Excerpts from the Luna War

Chapters

Defiance
Planing
Worries
Leadership
News
Slaughter
Loyality
Goodbyes
Danger
History
Lies
Devotion
Wrath
Sacrifice
Truth
Neverfree

Defiance

The taste of blood was clear in my mind as I raised myself from the floor, my legs wobbling and my hoofs sore. With tired but determined eyes I glared, at her. Her dark as night coat strangely enough had a gleaming aura in the nightlight. Her nighsky-like mane flowed freely around her as she looked down at me, her expression a beautiful and yet terrifying grin.

"Enough! Let us pass and leave our sight you weak pony. This is no longer your fight."

There was a momentary silence as I opened my mouth, letting some of the blood and saliva that had build up pour out and cover my white coat and the golden chestplate of my armor. I raise my head and steady my hold to the floor, my eyes meeting her's.

"You know my oath, you heard it just like she did!" I close my eyes as my horn begins to glow, shielding myself in a bright blue aura "I will not abandon my post no matter the circumstances."

More silence.

A cracking of air.

A dark cloud formed above the black as night mare and she steps closer. Her intimidating presence runs shivers down my spine. My body tells me to run away, but the feel of the cold golden door behind me keeps me in place. And then the first wave of magical energy hits my makeshift magical shield, causing me to groan and wince.

Normally a unicorn would create the shield in such a way that the impacts on it would not be too directly felt for the maker of the shield, but my exaustioned left me weak, and every push went directly to my horn, and brain. Whincing and pushing myself stronger against the door behind me my mind begs for the pain to end, but instead the pressure only increases, till I can feel the first cracks start to form in my mental defenses.

Growling and coughing I suddenly open my eyes and leap forward, right past my now shattered shield and into the more then two times taller mare. She was surprised, but not hurt, by my sudden assult. Her larger frame easily holds steadfast to my tired tackle and before even two clockbeats had passed I had multiple magic auras surround my body and throw me backwards into the golden door I had sworn to gaurd.

As the door makes contact with my spine and bashes against my head I try to scream out but all that escapes my lips is a pathatic cough and whimper. While my eyes tried to regain focus and my brain worked to ignore the pain that was rushing through my body the booming voice of the princess of the night made itself be heard clearly.

"I really liked you, your loyality, your determination. But you had to pick the losing side, why? Has Celestia brainwashed you thus utterly?"

With every word I could feel her get closer to me, and the presure of the magic pushing me into the door increasing. The door had been made for symbolic rather then tactical measures, I could already feel the makeshift baricades holding it closed giving way to my body. Groaning in pain I do my best to do what little I can, speak.

"I swore my oath to you just as I swore it to her, and if you were in her place I would have fought for you as I fight for her... but you are not in your right mind. You are a traitor to your own sister!"

"Wrong... she betrayed me first. She forced this apon me!"

With that another wave of energy pushed against my shattered body, and the door finally gave way and bursts open. My body flies through the now opening doors and many winglenghs into the throneroom beyond. Finally my body comes once more to contact with floor, as it slides another few hooflenghs across it, forcing me to cough up more blood and saliva.

My eyes focus on the entrance to the throneroom, and through the wide open door walks in Luna and her newly formed personal guard. She once more looks on my now utterly broken body, and for a moment she frowns, then smiles to an almost deranged level.

"Thankyou, so nice of you to let us in. Now, where is that princess you were supposed to be guarding?"

I could see the feint nervous shifting in Luna's guard as their eyes locked onto the bright shining princess Celestia on her majestic throne. Normally her frame was a beauty to behold, but now clad in full armor and her eyes gleaming with furry just looking apon her is an excercise in courage.

Her voice boomed even louder then Luna's had, and hearing it filled my heart with pride.

"Little sister, you have gone much to far with this. So much has been destroyed in your mad quest for power, and I have let you do so... because I could not find the strengh to harm the pony I loved so much. But it is obvious that you are not that same loving pony. Because of you there is not a single pony in Equestria who did not have to make a sacrifice to this ville war."

Looking over at my princess I could see her pick herself up from her throne and take a step forward. Luna's guard quickly but with obvious signs of fear rushing foward, creating a wall between the two most powerful ponies in Equestria. Neither of which said anything for a seemingly endless moment. Till Luna steps forward hersef, past her own now very confused guard.

"Celestia, I have defeated your army, I hold Canterlot, and I am standing in your throne room. Outside are thousands of ponies loyal to the new system. If anypony has been forcing the citizens of Equestria to make sacrificies it is you. Surrender and let this war come to an end today. We both know that if you refuse those loyal to you will continue to fight and die for many years too come."

I had been guarding Celestia for most of my life, and the glimmer in her eyes spoke for her, it was the same glimmer she had since the begining of this war, sadness. Celestia was a leader, but not a pony of war. She had never wanted this war and her refusal to face it had brought her Equestria down on her.

Seeing her like this, once more without the strengh and courage to face her sister the way she should, I bring my hoofs under my body and push myself up. Every bone hurts, a few of them cracked and pain shoots up and down my spine. No one takes notice of my struggle, till I have trotted all the way to the stairs leading to the throne. Spitting blood on the floor I yell with a ragged voice.

"M..My princess, do not listen to this upstarter! She might once have been your sister, but insanity has driven her to actions that can never be excused. These ponies are not following her because they love her, but because you refuse to take action..." I could feel a stabing pain inside of my chest, one of my ribbones must have been broken and the motions caused it to stab into me. Whimpering I continue "If... you prove them that you are willing to fight, and can win... they will return to y--"

My last word is unfinished as my legs give out on me and I fall to the floor, falling my chest and gasping out. Breathing as shallow as I can due to every breath hurting I focus my eyes upwards, at Luna and my princess past her.

My world begann to fade to darkness as my eyes lost focus, but I imagine to be able to see that weakness in Celestia's eyes disapear, replaced with that same determinated shine that marked my own eyes. Her voice sounded far away, but as wonderful as ever.

"Luna, I am sorry... but this pony is correct, my innaction has caused things to come this far. I could have, and should have, ended this earlier. Now I fear there is only one way to end this war, and I am sorry for it."

The guards of the night princess rushed forward once more, ready to defend their princess against any assult, but when a sudden bright flash of light comes from the Celestia they stop in their tracks, knowing that they hold no real power against her.

Through the hazzy darkness over my vision I see a rainbow, brighter then my eyes ever have behold one. A scream, Luna's scream, and another flash.

And as sudden as it had started it was over, my whole word faded to darkness.

Planing

A dead silence followed by mumbling and uncertain glances was all that greeted the grim news. It had barly been a month since Luna had called independence from her sisters regime and declared her own nation, leaving the citizens of Equestria confused and devided. But as it turns out, the princess of the sun would not support this claim.

"How many?"

The moon princess asked with a hint of worry in her voice. I place my hoofs on the large wooden table and overlook the map desplaying our current headquaters. The city of Hoofington. It was a proud city with longstanding ties and loyality to the night goddes, and was the first to join when she rose up to take what was hers.

"F—fourthousand m—my highness."

The young scouts voice rang with the same fear that had touched every heart in this room. Raising my head to look around my eyes meet those of many my elder. Some of them being heros of past conflicts and battles, and yet all of them with a cowards expression. It was obvious that they did not plan to meet their enemy in battle, much rather they wou--.

"My queen, it would be stratigicly wise to consider marching north across the border to the Gryphon empire. We could ask for their alligance and return to liberate Equestria with the force needed for the task."

Another round of silence, mumbling, indecisiveness. The dark frown and utter silence expressed by my queen told me all that I needed to know. She had the desire to stay, protect her people and fight for them if needed. But her advisors, her generalls, her army, they wanted to run, to tell her it was smart to run. With a growl I bring my hoof down on the table once more, with enough strengh to force a banging noise and draw the eyes of everypony in the room to me. Me, the youngest of the ponies present and expected to stay quiet and out of the way, having all the attention on me.

"I b---- My highness, how can anypony stand and support your claim if you are not willing to do so yourself? Hoofington is your city, your followers, if you abandon it for Celestia's army to ravage not a single pony in Equestria will have faith your claim."

Outward I shone with confidence, internally I felt at the brink of breaking as the eyes staring at me burned themself into my mind. There was another wave of muttering from the assembled military minds, this one louder and with more energy. A grey earthpony of older years, the same pony who had stated the original plan, sternly voiced his retaliation.

"And so you ask for our queen to stay here with not even twothousand battleready ponies and fight Celestia's royal army head on? Have you even witnessed a war before? Why are you in this room if you have no sense of reason?"

After that last statment it was obvious that sides had started to form around the room, even if nopony had voiced it. Equestria was not on the best of terms with their Gryphon neibors and many of the generals here had fought against them at least once. The idea to ask them for help and an army to liberate Equestria when another option had been drawn to attention was very unapealing to them. And that was the moment I had to push.

"My queen, there is no reason in running from the best defensible position and instead hiding behind those who will use you as a political bargaining tool. This is one of the biggest cities in Equestria, if threatened and assulted it will flock to our support. All we need to do is give them the equipment and we will have the forces to withstand this attack."

This time there was another moment of silence as the ponies present considered this statment. It was obvious that the ponies of Hoofington were as loyal to their queen as anypony here. If they were were attacked there would be few ponies that would not raise arms to defend their home and their goddes. One of the pegasuspony generals pitched in, his coat pure black and his expression certain.

"For having no sense this young boy speaks reason, with the proximity to the gryphon empire these ponies are not new to the idea of war, or defending their homeland. Their equipment might not be that of the royal guards but most of us here have experience with war then those pompous royal ponies all the way in Canterlot ever hope to learn."

There was more mumbling and it was obvious that the tone of the room was shifting from uncertainty to a more determined sound, much more befiting to a group of veteran generals. However, there were still those who held objections to such a daring stand.

"My queen, I beg you to consider reason, if we fail here---"

Suddenly the queens voice boomed loudly through the room, silencing anypony who was speaking at the time.

"If we fail here we have no right to call Equestria ours and ask the ponies who live here to fight for us. We will not run, we will not hide, and we will not let those who trust in us be our shield! As the queen of this nation we must be the shield for our people instead."

The queen of the night and moon punctuated her statment with flared wings and a stern look across all of her followers. Which ominousy showed their support with proud nods. With that single statment from her the whole debate had been settled, Hoofington would be out stand against Celestia's royal forces. The darkblue pony smiles warmly and relaxes her body, giving a greatful look across the room. As she spoke again her voice still rung with that level of control that worthy of a leader.

"I want the pegasi to scout the area surrounding the city indepth, update our maps and reasure that we know exactly what road they will be taking and how long it is till they arrive. The earthponies and unicorns have to work together to talk to the civilians of this city, tell them of the threat we are facing and take a tally of all the available equipment, then teach them. We will have another meeting after moonrise, you are all dismissed."

All the ponies stayed for a few more seconds, waitng for Luna to have withdrawn herself toward her private chamber before relaxing, a sign of respect toward their queen. Most of the ponies fell back to their own kin, the pegasi generals grouping together and the unicorn and earthponies slowly intermixing as they start to organize their plans. I was about to turn away from the table when to my surprise one of the earthponies calls me over. A bit worried to be reprimanded for my earlier outburst I trot over and stand infront of the older general with a respectfully attentive but still subbmisive stance. The yellow coated earthpony with a black mane and of medium age smiled surprisingly warmly at me, bringing a hoof to pat on my shoulder as he spoke.

"Now, no reason to worry, what you did back there was your right. As one of us, one of Luna's personally chosen advisors," he says with rather obvious pride "you have every right to speak up when you believe your thoughts are sound. In fact, I would say it is your duty." The earthpony gave a glance over to his older and grey kinspony.

The pony I had debated with grunted and turned toward us, looking me straight in the eyes as he speaks.

"You think that just because Luna supported your idea it was better? I have seen more battles then you have seasons, to risk everything like this is a fools idea. Ponies of your age should be fighting on my order, not giving me orders!"

After coming just a little to close to my face he suddenly turns away and trots out of the room, leaving me and eight other ponies looking rather dumbfounded. After a while the strange silence leaves the room and all he ponies return to their planing, the yellow pegasus smiling at me once more.

"Don't mind him, he is just really old... probably afraid he will faint at the sight of a battle."

I suddenly felt very out of place, never having heard of these ponies talk about their own in such a way before. Listening to every word, afraid that missing anything would be a sign of disrespect.

"Now, we will split into groups of one earthpony and and one unicorn and order our groups to cover the city in a grid based system." Looking toward me now "Considering that you are the only pony here without any designated forces of your own I will take you under my 'wing'" the yellow earthpony grumbled to himself "and teach you the ropes."

It seemed that the other generals had already agreed to this idea, and I was happy to finally be given some attention and be picked up in the ranks of these ponies. As the group disperses I follow the pony who had made himself my mentor, out of the war planning room into it the city of Hoofington.

Worries

A warm spring breeth flowed through my coat and mane, feeling refreshing and relaxing as I trot through the palace gardens. They were splenderous and beautiful, how they grew so well all the way up here was a question that probably only practiced scholars of magic could answer. Not that it matter to me, it was nice and that was all that mattered right now.

No matter how many times I had to do it, guarding a door most of your day never became a very entertaining job, certainly not the excitment that joining the royal guards implied. Though, I guess I should not complain about a lack of action, peace in Equestria is good. And it is n---

My thoughts come to a hault as turning a corner left me staring at the most beautiful sight my eyes had ever behold, and I quickly bowed my head low in sign of respect. After a moments of silence I dared to dart an eye upward and found that the sun goddes infront of me had not even taken notice of me. Feeling very awkward and a little embarrassed I return to my normal stance and look over at the sight that had her so enthralled.

