Everfree City

Everfree City is a sprawling metropolis that sits inside Everfree Forest, and is the capital of the Lunar Empire.

Everfree City was constructed by the Midnight atop Everfree Bunker during the Dimensional War, and was designed to become the shining jewel of hope and a symbol of peace. The city is constantly patrolled by Midnight forces, which completely dominate the surrounding areas. Union actually founded the city as a personal gift from himself to Princess Luna and her upcoming daughter, Princess Tempus. After the two princesses settled in to their new home, Union made sure they were comfy and happy.

The city is cut clean in half by Ghastly Gorge, which runs through the city like a scar. Many bridges connect the two sides, including underground routes and surface-built footpaths. The Gorge's close proximity to a magma pocket makes it a great way for Everfree City to depend on many different power sources, in case one fails.

Everfree City runs on Elerium, Magic, Geothermal and Lunar energy, all of which are designed to grow in output should one fail or be taken offline for maintenance. It is also the only Midnight city to not depend on nuclear energy whatsoever.

A slight fault with the design means if the geothermal plant overloads, the resulting heat may cause a failure in the Elerium containment, and cause a poisonous smog to fill the underground Midnight base. Thankfully this never happens, though the Militia would've destroyed the Midnight had this occurred at any point.

Everfree City is far more defended than any other Midnight city, but it is not the storage place for the majority of Midnight technology and weapons. Little to no weapons research takes place in the labs in Everfree City, to prevent an accident akin to the Manehattan Incident or another Endeavour outbreak.

Midnight security was lax and laid back, compared to the city's future security conditions, before the Militia appeared. Their first attack on Everfree alerted the Midnight, and was classed as a tactical mistake as now the Midnight knew exactly who to look out for and what to look for. They were also more likely to shoot an enemy on sight, rather than go for the arrest.

Following the beginning of the Equestrian Civil War, the Midnight forces staged at Everfree City grew more aggressive and alert than ever, and were ordered to protect the city with their lives.

Ghastly Gorge is now host to a Midnight missile facility, capable of launching any missile at any range. In case of a launch, the city will grind to a halt as the missiles clear the city's boundaries. Once the launch has finished, the city resumes life as normal.

Everfree City is plastered with Midnight, British and Lunar flags, and has recruitment centres dotted in all its corners.

The city was heavily considered a paradise, and received the nickname "Equestria's New Capital". Princess Celestia was permitted to enter the city until she spoke out of line during a Royal Meeting, after which she was forbidden to set hoof within twenty miles of the city on pane of death. Canterlot's popularity and conditions dropped significantly, only infuriating Celestia further.

The city plays host to the Dimensional Memorial, a huge statue denoting a Royal Paladin and a Pony, the names of those who died in the Final Battle inscribed all over its faces. It has these words engraved onto a golden plaque on its front:

*Dedicated to all who gave everything to save our world. May they find peace.*

The punishment for defacing the statue is death. Outright. If a soldier sees you defile the memorial, they will shoot you without a second thought. Passing Midnight units have been known to simply stop and salute the statue. Even 200 years later, Connor stopped to salute the neglected memorial in the ruins of Everfree City.

The statue was twisted and distorted by Discord during the Chaos Incident, panicking civilians and enraging soldiers. This is what caused Union to execute Discord.

The statue is cleaned every week, usually by Paladins wearing reflective silver armour and wielding silver swords. They don't respond to any act of acknowledgement, and do not say a word while working.

Everfree City is home to the Victory Celebration, which is a large march by Midnight units that civilians may join and leave at will. Midnight officials raise flags as the soldiers march behind them, travelling from Everfree City to London, Cardiff, Dublin and Edinburgh before looping back to Everfree and ending with a two minute silence, before a huge party begins to commemorate the victory over Exodus and the birth of the Midnight Coalition. If you join the march, you may drop out at any point without consequence. However, if you attempt to divert the marching soldiers or harm one, they will shoot you while still marching, as if they didn't notice you. Civilians who march the whole way are automatically given the chance to become a Midnight soldier, already halfway to Paladin. If you turn it down, you'll be able to accept it at any point.

The Militia timed an attack to hit the parade, which caused Empire-wide outrage as the Midnight had not yet properly acknowledged the Militia as an army, rather a collection of rebelious criminals. The event of the attack caused them to strike back rather violently. The attack ended in disaster for the Militia as the march included Henry VIII Tanks and Hellraisers, as well as over twenty Royal Paladins.

