[EaW] Harmony's War

by Flying Dutchpony

Chapter 2: Here Comes the Field Marshall

After the mayor’s visit, it was time for Diamond to pick up Rasp at school. She said goodbye to her boss and hit the streets again. The sun was now up to a pleasant strength and it seemed like they would have almost clear skies, with just a few friendly white clouds floating up high. It was only a short while to the school Diamond’s daughter went to. Like always, the school yard was filling up with parents waiting to get their colts and fillies from school. Diamond spent the time chatting with some of them, until the school bell rang and the children charged outside, a colourful wave of happiness, ready to enjoy their freedom.

Rasp raced straight for her mother, slowing down too late and bumping into her, making the both of them fall over on the stone tiles of the yard. Diamond was supposed to be mad, but she couldn’t help but laugh from her daughter’s eternal enthusiasm. As Diamond slowly got up again, Rasp was already prancing excitedly.

“Mom, mom! Do we get to go see the princess, please? Pretty please? We’ll go right?’’ Rasp launched a waterfall of questions and pleas, intent on overwhelming her mother.

Diamond wasn’t intending to give up so easily, even though she was planning to go anyway. She tried to imitate the mayor when she looked serious, “I don’t think Luna would want to see fillies that haven’t finished their homework first.’’

Rasp stopped prancing, now standing perfectly still, her eyes piercing Diamond’s soul as the filly started to pout. “But, but I’ll never get it done in time. I swear I’ll do it afterwards!”

Diamond had to contain her laughter now, time to see what else she could get. “And?”

Rasp bit her lip, and Diamond could almost hear the gears in her head turning. “I’ll do the dishes tonight, promise!”

“Deal.”

Diamond burst out into laughter and Rasp realised she had been played. “Not fair!” Her cheeks were expanding and she stamped her hoof on the ground in protest. Diamond shook her head and laid her hoof on the filly’s shoulder.

“Don’t be too eager to take your mother’s bait, we’ll do it together tonight.’’

Rasp’s cheeks returned to a normal size again as she exhaled. “Okay, but it was still mean.’’

Diamond rubbed through her daughter’s hair. “Of course it was dear. Now let’s go and see the princess and I’ll tell you about what mom made for her.’’

It was already getting packed at Alicorn Square, the main square of Vanhoover. The grand city hall stood proudly on a raised platform at the head of the square. The Equestrian flag was flying staunchly over the rooftop, the familiar cyan not quite fitting in perfectly with the clear skies behind it. The square itself had a large mosaic in the middle depicting the reunification of princess Luna and princess Celestia, although the art was hardly visible now that so many ponies were standing on it.

Diamond and Rasp overheard from the crowd that Luna had indeed arrived and would soon appear on the balcony to address the citizens of Vanhoover. Rasp was staring at the city hall’s balcony, intent to not miss a moment of what was about to happen. Her body was swaying lightly, it could almost not contain her excitement. All of it seemed surprisingly normal. With what was happening not that far to the north, Diamond expected things to be different, but now that she thought about it, she failed to come up with what exactly she did expect. No one knew what a war was like and how they were supposed to act. Everypony was expecting the princess to magically make this problem disappear without it impacting their lives. The sick feelings in Diamond’s gut and the evil thoughts returned to her and told her. It wouldn’t be so easy this time, would it? Shaking her head and closing her eyes for a brief second, the pony tried to fight the images in her head with pleasant thoughts. Would the princess wear the necklace with the sapphire gem? Maybe Librus even got a chance to speak with her? A loud cheering made Diamond open her eyes again as she saw the princess entering the balcony…

Princess Luna yawned as she entered the Vanhoover city hall from the back entrance. She had decided to fly ahead of the rest of her staff and guards so she could be here in time to speak to the ponies. Luna could already hear that a lot of ponies were gathered on the other side of the building, but before she could speak to them, Luna had to go through the formalities first. She could feel a bit of her nerves playing up and smiled to herself about it. The alicorn didn’t often do public appearances, especially not alone.

