• Published 22nd Aug 2011
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For the New Lunar Republic - Moxypony



The story of Moxi's fight as a Spec Ops agent in the New Lunar Republic

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Hearth's Warming in Fillydelphia (interlude)

An uneasy peace fell over Fillydelphia as the city was blanketed with a thick covering of snow. Flurries fell from the sky in a streaming downpour, covering abandoned carts and crumbling buildings alike in a layer of ice.

Colonel Firebrand of the 12th Battalion of the New Lunar Republican Army sat, pondering, in his map room. Once the office of a school principal and located within an unassuming, crumbling wreck of a building, the room was sparsely occupied. The colonel’s furnishings were limited to a cot and small camp stove set for preparing his meals, with the exception of the map of the city he’d laid out over the worn desk. He observed the map, prodding small flags of violet and orange from place to place in an attempt to keep it as up to date with his current data as possible. He considered how he might regain the upper hand, as the city had fallen into a stalemate, with the Holy Solar Empire set up on one side of the city and the Republic in control of the other.

The mantle of leadership was weighing heavily on the young stallion, having received a field promotion following the death of his superior, the late Colonel Windwisp. He had been unprepared to take control of the full battalion, and while he maintained the cool veneer expected of him among the troops, in private, he was so terrified that he was unsure of his ability to so much as command troops around the city for fear of putting not only their lives, but those of everypony else at risk.

His stomach grumbled and he placed a hoof over it to steady himself. Rations had run short, and much of what the general infantry had been provided was going to the refugees who’d been left homeless by the combat within the city. He too had been slipping much of his own personal food supply back into that of the footsoldiers’, though he wouldn’t let them know as much.

Firebrand heard a knock at the door and turned to face the window before calling for the visitor to enter. He heard the door open and close and didn’t even need to hear the announcing voice to know who had come calling. “Colonel Firebrand,” called out the mare who had entered the room behind him, he could tell simply from her tone of voice that she was standing at a crisp salute, despite, or perhaps because, she knew he couldn’t see her, “Captain Autumn Leaf reporting in.”

“How many times do I have to tell you, Autumn,” Firebrand said, turning and shaking his head, a wary smile on his prematurely wrinkling features, “I’m just Firebrand to you.”

The red coated mare dropped into a more relaxed stance and smiled warmly at her superior officer, “How are you feeling?”

“Just between the two of us?” he said, turning back to the map, “Like death, and not just in the sense that I feel like I’m dying.” He approached the map and stared at the positions of the flags upon it. “I’m scared, Autumn,” he confessed, the mare closed the door behind her and approached him, snuggling into his neck to comfort him, “we’re under supplied, and we can’t just leave the civilians to fend for themselves. This war is on our heads, not theirs. Besides, Luna would never forgive me if she found out that I’d done such a thing.”

“It doesn’t matter what the High Commander says,” Autumn spoke up, “whether or not she would approve, we all know you could never do such a thing. Everyone back in the old company knows you’ve been starving yourself for the rest of our sakes.”

“That’s ridiculous, I’m your superior officer,” but he was unable to look her in the face as he said it.

“You’re a good pony, is what you are.” She replied, “And we understand that you can’t stand to let others go hungry while you are well fed, but remember that you’re fighting for everypony now. You may not have wanted the mantle of leadership, but you’ve got it, and the entire battalion looks up to you.”

“As if that helps!?” Firebrand snorted, his stomach let fly another loud gurgle and he doubled over as the hunger pains hit him, “Autumn, if I make one wrong move, I could get everypony in this battalion killed. Half of them are fighting on empty stomachs, they’d be incapacitated if they tried to take on the Imperial troops, and I think Dawnstar knows it.”

Autumn reeled slightly, “If the Imperial Colonel knew about the state of our troops, don’t you think he would have led the full force in by now?”

Firebrand shook his head, “he doesn’t know for certain, but he’s been testing our borders for a while now. Hit and run tactics to test our defenses. Sooner or later he’s going to have it figured out.”

“Have you sent word to command? Asked for more food? Reinforcements?”

“Of course, but the main camp was just hit by Sparkle with a full regiment, they’ve been scrambled and most communication has been disrupted. The best estimate at them getting new supplies and soldiers here is two weeks,” he turned to eye the swirling white snow outside of the window, “and with things the way they are, I’m not sure we can hold out that long.”

Firebrand paused for a moment before posing a question to the captain, “Do you know what day it is?”

“Even those of us who haven’t been keeping track can’t help but know by this point,” she chuckled, “the little foals among the refugees have been getting so excited. It’s Hearth’s Warming Eve.”

“A time of peace and harmony and love,” he said, not turning from the window, “and here we are, plotting out ways to murder our enemies. How history will see us.”

Autumn snuggled up against him, lending the despondent stallion her warmth. “Don’t talk that way,” she said leaning her whole body against his, “soon, we’ll find a way to end this war. Celestia will be off the throne, and history will see us as the ponies who stood up to a tyrant.”

“You really think that?”

“I have to.”

Firebrand smiled at the mare, and leaned down, bringing his face on level with hers. The pair drew closer, bodies tensing with apprehension. But just as their lips were about to touch, the door to the office slammed open, a young pegasus private panting in the doorframe. The two ponies jumped away from one another so quickly that Autumn Leaf nearly knocked over the map table.

“Oh,” said the private, blushing as he realized he’d interrupted the pair, “sorry, sir, probably should’ve knocked.”

