. We have work to do.”

“Right!”

“Hey, do you want to come with me to let the other girls know? I came to you first.” Twilight walked to the door and opened it, looking back to Pinkie.

“Yeah, I’ll come with you!” She followed Twilight out the door and down the stairs into the main room of Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie waved to Mrs. Cake as the two passed her.

“I’m leaving for a little bit, Mrs. Cake! I’ll be back as soon as possible!”

“Okay, then! I’m glad you’re feeling better, Pinkie!”

“Me too, thanks!” She and Twilight walked from the building out into the open air. The town had an air of silence and sadness to it. There were no ponies out and about. It could be because of fear, or possibly just no will to really do anything. Pinkie and Twilight made their way to the outskirts of town, where Rarity’s boutique was. They walked up to the front door, and Twilight knocked. They waited for a few moments, before hearing, “One moment, please!”

They stood for longer than a few moments, but Rarity eventually made it to the door and opened. “Oh, Twilight, Pinkie, how are you two?”

“We’re fine right now, thanks. We need to talk to you about something?”

“Uhm, w-what could that be?”

“Princess Celestia has requested that us six visit Canterlot tomorrow. Can you be in town square by 9 o’clock tomorrow morning?”

“Of course! I can do that, yes.”

“And Rarity, please pack light.”

“W-… Yes… Yes, of course.” Rarity seemed disappointed at the request, but nodded. “I will be ready.”

“Great, we’ll see you then.” Twilight and Pinkie bid goodbye and left Rarity to pack. Now they had to let the other three know.

***
The sun shone low in the sky over Ponyville, and six multicolored mares stood with their saddlebags on their backs, waiting for the Royal Guard to arrive, along with one lone, purple dragon. They all stood silent, most of all Pinkie. Pinkie stared at the ground, no smile upon her face.

“Hey, Pinkie, somethin’ wrong there?” Applejack questioned, taking note of the non-bubbly Pinkie.

Pinkie snapped out of the trance she appeared to be in. “Oh, no, I’m fine and dandy, heh!” Her answer was nervous, though, and Applejack didn’t buy it.

“I don’t believe that. You’re just not acting like yourself. Normally you’d be taking our ears off right now.”

“I dunno, I guess I’m just not in a super-talkative mood right now.” Before the conversation could continue, though, the sound of beating wings could he heard. Just as it reached 9 o’clock, a flying chariot, which Twilight recognized as the princess’ personal one, appeared with two white pegasi guards pulling it at the front.

The two landed gently with the chariot, and the six elements and Spike all gathered wordlessly into the chariot. They all fit fairly easily with a little bit of movement room left for each of them. As soon as they were ready, the guards ran forward and began to flap their wings, and the chariot seemed to lift effortlessly into the air.

The ride to Canterlot wasn’t much better than the wait for the guards. It was completely silent, and no one looked at each other. All the ponies were lost in their own thoughts, thinking about obvious things. What exactly did Celestia want them to do? This was a very big issue, and they themselves had no idea of how to stop whatever from happening. After about thirty minutes of flight, the castle came into view, and ten minutes later they landed in an open courtyard right outside of the castle doors. There was a massive crowd of non-unicorns outside the doors that began to yell as the chariot landed. The guards had to avoid some pedestrians as they landed, and had to plow through a few more before the chariot landed. When the elements jumped out, they were berated by the crowed. Twilight and Rarity especially received most of the hate. They quickly ran through the doors, which then shut tight behind them.

“That’s not a good sign at all…” Twilight said, taking a moment to collect her thoughts.

“Yeah, all the ponies are already in an uproar about all this! They were calling you and Rarity all kinds of bad things!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

“We need to see the princess now, y’all.” Applejack stated, and they all trotted down the hallway and up a stairway to the princess' personal bedrooom."