Chapter 10 The Lunar Air Force Takes Flight
Location : several miles outside of Derby
with Luna and Gun slinger
The both of us waited until , the entire solar patrol was gone . We got inside and what we saw horrified us . Ponies being unable to move , mares being raped and foals both colts and fillies being forced to watch .
Stallions being forced to do labor until there too old to work , the soldiers then kill them off throwing there useless bodies in a ditch .
This angered Luna to such a degree that she called in the entire lunar republic down upon this town. She got out her crystal and contacted her sister Nightmare Moon back at Moon town .
"This is Luna , send everything you got . We have to save this town from it's self" said Luna sternly . Nodding Nightmare Moon had ordered the entire army , Navy and the shadowbolts and told luna they were on there way .
"Good , I wouldn't expect nothing less of you sister" said Luna .
With that the both of us waited until we saw more air ships descending from the skies carrying our shadowbolts , while our naval ships came out of the fog created by the pegasi , all the while the army also arrived via air ship . Whatever army was here was about to be slaughtered !.
Finally both myself and Luna rose up , a unicorn pony handed her armor , all the while she put it on , I had to cover her . Taking who I can with a simple bow and arrow .
Finally she had her entire set of armor on , Luna drew her sword in a blood filled rage . She began to charge straight at the nearest soldier .
From what I could tell this pony was … wearing solar armor ? Odd , they could be from the solar empire or , they could be mercs hired by Celestia I thought .
That's when it hit me , they were soldiers from the solar empire . Narrowing my eyes I drew my own sword that I had made myself and began to decapitate the nearest soldiers head .
His body simply fell limp to the ground , blood pouring out of where I had cut his head off . Hours later we had slaughtered the entire solar army stationed here . Luna spotted a nearby mare who was scared out of her mind . "Excuse me miss , but are you okay?" asked Luna gently .
She nodded , and was able to stand on her own . Her own two foals were also scared one of them was crying the other couldn't move at all after what he had saw . I looked over at the young colt , who was petrified with fear .
"hey , can you look at me?" I asked he moved his head to where my voice was . This colt had watched his mother be raped and being forced to watch , nopony not even a colt nor filly should be forced to watch such things happen to there parents .
Finally we had gotten the ponies onto air ships to be carried back to the piece of land known as Moon Town it's an odd name for such a huge piece of land to be called but that's what the advisers wanted .
Inside the town smelled of dead ponies , heck the stench was so strong you could pull the sun down on it and it would smell a lot worse . Eventually the place was cleaned up enough that future generations would live there , but also not forget what happened here .
I couldn't bring myself to terms with what I had just saw , is this the extent of Celestia's Power ? To torture and rule over her own subjects with an iron hoof that this makes her who she is ? … I won't stand for it ! , no more Mr nice pony ! Somepony had to take her out and I think I can do it ! .
Luna saw this and quickly wrapped a wing around me to assure me that it would be okay . I gave her a nod , and we continued to our next town .
With Aurora
I had a young filly on my back , I'd say she was a unicorn at least . She was very malnourished , and from what I was told about Derby , it was under the occupation of the solar empire … Under Celestia!.
Oh how I hate her so much for doing something like this , has she no shame ? No she doesn't , anyway we finally arrive back in Moontown in the town of Lunar Star City to make sure that these ponies get proper medical treatment .
By the time I walked inside the entire medical staff were swamped with most of the ponies . More waiting to get treated , others however though were already treated by ones like Field Dressing , Nurse Rose , Red Cross and Sugar Belle Luna bless her heart .
I know they need more medical ponies , which we are finding but it's becoming harder and harder to find more ponies willing to join the lunar republic I thought sadly .
I soon walked out of the medical wing , at least to clear my head of such things . Perhapes I could at least help out in some other way , instead of sitting on my flank waiting for orders for the next battle. That's when it hit me , I could check on the status of the air force base that was being worked on .
I then headed back to the barracks and decided to try and round up more doctors and nurses , where ever I could find them . I decided to start with , Windsoar later followed by , Trottingham , Northtail , and finally Horns Deep .
This won't be easy but I think , no I know I can do this I thought . I quickly made sure that I packed my shadowbolts uniform into my saddlebags along with a few other things that I won't mention . I quickly departed but not before my captain stopped me .
