Equestria: A History Revealed

by Hoofry_Poneigher

Chapter 21: Along the Crossroads of History - The Battle of Canterlot

The Battle of Canterlot is an interesting point in history indeed. Historically, there have actually been two Battles of Canterlot, sans the attempted invasion from Queen Chrysalis (which, will be covered in due time). Nonetheless, despite this event being the actual first Battle of Canterlot, taking place in the year 1010, it is more commonly known by its informal name, “The Battle of Canterlot”. And you thought my naming system sucked.

So the question arises. Why was this event universally recognized as the one true Battle of Canterlot? It of course, had to do with the stakes that were raised in this event. On a countdown to Equestrian Doomsday, this event can be said to have been the closest Equestria had come to utter destruction.[191] Of course, I take a different view to this; with Equestria’s destruction would come a rebirth, a renaissance of sorts, in which the one true princess would reign supreme. But of course, sadly, I seem to take the minority on this, and publicly, Princess Luna had stated that Equestria would be worse off if this event had taken a sharply different turn.[192] But what does she know. In my eyes, as soon as she was “redeemed” by Celestia (more on that later, I promise), she lost whatever good qualities she had.

Besides, it was not as though the Doomsday clock was completely objective. It’s not even a real clock! It’s just subjective to the words of historians, which as we know, often hold excessively stupid opinions. Take into example, my opinion (as an example of an opinion that is not excessively stupid), in which as soon as Celestia took power, had the time permanently fixed to 11:59 to doomsday. After all, as we all know, Celestia just keeps running this country into the ground as soon as she took power. But other ponies recognize this one moment as the last minute to destruction. And this is to say nothing of the other huge threats that had overtaken the country, the return of Princess Luna, the returns of Discord, the invasion of Queen Chrys…pfffh. I can’t even complete that sentence without laughing. Joking aside, (believe me, we’ll get into those “threats” later on), I will say that while I wholeheartedly disagree with those historians that this battle was the absolute tipping point of Equestria’s destruction, I will admit that the results of the battle shaped the road of history, for better or for worse.[193]

Celestia, once completing her Eastern campaign, thought to move further into Equestria. While before, through her rough structure of an intelligence system developed through the communication system between the Earth pony villages, she had estimates of the poor numbers of Nightmare forces guarding each village, and therefore, was able to divide her forces efficiently decently through pure, dumb luck and conquer multiple villages at a time, now was a very different scenario. Central and Western Equestria had forces foreign to her, and their power and might, unknown. Of course, Celestia could figure that the nation was more fortified in its interior, and it was through that knowledge that she knew she had to amass a much larger army. With a fighting force of approximately 15,000 strong towards the end of the Eastern campaign[194] (which, in my opinion, is just excessive), she chose not to divide her forces, but rather use the brunt of their power to first capture “what must have been the most fortified stronghold yet, the capital of Equestria, Canterlot.”[195]

And for once, I can’t argue with Celestia’s logic. Before you strip off my proud “true historian” badge I had made for myself using markers and popsicle sticks, hear me out. Such an assumption does make sense. But what intrigues me instead, is why she chose to march straight on to Canterlot. Celestia desired to free every pony who was suffering under Luna’s reign as soon as possible, and therefore, she could choose to free the smaller villages before moving on to the big guns. But with Luna’s numbers unknown, a simple assault on a small village could be a devastating trap. Especially as Celestia noted that “the Eastern forces were curiously too small in number”.[196]

And while Celestia did desire to free everypony by conquering their villages (which reminds me of the thought patterns of the ancient Aegon the Griffon Conqueror, though admittedly, under different contexts of suffering, as Aegon considered not living under his rule was suffering within itself), and freeing them from the occupying Nightmare forces, she knew the fastest way to accomplish this would be through ending the war itself, and then rounding up the remaining forces with a fully restored Equestrian army.

Celestia sought to end the war through talks with her sister. Of course, she would first have to beat the Nightmare forces who protected her and prevented Celestia from even coming close before she would even have a chance to speak to her sister face to face. But it’s not like Luna was seeking Celestia out or anything, at this point, she was in her blind rage mode, which probably would have made any attempts to talk pretty difficult.[197] So to achieve democracy, Celestia would have to pull out her big guns and fight her way through.

At this point, Celestia saw her army at its strongest, and therefore, desired to use their full fighting force to its greatest extent by retaking the city that Luna was most likely hiding in. Celestia’s military meetings prior to marching on the Western front detailed three possible locations; at Canterlot, the Royal Pony Castle, or in a stronghold somewhere in Western Equestria.

If Luna was smart, (which of course she was, at least at the time, praise Luna) she would obviously go for the strategic position in Western Equestria, allowing Celestia forces to be severely weakened through battle and fatigue as they carved an arduous path across Equestria. But Celestia thought otherwise, and said Luna would not choose such a place to rule. And it’s a good thing Celestia’s stupidity paid out for her once in her life, cuz she was right. No, her reasoning behind this wasn’t because of her strong instincts or her understanding of the way her sister thought or anything. It was stupidity and dumb luck. Final answer.

