By the Moon

Chapters

Chapter 2 The Tattoo
Chapter 3 The Figment
Chapter 4 The Egress
Chapter 5 The Renewal
Chapter 6 The Memories Part 1
Chapter 7 The Memories Part 2
Chapter 8 The Memories Part 3
Chapter 9 The Memories Part 4
Chapter 10 The Horror
Chapter 11 The Escape
Chapter 12 The Shelter
Chapter 13 The Spear
Chapter 14 The Memories Part 5
Chapter 16 The Memories Part 7
Chapter 17 The Memories Part 8
Chapter 18 The Memories Part 9
Chapter 19 The Memories Part 10
Chapter 20 The Search
Chapter 21 The House
Chapter 22 The Agents
Chapter 23 The Dart
Chapter 24 The Fortress
cHapT3R 2S ThE R4mP4Ge
Chapter 26 The Helmet
Chapter 27 The Princess
Chapter 28 The Escape
Chapter 29 The Confrontation
Chapter 30 The Fugitive
Chapter 31 The Station
Chapter 33 The Hunt
Chapter 34 The Trick
Chapter 35 The City
Chapter 36 The News
CH4pt3r 3L t8e pr3y
Chap7er 3H Th3 Cr1me10rd
Chapter 39 The Memories Part 11
Chapter 40 The Memories Part 12
Chapter 41 The Memories Part 13
Chapter 42 The Memories Part 14
Chapter 43 The Memories Part 15
Chapter 44 The Memories Part 16
Chapter 47 The Memories Part 19
Chapter 48 The Memories Part 20
Chapter 49 The Memories Part 21
Chapter 50 The Safehouse
Chapter 51 The Sunset
Chapter 52 The Delusion
Chapter 53 The Car
Chapter 54 The Checkpoint
Chapter 55 The Inn
Chapter 56 The Rally
CH4pt3R S7 th3 7eS5oN
Chapter 59 The Wild
Chapter 60 The Shack
Chapter 61 The Sun
Chapter 62 The Flight
Chapter 63 The Memories Part 22
Chapter 64 The Memories Part 23
Chapter 65 The Memories Part 24
Chapter 66 The Memories Part 25
Chapter 67 The Memories Part 26
Chapter 68 The Memories Part 27
Chapter 69 The Memories Part 28
Chapter 71 The Memories Part 30
Chapter 72 The Memories Part 31
Chapter 73 The Memories Part 32
Chapter 74 The Memories Part 33
Chapter 75 The Memories Part 34
Chapter 76 The Memories Part 35
Chapter 77 The Memories Part 36
Chapter 78 The Memories Part 37
Chapter 79 The Memories Part 38
Chapter 80 The Memories Part 39
Chapter 82 The Memories Part 41
Chapter 83 The Memories Part 42
Chapter 84 The Memories Part 43
Chapter 85 The Memories Part 44
Chapter 86 The Memories Part 45
Chapter 87 The Memories Part 46
Chapter 88 The Memories Part 47
Chapter 89 The Memories Part 48
Chapter 90 The Memories Part 49
Chapter 91 The Memories Part 50
Chapter 93 The Memories Part 52
Chapter 94 The Memories Part 53
Chapter 95 The Memories Part 54
Chapter 96 The Memories Part 55
Chapter 97 The Memories Part 56
Chapter 98 The Memories Part 57
Chapter 99 The Memories Part 58
Chapter 100 The Memories Part 59
Chapter 101 The Memories Part 60
Chapter 102 The Memories Part 61
Chapter 104 The Memories Part 63
Chapter 105 The Memories Part 64
Chapter 106 The Memories Part 65
Chapter 107 The Memories Part 66
Chapter 108 The Memories Part 67
Chapter 109 The Memories Part 68
Chapter 110 The Memories Part 69
Chapter 111 The Memories Part 70
Chapter 114 The Memories Part 73
Chapter 115 The Memories Part 74
Chapter 116 The Memories Part 75
Chapter 117 The Memories Part 76
Chapter 118 The Memories Part 77
Chapter 119 The Memories Part 78
Chapter 120 The Memories Part 79
Chapter 121 The Memories Part 80
Chapter 122 The Memories Part 81
Chapter 123 The Memories Part 82
Chapter 125 The Memories Part 84
Chapter 126 The Memories Part 85
Chapter 127 The Memories Part 86
Chapter 128 The Memories Part 87
Chapter 129 The Memories Part 88
Chapter 130 The Memories Part 89
Chapter 131 The Memories Part 90
Chapter 132 The Memories Part 91
Chapter 133 The Memories Part 92
Chapter 134 The Memories Part 93
Chapter 136 The Memories Part 95
Chapter 137 The Memories Part 96
Chapter 138 The Memories Part 97
Chapter 139 The Memories Part 98
Chapter 140 The Memories Part 99
Chapter 141 The Memories Part 100
Chapter 142 The Memories Part 101
Chapter 143 The Memories Part 102
Chapter 144 The Memories Part 103
Chapter 145 The Memories Part 104
Chapter 147 The Memories Part 106
Chapter 148 The Crater
Chapter 149 The Realization
Chapter 150 The Throne
Chapter 151 The Nightmare
Chapter 152 The Elements
Chapter 153 The God
Chapter 154 The Beginning
Bonus Chapter
Chapter 1 The Beginning?
Chapter 15 The Memories Part 6
Chapter 32 The Savior
Chapter 45 The Memories Part 17
Chapter 46 The Memories Part 18
Chapter 58 The Traitor
Chapter 70 The Memories Part 29
Chapter 81 The Memories Part 40
Chapter 92 The Memories Part 51
Chapter 103 The Memories Part 62
Chapter 112 The Memories Part 71
Chapter 113 The Memories Part 72
Chapter 124 The Memories Part 83
Chapter 135 The Memories Part 94
Chapter 146 The Memories Part 105

Chapter 2 The Tattoo

~~~

I would’ve done a spit take if I had been drinking anything. I don’t remember getting a tattoo… I poked the image of the moon. The burning had stopped, it felt fine now. But it wasn’t fine because I now had a tramp stamp of a moon essentially on MY ASS. At least it wasn’t a full moon… Did I have this when I showered not a few hours ago?

No I didn’t.

Could someone have put it on since then? Yes, when I was napping before work, and just now during break. However I was sleeping very lightly and even the slightest nudge would’ve had me fully awake and ready to run, work, or fight. So how else could this have gotten on?

I pulled my pants back up and buckled them. I walked to the sink, took my glasses off and rubbed water on my face. I was tired, yeah, tired. I was seeing things.

HeHehehehhe… No you weren’t.

I looked into the mirror and would’ve done another spit take if any of the water had been in my mouth. My eyes, normally a steel blue, were teal and slitted like a cat’s.

“AAAAGH!” I shout in alarm. I shake my head and look again. My eyes have returned to their dark blue, ROUNDED selves…

“I’m tired, yes… Tired.” I reassure myself as I dry my face and put my glasses on. “Gotta work on getting more sleep…” I shuffle out of the restroom in a daze.

I return to the breakroom to discover I only have a minute or two left on my break. I sat back down and tried to distract myself by playing with a pen, but my mind kept going back to my butt and eyes. I know what I saw, those eyes were real… And predatory. I shivered as I looked at my watch. Time was up. I got up and headed up front.

“I’m back” I said into the radio. My voice echoed off the frozen section.

“Thank you… Everyone else can go on break. Lucas, take the register.” a chorus of affirmatives and alright's replied.

“Got it.” I replied when I heard everyone reply. I walked up to the front and checked to make sure everything was in order. It was. I then went into a nearby aisle and got back to where I left off.

You’re not tired at all.

I ignored the voice in my head.

You’re the widest you’ve been awake since who knows when.

I ignored it.

You can’t ignore me Lucna.

The sinister voice garbled my name. I still ignored it.

You’re extremely LUCID.

I knew where the voice came from. That’s why I was ignoring it.

You know my eyes were real Lucna…

“Shut up…” I whisper softly. The voice kept screwing up my name, but it wasn’t what was making me mad.

hehehehe… HAHAHHAHAH! I’m ashamed Lucna… Telling yourself to shut up like that. You could hurt our feelings.

“Shut up.” I state softly.

He’s growing a backbone ladies and gentlemen! Telling himself to shut up! HAHAHHAHAHAHHA!

“Shut up!” I hiss.

“Am I interrupting something?” a voice behind me to my right asked. I slapped the sincerest smile I could on and turned. It was a middle aged lady with a cart full of things.

“Nothing at all.” I smile sweetly. “How can I help you?”

“Can you help me find the organic section?” she asked, still eyeing me with a degree of concern.

“Of course, follow me.” I said cheerfully as I went towards the back. I didn’t look back but I could hear the lady pushing her cart to follow me.

“It’s right here.” I said as I gestured towards her desired section.

“Alright thank you.” she said with gratitude. It was the only part about this job that I really liked. The feeling that you’ve sincerely helped someone and they’re thankful for what you do. It’s always brief and short lived, but I would never tire from it.

“You’re welcome.” I said cheerfully as I walk away. “Don’t hesitate to ask if you need anything!”

“Will do!” she replied as she turned into the aisle. I went back to the spot I left off and continued working. Thoughts of moons and eyes far away.

~~~

Driving home was always a little difficult to do. The traffic may be low and kids are still trying to get out of bed, but I’m always tired from a night of watching and sorting. This morning was no different. I yawn as I enter the house I live in. No one’s up yet, thankfully. I open the refrigerator and pull out an apple that for some reason sounded good. I munch on it as I climb the stairs. I hear floorboards creak in Sarah’s room so I quickly dive into my own and close the door just as hers opens. I pull off my shoes and throw them to the foot of the bed and start peeling my uniform off. Before I climb into bed I spot the crescent moons on my thighs The skin around it seemed to have darkened since I first saw them.

Fearing I’m coming down with some kind of necrosis, I carefully poke and prod the darkened flesh with my finger or any sort of pen I can find. I can feel them all as clear as day.

“Should I go to the doctor?” I ask myself. “No, I don’t have the money to pay for even a stay in the lobby…” I rub my temples. “But what if it’s serious and I’m rotting from the inside out? That’s leprosy and you haven't been in contact with anyone who has it… That you’re aware of.” I sigh and flop onto my bed. “I’ll go to sleep and see what’s up when I wake up… Yeah, I’m tired anyway…” I yawn again and almost instantly fall asleep.

~~~

A woman grunted in a hospital bed.

“Come on!” she screamed. A doctor at the foot of the bed stood ready.

“You can do it Mrs. Maan.... One more push…” The woman screamed. A flash of light crossed the window.

“Nurse what was that?” the doctor asked. A nurse put some towels down and looked outside.

“It looks like just a shooting star…” he replied.

”No!” screamed the soon to be mother.

“What’s my wife yelling about?” a man said as he poked his head into the room. The woman screamed again.

“Don’t you dare!”

“Sir, I need you out of here now.” the Nurse said as he pushed the ladies husband out of the doorway.

“Stay away!” the woman screamed.

“She’s hallucinating nurse, help me with the baby…” the doctor ordered.

“Keep her out of here!” the lady screamed, trying to sit up in bed.

“Scratch that, keep her down…” the doctor amended. The nurse moved in to restrain the woman.

“Keep her out of here!” the lady screamed again. The light’s in the room immediately darkened.

“Get the generator back on!” the doctor yelled at the door. Another nurse came in.

“The power is still on…” she began, but noticed the light’s flickering in the room. “Oh god…” she whimpered before she rushed out of the room. The women screamed in pain this time.

“Almost got him…” the doctor whispered. The nurse looked up from the lady to see a dark shadow hanging above his charge.

“Keep her away!” the lady screamed.

The nurse would later swear he heard another voice.

“You will?” the lady replied.

“Who are you talking to?” the nurse asked.

“The Moon…” the lady whispered. “The Moon herself…” she said as she passed out. Immediately a baby's cry filled the room. The lights stopped flickering and only the nurse noticed the lack of shadow hanging over the women.

“I don't understand…” The nurse murmured.

“Nurse I need your help.” The doctor ordered. “Take him…” The doctor handed the newborn the nurse. The nurse cooed and took the baby from the doctor. The doctor meanwhile pulled off his gloves and dug around on his desk.

“What’s his hair color?” He asked

“Black.” The nurse responded.

“Eyes?” For a moment the baby in the nurse’s arms looked upwards at the nurse, and the nurse looked down. Bright intelligent teal eyes that seemed to glow looked up at the nurse. He adjusted the baby to get him into a better light. The next time the baby opened his eyes however they were a hard steely blue.

“Blue…” The nurse stammered “His eyes are blue.”

~~~

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

I groaned as I lifted my head off the bed.

“Who is it?” I asked groggily.

“Yo bitch baby!” Sarah exclaimed as she burst the door open, her dirty blond curls bouncing, her bright blue eyes gleaming.

Worm

“Ugh… What do you want?” I groaned, curling up again under the blanket.

“So Mom isn’t letting me go with my friends to the haunted house tonight… Apparently I need a responsible adult to watch us, and she can’t come. And I can’t find anyone else and you fit the adult requirement… Barely.”

“Fine I’ll come, what time are we leaving?” I asked as I checked my watch. 4:23 pm.

“My friends are going to be getting here at around nineish, we plan on taking Mom’s car from there and going to the barn where it’s at.” Sarah replied. I didn’t have to work tonight anyway, why not?

“‘Kay, but I’m driving.” I said as I flopped my head back onto the pillow.

“Deal.” she said as she left.

“Close the door!” I exclaimed before she got too far. I was rewarded with the clicking of a shut door. I sighed, enjoying the momentary peace.

Until I remembered my mysterious tramp stamp.

“Damn it…” I groaned. I quickly got up and rushed to the bathroom. After quickly locking the door behind me so I wouldn’t be disturbed, I pulled my pants down and nearly shrieked.

My entire ass was black, the hue of the darkest of hours, with the crescent moon sticking out with its pale silver.

“Calm down…” I urged “There is a logical, scientific… EXPLAINABLE reason why my butt has suddenly looks like I sat in ink…” my head perked up. “Ink? I can’t think of anything else… And unless the ink got under my skin, which it hasn’t, then it’s washable…” a manic grin split my face as I turned towards the shower.

I made sure to check my underwear for any of my mystery ink. I didn’t find any. It wasn’t until I started scrubbing did I actually touch the darkened flesh. I rubbed the top of my head to make sure I wasn’t mistaking the feeling.

“Black fur?” I weakly whispered.

Chapter 3 The Figment

~~~

It wasn’t ink that stained my bottom midnight black… It was fur… Dark, black, fur… It was the same for the moon, it was fur… It wasn’t fur this morning.

“Heheh… Fur… He he…” I mumbled as I slide down the wall in the shower.

It does look rather striking doesn’t it?

“Go away…” I moaned miserably. Had I finally gone insane? First the voice, then hallucinations? What was next?

Oh sometimes I wish I was that kind of voice…
Make the walls bleed, write disparaging comments on misted glass…

“You’re not real…” I claimed as I rubbed my temples.

Oh trust me Lucna… I’m the realest damn thing you’ve ever met.

“It isn’t real… If it isn’t real, it can’t do anything, and if it can’t do anything, I can ignore it.”

Ignore me all you want… Nothing will go away.

Don’t listen to any voices in your head, they lie all the time… My butt was still normal, yes, normal… I just couldn’t see it. I finished the shower, purposely ignoring the fuzzy sensations coming from down below.

A quick teeth brushing, anyone-looking check, and scurry-across-the-hall later, I found myself back in my room and did my best to barricade myself inside. I found the most unrevealing clothes I could find that could still be classified as ‘normal’. A large hoodie, and slightly too large jeans later, I was sitting on my bed, laptop already playing a video.

~~~

“Hey we’re ready to go!” Sarah called through my door. I woke from a daze of thighs, moons, and fur. Nothing could distract me from down below.

“Crap… One moment!” I called back. I untangled myself from my set-up and rushed the hall. Sarah had went into her room, doing who knew what. I could hear her friends chatting in the dining room as I pulled my everyday shoes and jacket on.

“Ready?” I heard Sarah ask her friends from the dining room. A chorus of yes’s answered. I poked my head into the living room where experience told me Mom was.

“Did Sarah tell you I was babysitting her for the haunted house?” I asked. Sarah probably didn’t use the term ‘babysitting.’

“Yep, have fun.” Mom said as she waved.

“Not likely.” I grumbled as I pulled my head out of the room, my fuzzy dilemma coming back to me. I turned and saw Sarah’s group of four head towards the door. “Ready?” I asked as I came closer.

“Yep.” Sarah replied. We all went out the door, me pulling the car keys off the rack before I shut the door behind me.

The drive was long and loud… Loud because Sarah and her friends liked to yell over each other. But we got to the haunted barn/house without event. It was some abandoned barn out in the middle of nowhere… And looked like it needed to be condemned. My passengers bailed as soon as I parked. They were jabbering about… Something… So I just locked the car and followed behind them.

We must’ve gotten there early because the line wasn’t too long. They had a kind of tent gazebo set up covering a outside door into a basement. We got ushered down below and stopped nearby a table where a lady was sitting by a bright lamp and what looked like a cash box.

“Please don’t grab or hit any of our workers please…” she said to the group ahead as they followed the line. Sarah and co. moved up behind them. “5 dollars admission.” the lady said. Everyone reached to their wallets. I sighed as I pulled out my own 5 bucks. “Please don’t grab or hit any of our workers please.” the lady said as gave us all tickets. We shuffled forward.

The next room was lit only by a dim red campfire surrounded by jack-o-lanterns. We just entered to see the group ahead leave. I also noted a not-so-hidden figure in the darkest part of the room.

“Hello!” cried the figure in a woman’s voice as she stepped into the light. She was dressed in a Witch’s costume. Sarah and company must’ve not noticed her as they jumped a little when she stepped forward. “Welcome to Old Murrie's Haunted Barn!” she cackled.

“I heard this year was going to be scarier than normal but I didn’t know they’d start right off the bat!” one of my charges whispered loudly. I chuckled a little at that.

“I’ll take your tickets and we’ll get you going!” the witch said. We gave her the tickets and she ushered us into a dark hallway.

“Oh my god I can’t see anything!”

“Where are you guys?”

“What’s this?”

“AAAgh! Some thing just grabbed my hand!”

“It’s me it’s me!”

All I did was chuckle. Sure it was dark, but it wasn’t THAT dark… I could still make out the outlines of my sister and her friends with relative ease. Eventually they regrouped and continued forward. I just followed behind.

I was kind of disappointed by the experience. It wasn’t dark enough and the hidden people were too easy to spot. Sarah and her friends must’ve been entertained because they legitimately screamed several times. It was worth five bucks hearing my sister scream after someone revved a fake chainsaw in her face. I wasn’t remotely frightened until I happened to turn around to see a glowing skull mask behind me.

“Hey.” I said nonchalantly.

“Hey Lucas! Keep up!” Sarah cried.

“Lucas?” the masked guy asked. “Cool! I didn’t know they made glowing contacts... Where’d you get them?”

Hehehehehehe...

“What?”

“Lucas!” my sister squeaked.

“Crap gotta go…” I said, unintentionally mimicking my sisters squeak. Were my eyes glowing? Distinctly I became aware of something tickling my leg. As soon as I scratched it I felt something move along my leg under the pants. I could feel the blood drain from my face. I debated sticking a hand down my pants to feel, but I’m interrupted by Sarah grabbing my hand.

“This you Lucas?” she asked. I decided to squint my eyes to hide any “glowing” eyes that I may or may not have.

“Yep, I’m coming…” I say, turning my head away to further hide any sort of glow.

I made it out of the barn without any further scares about my mysterious condition. I hurried the group into the car and practically squealed the tires getting onto the road.

“Geez Lucas!” Sarah yelled “You suck at driving!” I smoothed out my driving but felt no need to slow down.

When we got home I got out of the car as fast as I could. I was already in my room with the door shut by the time the group opened the front door. I practically ripped off my pants and felt something fall to the floor.

I didn’t want to look. I really didn’t.

But I did.

A long, light blue bundle of hair swished the air between my legs as I stared at it.

“No no no no no…” I moaned. I followed the bundle with my hand to find it connected solidly to my tailbone. I sat down behind my bed to hide from the door as I looked at the long hairs.

Quite the sight isn’t it?

“You don’t know anything… You’re a figment of my imagination…” I whispered.

I’m as real as your tail.

“Not at all then.” I stated. A figment of my imagination admitting it’s fake? Yes please.

A proposal then… If you can prove your tail IS fake, I’ll go away and never return…
BUT, if it so happens your tail is real…

“Alright… I accept your proposal.” I stated.

Don’t you want to hear what happens when I’m right?

“No, because I’m right. You’re not real. This, tail isn’t real. And I’m not growing black fur all over my backend.”

You’re right… It isn’t black any more!

I could hear the mischievousness dripping from the voice. I could feel my pupils go wide as I checked my thighs. The voice was right, I wasn’t growing BLACK fur anymore. The black hair suddenly stopped in what looked like a paint splattering pattern. But now instead of black fur, dark blue fur had begun to grow. And it was down to my knees and halfway up my back, and it was beginning to reach around my pelvis to get to my crotch.

Hehehehhehehehehe…

“Nononononononono…” I whimpered.

IF, and I mean WHEN you prove we’re real… I get to call you be your real name!

“Lucas is my real name… It isn’t even a nickname.”

Oh Luna… How wrong you can be…

“Luna? Oh very clever…” I chuckled. “It’s not even that different.” I noticed the voice didn’t garble the name this time.

It’s amazing what a mind can do in the face of change.

“You’d know that… Stupid figment of my imagination.”

We shall see…

Chapter 4 The Egress

~~~

Operation P.I.N.I. was a go. Or in layman terms, Operation Prove I’m Not Insane. I had several ideas to prove I wasn’t mad and needed to be put in the insane asylum. One was to actually show someone the changes and hope for the best. I discarded that immediately. Along that line of thought, check myself into a medical facility. But that defeated the purpose of the whole exercise. I debated cutting a lock of hair off the tail and leaving it somewhere to be found and observe the results. But I needed results NOW. So I decided on the best of both worlds.

The plan was simple. I would smuggle myself, my iPod, the tail, and a similarly colored shirt into the bathroom. Then, I would put the tail under the door. Next I would wait for someone to knock. When someone knocked, I would make the tail move. When they grabbed it to investigate, I would have my hand ready to take the brunt of the pressure and pull it away. Then, I would open the door, iPod in my ears, “brushing my teeth”, similarly colored shirt in hand, and back-end hidden behind the door.

If they ignored the tail, it wasn’t real and I needed to somehow get on meds immediately. If they did grab it however, the tail was real, the voice was real, and I was screwed.

I was kneeling in front of the locked bathroom door the tail sticking out under the door and arranged around my body so when I stood up it’d be behind the door. Ear buds were in my ears but the iPod, which was on the counter, was off. Now all I had to do was wait.

This all hinges on if anyone needs to go to the bathroom.

“Sarah has the bladder size of a grape… She’ll be here soon. Now shush.” I whispered.

I’m not the one whispering sweet nothings outloud.

“Oh hush.”

I waited. And waited. And waited. Several times I heard people walk by. I tried to hurry the experiment by wiggling the tail every time someone walked by. But I guess no one noticed or it was fake. Hopefully the latter.

So how long before you give up?

I didn’t answer because someone was going by. I heard a door click down the hall.

So how long before you give up Luna?

“Until someone wants in, or everyone goes to bed.”

And what time is it?

I took my hand off the tail.

“It’s…” I began. Someone suddenly pulled hard on the tail. I stood up in surprise. “Ow!” I exclaimed.

“Who’s in there?” Mom called through the door.

HAHAHHAHAHAHA!

“It’s me…” I replied, rubbing my tailbone.

“Can I have the shirt?”

Oh stars that’s hilarious!
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!

I unlocked the door, maintaining enough clarity of mind to stick to the plan and keep my backside behind the door.

“Here, I was standing on it and you startled me…” I said, trying to keep the pain out of my voice.

It’s real! I’m real! It’s real! I’m real!

I closed and locked the door when Mom left.

“Fuck.” I whimpered as I slide down the wall to the floor.

Oh Luna dearest!

“Oh god…”

Oh Luna! Oh dearest of Lunas!

“I’m not Luna…”

But of course you’re Luna, Luna!

“I’m Lucas... Not Luna.”

Oh but you are Luna! I should know!
I’ve been here since you’ve been born after all.

“Liar… You appeared in my head in the fourth grade… After I… Lost control...”

You wouldn’t believe how dreadfully boring those first years were.

“You’re not real.”

But you proved it!

The voice was becoming more and more feminine as it talked. Even singing it’s last phrase. I ignored it and tucked the tail back into my pants, making sure it didn’t bulge. I looked both ways in the hallway before scurrying back to my room.

As soon as it was closed I barricaded myself as much as possible. I had discovered two MAJOR things… I was indeed changing… And the changes were real. I didn't care about the voice. That much was all in my head at least. I pulled up my shirt to see the line of blue slowly, slow enough to take a while but still noticeable after a few seconds, creep up towards my belly button.

I watched the blue fur crawl up my stomach for probably half an hour. Then I became curious how it looked down there now. I pulled my pants off with a little difficulty due to the friction the fur gave, but soon I was laying in bed with nothing but my shirt on.

“Oh no.” I stated in shock. The blue fur had covered my entire pelvic region and was almost past my knees, which looked a little closer to the pelvis than they should have. Something however was missing. I felt around to make sure I didn’t miss it, but instead I found another hole.

You were right Luna… I do sound more feminine!

“Oh no…” I whimpered as my finger accidentally slipped inside the new hole. “OH NO.” I pulled it out like it was going to bite me.

And so do you!

I just realized my voice not the same as I remembered. Still recognizably mine but higher pitched.

My my… Is it just me or do your feet look a little… Funky?

My feet did look strange. The second toes looked much thicker than usual, and the flat parts of the feet seemed longer and thinner…

Hehehehe… Oh stars your face is priceless!

I pulled off my shirt, fearing the worst. And I wasn’t disappointed. My nipples had lowered by nearly 7 centimeters!

“What’s happening to me?!” I whimpered loudly.

You’re becoming you!

“YOU!” I exclaimed. “You’re the cause of all this!”

I wish I could claim this misery as my own but it’s all your doing Luna!

“What the hell are you talking about?!”

I’m not allowed to say.

“Who isn’t allowing you then?!”

You!

“If you know what’s going on then say it!”

I’m not allowed to say anything on the matter until you remember. Your orders.

“Since when have you listened to me?!”

I’ve always listened Luna, I just never do anything you say!

I groaned. What was I going to do? I didn’t think it was a disease because, let’s be honest, what disease changes one's sex?! Odds were I wasn’t going to stop changing into, whatever I was changing into. So staying here in my room would be a death sentence because my family would call the government when they found out. So I had to leave. I didn’t know anyone well enough to stay at their place… It would be cold out so I couldn’t stay in an abandoned campground… Maybe just my car?

“Yeah… I could just drive my car somewhere and lay low until I can figure something out…” I said. I pulled my clothes back on, filled my lunch box with as many granola bars it could carry, and grabbed my jacket.

It was about 11 by now, so my sister and Mom were in bed by now. I grabbed a paper and pen and wrote:

Dear Sarah and Mom,

Something came up that I have to deal with… I’m fine, no one’s kidnapping me or anything, I just need a few days to figure something out. No I can’t tell you where I’m going because even I don’t know that. I hope to be back as soon as possible.

With regret,
Lucas

I set the letter on my pillow.

So touching.

I grab my keys and lunchbox as I head out the door. I throw the jacket into the passenger seat and buckle in. I feel the seat catch on something on my back, but I’m too worried at what I’d find to look. I pull out of the driveway and turn right. As I pass a street light, my face is illuminated and I catch a glimpse of my ear, which looks oddly pointed. I can feel fur brushing against my shirt halfway between what used to be my chest region and my stomach. The same can be said for halfway down my calf.

It quickly dawns on me I can’t stay inside the town. At this rate, fur is going to be covering everything and with pointed ears I’ll look like some kind of wild animal. I get on a highway and go for a good five minutes. After that I turn down the wildest looking road I can find and keep driving.

After driving straight for nearly an hour I find what looks like an old logging trail cross the road. Figuring only an idiot would cut trees in the cooling weather in this day and age, I pull in and drive until the road is out of sight. The fur is at my shoulders now, and my legs have been covered for a while now, with too many joints in them to feel right. And my shirt feels tighter and tighter by the minute.

Feeling constrained, I unbuckle and take the shirt off. I’m greeted by two POMF’s. A dark blue feather drifts by my nose.

“I don’t wanna know. I don’t wanna know. I don’t wanna know…”

I look anyway to see what looks like almost completely formed bird's wings sticking out of my back, their feathers the same color as the blue fur.

“Fuuuuuuck…” I groan. I pull myself out of the driver's seat and into the back seat so I could maybe get comfortable. My legs bending in what should be unnatural ways. Slowly I feel the fur crawl up my neck and down my arms. The wind rushes by outside, causing something to flick on my head. I raise a hand to discover my ears have moved to the top of my head, fully triangular now. The hair that’s supposed to be on my head much longer than it should, falling over my closed eyes as I try to ignore the feeling of being changed. Eventually my head and arms get covered by the blue hair. And soon after that I notice feeling in my fingers disappearing, and mouth and nose extending from my face.

Finally the feeling of everything being changed stopped, my body felt weird and I had fur everywhere... I yawn. Even though I haven't technically been up very long, I needed a nap.

The light of the full moon falls through the trees and window just before I fell asleep.

Chapter 5 The Renewal

~~~

I awaken to a pain in my legs. It takes me a moment to realize the pain is coming from my pants being too tight. I try undoing the buckle, but my hands don’t work. I look at where they’re SUPPOSED to be to find blunt, dark blue round things.

Oh... Right...

I roll over onto my back so I can see what I’m doing. My legs stick up in the air, bent at an angle that feels natural but looks painful. I pull off my shoes to find my socks have morphed into similar shapes that my “hands” are.

Slowly, painstakingly, I finagle the belt into becoming undone. After that I realize I still have the zipper and button to deal with.

“Ugh…” I groan. Somehow, I sort of pinch the zipper between my “hands” and slowly unzip them. The button was easier than expected to get undone. The pants fall to the floor as I kick them off. The tail happily swings free. The socks, underwear, and watch were also annoying so they came off.

I’m stark naked, and I don’t feel cold at all. I sit up. I feel the tops of my ears brush the ceiling… I look towards the front of the car, catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror.

Wide cerulean eyes stare back. I position myself to get a better look. My eyes aren’t just wide, they’re much larger. Light blue hair falls down my face, looking messy, but somehow out of the way enough to see my new features clearly. The dark blue fur covers my entire head, my mouth and nose ending in what can only be called a muzzle. The triangular ears stick up out of the light blue mess, standing out with their dark blue coloration. That isn’t the most shocking feature though. A long, spiraling horn that is the same color as my fur, sprouts out of my forehead.

“I’m a unicorn...” I say, my voice clearly that of a girl’s. I look upwards at the horn. I prod it with a dark blue hoof. A tingling sensation erupts from the point I touched it. I shudder. “Never doing that again.”

I come aware of sunlight filtering through the trees. I prod my discarded watch to get it into a readable position. 8:58 am. I look outside. The woods are grey and uninviting.

“What do I do?” I asked myself. “Granola bars aren’t going to do much after long, and I’ll need water eventually…” I decide it’d be best to see what I have available on hand… Hoof… Nope sticking with hand. And scout the area around my car.

After finagling the door open, cool morning air infests my warm car, causing me to shiver. I look around to see if anything moved in the past few seconds. Not a leaf has stirred. So I jumped out…

Only to land flat on my face.

“Ow…” I croak through a mouthful of dead leaves and dirt.

AHAHAHAHA! Wow Luna, I didn’t think you’d be this bad!

“Shut up…” I groan, as I lift myself on all fours, spitting out the leaves and dirt.

I mean sure, two legs are a challenge, but trouble with four?!
What kind of wacko are you?

“Two legs are easier to keep track of…” I say as I put a front hoof forward. “What’s the next logical step?” the opposite back leg moves forward. “Then this one…” My other front leg moves forward. “And finally.” I finish the round by moving the final leg. “Rinse and repeat…” I repeat the maneuver until I barely have to think about the steps.

How are you going to turn?

I look up to see I’ve almost run into a tree.

“Crap…” I look around helplessly. How was I going to turn? I repeated the steps backwards, experimenting with the lengths of individual steps. I moved as stiffly as a car or truck but I could at least move around if I had to. I made my way back to the car.

I crawled back into the backseats and closed the door behind me.

“What do I do?” I asked again. Could I still drive? One look at my legs answered that question… A resounding no. “I can’t stay with the car, someone’ll find it eventually and then I’ll be screwed. Do I leave then? Stick to the trees and hope to God I find fresh water?” I looked around. The trees seemed pretty thick in this area… As long as I kept quiet and listen for a motor or talking or footsteps I could probably hide. “Especially during the night…” I finished, looking at the dark blue coat that would be perfect for hiding during the moonlit hours. “Besides, I don't think there's anything I could use around here…”

So you’re leaving?

“I have to. Sticking by an immobile car is going to get me found. And I don’t have any water.” I stated as I began the painstaking process to turn out my pant pockets, looking for anything useful.

Hmm…

“Wallet maybe, knife yes, even though I’ll probably cut myself trying to get the dang thing open… Receipt no, dollar bill, put that in the console… Coins, console…” I listed off as I began sorting everything I need and didn’t need. “Lunchbox absolute yes. Jacket yes. Watch…” I looked at the watch. Would it fit around what was my wrist? I maneuvered it on the seat trying to gauge how thick of a limb the band could take. “Barely.” I smiled as I nosed and poked the straps onto what used to be my forearm. I then put my knife and wallet into the lunchbox. Thinking I could still use the wallet to prove identity and because I still had my bank card I could use to get money from an ATM or something. It wasn’t until I threw the jacket over my shoulders that I realized I forgot something.

“Oh right… You.” I growled at the wings I forgot I had. “I’ll learn about you guys later…” I stated as I picked up the lunchbox in my mouth. Disgusting as it was I had no choice. I hopped from the car, closing the door with a small kick from a hind leg.

“Wh’r noaw?” I said around the handle.

That’s up to you.

“Fanks phuck phace.” I growled as I went forward, turning towards where I hoped was deeper into the woods. I walked slowly through the woods. Taking care to avoid fallen branches and not trip.

~~~

I walked for several hours. I had come across several trails that obviously had four wheeler tracks. I scurried across them as fast as possible.

“There he goes folks! Right past Davey!”

“Jesus!” I exclaimed as I dove behind a tree.

“Oh! And Mackey out of NOWHERE for the tackle!”

“Wait…” I stammered. “What?” I crawled forwards, keeping as quiet as possible. Suddenly the sunlight intensified and I found my head exposed. I pulled it back before anyone called ‘Hey a dark blue unicorn thing!’

Thankfully, no one did anything of the kind. But when my eyes adjusted I saw one of those small town football fields that had players on it. The two stands that must’ve held 15 people each were full. A guy in a rickety wooden tower served as the announcer.

“Second down and only 10 yards to go folks!”

I want to punch him for being too cheery…

“Noted.” I said as I spotted a package of water bottles left unattended.

Are you listening to me?

“Nope.” I said as traced the tree line with my eyes. The closest point the trees were to the water bottles was a good 10 meters of open ground. My bit my lip as I contemplated the area. There wasn’t anything large enough to hide behind that was moving nearby… I couldn’t just make a mad dash and hope for the best… What I could do was… I grinned as I felt the weight on my back.

Oh you’re mad.

~~~

I was crawling, ever so slowly towards the treasure trove of watery goodness.

Even I wouldn’t do this.

I ignored the voice and continued inching my way to the water.

This is asinine…

Five meters left.

We’re so screwed.

Someone walked by. I froze.

“I want you to go left, I’ve noticed Mr. McKinney favors the right side…” the footsteps stopped. “Who left their jacket out here?”

Oh my…

I prepared to bolt.

“Hey couch!” Someone else nearby shouted

“Hmm?”

“That’s my coat!”

I let a sigh of relief loose.

“What was that?”

You're an idiot Luna.

“Wait… Who does this brown jacket belong to?”

“Aw crap…” I whispered, soft enough I knew they couldn’t hear me.

HONK!

“And that’s half time!”

“Aw hell… These jackets better be gone when I get back!” the coach shouted. A stampede of feet rumbled by.

“Not mine.”

“Nope.”

“Dat’s one ugly jacket yo.”

“Up yours dude…” I grumbled quietly. Thankfully no one heard me and it soon got quiet as the players went away. I lifted the edge of the jacket just enough to see the water bottles ahead. I began inching towards them again.

Finally I reached the package. I looked around again from under the jacket. No one was around, and I was out of sight for anyone in the stands. I took the half empty package of bottles in my teeth and dragged it under the jacket. With that in position I decided it’d be best to walk away instead of sneak. It’s amazing how short 10 meters can be if no one’s around.

Thankfully no one raised an alarm about ‘the animal under the jacket’ and I got away clean with the water bottles. I went back to where I hid my lunch box and ripped one of the bottles open with my teeth and drained it. I then unzipped my lunchbox and put as many bottles as I could without crushing the granola bars as possible. Then I figured I might as well make the jacket carry some too, so I put two bottles in the inside pockets as well. But now I had several extra bottles that I couldn’t carry… I decided to drink another one, as well as eat a bar. That made a little more room to squeeze another bottle in.

“Should I just leave the package here?” I asked.

Doesn’t really matter.

“...” I stared at the plastic wrapping closely. “I’ll hide it in a tree or something in case I need more…” I decided. I picked up my lunchbox and the plastic in my mouth, it was uncomfortable and disgusting but it was the only way.

I skirted the field until I found a tree that had a sort of opening at its base. I pushed the bottles in and covered the opening with its own plastic. I then pushed leaves and sticks on it to further hide the shiny plastic.

“Now how am I going to mark the tree…” I asked. I looked at my back legs. “... Hell with it.” I shrugged off the jacket and took up position, tail end facing the tree. With a grunt I kicked it with my back legs. The tree shuddered. I turned back around to look at my handy work… It looked like someone took a sledgehammer to the bark.

“That’ll do.” I stated. I looked up. The sun was just past its zenith. I yawned. “Not used to be up during the day…” I reasoned. “That, and I probably haven’t had the best of days…” I yawned again. “This is happening if I want to or not… I need to find somewhere to sleep…” I looked up the branches, then back at the useless wings. “Later.” I reasoned.

I explored for five minutes before finding a fallen log that sort of provided a roof. I cleared out the fallen leaves and curled myself underneath, shrouding my jacket over me as a sort of camouflaged blanket. It didn’t take me long to fall asleep.

~~~

An obsidian palace. Trimmed with silver. It stood, indomitable in an untamed forest.

“Hello?” I called. My newly feminine voice rang off the ancient trunks. I looked at the gate, it was open. I walked in hesitantly. The castle grounds gave off an eerie feeling… Statues of rearing, armored horses, Unicorns, and horses with wings lined the walk to the massive front doors. They were all covered in moss and grime. The area behind the statues was also overgrown, and shrouded in mist. I walked forwards until I came to the double doors. I reached a hoof out to push it open.

Before I could touch the door it swung open with an aging groan.

“Hello?” I called again. This time a pained scream answered, muffled by old stone and wood.

“Look who finally decided to show up…” came a silky smooth voice I knew all too well.

“Hey…” I winced as I looked at the throne. Sitting there, was a creature like me… Only she had fur as black as the darkest of nightmares, a mane that glowed like the darkest of nights and flew like a flag during a windstorm. Teeth that belonged more on a wolf than mystical horse thing gleamed in the low light. A chain hanged off her neck and coiled around the foot of the throne.

“It’s been awhile since you’ve been here Luna.” she greeted.

“I don’t recall.” I stated as I pushed some moss around with a hoof.

“I imagine not…” she got off the throne and trotted towards me.

“So who was screaming?” I asked.

“One of my playthings... “ The nightmarish creature said. Her horn glowed a midnight blue and a wall to my left revolved, revealing a scared, skeletal human that was stretched over a steel square. I hadn’t seen him in years but I recognized him. In real life, last I heard, he was still in prison. “Would you like to play with him as well?” the creature in front of me asked.

“No thank you…” I said, looking away from the horrid simulacrum.

“Suit yourself…” the creature’s horn glowed again and the tortured Human was replaced with a wall. “You need to have a little more fun Luna… It’s been so long since you’ve played with me.”

“I don’t want to do those kinds of things anymore…” I winced, even admitting I dreamt of doing such things was shameful. “You said I haven't been here in awhile… Where is here?”

“Ah, right… You don’t know what this place is.” the creature chuckled, turning back towards the throne. “Walk with me.” she said, turning suddenly towards one of the side doors. I followed. “You could say, this place is the manifestation of your head…” the creature started. “All your memories, hopes, dreams, everything you are is represented here.”

“A run down abandoned castle that needs to be condemned?” I said, spotting more than one spot with mold in the hallway we were in.

“Exactly. Now…” the creature said her horn glowed again, the door unlatched itself. “... Each person has their own. A cottage, a two-story house, castle, doesn’t matter… Everyone has one.”

“Except you.” I stated. We entered another depilated hallway.

“I make do… Each of these ‘dreamscapes’ reflects the person they belong to.”

“I’m an awful human being I get it.” I deadpanned.

“Hard to be a ‘human being’ if you're not human anymore.” the creature turned on me, poking me with a black hoof.

“About that, what gives?” I asked.

“Hahahahah!” she laughed, continuing down the hall. “I can’t tell you!”

“Bull.” I deadpanned.

“I’m under orders.” she stated, unlatching another door with a glowing horn.

“Under orders by me…” I quoted. “If you can’t tell me, show me.” I ordered.

“Gladly.” she pushed the door open to reveal a massive, two story library. Most of the shelves were locked behind rusty iron bars, the books behind them looking very old and ancient. A small portion of the shelves on the floor we were on however were unbarred, and looked modern and new. Totally out of place in this crumbling ruin. There was a single table with four chairs right in front of us, they looked brand new and the table even had a laptop on it.

“I’ll leave you to it.” the creature said, pushing me inside. I heard the door shut and click a moment later.

“Hey!” I shouted “You can’t just lock me in here!”

“I can and I must!” came the muffled reply.

“Up yours you worthless figment!” I shouted, banging on the door. I heard her hoofsteps walking away.

“I still have valuable time to spend with my playthings! Tata!”

I sat in front of the door for several minutes

“That bitch…” I finally swore. I turned towards the room. “I guess I have to somehow sort all this…” I said as I glanced around. The library didn’t look disorganized, just locked away. I began looking over what wasn’t unlocked. “A Tale of Math, Beyond This World and Into the Next…” I began reading the titles. “What the hell are those supposed to mean?” I pulled the book ‘A Tale of Math’ out and opened it.

~~~

I was sitting in a desk. I looked up to see my second grade teacher patrolling her classroom. I looked back down to see a math quiz. 2 x 2 =. Easy 4. 2 x 3 =. 6. I filled out the quiz to its completion. I looked over it. And the light bulb turned on in my head. Math wasn’t a fancy thing, it was just numbers. And numbers are meant to be counted.

~~~

I woke from the memory with a gasp. The book was laying on the floor. I closed it and picked it up, putting it carefully back on the shelf.

“She said this castle is my head, a storage of everything I am… So a library in the castle that is my head would be…” I looked around at the shelves. “... memories.” I didn’t think I would remember the answer to my current problem, so I turned away from the new shelves. I examined the closest locked shelf. The bars may have had some rust on them, but they were in no shape or form flimsy. A lock was set in the middle of the bars. I debated trying to kick the bars, but I didn’t want to damage the books on the shelf. I looked at the rest of the shelves, the bars looked identical. Seeing no other option, I went to the table. I pulled a chair out and pulled myself onto it. A difficult maneuver for four legs. I sat on my haunches so I could still use my arms to move things. I examined the laptop. It was identical to the one I left in my room. Odds were, since I connected the internet with knowledge in my head, I could look up my own knowledge on it. Or it was a directory for this pseudo library. Either way I put it to the side. What grabbed my attention next was a small piece of paper. On it was writing that looked like my own handwriting.

“The key you seek lays on your head.” I read out loud. I flipped it to make sure there was nothing on the back. There wasn’t. “Well that’s maddingly unhelpful.” I said, turning it back to the side with the writing. “The key you seek lays on your head…” I repeated. Thinking about the words.

Did the note mean what’s on the castle? Moss? Grime? No I don’t think that’s what it meant. I lock of blue hair fell over my eyes. Hair wouldn't be a key… Much less so than moss. What else was there? My eyes went to the horn. No, it wouldn’t fit in the keyhole at all… I poked the horn, receiving the same shuddering sensation as before. My thoughts went back to the owner of the voice.

“She said she could tell me… But was under orders not to say anything… But she could show me…” She could show me, show me, show me… “Did she do anything with her horn?” I asked. “Something I would’ve seen?” I thought. “It glowed…” I answered. “Something she did made it glow and things happened nearby that just aren’t possible…” Things moving around as if by...

“Magic…” I finished. A flash of light came from the table. I rubbed my eyes to find a key laying where there wasn’t one before.

“No way.” I said after minutes of staring at the key. “No way…” The key continued its silent impossibleness. “No.” I stated. It continued to glare at me. “No…” I felt my ears droop. “Oh no… Magic caused whatever’s happening to me?” The key relented its glare. “I am insane then.”

“No, you proved the transformation is real.” a familiar silky smooth voice said from the shadows. I didn’t need to turn to know who it was.

“Ignoring that you don't want to be here... Magic isn’t real… Everything can be can be explained by science…” I stated, reinforcing my resolve. “No such thing as magic exists.”

“What if magic is a science that hasn’t been discovered by man yet?”

“Then… Then…” I started, but fell short.

“You know you aren’t from Earth Luna… I know because I showed you the memories of our final moments on our own planet.”

“You’re nothing! You’re not real! You can’t prove anything!” I shouted.

“Oh really?” she asked, snaking into view on the other side of the table. Her horn glowed again and the key, enveloped in the same glow, lifted a decameter into the air. The key swirled and went in circles. Finally it set itself down on the table. “Move it.” the creature in front of me said.

“What?”

“Move it!” she shouted. I put a hoof on the table and slide it forward to move the key. It didn’t budge.

“What are you waiting for? Move it!” she shouted again. I tried again. “Move it!”

“It’s not moving!” I exclaimed, getting both hooves to push.

“The key you seek lays on your head!” the creature shouted. I bent my head towards the key to prove a point and tried doing the same thing only with my horn.

~~~

I was sitting in front of a door. The door towered above me. I wanted outside. But no amount of pushing and prodding moved the door an inch. A hook with a keyring was nailed into the post besides the door. I glanced between the keyring and the knob of the door, and back again. I needed out. I examined the keyring, taking in every detail. Its rusted metal, the slight bend of the keys from being used often.

Finally I closed my eyes in concentration. I was so small, so far away, but even from down here I could feel the keys. I felt them lift off their imprisoning hook. Slowly they twirled in the air until the correct key was over the lock. Just as I had freed them, they would free me. The key pushed itself into the lock and turned. Click. I pushed the door open and squealed with glee as I ran out the door.

“Hey! Come back you little scamp!” exclaimed my worn, unicorn mother.

~~~

“AAAAAAAGH!” I shouted, once again in the library. I blinked to find wolfish teeth inches from my face.

“That wasn’t so hard was it?” the monster asked. I gasped for air. “Did we learn anything now?” she asked again. I looked at the key that was between us. Hesitantly, I repeated the process in the memory. The key became enveloped in a cerulean glow, and lifted off the table. “Very well done…” the creature smiled as she pulled away. I stared at the floating key. I twirled it around in my head, the real key copied its movements. “I’ll leave you to your playtime… I have my own to tend to now…” she purred before slinking off.

I was still looking at the floating key as the door clicked closed. I glanced at the nearest locked shelf. Would it unlock? Did the key fit any of them, or only a specific one? If it fit any of them, did it matter which one I unlocked first?

The clean shelves were all along one side, the last one being only half full. An educated guesstimate said that one was the present, or the not-so-lost past. So those before it was going back in time… That meant the first locked shelf explained why everything was happening. It would also contain the most advanced knowledge if magic was indeed a thing.

“If I wanted my future self to unlock something, I’d choose the last one to explain everything.” I reasoned “But can I use the key on any of them?” I asked, starting to walk down the shelves, moving with the timeline. “If I can use the key in any order, then from the beginning would be best… Excepting that I need the most vital information. So if I want to find out if I need a specific key for a specific shelf…” I put the key in three shelves away from the free memories and turned. Nothing. “So it’ll only work for a specific shelf…” I say, withdrawing the key. “That leaves the last, and first shelves as the logical choices… First because it’s the beginning of the story and everything will make sense if viewed in order… Last because that is where the most vital stuff would be…” I looked at the last shelf and up to the top floor. “Would I leave my future self with a key for my last thoughts? Or my first thoughts?”

I thought quietly for a moment.

“I would leave a key to my last thoughts because if I came down with amnesia it would have the best clues.” I say to the empty room. I approach the last shelf. The key slid in nicely, and I turn it.

Click.

Author's Note

Thank you so much for reading! But this isn't the end! Not by a long shot!

I have a small community Discord (https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa) if you want to hang out! I'll be streaming Starfield tonight (10/29/23) as a celebration for this fic's debute! Come stop by!

Chapter 6 The Memories Part 1

~~~

“Sister, you should know better than trusting that codpeice of a noble with our citizens taxes…” I say to a taller, white alicorn mare. She turned to me.

“Luna, I will always value your counsel, but Duke Gold Coin has the best requirements for the job.”

“He is a scrupleless blockhead bent on usurping our thrones…” I stated with venom.

“This is about the taxation of the Sarosians isn’t it?” my sister asked.

“No! Well, kind of… He is weakening my power base by taxing them into oblivion, and by doing so bringing us both down sister…” I reasoned.

“Luna, Duke Gold Coin is trying to raise funds for another legion to fight the Griffons… They're acting up again.” the older alicorn stated.

“We need another legion?”

“Our forces are too spread thin… Covering the minotaurs from expanding their maze cities into Equestrian land and keeping the dogs from enslaving the west is proving to be more than a challenge…”

“Let me handle the legion and the Griffins.” I stated with fire.

“Oh come now Luna, surely there must be something more... Befitting of Royalty that you could be doing...”

“I'm your Lead General.” I deadpanned.

“Alright fine, if you can get enough ponies for a legion in a WEEK… I’ll let you counter the next incursion.”

“I won’t let you down sister!” I cried happily, scampering away to begin.

~~~

“Sergeant!” I called at a gruff Pegasi soldier.

“Milady.” she bowed.

“Gather a squad and go post these up in the Sarosian districts…” I ordered, handing the sergeant a stack of recruitment posters.

“The Sarosian districts milady?” she asked. “I would advise against it, those animals aren’t right for legion work…”

“They are ponies just like you and Us sergeant, and you will call them as such.” I reprimanded.

“Yes milady.” she bowed again and hurried away, stack of posters in tow.

~~~

“Alright…” I said to a group of generals around my war table. “What We’re going to suggest is very unorthodox…” I said, walking behind their backs as they glanced over the paperwork I gave them.

“Unorthodox?!” one of them exclaimed in rage. “This is downright disrespectful!” he yelled, throwing the paper onto the table.

“You disapprove?” I asked.

“You’re damn right I disapprove my lady!” he bellowed. “A Sarosian only legion?! Are you out of your moony mind?!”

“And what is wrong with our Sarosian citizens?” I asked.

“Well…” a calmer mare began. “They just aren’t really soldier material…”

“How so?” I asked, knowing full well where this conversation was going.

“They’re animals! Butchers of the worst sort!" the stallion blurted.

"We fail to see your reasoning." I stated simply.

"Look Milady..." the calmer mare began, tapping her hooves together nervously. "We all know what they did before the rule of you and your sister... We're just wary of giving them that sort of power again."

"We vaguely recall the same thing being said about Pegasi." I reposted.

A third of the Ponies gathered, the Pegasi, had the decency to look sheepish.

~~~

“I know you’re all wondering why you’re here today…” my chosen drill sergeant called to a crowd of 50 Sarosians, all of whom answered the posters. “You’re here as an experimental unit under the command of our Princess Luna…” Many of the Sarosians began to mutter. “She will dictate your training, organization, and tactics. I will carry out her demands… Any questions?”

No hooves went up.

“Good! Now give me 50 laps!”

~~~

“Very well done Sergeant…” I complimented the drill instructor as we watched the first unit go through a combat simulation.

“I’ll admit, at first I didn’t know why you had me do the exercises you did…” the mare stated. “But the Sarosians responded well with the training you came up with… I had no idea they could hide like that, even in sunlight.”

“Don’t underestimate anything just because of stereotypes Sergeant.” I advised with a smile.

“A wise idea Princess…” the drill sergeant answered. “I’ve seen them do things I didn’t even think Griffons could do.”

“Any idea when you’ll be able to start another group?” I asked.

“Any day now.” she replied.

“Good, we have a thousand two hundred more Sarosians to train .”

“I might need some help then.” she laughed.

~~~

“I see you’ve gotten a lot done Luna…” Celestia complimented as she sat down on her throne.

“Thank you sister, but I’ve done little of the work.” I replied.

“Indeed… I knew the Sarosians thought well about you, but not this well.”

“A little kindness can go a long way.” I took a sip of tea. “You should know that.”

“You’d think I would…” she giggled. “But even after all these years we’re still learning things.”

“Thank goodness for that… Things would get boring if we knew everything.”

“Hear hear.” she chuckled.

“My ladies!” somepony shouted, bursting into the throne room, bowing at the foot of the dais.

“Duty calls…” Celestia whispered. “Yes my little pony?”

“Our spies are reporting the Griffins are preparing for an attack in the city of Trottingham…” the messenger stammered.

“Say no more sister.” I said as I got up, putting what was left of my tea down. “A bargain is a bargain.”

“I really do think it would be best if…” Celestia started. I raised a hoof.

“Sister, We have upheld Our end of the bargain, now it is time to prove Equestria not a single pony is worthless.”

“Alright Luna…” Celestia relented. “Godspeed.”

“We wouldn’t have it any other way.”

~~~

Row upon row of armored Sarosians were lined up in block formation in the Everfree parade grounds. Their armor was a dull silver plated steel, not the golden bronze favored by the standard legion. It was lighter, stronger, and harder to see. There were a total of five battalions with 250 Ponies each that were ready… Each only had a week of training.

I strode by the front of the procession in my own enchanted steel. My helmet tucked under one wing, and the sword 'Lunar Majesty' tucked under the other.

“Soldiers!” I shouted. Everypony straitened. “ Two weeks ago, We bet Our sister We could raise a legion in a week… And use said legion to counter the next Griffon attack… Because that is where we are going… Right into the heart of a Griffon crusade!

Now most ponies would look at this legion and ask why? I’ll ask different a different question… Why not? Why can’t every citizen of Equestria protect their beloved kin?” I passed my gaze over the procession. “Why can’t a Sarosian protect the innocent? Because only the original founders are capable?!” I shouted angrily.

“We say no longer! No longer will Sarosians be condemned because of their ancestor’s mistakes!” the soldiers began to puff out their barrels, suddenly feeling like they weren’t the scum of the earth like most ponies thought. I calmed myself down a little. “Equestria at its core is based off of the very idea of harmony. The idea that coexistence is possible between the most hated of enemies! How hypocritical it is to let another pony tribe join, only to make them less than the common peasant! DISGRACEFUL! DISGRACEFUL WE SAY!” I shouted.

“We’ve seen many a Sarosian with more honor and worth than most of the unicorn nobility!” I glared over the ranks. “So we’ll ask you this… Do you want to be considered less than a common animal? DO YOU WANT TO BE CONSIDERED A BARBARIAN?!“

“NO!” they shouted.

“LOUDER!”

“NO!”

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

"NO!"

“GOOD!” I screech at them. “Onwards!” I double check to make sure my helmet and sword are properly strapped on and extend my wings, beating them majestically as the legion took to the air.

Author's Note

Bit of a tangent here, but you'll see where we are very soon.

Also, regarding the upload schedule; I mistimed the verification of the story, so it became public like four hours before I meant it to. This chapter, and hopefully every chapter hereafter, will be the average upload time.

In the meantime, Discord! https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 7 The Memories Part 2

~~~

We were hidden along a wooden path. I could see my soldiers in the moonlight that shone overhead. We could all see the Griffon Vanguard as they made their way up the road. They were talking loudly in their coarse language. Bright lances of light flickered overhead as lighthouse lights mounted on their caravan searched the trees for flitting pegasi. I looked over to see the Sarosian captain staring at me. I gave him a small nod. He opened his mouth to scream. Only nothing came out. It was too high to be heard by my, or the Griffon’s ears.

An earsplitting crack groaned ahead on the road, signaling the falling of a tree into the path. The Griffon Captain raised a claw. The procession stopped. He shouted something and pointed at the tree, bellowing orders. Griffon Grunts hurried to get the tree out of the way. Before they could get to the tree an eerie shriek sounded behind the wagon. Every Griffon’s head turned to see if they could find the source. A Sarosian appeared out of cover behind the Captain and slid a dagger into his throat, pulling him down into the brush besides the road. It took less than a second and was as silent as the grave.

The Griffons turned to find their leader suddenly gone. The next in command shouted orders, all ten of them. The battalion confused themselves as they tried to follow all the orders. That’s when some of the Sarosians in the trees above dove into the Griffons, taking off heads whole with swift and precise glides with their wing blades. Only then did the Griffons realize they were under attack. But the Lieutenants were among the first to be beheaded.

They began to panic, trying to strike at the fleeting Sarosians, but they would’ve had more luck trying to catch a shadow. As the Griffons had their attention above, more Sarosians came from below, only hoof widths off the ground, cords stretched between each other. They dove in and out of the Griffon’s legs, entangling them and tripping them. Those who used their cords dove at the exposed necks of the Griffons, biting into them and pulling down more than a few of the unaware.

All the Griffons were dead in less than a minute.

“Pull the bodies into the brush…” I commanded. “Somepony put that light out and pull the wagon into the trees!” The Sarosians hurried to obey.

“Very well done…” came a stallion's voice from behind a tree. I turned to see the pegasi observer for this campaign. “I’ve never seen even the Wonderbolts do something that fast.” he applauded.

“Don’t applaud Us, this was all them.” I gestured at the Sarosians around us.

“Be as it may, how did you come up with these tactics?” he asked.

“Have you ever been to the Sarosian District?” I asked.

“Can’t say I have.”

“We’ll grant you, it’s not as pretty as the Everfree Castle or Mount Canter, but they tend to live in very dense areas, like woodlands or caves. Very difficult for a pegasi to fly. So, the Sarosians adapted.”

“Adapted?”

“Oh right, you haven't been around for as long as We have… Let Us start with an analogy… If We were to stock an enclosed forested area with two hawks, 25 white rabbits, and 25 brown rabbits, which kind of rabbit would most likely survive?” I asked sneaking a glance at his expression.

“The brown I suppose…”

“Correct… So say the enclosed area can only sustain 50 rabbits, and if white rabbits are more actively hunted than the brown…” I gestured for him to finish the thought.

“Then the brown rabbits would grow in number to make up the losses faster than the white…” he continued.

“Until there isn’t any more white rabbits left.” I finished. “The same can be said for the ancient Sarosians. Feathered wings and normal ears experienced more lethal accidents than sharper ears and bat wings.”

“You really notice that kind of thing?” he asked.

“More common sense really…” I stated, watching the Sarosians. “But it’s difficult to not see the traits of parents passed from generation to generation…” The Sarosians went back and forth, getting the bodies into the woods and cleaning up any spilled blood. ” But to answer your question, as foals they play a game of trying to wrap a cord around a pole by getting closest to a mark by working as a team… They get very competitive about it.” I said after a moment.

“Interesting.”

~~~

The Griffon General was examining a map, moving various pieces shaped like pony heads and eagle heads around. I noticed several of the pony pieces were located around Trottingham. But there was a great deal many more eagle heads surrounding them. Truly it was a massive push to take the city. One that was about to fail spectacularly.

“The charges are in place…” a Sarosian whispered into my ear.

“Very good… Wait for Our word.” I muttered. Below, the General grumbled something as he sat down on a wicker chair. I fell down and stabbed him in the throat. He ended with a gurgle. “Get all the information you can and get it away from the blasts…” I commanded to several Sarosians above. They didn’t say anything but rushed to comply. I looked over the general’s maps, they weren’t up to date and was already worthless. I took a glance at the half eaten meal sitting nearby. A grilled fish sat next to the bone of a chicken leg. A mug sat nearby.

“How can any creature eat chicken?” I asked myself, gagging slightly. I nudged the mug. A putrid stench of bread wafted off it. “What the hay was he drinking?!” I whisper. I lifted the mug up to examine the liquid. Brown, opaque, had a tint of what smelled like Prench wine. I cast a detect poison on it. Alcohol… I put it back down.

“My lady… We think we have everything away.” a Sarosian informed.

“Very good… Get everypony away from the campsite.” I command.

“At once.” she rushed off. I gave the enclosed area a once over, before joining the evacuating Sarosians.

“Now.” I command as I get to safety. The Sarosian I entrusted with the controller grinned manically.

“Boom.” she grinned happily as she pushed the activate rune.

KAAAAAPHOOOOOOOOM!

A large fireball rose in the distance. Lighting up the night like a second, orange moon.

“Phase two! Go!” I shout. The Sarosians all bat away to their squads. I look over at the fireball, which is hanging in the air. The swarms of Sarosians ghost over the wreckage, traveling to the other Griffon armies to harass them into the waiting legions which were armed to the teeth.

It was a good day to be an Equestrian.

Author's Note

Pieces are coming together! :trollestia:

Chapter 8 The Memories Part 3

~~~

“14 minor injuries… zero casualties…” listed off a sergeant. “No equipment lost…” he turned a page. “Over 9,000 Griffons routed, making an estimated ten Imperial legions disband… And several tons worth of weapons and armor scavenged.” He put the paper down. “All Griffon’s accounted for… Princess Celestia… I think it would be an understatement to say this operation was the best military operation this century.” The stallion said to the Council of War.

“Thank you Strong Arm…” Celestia stated. “You may return to your family.” Strong Arm bowed and left the throne room. “What do you think about this Luna?”

“I will not say anything on the matter until everypony else says their due.” I stated loudly. My sister nodded in understanding.

“Will Perfect Vision step forwards please?” Celestia called. The pegasus observer stepped in front of the throne. “You were assigned to observe the fighting effectiveness of the Lunar First…” Celestia began. “Can you put into your own words your opinion of the legion?”

“I had my doubts when I first heard of the assignment…” Vision started… “I can only confirm them.” Multiple gasps erupted from the council, including my own mouth. “Before the first battle began, Princess Luna had instructed that a tree be booby-trapped for an ambush... The legion was then instructed to hide along the paths and wait. When the Griffons came, it wasn’t a fight, it was a massacre.” he continued. I became aware of a very hot forehead. “Ponies aren’t for massacres, or ripping out throats with their bare teeth.” This got more gasps. “I have no doubt in my mind that Thestrals are unfit to serve in the Equestrian military, such animalistic violence is below us, and our military should be respectfully civilized…”

“If I may…” I interrupted.

“I have not said my ‘due’... Princess…” Vision stated, adding my title as an afterthought. I begrudgingly closed my mouth. “And our military should be respectfully civilized, to make an example to our foreign neighbors… And I refuse to let such animals be our image to the outside world…” Vision turned away.

“You have not been dismissed yet.” I growled.

“My… apologies.” he stated, turning back around.

“Luna? You look like you have something to say…” Celestia soothed.

“Zero casualties Vision, not a single pony soul was lost.” I started, circling the traitor. “While the Griffon Empire, lost well over half its army in the conflict. That is a better track record than the Solar 1st. Now, forgive Us for being accepting of those unlike us, as a pony should, but We’d be willing to accept a frightening image that works very well than a mediocre reputation with a perfect image, Perfect…” I growled at him.

“Luna!” Celestia exclaimed. I turned away, but I was far from done.

“As for their fighting style? Yes, they bit several of the Griffon’s… But it certainly wasn’t ‘ripping their throats out’. They were using what nature gave them to use, not unlike a Pegasi’s wings or Unicorn’s horn…”

“Luna!” Celestia warned.

“Trottingham is still ours, if we weren’t there, imagine how many we would’ve lost.” I said loudly, before turning towards the door and leaving.

~~~

“Luna… I don’t think you realize what you’ve done…” Celestia said to me.

“I am trying to ensure our kingdom remains safe from harm sister… Excuse me if I have to bend a few rules to do so.” I growl.

“But encouraging the ripping out of throats?”

“Go examine the corpses of the Griffons sister, I can wait.”

“Luna…”

“Or better yet, listen to the opinion of someone who is clearly biased!”

“Luna!” Celestia exclaimed.

“I’m not biased! I am merely repeating the facts! Facts nopony else will listen to!”

“The council has decided to disband the Lunar 1st…”

“WHAT?!” I shout

“We’ve disbanded the Lunar 1st on grounds of unnecessary brutality.” Celestia stated, hardening her voice.

“WE?!”

“Luna, we must not stoop to the levels of our enemies… The moment we do that is the moment they win.”

“You voted in favor of disbanding them…” I stated.

It was not a question.

“I had to!” Celestia exclaimed. “If I looked like I was in support of brutal tactics and guerilla warfare that would be giving others permission to use it against us!”

“No that’s not it…” I growl “That would allow us to downsize our military by a huge margin, reducing civilian casualties and structural damage overall… Something you’d be all for… No, you did it to fit in with your favorites!” I accused.

That wasn't my main concern, but it was still true enough to challenge Celestia with.

“N-no…” she stammered.

“I can’t believe you!” I shouted

“Luna…”

“No! Don’t you ‘Luna…’ Us!” I shouted. “We’re trying to secure our kingdom’s future peace and all your cronies want to do is stagnate! It’s a rule of life Tia! Even for us! You stagnate you DIE!” I screamed in her face.

“Luna…”

“No! We don’t want to listen to your drivel anymore!” I growl as I stormed away.

~~~

“She keeps backing down when she should be taking her own stance…” I growled as I paced in my room. “Not once does she recognize those who deserve recognition…”

It is often best to work in the shadows and force wonders.

“Often, but the heroes should be at least rewarded during the aftermath.” I reasoned.

Unsung heroes are the foundation of history.

“Which is completely asinine.” I said, rebeginning my pacing cycle.

That depends on your definition of ‘asinine’.

Knock Knock Knock.

“Who is it?” I asked.

“It’s me…” came Celestia’s voice.

“Oh, go away then.” I growled.

“Please Luna…”

“No sister!” I snarled at the still closed door. “You’ve been doing this for years! Downplaying the accomplishments of hardworking ponies while magnifying meager accomplishments of your nobility!”

“Please…”

“I’m sick of it! You do it to the citizenry, you do it your best generals… You even do it to ME! Go! Away!”

“I don’t want to raise ponies over others…” Celestia whispered. The sounds of her sitting down outside the door could be heard. “I just need them to share their wealth so I can do what I can for our less able citizens…” she sighed. “I don’t like them any more than you do, but I have to be friendly to them to butter them up…” I heard something metal being put on the floor. I heard Celestia sigh again. “What are we doing Luna? We used to be closer than two siblings ever had any right to be…” Celestria grew silent. I said nothing. “Do you remember when we were foals? How we ran through the streets and pretended to be a pair of heroes on some adventure?”

“Yes We do…” I replied sitting down with my back to the door.

“What ever happened to those foals?”

“They grew up.”

~~~

I walked down the evening lit halls of the Castle Everfree. Celestia had left the threshold of my room a while ago, we didn’t say anything further after I said what happened to the foals we had been. We just sat in silence for a long half hour afterwards.

It was that time of day when the Citizenry were off to bed, yet the Sarosians and I were fresh from breaking our fast. Thus, I walked the halls of the Castle, as I awaited the time for the Sun to set. With no guests to any Court I held, I could walk laps around the Castle for hours at a time. Tending to the Dreamscape as I did so. It was like my version of knitting, only I could do it literally anywhere instead of having to sit down like an old mare. I giggled as I realized I was technically older than the most wrinkled of ponies.

“Something humorous?” came a stallion’s voice from above.

“Hello ‘Perfect’ Vision… ” I said, not even turning my head. Nothing hides from the Princess of the Night, especially when somepony tried hiding in a shadow. “And We believe you're missing a title somewhere.” I growled.

“That depends.” he stated, gliding down from where he was perched.

“Depends on what pray tell?” I asked, with no small amount of disdain tainting my voice.

“Do you consider yourself a Princess of Equestria?” I saw his eyes glint ahead in the darkness. I couldn’t help myself… I laughed.

“Do you know what We’ve done for my little ponies?” I chuckled after a few moments. “After the unification of the tribes, the Pegasi rebels called Us ‘Lun the Terror of the Night’… The Unicorn supremacists called Us ‘The Night Traitor.’ And the Earthen Fanatics named Us ‘Dark One’… We crushed each and every single one of them before We even earned Our wings… When Discord awoke We stared directly into the face of chaos as it warped our world. When Sombra rose to power We spent weeks devising ways to break him! Do you have any idea how difficult it is to frighten even the most novice dark magic practitioner?” I laughed. “We’ve sacrificed so much of our self to uphold this country We don’t even know where to start!” I force him to land with a painful thud. ”We’ve killed, terrorized, and even tortured the enemies of Equestria so other ponies wouldn’t have to!” I force his head to the floor with a telekinetic thrust. “We’ve sacrificed even Our right to die for Our citizens! And what do We get? We get hatred and disgust for what We’ve done!” I lift a hoof over his head. “Do We consider ourself Princess of Equestria? No, We consider ourself Equestria’s slave with what We’ve put up with!” I shout in his face.

“Luna!”

I look up to see Celestia and her favorites staring at me with horror. Perfect Vision scrambles towards them.

“It’s just as I said! She’s too wild to be the patron of the night!” he cried as he groveled.

“I hear you…” Celestia said as she lay a hoof on his shoulder.

“Celestia, what are you talking about?!” I growl.

“How dare you talk to the Princess like that you cur!” one of Celestia’s guards grunted while he raised a spear to strike at me. I gripped it in my strong magical grip before he could hit anything.

“WHAT. ARE. YOU. TALKING. ABOUT.”

“I didn’t want to believe them Luna…” Celestia’s head lowered. “Talking to yourself? Brutality to ponies?” she shook her head. “That isn’t what a Princess should act like. So, as of this evening, Equestria shall only have ONE princess…”

“Tia… What are you doing?” I asked.

“Luna… You’re far too wild and erratic to be the Patron of the Night… So, with regret, I strip you of all your titles and duties… I will beseech the Sun tomorrow to sever you from the Moon." she lowered her head further and turned away.

"Be very careful sister." I warned with a snarl. "You and I both know that is not your decision to make."

The white mare stopped in her tracks.

"And what could you do to stop me?" she retorted without turning around.

It was as if she had slapped me.

Was she that delusional? Did she think herself above the Moon? How out of touch with reality did she have to be to even consider such a thing?

She must've thought my silence was an acquiescence for she continued.

"That's what I thought."

She continued her walk.

She dared?! The arrogance! The audacity! Did she think I would simply roll over and accept this decision?!

“How can you do this Celestia?!” I shouted at her retreating form. “We are your sister! Your FRIEND!” I scream. “Not ONCE have We ever betrayed you! Not once did We doubt you!” Guards surrounded me and I lost sight of my sister.

“Stand down wretch.” the commander ordered. I seethed at where I last saw my sister…

And something in my soul, long strained, snapped.

I found myself chuckling darkly.

“Not once have We ever considered raising a hoof at you… UNTIL NOW!” I scream and push the surrounding guards down with the might of my magic. Before they could stand I grabbed all their spears and buried them in their owner’s chest.

A plethora of bloody spears began to circle me.

“Equestria shall only have ONE Princess…” I quoted. “Then ONE there shall be…” I vanished with a flurry of feathers.

~~~

I stepped from behind the solar throne as Celestia stepped into the throne room.

“Luna?” she asked, eyes widening. I reared onto my hind legs and slammed them into the gilded chair, reducing it to rubble.

“Equestria can have only one Princess…” I quoted again. “And she will be ME!” I lifted my forelegs and brought the moon up behind me.

I then did the unthinkable.

With a will of iron, I grabbed her Sun and forced it below the horizon.

"Unhoof me you cur!" a voice of brass rumbled in my mind.

Below, Celestia gasped as I broke an unspoken taboo between us.

I had directly touched her charge.

Her Sun.

Her toy.

“You can’t take her from Us at dawn if the dawn never comes!” I shouted, shooting a blast at Celestia. She dodged with a shout of surprise.

“Luna!” she shouted. My stolen spears appeared from behind me and I saw her eyes widen.

“Die well TRAITOR.” I growled angrily. I threw the spears, propelling them so hard they sunk halfway into the stone before stopping. Celestia stopped the ones that would hit her and threw them back. I deflected them with a thought.

“Don’t do this Luna…” Celestia warned.

I snarled and summoned all my knowledge I knew of umbramancy, and like a ship sailing past the twilight into the deep and dark night... I abandoned the light.

Black tendrils erupted off my shadow, wrapping themselves around my physical body. My power surged as I revealed just how deep my well of mana went.

“Luna no!”

Kill her! Kill her now!

Author's Note

When I first started writing this, years ago now, I initially used the word "thestral" for the Bat Ponies. Obviously based on the skeleton horses from Harry Potter.

So when I started writing again, I cut out the terf's word and replaced it with 'Sarosian', which is a term for Bat Ponies used in one of my all time favorite fics.

If you know, you know. :trollestia:

But rather than just replace the word completely, I decided to add lore to the world.

Yeah, "thestral" is a hard slur in this universe. Like, if a Bat Pony hears you say it, you better expect an ass whooping or a shallow grave in a ditch somewhere.

And yes, there is a lore reason why they react so extremely. :trollestia:

Chapter 9 The Memories Part 4

~~~

“HAHAHAHAhahahHAHAHhahhahaHahHAAHAHAHAH!” I laughed as I saw Celestia’s eyes widen in absolute terror.

“YOU ARE NOT MY SISTER!” she screamed, tears beginning to fall.

“Oh YES WE ARE!” We shouted.

“You will never be my sister! You MONSTER!” she screamed again, this time accenting “monster” with a blast of sunlight. With barely a thought, a tendril of solid shadow caught the beam like a colt would a ball. I brought the writhing sphere of angry energy close to my face.

“Are we in denial that We’re your sister?” We asked, Our voice silky smooth. A flash of umbral flames and the sunlight was converted into moonlight. “THEN LET US PROVE IT!” We threw the ball of energy back. Celestia hastily brought up a shield to protect herself. A wave of ice formed over the sun shield. The ice broke as Celestia expanded the barrier.

“YOU ARE NOT MY SISTER!” she screamed, her horn glowing. We decided we had had enough of this foal’s play and rushed our Sister. Our sword, Lunar Majesty, appeared in our grasp right before We struck. In response, Daybreak, our Sister’s double ended spear, appeared to block my swing. We used our momentum to front flip over Celestia and bucked her savagely with Our rear legs. Celestia went flying into the wall.

We turned slowly around to see Our Sister getting back up, twirling the spear with practiced ease. We presented our side and prowled to the right. Celestia responded by circling the opposite way. Both of us said nothing. Celestia moved her spear, clearly ready for another attack. We dipped our sword to the ground, causing it’s enchanted edge to scratch the stone and cause sparks. Suddenly a rattle from behind Us warned Us to dodge. One of Our bloodied spears shot past me into Celestia’s grip. She shouted a war cry and charged, both of the spears twirling in deadly arcs. We backed up to give Us room to deal with her flurry of attacks. Our blade sang in the air as We blocked Celestia’s fury.

We ended the assault when Lunar Majesty broke the guard’s spear in half. We followed up with a vicious strike towards her neck. Celestia was forced to end her assault to block. Our weapons clashed in the air in front of us. Both Celestia and Ourselves found us to be locked in a stalemate.

Celestia’s eyes were narrowed in a burning rage. But those magenta eyes also housed a terrible fear.

“Is that fear We smell?” We asked, pushing Lunar Majesty forwards. “What ever happened to the ever brave Unconquered Sun?”

“Silence you MONSTER.” Celestia growled, forcing her own weapon against our own.

“Look in the mirror Celestia! It is not Us who is the monster!” We snarled back. “How many years has it been since you showed gratitude to another pony?! How many decades?! Centuries even?! Every night we bring the Moon up! As is our duty! But not ONCE have you thanked or praised Us for our deeds!” We pushed forwards far enough to cross horns.

“YOU.” Celestia growled. “ARE.” she reared back. “NOT.” her horn glowed as if it were the sun itself. “LUNA!” she slammed back down, sending cracks across the floor and even up some nearby columns We were thrown back into one of the damaged columns from the explosion. The column crumbled beneath the blow. We lifted our head to see Celestia walking forward. “A monster like you is neither deserving nor capable of gratitude!” she shouted. We flapped our wings and rushed the Solar Traitor. Our weapons locked again.

“I AM THE SAME LUNA YOU REMEMBER.” We stated. “THE SAME LUNA YOU PLAYED WITH AS A FILLY… THE SAME LUNA YOU GREW UP WITH… THE SAME LUNA YOU HAVE IGNORED AND PUBLICLY SHAMED… THE VERY SAME LUNA YOU WISH TO DISPOSE OF!” We shouted. A burst of seething energy erupted at Celestia from Our horn. At the very close range Celestia had no time to even register the attack. She was sent flying into a crumbling wall. “DO YOU UNDERSTAND NOW?!” We shouted. “WE HAVE DONE SO MUCH TO SUPPORT YOU AND THE KINGDOM!” We advanced, head bent aggressively and a sneer on Our face. Celestia struggled to stand. “AND WHAT IS OUR REWARD?!” We kicked away her fallen spear. “HATRED BEYOND BELIEF! WE CAN NOT EVEN SHOW OUR FACES IN PUBLIC WITHOUT CAUSING A RIOT FROM THE NOBILITY!” We’re standing over our sister. Our face only inches away from hers. “AND FOR WHAT?! BECAUSE OF WHAT WE’VE DONE FOR YOU?!” We picked up Celestia and threw her into a nearby column. “LOOK US IN THE EYE AT LEAST WHEN YOU WISH TO EXTERMINATE EVERYTHING WE ARE!” We grabbed her in our telekinetic grip again and hoisted Our sister by the throat. She made several choking noises. “HYPOCRITE! LYING BITCH!” We slammed her into another column.

“You’re… Right…” she moaned from the wreckage. She slowly stood up. All the earlier fear was gone now. Her eyes were dominated by determination. “I never let Luna know how much I cared. I never taken the steps to cast Luna in a good light…” Her eyes narrowed further. “I now know what I must do.”

Suddenly a burst of sunlight knocked us backwards. Forcing us to drop Lunar Majesty. We crashed through a stain glass window and fell downwards into the canyon that surrounded the Everfree Castle. A brief glance backwards revealed Celestia also cashing through the same window, a cloud of dust chasing her as part of the ceiling collapsed. We dipped low into a dive, evading several blasts of sunlight. One of which singed Our shoulder.

~~~

I found myself standing in a smoldering crater. In the center, was a pile of glowing embers and orange hot plates of metal.

I recognized the shadow made helmet that I summoned into existence before my fight with the Traitor.

That meant...

A structure of ash that looked disturbingly like a Pony's ribcage collapsed in on itself.

Honestly, I'm surprised it wasn't crushed when you landed.

Ah... So that's what happened.

When I first ascended into Alicornhood all those years ago in the city of Bloodstone, I bonded with the Moon and she I. So long as I had her favor, I could never truly die. And yet... With no body that bond was degrading.

I cast my otherworldly senses outwards. Searching for something, anything to latch onto.

Nothing?! Truly there is nothing?! What about-

There!

A vacancy.

I latched onto the area and pulled myself to his location.

”No!” a mare shouted. I turned to see what looked like an ape from the far South. However it’s eyes were much clearer and more intelligent. Two similar creatures were tending to the female. A door opened behind me.

“What’s my wife yelling about?” another ape stuck it’s head in, this one sounding like a stallion. The mare screamed again, staring right at me.

“Don’t you dare!”

“Sir, I need you out of here now.” one of the tenders stated to the intruder.

“Stay away!” the mare screamed at me. I scanned the room to find the vacancy I was looking for, I couldn’t see it.

“She’s hallucinating nurse, help me with the baby…” what must’ve been a sort of midwife stated.

“Keep her out of here!” the female still screamed at me, trying to sit up in bed. I looked at the female, her eyes were wide with terror. Immediately I knew where the vacancy was, and who she was talking about.

“Scratch that, keep her down…” the doctor amended.

“Keep her out of here!” the female screamed again. I began to manifest myself more, causing several of the lights to dim and flicker.

“Get the generator back on!” the doctor yelled at the door. This time an orderly entered.

“The power is still on…” she began, but noticed the light’s flickering in the room. “Oh god…” she whimpered before she rushed out of the room. The female on the bed screamed in pain this time.

“Almost got him…” the doctor whispered. The orderly in the room looked up and his eyes also widened when he saw me.

“Keep her away!” the female screamed.

“I’m not going to harm him…” I soothed, knowing full well there wasn’t a HIM to harm. “And I will protect him from HER, and anything else that would bring him harm.”

No! You bitch!

“You will?” the female replied. I nodded.

You can’t do this to me!

“Who are you talking to?” the orderly asked. I felt the soulless foal begin to awaken. It would not even live a moment. The foal would be stillborn. It didn’t have a soul, and thus would never live.

I already knew what would happen had I not appeared. The mother would weep, furious and in despair over her foal that would never be.

I was in a unique position. I could anchor my own soul to the thing that would be born dead, making sure it, or I by that point, would live, and give the mare a child. Giving her joy instead of unhappiness.

The problem was however, that if I did do that, I am by nature of my Bond with the Moon, an immortal. A creature of immense magical strength who was the Champion of a celestial object. And I was certain that even a full grown pony who had actively prepared for such a burden would be unable to withstand such a feat if they were unworthy… Much less a foal. Where I would undoubtedly lose a very large amount of myself to it’s undeveloped brain.

That meant I needed to lock everything away and keep them safe. Eventually I knew that I would become my Alicorn self again… It was just a matter of when. Too soon and I would lose my self to a developing brain. Too late and I would literally burn up with my contained power.

I gathered as much oneroimancy as I could and weaved my spell.

“Don’t you ever reveal to us who we really are.” I ordered.

You can’t make me do that!

“I can, and I WILL.” I growled as I began to lock away all my memories. Every single one. “As per our agreement, you give me what I want, and I tithe half the fear I cause. Since I'm still the owner of my soul and have not defaulted on my payment, what I say goes. And I say you can not touch a single sentient being until our memories come back.”

You can’t do this! You haven't paid!

“Haven't I? Tell me, worm, have you not sated yourself on the fear we took from my traitor sister? Surely you must've had plenty of time to do so. And other than that, nothing divided by two, is still nothing.” I grunted as I chained my consciousness to the already fading foal. As I did so I felt my spell take effect, beginning to take away memories and locking away my magic. I prodded the body of the foal with a little healing spell, reversing it’s fading away.

Before I knew it, I was half standing over the scene and half swimming in fluid.

“The moon…” the female whispered. “The moon herself…” she said as she passed out. Immediately a baby's cry filled the room. The lights stopped flickering. Almost all of my memories were gone, only my last week in Equestria remained to me, and even that was rapidly fading.

I looked up to see the orderly looking down at me. He recoiled and blinked. But by the time he reopened his eyes;

I was gone.

Author's Note

And that's how that happened. :ajsleepy:

Here's my discord if you wanna hangout: https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 10 The Horror

~~~

I awoke with a groan. Sleeping under the log was not comfortable, but that wasn't why I groaned. No, a sort of weight had settled in my chest, not like in a physical way. But like a spear had been rammed into my soul. While the pain was still intense, but felt like it had gone numb with age.

Even with the numbness, I could practically feel the weight of the spear still embedded in my left side.

I continued to lay there, despite being physically ok, a brief turn of the head confirmed I did not in fact, have a spear impaled in me. But it felt so real. Like I could grab this thing in my teeth and yank it out.

"... Why?" I moaned in pain. “Were those dreams or…” I paused “Memories?” I remembered each and every single thought and emotion. “That was no dream…” I murmur. Despite the pain, I pushed myself up “If it wasn’t a dream, and is indeed a memory, then I’m an immortal alien parasite?” I asked myself.

Technically you just filled a void. No parasitism whatsoever.

“No!” I shouted. “I refuse to be some ‘pony pincess of the night!” I shouted.

It’s really sad what you don't’ remember still.

“And what would I remember?!” I growled.

You were the Terror of the Night.
Both allies and enemies alike feared you for good reason.
Because not once did you let a loss go unavenged.

“And how does that fit in for me right now?” I asked with no small amount of sarcasm. “I have yet to claim vengeance over anyone I promised vengeance to.” I said with an eye roll.

Have you not noticed how after you vowed revenge the people who would be involved didn’t talk to you for weeks afterward?

“No…”

Even as a small human child you were so woven into the realm of dreams you couldn’t help yourself from patrolling it.
And when you wanted someone to pay… You made them pay in their dreams.

“No, somehow you’re still lying.”

Excuse me?

“Making someone pay in their dreams? You’ve got to be kidding me!” I stomped a front hoof. “What kind of psychological problem are you?! Trying to make me believe in some fairy tale world where I’m a fucking pony Princess of the Night who was betrayed by her older sister?!” I shouted, the ache in my chest made me wince. “The voices and hallucinations need to stop!”

We already put this behind us… But I’ll play your game.
Tonight is All Hallows Eve is it not?

“Yes…” I said hesitantly, first getting a look at my darkening surroundings.

Then go and do what a Terror of the Night would do…
Go scare the little fillies and colts!
You want proof?! Go and fucking get it you pussy!

“You know what?! I think I fucking will!” I growled, stomping again. “One last experiment to prove that you’re fake, I’m still human, and then you can finally snuff it!” I stated as I began making my way towards where I thought the small town was.

It took several minutes of walking for the smooth voice to speak up again.

Aren’t you going to use your wings?

I turned my head to look at the feathery appendages I had honestly forgotten about. Thanks to the odd ‘memories’ I could move them with ease.

“I could.” I responded, giving them an experimental flap. “I’m not going to, but I could.”

Aren’t you a little curious what it’s like to fly?!

“Plenty curious, but they’re fake!” I exclaimed. “Just like you!” I stated as I crept out of a bush across a dark football field. “Now shut up!”

The field turned out to be part of a park that was on the outskirts of the small town. So I was able to creep quietly into the residential district. I dove into several bushes as costumed children walked into view.

Oh come on you wuss.

Should I just wait for the first poor victims that are out of view or find an ideal position?

“No, it’s time to end this nonsense once and for all.” I leaped out of the bush behind a group and followed behind them.

And then I did my best imitation of a banshee with this higher, female voice I was apparently stuck with, flaring the wings out as I did so.

“Jesus fucking Christ!”

“AIIIEEEEE!”

“Ghost! WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!”

“WHAT IS THAT THING?!

Needless to say, they took a quick look, panicked and then made for the hills. I sat on my rump in defeat.

“It’s real…” I stammered, coming to the inevitable conclusion. I wasn’t insane. I might as well be, having come to the answer. But I wasn’t. I felt my haunches hit the sidewalk. MY HAUNCHES. MY HORN. MY WINGS.

None of any of this was real until right that moment. Truthfully, if it turned out I WAS insane, that would’ve been easy... So very easy... Check myself into the nearest hospital and demand a psychologist. It wasn’t like they practiced shock therapy anymore, and I would’ve recognized that I had a very major problem. But this? That I actually WAS an immortal alien Pony Princess of the Night? This whole mess just became so complicated that I didn’t know what to do.

I spread my wings and flapped hard. I was above the buildings in an instant. I silently ghosted over the town, not really paying attention to where I was going.

~~~

I eventually found myself on their water tower, curled into the closest thing I could to a fetal position laying on my right side. The weight of the imaginary spear felt like it was pointing upwards, unbothered by the floor below. It didn’t even dawn on me that I technically first flew. I had, after all, apparently had done it before anyway.

Wow, geez I didn’t think you’d be this out of it.

“Shut up…” I cried, tears beginning to soak into my OLD coat.

Is this what you’ve been reduced to?!
A sniveling filly who just learned she can’t have the cookie jar?!

“SHut up.” I hiccuped.

Grow up you little whining bitch!
You’ve done worse and have HAD worse!
PONIES FEARED YOU!
GRIFFONS HATED YOU!
DRAGONS WERE DEATHLY AFRAID FOR THEIR HORDES!
And what have you become?
A worthless weakling! A coward who can’t change!
A PATHETIC. WASTE. OF. SKIN!

“SHUT UP!” I shouted, standing up as I do so.

YOU DESERVE EVERY SCRAP OF MISERY!

“SILENCE!” I ordered. My voice echoing off the trees and buildings in the distance.

… There’s the Luna I know…

“I don’t want to be Luna…” I murmured, sinking back down.

A leopard can’t change its spots! No matter how much it wishes!

“Who’s up there?” called a distorted voice down below.

“Eep!” I yelped. Cautiously, I took a peek over the edge. Down below was a car with flashing red and blue lights. Next to the police car was a uniformed man with a megaphone. I felt my ears lay back.

I could reply, and get caught. I could fly and try to sneak away.

“Sneaking away sounds nice.” I extended my wings and leaped.

“WhAT THE FACK IS THAT?!” the officer below yelled. A bright light illuminated me in the night sky.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Things zipped by in the air.

He’s shooting us!

Almost on instinct I felt magic run through my horn as I lowered it downwards. A brilliant teal laser scorched the air in front of me and beamed down. The bright light that was being shown at me fell.

Author's Note

And here we take our first true foray into the dark.
But sadly, it shall not be the last. :ajsleepy:

Chapter 11 The Escape

~~~

The man below with the gun looked up at me with a pale, fearful face. He wasn’t the one hit however.

The burn mark in the grass had traveled right over the obviously younger of the two. Perhaps a deputy… He was laying on the ground, the burn clearly going from the grass, and over his torso. A still activated flashlight illuminated the grass where it fell.

I stared numbly at the young man, his clothes even caught fire. And he wasn’t moving.

“YOU SON OF A BITCH!” the elder screamed, once again raising his pistol and firing wildly. I flapped my wings forwards and dove backwards, propelling myself away. Bullets kept buzzing by as I somersaulted into a dive.

More red and blue lights began lighting up the area below as more police cars arrived. More police began swarming the area as they stopped. I got another good look at the man’s burnt body as I sped overhead. I suppressed a shudder as I turned back towards the darkened area of the trees.

I flitted down into one of the taller trees in the area, settling onto a thick branch. It took me a moment to realize I was breathing heavily. I tried to calm myself but the thought of a burnt and fallen police officer undid what little calm I had left.

“What did I just do?!” I asked myself as I put my forelegs over my head.

As the followers of Khorne often say… BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!

HAhahHAHAhahahaHAHAHHAHA!

“Shut up!” I shouted. “This isn’t a game! I…” I gulped. “I killed that man…” I fell stomach first onto the branch. Arms once again clutching my head. “What’dIdowhat’dIdowhat’dIdo…” I moaned.

Mare up you pussy!

You’ve slain thousands of enemies!

THIS IS NOTHING.

“I!” I raised my head. “AM!” I stood up. “NOT!” I reared backwards “LUNA!” I shouted, crashing back downwards into the branch, which cracked… And broke… With me still on it.

I let loose a high pitched yelp as I fell… Which was too short of a drop to actually try and use my until recently useless wings. I landed with a grunt.

“Ow…” I groaned.

Serves you right you half wit.

“Fuck off.” I grunted as I picked myself up. Crushing weight in my soul notwithstanding, nothing felt broken… Just bruised.

“I heard it over here!” someone nearby yelled. My head snapped up so fast I almost got whiplash. In the distance beams of light, which were obviously flash lights and maybe car headlights, browsed back and forth, searching.

“Fuuuuuuck…” I whisper groaned as I hopped away into the woods.

“There it is!”

“Really?!” I cried at no one in particular. Shouts followed me as I bounded through the trees, looking for an opening in the treetops to escape. Wasn’t used to using wings but hey… If they came in handy then they’d probably become a useful tool.

… I just considered having the damned things for the rest of my life didn’t I?

The crack of a gunshot brought me back to the chase.

“Shit!” I shouted as I felt the bullet disturb the air next to my right wing. Thankfully I didn’t feel a searing pain so they must’ve missed. I bolted into a thick grove of maples, trying to put as many things between me and my pursuers. I dove behind a tree.

“Where’d it go?!”

“Spread out! It can’t be far!”

“Can’t believe I missed!”

The beam of a flashlight passed by the tree I had hidden behind. When it passed by I snuck a glance on the opposite side. There were quite a few of them. I couldn’t get a count because there were silhouettes in the beams, which might’ve hidden more behind their sources. I ducked back behind the tree, heart pounding in my chest.

You could kill them all Luna…

“Don’t…” I whispered.

It’d be so easy…

“Not now.” I begged.

A wave of your horn and they would be terrified little fillies…

Powerless before our might!

Using methods I developed over a lifetime, I drowned out the true monster’s voice with what equated to static… But I could still hear her.

Kill them… Kill them ALL.

When my chasers eventually moved past I spread my wings and took flight, taking care to try to be quiet. Unfortunately the canopy proved to be too thick to fly out of, so I was forced to stay trapped in the grove with my hunters.

Tear open their chests… Rip out their still beating hearts…

I landed quietly on the thickest branch I could find, making sure I stayed in the shadows. Below I could see the figures prowling between the trees.

BOIL them alive in their own skin!

I needed to get out of the woods. I needed to get away before I started to listen to that seductive voice.

Take their skulls and carve them into your goblets!

I shook my head to clear that thought away as I crept along the branch towards the trunk. The plan was to climb the tree, tunneling my way through the leaves, and make a get away when I got to the top.

“There it is!”

It was a nice plan while it lasted.

I quickly scrambled up further up the tree as I heard shouts begin to gather directly below. The wood below exploded in small bursts.

“Shit!” I growled as I half pulled and half flew up the tree. More shouts from the base of the tree.

“Don’t let it fly away!”

The branches began to thin dangerously, and I began to bat away leaves desperately, branches bending in a worrisome manner the higher I went. Until suddenly I ran out of tree to climb.

The Moon shone high above, its silvery light painting the countryside in a pearlescent glow, only marred by the surprisingly distant village lights. Trees took on an almost metallic sheen as the Moon was covered by a small wispy cloud, not nearly enough to fully cover, but made a majestic sight.

My awe was stopped suddenly by another bullet flying upwards, centimeters from my face.

“Running running running!” I chanted, extending the wings at my side and flapping down as hard as I could. The men below continued to shout as I darted away. No more shots rang out as I gained altitude. “Gotta get high enough that they can’t track me…” I grunted between wing beats.

The shouting grew more and more quiet until all I could hear was the whip of the high altitude wind. Starting to pant, I leveled out of my climb, did a few more flaps before stretching my wingtips out and locking the limbs to glide. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and I didn’t want to be several thousand feet up just to get a cramp, pass out, and fall to my death. So I took the out while I could and caught my breath as I glided.

I am disappointed in you Luna.

“Yeah? Why should I care about what you think? I get it, you’re bloodthirsty. Get over yourself.”

The voice must not have had an answer to that because it stayed silent. Inwardly though, I was freaking out still. Never once in my… Well, in my human life that is, did I ever think I would kill someone. It was always something other people did. Something soldiers and murderers did. I mean sure, I considered it. But never as a “Yes, I am going to” More like a way to while my time away during particularly hard days. Did that make me evil? I hoped not. But would I not be biased in my own favor and justify literally anything as long as I was cast in a good light?

Pff. Don’t be stupid Luna. You remember when you watched the Last Airbender yes?

“Of course I remember. It was a good show.”

Then you should remember your thoughts when Aang lamented over killing the Firelord.

“What was-” I stopped mid sentence. “The gardener analogy.”

The Gardener analogy. The Gardener tends to his garden. They feed and nurture it so it grows and blooms. But when one plant or weed starts to overrun the garden…

“They rip it from the soil. Stem, root, and seed.” I finished.

If you must lament, lament not for the weeds, lament for the time lost preserving your garden.

I thought silently for a moment.

“You’re perverting my own logic against me.” I stated. “By ‘ripping out weeds’ I give into your demands more and more.”

Oh Luna! You know me so well! Yet you must inevitably give in. Maybe in self defense, maybe to root out the weeds of society. Eventually, you must give in. It is in your very nature after all.”

"Is it not better to overcome an evil nature through great effort?"

“We’ll see... We’ll see...”

Chapter 12 The Shelter

~~~

Hours have passed since the hunting party. The woods were filled with the sounds of nocturnal wildlife as I floated back down to the ground, flitting between trees. I had no idea where I was when I finally landed. Glancing around, all I saw were trees and more trees.

"Phew." I breathed out. "Now what?" Strangely, the voice in the back of my mind didn't reply. Maybe it finally lef-

You won't get rid of me that easily.

"Shame. Oh well." I grumbled. "I doubt they'll stop hunting me. Especially since I shot a laser and k-killed a guy." I did my best to hold down the sudden rush of emotion, I had to hold strong. Even if it was because I wasn't out of the woods yet... Metaphorically.

At the very least.

"Hm." I hummed in thought. "They probably think I'm a wild animal... or something alien if I were to put my tin cap on."

For the record that's closer to the truth then you'd probably like.

"You're being very cooperative." I noted.

Oh don't get me wrong. They ARE coming for you. All I need to do is wait for you to hurt them again.

"Understood." I stated neutrally. "I do have an idea. But it's very risky."

I await with bated breath.

"They expect me to be out here in the woods. Other then that they have little evidence to track me by. So it wouldn't be unfeasible to hide where they least suspect, under their very noses."

Your logic is sound. Although I will admit freely I have a vested interest in putting you in danger.

"I would expect nothing less." The conversation effectively done, I broke into a gallop, wincing in pain as I took flight once more.

The Moon hung above the forest, casting its silver glare like a giant pupil-less eye over the trees. The countryside didn't have any defining features per se, just a flat expanse of trees. In the distance I could see obtrusive yellow glares occasionally break the darkness. I didn't fly too high, just barely above the highest branches. I didn't remember which town I came from, so I just veered towards the nearest yellow glow.

The obtrusive glow was indeed a town, I didn't recognize the layout or buildings. But then again I didn't really know the last one ether. Weary of power lines, I flapped a bit harder to gain a few extra feet of clearance. I checked my watch for the time. 1:34 am. Most people would be fast asleep by now, so I had a degree of freedom that came with no witnesses. Obviously I needed a relatively secluded place to stay, but it had to be near sources of food and water. A park? No, too small and it didn't have a building. The local grocery store? I paused. My experience in such a store would give me an edge... No, not secluded enough. Also security cameras were bound to see me eventually. I braked hard as I flew over a certain building.

"...A library could work." I said to myself as I hovered over a darkened book storage facility. It was a rather squat building with a steepled roof. Over all it looked rather odd, but it somehow worked atheistically.

I did a few overhead laps around the building, trying to see if I could find the distinctive black spheres that would betray the locations of security cameras. Spotting a few, I tried to imagine the optimal viewing angles for the camera network. The angles would try to cover as much of the building's sides as possible, if only to record a potential break in for insurance purposes. Doing my best to stay out of those ranges, I did a few more laps with this in mind to reevaluate if any window could be used to get inside.

Can't believe you've forgotten.

"Forgotten what?" I snapped, growing a bit frustrated with how secure the building seemed to be.

You're not a human anymore, you can use magic.

Oh yeah right. Shoot that kinda changed things.

I browsed my newly unearthed memories.

"Oh." I mumbled when I remembered one of the spells I used in the fight with-

A wave of pain lanced through the imaginary weight in my left side.

Why did thinking of... Her, hurt so much? Wh-

Something wrong Luna?

The sweetness in the voice's tone was saccharine.

"No. Nothing at all." I grunted as I pulled some of the umbramancy from my memories.

The effects of the spell fell on my shoulders like a light rain. I slowly fell to the ground as my wings gradually grew less and less effective.

If you've never been part gas part shadow, the experience was odd and difficult to master. While I didn't have the memories of actually practicing, the Luna who dueled- Her, moved like a master. I glanced down, checking to see if the spell had worked.

The blue fuzz that I had recently become accustomed to was gone. All that remained was a sort transparent fog that was only marginally darker then the surrounding night.

Wasting no time, I slithered towards a window shrouded in darkness. With a tendril of living shadow, I probed the edges of the window, looking for the tiniest of openings.

There.

Pushing myself through a crack where the window didn't properly shut all the way, I flowed into the room beyond.

Despite the darkness, I could see almost perfectly. The room appeared to be mostly empty, the most notable features were the table that was pushed against the wall, and two stacks of cheap, cushioned chairs. A black sphere was embedded in the ceiling near the door, so I didn't drop the shadow spell. The single door was a simple office door with a wooden veneer. Most importantly, it had a half inch gap at the bottom that I squeezed through.

Here was the main portion of the library. The ceiling was surprisingly high, with the book shelves only reaching halfway up. When I was still outside, I had assumed that with a steepled roof there would be some sort of ceiling space or attic that people didn't really go into. But now I wasn't so sure.

The main room was too large for me to be confident in dropping the shade spell, so I didn't. Flowing upwards towards the ceiling, I pushed through the foam tiles.

Bingo.

I was right about there being a space above the ceiling. Fortunately, I didn't have to rely on the lightweight foam tiles to hold my weight. Instead, there were the steel beams that held the roof up that I could lay on. I took a moment to ensure the tile I was on was still set properly. With that done I settled on one of the higher beams and dropped the spell.

"Phew." I breathed in relief as I became solid again.

Not the worst place you could hide

I ignored it, and reached into my jacket for a granola bar.

"Wait where's my jacket?" I asked outloud, suddenly realizing that I hadn't had it in a while.

You dropped it while you were getting chased.

"And you didn't feel like it was necessary to say something about that?"

And why would I do that?

"I hate you."

This isn't news.

"Ugh." I groaned "Fine, I'm going to see if there's a breakroom or something."

Fading back into a shadow, I fell back into the main room.

Searching through the main room, I discovered that the library was divided into two rough wings. Adults on one side, kids on the other. The office was behind the main desk, which was in-between the two wings.

The office wasn't so much an office, more like a communal workspace that was cluttered with piles of books. Another two doors were in the back wall. Seeing no refrigerator, or any obvious places one would put food, I flowed to the nearest door.

Inside was what appeared to be the head librarian's office. I took a moment to look for the security camera control, but nothing obvious stood out. After doing what equated to a shrug for a gas cloud, I moved to the last door.

Jackpot

The small room, barely enough for three people to stand around comfortably, only had a small circular table, a single chair, a counter, and a fridge.

My usual care forgotten for a moment, I rushed the refrigerator and pulled its door open. There wasn't much inside, but I grabbed a package that didn't seem too old and a bottle of water. Shutting the door with a muffled clack, I flowed back through the ceiling tiles back into the crawl space above.

I wasn't sure if I made noises while asleep, so I went back to the highest beam and resolidified there. Sitting on my haunches, I looked at the package in my hooves.

"Pepperoni." I read. "Meh." I ripped open the package with a small burst of magic and began to eat. I sat silently for a few minutes, only casually eating the slices of meat. When the salt started to become overpowering I'd take a gulp from the pilfered water.

"... I get it now." I say absently as a memory came to mind.

Pardon?

"A memory, of the original Luna's. She was disgusted over a griffon eating some chicken." I explained.

You speak as if you're still a separate entity.

"It's... It's weird in my head." I hesitantly stated. "I feel like a Lucas who has suddenly changed their name, and has more memories then they should."

So you consider yourself, primarily, a modified Lucas?

"How could I not? Most of what I remember is still centered on being Lucas. I imagine if I were to gain more of Luna's memories, my feeling of self would shift to be more of hers."

You're being very calm about losing your sense of self.

"It's- It's complicated."

Time is the one thing I have plenty of. Spill.

"It's- I do feel like I should be panicking. But at the same time, the memories of Luna don't feel foreign, and I don't think they're overwriting memories of being Lucas."

Like the identity of Lucas is being extended?

"Exactly."

Silence fell for a time as I continued to eat the pepperoni.

Just in case you forget that Lucas and Luna are in fact one and the same, I don't think Lucas would've inherited Luna's scars so easily if they weren't the same.

Something poked the aching, imaginary spear in my side.

"Stop it." I growled.

Is this a nerve I've struck?

"You know perfectly well what that is."

Do you?

Instead of answering directly, I tossed the empty bag onto the tiles below and lay down on my right side.

Oh? Coming in here directly? I'll be sure to put on a pot of tea.

I closed my eyes to fall asleep.

Author's Note

'Cord!
https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 13 The Spear

~~~

The dilapidated castle that my subconscious had decided to represent my mental state loomed above. It looked different then I last remembered. It looked a little bit cleaner, but several walls had fallen over.

"Come on out..." I cooed sweetly to the abandoned courtyard. "I promise to maim you only a little."

"Don't threaten a lady with a good time." came the silky voice from behind.

I didn't even look, I grabbed the chain around the black alicorn's neck with my magic and yanked, slamming her into the ground.

"You're getting far too comfortable being sarcastic for my tastes." I growled angrily.

"What was that Luna? I thought you, and I quote; 'Didn't want to do that kind of thing anymore.'" the black alicorn grinned.

"You are the exception." I stated grimly, stepping over the fallen alicorn and grinding a hoof into her back.

"Harder mommy." she moaned.

"Ugh." I growled in disgust, stepping off the black pony.

"No wait! I meant- Oh nooo! Don't hurt me please!" she dramatized as I began to walk away.

"Fuck off." I called behind me.

"No you're not doing it right. It's 'fuck m-'"

I slammed the double doors leading into the main hall shut, cutting off the Other's tirade. I leaned against the door and slide down into a sitting position.

"One day I will be rid of you..." I sighed.

At that moment the imaginary spear in my side made itself known and twisted.

"... Ow." I grunted, putting a hoof over where the pain seemed to be coming from. The only thing I felt was dry fur. "I suppose if this place is a representation of me, then I could theoretically find the symbolic manifestation of what's hurting me." Nothing but the muffled laughter of the Other behind the door responded. Likely because she was still on the high of tormenting me.

I took a moment to breathe out.

"Ok..." I grunted as I stood back up. Sighing again, I turned down a nearby hallway that I felt was the correct option. The corridor was in a similar state as the rest of the castle. Moldy displaced bricks were piled haphazardly up to my knees, great holes in the wall revealed their proper places, letting dingy light into the corridor. A change in the texture of the floor gave me pause as I looked down. A dingy navy blue fabric squished underneath my hoof. I curled a levitation spell around the fabric and lifted.

A grimy crescent moon that may have at one point been silver revealed itself in the folds.

Sighing again, I tossed the ruined tapestry to the side and continued.

My trek took me through multiple halls and rooms, each in equally terrible condition. But I found my goal in a particularly bad area. A whole wall had been knocked over, rubble lay strewn everywhere, but a fallen pillar formed the largest pile. It was in that fallen pillar that I found it.

"Daybreak." I muttered as I climbed up to where it had somehow embedded itself into the stonework. Celestia's golden double headed spear gleamed with a haughty, holy arrogance, a stark contrast to the gloom, muck, and ruin of its surroundings.

"I don't need to be a psychologist to know the symbolism behind this..." I muttered to myself as I grabbed it in both hooves and started yanking. I didn't expect it to budge. No that would've been too easy. And the universe had decreed long ago that things were never to be easy for me.

"Whew..." I panted as I sat down, a few minutes of pulling as hard as I could behind me.

"You're never going to get it out like that." came the familiar silk of the Other.

"No." I agreed without meeting her gaze, instead choosing to look at the spear. "But it doesn't hurt to try."

"Your exhaustion says otherwise."

I didn't really have a response for that, so I just continued to stare at the weapon.

"Do you think she knows?" I asked suddenly.

"You're going to have to elaborate."

"Do you think she knows how much pain she's caused me?"

"Well, for one, I'm the exact opposite thing to ask." the black alicorn stated as she sat next to me. "I don't really have a high opinion of you normal folk. So my guess would be; No. She doesn't. How could she? It's very hard for you people to have empathy for something you can't relate to."

Again, I didn't really have anything to say about that. So we fell silent, staring at the spear.

"Fucking look at it." I snarled after a few minutes. "So proper, so sure and full of itself, like it can do no wrong. So... Perfect."

"Just like Her."

"Just. Like. Her." I agreed with a scowl.

"And she stabbed you with it."

And she stabbed me with-" I stopped.

"Metaphorically."

"Why are you here?" I asked suddenly.

"Pardon?"

"Why are you here?" I asked again, now turning my stare to the black alicorn at my side.

"I'm not sure I understand your question."

"You torment me. You push and push and push all of my buttons until you can't push anymore, and then you keep pushing." I stated. "But now, you're here acting like my friend as if you've done nothing wrong."

"Well Luna." she calmly said as she stood back up. "Believe it or not I do want you to succeed. And, like it or not, I'm the only thing that's never betrayed you." her eyes seemed to light up as she met my gaze.

"Yeah? And why would that be?" I asked pointedly. "You do everything in your power to push me towards doing something I'll regret, only stopping to rile me up when I do get mad at something. So tell me, what are you?" I jabbed a hoof into the other's chest. "I don't have D.I.D. so you're not an alternate personality. You're not a hallucination. You're certainly not a part of me. So I ask again." I suddenly pushed the Other backwards, sending her tumbling down the rubble pile.

"What." I jumped down, pinning her to the ground. "Are." I let power flow into my horn, more power then I had used since regaining my memories. "You."

The Other screamed in legitimate pain as the whole room was filled with silver light.

Chapter 14 The Memories Part 5

~~~

It started with a small village. It was a small farming settlement to the North that didn't even have an official name yet. Couriers would travel to the frontier at least once a week to bring news, and report back to the major cities about the well being of the most vulnerable settlements.

The royal court knew something was wrong when word came back that a courier hadn't returned in over a moon.

But one small village that didn't even have a name wasn't deemed worthy of action. After all, small settlements went dark all the time. Sometimes they starved, sometimes a disease wiped them out, sometimes the village lay in the path of a rampaging monster.

It happened. And it simply wasn't worth it to have a permanent military presence in a town numbering only 30.

But then another fell silent. And another. And another.

It wasn't until a suspicious general started crossing out silent villages on a map did the Court seriously consider action. Something had started with the Northmost village, and was moving South. If it was capturing or killing the peasants was unclear. But something was clearly on the march coming from the North.

One of the few things the Court as a whole could be counted on, was to panic in the face of the unknown, and they mobilized the available legions, leaving behind only the Legions who were assigned as a defense force for the major cities.

So it was that 20 Legions marched North. Roughly 20,000 ponies, not counting civilian support staff and logistics.

As the executive military commanders in the government, Celestia and I were amongst them.

It wasn't long before the invaders were found. And it wasn't long after the first engagement that a helmet was presented to the commander's pavilion. Or at least, that was its official name.

In reality, it was little more then a banquet table housed in a tent for the Royal Court to hold session on. Thankfully, only the most rugged, or most eager to bootlick even left the capitol. If the actual leading of the armies didn't happen in that tent, I would've refused to set hoof inside. However the few nobleponies in attendance insisted they have a say.

The tent, was longer than it was wide, made of white silk, and trimmed with gold. It stood out among the otherwise drab war camp as easily the most opulent and grandiose thing in the army. The inside was no less magnificent, in fact it was more so. The motif matched its outside, white silk and gold trim, but around the outward wall, were pedestals with artistic vases placed on them. The center table, was made of a dark oak, polished to near perfection. The personal servants of the attending nobles bustled to and fro in their endless task of bringing food, usually decorated with an artistic flair only Royal Chefs seemed to accomplish. The nobles constantly sat at the table, usually discussing their affairs, both personal and professional. At the head of the table, towards the back of the tent, a great chair and cushion loomed above nearly everything in the structure. And although Celestia requested our chairs to be even, a more subdued office chair was brought out for me. I noticed the servants who set this whole farce up put me slightly behind the larger seat. As if I were an advisor.

It was late in the even when the sounds of battle died down. I had long finished my simple meal of standard rations that I insisted on. Twirling a fork in a bored manner as one of the Legion commanders opened the tent flap. Since the newcomer was much more interesting then hearing a high born revel in the novelty of "roughing it" again, I watched him speak with one of the attending butlers.

He stood by the entrance anxiously as the butler in turn approached Celestia and muttered something in her ear.

"Bring him here." she whispered back.

"Right away my Lady." With that, the stallion looked over at the waiting Captain and beckoned him over.

"Milady`` he bowed when he stood by her chair.

"Captain Sure Foot." she greeted respectfully. "You have something to report?"

"Several things Milady." Sure Foot stated, his voice slightly rasp. "An enemy force of ponies were discovered on the ridge. They were surrounded and defeated soundly."

"Ponies?" Celestia asked. "I was under the assumption there were no rebels causing dissent."

"Havn't been for a hundred years." I muttered, barely loud enough for them to hear. They ether didn't hear me, or ignored me.

"Weren't rebels." the Commander replied. "Was a mix of crystal ponies and common ponies."

"Crystal ponies..." Celestia repeated. "The only place they hail from is the Crystal Empire..." she thought out loud.

"They weren't in the Empires colors yer Highness." True Foot amended. "There were dressed in these." With that, the Earth pony hefted something I couldn't see from under the table and placed it on the corner of Celestia's side of the table.

The thing he placed was the helmet of a pony, but it wasn't like any I'd seen before. It seemed to be more mask then helmet, as the grill and visor looked to be much thicker then the cranium of the helmet. The most obvious thing though was the visor. The horizontal slits, or where I'd assume the vision slits to be, were instead glowing a bright green band. Celestia glanced over the helmet as it sat on the table, but otherwise didn't touch it.

"Hm. I see." she hummed. "This is made of crystal correct?" she gestured.

"Seems to be." Sure Foot grunted. I tuned them out as I picked up the helmet in my magic, curiously casting an Identify spell.

What the spell told me made my eyes widen in horror.

"So this is the helm of the enemy?" A particularly old mare poshed, picking it out of my grasp. "Doesn't look like much, far too drab for a proper military."

It was far too late when I noticed what she was doing.

The fool was lifting the helmet upwards, as if to put it on.

"Wait don't-" I stammered.

My warning came too late, the helmet already began to settle on her head.

I didn't have a moment to lose.

The pompous idiot just deployed an enemy soldier right in the middle of our camp.

I couldn't think, I leaped from my chair, winding up a punch as I dove forward. The old mare didn't expect a thing as she stood suddenly still, stunned by the horrifying vision she was likely having. Only to become confused as her whole world suddenly started vibrating.

Using that stunned moment, I ripped the helmet off her head, sitting on top of her chest as she had at some point fallen over. Her eyes were wide and glassy, twirling in place as they watched stars only she could see.

"What-"

"Moron." I boomed. "Do you know what you almost just did?"

"Luna!" Celestia exclaimed, standing up in shock. By now I noticed that the whole tent was watching me.

"How dare you." asked a stallion, far too calmly to truly know how precarious the balance between life and death was.

"How could you?!" A mare hysterically screeched.

"Why would she do such a thing?" muttered one to another.

I grimaced.

"Celestia. Scan this." I tossed the helmet towards my sister. She caught it deftly in her golden aura. Her eyes widened suddenly.

"Aaugh!" she screeched, dropping it to the ground.

"Luna I-" she gasped.

"Now she assaults the Princess!" a stallion nasally accused.

"She's crazy!" exclaimed a mare.

"BE SILENT." I exclaimed with all my might. The whole camp suddenly stilled.

I snorted in annoyance and I stepped off the old mare, her dress now ruined.

"Celestia, if you would be so kind to explain what that helmet does." I said sweetly. "You, idiot." I turned towards the old hag. "Next time you wish to use an untested enemy artifact, I will remove your head for treason." I continued. "Now, I suddenly have a lot I need to do, so I'm going to go do those things. And those things are as far away from this tent as possible. Good day." I finished, mockingly stomping in a posh manner as I marched towards the front tent flap. "You. With me." I pointed at Sure Foot, who dumbly nodded and made to follow me.

Celestia began to ramble an explanation as we pushed into the cool evening air.

"You are going to tell me exactly what I want to know." I informed the Commander.

"Yes marm." he reported.

"Good." I turned forwards to the main path in the camp. "Firstly, did you capture any alive?"

"Yes marm. Ten marm." he reported.

"Do not put them in a stock, have them accommodated as a civilian in good standing, but do not leave them unguarded."

"Yes marm." he agreed grimly. That's all I needed to hear to know that he had at least one other unicorn scan the helmet."

"I assume this is not the only helmet with this curse?"

"No marm. Every one of them had it."

"That's what I thought." I sighed. "From now on I want these soldiers restrained and removed from their armor instead of fighting and killing them."

"With all due respect yer Highness, but that may not be possible."

"I know." I replied sadly. "But may I ask you to at least try?"

"Of course marm." he grunted respectfully.

"As for their equipment, I want everything scanned and locked up securely. Make sure you have the only key commander. We may need to store these until the end of this war so they can be disposed of safely."

"Agreed marm."

"Now, I want every report before it's delivered to the Royal Court. Likewise, every order from the Court is to be reported to me first."

"Of course marm." he snorted knowingly with a sly smirk.

"Excellent, now I have duties I need to sort out and not a lot of time to do it in. I will be in my tent." I informed, as I turned down the path towards where I set my tent up.

"Of course milady." he smiled kindly, as he tilted a nonexistent hat and continued on his way.

While my tent was the standard army tent, I was forced to set it up right next to Celestia's. But that also meant my tent was the sole ordinary tent in the middle of a verifiable silk Castle. With towering, billowing flaps painted with family colors and crests. I snorted in disgust as I pushed my way into the relatively tiny tent. Wordlessly, I took off my crown and stuffed it roughly into the single saddlebag. I then lay down on the cot and sighed. For a moment, I considered just falling asleep, leaving my current concerns to stew in their shock for another day.

"No." I stated simply, turning over, closing my eyes, and casting a spell.

Author's Note

*devious horse noises*
:pinkiecrazy:

Chapter 16 The Memories Part 7

~~~

The next few moons dragged by. Between soothing the freed slaves, and filtering the commands from the command tent, I was busy at all hours of the day. My only saving grace, and my greatest shame, was that Sombra's slaves surrendered less then I expected, and far less then I hoped.

But as much as my heart ached when the dead were burned after each battle, I could do nothing but push onward. This was a cancerous boil that needed to be lanced post haste.

Sombra, the name left a disgusting aftertaste on my tongue whenever I even thought the name. He had at one time been the Empire's Court Wizard, but had decided to one day overthrow the otherwise peaceful nation. Why was anypony's guess. But the enchantments on the helmets stank of corrupt dark magic, and that's all I needed to know.

As ruthless and evil as his occupation of the former Crystal Empire was, it was ill prepared for the full might of Equestria's military. The lost villages were reclaimed, however their residents had been press ganged into military service by the mind controlling helmets. Most were accounted for, dead and now burned. The presumed missing, were thought to have been pulled back. Anything else would be speculation.

Finally, after months of watching helplessly as unwilling slaves threw away their lives because the voices in their armor told them to, the capitol itself was surrounded and laid siege to.

Timber groaned as trebuchets worked day and night to hurl boulders against the city shields. Pegasi flew directly overhead, keeping the skies clear of any captured ponies, and to pony their own artillery. These weapon emplacements were a fiendish holdover from ancient Pegasopolis, named "lightning throwers".

It was an apt name.

Made using lost pegasi alchemy, the lightning throwers were machines that utilized a compressed and violent thunderstorm to channel lightning down a series of rods, ultimately creating a line of sight siege weapon that held off unicorn spellcasters for millennia. And the tried and tested weapons proved their value once more as they hammered Sombra's shields, disrupting great swathes of the overall field, causing more then a few boulders and lightning bolts to sneak through.

The city itself was already in poor shape when the siege began. Whole buildings had been swallowed whole by a black cancerous crystal that seemed to sprout everywhere like a weed. Temporary tents and brick buildings huddled around the more grandiose crystal buildings, making the city look less like a city, and more of a constantly awake work camp.

The Ponies themselves were in worse straights. Chained and shackled together at all times of the day, they were forced to perform manual labor by their mind controlled fellows. Whenever a significant portion of the controlled soldiers were slain, whole blocks of slaves were made to wear helmets to replace the casualties. Even across no-mare's-land, and through a distorted shield, I could see the horror on the slave's faces just before their head vanished inside.

I hated it.

I hated seeing the hopes of the incarcerated ponies vanish under those helms. I hated the death of the personalities as they bore that armor. I hated that they fought to the death, refusing to give in and let the Equestrian Legionnaires free them. I hated seeing the piled bodies of the slaves just outside their outer walls.

This wasn't a war.

This was a war crime that needed rectifying with prejudice.

But alas, therein lay why the Equestrian war camp was nearly as bad. The siege equipment was set up in a ring around the city, just as I wanted. But the highest, and most strategically advantageous hill to put a trebuchet on was given over to the billowing cloth castle that the Royal Court refused to leave. If that weren't enough, the smells of a kitchen constantly cooking a lavish banquet drifted over the camp, scarcely a moment went by when a noble didn't have food in front of them. Made worse by the fact our supply lines were stretched, and food shortages was becoming a problem.

That there wasn't much I could do about, Celestia vetoed any attempt I made to decrease their food consumption. And it wasn't like I could make the supply caravans move any faster. Even worse though, as much as the ruling class was eating, they were also getting bored. Made evident by the fact they kept insisting that the army needed to rush forward and climb the walls. This was obviously a bad idea since we did not know if this Sombra had any secret weapon or spell, made ever more likely because he was willing to brainwash slaves to use as soldiers. No, it was a bad idea to assault the city directly. And any losses inside was an excellent opportunity to lose Legionnaires to those cursed helmets.

Pushing into the city was a suicide mission. Staying outside was to lose the war of attrition. Cannot move forward, cannot stay still. Between a rock and a hard place. Unstoppable force and immovable object.

I tapped absent mindedly on the arm rest of the office chair I had claimed as my own, sitting on that high hill in the castle tent, glaring in the direction of the rippling city shield, knowing I needed to save all those poor souls inside. But how?

"I'm telling you Tia dear, we would be home already if we just charged fowards." a posh noble recommended. My ears were tickled by Celestia giggling merrily.

"Patience dear Golden Roast." she admonished. "I'm sure Luna knows exactly what she's doing."

"Harumph!" harumphed a stallion who spent far too much time at a dessert table. "I say! Luna, you better get a move on! I'm getting awfully bored watching you hit their shield!"

I rested my head in my other hoof, and stared blankly at the portly twit.

"Oh no. Do tell." I blandly remarked. The stallion looked taken aback, but continued.

"As entertaining as seeing this farce drag on, I do have important things to attend to back home. Why I have Duchess Marigold's annual dinner party to attend!"

"Let me stop you right there." I interrupted as he paused for a breath. "Firstly, you are not needed here. You are free to leave at any time." I began. "Secondly, this is not a honor duel for you to gain glory from. This is a civility crisis. There are ponies behind that shield that are suffering greatly because of this war. Thirdly;" I turned my blank stare into a hard glare. "You remember Lady Hazelblossom's black eye I gave her? You remember why I gave it to her? I will not risk losing any pony to those things while I willingly have a choice. If the army were to do as you ask, there is no telling how many of our Legionnaires would be enslaved." I leaned forward and prodded him roughly on the chest.

"Luna!" Celestia admonished. I snorted angrily at my larger sister.

"Fine. I have a war to win so if you'll excuse me." I growled, leaping from my chair and cantering away from the silk monument to avarice. The fat excuse of a Pony blubbered behind me as I left.

I didn't stop cantering until I was on the direct opposite side of the siege, all the way around, so that the Royal Court tents were obscured behind the city. Here was far more tolerable. While not homey or comfortable by any stretch of the imagination, the bustle of soldiers and trebuchet operators had a quiet practical forwardness that was refreshing in its own way, never mind how loud bored soldiers with nothing to do actually got.

Finally releasing a breath I hadn't realized I was holding, I sat on my haunches behind one of the trebuchets, watching the crew fire and begin to rewind the mechanism to fire again.

In the distance, the boulder they had just launched hit the shield and bounce off.

"Bit fer yer thoughts milady?" asked a mare behind me. I turned my head to see the commander of this trebuchet legion. Still fully, albeit lightly, armored despite clearly sweating from helping one of her crews.

"I'll need more then one I'm afraid." I replied, gesturing for her to join if she wished.

"Reckon I'll have to win big at the card game later if I wanted everything." she snarked. I lightly snorted with a smirk.

"Have you ever been stuck between two options?" I asked after a moment. "Both options are equally awful, just in different ways. You can't do one or the other, yet you must choose one."

"Oh nothing as awful as that I suppose." she thought outloud. "I may worry, but I'm pretty sure mah worries are much lighter than yers."

"So you've never felt as if you couldn't go forwards in life, yet could not stay where you are?"

"Can't say that I have milady. I grew up amongst the peasant folk with Trottingham. Twas ethier work on mah family's farm or join the Legion. Obviously chose the less exciting of the two." She snarked again.

I decided I liked her.

"There are times when I envy the ponies I rule over." I commented. "Choices are hard, harder then they should be. When I was young, it was easy. Swing a sword, and a monster died. But now, I have to ask others to put their life in danger." Tears began to well in my eyes, but I did my best to push them back down. "But I can't order an assault, my gut is telling me we'll lose more Legionnaires to those helmets then we'd have out here. But at the same time, the gluttons of the Court are eating through our supplies, if we stay any longer we're going to have to retreat and abandon the siege."

"Aye... That lines up with mah gut too." she replied.

"But for the life of me, I can't think of a solution."

"Well I dun know about you Princess folk, but when a Pony comes to me asking for advice I always say the same thing."

"And what would that be?" I nearly choked.

"Get some shuteye. A good sleep will clear yer head."

"I've heard worse advice." I mumbled out.

Chapter 17 The Memories Part 8

~~~

The dreamscape loomed around me. In the immediate vicinity, were colorful stars that blinked in and out of existence as their owners fell asleep and woke up. The most concerning thing however was the massive collection of dark spheres that congregated in the middle of this star cluster.

I didn't need to brush against one to know what was happening inside them.

I floated aimlessly around the malignant congregation, hoping for a clue that I couldn't see in the waking world.

I was almost ready to give up when an anomaly caught my eye. While literally every other star bled darkness, one, near the very "top" of the organization was a bright and cheery pink.

Of course I had my suspicions about who this belonged to. But I wouldn't act unless I was very sure.

I spent a rather long time, trying to gaze into its light, hoping to glean some sort of information about its owner without alerting them. As was fairly common in dreams, what images I could see didn't make sense without the context of the full dream. Sighing to myself, as nothing was allowed to be easy. I girded myself, and lightly brushed the surface.

A dark stallion alone in a black tower. Wait, no, not alone. Accompanied by, things. Objects shaped like ponies. Objects that moved like ponies. Objects that were ponies.

I recoiled in disgust.

This stallion did not consider his fellow ponies to be his equal. He considered them objects to be owned and used as he saw fit.

The light deep inside my heart howled with righteous rage.

With a snarl, I grasped the orb with both hooves.

~~~

"Maggot." I growled once I materialized inside the dream. The tower was just as I had seen on the outside, except inside was far more telling. The whole world stretched out underneath, black crystals covering everything, a clear declaration of whom the world belonged to.

"Oh. Luna." The stallion all but purred, his voice sweet and smooth as silk. "I was wondering when you'd come. I can't wait to break you."

"Break me?" I all but laughed. "Nay, cur. Your reign ends here."

The Moon rose like a headsmare's axe, high outside the tower,. The metaphysical might of the real Moon shining into the dreamscape.

"Hm. No." Sombra chortled.

And suddenly the dream went wrong.

The true light of the moon suddenly sported distant black dots on its surface. A silver mare screamed with anguish in my head, my hooves instinctually clasping my ears.

"Run along little light. The true darkness has things to do." Sombra purred.

~~~

"Gah!" I sprang up in my tiny tent. I panted, slowly realizing I was once again surrounded by the comforting sounds of ponies in a war camp.

Numbly, I reached out with a familiar spell.

"I am fine." Came the comforting silver bell. "I was merely surprised he was able to attack so easily."

"Is there any lingering corruption?"

"No. I have burned it all out. But take heed my champion, this mortal is not chosen, but that will not stop him from taking me."

"I understand."

"Then you know what needs to be done."

I let the spell fade as the silver bells fell silent. Sombra's fate was sealed the moment the first village stopped communicating, but now it was personal.

Still breathing heavily, I lay back onto the cot. There were scant few who could fight back in a dream. Fewer still with such ease. No, I had to be clever to win this.

But how?

While I at least had a clear goal, I needed to tend to whatever wounds he had left. So once more I closed my eyes.

