> The Lunar War > by Hydran > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It started out like any other day for Twilight Sparkle. The sun had risen over the horizon. She had woken up inside the castle of Princess Celestia, and as always went to the library to continue her studies. But this day was different. As she was exploring the library looking for books to study, she came across a section she hadn't seen before. She thought it was odd she hadn't seen this small section before, so she ventured into it to see what it had to offer her. After what felt like eight minutes of walking, she finally came across a sole book. The book was crusted with dust, the old leather binding was torn and thin. The binding just barley holding the book together. So after carefully wiping the dust off of the book she was able to read the title, "The Lunar War". "The Lunar War?" Twilight Sparkle thought to herself. After looking around for a moment she realized that this wasn't the kind of place she would like to read at. So taking the heavy book with her magic, she walked back down the dimly lit pathway. Once she had reached the end of the pathway she turned around to see that the pathway was gone. This surprised her, but she had her book so she went on her way. After she had gotten back to her study where she likes to read all the books she can, she placed the heavy book on the table before her. Opening the book she saw a short description of the contents within. This is the untold story of the Lunar War. The war stuck in eternal night between Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon. The description surprised Twilight as she thought that Celestia was always honest and impartial with her. Having read this, Twilight decided to take it up with Celestia herself. Twilight hastily approached the royal throne room, the royal guards letting her through without a second glance. "Hello Twilight. Is there something I can help you with?" said Celestia happily. "Actually, yes there is" said Twilight. "Oh, and what might that be?" said Celestia sounding interested. "I was in the library this morning and I came across an old book," said Twilight. "It was titled 'The Lunar War'." At the mention of that book, Celestia's heart sunk. "I went to read it, but... but there was a small description in it of its contents. The description said "The untold story of the Lunar War. A war stuck in eternal night between Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon." Celestia could only emit a slight sigh as she thought that this day would never come. "Twilight, that book holds many memories of mine. Memories I do not want to remember. The book is the truth though. What I taught you and Equestria about what happened was to protect everypony," said a sad Celestia. "Now Twilight, if you could please put that book away, then we can forget about this and leave it in the past." Twilight left the throne room thinking about the talk. Twilight eventually decided to do the one thing that she knew she shouldn't. She decided to read the book and learn exactly what happened. > A Broken Moon > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight briskly walked back to her study. She had thought that her teacher had taught her everything. But, she didn't teach her about this. Twilight began to question Celestia's motives behind this. "To protect everypony in Equestria," Celestia had said to her. She began to wonder if she was hiding anything else. Twilight quickly put those thoughts to rest as she remembered why she had come back here. Twilight sat in her chair and opened the book to page one. ------------------------------- Celestia rules over the peaceful nation of Equestria with her younger sister Luna. Celestia and Luna are both kind and caring rulers. Celestia brings forth the day and Luna brings forth the night. Ponies loved Celestia's day but shunned and slept through Luna's beautiful star filled night. Luna being the ever-watchful princess of the night took notice of this but shrugged it off sure that deep down everypony loved her night just as much as Celestia's day. Luna had a close relationship with Celestia and would talk to her sister about her troubles, most of which concerned how she continuously thought that other ponies didn't like her night. Celestia would always tell her that ponies do love her night and are thankful that they are given a time to rest. Luna would always think about what she said and came to the same conclusion every time. "if they loved my night, then why do they sleep through it?" Luna thought to herself. Each year a celebration was held to celebrate the sun. It was officially named the Summer Sun Celebration. The celebration was held in honor of Celestia and the sun. Celestia would raise the sun in front of all her loyal pony subjects. Luna always had conflicting emotions about the event. She felt jealous that her sister got so much more attention then her. Yet, she also felt happy for her sister and the praise she received. Luna's mind kept drifting back to how she is much less loved then her sister. Being a princess she thought that she deserved just as much love and