"And just where do you think your going?" asked Captain Stardust . "I need to get more nurses and Doctors , the entire medic corp is understaffed and barely managing on it's own , there already flooded with residents from Derby" I said .
Commander Night star thought this over very carefully and considered it to be the right thing to do . "Round up as many medical ponies as possible , send up a flare and we will send a ship to come and pick them up" said Night star .
With that I saluted her and took as fast as I could fly , knowing that I could easily be caught by one of the wonderbolt ponies flying in Equestria .
I quickly shot upwards into the sky staying just above there field of view , but also staying hidden in the clouds at the sametime .
I suppose I could start with WindSoar , more than likely I could find a doctor there to help deal with those ponies that are suffering so greatly in the name of the moon I'll have this done I thought .
As I was flying , I saw something out of the corner of my eye . I wasn't sure as to what it was , but it was something . Altering my course I decided to check it out .
Turns out it was a dragon patrol , patrolling the coast of Equestria . I simply passed right by them , they probably noticed me though . Not that it mattered .
Location : Equestria
Finally I was back in the nation that had forced us out , out of our homes and away from our towns and cities ! . altering course once again , I few in the direction of Wind Soar , passing over towns like Si. Peterhoof , Badahoof , and Stalliongrad .
I saw an open field , where I soon landed to rest my wings . I was breathing heavy from the long flight from Moon town to here . I was able to walk the rest of the way before I saw a camp already setup . Curiosity getting the better of me I decided to go and check it out . I opened up the tent , and what I saw horrified me , it was another pegasus already dead .
She must have had several stab wounds , and judging from these wounds , they seem to focus all over her body except her stomach … was she pregnant ? Question is , who was the father and where's the kid ? Shaking that question from my mind , I decided to give her a proper burial and continue on my way .
A few miles from the 'camp' I setup my own camp and kept my sword close to me . No doubt whoever did this , might still be out there waiting , waiting for another defenseless pony either stallion or mare out here in these open fields I thought .
Back with Gun Slinger and Luna
Location : Horns Deep
Finally we had reached the outskirts of Horns Deep . So far they were managing on there own .
I have to admit though , with all of these protests . It's no wonder that Celestia grows more and more angry at the ponies of Horns Deep . I thought . And I was right , many ponies were protesting about the long hours of the sun including long work hours among many other things .
Deciding that 'waiting' out the day would be a bad idea , we proceeded to make our way into the town to try and rally whom we could .
Thankfully the entire town was willing to join up including one pony by the name of Lancer . Something tells me she could prove useful in the air force I thought .
In fact several more ponies signed up as well , yes we managed to setup a Lunar republic recruitment station and oh boy did we have a full list of ponies wanting to join up , unicorns , Earthponies , and pegasi .
I know that they would prove useful at least in different parts of the air force . I wasn't sure who they were , just as long as they signed up and knew what they were getting into , that everything would be fine .
But what I saw next surprised me , the ponies from the protest decided to sign up . This was perfect , perfect that we have so many signatures on each sign up list . To us , we were building an air force , one to be reckoned with !. And one that would surprise Celestia of the solar empire , heck even squash whatever she has for a 'military ' .
This perfect , something like this , this opertunity that nopony can pass up I thought . And I was right , with that more lunar air ships began to pick up the ponies that signed up and began to take them back to moon town .
"I guess our next destination would be Badahoof?" I asked . "You would be correct , after all . This air force that we are working on shall be our spear and the army and navy our shield .
Something that I had never considered before " said Luna . "Alright , we move by night and hide during the day" I said .
"That's correct , we cannot let Celestia know we are here" added Luna . With that we packed up and moved out of Horns Deep and towards Badahoof , hopefully we can get more air force pilots that we need" said Luna .
We had made it to some kind of forest , we weren't sure if we were headed the right way , but we had to be sure that we were . Setting up camp , I took watch since I was mostly use to this kind of thing .
With Aurora
I was awoken by somepony poking me . Quickly I grabbed my sword and pointed the tip of it at this intruder . "You've got five seconds to tell me who the buck you are before this blade takes your head clean off your body!" I threatened .
This pony was practically scared out of his own mind . "Please don't kill me , I was sent by the one in charge running wind Soar he was curious as to why somepony was sleeping in the open fields" he said panicking .
