The Lunar Republic: The Final Fall

by fire64

The Lunar Republic: The Final Fall

The Lunar Republic
The Final Fall

There they stood, the proud warriors of the Lunar Republic, tall, strong, still and most noticeably fearless. They stand in defense of their final fortress, their last hope deep within the depths of the Everfree Forest waiting for the inevitable attack of the full force of the Equestrian Army. The fortress stood high elevated on a cliff edge jagged rocks and foul beasts filled the waters below. The gate as well as its many defenders stood at the base of the cliff ensuring only one true entry point. That’s is unless one had wings which even if one were to have a pair they’d most likely be shot down by the ranks of archers and crossbow men positioned atop the walls. Deep within the heart of the fortress the overlord of the Lunar Republic, Nightmare Moon sat Patiently in her throne waiting just like the others.

Although everyone currently calls her Nightmare Moon it wasn’t always this mare’s name. There was a time when she was known as Luna, Princess Luna raiser of the moon and sister of Princess Celestia. During that time Luna and Celestia ruled over the lands of Equestria together with Celestia raising the sun in the morning and Luna raising the moon at night. They were the best of friends and the greatest of rulers during those times. Now she sits atop her throne no longer known as a princess nor the raiser of the moon but instead, Nightmare Moon bringer of darkness waiting for her sister to make her move and attack. For she knows that by the end of the nights inevitable battle she will have to confront her sister… and only one may survive.

The high commander of the Lunar Republic was exiting his quarters in the fortress, armor-clad except for his exposed head which revealed his grey skin and blood red mane, when suddenly he was approached by one of his fellow soldiers.

“Hail High Commander!” the soldier shouted as he brought his hind legs together and raised his right arm in salute.

“Hail, drop the formalities and be at ease my brother,” the high commander responded almost no emotion in his voice.

They were of course not actual related, but everyone in the Lunar Republic considered each other brothers and sisters in their cause.

“Yes high-errr, rather Merc-arc, I bring news from our leader Nightmare Moon. She feels as though the attack is drawing near and requests that you head to the front of the defensive lines at the gate immediately.” The speed of the soldiers voice was slow as he relayed the message, for he dare not get any part of it wrong less he want to be punished.

“Of course, return to Nightmare Moon and tell her that I shall make my way there with no delay,” responded Merc-arc who was already on route to his destination.

“Of course sir,” the soldier said back as he saluted once more, watching his high commander walk away, surprised at how unlike the other commanders or the commanders of the equestrian army, Merc-arc didn’t walk with his head held up in egotistical pride nor did he strut around like he owned the place. He simply marched on like any of the other soldiers of lesser rank, for he knew that no matter what his rank was he was just like them.

Merc-arc reached the gate in no time and stood there waiting for it to be opened by the soldiers on the wall. A few seconds later they did just that and as the gates slowly swung open the ranks of troops outside split in half making a path for their high commander. As he walked out the gates began to close behind him and the troops moved back into position, filing into the path that Merc-arc had already passed. When he reached the front of the ranks he turned around and looked at his men. On a normal occasion when they weren’t on the brink of a battle the men would have cheerfully greeted him, but now was a time for silence. Merc-arc turned around and waited. He didn’t have to wait long for Nightmare Moon had been correct and the soldiers of the Equestrian Army had appeared on the slightly sloped hill that was a good distance away from their fortress. Their banners and flags swaying in the wind. Minutes later Merc-arc was approached by three troops of the Equestrian Army a diplomat and his two guards, they started listing of terms of surrender and other negotiations, Merc-arc just thought about what Nightmare Moon told him to do when they offered negotiations.

“Kill them, Just like the others.” Were the exact words she used.

So Merc-arc did just that, while they were talking he unsheathed his blade and decapitated the diplomat, before his head even hit the ground he dispatched the two guards with a stab to their chests. The first of many casualties in the battle that was about to begin.

Realizing the obvious fact that diplomacy wasn’t going to work, the equestrian commanders gave the order to charge and along with their massive army started down the hill. Merc-arc ordered the defending soldiers of the Lunar Republic to pull out their shields as he did just that. The soldiers didn’t need to be told what to do for they already had formed the strong wall of shields and extended their spears outwards towards their advancing attackers.

“No matter what happens, you do not let them get through that gate and into our walls!” yelled Merc-arc to his troops as the wave of oncoming equestrian troops drew near.

“SIR YES SIR!” was their only reply.

