The Siege of Canterlot City

—Official warning

"*For decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, Canterlot High School has tormented Petrovburg with raids and outrageous demands for tribute. Luna (under the urgent task of his uncle – President Diana), seeks to cast off the CHS oppressors and restore Canterlot City to its former glory. Will Luna and his presidential army with Principal Celestia as their true backbone be a match for the armies of Canterlot High School?*"
— Official description
**The Siege of Canterlot City** is the fourth chapter of the Battle for Petrovburg stories in the Luna the Miracle Boy series in which is based on the Battle of Bukhara that was held in the year 557 in ancient Uzbekistan.

In this folk story, the main character is the Canterlot Presidential Army led by Luna (with the assistance of his counterpart – Principal Tony), trying to make up for the humiliating defeat by Canterlot High School – who always blackmailing Petrovburg's wealth with the outrageous demands in their regaining the land that was lost.

## Intro

*Seventy-three long years have passed since thousands of nomadic riders flooded the eastern borders of Canterlot City, defeated the district's army, and killed the mayor himself. The invaders from Equestria plunged deep into the heartland of the republic. The weakened Canterlot Presidential Palace had no choice but to give in to the outrageous demands of tribute that was proposed by Canterlot High School.*

*Now, Diana the Muslim noble gentleman is ready to take revenge for the eternal shame cast upon his republic.*

*The presidential heralds visit the four corners of the republic to gather one of the largest armies this world has ever seen. But even with an army that could fill the space between the regional borders with Vernadia and Seborga, Canterlot High's pony archers will not be easily beaten.*

*Diana knows that perhaps the only way to ensure victory is to ally with another nomadic people: the Crystal Preps. These nomads from Equestria hardly touched by civilization hate the Canterlot High as much as the whole Petrovs do in their hate to Communism and Zionism. They are as tough and hardy as the Canterlot High, and most importantly, can strike those intruders from their rear.*

*The earth trembles as thousands of the Equestrian ponies travel to battle. Diana will soon show the world that the Republic of Petrovburg is still a force to be reckoned with.*

## Involved belligerents

 **Villains** | **Canterlot High School****Canterlot High Forces** (neutral → enemy)**Canterlot High Raiders****Crystal Prep Forces** (neutral → ally → enemy)

## Battle informations

### Info

* There are several towns scattered around Canterlot City. As they are on the edge of the republic's capital, they are unprotected and vulnerable to the Equestria's nomadic raids.
* The Crystal Prep Forces is known as the nomadic people from Equestria, except that they train some Crystal pony forces.
* The Canterlot High have captured several of Petrovburg's fortifications and are threatening Canterlot Presidential Palace. For now, they are satisfied with the Presidentials' annual tributes of gold, but sooner or later they will make open war on Petrovburg on their behalf of Princess Aulia. Their army consists of the cavalry archers and the cavalry knights, as well as swift siege engines.
* The lucrative Canterlot-Vernadia Silk Road, an inter-district trade route stretching from Canterlot to Vernadia, winds through this republic.

### Main objectives

* Join Luna and guide him to Canterlot Presidential Palace.
* Luna and his family must survive.
* President Diana and his presidential guards will arrive once Canterlot Presidentials has its powerful army.
* Don't allow Canterlot Presidential Palace to be destroyed, otherwise, the people of Petrovburg will rise up against you.
* Defeat the Canterlot High Raiders.
* Force Princess Aulia to surrender by storming her military camp at the field before Manehattan.

### Optional objectives

* Protect the republic's trade carts and markets on the Canterlot-Vernadia Silk Road to keep on getting gold tributes.
* Protect the towns and villages within Canterlot City to keep getting their resources.
* Pay 400 gold in tribute to the Canterlot High within 5 minutes. (later 600 and 1,000 gold).
* Bring a messenger to the Crystal Prep Castle outside of Seborga to form an alliance with them.
* Destroy Canterlot High's castles at Ponyville and Los Santos.
* Liberate Seborga to stop the Crystal Preps' betrayal.
* Send some presidential civilians to Vernadia Fire Temple.
* Hire Principal Celestia (Princess Finlandia Salsabila) by giving 1,500 gold to her.

### Hints

* Protect Canterlot Presidential Palace, towns, and villages within Canterlot City to ensure a steady flow of income.
* Paying tribute to the Canterlot High is not obligatory, but the Canterlot High are a dangerous adversary and placating them early on will give the presidential civilians time to build an army.
* Forming an alliance with the longtime rival of the Canterlot High – the Crystal Prep Forces, will help you in defeating the Canterlot High.
* If the presidential civilians are low on gold, they can establishing a trade route with the trading post at the other end of the Canterlot-Vernadia Silk Road will turn a great profit.
* Petrovburg pony cavalries dominate the republic's defense, countering them with other Equestrian counterparts will be the most cost-effective solution. A more costly but also viable strategy is using the Equestria Pony Riders.
* Storming the field before Manehattan is the best way to force Princess Aulia to surrender. If you capture her successfully, the Canterlot High will surely surrender.
* The Celestial foot archers can regenerate. They come at a great price but are worth their weight in gold.

## Losing conditions

* Luna and his families are killed.
* Canterlot Presidential Palace is destroyed.
* Canterlot High's assaults are successful.

## Battle strategies

At the start, Luna should try escorting himself to the presidential palace as fast as possible. Protect the allied district from being raided to make sure to keep on getting resources from them and recruits the presidential army. Wall off every regional border access to block the raider onslaught. It's advisable to control the border with some laser towers to attack the Canterlot High and their raiders attempting to cross the border.