So they had narrowed it down to two locations, Canterlot or the Royal Castle. After much deliberation, it was determined that Luna would be most likely found at Canterlot.[198] And again, (as much as it hurts me to say), their logic does check out. After all, if Luna wanted to gain trust in the Earth pony and pegasi populations, she would rule over the unicorns and force them under the greatest subjugation to show their inferiority (logic in which I can say I proudly stand behind). And the national morale and hope of those who sought to oppose her would decrease dramatically. After all, if Luna truly was ruling with the brunt of her forces occupying the proud capital of Equestria, then many would see the battle to be lost before it even began.

Of course, such logic rang true to Celestia’s ears. As I had previously uncovered in Chapter 12, Canterlot was chosen as Equestria’s capital, as it represented a beacon of magic power and was a powerful symbol within itself. Its occupation by Nightmare forces and forced destruction of the unicorn way of life certainly fit in what she knew of her sister’s New Lunar Order. And so it was decided that they would seek out Luna and end the war on the roads of Canterlot.

After their final capture on the Eastern front, the restoration of Fillydelphia,[199] Celestia’s solar forces moved through the thick brambles of Hollow Shades (possibly finding another mirror pool to strengthen her forces further), and followed the path along Foal Mountain.[200] While it would be a good idea to traverse Foal Mountain itself to avoid possible confrontation with Nightmare forces on the ground, Celestia knew that such a long trek across snowy and treacherous terrain could potentially be devastating, and she declined to take that chance. Dumb luck again.

Of course, making this choice did have its consequences, as they did encounter some patrol parties of Nightmare forces. Of course, with Celestia’s now vast numbers, they were easily able to overcome and overwhelm these brief skirmishes, capturing them before they could potentially report back.[201]

As the war occurred long before the advent of train technology in Equestria, Celestia knew to conserve most of the force’s strength to instead traverse the rocky roads of Canterlot. Many a potential rock slide occurred, suspected to be attempts from Nightmare forces as early attempts to defend their prize, but Celestia was able to use her magic to prevent any premature harm on her army, and moved the offending rocks before they could hurt her forces or block a path.[202] Especially when she knew they’d be in quite a tizzy of a battle before long.

And they eventually reached the castle’s entrance, “somewhat tired from the trek, but motivated and ready, especially with Celestia’s moving speeches”.[203] Ughhhh. Again with the speeches? Why don’t I just start calling her Loudbutt. Cuz that’s how she’s coming off to me. A big loud pain in my ass.

The powerful drawbridge, one that had stood since Celestia’s first arrival to the city, and was known to be eternally open for many a pony brave enough to make the trek to the beauty of the unicorn capital of Equestria, was now shut.

And now, I’ll just leave this one soldier’s account to tell the rest. I’m lazy, tired, and Larry is still rejecting me. I’m just gonna copy down this retelling, get boozed up, and call it a day. It pretty much says what needs to be covered about the battle. I’ll add some other stuff later.

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“Its powerful iron chains swayed slightly with the wind. We knew that while we could see no forces now, no sign of an enemy; they were there. That they were ready. But so were we. The sky grew silent that day, as if knowing the blood that would be shed. There was no bird twittering away, as if all knew of the coming clash of iron and magic with the shadows of darkness. And so we laid silent as well. It was the calm before the storm. The friends I had made on this quest, they stood by me, looking upon the city with unblinking, unwavering eyes. And I saw Celestia, also unmoving, silent, looking at the strong doors that guarded Canterlot against her return. But I knew the gates represented much more than that. But she held a strong fire in her eyes, a burning passion, not of rage or ferocity, but of inner strength and courage. There was a not a sound in the air, almost as if we all wanted this one moment, this last minute of tranquility. I gripped my spear with my hooves.[?]

It was a trusty spear, not made of any special kind of material, or draped in some velvet cloth as the pegasi soldiers used to hold with pride. It was made with cheap wood and a dulling blade, with the tip scratched and raw. But it had served me well on the battlefield, and saved me from one a many surprise attacks from my flank.[?? Oh, flank in a different context.] We had no adorned armor, no sharp dressed uniforms of matching colors. Our army instead had coats of many different colors, with interspersed furs of greys and whites to match. [evidence?! Royal guards had white and grey coats!] But we did not need such colors to bind us together; we were united in purpose and spirit. We stood, not behind, but with the one true Princess.

The horns, the horns! Blasting trumpets in a major key lit the path ablaze with the fires of battle. Not yet a charge, but a preparatory blast. We knew there to be movement on the other side. I saw Celestia’s eyes narrow. The drawbridge began to fall. It was as if it were a ticking clock. The moment it set itself down onto the land was when the battle would begin. Tantalizingly, it inched. It played off our willingness, it drank it up as if it were a cheap ale.