Just then that very same wave of equestrian troops collided with the defenders, none of the defenders being knocked down. The soldiers in the front line of the charge were almost immediately impaled by the spears that protruded out of the Lunar Republics defensive wall. Those that managed to make it past the spears were either bashed back with shields and trampled by their own men or stabbed and cut down by the swords of the men that held up said shields. Soon there was a massive pile of bodies in front of the shield wall, all of which were soldiers of the Equestrian Army. This didn’t stop the Equestrian Army nor did it seem to make a dent in their ranks. In fact they used the bodies as a way to hop over the wall and get into the ranks of the Lunar Republic. Of course this didn’t end well for the first few to try it, but after a while they were able to break a part of the wall of shields giving the rest of their men a way in and help them start a battle within the ranks of the Lunar Republic.

Merc-arc noticed the breach that had been created in his wall and he order his troops to kill the attackers that got through and repair it. They did as he asked but it did not matter for more breaches were being made and Merc-arc had no choice but to order his troops to undo the wall and allow the battle to enter his ranks. While at the same time forming a smaller version of the wall in front of the gates. Merc-arc wasn’t one to just sit around and give commands, he joined his brothers in battle helping those that were being surrounded or overpowered because he knew that every man was needed for this battle. The soldiers on both sides fought brutally, limbs and heads flying through the air, stabs wounds in some with arrows protruding out of the skin of others. Pegasus ponies were dropping from the sky from either being killed by another Pegasus fighting for the other side or being shot down by their archers and crossbow men. Not so surprising, there were no casualties or wounds caused by magic for both sides had agreed to ban the use of this only allowing the two sisters to use it but only on each other in personal battle. The dead and the wounded littered the battlefield, the ground was covered in blood, the sounds of fighting as well as the shouts and cries of the fighting soldiers joined by the moans of the wounded filled the air which reeked of death. In only a few hours it already became known as the bloodiest battle in Equestrian history.

Merc-arc dived into a crowd of enemy soldiers slashing his sword in every direction, leaving deep cuts in all the soldiers in range of his blade. He them swept the legs of the three soldiers that still stood in front of him knocking them to the ground and with no delay used his hind legs to kick two soldiers that were behind him. He drove his sword downward into the stomach of one of the soldiers he knocked on the ground, he took two throwing knives and chucked them into the eyes of the other two turning around to face the two he had kicked who were already getting back on their hooves. They charged at him, Merc-arc merely smirked, pulled out his dagger and did the same. He ran in between them and they both toppled to the ground, blood pouring out of slits in their neck. He backed up, only to bump into someone, he quickly spun around and clashed swords with his foe. They both jumped back and Merc-arc was finally able to get a clear view of his offender. It was a heavily armored soldier of the Equestrian Army, almost two times Merc-arc’s size. Merc-arc could tell from his armor along with his blue loin, cape and his winged helmet that this was their high commander and Merc-arc wasn’t about to let him get away.

For a while the two stood there staring deeply into each others mind, trying to figure out what the other was thinking.
Finally Merc-arc spoke up and shouted

“My name is Merc-arc, I request that you remove your helmet and tell me yours, so I know what to call you!”

The Equestrian high commander removed his helmet and threw it to the ground revealing his pure white skin and black mane.

“You may call me Isis, It is a pleasure to finally meet the talented high commander of the Lunar Republic that I’ve heard so much about,” he replied giving a warm but uneasy smile.

“I’m afraid I’ve not yet heard of you my friend, but from what I’ve seen of your men and the tactics they use I can tell that you’re a talented high commander yourself so the pleasure is all mine,” responded Merc-arc giving a smile of his own.

