Exercitus
“They will die.” Her noble and regal figure looked upon her kingdom and her heart wrenched at the idea of that. She could see ponies ready to close their stores and go back to their homes, to see their families and spend time with them and Princess Celestia felt pity and jealousy in same measures.
“Yes, hundreds will probably die in the siege. It is not as simple as an open battle and it has always been tricky to reach the crystal Kingdom. We both know that from experience dear sister.” While the two sisters worked as one in the benefit of the planet and all of its creatures, it was her, the Mistress of Dreams, who cut through Celestia’s doubts and fears with cold reality. It was not one of her official duties, yet still, it was something that the ivory alicorn had missed dearly.
“I wish we could join them in battle.”
“We could. Our presence could bring morale up, but it is risky. Besides, even in the Conquering Age so long ago, neither of us was capable of taking entire armies by ourselves. Just remember the actions of Savage Horn. We may be near immortal sister, but that does not mean we are invincible.” They may have had a prosperous time in Equestria, but war was omnipresent, no matter how old their leaders were.
“You don’t have to remind me of my failures Luna, I still bear marks of them.” The taller princess wanted to put a hoof over her horn, where not but a year ago it had been charred and damaged by a cunning bug. “These days, whatever deity looks down upon us is clearly enjoying rubbing those failures on my face.”
“I suppose you have exchanged the sword for the fork, what with the amount of cake you inhale these days and that has considerably changed your battle senses.” The impish smile on the darker alicorn’s muzzle was met with eyes of resignation and irritation.
“If that was an attempt to make me feel better, I’m sorry sister, but it failed.”
“I guess it was in bad taste, or sweet taste, depending on how you look at it, but jests were always the better way to get your head out of the gloom. As dark as the dawn of a new battle is, that is not the only worry that you have in your mind. Does it relate with the redheaded warrior perhaps?” The wince that she got in response was enough to make Luna know she had hit the bulls eye. In reality, it wasn’t much of a wince, only a slight movement on Celestia’s eyes that may have been too hard to see for other ponies, but for someone that knew Celestia for hundreds of years, it was easy to decipher.
“I suppose you know me too well sister,” she sighed, looking once more into the city at the foot of the castle. It was not Canterlot what she was seeing in fact, but those days when her only companion was a young, wide eyes little filly with a sun for cutie mark.
“Nay, there are many new things about you sister that I find every single day, like the fact you now hold even more guilt, especially concerning your previous student.” At this, Celestia almost got whiplash with how fast she turned around to look at her sister. “Well, the one previous to Twilight Sparkle that is. She seemed to have the most blinding smile when she was a small filly.”
“How?”
“Celestia, you are not particularly good at hiding certain things. For one, it was clear that you knew of Sunset Shimmer even before they arrived at our planet. Second, one of the photos on top of your fireplace has been moved recently, and in it you can clearly see the resemblance between the filly and the human. What could it mean, but the return of a prodigal daughter?”
“Sunset wasn’t… she...” She wasn’t sure what to say about Sunset. “She is not my daughter. She was my student, before she disappeared and-no, before I threw her out that is.” Celestia’s panic at trying to explain herself simply vanished, leaving behind a morose pony, one that still felt the pain of those days.
“Threw her out? Surely she must have done something horrible to deserve that. Did she try to use necromancy or tried to assassinate you? Well, those instances always ended up with the criminal burned to a crisp,” Luna said with a modicum of humor in her voice, as if those times were more like a big joke than a true problem.
“She… she threw a book at me.” At those words Luna’s eyes grew up to a comical degree in sheer confusion.
“Pray tell dear sister, did you just say that Sunset Shimmer threw a book at you and you threw her out of the castle?”
“She was found digging through the forbidden section of the castle’s library; she was looking for a way to become an alicorn. We have been having arguments about her arrogance and I- I lost my patience and ended up sending her away. In the end, Sunset Shimmer overpowered the guards and ran into Star Swirl’s mirror.”
“Alright, that does seem a little too extreme of a reaction. I mean, she could at least go back to her parents or her hometown, but even then, that was… sister?”
“Sunset, she… she didn’t have a family.”
“Come again?”
“She was found in a forest back at Trottingham when she was a baby. The officials there thought that she was left in the wild so she will die.”
“A baby? She was left to die?! I haven’t heard of cases like that since the ages of Discord!”
