Diaries of the Lunar Warrior

Three months after the rave in Canterlot:

The degrading situations between Celestia and Luna has divided Equestria in two. One faction, the Solarists, quickly started taking their aggressive views out on the other: the Lunarists. The first break of tension started in Manehatten and Phillydelphia, followed by another in Maretropolis. Luna, meanwhile, had been thrown out of Canterlot by her sisterand the Solarists. Now, Celestia has made the capitol a center of activities for the Solarists while Luna has made the Lunarist home with the former capitol in the Everfree. In a so far neutral Ponyville, the tension threatens to burst like a bubble.

Nightfire roamed through Ponyville's markets. The town had experienced a massive influx of neutrals seeking to escape the tensions of the current conflict. Nightfire felt sorry for their cause as even Ponyville, the neutral refuge of Equestria, contained a power struggle between the Lunarists and Solarists.

Princess Twilight had declared that she and the other Elements would do all in there power to keep Ponyville from choosing sides. This was their solution to the tensions splitting the Elements right down the middle. Now, they simply ignore the political power struggles of Canterlot and strive to keep the peace in the neutral center.

Even with all this going on, Nightfire was a Lunarist and always was looking out for the haughty superior attitude of the Solarists. She didn't like them much, especially since they wouldn't waste any time reporting her to the Guard as a stray Lunar-born. It also didn't take much to know that there were some Solarists there whose sole reason was to disrupt an upcoming Lunarist gathering pulled together by Princess Luna herself.

She heard many things about some sort of republic or empire ready to rise in defiance of Celestia. Mostly though, she srugged it off as Solarist rumors intended to garner support for Celestia. The more she heard about it, the more Solarists she saw popping into Ponyville with determined expressions on their faces.

Later that day, Nightfire found herself sitting at a café with some of the guard nearby. She thought she recognized one of their faces somewhere and tried a hopeless attempt to avert her eyes. One of the guard took notice and stood up to approach her. Every fiber of her body screamed at her to run away, but fear had her tightly in its grip so that her legs wouldn't move.

The Guard walked over to her as if he were approaching an old friend, with a hand outstretched. leaned over her, "I don't think we were ever given a proper introduction a couple of months ago." The smirk on his face was obviously that of a Solarist with an extra bad case of superiority complex.

Nightfire didn't say anything as her apprehension grew by the second as this Guard closed in on her. She still couldn't keep from the endlessly blue saucers that were his eyes and the wavy lavender mane framing the pastel purple face that encompassed those eyes. This actually made Nightfire even more nervous.

Now the Guard gave up on the handshake and opted for a bow as he took her hand and gave it a small peck, "I am Duskshine, though you may call me Dusk if you like." A small chuckled escaped from Dusk's mouth as he thought of another thing, "Though I must say, Your little nickname for Princess Celestia's supporters has struck on pretty well. Inspiring the name Luna's supporters now go by even."

That was when Nightfire realized and a look of horror washed over her face, "You... That night...." She took a step back as fear finally compelled her to get away, like a puppet on strings, "Celestia's decree holds no effect here."

Dusk only laughed at the notion, "You really think that Princess Twilight's authority overrules Princess Celestia's?" Dusk took another step forward, "I'm sorry, but a decision of that nature doesn't change that fact that Lunar-borns are wanted by the Princess of the Sun." The Guard set his hands on his hips as he let out and bout of laughter at Nightfire's hopeless situation.

There was only one thing to do for Nightfire, and that was to run. The Ponyville market was suddenly alive with the chase as the mare was followed by the overconfident Guard. What Dusk didn't realize was that the guards following him were local neutrals and didn't want any trouble with Lunarists and Solarists butting heads in Ponyville. Nightfire threw down boxes and crates behind her in the alleys created by the stands growing increasingly numerous as more ponies sought Ponyville's refuge.

Dusk didn't seem fazed by any of the obstacles presented to him by his quarry. Instead, he tried to think of a way to steer Nightfire away from the Castle of Elements that now replaced the Golden Oaks Library. A dead end was coming up to the right, so he tried keeping to the left to scare his target in the direction he wanted her to go.

Unfortunately, Nightfire was fast and she knew it. Even so, she didn't look back to keep from slowing down any more than she had to. As she veered to the left, a hand just grazed her shoulder as her pursuer stumbled passed her turn. She took the opportunity to shake him by taking flight and hiding on the rooftops near the edge of the market and continued toward the Castle of Elements.

