Equestria Unchained

by Scout Charger

the Ponyville First and Only

Royal celestial archives, department of military history

Event:
cardinal points war, initiation of the equestrian conscription law in Ponyville

Provided by:
Mayor Mare
Earth pony
Female
Mayor of Ponyville

---

I’m quite sure that the day this war started was, by far, the most bustling day I ever had. First we had to fight back a band of gryphon raiders in the middle of the day, then we had to handle the wounded and even the few dead and to top it all off the princesses showed up. I’ve seen royalty before and since Twilight Sparkle became a princess herself I had gathered notably more experience in dealing with our immortal rulers, but this was far beyond the scope of even my worst nightmare. All four existing alicorn princesses gathered in Ponyville, a city with a little less than 4.000 residents, and I had no speech prepared.

Anyway, since the princesses quickly retreated into Twilight’s castle and forbade any disturbances, I had a little spare time to put something together.

After we attended our wounded and dealt with the remnants of the gryphons, I had a few craftsponies build a small platform in front city hall and positioned my speaker’s desk upon it. I myself gave my best to write the most inspiring and memorable speech ever held. It was so perfect, you wouldn’t believe me. Even I had tears in my eyes when I wrote and reread it.

But, based on the principle that nothing ever goes according to plan, everything was in vain. It was almost time for princess Celestia to set the sun when the doors of the castle flew open and the four princesses, accompanied by Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and prince Shining Armor, marched towards our improvised stage. I had prepared everything for their official welcome and was ready to give them my glorious speech.

I took a deep breath when princess Celestia reached the proximity of the stage and started. “My fellow ponies of Ponyville I ...” I didn’t come any further though.

With a single beat of her huge white wings, Celestia jumped up the stage, landed graceful in front of me and firmly shook her head. “We thank you for your concerns mayor, but this won’t be necessary.”

The other princesses, as well as their entourage, had entered the stage at that point and I stared blankly at the ageless features of the white alicorn in front of me. After a few attempts to form a coherent sentence I finally squeezed out a few words. “But, ... princess? I dont understand. We wanted to give all of you a proper welcome.”

Celestia’s motherly smile effectively rendered me speechless, as she explained herself. “We all are very thankful for your efforts, although they were not necessary. But, you may rest assured that they weren’t in vain either. My sister has something that the ponies of Ponyville need to hear and, even though you didn’t know, you prepared a fitting stage for her. Thank you for that, mayor.”

The princess had commended my efforts and thanked me personally, you can surely imagine what a bliss that was for the mayor of a small town like ours. I admit, I was about to glee like a foal on Hearth's Warming Eve when princess Luna walked up next to me and nudged me slightly to make room for her. It took a second for me to again realize where I was, but after it dawned on me I bowed deeply to her and retreated to the corner of the platform. There I waited eagerly for what she had to say.

While princess Luna took her stand behind the speaker’s desk, Twilight and her friends positioned themselves to her left, while princess Celestia, princess Cadance and prince Shining Armor stood to her right. Finally, she cleared her throat and began to speak. “Citizens of Ponyville, today was a dark day, not only for your peaceful town, but for Equestria and all of ponykind as a whole. Today, at noon, the gryphons declared war against us.”

The crowd began to whisper and the growing unrest was impossible to miss. Princess Luna raised a hoof and within an instant the crowd went silent again. “Your concerns are understandable and I am sorry to say so, but we have no choice but to fight. The gryphons seem to think that their empire is threatened by princess Twilight’s ascension and therefore feel the need to deal with this threat. You all did a great deed by repelling the troops that attacked Ponyville and princess Twilight, but this was only the first blow of this war.”

Princess Luna turned her head towards her sister, as if she was asking for her opinion in an unspoken matter. Celestia nodded slowly and I heard her whispered words. “These are Twilight’s friends, they deserve to know first.”

Luna threw a slight glance at Twilight before she looked back over the crowd in front of her. “As of tomorrow, Equestria will reintroduce the military service and the first conscription in over one thousand years will begin. We will levy the greatest army the world has ever seen and we will defend our families, our loved ones and our friends. But ... even though the situation is dire and our very way of life is in danger, nopony will be forced to serve against their will. You all have a choice, you are the only ones who can decide if you want to fight or not. Even in war, we will not abandon our ideals of tolerance, love and friendship.”