~~~

My personal dream space was typically a recreation of the Everfree Castle. Lovingly maintained like a prize garden. Recently however, it had fallen to the wayside as more important matters kept cropping up, leaving some of the foliage to grow larger then it was meant to. On top of that, Sombra's attack did more then I realized, as minute black crystals had sprouted over everything. Not enough to seriously hamper my mental state, but if I were to neglect them they would swiftly become a problem.

It took me hours to clean up the corruption, giving me a relatively mindless task to do while I debated with myself on what to do about Sombra.

Could I ferment a slave revolt? No, I didn't have the time and the mind controlled slaves were too strict on their fellows anyway. Could I call in Cloudsdale for support? No, we didn't have the food stuffs to wait for more then a few more days, much less weeks for the city to get into position. Could I sneak into his palace and use Lunar Majesty to remove his head? No, he most certainly had a trick up his sleeve, and if I were to be forced to wear a helmet...

I shivered.

As the last crystal lay in my hoof, a small idea formed. Coming in like a ship in the night. As I thought more and more about it, the idea grew into a wild whirlwind that no sane pony would be able to expect. It was risky, but I didn't have the time to wait for anything else.

And if I could pull it off...

With a final grimace, I destroyed the final crystal. Soon I vanished from my own dream altogether.

~~~

The dreamscape was relatively unchanged, or at least free from immediately noticeable changes. I looked around, searching for a particular type of dream. A black one caught my eye. A brief flight brought me over to it, and I wasted no time gently caressing its surface.

"Not this one." I muttered, turning away from the former slave's nightmare. It didn't take me long to find another black dream. This one was also crystal infested. It didn't take me long to search the war camp, but most of the nightmares nearby were indirectly the result of Sombra, and thus they wouldn't work. I had to resort to traveling in ever widening circles, searching for the correct sort of nightmare.

It took me several hours to find a suitable dream. A colt, hundreds of miles away in the waking world. He was ignorant of the horrors that were taking place in the wider world, all he knew was that the Legions were protecting him and his home city. The exact details were irrelevant to him. But he suffered from the terrors normal colts and fillies his age suffered from. Fear of the dark, fear of snakes, fear of spiders, fear that the filly he liked didn't like him, things of that nature. And that made his nightmare perfect for my purposes.

I quietly appeared behind him as the darkness seemed to press down with an oppressive weight. The sandy colored colt shivered as he curled into a fetal position.

"Enough." I commanded, my horn glowing a bright silver. The darkness screeched in pain, surprised by my interference. The colt's head snapped up to the sound of my voice, quickly zoning in on my presence.

"P-Princess?" he stammered.

"Never forget young one, that no darkness is endless, and that the light will always return." It wasn't my cleanest resolution for a nightmare, but it seemed to do the trick and time was of the essence. The colt mutely nodded, and just seemed content to huddle in on himself as I turned towards the darkness that pushed itself against the corona of my light. "You however;" I snarled, reaching out with my magic, suddenly grabbing something solid in the darkness. It screeched in surprise again, not expecting me to deal with it directly. It knew I could destroy it instantly. But if I did, the dreamer would learn nothing, and would be vulnerable to infestation of the same sort of nightmare.

But again, time was running out; and I had given the colt something to grab onto. All he needed to do was internalize it.

The nightmare was firmly in my grasp as I left the colt's dream, dragging it writhing and thrashing with me.

Now back in the greater dreamscape, I tightened my grip on the abhorrent creature and brought it level with my face.

"Take me to your master."

Chapter 18 The Memories Part 9

~~~

The nightmare was a minor entity. Something akin to both an infant and a foot soldier. Regardless, it writhed in my grasp. Its reply wasn't in words, or at least words that Ponykind would recognize. It communicated with feelings, and its dialect was that of fear.

"Why should I?" it seemed to say.

"Because if you don't I will burn you from this existence." I snarled in reply. That seemed to cow the demon, at least for the moment. It did try to free itself a few more times before it responded again.

"Fine. Will show." But it didn't make any effort to reveal any direction or information.

"Now." I lit my horn with bright silver light.

"Fine Fine. The deal is struck." Finally, the minor demon began to wiggle in a direction.

"Do not think to lie to me." I commanded, not trusting the thing even slightly. The demon settled for a moment, before it resigned to wiggle in a completely different direction. Better, but I still didn't believe the demon was actually leading me to its Lord.

Demons, and by extension Nightmares which were demons of fear, were organized in a very similar manner to mortal kind. At the very top was the King, who ruled over all. Next came the princes, each with their own phylum of darkness. Which in turn was further broken up between the Dukes, the Lords, the Generals, etcetera. All the way down to the common soldier, where the soldier would claim something simple like a single room or object as its domain.

Specifically, this nightmare was a very low rank amongst the horde it belonged to. Likely, it had claimed a room or object the colt had frequent contact with. It would pay tribute to a Lieutenant. And while I would prefer that it would take me directly to The Nightmare demon, likely a Duke or a Prince, it was much more likely to take me to its immediate superior.

And that was totally fine.

As the demon directed me towards a trap, I felt a thaumic ping as Celestia lowered the Sun. My horn was already glowing, so the demon didn't notice me cast my half of the spell.

"I have a plan, but the next time we speak you must judge me. If I am too far gone, or you deem me unworthy, annihilate me until all that remains is the memory of my name."

"... I understand." the Moon stated after a moment.

"Thank you."

The spell finished and my cosmic duty was done until morning.

~~~

The demon brought me to a collection of dreaming ponies in close proximity, except these ponies were all inter connected with a cancerous blob of shadow that connected them all. Due to the amount of ponies, and the similar vein of dreams, I reasoned this Lieutenant haunted an Inn in the local city. Or maybe a brothel where ponies dreamt of guard ponies kicking the front door down. Regardless, this was where this minor demon's superior made its lair.

"Master, here." The demon croaked in confirmation.

"Then be free." I snarled, purifying it with a pulse of silver light. The thing did shriek, but it was in its wordless tongue. It was in pain, but that pain was something like a distant cousin to the kind of pain mortals could understand.

The nuisance now gone, I approached the next demon in the hierarchy.

"Take me to your master vermin." I bellowed in challenge. The demon Lieutenant was larger then its subordinate. But it was still low enough that it wasn't adverse to doing things itself. It spoke in the same tongue as the minor, but slightly more eloquent.

"Moon Avatar? Here?" it seemed to smirk. "And if this One refuses?"

"You already know the answer." I threatened.

"Moon Avatar may threaten the Minors, but this One is not swayed."

Deciding not to speak, I shone silver light on the thing's tendrils that connected it to its captive ponies.

"Wait! We can be reasonable." it bargained.

"The time to be reasonable has passed." I snorted, burning away two cancerous growths and beginning to work through a third.

"Fine! The deal is struck!" It panicked.

"I knew you would see things my way."

~~~

The night continued much the same way. A nightmare would take me to its superior, I would destroy the abomination, and I would use the new demon to lead me onward. After the Marquis', I didn't bother destroying the old nightmare. My plan would go smoother if the Prince of Nightmares still had a court to hold sway over.

But finally, at around 2 in the morning, a Duke brought me before the Prince. It was this entity that commanded all nightmares. And thus my natural nemesis in the realm of dreams.

"Luna. Luna Luna Luna." It spoke in a deep baritone, actually using Ponish. "You've been causing quite the stir amongst my court Luna. I trust you have a reasonable explanation."

"I have come to make a deal." I still spoke with the authority of the Moon, I was not here to play games.

"A deal?" the Arch Thing replied in surprise. "You? Luna, The Moon's Chosen? How sublime..." it grinned. "You of course know my price, so what is it that you want?"

"We both know my soul is far too valuable to be wasted on trifles." I countered. "And for you, what I ask for is indeed a trifle."

"Oh?" The thing sighed. "Now you pique my curiosity as well as my attention."

"I wish to know fear." I started. "I wish to look at a mortal, and know their deepest fears. I wish to peer not only into, but through the very darkest depths of a soul. That is all I ask."

The demon seemed to ponder this.

"That's... It?" it spoke. "You do not wish for bravery, you do not wish for wealth? You come here, harassing my court, for the most basic of powers my spawn possesses?"

"I do."

"Now come now Luna. Surely there is something else you want, something more to wager your soul for."

"I told you, my soul is far too valuable for this."

"Then what do you propose to offer me?" it asked.

"I offer a fair share of tithing to you." I offered. "For all the fear I inspire, you shall get half in tithe. As if I were one of your Dukes."

The demon did the abstract concept equivalent of stroking one's chin.

"... This is an interesting offer." It admitted. "I do not believe any mortal has offered such a payment before."

"Do you reject my offer?" I asked, far too calmly.

"No!" It exclaimed. "No." it stated, calmer this time. "I know how much fear you leave. I know that you haunt the heart's of the most wicked mortals. This offer is not a small amount, even if by half." It admitted.

"Do you take me for a fool? That I would not come if I did not have something valuable to render payment with?"

"No. You are no fool Luna." It snarled. "You have been a thorn in my side for far too long. And yet... You come here, offering this for Our sight. You have a reason to need this. You have an angle." It seemed to examine a tendril like how a pony would examine a hoof. "The question is, what? What are you not saying? What are you so urgently in need of that you would come to me?"

"Do you reject my offer?" I repeated. "My time and patience are both limited, and you will not be receiving this deal again."

"No. The deal is struck. You will from now, till the end of time tithe half of the fear you inspire to me."

And suddenly my soul felt sick, as if infected with a slow, cold, and slimy toxin. Out of pure instinct, I put a hoof to my barrel, gasping suddenly for breath.

But despite the sudden urge to vomit, I smiled.

"What are you-" the demon growled, its form now opaque and only half there.

"There's only one way for a Harmonic creature such as myself to willingly tithe to a demon." I smirked, an oily blackness settling in the bottom of my heart.

"O- Oh. Ha!" the demon began, its form now disappearing entirely.

Hahahaha!

You are indeed a clever mare! I see what you have done!

"Heh." I smirked grimly. "Surprised?"

In hindsight no... No I am not.

Enough of you though, I see whom your target is.

And he sounds delicious.

Author's Note

Dun dun duuuuun! :pinkiegasp:

If you want to hangout, join my discord!
https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

The vibe: https://youtu.be/O4fbxCJ_obQ
:trollestia:

Chapter 19 The Memories Part 10

~~~

Sombra was still lounging peacefully when I manifested once more. Shapely, dumbly obedient mares brought food and drink then exposed themselves by facing away from the stallion and bending over.

"Ah Luna." he sighed, his eyes closed blissfully. "Come to destroy me so soon? So soon after I humiliated you?"

"No." Our voice was was cold and breathless. Sombra's eyes snapped open in surprise. Almost startled, the stallion sit up from his reclined position. "Death is far too short."

"Luna? What have you done-?"

We grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the floor, the mares and crystal furnishings evaporating into dream dust as he impacted the ground.

"You are naught but a nameless worm." We rasped in his ear, the timeless cold of the grave on our breath. Immediately, the dream formed into a panoramic of the Crystal Empire, the dark crystals infecting everything. The wind seemed to blow in a manner that seemed infinitely fast, yet impossibly slow. As the wind picked up, the crystal buildings began to round, their sharp edges smoothing out and disappearing.

"Look at all you have wrought!" We exclaimed angrily. "How long do you think it will last?"

The buildings began to crumble under their own weight.

"A decade? A century? Millenia?" We asked rhetorically. "You may inscribe your name into every rock. In every darkened river stone and every fiery coal of a volcano!"

Now the buildings were mere suggestions low to the ground, covered in snow.

"How long will they last? How long before your name fades from memory?" We rasped, slamming his head into the deceptively hard floor.

"How long do you think We'll last?" We hissed in his ear. "We're already older then everything you've known. From the mountains to the rivers, We've seen them form. How much longer will We last? And how much effort do you think We'll unleash to personally find every rock and pebble you've bothered to ever pick up, from colthood to death, and ensure every mention of your name is ground into dust?" I snarled.

The wind blew the snow away, forming dunes that rose and fell, before they disappeared entirely, and were replaced by the hard bedrock, that too began to wear away.

"Hear Us now and Hear Us well Worm." We growled, our muzzle almost entirely in his ear. "We will personally destroy every record, both natural and Pony made, that you ever existed. From the crystals, to the history books. We will wipe out your House's progeny. We will burn and salt your family's fields. And your name will NEVER be remembered."

The bedrock wore away, forming new sandy dunes that flowed like ocean waves.

Sombra was hyperventilating by now, his eyes wide, and his former calm was no where to be seen. This was his fear, the fear that he will never be remembered. The fear that time will grind him away from history. The fear that no matter how much he has or does, nothing he can do will cement himself in history.

He feared the darkness of the grave.

In hindsight, it was a very common fear with dark wizards. Whom come into power for some reason or other, only to realize that it won't last past their deaths. So they try to grab as much as they can, all in the vain attempt to prolong their lives.

And that's all that Sombra was. A foal throwing a tantrum about going to bed for the night. The reason this tantrum was so noteworthy, was how far Sombra was willing to go to get his name into a history book. Literally anything and everything was on the table. Most dark wizards set their sights high, ruling a kingdom was no small feat after all. But Sombra had no interest in a single land. He wanted everything. The world, his name in every history book, and the guarantee of safety from death.

Sombra's eyes were unblinkingly wide when the sands of the former Empire flowed so that a single grave marker was pushed to the surface, inches away from his muzzle. The name "Sombra" could be read on its surface, but the wind slowly wiped away the engraving.

And that did it.

The dream collapsed with an almost comical pop as Sombra woke up. Leaving us floating above the city wide congregation of nightmare infested dreams.

We couldn't help ourselves. We began to cackle.

But that cackle died as suddenly every nightmare infested orb vanished into thin air.

Where there were once thousands of sleeping ponies, there were now none.

Fearing the worst, We woke up.

~~~

The war camp was in a confused turmoil when we stuck our head out of the tent. Ponies rushed to and fro in the night, shouting to each other. No commands were being issued, just the same confused and concerned conversation being repeated hundreds of times.

"What happened?!"

"I don't know!"

"Where'd the city go?!"

"I'm not sure!"

Throngs of soldiers mustered along side the siege weapons, their jaws agape in awe. We pushed our way through the crowd before we came to the front.

Our jaw also dropped.

The city, its infected crystal architecture, the brain washed soldiers, the towering palace tower in the center... It was all gone.

Gone.

All gone.

All that remained was a spherical indent in the ground where fresh dirt and stone now lay exposed.

Dimly, We became aware of our surroundings again. Our presence, despite being the largest pony in sight, was barely noticed next to the city-that-no-longer-was. We shook our head in disgust and pushed our way back to the camp proper. A discussion was sorely needed.

~~~

The Commanding Pavilion was in just as much shock as the rest of the camp. Even the constant feasting had finally halted as the accompanying nobility gathered between the gigantic tents for a clear view of the now barren valley. We found Celestia in one such spot, her eyes wide and her mouth fallen.

"Lu- Luna..." she stammered when she noticed us. "D-do you know the cause of this?"

"We do not." we admitted. "We do have theories however."

"Such as?"

"It- It is possible We scared Sombra to such a degree he enacted some fell magic. What exactly that spell would be, We do not know."

If Celestia had noticed our new speech pattern, she made no comment, but merely turned back to gaze over the desolate field.

"I want battlemages combing over every inch of where the Empire stood."

"We concur."

~~~

Court had reconvened the next morning in the tent palace. The atmosphere was much more subdued then the previous day. The nobility barely spoke, they would occasionally share nervous glances each other. As a consequence, their accompanying servants stood quietly behind them, waiting for any orders from their master. Celestia watched with rapt attention at a mare who read off a scroll.

"The battlemages of the 3rd Legion report the remains of an unknown spell in the affected vicinity. From what they can gather, the city was sent... Elsewhere in time."

Mutterings amongst the attendees interuppted the mare.

"Is that possible?"

"How did Sombra accomplish such a thing?"

"Where- When did they go?"

"Enough." We called out, silencing the crowd. "Proceed." We said, turning towards the messenger.

"Y-Yes your Highness..." the mare stammered. "The 3rd is still examining the spell matrix... They think they can reverse engineer a time table that the City will return. But they expect the research to take two weeks."

"Thank you Private. Tell the 3rd to proceed." Celestia commanded. The messenger mare half bowed, and half nodded, turning to one of the generals to receive the official paperwork.

"... So... What now?" a noble stallion quietly interjected.

"Now;" began Celestia. "Until we know where the City has gone, we'll reconsolidate the army into a fortified position. The command echelons will pull back to the Everfree Castle. The army will stay here for a month. If the city returns, they will be in position to stop a second invasion before it even starts. After one month, half the army will withdraw back to Equestria and resume their regular posts. After one year, An outpost with emergency communication spells is to be established permanently in one of those far mountains." Celestia pointed into the distance, where mountain tops were visible on the horizon. "From there they would be far enough to at least send some warning if the city returns, but still close enough to easily observe the land." There were grumbles of acceptance. "Excellent. Now then, I believe many of us have packing to do?"

With the dismissal, the Court shuffled out of the pavilion. Several of Celestia's bureaucrats approached the white Alicorn and started to quietly discuss something. Nopony approached us, so we found ourselves left to our own devices.

Pray tell, now what oh Duchess mine?

We- I grit my teeth silently as We- I thought just that.

The vanishing of the Crystal Empire was wholly unexpected. We- I had thought that Sombra would not, could not flee. The fact that he would someday return was... Abhorrent.

And with the thing in our- My head...

The only Pony who had lost was u- Me.

Yet the position was not untenable...

Oh we shall see about that Luna. We shall see.

Author's Note

Oh yeah... Everything is coming together... :pinkiecrazy:

Chapter 20 The Search

~~~

I awoke to the sounds of movement down below. It took me a moment to remember where I was, and why I was paying attention for even the softest footstep. Thankfully, it just seemed like one of the librarians arriving for the day.

I settled back into a comfortable position, gently chewing on my lower lip as the memory of the "dream" pushed itself into the forefront of my mind.

Satisfied? You've figured me out.

I reigned in the urge to talk out loud. The library was still quiet and something talking to itself in the ceiling would've been obvious.

Oh? I can say anything I want and you won't respond?

I pondered how a small talking horse could hire the services of an exorcist.

Fair enough.

The "annoyance" sufficiently cowed for the moment, it was good to have an idea on how to get rid of it. While I had no idea if a human exorcist would actually work, it was better than nothing.

You don't 'cow' me Luna. I tolerate you.

It was also good to know the parasite could read my thoughts. Well then 'Milord'... I grow tired of our partnership. Begone, and take your "sight" with you. It isn't even a sixth sense.

There had never been a label above anyone's head saying "arachnophobia" or "nyctophobia" or "xenophobia" or anything like that.

I had to figure out what people's fears were by inference, or the old fashioned way.

The demon had done nothing but take up space in my head.

Yeah? And how do you think my spawn do it? We are not omnipotent, we have to figure it out like any mortal.

Liar.

You are the Prince of Nightmares. Or maybe rather Princess of Nightmares now. It is your duty to your King to rule over the concept of fear in his stead, and thus you have absolute dominion over fear. You mean to tell me you cannot divine a mortal's deepest fears with just a glance?

Truly the forces of Hell, or Tartarus, or whatever the fuck they want to call themselves have fallen far if the likes of you have the rank of Prince.

Careful who you insult wretch. I'm still in here and I can push and pull all sorts of levers and buttons.

Yeah? I'm still not entirely sure I can die as 'Luna'. So if you fuck up my head you get to live with whatever you do alongside me.

Unless I scramble your brain and just decide to leave.

We both know that won't work. It may take time, but I'll get my memories back in order eventually.

And if I just decide to take your memories with me?

If you could modify or remove my memories, you would've done so already to make me the perfect servant. And obviously, I am far from your ideal "servant".

So again; give me what was promised, or leave. I may even give you a five second head start.

All the Other did was snarl wordlessly, but otherwise fell silent.

I knew it hadn't left. The disgusting, oily, and distressingly familiar feeling in my heart hadn't gone away.

"I'm waiting." I musically, yet quietly hummed. The librarian below had long passed by, probably into the offices. I could risk some noise to be irritating.

You think giving you my sight is easy? Keep in mind You were doing your best to starve me in Equestria, and a thousand year journey across the stars didn't do me any favors.

"A... thousand?" I felt the blood drain from my face.

Well, 976 years, but slowly drifting aimlessly through space isn't really a thing that is measured with rounded and even numbers. Ironically, your restoration to your Alicorn self marked exactly one millennium.

"One..."

How could that be?! It- It made sense... But still! One thousand years?!

That's what breaks you? Not the demon in your head? Not that you're actually an alien? But that you spent a thousand years sub FTL floating between stars?

It didn't feel like a thousand years... Just... Just really, really, really cold.

If I ever did that again, I'm bringing, and hugging an unshielded fusion reactor as I float away.

Speaking as a literal demon, you are fucked in the head.

Yeah shocker. I rolled my eyes sarcastically. Of course I'm a psychologists wet dream or worst nightmare. Why would I expect any different?

The conversation died down as the library below made more and more noise as more people arrived. With nothing to do, as I wasn't about to wander during the day time, I fell back asleep.

~~~

Thankfully, I didn't fall off the beam while napping. But occasionally I was woken up by loud noises from below. A baby crying, someone's phone accidently blaring "Ex gonna give it to ya", an excited kid ranting about a computer game, things like that.

My circadian rhythm was fucked though. So I woke up early and could do nothing but stare at my watch waiting for five pm to roll around. I didn't know what time the library closed, but five seemed like a safe bet. Also it was now November and the sun had likely set already.

I cast the gas spell and floated to the foam "floor".

I ignored the pepperoni wrapper as I lifted a corner of a tile. Let some poor maintenance worker discover it in the future so they could wonder how it got there.

The lights were still on. The staff were still working after all. I didn't want to leave quite yet, but I had no idea how long I would have to look for someplace to stay. Every second could count.

Besides, how hard could sneaking by a few tired humans ignorant to your presence be?

...Fuck off Murphy!

I set the tile back in its place and moved to another near the wall, one that was above an outside facing window. Thankfully, the librarians were too busy dealing with the logistics of running the library and weren't paying close enough attention to notice a strangely active shadow open, and then slip out of a window.

I was right, the sun had set. A dull orange glow could be seen on the Western horizon in an otherwise navy blue sky. Headlights could be seen occasionally between the surrounding buildings. The air was warm, but was beginning to rapidly cool, it would not be long before it became crisp.

The plethora of moving shadows cast from moving vehicles proved to be an excellent cover as I flowed across the library's lawn, not quite willing to solidify yet. But that wasn't to say I was careless, it wouldn't do to suddenly be caught in a direct headlight as a shadow that had no object to be cast from. So I pushed myself low over lawns, or hid behind tree trunks as cars passed.

I passed only a few pedestrians on an evening walk. They were harder to hide from because the shadows didn't shift drastically like they would with a car. But at the same time, they relied on street lights for them to find their way. All it took was to hide from them was to coalesce behind something so they couldn't see me from the sidewalks.

I went from street to street. The library would be an ok place to stay for a few days, but I needed a space that no one used. Like an abandoned home or warehouse. I didn't know what my long term plans were exactly, but short term I needed a place to stay. And winter was coming. I couldn't steal and stash cans of food in a frequently visited public space now could I?

Anonymity in audacity sure, but there was a difference between hiding in plain sight and asking to be caught.

So as the Western horizon faded from dull orange to navy blue, to midnight black, I searched through the night.

Author's Note

Heheheheheheheheh... :pinkiecrazy:

As always, my Discord! https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 21 The House

~~~

I found a few candidates to hide in. A few for sale homes. But while they could "work", they looked too new and well kept for them to have been ignored. A riverside factory that looked condemned seemed promising, until you noticed the cheap sign that looked like someone who didn't know how to professionally design graphics tried to design a logo for a small town company. Who knew how much of the building they did or didn't use. Or even what the company would hide inside. It felt to me like the cops were going to bust the doors down any second for a drug bust.

I didn't even try to look around where I found churches. The god botherers would've snatched up those properties like children grabbing candy thrown onto the ground during a parade. Same thing with the one school I found.

That left the ideal candidate.

I was surprised to discover such a find. It was tucked behind a park in a part of town that felt like you could walk in one direction but never find a main road, despite never leaving the suburbs. The lawn was overgrown and was doing its best to swallow the path that lead from the sidewalk to the front door. The siding was sun bleached grey, its original color lost to time. a peaked roof that was scruffy, and likely leaked during even a small rain shower; sat above a second floor. A chimney rose behind in the back yard. Perfect for easily entering as a shadow, and important to vent smoke from a fire, since the power was likely cut by the electric company. While a problem, it was going to be one I would have to deal with.

Finally, a reason to be thankful for the housing crisis.

I looked at the sight angles through the windows, taking notes about where you could see from the road and neighbors. When I thought I got all the angles, I ghosted to the chimney top and flowed down.

The inside seemed just as faded as the outside, although a hint of color could be seen by the street lights. The living room seemed to take up the back center of the house, to the left side the master bedroom. To the right, the kitchen, dinning room, bathroom, and wash closet. Up stairs, a hall and two small bedrooms. There was some furniture, but I didn't trust them to be sturdier than a pile of dust. There even was a can of food in the pantry. Canned apricot juice, Dated 5/2009.

It was... Dubious.

I decided I would be staying mainly in the living room and kitchen. Mostly because they were opposite the road and most of the neighbors. And I didn't want to set the fireplace anymore than I needed.

Meanwhile I sat down in front of the unlit fireplace, in my hooves, a box of fruit snacks that I had stolen off a person unloading their car of groceries.

I slowly ate three, taking my time to stretch it as far as possible, dawn was in three hours and since it wasn't too cold yet, I didn't light a fire nor did I take the risk to be out more tonight. So with nothing to do, I re-searched the house because I was bored. All I found was dust, an old Barbie doll in one of the rooms upstairs, and a few cleaning chemicals and brooms in a closet in the kitchen. I then tested the the furniture in the two rooms I had chosen to frequent. The few that were already broken hadn't passed my tests. The living room couch held me.

But I still wasn't confident.

I curled up on the couch, my front facing the backing. And I did my best to fall asleep despite not really being tired.

That didn't work, so when dawn came I watched the traffic outside, trying to see what information I could scrounge with observation.

A few cars began to pass around seven, likely people leaving for work. No school buses. Then a few pedestrians walked by around eight, a few walking their dogs. Then traffic stagnated, only one or two walkers for three hours. Then a white USPS truck would park in the middle of the street, the mailman then delivering the mail for the whole street with a greying white canvas bag. That took only about ten minutes before he moved on. An hour later, several groups of stay at home moms walked by, gossiping and jockeying for social standing in their friend groups.

I took that opportunity to try and sleep again on the couch. Still couldn't sleep but I lay there with my eyes closed anyway. Letting the occasional feeling of distinct voices hum from outside.

Gradually, the dark grey glow from behind my eyelids turned fully to black.

The sun had set again.

The growl of cars returning to their owners garage over the course of a few hours.

The occasional chirp of quiet conversation from a few evening walkers.

The quiet hum of a world that hadn't left the late 2000's, winding down almost into sleeping silence.

I almost fell asleep, but I needed to get my sleep schedule back under control, so I opened my eyes.

The world was significantly darker than when I last had my eyes open. The contrast sticking strangely in my mind. Another car passed a the window in another room. I ate two more fruit snacks, munching slowly, wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep, but knowing I couldn't waste this first opportunity to gather supplies to live off of for three months. I cast the gas shadow spell again and pushed myself up the chimney.

I dropped the spell as I cleared the chimney lip, knowing that getting my heart pumping would do more to keep me awake than constantly channeling the gas spell for hours at a time.

I stretched my wings, wincing as I realized they were starting to itch, like locks of hair that had been pulled painfully from how they naturally lay.

Lucas knew that birds preened. Luna had been well in the habit of preening herself, but had fallen out of practice after she had been thrown out of Equestria's solar system. Yet it was such a facet of her life she had never bothered to remember any such habit.

Evidently, what ever I was, needed to get into the practice of caring for their wings.

I did my best to ignore the itch by gently flapping my wings, hoping that getting the air to flow through the feathers naturally would help by providing the distraction of movement from the oncoming itching.

Finally deciding I had forgotten enough, I lifted into the night sky.

Author's Note

At the risk of sounding like a certain creepy space octopi,

JUST. AS. PLANNED. :pinkiecrazy:

also; 'cord!
https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 22 The Agents

~~~

More cars seemed to be out than what I figured for a small town just before midnight. I perched on a tall lamp post and watched a few of the vehicles pass by. Three black vans, they all took the next left. I watched their lights between a few of the houses, they took another left.

I took off in the direction that they were driving away from.

I flew in a lazy lap around the town, just a few feet above the telephone wires.

I saw a group of night runners a block away.

Not trusting which direction they'd take, I calmly perched on a thick branch in a tree with bushy leaves. They ran underneath, glancing at their watches occasionally.

I turned as I watched them run down the street, they turned left at the crosswalk. Another black van drove by them, it didn't turn down the street I was on, but a block over judging on the engine's hum. I took off behind the van, trying to leave while I had access to their blind spot.

I perched in another tree, seeing a white company truck with a generic logo on the side. It swayed as if the truck was loaded with not a small weight. It turned left around a baseball field.

I watched them as they took another left, going up a slight hill on the other side of the baseball diamond.

A car alarm began to blare off to the right, breaking my attention of the white truck.

I sat for a few moments, not daring to move just in case there were suddenly many eyes looking out of their windows.

Something thunked into the tree truck near my chest.

Metal glinted with the light of a distant lamp, stuck into the wood.

I looked in the direction of where it had to have come from.

The company truck had stopped, its back open.

Men wearing black were facing in this direction, a line behind standing, a line in front kneeling.

More things started to thunk into the wood.

They knew I was here!

I propelled myself upward in an effort to evade whatever was being shot at me. The air whistled a few times.

I pushed myself towards the nearest edge of town, hoping the lack of roads, and the abundance of darkness would aid in my escape.

Red white and blue sirens began to flash around the town.

They knew I had been here for a while.

They had been waiting.

I pushed myself faster as I felt my adrenaline truly start to kick in.

I didn't know if any more military units had sight on me, so I prioritized going faster than they expected, betting that they took the first opportunity to open fire despite being in a potentially sub par position.

Even more things began to buzz around in the whipping wind.

This was why I hated gambling.

But I was already almost to the closet edge of true darkness.

I had took a gamble, and it was too late to not follow through with the consequences.

A spider web of white nylon blossomed from the darkness.

"Oof!" I grunted as one of the net's weights clipped the tip of my wing.

Gravity began to make the ground grow in my vision. I flapped a few times, but I couldn't get the hit wing to work quite right. A few things whistled behind me as I began to fall faster than the snipers could anticipate.

Finally, the hurt wing began to pull its weight again, and I started to jerkily arrest my fall, although I had no control of where I was going.

I must've gotten out of sight of my ambushers as the whistles of air all but ceased. But that wasn't a great comfort as the ground felt like it was close enough to reach out and touch.

There was no saving this flight, I was going to hit the ground.

I stiffened my wings, and started to pump my legs, hoping to redirect my momentum so I hit the ground running, from there I could bleed off speed safely.

I felt myself jerk as my back hooves hit the ground first, I began to tip forward dangerously, but I was able to not tumble and readjusted my airborn gait to actually run on the ground. I felt myself zoom past bushes and flowers, going faster than what my legs could naturally could achieve.

My speed grew notably slowed as I used the boost to run in the opposite direction of where I suspected the federal agents to be.

Who else could muster multiple units to apprehend a potential alien monster?

My gait began to normalize, just as I ran into a darker portion of the town. The ring of police sirens began to finally echo in my ears, initially drowned out by adrenaline and panic. I slowed to a canter, now finally back in control of my speed.

I glanced around, looking for head lights and the shadows of people. I had landed deeper into the town. Except the "darkest" portion I had seen from the air was still reasonably bright. I kept to the shadows as much as I could, but the truest shadows were deep in patches of wild trees and underbrush. Disturbing the brush and stepping on a stick would ring out far too loudly to hide. So I was forced to scurry across pools of lamp light in an effort to get out of this neighborhood as soon as I could. I considered trying to fly again, but the hurt wing twitched just thinking about it. A company truck with the same logo as the first one drove by on a straight road a block away. They didn't act like they knew where I was so I continued on my way.

I saw a deep pool of darkness ahead. A park? The river? Didn't matter.

I turned from the sidewalk into someone's front yard, walking back into an unfenced back yard. It was big enough to walk around the upcoming street lamp. I took the risk that there wasn't a dog because of the open unprotected yard.

I took a moment to pause as a black van passed by the front yard. I waited for them to turn out of sight to dash across the street into the next decent shadow. From there, there were two back yards that were shaded, the second one had a outline of hedges.

I ducked behind one of them as another black van passed by on the street.

The feeling of a tightening noose told me they were closing in.

Author's Note

And here... We... Go. :rainbowwild:

Join my Discord!
https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 23 The Dart

~~~

The hedges were a welcome reprieve, but they were only a small blimp of darkness amongst the lamp light. The backyards behind the backyard with the hedgerow were my next step.

Although now that I was closer I could see the far lights reflecting off rippling waves.

You could kill them Luna.

"I'm not killing anyone. Not again." I murmured quietly.

Ah... Morals. I idly wonder how many brave and valiant warriors were slain because they refused to attack first.

"Not the time for this..." I growled softly. It was clear what the other was doing. It was trying to push me into attacking.

Into killing.

The best solution for a problem, was a permanent one.

Except that logic went out the window when it came to dealing with larger organizations like a company or the government. If it was indeed a large organization, then it could be assumed that someone had ordered these people here. If they did not return, then their superiors would definitely know something was wrong.

Federal agents or not, they had to live, and they must not see me anymore than they already had.

Hopefully they didn't have a recording already. If they did, and they could somehow track me, then these hunters would only be more persistent.

I poked my head over a white fence, my route blocked by lamplight. The river was only one or two streets away. If I could get to the darkness it provided... I could keep my head down while I flew low, safe in the knowledge that any silhouette I cast would only be seen by fish. From there, it would be easy to follow the river out of the town and seek safety in the endless darkness.

A light flashed between two houses in front of me. I didn't even wait, I ducked back below the fence.

More high beams lanced through the air above me. I peered through the gaps between the fence's boards. From what little I could see, more black vans and white "company" trucks.

I cursed quietly as they parked along side the river's edge. They had to have known where I was. And how I was planning to escape.

But how?

How did they know?

It didn't take a great leap of logic to figure out how I wanted to get out, but how did they know where I was? In hindsight, it did look like they had been searching, those runners had kept looking at their watches. The vehicles had taken the first turn they could when they drove directly by. If they had a GPS location, they wouldn't have bothered with the search patterns. Which meant they only knew which direction I was in.

I could now see figures hopping out of the one truck I could clearly see.

It would not take them long to triangulate my location if there were multiple detectors.

The clock is ticking Luna!

I let slip a quiet snarl. As correct as the Other was, it didn't need to sound so cheerful.

I glanced around, hoping to find inspiration.

The best thing I could see was a bit of fence that was shrouded with a decent shadow.

Better than nothing I guess.

I climbed over the shaded bit of fence, hoping the darkness would provide some cover from prying eyes. Otherwise my best idea was to strike like lightning and flee into the night.

No it wasn't a good idea. But what choice did I really have?

But not from here. It'd be like a medieval army marching for 10 miles and then charging up a hill. Easy to spot, and even easier to break.

The new yard was shaded, although it had a distinct lack of good cover, so I cautiously prowled, keeping my head low, and taking care to keep my steps light and soundless. I skirted around a mildew infested birdbath, ducking behind the corner of a house.

One more front lawn.

I could clearly see the agents, and there was no doubt now that I could get a good look. Black "tacticool" full body armor. Batons and riot shields were common, but rifles, that were certainly not standard issue, were also prevalent. I kept expecting to see the letters "FBI" or at least "SWAT", but the armor was unmarked.

Curiouser and curiouser.

They certainly didn't belong to any gang or cartel. The soldiers were far too orderly and disciplined. Similarly, their gear was far too uniform. No, this was a government agency. They had to be. But which one? On that front there was no clear clue.

Which was a clue in on itself, knowing that the American Government frequently made use of "secret" agencies.

These people had to be from one of those "off the book" organizations.

The only remaining question, was what did they deal with? How had I tripped their alarms?

My first guess, would be something to do with aliens. Now a much less "insane" idea since I was, y'know... An alien. But that didn't necessarily answer my question.

If the U.S. government could detect some sort of "biosignature" like a radar blip, then they let way too much slip by for comfort. 'Yeah, let's put the zodiac killer's DNA into the machine, learn where they live, and then do nothing with that information.'

Absurd.

Therefor my best guess, would be something to do with magic. But that didn't make sense, according to "mainstream science", magic did not exist. Although clearly that was wrong because... Again, former human turned alien. Could that mean that the U.S. government knew about magic? If they did, would they hide it from the public?

Who was I kidding? Of course they would hide that.

Something something, keeping power out of the hands of the many to maintain the power of the few or the status quo.

I felt the tips of my ears begin to burn as my anger rose like an ancient leviathan from the sea.

The soldiers began to gather, discussing with each other too quietly for me to hear what they were about to do. But I could take a guess.

They triangulated that I was close, and were about to push forward into the residential area.

This was probably going to be my last chance to get the jump on them.

I didn't scream a war cry.

Or shout.

Or exclaim in any way.

But I charged forward as the soldiers were just beginning to form up.

I saw the eyes of the soldier, who I had chosen to knock over with my charge, widen as he saw me moving far too fast and close for comfort.

"Th-!" he started to exclaim for his fellows. But it was too late for his shins.

If I were to stand straight on my four limbs next to a regular human, my head would only reach up to their waist. Which kind of upset me a little. One of the few things I was "proud" of as Lucas, was that I tended to be at least half a foot taller than most people.

I slammed into the bottom of his riot shield, managing to slip underneath the lip without too much trouble. But doing so made me bowl into his shins, forcing him to tip forward over my charge.

I was sure I could hear him exclaim something else, but the rest of the soldiers had erupted into pandemonium, so my hearing was a blur of muddied sound.

I left the fallen man behind and jumped at his friend behind him, this one armed with one of the rifles. I still had my momentum though, and he hadn't brought his weapon to bear yet.

I slammed into both his shoulder and weapon, forcing him to fall backwards. I allowed myself to fall back down with him, landing harshly on his chest as he hit the ground.

The formation had been only two men deep. The path to the river was clear.

Pfffth!

Something suddenly stung my left shoulder.

Dumbass. You could've just turned into a shadow and ignored all of these losers.

I looked down. One of the metal darts that had embedded themselves in the tree trunk were now sticking out of my shoulder.

"Motherfu-!"

Darkness.

Author's Note

:pinkiegasp:

Chapter 24 The Fortress

~~~

Awareness came slowly.

Oh wow. It's rare that I get sleep that restful.

I can't remember the last time I-

Wait. Wasn't I doing something?

I don't remember going to bed...

The memories came flooding back.

The town! The house! The agents! The river!

The dart...

I opened my eyes.

The first thing I noticed was that I was in a room. A room with concrete walls painted with dull grey paint. The second, was the dark glass window embedded in the wall directly in front of me. Third, I couldn't move.

Whoever these people were had strapped all of my legs, wings, and head to the rails of a gurney with thick braided nylon bands so I was sprawled out like a bear rug. I opened my mouth to shout, but my jaw was clamped shut too.

I looked down my muzzle to see the glint of a metal muzzle. I grunted in frustration, but the knowledge of the muzzle only brought awareness to my horn, which felt off. I crossed my eyes to look up.

When I finally saw what was wrong I rolled my eyes.

Someone had "helpfully" stuck a tennis ball on the tip. Probably so I didn't gouge anyone's eye out in retaliation.

Hilarious.

Wakey wakey dumbass!

"Gawd damn it!" I growled through clenched teeth.

Well, at least I could kind of communicate.

Use a spell all day that grants you effective immunity to firearms, and you still forget you can cast spells! I am truly disappointed in you Luna.

I only thrashed a little in the restraints. Before I remembered I didn't want to waste energy trying to escape, all that would do would tire me out if who ever put me here did their job right. But I did try to slowly test how far I could move in them.

The answer was "not much".

Is there popcorn in here? That's what you corporeal's do when watching entertainment right?

I ignored the Other. I didn't want to talk out loud to it, because this was obviously an interrogation room, and I didn't want any information said to the demon to be recorded.

Also I had an escape to plan before they vivisected me.

My thoughts raced.

Did this agency deal with aliens or magic? Both? Neither and finding me was a freak accident?!

I needed answers.

I glanced around the room once more. The only new detail I noticed was the big rectangular crack in the wall, painted the same dull grey as the walls. I assumed it was the door, except there was no door handle... Although now that I thought about it, the door was likely remote controlled from the observation room.

"Hm." I hummed in thought, continued to glance around, hoping for something. Anything!

But then I glanced up at the tennis ball impaled on my horn.

So maybe they knew about magic... But did they know about-?

I channeled a tiny amount of energy up the spiraling horn. Not enough for it to glow, but enough that I could feel the tennis ball wiggle itself if I held still.

I suppressed the urge to smile grimly.

I was not out of the fight yet.

The door chose that moment to start clicking as its locks disengaged.

I calmly stopped channeling and let the tennis ball rest.

The door opened, revealing more grey painted concrete, and very briefly, the leg of soldier wearing green and tan camo, and tan combat boots. That was all I could gather before a man wearing a white lab coat blocked my view. He calmly closed the door behind him.

He didn't really have any distinct characteristics. But he was like the image in your head whenever you thought of the word "scientist". But not like Doctor Brown or Rick Sanchez. No, he was well groomed, short salt and pepper hair that was still more pepper, short beard, eyes that would never hold the spark of true inspiration, and did nothing but pour known chemicals into more known chemicals all day and jot down the already known reaction as if he was pushing the boundaries of knowledge.

If it wasn't for me being an arguably "unique" alien, this man would have never discovered anything.

He scribbled something on a clipboard.

I didn't say anything, but watched him warily.

He didn't look up from the board for a minute, looking through several sheets of paper.

Yeah, this guy played at being a scientist. Why read off a paper when you have a truly unique specimen laying on the table in front of you?

...Or was I really unique? Had Celestia and Equestria mastered FTL travel and gotten here before I did?

It was possible I suppose... But wouldn't Celestia and her ego demand to be known to all who could perceive her?

I set it aside as an unlikely scenario, not totally willing to throw it out quite yet.

"Well now." the man stated finally looking up from his board. He smiled good naturedly. "Let's get a look at those peepers."

Did this fool really think I was a wild animal?

He pulled a pen light out of a pocket and turned it on, shining it in my eyes.

I made a point of staring directly at his face, not following the light.

The flickers of unease began to creep into his eyes as I unflinchingly glared.

"Well... Um... Okay then..." He turned off the light and wrote something new on his board. "You gave the boys a fright little one." He snapped his fingers in my ears, noting their natural response. "Don't know where you came from, but it's a good thing we found you first."

There was no way...

"Can't have you wandering around in a strange place can we?" he smiled warmly again, continuing to write on his board.

He did.

"One. One. Two. Three. Five. Eight. Thirteen. Twenty one. I think therefor I am. Three point one four one five nine two. Little blue planet third from the sun." I stated harshly through the muzzle.

Buwahahahahaha!

The man froze as if he had suddenly been flash frozen.

"Y- Y-" he tried to stammer.

"To be, or not to be. That is the question. Ra-ra-Rasputin lover of the Russian Queen. I see a red door and I want to paint it black." I ranted through clenched teeth.

Hahahahaha! By the stars! His face!

"Y- you-" he began to back away.

Good. I now had his attention.

"I am become death, destroyer of worlds. Do I have your attention?" I almost snarled.

Oh thank the darkness I don't need to breathe! For I would never roam the universe ever again!

"Y-yes..." he stuttered, his face still agape in fear.

"Good. Now I want to know where I am, who you people are, and what your intentions are." I demanded.

Was it a good idea to poke the government agency? Probably not. But shockingly, I wasn't in the best mood. And regardless, I wouldn't be forgetting the mistake I had made anytime soon.

Hopefully.

The doctor seemed to regain a bit of composure and glanced at the one way window. Probably seeing if he get any clue from his superiors on what to do. His phone buzzed in his pocket. In which he pulled it out and gave the little black square a glance.

"Ok." He breathed, regaining most of his composure now. "I am Doctor Stevenson, and I'm part of a government agency that deals with extra-normal phenomenon. The National Paranormal Investigation Agency if you want an exact name. It is our job to apprehend, contain, and study anomalies too... Alien for the common citizen to understand." He clutched his clipboard to his chest.

"Hm. Fascinating." I hummed. "You're a ripoff of the Global Occult Coalition."

I guess my mood was worse than I thought.

Eat him! Eat him! Eat him! Eat him!

"I beg your pardon?" he gasped.

"Not important." I sighed. "So if I'm understanding you correctly... You think I'm too 'strange' to be allowed to roam free?"

His phone buzzed again, which he drew out of his pocket with a practiced swipe. His eyes reflected text on a white background as he read. Finally he slumped slightly as if to say 'God damnit really?'

"Cute." he snorted as he put his phone away. "I see you're familiar with our culture."

The urge to push this man's buttons was too tempting to resist.

Push his buttons! Push his buttons!

"More than you evidently." I snorted dismissively. "But I suppose you want to know where I come from, who I am, and what I am yes?"

"Wait now hold on-"

"A very long time ago, a very far distance away from here, there existed nothing. So much nothing in fact, that all the nothing imploded in on itself into something-"

"Cooperate or we will discipline you!" he exclaimed in frustration.

"Why whatever do you mean Doctor? Are we not having a civil discussion?" I asked innocently. He seemed to inwardly stew as he lifted his clipboard and scribbled something down again.

"What did you mean 'More than us'?" he hissed through slightly clenched teeth.

Ooooooooh. Touch a nerve did I? How dare I, a flithy alien know more about humanity that one of their own best and brightest?

Oh yeah, definitely a xenophobe.

Oh so you do have a use?

Hey hey hey! Do not attack the audience!

Give me what you owe and I might be willing to accommodate you.

"Why Doctor is it not obvious?" I asked with mock concern. "When was the last time you went out with friends and saw a movie in the theater? When was the last time you scrolled through Twitter? When was the last time you touched grass?"

I knew I was cruising for a bruising, but it had been so long since I had trolled someone.

And he was such an easy target.

"You work tirelessly to keep truth away from the masses. You work tirelessly to keep power in the hands of the rich elite by any means necessary. Don't deny it, I could tell the moment you stepped foot in this room you were hired more for your loyalty than any natural ability. Your public hates you. They hate every lie. They hate every hypocrisy. They hate their very lives because you willingly keep them in such a poor state to maintain your status quo."

The good Doctor had frozen again during my rant. He slowly pursed his lips.

But I wasn't done.

"And despite me only being here for... What? A week?"

Technically the truth if you only counted since my 'reemergence' as Luna, but they didn't need to know I had lived amongst them for nearly three decades already.

"You then have the gall to point your grubby fingers and blame me for all of your problems, despite your problems stemming back decades, if not centuries. All in the name of keeping your charges 'safe'. You do not know who I am. You do not know what I am. And you do not know what I've been through. So tell me 'Doctor'... Do you really think I'm the issue when you won't even look in the god damn mirror?"

You could hear a pin drop as silence reigned.

Fuckin' gottem.

Yeah? I'm still waiting for an answer from you too.

Alright fine. You will have your sight.

And suddenly I could see.

It wasn't like I was blind before. But now it was like someone had removed the cap off a camera, allowing me to see a whole new spectrum of color.

Except it wasn't color.

The walls looked the same, as did every other nonliving object. But the Doctor... And all five of the people watching from observation... And the two guards standing out side the door... They were alight with small orbs of what I could only describe as light.

The orbs, which I somehow knew was their "soul", were shrouded in what seemed to be colored mist. But again, it wasn't color. Not like how everyone knew them.

It was their fear.

The guards were surrounded with varying shades, tinged with caution that something could suddenly leap out with giant pointy teeth.

The six scientists however? Their fear was largely the same hue.

I knew too much.

I knew too deeply into how the system they upheld worked.

With only a few words I had revealed I was not a simple creature to be underestimated.

Stevenson had regained enough of his composure again, and wrote something down on his clipboard.

"And how would you know?" he finally asked. "You dare come to our planet to lecture us?" He lifted his arm and gestured with his hand.

It took a second, but suddenly my binds seemed to vibrate, sending intense shocks down my limbs.

It was like the one time I had grabbed a live electric fence as a small Lucas, only all over.

"Grrrn..." I grunted, doing my best to restrain myself.

"You talk about how I know nothing about you, but how could you compress millennia of history and culture into merely a week? Humanity is a complex species. How could a simple horse know more about humanity than humanity?" he spoke smugly.

Diplomat for a first contact situation this man was not.

"Same way I know about the two guards, and your five buddies behind that window." I grinned.

I saw the gears slowly turn in his head as he fully realized what I said. His eyes began to widen as he turned around towards the window so I couldn't see how much he was truly panicking. Although that effort was in vain judging by how much his hands were shaking when he pulled out his phone and began texting.

I was done playing around.

I became a living shadow one more, allowing my restraints to fall to the gurney uselessly.

The five orbs in the observation room began to panic and tried to get their comrades attention.

Stevenson's phone began to buzz violently.

The reflection of a giant black Alicorn shrouded in mist rose on the window.

I levitated the tennis ball off my horn and gently tossed it at Stevenson, hitting him in the back of the head.

He slowly turned, realization creeping across his features.

"Boo."

Author's Note

https://youtu.be/tuHzagjqOLU
:ajsleepy:

cHapT3R 2S ThE R4mP4Ge

Author's Note

~~~

Warning: The following chapter contains disturbing imagery and descriptions.

This is your only warning.

That said, you'll notice this chapter is in a slightly different format then the rest of the story. This is fully intentional. I wanted the italicized parts to seem "less real" then the rest. I swear once you read the chapter you'll understand what I mean. Furthermore, I wanted to highlight Nightmare Moon's/Luna's rage and put it on display in a truly horrific manner. And yes, I wrote this fully expecting someone to cause drama. But for this story to truly take flight and have meaning, I want Luna to do something that she will truly regret.

Additionally, I've noticed here on Fimfic how Luna is always portrayed in a rather lackluster fashion. Sure she may be strong, but she never gets that oomph to her fights that Celestia tends to get. Or she gets defeated in a silly way. That's a personal nitpick though, so I'll just leave this here.

Obligatory explanation aside, I hope you enjoy this experiment.

The vibe

cHapT3R 2S ThE R4mP4Ge

~~~

For centuries, Humans and Ponies both have asked themselves the same question.

What is evil?

Gunshots.

Such a simple question… Yet the answer is anything but.

Screaming.

Every soul, deep down, knows what evil is. But putting that innate knowledge into words is so difficult, that whole books are written on the subject.

The unsettling crack of broken bones.

What is evil?

An elected official, betraying their neighbors for money.

Panicked gunshots.

A sociopath murdering their whole family.

The terrified face of a soldier in SWAT gear.

A cultist sacrificing the innocent.

The taste of blood.

A drug dealer knowingly selling his wares to a customer on death’s door.

Another soldier, pounding on a closed door in desperation.

A warlord building a throne made of skulls.

The screams of tortured steel, and of a dying man.

A wealthy elite purchasing a child for their hotel room.

Disciplined gun fire.

One can go on and on about the after effects of evil, the clean up, but that never really addresses the core question.

A hideous mockery of laughter.

What is evil?

The screaming of a room full of panicked men.

In fiction, it’s often represented by themes of hate, rage, or senselessness. Like a cult of bloodletting cultists sacrificing a whole village to their Lord. Evil is shown as something barbaric, unnecessary, and violent.

The dancing of shadows among the dead.

In reality, there are many specific reasons for why such an event occurs. Maybe one cultist was abused by their fundamentalist father. Maybe another became disillusioned with the corruption in the local parish. Maybe the local government had decided to criminalize some aspect of the otherwise normal citizens, and said citizens want to bring about the downfall of the governing body for their own safety.

Shouting down a concrete corridor.

There is no such thing as black and white morality. Is a “bad” deed done with “good” intentions still evil? How about a “good” deed done with “bad” intentions? Intention may indeed count, but is it truly evil if the good deed, bad intent still helps someone?

Flickering shadows, made real, flood a hall.

How do you recognize evil? How do you fight evil? How do you win against evil?

Screaming.

That answer is simple.

Gunfire.

You peer into the darkness in your own heart.

The splatter of bright red blood onto a wall.

You peer into the darkness and you confront the self you are too ashamed to admit exists.

The screaming of a man being torn in half.

The fight, and it will be a fight, will be long and hard. And there is no guarantee you will win. There is no secret, no golden bullet, no cheat code.

A shadow drags a flailing soldier into a dark corner, never to be seen again.

Should you fail, you will join the long list of those before you who gave into temptation. But if you succeed…

A black hoof holding a soldier by his throat, slowly crushing his windpipe.

If you succeed, you will recognize evil on sight. You will know what must be done to protect the innocent from those who failed their fight. And you will know there is no victory.

The shriek of ripping metal.

There can be no victory. It is impossible.

A startled cry from a man wearing a lab coat.

For every person, for every angel that can fall from grace, for every soul born into this existence, there shall always be that chance they succumb to evil. So long as self aware beings exist, there will always be evil in the universe.

The flop of a newly made corpse.

Is that after all, not what harmony is? Is that not what balance is? The precarious settling on the edge of a knife, the slight teeter totter motion between light and dark. For good to exist, so too must there be evil.

Gunshots from behind.

But what is evil?

Shadows slice across another soldier.

I know what evil is.

The arcane glitter of something familiar inside a strange machine.

You could say I taste it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air.

A black hoof pulls open a locked access hatch.

I see it deep inside.

A black hoof pushes aside delicate robotic machinery.

What evil is, what it truly is; is simple.

A burst of arcane might twists a thick metal arm out of the way.

So simple every soul can recognize it instinctually. On such a primal level no one can easily put it into civilized words.

A shadow slices away bundles of wiring.

An imperfect explanation would be power. The will and drive to change another’s life irreparably. Without consequence or oversight.

A black hoof punches out a clear window of glass.

But that’s not quite right. Evil is something… More.

A shadow pulls apart two apparatus'

When you look into the abyss of your own heart, you face every sin, every selfish want, every possible action that will lead you down the path of no return. And I?

The shadow lifts a tarnished blue tinted helmet from its stand.

I know what evil is.

Chapter 26 The Helmet

~~~

The sight of the helmet shook me out of my fugue.

Without my conscious control, my blue hooves reached up and picked the charred hunk of metal out from the tendril of shadow.

There could be no mistaking it. It was too large for a Human head. The nose guard was too broad and bent upward. The two ear holes in the back were too glaring for anything of Human make.

It was the same item I recognized in the bottom of the crater... Just before the hospital where I first laid eyes on who would become my mother... Except now, I got a clearer look at it. It had been cleaned, but was irreversibly charred along one side, which I imagined was the side that was facing downward when I entered the atmosphere.

But how did it get here?

I suppose someone had been watching the sky, the night that I fell, and noticed I had made landfall. From there, it wasn't a stretch to think the feds, or maybe even a random farmer found the crater and scavenged what they could. Maybe the hypothetical farmer sold it on Ebay, or turned it over to the feds...

... Was the barding and hoof covers here too?

I glanced around.

The room I had found myself in was painted in the same dull grey paint my cell had been. But this room was dominated by various machines and paper filled desks with computer monitors on top. Surprisingly, most of the machines were server racks, while the machine I had found the helmet inside only took up a fourth of the room.

I tried to ignore the slumped body wearing a lab coat.

There was one container that obviously didn't hold reams of printer paper. It was a suitcase that seemed to be made of thick black metal. Something about it screamed "I'm carrying something radioactive".

My hoofsteps echoed off the eerily silent walls as I approached. The noise made me aware of the fact that my ears had been buzzing with tinnitus. Which had been drowning out the sounds of a distant alarm.

But otherwise everything was silent. Even the air vents seemed subdued, as if they didn't dare disturb the atmosphere of a recent tragedy.

The black case was rested on one of the desks. I tried to lift the lid open, but only ended up lifting the whole case slightly. The words "Item #271" was stenciled on the side in white paint. The lock appeared to be built into the case under the handle, with the only visible portion being a single keyhole.

Amateurs.

A tendril of shadow stabbed itself into the keyhole.

I raked the shadow over the pins, trying to feel around the keyhole as if it were an incredibly thin finger, occasionally trying to turn the mechanism. It took me a few times, but eventually the lock turned smoothly and clicked open.

The inside of the case was clean. Custom shaped foam inserts held five similarly blue objects, however there was a large oddly shaped hole on the far left side. I lifted the helmet to compare it to the hole.

It would've fit perfectly.

... I could not allow these people to keep these.

And if I was going to take them, it would've been silly to carry them around.

I took the helmet back out and placed it on the desk. With reverent hooves, I took out the barding. The plating was scratched, pockmarked, and also burnt on one side. The same side that the helmet was burnt on if it were being worn by a pony. Surprisingly, the intricate mechanisms that allowed the metal plating to flex against each other was intact.

The barding slipped over my head easily and settled well on my shoulders.

The hoof covers were in a similar state, scratched and burnt on one side. It took a few moments, but soon my hoofsteps were the clank of metal on concrete instead of the natural 'clop'.

Finally, I picked up the helmet again.

I stared into eye openings, a feeling I couldn't quite name welling in my chest.

This thing was Luna's. Even if I didn't believe that I was a "reincarnation" of Luna, this thing was a symbol of Luna at the height of her power. A symbol of Luna at war. Ponies who had been killed by her hoof would see this helmet as one of the last things they saw.

It didn't matter how it had gotten here.

It didn't matter how I felt about "being" Luna.

Luna had cared about her people.

Luna had been a champion for good to the best of her ability. Right until the very end.

Leaving behind any pieces in the set of armor would've been a blemish on her name.

I bumped my forehead against the helmet's. Trying to connect with the original Luna.

It didn't matter if I was Lucas playing at being Luna. Or if I was indeed a Luna who had fallen so far below what she deserved.

I was a trash heap of a person stepping into the shoes of someone who had been truly great.

But no matter how unworthy I was... These pigs deserved her legacy even less.

I turned the helmet around, and slid my stolen horn through the matching hole in the helmet.

I couldn't help but think of the scene in Star Wars when Darth Vader first was entombed inside his iconic helmet.

Somehow... I had to succeed where the original Luna had failed.

And I had a sinking feeling that Luna's fight with her sister had not been the failure.

I could not stay here. I didn't exactly remember everything I had done in the past hour, but the still warm body in the room told me I wouldn't be having the benefit of doubt if I was captured again.

I stood in front of the only door, knowing I would not like what I found on the other side. But I needed to leave before they found me.

I pushed my reservations down, braced myself, and pushed the door open.

The hallway outside was a graveyard.

The bodies of human soldiers in varying uniforms, and degrees of undress littered the floor. Wounds from wide slices were extremely common, often cutting off whole limbs or splattering blood all over the walls. A few bodies had been burned through, with large holes with burnt edges boring clean through. Lines of burnt paint could be seen at the far ends of the hallways.

There were so many bodies, that several places on the floor had been flooded with inches of blood.

I forced myself to look into the faces of the dead, all while doing my best to not puke.

There was a man, younger than Lucas had been. Did he have a girlfriend who would never see him again? There was a gnarled veteran who was old enough to have been in Desert Storm. Did he have a wife? Kids? How about this middle aged man? Who loved him? And this one? And this one? How about that one? This one? How about him?

Who would never again hear the voices of their loved ones because of me?

This body of a SWAT officer had had his throat messily destroyed.

The taste of blood on my teeth reminded me how he died.

And suddenly I found myself out of things in my stomach to vomit up, a puddle of filth below on the floor told me what happened to the contents of my stomach.

I spat, a desperate attempt to clean my mouth without something like bleach on hand to help.

These people were awful, but they hadn't deserved what I did to them.

I needed out.

I needed to find my way out before I did this again.

But with no knowledge of how to find the exit, I wandered.

After all, this wasn't a civilian building, with fire exits clearly marked for safety. This was a military base. A military base that likely had top secret information that a few powerful people didn't want to fall into the wrong hands. And of course you wouldn't advertise a convenient exit for any potential spy would you?

I got the impression that the base was built underground. With no windows, no exits, and an endless sprawl of hallways and rooms, it would've been a weird design choice if the base had been built above ground.

My only solace was that I started to hear signs of life, although they were hard to hear over the blaring alarms. I had not exterminated all the soldiers in the base after all. But that was a cold comfort since at any moment a soldier could round the corner and I might have to add another body to the hallways.

A particularly loud bout of shouting broke me out of my fugue.

At first I was confused. No one was in the hallway with me. So who was shouting? And why?

But then a faint murmur danced over my ears. It's familiar cadence and tone stirred subconscious memories that I hadn't fully realized yet.

A chill ran down my spine.

I couldn't even understand what was being said, it was like hearing only the faintest suggestion of your favorite childhood nursery rhyme. A mere whisper on the wind, yet you know the words by heart despite not even remembering it had even existed for decades.

"-lease listen to me..."

"Not one step closer!"

No...

I darted forward, all thoughts of trying to stay hidden gone. The voices were close, and I had to know.

"I'm looking for my sister!"

"Shut up and stay back!"

No no no! Not her!

I rounded a corner, there was the body of a single soldier off to the side. But the voices were getting louder.

"Please help me!"

"Stay quiet you freak of nature!"

Not her! Anything but her!

It did not take me long to dash through the hall. But I stopped as I turned again at a 'T' intersection.

A soldier in black armor had his back to me, with his weapon up. But the object of his attention was what also caught and held my attention.

A figure in resplendent golden armor stood in front of the soldier fearlessly. The helmet was tucked underneath a wing as white and as bright as freshly fallen snow. A familiar double headed golden spear was held away nonthreateningly. A gloriously long white horn rose from a mane that swayed in an nonexistant breeze, colored like the rainbow of the sky during the extremely early dawn.

Princess Regent Celestia, Sol Invicta, the Unbroken Sun of Equestria had come to Earth.

Author's Note

Bet none of you saw that coming. :trollestia:

Chapter 27 The Princess

~~~

Princess Regent Celestia, Sol Invicta, the Unbroken Sun of Equestria had come to Earth.

The words kept repeating in my mind. And yet despite the evidence to the contrary, I could not bring myself to accept it. I could not believe my eyes.

The why was easy. She had come to finish what she had started a thousand years earlier.

But how?

How?

How?!

"Luna?"

I winced as she had said the word so calmly, yet so directly that there was no mistaking that she had saw me. I hadn't hidden at all, and she was facing towards me.

I felt the time I had left to exist drastically decrease.

The soldier suddenly realized he was out of his depth, although to his credit he remained stalwart in trying to threaten the older Alicorn.

"Not one muscle!" he cried. Celestia however could not be dissuaded.

"Luna please..." she begged.

"No." I started to back up. "No no no no no no!"

"Luna wait!"

I turned and ran.

What else could I do?

"Luna please don't!"

"I said don't move!"

And suddenly gunshots rang out once more.

Nothing flew by me, so I ignored it and continued to run.

"Please stop!" I heard Celestia cry. I wasn't sure if she was talking to me or the soldier, and I didn't care. I kept running as fast as my legs could go.

The gunfire suddenly stopped. But I kept running.

Somehow Celestia did not stop me from turning around the far corner I had come from. I didn't know if she was chasing me, but I got an idea as I passed an air vent.

Regardless if she was following me, I had certainly broke her line of sight.

For the moment.

I turned into a shadow and pushed myself against the flow of air into the vent.

"Luna please talk to me!" The white Alicorn ran outside the vent, totally ignorant of my exact location. An M16 floated behind her, enveloped in sunlight.

I caught a flash of red on her wing.

She rushed by none the wiser.

Very soon after the soldier she had stolen the gun from ran by, chasing after.

"We've got potentially two entities loose on base!" he called to no one in particular, his hand pressed to his throat.

The two faded away into the distance.

I took a moment for my currently nonexistent heart to calm a bit.

This was bad.

This was very bad.

It was bad enough having pissed off the U.S. government. But now Celestia herself had somehow gotten involved?

Jesus fucking Christ on a pogo stick.

I still didn't quite know what I was going to do, but whatever it was just kept getting harder.

Was it too much to ask to not be with an abusive family or not be vivisected? And it wasn't like I could just go back to being Lucas. "Hey mom! Don't mind me! I'm just a horse now!"

Would I even want to if I could go back? Lucas was a nobody who no one loved or listened to... Not that being Luna was any better in that department.

Oh poor Luna thinks she has a choice.

I knew I had been forgetting something.

Fuck off this is quality entertainment.

Is that all I am to you? Entertainment?

You expected differently?

The Other seemed to be in a mood, so I ignored it and flowed further into the vent. Earlier I may have been forcing myself to look at what I had done, but with Celestia running around it was far too dangerous to walk in the hallways proper.

The time for fucking around and finding out was over.

I needed to leave now.

I glanced down the vent, feeling the air blow against my collected cloud. Air conditioning units cycled air from the outside right? I pushed myself against the flow of air.

I flowed through the air vents, occasionally spotting soldiers running by outside. And from little I could see, it looked like they were already partway done clearing the bodies from the floor, if the freshly red stained floor and the lack of bodies was anything to go by.

How many soldiers did this base have?!

Or had it been long enough for reinforcements to arrive from neighboring facilities?

Apparently I had found safety enough in the vents to start realizing I had no idea how much time had passed since I had been taken. That was kinda comforting... In a "I now have a moment to breathe" kind of way.

But I couldn't let the façade of safety lull me into a false sense of security.

I tried to ignore the light from the vents, letting them slide by like streetlights during a late night drive. But the familiar sound of Celestia's voice rose loudly from one.

"-Do not know what has happened here." she was speaking.

I stopped in the vent, curiosity singing its siren song.

"Throw down your arms and surrender alien. You are on restricted property and will be fired upon if you do not cooperate." called the voice of an older man in a strangely loud manner.

"I will slide my spear towards you, but I will not surrender myself to your custody." Celestia called out in reply.

The view out of this vent was surprising to say the least.

Celestia stood before what must've been at least fifty armed soldiers in something akin to a courtyard, a giant room set at an intersection. Although I couldn't think of why someone would build an open courtyard underground in a military bunker. She had at some point thrown away the M16 she had taken, as she no longer had it. Although now that I had stopped and was watching, a soldier, who looked somewhat similar to the one who was chasing the white Alicorn from before, circled around said Alicorn to join his fellows, a rifle once again in his hands and trained on the Princess.

Celestia calmly set her golden spear on the ground and gently pushed it away, out of her immediate reach, towards one of the soldiers, whom I noticed was talking into a megaphone. Celestia's move seemed to confuse the negotiator as he started whispering to a few soldiers nearby. Eventually he stood up strait and spoke into the megaphone again.

"May I ask why you won't surrender?" he called out.

"I wish none of you any harm. But I do have a purpose here." she called out in reply. "I'm looking for somepony. Somepony like me. I know she's here and I would like to take her from this place peacefully."

"I'm sorry, some-'pony'?" the negotiator called.

"Apologies, it's my dialect." Celestia responded. That set off another round of discussion around the megaphone.

"Is this... 'Pony' a sort of criminal?" the negotiator asked.

"It's... It's a complicated story..." Celestia admitted. "Has she done anything wrong?"

"She butchered almost half of our present forces!"

Celestia winced. "I'm... I'm sorry to hear that..." She diplomatically continued.

A soldier with an old land line phone whispered something into the negotiator's ear. The negotiator asked a few words I couldn't make out, to which the phone operator nodded.

"I've been told by my superiors to propose an offer to you." he called out through the megaphone again. "If you can answer our questions, we'll offer to assist you in apprehending this 'pony' with the understanding you stop any repeats of this tragedy in the future."

"I find this offer agreeable, although I can't guarantee I'll be able to answer all of your questions." Celestia answered. "If you could give me a moment to tell my forces outside to stand down I'll be happy to get started."

"You have military forces outside?"

"A precautionary measure I assure you, I will do my best to explain myself to your superiors."

Yep. Shit rolls downhill, and there's nothing more downhill than plummeting towards rock bottom.

Author's Note

:pinkiecrazy:
As always, come join my Discord!
https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 28 The Escape

~~~

As advantageous as it would've been to listen to the government agents pick Celestia's brain, I already knew she was after me. It just didn't seem worth it to wait around in their air ducts for information about how much they hated my guts.

Besides I hated my own guts enough for all of us.

I shadowed my way down the air ducts, pushing against the wind current. It was getting more intense the closer I got to the air unit. From there it should be easy to find and push myself out of the intake, which should, if this unit was like every other bulk air conditioning unit, lead to the outside. If I got that far it would be simple to pick a direction and fly, preferably sticking to the wilderness and as close to the ground or tree tops as I could to avoid radar and other common detection methods. Although I couldn't stick to one place for too long because apparently they had a way to track me anyway.

Fuck.

The current was really strong now. And I hadn't passed a vent covering in a small while. I had to be close.

I came to a four way intersection, the air was blowing from the left. I didn't waste anytime to follow. Finally I came on a fan that was furiously churning. Fwimpfwimpfwimpfwimp.

A thought came to me. If any part of my gaseous shadow cloud was sliced away by, for example, a fan blade, would that portion be lost as if I had actually been sliced? I mean sure, evidently being shot with bullets didn't do anything to me as a shadow, but a bullet passing through a gas didn't really slice anything away.

I extended a tiny tendril towards the spinning blade, feeling like I was about to do something stupid.

I brushed the tendril over the whirring fan, as if feeling the very edge of where the blades extended like it was a single solid surface. I barely felt even that, just enough to know I was purposefully touching something.

I tried to surprise myself by sticking the tendril in before I had a chance to talk myself out of it.

The blade didn't even slow down. Although now that I thought about it, what else did I expect?

The tendril was cut. But surprisingly, I felt nothing. Additionally, the portion of shadow that was cut away seemed to float briefly before it began to drain away. It was like the top portion of an hourglass, where the shadow did get smaller, but the "grains" of shadow that were coming off the portion floated over and around the spinning blades like they had suddenly formed a miniature, localized sandstorm. Those granules of shadow then rejoined my central mass as if nothing had happened.

I guess that answers that question.

Now marginally reassured that I wasn't about to seriously maim myself, I pushed through the spinning blades. Perhaps not surprisingly, it felt just as weird as you'd think, if you were to suddenly be painlessly assaulted by a bunch of knives.

I now knew what it was like to be a milkshake in a blender.

Now slightly blended, I passed through an opening into a sort of chamber. It wasn't large enough for even a short pony like me to stand upright, but it was large enough for air to collect to keep a whole section of a large building cool. Along the bottom of the chamber, were the endothermic coils that leeched heat from the air, arranged neatly in rows. Another fan that blew directly over said coils revealed the way out.

If I hadn't been a cloud of shadow I would have grinned.

I pushed myself through the second blender, knowing freedom was not far away.

True to my prediction, the new vent was not long at all. I pushed my way around an upward turn and the short vent lead to a simple vent cap.

I poked a viewing tendril up through the generous vent opening.

The vent lead outside alright. But to my chagrin, the only thing that told me the time was the hint of light against the navy blue of a dark sky over the horizon. There was no way to tell if it was dusk or dawn, or how many days had passed since I had been captured.

More concerning though, and maybe I should've predicted it, but the intake vent sat directly in the middle of a bustling military installation. Squat concrete buildings were surrounded by armed soldiers who were alert and on-guard. An American flag could be seen fluttering in a slight breeze, illuminated by spotlights. A jeep painted in the trade marked "notice me not" green rolled by.

I do love a properly kicked hornet's nest.

A few other intake vents were around in my vicinity, along with a few small machines that looked like billing meters; but ultimately whose purpose was unknown. All fenced off and illuminated by bright street lights that were nearby.

The irony that this was a similar situation to how I was captured was not lost on me.

Of course I couldn't wait here for some twit to stick his face into the vent for some reason. That meant I had to try and redeem myself of my previous fuck up. Thankfully, I had learned from last time.

Instead of pouring myself out of the Intake onto the ground, I let myself float up and away into the dark sky like a cloud of smoke. While it was a risky maneuver while fully solid, it was one I was much more comfortable with taking as a shadowy gas cloud.

If anyone noticed that one of the air conditioners had started, and just as suddenly stopped, smoking it was hard to say. I quickly gained height, enough that it was difficult to spot expressions on individual faces. Thankfully, no one rushed to turn on the AA so I figured I was safe for the moment.

But that's when I saw a sight I had not been expecting.

Far below, armored quadruped shapes mingled and spoke with human soldiers.

Celestia had not been lying. She had not come alone.

What's more, the pony and human forces were not being hostile with each other.

Ponies in golden solar armor stood around and discussed things with human soldiers around Pegasi chariots loaded with crates and supplies. More golden armored ponies sat in a parade formation, sitting idly and at ease. The only pony forces I didn't recognize made up only a small portion of Celestia's forces. Their armor was almost a one for one with human equipment, matte black and nonmetallic. The human soldier's reaction to these ponies was much less relaxed. With the solar guard, they seemed to act like they were around children playing at being soldiers. But there was clear tension between the human soldiers and these "neo-guard". And despite these black armored ponies wielding weapons similar to their solar counterparts, the human guards had their weapons clutched tightly when dealing with these strange ponies.

At first I worried that somehow the Americans had somehow started to arm the ponies with "updated" equipment. But that didn't make sense. Say what you will about the military industrial complex, but mass producing armor for ponies within only a few hours at most was absurd. Regardless of what deal Celestia had cut with them.

That meant these black armored ponies had brought their equipment from Equestria.

So why were these ponies armed with armor on par with a human military, yet Celestia had brought her royal guard clad in gold?

Something wasn't right here. This didn't add up.

If Equestria had the economy and technology to produce something like Kevlar, than why did Celestia bring her "golden cohort" at all? Even assuming Celestia had no idea what Earth would be like, Kevlar was a much better choice. Easier to repair when damaged, easier to make air tight if the atmosphere wasn't good, and a much better choice as a protective material, even with "enchantments".

Why bring anything armored in gold to an alien planet with unknown dangers?

Just who were these strange ponies? And why were they better armored than the other ponies?

Seeking those answers would have to wait. I was over the edge of the facility and just a few more minutes before I could drop back to the ground to reduce my visibility. That didn't mean I would solidify quite yet, because of course a serious military base like this one would be surrounded with minefields.

I floated past the very edge of the spotlights, waiting for a few more minutes beyond them to finally dropping to the ground. So long as I didn't actively press on the ground and set a mine off, I was free.

~~~

Hours passed. And it was clear I was no where near "home". The Midwest of the United States was covered in fields and woods, where ever here was was dry and arid. Cracked dirt and dry sand dominated the landscape, interrupted intermittently by small shrubs and cacti. The light on the horizon I had seen earlier must've been dusk, because it was gone now and the darkness was unrelenting.

I briefly solidified into my blue self to drink out of a small creek that I had crossed, but I still was paranoid enough to hide as a living shadow again as soon as I left.

I almost panicked when I saw headlights on the horizon.

But then I remembered it had been hours since the military base.

Surely if they were looking for me they would still be looking in the immediate vicinity right? I didn't think they knew about my "get out of jail free" spell. They could still be looking for a physical Luna.

Was this a highway?

I decided to risk being a bit visible and flew upwards. A long line of asphalt carved its way through the desert. Not able to be seen from the ground. Still a fair way in the distance, a semitruck and trailer barreled down the tarmac.

An opportunity!

I pushed myself towards the road as fast as I could manage. If I could get into the trailer, I'd have somewhere to rest for a while.

I dove down towards the moving vehicle as it passed underneath. When I was close enough I hooked what felt like my hooves onto the trailer's door handle, the locking bar looked sufficient to hold onto.

I imagined I looked terrifying, a spectral image of a winged horse with shadows streaming off as I was pulled by the moving trailer.

There was no way these huge trailers were airtight. This one especially now that I was close enough to inspect. This trailer had likely crossed this desert hundreds of times, and was decrepit enough to look like it.

I pulled myself up and streamed my way through one of the many places where the door had warped. When I was fully inside the trailer, I dropped the shadow spell for the first time in hours.

"Phew..." I breathed out in relief. The air in the trailer stank like chemicals, but not too obnoxiously enough for me to abandon this truck and wait for another. But otherwise it was half full of pallets neatly stacked with cardboard boxes wrapped in plastic wrap.

I have several complaints.

Now certain no one would be listening, I didn't feel bad about responding out loud.

"Section thirteen it and shut up." I grumbled, bending over to see if I could make sense of the shipping label of the nearest pallet. I couldn't, so I ignored them.

Number one; You have no recycling bin for me to toss my complaint in.

"Ughhhh..." I groaned, enjoying being able to talk outloud again.

Number two; You smell funny.

"Almost as if I had just escaped what actually might've been Area 51 and crossed the desert..." I brushed past the pallets towards the back of the trailer, where it would be difficult to see me if the doors opened.

Number three; You didn't take the time to torment Celestia.

My wings were really starting to bother me so I sat down and did my best to relearn how to preen.

"If yoo want to tes' 'er patience yoo go righ' ahead" I stated around a mouthful of feathers.

Thankfully for me, your opportunity has yet to expire. You are after all are a matron of dreams. Who's to say you don't slip in while she's sleeping, give her a piece of your mind, and leave. It's not like she could respond directly or would otherwise leave you alone if you never tell her to 'fuck off'.

I stopped preening for a moment.

I didn't trust anything it said. And yet...

As strange as it sounded, I didn't want to fight Celestia. In fact I wanted nothing to do with her. She could go on a shark fishing expedition armed with nothing but a string of raw steaks tied around her neck and I still wouldn't care. But knowing her she'd follow me to the ends of the Earth if I said nothing.

I had to tell her to go away and stay away.

And the Other was right. I did have a way to talk to her from an advantageous position.

I thought about what I wanted to say as I sat there, continuing to preen.

Did I want to be mean? Did I want to be pleading?

How much rancor and venom did I want to put into my words?

Or could I just... Ask to be let back into her life?

All too soon, I felt like I had finished taking care of my wings. And with nothing better to do, I laid down on my right side and closed my eyes.

~~~

The Dreamscape was dull compared to what I expected. The only stars I could see were very far away. The immediate void was almost barren, with only the faint glow of nebula breaking up the monotony. What the nebula represented I had no idea.

A question for later. For now, I had a task that needed to be dealt with.

I concentrated on my large Alicorn sister, trying to locate her if she was dreaming.

At first nothing happened. She must still have been awake. Goodness knew how her circadian rhythm had been set, or even more unknown was what she was discussing with the upper echelons of the U.S. military.

Never before had I been so bored and yet so hellishly anxious at the same time.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Celestia began to dream.

This was it.

Author's Note

Heeeeere we go! :pinkiecrazy:

'cord!
https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 29 The Confrontation

~~~

“Hello Celestia.” I blandly greeted. Celestia turned from her dream, her eyes widening in surprise.

“Luna?” she whispered. “I-I’m s-” She began.

“Cease.” I interrupted harshly. Something in my voice must’ve stuck a cord because Celestia pursed her lips.

“How dare you.” I stated with a calmness I didn’t feel. “You betray me, you toss me away, sending me hurtling through space for almost a thousand years, and then you have the gall to show up where I landed? How. Dare. You.” I growled.

“Luna please… Please listen to m-”

“Don’t.” I commanded. Celestia flinched.

“I don’t remember everything, but I remember respecting you. I remember loving you. I remember being your friend. And you threw me away.” I all but snarled. “I have no wish to be under your heel again, Celestia. So I’m going to inform you exactly how this will end should you continue.”

I lightly stomped a hoof on the ground, and the relatively calm dream went horribly, disastrously wrong.

The light of a thousand suns bloomed behind me. Celestia’s gaze slowly turned towards the sky, her mouth falling open in absolute horror. Her face almost blindingly illuminated.

“I know not if you truly understand the depths of your power, but humanity does.” I sternly explained.

“H-how-" Celestia gasped, a brightly lit mushroom reflecting in her eyes.

“Look around.” I commanded, summoning dream ponies to prove a point. The ponies took shape as my sister looked around in a daze.

Steam came off their coats as water flash boiled instantly, their forms seemingly frozen in time.

“No!” Celestia exclaimed, her face horrified as her ponies began to slowly incinerate.

“Look at them!” I shouted, sending a shockwave forward, blowing the steam away into nothingness.

“No no no!” Celestia panicked, rushing to hold the nearest in her arms.

The body crumpled into ash as she touched it, leaving nothing but a reverse shadow burned into the dream stuff.

"You know what I see when I look at you?" I asked rhetorically. "I see a mare unwilling to accept that she made a mistake. A mistake that has consequences, and can never be undone. Like a solar flare frying a planet."

Celestia looked up from the ash pile in her arms, a haunted look in her eyes.

“When you get the opportunity, ask the Humans about ‘Hiroshima and Nagasaki’ when you awake.” I continued. “They’ll tell you the same thing I will. This? This was what they were capable of 80 years ago. Much less what an actual star is capable of.” I strolled forward, walking past the dumbstruck Celestia. As I did so, I reshaped the dream to show a recreation of what I imagined the direct aftermath of the two bombs looked like. The reverse shadows of ponies replaced themselves with the shadows of World War 2 Japan. I made sure to include the ones I remembered from photos.

Celestia looked slowly over the devastation.

“... Why? Why show me this?” she finally asked. I took a moment to think of a good way to answer.

“... Call me cruel all you want;” I started. “But you need to know what it will take for me to be chained again.”

“You can come back with me Luna!” Celestia begged. “You don’t need to fight me!”

“Don’t I?” I asked, looking up into the dusty sky. “Tell me Celestia, do you know what it’s like to be thrown away?”

Celestia didn’t say anything, but her silence spoke volumes.

“No. I imagine you don’t.” I stated sadly, picking up a rock in my magic. “You don’t know what it's like to be thrown out with the garbage.” I tossed the rock aside and sat down. “In my life, the 20-something years I do remember at least, I’ve been thrown away more times than I care to recall.”

Celestia said nothing, but I heard hesitant hoofsteps move closer.

“You were one.” I continued. “But do not think for a moment you were the only one. At some point, after the fourth or fifth time, you start to wonder. Am I the problem?” I closed my eyes, tears beginning to form. “Friends, lovers, family… All of them throw me away. But I couldn’t find what the problem is… I tried and I tried, and I tried. Am I too crass with a joke? Am I too overbearing? Am I too awkward? Am I too creepy? Is there something about me that’s unsettling?” Tears began to fall freely to the glassed dirt below. “It wasn't until today I figured it out... I'm a monster.” I turned my head to see that Celestia had sat down, and was listening intently. I took a deep breath before continuing. "I- I killed them. I killed every single one I found."

I looked away in shame.

“Before I rediscovered that I was Luna, a banished immortal alien Princess of the Moon, I was named Lucas Maan, third shift grocery stocker and cashier. What I wanted... Was for all the pain to go away. Pain caused by everything those soldiers held dear, pain from working day in and day out for masters who would throw me away for a single dollar... And the pain I could never quite place." I put my head in my hooves. “But I had no aspirations. No plan for the future. No long term goal beyond feeding myself until the next paycheck. Not because I lacked ideas, but because life wasn’t worth living without someone, anyone, there to share them with.”

I took a moment to calm down, but it didn’t work very well.

“My only purpose was waiting to die.” I finished.

Celestia, at first, did nothing. Likely mulling over what I had said. Finally, after a moment, I heard her stand and approach.

Intuition told me she was going to hug me.

“Don’t.” I snarled, stopping Celestia in her tracks. “You were the one who put me in this mess!” I got up and turned back towards the white Alicorn, her eyes were full of tears. “I could’ve been happy! I could've had a life I was proud of! None of this needed to happen! I didn't need to be captured! I didn't need to kill all of those soldiers!” I prowled forwards, lowering my horn aggressively. “And then you have the nerve to ask me to simply ‘come back’?!” Celestia began to panic and step backwards. “HOW. By every god’s name, both holy and unholy, do you expect me to just trust you again?!”

“I- I-” she began.

“STUFF IT.” I growled. “I don’t want to hear your platitudes.” I took a deep calming breath and straightened. “This is how this is going to happen.” I stated after a moment. “You, and whoever you brought with you, are going to turn around and go straight back to Equestria. You are going to leave me alone, and hopefully, never see me again. If you don’t… Well.” I gestured around at the devastated scene.

“Luna… Please…” Celestia cried.

“I may be a monster, but this is far more than what you gave me.”

With that, I locked the dream into its current state, and left it entirely.

Author's Note

:pinkiesad2:

Hoo boi, family reunions.

That said, Happy Thanksgiving to my American Readers! :trollestia:

Chapter 30 The Fugitive

~~~

My sleep was fitful.

If it was because the truck driver kept hitting every pothole, or if I subconsciously felt awful about telling Celestia to go fuck herself, I didn't know.

Regardless, it felt like every few minutes after that something would wake me up. Often, I hadn't even realized I had fallen asleep again. But with nothing to otherwise do, I kept at trying to grab some sleep despite its poor quality. Even sitting with your eyes closed was better than tossing and turning with wide, open eyes.

Thanks Mythbusters.

Eventually though, even sitting quietly began to grate on my nerves. Or namely, the growling of my stomach kept distracting me. Which honestly, wasn't surprising at all. The last thing I ate was... What? A fruit roll-up at the abandoned house? God knew how long ago that actually was.

Ugh, fucking feds.

I got up and stretched like a cat. I needed to somehow acquire food. But how? I made my way towards the trailer's doors, and took a peek outside the gaps between the slats.

It was at least morning, since the landscape was illuminated by sunlight. Other than that though there was little difference in the topography as compared to last night. Maybe a few more leafy bushes, but it was still desert. Was this the Southwestern United States? Was it seriously Area 51 that I escaped? If that was the case it would probably be best to at least stay in the trailer for now. My stomach was growling, but the thought of eating dusty leaves on the side of the road with no water on hand made my stomach churn just thinking about it.

I'd wait on the trailer until the truck at least reached civilization. After that I'd improvise.

But how long would it take to reach civilization? Assuming that the military base was smack dab in the middle of no-where, let's call it Area 52 for now, then the truck had to have been at least halfway done with its journey. How long did it take to drive across the Southwest? Like 6-7 hours to cross a single state right? How many states were down there? Texas, New Mexico, Arizona... Nevada? Shit how did they all fit together again?

Damn the defunded education system for not teaching the important things properly.

Seven times five... Fourteen, twenty one, twenty eight, thirty five. Thirty five hours for a truck to cross the desert. About halfway through when I hopped on... Seventeen and a half hours? How long had I been asleep again?

Gurgle.

And for that matter, when was the driver going to stop for the end of their shift?!

Wasn't it turbo illegal for a trucking company to force their drivers to drive absurdly long shifts? Or at least illegal enough that said companies hated it when drivers drove off the clock?!

I glanced to the front of the trailer, and was mildly surprised to see the not-light pale outline of the driver.

He was nervous about the truck breaking down.

Great... That would probably get annoying.

Just at that moment I happened to blink.

The not-light was gone.

Well... Um...

What? Did you think we have that on all the time?

Uh... Kinda?

I blinked with the express intent to turn the sight back on.

It worked.

It's much easier to lie about if you honestly don't know what someone is feeling. Then, you can freak a mark out by pulling it out of your pocket.

Of course that's your reason.

Blink. Off.

What can I say? Professional tools for professional standards.

"Of course that's your reason." I groaned in annoyance as I turned and walked away, going back to where I had slept.

I was too hungry to sleep, but with nothing better to do, I laid back down and began to preen again. Not so much that I thought I still needed it, but more so my mouth was busy doing something other than wish for food.

And so I waited.

~~~

At some point I must've drifted off, because the next thing I knew was the trailer jerking to a stop with a loud HSSSSCHJK! I jolted to alertness, taken by surprise at the turn of events. SSSSCH! The trailer jerked again, but finally fell still, like a muscle untensing after a long workout.

After so long of having a moving trailer underneath my hooves, it felt weird now that it had fallen still.

Ugh. Finally indeed.

I decided not to answer. Mostly because I didn't know where we were, and it was possible someone was about to poke their head inside the trailer. So in preparation, I cast the shadow spell and coalesced myself into the shadows of the pallets, and waited.

The sounds of footsteps scraping on blacktop passed by outside.

"Howdy boss. How're doin'?"

"Can't complain. You?"

Another set of footsteps approached the trailer.

"Well 'nuff. Didn' break down in the middle of the Mojave so there's that."

Both pairs of feet walked down the length of the trailer towards the doors.

"Small blessings. Wanna take your lock off?"

Both of the voices were at the far end of the trailer near the door, only audible because of the poor condition of the trailer itself.

"Boy do I? Crossing that fucking parking lot of sand sucks ass through a straw. Can't wait to drop this trailer and park over yonder at the truck stop for the night."

"Amen."

Someone began to fiddle with something on the door. Through the door I could make out two men, both wearing grimy high visibility vests.

"Ah-kay then... Seals good."

One of the men pushed upward on the handle, causing steel bars inside the trailer to retract from holes inside the floor and ceiling so the doors could swing freely.

Crrrk.

One of the men swung the door open, its hinges creaking with dust. Daylight streamed into the trailer, which suddenly seemed a lot darker in contrast. The man who had opened the door, whom I could now see was wearing a navy blue uniform under his vest, put a hand over his eyes and peered into the trailer, glancing around briefly.

"Yup looks good." he said after a moment, reaching over with practiced ease and slammed the door shut. "Gotcher driver's and paperwork?"

"License is in the cab."

"Go get it, I'll check you in over by the shack, getcha into a dock and send you on your way."

"Awesome boss."

The blacktop crunched as both men went their separate ways, one walking along the side of the trailer and the other disappearing into the distance. The vibrations of a car door opening wobbled through the trailer, followed very soon by the rattle of the same door slamming shut. The set of footsteps that had been near the door faded away into the distance.

Was this my chance?

I flowed by the pallets towards the now unsecured door, wincing slightly as the sunlight that streamed through the cracks seemed brighter than I was used to. Not quite willing to take this gamble, I peered through the cracks.

While I hadn't seen too much of the outside from when the two men opened the door, the little slice I could see revealed cracked and sunbaked blacktop. On the right I could see what looked like the bumpers of cars, on the left another semi truck sat with a trailer, the backend of said trailer disappeared out of sight. Straight ahead I could see a poorly maintained road, and a flat, arid landscape beyond that.

But it didn't seem like anything was close enough to the trailer to make an easy escape into the shadows.

If there was a parking lot off to the right I could hide under the cars, which would also provide cover from any cameras. Which would undoubtedly be present if this was some sort of chemical factory. The problem though, was that if there was a decently sized parking lot, it seemed just the tiniest bit too far away for me to risk rushing across as a shadow in broad daylight.

The left side seemed even less hospitable for a shadow to cross.

Oh no... The only way out is to enter the factory and possibly be exposed to who knows how many humans...

You could at least try to sound apologetic.

We both know that's not happening.

Instead of replying, I resolved to wait. To be ready in case an opportunity revealed itself or if I needed just a few seconds warning if someone was coming.

It wouldn't be very stealthy of me if someone opened the door to find a dark cloud hovering just over the door now would it?

Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long. The driver must've finished his business with the official because the connected truck suddenly roared back to life, causing the trailer to rattle almost violently.

No wonder that guy was happy he crossed the Mojave without issue. That engine sounds like it's about to give out.

Shut up.

The trailer jerked again as the driver shifted out of park, beginning to roll forward across the blacktop. The view outside the ill fitted door shifted to the right as the truck driver started pressing his gas pedal. I was right, there was a parking lot over there. Decently full enough to hide in too. But it was even farther away than I expected.

The truck stopped briefly before it could seriously began to pick up speed. Something made of metal rattled outside, when it stopped, the trailer began to move again. A tiny guard hut slid into view on the left side, followed very soon by a chain-link gate, which rattled closed as the trailer cleared it.

A shadow fell across the trailer door.

Now! Go go go!

I pushed myself out into the shadow, doing my best to space my cloud out so there wasn't just a pitch black blob hanging out under the admittedly meager shadow, but still trying to go fast enough to get me out of the trailer while I could.

The shadow I had decided to utilize was the shade cast by a three story tall square building, windowless and painted white.

I instantly regretted taking this opportunity. But it was too late to go back to the trailer, it had already left the shadow behind and rumbled away, disappearing around a corner.

I kept myself spread thin and close to the ground, hoping any color discrepancy I displayed could be written off as a compression glitch or trick of the light.

I waited with the gas cloud equivalent of baited breath, dreading that some worker would suddenly appear, screaming and pointing so the agents on his heels knew where I was.

The thought was ridiculous of course. But I guess that was a good indicator of how my mental health was.

Paranoid.

It's only paranoia if you're wrong.
It's foresight if you're right.

It's paranoia if I expect enemies around every corner.

As if you can afford the luxury of not assuming that's the case.

If I was corporeal, I probably would've growled. But if I could make sound as a shadow, I didn't know how. So I opted to ignore the Other.

When I was certain I hadn't raised some sort of alarm, I slowly drew myself up the side of the building whose shadow I had come to inhabit. The roof ended up being home to just a few humming air units and exposed pipes, but otherwise there wasn't even an obvious way a maintenance worker to get up here. It was also high enough that passerby wouldn't see anything on the roof unless I was standing on the edge. And only a fool would point a security camera up towards the sky.

Despite the glaring sun up above, I resolidified back into an Alicorn and breathed a sigh of relief. It was possible I could get sunstroke up here, but it was likely the safest location I would find while the sun was still out. Forget about finding food; If even one camera saw me in broad daylight I'd have agents slamming down on my location within the day. Of course my stomach protested, but it didn't feel like I was dying quite yet.

So I curled up under the slim shadow cast by an air conditioner, doing my best to stay out of the bright sunlight. I closed my eyes and pretended I was ok.

Chapter 31 The Station

~~~

Thankfully, the days were getting very short. But despite my expectation, it wasn't that cold out. I didn't leave quite yet though. If the sun went down around fiveish this time of year, then the eight to five office workers were likely to leave work and be out and about for about an hour. Then it would be safe.

I perched on the lip of the rooftop, watching the parking lot down below. People in office clothing slowly walked to their cars. I desperately wanted to leave as soon as they were gone. My stomach felt like it was trying to implode and eat itself. I tortured myself as I watched the office workers waddle across the parking lot with the characteristic slowness of people who would likely never run again in their life.

Come on. Come on leave. Leave damn you!

Eventually, those particular workers stopped waddling and gossiping amongst each other and deined to leave. With nothing else to do but wait for an hour, I was forced to quietly stew in my own misery as my hunger gnawed at the walls of my stomach. I got so bored I zoned out.

When I came back to awareness, I felt like just enough time had passed for traffic to die down. So I eagerly spread my wings and took flight. The chill was slightly worse up in the sky, but it was still manageable. I felt relief as I was finally doing something.

Now then. Food. Where can I find food?

The chemical factory hadn't been in a well developed area, instead surrounding itself with wild scrubland. But that didn't mean it was in the middle of nowhere. Small pools of light lit up the night, all surrounding a giant pillar of light that emanated from a sizable city.

I could always rummage through a trashcan for food. Maybe it was pride, or maybe it was that I didn't consider a half eaten doughnut or chicken leg 'enough'. But resorting to a trashcan would be, well, a last resort. However that also meant potentially exposing myself. But the thought of a fresh pizza or a warm chicken and waffle sandwich was far too alluring. A whole pizza might be too risky, but a warm sandwich from a gas station was totally possible.

I veered for the the farthest most lights and began to circle around the city. My plan was to find a gas station that would be as empty as possible. Or at the very least a 24 hour convenience store. This close to a city though? The cliché gas station in the middle of nowhere that would be lucky to get one visitor in a night these were not.

So I slowly circled inwards towards the city's edge. But the whole area was too busy, even the farthest stations in the city's orbit had vehicles pulling in every few minutes.

Change of plans then. Anonymity in audacity.

Sighing, I rolled my shoulders and stretched my neck before casting Gaseous Form and diving down towards the busiest gas station I could see. The words "Kwiktrip" shone like a beacon into the night, illuminating a nearly full parking lot.

Heh heh heh...

I spread my gaseous form thin over a large area to reduce my visibility as I landed just outside the street lights illuminating the Kwiktrip.

Ok then... Where is everything?

I flowed over the blacktop, slowly spreading across the parking lot. Despite a few people literally stepping in my cloud, thankfully no one seemed to notice anything amiss. If I were to do this properly, I needed to be in a decent position. But where was- Aha!

A glass door sat embedded in the wall. A yellow sign with black lettering read "Fire Exit. Alarm will sound if opened." Directly to the door's right, a red sign with white lettering read " Emergency shut-off". Below that sign was a small red box with a white handle inside.

Perfect.

A distraction now found, I coalesced my shadow against the building, hiding most of it behind an ice box and an empty propane tank cage. I didn't pull the fire alarm quite yet. As soon as I did I wouldn't have much time, and I didn't want to fumble about trying to actually find the warm food display, only to take too long and get caught with a levitating sandwich.

It awkwardly occurred to me that teens steal from gas stations all the time with much less thought gone into the deed. But then again I couldn't walk in and quietly stuff a thing into a coat pocket and go about my business. If I were to walk in someone would go "Eek! A horse!"

And then I'd have to deal with animal control, and eventually the feds again.

So I slipped a tendril underneath the fire exit, inwardly cringing in anticipation of somehow setting the alarm off early. Thankfully, there was a small gap that I could wiggle through. I slowly bleed through, covering the tile floor like a leaking faucet.

The station was bustling with shopping people, many with grocery items in hand. Many had already stepping on my shadow, putting periodic holes through the cloud. I glanced around the store with practiced ease as my years as a grocery stocker came to the surface.

Grocery. Medicine. Dairy and meats on the back wall. Next section. Chips. Jerky. Fresh pizza slices.

There it was! A whole hot food section, about half empty but was currently being refilled by a lady in a Kwiktrip shirt. The only issue was that the hot food stations were in the middle of the other side of the building.

Okay, not too difficult. I could do this.

I regathered the tendril into a single stream and streamed across the floor. Sneaking under the shelving when ever I could. I pushed more and more shadow as fast as I dared across individual shadows, ultimately gathering under the warm breakfast foods.

All in all, I used over half of my mass to stretch just to stretch across the building, most of it piled under other shelves. That left enough shadow to lift several items to gather from the hot stations, and just enough to pull on the gas shut off and prop open the fire exit just enough to set the alarm off. If everyone payed attention in Kindergarten, then the crowd will evacuate the building, creating the distraction I needed to float items out in the chaos.

Overkill? Yes.

But I was a blue winged alien horse with a vested interest in not being vivisected. Sue me.

I pulled down on the gas shut-off and flexed the tendril like a bicep, gently pushing the fire exit open half an inch.

Bwebwebwebwebwebwebwe!

"Ah what the fuck!?" exclaimed a lady, who winced to cover her ears.

"By the virgin Mary!" gasped an old man who reached reflexively to clutch his heart.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Please calmly move to the closest exit and walk across the street to the You-Store-It parking lot. Do not go to your car. Do not leave the premises!" An employee shouted above the sudden din. A manager I assumed. With no real fire, no one succumbed to panic, walking calmly towards the nearest exit. Several people left via the fire exit, allowing me to pull the tendril inside the building as they pushed the door open.

The whole building was empty in only a minute, with the manager trailing behind her employees. She glanced around the store as she closed the door nervously.

Excellent.

Now free to act, I wasted no time to lift a thick tendril up into the breakfast foods. I grabbed three and moved on towards the boxes of pizza slices. I wanted to grab more, but I worried I wouldn't have been able to eat it all before they went bad.

It would have to do.

I recoalesced into a central mass and began carrying my loot towards back towards the fire exit, which just happened to be the farthest away from the street. The cameras One hundred percent would see the floating food and dark shadow, but by the time they looked at the footage I would be long gone.

I pulled open one of the drink coolers and pulled a sweet tea off the shelf inside. A strange calm settled over me as I flowed over the tile. I had never consciously stolen anything before, and yet I pushed the sudden adrenaline rush back down. I cleanly pushed the wrapped bundles of food out of the door with what I imagined was the sure confidence of a 1920's veteran bank robber. When they were through, I followed after, letting the exit shut completely behind me.

Across the street, the crowd of people gathered as they started to count their number. Maybe it was my imagination, but I could almost feel the sudden promise that fire trucks would soon be arriving. I turned my attention back towards the crowd in order to gage their reaction as I pushed my spoils in the opposite direction back into the safety of the night.

They were too busy with themselves, so I abandoned all pretense and rushed into the darkness as fast as I could push.

I had grabbed two chicken and waffle sandwiches, a breakfast burrito, and two slices of pepperoni pizza. I solidified back into a pony, holding the warm food to my chest, spreading my wings and taking off into the sky. I could sit down anywhere in the darkness and start to eat. But I didn't want to risk sitting near the scene when agents inevitably show up to investigate the disturbance with no cause. If they happened to bring infrared cameras with them or any military unit with such equipment, then I might as well shine a spotlight back towards the gas station.

There was only one spot in the night both warm and chaotic enough to adequately hide in.

The city.

Author's Note

*innocent whistling* :trollestia:

Chapter 33 The Hunt

~~~

I shook my head to clear my mind.

I had gone and done it again.

Ugh! What was wrong with me?!

Do you want the full comprehensive list or-?

You! This is all your fault!

You can't blame all of your problems on me Luna.
Eventually you'll look in the mirror and realize exactly what you look like to other people.

"Do you really think I don't realize that?!" I asked loudly, now unafraid of alerting anyone. "What else can they see?! A fluffy teddy bear?!"

A groan from the other room broke me out of my rant.

"Mother fucker." I cursed to myself. The girl. She was still alive, and would be waking up when ever she felt like it. I trotted past the corpse whose esophagus was grossly distended by the aluminum can lodged half way down his throat. The kitchen was exactly as I left it, including the cooling body of the 'pizza guy'. I started pulling open drawers, looking for clean dish rags I could use. I found a few in a drawer near the sink. I folded it neatly into a triangular half as I left towards the entry hallway.

The lady was shifting slightly. Not fully awake but rapidly resurfacing into consciousness. I held onto the rags opposing corners and twirled the rag in on itself, folding it into an easy blindfold. I held the cloth away as I picked up the lady, setting her into a sitting position. Thankfully she didn't wake, but she did mumble something under her breath.

My time was running out.

I tied the blindfold around her face, tight enough to not fall off, but loose enough that it could be removed easily just by lifting it. Not wanting her to come to just on the floor, I picked her up in my levitation and carried her towards the living room couch in the other room.

I pulled the dead man off the couch and flopped him into a corner before setting the lady down in what I hoped was a comfortable position. Strangely, that seemed to send the lady back to sleep rather than forcing her into wakefulness.

I took a moment to breathe and calm back down.

She didn't ask to be here. She appeared to be relatively unharmed. And the perpetrators would never kidnap anyone ever again.

Surely that was enough to celebrate, even just a tiny bit right?

But the feeling that I was much too dangerous to be let free fell on my shoulders again, like the lash from a cat-o-nine tails.

I must never think what I did was okay by any stretch of the imagination. If I did?

A flash of memory, not one of the original Luna's, but one of Lucas'.

I clenched my eyes shut, trying to block out the memory.

I may be a monster, but if I was forced to regret no matter what path I chose, then I could at the very least rest knowing I had saved someone.

And that would have to be enough.

Reigning in control of my emotions, I flipped the off switch on my rage and threw dry ice into its boiler. A peculiar chill then fell over my soul, suffocating everything with the exception of cold logic.

Okay. The lady is still asleep. The men are dead. While I did save this one victim, this was only one head of this hydra. At best, this was only the first stop in a long chain of warehouses and stores with stashes of illicit goods. If I were to place a bet, the official owner of this house was a drug dealer who imported cocaine to sell, and exported kidnapped ladies for the sex trade.

While it was good this place had been shut down, it was only a small part of a vast criminal network. That meant the problem was far from solved. There was a market for human trafficking, and where there was a market, there were those willing to cater. And if there were those willing to cater, there was at least one willing to unite the scum into one business.

And those 'people' would have resources. Resources that could be used to hide away a certain alien horse princess.

If nothing else, my targeting the crime organization would also bring the fed's attention to their doorstep. I could wreck chaos... And slip away in the resulting confusion, fading away into obscurity.

Yes. This was the start of a plausible plan...

But first I needed information...

I glanced over at the girl on the couch, my gaze settling on the pile of cooling meat that used to be a man. I lit my horn and began to rifle through his pockets. Wallet, phone, ring of keys, and a 9 millimeter. I set the keys and gun aside, opting to open his wallet first.

According to his driver's license, his name had been Juan Suárez. Born in 1987. Juan held in his possession two credit cards and nearly 400 in various bills. I pulled the license out of the leather wallet and set it on his chest. I had no use for it. I set the remaining wallet in a new pile adjacent to the gun and keys.

Juan's phone was a more difficult matter. It was locked with the standard 4 digit code that Apple products tended to demand. With no real way to guess the code, I held the camera up to the dead man's face. Jackpot.

At first I had difficultly with the touch screen, not surprisingly, hooves didn't work on the touch screen. Cursing to myself quietly, I lifted the dead man's hand and used his limp finger as a stylus.

I then immersed myself in Juan's data stream. He had several Facebook and Twitter notifications, but a brief glance didn't reveal anything beyond interactions with what appeared to be a local friend group. A lead, but one that seemed to be a more round about way to my current goal. I opened his messenger app and scrolled down. Benign conversations between friends... Significant other who seemed to be angry about something at work... Long healthy conversations with his mother... Aha! The contact of 'Jefe' seemed promising.

I clicked on the message log eagerly, only to be disappointed. The conversation was with whom I assumed to be Juan's superior, but the conversation was very one sided. Mostly with 'Jefe' demanding to meet in person. Which I honestly should have expected. Nothing incriminating was written down for the cops to find. Unfortunate, but not unsurmountable.

I tapped open his 'Maps' app, quickly opening his favorites tab and glancing around. Hmm. Seems to just be favorite restaurants. Possibly used as both easy directions and contact list? I closed the favorites tab and tapped the search bar, glancing down his recent history. Restaurant Store... Store... An address? I tapped on the strange address, the app took a moment to load, but brought up a route highlighted in red from what I assumed to be my current position to this address. From what I remembered from flying, it was the city I was currently in. The red line crossed the map, but didn't ever leave the confines of the displayed city.

The home of a friend? Or the home of a stranger who Juan had recently visited? Or was it where 'Jefe' lived?

I swiped back to the main screen, but didn't close the app. Another lead, but was there anything else I could use?

I glanced back towards the sleeping lady, idlily pondering when she would awaken. Her chest rose and fell peacefully. I felt one of my ears flick mindlessly. I looked back down at the phone and opened the settings, glancing down the list, I tapped on "Face ID and Passcode".

"Enter your passcode."

"Damnit." I muttered outloud as a keypad appeared on the phone. "Hmmm..."

I turned the phone sideways so I could catch light on any finger smudges I could find. My use of the dead man's finger had screwed up the the smudges on the screen. But I could make out that the top right, the middle right, and the center had been pressed frequently. Although a broad swipe had passed over the lower center, smearing finger grease across the screen.

I hummed in thought again, clicking the power button once to put the phone to sleep, and again to wake up the phone on the passcode screen. The corresponding numbers were '3', '6', '5', and potentially '8'. Since I had no idea what a combination of numbers would be significant to Juan, I pondered how the phone would sit in his hand. What would be the easiest scheme to type? After all, it would be annoying to type an essentially random sequence every time right?

Three six five eight?

The phone vibrated slightly in my magic, and the number pad reset.

Eight five six three?

The home screen appeared.

I smiled grimly to myself. Never underestimate a mistake that can be attributed to laziness.

I turned back to the settings and used my new code to disable the face recognition and the locking passcode. I clicked the power button a few times to test if I could access the phone without the programmed keys. The home screen appeared several times before I was satisfied.

I swiped up the wallet, keys and gun, which joined my newly captured phone in my levitation. I almost whistled merrily as I went back into the kitchen, rather proud of myself for my detective work.

I then performed similar searches for all of the bodies. All in all, I found almost a thousand in cash, seven credit cards, three key rings, four various makes and models of guns, five phones, three of which locked themselves when I tried to open them, and one purse. I left the other guns by their owners, the 9 mil I had chosen would be enough. I stuffed the cash and the credit cards in the wallet I had stolen, just so I wouldn't be locked out of society just because I didn't have money. I deposited the purse on the couch next to the still sleeping lady, but she still didn't awaken.

I was hesitant to leave the girl in a house full of dead bodies. So I hung around with not much to do as I waited for her to wake up. So I burned more time by searching through the house itself. The closet of one of the bedrooms was full of men's clothing. Mostly purple hoodies and destressed blue jeans. They smelled clean, so I took a hoodie and the most intact jeans for use as a way to hold my ill gotten gains and for use as a disguise. They wouldn't do much if I was seen sulking on all fours, or if the hood was down, but if I kept the hood up while casting gaseous form...

All I needed to complete the disguise was shoes and gloves to hide my lack of actual hands and feet. The shoes were easy, the man who had been sleeping had a set near the bed. They didn't have the fading warmth of a cooling body that the others had, so I took those.

The 'hands' were also easy, nitrile latex gloves were tucked away with the cleaning supplies in the kitchen. I took a hoof full and stuffed them in one of the jean pockets. I sat on my haunches, now wearing a dark purple hoodie and awkwardly tight jeans in front of the sleeping lady, scrolling through my newly captured phone by using a latex glove inflated with my telekinesis as a stylus. They keys and wallet were tucked into another jean pocket, but the gun settled easily into the front pocket of the hoodie.

I scrolled through the news app for nearly an hour, immersing myself in the events that had happened since I ran away from my- Lucas' family. Culture war. Culture war. Propaganda. New health study. Oh? A surprise State of the Union? What was that about? I clicked on the article, but didn't read too far as the lady on the couch finally sat up, suddenly awake and cognizant of the last thing she remembered.

"Who's there?! Where am I?!" she exclaimed.

"Easy! Easy..." I answered calmly, only half surprised she had woken up. "You're safe. I won't hurt you."

"The last thing I remember I-" she put a hand on her forehead.

"I know. I saw the whole thing." I answered, trying to keep her from spiraling. "I saw and I stopped them."

"Who-" she began to tug the blindfold off, apparently realizing her hands were free.

"Don't!" I exclaimed suddenly, afraid of what she would do if she saw who I was. "For my, and your own sake." Something in my voice must've sounded authoritative enough to be worth listening to, because she stopped and let her hand fell back to the couch.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice quivering as she tried to keep herself calm.

"I-I'm- I'm nobody." I stammered as I tried to think of an adequate answer. "If you knew, you'd understand why I don't want you to see me. But you'll be much happier and safer if you didn't. So I'm going to lead you out of this place, have you count to 30 in the front lawn, and then remove your blindfold to call the police. Whatever you do, do not reenter the house. Wait for the police to show up and let them take care of you."

"You- You're not going to be waiting with me?" she asked. Crap, she was trying to bond herself to me.

"No. I will be watching, but you must never see me." I tried to explain.

"I- I don't understand..." she started to weep.

"I know..." I sighed sadly, feeling my ears pin backwards. I lifted up my levitating latex glove, filled as if an actual hand was inside. "Come, the sooner you get under the protection of the police the better." I gently grabbed her hand with the glove, guiding her to stand.

"But who are you?!" she cried.

"Nobody to concern yourself with." I stated, tears threatening to break away from my eyes. I lead the way towards the front door, trying to keep my hoofsteps quiet, the shoes of my disguise floating beside me.

I noticed she hadn't grabbed her purse, so I reached out with my levitation and pressed it into her hands. She jerked in surprise, but grabbed it as she realized what it was.

I unlocked the door and pulled it open, letting the cool night air blow over the threshold.

"Careful, there's a few steps." I warned as I guided the lady across the front porch. She slowly took a few steps down onto the front path, her hand white she was gripping so hard. I reached back and closed the door, not bothering to lock it.

"Okay Ma'am, count out loud to thirty." I murmured when she was on the front lawn.

"Will- Will I ever see you again?" she whispered fearfully.

I couldn't help myself. I let slip a loud, amused snort. "If you ever were to see me, you would know without a doubt who I am. Now please-" I trailed off. "Count to thirty."

"Ah... One? Two? Three." she called out.

That was my cue.

Her hand was in a death grip on the latex glove I was puppeting, but that didn't stop my magic from flowing out of it easily, abandoning the blue latex to its fate. The lady gasped, but continued to count.

"Seven. Eight. Nine-"

I cast gaseous form, coalescing inside the the baggy clothing like a limp balloon. From there, it was easy to "blow away" as I forced the clothing to fly bonelessly through the air behind the bushes of another house.

"Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen-"

I slide the hoodie and jeans over the ground like an air hockey puck, gliding only millimeters above the blades of grass.

"Twenty. Twenty one. Twenty two-"

I blew the hoodie and jeans over a fence, the shoes floating close behind. From there, the lady's voice faded into the distance as I forced the clothing higher into the air, aiming to use the fabric to glide into the next neighborhood.

I floated the clothing back down in the darkness next to a highway. I didn't solidify, but I pushed the cloud of my gas into a vaguely humanoid shape, filling out the clothing's limbs as if there was a real body underneath. The shoes assumed their natural position, as tendrils extended past the pant legs into the shoe's openings. A pair of gloves pulled themselves out of the front jean pocket and inflated, positioning themselves into the gaping sleeves of the hoodie. The hoodie pulled itself up and over my "head", pulling itself low to hide where my face should've been.

And to the casual observer, I was one more, just a regular human.

Author's Note

*Normal human noises* :scootangel:

Chapter 34 The Trick

~~~

The clothing I puppeted walked alongside the highway, latex gloves held my captured phone, The conversation with 'Jefe' opened. The fingers of the latex glove danced over the phone's keyboard.

Hey Jefe, place is compromised. Heading to "the place" to report.

Send.

Almost immediately the phone buzzed.

What?! How?! Why?! Don't come here! You'll lead the feds to us!

Again, the latex glove danced.

Where to then boss?

Send.

The taco place on the corner of 5th and Washintob. Be there or everyone you ever knew is dead!

Disregarding the typo; Hook. Line. And sinker.

I pulled up the map app and searched for "5th" or "Washington" Hm. Looked like "the taco place" was a family owned business. Maybe a front for the cartel? Or was it just a public place to meet?

Choices...

If I could've, I would've smiled as I stuffed the phone into a back pocket.

Now with a reason to maintain plausibility, I continued to puppet the clothing in a manner that I would've walked as Lucas. Casual, and unworried, even as I walked along side the highway in the middle of the night.

I even feigned casual intrigue as police cars and ambulances screamed by, their alarms blaring like trumpeters in a cavalry charge.

Heh heh heh.
You certainly know how to stir a pot don't you Luna?

What better way to dredge up the silt of society?

And what happened to the angsty "Woe is me! I am such a beast! Never should I be free!"?

You know perfectly well why I'm doing this.

All I'm seeing is a giant hypocrite!
'Woe betide me! I hate it when I kill and slay! Yet I can not seem to stop myself!'
Puh-lease Luna. If you really had such convictions you wouldn't go hunting for the scum of humanity!

What do you want from me? 'Myah! Kill everyone you see! Myah! How dare you feel bad for listening to me! Myah! I can't seem to understand the difference between want and need!'

Oh no. You do not get to pin the blame on me. You killed those people. You ransacked their home. And you are the one looking to do it again.

Yeah, with the kidnapper's fucking boss! If I had never seen that poor girl being taken, I would've never bothered! But if they're being so flippant that even I notice their bullshit? Yeah, I'm going to take the opportunity to steal resources bought with blood money! Am I being bad? Maybe, which is why I need to take those things to expedite my need to go into hiding! Before I start targeting innocent people!

The mental gymnastics at play are Emmy worthy.

Yeah? Then you can go fuck yourself you literal leech.

A high pitched wail interrupted me before I could rant any further. I glanced behind down the highway to see a blur of red and blue scream past. The police cruiser the lights belonged to grew smaller as it zoomed away, closely followed by more of its fellows.

I was about to inwardly chuckle, but that stopped as an ambulance rushed by, its lights also flashing aggressively.

I honestly should've expected the presence of an ambulance... But it was still a sobering thought that it was my fault it was out and about. Even if it was only to pick up the girl to take to a hospital.

I pushed the thought down and opened the phone to glance at the time and the directions. Was it healthy to keep avoiding my issues? Absolutely not. But what else was I going to do? It was ether keep moving or curl up here and now and wait for the feds to show up with Celestia in tow. I may not like it, but the only real choice was to keep moving, regardless how much I had to suppress my rampaging emotions.

It was better to be a functional wreck than a quivering wreck.

So I shored up the walls on my emotions and pressed onward. But with being essentially stranded on the side of the road didn't leave me too many options to distract myself. So I did my best by glaring at the rocks beneath my stolen shoes.

But there was even more wrong with me underneath the ad hoc duct tape sutures in my soul.

Forget my crime spree for a moment. I still hadn't gotten over that I was on the run from the federal government. I still hadn't gotten over Celestia being here on Earth. I still hadn't even gotten over being an alien horse girl for crying out loud! Never mind all the issues I dealt with as Lucas! Like how did one even deal with a species change?! How does one come to terms with a gender change?! Did that mean Lucas was transfem?! Did that make whoever I was transmasc?!

Laying down right here on the side of the highway to wait for my fate seemed more and more appealing. If only so I could just... Stop.

To stop, to finally come to a rest. To curl up in bed and not leave for a century, regardless of my obligations! To stop like a battered train finally pulling into the station, its huffing and puffing engine clearly on its last legs. To set myself back onto a workbench like a broken golem or a robot, just turn off and wait for someone to come along and fix what shouldn't have been broken in the first place.

But I couldn't.

I couldn't stop. Not here, not now.

The feds and Celestia would never give me a moments peace if I stopped now. I needed to disappear. But to do that I needed to plow through the local gang like a freight train, ransacking their holdings as I did so. Causing enough mayhem to muddy the waters and obscure my escape. To where? Some abandoned log cabin in Alaska? Maybe a deserted island in the middle of the ocean? It didn't matter. Just so long as I could finally come to a screeching halt I did not care.

But first I needed to wreck mayhem like a run-away train.

So I threw fuel into my metaphorical boiler and began to pick up steam again.

Author's Note

Ruh roh... :rainbowhuh:

Chapter 35 The City

~~~

Believe it or not, the highway wasn't that far away from the down town part of the city. Like most successful towns and cities, where ever this was had a major road acting like an artery that the city was based around. That meant, even though I was technically on foot, it did not take too long for me to find my way downtown.

So as the gravelly ground underneath turned into concrete sidewalk, so too did the nightlife become more and more lively. At first it was only the homeless or the addicts, they payed me no mind. But the crowd slowly became denser, the 'normal' folk became more prevalent. A few people seemed to stare, causing me to worry that I wasn't hidden enough. So I pulled the purple hood down in an effort to hide what I was sure was a swirling black mass.

I tried to keep to the alley ways and shadows after that. It wasn't like I had any reason to be afraid of some homeless man with a knife, I was fairly confident that a knife or a gun would be next to useless in dealing with a sentient gas cloud. So long as I kept up Gaseous Form, I was safe.

I checked the time on my stolen phone. 9:23. Shit what time had I texted 'Jefe'? I still had to act like they were my superior and had the power to ruin my life.

Jokes on him though.

I could do that perfectly fine by myself.

I made my way down a few more side streets and alleys, doing my best to avoid the bustling crowds of people just going about their life, parties of friends on a bar hop, families heading to restaurants before they closed, pairs of lovers on a romantic night walk.

Despite my time crunch, I stopped and leaned against the corner of a building, watching one such pair of lovers as they walked by on the opposite side the street. They were young. Younger than Lucas had been. Maybe even High School aged. But they were happy. How they held each other's hands... How they talked to each other so easily... How they occasionally snuck quick smooches on each other's face...

I felt what should've been my heart tighten with emotion.

I stood back up and turned the opposite way they were heading. Who cared if my detour was the longer route?

The Mexican restaurant on the corner of Fifth and Washington was a quint place. It wasn't a large franchise chain, nor did it pretend to be. I could so easily imagine the father figure of a family, working with his wife in the kitchen, or one of their older children at the cashier. Maybe the youngest would sit at a secluded table and do their homework throughout the evening as the family bustled around, earning a living that kept them all alive.

But I could also easily imagine the guillotine hanging above their head, in the form of cartel soldiers looking to make an example of anyone who didn't obey their rule.

Hmm... How was I going to do this?

The restaurant was a single floor building. It was a mix of 1950's café and 2010's "DIY" décor, like it was bought as a dinner and repaired with duct tape engineering. Most importantly, it was relatively full of customers. I counted at least three families with young children through the front windows. Although there were more than a few "rough and tumble" men who hung out in various groups, and alone by themselves. Some of them looked like they had gotten off work only a short while ago, but with the cartel that was not proof of innocence. This was a set up for sure.

If I walked in through the front door and pretended to be Juan... My ruse wouldn't last a second under the close scrutiny a brightly lit, and cramped enclosed space provided. It would be akin to going in guns blazing, and that wasn't an option with so many witnesses.

Could I somehow lure 'Jefe' out? Which one was he anyway? Surely he was here already? I glanced across the restaurant again, seeing if anyone stood out. The only one who did was a solo man in a shirt with tropical print, staring at a phone in his hand. A closer inspection also revealed a few "oddly" bulging pockets, particularly amongst a group wearing purple clothing just like the hoodie I wore.

Definitely a setup.

I pulled out the phone again and snapped a quick picture of the place. I then pulled up the text conversation with 'Jefe' and attached the image.

Might be followed. Too many witnesses?

Send.

Come on out fucker...

Inside the building, the man who seemed obsessed with his phone finally reacted to it, his eyes reading across something on the screen. Then he got up from his seat and walked towards the window. He then covered his eyes and peered in my direction.

Hello 'Jefe'.

With the phone still on the messenger app, I turned the bright white screen around so the little white square could be seen across the street.

'Jefe' seemed placated by my display and looked back down and his phone and began to type.

You were followed? How?

Came the reply a second later.

Kept seeing a weird white van. Unmarked.

Send.

Come on out... Come on out, I'm alone can't you see?

'Jefe' read his phone again, his eyes swiftly glazed over in thought.

Come on out into this dark alley where no one can see you...

Alright fine. A few of us will come out to talk. When was the last time you saw the van?

Roughly a week and a half ago if I could trust the date on the phone, November 14. But he didn't need to know that.

Just a few minutes ago.

Send.

'Jefe' waved at a group inside the building, prompting two of them to get up and follow him as he left out of the front door. He glanced at his phone as he stepped off the curb to cross the street.

Here we go.

I turned my back on the approaching group and went deeper into the alley, to "get away from the unmarked van".

The alley was dark enough that I didn't need to worry about my gaseous form being seen, so I shed most of my cloud's mass towards the side of the alleyway, keeping only a token presence in the otherwise empty clothing, just enough to maintain its shape. The shed mass I pressed against whatever cover and detritus I could find, it may have been dark enough to be able to hide in plain sight, but I couldn't account for any flashlights or freak reflections from headlights. I stopped the barely held up mass of clothing at the very end of the dead end alleyway, keeping its back towards the oncoming 'Jefe'.

'Jefe', and his cronies entered the alley very shortly thereafter, with the cronies flanking 'Jefe' on both sides.

"Juan?" 'Jefe' called out, his voice low and gruff, glaring at the back of the stolen clothing. I watched from almost every angle as he steadily walked deeper into the alley. "Talk to me Juan, what went wrong?"

Of course I couldn't answer, so I waited for the trio to walk deeper into the alley. Out of sight.

One of the mooks must've felt something was off, because he drew a pistol out of his waistband, keeping his thumb on the safety and his offhand on the slide.

"Boss?" he called out.

"Come on Juan don't fuck with me..." 'Jefe' scurried forward and put a hand on the shoulder of "Juan".

Eh... Close enough.

I let the suspended clothing fall.

"What the-?!" 'Jefe' began to exclaim, but I was already moving. A tendril of shadow reached up, and pushed the goon closest to the mouth of the alleyway into his friend. Another tendril reached for said friend, wrapping around his head and jerking violently. He was already dead by the time he collided with his tripped buddy. As for 'Jefe', several smaller tendrils rushed from the shadows, muffling the man's shouts of confusion and snapping his neck as well. I made sure to catch his still unlocked phone with a waiting tendril. The tripped man flopped about in confusion, wrestling with his friend's limp corpse. He wasn't left waiting for long as tendrils redirected from their completed goals to target his form.

He died with his mouth held shut, and his throat pressed closed.

