Picture by Larsurus
Celestia lead the five Toa through the castle, turning off from the main corridors, and instead moving down small, winding corridors that looked like they hadn’t seen use in decades. Nokama reasoned that if Celestia had been truthful about the length of the peace, it probably hadn’t.
Eventually, the group reached an ominous black iron door, and with a flash from Celestia’s horn, the door swung open.
“After you Celestia.” Nokama said, allowing Celestia to walk in, before following her in.
The room itself was circular, it walls perfectly rounded in such a way to make even Onewa admire it. In the centre of the room was a large table, easily big enough to get ten ponies Celestias size around it, and on the far wall were shelves upon shelves of books and maps, scrolls and quills, all pertaining to acts of warfare.
“This is the war room then?” Nuju asked.
“It is. We will wait here until my sister arrives with the commanders and elite of the guard.” Celestia declared.
“What about the army?” Matau asked.
“Equestria does not keep a standing army. In times of war, we can call up ponies to fight, but as of now, the guard are the only trained force.” Celestia explained.
“Then you will be calling up the army later?” Nuju reasoned.
“I believe that we may have to, but this meeting is not to decide that. That will be for the alliance high council to decide. We will simply be deciding upon what to do on our own immediately. Rest assured though, I have already sent word to the other races.”
“How did you do that?” Whenua asked.
“Telepathy.” Celestia said simply, before looking up as Luna entered the room, followed swiftly by five other ponies in uniform.
Behind them were twenty fully armoured ponies. Ten were members of the Moonlight Wardens, and were armoured in the midnight blue and purple armour that they had worn when they had last encountered, while the other ten were wearing almost identical armour, but these ones coloured in gold and white. Clearly these were the Sunlight Wardens.
“May I present, Captain Horn Blower of the Royal Guard, Lord Commander Castelian of the Night guard and the Moonlight Wardens, Commander Storm Surge, leader of the Sunlight Wardens, Commander Shadow Fire of the Equestrian national guard, and finally Lieutenant Heavy Weight of the Cloudsdale Rangers.” Celestia said as they entered.
“So these are the Toa you spoke of?” Heavy Weight asked, the purple Pegasus looking at Nokama. “I thought you said there were six of them.”
“Which is precisely why we are assembled here.” Celestia said, gesturing for the ponies to gather around the table, while simultaneously levitating a pair of books and a sheath of scrolls, placing them on the table. “Luna?”
“Earlier today, the elements of harmony and the six Toa received word of a disturbance near Trottingham. They investigated, and found a temple deep in the Everfree Forest. While within, they were attacked by ponies bearing almost exact similarities to Shadow Ponies.” Luna explained.
“Shadow Ponies? As in…” Castelian began.
“As in members of the army of darkness from one thousand years ago.” Luna finished, and a gasp went around the room. “The myths circulated around the country are fact, as you all well know, but the common citizen of Equestria is blind to this truth, as are most of the guard. Soon however, this may not hold true.”
“As of this moment, I am enacting Wraith Protocol. As of this moment, Equestria is on the highest level of alert. Members of the alliance have been informed, and dignitaries will be here within days, but I will not wait for the army to march on us. I intend to send a force to find their lair, engage them if they must, contain them if they can. What remains is to decide who will be sent.” Celestia declared.
“The Lunar guard is ready.” Castelian proclaimed.
“As is the Royal Guard.” Horn Blower added.
“I expected nothing less.” Celestia smiled. “But I will not commit all of Equestria’s guard straight away. Those who remain will be factored into the alliances plans.”
“We’re going with the first force.” Matau said simply, not leaving any room for argument. “If there are Rahkshi there, you’ll need us.”
“I’m going as well.” Luna added, looking at Celestia. “My mistakes costs millions of lives the last time. This is my time to reconcile for my sins.”
“For the last time sister, the Sins were not yours.” Celestia said firmly, before continuing. “And I would not advise that you go with the first force. This force will sustain high casualties, and if Equestria lost one of its princesses, we would be severely weakened.
“Your objection is noted, but I am as much of a princess as you, and as such, I am going.”
“In that case, the Moonlight Wardens are accompanying you.”
“That is acceptable.” Celestia nodded, before turning to the rest of the assembled ponies. “The force will comprise of the Moonlight Wardens, as well as the Lunar Guard. The rest of the guard, both Royal, Equestrian and the Cloudsdale Rangers, will prepare for mobilisation. We must also prepare to call up the army if the alliance decides that it is necessary.” Celestia declared. “All those apart from the Moonlight Wardens, Lord Commander Castelian and the Toa may leave.”
Without a word, the commanders began to file out of the room, until it was just Celestia and the members of the first wave left.
“This,” Celestia said, opening a book, “is the only book about these ‘Shadow Ponies’ left in existence. It was written by the once king Sombra of the Crystal Empire. He was once our foremost expect on studying these creatures, but in his experiments, was corrupted. The rest is now a known fact.”
“The book details the physicality’s of the Shadow Ponies. They can take any of the four forms of pony, but they have never exhibited the ability of flight or magic. They are however stronger, faster, and have more endurance than any other pony. We do not know what the enemy’s numbers are, but we do know that they will be prepared to fight to the death. No shadow pony ever surrendered when in combat. Gentlecolts, I do not send you out lightly. There is a strong chance that not everypony will return.”
“Your highness, the members of the Lunar guard exist to serve, we will lay down our lives before our arms.” Castelian declared.