The crowd started to cheer and stomped their hooves on the ground. Luna smiled onto them as if they were her children, though she seemed kind of sad. While the applause continued, a few hooves shot into the air and voices rang out. “I volunteer.” “I want to kick their flanks.” “Buck those guys, let’s show them what ponies are made of.”

I didn’t pick up every shout and neither was I able to recognize most of the voices. I think I heard Big Macintosh among the first, as well as Lyra Heartstrings and Lily Valley. They all seemed eager to fight and pay those gryphons back for what they did, but princess Luna simply waited for them to calm down, she didn’t show any reaction other than smiling upon the ponies before her.

As the crowd had finally settled down, the night princess shook her head. “I am deeply sorry to say this to you, but it is foolish to volunteer right here and now. I understand that some of you hunger for battle and revenge, but going to war is nothing that should be decided on a whim. Let your minds calm down and take your time to think about your decision. For today, go home and think about what it means to go to war, the draft will not start until tomorrow’s sunrise.”

Princess Luna turned towards me and quickly waved for me come over to her. As I stood next to her she looked at me with a serious expression. “Mayor Mare, I hereby entrust you with the task to administer the draft here in Ponyville. For now you will have to take note of the volunteers and keep track of their numbers, within the next three days supervisors and instructors will be dispatched to take care of the training and organisation of the forces.”

I bowed as deep as I could while stammering my acceptance. “I will do my best to satisfy your wishes princess.”

---

After the other princesses had left Ponyville, Twilight filled me in on everything she thought I would need to know. She didn’t share any details about her meeting with the other princesses with me, but she was very clear about certain things. She told me that she would be the one in charge of all war efforts in the southern region of Equestria, most importantly Apple Loosa, Dodge City and Ponyville. Also, she gave me a few things she wanted me to consider when accepting volunteers for the army. She was quite adamant that there would be no more than one conscript per family, so that there would remain enough ponies in town to ensure that the normal life of it’s citizens wouldn’t be impaired. Furthermore, she gave me a list with certain ponies I was explicitly forbidden to accept as volunteers, most memorably Big Macintosh, Cheerilee, the Cakes, Vinyl Scratch, as well as Aloe and Lotus. Although she persisted that these was because of these ponies being too important for Ponyville to risk them in combat, I thought she simply wanted to protect her friends and their loved ones.

Obviously I promised her to do so. If a princess asks you to do something for her you don’t simply ignore it, especially as a politician. But even without this little extra motivation of her being able to fire me, I would’ve taken her request to heart.

---

In the next morning, I arrived at the office bright and early, only to find a huge line of waiting ponies already standing in front of it. Even at first glance it was obvious that there were several hundred ponies present, all waiting with quiet determination.

When they noticed me, they opened up a path to let me pass, unlock the doors of the city hall and officially start the draft.

The first one to volunteer was nopony else than Big Macintosh himself. He walked into my office, sat down on his haunches and looked at me with his typical calm expression. “Alrigh’, ah would like to join that new army of yours.”

I didn’t exactly know what to tell him, but I was determined to keep the promise I made. “I’m very sorry Mac, but I’m not allowed to accept you as a volunteer.”

He slowly tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. “Ah reckon ah got that wrong. Would ya’ be so kind to say that again?”

I was pretty sure to spot not just minor annoyance in his face as he said that and in all honesty, he was sort of frightening. So, I decided to be honest and to pick my words very, very carefully. “Big Macintosh, you see, I got a list with ponies that I’m not allowed to accept for military service. Simply because these ponies are too important for Ponyville’s continued existence to risk their lives in a war.” I gulped and took a deep breath before I continued. “And you are on this list, pretty much on the top spot, to be honest.”

