"Ah! Sister!" Luna called as she made her way into the throne room where the alicorn of the sun sat reading.
"How goes it for our wayward kin? Has Twilight yet secured the head of the Emperor? I cannot express my joy that she has proven herself a hooves-on mare, much unlike our niece."
"Oh?" Celestia responded, not looking up from her reading, "You do not like Cadence's rule?"
"Nay, it is not that I dislike, rather I find her so... uninspired. The strength of an alicorn! The power of compulsory attraction! An artifact of nigh-limitless power attuned to her own! An empire right upon our borders! A husband plucked from the highest point of our defenses! I had seen so much potential! I thought she had the ambition to make a move, yet she sits content over her meager city of an 'empire'," she sighed, "such a disappointment... truly the ponies of this era lack all ambition." a moment passed before Luna caught herself, "Make no mistake, I appreciate the peace you have fostered, and that the nobles of this day are more content to spend their time competing over fashion than the land and lives of ponies, but now and again I find myself missing the struggles of yesteryear. The thrill of watching a rebellious noble realizing his carefully crafted schemes merely danced in our hoof! To watch their spirits fall as they realize their armies are meaningless against our might!"
"Hmmmm" Celstia mused, still focused on her reading, "Well, anyway, I suppose you'll be happy to note that we have received word of Twilight’s exploits in the Empire."
Luna perked up at that, "Truly? Has she ended the poor whelp of an emperor? ...no, I suppose she would just as soon preach to him the value of friendship beyond borders, the goody little..."
"The commander reports that she has taken the Empire by force, placing herself atop the throne as Empress. Apparently there were already preparations in place for her coup' and she has already consolidated all of the former emperor's power around herself. She has reportedly also taken the former Emperor and his family as trophies of her conquest and made a proclamation of her hegemony to her subjects not hours after arrival. She also sent command for the immediate release of our prisoners." Celestia reported, still without breaking from her reading.
Luna stood agape, jaw hanging loose before the slightest curl from the side of her muzzle spread into a full grin. "She-! I take it back! The calculating mare deceived even me! Ha! I knew that mare would bring ambition back to Equis! Little did I realize how triumphantly!" Excitement plain as day on her face, the darker alicorn was practically bouncing on her hooves. "Sister! How stand we on this? Despite the potential your former student as shown, surely we are not going to allow the empire to re-arm?"
"Hm? Oh, Twilight herself has been in charge of the prisoners affairs after their surrender. She has had Spike leading their oversight. As such the correspondence from her to him was instant. I have received word that the prisoners were released before the reports had even reached me."
Luna's grin before paled at the sheer excitement that now radiated from her.
"Then she truly means to-! She has-! Oh glorious day! I feared that she would be a stick in the mud forever! Her ruse casts shadows upon even the rise of Sombra! She will no doubt be the greatest adversary of this millennium! So cold her ruse, so calculating her plot, so perfect her execution! I suspected nothing and we spoke not weeks ago! Sister! I cannot bear it any longer! I shall make to meet her challenge at once!"
Luna turned, shadows coalescing into the dark-blue armor and a sheathed blade of no less threatening countenance than of a thousand years prior. "TO ME SOLDIERS OF THE NIGHT! A FOE OF TRUE WORTH HAS PRESENTED HERSELF UPON THIS DAY!" She shouted into the halls, "TO ARMS!"
Back in the throne room Celestia stoically finished what she had been reading. She sat back for a second, eyes closed, but then with a sigh she pulled out a parchment and quill, "Dear Empress Twilight Sparkle...
ABOUT DAMN TIME!!!!!
Oh, Luna. Just wait until you realize how it really happened.
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what do you mean? It's only been...
Lol. Wow. It's hilariously terrible to see how Luna completely butchers everything that has happened, due to her own biases. This was certainly a great chapter and I am VERY much looking forward to seeing Luna + Army vs Twilight + Griffons!! <3
OH MY GOD...!
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Exactly my point.
So that's, what, five inevitable hammers of crushing international political doom that you've set into motion now?
Good to see this back.
And all Twilight has to go is,
I apologise, but as the Element of Magic, Im a critical part of The World Of Equestrias last line of defense. Im only being offensive if Im being offensive.
Just hope she never learns Sombras Empire sealing spell and combines it with a basic exchange teleport spell, or her city could be popping up all over teh place.
Like Krull?
What year is it again?
"What?! Why?! How?! WHY?!"
"I'm sorry, 'Empress', but I just couldn't bring myself to correct her. You should've seen my sister, it would have been like taking a foal's present from them on Hearth's Warming Eve."
Half Life 3 confirmed!
