//------------------------------//
// History 
// Story: Excerpts from the Luna War 
// by Sapare 
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"Look at those pompous bastards, I don't trust this one bit..."

The muttered agreement that had started to arise was quickly silenced by a watchful and powerful glare from Luna herself, making it obvious that she did not appreciate such an undiplomatic statement.

We had just crossed the border into Gryphon territory and were being escorted by a force of what I recognized as the kings guards, their fancy and perfectly fitted armor obviously a sign of power and wealth used to intimidate anyone who would consider stand against their king's empire.

I glanced over to our queen as she trotted along, her expression perfectly blank, not showing what all of us full well knew, on any other occasion she would have agreed with her subjects outburst. Instead, today she had silence him and remind all of us that this was a mission to create peace, and we should put aside out prejudice.

And yet, she had brought with her a sizable force of well trained and trusted ponies, and do to some unimaginable luck, I had been part of this force.

"First time outside of Equestria for you, right?"

The pony to my left asked as we marched, the pony I knew as Fireflight was a bright red pegasus pony, not much older then me and somehow still always happy to remind me of his great adventures and deeds. I did not mind, it was my first time out on a real mission and somehow his tales only increased my desire to see action. Smiling softly I nodded and then replied.

"Yes, there are few reasons to leave Equestria in the first place, much less so when you spend most of your life at the academy to become part of Luna's forces."

I said somewhat absentmindedly as I looked around, the terrain ahead of us was rather hilly and difficult for earthpony's and unicorns to traverse. From what I had read much of the Gryphon's empire was mountain or hill based, their natural ability to fly had made these territories easier to defend, and conquer.

"Well, technically you are not outside of Equestria just yet..."

This time the voice came from my right, much older and coarse then Fireflight's. This pony was a dark grey unicorn with a fierce scar across one eye, a deep cut akin to that caused by a talon, and a dark metal armor adorned with some of the most famous medals Equestria had given out.

I had not expected to be talked to directly by such a legend and for a moment I almost tripped on a rock, having to stop in my march for a moment to catch myself. The display drew a annoyed muttering from the pony behind me, which almost walked into my stationary body but without another word I kept going, hoping the mess up had not been seen by Luna.

Doing my best to respectfully look toward the unicorn who had addressed me I spoke somewhat timid, unsure what he wanted me to reply to such a statement.

"I... well.. current border.--"

The other pony cut me off with a huff and looked over my shoulder at one of the gryphons that was escorting us, then back at the forces we had brought.

"For most of my life have I, and Equestria, have fought these treacherous beasts. We have won, and we have lost wars to them... But it is a mistake to let them get away with this, these are our lands and we should not surrender them to our enemy like this."

Another murmur spread across the marching ponies, and gryphons,  as both sides knew that words like this could end the uneasy peace which had been laid.  And it was obvious that both sides had their share of eager participants. I simply held my tongue and quietly marched onward. The idea of battles and glory had been in my mind for much of these past days, but now that we had left our own territories and were flanked by enemies at all sides my desire for a fight was strongly diminished. And as we continued forward both ponies and gryphons grew tired and the uneasy peace was held at least for one more day.

When it was time for the night to fall our forces stopped to set up camp and give Luna time to raise the moon. It had always baffled the inhabitants of Equestria how the Gryphon's could dare to assault territories held by those that could raise and lower the celestial bodies, but seemingly our enemy depended on the fact that no matter what happened, our goddesses would not let the world burn under an eternal sun, or freeze under an eternal moon.

When I finished setting up the tent for me and my two companions, I let out a soft sigh and threw myself onto my makeshift bed, pulling out one of the books I had brought with me for this journey.

The title read "The split Empire and the Day's before Equestria.". With a rustling of fabric the tent was opened by Fireflight, who quickly stepped inside and threw himself on his own bed beside mine. Giving a glance at my book he let out a laugh rolled his eyes at me.

