Midnight Rising

"Smile."

"Tell me, do you know of a mare named Moondancer?" I asked of the Shining Armor AI as we raced across the stars to Hydra, watching the void through the window in the bridge. The mechanical echo of Equestria's past sat beside me, its expression one of permanent stoicity.

"Oh yes, she was one of Twilight's friends, from waaay back to when she was just a filly. They didn't talk much, but apparently Moondancer looked up to Twilight. When Twilight moved away from Canterlot to Ponyville, Moondancer was devastated. They made amends years later, after Twilight's Ascension" Shining AIrmor explained.

"The Empress lived in Ponyville before Her Ascension? For what purpose?" i inquired, intrigued about my Goddess's past.

"To study the magic of friendship" Shining AIrmor scoffed. "A fool's errand, given to her by Equestria's then-current ruler, Princess Celestia. The truth was there was no such thing as friendship magic, a fact Twilight told me after Her Ascension and rise to power. She suspected that Celestia was afraid of Twilight's potential, and tried to lead Her away from it with ridiculous tasks about 'friendship' and 'harmony'. She and her sister had us all fooled. Ironically, it was one of Celestia's tasks to Twilight that proved her undoing."

"Tell me more" I said, leaning forward in my seat.

"There was a period of time after Twilight's Ascension to Alicornhood that She still followed the Princesses and their harmony foolishness. Twilight was given Her own castle, likely to appease Her, and in this castle was a magical map that guided Twilight and Her friends to various locales to solve 'friendship problems'. The map was powered by Celestia's magic, and thus she was the one who gave Twilight the missives. At any rate, the map sent my sister and two of Her friends, Rarity and Applejack, to a remote mountain community one day. Twilight found in this community a group of ponies who revered Her, and believed She was Equestria's rightful ruler. They denounced the Princesses, in favor of my sister. At first, She ignored them, intent on solving the 'friendship problem'. Turns out, there was no friendship problem. It was a happy, thriving community, that just didn't follow the Princesses" Shining AIrmor said.

"I suspect that this Celestia was using Twilight to stamp out resistance."

"I don't really know. I do know that Twilight went back, on Her own, after that. And again, after that. She kept going back to that remote mountain community, and each time She came back she was more and more like how you know Her now. I remember that there were whispers of a movement that wished to challenge Princess Celestia's rule, and after Twilight's visit to this community the movement blew up, seemingly overnight, and ideals about manifest destiny spread like wildfires. It just snowballed, and finally it ended it with Twilight challenging the Princesses. You know how that ended."

I nodded. "Yes, I remember learning about Equestria's history at Ranger Academy. How, during a time of turmoil and unrest, Twilight rose to take control of Equestria, when she had lost her rulers" I replied.

"Well there wasn't all that much turmoil, not until after Twilight deposed the Princesses and took the throne. There was a lot of resistance, particularly from some of Twilight's friends. For the most part, though, things were peaceful before my sister took power" my mechanical ally explained.

I turned my head to the side, confused. "Our history books speak of Equestria's great famine, and how the Princesses did nothing to control or end the problem, and how Twilight discovered a plan by the Princesses to leave all their subjects to die while they would hide away in a secret bunker with hoards of food."

It was Shining AIrmor's turn to turn his head and look at me sideways, saying "I don't remember anything like that, and there certainly wasn't any famine. Like I said, things were more or less alright when the Princesses were in charge, but my sister took power and showed Equestria things we had never known before Her rise. Like space travel and magical energy. We were shown a way of life nopony had thought possible under the Princesses' rule."

Before I could say any more the shipboard computer sounded an alert and we slowed. I turned to look out the viewport to find that we had arrived at Hydra, the planet a great ball of black as we had arrived on the night side. I took control of my ship as we headed in, punching through the atmosphere. I began a scan for any signs of Flurry Heart's ship, looking down at the planet below as we went. It occurred fairly quickly to me that Hydra was nearly 100% water, with virtually no landmass, and I began to wonder if Moondancer actually lived here or if this is just where the deals took place.

"A planet made entirely of water..." Shining AIrmor said wistfully as he looked out the viewport, pale moonlight reflecting off the surface far below from one of Hyrdra's six moons. "Why are we here again? Now is not the time for swimming."