Celestia was beholding the land below her, the garden area here build as a plateau that looked off the mountain and gave view over a wide area of nothern Eqeuestria. The view was indeed rather impressive to behold, though I assumed that it had been here for a long time and would not come a surprise to my queen. And at this point she took notice of me, turning her head toward me and smiling warmly, and yet I believed to see a faint sign of pain bothering her.

"Sir Starshine, yes? I apologize if that is the wrong name... I fear that sometimes there are too many to keep track off."

It was obvious in her voice that the alicorn was speaking sincerely, always trying to show her subjects as much respect as she recieved from them. For me however it just caused me to feel unworthy of the respect, shifting slightly awkward before saluting to her. My words were somewhat flustered, it was not the first time I had beheld my princess as I had guarded her halls for many cycles, but never had I talked to her off my post.

"Ye—yes my highness. And... thank you. I apologize if I... interupted your thoughts or otherwhise disturbed the peace."

I fall sillent, and Celestia's eyes stay on me, as if studying me and my words. Then she flashes another rather pained smille and looks back out over her land.

"I know how information spreads throughout the ranks, you have heard of it... what are your thoughts on the news? Do you have any family in the affected areas?"

At this point I was frozen in place, from being the first time I had talked to the princess off duty it had quickly become the first time, and probably the last, that my princess would ask me of my opinion on a matter of such scale. Breathing somewhat nervously I turn to look over the below landscape more naturally and speak with carefully picked words.

"I do... not wish to imply that I dable in rumors your highness... but if there really was---"

The sun princess suddenly interupted, her voice still warm, but with a hint of annoyance.

"There was, just answer my question."

A moment of silence as I did not even dare to draw a breath, then suddenly Celestia sighs heavily, her voice no longer ringing with warms.
"From everywhere come in reports that my own subjects are rising against my rule, and now sources imply that they are forming under the age old banner of my own sister. Ponies are looking for me to tell them what to do, for me to fix this as soon as possilbe." Letting out another heavy sigh the alicorn pony drops her head in shame "I do not know what to tell them. Th..the fact that it has come this far is prove that I am not capable of solving this."

To some ponies this might have been a curious or even interseting sight to behold, the princess of the sun so at a lack of answers. To me it was a life shattering view, I had become a royal guard in admiration for those I would proect and serve. Celestia who had always been regarded as the wisest and kindest of ponies the world had ever seen, the one who could solve any problem in a day. And Luna, the beauty of the night who always watched over and guared her subjects, a militarist mind with the heart of a peace dove.

Now Celestia was standing beside me, at a lack of answers and as lost as every other pony in her empire. And Luna was considered to the cause of this uprise, having abondened her sisters side and called for her own empire to form from her seat in Hoofington. The events had shaken the natural peace of Equestria and it did not take long for the first messagers from varius cities and towns to arrive, wishing to inquire on the goverments actions to restore this peace.

It had now been a week since the first of those messagers arrived and since then Celestia had refused to speak on the matter, leaving the nation to grow uneasy and impatiant. No one yet dared to draw her rule into question, but some rumors about her disgruntled advisors had come to my ears. With the best thoughtful voice I could muster I tried to answer her earlier question.

"L..Luna broke her oath to her nation, her subjects, and to you. I do not see how she could be in the right doing so. An..and there is not a single pony in Equestria who would question your judgment... you are the wisest pony to have ever lived."

I tried to sound smart, but my words felt hollow. Not because they were lies or that I did not believe them, but because they felt like the exact same words any other pony in Canterlot would speak. By Celestia's soft sigh I could hear that she agreed, looking once more toward me and speaking with her once more warm but still sad voice.

"And what if we are wrong and Luna had a reason for her actions? I just can not believe that any of my or her subjects would follow her if they did not see righteousness in her cause. Even if I was the whisest of ponies, I am being asked to pass judgments over ponies I have never met, far away from this place."

To my surprise I find myself nodding in curious agreement, hoping deeply that she did not see my action. I try to speak, but suddenly another voice cuts me off.

"My highness, I beg my pardon to interupt your moment of peace from the matters at hoof but the council is assembled and ready to hear your decision."

There was another short silence, and I believed to hear the sun princess let out a soft sigh before turning herself around and greeting the pony that had interupted us with her normal warm voice.

"Yes, of course. I have no intent on keeping the ever so busy ponies of the council waiting." There was a hint of sarcasm in her voice but she did indeed move toward the pony, which by turning around I could now see was one of Celestia's chief advisors. He was a dark grey unicorn of middle age and wore his violet clothring over the front of his chest, it had the pin signaling his rank on it.

Knowing the value of that simple position I could not help but look down at my own plate armor, well smithed metal plate with a thin layer of gold and held together with a blue star. The design was old, dating back to the pre Equestrian times and a heritage of the pegasi empire, but still one of the best the world had ever seen. Or at least that is what we are told, and hope to be true, considering they even stuff earthponies and unicorns into it.

Seemingly having been compleetly lost in my thoughts about armor and the origin of them I get withdrawn to the real world by a loud "ahhem". Looking up my eyes meet a friendly smile from Celestia and I quickly feel inclined to bow once more, before I can though she speaks.

"I thank you for the discussion we had, but now I have to take my leave to pass judment over ponies I have never met."

There was a moment of awkward silence as her rather blatant wording was clear to me, and that advisor pony. But just as Celestia turns away from me I find words, not very smart words, but words.

"W..would... I be allowed to... be present? At... the discusion. I don't--"

Why I would ask such a thing I was not sure, whatever decision was be made would come to my ears soon eitherway, and I had no place in a room full with the most powerful ponies of Equestria. Semingly the advisor agreed, his frown telling me what I need to know before he turns away from me and toward the garden exit. Celestia however does not move yet, once more studying me with her old and wise eyes.

"What do you hope to achieve by being present at such a meeting?"

That was indeed a good question, and one I did not really have the answer to. But not wanting to keep my princess waiting I open my mouth anyway, and let free the first words that would come.

"I... I wish to learn more about the way our nation is run and makes decisions. The way you... talked about it made me curious."

It was impossible for me to tell if I was lying or not, but if I was I would have shuned myself, to lie to my queen was never an intent I had. The next pony to speak was not Celestia but instead the advisor, who had now returned to the plateau.

"My queen, no offense to this fine pony but he is a guard and not an scholar of politics. If we let him listen to our discussions he will tell his fellow ponies about them and rumors and false information will spread."

It was a reasonable argument I thought, and probably the reason why such meetings were at all held behind closed doors, but to my suprise Celestia seemed unaffected by it.

"Rumors and false information already spread like wildfire, no matter what we try to do to stop them. Having one more pony present at such a meeting will not make this any worse. And as for his position as a guard, I believe a royal guard has the right to know how those that decide his life make those decisions."

Her statments were clear, and it was obvious to both me and the advisor that it was not a point to be further argued, and as such another short silence passed. Before the queen motioned a hoof for me to follow her and she turned back toward the advisor once more.
"Take me and sir Starshine to the council."And then she turned her head toward me "However, I ask you to not interefer with the councils discussions. You can be present and listen in with my goodwill, but I doubt any of these ponies would stand for taking advice from a royal guard."

The queen let out another soft sigh and I nodded, having had no intention to speak so much as a word at the meeting.

"Yes, my highness."

The walk was quiet and uneventful, if not counting in some of my friends from the guard who would bow to Celestia as we pass, and then give me the most questioning of stare. It was also a rather short walk, ending with a small double door that looked to be made out of pure gold, the two guards standing duty on it opened the doors for us and we entered.

Leadership

Thunk
The sound combined with the hefty pushback was something I had grown accostomed too over the years, the following scream however still send shivers down my spine. At least it implied that I had hit my target, it was not about the one that was hit so much as the ones who would be scared off.

"Keep pushing! You are not going to die in some godessforsaken land like this! Crossbows, cover the---" Our commander, who had let us against the initial ambush and then made sure we would keep our hoofs on the ground, fighting for all we had, was silenced in a single unlucky moment. Being busy reloading my crossbow I was hiding behind a barrel and looking right at him as he spoke, and a bolt struck his unguarded throat.

All of that were still left, a meager barly twenty ponies, wasted a moment of their fight to glance over at the now choking general. A legend of military leadership, ended not by a fair fight but a cunning trap. Our spirits were shaken by this, those who were supposed to lead the next charge foward did not move, and those who had orders to cover them with crossbow fire barly dared to show themself.

I could not blame any of my fellow soldiers, non of us were fully armored do to the surprise of the assault, and to kill a Gryphon seemed pointless, they were only waiting for one to die to in turn send in a new one. So far the only thing that kept us from being overwhelmed was the tightness of the corridors, purpesly build that way to be easily defendable. Not that any of that matter now, because this day had been nothing but a disaster. And now all of us would die here, deep in the Gryphon king's palace, Luna left to fend for herself, unaware--

"Just because he is dead does not mean his orders are! We have have even more of a reason to fight now! First longsword group, charge on my command. Crossbows, arm your weapons and hold fire till my command. These poor bastards know what just happened, but not that we are still willing to fight."

I am not sure what caused me to take up lead, but my duty to Luna meant that I could not die here today, not this close. As expected there were many uncertain glances and murmurs throughout the ranks of the few ponies still alive, the cold sting of our most recent loss still clouding their minds. But to my suprise the orders were fully accepted, the ponies armed with longsword taking cover behind our makeshift defenses while each and every crossbow was armed and cocked.

There was a strange silence throughout the hallway that was so recently filled with yells and the ringing noises of steel, the silence made it obvious that our enemy was as uneasy as we were. But then sound returned to the world, there was a loud screetching sound, the leading officer of the Gryphons was talking to us.

"Ponies, you have fought well! But your general lies dying and you are surrounded, place down your weapons and come out of that deathtrap, you will be treated... fairly."

The Gryphon did not even have to say it, but he meant fairly in context of how fairly Gryphon's treat their prisoners. However, I gave no order for us to move and instead I yelled back, giving careful glances to both sides of our defences.

"He is not dead! But we need medical help for him, if you want him alive you need to come over here now!"

There was a momentarly silence and more mumbling between my ranks, and then a response from the Gryphon.

"Why would we care about the life of a pony? If you want him to live bring him over here!"

The uncertainty in his voice made me smile for the first time today, I had him exactly where I wanted him.
"I believe you know very well why you would want him alive. To have captured the greatest general of all time, the one who destroyed many of those stinking Gryphon armies and faulted many invasions. I believe your kin named him Shakin?"

It was obvious to me that I botched the Gryphon word, there were not many ponies who could speak Gryphon, less so now. But false pronounciation or not, my statment drew a reaction, there were various loud Gryphon screetches and yells, disorder.

Suddenly Gryphon's showed themself on the other side of the barricades. Five Gryphons with heavily platemail and flanking a golden plated Gryphon of older age and with worn out feathers. Behind them advanced five leatherclothed Gryphons with crossbows and still behind them, in the cover of the makeshift baricades where three more gryphons with crossbows.

I could practically feel the nervousness of the ponies around me as I counted them. From the twenty-one ponies left eight were our rearguard, which left me with seven crossbows and five longswords. With an almost foreign confidence I stood up tall to meet them, and instantly had all sevent crossbows aimed at me. I gulped and breathed burdened, but this was still what I had planned for. The Gryphon commander's eyes glared at me, steping forward as he speaks.

"I promised you to be treated fairly, and your comrads will. But for you, and your little speech, you will lose your tongue!"

As his last words come from his beak his guards rush forward, the first four past me and the fourth to smash the hilt of his sword into my skull. But also as his last words falls I yell out "Fire!" all seven of my crossbowponies fire, so close to the gryphon's that even the heavy platemail does not stop the bolts, causing them to yell out in surprise and terror as three are downed instantly and a fourth has his bladeclaw struck.

The Gryphon crossbow's hear this, and panic as they take hasty aim and fire of their own bolts. Three of them suceeding in striking down their own ally, the same Gryphon who was about to strike me down, another three missing completely, and the last striking a pony I had earlier today ate and laughed with, in the forhead.

Feeling the Gryphons blood splatter on me and seeing the blatant terror in the commanders eyes before me I yell out once more "Charge!". The five longswordponies obeying my order and finishing off the wounded Gryphon guard, and the commander as they pass me.

The five Gryphon crossbows who had followed the guards were caught by surprise and overtaken almost in an instant, the heavy blades easily running through their leather armor. Though one of them had not yet shot, a Gryphon with nerves of steel, a rare sight, and he managed to strike down another pony. His bolt was not instantly fatal, as the pained screams from our comrade made rather clear.

But we had no time to check on him, as much as I hated the thought, we had to move. The longsword ponies, filled with anger over their losses, kept charging while I motion for the crossbows to reload and advance. Sending out one of them to inform our rear guard of the push and to order them to follow up.

And for once we had luck, those Gryphons who had managed to escape us must have been so panicked and terrefied that they disheartened anyone they met. Our charge met surprisingly little resistance, only single Gryphons daring to stand against us in the cramp hallways, and being outnumbered they were downed easily.

Still, it was not a perfect fight, by the time we had finally reached our goal, two large iron doors leading into the meeting chamber, only fifteen of us were left, the rearguard having met up with us with only five left.

Panting heavily and feeling my muscles flare up in pain I and two other ponies push open he heavy doors, looking inside and being greeted by a rather marvolous sight.

Our princess, sitting peacefully at a table with two other ponies and three Gryphons, all clad in fancy robes and clothes. The moment the doors had opened all the way we were the center of attention. The two pony diplomats stared at us in confusion and disbelief, the Gryphons in terror and panick. And Luna, Luna looked at us with instant understanding and eyes that burned with anger.

Before anypony could have spoken the few of us that were left were rushed inside by Luna, and the doors closed and locked by a magical auroa. The alicorn princess glaring now at the three Gryphons, who had not even dared to move from their seat.