attention as Celestia did. Looking out over the kingdom she realized that not everypony was asleep. Feeling curious she decided to investigate. Luna arriving at her destination found who she was looking for. It was the one pony still awake at this late hour whereas all the others were asleep, He was wide awake and looking through an object that Luna has not seen before. She saw that it had multiple dials and was a long tube with a small part the stallion was looking into and had a slightly rounded end. "what might thou be doing at this late hour?" Luna inquired the stallion with her booming royal voice. The stallion having been unaware of his visitor nearly jumped out of his skin at the booming volume of Luna's voice. "Yu...your majesty! It is a pleasure to meet you." "What is thee still doing up at this late hour with this strange device?!" "Oh! This is called a telescope. It is used to view the stars on beautiful nights such as this. I was using it to well... View the stars." "Would thee mind if I take a look?!" "No, not at all." Luna carefully walks over to the telescope and inspects it for a moment before placing her eye onto the same spot she saw the stallion placing his. What she saw amazed her. Looking through the telescope she got to see the stars and the moon so much closer then she could've dreamed before. She saw that some of the stars made various shapes and other areas where filled with vibrant displays of color and designs. "It is run by magic your majesty. If you would like to make the view better or even allow for farther or closer sight then adjust it with your magic." Luna gives him a slight nod as she begins to adjust it. "It is wonderful looking through this telescope! I see why thee would enjoy it!" "If I may, why are you here? As much as I enjoy getting to have a conversation with you I am wondering why you came here in the first place" "You... you enjoy talking to me!?" "Well... of course I do. You do a wonderful thing for us equestrians." "And what might that be!" "You bring forth the night." "You really think it's wonderful?!" "Yes I do, you bring this night sky to us all, you bring us a time to rest ourselves from the tiring day, you bring us all a wonderful thing known as night." "Thank you, you have no idea how much it means to me to hear somepony say that! Before I go though, could I have thou name?!" "Yes your majesty yo-" "Enough with the formalitys! Call me Luna!" "Yes your ma... er... I mean Luna. My name is Lunar Glow." "It is a beautiful name my dear Lunar Glow! Perhaps we could meet here again tomarrow!" "I'm sure I can do that for you Luna" With that Luna gave him a smile and rose off into the night. Luna had actually found a pony who enjoys her night and loves her for it unlike those other ponies. She thought that as long as she had Lunar Glow she would be fine. Luna set off the next night and arrived at where they decided to meet. Lunar Glow wasn't there so Luna made herself a little cozy spot on the grass to lay-down awaiting his arrival. Minutes went by and he still wasn't there. An hour had finally passed and she thought that something might be wrong. Luna went out into the nearest village to look for him she went house to house looking for him getting many surprised looks while she did. Eventually one kindly old mare gave her directions to his house. She arrived at his door and knocked loudly. A few moments later the door swung open with an angry stallion on the other side. He was about to give her a piece of his mind when he saw who it was. "Your majesty! What can we do for you." "I am looking for Lunar Glow! I was told he lives here! Is that correct!" The stallion began to look as if he was about to burst into tears at his sons name "He... did live here." "What doth thou mean by did?!" "He was" *the stallion begins to let out a few tears* "found dead this morning." Luna was very shocked by this news and did not know exactly how to respond. The one pony who had ever even told her how much he appreciated her was now gone. Before the stallion could even continue she flew up with a look of despair on her face. Luna retreated back to the castle and fled to her room to morn her newly found friend. Luna sat in seclusion in her dark room. She had lost the one pony she knew had loved her and her night. She knew that all the others didn't love her quite as much or at all for that matter. Luna grew increasingly jealous that her sister had so much love and attention and she just lost the one pony who loved her just as much. Anger sat like a lump of lead in her heart. She grew resentful of the day as darkness filled her heart and mind. Dawning a nearby helmet she slowly became Nightmare Moon. Filled with the desire to eliminate the day forever she cast a spell over her moon that allowed only her to control its movements. Knowing the moon was secure she began to think up what she would do when Celestia came to her in the morning demanding her to lower the moon. She could think of only one thing as a devious smile crept onto her face. > Suffering Sun > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Warning: Contains detailed gore. Chapter 2: Suffering Sun "Celestia really did hide more then I expected from me. Just from this first chapter it told how Nightmare Moon came to be. Celestia taught me similarly but now that I know the truth it makes me wonder how much more she has hidden from me." Twilight whispered to herself. "Perhaps I should keep an eye on Celestia to see if she will reveal anything." Twilight remembering it was around time for dinner to be served walked calmly to the dining hall. As she walked in she saw Celestia look over and smile at her but twilight quickly noticed that there was something under her kind smile. "Hello Twilight." "Hello Celestia." "Twilight, I must ask. You did put up that book like I asked you right?" "Of course I did." Twilight hated lying to Celestia but she knew she had too. Dinner went by quickly after there small conversation and Celestia headed off to her room to rest for the night. Twilight carefully followed Celestia back to her room and listened through her door in hopes of learning something else. She heard Celestia talking to somepony but wasn't sure who. She heard Celestia mention something about murder and terrible memories. She knew this is what she was looking for and cast a spell on herself that allowed her to look in on Celestia's memories while remaining hidden as well. What she saw in Celestia's mind horrified her. ------------------------------- Celestia felt inside her that it was time for a new day to begin and for the sun to rise. She was sure that Luna felt it too so she attempted to raise the sun but realized that the moon wouldn't go down so that her sun could raise. Becoming increasingly irritated she rushed over to Luna's room to command her to lower the moon. Entering the room she noticed that it was completely dark inside and wondered carefully to the center of the room. She was caught completely off guard as Nightmare Moon jumped out from the shadows and grabbed her. Celestia attempting to throw Nightmare Moon off of her cast a shielding spell on herself that caught Nightmare Moon by surprise and knocked her away. "What is the meaning of this Luna!" "You havt caused us much suffering! Always the center of attention! Loved by everypony! You always says others feel the same about me! You are wrong! Nopony loves my night! I will not lower the moon for you now or ever!" Nightmare Moon cries as she sends a powerful blast of magic straight at Celestia's horn and body. Celestia didn't react in time and was hit by two blasts of magic and fell over moments later having been knocked out from the blast. Celestia slowly opened her eyes and saw that she was bound and her horn became extremely stressed whenever she tried to use her magic to escape. Celestia watched as the door opened revealing Nightmare Moon. "Luna why are you doing this." "I am no longer Luna! I am Nightmare Moon! And you drove me to this Celestia! You caused us so much pain over the years! And now, I will show you that same pain!" "what do you mean you will show me tha-" Celestia begins screaming as Nightmare Moon slowly cuts a deep gash into her leg with a knife. "This is how I felt all those years Celestia!" Nightmare Moon continues to cut along Celestia's leg as blood pours out of her deep gash. Celestia knew she was immortal but she also knew that Nightmare Moon knew too. "You will suffer for each day I had to suffer! You will know how it feels!" Nightmare Moon sets off into her work and finds Celestia's bones hidden amongst her legs muscles. She gives it a sharp tug and Celestia let's out a scream at the otherworldly pain coursing throughout her body. She looks over to Nightmare Moon and her face flushes of all color as she stares at her own bone pulled from it's place in her body covered with bits of muscle and globs of blood. "This is how it feels to live everyday completely unloved and unappreciated by all!" Celestia could only manage a weak nod as the pain returns to her once more. Celestia hopeing the worst is over lays her head back. Just as her head reaches the back of the table she lie on she cries out in agony as blood splatters on the wall as Nightmare Moon relentlessly pounds apon her with a large hammer. Celestia can only watch in horror as her sister grabs a few rocks and sees them turn a bright red by her sister's magic. Celestia feels her own mouth forced open and trys to scream when a tremendous heat begins filling her mouth. She feels her mouth burst and blood quickly feels it. Gaging on her own blood she swallows what she can while the rest oozes out of her burnt and bloodied mouth. Nightmare Moon not quite done with Celestia grins as a devious idea creeps into her head. Celestia looks up to see that Nightmare Moon had went away for the time being. She sees the door open and watches Nightmare Moon as she walks up to her with a huge grin. "Now its time for some real pain!" Nightmare Moon slowly reveals a small knife to Celestia. Celestia realizing that it is a peeling knife begins to panic. Nightmare Moon lowers the knife to Celestia's only good leg left after the hammering and bone removal and makes a long cut along the length of her leg. She slowly begins working the knife