The unexpected humor threw me for a loop and I took a moment to respond, my gaze staying focused on my instruments. "We're here to find Flurry Heart and kill her. She came here looking for that Moondancer mare, who bought three million bits worth of silver from a Griffin mercenary band for unknown purposes" I explained.

"Three million bits worth? Wowsers, that's wild" Shining AIrmor declared, his humorous vernacular again confusing me. Soldiers weren't meant to speak like that.

"Yes, it is" I offered in reply, unsure of what to make of the Shining Armor AI. His speech patterns were weird for somepony who was supposed to be a soldier, but he WAS an AI. Merely Shining Armor' consciousness immortalized in lines of code. Plus he had been the Empress's brother, so I would have to cut him a lot of slack; he was, technically, my better."Is there anything more you can tell me about Moondancer?" I asked as my ship scanned, looking to pass the time.

"I didn't know her much, myself. Like I said, she looked up to Twilight in their younger days. I don't know why she didn't join my sister. A lot of ponies did, including some of her friends, right from the start. Rarity and Applejack, the ones who accompanied Twilight to the mountain community the first time, were by my sister's side right at the start of the New Dawn's birth. Spike stayed by her side, too. Fluttershy and Pinkie endeavored to peacefully resist the New Dawn. Rainbow Dash just...vanished. There were others, too; Starlight Glimmer, Twilight's apprentice, was fiercely loyal to the New Dawn and my sister. Twilight appointed Starlight to a cabinet position VERY close to Her side, as She did for Rarity and Applejack. Spike She made the Royal Protector, and I suspect he still serves the role, given a dragon's lifespan" the Shining Armor AI explained.

"So the rumors of a dragon living in the courtyard ARE true... Tell me, what is a 'cabinet'? Nopony advises the Empress now. She makes every decision by her lonesome" I said.

"My sister's cabinet, Her most trusted advisors, served Her in the beginning years. Rarity, Applejack, Starlight Glimmer, Spike. As Her pony friends began to age She retired the positions, feeling confident enough to rule on Her own. She had statues erected in honor of Rarity, AJ, and Starlight, in the central garden of Castle Twilight. The rest of the Elements, like I said, either resisted her or vanished, in Rainbow's case" Shining AIrmor stated.

"What happened to the ones who resisted Her? Fluttershy and Pinkie?" I inquired.

"I think you can guess."

I nodded, continuing. "Is there anything else you can tell me about the beginning? About the New Dawn and its formation?" I asked.

"There's not much else to say. Ponies either joined the New Dawn, went about their business, or resisted. Those who joined the New Dawn and served it for years received bloodtitles. Meaning their descendants, to this day, have their college completely paid-for and are given either positions in Twilight's palace, or positions in fields of their choosing. My sister never forgets Her friends, and She wanted to make sure that no matter how small your contribution, that you and all your descendants would be taken care of. If you serve Her directly, Meteor Shower, I suspect She has some nice things in store for you and your descendants."

"I don't want anything, but to advance Equestria's position and make my Empress proud. I swore an oath, both to Her and to Equestria. I am a soldier; I gave up everything, marriage, bloodlines, family, friends, when I signed up to be a Royal Ranger. As time passed, I was fortunate enough to be approached by Empress Twilght Herself, and She made me the Royal Hunter. My predeccessor was getting old, and She retired her. I took her place, some thirteen years ago. I've never wanted anything else" I told the robot.

"Sounds like you're a special stallion" Shining AIrmor declared.

"I'm not. I'm not anything special. I'm no better than any other pony. The only special pony is Empress Twilight. I just live and die by Her word. I would do anything for your sister, Shining AIrmor. She is my everything. I've never questioned Her, never doubted Her. I know of no alternative but Empress Twilight, and the Equestrian Empire. These things you've described to me, these things you've told me, I don't understand them. I never could. Princesses, and harmony, and all that. I could never understand any of it."

"I see. I want to tell you that, in light of what I've told you thus far, that my sister is NOT a bad mare. She showed Equestria a way of life we had never thought possible. New technologies, a greater understanding of magic and science. She brought Equestria into a grand, golden age. Hence why she called it 'the New Dawn'. So many ponies didn't understand what Twilight had done, what She was doing. They didn't understand that we had a new government, new ideals. They couldn't fathom life without the Princesses" Shining AIrmor told me.