“Her mother was found, but by then it was too late. Sunset’s mother had gone insane. In the end, she grew up in an orphanage among other dozens of fillies and colts. I made a mistake sister, a big one.”
“So far, what I understand is that you took a young filly from an orphanage and gave her a home.”
“Did I sister? Or just made things worse?” Celestia’s face showed the eternal patience and regal pose as always, but for the smaller alicorn, she could see beyond the mask and catch the anger that was starting to emanate from the imposing princess. “When she was tested for her magical capabilities, something that has become routine these days, she had a surge and that started it all. I deluded myself. The day of your return was close and I… I thought she was the one, at least until-”
“Until her cutie mark appeared?” The small nod from her sister was all the answer she needed. “It would be to be expected, seeing that Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark is etched on the Tree of Harmony’s trunk. Nay, it was born with it on its side, clearly signaling her destiny from the beginning.”
“I… I’m afraid that Sunset knew something was wrong when she showed me her cutie mark after a month under my tutelage. I think she saw my disappointment, but well, I just couldn’t just put her back on the orphanage, could I?”
“I could imagine it now, bringing her back to that place and asking to see if there were any other more suitable little foals. Nay sister, by doing that you would have completely destroyed Sunset Shimmer.”
“But I only made things worse with how I acted. She was a little filly who thought that I… that I would be more than just her teacher and I never saw to her needs, to what she needed. It was so different having a filly that had no one except me than one that could return to their family when the day was over. Sunset may have become haughty, rebellious and tyrannical, but I did nothing to help her. Instead of showing her how to make friends and embrace harmony, I only told her she wasn’t ready yet to become an alicorn.”
“If Cadence was already in Canterlot, she probably desired to become one even more, thinking that if she ascended she could be now worthy of being part of your family?”
“Indeed, but alas, it’s easy to talk about our past mistakes with certainty, but back then, I always told myself I had to prepare for your return and I could make peace with Sunset after we were reunited. Instead, I acted rashly and destroyed what we had but with a few words.”
“She used Star Swirl’s mirror and here she is back again, with a… sizable force at her beck and call. Quite the return of the prodigal student I must say. It would be poetical if it weren’t for the situation,” Luna said with a small smile on her muzzle, picturing the event as a grand epic story, which, if we see it that way, it kind of is, but I’m not sure ponies would be able to stomach the retellings of Sunset’s victories.
“If only that was true. Luna, you saw how Sunset acts. Yes, gone is her superiority and ego, but there is practically nothing of the little filly I once saw as my student. You saw her eyes at the last meeting. If any, I will say her cruelty has been exchanged for bloodthirstiness.”
“Indeed. To be sincere sister, for a moment I thought she would use that impressive weapon of hers to blow your head off, or at least try to. I still wonder what made her change her mind, but at least I’m grateful of that.”
“I pushed her too much I’m afraid, something that I’m particularly good at when it comes to my relationship with Sunset. I failed to take in consideration her new responsibilities and instead treated her as if she was one of our subjects.” She had seen enough of the city, so the rulers of the country retired themselves from the balcony and into the opulent rooms of Princess Celestia. These were not her personal chambers. Instead, this was one where Celestia could sit and drink some tea. After all, the view from that side of the tower was breathtaking.
“She is not a pony anymore and I would probably act the same way if Griffonstone had asked us to attack a neighboring country in their stead. To have their expertise in this crisis will be perfect considering how little we know and the ferocity of those demons. Still, their colony is not part of Equestria. They are more like allies… if even that word can be used.”
“Luna?”
“You can think whatever you want about Sunset Shimmer. She was once your student, but those days are gone. Your student is gone and instead she is a, what was it? A Canoness? She is in charge of hundreds of soldiers that look a little too trigger-happy if Sunset’s actions are anything to come by. But that’s not the important part. Tell me sister, have you ever looked at those humans and how they react with ponies?”
“I… yes sister.”
“I know you like to see the good in everyone, like those nobles you still cuddle too much. Maybe we should send some of them to the frontlines in hopes that they learn something… or get lost among the mayhem. But I digress. No sister, these humans are not the trustworthy creatures you want to see in every creature on Equus. They are soldiers and I won’t find it weird if instead of shooting at the demons they’ll turn around and shoot at our ponies.”
“Luna! You can’t truly think that. We are united against one enemy.”