Author's Note

Deeper and deeper we go! :pinkiecrazy:

Chapter 36 The News

~~~

Silence reigned over the three newly made corpses.

But my work wasn't done quite yet.

I recoalesced back inside my stolen clothing, a tendril bringing 'Jefe's' still unlocked phone into a waiting nitrile glove inflated with my gaseous form.

Let's see what horseshit you're into "boss".

The man's contact list was staggering. I scrolled past hundreds of individual text conversations. Fortunately, most of them contained roughly the same subject matter "Meet me at 'the place' to report". While annoyingly unhelpful, it was understandable. No paper trail, no evidence for a courtroom. But still, it was almost insane just how many people the guy was in contact with. I had thought Juan had been a lowly grunt or a soldier, but if 'Jefe' was in contact with so many people, and if this gang followed any sort of organizational chart, Juan was probably closer to a middle manager then anything. Which meant 'Jefe' was up near the top of the hierarchy.

After all, someone had to keep track of all the individual branches in the gang.

Strange that he was so close though... Almost convenient even. Unless I was mistaken with my assessment and the gang was just that absurdly large.

One conversation did stand out however.

In fact, the opposite side of that particular conversation texted 'Jefe's' phone as I scrolled through.

I need an update Marco!

Marco? Was that 'Jefe'?

I scrolled through 'Jefe's'/ Marco's conversation with "Vendedores del Diablo"

I didn't speak Spanish, but I certainly knew what "diablo" meant.

Someone was clearly compensating for something.

I can see that your reading my texts!

Answer me!

Hmm. What to do?

I'm talking to Juan rn.

Send.

Bullshit! I'm the motherfucking vendedores del diabol! I'm more important than any retarded grunt too stupid to avoid the feds! YOU TALK TO ME

Touch a nerve did I?

Well good news 'Diablo', I'm here to remove all your worries.

How am I supposed to tell you what's going on if I don't know myself?!

Send.

Oh that was probably a bit too mouthy. Oh well.

Who is this?! Marco would never talk back to me! Answer me you little shit!

Defiantly too mouthy. Ah well, the jig was up.

Marco isn't available right now.

I hesitated over the send button, but pushed it anyway, curious where I could take this.

You kill Marco? Fucking puta! Ill skin and kill your entire family!

I couldn't help but reflexively attempt the motions to snort aloud, but it didn't have the same effect while under the effects of gaseous form.

Ha. Believe me when I say, "I'd like to see you try."

Send.

A string of rapid expletives in various languages followed.

Temper temper.

Oooh, was there a finger wag emoji? No? Ah well. Laughing while crying face will work.

Send.

You're certainly one to talk.

The difference is I get angry over actually upsetting things, not over someone else's opinion.

And if their opinion was that you're actually upsetting?

Then they can get in line behind me.

Where are you you son of a whore?!

I'm coming to kill you myself!

Bingo.

I turned back to Juan's phone and pulled up the Maps app again. The strange address was still selected, a large blue button with a pictogram of a simplistic car with a "10 min" underneath seemed to beckon "Push me push me!"

I ignored the button and went to the upper left corner, searching for the street view function. Options at the bottom of the screen popped up. Explore, driving, transit, and satellite! There that one! I clicked the satellite button. The on screen map disappeared, a blank canvas of grey grids replacing it. A moment later, the app reloaded the same address, this time showing a bird's eye view of the immediate area around the address.

Eh, good enough.

I pinched the screen to zoom in, trying to get a good look at the property I was suspicious of. It was definitely in a secluded neighborhood, with abnormally large buildings that were far too unique to be a mass produced corporate buildings.

It was the neighborhood of rich people who could afford to buy their own property, and then build a dream home large enough to house their entire extended family twice removed.

Why was such an address in a thug's phone? Was it the future site of a robbery? Was it the home of one of the gang's customers?

Was it the home of the "Don"?

One thing for sure, the police would swarm the area to protect the "well-to-do's" with the weight of a small army if a Karen started screaming about armed thugs in her yard.

And the chaos would be perfect to cover my tracks.

I manually punched the address into the Messenger app on 'Jefe's' phone.

Look familiar? I'll be there within the hour.

Send.

You're a dead mother fucker.

Yeah... If only I were so lucky.

With nothing more to do, I pressed the blue button on Juan's old phone, which blurred back to what I assumed was my position, a blue line crossing over a portion of the street, leading into the distance. Not interested in speaking with "Diablo" anymore, I tossed Marco's phone back onto the man's cooling chest, abandoning it for the police to find. I then left the alleyway, hidden by my puppeted clothes.

A few of the men I assumed were gang members in the Mexican restaurant seemed antsy, occasionally glancing out the window towards the alley where Marco had disappeared into. Evidently, Diablo's control over his gang was not as absolute as he imagined, because they made no move or indication that they knew Marco was now dead. No, they were still expecting him to walk back out of the alley with more of their friends in tow. Maybe they'd then have a taco and a beer, and good times would be had over laughing how stupid the feds were. The world would be perfect in their minds. They were among the powerful, drinking and having a good time, safe in the knowledge they could do literally anything with impunity.

But Juan, Marco, and who ever those unnamed goons were, would never be laughing again.

Their voices were now forever silenced. Just like all of their victims before today.

And I got to add another stain to my soul.

I walked away from the brightly lit restaurant, leaving its occupants to their fate of wondering what had happened to their friends and colleagues. Would they give into curiosity and go into the alleyway themselves? Would they call the police? Or would they leave the bodies for some innocent to find in the morning?

Did it matter?

No matter how one looked at it, I had killed them. I had killed them for my own benefit. I had judged them, I had found them guilty and I killed them for it, all for my own benefit. And I wasn't even close to being done. More blood would be shed tonight, and the pile of bodies I stood on would grow even-

Juan's old phone began to buzz incessantly. Not like someone was calling, but like the phone had suddenly decided to play every ringtone and alarm it held in its memory at the same time. Or at least it tried to.

I opened the phone and scanned through the notifications, many of which were text messages.

Holy shit Juan are you seeing this?!

Dios Mio Juan! Turn on the tv now!!!!

It's happened! It's finally fucking happening!!1!

What the-?

An Apple news alert caught my attention as surely as if the Abrahamic god himself had jumped out of the nearby bushes and had decided to bitch slap me across the face before running away, screaming into the night like a hobo high on cocaine and bath salts.

Apple News Alert! Pentagon has confirmed extraterrestrial contact! Alien Representative already on Earth!

My heart did what I was certain was several backflips all performed on a rollercoaster that was nothing but loop-de-loops.

There was no way...

No fucking way...

I opened the phone properly and pulled up the Youtube app.

The State of the Union from earlier! That's what it was about! Surely someone had a recording of-

Number one in Juan's suggested videos list. Already at millions of views despite only being minutes old.

And there she stood in the thumbnail. Behind a podium that bore the crest of the United States Presidency. The unmistakable generic hallway of the white house behind her. The red banner of CNN covered the lower third of the image.

A blue nitrile glove that I was absolutely certain belonged to another person reached over the phone and tapped the video.

Youtube took a moment to buffer, but it wasn't long before the video started. At first it showed a man in a decorated military uniform, already mid-speech.

"-But there comes a time in all of our lives when we ask ourselves. Are we alone? When we look up at the stars and wonder if anything is looking back." the man paused, letting his premade speech pause for dramatic effect, but taking the opportunity to drink from a water bottle. "Well today my fellow Americans, I have the answer. As of three days ago, the Forces of the United States Military made contact with a being that is not of this Earth. Thankfully, despite tensions at the time, a cease-fire was negotiated. It was agreed, between all parties involved, that secrecy would be in no one's best interest, due to circumstances surrounding the event. So I present to you, my fellow Americans and watchers from abroad, Princess Celestia of Equestria." The man backed away from the podium, sweeping his arms as if to present a new speaker. And indeed, the new speaker appeared from behind a curtain to the side. Gone was her armor and weapons, instead she was clad in only her gleaming crown and peytral, her hooves adorned with ornamental shoes.

The crowd in the video gasped as they first beheld her, utterly beyond their imaginations of little green men in silver onsies. Celestia, for her part, calmly nodded towards the crowd of reporters and cameras, taking the podium abandoned by the man who must've been a general.

"Greetings everyhuman." she began loudly and clearly. "I am Princess Celestia, ruler of a distant land known as Equestria. And I know you all must have many questions." she smiled easily, like a mother prodding their hesitant child to go play. Instantly, every reporter raised their hands, desperate to get the first question. Celestia glanced over the crowd, before pointing with a hoof. "I believe I saw your limb go up first." she called. The lucky reporter stood up.

"CNN. Katie Hoffspetter. What are your intentions for the Earth?" the woman asked.

"As of right now, I currently have no intentions involving Earth or any of the people that call it home. However I look forward to starting official relations and starting embassies if I'm allowed." Celestia replied easily. "Next question? Ah, you there." she pointed at another reporter.

"Robert Cline. Fox News. How long have you known of Earth and have you visited before?" the new reporter asked.

"I can say with certainty, my nation has had no prior contact with any nation on Earth than our meeting three of your days ago." Celestia pointed to another reporter. "Next question please?"

"Maggie Smith. Times Magazine. You say you've never had any contact with Humans before, so how and why are you here?"

At this Celestia froze, her eyes glassy and far away.

"That's... That's a long story." she said finally. "I do suppose I owe it to you. For transparency's sake if nothing else." At this Celestia drew in a slow breath. "Long ago, I- I made a mistake." she began. "I pushed away somepony I loved when I should've embraced her. And we- we came to blows."

Even through the recording, I could see tears welling in her eyes.

"She ran. She ran farther away than I could've ever dreamed of. She had run so far and for so long she crossed the sea between stars by herself with nothing but the wings on her back." Celestia ruffled her wings as if gesturing that they were, in fact, functional. "It wasn't until very recently, a few weeks at most, that we received a... A signal, for a lack of a better term. Unmistakably hers and alive." At this, Celestia smiled through her welling tears. "We've advanced a lot since my sister left us. It was difficult to triangulate her location, and even harder to bridge the gap, but I put my best Ponies on the job. We didn't know what awaited us on the other side, a barren rock or wild jungle. So I prepared a... Taskforce as you would call it. But I needed to take the risk to find my sister. Little did I know, she's been hiding here for... Sometime according to your military."

Silence seemed to reign.

The silence was broken by the Fox News reporter raising his hand again.

"How do you know your... Sister is here on Earth?" he asked. "Surely it's possible there's been a mistake? After all, you said it yourself, we've never encountered each other before last week."

"Absolutely certain." Celestia nodded. " Even if I didn't trust my little ponies... I've already seen her. She is here. Hiding, and afraid, but she is here."

Silence reigned once more as the information soaked itself into the collective consciousness of those present.

Eventually the CNN reporter raised her hand again.

"What- What would you say to your sister if she were here, right now, and watching?" she asked.

The question seemed to take Celestia aback.

"I-" she stammered. "I would say I'm sorry." she closed her eyes, but it was plain to see tears were falling. "I'm sorry for everything."

The video wasn't done, but I closed the app and put the phone to sleep.

Author's Note

*Popcorn munching* :pinkiegasp:

CH4pt3r 3L t8e pr3y

Author's Note

Trigger Warning: The following chapter contains disturbing imagery and descriptions.

This is your only warning.

Oh the things we do that are ultimately, the result of "love". :trollestia:

The vibe:https://youtu.be/QGt3CxxxDBg

CH4pt3r 3L t8e pr3y

~~~

The blacktop underneath crunched as I walked past the mouth of the neighborhood. I didn't care as I walked down the middle of the road. Rage sat in my stomach like a lead weight as if I had picked up and swallowed a scolding hot stone and ate it out of spite. I was so angry that the gas that formed my cloud must've been roiling like a storm driven sea.

I could almost feel reality twisting in that strange way only one's 6th sense could sense, that something was very, deeply, wrong. That something hungry with sharp teeth had its eyes on you. That you needed to run. Now.

I puppeted the gun out of my pocket and half pulled on the slide, checking the chamber. Satisfied that it wasn't ready, I pulled fully on the slide and released, racking a round in.

I put the gun back in my hoodie's pocket and thumbed the safety, but did not turn off it quite yet.

I cut across a sidewalk, rounding a corner to more quickly get to my goal, and then stepping back into the street. I felt like the decorative bushes to the right should've burst into flame from my sheer proximity. I let my gases escape and flow behind me, spooling out tendrils like vapor from the smoke stack of a war machine.

Ahead, a particularly familiar house loomed, the center of a bustle of activity, all rushing much too fast to be hidden, but not quite abandoning with the pretense. All of its indoor lights were on, shadows loomed in almost every window.

I marched forward, stopping just outside what weak glow of the house reached the street, just slightly too far to be seen clearly. And I stood there, standing there like a ghost in B roll shots in a horror documentary.

I didn't want to just kill them. I wanted them to suffer in any small way I could. Not to sadistically torture, but just because the toxic fire inside would allow nothing less.

To hell with my own uselessness, I finally had the full rage and will to do something useful for the first time in forever. Who cared really when the voices of thugs, murderers, kidnappers and drug dealers finally went silent? All voices in a chorus must take at least a few bars of rest in a piece, who says their song shouldn't finally fall silent? Those who live by the sword, die by the sword. And eventually, all things must end! From even the filthiest peasant to the highest lord, from God to Me. So who says their song shouldn't finally end?!

Get out of the choir and let the voices of the innocent through!

So great was my rage I felt like I could let some unknown primordial language of hate seep from my mouth if I merely opened my jaw. A tongue so ancient and cursed that even demons of rage would think twice about using it.

Finally, the wretched wastes of life noticed my presence as a flurry occurred inside as one of the shadows tapped its friend on a shoulder and pointed. The unmistakable, "Hey, you see that?" written on his lips.

I stood there more, pretending to be just a trick of the light for just a little longer. Shadows could be seen, traveling window to window, occasionally colliding and sliding through other shadows. I could hear a few particularly loud shouts from inside.

Finally a portion of the shadows emerged onto an elevated patio, a horde of men in purple street clothes swarmed over one particular man, like ants over their Queen.

His gaze cast out into the darkness, locking eyes with what he perceived as my head.

I kept my head up as if to keep staring as I made a show of showing my phone, a contact already visible. It never held any history with the number, yet its notifications were urgent, loud, and attention catching. I kept my positioning as I typed "without looking at the phone", in reality I was also watching out of the end of a tentacle that stuck to the hands shadow.

I pressed message contact.

Typed a message.

And pressed the send button.

Knock knock

Almost instantly, the man in the center of the swarm, dressed in only in pajamas and barefeet, pulled out a phone and read the message.

He looked up, eyes alight in intuitive understanding.

I dropped the phone, crushing it beneath my foot as I charged my clothing puppet forward. It smashed through the front window, acting perfectly as if a human body was still inside.

It was a calculated diversion of course, they thought they could still win, and their realization that their defeat was inevitable would maybe help soothe the putrid flame inside. The waste of society's efforts raised their rifles to begin firing.

To them, it must've felt that I was moving too fast for them to hit. And while yes, I was pushing the clothing puppet just beyond what a human should've been capable of, the reality was several shot bullets pierced uselessly through the garments.

I reached for the nearest man's head with only a single hand as I rushed forward through a window, nitrile gloves already splitting as the shadowy gas started to malform beyond human shape, forming wickedly sharp claws.

In the bright house, it was clear to everybody that my hand was more than just a trick of the light as claws pierced deeply into the man's face like an apple slicer.

I felt like the shadow that should've been my lips stretch into what even I could tell was unnaturally wide.

The other hand brought up the pistol, safety off and finger on the trigger.

The gun barked once. Twice. Thrice.

The friends of the still alive man in my claw began to flinch, as they suddenly found themselves under fire after expecting their target to die.

I pulled the man's ragdoll body around as if I was using him as cover.

Already a few more were entering the room, already opening fire themselves.

I felt myself snarl as I pushed my now entering tendrils of spare shadow forward towards their faces, spreading out from behind me like demented wings in the bright light. I threw the now dead body up towards a few men that weren't being targeted by my darting tendrils, shocking them as I threw the body up a full floor with inhuman strength.

Several holes tore up the clothing, more than enough to be instantly noticeable. I felt sharp teeth form were my mouth should've been, to both terrorize and use if an opportunity arose.

I pulled the other arm around, now visibly lacking in a physical form in the sleeve.

The gun barked again, four, five, six.

Tendrils began to slice and bash through the exposed heads of the nearest thugs, terror now running rampant through the ranks as they realized their friends were dying much too quickly for comfort.

I pushed the puppet to the first doorway I saw, only barely keeping it animated as a target. The last of the first responders fell to the floor, his head crushed/sliced almost in half. I rushed forwards without preamble, preferring to commit to the assault than to hide again.

This room was too full of people to tell what it was. Across the crowded room, I looked eyes with the man I took to be "Diablo." His fat, pajama'd gut telling of a comfortable life built on the suffering of many, many others. At some point, he and his minders had reentered the home, escorting him away from the patio.

The gun in my now tendril barked again, more to use up the weapon than to keep up with the ruse of the puppet as it fell to the ground, now full of too many holes to act effectively now.

Seven. Eight. Nine.

I charged the suddenly firing line of gunmen with lashing tendrils. Keeping half to build up my central form, to appear as a large menacing shadow in the comfortable lighting.

Come one and all! Feel the pent up wrath of one thousand years worth of bullshit!

I cut through the active gunmen, plowing through half of them in less than a second, pushing my central mass forward, flowing across wooden flooring, making my way towards the pajama'd man, whom I could now see held a pistol.

Ten.

The final shot of my gun barked, finally allowing me to throw the gun away and let that tendril loose to join its fellows.

The shot impacted just above the pajama'd man's head, causing him to duck in surprise, glancing upwards and back towards me in only a second.

I felt the main mass of shadow well up in pride as he beheld the unholy living shade I had felt like for so long.

I didn't need the Nightmare's sight to know that the man was being challenged, perhaps for the first time, by the inevitability of death.

I took the delay in his actions to my advantage and charged forward, renewing my lashing attacks throw their ranks, utterly undeterred by the wall of gunfire that erupted from seemingly everywhere.

For those you have silenced!

I committed my whole mass to the charge, devoting all of my physical form and mental prowess to killing every voice in this room.

For those you would silence!

I roiled with rage as I begun to swarm the nearest men. The air seemed to boil as micro tendrils began to stab and slice at whatever flesh they could see.

The first man had been kneeling, his head happening to have been parallel with the line of tendrils that happened to be the lowest, the others not feeling it worthwhile to get any lower.

The top of his head evaporated in a storm of razor slices and shadow.

For every life you have ruined!

The entire first line of defenders began to boil in razor soup as they became assaulted by shadow.

Shrieks and cries began to rise, as the already delayed reaction finally began to climb into audible range with so much noise. Already the first line was over ran, I pushed myself forward, sweeping into the line behind with no sign of slowing momentum. The longest tendrils began to swoop around, flanking past their attention and charging into the farthest, "most safe" position in the room.

Die and know what you have done!

The final man of the first firing line fell, finally succumbing to his wounds. I pushed my central mass through and over the second line, letting whole swathes of my sides sloughing off to flank the second line from the middle.

Men started to die even in the third line.

The pajama'd man was fumbling with a phone and a seemingly locked door. 911? More men? Did it matter?

Already the second line broke and instantly dissolved, The mass of shadow from the first line began to catch up, joining in the assault on the fourth line.

I was already half way through the room.

I crashed into the fourth like a tsunami, followed soon after by the mass from the second line.

The third line broke much like the second, the tendrils closest to the walls of the room flowed along them, seeking to flank as the central mass of shadow dominated everyone's attention.

Suddenly, the very back line began to die as the plan for the long tendrils to finally pay off, pulling them down harshly in jerking, spasmatic motions.

Already the forth line broke as I concentrated on the attack on the back line, letting the boiling shadow do its selectively corrosive properties as it passively killed in the center of the room.

The Pajama'd man finally opened the door he had been struggling with, many of his guards standing in front of the door to cover their lord's escape.

If I had a throat, I would've screamed another war cry, instead I settled for rushing forwards with a giant, needle toothed shadow towards the maggot, redoubling my efforts in breaking the fifth and final sixth line of thugs.

The gun fire fell silent as my subterfuges continued to take them by surprise.

Finally, they were all dead. Judging by the presence of a now blood splattered TV, this had been a living room. But now it was a literal nightmare, it could've been possible that not an inch of the floor was not covered by some body part.

As I recollected the farthest tendrils in the room back into a main mass, I took what mass I had to grip the door along whatever cracks I could find.

Already I could see into the next, much less populated room.

The pajama'd man was hunched over the front edge of a desk, leaning across the the top in his effort to get to the drawers quicker.

I pushed my collected gas cloud forward towards the still closed door, smashing through the solid wooden door with disturbing ease.

Several small tendrils had kept their grip on portions of wood, keeping large splinters still in my grasp for use. I rolled into the room, rearing up behind the pajama'd man.

Then light of the nightmarish living room behind me fell over me, collecting on the floor as the shadow of a winged demon.

Chap7er 3H Th3 Cr1me10rd

Author's Note

Warning: The following chapter contains disturbing imagery and descriptions.

This is your only warning.

Continuation of the last chapter... But perhaps we'll get a bit more insight this time. :trollestia:

The vibe: https://youtu.be/RROd79kpDKw

Chap7er 3H Th3 Cr1me10rd

~~~

Time seemed to stand still as I took the room in. It was as if the concept of time had ceased to exist. It was nice, in the eternity of the moment. My deeds, both righteous and deplorable? Didn't matter, might as well not have existed at all. There could be no pain. How could there be? There would be no standard which to measure any degree of tactile feeling. Just a simple, 'oh this is sensitive for reasons beyond my understanding'.

But eventually, all things must end. It didn't matter who I hurt, how much they hurt, or how much I hurt... All things must end.

This method of pain management must stop.

You cannot stay here.

Choosing to stay here to avoid your grief is not safe for you.

Getting here in the first place is dangerous, but you will go mad if you do not handle your problems.

Soon, I must go back soon. Even eternity is finite under the correct conditions.

Moments are just that... Moments. They pass swiftly and without care. Each moment an eternity to be experienced, each finely etched instant ever so slightly different than the eternity before it.

Already the flashes of gunfire to the sides illuminated the distant nebula that made up the gunmen.

Even in the timeless nature of a moment frozen in time, my problems ruined even this.

The problem though?

I didn't want to be here! Not in this fucking house! Not in this God damn situation! Not on this thrice cursed planet!

And the cause of all of my misery! That moronic, brain dead mule of a sister! She had the audacity to come here, and apologize?! For crying out loud, I could still feel the knife between my ribs!

Everything I've been through! Every pain and indignity! As Luna and Lucas! What was it all for?! Because she valued her vapidly inbred tea-time friends more than she did me!

And she thought a single, simple apology would be enough!

What a slap to the face! What a tone deaf, milk toast thing to do!

Smoke began to stream out of the open slides of all the guns inside the room. I felt myself snarl as I pushed my front tendrils forward.

If Celestia thought a single apology was an acceptable currency? Then I'd show her exactly how much it bought her.

"Sombras del diablo! Madre de dios!" one of the less disciplined gunmen shouted as time once more fully gripped my consciousness.

Already a few tendrils started to bite into the nearest goons. They started to thrash as I pulled more of the cloud's mass through the door, pushing more of myself into the charge.

The pajama'd man had finally accomplished his task behind the desk, and had at some point turned back around, a strangely bulkly gun in his hands, pointed directly at me.

"Go to hell demon!" he shouted defiantly, his pointer finger depressing the trigger.

Much to my surprise, this gun wasn't like the others. Instead, a giant fireball erupted from the barrel, washing the whole room in violently dancing yellow and orange light. Despite still being a cloud, and supposedly immune to physical damage, the fire hurt.

The fire hurt a lot.

Memories of falling, burning, through a strange sky flowed across my awareness.

I thrashed through the memory and returned to the moment.

I didn't feel like my abilities were lessened, it was like someone had hooked up a electro stimulation device to my skin and cranked the power up to twelve.

All the pain did was fuel my hatred.

Hatred for this scum of a man. Hatred for what my life had become. Hatred for, at the very least, 20 years of repressed emotions. But most of all, hatred of her.

HOW DARE SHE?!

Was I being unreasonable? Maybe.

But I didn't exactly feel like being reasonable at the moment.

My vengeance for the flame thrower was swift and merciless. My attacking tendrils whipped and lashed, carving through the last of the cartel goons like a scythe through wheat. Soon, the pajama'd man was the only remaining cartel member left in the room.

"You like that?" he made the flame thrower roar again, catching a decent portion of my central mass with the flame. "You like that huh?!"

I would've roared in pain and rage if I had a throat.

The man seemed to notice the dancing shadows amongst his dead followers and swept the flame thrower around, using the force of the weapon to erect protective walls of fire between him and me. I felt a demonic growl rise in what felt like my throat, irked beyond imagination that I was too much of a coward to rush through the flames to finally end this man.

"Back demon!" he exclaimed, sweeping the flames again. "Padre nuestro que estas en los cielos!"

Several bodies and various office equipment had caught on fire by this point. They only smoldered for now, but it would not be long before uncontrolled fire started to crawl up the walls.

"Santificado sea tu Nombre!" the man continued to rant.

Enough of this.

"Venga tu reino! Hagase tu voluntad!"

I took the opportunity to blindside the chanting man as his flamethrower reached the far side of its sweep, granting a small opening where the fire was at its weakest, and the barrel was farthest away.

"En la tierra como en el cielo!" The man continued to cry, already noticing my attack and bringing the flamer around to compensate for his wall's weakness.

Unfortunately for him, his rapid response left more holes in his defense. Far too much to be countered in only a single sweep of the stream of fire.

I took advantage of every. Single. One.

"Danos hoy nuestro pan de cada día!" The man kept the flame thrower pointed towards the initial weakness, realizing too late that his defense was already fractured in too many places.

Already the tips of the first tendrils already began to lick at the man's bare feet, leaving only slight slashes more akin to papercuts than lacerations.

"Perdona nuestras ofensas!" The man began to flail, doing his best to swing his fire around to protect him properly and swat away the shadows that were getting too close for comfort.

"Como nosotros perdonamos a los que nos ofenden!" He was beginning to panic as more and more of my tendrils began to rip deeper and deeper into his person, leaving bloody lashes across his body as if he had just crawled through a field of barbwire.

"Y no nos dejes caer en la tentacion!" The man screamed as my tendrils began to caress over his weapon, scratching the paint and beginning to crumple it like a tin can in a vice.

"Y libranos del-" The flamethrower sputtered out, now too damaged to function. I rushed my central mass through were the flames were previously, rearing up in order to better attack the man. "-Mal?"

A black hoof descended, smashing the man's skull in as if it were the rind of a rotten watermelon.

I resolidified on instinct, suddenly needing to breath. The sounds of fleeing goons echoing through the walls of the building.

I gasped for breath as I fully became real again. I took a moment to regain my sense of physical self, overwhelmed with emotion.

Flames began to crackle as the smoldering items fully caught fire.

Already I could hear sirens, although I wasn't entirely sure if they were my imagination or not.

I took a few more steadying breaths, even as the walls themselves began to blacken with soot.

Yet I was alone.

The fight was over.

No one decided to test their luck further against the literal demon in the building.

I had won.

I pulled my hoof out of the former head of this gang with a wet squelch. I let the body fall back to the floor and left him with the fire he had started.

I walked through the house as if in a daze. Unwilling to acknowledge the literal carnage around me.

The carnage I had caused.

I walked past the living room, wholly uninterested in the already cooling bodies.

There were several hallways. These were easier to navigate. If anyone had been inside them, they had wisely fled before I had noticed their presence.

Let them. Let them run. Leave them for the police to catch.

Dinning room. Guest room. Bathroom. Closet. Aha! The kitchen.

I walked into the kitchen with only one thing on my mind.

I rummaged through the cabinets, searching for a very specific place to store things.

I reached up like a giant dog, resting a front hoof on the countertop. I didn't even bother with my magic as I opened one of the higher cabinets.

There they were.

I pulled out the nearest glass bottle, flopping back onto my haunches as I twisted the cap off with my now free hoof.

I raised the bottle to my lips and began to drink greedily.

The words, "Absolute Vodka" glistened in the electric light.

Chapter 39 The Memories Part 11

~~~

I sat over the anvil, sweat falling from my brow.

The inscribing tool slowly pressed into cooling metal.

This had to be perfect.

Ever since my coronation, Tia and I had been extremely busy. The fledgling nation, 'Equestria' we called it, was still weak and untested. Ponies from the world over flocked to our banner, to the returning Alicorns. For them it was divine providence. But there were almost as many who saw us as usurpers to their rule.

Dark wizards, tyrannical Lords, slaving despots. All wished to test their might against the Alicorn sisters, Harmony's chosen.

Between fighting them, and ruling the nation itself, Tia and I had been extremely busy.

The metal had cooled, so I took it off the anvil and put it back into the forge.

In just the last fight, I had broken three swords in my duel with the belligerent necromancer.

Kavras the Risen I think his name was.

Regardless, I spent most of the fight trying to find another sword.

That had to change.

I pulled the almost finished metal out of the forge, now glowing red.

I had started the project with only one intent. Make myself a weapon intended for me and me alone.

From the ground up, I had chosen only a vein of ore that had come from a falling star. Smelted and refined it for over a month.

I had spent nearly as long pouring over books on runic enchantments, picking and choosing with care, the magics that I would imbue the blade with.

Only then did I form the blade.

But then I took it further.

I plated the 'finished' blade in silver. It was this layer I was working on now.

Endurance. Permeance. Sharpness.

When I was done, this blade would be so strongly enchanted, it would be strong enough to pierce dragon hide.

I finished with the runes along the blade, all that remained was one final sigil near the hilt.

I reverently carved the sigil of the Moon into the yet unpolished metal.

Lunar Majesty awoke.

Mana channels under the silver flowed with cerulean light, lighting the runes along the blade as it ran. But the sigil of the Moon glowed with silver light.

The sword hummed with life.

I picked up the sword with my magic. It seemed to jump into my control. I turned the blade with slow arches, testing a few particular enchantments.

The blade cut through the air with almost unnatural ease.

Perfect.

I set the blade down onto the anvil, fully letting it go.

The blade fell asleep once more as the mana channels fell dark.

"Forge Flare!" I called out. A bespectacled Unicorn stallion with a red coat poked his head through the forge's door.

"Your Majesty?" he asked.

"I wish to ask a favor of you." I informed him. "Pick up and examine my blade."

"I- I'm certain your craftponyship is beyond compare your Highness."

"Humor me."

The stallion approached the anvil hesitantly. Why, I wasn't sure. It wasn't like I had ever treated him badly.

"You're details are excellent you Majesty. I imagine this sword will last a long time with these runes." He picked up the sword. "I- Oof! Sorry my Lady... It's heavier than I expected..." He turned the blade sideways to examine the edge. "It's straight... But your balance needs work your Majesty... All of the weight feels like it's in the very tip of the blade."

I reached out with my magic, and lightly touched the hilt.

"Your- Whoa!" The blade in his grip came alive once more, jumping in his hooves as the weight of the blade seemed to shift. Forcing the stallion to readjust to keep it under control.

"How about now?" I asked, keeping my magic lightly touching the hilt.

"It's..." the stallion felt the weight, balancing it on his hoof. "Perfectly balanced... How-?"

I let the magic go, causing the sword's weight to shift again.

"Whoa!" the stallion exclaimed in surprise as the blade fell off his hoof, hitting the floor with a loud clank.

"I keyed it to my touch Master Forge Flare. If I'm not the one holding it, it's little more than a particularly sturdy slab of unbalanced metal." My magic snaked over the hilt, causing the blade to come alive again. I brought it up to examine if there were any scuffs.

There weren't.

"Your ingenuity is an inspiration to us all your Highness." the stallion bowed.

"I thank you for the compliment Master Forge Flare. You may return to your duties." I replied. The stallion turned and left the workshop I had taken for the day.

I didn't like the stallion, he was far too formal for my taste. But I could not deny that he was good in a forge.

Almost as good as Master Brickwork had been.

I quietly sighed as I thought about the late blacksmith, turning towards the polishing wheel.

I quietly applied the polish to the round brush and started to pump the hoof pedal, causing it to spin.

I pressed the unpolished sword to the twirling brush and ran it up and down the blade.

The next Dark Lord was going to be in for a surprise.

~~~

"I need a new scabbard." I told the Castle's leatherworker, a cream Earth Pony mare.

"Oh! Of course your Highness, was the last one not satisfactory?"

"No, your scabbard was of excellent quality."

"But you were just here for one just last week..."

"I broke the sword..." I admitted.

"Oh." The mare's face fell. "Well, do you have your new blade?"

"I do." I set Lunar Majesty on her counter, wrapped in stained cloth.

"Alright, lemme just..." she picked the sword off the counter. "Oof! Heavier than it looks!" she squeaked as she took the sword into her workshop and set it down in her pile of commissions. "Ok, I'll have it done in three days your Highness!" she grinned as she came back to her counter.

"Thank you Master Beamhouse."

My business done, I left the tannery mare to her devices and left her workshop.

The tannery was on the very outskirts of the settlement that arose around Castle Everfree. The smell of walnut shells and the foul liquids of the tanner's trade filled the air.

I ignored the gawking Ponies that stared at me as I began my trek back to the Castle.

The settlement wasn't nearly as large as Old Unicornia, but I hoped one day it would be. Ponies were still recovering from the exodus from the North, as such, many of the buildings were still little more than shacks, as most of the masonry expertise went, for the time being, to the Castle. But that didn't stop the Earth Ponies with carpentry skills from slowly replacing the tents with wooden structures.

I passed by a Sarosian couple, who bowed deeply as they saw me.

I felt my heart ache for them.

The Sarosians were still being treated with suspicion. Many still would not do business with the bat winged Ponies. Too many wounds had been wrought by their hooves. But still, a few brave Sarosians tried to be amongst their Dayborne cousins.

"Rise, and go about your business." I told them gently.

"By your leave your Grace." they replied, backing away respectfully.

The ways of the Thestrals were still very much alive in the Sarosians when it came to their perceived Master.

I returned to the Castle without further incident.

Author's Note

Lunar Majesty, a heavily enchanted silver plated star metal bastard sword.

Chapter 40 The Memories Part 12

~~~

Early morning sunlight streamed through the Throne room windows as I took my place on my dark oak throne, fresh from my trip into the settlement to order my new scabbard.

Now that the Moon had been purified, Ponies no longer had to fear the night. So I finally could do what felt natural to me my whole life. I stayed up at night, and slept during the day. Not many Ponies joined me, besides the Sarosians. So I was forced to wait for stores to open in the morning when I needed something.

It was mainly for this reason, that Court was held first thing in the morning. It was the only time Tia and I were awake at the same time.

I was just getting settled in the throne, reaching for the top scroll of things I needed to look at, when Tia and her entourage entered. A verifiable swarm of servants and butlers surrounded their Noble employers, who in turn surrounded the distinctive figure of Tia.

"Morning." I greeted my sister as she took her place in her white birch throne.

"Morning Lu." she replied.

"Sleep well?" I asked.

"Not very. I kept dreaming of some sort of brown dragon with a goat's head. It was awful." she responded.

"Hm." I hummed in thought. "Maybe you should attend my lessons with Elder Nightingale. Her dream magic is actually very enlightening."

"The Sarosian?" Tia glanced over, looking like she was being given the choice between biting a lemon or drinking castor oil. "Uh... No thank you Lu, I appreciate the offer but I must decline."

"Suit yourself." I sighed as I opened the scroll.

A servant brought Tia an ornate trolley with a steaming teapot.

"Again?" I asked without looking. "Are you sure it's wise to indulge in such expensive goods daily?"

The Castle's coffers hadn't ever been full, but they seemed to be draining rather quickly.

"You should try it Lu. I find it very relaxing."

Not for that absurd price.

"No thank you." I said instead.

"Come on Lu! There's more than enough for two Ponies in a single teapot!" she urged.

"Maybe some oth-"

"Morning court is now in session!" exclaimed the crier. "First item on the agenda!" the stallion looked down at his list. "Budget for securing the City of Everfree!"

I glanced down at the scroll I had opened. It was a proposal for building a wall around the settlement, making the Castle Everfree itself the city keep.

But the amount of gold it estimated...

I cast a look out of the corner of my eye, looking to see if Tia had anything to say before I did.

She was busy with a servant, who was pouring a cup of tea.

"All those with proposals, step forward. You will present your cases to the court." I called out.

Several Nobles stepped forward and formed a line in front of the thrones.

"Uh... You start." I said, pointing at the leftmost Pony. "Go down the line."

"Thank you your Majesty." she bowed. "I'd like to Propose, that-"

She was interrupted by the door to the throne room opening.

"Who dares-?!" Cried a particularly obstinate Noble by the name of Duke Gold Standard.

To both my joy and my annoyance, Starswirl the Bearded stormed into the room, his cloak flying behind him.

"Cease your prattling!" he shouted. "We have much more dire things to discuss!"

"Ah, good morning Master Starswirl!" Tia greeted warmly. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait Master. We've got quite a few important things to discuss and whatever you wish to discuss will have to wait its turn."

I rolled my eyes.

Even now, after years of knowing the stallion, she still thought he'd go through the set bureaucracy.

"Fie!" He shouted instead. "We have no time to lose! Can't any of you feel it?!" He looked around the room.

Most of the Nobles simply glanced at each other shrugged.

"Gah! Tell me, my students! Tell me you feel it!" the aging wizard turned towards us.

It was my turn to share a glance with Tia.

Her eyes were just as clueless as I felt.

"Could you... Elaborate?" I asked after a moment.

"Not even you could-? Gah!" the old stallion ignited his horn, and a pocket in the air opened. He pulled out one of his alchemical instruments, it was spinning wildly. "This is a alchemical armillary sphere! I was using it to perform a complex alchemy ritual! But half way through my calculations, it started to do this!" He waved it around for all to see. "Don't you see?! There's something seriously wrong with the aura of the world!"

"... It doesn't do that normally?" asked a Noble whose name I didn't bother to remember.

"-Doesn't do that-?!" Starswirl stammered. "No! It doesn't 'do that'! I set it down, adjust a few weights, and it slowly spins to a correct position! It doesn't spin- Just look!" He set the armillary sphere down, and physically stopped the thing from spinning with his hooves.

It almost immediately started to spin wildly out of control again.

"It doesn't matter how much I adjust it!" He stopped the sphere again, adjusted a few weights randomly along its bands and let go again.

It still went haywire.

"And it isn't the only one! My tower is so loud right now I couldn't stay even if I wanted to!" He ignited his horn again, opening the same portal, but this time, he left it open so we could all hear.

It sounded like absolute chaos on the other side.

With so many whistles, tings, clanks, and other sounds of instruments going wild, it wasn't surprising the old stallion couldn't stand to be in his own laboratory.

That was actually very concerning.

"... Do you have any theories on what is causing this disruption?" Tia asked after a moment.

A dark chuckle echoed throughout the throne room.

A chill went down my spine as the sound danced through my ears.

"It's rude to talk about someone behind their back you know..." came a mockingly joyous voice.

Author's Note

Hello reader Ponies! Hi, hello, good to see you!

Hey! Get back in your universe! You know better than to break continuity!

Oh posh. You know as well as I I can't break anything in here.

I know what you're thinking! Don't do it! I'm warning you!

-Besides, it isn't like I'll mention that Beep beep beep beep her beep, or that beep beep beep beep beep, or that beep beep beep beep beep beep beep for you. Hey wait! No don't you do that! What about my first amendment rights?!

Provide valid proof of citizenship without the aid of time travel, higher dimensional shenaniganry, or temporary reincarnation and you may have it.

Oh boo! Fine then, be that way. Just don't be surprised when I bad mouth you later.

Chapter 41 The Memories Part 13

~~~

As one, everypony in the throne room looked up at the ceiling.

There, lounging along the rafters was something so bizarre and unnatural I could've only imagined it. And yet... There it was in the flesh.

A brown furred, snake like body coiled around the wooden beams. Perhaps most disturbingly, each of its limbs seemed to have been torn off a different animal and attached haphazardly all over its body. A lizard's leg, a goat's hoof, a lion's paw, an eagle's talon, a bat wing, and a blue feathered wing.

A grey goat head with a deer antler and the twisted horn of some unknown animal drooped upside down from the mass of coils.

"After all..." the thing continued. "How could I have peace with my ears ringing?"

The eagle talon snapped, and a ivory white pair of devices, connected by only a curly string appeared in the lion's paw. The eagle talon then picked up the smaller of the two things and held it to the thing's monstrous head.

And suddenly, my ears had the strangest sensation of rapidly, and harshly vibrating like a struck drum.

Brrrrrrrrring!

"Gah!" I exclaimed in surprise, reaching up and trying to keep my ears still, fearful that they might fly away.

"Hahahahahaaha! Hohohoho!" the thing laughed, half falling, half slithering to the floor.

I realized then that everypony in the room was holding their ears.

At my side, Tia shook her head. "Who are you?! What do you want?!" she exclaimed up at the thing, who towered over even her.

The thing didn't respond, but continued to laugh uproariously.

"Hahaha! Oh my sides! Ahahahaha!" it chortled.

"Answer her or suffer the consequences!" I shouted, adding my challenge to Tia's.

"Ha ha ha... ha..." the thing slowed down. "Whew! Ah... Ha ha..." it wiped a tear from its eyes with its talon. "...Oh you know Sunbutt, Moon Moon." it regarded us both with a nod. "Just a teeny tiny thing."

Its lion paw reached out, as if offering something, but all that it offered was a tiny version of itself, standing upright on its goat hoof and lizard leg, its eagle talon pinching together.

"Just a little thing called Chaos!" It squeaked.

Tia and I both ignored the tiny facsimile and looked up at the original.

"Chaos?" Tia asked blandly.

"Well, maybe not exactly." the thing amended. "You may call me Lord Discord, Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony."

The thing retracted its paw, taking the tiny copy with it, and bowed theatrically.

"I'm too young to die!"

"Discord?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You're missing a 'Lord' in there Moonbutt." the thing winked.

"I only pay homage to one Pony. And you certainly aren't her." I growled.

"Word of advice, Blueberry with an attitude problem." the thing was suddenly beside me, opposite of Tia, one of its limbs over my withers. "Take a chill pill and relax. You'll thank me in the long run."

"You-" I started to growl.

"Oh pish posh, whatever you want to say isn't important." the thing let go of my withers and strolled in front of the thrones. "I've got so many references I need to make and only a thousand words minimum to do it in!" The thing's talon pulled a burlap bag with a question mark painted on it from... Somewhere, and held it aloft. "Lords, lasses, and assorted multicellular organisms! The FBI's most and least wanted! Friends and barely tolerated acquaintances! I, Lord Discord, Spirt of Chaos and Disharmony, present to you, my stuff!"

With that, it dramatically reached inside the bag with its paw and rummaged inside for a moment.

When the paw pulled out, it was holding some sort of shockingly yellow rabbit with red cheeks and a long, bizarrely bent tail.

"Pika?" It seemed to ask.

"Yes yes, I won't keep you long, go back to Pikapii." the thing stated, shoving the rodent back into the bag.

"Chu!" it squeaked as it disappeared.

The paw continued to rummage.

This time when it pulled out, it came with a long white thing with a bulbous head that seemed to vibrate like my ears had only a minute before.

"Whoops! Can't be showing you that without the sex tag." the thing pushed it back into the bag. "But you Ladies are gonna love it."

When the paw came out, it came out gripping some sort of strange cylindrical hat with a wide brim.

"I'll be needing this for later." the thing stated, flipping the hat with practiced ease and placing it on its head.

The paw dove back in.

"Enough!" I shouted, already sick of this thing's antics.

"One more! One more!" the thing chortled as it pulled out another thing.

This time it was something tiny, with a bright red body and face, with orange limbs, its lower limbs terminated in red rectangles, but its arms ended in a red claw, and a red sword that was styled as an open flame.

Was that some sort of toy?

The thing dropped his sack and started to fiddle with something on the toy's back.

"Gotta be careful with these, if you're too rough they'll fly apart and then it'll be real awkward to put back together..." the thing explained, as the toy's sword arm began to flail wildly.

"Enough!" Tia suddenly erupted.

The room suddenly felt a lot hotter than it did a few minutes ago.

The thing stared wide eyed at her interruption, but calmly picked up its sack and put the toy away.

"Well, it is a bit short I guess, but we are getting up to a thousand words..." it seemed to admit. "Alrighty then!" It suddenly straightened, back to its showmare attitude.

Before anypony could protest, it reached inside the bag once more, seeming to grab the bottom of the sack and pulled to turn it inside out.

Instead it disappeared entirely as it went inside itself.

"Ladies and germs! The moment you've all been waiting for! The main event!" the thing reached up for its hat and took it off again, twirled it between both its talon and paw, and flipped it, showing us all that nothing was inside.

"Behold! My things!"

The thing uphended its hat-

And Tartarus spilled out.

"Ahahahaha! Hohohohoho!" it uproariously chortled. "It's time to shake things up a little! It's time for some good ol' fashioned-"

C̷̢̱̯̗̣̰̓̑̿h̸̰̤̤̳̰̯̉͘ȧ̶̛̝̘̲̺͎̇͂̓̒̂̅̂ō̵̡̹̬̬̮̩͉̣̺̃̔͆̈̄̀͠s̶̳̖͈̳̙̉̐ͅ!̶̢̖̥̖̈́̿̅̌͗̔̔̈͝

Author's Note

If you know, you know! Colon trollestia colon!

Quit mucking about in the author's notes! I have things to say and jokes to make!

Oh don't you worry, I know the drill. Like, comment, subscribe something something algorithm, we update everyday... Join the Me server at https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa -

Go on! Get! This bit is going too far!

Hohohohohohoho!

Hey! Get back here you overgrown Lung!

Chapter 42 The Memories Part 14

~~~

The throne room was a cacophony of chaos as the Noble Ponies inside ran for their lives. Monsters fell out of the hat by the dozens.

"Hahahahahahahahahaha!" The thing that called it self Discord laughed uproariously, as it vigorously shook its hat.

"Everypony out!" Tia exclaimed. If anypony heard her they didn't react.

They were already trying to flee the throne room.

It was now my turn to do my duty.

I stepped forward and lowered my horn.

The thing looked at me, amusement written across its features.

"Well go on Looney, fire away." it smirked.

I obliged.

A crackling ray of cerulean and silver dove at the thing with deadly intent.

That damnable smirk never left the thing's face.

Instead, it head split down the middle and allowed my attack to pass harmlessly by.

It rejoined a moment later.

"Take two?" it chortled.

I repeated my attack.

But this time when the ray of magic hit, it knocked the thing's head off its shoulders like it was a vase on a table.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" the thing caught its own head with the top of the lizard claw, gently kicking it several times to keep it off the ground. With a final hearty kick, the head sailed back through the air, and landed firmly back on the thing's neck.

"Third times the charm?" it grinned at me as its head rotated into proper position.

"Fall back Lu, it's toying with you." Tia called out.

At some point she had reached one of the broken windows and had dove out of it as I looked over.

I swore quietly to myself as I realized she was right. There was no hurting this thing.

I swiftly followed after Tia.

"Don't forget Lulu! Take your chill pills!" the thing called behind me.

Whatever 'chill pills' were, I resolved to never take them if it was at the recommendation of this thing.

As I flew, the City of the Everfree below, was in utter pandemonium.

Monsters both familiar and unknown were wrecking merry havoc in the densely populated settlement. Timberwolves were common, as were manticores. Ponies, initially confused, started to run towards the Castle for safety, unaware that was where the monsters were coming from. But they swiftly ran into the Ponies who knew better, and were fleeing towards the outer edge of the settlement.

The result was two stampedes colliding.

Chaos.

I spotted the familiar pink mane and white coat amongst a crowd of armored Ponies, both in Earth Pony steel and Unicorn gold.

I plunged into a dive and landed amongst the Ponies.

Tia was busy giving orders to the soldiers.

"Fourth Cohort, keep a path clear for the peasants! Fifth Cohort, form a front vanguard for them! Establish an evacuation point!"

The various soldiers were running to and fro as they organized themselves to obey Tia's orders.

I didn't see anything wrong with her strategy so I didn't interrupt, but I joined Tia's side all the same.

"Lu, did that thing follow you?" she asked.

"I think it was too busy in the throne room. If it will stay there, I know not."

"Curses... Then do you-"

Suddenly a song began to tickle my ears.

It was sweet and melodious. Like a pretty barmaid playing her violin and singing about her lover.

But my horn felt the truth of what that song held.

It was the façade of a smile that hid a burning hate. A clever lie that seeded the land with salt.

"Shields! Now!" I exclaimed, summoning a large shield into existence, covering as many Ponies as I dared in a shimmering cerulean dome.

Several of the Unicorns in earshot brought up their own, smaller domes around themselves.

"What was that?" Tia asked, not to anypony in particular but to anypony who could answer.

Something with shimmering yellow orange scales swam through the air outside my shield.

The air hummed with the muted melody, just enough to block the magic, but not enough to totally block the sound.

"Tia... I need you to take over my shield. I left my new sword nearby and I think I can take whatever these are..."

A shimmering fish tail the color of ocean water gently slapped the forcefield.

Raucous laughter could be heard through the song.

"Are you sure Lu? We both could-" Tia began.

"No. The song is a spell, keep as many Ponies safe as you can. I can keep my own ears pro-"

"L̵̡̈́E̵̘̒̊T̴͈̺͊ ̵̙͌C̷̜̰͝Ḣ̴̬̯̈́Ä̷̙͔́Ǫ̴̡͊͂S̸͍͐ ̶̨̲́̆R̴̡̔̂E̸̢̓I̴̩̚͝G̷͑̊ͅN̵͍̾!̵̏ͅ"

A splitting headache ruptured my thoughts.

"Discord! What are you doing?!"

Besides me, Tia was also wincing, her face contorted in pain.

"Sun! No!" she grunted through grit teeth.

The mare in silver screamed as something important was ripped from her chest.

I shivered as something vitally important disappeared from the world.

"Discord you bastard! You mongrel cur! You know full well what you have done!"

Moon? What has happened?

"Luna! Sweet Luna my champion! You must destroy Discord! And you must hurry!"

Moon? What has happened?!

"Discord, that cur, he's- He's wounded my brother and I. We- We can't travel across the sky.

I felt the blood drain from my face as I looked up.

The Sun still shined.

If he couldn't fall below the horizon...

"Tia..." I whispered as I licked my lips. "What is the Sun telling you?"

"He- He can't move..." she whimpered.

"Princess Celestia? Princess Luna? What has happened?" A soldier in Earth Pony steel asked.

I looked over at him, he was so afraid and out of his depth.

As I studied his fearful face, I happened to glance at the City Everfree behind him.

The monsters were overrunning the Pony citizens. Legionnaires stood were they could, but they could barely protect themselves, much less the citizens. Already, a healthy plume of smoke rose above the city as a fire somewhere grew out of control.

Moon... I don't think we can destroy Discord...

"Discord is an ancient being, born of Chaos and opposed in everyway to Order. There has always been a chance that he would declare war on Order. As such there has always been a contingency in place."

A contingency?

"Yes, I can not tell you what you will find, but I can tell you where you must go."

And suddenly, as if somepony had shown me a map with a highlighted point upon its surface, I knew where to go.

It will take days to get there and back... Will the Sun be safe in the sky for so long?

"The Sun will be fine. But mortal kind will not. Existence as you know it will be scorched and burned away under his unrelenting gaze."

Ah...

"Fear not, there may yet be hope in the meantime. I shall inform you of any developments."

The silver presence in my mind faded back to its usual dim glow.

"Tia..." I started, fully returning to the waking world once more. "Did you-?"

"Yes. He told me." she responded, rubbing her forehead with a hoof.

I glanced about, observing the situation. The surrounding guards had kept my shield dome up when Tia and I were indisposed. Beyond that, Ponies fled the city, escaping into the Forest. Amethyst purple fins scrapped along one side of the shield, followed by a malicious chortle.

I felt a lump form in my throat.

It would be difficult... But the battle was not yet lost.

Author's Note

The nerve of some Ponies. You try to help a mare out and she shoots me in the face!

You know perfectly well that slang is from 21st century Earth!

Oh quit being a stickler. It's not like the outcome isn't already written and I can still change the outcome.

Stop it! You're ruining the immersion!

Am not! Watch I can prove it! I see you reading 'Jet_black1980'!

I'll get the broom! We both know I will!

Chapter 43 The Memories Part 15

~~~

The monsters chased us out of the City Everfree. It was a fighting retreat all the way into the wilderness. As Tia gathered her expedition, I helped the rear guard keep the monsters away from the fleeing peasants.

But even with me helping, there were too many.

Whatever sorcery that Discord employed kept spawning more and more vile creatures, forcing us back, away from our own keep with a veritable tide of sinew and teeth.

I know not how many we lost, how many we couldn't save, but we stayed for as long as we dared.

The fall back into the Everfree Forest was easier. It appeared that Discord's monsters weren't too willing to leave the city, but that didn't stop several small hordes from giving chase.

The worst monster, or monsters as the case was, were the three half Pony half fish monsters that hounded us constantly.

I only got a good look at one very briefly. But it was enough.

If the constant laughter and singing weren't any indication, their style of hitting and running betrayed their intelligence.

It was merely salt in the wound when I met the orange one's gaze.

It winked at me.

Then, with another cackle, it disappeared into the wilds of the Everfree Forest before I could retaliate.

I could only bite back a curse and fall back into formation with the Legionnaires.

But eventually, the rearguard caught up with the refugee camp that the vanguard had founded only hours earlier. A large shield array covered the whole site. I would've said it was quaint, if not for the fact it was horrifically overcrowded. Granted, the Cohort Tia had assigned to the vanguard were still hard at work setting up tents and digging dug outs to shelter in.

The crowd of displaced peasants were haggard and filthy as they hungerly stared after me as I walked through the camp.

I spotted Tia's pink mane in the crowd.

She had commandeered a boulder from the forest and was using it as a map table, several of her other Generals and Administrative staff were in attendance.

Starswirl was also there.

I quietly found an empty spot and started listening.

"-Other settlement candidates?" Tia asked one of her advisors.

"Possible..." the stallion tapped his chin in thought. "But would it be wise to abandon the Everfree so easily?"

"It's not a question of wisdom, it's a question of what to do with the citizens while Luna and I deal with the beast.

"Bloodstone is a possibility." I chimed in.

The mare to my right nearly jumped out of her iron shod hooves as she realized I was standing there.

"Oh my word-!" she started to rant.

The advisors shared uneasy looks between themselves.

"Uh Luna... Might it be too soon for non-Sarosian's to visit the city? There's still some wounds that need to heal..." Tia reasoned.

"Fair enough." I sighed.

Really, it was the perfect solution. Defendable, already established, and it would only take an hour to get everypony to the gates. But Tia was right, the wounds left by the Thestral Lords were still too deep.

The redemption of the Sarosians would have to wait.

"Perhaps here?" another advisor tapped a place on the map. "The place Count Trottingham suggested?"

"It's a might far..." Tia chewed on her lip, thinking it over.

"It's- There's already a well used road over there." the frightened mare to my side added. "The Count has been sending expeditions constantly."

Tia's eyes flickered over the ad hoc map table as she looked for possibilities.

"... Trottingham's site would be best." she decided. "Get everypony settled for the night, but we leave at dawn."

The gathering all nodded to each other and began to disperse.

"Generals stay with me for a moment. You too Master." Tia interrupted, stopping the Commanders and Starswirl from leaving. They turned back to the rock attentively. "The road is going to be long, But Luna and I are needed else where. I need options for defending the caravan of proles."

"Hmmm..." Starswirl hummed in thought, stroking his beard. "I have- Several ideas about the more aggressive creatures. The Sirens in particular-"

"Sirens?" I asked, slightly out of turn.

"Hm yes, the 'fish creatures'." He elaborated. "They're ancient creatures. From a time before the original Alicorns." he stopped for a moment, recollecting his thoughts. "Regardless, there's a mirror I keep in my lab, it's a sort of portal that leads off into the abyss between stars... I've never been able to figure out where it leads."

"Why- Why do you have a portal that leads nowhere?" General Brass Tacks asked.

"I use it to dispose of experiments that are critically unstable." the wizard admitted quietly, his eyes glossing over thoughts only he could see.

"... How often are you making something that could be a bomb?" Brass Tacks asked.

"Your Highness, if you would permit me, I could Travel back to the Castle Everfree and reclaim the mirror. If I could distract and lure the Sirens away, I may be able to seal them away before they cause too much harm."

Tia thought for a moment before eventually nodding.

"Granted. But wait for a moment. I trust you can accomplish your task, but I know not how long Luna and I will be away. When you are done, regroup with the Cohorts and provide assistance for them."

"As you wish your Highness." he bowed slightly, but made no move to leave.

"Now, I trust it goes without saying that at least one Cohort must protect the caravan."

"Two." General Northstorm grunted as he lit his smoking pipe. "With so many Ponies, the caravan will be a meal basket for anything that has a taste for Pony flesh."

"Two Cohorts for the caravan." Tia agreed.

My eyes slide over the map.

"Split the remaining Cohorts. Half the Pegasi to carry the Earth Ponies to the site. The remaining half to harass, harry, and run interference around the caravan. When the half that are carrying the Earth Ponies reach their destination, have them reestablish contact with the minor villages. They must know what has happened. The Earth Ponies, once at the site, will dig in and prepare a temporary settlement. The Unicorns will stay with the caravan and provide assistance where they're needed." I instructed.

Everypony looked at me, slightly surprised expressions on their faces.

"..." Tia rubbed her chin in thought. "... I agree. It's a simple, yet relatively sound and effective plan."

Everypony started to nod as they realized the benefits of my plan.

"Then it's decided? No objections?" Tia asked the remaining Ponies.

Nopony raised any.

"Good, then I believe we all have work to do."

The group then dispersed as the meeting adjorned.

"Tia..." I whispered, fearful of letting what needed said being overheard. Tia turned towards me quizically. "Remember, dawn isn't coming."

Her eyes widened.

"Stars damn it!" she exclaimed quietly, stomping a hoof in frustration. She breathed heavily for a moment, composing herself. "Do you think Sun and Moon have had any ideas yet?" she asked finally.

"I know not. But surely there is no harm in asking in such a dire manner as this."

"Indeed there is not." boomed a brassy stallion's voice in my head.

"We may have a temporary solution." added the mare with a voice like silver bells.

Tia's ears flicked in time with the voices.

She could hear them too.

"Discord has broken the intricate magic that we depend on." The voice of brass thrummed.

"Until it is fixed, we will spin freely, but without direction or purpose." The voice of silver bells sang.

"However, therein lies a solution." Hot brass pinged.

"As our champions, you are free to interact with us as you will." Cold silver rang.

"Borrow our might and push us across your sky." the brass roared.

"If you perform this task correctly, at dawn and dusk, disaster may yet be prevented." the silver chimed.

"Take this knowledge." The voice of brass rumbled.

"It will be the spell to aid you." The voice of silver tolled

With that, both presences faded away. In their wake, they left a peculiar shape.

A spell matrix.

I looked to Tia, who in return met my gaze.

"A question asked and answered I suppose." she mumbled.

"Would you happen to remember what time it was when the fiend first broke the heavens?" I asked. "Because I do not."

"It was... Well, it was around nine when Court started..." Tia thought out loud.

"And the fiend appeared very soon after." I nodded.

"It couldn't have been more than ten minutes before he summoned all of his minions..." Tia added.

"So before ten? It did its deed very soon after we left the throne room."

"And then we fled the city... Which took hours." Tia looked around and spotted a nearby guard. "You there! Legionnaire! With out looking at the Sun, how long would you say it's been since we left the City Everfree?"

The guard, who must've been in the rearguard, as he looked very tired and battered, did his best to scramble to his hooves and bowed deeply.

"Apologies your Highnesses... I uh... Don't know how long it's been since we fled... Without looking that is." he tiredly responded.

"An estimate then?" Tia asked.

"Oh phhh..." he breathed out, standing back up, deep in thought. "Hard to say... Five? Four hours?" he reached up and scratched an ear. "I'm sorry your Highnesses, I can give no better answer than that."

"You are forgiven." I stated. "Return to your rest."

"Thank you your Highness..." the soldier replied, sitting back down.

"Do you have an estimate?" Tia murmured in my ear.

"Nay, I was perhaps even busier. Those... Sirens were wicked thorns in our sides." I replied in kind.

"I see." Tia replied, glancing about.

"Huh... I could've sworn it's been hours..." I overheard the now sitting guard mutter to himself.

"Hm..." I hummed in thought. "Perhaps Master Starswirl knows?"

"He may... Old stallion always did keep meticulous time." Tia responded. "You there!" she called out to a different Legionnaire, a mare this time.

She must have been part of the Vanguard Cohort, as she was busy hauling digging implements nearby.

"Your Highnesses." she bowed deeply, but not too deeply to spill her cargo.

"Rise." Tia instructed. "I have need of several things."

"All you must do is ask." the mare replied.

"Firstly, in your estimate, how long has it been since the city evacuated? Without looking towards the sun if you would."

"Oh... Um..." the mare hummed as she stood up, physically stopping herself from looking upward. "Oooh... About six hours? I think?"

"I see." Tia stated, her eyes twitching in thought. "Then secondly, I require Master Starswirl's presence."

"Be on your way Legionnaire, I'm here."

I turned to see the wizard himself strolling through the crowd towards Tia and I.

"Ah! Master-" Tia greeted, before swiftly turning towards the Legionnaire again. "Return to your business, thank you for your time."

"Thank you your Highness." the mare bowed again, before turning and resuming her duties.

"How might I assist?" Starswirl asked, his hat bells jingling as he tipped his head.

"How long do you suppose it's been since we evacuated the city? Without looking to the Sun if you would." Tia asked.

"Hm..." Starswirl hummed, stroking his beard absentmindedly. "Without looking at the Sun?" he asked.

"Yes." I answered.

"But only without the Sun?"

"Do you have some sort of time piece?" Tia asked hopefully.

"Indeed." Starswirl responded, digging inside his robe. He then pulled out a polished gold pocket watch.

"Most excellent!" I cheered. "Pray tell, what time is it?"

The wizard looked puzzled, but flipped the pocket watch open.

"It's..." he glanced down. "About five in the afternoon? But I thought..." he looked up to the sky.

The Sun hadn't moved from its point.

"Hmm... Appears my watch is wrong..." The stallion began, his horn igniting.

"Don't!" Tia and I both shouted.

The camp around us stopped and stared.

"Uh... Go back to your business." I stated, trying to sound confident. Ponies shared a look with each other, shared a few shrugs, and continued with their tasks.

I turned my attention back to Starswirl.

His horn was no longer lit, but his eyes were scrutinizing.

"There's something you're not telling me..." he surmised.

Tia and I shared a glance.

"There's... Been a development." I slowly and quietly stated.

"A... Development? Since a few minutes ago?" he asked incredulously.

"Since this morning." Tia corrected. "We just... It's something we don't want widely known."

"Go on." he said slowly.

"The demon... It-" I started.

"He broke the spells keeping the Sun and Moon moving." Tia interrupted, her voice barely a whisper.

The wizard was silent for a moment.

"Oh." he said simply.

"We do have a solution... Sort of." I informed.

"But we need to know the time." Tia added.

"I see..." he stated, sitting down on his haunches. "It's-" he glanced down again. "Five thirty four at this moment."

"Sundown is six thirty this time of year if I recall correctly?" I asked.

"Roughly." Tia responded.

"Then you have an hour still..." Starswirl responded.

"Excellent." I sighed in relief. "We're not too late."

"If I may ask, what is your solution?" the wizard asked.

I thought over the spell matrix we had been left.

"I'm... Not sure..." I admitted.

"Pardon?"

"Uh, hold on." Tia cut it, picking up a stick from the edge of camp and summoning it forth.

She then began to draw in the packed earth below.

"We were given this by the Sun and Moon, we haven't had an opportunity to study it." Tia informed as she drew out the matrix.

"I see..." Starswirl hummed as his eyes traced over the matrix lines as they were drawn. "Actually, I don't- Why does it do that? What is th-" His eyes widened. "Oh..."

"Master?" Tia asked, looking up to the stallion.

Starswirl pushed Tia's stick aside and wiped the matrix away.

"Celestia, Luna, if you do nothing else in your lifetime, never reveal this spell to anypony. In fact you shouldn't have shown even me."

"Master?" I asked softly.

"It's..." He shook his head. "It's a spell that moves the Sun and Moon, by physically pushing them across a leyline I didn't even know existed. It's a surprisingly simple and easy to cast matrix for such a powerful effect. I shudder to think what would happen if this information were to fall into the wrong hooves."

The thought of one of Equestria's enemies controlling the Sun and Moon crossed my mind.

Starswirl was correct... We couldn't allow this to be freely known.

"Ah..." I breathed.

"Are you certain that's what it does? I didn't finish-" Tia started.

"Most certain." Starswirl waved her away. "I can't think of anything else it could be. And if I'm taken by foul forces, I don't want to know how to finish it."

"Then it's safe?" I asked.

"As safe as any spell capable of ending the world is. But if what you say is true..." He glanced up towards the Sun. "... And it just might be... Then we have no options. You must cast it everyday at dawn and dusk."

The information gave a sense of... Foreboding melancholy. I had thought that after defeating Bloodmoon, being the Moon's champion would be easy. Rule over and protect mortal kind in their stead.

But I guess being at the Moon's beck and call wasn't all play.

When things went wrong, I had to be the one to fix the situation. I had to be the one at the forefront of effort.

It just had never occurred to me that there were bigger problems than a raging manticore or pompous lich.

The weight of responsibility fell on my withers, like a giant hoof pressing downward.

A look towards Tia revealed she was feeling the same thing. Or at least something very similar.

But then again... I wasn't alone. I was there for Tia, and her me. And if the Sun and Moon themselves believed in us... Then who was I to question them?

I lifted a wing across Tia's withers.

"We can do this." I whispered.

She looked up, conflicting emotions behind her eyes.

"Yes... Yes we can."

The hour waiting for dusk was the longest hour of my life.

The Ponies were busy, but not too busy to occasionally glance up to the sky. They'd look up, frown, ask a friend what time it was, get a shrug in reply, shrug in return, and go about their business.

All Tia and I could do in the meantime was stand off to the side, smile reassuringly to passerby...

And wait.

I felt so awkward and out of place...

It was awful.

Tia and I both kept checking Starswirl's timepiece. If anypony noticed that we kept looking what felt like every five minutes, but was actually every 30 seconds, they didn't show it.

But finally, the time came.

I met Tia's gaze, and we both slowly nodded.

Her horn light up with her sunlight yellow, and for the first time in hours, the shadows shifted across the ground. Several Ponies noticed, and watched them slide in curiosity.

When the sun touched the horizon, nearly everypony was watching in awe.

I lit my horn and performed my half of the spell.

The silver Moon rose in the East.

Author's Note

Oooooooh! See that? I'm pushing growth!

We both know that's not why I'm upset! Get out of here! I can't afford you spoiling the story!

But look at the audience! They want to be spoiled!

Don't you dare!

I'll do it myyyyyyyyyyyyyy waaaaaaaaaaaay!

I AM getting the broom!

Chapter 44 The Memories Part 16

~~~

I sat at a wrought table in one of the Castle Everfree's gardens. A Sarosian spellbook in my hooves. I took a teacup off the table and took a sip.

... Still not quite right.

I set it back down and resumed reading.

The garden was almost totally silent.

"Lu?"

I paused in my reading and glanced around.

Nopony was there.

I shrugged and returned to reading about the Oneiroi.

"Lu! Wake up Lu!"

~~~

"Gah!"

I sat up, suddenly in bed.

Wait no... Not bed.

A bedroll.

Tia's concerned face greeted me.

"You awake Lu?" she asked.

"Guh... I am now..." I replied, rubbing my eyes.

"Come on, we should be getting there today."

It had been several days since that first night. Tia and I had left shortly before dawn, and performed our new duty when we were out of sight. The journey from there was fairly normal.

Until the next day that is.

As we walked, the terrain on the horizon began to shift and distort.

The thing's vile claws were once more at work.

The mountains in the distance shifted and malformed, becoming checker patterned mounds that looked like rolling cloth. The trees around us bent and warped until they fully resembled something that had recently came out of the Earth Pony's bakeries, something they called "pretzel sticks". The water in the rivers appeared normal, until you took a drink. The water had become sickeningly sweet, and tickled your tongue in the most peculiar manner.

Whatever had become of the "water", while it may have been pleasing to drink, did nothing to staunch our thirst. When our canteens ran out, we had to resort to gathering the morning dew that came off whatever plants that remained. And they where slowly being replaced in a similar manner as the trees. The underbrush became various sorts of candies, leaf shaped masses of green gelatin coated in sugar, round mounds of brightly colored shells that smelled of chocolate, and big globs of a sticky substance that was somehow gooey and hard to bend at the same time.

The dew gathered off them was sickly sweet and tasted awful to drink.

But finally, we were almost there. The point that the Sun and Moon had told us about was only an hours walk away.

Tia and I performed the spell again before we set out.

The Moon fell in the West, and the Sun rose in the East.

"Do you think whatever we're looking for can fix them?" I asked Tia, watching the bright orb on the horizon gradually grow brighter and higher.

"I hope so." Tia replied. "I don't know how I'd get used to this."

"I imagine it would become fairly routine. Like your cups of tea at breakfast." I bumped playfully into the slightly larger pony. She rolled her eyes.

"You say that Lu, but I seriously think you'd enjoy it."

"I'll think about it." I stated, beginning to trot away from our now repacked campsite.

I let myself smirk as I faced away from Tia.

"Don't you think it'd be a fine way to celebrate? When we defeat Discord?"

I felt my smirk fall into a frown as that thing's name was mentioned.

"Let's... Let's focus on the task at hoof Tia." I tried to assuage. "It wouldn't do to count our chickens before they hatch."

"...Yes, you're right Lu." Tia sighed.

I'll make it up to you Tia, I promise.

The trek to the location was spent in silence. I could only speculate on what Tia thought about, but my mind was divided between the conversation I had with Tia, and dreading what we would find.

Had I been too aloof with Tia?

What would we find?

Had I upset Tia?

What dread thing could seriously threaten such a demon?

Down and down my thoughts spiraled. Both of my worries swirled around each other in a hypnotizing dance.

Eventually however, the corrupted terrain abruptly stopped, transitioning back to its normal self. Bushes were bushes, trees were trees, the small creek we had found was filled with actual water. In fact, as we crested a hill, we could clearly see a circle of normalcy in a world gone mad.

"I imagine we'll find what we're looking for towards the center." I pointed out to Tia. Her eyes glinted over the terrain, as her thoughts churned. Slowly, she nodded.

"I agree." she stated.

And the trek continued.

As we approached the center of the normal terrain, I began to feel a sort of... Serenity. Like I could lay down on the ground for the night and not worry at all about a pack of hungry Timberwolves discovering me. But it wasn't like the mind affecting spells a Dark Wizard would use to lull a victim into a false sense of security. Far from it in fact. The feeling of peace and harmony was there, but it didn't affect my caution at all.

Finally we entered a sort of glade, roughly in the center of the enforced normalcy. It was set at the base of a sort of cliff, only a few stories tall. A waterfall fell off the cliff face and fed a sizable lake, which in turn fed what was probably the creek we had found not a few minutes prior. Most interesting however, was the gaping maw in the side of the cliff. A round opening, just big enough for us to continue single file, bored into the earth.

The feeling of calm serenity seemed to emanate from the cave.

Tia and I both peered into the cave. While I imagine Tia could only make out darkness, even I could only see a bend in the tunnel as it veered slightly downward to the left.

"Well... Here's a good a place to start searching as any." Tia stated, starting to stride forward.

"Wait Tia-" I interrupted, holding a hoof in front of her. "Perhaps I should go first, I am much more comfortable in the dark and if I'm ambushed I'm much more likely to win the encounter."

Tia seemed to roll the thought around in her head.

"I see your point. You go first." she agreed.

I nodded and took the lead, head bent low, horn at the ready.

Author's Note

How rude of these Ponies! Try to throw a picnic for the whole nation and that makes me a terrorist! Ooooh!

You made the rivers into soda! Do you know how much rot and fungus would've choked out the ecosystem?!

Oh posh, it's not like Earth Ponies couldn't have-

Sneak attack!

Ow! Hey! Quit it! When's the last time you cleaned that broom?!

Chapter 47 The Memories Part 19

~~~

"Ow... Stars damnit..." I groaned as I got back to my hooves, stretching my pained wing and leg.

"Are you alright Lu?" Tia asked, approaching slowly.

"I'll live." I grunted. "And... Thanks. For the praise. I know I don't show it very often, but I greatly appreciate it."

Tia's face lit up in a beaming smile, only somewhat stained by dirt smudges.

"Anytime Lu." she grinned, pulling me into a hug.

I returned the sentiment.

"Well ain't that just disgustin'." called a new voice, this one low and husky.

"Not through this yet." I murmured, breaking away from Tia's hug and turning towards the new mare of light, this one a blazing orange.

The mare stood solidly on the ground, her legs set wide and stable, yet her head remained upright and firm, as if daring anypony or anything to even try moving her from her position.

"I wonder how many there are... This will be the fifth." Tia turned with me, presenting a united front to the fiery mare.

The mare smirked, and then Tartarus broke loose as her legs tensed.

If the blue mare of light had been quick because she was agile, this mare was quick because she was just that strong.

The stone beneath her hooves literally cracked and shattered as she moved across the room, seeming to be more of a blur than a cohesive mare.

The mare jumped, bringing one of her hind legs around to kick my face, almost faster than my eye could follow. A shimmering yellow field appeared before the blazing mare's oncoming hoof.

My jaw suddenly hurt and I found myself across the whole cavern, slumped against the wall.

"... Ow..." I groaned after a moment. I shook my head and made to stand back up.

I was really getting tired of being knocked to the ground by absurdly strong apparitions.

I glanced up to see how Tia was faring. To say it was a standstill would've been a gross oversight, but yet I could think of no other word for it. Tia was caught in the standstill certainly, but the blazing mare simply stood, uninterested in moving from her indomitable stance. I could see Tia's lips moving, but I heard no sound.

I really needed to stop getting kicked in my damn head...

I tapped on the side of my skull to see if I could still hear.

Thonk. Thonk. Thonk.

Ah I see, they were merely exchanging words quietly.

Maybe I could try for a sneak attack, the blazing mare was turned away from me. I gave my still aching wing a final stretch, and took to the air, relying on flying being quicker and quieter than charging on my hooves.

I dove for the blazing orange mare of light.

Ten Pony lengths.

Five Pony lengths.

Three Pony lengths.

Two Pony lengths.

One...

The blazing mare smirked.

The next thing I knew, I was facedown on the ground, an indeterminate distance away.

"Tough break sugarcube." the unfamilar voice chided from nearby. "Totally saw ya a mile away."

I felt my anger rise again.

I imagined I would've started steaming if I had been wet.

"In all seriousness though, ya'll are doin' a piss poor job. Ya'll should turn around an' go back home. Ya'll ain't gonna find what ya came for."

I was now certain I was steaming.

"Ah mean really, only a fool an' her rabid Moon Mare would come out here."

I used my own Earth Pony strength to push off the ground, briefly becoming airborne. The Smug face of the blazing mare was just off to my left.

I combined the Earth Pony strength with a Pegasi's ability to channel lightning.

KRAK-KOW!

The thunder boomed through the cavern, briefly deafening me. But it was worth it, the blazing orange mare was sent tumbling through the air, but much like her light blue sister, she recovered quickly, twisting around like a cat and landing solidly, her hooves leaving long scrapes in the rock as she slid to a stop.

I managed to catch a quick glimpse of Tia.

She was sitting on her haunches, sobbing with her face in her hooves.

What had this phantasm said to make Tia react so?

I quickly refocused on said phantasm, who hadn't even tried to move from her new spot.

"Jus' a scratch..." the mare breathed heavily, looking significantly less brilliant.

Wait... The last apparition that dimmed was the gleaming white apparition... And that was because I hit her hard enough to send her careening into the cavern wall. But at the same time, each of these mares has been a test of some sort, and thus single minded. If by saying my blow was "just a scratch", did that mean the spellwork that made up the mare have the ability to tell a lie about its condition?

My eyes narrowed.

"You're lying." I accused, slowly advancing, not willing to be the recipient of another buck from that absurdly strong mare.

"Ah am not." the mare replied, slowly regaining her brilliance.

If this was a spell that told falsehoods, then her answer could also be a lie. I would then, therefor, need to ask the blazing apparition a question that would trick her into revealing she was lying.

But what question?

Too simple a question, and depending on the complexity of the spell at work, could be easily avoided. But too complex a question, or too vague an answer, would prove nothing...

Hmmm...

"What did you tell my sister?" I smiled.

It was a good question. Not too simple for a spell matrix to easily avoid, and not too complex to give an answer that I couldn't figure out by asking Tia, who had, for the most part, stopped sobbing behind me.

"Ah told 'er that y'all will succeed, y'all will defeat Discord, and y'all will lead a Kingdom of peace and prosperity." The blazing mare grinned in reply.

I cast a glance backwards towards Tia. She was still sitting on the ground, her eyes were still red and puffy, but she was able to meet my eyes.

She shook her head.

"Then I suppose I have to tell you the truth? That's how this has been working right? You and your sisters can only be banished by us being contrary to your demeanor, and if you can only lie, then I have to tell you the truth." I asked.

"Not at all." the blazing mare informed me.

"I see." I smirked. "I am Princess Luna Fiendbane, and I am proud to be one of the heroes my people need." I put a hoof to my chest as I got caught up in the moment. "I will do everything in my power to protect the innocent and those who can't defend themselves. I will stand and fight all those who would dare come defile the lives of the Ponies who take solace beneath our rule."

The blazing mare smiled approvingly, but she didn't vanish. Instead she trotted over to me and whispered in my ear.

"She will always be by your side."

And the blazing orange light vanished.

I felt my mind screech to a shocking halt.

What?

"Lu?" Tia called behind me.

I felt myself turn, as if watching another Pony wear my skin.

Tia was approaching, her horn alit with her yellow aura.

"Whatever she said, don't worry about it. You said it yourself, all she could do was lie."

"Uh... Yeah." I said dumbly.

"Do you think that was the last test?" Tia continued.

"Oh, um... Right." I shook my head to clear away the cobwebs.

Come on Luna! Focus! The end can't be far now!

A bright light illuminated Tia's face.

While all Tia had to do was turn her head to address the newcomer, I had to fully turn around to present a united front with the next mare of light.

My jaw dropped.

Author's Note

Y'know you didn't have to torture Luna like that. You've foreshadowed enough as it is.

Shut it, let them figure it out.

Oh don't be like that. We both know you're nervous about this turning out well.

Listen here and listen well Discord, don't make me use any more pigeon jokes than I have to.

I'll be good.

Chapter 48 The Memories Part 20

~~~

The mare that stood before us was the physical embodiment of otherworldly beauty. She was was aglow with all the colors of the universe, even a few I was certain would never again be viewed by mortal kind. Her mane flowed as if blown by the winds of the cosmos itself. Her coat was well groomed and tended to, like that of an Empress from a far away land. But unlike the other mares of light, this mare's tribe was not up for debate, for she had both wide sweeping wings and long spiraling horn. And the light she omitted was so bright, that it physically felt like we were standing beneath a noon Sun.

Even standing near the edge of the room, she felt like she dominated the whole room with her presence. As if one could hide her under a simple plain cloak, put her in a room full of the world's greatest treasures, and she would still somehow be the most notable thing in the room.

My horn even tingled queerly by just how much magical might she was passively displaying.

If there ever was such a thing as a deity... A trueborn Alicorn... It was her.

Not even speaking with the Moon or the Sun could compare.

The harrowingly magnificent mare opened her eyes with a flash.

If one could ever quantify every mote of magic in the Universe, they would all most certainly be contained within those eyes. To say they were deep would be like tossing a stone into the sky and listening for the resounding noise to echo off the stars. To say they were bright, would be like saying Galineigho's observation of the Sun through a telescope was 'dim'.

“Princess Celestia Unitybringer of Equestria. Sol Invicta. The Daystar. Champion of the Sun. Daughter. Sister. Friend.” The mare chanted with a voice that sounded like every mare, stallion, and foal, stressing the final word as if to give her addressee understanding of that she knew.

“Princess Luna Fiendbane of Equestria. Queen of Bloodstone. The Night Maiden. Champion of the Moon. Daughter. Sister. Hero.” she continued. At the word 'hero' I was hit with all the pride I felt at serving the Ponies as one of their protectors. The feeling of standing before some great evil and knowing that not only were you in the right, but your actions would save countless lives.

My throat suddenly felt extremely dry.

"You have come to ask me a boon." the mare commented idly.

Some instinct deep inside my soul told me, screamed at me really, that this glowing mare was not what she seemed, but she was so, so, so much more.

I had to be delicate when dealing with this mare... If she so wanted, she could annihilate me with merely a thought.

"H-how..." I began hesitantly.

Luna you daft mare! Why did you start speaking?! This mare is not the mare to be rude to-

The mare chuckled.

I felt cold sweat drip down my neck.

Could- Could she hear my thoughts?

"Be at ease." The mare soothed. "You both have passed my tests."

"So... They were tests?" Tia ventured.

"Indeed." the mare answered. With that, the mare of light stamped lightly on the rock below. As if on cue, the five differently colored mares reappeared, flanking the Alicorn on ether side.

I couldn't help but flinch as the light from the yellow mare fell across my face.

"When you first were confronted in my cavern, you were met with greed." the Alicorn of light started. The gleaming white mare stepped forward and bowed slightly. "But Luna was able to see she was starving, and offered her a loaf of bread. Demonstrating the aspect of Generosity."

At the word 'Generosity', the light that made up the gleaming mare collapsed into a single mote of light, which zipped over to me and started to orbit around my head.

"You were next confronted with animosity. But Celestia recognized the absurd baselessness for what it was truly, and was able to laugh it away. Earning the aspect of Laughter." The Alicorn of light nodded.

The Pink mare bounced, and at the apex of her jump, imploded into a speck of light, similar to how the white mare had, the pink speck then went to Tia and orbited around her head.

"Luna was then presented with a choice, let her sister suffer to save herself pain, or protect who she loved by taking all of the pain herself. She chose to take all of the pain despite her injuries, earning the aspect of Loyalty."

The blue mare did a sort of back flip, collapsing into a mote of light as well, and with shocking swiftness, joined the white mote around my head.

"Both of you were then confronted with cruelty. But only Celestia was able to display the care that dispelled it, earning the aspect of Kindness."

The yellow mare did a sort of flinch, and joined the pink speck of light around Tia's head as a mote as well.

I couldn't help but feel grateful that particular mare wasn't earned by me. My wing still throbbed with pain.

"And finally, you were challenged by my most difficult test. The test of lies. However, only Luna saw them for what they were, and told the truth as she knew it. Earning the aspect of Honesty."

The blazing orange mare mimed tipping a hat respectfully, and collapsed as well, coming to join her two sisters around my head.

"This is all well and good..." I interjected. "But what is the purpose of earning these 'aspects'?"

The mare regarded me with an appraising look.

"All in good time curious one." she smiled, like one of the tutors Tia and I had studied under when we took to our thrones, but with a hint of pride. "The aspects on their own are virtues to aspire to certainly, but they are merely fragments of a greater whole." The mare looked to Tia like a proud mother regarding her daughter. "Celestia, while Luna is the sword and shield that protects, you are the one that has forged the tribes of Ponies into a single people. As such, you are worthy of the final piece of the whole." The mare's horn glowed brightly, enveloping the room in blinding light.

When I could see again, the mare of light had her hoof outstretched. Floating above said hoof, was a peculiar violet gem, cut into a six pointed star, and held an inner light that seemed to benignly pulse.

"Apart, the aspects are noble and unique, in their own way. But when rallied to a single purpose they exceed far and above the sum of their individuality. I present to you, Celestia, Princess of Equestria, the aspect of the Spark."

I spared a moment to sneak a glance to Tia.

Her face was lit with the purple glow, her mouth slightly agape in awe.

"The Spark is the most important part of my Elements. Without it, the others can never band together." The mare did a gesture, a sort of gracefully slow toss. The violet gem, with equal grace, floated across the distance and landed in Tia's outstretched hooves.

"The Spirit of Discord is wily and tenacious, by chaos he was summoned, but in my name will he be put back to sleep."

"And... What is your name?" I found myself asking outloud.

The mare turned back to me, a slight, knowing curl to her lips.

"You may call me... Harmony."

Author's Note

Oh oh! Can I explain this? Pleeeeease?

Explain no, but I'll allow you to point out.

Yesssss! Ok! Ahem!

...

Well?

Well what?

Oh for fuck's-... Ok, pay attention to-

Pay attention to the titles that Harmony uses! It'll be important later!

Are you done?

Oh we both know you're only allowing this because my time is limited.

Chapter 49 The Memories Part 21

~~~

The journey back to our home went by much swifter than our initial journey. As Tia and I both agreed time was now of the essence and took flight. It was a good thing too, for the landscape below had grown even more warped.

The various candies that had replaced the underbrush had once again been replaced, this time with giant stalks of celery or absurdly sized orange ovoid mounds that, even from high above, smelled strongly of carrots. In the distance, where a gorge had been before the corruption, were now canyons made of giant slabs of cut bread, lettuce, sliced tomato, and something brown, that sent a shudder down my spine as I gazed at it. The largest, and most notable change however was Mount Canter itself. Or rather, what had been the mountain. Now it was a giant cylinder, mottled slightly with pure red and white in arching streaks that wrapped around the whole structure.

The words "Koka Kola" could be read along the side.

Some heinously twisted joke no doubt.

Onwards we went over the constantly shifting landscape below. I almost stopped when I realized the land was shifting a little too much to be explained by simply passing by.

"Tia! Look!" I pointed downward.

The now inert star shaped gem, was secured around Tia's neck by an intricate golden necklace, jangled as Tia looked down to where I was looking.

Even as we watched, we could see a river move and reshape the land as it slithered like a giant snake across the terrain. Mountains and hills shifted around as the river waggled, drastically changing the landscape even as we watched.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tia frown.

It was a harrowing display of the thing's power.

"We need to hurry." Tia curtly stated.

"I concur." I agreed.

And off we went.

~~~

To say the City of the Everfree was overrun would've been an understatement.

It was all but utterly gone.

The various monsters that had swarmed the city had trampled everything to splinters. Additionally, the creature's magic left nothing untouched. What few buildings that did remain intact were floating through the air, untethered and free from the confines of the Earth. The plant life was perhaps even more absurd than out in the wild. Not so much transformed into abominable shapes as to have garishly colored patterns imprinted on their leaves. Stripes, polka dot, paisley, and ironically enough, even the floral patterns that could be found on teacups. The only things I saw were a school of small river fish that swam through the air as if it were water, and they were at the very edge of the city.

Discord's laughter echoed over the ruins of the city.

Tia and I advanced past the trampled wreckage.

We soon found the monster sitting amongst the ruined Castle Everfree. He sat in a tall and horned throne, sized perfectly for his mismatched body parts. It spun freely along the ground as Discord gestured wildly around, laughing uproariously. A burlap sack of black seeds clutched in his lion paw, which he was eating vigorously while lost in his revelry.

He noticed us approaching and calmed down, settling straight in his seat.

"I suppose you're expecting a monologue of some sort." he greeted as we stopped before him. He dramatically clutched his paw and claw together and started to feign. "I'm doing this because of reasons! I'm such a bad guy! I just want the stones to half the population instead of doubling the total resources!" He swooned.

"We know not what you talk about!" Tia called out.

"Ugh... I can't even tell you why that's funny." the Spirit of Chaos groaned. "Let's just say that you, Sunny and Lunatic, aren't the only ones here, and I'm usually talking to both them and you."

"Still not making sense!" I cried. "We're the only three here!"

"Look it's-! Agh! This is getting nowhere!" he reached behind his throne and pulled out a large stack of papyrus. The words: 'The Script' labeled clearly in thick strokes.

The creature began leafing through the stack like one would a book.

"Something something... Make a joke about 'Pinning the tail on the Pony' and use Celestia's tail as the punchline."

He pulled from between the throne's cushion and pulled out a familiarly pink disconnected tail.

Tia looked towards her flank in surprise.

Her pink tail was gone.

"But that's canon and boring..." The monster continued, drawing our attention back. "So let's do this instead!"

I felt something pulling painlessly on my backside.

Discord lifted his other limb, a startlingly familiar blue bundle clutched in his paw.

I looked back in fear.

My tail was also gone.

"Discord!" I shouted in challenge.

"Oh fine!" he rolled his yellow eyes. "But only because you're the protagonist!" he lamented as he reached behind his throne with both claws.

I felt something on my backside clamp back into place like a lodestone.

I glanced behind to see the bundle of blue tail back where it belonged, and felt it wag.

I turned my attention back to the monster.

"Playtime is over Discord!" Tia exclaimed.

"Oh you think so?" Discord chuckled. "Trust me Princess', the Author has plans for me and there isn't anything you can do about it."

"Not even..." Tia called out "This?" she started to rub the gem on her breast, summoning the motes of light gifted to us. Generosity, Loyalty, and Honesty appeared from near me and dashed over to the star gem. Laughter and Kindness appeared from Tia herself.

The motes began to spin wildly as the gem started to glow again with its inner light.

"Oh that's not canon." Discord stated in interest, as he tossed one of the black seeds into his mouth and chewed.

The Element of the Spark became alight with its own powerful magics, outshining even the Sun above and making everything else seem dark.

"Ah;" Discord sighed, standing up. "Final laugh is mine though. Because I get to do this!"

The Spark pulsed with brilliant radiance.

All the colors of the rainbow rushed toward the monster, bathing him in light.

The mismatched creature bent himself low in a dash, burying his face in the crook of his elbow, but letting his other appendage trail upward and backward into the sky.

It was all over in an instant. The light washed everything away with its brilliance.

It seemed to be an eternity before I could see again.

"Tia? Are you there?" I called out.

"I'm here Lu." she replied.

"Is he-?"

"Stars I hope so."

I found myself staring into the crook of my own arm. I must've instinctually tried to cover my eyes. But despite the glare, my eyes didn't hurt.

As the light softened, the looming form of Discord faded into sight. I started to lower myself into an attack stance, but it swiftly grew obvious that the monster was no more. He was far too still for something living, and the grey hue of his flesh was that of a fortress.

I felt myself gape in awe of the fearsome monster, frozen in that ridiculous pose he had chosen.

I hesitantly approached the still beast.

"Luna! What are you doing?" Tia hissed at me.

I ignored her, but crept close enough to touch the stationary Discord.

Tok tok tok. My hoof tapped against him.

He was stone.

~~~

The celebration was in full swing. Ponies, both Noble and Peasant, were celebrating heartedly.

The demon was gone! Dead and gone!

A large tent had been erected amongst the trees in the Everfree forest. While Ponies danced and feasted all around outside it, representatives of the Noble Families attended the Court being held inside the tent.

Tia and I sat on identical thrones, freshly hewn from the Everfree's trees, raised above the attendees. The Nobles had lined themselves along the sides, sitting on provided stools while their servants stood at their master's sides. A line of freshly arrived representatives could be seen outside the tent flap.

I glanced over to Tia, examining not for the first time, her newly colorful mane, waving on a nonexistent breeze. It reminded me of the early morning dawn, the colors of darkness fading into full daylight. Mine, I didn't need to look, was much the same. Only my mane and tail were that of a field of stars.

The change was... Peculiar to say the least. Personally, I was still getting used to my mane and tail moving on their own. They did however seem to have the sense to stay out of the way.

Why our manes and tails were like this, nopony knew. But Tia had already sent messengers to any settlement we could think of, to ask any librarians if they had lore on the subject.

"Announcing Duchess Hazelwood of New Amarestadam!" the crier called.

A posh Earth Pony mare with light brown coat and maroon dress trotted into the tent, her gait confident and assured of herself.

"Hazelwood!" Tia greeted kindly. "It's good to see you again!"

"My word your Highness'! Your manes are beautiful!" the mare greeted with a smile and a bow.

"Thank you Duchess Hazelwood. I'm still not quite certain what to make of them..." Tia admitted. " But enough about me; Have you come for the festivities?"

"On behalf of the Hazel family;" Hazelwood nodded. "I extend congratulations to the Royal Family for their defeat of the demon Discord!" she straightened and tapped a hoof on the ground. A servant approached with a pillow in his hooves, an exquisite necklace rested upon it. "I present this heirloom of my family as tribute! Made in the city of Bláthcnoc, it's made with rose gold inlay, with rubies and emeralds masterfully cut into a bouquet of roses!" with that said, Hazelwood took the pillow from the servant and approached the throne, bowing and holding the pillow out to present the jewelry.

"Oh!" Tia cooed. "It's beautiful!" she gingerly picked the admittingly pretty piece from its resting place to admire it. "Thank you Hazelwood, I will treasure it always."

The Duchess curtseyed and moved to join her fellows along the side.

"Presenting, Lord Gold Standard of Mount Canter!" the crier announced as Hazelwood settled in.

A grey stallion with golden yellow locks and a well tailored suit entered, yet despite his well groomed appearance, he carried himself in such a way that betrayed a confident and well rugged manner used to spending time in the wild.

"Your highness'!" He greeted loudly as he bowed.

"Lord Gold Standard!" Tia greeted cordially. "I trust Mount Canter fares well then? I was worried about your settlement at the top when we saw what the demon did."

"It was indeed worrisome..." Gold Standard smiled. "We had to get off the mountain, but we pulled through." The stallion waved one of his attendants over, whom carried a long wooden case. "I was planning on giving this to you for your birthday your highness... But circumstances being what they are, I think it would be a a more appropriate gift now." Gold Standard then took the case from his servant and approached the the thrones. "I present to you, Princess Celestia, a weapon worthy of your glory."

The stallion opened and presented the case.

Tia gasped in awe, but I felt the corners of my mouth curl downward.

A glorious double headed, leaf bladed golden spear with gently curved hilts, newly polished and fresh from the forge sat in the case. Its blades caught the light and gleamed like a torch.

It was masterfully made of course, but it was clearly made to be more impressive rather than useful. Blades on either end of the shaft? What if you needed to use the butt of the spear to knock an opponent out?

"I commissioned my goldsmiths specifically to make this for you my Lady." Gold Standard proudly stated. "And then had the gold enchanted with as much magic that could be impregnated in the weapon."

And how much of that magic was otherwise useless? Surely one didn't need so much for just 'sharpness', 'endurance', 'permeance' and maybe 'featherweight'?

"Thank you Lord Gold Standard." Tia gracefully stated with a smile. "Perhaps if I had had this Discord wouldn't have overrun the Castle."

I forced myself to blink as I quickly rolled my eyes under my eyelids.

What a load of rubbish.

If Discord were to be defeated so easily, then I would've gone back to that tannery, found Lunar Majesty, and taught that demon a lesson in manners.

Granted, I knew why Tia was licking Gold Standard's boots. The stallion was thus far the only source of raw gold ore we had. All the precious metal that made our coins and easily enchantable Guard armor came from him and his gold mine on Mount Canter.

Tia levitated the spear out of its casing, and gave it a few experimental twirls.

"I will be sure to make use of this magnificent weapon Gold Standard." she bowed slightly and took the case from the stallion, setting the spear back inside and closing the lid.

"May it serve you well." Gold Standard bowed deeply, backing up and joining the sidelines.

A commotion at the tent flap drew my attention. A Private tapped on the Crier's shoulder and exchanged a few quiet words.

The Crier nodded and allowed the Private to enter.

"Your Highness'." he greeted as he bowed. "Report from Lord Trottingham, he reports that he has not seen Master Starswirl either."

Damnation! Just where had that stallion got to?!

"Unfortunate." Tia hummed. "Return to your duties. I want word should there be any updates as to his whereabouts."

"Yes your Highness." the Guard nodded, backing up and leaving.

"Now;" Tia continued. "Is that everypony?"

"Twould appear so your Highness!" The Crier responded, pulling his head back inside the tent.

"Good. Now, first order of business..." Tia began. "Rebuilding the Everfree Castle..."

~~~

I once more sat at a wrought iron table in one of the Castle Everfree's courtyards, a leather bound book in my hooves. Eldritch symbols that seemed blurry and only half there, yet could be read clearly, floated across the page.

The magic of the Sarosians was complex, and wasn't constrained to the laws of magic as most wizards knew them.

This particular spell was the most advanced I had attempted yet. Yet I was confident.

I inhaled the dream air deeply, half focusing, half relaxing myself in preparation.

It will work because I want it to work, not because I force it to work.

I closed my eyes and-

"What the-? Lu?" Came the familiar voice of Tia.

I reopened my eyes to find Tia sitting across the table. She looked around in confusion, her newly animate mane tossing about as if she found herself in a place she wasn't expecting.

"Oh... Apologies Lu... I had the most awful dream..." she relaxed, turning towards me.

"A dream where the Spirit of Chaos destroyed the Everfree Castle and the cosmic firmaments responsible for moving the Sun and Moon across the sky?" I closed the book and set it aside.

"I- Why yes, how did you know?" Tia gaped in shock.

"Sorry to ruin your night Tia, but that was no dream. This is." I gestured around to the courtyard. "My dream actually."

"Lu, I love and trust you, but how could this be a dream? I merely dozed off while sitting here. That's all." Tia remarked.

"Do you remember what you were doing before you were here?" I asked with a slight smirk.

"Why yes. I was..." Tia started.

I allowed the dream to shift to what Tia was thinking of.

The quiet courtyard became overcome with the sounds of revelry and song. The wrought iron table reshaped itself into a heavily worn and dented wooden table. Ponies who had not been there a few seconds earlier shuffled in a rowdy crowd. The air was filled with drunken merriment and boasting.

It was a busy tavern. The kind of tavern that free lance mercenaries would frequent after a job.

"I didn't think you were the kind of Pony to dream about such a place." I remarked.

"This is..." Tia gasped.

"A dream." I interrupted, reshaping the dream back into the quiet courtyard. "I've been working on my Dream Magic."

"Oh..." Tia looked down at the iron table. "I'm... Not sure what to make of this."

"Oh that's the easy part." I grinned as I formed a steaming pot of tea and empty cups on the table. "With our larders ruined, and our treasury needing to be excavated... I thought it would be some time before you got to taste tea again. And since you wanted to share a cup with me, I thought I could invite you over and show you what I've been working on." I picked up the tea pot and poured the cups.

Tia looked stunned.

"You would do this... For me?" she asked quietly as she watched the steam rise from her cup.

"Anything for you Tia... But fair warning, I'm still not too sure about the taste yet." I admitted, setting the pot down gently and pulling my own cup towards me.

"Oh it can't be that bad." Tia smiled, picking up her cup politely and taking a sip. "Lu?" she continued.

"Yes?"

"This is the worst cup of tea I've ever had." she quipped, a smirk across her muzzle. I felt myself smile.

"Yeah... I'm working off a memory of when it was cold dregs from one of the pots you finished."

"Ah... That explains it." Tia hummed, taking another sip from the cup.

"If you don't like it you don't have to finish it Tia." I allowed. "It's not like you'd be wasting anything."

"Perhaps..." Tia hummed. "But it has something no other pot has. That you made it for me."

The feeling of warmth blossomed in my chest and I felt my face rise into a joyous smile.

"Thank you Tia. I appreciate it."

We sat quietly, enjoying the peace and calm after the past week.

'She will always be by your side.'

The words of the fiery orange phantasm hit me in the gut, shattering my calm.

Why had she said that? She didn't need to... So why did she think it was necessary to say? And even if she did end up being the avatar of 'Honesty', was she or was she not lying when she said it?

"Is something wrong Lu?" Tia spoke, cutting through my thoughts.

Shit, my Moon Mark was showing again, and Tia could tell something was wrong...

"Uh... No. Nothing at all Celestia." I lied.

Author's Note

Remember children, the Truth is a friend only to itself. Colon trollestia colon.

Alright, you know the drill, back into your box.

Wait no! I've got more things to say!

Make it quick.

To join the Me server! https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa Or not to join the Me server! To like! To comment! To subscribe forever more! Wherefore art thou, oh chapter mine!

Oh you think you're sooo clever. Alright, into the statue with you. I hope you're happy.

Immeasurably! Colon three!

Chapter 50 The Safehouse

~~~

Ow.

My head...

Actually scratch that; Ow. My whole body.

What happened? Why does everything ache like I've been ran over by a column of tanks? Why-

Gunshots. Screaming. Fire.

Bodies.

My eyes snapped open as I sat up, mostly as a reaction rather than a conscious effort.

"Gah!" I flailed my arms, as if trying to ward away anyone who might've been close.

But I was alone.

I reclosed my eyes, and breathed deeply, trying to calm my heart and catch my suddenly short breath. I put my still armored hooves to my face and rubbed, trying to wipe away the feeling of grime and drowsiness.

Klink.

What the-? I dragged my hooves down my face, allowing my eyes to open once again.

Bottles. Glass bottles of different makes and shades. I reached over and picked up the nearest one.

"Bacardi Spiced Rum." the label read. Nothing sloshed around inside.

I set the empty bottle back down and cast my gaze around.

Most of the bottles were empty, although a fair few still had at least a few inches of liquid inside. Beyond the pile of glassware, the room I was in was tidy and well kept, with the exception of a pair of pants that clearly had seen better days and a chair that was pressed up under the doorknob of a door on the opposite side of the room. Two blocky shapes were pressed against the left wall, two pillows lay atop each near the wall.

Beds.

Along the right wall a countertop with a gigantic black rectangle seeming to loom over the beds.

A hotel.

I was in a hotel room.

Why was I in a hotel? How did I get here? Did I break into a room alone? Or did someone bring me here?

Klink. Klink.

A bottle rolled into several of it's neighbors.

...

There was no way a captor would allow me to have so much expensive liquor.

I pushed a few of the bottles away, pushing myself up onto all four hooves.

Ow.

All the muscles in my body ached so deeply it felt like I had gone through an industrial pulverizer. Several times over. Already, simply trying to stand up made my brain feel like mush that sloshed roughly against the insides of my skull like a bucket of water in a tornado.

Now standing, I could see a window set into the wall behind me, letting daylight stream into the room like a majestic waterfall made of gold. Merely thinking about looking outside made my brain throb in dismay.

But I soldiered through and stuck my face into the sunshine anyway.

If I were forced to guess, I'd say it was mid to late morning. Certainly felt that way with how bright and fresh the light felt. I was in a city, if the amount of buildings and structures were anything to go by. But if I was still in the same city was an entire matter entirely.

Ow.

The light became too much and I retreated back into the room, closing the blinds as I fell back. A few bottles were displaced by the movement.

Fucking hell, how much did I drink? There were enough bottles here to kill a full grown man even if they were only half full. Did horses and ponies digest alcohol better? I vaguely recalled something of that nature... But I couldn't place where I had heard that factoid, or even if it was a true factoid.

Now that the adrenaline from a surprise awakening had begun to wear off, several bodily functions made themselves known.

Ow.

I pushed my way through the pile of bottles, both empty and partially full. If this was a hotel room, then there should be a... Aha! A bathroom.

I didn't even turn on the lights, I just reared up onto the counter and turned on the faucet. Once the water was fully running, I put my mouth under the stream of water, drinking and lapping up water like it was the last source of fresh water in the universe.

Ow! Too cold!

I pulled back, gasping for breath, slightly too late to avoid the sting of prolonged exposure to cold water. I leaned on the counter, letting the water run for a few moments. The sting of the cold sort of helped with the headache, but only in a "I'm distracting you" kind of way.

Eventually I reached back up and turned off the faucet.

The urge to use the toilet called next, but I didn't want to do it basically blind, so I turned on the lights, hopped back onto the floor, and kicked off the slabs of metal that covered my hooves.

With the lights on, my headache grew too strong to even think about using magic to clean up, so I was forced to use my hooves.

I guess that was one good thing about having magic and not hands... More sanitary to wipe with just a levitated toilet sheet than poke through the toilet paper and get shit all over your fingers. But I wasn't about to drag shit all over by walking around with filthy hooves.

I reared back onto the counter and turned on the hot water, scrubbing my hooves as best as I could.

I was shaking off the extra water when I happened to glance upward for just a moment, only for that moment to catch me off guard.

The pony I saw in the mirror had gone through hell. Her eyes were bloodshot and had fully formed half moon bags. The light blue mane under her helmet was unkempt and frizzy. Her navy coat was beginning to matt, laying wildly in different directions where ever I could see it around her barding. Who knew what state her wings or tail were in? They certainly wouldn't be 'pristine'.

This was not the pony is my... No, Luna's memories. Luna had at least a semblance of majesty and grace. The pony in the mirror before me? She would've disgusted the original Luna.

The original Luna would've called her a disgrace.

The original Luna would've been right.

I was a disgrace.

A disgrace to her memory, a disgrace to everything she had stood for, a disgrace to even myself.

I... I had to fix this. Somehow.

My eyes happened across a pair of "complentary" bottles of shampoo and body wash.

Oh what the hell.

I scooped up the two tiny plastic bottles and went over to the bathroom's tub, turning the hot water on as I sat down. The water didn't take long to heat up, so I turned on the shower head and pulled off the remaining pieces of armor, letting the water properly heat up, before finally jumping in, pulling the curtain shut behind me.

I don't know how long I stood in the shower, with the industrially sized water heater of a hotel I didn't need to worry either. Of course the tiny bottle of shampoo wasn't enough, designed only to be enough for a human head maybe one or twice. For a pony who was completely covered in fur? It never was going to be enough. But that didn't mean I couldn't try.

I quickly built up a lather in my blue mane, trying to reign in it's frizz. With a lack of shampoo I could use, I did my best to recycle the lather by pushing it down the locks of mane into my coat. From there I focused mainly on the places that were beginning to matt, trying to scrub out the bits of plastering dirt and grime as best I could. All of the lather was dark brown by the time I reached my tail. Thankfully only the ends of the hairs were discolored, so I didn't focus too much on the tail's base.

Now "clean", I sat under the stream of hot water. I would never know if I began to cry, but I dearly wished to.

Even though, deep down, I knew I couldn't.

Author's Note

Ok... Back to "normality"...

Chapter 51 The Sunset

~~~

I stepped out of the shower much closer to feeling alive. Don't get me wrong though, I still felt awful. But at least I was mostly alive rather than mostly dead.

I levitated the wet towel I had used over the curtain rod, laying it flat so it could air dry. With no hairbrush, I made do by shaping my levitation into something that resembled a crude comb, running it through my mane and tail. I kept combing as I left the bathroom, more in an attempt to further dry my mane because it was still slightly wet.

Klink.

Oh right. Those.

I picked up a few of the obviously empty bottles, glancing around for a recycling or trash can. The best I saw was a simple grey plastic waste basket. And- Oh hey, the TV remote.

I filled up the small basket as best as I could, but that still left a plethora of empty glass bottles I needed to handle. I made do by setting up the empty bottles at the basket's base, taking care to keep them upright so they didn't roll around. However that still left the half full bottles. With no where really to put them, I set them on the counter next to the TV.

I looked over said TV. Hotels provided free TV right? Or at least that was generally supposed to be part of the standard package right? I mean really, how absurd would it be in this day and age for a hotel to not supply free TV? And any decent hotel would be sure to include at least a news channel... It wouldn't matter if it was restricted to local or national. While I would prefer a local news station, anything about... Her and what she was doing could be helpful. And that would be on national news.

Actually, that was probably the only thing any channel... How often do you discover you aren't alone in the universe really?

I hopped up onto a bed and levitated the remote over, clicking the power button.

"-so I says to her; Whatcha doin'?!"

Soaps. Click.

"The new Ford F-150!"

Commercial. Click.

"I don't want to be human! I want to see gamma rays! I want to hear x-rays! And I wanna- I wanna smell dark matter!"

Mood. Click.

"-'m telling you Tucker! This is how mankind ends! This is how the liberals destroy Western society!"

Not news, but a good indicator for the opinion of the dumb and gullible.

On the TV, the look of a perpetually confused man stared at the camera.

"Not even 24 hours after the announcement and talk around Washington is abuzz about an embassy! We know nothing about these aliens, we know nothing about their goals. Hell, we don't even know how they got here!"

"That's exactly right Tucker!" the 'news' channel swapped to a different camera, this time to the face of an aging old man in a business suit. I looked away from the TV and began to preen, content to listen while doing something actually useful. "Something is very wrong here! Some of my colleagues with ties to the FBI have been commenting that the agency, the FBI that is, has been in a tizzy over something for weeks! And then we just 'happen' to have a giant horse walk onto the lawn of the White House and give a speech? What happened to the little grey man we've been told is an alien? Where did the horse come from? Heh, who ever heard of a horse from outer space?"

"No, I agree Senator. We've been spoon fed little grey men by Hollywood for decades now. And now the liberals bait and switch us with an animatronic horse? I'm not buying it either!"

Logical fallacies still abound in in the United Stupid of America. Cli-

"You know what I think? I think we should launch that Hollywood animatronic back into space where it 'came from'! Tear it part by drawing and quartering it with real horses and send it back! See what the liberals think about that!"

-RUNCH

... Opps. I forgot to put the remote down...

Wait, why did I react that way?

I stopped preening to look up, a newly destroyed plastic remote in my magic.

Why'd I do that?

Faux News kept babbling in the background, going on about sending Celestia away in increasingly creative yet insane ways.

Why does the thought of them doing anything to Celestia make me feel... Angry? Granted I held no love for their insipid incompetence to begin with... But it's not like I was on great terms with Celestia either. So why-?

Knock. Knock. Knock.

I froze.

Someone was at the door.

Fuck, did I break in? Or did I pay for the room in my drunken state? Had I been seen by the hotel staff? And I was just too drunk to care?

Damnit drunk Luna... What did you do?!

Preening now forgotten, I quietly hopped off the bed, slinking towards the door.

Oh right, the door had a chair underneath its handle. Maybe drunk Luna had quietly broken in? Did that mean the noise from the TV alerted one of the maids? I kept my hoofsteps quiet as I reared up towards the door's peep hole, closing one eye and peering through.

The first thing I noticed was her shockingly red hair with yellow highlights, less ginger and more straight up crimson. The second, was her pale face was looking downward at her phone, but the phone looked like it had some handmade peripheral attached. Like someone had made something from Ghostbusters and hooked it to an Android through the charging port. The girl reached up as I watched.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Nightmare Moon?" the girl called.

Nightmare Moon? What was she talking about? Who or what is Nightmare Moon? Was she just a crazy who had run away from the psych ward and just happened to come to the room I was hiding in? I suppose stranger things have happ-

"Princess Luna?" her voice cut through my thoughts like a sword.

Time seemed to screech to a sudden halt as someone decided to pour freezing water down my spine.

How did she know?! Why was she here?! Is she alone?! Is she working for the feds?! Did anyone hear her?!

There could be no question as for my course of action. Crazy or not, whoever this was on the opposite side of this door, she knew far too much specific information for her visit to be a coincidence. Regardless if drunk Luna had somehow slipped up or not, I needed to know how she knew.

I ripped open the door with a hoof, grabbing the girl with my levitation, pulling her inside the room, concentrating specifically to hold her mouth shut.

"Princ- Hmmmmf?!"

I slammed the door shut when she was fully inside. I turned aggressively towards the girl, who I now saw couldn't be older than 17 or 18.

"You better start talking right fucking now about how you know who I am, how you know I'm here, and why you're here!" I growled, approaching with an aggressively lit horn. The girl turned onto her back, resting on her elbows as she started to crawl backwards.

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" she clambered, still backing up. "I'm from Equestria! I ran away from Princess Celestia!"

"How stupid do you think I am?!" I growled. "You're human! Last I checked, as of less than 24 hours ago, Equestria has never encountered humanity! So at least give me the common fucking courtesy of a believable lie!"

"No no it's true!" the girl fell off her elbows as she put her hands up. "I was Celetia's personal student! But she didn't teach me what I wanted to know so I ran away through a mirror portal! The portal turned me into a human when I came out this side!"

Mirror portal? Mirror portal? Why did that sound familiar? Mirror port-

It hit me like a slap across the face.

Starswirl! The old fool! This was where he was dumping his magical radioactive waste?!

If what this girl was saying was true, what were the odds that I had somehow found my way to the exact planet Starswirl dumped his shit onto? Astronomical to say the least. Or the Universe thought itself as a comedian and I was the punchline.

Yeah, I wasvery "amused" right at that moment.

"Tell me something that only a pony would know." I murmured.

"Something a pony-? Oh!" she perked up excitably. "Canterlot is Equestria's capital, Baltimare and Fillydephia are our main trading hubs, Manehatten-"

Some of those names sounded familiar, even if they were horse puns of Human cities, although I didn't know what this "Canterlot" was. Was that supposed to be a play on Camelot? Was it that mining settlement on Mount Canter? What happened to the Castle Everfree? Was that not the seat of our power? Why would Celestia move?

"Don't talk to me about geography. If you know who I am, you'd know I'm not up to date with the Equestria you're familiar with." I pressed.

"Ah, right." she relented. "Um... Equestria was founded after the three tribes of ponies needed to band together against the Windegos, you and Princess Celestia fought and defeated Discord, and then-"

"Enough. I believe you." I stopped the girl before she started listing off things that were still raw in my mind. But the mention of Discord was enough. I would've been surprised if Celestia had even mentioned Discord to the United States. They likely wouldn't have as good a working relationship if Celestia mentioned she could take down a near god of Chaos. Especially if she was dealing with the xenophobes in power.

No, not only was he ancient history, but Celestia had enough tact to not mention she was a walking nuke capable of stopping a god. It just wouldn't make sense to mention him at all. So this girl's knowledge of Discord was proof enough that she was at least familiar with Equestrian history. And the only way she could've known about that was an Equestrian history book, or being there herself.

And I doubted she had been present during Discord's reign or that Celestia had brought a history book with her to Earth.

I levitated the girl back onto her feet, now a little more amiable.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Oh, uh..." she stammered "I've been using the name 'Sarah' amongst Humans, but my real name is Sunset Shimmer."

Author's Note

:pinkiegasp:

Chapter 52 The Delusion

~~~

"Heh." I snorted to myself.

Truly, the Universe thought itself as the funniest thing in existence.. What were the odds that my human sister, and the seemingly random pony turned human would share the same name?

I see your bullshit Harmony. I see your bullshit and I'm not amused.

"What's so funny?" Sarah, or rather Sunset asked.

"Cosmic fuckery." I grunted. "Excuse me please." I brushed by Sunset's legs, jumping back onto the bed to resume preening.

"Cosmic... Fuckery?" she said hesitantly.

"You wouldn't get it." I sighed. "So why did you run away from Celestia?"

"A-are... Isn't preening supposed to be an intimate thing?" the girl asked.

"You interrupted me while I was getting out of the shower. And I'd perfer to do this while I'm still damp." I retorted. "But that's not the answer to my question. Why'd you run away?" I repeated.

"I- I didn't feel like she was teaching me to reach my full potential." Sunset sighed, clearly not comfortable with me preening, sitting down on the opposite bed. "I- Fox News? Really?"

"It was the first news channel I found, they're too stupid to not air their plans live for the nation to see, and I broke the remote." I levitated the crushed remote into Sunset's hand. Her eyes widened. "Feel free to turn it off, I don't think I'll get more than their opinion about Celestia and I already got that. But you never know what they'll let slip." Sunset set the broken pile of electronics and plastic onto the bed, her eyes wandered over the half full bottles of alcohol.

"You're... You're more in tune with Humanity than I expected..." she said after a moment.

"Heh." I snorted around a mouthful of feathers. "How long have you been here?" I asked after I let the feathers slip out.

"Two, three years? I don't remember the exact date." Sunset responded.

"Twenty four years for me." I took another nip at my feathers.

"T-twenty four?!" Sunset half exclaimed in surprise. "How did you get here?! Where have you been hiding?! What have you been doing the past millennium?!"

I sighed into my wing. Just because I believed "Sunset" about being a pony, didn't mean I trusted her. Something about Sunset running away from Celestia didn't sit right in my brain. The excuse "she didn't teach me enough" didn't sound totally honest, she was hiding something without outright lying. But I couldn't be sure about what that could be.

Maybe I could trust Sunset with some information in an effort to get her to reveal more?... Something that wouldn't doom me in the long run?

"You got here through a portal, I got here the long way with no FTL." I finally said after I cleaned a few feathers to buy me some time to reply.

"FTL? What does-" Understanding dawned on her features. "Y-you flew here through space?!" she pointed accusatorily at me.

"Weren't too many options after being launched into orbit by Celestia. Crash into the moon or fly into the unknown. Take your pick."

"Wow." Sunset stared wide eyed at the TV, which now displayed a drug commercial.

"Why are you surprised? You've clearly read the history books. It's not like you can just gloss over the disappearance of half the executive branch of government."

"Uh... Kind of?" Sunset hesitantly stated. I lifted my head out of my splayed feathers.

"What do you mean, 'kind of'?" I asked, sounding a little more aggressive than I wanted, but too caught up in the moment to care.

"Well..." Sunset began tapping her fingers together nervously. "The history books state that an Alicorn by the name of Nightmare Moon kidnapped you, Princess Luna, and then threatened to bring about eternal night. Nightmare Moon and Princess Celestia dueled each other, but Princess Celestia won when she used the Elements of Harmony to banish Nightmare Moon. And you were just... Never found."

I stared at Sunset, mouth agape in shock.

"That's not what happened. That's not what happened at all." I managed to get out. I stopped my preening and reached over with my telekinesis, yanking the power cord on the TV, finally silencing it. "I- I made a deal. I made a deal with a demon. I asked for the power to see what ponies feared. I wanted the power to understand how to deal with Sombra."

"Sombra?" Sunset asked. "I don't know who that is."

"Sombra... Well, in the grand scheme of things, he was barely a blip. So I guess it makes sense he wouldn't be much more than a footnote. But he was a Unicorn that enslaved the entirety of the- A place called the Crystal Empire, using dark magic. I confronted him in his dreams, only to find a much stronger opponent than I was expecting. So I made a deal with an archdemon."

Sunset looked to be enthralled with my story. Apparantly this wasn't a story she was familiar with.

"But the archdemon had been another enemy of mine in the dream realm for a very long time. My deal was a trick. I imprisoned the demon in my own body while I gained its ability to see what other ponies feared. When I next confronted Sombra, I- I did a too good of a job. He fled and took the entire city-state with him, vanishing into thin air. Which is why I suppose there's no major historical record if the city just vanished. Anyway, somehow, Celestia and her cronies found out what I had done and thought I was tainted beyond redemption. And- And they tried to get rid of me." I paused for breath, trying to reign in my emotions at recounting the tale. "We fought, and she won. Nothing else to it. No megalomania, no spite, and the only thing I mentioned about an 'eternal night' was because I wasn't going to let Celestia take the Moon when morning came. My only mistake was believing I could still count on her to back me up if it came down to it."

Fuck I'm thirsty.

I levitated one of the half full bottles over to me and twisted off the cap and began to drink. Not greedily, but enough to drown out the rising tide of emotion in my chest.

"You know the rest."

Sunset sat quietly as she watched me drink out of the bottle.

"... I-If you could... If you had the opportunity, would you try to take revenge on the Princess?"

No. I may hate her, but she got what she wanted. Let her hang herself with her own rope.

"Depends." I replied instead.

Come on, tell me more...

"Depends on what?"

"Depends on why you want revenge on Celestia." I cast a sideways glance at Sunset. "I may not like my fool of a sister, but she can be trusted to not share secrets. Whatever you wanted, she withheld it from you for a reason. And I'm not going to risk my neck for something you don't deserve."

"How dare you?!" Sunset suddenly screeched. "I was the first personal student Princess Celestia has taken ever! She saw in me such great potential that she thought it would be best to teach me herself rather than some stuffy old fart in her school! But than she has the gall to not teach me everything she knows! I came here to see if you would teach me what Celestia wouldn't! What happened to Princess Luna?! Fiendbane and Mistress of the Night?! Instead I find some washed out pony attempting to drown herself in booze!"

Ah, there it is.

It was funny, in a sad sort of way. Sunset was a child playing at being an adult. She may have been smart, intelligent enough to be Celestia's personal student even, but she still thought in the terms of a child. She was used to bullying her way on the playground with ham-fisted temper tantrums to get what she wanted. It didn't even sound all that sincere, she had been waiting for me to start pushing back a little bit before erupting. Did she really think I didn't see what she was doing? Trying to goad me into giving her exactly what she wanted with petty insults?

"Alright fine." I stated harshly. "I will teach you what I know."

Her face beamed as she smiled happily, telling me exactly how upset she really had been.

Not at all.

I may not like Celestia, but she was right in keeping certain knowledge from you Sunset Shimmer. I would not trust you with a burnt out match much less actual knowledge of dark magic.

But I will teach you. I will not coddle you nor will I treat you like a child.

I will show you exactly how much reality cares for your playground bully schtick.

I will disabuse you of that mindset.

And you will hate me for it.

Chapter 53 The Car

~~~

Sunset Shimmer seemed pacified by my agreement. Although little did she know I was already thinking about lessons in humility as I returned to my preening. Silence reigned for a few minutes more as I continued my work. Sunset looked to me expectedly.

"Well?" she asked finally, probably not used to being forced to wait.

"Well what?" I asked, keeping my face hidden in my wing, not willing to show my slight, knowing, smirk.

"When do we begin?" she asked.

I couldn't help but snort aloud.

"I'm being serious." she said sternly.

"Tell me Sunset, do you consider yourself to be Celestia?" I asked pointedly. The girl seemed taken aback at my seemingly random question.

"I- Well- What kind of question is that?!" she asked loudly.

"Humor me." I spoke, lifting my head from my wing to look her in the eyes.

"I... No. I'm not Celestia." she looked away shamefully.

"Then why do you expect everything to orbit around you?" I reached over and prodded her gently. "You want lessons from me? You'll get them, but I do have prior arrangements that need tending to. And right now, that means dealing with my own mess and running away from the FBI."

Her mouth fell open.

"Y-you're..." she stammered.

"Get used to the idea 'my apprentice'. You came to a dark wizard for lessons, that means you get to be an accomplice. You don't like it? Well, I'm not forcing you to stay."

Granted, I had no intention of teaching her anything remotely to do with dark magic, but humility might as well been dark magic to the likes of her.

Sunset looked down at her hands in thought.

I smirked to myself and returned to my hygiene. It didn't really matter if she chose to stay or go. If she backed out now, she would be admitting to herself that there were prices she wasn't willing to pay for what she wanted, and that she wasn't so far above normalcy as she thought.

The side effect that she would willingly get out of my hair would've been a bonus.

But if she stayed, well, that just meant more time to smack her in the head with the idea that she wasn't on top of the food chain. And I would have the bonus of having at least the access to human services should I need it by acting through Sunset.

I wouldn't fool myself however, her massive ego wouldn't allow herself to bow out.

"I'll come with you." she finally said.

The temptation of power was far too alluring.

I felt myself smirk into my wing.

"Well then Sunset..." I stated, making sure to keep all traces of my mischievous pride out of my voice. "We both have chores to do." I pulled my face out of my wing again and addressed her directly. "Firstly, do you live in this area? If not, do you have a vehicle?"

"I... No I don't live around here. I barrowed my boyfriend's car."

"Your... Boyfriend's... Car?" I asked slowly, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it was the nicest one at school that I could ask around for." Sunset stated as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

I suddenly felt the urge to take another drink from the bottle that I had kept close.

Dealing with Sunset was going to be more of a headache than I thought it would be wasn't it?

"Sure fine, whatever. It'll work." I admitted, lifting a hoof to rub one of my temples. "Do you have a phone? Any money? Anything you think would be useful?" I asked, maybe a bit more harshly than I intended.

"What teen doesn't have a phone?" Sunset rolled her eyes. "Money too, but nothing physical. I also have my thaumic tracker."

Oh right, I already saw her phone.

"Thaumic tracker?" I asked, feeling an ear cock it self sideways in confusion.

"Yeah, it's- It's how I found you." the girl pulled her phone out of her pocket, revealing the ghost buster prop.

I noted with a twinge of anxiety that her phone case had a stylized sun painted on the back, one half crimson red and the other golden yellow.

It was disturbingly similar to Celestia's mark of destiny.

If she was telling the truth about being a Pony turned Human, was this her mark?

I shivered involuntarily as Sunset reached up and pulled her ghost buster prop off the phone, holding it up for me to see.

Now that I could get a closer look, it was clearly not some sort of toy a corporation would make to sell to nerds. It looked like something an aspiring mad scientist would make, soldered together and fit with differently sized screws. The most notable portion of the device, had wires wrapped around some sort of clear crystal, quartz if I was forced to guess. The wires in turn kept the crystal suspended between two plates, which looked like neodymium magnets.

"Earth's thaumic field isn't as strong as Equss', Humans never evolved an innate sense for it, but I know how I could charge crystals with mana, and use the crystal's resonance to vibrate magnets, which I could convert into data for an app I wrote to display!" Sunset explained proudly.

Luna's knowledge of magic offered no suitable explanation. Likely because she had a medieval understanding of the Universe around her.

Lucas' knowledge of layman theoretical physics on the other limb...

The realization that clicked in my head would've been priceless to a physicist.

Magic was dark matter or dark energy! The universal constant that couldn't be seen, but could be felt!

Humanity had already discovered magic, but they just didn't understand how it worked or how to utilize it!

Ha! Hahaha!

For once I was in on the cosmic joke!

I truly saw what Celestia had seen in Sunset now!

If Sunset wanted, she could have any salaried position in any quantum lab!

I found myself wanting to root for Sunset, regardless of her demeanor. Thankfully, I had already committed to ridding her of that unfortunate holier-than-thou attitude.

Now I had a personal reason to keep her around.

Other than useful tool that is.

"Fascinating." I hummed, returning to the present as I continued to follow the wires with my eyes, attempting to see if I recognized any familiar component.

"Yeah... Imagine my surprise when, two weeks ago, all my thaumic devices suddenly turned in the same direction, like someone had turned on a giant electromagnet that was as strong as Earth's natural field." Sunset continued.

"Oh!" I realized out loud. "That's how the agents found me!" I put a hoof to my forehead.

That's what those agents were looking at! They had hand held devices and were tracking my direction in real time!

That meant...

FUCK!

They were probably closing in as we spoke!

"The... The FBI already found you?" Sunset asked after some hesitation.

"Don't worry about it." I responded. "Point is they might be on me sooner than I thought. You said you had a car right? Is it nearby?"

"Sorta... I parked a few blocks away because I wanted to pin down your location..." Sunset admitted.

"Great." I stated "Now hold on a moment..." I said as I reached for the ruined pants, rifling through its pockets. The search produced the wallet I had stolen and a bundle of tattered blue latex.

The latex gloves I had taken the night earlier had taken at least one round.

Where was the phone?

Or right... I crushed it beneath my foot last night.

Oh well.

"Ok... Um..." I started again. "Go get your car and go wait in the parking lot. When you're parked, wait for me me. I'll join you and we can get out of here."

"A-are you sure?" Sunset asked doubtfully. "I was driving all night. I was too excited to find you before Princess Celestia got to you..."

I froze.

Oh that was a problem.

"How tired are you? Could you drive out of the city limits?" I asked, feeling like I had just downed an energy drink. "I can drive, but it wouldn't be a good idea for me to drive until we're on the back roads. Away from the crowds of drivers and cops."

"Aren't you hungover? And possibly intoxicated?" Sunset asked, pointing at the bottle I had drunk out of when I recalled my story.

I looked down at the bottle.

The label "Absolute Vodka" stared back at me.

"Would it matter if I was?" I asked. "The police would pull us over anyway if they see me in the driver seat."

"But they'll pay more attention if your swerving on the road."

"Do you think you can drive for several more hours?" I retorted. Even as I spoke, the girl across from me seemed to gain baggy eyes and a worn look. I hadn't noticed it when I first saw her, but it looked like she was being carried only by the excitement of finding/meeting me.

So really, who was the best option to drive?

"I-" the girl started to say, before she was interrupted by a yawn.

"That's what I thought. Go get your car, maybe we can go park somewhere so you can sleep before we leave the city."

"What about you?" Sunset murmured. "If we park in the city you could be seen."

"Don't worry about me." I reassured her. "So long as we keep moving and stay in public areas, the FBI and SWAT teams won't risk a confrontation, especially with an actual alien."

"... Are you sure?" Sunset asked slowly. "With Princess Celestia revealing that aliens do exist... Are they going to keep trying to maintain secrecy?"

"Absolutely. It's far too soon for the agencies to change their modus operandi ." I smiled. "In fact, unless we put further pressure on them to change, they may not consider it at all." I left out the fact that I had put plenty of pressure on them already. "You said you've been here for at least two years correct?"

"Yeah..." Sunset nodded.

"Then let me tell you what 24 years have taught me. The United States is far too comfortable in their current state to consider changing. They operate with militaristic and economic impunity on the world stage. No one dares challenge the United States and the American government knows it." I stopped momentarily to let Sunset consider my words. "But that comfort also means complacency. Why fix what isn't broken? It'll take millions of dollars for the feds to adopt new policies. Millions that the money grubbers in Congress will do anything to not spend. If you learn nothing else from me, let this be my most important lesson I can give you 'my apprentice'." I pointed at the girl, who sat in rapt attention, despite her tired eyes. "Stagnation is death. Never get so comfortable that you can't change. If you need structure, gain comfort in being modular and adaptable."

Sunset slowly nodded, lost in thought.

"I... I think I'll go get the car now..." she mumbled, standing up and pocketing her phone.

"Awesome, I'll be waiting." I nodded.

I waited patiently for Sunset to quietly leave, closing the door behind her as she left. As the door clicked shut I sighed to myself.

Damnit Luna... What have you gotten yourself into now?

Y'know for someone who wants to be alone you're awfully trusting of this strange girl.

You know perfectly well what my thought process was.

Doesn't change your hypocrisy Luna. Speaking of; I've noticed you refer yourself as 'Luna' despite your indecision about your own identity.

Weren't you the one that brought up that I should call myself 'Luna'? What do you expect me to do? Call myself "Placeholder Name Here"?

I smoothed out the feathers on the wing I was working on and hopped off the bed.

Why not? You're lying to yourself by your own logic.

I'm not calling myself "Placeholder Name Here".

I pulled the bathroom door open and turned the light back on with only a slight wince, eyeing the plates of metal scattered over the room.

Oh? Why not 'Element of Honesty'?

I felt my brow twitch.

I suppressed a growl and started to pick up my armor pieces, examining each.

They all had dried blood caked in their recesses.

I added "disgusted shuddering" to my short term emotional blacklist.

Just imagine... The former Element of Honesty being a liar...

I ignored the Other and set the armor plates on the sink's counter. I then turned on the sink's hot water and let it run for a moment.

Perhaps you qualify as an avatar of the Elements of Anti-Harmony? Betrayal? Selfishness? Dishonesty?

I grit my teeth together as I turned and left the bathroom. I splayed my vision over the room, before ultimately landing on the shredded pants I had worn the night before.

Come on Placeholder, you can't tell me you don't feel a more personal connection to the antithesis of the Elements of Harmony. Because I know you do.

I ignored the Other and picked up the pants, examining it to see how much of it I could use as a rag.

Placeholder the Betrayed. Placeholder the Selfish! Placeholder the Liar!

"Shut up." I growled softly.

Placeholder the Corrupted! Placeholder the Tainted! Placeholder the False!

"Shut-" I reached deep down into my dreamscape and directly grabbed the Other by her mane. "-Up!" I took hold of my mental blacklist and wrapped it around her face and snout like a chain.

I left the black Alicorn to flounder about in my mindscape as I turned my attention back towards reality.

Hmmph! Hmhmmph!

I sighed in relief.

I turned my attention back to the pants and started to rip the more damaged parts off. I soon had a pile of scraps of denim and lopsided short shorts that was missing a few pockets. I grinned as I beheld the final product of the shorts. The missing pockets would be annoying, but it would be nice to have something I could wear as a Pony that had still actually had pockets.

Maybe I'd lose less stuff if I automatically brought said stuff with me when I inevitably had to bail.

I slipped the shorts over my back legs and pulled them up...

... Oh right, tail.

I pulled the shorts back down, relieving my sudden discomfort and used my telekinesis to rip another whole in the shorts, this time to poke my tail through.

I pulled them back up and threaded my tail through the new hole, pulling at a few tail hairs but ultimately getting the appendage through without hassle.

"Much better." I murmured to myself as I picked up the pile of denim scraps, turning back towards the bathroom.

The water was still running, so I wasted no time in putting the first plate of armor under the stream of water and let it soak for a moment. When it was suitably wet, I picked up the first scrap of denim and began scrubbing at the armor.

Was cleaning the armor with water good for it? Probably not. But without polish, or proper brushes, or something that prevented rust I would have to make do with just getting whatever blood I could off. When I was convinced I could do no more with a plate, I gingerly set the wet armor in the tub to dry, before I turned back to my pile and started scrubbing again.

It took me less time than I expected to clean the pieces, so I set the plates in the tub to dry and waited at the window to watch for Sunset.

Had she betrayed me to the feds?

I peered through the curtains as I waited, both for Sunset and for the armor to dry.

Outside seemed to be its bright and sunny self, albeit a little more yellow under the Sun as it approached noon. The room I was in looked over the hotel's parking lot, which was surrounded by tasteful hedges and trees that supplied copious amounts of shade.

A must for car owners in the Southwest United States I imagined.

The car traffic was busy in the distance, but around the hotel itself it might as well been abandoned.

I suppose hotel stayers had better things to do than hang out in their rooms all day.

Excellent.

This was a prime opportunity.

I abandoned the spot at the window and went back into the bathroom. The suit of armor didn't have much time to dry, so I shook off what ever water I could and started sliding the armor on.

It would be easier to take with me if I wore it, and it would provide a degree of protection if 'Sunset' had alerted the feds to my location.

I carried the helmet under a wing as I strode back into the bedroom, feeling much more like the Luna of old in the clean armor than I had when I woke up.

I paused as I passed by the pile of bottles I had made.

Glancing down, I spotted the one that looked the most full and picked it up.

Jack Daniel's Irish Whiskey.

My mouth suddenly felt painfully dry.

I pulled the cap off and took a quick sip, before putting the cap back on and stuffing the bottle under the barding of my- Luna's armor.

I didn't know what compelled me, but surely I could find a use for the whiskey.

I walked past the pile of bottles and picked up the wallet I had left on the bed. I sifted through its contents and pulled out $200 in cash, leaving the chosen bills on the bed as I stuffed the wallet into my new shorts.

If Sunset really was bringing the feds to me, than I could foil their plans by simply not being where they expected me.

I lifted the helmet up and let it settle down over my horn as I crossed the room.

It was time to go.

I opened the window and let the outside breeze flow over me. The air was fresh and full of warm autumnal life, which marginally helped blow away what remained of my hangover.

Gaseous form.

I flowed out the window, not particularly bothering to hide my initial foray as I dove into the nearest treetop. I clung to the undersides of its branches, using its natural shade to hide my shadow. I searched the area for anyone that looked particularly surprised that they just saw a shape dive out of a window, but found nothing.

Alright then.

I flowed over to a neighboring tree, taking all of my mass with me as I started around the parking lot. There was a good tree to hide it over in the corner or the lot. It provided a particularly good view of the lot and the road. It would be excellent to watch for Sunset or SWAT vans.

Finally I found myself settling into the tree I had chosen, and waited.

I contented myself watching the traffic fly by, trying to guess which car might've been Sunset's. A few pedestrians passed, but they went by peacefully.

I was beginning to debate with myself about resolidifying to rest on the tree's branches, but then I noticed a rather dusty, yet newly made, red car change lanes to turn potentially into the hotel's parking lot. I didn't have a good angle to see who the driver was, so I merely watched the car wearily.

The car turned its blinkers on, turning into the hotel's parking lot.

It drove by several of the empty spaces, although admittingly the lot was pretty empty. The car pulled into a space next to the hotel, very close by to the room I had stayed in. The driver side door opened and a head of familiar crimson locks with golden highlights poked above the roof.

Sunset Shimmer.

She closed the door behind her, and leaned on the side of the car, pulling out her phone with a single hand and tapping at it with her thumb.

What was she looking at on the phone?

Was she talking to the feds?

It only took my about half a minute to get to the tree closest to Sunset's car, from there I flowed down the shaded side of the tree trunk and poured the stream over the curb, eager to not collect too much and pool in an obvious to see shape. Underneath the car itself was another story, it was dark and was very well hidden from view. From there it was easy enough to push upward into the car's workings and into the cab itself.

I resolidified in the passenger seat as soon as the last wisp of shadow came from the air vents.

"Phew." I sighed in relief, now semi hidden and safe enough to take a breather. "Glad that didn't screw up." I murmured to myself. I glanced towards the driver's side window, seeing Sunset leaning on the car still.

She hadn't noticed that I was already in the car.

Awesome.

I reached over across the center console and knocked on the window.

"Gaaah!" Sunset exclaimed, her voice muffled, as she jumped away from the car in fright. She whirled on the car, to fight or start berating whatever thug had decided to break into her car, but her rage fell when she saw my mischievous smirk and slight wave.

"Fucker!" Sunset exclaimed. "Gave me a Harmony damned heart attack! Celestia's tits!"

I felt my brow twitch again.

Her name could be used as an expletive?!

The girl opened her door and climbed in.

"Asshole!" she exclaimed as she closed the door. "Couldn't you have come out of the building like a normal person? Hell, how'd you even do that?!"

I pushed my supreme irritation at Celestia away for a moment, reclaiming what small portion of my mischievousness still existed.

"Would you believe me if I told you it was magic?" I snarked. The girl leveled an unamused look at me.

"No. Really." she sarcastically replied. I felt myself genuinely smile, but I couldn't keep the conversation on this subject without revealing the cards in my hoof.

"So how tired are you? Did you want to park somewhere or get out of the city?" I asked with a grin.

Author's Note

:trollestia:

Chapter 54 The Checkpoint

~~~

I sat in leg space of the car's front passenger seat. Sunset was driving, her eyelids drooping slightly. I couldn't see what was outside, it wouldn't do for a passerby to randomly look over and see a blue alien horse in the car's passenger seat. Hence my position on the floor. Occasionally however, whenever I bothered to look that is, I could see the taller buildings and lampposts, which were currently off.