Even though Luna overestimates how planned Twilight's actions were (by herself, at least), she's essentially correct. Twilight has, in effect, gone native, and by now all that is needed is for someone to tell her that there's an unbreakable griffon tradition of launching a counterattack at this point; then she would meekly launch it.
She would have preserved much more room for maneuvering if she had followed the forms in the small, but insisted on being called "military governor" rather than "empress". And insisted that she decides which rules a military governor can change.
media.giphy.com/media/okXcB4GvHSkJG/giphy.gif
In all seriousness, please do continue.
I've been busy with another story.
In defense of my Patreon, I only charge by the update. Which, consequently, makes me very cheap to support most months...
You know, though, it's flattering, it truly is. I always kind of assumed that people would forget about that story in the fullness of time, since I walked away from it. But I still get these jabs, even now. It really means a lot to me.
Holy NUTBUTTER!!!
Your alive!!
Update!!
I love how Celestia managed to troll her sister and give Twilight a slap on the hoof at the same time.
Hey, an update! Obligatory !
Luna's extremely excited. Oh, how the news got muddled. That's what you get when you read cold facts, not experiences. The real thing gets overshadowed by what others perceive.
Oh well, at least Luna is having fun
Really, I'm just happy this updated.
You know, if Twilight were to preemptively surrender to Luna as the Griffons did to her…
…then it all becomes Luna's problem! And Celestia's, by extension.
"Umm, Cadance? Can I hide out in Sombra's secret subbasement for a while?"
"Luna thinks...Attack Equestria...SPIIIIIKE!"
Great update, very nice surprise, glad to see this story continuing. It's been one of my fave, Empress Twilight type stories.
Now I feel bad that Luna is going to be disappointed.
WOOO!!
Oh dear....
At this point it is not really a surprise that its going to go poorly wrong
Haha hehehe! Ahhhhh... glad to see this back.
So, half life 3 huh? So we should expect it sometime in the year 2077?
It's alive! Great to see another update! I love how to characterized Luna. I hope shenanigans ensue.
OK you have to add the comedy tag. Luna's enthusiasm to "play empires" is too funny. I expect her reaction to Twilight's accidental conquest of the griffons will be hilarious. I mean she took over a whole nation by "logicing" them into submission.
Oh god, I know exactly how you feel about updating rates... I have the same problem.
LOL! I wonder if Luna will call Twilight out in single combat? She sounds like she could use a battle they would sing about for the ages.
I missed this story. I think I'll have to go back and reread it from the beginning just to savor it all over again.
8276154 I really want this to be an episode, because if it's just words I will be unable to see her face. Maybe a friendly artist can assist us?
Ah, a joy to see this updated! And now of course I want more. Please?
In the mean time though:
I think you mean countenance.
"Luna," interrupted Celestia. "You do realize in the upcoming movie we're going to get our flanks handed to us by a unicorn with a broken horn and a replacement Discord knock-off."
Luna looked aside in annoyance and grumbled, "I feel like the main characters of "Avatar" watching that terrible play about their exploits..."
Poor Twilight, everypony and everygriffon around her in insane.
I forgot that this story existed. Because of that, I reread the prequel.
Luna is crazy and kind of scary but mostly awesome.
It sounds like Twi's in trouble, but this is actually how Luna always prepares when she's going to ask out a pony.
luna you need to keep in mind that these are gryphhons, and several of equestrias advantages from the last war have eitehr switched to there side now or been made null. you have what would now amount to well supplied, well armed and well trained troops of a warrior race behind twilight, you'd better bring your S game here.
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All part of my 10 year plan to maximize views
Ah, Luna... so excitable!
This chapter was great. Short and sweet. I'm smiling like a moron, I'm smiling ecstatically. Oh, how I've missed this!
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If that was a legitimate spoiler, I do not appreciate it. Please don't do that in the future.
These are the stories I crave for, me likes, me likes a lot.
8277150 Trust me, Alondro doesn't really care about anyone's thoughts or opinions unless they're his own. You're much better of ignoring him like a good 75% of this site does.
Man, I needed this laugh. Nice work.
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I don't see how it could be a spoiler of anything other than what's already been shown in the trailer
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Trailers are spoilers too for people trying to go as blind as possible.
Woah woah woah
Half life three is gonna be some time this week!
Huh, looks like the upvote button is broken. I can only push it once.
Brilliant chapter as always, one small thing however - near the end when you describe Luna's sword you use the wrong word. You meant "countenance" as in appearance, rather than "continence" as in control over one's bladder.
That said, I am glad the long centuries have not made Luna's sword incontinent. That would be very embarrassing indeed.
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It is pretty old...
OMG Yussssss... I need this. I just checked on this a week ago wishing for more. MOAR!