down her leg peeling off all the skin with it. Blood oozes out from her skin being removed. Muscle below the skin can be seen as it contracts and relaxes. Nightmare Moon stops removing Celestia's skin for one moment and jabs the knife just behind her knee straight into the sensitive muscles that lie there. Celestia spasms at the feeling only hurting herself more as the spasms dig the knife's blade into her muscle even more. With a quick twist of the handle and a yank the knife is pulled out in an extremely painful display of torture. "This is what it felt like all those long years! You always told me someone cared! You lie, no-one cares about me or my precious night!" Celestia could only watch as Luna storms out of the room. ------------------------------- Twilight stands outside Celestia's door completely horrified at what she just saw. Celestia torn apart at the hands of Nightmare Moon. She can still recall the blood splattered walls and the loud cracks as Celestia's bones snapped from the hammering. Twilight completely flooded with many emotions rushes back to her room nearly knocking over two royal guards on her way. She enters her room and glares at the book she had found just hours before now. She didn't want to know more and yet, she wanted to know every painful detail. The memorys of Celestia's night of torture came back to her as she let out a scream having to endure the mental agony shes going through. Twilight opens the book and skims through chapter two seeing that it is exactly as she saw but much worse. She quickly flips over to chapter three so that she can stop thinking of what she just witnessed. > Plans > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia lay broken on the floor. Some of her bones jutting out from various points on her body. Weak from the recent assault on her body she couldn't cast her magic to get help. Celestia was in Luna's room for what felt like hours. Eventually she heard voices outside the door. Summoning all her energy she yelled for help as loud as she could and passed out on the floor. The guards walking by heard somepony yell for help and quickly tried to determine where the cry for help came from. They quickly decided it must be from Luna's room and burst through the door to find Celestia passed out on the floor partly skinned with severe cuts and bones sticking out in some spots. "Sweet Celestia!" exclaimed the shocked guards in unison. "I'll go find one of the nurse ponies!" "I'll stay here and keep watch!" shouted the other guard to his friend who was now speeding away to get help. The guard was rushing to the medical ward where he knew he would find the help he is looking for. He found the door to the ward and burst into the room screaming for a nurse. "what is it?!" exclaimed one of the surprised nurses. "The princess requires your assistance immediately!" --------------- The guard kept a close watch on his surroundings. He could see every little movement in the room. He noticed a small jump in the corner of his eye and assumed it was just the shadows playing tricks on him. He heard a small groan from behind him and turned around to see that Celestia was starting to come to. Celestia gave another small groan which confirmed what he thought. Celestia looked up for a moment and saw the guard standing in front of her ready to strike down anything that dares to impose apon Celestia in her current state. Both Celestia and the guard look towards the door as a nurse pony walks in. "Sweet Celestia what happened!" "I'm not sure myself, I heard a cry for help and when I came in I found her here like she is. Can you help her?" The mare carefully looks Celestia over not missing the smallest detail of her injurys. The nurse casts a mending spell on Celestia and slowly begins to heal her wounds. Hours pass before her wounds are finally healed. Celestia finally able to get up and walk around gets up off the ground and walks around for a moment so that she can get used to the feel of her repaired legs. "Princess, what happened." questions the guard. Celestia frowns remembering what she just went through. "Luna attacked me." "Thats terrible!" Exclaimed the nurse pony. "Why would Luna do such an awful thing to you?" "When Luna attacked me she said she was going to show me all the pain she endured over the years from being shadowed by me. She felt resentment towards me and the sun and told me that she would never lower the moon for the day to come." "Is there any way for you to rai-" the nurse never got to finish as she was interrupted by Crested Shield. "Your highness!, are you okay?" "Yes Crested Shield, I am." "Good. Princess, meet me in the planning room. We have things to discuss." ------------------------------------- "You cannot be serious! This is my sister we are talking about!" "Princess, she brutally assaulted and mutilated you, she refuses to lower the moon, and ponies have been disappearing and all leads point to Nightmare Moon! We must goto war with her if we are to have hope for a brighter future!" "Crested Shield!, you may be captain of the royal guard, but I will not agree to goto war against my own sister!" "Then what do you