Where the moon becomes brighter

Chapter 10: ...But demons rise again.

"Hold...Alright, go." A shadow leading another dozen whispered in the night before beginning to move after an enemy patrol moved out of the way in Stallinox. "Stop, garrison in front." A couple of ponies in Kaiserreich's uniform stood in front of the crumbled castle sharing a cigarette, then after a few minutes they continued walking down the street away from the group hidden in the corner; the streetlights were the only thing illuminating the city, and even then only a few stood surviving after Stallinox's attack. "Move, go!" The leader of the group whispered again, running towards what remained of the castle's doors until they infiltrated inside without trouble; it seemed as if this place was left untouched as a sign of respect towards Charon, not a single soul was present inside apart from the infiltrators. "First group dig the pile, second group upstairs, third group guard the door." The group of ponies and griffons divided into three groups of four and scrambled towards their objectives.

The stress of the situation turned seconds into minutes and minutes into hours, the castle was in utter darkness while ponies and griffons both searched the castle and undug Charon's tomb, only to find nothing after several hours. The pony leader of the group let out a sigh and turned to those standing near the undug pile and ordered them to return to the tavern, but as they all walked to the door one of the griffons slipped and fell to the ground; after standing back up he looked down at the floor and noticed a white-yellowish tiny object hidden in the dust, he picked it up with his claw and examined it with his eye with confusion, he had never seen anything like that before.

"Doc, everything alright?" A pony standing in the door questioned after noticing that the griffon was the only one who wasn't walking. "Is that...A tooth?"

"It looks like one...But..." He answered, spinning the tooth-like object around, still puzzled. "It's not a pony tooth..." Once he noticed a few tiny black tendrils coming out of the strange tooth he threw it away in scare, the entire group gathered around the strange object that started growing bigger and bigger as time passed.

"What in the name of..." Asked the leader. The object kept growing and growing until it became a black mass of gel the size of a pony, but suddenly a large black arm with fingers broke out covered in tendrils and slammed to the ground, then another arm came out but instead of slamming the ground like the other it tore a hole in the strange mass of tendrils, letting a grotesque, tendril-covered skull come out while it screamed; the petrified ponies and griffons could do nothing but stare at this event. The two arms and skull pushed themselves out of the mass of tendrils until a torso was revealed, then the tendrils started forming two legs, and after a while the creature started taking a more complex texture and colour: Heavy and ragged clothes, a coat that reached his knees, a pair of boots with straps on them, dark brown gloves that looked like their colour was fading away and a black, large-brimmed hat with worn out brims; the creature also sported a grey beard and moustache, and also grey eyes. The ponies raised their heads following the towering creature as it stood up, holding its chest and with a painful look on its face; everypony was shocked by this sight: The creature in front of them, the one that regenerated out of a simple tooth, was no other than the emperor of the Imperium itself, Charon, the man who everypony thought had died here in the destroyed castle two months ago. The Terran could only walk a few steps before falling to his knees and gasping for air.

"Back off, back off, let him breathe!" The griffon that found the tooth minutes ago yelled as he flapped his wings while he walked to the Terran. With effort, he helped the Terran up and put him on his back, this wasn't time to be happy, Charon was in enemy territory now and if his existence was discovered Kaiserreich would do anything to capture him.

Two ponies suddenly closed the doors of the castle and placed themselves behind it. "They found us! They are outside, dozens of them!" Screamed one before the soldiers outside started pounding on the door.

"You've trespassed into forbidden territory, cease any resistance at once and your punishment shall not be as severe!"

"Dammit..." The pony leader ranted before turning to one of the griffons. "Got the molotovs?"

"Enough set the world on fire." The griffon answered with a smile as he opened one of the two bags strapped to his side, revealing dozens of molotovs.

"Perfect. Doc, you'll escape by flying above the walls and take Charon to the ponies in the field outside, we'll distract them."

"...Are you sure about this? You'll have no chance of escape..."

"...Ain't life a beauty." He responded before revealing the wings under his clothes and taking flight with the rest, preparing to throw the burning bottles over the castle walls. The griffon carrying the barely conscious Terran ran to the back of the room far behind the throne and also took flight, sorrowful that he'd not see his friends back after hearing fire, glass breaking and gunshots far below.