"Could I borrow your phone?" I found myself asking.

What are you doing?! You're going to look like a creepy loser who doesn't trust their part-

I felt myself pause at the thought.

My lizard brain informed me that Sunset Shimmer was pretty.

"Uh... Why?" Sunset asked after a moment.

"I want to look at the local news." I responded dumbly.

Smooth.

"Oh." Sunset seemed to think. "Alright fine, here." she adjusted herself in her seat and pulled out her crimson and yellow adorned phone, with its ghost buster prop attachment and held it out for me.

"Thank you." I nodded gratefully as I took it with both hooves.

I quietly sat back down and scrolled through Sunset's phone, using the time to look at the local news.

The Butcher of Flagstaff!

Local Gang devastated by unknown Vigilante!

Federal Agents Swarm Flagstaff!

Disease Outbreak in Wuhan China!

Extraterrestrial Life discovered!

I tapped on a few articles, but the reactions to my endeavors were as one would expect. "Eek! Some lunatic massacred a the local drug cartel! Federal Agents swarm the city in response! Also aliens!"

Exactly as planned.

That wasn't to say their weren't holes in their stories. Namely, the Agents started flooding the area last night, just before, or very soon after my attack. Much too quickly to be in response to that event. I knew they were looking for me, but an article 'congratulated the Federal Agents for their swift response.'

What a joke.

The journalists had all the pieces they could conceivably get, but ignored a very major hole in their own story. Granted, the feds were probably feeding the media lines to say, but I didn't have any way to know that for certain. Ether way, it was very likely that someone would inevitably figure it out, probably a conspiracy theorist, but I would hopefully be long gone by the time anyone listened to them.

"So Sunset..." I started, half to keep the poor girl awake as she drove out of the city. "You said before you found me by my "thaumic field", could you tell me more about that?"

The redhead jumped slightly in her seat, not having expected my outburst, but swiftly composed herself.

"Really? You want to hear about that?" she asked.

"I do." I nodded. "For multiple reasons. To keep you awake for one, to listen to my 'new student's' work for another... And I might have an idea for something."

"Oh." Sunset stated simply, thinking it over. "I'll be honest, I didn't expect you to ask so many questions..."

"Didn't Celestia ask you anything?" I asked, feeling an ear cock itself in confusion.

"Only how I was doing and if I was making friends."

Yeah Sunny, because she was trying to teach you the same thing I am.

How not to be such a total bitch.

"I see." I quietly said. "While I could probably rant for hours about Celestia's flaws, I'd rather hear about thaumic fields and how they can be detected."

"What is there to say? Thaumic fields are pretty basic knowledge."

"Lu-" I started, but then realized I was about to refer to 'myself' in the third person. "I don't have modern knowledge of magic remember? Most of my technical knowledge is Human based."

"Er... Right." Sunset relented. "Thaumic fields is the projection of mana from a source, kinda like the electromagnetic field coming off a magnet, only with people like you and me."

"Then judging by your comments earlier, I assume these fields can be varying strengths?" I asked.

"Uh... Yeah. You're like super strong magnet. A compass with a thaumic component would try to always point towards you... Until a few days ago that is."

"Celestia." I grimly stated.

"Right." Sunset nodded in reply. "Which is massively screwing around with the fields. You mentioned about how they had already found you, but with Celestia around they might not have the ability to trace your location."

"Maybe..." I admitted. "But I don't trust only having one other source of interference. No I have a different idea. Is it possible to suppress your own field? If we keep with the metaphor, to 'turn off the magnet'?"

Sunset quietly chewed on her lip as she turned the car's wheel. The weight of the car shifted slightly.

"Maybe?" she answered uncertainly. "I don't think there's been any studies about that..." she admitted.

"Hmm..." I hummed in thought.

That was disconcerting... But not insurmountable. It just meant I would have to figure it out myself.

If my hypothesis that 'magic' was the same thing as quantum particles, then what little Humanity did know could come in handy... Namely, the double slit experiment.

If, by looking into a box that only had eye holes and two slits in it, you could observe if light particles landed on the bottom of the box like a stream or a wave. But, the very act of observing the light particles changed the result of the experiment. Light is, until observed, in a superposition of both a stream and a wave of light particles. That would mean that observation, and therefore consciousness had a correlation with the quantum particles that affected the particles of light.

Did that also mean, by some method, I could 'quieten' my mind to suppress my own thaumic field?

I scrolled briefly through the phone's home screen, looking for the app she claimed she made.

"Where's your thaumic app?" I asked "I have a theory."

Sunset glanced in my direction with an uncertain look written across her features, but nevertheless reached over and swiftly navigated her own phone to tap on an the screen.

"There." she said. I turned the phone back around.

The phone's screen was now black, but depicted a radioactive green circle pattern that had a single arrow emanating from its center. The arrow was pointing downward.

Directly in my direction if the phone was laying flat.

I started to rotate the phone as Sunset went back to driving. As I rotated the phone, the arrow moved along the circle, always keeping its point directed at me.

Ok, how did one suppress their own consciousness? What even did that mean? Did that mean shutting down everything except base instincts? Or did it mean things like wants and ambitions?

"Uh oh... Looks like the police are checking vehicles leaving the city." Sunset stated, breaking me from my thoughts.

"Can you turn around? They might have thaumic sensors looking for me." I asked.

"Uh..." Sunset turned in her seat, looking around. "No, doesn't look like it. Doesn't look like anyone was expecting them."

"How long is the line?" I asked, feeling my ears pressing themselves against my head.

"Looks like they're sweeping a handheld over vehicles. Taking a minute for each vehicle. I'd bet those are crude thaumic trackers if what you were saying is right."

"Fuck." I cursed softly.

"Can't you just vanish? Like you did to get into the car?" Sunset asked.

"No... Too many eyes, and if they have thaumic trackers they'd probably pick me up." I bit my lip in worry.

The car rolled forward.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

There had to be a way around this!

They obviously knew I was still in the city and that I was capable of hiding in vehicles!

How else could a runaway flee the Mojave so quickly?!

Can't run, I won't fight, especially with so many innocent people around... It had to be possible to get by this! I wasn't going back into Celetia's hooves bound and gagged by fat men who ate donuts for a living!

But how?

Damnit Luna, you were just working on a solution! Just fucking hide!

The car rolled forward.

Yeah, hide in the clean car as a super magnet!

Do you have any other options?!

I glanced over to Sunset.

She was wearing a jacket.

"Sunset... How many layers of clothing are you wearing?" I asked as calmly as I could.

The girl shook her head and looked at me as if I just grew a second head.

"Is- Is now really the time to ask about what I'm wearing?!" she exclaimed quietly.

"What? No!" I replied. "I need something to hide under!"

I felt my face heat up in embarrassment.

My lizard brain informed me once again that she was pretty.

I pushed the thought down as hard as I could.

Too young, too full of herself, and not the time!

"Oh is that all?" Sunset sighed, seemingly relieved. "Here." she reached into the back seat and pulled a folded blanket into the passenger seat proper.

"That'll work thank you." I said as I eagerly took the blanket and started unfolding it.

"Here, use this too." Sunset said as she unzipped her jacket and pulled it off.

"Pile it on top of the blanket when I'm underneath." I stated, now crumpling the blanket in an effort to hide its true volume. I then started to tuck the now crumpled blanket underneath, trying to deliberately make it look like a mess so a casual glance wouldn't notice that it could be hiding a space underneath.

The car rolled forward.

I felt a metal plate scrap against the hard plastic.

Wasn't the armor a magical artifact?

Shit! It had been summoned into existence that fateful night!

I reached into the knowledge left to me of all the spells I had cast the night of my duel with Celestia, and dismissed the shadows that formed the armor.

The hard scrapping stopped.

I felt the weight of Sunset's jacket fall over the blanket that now fully kept me from view.

Ok... How did one suppress their magic? What made up a person's mind and soul?

Heh... For thousands of years, both Humans and Ponies have been asking that question and I had to answer it in minutes.

The thought that Sunset was pretty crossed my mind again. Or rather, how I handled that thought.

Maybe... I didn't have to.

The car rolled forward.

I grabbed hold of my rising panic and shoved it into a steel box in my mind.

I grabbed hold of my analyzing nature and put that into another box.

The stress of my past week? Into a box.

My anger at Celestia? Into a box.

The disgust I felt at myself? Box.

Hmm!Hmmmgh!

Box.

Hmmmf!

Shut up, we both know you'll find your way out eventually.

My annoyance at the Other? Box.

The hopelessness of a dead end job? Box.

The loneliness? Box.

The car rolled forward.

Box.

Bo-

Nothing rose to demand my attention.

The car rolled forward.

Everything was in a box.

"Good morning officer!" Sunset chirped nearby. "What's with all the fuss?"

"Mornin' Miss." A gruff voice called from the same direction as Sunset. "Dangerous terrorist is on the loose and the feds are having us search every vehicle leaving the area."

"But you haven't been searching the cars? You just wave your phones over them and let them pass."

"Naw Miss. Feds told us that the terrorist might've gotten into some nuclear material. They provided this here Geiger counter to help us look for 'im."

"Oh. Well then scan away officer, I don't have any radioactive materials on me."

"Much obliged Miss."

Footsteps scrapped over blacktop.

"Take your time." Sunset said coolly.

Was it working? Was-

Box.

...

"Alright Miss, you're free to go." the gruff voice stated.

"Thank you officer, good luck finding that terrorist." Sunset chirped happily.

"Thank ye Miss. Ain't expecting to though. Feds are really itching to find that psycho that murdered that gang. They're tying up the city tighter than a turkey on Thanksgiving."

"Hey, just means you get paid to do nothing all day." Sunset replied.

"Fair enough. It's not too hot out here anymore... Have a good day Miss!"

"You too!" Sunset chirped.

The car rolled forward, and didn't stop.

The quiet whir of the window rolling up sounded.

"Don't come out yet, we're not out of range of their 'Geiger counters'." Sunset commented casually. "What a load of shit. Bet that pig has never even seen a real Geiger counter..." The girl trailed off.

The car began to pick up speed, and we left the city on the edge of the Mojave behind.

Author's Note

Bit of an explanation, I'm using the "magicless state of mind" as an allegory for depression. Especially depression caused by chronic bottling up your emotions. Obviously you don't feel your emotions, you're bottling them up after all, but it can feel like you stop being a person. Which is where the thaumic theory comes in. If you stop feeling like a person, you stop projecting a thaumic field.

No, before you ask. DO NOT DO THIS. It's not healthy!

Speaking as someone who dealt with early childhood trauma by just ignoring my emotions, seriously don't do it. Short term use sucks, long term use will seriously fuck you up.

I'll admit I'm only passingly familiar with quantum theory, but there's a few reasons I'm bringing it up. Giving Luna a way to escape is one, but also because I wanted to tie the worlds of magic and science together in a way that could be understood.

Chapter 55 The Inn

~~~

Time lost all meaning to me. It might've been hours, it might've been minutes, it could've even been seconds! Anyone could've told me any amount of time and I wouldn't have been surprised. They could've even given me different answers and I wouldn't have cared.

What did it matter? If an hour was equal to a minute and a minute was equal to a second, and if 2 hours 20 minutes and 47 seconds were equal to 1 minute and 38 seconds, did it really matter what the actual answer was?

"Princess?" the voice of Sunset Shimmer called from nearby.

Something yelled at me to answer. But I just couldn't summon the willpower or the want to comply.

"Princess Luna?"

I could only dumbly sit and wait.

"Luna?" Something grabbed the darkness and pulled, revealing that the darkness wasn't darkness at all, but a blanket.

The face of Sunset Shimmer loomed in the bright light, looking weary, haggard, and worried. But something about her didn't seem quite right...

Eh, why should I care?

"Luna?" she asked. "Snap out of it Princess! We're safe!" she put a hand on my shoulder and shook.

Snap out of what? Isn't this how I normally was?

"Come on Princess! Undo what you did! We're out and safe!"

Undo? What did I do again?

"Come on! You're coat is all grey! And I only know you're still alive because you're still breathing!"

Grey? Grey. Grey...

Something about the word resonated in my head.

Grey...

That's what was wrong with Sunset's face! It was grey! She had no color!

Color...

Color!

Reds greens and purples! Yellows oranges and-

Blue...

Navy and teal...

The color of a starry sky, sprinkled with sparkling, distant lights...

The silver of the full Moon.

What... Have I done?

I pulled the closest box forwards and let whatever was inside free.

I didn't pay attention to what I had unleashed, too busy turning towards the next box. And then the next, and then the next, and then the next.

I opened all of the boxes that I had recently sealed. But the last gave me pause.

It was bigger than the rest, and seemed to be chained shut as well. Occasionally it would shake a little as whatever was inside it tried to escape.

That one could stay shut for a little longer.

I pulled myself back into reality.

Sunset's face came into view, her hair crimson with yellow highlights. Her cheeks flush with color. Her eyes such a striking blue they were almost teal, yet still within Human normalcy.

"Princess Luna?" the girl asked as I came to.

"I'm fine!" I blurted. "I'm fine..." I pulled myself up, pushing the rest of the blanket away and resting my head on the passenger seat. "Not a lesson but some advice... Never let yourself get into situations where you have to do that." I informed her, burying my face into the cushion.

"Do what? I'm still not sure what you did..." she replied.

"Good. That way you won't be tempted to rely on it." I muttered into the cushion.

"That's your advice?!" Sunset asked angrily. "What happened to be adaptable?!"

"Look kid..." I started as I pulled my face off the cushion. The look on her face told me she was actually angry this time. "You wanna know what I did? Then get hold of yourself before you start poking around in your mind's settings ok? That's all I'm gonna say, and that's all you need to know. For now at least."

"My mind's settings? What kind of nonsense is that?!" she exclaimed.

"The kind that'll stop you from spending the next twenty years as a Darth Vader reject." I sighed, putting my hooves over my temples and beginning to rub.

"Darth... Vader?" Sunset actually looked confused.

"Oh please tell me you know who that is..." I said almost pleadingly. "You've spent three years here and haven't even indulged in one of the more famous pop culture franchises? Especially one that's undergoing a reboot?"

"Oh Harmony... You're a nerd aren't you?" Sunset asked, looking aghast.

"Let me put it this way..." I pulled myself up onto the seat properly, looking around outside as I did so. We seemed to be parked in an abandoned truck stop. "I watch science fiction to imagine how I, as a person, would react to these hypothetical situations to learn more about myself."

"Ugh!" Sunset dramatically groaned. "What is with adults and the 'get to know yourself' bullshit? I know who I am and I know what I want!"

"Ok wise guy..." I stated, looking around outside as I spoke. The Sun seemed to be falling down towards the horizon. Mid afternoon I'd say. "An hour from now, the skies will open up and a warlike race of aliens descend to Earth to enslave all of Humanity in their three legged machines to drink their blood. What do?"

"Ooooo invaded by vampires! So scary!" the girl dismissed.

"The nukes fall tomorrow, but the feds abduct you and put you in a cyro-pod. You wake up 200 years from now and the world is a hellish irradiated wasteland. What do?"

"Pff, what are the chances of that happening?"

"You wake up tomorrow and discover you're actually an alien Prince from a far away planet, thrown into space a thousand years ago by your older brother?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What are-" The girl suddenly looked at me. "Oh."

"Yeah. 'Oh' indeed." I snarked. "You want lessons from me? Lesson number two. Learn from those around you. Learn their mindsets, their backgrounds, and most importantly, learn from their mistakes. You'll save so much more time letting some meathead wander into a trap and learning not only what they did wrong, but why they failed."

Sunset seemed to calm down as she pondered my words.

"So... Use other people as probes?" she asked thoughtfully.

Oh god no. Don't learn that!

"When was the last time you slept?" I asked, hoping to change the subject.

"I- Uh..." the girl pondered, her train of thought unsettled. "Uh... 16 hours now?"

"That's what I thought. You. Sleep. Now." I said as I booped her nose.

"No way! We're in the middle of a lesson and you still haven't-" she started to complain.

"I'm not asking."

Before she could respond I had my horn charged and cast a spell that I remembered from Luna's time with the Sarosians.

Sleep.

The redhead suddenly went limp in her seat, her eyes closed and mouth hanging open, drool already starting to dribble down her chin.

"I'll wake you when I need you Chief." I said to the sleeping girl. She obviously didn't reply, but she tried to roll over in her seat.

"I better get you out of the driver's seat..." I muttered, opening the passenger door and hopping out. I went around the car and used my levitation to unlock the driver's side door from the inside.

I probably shouldn't use too much magic... If I wanted to keep my thaumic field as weak as I could that is.

I pulled the door open, revealing Sunset still sleeping in the seat.

"Come on, let's get you more comfortable..." I murmured to the girl, undoing her buckle and trying to pull her onto my back. It didn't really work, she was overall longer than I was tall and I found that no matter how I settled her on my withers, she always dragged along the ground.

"Should've tricked her into getting into the passenger seat first..." I muttered to myself as I half carried half dragged her around the car, trying not to scrape any exposed skin over the blacktop. Finally I got her into the passenger seat.

"Phew!" I sighed, wiping sweat off my forehead. "Ok then, let's get you settled." I turned back to the sleeping girl. I grabbed the seat belt with a hoof and reared over her lap, clicking the buckle into place. Eh, that looked slightly uncomfortable. I looked along side the seat and pulled the lever I found, letting the seat back so Sunset was now laying down. I then reached under her feet and pulled out the blanket and jacket. The blanket I pulled over the girl into a position I hoped was comfortable;

But the jacket...

If I were to drive down the highway, abandoned as it may seem, eventually I would pass another car, and if they saw a blue alien pony in the driver seat... Then the feds would be on me by nightfall. Especially after Celestia going on live television and blabbing to the world that she was looking for her sister.

Who knew what was going around in the social circles online?

Was a bounty being offered? Maybe one of the largest "if you have information call-" campaigns ever?

Or even worse yet, some right-wing vigilante thinking that they could stop an alien invasion before it started and starting shooting at Sunset's car in the middle of the desert?

No, just like how I had traversed... Flagstaff if I remembered correctly, I had to use some sort of disguise.

Enter Sunset's jacket.

It was sturdy leather, well worn, and had quite a few pockets. Most importantly however, it had a fabric hood. Excellent for hiding my obviously non-human head from a casual 60 mph glance.

I pulled the jacket over my forelimbs and closed the passenger door, watching to make sure I didn't shut it on any of Sunset's limbs or blanket.

Clink.

"What was-" My eyes landed on the bottle of Irish whiskey that I had stashed in my now unsummoned barding. I picked it up with a hoof and examined it.

My throat suddenly felt very dry.

I started to unscrew the cap, but stopped myself halfway.

No don't. You're about to drive and the last thing you need is to do it drunk.

I screwed the cap back on and reached back into the vehicle, tossing the bottle into the back seat.

"Ok then... I can do this. I can do this. I can do this." I chanted as I walked back towards the driver's side. I got in and closed the door, pulling the belt buckle down as I settled in.

I glanced towards Sunset, an idea suddenly striking.

Who said I couldn't teach the girl the hard lessons in a way that insured she understood them as I meant to teach them?

Why not incept the idea into her dreams?

How could I teach her humility via her dream?

...

Or maybe... I could show her what became of people who had to be forced to be humble...

My horn glowed and the deed was done. Sunset would dream of a lesson that she needed to learn.

And it would scar her.

She would dream of Monarchia and the 17th Legion.

I turned back to the car's controls and realized something very important as I went through the familiar motions of starting a car.

"Crap." I cursed softly as I realized that I couldn't reach the pedals as a Pony. "Some magic allowed it is then..."

I charged my horn and reached over with a hoof towards the keys that were still in the ignition.

Vrrrrrrrr... The car hummed smoothly as I turned the key.

"I'll give it to your boyfriend Sunny... He takes good care of his car." I murmured to the sleeping girl as I grabbed the gas and brake pedals in my levitation, pulling the hood of the jacket up with my hooves. "What's a few weeks to be out of practice and losing all of your Human muscle memory?" I asked myself as I shifted the car out of park and into reverse.

The car slowly rolled backwards. I softly pushed on the brake with my levitation and used a hoof to put the car into drive. The gas pedal was pressed and-

VrrRRrrrRRRR...

... The gas pedal was a bit more sensitive than my old car. Oh well, I'd get used to it.

VrrRRRrrrRRR... The car elegantly stuttered as I pulled out of the truck stop.

... It'd just take me a few minutes to get used to it...

~~~

I drove for hours. A few cars passed by, but my disguise must've been good enough because they didn't spare me a second glance. At least from what I could see out of the corner of my eye. Sunset murmured and rolled over in her sleep a few times, but I left her be for the most part. I was the most anxious when I passed through a few small towns. I was constantly on edge that someone would look me in the face and realize that I wasn't Human, so I didn't stop at all.

I began to look for a place to stop when the sun began to set. Obviously, I could just park in a secluded campsite in one of the national parks I had seen along the way, but fuck... I was really tired of roughing it. And with Sunset around I had the opportunity to actually legitimately rent a room.

Disregarding Sunset entirely, and I at least owed her a room if she wanted to travel with me, I would've been a fool to miss the opportunity while I had it.

The car's headlights shone upon a blue highway sign that read "HOTELS NEXT EXIT". A single circular logo of "Comfort Inn" stood out to me amongst several logos.

"Perfect." I muttered to myself as I changed lanes to take the next exit. I then reached over with a hoof and shook Sunset's knee. "Hey Sunny, wake up. Gonna need you soon." I said loudly.

Sunset snorted and sat up in the passenger seat. "Guh? What?" she groaned sleepily.

"Finding a hotel. Going to need you to rent a room." I informed her as I went up the exit ramp.

"Ugh..." the girl groaned again, putting her head in her hands. "Had the weirdest fucking dream..."

"Don't worry about it, I need you to wake up properly." I nonchalantly stated, seeing the 'Comfort Inn' in the distance and turning down the road that led to it.

"But it felt so real..." she muttered to herself.

"If it'll make you feel better, I'll listen to you talk about it all night in the room. But you need to get your head in the game to talk to the people at the front desk." I replied as I pulled into the Hotel's parking lot.

"Er... Right. You're right." Sunset patted the sides of her head to regain her focus. "Right, I can do this." she reassured herself as I parked the car and turned off the engine.

"Here;" I stated, digging in my jorts and pulling out the wallet. I took out all the bills I had and held them out for her to take. "I don't know how much you have, but this'll help."

"Uh... Thanks." she said as she hesitantly took the wad of bills. She was clearly lost in thought as she opened the car door and hopped out, closing it behind her.

I smirked to myself as I watched her climb the curb and walk down the sidewalk.

Maybe I finally got it into her head why humility was such an important thing?

I at least gave her something to think about.

If nothing else, she was primed for self actualization.

Speaking of self actualization and realization, I realized that I was exposed to any passerby while I was just sitting there. So I ducked down into the driver's seat and waited. I snorted to myself as I remembered a memory of Lucas'; The worst part of getting a Hotel room was waiting for Mom to stop talking to the clerk.

I idly wondered how Mom and Sarah were doing...

Were they worried about Lucas?

Had they searched high and low for me?

Did they find my car?

How were they reacting to the news of Celestia?

I know I mentioned the name of Lucas to Celestia... Did she mention it to the feds?

Did an agent visit them in an effort to learn more about me?

Or had they just... Forgotten about Lucas and written me off?

Like Celestia...

I felt myself frown and my ears pin themselves back.

It wasn't like they acted like they particularly cared...

What reason did I really have to expect that they didn't just forget Lucas/me?

Why would th-

Knock knock knock.

"Guh!" I gasped as I jumped in surprise.

I felt myself flail in surprise as I looked up to see who-

It was Sunset Shimmer.

She had a few green card keys that read "Comfort Inn" on them clutched in her hand.

"Hey I got the room!" Her muffled voice exclaimed behind the glass.

"Uhf... Ok, give me a second..." I rubbed my forehead to regather myself.

Chapter 56 The Rally

~~~

"Uh Miss? Did you not have any baggage?" a voice called out.

"No, just wanted to get my coat." Sunset replied from above.

"Oh... Well, have a good night then!" the voice responded.

"You too!"

I sat in my gaseous form, in the dark barring only a few errant streaks of light, obstinately trying to ignore what I was pressed against.

Stop thinking about how pretty she is. Stop thinking about how pretty she is. Stop thinking about how pretty she is...

Sunset turned a corner, causing her weight to shift.

Something invitingly warm and soft pressed itself against what felt like my face, pushing me against the inner side of her jacket.

You don't even know if she's 18. You don't even know if she's 18. You don't even know if she's 18.

Sunset's weigh shifted back to normal as she resumed her gait.

But what if she is though?

STOP.

Sunset shifted her weight again, this time leaning over.

The ping of an elevator sounded outside.

Sunset started walking again but quickly stopped.

God damnit Lucas/Luna... Why'd you have to use this method? You could've just waited for Sunset to open the room's window and sneak in that way!

Sunset leaned over again, presumably to push the elevator button again.

Maybe it's because you're so touch starved you're looking for any excuse to cuddle against something not warmed by yourself!

The sensation of rising into the air.

Yeah and why would that be?! It's not even a twenty year old Lucas problem! When was the last time anyone hugged Luna?! One thousand years minimum.

That's no excuse! She's practically a child! Even if she was 18 she acts like she's 14! Warm or not, she could never fulfill your emotional needs!

Pffft... Ok, let's discuss our 'emotional' needs... You are a several millennia old alien horse demi god. Do you know who's the only one who's properly equipped to handle your issues? The other millennia old alien horse demi god. Y'know, the one that threw us out into space to get rid of us!

The sensation of rising stopped, and a stereotypical elevator 'bing' sounded, followed very soon after by the sliding of a door. Sunset swiftly began walking again.

Ok fine, I'll admit we have a metric ton of issues. But can we at least agree that Sunset would be an awful partner?

I'll agree to that. But could we not enjoy being pressed against her?

Just... Let me have this. Neither of us knows when the next person will willingly hold us close. If nothing else it'll serve as a reminder of what it feels like.

Sunset stopped walking, her arms moved as she started to fiddle with something.

I quietly sat, doing the gas cloud equivalent of hugging myself. Trying to soak up and commit the memory of the warmth that didn't come from myself.

Something clicked nearby and Sunset did a sort of turn.

A door closed nearby.

"Hmmhmhmhmmm..." Sunset hummed as she walked a bit more, turning and leaning occasionally. "Ok come out, it's clear.

I fell out of the bottom of Sunset's jacket, quickly pooling into a central form and solidifying.

The hotel room was plain, but clean. A black TV stood on a table across the room from two beds.

I had conflicting feelings about there being two beds.

Sunset ignored me and flopped onto the nearest bed, starting to take her shoes off.

"Hey Sunset..." I quietly started. How old are you? "Could you do something for me?"

"Oh? Um... Sure?"

"Could you go to Youtube and look up 'Death of Hope trailer 2'?" I asked, inwardly cringing.

Idiot.

"That's... An odd request." Sunset said, her eyebrow rising.

"Bear with me for a moment." I replied, gaining confidence as teacher mode reinstated itself.

Sunset looked confused for a moment, but pulled out her phone anyway. She poked at it for a moment, but finished with a tap that held an air of finality.

"You say you can picture it... I don't believe you." the speakers started as they spoke with a women's voice. Sunset's face suddenly paled.

"The heavens rained fire! And with it, delivered to us the thirteenth... Warrior Kings of Ultramar, slaughtering innocents... All that remains, is but ash... False angels."

"Oblivion!"

A dramatic musical number sounded. I knew what she was being shown, so I calmly walked towards the other bed as Sunset's attention was laser focused on her tiny screen.

"As the seas boiled and the earth burned;" the women continued. "My faith didn't die. It is the moment I began to believe. God was real." The knuckles on Sunset's hands were white she was gripping her phone so hard.

"And he hated us."

More dramatic music

"Amidst the system wide warp storms you've managed to reach us..." a slightly echoing man's voice sounded. "The status of your flotilla will be sent to our tech-priests. If I may ask... The damage done to your flotilla... What was it you fought?"

"They razed Monarchia to the ground..." another, more gruff man stated. "Humbled our legion... We are here to return the favor."

I sat down, letting the dramatic pause happen as things developed on the screen I couldn't see.

"Kinsmen... What have you done?"

Gunfire.

"Why?! Why do this?!"

"Calth's life flickers in the darkness! The realm of the 500 shall burn! Horus is rising!"

A horn sounded as the credits began to play.

Sunset was silent and still, her face glued to her screen. I got back up and swapped beds to be sitting next to her laying form, but didn't look directly at her.

"... I forgot that you could give Ponies dreams..." Sunset admitted.

"I can." I nodded.

"What was-" she interrupted herself, thinking her question over. "What was that light? Before those kneeling knights? You placed so much importance in it... But never explain what it was..."

I sat silently for a moment, considering how to tell her.

"... You could consider him to be that universe's Celestia. A being so magically powerful he could command a whole rebelling army to kneel. Which is what he did." I started. "To start at the very beginning, Humanity eventually left Earth for the stars, and colonized many worlds. But a great catastrophe befell the galaxy, cutting off all communication and travel between stars. It's then when he revealed himself to the fallen civilization on earth, not as a God, but as their Emperor. He preached that the old ways of faith and religion were dead, and that Humanity should uphold knowledge and understanding in their place." I took a breath. "He called it his 'Imperial Truth'. With this truth he conquered the solar system. It was from there he began to amass legions of genetically engineered super soldiers to launch his 'Great Crusade', in order to reunify all of Humanity's lost colonies. To lead those legions, he sired twenty sons using his own nigh immortal DNA, but pushed them past demi-godhood with Genetic enhancements." I paused to look at Sunset, to see if she was paying attention.

Her eyes bored into my face, focused raptly on my story, as butchered as it was.

"But magic in that universe played host to consciousness', so foul and wretched that the only word for them would be 'demons'. The four most powerful, the 'Ruinous Powers', stole the 20 sons from the Emperor's lab and scattered them across the galaxy, leaving them alone on hostile worlds. But the son named 'Lorgar', was placed on a planet that was devoted to faith and religion. Away from his father's eyes, he accepted it wholly and utterly."

I leaned back and lay on the bed with Sunset, getting comfortable so I could focus on the story.

"The Emperor was enraged when his sons were taken, and launched his Great Crusade, both for its original purpose and to find his lost children. And find them, he did. One by one, they all were discovered, and in turn, they were placed in command of their own legion of super soldiers. Lorgar was placed at the head of the 17th, which he renamed to the 'Word Bearers'. True to his upbringing, Lorgar spread his faith to his legion, against the will of the Emperor and his Imperial Truth. So Lorgar and the Word Bearers began to secretly spread their faith to every world they conquered, erecting whole cities and sectors devoted to the worship of their 'God-Emperor'. The crown jewel of these worlds, was the city of Monarchia, which Lorgar and the Word Bearers planned to present to the Emperor personally."

"Instead, the Emperor was furious." I pursed my lips.

"He ordered the whole city to be burned, forcing the Word Bearers to kneel with his power as he put it to the torch. The Ultramarines, another of the Emperor's super soldier legions, were the ones who carried out the deed. Understandably, the Word Bearers were furious. But the burning of Monarchia was only the latest item in a long list of why the Emperor was a terrible father. Several of his sons were already planning a rebellion, and the act of burning Monarchia was the straw that broke the camel's back for Lorgar and the Word Bearers; They very soon after attacked Ultramarine worlds and fleets, which were the opening shots of a civil war that would see the Emperor mortally wounded, but put on life support, and would ultimately last for over ten thousand years."

I fell silent as I finished the tale, letting the story soak into Sunset's mind.

"Wow..." Sunset breathed. She picked up her hands and looked at her palms. "I could... Feel, the emotions behind it... In the dream that is. All of that betrayal, and rage..." she closed her fingers. I saw her head turn towards me out of the corner of my eye. "Why did you show me that?"

"Lesson number three. There is always a bigger fish, someone who is larger, more powerful than you. Know the boundaries of your pride and never reach too far over that boundary. Because you're bound to piss off one of the bigger fish when you reach too far."

"... What happened to the Word Bearers?" Sunset asked after a moment.

"The same thing that happened to me... They fell to darkness." I muttered.

...

"Pfffft... Ok edgelord." Sunset snarked.

I jumped a little in surprise at her sudden mood shift. Where had that come from?!

"What?" I asked, sitting up to glare at Sunset. "Where did that come from?!" I felt the tinges of anger tainting my voice as the sound reached my ears.

"Come on, they 'fell to darkness'?" Sunset rolled her eyes. "I mean, the story was compelling I'll give you that, but that's such a cop out answer. And you giving your alcoholism an equal footing to being betrayed by their Emperor? Puh-lease."

"If you recall, I know I told you Celestia literally threw me off the planet..." I growled softly, now properly angry but still mindful enough to keep my voice down. Sunset sat up to meet me on an even level.

"Yeah, and here you are acting like it was a super big deal. So the Emperor got rid of the Word Bearers and you relate to them because of your relationship with Princess Celestia. But here you are pretending that being banished is the worst thing to happen to you!"

I felt a demonic growl rise in my throat.

And suddenly we weren't on an even level.

I was glaring down at the teen, whose eyes were suddenly wide and glassy.

A midnight black Alicorn, with a flowing mane that revealed the cosmic horror of just how endless a sea of stars really could be, reflected off her shiny eyes.

"N- Ni- Night- Nightmare-" she stammered, fear written across her features.

"Hear me and hear me well Sunset Sarah Shimmer." I growled. The girl started to slowly back away off the bed. "The Darkness is a very real thing. If you do not mind yourself, you are going to end up exactly like me. And let me be very clear; I would not wish this affliction on my very deepest and worst enemy. This power is not a 'gift'. It is not a thing to be waved about like a fancy toy for a party trick!" I advanced on the girl, who was still trying to back up, even though she had already had her back pressed against the wall. "I know exactly why you came to me Sunset Shimmer, you want power. And you think I have the ability to give it to you." I lifted a hoof up to her chin and lifted, so she was forced to look into my eyes. "In a sense, I do have the ability. The secret to getting power? The secret that you think Celestia kept from you? I'll tell you. I'll tell you the simple truth." I pushed my face to hers so I glared directly into her eyes. "Be worthy of it. Prove yourself to the one thing that can give you that power. Prove that you can be trusted with it. And from what I see Sunset Shimmer, unless you change, you will never be worthy."

I let go of the girl's chin and turned away, giving her some respite from my glare.

Hopefully that would be enough to scare the girl back onto the right track.

I took a deep breath, in order to calm myself. But my dander was still up and didn't feel like it was going to go down for a while.

"... I need fresh air." I spoke into the room, although if Sunset was listening or still comatose would be a question I left unanswered. "I'm going on a walk."

I cast Gaseous Form and whisked myself away into the nearby radiator, pushing myself through the air vents. If Sunset responded, I didn't hear it.

I soon found myself on the hotel's roof. The air was dark, chilly, and crisp. The Northern Hemisphere Winter was definitely on its way. I resolidified back into a Pony and sat down on the lip of the roof, letting the air fill my lungs.

It was dangerous to be sure, but the black appendages I occasionally saw out of the corner of my eye told me I was well camouflaged against the night sky. I kept my breath steady, trying to reign in my rampant emotions as I watched the night sky.

It was cloudy. No stars would be seen tonight... Not that they would've been anyway, the clouds were light up with the lights of a small city that surrounded the hotel.

I traced the patterns with my eyes, trying to determine if it would snow or not. The clouds weren't going to be thick enough for anything other than a dusting that would be gone when the Sun rose.

Sighing, I turned my gaze street-ward. The parking lot had a fair few vehicles, which included Sunset's boyfriend's car; It sat abandoned for the night.

Had I been too harsh on the girl? Her attitude was a problem to be sure, but had I gone too far? It wasn't like I had let her come to self realization by herself... Didn't that make me no better than the Emperor when he burned Monarchia?

Wasn't I, therefor, no better than Celestia?

But on the other appendage, Sunset was not the kind of person who learned from being coddled. Which was exactly how Celestia handled her Ponies... By coddling them.

I grit my teeth at the thought.

At the very least, maybe I should go back and check on Sunset. That was something that would've never occurred to Celestia.

After all, Celestia had never checked on me.

Gaseous Form.

I flowed down the side of the building, taking care to avoid the windows. This resulted in a sort of crisscross pattern as I looked briefly into each room. I didn't know which room I had left Sunset in, and I couldn't really tell where her room was judging by how I left through the vents. So that meant doing the tedious task of systematically looking into every window.

There was a family of three watching a movie.

Empty.

There was a businessman looking at paperwork at a desk.

Empty.

Those two men were clearly fucking.

I felt a pang of remorse as I lingered by that window. Regardless of how I felt about Sunset, or how old she really was, I had closed that door forever.

I left the two lovers to their ministrations.

I found Sunset in about the middle of the building, still sitting where I had left her. But she had pulled the blanket off the nearby bed and wrapped it around herself; Enamored by something white on her phone, which cast white light on her face. Occasionally she shuddered.

I hadn't given her a heart attack then.

That was thankfully a weight off my chest. I don't know what I would've done if I had accidentally scared 'my student' to death.

But at the same time, I was undoubtedly the last thing she wanted to see right now.

I hoped my theatrics would pay off.

I pulled away from the window, and flew off into the night.

I hadn't been paying attention when I pulled into the city, so I didn't know its name. But much like 'Flagstaff', the highway cut through the city, providing its central artery. However it was about only half the size. Already I could tell that there was less of a nightlife here, or maybe I was out in public earlier than I had thought yesterday...

Actually, there was almost no one out and about.

Where was everybody?

I didn't resolidify, but I was tempted to. Instead I floated just above the short Southwestern buildings like an errant gust of cold breath that wouldn't dissipate.

Every street was empty.

There were hardly any cars even.

Surely it wasn't that late was it? Sundown was only about 5:30... I didn't wait that long after the Sun set to find a hotel had I?

Right?

Regardless of how my sense of time felt however, placing me sometime around seven in the evening, it looked like one in the morning. I searched several blocks worth of streets before I found my first person, who looked to be a homeless man if his grungy clothing and trashcan fire were anything to go by.

I left him be. I didn't want to add more stress to his life.

That's when I heard what sounded like a rock concert. A chorus of people trying to yell over someone speaking into a microphone but unable to do so. But I couldn't tell what the person with the microphone was saying, the noise was too far away and too garbled.

Curious, I abandoned the homeless man to his devices and went searching for the noise.

I followed the sound towards what I assumed was downtown. Still the city was seemingly deserted, that was until I flew over a street that had an older, official looking building at the end of the street. A few police cars and officers stood in front of the building, facing against a crowd that looked closer to a riot.

I couldn't see who made up the crowd, but I could see the backs of tons of signs. Most disturbing however, were all the lit tiki torches. There had to be hundreds, one for maybe every three people.

The crowd was roaring.

"Go back to your homes!" shouted the megaphone. "There is no need for violence!"

The crowd roared in response.

Well this was odd... What could've made so many people so angry?

My curiosity soared higher, and I skirted around the crowd, still in the sky.

What could've-

If my blood had been solid, it would've froze and blazed in fury at the same time.

The first thing I noticed, and it was the vast majority of the signs, was a printed screen shot of Celestia's face from the press conference, with a giant red circle with a line through it overlaid the picture.

Send the aliens home!

ET go home!

Send them to the ranch they came from!

Nuke them all!

Now I was close enough to hear what they were saying.

"Send the bitch back where she came from!"

"God made Man in his own image!"

"We can use my truck to draw and quarter her!"

"No god damn illegals on my planet!"

This wasn't just a riot... This was millennia of being told 'you're God's special little boy' crashing down around the ears of idiots who didn't know better! And if this was happening here in the middle of nowhere... Then could it be that it was happening all over the country? The world?

All because Celestia announced her presence on national television...

And yet...

Cold fury roiled through my soul.

I hated Celestia very deeply, but still something about what they said touched a nerve.

These backward skinheads thought they could do as they will with Tia's life!

Was I angry because they were threatening the life of my sister, or was it because they wanted to take what was, by all rights, mine and mine alone to destroy?

I didn't know.

But what I did know... Was that I could not let this stand.

I wasted no time in positioning myself high over the steps of what I now assumed was the town hall.

They thought they could demand the execution of an Alicorn? Then the obvious answer was to show them the error of their ways; Through shock and awe.

I mentally prepared the list of spells I'd need, and resolidified... Instantly falling to the street below.

Author's Note

Before anyone makes a fuss about the start of this chapter:

If anything were to happen between Luna and Sunset in this story, everything would be kosher and above board. Sunset is (at least) 18 years of age.

Yes, there was a slight hint for the sharp eyed and clever to catch before this chapter regarding her age.

I wrote it this way because of a few reasons. Number one being this is a limited first person perspective, and our protagonist didn't really have a reason to wonder what Sunset's precise age was before this chapter. So she never really asked or bothered to find out.

Number two, I'm putting Luna's loneliness on display. I've alluded to it before at least once, but here I'm bringing it front and center. Being alone wears at a person, be it for a millennia, a decade, a year, or even only a week. Being alone sucks. We all know that. But what isn't so well known is the long term effects of that loneliness, in this case, the need to be close to someone. Even if being close to that someone isn't necessarily morally kosher. But yet, Luna's subconscious is urging her to get close to Sunset because it recognizes that it needs to be close to someone, for its own sake. But its like eating lead contaminated food while starving to death. Luna herself recognizes that, and does her best to fight against "eating the potentially poisoned food" because she knows she'll never forgive herself if she fully indulges and Sunset was underage. But at the same time, she can't resist "smelling the food", if I were to keep with the metaphor, to tide herself over until she can get to something healthy and fulfilling.

No, it's not healthy or ok, but it's hope for a mare who has forgotten what a hug feels like.

Oh and have the featured video :trollestia: https://youtu.be/7jcuYA714Jw?si=UykNYmMMTBOB9NDV

CH4pt3R S7 th3 7eS5oN

Author's Note

Trigger Warning: The following chapter contains disturbing imagery and descriptions.

This is your only warning.

Hey, another one of these chapters. If everything goes according to plan, this will be the last one. The reason I wanted to include this Chapter was that I wanted to show Luna forcing others to live their nightmares, but ultimately fall prey to her own in the process.

That said; Fuck Nazis. If you disagree, you can fuck right off.

The vibe! https://youtu.be/A3n-M6eBp4g

CH4pt3R S7 th3 7eS5oN

~~~

I hit the stairway with a thunderous crash, cracking the concrete as if someone had dropped a tungsten anvil from a skyscraper.

Shouts of surprise greeted my ears, both from the police officers around me and from the scum below. My horn shimmered as I raised my head, recalling the armor made of shadows into existence, but now as full plate-mail and much heavier.

Secretly, I redid the Gaseous Form spell as well, but now modified with the knowledge I had remembered from the Sarosians.

I would keep my shape, but would still be made of mist.

I flared my wings and flowing mane dramatically,

"I believe..." I began, exclaiming in the Royal Unicornian Address; "That some of you would have words with me and mine." I cast a glance over the crowd. My presence was obviously a surprise, because the whole riot had come to a silent standstill. "Well?" I called out. "Have none of you words to speak? Not a moment ago you all were chomping at the bit for an alien to murder!"

I cast a glance around the silent crowd, using the opportunity to steal a look at the officers to my sides. They looked half relieved and half terrified at the development, but they were uncertain if they should guard against the riot, or against me. They choose to slowly draw their weapons and back up the steps, quietly retreating towards the building.

I turned my attention back towards the crowd, which rippled as they shifted on their feet with uncertainty.

"Come on, here I am! An alien to 'send back' where I came from!" I spoke as I descended the steps. The crowd pushed themselves back in an effort to not be any closer than they had to be. "Come on maggots!" I shouted "Send me back to where I came from!"

"Wish granted!" shouted a voice from the crowd.

My world suddenly became consumed by a concussive force and the sound of ringing metal.

Several people nearby screamed in terror, but they were in turn drowned out by roar of cheering people.

The world resolved back into focus, I was still standing, but half my helmet was now missing.

Oh, and half my face had been blown into shadowy mist.

Heh... Heheh... Better fix that.

I regathered the mist that formed my face and summoned more shadows to remake the ruined helmet.

"Is that all you have?" I asked, my voice distorted as the modified Gaseous Form remade my face. Despite the loud cheering, my relatively quiet voice cut through the din like a scythe through wheat. "I thought I told you to send me back!" I shouted, as the crowd fell silent once again, just now realizing how far out of their depth they were. My horn glowed again, and living shadows pulled themselves from underneath the police cars.

"Come on!" I taunted. "Force your will on me!" I resumed climbing down the stairs, this time in an angry march. "Is bitching and moaning all you have?!"

The crowd then started to panic as I approached, several pushing fights starting as a few people near the front decided they didn't want to be there, but the people behind them not really understanding why people were pushing them out of the way.

The living shadows resolved themselves into vaguely humanoid, yet bulky shapes that wielded an assortment of warped swords and claws.

Several bald men stepped forwards, swastikas and Nazi imagery could be seen tattooed on their skin.

They all raised various sorts of guns.

"Heh... Heheheh... Hahaha. Hahahahahahahahaha!" I started to laugh manically.

"For God and Country!"

More holes opened in my armor as the Nazi scum opened fire;

And that was all the invitation I needed.

I was amongst them in a flash, tendrils of shadow slicing long arches through the air. The living shades swiftly behind, baleful teal lights in lieu of eyes illuminated various faces, adorned with baroque skulls, both painted on and sculpted.

The crowd was in a full panic now, the more cowardly, or perhaps the smarter ones, pushed themselves through the crowd in an effort to retreat. Most however surged forward, pulling out various knives, pipes, and even more guns.

"Come on!" I urged, more of my tendrils of shadow flailing like the tentacles of a particularly vicious kraken at the pressing crowd. "You want Celestia off this planet? How do you propose to do that if you can't even force me off?!"

The living shades formed a ring around me, eagerly and effortlessly butchering their way through the Nazis that came too close. Their thickened forms revealing themselves to not be something akin to flesh, but inches thick armor.

A bullet ricocheted off my thickened barding.

I snarled and lashed out with a tendril at the man-let whose gun was pointing at me and still smoking.

A large gash opened itself across his torso.

The crowd of gun nuts who weren't close to the front started to have second thoughts about charging forward as a verifiable wall of bodies built itself around the shades. Whom I could now hear were merrily cackling with course, not-of-this-reality voices as the gunfire started to die down, now sputtering out as many got forced into close combat or lost their nerve altogether.

A vision of Lucas, standing above the bodies of his classmates, a single bloody rock clutched in his fist, swam across my vision.

... What was I doing?

I stopped the tendrils and gazed over the now mostly fleeing crowd. The shades still fought, pushing dead Nazis off their claws and blades. The Police, whom I realized I had lost them in the confusion, had fallen back into the front door of the building and pushed a table in front of it, staccato gunfire erupted from the door as they shot at me.

And the street was littered with bodies.

These people had been the scum of the Earth... And yet...

Why had I baited them into attacking me really?

Because they thought they could do anything to touch Celestia?

Absurd. Absolutely absurd.

Celestia could take care of herself. And exactly as I had said, let her hang herself with her own rope.

So why had I really attacked them?

Was it because I was protecting Celestia? Or was it...

Because I wanted to?

I felt bile raising in my currently nonexistant stomach.

Sure it may be Nazis today... But this wouldn't have been my first attack. It wasn't even my most unprovoked. How long before I started to think about attacking truly innocent people? People whose only crime was standing in the way at the store? People whose only crime was being an awful driver?

"You are dismissed." I said out loud to the shades, who were going amongst the bodies, occasionally plunging their weapons into still living Nazis.

They all paused at my words and glanced at me.

Then as one, they began to snicker.

"I said; You. Are. Dismissed." I stressed.

A particularly brave one, looked me in the eye and plunged its warped blade into the chest of a struggling body, as if to say 'What are you going to do about it?'

One of my tendrils flashed, grabbing the shade and dragging him into more waiting tendrils, which viciously tore it apart in retribution.

Its non-real screams seemed to echo off the nearby buildings.

"You are dismissed." I repeated to the remaining shades.

The rest of the shades bowed slightly in acknowledgement, before sinking back into the shadows cast by the dead and dying.

I soon found myself alone, accompanied by only the sounds of multitudes of emergency sirens and the calls from the Police inside the building to "Remain where you are!"

What a lovely mess you've gotten yourself into Placeholder.

Chapter 59 The Wild

~~~

I walked.

At first it was dark, but all too soon it became light... And dark again.

I kept walking.

Hunger and thirst was my only companion.

Light, dark, light, dark, light, dark, light...

I drank when ever I passed water, but never stayed long.

I grazed on grass whenever it was still green, but that was far and few in the dry land.

Dark, light, dark, light, dark...

I avoided the two legged beings, whose name I had forgotten again, at all costs.

Whenever I saw their dwellings or black stone expanses, I tried to veer away, keeping to the wilderness. But sometimes, when they were abandoned, I crossed the black stone when I could.

Light, dark, light, dark, light...

At least I could fight the wild.

One time, a pair of coyotes thought I was easy prey while I grazed.

They were wrong.

I picked my head up as one of my ears flicked, two pairs of yellow eyes greeted me in the moonlight. I growled to warn them off, but they would not be deterred.

The circled around me, attempting to divide my attention.

It didn't work.

I pounced at the one to my left before they could get into a position they wanted. Stunned with surprise at my brashness, both were too late to stop my assault.

"Yip!" the Coyote yelped as my teeth clamped down over its neck. "Yip yip yip!"

I snarled aggressively as I started to shake the coyote back and forth, whipping it around like a rag doll.

Its fellow decided to break out of its stupor and charged, eager to get me off its partner.

A single buck with my left hind leg sent it flying and gave a good bruise on its snout.

"Yip!" it squeaked as it hit the ground.

My kick left me unbalanced and gave the Coyote in my jaws a brief moment of reprise. It started to flail again, trying to break away.

So I gave it the freedom it craved.

I spun around and flung the bleeding Coyote at its partner

"Yipe!" they squealed as they collided.

I advanced threateningly, which was enough to cause the pair to run away, yowling into the night.

Blood that wasn't my own matted the fur on my face.

Dark, light, dark, light, dark...

I didn't sleep much, when I did, I often woke up to find myself still walking. But when it became too much to bear, I found myself laying down amongst the dry brush and grasses, which turned browner as the cold set it.

And it was always getting colder.

The snow had finally fallen, coating the landscape in white.

That was when it started to get very difficult. Gone were the open streams and easy grasses. Instead I had to rely on the two legs' captive Ponies.

I crawled through a gap in the wooden obstacle, cleverly made to keep the large Ponies in.

And large they were, freakishly long faces turned to look at me as I came inside their cave made of wood. A few whickered at me, but I ignored them.

My eyes were on their troughs.

They were full of some sort of grain and grass mixture that smelled most excellent.

I shoved my face into the tasty smelling mush and ate vigorously.

"Neigh!" the nearest Pony protested.

I lifted my head up and snorted at the Pony.

She had all of this time to eat, now it was my turn.

I bent back down and resumed eating.

Only when I was full did I pull myself out of the trough, which was made for the much larger Pony. I would be good for a long while now.

But this place seemed safe for the moment, although I knew it wouldn't be that way when the light returned.

A pile of hay looked very inviting.

I took the opportunity to sleep for a few hours.

It was still dark when I woke, it was time to move on.

I drank my fill from the Pony's trough of water and left the same way I came in. Through the barricade.

Light, dark, light, dark, light...

Slowly the land transformed from flat, to hilly. Trees were rare when the land was flat, but more abundant in the hills. The trees were nice, in that they kept the wind at bay. But during the Winter, they meant less Ponies to steal food from, as the two legs tended to keep away from the woods.

Dark, light, dark, light, dark...

But still it grew colder and colder. I found myself looking for the warm company of other Ponies more and more, regardless of how disturbingly distorted they were.

Light, dark, Light, dark, Light...

Finally I found something that one of the boxes in my mind jumped and rattled at.

It was one of the two legs' wooden structures. But it seemed to be almost totally abandoned.

I sniffed the undisturbed snow around the entrance.

It had been whole moons since a two leg had been here.

At first I wasn't sure why the box was so excited about this place. But it was so insistent that it got to the point where I abandoned all caution and opened it just to see what it was.

Hunting shack! Potential storage underneath! Resources!

Set:obj=search:shack

if entity.resources=true and entity.resources ≥ (7)days_worth=true then set:obj=stay

If entity.resources=false or entity.resources ≥ (7)days_worth=false then set:obj= examine:total_resources

Why was this in the box? This was a simple way to set goals while like this! What was I think-

Box.

...

I pushed my way through the snow and pulled at the door.

entity.door=locked

Impediment detected

obj=search

I glanced around, looking for another way in.

A particular mound of snow caused something to spark in my mind.

Careful to not let curiosity get the best of me, I approached and began to dig in the snow.

Define:entity.unknown=entity.cellar_door(double)

A chain linked the handles of the double cellar door, a lock kept it together.

I turned around without hesitation and bucked the lock. It bent, but didn't break.

So I kicked again.

Clak!

The lock broke apart and the chain fell limp.

I pulled the chain from the handles and set it aside. I then got onto my back hooves, gripped a handle and pulled.

The door opened with a groan.

The air inside smelled like old, but well cared for wood, and when compared to the air outside, felt warm.

I entered the cellar, but turned around to close the door behind me.

The dark had never bothered me, and it didn't now.

When I turned around, I realized the cellar was full of shelves. Each stuffed to the brim with canned and non-perishable goods. There even was a stack of firewood along the wall.

entity.resources ≥ (7)days_worth=true

This wasn't just a hunting shack... It was someone's Dooms-day shack!

Author's Note

thaumic_field(detectable)=consiousness.exe
consiousness.exe≠data_set:knowledge/logic_algorithm.exe
if:logic_algorithm.exe set:minimum then consiousness.exe≠true

Ok in all seriousness, I know it'll be hard for the layman reader to read the code. But I swear there's a reason I'm using it.

If you've noticed, Luna's "inner dialogue" has been increasingly fragmented these past few chapters. This has been on purpose. They're not so much different personalities, as much as they are different parts of Luna's mind.

Taking a step back for a moment, last chapter I discussed how Luna was suppressing her emotions to hide herself. But with those emotions in their boxes, Luna has, for a lack of a better term, "devolved" back into a non-sapient pony. What is a mind made up of if not complex emotions? As an example; how could even a cat, arguably interesting little critters with their own emotional states, understand the complexity of even asking someone out for a first date? The anxiety, the stress, the pining, the initial awkwardness, the fear of rejection? All these super specific emotions forming into a greater concept. I'm not so sure even a chimpanzee, Humanity's closest evolutionary relative, could understand. Granted they'd get closer than a cat, but still...

Hence Luna's "devolution".

Coming back around to my original point, all of those parts in her mind are now locked away in boxes. Which includes her higher knowledge and memories.

Indiscriminate incarceration yo.

"Logic" however doesn't necessarily need all the ooey gooey emotional stuff, and is rarely idle. Even while in its box, it was active. Stripping itself down to its base essentials so it could be freed and used. Which in turn increases Luna's efficiency when it came to chances of survival. Thus fulfilling its purpose. The hardest part of that however, was stripping down Luna's knowledge base so it wasn't emotionally charged. Which is why Logic takes a while to come back out.

Anyway, the vibe! :trollestia: https://youtu.be/XDIqO0-MJn8?si=dkfDhHHLsxaJaFOV

Chapter 60 The Shack

~~~

In the presence of so much food I couldn't help myself. I dashed forward and pulled down a can.

read:entity.can
return:"Great Value Peach Halves"

I glanced around for a can opener.

Instead of a can opener, my eyes landed on a staircase leading up.

I tucked the can of peaches under a wing and trotted towards the stairs. The view of the floor above was obstructed by another door.

Undeterred, I climbed up. Opening the door, I was greeted by the sight of a dimly lit, grey room. The most notable thing about it, was the wooden table in the center, followed very closely by a wooden stove that had a pipe extending into the ceiling, a counter that had a sink embedded in it, and a single door.

return:kitchen

I stalked towards the counter, now noticing drawers below.

search:kitchen.drawers

I found all sorts dishes, pots, pans, and knives. But the true prize was indeed what I was looking for.

The can opener.

I immediately sat on the floor and pried the can of peaches open.

They didn't last very long.

I set the empty can onto the counter.

I'll deal with it later.

I turned towards the door and approached, opened it, and peeked inside.

Couch. Coffee table. Two arm chairs. A brick fireplace. The mounted head of a stag on the wall. And three other doors.

return:living_room

Nothing seemed too interesting, so I moved to the next door over.

Sink. Toilet. Tub.

return:bathroom

Tub!

set:obj=clean:entity.self

I approached the tub eagerly. I turned the hot water knob and-

Nothing.

Alert! Water possibly shut off by provider!
set:obj=investigate:tub.water

I examined the tub.

The pipe that fed the faucet didn't embed itself into the wall, but climbed up vertically along the wall into the ceiling.

Was there an attic?

I turned and left the bathroom.

The next door revealed a bed, a nightstand, and the painting of a deer in a sunny field.

return:bedroom

I shut the door and turned to the last door.

Large bed. Nightstand. And two paintings, one of a bass jumping out of the water, and the other of a deer drinking from a river bank.

return:master_bedroom

What the-? Why was the tub pipe running into the ceiling? Where do you access the space if it needed repairs? What was-

Box.

...

set:obj=re-search:shack

I was already in the master bedroom, so I blinked to clear my head and looked a little closer.

Large bed. Nightstand. And two paintings, one of a bass jumping out of the water, and the other of a deer drinking from a river bank.

No, wasn't in here... Moving on.

Back in the living room, I almost immediately found a felling axe that was leaning against the fireplace. From my initial view point it had been hidden in the corner of the fireplace's brick wall and the log wall of the cabin.

That will come in handy.

Another more through search of the living room also revealed a keyring with a black stick and metal slat attached.

define:entity.unknown=entity.flint_and_steel

Also handy. Especially since I doubted that I could start any fires without my magic.

A gust of wind made the shack groan.

I shivered. It was warmer in here, but it was still freezing.

set:obj=ignite:wood

There had been a stack of wood in the cellar right?

I turned back towards the kitchen, and made my way through to the stairway.

I grabbed a few logs, tucking them under both wings, and headed back up.

I put the logs in the fireplace when I realized something critically important.

I didn't have any kindling.

return:entity.can.paper_label=true

I got up to go back to the kitchen.

Yes, the now empty can had a paper label.

I picked up the can and tore off the label.

Heading back to the fireplace, I tore the label into crumpled, thing strips, doing my best to mimic air filled clumps of dry grass.

I gathered the flint and steel and started to strike it at the base of my makeshift tinder.

"Come on..." I grunted after a few unsuccessful minutes. "Light you mother-"

Box.

...

Finally, after a few more minutes, a spark caught and the logs began to properly smolder.

I sat and watched as the flames grew.

set:obj=investigate:tub.water

Surely there must be a source of water for the shack. There were pipes for the bath tub after all. And I doubted that the shack was connected to a city's water main.

I brought up more logs and set a small pile nearby. After throwing a few more logs into the fire, I resumed searching.

Alert:possibility:attic.crawl_space=true
possibility:search:shack=unsuccessful
set:obj=re-search:shack

If there was a ladder to the attic, where would it be?

I glanced around the living room, looking in particular for a hanging string.

return:negative

I turned towards the guest bedroom, as it was the one I had been in the least.

The room was as I had left it, but this time I payed close attention to the ceiling.

Where was-? There!

In almost the very corner of the room, hung a dark brown string of small beads. It was colored specifically to be hard to notice.

What a jer-

Box.

...

I walked around the bed to grab the string, but quickly realized I was a small Pony.

Instead of becoming frustrated by jumping up and down to try and to get hold of the string, I climbed onto the bed and jumped off that.

Shhhcrkk!

The hidden trapdoor that hid the attic ladder slowly fell down, resisting gravity slightly so the ladder itself didn't crash down.

Sliiiiiiiiiik

The ladder smoothly unfolded, gently landing on the floor.

set:obj=investigate:attic.shack

Climbing up the ladder was awkward as a Pony, but I managed.

The attic was dark and dusty. Cobwebs gathered in the corners of the roof, where one had to crawl on her stomach in order to pass. There were a few cardboard boxes, but the most noticeable thing was a huge shape that loomed in the darkness.

At first I thought it was another box, but it was metallic and much too large for anyone to want to lift.

define:entity.unknown=entity.attic.tub

Attic tub? What?

I approached the tub, but another, smaller shape loomed over the seemingly massive tub.

define:entity.unknown=entity.attic.manual_water_pump
return:entity.attic.manual_water_pump:provide:entity.attic.tub
entity.attic.tub:provide:entity.water:entity.tub
define:entity.tub=entity.bathroom.tub

I approached the water pump. It was too high to reach because it was lifted into the air to reach over the tub, but a simple steel frame floored with wooden boards made a stairway and platform. I climbed up.

I looked over the edge of the tub. It was empty, but on the opposite side of the tub, I could see a drain.

Oh! The pump drew water from a well, collected it in the tub, and made a reservoir to give water pressure!

Impressive! Most imp-

Box.

...

I grabbed hold of the pump's handle and gave it an experimental lift.

gggggggLRK

... That didn't sound right.

possibility:entity.pipes:frozen=true

I stepped down from the pump.

This will take a while...

I climbed back down the ladder and went back into the living room. I laid down in front of the still burning fireplace, watching the flames.

It wasn't like I had anything better to do.

Slowly I drifted to sleep as the snow bright outside grew dark.

Strangely, I could've sworn I saw Celestia standing over me as I lay there, her shoulders heaving as liquid fell from her face.

Author's Note

Whoof... It's harder than you think to write "non-emotionally" and still have a decent word count...

Chapter 61 The Sun

~~~

I didn't bother keeping track of the days.

It just wasn't worth bothering over.

My day started when I woke up on the couch. I would tend to the fire and use the smoldering embers to get another blaze going. With that done, I'd go down into the cellar, crack whatever can that happened to be nearest, and eat whatever was inside.

Usually I didn't notice what it was, it was all the same bland flavor to me.

I'd take the label off the can, set the paper under a log by the fire. The can itself I crushed and set into a empty cardboard box, which I had emptied by eating whatever cans were inside. Then i'd go up into the attic and pump water into the reservoir tub. The pipes had unfrozen themselves at least a full day after I first arrived. If the firewood in the cellar was half gone, I'd take the felling axe and go cut wood outside. I'd close the cellar door behind me and pile whatever wood I got outside, until I gathered "enough", then I brought it all inside. If I still had at least half the pile, I'd go back up and watch the fireplace.

It wasn't like I had anything worth doing.

Occasionally, when I got too dirty cutting wood or tending to the fireplace's ash, I drew a cold bath and bathed. Or at least washed off whatever I could. If there was a water heater, or something to heat the water, I didn't know where it was. When I was done, I pulled the plug in tub's bottom and let it drain. Where it went, I didn't bother finding out. It could've been dumping into a unique ecosystem in some underground cave for all I knew.

It wasn't worth finding out.

I'd then close out the day but eating another can of something, curling up under the guest bedroom's blanket, and fall asleep watching the fire.

If I dreamt, I wasn't sure. Falling asleep was more of a hazy experience where I wasn't sure if I was awake or asleep, alive or dead. The only thing I was sure of, were that strange bat winged Ponies loomed in the shadows cast by the dying fireplace during these episodes.

They chittered to each other softly, too quiet for me to hear what was being said, but too loudly to ignore. They never came close, and I could never crane my head to get a proper look.

Without fail, they disappeared like phantoms when the sun rose again.

And the cycle repeated itself.

The only thing that broke the monotony, happened one day when I was out cutting wood.

I was about to swing at a fresh tree when a twig nearby snapped.

Alert! Interloper detected!

I froze.

What sparse wildlife there was during the Wintertime avoided this area. If it was the smoke from the shack's chimney, or if the owner shot everything that came nearby in the Summer, I didn't know.

Combat mode activated! Administering adrenalins!

"Lu?" called the one voice I didn't want to hear. The only voice that could be so gentle... So soft...

So full of lies.

I felt my ears pin back as I turned my head.

Princess Regent Celestia, Sol Invicta, the Unbroken Sun of Equestria stood before me.

Only this time, she was unarmed and unarmored.

The only thing she wore was a yellow scarf.

Solar Protocols engaged! Unleashing all entrapped entities!

A surge of emotion screamed through my head. All of them demanding my attention. All of them critically urgent.

But one was louder and more rabid then the rest. Louder than even the Other.

K̶̩̇I̵̲̎L̶̩̯̒L̸̫͝ ̶̛̤̣H̸̋͠ͅͅÈ̴͎̏R̶̡͚̽!̶̘̞͝ ̷̞̚ ̴͕͕̐̅B̸̹̃Ṟ̸͐Ḙ̴̀Â̶̞̝͘K̵̡̋ ̷̜̏͑H̵̰̦͛E̷͉̮̅͝R̴̳̬̅!̷̖͕̈́ ̶̹̽́ ̸̳̲͊̔S̸̬͊͊Ḩ̷͈͐Ó̴̭̟W̴͛ͅ ̵̫̌H̸̨͛̍E̴̺͊Ŕ̴͉̺̋ ̸͕͒E̵̞͋V̵̭̤͋̋Ê̴̲̐R̵͖̣̅Y̴̹̏ ̴͇̂́P̶̛̤̕A̴̪̓İ̸̳̾Ṋ̵̻͐͘ ̸̞͋W̶̢͚͛E̶̬͍͑ ̸̽͠ͅH̷͔̱͐̉A̶̛͉͛V̴̱̀̈É̶̲̃ͅ ̴̬̗̔È̷͉̳͝Ǹ̴͉̅D̴͍̫̋͝U̶̝̍R̸̪͛Ě̸̪̈́D̸͚̀̄ ̵̦̦͌͂B̶͙̟͗E̵̜͓͐C̶̱̐Ă̸̫̋U̵̳͎̐̈́S̵̙͉͒̚Ë̵̩́̈ ̴̻̀́O̵͉̊̎F̶̜͆ ̶̯́͜H̶̨̀E̷̮̓̕Ř̸̛͙!̸̪͔̒̽

Oh this is one fine mess!

I felt my head dip low, as I lowered into an aggressive stance.

Celestia for her part, didn't react. But her eyes glistened with moisture.

"Oh Lu... What have you done to yourself?" she whispered.

"Don't call me that!" I snarled loudly.

If it was because she didn't deserve to have that name in her mouth, or if it was because I wasn't worthy of that name I didn't know.

But she needed to spit it out either way.

Celestia shuddered as her tears began to start flowing.

"Luna... Please come home." was all she said.

"Is that all you have to say?!" I cried, almost laughing, overcome by the toxic cocktail of emotions I had suddenly unleashed. "What home?! What home do I have?!" I screamed, my voice cracking from misuse. "What apology could you possibly say that would ever bridge what YOU did!"

"Lu- Luna. It's not too late. You're not too far gone." she whimpered.

"Too far gone?!" I exclaimed. "Is that what you told them?! That I'm too broken?! That I'm too damaged to be left alone?! Why is that Celestia?! Come on, tell them all why! I know they're here with you!" I started to circle around the larger Alicorn, getting ready for the inevitable attack.

Celestia seemed to deflate slightly.

"I came alone." she whispered, her eyes hardening.

"Why would I believe you?!" I answered harshly. "You were never the Element of Honesty! Being a liar is in your blood! You lied to my face that day! You never cared! You never saw me as anything other than a useful tool! Lie to yourself all you want, lie to to your citizens and to the Human agencies for all I care! But at least give me the dignity of telling me the truth!" I found myself breathing heavily after my rant, feeling like where ever I was looking was under intense radioactive bombardment.

Celestia's ears at pinned themselves backwards, but she never became aggressive.

She was afraid.

"..." she mouthed uselessly as she tried to find her words. "... I thought you were going to betray me." she finally said.

That gave the raging storm inside my head pause.

What? Why?!

She continued.

"You always were three steps ahead of everypony you met. You were never surprised." Celestia's eyes hardened once more as she fully steeled herself. "I was worried that you would outgrow me. Have no more need for me. When the Nobles came to me with their tales of the demon in your head... I was certain you were going to overthrow me." Despite the steel in her eyes, tears began to fall anew.

"I- I regretted my choice the second you were gone." She finally met my glare, with equal emotional intensity. "I have counted the hours since that moment. For one. Thousand. Years. It has been eight million, seven hundred, sixy seven thousand, three hundred twenty eight hours and 38 minutes Lu."

That... Wasn't what I was expecting.

The flame inside still smoldered, but had died down significantly.

"... Why are you here?" I whispered, my voice now hoarse from its sudden abuse after its hiatus.

"... It's Human Hearth's Warming Luna. Most of the Agents have today off, and most of the Ponies I brought are with them." Celestia sniffed, now coming down from her own emotional roller coaster. "We were going to come by next week, but I was so alone that I... I had to try and spend the day with you." her tears intensified. "You're my only family Lu... I love you and I miss you..."

I... I don't know how to respond to this...

L̴͔̅I̷̢̫̅E̶͈͉͑S̷̩̲̓!̷̛͚ ̸̰̖̈̎ ̷̹̓̀ ̵̹͍͑̍A̶̮͐͒L̴̯̇͝L̵̨̓ ̴͍͍̄͛O̵̹͈͂F̷̧͚́ ̶̯͒́Í̸̲͝T̸̩͆̍ͅ ̸̠̣̉L̸̩̄Ȋ̵͖̉É̸͓S̶̖̗̓!̶̧̂ ̷̡̕̚ ̶̞̀ ̷̠̠̕D̵̰̒ͅÉ̴̝̱S̵͍̲̅T̴̢̩̓̿R̶̪̚Ǫ̴̠̓Ŷ̸̭ ̷̘̪͂͑Ḩ̷̛̤È̷̻̓Ȑ̵̜̲!̴̮͊͜

run:diagnosis.exe
return:Alert! Structural Integrity of Psychological Constructs compromised! Est:%15 intact!
recommend:run:self_repair.exe priority=high

~~Can't trust her... Can't trust them... Can't trust us... Can't- Can't- Can't...~~

Ooooooooh the dramaaaaaa!

Accept! We need this! Go home!

W-w-where's the other shoe?! W-w-hen's it going to drop?! W-what is she planning?!

...What's the point?

The Day must have its Night.

I-

"I-" I closed my eyes and shook my head. "I-"

"Lu?" the snow crunched as the massive Pony moved closer.

"I- S-stay away!" I backed up, hitting the tree I was going to cut down with my rump.

"Lu please... Come with me. I promise I will never hurt you ever again."

I- I wanted to reach out and embrace her.

To bury my face in her chest and cry all the tears behind my eyes.

And yet...

How could I?

The thought filled me with disgust.

Like using a mixture of used motor oil and vomit to shower instead of water.

This mare was the engineer of my misery. She was the cause of all this. And yet she dared to simply ask?

I wanted to dry heave.

Both thoughts were equal. Neither could back down. One or the other must be chosen.

"I... I..." I stammered, sliding off the tree trunk and backing up still.

S̸̘̕H̷̲͗̈ͅẸ̸͊͠ ̷̧̬́̈́W̷̨̺̅Í̷̬L̵̤̂̚L̶̥͂ ̸̱͔̏H̴̘̣̿U̸͚̲͑N̶̰̋T̴͈̥̂ ̶͇̞̀Y̶̞̏͝Ö̷̯́Ǔ̵͚͝ ̸̫̆D̷͇͠ͅO̶̢͗̚Ẉ̶͛̆N̸̮̞̓ ̵͈̈͜͝Á̷̛̲Ṋ̶͙͒́D̴̦͋̈ ̴̬͚̿͝K̸͎̈́Ȉ̵̫̮L̶̗̺͒̈L̷̲̂͝ ̷̹͇̋Y̷̰̕͝Ǫ̶͋U̸̥͆!̸͔́ ̶̞̠͌̃ ̴̰̞͗ ̸̛̙̒E̷͎̍Ṉ̵̹̉̕D̵̛̹̕ ̴͔̈̾H̶͍̣̐́È̶̟̄Ř̷͉̥̕ ̴͖̖͗F̸͎͇́I̷̫͔̿R̶̭̬̎S̷̹̀T̵̛̞!̷̹͊͠

recomend:run:self_repair.exe priority=urgent

~~She can't be trusted... She has lied and will lie again...~~

What are you doing?!Run you fool run!

We can't go on! We are going to die!

... It doesn't matter.

"SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!"

Hahahahaha! Encore! Encore!

I turned and ran.

Author's Note

If I did my math right...

Merry Christmas all!

Have some estranged and strained family bonding!

And yes, before anyone asks, I have been keeping track of the dates :twilightsmile:

Luna was banished on the summer solstice (sun moon celebration) at about 2 am in the morning.

Luna, floats through space for almost 976 years exactly before falling to Earth, coincidentally on Halloween.

Yes I'm counting Halloween and Sun/Moon Celebration on the same day because planets and asynchronized day/night/season cycles.

The year Lucas turns 24, which is the 1,000th anniversary of Luna's banishment, Luna's original spells when she landed became undone and revealed her true nature.

And 55 days after Halloween is...

The day a fat man in red commits reverse breaking and entering to leave you stuff under a tree. :trollestia:

About 8 in the morning, plus 38 minutes...

8,767,328 hours and 38 minutes :twilightsmile:

Chapter 62 The Flight

~~~

Frozen trees became a blur in my peripheral as I sped by, loping through the snow more by hopping than by running. Even through my adrenaline induced body heat, I could feel the biting cold wind pierce though my coat.

The voices in my head were screaming.

And I wasn't sure if my own voice was amongst them.

I continued my mad dash through the woods. Even if I wanted to, I could never return to the shack and the safety it represented, as fragile as that safety was.

Occasionally, I thought I heard Celestia's voice calling out, but I couldn't make out what she was saying.

The trees felt like they were closing in, pressing towards me like a mob of angry rioters. Their branches crisscrossed and tightened like a noose, forming a sort of fish net that I was too large to fit through.

Escape by flight was impossible.

What do I do?!

Where do I go?!

How do I get out this?!

I can think of several ways.

The chorus of voices demanding my attention rose.

D̶̡͌̓O̷͙̫̎͘ ̶̭̳͌Ḯ̴̪͉́T̶͇͆!̴̤̔ ̸̥̇S̴̠͍̔̆L̴͖̣̾A̷̞̐Y̷̲̳̍ ̸̖̹͌̒H̶̟͂E̶̪͝R̵͉̲̔͛ ̶̭͕̿W̴͖̫̓H̸͎̙̒͒E̴̙͚͋̎R̷͉̒̑Ȅ̸̛͙̤ ̵͉̈́̕S̴̪̱͂̐H̸̡̗͂͗E̸̡͆ ̴̢̣̎S̷̪̭̄̌T̵͈̉͝Ä̸̡͕̀Ǹ̶͚̇D̸̝͑͌S̶̯̰͑!̶̜̏͜

recommend:run:self_repair.exe priority=high

~~She's hiding something! Some trick! Some plan! It has to be a trap! It~~ has ~~to be!~~

Go to her! She is telling the truth!

... What's the point?

Shut! Up!

"Luna!"

My breath hitched and my heart skipped a beat.

Her voice was much closer than I expected.

I threw my wings open, the bones and joints creaking from disuse.

I jumped up, forcing my wings to work despite their protests. In a quick dash through the air, I hid behind the first tree trunk that I saw.

I pressed myself against the tree as I landed, aware of my heaving chest as I gulped for air.

I put my hooves to my face as I tried to stifle my obnoxiously loud breathing.

Snow crunched behind the tree as a quadruped walked.

My lungs ached for air, yet I held onto my breath for dear life.

Air! Need air!

Crunch crunch crunch crunch...

I didn't dare remove my hooves from my muzzle, not even to try and slowly and quietly try and relieve the pressure in my chest.

Crunch crunch crunch crunch...

"Oh Lu... Where have you gone?" The mare behind me quietly whispered to herself.

Leave! Leave damn you! Let me breathe!

"Lu!" Celestia called out. "Please come back to me Lu!"

Wretched mare!

I slowly let my lungs deflate, pushing all of the foul air out. I couldn't keep it in any longer. How Luna had managed to cross the void between stars with a single breath was beyond me.

Silence reigned as Celestia stood still and quiet, presumably listening.

Instead of directly inhaling, I focused on simply expanding my chest cavity as slowly as I dared, letting the natural movement intake a prolonged, yet shallow breath.

Crunch crunch crunch crun-

What was she doing? Was she leaving? Dare I look?

I felt my lungs reach their maximum capacity and slowly reversed the process.

Silence...

What was she doing?

Could I even turn around to look without making a noise?

I slowly turned around the tree, keeping my hooves over my mouth as if I was about to spill out a cacophony of noise at any moment.

Celestia stood over the marks my wings had made in the snow when I took off. Her ears and wings twitching in agitation. She stood there for what felt like hours, listening, yet staring sadly down at the marks as if she were mourning over a tombstone.

N̴̫̏̉Ȏ̷͍̐W̶̧̭͋̆!̶͕̰́̈́ ̵̢͍̓D̴̥̱͊͋Ớ̸̜ ̶̰̈Ï̵̘̪̑T̴̛̙̤̋ ̴̛̟̗̽Ń̴̮̏O̴̼͔̔W̶̠̄!̸̖̔̔ ̷͍̀̓S̶̜̥͆̎H̷̪̯̔̈́E̸̺͋ ̷͙͆̈́I̶̙̺͒S̸̥̝̆ ̷̜̳̈́W̵̺̏̉È̸͓̩Ä̷̛̟̣́K̶͉̕̕ ̸̱̤͋Ä̶̳̚N̷͚͎̾͛D̵̳̉̃ ̷̠̳̕͝Ḙ̵̯̏Ẍ̶̧̛P̴̤̗͛O̴͕̣͑̓S̸̗̞̓E̸̠̊͗D̶̼̾̈́!̸̣͇́͠

recommend:run:self_repair.exe priority=high

You are both in pain! Comfort her! You need Tia!

~~It's a lie! It's a trap! She has a trick up her sleeve!~~

... Doesn't matter which you choose...

I slowly turned back to my hidden position.

I had to get out of here. Now.

But with Celestia standing there, I couldn't move.

So I resolved to wait, and at least get my breathing back under control.

As I waited, slowly drawing breath and balancing my oxygen deficit, I felt a twinge of pain on the left side of my torso.

It was the simulacrum of Celestia's golden spear, Daybreak.

I almost snorted derisively. I had almost forgotten about it. But between fleeing the feds, the raid on the gang, and the weeks spent in the shack in a numb stupor, there just was too many other things and pains to worry about. But here, now, in the presence of the very mare I despised, and ironically during a moment of relative, albeit fragile, calm... It had made itself known again.

I felt like an animal of the Ice Age, hiding from a hunter, with said hunter's spear stuck in my side.

Even if I could somehow pull the imaginary thing out, I knew it would leave a metaphorical scar. How could it not? In more ways than one, I was changed, now and forever more. As Luna, I had been left behind by both history and my sole remaining family. And I could never go back to the simple life of Lucas. Both of them, in their own way, were dead and gone, never to return.

All that remained was me.

The idiot left holding the bill.

I was the legacy of both Luna and Lucas, the sum of their greatest triumphs and their darkest atrocities. An amalgamation of both, entwinned in such a manner that was both horrid and beautiful. Everything they had ever done, was my fault.

Could I blame them? Of course not. Lucas simply couldn't know, and from what I remembered from Luna, she had done her best despite everything.

So where did that leave me? I imagined, if Celestia were to instead ask for Lucas , I would react the same as if she had asked for Luna.

Crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch

Was... Was she leaving?

I waited with bated breath for the hoofsteps to fade into silence. When they were gone, I waited some more.

Cautiously, I peered around the tree I had hidden behind.

Celestia was gone.

In the snow, the tracks of a large mare lead out into the trees, and vanished from sight.

I paused, lookingtowards the direction the tracks were headed to see if I could see Celestia through the trees.

I couldn't.

I glanced about, fearing she was circling around.

Nothing.

I fell still again, perking my ears to try and listen.

The only thing I could hear was the wind, and the heart hammering in my chest.

I barely dared to breathe.

Was- was she truly gone? Had she moved on?

Cautiously I got back to my hooves, stepping lightly, prowling, and looking around for any wisp of multicolored hair.

The wind was so slight, that not even a twig twitched.

Gaining a bit of confidence, I started to trot, following my own footsteps and heading back in the direction I came, directly away from where Celestia had vanished.

When I was out of sight of that particular section of woods, I sped up again, this time into a canter.

As I passed, I noticed something peculiar about Celestia's tracks. I stopped briefly and put my own hoof inside the print.

Her hoof was nearly twice the size of my own.

Good. God.

During our fight in Equestria, we had been similar size. While yes, she was a few inches taller, we were not that far apart.

But now?

I must've been too distracted to notice just how big she was. Not in a chubby or body building sense, if anything she looked rather thin. But just how large her proportions had become!

Y̷̗͒ó̷͜ȗ̶̪ ̴͙̏s̵͕͊h̷̞̍o̶̺͌u̵͍͛l̷̩͂d̵̝̆'̶̯̏v̸͕͘ȅ̶͙ ̸̳̾k̷̟̀i̷͉͆l̸̞͗l̸̪̅e̵͍̒d̶̯́ ̵͕̆h̶̙̀e̶͖̊r̶̛͔ ̸̞͠ŵ̴̤h̵̲͋e̵̫͑n̶̰͐ ̷̹͋ỷ̴̟ó̶̧u̵͎͠ ̶̼̀h̸̻̒á̴̖ḓ̶͌ ̴̲̓t̶̟̀h̷̬̒ë̵͙ ̶͉͌ċ̶͜h̸̯̍a̵̖̽n̵̼͒c̴̤͆è̴̡!̶̞̈

postulation:return: result of 1 thousand years of unimpeded physical growth.

~~She can't be beaten! Do you think she only grew physically?! Her magic is probably beyond what we can think of!~~

Imagine how good her hugs must be!

...Why does this matter?

I turned away from the absurdly large tracks.

I had an opportunity to leave, and I needed to take it while I still could.

Once more I picked up speed, this time into a full gallop. I spread my wings as I reached full speed, the bones and tendons still creaking and popping from disuse.

The canopy was still too thick, so I swiftly found myself dodging between tree trunks as I flew. The air and branches whistled as I zipped by.

An opening... Where was an opening?!

The faint smell of wood smoke graced my nose.

The shack!

That would definitely be open to the sky!

The cube shape of the cabin flickered between the trees.

I banked around a copse and pumped my furiously beating wings.

The cabin sat ahead, a veritable corridor of trees framing it perfectly.

I gave my wings a powerful stroke, bursting through the shack's column of smoke and sailing into the grey wintery sky above.

Free.

I banked away from the shack, veering towards the edge of the forest.

Now where was I-

The world suddenly spun violently.

CRACKOW!

The ground became the sky, the sky the ground, and back again.

A pain blossomed along my right shoulder, making me clench my eyes shut in surprise.

Dumbass! You did it again.

I pried my eyes open, the spinning ground approaching wildly.

Come on! I can recover! Come on!

But no matter how hard I beat the air, the world only spun wilder and wilder.

The ground approached frightenly close.

Mayday! Mayday!

Author's Note

:ajsleepy:

Chapter 63 The Memories Part 22

~~~

I galloped through the village with glee. Behind me, my sister chased me with foalish giggles on her breath.

“I’m going to get you Lu!” Tia exclaimed, her pink mane billowing behind her.

“Nuh!” I called back, cheekily rounding a corner around a hut. And suddenly my face was implanted in a wall of dark purple fur.

“Hey!” the wall of fur exclaimed. I looked up to see Mrs Amethyst’s face. The ornery old mare was glaring downwards.

“Oh my goodness!” Tia exclaimed from behind. “I’m so sorry Mrs. Amethyst! We didn’t mean to run into you!”

“Humph!” the mare grunted. “You fillies ought to pay attention to where you’re going! One day you may bump me while I’m doing something important, and then you’ll be meeting the back of my hoof!”

“I’m so sorry, it won’t happen again.” Tia apologized. “Come along Lulu, we shouldn’t disturb the older ponies.” Tia gently tugged on my shoulder, pulling me away from the old mare.

“Wretched filly…” Amethyst muttered as Tia pulled me back around the bend.

“Why was she so mean?” I asked when we were out of sight. “We were just playing… It’s okay for us to play right?”

“Amethyst has always been like that. Don’t worry Lu, she doesn’t leave home very often. We’ll be safe so long as we stay away from it.”

“But why?” I asked, looking up at my sister.

“Some ponies are just like that.” Tia responded. “It’s just better to stay away from her. Don’t worry about it.”

“But why?” I pressed, leaning into Tia’s white coat.

“It- It just isn’t.” Tia sighed. “Come on Lu. It’s getting late and we need to be getting home anyway.”

We lived in a wooden hut near the edge of the village, so it wasn’t long before Tia ushered me inside.

“Mom should be home soon. Come on, let’s clean up a bit and give her a surprise!”

“A surprise?” I asked. “Does mommy like surprises?”

“She’ll like this one, I promise.” Tia reassured.

“‘Cuz Emerald and Sapphire gave me a surprise yesterday and I didn’t like it.” I stuck my tongue out.

“Are they bothering you again?”

“Yeah! They jumped at me with a bucket! I got all wet and sticky!”

“Ok… I’ll try talking with their parents. They really shouldn’t treat you like that.”

“They’re not?” I asked, one of my ears flopped to the side. “But all the other foals treat me like that too…”

Tia looked up and stared at seemingly nothing.

“Ok just… Just stay by me ok?”

“Ok!” I chirped, picking up a doll carved out of wood. “I’m going to put Sir Snuggles to bed!” I announced.

“Alright Lulu.” Celestia absentmindedly agreed. I brought Sir Snuggles over to my bed and laid him gently on the straw pillow, pulling a threadbare blanket over the bottom half.

The door chose that moment to open.

“Mom!” greeted Tia.

“Mommy!” I exclaimed, pouncing on the familiar lilac mare in a tackle.

“Oof!” she grunted as she caught me in her forelegs. “Lulu! You’re much too big to keep jumping on me!”

“Sorry mommy.” I smiled as I nuzzled her barrel.

“Tia! Was there any trouble today?”

“Lu accidentally ran into Amethyst, but otherwise everything was fine.”

“Never liked her.” Mom quietly admitted. “But good! I’m glad.” Mom pulled a reed bag full of vegetables into the hut and closed the door. “Lu, could you go play with Sir Snuggles? Tia and I need to make dinner.”

“Aw! I just put him to bed!” I complained, walking back over to pick up Sir Snuggles. Mom chuckled.

“We were going to clean up a bit before you got home.” Tia explained.

“Thank you dear. I appreciate it.” Mom smiled. “Could you get a fire going? I’ll start cutting up the veggies.”

“Of course mom.”

Dinner had been foraged leafy greens and river roots, boiled into a simple stew. Mom and Tia had tucked me into bed, but sat around the fireplace talking quietly. I didn’t fall asleep quite yet, instead examining Sir Snuggles.

Daddy had carved it… Before he went away. Sir Snuggles was a unicorn hero who wore a feathered knight helmet.

The light from the fire danced over the grainy wood as I finally fell asleep.

~~~

I hummed happily as I walked down the forest path, the gallant knight, Sir Snuggles, as my escort.

“Come Sir Snuggles! We have yet to cross this mighty forest to rescue the fair princess!”

“But Lady Lu!” Sir Snuggles exclaimed. “Hark! Our path is blocked by gremlins!”

“Zounds!” I cried as hideously green goblins popped out of the bushes. “Have at thee villain!” I brandished a mighty sword before me and charged forward. The gremlins were a mighty foe! Yet they offered little resistance to my heroism!

As the last gremlin fell, the forest fell silent.

“Sir Snuggles?” I asked, looking around for my knight. Strangely, the brave knight was nowhere to be seen. Neither were the trees for that matter.

“Why aren’t you a brave filly?”

Confused, I looked around again. A silver mare wearing a dark dress, and an equally dark shawl that obscured the top half of her face stood where the gremlins once stood.

“Oh. Hello.” I greeted. “Have you seen Sir Snuggles? He is my valiant knight and I seem to have lost him…”

“I have not young one.” The mare replied. “But may I offer my assistance instead?”

“Assistance? Are you a mighty wizard?” I asked, looking her over.

“You could say that.” she stated gently.

“But uh…” I stalled, noticing the mare lacked the horn of a mighty wizard. “Are you not a unicorn? I’m not allowed to talk to Earth Ponies…”

“Would a mighty wizard not be able to conjure a horn?”

And suddenly a silver horn was on her head.

“Wow!” I exclaimed. “You are indeed a mighty wizard! Then welcome and well met mysterious wizard! Come! We have evil to slay and princesses to save!”

“Oh? And which princess are we saving?”

“Why Princess Sterling!” I exclaimed.

“Fascinating. Would you rather not be the Princess that needs saving?” the mare asked, her face still hidden.

I stopped in thought. “... Why would I?” I asked after a moment. “Princesses stay in towers for mighty heroes to rescue! How can I rescue anyone if I am trapped in a tower?”

“You wish to rescue and not be rescued?”

“Yeah! I want to be exactly like Sir Snuggles!” I agreed.

“Tell me about Sir Snuggles.” the mare wryly smiled.

“Sir Snuggles is the bravest, most gallant hero in the land! He has slain mighty dragons and many gremlins!”

“So you would rather be a hero than a princess?”

“Yeah!”

“I see.” The mare smiled kindly. “I think that is very noble and gallant of you.” she bent down and nuzzled the top of my head. “I foresee you becoming a great and mighty hero indeed.”

~~~

I grunted as Mom handed me a clump of watercress. She was currently in the shallows of a gently flowing river, scoping up more clumps of plant and slashing at the stems with a small knife. I stuffed the bundle into a reed saddlebag.

“Watch it Lu.” I barely had enough time to catch Tia’s bundle of watercress that she tossed. I almost dropped it as my horn flickered.

“Don’t throw things Tia.” Mom gently admonished.

“Yes mom.” the white unicorn relented. I stuffed the leaves into the bag.

“One or two more bundles mom!” I called out.

“Thank you dear.” Mom stated, pulling on more plants.

“Hey Lu look!” Tia exclaimed. I looked up to see a fish floating above Tia’s head.

“Ew Tia!” I squeaked. “Fish are nasty! Put that down!”

Tia giggled as she tossed the fish back into the water.

“Get used to touching fish Luna.” Mom informed. “One day you’re going to be in here with us.”

“You touch fish?!” I exclaimed in surprise. “Ewwww!” Mom chuckled softly.

“Not too often, but yes. We touch fish sometimes.”

“Bleh!” I made a face. “Why?? They’re so slimy and they smell weird!”

“Can’t help it sometimes. We brush against them as they swim by.”

“Here you go Lulu.” Tia passed another bundle.

“Wait!” I squawked. “Does that mean fish touched these?!” I dropped the bundle Tia gave me.

Mom and Tia only laughed

“Here you go Luna, the last fish touched watercress” Mom snarked.

“Aw geez! And you make me eat this!” I squeaked. Mom laughed even harder.

“Yes, we’re going to have it tonight. Now go bring it home! We still have time to gather more to sell to the others! Bring back a new bag!”

“Yes mom!” I chirped, my disgust all but forgotten. I turned and skipped back up the bank. The village wasn’t far, so it didn’t take me long to reenter the village itself.

“Hey look Emerald! It’s Loony Luna!” a hauntingly familiar voice called out suddenly.

“Go away Sapphire!” I squeaked indignantly. “I don’t got time to talk to you!” A pair of fillies came into view, sitting on a hay bale, one a dark green, the other a deep blue.

“Probably to go talk to yourself. Like a Loony.” the green filly snarked.

“I am not a loony!” I squeaked again.

“But your name is so similar!” the blue one replied. “Me and Emerald are going to cut jewels for the crown when we grow up, you’re going to the mad house!”

“Why would I even go to a angry house?!”

The duo erupted into laughter.

“The crazy house!” Emerald jeered.

“The loony bin!” Sapphire added.

“I’m not crazy!” I growled.

“That’s what a crazy pony would say!” They finished together.

“Gah!” I yelled, turning away towards home.

“Don’t even get us started on Celestia!” Sapphire stated loudly. “Only a crazier pony would care for a loony!”

“Take! That! Back!” I rounded again on the twins.

“Or what?” Emerald growled. “You’re one tiny pony! We’re two big ponies!”

“All I see are two big stupid ponies!” I exclaimed. What they didn’t notice was the hoof sized rock directly under Sapphire’s face.

“Ow!” exclaimed Sapphire as I lifted the rock with as much force as I could muster. Time stood still for a moment as we all locked eyes.

“You little shit!” Emerald shrieked as she leapt into a tackle.

“Eek!” I squeaked helplessly, covering my face with my forelimbs. My world became explosions of red pain in the darkness as Emerald began to throw punches.

After several forevers, I dimly noticed a sisterly voice.

“Emerald! Get off her!”

The red explosions stopped and a weight on my chest that I hadn’t noticed lifted.

“What’s going on out here?!”

“Mrs Amethyst! Your granddaughters are attacking my sister! Again!”

“Serves that little shit right.” Amethyst grunted. “Hideous little goblin ain’t right.”

Tia sputtered wordlessly.

“Tia!” mom’s familiar voice rang out. I finally opened my eyes to see an angry mom approaching. “Tia… Take Lulu home. I’ll handle Mrs. Amethyst.”

“I- Are you sure mom?” Tia asked timidly.

“Very.”

“Come along Lulu.” Tia said gently, turning away from mom and prodding me with her nose.

“They started it! They kept calling me loony! That I belonged in an angry house! And then- and then- and then-” I stammered.

“Liar!” Emerald shrieked again. “You threw a rock!”

“Enough.” Mom commanded, it seemed like the whole village fell quiet. “Celestia? If you would?”

“Yes mother.” Tia whispered simply. “Come along Lulu.” she repeated. I sniffed loudly, but otherwise followed behind Tia as we walked the rest of the way home.

As soon as the door shut I could hear mom yelling loudly. Loudly enough it felt like dust fell from the roof. I couldn’t understand what she was saying, but I could tell she was very angry.

“Th-they called you crazy for loving me Tia.” I sniffled. Tia paused for a moment, but she continued, an unreadable expression on her face.

“Let’s get the soup started Lulu.” she finally said.

“Am I crazy Tia?” I asked quietly. Tia paused again, this time while trying to remove the reed bags from my back.

“No Lulu. You’re not crazy.”

“Th- Then why do they keep calling me that? I squeaked sadly.

“I don’t know Lulu.”

Something about the way she said those words seemed unfamiliar. Like the way she said it didn’t belong in her mouth.

“And they’re not the only ones! Mrs. Amethyst! Torchwood! Hoarfrost! They all say the same thing!”

“I know Lulu.” Tia said sadly. “I know.”

Author's Note

Buckle up kids. This is gonna take a while. :trollestia:

No I'm serious. While writing this section, I was worried it was going to take up at least half the fic.

Chapter 64 The Memories Part 23

~~~

“They were doing it again.” I said into the empty night air. “Emerald and Sapphire I mean.” I looked up at the ruddy crescent in the sky. “I don’t understand why… I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong.” The pink moon didn’t answer. “I have to be doing something wrong. Everypony says the same thing. But I can’t see what they see.” I put my forelegs over my head and flopped onto the dirt. “I don’t know what to do…”

“Lulu?” a door opened behind me. “Lulu! It’s very late, come inside!” I turned to see Tia watching me with wide eyes.

“Ok Tia…” I sighed, knowing I had been caught. I wasn’t supposed to leave the house after dark.

“Lulu! You know you’re too young to be out after dark!”

“I know.” I sighed again. “I can’t help it.”

“You can’t-”

“I just don’t feel comfortable when the sun is out… Everything is too bright and it hurts my eyes, the ponies are all quiet… And I can finally hear myself when everyone is asleep!” I started to hyperventilate. “Like I’m trying to talk, but if the sun is out it’s like my head is full of bees! But as soon as the Moon is out, it’s like I can finally see clearly!”

“Ok Luna. Ok.” Tia sighed. “Let’s get you to bed.”

“Ok Tia…” I sighed as well.

~~~

“Hear-ye hear-ye peasants of Queensford!” called the guard crier. The whole village had gathered around. It was rare when a regiment of the Royal Guard came to the village, maybe once or twice a year, and never predictably. It was always a special occasion, as the Guard brought news and a few crates of food that were distributed to the peasants. Today however seemed to be a somber affair. “Queen Sterling is dead! Slain at the hooves of the Pegasi barbarians! She is succeeded by Princess Iridium Comet! Now Queen Iridium! Duchess Stellar Platinum has inherited the title of Princess! Long live Queen Iridium!”

“Long live Queen Iridium.” the peasants blandly chanted, more out of fear and habit than actual loyalty. The crier stepped down from his perch on one of the Guard’s carts, and the crowd began to disperse. I kept to Tia’s shadow, not willing to leave her side with so many ponies around, both new and familiar.

“Come on Lu, let’s go stand in line for food.” Tia murmured. I nodded, but otherwise didn't say anything. Tia then began to trot over to where the majority of the villagers were headed, the gathering of carts that were full of crates. The soldiers stood between the crowd and the supplies. The air began to fill with tension as the villagers and soldiers spoke with each other.

“I’m sorry, but we have no supplies for you.” stated a guard who had heavily ornamented armor. “If we were to give our food to you, we would not make it back to Unicornia.

“We’ve eaten nothing but watercress and watery stew for months! We’re starving!” Reeve Black Ash stated.

“No means no.” The guard commander growled. “If you’re starving so badly you can move south.”

“Away from the Protection of the Crown? We wouldn’t last the winter with the Pegasi raids!” the Reeve reasoned.

“Not my problem.” the commander grunted. “Prepare to leave! We march in one hour!” he called out to his soldiers.

“Please sir! We need your food! The watercress is almost gone and we won’t-”

The commander whirled on the Reeve, his hoof slapping her, knocking her to the ground.

“I said; We don’t have anything to give.” The commander coldly stated. The air seemed to drop several degrees as the tension between the villagers and the soldiers mounted.

“... Let’s go home Lu.” Tia whispered quietly, pushing me away gently.

“But the food?” I asked.

“Don’t worry about it.” she said far too quickly.

The air seemed to grow even colder as Tia ushered me inside our hut. She quickly followed suit. But just before she closed the door, I could swear I saw a snowflake. Which was odd, it was only early August. And it didn’t snow during August.

Could it?

~~~

Winter came early this year.

Like it did every year.

It was early September when the temperature dropped. And not long after that when the last summer storm tried to strike, instead burying the village beneath feet of snow.

“Damnit-” Mom grunted as she tried to push the front door. I could see mist on my breath. Bright white light streamed between the wooden boards. Tia was digging relentlessly in the corner, searching a woven basket for the scraps of cloth she had procured for just this purpose. As mom turned to try kicking the door open, Tia seemed to fly as she hurried between the larger cracks where the wood didn’t line up all that well.

“Luna could you start a fire? We’re gonna freeze if we can’t get out.” Mom commanded.

“Yes mom.” I squeaked, reaching over to pick up the flint and tinder next to the fireplace. It took us several minutes for us to do our tasks. Tia, because there were just that many cracks in the wood, Mom because a drift of snow had formed over the door, and me, because I was clumsy.

Tia was done first, because her task was relatively simple. Mom soon after, because she was a full grown big pony who was used to kicking things.

And finally me, when Tia rushed to help me, taking the flint from my hooves and quickly, with practiced ease, struck a spark. The wood catching in seconds.

Mom took a few moments to fully clear the doorway of snow, before looking up and inhaling sharply.

“By the Sun…” she gasped.

The dirty green world at the end of the summer months was gone. The world had become white and fluffy, wiped almost clean by the night. But as nice as it looked, horror filled our hearts. I didn't know the exact reason, but Mom and Tia dreaded the snow. And that was enough for me to know it was no good.

Mom dreaded everything, me playing near the treeline, me playing near the deepest part of the river, me playing with bees. She worried about everything. And she took being worried very seriously.

Tia on the other hoof, had a more practical view. She loved having fun, and adults were against fun. It therefore stood that Tia knew what she was talking about and could be trusted to be more sensible about things. So when Tia was worried about something, I knew she was being serious. And Tia was now nervous. Very nervous.

Other villagers were now breaking out of their homes, all having the same hustle and bustle inside as they faced similar issues.

“Sun damned Pegasi!” a voice shouted, muffled by distance.

“Can’t they see we have nothing for them?” cried another voice, in reply to the first.

“‘Oh sure, let’s attack the unicorn peasants!’” The first voice mocked loudly, yelling a conversation across the village. “‘Because they clearly have food worth taking.’”

“‘I say!’” mocked the second. “‘We Earth Ponies sure do enjoy our food! Shame the other’s can’t have it!’”

“‘Aye!’” agreed the first. “‘And we pegasi are too stupid to tell the difference!’”

The conversation became muddied as several different ponies added in with the comments, or shouted at the others to be quiet.

An impromptu village meeting took place as the adults gathered and began to argue with each other, wondering what to do about the snow.

“We have to go South!” A mare exclaimed. “We don’t have enough to last the month, much less the winter!”

“We can’t go South! The pegasi will pick us off!” a stallion rebutted.

“We don’t have anything they can take.”

Everypony erupted as they began to shout their opinion.

“Enough!” came the loud and clear voice of the Reeve. Everypony turned their attention to the mare. “If we stay we are dead. That is a fact.” she began. “If we leave, maybe the Pegasi Pirates will come. Maybe. We can’t go to Unicornia, if they had the food, we’d have some stores to get by. And it’s the same from all the nearby villages. No pony has food. The Queen Iridium news caravan left no food anywhere during their route. All the merchants and travelers confirm that. If we can flee South before any of the rest of the Kingdom gets started, we’ll have an easier time digging in the snow for rations along the way.” She explained. “If this community is to survive we need to leave now.“

The crowd murmured amongst themselves, unsure if the Reeve was right, but equally not sure if she was wrong either.

“Does anypony have a better idea?” the Reeve called, her voice echoing slightly, even in the muffled snow. The only response was a slight cough from the edge of the village. “Thought not. Come on and get your things, we need to move while we have daylight.”

And just like that, most of the ponies ducked back into their huts, the matter settled in their minds. But a few disagreed with the Reeve.

“Bah!” exclaimed Mrs Amethyst. “I’ll be damned if I leave my home!”

“Granny please.” Emerald begged at her Grandmother’s side. “We have to go.”

“Bah!” Mrs Amethyst repeated. “You young ones aren’t made of the same stuff you used to! Back in my day we made do with what we had!”

“Granny please!” Sapphire pleaded. “We’ll starve if we stay!”

“My pappy, grandpappy, and every great grandpappy since the Flight of the Alicorns has lived here! And if it was good enough for them?! It’ll be good enough for me!”

I lost track of the conversation as Mom pushed me back inside.

“Come on Lu, get dressed in the clothes I got for you. Get Sir Snuggles as well.” Mom commanded solemnly.

“Ok Mom.” I whispered, the gravity of the situation only beginning to way on my shoulders. Tia had been tending the fire, but had heard everything. She was already halfway dressed with what rags she could scrounge for keeping warm.

My rags were dirty. Mud stained, and greasy from former lives as holey discarded dish cloths, they were a sorry sight even to my eyes.

I hated that they were dirty.

But then again everything was dirty somehow.

I put them on with only a little difficulty.

“Ready Mom.” I stated, picking up the worn Sir Snuggles and tucking him into a shirt pocket. Mom had finished much quickly then I had, and had moved to tucking clay jars into a saddlebag.

“Don’t tell anyone we have spare rations.” she whispered to both of us.

“Yes mom.” We chanted together.

“If they find out we’ll be torn apart by starving ponies.”

“Of course mom.” Tia nodded. All I could do was grimace as I imagined Emerald and Sapphire beating me up again for food.

“Good. Now let’s stand by the fire while we wait for the others to get ready.”

The fire was small, and didn’t provide much warmth, but it pushed back the cold just enough to be worth protecting.

“Oh Tia,” Mom said suddenly while we were waiting. “Fill your bag with firewood. It won’t last us long but it’ll be nice to have.

“Yes Mom.” Tia obediently agreed, bending over the fire wood to place in her watercress gathering bag. No one said anything else as the minutes grew longer. Finally a crowd began to gather again outside.

“Let’s go.” Mom said simply.

The villagers had gathered their belongings. Blankets and keepsakes from their personal lives were common, but did not dominate the luggage because of the simple fact keepsakes were typically small, and the village was simply too poor to have more than you could carry.

It was strange, abandoning the only home you’ve ever known. One moment you’re listening to the adults talking amongst themselves, and the next you’re looking at the small hut that you’ve spent your whole life in, knowing you will never again enter its doors.

Chapter 65 The Memories Part 24

~~~

The trek South was long and harsh. The snow made it nearly impossible for the caravan to move with significant speed. The strongest were at the front, pushing snow away so the few carts the village had could move. It didn’t help much, because the wheels kept getting stuck in the snow and mud mix left behind by the hoofsteps of so many ponies. When that happened, ponies would either help pull the cart out, or dig in the snow for anything still green to eat.

Even worse, ponies began to disappear during the night after the 6th day.

At first, it was thought they simply wandered off in the night as they woke up to make water and couldn’t find their way back. The bloody bones of the fourth pony to go missing the next morning disabused the caravan of that notion. Something had dragged her off in the middle of the night, and then had eaten her. It was after that discovery, a militia was formed, using makeshift spears made from reasonably thick and sturdy sticks sharpened to a point and hardened with fire. The already solemn mood soured after that. Ponies going missing from the village was not a new event, usually happening once or twice a year. But the caravan was exposed without the admittingly meager protection of their huts. And the villagers knew it.

As the number of days spent on the road increased, the dark seemed to press in closer and closer. While the formation of the militia did seem to ward away more attacks, a few more ponies still disappeared into the night. When the Sun fell below the horizon was the worst. Occasionally, you would see movement, or glowing orbs out of the corner of your eye. Or hear soft snarls or snapping twigs in the snow covered underbrush.

It was during this time I learned there was no such thing as gremlins. But wolves made of rotten wood, or horrifying amalgamations of bee and bear, or reptilian titans that seemed to be made of stone more than flesh, were real. Very real.

While attacks no longer happened nightly, the denizens of the night made their presence known. Only the bravest or most powerful monsters tried their luck.

It was on one such night my life changed forever.

~~~

The sounds of the night were filled with the howl of wolves, of monsters growling at each other as they postured in their pecking order. I huddled against mom, practically trying to hide underneath her as I watched the treeline in the distance, barely reflecting the light from several campfires. Tia was huddled on the other side, our rears facing the nearby fire. Our fronts pointed towards the dark. Everypony contributed to the night watch, about a third of the village awake at any time. If not for the exhaustion of marching and foraging in the snow for a month, the whole village would’ve been awake with all the sounds that made the night far too alive for comfort.

The only comfort was, despite being the winter months, the weather was getting warmer. The snow had covered less and less the further South we went. Even the vegetation had remained green when the snow had finally been left behind.

A sound, a slight rumble you had to strain to hear, gave pause to the monsters on the other side of the darkness. The silence reigned with eerie stillness compared to the wild orchestra of gathered monsters. While the ramport was scary in on itself, simply because the monsters were announcing themselves, the silence was worse. Sounds had to be coming from something, and if that something stayed away while making those noises, all was well. Or at least less bad. Silent monsters meant they were hiding. Hiding from something else, or sneaking in for another attack. You never knew which.

While the silence did lull a few with drowsy eyelids, most of the awake ponies stiffened and prepared for something to come out of the treeline. Almost as suddenly as it started, the silence ended. But the returning cacophony of the wild monsters didn’t really soothe the nerves of the villagers.

Hours passed before the same rumble as before sounded, closer this time. Silence fell once again. Exhausted ponies drifted into slumber without the constant reminder that they were being hunted. But the eerie silence kept me wide awake. Mom was breathing steadily, but was awake and alert. I could hear Tia’s relaxed breath as she snuggled against Mom.

The deceptive tranquility was broken with a loud roar that was far too close.

Tall shapes loomed above the trees, scales reflected flickering fire light. Ivory teeth as long as a pony’s forelimb seemed to glow with a warm light. Six bright yellow eyes shone from the night with malevolent glee.

“HYDRA!” Somepony screamed.

The Hydra pushed its way into the camp, its three heads snapping at nearby ponies who were still getting up. The camp became a rush of color and chaos as ponies began to panic, the hydra wading through the pandemonium with ease, several screaming ponies disappearing down its gullet.

“Luna!” Mom exclaimed. I looked over to see Mom and Tia running to the center of the camp, away from the Hydra. Nodding, I followed, having got up at some point in the chaos. The more level headed ponies began to rally around the centermost campfires. Makeshift spears held in hoof and magic.

“Drive it back with fire!” Mr Torchwood exclaimed, a ray of fire leaping from his horn. The Hydra screamed in pain behind me as the spell connected with its target.

By now, the rest of the ponies had regrouped with the spearline, picking up rocks and still burning sticks when they couldn’t get their own spears. The Hydra swayed as it stood over the abandoned part of the camp, its teeth now stained with a glinting liquid that seemed black in the poor light. It roared again, and lunged for the front most ponies. Now much more prepared, the ponies jabbed at the Hydra’s heads, trying to discourage them from snapping up more villagers. More ponies still waved their burning sticks in front of the Hydra’s eyes, making it hiss like a giant snake as it backed up towards the camp’s edge.

Something shifted in the Hydra’s eyes as it seemed to realize these ponies would not let themselves be an easy meal. The largest, centermost head began to convulse and gag as it regurgitated.

“Look out!” Mr. Hoarfrost exclaimed.

“BLURGH!” the Hydra convulsed, a stream of dirty green liquid spewing from its mouth. Several ponies were caught in the stream, screaming in pain as the acid began to eat into their skin. Several Unicorns began to throw their spears at the hydra, aiming for its eyes or open mouth. Only one or two managed to find their marks, but they didn’t seem to slow the Hydra down. The other two heads began to vomit acid, catching more ponies as they began to panic and break again.

I found myself standing still in this new chaos. The Hydra looming above me, its center head held imperiously high, as if inviting anyone to challenge its might.

I glanced around, ponies were running...

Fleeing...

Dying.

A mare whose name I never learned had her back half completely melted away. She was thankfully far too still to be alive. Another, a stallion this time, found himself in the left head’s mouth, his spear jabbing at an eye as he tried to free himself.

This was wrong.

This wasn’t working.

Suddenly I noticed the red tinged crescent moon far in the distance. I knew the other ponies feared the moon, but I suddenly got the impression of a silver mare, wearing a black veil, sitting on a wrought iron bench. Her hind legs crossed, her head resting on a hoof with a bored yet expectant expression.

Dumbly, I looked down in shame, because I didn’t know what I could do. This was a Hydra! There were very few stories about Hydras, and all of them said the same thing. “Don’t fight a Hydra. It will eat you.”

At some point, Sir Snuggles had fallen from my pocket, and he lay trampled in the mud. The light from a nearby campfire reflected off his helmet. I could almost hear him saying something heroic.

“Slay this beast and protect your charges Lady Lu!”

I knew what I had to do.

A spear had fallen nearby, thrown away by a fleeing villager, or dropped by a pony who had been eaten, I didn’t know. But it would have to do. My magic grasped the spear with uncharacteristic ease as I floated it before me. I glanced all over the Hydra, fearfully looking for a weakness I wasn’t sure existed.

There.

In the center of its belly, something far bigger and meaner than me had scraped away some of the Hydra’s scales. Leaving a hole the perfect size for a spear to puncture.

I wasted no time as I charged with my new spear.

“RAAAAAAAGH!” I screamed a wild cry as the Hydra loomed larger than life ahead.

And just like that, the spear had found itself half buried in the Hydra’s guts, my aim had been true. The Hydra screamed in pained rage. Its heads flailed as it tried to balance itself, but none of the heads could agree how to. The Hydra fell with a titanic crash to the forest floor, its lungs working in vain for air. And then it took its last, rattling breath.

Silence reigned as the remaining ponies came to terms with what just happened.

“L-Luna…” came a haggard, yet familiar voice.

I looked over to see a sight that would haunt me for the rest of time.

At some point, Mom had been hit by a splash of acid. Even now, over half of her chest was gone, her still twitching, and acid soaked organs exposed to the air.

“Mommy!” I squeaked, my old fillyhood self returning to the surface.

“Luna…” Mom repeated breathlessly. “I’m so proud of you Luna.”

“Mom!” Tia scrambled into view on Mom’s opposite side.

“Celestia…” Mom sighed happily. “I’m so proud of both of you.”

“Don’t say that Mom, we’ll get you better. I’ll-”

“Don’t Tia.” Mom admonished. “I’m done. Hydra acid is far too powerful.”

“But Mom… You have to stay with us… I don’t know we’ll live without you.”

“I’m sorry Mom.” Tears began to stream down my face. “I wasn’t fast enough. I could’ve been faster. I-”

“Oh you two.” Mom sighed again. “I’m proud of both of you. Tia, you’ve got a good head on your shoulders. Someday I expect you to be a great leader of ponies. Lulu, you’re braver than many soldiers of the Royal Guard. You’ll be a fine swordmaiden when you grow up.” Mom started to cough. “T-take care of each other, apart you will be great. But together you will rewrite the fate of the world.” She coughed again. “I-I’m sorry I could not leave you with more. But you have been the best daughters a mare could have.” Mom’s visible organs had nearly disappeared.

“Stay with us Mom! We’ll save you!” Tia screamed hysterically.

“I love you both-” Mom sighed one last time, falling still and silent.

My vision began to cloud over completely as tears filled my eyes. I buried my face in what portions of Mom’s coat were undamaged from the acid, her warmth already beginning to fade.

“Mom? Mom?!” Tia shrieked.

We cried for what felt like hours. The movement and grieving of other ponies was the only thing that connected us to the outside world.

Nebula Glow, Mom, was gone.

Author's Note

:ajsleepy:

Chapter 66 The Memories Part 25

~~~

Morning came heralded with gray somber light. There were merely twelve of us left. Less than half of us who left the village had survived the night. Mr. Hoarfrost, Brisk Road, Snow Step, Mr. Torchwood, Firelight, Emerald Gleam, Sapphire Shine, Violet Shimmer, Ocean Breeze, Star Song, Celestia, and myself.

Brisk Road and Snow Step were Mr Hoarfrost’s son and daughter. Firelight was Mr Torchwood’s filly. Violet Shimmer was a foalless widow. Ocean Breeze and Star Song were a young couple married for less than a year. Emerald and Sapphire needed no introduction.

Crows began to gather in the trees, the scent of the slain Hydra drawing them in by the hundreds. Little was said between the survivors, but there was an unspoken agreement that what remained of the dead needed to be burned. It would’ve been wrong to leave them for the wolves.

I tried not to think about who I was dragging into the pile to be burned.

The day was otherwise a blur. The faceless bodies of the dead being dragged to the body of the Hydra, somepony had at some point started a roaring fire to stop it from regenerating back to life. All twelve of us stood around the pyre silently as our loved ones burned.

The thought that Mom was gone kept stabbing me like a knife.

Taken.

Stolen.

The Hydra had stolen so many lives just in the past few hours. How many had it taken in the last week? Last month? Last year? How many had it stolen in total? How many loved ones would never again see their friends and family because of this one Hydra?

I hated it.

I hated that so many were taken. I hated that countless ponies would feel the exact same pain I was. I hated that this one Hydra was responsible. But most of all, I hated that this was only one Hydra. How many more Hydras lurked in the wilds? And how many more ponies would they take? And that was just the Hydras! What about the wolves? What about the undead? Every monster, from the simple cave slime to the elder unspeakable horrors in the dark. All ate ponies! All spilled innocent blood!

All inflicted this pain on Ponykind.

And that was unforgivable.

“Come on” Hoarfrost began when the pyre had become little more than ash and cinders, his white coat catching the fading firelight. “We’re burning daylight, and this camp will be picked over come nightfall.”

“And since when have you been the Reeve’s replacement?” A tan coated, fiery red maned Torchwood advanced on the frosty white stallion.

“We don’t have time for your shenanigans Torchwood.” Hoarfrost coldly replied, his frost blue eyes narrowing. “We move or we will be overrun by scavengers.”

The two stallions glared at each other as they jockeyed for the now vacant position of leader.

“Hold on you two.” Tia interrupted, pushing her way between the two stallions. “We can’t turn on each other, not now. But we must move. Hoarfrost is right, scavengers and Pegasi will pick this camp apart before nightfall. If we’re here or not.”

“Fine.” Torchwood snorted, his fiery auburn mane seeming to bounce with the force of the snort.

“Excellent.” Hoarfrost smiled, although sincere, it lacked warmth. “Everypony pick up a spear, we don’t have the numbers to rely on for safety.” No one seemed to disagree, so we picked up what spears had been left over from the battle.

We left in a wagon less than an hour later.

~~~

The going was easier. With not so many ponies to make mud out of hard dirt, the wagon didn’t get stuck as often, and there were considerably less mouths to feed. Without so many ponies, the monster attacks began to lessen as well. Not so many drawing the attention of the hungry wilds supposedly.

I wasn’t sure if I liked that or not, it made me feel sick every time I found myself enjoying the easier road.

It was during this time I realized I had forgotten Sir Snuggles at the campsite. My grief at losing Mom had made me forget all about the doll, but it was far too late to turn around.

Just another thing that the Hydra had stolen.

I swiftly lost track of the days. It just didn’t seem worth it without Mom. Being around Tia helped, but it was too easy to be reminded about our loss. So I took every opportunity to get away from the group. The adults took turns pulling the cart. Emerald, Sapphire, and myself were still too small to pull. That was my main excuse for trying to get away. Never too far, and never without the spear I had claimed for myself, but just enough I wouldn’t have to worry about accidentally meeting Tia’s tear filled eyes.

I don’t know how long we were on the move. Snow fell occasionally, but it never got too deep. Slowly but surely, what little remained of the snow began to melt away. The snow stopped falling, replacing itself with light rain. White banks of snow became piles of slush before giving way to brown, barely alive plants. But even those swiftly turned green and began to reach towards the sky.

It was around then that we first saw them.

We were traveling down a relatively clear patch of wilderness when something zipped overhead. Dumb with shock I looked upward, seeing nothing but blue sky. But then another thing zipped by.

“-eather boy, stormy weather!” the thing sang as it flew by.

“Pegasi!” Hoarfrost whisper screeched. “Pull the cart under the trees!”

The pullers, Tia and Ocean Breeze didn’t waste any time, pulling the cart to the nearest meager tree they could.

“Out from the hurricane, steady she goes!” sang another flier by, followed very soon by another, and another, and another.

“Come, the season winds taking us far! All through the sky lanes and out beneath the stars!” sang the formation as they flew overhead.

We huddled together as the sky began to fill with even more flying ponies.

“And it’s windy weather boy, stormy weather! When the wind blows and we’re all together! Boys blow ye winds fringe ward blow ye winds blow! Out from the hurricane, steady she goes!”

“Get your spears up! If they see us they’ll be on us before we can respond!” Hoarfrost whispered loudly.

“Come all you young seafarers listen to me! I’ll sing you a song of our fate from the sea!”

We did our best to prepare our shoddy spears without attracting the attention of the seemingly endless swarm.

“And it’s windy weather boy, stormy weather! When the wind blows and we’re all together! Boys blow ye winds fringe ward blow ye winds blow! Out from the hurricane, steady she-”

“About face! Horns below! Aft starboard!” exclaimed a mare, cutting through the shanty like a knife.

“Shit!” Torchwood grunted, conjuring a shimmering shield above the cart. The swarm of Pegasi turned, banking in differing, yet organized, directions to reposition their formation. As confusing as it was, they swiftly took up a new flight pattern, circling above our cart like a tornado. A single pony landed in front of the cart, wings splayed aggressively, their helmet vertically crested.

The commander.

“What do we have here?” the pony called, revealing themselves to be a mare. “Unicorns this far South? Didn’t think you lot had the balls to leave the protection of your crown!”

“Stuff it feather brain! Our business is our own and we will have nothing to do with you!” Hoarfrost responded.

“Shame that.” The commander took her helmet off, revealing a coat the color of torrential blue, her mane the color of thunderclouds about to break, her eyes a striking bright magenta. “‘Cuz last I checked, there’s a toll for traveling these lands. And it’s our business to collect.” the mare smirked viciously. “Pay up.”

“We have no money to give to you. And if we did, it would be the coin of Unicornia. Something I’m sure you wouldn’t accept!” Hoarfrost growled.

“It’s very fortunate then that we have a currency exchange policy. You give us something equal in value to Pegasopolan coin, and then you use that coin to pay the toll. Savvy?” the Pegasus tsked.

“Vile brigands is what you are!” Hoarfrost exclaimed.

“Careful who you insult there, old timer.” the commander grinned. “It would be a shame if the toll were to suddenly increase.”

“We-” Hoarfrost began, only to have his muzzle clamped shut by a sunny yellow glow.

“What my friend here means to say is that we are poor peasants.” Tia interrupted with a placating smile. “But we’re getting ahead of ourselves- May we know the name of who we are dealing with?”

“Finally, somepony with manners.” the commander sighed. “My name is Commander Hurricane, and I will be conducting your exchange this evening.”

“My name is Celestia, it’s a pleasure to meet you Commander.” Tia smiled.

“Likewise.”

“Now, as my friend here was saying, we have no material good we can give you. Our food is barely edible, and we have no coin. So is there a service we could provide you? Emerald and Sapphire can cut any gems you may have, or we could darn a few of your saddlebags?”

“Tempting. Tempting.” Hurricane clicked her tongue. “But how could we trust you to not sabotage our equipment?”

“Same way we can’t trust you to not take us prisoner.” Tia countered.

“Fair enough.” the Commander sighed. “So you’ll patch some of our equipment, and we’ll let you go? Is that the deal we’re coming to?”

“I would agree to these terms.” Tia nodded.

“The deal is struck.” Hurricane nodded, reaching out with a hoof. Tia unbuckled herself from the cart and approached, taking the Commander’s hoof with her own and shaking. The Commander turned slightly and let out a shrill whistle.

“Stand down! We’ll camp here for the night! If any of you want any holes in your gear fixed, come have the Unicorns fix them!”

“What the hay have you done?!” Hoarfrost whispered at Tia when she came back. “You’ve signed us into a slave collar!”

“Well Hoarfrost.” Tia grinned over gritted teeth. “If you must know, I’m doing what I can to keep us all alive. And they won’t take us prisoner. Our cart is much too heavy, and we would slow them down far too much to be worth it.” she pulled her saddlebags out of the back of the wagon. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to put my sewing and weaving skills to good use and not get run through with a spear.” she huffed as she pulled out a spool of thread and a single needle from her saddlebags, turned and left without another word. I didn’t know what to do, so I jumped from the cart and followed Tia, flinching as the Pegasi soldiers began to land all around me, beginning to set up their own camp.

Tia was talking to one such soldier who had come with a sizable hole in his bag when I pressed myself as close to Tia as I physically could.

“Heh. Daughter of yours?” he chuckled.

“Sister.” Tia responded. “Lu, don’t hug me too tight, I won’t be able to stitch this if I can’t move.”

“I’m scared Tia. Too many ponies.” I murmured.

“We won’t be long. Just need to-”

“I gotta say Celestia, you’ve got a good head on those shoulders of yours.” the voice of the Commander interrupted. “Don’t meet too many that are willing to bargain.”