A mass of black shadows. They were not shadows cast by any form of natural light, but they held pony, no, bestial forms all the same, their glowing yellow eyes gazing upon us. It was a large army indeed, but inside, I breathed a sigh of relief. Their numbers were formidable, yes, their power, most likely exponential as the elite of the elite, tasked with defending Canterlot. I would say with great certainty that they were the largest fighting force we had yet faced. But our soldiers still overwhelmed their numbers a great deal. I looked to Celestia. We all did. But her eyes were not fixed upon the enemy as ours first were, they were peering into the city, and what lied beyond. Her sister, for certain. She closed her eyes for a moment. The silence still bit into the atmosphere, tearing meaty chunks of it across the plain roads of the entrance to Canterlot. My heart was pounding, threatening to leap out of my chest. I was nervous, more nervous so than my first ever foray into the fields of battle.

This. This was the deciding moment. Close it came. I was lucky so far, I had made good friends, and I had lost many of them too. Would this be the day? In an act of glory? A fit of cowardice? A life snuffed out by an accident, not even a footnote on the recollections of battle? I knew not of my fate, my destiny; I did not have time. Celestia’s eyes opened once more. She cast her left hoof forward, triumphant. She truly was glorious, majestic in her grace, even on the knowing callousness of the battlefield. She had yelled to charge, not in a furious voice, but one deep in tone and rich in meaning. And so we ran forth, and the Nightmare pushed to meet us. Our greatest battle had begun.”[204]

Anddddd, I’m back. Just for a brief moment. I gotta go take a whiz.

“And so the battle had ended. It was an arduous task, retaking the city. I would not once say it was easier than I had expected; that would disrespect the lives of those who had lost them. The Nightmare forces were pushed out of the city as we entered. They routed, like fleas they did. They would jump to their next host for certain, but for now victory was ours. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. I had felt I had at least earned that much.

I knew Celestia considered our battle not truly over until the safety of the captured city’s citizens was ensured. Only with the rising of the sun over the land and only when the jubilant cries praising victory and freedom could be heard that we could say the battle had ended. We had begun rounding up the ponies in preparation for Celestia to make her speech. Many had wished, no, expected Celestia to speak upon the recaptured castle’s balcony, as she would in past days. I admit that in my heart of hearts I wished the same. But I knew she would not. She would insist to speak to all ponies, eye to eye, on equal terms. An apology we had heard many a time, one that no pony needed her to say, but she would say nonetheless. For she was our light, she was our shining sun. And she truly cared for all her pony family, shining her rays of light upon us.

The Canterlot populace was overjoyed. They were freed, the unicorns were blissful beyond belief. But a certain aura persisted. The gathering of the populace took quite a while; Canterlot was a big place after all. The biggest city that I had ever seen. I wished, at the time, to return to it, when it was not still draped in the cloth of darkness. And I would, eventually.

I had never seen so many unicorns in one place. [denied. This contradicts my clone theory, and will be struck through.] They were like us in more ways than I had expected. I saw them with twisted images of aristocracy and corruption in my mind’s eye before, but now I saw them up and close. They were ponies like us, suffering, but brave. Strong and strong-willed. I saw them as equals, I saw them as friends. [Now you’re just being ridiculous.] There was still time before the speech. We were exhausted, and some even laid strewn across the cobbled streets of Canterlot in fatigue. Some unicorns even went to the extent to fetch us some bread and milk, something that was well appreciated, especially when such items were so scarce nowadays.[Stop it.]

I had noticed a friend of mine, the very one who I stood beside before the battle. His name was Starshine, with a coat of yellow and a simple mane of brown, an atypical farm pony if I’d ever seen one. He smiled at me. ‘I’m glad to see you made it through.’ he said.

I smiled, ‘Somehow, I seem to get by.’

‘Do you think this whole war’s done? Do you really think it’s over?’

I exhaled loudly, and propped myself up with my spear, which seemed to lose more of its edge as the battles went on. Not that I had a mind to replace it anytime soon.

‘I wish. There still seems to be more to come.' I looked up at the Canterlot castle. I had heard stories of its beauty, and I knew I was not looking at it in its brightest hour, but it was still a view to behold. In colors of ivory white, and towers extending to challenge the sky, I knew its past radiance still shined.

I pointed in its general direction. At this point, I was too tired to properly point it out. ‘You see the castle? Once the Nightmare forces were driven out of there, it was found to be completely empty. Wherever Princess Luna may be, it’s not here.’

Now it was Starshine’s turn to exhale. ‘Ah, I’d afraid that’d be the case.’ He smiled at me. ‘At least we did good here tonight.’

I returned the smile. ‘We did good.’

‘Ya know,’ I heard a pony say behind me. We both turned to look. A pony with a brown auburn coat and lightly shaded mane was standing there. We didn’t know her, nor did we see her before, but her tired nature and rusted tool[!?] of battle [ah.] told us all we needed to know.

She leaned closer towards us. Starshine moved closer to hear her exhausted, lazing tongue. ‘I heard among these city folk that there used to be much more of them Nighties patrolling here.’

Nighties. A term of endearment among some of the regiment. The term soothed our spirits during our involvement in the enemy. It had a funny connotation. But now was not the time for humor.

‘What d’you mean, more Nighties?’ Starshine pressed. He looked as doubtful as I.

‘Exactly what it means.’ The pony continued, ‘There used to be a whole bunch more here. Apparently most up and left once they learnt of us marching up the cliffs.’