He looked me in the eyes while I spoke, but showed no further reaction to my words. Only after I finished he closed his eyes and seemed to think about something. When he finally reopened those huge green eyes of his, I suddenly had this feeling like something was weighing down my chest. Slowly, like the lumbering giant he is oft mistaken for, he rose to his hooves and walked towards my desk. I nearly froze in place. When he reached it, he straightened his form and looked at me with an iron resolve. “Those gryphons dared to threaten AJ, Bloom an’ Granny Smith. Ah’ve promised ma’ ma and pa to keep em safe and nopony will keep me from doin jus’ that.” A few tears shot to his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. “AJ will follow her friend into this mess, ah’m sure. Are ya’ really thinkin anythin short of death itself will stop me from protectin ma’ little sis?”

It was incredibly hard to deal with. Everypony always thought Big Mac was as solid as a rock. Never losing his cool, always showing a gentle smile and probably the strongest pony to ever exist, in body and spirit. And here, right in front of me, this huge stallion was crying because he feared for his sister’s life. But what was I able to do? I had more or less direct orders from a princess to not let him join the army.

He brought down his head and looked me in the eyes. “Please, let me protect ma’ family.”

That was the straw that broke my back. I couldn’t just send him away and even if I could, he would certainly not be the only one to put me in a situation like this. I definitely saw Octavia Melody and Vinyl Scratch in the crowd, the latter of whom was also forbidden to enter the military. Same was true for Cheerilee, who already stood in the floor in front of my office and would be the next in line after Big Macintosh. If even half of the ponies whose names were written on princess Twilight’s list showed up and gave me the same heart-wrenching pleas Mac had given me I would be an alcoholic before the day ended.

But I was not done yet. You may be able to become mayor with a winning smile and a few good ideas, but you don’t stay mayor if you don’t have a few tricks up your sleeve. Especially when it comes to getting your ideas sold to your superiors as the greatest thing since Celestia started to raise the sun.

I slowly stood up, walked around the old, wooden desk and put a comforting hoof on Big Mac’s shoulder. “It’s ok Mac, I may not be able to grant your request, but it’s far from being a lost cause.” I handed him a tissue. “Wipe away those tears and let’s get going.”

Mac blinked away his tears and looked at me with an expression somewhere between confused and hopeful. After he had, soundly, blown his nose, we walked out of my office side by side. Surprisingly enough, he remained silent, although I had expected him to at least ask me what I had in mind.

Bon Bon, Lyra and Cheerilee were the first ponies we encountered. All three of them already waited outside my office, most likely to also enlist. When I came out with Big Mac next to me, they all gave us curious looks.

Lyra was the first to speak up. “Mayor? Where are you going to?”

I gave her my best politician smile. “Well miss Heartstrings, I’m taking Big Macintosh to get an audience with princess Twilight. There are things that need to be discussed.”

Cheerilee looked at Mac and seemed to realize that something important was going on. For a few moments she held eye contact with him and it seemed like they had a full scale discourse, despite the fact that nopony said anything. When she finally turned her gaze towards me, she looked rather serious. “There is something going on with the draft. Am I right?”

Lyra and Bon Bon looked at each other and tilted their heads. Finally Lyra turned back to face Cheerilee and asked the obvious question, which was practically written on both mares faces. “How do you know that?”

Cheerilee couldn’t suppress a slight chuckle and smiled at both of them. “You do realize I’m a teacher, do you? How do you imagine me handling class a full of little fillies if I can’t pick up what they are up to at first glance?”

I cleared my throat and looked at Cheerilee. “You’re absolutely right Cheerilee. I received a list from princess Twilight that states certain ponies who have to be rejected from military service under any circumstances. One of those is Big Macintosh, who made had few arguments up his sleeve that made me reconsider the given instructions. You and Lyra here are also on that list. So, you might have a personal interest to accompany us.”

She simply nodded and started to follow me as well. Lyra and Bon Bon, after a few moments of whispering, decided to do the same. Until that point, everything worked out according to plan.

We explained the situation to everypony we met inside the city hall and when I stepped out onto the town square, I had already more than fifty ponies with me, all willing and ready to go along with my plan.