“Oh. Thank you Ma’am” Tia responded, taken slightly aback.

“Nah, don’t thank me, just calling out what I see.” The Commander loomed into view, her helmet under a wing. “Old scout habit I haven't kicked yet.” she sat down and began to stretch. “So tell me about yourselves. Not too often I get to hear about the other tribes.”

“Oh- Um, while I’m darning this bag?” Tia asked hesitantly.

“The camp ain’t going to need me until morning or until something interesting happens.” Hurricane replied lackadaisically.

“That’s not- Oh whatever.” Tia sighed as she sat down in the grass, needle and thread already beginning to dance through the bag’s fabric. “We all lived in the same village, on the Southern frontier of the Crown. Food’s always been scarce, but this past year has been particularly bad. Even the occasional patrol of the Guard wouldn’t bring us supplies. Winter came early and we had to leave. Leave or starve. A few of us stayed, but most of us left. I’m- I’m not sure if leaving was the right thing to do.”

“Oh? We birds aren’t all that scary are we?” the Commander sighed, reclining in the grass like a filly.

“No.” Tia stated. “A few days in we began to lose ponies. And after a month on the road, a Hydra thought we’d be a good meal… Not even half of us lived that night.”

“Sorry to hear that…” Hurricane mumbled, suddenly lacking her carefree attitude.

“We only survived because of Luna here. She killed it.” Tia gestured down at me.

I did my best to disappear into her fur.

“This filly?” Hurricane asked. “Not saying you’re a liar Celestia, but I’m not sure I believe that. She’s a bit too young to be holding a… spear.” the Commander cast a sideways glance at our sharpened sticks.

“I wasn’t fast enough. It killed mom.” I sadly stated. By now, several of the soldiers had been listening in, waiting for their bags to be fixed or listening to the story. All of them looked at each other with knowing glances.

“Not too many can claim to put down a Hydra.” the Commander said, almost to herself. “For just a filly to kill one… You’d have to be good with a weapon or very lucky…” she turned her head suddenly. “Luna was it?”

I nodded.

“Before the dinner bell, do you want to show me how well you handle that spear? I’m curious how good you are.” the Commander stated. I couldn’t tell if she was being sincere. What was her game? I was just a filly. Obviously I wouldn’t be very good. Especially to a grown mare. I glanced at Tia, looking for some hint on what I should do.

“Do what you want Lu. I’ll be right here.” she smiled.

“If you want, I can show you some tips and tricks in case you meet another Hydra.”

“Yes please.” I didn’t even hesitate. The countless number of ponies eaten by monsters flowed across my vision.

I had to save as many as I could.

For Sir Snuggles.

For Mom.

I had to.

~~~

The Pegasi camp had surrounded the copse of trees we had tried hiding the wagon under. They erected neat orderly rows of identical tents. Which was a novel concept to me, coming from a village whose layout could have been described at best as “random”. The village would always be my home, but the orderly camp was satisfying in a way I couldn’t describe.

I liked it.

There were only two exceptions in the camp that broke the uniformity. One, a tent larger than the rest, where the soldiers had set up seats and a cooking fire. The second was an open area where soldiers would spar with each other, keeping their skills sharp. It was the open area that the Commander brought me to.

“Alright kid, show me what you got.” the Commander rasped, gently tossing one of the Pegasi spears in my direction.

“Aaah!” I squeaked, trying to catch it with my magic. It was heavier than I thought though, and it dropped to the ground with a clatter. “Sorry! Was heavier than I expected.” I tried to explain.

“Rule number one. Never drop your weapon.” The Commander stomped on one end of the spear, causing it to flip into her wing’s grasp. “Try again.” This time I caught the spear with only a little difficulty, my magic flickering as I tried to reign it in.

“Now wh-” I began.

“Think fast.” The Commander tossed a rock at me.

“Aaah!” I squeaked again, I tried to both dodge and whack the rock away, but I knocked the rock back into myself.

“Heh.” the Commander chuckled. “Again.” she tossed another rock, a bit harder this time. I managed to knock away the stone by swinging the spear like a really long club.

“How is this-”

“Again.” the Commander commanded. This time, one of the watching soldiers tossed a rock.

“Hey!” I exclaimed as it bounced painfully off my flank.

“Gotta watch everywhere.” the Commander snarked. “Again.”

A different soldier tossed a rock. I managed to lift my rear end so the rock missed.

“I thought you wanted to see what I could do?!” I squeaked indignantly.

“I am.” this time the Commander herself tossed a rock. I brought the spear down, spiking the rock into the ground. “How do you expect to fight a Hydra properly if you don’t pay attention to all of its heads?”

“By throwing rocks at me?!”

“Rocks, heads, spears, not really any difference.” This time she flicked one of her ears. Time seemed to slow down as I tried to process why she did that. Almost too late did I realize she was telling one of her soldiers to throw another rock.

Almost.

The thrown rock impacted off the shaft of my spear with a resounding THUNK as it sailed into the distance. The Commander seemed to watch it fly into the distance, before she began to make a sort of choking noise.

Fearing I had somehow hit her, I rushed over.

“Oh no! Did I hit you? I didn’t mean to! I-” I stopped as I realized she wasn’t choking.

She was laughing.

“Hahahaha!” she laughed merrily. “You saw! You saw me flick my ear and you understood what it meant!” she patted me on the shoulder. “You’ve got potential kid. I’ll grant you that.”

“I- I’m confused…” I muttered.

“This is how we train all recruits.” the Commander began. “It’s important you pay attention on the battlefield to everything. That’s rule number two. Pay attention.” she wiped tears away from her eyes with a hoof, still chuckling. “One of the most important things in a fight is knowing how and when to dodge. Even more so than jabbing at your opponent with the sharp end of a stick.” she grinned. “What impresses me most though, is that you didn’t let yourself fall into our pattern. You knew attacks were coming, but you didn’t rely on us announcing our attacks. You adapted almost immediately when we showed a new tell.”

“A new… Tell?” I asked.

“Yes, a tell.” the Commander sat down on her haunches and gestured for me to do so as well. “I don’t suppose you play cards do you? No? A tell is like an announcement. A sign of what someone will do. Like the tensing of muscles before a lunge. Or someone saying ‘Again.’ before throwing a rock.”

I nodded, doing my best to memorize what she was saying.

“Tells can be subtle or obvious. Truly skilled warriors can fake their tells to lure their opponent into reacting the wrong way.”

“Like saying ‘Again’ and then not throwing a rock!” I chirped.

“You catch on quick.” she smiled. “Yes exactly. Point is, don’t get too comfortable falling into a patter-”

“Heh. Figures the little goblin would stoop to learning from birdbrains.” came a familiar voice from the side of the clearing. I looked over to see Hoarfrost glaring daggers in my direction.

“Charming fellow aren’t you?” the Commander sighed. “Don’t you have… Something better to do?”

“I’ve never been good at sewing.” Hoarfrost sneered. “So I decided I’d watch you either stone the little shit, or at least stop you from filling her head with bird nonsense.”

“I was under the impression you were from the same village. Yet this is the second time in a minute you’ve insulted merely a filly.” The Commander challenged. “Do Unicorns truly hate their own young so much?”

“You don’t even know do you?” Hoarfrost sighed dramatically. “Can’t you see? She’s moon marked. Talks to it and everything.” The Commander froze in her tracks.

It was a long moment before she glanced back at me. Her eyes were no longer cheerful.

“Better moon marked than a kin traitor.” she growled, turning back to the white Unicorn. Hoarfrost smirked viciously, but turned away, his nose dramatically in the air.

“Humph!” he snorted, trotting away.

“... What’s ‘moon marked’ mean?” I asked when he was gone.

“You don’t-” Commander Hurricane started. “Of course you don’t.” she interrupted herself. “Just- Just go back to your sister. I think we’re done for today.”

“Oh… Ok.” I sighed sadly. I was having fun, and I wanted to know more. “What should I do with this?” I offered the spear, which was leaning against me. The Commander’s eyes twitched towards the weapon then back to my face.

“... Keep it.” she said finally. “At the very least it’ll upset your ‘friend’.”

“A-are you sure? I don’t want to take it if you need-”

“Just. Take. It.” she looked away. “Got too many anyway.” she trailed off as she disappeared into the camp.

I shuffled awkwardly in place as the soldiers suddenly found more interesting things to look at.

The trek back to our cart was a long one. It felt like everypony’s eyes were watching me. If it was “my” new spear, or if I had some invisible thing I was marked with, I wasn’t sure. Moon marked? What could that mean? I hadn’t gotten my mystic mark yet, so that couldn’t have been it. Was it because I talked to the moon? How could that leave me “marked” in a noticeable way that I couldn’t see? What was so wrong with the moon? Ponies hid during the night to hide from monsters, but that wasn’t because of the moon… Right?

Nopony stopped me and my new weapon when I got to the cart. Tia had returned from her work and was stoking a fire. The others must still have been working, or at least mingling with the Pegasi.

“Lu? Oh you’re back sooner than I expected.” Tia greeted. “Did they give you that spear? Odd, I wouldn’t think they’d arm a potential enemy. Oh well, it’ll serve you better then our sti-”

“What does ‘moon marked’ mean?” I blurted.

Tia stopped midspeech.

“He finally let it slip didn’t he?” she sighed.

“What does ‘moon marked’ mean?” I repeated, this time more forcibly.

“Sit down Luna. This- This has been a talk we’ve been needing to have.” she murmured, grabbing my attention even more since she used my real name, not a foalish nickname. I sat down and waited silently.

“Do- Do you know why ponies hide at night?” she began.

“Yes. Because monsters come at night.” I stated simply.

“Well- Well yes that. But why do monsters come at night?”

“Because they’re monsters who hide in the dark.” I replied evenly. Tia fidgeted nervously.

“I- Ok yes, that is a reason…” Tia sighed. “Ok, you know how Unicorns have been given stewardship over the Sun?”

“Yes. Because the Sun has blessed Unicorns with magic. Mom told us this tale when we were fillies.”

“Do you know who stewards the Moon?” Tia replied, trying to get me to understand.

“I- No. I don’t know.” I shook my head.

“Ponies don’t like to talk about it, but a pony does steward the Moon. A dark lord in a far away land… He’s- He’s the one who allows monsters to attack ponies during the night. That authority is vested in him by the Moon.”

“But- But how does that affect me?” I asked, hysterics beginning to take hold. “I’m not a dark lord! I just talk to the moon because she listens!”

“She?” Tia asked. I shook my head, ignoring her.

“Is that so wrong? The other ponies call me names and tell me to go away! And as much as I love you Tia, I can’t tell you everything! That wouldn’t be fair to you! So who am I supposed to talk to?”

“I-” Tia shook her head. “‘Moon marked’ is what ponies call other ponies who show too much interest in the Moon.”

“But that doesn’t make sense!” I protested. “The phrasing is all wrong! I’m not ‘marked’ with anything!”

“It- No it doesn’t make sense.” Tia shook her head. “But that’s the way things are.”

Author's Note

https://youtu.be/oBL9dTwVi4I

Chapter 67 The Memories Part 26

~~~

I stood in a hazy fog. Fog so thick I couldn’t tell if I was walking on solid ground, or walking on a cloud. I couldn’t see anything with what little distance I could see.

“I’m dreaming.” I decided.

“Indeed you are young one.” came a voice like a silver bell. I turned to see a mare in a black dress, sitting on a wrought bench. A black veil covered her eyes.

“I know you.” I proclaimed.

“I’d be surprised if you didn’t.” the mare riposted, taking a sip from a cup of tea that had not existed seconds before.

“Why do you talk to me?” I demanded. “I just learned that everypony hates me because of you.”

The silver mare swirled her tea, as if pondering her answer.

“Not many would be brave enough to demand anything from me.” she eventually sighed.

“I wouldn’t care if you were Queen of Unicornia, you’re ruining my life.”

“And that’s why you are chosen. You are not afraid.” the mare looked up, bright silver light peaked through the threads of her veil. “May I answer you with a story?”

“I- What?” I asked, confused at the turn this conversation was taking.

“Long ago, before the Flight of the Alicorns.” the mare began, ignoring my question. “A mighty stallion rose to prominence. He was a charismatic leader, a skilled magician, and a strong warrior. But he was greedy. He yearned for more, arguing that a pony as skilled as he was deserved more than even a King or Queen. And he got his demands. Royalty, all across the world paid handsomely for his services. It was not long before he became the wealthiest pony alive.”

This sounded like a long tale so I sat down on my haunches.

“But for all his wealth, he could not buy one thing. He could not stop himself from dying. He drove himself to madness in his quest for everlasting life. His vast riches began to dwindle as he pursued this one thing. He demanded more extravagant payment for his services. More and more did he demand, all to fund his obsessive quest.”

The silver mare took a sip from her tea.

“But his quest was in vain. At the eleventh hour before his death of old age, he stood as destitute as the day he was born. In desperation he reached out to a dark power and made a deal. He would be granted eternal youth if he were to steal one thing for this Primal Darkness. And so, the Darkness sent the stallion forward. And long did he quest, searching for this object. Unable to die until he had failed his mission. But the stallion did not trust this Primal Darkness. So when he found this object, he ordered his minions to take the object and to hide it in a castle he had claimed as his own. So that he may retrieve it at will. When the Primal Darkness returned to the stallion; ‘Where art the artifact?’ it inquired. ‘I am looking for it.’ The stallion lied. ‘You lie knave.” the Darkness accused. ‘But hark, you have claimed it in my name. Therefore you shall be given half of the payment agreed to.’ And the stallion shuddered, as the fine drink he had been partaking suddenly tasted like ash in his mouth. ‘You shall have life, but it shall not be eternal. To live, you must steal the lifeblood of others. You will labor under this curse until such a time you lose my artifact, or give unto me my payment.’ The stallion grinned, for he had fallen far, and cared not for the lives of his fellow ponies. That dread night, the stallion held a grand ball for his closest associates. There he ritualistically drained them of their blood, but forced them to ingest a few drops of his own blood. It is this way he passed on his curse. And thus the first coven of vampires was made.”

“Not to be rude, as this is a tale I’ve not heard before, but what does this have to do with you?” I interrupted.

“Can you not guess? I’ve already mentioned myself in the tale.” the silver mare admonished.

“... The stallion was after you wasn’t he?” I asked after a moment of thought.

“Yes.” the mare nodded sadly. “But fret not, not all of my hope is lost.” she waved and conjured a shadowy image of a bright white rock. “The stallion wished to keep me for himself, but could not touch what tethers me to your realm. If he were to do that, he would be forced to give me up for his eternal life, or die.”

“What are you asking me?” I asked, my voice squeaking a little.

“For now? Nothing.” The silver mare set her teacup aside and put her front hooves in her lap. “You are far too young to ask for a favor. But do not mistake me.” she paused for a moment, giving me a serious glare. “Someday, I will ask you for something. And when that day comes, know you are free to refuse me without consequence. I choose you, but you must also choose me.”

“I’m- I’m not sure I understand.” I said.

“No.” the mare agreed, her veil bobbing slightly as she nodded along. “But don’t worry… You will. You will.” she promised.

I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

~~~

I awoke the next morning to the Pegasi breaking camp. They eyed me wearily as I watched from our cart, but did not directly comment. They took off within the hour, leaving the remnants of our village alone.

“Good riddance” Hoarfrost grunted as he hitched himself to the wagon. “Next time Celestia, let me do the talking.”

“I beg your pardon?!” Tia gasped as she got into the cart beside me. “The only reason we’re still alive is because I started talking!”

“Better to die with our honor as Unicorns than live as servants!” Hoarfrost rebutted as Torchwood hitched himself to the wagon as well.

“Better alive than a bullheaded dolt.” the tan Unicorn muttered.

“What did you say?!” Hoarfrost challenged.

“Bucking drop it dumbass.” Ocean Breeze stated out loud as she walked by. Hoarfrost began to sputter, until his eyes landed on my and my Pegasoplian spear.

“What do you have there goblin?” his eyes alighted with opportunity.

“A spear.” I stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“One of the bird’s spears.” he corrected. “Throw it away, we have no time to deal with birdbrain nonsense.”

“No.” I stated, clutching it to my chest.

I was starting to really not like him.

“Throw-” he began again.

“Hoarfrost is it your intention to get on everypony’s nerves?” Celestia admonished. “Because you are swiftly becoming a nuisance to everypony.”

Hoarfrost glanced around to see everypony glaring at him. Pegasi made or not, the spear was much better than the carved sticks we had made.

“Fine.” Hoarfrost grit his teeth. “But keep in mind who’s going to teach the goblin how to fight like a Unicorn.” With that, he turned up his nose with a “Humph” and made a point of ignoring the rest of us.

“Alright Tia, you seem to be taking charge well, any idea where to go?” Torchwood asked.

“Keep heading South. We’re not too far from the edges of Clan territory. We can still find an Earth pony settlement and barter for food. Failing that, the vegetation further South should be sufficient to forage.”

Hoarfrost snorted derisively, but otherwise made no comment.

“Sounds like a plan to me!” Torchwood grinned, making to pull the cart.

~~~

The following week went by in mostly silence. Hoarfrost stuck his nose up at anything the rest of us had to say, with the exception of Snow Step, Brisk Road, Emerald and Sapphire. I learned Emerald and Sapphire were his nieces, so it made sense where they got their dumbness from.

We did see a few more swarms of Pegasi in the distance, if it was Hurricane’s swarm or another raiding party we didn’t know. But they never got close enough to see our cart so they didn’t bother us. I spent my time foraging for greenery and moving the Pegasi spear in my magic, trying to get a feel for how it moved when I needed to use it again. I noticed it was surprisingly light compared to the crude spears we had made out of wood found on the side of our path. I could whip the point around so much quicker than the stick. I debated trying to find a rock to saw off the blunt end of the spear, just to see what it was made of, but decided against it. I didn’t want to ruin the balance I had been learning.

The monotony came to an end as Violet shouted.

“There’s smoke off to our right!” she exclaimed. As sure as daylight, plumes of smoke rose in the distance. Not enough for a wildfire, but more than a single campfire.

It could only be another village.

Ocean Breeze and Star Song, the two currently pulling the wagon, began to veer towards the smoke.

“Are we seriously considering bartering with Mud Ponies?” Hoarfrost asked, addressing us all for the first time in days, stopping Breeze and Song in their tracks.

“Do you have a better idea?” Torchwood asked, rounding on the white stallion.

“Obviously.” Hoarfrost sneered. “Why barter when we can take? It costs us nothing.”

“Yeah, that’ll go over well.” Torchwood sarcastically stated. “A whole village against twelve ponies? Three of which are fillies.”

“Unicorns count as at least three Mud Ponies.” Hoarfrost stated.

“No, you agreed with bartering Hoarfrost.” Tia stated.

“No, I abstained from giving my opinion.” Hoarfrost rebutted.

“No, you had your chance to object and didn’t ‘Frost.” Torchwood accused.

“Then let’s put it to a vote.” Hoarfrost smirked. “In fact, let’s vote for who should be Reeve. Right here, right now. All in favor of me being Reeve say ‘Aye’.”

“Aye.” Brisk Road chirped.

“Aye.” Snow Step murmured.

“Aye.” Emerald stated.

“Aye.” Sapphire rose a hoof.

“Needless to say I vote for myself.” Hoarfrost smirked.

“I- I abstain.” Violet blushed.

“All in favor of Celestia being Reeve, say ‘Aye’. Aye.” Torchwood announced, raising a hoof.

“Aye.” Firelight agreed.

“Aye.” Breeze replied with a smile.

“Aye.” Song murmured.

If you want me to be Reeve, then I suppose I better vote for myself.” Tia blushed, raising a hoof.

“Aye!” I chirped gleefully.

“Quiet wretch. You’re far too young to vote.” Hoarfrost snarled. “That means it’s a tie.”

“No!” I challenged the older pony, not caring in the slightest what he thought. I wouldn’t allow him to overshadow Tia. “If I’m too young to vote then Emerald and Sapphire are too young as well! Which means you only get three votes to Tia’s five!”

A vein pulsed in Hoarfrost’s forehead, looking dangerously close to bursting.

“Fair is fair Hoarfrost.” Torchwood remarked. ”Even if you allow Luna a vote, that means it's six to five with one abstain. You lose.”

“You there! Violet! Change your vote to me!” Hoarfrost demanded. “If there’s a tie then it falls to a duel of honor!”

“I- What?! No!” Violet exclaimed in surprise.

“Change your vote or I’ll-”

“Hoarfrost!” Tia barked, with strength I didn’t know she had. “You have lost.”

A forced hush fell over the crowd of Unicorns as Hoarfrost glanced around at the gathered ponies. Most of the other adults had gathered behind Tia… Or rather, Reeve Tia now. Behind himself however, were two fillies, and two ponies barely out of their teens. Even if he were to go as low as start a fight, he was hopelessly outmatched if spells started to fly.

“I will remember this.” Hoarfrost stated through grit teeth, turning around to sulk off into the woods.

“I should hope so.” Tia replied. “If you didn’t I would have serious concerns about your combat expertise.”

Hoarfrost stopped, shaking with fury, but he didn’t say anything and walked away without turning back around.

When he was out of sight, Tia seemed to sag and sigh with relief.

“D-do you ponies really think I’m worthy of being Reeve?” she asked.

“After handling Hoarfrost like that? Without a doubt.” Torchwood grinned. “The stupid shit is too blinded by his own arse to see clearly.” Firelight, Breeze, and Song both nodded their agreement to Torchwood’s words.

“Why would I ever vote for such an awful pony?” I asked, looking up into Tia’s magenta eyes. She snorted briefly with laughter, but quickly caught herself.

“Thank you, thank you all.” Tia smiled, genuine tears beginning to form in her eyes. “I promise I’ll do my best to watch over each and every one of you. Yes, even you ponies.” she looked over to Hoarfrost’s supporters, who stood awkwardly by as their chosen leader stormed off.

“Yeah…” Brisk sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “We knew he was waiting for an excuse to start a vote, but I didn’t think he’d be so irked if he lost…” the stallion admitted.

“What are you talking about?!” Emerald screeched. “Why would I ever trust somepony who loves her?!” she pointed a hoof at me. “She ruins everything she touches!” She put her nose up and followed after Hoarfrost, Sapphire wasn’t far behind, her nose also in the air.

“I’m sorry Tia… I’m sorry they won’t trust you.” I kicked a hoof at the dirt below.

“Don’t worry about them Lu. You have no control over their opinions.” Tia hugged me.

“I knew I shouldn’t have voted for him…” Snow Step muttered, loud enough for the rest of us to hear but mostly addressing herself. “I’ll go talk to them, somepony has to be a voice of reason over there.” She excused herself and followed after the twins.

“Alright then.” Tia wiped tears away with the wrist of her hoof. “We’re all agreed then? We’ll barter with the Earth Ponies?”

“Aye!” We all cheered.

Chapter 68 The Memories Part 27

~~~

The smoke came from an Earth Pony village alright. As we approached, a defensive line of Earth ponies wearing planks of wood over their barrels stood in front of the buildings, blocking the way all across the small field outside the village. But by far, the most impressive pony amongst them, was an absolute giant of a pony, a literal mountain of muscle dressed in slabs of steel. They stood in front of the defensive line, towering over their fellows by almost two heads.

“Halt!” they called out when we approached close enough, their helmet seeming to reverberate with the sound of their voice. “Yer kind are not welcome here! Turn around and go back ta whence ye came!”

“Hail and well met fellow ponies!” Tia called out from the cart. “We are but simple travelers who wish to barter! We have no Clan coin but we have skills in which we can trade with!”

“We have no use fer yer vile magics and sorceries! Go back!”

“Please! We are not magicians and we have come a long way! We-”

“We will deal with none of yer treacherous ilk Unicorn!” the giant exclaimed. The line of ponies dropped into a defensive position, preparing to charge.

“Ok! Ok! We will leave peacefully!” Tia called out. “Back up back up back up back up.” she whispered to Breeze and Song, who were nodding along to her quiet chant, doing their best to reverse the cart.

“Behold ponies!” exclaimed a shout from behind. The entire line of ponies turned their heads towards the source of the voice.

Confused, all of us in the cart followed their gaze.

On the hill behind us, just in front of a copse of trees, stood a familiar figure. There was Hoarfrost, his horn aloft and alight in icy blue flame.

“Behold the barbaric nature of the Mud Ponies!” he called out. “You came to them with nothing but peaceful intentions and look how they repay you!”

“‘Frost you idiot! You’re ruining everything!” Torchwood shouted over the far away stallion.

“It is as we feared ponies!” the giant mountain of pony exclaimed. “The Unicorns come ta us with dubious intentions! Charge!”

“Raaaagh!” the line of Earth ponies began to run forward.

“No! No no no!” Tia stood up onto her back legs, waving her arms in an effort to try and stop the attack. “This is all a big misunderstanding!”

“Behold Mud ponies! The power of the Sun’s chosen Ponies!” Hoarfrost shouted. With that, his horn became blindingly bright and discharged.

The bolt of magic flew fast and true, impacting into the armored pony like a runaway cart.

“Run away!” Tia exclaimed at Breeze and Song, who wasted only a moment to turn the cart around to start running. “Ponies! Shields only! No pony else needs to die today!” she shouted to the rest of the cart. At her words, a shimmering multicolored cloud formed around the cart, mainly focused towards its rear.

Wood armored ponies swarmed around their leader, who for the most part, took the attack rather well, seeing as they were only stunned for a moment. But that stun lasted long enough for their underlings to overtake them.

“Onwards ponies! Crush these raiders beneath yer hooves!” they exclaimed.

By now, the Earth ponies had crossed halfway across their field, and the cart had reached the treeline where Hoarfrost stood.

“Ponies!” he greeted “Why are you-”

“You bucking idiot!” Tia jumped out of the moving cart and punched him. “You didn’t have to do that! We could’ve moved on without violence!”

“Ignorant sow!” Hoarfrost raged. “Must I show you the light of the Sun as well?!” he slapped Tia in retaliation, sending her sprawling to the ground.

“Hey dummy!” I shouted. “This is your fault!” I pointed at the stallion. Hoarfrost regarded me with cold eyes.

“Or maybe…” he pondered. “I’ll teach you to respect your elders by teaching the little goblin some manners. After all…” His magic extended and grabbed me by the scruff of my coat. “I’ve been so lonely without my late wife…”

“Eek!” I tumbled through the air as I was pulled from the cart, Hoarfrost’s magic not being solid enough to keep me fully lifted.

My heart filled with an emotion I never had felt before. I didn’t know what exactly he meant, but deep down I knew it wasn’t good. If it was the words he had said, or if he had hit Tia, I didn’t know. But something he did made this emotion rise up my throat like a hissing snake.

I felt my lip curl into a snarl.

“No don’t!” Tia called. I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me or Hoarfrost, and I didn’t care. I knew what this new emotion wanted, and I was going to indulge in it.

Hoarfrost had originally wanted me to throw my new spear right?

So I did.

My magic lifted it out of the still nearby cart and I threw it.

I threw it with all my might.

I threw it right at his throat.

Somewhere, a silver set of ears perked in surprise.

“What-?” he managed to get out. “HURGH?!”

The Pegasoplian spear sprouted out of his throat, hitting him so hard he flew backward, impaling him to a nearby tree. His horn sparked, uselessly trying to do something, anything! Anything to rectify his situation. But it was all in vain, he couldn’t concentrate as his red blood spilled down his front, staining his chest.

I got up and walked to the dying stallion, yanking my spear out of the tree and neck, letting him fall to the ground in a heap.

I turned towards the Earth ponies, expecting them to be on us in a moment.

But the charging line of earth ponies had screeched to a halt at what they had witnessed. All of their mouths agape.

I snarled at them, wordlessly daring them to even think about touching Tia or me.

“Lu?”

I turned past the now still stallion, expecting one of the Earth ponies to have come up behind me.

But all I saw was Tia. Tia with her soft magenta eyes. Tia with a worried frown.

“By the Earth…” the giant in steel plating came up from behind their ponies. “Did that filly just kill that stallion?” they made to approach closer, but Tia waved them off.

“Please, give us a moment.” she murmured. The giant looked confused, but eventually nodded and took a step back.

“Lu?” Tia asked again. “Can you calm down Lu?”

I shook my head, worried that if I did, something else would hurt Tia. I couldn’t allow that

I would never allow that.

“It’s ok Lu… He’s gone now. He won’t be bothering you again.” she said softly.

I shook my head again. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was we were surrounded by strange ponies. Ponies who were just about to hurt Tia.

Ponies who were about to hurt me.

I glared at the Earth Ponies, silently challenging them all to try something.

Tia must’ve noticed my glare, because she waved at the ponies to take steps back.

They almost tripped over themselves to backup.

“It’s ok Luna… It’s ok.” Tia murmured again.

No it wasn’t ok! We had tried to do things right and ponies were attacking us! This wasn’t right! This-

My face became smothered in white fur.

The familiar scent of Tia told me who it was.

“It’s ok Lu… It’s ok.” she soothed, holding me in a hug.

That broke the strange emotion.

That broke the rage.

That’s what that was.

I had felt it before, but never so intensely.

Everytime Emerald and Sapphire had called me names, I had felt it.

Everytime Mrs. Amethyst had encouraged her daughters, I had felt it.

Everytime Hoarfrost told me I was worthless, I had felt it.

When the hydra had taken Mom, I had felt it.

But those times were like comparing small drops of water to a roaring waterfall.

There was so much, so much emotion, so much water, so much wetness in my eyes…

…Oh.

I cried into Tia’s coat.

Author's Note

Happy New Year everypony! :rainbowwild:

Kind of a bad chapter to be celebratory... Oh well. :twilightsheepish:

Chapter 69 The Memories Part 28

~~~

After Hoarfrost’s death and a chance to explain what had happened, the Earth Ponies had let us into their village. “A distraction doesn’t attack their raider friends” was their reasoning. They let us stay in a building they called “the tavern”. I didn’t know what that was so I didn’t comment. Not that I was doing much more than sniffling occasionally.

Of the twelve of us that had voted, only eight of us remained. Hoarfrost was obviously dead, Emerald and Sapphire were missing. But perhaps most distressingly, Snow Step had been found in the woods with her throat slit.

Brisk Road was perhaps the only pony more miserable than I was. While he had seen and heard what his father Hoarfrost had done, and understood why he had died, Brisk didn’t know why his sister had died. I wanted to at least sit by him, because I couldn’t imagine what I would do if Tia had been the one that died. But at the same time, I had been the one to kill his father. If the hydra that had killed Mom had been a pony, I wouldn’t want them to sit by me.

So I kept my distance.

Earth Ponies came and went. A few talked with our group. Discussing adult things with each other. Fewer still had come to talk to me. But those conversations never lasted long, because for some reason I had lost my ability to speak. I wanted to, I really did. But I couldn’t even muster up the will to even speak with Tia.

The highlight of my evening was when the giant in armor had come to talk to me.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

“So lass…” the giant set her helmet down on the table in the corner I had chosen to sulk. The mare, yes she was a mare, was massive. Easily the size of three of the largest Unicorns I had ever seen. “Word amongst yer kin is that yer a right terror with a spear.” she smiled good naturedly. “Not many mares worth their salt can claim to take down a hydra, much less a wee filly like yerself.”

I nodded.

“Was that stallion the first pony ye killed?”

I nodded again.

“Ah. My apologies. Wee lil’ lass like yerself should’ve never had ta take another pony’s life.”

I nodded in agreement.

“Ken ye talk wee lass?”

I nodded.

“Well? Why ain’t cha?”

I shrugged.

The mare seemed to snort at that.

“Well, ain’t my place ta tell ya how to go ‘bout yer business. Earth knows what queer shite everypony gets inta.”

A much smaller Earth Pony mare brought the giant of a pony a wooden mug full of strange smelling liquid.

“Cheers love.” the maid chirped before moving on.

“Cheers!” the giant cheered, lifting the mug to her lips and taking a swig. She set it back down with surprising roughness. “Well lass, if ye want, it’s a tradition in these parts where ponies get their first drink after their first kill. If the word of yer kin is true, yer due five mugs. Four fer every hydra head and one fer yer kin traitor.”

Confused, I tilted my head, but then I realized she was talking about what was in her mug. I sniffed towards the mare’s mug. It smelled… Funny.

I reached my hooves towards her mug, but stopped halfway, wordlessly trying to ask “May I?”

The giant chuckled.

“Aye, sure lass.”

Tentatively, I took the mug almost as large as my head and lifted, letting a small portion reach my tongue.

“BLEH!” I all but dropped the mug to the table, spitting out what little had got into my mouth. It has been SOUR. Like someone had taken a loaf of bread, liquefied it, and had decided to make dark yellow water into it!

The giant mare was laughing uproariously.

“Aye, we all have that reaction. Ye’ll get used ta it though.” she chortled. “Yer alright lass. If the rumor mill is true and yer sister decides ta stay with us, Ah wouldn’t say no ta teaching ye a few tricks with yer eye poker.”

Eye poker? What was a- Oh. The Pegasoplian spear.

Despite the awful taste still in my mouth, I nodded. Seeing the look on my face, the mare started laughing again.

“Good with a spear and tough ta boot! We’ll get along jus’ fine!” she grinned and patted me gently on the shoulder. “See ya around wee Hydrabane.” With that, the giant mare got to her hooves, her mug of foul liquid cradled like a foal, and left to go talk to other ponies.

Hydrabane? What had she meant by that?

~~~

The Earth Ponies “Tavern” turned out to be a building they used specifically for visitors to sleep. Which was a novel idea to me, as visiting merchants in Queensford simply stayed with the family that had the most room in their hut. Mom had never hosted one, because our hut was one of the smaller huts in the village. And with two mares and a filly, space was already in demand, and it would’ve only become more cramped as I grew bigger.

Another difference between Queensford and Ùllahdmaiden, which I learned was the name of the Earth Pony village, was that despite Queensford being surrounded by forests and Ùllahdmaiden being in a plain, Ùllahdmaiden was constructed with sturdy timber logs. While Queensford was little more than dried river mud piled against sticks in the ground. I knew trees could be cut down for logs to make things, but it never occurred to me that you could make buildings out of thick and sturdy trunks! And it was so sturdy too! In Queensford, you had to be careful to not run into a wall, in case you accidently broke through, but the Earth ponies didn’t care! In fact I saw a couple of fillies running around and playing, and they accidentally rammed into one of the homes. At first I was afraid I was about to witness a pair of fillies get in trouble, but who I assumed to be the owner of the house smiled kindly, gave them something to eat, and thanked the two for testing her walls!

That was another novel idea! Why hadn’t we thought about testing our homes? Surely if a monster wanted, dried mud wasn’t going to stop them from taking a pony! How many of my fellow villagers had been taken in the night because we didn’t test our home's sturdiness?

Another thing that astounded me, as I sat in my and Tia’s room in the tavern, was the hard yet clear material set into the window. “Glass” they had called it. I didn’t know what it was, or how you even began to make it, but it allowed light in without letting cold gusts of air or rain in! We never had anything like it in Queensford!

The more I thought about it, the less Hoarfrost’s Unicorn superiority made sense. If Unicorns were so smart, then why were they building with mud when there were stronger materials not four pony lengths away from their front door?

Who cared if you were chosen by the Sun to shoot light out of your horn if you lacked the smarts to do anything with the skill?

I sat at the room’s window, occasionally tapping the glass as I watched the sky fade from blue to orange.

Tia had left briefly to go talk to a few ponies, to discuss adult stuff I supposed. But she returned after not too long.

“The giant pony said you were thinking about staying.” I said, surprising myself with my own voice.

“Giant? Oh! You’re talking about Appleflower.” Tia responded. “Yes, I’ve been speaking with the mayor about staying.”

“Why?” I asked, not that I was against the idea, but because I was curious.

“Well-” Tia began as she began to fiddle with something in her saddlebags. “We’ve traveled very far South Lu. Further than we thought. If we keep going any farther, there’ll be no villages to bargain with for food. So we stay here permanently, offering what we can in exchange, or we head back North.”

“Oh.” I stated simply.

“Oh? Is that all Lu? Tell me what’s going on inside that head of yours.” Tia encouraged.

“I’m… I like it here.” I started. “I like how much sturdier the Earth Ponies do things. I like how strange yet familiar the Earth Ponies are. I’m just surprised the options are ‘stay’ or ‘go back’. It’s just, after everything, this is the end of the road.” I sighed. Tia stopped fiddling with her pack.

“... You’re being very thoughtful about this.” she sighed. “You should’ve been out playing and making friends with the other fillies.”

“Until they make fun of me for being Moon Marked and tease me like Emerald and Sapphire. Or say something like Hoarfrost and I stab them too.” I stated grimly as I watched as the sky began to turn from orange to a navy blue that matched my coat.

Tia fell silent.

“Come on Lu, time for bed.” she said after a few minutes of silence.

“Okay Tia.” I sighed, turning away from the window, slightly disappointed I wasn’t about to see the stars come out from the safety of the Tavern window.

Author's Note

Nice :trollestia:

Chapter 71 The Memories Part 30

~~~

A week and a half had passed. True to her word, Tia had helped me shop around for various traveling supplies. But while tools, a saddlebag, and a small cart were easy to find, much harder were rations. Spring may have been imminent, but Ùllahdmaiden was still strictly rationing the available food, which was already only available after scraping the bottoms of the preservation barrels.

Finally the day arrived. The snow was gone, yet the ground was still frozen enough to not transform instantly into mud. Even better, the weak yet warming light of the Sun peaked over the Eastern horizon. It would be warm enough today to not wear any Winter clothing, but cold enough that the cart wouldn't get stuck.

The whole village gathered as I hitched myself to my new cart, pulling the leather straps just enough to be comfortable. Tia, Appleflower, Master Brickwork, and Mayor Treesong stood in front of the crowd of ponies.

“We’ll hate to see you go Luna.” Treesong stated on behalf of the whole village.

“I know.” I replied, feeling tears welling. “But I must go.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget when a young filly ki- Did something so shocking that even our Clan decided to adopt a band of refugee Unicorns into our fold.” the Mayor continued. “You’re a special pony Luna. Don’t forget that, wherever you end up.”

“I won’t.” I promised.

“Aye lass. Won’t be the same without ye during our drills.” Appleflower rumbled, now several years older and without her armor, but still the biggest pony present. She put a hoof on my shoulder in solidarity.

“I’ll take care to remember everything you taught me.” I replied, putting a hoof on her arm, attempting to return the gesture. Appleflower held regular drills and training sessions for the village, and I did my best to attend each one. She had taught me how to properly fight, not wave a stick around like a filly.

“The forge ain’t goin’ ta be the same without ye lass.” Master Brickwork bid.

“I’m certain Flame Etch and Ironplate will be able to pick up the slack.” I grinned.

“‘Ey! What about me? Am I too old to pull my own weight?!” Brickwork exclaimed in mock outrage.

“You said it Sir, not me.” I cheekily grinned.

“Hohohoho!” Brickwork began to laugh as I turned to the final pony.

Tia stood there alone, tears were already threatening to try and drown the world. I didn’t say anything, but I pulled her into a tight hug.

“I’ll miss you Tia.” I murmured in her ear.

“I’ll miss you too Lu.” she replied in kind. I felt something wet roll down my coat.

And that was all we needed to say.

I left Ùllahdmaiden occasionally turning in the harness to wave as I pulled my cart into the distance. When the village finally disappeared behind the scenery, I breathed a sigh of relief. I hated goodbyes, I hated the idea that there was a very real possibility I would never see any of those ponies again.

I hated that I may never see Tia again.

But I needed to leave.

For my, and Tia’s sake.

I pushed my emotions down and redoubled my efforts to pull the cart.

The road called to me.

~~~

Hours passed in a dull blur. The wild was still grimy after the melted snow deposited whatever dirt it had trapped. The plants hadn’t turned green yet either. The world was brown, dismal, and filthy. But the snowmelt flowed along the landscape. Already I could see even the brown plants beginning to stand straight along the tiny creeks and puddles. I only had the rations for two days, but it looked as if I could get away with stretching one day's worth, harvest a few clumps of grass, and still have a good day’s worth of rations left.

I wondered where I would go? Pegasopolis was out, who knew where it was currently and I didn’t have the wings to fly up to it. To Unicornia itself was an option, I had never been to the capital before. But after the Crown abandoned Queensford to its fate I was hesitant to say the least.

That left the rest of the Earth Pony Clans. Sure, I could never be sure that I would be welcome amongst the other settlements like in Ùllahdmaiden, but at least I knew enough of their culture that I wouldn’t be thrown out immediately.

That settled it. Northeast to the Clan settlements it was.

Unicornia was always still an option if I swung through the Clan territories and kept heading Northward.

Now with a destination in mind, I hummed a merry tune and began to trot with a spring in my step.

That was until I crested the next hilltop.

I froze in my tracks.

Far away in the distance, just before the horizon, a tide of gold glinted in the morning light. Banners of every hue of the rainbow flew. But one stood head and shoulders above the rest. I squinted my eyes to get a better look.

The crest of the House of Queen Iridium.

Nopony who ever grew up or spent any time within the borders of Unicornia could ever mistake it for anything else.

Panicked, I turned my cart around and began to run as fast as I dared.

The Royal House of Unicornia was marching South.

The Royal House of Unicornia was marching South, directly towards Ùllahdmaiden.

~~~

Clopclop. Clopclop. Clopclop.

Ùllahdmaiden was before my eyes. The wooden structures had changed remarkably little in the few hours I had been gone.

“Unicornia marches South!” I started crying through the late evening air. “Arm yourselves! Unicornia comes!”

I was now inside the village proper. Bleary eyed ponies who were likely just in bed trying to fall asleep poked their heads out their front doors or windows.

“Arise ponies! There is no time to waste! The Crown of Unicornia approaches!” I exclaimed as I continued running through the streets with my cart.

I caught a glimpse of Tia out of the corner of my eye.

I wanted to run to her and tell her everything I saw, but I needed everypony to know.

Everypony must know.

“Take up your arms! Don your armor! Unicornia marches South!”

“Woah woah woah!” Mayer Treesong was suddenly in front of me, waving her forelegs. I did my best to come to a stop before I ran her over, but I was only partially successful as I bumped into the mare.

“Mayor! There’s no time to lose! Unicornia is coming! They’ll be here within the day!” I frantically tried to tell her.

“Luna slow down! You’re panicking!” she tried to soothe.

Slow down?! No, I needed to speed up! Everypony needed to know! Unicornia was on its way! Why wasn’t she panicking?!

“No! Everypony must know! I have to tell them! I have to warn them! I ha-” I began to rant.

A white presence pressed itself to my side and pulled me into a hug.

“Lu slow down, we can barely understand you.” Tia’s voice murmured gently into my ear.

By now I noticed the crowd of wakened ponies had caught up, and they were all watching and listening.

I followed Tia’s instructions and took several deep breaths.

“Ponies of Ùllahdmaiden!” I exclaimed, now putting effort in slowing my speech down. “I have seen them with my own eyes! A column of gold clad soldiers marching under the banners of the Royal House of Unicornia!”

Murmurs began to ripple through the crowd.

“They march South! Directly towards Ùllahdmaiden! They will be here within the day! There is no time to lose!”

“Ponies! Quiet!” Mayor Treesong exclaimed over the din of the crowd. “Luna, if what you say is true then Ullahdmaiden is in grave danger-”

“What if she’s lying?!” A voice cried from the crowd. “She’s one o’ them! She could be raising the alarm over nothing!”

“Ponies!” the Mayor chastised. “This is our Luna! We have known her for years! We have known her since she was a filly! Unicorn she may be, but she has worked at our sides faithfully for a decent portion of her life!”

“Aye!” Master Brickwork stepped forward from the crowd. “I’ve worked with Luna everyday since she came to our walls! Never ‘ave I known ‘er ta tell a lie!”

“Not once!” Appleflower boomed, standing over the crowd. Several ponies seemed to nod along and agree.

“Who says she hasn’t been paid off or promised something in Unicornia for raising a false alarm?! She’s a unicorn after all!” Another voice I didn’t recognise exclaimed.

“How dare you!” Tia exclaimed at my side. “You were not there when the crown abandoned Queensford! You were not there when we were forced from our homes! You were not there when we had to tend with the hydra without the Queen’s help!” Tia screamed. “Ask any one of the Queensford Unicorns! The Crown betrayed us and we have no love for them!”

That finally seemed to nullify the naysayers. The gaze of every pony fell to the Mayor for a decision.

“... Fortify the village.” She decided. “We will defend our home.”

“Come on Lu, let’s get you out of that harness so you can rest.” Tia nudged my side.

“But I want to help! I need to help!” I started, my panic rising again.

“And you have.” Tia replied gently. “But you look like you’ve been running all day and you need to rest.”

“I-” I wanted to argue, but a deep exhaustion in my bones suddenly made itself known. “ I- Ok Tia.”

She helped me out of my harness and led me back to the house we had shared up until this morning.

“Tia, the cart…” I reminded her.

“Don’t worry about it.” she stated. I felt too exhausted to reply.

Before I knew it, my head smashed into the pillow I had woken up that morning on.

Hello old friend, didn’t think I’d be seeing you so soon.

Dreams claimed me.

Chapter 72 The Memories Part 31

~~~

The sounds of a village wide construction project woke me up. I lifted my head off my chicken down pillow. Morning sunlight streamed through the open curtain.

Wait, why was I here? Didn’t I leave? Didn’t-

The golden column of soldiers underneath the banner of the Crown of Unicornia.

The memories of the previous day came flooding back.

Oh.

I hurriedly pushed the blanket, that I certainly didn’t remember covering myself with, off and jumped off my bed with uncharacteristic morning vigor.

The house was just as I had left it the previous morning, with the exception of my leather saddlebags resting on the simple table where Tia and I usually shared a meal. I gently opened the door to Tia’s room to check if she was awake yet. Inside was a room much like my own, but with simple paintings of dyes and paints made from crushed plants and flowers. But no TIa.

I didn’t know Tia painted.

Had I been that busy at the forge? Or had Tia just commissioned these from somepony?

I closed the door, letting the latch click shut, unwilling to disturb Tia’s privacy any further. Turning back to the bags on the table, I rummaged inside. I didn’t know if I would try to leave again after the attack, or if there would even be an after, but I didn’t want to further drain Ullahdmaiden’s food stocks more than I had to. I pulled out the hay-jerky in my pack and began to eat as I left the house.

Half the village had been furiously busy throughout the night. A trench had been dug around the whole village, Earth Pony farmers used to moving dirt and rock had done a minor miracle overnight. The trench was three pony lengths wide and two ponies deep, with a sharp incline on the inside side towards the village itself. The dirt removed from the ditch was used further to raise the ground on the inside. Already, the beginning of a crude palisade wall was being formed on the newly risen earth mound along the North side of the village. Additionally, a few ponies were still in the ditch, planting sharpened wooden stakes along the bottom.

The surrounding woods had also been demolished, piles of logs were stacked along the outside, being sharpened to a point before being carried over a hastily constructed bridge that had no true foundation.

While the village had changed very little over six years, it had changed drastically overnight the moment I tried to leave.

The village was digging in for a fight.

It may surprise a few ponies that this wasn’t done sooner. After all, raids were fairly common on the village. But they were just that, raids. The attacks, usually performed by Pegasi, never targeted homes or businesses. No, they solely targeted the granary. Often in the middle of the night. So they rarely, if ever, killed anypony. And since walls were totally ineffective against Pegasi, they just were never worth building. Additionally, the Earth Pony Clans made sure to keep their lands as monster free as they could with sponsored hunting parties. So monster attacks were far less common than they were in Queensford.

So there never really had been a point to.

But with Unicorns? This far South, there was no telling what they wanted. If they came to conquer or raid, I didn’t know.

But it had certainly looked like they wanted a fight.

As I wandered, looking around for Tia, I watched as tired ponies who had stayed up all night swapped places with bright eyed and bushy tailed ponies who had just woken up. I hoped they would get some good sleep, because I had a feeling we would need everypony we could find.

Speaking of, where was-? Aha!

A flash of a white coat and pink mane amongst earthy tones and hues caught my attention. I did my best to weave through the crowd of working ponies while at the same time trying not to get in their way, but I still had to mutter a few apologies as I accidently bumped into somepony.

It was strange to think I had said goodbye to these ponies just yesterday…

Tia and Mayor Treesong were in a discussion with Master Brickwork and a few volunteer builders when I arrived.

“So ye want the bridge to double as a gate?” Brickwork asked as I finally got close enough to overhear what was being said.

“Making the bridge we have retractable would allow us to keep weak points to a minimum and still give us a way to cross safely.” Tia replied. “Before Luna was born, Mom and Dad took me to the CIty of Unicornia and that was how they had their defenses. They called it a drawbridge.”

“Hm.” Brickwork thought as he stroked his mustache. “D’ye think they’d have a way around it if they use it fer their own castle?”

“Not unless they somehow contributed to its construction and laid an enchantment.”

“What about during the attack?” Brickwork asked worriedly.

“At that point, it's less enchantment and more evocation.” Tia laughed.

“... What’s the difference?”

I approached , but didn’t feel comfortable interrupting. I was curious as well.

“Unicorn magic comes in seven classical schools; Evocation, conjuration, divination, transmutation, enchantment, illusion, and abjuration.” Tia began to lecture. “Evocation is the art of evoking the elements, air, fire, earth, or water for a spell. Conjuration is the art of summoning help from beyond to fight on your behalf. Divination is the art of seeing beyond the five common senses. Transmutation is the art of transforming an object into something totally different. Enchantment is the art of modifying an existing object so it is different in some way. Illusion is the art of disguising or hiding an object. And abjuration is the art of protection.” Tia listed off.

“... That’s a lot of words for my brain.” Brickwork stated bluntly. “Ye sure ye ain’t a Loyalist?”

“Very certain.” Tia nodded. “Typically, only foals from one of the noble houses get any real magical education. Those are the ones who would be a Loyalist. But…” she trailed off, searching for the right words she wanted. “I was starting to learn from Mom. Before the hydra. She was the one who was classically trained.”

“So, yer ma was a Loyalist?” Brickwork asked conversationally.

“Goodness no. Mom was skilled. Skilled enough to have been a Warmage for a time. But she didn’t see eye to eye with her family, who were staunch supporters of the crown.”

A chill passed through the gathered ponies as Tia said the word “Warmage”.

Mom had been a Warmage?!

Any idiot with a horn could stand in a phalanx and contribute to a mass shield spell. But it took a special sort of pony to even be considered to become a Warmage. Those were the Unicorns that were the powerhouses of Unicornia’s army. They were the ones that could stand on the ground and seriously threaten the skyborn city of Pegasopolis. They were the ones that could stand on the deck of a ship and singlehoofedly sink an opposing armada. To be a Warmage was every colt and fillies dream in Unicornia.

I had only escaped having that dream because I was too small to understand what it truly meant before we left Queensford.

But to think… Mom had been a Warmage? It certainly explained why the village tended to suddenly grow quiet whenever she raised her voice.

“I- I never knew.” I said, bringing attention to myself and joining the conversation. Several of the ponies looked startled to see me there, but Tia took my appearance in stride.

“You wouldn’t’ve Lu. She didn’t like showing off her powers and she only told me about a year before we left because I was getting to be the age to be an apprentice.”

“... Did she let herself die to the hydra?” I whispered.

A sudden hush fell over the conversation.

“I- I can’t answer that.” Tia admitted. “I don’t know what she was thinking, but it has kept me up at night. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to have the same problem.”

I didn’t like the idea that Tia kept things from me. But at the same time, I would trust her with more than even my life if it came down to it.

If she had thought it best, then who was I to argue?

“I understand.” I whispered.

A thought occurred.

“Heh. Mrs. Amethyst must’ve been very brave or very stupid to keep making Mom angry.” I snickered. That seemed to break the sudden malaise in the area as Brickwork and Treesong smiled at the joke. Tia however blinked owlishly.

“Oh! Oh wow! I haven't thought about her in years!” Tia exclaimed as she was smacked with nostalgia. The group chuckled at Tia’s antics.

“I don’t suppose one of ye can do yer magic to ‘enchant’ the fortifications to our benefit?” Brickwork asked.

“Sadly no.” Tia sighed as the mood dropped again. “Other than Mom, Hoarfrost was the closest we had to a true mage. And he was only an evocation linespony. I can try to teach the other Unicorns what I know, but I only know the very basics.”

“Shame.” Brickwork admitted. “Ah well, no use crying over what we don’t have.” He turned to his volunteers. “Come on lads! We’re burning daylight and I ain’t interested in having holes in the wall!”

“Did you need anything else Mayor?” Tia asked as they left.

“No thank you.” Treesong replied. “You’ve done wonderfully. Now go fetch your kin.” she waved a hoof, shooing us away. “I get the feeling we’ll need them. If something crops up I’ll send for you.”

“I’ll keep my ears open!” Tia chirped as we left the Mayor to her own devices.

We walked in silence for a few minutes, searching for the other Unicorns. I didn’t know where they would be exactly, but I assumed Tia knew because she was assisting the Mayor by organizing the village.

“Did Mom have any other secrets?” I asked suddenly, not even consciously thinking the thought.

“I’m pretty sure she had plenty.” Tia replied seamlessly. “Like how she became a Warmage or what Noble House she was from… But she never told me those stories.”

“Oh…” I said simply. “Wait, we’re part of a Noble House?”

“If you trace your lineage far enough, everypony in Unicornia is.” Tia informed me. “But things get tricky when you account for bastards and illegitimate foals born out of wedlock. But we’re a special case, I think.” Tia paused. “I’m not certain, but I think Mom was disowned by her family. Or she disowned them. Again, I’m not certain.” she trailed off.

“I’m… I’m not sure how to feel about that.” I admitted.

“I know how you feel.” Tia laughed. “I’ve found it doesn’t matter.” she leaned over and nuzzled the top of my head. “No matter what house we’re from, you’re the only family that I count.”

“Thank you Tia.” I replied with a smile, returning the nuzzle. “I completely agree.”

The walk continued in comfortable silence.

“Violet!” Tia called suddenly. I glanced over to see Tia waving at the purple Unicorn. Violet was busy using her levitation to sharpen a few wooden stakes that would eventually find their home in the bottom of the ditch.

“Oh Celestia! Luna!” Violet greeted. “I’d ask you how you’re doing, but… Well.” She lifted the stake she was working on, indicating what was on all of our minds.

“We have you on stake duty?” Tia asked, puzzled. “I thought Heartbreak was supposed to be here.”

“Oh you know that silly mare.” Violet waved off. “We were bringing over a bundle of sticks and she thought she saw an agate.” she giggled. “Sometimes she’s too caught up in her own fluff to see the trees amongst the forest.”

“Oh.” Tia half chirped. “Well if you see her, tell her she’s got to concentrate on her job… We need you and the rest of the Queensford Unicorns to learn how to keep a shield spell up.”

“Oh.” Violet’s perky ears fell. “I never thought about that…” she trailed off. “Never thought I’d be using magic against other Unicorns…”

“No, we’re going to be focusing on covering the village itself with a shield.” Tia corrected. “If you don’t want to fire back you don’t have to. But we need as many Unicorns as we can get to power the shield.”

“R-right.” Violet stammered. The purple Unicorn set her tools down and stood up, stretching as she began to walk away “I’ll be right there… As soon as I find Heartbreak.” she called back. She soon disappeared into the crowd.

“... Do you think she’ll betray us and go join the Crown?” I asked, uncertain of where the mare’s loyalties lay.

“No.” Tia responded. “We may not be loyal citizens anymore, but none of us consider ourselves traitors. Raising your horn against the Crown itself is a commitment that I don’t think any of us really expected to actually do.” she turned back towards the way we were originally heading. “Besides;” she added as we started walking again. “We’ve all got ties to this village now. We owe nothing to the Crown.”

We went further down the road before we walked up to one of the newer houses in the village. I waited off to the side as Tia knocked.

“Who is it?” called a mare’s voice from inside.

“Firelight? Do you have a moment?” Tia called. The sounds of hooves on hardwood flooring approached the door. The door swung open with a slight creek.

“Tia! Lulu!” Firelight greeted. “What a wonderful surprise! Come in come in!” she gestured for us to join her. “Dad and I are busy making firebombs! We could use your pyromania Tia!”

“Yes, um, hmhmm.” Tia coughed awkwardly. “Actually we came to gather the Queensford Unicorns. I’m going to be teaching the shield spell to all of us.”

“Oh!” Firelight cooed. “Hey Dad!” she called behind her. “You know the shield spell?”

A voice rose from the domicile.

“Easy as falling asleep!” the voice of an older Torchwood called.

“Can you teach me?” Firelight called back.

“Sure can!”

"Do you know how to mass cast?" Tia called past Firelight.

"Hrm... Can't say I do!" Torchwood replied.

"Then you need to learn!

"Understood! We'll lay off making bombs for a second and join you!"

"Daaaad!" Firelight protested.

"No buts filly! Sometimes you need to take a break and get kindle so you can keep lighting fires!"

"Ugh! Fine!" Firelight groaned, turning back to us. "Ok we'll come in a bit. How long will it take?"

"Not long. Only what I need to share and practice a bit."

"Gotcha. Just let us finish this batch and we'll come."

“I understand.” Tia nodded, turning to leave. “Don’t blow yourself up.”

“That’s half the fun though!” Firelight giggled. Almost as if fate were waiting for the words, a bright white light flashed inside the building.

BOOM!

Smoke began to pour from the kitchen.

“I’m okay!” the voice of Torchwood cried out.

“Damnit Dad!” Firelight turned back, shouting into her home and letting the smoke clear out of the open door. “How am I supposed to prove I’m responsible if things are constantly exploding around me?!” With that, she dove back into the depths of the building.

The cackle of an old stallion was Torchwood’s only response.

“I trust them.” Tia giggled to me as she turned away.

“I’m not sure about using firebombs in a wooden settlement...” I advised.

"I suppose... But I think it'd be better to have to rebuild a few buildings rather than dig a few graves." Tia replied.

Oh. I hadn't thought about it that way... But still, the thought of using firebombs on fellow ponies, even ponies who were in an army and marching this way didn’t sit right in my stomach.

“Tia, are you sure you-”

“Well there’s the wee rascal who woke me up last night!” boomed a familiar voice. Tia and I turned to see Appleflower part through the crowd, her armor sans helmet already in place. “Don’t cha know it’s very rude ta deprive a mare of ‘er beauty sleep?” she grinned.

“Appleflower!” I called. “Couldn’t be helped I’m afraid. Can’t deprive one of my best friends of such smashable heads to cave in!”

“Hohoho!” Appleflower boomed, shaking several nearby windows in their frames. “If I’d known what a fiery whippersnapper ye’d be when ye came ta our door, I’d ‘ave letcha in no problem! An’ ta think! Ye came ta us with no tongue!”

The two of us laughed together.

“So where ye two headed?” Appleflower asked when the laughter died down. “Mighty fine day fer a fight, an’ I can’t help but notice a certain orange pony’s house is leakin’ smoke where it shouldn’t.”

“The palisades and ditch are good ideas;” Tia interjected. “But they won’t stop a line of Unicorns from launching spellfire. We were gathering the Queensford Unicorns so I could teach them how to raise a crowd cast shield.”

“Hm.” Appleflower grunted. “I ain’t got the head fer yer spellcraft, but ain’t that what makes Unicorns hard ta hit?”

“Yes.”

“I approve.” the giant mare grinned. “I’ve been in too many fights with Unicorns ta not want that on my side.”

"Oh you have experience?"

"Been around fer some time now. Fought all sorts o' things."

"I see..." Tia awkwardly trailed away.

The awkward moment seemed to stretch.

“So! I’ll let you two talk.” Tia suddenly interjected. “We’ve still got ponies to gather and we’re running out of time.”

“Alright Tia. Go ahead.” I nodded. Tia turned and vanished into the crowd towards where I knew Ocean Breeze and Star Song had lived. Although I didn’t expect Song to participate in the battle, her belly was starting to look like a ripe watermelon with the foal she carried.

“So lass, what’s this I hear about a column of the Crowns finest?” Appleflower asked conversationally.

“Plenty of helmets to dent and take as trophies.” I grinned.

“I like yer spirit lass. But ‘ave ye ever been in a proper siege yet?”

“Yes?” I responded. “Ùllahdmaiden has been attacked plenty of times. What’s going to be so different?”

“No lass, those barely count as sieges. The birds like ta get in an' get out as quick as can be. Less collateral so they ken take more later... I ain’t goin’ ta sugar coat it, with a column coming there’s a very good chance that not all of Ùllahdmaiden will make it. While the whole village is grateful fer yer warnin’, ye didn’t ‘ave ta comeback fer our sakes. We’d have pulled through somehow, and there’s no shame in savin’ yerself when death comes callin’, specially fer one as young as ye.”

“Appleflower, I’m disappointed in you.” I chastised. “I may have been leaving, but it was never my intention to abandon the village.”

“I know.” Appleflower smiled sadly. “I jus’ don’t want ye ta meet an early grave is all.”

“You know I don’t back down from what needs to be done.” I challenged.

“An’ it's one of my favorite things about ye.” she patted me on the shoulder. “But I wantcha ta know there’s more ta life than seeking death.”

“Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t. I owe Ùllahdmaiden a lot. And I couldn’t live with myself if I ran and abandoned Tia.”

Appleflower chuckled.

“Ye’d have made a good member of the Ùll Clan Luna. Ain’t no finer reason ta fight than ta protect yer kin.” the giant gently rumbled. “It’ll be an honor fightin’ alongside you Luna. I jus’ want ta make sure ye know what yer gettin’ inta.”

“Thank you Appleflower. But I would come to Ùllahdmaiden’s defense even if I had gone back to Unicornia.”

“It’s good ta know decent ponies exist everywhere.” Appleflower smiled. “Now go on! Get! Yer sister needs ya an’ I got ponies ta get in gear!”

“Yes marm!” I saluted, teasing her with her own accent. I giggled as I turned and galloped away.

“Snarky shite!” I heard Appleflower’s voice boom over the crowd. I laughed even harder, imagining her face twisted with mock outrage over the crowd.

Chapter 73 The Memories Part 32

~~~

I found Tia talking with the rest of the Unicorns, with the exception of Song. As expected, she was too pregnant to be exerting herself. It was noteworthy however, that Torchwood’s face had been blackened with soot.

All in all, we numbered only six. Six ponies to keep the ever approaching Crown of Unicornia from destroying Ùllahdmaiden. While the mood before when Tia and I were gathering them may have been jovial and relatively upbeat, the mood now was sobering.

We were only six novice magic wielders against a whole army of trained mages.

But each of us had made lives here. Friends, colleagues, and family. If we left, we would’ve been no better than the soldiers who came to Queensford to announce Queen Iridium’s ascension to the throne but gave the village nothing to eat for the winter. And everypony knew how that turned out.

No pony wanted a repeat of the Hydra.

The Unicorns of Queensford would stand and fight for Ùllahdmaiden.

“We all know why we’re here.” Tia started, standing at the head of our loose circle. “Most of us know basic shields, but what we’re going to be doing for Ùllahdmaiden is very different. The basic shield is for personal use only. If somepony attacks you tonight, you can use it, but don’t rely on it. Most mages have been trained to break through the common shield spell. The difference is, this shield is larger, and much stronger than the spells used by normal folk. First things first. It’s very important to get your stance right to maximize your mana flow. So, if you would, can you stand in a line shoulder to shoulder?”

The five of us awkwardly lined ourselves up, facing towards Tia.

“Good. Stand with your hooves slightly outstretched to steady yourself, yet remain as tall as possible. N- No Violet you’re trying to stretch upward. Remain in a comfortable, relaxed pose, you shouldn’t be forcing anything. Ok, good.” She began to pace past us, examining us for mistakes.

“Now, to maximize the flow, you need to straighten your neck and keep your horn upright. No, Firelight your hooves are too wide.” Tia paused to correct the mare. “Thinner, thin- perfect!” she praised.

“Now;” she stated “This is the standard pose for magicians. You will generally return to this pose after a set. The point is to remain stable with a wider base, but keep your head up high and proud. The thought is that a proud Unicorn stays upright more. This pose is called ‘Brilliant Eminence’... The idea behind it is to stand firm, never retreating or breaking so the light of your magic shines as much as possible onto the world.”

“That… That doesn’t make sense.” I commented.

“No, I think Mom said it had a religious meaning. I don’t know what. But I think it was because the original lords of the houses wanted every Pegasi and Earth Pony to know they had the Blessing of the Sun… I think.” she pondered outloud.

“That still doesn’t make sense.” I replied.

“No… No it doesn’t.” Tia trailed off, not willing to disagree. “Now the hard part, while I’d prefer you to memorize the whole thing, we don’t have the time. Ordinarily, everypony will know the shape so they can fix any holes in the matrix with their own magic. But if you can’t learn it, then you need to focus on protecting and reinforcing my mana. So it’s going to rely on me to keep the spell's shape." She stopped pacing and stood in front of the line.

“I’m going to stand here, out of sequence and cast the spell. It’ll be harder to synchronize our mana, but if we can join like this we’ll have no problem during the fight. Now, I want you to reach out with your magic and surround my matrix.”

It was strange. All I had done magic wise was my levitation. It was so easy to use it was almost like a fifth limb. But it was formless, it would smash into something like a cudgel, gripping at something like wet mud. High magic, the magic you needed to attend a school to learn, revolved around shaping that formless limb into certain patterns and shapes. Also called matrixes. But the matrixes were so different and complicated, it was exceedingly unlikely to stumble upon one by accident. And if you did, you likely will never know what it’ll do until you cast it.

To cast, one had to activate the matrix. Typically, this was done in an instinctual manner involving the personal rune in your horn. This rune would be what you built your matrix around, so you and only you, the caster, would control the spell. That was a particularly hard part of accidental discovery. Finding your rune.

Thankfully, Mom had taught me that. It may have been hard to do accidentally, but there were methods to learn it quickly. And that knowledge wasn’t a closely guarded secret of the Crown.

Although now that I thought about it, that may have been a clue that Mom had at least attended a school.

“Try to get used to touching my magic, the mana field is likely to snap and crack like a campfire when it starts taking hits. If you’re not used to it, you could lose focus and let the section slip.” Tia instructed.

It felt weird to press my magic to Tia’s. It was a weird thought, but it reminded me of two ponies intimately pressing together. But the others seemed fine with it, so maybe something in my head was being Moon Marked again.

“I’m going to start adjusting the matrix so it fails, I want you to practice fixing it. Ready?”

I felt Tia reshaping her mana, subtly shifting lines by bending them.

I immediately started fixing what I could feel. If this was the real deal, I shouldn’t be waiting for somepony to give me permission.

“Go!”

Tia started slow but small. At first I thought it was because it was easy. But then I began to realize, with as easy as it was to move Tia’s mana, a proper spell bolt would probably be making a mess of the matrix if left unchecked.

Tia was “being easy” to try and get us used to the shape of the matrix. If we caught slight changes, larger disruptions would be easy to sense.

We practiced for an hour, Tia slowly making more and more subtle changes. It was good to get used to the pattern, but I tried not to get too used to them quite yet. I figured I wouldn’t know what section of Tia’s magic I would have to look after, so I didn’t want to get into any bad habits now and pay for a mistake later.

“Alright ponies, I want us all rested, go back home and try to get some sleep. Make sure you have your equipment on hoof in case the alarm bell starts ringing. When you wake up, or if the bell starts ringing, meet me in the center of town. From there we’ll cover most of the village.” Tia instructed,

“Makes sense.” Violet agreed.

“Of course.” Ocean Breeze responded.

“Wouldn’t miss the fireworks.” Torchwood smiled.

“Got it.” I chirped.

“I’m gonna miss my firebombs!” Firelight whined, bouncing from hoof to hoof.

We all chuckled at Firelight’s antics.

“Now go home. Lu, you go get your armor and go home. I’ll be right with you after I talk with the Mayor.”

“Got it!” I repeated, calling back as we all went our separate ways.

It was now the afternoon. The sun was high and yellow white. The weather warm enough that if it had been a normal day, the citizens of Ùllahdmaiden would willingly forgo their winter cloaks to bask in the sun while they worked. Foals would run and jump through the streams of snowmelt, playing in the water and mud.

Today the smiles were muted, less sincere. Neighbors talked to each other only when they needed to. Everypony had their head bent to their task, devoting every moment to the job. Because every single one of them knew, that if they didn’t, they would all die. The warm weather might as well not existed at all. The foals were absent entirely, likely being kept in the village hall so they could be watched and kept from under hoof.

It was such a nice day.

Yet it felt like a rain shower before a funeral.

Master Brickwork may have been leading the construction of the palisade, his mark of destiny was one for building hotter forges after all, but the Apprentices Flame Etch and Ironplate were in the blacksmith.

Another strange thing. Had I not left yesterday, I would probably be in here, helping with whatever project Master Brickwork was working on. The shop would’ve only had four ponies inside. Brickwork, the two other apprentices, and me.

Now it was full of what must’ve been at least half the town.

It was starting to get late enough that the column could be minutes to hours away. So everypony was being given at least two things. A plackart made of wooden planks, reinforced with bands of iron, and a helmet made out of a carved log. More than a few peasants had brought tools to be sharpened, to be used as makeshift weapons. Flame Etch was the one giving out the wooden armor. Ironplate was busy at the wheel whetstone with a pitchfork.

I waited my turn to talk to Flame Etch.

When it was my turn, he was so busy that he didn’t even register that I was one of his fellow apprentices in the shop. He just saw my hooves were empty and filled them.

“There you go.” he said automatically. “There you go.” he said again as he rapidly gave out another set. “There you go…”

He seemed busy, and I didn’t want to get in the way, so I left the shop.

When I was back in the street, I slipped on the plackart and tightened the straps. It may have been a weird choice, making armor out of wood. But even though there was work enough for a Master Blacksmith and his apprentices, most of the metal the farmers found or dug up went into replacing or fixing farming tools. So the Earth ponies used the next best thing for armor that may need to be stored for long periods of time with no decay. Wood was abundant, reasonably protective, and easy to make if a set needed replaced.

The wood was lacquered a deep golden brown, fighting moisture and splintering. It was further kept together with the iron bands bolted to the wood around its edges.

The helmet had much the same story. Made like a sallet, it had been carved out of a single log and stained. It didn’t have any iron bands because the carve was too complex to be worth banding, but it seemed sturdy enough, and it would protect my head better than no helmet at all.

I idly noticed that there was a horn hole as I put the helmet on.

Huh… I guess he noticed who I was after all.

I walked home, trying to enjoy the nice day while it was still nice. But I wasn’t used to the armor and it kept distracting me.

Tia wasn’t home yet, so I kept my room’s door open, took off my helmet, and lay down on my bed.

Chapter 74 The Memories Part 33

~~~

Bong.

I sat up in bed, already wide awake.

Bong.

I jump out of bed, grabbing the sallet and jamming it on my head.

Bong

In the houses around me, I could hear the bustle of ponies doing the same thing I was. I lifted the old Pegasoplian spear from its corner and tucked it beneath a leather strap in my armor.

Bong.

Ùllahdmaiden’s tallest building was a three story town hall. It was often used for town meetings, celebrations, and town organization. But the uppermost floor contained a single, large iron bell. It was not used for time keeping like in the City of Unicornia. It was used to announce the starts of festivals, to tell the town that there was important news.

Bong.

Or to announce that the village was under attack.

Bong.

Tia met me in the living room, leaving her own room to swing shut by itself, her armor already on as well.

Bong.

We wasted no time in leaving the building. The sky was bright orange in the early evening air.

Bong.

On the ground, ponies rushed about. Mares and stallions in their plank armor sets, some carrying pitchforks shovels or rakes.

Bong.

The villagers were rushing towards the palisade, ready to stop any invader from entering the village.

Bong.

“Celestia! Luna!” cried a mare.

Bong.

We glanced over to see the Mayor in her plank armor standing by the gate, waving for us.

Bong.

The final twelfth note rang out, the sound rolling through the trees in the distance. But that didn’t stop any of the Earth Ponies rushing to their assigned positions. If anything it made the village feel more chaotic.

Villagers were shouting over each other, relaying information to everypony as stocks and supplies were reassessed, the readiness of the loose groups that formed the overall militia. The Mayor stood, by the gate that had been constructed over where the main road had been, on the Northeast side, where most of the comings and goings of the Greater Clan territory entered and left Ùllahdmaiden.

The draw bridge had been pulled up, a door that had once been the floor of a hoof cart had been added and reinforced. Leading off around on both sides of the gate, the logs that formed the palisades were sharpened and planted to completion, a raised mound of dirt on the inside so the Earth Ponies could view and attack from behind the wall.

Ponies swarmed over the mound, standing side by side shoulder to shoulder. Farming tools were common, and they poked above the palisade like spears over a phalanx. It looked like the whole village was protecting the wall.

Tia and I skidded to a stop in front of the Mayor.

“Are they here? Is it time?” Tia asked, panic creeping into the edges of her voice.

“See for yourself.” the Mayor replied coolly, gesturing over the line of upright logs. We looked cautiously to where she pointed.

Sure enough, where yesterday had been a sizable copse of wild trees, now stood rank upon rank of Unicorns is golden armor. Banners flew above them in the wind. I even recognized the coat-of-arms for several Noble Houses, but by far the largest and grandest was a white flag with gold trim.

The stylized Unicorn horn set inside a magnificent golden crown would be unmistakable to anypony who had spent any time within Unicornia’s border.

The crest of the Royal Family.

Below the banner, I could even make out a mare dressed unlike all the soldiers. A gleaming polished silver crown sat on her head, a deep purple cloak tied around her neck.

A trumpet blew, drums beat energetically, and the army before the village began to sing as one.

"Valiant!
Hear the marching steps! We will not rest!
Valiant!
There is no foe we cannot best!

Valiant!
Meeting sword with sword for the Holy Sun!
Valiant!
We bring justice in the court!

The horn blew a series of triumphant notes that rang off the distant trees.

"Valiant!
Have you seen the knight with armor bright?
Valiant!
Bringing darkness to the light!

Valiant!
Bringing light to dark! See our army, hark!
Valiant!
For Him we leave His mark!"

The trumpet sounded again, a repeat of its part.

"We fester not our bodies to disrepair!
We defend those that can’t do so themselves!
Opposition will surely not fa-ir too well,
When our voices break through to our SUN!"

The horn blew its song again.

"Valiant!
Marching in His sight! In His name we fight!
Valiant!
We do not cower, do not hide!

Valiant!
Pledge with good faith! Honor binds today!
Valiant!
Our folks we won’t betray!"

The horn blew its part again, but this time it played an additional verse as the song ended.

A soldier in gold approached, a white flag of parlay in their levitation.

“Not one step closer Loyalist!” The Mayor exclaimed from our sides. “State your business and leave! Your song does not frighten us!”

The soldier stopped in their tracks, pulling a scroll from beneath their armor. An azure mane fluttered beneath their helmet.

“The Princess of Unicornia, Princess Platinum cordially greets the village of ‘Allahdmaiden’.” the mare, now recognizable by the tone of her voice, spoke the name of the village with unfamiliarity. “She requests the surrender of all foodstuffs in your possession, and knowledge of what lies South of your village.”

“Hohohohoho!” laughed a familiar voice from behind. The form of Appleflower in her warplate loomed over the gate. “Is that all?” Her voice rumbled deeply, causing even her armor to vibrate like a window after a crash of thunder.

“Soldiers of the Crown of Unicornia!” she suddenly boomed, so loud there could be no doubt that even the Princess heard it, sounding as if an Alicorn had descended from the heavens to give a divine decree. “Ye will get none of our food, nor knowledge of our lands! Ye are not welcome here! Turn back to whence ye came!

“Ah.” the mare below seemed to deflate at the proclamation of the giant mare. “Then-” she stopped as she saw the horns on Tia’s and my head. “What? What are you two doing over there?!” she called out in surprise. “Come over here! Leave those barbaric Earth Ponies at once!”

“Barbaric?!” I called back angrily, cutting off everypony who wanted to respond. “You want barbaric?! Go ask your Princess about all the villages she let starve when her Mom became Queen! Go ask her where all the villagers went! Go ask her about ‘Queensford’.” I called out.

Something about what I said stunned the mare, because I saw her lips silently mouth the word “Queensford”.

“Hydrabane…” she whispered suddenly in realization, somehow loud enough for us all to hear. She took a step back in terror. “Luna- I… No…” she whimpered.

“How do you-” I began, only to realize I recognized her azure mane, a deep hatred burrowed into my heart.

“Sapphire Shine.” I grit my teeth as I pronounced her name for all to hear. “Tell me, before you lecture us about barbarity… What happened to Snow Step?”

The mare below flinched as if she had been slapped.

We may not have known what exactly happened to poor Snow Step, but wolves don’t use knives to cut a ponies throat. And the mare below was one of the two ponies still alive who were in the area.

It didn’t take a Warmage to put two and two together.

“I… I… I…” Sapphire stammered. I swore I saw the corpse of dead hydra and the shade of a furious filly with feathers coming from her sides reflected in the mare's eyes.

The mare’s courage broke and she bolted, galloping at full speed back to the column of gold.

“Coward!” I called after her. “Kinslayer! Traitor!”

“Lu, enough” Tia admonished, pulling me from my rant over the wall as she nudged my side.

“You weren’t tormented by that mare as a filly.” I murmured to myself, dropping back behind the wall. If Tia heard me or not, she didn’t respond.

“Still a fiery whippersnapper Luna.” Appleflower praised. “Yer gonna be a right terror if ya ever get yer hackles raised properly.”

“Uh, thanks? I think…” I replied. I wasn’t sure I liked being angry. Like getting heat stroke from the forge, you just couldn’t think clearly and you felt like every hoofstep should’ve left scorch marks on the ground.

I didn’t want to get so angry I could never touch anypony ever again.

By now, the distant form of Sapphire had rejoined her fellows, swallowing her into their ranks.

“Come on Lu, they’ll discuss for a bit before they start attacking. We need to get to the center of town and start casting.” Tia said.

“R-right.” I replied, being jostled from my thoughts.

The two of us abandoned the palisade, letting more of our fellow villagers take the places we had vacated. As we left the wall, the last trickles of our fellow villagers were finally making their way to join the rest at the wall, making Tia and I’s journey to the center of the village simple.

It was almost disturbing, how still everything seemed to be with nopony around. Several doors had even been left open in their occupants rush to get ready. Only the wind disturbed the buildings, shaking a few belongings that had been left as their owner dropped them when the bells started to ring.

Was this what it was like for a village to be abandoned? Did Queensford look like this after we left? After Mrs. Amethyst and the rest of the ponies who stayed behind starved to death? Would Ùllahdmaiden continue to look like this after this day was done?

Or would life return to these buildings? Would colts and fillies run through these streets again? Singing and laughing without care? Would the farmers and merchants hawk their wares once more to a large crowd? Would the workshops and stores bustle again with activity? Would the blacksmith sing again with the ring of metal? Would the rhythmic saw of the carpenter drone like a dragonfly in the warm Summer sun? Would the tavern clammer with the sounds of ponies after a hard day's work? Laughing and cheering as they celebrated that they were, well and truly alive…

Once more I thought about that one fateful night with the Hydra, so long ago now. About how I had thought about how many ponies that the Hydra had killed.

Now I thought about the voices of those silenced ponies.

Those ponies had laughed and made merry.

Those ponies had sung songs with each other. Maybe drunkenly, maybe with a fake smile.

But they had sang.

Impromptu barsong or practiced church choir, they had all sang.

Isn’t that all life really was? One giant song, sung by your friends and neighbors? Each with different parts and verses? Sometimes sad, sometimes happy, but undoubtedly very much alive.

But the dead do not sing.

They do not laugh.

They do not cheer.

They do not sing.

Each dead Pony was a Pony whose singing had been silenced.

Each dead Pony was a part of the choir that would never again contribute to the song of life.

I felt a deep sadness welling up through my throat, threatening to leak out of the corner of my eyes.

The song of Ùllahdmaiden could still very well be silenced, just like Queensford had been the night of the Hydra attack. But this time, the Royal Crown of Unicornia had come to play the part of the Hydra.

I blinked away my tears and redoubled my conviction, following after Tia.

Thank the Earth that I was known as ‘Luna Hydrabane’. For another hydra was in dire need of slaying.

And I would do my part to be rid of it.

Author's Note

The vibe: https://youtu.be/wkWSjoW2n4E?si=Zl9xXVsHbp653MIT

Chapter 75 The Memories Part 34

~~~

The other Queensford Unicorns were already waiting for us. They were already in their armor and were standing in a line, with space for Tia and myself between them.

“Come on Tia! Luna!” Torchwood exclaimed. “I’m certain they’re about to start! I can feel it in my bones!”

“What took so long?” Breeze asked.

“The Mayor probably wanted my help in dealing with their messenger.” Tia replied, stopping and turning into her center position. “Whole lot I did though. Okay, the column is positioning themselves Northeast; Lu and Firelight, you’re our strongest so both of you take the Northeast edge, keep the center shield strong.” The two of us nodded silently.

“Torchwood, you take the North. They came from that direction so if they try to flank its more likely they’ll come from that direction.” Tia continued.

“I can do that.” Torchwood grunted with a nod.

“Breeze, you take the East edge. I’m not sure if any surprises will come from that side, so be prepared for anything.”

“Makes sense.” the stallion agreed.

“Violet, you’re our weakest caster, so I want you to watch the other directions, but focus on assisting the others.”

“R-right.” Violet nodded nervously.

“Light, you want the North Northeast or East Northeast?” I asked as Tia started to charge her horn.

“I’ll take North Northeast. If the old stallion starts to falter he’ll be much more willing to accept help from me.” Firelight snarked.

”'Ey!” Torchwood exclaimed, letting his voice slip into the Ùllahdmaiden accent. I heard a few snorts and chuckles, but all I did was roll my eyes.

Tia’s yellow magic began to bloom from her horn, spreading a shimmering transparent dome over the village. Soon, orange, dark orange, seafoam green, lilac, and my own cobalt joined, turning the purely yellow dome into a shifting sea of colors as the shield fully formed. The column didn’t start their attack yet, so I took a few seconds to familiarize myself with the portion of the matrix Tia had assigned me.

Yeah… Yeah! I could do this! I could-

The attack began without fanfare, a barrage of spellfire nearly every shade of the rainbow struck the shield, a good portion landing on the part I was responsible for.

A splitting headache bloomed in my skull, my only consolation was that the other Queensford Unicorns also groaned in pain.

Ow.

And then there was no nuance. All there was was the pounding of magic on the shield, it was all I could do to keep my section intact. If anypony had tried to get my attention, I would never have heard them, I could barely hear myself in my own head.

That leyline is disrupted.

This pattern isn’t getting enough mana.

That rune is suffering from feedback.

Tia’s concentration needs reinforcing here.

This leyline is almost gone.

This rune- Oh Violet got it.

That-

I don’t know how much time had passed. It felt like eternity. But it could’ve been hours. It could’ve been weeks. It could’ve been months. It could’ve been years. Tartarus, it could’ve been only seconds for all I knew.

Violet was the first to faint. While initially a good idea to have the weakest of our number simply assist rather than bear the brunt of the attacks, what really happened was that everypony needed help, splitting her attention over all of us. That meant she was essentially copying what Tia was doing, but without the mana.

Torchwood was the second one to faint. He had kept his section intact admirably, but eventually his age caught up with him. Firelight rushed to take over his part of the matrix even as he fell. I tried to ease her burden by taking over half her original area.

Breeze was the third. If he was caught off guard or if the headache finally caught up to the stallion I didn’t know. All I knew is that he quietly slumped over, I stretched myself more to take over.

From there it was a cascade.

It was too much for me and I had to drop out as the fourth.

A silver mare in a black shawl and dress smiled in approval.

“Owowowowow!” I fell to the dirt and clutched my head, feeling my brain pulse painfully with every heartbeat.

Firelight fell down beside me a few seconds later, clutching her own head in pain as she attempted to keep my section up.

It was a miracle to me that Tia kept up the shield for a few more seconds, in which several barrages impacted the shield, but did not break through.

Ultimately however, it was a rather gray crackling bolt of power that finally pushed Tia over the edge, joining us on the ground almost ten seconds after I finally could take no more.

“Awww… Buck…” she groaned, her own head in her hooves.

Somepony started pulling me along the ground.

I couldn’t see who they were so I started to thrash.

“G’off me!” I exclaimed, getting ready to throw punches.

“Calm yerself lass!” a familiar voice shouted. “We gotta get outta here!”

I looked up to see the familiar face of Master Brickwork.

“Wha-” I started to ask, but then I began to notice that we were surrounded by ponies. Ponies who bustled to and fro, ponies who lay on the ground in neat orderly rows…

Ponies that were far too still.

At some point, somepony had moved the village’s carts to the center of the town. As I watched, several ponies who I wasn’t sure I recognised helped a mare, who had blood red bandages wrapped around her barrel, into one of the carts. Slightly to the North sounds of fighting could be heard.

“How-?” I tried to ask, pushing my splitting headache to the wayside.

“No time lass!” Brickwork exclaimed “Ùllahdmaiden is lost!”

The words hit me like a runaway cart.

I glanced around again.

Everypony was wounded in some way. It wasn’t obvious at first glance, but now that I knew, I could see bandages made from every scrap of fabric that the Earth Ponies could find. Already, a few carts were full with severally wounded and heading South. Not so much abandoning the ponies who were clearly dead, but having no choice but to leave.

I glanced to my sides, wondering what condition my fellow Unicorns were in. Violet was missing. I could only hope she had already been packed into a cart. Breeze lay were he fell, his chest unnaturally still. Torchwood I could see, helping somepony now missing a leg get into a cart, although he was breathing too heavily for somepony his age. Firelight was being helped to her hooves, her eyes screwed shut as she continued to wrestle with her pounding head. Tia was still on the ground, but several ponies had noticed she had finally fallen and were rushing to help her up as well.

“I can walk.” I stated, letting more irritation slip into my voice than I intended. “Go help somepony who needs it more.” I shrugged my way out of Brickworks hooves, picking myself up and standing under my own power.

“Ye sure lass? Ye’ve been-”

“I’m fine.” I insisted. I could still move, I wouldn’t like it, but I didn’t need help. “It’s just a headache, go help somepony who’s actually injured.”

“I- Aye lass.” Brickwork nodded before letting me go to help somepony else.

I didn’t pay attention to where he went, but I limped to the nearest pony I could help.

Tia.

Tia groaned as I pulled her up with my hooves, my horn hurt too much for me to even think about using magic.

“Come on Tia, we gotta go.” I grunted in her ear as I pulled, trying to drag her towards the nearest cart in case she was about to pass out.

“Lu?” she slurred.

“You gotta get up Tia.” I grunted again, pulling Tia by her armpits.

“Strangest dream Lu…” Tia murmured again. “You… You were fighting me… And you were so dark and angry…”

Tia must’ve hit her head or something when she collapsed.

“I’ll never fight you Tia.” I reassured her. “But I need you to work with me here…” I grunted again, pulling her larger weight as hard as I could. Out of the corner of my eye, flashes of spell fire began to illuminate the area from around a corner.

“I-I’m so sorry Lu…” the pink haired Unicorn mumbled out.

Ponies began to run by, including Torchwood and Firelight, who limped past, holding each other for support.

“I need help!” I called out, trying to get any of the fleeing ponies to help me.

Thankfully there were a few who took notice and helped me by picking up Tia on their shoulders.

“I love you so much…” Tia slurred again as three of us lifted her to the last cart, pushing her into the back.

“Anypony else?!” I called out, glancing around. A few ponies ran up to us, more light flashed on the building behind them.

“They’re covering our escape! Go go go!” one of them, a mare, called.

The pony pulling the cart wasted no time and began to run down the road South.

A few of us still relatively unhurt galloped behind the now speeding cart. I could see a pony in the cart still trying to apply bandages and compresses to the ponies who listlessly lay inside. The flash of spellfire faded away and stopped completely.

I briefly worried about how we were going to get over the ditch, but as we turned the final corner I realized I hadn’t seen this part of the modified village yet, and that a small gate had been constructed in the Southwest palisade. Only Two Earth ponies remained to guard the gate, which had been lowered and left open.

“We’re the last ones!” A pony in our fleeing group exclaimed. The two guards nodded and joined us as the cart ran across the makeshift bridge, not even bothering to close the gate behind them.

I realized night had fallen as we fled into the dark woods just beyond the field of stumps that had been cut just that morning. Hard packed dirt worn from a full day of hard labor seemed to turn to mud beneath my hooves as I ran. At first I was confused, because all of this area should’ve been hard packed. But then a snowflake landed on my nose.

Ùllahdmaiden had fallen.

Chapter 76 The Memories Part 35

~~~

We ran through the night, following the trail left by the other carts through the wild forest. Broken plants and saplings signaled the path the rest of the rest of the survivors took. It had become so worn that patches of dirt could be seen beneath the red moonlight of the full Moon. Occasionally, whenever we crested a hill with a clear vantage, you could see Ùllahdmaiden, now aglow with horn and firelight as soldiers clad in gold searched the whole village for trickery.

We had only run for two hours before slowing to even a trot, the lights of Ùllahdmaiden all but a pinprick in the night. Occasionally we heard the howl of wolves, timber or otherwise. The smell of blood must’ve attracted their attention for miles.

The trails of a few carts and wagons veered off. If the drivers of the cart had simply gotten lost in the night we didn’t know. But we knew our odds were better with the majority of ponies.

We started to walk when the first light of dawn began to rise in the west.

And that’s when I realized why we could see so well.

A thick blanket of snow had covered the world, freezing the greening wilderness once more. The only reason we didn’t notice the dropping temperature was because our blood was pumping so loudly we didn’t notice the heat erupting from our hearts, keeping the cold at bay.

But it was so cold, it surely would take another month to thaw again, only to immediately freeze once again for Winter.

That's when we came to the camp of the survivors. They had only been five minutes ahead the whole time, judging by how early they were in building a temporary camp. There were a few missing carts, but so swift and sudden was our retreat there was hardly a chance to veer off into the night. A few had gotten lost. But most had been filled with corpses by ponies passing wounded and bodies from cart to cart. Transferring the living and replacing them with the dead, finally picking up their still living comrades from the tongues of the cart and unhitching them, letting the cart trail into the darkness.

But finally the runners had stopped. Letting the rested and healthy ponies set up a camp for a few hours to rest.

That’s when the knowledge of what happened began to be shared.

From the moment the shield went up, things had gone wrong quickly. We had protected many of the villagers from the barrage of the Unicornia Unicorns, but they had slowly pushed Tia’s shield back, forcing the shield to gradually shrink. At first, it hadn’t mattered much. Even as the shield left villagers vulnerable on their palisade wall. The Crown Unicorns charged several times up, suddenly falling into the spiked ditch. It stopped them a few times, but with the weight of their corpses it became easier to cross. They simply hadn’t expected such a simple defense of using the very shape of the earth as a tool. But eventually, the villagers were overrun as the Unicornian Commander committed to taking the village with his forces. Firelight’s bombs had gone off a few times, as they were laid in various critical locations that the Unicorns needed to take. Time was bought for the villagers to retreat further into the village to the relative safety of the still shrinking shield.

That was when Appleflower and the Mayor had made a difference. Appleflower tore into the gold clad Unicorns. Her strange Earth Pony forged armor that only she or Master Brickwork were allowed to repair, took much of the brunt of the fight. Taking many more hits than what the Unicorns expected for mere “Iron”. The giant mare didn’t even need a weapon, using her armored bulk to crush and smash like a berserker, her mouth constantly agape in a furious rant of challenges and insults.

But despite surely having the physique of an Alicorn, even Appleflower still had the constitution of a mortal. Her armor was slowly dented and peeled back from the force of the spellfire she endured, but with impossible endurance that slowly cast doubt on the idea that it was made of mere steel either. Eventually, a bolt got in through Appleflower’s left hindleg. Severally hurting the mare’s ability to both attack and move, several Earth ponies had been forced to hold her down as the village recovered their friend, hauling her away to the opposite side of the village for the eventual retreat that the Mayor had ordered.

The Mayor knew there was no hope the second the walls were over-ran. She had ordered the increasingly common villager with nothing directly to do, to start gathering carts and loading those who had been wounded.

That was when Violet had fainted. She had taken it upon herself to take on too much for what little mana she had. She fainted as she burned out.

That had forced the shield to degrade even further, as more and more of the Matrix became less noticed. Errors and mistakes piling up more and more as time continued.

The Mayor kept getting more ponies to get the wounded villagers into carts, Beginning to send the first carts, one of which had Appleflower, shouting and cursing to be let back into the fight to defend her home.

The villagers did what they could, trapping and planting bombs in their own homes, already accepting they were never going to return. That kept the Unicorns back in caution, as they became cautiously unwilling to push into the village. The traps having proven sturdy enough to severely wound or occasionally kill, despite only being made of wood.

Rugs had been placed over deep stake filled pits, knives and green saplings tensioned with tripwire at neck height, fire bombs placed inside pots with more tripwire triggers. One particularly devious trap involved placing a bomb in a hollowed out wall of a house, set to a precariously balanced cobblestone pressure plate; As soon as the bomb exploded, half a home collapsed over a corner filled with Crown Soldiers.

The mare who did that turned out to be named “Tickled Pink.”

That was when Torchwood fell down. He had been standing still for so long his knee had given out, and that was what broke his concentration. With the pain in his leg he couldn’t conjure up the concentration needed to reconjure the concentration for high magic. So he shook out his leg to get it working again and proceeded to help haul other wounded ponies to the carts.

Poor Breeze never saw it coming. The shield had begun to fray along the edges, providing a shifting opportunity for a lucky Unicorn to shoot a bolt of light, impacting Ocean Breeze and breaking his skull with a resounding crack. He died a minute later as his brains began to leak out.

That was when I tried to catch his failing section.

It was also when carts began to leave with lesser wounded villagers, there simply was no room for all of us.

I held out for holding almost half the shield by myself for almost a whole second, perfectly stable and unwavering, but it proved just so difficult that I nearly instantly crumbled.

Firelight, in a panic, grabbed hold of my section and maintained it for as long as she could. She held out for almost a second and a half.

The villagers all universally said the shield erupted into a furious gold glow.

Tia then shouted in a monstrous voice.

“You shall not touch them.”

It was said she held the shield by herself for ten whole seconds. Some said she glowed so bright, they thought it had suddenly become day. A few even dared to swear that they thought they saw great golden feathers at her sides.

Turns out my headache must’ve been worse than I thought because I recalled none of those details.

From there my memory was pretty spot on.

She collapsed. I broke out of my stupor. Torchwood ran off to help a villager lift his friend. The last of the carts began to leave. I dragged Tia as Flame Etch picked Firelight onto his withers.

I must’ve been so focused on Tia I hadn’t even realized he was there. Finally, the last of the villagers fought off the Crown Unicorns, now unprotected by the shield. They resorted to hoof and shovel, rake and pitchfork, almost powerless against the trained soldiers, just to buy time for the ponies immediately behind them to flee.

No pony else had heard what Tia had said to me. So I decided to keep it quiet for Tia’s privacy. All but the very last of us were left, the other carts now long gone. The last villagers who had been fighting had been long charred to cinders by then.

Almost a third of the villagers were just gone. Their voices silenced. Of the two thirds remaining, only five got no wounds at all. The pony with the most medical knowledge and four foals. Wounds ranged from severe burns on their torso, to minor cuts along her hoof, Star Song had bucked a soldier as he entered the house they had been hiding, buying time for the village foals to retreat.

As for myself, I got a burn along my horn that Torchwood called, mage burn. It hurt when I touched a hoof to it, but otherwise I could barely feel it. Almost all of us Unicorns had it, with only the exception of Torchwood, seeing as he only broke concentration due to his knee.

The only one of the Queensford Unicorns to die had been Ocean Breeze. Star Song was so distraught she wanted to march back to Ùllahdmaiden to weep over her husband, regardless of her pregnancy.

Appleflower had survived, but her back leg was ruined. She had been pried out of the fused portions of her armor, and her leg had to be amputated before it became gangrenous. She would be lucky to ever properly fight again.

No pony knew where the Mayor was. Only that she wasn’t here.

No pony saw Ùllahdmaiden go up in flame, nor were there any plume of smoke in the direction of the village as we watched. A few of us wanted to go back. But they also realized that even if they did go back, the weather had continued to worsen, the fair weather dropping back to freezing. The snow would have covered the land all year round at this rate. While the Earth Ponies valued their homes, they were pragmatic, they saw that going back would serve no purpose. They wouldn’t be able to grow any plants here for at least another year, most likely longer.

Tia woke up in her cart, ten minutes before sundown.

“I- What? What happened? Where are we?” she asked.

“What do you remember?” I asked, she had hit her head after all. There was no telling what she remembered.

“We- We were lining up to cast the shield spell…” she thought out loud. “And… and that’s it.” she trailed off.

“We held out for hours. But they slowly overpowered us. Y-you’d have to ask somepony else to tell you the bad news.” I admitted, surprising myself with my honesty. “I’m not the pony to ask.” I continued, not wanting to think anymore about the faces of ponies falling into silent blackness. “Do you remember anything you said?”

“I… No. No I don’t.” Tia admitted.

“I heard you held out for ten seconds by yourself by screaming “You shall not touch them.” I explained. “After that you fell and I dragged you to a cart to retreat.”

“I- I didn’t say anything did I?” Tia asked. “While…” she trailed off.

“You said somethings, but nothing you said made sense.” I went on.

Tia seemed to sigh in relief.

“Thank the Sun…” she sighed quietly.

It felt weird to hear Tia swear. Like something wasn’t quite right. Like finally understanding how foals were made. Utterly horrifying, but in such a mundane way. But something… Else was layered in her voice. However it felt like my Moon Mark was flaring up again because I found myself not understanding what exactly she was feeling. Why was she ‘relieved’? Aren’t ponies supposed to feel sad here?

I hugged Tia, trying to show that while I didn’t understand, I wanted to sympathize. She hugged me back tightly.

“I love you too Tia.” I murmured.

Author's Note

The thickening plot is developing nicely... :pinkiecrazy:

Anyway, join my Discord for shenanigans!
https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 77 The Memories Part 36

~~~

I woke to the view of a cloth sheet illuminated by light. Warm coats pressed in on both sides. I lifted my head up, confused as to where I was.

The pony to my right was a familiar white unicorn with pink mane. The pony to my left was a green and yellow mare who I vaguely recalled was named “Summer Glow”. My heart started beating quickly as I realized she was pressing herself into my side.

Something about the way she lay gave me a feeling of want that I’d never felt before. And I wasn’t sure that I liked it.

I pulled myself from the mare’s embrace as gently as I could, my efforts hampered by a headache that still kept my magic at bay. As I stood up, I realized we were not the only ponies here, there were at least 10 in total, all sprawled out in the large space. That’s when I recognized where we were. This was the cart I had laid Tia in when we fled Ùllahdmaiden. Somepony had set up a pole in the middle of the cart and had thrown a cloth sheet over the top, forming a crude tent.

I stepped over Tia to the back of the cart to open the flap of cloth that served as the entrance and poked my head out.

I shivered.

The camp had been covered in another foot of snow. I could see the breath of Ponies who had already woken up, going about their business keeping the camp alive. A few seemed to have organized themselves into foraging parties. However, what little I saw them carrying seemed meager at best. I pulled myself back into the cart and glanced around. I didn’t remember where I had put my armor, and it looked like any cloaks we had were already plundered for something else.

I cursed quietly to myself as I jumped from the back of the cart into the frigid air, taking care to keep the flap closed to trap the heat inside. A trail had already been stomped into the snow throughout the camp, but I trotted in place to keep my temperature up since I didn’t have a cloak.

“Do we have any more cloaks?” I asked a few times as I wandered, trying to find anything I could use or do to keep warm. A few ponies had the foresight to loot their own homes as the Mayor started putting everypony in the carts, bringing what blankets and cloaks they could. But nothing they brought was thick enough for another Winter.

I wanted to get two, one for myself and one for Tia. But with my sister still asleep that would just mean depriving another pony of something to keep warm. So I made do with a ratty cloak that had been otherwise destined for use as a cleaning rag. It helped, but I wasn’t going to rely on it.

Eventually I passed by a covered cart that had the distinct armor of Appleflower piled in a heap outside. An aura of despair hung over the covered cart, made evident as Ponies refused to get any closer than they had to. I stood outside and listened for the telltale sounds of a sleeping pony inside the makeshift tent.

Nothing.

“Appleflower? Are you in there? It’s Luna.” I called out, noticing out of the corner of my eye a particularly bent grieve in the pile of the giant Pony’s armor.

“G’ away.” replied the voice of Appleflower, uncharacteristically quiet and subdued.

“May I come in?” I asked.

“No.”

“Oh… Well…” I trailed off, not expecting such a response. “Do you need anything? I could-”

“Leave me be.” The sound of a giant pony shifting in the cart signaled the end of the conversation.

“Oh. Um…” I tried to think of something to say. “If you need anything, you just need to ask… I can’t promise I’ll be the one to answer though…”

The giant pony said nothing.

Sighing to myself, I turned away from the fallen giant’s covered cart and continued looking for a way to be useful.

By now, most of the camp was awake. Some tried to give out what little food had been found, mainly roasted acorns that had been found under a tree where the snow was only a slight dusting. But most of the ponies were stuck in a stupor from the last two days.

Just like Appleflower I supposed.

I found myself becoming increasingly irritated, many of the ponies were content to sit in the snow and do nothing, their eyes hollow and dark with what they had witnessed. I empathized with them, truly I did… But now wasn’t the time to give up. Every moment everypony wasn’t doing something useful, was another moment closer we all came to starvation.

How could they just give up? Don’t they see how much we needed everypony?

And that’s what irked me.

If the Mayor were here, she would’ve organized everypony. If the Mayor was here we could have work groups focus on tasks. If the Mayor-

If the Mayor were here.

Something clicked in my head.

The Mayor wasn’t here, the consensus was she had died fighting so the rest of us could escape.

The memory of the Queensford Unicorns voting for Reeve as we encountered Ùllahdmaiden, all those years ago, swam in my vision.

I knew what I had to do.

“Ponies!” I suddenly shouted, surprising even myself. “Head to the center of camp for a village meeting!” Ponies jumped in surprise and I shouted, practically in their ears. “Come on! Get up!” I urged, pushing a few ponies to their hooves. “I’m calling a village meeting! Go on!” I started to chant, walking through the camp in a zig zag pattern to get as many ponies as I could find to move.

“Luna!” Master Brickwork exclaimed, suddenly at my side. “Why are ye shouting?”

“Gah!” I jumped, not expecting him to be there at all. “Oh, Master, it’s only you…” I sighed, clutching my chest.

“Ye don’t need ta call me ‘Master’ anymore Luna.” Brickwork admonished. “Yer apprenticeship ended the second ye left the village as far as I’m concerned. But why are ye yelling and stirring up a storm?” he asked.

“Ma- Brickwork.” I corrected myself. “Look at all the Ponies. Most of them aren’t doing anything. They’re dazed, they’re confused, and they’re without direction.” I pointed out. “If the Mayor was here, she could organize us all. But she isn’t.” I stressed. “So I’m using my right to call a village meeting in the center of camp to call for a vote.” I explained. Brickwork looked confused for a moment, but that moment was shattered as an understanding smile bloomed on his face.

“Ye never did let the metal cool while ye needed it hot didn’t you?” he grinned. The stallion then turned away and began to shout. “Village meeting! Center of camp! Up and attem!” he started to exclaim.

I smiled as I turned away from the area he was heading.

“I’m calling for a meeting! Village meeting! Center of camp!” I started to shout again.

I saw a few other ponies chanting the same message. Ironplate and Flametch were amongst them.

It was good to know they both had lived.

Finally, ponies had all disappeared from the edges of the camp, all congregating in the center. Satisfied that I had gathered almost all of the villagers, I joined the crowd. Pushing my way to a cart that had been uncovered for use as a raised podium.

Tia’s concerned face came out of the sea of ponies near the empty cart.

“Lu!” she called. “You’re the one calling this? Is there anything wrong? Do we need to fortify again?”

“No Tia, nothing like that.” I reassured her. “Let me address everypony.”

Tia bit her lip in thought, but stood aside for me to climb into the cart.

As I fully stood up in the cart, I realized I hadn’t thought this far ahead.

The crowd fell silent as they realized I was taking the stage, quietly watching.

The urge to step back down and hide reared its head, but I pushed it down and cleared my throat.

“Um… Hi! Ponies!” I called out awkwardly.

Somepony in the back coughed.

Oh how did I get here? Why was I the one who chose to handle this mess? How was I going to do this?

“I suppose you’re all wondering why I called the meeting…” I began, trying to continue addressing them all like it was a conversation. “Well… I…” I sighed, abandoning that train of thought.

“The truth is… The truth is Mayor Treesong isn’t here.” I began. “Since I woke up this morning, only a very small number of us have been addressing our food problem.” I called out, finally catching onto a thread I could follow.

“I see many of you ponies, sitting in the snow, doing nothing. Grieving over the Ponies we left behind.”

“What?! Are you saying we can’t mourn our loved ones?!” called a mare in the middle of the crowd.

The crowd began to clamber in agreement.

“What? No!” I called out, trying to regain my momentum. “Grieve! Please grieve! But there are living ponies in the here and now that don’t need to be grieved over!”

The crowd fell silent at my words.

“What little food we had was stolen by the Crown! The snow has returned! We have no food and we cannot grow food!” I called out, feeling myself starting on a worthwhile tangent.

“We can’t afford moping around and feeling sorry for ourselves!” I continued. “We need to organize! We need work groups! We have to pull together! We need to elect a new Mayor to lead us!”

“What? Are you saying you should be Mayor?!” a stallion called out.

“Me? Absolutely not. I’m barely holding it together up here.” I awkwardly chuckled. A few laughed with me, but most seemed to be thinking about what I had said.

“... So… Who?” Another mare called out.

“You make your own decision.” I replied. “But I for one, am nominating Tia.” I called out, trying to make my nomination clear.

“Of course you’d vote for her! She’s your sister!” a pony called out.

“Damn Unicorns! Invade us and try to elect themselves Mayor!”

“She probably lead the Unicorns right to us!”

“What?! No no no!” I called out, trying to calm the crowd back down.

“I vote for Celestia!” boomed the voice of a familiar giant.

The crowd turned as one towards the overwhelming voice.

Appleflower stood at the very edge of the crowd, a few ponies helping her limp forward. True to the rumors, her back left leg was totally gone from the hock down.

The mare limped forward on her three remaining legs, pushing aside the crowd with her sheer presence.

“Celestia has been by the Mayor’s side since she came to our village!” she announced. “Celestia has been the Mayor’s go-to mare for running Ùllahdmaiden for years! If I were to trust anypony, it would be Celestia!”

“Tia was the one who knew how to cast the dome! Earth knows how many of us would still be here without her!” A voice called.

“Wings! Celestia had wings like the Alicorns of old when she surged! I’d swear on my mother’s life!”

“Didn’t any of you hear what she said during the attack? She literally screamed ‘You shall not touch them’!”

Suddenly hooves were going up, each casting their vote for Tia. I watched as almost the whole crowd rose their hooves with increasingly widening eyes. Even if anypony nominated anypony else, the winner was clear.

Tia climbed onto the cart and stood next to me.

“Do- Do you all feel this way?” she asked nervously. “I- I’m not the most experienced, and I wasn't born in the village… Do you really-?”

“Mayor Celestia! Mayor Celestia! Mayor Celestia!” the crowd began to chant.

I watched as tears began to well in Tia’s eyes. She looked over to me as she noticed my attention.

“Never a doubt in my mind… Mayor Celestia.” I grinned. That seemed to push her over the edge.

“I- I-” she stammered. She wept for a few seconds, overcome with emotion. “I- I promise…” She sniffed one last time, regathering herself. “I promise I will watch over every single one of you.” she promised, looking out over the crowd, addressing them directly. “I will do my absolute best to make sure you never regret putting your confidence in me.”

The crowd cheered, happy with their choice of Mayor.

Author's Note

In a land without light... The Sun began to rise.

Also, gay autistic horse noises. :trollestia:

Chapter 78 The Memories Part 37

~~~

Tia wasted no time in addressing the concerns I had brought up. The first thing she did was sort ponies into work groups based on experience. The farmer majority of the villagers were split into foragers and manual laborers. The foragers went out in organized teams to sections of the surrounding wilderness to find whatever they could find, they brought in whatever they found. The rest of the farmers spent time managing the camp, repairing carts or cutting wood for campfires, which they systematically tended to keep everypony warm. Any pony with experience in cooking, weaving, or medicine were further divided into smaller groups, focusing on cooking what food could be gathered, making more cloaks and sheets out of plant fibers, or tending to the wounded.

But for this first day of Tia’s government, we were only given a few hours to gather what we could before we left.

Who knew if the Loyalist Unicorns would pursue the survivors to finish what they started?

By noon, the camp had been repacked and stowed away. The foraging groups had returned, and whatever they found had been given over to those who would make the best use of it. Even as the carts began to move, weavers had begun to twist plant fibers together in the back of their carts. The makeshift tents that had been erected over the carts were kept in place, to better keep the ponies inside warm. Whatever cloaks that had been scavenged had been given to the ponies who had been assigned to pull the carts or act as patrols along the caravan’s edge.

I myself had been given an intact set of plank armor, and a sliver of white willow bark for my ongoing headache, in addition to the ratty cloak I had found myself with. I chewed on the bark as I was hitched to one of the carts that had a group of mares weaving a fiber mat inside. To my surprise however, the pony I had woken up next to, Summer Glow, was also hitched at my side to the same cart.

“Hi!” she chirped, her own cloak covering her own set of armor.

“Oh… Um. Hi?” I responded, feeling my face heat up as I remembered how she snuggled next to me.

The mare giggled for some reason but otherwise fell silent.

I found myself thinking. 'Ponies were weird.'

Tia had put herself into the lead cart as the caravan left the abandoned campsite, heading South. Her reasoning, she had explained, was that no pony knew what lay this far South. Without knowledge of where they were going, it was very difficult to decide on a safe path. So she put herself in the front, along with several ponies who spent long periods of time in the wild. All the better to navigate.

The only problem with that plan turned out to be that several of the ponies on hoof were needed to stomp down the snow that had fallen. Thankfully, the snow had stopped falling, but the frigid cold remained.

The journey South continued in much the same manner.

By day, we traveled. Foragers would spread out behind the caravan and make use of the time to find whatever they could. Occasionally a cart would get stuck, giving them more time to search the area. By night we set up camp and ate what we dared. Nuts, budding leaves, grasses if they happened to be green enough, the foragers were lucky to find a small patch of mushrooms even.

It was barely enough.

Just enough to not starve. Everypony woke up hungry, and went to bed hungry. What little stored food that could be saved rarely lasted more than a day.

The true boons came when some manner of monster decided to try its luck.

Most of us were wounded, this was true, and the smell of so much blood attracted monsters like flies. Most of the smaller ones kept their distance. The survivors numbered too many for the weakest monsters to gamble with. But sometimes, something like a cragodile or manticore decided it wanted an easy meal. With all the armor and makeshift weapons though, they only ever wounded Ponies before they were slain in turn.

Whenever it happened, the caravan would stop whatever it was doing and descend on the slain beast like a swarm of locusts. They let nothing go to waste. The hide and fur would make cloaks, the bones were made into crude tools to replace the metal ones that couldn’t be repaired. The organs and meat were given over to the cooks and roasted. When the swarm of Ponies finally left, all that would be left would be bloody snow, stomped into mush by so many Ponies.

I refused to eat any of the meat harvested for food. The thought of eating something that probably ate a Pony at some point turned my stomach and made me want to vomit. But I did turn in my wooden armor and ratty cloak for a crocodile hide vest and manticore fur cloak. The wooden armor was difficult to pull a cart in, and the manticore cloak kept me much warmer.

Notably, a particularly large bone, I think the femur of a cragodile; was fashioned into a replacement limb for Appleflower. But I didn’t see her around very much. She kept to her own cart, too big to fit anything else inside. But the village didn’t complain about the essentially useless cart. Appleflower had been a cherished friend and a hero that had delayed the Crown Unicorns for a long time. It was unthinkable to leave her behind.

The foragers and cart pullers often traded jobs. To keep from being bored and overworked, to teaching Ponies like me what could be used and what couldn’t. The farmers of Ùllahdmaiden held a surprising knowledge of wild plants and fungi. Lessons taught to them by their mothers and fathers since the Flight of the Alicorns they told me.

My magic returned to me about a week after Ùllahdmaiden, my constant headache finally fading away. It was about then I found that Pegasoplian spear of mine, it had somehow gotten buried into the corner of the cart Tia and I had escaped on. I was thankful I found it again, because despite Tia spending some of the evenings teaching me some combat magic, I was much better with it than my horn. It was three days after my magic returned that the snow finally disappeared.

But that didn’t mean the journey was any easier. Cold winds from the North swept across the land, freezing the land that should’ve been almost fully green already. Even though we no longer had to dig in the snow for food, what had been even the tiniest bit green had wilted again. Furthermore, what could be found dwindled as we crossed the trails of other caravans and convoys.

The refuse of Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and even Pegasi littered the landscape. It seemed as if the whole North was fleeing South.

A few of the oldest Ponies and youngest foals had starved to death. We lay them in graves whenever we made camp. Along with the grief and the mourning, we knew they were only the signs of things to come.

It was nearly a full month of travel before the land started to become green again.

As I crested a particularly large hill, pulling a small cart all by myself, I first beheld the land that would become my home.

Author's Note

Even more gay autistic horse noises :trollestia:

Chapter 79 The Memories Part 38

~~~

Lush forests and verdant plains were abundant. Flowers bloomed seemingly everywhere, every rich color of the rainbow. A large snow capped mountain fed multitudes of rivers, which flowed clean and clear.

The one and only issue was the three tent cities that faced against each other in the closest valley, separated by only a single winding river.

“Hold up. Stop please.” Tia ordered from her lead cart, one of the old wooden plackarts around her shoulders. I pulled up beside her cart, my eyes drinking in the lush valleys below.

“Can any of you see whose flags are above those camps?” Tia asked the Ponies surrounding her.

“I see a few Ùll banners over that one.” One of the stallions pulling her current cart pointed.

“Aye, and a fair few United Clan flags as well.” his partner added.

“I see banners of the Noble Houses and the Royal family.” I added. “The same ones that flew over Ùllahdmaiden.” I grunted.

I could never forget the bright intricate banners that sat outside the village that night. I knew the names of the houses that were present, and could recognise those that I didn’t know the name of.

“Then I imagine the camp with banners of lightning and clouds are Pegasoplian?” Tia guessed out loud.

“Sounds right.”

“Not a bet I’d bet against.”

Tia thought to herself for a moment, running through options in her head.

“... Slowly approach the Clan encampment.” she ordered. “At the very least most of us will be welcomed there.”

“What about ye and the other Unicorns Madam Mayor?” the puller on the right asked.

I inwardly noted how much respect Tia had earned over the past month. She could’ve lost a lot more ponies very easily.

But she didn’t.

“Don’t worry about us. If it comes down to it, we can hide in the Unicornian camp.” Tia responded.

“... Some of the villagers won’t like ye returning to the Crown.” the puller on the left remarked. The implied accusation hung in the air like a thundercloud.

“Neither will we.” Tia stated. “Hopefully it won’t come to that. I’d personally rather camp an hour's walk away before we tried Unicornia.”

The stallion on the right snorted with amusement.

“No time like the present then.” he stated, starting to pull on his half of the cart. The stallion on the left joined him a second later, and the caravan rolled down the hill towards the three encampments.

Much like the final hours of Ùllahdmaiden, the Clan encampment had been ringed with palisades. Unlike Ùllahdmaiden however, these fortifications were mighty, made with the thick trunks of trees that had to have been older than a century, plastered together with mud and clay. Many great trenches had been dug into the earth, each deep enough for even Appleflower to stand in comfortably and remain totally hidden, easily more than any single army could accomplish in a single day. What little we could see on this side of the palisade, it looked like spare dirt had been muddied and compacted into bricks and further reinforced by building half buried bunkers that Earth Ponies could hide in, protected from swooping Pegasi and spellfire from Unicorns.

The beginnings of tall trebuchet could even be seen deeper within the camp.

This wasn’t the work of frightened villagers protecting their home, this was a military force settling in for a fight.

“Halt!” boomed a stallion’s voice from the front gate, made with more thick logs that could lower over the moat of spikes. “Ye are trespassing on Clan Territory! State yer business or bugger off!”

“Hail! Ponies of the Clans!” Tia greeted loudly. “I wish to parlay for our entry or protection!”

“Absolutely not horn head!” the stallion shouted in reply. “How am I supposed ta know if yer not a spy keeping a bunch of our villagers hostage?!”

“Then just let in my Earth Ponies!” Tia pleaded. “With Pegasoplis and Unicornia here they’ll be much safer with you!”

“Yer Earth Ponies?” the stallion stressed.

“No! No no! Not like that!” Tia started to panic, waving and crossing her forelegs. “They made me Mayor!”

“Aye! And I’m Princess Platinum!” The stallion retorted. “Git lost ye Earth forsaken spy! And all yer brainwashed Ponies too!”

Tia sputtered incoherently.

“Split Bark ye feckin’ idiot!” Boomed the voice of Appleflower as she hobbled forward on her pegleg.

“Wh- Appleflower?!” the stallion finally poked his head above the palisade, his chocolate brown face framed by emerald green locks of mane and a metal helmet that looked suspiciously like Appleflower’s. “What the Tartarus are ye doin’ behind a horn head fer?!”

“Same reason yer behind Puddin’ Head dumbass!” Appleflower exclaimed. “Now open up ‘fore I pull down that gate an’ all the ponies holding it up by myself!”

“Feck no!” ‘Split Branch’ retorted, spittle flying from his mouth. “Ye wanna pull it down? Go ahead! Ye can explain to yer father why the gates broken!”

“That sorry sack of shit’s still alive?!” the giant mare exclaimed. “Figured he’d have drowned in whorses or got the clap from a bottle!”

“Idjit! Ye gottem backwards!”

“Yeah? Come down here and ‘correct’ me then!”

“Feck no! I ain’t opening this gate fer nuttin’!”

“Guess I’m coming in then!” Appleflower rolled her shoulders as she suddenly started for the gate. I glanced at Tia, catching her attention.

“Do we… Do? Something?” I asked her quietly. She shrugged.

“Nah, ye Unicorns are big on being polite and proper, this is just how the Ùll Clan Earthbreakers greet each other.” The left stallion pulling Tia’s cart commented. Appleflower and Split Bark continued to argue, seeming to insult each other with every other word.

“Wait, they’re related?” Tia asked.

“Cousins.” the right stallion supplied. “Split Bark has stopped by Ùllahdmaiden everytime the Chancellor dropped by.”

“The two always knocked down at least one building with their greeting rituals.” the other stallion drawled.

“D’ ye think she’ll actually pull the gate open?” The stallion on the right asked.

“Nah, she’ll at least get the gate and somethin’ else.” the left replied.

“I’d bet a ration on that.”

“Done.”

The two shook hooves as Appleflower began to knock threateningly on the gate.

“I’ll do it!” she exclaimed loudly, staring at the gate as if she could bore holes through the wood with only her eyes. “I swear on yer Mum I’ll rip this whole gate off its hinges!”

“Don’t ye fecking dare ye trollop!” Split Bark exclaimed, fully leaning out over the palisade to keep the mare in sight.

“Then gitchyer ass down here so I ken kick it inta next week or open up!” the giant replied, her accent thickening by the sentence.

“I toldj ye! Ye daft excuse fer a mare!” Split Bark ranted. “Ain’t no way I’m openin’ this here gate!”

“Well ain’t thata shame?!” Appleflower exclaimed as she reared up and began to push with a single hoof.

The log gate, and a sizable portion of the tower that kept it up, swayed dangerously.

“Aight!” The stallion relented. “I ken letcha in! But only ye! The horn head and everypony else stays outside! Grandmaster’s orders!”

“Feckin’ finally! Ye sorry excuse uva hat rack!”

“I’m counting that. Pay up.” the stallion to the right stated.

“Day’s still young…” the left murmured as Appleflower returned to the caravan.

“Sorry about that.” she calmly said, as if she hadn’t just been in a shouting match for several minutes. “Split Bark and I haven't spoken fer a few years.”

“Spoke?” I asked. Tia shot me a look that would’ve been the equivalent of an elbow to the side.

“Just sit tight nearby.” Appleflower continued, either not hearing or ignoring me. “Ah’ll talk to my father about lettin’ ye all in. Might get a word inta Puddinghead’s ear too.”

“Th- The same father that you just said ‘drowned in whorses and got the clap from a bottle’?” Tia asked incredulously. Appleflower erupted with laughter.

“Old fart will probably get a kick outta that when Split Bark tells him.” she finally chuckled after a few moments. Tia put her head into her hooves and began to rub her temples.

“This was a mistake.” she groaned.

“Doncha worry Tia.” Appleflower reassured her by clapping her gently on the shoulder. “This time tomorrow we’ll all be safe inside those walls.” She smiled good naturedly. “Now go on, my daft cousin won’t open up if yer standing here.”

“Alright Appleflower.” Tia sat up in the cart. “I’ll trust you just like you trusted me.” She reached and offered a hoof to Appleflower. The Giant took it and gave a firm shake, her hoof looking almost comically huge compared to Tia’s.

“Gentlestallions? If you would?” Tia asked softly.The two shared a nod as the stallions took their cue to turn around and leave.

The rest of us, sans Appleflower, followed.

As the caravan left the fortified behind, I could hear the gate lower, and rise back up to permit Appleflower.

“So Tia.” I called out conversationally. “Any idea where to set up camp?”

“Definitely not right here.” she remarked, chewing the inside of her cheek. “With all three tribes breathing down each other’s necks and pointing hooves, I don’t want to set up right in front of one of their gates.”

“Where ta then?” the right hoof stallion pulling Tia’s cart asked.

“Upriver.” Tia decided. “We’ll get clean water and might be able to start a field or two of crops on the bank if we’re forced to stay.”

“Sounds like a plan ta me.” the left stallion remarked.

“I don’t have any better ideas.” I added.

“South along the river then.” Tia proclaimed.

Author's Note

Everything aside, it's fun to write "colorful and creative" conversations :trollestia:

Anyhoo! Come join my discord server! We do the occasional silly!
https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 80 The Memories Part 39

~~~

“Hey Tia?” I asked.

“Don’t say it.” the pink maned Unicorn grunted.

“I think other ponies had the same idea we did.”

“Ugh…” Tia groaned, putting her head in her hooves.

Turns out, there had been four camp cities instead of three.

The fourth campsite, had been located upriver to the South of the three military encampments. But unlike the first three, the fourth was less a military base and more a refugee camp.

Ùllahdmaiden must not have been the only village with the idea to abandon their home and migrate South.

Ponies of all three tribes bustled to and fro amongst the tents, growling and shooting each other dirty looks. Each tribe tried to keep to themselves, but the hill that the river curved around that served as a perfect place to settle had only so much room. Tensions were constantly rising, as each tribe tried to erect buildings without heed to what the other two tribes wanted. A particularly heated argument was a three way shouting match between an Earth Pony who was trying to plow a field, a Unicorn who was trying to build a hut, and a Pegasus who wanted a lawn for his ‘cloud house’.

Coins were even being passed around within their respective tribe as ponies watched and bet amongst themselves.

“Do we… Keep going?” I asked as we found ourselves entering the camp, stunned by the amount of ponies that had suddenly loomed out of the wilderness.

“It’d be stupid to.” the left stallion replied. “We’ve been walking all day and the Sun’s starting to set.”

I glanced up, the sky was indeed starting to turn orange. I had been so enamored by the lush wilderness that I simply hadn’t noticed the time.

“Oh. Guess I didn’t notice the time…” I admitted.

“It’s been quite a day.” Tia agreed. “Try finding spots near the outer edge.” she continued, this time addressing her two stallions. “That way we won’t get into any arguments and can just quietly leave in the morning.”

“Sounds like a plan if I’ve ever heard one.” The right stallion agreed as the pair turned off the main path through the camp.

The side paths in the camp were much like the center, I did notice however that there were no ‘borders’ between the three tribes of Ponies. It was like the various villages from the different tribes just settled where they could regardless of their neighbors.

… Actually that’s probably exactly what happened.

Everypony glared at each other, all but daring the other tribes to do something. I could all but feel the tension in the air. It wasn’t a matter of if a fight would break out, but when.

More than once, the ponies on either side of the road would stop glaring at each other and stare at the survivors of Ùllahdmaiden as we walked by. Even the Earth Ponies glared. I wondered why, but then I realized they were glaring because the Ùllahdmaiden Earth Ponies were associating with Tia and I, the most visible Queensford Unicorns.

Nopony stopped us, until we reached the edge of the campsite and began setting up the tent tarps over our tents.

“Hey!” a pegasus shouted loudly as we started settling in. “Get outta here Mud Ponies!” he exclaimed as he tried to shoo us away.

“Now hold on a minute!” Tia interrupted, looking up towards the flying pony. “You’ve taken that side of the path! Nothing of yours is over here!”

“Yeah! Because I’m holding it for more Pegasi Hornhead!” he insisted.

“Are you expecting family or-?” Tia trailed off.

“Nope!” the stallion remarked. “Any Pegasi will do.”

“I see.” Tia narrowed her eyes. “Question for you then… How long have you been here?”

“Does it matter?”

“It certainly does matter!” Tia admonished. “It looks like your tents have been set up for at least a week! And if you haven't touched or set anything over here then you don’t get to dictate to me how it should be used!”

The stallion swooped down and touched the grass beneath our hooves.

“There, I touched it, now go away.” he stated as he returned to flying above our heads.

“Yes, after we’ve already started unpacking.” Tia responded. “If it’s such a big deal, then rest assured, we have no intention of staying beyond tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah right, like I’d ever trust Horn heads and Mud ponies…” the stallion sneered.

“If you’re going to be so… Pleasant- Lu? If you would?” Tia politely asked.

I pulled the Pegasoplian spear from under my cloak and gave it a practiced twirl in my magic, ultimately pointing it at the stallion threateningly.

“Can you trust this?” I asked. The stallion’s eyes bugged out, horrified at the weapon.

“Where did you get that?” he asked in awe.

“From Pegasoplis, obviously.” I snarked.

“Bucking hornheads think they’re so smart…” the stallion grumbled as he turned away, flying back to his own tent.

“Thanks Lu.” Tia stated when he was out of earshot.

“No problem.” I replied, putting the weapon back under the manticore fur cloak. “Did you want me keeping watch? I don’t think we’ll be able to get away with no guards tonight.”

“No.” Tia agreed, chewing the inside of her cheek. “No, you go get some sleep. You’ve been pulling a cart all day.”

“I’ll try; But I’m not sure how I will with so many ponies around.” I informed her.

“I know how you feel… Something’s off with this camp, but I’m not entirely sure it’s the Ponies…” Tia murmured as she glanced around at the surrounding camp.

“It isn’t?” I asked with surprise. My Moon Mark must be acting up again, because I could’ve sworn it was the Ponies making me anxious.

“I’m not sure.” Tia admitted. “I know you don’t do well with Ponies you don’t know, but I’m not sure I’d cross them off the list either.”

“Whatever it is, you’ll likely know before I do.” I shrugged. “Did you need me for anything else?”

“No Lu, go on and get some sleep. If you need me I’ll be checking with the rest of Ùllahdmaiden.”

“Alright, if you need me don’t hesitate to ask.” I responded. “Goodnight Tia.”

“Goodnight Lu.”

We both turned away from each other, I towards the covered cart that I had taken to sleeping in, and Tia towards the other villagers of Ùllahdmaiden. I pulled off the manticore fur cloak and pulled the Pegasoplian spear back out. I hopped into the cart to find it empty of other ponies, only wooden crates that had been made on the road were present.

Excellent.

I yawned and curled up like a cat in the corner I had unofficially claimed for myself, hugging the spear like it was a stuffed toy and allowing the cloak to cover me like a blanket.

Now if only I could sleep.

~~~

I tossed and turned on the floor of the cart for what felt like hours, technically comfortable, but unable to sleep as the voices of too many ponies kept interrupting me whenever I started to doze off.

So I settled for laying on my back, staring at the cloth above me, just listening to the surrounding area. Shouting in the distance. Murmured conversation of passerby. A few pegasi flying overhead. But strangest of all, I thought I kept hearing something moving in the sky above even the Pegasi. Like something solid was moving against the wind amongst the clouds.

Finally I decided that until the camp quieted down, I wasn’t going to fall asleep. So I threw off my cloak and made for the back of the cart.

It was reasonably warm out earlier so I left the cloak behind.

I looked up to the sky as I poked my head out of the tent, the Sun cast a dull orange and purple glow along the West horizon. It couldn’t have been more than two hours at most since I had tried to go to sleep. Ponies had started to huddle together around campfires, although it wasn’t uncommon to see Ponies still walking around.