“You never fail to impress me.” Luna smiled, before turning to her sister. “I will take the book and retire to my guards barracks to make our final plans. We will leave at nightfall to hunt out the Makutas lair, and we will drive him back to the darkness from where he came.”
Nodding, Celestia watched as Luna left the room, followed by Castelian, and finally, the five Toa.
“Try not to die.” She whispered softly, before re-shelving the remaining books left. She had a lot of preparations to do before the delegates arrived.
***
Luna threw the doors to the Lunar barracks open and breathed in deeply. She loved everything about her children, their smell, their honour, their combat ability, they made her so proud.
“Your highness.” A lunar guard said, bowing deeply as he approached. “To what do we this honour?”
“Corporal Darkside. Please spread the word. Every member of the Lunar guard are to assemble on the central parade square in ten minutes.” Luna ordered.
“As you command.” Darkside said, bowing deeply, before running out of the room.
“Now you will see my guard.” Luna said proudly, turning to the Toa.
“If they are anything like the Moonlight Wardens, they will be a force indeed.” Nokama said.
“Indeed. My Wardens are the elite, but my guard are the only ones to see any real combat in the last few years.”
“I thought you said you’d been at peace for centuries?” Whenua asked.
“Peace is an odd thing.” Luna smiled. “Manticores and Hydras don’t fight wars, and Changelings like to keep everything secret. More so when they no longer speak.”
With that, Luna turned and followed Darkside, leaving the Toa to follow after them.
***
The five Toa stood on a pulpit next to Luna as the entire Lunar guard paraded in front of them. All in all, there had to be thousands of them, stretching back until even Nuju could only just make out the end.
Eventually, Luna decided that everypony was ready, and stood up, casting her eyes over the guard. They were not amazingly turned out, some wearing their armour, some not wearing anything at all, and some being somewhere in between. That suited Luna just fine. In her mind, forcing her guards to follow strict protocols didn’t do anything except take their minds off the thought of surviving in battle.
One think that the Toa had noticed was the different ponies present. There were the usual Bat Ponies present obviously, but there were others to, unicorns, earth ponies, even Pegasi. Every race of pony imaginable were present there. Luna had explained this as part of an old pact which she didn’t have time to go into.
“Members of the Lunar Guard.” She boomed. “By now, I am sure that have heard that we are preparing for mobilisation. This is not like past mobilisations at squad or platoon level. This mobilisation is everypony, private to lord commander.”
She let this hang in the air for a moment, before continuing on.
“One thousand years ago, the Nightmare, me, led an army of darkness against Equestria. Millions perished at the hooves of the Shadow Ponies that I commanded before I was finally defeated by my sister. Now, as then, Shadow Ponies are appearing across the land, and they have made the first move. Twilight Sparkle, the element of magic, and Vakama, leader of the Toa Metru team, have been captured by the enemy. We will get them back!” She shouted the last bit, getting into full swing of her speech. “We will search the Everfree forest, and route out the lair of the beast! We will persevere, we will endure, and we will push their leader, the Makuta, back into the darkness! Together, we will stand! Divided, we would fall! So today, we are all one! No more are we Earth ponies or Unicorns, Pegasi or Equos Lunar, Alicorn or Toa! This time, we are all Lunar guard! This time, we are all, the Children. of. the Night!”
At the final sentence, she drew her sword, and a flash of light erupted out from her. When it faded, she was no longer clad in her royal ensemble. Instead, she was clad in dark metal armour, complete with an inscribed picture of her cutie mark on the armours flank.
Picture by Larsurus
“Impressive.” Matau murmured, looking out at the cheering guards.
They were ecstatic at being led by their princess for the first time in living memory. Not only that, but they were to be armoured and armed for war, not a skirmish. Officially, this was the first time they had gone to war since the Minotaur rebellions, eight hundred years ago.
“They will be ready for this.” Luna smiled, turning to the Toa. “What about you five? Are you ready to do what must be done?”
“Always.” Matau affirmed.
“Then there is just one more thing.” Luna said. “I meant what I said about being one. You are all officially given a place in the Lunar guard, if you would accept. It will help moral seeing you at the forefront of the force, especially…” She trailed off.
“Especially?” Nuju asked.
“If you would wear my symbol.” She finished, beckoning for a group of ponies to come forward.
On each of the ponies back was a single box, and upon opening them, the Toa saw odd metal plates.
“What are these?” Whenua asked, picking the metal plate up, and examining the symbol of Luna’s cutie mark on it.
“They are chest plates, magically altered so that they will mould to the form of what they are placed upon. With you permission, I would like you to wear them.”
For a moment, the Toa silently contemplated this request. It wasn’t much, and it wasn’t as if they really expected Luna to try anything to betray them, but still. Finally, Nokama stepped forward to speak for the whole group.
“Princess Luna. We would be honoured to wear your symbol into battle.” She said, before placing the plate on her chest.
Taking this as a cue, the others placed the plates against their own chests, and they instantly became molten and flowed across their armour, spreading across the whole chest plate, before receding and settling over just the left pectoral, the symbol taking up the entire surface.
“Is this adequate?” Onewa asked, looking down at the symbol.
“It is.” Luna smiled, more raising her hoof towards Nokama, who she reasoned was the acting leader of the team, who gingerly tapped the proffered hoof.
“Welcome to the Lunar Guard.”