He flew over the city, the darkness hiding their presence, until they arrived to an open field outside the city, the grass was as tall as a Terran and could easily hide anything but the biggest of things. The griffon landed on the ground still with Charon on his back and began walking through the grass, after a while he stopped as he heard several hooves stepping on the ground closing towards him; a group of five ponies revealed themselves to the griffon and greeted him. "At last. I see the Emperor wasn't dead after all, we were expecting something with less importance but we're prepared for this too. Follow us." The pony leader of the group walked through the grass with the other ponies following him, then the griffon walked their steps until they spotted a small airplane hidden with a pony in the cockpit.

The pony opened the cockpit and waved at those that arrived. "Well isn't this fortunate. What do we do now?"

"Canterlot is the only place left now, it seems." One of the ponies answered.

"Fine, get him aboard, I'll drop him at Canterlot. I'd suggest to be silent about this...Revelation, though."

"Why's that?"

"If Kaiserreich discovers that Charon is alive...Well you know what would happen. But, if Charon suddenly joins the fight after everypony thought he was dead..." The pilot smiled.

"Right. Doc, carry him aboard. Everypony else, we'll keep guard here if hostiles arrive."

Everypony scrambled, 'Doc', as the ponies called the griffon, helped Charon up the airplane; he jumped on board without many problems, he had fully recovered in the flight from the castle to this field, he placed himself next to several wooden crates and waited while the plane's engine started up and shook everything, then the ponies scattered and allowed the plane to drive through an empty dirt runway gathering speed and finally lifting off to Canterlot. The sound of a loud alarm and gunshots started echoing in the sky.

"What's going on now...?" Asked Charon.

"It's an uprising, I'm guessing the entire operation managed to get everypony to fight off the invaders. Don't get any hopes up yet, even if they win Kaiserreich will occupy the city again."

Celestia stood on Canterlot Castle's balcony at the early hours of the morning overlooking the several thousand ponies that prepared a defence that even rivalled Stallinox's, the sound of hooves, engines and orders yelled drowned those of birds singing and wind blowing. She was suddenly startled when a strange creature dropped from the skies to the floor, crashing through the glass part of the ceiling; she turned her vision towards the unfortunate accident and noticed it was Charon who had parachuted from a plane that passed by without a parachute.

"...Medic..." He painfully whispered as he raised one of his arms towards Celestia, but his action was interrupted by five wooden crates falling upon him, covering him entirely.

Celestia ran towards the crates and the Terran, but before she could do anything three guards stormed into the room. "Your highness, what has happened?"

"Nopony...Must know...Of my existence...This hurts more than it looks..." Charon whispered while fighting off the pain of skin and flesh ripped off, his whisper was heard only by Celestia.

"Uhhh...I don't know, maybe a mistake in the dropzone?" She invented an excuse, trying to fool the guards.

"Understood, we'll take care of this then." They said as they closed in. Celestia, worried that they could discover Charon, tried to invent another excuse.

"I-I'll have to read the destinations first, heh...Uhhh...So I know where they were headed, then I'll call you."

"...As you order." The guards with confusion on their faces backed off and left the room, closing the door before them.

"Charon?! You're alive!?" She desperately asked as she removed the crates that were on top of him, then she extended her hand and helped him to his feet.

"Agh...I'm alive I don't know how...A part of me must have remained intact for me to regenerate...If I remember right it was one of my teeth..."

"But...Concord and Luna saw you turning into ashes!!"

"Ashes..." He questioned, he looked back at the pile of crates and noticed a tiny fraction of skin that had been accidentally ripped off in the fall turning into ashes. "So that's what the ashes meant..."

"...What?"

"To give an example, if I get cut into two, one part will regenerate and the other turns into ashes because it's useless...I think my body was destroyed completely yet my tooth remained... Anyways, what happened while I was 'dead'?"