There are many ways to earn gold in this district should the mines get depleted. At the western border of Canterlot City lies a holy mosque named "Fire Temple" – dedicated to Vernadia monks. Sending 5 or 10 civilians to them will recruit their monks and a relic. There are four CHS towers that need to be destroyed and replaced with the presidential ones. Not only by doing so, Canterlot Presidentials will earn 100 gold every minute, they can also trade safely with the Vernadian markets, giving Canterlot Presidentials even more gold. There is also Stamford River (north to Seborga), near the Crystal Preps camp where the presidential civilians can trade with to earn furthermore gold. Canterlot Presidentials will have no trouble whatsoever with gold in its treasury.

As time progresses, the Canterlot High will periodically ask for large tributes of gold, first at 400, then 600, and then finally 1,000. It is important to note if Canterlot Presidentials plans to follow the demands (coinage is automatically upgraded at the start of the game); failure to do so would result in the Canterlot High changing their stance with Canterlot Presidentials to the enemy, so it is ill-advised to refuse to pay unless Luna has an army large enough to withstand the onslaught of the Canterlot High. But while this can exacerbate an already stressful situation, especially with dealing with the Canterlot High Raiders, it is important to know that the Canterlot High will eventually stop asking Luna for tribute permanently after he paying the final 1,000 gold tribute, which then would allow him to focus on building up gold again without interruption. If Luna intends to keep up with the tributes, make sure to stockpile gold resources early on to avoid problems.

A bit south to the mosque lies a camp with the Canterlot Presidential secretary and a few pavilions. This is a camp that trains the celestial guards – called Celestial Archers. Clicking on the main pavilion will produce 60 celestial foot archers for 1,500 gold. It is advisable to train these and combine them with another cavalry before declaring war on the Canterlot High.

Once Luna gains his army, the war is declared on the Canterlot High, and he'll have to defeat them. Watch out for their trebuchets and cavalry archers combination. They'll also make other units like monks and garrisoned rams but in smaller amounts. The best way to counter them is by making some pony archers, pony knights, and another heavy cavalry (including celestial foot archers – a heavy armored regenerating foot archers). Alternatively, if Luna and his friends earned huge amounts of gold from the mentioned quests above, massing an enormous army of Savarans and the Equestria Pony Riders to outnumber the Canterlot High is a great alternative too since the Canterlot High's units are not as well-armored comparing to the heavy Petrovburger cavalry units and might fall to them easily. Luna can also build several castles near Canterlot City gates will aid him in this immortal fight. There's also the possibility to ally the Crystal Preps. The Crystal Preps have excellent Crystal cavalry archers and the Crystal cavalry knights so they'll help Canterlot Presidentials distract the Canterlot High and raid their towns. Remember that the Canterlot High will only attempt to rebuild basic military structures such as Stables and Archery Range when destroyed by Luna and his presidential army, but will not attempt to rebuild their castles and monasteries. Therefore, the Castles should be the primary target of Luna's trebuchets so that the Canterlot High could no longer create their own. He can attempt to sneak some petards to blow up the Monastery, but he should do it immediately after the war is declared. Once Luna has destroyed all Canterlot High Castles and their military which would make it easier to research "Spies" immediately as it only costs 200 gold! However, the Crystal Preps will betray him, but they're not that strong as the Canterlot High and should be easy to defeat. Once Princess Aulia has been captured, the Canterlot High will resign, Vernadia and Canterlot City win this immortal battle.

## Quotes

*For more quotes, see the episode's transcript.*

## Outro

*It was late at night when the Petrovburger national policemen brought Princess Aulia to the palace. Calmly, Principal Tony instructed all of them to leave the presidential palace. As soon as they were alone, Princess Aulia began berating the President to his face.*

*Since his birth, Luna was chosen by Allah to be the savior of Petrovburg along with his friends.*

*And Aulia was a traitor to the country. She was a zealot, as I have told; for her, the world was black and white. The goals of the Canterlot Presidential Army were as incomprehensible to her as her righteous fire was to President Diana.*

*I could see them through a slit in the palace entrance door: the President could barely hide his disgust for this freaking princess who talked roughly to him as if he were a mere commoner. Yet, he retained his composure. When she was finished, he let a long silence fall in the room.*

*At last, Diana spoke in a low voice: "If some of your curse magic is indeed your allies, Aulia, where ware they at Canterlot City? Where are they now?" He did not allow her time to answer.*

*"The moment that I heard of your capture, I dispatched two emissaries: one to the Petrovs and one to your allies, each with the same proposal: 10,000 advocates in return for Equestria. I am a nobleman, girl. If the curse magic has not abandoned you and wishes to set you free, I will allow you to stay alive. But if not..."*

*First Lady Camilla and two Petrovburg policemen entered the palace. With a look of almost pity for the chic princess, Diana nodded. The policemen grabbed her by the arms. As they dragged her out, President Diana sighed and said: "Alas, Aulia, it is nothing personal. It is only politics."*

*There she is now; can you see? The Petrovs are tying her to the pole. For a short while, this chic princess was the symbol of tyranny. Now, her death will symbolize the final defeat of Canterlot High School and the CHS Forces.*

*Watch this moment: she is completely burned in the flames and died! The men who decide the fate of nations. For them, for us, this is not the burning of a heretic, nor the downfall of a hero. It is, like all things, a means to an end.*

## References

1. **Main course**
	* https://ageofempires.fandom.com/wiki/Bukhara