Luna strutted back and forth the remains of Twilights barren library impatiently awaiting the return of her scouts.
She looked out to see all her loyal subjects from all backgrounds working together to set up basecamp.
A guard by the staircase called out to her announcing
"My lady, you have a visitor."
Luna turned to see a male Pegasus standing proudly at the doorway, his distinguishing features were a battered up black top hat with old brass goggles containing one eye piece cracked, his mark was a brass coloured cog that should out from his hazel body and black mane.
"He's more than a visitor, he's a dear friend" She responded with a smile
The Pegasus walked in proudly and tipped his hat to Luna as a sign of respect.
"The area is clear and secure, there's no sign of the tyrants minions in sight, the shadowbolts are double checking the perimeter, just in case".
They stood together looking out as various guards and ponies continued setting up camp and organising troops.
"That 'tyrant' is my sister, Brass Goggles." Luna reminded her comrade.
"However, her actions have led to this; it was only a matter of time". She sighed.
Brass nodded in agreement.
"Celestia and her followers disdain this world with their presence, their actions towards you and our comrades will not go unpunished, the fallen will be avenged!” His voice burned with a painful reminiscence of the bloodshed he had witnessed.
Luna saw the pain and misfortune behind her warrior’s eyes; she knew deep down this was the mood among many and hoped it would all end soon for the sake of her ponies.
"Maybe you should go join the troops; we need to keep high spirits among as many as possible… especially after all the casualties". She comforted him.
"After all this is over, I'll replace those goggles for you too".
"Thanks for offering, but you gave me these goggles, they have a sentimental value which cannot be replaced". He lifted his head and smiled.
"Also these goggles have saved my dam flank, so many times! Good thing the googles are bullet resistant too! I nearly lost an eye!!" He gave a hopeful laugh and walked to the door but turned to face his Princess once more with a more serious and official tone.
"I'll see to the troops, if you require any assistance, don't hesitate for a second".
He tipped his hat in respect and walked out.
After securing and setting up the area, the troops lay round small campfires throughout Ponyville, keeping mainly to their squads and close friends, the bonfire just outside the townhall spat ashes and glowing embers into the sky, due to its size and heat fending of the cold, most troops gathered around this one.
Some troops caught up with old friends from training and shed their experiences, others sung old traditional songs, with the cold wind occasionally breezes everyponies faces, many sang Winter Wrap Up in groups, most drank apple cider and laughed together keeping high spirits, others held moments of silence throughout the smaller campfires for fallen family, friends and respect for those lives taken as well as assisting the unicorn medics with injured troops.
Brass wandered through the troops checking up on situations throughout Ponyville, he overheard many conversations between squads sharing their experiences all over Equestria, a conversation in particular of 2 females, a young pony and Pegasus, caught his attention.
The Pony had a turquoise body and violet eyes, matching her mane which had 2 shades of purple, her cutie mark was a nut and bolt, the Pegasus however, had a dark blue body and a long dark mane with a single crimson streak, she was a blank flank but had a decorate key tried to a choker round her neck that glowed against the ember flames.
“Sooo…How was Appaloosa?” The pony questioned her winged friend.
“It’s No Ponies land, it’s nothing but abandoned houses and bashed up ruins, had trouble with a few bandits too… but they were just target practice, some of us kept an eye on the crowd we had first spotted, while the others scouted the area for any possible back up they could have had. I stayed watching the bandits in town, and listened to them converse.
They were in the remains of the saloon… looking around for supplies in busted crates, nothing special. They spoke of family and friends, past experiences and stupid little things they remember and miss, like everypony dressed in costumes for Nightmare Night and the mayor of Ponyville dressed as a clown one year.”
Her friend jumped in and commented “I remember that! She looked ridiculous.”
“I know it was hilarious! We ate so much cupcakes that night!” They laughed together.
After a moment of banter and laughter recollecting that night, the pegasus continued.
“Once we realized the whole group was together, we confronted them all at once very suddenly, really wish they ran with their lives instead… our mission wasn’t to kill and we are aware many have turned to looting and scavenging to stay outta the battlefield, in some cases we actually helped out a few bandits in the past, just tip offs on where to stay away from, in trade for supplies or information, but once these guys injured Honey Rays from my squad, their fates were sealed...”
The pony listened with anticipation and curiousity. “What did you do… Shadows?”
“I slammed my hooves into the skull of the one who injured her, I could hear the cracking of the skull as I did…that sound will haunt me for the rest of my days... On the other hoof, thankfully Honey Rays wasn’t fatally injured, she’s currently with the medics near the townhall.”
The pegasus sighed but continued as her friend listened intently and tried to imagine what her friend had seen and heard as she gulped down some cider.
“The clocktower in it was used as a watch tower while we were there, we had 2 unicorns with us that stood at the top of the tower, the view was incredible at sunset, I would have stood on top of the tower to watch and greet the night, through the wasteland of dust, you could faintly see the remaining tracks of where the buffalo used to stampede through, they reluctantly left the area since the war started, couple of skeletons of them too, I’m guessing they valued their lives and decided to make a dash for it instead of hanging around, atleast they had sense…
There was also the remains of a once thriving orchard nearby though, lot of dead and fallen trees, thanks to those dam bandits and passing scavengers but there was enough to keep us in decent supply of food for a few weeks, most of the cider drank tonight came from the apples we got from that scouting/stealth mission, the cider I must admit though, isn’t as good as the cider Sweet Apple Acres used to make.”
The pony looked around and noticed everypony that was drinking and took in the scene her friend described.
