Under the Moon and Sun

I heard a small chuckle from Luna as we trekked on.  After many hours of travel, a sight for sore eyes laid over the horizon. Spanning for what seemed to be miles was a massive array of tents, each accompanied by a large flow of ponies, shifting between the tarps, as if they were all being tugged along by fast moving ropes. The air was stale with the scent of molten metal, and was cluttered with the cacophony of abrupt chatter, and iron works. Only one voice managed to stand out from the crowd.

“The Princesses approach!” Blared a loud stallion, suited in armor. Suddenly, the network of ponies stopped. Horns raised to the sky, and sang out. Knights gathered into a pathway to greet our group. “Long live the Princesses!” He cheered. The crowd exploded in unison, cheering those words. Luna and Celestia bowed before the crowd, then they led us into a tent decorated with maps, and drawings of pathways. In the center of the room, stood a massive table, cluttered with figures of ponies.

        “For a long while,” Luna began, ”Discord has become too much to cope with, so we are planning to overthrow him and his reign of Chaos.”

        “Cool.” Me and Rain said in symphony.

        “But before we march in on his throne, we need soldiers to be trained for combat. Eclipse, I will teach you my personal form of swordplay, consider it an honor.” Luna said.

        “I can’t wait to learn.” I replied. Luna grew a smile.

        Celestia turned to Rain, ” I trust that you will be better suited for archery; it is a fine skill.”

       “Let’s do it.” Rain replied.

        “Good, lets get started.” Celestia said.

For the following years, Luna taught me everything she could. Luna first taught me her personal form of sword fighting, which was dual wield katanas. She also showed me some hoof to hoof combat in case I was disarmed. Next came the academics: arithmetic, geography, history, and the best subject, science and astronomy. Luna knew every star in the sky, and what constellation it was connected to. Unknown to her, I already knew everything about astronomy, our education on astronomy was on par with each other. After Luna finished teaching me basic school knowledge, she enrolled me in Celestia’s Magic Academy. Often times, I would skip the school altogether because I found the uniform didn’t suit me. Luna, who saw eye to eye on my desire to not wear the suit, decided to teach me her magic instead.

The best part of being Luna’s student was we only had class at night, under the moon and night sky. After sunset, Luna showed me her types of magic moves and attacks. I became an expert at the art of stealth, turning the night into a formidable ally, using it to slaughter my targets before they even know they’re dead. Celestia and Luna had me become an assassin for them, assassinating high value targets that were attempting to dispose of our uprising. One of the things that made me such a good assassin was a power that only me and Luna had found out about when she was teaching me. I have an inborn ability to slow things down with my horn. Anything I pointed at, it would slow down to a speed I manipulated. This became useful when assassinating targets if the situation required it. After successfully murdering 5 targets, I became know as the Shadow Prowler, only following targets at night, swallowing them into the darkness of the night and killing them in total silence. I decimated their command network, and induced fear in them to lengths they have never had.

Now would be a good time to explain that Discord was not alone in his rule. The army was led by ponies who were loyal to him. These “Loyalists” which we called them waged war with our Resistance, trying to destroy us at every moment they could. Although not trained as well as we were, their army consisted of regiments of mutated animals, made by Discord himself. It disgusted me knowing that the animals were being forced to fight us. Ponies who were captured by us in raids were not given a choice, we were forced to execute them. We couldn’t any take risks by allowing them to fight for us, as spies were a common occurrence. It didn’t matter who these ponies were, even if they were friends or family. There were some who opposed this rule, but they knew not to oppose leadership, especially if the order came from Celestia. Me, i was more scared of Luna’s discipline voice than any consequence Celestia could dish out. Then again, I only took orders from Luna. If Celestia gave me one, i made sure it was ok though Luna...behind Celestia’s back of course.

As i carried out orders for the two princess, Rainstorm never approved of my job. She said it would turn me into someone i wasn’t. Being an assassin did change me. I was now more aware of my surroundings, i was much tougher, and it gave me satisfaction. Assassination after assassination satisfied my longing for vengeance on the monster that took my family from me. I found pleasure in trumping Discord as much as i could. I had changed, like Rainstorm said, but not into something i didn’t want to be. I became the most skilled and powerful soldier our army had, but never forgot who i was, or who i cared about. Rainstorm knew this, but still wanted me to stop being a assassin. I did, after one assassination attempt went sour. I guess they caught on to me and my ways of stealth. Luna wouldn’t let me do anymore either, even if Celestia need me to, Luna didn’t want to lose me. They promoted me as a leader of a reconnaissance team instead.

The team was made up of four of us. Smaller teams were better for recon, since we could move quicker, and hide much easier.  My second in command was Birchtree, who had joined when he got older, and the only person i trusted other than Luna and Rainstorm. Then there was Elideon and Red Nova. I never trusted Elideon, because he had this weird thing for Celestia. She used this to her advantage, making him her mole in the camp. Red Nova is a pony i never got to know too well, he didn’t talk too much. Our only mission was to scour behind enemy lines for structures or camps that belongs to Discord. Once we reported encounters, a small detachment was sent to destroy it.