It was almost as though the two were friends making small talk since the tone in their voice was one of kindness and respect. There was no more time for that though, this fight need to begin, the two foes readied their blades and ran towards one another. There was a loud clang as the steel of their swords collided together and the friendly expression that was once on the face of the two colts had been replaced with pure seriousness and anger. An ear piercing screeching sound was made as the two pulled their sword away from the others but this did not stop them from charging at each other again. This time Isis pushed towards Merc-arc with all his strength almost throwing the colt off his balance. Isis then lashed out towards Merc-arc with his blade, who noticing this attempt , lurched away but just barely dodged the full force of the blade for he could feel the tip of it cutting through the skin on his left cheek. Blood began dripping from the cut but Merc-arc did not care, he just ignored it and faced his enemy. Suddenly there was a loud bang, followed by the sounding of a horn, their exact source unknown, but it had caused Isis to turn around giving Merc-arc his chance. He charged full speed at the colt who would’ve had Merc-arc’s sword in his stomach had he’d not noticed. It did not matter through, for even though he attempted to dodge he still took the full force of the sword to his right shoulder, breaking his pauldron as well as a half of his neck piece. He could’ve finished him off with one fatal slice to his exposed neck but Merc-arc wasn’t done with this high commander. He raised his sword high up in the air and brought it down upon Isis’s head bashing his skull with the butt of the handle. Isis fell down to the ground. Blood was dripping down from his head as he looked up at Merc-arc, who’s eyes were void of any expression. Isis then seeing Merc-arc raise his sword, closed his own eyes and waited. Merc-arc was just beginning the decent of his blade down to Isis’s neck when an Equestrian soldier charged at him from his left flank, tackling him to the ground. The soldier was on top of Merc-arc wailing at his face with his hooves. Merc-arc who wasn’t about to let some lowly soldier delay his fight any longer flinched his left hoof revealing a hidden blade. The high commander only liked to use this blade in emergencies or if needed assassinations for he thought it would be dishonorable to use in battle. Nevertheless this was an emergency and Merc-arc lifted his left arm and drove the blade into the side of his assailant. The shock of pain the blade caused had distracted the soldier long enough for Merc-arc to kick him off from atop him. Then as Merc-arc hopped back to his hooves he swung the blade out towards the soldier, which proceeded to slice through his throat. The soldier grabbed at his neck with both hooves and stumbled to the ground, blood pouring out his throat as he finally lost his grip and lay lifeless on the dirt. Merc-arc finally taking care of all distractions was ready to return to his fight but turned around only to see the equestrian soldiers routing from the battle including his opponent. Merc-arc would be happy about the soldiers routing had their high commander stayed to finish what he started, not to mention Merc-arc knew the Equestrian Army would not run like this. Just then he heard the familiar voice of a certain princess as she screamed an order to her army.

“FIRE!!!!!”

This was all Merc-arc heard before he saw the thousands of archers appear atop the hill, pull their strings back and fire.

Merc-arc immediately yelled to his soldiers to pull out their shields and form a testudo formation, or at the very least raise their shields to block the incoming wall of arrows. After he was assured that they had heard his order he pulled out his own shield… only seconds before the arrows hit. Merc-arc heard all the arrows zip by him and hit the ground, although he did not flinch even when the arrows hit his own shield bouncing off of the strong steel. He looked around from the cover of his shield only to see the unfortunate soldiers who didn’t have shields, didn’t have enough time to get behind theirs, or even those that were knocked down by the force of the impact, getting absolutely covered in arrows which also now completely littered the ground. The order to charge from the Equestrian commanders was given barely a second after the final few arrows hit the ground. The soldiers of the Lunar Republic had barely any time to recover from the barrage of arrows when they were rammed by a wall of Equestrian soldiers. The snapping of the wooden arrows could be heard all around as they were broken beneath the hooves of the now gigantic Equestrian forces. Merc-arc threw his shield into the wave of rushing enemies, knocking a few down while the sharpened blade cut others. He then proceeded to unsheathe two short blades from his back and charged at the enemy in rage. He lashed the blades around wildly but with accuracy, always hitting his mark taking out at least four enemies at a time. He was in an absolute blood rage stabbing and slicing at his foes left and right, but he did it with such speed and elegance that you could not see any signs of his anger. Through all the blood and bodies that he was causing in his rampage, Merc-arc could see a large group of heavily armored Equestrian royal guards protecting none other than royalty… Princess Celestia herself. They were carving their way through to the main gate and Merc-arc had noticed that the wall he had set up there had already fallen. All they had to do now was blow open the gates and they’d make it to the court yard. He knew he couldn’t let them make it. Merc-arc began sprinting towards the gate, only to collapse to the ground as a stinging pain ran through the hamstrings of his right hind leg…he had been cut. Merc-arc attempted to get back on all fours, the nerves in his right hind leg screaming in pain as he did so. Only to be kicked in his side causing him to tumble a few feet away, being splintered by the arrows as he did. He quickly got back on his hooves, ignoring the pain in his hind leg for he now knows the true danger he was in. He stumbled around for a few seconds, then regaining his balance fixed his eyes on his attacker. There he was, that cowardly S.O.B. of a high commander that ran away when Merc-arc was distracted during their confrontation.