"Things have turned into a nightmare...Luna has become depressed, Concord is now an alcoholic and even Chaser was sorrowful about this, he gave us two months of ceasefire when he found out you were gone but that ceasefire ends tonight. It gets worse, everything has been conquered, Equestria is the only region remaining and Canterlot is the next target."

"Tonight?! Dammit, I must get Luna before--" He was about to run out of the room before Celestia stopped him.

"I don't think Luna would be of much help, they still have that machine and they almost killed you, a Terran, someone who comes from a place war is never ending."

"Right..." He stood still for a minute before realizing something. "Wait, Spike's a dragon, right?"

"Well...Yes."

"That means there are other dragons, right?"

"Uhh yes."

"Where's the nearest nest?"

"Wait, you want to ask the dragons for help? That's insane, they won't help us, they see ponies as puny creatures and won't aid in a war between ponies."

"I'll talk some sense into them then, if they don't listen to a pony then they'll listen to an immortal Terran."

"You're insane...But then again, I can't do anything to stop you and it might be our only hope. Wait here." She said before heading off to a room. Charon waited and waited until Celestia showed up again with a dark rapier. "If you're going to convince the dragons to help, you're going to need this."

"Luna's rapier..." She whispered as Celestia handed him the weapon, he unsheathed it and looked at the blade, it was as clean as the time Luna used it on the moon against him; he sheathed it back again and strapped it to his belt. "So, how do I get to one of the nests?"

"I only know of one nest, and it's on the top of a volcano. Get in the crate."

"...You're kidding, right?"

"No, get in the crate, I'll then call the guards and they'll send it near the volcano, then you'll have to make your way to the dragons. You wanted your existence to remain a secret, right?"

"..." Charon opened the crate only to find that it was completely empty. He jumped inside and struggled to fit inside but finally managed to, Celestia sealed the crate and called her guards.

"Yes, your highness?"

"You can take care of the crates now. This one's special, though, it's to be sent to the base of the volcano at once, make sure you send this one first."

"Immediately."

"Why this place?" Charon heard a few ponies talking outside the crate he was transported in. "And what's inside this thing anyways?"

"Orders are orders, I don't know nor do I care, I just want to get out of here before a dragon comes and eats us alive."

"Point taken, so, nothing else to do?"

"We were told to bring this package here and...Leave it in the open...Uhhh..."

"Leave it in the open? That's it?"

"It's what it says here, there must be a mistake..."

"Who cares, if something's wrong we can't do anything about it. Let's go, I'm getting creeped out by being so close to a dragon nest..."

The sound of a truck starting up was heard until it got farther and farther away, the crate was completely alone in the open by this point. Charon broke out of the crate by smashing the wooden planks open with his hand and tearing it off from the outside; he stood up and inspected the scenery. "Well here I am with no way to return...Uhhh...So where this volcano..." His jaw dropped once he spotted the mountain he'd have to climb, in his world it was almost as big as Mt. Everest, but seeing as he could breath normally on the moon there'd be no risk apart from the cold and exhaustion. "Are you kidding me?!! I have to climb THAT thing?!!" He let out a deep sigh as he rested his face on his palm, but after removing it he spotted a mountain goat near him; he ran towards it and jumped on top. "Giddy up!!" The goat reared up like a horse and began running to the volcano; the scenery contrasted seeing as everything was snow except for the tip that was surrounded by red clouds and a rather warm atmosphere.

Charon grunted as he desperately grabbed the edge of the crater at the top of the volcano, slowly but steadily climbing until he finally rested on his chest where there was no more elevation. "That damned goat..." he barely spoke, gasping for breath, "I'll turn that damn thing into stew...Kick me out halfway to here..." He cleared the snow that piled up over his hat's brim and rubbed his eyes before staring into the deep crater crowded by dragons with a few lava pools being shown. "I have to start thinking through these plans...Let's see, how do I get their help again...? Oh hey it's getting windy...Wait what the HELL IS GOING OO--WOOOAH!!" The tiny earthquake produced by a dragon that flew by managed to send Charon crashing down to the bottom of the crater, bouncing on the berm with painful grunts until he finally reached the bottom. He rearranged his hat, stood up and shook the dirt off before deciding to walk to the centre of the crater. "May I have your attention!!" He screamed with his arms up in the air, not having the slightest clue of what he was doing at the moment. Every single dragon in the crater turned their heads to the Terran at the centre, hundreds of eyes pierced into his soul at that moment petrifying him. 'If I don't move...They won't attack...' He thought while sweat ran down his face. A young red teenage dragon walked towards him with confusion on his face and began inspecting the Terran, first by staring at him and later even by moving his arms and head.