“Exactly, but what will happen when that enemy doesn’t exist? No, don’t worry, I won’t do anything. After all, the only thing I have are merely conjectures. What I want to make you understand dear sister is that the Sunset Shimmer you knew is gone and I do hope Equestria as a whole will survive her fury.”
-----
Among the humble abodes that littered the untouched corners of Equestria with new inventions, with concrete and stone, with progress of metal, it was the edge of the Everfree Forest which always was the most humble of them all. If there was a place that could be called directly out of a fantasy novel or maybe a postcard, then there was no better place to know than the home of a small butterscotch colored pegasus.
Fluttershy had always found herself at home among critters and trees. It was her place to be, taking care of all manner of living creatures as she walked back and forth on the meadows, swamps and forests. Her life was one that always made many pegasi scratch their heads in confusion, before simply shrugging their shoulders at the bizarre sight of a pegasus that preferred the ground than the skies.
She didn’t mind. After all, this was what she knew was her calling, so she did her job with a smile on her face knowing that all her friends, be it pony or denizens of the forest, were grateful of her duties. These days she even found enjoyment in talking and meeting with other ponies without suffering an anxiety attack like many other times.
That was the case with today, when after taking care of the many little furry friends of her, she was joined by an exhausted looking Twilight Sparkle. Fluttershy had seen her friend tired and with her hair a mess before, and every single time Rarity was the first one to become scared of the looks of the youngest princess, always doing what she could to fix that kind of… mess, to put it nicely.
This time, it was different. Not because she was anxious about not sending a report to Princess Celestia in time, or because there was a damaged book on the newest batch to the library. This time it was much more serious in Fluttershy’s opinion, not that the others weren’t important, but… well, in the other cases, hundreds of ponies lives weren’t in jeopardy.
It took Fluttershy a while before Twilight felt calm enough to start explaining what was going on in her mind. It took a couple of cups of tea before Twilight felt re-invigorated enough to make sense of what was going on in her life.
“I can’t do this Fluttershy.”
“Do what Twilight? I mean, did Princess Celestia ask for your help?”
“NO, this is worse, at least I think so.” The dark coated mare took out what seemed like a scroll from the saddlebags she had brought with herself. For a mere that had the power of an alicorn, she sometimes did things like any normal pony in Equestria. Fluttershy knew that she herself used her wings even more than Twilight and she wasn’t exactly the greatest flier. In fact, she was sure that even with all the training that she did in the past since Twilight arrived at Ponyville, she was a faster flier than Twilight, what with her augmenting her wing power several times over the years thanks to arduous training.
The scroll that was deposited on Fluttershy’s hooves seemed like an official copy, instead of the neat writing that came directly from Princess Celestia’s desk. As the shy mare began to read her eyes began to widen up at what was being depicted on it.
“Oh my, they want you on the field?”
“Yes, but they don’t want me as a fighter or anything like that, instead, I’m just going to be an adviser in logistics!” While it was true that the mare went crazy for anything that had to do with organization - the first time she helped on Winter Wrap Up came to mind - this was something on a completely different scale.
“Wait, but, didn’t the princesses say that we shouldn’t be part of the attack?” And she was more than glad of that fact. Just imagining what could have happened when the creatures of chaos attacked the Crystal Kingdom made her have nightmares the last three days. Barry had been such a dear, always looking after her when she tried to sleep. It beat back the worst of them knowing that he was there to help her every night.
“Read the end.” The butterscotch colored mare went back to the letter and at the bottom and had to gulp in surprise and fear of what was written.
“Orders from the general on the field, Iron Duke and your Holiness Sunset Shimmer? Oh Twilight, but, aren’t you a princess? Can they really order you to go?” if it had been Fluttershy the one they had asked for, she would be right now in her favorite hiding hole… underneath her bed.
“That’s the thing, I don’t have any official role in Equestria’s government, I even receive the same government check since I still live in Golden Oak, not that anypony uses the library. Unlike Cadence and the sisters, I’m just a princess in name and… I’ve been wondering if I’m truly one. Apparently that gives the ponies in charge of the mobilization enough powers to call a fiefless monarch into the field. It least I’m grateful they didn’t just put a lance on my hoof and pushed me into the frontlines. This… this is not like other times, this is so much worse, even when we fought against the changelings or Discord. We still had a chance, but this, this is not something I thought we will see happening.”