Tia sat next to a campfire with several Ùllahdmaiden Ponies nearby, seemingly deep in conversation with them.

I hopped from the cart and approached.

“Couldn’t sleep Tia.” I murmured to her, so I didn’t disturb the conversation. “I’m going to try going for a walk.”

“Ok Lu, be careful, and don’t go far.” Tia murmured back as an Earth Pony mare was saying something.

“I won’t.” I promised.

“Excellent. Now, as you were saying Heartbreak?” Tia asked as she turned back towards the conversation.

Permission now acquired, I tucked the spear back into its familiar place and trotted out into the path and started walking.

The camp was much more subdued now. With Ponies huddled around their own campfires, they weren’t actively trying to start fights with the other tribes. And yet… The tension remained.

Even as I walked, passing by Ponies telling each other stories or darning their clothes or cooking food, this oppressive feeling hung in the air. Yet I could not find the supposed source. It reminded me of that night… With the hydra.

It felt like the Hydra had returned and was once more staring down at me as if I were a mere worm and it an Emperor.

But there was no Hydra looming over the camp.

The only thing overly noteworthy were the trio that consisted of an Earth Pony, Pegasi, and Unicorn that had gathered by a campfire.

With the exception of the Unicorns formerly of Queensford mingling with the Earth Ponies of Ùllahdmaiden, I had seen no friendly interaction between the tribes, so that in itself was strange enough. But the things that truly caught my eye were what they were wearing. Namely, the Pegasoplian armor the yellow Pegasus wore, and the starry cloak of the light gray Unicorn. The tan Earth pony didn’t stand out as much, but a closer inspection revealed a finer red garment than what the common peasant wore.

They were, by far, the strangest group of Ponies I had ever seen.

They were so out of place I found myself drawn to them, curious and wanting to know more.

“Is this seat taken?” I asked as I approached.

The trio looked almost taken aback, seeing me approach their fire.

“Uh… No go ahead.” the Unicorn hesitantly stated, glancing to her compatriots for permission. The Pegasus and Earth Pony only shrugged slightly in response.

“Thanks.” I responded as I sat down on one part of one of the logs by their fire. “Don’t mind me, I was just going for a walk because I couldn’t sleep and I’m curious about how a Pegasus, an Earth Pony, and a Unicorn happen to come to a single campfire. A Pegasoplian soldier and a Unicornian Royal scholar in particular.”

“You’re… Not upset?” the Earth Pony mare asked with confusion.

“Why would I be? I’ve lived with Earth Ponies for the past six years and briefly camped with a Pegasoplian warband as a filly. If anything, I’ve found them to be nicer than my own tribe.” I responded, pulling out my Pegasoplian spear to show them.

“You lived with-” the Unicorn started, but was interrupted by the Pegasus.

“I knew you looked familiar!” she quietly exclaimed. “Gosh how you’ve grown! You were only a filly when I last saw you!”

“I’m sorry, I don’t remember you.” I shook my head slightly.

“Oh no, you wouldn’t. We didn’t speak. I was busy with my duties.” she stated, her voice as soft as daisies. “Private Pansy.” she extended a hoof across the low fire.

“Luna.” I replied, reaching over and shaking her hoof.

“Luna? As in Luna Hydrabane?” the Unicorn asked, her voice filled with trepidation.

“Whoa wait… The Hydrabane?!” the Earth Pony exclaimed in shock.

“I’m the only Hydrabane I’ve ever heard of.” I shrugged.

“You’re the one who scared Sapphire so badly she hid herself in her tent and refused to come out!” the Unicorn stated, her voice squeaking.

I felt my chest constrict.

“How do you know Sapphire?” I stated evenly, trying to hide the growl that threatened to break out.

“She’s a legionnaire in the Crown’s employ.” the Unicorn replied. “My Master is accompanying Princess Platinum’s expedition.”

This Unicorn was one of the Crown Unicorns that had invaded Ùllahdmaiden!

“Why shouldn’t I fry you right here and now?” I snarled. “I was there in Ùllahdmaiden. I had to bury friends and neighbors because of you!”

The trio fell silent.

“I don’t know who this… Sapphire is… But I can understand why she ran.” the Earth Pony remarked after a moment.

“Look Luna… Do you know who we are?” Pansy asked gently.

“Why would I?” I almost barked.

“We’re the representatives of the Crown, the Clans, and the Congress.” The Earth Pony supplied. “Keeping an eye on the civilians who followed us South.”

“We’re here together because nopony here trusts our governments.” Pansy added.

“So rather than sit alone, we sit together.” The Earth Pony supplied again.

“I’m sorry for what we did to your village.” The Unicorn muttered finally. “We didn’t want any bloodshed, we just needed supplies to head South.”

“How about we start over?” The Earth Pony tried, her chocolate brown mane bouncing. “Hello, my name is Smart Cookie.”

“Clover. Clover the Clever.” the Unicorn responded, extending her hoof. I glanced down at her extended hoof, but I wasn’t quite ready to accept her offered friendship.

“Do you know why I hate Sapphire?” I asked instead, meeting the self proclaimed ‘clever’ Pony’s eyes.

“I- No. No I don’t.” she sighed, dropping her hoof.

“We grew up in the same village together.” I began. “She and her sister, Emerald Gleam, tormented me daily. Until one day the Crown’s soldiers brought news that the Queen had died. But they didn’t bring any food that the village depended on to survive the Winter.” I explained. “Almost the whole village decided to move South to find anything to eat. Many ponies died on the journey, including my Mother. Until we came to Ùllahdmaiden. A schism outside its borders forced the twelve of us who remained to vote for a new Reave. Sapphire and her sister supported their Uncle, who lost by one vote. He threw a tantrum and stormed away.” I picked up a burning stick in their fire and watched the smoldering tip, hypnotized by its glow and lost in the memory. “ Sapphire and Emerald followed him, shortly by his own daughter, a mare known as Snow Step. She was disappointed with her Father’s reaction and went to soothe his nerves.” I tossed the stick back into the fire. “The next we saw him, Sapphire, Emerald, and Snow were nowhere to be seen, and he tried to attack Ùllahdmaiden by himself. It almost cost us everything as the villagers thought we were simply a distraction. A fight broke out, and I killed the stallion. The villagers of Ùllahdmaiden saw me kill ‘one of our own’ and took us in. ”

The realization of what Hoarfrost had tried to do had come years later, and the idea that he had even tried still sent a shiver down my spine.

“Sapphire and Emerald were nowhere to be found, but we found Snow Step in the woods, with her throat cut.” I sighed, overcome with memories, and looked back into Clover’s eyes. “Nopony knew what had happened to Snow Step. No pony that is, until seven years later Sapphire shows up at the gates of Ùllahdmaiden bearing the crest of the Ponies who abandoned our original village to die.” I paused to watch the Unicorn’s reaction. Her eyes were wide as she pieced my words together. “So forgive me if I don’t trust a Pony who serves the Crown that abandoned me to starvation alongside a murderer.”

“Huh… That explains how a group of Unicorns ended up in an Earth Pony village.” Smart Cookie commented. “That, and the rumor that one of those Unicorns, a mere filly, had slain a hydra dominated the rumor mill for almost a whole year when the news got out.”

“It wasn’t by myself, I only got its heart because it was already wounded, and we burned it with everypony we had lost.” I admitted.

“Nonsense.” Cookie grinned. “You know how dangerous it is to get close enough to stab a hydra in the heart?”

I sighed.

“... Very.” I conceded after a moment.

“I’m- I’m sorry.” Clover admitted. “Truly I am. I grew up in the outskirts of Unicornia, life wasn’t easy, but now that I’m older I realize it could’ve been a lot harder. The only reason I got out of that life was because Master Starswirl chose me to be his apprentice.”

“... Apology accepted.” I sighed.

Why’d I do that? What happened to the righteous rage at this mare? Was this… Sympathy? How would I react to a filly blaming me for what happened to her village when the only thing I’d done was grow up directly beneath the towers of Unicornia? The last to be forgotten by the Crown, but tormented by always being in sight of riches you could never have?

If she was telling the truth, then maybe we weren’t so different?

“Cookie was right… We started on the wrong hoof. Hi, I’m Luna.” I extended my hoof. Clover smiled.

“Clover.” she responded in kind, reaching once more and shaking my hoof.

“So um… You know my story.” I awkwardly started. “And you’re all representatives for the Tribe governments, but what’s your story?”

“Grew up in Pegasopolis, was forced to join the Legion, hate every second of it.” Pansy bluntly snorted.

“You hate it?” I asked in surprise. “I thought every Pegasus loved serving Pegasopolis?”

“Most Pegasi do, but only because they hate being cooped up in the city itself. Most hate raiding farming settlements.”

“Oh… I expected less nuance…” I admitted.

“Oh don’t get me wrong, they only hate raiding farmers because it’s not challenging enough.” Pansy amended. “But I hate being in the legion full stop. I’m awful at it, and I can’t do anything right. I’ve had the rank of Private for so long I’m pretty sure most ponies think it’s my first name. The only reason I was assigned here to watch the Pony villagers is because even if I screw up, I won’t accidently sabotage the war effort.”

“Oh.” I repeated, not quite sure what I should do with that information. Thankfully, Smart Cookie came to the rescue again.

“I’m Chancellor Puddinghead’s personal assistant and niece!” she chirped. “Grew up in the Pie Clan’s home of Igheannheim. Ma and Pa got me hired for the position after Aunt Puddinghead’s last assistant had to quit the job.”

“Igheannheim?” Clover asked.

“It means ‘Oven home’ in old Ponish.” Cookie supplied. “It’s said that was where the first oven was made, and where the first baked food was baked.”

“Ùllahdmaiden means Applewood.” I added.

“Fascinating.” Clover muttered as she pulled out a scroll and began to scribble down notes.

We discussed Earth Pony naming conventions for hours into the night. The camp fell silent around us as the multitudes of villagers finally fell asleep.

Despite its rocky beginning, the conversation would turn out to be a memory I would remember fondly.

But then snow began to fall.

Chapter 82 The Memories Part 41

~~~

The snow continued to fall heavily.

It was so thick in the air I could barely see two Pony lengths in front of me.

The snow on the ground was already above my hocks.

I had never seen a blizzard this bad before.

Only the dim light of campfires, glowing vaguely in the perpetual blanket of white, provided any sort of direction for me to follow.

Occasionally, I caught sight of a familiarly shaped shadow in the dying glow.

Tia had come farther for me than I thought…

Oh Earth, Stars, and Sun… It was a really stupid idea to leave the camp in this weather. Forget trying to reason with Tia to talk to Clover, Cookie, and Pansy again for a moment. Traveling in weather like this out in the wild was a suicide waiting to happen. I only knew I was still in the camp by the occasional Pony that loomed from the darkness and the light of the campfires.

“Tia!” I called out, but I don’t think anypony heard me over the wind.

Wow it was getting loud…

“Tia!” I called again.

The only response I got was from a green Earth Pony who appeared from the gloom, casting a scowl in my direction as she went on her way.

Calling out wasn’t working.

What else could I-?

Wait! There she was!

I saw the familiar silhouette of my sister pass by a light.

“Tia!” I called, more out of habit than actual effectiveness. She didn’t seem to hear me, but she did stop, talking to somepony I couldn’t see.

I picked up my pace and trotted forward through the snow.

Tia’s familiar pink mane faded into clarity as I approached, along with the form of one of the Ùllahdmaiden Ponies.

“-’s not going to happen Celestia.” the Pony informed my sister. “Leaving now is a dumb idea. The snow is just too thick. I can barely see your sister next to you!” he gestured towards me.

Tia glanced in my direction and jumped slightly.

“Oh Sun and Stars Luna…” she gasped, clutching at her chest with a hoof. “Next time Brickwork has a forge, I’m commissioning a bell for you to wear.”

“I take no responsibility. I was calling out for you.” I informed.

“Oh. I’m sorry Lu, I didn’t hear you.” Tia apologized.

“Sounds like another reason we can’t leave.” I stated sharply.

I may have loved and trusted Tia, but she was not immune to making mistakes.

I just hoped her head was out of her flank enough to still listen to me.

Tia’s ears flicked.

“Tia…” I said softly. “I was barely able to follow you. I wanted to leave too, before Clover showed me her book. But walking out in the woods in this weather? Or marching an army in this? I wouldn’t.”

Tia’s eyes flicked back and forth as she kept her thoughts to herself.

“You made your point.” she finally sighed. “We’ll stay until the storm breaks or one of the Tribes attacks.”

“Thank you Tia.” I bowed my head slightly. The stallion she had been talking to nodded and disappeared into the flurry of snow, to spread the Mayor’s orders.

“Lu.” Tia murmured when he was gone, gripping me by my shoulder with a hoof. “I’m shocked to see you trust strangers so readily.”

“Say what you will about the Ponies I met.” I interjected. “But you can’t deny that something strange is going on.”

“No.” she agreed, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “Something strange is going on. But neither of us can truly say what that is.”

“They offered a solution, something other than running away.”

“No, they merely gave a name to a potential problem.” Tia tsked.

“A step towards a solution.” I amended. “The first step in solving a problem is figuring out what the problem is.”

“Then how would you solve this ‘Windego’ problem?” she asked pointedly, but not unkindly.

“I don’t know yet.” I admitted. “You interrupted us before we could start thinking about it.”

“Then until you think of a way to deal with them, or somehow prove to me that they exist, I don’t want to hear about them.”

“Yes Tia.” I said as I felt my ears pin themselves back.

“Good. Now I want you to help keep a weather eye out. The more eyes keeping watch the better. We should be ready to leave at any moment, but you’re right, this weather is awful.” Tia looked up into the blizzard, which was steadily growing worse by the minute.

Fate chose that moment to be delightfully ironic.

A neigh as cold as a Northern gale, echoed over the surrounding landscape like the rattling of chains made from frozen steel.

It was a sound so cold and filled with malice that one simply could not escape from a sudden chill running up their spine.

It was a sound so damnably wretched that it could’ve only come from some sort of primordial revenant.

I dimly became aware of Ponies beginning to panic. All saying something along the lines of “What the buck was that?”

I realized I was painfully clenching my teeth.

“Tia?” I asked, unclenching my jaw.

“Just… Just go and make sure the Ùllahdmaiden Ponies don’t stampede.” Tia sighed. If it was out of frustration or resignation I’ll never know, but I found myself replying all the same.

“R-Right.” I nodded.

We mutually turned away, I didn’t know what Tia had planned, but I could handle the task she had given me.

Keep Ùllahdmaiden from stampeding away into the night?

I could do that.

Right?

I trotted towards the nearest glow in the heavy snowfall.

A few shadows that looked vaguely familiar were busy bustling around the source of the orange light.

“Hey!” I called out as I got close enough to be heard over the wind. “You Ponies alright?!”

“Scared and shitless but otherwise alright!” A stallion, whose name I thought was Stonethrow, answered.

“Great!” I chirped. “Well, not great you’re scared…” I amended, “If you can, try to move closer to the other Ùllahdmaiden Ponies. Concentrate the fire and heat in as small an area as you can.”

“Yes ma’am!” he saluted.

The Ponies around the fire started to discuss with each other on how to move their already lit fire towards the majority of Ùllahdmaiden’s Ponies.

I turned away from the warm fire towards another glow in the falling snow, thoughts churning in my head.

Ma’am? Since when was I a ‘Ma’am’?

Ma’am was something I referred Mares as if I wanted to be respectful.

W-was he trying to be respectful?

Besides Tia, I-I couldn’t remember a time when somepony was 'respectful' to me…

I was used to ‘little goblin’ or ‘loony Luna’ of course.

But ‘ma’am’?

I felt another strange emotion rising in my chest.

I stopped in my tracks, shrouded by shadow and the falling snow, putting a hoof to my heart.

It wasn’t as consuming as… As the situation with Clover… But it was still far more than I was used to.

“Today’s certainly being quite a day…” I murmured to myself, exasperated by the emotional tolls I had undergone in less than an hour.

I pushed the emotion aside and took a deep breath to calm myself.

I could do this.

I went from fire to fire, speaking with whatever Ponies I could and telling them to get closer to the other groups. A few argued or asked why, but my reasoning never changed.

It was already bitterly cold and getting colder.

So cold in fact that when I passed by the wagon I had taken to staying in, I took the opportunity to grab the manticore fur cloak to stave off whatever cold I could.

I tried to stay to the Ùllahdmaiden Ponies, but occasionally I accidentally wandered into the fire light that were surrounded by strange Unicorns and Earth Ponies, even Pegasi once or twice.

I don’t know why I did it, but I invited them to Ùllahdmaiden’s mass campfire anyway. More Ponies in a single place meant more heat. So not only was I helping Ùllahdmaiden, but I was helping these stragglers who might not have a village to gather with.

Not many of the strange Earth Ponies or the Pegasi seemed to listen, the Unicorns did often get up to join though.

However I saw a fair few of them later walking away from the mass of Ùllahdmaiden Ponies in disgust.

But as the night went on, it grew colder and colder by the minute.

My idea of concentrating the heat of the campfires worked. Ùllahdmaiden gathered together from a loose collection of wagons into an area the size of a village’s central market. Individual campfires slowly gathered together, forming a single, large and bright spot in the ever increasing gloom of the falling snow.

As I worked, I briefly passed by the outskirts of where the Ùllahdmaiden Ponies had decided to gather. They had built a great bonfire in the middle, with many smaller fires surrounding it. Ponies gathered between them all, and I was pleased to see quite a few strange Ponies amongst the Ùllahdmaiden Ponies; Both those that I had invited and those that I had not.

I saw Tia occasionally, typically surrounded by Ponies. She seemed to be giving out orders, about what I didn’t know.

Our eyes met a few times and she nodded approvingly.

I worked at my task for several hours

But the relative calm of the admittingly worsening blizzard was broken with a shout.

“Hark! Ponies! We require aid!”

My ears perked when I heard the shout. I had been leading a group of Unicorns towards the gathering, all of the closest fires had congregated, necessitating the need to wander farther and farther. Even in the gathering snow, now up to my shoulders, I had worn down paths in the snow drifts that I used like merchants on their trade routes.

I peered over the mounds of snow, looking for the Pony that had shouted. I didn’t see any obvious culprit, but the many Ponies who I had gathered seemed to gravitate towards the edge of the light, looking over blocks of snow that they had made, both to clear the area of snow and as a sort of makeshift windbreak.

The light was bright enough that I could see them pointing at something.

“Almost there!” I called back to the Unicorns behind me.

The rags they wore reminded me of my early Winters spent in Queensford.

They didn’t say anything, their teeth were chattering too much.

I lead them through a switchback hole in the wall, built so the bitter wind was blocked, but let Ponies inside without having to destroy the structure. I then ushered then towards the nearest bonfire, which they eagerly trotted towards. Several Ponies greeted them with open arms, helping them warm up with physical touch.

I saw the familiar pink and white of Tia trotting towards the crowd of Ponies peering over their windbreak, confusion written on her features.

I waved away a few Ponies who were trying to give me the same cold treatment the recent arrivals got.

“No thank you.” I said to them as I started towards Tia. While I was indeed cold, there could hardly be a Pony who wasn’t, I had been continuously stomping through the snow for what felt like hours.

What I was worried about was sweating.

If you start to sweat in the cold, the sweat will freeze and sap more warmth than you would otherwise lose.

So I stayed towards the outskirts of the warmth, enough to keep the cold at bay, but not enough to drown in the heat.

I heard Tia conversing with somepony on the other side of the windbreak as I approached.

“-On’t understand!” a mare exclaimed from the other side. “You don’t know what’s out here!”

“The only thing I need to understand is that a crowd of heavily armed Ponies wants to come into this encampment!” Tia responded. “A crowd, might I add, that I have no reason to trust won’t kick out at least two thirds of the Ponies already in here!”

I poked my head over the windbreak.

A disorganized crowd of battered and wounded Unicorn soldiers stood, freezing in the snow. Not a few of their number were leaning heavily on their fellows, and I saw more than one Pony who was being carried.

These Ponies wouldn’t be conquering anything.

I felt myself pull my cloak tighter as a particularly cold wind bit through to my bones.

“Tia…” I murmured as I approached my sister from behind, pushing my way past a few Ponies. Tia turned around at my voice.

“Lu.” she acknowledged with a nod.

“Tia look at them.” I nodded towards the Ponies outside. “They won’t be fighting anypony.”

“Lu you know what the soldiers of the Crown have done.” she replied.

“I do.” I agreed. “Which is why I say let them in.”

Tia looked at me as if I had just spoken the maddest words ever uttered by Ponykind.

“If our positions were reversed, they wouldn’t let us in. Unquestionably.” I put a hoof on her shoulder. “So don’t be like them. Be better than the Crown.”

Her grimace fell into merely a slight frown as my words reached her ears.

“I…” she stammered. “I… You’re right Lu…” she sighed, her ears and face falling. “You’re right…”

Tia turned back towards the Unicorns.

“We’ll let you in on one condition!” she called out.

“Anything! Please name it!” the mare replied.

“You give up your weapons!”

“You can bucking have them!” the mare shouted. “I’m quitting the Legion the next time I see Captain Star Gazer!”

Several voices nearby started to murmur to each other.

I glanced over to see the murmuring Ponies were all Unicorns.

I couldn’t say I blamed them.

Being a Legionnaire for the Crown was a contracted commission. You served the crown for ten years, got paid the remainder of the commission, and then ethier renewed your contract or went on your way.

Quitting before your contract was over never happened.

In fact I was pretty sure it was considered treason against the crown to quit the Legion early.

I cast a sideways glance towards Tia, but she had turned to the opposite side and spoke with one of the Ponies over there.

“Tear down part of the wall, let them in, but rebuild it like the other entries.” she said to a Pony who I realized was Brickwork. The stallion nodded and jumped down from the windbreak, talking to several more Ponies.

Tia turned back towards the Unicorns.

“Stay put for a moment! We’ll make you an entrance!” she called out.

“Thank you Miss!” the Unicorn exclaimed below.

Several of the Ponies who Master Brickwork had spoken to could be seen, off to the side, breaking apart a section of the wall, forming a hole that could be walked through. They then stood aside to let the Unicorns pass, who eagerly trudged through the opening.

They willingly hoofed over whatever weapons they had to several Ponies who were waiting.

Tia walked over to the Unicorn who had spoken, as she seemed to be the leader, as she sat down wearily next to a fire.

I trotted after Tia, both because I was curious about the Crown Unicorns, and that I had the feeling Tia would be needing me.

“Can you tell me what happened?” I heard Tia ask the Unicorn.

“Yeah… Sure, but I just want to thank you again.” The Unicorn responded as I came up from behind Tia. She glanced in my direction as she detected movement out of the corner of her eye, but realized it was only me, and returned her attention to the Crown Legionnaire.

“Don’t mention it.” Tia replied, sitting down next to the Unicorn. “But please… We need to know what happened.”

“Uh… Right…” the mare stammered. “I don’t suppose you have any hard liquor do you?”

“Not to my knowledge.” Tia shook her head.

“Shame.” The mare looked down slightly. “It would be easier to tell you if you did.”

“I can’t give you what we don’t have.”

“I know… It’s just…” she sighed loudly, taking off her helmet. “Ok, I’ll do my best.” A crowd of Ponies gathered around us as the mare began her tale. “The evening started as it normally did, soldiers bucking around off duty or glaring across the river at the other two camps. At the time I was getting my dinner from the mess. But then the alarm bells started ringing. Somepony shouted that we were under attack, but when we all rushed to our posts there was nothing out there. The Private on duty swore up and down that there was a… Thing, that charged at him on top of the wall, and that he had fired at it. But that he had missed and accidentally had hit the Pegasi’s encampment.” The Mare licked her lips and looked around. “Are you sure there isn’t any liquor?”

"Please... The story." Tia reminded.

“Right... Right... The Captain was chewing the Private out when the first wing of Pegasi dived-"

She was interrupted by the same chilling, howling, neigh from before.

The mare sat mute in shocked horror for a moment, before she dove to the ground and put her forearms around her head.

"Oh Sun, Stars, Earth, Sky, whatever! They're after me!" she exclaimed.

"Stars above! What is that thing?!" A pony screamed.

The campsite of Ponies collectively flinched as something flew close by overhead, leaving a bone chilling gale in its wake. All of the bonfires flickered wildly as the thing circled above the camp, coming to a hover above the central fire.

It was something out of a nightmare, a nightmare that only vaguely knew what a Pony looked like. Its features were distended and desiccated to the point that the still clearly living entity looked like a corpse. A corpse that had been mummified in the Northern permafrost and only recently freed. Its spectral form aglow with the ephemeral twilight of a blizzard during nightfall.

The drawing of the Windego could've only hoped to capture the horrid equine caricature of the real thing.

Author's Note

And here... We... Go. :pinkiecrazy:

As always! Like, comment, and subscribe! And join my Discord for shenanigans! https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 83 The Memories Part 42

~~~

The Windego reared above the warm firelight and bellowed to the night sky with a neigh that had been pulled from the deepest, darkest, and coldest Northern glacier.

Ṋ̴̛̫̑E̶͔͌͐I̸̼͒-̴͙͠ͅË̸̻́I̷̐̚ͅ-̴̣̚Ẽ̷͇Ị̵̅-̸̰͆͋E̴̲̱͂I̶̮͒G̵͙̳̿̚Ḩ̸̫͊̈́!̴͇͇̂͐

It was an awful sound. As if something from the time of creation had dredged up so much hate and malice that it had personally decided to wage war on all of existance.

Pandemonium reigned as Ponies panicked. Many rushed towards the overlapping walls in the windbreak in an effort to get away. The reality however, was that the openings were too small and too few for the mass of Equinity pressing in. So intense was this pressure to get out, that I could see several Ponies jumping over and spilling the still burning cinders in their effort to escape.

In their panic, there were even a few Ponies who could do nothing but run in circles as they looked for a way out of the rushing crowd.

There were only two Ponies I could keep track of. Tia, who kept nearby, and the Crown Unicorn mare, who cowered with her hooves over hear head.

The memories of the Queensford Unicorn's encounter with the Hydra swam in my vision...

The similarities were unsettling.

The beast let loose another chilling bellow that I could feel in my chest.

N̸͕̻̩͑̂̅́̕Ḛ̴̝͇͙̑̑͌I̷͓̍-̴̨̱̑Ẹ̸̻̩͓͌̈I̴̧̩͎̺͐̐-̸̻̫̦̔̕E̸͖̦̥͑̓̆͑I̵̅̕ͅ-̷̘̜̿̋͜É̸̝̦̹̱̀́͒I̷̦̦͒̆̊̀G̴̥͈͎̽̚ͅH̷̢̼͖̀̀!̴̥͔̙͑̆̔̈

The very real Windego then turned its face downwards towards the central bonfire, a great stream of a gale blizzard emanating from its mouth, all but killing the warming glow.

By now, the crowd of Ponies was pressing itself against the walls, climbing over or breaking through in their effort to get away from the windy beast.

I felt the blood drain from my face.

Windego or not, it was a death sentence to run out into the woods in this weather. I wouldn't have bet a roasted acorn that most wouldn't last until morning.

But the Windego was here.

Chasing all of these Ponies away.

Where was-?

Buck!

I left my spear in the wagon!

Of all the times to leave it behind!

I inwardly kicked myself for my foolishness.

But then my eyes fell on the hilt of the Crown Unicorn's sword, still in her scabbard.

"It's not happening... It's not happening... It's not happening..." she muttered madly to herself, her whole body shaking from fright.

She- She had said we could have her weapons right?

My horn glowed, and cerulean magic wrapped itself around the sword's hilt.

"Lu?" Tia asked. "What are you-?"

"Doing what nopony else will." I grunted, pulling the sword from the mare's scabbard. If the mare cared, or if she even noticed, she gave no indication.

I turned back towards the Windego, holding the sword out.

"Lu! Don't be stupid!" Tia called. "That thing beat all three of the armies!"

"I'm sorry Tia... But somepony must." I stated, testing the sword's weight.

I had never held a sword before. Perhaps as a small filly I had waved a stick around and pretended, but never the real thing. But something... Something about the sword felt... Right. I was used to a spear of course, fighting against the wild during our exodus South on top of the semi-formal training I had received at the hooves of the wandering Pegasus band and the militia of Ùllahdmaiden made me proficient. But this sword? Or at least a sword?

My place in the world was next to such a weapon.

I twirled the sword in my levitation to get a proper feel of the weapon.

It would work.

Satisfied, I turned my gaze back up to the Windego. For a moment, I saw the Hydra of my youth looming above the trees, like royalty looking down from its throne. The Windego turned to meet my gaze, as if it too sat on an unassailable throne.

I charged.

"For Queensford! For Ùllahdmaiden! For Ponies everywhere!" I screamed as I held the sword aloft.

The beast nickered and did a sort of acrobatic twirl in the air as it fully turned to face me. Its chest bulged as breath was drawn in and-

FREEEEEEM!

A ray of sunlight hit the beast's forehead! Knocking its blast of frigid air off to the side!

"Damnit Luna!" Tia's voice called out behind me. "Just because you did it once as a filly does not mean you can do it again!"

... She was right... Charging at this thing wasn't going to work.

I had to be clever.

But I wasn't going to waste this opportunity.

I dashed to the side, away from Tia, hoping to split the monsters attention.

It worked, the beast's eyes flickered in their sockets.

"Keep it distracted!" I shouted as I skirted around the remains of the central fire, the cold already seeping into formerly warm air.

"Luna! That's not- ! Gah!" Tia exclaimed, before lighting her horn again with her sunlit magic, and launching another attack at the beast.

FREEEEEEM!

The Windego's head snapped towards Tia, drawn towards the more immediate threat.

N̶̗̮̉Ę̵̲̂͝I̸̲̭̓-̸̬͑̈́E̶̯̥͗I̴̱͑́-̵̀̂ͅE̸͉͂̚Ì̸͈͊-̷͈̙̽Ḙ̷̈́̀Ì̴̧͎G̶̝̩͆͑H̸̏́͜!̶̱͌

The monster reared up again, and lunged towards Tia.

"L-Luna?!" Tia cried out.

I jumped over the chilled embers of the fire, the sword in my grasp flashing.

The Windego clearly wasn't expecting me to go through the dying fire, and was knocked aside as I collided with it.

The sword sang and sunk into the thing's neck, slicing with disturbing ease.

The creature let loose a howling, pained whiney as its head disconnected from the rest of its body. Wisps of ether trailed from its wound as the spectral demon slowly faded away.

I landed with a thud, too shocked at how... Easy that had been.

"Lu! Are you okay Lu?!" Tia cried, clambering towards me.

"I... I thought that would've been harder..." I admitted.

Tia looked like she was about to respond, but the Crown Unicorn Mare interuppted with a shout.

"Y-You killed it!" she exclaimed shakily, pointing a hoof.

"I guess?" I responded cautiously.

"H-h-h-h-how?! N-n-nothing we did could h-hurt them!" The mare hysterically stated.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you." I informed. "I swung the sword and it died. Surprisingly easi-"

N̸͕̟̟̳̥̾̚̚Ễ̷̥̃͝I̴̢̠̽̇͊̈͜͠-̷̧̟̟̙̌̈́E̶̡̯̥͚͉̓͗͐̇Ī̵͇-̷͂̈̈́͜E̸̻̺̦̖̿̃̏̒͘I̵̧͉̎̉-̶̡͕̻̪̤̽̒̋͐͠E̵̩̩̤͛I̴̤͋̅̄̌͜-̵͉͋́E̷̻͕̘͌ͅI̸͍͉͂͑̍̉̽G̴̡̫͇͈̅͐̕͠H̸̤̀̐̓̃̕!̶̱͇̮̫͇̽̄

... Me and my big stupid mouth.

Author's Note

Hmm... :rainbowhuh: I wonder why Luna was able to kill it...

The vibe :trollestia:
https://youtu.be/tG7fk_DUz5g

Chapter 84 The Memories Part 43

~~~

The howling whiney sent a spine chilling gale down our withers. But unlike before, it was louder, and felt like it was coming from everywhere.

Even I, with my Moon mark, could tell that we had all had the same thought.

There was more than one.

A whole herd.

"GET THE FIRES RELIT! I WANT PONIES ARMED WITH WHATEVER WE HAVE!" Tia roared!

As one, the crowd of Ponies broke from their stupefied paralysis at Tia's urging. They rushed to and fro, all but stampeding. Ponies shouted at each other, not in anger, but trying ask questions about what each other had over the din, making the raucous progressively worse and worse.

Something tugged at my cloak.

I turned to find Clover at my side, her hoof on my cloak.

Instead of speaking, she peered intently at my face, as if she was trying to see the contents of my head.

"Uh... Can I help you?" I asked.

"... What were you thinking when you killed it?" she asked evenly.

"Please don't, Tia's probably going to chew my ear off when she has the chance." I responded.

"W-what? No!" Clover shook her head. "What were you thinking specifically? While you were fighting it?"

"... I don't follow." I said as my right ear cocked sideways.

"You don't-? Grr..." She growled softly, stomping a hoof in frustration. But then she took a calming breath and tried again. "Can you explain what was going through your head? I don't care what or why, I have a theory."

"Oh... Um... Ok..." I murmured hesitantly, trying to remember what exactly I was thinking. "Uh... The Windego appeared, chased everypony away..." I listed off. "But then I realized that it would be suicide to run into this weather." I gestured briefly towards the still falling snow. By now, Ponies had relit the smaller fires. "So to stop everypony from running, I charged the Windego." I finished.

Clover sat on her haunches and tapped her chin in thought.

"Is- Is that all you need?" I asked.

"Hm? Oh, Yes." Clover said distractedly. "Go on, we've both got things to do..." With that, the mare got up and dove back into the crowd.

I stood still in the rapidly shifting tide of Ponies, just staring at where the mare had disappeared.

... That was odd...

I glanced around, looking for Tia or for something that needed doing, whichever one I saw first.

I spotted Tia's pink mane amongst the crowd.

With the herd of busy Ponies, It took me a minute to maneuver through to Tia.

When I arrived, Tia was talking with a few Ponies, of all tribes, discussing their supply situation.

I stood silently by and patiently waited.

"-do you think we have enough wood?" Tia asked whom seemed to be the spokespony.

"Hrm-?" he hummed in thought. "Dun' kn'w... Ah s'ppose, ehf whe w'r' tah s'nd Po'nees tah g't 'v'rythang that k'n b'rn."

The stallions accent was so thick, I struggled to understand what he meant, even after being used to Ùllahdmaiden's already thickened accent. Thankfully, Tia seemed to know what he was saying.

"Do you think we have enough wood to draw them back?"

"N't 't f'rst no." he replied. "B't ehf whe cud g't 'nuff, whe cud m'ke et bri't 'nuff tah dr'w th' Po'nees 'hoo ran." the stallion pumped a hoof rather dramatically.

I still couldn't understand a word he had said.

Tia thought.

"... I don't like it." she commented. "Have you burned the ropes yet?"

"No Mayor." a mare I recognized from Ùllahdmaiden responded.

"Good. I want the ropes tied together and used to keep any search parties tethered to the camp." she gestured. "One pony per two lengths... There's too many Ponies in here, we'll trample ourselves before too long. But we can't afford to abandon anypony. This'll get Ponies out, but not lost. And I want a regular rotation so Ponies don't freeze."

"Aye Marm." The stallion grunted, before turning to his fellows and hashing out their duties on how to get the orders done.

"Oh Lu! Are you ok? Did you get injured?" Tia asked.

"No I'm fine... Do you have anything for me to do?"

"I'm glad to hear that." Tia leaned over and gave me a brief hug. I returned the hug, but only for a split second before Tia pulled away. "I sent half of the able bodied Ponies to the windbreak, if there's more of those spirits out, they may come for us. I want you with them. I don't know if you're the only one who can hurt them, but I'm not going to question it until later."

"I can do that." I nodded.

"Good, if you need me, I'll be tending to the fires." she informed.

I nodded in understanding. Tia had always been good with tending fires, so her plan made sense to me.

Nothing more needed to be said.

Without another word, we turned towards our respective tasks.

Ponies with various pitchforks, shovels, and even the tongue of a cart, watched me approach. When I got to them, they had all come to a halt and stared at me.

At first I was confused. Why were they staring? Why were they silent? Had they finally noticed the invisible Moon mark?

"Uh... Hello?" I called out.

Strangely, they kept staring expectantly.

But then it hit me. They weren't staring at a rat in Pony skin! They were staring at me like I was the adult in this situation! Never mind how much older some of them were! There were more than enough wrinkles before me!

"What are your orders?" The nearest one said.

They were looking at me like I were the General...

I was about to open my mouth and ask what they were waiting for, before being interrupted by another howl.

N̴̛͕̜͍͙̾͛̐̈́E̶̖̮͓̠͌̆͗̒Ï̵̛͖̞̘̤̔̈́͊-̵͙̈́̒̒̏̎Ĕ̶̢̛̩͍͉̓͋̽Ī̷̱̏-̴̛͍̫̙̝̐̀͋̀Ë̷̡̪̯͉́̂́̋̕I̷̦͕̤̠̜̾̆͑̔͠-̴͍̍̂͝E̸͖̣̫̮̼̐̌Î̸͕̲̗̲̜G̸̖̠̯̹̃̃͐͝ͅH̵͓͉͒̏̒!̴̙̗̳̻͉̕

"On top of the windbreak!" I exclaimed suddenly. If nopony else was going to do anything, then I would!

The darkness shifted, as if several somethings were swimming inside it.

"Weapons at the ready!" I exclaimed, climbing on top of the windbreak myself.

Three sets of eyes belonging to malevolent, frost bitten souls stared from out of the darkness.

Chapter 85 The Memories Part 44

~~~

The three shapes of the Windegos loomed above us. Phantoms that seemed content and safe in the blizzard ridden night.

"Ponies!" I cried, meeting the monsters gaze with my own.

The crowd of Ponies who were scavaging firewood muttered to each other, but otherwise silence yielded to my voice.

"Tonight you are not of your homeland! You are not of Unicornia! You are not of Pegasopolis! And You are not of the Clans!" I shouted for all to hear.

The Windegos shifted, slowly circling the camp and its now blazing fire.

Tia knew her craft well.

"Tonight you are brothers and sisters in arms! You fight for no crown or general!" I roared, not taking my gaze from the monsters before me, almost as if they would disappear if I took my sight off them.

A Windego nickered, sounding like somepony dragging chains over permafrost.

"Tonight you fight not for the Sun! You fight not for the Earth! And you do not fight for the Wind!"

The front legs of the Windegos pedaled and stamped restlessly in the air, obviously irritated.

"Tonight you fight for each other! You fight for your homes and families! For kin and comrade!"

The Ponies at my side were totally silent, their eyes also fixed on the Windegos above, their makeshift weapons pointed at the monsters like spears.

"Tonight you will fight together or you will die!"

The largest Windego snarled, and howled.

N̷͙̳͓̟͇͍̣̣̆͊̋̅͘Ę̸̯̬̞͐̈́́̌̕͘I̷̼̓͛̽̌̚-̶̨͔̠̫͈̀̐̇̈́͐̀̓͆E̸̬̦͎̙͖̭͋̌̃̏̈́̿Í̷̞͘-̵̯͍̜̪̭̂̂̃̈́͠Ȅ̵̝͓͔͜I̶̙̊̐̂͌̎͝-̵̦̪̓̏̐È̷̢̼͔͚̭̘̑͛̍̀̒͝I̴̧̡̛͉͚͖͌͛̄͐̎̚͠G̵̨̡̼͔̘̈́͐͒H̸͍͇̻̥̪̜͇̘́̽͒!̵̡̨̤̫̦͇̏̒̾͑͜͝

"For our homes! For our families! For our friends!"

I brandished the Unicornian sword.

The Windegos descended with the vengeful fury of tempest gale.

As one, what few Unicorns we had launched spells to meet the oncoming monsters. Individually, they were minor things, with barely enough strength to throw a pot across a room. But collectively, it was enough to keep the monsters from reentering the camp and ruining Tia's efforts of keeping the fires lit.

The Windegos wheeled through the nightsky, beaten back, but not defeated.

One flew the sky with purpose, its chest inflating with breath.

Whoooooosh!

A blast of artic air came blowing out of the beast's pressed lips!

The Pegasi wasted no time, they took to the sky and beat their wings in calm, steady, but forceful strokes, sending the visibly colder blast of wind off harmlessly to the side.

The lead beast nickered as its underling dashed underneath it. It then turned its baleful gaze back to us.

Instead of targeting us directly, it dove at the base of the windbreak, intent on smashing the fragile snow embankment into its composite dust.

Several of the Earth Ponies who must've helped build the mighty fortress I had seen just that morning, jumped off the back of the windbreak, not to retreat, but to use their superior strength to bolster the windbreak however they could.

WHUMP!

The Windego slammed into the meager fortification! But with the Ponies behind holding it up, it held true.

Ṇ̸͌̽Ḛ̸̊Į̴̬̍͘-̶͔̣͗É̵̡̪Ỉ̶͚̕G̴̟̊̽Ȟ̵͓͓͝!̴̙̺͛

The monster staggered up into the air, somewhat drunkenly.

"Get it!" I exclaimed, pointing at the weakened beast.

The nearby Ponies wasted no time, diving at it with shovel, grass scythe, and rake.

The large WIndego made one last trumpet as the improvised weapons slashed into its ethereal form.

Ň̵̠̳̻͈̳͙̰͍̖͈͔̼̳̩͊͜Ê̸̡̡̢̛̘̟͉̳̩̺̟̣͔̠͎̱̣̍̈́͗̒̌Ḯ̸̧̱̱̹͇̟͌͂-̴̞̖̞̈́͆̆͝Ḛ̶̢̧̡̨̨̭̖͍̱͍̠̪͈̻̑̈͛̂̂̇I̷̛̥̻̓̌̽͗͆͊̓͆̆̃̀̈́͘̚-̴͇͕̙̟̱̰̜̥̉͗̀̈́̅͌͒͂̍̾͂̚͠ͅĘ̵̨̛͉̞͔͉͚̬̪̊̃͊͑͗̑̾I̶̢̛̦͕͎̞̩͠͝-̵̬͎̼͎̜̬̟͇̪̅̑̓́͌͛̕̕͝͠͠

It faded away, its last howl echoing into the night.

It was then that I heard the most peculiar sound.

At first, I thought it was one of the remaining Windegos. But A quick glance revealed that they were merely watching from the darkness, their baleful eyes gleaming as their leader was slain.

"As dawn shines on us every morn!"

What was that noise? Who was singing now of all times?!

"The fire of friendship is reborn!"

I cast my gaze back inwards towards the firelight.

The scavenging Ponies had formed a bucket brigade, passing anything that could be burned between them, before passing it finally to Tia, who would throw the flammable item into the fire.

"And all the friendships we have made!"

My eyes chanced upon the form of Clover the Clever, whom sat on her haunches before the main fire, her eyes closed peacefully, but her mouth open and singing loudly, as muffled as she was with distance.

"We cherish in every way!"

Pansey and Smart Cookie joined at her sides, and picked up the song with her.

What were they doing?! Couldn't they be doing anything more use-

"Loyalty binds us and makes us strong!"

The Windegos flinched.

It was a subtle, quiet thing, but their gaze of burning frost wavered with every syllable uttered by the trio.

"Honesty shows us that we belong!"

She had figured out what she needed! And now that I knew what she was doing, I felt the urge to join her with the swelling of the oncoming Heartsong!

I had never even seen one, but the bedtime stories told by Mother when I was still a filly in Queensford told of the great swelling of emotion as the compulsion to join the song couldn't have been more clear.

They were one of the last gifts left by the Alicorns before their flight.

"And kindness shared will unite us through each day!"

"Everypony!" I exclaimed as the Windegos began to come around for another attack "The Heartsong! Join the Heartsong!"

It took a moment for everypony to realize what I had said, but once they became aware they understood.

"The fire of friendship lives in our hearts!" our voices rose as one into the dark night sky.

The pair of spirits dove once more.

"As long as it burns we cannot drift apart!"

The notes rose through the air like a wave of heat, crashing into the two remaining Windegos like a wave on the riverbank.

"Though quarrels arise their numbers are few!"

With the monsters disorientated, I took a moment to glance backwards.

"Laughter and singing will see us through!"

Tia and the scavenging Ponies stood with mouths agape in surprise.

"We are a circle of Pony friends!"

But even they could feel the growing magic of the ancient Alicorns.

"A circle of friends we’ll be to the very end!"

Tia looked to me and our gazes met.

I nodded.

"Winter brings all this cold and storm!"

They joined in with gusto, resuming their task of keeping the fire fed with the bucket brigade.

"The glow in our hearts keeps us warm!"

A Windego had recovered, and dove at the Ponies on top of the windbreak, its teeth flashing.

"The friends we now call our family!"

The Ponies bunched together, their farming tools bristling as surely as if they were true weapons.

"Will always see us through!"

The Windego leapt! Directly into the waiting embrace of the waiting Ponies!

"Loyalty binds us and makes us strong!"

The farming implements hacked and slashed! Driving into the Windego as if it weren't there at all!

"Honesty shows that we belong!"

Just like its two departed fellows, the half real monster evaporated into inert mist as it died.

"And kindness shared will unite us through each day!"

The last beast flew the air angrily, huffing and stamping as it looked for a weakness amongst the Ponies.

"The fire of friendship lives in our hearts!"

Its eyes landed on me.

"As long as it burns we cannot drift apart!"

I was the one who told the Ponies who were fighting to sing. I was the one who united these Ponies to one purpose.

If nothing else, the beast would have its vengeance.

"Though quarrels arise their numbers are few!"

The Windego lunged towards me! Its teeth also flashing in the bright firelight!

"Laughter and singing will see us through!"

My sword kept the beast's teeth off my neck, its bitterly cold breath causing my coat to stand on end. I grunted and pushed, physically lifting the deceptively heavy specter up, and throwing the beast towards the harshest thing I could think of.

"We are a circle of Pony friends!"

Whoosh! The spirit landed in the central fire, sending hot embers and charcoal dust into the air!

"A circle of friends we’ll be to the very ennnnnd!"

The final, lonely howl of the last Windego joined in with the last note, echoing long into the now peaceful night.

Author's Note

You all know what's coming :trollestia:

The vibe! https://youtu.be/bar1bceClIE?si=9iYU0HwfX1Vkyp8C

Chapter 86 The Memories Part 45

~~~

Even with the Windegos dead and gone, the singing continued late into the cold night. Cheerfully singing Ponies continued the bucket brigade, passing lumps of wood to each other even as they trailed into the darkness. And as the fire rose higher and higher under Tia's ministrations, more and more Ponies came out of the dark, attracted to the great beacon of light and noise we made.

As more and more came, more and more did the warm light grow, and more and more did the Heartsong swell.

Eventually, the Ponies streaming into the firelight weren't those who had initially ran away, but Ponies who had never been included in the efforts in the first place. Their coats were covered in frost and ragged cloaks as they trudged towards the warmth. But even they soon joined the chorus as they warmed themselves, and eventually joined the bucket brigade hauling firewood to keep the fire fed.

So many Ponies came, we had to push the windbreak forward to make the protected area larger at least twice!

Eventually, even Ponies garbed in various armors and armed with true weapons joined, too frozen and demoralized to even challenge the brandished farming tools before them.

I was immensely relieved to see Appleflower among them, even if she now limped on only two legs, her front right hoof now gone as well, frozen and seemingly twisted off. But she made the effort to get up and give me a hug, even as she was ushered to a comfortable spot in the center of the camp.

But finally, the dawn came.

The singing finally stopped as everypony's jaws dropped.

Around the fire, the snow was nearly totally gone, in fact the windbreak could no longer be stood on it was so melted.

But about ten Pony lengths beyond that?

The world changed drastically.

The light of the morning Sun played over the expanse of an icy wasteland. The wind had eroded the ice and snow smooth, leaving natural sculptures that looked impossible to craft by Pony hooves wherever there was a tree or boulder for snow to gather. The greenery that existed the previous day was utterly gone, buried or flash frozen into uselessness. Strangely however, the air was tolerable, still warm from the true season, but chilled by the icy ambience.

And yet, despite the desolation, it was hauntingly beautiful. Like the never before seen landscape of a strange faraway land.

The spell was broken by Tia calling out.

"Designated team leaders! We need a meeting right now!"

Was I one of those Ponies? Tia had sent me to the windbreak to help, but it was the Ponies themselves who followed my lead...

I glanced around at the Ponies who had made a habit of staying near me over the past few hours.

None moved.

Guess that settles that...

"Keep a weather eye out. Just because the Sun's up doesn't mean we're safe." I ordered, turning my head briefly to make sure they heard.

I saw several nods and heard various voices speak up.

"Gotcha."

"Will do."

"On it boss!"

Now reassured, I trotted through the mud towards where I thought my sister's voice had come from.

A small crowd of Ponies had gathered around Tia, and were engaged in discussion with each other.

"Aye, but it wouldn't hurt to look for more supplies." A stallion I didn't recognize responded to something I hadn't heard.

"Are we that low then?" Tia asked.

"Aye, nearly ransacked the whole camp around us." the nameless stallion nodded.

"Damnit." Tia cursed.

Despite the seemingly bad news, it was strangely comforting to see Tia acting as the de facto leader to even Ponies we didn't know. It meant, to me personally, that I could always trust the one Pony in charge. I didn't want to think about some incompetent, unknown Pony who would blindly walk into an easily avoidable situation.

Or worse yet, try to make me their 'wife'.

The shiver that went down my spine had nothing to do with the somewhat chilly air around us.

Tia was above and beyond, the Pony I trusted the most to not do something worth regretting.

"Ok;" Tia continued, breaking my line of thought. "Organize search parties, if there's anypony who survived out there I want them found. Secondly, there's supplies enough for three armies out there. We're going to need every morsel if nopony can farm in this mess before the Winter."

Oh I hadn't thought about that...

I looked back over to the icy wastes.

Summer had to have been half over already... Or almost half at the very least. Even if all the snow melted by tonight, we would have hours at most to plant enough crops to grow enough for a village to ration through the Winter. And I didn't think this gathering of Ponies qualified as a mere village anymore...

Now exposed by broad daylight, there were enough Ponies for an entire city.

Stars above... There were so many...

"Same tactic as last night?" a mare I also didn't recognize asked.

"No point." Tia remarked. "It's bright and warm enough not to."

"Search parties then?" I asked.

A mare I vaguely remembered jumped slightly at my voice, but relaxed when she realized it was just me.

"Yeah, that'll work." Tia agreed. "Any objections?" Nopony raised any concern, so she continued. "Excellent, split into groups of ten, have at least four weapons. We don't know who or what may be waiting."

The meeting seemed to be over, so I turned to leave to give instructions to the group that had put me in charge.

"No arguments from me." I remarked as I left.

Perhaps it was rude of me to leave first, but I had my instructions. Anything else was unnecessary.

I returned to the Ponies near the windbreak.

"Ponies!" I called out, drawing their attention. "We're going to send out search parties! Looking for any supplies and survivors! We'll be dividing ourselves amongst the scavengers, four militia in every group of ten!" Ponies were nodding along. "Be cautious! Only the stars know if anything's waiting out there for a Pony to eat! And I'd prefer that we all come back to safety! Any questions?"

No pony said anything.

"Good! Off you go!" I called out.

The Ponies dispersed, breaking into a incomprehensible swarm that I could see no rhyme nor reason to. I took a moment to sigh in relief. With all the Ponies splitting up, I was no longer in 'charge' of all of them. At most, all I had to worry about now were only ten Ponies.

I joined the crowd organizing and dispersing themselves amongst last night's scavengers.

I briefly saw Tia again, but she wasn't coming with us. Too busy organizing those who would stay behind.

The first few groups I inquired about were already full, so I continued on my way as they made for the edge of the windbreak.

"Luna!" called a voice. I turned to see Clover, Pansy, and Smart Cookie amongst a group of Ponies who looked like they were getting ready.

"Clover!" I greeted, trotting towards them eagerly. "You're all going out?"

"Yeah, figured we'd at least be less likely to be attacked if we found anypony." Smart Cookie replied.

"Do you have a spot for a sword?" I asked.

"If you're the one holding it, always." Clover winked.

Wait... What did she mean by-

"Oh don't mind her Luna... She just hasn't had a decent lay in a while." Cookie smirked.

My line of thought stopped as it felt like all my blood rushed to my cheeks.

"C-Cookie!" Clover exclaimed, with a blush that might've rivaled my own.

Pansy chuckled softly, but didn't comment.

"Oh pipe down." Cookie replied. "I ain't judging. Besides, it's perfectly natural ta want ta be with somepony."

Perfectly... Natural?

Was that why I wanted to return Summer Glow's affections? Why I wanted to wrap myself around Clo-

Nope, no way that was natural. Forgetting that thought.

"So um... Sword?" I asked, sounding stupid to even my own ears.

Cookie and Pansy shared a knowing look.

Clover was still blushing furiously. She tried to say something but she must've also been flustered because her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water.

"Yeah, we got room for you." Cookie smirked.

Author's Note

EXTREMELY GAY AUTISTIC HORSE NOISES :trollestia:

Chapter 87 The Memories Part 46

~~~

We left the makeshift camp, surrounded by others who had formed groups. As we walked away, groups began to split away, looking to cover as much ground as they could. As we walked, I did my best to stay away from Clover, and apparently she did likewise, because Clover kept Cookie and Pansy between us as we walked into the thawing snowfield.

Cookie and Pansy would occasionally glance at each other and chuckle.

I did my best to ignore them, which got easier and easier as the wind swept landscape became more prevalent.

My initial estimate didn't do the now barren waste justice. Trees hadn't just been frosted over, they had become spikes of windblown ice that seemed to erupt from the ground. The wind, even as it blew warm summer air, was stinging as nothing but the flat expanse stopped its rampage. Loose snow skittered across the ground with long sweeping motions, riding on the gusts of the intense wind. Yet even as we walked, becoming more and more alone as groups split away more and more, the edges of the spikes of ice were thawing and dripping liquid water, adding to the surreal environment.

"Look! Pony!" Pansy suddenly exclaimed. Our group, that is Cookie, Pansy, Clover, several Ponies whose names I didn't know, and myself weren't alone quite yet, so it came as a surprise to find somepony so soon. All of our heads whipped to look where Pansy was pointing.

At first I didn't see what she was pointing at, all I saw was another ice covered tree, but then I noticed the spear and Pony shaped lump sitting underneath the wind curved ice.

Taking shelter.

Pansy was off like a shot, flying over the glassy snow. Several other Ponies went after in close pursuit, dashing through the ice encrusted snow.

I followed after them.

By the time I reached the location, Pansy had already stood up from checking the Pony.

She shook her head.

"Go on, we'll bring them back. Make sure they get a proper burial." A Unicorn from another group stated. "You use those good eyes of yours to find anypony else."

Pansy nodded, biting her lip, looking like she was on the verge of tears. I put a hoof on her withers reassuringly.

"Come on Pansy, it may not be too late for others."

She nodded, and followed me back.

Now there were only two groups left in our caravan. But it was not long before we split apart.

We trudged through the snow, alone for the most part.

"So umm... Cookie;" I started, not quite sure if I liked how the warm wind howled like a Winter storm. "You seem to have a destination in mind, where are we going?"

"Yer right." Cookie replied. "I want ta figure out if the leaders of the expeditions survived. If they survived, they'll ether give us the most problems, or the most benefit. Ether way it's important ta find them."

"Wait, 'us'?" I asked. Cookie was sounding like she considered the camp that had gathered under Tia to be a single village... But surely it wasn't... Was it?

"Sure. After those, windy-goes;" she enunciated "What else are we all supposed ta do? Don't make a lick of sense ta split, especially if what Clover is right about them eating conflict. What choice do we have other than unite inta a single tribe? So ta speak."

"I- I haven't thought about it that way..." I admitted.

"I mean, shouldn't we be seriously considering stopping all the wars and fighting if that's what's causing the longer Winters? I, personally, don't see any other choice."

"I'm all for it." Pansy agreed.

Clover looked thoughtful, and the other Ponies weren't close enough to hear.

"But why Tia?" I asked. "You're suggesting to put her in charge of this combined tribe?"

"Well who else? Look, from what I've seen since yesterday, Tia's got a good head on her shoulders. Furthermore, she's got all of us working together already. If anypony's gonna be able to handle it, I'll bet it's gonna be her."

It was strange... Now that Cookie mentioned it... Tia had rallied all three tribes last night. So who was to say that all of these villagers from the separate tribes just... Didn't separate again?

The hard part was already half done, it just needed to be formalized and made permanent...

"I'd- I'd bring it up with Tia. If I were you." I suggested. "Don't want to suddenly drop this on her withers... If that's indeed what's going to happen."

"Would you bring it up?" Clover asked. "She knows you better than Cookie and is more likely to trust you."

"I'd rather not, it's Cookie's idea so she should be the one to suggest it, but I'll vouche for you." I replied.

"Appreciate it." Cookie nodded.

The conversation died down as we refocused on the field of thawing ice.

We walked for hours, leaving a long trail in the snow, which slowly turned to slush as the Sun rose higher. We found quite a few bodies, Ponies frozen and covered in snow, only identifiable by the lumps of snow in an otherwise flat expanse, or by exposed limbs sticking out of the thawing snow.

Many of them had wounds consistent with fighting.

It became obvious quickly that we were intruding on a battlefield.

We didn't bother trying to recover the bodies after a certain point, instead prioritizing finding anypony that may still be alive.

We did find a few Ponies, barely clinging to life. Huddled under ice shelves, clinging to their friends who had frozen to death, hiding under piles of corpses they had dragged together in a gruesome attempt to make some sort of shelter. For the few we did find, we huddled around them to keep them from freezing, all while calling to one of the groups that had caught up. One of the groups had taken to gathering and caring for any survivors found. It was to them we mainly called to as we kept the found Pony warm. They would come to us, with blankets and warm food, to sequester the Pony away with a cart.

As we advanced, the frozen ruins of the three war camps from the day prior loomed into view. I hadn't even realized I was close to the river everything was so flat. However the camps themselves had been thoroughly ruined. They all looked like a tornado had ran freely amongst them. Which may not have been far from the truth considering the Pegasoplian camp.

It was after the third or fourth alive Pony that I found the most peculiar thing.

At first it looked like a large mound of ice and snow. But, with the exception of the misshapen ice made from the wind coming off it, it was perfectly round. Too perfect to be natural. I approached cautiously.

What was this?

Curiosity drove me as I started to push thawing snow off whatever the thing was. Ice lay underneath, but it didn't seem that thick. So I started grabbing and pulling chunks of the ice off with my magic. Underneath that was the most confusing thing yet.

A solid opaque grey material.

Just what was this?

"Hey Thunder!" I called behind me, towards one of the Ponies in my group, who I now knew was named 'Thunder Cloud'. "I found something!"

"What is it?" he called back.

"I don't know!" I replied.

The stallion approached, his wings flapping as he kept out of the wet snow.

"Let me look."

I stepped aside to let him see.

He landed and bent down to peer at the strange grey substance.

"Huh... That is weird." he tapped on the flat surface.

Thonk thonk thonk.

The material seemed to vibrate, but held firm.

"Any ideas?" I asked.

"I think it's magical..." Thunder nodded. "Don't you know? You're a Unicorn."

"I know how to hit hot metal, and stab with a spear." I rolled my eyes. "Most of my education is Earth Pony."

"Could've fooled me." he shrugged.

I ignored that statement and continued.

"So magic? Do you know where Clover is? If it is magical she'll know."

"Oh! Um... I think so... Be right back." he trailed off, opening his wings and jumping into the sky.

Alone once more with the strange thing, I decided to spend my time constructively and clear off whatever snow and ice I could.

I was about half done when Thunder returned with Clover.

The look of curiosity vanished as soon as she saw the grey thing.

"Oh." she said simply.

I became only more confused as she approached and walked right up to the perfectly spherical grey thing.

Clonk clonk clonk!

"Master! Open up Master! It's safe now!" she called out as she knocked on the material.

Master? What was...

Oh! That's right! Clover was an apprentice wizard!

Silence reigned as the sphere didn't react in the slightest.

Clover's ear flicked in irritation.

"Stupid old stallion probably too busy meditating..." she mumbled under her breath as she took a few steps back.

"Uh...?" I moaned as she walked past me, trying to think of something to say or ask.

"Stand back." Clover instructed as she lowered her horn.

I barely had enough time to leap away before her horn ignited.

FREEEEEEEEEM!

A lance of fire leapt forward! Impacting the grey sphere furiously! The grey magic wobbled and rippled from the impact, not breaking it, but clearly disturbing it like a rock thrown into a calm pond.

Oh it was a shield of some sort!

Clover stopped her assault after a moment, the snow around and in front of her clearly more melted than the surrounding ice.

"That should get his attention." she stated.

True enough, the grey shield expanded slightly, knocking off whatever ice and snow I missed, and then promptly vanished. Now exposed were four Ponies, an older Earth Pony mare who wore a fancy pink frock, a Pegasus mare that I was surprised I recognized, and two Unicorns, a bearded elderly stallion who wore a ridiculously pointy hat and cape, both decorated with bells; And another mare I was pretty sure I'd also seen before.

"Master, did you fall asleep while casting again?" Clover called out, addressing the elderly Unicorn.

"Ah Clover, you survived." he calmly acknowledged, stepping away from the other three Ponies, whom had been laying or sitting down around him. "Well done, I trust the Windegos did not give you much trouble then?"

"Ah... Actually they did..." Clover admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. "But we took care of them!" she quickly amended.

"Most excellent. I expect a thesis on their weaknesses... It will be a most exciting read." the elder Unicorn nodded, advancing towards Clover.

"Actually, it wasn't me who defeated them..." Clover admitted.

The elder Unicorn stopped in his tracks.

"Hrm? Then pray tell who did?" he asked.

"It was actually Luna here who oversaw their slaying... And even killed two by herself." Clover gestured towards me.

And suddenly four sets of eyes turned on me.

I winced under the sudden attention.

While the Earth Pony mare and elderly Unicorn were indifferent, the Pegasus' and Unicorn mare's eyes lit up, with the Unicorn looking as if she had seen a ghost.

"I know you!" the Pegasus exclaimed as the Unicorn gaped like a fish. "You were that filly with the band of hornheads we detained years ago! The one that supposedly killed that Hydra!"

"Uh... Yeah." I self consciously rubbed my left foreleg with my right. "Commander Hurricane right?"

"You do remember me!" the Pegasus cackled, hopping into the air and hovering. "I knew you'd turn out to be special! You said you killed two of those things? I thought there was only the one! I'm glad I gave you that spear! No telling where we'd be if I hadn't!"

"Ah... Um..." I tried to speak as the Pegasus went on, not quite sure when it was going to be my turn to speak.

"That's all well and good..." the Unicorn mare interrupted. "But little filly, do you by chance know a mare by the name of 'Nebula Glow'?"

What the-? That was an odd question. What did Mom have to do with anything anymore?

"Uh yeah, she was my mother." I warily supplied.

"I- I'm sorry, 'was'?" the mare asked, her breath hitching.

"She was killed, by the Hydra that I ended up slaying."

"Oh..." the mare's features drooped. "Oh Nebula you poor fool..." she whispered under her breath.

"I'm sorry, do I know you? You seem awfully familiar..."

Seriously who was this mare? Something about her was so familiar... But for the life of me I couldn't place where I knew her...

"Oh, my apologies." the mare put a hoof over her heart. "I must still be frazzled from last night. My name is Princess Stellar Platinum... And I believe I may be your Aunt."

Author's Note

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN! :pinkiegasp:

Chapter 88 The Memories Part 47

~~~

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked, not believing what my ears had told me.

While yes, it had suddenly clicked where I had seen this mare, which had been the distant figure of Princess Platinum outside of Ùllahdmaiden. Ok sure fine, maybe this actually was Princess Platinum in the flesh. She was the one who laid siege to Ùllahdmaiden! Killed many of the Ponies I knew! And then she had the audacity to claim to by my Aunt?! As in, sister to my Mother! How absurd! Mom had been a warmage! Not a Princess! She grew up in- Wait, where did she grow up? Peasants didn't get to be warmages... So theoretically the two would've grown up in similar circles... At about the same period of time...

I looked up into Platinum's face, looking for any similarities between her and what I remembered of Mom. It was... Comparable. The bone underneath her eyes and across her nose were similar, giving them similar shaped faces. It was one Tia also shared, increasingly more so as she got older. One that I wasn't sure I was also developing...

"Perhaps I should start from the beginning-" the figure that was beginning to look more and more like somepony who might be close family.

But she was Princess Platinum! The daughter of the mare that forced Queensford to starve and she herself went onto siege Ùllahdmaiden!

How could I trust her?!

"No that won't be necessary-" I tried to interject. I looked to the side towards Clover, trying to communicate with my eyes.

'Get me out of here.'

Clover's expression was one of shock and surprise.

Great.

"Uh..." I tried to interrupt 'Princess Platinum' as gently as possible. "Look, I'm sure you knew a Nebula Glow, but there's a possibility that you are mistaken."

"But- But-" she started, but then took a moment to compose herself. "Very well, you raise a good point. But I would like to discuss this with you at a later time."

"... Right..." I said, trying to think of the quickest way out of this situation.

"So Chancellor!" Smart Cookie suddenly exclaimed, interrupting any further discussion. "You made it! I'm so glad!"

Oh thank the stars.

"Wasn't easy!" the older mare replied "But it sure was breezy!"

I took a step back, eager to not be the center of attention again. It worked, for the most part. As the conversation continued, Platinum's eyes were fixed on me.

"Then let's get you warmed up! We've got fire and safety for the time being."

"Hold it!" Commander Hurricane exclaimed. Everypony stopped, even Platinum's gaze and shifted to the Pegasus. As the Commander flew above, Pansy stood below, saluting sternly. "What makes you think we'll come with you?" she challenged.

By now, the commotion had drawn in other groups, curious why so many Ponies were suddenly rescued. Even if every Pegasi present were to join the Commander, they were hopelessly outnumbered.

The flying mare seemed to realize this as Ponies started getting closer.

"Be as it may Hurricane;" the elderly Unicorn began, rolling his eyes. "I for one, am in dire need of a proper meal and warm bed." Ignoring the stand off that Commander Hurricane was losing badly.

That broke the brash Pegaus' demeanor.

"... Ok we'll come." the Commander relented, softly landing on the ground.

"Excellent!" Cookie exclaimed. "We'll getcha all warm and cozy!"

That seemed to settle any conversation, and the Ponies milled about, reorganizing themselves to go to their destinations. The old Unicorn, and all of his compatriots gravitated towards Cookie and Clover. Pansy however followed closely behind Commander Hurricane. By unspoken agreement, it seemed like our group were the ones who would take care of the leaders of the tribes.

I didn't want to abandon the group, despite Platinum's presence, so I followed behind as they started leaving. A cart was soon brought over so the rescued Ponies could hop aboard. As they were packed away I took the opportunity to wave Cookie down for a brief conversation.

"I thought you said we'd be discussing the whole 'single tribe' idea... Why are we playing along with these Ponies?" I asked, probably sounding a bit harsher than I meant to.

"Things aren't ironed out at all yet." Cookie replied. "Until we can get everypony together to discuss, I don't want to antagonize anypony we don't have to."

"Luna!" Clover suddenly butted in. "Why didn't you tell me you were the niece of THE Princess Platinum?!"

I jumped slightly at the aggressiveness of the mare, but the look on her face wasn't all out rage, merely upset.

"How was I supposed to know?!" I rebutted. "I was too young to hear her secrets when she died!"

"Old enough to kill a hydra!" Clover stamped.

"Now hold on everypony!" Cookie cut in. "Clover, look at 'er." she gestured towards me. "She's almost in as much shock as you are."

Was my pose displaying surprise? As I turned my attention inwards, I found that my ears twitched and I found myself digging in agitation at the ground below.

Damn my Moon mark! I hadn't even noticed my reactions!

"Er... Right." Clover relented, seemingly coming to her senses. "Sorry Luna, guess I got caught up in the revelation..."

"It's fine. Let's just get this over and done with so I can leave it behind." I turned away and left the two to further discuss things.

I winced as I realized that had probably been rude.

I stepped off to the side by the cart, letting Ponies tuck the four rescued Ponies in with cloaks and blankets.

But then again... Looking back on it, was I not justified? I mean really, who meets somepony new and proclaim for the world to hear that you're their Aunt! What's more! It was Princess Platinum who had done it! The same who abandoned Queensford to its fate and the one who lay siege to Ùllahdmaiden! What else was I supposed to feel if not agitation?!

"Excuse me, Luna was it?"

I looked over to see the old stallion watching me from the cart, a woolen blanket wrapped around his own cloak.

"Sorry, yes. Was lost in thought. How can I help you?" I blurted out.

Wow, I must be more out of it than I realize.

"My apprentice said you were the one responsible for killing those spirits... May I inquire as to how?" he asked.

"Uh sorry, all I know was that I swung a sword and they died... Mister...?" I trailed off, trying to remember his name.

Had I heard his name? I vaguely recalled that Clover had said it once, but so much had happened since then I couldn't for the life of me recall what it was...

"Starswirl, Starswirl the Bearded." he extended a hoof.

I reached over and gently shook it.

Was that what Clover had said?

"Nice to meet you Mister Starswirl the Bearded." I nodded.

"Ho ho!" the stallion chortled. "It's been a long time since anypony has called me 'Mister' little filly. So long I had forgotten what it felt like."

Oh... Kay?

"Uh... Should I be sorry or-?" I trailed off, hoping he would fill in an answer.

"Oh no! You're quite alright little filly." the elder stallion smiled. "I've been called much ruder things than 'Mister'."

I snorted in amusement, despite myself and my gloom.

"Before today, I'm not sure the last time I was called 'little filly'." I responded.

"When you get to be my age, everypony is a 'little colt' or 'filly'" the old stallion said coyly.

Feeling emboldened, I tried to match his humor.

"You said it, not I." I grinned.

The stallion froze.

Aw shit... Had I gone too far?

"Hohohohoho!" he chortled merrily. "You've got some wit to you!"

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"In all seriousness however;" Starswirl continued. "Is that all you did? Swing a sword?"

"Sorry sir, that's all I know." I shrugged.

"Hm, I see..." he hummed, stroking his beard with a hoof.

The stallion seemed to get lost in thought, so I turned away and let him be.

The cart, and all of its passengers and escorts, soon started to move.

Chapter 89 The Memories Part 48

~~~

The trek back was spent in silence... Long... Awkward... Silence.

Cookie, Pansy, Clover, and the others I only knew in passing kept to the sides of the cart as two stallions pulled. Words were quietly exchanged occasionally, but never more than a few sentences at a time.

Chancellor Puddinghead, if I remembered her name right, sat wrapped in her blanket, observing the thawing world with wide, innocent eyes.

I wasn't so sure how the mare led the Clans...

Commander Hurricane grumpily sat with her forelegs crossed. The cloak she had been given had slipped off and fallen onto the bench she sat on.

Starswirl, surprisingly, pulled a book out of his own cloak and had busied himself studying its pages. From what I could see, whenever he turned a page, it was full of arcane sigils and glyphs. The meaning of which were lost to me.

But worst of all... Was Princess Platinum.

The mare kept silent, it was true. But she kept impatiently glancing in my direction, clearly wanting to start another conversation. She fidgeted and squirmed in her seat, took her cloak on and off, unable to find a comfortable position.

Her impatience and constant observation made me extremely uncomfortable myself. As I walked, I couldn't help but think how I was walking and moving, trying to act as 'normal' as possible. But that almost caused me to trip a few times so I quit doing that.

In the end, I just did my best to stay away and ignore the mare.

It was at least noon by the time we returned to the camp. By then, what remained of the windbreaks were merely sad, mostly melted clumps of snow that couldn't stop a small foal much less a blizzard. The fire, which had been roaring through out the night, had finally been put out. The air was warm enough that I was beginning to sweat under my Cragodile hide vest.

While we had been out searching, Tia had not been idle. More wood, both the broken remains of carts and lumber taken from now dead trees, were stacked neatly nearby the charred pit. Several gangs of Ponies were looking over what intact carts they had found, fixing whatever they could and scraping what they could not. With the exception of a crowd of Ponies gathered around a few crates, the only other Ponies present were those who were clearly injured in some fashion. They laid on blankets that had been set on the ground.

The eyes of the four Ponies in the cart were wide.

"Y-You survived four of those things with just these Ponies?" Platinum stammered.

"N-no your Highness." Clover replied, her voice hitching. "I believe many of them are still out searching for survivors and supplies."

"Ah... I see..." Platinum hummed, tapping a hoof nervously on the side of the cart.

I leaned over and whispered to Cookie.

"I'm going to go find Tia. I'll introduce that idea of yours before the discussion begins." I whispered.

"Go ahead. We'll take care of these Ponies." she replied, equally quiet.

I nodded and turned away, towards the crowd of Ponies around the crates. I suspected that Tia was using them as a table to organize everything.

As I approached, I did indeed spy Tia, but she was merely listening to two Ponies argue the finer points of something I had no context for.

I did my best to be as unintrusive as possible.

"Tia may I have a word with you?" I asked quietly.

"Please." she said thankfully. "Excuse me, but I think I need to stretch my legs for a moment." she told to the organizers, standing up to leave.

Several Ponies nodded, but the two passionately arguing didn't even notice.

Tia followed me off to the side, so we could have some privacy.

"Do you want the idea first or the weird news first?" I asked.

Tia blinked in confusion.

"Lu... Isn't that phrase supposed to be about 'good news' and 'bad news'?" she asked.

"I honestly can't think of any better description." I shrugged.

"Okay...?" she sighed. "Um... The idea first I suppose."

"While we were searching, Cookie raised a good point to me... If the Windegos feed on strife and war, how long will it be until there are no more Summers?" I asked.

"If that book was right, and if last night was anything to go off of, probably not long at all..." Tia conceded.

"Exactly. The tribes can't keep fighting like this. Cookie's idea was to unite all the tribes into a single tribe... A single tribe lead by you..."

"ME?!" Tia exclaimed suddenly, her voice echoing off the nearby scenery.

"Shhh!" I hushed. "Calm down!"

Tia looked sheepish, smiling at the Ponies who had looked over at her outburst.

"Ok sure, single tribe I can understand... But why ME?" Tia whispered.

"Why not you? You've already done the hard part in getting the tribes to work together!" I pointed at the group of Ponies we had left at the crates, all three of the tribes were represented and present. "All we have to do is formalize it and make it permeant!"

"... I'm not too sure I'm thrilled about this Lu." Tia admonished.

"That's why I'm telling you now, so you're not surprised if Cookie brings this up." I replied.

"I see..." Tia sat on her haunches and nervously tapped her hooves together. "And that's the idea right? What could be stranger than that?"

"Uh... Funny story actually..." I looked away, rubbing at a crick in my neck that had developed suddenly. "You see those four Ponies we brought in on the cart?"

"Uh... Yes?" Tia replied, not exactly sure where I was going with this.

"Those are Chancellor Puddinghead, Commander Hurricane, Princess Platinum, and the court wizard Starswirl. We found them all under a shield being cast by the wizard."

"Ok I'm with you so far."

"So..." I trailed off, unsure how I was going to tell her this part. "The first thing Platinum asks when she sees me is about the name 'Nebula Glow'."

"... But that's-"

"There's more." I interrupted, hoping I wasn't being rude. "The second thing she said to me, was to claim to be my Aunt."

Tia's jaw dropped.

"But- But she- But Mom- But-" she stammered.

"I know." I put a hoof on her shoulder, trying to ground her back in reality. "I wanted to get to you before she did. I don't know if she's telling the truth or not, or even if the mare is still sane at this point, but this is a discussion that needs to happen with her."

Tia gaped like a fish for a few moments, before she pulled herself together enough to reply.

"I- Yes... You're right." she finally agreed. "Give me a moment, you've dropped a lot in my lap..." she started to fan herself with a hoof, taking deeper breaths as she did so.

"I'm sorry, Cookie brought up the idea before we found Platinum."

"No, you're fine Lu. These are both things that I needed to be aware of... Although their timing leaves much to be desired."

"On that I'm in agreement." I nodded.

Silence fell as Tia calmed down.

"What's she like? Platinum I mean." Tia asked after a few minutes.

"Other than seeming a madmare? No idea. But she kept watching me as we brought her back."

"How about... Similarities?" Tia asked, gesturing at her own face.

"I- I think she has your and Mom's cheek bones. But you'd remember Mom better than I would."

"You have those cheekbones too you know."

"Do I? I wasn't sure, it's been a while since I've looked into still water long enough to look." I replied, sitting down as well to rub my face with both hooves.

Tia snorted in amusement.

"Yes Lu, yes you do." she grinned mischievously.

We fell back into an easy silence, merely enjoying the momentary respite in the chaos we had suddenly found ourselves in.

"Alright Lu, let's get back into the fray."

Chapter 90 The Memories Part 49

~~~

Tia and I returned to the meeting around the crate. The two Ponies were still arguing, but they had became less intense. Cookie and Clover had joined the gathering, standing respectfully off to the side.

"Quiet you two." Tia spoke, addressing the still bickering Ponies. "We'll come back to it, but there's a more pressing matter right now. Smart Cookie was it?" she continued, now addressing Cookie.

"Yes Ma'am." Cookie replied.

I felt an ear cock itself sideways.

I knew what Cookie was going to propose, but did she really consider Tia a 'Ma'am' already? I suppose she had to, if we were going to make Tia leader of this 'new tribe' than I guess she needed to be addressed as such.

"Lu told me your proposal, and while I'd personally prefer to think it over first, we need to have that conversation."

All of the Ponies present, besides Cookie, Clover, Tia, and myself, looked supremely confused at this statement.

"Well alright then." Cookie breathed. "Did you want me to start now or-?"

"If you would be so kind."

"Uh... Kay... No pressure." Cookie sighed. "Alright, I'll just come out and say it." she glanced around the 'table'. "We can't keep doin' this. The wars and the fighting between the tribes. We all saw those things last night, and we know what keeps them going. Clover if you would?"

Cookie stepped aside to allow Clover to take her place.

"They're called 'Windegos', and we're all doomed if they get what they want." Clover informed.

"Well out with it! The suspense is killing me!" a Pony exclaimed.

"That! That exactly!" Clover pointed at the offending Pony.

As I looked over, the Pony, an Earth Pony mare, looked taken aback and surprised.

"M-Me?" she stammered.

"What?! No!" Clover exclaimed. "The aggression! The antagonism! The Windegos have been feeding on the fighting between the tribes and causing the Winters to be longer and the Summers shorter!" she pulled out the book she had shown me yesterday, already open to the page with the drawing of the Windego.

I couldn't help but think that the picture did little to capture the otherworldly hate that seemed to emanate from the creature. Again.

"If the tribes keep fighting, these Windegos are going to make Winter last forever." Clover stated, tapping a hoof on the page that depicted the Windego.

"So..." A Pegasus mare whose name I didn't know began, twirling a hoof. "What are you proposing?"

"We have to stop fighting! And the best way to do that is to unite into a single tribe!" Cookie proclaimed.

"A SINGLE TRIBE?!" a voice from behind Cookie exclaimed in shock.

Everypony turned or looked over Cookie's shoulder, Platinum stood there, here jaw dropped in shock. The other three 'important Ponies' stood behind her, surprise was evident on their faces as well, but not nearly to the extent as it was on Platinum's.

"Bu- Bu- Bu- Bwuah-" she stammered.

"Well what an intriguing idea!" Starswirl interjected suddenly. The only one of his 'compatriots' who didn't look surprised at this development was Puddinghead.

"Buh- Starswirl!" Platinum exclaimed indignantly.

"If I may be so bold my Lady;" Starswirl rolled his eyes. "I personally, have been far too close to one of their breath attacks to doubt the veracity of my Apprentice's claim." he approached Clover and gestured for Clover's book. "Additionally, given the argument presented, I am am unsure another path forward can be found. You know as well as I my Lady, that the food shortages have been getting worse and worse for years now." He ran a hoof over the page as he looked for a line. "Here, this passage." He offered the book towards Platinum.

"It's not your book that concerns me!" Platinum growled, pushing the book aside. "Lower ourselves by uniting with these-"

Platinum's mouth was suddenly clamped shut by an aura of golden yellow.

Tia's horn was ablaze.

"Careful with your words Princess." Tia growled, her tone cold despite the heat coming off her horn. "Some of these Ponies, are more kin to me than any who wears a crown."

Platinum's brows were knit together in confusion, her eyes darted to me, and then back to Tia several times before they widened in realization.

Starswirl, meanwhile had a realization of his own.

"Y-You!" he suddenly exclaimed, pointing a hoof at Tia. "You're the mage who protected that Earth Pony village!"

"And you're the one who broke my shield." Tia coldly replied, her eyes narrowing at the grey aura around his horn and Clover's book.

Tense, awkward silence fell over the meeting as the three Ponies stared each other down.

"Um..." I heard a voice break the silence.

Wait... That was my voice!

Everypony's gaze fell on me. Even Platinum, her muzzle still clamped shut by Tia's magic, had awkwardly turned to regard me.

What are you doing Luna?! All you had to do was keep your mouth shut! Why did you break the silence?!

It's too late now! What were you going to say?! Say it before this gets even more unbearable!

"P- Perhaps we could discuss this later... In private?"

Tia, Starswirl, and Platinum regarded each other, speaking in the way only Ponies unmarked by the Moon seemed to understand.

"I- Yes. That might be best... Right my Lady?" Starswirl turned towards the still bound Princess, raising an eyebrow.

The Princess nodded.

"I'm glad we can come to an arrangement!" Tia chirped, suddenly smiling. Platinum gasped for air as Tia let go.

"W-Would you prefer after this briefing, or during dinner?" Platinum asked after catching her breath.

"Whenever I have time." Tia smugly stated. "Lu?" she continued, turning towards me. "Could you find a suitable place for these Ponies to stay? We need to settle somethings amongst ourselves before we start discussing any unification efforts."

"Yes Tia." I nodded, stepping away from the gathering. "Come on." I waved for the four to follow.

Starswirl eagerly moved to join me, with Platinum close behind him, and Puddinghead and Hurricane came behind her, with the later having her arms folded grumpily as she flew through the air.

"Pardon my asking Luna..." the old stallion began when we were out of earshot. "But what is your relationship with that mare?"

Platinum's ears perked up in interest.

Aw shit... How much should I tell these Ponies? Starswirl seemed alright, as did Puddinghead. Although she hadn't really reacted to anything at all... Platinum and Hurricane however seemed to have their own agenda.

I suppose the truth was going to come out sooner or later...

"She's my sister." I responded. But I said no more.

"... And?" Platinum asked after a moment of awkward silence. But by then we had gotten to the gang of Ponies looking over the carts.

"Excuse me, do you Ponies have any spare carts?" I asked the nearest one, ignoring Platinum's question.

"Naw." the Earth Pony stallion drawled. "Whatchu need it fer?"

"We have important guests, and they might appreciate sleeping off the ground."

Behind me, Platinum huffed indignantly.

I smiled.

"Ah." The stallion nodded. "We got wun tha's wait'n fer some new wheels." he pointed off to the side, where a cart with no wheels sat in the dirt.

"Perfect. Thank you." I thanked him, cantering away to go claim it.

"What?! Only a single cart for all of us?!" Platinum exploded from behind me.

"Do we look like we can spare a cart for each of you to sleep in?" I retorted, stopping and casting a glance backwards.

"My Lady please..." Starswirl rolled his eyes.

"Can't you give each of us a separate place? As your Aunt I think-" Platinum began.

A nearby Pony had been hauling blankets to the injured happened to wander nearby.

"May I have a few of these? Thanks." I asked her.

Poor mare was too weighed down to answer before I took a few.

I then turned to the still talking Platinum and shoved one of the blankets into her face.

"Happy Birthday, my condolences, and Happy Coronation." I snarked as she started to spit out the blanket.

"Wha- What?!" she exclaimed.

"Being family is more than being blood related." I replied, giving the remaining blankets to the other three. Hurricane had her hoof in her mouth, desperately trying not to laugh outloud. "Tia knew Mom better, so she'll get the final say. But in the meantime, you're amongst Ponies who may actually break away from Unicornia and your crown. You're lucky we haven't considered building a stockade yet."

Platinum's eyes were wide in shock.

Hurricane and Puddinghead suddenly broke out in laughter.

Hm, maybe that was too harsh?

"If you want your own cart, then you could offer to help the search parties, but I don't expect anypony will give you special treatment." I tried to mollify.

"It will be fine your Highness." Starswirl stated, nudging the mare towards the incomplete cart. "All things considered, they are being very accommodating and we shouldn't rile them up anymore than we have to."

The four continued for 'their' cart, leaving me alone.

It was at that moment that the excitement of the previous night caught up to me, forcing a yawn from my jaws.

Shit... I probably should take a rest shouldn't I?

I glanced around, looking for a place to lay down.

The only place I saw was with the injured.

Eh... Good enough.

I trotted over.

"Hey;" I asked one of the medicine mares. "Is it alright if I sleep here? I'm not injured or anything but I've been up since yesterday-"

"Oh dearie me!" the mare exclaimed. "Of course! Here, take this and get some shut eye!" she picked a blanket off a nearby pile and pushed it into my chest. "Go on! Get! You'll do nopony good if you keel over when we need ya the most!" she shooed me away with a gentle push towards an empty spot.

Huh... Guess that's settled then.

The blanket was large enough, so I laid it down on the ground and folded it over me as I curled up.

I was asleep before the blanket even settled.

Author's Note

Join the discord! https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 91 The Memories Part 50

~~~

I found myself standing in almost complete darkness. The only sources of light, were gently glowing lamps of silver fire spaced evenly through the area. They provided illumination enough to see, but barely. Whenever the light landed however, I could make out plants of exquisite beauty, well tended to and healthy. There were flowers, with white petals that seemed to glow softly from within, bushes with leaves that were a shape I had never seen, hedges loomed out of the darkness, elegantly decorating and separating differing plots.

It was a garden.

"Hello?" I called out.

"It's been some time hasn't it?" replied a voice that rang like a bell.

The lights on ether side of me gently flared, illuminating a path laid with white stone.

Ahead, sat a silver mare at a wrought iron table. Her eyes were covered with a shawl, and her dress looked like she had been attending an important Pony's funeral. On the table, was a tea set, laid for two.

An empty wrought iron chair was pulled out slightly, expecting its occupant.

"Come, take a seat young Luna, we have much to discuss." the mare called out, gesturing to the chair.

I said nothing as I approached, calmly sitting in the offered chair.

The silver mare picked up the tea pot and began to fill the cups.

"You have questions Luna." the mare stated matter-of-factly.

"Has the day come?" I asked, not bothering with the pretense.

"It has." the silver mare nodded, picking up her own cup and taking a sip.

I made no move to take the remaining cup.

"Then ask your question."

The mare's mouth pressed itself into a line, as if she had taken a bite of something sour, but she took another sip of the tea.

"In good time." she responded.

"In good time?" I asked, rolling my eyes. "You called for me. And I'm a bit busy right now and-"

"Which, ironically, proves that it is time." The mare gestured with her cup. "Tell me, do you know what the Windegos are? I mean what they really are?"

"Spirits of Hate." I shrugged.

"While technically true;" the mare sighed. "It isn't... The whole truth."

"You're going to have to explain this to me." I responded, sitting back in the chair.

"Very well." the mare took another sip. "In the beginning, the first Alicorn forged us, that is my siblings, my cousins, and myself. She made many of us, so many that you could count all the grains of sand in a mine and still be no closer to the real number. " she paused. "This is going to take a small while so feel free to accept the tea."

I gingerly reached forward and picked up the teacup, but I did not drink.

"Not a single one of us was truly alike, similar yes, but never the same. We were the first things she created." the mare took a sip of her tea. "But then, she made three beings, beings like herself. To the Brightest she said 'You will steward all light. You will fight to keep the fires in my great garden alive.' she then turned to the Darkest. 'You will steward the dark. You will fight to extinguish the fires in my great garden. Both of you shall fight each other until your last.' the first Alicorn then turned to the third, and final being. 'You shall be the great judge. Your task is to ensure that both of your siblings fight until they can fight no more.' then to all three of them, she continued. 'To aid you in your quest, I grant each of you the gift of creativity. To imagine, plot, and build anything to your heart's content."

Well... This was certainly was a tale I had never heard of.

And I suspected, if I were to go around sharing it, I'd be cast out of all three tribes before I could say 'Don't mind me, I'm moon marked.'

"The siblings then went their own way, to begin planning and building for their war. The Brightest found the stars, and with them began to forge mortal creatures from the light. The Darkest, found the cold solitude between, and watched the Bright sibling. They concluded, that anything that the light cast, held its own shadow to be taken. The third sibling, wandered, for they did not know what to do. 'What could I possibly do?' the third sibling asked. 'I have neither the light nor dark to mold to my purpose.' And so they thought and thought, all while the Brightest and Darkest siblings played with their things." the silver mare took a sip.

"How does this-" I began.

"Don't interrupt! I'm getting there!" the mare chastised. "Anyway; But then the third noticed something. One of the Brightest's first creations had ended one of its comrades. 'Of course!' the third exclaimed. 'I know what I must do!' the third sibling then took the slain being of light; 'You shall be known as Death! You will haunt all of us from now until the end of time!' the third then turned to the one who had slain 'Death' and said 'You shall be known as 'Treachery!' You will stalk amongst your siblings and cousins, and you will persuade any whom you desire to change sides in my siblings conflict!'. The third sibling then set Death and Treachery loose in the first Alicorn's garden. 'Siblings!' the third then called out, summoning the Brightest and the Darkest. 'I have decided on the rules of your conflict! No more shall you play amongst your own, safe and secure, but now you must run from Death and Treachery! From now on you both must watch your subordinates as well as your enemies! For they will try to kill you, and take your place.'"

The mare then paused, her head turning towards me, as if she could see through her black shawl.

"I'm still listening." I preemptively replied.

"Good, because I'm getting to the relevant part." the mare nodded, taking another sip of her tea. "The Brightest was furious. The idea of Death and Treachery being turned from two of their own into the third sibling's creatures outraged the Brightest. 'Mother!' they exclaimed as the Darkest cackled. 'Your judge is unfair!' 'How so?' the first Alicorn asked. 'Death and Treachery will prey on both of you.' While the Brightest fumed, the Darkest saw their first inspiration. 'With Death and Treachery, I will make something that will drive my sibling's forces against each other. You will be Winter, the cold that forces my sibling's creations to war with themselves in an effort to stay in my sibling's warm light.' And the beings that you would come to know as 'Windegos' came into being."

The silver mare refilled her tea with the pot and took another sip before continuing.

"The Windegos swept over the forces of the Brightest like a storm, once peaceful lands of plenty became little more than frigid wastelands under their hooves."

"Ok... So what is it that makes Windegos special?" I asked.

"The Windegos were the first creatures born from the Darkness. They were made specifically to divide the Brightest's forces with cold and conflict on a massive scale. As such, they are empowered by Treachery." The silver mare then gestured towards me. "When you attacked and slew the beasts, there was no such weakness in your mind. You attacked them for the good of everypony. Even those who had attacked your village only a few moons ago."

"I'm... Not so certain about that..." I admitted.

It honestly hadn't crossed my mind. Had I considered Platinum when I started speaking about unity to those Ponies who were on the windbreak with me? I didn't remember... I was fairly busy at the time with other things.

"Trust me little Pony, if you hadn't, you wouldn't have slain even one, much less all four." the Mare lifted her cup in salute.

"Oh..." I sighed thoughtfully. "So how does this relate to what your question?"

"Oh don't you see?" the mare asked with a slight giggle. "When you were a filly, I told you the story of the Stallion who stole me away in the name of the Primal Darkness. What if I told you the Darkest and the Primal Darkness are one and the same?"

I didn't understand at first.

But then it clicked like an unlocked chest.

"You think I can free you since I've demonstrated I can fight against him!" I accused, pointing.

"Indeed." The silver mare smiled, taking a sip.

I could only let my jaw hang open.

The silver mare finished her sip, and set the tea cup down on its saucer.

"Before I ask my question Luna, know that you do not need to answer tonight, or even within the year."

"I- I understand." I nodded.

"So, my question is thus Luna..." she said as she folded her hooves in her lap. "Would you do me the honor of freeing me from my prison and claiming me for yourself?"

Author's Note

:pinkiegasp:

Chapter 93 The Memories Part 52

~~~

Movement from inside the tent woke me up.

I sat up in my bedroll.

Tia was up and doing something with a pair of saddlebags.

Bright sunlight streamed through the tent flap.

Oh... I had stayed up for a few hours, gotten tired, and entered my own bedroll next to Tia.

"Oh did I wake you?" Tia asked.

"It's fine." I said, stretching and rubbing my eyes. "It's time to get up anyway." I continued, pulling myself out of the bedroll.

"Good, because I'd like you to come with me to my meeting. I'd like your opinion with how things are going."

"I can do that." I confirmed, giving one final stretch.

"Excellent, I'll be waiting outside then." she said, pulling her bags over her withers and jumping out of the tent flap, leaving me alone.

I yawned and stood up. I pulled the Cragodile skin vest, Manitcore hide cloak, and sword still in its sheath, off the crate I had left them on and donned them.

I gave my eyes one final rub with the back of my hoof and pushed through the flap.

Bright morning sunlight streamed through islands of clouds in the sky. Ponies of all shapes and colors trotted by along the path between tents. The smell of numerous cooking fires roasting preserved fruits and roots on the wind.

Tia waited patiently just off to the side.

"I'm coming I'm coming." I reassured as I jumped down from the cart's lip.

"You're fine Lu." Tia answered. "They won't start without me anyway." Tia turned, joining the crowd.

I rushed to her side, unwilling to lose her in the bustling traffic of Ponies.

Tia lead me across the camp, to where one of the larger tents that had previously belonged to Pegasopolis had been erected, I could see a gathering of Ponies stood or sat around a long table through the flap.

Tia pushed the cover aside and entered.

"Sorry for the wait, yesterday was hard for us all." she provided.

"Not at all." A green Pony whose name I didn't know spoke up. "We actually just finished breakfast."

"Is there anything left? We haven't had a chance to get anything yet." Tia asked, pulling what must've been an empty crate over to the head of the table.

I noted the royal crest of Unicornia had been embossed in the table's surface as I passed by, pulling at another crate that looked to be empty.

"Yeah, here." the green stallion replied, producing a wooden bowl that had a few slices of dehydrated fruit.

"Oh! Thank you Timber Sprout!" Tia beamed, accepting the bowl.

Scraaaaape.

I pulled the crate over besides Tia and sat down.

"Here Lu." Tia said, passing the bowl to me, two slices in her yellow magic.

"Thank you Tia." I nodded, accepting the bowl with both hooves.

I took two slices out and set the bowl down on the table.

Nopony paid me the slightest bit attention.

I bit off a piece of fruit, but otherwise remained silent.

"Alright, to business." Tia started, not eating her fruit quite yet. "Timber, did you get the numbers for the Census?"

"I have." the now identified Timber Sprout informed. "Roughly 340 Ponies. About evenly split between the original tribes."

"Odd... I expected more..." Tia remarked. "Certainly feels like more." she turned to another Pony, this one I did recognize. "Plowshare, any idea how many foodstuffs we've found?"

"Hmm..." a dark grey speckled brown coated mare I recognized from Ùllahdmaiden hummed. "If we've got 340 Ponies... I'd say we could last a few years if nothing spoiled. But if the rumor mills are true, than the whole North might be migrating South. 340 might become thousands if that's true, especially if they believe us about the Windegos."

"Too many Ponies saw them." Tia shook her head. "If anypony escaped and fled North to safety, then the news will spread like wildfire. We have to assume Ponies will look to join us... Even if only out of desperation."

"Well... Depending on how many Ponies come, if we adhere to strict rationing we could accommodate a large number more Ponies for the Winter. After that we're in the clear if we can finally get a crop going." Plowshare informed.

"Strict rationing it is then." Tia nodded. "Ponies won't like it, but they won't complain if nopony is actually starving if times get lean again."

"Well what about the-" A black and white mottled stallion began, only to be interrupted by commotion outside the tent flap.

"Lady Platinum! I must insist! You know better than to barge into a confidential room uninvited!" came the voice of an old stallion.

"Starswirl, I think if they are to attempt to unify the tribes, then surely they could do with the original tribe's input!"

The figure of Princess Platinum burst through the tent flap.

"We're here!" she cheered.

Behind her, enveloped in a pearlescent sheen, floated the forms of Commander Hurricane and Chancellor Puddinghead.

Hurricane looked glum at her treatment, but Puddinghead was busy pushing herself into a perpetual spin and was having the time of her life.

"Wheeeee!" she cheered.

That was the mare that Tia was surprised hadn't said anything? I was starting to wonder if Puddinghead was merely a figurehead rather than legitimate ruler.

"Speaking of." the stallion who had been speaking continued. "What about them? The original tribes?"

"Yes! Surely if you mean to unify the tribes than we three belong at the table!" Platinum advanced into the tent, carrying her two circumstantial companions behind.

Starswirl pushed his way into the tent after Platinum had vacated the space.

"Apologies! I tried to warn her that-" he began.

Tia smiled mischievously.

"You are pardoned Master Wizard, the breach of conduct is your Master's and your Master's alone." Tia said formally.

Platinum, seemingly hadn't heard Tia, for she deposited the two mares in her magic in an available space along the table, and advanced towards the head of the table.

Where Tia sat.

Platinum stopped in front of Tia expectantly.

Tia didn't budge, but raised an eyebrow at the mare.

"Oh, perhaps you're not aware." Platinum started to explain. "The head of the table is always reserved for the highest ranked Nobleborn."

"The authority of the Unicornian Crown is not recognized here." Tia flatly stated. That certainly gave Platinum a start.

"W-What?!" she stammered. "B-Bu-B-But, last night! We had a thrilling discussion! About how-"

"Any theorized blood relation we may or may not share has no bearing here." Tia interrupted. "The authority of your Crown ended the moment the Windegos wiped out your armies." she cast a glance towards Puddinghead and Hurricane. "All three of them."

"But how will you-" Platinum started again.

"Lu? If the estranged Princess Platinum continues to make a nuisance of herself, remove her from the tent."

"Of course Tia." I nodded.

"But what do you expect to-"

I drew my new sword from the scabbard.

The sharp rasp of the metal seemed to cut through even the sounds from outside.

The world fell silent.

I cast a glance at Starswirl, looking for any sign he would interfere.

The stallion was sweating profusely.

I had slain a Hydra and several of the Windegos when he could not. Could I defeat him as well?

"I think my Lady..." the stallion slowly spoke. "That it would be in both of our best interests if you were to assume... A more humble approach." he recommended.

I turned my glare back to the Princess who may or may not be my Aunt.

Her mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water.

"Starswirl! You don't mean to-" she got out.

"The truth of the matter;" Tia interjected. "Is that while yes, I think your cooperation would be invaluable, it is not necessarily required." she glared at Platinum. "The leadership of the original tribes got us into this mess, and I don't think there are many Ponies in this camp who would trust those same Ponies to pull them out of it."

"But we're-" Platinum tried again.

"Family doesn't leave their relatives to starve, or lay siege to their home."

Platinum closed her mouth.

She looked like she was about to try again...

She stepped back, joined Hurricane and Puddinghead, and remained silent.

"Thank you." Tia straightened herself. "Now, you were saying Split?"

The black and white stallion perked up at his name.

"What do we do about the original tribes?" he asked again. "We can't trust that they'll see the error of their ways, so what do we do if they don't? We'll just be repeating their same mistakes if this becomes a massive four-way conflict!"

The fight seemed to be averted, so I sheathed the Unicornian sword and sat back down.

Out of the corner of my eye, Platinum's ears flattened.

"A good question." Tia stated, turning to the three leaders of the tribes. "You've seen what we've seen. You know why we mustn't fight. If we succeed, the Pegasi will no longer have to raid to survive." she addressed Hurricane. "The Earth Ponies won't have to worry about being killed for their crop." she nodded at Puddinghead. "And Unicorns won't starve in their huts." she looked back to Platinum, as if daring her to challenge the statement.

Platinum swallowed nerviously.

"That's all well and good;" Commander Hurricane spoke up. "But I don't think many Pegasi will be happy, fighting and war is our lifeblood. What honor is there if our meals are simply given?"

"Why not fight to protect the Earth Pony's farms? We'd all be naïve fools if we thought the monsters of the wild would live with us peacefully. Nevermind the Dragons when they come looking for gold, or the Griffins when they want Pony flesh. There would still be fighting in our future. You just don't have to starve for it."

"Huh..." Hurricane realized. "I... Never thought about it that way..." she rubbed the back of her neck.

"Puddinghead, you've been quiet, but you have the most to gain from this. If the Pegasi and Unicorns were to protect you, rather than raid, how many of your own lives would you save?"

"Oh I'm all for it!" Puddinghead chirped. "No arguments from me!"

That caught Platinum off guard, for she shook her head in shock and stared at the mare besides her.

"Platinum, how much time does Unicornia spend trying feed its own citizens? How much of your life is wasted trying to get enough food from between the conflict between Pegasi and Earth Pony?"

That threw Platinum for a loop, she looked like she was about to say a rebuttal, but whatever she was thinking fell short, and she let her hoof drop to the ground.

"Too much..." she admitted.

Tia nodded.

"We've all lost friends and family, I know I have. But I understand where everypony is coming from. And I wouldn't be worthy of attempting this, perhaps for the first time since the Flight, if I wasn't willing to forgive and forget myself."

"I'll..." Platinum spoke slowly. "I'll talk to my Mother. Surely she'll listen to me better than she would you..." she admitted.

"I'm already on board!" Puddinghead smiled, bouncing slightly. "It'll be a breeze to get all the Clans to understand!"

"Can't argue the promise of a decent scrap and warm food." Hurricane shrugged. "What's the worst Pegasopolis can do? Court Martial me?"

"I'm glad to hear you all agree." Tia nodded. "With a small enough band of Ponies, and if you hurry, you can return to your homelands before Winter truly starts. Ask around if any Ponies formerly of your army wishes to join you, the road will be much safer if you aren't alone. As a show of good faith, I'll have Timber Sprout give each of you enough food for your parties to eat for a single Moon. That should be enough to get you all home."

Wow... Tia really was a natural leader if she just came up with that on the spot. I would've probably resorted to more threats and coercement.

That or nopony would've even listened to me to start with.

"Yeah... That's probably a good point..." Hurricane admitted. "Later!" she zipped out of the tent, sending gusts of waves as the tent flap whipped from her passing.

"My lady..." Starswirl bowed to Platinum. "I ask for your permission to remain here." he asked.

"What?! Why Starswirl? Wouldn't it be better if you remained by my side?" Platinum asked, surprise written across her features.

"I-" Starswirl paused, trying to find his words. "I'd like to keep an eye on your Nieces." his ear cocked, pointing itself in my and Tia's direction.

"I see..." Platinum sighed. "I'm sure you have more reasons, so I grant your request." she leaned in close to the stallion. "Don't make me regret it."

"I won't my Lady." the stallion dipped a bit further in his bow before standing up.

"Welp!" Puddinghead piped up. "Guess I've got a fellowship to gather and trip to make!" she hopped after Hurricane.

... I wasn't quite certain that mare was all there.

The rest of the meeting passed in a blur. I finished my two slices of fruit, and the others discussed the gritty details of how they were to accomplish this fantastical feat. But the core details remained the same.

And that was all I needed.

Author's Note

We all know Puddinghead has a copy of the script in her saddlebag. :pinkiecrazy:

Chapter 94 The Memories Part 53

~~~

Autumn and Winter passed uneventfully. The rationing of food was strict, but everypony agreed it was nessessary. Even more so, as Ponies came from the North by the hundreds. The Village, it didn't have a name yet, didn't so much as grow, as explode into a full city. The only saving grace, was the stash of food the war camps had was meant to feed thousands of now dead soldiers.

Starswirl kept watch on Tia and I. He'd ask about ourselves. About our magical ability.

He was surprised to learn Tia barely had been taught the basics.

With that revelation, he took it upon himself to give us both a 'proper education'.

He said it was because 'it wasn't right that two Duchess' of the realm didn't know how to properly cast spells. I was pretty certain he just didn't want Tia's potential to go to waste. He definitely didn't like teaching me, but if it was because I kept getting into situations that required his help to get out of, or if I just didn't learn as much as Tia, I didn't know.

Whenever I had a problem, he'd look at my work, shake his head, and then ask "By the stars how did you do that?!"

By evening, Tia and I took lessons from the old stallion, honing our spell craft. However I split my time between the magic lessons and practicing with the Unicornian sword. Of my Pegasoplian spear, I think it had been given to somepony else the night of the Windegos when scavengers found it, because I never saw it again. Regardless, I had quite a few sparring partners to learn how to properly use the sword from.

By day, Tia ran the city as unoffical Mayor, and I worked at the newly build Blacksmithery working metal for whatever was needed. Nails, plows, pitchforks, wood axes, and mattocks, all were made and sharpened by my hoof. My anvil joined the choir of pounded metal as other displaced blacksmiths from the North did the same thing I did. I worked with Master Brickwork, Flame Etch, and Ironplate again, this time as fellow journeyponies. Despite the cold Winter outside, it wasn't unusual to be drenched in sweat while inside the workshop.

To save on firewood, Ponies would gather in crowds outside the door, which was kept open.

We were ultimately the ones responsible for feeding the City's construction efforts. Lumberjacks used our newly made axes to fell trees, which were turned into firewood or used to construct buildings. Which also used the nails we made. The farming equipment however, were only made when there was time. They weren't needed immediately, but everypony knew they would be desperately needed come Springtime.

With each hammer blow, the City grew.

We didn't melt down any of the weapons or armor left behind by the three armies. Those were sequestered away in a sturdy warehouse. Safe, and out of the weather. Instead, our ore came from a few enterprising Ponies who had found a ravine nearby, in which a vein of iron ore was found.

Ponies were busy at all hours of the day. Earth Ponies made sturdy homes for all to live in, Pegasi kept most of the snow away, and the Unicorns kept the fires lit.

Eventually however, the hock deep snow melted Moons earlier than I was used to. In March and April to my astonishment. As the weather finally rose above freezing, the farmers were out in the area of the forest we had cut down. Stumps were pulled up with teams of Unicorns and Earth Ponies both, who ever could provide the strength to pull up the thick stumps as wide as a Pony was long. To speed things along, Unicorns worked to melt the snow faster with conjured heat, while Earth Ponies dragged plows across the cleared land, wherein Pegasi would swoop over the newly plowed field, and sprinkle bags of seeds en masse.

Spring had finally come.

The sturm and drang of work in the City came to a screeching halt when a familiar Pegasus half crashed half landed in the roof of a family's home.

"Hurricane!" Tia exclaimed as she rushed towards where the Pegasus was clearly seeing stars.

I followed close behind Tia. We had been sharing a lunch of young grass, barely green, when we heard the crash.

"Somepony find that house... Drunken bucker jumped in front of me... Think it landed over there." she pointed.

I rolled my eyes as another Pony whose name I didn't know pulled the mare out of the indented roof.

"I think she hit her head..." the Pony informed.

Hurricane shook her head and seemed to sober up.

"Guh... I'm too old to try tackling buildings anymore..." she groaned. "Is a Pony by the name of Celestia nearby? I've got urgent business with her."

"Hurricane! I'm here! I was nearby!" Tia spoke up.

"Oh... Cool that makes my job easy." Hurricane said, still slightly dazed.

Cool? What did she mean by that? What was cold?

"Uh..." Tia asked, equally confused. "What was it you had to say then?"

"Was Court Martialed, was scheduled for execution for treason, escaped." Hurricane slurred.

"Then... Then..." Tia started to gasp.

"Then we have a problem." I finished.

~~~

Tia's usual band of dependable Ponies had gathered in our home, all sitting at the simple wooden table. Tia was at the head, while I sat against the wall, more as a witness than actual participant.

Several Ponies were arguing amongst themselves.

"What are we supposed to do?! It's not like we can just walk up to Pegasoplis and demand that they join, we'll be flooded away before even a 'How do you do'." Split Decision argued.

"What I'm concerned about is if they all refused... We haven't heard from any of them all Winter." Plowshare added.

"It's never a good idea to travel while it's cold. Too much can go wrong. There's a reason Ponies only travel during the Summer Moons." argued Quick Wind.

"Ok ok ok!" Tia interrupted, cutting everypony off. "We can't argue about the why, we have to figure out the what to do in response."

"We can't really do anything without knowing who's with us or against us!" Shelled Seed spoke up.

"Alright, now we're getting somewhere. Step 1, find out the state of the tribes." Tia announced. "Everypony can agree to that right?"

"I don't disagree, but what we do with that information? We don't have an army to challenge any of them with." Plowshare replied.

Tia chewed her lip in thought.

"How many Ponies do we have?" she asked.

"About 22,000." Timber Sprout informed. "Give or take."

"That's got to be a lot from every tribe..." she thought out loud.

"As it warms up, we won't have as many jobs that need doing." Shelled Seed added. "It'll be easier to forage for larger amounts of food, and we won't be cutting as much fire wood."

"You aren't seriously considering raising an army?" Split Decision asked. "I thought the whole point of this unified tribe business was to stop waging war."

"I don't think we have an alternative." Tia remarked. "We know at least Pegasopolis is against us. That means we need to at least consider the possibility of being raided."

"With all the tools fer farming made, we can focus all the metal ore they've dug up towards forging armor and spears." Master Brickwork grunted. "At least get a start with the equipment fer when we need it."

Tia tapped a hoof on the table in thought.

"... Sun and Stars I wish I knew what the other two tribes are doing..." she spoke to nopony in particular.

The (former) Commander Hurricane chose that moment to kick the front door open.

"Hold everything!" storm blue mare slurred, still slightly dazed.

"Hurricane, you need to lay down." Tia admonished.

"Nawww." Hurricane waved off. "I got more news."

"You do?!" Tia exclaimed. "Please! Anything you can give us about the North!"

"Puddinghead's ok, but she's dealing with the Earthbreaker Order, Platinum was also locked up, but she ain't about to be executed because she's royalty, so she's safe." Hurricane explained.

"How do you know this? I thought Pegasi didn't deal with land news?" I spoke up.

Quick Wind, whom, other than Tia, I happened to be closest to, jumped in surprise.

"Somepony put a bell on her!" she exclaimed, pointing at me.

I rolled my eyes.

It was her fault for forgetting I was here.

"Oh we don't, not directly anyway." Hurricane replied.

"What are you talking about?" Split Decision asked the mare.

"Scout corps." Hurricane explained simply. "We send lone scouts on regular routes all over the continent. Helps keep the higher ups in Pegasopolis informed about what's going on ground side."

"Why would a disgraced Commander, facing execution, be told that information?" Master Brickwork narrowed his eyes.

"Wasn't arrested until day before last." Hurricane shrugged. "They finally got sick of my shit and threw me in a cell. Escaped as they lead me to the edge."

"You flew all the way down here in a single day?!" I asked loudly.

"Naw." Hurricane slurred. "Flew all the way down here since sunrise."

"Sunri-?!" I started to exclaim.

"Wait a moment! The... Edge?" Split Decision interrupted.

"Yeah, to tie or clip my wings and toss me over." Hurricane said casually. "Why bother with a hanging or beheading when a long drop will do?"

"... I'm glad I can't walk on clouds." Split remarked.

"Eh, it's not too bad." Hurricane shrugged. "I mean really, what's worse? A long drop or dangling from a rope unable to breath for a few minutes?"

"We're getting off topic." Tia interrupted. "Are you sure? Puddinghead is with us but Platinum is imprisoned?"

"Certain. The Clans are in a stand off, and the Crown is practically trumpeting to anyone with ears about how 'the mud Ponies and birds' were lesser Ponies because they resort to lies." Hurricane nodded.

"Thank you Com- Hurricane." Tia nodded gratefully. "Now could you please go lay down? You're still a bit dazed."

"Bitchin'." Hurricane grinned as she turned, tumbling as she lost her balance.

What the-? Did she just call Tia a bitch? What were all of these strange phrases coming out of Hurricane?

"I'm ok!" Hurricane exclaimed, leaning on a wall as she pushed herself straight.

Or maybe she just hit her head harder than any of us thought.

"Split, could you go make sure she gets to the infirmary?" Tia asked. "I'll catch you up with anything you miss later."

"Of course." Split nodded. "Come Commander, er... Former Commander Hurricane."

"Naw. They can Court Martial me, but they can't stop me from calling myself ComANd-er..." she choked on the word and froze for a second. "Well what'd y'know..."

"Split?" Tia asked.

"Right." Split picked up the smaller, but more muscled mare and opened the front door way.

"They don't own the name! I can call myself whatever I want!" Hurricane ranted as the door closed behind the pair.

"Ok." Tia sighed in relief. "Now that she's taken care of... Do we have any qualms with the army idea now? It sounds like even the only tribe on our side is having problems with rebels."

"If what she said is true." Plowshare remarked.

"It's the only way. We can send messengers to Puddinghead to confirm, but we need the army anyway when Pegasopolis decides to be a nuisance."

"You're acting as if anypony can lead an army!" Shelled Seed argued. "You can't take anypony and expect them to be a General!"

I rolled my eyes, it was obvious Tia was considering me as General, but I didn't blame the stallion. He had arrived after the Windegos, so he hadn't seen me lead the defenders against them.

"Good thing I know just the Pony." Tia beamed. "Lu? Are you willing to pick up that sword again?"

"I am." I nodded.

"Then I appoint you as General of the- What are we calling the town again? I'm still a bit unclear on that..." Tia admitted sheepishly.

"I think Unity is the popular choice right now." Timber chimed in.

"Commander of the Unity Army?" Tia asked, looking as if she had bitten something sour. "That doesn't sound quite right..."

"We'll work on it." Plowshare shrugged. "Nothing's quite official yet anyway."

"Right..." Tia sighed. "Uh... Luna, I appoint you General of... The Army of Unity-?" she trailed off again. "No still not liking it..."

"I understand Tia." I laughed. "I don't care what you call it."

"Then as my first militant order, I order you to bring the North under control." Tia stated formally.

"I understand." I nodded.

"I don't make this decision lightly or because of nepotism." Tia looked around the table. "I can think of nopony I trust more to fight for our cause. Luna? Do you have anything to add?"

Tia stepped aside, and allowed me her place at the table.

"Uh..." I began nervously.

You've done this before Luna. And Tia believes you can do this. You can do this!

"For my first order of business as General, I want word spread across the city. I'll take anypony who wishes to volunteer."

Author's Note

Here! We! Goooooooo! :rainbowdetermined2:

Come join my Discord! It ain't much but it's getting bigger!
https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 95 The Memories Part 54

~~~

Things quickly escalated.

True to Shelled Seed's word, the amount of work actually decreased as the weather became comfortable. All that urgently needed doing, was tend to the newly planted crops, haul ore to the blacksmith's workshop, and haul the newly made weapons and armor to warehouses that were newly made, the idea was they would someday be used as granaries, but for now, kept the City forged weapons.

And that left quite a lot of Ponies with suddenly no job to do.

Volunteers came by the dozens.

I had to pull aside a few of the Ponies I knew to help me suddenly manage an army already numbering in the thousands.

Appleflower was one of the earliest volunteers. She couldn't fight, but she could teach those who didn't know how to fight and bark orders.

I welcomed her help gladly.

Pansy, Smart Cookie, and Clover actually came to me and volunteered personally. I welcomed their presence with a glad hug. Only Pansy had any fighting experience, which she expressly told me she didn't want to use if she could help it. So I kept all three as my assistants. Helping me track the logistics, supplies, and how the flowering army would handle those said things.

I had heard too many horror stories from the former Pegasi and Unicorn legionaries about how inexperienced generals tended to ignore their supplies. And I had been part of too many starving caravans to make that mistake. I wanted a very clear idea on how much I had, how much I needed, and how long I had left at the current rate of consumption.

I was well aware of my own inexperience. So I knew I had to be serious about leading the army. So I pushed what remained of my fillyishness aside and focused on what I would do to win.

If we were fated to fail, I refused to be the reason.

I made sure volunteers were asked if they had previously been in any of the original tribe's armies, and if they had any artisan or craftpony skills. My purpose was two fold. One, I knew I needed as much experience as I could get, from military leadership to weapon repair to siege engine construction if I were to lay siege to Pegasopolis itself. The single most impossible city to sack. Not only were its defenses mighty, it was after all the fortress home of the entire Pegasus tribe, but it literally flew in the sky like a cloud!

I needed to break it, without ever stepping hoof inside it.

My second reason, was because I wanted to know if anypony was going to go back to their original loyalties.

I wasn't sure if there truly were any spies amongst us, but I wasn't going to take the risk. If there were, my saving grace was I could still trust the spies against the tribes they weren't originally in.

Those Ponies with experience were given command of subsections, and kept close.

I told nopony the full extent of my scheming.

Not even Tia.

I loved and trusted Tia, but I couldn't afford that she'd accidently let something slip when she shouldn't.

It was two weeks after Tia had given me command of her "United Army" when we started the long march North. To increase their strength, in what little time I had, I had the rank and file Ponies carry most of their own equipment, not enough to tire them out, but enough so they got used to moving their own bulk when the fighting actually started. Between the marching formations, I kept the supplies and mobile workshops on carts.

I didn't want to present a centralized target for a potential ambush to attack.

It was a week into the march we met Puddinghead herself, coming to tell the City her part of the news.

~~~

The single cart, pulled by a giant of a Pony who had looked like he spent his entire life living on a farm, but was too old to fight. The oddly chipper mare I knew as Puddinghead stood on her hind legs in the back, waving energetically.

"Lulu!" she cheered. "Good to see you again!"

I felt my ear flick in irritation with her usage of the word 'Lulu'. I didn't like Ponies who I didn't know so well using what was effectively an affectionate nickname given to me by my long dead Mother. But I pushed the irritation aside. This was one of the Ponies I was coming to help.

And Tia was at least a week's march behind me, she wouldn't be digging me out of whatever hole I dug myself in.

"Puddinghead." I nodded respectfully. "We've heard quite a lot, but we don't know what we can trust or not. What word do you bring?" I asked.

"Always so stiff Lulu!" she chuckled.

I fought to keep the flinch under control.

"Well to start from the beginning, I, Commandy Hurricane, and Princess Platy, started our journey North!" she began to chirp.

This mare had to be some sort of figure head... There was no way she was a legitimate and effective ruler by herself.

"Commandy and Platy continued on while I veered off towards Oigheannheim! That's my hometown... And I did what Tia asked! I sold the idea of uniting under her new tribe's banner! But my Earthbreaker knights weren't too happy. They've been fighting Pegasopolis and Unicornia too long methinks." Puddinghead blinked. "What a weird word, 'methinks'..."

"Pudding..." I stated loudly, re-catching her attention.

"Oh right! Yeah, they weren't too happy. They decided they didn't want to be part of the Clans anymore if they're 'blindly trusting those hornheads and featherbrains'." Puddinghead explained.

"So what are they doing?" I asked.

"Oh, they holed themselves up in their citadel, Casúrdomhain!"

"Damnit!"

~~~

The Ponies who I had chosen to lead the army had all gathered in the cart where I kept all the documentation of supplies and all the maps we had of the North. Currently, one of those maps lay open on a crate I was using as a table, a series of rocks had been placed on it, four in the corners to keep the map open, and variously colored pebbles to mark locations.

Four locations were marked. A blue slate pebble, a red granite pebble, a white limestone, and a vaguely green pebble that looked interesting when I was searching for stones.

"Here's the plan." I began, addressing everypony present. "According to Chancellor Puddinghead;" I gestured towards the mare, who beamed off to the side. "Everything Commander Hurricane said was true. As such, we have three targets." I pointed down at my map.

"Casúrdomhain, Pegasopolis, and Unicornia." Breathes were audibly inhaled, but I continued. "Casúrdomhain is red, Pegasopolis is white, Unicornia is blue, and our present location is green."

"Sorry, but Casúrdomhain and Pegasopolis?" A Pegasus mare I had come to know as 'High Wind' interuppted. "Those two alone are two of the most heavily defended fortress' known to mortals. And you're expecting a mob of only a few thousand to break them?"

"Casúrdomhain and Pegasopolis are mighty yes. But they all, Unicornia included, share a weakness. They are all cut off from their typical supplies of food." I tapped on the granite pebble. "Casúrdomhain is the only city who has foreseen this. They have stockpiled a massive trove of goods and supplies. Enough to keep everypony in their keep well fed for years if they need to. My plan is thus;"

I moved the green pebble so it bumped into the red.

"Casúrdomhain is arrogant in its assumption that it is invulnerable. Earthbreakers are mighty warriors, it is true. But they rely on a head-on direct battle to win. If a small band of Ponies were to sneak past its walls, and cause havoc from the inside, Casúrdomhain will crumble has its fortifications suddenly become obstacles for its own defenders."

I removed the red pebble.

"With Pegasopolis in play, we cannot trust any flank we present to remain unmolested. We cannot however, take the city by force." I moved the green pebble so it was touching the white pebble. "Instead, we use Casúrdomhain's looted trove to force Pegasoplis into a long drawn out siege. Not directly underneath its arms, but far enough away to handle its weather, yet close enough for mages and trebuchets to pin the city in place." I put a hoof on the green pebble and circled the white pebble with it. "With nopony to raid, Pegasopolis will starve. And we use that to force their surrender."

I removed the white pebble.

"Unicornia will have to be taken the old fashioned way." I moved the green pebble to the blue. "But with nopony threatening our flanks, we should be able to force a capitulation given enough time." I reset the position of all the pebbles.

"Any questions?"

Chapter 96 The Memories Part 55

~~~

Casúrdomhain rose off its dark mountain like a warhammer held aloft. The basalt stone walls foreboding and gleaming in the bright afternoon sun. Rank on rank of Earthponies garbed in whole plates of inches thick steel, stood before the moat of the outer wall.

They knew we were coming.

The 'United Army' had taken the position just behind an opposite ridge, keeping out of sight.

I held a hoof over my brow, keeping the beating Sun out of my eyes. My captains and I lay on the ridge's crest, examining the Earthbreaker's formation.

Rather than fight unarmed like Appleblossom, these massed Earthbreakers were armed to the teeth. Shields and spears up standing in the front lines. Behind them, were all sorts of weapons, great swords and axes; Warhammers and maces, arranged neatly in patterns in the formation, making a sort of image with their ranks.

"Ain't no enemy or beastie that has ever scaled her walls." Appleflower said proudly.

She had been an Earthbreaker once.

I frowned at the thought that she was a potential spy.

"I can see why." I admitted, chewing my lip. Casúrdomhain was every bit of unassailable fortress as the stories said, perhaps even more so. Not only was it a stupid idea to charge at the Earthbreaker Knights as they stood before their mighty basalt walls, but their keep was a nightmare to assault. Ballistae, and onager were set evenly on the wide strong points, covering the whole sky, and the ways up to approach the gate itself. Embankments of trebuchet stood on the keep itself, ready to assist with long range bombardments.

Additionally, the moat itself would’ve been a chore to cross. Both wide and deep, with the exception of the bulky bridge before the only gate, its floor was littered with sharp dragonteeth traps, charred and littered with chips of crushed bone.

The whole fortress was a deathtrap for any invading force.

And I was the next fool who would try.

"If we didn't need those supplies, I would probably try for attrition..." I commented. "Although that would also take forever."

I paused, going over my original plan.

With those knights out in the open, surely they would have to sleep sometime right? Or at least, they wouldn't be so foolish to sleep outside their own walls would they?

"Make camp behind this ridge, I want a watch going all day and night. If anything vaguely Pony shaped moves from that keep I want to know about it." I ordered, crawling back from the ridge crest. "And somepony get me a white flag, I'd rather have them with us than against us."

"Are you going alone?" Smart Cookie asked, taking one such flag from her vest and holding it out for me.

"Thank you... I suppose it would be a good idea... But I'm not sure who I'd take." I thought.

"You personally are going?" Clover asked. "Why not send a representative?"

I thought it over.

"No, I'll go. I at least owe them the honor of asking for their surrender personally." I responded.

"Then ah'll come with you." Appleflower volunteered. "They'd respect ya more if a fellow Earthshaker was by yer side."

Or so you could send a secret message somehow...

"No Appleflower, with your maimed legs you wouldn't be able to run away if things went wrong." I reasoned.

Whew.

I hated not trusting the giant mare, but these were her compatriots! I didn't know who truly held her loyalty.

"I'll come." Smart Cookie offered. "I can still run, and they'll trust ya more if an Earth Pony came with you."

But you're the one who I'd be least likely to catch if you did try to slip a message...

No Luna, stop. You're being paranoid. She's right on both accounts. Additionally, she was one of Puddinghead's staff. Not the Earthbreakers. If you must take an Earth Pony to gain the Earthbreakers' trust, then she is the one you trust the most.

"I'll be glad to have you." I nodded.

"Shall we then?" she asked, holding out an elbow.

"Wait!" Pansy exclaimed suddenly, prancing up to us. "This is the army of the Unified tribe right? Then shouldn't one of all three tribes go?"

"Are you volunteering?" I asked.

She's right... One of all tribes should go, at least to send a message. But is Pansy the one I'd rather take? Wouldn't she look, y'know, weak?

Or would that be a good thing?

Gah! I hated thinking of my friends like this!

"Do you have anypony else in mind?" Pansy asked.

"Not if you want to come." I dipped my head.

"I guess I'd be less likely to act aggressive..." Pansy admitted.

Well... If she admitted it...

"Alright, you can come."

"Oh thank you! I never got to do something important with Pegasopolis!"

Me and my big dumb mouth.

"Alright then, anymore ideas or objections?" I asked, looking to the crowd of Ponies I had entrusted to handle the smaller issues in the army. "No? Alright then." I walked over the ridge crest and down the other side.

Pansy and Cookie followed.

It was about a mile walk between the ridge and the fortress. A mile spent in silence as all three of us prepared ourselves for the meeting we were requesting.

I held the white flag high above my head.

By the fortress wall, a pair of heavily armored Ponies split from the ranks, walking towards us.

The half way point we stopped at differed little from the land around it, dry and arid. The pair of Ponies drew closer, both of them wore red crests on their helmet, but only one wore a flowing red cloak.

They looked to be the picture of Knighthood.

"Hail and well met, Knights of the Earthbreaker Order. To whom am I speaking?" I called out respectfully.

The one in the cloak regarded me.

"I am known as Lord Ashwood." a stallion's voice reverberated from the helmet. "And this is Dame Flint Strike." The crested pony, who stood slightly behind the stallion, nodded respectfully. "We have come to accept your surrender."

"Why would I surrender?" I asked. "What a waste of my time would it be to come all this way, just to lay my sword at your hooves?"

"Surely you don't mean-" the giant Pony rumbled.

"I do." I nodded. "Surrender, and not one Pony need die today."

"... By what name are you known, little Unicorn?" the stallion asked.

"I am General Luna Hydrabane, and these are my compatriots. Miss Smart Cookie, and Private Pansy." I gestured to both.

"Pleased to metcha." Smart Cookie nodded respectfully.

"H-Hello." Pansy stuttered, nervously shaking.

Alright, for her own sake, no more adventures. Poor mare looks like her heart is about to give out.

"Smart Cookie..?" Lord Ashwood hummed. "You are the secretary of Chancellor Puddinghead."

"I am." Cookie confirmed.

"Then you are a traitor to your kin." the giant Pony growled.

Cookie's expression hardened.

"I ain't a traitor to nopony." she replied.

"Why else would you be with the Unicorn, and one of Pegasopolis' worst?" Ashwood asked.

Cookie looked like she was about to respond, by punching the stallion in his face, but I stopped her by holding a hoof out in front of her.

"Do you surrender on behalf of Casúrdomhain?" I asked, stopping this brawl before it even started.

"I do not." Ashwood shook his head.

"Then this conversation is over." I turned around, leaving my back totally open to the pair. "Come on Pansy, Cookie. We have things to attend to." I pulled on Cookie's shoulder, before she turned and tried to out muscle the mountain of a Pony.

"Luna! Aren't ya gonna-" she began.

"We got what we came for." I said in a low voice, pulling her along before she started a fight she couldn't win.

It was a long walk back.

Chapter 97 The Memories Part 56

~~~

As we crested the ridge that served as our initial lookout point, the beat of a drum, followed by words began to drift over the barren landscape around Casúrdomhain.

"Come you a lad, and join us a warrior,
We will march from home down below!
Courage up! And don now your armor,
It is time to meet with the foe!"

The distant ranks of Earthbreakers had begun to sing as a single voice.

Hear the sound emerge from the mountain,
Beat the drum, and march one by one!
Draw your steel and hold it before you,
Hammerdeep, the war has begun!

From the dawn of time we have stood here,
Answer now the call to engage!
In the face of evil, defiant,
Let us be the birth of an age!

Blazing up inside you a fire,
Iron heart, let the beat grow!
Element of adamant, loyal,
It is time to vanquish the foe!