"Hey, anyone knows what's this?" The dragon asked as he turned away from Charon, every other dragon either shook its head or shrugged. "Well, food's food." He revealed his teeth as he tried to bite Charon but before he could do so the Terran deflected the attack with his arm and threw his fist towards the dragon's face, only to be dodged and knocked down by the dragon's tail impacting his knees; the winged creature tried to jump on the Terran but was humiliatingly thrown out of the way by a solid kick connecting on his stomach, causing him to be sent crashing to the ground. "You son of a...Agh!" The dragon yelled as he stood up with pain. "You know how to fight, that's for sure...So, tell me, what brings something like you here?"

Charon stood up and shook off the volcanic dirt on his clothes. "I want the dragons' help in this war." The scenery was completely silent as the thought sunk into the young red dragon's and everyone else's minds, but after a second every single dragon in the entire crater bursted out laughing.

"Oh god my lungs...Hah, you want our help in a pony war? As if! We're not going to bother ourselves with the worthless arguments of the ponies."

"I won't leave until you decide to help me."

"Well that's a real tragedy because I already gave my answer!!" He yelled as he ran towards Charon. The dragon threw his claw towards Charon's chest but missed when he dashed to one side and punched it in the jaw, accidentally causing the teeth to dig into his fist. He swung its tail towards the Terran's head but he caught it with his other hand, then he twisted it, took his fist out of the dragon's jaw, gripped the tail with both hands and swung him over his head to the ground before immobilizing it by placing his foot over its neck.

"Are you still certain about your decision?" Charon asked as he stared down at the dragon that not long ago was mocking him.

The ground shook and dirt scattered in the air once a giant black dragon with bright red eyes landed behind the two combatants, it was the biggest dragon in the entire crater and its simple stare could send entire armies running for their lives. Charon, unsure of what that nightmarish sound and shake was, slowly turned his head until he could see the gigantic creature staring at him, the young dragon used that opportunity to free himself and ran away in an instant.

"I apologize for this brat here causing so much trouble, he doesn't have the brightest mind among us. I've heard the dragons laughing in my flight but I have no knowledge of your intentions, explain yourself."

Charon took a deep breath before talking to the towering creature in front of him. "My empire is at war and we're losing, your help might be our only chance of turning the tide of the war." None of the dragons laughed now, seeing as the giant, black dragon wasn't reacting in a mocking manner no one else dared to even giggle.

"What do we receive in exchange by helping you?"

"If this war is won I'll command three entire continents. Anything you want, I can get it."

The silence engulfed the crater and impatience and tension grew inside Charon, this moment lasted for a minute at least while the giant dragon thought about the Terran's words.

"I decline the offer." The dragon finally answered.

"...What?"

"There is nothing you can give us that would change our minds enough to enter a conflict between empires. We're fine the way we currently are."

"Is there...Some way I can convince you to help us?"

"I'm afraid not, my answer stands. Draconian ways dictate that only the strongest's words are final but we both know how a duel between us would end."

Charon stood in silence, meditating over the dragon's words, he knew that if his side didn't get the help of the dragons the war would finish this night. Then, he made up his mind: He'll do anything to help his empire, even if that meant dying again.

"I challenge you, then."

Every dragon was shocked by this scene and started muttering among themselves, the giant dragon that stood in front of Charon slightly tilted his head to a side in confusion. "Are you sure about this decision? You understand this is suicidal and you'll achieve nothing this way, I fail to see the logic behind your words."

"You said that the strongest had the final word and after seeing what happened when you arrived you obviously are the one. If I defeat you, you'll help my side in this conflict; if I lose..." He slowly unsheated his rapier as he talked, and gripped it with both his hands staring at the dragon. "Well, let the afterlife take care of that."