‘Does Celestia know of this?’ I asked, probably taking the words straight out of Starshine’s mouth.

‘The whole lot of generals know. That’s why they’re being so cautious;’ She said, ‘they’re suspecting something strange with this.’

Starshine scoffed. ‘It’s not that this battle wasn’t hard or nothin’. We fought our guts out there.’ Now it was her turn to look at us.

Starshine felt the need to clarify. ‘I mean, if it was like the end of the Eastern campaign, capturing a city in a few tens of minutes, I’d see the problem. But this is buckin’ Canterlot here. I’d say we fought more than our fill, especially if the Moon princess ain’t ever here.’

‘I suppose so,’ she managed to reply.

We heard another trumpeting blast of noise. It was not of war however, for it was accompanied with the shining of a friendly sigil in the shape of a sun across the still night sky.

‘We’d best be getting over there,’ I started, ‘It seems as though the end of this battle’s about to begin.’

A congregation of ponies, unicorns and earth ponies alike were crowded among the city square. Us military ponies managed to walk through a path cleared for us, so we could stand with our leader as she made her speech. As our numbers grew larger, it became more difficult to do so, but we’d always manage, even in the smallest of towns. And like Starshine said, this was no small town. This was buckin’ Canterlot.

I looked at Celestia. I was lucky enough to be a part of her division; the leading charge into battle. I had hoped to see a look of happiness, or solace to soothe my fears. But it seemed to be one of worry. She had a smile across her face, as any leader should in the face of such a tremendous victory, but the uneasy feeling persisted. ‘Was she worried for her sister?’ I wondered to myself.

Celestia seemed to shake these worries away, and I, following in the example of my leader did the same. Starshine took his spot beside me, and nodded a greeting of acknowledgement. I returned the sentiment.

The city square was quite large and spacious, but we still managed to fill it up. Everypony would want to see this, the rising of the sun across Canterlot. Canterlot was known for its position at the center of Equestria. While rising the sun in the east was certainly good for maintaining hope, rising the sun in Canterlot would ensure that its light would reach all corners of Equestria. It would give hope to those without it, and remind Luna and her forces that her days were numbered. I smiled to myself.

Celestia was about to begin the ceremony. I heard the murmurings of the crowd. I thought it strange at the time, most other villages seemed to greatly respect and idolize their ruler and would usually instantly silence themselves once Celestia seemed to be prepared to speak. I filed it under unicorn differences and thought nothing of it.

But it was strange. The murmurings continued. It kept rising, almost to a fever pitch. Now we started to look around. What was going on? Celestia seemed to be as confused as we were. I had truly hoped it was nothing, and could chalk it up to unicorn differences again. We were in no shape to fight. What we needed was a good ceremony and a good rest to clear our minds.

It persisted though. I saw Celestia talking with some of the unicorns, asking what was wrong. I couldn’t hear what was being said above the noise. We struggled to regain control of the crowd. Some generals began to shout, but that only strengthened the noise. Celestia spoke in a booming voice, to silence them, using her Royal Canterlot voice as it was called. ‘If Canterlot folk are as rowdy as this all the time, I can see where the voice got its names from’, I noted to myself.

The crowd quieted, but only a little, and only for a moment. Then it began to rise even more, to a panicked state. Then even we could see it. ‘Up there!’ A unicorn shouted. But such a warning fell on deaf ears, by that time we had already saw it. Our worst fear.

It must have been hundreds, thousands even. Swarming through the skies. The sky to the west grew dark, far darker than it had ever been under Luna’s eternal night. Akin to a large cloud of black, but with movement within. It was if it was a large creature within itself, but each inch of its skin, each cell of its being was independent, and moving towards us at a strong pace.

A beast of war. It was shuddering. But we knew it was no beast, it was a large mass. An army clouding the skies in darkness. The sheer numbers they boasted. I had said before I had felt fear in my early days of battle, and before the battle by the gates of Canterlot. But if that was fear, than I knew not was this was. It was closest to a feeling of hopelessness. Of despair. I thought for certain that the streets of Canterlot would be my stony grave.

We were frozen in disbelief. This must have been the full intended force of the Nightmare army. Hours earlier was a hooffight between two schoolfillies over a sprouted potato compared to this. This. This was true, abject terror.

This was war.

The cloud kept advancing; it seemed endless. Wave after wave of Nightmarish darkbeasts. I looked to Starshine. He seemed just as transfixed upon the sight as I. Celestia too, kept looking up at the sky. But not nearly as long as any of us. She seemed to be the first pony to snap out of the haze. She began shouting orders immediately. It still seemed like a haze to me; the world was still spinning and I began to feel disoriented.

‘Bloody horseapples,’ I heard Starshine murmur. ‘I didn’t know the buckin’ things could fly.’

It was true. We fought mostly on land with them. Not once did they ever show any ability to fly. Perhaps, I suspected, it was all for this moment. To truly take us by surprise. And if that was their intention, then they very well damn got the job done.

