"...Every now and then, guys like that appear on a battlefield. Someone special, you know?..." Bernhard 'Night Owl' Schmidt, Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War

Music

For the second time in 6 years Equestria found itself in a war between the New Lunar Republic and Solar Empire. This time a 3rd party; the Legion of Discord was thrown in. Both the NLR and SE fought each other as well as the LoD in a war that lasted 6 months, and almost resulted in the end of Equestria and all other lands as we knew them.

The first war started 4 years after the return of Princess Luna. Both her and Princess Celestia ruled over Equestria peacefully at first. But after a period of time Luna started disapproving of how Celestia was ruling the land, viewing some of it as almost tyrannical. Tensions started rising between the two sisters again, and between the citizens of Equestria, who were also viewing Equestria's rule under the Solar Empire the same way.

It finally came to a head when Celestia announced some new laws at a Parliament meeting. Luna bluntly objected, angering Celestia. A fight broke out, and Celestia called upon the bearers of the Elements of Harmony to put Luna back on the moon. Unfortunately for Celestia though the six ponies were also divided over this. So instead Celestia exiled her to a small country on the Western edge of Equestria that had lost their government many years before, and was now controlled by the empire.

Many residents of Equestria began moving to it, and secretly a rebellion was planned which included members of the Solar Empire armed forces that had defected. Finally, on November 5th, 2010 the rebellion, under the flag of the New Lunar Republic, began. Almost instantly Equestria was divided into two parts. The Southern third declared themselves part of the NLR, and Celestia immediately tried to take it back by force. The NLR pushed back though and started taking control of more land, but soon both sides stalled.

The war lasted for 13 months. Thousands of ponies, both military and civilian, died during the battles. Seeing the war was doing nothing but destroying Equestria both sisters agreed to a cease-fire, and on December 15th, 2011 the Western third of Equestria was allowed to secede to the NLR. The new border was opened, and both sides began the healing process. Ponies could freely travel between the two countries to visit families and conduct business. It seemed as Equestria, though divided, would finally be at peace.

Nine months after the end of that war, another broke out. Discord, the ruler of chaos, had returned to his home country of the Crystal Empire after he was accidentally released from his stone prison in Canterlot. He immediately took control of the country, which adjoined Equestria on the right side. Princess Miamore Cadenza, who ruled the country, managed to escape to Canterlot where she lived in exile. In short order the new Legion of Discord also took over the Griffin Empire and Changeling kingdom. Citizens of those countries were soon under his mind control. Those who resisted were executed. Both the Queen of the Changelings and Emperor of the Griffins fell to this fate. Those who were lucky enough to escape went into hiding, hoping someday Discord would be defeated.

The Griffin Empire bordered both the NLR and Solar Empire on the right, so it would be a simple matter for Discord to take control of Equestria also. Both sides began rebuilding their military forces rapidly and prepared for attacks, but none came. The rapid buildup caused many in Equestria to think the two sides were about to go to war again.

Then 5 months before the start of the second war events began happening. Tensions started to rise between the Republic and Empire again. On October 14th, 2016 a Legion of Discord fighter entered NLR airspace and tried to force a transport plane into landing in LoD territory. It was shot down, and no answer was received from the LoD as to why it happened. Shortly afterwards a pair of Solar Empire Air Force planes somehow strayed into LoD airspace and were shot down.

On March 21st, 2017 Discord made his move. His armies invaded Equestria at the location where the Republic and Empire’s border intersected with the LoD’s and spread Northwest into both halves. The NLR and Solar Empire both declared war on Discord and were soon launching air attacks. Though they had a common goal, both sides viewed each other with suspicion.

This was aggravated on April 5th when a NLR plane accidentally cluster bombed a Solar Empire Army platoon. After investigating Luna denied any NLR plane was involved in it. Then it happened again a second time with a forward operating base the SEA established just inside the LoD’s border. Celestia accused Luna of trying to start a war again and tensions between the 2 were higher than ever.

The final straw happened on April 14th when a Solar Empire plane dropped a Fuel Air Explosive Bomb on a small NLR village near the border, killing over 100 ponies. Almost immediately the NLR declared war on the Empire and closed the border. Once again Equestria was torn apart over war.

It had been 4 months since what was called the Final Equestrian War ended. I set out to document details of the war for a book I’m writing by going over records that were released by the governments of the two sides involved, and interviewing those who took part in the war.

But as I went over the records and documents, I noticed a strange pattern in the materials I gathered. There were several accounts about a Changeling fighter pilot, all of them followed by the code-words ‘Shark-mouth’ and ‘Demon’. And as I went over every piece of this new information, I found out that this pattern was incomplete. But still, I was intrigued.

After going over some more material, I soon figured out who this ‘Demon’ was. He was a Changeling by the name and rank of Lieutenant Colonel Akula, but is known by the Solar Empire as “The Demon Lord of the Changelings”, a member of the NLR’s 245th Research Unit, 1st Experimental Fighter Squadron ‘UPEO’. I instantly knew why the information about him was incomplete. The 245th Research is one of the most secretive Units in the entire NLR military, and is even more secretive than the NLR Central Intelligence Agency. Nopony knew why.

So I set out to find this elusive Changeling, and hopefully ask him a few questions. Like 'Why does everypony that try to cross you in the skies become fearful of you?' and 'How did you get your legendary status in the first place?' At first, this task seemed almost impossible, but thanks to some friends in the NLR military and Defense Intelligence Agency, I managed to track down several individuals that knew him...

...and, surprisingly, the members of UPEO Squadron were some such ponies...

Author's Notes:

Well, here you go, the first chapter of my first fanfic. The first half, along with most of the tail end is copied from the first chapter of Ace Combat: Battle for Equestria, with the rest my personal writing, ala ACZ. Do stay tuned for more chapters, but Chapter 2 will take a while for me to complete, as I'm very busy at the moment. Many thanks, hope you enjoyed!