Twilight wasn’t a fool. In fact, everypony around her knew very well how powerful and intelligent she was. She has read about Equestria’s past and she even studied lately everything she could about the wars the country had been a part of. Beyond the epic and nationalistic pride usually found in those texts, the alicorn mare understood the cost of many victories and the horror that accompanied those dark days.
The alicorn sisters had already been part of many such endeavors, but her? As much as other ponies saw them as the heroes of ponykind, the fact was that they had never been part of open war, not against those kinds of monsters.
“Speaking about Discord, I hope you don’t mind, but, well, he’s coming today to visit.” The butterscotch mare took Twilight from the darkness of her own thoughts and just as she said that, there was a pop, or maybe it was a snapping and like that, the mismatched chimera known by everypony as Discord appeared from out of nowhere.
“I knew somepony was talking about me, my ears were burning.” And like always, the chaos creature quickly took his ears off and showed them how red hot they had become. Twilight had strangely grown used to the kind of physical comedy Discord used whenever he talked. At this point it was his signature way of doing things. “So, what did I miss?”
“Oh, well, we were talking about the times we faced you Discord and how different this new situation is,” the ever kind pony said as the chimera snapped his fingers and a low stool appeared out of nowhere floating upside down. Quickly Discord also rotated and sat ‘down’.
“Wait. Discord, you are literally chaos, what do you know about the monsters that appeared in Crystal Kingdom?” While Twilight will be the first to tell you she didn’t trust completely on Discord, the fact was that he was the most knowledgeable one among them about chaos itself.
“You Princesses always think that chaos is all the same. Shame on you little filly.” A literal conical hat appeared on top of Twilight’s head with the word SHAME written in it vertically. “Thinking that all kinds of magic have the same rules. If it was like that I’m afraid Equestria would have been destroyed a long time ago.”
“What do you mean by that? By the way, do you want tea Discord?”
“Chamomile is fine my dear Fluttershy.” A bended spoon then appeared on one of Discord’s paws and began to move the tea inside the teacup that Fluttershy prepared for her friend. “These creatures use the name chaos too, but we have nothing in common. I find fun in chaos and try to make things less stuffy and boring, unlike Miss Sunbutt back in Canterlot.” He righted himself and took a long sip of the tea, visually relaxing, as in, his body began to melt before becoming solid once more. “I only sensed them appearing in the north in mass and immediately felt the differences.”
“Oh my, so that means you cannot help us?”
“I’m afraid we are made of different meanings of chaos and not even I know what will happen if I mix my magic with theirs. Not that I want to get close to them. What they understand as chaos is nothing but vulgar savagery.”
“Wait, how can chaos be different? It’s just chaos!”
“I see princess sunshine never really taught you about the powers of chaos and harmony, but if you want a lesson in magic, well, I’m sorry but I’m not the greatest teacher, even though I love the suit.” In a second, Discord was now wearing a tweed jacket and a bowtie. “Although, there is somepony that knows more about that, but I believe she will more likely shoot you than teach you these days. Oh, those days when she terrorized the castle whenever she was in a bad mood. I swear, they were worth a family bag of popcorn.”
“Discord, who are you talking about? Cadence knows as much as I do about Harmony magic, so, Princess Luna?”
“Hold on, Celestia never told you of the other one? How scandalous,” Discord answered back with a heavy Manehattan accent as his clothes changed into a big black wig, shades and a thick blue sweater. “My dear, you ain’t gonna believe it, but you are not the first student of Sunbutt. Oh, the stories I could tell you about them.”
“Did you meet them Discord? But weren’t you turned into stone back then? Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t think that time was good for you.”
“It’s alright my dear. It was a little boring, but never one when Sunset Shimmer was around.”
“Wait, what? Sunset Shimmer?” The look on both ponies’ face was enough to get a chuckle out of Discord who was clearly enjoying the moment. He may have been reformed, but there was no way he will miss a chance to screw up with the elements bearers, except Fluttershy of course.
“Oh yes, she was a firecracker that one. Oh, the times she screamed at Celestia were always the highlight of my day. It’s no wonder those two went their own ways, although I do wonder what kind of world she went into to end up like this. I don’t plan on asking her, of course, since I’m sure she will find a way to hurt me and make it permanent. The changelings sure did learn their lesson when they tried to infiltrate their base.”
“You know about that one?”
“Of course Fluttershy. Although, it’s better if you don’t know the details, considering your own *ahem* constitution. I think I’ll hold onto those stories for now.”