"What is the meaning of this?! Why bring us all the way here to discuss peace only to assult and murder my followers?!"

There was silence, the Gryphon's refusing to speak, either due to loyality to their cause or simply out of fear. The first pushes against the heavy doors draw our attention, the Gryphon's trying to enter, but then those noises stop as suddenly as they started. They know that Luna is in here, and furious. It is doubtfull that there is a single Gryphon who would dare enter this room at this time, but neiher would they let us leave. We were tired, hurt and covered in blood, hopelessly we looked over to the princess we had sworn to protect, and in the irony of it all we begged for her to protect us.

News

Murmuring and whispers, uncommon sounds for the halls of the palace guards. Not that we did not know the reason for it, it had been two weeks since a small force of the royal guards were sent to subdue the revolt in Hoofington, and instead of their return all that came back was a meager force of two- hundred unarmed and beaten ponies.

It is said that rumors spread quickly through the militaristic ranks, but this was not even worth qualifying as a rumor, the proud royal guard had been defeated, and this was undeniable fact. It was not yet clear what impacts this would have. Many mourning those lost and vowing revenge, some stating that this was our own fault for trying to take our own freedom, and some rising and stating that this was the end of the Solar Empire as the public has now dubbed it.

What non of them did, was blame the correct pony, or ponies. Half of them blamed Luna and her treacherous strategies, the other half blamed Celestia and her tyrinal regime, and then they blame her for not having send more troops. It does not seem like anypony wants to hear the fact that she did not send the troops in the first place--

"Hey Starshine, I heard you were there... when Celestia decided to send the royal army to deal with those stinking rebels! Queen of peace my flank! And yet she can't even send enough troops to get the job done! You shou--"

I knew he was drunk beyond thought, the poor pony had lost his oldest son, slaughtered all the way in Hoofington while he was rotting here defending some castle that would never be attacked. But I did not care, I was too riled up from hearing insults thrown at my queen all day, leaping toward him I brought my hoof foward in a harsh strike. The punch conected with the side of his face and hearing a crack echo from his muzzle.

The moment my rush of adnerline wore off I felt terrible, I had just struck my fellow soldier with all out violent intent, trying to steady my shaking hoofs I look up. And am struck back by the pony I had just attacked, for being much older then me he was still in great shape and his hoof knocked me off mine, causing me to tumble over the floor and crash into a table.

By now the quiet mumers and whispers had long left, replaced with loud mumers and a few yells of support, it was unclear for which side, if any. Tasting blood in my mouth I stand up, trying to steady myself on my hoofs and looking up at the old guard pony. Doing my best to look passive I speak.

"I am sorry, I didn't mean too.. I kinda lo--"

My word are cut off by him leaping toward me, and tumbling me over once more, this time violently pushing my head onto the table. He growled at me with what I felt to be murderous intent, his words yelled with anger and yet felt sad.

"You were there you stupid horse! You could have... stoped them! Why didn't you tell them this was a bad idea!" The pony stoped to catch his breath, though his hoof only increased pressure on my head and chest, causing me to wince and cough as I hoped for my life the table would break under the pressure. "He died because you let him go! Be--"

Suddenly the pony was silenced and the pressure on my body disapeared, leaving me to cough and choke on air. As two ponies rushed to my side and helped me up to my feet, one of them patting me on the back as he spoke.

"I believe we all had to learn that lesson someday, never pick a fight with with an earthpony when you are both too drunk to use magic, or logic."

I did not even bother to reply as the two ponies took me to a nearby table and sat me down. Taking seat beside me and pushing over a still full mug. I stared at it for a while before shaking my head. Still coughing a little as I try to explain myself and express my gratitude.

"I believe I had enough of that for the day... but thank you for... saving me there."

The pony to my right chuckles and patted my back once more, taking a seat beside me. Having calmed a little I saw that he was a strongly built earthpony with rust red fur. His voice was supportive, if slightly sarcastic in tone.

"I really doubt any of us want to deal with explaining our superiors how a royal guard got his head crushed on a table while thirty other ponies stood by and watched. Ruins the night."

The other pony, a pegasus of dark blue complexion with a just as dark mane and tail suddenly sat down beside me on my left, leaning in closely as he speaks to me.

"Now, we heard some interesting rumors spreading about you, there has been word that you are looking for information, drawing attention from shadows and other non existent dangers."

His voice had a suprisingly cold ring to it, causing me to halt in my coughing and perk up my ears as I tried to figure out the implications of his statements, turning quickly toward him and glancing back at the pony to my right. He smiled a weird mix of friendly and threatening, speaking in the same tone he had used moments ago.

"Don't mistake us for threatening you! We are infact trying to... help you. We are very good at finding, and hiding, information. And in all fairness, you have proven to be decent at the first and terrible at the second."

I was still digging through my confusion and was about to respond with an array of questions when I felt a hoof from the left, turning toward it I found the pony sitting beside me nodding toward the door of the hall, leading out into the hallways of the palace and the cold streets of Canterlot.

"Join us for a walk."

The way he spoke, and he did not wait for a responds before walking toward the door made it rather clear that this was not so much of a request as an order. Looking around the room in confusion I slugishly picked myself up and followed the rather intimidating pony.

Once outside I was instantly greeted by the smiling pegasus, who nodded for me to follow as he spoke to me.

"There is probably at least one pony in there who was spying on you, which is why my good friend is staying behind, to keep an eye out. As for you, tell me everything you know."

There was silence as I trotted along the pony, my mind spining as I tried to formulate a response, finally stuttering out.

"Wh..what I know?"

The pony suddenly stoped in his tracks, and so did I, and then just as suddenly as he had stoped he spoke, his voice once more that cold sound that froze my body down to the spine.

"Half the guard know that you have been digging for information about the council, and half of those got a pretty decent reason to want you silenced. We know that you know about the deals with the Gryphon Empire. But what else have you found out in your rather blundering investigation?"

Once more silence, then a final added statment.

"Unless you don't want our protection... but I'll let you know that nopony can help you like we can."

I looked every direction before finally nodding in defeated submission, giving up my fight.

"I only know small things, the fact that Luna was attacked while on a diplomatic mission to forge peace between Equestria and the Gryphon Empire. The fact that it was not Celestia but her council that decided to send an army to Hoofington."

Suddeny the pegasus pony once more started to trot forward, causing me to follow him as I continued.

"There are some who say that the council and Gryphon's have conections with each other beyond the princesses knowledge. And... it was their fault that the original reports of wide spread revolt were exagerated..."

The other pony chuckled before replying.

"So you really don't know that much more then any of us, and yet somehow just about every council member wants specificly you watched. Why do you think that is?"

I didn't reply, up till today not even having known about, or considered that my life was in any form of danger.

"Because you go around babling about these things everywhere, telling people about your conspiracy theories. If you want to live you need to quiet down and help us out."

His voice once more made it clear that this was not so much a question as a demand, and I nodded rather by instinct then free will.

"H..how could I be... of help?"

Suddenly there was half a yell, then it was silenced by a loud impact sound, and the sound of a pony falling to the stone floor. Looking back shocked I find myself staring at the rust red earthpony, and before him on the floor a grey unicorn I knew only by face and not name, part of the royal guard. Before I could voice my confusion the pegasus beside me explains.

"It wasnt the only, but that was one of the ponies keeping an eye on you, just in case you actually found some real proof, or if whoever was paying him was tired of watching. As for how you can help us, for whatever unexplainable reason the princess seems to confide in you, she has not confined in anyone since Luna's depature from Canterlot."

The earthpony dragged the unconcious body toward us and smiled as he was now the one to speak.

"And now we offer you to confide in us, only us. Remember my advice on talking on an earthpony, we are violent ponies."

Once more the pegasus's voice spoke up.

"Every three nights from tonight we will find you, and have a little conversation about recent events. And remember, no more babling about some silly conspiracy theories to random ponies---"

If he said anything more then that I would not know, for a blow to my head suddenly knocked me out, the last thing I barly felt before being engulfed by the unconciousness was the cold stone floor.

Author's Note

And a new plotpoint/plotline is kinda introduced in this part. I hope people are alright with me trying something more indepth then just "Luna went crazy" though it means I have to work in more characters and intrigue.

Slaughter

"-- and then I struck him right in the face, that poor guy lost a tooth!"

The boasting pony brought his half full mug down on the wooden table to emphazise his statment, causing a wood on wood thunk to haul through the crowded inn, and be lost in the various other conversations occuring. Spirits in the tavern were high, at least those of the guests more so then those of the owners.

It was today that the royal army had arived in Hoofington, and met no resistance as it moved in to occupy, and subdue the helpess city. With Luna's forces nowhere in sight it had been a perfect victory for them, if they had the sense to be cautious they would have noticed that it was almost too perfect. As the night continued and the Celestia's ponies drunk and partied and abused their 'victory' over Hoofington the ponies of Hoofington readied themself.

Luna's army had infact not retreated as the royal forces thought, and were actually still here, in Hoofington. After our initial investigation of Hoofington we found that the ponies living in it had a habit of building themselves secret hidden rooms to protect their families in case of an invasion. With the incoming danger being ponies rather then Gryphon's and the expected collateral damage less on the population and more on those who would fight, it was not difficult to persuade these ponies to hide our troops instead.

All we had to do is arm the citizens and tell them to wait for our signal, two thousand soldiers and and unacounted mob of ponies against a drunken and unorganized 'army'. Some of us, those required to start the massacre, had to blend themself in with the army ponies. Acting as if we were fellow Celestia supporters, or just a pony who was very content on getting drunk tonight. But the task was not all that difficult, it was not like anypony wanted to find an enemy they had to fight.

Picking myself up from my desk and gave a nod to the rather exausted looking unicorn pony who had been assigned as a bartender, who nodded back. I trotted toward the pony who had just made such a ruckus and smiled at him and his friends, grinned back rather drunkingly as they sized me up.

I came to a hault infront of the pony I had singled out for the sole reason of his obnoxious bragging and then suddenly, but for me perfectly expected, his wide grin was replaced with the metal of a short blade as it penetrated his skull and ended him in an instant.

I grabed this blade with my teeth and pull it from the skull, quickly focusing on his compleetly stuned two friends, cutting ones throat before the other one toumbled backwards off the table and tried to squirm away, stuck on his back. His eyes shone up at me with such utter terror, pleading me. And I would be lying to say that it left me cold, I had never even dreamed of slaying a fellow pony when I joined Luna's nightguard. But my duty was to protecting her, no matter the enemy. I made it quick, the blade right between his eyes.

I once more removed the blade and looked up and around me. By now the bartender had given out weapons to all those who had been assigned one, and they had proceded to murder any pony of the royal army that was present, which were a lot. Outside I heard the loud bang and thunder of the signal, the blood that had been spilled in here would be nothing compared to that outside.

My body felt heavy as I sat down at the table those three ponies had just partied at, right besides the still blood spewing royal soldier. For whatever reason I could not take my eyes oh his now lifeless body, shuddering as I let the blade drop from my mouth.

This whole... massacre, had been my idea. After sizing up the odds it had been clear that a outright battle would be too costly, even if we won. As such I tried to find another way, and I did.
I do not believe there are many ponies in this city who were happy at the idea of slaughtering the royal guard like this, this cowardly. But sometimes there is no space for honor, only surrival.

Not that my conscious will ever agree to that. How Luna deals with this is beyond me, I know how much she loves all of her subjects, including those on Celestia's side. And for a moment I wonder if this is really worth it, maybe surrendering would have done better for everypony, but by now things simply had gone too far to think about going back.

By now the slaughter taking place outside had gone into full motion, led by our soldiers the citizens of Hoofington would be willing to help us at every turn, their fighting spirit fueled by the mistreatment they had suffered today. We made no plans to take survivors, but neither did we specify that mercy was dissalowed, we simply let everypony do as they wished.

Still, I refused to leave the tavern even after all the other ponies, at least those still alive, had left it. I assumed they were going to join in the 'battle' outside, but I would not be surprised if some of them were as shaken as me and simply wanted to find a place were the screams would not find them.

The battle of Hoofington, strategically seen a brilliant victory that would go into every historybook of Equestria, or at least those of the Lunar Empire. But moralisticly it was a disaster, after today neither side would consider each other ponies anymore, just enemies.

Author's Note

Probably the most grim chapter in the story so far, kinda the point were things really go from "Claim of independence" to "all out war and revolution.".

Weither or not this is handled well I am a bit unsure myself, so I would love to hear feedback on this.

Loyality

A loud gasp for air followed by a pathetic whimper was what greeted me when I woke up from my most recent nightmare. I was no longer surprised by them, they had been a daily occurence for over a week now. Not always the same topic, but probably just because there were too many for them to chose from. Dragging myself out of my bed I looked around the sleeping hall.

It was the place where my regiment of the royal guard was supposed to sleep, though now it felt unnervingly empty. As I looked around I saw that a majortiy of the beds no longer had personal possesions beside them, which meant that the assigned pony had not just woken up before me, but was no longer at all using the bed.

I shrugged, unable to do anything about it now, and dragged myself to my amour, using my magic to put it on and make sure it was in perfect position. I sighed at the knowledge that today it would finally see use, though I doubt that it will be helpful. I left the hall and quickly made myself toward my position, the same it had always been and yet so very different. My golden door awaited me, to be guarded with my presence, and wih my life.

Normally there would be two of us, but it seems my fellow guard has decided to take leave, not that I really had gotten a chance to know him anyway, over the past week those guard had ben switched around more often then I could care to remember. As I stood there, proud but dreading every passing second, a pony came by not too long into the day. His cutie mark made it obvious he was a messanger, though the fact that he was still working made me bow for him in respect as if he was some noble.