Dusk was sure of where Nightfire was going and headed down the quickest route he knew of to get there as well. He ran by many Lunarist who yelled their annoyance and started rooting for Nightfire when they saw that she racing along the rooftops and eventually taking flight the rest of the way. Dusk let out an annoyed sigh as even a couple of Neutrals barred his way only to find that he was an excellent acrobat.

Nightfire narrowed her eyes at Dusk when she saw him jumping onto the rooftops and keeping pace so far. Her next solution was to veer off to the other side of the market where there was no rooftops to speak between the two points.

Dusk his eyes as he jumped off the roof he was on and rolled into his landing on the ground. Some of the patrons wandering about shouted in surprise while others grabbed rotten vegetables from the stalls and threw the stuff at him.

Nightfire didn't have to wait long before she saw Dusk making short work of scaling the nearest wall to her. As soon as she saw a hand reach up for her foot she took a step out of reach and took off once more. Now she flew at full speed toward her salvation at the Castle of Elements.

When Dusk finally reached her, Nightfire was desperately pounding on the front door of the former library of Ponyville. He took his time walking up to the once again terrified Pegasus as he tried to catch his breath. He could see that Nightfire was obvious wore out from the chase as well when he was close enough.

Nightfire's breaths were ragged and her voice turned hoarse as she continued trying to catch the attention of the Elements. When she turned around to see her pursuer was still right behind her, her face turn white as a sheet. Finally, with no hope of escape, she broke down in front of Dusk as tears escaped her eyes.

Dusk smirked as he grabbed the shaking mare in front of him and pulled her up. This wasn't the first time a Lunar-born had broken down in tears in front of him. Though he did find it strange that the behavior of his quarry had changed so much between now and the first time he encountered her. Maybe it was the dragon she was with that gave her confidence.

As Nightfire felt herself being pulled into a standing position, she stopped crying and now shook uncontrollably. She didn't know why it was that she felt more confident with others to back her up, but she did. Even as she thought about it, a strange calm washed over her. Suddenly, it was like she watching a movie in first person as she raised a hand to touch the chest of her pursuer. But she already knew what was going on. It was rare that her emotions brought out the power that were about to be unleashed on this poor stallion.

Dusk was confused when Nightfire stopped shaking and crying even as he brought her to her feet. The confusion deepened as he felt Nightfire's hand touch his chest. That still wasn't the strangest thing to happen to him that day. This was the start of the strangeness that he will never escape from again. Nightfire's touch was gentle until her eyes snapped open and flashed the deepest purple he'd ever seen.

The look of shock on Dusk's face will forever be burned into Nightfire's mind as an explosion of black flames slammed her into the unyielding door to the castle behind her. The explosion also sent Dusk flying in the other direction and into a crowd of spectators shocked into silence.

Dusk had no idea what just happened. It was obviously some sort of magic, but none he'd ever even heard of. In fact, he doubted even the Princess of Magic could tell anypony what it was. But even so, it didn't stop the black flames in front of him from forming into a figure armored a design beyond his imagination and a species he'd never knew about.

The flaming figure took a single look at Dusk and flared a single bout black flames at him. He managed to scare the rest of the crowd off, but armored one was too shocked to move. Keeping from capturing this one for the purpos of the Solar Princess' own gain is not advised.

The words in Dusk's head were not his own. He knew this figure had spoken, but it was as if he were talking a dragon epically powerful nature. He could only nod as the thing dispersed and the flash of a teleportation spell snapped him out of the shock. The next thing he laid eyes on was a very disappointed purple alicorn.

The next day, Nightfire found herself at the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. Sunset had already given way to moonrise a while before, but she expected no less for the Lunar Princess' timing of her announcement. She winced as she remembered the morning's events with her would be captor. She remembered herself freaking out at the sight of him and the strange look of awe when his eyes met her own.

Dusk himself had no idea why he had come with Nightfire, but he did admire the mare's punch. He had a pounding headache as he watched the Princess of the Night appear before her amassed supporters and tuned out the parts the didn't matter. What he wanted to know was what Luna was leading up to.

Nightfire could feel her excitement building with all the princess' talk of releasing the Lunar-borns of the constant fear of capture along with freedom in general. It was the very end when Princess Luna finally announced her intent that everyone there started to cheer. She watched, amazed as all the banners bearing the colors of Equestria were magically replaced by new ones. The banners now bore symbol of a new nation. The symbol of the New Lunar Republic, Luna's attempt at freeing her subjects from her sister's insistent attempts of control.

Luna was joined by Princess Twilight who gave a speech of her own proclaiming Ponyville's emancipation from Celestia's rule. But the town wouldn't be a part of the New Lunar Republic. Instead, it would be presided over by the Element Bearers in a council she dubbed, "The Circle of Friendship."