I don’t know how we couldn’t feel them. At least, Celestia should have been able to feel their rotten presence,[evidence that Celestia works with the forces of evil] as any good-fairing unicorn on the side of light would[lies]. But perhaps this was another power they held. Or some kind of enchantment placed by the lunar princess so their presence could not be felt. Everypony at the moment was so exhausted, it would not be out of the realm of possibility that we could overlook such a thing.

I kept looking at the advancing swarm, stunned in disbelief. My friend reached a hoof to warmly touch my shoulder.

‘Courage, friend, courage!’ He whispered to me.

Amidst all the yelling, all of the confusion, I heard his words spoken clear as day. As if we were the only two ponies in all of Equestria, standing on the square of Canterlot. I looked back at him. His knees were shaking, and his body trembling all over from his mane to his hooves. At that point I couldn’t tell if he was speaking to me or to himself.

I smiled. ‘You seem to need to learn to practice what you preach.’

A brief moment of levity. It was needed; practically required.

‘Hey,’ he began, ‘I should hope you remember our deal.’

I looked at him, my eyebrow raised. “And I hope you remember we’re a few friends short of that by now.”

‘Yeah, I know, I know,’ he laughed it off, ‘but a Party of Two’s still better than a Party of One.’

Now it was my turn to laugh. Morbid, yes, but I appreciated the sentiment.

‘Hey,’ his hoof gripped against my shoulder more tightly, and his look became more serious. In the situation we were in, I’d say it was almost fitting. ‘We’ll be seeing each other again, y’hear? Whether on our own four hooves with a frothy mug of cider, or with everypony else up in the clouds, we’re in this together.’

‘Yeah.’ I nodded. I needed that. It seemed to snap me back into my senses.

“Alright, let’s give them Nighties a heck ova show!” he proudly exclaimed. Always full of energy, that one was.

My ears were ringing now, now able to make out clear voices in the heat of the moment. I looked up again, the Nightmare forces were still advancing. I don’t know whether it was their speed, or a trick of the mind’s eye, but they seemed to taking their sweet time to arrive, still some thousands of meters away. I suspected it was all in my mind; as soon as I laid my eyes upon their presence, my mind had been toying with the rest of the body, as if an idle plaything. I seemed to lack all sense of time and space; they were probably much farther away than where I had thought they were before, no, of course they were. The first I had saw them, they were but specks in the sky. But the detail, my friend, the detail! I coulda sworn I could make out every marking on their armor, every nick on their iron plating.

I paid little thought to how much actual distance lied in between us, all I knew was that their arrival, at least in my mind, was akin to a ticking time bomb. I cared not how much time was left on the timer, but rather, I was more afraid of the bomb itself. It would go off, and leave the world in flames. It was an absolute certainty.

At the moment, I roughly estimated, three, no, two minutes until arrival? Thousands of images rushed through my mind, more than half had nothing to do with the moment at hand, the divine hour. My mind had been cleared, but in concordance, it was not cleared as well. An uneasy peace I had made with myself, while simultaneously wracked with wave after wave of fear and regret. I had thought that my exchange with Starshine had calmed me, no, I wanted to remember that it calmed me. No’s circled my mind, like vultures they did. Pecking, gnawing at my brain. Starshine spoke of courage, and I wanted to be brave. But was I? Was I?

Celestia. Celestia’s words softened me, not yet malleable, but softening like putty. Dreams, worries, regrets, they vanished like a whisper in the wind. She provided structure, something to build my calmness around, and I embraced it, like a suckling foal. I didn’t know what she was saying, but slowly words began pouring into my ears, warming me with its nectar of tranquility.

Not that she was calm. Or not to say that she was as wrought with worry as the rest of us; she kept an authoritative tone in her words, clearly commands of battle. I missed around half of it, and I desperately hoped that that wouldn’t come around to bite me in the flank later on.

‘And to all ponies who weren’t listening,’ she shouted, still maintaining her Royal Canterlot Voice. I breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Seventh division, defend the helpless in the castle with all your might! Everypony else, come with me!’

We marched forward at a steady pace. We were not running thankfully, my hooves were too tired to attempt such a feat. We had moved many a paces forward towards the direction in which they approached. Troops broke away at various points, turning in all sorts of directions, even turning back to the castle as we marched from the center of the city toward the entrance. Ponies behind me shifted in position, symmetrical in figure and size. We were a large army, sure, but we were tasked to defend a large city too. I remembered seeing entire squadrons of unlucky ponies separate to fortified positions within the city, probably having to continue to march throughout the twisting catacombs of the city. I suppose the entirety of Canterlot needed protecting. But as I was on the front lines, I wasn’t sure who the lucky ones were.

And Celestia readied herself to speak. It was at that moment I saw row upon row of unicorns standing behind me, joined together with the row upon row of earth ponies armed with crossbows and arrows. I was surprised to see them standing with us; I figured they would be too tired and weary from their occupation to fight. But on the other hand, so were we. We were united in that sense I suppose. None of us were in the state of mind or body to fight, but there we stood. Not out of obligation, but of conviction. We were even more similar than I had previously thought.