Everfree City was the centre of the major ECW battle, the Battle for Everfree City. This battle saw the Midnight cut off from all support and struggling to keep the overwhelming Solar Democracy at bay, but the appearance of Union Strike, General Snow, Tundra Rift and Eclipse turned the tide and saw the Solar Democracy's first true major defeat. However, the Midnight failed to defend Sovereign and her daughter paid for it, dying at the hands of the Solar Democracy. Celestia thought this would break Sovereign, but it only made her more aggressive and bloodthirsty. Midnight morale was boosted greatly from the victory, and a second statue was constructed a fair distance from the previous. This one depicted a Paladin wielding a sword with his foot on a Solar Democracy Peacekeeper's back, and had a different plaque to its older cousin:

*Dedicated to those who died protecting our home from traitors.*

The city was fitted with a Shield Generator which had been sabotaged during the Battle for Everfree City, but reactivated afterwards. The shield is capable of withstanding any attacks. The shield may remain active during a missile launch or during an air-raid, allowing for the turrets to shoot out but preventing the aircraft from shooting in. The shield is not meant to withstand a direct nuclear strike, and does not protect against radiation.

Everfree City has a menagerie of different security measures in case any one fails, including Automated Drone Deployment Systems (ADDS) and short-range teleporters, allowing the Midnight forces to appear anywhere in the city in seconds. The ground forces are usually backed up by air support in times of invasion or -in rare cases- civil outcry.

In the event of attack, the Midnight forces are all designated four major places to defend. Everfree Palace, the Dimensional Memorial, the True Protectors Memorial and the subterranean facility entrance. If any of those areas fall, other Midnight forces are immediately scrambled to retake them.

The Midnight Castle, which sits opposite Everfree Palace, was home to the mother and father of Celestia and Luna, but became decrepit and abandoned shortly after their mother had Canterlot constructed for the two of them. The Shadow Guard once called that castle home, but left to live underground. The castle was revived by the Midnight and is now the home of Princess Luna and Princess Tempus. The castle itself has only been revived and not retrofitted, while the surrounding area is the most defended place in Equestria. If the Princesses are in trouble, six Midnight platoons and four air-fleets will arrive in a matter of seconds.

Being selected to guard Everfree's most valued areas and objects is considered a mighty honour in the Midnight, as it means your heroism and loyalty has been singled out and chosen to protect the most valuable of all cities.

The cave that contains the Tree of Harmony and the Tree of Conflict lie inside Everfree's borders, and are constantly shielded and patrolled. Nobody apart from particular Midnight personell is allowed down there, and the guards have been ordered to shoot on sight. However, there is a glass wall inside an underground touring tunnel for the tourists to see the trees, so long as they don't mind Midnight forces crawling all over that area of the underground tour.

Everfree City was the host of the Royal Meetings, which were held inside the Midnight Castle. Celestia was only permitted to enter Everfree during these meetings, and she must be accompanied by two Royal Paladins at all times. Should either Paladin be reassinged or wounded, Celestia is not permitted to take another step until the balance of two healthy guards has been restored. Following the refurbishment of the Ancient Palace, the Royal Meetings were moved there as to be neutral ground.

Everfree City was the only city to not have any of its citizens join the Militia or Solar Democracy, due to the near-perfect conditions they lived in. It was safe, comfortable, and clean. This wouldn't be the case had Union not founded the city as a gift. The shining outer layers of Everfree hid the more sisnister army that hid below it, which could deploy from beneath the roads in times of invasion.

Every year, a Blue Moon is raised by Princess Luna to mark peace within the city, and this event is celebrated by all the city's inhabitants. The celebrations include a long party, heavily guarded by the Midnight. It's said the Blue Moon can grant a single wish if it's made the instant the moon flashes blue, signifying it has reached its position in the sky. The last Blue Moon Festival happened exactly on the day of the Last Lights, which cut the celebration short as a total of ten nuclear missiles were launched from Ghastly Gorge, and Midnight operatives rushed the city's citizens out towards the Vaults and Stables. Some refused to leave their home, and died there.

Due to the city's shield, the damage done to it by the nuclear attacks was fairly minor. Radiation contaminated the entire city, and claimed all life, but the buildings were left relatively intact. About 200 years of wear-and-tear means the flags and statues of the city are now degraded and corroding, robbing the city of its majesty. Many of the bridges that connect both sides of the city have fallen into Ghastly Gorge, leaving only a few options to get across. This made the city a popular place for Raiders to set up ambushes, but it was quickly overtaken by the New Lunar Order as they tried to rebuild the old world.

Everfree Bunker was no longer active following the city's founding. Officially. The XCOM Project had made the bunker their headquarters, and fortified it so only XCOM operatives may enter via the use of a teleporter. The base locked itself into stasis, to be awoken should it detect a threat of a tyrant or an extraterrestrial presence.