"You are suicidal, my friend. I accept your challenge, though I take no responsibility for what happens to you."

The dragon quickly stepped forward and threw his mouth wide open towards the Terran with considerable speed, trying to eat him alive but missed as Charon desperately dodged by throwing himself to the side. The teeth dug into the volcanic ground temporarily immobilizing the dragon's head, Charon seized the opportunity and climbed on top of it. The dragon managed to free himself from the ground and lifted its head trying to shake off the Terran who clinged to it with no signs of wanting to let go.

"Has it come to this already?!" Charon yelled as he prepared to stab the dragon's forehead and end this already, but he was grabbed by its tail before he could do so making him lose grip of his rapier sending it flying to the group where it got stuck.

"You lasted more than I thought." The dragon told Charon while holding him right in front of his face, then he looked to one of the lava pools scattered around.

'Ahh this is bad...' Charon thought as he too looked at the pool. 'If there's nothing left of my body...Then to regenerate...' "AW FU--" He yelled as the dragon threw him at incredible speed, making him skip twice over the lava before finally sinking.

The giant black dragon remained silent, staring at where Charon sunk with a confused look. 'For someone to throw his life away for a simple war...Were they fighting against monsters?' He thought, still not understanding the reasons behind the Terran's actions while examining the rapier that he picked up with his tail. He suddenly raised an eyebrow, though, once he spotted a tiny object rising from the lava and clinging to the edge as it made its way upwards revealing a dark, charred skeleton rising from the depths. 'What in the...'

The skeleton rose and stepped from the lava to open ground as every dragon looked at it in shock and fear, dragons were the only thing supposed to withstand such temperatures without being harmed. The charred remains walked over in front of the confused dragon and pointed at him with his finger bone, then he clashed both his fists together.

"You're still alive and ready to fight again...Are you one of the three outsiders we heard of? One of the two immortals?"

The skeleton nodded.

"You hold great determination, and you have my respect for that." After complimenting what remained of the Terran, he threw him the rapier with his tail landing in front of the skeleton. "If you truly wish to fight again, pick it up."

Charon stepped forward and grabbed the rapier that was in the ground, he gripped it with both hands and stared at the dragon waiting for it to make the first move. The dragon swiftly grabbed the Terran with his giant claw and gripped it tighter and tighter expecting to crush his bones, but Charon freed his arms and stabbed the claw that imprisoned him making the dragon yell in pain at the rapier driving right into his bone; he rammed the Terran against the crater wall causing dust to fly off due to the impact and breathed fire at him. The breath of fire stopped, but what remained was the skeleton in flames raising its skull towards the dragon's eyes, staring at him with the fire inside his cranium acting as eyes. Seeing as his strategy failed, the dragon threw the skeleton to the ground making it bounce and caught him with its mouth, starting to chew the skeleton hoping that the strength of his jaw would be enough but all of a sudden he let out a loud yell of pain and opened his mouth, revealing the completely regenerated Charon holding his rapier at the dragon's mouth ceiling.

"Close your mouth and it's all over!!" He yelled, exhausted by the fight and regeneration. The dragon tried expulsing him from his mouth with his tongue, but Charon reacted by driving the rapier even deeper into the mouth ceiling. "Another movement and it'll be your last!" The dragon tried muttering something but came out as incomprehensible words seeing as Charon was preventing him from moving its mouth, but apart from that he did nothing. "I'm guessing it's over already? If so, raise your claw so I can see it." As Charon said, it raised its hand. "Understood then, you might want to get me a way to get down, though." It lowered its mouth to ground level allowing Charon to jump out unharmed, it raised its head while poking its wound with its claw as it spoke.

"I wasn't expecting this fight to be so quickly and...Embarassing. But still, I keep my word and seeing as now you're the strongest, or should I say luckiest, you're now in command."