Satisfied with my answer , I put the sword back into it's sheath and reattached it to my body along with my armor . "So tell me your name" I said . "m-My n-names Storm Chaser" said Storm Chaser with a stutter .
"Would you relax ? , if I didn't know any better though , I'd say your quite a nervous wreck when it comes to talking to the opposite sex , am I right?" I asked. He nodded his head in silence , that just confirmed what I was already thinking, a stallion who has the mind of a colt at times .
Though this got me thinking , why is he afraid of mares , does he really think that we would bite his head off for no reason ? I really have to find some way to boost his confidence somehow perhaps it would be best if we do finish off the rest of this journey towards Wind Soar , so I can at least get off this field and on some clouds .
We soon left the field , and just up ahead I saw some clouds , not wasting any time the both of us , quickly set our hooves on the clouds. "W-well , welcome to Wind soar . A town that houses Pegais and a few non pegasi " said Storm Chaser with a bit of a stutter.
Well his confidence is improving … somewhat ,it does still need work though . Now to locate Doctor Red cross I thought . I soon set out to find some kind of hospital or medical center , anything that can point me in the right direction .
Hours later I found a hospital and low and behold , it was over staffed , thankfully they agreed to let me barrow Doctor Red Cross and this was for a good cause .
I quickly explained the situation at Moon Town the new location of the Lunar Republic . They also let me have Nurse Rose , and Doctor Sonic Sunset .
Which was perfect , it saved me the trouble of traveling from one town to the next .I thanked them and told them to wait by whatever means of transportation that they had going from Wind Soar , to the ground .
They told me that most Non pegasi traveled to and from Wind Soar to the ground via hot air balloon , I wasn't all that surprised though .
But to be honest , it was the only way to travel. I decided to at least , rest here for awhile before traveling again to the next town , which was New Saddle .
From what I have heard , they are running it like a locked down prison , no pony goes in or out . Frankly I plan to free them … somehow . Either way they can't suffer like this , but I have a plan that may need some help .
With Gun Slinger and Luna
Location : Badahoof
We had reached badahoof , and already we were were able to setup our booth to get the ponies there to sign up for the lunar republic , and it was working .
Little did I know that , something was about to go horribly wrong . "Luna , we have a solar guard headed this way" I said . "I'm quite aware of that , in fact . That's exactly what I'm going to count on , we have to take him out and fast without alerting anypony else" said Luna .
"Hey ! , what are you two doing – IT'S THE TRAITORS , KILL THEM AND ANYPONY TRYING TO ESCAPE !" he shouted . "I didn't count for that" I said with a raised eyebrow . "Neither did I , but we need to call in our own troops" said Luna .
Quickly she wrote a letter addressed to nightmare moon and quickly sent it off , mere moments later lunar air ships descend from the skies and start landing troops to deal with the solar soldiers . "IT'S AN AMBUSH , FALL BACK I REPEAT FALLBACK" he ordered .
Quickly the solar soldiers began to fall back towards the entrance , but before they could escape. They were cut off by the civilians , but that's when solar reinforcements arrived from Canterlot . I looked at Luna who she herself was surprised . "Luna , I quickly got your message. I didn't expect something like this to happen" I said .
"Thank you sister , quickly we must drive the solar's out of here and round the ponies who began to sign up for the lunar air force" said Luna .
"I'm already on it , you and Gun slinger get out of here" said Nightmare .
With that we quickly took off towards a random air ship to airlift us towards our next destination which was Hoofingdom , a place filled with nothing but veterans along with , young ponies wanting to join either the Lunar Republic or the Solar Empire. We quickly ran as fast as our hooves could carry us , all the while that we were running , we saw dead soldiers that littered the streets , lunar medics rushing as fast as they could to help relieve the pain that they were suffering .
Location : Miles outside of horns deep
Gun Slingers POV
We were far away from the fighting that was happening inside of Horns Deep , the civilians were safe in there basements or cellars . "we must proceed to Hoofingdom post haste" said Luna urgently .
I nodded and we proceeded as quick as we could. In the back of my mind , I really wanted to help those ponies evacuate the city long before the fighting began , before Nightmare Moon and her forces even landed!.
Shrugging that off , we kept going only glancing over our shoulders in case any solar idiots decided to try and kill us. Sighing , we could see that Hoofingdom wasn't far up ahead the both of us knew that we were on the right path .