Look around, remember your brothers,
Let your shield be armor for them!
Throw your spear and let it strike thunder,
Draw your axe, and do it agaaaaain!

From the dawn of time we have stood here,
Answer now the call to engage!
In the face of evil, defiant,
Let us be the birth of an age!

Nerve of steel, the heart of a mountain,
Stoic hoof, a bundle won’t break!
Loyal rage, inside a volcano,
Stand your ground, make the earth quake!

Drive we out the evil before us,
Smash the skulls against the young rock!
Die in hope: eternity crowns you,
Stay your course, continue to walk!

The whole formation rose in volume as they finished.

From the dawn of time we have stood here!
Answer now the call to engage!
In the face of evil, defiant!
Let us be the birth of an aaaaage!

"Quartermaster!" I called out, looking for every Pony I needed to get my plan set in motion.

"Yes General?" the bespeckled Unicorn stallion named Gold Note responded, stepping forward.

"Take this to the seamstresses." I pulled a folded bit of parchment out of my cragodile vest and gave it to him. "I want banners of this design made by tonight." I held it for him to take. "And this part is very important, the sigil needs to be white. Not red. White."

"Oh... Kay?" the stallion responded, taking the parchment.

"I can't stress how important it is for you to tell them that they need to use white. Say it back to me." I requested.

"Uh... The sigil needs to be white. Not red." he hesitated.

"Good stallion." I patted him on his shoulder and turned away.

It may have been rude, but I was suddenly pressed for time.

"Captain Rock Garden!" I called out, gaining the attention of an Earth Pony mare in steel plate.

"General Luna!" she bowed. "What can I do for you?"

"I need volunteers for our attack tonight. A group small enough to be stealthy, but large enough to defend itself should the worst happen."

"Right..." the mare looked off into the distance. "I'll ask around."

"Good mare. Dismissed." I nodded, sending the mare on her way.

"Yes Ma'am!" she saluted, and dashed away.

"Captain Comet!" I called upon seeing my next victim, a Pegasus stallion. He was speaking with one of his subordinates, but they looked like they were finishing up.

"What can I do for you Commander?" he bowed slightly.

I didn't respond immediately, but I pulled him aside away from the crowd of bustling Ponies.

"We have a spy in our midst." I whispered in his ear. He jolted.

"Wha-? But how-" he started.

"The Earthbreakers. They're in formation. They were waiting for us." I said calmly.

"I... See..." Comet nodded softly.

"But they don't know our exact attack plan. Which means they're one of the rank and file."

"You're trusting me because-?" Comet trailed off.

"The only Ponies who the Earthbreakers will trust will be their fellow Earth Ponies. I don't want you hunting for them, I just want your Pegasi to watch for anypony trying to sneak away or somehow get a message to the Earthbreakers."

"Understood." the stallion nodded.

"Good, dismi- Oh wait!" I stomped slightly in frustration.

"Yes?"

"It shouldn't need saying, but keep this quiet."

"Understood Ma'am." he smirked.

"Excellent. Dismissed."

He left to deal with his duties, leaving me to find my next target.

"Iron Plate!" I greeted loudly, seeing my fellow former Apprentice.

"Luna!" He greeted. "What you need help with?"

"I need you to make sure all the workshops are set up, I don't know how long we'll be here and we might need them at any moment."

"Figured, they should already be half done." he nodded sagely.

"Excellent." I grinned, moving to continue with my chores.

"Oh! Uh..." he suddenly reached out. "W-would you mind if I joined you for dinner?" he asked.

My spine suddenly stiffened.

I’ve been so lonely without my late wife…

"Uh... S- Sorry Iron, I'm busy later." I gently pushed his hoof away.

"Oh..." his ears fell. "Well if you ever change your mind..."

"I'll keep you in mind." I nodded, perhaps slightly too eagerly.

"Alright then... Uh... See you around then?"

"Yes." I kept nodding.

He beat a hasty retreat.

Oh Moon! What the hay was that?!

I shivered.

The thought of a stallion touching me down there...

"Nope." I said out loud, turning away and doing my best to forget that Ironplate apparently had... Feelings about me.

Ugh...

Was there anything else for me to do? To distract myself at the very least?

Nothing immediately leapt to mind...

"Great." I murmured.

Well, guess I could just sit here and look over the fortress while the Sun's still out...

I trot forward, looking for a stack of firewood I could commandeer.

A group of soldiers nearby were busy speaking with each other around a fresh campfire, clearly not on duty.

"May I have some of this?" I asked, gesturing towards their pile.

"Sure, go ahead." a stallion waved, not even bothering to look in my direction.

"Thank you." I said as I lifted a few logs in my magic, leaving the Ponies be.

I soon had a meager fire burning on my chosen outlook over the ridge.

I wasn't cooking anything, nor was I using it for warmth, but I let the fire burn as I went over every inch of Casúrdomhain that I could see.

Yeah... I could break these 'Earthbreakers'.

Author's Note

The vibe!
https://youtu.be/FptJLI8r5lQ?si=xCOnehPgIAO5vynl

Chapter 98 The Memories Part 57

~~~

The Sun began to dip in the sky, heading towards the Western horizon.

The Earthbreakers had sung their song for hours after I returned from our parlay, but they finally fell quiet as it became obvious we weren't rising to the goading. But that didn't stop me from glaring towards the Fortress, commiting every dip and rise in the terrain to memory.

I was left alone for the most part. Alone with the fire I kept burning all day. The pile of ash around the ad hoc firepit was rather considerable.

There was a commotion off to my right.

Somepony would handle it I was certain.

But to my surrpise, Captain Comet came to me.

"General." He greeted.

"Captain." I nodded, still looking at the distant fortress, now partially hidden by its own shadow as the Sun plummeted.

"We found one." he simply stated.

I turned.

The stallion was leading a pair of Pegasi soldiers, between them was another, scrawny, Earth Pony stallion.

"I didn't do anything wrong! Let me go!" he shrieked, struggling.

The Pegasi kept him still.

"He was tying this to a pigeon's leg." Comet produced a scroll and held it out for me. I accepted it and rolled it open.

Tá siad ag teacht anocht tar éis luí na gréine.

They are coming tonight after sunset.

I threw the scroll into my fire and examined the captured stallion.

"Do you have anything else to say for yourself?" I asked.

"Tell these Ponies to let me go! I was searching the area for anything to forage!" he jerked in their grasp.

"I see." I coldly stated. "It's a shame then, that I can read old Earth Pony."

The Stallion's eyes widened.

"Wait no! Please! Hear me out!" he struggled.

"Lock him in a stockade." I told the two soldiers. "If anypony tries to free him, lock them up too." I turned to look the spy in the face. "At sunrise, hang him and any you catch by the neck until they're all dead."

"Yes Commander." The two Pegasi nodded.

"What?! No! You can't do this! You heartless bitch!" the spy started to fail wildly as the two dragged him away.

"Continue searching outside the camp. News of our incursion must not reach their ears." I said, turning towards Comet.

"Yes Ma'am." He bowed slightly, backing away and leaving me alone with my thoughts.

'Heartless'...

I looked down at my hooves.

Was that what Platinum had meant? When she had told me that the 'Moon Mark' isn't a mark, but how I acted.

Was I heartless?

I put a hoof over my chest, feeling the steady beat of the warm organ inside.

I didn't feel heartless... I had thoughts and feelings like anypony else.

But then again... That Pony was going to die because of me. He didn't necessarily need to, if I won here he likely would have nopony to tell the secrets I wanted kept secret. But yet, I had ordered him to be hanged.

And I didn't feel bad about it.

I knew why I was here. I knew why Casúrdomhain, Pegasopolis, and Unicornia needed to fall. And he supposedly did too. Or at least... He should've.

What sort of Pony can see a threat like the Windegos and the threat of Eternal Winter, and not work to prevent it? Why did he see Eternal Winter and presume that one of the guilty culprits needed to be saved? How exactly would such a Pony benefit from eternal snow and ice?

I turned back to glare at Casúrdomhain.

So no... I wasn't the heartless one here. I wasn't the one sacrificing innocent Ponies to improve my standing with the party guilty of bringing about the undoing of us all.

Maybe it's Ponies without a Moon Mark that are the strange ones... Nothing they did made sense.

Movement by the fortress drew my attention. They looked to be breaking formation, setting up a camp outside their own keep with the onset of night.

My frown deepened.

The sheer arrogance! If they were worried, they would've pulled back behind their walls. But instead, they believed, perhaps rightly, that their massed ranks of Knights would be enough to break any invader.

I may be inexperienced, but I refused to be a fool.

It suddenly struck me just how weird of a situation I was in. Ordering Ponies about was still a novel experience to me. But I had apparently gotten comfortable enough to just order a spy to be executed!

A shiver ran down my spine.

I was used to Ponies treating me like I was invisible, or only acknowledging me because they had to… But to have Ponies listening and obeying my every word? It was… Liberating in a sense. Was this what it was like to not be Moon-Marked? To be a normal Pony? Or was this just what it was like to be respected by somepony other than Tia?

It was strange.

But it was a strange that I wasn’t entirely sure I disliked.

Which in on itself was strange.

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts.

I needed to focus on the task before me. The Earthbreakers wouldn’t fight fair in an open contest, so I wasn’t going to either.

I needed all of my wits about me if I were to succeed.

Gold Note approached from around a tent.

"General? I have those banners you requested." He informed.

"Excellent. May I?" I asked, gesturing at the rolled up cloth in his hooves.

"A-are you sure Ma'am? The design you had..." he protested.

"I'm certain." I nodded, taking the roll of fabric from his grasp.

I unrolled it.

I smiled.

"Perfect." I told him, rolling the fabric back up and tucking it in my saddlebags. "Have more of them brought here and given to the band of Ponies I'm taking with me."

"I must protest! Surely this is a step too-"

"Gold Note." I interrupted. "It's fine."

He looked like he wanted to protest more, but really didn't have any real standing to do so.

"I'm telling you this is a mistake." he attempted.

"Noted. If you see Rock Garden, tell her to bring her volunteers here. I'll be waiting." I dismissed.

Gold Note narrowed his eyes.

"Of course General." he all but growled, before turning on his hoof and haughtily marching away.

He may not like it, but neither would the Earthbreakers, and that was the important thing.

I sat down and tended to my fire.

Was there anything else I needed to do? Perhaps don a breastplate?

I chewed my lip in thought.

No, with what I had in mind I would need stealth and speed above protection.

It was a short while later, a messenger came with a bundle of more rolls of cloth. The same color as the one Gold Note had given me.

"Was told to give these to you." the mare stated.

"Thank you Miss" I nodded. "That will be all for me."

I waited as the mare left.

Ponies began to gather around me as the Sun kissed the horizon.

There were about fifty of them. Of various tribes and colors, but they all looked grim enough for the task I had for them. I recognized only Rock Garden.

I waved the Ponies over to tell them the plan.

"Here, take these." I passed them the rolled up fabrics that had been left by the messenger. "Put them in your bag, just make sure they're secure." One by one, they all took a roll and sequestered it on their person.

I continued.

“Rub ash and dirt into your coats and over your weapons and armor, to dull your coats and hide any gleam off the metal.” I told the Ponies as they gathered in a ring around my still flickering fire. Several Ponies reached down and grabbed a hooful, and began to rub themselves down.

I lifted a nearby stick that had been too small for the fire and started drawing in the dirt.

“This is their front line, this is the moat, this is the bridge and this is the keep itself.” I gestured at three lines I had drawn, between the last two I drew another two lines connecting the two, I then carved a waving line between the spaces representing the camp and the keep. ”This is where we are currently.” I drew a circle along the curve and put an ‘x’ in the middle.

“When it gets dark enough, you all are going to hide behind the rocky ridge over here.” I drew a circle off to the side, closer to the lines then the circled ‘x’. “While you’re doing that, I’m going to make an opening in their Watchponies.” I drew an arrow leading from the ‘x’ to the lines.

“When I give the signal, I’ll probably wave a torch around or something, you all are going to sneak through the opening I make. Then, remaining as quiet as you can, kill every Earthbreaker you can.” I drew an arrow between the lines. “The goal, is to make it to the gatehouse.” I drew two short lines across the line that represented the wall. “As soon as we have Ponies in the gatehouse, the force is going to split up, half to finish off the camp, and half to sabotage the gate so it remains open until morning. Which the rest of the army is going to march through when the Sun rises in the morning.” I drew one last arrow across the camp. “Any questions?”

“Sounds simple enough.”

“Can’t complain.”

“What do we do if somepony raises the alarm?”

“Get out as quickly as you can.” I answered “If that’s not possible, start burning whatever you see. With luck, that will give you enough of a distraction to escape. Anything else?”

This time nopony said anything.

“Good. Rock Garden?" I called to the mare.

"Y-Yes?" she asked.

"You're to stay here, pass word amongst the other Captains to look for different banners over the Gate house. They'll know it when they see it. Attack as the Sunrises if you do. If you don't, talk to Clover. She'll know what to do." I turned away from the mare. "The rest of you? Go get into position. Don’t worry about me, my coat is the darkest here, I’ll be the hardest to spot.” I said.

It was true, while most of the coats were purples or blues, even a pink, mine was by far the darkest and least visible.

The other Ponies nodded, and slowly meandered into the gloom cast by the fading light of sunset.

Out of sight.

I found myself releasing a breathe I hadn’t realized I had been holding.

In the dimming light, I followed my own advice and rubbed myself down with the ash I had been making all day. Double checking to make sure none of the metal I had on my person was gleaming in the firelight.

It wasn't.

Slowly, the pale pink light of the crescent Moon rose in the East.

Finally the time had come.

I stood up and stretched.

By now, the volunteers would be in position. I just had to make the opening.

I extinguished the fire and crept along the ridge, hiding my profile from the Fortress as I started my infiltration.

Once my view of Casúrdomhain was obscured, I trotted over the ridge and began my long walk towards the fortress city.

The red Moon rose higher, casting the ground in a rather bright glow, but its reddish tint sapped any color the land might’ve had away, making me the same dismal gray that the rocks and stones underneath were. The only exception was the brightness of many campfires behind me, and the glow around the Earthbreaker’s encampment.

I slowed to a crawl, even getting on my belly as I crept forward, pretending to be just another boulder if a watchponies eyes slid over me. Slow enough to not appear to move much, but still enough to cover ground before dawn tinted the East horizon.

I finally stopped as I got within a stone’s throw of the front line.

Sentries had been placed evenly across the whole line, peering outward into the dim darkness that was only illuminated by the pink Moon.

I spotted a prime target, adequately close to the ridge and boulder field I had told my Ponies to hide in, but relatively young enough to doze off occasionally.

He was perfect.

I lightly stalked across the open ground, still so carefully slow as to not be immediately noticeable.

I stopped within merely five Pony lengths away from the guard, who I could see from my position that he was dozing softly.

Stars above… I was younger than he was…

Yet here I was, practically in charge of a whole army, and he was merely on watch.

It was sobering… In a way.

Perhaps it would’ve been my fate, to be a mere footsoldier in some army, drawing one of the short straws to stand watch through the night, had I not raised a sword to the Windegos.

But I had. And he had not.

Perhaps he had the excuse of not being present, but that didn't change the fact that he did not.

I took a breath, calming my nerves.

It was time.

Author's Note

And that's it for this episode! :trollestia:

Like comment and subscribe for more!

Also join the discord! https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 99 The Memories Part 58

~~~

With the swiftness of a silent phantom, I grabbed his muzzle and slid a knife I had taken to keep under my cloak into his exposed gorget.

His eyes snapped open in surprise and fear.

“Come Little Children, I'll take thee away…” I whispered, suddenly feeling the ancient magic of the Alicorns sweep over me.

The light in the colt’s eyes faded.

“Into a land of Enchantment!” I continued, gently lowering the colt’s body to the ground so it didn’t make a noise.

“Come little children;” I whispered, taking a hold of the colt’s torch and waving it at the ridge where I knew my Ponies were hiding.

“The time's come to play…” I stuck the torch into the ground and turned inwards towards the rest of the camp.

“Here in my garden of shadows!” I whispered as I stalked forwards, brandishing the knife, and drawing the Sword.

I approached a nearby tent.

“Follow sweet children, I'll show thee the way…” I stalked into the tent, and found the sole inhabitant, a mare.

I grabbed her muzzle and plunged the knife into her throat as well.

“Through all the pain, and the sorrows!” I told her corpse as I swiftly left and continued.

“Weep not poor children…” A sentry happened to turn a corner, almost crashing into me.

“For life is this way…” I slashed at his jugular with the knife, catching him by surprise.

“Murdering beauty and passions…” My floating sword caught the stallion as he crumpled, lowering him down silently.

“Hush now dear children, it must be this way…” A shadow rushed by me towards another tent, a Pegasi mare with a dagger between her teeth. That was quick… They must’ve been waiting closer than I thought.

“Too weary of life and deceptions!” I quietly sang, not disturbing the night air. More dark shapes moved past, stalking forwards and putting their weapons into any Earthbreaker they found.

“Rest now my children!” I continued, walking forward on silent hooves. “For soon we'll away!” Nearby, a group of dark Ponies pounced towards a group around a campfire, slitting the trio’s throats with a synchronized motion.

“Into the calm and the quiet…” I walked past a couple of bodies, laying in the darkness.

I passed into a tent, bloodied my knife again, and left, all in seemingly the same motion. More shapes moved in the shadows, swiftly putting anypony they found in the light to the sword. The great steel plated gate loomed into view, already a full fourth of the camp taken and scoured.

“Come little children! I'll take thee away!” I sang to my soldiers, as we reached the bridge to the still open gate. Nary a guard to be seen.

“Into a land of enchantment!” my voice echoed softly back to me. Too softly to be heard by anyone but me.

“Come little children…” I rushed through the gate, my soldiers behind me with more weapons drawn.

“The time's come to play!” I threw my dagger at a stallion, only a jerkin to protect him as it pierced into his throat.

“Here in my garden of shaaaadows…” I whispered as I jumped onto the falling stallion, to retrieve my weapon.

The torches were suddenly extinguished, letting the darkness consume us all before the last light in the stallion’s eyes faded.

I quickly whipped the knife blade against the cooling stallion’s coat, before sheathing it in its place. I stood up and examined the rest of the room. All of my Ponies were rooting through the gatehouse, searching any nook and cranny they could find for any hiding guards.

“Find the mechanism!” I whispered loudly, charging towards the first door I saw, rushing past a few of my comrades.

I wheeled around and bucked the door, smashing it open with a furious thud.

I turned back around and prowled forward, sword at the ready.

Storeroom. I noted, seeing boxes and crates of administrative supplies.

I stormed back out of the room and continued.

By now, most of the other doors had my soldiers through them.

Only one of them found the way up to the next floor.

We charged up, heedless and confident that any enemy we found could have been dealt with easily.

The mechanism was a sort of lash, that four Ponies could be attached to, and then made to pull, drawing a serious of chains and pulley’s to pull the door closed. Unicorns tossed sparks of intense fire onto the thick wooden portions of the massive harness, while several Pegasi rubbed their wings together, and welded the chain to a metal floor plate with lightning between their feathers, locking the mechanism down even as its harness was destroyed.

The gate was effectively locked open.

For the first time in history, Casúrdomhain’s mighty fortress was broken.

And I had been the one to break it.

“You lot, hold the gate!” I told half of them. “The rest of us will finish the rest of the camp, you'll wait here for morning, or until we rejoin you, whichever is sooner. Oh and raise those banners I gave you!” I turned to the remaining Ponies.

“The rest of you, follow me.” I stated, running back out of the gatehouse. We swiftly caught up with the group we had left outside.

They had been found out, and were fighting a squire trying to pull an alarm bell.

I plowed into him, sinking my sword into his exposed belly.

His wound steamed as he fell still, my sword already wiping itself on his coat.

“Move on!” I ordered. “We finish the camp!” and charged forward.

Our fight had been overheard, and Ponies were darting towards other alarm bells.

My sword sliced a thin hemp rope as a mare tried to pull on it. It hit her in the face as she pulled.

I reared up in the red Moonlight...

...And stomped.

I pushed myself forward into a charge, towards somepony who had witnessed my deed. He tripped against a tent pole, my sword caught him as he stumbled, breaking his neck with the force.

I moved on as he fell still.

More and more we advanced, putting surprised Ponies to the sword, heedless if they had noticed our trespass or not.

I sunk my dagger into a sleeping squire, silencing him with a kick to the stomach.

I moved onto a camp fire with grim purpose. A trio of Ponies, getting ready for their shift noticed our shadows and made to shout.

I put my sword halfway through one’s head and yanked, pulling my sword out as he fell. I turned towards another, who was heaving a warhammer at me. A shout on her lips.

I rushed forward, my hoof over her mouth and my dagger into an opening in her armor.

The final two bodies fell as one, flumping loosely onto the ground.

On and on we went.

But suddenly, as if suddenly finding your self at the top of a cliff face, the camp had ended. There were no more tents. And there were no more Ponies. We had won.

We had won!

There was still fighting to be had of course, but they were never coming back from this. Even if they rang the bells now, they were never going propel us away. The first rays of the dawn graced the East horizon.

Banners of a white crescent Moon on a navy blue field fluttered over the Gatehouse.

On a far ridge, an army had been assembled, and above them, swung the limp form of a stallion suspended by the neck.

Author's Note

The vibe! :trollestia: https://youtu.be/5PqyKPTTZJc?si=GR_B1rKmXG_aKpTI

Chapter 100 The Memories Part 59

~~~

“Come on! Back to the gate house!” I called out, pulling back towards the bridge.

Above us, fights could be seen as guards fought more dark shadows.

The few Earthbreakers on top of the wall had no idea they were under attack. The force we had left in the gate house decided to take the walls as well, shattering any hope of the major alarm bells being rung.

I walked back across the bridge, trotting into the gatehouse. Several of my soldiers had grabbed Earthbreaker spears, guarding the inner portcullis into the Fortress itself. All I saw was a crow land on a nearby roof, sunlight casting its feathers in blue light.

It cawed, and flew away when it saw me watching.

Full daylight appeared on the very top of the Keep, slowly sliding down.

The sounds of a marching army clattered in the distance.

No bells rang.

I waited.

Sunlight hit the tops of my ears as shadowy silhouettes of the front line of the army I was leading marched silently into the gatehouse.

“Onward.” I commanded, rushing forwards first, leading the charge.

The fresh army roared behind me, following like a tide of living metal, flesh, and spears.

Fighting started in the streets, as Ponies woke up to the light of the Sun.

I charged my way past thickening crowds of Ponies, fighting with whatever they could to defend themselves.

I didn’t bother with them. Most were too busy to notice me, or were too scared of my ash darkened form and blood specked blades to want to stop me.

A colt suddenly lunged at me with a pot.

I caught the pot handle with my knife, pushing it aside and hitting the colt on the head with the pummel of my sword.

He stumbled back, dropping the pot.

I leveled the sword towards his chest.

“Stay down.” I growled.

He put his hooves up and nodded furiously.

A soldier in gleaming steel caught up, and pointed his spear at the colt.

“Take him to a holding area, don’t let him near a kitchen.” I ordered, abandoning the colt and his new minder.

I advanced.

Pegasi flew overhead, already infesting the fortified roof of the Keep proper. The trebuchets had all their ropes cut, stopping any immediate use without a lengthy restringing.

I moved to the middle of the street, trotting my way up the central road, right to the Keep’s inner gate.

Earth Ponies were wrestling each other using the gate as their medium, the Ponies inside doing everything in their power to keep the door shut, while Ponies outside were doing everything they could to pry it open.

I walked forward, motioning for the attackers to pause for a moment.

“Come on out!” I called out. “Casúrdomhain is broken! There is nothing you can do! No more Ponies need to die! Come on out, and we’ll treat you with dignity!”

“What dignity could you expect from a horn head?!” cried a muffled voice through the door.

“One who grew up among Earth Ponies! One you may know as ‘Hydrabane’!” I answered.

Silence for a moment, likely because Ponies inside were discussing something.

“There ain’t no ‘Hydrabane’! That’s just a tall tale!” the spokespony called.

“Perhaps you’d better go ask your Grandmaster if that’s true.” I responded. “I can wait.”

More silence.

“And- If we don’t?”

“Then they're going to be very confused why we’re waiting and not attacking.”

This time the silence reigned for almost a full minute.

“Ok… Uh? We sent the message.”

“Good!” I cried out. “That wasn’t so hard was it?”

This time the silence ran for an hour.

The Pegasi Awkwardly sat on chimneys and battlements, preventing any counter attack from inside the Fortress. Soldiers coughed occasionally, waiting for anything to happen.

I waited in place patiently.

“It’s a beautiful fortress.” I called out, maybe after half an hour.

“Oh! Um… T- Thank you?” the spokespony answered.

“I’d hate to destroy it.” I responded.

The Ponies inside didn’t have anything else to say and fell quiet.

Finally, a commotion from behind the door sounded out. The muffled clatter of warplate and bodyguards filing into the space.

A voice coughed from inside.

“Hello?” cried the voice of a refined elderly mare. “Are you there?”

“I am.” I declared. “I am offering you, and any Pony inside those walls a chance to surrender. You will be treated with dignity and gracefully.”

“Will you permit this discussion face to face?”

“If you so wish it.” I waved my soldiers back some, and took a few steps back myself.

The door opened, and exposed a Mare in gleaming steel grey armor, a metal chain fashioned into black roses kept her red cloak across her shoulders. Her helmet, which sported a red horizontal crest, was off and hung from her side by an attached loop, revealing a mare fifty years in age, her weatherworn face slightly creased, yet her fur was gray, not with age, but like freshly hewn rock. Her eyes were a gleaming fiery orange, like embers in a dark forge. Her mane was braided, and as dark as an ash cloud.

This was Grandmaster Ebony Rain.

She regarded me stoically for a moment.

“Well you’re a Dark one aren’t you?” she asked.

I glanced down.

Even in full daylight, my ash smeared, navy coat might as well have been black.

But it wasn't like she was much lighter.

“Speaking from experience?” I gestured at my own face.

“Ho ho ho!” she chortled. “Appleflower was right about you…” she slowed down. “You are a little whipper snapper.”

"You've spoken with Appleflower?" I asked.

Oh no... Was she a spy as well?!

"I've spoken with all of my knights Dark one." she chided. "Yes, we've exchanged letters years ago. She inquired about the possibility of a Unicorn joining our ranks." she regarded me. "I denied her at the time, but now I think she may have been right..."

Appleflower... Wanted ME to join the Earthbreaker Order?!

“Anyway yes… Surrender was it?” she continued politely. “And pray tell, what would happen to us as your prisoners? Slaves to work on your new farms? You may have fooled the rest of the Clans, but we see through your lies Unicorn. We will not bow.”

“Unicorn? Do you honestly believe I’m here on behalf of the Crown Unicorns?” I snarked. “You must've heard from at least Puddinghead what we all saw that day. Let me assure you, those things are real. I personally killed two of them."

“And you expect me to believe you? Who else would gain the most from such a lie? You would." she pointed at my smaller form.

“Maybe you would be in my position if you protected us all rather than just your own!” I rebutted.

The mare appraised me with a raised eyebrow.

“Whipper snapper indeed.” Ebony remarked. “Tell you what, Dark One, defeat me in single combat and the Order will surrender. Fail, and your army marches home in defeat.”

"Don't do this. You've already lost." I urged.

"It is this, or I take everypony you've brought with you." she stated, her eyes seeming to glow like a forge whose bellows had been pumped.

"Then know I didn't want any of this. All of you could've survived."

"What would survival truly be under the hoof of a another tribe?" she sneered.

Chapter 101 The Memories Part 60

~~~

The mare across from me wasted no time. She reached down, unhooked her helm from its holding and donned it.

Her bright orange eyes glowed underneath as she regarded me once more.

"I recognize your honor Luna Hydrabane, you have offered clemency twice when you need not have." her helm rumbled. "I will try to keep your body intact for burial."

"Don't count your chickens before they've hatched." I said, drawing my sword, which looked small against the giant before me.

"We'll see." the mare growled.

Suddenly, she tensed.

I made to dodge, but she didn't move. Instead, the ground around her cracked.

"Let me show you, what an Earthbreaker Knight can really do." she growled.

The Knights behind her began to back up.

Uh oh.

"Make room!" I called out, turning and beginning to jump back and forth, trying to pre-emptively dodge whatever she was doing.

She still didn't move.

The cracks began to glow orange as magma rose to the surface.

The yellow orange magma rose out of the cracks, crawling up Ebony's legs, running along the edges of her armor. Behind her, the red cloak began to smoke as it caught fire.

UH OH.

I charged forward. I needed to end this NOW.

The molten orange eyes beneath the mare's visor flicked to me.

I swung the Unicornian sword in my magical grasp.

Ebony's tense posture shifted, a pauldron blocking my strike.

Magma continued to crawl up the mare's sides.

I suddenly became aware of just how hot the mare before me was getting. It felt like I was standing in front of a forge that had its door open.

"Unicorns and Pegasi think they're so special with their magic." Ebony taunted.

Eerily, the eyes in the mare's helmet looked like they were leaking tears of the orange yellow magma, trailing under her armor but over her coat.

"But they never think about what the Earth can do really."

The mare suddenly turned, faster than her bulk should've been capable of.

Her buck to my chest looked like it was a light tap.

In actuality, the blow sent me flying backward.

"Oof!" I grunted as I hit the wall behind me.

My sword clattered off to the side.

I pulled myself up in a daze, but Ebony was in no hurry.

She casually walked forward, leaving a trail of magma, and burning hoofsteps.

By now, her armor was covered in lines of the burning rock.

"My name is Grandmaster Ebony Rain." she spoke loudly, the fortress below us shuddering with every step. "But I..." she reared up, standing well above any Pony present. "Am a volcano!"

With titanic slowness, she let gravity drag her back down.

Buck!

I rolled out of the way as she slammed into the ground, not even where I was laying, almost a few Pony lengths away. But the shockwave of the suddenly shattered stone beneath me was more than sufficient to kill me.

I happened to roll onto my sword, so I grabbed its hilt in my mouth and started to run perpendicular to the giant flaming mountain of a mare.

Attacking her head on will never work. I needed to be smart...

But how?

What could I do to-

I realized the glowing orange shade of Ebony's armor looked almost exactly like a hunk of metal fresh from a forge.

A hunk of metal that went 'hssssssssh' when it was dunked into a barrel of oil.

... Casúrdomhain had been stocked for a siege right?

Surely, they must have some sort of well or-

A cistern.

"Don't try to run little dark shadow!" The fiery mare boomed. "I will hunt you down!"

"How can you? Volcanos are meant to be stationary!" I called behind.

"That's not- Come here you little shit stain!"

Ebony's ambient heat suddenly intensified, even with how far away I was.

The onlookers, on both sides, started to beat a hasty retreat.

"Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit!" I chanted, running away from the blisteringly hot mare who was clearly about to try and fry me with said heat.

"You've nowhere to run! No where to hide!"

Where were the cistern be?! If they were to collect water from the rain...

I looked over the keep's battlement.

Towards where the roofs slanted.

Far below, maybe about ten Ponies tall, was a unassuming building that had a hole in its ceiling, and a series of troughs to catch the running rain from the eves.

Oh stars, I hope this works.

"Why would I hide? That's what you did!" I called out, looking behind me.

Ebony had been trotting after me, but my rebuttal must've hit a nerve because she started to gallop in a wild charge.

"GET OFF MY MOUNTAIN." The mare rumbled, so loudly that it felt like the whole fortress shook with the sound of her voice, coming at me like an avalanche as I stepped up onto the battlement.

I had to do this perfectly.

"Don't follow me!" I called when she was close enough, turning around-

And jumping into the open air.

The mare didn't have time to stop.

She plowed through the stonework like it was merely moist pumpkin bread.

My horn glowed, and a series of tiny shields appeared before me, offering hoof steps for me to step on and break my fall.

Thank the Sun, stars, and Moon for Starswirl's teachings...

Ebony didn't have the same luxury, and plummeted like an anvil into the unassuming building below.

"RGGGGGGGGGGH!" she growled as she plowed through the hole in the roof.

A great plume of white steam suddenly erupted from the hole.

I had no time to lose.

I cantered off more tiny shields, getting lower and I walked through the air.

I dropped the spells I had been casting as I stepped onto the roof.

"Whew..." I sighed, thankful that my absurd stunt had worked.

But I wasn't done yet.

I walked around the still billowing cloud of steam as it rose, trying to peer inside to see if I could somehow see Ebony.

Nothing.

I continued to walk around the hole, trying to see if I could see anything glowing still.

Oh good! The steam's dying do-

A hoof with charred armor, already beginning to glow a dull red, reached out of the hole!

"Gah!" I exclaimed, lighting my horn and pushing the hoof back down.

"Hrbbbbbbbbbbbbt!" gurgled a voice from below.

Another billowing cloud of steam erupted from the cistern's hole.

I held the magic for a minute, keeping both my grasp on the mare, and keeping her submerged.

The steam slowly stopped.

I lifted what I hoped was a still living Ebony up.

The mare, waterlogged and half drowned, looked pitiful as she reemerged.

"Do you yield?" I asked, noting that her eyes swirled in their sockets beneath her helmet.

She spat out a mouthful of water.

"Nev-"

I dunked her back into the cistern.

"Hrbbbbt!"she gurgled again.

This time the plume of steam was much shorter and less intense.

Dimly, I became aware of all the onlookers that had come to the battlement above me, or in the case of the Pegasi, hovered lazily in the sky.

Every mouth was agape.

"Hold on, almost done." I awkwardly called out.

I received a smattering of chuckles.

Turning back to the cistern, which had stopped steaming again.

I pulled the Grandmaster back up.

She still looked miserable.

"Do you yield?" I asked again.

She spat out more water.

"Drowned in my own cistern..." she mumbled in a daze. "I will never live this down..."

"Do you yield?" I repeated.

"Yes, I yield." Ebony Rain nodded.

Casúrdomhain had officially been broken.

Chapter 102 The Memories Part 61

~~~

I stood in Casúrdomhain's inner sanctum. It was a fairly large room, lit by candlelight. Furnishing wise, the furniture was relatively simple, although you could tell the woodcarver who had carved the designs was showing off a bit. They were short and stocky, prioritizing sturdiness over vanity, but not ignoring artistry entirely. The most prominent was the series of dining table and chairs at the far end of the rectangle room, but identical benches were kept alongside the walls, spaced evenly apart, and leaving enough space to comfortably walk between themselves and the wall.

But the walls were what held my attention.

Beautiful murals depicting great moments in the history of the Order. Carved lovingly to such a detail you could see individual hairs in the woodwork. No paint was involved, instead relying solely on the color of the lacquered wood to create color in the artwork. Which surprised me.

I had no idea wood came in pink or blue.

The price of those pieces alone must've cost a fortune!

Knights of all ranks ran across the wall murals. Fighting and slaying all manner of creature and foe. Dragons, Griffins, Pegasi, Unicorns, Hydras, and a great many things I wasn't sure I wanted to know the name of.

I was probably worthy of being depicted as well now.

But for a very different reason.

I was the one who had laid the Order low.

If I were made into a mural, it would not depict Knights racing across the wall.

I could practically see it on the wall as I looked on. The figure of an almost ebony Unicorn prominently displayed, looming over a field of fallen knights, and in the corner the figure of a fully clad Grandmaster fighting to break the surface of her own cistern.

The victory celebration happening outside did little to affect my somber mood.

I had won yes, but at what cost?

The Earthbreakers were all but extinct. Only a small hoof full had not been outside their fortress wall. Most of the Ponies inside the fortress were the Ponies who ran the day to day services that kept the fortress going, like the blacksmith or the baker.

The Earthbreaker Knights who had been inside the Keep were the eldest in the order, too old to fight, but well learned and respected.

Grandmaster Ebony Rain was beyond her prime. Although she carried her years well.

To use her own words; she "won't be fighting like that again."

It wasn't even my fault. The magic she had been channeling was just that potent and hard to conjure.

It was very likely, the Order would never be able to teach the next generation all they knew before the survivors shed their mortal coil.

I had doomed their teachings to a slow demise.

I walked respectfully along side the wall, taking in the mural.

The door to the Outer Sanctum creaked.

A peculiar pattern of hoof step and dead thump walked across the polished wooden floor.

"Hello Appleflower." I greeted solemnly.

"Lu." she grunted behind me.

"Did you need something?" I asked, still not turning away from the murals.

"That party out there ain't for Ebony y'know." she drawled in her familiar accent.

"She's ok? She didn't break anything in the fall?"

"Naw. Old battleaxe like 'er ain't gonna break from that small drop."

I felt a small smile curl the corner of my mouth, but it quickly flattened back out.

We fell into an odd silence.

But she didn't leave.

"How do you do it?" I asked, suddenly breaking the silence.

"Pardon?"

"All the killing, all the fighting." I gestured down the mural wall. "Look at all this! How many thousands of years has this been happening? How do you do it??" I asked loudly.

Appleflower didn't respond, but she limped over to me and sat on the floor.

"D' ya believe in what yer fightin' fer?" she asked.

"I feel like I have no choice." I wiped at my eyes.

"Then ya gotta."

I felt that small curl again.

Simple wisdom for hard problems.

"Why are you helping me?" I asked, leaning into the mare's shoulder.

"How'd you mean?" she asked.

"I all but wiped out your Order. You and the elders with Ebony are probably some of the last Earthbreaker Knights."

"I see." Appleflower hummed. "Did I ever tell ya why I lived in Ùllahdmaiden?" she asked.

"I assumed you were assigned there to protect the village."

"Naw. Ùllahdmaiden was my birthplace. Ah may 'ave spent more time here th'n there as a filly, but when we're knighted we're given free reign ta go where ever we choose. What little time I spent in Ùllahdmaiden, was spent hearing about how the Order kept demanding tithes and services from Villages across Clan territory. 'Course, never whenever my Pa was around." she paused, thinking. "Ah joined as a squire, partially because Pa pressured me to, and because ah wanted ta fight monsters. Ma had been taken by a Cragodile y' see..."

She looked up at the mural in front of us, which depicted a battle with a horde of what appeared to be some sort of black Pony.

There wasn't any consistiancy between them, only that they looked... Pointy.

"After that- Traveled around, fought a bunch. Did a few things Ah'm not proud of... An' got my Knighthood." The giant paused. "Went back home soon as Ah could."

"Do you... Do you regret joining the Order?" I asked.

"Y'know... Ah'm not quite sure." Appleflower responded. "Sure Ah've done things Ah ain't proud of, but when everything was said and done, Ah found mahself in a place to stop others from repeating mah mistakes. An' in the end, that was worth it."

I found myself looking away.

How could one be... Proud of making a mistake? Wasn't the point of pride and honor being as just as you could be?

"I'm not sure I-"

The door at the entrance of the hall slammed open.

"General!" A pony whose voice I recognized as Starbright. "We've got a situation!"

~~~

A Unicorn stallion stood before me, held by two soldiers, still in armor.

"This Pony was found beating some of the prisoners we captured. He was wearing these." Captain Comet Trail explained, holding up barding that had come from the City, and a maul.

This Pony was one of my soldiers.

I looked the stallion in the eye.

"Are you trying to make a liar of me?" I asked.

"Ma'am?" he responded.

"Were my orders not 'treat them with dignity'?" I asked.

"B-But well... You know." he tilted his head towards the side.

I glanced to where he was indicating.

We stood in front of the keep. Where the Grandmaster had challenged me to the duel. I could still see the scortch marks. Ponies lined themselves along the walls, leaving the small courtyard open in the middle.

The stallion's head was tilted towards a Pony.

I hadn't noticed him before now, he was too small. But I recognized him immediately.

It was the kitchen colt I had personally taken prisoner after we advanced into the city.

His coat was frazzled, and bruises could be seen forming all over his body.

I turned back to the stallion.

"I don't know what you're implying." I said coldly, narrowing my eyes.

The stallion's eyes danced in their sockets.

"They're... You know." he said nerviously.

"No I don't know. Explain it for all to hear." I commanded.

The stallion licked his lips in an attempt to wet them, before he leaned towards me.

"They're mud Ponies..." he whispered.

I forced myself to not react.

"Colt." I called out, not taking my eyes off the accused stallion. "Come here."

The kitchen colt jumped, clearly startled. But somepony behind him gently nudged him forward.

I wasn't sure he was fully in control of his own legs as they walked him forward.

"Y-y-y-yes?" he asked, stuttering.

"What was this stallion doing to you?" I asked, still not looking at the colt.

"H-h-h-h-h-he-"

"Don't listen to him! He's just a stupid mud Pony colt! He doesn't know what he's talking about!" The stallion interuppted.

I looked down at the colt.

He was a nervious wreck.

His knees and hocks were practically chattering together. His ears twitched something awful, like a fly was buzzing around his head.

He refused to look towards the stallion.

And for a split second, I didn't see a kitchen colt.

I saw my younger self, of nine years old, fresh from her first kill.

"Thank you that will be all." I gently picked him up with my magic and turned him around, nudging back into the crowd.

"B-b-but-!" he squeaked.

I turned back towards the stallion.

But I didn't see the Unicorn that was brought before me.

I saw the face of Hoarfrost.

I knew what he was trying to do.

"Captain, may I see his weapon?" I asked, holding my hoof out for it.

Wordlessly, Comet deposited the maul in my hoof.

"Thank you Captain."

I turned the maul over, examining it. In a precious life, it had been a wood splitting maul. But it had been repurposed as a weapon for the 'Army of Unity'. Which wasn't too surprising. Even with all the scavaged armor and weapons, even with what little we had made before the march on Casúrdomhain, there was barely enough weapons for everypony.

There were still Ponies who didn't even have armor.

"Hm." I hummed in thought.

I swung the maul as hard as I could.

CRACK

Something flew off to the side.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the stallion screamed.

The crowd gasped in shock.

"Put him in the stockade." I handed the blood splattered maul back to Comet, who took it back without comment. I turned to look at the stallion who was writhing in the Soldiers grasp.

Blood dribbled down his face.

His horn was now a bloody stump.

"Leave him there until my neck chaffs."

The soldiers, who kept hold obeyed without a word.

If they feared for themselves I knew not. But they did it anyway.

The stallions screams grew quieter as the distance between us grew.

I looked off to the side.

The broken horn had landed at the hooves of the kitchen colt.

His eyes were wide.

I approached.

His horrified face stared up at me.

I picked up the horn in my magic and turned away.

Without the stallion's screaming, the whole courtyard was deathly silent.

"I promised;" I began, speaking loudly enough for everypony present to hear. "That those who surrendered would be treated with dignity." I started to walk down the line of Ponies, none of which who would meet my gaze. "Prisoners, they may be. But never forget why we are here! They may fight, they may scream and kick and complain! But we those Ponies are to be our brothers and sisters! We are not fighting this war to repeat the same mistakes the ones we fight made!" I turned to prowl along the other side of the courtyard. "If any of you think to make a fool of me by mistreating, or handling our future siblings like how the original tribes would... Then let me be crystal clear. Any hoof raised against them, I will treat as if you raised it against me." I came to a stop and glared. "I care not if that Pony be Earth Pony, Pegasi, or even Unicorn." I spun the horn in my magic, holding it up for all to see. "Am I understood?"

A chorus of affirmitives greeted me.

"Good." I growled.

I turned away from the crowd, walking to the keep's door and pushing my way inside.

The door shut behind me with a clack.

I breathed a sigh.

Sure Ah've done things Ah ain't proud of, but when everything was said and done, Ah found mahself in a place to stop others from repeating mah mistakes.

Mistakes...

Had I done anything that could be classified as a 'mistake'?

I looked down at the broken horn in my ceurlean magic.

Was my judgment of that stallion a mistake? Cruel... Perhaps. But no... Not a mistake. He was the one beating and raping my prisoners. Prisoners I had promised would be treated respectfully.

Why should I regret my decision then? I knew what it was like to be in that colt's position. At least now he could rest easy knowing this attacker was dealt with.

So why was I questioning this?

I approached a nearby sconce, and tossed the broken horn inside.

It blackened as it began to burn and char.

The door I had just entered through opened again.

And shut again.

Hoofsteps.

"You kept your promise." The voice of Ebony Rain said behind me.

"I did." I nodded.

"You didn't have to. You wouldn't have been the first to turn a blind eye."

"Then I wouldn't be any better than the Ponies who brought the Windegos." I turned away from the flaming sconce.

The Grandmaster had taken off her armor, replacing it with a robe. But she still looked damp and unsettled from her adventure into the cistern.

"They're real." I insited. "As real as you and me. And more horrible than you can imagine."

"I've seen a lot in my long life. So forgive me if I'm hesitant to believe you."

I found myself shaking my head.

"You've never seen a blizzard in July." I started. "It was warm... Down South. The land was beautiful and verdant. It was paradise... But that night... After the armies of the tribes started to fight..." I looked her in the eyes. "The snow came so thick and so fast we were practically buried within the hour. We had to huddle together around a single fire to keep warm. Almost the entire camp of refugees. But then they came... Fresh from their fight with all three armies." I turned back towards the sconce, comforting myself with the memory of fire and warmth. "Maybe you've fought undead before... But you've never heard the howl of a Windego. The shiver that runs down your spine is like the wind blowing away even the memory of warmth." I shook my head again, clearing it. "I won't get into the details of the fight, but I'll tell you what we found the next morning. While the day before, the land had been verdant and plentiful, it had become a literal wasteland overnight. The branches of the trees had been blown clean off the trunk, which accumulated spires of snow. We didn't just find bodies, we found bodies encased in ice. Frozen so fast they still were trying to run away, even in death. The only reason your Chancellor survived, was because she happened to be next to a Unicornian Court Wizard when he shielded himself." I shook my head again. "I'm not fighting you. I don't want to fight you. I'm fighting against the Eternal Winter that will come if we don't change. Change that apparently even my own army doesn't beleive in."

Ebony Rain was silent.

"If you want, I'll leave you and what remains of your order here. You can keep Casúrdomhain. I don't want it. The only reason I came, was because you wouldn't listen to your own Chancellor, and because I need your years worth of supplies to starve out Pegasopolis. Who won't stop fighting. Who won't change."

"I see..." Ebony chewed her lip in thought.

We fell into silence, pretending to look over the mural with its pointy black Ponies.

"I wasn't lying when I told your door guard you have a beautiful keep." I spoke up. "In another life, I might've been proud to be an Earthbreaker Squire."

"No." Ebony shook her head. "You're going to be so much more."

Chapter 104 The Memories Part 63

~~~

The sky was beginning to darken considerably as I trudged back.

Ponies were furiously digging trenches in the dirt as I walked past with my cart.

I made it back to the tree I had given my orders at, and unhitched myself.

"Prepare for battle, we've all heard the stories about Pegasopolis." I ordered as soon as I saw my council. It was blunt, but now wasn't the time for niceties.

They barely gave me a coherent answer, they were off like shots towards their own commands.

They knew I was right.

I glanced up to the floating city.

It was already starting to rotate.

"Come on! Move!" I exclaimed at a group of Ponies, jumping into their trench. "We're bucked if we can't get down!" I began grabbing clumps of dirt in my magic and tossing them up over the edge.

Ponies bustled to and fro around me, all doing the same thing I was doing.

"Make room to get the carts down here! They're exposed up there!" I ordered pointing at our supply carts.

Ponies were busy unloading whatever they could, fire brigade style, passing what they could to each other. For the larger crates, teams were busy taking them off, hauling them away, and returning as fast as they could in an endless stream to get it all secured.

I glanced back up towards the city.

The cloudbank that Pegasopolis was slate grey, and now moving at a concerning pace.

To understand what Pegasopolis was, what it really was. You needed to know three things.

One. It holds the majority of the Pegasus tribe at any given time. But while it is indeed a city, that is its tertiary function.

Two. Pegasopolis was the home of all the Pegasi weather workshops. Something akin to the Unicornian Colleges of Magic, it was there where they mixed alchemy and magic to produce their weapons.

Three. Pegasopolis, first and foremost, was a fortress. It was designed by warriors, for war. The outer walls protected the population, and the workshops. But due to its mobile nature as cloud based structure, it was unlike any fortress the world had ever known.

If one were to combine all of these facts, you begin to realize one very important detail.

What would was the natural evolution of weather based magic, needing to fight, and house the entire tribe all in a single structure?

The ring of clouds around Pegasopolis continued to spin faster and faster.

Pegasopolis... Was a manufactured hurricane.

Pegasi swarmed above the spinning cloud bank, taking their positions for the coming onslaught.

"Unicorns at the ready! Keep them off our supplies!" I shouted as loudly as I could. "Pegasi keep on the ground! Spears up! Earth Ponies! Keep digging like your lives depend on it!"

The wheel shaped cloud structure above split into four curved lengths.

The wind was howling like ghosts in the night as Pegasopolis unfurled its arms like a blooming flower.

Stars above... I hope everypony got to their places...

"Here they come!" A Pony off to my left screamed.

I looked up at the oncoming arm above.

A V-formation of Pegasoplian armor glinted in the fading light, diving towards the ground.

Towards us.

I felt the first drops of rain on my face.

"Unicorns fire! Keep them scattered!" I screamed.

My voice wasn't loud enough for everypony across the whole lake to hear, but what few Unicorns that had heard me were too happy to comply, and that started off a chain reaction, as rays of magic of all colors shot upward all across the lake.

My magic joined them.

FREEEEEEEEEM!

The formation of diving Pegasi split as the beams passed by them, yet still they flew in synchronized flight.

A Pegasus dove at me, spear in his hooves, raised to strike.

I whipped the sword from my scabbard and caught the spear before it impaled me.

His momentum forced him into a tackle, sending us both sprawling.

Memories of how Sapphire and Emerald would beat me rose to my mind.

I stole their technique.

Me and the stallion rolled in the mud as we fought for dominance.

I ended up on top and started to pummel his face with both hooves.

Lightning cracked above.

ZzRACK!

BOOOOOOOOM!

The stallion's face was bloody beneath my hooves, unable to defend himself without letting go of his spear.

He fell still.

If he was dead or unconscious I didn't know. But similar fights had erupted all around me.

I had no time to breathe.

Lightning flashed again, making me pin my ears against my skull.

ZzRACK!

BOOOOOOOOM!

The rain pounded the dirt around me, blocking much of the sunlight.

But the lightning revealed the still image of a chaotic brawl in the trench.

I drew my knife, leveled my sword, and advanced.

Something in the dim light flopped in front of me.

I saw a gleam of Pegasoplian armor by the glow of my lit horn.

I grabbed the soldier with a hoof and pulled them away from what they were doing, throwing them into the muddy wall I knew to be off to the side.

Clank!

"Motherbuck-!" My sword flashed towards the gap in their gorget. "-Hrk!"

The Pony fell still as black liquid spewed down their front.

I didn't have time to help the Pony I had saved to their hooves.

Lightning cracked above again.

ZzRACK!

BOOOOOOOOM!

I advanced.

A pair of Pegasi wrestled in the dirt before me.

I didn't know who was friendly, so I pushed both of them over in a mighty shove!

"Gah!" they both groaned as they hit the watery mud, the rain rapidly collecting in the bottom of the trench.

Both of them wore Pegasoplian armor, but one was dull from time spent in the wild.

The other was freshly polished.

I pushed the tip of my sword into the momentarily exposed gut of the one with the polished set.

Lightning flashed again.

ZzRACK!

BOOOOOOOOM!

The blue green eyes of the mare I had saved were wide in fear.

"How'd you kn-" she began.

"Unpolished." I said irritably.

I didn't have time for nonsense.

But the fighting in the trench seemed to have stopped.

The dim light of rain obscured horns lit up just enough to confirm that we had won the brawl.

"Earth Ponies keep digging! The higher above ground the more we're exposed!" I called out. "Somepony get buckets and start bailing water! We'll drown before long!"

Ponies jumped to obey.

I wanted to take a moment, simply to breathe, but the sounds of fighting all around us were more pressing.

Cautiously, I stuck my head over the edge of the trench.

Lightning flashed, grounding themselves purposefully in the dirt along the shore of the lake. Beams of colored light lit up the sky, as Unicorns on the opposite side shot at the swooping Pegasi that had suddenly filled the sky, riding on the gale winds that bent whatever trees had been growing in the area.

ZzRACK!

BOOOOOOOOM!

It was chaos.

Brutal chaos, that the Pegasoplians were well versed in.

Luna you fool... Coming here was a mistake.

Shifting shadows on top of the silhouettes of the carts drew my attention.

ZzRACK!

Another, distant lightning bolt illuminated the swarm of Pegasi that had landed on our carts, and were looting with impunity.

BOOOOOOOOM!

"Hey!" I shouted.

They obviously didn't hear me or didn't care, so I did the next best thing.

FREEEEEEEEEM!

My ray of magic raked over our own carts, catching a few of the Pegasi by surprise and sending them sprawling.

The swarm took to the air, realizing the game was up.

I could see several packages in their silhouettes against the sky.

"Oh no you don't!" I shifted my horn, sweeping the ray across the majority of the swarm as they tried to get away.

FREEEEEEEEEM!

Several shapes dropped to the ground.

They soon got far enough away, and spread out just enough, that anymore sweeps with my magic wouldn't have been effective.

I breathed heavily, the toll of my fighting taking effect.

We couldn't keep this up... This was a disaster. But how could I stop it? How could I-

Pegasopolis turned above me.

A flash of lightning, partially hidden behind an arm of the city, allowed me to see what was obscured inside the arm.

It looked mechanical...

BOOOOOOOOM!

... The Pegasi relied on their city for their weaponized weather right?

If... If those mechanisms were damaged... Then they wouldn't be able to keep this hurricane turning... Could they?

"Unicorns to me!" I called out. "Focus your fire on the city! Aim for the center of the base on the arms!"

I lowered my horn and led by example.

FREEEEEEEEEM!

My fatigued body made me sway as I narrowed in on my target... But I locked every joint I had when I found the sweet spot, and poured everything I had into the spell.

"RAAAAAAAAAAGH!" I screamed as power flowed from me.

The unicorns nearby followed my order, shakily at first, but narrowed in on my ray.

FREEEEEEEEEM!

FSSSSSSSH!

Something in the sky gave a worrying crunch.

I dropped the spell, falling to the ground in exhaustion.

Lightning flashed again, and by its light I saw all the Pegasi in the air pause.

ZzRACK!

BOOOOOOOOM!

The howling wind was suddenly softer.

A horn blew, echoing over the landscape.

"Retreat!" One of the Pegasi above called out.

Darkness claimed me.

Author's Note

The vibe! https://youtu.be/9WJOK7CJvtI?si=AKSE3GgHOom2dQxf

Chapter 105 The Memories Part 64

~~~

I woke to the feeling of a dry dirt, and a warm fire.

"Gah!" I jumped, certain that something wasn't right.

"Luna! You're ok! You're with friends!" came a voice.

I looked around.

Clover was standing nearby. She was illuminated by the orange light of the fire. The room I found myself in was earthen. With the only exception being the ceiling, where wooden boards could be seen holding up more dirt. A hole was positioned above the fire, providing a chimney.

"Where... Are we?" I asked, rubbing my eyes as I tried to wake up.

"We're still underneath Pegasopolis." Clover nodded. "You've only been out for a few hours."

"Oh..." I trailed off. "Have they surrendered?"

"No. But you damaged the city pretty bad."

"How bad?"

"They were winning the battle pretty well... But whatever you hit made them pull back." she smiled.

"Pretty badly then..."

"Right." she nodded.

"H-How much did we lose?"

"Supplies or Ponies?"

"Both."

"Uh... They made off with a few crates. We're still trying to figure out what's missing. You stopped them from getting away with more. Casualty wise, last I heard we're still getting a count. But I'd wager on at least a thousand."

Buck.

"I'll ask around later..." I said standing up. I had another job to tend to. "What time is it? Is it still morning?"

"Uh... About six I think..." she volunteered.

"Alright... I got time."

On the far side of the fire, there were two holes in the walls on either side of the dugout.

I rounded the fire.

"Time? Time for what?" Clover asked, joining me.

"To invite the Pegasi to breakfast."

"You're still doing that? After yesterday?"

"Especially after yesterday. They know they're not untouchable now, and they can never accuse me of never offering a chance to surrender."

Clover's mouth hung open slightly as she registered what I had said.

I came between both openings. On either side I could see essentially the same thing.

The walls were simple dirt and mud. The ceiling was covered, but grey morning light shined downward, illuminating a long hall. The floor was covered with various boards and logs, fixed in place by crossbeams.

I had a feeling I wasn't in a 'building' at all.

I arbitarily chose the right side hall.

"Wait! Are you sure you're alright to be moving? You spent a lot of mana yesterday..." Clover protested.

"I'm fine." I insisted. "Was just tired."

The floorboards creaked underneath.

Occasionally a crack in the floor revealed a space below the floor, dark and mysterious.

I was right. This wasn't a building at all.

I was in the trench.

I passed by an alcove in the dirt wall, inside was several steps of head sized rocks, carved and embedded into the dirt.

A wooden door formed the ceiling.

I walked up the stone steps and pushed the ceiling up.

The world was bright, grey, water logged, and slightly dusted with a layer of snow. Ponies bustled around, busy building and digging. A firebrigade passed rocks between each other. There wasn't a totally dry Pony in sight.

Around the trench's bend, I recognized the tree I had told my War Council the strategy under.

As I looked up further, similar scenes were taking place all around the lake shore. Ponies busy building and digging.

I even saw a trebuchet arm, sticking out half way out of the far shoreline.

Pegasopolis loomed above, its arms once more held close.

One side of the cloud ring however, didn't sit as closely to the city as it had yesterday.

"You don't have to talk to them again." Clover said, pushing the cellar door up and joining me.

Stars above... She was pretty...

I pushed the feeling away.

I had too much to do.

"Please Clover, it's important."

"But... Ugh. Fine." Clover relented.

"Thank you Clover."

Perhaps it was selfish of me... But I couldn't help but lean in and give her a hug.

She froze underneath my touch.

Oh... She didn't like that...

I pulled away.

"Sorry, don't know what came over me..." I excused.

She didn't respond.

"So uh..." I nervously continued. "I'm going to... Go..."

She still didn't move.

"Ok um... Bye?"

Was it possible to kill a Pony with a hug? No, she looked like she was breathing, and she hadn't fallen down...

"I'm just going to go now."

I left the comatose mare behind and started to look for one of my Captains.

Stupid! Stupid stupid stupid! Why did you do that?! How would you like it if somepony you barely knew hugged you?! She probably hates you now! Stupid!

I walked past a team of working Ponies.

First order of business; Enforce mandatory drying shifts. We're going to freeze if the fight causes snow to fall while we're waterlogged from Pegasopolis' downpour.

"General!" called a voice.

I turned to see Captain Comet approaching.

Shit. Why'd it have to be the one I trusted the least right now?

"Captain!" I greeted. "Any news?"

"Work all around the lake is almost done!" he cheered. "All that remains are a few irrigation ditches and covering up some rooms!"

Why was he... Cheerful?

"What about casualties?" I asked.

"840 dead, 1,265 wounded." he stated.

Assuming I could trust his information... With five thousand Ponies... Every two in five now gone...

With three thousand Ponies... Could we keep this siege going? If the fortifications are as complete as he says they are, and if Pegasopolis will be more cautious in their assaults...

Yeah... I think it's possible.

"Any prisoners?" I asked, continuing my walk forward.

"A few. But I've been too busy to hear the proper count." he shook his head, falling in at my side.

Doing what?

"I see... Do you know where they're being kept?"

"They're with Captain Bright Shine. She's over on the South side." he replied.

"Thank you. Dis- Oh! Before I forget, I want mandatory drying shifts. If it's going to be cold while we're waterlogged we'll all freeze before the week is done."

"A few of us raised that point, but we wanted the trenches dug and finished as quickly as we could get."

"Hm... While I can understand the need for urgency, especially since they can try again at any time, I don't want to be frivolous with the lives of Ponies."

"I understand." he nodded.

"Good. Dismissed."

Comet nodded, and veered off.

I'll have to verify his information... He could easily lie and downplay the amount of casualties we have. And for that matter, I'll have to relay that mandatory drying period order myself, in the event that he 'forgets'.

Of course, that was assuming he was indeed a spy or saboteur. Other than the circumstantial evidence of him being 'cheerful' when he greeted me, he hadn't given me a reason to distrust him.

I'll let him be... For the time being at least. But I'll keep my eye open.

In the meantime... I had a prisoner situation to deal with.

Chapter 106 The Memories Part 65

~~~

The South side of the Lake was much like the West (where I came from). A long line of freshly excavated and piled mud and dirt revealed the extent of where the trench was. Several large swathes of over turned earth revealed the store rooms and barracks that would keep everything and everypony out of the rain. Currently, the Ponies were digging several pits, some of which had the bare frames of trebuchet's starting to rise from them. Piles of rocks, ranging from Pony sized to hoof sized were already being stockpiled nearby.

Boulders for against Pegasopolis itself, and small stones for use as grapeshot against the swarms of Pegasi.

I walked past a group of Ponies easing a cart down a ramp made of what appeared to be clay bricks, briefly hardened by several campfires that Ponies took the opportunity to dry themselves where ever they could. Below the ramp, I could see a large opening in the earth, where I could make out the shapes of several other carts already stowed underground.

I approached where the center of Pony activity seemed to be.

Captain Bright Shine, a Unicorn mare, was holding her military court around a freshly hewn stump.

"We're having problems with several of the trebuchet's. Looks like water got into their ropes and now there's mold. It's going to be a few hours before we can test their strength and check them over." An Earth Pony stallion I didn't recognize informed.

"Blast... Save what you can. We'll have to see if any of the other sections have extras. Try to get a rotation of dry rope going. We're just going to have to work around that for the time being." Bright Shine ordered.

"Yes'm." the stallion nodded.

Oh! A pause!

"Captain, may I have a word?" I interjected.

Bright Shine looked up from her stump, where she had crudely drawn symbols with charcoal in the exposed wood, and piled stones alongside them.

Had she been keeping track of what she needed to do?

She may be a Pony I could trust while under Pegasopolis...

"General." she nodded. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I heard from Captain Comet that Pegasi prisoners were in your care. May I have the opportunity to speak with them?"

If I had been given wrong information, then I could subtlety let Bright know she couldn't trust Comet either by mentioning his name.

"You heard correctly." Bright nodded. "24 of them to be precise. Knocked unconscious during the fight and left behind.

I was being overly paranoid then.

"Are they awake yet?" I asked.

"A few." Bright Shine confirmed. "Dandelion, could you take the Genearl to the prisoners?"

"Of course Bright." An Earth Pony mare chimed.

"Thank you Dandelion." Bright nodded, turning towards another Pony and asking them a question.

Before I could hear what she was saying, the Pony I now knew as Dandelion spoke up.

"General? If you would follow me?"

"Right. Of course. Lead the way." I nodded.

"Of course! This way please!" Dandelion chirped, her voice squeaking as she lead away from Bright's stump.

Aw... She was cute...

No! You are not doing this again! It's bad enough you think of Clover that way!

"So um..." I began.

Why. Why make this any more awkward than this has to be?!

"H-how are things over here?" I asked.

"We're progressing well!" Dandelion reported. "Store rooms are almost done! The barracks have been completed for about an hour now, so we're all looking forward to taking a break!"

"You haven't had a break since the fight yesterday?" I asked.

The balance between digging in and proper rest was a delicate one. I didn't want my soldiers tired, especially when the Pegasi could attack again at any moment. But I knew at the same time all of our odds would be greatly improved when it was done.

Delicate indeed.

"Bright Shine has had us on rest breaks every hour! Don't want to get caught off guard!" Dandelion grinned.

Yes. I think I'll put more reliance on Bright Shine, for the time being at least. But I wasn't sure what to think about Bright Shine's and Dandelion's familiarity with each other. Dandelion at the very least considered Bright close enough to call her by her first name.

Something to be aware of if it ever became relevant.

"That's good to hear." I nodded, as Dandelion opened another cellar door underground. "Down here."

The mare went down the stone steps.

I followed and closed the door behind me.

It took my eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness.

The trench was much like the one I woke up in. Perhaps dug slightly differently, but still functionally the same.

"This way General." Dandelion gestured, the floor creaking under her weight.

She lead me to an open door, where four guards stood, two within the room, and two without.

"Here you are General." Dandelion curtsied.

"Thank you Dandelion. That'll be all for now." I nodded. Dandelion curtsied again and left down the trench. I then turned to the Ponies outside the room. An Earth Pony and a Unicorn. "Hello sirs, I trust everything is calm?" I greeted.

"Marm." The Earth Pony Stallion nodded. "They're still trussed up and quiet as can be."

"Are they awake?"

"A few of 'em are still out. But most are awake." one of the Ponies inside the door replied.

"Would it be possible for me to talk to them?" I asked.

"I ain't gonna stop ya" The Earth Pony confirmed. The Unicorn merely nodded his head.

"Thank you. I won't be long." I thanked them, passing through the open door.

Inside, there was another pair of Unicorn and Earth Pony on either side of the door. Beyond them, deeper in the room, was a crowd of Pegasi, huddled on the dirt floor. Their wings tied to their sides, and their hooves shackled together in sequence.

Unless one could somehow lift and swing their comrade closest to them with chains barely long enough to take foals steps, they were going nowhere, and attacking nopony.

"Hello gentle sirs." I greeted, approaching them. "I'd like to ask you all a question." I stopped just out of reach, looking over the lot of them. I looked them in the eye, but my true purpose was to see how well they were being fed in Pegasopolis.

I wasn't sure if it was because of their lifestyle spent on the wing or if they were being fed just barely enough, but they were lean. Not grotesquely so, but still notable if you looked. Perhaps a few missed meals away from showing ribs.

Excellent.

"We'll never tell you anything horn head! Pegasopolis will prevail!" A stallion exclaimed.

"Hm." I hummed noncommittedly, noting that the stallion who spoke seemed to be more filled out than the rest. "And what do you think I'll ask about?" I asked.

Keep him off balance.

"Wh- What- Bu-" he stammered, clearly expecting a different question. "You're supposed to ask about our strategy! About our leaders and how many we number!"

"Interesting." I said aloofly. "Why do you think I would want those answers?"

I was curious of course, but that information was ultimately secondary, and perhaps unnecessary compared to knowledge of their stores. All I had to do was withstand Pegasopolis' fury until they starved or surrendered. And in that regard the hardest part was already over. While the rest wouldn't be, in no uncertain terms, easy, by digging in and fortifying for the long haul, we ensured it would be harder for Pegasopolis to wipe us all out. Which had been made even harder, since I had apparently damaged some of the machinery that Pegasopolis relied on to make itself into an active storm.

Again, all I had to do was keep this army alive, and don't let the city escape. And on that front, the Commanders in Pegasopolis probably assumed they could still win, even despite the setbacks. And their honor wouldn't allow them to run while they still thought they could win.

Time was on my side for the moment.

The stallion sputtered some more.

"W-What kind of General are you?! What sort of Pony doesn't care about their enemies?!"

"What kind indeed." I commented. "And what would your name be sir?"

"Buwha-" The stallion's jaw opened and closed. "Uh... Wet Sleet. Captain Wet Sleet."

Figured. He was better fed than the others.

"Thank you Captain." I nodded. "I believe I got all the information I needed." I turned and left the holding area.

Even the guards watched me as if I had lost my mind.

"See if you can get a door for this room. They may be chained together, but I don't want them to sneak away if you're all called away. And make sure they get standard rations. I want them well taken care of." I told the guards as I passed by. "Now, would any of you stallions know where Gold Note is? I have an important appointment I don't intend to miss."

Chapter 107 The Memories Part 66

~~~

None of the guards knew where Gold Note was. So I began my walk back towards the protruding shoreline, anticipating that he may be nearby.

I didn't find Gold Note, but I did find the colt that worked under him. He was waiting nervously with the same hoofcart, including a meal for two, nearby my chosen shoreline.

"G-General!" he squeaked as I approached.

"Apologies for my lateness. I had things to attend to."

"I-It's no big deal!" he stammered. "Master Gold assigned me to this task!"

I looked him over.

He was gray, with an off blue mane.

"What is your name? If you are to supply me for this endeavor, I would like to find you should the need arise."

"Oh! S-Stygian General!" he nervously sputtered, giving a sloppy salute.

"Stygian..." I half said to myself, trying to put the name to his face.

"Y-Yes General." he nodded.

"Very well. You are to meet me here every morning with a meal for two on a cart for easy transport."

"Every morning?" He asked.

"Unless there's fighting happening then yes." I confirmed.

"Of course General." he bowed slightly.

"Excellent. Thank you. You may return to Golden Note until tomorrow." I dismissed.

"Yes General." he bowed again, turning and leaving me with the cart.

I sighed in relief as he got out of earshot.

Even now, after Casúrdomhain, it was strange speaking to fellow Peasants like a leader.

I pushed the thought aside and grabbed the cart's handles.

It was a bit late for breakfast, but I'd rather be slightly late than not giving them the chance to surrender at all.

I pushed the cart onto the outcropping, and pulled out the white flag that lay on top of the cloth.

"I wish to parlay!" I called up at the city.

Several Pegasoplian helmets crested the wall above.

A spear suddenly protruded in the dirt in front of me.

It wobbled as it finally came to a rest.

I looked up again, this time seeing the gleam of whole suits of armor as Pegasi dove towards me.

"We're under attack!" I exclaimed, picking up the cart in my magic and running back towards the trench.

Thankfully, Ponies must've been watching me, as several blasts of magic and spears flew overhead, keeping the swooping Pegasi off my back.

I came up to the covered trench.

... Oh that was a problem.

The boards kept the rain away, but you couldn't dive for cover.

"Get the boards off! We need easy access to our fortifications!" I exclaimed, Ponies around me milling about as the Pegasi swarmed overhead.

I ripped the trench roof off, pulling it up.

Below, the wide eyes of several Ponies looked up at me.

"Get rid of the coverings for the trenches! We need an easy way to get into cover!" I called down to them.

A few nodded, and began scurrying out of sight. Nearby the roofs heaved and was tossed aside.

I ran along on top of the trench, anything that wasn't moving I pulled off and tossed to the side. When it came to the patches of dirt that were clearly where the trench intersected with an underground room, I left those roofs.

We still needed places to hide from the rain after all.

Speaking of rain, I became aware of the ground around me seeming to 'plop' as raindrops hit the ground.

Pegasopolis was definitely attacking again.

"Everypony into the trenches! Spears up towards the sky!" I cried out, looking around to see what was happening.

Ponies were fighting closer to the shoreline, the Pegasopolians flying above out of reach.

Occasionally, several would swoop down, lifting one of the ground bound Ponies up. Most Ponies who had been snared, fought and thrashed wildly, forcing the Pegasi to drop them early.

Some however, were knocked unconscious, lifted into the sky, and dropped from a great height.

Bodies, Unicorn, Earth Pony, and even Pegasi as they were hit by spellfire or thrown spear, fell from the sky.

"Everypony to cover!" I called out again, drawing my sword. Several Ponies heard me and jumped into the now open trenches.

I took the opportunity to slide the cart of food through a doorway, hiding it underneath in a room.

"To me! To me!" I cried, trying to draw the attention of the ground bound crowd of Ponies near the shore.

Fortunately my plan worked, several Ponies began pulling their friends backwards.

Unfortunately, my plan worked. I drew the attention of the Pegasi above as well.

One lunged at me, spear pointed, and a warcry on her tongue.

"For Pegasopolis!" she screamed.

I caught her spear blade with the flat of my sword.

My knife flew out of it's pocket in my cloak, slashing across the mare's wings.

With a wing no longer working, she crashed into the ground and slid headfirst into the pit next to me.

She was wounded, so I left her to be taken care of by the Ponies below.

"To me!" I exclaimed again.

By now, all of the Ponies on the shore were falling back uphill, staving off the Pegasi as they slowly walked backwards.

The Ponies already on top of the hill were busy jumping into the trench where ever they could. Some of the boards hadn't been removed yet, but they were swiftly being taken care of.

As more and more Ponies congregated in the trench, the amount of spears bristling up and out of the ground increased.

Another Pegasi swooped at me, this time his spear had lightning dancing over the spearhead.

Rather than deal with that, I pulsed my horn, sending a wave of force up at the winged stallion, knocking him to the ground.

I lost sight of him as the shoreline Ponies finally made it to the trench, obscuring my vision.

I did see an Earth Pony mare rear up, and slam down though.

"Into the trench!" I called out, hopping my voice could be heard over the din.

Around me, Ponies were leaping down and taking cover in the trench.

No more Pegasi swooped at me, as I found myself in the middle of the crowd. But I did see them overhead. Milling about in midair flight.

They had stopped attacking, unwilling, or unable, to break the defensive measures.

I jumped down into the trench along with the last Ponies on the surface.

My world tightened as I took my bearings when I landed.

The trench was chaotic as Ponies jostled for room to move. Filling out whatever gap in the spear line they could. A seemingly endless parade of Ponies marched by, as the massive crowd from before spread itself evenly.

Above, the wind howled.

I turned my gaze up.

Pegasopolis was turning again.

But this time, the arms were held tightly close to the city.

I must've damaged something really important the evening before, if they weren't willing to risk it again.

I sighed in relief as the Pegasi stopped swooping, keeping out of reach of our weapons. Occasionally, a spear of light would reach up at the flying Ponies. But whenever that happened they swiftly avoided the area the spellfire had come from.

A break appeared in the Ponies who were moving along. I stepped inside and allowed myself to be swept along.

"Back to the city! We're just wasting our time out here!" cried a voice from above.

The battle of attrition with Pegasopolis had well and truly begun.

Chapter 108 The Memories Part 67

~~~

The rain didn't stop all day.

A river of water flowed constantly below, the irrigation ditch doing it's job funneling the water away.

While I was expecting another surprise from Pegasopolis, I took the opportunity to walk around the lake, keeping to the trenches. Ponies bustled around, getting used to living in the suddenly cramped space. After the Pegasi pulled back, the army had remained alert for an hour.

But after that the soldiers began to do their chores and assignments. A few occasionally climbed out of the trench to finish what they had abandoned. Several Ponies were posted where they could have a good veiw of the city. A few of those enterprising individuals had taken some of the old roof materials and constructed small overhangs that protected against the rain. Most however busied themselves tidying up and making their barracks more hospitable, but never more than a armlength away from their weapons.

As I walked, I kept an eye on the city above.

What were they planning? What was their next move?

I suspected, that they were starting to grapple with the reality that they would not be able to sweep us away.

Which left two options.

Try one final time to break us, or to simply move the city.

I would anticipate both.

As I passed by,the batteries of trebuchet, which were becoming more and more entrenched, I passed the word to ready the boulders, and aim high. Higher than they thought.

If the city tried to flee, we needed to be ready to keep it pinned. And that meant keeping the city in a "safe space" where the trebuchets 'couldn't' reach. If the city began to move, a furious enough barrage could convince the Pegasi that the safest place, was the area over the lake.

I got my answer midafternoon.

ZzRACK!

A bolt of lightning hit a trebuchet in the next section over.

BOOOOOOOM!

"Trebuchets fire at will!" I exclaimed over the sudden din. "Pegasi keep on the ground! Earth Ponies get your spears ready! Unicorns, focus fire on where the lightning is coming from!"

My warnings through out the day paid off, as the trebuchet emplacements all around the lake creaked and groaned as boulders were hurled upward.

ZzRACK!

BOOOOOOOOM!

A bolt impacted the far shore, making the arm of a trebuchet explode into splinters.

A speck of light formed on one of Pegasopolis' battlements.

"Unicorns! Hit that light!" I exclaimed, sending a ray of magic upwards.

FREEEEEEEEEM!

ZzRACK!

The bolt of lightning hit the spool of a trebuchet off to my left.

The sudden loss of tension caused the boulder it was throwing to launch backwards, and limply fell to the ground.

BOOOOOOOOM!

My ears rang.

Trebuchets around me wobbled and flung their missiles. Ponies reared and screamed as splinters from broken timber splashed over us all.

And I could hear none of it.

For the second time in as many days... I wondered why I was here.

I could only come up with the same answer as yesterday.

A mare off to my right flinched as a bolt of lightning crashed into the dirt in front of the trench.

Eternal Winter must be stopped.

I realized I had fallen onto my rear, and was no longer casting a spell.

I stood up.

"Keep together!" My own voice sounding like it was far away. "Unicorns! Focus your fire on where the lightning's coming from!"

I shot another ray at the spot the lightning had come from.

FREEEEEEEEEM!

Something exploded up on Pegasopolis' battlements.

"Hooray!" Ponies around me cheered.

"Don't give them an inch!" I screamed as loudly as I could, sweeping my spell across the distant battlements.

Spears of light lanced upward from Unicorn horns all across the lake shore, impacting the city and causing the clouds it was made of to glow with spellfire.

The trebuchets also did work, although the boulders were much harder to see compared to the flashes of lightning and Unicorn magic. But occasionally, you could see light reflect off the surface of one as it flew.

They were much easier to see as they got near the city. While most impacted the outer ring of reinforced cloud, several did fall short and fly underneath. But I did see a few flying over the city.

Debris fell from Pegasopolis in a macabre parody of rain.

My hearing started to sound normal again.

"Keep firing!" I exclaimed, letting loose another spell. "They can't fight forever!"

ZzRACK!

BOOOOOOOOM!

Something on a battlement facing another part of the lake exploded.

ZzRACK!

Another trebuchet off to my right exploded as it no longer could contain it's own tension.

BOOOOOOOOM!

The ringing in my ears returned.

I responded by launching another spell towards where the lightning had come from.

FREEEEEEEEEM!

At the very least I would force the Pegasi to take cover.

My world descended into a continuous blur, as I did nothing but direct the spellfire from the Unicorns near me, before joining in with my own power.

And just as suddenly as the lightning started. It stopped.

It took me a moment to realize that fire wasn't being returned.

"Cease fire!" I called out.

While the Unicorns almost instantly stopped, it took a little longer for the trebuchets to stop creaking. Even longer as the command filtered to the other sections.

Pegasopolis loomed above, ominous and silent.

What were they doing?

I was under no delusion that we had somehow slain everypony up there.

So why had they stopped?

"Reload! I don't think we're done yet!" I commanded, shouting towards the nearby trebuchets.

I saw a mare who looked in charge nod in my direction, turn and begin bellowing orders to her crew.

I looked back at the city above.

I could see no colorful dots of color above the city that would betray the presence of airborne Pegasi.

What were they doing?

What were they planning?

It slowly dawned on me, as I noticed that the terrain of the distant mountain slipped behind the city.

Pegasopolis was on the move.

"Open fire! Quick on the double! Keep that city in place!"

Author's Note

The vibe! https://youtu.be/mb2odFoqDOg?si=ATbkgewhS7sOv55v

Chapter 109 The Memories Part 68

~~~

This was the part I was most concerned about.

If Pegasopolis was able to escape, then everything we had already done here was for nothing. This fight would then devolve into a hopeless chase as we tried to keep Pegasopolis from restocking their stores.

That must not happen.

The Unicorns closest to me had already resumed firing.

I joined them.

FREEEEEEEEEM!

What remained of the trebuchet battery creaked behind me as they resumed their grim ritual.

Pegasopolis continued its quiet movement unabated.

All around the lake shore, the other sections must've noticed what I had as well, the sky was lit once more, as Unicorns poured as much magic into the cloud city as they dared.

Despite the lack of Pegasopolis returning fire in the form of more lightning, the Unicorn's onslaught was even more furious than before. Even further, the boulders that soared from the trebuchets added to the colossal amount of force. Now properly adjusted to the distance, the crews of the siege engines had no problems at all narrowing in on the city.

I took note of the fact no lightning was forthcoming.

Did the Pegasi lack the numbers to both shoot back and get the city to move?

What were they playing at?

The city continued to lurch across the sky.

"Give it everything you got!" I exclaimed, pouring even more effort into my spell.

Several Unicorns focused on where my spellfire impacted the city, making the clouds glow like an rough blade freshly removed from the forge.

I wished I knew how the city moved. If it was like the city's arms and mechanical in nature, then I could theoretically destroy it too.

But I didn't know.

An oversight on my part.

An oversight I intended to correct since roughly a third of my army was native to the city.

Pegasopolis didn't even slow down.

What could I do? Was there any Pegasi nearby to ask?

I glanced about, trying not to move my head as much as I could.

Actually... Where were they? I thought I saw at least a few nearby when this current mess started...

All I saw around me were Earth Ponies and Unicorns.

Where were-

A Pegasi in leather armor flew overhead like an arrow shot.

I had to stop firing to watch the Pony fly away. They were flying along the trench line, traveling along in the direction of Pegasopolis.

And the Pony wasn't alone.

It looked like every Pegasi we had had taken to the air, and flying ahead of the floating city.

W-What?!

What were they doing?!

It wasn't safe for them to be in the air!

What was-

A thought occurred to me.

A horrible, dreadful thought.

Was it possible, that every Pegasi that was in this 'Unified Army', was actually a spy for Pegasopolis?

Were they all betraying us?

But they weren't flying towards the city... They were flying ahead of it. Even as I watched, a vast swarm of the Pegasi had already gathered in the sky in front of the city.

What were they doing?

Were they waiting to rejoin Pegasopolis and not risk getting hit by the still oncoming boulders?

But if that was such a concern then surely they knew Unicorn magic was easier to turn right?

What were they doing?!

Several other Unicorns had stopped their assault and joined me in watching the Pegasi above.

Even as the the bombardment eased slightly, the Pegasi didn't move.

Just what were they doing?!

What could-

Pegasopolis had stopped.

I rubbed my eyes and looked again.

Pegasopolis had indeed stopped.

I couldn't believe it.

The city was nowhere near free from our trench line. They were still trapped! Why would they stop now?

Unless...

Unless they City wasn't stopping voluntarily...

I looked back at 'our' Pegasi.

I was... Missing something...

But what? What was I missing?

I squinted and held a hoof over my eyes.

The swarm of Pegasi hovered in place, but... They did so strangely.

I had seen Pegasi hover before, they usually did so while they were talking to ground bound Ponies. Their wings pumping in an easy beat.

But the distant Pegasi, were pumping their wings in strong, steady beats in time with each other.

It was then I realized what was happening.

Our Pegasi were blowing a wind against Pegasopolis.

Stopping it in its tracks.

A Pony somewhere cheered, and that caused a chain reaction of the whole lake shore erupting in cheers. I even joined in with a cheer. But even with everypony around me cheering, I didn't feel comfortable enough to do more. I didn't care however. I smiled as I turned and began walking back to the outcropping on the shore.

The timer until Pegasopolis fell had officially begun. And there was nothing the city could do about it.

~~~

Our Pegasi flew overhead once more as they returned to their posts. Ponies cheered as they passed by. It was uplifting, as I walked back to where I guess I was going to set up my command, seeing all the Ponies of different tribes cheering for each other.

The form of Captain Comet flew above me.

"Captain Comet!" I called out. He spotted me and zipped down.

"What can I help you with General?" he asked, hovering above the trench.

"We've actually got a few things to talk about." I stated, looking up at the stallion. "Can you find me in about an hour? I should be free by then."

"I can do that." he nodded.

"Thank you. See you then." I turned away and let the stallion continue on his business.

"I'll be there!" he called as he flew away.

I continued on my way, the protruding shore already in sight.

I really needed to give a name to that... I was tired of thinking of it as 'that particular part of the shore'.

I ducked into a bunker, as it connected to another part of the trench. As I walked through, I happened to notice a Pony sat on the floor.

"... Stygian?" I asked, suddenly realizing I recognized the colt.

Stygian looked up, looking haunted.

"G-General..." he stammered, performing a shaky salute.

"What happened? Why are you cowering in here on the floor?" I asked.

"I- I- I..." he began to sob. "I-It was so quick... The lightning... It just... She was just rethreading some rope in a trebuchet..."

Ah.

I sat down next to the colt.

"H-how do you do it?" he asked. "You're only a few years older than me... And you don't seem phased at all..."

I didn't need to wonder what 'it' was.

The irony of being on the opposing side of this very conversation was not lost on me.

Yet I was still wrestling with that very question myself.

How did I do it? I had already killed several Ponies in what I would consider a brutal manner. Choking out the Pegasus yesterday? Killing all of those Ponies in their sleep at Casúrdomhain? Hay, leaving that Unicorn in the stockade until he starved?

Hoarfrost?

I was a killer. Plain and simple.

Maybe Appleflower was right in that it was enough I had a reason to, stopping the Windegos and their Eternal Winter.

But that didn't mean my hooves were clean.

But Stygian was right about one thing. I was only a few years older than him. Barely a mare myself. Yet, I myself thought of him as a colt, as if I were an old mare.

"... Do you know how I killed my first Pony?" I asked after a moment of silence.

"I... No. No I don't." Stygian responded.

"My home village was one of those abandoned by the Unicornian Crown. We had two choices. Move or starve." I started. "I won't repeat the tragedy of the Hydra, I imagine everypony has heard about it by now... But when it was over and done with, there were only twelve of us left." I shifted where I sat. "We continued South, because what else were we to do? Until we came to the town of Ùllahdmaiden, which you've also probably heard of. A stallion by the name of Hoarfrost wanted to raid the village." I took a moment to preemptively calm myself down for the next part. "A vote was cast, as to who would be our new Reeve. Hoarfrost lost and my sister Tia won. But it split our group and Hoarfrost's group went their separate way." I left out the drama around Snow Step. It wasn't relevant to Stygian and added a whole new layer to this already delicate tale. "When the group that gathered around Tia, who wanted to barter with the Earth Ponies, approached the village, Hoarfrost appeared on a nearby hill and attacked the village by himself." I turned to see if the colt was paying attention.

He wasn't looking at me, but he appeared lost in my story.

"Ùllahdmaiden didn't take kindly to that. And almost ran all of us off. But as the Earth Ponies were charging, Tia started yelling at Hoarfrost. He didn't like that, and since he was still sore about losing the vote, wanted to teach Tia a lesson. He grabbed me, threatened to rape me and take me as his new wife."

Stygian inhaled sharply.

"I put my spear through his throat." I stated bluntly. "I was only nine."

"That's awful..." the colt gasped.

"In the end it wasn't so bad." I admitted. "Ùllahdmaiden took us in, I got an apprenticeship at the blacksmith, and the remaining six of us had lives again. But do I regret killing the stallion? Not in the slightest."

The thought of being a 'wife' to that Pony was abhorrent to say the least.

"But at the same time... I need to be careful." I looked up to watch several Ponies pass by. "Sometimes I see his face on Ponies. And I know what they tried. It was like that for that Pony I threw into the stocks at Casúrdomhain. The one that beat that poor kitchen colt."

"T-The one whose horn you-" Stygian stuttered.

"Yes." I nodded. "I wasn't striking that Pony in that moment, I was striking Hoarfrost. Even though he's been dead for seven years now." I admitted. "Which I guess is another way I handle what I do. I may have been aiming for Hoarfrost, but I stopped that Pony from doing the same thing to that colt or at least to another Pony. And that's how I know that I'm doing something good. If, for nothing else, I had done it to protect the colt, then I'm doing it to protect that colt. The same thing can be said here at Pegasopolis." I nodded around. "I'm at the very least here to stop Eternal Winter at the hooves of the Windegos. If we fail here, there will be no more Summers, and we all starve. I guess that's how I 'do it'. I'm trying to protect everypony, even those who I'm fighting against."

"I... I guess that makes sense..." Stygian sighed.

"Hey, you don't have to fight if you don't want to. At the end of the day, we're fighting so more Ponies can be like you." I encouraged.

"I- Thank you General. You've given me a lot to think about." the colt nodded.

"Anytime Stygian." I pushed myself up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got Ponies to protect."

Chapter 110 The Memories Part 69

~~~

"Smart Cookie!" I called out in greeting.

I had just left Stygian, perhaps two trenches ago. The... Breakfast spot? Surrender point? I'll work on the name. The outcropping was close by.

I could see Smart Cookie inside one of the underground rooms, sitting on a hunk of log and illuminated by a lantern.

"Luna!" she greeted with a smile, waving her hoof with a 'come here' gesture.

I obliged and entered the dugout.

Smart Cookie wasn't alone. Pansy, Clover, Short List, Gold Note, and an Earth Pony whose name I didn't know were present. The unknown Earth Pony had an unrolled scroll set on the flat end of a barrel. On it were scribbles that I couldn't immediately make sense of.

"Luna, this is Known Edge. A cartographer." Cookie introduced. "Known Edge, General Luna."

"A pleasure." I nodded.

"Likewise General." he bowed slightly.

"I have several things to bring up, but something tells me you've got more important things to say." I sat on the ground near Cookie.

"I'm... Not sure if it's more important, but we're delegating all the bunker rooms we have." Clover replied. "We had Known perform a survey and map out all of the trenches we have."

"Excellent. I approve." I nodded. "Did you need any input from me?"

"No, but we figured you'd like to observe." Gold Note responded.

"Ordinarily you'd be right." I nodded. "But I have several things that need addressing. Will you still be here in about an hour?"

"Should be." Pansy nodded.

"Great. I'll be back then." I stood back up and let them continue their work.

I trotted through the dugout and left on the opposite side, passing a group of Ponies as they carried a few bags of what looked like grain.

Short List was no longer an option so who could- Ah!

"Captain Rock Garden!" I called out. The steel plated mare looked up from her discussion with a subordinate.

"General." she greeted with a slight bow, before turning to the stallion she was speaking with. "Return to me when you're done." She turned back to me. "What can I help you with General?"

"Would you happen to know where my banners are kept?" I asked.

"Oh... I think so." Rock Garden hesitantly replied.

"Good. I'd like them put up during the night." I nodded.

"Uh... General? Are you sure that's a good idea? I'm not sure the Ponies will like fighting under a banner with the Moon..." Rock Garden put forward.

"I recognize that possibility." I nodded again. "However, as much as our Ponies don't like it, imagine just how damaging they would be to Pegasopolis' morale when they see it in the morning."

"I'll... I'll pass the word on." she nervously agreed.

"Thank you. Would you happen to know of anypony who needs to talk to me?" I asked.

"I think Gold Note wanted to talk to you, but you just came from that direction." the Captain commented.

"Yes I spoke with him. And unless you've seen Comet within the last few minutes I'll probably be heading back to him."

"I have not." Rock Garden shook her head.

"Alright then. I'll be in that meeting for the time being then. Thank you for your time." I stated, letting the mare return to her duties.

It may have been a small thing, that most probably wouldn't have gone out of their way to do. But flying the Moon banners directly after we stopped the city from escaping? Oh that was definitely a message they'd listen to.

And the sooner they gave in the happier everypony would be.

I turned back and reentered the dugout.

It was no surprise when the group looked at me with confusion as I sat down again.

It had barely been a minute since I left.

"I need to wait for somepony. Until then I can listen in." I said, gesturing for them to continue.

"Er... Right." Gold Note hesitantly continued. "So if we were to make this bunker into a barracks-"

Captain Comet Trail chose that moment to fly through the entrance I had originally entered through.

"General? Are you free right now?" he asked.

So much for me trying to attend this meeting.

I sighed.

"Have you guys set aside an office or something for me yet?" I asked the group.

"Oh! Uh..." Clover looked over the map. "Will this room do fine?" she pointed at the map still set on the barrel.

"Is that near here? I'd like to be close to that outcropping on the shore if possible." I asked, leaning over to examine the map.

"Yes. It should be right through there." Cookie pointed deeper into the dugout we were in. It was barely noticeable, but the occasional light of another lantern would illuminate another doorway, revealing more rooms hidden beneath the soil.

I memorized the room Clover had pointed at and figured the fastest route to it from where I thought we were currently.

"Then it should do excellently." I nodded. "Captain? If you'd follow me, I'd rather have this discussion in private."

"Yes Ma'am." he saluted, landing on the floor.

"I'll try to return when I'm done." I said to the group. They nodded and went back to their discussion.

I lit my horn and wandered into the maze like structure the army had built within the past day.

While it was clearly unfinished, I could already see hooks in the boards above where lanterns were meant to be hung. We would pass Ponies occasionally, wedging stout timbers between the floor and ceiling, making pillars and support structures. One team we crossed, was busy modifying the ceiling, making an chimney for air or fire. I wasn't sure which quite yet. But finally, I lead us to the room I thought Clover had gave me.

It wasn't a large room, but it wasn't small either. Enough room for me to set up a cot or bedroll, maybe a spare crate as a planning table, with some room to spare so I could hold meetings to run the siege as we finally settled into routine.

I would have to inquire about getting some sort of door however.

"I'd offer a chair, but I haven't gotten the chance to get any yet." I commented, hoping to lighten the mood.

"I'll let it slide General." Comet replied. "So what did you want to discuss?"

"Several things." I started, sitting on my haunches so I faced the door and Comet at the same time. "First and foremost, I'd like to apologize. Let me finish." I waved down the interruption he clearly wanted to interject with. "You know at Casúrdomhain we had a spy in our midst. But I wasn't sure if the same was true here under Pegasopolis."

"... You suspected me." Comet concluded.

"I did." I nodded. "But the actions the Pegasi took today tell me otherwise. If any of you were a spy, it would've been foals play to let Pegasopolis escape. Clearly none of our methods of stopping the city were working, despite our efforts. But all of you stopped that, putting an end to my doubts." I put a hoof to my chest and bowed slightly. "So I humbly offer my apology for distrusting you."

"I... I can understand where you're coming from." Comet sighed. "I accept your apology in the spirit in which it is given."

"Thank you. With that out of the way, that brings me to my second reason for asking you here. I've been under utilizing the Pegasi, relying more on Earth Pony seige engines and Unicorn magic to win the day. If this United tribe idea is ever going to work, we all need to work together equally. So if you have any suggestions in which I can better lead this army, I'm willing to listen."

"I'll have to give it some thought. Though I can understand why you've been keeping us grounded, especially during the assaults."

"Thank you. That leads me to my final note; It occurred to me while Pegasopolis was trying to escape, that I have no idea how the city is built and where its weak points are. I don't want to destroy the city utterly, but if we can cripple it in anyway we can it'll make our lives easier until they surrender. Yes I know what I'm asking, you probably grew up in Pegasopolis. But I cannot stress enough how much I'm trying to save all the lives I can, on both sides. If you could get to me details of how to stop the cities weapons and movement, we can end this fight all the earlier."

"I understand." Comet nodded. "I was there when the Windegos attacked, I only survived because I happened to see the bright firelight from above. I know why my homeland needs to surrender."

"Thank you." I sighed in relief.

That could've gone a lot worse. If Comet was being truthful, and I suspected he was, he was firmly on our side.

"Now, do you have anything you'd like to add?" I continued.

"Not yet, I'll get back to you about Pegasi strategies and some diagrams drawn up for you to study." the stallion replied.

"Excellent. I look forward to those conversations. Until then, dismissed."

Chapter 111 The Memories Part 70

~~~

Just because the 'hard' part was over, didn't mean the rest was easy.

The rain started again that night, but no lightning or Pegasus sneak attack accompanied it. It was coming down so hard, the watch Ponies looked like they could never hope to be dry again.

In a way, it was a tactic similar to my erecting the Moon banners that same night. To eat at our morale.

The next morning, I took my breakfast once more underneath the city, at Breakfast Outlook. I couldn't think of a better name so I just combined the best two.

No Pegasus came down to join me, but they didn't attack again either.

If there was any response to the Moon banners fluttering in the gale the city didn't show it. But I kept them up anyway.

As hours turned into days, and days weeks, we all settled into a sort of routine.

Raids were common, Pegasi would swoop from above to deal whatever damage they could. Their main objective however were our food stores. But they were well hidden and kept small on purpose, so the raiding Pegasi never got away with more than a few hooffuls of food before they were driven off.

Lightning and trebuchet Shots would be exchanged on a semi regular basis, but never for very long. Just enough to keep the other side distracted while wasting as little as possible.

The rain however never stopped.

It pounded the ground so much that the underground rooms had to be regularly sealed to be watertight with various tars and saps harvested from local trees.

Above ground, you could scarcely believe there were thousands of Ponies nearby. If it weren't for the occasional chimney for air or smoke, or the watch Ponies keeping an eye above ground for Pegasi trying to dig their way in, you wouldn't have realized there were any Ponies at all.

When on duty, Ponies would patrol the trenches, guard the trebuchets and entrances, and keep watch on the city. When off duty, the soldiers lived in the underground rooms. It was like a miniature city all around the lake. Everything from bakeries to blacksmiths was present. The fires from these workshops helped drive away the damp cold that the rain tried to drive inside. The soldiers slept in barracks, went on duty outside, and would retire at the end of their shift to various commons rooms, which were used as a communal space to eat and entertain themselves.

Music was common, as many soldiers kept some sort of instrument on them as we traveled. Some soldiers started offering various services to each other, like farriering or darning clothes. Some took to gambling, but while I personally didn't like it, I allowed it to happen. Provided it was all monitored by disciplinary officers.

A few enterprising Ponies started breweries. That was the hardest 'disciplinary' decision I had to make. My personal opinion aside, I did not want my soldiers drunk and unable to fight. It all came to a head when some Ponies got into a drunken brawl.

I put the brawlers on latrine duty for a month.

As for the stills, I had confiscated and given to Gold Note.

My ruling was that one ration of alcohol once per week per Pony would be supplied by the Quartermaster's staff.

No Pony was happy with that, but they didn't complain when I pointed out I could ban the substance entirely.

Thankfully, it was rather rare for Ponies to be brought before me for disciplinary measures. Most of the Captains could handle the more minor cases, only giving the worst to me for dealing with. They would come to my quarters, I would interrogate them for a bit, and sentence the guilty party. Most often they came in for fighting each other or stealing from the stores, which I strictly prohibited due to my strategy of attrition. I would put them in a stockade, that usually was enough. But I did have to sentence another hanging. The culprit had murdered one of his comrades.

I left his body to hang from the gallows all day, so everypony in the army would know the consequences as they walked by.

As for my quarters, I managed to get a cot to go along with my bedroll. As well as various stout logs to use as chairs around an empty crate I had commandeered, on which permanently sat a map of the area, underground tunnels and trenches included.

My day usually went something like this.

I would wake up, just after dawn. Go have breakfast underneath the city with the white flag I had started to keep on my person. When I was done, I would return, give the extra breakfast to the first Pony I saw. Which was usually Stygian or Gold Note. I would then walk a lap around the lake, personally checking to see how each section was doing. When I got back, I would look over any of the nonurgent reports, and plot. I usually skipped lunch, It didn't feel right for me to have an extra meal when the common soldier only got breakfast and supper. I would try to hold a meeting with my Captains, listening to any concerns or ideas they had. One of the ideas I approved of was an old Earth Pony invention. When Pegasi and Earth Ponies used to wage war, the Earth Ponies would take a long copper rod, and stick it into the ground to draw away the Pegasi lightning, protecting themselves.

I had them put up several of the copper rods, mainly protecting the areas around the trebuchet batteries.

It worked like a charm.

I would then usually have my dinner, stay up late going over the day's reports, and then fall asleep. Only to repeat the whole process the next day.

Of course, I was often pulled away from this routine. Usually by something urgent like another raid or an inspection.

It was on such an inspection where I made a mistake that would haunt me.

Chapter 114 The Memories Part 73

~~~

"Change of plans." I stated as I got back. The waiting crowd watched me with shocked eyes. "I want all the chefs and bakeries to prepare a feast!"

The crowd suddenly erupted into a cheer, not expecting my decree at all.

"If at all possible;" I continued when the cheering started to die down. "I want the smells to be so good they smell it up there! If they won't listen to reason they can listen to their stomachs! But remember! Keep your weapons close by! This war isn't over yet! Additionally, if anypony comes and surrenders, they are to be allowed food from the feast! But keep them under guard and do not allow them to return to the city! "

I was sick and tired of being wet all the time, of sleeping on shitty cot, and most importantly, I was sick of killing my fellow Ponies. While I knew I still had to break Unicornia as well, at least I'd be done with Pegasopolis.

I assume I had been heard, as the crowd began to break up, but it was hard for me to know because nopony immediately came to acknowledge me.

I turned and began to walk away.

To where I wanted to go, I didn't know. But now I felt restless now that the end of this particular nightmare was almost over.

"Luna?" came the voice of Clover behind me. "Are you ok?"

Yes. No. I don't know.

"Just tired of being under this bucking city." I mumbled, not looking at the light grey mare.

"Oh... Well um..." she hummed, thinking of what to say. "D- Did you need anything then?"

Yes. I needed to take yesterday back. I needed to take my mistake with the thief back. But as learned as Clover was, even she couldn't do that.

"C-Could you just stay near me?" I asked quietly.

Oh why did I just ask that?! What a weird thing to ask of her! But at the same time... I didn't want her to leave. As much as I didn't feel like talking, I didn't want to be alone.

"Oh... Um... Sure Luna. I can do that." Clover replied.

"Thank you." I quietly responded, continuing on my walk.

Around our rather somber procession, the Ponies around us bustled with new life. For the first time in weeks, the soldiers were actually excited for something. As such, word spread quickly throughout the whole camp. The rank and file Ponies would rush by, heading to any groups of soldiers that weren't excited. Occasionally, I would see one of the Ponies I recognized as Gold Note's chefs or bakers. While the majority were likely still in their kitchens, these Ponies must've been on break. A Pony would run up to these chosen Ponies, and have a quick conversation. The kitchen Pony's eyes would suddenly widen, and then they'd scurry away.

The news spread like wildfire.

But still, I walked slowly. Just walking my usual route around the lake.

Clover faithfully followed.

I felt bad for dragging the mare around with me. But the thought of being alone wasn't as appealing as it was last night. I wasn't sure if if was my personal feelings towards Clover, or if I just needed a friend, but if she veered away, I probably would've started following her in turn.

Moon and Stars... How pathetic was I? Regardless of my feelings for the mare, she deserved better than me.

Sure Ah've done things Ah ain't proud of, but when everything was said and done, Ah found mahself in a place to stop others from repeating mah mistakes.

The words of Appleflower came back to me.

Thing's I'm not proud of... Was that what she was talking about? I certainly wasn't proud of killing that poor mare. But finding yourself in a place to stop others from making your mistakes...

I suppose that was one of the reasons I was here anyway. To unite the tribes and protect the innocent from Eternal Winter.

I had a made a mistake, I wouldn't deny it. And I couldn't take it back, as much as I wanted to. The only thing I could do was to learn from my mistake.

And never repeat it.

I continued my walk.

By now, the news had overtaken us., and the nearby Ponies were busy preparing for the coming feast. Most couldn't, as they were on duty or busy with something else. But a few off duty Ponies had volunteered to haul supplies to and from the kitchen.

Already I could smell freshly kneaded dough and lit ovens.

It was only a matter of time before the smell of fresh bread would begin drifting up towards Pegasopolis.

Stars... I hope they surrendered.

The sky brightened as the day progressed, but it still remained perpetually grey with the oncoming rain.

We passed by one of Gold Note's underlings, organizing a gang of Ponies removing several foodstuffs from storage. The mare held a birch bark scroll in her magic, a sliver of charcoal furiously scribbling across it as Ponies removed crates and sacks from underground.

We returned to Breakfast Outlook, from the opposite side after about two hours. By now, the preparations were in full swing. Already there were loaves rising on ceramic sheets, set on crates even above ground. Ponies ferried the crude sheets in and out, going in with puffed up blobs of dough, and leaving with empty sheets. Said empty sheets would be placed near one of several groups of Ponies, who had a big wad of fresh dough, and tore small bits off, rolling those bits into balls and placing them on the sheet. The then filled sheet would be taken and set somewhere where another sheet had just been removed to be taken to the underground oven.

Bread was by far one of the more lengthy food items that needed to be prepared. And since it was also a staple in the army's diet, the process of making it was well practiced at this point.

We walked by without stopping.

I still felt awful about the mare yesterday, and I wasn't sure I would ever feel the same again. But I now took solace in the fact that I would endeavor to do better.

I would do better.

"General Luna!" called a voice.

I turned to see Stygian cantering towards me and Clover. He looked excited about something.

"Stygian? What's the matter? What's wrong?" I asked as he drew close.

"Nothing wrong!" he said excitedly. "But we have a visitor! Your sister's here!"

Chapter 115 The Memories Part 74

~~~

A column of soldiers marched into our warcamp. Earth Ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns all. Their weapons were shouldered as they marched by uncontested. Ranging from spears to shovels. The difference between my soldiers and these new soldiers was stark. While the marching column appeared relatively fresh and clean, the dirt and grime from traveling notwithstanding, the soldiers I had grown used to were worn, muddy, and looked like they had never seen a bath tub or running river in their life.

I realized I wasn't much cleaner.

The familiar colors of pink and white stood above the procession, on a cart that had pulled off to the side.

"Tia!" I called out, cantering forward.

My sister turned to see who had called, she wore an Earth Pony style breast plate with a simple traveling cloak.

At first confusion crossed her face, likely because she didn't recognize the filthy Pony running towards her. But her face lit up as she realized who I was.

"Lu!" she exclaimed, jumping from the cart and landing in the mud below.

We embraced, surrounded by soldiers both old and new.

And for a moment, the awful feeling in my stomach went away.

"I missed you Tia." I murmured.

"And I you." she replied.

We held each other for another few moments before seperating.

"So... Um... How've you been?" I asked awkwardly.

"Busy." Tia replied with a sigh. "Everfree City has been expanding with all the refugees. I've been working at all hours of the day getting things figured out."

"Everfree City?" I asked with no small amount of confusion.

"Oh right. A vote was held. It was between 'Everfree', as in forever free, and 'Ponyland', as in the land of Ponies." she nodded. "The consensus was Everfree was a better name for a city, but Ponyland would be a better name for a united tribe."

"Everfree..." I said slowly, testing the feel of it on my tongue. "I like it. It makes a degree of sense, being free from the mistakes of our past."

"I agree." Tia nodded. "Anyway, Everfree City got so many refugees we had to start making up jobs so everypony was actually doing something. That was when word got back to us that you defeated Grandmaster Ebony Rain at Casúrdomhain."

"Hm." I hummed, nodding.

"Somehow, the idea of a second call for volunteers got around and we started getting more volunteers." she shrugged. "Since you had already bested one of the remnants of the old tribes, we decided to make it official and started raising reinforcements for you. But it looks like we were too late to help with Pegasopolis." she remarked.

"Uh... Heh heh... Funny you should say that..." I awkwardly put forth.

"How do you mean? I've only been here for ten minutes and I already know you're holding a feast."

"It's... A bit more nuanced than that." I said nervously.

Stars above... How was I going to explain this?

"So as you know, nopony but a Pegasus can enter Pegasopolis." I started.

From the beginning would be best.

"I'm aware." Tia said slowly.

"So, since we can't actually attack the city directly, I opted for a... Alternate way to attack the city. We can keep them here, but we can't step hoof in the city. So I decided to use the supplies I took from Casúrdomhain to starve the city out. The feast I'm throwing is to tempt the defenders into surrendering, which I have reasons to believe is likely." I sat on my haunches and tapped my hooves nervously.

How would she react? It was a brutal method, one that didn't discriminate between peasant and soldier. But I didn't see another path forward.

Perhaps I hadn't learned my lesson from the peasant thief after all...

Tia's eyes were wide in surprise.

"I... See..." she said eventually.

"I know it wasn't exactly what you wanted when you gave me this task." I continued to explain. "But I've been giving them a chance to surrender every morning. Breakfast for two, brought to Breakfast Outlook every day. I try to goad them into surrendering by offering food everyday, but when they refuse I come back and give the spare meal to the first Pony I see. Usually Stygian here or Gold-"

"If you've been offering them a chance to surrender everyday, why do you think they're close to? Sun knows how much food they have stashed up there." Tia interrupted, looking up towards the foreboding city.

"That's..." A flash of a dying mare's yellow eyes. "If I must talk about it, I'd rather do that in private." I admitted.

"... Why Lu? What's wrong?" she asked, concern tainting her voice.

"Tia please... In private." I responded.

Tia looked like she wanted to protest. But something in my voice must've stopped her because she looked at me with concern in her eyes.

"I... Ok Lu." she said softly. "I put you in this position because I trust you. So I'll trust your judgment."

"Thank you Tia." I replied with equal softness.

Our conversation fell into a lull, which wasn't that much of a lull considering the sound of a moving army nearby.

"So..." Tia broke the silence. "Interesting camp you have." she nodded towards the lake.

I looked over to see what she was talking about.

I snorted in amusement.

From our vantage, the camp looked like a wide swathe of bare mud only broken up by the odd ditch, which I knew to be the trenches.

"Come then. I'll show you how we've lasted so long." I gestured for her to follow as I turned to trot towards the camp. "The wind's not bad right now, but that changes when they come raiding. Same thing with the rain, except that never stops." I started to explain.

"Never stops? What do you mean, 'never stops'?" she asked.

"The last time I saw dry weather was when we first surrounded the city." I shrugged.

"Then... How-" she began.

"Oh that's easy. Follow me." I jumped into the trench we were approaching. I looked up to see Tia's face appear over the lip.

"Whoa..." she gasped, seeing that the 'ditch' wasn't a ditch at all.

"Earth Ponies have been fighting Pegasi for centuries, and they developed a few methods to keep them at bay. Come on, there's more to see." I gestured for her to join me.

She hit the floor of the trench rather sloppily, but I knew she wasn't practiced so I didn't bring it up.

"We had to excavate most of this while Pegasopolis was trying to drown us out." I continued. "Beneath these boards, the trench goes a bit deeper, providing an irrigation system that feeds back into the lake." I pointed off in the direction of said lake. "Would've drained away elsewhere, but the valley's low point is directly underneath Pegasopolis." I started to walk down the trench, leading Tia onward. "The trenches extend all around the lake, providing cover from Pegasi above. Trust me, it's a nice place to be when they swoop down."

"That's all well and good, but where is everything else?" Tia asked as we passed a group of Ponies on their way to their posts.

"See for yourself." I grinned, pulling a door open.

In Tia's defense, it looked very much like boards were keeping the trench wall intact.

I ushered Tia into the bustling common room. Lantern light illuminated her agape face as she beheld all the Ponies.

"You've... Your whole camp is underground..." she gasped.

"Yup." I nodded, leading her further into the dugout. "I knew it'd be necessary from the start. With all the rain and wind we would've been miserable on the surface. Nevermind how much we'd need to replace with the lightning."

"I see." Tia hummed, dodging around a stallion that took advantage of the space I was making.

"This way. It'll be calmer deeper inside. We can talk in my quarters." I said, holding open another door for her, for we had crossed the room.

"Thank you... You have quarters?" she asked as she went through the door.

"Yeah. Is there anything wrong with that?" I asked.

"No! I'm just surprised is all. I wasn't sure if you'd stay with the other soldiers or not."

I mean... She wasn't entirely wrong with that. If I were one of the rank and file I wouldn't have batted an eye. I'd have hated being near so many Ponies, but I wouldn't have complained due to the circumstances.

"It's been nice to have a place to meet Ponies privately." I explained, following behind Tia and letting the door close behind me. "It's also been nice to have a place to keep things that should be kept secret." I trotted quickly, to continue leading Tia to my quarters.

"You don't have to justify it to me Lu. I have a similar situation at City Everfree." Tia nodded. "Running the city as Mayor is exhausting with so many Ponies."

"At least you don't have to worry about another Mayor wiping you out." I commented, leading her into another common room, this one sparsely populated, mostly filled with various containers, and lit by only a single lantern.

"Small blessings I suppose." she chuckled.

"This way." I said, turning around a stack of barrels.

Ahead, the door I had come to know intimately, stood resolute in the wall. I approached and held the door open for Tia. As I did, my emotions tried to overwhelm me.

"We can have that private conversation in here." I said, fighting the sudden wave inside my chest.

Keep it together... Keep it together just a little longer...

"Oh? I thought it'd take longer to get here..." Tia remarked stepping inside.

"I uh... Uh... Sometimes need to rush outside for something." I excused, getting a handle on the emotions for a second.

"Are... Are you alright Lu?" Tia asked, suddenly sounding concerned.

Instead of replying, I closed the door behind me. The feeling started to rise again, sensing that it was about to be unleashed.

I didn't even consider my bed. I went for the loose stump usually reserved for guests.

"Lu? Luna!" Tia exclaimed as I flumped onto the crude stool.

I told her everything.

Chapter 116 The Memories Part 75

~~~

I came to crying into Tia's chest. At some point we had both moved to the bed, sitting on the edge.

I tightened my arms around her, not willing to let her go quite yet.

"Are you going to be ok?" Tia asked, her voice soft.

That was the question now wasn't it? Would I be ok? Strangely enough... I did feel... Better.

"Y-Yeah..." I sighed, pulling away from Tia. "I'm better now."

"Are you sure? If you need to I can make somepony else General-"

"No!" I interrupted suddenly. At Tia's shocked expression I started to explain myself. "I- I Don't want don't want my mistake to be for nothing... I'd rather have made the mistake and work to not repeat it than have somepony else do it over and over again." I reasoned.

"I- I see." Tia nodded before pulling me into another hug. "I think that's very noble of you Lu."

"Thank you Ti-"

I was interuppted by sudden knocking on my door.

"Stars..." I quietly cursed, rubbing by eyes to wipe away any remaining tears. "Come in." I stated loudly when I felt calm and presentable enough.

The door opened to reveal one of the messenger Ponies.

"General! Come quickly! There's been a development!"

~~~

A crowd had gathered on the lake shore, gazing up towards the city. Work had ceased entirely from what I could see. One Pony had even dropped a clay baking sheet that had been full of risen dough, staring in awe upwards.

I brushed past a pair of Ponies, Tia followed behind me.

Something fell into the middle of the lake with a distant splash.

On the battlements above, a swarm of Pegasi had gathered, but they didn't seem interested on the ground below.

I glanced around, noticing that several of my Captains had gathered loosely around me.

"Do we have a spyglass I can borrow?" I asked. Captain Comet hoofed such an item to me. "Thank you." I nodded to him, before lifting the glass to my eye.

The scene above was an odd one. The Pegasi weren't interested in us indeed. Instead, they were all looking inwards on their own keep. I couldn't hear them, but it also looked like they were shouting.

As I watched, a disturbance split the crowd.

At first I couldn't decipher what was happening, because it looked like a brawl was happening, but I couldn't tell who the Pegasi were fighting.

But then I saw that it wasn't so much a brawl, as a mob ganging up on a single Pony.

A Pony who had a Commander's crest.

The Commander, a pink mare, fought like a demon, even from this distance I could practically hear her snarls. But there were just too many rank and file soldiers.

The Commander fell down, and was swarmed.

Feathers that matched the Commander's coat colors erupted out of the pile.

When I next saw the Commander, her legs were hogtied together, and her wings were bloody and missing most of her feathers.

I swallowed as the Commander was lifted up by the mob and brought towards the edge.

I took the spyglass away from my eye as a pink shape was thrown over the edge.

"Here you go Captain." I gave the spyglass back to Captain Comet.

"Ma'am? Should we do anything?" he asked.

Should we do anything? If I had my Pegasi rescue the Ponies being thrown off Pegasopolis, then the Pegasi above would just stop throwing them.

The pink shape hit the water, almost exactly where the first splash happened.

And we didn't know what was happening.

Why were they throwing Ponies off the edge of their city?

I chewed my lip in thought.

"Captain, how many Ponies have they thrown?" I asked.

Another, bright blue shape dropped from the sky city.

"Uh... I think that's the seventh one." he replied.

"Do you know their ranks?"

"The few I've seen have been Commanders or Generals." he responded.

Curious...

It had been the on shift Commander this morning that denied my offer hadn't it?

"Don't rescue the thrown Ponies." I ordered. "I have a theory."

"Aye General." he saluted.

"Relay those orders immediately, and then you're to accompany me at Breakfast Outlook in a few minutes." I continued.

"Yes Ma'am." he kept the salute up.

"Excellent. Dismissed." I nodded. The stallion disappeared in a flurry of feathers.

I looked around for Smart Cookie or Short List.

"I'm impressed Lu." Tia's voice sounded from beside me.

I turned to look at her.

She was looking at me with a small smile.

"Impressed? Impressed about what?" I asked.

"The Luna of yesteryear would never have commanded another Pony so confidently." Tia smiled.

"Oh." I realized. "Uh, thank you Tia." I gave a curt nod.

I certainly felt like I had changed since yesterday, but had the Luna of merely a few days ago been the same as the Luna of last year? No... I didn't think so. Last year's Luna had only killed one stallion. The Luna of a few days ago had killed several, and had ordered the deaths of many more.

It was a sobering thought.

What would I be like tomorrow? Next month? Next year even?

I obviously wouldn't know until then, but it was harrowing.

I spotted the baked dough coloration of Smart Cookie, watching another colorful shape fall from the city.

"Tia, could you stay back here for a few minutes? I don't want you in harms way." I asked.

"Oh." Tia said, slightly taken aback at my subject change. "Yeah ok." She stated, taking a step back as if to say 'do what you must.'

"Thank you Tia." I nodded softly. I then turned towards the figure of Smart Cookie.

"Cookie!" I called out when I was a few lengths away from the mare. Cookie turned to regard me.

"Oh hey Luna!" she greeted. "What can I help ya fer?"

"I have a suspicion about what's going on above, I'm about to go to Breakfast Outlook to contact them. Do you want to come?" I asked.

Cookie smiled.

"It would be an honor Luna." she grinned.

"Excellent." I returned the smile, pulling out my white flag, and turning towards Breakfast Outlook, where the form of Captain Comet was already waiting along the way.

We quietly walked down the shore, where Comet joined us as we approached.

He didn't say anything but he nodded in approval at the presence of Smart Cookie.

I led the way forward, flanked on either side by both. Comet to my left, Cookie to my right. We came to a stop where I normally set the cart.

"Hey!" I called out, waving the flag above my head. From here I could hear the shouts of the distant Pegasi, but they must've been too busy to hear a single Unicorn on the ground.

As evidenced by a flailing bright yellow shape that fell towards the lake.

Shouting again would do no good.

So I lit my horn.

FREEEEEEEEEM!

The ray went straight up, passing by the battlements harmlessly.

The heads of several Pegasi poked over the battlements nearest to me.

I noted that not all of them wore helmets.

"Parlay! I ask for parlay!" I shouted, waving the flag again.

All of the heads withdrew.

They were probably talking with each other. So I decided to wait.

My patience was soon rewarded, for a minute or so later a trio of Pegasi in armor leapt over the battlement, their wings extending as they did so. As they descended, I noticed that all but the lead Pony were unarmed, who held a spear in his hooves, but held a white cloth torn off something in his mouth.

They approached the ground slowly, taking care to not be seen as aggressive as they landed on the very edge of the lake.

The lead Pony approached, his head low and his ears flat against his skull. He spat out the white cloth and spoke as he came close.

"I, the most senior commanding officer of Pegasopolis, Sergeant Flash Magnus, surrender on behalf of all of Pegasopolis."

He lay his spear on the ground at my hooves.

"I accept your surrender Sergeant Flash Magnus." I spoke loudly and clearly.

Pegasopolis had been broken.

Chapter 117 The Memories Part 76

~~~

The citizens of Pegasopolis were in dire straights.

Indeed, the Commander who I had last spoken with hadn't been lying.

They had resorted to cannibalism.

Roughly a third of the total population had starved to death, and had been subsequently eaten.

Several of my Pegasi had taken me up in one of their chariots. I wasn't able to leave said chariot, but what I saw was enough.

The streets were dirty and uncared for. Grime had accumulated in the nooks and crannies of the admittingly impressive structures. But the worse part was the bones that you'd occasionally see in the dark corners of the city.

Not only could you see the marks of Pony teeth, but they had been boiled clean to make soup.

I shuddered to think how many times you had to boil bones to make them utterly clean.

It had gotten so bad, the only reason Pegasopolis had surrendered in the first place was because the citizens and the common soldiers had revolted against their own congress and officers.

Those were the Pegasi that were having their feathers torn out and then thrown over the edge.

The only reason they weren't thrown into a pot themselves was because the calls to surrender had been so common and loud, that the admiralty had enforced a strict curfew. The citizens could only leave their homes at noon for their rations of watery soup.

The plan was to execute the officers and politicians and immediately surrender.

But I had interrupted that plan when I shot my ray upwards and drew all of their attention. As such, we now had nearly a dozen officers and former members of their congress as prisoner, who hadn't been thrown over the edge yet.

I didn't hesitate to allow the starving Ponies access to our stores.

The prisoners I had already taken had been appalled by the state their comrades were in. While they had been well fed, and even provided decent living quarters after the first time I had talked to them, the Pegasi fresh from Pegasopolis had their ribs showing and a haggard, haunted look in their eyes.

Needless to say, it didn't take much goading to secure their loyalty after seeing their fellows.

After that, the feast I had initially ordered to force their surrender quickly grew into a victory festival.

With Pegasopolis emptied of its inhabitants, the long sealed storerooms and stowed wagons and carts were once more brought to the surface, providing makeshift stages for musicians and amateur actors to perform. The tables that had been made were even brought up, letting the Ponies feast around honest campfires to the open evening sky for the first time in nearly a month.

I didn't even bother controlling the flow of alcohol.

Let them celebrate. Stars knew I wanted to. Maybe not with ale or dance, maybe a small celebration with my closest confidants instead. But I sat in my quarters throughout the whole event. Pouring over a map I had been provided of the city of Unicornia and scheming.

After the slow crawl of the siege with Pegasopolis I knew my soldiers needed to relax, but I couldn't. My task was not yet completed.

After Casúrdomhain and Pegasopolis, I was confident that I could sack Unicornia. But I didn't want to get complacent.

Somepony at my door knocked as I was placing pebbles around the map I had been given. I had gathered a sizable collection of pebbles to act as pieces for me to plan with. Currently, I had a sort of dark grey collection gathered in and around Unicornia, and three different pebbles along the edge. Brown for Earth Ponies, white for Pegasi, and light grey for Unicorns.

"Come in." I called out, glancing over the map and all the pebbles I had placed.

The door creaked open as Captain Comet poked his head in.

"General?" he asked. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes." I nodded. "Come in and take a seat." I nodded.

The stallion tentatively entered, allow the door to close behind him. I carefully slid the Unicornia map off to the side, not disturbing my pebbles and looked up at the stallion as he sat down.

"So... What's this all about?" he asked.

"A few things I want to bring up with you actually." I started. "In your opinion, how's the state of Pegasopolis? Both the city and the Ponies."

"Oh... Uh." he rubbed the back of his neck. "It's hard seeing the city like that. It was always so well kept and tidy when I was a colt..."

"How about the structure itself? How damaged is it?"

"Oh that held up pretty well all things considered. But I wouldn't rely on using the city if that's what you're planning there."

"How do you mean?"

"Well... Ok, brief history lesson." he started to explain. "Pegasopolis was founded by the Alicorns, before the Flight. So it was made with their magic. Magic we Pegasi have since forgotten."

"Hm." I hummed in thought.

"We can maintain and fix it, but anything that is destroyed is lost forever. That's why Pegasopolis isn't risked as much as you'd think."

"I see." I nodded. "So it would be a bad idea to use it in the fight against Unicornia?"

"A very bad idea." he replied. "I'm not even sure if the wound you yourself gave it can be fixed. The pieces of that arm may not work properly ever again."

"Shit." I swore.

I was still certain I could take Unicornia without Pegasopolis, but I'd have preferred to have it with me.

It would've been nice to be behind the lightning rather than in front of it for a change.

"So what would you recommend in regards to the city itself?" I continued.

"Well..." he breathed, his eyes looking away in thought. "I certainly wouldn't take it with us to Unicornia if that's what your thinking... But the weather workshops still work. If you send the Pegasopolis South to Everfree City, growing weather for the farms can be made to increase the harvest while the City is being repaired."

"That's certainly a possibility." I agreed. "How many Ponies would it take to crew the city? To take it South I mean."

"With any degree of speed? Around 200 minimum. You can get it going faster with more though."

"How long would it take with 200?" I asked.

"Two weeks? A month maybe? It depends on the wind."

"I see..." I trailed off in thought. "How about the inhabitants then? How are they?"

"They've been through a lot. I wouldn't put any strain on them if you can help it." he shook his head.

"I agree." I nod. "But that leads into my next question, where do you think their loyalties lie? If I were to put them back into Pegasopolis, along with enough food for the journey, would they take the city South without going rogue?"

"That's..." The stallion trailed off. "A bit harder to say. I could see most of them doing it no problem. Especially after we saved them from starvation. But there'll always be the few who like the old ways. Those ones might convince the rest to continue raiding."

"Yes. That's what I'm afraid of." I nodded.

"Ah." he responded.

"Here's my proposal;" I continued. "You, 200 Pegasi soldiers you trust, and the Master Weathersmiths, take Pegasopolis South. You then lead the garrison and keep Pegasopolis above Everfree City. Get some laborers from the populace and clean up the city. If you get it up and running quick enough, you can bring it back North to assist with Unicornia. Maybe not as a front line option, but as support."

The stallion's eyes were glazed over in thought.

"... Yeah. That could work."

"Excellent. Did you have anything else to add-"

Knock knock knock.

"Luna?" came the voice of Tia from behind the door. "Are you still working Lu?"

I couldn't help but sigh quietly.

"Come in Tia." I called out.

The door creaked open again as Tia's head appeared.

"Lu I- Oh! I didn't know you already had a visitor." she said, her ears pinning back in embarrassment.

"You're fine Tia. I think we were just finishing... You didn't have anything to add did you Comet?" I asked the stallion who looked between me and Tia.

"Uh... N-Nope! All good!" He awkwardly smiled.

What was his problem?

"Excellent. Then you have things to do and a feast to attend." I waved him away.

"Uh... R-right!" he jumped off the stool and brushed past Tia. "Pardon me Mayor Celestia." he nodded respectfully as he left out of the door Tia still partially held open.

"Come in Tia. You're always welcome here." I waved a hoof, gesturing that she could enter.

"That's... Partially why I'm here Lu." she said, not entering the room.

"Oh?" I asked, curious on what she meant.

"This party out here is yours as much as it is your army's. Why are you cooped up in here like a chicken?" she asked.

"I'm busy thinking over how I'm going to take Unicornia." I said simply. "I don't want to celebrate when my job is still unfinished."

"But Lu! Unicornia is weeks away on hoof! You'll have plenty of time to do that while on the road!" she protested.

"No I won't." I stated. "Everything that can go wrong will go wrong, and it'll fall to me to decide how to fix it."

"Lu you have Ponies to deal with that." Tia chided.

"Look Tia... Ugh." I rested my head on the crate I had made into a table and put my hooves over my head. "I- I'm sorry. But I can't allow myself to enjoy it until I'm totally done. And that won't be until after Unicornia."

Tia looked at me sadly.

"Lu... Are you sure? You don't have to stay the whole-"

"Tia." I interrupted, looking up. "Please."

"I- Alright Lu." she said sadly, backing up towards the door. "I'll... See if I can save you a plate."

"Thank you Tia. I appreciate it."

The door clicked shut.

Chapter 118 The Memories Part 77

~~~

The road to Unicornia was long. It was now late Summer, which boded ill if we couldn't take the City of Unicorns before Winter.

I didn't want to tire out the Army, but I most certainly didn't want to freeze in a tent all Winter long.

But for the size of my force, I think we made good time.

Puddinghead had finally gotten her act together, and had joined us with a few thousand Peasant volunteers soon after we left Pegasopolis. The Pegasi, who had been left behind when Captain Comet took Pegasopolis South, also had joined us. They were malnourished, but I made a point of making sure they were being well fed as we marched.

I didn't know exactly where their loyalty lay, but I did my best to buy it with good food.

Shockingly, we entered Unicornian territory unchallenged. There were a few meager villages of course. Barely more than 20 Ponies apiece. I tried to coax them away from their homes with the promise of food and a safe life down South, several of them even accepted and joined my Army. But a few refused and kept to their hovels.

One village even had the gall to chase me with a rake. I left that village alone, despite the hostility. I wasn't going to stoop so low as to be a marauding warlord.

To prove it, I even put a Pony in a stockade when they tried to burn another village down.

I wasn't going to be another tyrant.

But one day... We discovered something unexpected.

Tia and I were sitting in the lead cart. Watching the landscape roll by, looking for potential ambushes or villages to recruit.

"Stop the cart." Tia said suddenly to the stallion and mare who were currently pulling. The wordlessly rolled to a stop as Tia stood up and began looking around.

"Tia? What is it? What's wr-" I started to ask, but stopped half way through my sentence.

I had, by sheer happenstance, inhaled slightly through my nose.

It was barely a whiff. Hardly there at all. It even smelled so much like any other of the forests we had traveled through.

Yet... Something... Something about this forest awoke long forgotten memories.

Tia jumped out of the cart, her breastplate clattering as she hit the ground. Her nose was in the air, sniffing.

While the cart Ponies were watching her act strange, I understood what she was doing.

I even jumped out and joined her.

"Is that-" I started to ask.

"Yes." Tia responded, walking into the woods.

"W-Wait! We- Ugh!" I groaned. "Stay here." I told the Ponies pulling the cart.

"As you wish General..." The stallion muttered, watching the trees on either side of the path.

I dove into the brush after Tia.

She had rushed ahead, almost out of sight as she wandered past the trees.

Strangely, despite the rather rough terrain, my hooves found sturdy, and easy to reach stones to step on.

I knew this place.

I almost glided through the brush effortlessly, even as I passed by fallen branches and tangling ferns that surely would've sent me sprawling if I tripped over one.

In fact, a crash behind me informed me just that happened, as several of the soldiers decided to follow to guard their Mayor and General.

I stepped over a hidden root effortlessly.

Ahead of me, Tia had come to a stop at the edge of a clearing.

A clearing I was certain we both knew well.

I wordlessly came up behind her and stopped.

Ahead, lay the dilapidated ruins of Queensford.

