Equestria 2150

“So you’re saying Luna and Celestia rigged the war from the start?”

“Yes! How much more do you need to hear? Celestia and Luna went AWAL for three days, then war was declared. In this document, it states the intentions for the two of them to stage this whole thing for its people!”

“Why would they want to kill off ponies of their own nation? That’s kinda far-fetched, General.”

“Think about it! Discord was just over thrown, the kingdom in shattered remains. The population was starving, they needed a solution. If you give them something to strive toward, to prepare for, then this reboots their strength. The best would be the victors, and the best qualities would be the ones remaining.”

“Razgriz, are you sure about this?”

“Yes. I need to get to Canterlot.”

“What for?”

“I need to find Twilight. Her brother is married to the queen of the Crystal Empire. She can help us! Maybe we can win-” Razgriz trailed off as Jelly Bean drew out his side arm.

“Sorry General, I can’t let you do that.” He said coldly.

“Jelly Bean… What in the name of Luna’s starry night sky are you doing?”

“Following orders.”

“What orders? We have a chance to end this right now! No more ponies need to die, no more hate needs to be spawned! Our nation has been rebuilt! If we plunge into war it’ll crumble back to nothing!”

“No. The old plan is the only way. The hatred is still there. If we try for peace then war will erupt for sure, but it will be out of our hooves. I also fear your heart has been diluted.” Jelly Bean’s voice seemed to be getting louder with every word. “That mare, Twilight Sparkle… she caught your eye, didn’t she?”

Razgriz had a shocked look on his face. “Oh, please. We knew you had contact with Twilight a long time ago.”

“We? What do you mean, we?”

“Like you said, Luna and Celestia rigged the war. You don’t think that they wouldn’t talk to each other about it?”

Razgriz attempted to talk, but could feel his words fade into nothing as they left his mouth.

“Why did they let you in on this?”

“Because you trusted me enough to talk about your feelings!”

Razgriz was silent.

“I was the one that recommended you go for peace talks, I was the one who reported the location of the convoy for the ambush! You know, you should be thanking me! If I didn’t kill you here and now, you would die some other way, possibly a very painful way…”

Razgriz’s eyes narrowed, and his face hardened.

“So, you think you can beat me in a one on one fight?”

Now it was Jelly Bean’s turn to be silent.

“Well, now it’s my turn. What were you thinking when you took on this mission, huh? I’m sure you were given it right after I showed sympathy for the SA. Right after I talked to you, blabbing to Luna... Tell me if this is in the ball park.”

“You can’t talk to me that way, Razgriz.”

The alicorn scoffed.

“I can speak to you however the hell I want. How’d you explain killing me, huh?”

Jelly Bean slowly cracked a smile.

“You say I can’t beat you, and that there’s no way to get around it even if I did.”

Jelly Bean raised his radio up, as if he was going to speak into it.

“You’re right, I can’t win, but I really don’t think you can win against the Lunar Army.”

He clicked on the radio, Razgriz assumed onto the general channel. “This is Jelly Bean, reporting in.”

“Jelly Bean this is Luna. What is it?”

“I have confirmed that Razgriz is a traitor to the Lunar Army, and must be detained.”

“Roger that, Jelly Bean. Wait one-”

It took only a few seconds before Luna’s voice could be heard over the loud speakers all over the moon, and the FOB in Equestria.

“All members of the Lunar Army! This is Princess Luna. I have just been informed of a sobering fact. One of our own has turned to the other side. He was one of our biggest supporters, and one of my friends. His name is Razgriz. He is to be shot if seen.”

At this moment Razgriz lunged at Jelly Bean, and the black colt started to pull the trigger of his gun. Razgriz, knowing he would try that, teleported away from him. The bullet hit the wall. Jelly Bean looked around the room to attempt to defend against his old friend, but the alicorn never showed back up.

“I know, it’s sad to hear this terrible news, but we must remain strong. If we work together then this will not happen again.”

Luna’s voice was heard everywhere as Razgriz attempted to get back to Equestria. He knew they had every inch of the moon mapped out, and he wouldn’t be able to hide for long. He needed to get to Twilight. Maybe he could mount a defence if he could convince Twilight and her friends to join him. He also would talk to Cadence and see if her empire would help.

“As far as I know, Razgriz is on the moon right now. If you can, guard the portal with your lives, and stop him from returning to Equestria.”

At this moment, Razgriz was tense. There was only a short time before it would become impossible to get back. He put on a burst of speed, flying as fast as he could between ponies like they were inanimate blobs of color.