propose we do Celestia! We are out of options!" "Capture her is what I am proposing." "She mutilated you and you expect the royal guard to simply catch her! Celestia I am truly sorry, but we are out of options here. War is the only option!" ------------------------------------- In the darkest regions of equestria an army is being created. Nightmare Moon has already recruited hundreds of ponies to combat her sisters' empire. Drawing power from dark magic Nightmare Moon has cast a spell over her soldiers that protects them from magic cast by anypony loyal to Celestia. Knowing Celestia had a bigger army Nightmare Moon knew this would even the playing field. Nightmare Moon was building small fortresses surrounding the castle, casting spells on each one to protect them from ponies not loyal to her. "Everything is going according to plan Nightreign. Soon the fortresses will all be complete, the army will be small but powerful, and I will topple Celestia's mighty empire!" "The war will be swift Nightmare. We will quickly topple the empire. We will rule equestria when this is over." ------------------------------------- Twilight Sparkle looked up from the book to see that it was very late. She was currently still recovering from the vivid memories of her teacher's night of torture. Twilight carefully hid the book so that nopony would find it and went to bed without a second thought about how things could go in the morning. > Battle for Fillydelphia: part 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sun was shining brightly in the early Canterlot sky. Ponies were waking to begin there day. Twilight sparkle crawled out of her bed eager to continue reading the book. But first, she knew she should get some breakfast. Twilight walked into the huge dining room. Celestia already there patently waiting for Twilight to arrive so they may begin eating. Celestia had a sullen look on her face as if remembering something she didn't want to. Celestia quickly noticed Twilight had entered. "Hello my little pony. How are you today?" "I am doing good. Is something wrong?" "What would make you think something is wrong Twilight?" "Well you looked rather sullen when I walked in." "Oh, it's nothing my little pony. Just thinking about my past." Twilight considered using the memory spell she used before to look into Celestia's mind again to see what she was thinking about. After last time though she wasn't sure if she wanted to take a chance at seeing such horrific sights again. Breakfast went smoothly but Celestia had to leave early to attend to her royal duties. Twilight had eventually settled on using the memory spell again to look into Celestia's mind in the hopes of finding more information on what happened all those years ago. Sneaking her way into the throne room she hid in a small room off to the side and hoped that nopony would find her before she finished looking into Celestia's mind. Celestia was sitting in her throne talking to a few foreign diplomats. Twilight took one last look towards Celestia and began concentrating hard to establish a link between her mind and Celestia's. After much focus the link was made and Twilight ensured it was one way so that Celestia wouldn't know what Twilight was doing. With one last bit of concentration Twilight allowed herself to sink deep into Celestia's thoughts. ------------------------------------------ "She's still my sister Crested Shield!" "I know very well that she is. But at this point we don't have a choice! Recruiting will begin tomorrow. All I need is your word so that our troops can leave to fight! You know very well what must be done!" "Isn't there another way! She's only misguided and nothing more! We can get through to her." "Luna is gone princess! That monster is not Luna!, and if you don't give the word then I will. We will begin recruiting tomorrow and will be leaving in exactly one week. Goodbye princess. When this is over, daylight shall be restored." Crested Shield stormed out of the room slamming the door shut behind him without giving Celestia even the smallest chance to reply. Celestia sat in the meeting room lost in her thoughts of what to do. She knew Crested shield was right. This is what they must do to regain the sun. ------------------------------------------ "Fuzzy. Why is the memory getting fuzzy? There's still so much left unexplained." Twilight is snapped back into reality as the spell breaks and a headache now plagues Twilight due to the abrupt stop in the spell. Looking around she saw that Celestia had left which broke the spell as she needed to be close for it to be effective. Twilight walked around the palace to find Celestia. She checked the library, kitchen, dining hall, the castle grounds, and finally Celestia's room. "Ugggg, I should've checked here first" Twilight complains to no one in particular as she looks in to see the princess sitting outside on her balcony. Twilight being as silent as possible attempts to find a hiding place so that she can cast the spell again. Twilight finds a good hiding place five minutes after starting to look for a good place to hide. Unfortunately for Twilight, Celestia gets up and