'Sweet mother of mercy, I am in command of *DRAGONS*...' Charon thought unable to believe himself but kept his composure on the outside. 'What was I supposed to do now...Oh Hell no...' He noticed it was already dusk and also remembered that the ceasefire between the Imperium and Kaiserreich would end in just hours, he was so focused in getting the dragon's help he didn't even notice the entire day had already passed. 'That's it! Luna!' "I need to get to the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters ASAP, I don't know what to expect there so I'd also need a dozen dragons with me."

"Wait a second, don't tell me we're now obeying this super-developed monkey's gibberish!" Asked the young red dragon from before. Charon and the giant black dragon stared at him until he ran away in fear.

"Take it to the skies, brothers." Yelled the black dragon as he made a gesture with its head, making around a dozen dragons take flight and head to Charon's destination. "Get on." It lowered its head next to Charon, offering to transport him to the castle.

"...Gladly." The Terran answered, jumping on its neck and sitting on the back of the dragon before it took off towards the skies and caught up with the rest.

The intense winds of the winter skies above Equestria blew Charon's longcoat as he stood on the back of the dragon with his arms crossed, staring at the ground below the clouds that covered his vision. The thirteen dragons passed through countless villages, homes and roads in the dark and cold night in the altitude towards the castle where Luna was sorrowfully waiting for nothing. Charon could see a stone structure through the clouds, but that wasn't the only thing he could see, there were several sparks of light and hundreds of unrecognisable silhouettes moving, this place was supposed to be empty.

"What do your dragon eyes see?" Charon asked the greatest of dragons that flew in the formation.

"Two sides, one dark blue and the other dark grey shooting each other. There are also several machines with the dark grey forces."

Charon's eyes narrowed, it was night and the ceasefire might have finished already. "Do you see some sort of cross insignia on the grey side?"

"Now that you mention it, yes. A black cross with a grey outline."

He uncrossed him arms and walked to the side of the dragon and positioned himself ready to drop, clinging to one of the scales. "Do you see a Terran like me?"

"At the back of the Castle. It's a dark-haired, pale-skinned Terran, from what I can see she's crying."

"These are the new orders for every dragon here: Fight off the grey ponies and avoid attacking the dark blue side, don't let anypony get close to that Terran below." He ordered before letting go of the scale and diving to the castle through the sky.

'This Terran is insane...'

The ground shook inside the crumbling castle as Charon landed, creating a shockwave that sent dust flying and also tearing apart most of his skin and clothes, leaving him bleeding severely as he painfully lied on the crack he created, but strangely enough his bones were intact. He gave a loud grunt as he stood up, regenerating his wounds and the blood he left on the ground turning into ashes, but a loud sound of a door being destroyed alerted him; the dark blue ponies, seeing as he was also an intruder in these lands, broke into the castle and began shooting at him. He quickly ran towards a window and threw himself through it, breaking the glass and accidentally digging a shard into his neck, but he was safe at last outside the castle. After he took out the shard he noticed the ground shaking, the dragons had already landed and joined the fight for the castle, Charon wasted no time: he stood and began running towards the back of the castle where the black dragon had told him Luna was located, but once he turned the corner he noticed nothing was there. He kept running until he reached the exact spot where Luna was crying, then he walked to the trees behind the castle, thinking that she might have ran away but the sound of a rock falling to the ground made him turn back and see the princess of the night standing on the highest point of the castle.

'Luna...' He stood in place as he stared at her, her hair was gracefully flowing in the wind, her arms held together and her eyes staring at the moon, he could see how a tear fell down her cheeks. He started gathering speed, running back inside through a destroyed part in the wall but being greeted by the bullets of her royal servants, Luna was depressed enough to lock herself inside her mind and ignore everything that happened around her, even Charon's arrival. Charon managed to run through the arsenal being thrown at him and reached the staircase that led up above to the upper floors, he kept running and running exhausted until he reached the remains of the roof, the wooden supports were barely the only thing that remained: To reach Luna, he had to balance himself and walk over the wooden planks. He took a deep breath and gave a step forward with his arms spread on each side for balance, he placed his other foot in front, then the other and so on slowly but steadily, staring at the battlefield inside the castle between the grey forces that advanced and the dark blue forces that stood their ground. He was thrown off balance by the shaking caused by one of the dragons breaking through a wall into a castle and spewing fire in all directions, Charon could barely catch the support in time and was left hanging. He forced his way upwards once again and walked even faster over the planks until he reached a part of the roof that wasn't destroyed, he saw Luna standing on the castle roof's edge and began walking over to her but the sound of a bullet passing near his ear alerted him, the dark blue ponies had climbed the staircase and began shooting at him. There was nothing to take cover behind, and he was only a few metres away from Luna, he had no choice in this matter. He began sprinting towards the princess who just had time to turn and stare with eyes wide open at Charon, who threw himself towards her making them both fall. Fortunately enough the black dragon himself flew right at them and managed to catch them both on his back.