6 long years, countless losses and victories against Discord were behind us. Many close friends and allies sacrificed their lives to get us this far. We had decimated his army to a breaking point, and it was time for the final assault on his rule. We met in front of Celestia and Luna’s tent, everyone gearing up for a blood-soaked battle. I had donned my midnight black armor, with dual katanas at my side. Rainstorm had done the same with her sun gold armor, but instead of swords, she equiped an elegant white bow, with the deadliest looking arrows in her white, gold striped quiver. We were ready. Celestia came out of her tent to address the army.

       “Hello everyone, we all know why we are all here. It is time to make a assault on Discord. I know that there are some of you who do not want to fight them, those who want to avoid confrontation. I must say that this is necessary, for if we stop do not stop him, future generations will go through what we have lived through. We are going to overthrow Discord, and reclaim Equestria for the ponies! One final effort is all that remains! Fight hard! Fight resiliently! Trust your comrades, as they will do the same! We will prevail!

        A explosion of cheers erupted from our camp. After, everypony returned to gearing up and preparing while Rainstorm and I met with Luna and Celestia to discuss our strategy, since they appointed us as their generals to take their place in leading, as they were not participating in combat.

         "Good, you two are here, lets gets this discussion over, we don't have much time" said Celestia, as we walked into the tent. Luna was looking at the map they had laid out on the table. She turned to see who had entered, then smiled at us. Celestia joined her at the far end of the table, as Rain and I stood opposite them.

       "Here is our plan." Celestia said. "Your forces are going to create a diversion, loring out whatever is left of Discord's army, while we deal with Discord." I chuckled, there was nothing left except for a few rookies. “Don’t laugh Solar.” Celestia replied, “They may be inexperienced, but they are unparalleled in loyalty.”

       “I understand.” I said.

       "You have but one order." Luna said with a serious face. "Obliterate them, leave nothing.”

       "Understood." Rain said. I could hear displeasure in her voice, but she knew it had to be done.

        "Very well." Celestia said. "Get everyone ready, it's time." Rain and I started towards the tent's opening.

       "Be careful Solar." Luna said, concerned. I turned and looked towards her.

       "Always." I responded. She saw right through me, I was the biggest risk taker out here.

       Our army moved out towards the location where we had planned to attract the rest of Discord's army.  The target was a reserve where they kept most of their supplies. On the way, everyone was talking about what to expect and what they hoped to gain from this war. Some wanted fame and glory, others just wanted to survive. I noticed one young soldier looking pale and faint, i walked over to him.

       “Breath out kid, you’ll go purple if you keep that up.” I said.

       “Sorry commander, I’m scared is all.” he replied.

       “Everyone is kid, anyone who says they are not is a liar.” i said. Two other soldiers approached us.

       “Have you fought yet commander?” One of them asked.

       “Yes, i was a lone assassin for the princess' for many years.” i said

       “Was it always this bad?” one asked.

       “Yes, it always was for me, for all of us” i said.

       “Will this be bad?” asked one.

        “The worst you will ever see, but you stick by your comrades and the comrade next to you, and he will stick by you.” i said

       “Some of the others aren’t very friendly, commander.” replied one.

       “We have all lost friends throughout this war, they think if they don’t get to know you, they won’t have to grieve for you if you die.” i said. “Don’t worry, it will never work that way, no soldier in this army will let you down.” As soon as i said that, a arrow flew by my face and hit one of them. He fell in a thud as i realised what was happening.

       “AMBUSH!!!”  I yelled as we were rushed by the remnants of Discord’s army. Everyone drew their weapons and plunged into the fighting. I ran to observe what was going on. It was our whole army against what was left of his. This wouldn’t work, we needed to get to the designated area. “GO! Move towards the location, we need to draw them there! Go! I will cover you.” Our forces started running towards the location as i stayed behind. With most of their forces in front of me, I was ready for the end.

       “Give up, or we will kill you!” one threatened.

       I laughed at them. “You must not know who you’re talking to, put down your weapons or i will do the same.

       “Never.” they replied.

       I drew my two katana’s and turned on my magic lightning, their expressions changed. I smiled and gave them the most evil looking face i could make.

        “The night will devour your souls this day!” I said. I rushed the four of them weapons ready, 3 readied theirs. The first one attack me mid-level, i zapped his weapons out of his hoof, then stabbed him in the foot with one sword, he screamed, but stopped as I slit his throat. The next one tried to attack my side, i jumped up, stepping on his weapon. I then sliced his chest, making a decent gash. He fell gasping as his comrade tried a sneak attack.