Luna laughed it off as she made her way across the grand marble staircase to the mayor’s office, oblivious to the many pairs of eyes of the civil servants that were glued to her. What kind of filly am I? Not afraid to lead troops into battle, but afraid of my own subjects? Luna knew that wasn’t fair to herself. These ponies were looking for answers and frankly, she didn’t have any. From what she heard, the situation at the front was deteriorating rapidly, with many of the best soldiers now tired and running out of supplies, while the changelings kept rotating in fresh troops to pound at the front line. Now Vanhoover, this major city close to the front, would do great as a staging ground, to get supplies in and coordinate their forces. If…

“Your highness?’’ The voice of an older mare interrupted her train of thought. Luna had walked into the office without thinking. What was the mayor’s name again? She got briefed on this.

“Mayor Mareadoo, thank you for having Us.’’ Luna grinned at her mistake, You got the name Luna, now just remember to not use the majestic plural against the ponies. That was a thousand years ago, not in the present.

“It must have been a long way to travel from Canterlot,” the mayor seemed disinterested in the normal formalities, “but could you enlighten us on how you will end the war, princess?”
There it was, the question Luna had been fearing. The look of the half dozen ponies in the room burned into her as she started to improvise an answer together. “It is imperative that we hold the changelings at the border. I’m confident that our troops will be able hold out until my dear sister manages to muster us up reinforcements.” The mention of Celestia seemed to relax the ponies, naturally clearing some of the tension in the air.

Celestia, her sister, wasn’t herself. The build up to the war, convening the urgent war committee, it stressed her out. Maybe she had relied too much on the Elements of Harmony instead of the normal methods to solve any conflict. Had it made the elder alicorn fragile? Luna intended to go back to Canterlot as soon as the fronts stabilised and surprise Celestia with a big cake to cheer her up. That would help. Her musings on Celestia left her silent for a few seconds, but no one uttered as much as a whisper in her sight. It seemed the ponies of Vanhoover weren’t as used to royalty as the ones in Canterlot.

Luna decided to continue to lay out her ideas, “So your job here is twofold: Vanhoover must support the troops at the frontline with supplies and munitions, while also preparing shelter and supplies for reinforcements from the rest of Equestria.”

One of the other ponies, a purple stallion with a bronze balance as his cutie mark spoke up. “City hall will be made available to you and any of your staff, your Highness, I have already cleared several offices for them to work in. Furthermore, you can speak to the citizens from the balcony, the ponies have been expecting you. ”

Luna nodded, at least someone had some foresight. Many of the places she passed on her way to Vanhoover didn’t even seem to acknowledge there was a war on. “Most prudent, thank you.” Intending to now do as the pony suggested, she turned around, but the mayor scraped her throat and got something from under desk. Luna eyed it curiously. It was a small black box, which she slid towards Luna over the neatly organised oaken table.

“A gift from the people of Vanhoover,” the mayor announced. She ceremoniously bowed her head for a second.

“Oh?’’ Luna’s eyes lighted up as she opened the box and saw the necklace. “Thank you very much, I wasn’t expecting such a gift.” She spoke the truth, with all the things on her mind, she didn’t think about the usual gifts given by cities that received her or Celestia. Taking up the the necklace and putting it on, she smiled at the mayor. “Many thanks.” Even though it had been a long time since she came down from the moon, Luna still had to get used to all the affection given to her, speaking of which. “I really should get out there before the people break into city hall,” she said, giving everyone present a bright smile. The mayor agreed and they went up to the highest floor, where the mayor opened the door for the princess, letting Luna outside onto the sun soaked balcony.

Luna was greeted by a square full of cheering ponies, which summoned a bright smile on her face. Everypony came out to see her! She took a moment to wave to the masses down at the square, soaking in the affection, which made her tiredness from the long trip melt away. Then she held her hoof up in the air and took a deep breath.

“Citizens of Vanhoover,” the cheers in the crowd soon died down to quiet murmurs, nopony wanting to miss the princess’s speech. “Thank you all for the warm welcome today.” She hesitated for a split second, realising that she couldn’t give the ponies what they wished for. “Unfortunately, we meet in troubled times. The changelings, misguided by their queen and a thirst for revenge, have decided to declare war on Equestria.” Luna’s head perked up for a moment, she could swear she heard a deep humming in the distance, just for a moment.

Probably nothing.

