The Southern Expedition

by Ponelover

Prelude 2

Mother?
Yes my dear Luna?
What has happened?
Oh it’s okay Luna, everything will be okay. It’s just...oh my stars

A burning city was seen in front of her, Alicorns and Zebras are fighting each other in ultimate savagery, looting and ransacking was a common occurence and time honored memorials, glyphs and artifacts were utterly ruined in the burning. Paintings were destroyed, museums burned, children and their mothers killed as the great city was consumed by madness incarnate.

It was the burning of the last Zebran stronghold, the burning of Zemboctou during the Grand Conquest

Mother?
Yes my dear Luna?
Why is everyone killing each other?

And with that Solaria woked up, breathing heavily and trickling sweat as she remembered one of the more horrific acts committed by the Alicorns during their conquest of the First Continent.

Mother?

She heard that damn sound again, it reminded her of the joyous youth of Luna, when things were simpler and they didn’t have to worry about certain things like they do now. Oh how times have changed

Yes my daughter? Have you linked up with your sister? Is it successful?
Almost mother, you should begin the ritual right now, we just finished clearing out the corrupt MP’s and we’re about to march into your castle.
Understood Luna, for all of us.
For all of us indeed Mother, Luna out.

“Oh I do love mind connections” she said quietly as she lit her horn and takes a small vial from underneath the bed. I do hope this is worth it she thought as she uncorks the vial and sniffs the content. “Still good, thank the stars.” she quietly said as she brings the vial closer and closer unto her still snoring husband.

Never thought that I would have to resort to depowering my own husband she thought as she slowly poured the contents of of the vial to her husband’s snoring mouth.
“Huh Solaria what are you doi-” was all the response she gets from her husband as she finally finished pouring the liquid into her husband’s mouth.
“Now we can get to work my ‘dear’ husband.” she said to the paralyzed husband as her horn lit up again and the ritual of descension has begun.

“Okay now Brothers and Sisters, we have only 12 minutes to do this before they alert the rest of the district and skewering our plans forever. We have 2000 soldiers scrambling the area and decapitating the snake’s head as we speak. My sister is doing her best to kill off leadership and is rushing into our Parents castle right now. But we need to cut their support from entering battle and endangering Celestia’s life.”

“So brave Lunar Guards!!” Princess Luna shouted at the 500 strong army standing in front of her “Assault this fortress right now!!” she shouted as Alicorns wearing silver armour charged the still sleeping military base, first killing off the sentries and as the gates are opened and the shields lowered. The assault began.

Soon enough sounds of muffled screams and spells cast can be heard from the fortress. Luna only smirks in amusement as the military branch who constantly mocked her guards as being ‘cowardly’ and ‘uncourageous’ are being slaughtered by the thousands with only an army of 500 Guards. Turns out surprise tactics do work, why the Imperial guard never implemented our fighting style still remains a mystery for me she thought as she mind melded herself to inform Celestia that the military base is being rapidly pacified

Sister!! I have come to inform you that the Imperial Guard garrison won’t be bothering you any longer. We are currently slaughtering the still sleeping guards in the thousands and you can begin your assault on the Castle immediately.
Thank you sister, I will inform the Solar Guard immediately, for all of us.
For all of us indeed sister, Luna out.

“Now now my dear husband, we can’t rush the ritual now can we?” Solaria said which is only met with silence. With the ritual at full swing, mystical energies now flow accross the bedchamber as the once immortal ruler of the Alicorn Empire is being drained of power by his own wife.

“And just to make it even more depressing for you.” she silently said as her horn lit up even more and the energy flow is suddenly redirected from her into her daughters. “I think my daughters would like to have shared immortality and would certainly use it to a much better extent than you, of course you certainly won’t approve of it but...ah well, I don’t really see a point for you to waste your worthless immortality anyway...slaughterer of millions.”

She emphasized the last point as if the whole world would benefit from this ruler being deposed from his throne, in some respects she is true. For thousands of years her husband has been ‘nice’ to her subjects, promoting equality amongst the Alicorn races (Ponies and Zebras are excluded of course) and tightening the laws disenfranchising both the Ponies and the Zebras, eventually forcing them into Shantytowns where even full scale rebellions would be quelled easily due to the power the Alicorns wielded. It is a time of great prosperity and a time where everyone in the Alicorn Empire thought they were doing a good thing. Oh how wrong we are she thought as she is nearly finished with her descension ritual.

The Alicorn rebellions is the first hit to that circle of thought, led by brave leaders like Mersna un’shakal and Nes ‘the beast’ Kledan. They first originated as a simple group who talks about equal rights for all citizen of the Empire, but as their continued petitions and protests fail to gain any traction at all. Their group resorted to drastic measures and decided to start an open rebellion against the King.

The rebellion started small, too small in fact to be noticed by the local lords. But as the movement grew outside Equestria and into Imperial controlled Zebrica, King Galaxia knew that something must be done. She could remember that day just like yesterday, Celestia and Luna in full armoured garb saluted themselves to the King as they were about to crush what is seen then as a minor annoyance to the Empire. Turns out that ‘Minor Annoyance’ lasted for over 100 years and nearly devastated Zebrica, Griffonia and some parts of Equestria as well.

It was all worth it though she thought as that war exposed the lies King Galaxia broadcasted to his populace, Ponies and Zebras were in fact a very resourceful species that can tie down an Alicornian army long enough for the Rebel Alicorns to come in and finish them in open combat. The Zebrican campaign ended in the utter destruction of the entire Empire and the destruction of the Southern City as well. It exposed the harsh treatment the Ponies, Griffins and Zebras done by local lords and put into question the legitimacy of King Galaxia’s rule.

When confronted with the issue, Galaxia's only response is even more repression, banning solidarity protests and sending in agents to disrupt Alicorn-Pony Sympathy sessions. This escalated the situation and citywide riots started appearing with the slogan ‘For all of us’ present in the streets. It was also the time where Celestia, Luna and Solaria realized that supporting a king that has killed millions and repressed his own kin was not in the best interest for all of them and planned this coup to establish a better system of government, a system of government where everyone is equal under the law and that species wide equality would be the norm instead of the exception.

“For all of us...traitor” she finally said as the front gates of her castle was opened and Solar Guards poured into the building like water bursting from a dam.