       “Nice Try” I said. I used my slow motion ability on him, I turned around and then deactivated it. I hit his weapons out of his hand, and in one big swipe, his head became a geyser of blood. One after another, I took down whoever stood in my way. Some of the forces went after our army, but not many. It got quiet around me, so i looked around. It was finished. 100s lay dead, and I looked down in disbelief. I walked over to the pony who was still gasping for breath, he looked at me looking for pity.

       “You made your decision a long time ago, and so have I.” I said. He knew what was coming. He screamed with the most blood-curdling sound possible, but it all stopped as my sword went through his heart. Was this wrong? I asked myself. No, orders are orders, it didn’t matter what the cost or who the target is, all enemies must die. For as long I live though, I will never forget that scream.

       I made my way toward the location. On the way there, the road was littered with bodies of both sides. It hurt to see this, but I couldn't stop, there was nothing that could be done. I reached the point to find the battle still in action. From my point of view, we were barely winning. I had to find Birch Tree. I ran into the middle of the mess, disposing of anyone who stood in my way, or helping teammates in trouble. I found him swiftly avoiding an animal’s violent claw swipes. He flew above the animal and in a corkscrew fashion, drilled his sword right through the beast.

       “Birch Tree! Over here!” I yelled. He noticed me and flew over.

       “Hey there Solar, having fun down there?.” he said. My armor must have been soaked in blood.

       “The hell, it’s crazy out here, are we winning?” I said

       “I don’t think so, we’ve lost many, but we’ve also put a dent in them. It looks like we’re going to experience a pyrrhic victory here.”

        “Affirmative, keep up the push, I need to find Rainstorm, have you seen her?”

       “She’s holding her ground with whatever is left of the archery regiment, they haven’t had it well so far.”

       “I’ll go help them, you’re in charge here.” He nodded to me, and a smirk grew on his face.

       “Stay frosty, Solar” He flew away and plunged into the fight once more. I faced toward where Rain was supposed to be. I made way over there to find a losing struggle. They were only a few of them left, Rain included. I whipped out my weapons and made a bloodbath of the enemies attacking them.

       “Thanks for the assist, Solar, you saved us.” Rain yelled, exhausted from combat.

       “You should start skirmishing, there is no need for archers this close to the action, find a good vantage point in those cliffs over there.” I pointed toward the closest cliffs I could see.

        “Got it, move out!” she said, raising her signal. The few remaining of her group ran for the cliffs. She ran a bit and turned around, “Be careful Solar.” her face slackened.

        “Don’t worry Rain, I am the very soul of caution.” I replied. She gave me her classic, “I don’t believe you” face, the kind that had an eyebrow cocked, and a smirk peeking through beneath her nuzzle. She continued on her path up the cliffside. Then it happened, an instant of which would knock me off my hooves. A loud clang was ringing through my ears as my helmet was ripped from my head, and I was slashed across the side of my face. The agony pulled a yelp from deep within my lungs. I looked toward my helmet, now ripped apart like some old tin can, and tried opening my eye. It painfully opened but I was blinded, with little except the feeling of warm liquid running from my face. Adrenaline took hold, and the pain, along with my restriction, ceased.

        “Now you’ve done it!” I screamed. I drew my swords and rushed the animal. The poor thing never stood a chance. It made a puddle of blood underneath my feet. I wasn’t satisfied, I destroyed any and all soldiers still left of Discord’s dwindling army. Before I knew what had happened, it was over, his army was either killed or captured. The battlefield was doused in the blood and guts of those who fought. Our Crimson Day was finished, but the job was far from being completed.

         Our forces rallied, or rather what remained. We slopped along in utter silence, speechless at our losses. I helped drag those who were wounded and limping as best I could, pairing those who had not sustained injuries with those who did to assist them in returning home. As we stumbled into the camp, we were greeted with half-hearted welcomes. Tents were already prepared for those who were wounded, and from them only came grave news and agonizing cries. The price of freedom was easily measured within the few square hooves of each tent.  I wished it wasn’t so. Shadow Knight patched up my eye, I was told I would keep my eyesight, but it would remain scarred and less effective. I entered my tent and just sat down. I took off my armor as Rain entered the room. I stared into my armor, how it was covered in the blood of the innocent.

       "Hey, are you ok?" She asked. I didn't even try to mask my eye.

       "I'm fine, you?" I replied. She tried a smile. Her hair was soaked with sweat and some blood as she showed a small smile.

       "Yeah, it's over, we should be glad." She said.

       "I'm glad that it is over, but I wish what we did wasn’t necessary." I said.

       "We didn't have a choice, it was them or us. We survived, let's be grateful about that." She said. She walked over to me and hugged me. I hugged back.

       "I'm glad we did... I can't think what I would do if you were gone..." I said

       "Me neither.” She paused a bit. “I love you, Solar..." She said.

       "I love you too, Rain..." I said back. Exhausted, we laid down and fell asleep together.