“Nevermind that,” Firebrand said, straightening himself up, and turning to face the pegasus, willing away the blood rushing to his cheeks, “what is it?”

“Well, sir,” he stammered, “I was just sent from the front lines, Colonel Dawnstar is at the city center and said he wants to speak to you, stallion to stallion.”

Firebrand stood for a moment, considering the colt’s words. “You’re not really thinking of going, are you?” said Autumn incredulously, “It’s obviously a trap, you know you can’t trust the Imperials!”

“Remember who you’re talking to, Captain,” Firebrand said, his voice hard and unfeeling, “as a gentlecolt, I am honor bound to accept an extension of good faith.” Autumn glared at him with hurt in her eyes, but snapped a quick salute and walked briskly from the room.


Colonel Dawnstar of the Holy Solar Empire was a rigid looking unicorn, his coat an immaculate white, his golden armor shining brightly even in the grim, cloudy twilight in which Fillydelphia was constantly gripped these days. Firebrand looked positively ragged by comparison, with his ruffled mane and ragged NLR issue uniform.

“Colonel Firebrand, I presume,” his voice was exactly what Firebrand had expected from the look of him, heavy and pompous, with the thick cultural accent of a noble.

“That’s me,” Firebrand nodded. The stallions bowed to one another in mutual respect, Dawnstar gestured to a small tent he had set up in the town square. Firebrand followed him under the tents folds, away from the biting cold of the snow storm. Firebrand half expected to be greeted with spears inside of the tent, or perhaps shackles, but instead was quite surprised to discover a magically powered heater and a bowl of fruit.

“Eat something, Colonel,” the Imperial said, “you look positively dead on your hooves.”

Firebrand took up an apple from the bowl and took a hearty bite from it before stopping to consider the possibility that it could be poisoned. Oh well, he thought, if it is, it’s probably too late to turn back now.

“Colonel Firebrand,” Dawnstar said, watching Firebrand chew the apple, “I’m sure you’re aware of the date.”

“Funny,” Firebrand said, his mouth still full of apple, “I was just discussing that very matter with one of my captains.”

“Yes,” Dawnstar responded, a look of distaste at Firebrand’s poor manners evident on his face, “well, as it is Hearth’s Warming Eve, I feel it would be inappropriate to continue the fighting.”

Firebrand choked on the apple slightly, he swallowed the overlarge bite before standing and glaring at the opposing Colonel, “What do you mean?”

“Calm down,” the unicorn said, not rising from his seat or even turning his head to acknowledge the infuriated Firebrand, “I do not mean anything sinister by this. Quite the opposite, in fact. There have been many murmurs throughout my forces regarding the upcoming holiday and their discomfort with its falling on us in such a time. They feel, and I find myself agreeing with them, that it would be appropriate to call for a temporary cease of hostilities, from now until the end of Hearth’s Warming Day. What do you think?”

Firebrand was speechless; he stared at the calm, posh officer in front of him in disbelief. “I-,” he stammered, “I think that sounds great.”


The soldiers under his command were reticent to trust their enemies in the Empire, but there was enough support from Firebrand’s old company to convince the rest to give it a shot. Within a few hours of the declared peace, a number of Imperial soldiers approached the outermost NLR outposts, bringing them food and sitting beside the fires to tell jokes and stories and laugh together.

At the end of the following day, Firebrand and the rest of the officers in his battalion went to meet with Dawnstar and his officers, they all gathered together in the old city hall and laid out a feast. Throughout the city, similar feasts were being shared by NLR and Imperial soldiers alike.

And for one day, everypony left the war behind them. Foals played in the streets, throwing snowballs and laughing. Parents ate and drank alongside the soldiers, grateful for a moment’s respite from the fear the war had brought down upon them. The soldiers laid their weapons aside and sat beside one another, regardless of faction, to simply revel in the joy of being alive.

Firebrand and Dawnstar sat side by side, and while neither was entirely comfortable with the seating situation, they set their differences aside and joined each other in reveling the holiday. Firebrand looked around the room for Autumn Leaf, finally finding her sitting at the end of the table, she looked up at him and gave him a small, unconvincing smile before rising from the table and walking out the door.

“Excuse me,” Firebrand said, rising from the table and following her out the door, he found the mare standing in the middle of the empty street, snowflakes gathering in her mane in luminous patches.

“It’s hard to believe,” she said, looking into the night sky, “without the hostilities of both sides, the sky has gone back to the way it was before, distinct day and night…”

Firebrand looked up into the sky beside her, the patches between the clouds showed a glorious night sky. “Yeah,” he said ponderously, nestling in close beside her, “it has, I wonder what that means for us…”

“What does anything mean for us?” she asked, turning to look him in the eyes, “All of this, tensions hidden under the surface, smiling at our enemies today so that we can gut one another anew tomorrow? What’s the point of any of it?”

“Yes,” he said, pressing his forehead against hers, “tomorrow the fighting will start again, and it’s going to continue for a long time, but at least for today, we have peace. Our stomachs are full, our ponies are rested, our hooves are warm, and so are our hearts.”

He nuzzled up close to her, “And no matter what happens tomorrow, nothing can take away what’s happened today.”

Firebrand leaned in and placed a kiss upon Autumn’s lips, the two wrapped around one another as snowflakes cascaded around them from above, and though morning would bring the thunder of cannons down upon them once more, for now, all was quiet and all was well.