"C...Charon..." Luna's words barely got out of her mouth, he was on top of Charon who lied on his back over the dragon's scales. His eyes were wide, her tears turned from sorrow to joy, and her hands were holding Charon's, the Terran who she thought was dead was in fact alive and well.

"Luna..." Charon whispered, seeing the princess he had fallen in love long ago but never told her, nor was he told about her feelings, but this was the moment that changed that.

"I love you, Charon..." Luna said as her eyes slowly closed and moved closer and closer to Charon's face. Charon too closed his eyes, both their lips connected in the starry night while they were carried by the greatest dragon in Equestria, this scene would be in a fairy tale if it wasn't for its painful and depressing past.

The dragon flapped its wings as it landed on the ground, winding off the dust and making the grass move like it was the wave of a calm sea. The castle was now silent, the forces of Kaiserreich had retreated from the area and the dark blue servants of Luna gathered around the dragon, watching the two immortals as they got down holding hands.

"I... Missed you..." Luna teared up as she hugged Charon.

"I'd not leave this place without telling you..."

"Tell me what...?"

"...I love you too, Luna. Ever since I saw you back when the first great pony war finished." He answered, closing his eyes as he hugged Luna back.

The dragon purposefully coughed, reminding Charon that there were more pressing matters at hand.

"Right. Luna, we must go to Canterlot, if we don't defend it then we'll lose this war, and knowing Concord he'll avenge my 'death' by fighting until...Anyways, we must hurry before it's too late, I bet they're already being attacked."

"I have a surprise for you." Luna giggled, signalling Charon to turn around with her hand. Once he obeyed, she covered his eyes with one hand, rendering him unable to see anything, he could only hear several deafening sounds going on behind him and the ground shaking every once in a while, until Luna finally uncovered his eyes. "Turn back and try not to drop your jaw."

He turned back, the first thing he saw was the twelve dragons on top of the castle with their jaws as open as their anatomy allowed, then he saw the black dragon himself with his jaw on the floor and his eyes wide open, almost popping his eyes out, then he found out the reason: Luna had managed to create thirteen tanks, their design was identical to the Russian T-90, great ones know how.

"What..." Charon questioned with his jaw dropped with the other thirteen dragons reflecting his awe.

Luna pointed at the sky with her finger and smiled towards Charon. "I'm the princess of the night, remember? I could cover the entire moon with an army made of out darkness back then in the first war, so why not create these things?" She giggled.

"How did you get the design...?"

"Concord had read your mind, he got the design out of your subconscious I heard, so I managed to take a look at the blueprint Concord created when he told me about this 'surprise' to turn the tide of the war. Shame they weren't completed in time."

'Note to self: Never piss off Luna, she has the potential to bring forth the apocalypse...' Charon thought with his jaw still on the floor. "Who's going to drive these things?"

"My servants of course."

"Do they even have the knowledge of what a toaster is...?"

"I summon, they have my knowledge, remember I know the design of the tanks so I know how to make them work."

"True enough. We're wasting enough time here, get your servants in those tanks and let's drive to Canterlot."

"I might have a faster way of getting there."

"Really? How?"

"It's simple..." Smiled Luna. "We use the dragons... There's one more thing left." She walked forwards towards Charon and raised her hand to his forehead, placing it firmly. The hand glew with a dark blue tone for a few seconds before finishing, she stepped back and stared at Charon with a smile.

"What did you do?"

"You'll know when the time comes."