"Well, we could flank them from here too..." pondered Rarity as she and the the other ponies, including Luna, were looking at a map of Canterlot. "Well yes, but we can't just send one pony there. It'll be too dangerous and risky." argued Twilight. Luna then spoke up, "It is obvious. We need a full army force to counter the Solar Empire. The more we have and the more willing our forces are then the better." The mane 6 all nodded their head in agreement. "Very well then. We shall travel down to Ponyville later and see if we can recruit anypony to join us. That is, if the Solar Empire hasn't already attacked it..." Luna's voice trailed off as she spoke that last part. The mane 6 could see that she was deep in thought, about Equestria, about the Solar Empire, about her sister...

  Pinkie Pie then interrupted her deep thoughts. "Hey, what shall we call ourselves? You know, cos' Celestia calls her force the Solar Empire, I thought that we should have a name for ourselves too!" she said in her own cheerful voice. Twilight just looked at Pinkie weird, Rarity raised an eyebrow, and Applejack kept silent, trying not to giggle. It was always Pinkie who knew how to bring a smile to the ponies' faces in times of sadness or troubles. Only Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash offered their ideas. "Oh I know, what bout the Night Avengers? Or...or the Dark Rebels? Or..." Rainbow Dash kept spouting out her own ideas for their name, with Pinkie listening cheerfully, a smile on her face. Fluttershy then finally spoke up, face slightly blushing. "Erm...girls...what about, you know..if you don't mind...The Lunar Republic...?" Dash's and Pinkie's face suddenly lit up and they grinned. "That's perfect! I like it! I likeitlikeitlikeitlikeitlikeit!" Pinkie started jumping around the room happily. Luna simply smiled, "Well then, we shall be called the Lunar Republic." Dash gave a loud cheer and Applejack shouted "Yeee-ha!" Fluttershy blushed and gave a simple "yay". 

  BOOM! Just then, a loud explosion was heard and everypony turned their heads to see the gates of the fortress collapse. Royal guards started swarming in with weapons and went straight for the Lunar Republic, their eyes set on the 7 ponies.

  "Quick! Get behind me!" Luna shouted as she formed a magical barrier and black coloured pony constructs to fight back the guards for a while. Twilight saw the look of concentration on Luna's face and worried to herself. 'Can she really hold up all that magic for long?' Twilight didn't even hesitate to use her own magic to help Luna. She set up a magic bubble around the ponies, and just in time too. Luna's own magic barrier had fallen and her pony constructs were being easily destroyed. "Girls! Do whatever you can to hold the guards back!" The 5 ponies nodded their heads and quickly set to whatever they could do to set up a defence.

  Applejack found some wood and stone from where the gates collapsed and used it to build a mini yet heavy hammer. She held it in both her front hooves and swing by swing, the guards slowly fell to the floor, either unconscious or dead. Pinkie Pie, with all of her randomness, took her party cannon out and fired it at the guards. But what came out wasn't balloons or cakes, it was sweets, but not just any kind of sweets, it was explosive...

  Rainbow Dash flew up high in the sky and swooped down, hitting through several guards, catching them off guard and then repeating it again. Soon the guards knew of her presence and her swoop attacks were getting useless. Rainbow Dash knew she had to use a new method, and that was when she saw some rocks on the floor. She quickly flew down to pick them up before the guards could slash and cut her, and then flew up high again, dropping the rocks down below as she flew above the guards. None of the royal guards knew what to do for they weren't really trained to defend themselves against rock missiles, and so many got crushed dead.

  Rarity helped the ponies by using her magic to find opportunities for them to strike back. In a way she was being a tactician, and a successful one at that. Soon enough the guards were retreating back out of Luna's fortress and were now fleeing, although some were captured for interrogation. But alas, it was the Lunar Republic's first victory.