He looked at me, his slightly older eyes showing some form of pitty as he stoped in his tracks and right infront of the door and spoke, to me.

"I think she would understand if you were to leave, even I am not planning to stay here once they breach the walls. There is such a thing as loyality, but she wouldnt want ponies to throw away their life needlessly."

I grunted, he was not the first to tell me this, though there was a good chance he be the last. My horn glowed and opened the two big doors and I nodded my head for him to enter. He sighed and continued on his path, doing his job just the way I did mine.

I did not close the doors,I wanted to hear the report. Celestia would be able to see the doors open very clearly, so if she wished them to be closed she would have voiced it. Though, seeing her in her throne, the normally calm and wise face distorted with uncertainty and what I think to be fear, she might not even have strengh to talk. The pony I had let enter bowed before the queen and quickly begann his report.

"The assult started an hour ago, and the most outer wall was captured without much of a fight, being too understaffed. The inner wall is now being attacked, though the ponies manning it have been discussing to open the gate. Within five hours it is expected that the first of Luna's forces will reach the palace entrance..."

There was utter silence as the princess did not even seem to take notice, as if lost in some internal struggle or thought. The messanger stood still for a few moments, befor bowing once more and quickly leaving the throneroom the same way he had entered. Glance at me with his pitty filled eyes as he left, leaving me once alone on my guard.

I felt strange standing there, turning his words in my head as I welcomed any distractions from the other thoughts that plagued my mind. Finally shaking my head to clear my mind and once more taking up a tall and proud stance I noticed that the doors were still open, having forgotten to close them.

Feeling curious I glanced inside once more, and there she was. Still thinking on that throne, still looking terrefied, but this time she was actually doing something. Infront of her were hovering round stones, each approximatly the size of a pony head. She seemed focused on them, at least as focused as her mind had been on anything the past few days.

I wondered what they were but felt a strange and powerful sensation emitting from them. If Celestia had bothered to bring them here they must have a purpose I assume. For a moment I felt almost giddly at the thought that she had a plan, that finally she would accept her position and face her sister. But then I heard a cold and sad sigh and the stones fell to the floor with a loud clank sound. They rolled over the floor a little, coming to a hault off to both sides of the room.

Suddenly she looked up, her eyes focused right at me as I stood there, frozen in terror. She said nothing to me, and then her expression once more glazed over with that lost terror. She had not even closed the doors, leaving me very disheartened as I returned my attention to the hallway infront of me, using my horn to lock the doors shut as I continued to guard them.

The messanger pony never came back, probably seeing no reason to continue informing a pony that was so obviously disinterested. For the rest of my guarding time there was utter silence, as I stood there with unease in my body. Not to long ago I would have been bored out of my mind, but fear seemed to have pushed away those feelings. Instead I felt suprisingly calm the longer I stood there.

Some ponies talk about making peace with yourself when you have to die, accepting the fate and simply going the easy way. I would not say I was at peace with death, but I just refused to die cowering in fear. If I was going to die, it would be as the one pony in this damned city that remembered his oath and believed in the Celestia that had made our life so easy for so long.

And then the silence was broken by clattering noises of metal against metal. The first pony to be seen was Luna, or that what some now dubbed Nightmare Moon. She had indeed changed since the begining of this war, her coat had become darker till it rivaled the black nightsky, her mane that of the star filled sky itself.

Her personality, some say that she was still the kind and loving pony who had been forced into this revolution, others that she a crazed abomination who took pleasure in the harm of others. As she walked toward me, beside her showing themself the royal Luna guard, I wondered which of the two to expect.

Luna smiled, warm but terrifying at the same time, and nodded toward me.

"Please open the doors for us, I want to give my sister a visit." She grinned now "Everypony ells in this town has been so nice to step aside for us, do you really want to ruin the nice opinion I have of Canterlot?"

As I looked at her crazed grinning expression I tried to understand her. It was obvious that she enjoyed this position, her eyes glimmering with joy at the feeling of power and control. But I also know that she did not start this revolution for her own gain, nor that she ever intended to go this far.

I had seen Celestia change as things went on, the way she withdrew herself and broke under the pressure of her own guilt and fears, becoming so much less herself. And Luna probably had to face even worse things then her sister had, but to change like this? I almost wondered if it even still was the same pony infront of me.

Suddenly there was more clinkering as the guards beside her shifted uneasily and some started to use their horns. I could feel the magic glow surrounding the doors, trying to open them and finding the resistance of a spell I had taken hours to cast. It would take them at least a few seconds to break it.

The magic disapeared, and with more shifting another pony came to he front. Suprsingly enough he was not one of Luna's guard, his attire more fitting to that of an aged and reknown general, the youngest aged general I had even seen. Even more suprisingly enough, I knew him.

"Starshine, the one pony in Celestia's castle to still be on duty..." He sighed, heavily. "I was always so glad you were guarding this place, out of harms way and safe. Please do not throw away the chance life has given you. Simply walk away."

There was silence, even Luna seemingly willing to respect this moment, I guess she had no reason to rush anything when they had already won. I however had my eyes locked on that earthpony general as I tried to convince myself that he was right, I really wanted to trott away.

"This door is guarded by the royal guard of Celestia and will not be opened to traitors. I love you... brother, but just as you have your duty I have mine."

My brother looked furious at this, his face contorting with a mixture of anger and fear, his eyes glancing back at the guards who were more then willing to make me step aside. He leaned in closer, his words steady and in control, but his eyes pleading.

"This is not me asking you to, this is more ordering you! Step aside little bro, Celestia is a tyrant and traitor to her subjects, including you. No matter how much you want to, she is not going to win this war!"

There was silence once more, and suddenly the general trotted past me and toward the door. That moment his front hoof passed my backhoof everything seemed to slow down, I shifted my weight and stance as I turned around. Growling as I saw terrifying flashes of recent events come back to my eyes, and leaped forward at my own brother. Bringing my hoofs down on his head and face I struck him with all of my pent up anger, punishing him for all those things that happened, because if he had not been, they would not have.

It was only a fraction of a second that I had time to do this, the moment my second strike landed on his mark I was blasted off him by Luna herself, the force of the blast pushing the air out of my body and throwing me against the golden door, making it creak and buckle from the pressure. It took me a moment to recolect myself and by the time I had rissen up I could feel a poudle of blood form in my mouth, glancing over at what I hoped was my unconcious brother and back at the very angred Luna guard, and moon goddes herself.

There was no question about it, these would be the last moments of my life.

Goodbyes

By the time I arrived at the meeting place my brother looked more impatiant then ever, his eyes locked on the door and his hoof tapping on the wooden table at a furious rate. And yet, when he saw me he smiled as warmly as he could, leaving the table to meet more directly.

"And here I thought you had gotten lost exploring the world, again, what has kept you away so long?"

I smiled back as I tried to find the easiest way to put this without worrying my little broher.

"Luna"

There was a blank stare from my brother as he expected me to say something more, and I suddenly was brought out into laughter, giving him a hug. He grumbled softly and mumbled a response.

"I am confident that implying something like that could have you fired... give me the real reason already."

I withdrew from the hug and nodded, hoping that the rather bad joke at least somewhat eased my brother.

"Well, it actually was Luna, but not like that of course. She will be traveling to Hoofington and across the border to the Gryphon empire for a deplomatic mission, rumors is that Celestia strictly enforced her view of peace on her sister."

It was obvious that my brother had not yet seen the conection to me, most likely because he did not want to see it. As such I just continued to explain.

"She called together a small group of her personal royal guard to join her on this mission, insisting that she did not trust the Gryphons and that a group of guards would put her in a better deplomatic position. I was one of the ponies she picked to join her on this journey."

And he still seemed not to understand, at this point rather obviously hiding from my words as the truth meant something he did not want.

"I will be gone for the next couple of weeks, maybe even over a month."

Silence, then another hug, this time initiated by him. Then his voice, much less happy.

"You are not going to get hurt, right?"

"I don't plan to"

"Why didn't you decl--"

I sighed, not the first time I had hear him ask that question, and yet it was never an easy one to answer.

"Little bro, I swore an ouath to both of our queens, I have my duty to fulfill exactly as all of us have. If I was to hide from responsibliy because of the fear of possible dangers, then how could I have a good conscious if anypony goes?"

There was another silence, and then Starshine nodded again, once more accepting the explanation with difficulty. He suddenly smiled, trotting out of the meeting hall and prompting me to follow.

"Well then, I guess we have to make this day the best day of our lives, so you can always remember it up there in boring old Hoofington and beyond!"

I followed, smiling to myself at my brothers momentarly uprisen spirit, though i knew he would be as downtrotten as ever in the morning.

"What do you have planned oh great party lord from the golden door?"

There was a fake sounding insulted grunt and my brother looked over with a just as fake angry expression.

"How many times do I have to tell you that guarding that door is the highest level of honor a pony can have. Not to mention, I think it has something for me, pretty sure it glimmered at me suggestively once."

There was a snicker, then all out laughter as we put away the worries of tomorrow and focused on the good that was today. Walking through the streets of Canterlot made that an easy thing to do, many interesting stores and places decorating the sight and trying to draw your attention.

After a short walk we reached a place we had visited several times before, it was smaller but rather cozy pub that served in my opinion some of the best alcoholic, and non alcoholic drinks.

As we entered I looked over the rather well known decoration, quaint wooden tables and benches giving it a bit of an old look, but not a bad one. We were greeted with knowing warm smiles by the barkeeper who pointed us toward our normal seats as he finished the order for another pony. My brother suddenly nudged me and spoke.

"It might not be Luna but that pony over there could keep me late anyday."

I rolled my eyes a little, but looking over at the butter yellow colored pegasus mare sitting at a small table off to the side I stoped doing so, and instead gave a bit of a nod. He had a point afterall. Trying not to be rude I withdrew my sight from her as we sat down at our seats, my brother giving me a sly look as we sat down.

"But in all seriousness, don't ever make a joke like that out there, unless you wish Luna to leave you with the Gryphons."

We both chuckled at that idea and I replied in a smugly overly confident tone.

"Little bro, I know how to wow the mares, I am sure it would even be good enough for a goddess like her."

As he said that the barkeeper came over and placed our usual orders on the table, giving us warm smiles and stating that if we needed anything all we had to do was ask, just like everytime. We nodded and went back to our discussions of mares, the world and anything else that would come to mind.

By the time the sun had left the sky and the moon was as high as it would go we were more then a little drunk, and both of us trying to hit on the poor mares in the bar. Most of them giving us silly giggles before leaving us cold, some making us pay for a drink before doing so.

But the night was still one of the best I ever had. However, at that point I did not know it would be the last chance I would have to hug my brother. If I had, I would not have spend it drunk in a bar but instead with him out watching the night sky, telling him how important he had always been.

Danger

"M..my queen?"

I stuttered a litle as I spoke, too many worries and thoughts rushing through my brain. By now I had grown used to finding her present at the gardens, looking out on over Equestria and greeting me warmly no matter how burdened she was, but today she had not event acknowledged me as I entered. Suddenly she spoke, though her eyes were still looking out into the distance.

"I send them to their death, forced my own sister to have them murdered..."

Her voice was broken and sad, as if all the spirit from her life had been taken. I found it very difficult to find words to reply to that, the whole atmosphere just feeling so cold and freezing me.

"You... It was not by your order th--"

"I held the power and I gave the power to those who send them, it was by my order that they went to Hoofington."

More silence followed as my mind now focused on those who had been given the power, the day when I first really spoke with Celestia and in her council meeting she allowed her advisors full reign on solving the problem of the revolution. Her only demand being that it be solved as peacefully as possible. I opened my mouth to speak and suddenly a cold shiver ran down my horn and into my spine, causing me to look around myself somewhat distressed.

I could not see anything out of place, but the feeling of unease would not go away. Still, I had to say something.

"On the hope that it won't harm me I'll speak freely...." another shiver and this time I flinched a little "I believe you should focus on the cause of this first, so it won't happen again."

Celestia looked over at me, and if she saw my great discomfort did not question it, instead asking.

"The cause? I am the one holding the responsiblity, I am the---"

I could not bear hearing her utter such self defeating words again, opening my muzzle to speak and tell her about the things I had discovered.

"..."

and found myself unable to, my jaw locked in place as Celestia continued, her words not even recognizable anymore as I panicked stuck in place as if I was glued to the floore Luckily enough the sun goddess was not able to utter many more words anyway, suddenly one of her advisors showed up, very much like the day she had handed them control of the situation .

At this point I regained my ability to move freely, though my jaw was still locked in place. Turning to look at him I could see that he smiled warmly, though it felt like he was glaring at me. And his voice sounded like it had just a little less respect and was more commanding

"My queen, with the matter of recent events arising we require an emergancy meeting right now, if you would be so kind to lend us your presence."

Celestia nodded in response to the demand, a soft sigh emiting from her tired lips as she trotted off toward the pony, looking over to me and speaking.

"Starshine, do you wish to attend once more?"

There was silence, my jaw still locked in place, when the advisor spoke up at once anyway.

"I believe this meeting does not require Starshine's assistance, and due to the nature of the meeting and recent events it might be better if we kept it to the fewest amount of ponies possible."

It was of course silly to assume that anypony had not yet heard of the 'disaster at Hoofington' as ponies liked to phrase it now, but with my silence Celestia seemed to simply go with it, nodding respectfully as she took her leave and the two ponies trotted off.

The moment they were out of sight I could feel my jaws at once freed, and a pony made himself visible to my presence. Surprisngly enough he was an elder earthpony, his clothing revealing him to also be a council member, though of lower rank then the other I had met. He trotted over close to me, his eyes speaking tales about how much he wished to see me dead on the spot.

"You are either incredibly lucky or smart to have shut up when you did... though I want you to give me one reason why any of us should keep this charade up, and not simply have you killed right now?"