"I trust your sister implicitly, Shining AIrmor. I have always supported everything She's done. Every word that's left Her mouth, I agreed with. Every decree, I followed. I am the Royal Hunter for a reason; my unwavering loyalty, and steadfast dedication to the Crown, and the Empire of Equestria. I would gladly die for my Empress, even if it was by Her will" I declared with fervor.

"Then you are an honorable, stallion, and that's all Equestria's ever asked of her soldiers."

After several hours of scanning the shipboard computer had found the Starborn ship, Flurry Heart's personal flagship, hovering over a small installation erected in the middle of absolutely no where. I paused my own vessel, inspecting the Starborn flagship. There was no way of knowing if Flurry Heart was aboard her ship or in the surface installation, and I began to weigh my-- our, options.

Before I could say anything to the Shining Armor AI the engines of Flurry Heart's ship came to life and the vessel accelerated away, racing up into the sky until it could be seen no more. I watched with a deadpan expression as the Starship left, inside I was livid.

"I suppose we ought to head into the surface installation and see if we can find anything" I told Shining AIrmor, bringing us in. I docked my ship with one of the arms attached to the installation, the two of us disembarking and entering the installation. It was clean and sterile, the walls a polished steel, the floor rubberized. I realized as we went in that it was a scientific survey station, though there were no scientists to be found.

The Shining Armor AI and myself ventured in further, my weapons at the ready. I had no idea what kind of armament Shining AIrmor was sporting, but I suspected he'd at least be able to hold his own. We passed through a door into a work area, a glass door on the other side of the room containing an elevator shaft that went down. As much as I didn't like the possibility, it seemed we'd have to go down it.

As we searched the working area a side door opened and out stepped a tan-coated Unicorn stallion, holding in his telekinetic grasp a clipoard. He looked up and saw my companion and myself. First he saw Shining AIrmor, and tensed up before relaxing, thinking it was just one of Flurry Heart's Stars. Then his gaze turned to me, and he saw the Hunter badge painted on the breast of my armor.

His eyes went wide, and he dropped the clipboard.

"FREEZE! GET ON THE GROUND!" I commanded, my suit augmenting my voice. The stallion wavered but froze in place, locked by indecisiveness. Part of him wanted to run, I'm sure, but a much smarter part of him told him he should comply. "I SAID, GET ON THE BUCKING GROUND. NOW!" The tips of my weapons were glowing, my gaze focused on the scientist. "Get on the GROUND, moron, or I will shoot you. By Her Majesty's Will I will fucking shoot you if you do not get ON THE GROUND!!"

"O-OK, OK!" the buck said, and slowly lowered himself to the floor. I kept my eyes locked on him, my weapons still glowing.

"Tell me your name and occupation!"

"Sun-- Sunburst. I serve Princess Flurry Heart and her mission to return to Equestria the Harmony it has forgotten."

"How exactly do you do that? What is your job here? What work do you perform for Flurry Heart?" Shining Armor asked, and the traitor looked at him.

"Shining Armor...? What did Twilight do to you?" Sunburst asked, and Shining AIrmor shook its head.

"She gave me the gift of immortality, just in a different form."

"You're... You're not even equine anymore. You're a robot, an automaton! Are you even yourself anymore?!"

"Shut it, and answer the questions. Flurry Heart and her ally Moondancer purchased vast sums of silver for an unknown purpose. I want to know what for, what her goal is, and where she is" I said.

"I already told you her goals: to return Harmony to Equestria. Peace, equality, the natural order our homeworld once enjoyed, now sullied by Twilight's corruption. As for the Princess, she's down below, preparing our vision. Nothing you do will stop her, or her beautiful ideals of LOVE AND ACCEP--"

I blinked twice and Sunburst's face vanished in a storm of plasma, and I stepped over his corpse as I headed for the elevator at the other end of the room. The Shining Armor AI joined me and I looked at him, my expression concealed by my helmet, his expression unchanged. He looked at the body of the stallion for a moment before turning back to look at me, shrugging his artificial shoulders. "For my sister?" he inquired, calling back to what I said to him earlier.

"Without question" I answered darkly, stepping onto the elevator. Shining AIrmor followed me, pressing the descend button, and down into the depths we went.