Just up ahead , we saw a …. lunar patrol ? I guess it was true , some lunar guards stayed behind to follow Celestia and her tyrannical solar empire ! , looking around we had to distract them somehow .that's when Luna got an idea , she told me her idea and was gone in a flash .
I wasn't sure what in the world she was planning but then again , nopony was sure at all . I peaked from the other side and noticed that the guards were knocked out .
Quickly we proceeded inside , and what we saw was another resistance group unlike the lunar republic calling themselves 'The Children of the Night ' like I really wanted to know . Eventually , Hoofingdom was taken back .
The ponies were quite happy in doing so , but that's when Luna did something unexpected , she incorporated the children of the night into the lunar republic . I wasn't sure as to how she did it , but she did .now we have some extra ponies to accommodate .
But , things were proceeding on time , ponies that are part of the children of the night sigined up for the lunar air force .
Our sign up sheet was getting pretty full , but with a few more signatures we were set for ponies .well I couldn't be happier , soon the air force will take flight and soon now we just need to train these ponies into pilots and hopefully we can have ourselves deadly air force squadrons able to take out the solar empire in a couple of runs I thought .
With Aurora
I was able to round up as many of the doctors as possible and thankfully though , they went right to work helping the ponies of which came in from Saint Peterhoof , and thank goodness .
Now that we have a full medical staff I can relax . Ever since my return to Moon Town , things were back to normal .
As for everything else , well lets just say that we are going to have something to work with , all through out the night I saw air ships flying with loads and loads of ponies , not sure as to why but frankly that doesn't matter , all that does matter is that they get trained and ready for combat . Cause there going to be seeing a lot of it and then some.
But what surprised me the most was that , I saw several ponies carrying the flag of … Luna ? From what I could get out of the guards , he said that they called themselves , The Children of the Night a subgroup devoted to Princess Luna and Luna alone , I wasn't sure as to why but I wasn't going to question that .
Then again it is going to be nice to have foals running through the night , enjoying themselves . But I also fear that at the sametime , this all maybe snatched away from us like a cruel joke!.
No Aurora don't think like that ! , everything is going to be okay though we really need to hit them with everything we got and then some , show them that we are NOT pushovers ! , i'm not sure what there planning , but we have to be ready I thought .
Hours later , I saw one last air ship fly high in the sky . There they were Gun Slinger whom i've heard so much about and Princess Luna. This is good for us , now we have ponies to train and soon our air force will be mightier than anything that the solar empire can muster up , there's no way in Tartarus , that they can pull something off like what we can do ! . I know that I am right in such matters as this .
Once there ship landed I headed back to my quarters to begin working on who is going to train them. I mean we have gun slinger leading the air force , but who's going to train them ? Certainly it's some pony that has a lot of experience in combat.
Location : Unknown
With Starshine Shimmer
I was ready to conduct another report to Princess Celestia of the solar empire , she must hear about this and quick , I fear that this rebellion has now grown in not just numbers but also I fear that there going to get bolder and bolder with there trips to Equestria and back .I got out my quill , some ink and some parchment paper and began to write.
Dear Princess Celestia,
we have a serious problem , as you already know .
The lunar republic ,has made several trips to Equestria and back , already they have gathered hundreds of ponies , what they plan to do with them I'm unsure .
But I fear that whatever it is there planning to do , they may attack Equestria and there only going to get bolder with each attack , I recommend that you put down this rebellion and quick before it's dragged out and more and more ponies die because of it .
And there is one other thing as well , there is a group of ponies calling themselves the Children of the Night , I'm unsure as to why but they have existed in Equestria since you took hold of the power and seized it for yourself , I also fear that at the sametime whatever the traitor Luna is planning that it can't be good , just hear me out .
And one other thing , I fear that the one they call Nightmare Moon knows there's a traitor , she might suspect me but I can't be for sure , either way if she does suspect it's me , I'm dead . So far the ponies of the lunar republic hasn't suspected me a traitor as of yet . Hopefully this letter gets to you , this is for your eyes and your eyes alone .
Signed Starshine Shimmer
With that I sent it off in a flash of light . All I had to do now was wait for a response , but this time I didn't get one . Which to me was surprising , either that or she had forgotten me and left me here to die , if that is the case . Then I only hope she knows what she's doing
TBC in Chapter 11 : the training of the Lunar Air force