The blood rage that filled Merc-arcs body was now beginning to take control. He no longer felt like he had power over his body, he merely screamed at the top of his lungs and ran towards Isis. There was a limp in his stride for he was still affected by the pain. As he was running at him, Merc-arc picked up the sword of a fallen soldier, having dropped his own when he had been kicked. He raised the sword and jumped at Isis, bringing it down upon him. Their swords connected and made a loud clang, as well as the ear piercing screeches of the two sabers grinding against each other in an attempt to over power the other. Isis pulled back, spun around and swung at Merc-arc who just barely dodged the attack, but also received another cut in his face that was too close to his eye for comfort. Isis then proceeded to take a jab at Merc-arc’s face, made contact, then followed up with an elbow to the stomach, knocking the wind out of the colt. Merc-arc gasped for air then swiftly dodged another punch from Isis, he took his chance and delivered a kick to the colt's side, accidentally using his right hind leg which caused him pain. But he ignored it delivering another kick for good measure. Isis’s strong armor of course caused the kicks to do nothing more than cause him to stumble, but this gave Merc-arc breathing space.

He could see now that Princess Celestia and her battalion of royal guards were nearing the gate and Merc-arc knew he wasn’t going to be able to stop them from breaking it down, but perhaps he would be able to stop them in the courtyard. All he had to do was take care of Isis first, even if that meant taking him out by dishonorable means. He flinched his left hoof, once again revealing his hidden blade. Then jumping towards Isis, Merc-arc was ready to dig his hidden blade into the exposed part of his neck. Isis recovering from his short stumble realizes the threat and swings his right arm full force at Merc-arc. Sending him soaring into a boulder. With the initial blow weakening them, and the collision with the boulder pushing them to their limit. Three of Merc-arc ribs were broken and two others were fractured, the sound of them cracking and splintering made Merc-arc cringe more than the pain did. He fell too the ground with a slam, coughing up blood on impact. He moaned in pain as lay there on the ground, breathing heavily. He knew he couldn’t let it end here, there was still a chance to stop Celestia. Merc-arc struggled to bring him self up, a task almost made impossible by the amount of pain he was in, which caused his whole body to shudder. He raised his head and saw Isis eying Merc-arc as if ready to finally finish of the bent, broken, bloody mess of a high commander. Just then there was another loud bang, which shook the earth ever so slightly. Merc-arc already knew that it was the sound of Celestia’s saboteurs finally blowing the gates open, but luckily for him the foolish Isis turned his attention away from Merc-arc giving him yet another opening. The high commander let whatever was left of his adrenaline fill his body once more and charged at Isis, the pain of this action was almost unbearable, but he kept at it. He jumped at Isis once more, which caused even more unbelievable feelings of pain, and was once again aiming for his exposed neck. Isis finally bringing his attention back to his foe grabbed Merc-arc’s arm, but it was too late. The length of the hidden blade would have still allowed itself to enter Isis’s neck, or so Merc-arc thought until he took a glance at his blade and finally realized…it was broken. Merc-arc had barely anytime to even insult himself for the stupid move of not checking the status of his hardware, before Isis lifted him by his arm and slammed him into the ground. Every part of his body cried out in pain, causing him to do the same. Lying on his back Merc-arc tried a feeble attempt at crawling away, he barely moved an inch before he was grabbed by the right hind leg. Isis was dragging Merc-arc closer to him, Merc-arc was clawing at the dirt trying to get away or at the very least resist. Isis began raising Merc-arc in the air, Merc-arc knew he needed to think fast. Just then he caught the glimpse of a gleaming battle axe lying of the ground. He reached and reached for it putting all of his strength and energy into and just as his chest left the ground he gripped the weapon. With no hesitation, Merc-arc swung his body around with the axe in hoof, closed his eyes and hoped.

Merc-arc felt the warm, moist splatter of blood on his face and opened his eyes to see Isis still holding him up, but with a battle axe lodged in his neck. The colt staggered, dropping Merc-arc to the ground. Then gripping the handle, he pulled the battle axe out of his neck, hollering in pain as he did. This was a big mistake on the Equestrian high commanders part, for now the blood was gushing out at an extremely fast rate. He grew faint, became very pale and no longer having the strength, will or even the control to stand, he collapsed to the dirt. Merc-arc heard the loud thud of his foe hitting the ground, he knew that their arduous confrontation was over and he was victorious. However the battle was not yet over. Merc-arc thinking that there was still a small chance to do so, got up slowly and started making his way to aid Nightmare Moon as well as his troops in the courtyard. He was trying to get there as fast as possible, but walking was an almost impossible feat because of the massive amount of pain he was in. All the colt could do was slowly limp himself to the front gate, having to stop at least five times to catch his breath and regain his stamina. When he finally did reach the front gate, Merc-arc could barely stand nor keep his full balance, but he pushed on. The battle was still raging on in the courtyard when Merc-arc entered, although he could see that a clear path was made to the doors of the throne room. Merc-arc staggered down this path and no one stopped him nor came at him, for they either though he wasn’t a threat, due to his weak state or they just simply didn’t notice him. Whatever the reason was Merc-arc was just lucky that he didn’t have to fight, although he couldn’t say the same for his soldiers. They were getting massacred, the fortress had been completely overrun by the invaders and little of his forces remained as a means of defense. He wished he could help them, but he had to get to her… he had to get to Luna.