I could hear the clunk of a crossbow being reloaded and suddenly another pony made himself known, this one a guard from my very own detachment. I had talked to him between shifts a number of times, certainly not the type I expected to ever have a crossbow aimed at my head. I opened my mouth, testing if I could indeed speak freely, and it was so.

"I... to murder me would draw questions and attr---"

The lower council pony smiled at me and shook his head, motioning for the guard to come closer, so close I could see the terror in his face, seemingly he was no more happy about doing this then I was.

"You really think I would come out like this without even having thought about how to do it?"

His words had a bitter tone to it and suddenly he spoke out once more.

"Knee"

Before I could even figure out what had been said my whole world exploded in pain, my knee being penetrated and shattered by a bolt and my scream muffled with a hoof, the advisor grining at me and my pain almost maddly, seemingly having rather a joyfull time with this.

While I was still twitching and trying to scream he spoke up once more.

"Now, enough of the stupid answers, I want you to give me a reason why I should let you live."

As I bleed out on the stonefloor the earthpony pushed me forward and against the railing of the balcony, finally making it clear how he intented to murder me without many questions being asked.

"It is a very long fall... and trust me, whoever will find your body won't be inclined to tell our dear queen about the grim details of your demise."

His hoof moved away from my mouth, and for a moment I considered screaming for help, but a little shove reminded me why I should not. I stuttered, from pain and panick, as I tried to find words.

"I—I--"

He broke in, one of his hoofs pushing the bolt deeper into the knee, making me wince pathaticly.

"reason..."

Something inside me snapped at that point, anger welling up inside my body as I decided that I did not really care if he pushed me off this ledge or not, smiling back at him. I opened my muzzle to speak, but before a single word could be uttered the guard wearing the crossbow suddenly flew past us, over the balcony railing, yelling in panic as he began to fall.

In a flash the adviser pushed me forward and over the edge, before turning to look at the assailant, and finding himself pummled by a large earthpony, who crushed his chest before picking up his more feeble and elder body and throwing him over the ciff to join me and the guard.

Though, I was able to see all of this, which at first did not click in my mind but then reminded me that I should be falling and not spectating, being held in midair exactly where I was. In confusion my eyes glanced over to the earthpony, which I now recalled to be the rust red earthpony from last night. And beside him was the dark blue pegasus who had spoken to me so nicely.

Suddenly I floated back over the balcony and was let down slowly, with care for my wounded leg. And now I could also see a third pony, an elder and dark grey looking unicorn, wearing an advisor pin of the highest rank himself. He had a long beard and was a face nearly as famous as Celestia or Luna, at least in Canterlot and the unicorn centric cities. The pegasus was the first to speak, steping close to me.

"I believe you owe me your life, maybe even twice now. Anyway, we should really move away from here and find a better place to chitchat, that one pony screamed more then a royal guard should."

I was not even asked any further questions, my body suddenly being moved by the unicorns magic, making sure that my wounded leg would be held straight and inplace as I half limped and half floated alongside the other ponies.

To my surprise we ran into no guards, leaving me wondering if they had purposely been respositioned in such a way that there was a perfect escape path. My guard mind said that this was quite a security hole in the castles protection, but then I assumed that was the point of it.

We finally reached what were two large doors, which with a single push from the earthpony revealed to be the living chambers of the unicorn beside me. Many large tomes and books being arranged in neat order.

We entered and the doors were closed behind us when suddenly the old unicorn turned toward me and spoke with what I assumed to be his best soothing voice was.

"This is going to hurt, but I assure you that despite any normal military lessons you were given, this is the best option for you."

Before I could question exactly what he meant, a sharp pain rushed through my body once more and the crossbowbolt was pulled from my knee with one strong magical pull. It left behind a rather gaping hole but blood did not flow from it, instead being held in place by what I assumed to be of the most magical complex forcefields I had ever seen. By now it it was obvious to me that this was not someone pretending to be him, but that it was indeed Starshwirl the bearded infront of me.

I had not infact seen him directly before, only heard of that he was present in Celestia's court as an advisor, though old and as such did not show himself often. To see him in such good shape had caught me rather offguard.

I whimpered as the pain in my body overwrote any questions or inquires I could have. The old unicorn gave a warm smile before motioning for the other two to come over, both of which did.

"Wingstroke, please bring me some of the herbs from the forth drawer down over on my left. Heavyweight--"

Before the old unicorn could finished the pegasus I now knew by the name Wingstroke placed the required herbs beside his body and interupted, his voice with a light growl.

"He is not supposed to know our names, and I do not appreciate you disgregarding our agreements in such a manner..."

There was a short silence, I felt as if there was some weird static of magical energy hanging in the air, but then it suddenly desisipated and Starshwirl spoke up, his voice filled with rather obvious disgust, it was loud and powerful.

"I believe our first agreement was that nopony died without Celestia's consent! If you desire me to keep to your rules, you would keep to mine."

This time there was a long silence, as Wingstroke turned to face the unicorn, then to face away, then faced the door, and finally walked away with a loud grunt. As he reached the door he noded toward the big earthpony I now assumed to be named Heavyweight and spoke.

"We'll be back tomorrow, just... make sure he stays quite and does not get into any more trouble."

With that he and his companion left the room, closing the door rather loudly and leaving me alone with my fellow unicorn, who was still concentrating on keeping my wound from bleeding. He turned toward me and smiled once more, his voice now calm and friendly.

"Alright, the wound should have started clogging by now, I will get these herbs crushed and something to bandage the wound with, while I do that my concentration on the wound might waver a bit, I am sorry if you start to bleed."

The way he spoke in an almost fatherly tone was very calming, unlike the other two ponies he gave me a feeling of genuily caring about my well being, rather then helping me for some selfish purpose. The way he returned his attention at me and answered to my unasked questions made me wonder if he was able to read my mind, or at least interpret my emotions.

"Don't worry about them right now, you are allowed to stay here and rest for as long as you require, and with my help the wound should heal much faster then you'll expect. And--"

He brought forth the bandages he had gotten, using magic to cut them to size while also using a morter to grind up the herbs, my wound indeed starting to drip blood as his concentration was divided.
"I too have heard about your recent activites. While most will do not appreciate your actions, there are some which are still loyal to the princess,"he grunted for a moment "trully loyal."

I felt that last moment was refering to his two allies I had already met yesterday, and as he placed the herb mixture on my wound I asked.

"What about... Wingstroke and that earthpony, Heavyweight? They seem to be helping you, or you them?"

He wraped the bandage around my wound and fastened it with his magic, making sure it was firm but would not cut off the circulation completly.

"They have their agendas which to most part align with mine as such make us natural allies. But I would not call them honorable ponies, or loyal to the princess for the right reasons."

He withdrew himself from his work, studying it with cautious eyes before smiling up at me once more.

"But you... naive, but very determined to do what you believe is right. I truly believe you deserve this badge" he pointed a hoof at the grand advisor pin he was wearing "more then most ponies currently in that meeting with the princess, but sadly it is not so."

He looked thoughtful for a moment and I tried to move my leg a little, curious to see if it still had mobility. It did, moving it shot incredible pain through my body but the leg itself moved suprisingly well, I must have gotten really lucky all things considered.

"However, you have something no badge or fancy position can garantee us, and that is Celestia's wise ear." Suddenly he poked me with a hoof, placing it over my heart. "Your job is it to give her the correct advice and guide her in the correct direction, without making yourself too much of a target."

The way Starswirl said that made me a little anxious, as if suddenly Equesria had stood up and said it trusted in me and whatever non existant wisdom it believed I had. Or at least the greatest unicorn in the nation had done so. I opened my mouth to speak, but just ended up closing it wordless, not sure what to say to him. All he did was nod understandingly, looking past me and through a window out onto Canterlot.

"I know you do not believe it, but I feel you have what it takes to set things right. At very least you have the genuin desire to, not like these vultures that seem to surround us fully."

His words were heartwarming and encuraging at a time when I felt in over my head and lost in a sea of confusing dangers. At very least I felt, I finally had found a pony I could trust with my thoughts, without endangering anypony in doing so. I stayed with him for now, asking him for all the answers and explantions I was not smart enough to find myself.

Author's Note

Sorry that this chapter took so long, I kinda got overburdned with constant tiredness and as such have been sleeping most of my time. I also consider this chapter to be worth two chapters do to its lengh and as such this covers it for the 10th and 9th.

If there is a large amount of spelling/Grama errors I appologize, I think I might actually have the wrong copy of the text(an older one) and as such this one is totally notproofread, sorry.

History

"Look at those pompous bastards, I don't trust this one bit..."

The muttered agreement that had started to arise was quickly silenced by a watchful and powerful glare from Luna herself, making it obvious that she did not appreciate such an undiplomatic statement.

We had just crossed the border into Gryphon territory and were being escorted by a force of what I recognized as the kings guards, their fancy and perfectly fitted armor obviously a sign of power and wealth used to intimidate anyone who would consider stand against their king's empire.

I glanced over to our queen as she trotted along, her expression perfectly blank, not showing what all of us full well knew, on any other occasion she would have agreed with her subjects outburst. Instead, today she had silence him and remind all of us that this was a mission to create peace, and we should put aside out prejudice.

And yet, she had brought with her a sizable force of well trained and trusted ponies, and do to some unimaginable luck, I had been part of this force.

"First time outside of Equestria for you, right?"

The pony to my left asked as we marched, the pony I knew as Fireflight was a bright red pegasus pony, not much older then me and somehow still always happy to remind me of his great adventures and deeds. I did not mind, it was my first time out on a real mission and somehow his tales only increased my desire to see action. Smiling softly I nodded and then replied.

"Yes, there are few reasons to leave Equestria in the first place, much less so when you spend most of your life at the academy to become part of Luna's forces."

I said somewhat absentmindedly as I looked around, the terrain ahead of us was rather hilly and difficult for earthpony's and unicorns to traverse. From what I had read much of the Gryphon's empire was mountain or hill based, their natural ability to fly had made these territories easier to defend, and conquer.

"Well, technically you are not outside of Equestria just yet..."

This time the voice came from my right, much older and coarse then Fireflight's. This pony was a dark grey unicorn with a fierce scar across one eye, a deep cut akin to that caused by a talon, and a dark metal armor adorned with some of the most famous medals Equestria had given out.

I had not expected to be talked to directly by such a legend and for a moment I almost tripped on a rock, having to stop in my march for a moment to catch myself. The display drew a annoyed muttering from the pony behind me, which almost walked into my stationary body but without another word I kept going, hoping the mess up had not been seen by Luna.

Doing my best to respectfully look toward the unicorn who had addressed me I spoke somewhat timid, unsure what he wanted me to reply to such a statement.

"I... well.. current border.--"

The other pony cut me off with a huff and looked over my shoulder at one of the gryphons that was escorting us, then back at the forces we had brought.

"For most of my life have I, and Equestria, have fought these treacherous beasts. We have won, and we have lost wars to them... But it is a mistake to let them get away with this, these are our lands and we should not surrender them to our enemy like this."

Another murmur spread across the marching ponies, and gryphons, as both sides knew that words like this could end the uneasy peace which had been laid. And it was obvious that both sides had their share of eager participants. I simply held my tongue and quietly marched onward. The idea of battles and glory had been in my mind for much of these past days, but now that we had left our own territories and were flanked by enemies at all sides my desire for a fight was strongly diminished. And as we continued forward both ponies and gryphons grew tired and the uneasy peace was held at least for one more day.

When it was time for the night to fall our forces stopped to set up camp and give Luna time to raise the moon. It had always baffled the inhabitants of Equestria how the Gryphon's could dare to assault territories held by those that could raise and lower the celestial bodies, but seemingly our enemy depended on the fact that no matter what happened, our goddesses would not let the world burn under an eternal sun, or freeze under an eternal moon.

When I finished setting up the tent for me and my two companions, I let out a soft sigh and threw myself onto my makeshift bed, pulling out one of the books I had brought with me for this journey.

The title read "The split Empire and the Day's before Equestria.". With a rustling of fabric the tent was opened by Fireflight, who quickly stepped inside and threw himself on his own bed beside mine. Giving a glance at my book he let out a laugh rolled his eyes at me.

"You have been reading that damn book every night since our trip started, what is it with you and your obsession about pre-Equestrian times?"

I sighed, it was not the first time he had bugged me about my reading habits, but he also had never been so intrusive about it, after a moment's thought I decided to indulge him.

"For one, this book was given to me by my little brother in Canterlot, on the day of my departure. He said that he didn't want me to get bored out there."

The red pegasus looked at me, seemingly surprised by my mention of a brother I had never brought up. Before he could reply I continued.

"For another, this book is surprisingly fascinating... I know it sounds weird, but it talks about so many things that are never mentioned when you learn about history."

This time Fireflight decided to indulge me, giving the book a poke with his hoof before speaking.

"Like what?"

Looking at the open book and flipping to a specific page, one with a pre-Equestrian map on it, I hold it out to him and start to explain.

"Even though we are never told much about them, there are times before Equestria was founded. And in those times the region that is now Equestria had many smaller nations in it. And two of those nations were led by what are now our Queens. Luna in the North, and Celestia in the east. Back then however they were not actually allies, and even though some theories state that the two have a common origin, they often had conflicts between their lands. As the decades past however both nations grew and the smaller factions around them decided to become part of either the 'Lunar Empire' or the 'Celestial Empire'. "

The pegassio stallion rolled onto his back and stared up at the fabric of the tent, but his ears were still perked up and listening, whether he was trying to appease me or genuinely interest though was impossible for me to tell, but I continued eitherway.