The ponies became slightly anxious when they saw me coming out of the city hall, but that was no real surprise, I anticipated that much. What I hadn’t expected however was the amount of ponies present. The place was crowded with hundreds upon hundreds of ponies, at least double the amount that were here when I first arrived. If I had to guess I would have said that almost every mare and stallion that was suitable for military service was here.

I decided to be as informal and honest as possible, at least as much as I could without risking to lose my job. I signaled the ponies to calm down and tried my best to make myself clearly audible. “My fellow ponies, I need to tell you something regarding the draft that is held since today.”

I pulled out the list of names princess Twilight had given to me, which I luckily had put into my saddlebags this morning before leaving my house. I held it high above my head and continued. “I received this list from princess Twilight Sparkle. It states names of more than fifty ponies that I’m simply forbidden to accept into the new equestrian army. Furthermore, I’m only allowed to accept one volunteer per family or household. After discussions with a few of the affected ponies, I have decided to ask the princess to withdraw her orders and allow every mare and stallion who is willing to protect their loved ones. Are you willing to accompany me and commit our plea to the princess together?”

The ponies cheered and stomped their hooves hard enough to make me feel like I was in the middle of a small earthquake. Of course, my wording wasn’t entirely true, but it wasn’t false either. That’s just how a good politician deals with delicate subjects. You tell enough of the truth so you’re not actually lying, but at the same time you make the necessary changes at said truth, so you look a better than you actually are.

The result I got was exactly what I aimed for, the ponies would support my cause and when they got what they wanted, they would thank me for it, at least partially. What else could any politician aim for?

After the cheers had settled down I slowly made my way through the crowd and took the lead of our makeshift army of volunteers.

---

With so many ponies in tow, it took almost twenty minutes to make it from the city hall to princess Twilight’s castle, although it normally was barely a five minute trot to reach the huge crystal tree.

When we had arrived at the gate, the ponies behind me had already gave a fair warning that we were coming. This had led to Applejack and Rainbow Dash already waiting at the balcony when I knocked at the door. I presumed that Twilight already knew about our arrival and the fact that she opened the door merely seconds after my knock further emphasized that point of view.

I had to suppress a giggle when I saw that Twilight’s jaw dropped the moment she laid eye on the crowd behind me. She looked like she originally wanted to tell me off, but obviously the sheer amount of ponies present made her mind struggle. If I had to guess, she was assessing what we were here for and what she could do about it.

After a few seconds she shook her head and looked at me. “Mayor, may I ask why you and, roughly estimated, half of Ponyville are doing here?”

I, once again, pulled out the list she gave me the day before and presented it to her. “I’m sorry Twilight, but I can’t proceed following the instructions you gave me. The ponies of Ponyville want to protect their families, their homes and Celestia knows how many other things. I simply can’t tell them off, it would break their hearts and doing so would break mine.”

Twilight chewed on her lower lip. Her eyes darted around, assessing me, the silent ponies behind me and the mumbling crowd behind them. She heaved a heavy sigh and looked at me. “Please, mayor, I don’t want to see my friends wounded and dying in this war.”

Big Mac pushed me aside, rose to his full height and looked into Twilight’s eyes. “Twilight, ya’ can’t forbid us to protect everythin we love. AJ is goin to this war with ya’ll, do ya’ really expect me to jus’ sittin here, hopin ya’ bring her back fine an’ dandy? Ah’ ll protect ma’ little sis, no matter what ya think or order.”

Applejack shouted down from the balcony. “Mac, ah know ya’ only mean good and ah’m mighty thankful for it, but please, stay here. Ah don’t wanna lose ya in this buckin war.”

Mac turned his head up to his sister and smiled warmly at her. “Would ya’ let me go into that mighty fine mess all alone?”

The Apples watched into each others green eyes and stayed silent for a few moments. Suddenly a violet hoof touched Big Mac’s massive shoulder and Cheerilee stepped forward, only to smile at Applejack too. “You don’t need to worry, I’m planning on keeping an eye on your brother. You don’t need to protect him, I will take good care of him.”