“Hold on, go back to the other one. You knew about Sunset Shimmer and never told me? Princess Celestia knew?!”
“Well, yes, of course. All princesses in Equestria know who Sunset Shimmer is, I suppose they didn’t thought it was important enough for you to know.” As Twilight’s eye began to twitch, there was only a flash of magic as she teleported away, leaving behind the other two inside the house. “Was it something I said?”
-----
The sound of boots stomping the ground, the smell of oil, gunpowder and the ozone that accompanied the lasguns made Sunset smile in remembrance of the many battlefields she had been a part of. It was bizarre for a group of Adepta Sororitas - and even more so for a complete order - to always find themselves in the middle of the action, but due to the bizarre nature behind the birth of the original group maybe it was simply an evolution of uses.
Many Sororitas were usually found across the imperial controlled space in specific missions. Some found home in the many ships of the navy or maybe on specific planets, being in charge of the Schola or strongholds. They were the army branch of the church, but unlike the Imperial Guard or even the Space Marines, they were not full on soldiers.
Sororitas were and will always be the Emperor’s weapon against the heretic, always ready to strike against those that tried to subvert the empire from the inside. That’s how she started; attacking planets that were holding the seed of chaos, doubt and full on heresy in them. But things change, and sometimes it’s the world that changes the most. One mission saw the most change when instead of just rescuing the ecclesiarch members of a planet that had been invaded by Orks, she had turned around and helped the guard not only defend against that menace, but push them back and annihilate them completely.
Since that day, it was apparent that she was better used on the battlefield, in operations that called for specific power to break open the line, or maybe discover new artifacts and information needed for the endless battle for survival.
It was the thick of the fight in which the Sun of Eternity Order made its home. They were a fighting machine and Sunset was ready to let go of the leash this time just so she could wipe out the infant chaotic excursion. She may not have nice memories of the planet that was her original home, but the men that had found themselves in this situation looked up at her as their superior and like hell she was going to let them all down.
As the men continued to jog around the open fields of their base, she saw many of them piling up dozens of boxes, all of them with easy to transport battle rations, ammo and other surprises. The soldiers knew this dance already, or at least they did now considering some of them were still too green, with their only experience the basic training and maybe some exercise with the monsters of the badlands. Sunset hoped that the instructions and training that she had given them the last month was enough.
If there was a small consolation, it was the fact she made sure that the ponies were the ones that made the perfect meat shields as they rushed into the frontline with the humans working as their support in that battlefield. Sunset sighed, knowing very well that planning and execution were two very different beasts and more often than not she ended up having to wing it when she was on the frontline or in scouting missions.
There was in fact, something that made her feel better about their situation, and it was the fact that any of her soldiers were better at combat than most ponies that Equestria had conscripted for this campaign. For what she remembered, Equestria’s forces were volunteers that had gained cutie marks pertaining to the job of being guards or officers, with very few, if any, that decided to become one for desire. Now, Equestria had somewhat of a military force once again due to her talk with Iron Duke about their small forces.
Sunset Shimmer didn’t do it just so ponies will have a big enough force to defeat any enemy they had. It was mostly because the more ponies fought, there was less of a chance that they will need the Imperial Guard to do their job. This was just a small operation in an unimportant planet and she had no desire of leaving her troops in a place like this. She will find a way to leave Equus and go back to Imperium space and she will do it with all of her troops with her. Sunset may not have the thousands of years that Celestia had, but she could recognize one of her plans from miles away and she had no desire of being in the middle of one of hers. She will get out of the planet and if she did it quickly enough she won’t have to kill every single pony on the planet because they were heretics… maybe.
As the caterpillar tracks began to move around, all in the direction of the now completed railroad… well, tracks. The heavily armored vehicles would be key in her plans in the upcoming days and she had no desire of wasting precious fuel in them or their Thunderhawk. It’s true that they had enough supplies for at least another 6 months, but if she could economize all she could, it would be for the best.
“Your holiness, the troops are prepared and everything has been put in storage. Also, the men that will be remaining here in camp to defend it had been posted and given enough supplies,” a man with the uniform of the guard and without helmet said to her showing her a data slate with important information.
As she took from his hand Sunset was grateful that while the armor was strong enough to survive a lot of punishment, it still allowed her a bigger range of motions and didn’t take any agility, so data slates and more delicate equipment were easily used while in full power armor. Taking her eyes from the data slate she began to inspect the man in front of her. After the last several weeks Sunset had been trying to know more of her troops. He had a rather impressive mustache and his black hair was groomed and brushed backwards.