“So close,” the high commander whispered.

He was finally within arms length of the door. Merc-arc quickly got onto his hind legs, propped his arms on the wood surface and pushed it open.

The moment Merc-arc opened the door, he was blinded by a light that seemed almost as bright as the sun. It took only a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to this light allowing him to open them once more. He could feel a strong surge of magical power around him and when he opened his eyes he discovered the source. The dark silhouettes of two Alicorns were all that could be made out. One lay on the ground and appeared to be greatly wounded, whilst the other seemed to be floating in the air without the use of its wings, its eyes glowing with light and its horn emitting the bright light that flooded the room. It didn’t take Merc-arc too long to find out who’s who. He began running towards the wounded Alicorn with all the strength left in him, when suddenly a huge rainbow wave flew out of the floating one’s horn and surrounded the other.

“No No No NO NO!!!!” Merc-arc screamed at the top of his lungs.

He knew what was happening and he knew he was too late to stop it, but he kept running towards her. The wave of rainbows had finally fully entangled the wounded Alicorn and as it did, it exploded into a sonic rainboom of gigantic proportion and strength.

“LUNA NO!” was all the high commander could shout before he was blown away by the force of the sonic rainboom.

Merc-arc had been propelled out of the throne room, the courtyard and then finally the front gate, where he slammed into the ground and was rolled painfully around the ground for about a minute before he finally skidded to a halt. Since he was in the throne room when the sonic rainboom went off, Merc-arc took on the full force while the other Ponies in the vicinity were simply knocked off balance. Even so Merc-arc was not knocked unconscious by the blast and he could feel all the agony of his new injuries. His left hind leg had been broken as well as his right arm. More of his ribs had either shattered or cracked, his pelvis was cracked but still in working condition, his body was covered in cuts and bruises and almost all of his armor had been broken off or were still on his body, just battered and ruined. This didn’t stop the colt from getting up once more but when he did, every nerve in his body as well as every little part of his body screamed in agonizing misery. He lifted his head up and looked at the sky. He could see a bright light in the shape of a compass star heading towards the moon and he glared at it with pure hatred. Then suddenly Merc-arc felt something else, something he hadn’t felt since the day his parents died… sadness. His eyes began to water and then Merc-arc said something surprising.

“I’m sorry,” were the words he spoke.

Just then a tear dropped from his eye and as it did he thought of what that those words meant. He was apologizing to Luna who he failed to protect and the troops that he failed to lead to victory. He was apologizing to all those that died and all those that would grieve because they died. But most importantly he was apologizing to the wife he would never see again and the child that he will never see born let alone be able raise him.

Everything around him just seemed to stop and the only sound that Merc-arc could hear was the seemingly simultaneous splash of two tears hitting the ground. One of them being his own and the other belonging to a Princess Celestia who was about to banish her own sister to the Moon, the last thing she ever wanted to do. With that Merc-arc fell to the ground and gratefully took in his finally breath of air. He laid there on ground, when he suddenly felt the warm heat of the sun as it rose for the first time in almost a year. Merc-arc then smiled, exhaled and just like that the high commander of the Lunar Republic was dead.

Comments

[Shadow Storm]

Hey, really cool story. You should read mine, I got the New Lunar Republic involved too.

[searzocom]

Ouch you got downvote bombed hard. I didn't think it was THAT bad. Worth at least a 2-3 IMO

[Ariel Schnee]

That's very sad...

Hmmm...

Great story you wrote dude!^_^

[Shadow Storm]

Wait a second... this mayoincidence, but I wrote my story, " Downfall of Equestria" which had the New Lunar Republic involved. My name is KingofMercs and the character's name is Merc-arc. LOL

[Shadow Storm]

May be a coincidence*

[fire64]

109761
lol, that is quite the coincidence. Also I'd be glad to check out your story ^-^