It was silent again. The Nightmare forces moving closer and closer. It was a blade hanging over our necks, a reminder of the battle that was to come rather than a current threat, at least for now. But they were coming, brandished with weapons, bared to the teeth they were. But I pushed those thoughts aside for the moment, in another attempt to keep myself calm. At this point, ignoring them was the sanest thing to do.

I looked upon Celestia again. She seemed ready to speak.

‘Everypony,’ Celestia began, tearing her eyes away from the skies she was previously gazing upon with uncertainty, “there is no room for fear today.”

She smiled as she spoke, not one of joy, but rather of trust. ‘For I know that not one pony will fall here today.’

None of us spoke, but we were clearly taken aback by such a statement. Only our banners blew in the breeze.

‘I had made a heavy promise with each any one of you ponies. And I know the darkest hour is upon us, and I know it may seem that all times are lost. But we can’t fall here. Not one of us will fall here.’

The words effortlessly flowed out of her mouth, as if they were the most natural things to say. I know it seems strange as I looked back upon it, but I had a feeling of growing trust in her words.

Celestia put her hoof down on the ground gently as it fell to the floor. ‘For it is because of that promise we made. That we would take back Equestria together. And we will take our nation back together. And until that promise is fulfilled, we can’t fall here. We won’t fall here. We have ponies believing in us now. Believing in the sacrifices we’ve made, believing in the lives that were lost,’

She turned, with a solemn pause.

‘They believed in us because we are the ponies who stand. Stand for justice, stand for peace, stand for hope. A hope for a better day, a hope for a brighter tomorrow. And that is why we won’t lose this battle. All of us will celebrate at the start of the new day, in celebration of our victory. And we will celebrate once more once Equestria is ours as it rightfully should be.’

As she finished, the silent atmosphere remained still. We knew in our minds, that her words were little more than dreams, whispers of the heart. We knew, that there was no way no pony would fall; we knew there was no way that blood would not be shed at this hour. But our hearts refused to believe in reality. We wanted to believe. Believe in her words, believe in our assured victory. It echoed in my heart again.

‘We won’t fall here.’

I clutched the words tightly to my chest as I gripped my spear.

Starshine grinned beside me. ‘Well then, it seems those clouds’ll have to wait. I hope you’re a fan of cider.’

‘You bet.’

‘On my signal,’ Celestia shouted now, raising her left hoof into the air, ‘we fire.’

The unicorns prepared what I knew to be bolts of magical lightning. Thousands of balls of energy prickled and crackled with power in preparation for the moment. The archers loaded their crossbows loudly, and pointed it at the incoming enemy. The Nightmare forces still weren’t here, it would be a minute before they arrived. Celestia kept her hoof stretched in the air, bent at the leg.

I heard a familiar fizzing that I knew to be magic. It came from Celestia’s elegant white horn this time, sizzling in yellow light and power. A large glob of pure, alicorn magic power forming around the end of her horn. But it felt different than most magic bursts, almost as if it warmed me inside with a familiar feeling. If I had to place my hoof on it, it felt most like…

The sun.

After so long marching in the darkness of the Canterlot mountain, and the tepid night that still lingered over the city, it was a well-welcomed feeling.

Celestia’s hoof remained unwavering in its stance. She closed her eyes, breathing in and out. The Nightmare Forces were a few hundred meters away from the inner walls of the city. I was reminded of their number, their sheer scale of their might. But I remained calm, somehow, as a needed wave of calmness washed over me like ripples in a pond.

And then Celestia unleashed her spell. A surge of strength swelled through me. I saw it. A golden barrier forming at the edge of her horn, increasing in size and scope, as it began to envelop the entire city. Defensive in shape, but destructive in force, at least to its enemies. The few Nightmare force soldiers leading the charge were caught inside the barrier, and an in instant, were vaporized into the nothingness of which they came before my very eyes. The barrier kept on expanding, as the Nightmare forces turned to halt their advance. More and more of their forces were vanishing before them, and they made a hasty withdrawal from the region of the barrier, at least for the moment.

I thought of Celestia simply holding this barrier spell for the rest of the battle. We would truly be untouchable, and the city and all its denizens would be protected. But I knew that such a hopeful thought would be too good to be true. It was good for pushing them back, but it was not clearly built for long-term protection. It obviously took great effort to initiate such a powerful spell, and probably even greater effort to continuously maintain. Celestia did seem to be struggling, and some unicorns looked as though to help her. But Celestia had not yet moved her hoof from its position. So we all lied in wait.

The Nightmare forces retreated a fair distance away from the maximum radius of the spherical barrier, now fully encapsulating the mountain city of Canterlot. Even at such a distance, I could hear their snarls and hisses.

Celestia seemed to be under great concentration now. Her brow was sweating, her eyes pinching shut. She was gritting her teeth in pain, as if she was lifting a heavy object with her own two hooves. I supposed my previous suspicion to be correct after all.