“I see. Well, you did a good job in this then, guard-”
“Blackadder your holiness.”
“From what regiment were you from originally?”
“That is the 436th regiment of the Brittania troops your holiness.” Well, that explained the accent. Britannia was in another sector, but she had done a mission there just after she had been inducted as a Sister of Battle. They were completely obsessed with honor and the Brittania Knights, as the heavily armored soldiers were known there, were some of the most corrupted, sniveling idiots she had met.
“What did you do to be sent to the frontline? I read the information about the groups we have in the Wonder and yours were being send directly to the Trenches of Vastani.” The planet Vastani had become a horrific battle of attrition, all for a planet that was rich in minerals. The battlefield was riddled with mines, artillery and countless miles of trenches and blood. No wonder Krieg soldiers loved that planet.
“Yes, well, when you have an official that is obsessed with personal honor and the idea of chivalry things tend to get a little… sticky. According to him, it was for the honor of our home planet that we should gallantly sacrifice ourselves in his stead, due to him being too old for that ‘last adventure’, or so he used to say.” Sunset blinked once at how completely calm Blackadder was when explaining his situation.
It was obvious that after the short life expectation of being part of such ruthless battlefield, being sent into another planet didn’t seem so bad, even though they were already being visited by forces of chaos.
“Well, that kind of official that you had would have been the first one that I would have shot if I ever met him. Never liked idiots that wasted troops. No matter, I don’t plan on losing men, nor do I plan on losing.”
“Is that so? Do you then have a cunning plan?”
“Oh, even better than that.” Oh, the wicked smile on Sunset’s face was enough to make Blackadder realize that neither Chaos, nor the ponies would be ready for what she will do in the Siege of the North.
Stats
Page generated in 0.026 seconds
Total duration
804 users online
1,189,518 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
well i personally have nothing against a imperial guard character, it is not like there is not worlds with similarities with England, look at praetorian guard for example. And what comes her cunning plan, i hope it is as cunning as a fox ho has been pointed as professor of cunning at Schola Progenium.
I waiting for Lt. Col. Kilgore to show up now. You know a refinance us Merican's would get. Lol
like ch., like how all reacted, feeled and said, pacing is pretty good.
wonder what happen to the changelings that tried to infiltrat the base, most likely burn or bullet.
would like to know the reactions and thoughts to the changelings and their actions.
Yes, please keep Blackadder!
If Baldrick and Boulder have a conversations would Maude interpret or be frustrated?
Ooh, Blackadder! Loved that guy. Keep him!
So, how'd they escape the trenches?
Dunno if this story is still going or not, but I'm gonna ask anyway.
Is (or rather; was) there plans to flashback to Sunset and Celestia meeting again? There's very little backstory to that kinda stuff.
Sunset did more than just throw a book at you, Celestia. She declared that she was your equal if not your superior, and demanded that you make her an alicorn.
8971507
If that happens I hoped Celestia gets angry and pours out so much psychic energy as an aura that every astropath and psyker feels it resulting in them becoming a screaming wreck with bleeding eyes with the astropath mumbling how they haven't felt so much psychic might since being soul bound to the emperor. As a warning that pissing her off is a very very very soul destroying bad idea. That never take her kindness and restraint as weakness cause if she wanted to she can obliterate everyone with a thought.
9388878
Powers switch she does not have, even emperor has not ever done that. Closes thing comes to mind when he told word bearers to kneel without them wanting to. Psykick powers wont make some one a god that could do literally anything, if she uses that amount of power would kill her and possibly open a warp rift. And there is no proof she could do that. But orbital bombardment is possible and very effective switch are sou precice that they can hit a titan like one was in shadowsword book.
9413178
True, my point is Celestia need to stop being a door mat and call out sunset on her hypocrisy considering her body maybe human, but her soul is pony. I mean it's kinda starting feel like the author falling into the protagonist centered morality trap.
9413193
but she has no power over sunset, if sunset shows weakness and obedience to a xeno. Well shes companions would see her a heretic and a traitor and kill her. Sunset has her faith to her emperor and to mankind switch she owns more loyalty rather than thous ponies.
What with the Sisters of Battle finally being released in plastic, I think I'll give this a read.