“It is not looking like they intend to give up before they have taken all of Equestria and destroyed the Harmony we all worked so hard to create.” That seemed to create some worried whispers amongst the ponies, which Luna was glad for. Even though she wanted them to feel safe, they all needed to put in their best efforts to make this go the best way possible. The humming was getting louder and more constant. Was it some factory machine? Even after all this time, she still had a lot of technology to catch up on. “My sister and I need all of you to work hard in the factories and if you can, volunteer for the armed forces. I will stay with you to coordinate our defence while Celestia-’’

There were small specks in the distance, moving towards the city from the north. As Luna stared towards the oncoming aircraft in silence, some of the ponies were also turning around. Then a single scream: “Bombers!”

The masses in the square started to get moving, with soldiers trying to get to the anti-aircraft guns. One look at the chaos on the square was all Luna needed. They were never getting out before the aircrafts got to the square. With an angry roar that echoed off the other buildings on Alicorn square, Luna flew up, spurred on by the panicked screams of her subjects. Not now Chrysalis. As she raced to intercept the bombers, Luna could feel her blood boiling in her veins. These things would dare take everything she loved away, but she would not let that happen. She could count a dozen planes coming towards Vanhoover and some of them were lowering their altitude to meet her.

“They dare.” Luna grinned as the contraptions made their way towards her, a familiar desire to cause pain spreading through her. The planes, three changeling fighters, were probably the escorts to the significantly larger bomber planes, who kept their distance.

As the wing mounted machine guns began spitting their lethal payload towards the alicorn, the rest of the world seemed to fade away, Luna’s mind set on the three enemies flying towards her. Effortlessly, she conjured up a dark magic barrier to stop the bullets before they could even reach her. The changelings got closer and Luna let loose her own attack, sending a stream of dark energy bolts towards the plane closest to her.

The magic tore through the fighter’s left wing and before the plane started to lose altitude, Luna could clearly see the changeling pilot. His eyes and frantic movement in the cockpit betrayed his fear. And then he was gone, his plane spiralling towards the ground. The other aircrafts prepared for another attack run, putting some distance between him and the princess. Luna could feel part of her savouring the changeling’s mortal fear. But the joy of her victory was short-lived as the two remaining fighters attacker her anew.

“Fools!” Luna screamed, her rage persisting. She turned her form into mist, the bullets passing harmlessly through her transparent body. Then Luna blasted another enemy as they got closer and this time her bolt went straight through the cockpit, taking out the pilot and leaving the plane without guidance. Before she could destroy the last plane, it had already broken off, speeding past Luna and trying to gain distance. “You should never have come here!” The princess shouted, now seeing only the one remaining fighter. Luna turned on her axis and pursued the plane, shooting bolts at it, which the changeling pilot deftly avoided with sudden turns and changes in heading. This bug refused to die! Then the pilot pushed the plane’s nose up, intent to get behind Luna by looping over her. She knew the pilot made a fatal mistake and the prospect of killing another changeling made her excited in a way she did not want to admit to herself.

Luna was way lighter and more nimble in the air than even the light single engine fighter, so she could turn around before the pilot completed his maneuver. Then she used the second advantage she had over the plane. As the plane was coming down from the looping, Luna simply lined up her shot as she could tilt her head to shoot upwards, something the fixed guns of the fighter could not. The plane could not fire back while descending and the pilot could not pull up the plane fast enough to dodge the jolts of dark energy. A hit on the engine changed the plane from a sophisticated piece of engineering into a fiery comet in an instant, destroying Luna’s final opponent.

Her rage had no time to die down, however, as she looked upon Vanhoover. The bombers reached the city! The streams of anti-aircraft fire lighted up the sky, but the monsters still opened their bomb bay doors. Luna flew towards the city as fast as possible, but it felt like an insurmountable distance. She heard each explosion clearly and every one of them felt like a thousand heartbreaks. Her rage ebbed away and was replaced by tears filling her eyes, the sound of the impacts symbolising innocent lives lost forever. Her thoughts turned to herself: Field Marshall Luna will protect her ponies, those changelings had no chance! It was her hubris and then her blind rage that led to this. It was she who was responsible for this, she and no one else. When the changeling planes returned from their bombing run, Luna felt completely drained. She barely had the will left to keep her wings flapping. The machines got closer, but she failed to attack the bombers, her anger was already spent on useless attacks. Instead, she flew back to city hall still sobbing, letting the bombers escape.