"You have been reading that damn book every night since our trip started, what is it with you and your obsession about pre-Equestrian times?"

I sighed, it was not the first time he had bugged me about my reading habits, but he also had never been so intrusive about it, after a moment's thought I decided to indulge him.

"For one, this book was given to me by my little brother in Canterlot, on the day of my departure. He said that he didn't want me to get bored out there."

The red pegasus looked at me, seemingly surprised by my mention of a brother I had never brought up. Before he could reply I continued.

"For another, this book is surprisingly fascinating... I know it sounds weird, but it talks about so many things that are never mentioned when you learn about history."

This time Fireflight decided to indulge me, giving the book a poke with his hoof before speaking.

"Like what?"

Looking at the open book and flipping to a specific page, one with a pre-Equestrian map on it, I hold it out to him and start to explain.

"Even though we are never told much about them, there are times before Equestria was founded.  And in those times the region that is now Equestria had many smaller nations in it. And two of those nations were led by what are now our Queens. Luna in the North, and Celestia in the east. Back then however they were not actually allies, and even though some theories state that the two have a common origin, they often had conflicts between their lands. As the decades past however both nations grew and the smaller factions around them decided to become part of either the 'Lunar Empire' or the 'Celestial Empire'. "

The pegassio stallion rolled onto his back and stared up at the fabric of the tent, but his ears were still perked up and listening, whether he was trying to appease me or genuinely interest though was impossible for me to tell, but I continued eitherway.

"After only those two nations were left the ponies of each began to see each other as a threat to their way of life. Luna's empire, while reign with love and affection, was cold to outsiders and had  strong militaristic traditions. It is believed that this was do to her sharing borders with the ever violent gryphon and dragon tribes to the north, which later became the Gryphon Empire that we still war with so often. Celestia's ponies however did not understand why their neighbors and kin would not accept them into their land, growing paranoid and wishing for Celestia to reassure things would not grow into open conflict."

At this point Fireflight turned his body toward me once more, looking at the book with a rather curious fascination, seemingly the history lesson having caught his interest indeed. After a short moment to catch my breath I turned the book toward a new page, one which showed a map of the borders of the Celestial and Lunar Empire's at their height, just before Equestria as we knew it was founded.

"When the distrust between the two equestrian nations continues to grow and things threatened to become unstable, Celestia and Luna met, alone, ontop of the tallest mountain between their two empires." I pointed a hoof at the place on the map, which my red friend would recognize as today's Canterlot. "There supposedly they argued for days about terms of an unending peace. The exact events are impossible to tell as only the two goddesses were present, but after they returned, both announced that the Celestial and and Lunar Empire's would be abolished, and in turn Equestria would be born, a nation that accepts all of pony kind and will defend each other with united might. And the new Capital, as we all know, was Canterlot, the palace build supposedly on the very place where their argument had taken place."

Fireflight stared at the book thoughtfully for a few moments, and then gave a smirk. Speaking in a somewhat more respectful tone.

"I guess your brother got pretty good taste's when it comes to books. Not sure what any of this will do for you out there, but at least that explains why Equestria has always felt so... divided."

I gave a solemn nod, now putting down the book and being the one to roll onto my back. Staring up at nothing particular as I spoke.

"I know what you mean... what they did was the right thing, Equestria is better off as one, rather then two. But sometimes it feels like many ponies have yet to accept that they are subjects of both goddesses, not just the one that has caught their heart and mind."

Once I finished speaking and silence fell for I took note that outside things had quieted down too, most likely the official order for sleep having gone around the camp and the nights curfew keeping everyone not on duty confined to their tents. Yawning quietly my Pegasus friend spoke once more.

"I am sure that in due time they will come around, I believe that a few generations from now all ponies will consider themselves truly Equestrian, and no one will question the authority of either of the two goddesses, the way it should be."

Silently agreeing with him I closed my eyes and tried to focus my mind. I could not help but wonder where my loyalties lay, could I say that the the loyalties to my queens are equal?