For the New Lunar Republic

by Moxypony

Chapter 20 - The War Room

Two Weeks Later

“Hey Dreamcatcher!” Moxi’s shout jerked Catcher from his sound sleep with such a start that he nearly dropped off his bunk. “Ugh,” he groaned, turning to face the pegasus standing in the barracks doorway, “what do you want, Moxi?”

“Luna sent me, bright-eyes,” she chirped, “looks like we’ve got a new mission, she says to head to the throne room in 20.” With that, she left, her scarf whipping out of sight before Catcher could say another word. The earth pony grumbled, dragging himself out of his bunk to buckle on his belt and weave a sleep-deprived path to the castle throne room. The earth pony didn’t fully wake until he heard another pert voice calling from behind him.

“Dreamcatcher,” Melody called to him, approaching from the rear of the hall, “I see Luna summoned you as well. Still getting used to the battalion’s time regimen, eh?”

“I don’t see why you all couldn’t have stayed on the standard time schedule,” he growled in reply.

“Well, it seemed kind of pointless without night and day,” she shrugged, “either way, I would’ve thought you would be able to handle the switch just fine.”

Dreamcatcher shook his head, casting a sidelong glance at the ornate doors the pair were heading towards. “Even my dreams have been hard to shut out lately,” he sighed, stopping before he could get any closer to Luna’s throne room, “and when I’m so close to Luna, it can be hard to keep her out of my head.”

The unicorn eyed him warily. “Luna?” she asked, stopping beside him and glancing around anxiously, “Catcher, is there something I should know?”

“Not necessarily,” but he was unable to meet the mare’s eyes.

“You’re a bad liar, Dreamcatcher,” she said, moving into his path of vision, “is this about what happened a few years back?”

“No,” he shook his head, then stopped and thought, “well, kind of.”

“Well I’m glad you sorted that out,” she replied with a sarcastic smile, but her expression turned grave again almost immediately, “I don’t know what happened with you two, but it’s in the past. Is it really something that needs to be brought up again? Especially now, when the fate of Equestria lies within the hooves of both of you?”

“It’s because of that that things have resurfaced,” he retorted, “Melody, the Navapony are barely even part of Equestrian society, we keep to ourselves, and Luna and I haven’t been exactly close since…”

Melody held up a hoof signaling him to stop, “So what?”

“So why do you think I’m as active as I am in the war effort?”

Melody blinked at this, she’d never stopped to think about it. So far as she could see, everypony had a deep stake in the outcome of this war.

“Or, a better question, why don’t you think more Navapony are involved?” Dreamcatcher paused to watch the confused look on Melody’s face before continuing, “It’s because there are practically none of us left!” Dreamcatcher did his best to keep his voice down, but he could feel blood pumping to his face, a white hot rage at the fresh mental wounds surging into him, “The alicorns created the shamans, and when they tried to extinguish them, the shamans fought back and defeated the alicorns. So Celestia decided to prevent them from interfering in the war.” Dreamcatcher shook with barely restrained fury as he spat the words, “She had the shamanic tribes hunted down and extinguished. My father was killed, and for all I know so was my brother, and with them she destroyed our tribe. Whatever’s left of them has been scattered to the winds, lost. For all I know, I’m the only Navapony left. The only shaman left.”

Melody stood flabbergasted as Dreamcatcher began to settle, calming himself with a deep, shuddering breath. “I am so sorry, Dreamcatcher,” came the voice of Princess Luna, standing in the doorway to the throne room, Catcher could just make out the shocked visage of Moxi standing behind her, “I truly am. You have every right to be angry. I should have stopped Celestia before she could have started any of this.”

Dreamcatcher flushed at the princess’s words and shook his head, “No, princess, you can’t blame yourself.”

“We’ll have to disagree on that,” she smiled weakly at him, “but for now, there is urgent strategy to be discussed. If you will please follow me.”

Luna’s throne room was a tall ceilinged affair decorated with shining marble, bathed in the light of torches burning in elegant sconces upon the wall. Along with Dreamcatcher and Melody, Moxi stood beside a globe-like map set into the floor in the center of the room. General Warhorse had also joined them along with a sky blue pegasus with a short, rainbow colored mane, who’s armor and patches marked her as the Command Chief of the NLR Airborne division. She wore a golden necklace adorned with a large red gem cut in the shape of a lightning bolt. She was Rainbow Dash, and the necklace, though a powerless relic now, marked her as the former Element of Loyalty.

“Thank you all for gathering here today,” Luna spoke from her throne, her voice carrying easily through the large room, “As you are all aware, two weeks ago we came into possession of the results of a number of classified Solar Empire research projects. Melody?”

“We have gone through each of the documents obtained by Agents Dreamcatcher and Moxi,” Melody spoke, her tone formal and business-like, “and while all of the projects were clearly dangerous, it would appear as if relatively few are of immediate risk. Most of the projects, including several of the more… disturbing ones are far from being able to be used practically in warfare. However, there is a project which is of immediate concern. From what we could gleam from the recovered documents, the researchers were struggling with the project, but from our nearest estimates, it is effectively ready for deployment. The device in question is a propaganda machine.”

“So what?” snorted Rainbow, “Celestia’s been churning out fresh propaganda since the war started, so now she’s designed a machine to do it for her?”

Melody shook her head, “No, you misunderstand, it is not a machine for producing new propaganda, but a new method of spreading it, and it looks like it would be capable of spreading a direct message from Celestia into the home of every pony in Equestria!”

Warhorse’s eyes widened and then turned to a scowl. “With that kind of technology,” he growled, “she could effectively win the war with one move.”

“How do you mean, General?” Rainbow asked.

“As I was telling the princess before,” Warhorse said, directly addressing the pegasus, “while those who have been directly exposed to the war know firsthand exactly what it is that’s happening, most of Equestria has not seen that. With a system like this in place, she could win the hearts and minds of the general populace immediately. They would turn against us and the war would be lost almost immediately.”

“But,” Moxi chimed in, “by that logic, if we could use the machine before them, we could potentially win the war for the Republic!”

“Exactly,” Luna nodded, giving Moxi a smile, “At this moment, the scientific division is working on a device that will allow me to record a message in a format that will allow it to be entered into the machine.”

“That’s all well and good,” Rainbow chimed in, “but without the machine itself, it will be completely useless, and if Celestia is building something on this scale, it’s got to be in Canterlot, well beyond our access.”

“We’re in luck, though,” Melody said, “you see, the reason they were having trouble with the research was for exactly that reason. They were trying to find a way to make it work from Canterlot, but the capital is just too far removed from Equestrian society for them to be able to wing it. They have to build it somewhere that’s already a hub of communication.”

“Our spy network has reported a recent flux of activity in Manehattan,” Luna said, giving Moxi an apologetic glance as the little pegasus’s heart visibly fell, “and while the city will be well protected, we can potentially break through. So, Warhorse, Rainbow Dash, your ponies will launch a full assault on the city and during the conflict, Agents Moxi and Dreamcatcher will locate the machine and hijack it for our broadcast.”

“This is a rather large-scale operation you’re talking about here,” Warhorse interjected, “when exactly do you plan to launch this mission, ma’am?”

“We don’t have time to wait on this, for all we know Celestia is preparing to make her address to Equestria as we speak.” Luna’s features hardened and she stamped her hoof on the surface of the globe with a resounding crack, “We launch the operation in 12 hours.”