"After only those two nations were left the ponies of each began to see each other as a threat to their way of life. Luna's empire, while reign with love and affection, was cold to outsiders and had strong militaristic traditions. It is believed that this was do to her sharing borders with the ever violent gryphon and dragon tribes to the north, which later became the Gryphon Empire that we still war with so often. Celestia's ponies however did not understand why their neighbors and kin would not accept them into their land, growing paranoid and wishing for Celestia to reassure things would not grow into open conflict."

At this point Fireflight turned his body toward me once more, looking at the book with a rather curious fascination, seemingly the history lesson having caught his interest indeed. After a short moment to catch my breath I turned the book toward a new page, one which showed a map of the borders of the Celestial and Lunar Empire's at their height, just before Equestria as we knew it was founded.

"When the distrust between the two equestrian nations continues to grow and things threatened to become unstable, Celestia and Luna met, alone, ontop of the tallest mountain between their two empires." I pointed a hoof at the place on the map, which my red friend would recognize as today's Canterlot. "There supposedly they argued for days about terms of an unending peace. The exact events are impossible to tell as only the two goddesses were present, but after they returned, both announced that the Celestial and and Lunar Empire's would be abolished, and in turn Equestria would be born, a nation that accepts all of pony kind and will defend each other with united might. And the new Capital, as we all know, was Canterlot, the palace build supposedly on the very place where their argument had taken place."

Fireflight stared at the book thoughtfully for a few moments, and then gave a smirk. Speaking in a somewhat more respectful tone.

"I guess your brother got pretty good taste's when it comes to books. Not sure what any of this will do for you out there, but at least that explains why Equestria has always felt so... divided."

I gave a solemn nod, now putting down the book and being the one to roll onto my back. Staring up at nothing particular as I spoke.

"I know what you mean... what they did was the right thing, Equestria is better off as one, rather then two. But sometimes it feels like many ponies have yet to accept that they are subjects of both goddesses, not just the one that has caught their heart and mind."

Once I finished speaking and silence fell for I took note that outside things had quieted down too, most likely the official order for sleep having gone around the camp and the nights curfew keeping everyone not on duty confined to their tents. Yawning quietly my Pegasus friend spoke once more.

"I am sure that in due time they will come around, I believe that a few generations from now all ponies will consider themselves truly Equestrian, and no one will question the authority of either of the two goddesses, the way it should be."

Silently agreeing with him I closed my eyes and tried to focus my mind. I could not help but wonder where my loyalties lay, could I say that the the loyalties to my queens are equal?

Lies

I looked around in uncomfortable awe at the council hall before me, filled with ponies of greater age and rank then me. They had been expecting Celestia, but not me. Their eyes focused on me, the anomaly non of them had expected. Doing my best to stand calm and tall beside my princess I was saved by her call for attention. She took her place among the other ponies and beckoned for me to stand beside her as she spoke.

"I have been informed, this meeting was called because you are restless and wish to hear the retaliation to my sister's deeds? Let us once more then go over the events that have brought us here."

There was short moment of silence, the ponies of the council still resting their curious eyes on me, but then one of them spoke up.

"Luna has returned to her old capital and called her followers to arms. As you asked we dispatcher messengers, but non has returned to us and some fear the worst."

There was another short silence and a different pony, this one not wearing the pin of a high ranked council member but instead that of a mayor spoke up.

"The ponies of Shimmerglail are terrified by the reports of unrest close to our city. I have come here to ask for protection and can confirm the rumors that our northern kin have begun to arm themselves, gathering forces at Hoofington."

Celestia glanced over the ponies present, including me, and then smiled in that warm and compassionate way she had mastered.

"Your city will come to no harm my little pony. All of this will be settled without the need of bloodshed. If these reports are indeed more then just paranoia driven fabrications and Luna has gathered an army then we have to trust in her judgment and goodwill."

The wave of displeasure which passed through the room was noticeably even to me, as if the majority of the council had already agreed to disagree with Celestia's decision. The first to speak was the same pony which had earlier infromed Celestia of this meeting, his expression disappointed but diplomatic.

"We are here to advice our queen, not make decisions for her. However, your love and faith in Luna should not come at the risk of your subjects. If Luna is allowed to gather an army of subjects loyal to her, and only her, then the authority of Equestria is at risk. Even if her intent is just, the consequences are too great. I advise we send the royal army to subdue the unrest and bring Luna back for her to be judged by your wisdom. Once she is here it will be easy to make clear of this mess and return Equestria to stability."

The majority of ponies present seemed to agree with this judgment more, many of which tried to voice their support and persuade Celestia of the wisdom in their view.

"The ponies of Equestria should not have to fear their own. Luna's actions have reawaken a divide all of us have long worked to subdue."

"If we let Luna do as she pleases other ponies might follow suit, Equestria might crumble back into the pieces that assembled it!"

"The gr---"

The last pony was silenced by Celestia's voice, as she spoke up above all of them, making her words heard in a manner that could not be argued.

"I will not have this talk about your queen, all of you owe Luna as much loyalty as you do me. Equestria will not fall apart from rumors and superstition. This army is an Equestrian army, led by one of you queens. It will not cause harm to its own folk."

A large number of the council ponies seemed outraged by this, but non of them had a chance to voice their disagreement as Celestia continued to talk.

"We will not act against Luna. We will wait and see what her actions bring..."

The mood in the council hall had become cold, many of the ponies present looked with plain disapproval onto their queen's words, glances flowing from one to another.

As a guard I was taught loyalty and faith in my queens above everything else, to see these ponies be so ready and willing to fight their queen's judgment worried me. But this train of thought was cut short by yells from outside the hall, catching everypony's attention. Only a moment later the two golden doors were swung open, and revealed my supervising officer, with an expression marked by confusion. His voice too was shaken by uncertainty and fear.

"M..My Queen! The moon.. it.. has blocked out the sun!"

The whole room fell quiet, all eyes resting on our goddess of the sun. Her always confident and warm stance was now finally showing a crack and I could see her mouth silently word something. The silence held for too long, the unease setting itself in my body and sending a shiver down my spine, till it was broken by one of Celestia's many advisers.

"I.. it pains me to say this.. but my queen, you can not possibly stay passive after this. If we wish to advert public misunderstand and panic we need Luna back here in Canterlot, to explain herself..."

There was a momentary pause in the ponies words, till he seemed to have gathered his courage. "and answer for her actions.."

The expression my goddes held in that one moment was earth shattering, destructive to the core. The pony with the power to raise the sun, looking toward the floor in shame and fear of the only path left to her. The way she slowly nodded, avoiding eye contact with her own advisers.

"I... do not believe I have clarity of mind to rule over this. I wish no one harmed, but you have permission to send the royal guard. To subdue the... rebel forces, and bring back Luna so she can explain herself."

Having said those words she turned herself away from the council of ponies, and walked away from them, leaving the specifics in their power. I still stood there, utterly baffled and shocked by these events, lost in a haze of questions as the ponies around me already started to debate what part of the royal guard forces to send, and what orders to give them. I would probably have been too shocked to follow any of it anyway, but once Celestia had left I too was hushed outside. I returned to the place I had first talked to Celestia today, and look out over the balcony, and the city of Canterlot. A few hours ago it had been beautiful, now, in the utter darkness of an eclipse, I could feel only fear of the future we had to face.

Devotion

Slow and cautious knocking drew my attention away from the map I had spend the last hours looking over, or at least pretend to myself to be doing so. Finding my surrounding to have changed not at all over the last hours my heart sunk only more, there were still splatters of blood and dead ponies laying across the tavern floor. Even the owner had not been willing to face the actions that had happened here, and everywhere else in this city. Without a word I shake of the feeling of despair and rose from my seat, dragging myself to the door and heartlessly open it, coming to face with an orange Pegasus who looked not much better off then myself. His feathers and mane were in tethers, his expression one of complete uncertainty mingled with fear, his voice was shaken as he addressed me.

"My Sir, the Queen has requested your presence at her throne room. She asked me to escorted you there --"

Taking a deep breath I stepped forward, pushing past the Pegasus and looked up at the sky, taking in the surreal nature of it, not a pony in Equestria would be able to feel save under it's alien nature. It was neither day nor night, it was a soulless gray that seemed to glow with a slight hint of blood red.

"I won't have any problem making my way there on my own." I said, looking back, over the Pegasus and into the tavern. "I want you to find some help and..." I fell quiet, the uncertain eyes of the expectant pony looking at me, and me looking in shame at my own work. After a silent moment I pointed a hoof at the door, and the chaos inside.

To my pleasant surprise the other pony seemed to have understood and nodded quickly, hurrying off to find himself some help with the newly assigned task. Leaving me free to turn away from the horrific sight, and instead to face the ruined city instead.

Its buildings were intact, its citizens alive, and yet... our souls, our morals... dead.

As I made my way across the streets, passing fellow soldiers and Luna supporters I did my best to break my mind from the thoughts that had been haunting me for the past day. My thoughts however would not leave me be, and time and time again I came to the same realization. What I had done would forever be remembered, by me, and everypony in Equestria.

Finally, I shook my head and raised my head, focusing my eyes on the sky, the never ending twilight reassuring me. What I did was for the good of Luna, and Equestria, what had to be done.

Holding to my new found faith I made my way up the steps of Luna's palace. The guards looked at me for only a moment before wordlessly opening the doors, allowing me to step inside.

In a stark contrast to everything else, this palace was perfectly clean and tidy, the red carpet between my hoofs warm and soft. Slowly I followed it, each step bringing me closer to the pony I had devoted my life to.

At the end of this silent walk I found two open doors, and past them the Queen of the Moon. Sitting on her throne, her gaze focused on me.

When my eyes met hers something stirred inside me I had never before felt in her presence, fear. She said nothing, and yet her silence told me all I had to know, she wanted me to step closer. My body struggled against my orders to move closer, as if suddenly the goddess I had been willing to die for had become a wild beast to be kept at distance. But soon I overcame myself and my hoofs carried me forward, I lowered my head and hoofs, bowing to her.

With less distance between us now, I could see more clearly what had made me react to strangely to her. Her form had subtly changed, her face elongated, her body grown to be more then twice the size of a pony. Her coat now a pitch black and her mane and tail strangely translucent, shifting and swirling around her as if with a mind of their own. And the eyes, gleaming with such determination and dominance that it petrified my body.

As I stood there, frozen in place and holding my breath, I tried to understand why her appearance would change as it had.. It is true that there are only two known alicorns, and both hold powers and secrets non of us can fathom, it is why they are gods and not ponies. But never had we seen our queen change shape, never had we known she could. Her voice too had changed, so when she spoke a chill ran down my spine, no warms and compassion, but instead cold steel like strength, and a hint of sorrow.

"We owe to you not only our freedom, but also this throne. However, with our victories comes a great price, for us and everyone who follows. You can already see the change that has befallen us, but the same hideous darkness has taken its toll on all ponies in this city, they just do not understand it yet."

There was a heavy silence as those she let me dwell on those words, wondering what she meant, and yet full knowing the answer. Doing my best to break through the weight her gaze brought on me, I raised my head tall and looked back into her eyes.

"We did what had to be done, what would in the end be best for all Equestria. You know this to be true my queen! Our actions might have destroyed the innocents of ponies, but if we had not acted so much more would be lost."

Luna's gaze did not waver, but I could see that she was truly surprised by my determination. A small smile spread across her night black face, acting like a light in the dark. Her voice too had subtly changed, some of its warms returning.

"Your faith in our cause, and your queen, is heartwarming even to a goddess who feels cold as the night. However, you must understand that I did not chose to change in this way. This conflict has brought to light a side even I fear." and as she said that, for one moment I could see in those eyes terror, uncertainty. "Part of my mind is no longer my own, it thinks alien thoughts and have alien desires... that day.."

The tall and twisted representation of my queen stood up from her chair, and trotted toward me, bringing her head to the height of mine, and speaking in a serious tone.

"By the time we win, I might not be the pony you or any of them first set out to protect and support. I might be worse then any Gryphon or Dragon that has ever terrorized this land. You would have to live with having brought my a tyrant to the ponies of Equestria. Do you really wish to take that chance?"

At first her words seemed almost silly to me. Yes, her physical appearance scared me, but she was still Luna, the loving goddess who protected her ponies every night, she would never harm us. And yet, as the time passed and the seriousness of her expression stayed, I knew she was truly scared of this outcome.

But she was my Queen, and I had gone so far for her already, to turn back now would betray everypony who had risen to protect her. No, if we backed down now, the other races would take advantage of Equestria's weakness. Without Luna to protect us, Equestria would fall. She is our goddes, and if we can't trust her, then there is nothing we could trust. Even though I spoke with honesty and faith behind me, my voice was notably shaken as I bowed to Luna once more.

"If that is what we have to do to protect the ponies of Equestria, to keep you in power, then I am fully willing and able to take that risk. Everything you have done has been for our good. You might think yourself a monster, but I know that in the end you could never bring harm to those you love, us, your loyal subjects."

For a moment I was unsure how Luna had taken to my words, for she did not reply at first. But then, to my surprise and disbelieve, she places her muzzle to the top of my head. A sign of care and affection, normally withhold to those that we hold dear in our heart. She then just as wordlessly withdrew her muzzle and turned to walk back up the stairs to her throne. Still bewildered by her action I quietly watched as she sat down and nodded at me. Her terrifying form suddenly looking so much more familiar to me. Her words boomed with determination and purpose, a desire to see this through.

"It is time for us to bring an end to this, to meet and confront my Celestia."

Wrath

I tried my best to hide the pain cursing through my body as I approached the radiating princess of the sun, not wishing to further distress her as her harsh expression made it clear she had already many things on her mind. Luckily those same things bothering her also seemed to make her oblivious to my pain and she simply smiled warmly as she greeted me.

"Come then Sarshine, it is clear that if anypony deserves be at my side during this moment, it is you." Celestia's beautiful voice rang from her muzzle, but there was an element of authority to it. She had been angered, and I was very glad not to be pony who had done so.