The Nightmare Forces were cautious to stay away from the barrier beforehand, but once observing it was then at its maximum area and that Celestia seemed to be pushed to her limit, they inched closer and closer to the magical bubble, waiting for it to burst. But that moment never came, and they would think twice the next time they doubted our princess. For Celestia still had much more than that. In a flash, she opened her eyes. One more surge of powerful light shot from her horn and into the magical barrier. For a millisecond, maybe less, the barrier seemed to ripple in magical power. Then it burst, but not inwards as the dark forces had hoped, but rather outwards, releasing a shockwave of light in all directions. Covering a far greater area now, the forces paid dearly for their hubris, dissipating in the pure, magical energy they were engulfed by. And the light from that sudden shockwave of power persisted, lighting up the sky and warming our hearts with the golden colors of the sun.

Celestia had taken care of many a Nightmare soldier, and probably saved much more lives than we could count. But despite such raw power, they were still much more Nightmare forces alive, slightly dazed, but ready in an attempt to lay waste to the city, their forces still far outnumbering ours.

It was at that moment in which the solemn hoof raised forward with glorious zeal. ‘Fire!’

And so magical shots of multiple different colors shot in a flurry of directions. Like a rainbow, shining with the sun after the cloudy rain, they lit up the sky in a burst of power. And arrows soared to chase them in smooth, perfect parabolas, as they flew to reach their targets. I suspected that Celestia knew that in a battle against such numbers, we needed quite an early lead. To decimate as many forces as we could before the real battle began.

The flood of magic and crossbow bolts filled the air and did their jobs well, but it would be a while for the anti-air forces to recharge. And it was at that moment in which the Nightmare forces, a good distance away, but enraged enough to rush at us with greater ferocity than ever before, took their opportunity to charge at us. Some landed in front of us, knowing to take us down first to allow a greater influx of their forces to breach our walls. A large handful of lucky ones were already able to pass us, flying into the city. Celestia must have known this would occur, I think we all did. Despite our best efforts, the battle would take place throughout the entire city. I silently thanked Celestia for her foresight in fortifying our forces across the city.

I re-focused my attention to the Nightmare forces in front of us. I quietly reprimanded myself; I knew a lost moment of attention on the battlefield could be fatal. They began to rush at us, and Celestia let out a battle cry. The trumpets blasted around my ears again as we ran to meet them. I was surprised to see her charging with us, but in truth, it relieved me. Sounds of battle fought on the land and in the sky rang out in that moment. I knew the stakes. I knew the fate of Equestria hung in the balance here. The real Battle of Canterlot began now.”[205]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ahhh. I had a good time last night. So, what’d I miss?

Damn, that was quite a doozy of a source, huh? My hooves still hurt from filling those pages up. But when a girl’s gotta drink, a girl’s gotta drink. Work can be done anytime, but drinking is a one-time shot kinda thing. And believe me, I took many of those last night.

Where were we again? Oh yeah. Battle of Canterlot. I should hope that the source didn’t bore you too much to death (as it did me), cuz now imma ‘bout to bust out some of those classic Loose Change moves.

I probably shoulda explained this beforehand like I promised to in the previous chapters, and definitely before dumping that heavy load of a source on you like that, but I was kinda busy last time I was here. Which was…last week. What can I say, when Loose Change parties, she parties hard.

As the source made clear, the ploy I had hinted at in previous chapters was all building up towards a colossal showdown in the Battle of Canterlot. Celestia, in her campaign to free Canterlot, did fight an initial skirmish with the Nightmare forces to gain access to the city, but such a battle served only as preparation for what was to come. Their numbers were strong, sure, much stronger than they had ever faced. But the real purpose of that battle was to let the Celestial forces’ guards down. Once they felt as though they had won the battle, they would relax, making the further assault by the Nightmare forces so much more devastating.

It is commonly accepted that the so-called “initial skirmish” was the beginning of the Battle of Canterlot. That element of surprise what was shaped the battle in its eternal infamy, especially with the arrival of such heavy forces, and as noted, the forces’ skills of flight.

As I had stated before, many had doubted the logistics of such a plan, some arguing that Luna saw such an opportunity and grabbed it while she had the chance,[206] while others stated that she had been building up towards such a battle all along.[207] And the latter does make sense, the numbers on the Eastern frontier could have been purposely left small in order for Celestia to build her forces, forces which consisted of the very ponies who she would predict would be the first to rise against her. Unfortunately, what she didn’t count on was the definite influx of OP unicorn clones. But more on the clones later.

Going off the assumption that this was all in Luna’s plan all along (a theory I personally subscribe to; she was a freakin’ genius! Excluding all the stupid things she did in her return, but again, I’ll cover it later), once Celestia and the entirety of the rebellious forces were crushed in Canterlot, this would forever destroy all hope of future revolts against her. If the rebellion with the most force and potential was crushed, especially with its leadership placed in the hooves of Celestia, it would be devastate ponies across the nation, and would provide just the push she needed to destroy all semblances of hope as required from the plans in her New Lunar Order. By allowing the Solar Restoration many early victories, she would build up hope among ponies who heard of the news, and with their absolute and total defeat in Canterlot, any pent up optimism they still held would be wiped from the public consciousness for all time. Ponies would learn to be forever subservient to their tyrant, a certainty that Luna desired most to acquire.