begins making her way to her door. "Ugg!, for the love of Celestia, stay in one place" Twilight hisses to herself. Twilight follows Celestia taking great care to remain unseen by the guards or Celestia herself. Celestia exits the castle into the courtyard and begins addressing the royal guard about a mission of some sort. Seeing no places to hide Twilight gives up and instead opts to continue reading the book she had found. ------------------------------------------ Twilight arrives at her room but quickly notices her door is slightly open. Carefully Twilight enters the room but it looks the way she left it so she shrugs it off. Twilight pulled the book out of its hidden spot in the false bottom of her desk drawer. Hopeful of what she may find she opens the book to the next page. ------------------------------------------ Fillydelphia was booming with ponies. Even in the face of darkness ponies were out. Everywhere you turn you would see another face. The town still new at only 3 months old made it full of ponies looking for fresh opportunities as business ponies. Life was great in Fillydelphia for all. But the sun hasn't risen yet and many ponies grew restless, anxious for the rising sun. Others were tempted under the cover of night. The city being as new as it was also meant that ponies could make a name for themselves as criminals. Many ponies were tempted into the call of crime but the pony who answered the other end was one they weren't expecting. Darkness shrouding over many ponies of Fillydelphia they all heard the same voice. "Darkness has tempted thee. We are the answer. Join us and we shall crush all thee ponies who stand against us!" Nightmare moon speaks through a darkness so thick not even Celestia herself could cut through the all absorbing darkness. One by one the ponies all disappeared. Fillydelphia growing darker with each vanished pony. The vanished ponies all awoke in a room made of polished black stone. None of the ponies having the slightest clue where they were. A black mist appeared from behind a heavy iron door nightmare moon appearing before the very eyes of the recently awoken ponies. "Who are you!?" One of the startled ponies shouted. "I am nightmare moon!, and you are all my army's newest recruits!" Shouted Nightmare Moon at the now scared ponies that lay before her. "What if we don't want to be in your army!" Yelled out one of the ponies who had rallied the others to stand with him and protest. "Then you will be executed!" The ponies all had a look of terror on there face. Knowing they had unknowingly signed up for a front row seat to a what would be a most gruesome war. The ponies all sat back down giving up all hope for a brighter future for themselves. ------------------- Three days later an army is complete and ready to march on its first target. Fillydelphia. Ponies begin to march towards Fillydelphia. Earth ponies heavily armed, pegasi armed and in the air, and unicorns ready to loose a powerful blast of magic into any enemy. They tore through the land. Inching closer to Fillydelphia with every waking second. The city of Fillydelphia was beginning to peak over the hills in the distance. The army growing restless as they near. The army advanceing quickly on the city came over the last hill for an open clearing between them and Fillydelphia. Waiting for them on the other side of the hill was Celestia's army. The air grew thick with anticipation. Both sides waiting for the command to charge. Nightmare Moon appeared shortly after the arrival of her army. "CHARGE!" Yelled Nightmare Moon over her vast army. Both sides charged at each other. The Battle of Fillydelphia has begun. > Celestia Needs a Hug > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nightmare Moon's army charged towards the opposing force. Baring menacing weapons to tear the opposing army to shreds. Slowly the armies neared each other. The battlefield roaring with shouts and screams. The armies collided. The clang of steel and the screams of the fallen are already dense in the air. Storms of arrows surge throughout the air streaming above the heads of thousands of ponies. Nightmare Moon's troops begin to tear through Celestia's. Long strips of flesh and globs of blood stain the front. "Maximum force my comrades! We can do this!" Crested Shield yells over the roaring battlefield in an attempt to rally his troops. The troops apon hearing the encouraging cries of there commander push back against the opposing forces. Driving a wedge in the enemy dividing the field in two. Both sides weaker yet stronger push against one another. Steel clashes steel until several loud bangs and bloodied ponies gets the attention of many other ponies. Marching over the hill is Celestia's latest advancement in equestrian technology. Ponies encased in heavy armor march with round dull spheres strapped to there sides, each with a modified slingshot held in a vice with the magic of each pony. Almost systematically the ponies all take out one sphere each and put it into there slingshots and release them all into the air. When the spheres impact the ground they produce a load bang and cripple many of the ponies