I would not dare object to my queen's orders and had no reason to, this was a moment to be proud of. I stood as tall as I could, the golden armor perfectly set onto my body and shimmering in the light. I trotted along her side, determined to see justice served.

We made our way into the council chamber I had entered once before, this time much better prepared for the surprised and startled onlookers as the doors were flung aside by obedient guards and Celestia strode into the hall. The ponies within must have known she was coming, it had been a meeting called by her request. However, to see her stern and disappointed look passing over each of them was not something that had anticipated.

The head councilor I had the pleasure of meeting only so recently looked at me with disbelieve and fear for a moment before quickly averting his gaze onto Celestia, his expression stone cold.

"My Queen! You look much health--"

He stopped, silenced as Celestia without a word brought the hoof down on the stone slap she was occupying with enough force to send a crack down the center.

"Silence you traitor!"

Her voice rang now with only passion and anger, so loud and strong that even I had to flinch away. She spread her wings, the shadow they cast covering me completely, and continued.

"I have uncovered your conspiracy, and substantial evidence of all of your involvements! You have not only betrayed my dear sister Luna and I, but also your fellow kin."

Somehow as she spoke it felt as if the room itself grew hotter and then suddenly her horn began to glow, a small image of the sun forming in the center and slowly becoming larger and more pronounced.

"Under your schemes have not only died my and Luna's subjects, but also the morality of Equestria. I ask you now, why!?"

The sun grew even larger and for a moment I felt as if the furr on my skin would catch fire, and then suddenly the heat disappeared and I could feel Celestia's wing wrap around my side. Noises of discomfort and pain rang across the hall for only a few moments and then things dimmed down again, the bright sun slowly fading and the other ponies either crumbling to the floor outright or grasping to whatever support they could find. Their leader spoke out, his voice exhausted and hoarse.

"M...queen... we made a mistake! We never wished to... entice your wrath..." The other ponies looked utterly terrified as they struggled with what had happened mere moments ago, "B..but Equestria will never accept... two rulers... we, your subjects... YOU are our queen."

As he spoke I could feel a shiver run across Celestia's body, and through the wing covering me, for a moment it clenched and squeezed my side. I knew what she was thinking, what she had always been thinking, it was always her fault. The other pony looked over at the goddess of the sun, despair in his eyes.

"Luna is not fit to rule! She never was! You are the only goddess Equestria needs! Please do not punish us for trying to free us of a mare tha---"

Suddenly Celestia burst out a scream filled with agony and anger and sun reappeared so brightly and vividly infront of my eyes that they burned with pain and I was forced to look away. There were no screams of agony this time, no pony could survive the heat forced onto this fool and his ilk.

Even through goddess's protective wing I could feel the heat, and then it vanished as quickly as it had been summoned. There was complete silence as neither Celestia nor I knew what to say, till I felt her's wing withdraw from my side and I once more dared to open my eyes. The room around me was blackened from the intense heat it had endured.

I could hear a soft whimpering beside me, the sound so utterly weak and frail that I refused to accept that it had come from my queen, and yet when I looked toward the source of the sound there was only one pony beside me. Celestia stood there, her eyes closed and her body shivering with pain and emotions I could not dare to imagine. I stood there petrified, unsure what to say or do, to comment her for her actions or pity her for what she had to endure.

And then, Celestia turned he head toward me, her eyes opening to reveal tears she had tried to hide, tears an alicorn was assumed never to shed. She spoke, her voice shaken but stern.

"I am the traitor! It was my side that refused to let go of the past grievances, that refused to accept Luna! I never deserved to rule Equestria, I do not have the strength of my sister!"

The white mare let her head drop down and she turned toward the exit of the chamber.

"This war is over, I will surrender myself to Luna and restore peace to Equestria, or whatever Luna wishes to call it now."

Without giving me time to formulate a responds she walked out of the room, the guards at the door were so paralyzed by the sight of their princess so defeated that they said nothing. Deep in my mind I was cursing myself for having no answers to give my queen. We had proven Luna's innocence and drawn out the true traitors, but Celestia would never forgive herself for letting this conflict escalate as it did.

I could only hope now that Luna was as wise and strong as Celestia believed, and that she would forgive our mistake.

Sacrifice

Luna cast a glance over her exausted and bloodied subjects, the few of the ponies close to her who had surrived this ambush only to find themself looked into a tomb for the living. Deep inside the castle of the Gryphon King, deep within the gryphon kingdom. She could most likely escape, force her way through the hoard assambled outside and flee toward her home, but non of us would be able to keep up with her, and she could not protect us from the hail of bolts, knifes and claws that would assult us.

I wondered if we had made things worse with our valiant struggle, we had warned Luna but also given her a weakness. If we had all parished she might... no, they would have found a way.

My depressed and defeated thoughts were silenced when suddenly a cold shiver ran down my spine, my whole body inventorly shaking as my eyes tried to find the source of the unearthly coldness. Instead they found only a purple myst that crawled through the cracks of the door and creeped across the floor.

I was not the only being in the room to take notice, the other ponies quickly found their eyes drawn toward the strange smoke, and then a completetly terrfyed screetch from one of the Gryphons in the room caused me to flinch. I could not make out what he said as he was speaking his native tounge but the horror in his voice did not need translation, this myst was not a good sign.

Even Luna seemed to have been affected by this strange presence, she said nothing as we all followed its movements, it slowly creeping toward one of my comrades.

And then it touched him, first it engulved one of his hoofs, then it seemed to sink into it, dissapearing within his skin. He looked up at us in confusion and visiable terror in his eyes, as if asking us what had just happened, and then he screamed in agony. He threw himself on the floor, rolling back and forth and stricking at anything he could reach with his hoofs.

We tried to rush toward him, find some way of helping, but Luna suddenly overtook us and unfolded her wings, shielding us from the view and stoping us from coming any closer. When she spoke her voice was calming and yet somehow I could her the worry she was feeling.

"This is not your charge, this is a power beyond normal ponies, I will stop its spread."

Luna moved closer to the unlucky pony, placing a hoof to its forhead and wispered something too quiet for any of us to hear, but just as suddenly as the loud screams had started did they stop.

The moon princess bowed her head to the affected pony and spoke, words that made no sense and yet seemed to hold weight I could not fathom.

"I will help you, and you will help me. Bring us home, help me save my subjects, and I give you a host worthy of your power. One that can contain you."

After she spoke there was a strange eery silence and then a flash of cold it drew the breath from me, for a moment I thought I would have the very life drawn from me, but instead the warms slowly returned.

Luna folded in her wings and raised her head, stepping back from the pony who had been affected by the myst, his eyes closed and his expression peaceful, he was dead.

She turned toward us, her expression now so very calm and confident that it gave strengh to me that I did not know I had. Her expression became stern as she looked at the Gryphon ambessadors within the room and spoke.

"Tell your precious emporer that his plan has failed, I have not only surrived and endured, but I know now what he has planned, and have the power to stop it."

With a smirk the moon princess turned toward the door and in a flash it exploded outward, shards of wood spraying forth into the hallway and drawing surprised and pained screetches from the Gryphons beyond. A wave of crossbow bolts were shot into our room but they all struck an invisble barrier and crumbled against it.

Luna stepped out into the hallway, the smoke and dust from the burst door covering her but completely and even as I tried to rush up beside her I could heare her yell with such vicous anger that it paralized me.

"You treacherous beasts have suceeded in but one thing, you have brought your very own nightmare to life! This war will not end till every Gryphon has paid his due for the crimes commited here today!"

Loud angry screetches werer the reply given to our queen's words, but then a magical wave threw me to the floor and the screetches fell silent, a bright light flashed before my eyes and the whole world seemed to shift, a loud cracking sound coming from below, and then things became quiet.

Much quieter then they would have any right to be, instead of sounds of battle there simply were soft sounds of... forest. The rustling of leaves penetrating the otherwise eerie silence.

I picked myself up from the stone floor and, my limbs acheing with exaustion and injuries, and looked around the room. It was still the same stone room, but somehow ever so slightly different. The floor was slightly slanted, as if build uneevenly, it had not been before. The almost perfect silence was interupted by the sound of something falling to the floor, but not stone, grass, leaves being crushed and twigs pushed aside.

The sound had come from behind and I turned around to investigate this curiousity. Before me was Luna, laying just outside the room, where she had been mere moments ago, and yet not. Instead of a stone hallway filled with Gryphons and wood splinters there was a lush forest. The green and browns of the plants and trees being in stark contrast to the grey stone structures I had seen the last couple days.

We were very clearly no longer in the castle of the Gryphon Emporer. Luna must have telported us, somewhere, us and the whole room. I had never heard of a unicorn with such power, teleportation was considered experimental magic at best, suicide at worst, but maybe alicorns knew things they never told us.

I trotted over to my exausted looking ruler and bowed to her, pressing my muzzle into the dirt before her and spoke in a quiet but determined voice.

"Thankyou for saving us my queen, you have my loyalty and love. I will serve you into death."

Luna's eyes shot wide open and stare right into mine, startling me and causing me to stumble backwards, both from emberrasment and becuase her eyes looked so not like hers. But then she smiled and after I recovered myself her eyes looked normal once more.

"Thankyou, Captain Nightlight" As she spoke she rose from the grass, seemingly having overcome whatever exaustion had drained her only moments ago. "You have proven passion and strengh, and with so many of our most loyal subjects killed I will need to call onto new ponies to replace them. You will be the first commander of my royal guard, the night guard."

Author's Note

For the Zero people that read this, we are almost at the end, the pieces are falling in place... and this project ended up being much more then I had first set out to do.

Truth

I gave a nervous glance to my two friends, who had recruited me to help them in their quest to uncover a conspiracy with far reaching consequences. This was it, finally we had laid bare our enemy and taken away their most powerful weapon, disguise. However, something made me shiver with unease.

The truth was, I didn't trust my allies one bit more then those traitors we were fighting, and I felt my usefulness had run its course, but I had no choice. I had to ensure that Luna would be freed from the crimes she did not commit, and that Equestria return to harmony. The large Earthpony pushed open the doors leading into the councilors chamber, it surprised me that it was unlocked. I shuffled after the two other ponies and spoke softly.

"Some hard evidence and then we are out of here, right?... I still don't see why you need me for this."

The Pegasus looked at me and shot one his confident and yet unpleasant grins and then turned his attention back to the room we had just entered, it was as lavish with furniture and decorative fabric as one would expect from a pony of this importance. And yet, it was instantly apparent that all of it was themed toward one topic, depicting the sun, the day, even Celestia raising the sun at the summer sun Celebration. Luna, the moon, the night, it was depicted not at all in this room, as if those things were not relevant.

I would have been surprised, insulted even, to see such obvious bias from a pony held so highly in a hierarchy that was supposed to value both sides as equal, but at this point it was the least of his crimes.

Still, the brightness and colors of the room caught my interest long enough that it took me a few moments to notice the ponies sitting front and center. I had been told that it was expected nopony would be here, instead we were face to face with a group that included some of the most influential ponies in all of Equestria. All high ranking royal advisers were present, or at least the official ones.

I shot an accusing glance at my two friends who had assured me this would be easy and quick. Now it might not even matter what evidence we posses, it would be difficult to explain breaking into private property of Celestia's most trusted ponies to steal information.

Before I could question what our plan was to get out of this Wingstroke spoke up.

"I am glad to see that you received our message and are willing to cooperate with us. It would indeed have been terrible if we had been forced to throw away our opportunities so blindly."

To my startled shock the Pegasus stepped toward the ponies completely casually, respectful bowing his head to their leader.

"We know all about your little agreement with the Gryphons. And we have all the evidence needed to bring Celestia's wrath down on you, with a pony outside your reach mind you."

A soft murmuring came from the ponies across the room, but their leader looked unfazed and simply shot as a warm and welcoming smile.

"But you see the wisdom in our actions and wish to help instead?"

I was about to reply with just denouncement of such accusation, but my blue friend was faster.

"We see the wisdom in your money and power, no more and no less. Celestia will win, and non of us need to pay the price for this little incident."

I was shocked by his words, I had known his 'for the money' approach and not valued him as valiant, but to betray us so bluntly. And then I noticed that his Earthpony friend had joined his side and nodded in agreement, leaving only me standing out as the odd pony who had not yet agreed.

To further add to my confusion the elder unicorn looked unhappier then before, as if he had been displeased by the responds given. He glanced over at his fellow traitors and sighed.

"Considering the circumstances we are not in a position to turn down your offer. I can however not help but mention how we would much rather have wished for ponies loyal to Celestia, rather then amoral mercenaries." He pronounced the last statement with complete disgust, as if he truly considered himself to be righteous, and then turned his look toward me.

"What about your third wheel there? He does not seem all to be all clued in on this little deal of yours. Is he going to cause further problems?"

And so I had suddenly become the center of attention, and the almost vicious looking grin on the muzzles of the advisers made it clear it was not a good form of attention.

The blue Pegasus who I had grudgingly thought a friend shook his head slowly and sighed.

"I like you Star, you are predictable and trustworthy, so hard to find in this sort of business, but they are right, me and (name) here make a good two pony show. And even if we let you walk away, I know you too well to fool myself into thinking you would just let us get away with this."

As he spoke I could feel my blood begin to rise, I could not figure out if he was being genuine or making fun of me for trusting him. But he saved me only to let the same fate befall me anyway.

As silence began to fall and all those death-wishing eyes settled on me I could not stop myself, I would not be an easy target. I snarled at my 'friend'.

"You forgot that I am a trained royal guard, you are all hereby under royal arrest and to be brought to Celestia for questioning!"