Another factor in this theory, was the words of her loyal few pegasi and earth pony extremists. Obviously angered by the unicorn privilege enjoyed by the nation, they had many a reason to wish to see the downfall of their race from their high chair of society (which, I unashamedly also would like to see). Therefore, Luna’s choice of the penultimate battle in Canterlot would serve as a bonus; she would not only wipe out the Celestial forces, but would wipe the unicorn city and its populace off the map, destroying the strongest symbol of unicorn aristocracy there was.

To accomplish this plan of course, Luna would need absolute certainty of her victory. With the lessened amount of forces defending the east, most of the forces could be concentrated in the West and Central Equestria, allowing her to easily gather them up and attack as a unified force. While she had a quite a few squadrons stay behind to prevent the most susceptible towns from potential revolts, in essence, the majority of her Nightmare forces marched to Canterlot to ensure the city’s, the revolution’s, and Celestia’s, utter and total destruction. The Nightmare army was well-prepared for such a task, and even by the smallest of estimates, outnumbered Celestia’s forces three to one.[208] They were expected to completely overwhelm the city and its army, and lay waste to everything and everypony who stood there.

And by all means, their assault should have been successful. The largest battle in the history of Equestria took place on that day, and is why the Battle of Canterlot is held in such infamy today. Supposedly, the battle was quite action packed, and supposedly extremely cool (for any observers, it was actually pretty violent for the soldiers).[209]

With surprise aerial strikes from the Nightmare forces, Celestia bravely and steadfastly leading in an army of fiercely loyal ponies (in her trademark shitty way, I’m sure), and the dark forces’ attempts at pounding the city into submission, it is said in legends to be quite a sight to behold.[210]

But nopony would want to hear the details of that. You want to hear more about the boring politics, right? Heck yeah you do.

Besides, all that recollection stuff is like the premise to a crappy fanfiction. And if there’s one thing I can’t stand (it’s griffons and other creatures, but this too), it’s fanfiction writers. And hypocrites. But I think I mentioned that already.

Anyways, despite being outnumbered three to one, by some miracle, Celestia’s forces managed to pull it off. This miracle is heralded by history as evidence of Celestia’s strength and the wills of all the ponies who bravely defended the city united as one. And you know what I say to that. I’m gonna need a shovel, because somepony just dumped a hefty amount of bullshit on the footsteps of my apartment. And real talk, if you know who these ponies are, please contact me right away. They’ve literally been doing it for years. IT’S NOT FUNNY AFTER THE SIXTEENTH TIME SO STOP IT ALREADY. MY APARTMENT IS NOT A CESSPOOL FOR SHIT AS MUCH AS MY DETRACTORS WOULD LIKE YOU TO BELIEVE.

Returning to the focus here, all things considered, “miracle” or not, Celestia really should have lost outright. In the words of historians, perhaps it was due to Celestia’s power and her great leadership in conducting her army to fight off the invaders.[211] Or better yet, in my words, perhaps she was just hax.

I mean, she practically had god mode enabled (note the use of the word “practically” here) and she had an army of elite unicorn clones. Tell me that’s not hax.

The strength of the Nightmare Forces was admittedly weakened by the fact that Luna chose not to lead and fight with them. A hotly debated topic across historians was whether or not this decision could have directly altered the course of history, but again, as interesting as it may be to consider such a dream, I waste no time in wondering what could have been. I waste time in analyzing the here and now.

Luna’s absence here was most likely due to the fact that she was choosing to avoid direct contact with Celestia, which was understandable. After all, she thought her presence was not a necessity; she assumed her overwhelming forces and odds in her favor would allow her to win. And rightfully so; she should have won.

It’s just a shame that she was playing against a cheating cheater on the server. And that’s why I never play against hackers. Or self-proclaimed gods. But honestly, those things aren’t usually mutually independent. (I’m looking at you l33tm00na. Fk u. 1v1 me fgt. no scope. final dest. no itms. fox only.)

And with that, Celestia had forever turned the tides of war. Unfortunately, the Celestial forces had ultimately won, with the remnants of the Nightmare forces retreating and routing. Of course, her forces had faced some astronomical losses, which was to be expected from such a tremendous battle, and olden Canterlot was left in near ruins. But her surviving forces were still strong and plentiful in number (especially once considering the newly added unicorn reinforcements, and the large number of clones), and most of all, they were ready to continue to fight. Celestia raised the sun above high and proclaimed the day as the holy victory of the Solar Restoration. Hope spread across Equestria as the sun’s rays were fully experienced by all, no matter how faintly it was felt, but its message was clear enough. Celestia had returned, and she was coming to save Equestria. Celestia sent out a message across the land, proclaiming that her forces would soon march and confront Luna, to end the war once and for all.

It is with great sorrow that I must end my recounting of the Equestrian Civil War, Celestia’s greatest humiliation, in the next chapter. But if it’s any consolation, I’ll be describing Celestia’s heart-wrenching choice she was forced to make to end the war once and for all; a decision that would forever haunt her days and crush her soul for the hundreds of years to come. So I’ve got that going for me I guess.

Comments

[ZealousChristian24]

The Reclamation bits would make a awesome fic in its own right!