nearby. A few even make direct contact with some ponies and the resulting explosions burn the pony's hides resulting in severe burns and cuts. As they advance many ponies are crippled and killed by these explosives. Blood staining the battlefield a deep crimson from the sheer amount of devastation caused by these troops. Crested Shield now believing victory is inevitable slacks on the orders he is supposed to be giving. The ponies of Celestia's army can see victory just minutes away and this alone is enough to renew the strength they have all used. The battle seems bleak for Nightmare Moon and her forces. As Nightmare Moon attempts to think of what to do she sees Nightreign sprinting towards her. "Your highness!, project 4269 is complete! We have not lost yet!" "Good. Begin fitting and send them out when ready." "Already done. All pegasi involved have been fitted and are ready for combat." "Send them out. No mercy." Nightreign runs off to give the order. Two minutes later an entire squadron of pegasi dubbed unit 4269 appears in the sky. Each armored lightly as to not hinder flying but with reinforced wing plates covering there wings. Each plate honed to a wickedly sharp edge. One by one the pegasi dive out of the sky reaching high speeds. Seconds before impacting the ground the ponies all lift up and use there wings to slice through the crowd. Some moving fast enough to literally cut ponies in half. The pegasi cut down Celestia's forces. Ponies that have been cut in half clutter the battlefield with all the other fallen, not quite dead but not alive. Some ponies had even worse luck and simply lost a leg or two. Collapsing to the ground to bleed to death many of the ponies are toyed with by some of Nightmare Moons cruelest troops. Severing an additional limb or two and inflicting severe lacerations to the downed, but live ponies. The pegasi now hover above the land ready for a ground assault with there comrades. They charge the front and use there wings to shield them from arrows and the strikes of swords from other ponies. Countering when possible the ponies move through the battlegrounds but quickly meet Celestia's special forces. The two stare each other down until one of the pegasi slashes at one of the armored ponies. The wing blade cleanly cutting the armor and badly wounding the pony on his right side. The armored ponies were shocked by how easily the armor was penetrated by the wing but quickly snapped out of the daze and drew there swords. The armored ponies slashed at the pegasi, some pegasi managed to block or dodge but others got mortally wounded from the sharp blades the armored ponies had. Both groups charged each other and a few stayed back. The ponies who stayed back each took a sphere and fitted it into there slingshots. Aiming straight at the pegasi not caring for there friends. The ponies launched the spheres causing several pegasi to drop to the ground. Others managed to block most the explosions with there wings. The armored ponies that got hit didn't even seem affected and just continued to hack at the pegasi. The armored ponies were so busy hacking into the pegasi that they didn't notice they were slowly being surrounded on all sides. They looked up after having killed all of the pegasi only to notice they were surrounded. The ponies around them charged from all sides. Unable to move quickly they were unable to defend against the blows of the ponies. Many of the blows simply bounced off the armor and others left deep dents. The dents soon began splitting from the blows and the strikes could reach the ponies below. The screams of the ponies rattled out of there armor as the blades left deep cuts in each. One by one the armored ponies fell. The main troops began converging on one another again as the threat of the special forces was gone. Crested Shield sat near his tent, his jaw agape at seeing what just happened. He saw ponies get cut in two, he saw ponies literally have there limbs blown off, he saw his most powerful troops get slain before his very eyes. There dying screams still rattled in his ears. He got up and saw just how much he had already lost. He was down to a few hundred troops and Nightmare Moon had at least triple what he has. As much as it pains him to have to give such an order he has no option. "RETREAT" Crested Shield shouts over the battlefield and then retreats himself. Nightmare Moon's army without anymore interference from Celestia storms Fillydelphia taking the city quickly. Shops and homes are ransacked. Ponies are captured and brought to the center of the city. All of the ponies who resist are killed on the spot. "What shall we do with them Nightmare?" Inquiries Nightreign. "Do what you what you will as long as there not set free." ------------------------------------------ Twilight closes the book having finished another chapter. Looking at the time she yawns as she sees just how late it is. "What do you have there Twilight?" Spike questions. "Oh, nothing much. Just a book. But you know Spike, I think Celestia really needs a hug after all she's been through." Twilight hides the book when Spike isn't looking and heads off to bed.