“Anyways, you were in Manehatten right Spanners? How was the situation there?” The Pegasus asked.
The pony thought for a second on how to describe her experiences.
“Shadows, do ya remember when we played the game Fallout Equestria a few years ago?
The Pegasus thought for a moment.
“Oh yea! I loved the occasional radio transmissions, and thought the ruins looked kinda cool, good times then Spanners, anyways go on.”
“You said you always loved the atmosphere in Manehatten, because ‘it was strange to see a once thriving city in ruins’, while I was there, during the peaceful times, I began to understand what ya meant back then… aside from peace in the ruins, I was put in a lot of combat, at one point I was on the frontlines, Celestia’s troops had us outnumbered and nearly cornered on several occasions, we were holding out an area for reinforcements, we were starting to run low on all supplies and the Shadowbolts were leading an air raid at Cloudsdale.”
The Pegasus spoke out relevantly.
“Heard the rainbow factory was obliterated from that, Luna was very proud of the Pegasus’ that joined that, the shadowbolts picked each of them personally and individually, I’m more stealth and speed, so I’m suited for stealth and quick attacks… sadly my strength couldn’t carry those missiles, would love to join the Shadowbolts though! Standing before them was quite an honor, they recognized my talent but thought I was better suited for the Appaloosa mission.”
Spanners gave a smile and nudged her friend jokingly.
“You’re called Shadows Night for a reason! You’re practically a ninja!” The pony chanted boasting her friend.
“Anyways as I was saying, supplies were low, backup wasn’t for a few days, the tyrants troops managed to breach an area west of my section, we quickly threw up a barricade from that direction, my squad and the squad we were working with was hungry and fatigue was starting to kick in and take a rough toll on us, our leader was taking watch while we slept, and it seemed everyone in the section had the same dream.
We were all together in this dream, it looked like the Everfree Forest, Luna appeared before us, she apologized for the sudden interruption but after hearing what happened to our west section, she refused to wait until reports came, she informed us she was on her way personally, ahead of reinforcements, and our orders had changed, she knew our supplies were too low to kill, so she ordered us to knock out enemies with gas or use force in close quarters. We were puzzled by her plan but proceeded with it.”
Shadows stared at Spanner in awe imaging the situation, the message from their princess, her eyes glowed from her imagination and the burning of flames, about 10 metres from the 2 friends, Brass gave a small smile and also waited patiently listening to the pony waiting for the rest of the story.
“We bludgeoned, close enemies with our hoofs or charged them back, we killed many but mostly knocked them out, upon our Princesses arrival she looked around our bloodstained, hooves and manes, she ordered us to ‘stand back and under no circumstances fall asleep, until I give the all-clear’ she stepped forward and watched over the unconscious ponies.
Right before us she changed to Nightmare Moon, a dark dust of magic filled the musty air, we watched in silence for a few minutes as the area became dark as night, the ponies unconscious began to whimper, and flinch, as time passed their whimpering turned to cries and pleas of mercy, and the flinching turned to writhing in terror, then suddenly the cries. Fell. Silent.
In an instant, I was able to hear my own heartbeat, the dark dust ascended and Nightmare Moon faded back to Luna, I stepped forward a little uneasy and asked her ‘what was that?’
I could sense my Commander ready to pound me for stepping out of line, but she seemed to understand my curiosity, she pointed to lifeless troops that were screaming just a moment ago and replied ‘As you know, young pony, I am able to intercept the dreams of those sleeping and or unconscious, I used that to our advantage, it’s possible to die in your dreams although I usually protect sleeping subjects, considering these beings destroyed a very treasured squad of good ponies, I decided to use my abilities to pay each one of those soldiers a visit.’
As I took that in for a second, I questioned again, ‘Apologies my lady, but that didn’t answer question, what did you to them?’
After asking that, I heard a faint but clear click, of my Commanders hoof, I knew he was pissed off at me but I thought a clear answer would be worth the punishment for stepping out of line… twice. She held her head high and got close to me, respectfully and responded. ‘They captured and tortured that west section squad, so in return, I held those troops captive in their sleep and tortured those monsters with their worst nightmares and then finally killed them.’ She walked up to my commander and told him, punishing me for curiosity was unnecessary, she saw a determined and goodhearted warrior within me, we all thanked her gratefully and bowed in respect to her as she took off, she ordered us to march to Ponyville as soon as reinforcements held their post there.”
Shadows sat speechless at her friends story, Brass walked towards the 2 friends, the glow of the dimming embers, lit up his appearance with a warm glow, he smiled.
“You two have been through some tough ordeals but its good seeing young ponies with such strong courage and drive to keep going, sorry I had been eavesdropping to your stories, you two seem very capable and reliable in a tight spot.”
The childhood friends looked on at the experience warrior and smiled, pleased but also very reserved about the compliments. Brass continued with a more serious tone but still somewhat friendly and informal.
“I know I’m putting you two on the spot with this question, but I’ll understand, Luna is considering our next move at Canterlot to storm the castle, I’ll need to assemble squad of reliable ponies in a variety of skills to assist her, both you seem capable in a team and have skills that can make up for each others flaws, would you’s consider teaming up with me?”
The two childhood friends were unable to speak from this request, Brass shrugged of silence and smiled with a slightly chuckle.
“I knew the reaction, would be speechless but having your jaws nearly hit the ground from shock is a bit much.” The ponies realized their mouths were wide from shock, closed them and smiled with him.
“It’s getting late, I’m sure you two will need time to think about this, return to me with your answers tomorrow.”
Brass tipped his hat and walked off to join others in drinking cider, singing and storytelling.
