Where the moon becomes brighter

Chapter 1: Everything all over again.

Charon stood in front of the ruins of Stallinox. Two years had passed since the event that changed the course of the war, but this time he didn't mourn the losses, he was supervising the reconstruction efforts to bring the city back to its former glory. It was not only the workers rebuilding this city, but most of the inhabitants volunteered to help reconstruct this place, it wasn't just their city, it was also their home. Charon took a sip of the tea he held with both his hands and looked at the half-built castle. Ponies could be seen in the walls raising them, pegasi planting the steel frames, unicorns carrying the otherwise immovable giant bricks; in order to succeed, cooperation was needed, and in here it was a way of life.

"Hello, brother." Smoke generated next to Charon, and then once dissipated Concord revealed himself.

"Long time no see. How goes the reparation of the city?"

"Steady, the inner circle has been complete and we're moving on to the remaining parts, it'll take about a year and a half more if things keep up. I see the castle is halfway done."

"Where do you want these?" Said a group of unicorns as they carrier several colored glass fragments.

"That one behind the throne, the rest on the walls." Commanded Charon as he took a sip of his tea.

"What is that?" Asked Concord.

"That? That, my dear friend, is a way to remember everything we have gone through. It's one of a series of stained glasses, the one who will be behind the throne depicts the Siege of Stallinox while the rest of our story is scattered on the hall's walls."

"Fancy."

"A letter for you, sir." Atticus arrived and informed Charon as he gave him the letter. "It's from Celestia."

"Celestia, huh...?" Charon broke the seal and started reading the letter, then he rolled it back and returned it to the pony that stood beside him. "Concord, Celestia wants us to head to Canterlot. Atticus, take over the reparation efforts while we are away."

"Yes, sir." The pony returned back to his duties.

"So...Celestia wants us to go there...And that means Luna will be there..." Concord said with a worried expression.

"I don't think she'll forgive you about stabbing her in the face."

"Wait, me?! It was you who blew it out of my hands!"

"Why didn't you grip it tighter then?!"

"How did you expect me to know Luna would arrive?!!?"

"If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight! Sun Tzu said that." Charon gave a speech in front of Celestia, Luna and Concord in Canterlot's garden. Both Equestrian sisters wished to know more about the weapons the Terran and the son of the draconequus used, what they didn't expect is Charon giving an entire speech of the art of war.

"Is he...Okay?" whispered Celestia to Concord.

"Terrans..." He said as he shrugged.

Once time passed and Charon finished his speech, he took out his shotgun, loaded it and threw it to Celestia, who barely managed to catch it. "Point at something, connect the iron-sights, press the trigger. See those wooden crates over the small pillars? Those are your targets."

Celestia awkwardly aimed the gun at the crates and squeezed the trigger. The deafening sound of a gunshot and the recoil generated was enough to scare her and drop the gun.

"W-where did I go wrong?" She said with a frightened voice.

"Nowhere, you did well but you should grip it tighter so it doesn't fly off like it did recently; the sound and the recoil are completely normal, don't be scared by them. Concord, give Luna your gun."

Concord loaded the gun and handed it to Luna. "Aim for the crates." He said as he backed off.

"Uhhh...Did you remember to set it to semi-auto, Concord?" Whispered Charon in a worried tone.

"...Whoops."

Luna fired the rifle only to be pushed back enough to make her fall to the ground and send the rifle flying due to the scare.

"You're on your own, buddy!" Exclaimed Charon as he tried to run, but Concord grabbed him by his long coat's neck and stopped him.

"You stay here and die with me!"

Luna stood up and rubbed her shoulder in pain. Surprisingly, she didn't make an entire army appear to mutilate the Terran and the Draconequus, instead, she was surprised that such kind of machinery was what a billion of Terran soldiers used in a daily basis.

"How...How could you use this gun as if it was nothing, yet it threw me back?" Luna asked, still surprised.

"What you witnessed in the battle on the moon was the son of the God of Chaos, not a Terran; a Terran would be limited to shooting one at a time if accuracy was desired. I also trained myself with guns, so I know how to handle them; you didn't know what a gun was, let alone ever used something resembling it." Explained Charon as he helped Luna up.

"Terrans sure are scary..."

"Your majesty, dinner is ready." Spoke a guard as he arrived.

"You both must be hungry, how about you dine with us?" Asked Celestia as she returned the shotgun to Charon

"Hungry? My stomach is eating itself right now." Remarked Charon.

"Well? How is Equestrian cuisine?" Asked Celestia as she saw Charon eating his first dish in Canterlot.

"It's better than my mother's, that's for sure." Concord bursted out laughing at Charon's comment.

"I'll take it as a compliment. Changing topics, I'm curious about how you managed to create an Empire that surpassed mine in just a decade..."

"I come from a world more advanced technologically, militarily and economically than this one. A single Terran country could easily conquer this entire world if they wished."

"Is that so? How did your people advance so fast?"

"My world, as I said a few weeks ago, is torn by chaos and war; if one side becomes weak the other will attack and conquer it, it's a technological race to become strong enough to defend themselves, and paranoia became the perfect motivation. In this world it's not like that, it is peaceful here, almost heavenly so; you can trust each-other while in the other world it'd be surprising if you weren't stabbed in the back at least once."

"That's horrible..."

"It gets better. Remember how the Great Pony War broke out? How discord manipulated everypony and everything for his own ends? I'm pretty sure you'll remember that for the rest of your life. I was born about half a century after not one, but two world wars in my world; I don't even recall why the first one broke out, but it was one of the worst blood baths of our time, and not half a century later the second world war broke out, a man started it fueled by seeing his country be almost destroyed by the winners of the war and wanting to create some sort of master race. For you, these events might be nightmarish beyond any point, but for me...It was Tuesday."

The room kept silent, except for Charon and Concord who kept eating; Concord had already gotten used to the Terran's world ever since he read his mind when he arrived in Cabalderio a decade ago, but those who didn't know anything were petrified not only by the events that took place in Terra, but by Charon shrugging them off as an every-day thing.

"Don't be scared, everypony." Started talking Concord. "If it wasn't for that cynical attitude of his, he wouldn't have carried out the Great Pony War and this world would be far different than now."

The silence slowly stopped as everyone resumed what they were doing, remembering that Charon was the one who helped save this world. But as Concord was eating he choked on his food and violently stood up as everyone stared at him.

"What is it, Concord?" Asked Celestia.

"C...Corruption..." He could barely speak as his eyes were wide open staring into the void, his face drenched in sweat. Upon hearing what he said, Charon ran out of the room with his shotgun strapped on his back almost taking the chair with him for he hadn't even bothered to move it out of his way. Concord tried concentrating by holding his hand on his forehead. "This...This isn't like anything I've felt before..."

Charon ran back into the room, trying to catch his breath from such sprinting. "Discord's statue it still in the garden...He hasn't escaped..." He said while panting.

"What? If Discord is still imprisoned, then what is the corruption Concord is sensing?!" Asked Luna.

"I don't know...I can't even focus right, I can't hear nor see what the corrupted one can, it's not Discords corruption!!" Exclaimed Concord.

"Can you at least feel its location?" Charon asked as he returned back to the table and stood next to Concord. The draconequus nodded, and after that, Celestia signaled a guard to bring her a map of the world. Once the guard returned she placed it on top of the table.

"Point us where it comes from." Said Celestia.

Everyone stood silent around the map as Concord pointed at the location of the corruption, eyes wide as they saw that Concord wasn’t pointing at anywhere in the continent, he wasn't pointing at the sea either, instead, he was pointing at the table outside the map's limit.

"Uncharted...Lands..." Said Charon as he kept staring.