I can’t say for certain, but I was pretty sure I heard a few faint snivels from the crowd and Applejack concealed her face behind her Stetson. Rainbow Dash said something I couldn’t understand and put her hoof on her friend’s shoulder. Big Macintosh, all the while, looked at Cheerilee with eyes as wide as dinnerplates. It was obvious that he was surprised, but the reason for this was surely not the not so subtle statement Cheerilee just made, but rather the fact that she made it in front of most of Ponyville. Even though many of us sort of suspected that these two were more than simple friends, they never actually confirmed anypony’s suspicions.

After a few moments, Applejack mumbled something unintelligible and marched back into the castle. Rainbow Dash looked over the railing of the balcony down at Twilight. “Hey Twi, I think you should reconsider your decision.”

While her friend followed Applejack inside the castle, Twilight looked at Big Mac and doubts creeped into her eyes as well as her words. “Mac, I don’t know what to say. I only meant for your best, I just wanted to protect as many of you as possible.”

Before Mac could say anything, Lily Valley shouted from the crowd. “The gryphons hurt Roseluck, I want to pay them back. I don’t need and don’t want any protection. What I want is simple revenge for my friend.”

Bon Bon stomped a hoof with enough strength to pulverize a small rock that had the misfortune of being between said hoof and the ground. Before the attention of the crowd could shift somewhere else again she started to shout out. “One of those guys burst into our home and tried to drag Lyra and me out like two bags of garbage. They started this and we are going to end it.”

Lyra flicked her tounge and locked at her marefriend with half opened eyes. “Have I ever told you how beautiful you are when you’re furious?”

A cream colored hoof hit Bon Bon’s face in an all too familiar motion and a painful groan escaped her muzzle. “Lyra, why do you have to say stuff like this in public?”

The mint green unicorn snuggled up against the still face hoofing earth pony. “You know it’s all in good fun.” She turned her head to princess Twilight. “Bon Bon and I are going into this together, we're going out the same way!”

Twilight’s eyes started to water and her lips quivered. “You all want to do this? I don’t understand. Why do you want to go to war?”

Octavia Melody was the next to speak up, somehow managing to make herself audible without even raising her voice. “We are quite aware that this war might cost some of us their lives and I am absolutely positive that nopony is willing to let those barbarians roam free in our homes.”

Even though her words were nothing short of a declaration of war, her Trottingham accent still made them sound polite and refined, absolutely fitting for any social gathering of the Canterlot high society.

Next to her, a white mare with an electric blue mane threw a hoof up in the air and cheered. “Oh yeah, Tavi is right. We know we could bite the dust, but we don’t give a buck.”

It was typical for Vinyl to phrase everything she had to say as direct as possible. She may be a little blunt, but she is an honest pony and simply spoke what the majority of the ponies present thought.

And when the majority of the crowd started to cheer, repeating the things that were said just mere moments ago, a bright pink hoof tapped Twilight’s shoulder. Behind her were her friends, lead by Pinkie Pie. “This is nooooooooooooooo party we can throw all alone, ...” Her hair slightly deflated mid sentence and her pupils shrunk. “The more friends you bring the more fun it gets.”

Fluttershy nodded slightly, looked at her hooves and tried to hide behind her mane. “I, ahm, I think that Pinkie is right. These are our friends after all and they want to do is helping us. We shouldn’t turn them away, that would be mean. So, if nopony minds, we should accept their help. I think.”

Rarity sighed and tilted her head. “Fluttershy is right darling. Personally, I don’t like the thought of dragging more of our friends into this ugly business, but what would it say about us if we turned down the most generous offer a pony can make?”

Rainbow Dash stomped a hoof and grinned like a mad mare. “At times like this you see why Ponyville is the most awesome town ever. Come on Twi, they want to help us, the Change...”

An orange hoof punched Rainbow’s side and knocked the air out of her. “We don’t do any talkin abou’ those righ’ here and now.” Applejack hissed under her breath.

Rainbow coughed and threw an angry glare at her orange friend. “I know that!”