My horn began to glow brightly as I readied a shield against the assault that would follow my words, but to my surprise the ponies around me only continued to grin menacingly, till the traitor's leader once more talked.

"That is all nice and well, but I prefer to let others do the dirty work for me. So mercenaries, how about you two take care of your little friend and show us how dedicated you are to the cause, and then we'll have a deal?"

My heart skipped a beat when suddenly a knocking sound echoed from the door, when the other ponies looked no less surprised then me it became clear that this was not part of the scheme. The knocking happened once more and no pony dared move a muscle, part of me wishing to race to the door and beg for help, but the huge looming Earthpony made it clear I would not make it a hoofs length.
Finally the knocking stopped and instead came a voice, a young guard pony voice I had heard before somewhere.

"My apology Sir, but the princess has called for an emergency meeting and requested attendance by all her top advisers."

There was a long moment of silence following this and the glares direct at me had now turned into impressed accusations, but my own utter confusion must have made it clear that this was not my doing. After the pony once more knocked on the door, seemingly determined to succeed at his task, the advisers glanced at each other before their leader spoke up again, his look now once more directed at the blue Pegasus.

"If we all disappeared now, the same time your little friend was to have his accident, it would seem very strange. I don't know what you are playing at but we will go along, you remove him and we will be in contact soon, mercenary."

With this he trotted toward the entrance, casually walking past me as if he had no ill intentions at all. He opened the door and nodded at the Pegasus guard who had so eagerly delivered the summon.

"Ah, Thankyou for doing your job so diligently. You can inform the princess that I will be at the chamber in a few moments."

The guard nodded quickly and hurried off, having no reason to question the councilors words or investigate what had been occurring within his room. I saw the other ponies who were involved in the plot follow suit, many of them giving me a final knowing nod as they passed. One even spoke, his voice thick with venom and disgust.

"Don't feel cheated, you should have been executed for being present at a council meeting... no place for Luna loving scum like you."

When the final council member had left the room and the door slammed shut behind me I once more focused my magical energy and glaring at the two ponies I had trusted to protect me, the Pegasus idly scraping the floor with a hoof.

"That was a darn clever move of yours, but no one is going to come looking for us. We have all the time in the world to take care of you."

He and his big stallion friend started to walk toward me, then split into two and slowly began to circle me from opposite directions.

"Royal guard training? Nice speech, but don't forget that we saved your life once. I am confident we can take it back."

The moment he finished both of them leaped toward me, and my horn flashed bright as the magical barrier enveloped my body. Sadly they had been smart, and by splitting up I had to focus on two different directions at the same time, their progress toward me slowed but not stopped as they struggled against the magical force pushing them back.

With a loud growl I snapped my eyes open and let the magic disappear, instead leaping to the right and tackling the Pegasus who had sold me out so willingly. I succeeded at surprising him, knocking him over with my body and both of us tumbling against a heavy wooden table. The impact however knocked the wind out of me and even as I brought my hoofs down on the other ponies face I could feel strong hoofs grab my back, and fling me clean across the room.

With a yell of pain I struck a painting and the wall behind it, my back sending waves of pain throughout as I lay on the floor, panting heavily. My unfocused eyes could make out the two colored blobs, the blue one being helped up by the big red and then both of them growing bigger as they came closer.

I closed my eyes, trying to push out the foggy image I had seen and once more focusing my magic to build a protective barrier, but even as it materialized I could feel the immense strength of the Earthpony simply pushing through it. I tried harder to push him away, my whole body trembling, and then his hoof touched my head, grabbed the horn, and smashed my straight into the stone tiles.

Any concentration I had was shattered as my head burned with pain and my eyes instinctively opened to see the attacker, a big Earthpony looked down at me, his expression neither joyful nor sad, simply business.

And then a yell of surprise and confusion rang through the room, followed by the sound of a rough impact and shattering wood. The Earthpony let go of me and turned to look at the source of the noise, my eyes following his but the whole world was just a blur of colors. I saw a blue blob crumbled on top the table I had fought by only moments before, or at least what was now left of said table.

My eyes noticed a pony shaped dark gray blob by the entrance of the room, but before I could think on that I heard another yell, this one so deep and loud that it could only have originated from the Earthpony who had just almost smashed in my skull.

The blue shape struck with such velocity that I had no doubt even he had at broken some bones from that. I did not really understand what had happened yet, but with the ponies trying to kill me gone I felt much safer and I once more strained my eyes to make out the shape of my savior.

This became much easier when he quickly made his way over to me, placing a hoof to my head and caused a wave of calming healing magic to sink deep into my skull. My pain did not go away, but it became a small echo in the back of my mind, rather then the roaring it had been only moments ago, and my eyes once more regained their focus.

Before me was Starswirl, the grey unicorn looking at me with a strange sense of sadness and guilt.

"I am sorry you had to endure this, I wish I had been but a little bit faster. I had to make sure where their loyalties lay before I accused them of treason, even after we gathered all the evidence I needed."

He reached out a hoof to mine and with his help I slowly rose to stand, my legs a little unsteady but overall nothing seemed too be broken or other wise critical.

The old unicorn smiled at me cautiously and then looked over at the two other ponies, who had most certainly come the worse out of this.

"You have gone through a lot during this whole mess... but hopefully it is about to be over. Celestia knows everything, and she will deal with the traitors as she sees fit. I am going to secure these two." He nodded over at the unconscious pair and then looked into my eyes again. "If you want to witness the end to this you better hurry, Celestia is waiting on you."

Author's Note

My wish is that someday I can return to these chapters and give them a well deserved rewrite, there is too much leaning on these last few pieces of the puzzle for me to rush them out as I did. But I simply find it difficult to look at this story any more, so I am tying all the loose ends up and bringing it to an end.

Neverfree

No matter how much I fought to hide it, I could not deny that this place made me feel uneasy and I wished to be leave as soon as possible. Why Luna and Celestia would pick here for their meeting was a mystery to me.

I quickly glanced over to Luna, hoping to draw strength and confidence from her but finding only another wave of unease rippling down my spine. She had been fighting day and night against whatever had transformed her appearance as of recent. Some days she seemed unaffected, but other days there was this inconsistency with her, her mood and feelings changing suddenly.

Today she had not won whatever fight she was fighting, her whole body had morphed into the dark nightmare I had first seen in Hoofington. Her expression was one of glee and satisfaction, but the sharp teeth and malicious eyes made it an uncomfortable sight.

As we made our way through the thickest of the forest I wondered if this had been a good idea. Celestia had agreed to peace, but seeing her fellow Queen like this might give her the wrong impression. However, I knew that asking Luna to delay this meeting would only worsen the circumstances, I promised to trust in her till the end.

As my magic pushed aside the leaves before me my mind came to a quick halt, suddenly looking with confused awe at a small castle. Its appearance in the middle of this ponyforsaken forest was startling and confusing, all of the ponies in our gazed at it with stunned surprise. Deep inside we knew that nopony had laid eyes on this castle in generations, and yet it stood here as if shielded from time itself.

"It is the castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, build long before the days of Equestria, and the empires that formed it." The unmistakable voice of Luna lectured us, and I quickly took note that she finally sounded like herself again. Our Queen walked past our still awe stricken bodies and casually approached what had to be the entrance to the castle, two heavy wooden doors that seemed unaffected by the many years of rain they had endured.

Even as I regained composure and rushed forward to take back my place beside my Queen she used her magic to open the doors. I could see inside revealing the rich colors of tapestry and memorials, if the wealth within these walls were ever known to the wide public the stream of adventurers and robbers would be near endless. The other ponies now too overcame themselves and took their places behind our charge, all of us proudly and eagerly entering the castle with her.

Once inside I was able to inspect the beautiful decorations that adorned the hallway, many of them depicting Luna and Celestia, younger and yet way too much the same if this castle was anywhere as old as Luna had implied. I could not help but wonder the true age of our Queens if this was how slowly they aged, they must outdate the most ancient written records of pony history.

Looking toward my Queen with a new sense of respect and awe I saw that not only her voice had undergone change, her body too had shifted more to her old self, this place must be giving her the strength and confidence she had lacked. I smiled to myself as I knew things would be alright.

Luna seemed to know well where she was going, as she rounded corners and passed doors without so much as a moment spend trying to recall her path, till finally we stepped into a large hall. In the center of the hall stood a strange rock carved imitation of a tree, with six large round stones at the ends of each arm. However, it drew my gaze and occupied my thoughts for only a short moment before I noticed the large white Alicorn standing below this tree. She looked at us with a strange mixture of guilt and joy. Celestia bowed to Luna so formally that for a moment I thought it was in jest, nopony had ever seen one of the Queens pay formal respect to the other as if they were of higher worth. And then she spoke, her warm and welcoming voice full of relieve.

"My little sister, oh how I have missed your brilliant presence!" She rushed toward us, ready to embrace the pony who officially was still her enemy, we acted quickly to step forward, past our Queen and respectfully placed ourselves between the two Alicorns. I bowed to her just as she had bowed to Luna and smiled nervously, wishing for Luna to discharge us from this awkward position. Her voice rang out, but it drained the smile from my face.

"As you see I have not been idle during my absence, we crushed Gryphon and Pony since my rule started, and now you are here to finally give in to my demands?"

I did my best to stain my eyes upwards, bowing still but also trying to see Celestia's reactions to the aggressive tone. For the first time in my life I wanted to object to Luna, to tell her not to ruin this chance we have at peace, but I needed to trust her now more then ever. And then suddenly Luna stepped forward, past us and closer to the princess of the sun.

"Look into my eyes dear sister, do you see what you have created in your foolish quest to rid yourself of me? Or will you continue to blind yourself?"

As she called Celestia sister, much as the sun princess had mere moments before, it struck me that when Luna had referred to this as the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters she implied herself and Celestia to be exactly that.

The joy of finding out something so valuable and long questioned was quickly overshadowed by terror as I watched things unfold, Luna's body visibly transforming into her nightmare self. Even Celestia seemed stunned and aghast by the display, her body motionless as she stared deep into her sister's eyes, and then finally spoke.

"Dear sister, have my apologizes for what transpired! But it was never by my desire to be rid of you! I was indeed blind, blind to the skeem of my advisers, blind to the bias held by the ponies I trusted, but I see now and I come to set things right! Why this deformation of your bea.."

She was silenced by Luna, the moon princess baring her fang like teeth and smashing her hoofs onto the stone floor. And then she screamed, with anger and pain I had never seen her express.

"Do not lie to me! You left me for dead! The crimes I and my ponies have committed ... the blood on our hoofs, it is all your fault!" Luna looked back at us, and for a moment I could see her mouth move but no words come from it, as if she tried to say something but could not, and then she shook her head and smiled, that crazed smile she bore earlier.

"Look at them Celestia, these are my ponies now! They follow my will, they trust my judgment, you are obsolete. You tried to rid yourself of me, and now I am the one who no longer needs you!"

Her words were without question crazy and not those any of us had wanted to hear, but the impact they had on Celestia overshadowed everything. The almighty Queen was shaking uncontrolled, her expression a frozen terror as she stumbled backwards till she struck the rock structure behind her. The whole display was alien to me, my loving moon princess engulfed by a strange insanity, and the mighty sun princess fearful as a filly from the dark.

"I see you finally have opened your eyes my dear... do you see me? Your nightmare is real!"

Luna's final word was punctuated with a flash of her horn, and Celestia was thrown off her hoofs and launched into the air, striking the top of the dome with such velocity that the stone shattered and hailed down on us. I was about to leap away when the rocks stopped in midair, Luna having leaped up and used her magic to protect us, she looked at us and said but one word.

"Thankyou."

Before any of us could reply she had flown after her sister, leaving us confused and rightfully terrified as the two ponies we swore to protect engaged in outright combat. All we could do was stare up at the grey sky, a dark and a white shape struggling against each other, the white one often being flung around and striking parts of the castle, causing the damage that the castle had been able to avoid for so long.

As we watched we could see Luna grow to dominate, her attacks much more viscous and her magic seemingly more potent. I stood there and hoped with all my heart that she would stop, that my loving Queen return to her normal self and end this pointless struggle, but instead she only grew more eager as the fighting went on.

Finally it ended where it had begun, Celestia violently crashing into the rock tree once more, this time with enough force to shatter it, the 'branches' breaking and the round stones falling to the floor around her. I could see the sun princess how I had never before, in pain and utterly exhausted. She looked at us, the ponies who had once sworn loyalty to her and her sister, and let her head drop to the floor.

Luna dropped down before her, landing comfortably on all four of her black hoofs and towering over her beaten enemy, and laughed with such insanity that I refused to believe it came from her. And then she just stood there, seemingly waiting for Celestia to say or do something. Celestia answered, the dirt covered Alicorn growled with tired determination and rose to her hoofs, her horn glowed as she focused her magical energy. Luna looked unfazed by this, she even turned to grin at us, and then at her sister, speaking with that dark joy that had taken over her.

"Oh this is it! You are finally going to fight back? We both know what you could do, but would you dare?!"

To my surprise Celestia simply looked back at Luna and shook her head, and spoke with what must have been the last of her strength.

"This is not her fault! I will not see her harmed by my mistakes, she just needs time..."

With her last words her horn flashed in a bright light, blinding me momentary. When my sight returned I could make out the blackness of Luna's body, but there no longer was Celestia, and the stones that had fallen around her had disappeared too, leaving the tree broken and robbed of its strange beauty.

Luna laughed once more, her hysteria sending cold chills through my whole spine, and suddenly I wondered if this is what she had warned me off, if this is what she would always be now.

I shook my head and stomped my hoof on the floor. We had gone this far, done so much in her name. I simply could not turn my back on her, could not betray her. Luna was our Queen, more powerful and righteous then Celesta. I trust her judgement, she would defeat the darkness.

We had to win this war, no matter the sacrifice.