When Razgriz got to the portal, he saw that there were several guards already there. If he killed them, it would only solidify the claims against him. That wasn’t an option.

With magic activated, Razgriz lifted his rifle and slowly flew it in silence across the lunar fields, around buildings and alleys, firing one shot into the air. The alicorn moved the gun into a building, firing off a few more, and repeated the process until he was out of ammo. Razgriz looked back to the guards at the portal, and they headed toward the gun fire, taking the bait.

Razgriz drew the gun and flew rapidly toward the portal, not wasting a second of the distraction. Once he was standing just inches away from the portal back, he reloaded his gun. Pointing it toward the top, he fired off a full magazine, hoping to scare off anypony at the other end. It worked.

Once he hopped through, there was a crowd of ponies cowering behind some form of cover. There was a handful of tanks that had their guns trained onto the alicorn, and VETOL aircraft hovered low above the ground.

“There he is, open fire!” A commander yelled out, to which Razgriz threw up a shield to deflect the onslaught of spells, bullets and tanks rounds hitting him. He teleported behind the lines of the attacking Lunar Army forces, flying at top speed away from them. Razgriz’s heart was pounding, his mind was racing, and his magic was being depleted. And the more he used…

The red alicorn hid in a small tent, one of many command centers for the different companies of the army. Razgriz quickly looked outside, seeing the pursuing forces. He hid back inside, looking around, and his heart sank.

Inside the tent was a lone colt.

“You- you’re Razgriz, the pony everypony is looking for!” the colt said. He was shaking, electric-yellow mane trembling. Razgriz held up his hoof, making a quiet shushing noise toward the colt. He nodded in response.

The general poked his head toward the entrance of the tent once again, seeing something run past the doorway. After about a minute, he could hear the forms moving off to continue to look for him. Razgriz looked back to the colt, still shaking in fear.

"What’s your name, kid?"

"S-Storm Chaser, sir."

"Alright. What’s your company grouping?"

Storm Chaser had to think for a second, his mind unfocused in fear. Razgriz waited in silence, looking at the other colt in anticipation.

"C-company 7, Alpha Battalion."

"Wait, you're with Alpha?"

Storm nodded. "Yes sir, I am."

"Did you come in the wave of ponies from Ponyville?"

Another nod.

"Alright. I used to be the commander of that battalion."

Storm Chaser's eyes widened, but remained silent. Razgriz rubbed the back of his neck in silence, contemplating what to say next.

"So, I assume that you'll go report that you saw me when I leave?"

Storm started to tremble even more, water forming in his eyes.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you. You can go report it to whoever once I am gone. Just tell them that I knocked you out so you won't get executed, dude."

Storm once again nodded, his trembling fainter. Razgriz nodded to the colt, and slowly flew out of the tent, wondering about how this foal had acted, how the fear in his eyes told the entire story. He must know his life was done for, over before it even truly began.

Razgriz shook his head. Now wasn’t the time for this- the escape wasn’t over yet. He still needed to get off the base and out of their reach. As the general flew around the base, looking for the best way to escape, he could still hear Luna talking about the tragic loss, and how they needed to make sure that the whole base needed to crack down on the “traitor shit”, as she put it.

Jelly Bean had come onto the intercom at this point, talking about what the next move was.

"Everypony, listen up! New update on the location of Razgriz. He was spotted in the southern end of the base. All units more in for an intercept!"

Razgriz's heart sped up. He bolted away for toward the mountains in the south, the Badlands. The chase had begun, and soon Ragriz had to roll and duck to dodge the hail of bullets around him. The colt was nearly home free. All he needed to do was lose his pursuers.

The sound of cannon fire was deafening, the bullets innumerable, and all throughout this Razgriz was filled with hate, fear and sadness. He nopony to turn to, nopony to trust, and nopony to help him. Fleeing through the forest, the desperate Razgriz put some distance between the Lunar Army and himself. Soon, the sound of gunfire faded to nothing, as the pursuing army lost sight of their target.

Razgriz continued to fly. His wings felt like they were on fire. The only safe haven that he could go to was the Badlands to the south of Ponyville, or the source of all evil. It was the last place that the exhausted general wanted to go, but he knew that he could hide there, and not be hunted by anypony.

But all he knew was that this was the place of all evil. By this, he thought it was a metaphor, a meaningless phrase intended to scare foals into staying away. He did not yet know it was a place where only true evil can be found, where one had to face their greatest fears. It would be a tough time for the alicorn while he discovered secrets even the princesses of Equestria would fear. The truth is always stranger than what the imagination fears.