Applejack tipped her Stetson and turned to Twilight. “Ah think the others are righ’ Twilight. Ah know that ah was all happy go lucky about that mighty fine list our yours, sugarcube, but Mac migh’ be righ’. If he would try to go into somethin like that all by himself, hell even ya’ll together couldn’t hold me back. Ah would drag that sorry flank of his back from the pits of Tartarus if ah had to.”

That was the straw to break the pony’s back, so to speak. Up to this point princess Twilight was torn between the happiness that her friends wanted to help her and the fear of losing any of them. But now, after all of her closest friends had also sided with us, the situation tipped in our favor.

She closed her eyes and started to take deep breaths. When she finally opened them again, she looked at her five friends and a huge smile dawned on her face. “I thank you for your advice.”

Twilight turned back to me, still smiling. “Mayor Mare, I’m sorry that I put you through this and hereby declare the list null and void.” Her voice became louder and she turned her gaze to the ponies behind me. “Please forgive me everypony, I was worried about you all, but I shouldn’t deprive you of the choice. When you still want to join the military, I won’t hinder any of you.”

The ponies started to cheer and stomped the ground with joy. More voices than a single pony could identify screamed their allegiance to princess Twilight and with every shout her smile grew bigger and brighter.

When the screams didn’t die down, even after a few minutes, she finally spread her wings and, with a bright flash of magic, teleported herself and her friend up on the balcony which overlooked the whole scenery.

The ponies seemed to register the small display of magic, but it only managed to stir up their excitement even more. Twilight closed her eyes for a short moment and suddenly her enhanced voice boomed over the crowd. “Please, calm down everypony.”

It wasn’t quite the royal canterlot voice, but nevertheless loud enough to drown out every other sound. Everypony looked at Twilight in awe, except for Vinyl, she had a broad grin on her face and muttered. “She could use a little more bass.”

When the crowd had finally calmed down, Twilight continued. “I want to thank everypony for their generous offer to help and their unwavering loyalty to their families, friend and Equestria. I will promise that I will do everything I can to protect you all and that I will honor all of you.”

Twilight went silent for a few seconds, as if she tried to feel the full weight of the situation on her shoulders. When she continued, her voice was amplified again. “As a princess of Equestria I hereby declare the conscription of my personal royal guard department. From this moment forth, all of you who volunteer are part of my personal guard. We will fight, win and survive this war together, we are friends and family.”

Despite the fact that Twilight wasn’t done yet, screams of joys erupted from the ponies in front of the castle, but I think she was happy to hear those screams anyway. Nevertheless, she continued, this time with a full powered royal canterlot voice. ”WE ARE THE FIRST AND ONLY PONYVILLE REGIMENT!”

Author's Note:

I think this Chapter turned out better than I imagined, practically wrote itself at some point.

As you may be able to tell, we are picking up the pace and sooner or later the war itself will start.

If any of you, my dear readers, has any special wishes for the next chapters, critique you want to give me or anything else to say, feel free to write me a message or leave a comment.

Comments

[Scout Charger]

6238037
I honestly thaught you already read this one since it's the first thing I ever put up

That it's to your liking makes me really happy, especially since I know that you don't like the darker themes that occur in this one. But, I can assure you, there will be no gore. This story isn't about brutally killing different mlp species, of course there will be violence and death, but I will not discribe it in any detail whatsoever. There is a reason why this story has no "gore" tag

The cliffhanger, yeah, you will have to deal with those in this one, I sort of try to let every chapter end on some sort of cliffhanger, but the first chapter is arguably the weakest, as with many first chapters out there

[xXNinjafred]

OMG they should call it the Ponyville rgeiment cuz each group of guard has their own name Example: Celetial Guard (Crlestia's Guard) Ps: Im not good at spelling so sorry if there are any mistakes!

[Scout Charger]

6507865
Well, technically the name of the regiment will be something along the lines of "Twilight guard" since it is comissioned as princess Twilight Sparkle's personal guard. The regiment itself will most likely refer to itself as "the Ponyville first and only" since they are the first, and subsequently only, guard regiment comissioned from Ponyville.
Your spelling isn't so bad that it get's unintelligable, so no problem at this end. And once again, thanks for the fav and the watch.