~~~

The village had certainly seen better days. Over half the huts had collapsed in the seven years since I had seen it last. The paths, which I remembered to have been dirt well worn enough to keep the grass from regrowing, was now overgrown with the ferns and grasses of the local area. Despite that, the mud and wicker that the collapsed huts had been made of stuck up out of the knee high plants.

We passed by the still intact hut that had once belonged to Torchwood.

I was tempted to go inside, but doing so felt like I would've been disturbing a grave. So I walked past the hut without comment.

Tia continued ahead, but I found myself stopping in front of another ruin.

I looked over to see the collapsed hut that had once belonged to Hoarfrost.

I didn't even hesitate to spit on the slate that had once been the doorstep.

"Good riddance." I growled softly to myself as I continued my way through the former village.

My next stop was at something I didn't remember.

Somepony had piled a bunch of rocks in a sort of oblong shape outside the still standing home that had once belonged to Mrs. Amethyst. The door had been torn off its hinge, so I didn't feel bad about peering inside.

All I saw was the long abandoned shape of an old rocking chair.

I glanced back towards the pile of rocks, noticing for the first time that somepony had erected a sort of sun effigy at the end closest to the Mrs. Amethyst's hut.

I realized right then that it wasn't a pile of rocks.

It was a cairn.

While I suspected who had been buried there, I wasn't certain. So I moved on.

I found Tia standing outside of another collapsed hut.

I didn't need to wonder why she had stopped here, because I was going to as well.

This had once been the home of a disgraced Princess of the Realm, of a retired adventurer who had settled down, of one Nebula Glow.

It was the hut we had grown up in.

I resisted the urge to dig in the ruins. The one item I might've wanted to recover hadn't been lost here.

Sir Snuggles had been lost in the wild.

"Mom had to have stashed away some of her things from the Palace." Tia remarked. "Like a spellbook or some of her Warmage robes."

"If she did, I doubt it would've been inside the hut. One of us would've come across it at least once." I replied.

"Where else could she have put them? You don't just get rid of such things when you're one of the few who can use them."

"I don't know what to tell you Tia." I shook my head. "If you want to try and find anything I won't stop you. But we both spent so much time in there I doubt there's anything we could've missed. Especially since we were two curious fillies who got into everything." I turned and walked away, content to let the ghosts of the past rest in peace.

Author's Note

:pinkiegasp:
https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 119 The Memories Part 78

~~~

Unicornia was the jewel of the North. Its tall walls of white granite gleamed in the sunlight as the city rose off its mountain top. The roofs of the city looked almost to be delicate in their intricacy, the eves of carved stone gently curving into majestic swirls and facades of filigree. Banners of all colors hung from the various high towers. Signifying which Noble House they belonged to. But from the highest tower, which was in the very center of the city, waved the flag of the Crown of Unicornia.

The distant gate closed as I watched from a nearby ridge.

As it shut, a translucent shield flickered into existence, forming a bubble around the whole city, and shimmering as it fully stabilized in the bright sunlight.

"Orders General?" Captain Short List asked from my side.

While he wasn't much of a fighter, he had been most excellent managing the upkeep of the camp during the Siege of Pegasopolis.

"Make camp behind this ridge and out of direct sight." I began. "Dig a trench along the ridge, I don't suspect we'll be using it as often as we did in Pegasopolis, but it'll serve as a fine defensive measure should we need it. Catapults and siege engines behind that. Prioritize the trebuchets because of their range." I listed off. "And fly my banners. I want them to know I'll be having none of their Sun worshiping nonsense."

"As you wish Ma'am." he bowed slightly, backing away to pass along my orders.

"Captain Flash." I called out.

The stallion that had surrendered Pegasopolis to me stepped forward.

"Ma'am?" he asked.

I hadn't been too sure about him at first, but Comet had vouched for him as his own replacement while he had taken Pegasopolis back South. His reason was something about being in bootcamp together. And thus far Flash had not disappointed me.

"I want a patrol of Pegasi around the city. Watch for anypony trying to run. If you can, I want the troop numbers inside the city, but keep your distance. I don't want to lose a whole patrol because somepony got cocky."

"Yes Ma'am." the stallion nodded.

"Captain Bright Shine." I called next.

"General." the mare dourly nodded.

"How sure are you of your soldiers' shields? We'll be needing them more than ever here."

"I'm not entirely happy with their state, but given the circumstances and the amount of training we've had to do I can't complain."

"Set them in Short List's trench then. I want them to keep the fire off our camp."

"Yes General." she nodded again, stepping back.

"Captain Appleflower?" I called next.

Appleflower steped forward, her new Casúrdomhainian steel prosthetics gleaming from fresh polish.

She was the one I wanted here the least. While I didn't want Tia here either, she at least wasn't a cripple like Appleflower. But I hadn't been able to dissuade either of them.

"How are your recruits? Could they handle a charge?" I asked.

"Aye. I'd reckon they'd do just fine." she nodded.

"Position them in the trench then. Provide a deterrent in the form of a possible counter-charge." I explained. "It'll be the exact opposite of Pegasopolis. The Crown is going to hold back and pound us until their defenses are broken. Then and only then will they take to the field."

"Aye General Lu." she nodded respectfully.

I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat. Appleflower was a Pony I considered my friend, and I really did not like treating her like a soldier.

"Captain Hurricane? Smart Cookie?" I called finally.

Cookie and the former 'Commander' stepped forward. Hurricane saluted smartly.

She had accompanied Tia when she had brought the reinforcements. I would've been a fool to waste her experience.

"Aye General." Hurricane said as she saluted.

"Would you both care to accompany me as I ask for parlay?" I asked.

"Wouldn't miss it." Cookie smiled.

"Aye Ma'am." Hurricane reported.

"Excellent. Shall we then?" I asked, pulling out my freshly cleaned white flag from my cloak.

And like that, the three of us descended the hill we had topped.

The valley between us and Unicornia was a grassy plain. A welcome change from sunbaked rock and wet mud, although I wasn't sure how long the grass would last.

It was about two thirds of a mile to the City walls, and the three of us spent the time quietly as we trotted across the distance.

The city's shield glimmered as a smaller door in the giant gate was opened, producing four Ponies in gleaming gold.

We stopped our trek at about half way to the gate and let the four Ponies approach.

"You are trespassing on the sovereign soil of Unicornia! Turn back now or suffer the consequences!" cried a mare's voice as they drew near.

"Well well well." I tsked sarcastically when I realized I knew two of the Ponies before me. "Look who it is."

While two of the gold clad Ponies had held back, likely because they were there as merely guards, the two mares that had stepped forward were ones I knew exceedingly well.

Emerald Gleam and Sapphire Shine stood before me, now fully grown and bearing the helmet crests of senior officers to the Crown.

"I'm surprised you survived the Windegos Sapphire. I thought everypony who ran away didn't make it." I grinned, happy as happy could be that these Ponies in particular would be my opponents. "But I guess everypony can be wrong can't they?"

While Emerald's eyes hardened, Sapphire's eyes grew wide as she began to shake.

"L-L-L-Lu-" she stammered in fright.

"Begone from our land Night Traitor!" Emerald snarled. "We know what sort of monster you are!"

"Oh interesting." I commented. "And what, pray tell, kind of monster am I?"

"Do you think me blind?! I can see those Moon banners of yours!" Emerald exclaimed, pointing behind me.

I looked behind me to see that indeed, my Moon banners were being raised above the hilltop.

I looked back at Sapphire and Emerald.

"And?" I asked.

"And? What do you mean 'and'?!" Emerald screeched. "And nothing! You're a heretic! A filthy heretic! I'm going to enjoy crushing you all and hanging you in particular from the gate!"

At least we could agree on that. I was going to enjoy taking my vengeance on the two before me.

"So you aren't surrendering then?" I grinned.

"What?! No we're not surrendering!" Emerald exclaimed angrily. "If anything you should surrender! Maybe I can convince the Queen to be merciful and only burn you at the stake!"

"Sorry Emerald. I must decline." I grinned. "You see, I have things I need to do that don't involve being burned or hanged. Come on guys. We're wasting our breath here."

I turned and walked away, straining my ears for the tell tale scrape of hooves on the ground.

Oh please. Please give me a reason to draw my sword right now. I may be here to prevent Eternal Winter, but I'd be lying if I said fighting Emerald and Sapphire wasn't the cherry on top.

But they didn't attack when I turned my back. Instead they huffed and returned back to their city.

Cookie and Flash followed me, not having said a word the whole time.

"So uh..." Cookie started when we got out of ear shot. "I take it there's some... Bad history between the three of you?"

"Bad history?! I'm surprised we didn't see the start of a blood feud!" Flash said in awe.

"That's one way to put it yes." I nodded. "We were born in the same village, and they tormented me the whole time I was a filly."

"Ah..." Cookie sighed. "I guess that explains your end... But what made them hate you so much?"

"No clue."

We made it back to the burgeoning war camp without issue.

"Change of plans." I announced when I passed by my waiting Captains. "I want a rotation of Unicorns and trebuchets hitting that city at all hours." I stated, trotting past. "Pegasi, see if you can rustle up a few thunderclouds. I want you to squeeze as much lightning out of them as you can get. If that shield isn't being pounded day and night then I'm going to be very upset. Dismissed."

I continued my trot, towards the nearest form of the setting up trebuchet.

"Luna?" called a familiar voice.

I stopped with a sigh.

"Yes Tia?" I asked without turning around.

"What happened? You seem... Tense." Tia remarked.

I guess she'll learn sooner or later anyway.

"... Guess who's the commanding General for Unicornia?" I asked.

"Uh... I'm not sure I know anypony who would-"

"It was both Emerald and Sapphire." I stated, fighting down a growl that threatened to escape.

"... Really? Aren't they a little young to be commanding Unicornia's forces?" Tia replied.

"Look Tia. I don't know what to tell you. They're the ones who came to parlay, and they both wore high rank marks."

"Lu please. I'm only trying to understand." Tia said sadly.

I sighed.

She was right. Tia wasn't the one I was mad at.

"I'm sorry Tia." I admitted softly. "I know it's not fair to you. I just need some space is all."

"... What are you going to do with that space then?" Tia asked.

"I'm going to help erect the trebuchets. And then I'm never giving anypony in that city a chance to rest or sleep until they give up or break." I admitted.

"Be careful Lu. I gave you this duty to make them surrender, not slaughter everypony in those walls. I don't want you to condemn all the innocent Ponies inside because of two Ponies you happen to know."

"I know Tia." I said sadly. "I'm trying."

I didn't give Tia a chance to respond, I continued on my way, now feeling slightly deflated.

But...

Letting the ghosts of the past rest be damned. Until they gave up... I was going to make Emerald and Sapphire suffer.

Now, with some wind back in my sails... I strode forward once more.

"Hello." I called out to the foremare of this trebuchet battery. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Oh General!" the mare looked up from where she was unspooling a length of rope. "Um... If you want to help, you can help me thread this rope through the loops."

"Yeah. I can do that." I smiled.

Author's Note

:scootangel:

Chapter 120 The Memories Part 79

~~~

I didn't have the barrage happen right away.

Oh no.

I waited for the Sun to set before I first exclaimed.

"Fire at will!"

And once more, timber creaked, rope groaned, sparks and rays emanated from the Unicorns in the trench. And some Pegasi had even found a small rainstorm that they were utilizing.

Zzrack!

FREEEEEEEEEM!

BOOOOOOOM!

The night lit up with the flash of lightning and spellfire, causing the distant city wide shield to ripple and flex.

I smiled maliciously.

Sleep tight Emerald Gleam and Sapphire Shine.

"Keep it up." I stated to the foremare watching me, crawling off the crate I had climbed to get a better look at the city. "Keep them on the defensive but remember to pace yourselves! I want them tired but I don't want you killing yourselves to make that happen."

"Yes General." the foremare nodded.

"Excellent." I turned to leave. "If you need me then, I'll be in my tent."

"Very good Ma'am."

I cantered away, leaving the mare to her devices.

As I walked towards the tent Clover had assigned me, I couldn't help but admire the light show of spell fire flicking across the grassy plain between us.

Perhaps it was morbid of me. Maybe even cruel. But I couldn't help but feel... Happy. I had no doubt in my mind that Emerald and Sapphire wouldn't be getting sleep tonight.

Zzrack!

BOOOOOOOM!

As evidenced by all the ripples running across Unicornia's shield. Any bit of misery I could inflict on them felt like I was avenging a long gone filly that could do nothing against those two.

I reached the nondescript tent that Clover had shown me earlier in the day, while I was taking a brief rest. It was close to a large tent, which I assumed was going to be a command tent.

I guess I'd no longer have the luxury of having my own space where I could have private conversations in...

Oh well.

I closed the tent flap behind me and flopped down into the cot that I had used at Pegasopolis. There was even the same crate I had come to think of as 'the table'.

I fell asleep to the thought of Emerald and Sapphire running all over their city, trying to keep their soldiers from breaking.

And failing.

~~~

All things considered, the next week passed rather uneventfully. True to my predication, Unicornia did not attack directly. Oh sure, there were a few times the Unicorns could squeeze off a spell or two, whenever they could squeeze a shot through their own defensive needs. But they take to the field.

I suppose they expected me to stop the barrage at some point, which would give them the opportunity to properly return fire.

They were wrong.

With as many Ponies as we had, I figured we outnumbered those inside the city perhaps three to one, we had plenty of freshly rested Ponies to take the place of Ponies who were asleep on their hooves. The only issue on that front was the lack of experienced crew for the trebuchets. But it was easily remedied by spreading the experienced crew around to teach those who had never operated the engines before.

The line of Unicorns on our side was comparatively easy to manage. Those experienced with spells were being fed mana by those who didn't know how to cast. While granted, it was harder to teach those spells when you were focusing on casting them yourself. They also tired more slowly because they weren't relying on their own mana.

So the pressure never abated.

On the storm front, pun not intended, I had the Pegasi start saving their stormclouds the morning of the fourth day, when the shield began to wobble dangerously. My thought process was, they only rarely could contribute to the barrage due to the scarcity of decent clouds that the Pegasi could get lightning out of. So while they were very effective, overall they contributed little. So I decided to save what shots I could for when the shield broke, and then use what lightning that had been saved more effectively. Namely, I was going to use all the lightning that the Pegasi could muster on a single portion of the wall to break through.

Unlike Casúrdomhain and Pegasopolis, Unicornia didn't have the ability to effectively repair their walls. No, the stone that had made up Unicornia's walls had all been stolen from Earth Pony mines. While yes, there were Unicorn stone masons in Unicornia, they lacked the expertise of Earth Ponies to adequately do more than passively maintain what undamaged stone they had.

So when Unicornia's shield finally broke - Not if, when - I was going to use the lightning to blow a hole clean through the wall and compromise the whole city.

I even had the spot I'd focus on picked out already.

I had a few Pegasi fly high above the city, and draw maps on some parchment. Giving me the inner layout of Unicornia beyond the walls.

The gate itself would've buckled under the lightning, but it was also the most heavily defended place if the outer wall was breached. Instead, I opted for a place in the wall that one could almost miss noticing. It wasn't out in front, but tucked off to the side next to the mountain Unicornia sat next to. Additionally, the city on the other side of that portion of the wall was much less busy than the others. I suspected they were either the slums or warehouses that stored goods useless to the war effort.

My only concern about that portion of the wall, was that I wasn't sure if the lightning would be enough to blow through and make the opening I needed.

During the fifth night, I sent out a team of Earth Pony miners to examine the site.

"Move slow, and stay low." I had told them before sending them forward. "With luck, if you're seen they'll mistake you for a boulder."

They then returned to me just before Sunrise.

"Th' w'll is sturdy alr'ght. But ya kin git through ifya t'ke oout th' bottom. It'll coll'pse kw'cker th'n ma ma's casserole fr'sh outta th' oven."

The stallion's thick accent aside, I was very happy with his report.

I had a chisel, a hammer, and a rock with a weak point.

All I needed to do was wait for the right time to swing.

Author's Note

https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 121 The Memories Part 80

~~~

I woke up on the morning of the sixth day to welcome news.

I climbed out of my tent and stretched in the open. Grunting as I managed to crack my hip.

"Ah..." I sighed as the tension in my pelvis disappeared.

The camp was busy as it had been for the past week. The Ponies were well practiced by now with how I wanted the camp to be operated and settled back into the routine we had established under Pegasopolis easily.

The only difference was the camp was still clean, and mercifully dry.

Or at least I certainly didn't miss the rain.

Another improvement I noticed, and it wasn't because of anything we did, was my morning patrol was now much shorter. Now that I didn't have to walk around a whole lake, my patrol only took ten minutes to complete, leaving me so much more time to see to other things.

And today I was going to use that time.

While on my patrol, I was extremely pleased with the state of the distant Unicornia.

Even when nothing was hitting the shield, it was wobbling dangerously. I wouldn't have been surprised if it fell before noon. Maybe within the day at the very most.

The time to strike was imminent.

"Captain Magnus!" I called out, the first Captain I had seen this morning.

The stallion had been watching the trebuchets, occasionally looking towards the city to see the rock bounce off the failing shield.

"General!" he cried when he looked to see who was calling his name.

"Anything new to report?" I asked, cantering up to the crate on which he sat.

"Well, as you can see;" he pointed towards the city. "That shields about to pop."

"How long has it been like that?"

"About an hour or so." he nodded.

"Excellent. Have you started getting your forces ready for a counter attack?" I asked.

"I have not General. I wasn't sure if you wanted to draw this out like you did Pegasopolis." He slide off the crate to stand on the ground.

"Do so. We don't have the luxury of waiting here." I replied.

I didn't fault the stallion for thinking of the possibility. He had after all experienced its effectiveness first hoof. But Winter was coming, and I had used up much of the supplies from Casúrdomhain. Even back then, we outnumbered the Earthbreaker Order, so we burned through their years long supply of food quickly.

"Yes Ma'am." he nodded before taking to the air and flying away.

Now I needed to find a few other Ponies. Appleflower and Bright Shine.

I hummed quietly to myself as I started to walk amongst the tents.

I knew both of them would be up by now, and that they would stay near the front. All I had to do was systematically search every row of tents.

I found Appleflower walking amongst her aspirants as they donned looted scraps of Earthbreaker armor.

"Ah Luna!" she called, as she had seen me first.

"Appleflower!" I greeted as I trotted forward. "Just the Pony I wanted to talk to!"

Appleflower was sitting on the ground, her good front leg pawing at the dirt.

"Am I to expect it's because o' that?" the giant mare gestured towards the city and its failing shield.

"Indeed." I nodded. "I wanted to make sure your recruits are ready to counter attack."

"Thought so." Appleflower nodded in return. "Don't you worry General, we'll be ready when that shield comes down."

Something... About the way she said that felt off...

"'We'?" I asked.

"Course! Didja think I was gonna wait here and let the greenhorns take the glory?" she asked.

"B- But Appleflower." I stammered, momentarily losing my calm.

She was NOT supposed to be coming with.

"Your legs..." I said quietly.

The giant snorted in response.

"Don't you worry about me none. I ken take care o' myself." She said gruffly. I was about to reply when she held up her good hoof to stop me. "'Sides. I ain't lookin' to grow old like this." She waved the metal prosthetic slightly, causing it to clank. "Ya don't understand having this little Lu. I ain't able ta do what I could jus' a year ago. An' I figure this'll be my last chance for one last hoorah 'fore I can't no more."

I swallowed the lump that developed in my throat.

"Appleflower." I said quietly. "If that's the way you feel, I won't stop you. But a wise Pony once told me that there's more to life than seeking death. And I don't think she'd be so keen to see you go."

Appleflower snorted in amusement.

"Really? Using my own words against me?" she chuckled.

"Is that wise Pony wrong?" I rebutted.

"Tell you what Luna." Appleflower put a hoof on my shoulder. "I'll go. But I'll do my damnedest to come back in one piece. And when I do, I swear to ya I'll take off my armor fer good."

"A lot can go wrong in a fight."

"Aye. That it can." the giant nodded. "But I'm the second hardest mare I know. I'm confident I'll be alright."

"Only the second? Who's the first?" I asked.

"You." she chortled. "Never in a thousand years did I think Casúrdomhain or Pegasopolis was going to fall. Much less both in the same year, to the same mare. The same mare, might I add, who's looking to add the third an' final notch to her belt to complete the collection." she nodded back towards Unicornia. "The same mare who fought a Hydra as a filly and bucking won." She shook her head, as if unable to beleive the words coming from her mouth. "No matter what happens to me, or to you fer that matter, I'm proud of you Luna. I'm proud to call you both my friend, and my General." She beamed at me, tears running from the corners of her eyes.

I... What could I say? What could I possibly say to my suddenly emotional friend?

"I-" I tried to speak, but couldn't find the words. "I- Don't know what to say..." I admitted.

Her tears nor her smile disappeared.

"Then don't say anything." She beamed. "Let's both come back and celebrate your victory."

"Our victory." I corrected. "I'd have never accomplished so much on my own."

"Aye, maybe. But it's gonna be your name who Ponies will remember." She smiled one last time before wiping her eyes dry. "But that's enough o' that. We both got things ta do ta get ta that victory feast."

I suddenly felt hit with how to respond.

"Then before I go, know I couldn't have had a better mentor Appleflower. You taught me how to properly fight, and have given me the wisest words I know. And I will never forget that. Thank you."

Moon Mark be damned. I reached over and gave her a hug.

I felt her good hoof press against my back as she returned the hug.

It was only a momentary thing, but it felt like hours before she let go and gently pushed me away.

"Off you go now. Go on git. I ain't got time to foalsit little fillies." she mock angrily stated.

"An' I ain't got time for stubborn ol' mares the likes of you!" I replied cheekily, mimicking her accent.

"Bwhahahahahhahaha!" the giant full belly laughed. "Oh you're still a right scamp you are!" she continued to chortle, wiping her tears again. "But seriously, go on git. We both got jobs ta do."

I had to bite back the retort of 'Since when were you General?' Because... She was right. But that didn't mean I couldn't mess with her a bit more.

"By your leave then Captain." I bowed slightly, earning a snort for my efforts. But Appleflower gave no further rebuttal, letting me turn and walk away with the reward of a wry grin on my face.

That stubborn old insubordinate mare was right. There was more to life than seeking death.

I just hoped said stubborn old insubordinate mare got the chance to live that life when all was said and done.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. As much as I didn't want them to go away, I wouldn't be able to act on them if I wasn't focused on the task before me.

"General Luna!" called a voice off to my left.

Who-?

I turned to see Stygian cantering towards me.

"Oh! Stygian! Good morning!" I greeted.

"Good morning General... I um... I have a favor I'd like to ask of you." he stated.

What? By the stars what was this? Stygian had never been comfortable around me before. What could he possibly want from me now?

Unless...

Was this a trap of some sort?

Stygian was after all a Unicorn whose past I knew little about. And here we stood, before the gates of Unicornia itself. Was the colt actually a spy? He may have proven helpful during Pegasopolis, but until I knew more I could not give him the same amount of trust as I did then.

"Oh? And what might that be?" I asked, taking effort to remain neutral and not betray any of my inner thoughts.

"So um... I was thinking about what you told me... When you found me in that dugout under Pegasopolis..."

What was he playing at?

"I remember." I nodded thoughtfully.

"So I was thinking... I want to do more to help than just being a servant... But I don't want to fight. So... I was hoping if you'd allow me to be your standard bearer..." he sheepishly admitted.

Oh.

Could he do something harmful while doing that? A flag staff was only a sharpened point away from being a spear after all... But I trusted a lot of Ponies with weapons whom I didn't personally know all the time. It came with the territory of commanding an entire army after all. So where would being a standard bearer put him? Next to me? Did that mean he was looking to be an assassin? But why now? He had plenty of opportunity to poison me at Pegasopolis...

Did that mean he was being honest?

I needed more information...

"Disregarding your employment under Gold Note for a second, what do you expect to do as a standard bearer if I said yes?" I asked.

"Well... Um..." He nervously started. "I suppose I'd be following you while carrying your banner."

While I wasn't entirely against the idea of having a legitimate standard bearer, I just wasn't certain I would chose Stygian.

"Just so we're clear, you do understand that would mean following me as I fight right? I don't want to say yes and put you in harms way if you don't expect it."

What I was saying was technically true. Even if I could trust him, Stygian wasn't... Stygian was an innocent colt. He had been scarred enough by being under fire from Pegasopolis. I didn't want to put him in harms way anymore than I had to. And I didn't want to delude him or myself, being in a melee would be much more horrifying than being shot at with lightning.

"Yes I've thought about it." Stygian nodded. "But I keep coming back to our conversation, about keeping innocent lives safe." he put a hoof to his chest. "While I haven't killed anypony before, I've seen war. Would it not be better then to take the standard myself and spare another colt or filly from seeing that?"

Oh Stygian you naive fool. You've been under fire yes, but you've only seen the aftermath of a grand melee.

"Stygian." I calmly said. "Being in the thick of the fighting isn't the same as being shot at." I shook my head. "If you do come, not only can I not guarantee your safety, but somepony will try to kill you. And if you aren't prepared to defend yourself they will succeed."

"Yes. I understand." Stygian nodded. "But somepony's got to do it, especially if we really want to be a United Tribe. So it might as well be me."

I didn't like his reasoning... But I couldn't fault it.

"... Alright fine. You can go get yourself some armor and a pike to tie a banner to. But I want you to understand, I tried to warn you."

Stygian swallowed.

"Y-Yes I understand."

Oh why did you have to say that?

"Then off you go. Be by my side within the hour. That shield's about to go down and I want to be one of the first inside the city when it does."

"Yes General." he did his customary bow and went off to perform his task.

Oh what had I just done?

I was already regret-

"What the?" I asked myself as I saw something concerning out of the corner of my eye. "Tia?"

The familiar form of my sister was standing outside one of the tents. But said form was covered head to hoof in armor. She looked to be having breakfast, but her eyes were locked on the distant City of Unicornia, glaring daggers.

"Tia?" I asked again.

Tia seemed to snap out of a trance, looking around before her eyes settled on me.

"Oh! Lu! Sorry I wasn't paying attention... Do you need my help?" she asked.

"Uh... Actually, I think I need to be asking that of you Tia. Are you alright?" I asked in turn.

"Oh! Never better actually!" she grinned, but it didn't reach her eyes.

Something... About her wasn't quite right.

"Uh... Huh." I said slowly. "Then could I ask you why you're wearing armor?"

I didn't want Tia anywhere near that city. I dreaded the thought of Appleflower or Smart Cookie or Clover or Pansy already being in there when the fighting started.

But I didn't know what I'd do with myself if anything happened to Tia.

And unlike the rest of my friends, Tia had a much more important role than even I had.

"Oh I'm going to join you during the counter attack!" Tia happily stated.

"No you're not Tia." I stated firmly.

The look that fell onto Tia's face broke my heart.

"What?! Why?!" she cried. "Shouldn't I be able to contribute to uniting the last of the tribes?"

"You're not going." I put my hoof down. "First off, you are much too valuable to be put on the front line. The tribes are following you. Even if we win, but you do not make it back, our efforts are going to be wasted."

"You're exaggerating." Tia dismissed. "Why couldn't you do it? Or anypony else for that matter?"

"Am I?" I retorted. "The only reason I'm here fighting this war is because I'm good with the sword, and because you told me to fight it. None of which are good leadership qualities."

"The Ponies respect you because you killed two of the Windegos! You could lead if anything happened to me!"

"What if something were to happen to me as well? We are only two Ponies amongst thousands." I insisted. "As much as I don't like it, it is very likely at least two Ponies are going to die when the fighting starts. And even if I were to be the survivor, I am the worst candidate. You know as well as I do I have no patience for Ponies and their absurdities. The army doesn't obey me because they like me, they follow because I keep winning." I pointed at Tia. "Ponies on the otherhoof actually like you. When this war is over they'll be much more willing to listen to you than they would me." I let my hoof drop back down. "So as your designated General, I'm putting my hoof down. You. Are. Not. Going."

Tia looked heartbroken.

But it was nowhere near what I was feeling.

I wanted so badly to let Tia do what she wanted. I owed her that much at least. But at the same time, I had to protect her as much as I could. What good would it do if I allowed her to come to harm? I'd never forgive myself.

So I had to make the hard choice.

Tia was to stay behind.

"Alright Luna." Tia finally stated calmly.

Even with my Moon Mark I knew she was upset as she took off her helmet and turned away, walking away without looking back.

I felt awful.

But at the same time, I knew I was right.

Tia was the one Ponies would listen to when the fighting was over and done. Tia was the one who could handle leading these Ponies when there wasn't a crisis. Tia was the one who needed to live.

I just wish it didn't hurt so much.

Chapter 122 The Memories Part 81

~~~

I waited on the crest of the hill overlooking Unicornia. Watching for the moment when that shield finally fell.

I had already talked to Bright Shine, she had been busy organizing freshly rested Unicorns when I found her. Like Appleflower, Bright Shine had the foresight to get ready.

Since she was on top of things, I left her to her devices and sat down where I currently waited.

Around me, was a plethora of Ponies, all waiting for the same thing I was. Each was armed and armored. And unlike my first true battle with the Windegos, nearly every Pony I saw held a true weapon. While yes, there was the occasional pitchfork or shovel, they were by far the minority. Spears, pikes, axes, swords, maces, and shields were all present.

It only occured to me then just how much like an actual army we looked.

We had all come a long way since the fight with the Windegos. Of that there could be no doubt.

Fillies and colts had become mares and stallions, and mares and stallions had grown tired and weary.

Everywhere I looked, Ponies even as young as I was had this haunted look in their eyes. A haunted look that made them look decades older than they really were.

I wondered... If I had that same look.

Far away, the shield gave a particularly long shudder as a boulder hit.

It wouldn't be long now.

I imagined that I did. How could I not? I'd seen the same things these Ponies had. And not only had I done the same things these Ponies had, but I had done worse.

That stallion whose horn I broke at Casúrdomhain?

That peasant mare I had killed at Pegasopolis who was only trying to feed her family?

The fact that I was ultimately behind every single death that resulted from breaking those two cities?

I was the worst culprit here.

And the only thing I had to justify myself with was that I was fighting against Eternal Winter.

Oh what a sick and cruel joke it would be for me to fail now. To do so much only to trip at the very end.

I had to make sure everything went perfectly.

I glanced behind me to look over the crowd of waiting soldiers.

My eyes fell on a team of Pegasi, busy keeping several tightly compressed thunderstorms under control, out of sight of the city.

They already had their orders. When the shield fell, they would rise into the sky, and strike the chosen wall segment as one, waiting for Captain Magnus to give the order to fire. With luck, it would all happen within half a minute.

Not for the first time, nor the last I suspected, I took a deep breath. Chasing away the nervousness that was settling on my chest like a particularly annoying cat.

The crowd behind me shifted, disturbed by the passing of a Pony.

A Pony who carried a Moon banner tied to a pike.

"You don't have to do this Stygian." I told the colt, not bothering to turn around. "There's no shame in keeping your innocence."

"If you'll pardon me speaking freely Ma'am..." Stygian replied. "I've made my decision and I'll be sticking to it."

I released a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding.

Oh Stygian you brave naive fool.

"I can only hope..." That you aren't doing this to betray me when I'm needed the most. "That you know what you're doing."

One of the Unicorns, who was shooting at the city, and thus wouldn't be joining us, got a good hit on a flickering portion of the shield, making the whole thing shudder as the casters in charge of it struggled to keep the spell together.

"I hope so too." Stygian nodded.

Please don't betray me Stygian. I don't want to remove your head.

I jostled my breastplate, checking for what must've been the twelfth time that everything was in place.

And just like every other time, it was.

While I hadn't yet donned it, I reached to my side to feel my helmet, still sitting where I had left it.

Something caused the shield to spark wildly, but I didn't notice what could've caused it.

The start of a cascading failure?

I held my breath in anticipation, watching the wounded shield wobble as it fought to stay alive.

The tension in the air struck a high note, as everypony around me did the same thing. And for a moment, just one moment that felt like an eternity... The shield seemed to freeze in place, a huge gash splitting the shield like a stone thrown into a still pond. And then...

It faded away entirely as the matrixes within unraveled.

The shield had fallen.

All around me, Ponies bustled into activity, doing the final preparations they had been putting off for hours now. Behind us all, the crews of Pegasi swiftly rose with their compressed thunderstorms.

I myself didn't rise to my hooves immediately.

Instead, I took the helmet at my side and turned it over, staring into the openings that I would soon see out of.

One... Final... Time.

I turned the helmet back over and lifted it over my head, letting it slide into place easily.

I pressed my ears as close to my skull as I could.

"FIRE!"

ZzzzzRACK!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

To say the sound was deafening was like saying the Sun was dim. To say the light was bright was to say a warcry was a whisper.

It was so bright and so loud I half expected the world to have ended right then and there, with only the tranquility of death as a companion.

But no. My ears began to ring, and the light slowly faded. When it became comfortable to see again, I lifted my head to see what had happened.

I was uncertain if I gasped, but I certainly felt like I should've.

The lightning had hit the wall alright. The lightning had been so charged and so strong that even now, as the light faded away entirely, the white fire of lightning could be seen streaking through the air, embedding itself in what remained of the wall.

The aim of the Pegasi had been true. So obliterated was the wall that there was barely any debris, what debris there was, was in the form of hoof sized rocks and stone powder raining from the sky.

A startled calm fell over the entire valley as everypony present realized what it meant.

The Battle for Unicornia had well and truly begun.

Author's Note

:ajsleepy:
https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 123 The Memories Part 82

~~~

The Ponies who had, only a minute before, been waiting stepped over the lip of the trench into view on the hillside, forming a preplanned formation that I had thought over for weeks.

In the distant city, the same thing could be said with gold clad Unicornian soldiers. They too quickly formed into a formation and began to run across the valley.

A great cloud of dust was kicked up as they began their charge.

Appleflower’s apprentices stepped forward, taking their place at the very front of the formation. They were dressed in their salvaged Earthbreaker armor, whatever pieces could fit their smaller frames that is. They looked like foals in adult clothing. But still, the sight of the Earthbreaker armor was a fierce one compared to the Unicornian guard charging forward.

The oncoming dust cloud partially blocked the view of the City.

“Ponies!” Appleflower boomed, her own armor almost impeccably sized for her frame, even with the prosthetics she wore.

It could've been me to give this speech, but I knew Appleflower wanted to lead this charge. And It only made sense, for the most experienced Earthbreaker at the front to say the words.

It would've looked odd if I gave a speech only to fall in line behind the heavily armored leading edge.

But I felt my heart tighten as I watched her.

I know I left the decision in her hooves of course, but I dearly hoped she had changed her mind and would fall back before we committed, and didn't join in the fighting. But I knew deep down that was not to be.

I may not have known most of their names, but far too many Ponies had died in my war across the North.

I didn’t want to add Appleflower’s name to that list.

“Ah have taught ya all that Ah can! In the eyes of the order, ye’d all be brand new squires!” she walked past me as I stood in the third line.

Behind me, stood Stygian. The pike that held my silver Moon banner clutched against his breast.

“But thar ain’t nopony who Ah would rather be here with! Each an’ everyone of ya have stepped forward when the time came. When even the Order could not rise to its own defense! Ya all have come here taday because ya think it’s the right ta do!”

The Ponies in front of me stiffed, breasts swelling in pride.

“The Ponies who charge before us stand ta steal our lives for their own greed! Willin’ ta sacrifice us all fer their own desires! The lives of every peace and Summer loving Pony stands behind us! Unable ta protect themselves!”

The air thickened with tension.

Everypony present knew that the time to prove themselves was now. Many had been inexperienced in their role just a few months ago, swinging scythes and the craftspony art was replaced with slashing swords, jabbing spears, and swinging warhammers.

“Taday we do what many thought impossible! Ta bring peace ta our land! Peace not felt since the Flight of the Alicorns! The first Ponies! Our ancestors of old! Taday we change history! The dawn of a new age is upon us! An’ we will all be the Heroes who brought it about!”

Appleflower turned towards the distant formation of the charging Unicorns.

“Fer the Alicorns! Fer the innocent behind us! Fer Ponies everywhere!”

A great roar rose around us, as everypony present gave their approval.

The giant Pony reared above, and turned on her hooves, fake and otherwise.

“CHAAAAAAAAAAARGE!”

Everypony surged forward.

I realized I was screaming as well, and already tensing to spring forward.

I obliged to commit.

The literal wave of the army rose around me. The heads of those taller than me and the ends of long weapons dominated my view.

Slowly, as everything began to move, the weapons lowered forward.

The various spears dipped out of few as they pointed forward.

Ahead of me, the four or five Earthbreaker acolytes had their hammers, axes and mauls between their jaws, their pumping legs not so much as gliding over the ground, but actively hitting the dirt as if it were an enemy as well. The Pegasi skirmishers took to the wing, allowing the heads of the pikes to replace the space they were occupying, focusing their attention on the oncoming areas between the Earthbreakers themselves. The Unicorns, and those Earth Ponies who had not made the cut for the Acolytes ahead, followed behind with their myriad of weapons.

The city rose high in the distance.

The cloud of dust was close.

I braced.

Ahead, the Earthbreakers began to twitch and clatter as they crashed into what seemed to be more plates of metal.

The Unicorns in gold tried, and failed to slow the Earthbreaker squires down, their horns sparking as their personal shields completely failed to protect them.

At full speed, they rammed themselves into them. Anything to slow them down or stop them.

The Earthbreakers plowed forward, almost oblivious to the Unicorns in front of them.

As they fell off between the Earthbreakers, the bodies of the Unicorns began to flash past, obviously unable to protect themselves from the onrush of so many hooves. Pounding the ground below with reckless abandon.

I plowed over one. Two. Three myself.

But off to my sides, several whipped past.

I didn’t try to go for any, I didn’t want to jostle those around me. So I screamed onward.

Four.

The amount of Unicorns ahead lessened, as we broke through their first line.

And still, the Earthbreakers surged forward heedless of any of them.

They had put half their force into the leading edge.

An Earthbreaker to my right fell.

A lucky jab between a gap in her loose armor had caught her shoulder, stopping her momentum abruptly.

The Earthbreakers on either side filled the gap.

Unicorns in gold began to rush past again.

Five.

A Unicorn with a sword came up before me.

He had managed to get through the widened gap.

He snarled as he rose the sword in an attack.

My own Unicornian sword was already pointed at his throat.

The others behind me began to zip by, my momentum slowing from dealing with the Unicorn with the now slashed throat.

I jumped over the certainly doomed stallion and attempted to catch up to my position in the line.

Stygian did a small hop as he kept behind me, jumping over the fallen stallion. The pike banner awkwardly held aloft in his magic.

The body of a figure in gold, already doomed, zipped by me.

A Pegasus swooped, jabbing a Unicorn with a spear, stopping her cold from killing an Earth Pony.

Another angry Unicorn rose their sword at me.

I bumped him and passed by, off balancing him to give another Pony beside me a chance to kill him.

A Spear snapped by me, as its holder succumbed to an attack.

Six.

The area before us cleared again.

The break in the wall was being flooded with figures in gold. Their shields, both magical and physical stood out, doing whatever they could to stop us from passing through.

I raised my sword, already renewing myself for the attack.

The Earthbreakers surged.

They would break through or die trying.

I followed behind.

The- Wait? What is-

A mare with a white coat and pink mane ran besides me.

Magenta eyes flicked to me.

Tia?

Tia?!

What was Celestia doing here?!

I thought I had told her to stay behind!

What-

A gleam of gold slashed at me.

I ducked, slashing my own sword underneath to cut one of the mare’s leg muscles, to severely weaken her as Ponies rose around me, giving me less space to move as we flooded into the space between the front lines.

The Earth breakers had slowed their pace.

I slammed into a golden shield. Its owner having avoided the Earthbreakers in front of me by sheer happenstance. I pushed at it, trying to figure out where the grip point was, trying to push underneath and thrust at him from below.

I was going to get through. No matter what.

A Pegasi had landed on the lip between the neighboring shields, drawing the attention of the Stallion on the other side of gold.

I pried open a gap in the shield and lunged forward.

I blocked a jab at me from the side with a quick drawing of my knife, A Unicorn in polished gold had seen me lunging for his friend.

I turned my sword to push the spear away, doing a twirl to bring the blade around in an attack.

A pitchfork beat me to it as a Pegasus speared him in the neck.

The Earthbreakers lunged ahead, only briefly slowed. The Unicorns shield line was suddenly full of holes.

The sheer number of peasants flooded those openings, pushing through by being too overwhelming to stop.

Another Unicorn rose to attack.

The white and pink form of Celestia slashed her own sword at his exposed hock, tripping him and giving a peasant with a wood carving knife a chance to stab at his throat.

The Earthbreakers loomed ahead, caught in a fight against an invisible force.

They had impacted the Unicorn’s magical shield.

I rushed to an Earthbreakers side. Already slashing at the field with my sword, and turning into a savage buck as I slide to a stop.

A peasant impacted the shield, pressing to my side.

The Earthbreakers punched the shield, with such a might I thought I would break my leg if I were to match it.

A flashing of light as a Pegasus tried to zap the shield with their own inner lightning.

Keep hitting it! Disrupt the matrixes!

I bucked with the other leg, trying to use what momentum I still had.

An Earthbreaker off to my lift roared as he slipped through.

The shield was broken.

Something white and pink slipped through besides me.

Celestia surged ahead.

“Wait! Tia!” I called out.

I didn’t want her to get ambushed as we pushed into the city.

But if she, or anypony for that matter, heard me, she gave no response.

A peasant ran between us.

I pushed myself up to rush ahead of the peasant, hoping I could skirt in front of the line of Ponies to see where my sister had went.

Tia you fool! You absolute fool! This is the last place you should be!

A flash of yellow light as I heard Tia shout a warcry.

She’s not far.

“Tia!” I called out, slowing down and doing what I could to crane my neck, looking around.

Peasants surged around me.

Thankfully, there was just enough room for the line to split into a courtyard, giving more than enough room for free movement again.

Tia was off to my right, caught up and wrestling a Stallion in gold.

I surged ahead, using what momentum I had left to rush ahead of the Peasants still behind me.

They paid me no heed.

I was just part of the onrush.

Tia jumped off the stallion, who was already soaked with red liquid.

“Tia- Uh…” I looked around thinking now would be a good time to urge the attack forward. “Onward Ponies! To the Castle!” I proclaimed loudly.

The Peasants around me roared, moving in a direction off to my left, soon giving me enough room to see Tia duck into a side street.

She probably remembered the fastest route forward was.

I rushed after her.

I needed to protect her.

She was too important to the Unification.

She was too important to me.

Author's Note

We all know what's coming. :trollestia:

The vibe: https://youtu.be/8t9eL-5wMFc?si=KMFmb-WVfA9Ve129

Chapter 125 The Memories Part 84

~~~

Tia pulled the doors away, every hinge damaged or pulled whole from the stone work.

A group of soldiers stared wide eyed at the place their shelter was just a moment before.

Tia cast her spear off to the side, it clattering against the stone work.

Her horn remained lit.

“Fifteen years ago Pope Morning Glory. Fifteen years almost exactly since I came to you. Just as I said.” she pushed the soldiers aside with her magic, they didn’t even resist.

Ahead, a mare in a golden yellow robe loomed on a banister.

“You expect us to believe you predicted the very assault you masterminded?” she declared.

What the hay had I gotten myself into?

“Fifteen years ago. As a mere filly of four!” Tia continued to advance.

Noble Ponies cowered off to the side.

“Dawn Glow! Morning Star! Kill the heretic!”

The old mare above gestured.

Two Ponies below the Pope stepped forward, they both wore red robes.

They didn’t even stop Tia. She just waved her horn and both slammed into opposing walls.

“I told you how this will end Morning Glory! Just as I told you how it would begin!”

A guard finally summoned enough nerve to break from his stupification.

I didn’t have the time to bring my sword around.

But the guard's own sword, who currently lunged at Tia with a spear, was perfectly angled to spring upward and slash her neck.

I wrapped my magic around it's hilt and pulled it out.

The mare's sword joined my side - already dripping red liquid - as the spell over the Guards broke. We were two, surrounded by at least two dozen.

I was suddenly glad I grabbed that mare’s sword.

“Guards! Stand down!” The mare in yellow barked. “She’s after the clergy and the clergy alone. Get back to keeping the proles in line.

I stood at the ready beside Tia, not trusting the mare to keep her word.

How had I found myself in the middle of a religious feud? I hadn’t even known Tia was a Solarist! The church of the Royal Family!

… It had never occurred to me before just how much about Tia I didn’t know.

“Tia?” I asked out while there was a lull.

“Just stay by me. I’ll explain everything later.” she murmured back.

This was odd to the extreme, but nothing pointed out I shouldn’t trust Tia.

Yet.

"I trust you Tia."

“Come then. Celestia Prophecymaker.”

Prophecymaker? Was that some sort of title? Like Hydrabane?

I glanced towards Tia.

I hadn’t known she had such a title… Besides Mayor that is.

Tia approached, and two sets of stairs were revealed as the massed Nobleponies split off to the side.

They looked as confused as I was. But listened to their Pope.

I followed close behind Tia, both swords at the ready for treachery.

She paid the Ponies to our sides no mind as we climbed up into the nave of the Cathedral.

Back towards the entrance below, Ponies began to shuffle out of the door, partially at the behest of a guard, quietly gesturing for Ponies that they needed to leave.

I turned my attention back towards protecting Tia.

She skirted the pews, approaching the center aisle.

Priests in red, Cardinals in orange, and the Pope herself in yellow stood along either wall, with the Pope herself taking her place by the altar.

Seriously what the hay was happening.

“I invoke the right of the ascendant dawn.” Tia called out. “I challenge your holding of the Birthright.”

“So be it.” Morning Glory frowned. “Kill her!”

A stream of Magic poured forth at Tia, from every priest in the building.

“Tia!” I called out, suddenly fearing the worse.

Until I noticed the spherical glow of Magic splashing off a shield.

A beam of sunlight shot out, taking a Cardinal by surprise.

The congregation continued to pour spellfire at the glowing orb.

Tia replied with beam after beam, all without dropping her protection.

She only stopped as the Priests stopped their assault, now too few in number to pierce Tia’s shield, which hadn’t wavered in the slightest.

“Come on then Pope Morning Glory. You are the only one who hasn’t tried.” Tia spoke loudly, advancing on the elderly mare.

The mare didn’t respond.

With words.

She let loose a furious barrage of spellfire, making Tia’s shield glow bright white as it took all the punishment the mare threw at it.

It felt like a good two or three minutes before the mare stopped, too tired to go on.

Tia merely stood there, just maintaining the shield.

“Exactly as I said.” she commented, walking past Morning Glory, who wheezed on the ground.

“May it char your bones, like everypony who came before you.” the mare snarled.

Tia ignored the old mare, and approached the altar.

A commotion by the front entrance sounded.

“Hold everything!” cried a voice from the stairs.

Everypony turned.

The head of Sapphire Shine crested over the final step. Breathing heavily from a run.

On the opposite step, poke up the head of Emerald Gleam.

“Hold everything!” Emerald repeated. “That artifact you seek is not theirs to give! It belongs to the Royal family!”

“Lu. Protect me.” Tia said softly.

“Gladly.” I stepped between Tia and the tormenters of my past.

“Get out of the way you-” Sapphire started. “-Luna?!” she screeched in surprise.

“Me.” I growled.

“What are you doing here?! What are you-” Sapphire panicked.

Emerald stepped forward, her spear at the ready, blocking her sister.

“I don’t care what you’ve apparently accomplished. Luna Hydrabane. You have, and always will be, a mad Pony in need of putting down.

Behind me, Tia began to fiddle with something on the altar.

“I gave you a chance Emerald.” I warned loudly. “Do not think I will offer it again.”

“You must be even madder than you were as a filly, if you think your sister up there will survive.”

Tia was being awfully suspicious… But no. I trusted Tia far more than this bully of a mare.

“Maybe I would let you by… If I didn't know what kind of Pony you are.” I retorted.

“I’ve been looking forward to this ever since I heard who was leading the army who sacked Casúrdomhain and Pegasopolis...”

“No Emerald! You don’t understand! Don’t you remember?!” Sapphire shook her sister’s shoulder.

“No I remember all too clearly, but I’ll be damned if I let such a thing happen!” the green mare replied.

… There were certainly things going on that I had no idea were even happening.

“Now help me end it before it even begins!” Emerald continued.

Sapphire looked like Emerald had finally gone insane, but fell silent and pulled out her own sword.

But the tip shook wildly as she assumed a guard.

Vengeance… For nine years of daily torment… It was all mine.

I lunged forward, the tip of my old sword leading in for a stab, while the sword I had recently stolen slashed from the side.

Sapphire intercepted my lounge for her sister on the left, and Emerald parried the slash on my right.

I grinned.

The left sword rotated in the sword lock pushing Sapphire’s blade down and catching the hilt with her nose.

I twirled the right sword, catching her spear tip by the guard on its head.

With both weapons trapped I stepped forward and punched Sapphire in the face.

“BO’H!” Sapphire grunted, clutching her nose.

I turned and bucked her off to the side.

Emerald twisted her spear, trying to free it.

I turned in place and lunged with my now free sword now that Sapphire was stunned for the moment.

She cast a basic shield spell, angled so my lunge was deflected.

I smiled more.

I grabbed the point of her spear in my telekinesis and twisted it in the opposite direction, yanking the thing out of her hooves.

She backpedaled, the sword at her side already coming out of its scabbard.

Sapphire lunged from the corner of my eye.

She was determined, but she was frightened.

She knew she was outmatched.

My left sword caught her lunge, pushing it downward and planting it in the floor.

Sapphire’s face was directly in mine.

“Nine years.” I growled.

Her lip began to quiver.

“Graaah!” Emerald screamed, jumping with her sword raised as I was distracted.

I twisted the deflected blade sideways, bringing it around to catch the overhead swing of Emerald’s.

“I can say the same to you Emerald. I was beyond ecstatic when it was your face under the General’s crest.” I taunted as I kept them both pinned.

I picked up Emerald in my telekinesis and threw her at the far wall.

“Aiee!” she shrieked in surprise.

I turned on Sapphire, my free sword rose overhead.

“I gave both of you chances. I didn’t have to. But you both refused.” I snarled in her face.

“Aaaah!” Tia shrieked in pain behind me.

I turned to look to see what fool decided to hurt Tia.

But nopony was around Tia. She was kneeling on the floor, a book, emanating golden light from its pages, illuminated her face.

“Aaaah!” she shrieked again.

“Let that bitch burn!” Emerald exclaimed, retrieving her sword and getting up.

I rose my free weapon to strike Sapphire down.

“I yield! I yield!” the blue mare suddenly exclaimed.

The pressure on my blade keeping her sword stuck eased.

The opposing sword dropped to the floor as the glow around Sapphire’s horn went out, she raised her hooves and kneeled.

“Sapph!” Emerald gasped loudly. “You kneel to this traitor?!”

“Emerald… Can’t you see? She’s toying with us. Throwing us around like we’re mere recruits again.”

I picked up the dropped sword in my own levitation. I didn’t want Sapphire changing her mind and picking it up again.

I turned so I could acknowledge both.

“Oh Emerald.” I cooed. “Don’t you see? I’ve already done more than you ever will. Casúrdomhain. Pegasopolis. And now Unicornia. Every city known to Ponykind that was apparently invincible. All sacked by m-”

“Gaaaaaaaah!” Tia screamed behind me.

“Tia!” I remembered, calling out and suddenly fearful.

She was bent over double, the book in front of her glowing brighter and brighter.

“Pathetic!” Emerald exclaimed, slashing at me with her sword.

I had no choice but to block with Sapphire’s sword.

Emerald however picked up a new trick from me and clipped my nose with a punch.

I was barely dazed.

I used the hilt of Sapphire’s sword to actually push her form towards me.

She wasn’t expecting it and stumbled.

I brought my two remaining swords and crossed them over Emerald’s neck as she lay there.

“Yield.” I commanded, keeping her sword pinned, but standing casually next to her head.

Within easy stomping distance.

“Never.” she growled, pressing herself against the edges of my swords as much as she dared.

I kicked her in the face with my front hoof.

“Yield.” I repeated.

“N-Never.” she struggled, her sword twisting against Sapphire's.

I kicked again, harder.

“Yield.” I commanded, one final time.

“Are you daft as well? I’m not-”

A cerulean glow appeared around her head, and slammed it against the tile below.

Knocking her unconscious.

I caught her sword before it clattered to the floor.

If for nothing else, they were the swords of Unicornia’s final Generals.

Perhaps it was crude of me, but I found myself thinking how I was going to mount them when I got home.

…

Heh… Home-

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!” Tia screamed.

Tia! Luna you fool! Tia needs you!”

I turned away from the beaten pair, Sapphire didn’t move from her spot.

Once more, Tia was alone. But this time, both she and the book were glowing.

Off to the side, the Pope’s forehead was pressed to the floor as she prostrated herself.

What the-?

I looked around. Every Priest present was prostrated. Of the Nobles or the remaining Guards there was no sign. Having long evacuated.

I turned back to Tia.

“I’m coming Tia I’m coming!” I charged up the stairs.

It was comfortable down where I had fought Emerald and Sapphire, but as I approached Tia, I noticed that the wood nearby my sister was beginning to blacken from extreme heat!

“Tia!” I called again.

Tia and the book became overcome with the severe glow.

I found myself blocking my eyes with a hoof.

The heat was blistering!

“Tia!” I exclaimed, unable to press forward.

Her screaming stopped, but the bright glow remained.

Only the sound of Sapphire’s whimpering, the slight hum from where Tia had just stood, and the chanted prayers of the priests could be heard.

What had I stumbled upon indeed.

The sound of feathers on the wind drew my attention back towards Tia’s last known location.

The bright light was just as bright, but was… Less intense.

The heat was all but gone.

“Tia?” I called out.

Something shifted in the light.

“You ok Tia?” I called out again.

Two wings extended out of the light, as pure and as white as goose down.

The light slowly began to fade away, revealing the shape of a Pony with outstretched wings.

“Tia?” I called again.

I realized the Pony before me also had a horn…

The light dimmed enough to reveal a pink mane and tail.

It… It couldn’t be…

Tia’s magenta eyes opened.

The wings at her sides fanned themselves.

Author's Note

:pinkiegasp:

The vibe :trollestia: :https://youtu.be/udI19nj7fdc?si=PvhWQA_EtNQRcOI_

Chapter 126 The Memories Part 85

~~~

“Tia…” I said in awe as I approached my sister.

Her wings and coat caught whatever light there was in the room, reflecting it brightly.

“Lu?” she finally responded. “Are you there Lu?”

“I’m he-” I started.

“All hail the divine beneficence of the Sun!” Morning Glory suddenly proclaimed loudly.

“Hail!” The priests chanted.

“Lu? What’s wrong Lu? What are they talking about?” Tia asked.

I turned back to Tia… And her wings... And her brand new Mark of Destiny.

It was a ornate depiction of the yellow Sun, with faded orange rays of light coming off it.

Tia was an Alicorn… By the stars above a real Alicorn…

“Tia…” I gaped, unable to find any words that I could use to convey to Tia ‘what was wrong’. “I-”

Confused, Tia glanced sideways towards where the Pope continued to shout prayers to the ceiling.

“What hap-”

Her wing happened to fan itself before her vision.

Her eyes traveled to the wing, down the leading edge, and landed right where that particular wing connected to her shoulder.

Her jaw dropped.

“I’m…” she stammered.

“The Alicorn of the Sun has returned!” Morning Glory proclaimed.

“What?! No! I’m just-” Tia began to exclaim.

I rushed forward and grabbed my sister in a hug, burying my face in her shoulder. Dimmly, I noticed she was still wearing her breastplate, but it had somehow been modified alongside Tia to allow her new- Wings.

“Don’t ever… Do that again.” I started to cry. “If you had been seriously hurt… I wouldn’t have been able to save you…”

Maybe if I had been paying attention to Tia! Rather than my own vengeance! I could’ve done something!

But look at what resulted! A traitorous part of me argued. Tia! A real live Alicorn!

Tia returned the hug.

“I knew what I was doing.” she whimpered in my ear. “I knew exactly what to expect.”

I turned a questioning glance sideways, but before I could say anything the voice of Sapphire chimed loudly.

“Oh great Alicorn!” she was prostrated just like the Priests. “Spare me! I see the error of my ways and seek redemption!” she prayed. “I knew not your benevolence already walked the Earth!”

Tia let go, and approached the Pony we had both grown up with.

Perhaps she had developed an Alicorn’s passive nobility, or because she was now used to ruling a small nation, for she spoke surely.

“I leave you and your sister's fate in the hooves of my sister Luna. For you both have wronged her much more than you have wronged me.” Tia advanced past the shaking Sapphire.

If everypony hadn't already been silent, they would've fallen silent again.

I looked down at the blade that had previously been Sapphire’s.

Was Tia giving me this chance because it was just? Or did she really have some sort of divine knowledge? She was an Alicorn for goodness sake! By the stars above! An Alicorn! My sister! An Alicorn!

My face reflected off the polished blade.

The Pony in the blade was conflicted.

I approached the form of Sapphire, whose shaking was getting worse and worse.

The whole Cathedral looked to me. Following the first decree of the only living Alicorn in thousands of years.

I looked up from the blade to see Sapphire’s quivering eyes.

She knew no amount of begging would save her from me.

The Pony reflected back at me in the blade still looked conflicted.

Emerald’s limp form lay off to the side, oblivious of what was transpiring around her. I would leave her until she was awake once more.

I wanted to take my vengeance. I wanted to avenge that poor filly whose only crime was happening to be born in a village that despised her very existence... And yet... Wasn't the whole point of my waging war across the continent to stop that sort of nonsense? I could strike this Pony before me down, and not a single Pony would bat an eye... Just like how the villagers didn't bat an eye when a meek blue filly was being beaten up by two sisters.

I knew what to do.

I rose Sapphire’s sword-

The blue Pony shuddered beneath me, unable to defend her own fate.

I stabbed the sword down.

The crowd gasped.

I waited.

One of Sapphire’s eyes slowly opened, realizing she was neither in pain nor dead.

Her eye landed on her own blade, inches away from her snout.

I had not harmed a hair on her head.

“I’m not you or Emerald.” I murmured, just loud enough so she and she alone heard me.

I pulled the blade out between the tile I had stabbed it in. Its tip was dented, but I was willing to fix that myself.

Or just leave it.

I didn’t know quite yet.

Just because I had decided to show mercy didn't mean I had forgiven her.

I trotted after Tia.

I caught up with her as she began to descend the stairs. There were a few Nobleponies looking up towards Tia. They must not have gone too far and gotten curious what was happening.

“Tia… Are you ok? I mean really ok?” I whispered to her as she slowly walked down the steps.

“Yes.” she replied. “Just… In shock.” she admitted.

I smiled, despite myself.

My sister, an Alicorn… An Alicorn! Imagine that! My sister was underneath those wings!

She walked elegantly outside, the Nobleponies prostrating themselves as she passed.

I was her sole bodyguard, as Tia walked through the streets.

Every Pony who we came across bowed and prostrated themselves as soon as they saw Tia’s wings and horn. Fighting ceased as we passed by. Tia’s very presence enough to declare who had won, and who was in the right.

A procession formed behind us, as Ponies from both sides followed in our wake.

We made it to the main street, the one that lead straight to Unicornia’s palace.

Tia walked down the middle of the street.

The first real challenge came as we encountered the major fight leading up the road. Half a block away from the Palace gates.

The intense fighting stopped as an Opposing Unicorn saw Tia and fell to her knees, thoroughly confusing the Pony she had been fighting to the death just a second before.

He turned, saw Tia, and joined the mare on the ground.

The effect rippled through the crowd of fighting Ponies, as they all realized Ponies they were near suddenly stopped fighting, and turning to see what all the fuss was about.

Tia walked by them with no challenge.

I saw the form of Stygian, my Moon banner now tattered and bloody where he had used the pike for its intended purpose. He stood off to the side, looking unsure if he should bow, or if he should keep the banner of the one who guarded the newly risen Alicorn as high as he could get it.

Appleflower was the next Pony I saw whose name I knew. Her prosthetics were broken and splintered, and her armor was scuffed to Tartarus and back. While she looked relatively healthy, she too bowed as best as she could with her missing legs.

We approached the Palace gate.

The fighting had not only stopped, but the gatekeepers had already opened the gate to allow Tia entrance.

The procession followed behind us as Tia walked calmly across the central Courtyard.

The golden clad Unicorns joined our ranks without hesitation.

Tia finally stopped before the large door that lead further inside the Palace.

Tia raised her hoof, and knocked three times.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

Silence came from inside. But finally the handle unlatched and clicked open.

“Y-Yes?” a stuttering servant asked, poking her head through the door’s crack.

“I wish to speak with Queen Iridium Comet.” Tia spoke.

“O-Of course.” the servant nervously stammered, pulling her head back inside.

Absolute silence reigned as nopony outside dared to speak in Tia’s presence.

The door started to creak open.

Guards in gold pushed the door open and kept it open. Allowing free passage. They bowed as Tia passed by.

Inside the Palace itself was a hallway intersection. Leading forward, left and right.

The left and right ways were blocked by bowing ranks of Guards, but the center hallway was left open, with only important looking Ponies off slightly to the side to stand in Tia’s way.

Not one of them protested as even Peasants began to pass by them.

The hallway we passed was extravagant. Paintings of Ponies wearing the same crown hung all along the walls, surely larger than life. Exquisitely painted vases full of flowers stood sentinel by every pillar in the wall.

As Tia, and by extension I, entered the ballroom which in turn hosted the Throne room on a series of elevated platforms.

Likely extended this way so they could use the ballroom as well when hosting so many Nobleponies during Court.

Above us on the opposite side of the extended room, a figure the color of mother of pearl sat on the throne. A golden crown upon their head.

The way up to the throne was clear.

Tia’s hooves, scratched and dented from a life spent in the wild, clicked across the immaculate marble floor.

Not a Pony rose their voice as we approached the throne.

It was the first time I had ever seen Queen Iridium Comet.

The mare was old and wrinkled. She had already been in her late 40’s when the previous Queen, her mother, had died. And the seven years since hadn’t done her any favors.

She looked tired, and worn. Like she was about to give out any day from stress.

“Queen Iridium Comet of the Royal House of Unicornia.” Tia stated, loudly, clearly, and strongly. Invigorated with a youth that the Ancient Queen had forgotten. “You are to surrender unconditionally to the forces under General Luna, and you are to give up your claim to your crown.”

“What of the Ponies in my care, your Grace?” The Queen responded, bowing politely.

“They will be well taken care of. I swear it.” Tia responded.

The Queen nodded.

“Then I order all of my forces to surrender unconditionally. I further forfeit any and all claims my family and my descendants have to this throne.”

The ancient mare then lifted her golden crown off her head and got off the throne. She placed the crown respectfully on the throne and stepped aside.

“May any who want it, take it.” she backed away from the now vacant throne.

Nopony, but Tia moved.

She ascended the steps, by right of being an Alicorn alone was she unchallenged.

At the top, she picked up the crown and examined it for a moment.

After a short pause she touched her forehead to it, like one would press their forehead to another Pony.

Finally, she turned the Crown backwards-

And placed it upon her own head.

“Long live the Alicorn of Light!” the former Queen Iridium proclaimed for all to hear.

“Long live the Alicorn of Light!” everypony chanted in reply.

I didn’t join the chant. Instead I mounted the stairs, and took my place at Tia’s side as she sat in the throne, cutting a striking figure with her battered armor and resplendent wings.

Her Mark of Destiny shone for all to see.

“Long may she reign!”

The dawn of a new age had come.

Author's Note

:rainbowderp:
The vibe! https://youtu.be/-MhNBGY_1j8?si=OPj7utL6IGlLp6d1

Chapter 127 The Memories Part 86

~~~

My duty was over.

With the fall of Casúrdomhain, Pegasopolis, and now Unicornia, I eagerly stepped aside to let Tia take her rightful place.

Tia...

A real live Alicorn!

Even as I stood by her side, my magic grasping the hilt of my sword ready to intercede if anypony decided to rush Tia, I could scarcely believe it.

Even as I saw those swan feathers, whenever I scanned the room; Even as her fanning wings wafted the strange scent of Tia's smell intermixed with what I assumed was the scent of her feathers; Even as the very tips occasionally gently brushed against my dirty coat.

I could not believe it.

And yet every time I blinked, every time I secretly pinched myself with my own magic, and every time I expected to wake up...

I didn't.

Tia was still an Alicorn who sat on the throne of Unicornia, holding court as she dictated what must be done in the aftermath of the battle.

My sister... An Alicorn!

A real, living Alicorn!

I had expected to feel relieved, or at least some sort of pride after I had taken Unicornia. But no, I hadn't felt the tiniest bit of pride for what I'd done.

I was expecting this to be my moment, my moment of victory.

But instead it had all gone to Tia.

And strangely, I could not be prouder of her.

I was never in this for my own personal glory. I had broken the three cities because I was the only Pony who had garnered enough of a reputation to do so. My goal had always been to protect even the Ponies I fought.

Everything I had done, was vindicated the moment Tia ascended.

Even as I thought about it, standing next to the mare, I had to fight down my own tears of pride.

An Alicorn!

Finally, after what felt like hours, Tia's first royal court adjourned.

"Thank you everypony for your contributions." Tia said as she stood from the throne. "The war had been won, but we are far from finished. For me however-" Tia yawned. "That can wait for tomorrow."

There were a smattering of polite chuckles as Tia turned towards a side door and started walking.

I followed behind.

A servant was waiting on the opposite side of the door.

"How might I serve you your Grace?" she asked, bowing deeply.

"Is there a guest quarters?" Tia asked. "I wish to rest for the night."

Evening was rapidly falling, as the orange Sun dipped outside.

"Your Grace?" the mare asked. "Do you not want the Queen's quarters?"

"No. Her belongings are her own. All I required was her crown." Tia replied.

"As you wish your Grace." the servant relented. "This way please."

The servant mare stood up and began to lead the way.

Tia followed her, and I followed Tia.

"How are you doing Lu?" Tia asked softly, now that we were relatively alone, and quietly enough so the servant mare didn't hear.

Lu...

It's funny, coming from the mouth of my sister, the word was familiar and comforting. But coming from the mouth of a living Alicorn?

What was I expected to call Tia? Was Tia still alright or was 'your Grace' now required?

"..." I opened my mouth to reply, but no sound came out. "I..." I tried again, this time producing a squeak. Tia stopped and looked back at me. "... What do I call you?" I finally rasped.

And suddenly my face was smothered in the familiar feeling and smell of Tia's coat, her arms wrapped around me in a hug.

"To you, I will always be your sister Tia." She said into my ear. "And to me, you will always be my sister Lu."

I returned the hug.

"Alright Tia... I'll try." I replied.

"Please don't try, now more than ever, I need my sister." she said as she squeezed tighter.

"I... Alright Tia." I matched her squeeze.

"Your Grace?" the servant called. "Is everything alright?"

Tia pulled away, breaking the hug.

"Yes. Everything is alright." she replied. "Lead on."

The mare looked uncertain, but continued leading us forward.

Eventually she led us to a door that was rather plain compared to the ostentatious decoration that permeated the palace, but had it been anywhere else it likely would've belonged to the master of the house.

"This suite should suit your needs your Grace." the mare bowed as she held the door open.

The room that she revealed, was perhaps the fanciest bedroom I had ever stepped into. The room was split into two sections, one with a small round table, enough for perhaps three Ponies to sit at, and the actual bedroom, which held a four poster bed that had been carved into the shape of elegant Unicorns frolicking amongst ocean waves. Addtionally, there were two other doors, equal in their magnificence to the door we had entered.

"Do you wish for me to draw a bath your Grace?" the servant asked, breaking both Tia and I out of our awe.

"Oh! Um yes. Thank you." Tia said in surprise.

The mare bowed respectfully, and left, letting the door shut behind her.

Quiet reigned as we were suddenly left alone.

"So how are you holding up Lu?" Tia asked, breaking the silence.

"I'm- I'm- I'm proud of you Tia." I responded. "I know I told you to stay back, and for that I'm sorry, but I'm... So. Proud of you." I admitted.

"I forgive you Lu. I know your heart was in the right place." Tia replied, cantering forward as she began to explore the room.

"Wait, what are you doing?" I called out.

"Looking around." She said, approaching the first door.

"Wait!" I exclaimed, bounding forward, pushing myself in front of her.

"Lu?" Tia asked indignantly.

"I should be the one to look around." I said, both holding her back and reaching for the door handle.

"What's gotten into you?" Tia asked brusquely.

"You don't know if anypony is upset about you taking Unicornia's crown." I explained, still extending my hoof back to keep Tia at bay. "And we are literally in their home. Alicorn you may now be, but I'm not willing to test just how true the stories of Alicorn immortality are."

Tia stopped her protesting.

"... Do you really think somepony will try to hurt me?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know." I admitted. "But I'm not giving them the chance if they are."

Tia sighed.

"Then proceed." she said finally. "I literally was just commending you for looking out for me. It would be hypocritical of me to chastise you for doing just that."

"Thank you Tia." I breathed, letting my hoof fall back to the floor.

With Tia now subdued, I opened the door.

Inside was a large porcelain tub and little else besides a stool and a dark window.

I entered to look behind and into the tub.

"Oh it's a water closet!" Tia chirped behind me.

I turned to see Tia looking around the room with interest.

But all I cared for in that moment was that there was nopony inside.

I brushed past Tia as she continued to examine the watercloset.

I was intrigued as well, in Ùllahdmaiden bathtubs were outside, and you had to fill them yourself usually. I assumed Casúrdomhain had similar waterclosets to Unicornia, but I hadn't stayed long enough to look inside one. And I couldn't even look in Pegasopolis.

The idea that you could have a tub indoors was fascinating.

But I still had another door to look inside.

I walked into the main bedroom of the suite, leaving Tia to gush over the watercloset. The other closet sat on the opposing wall.

I opened it and...

Nothing.

It was just a walk in closet that was totally empty.

I shut the door, somewhat irritated.

The hoofsteps of Tia came out of the watercloset as I turned around.

Tia stood there, looking like she was about to say something before somepony started knocking on the entry door.

"May we come in? We have the water for your bath." called a voice.

"Come in!" Tia called out.

The door opened to reveal a procession of more Maids, each with a bucket of what looked like water. Wordlessly, they marched past Tia and I and entered the watercloset. The sound of pouring water emanated from the open door.

I felt awkward as Tia and I stood there, patiently waiting for the maids to leave.

Finally, the procession marched back out of the watercloset and out the door. One however remained behind.

"Would you like warm water your Grace?" she asked, standing in the watercloset's door.

"Warm water?" Tia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes your Grace." The maid curtsied. "It will take a short while longer to prepare, but I can light a fire underneath the tub to heat up the water before you get in."

"Uh... No thank you." Tia said.

"As you wish your Grace." The maid curtsied again. "Then your bath is ready."

"Thank you." Tia nodded. "That'll be all for tonight then."

"As you wish your Grace." the mare said, backing out of the door.

The door clicked shut, leaving us alone again.

"Did you want the first bath or-?" Tia asked.

"No. That's your bath." I shook my head. "It wouldn't be proper-"

"Cut out that nonsense right this second." Tia admonished. "You are my sister, and you will be having a bath as well."

"I..." I started, but I couldn't think of any rebuttal. "Ok Tia. But you first. You need to be cleaner, and I haven't had one in months. Stars knows how dirty I'll leave the bathwater." I shook my head.

Stars above, it was hard not to add 'your Grace' at the end of my sentences. But she had said that I needed to keep being her sister, so that is what I'd do.

My effort was rewarded with a giggle from Tia.

"I'm not that much cleaner Lu." She giggled.

The strain to treat Tia like the Alicorn she now was eased a bit.

Maybe she really was just the same Tia beneath the wings?

"Perhaps." I admitted, feeling braver. "But Unicornia, and eventually Everfree City is going to expect you to be clean."

"Sun above." Tia cursed quietly. "I forgot about Everfree City... How are they going to react?"

"I can't say." I advised. "I'm... Still untangling myself."

Tia regarded me.

"Do you... Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, holding the door to the water closet open.

"I..."

What did I want? I didn't know how I felt. I had so many questions for Tia, but I wasn't sure where to start.

"We can talk while I'm bathing." Tia said, interrupting my thoughts.

"... Okay." I nodded, accepting the invitation inside.

Tia closed the door behind her and made for the now filled tub.

"Here. You've been standing all day." She said, using her golden magic to pass the stool to me. I accepted it and sat down on it, about two Pony lengths away from the bath.

I waited patiently for Tia to take off her armor and climb into the tub, the water sloshing gently.

As she began to clean herself, I thought about how I'd start.

But the words that came out of my mouth surprised even me.

"W-What's it like?" I asked.

"What's what like?" Tia asked in reply, looking over at me.

"You know." I mimed flapping wings with my hooves.

"Oh... It's... It's strange." She admitted. "I swear they have minds of their own. I've been trying to close them all day, and they keep sticking out." To demonstrate, she physically reached back with her hoof and tried to force said appendage to lay flat.

I suddenly realized I hadn't seen Tia close her new wings at all throughout the day.

But much to her annoyance, the compressed wing flew back open with a 'whump!', sending a plume of water splattering across the wall.

Tia cursed quietly to herself, wrestling with herself trying to get both wings under control, as both had started flailing in response to her agitation.

And perhaps, that more than anything thus far, made the urge to say 'your Grace' at the end of my sentences go away for good.

Even as an Alicorn, Tia was still a flawed being. She was not perfect, not like the Alicorns of myth.

She was still my sister.

I couldn't help but laugh at the sheer absurdity of an Alicorn flailing about in a tub, trying to force her own wings to close as if she were a foal.

"Hahahahahaha!" I chortled loudly, trying not to fall off the stool. At some point, Tia stopped thrashing, but I couldn't stop laughing.

The image of a supposedly 'perfect' being half drowning herself was too much!

"Glad to see I can be of some amusement." Tia wryly stated, now thoroughly wet with bathwater.

"Ha ha..." I wiped a tear from my eye. "No, it's... I'm not making fun of you." I started to explain, trying not to break into more laughter at the sight of her bedraggled appearance. "The thought of an Alicorn, splashing around in a bathtub..." I snorted.

Tia blinked.

"Heh... I guess it is funny." she admitted with a grin.

We lapsed into silence, chuckling occasionally.

"So um... What's on your mind?" Tia asked after a few minutes.

"Actually;" I responded. "I think I'm okay now."

I was no longer seeing a legend brought back to life, all I saw was my sister. Albeit my sister who now had wings.

We once again lapsed into comfortable silence. Tia scrubbed herself down, while I just sat contently.

In all the chaos after Tia's ascension and seizure of the throne, I had almost totally forgotten.

I had won.

I had won over all three cities. Casúrdomhain, Pegasopolis, and Unicornia.

When tomorrow eventually came, I could sleep in and not worry about a line of Earthbreakers charging into camp, lightning bolt piercing my ceiling, or some warmage setting fire to the sky above the camp.

It had gotten to the part of the tale were I would go home, and enjoy the peace I had fought for.

Or at least... I could.

The words that the Moon had asked of me repeated in my head.

Would you do me the honor of freeing me from my prison and claiming me for yourself?

My journey might not yet be over.

There was still... One thing that was left.

Freeing the Moon from her imprisonment.

I supposed that since the war between the tribes was now officially over, then that chore was now next on my list.

But something about the whole situation didn't seem right to me. The Moon had been speaking to me since I was a filly. A trait, or at least something very similar, that I suspected that I shared with Tia, if the conversation between the Pope and Tia were to be believed.

'Prophecymaker' she had been called. Tia may have been older, but she apparently had earned a title for herself as a four year old. Which sounded eerily similar to my own title of 'Hydrabane'.

My eyes fell onto Tia's still soaked wings, and her Mark of Destiny, drawing the curved rays of the depicted Sun with my eyes.

I looked back at my own rump, where my still blank flank was exposed for all the world to see.

A suspicion formed itself in my mind. One that was utterly taboo to contemplate. And yet... The more I thought, the more things fit together.

But I needed to know more.

"Actually Tia..." I began, breaking the calm silence. "There were a few more things I wanted to ask."

"Ah." Tia sighed. "I suppose I do owe you a few explanations. Ask away."

"In the Cathedral, when you were talking with Morning Glory, you two acted like you knew each other."

"We did." Tia nodded. "When Mom brought me here when I was a filly, I kept... Hearing something." she began.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Well, I don't know exactly how to describe it." Tia admitted, her ears pinning themselves back. "But calling it a song certainly fits."

"So what does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything actually." Tia supplied. "It was so beautiful and haunting that I couldn't help but follow the sound. As I said before, I kept coming to a certain patch of stonework. When I asked one of the priests about it, I was brought before the then Cardinal Morning Glory." she paused. "To- To understand why she was so upset with me today, I have to admit something. Something that sounds crazy."

"I've... I've seen my fair share of crazy things." I said vaguely.

Obviously I was referring to my talks with the Moon through my dreams. But if pressed I was probably going to say something relating to my war with the original tribes. Which wasn't exactly a lie.

"Well... Um... Well, I guess there's no sugar coating it... I can see the future." she stated, sighing with relief now that it was in the open. "Bits and snippets usually, while I dream. But sometimes I can see whole conversations or events. One of the reasons I was so hesitant to be voted Mayor of Ùllahdmaiden was because I had seen myself as Mayor. But when you brought it up, I couldn't refuse." she leaned on the side of the tub, tapping her hooves nervously together. "I told Morning Glory many things, predicting exactly what would happen, she would become Pope, Queen Sterling would die, and then a Hero would rise to take Casúrdomhain, Pegasopolis, and Unicornia." she snorted derisively. "Of course she didn't believe me. But what I didn't tell her, was that I would get my hooves on the very thing she was hiding."

"... You knew I was going to win when you gave me the duty." I accused.

"I did." she nodded.

"D-Did you have any other predictions about me?"

The silence was loaded, deafening, and stretched for what felt like forever.

"A... Few." Tia admitted. "But I don't see everything. I can't tell you how and where you'll go."

"Oh."

We lapsed into a lengthy pause.

" So the thing you were after, was it the Book? The First Spellbook I mean?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"The very same." Tia nodded. "I knew one day I would read it, and I would do so successfully."

"So... What's so special about the First Spellbook? Other than being the first I mean." I asked.

"Well..." Tia tapped her hooves together. "It can't be read by just anypony. The book tests and judges those who try, and if they're not worthy... They're incinerated alive."

"So..." I started, realizing some context. "When Morning Glory said that she hoped it charred your bones..."

"She was wishing me failure yes." Tia nodded.

"Huh." I trailed off.

"Did you want to know anything else?" she asked.

"Uh yeah... Do you have any idea what Sapphire and Emerald were talking about? Because that was the only other thing that I remember being strange."

"Sorry Lu, but I was already busy reading the Book." Tia shrugged. "I have no idea what the three of you did."

"Oh." I said, feeling my ears fall in disappointment. "Guess I'll have to ask them tomorrow. Although I'm not looking forward to it."

"You kept them alive?" Tia asked in astonishment.

A feeling of hurt stabbed my heart.

"Does that surprise you?" I asked, fighting to keep my voice even.

"It's..." Tia twirled her hoof, looking for an answer. "It's not that I think you're incapable of mercy, it's just that I've seen and heard of some of the punishments you give out. I'd have thought that those two specifically had earned your ire several times more than some of the soldiers you've punished."

The pain in my heart eased, but did not go away.

It was true, the rapist in Casúrdomhain was certainly a prime example. It was a cruel and vindictive punishment. And I hadn't even known the stallion. But by the same token, I was once in the position that his victim was in.

I knew what it was like to be small and helpless. Unable to defend yourself.

"Sapphire had surrendered, and Emerald was unconscious." I reasoned evenly. "I would've been no better than they were if I had taken my anger out on them."

"Well, for the record I approve of your decision." Tia nodded. "You may be my younger sister, but I'm proud that you are sometimes wiser than me."

The pain in my heart fully melted away.

"Thank you Tia." I said meekly.

Tia then climbed out of the bathtub.

"Did you still want a bath?" she asked.

"Stars yes." I nodded.

I may have gotten used to the dirt, but that didn't mean I liked the dirt in my coat.

Tia then lifted a towel that had been left by one of the maids and began drying off. As she did so, I started the tedious task of taking off my armor. I knew I had taken it off at some point during the sieges, but for the life of me I couldn't remember when. That point was further reinforced by my matted and indented fur underneath. It was so bad I could see where the weight of the various armors hung off my body.

When everything was removed, I felt strangely cold, now exposed to open air in the first time in who knew how long.

"Ack!" Tia gagged. "I'm very glad you insisted on me going first." she commented, pinching her nose shut.

"I told you it's been a while." I said, climbing into the partially settled water.

Almost instantly, the water took on a muddy black look.

"Ah..." I sighed, sitting on the bottom.

Tia glanced over the lip of the bath.

"... Do you think the maids will be mad if we ask for more water?" she commented.

"Let me get most of the dirt out first." I replied, picking up the bar of soap Tia had set on the side of the tub and busing myself lathering and scrubbing as best I could.

"So... Um... What happened while I was reading the book?" Tia asked after a minute of drying herself.

"Oh!" I chirped, not expecting Tia to ask question like she had asked me.

"Sapphire and Emerald fought me, I kicked their flanks, got Sapphire to surrender, but I knocked Emerald out when she wouldn't... Which reminds me..." I trailed off, realizing I had forgotten something important. "How much pain were you in?"

"Pain?" Tia asked in confusion.

"You were screaming while we fought. I tried to get to you when I could, but kept getting distracted."

"Oh..." Tia's expression fell. "I won't say reading the Book was easy, because it wasn't. But I'm not sure I'd call the process painful either."

"Process?" I asked.

"Sorry, that I won't talk about." Tia stated. "All I'll say is there are things which Ponykind isn't meant to know quite yet."

"So wait... You did learn something from reading the Book?" I asked, rinsing out a portion of my coat, only to relather it in soap.

"I did." Tia nodded. "I don't want to make a big deal out of it... But I now know a few spells that are exceedingly dangerous."

"How... Dangerous?" I asked.

"Dangerous enough that I will never write them down or give them away." Tia said firmly. "Not because I don't trust Ponies, but because I know they won't be able to control what they unleash."

I felt my mood fall again.

"I'm... Not sure how I feel about that." I admitted.

"And I don't have a better answer to give you." Tia nodded sadly. "I'll let you keep your secrets, and you let me keep mine. With luck, this'll be the last time I have to think about them."

"I think I understand..." I trailed off.

Tia then sat on the stool and we lapsed into comfortable silence once again. This time however, it lasted until I felt that I was the cleanest I was going to get in the black bathwater and pulled myself out.

My coat, which was a dark navy anyway, looked the brightest it had been in months.

Tia gave me another dry towel, which I accepted gladly.

"Thank you Tia." I smiled.

"Anytime Lu." she replied happily.

It took me much less time to dry off than Tia.

She still could not reign in control of her still damp wings.

Very soon after, the two of us found ourselves standing in front of the only bed. It was getting late, and no matter how you sliced it, we both had had an eventful day.

"I don't care what anypony thinks." Tia stated. "You are not sleeping on the floor." she declared.

"Well you certainly aren't either." I rebutted.

"Then we'll sleep together." Tia nodded. "It won't be the first time."

"Are you sure?" I said, finding myself rubbing my chest and looking to see if any dirt stains came with my hoof. "I might ruin the sheets."

"You aren't nearly as dirty as before." Tia rolled her eyes. "And besides, I won't be having the General who won the day sleep in anything less than a proper bed."

"I'm still not sure..." I rubbed my neck. "I mean, I wasn't the one who finished the battle..."

"You got me to where I needed to be." Tia tsked. "Besides, you wanted to be my body guard right? You made a big fuss about it earlier. But we're both exhausted. Just get in the bed."

"I'm..." I started to argue. But stars above... Now that I looked at the bed, it looked so inviting. No more sleeping in a bedroll on the hard ground. No more creaking cot and makes you stiff in the morning. I sighed in defeat. Tia had raised good points, and it wasn't like the bed wasn't big enough for the both of us. "Alright. You win Tia." I surrendered, rounding around the foot of the bed towards the nearest side.

"Oh good. Because I'm too tired to argue more." Tia yawned.

As one, we lifted the sheets and climbed in.

Stars above... Not only was it nice to be in a bed again, but this was the most comfortable bed I'd ever been in.

"Good night Tia." I said, using my magic to pinch the candle wicks in the room.

Tia didn't reply, she was already gently snoring.

Author's Note

Get your mind out of the gutter! Yeah that's right, I'm talking to you! You know who you are! :flutterrage:
https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 128 The Memories Part 87

~~~

The dark garden I found myself was both familiar and expected.

I trotted forward, passing by the moonlit flowers and herbs.

The silver mare sat at her wrought iron table, looking up at the nightsky despite the shroud over her face. Unlike last time however, she did not have her teaset.

"I must congratulate you Luna." the silver mare spoke up, looking down from the sky, her gaze falling on me. "For a job well done."

"Uh... Thank you Moon. Really." I rubbed the back of my neck. "But I'm not sure if the victory is mine to claim."

"Ah yes. You refer to your sister." the silver mare nodded. "Tell me Luna, where was Celestia at Casúrdomhain? How much did she contribute to the battle under Pegasopolis? And how much planning did she really have a hoof in at Unicornia? She may have been the final blow to the old tribes I'll grant you, but ultimately it was your work that got her to where she needed to be."

"So... She was meant to be an Alicorn?" I asked.

"Nothing is on accident Luna." The mare tsked. "Not even accidents."

"I'm... Not sure I understand."

"In good time." the mare hummed. "But that's not your only question is it?"

The dreadful suspicion reared its head again.

I almost spoke the words, those taboo words that would end with me burned at the stake should anypony hear them.

The mare watched me with a coy smirk.

"... I want to ask. Truly I do." I stated instead. "But if I'm right, then I don't want to know." I said with finality. "I want to do your task because it is the right thing to do, not because I'm after a reward."

The silver mare's smile grew, almost cruelly, as she steepled her hooves.

"So you've made your choice then?" she asked.

"I think I have." I nodded.

"Then what is your decision? I can feel what's in your heart, but you must say the words to me."

The moment of truth had come.

I had kept putting off thinking about it during my war with the tribes. Because in the grind of war this moment felt so far away, and I had to focus on the moment so I didn't get impaled by a spear. But suddenly it wasn't so far in the future. In fact is was suddenly in my lap.

I took a deep breath.

"I will free you Moon." I stated firmly. " I will free you or die trying."

At some point, the mare's smile must've fallen, for it grew again.

"Then we have no time to waste." she grinned. "I am kept in the city of Bloodstone, which is under the control of Lord Bloodmoon."

I swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in my throat.

The name of Lord Bloodmoon was amongst the most foul of monsters Ponies faced. His was the name that everypony knew, but refused to speak. Especially during the night in the light of the red moonlight. His name was on the wanted board's of every town I had stepped into, no matter which tribe the town belonged to.

He was perhaps, the most dangerous Pony in the age since the Flight of the Alicorns.

I may have first heard about him from the silver mare before me, but I had heard plenty of stories since then. They were rare, and spoken of only under the light of the Sun, but the tales were clear.

The tales of Lord Bloodmoon, the first vampire, spoke of a race of strange Ponies who would abduct villagers in the dead of night, to bring to their dread lair, Bloodstone. Where they would feast on the Pony's blood.

Nopony knew if Bloodstone existed for sure of course, because all that were taken never returned.

"Are you having second thoughts?" the silver mare asked, interrupting my thoughts.

"I'm... Uncertain yes." I admitted.

"Then fret not. For while the stories you've heard of Bloodmoon and his citedel are indeed true, and even more vile than they say, both he and the fortress have their share of weaknesses."

At this, the mare reached into her bodice and pulled out a glowing sliver of light, about as long as a hock, but not nearly as thick. It ended in a wickedly sharp point.

"If you recall the story I told you when you were still a filly, for yes, Bloodmoon is indeed the same monster, then you'll remember Bloodmoon cannot touch my physical tether to your realm without sacrificing his immortality. If you were to do accomplish that, then he will die, and I will be free. Furthermore, while my light has been corrupted by his fell magic, he has not corrupted all of it." At this she held out the bright sliver of silver light for me to take. "While his brood do not share his personal flaw, they still carry with them the weakness to my untainted light. And so you shall carry it with you."

I gingerly took the item from her hooves.

As it touched my hooves, the beam of silver light shifted and morphed before my eyes. It only took a few seconds for the beam of light to settle, while it was still clearly made of the same silver light, the beam itself was now a wickedly sharp dagger in my hooves.

"While I thank you for this gift, I do not see how I am to use it." I interjected. "Nopony knows where Bloodstone is, how am I to lead an army to lay siege to it?"

"You are thinking too much like a General." the silver mare touched my nose with her hoof. "No, you must embark on this journey alone. Not only because you would ultimately fail if you brought an army, provoking all of the vampiric Thestrals under Bloodmoon's command into a feeding frenzy, but because the way to Bloodstone is a secret one. While it is not my secret to give, I can point you in the direction to start." With that, the mare waved her hoof, and a piece of parchment appeared on her iron table. She elegantly reached over and unrolled it, revealing what looked like a map. But a map of what I knew not. "Bloodmoon relies on abducting Ponies all across your known world to feed himself and his brood. While many of these victims are lonely travelers and transients who will not be missed, some of them are from small remote villages who struck a deal with the marauding Thestrals. While the deals themselves vary, they remain somewhat consistent. The villagers would willingly sacrifice one of their own so the rest of the village is safe from Bloodmoon's predations."

"That's awful." I commented, examining the map, beginning to recognize landmarks and shapes.

It was a map of the entire continent. Larger and more complete than any I had ever seen.

Occasionally, a minuscule speck of silver light illuminated certain points across the map.

"Quite. But do not fault the Ponies for their decision, for if they hadn't then nothing would stop the entire village from disappearing overnight."

The thought made my stomach roll and chilled my blood, but I could see why such a decision was made.

"Uh... Yeah."

"Your way to Bloodstone is thus. You shall find one of these feeder villages, and pose as their willing sacrifice. Fret not, for my blessing can be made to appear and disappear at will. So you shall be armed even as you are searched and taken. The Thestrals will then bring you to Bloodstone. From there I must leave planning to you, for even I do not know what they will do with you when you arrive. It may very well be that you will be forced to fight your way to Bloodmoon's chambers, where my tether is kept. Or you could be thrown into the dungeons. I truly know not."

"I understand." I nodded grimly.

"Then fare thee well my Champion. For that is all I have to give you. May the next time we speak, be when my chains are broken."

Chapter 129 The Memories Part 88

~~~

For the first time since that morning in Ùllahdmaiden, when I had tried to leave peacefully to find my way in the world, I awoke slowly and comfortably.

I had forgotten what it was like to wake up without any aches behind my eyes or along my limbs...

The only thing that ruined the feeling of waking up in the exquisite bed, was the sunlight and the bedraggled face of Tia across from me. Her pink mane frazzled and caught in her mouth as she drooled onto the pillow.

She was still peacefully asleep.

I didn't want to be caught staring when she woke up, so I gently lifted the covers and extracted myself from the bed.

The room had changed little since last night. I could see through the open watercloset that somepony had picked up my armor and the wet towels.

I glanced around the room.

If a maid could get in here undetected...

I tiptoed over to the walk in closet and slowly turned the knob with my magic, being carful not to wake Tia up.

I checked inside the closet, using my light horn as a light source to pierce the darkness inside.

Nothing.

The darkness reminded me of the Moon's garden in my dream. Which reminded me of the conversation I had with the Moon.

Or at least... What I thought was the Moon.

I could barely wonder if I was indeed going mad, before my mind's hoof brushed against something that hadn't been there yesterday.

Mad indeed.

Perhaps I was merely hallucinating my discussions with the Moon... I wouldn't be the first Pony to be driven mad. Nor would I be the last. That said however, if the conversation was indeed real, then I had something perhaps nopony had ever had before.

A surefire way to prove that I wasn't mad.

I drew the strange shape in my mind that had been left from the night prior.

A brilliant silver light illuminated the darkened room.

I looked down to see the dagger made of silver light, not enveloped in my magic, but feeling like it was with how it moved where I wanted it to.

I released a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding.

It was real.

She was real.

Now was perhaps the best place to test it, but I could not let anypony see the Moon's Blessing until it was already too late to stop me from storming Bloodstone, however that may happen.

My mind's hoof sheathed the weapon of silver light where it had found it.

The silver light extinguished.

I turned the door knob and slowly pushed the door closed, relatching the door only when it was fully closed.

My obligations were not yet done, but I couldn't show my hoof about my intentions. At least not yet. I didn't know who or what was watching me.

I glanced around the bedroom. Nothing had moved while I had been busy, so I made my way towards the watercloset.

I had to act as if nothing was wrong.

I pushed the thought of Bloodmoon and his vampiric cohort out of my mind.

I was not forgetting about him, merely setting the thought aside.

Unlike the regular closet, the watercloset was illuminated by sunlight. I peered around and into the tub, the only hiding places in the rather sparse room.

Nothing.

Literally nothing. The bathwater from the day before had even been taken and the tub clean once more.

The maids were good... I had to give them that. I hadn't even stirred when they must've cleaned the room.

Which was somewhat concerning... It would've been foals play to stick a knife between my or Tia's ribs.

Or perhaps I was being overly paranoid.

If Bloodmoon's minions, whoever they might be, were already aware of my intentions then I never stood a chance to begin with. However Bloodmoon wasn't the only threat... If anypony was upset with Tia, perhaps the Noble Unicorn families, it may have been too soon for somepony to react to her sudden status, but then again a really upset Pony wouldn't wait.

It was a toss up that I could see going either way.

I needed more information, on both fronts.

I approached the door that lead into the suite and did the same trick I had done with the walk in closet.

Tia could sleep a little longer.

Several Guard Ponies in Unity style armor stood outside the door.

The looked at me when the door opened, but didn't otherwise react.

"General?" asked one, who I realized I recognized.

"Oh Captain Flash." I replied, stepping out and gently closing the door behind me. "Report."

"Unicornia has completely surrendered. No problems at all from their forces. There's been a few problems with the Noble families, but after we threw the first one into a cell they settled down."

"Oh? What did they do?" I remarked.

"Struck one of our soldiers when he was told he wasn't allowed in the castle after hours."

"Unfortunate but I approve." I nodded.

While I didn't exactly oppose the idea of putting a dissenter in a prison cell, depending on what they did of course. It would only make the Noble families mad in the long run. Especially since to them we were effectively moving in and taking over.

"Anything else?" I asked.

"Nope. All is quiet otherwise."

"Excellent." I nodded. "I have several things to bring up then."

"I'm all ears." Flash nodded.

"I want you to get me a list of trustworthy Ponies to act as a permeant Guard for my sister. I can't be her personal Guard at all hours of the day all the time."

"Understood." He nodded.

"Secondly, I'd like to see our prisoners."

"Ma'am?" he asked, confused.

"For one, I'd like to visit the Noble whom was imprisoned. But I also have questions for another."

"Understood." he nodded. "Anything else?"

"Maybe. I'm unsure yet." I admitted.

"Very well. Shall I lead you to the dungeon now?" he asked.

"Can these Ponies-?" I trailed off, not wanting to say what needed to be said in front of the very Ponies I was speaking about.

"Nuttin' will harm 'er Grace." the soldier immediately to my right stated.

I looked over to see I recognized him too. He was that giant stallion with the ginger beard who had once been one of Puddinghead's Ponies. The one that insisted on carrying his shovel everywhere.

I hadn't interacted with him much, but I knew him to be dependable.

"Very good." I nodded. "Then yes, lead me to the dungeons."

"Very well then General." Flash nodded. "This way then."

Flash then led me through the hallways.

Castle life continued unabated around us as we cantered past.

Various servants, maids and butlers, walked calmly as they performed their duties. While soldiers in United armor stood guard at various doors.

It was strange... That merely yesterday those same soldiers were doing their best to break down the very doors they now guarded. And the servants, who might as well have been here all their lives, didn't pay them the least bit of attention to them. What did it really matter I supposed? If the armor the guards wore was gleaming gold or beaten steel?

Perhaps the only thing that had meaningfully changed, was that they no longer served a mere mortal Queen, but a living Alicorn.

I wondered if it was like this all across the city. Was the only reason there wasn't a massive upheaval over the siege was because Tia grew wings?

"Flash..." I spoke up, drawing his attention as we walked. "Where are the Unicornian soldiers currently?" I asked.

"Disarmed and confined to barracks until we find a way to trust and incorporate them." he supplied. "Just because your sister ascended doesn't mean we can immediately trust them."

"No I agree." I absent mindedly replied, watching a maid wander by. She looked to be stoic, but I saw her eyes dart away from my gaze.

Or perhaps the cracks I was expecting were being hidden better than I thought.

"You there, maid." I called out addressing the passing mare.

"Oh!" The mare started, panicking briefly before composing herself. "Ma'am?"

Instead of replying immediately, I studied the mare.

She was somewhat of a lanky thing. Maybe Tia's age. Her eyes darted to the sides, not meeting my gaze.

I glanced sideways to see that she was looking at her fellow servants, as if asking them to 'help'.

Said servants, had stopped what they were doing and were watching, wide eyed and afraid.

Looking back to the initial maid, I realized her knees were shaking.

Yeah... The cracks were well hidden, but still present.

"What is your name?" I asked.

"Oh... Um. F-Fawning Lily Ma'am." the mare nervously replied.

"Fawning Lily." I repeated. I wasn't sure if I'd ever see this mare again, but it would be helpful if I did. "May I ask you a question Lily?"

"Oh... Um... I am here to serve Ma'am."

"That doesn't answer my question."

The mare's lips pursed, obviously unsure what to do.

"Uh- Yes. You may ask me a question."

"Are you happy?" I asked.

Silence descended on the hallway. It was like everypony present had stopped breathing. Fawning Lily herself looked frozen, too shocked to even maintain her professional demeanor.

"M-M-M-Ma'am?" she stuttered.

"Yesterday my forces waged war on your employers. Today your employers are no where to be seen, yet you do your job as if nothing has changed. So that begs the question, are you happy with your lot in life?"

The mare took a nervous step back, her eyes darting sideways. Looking for help. But judging by the sheer silence from her fellows, she would not be getting it.

It occurred to me suddenly I was being overbearing.

"Uh- Uh- Uh-" the mare tried to speak.

Damnit. How do I get out of this?

"Uh- Yes? I guess?" she replied.

An opportunity!

"I see." I stated. "Then that will be all thank you."

Fawning Lily looked shaken to her core at my words.

"Uh- Uh- Uh- Uh-" she stuttered as I gestured for Flash to continue. The stallion had politely come to a stop when I addressed the maid.

We left the mare stammering as she tried to come to terms with what just happened.

It was several hallways later, when we were alone that Flash spoke up.

"That was an odd question to ask that poor mare." he commented.

"Yes." I agreed.

"Then why'd you ask it?"

I took a moment to reorganize my thoughts before I answered.

"Don't you think it's strange? Yesterday these servants would've been running in terror from us, because we were - correctly - attacking their city. And yet today, they're continuing with business as normal? That doesn't sound odd to you?"

"Alright;" he nodded his head. "I guess I can see where you're coming from. I just assumed it was because of your sister."

"Do you think that encompasses all of it?" I asked.

Oh wait, everypony else doesn't know that it's the same Tia as before, only with feathers now.

"Is that not enough?" Flash asked quizzically. "The first Alicorn in thousands of years... I can't believe it so much that I'm not sure if I'm dreaming or not. And I'm merely a witness, I can't imagine what it's like to be in your shoes. I don't know what I'd think if one of my sisters became an Alicorn."

"We've... Discussed it." I said vaguely.

Should I tell him? That Tia is still a flawed being? Not even an hour ago and I saw her drool on her pillow and doing her best to inhale her own mane for goodness sake!

But...

That perception that Tia was perfect was a powerful tool. If Flash was correct, it was powerful enough to quell all but the most egregious unrest in the newly conquered Unicornia.

I- I wasn't sure if it was my call to make.

I'd ask Tia what she thought. Ultimately, it was her reputation anyway.

"Here we are." Flash commented, stopping outside a heavily fortified door that had two guards standing outside it. The two soldiers stiffened their posture as they saw me.

"General Luna to see the Prisoners." Flash told them.

"Aye Captain." the one of the right grunted, before turning to me. "Been mostly calm General, but I think the lads inside have been having problems with a particular prisoner, and it ain't the Noble."

I had the feeling I knew who he was talking about.

"Interesting." I commented. "I'll be sure to have a look."

"Aye Ma'am." the left Pony saluted, fitting a key inside the lock with his magic and holding the door open for me.

"Thank you Corporal." I nodded as I passed through the door.

Instead of a room, it was a spiral staircase leading down, deeper into the rock Unicornia was carved into.

Author's Note

https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 130 The Memories Part 89

~~~

The dungeon was a dank dismal place. It was however well lit, due to the morning sunlight streaming through barred windows set high into the wall, almost against the ceiling that must've been at least three Ponies high.

The cells themselves, had at least three to four individuals inside them.

And the smell…

By the stars the smell…

It reminded me of the few times I had walked by a latrine that was being covered, because it was already ‘filled in’.

I remembered gagging the first time I smelled it.

But at least then it didn’t have the smell of body odor and sweat intermixed with the smell of feces and urine.

In the dungeon, there wasn’t even the benefit of a breeze to blow the smell away.

I fought down the urge to gag, and tried my best to stop breathing through my nose.

A soldier, in Unified armor, stood up from her wooden table, on which there was a plethora of scrolls that looked to be lists of some sort.

“General.” She saluted.

“Sergeant.” I nodded back. “I’m here to talk with a few prisoners.”

“Which ones Ma’am?”

“Do you have a list of their names?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Only a few.” The mare admitted. “Not all of them are willing to talk.”

“Ah I see.” I nodded. “Firstly I’d like to talk with the Noble Pony who was raising a fuss.”

“Might be a bit hard to speak with him I’m afraid, he’s still knocked out.”

“Oh. Then would you happen to know the names of Sapphire Shine and Emerald Gleam?”

“Emerald doesn’t ring a bell, but Sapphire has been one of our most cooperative. I’ll take you to her right now, if that’s alright?”

“Completely fine. I'll know Emerald’s face if I see her.”

“Then this way General.” The mare nodded, skirting around the table to lead me deeper into the dungeon.

As we walked, I realized Flash had followed me inside, walking behind me as I walked behind the Guard.

At first, the Ponies in the cells weren’t all that interested. But that changed as we went deeper.

They pressed their faces to the bars to watch us walk past.

Most had some sort of bloody bandage or injury, indicating that they had been captured during the fighting.

I’d have to send a healer down here before they started infecting each other. I didn’t want a plague to break out because we had to keep the Prisoners in this filthy state.

Equally obvious, were the Ponies that had been sequestered down here by the now former Queen Iridium. Their coats were matted and greasy, and only occasionally were they covered with some sort of frayed rag.

These unfortunate souls were also the ones who tended to ignore us the most, too lost in their own minds or already bored of Ponies passing by. One particular Pony rocked back and forth in the fetal position, eyes bank and staring. Another one, who was actually alone in her cell, gnawed aggressively on what looked like a femur.

What said femur had belonged to originally, I wasn’t sure I wanted to guess.

“Oy Sapphire!” The soldier mare in front of me barked suddenly. "You got a visitor!”

The cell that the mare was looking at was identical to everyone we had passed, although there was only three Ponies inside.

The least noticeable, was Sapphire herself, holding herself in the corner. The next, was a stallion who I didn’t know, who was trying to jump and grab onto the high window sill.

“‘Ey!” The mare at my side yelled loudly. “Knock it off or you’re getting moved into the cannibal’s cell!”

Now I really didn’t want to think about what that mare had been chewing on.

And finally, Emerald Gleam paced back and forth between the cell walls, brow creased in fury.

Sapphire had looked up at the gaurdmare’s initial exclamation, her eyes red and puffy from crying.

“Luna?!” She gasped.

Emerald stopped her pacing, her ears erect, and her left eye twitching.

“Sapphire, Emerald.” I nodded at each, before turning to the as of yet unnamed guard and Flash. “Might I-?”

Emerald interrupted me by slamming ineffectively against the bars.

“Traitor!” She screeched, flailing her hoof uselessly through the very bars she couldn’t get through. “I should've gutted you while I had the chance!”

The mare before me looked to be half feral. Her eyes bloodshot and her eyelid twitching. If it wasn't for the horn ring she wore, I was certain she would've attacked me with spellfire.

The guard at my side made to draw her weapon, but I held a hoof in front of her before she did.

Uncertain, she let the bludgeon fall back down.

“Might I have some privacy?” I asked gently.

“General? Are you it’s a good idea for you to ent-“ the mare started.

“I have no intention of entering the cell.” I interrupted. “Just give me a moment alone… Or as alone as possible in this place.”

The cells afforded nopony any privacy, including those outside the bars. The prisoners in the neighboring cells were watching intently, their faces pressed up against the bars to get the best view they could, even stacking on top of each to do it. Out of boredom at the very least.

"As you wish General." the gaurdmare bowed slightly, before sharing a look with Flash. The two then wordlessly backed away.

"Have you come to gloat?" Emerald sneered.

"Emerald don't." Sapphire warned with a squeak.

"No actually." I responded. "You wouldn't remember, which honestly is a shame for you, because apparently you're a Solarist now-"

"Do you honestly expect me to believe your useless sister is the second coming of the Alicorn of Light?" Emerald interrupted.

I fought down the urge to use my magic and grab Emerald's head, to smash it against the very bars she had been straining against.

"Your belief is not required." I said evenly. "But I'm still carrying out her first decree. Sapphire I have judged, but you Emerald." I looked her up and down. "But as I look at you, I don't see a Pony who wants to change. I see a Pony who will fight and die for a regime that was dying and rotting long before we were born."

Why was Sapphire in here actually? Was it because she was technically the enemy General?

I’d have to at least transfer her to one of the political cells.

"And how is that different from you?!" Emerald screeched. "I've seen what you'll become! I know that you are a servant of the Night! You want to talk about dying and rotting?! Then tell me how your darkness is not already dying and rotting!"

... What?

What was this mare blathering about?

"What are you blathering about?" I asked out loud. "What do you mean, 'what you'll become'?"

"Don't lie to me demon!" she snarled. "You know perfectly well what I mean!"

"Uh... Huh." I said slowly. "Hey Sapphire?" I looked over Emerald's shoulder at the blue mare. "Did I hit your sister a little too hard or something?"

Instead of replying, Sapphire looked haunted.

"... You don't know do you?" she asked quietly.

I furrowed by brow.

That... Wasn't the answer I was expecting.

"Know what?" I asked.

Sapphire looked like she was about to respond, but Emerald interrupted her.

"I'm on to you demon!" she snarled. "You can play innocent all you want but I know better!"

I regarded the madmare once again.

"... What have I ever done to you?" I asked after a moment. "You've been after me all my life. Little shit that, demon this. But what have I ever actually done to wrong you? Is it because I'm Moon Marked? Is that it? Because really, how sad." I lowered my voice into a growl. "Being afraid of a tiny filly who didn't know she was different and just wanted to be left alone. How pathetic." I turned away from the cell and started trotting away before either of them could reply. "I'll return on the marrow to decide your fate Emerald."

I didn't even bother looking for the Noblepony before I left the dungeon.

Author's Note

https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 131 The Memories Part 90

~~~

Flash returned me to the visitor suite. By now however, several well dressed Ponies waited outside the door I recognized as the one Tia and I had taken. What they were waiting for I had no idea, so I approached the guards I had left.

"Is Tia awake yet?" I asked.

"Yes Marm." The ginger stallion nodded. "Just got served breakfast if you wish to join."

"WHAT?!" One of the well dressed Ponies exclaimed. "Why is this mere peasant allowed to break her fast with her Grace?!"

I turned to regard the Pony.

She was a Unicorn, in some sort of big fluffy dress that looked like it was far too much effort to walk in.

"I'm sorry, who are you again?" I asked, not bothering to hide my distain.

The mare looked like I had suddenly kicked a foal, she was so horrified.

"W- W- W- Why I'm Duchess Gilded Rose!" she exclaimed. "Of House-"

"And-" I interrupted. "Why should I be bothered to care?"

"H- H- How dare you!" she screeched. "Guards arrest this peasant!" she pointed at me.

The guards at my sides didn't move.

"Soldier," I said, not turning away from the mare, but addressing the ginger stallion at my side. "Would you be so kind to inform this... Distinguished mare, of my name and rank?"

"Aye General Luna Hydrabane." he smirked, with no small amount of amusement.

The mare's face paled, which was impressive given the amount of white powder covering her face.

"I- I- I-" she stammered.

"Duchess Gilded Rose was it?" I asked casually. "Am I then to assume you, all of you actually;" I said, looking past the mare to line of Nobleponies behind her. Said Ponies were sweating profusely, and looking like they wanted to bolt. "Are wishing to speak with my sister regarding something of great importance?"

"Well... Um. You see..." Gilded started to explain.

"Would said item of great importance, happen to matter a great deal with you then?" I asked, turning back to Gilded.

The sweat that ran down her face was so profuse that her makeup was beginning to run.

She'd need to repowder herself as soon as she could get away with it.

"Well now that you mention it, I'm sure it could wait for-"

"But you came all this way." I insisted. "It would be an awful shame to come all the way over here for nothing."

By now the other waiting Ponies abandoned all pretense and simply walked away while they could, leaving Gilded to her fate.

"Y- You-"

"Can you imagine the look on my sister's face? The first Alicorn in thousands of years? When she's so disappointed that she won't be able to listen to your great and important thing you wanted to discuss."

"... I won't forget this." She said after a moment, taking a step back.

Oh? Abandoning with the pretense then?

"I sure hope not. Because if you speak to me like that again I will personally throw you into the dungeon. And not the comfortable one either. But the one with the other 'peasants'." I retorted.

Speaking of, had somepony released Platinum yet? Another thing I had to look into.

Gilded Rose stormed away with a huff, turning her nose upward in an effort to keep what dignity she had left.

"That was masterfully done Marm." the ginger stallion said in awe.

"Thank you... Mister-" I started, but then I realized I had no idea what his name was. "Sorry, I don't think I ever caught what your name was."

"Rockhoof Marm." he saluted.

"Thank you Rockhoof." I nodded. "Now that that's taken care of, you said my sister was just served breakfast?"

"Aye Marm."

"Excellent. I'm feeling peckish."

Oddly enough, getting yelled at by a madmare and an entitled idiot was exhausting work.

And entirely before breakfast too.

Rockhoof's companion held the door open for me as I entered.

The room was mostly unchanged, with the exception that the sunlight had slid across the floor, and Tia now sat, wide awake, at the table, which was now filled with food, several maids were standing by, each with a serving cart filled with dishes.

"Woona!" Tia exclaimed, her cheeks full of food. "Thar stuffingk me! Halp!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Ladies please, is all this necessary?" I asked. "Weren't the Unicornians rationing their stock of food?"

"We are." the nearest maid to me curtsied. "The Nobleborn however are exempt from the restriction."

...

"Stars above." I cursed, rubbing the bridge of my nose. "No bucking wonder they never had enough food for us all."

What was wrong with this place?! Was there something in the water?!

"Ma'am?" the maid asked.

"Get all of this out of here!" I gestured at all the excessive food. "Distribute it amongst the soldiers! Eat it yourselves if you must! But I don't think I'll be going over my sister's head to impose rationing for every Pony until there's a good harvest for us all!"

"Yesf!" Tia chirped, her mouth stiff full.

"But the previous Queen-"

"Does she look like the previous Queen?" I asked, gesturing at Tia. "Stars above..."

Tia finally regained the ability to properly chew as the maids began repacking everything onto their carts. As they worked, I spotted something that looked interesting.

"Except this, I'll keep this one." I said, grabbing the dish with my magic and lifting it off the cart.

The maid shot me a look, but I ignored it.

No matter what she thought, it wasn't like I was breaking my own rule.

Tia finally managed to get her food down as the maids took the carts away and closed the door behind them.

"Thank you Lu, no matter what I said they wouldn't listen to me..."

"I think they're just used to Iridium... Although I'm not sure why they would resort to force feeding you... Or why they wouldn't listen for that matter." I said, looking down at what I had grabbed.

It was some sort of baked good, with a sort of white glaze with a rich brown drizzle.

I had no idea what it was, but it smelled sweet and delicious.

"Anyway, did you have anything you wanted to do today?" I asked. "Because as much fun as harassing entitled Ponies is, I would rather not have to do it every time I want to enter your room."

"What did you do Lu?" Tia asked.

"Nothing. But implications of bending your ear and violence were had. I suspect Gilded Rose and whatever allies she has are going to be cross with me for some time."

"What raised your ire then? You don't make threats of violence for no reason."

"Well first she objected to me coming in here while she had to wait outside. And then she was most unpleasant."

"That was all? Lu you're no longer at war, you don't have to resort to violence now that we've won."

"Actually that leads me to what I want to talk about." I said, sitting down at the table across from her. "First and most obviously, rationing." I gestured with the baked good in my magic, before taking a bite.

An explosion of sweet cream and delicate cake filled my mouth.

"Oh stars..." I groaned as I pulled it away from my face, my mouth half full. "That is really rich."

"Isn't it? I'm not so upset that I was being force fed, but unable to taste most of what they were giving me!" Tia cheered.

I took my time to chew and savor the single bite I had taken, before reluctantly swallowing.

"Anyway yes, rationing." I restated. "Noble exceptions to rationing? Stars above what were they thinking?"

"I guess I can see where they're coming from, if this is what they eat everyday." Tia said, taking a bite of something she had kept from the maids.

"While I can reluctantly agree on that point, I'm not so sure how abundant the first crop is going to be down near Everfree City. I haven't checked in with Gold Note yet about Unicornia's stores, but I'd wager they aren't looking good. Which leads me to my next point. What are you planning with the city? It may be too long of a supply route to feed this city from the Everfree. If we are to save lives, we may have to abandon the city entirely."

"Hm..." Tia hummed. "You might have a point..." she admitted, growing serious. "Obviously it's been at least a month since I was last in Everfree, so any number of things might have ruined the harvest."

"Exactly." I nodded. "But that raises my third objection. As we've established, the Noble houses are currently upset with me. Namely, because I kicked their flank and they have to lick their pride. If it comes to relocating all of Unicornia to the South, I might be able to assist with force. But that will carry the risk of future rebellion."

"What do you propose?" Tia asked.

"That I can't say. I'm good at hitting metal and waving a sword, the former of which I might not be able to return to, because... Well you know." I mimed fluttering wings with my hooves.

Tia rolled her eyes but replied steadily.

"Yes, I can see how that might be an issue..."

"Don't get me wrong, I'll be proud to help you while I can, but I'm not the most personable."

"While you can?" Tia asked, raising an eyebrow.

I swallowed.

The thought was uncomfortable.

"Well... Legends say that Alicorns lived far longer than mortal Ponies. With your... Let's say additions... It's possible you may survive me, and any foals I may have."

I had no plans for them, but how was I supposed to know what would happen?

"Luna!" Tia exclaimed in surprise.

"Tia." I said calmly. "Let's not kid ourselves. I'm mortal, and it's very possible that you... Aren't. I don't like the thought either, but we can't ignore the possibility. I want to support you while I can, as much as I can. And that means it's very likely I'll have to put down the blacksmith's hammer for good."

Tia looked on the verge of tears, but she continued.

"I... I understand." she said sadly.

"Hey." I replied, setting the delectable miniature cake on the table and standing up. "I'm not dead yet. And I don't plan on doing so for a long time." I said, wrapping Tia in a hug.

She returned it gladly.

We embraced for several minutes before she pulled away.

"Thank you Lu, for your advice." she smiled. "I think I know exactly what to do."

Chapter 132 The Memories Part 91

~~~

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

Ponies are weird.

I couldn't stop myself thinking that as I looked over my wargear, freshly cleaned. The manitcore cloak was once again 'fluffy', and didn't look like it had it been dragged through miles of mud and ash. The cragodile hide vest, once more bent like supple leather, not creased where mud had slowly accumulated around the scales, splitting only where I frequently bent and moved. The breastplate, which I admittingly had only recently taken to wearing, was once more undented and polished. Similarly, all four of my swords and my single knife were fresh from the armory. Repaired and polished just like the breastplate. While I was glad that my original blade and the blade I had taken in the Cathedral were repaired, I was uncertain how I felt about Emerald's and Sapphire's former blades being repaired.

But short of trying to recreate the damage, there wasn't much I could do about it now. And even if I tried to do just that, I doubted I could get every scratch and chip. And even if I did, it wouldn't be the real thing.

Oh well.

I picked up the cragodile vest, surprised by how light it felt without it being caked in dirt.

It was strange to think, that even now, it was just as good protection as it had being covered in filth.

I donned the hide vest and picked up the breastplate with practiced ease.

I used my magic to adjust the belts, looping them through each other and setting the buckles to the spots I had already worn a crease into.

Next, came something I wasn't so practiced with. Included with my three new swords, came three new scabbards. I had strung them all alongside the semi loose belt that I had used for my first scabbard, creating a intimidating display of four swords lined up with each other.

Hm... I wasn't sure I liked how the ends tended to get crossed with each other... That would get annoying if I had to start fighting.

I'll have to see if I can get another leather strap or cloth to tie them together.

And finally, I lifted the manticore fur cloak and threw it over my withers, effortlessly getting it to settle comfortable and tying the clasp to how I liked it.

I was in a different visitor suite than the one I had shared with Tia the night before. 'Wasn't proper' I was told.

Fair enough I supposed... I didn't want to get in the way of Tia's preparations.

I picked up my knife, still in its own scabbard, and took a breath.

Ponies are weird.

I pocketed the knife in its cloak pocket and turned towards the door.

Oh shit right, the key.

I turned briefly to see the room key I had been given, still sitting on the table where I had left it.

My horn pulsed and it floated towards me.

I left the suite, and shut the door, maneuvering the key so the door locked.

I then tucked the key around my breastplate and into my vest's pocket. It would be safe there.

The evening Sun illuminated the hallway I found myself in. Several servants bustled by, hurrying to some distant destination. But otherwise the hall was empty.

I found myself trotting down the hallway, equally bemused and annoyed on how my life had gotten here.

And I found myself repeating my mantra.

Ponies are weird.

Eventually however, I started to hear the hum of a crowd start to reverberate through the palace walls.

I swallowed a lump that formed in my throat.

Stars... No. Moon, grant me strength for this trial.

I steeled my nerves and marched forward.

I turned around a corner, and suddenly I was in the ballroom. A great many Ponies had congregated, milling about in clumps, speaking amongst each other about who knew what. Some, the few who I recognized as my Captains, wore their armor like I did. While not as clean or as polished as mine had been, an obvious effort had been made to look presentable. Most Ponies I saw however, were dressed in the most gaudy and irritating clothing I had ever seen.

Dresses that made the backside of mares look three times their normal size, stallions who wore utterly ridiculous white wigs that seemed to stack curled locks on top of each other to form towers on their heads. Jewelry was abundant, polished gold encased truly massive sparkling gems that hung off ears, necks, and horns in ever increasingly fanciful patterns.

If I hadn't known better, I would've thought I had wandered into some mass gathering of troubadour and jester.

But no. Said hypothetical gathering would've at least had the benefit of being so absurd for the sake of being absurd.

I was suddenly glad I was wearing my armor, as if it could push back the miasma of pedantic absurdity by being a firm bastion grounded in reason and sanity.

This idea seemed to have some merit, because as I moved forward, the crowd of ridiculously dressed Ponies split to allow me unimpeded passage.

I spotted a group of my Captains, standing awkwardly around each other as the Noble Ponies milled around them.

I nodded to them as I took an empty space for myself within their group.

Most of them looked as uncomfortable as I felt, having also been peasants and proles forced into leadership positions by happenstance, and now having to tend with the frivolities of the aristocracy.

I had fought along these Ponies for months now, surely together we could overcome this challenge as well.

Somepony then started to insist on tapping on something made of crystal, the ringing of which drew everypony's attention.

It was Tia, somehow she had been fitted into a white dress with gold filigree that wasn't nearly as obtuse as the dresses in the crowd around me. Her wings were extended, majestically framing her figure as she held a crystal goblet and a fork in her yellow magic, the fork of which she was tapping against the crystal to make the noise that drew everypony's attention.

"May I have everypony's attention please?" she called out.

Silence fell as the crowd gave the newly risen Alicorn their undivided attention.

"First off, I'd like to thank everypony for coming on such short notice." she smiled. "With... Recent events, it's important for us all to set aside our differences and come together in celebration. Not for the celebration of victory of one side over another, but to cement the cracks that have separated us all for far too long." she flared her wings even wider. "With all that said, I would like to officially open, what I hope is the first of many, my Grand Galloping Gala!"

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

Ponies are bucking weird.

Author's Note

:pinkiecrazy:

Chapter 133 The Memories Part 92

~~~

Tia's Gala had apparently started, but you wouldn't know it by how the guests acted. Did they start dancing? Did they sit down for dinner? Was there suddenly music?

No.

They kept to their clumps of Ponies and continued to talk amongst each other.

What was the point of attending one of these events if all you were going to do was what you did the rest of the time?

The absurdity of these Ponies was baffling to say the least.

What had Tia been thinking?

But then again, was that not the very reason I had yielded to her authority on the matter? Because I simply couldn't fathom what these Ponies wanted?

I tried to think of the situation like a battlefield, only instead of fighting with swords and units, Tia was fighting with honied words and charisma.

Of course the metaphor wasn't perfect, but it held well enough.

"General?" asked a voice off to my side.

I turned to see a butler with a plate balanced on a hoof, the plate was filled with a strange sort of glass cup that was held up by a single glass stalk and base. Each of them was filled with a dark maroon liquid.

"Would you care for a glass of wine?" the stallion asked.

Really? They had absurdly shaped cups for alcohol too?!

"No thank you. I don't drink." I responded.

"As you wish." The butler bowed slightly and continued on, asking other Ponies if they too wanted wine.

As much as I frowned on drinking it, at least ale being in a horn or stein made sense.

One of the Captains standing near me accepted a glass, nodding and thanking the butler.

He saw me looking at him.

"What? How often do you ever get the chance to taste the Noble's wine?" he asked, taking a sip.

I rolled my eyes and looked away.

It was about then that I heard the soft thrum of some sort of stringed instrument over the murmur of the crowd.

Finally! Something resembling a proper festival!

I strained to hear the music, eager to at least listen. But what I had thought was the minstrel's warming up, turned out to be the actual start of their song.

What little I could hear over the crowd was admittingly beautiful, but it wasn't... Lively.

The music was slow, and ponderous, yet elegant. And while I myself didn't care to dance, I wondered how anypony could dance to it.

And then I realized it wasn't meant to be danced to.

Nopony was moving to make a space for anypony to dance.

I don't know... I wasn't that much of a Pony to enjoy themselves at a party, but this 'party' just seemed lacking to me. It felt to me like the crowd was pressing in on me, even though nopony was moving.

I- I had to move.

"I'll- I'll be right back." I offered lamely to the Captains at my side, before turning and trotting in a random direction.

I needed to move! The crowd was being overbearing and I needed to move!

The crowd didn't split like it had only a few minutes before, but they had still left room for servants and the like to walk between them.

But it was chaotic and random, to such a point I felt like I was a bee walking amongst random honey comb in a hive, or a fish amongst the various rocks and flora on the bottom of a river.

As I walked, I brushed past a few Ponies who seemed to enjoy standing in just the right places to make absurdly tight spaces to squeeze through. I spotted the minstrels. They were sat on one of the dais' leading up to the throne, where Tia sat, but tucked away off to the side. They were well dressed, like that of the servants, and a look of serenity on their faces as they played their instruments.

They also looked to be supremely bored.

I found myself drawn towards the band, finding myself sitting on my haunches in front of them and listening to the song.

It was nice. And I found myself actually liking it. But it was still too slow for any sort of party.

But I knew not what to do about it.

It didn't take long to feel like I had stayed here too long, openly watching the band play as Ponies milled about around me.

Stars above... Was this what the Noble Houses considered to be entertainment? At least a celebration in the streets looked like it was fun.

I glanced around, wondering where else I could go. While I didn't want to continuously patrol the ballroom, I wasn't above doing it if nothing presented itself.

My eyes landed on Tia, sitting on the throne.

A line of Nobility had formed, looking to speak with the newly crowned Queen... But nopony was at Tia's side.

If there was a place where I could wait this farce out, it had to be next to Tia.

I got to my hooves and ascended the steps, boldly walking past the Nobility, who were giving me looks of disapproval for cutting in line.

Tia wouldn't like me saying this... But what could they do to stop me? The only thing that had stopped me from officially sacking their city and mansions was Tia herself suddenly growing wings.

Tia had sent the Noble who she was addressing away, their conversation naturally over as I climbed the final step.

I nodded to my sister, but didn't say anything, sitting on my haunches to her left, as if I were on guard.

Tia didn't say anything, but let me sit when I made it plain I wasn't here to disrupt her machinations.

She turned back to the next Noblepony who wanted to speak with her and started chatting with the stallion.

I didn't bother to even start paying attention to what they were saying.

While it was mildly annoying, at least I didn't feel like I had to move from here.

Outside, the Sun set.

Chapter 134 The Memories Part 93

~~~

"Lu? How're you feeling?" Tia said next to me.

I started, surprised at the sudden attention.

"Huh? What?" I asked, blinking away my confusion.

"Are you feeling ok?" Tia repeated.

"Oh... Right yes. I'm alright." I replied. I had zoned out, not paying attention to anything around me, but passively watching the crowd below. "I was just- My mind was elsewhere."

"Ah. Well, try to keep in the moment. I think you were glaring at that poor colonnade."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"Har har har." I remarked, glancing around to regain my bearings.

The line of Nobleponies had actually gotten longer, but a servant had distracted the next in line to speak as the latest Pony was backing away, giving Tia a chance to speak with me without being rude.

Below, I realized that at some point Ponies had begun dancing.

But it wasn't the wild dancing I had come to know from watching soldiers and peasants, but a slow methodical series of movements that looked both silly and aggravating. To me it looked very... Unpersonal. A fact that was reinforced as everypony who was dancing suddenly made a choreographed motion and passed partners between each other.

How strange... I had thought the point of dancing was to have fun with a loved one. What therefor was the point if you were dancing with anypony other than your beloved?

To me, it just seemed like a vessel to be unfaithful to your spouse.

"Have you had anything to eat Lu?" Tia asked.

"Oh, um no." I shook my head.

"Then go try the buffet." She gestured.

"Buffet?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm told it's been all the rage recently. Instead of a formal dinner, you just go up to the table and grab what food you want." She pointed to the left side of the ballroom, where a crowd of Ponies had gathered around a long table.

Even from across the room I could see the silver dishes full of food.

These bucking Nobles had somehow thought of a way to make their own gluttony even more egregious!

"I'll... I'll keep that in mind Tia."

"Come on Lu. Earlier you said you'd help me in anyway you could."

"... So I did." I agreed slowly.

"Then go mingle! We'll both have a much easier time if you got to know these Ponies!" She encouraged.

Me and my big stupid mouth.

"I..." I started, but I couldn't think of an argument for a rebuttal. "Alright Tia." I sighed. "I'll try."

"Thank you Lu." she smiled.

Tia then turned to address the next Pony ascending the dais.

No time like the present I suppose...

I descended, passing the well dressed Pony as he approached the throne.

He sniffed as I passed, but otherwise ignored me.

I bet if I had done that with him he would've called me rude.

Asshole.

I reached the bottom of the dais and turned towards the left wall, going around the still gracefully dancing Ponies. I had to skirt around a few stationary clumps, but they seemed engrossed in their conversation and paid me no mind.

The dancing Ponies slowed in their choreography as the minstrel's song came to a close, but they almost immediately started playing another, which in turn caused the Ponies to transition into a entirely different dance.

How were they so synchronized? And how did all of them know which dance to dance? Was it an existing sequence for that particular song, or had they just listened to this particular song so much they all knew what to do?

Or was it both?

Gah! Ponies are weird!

So serious about frivolous dancing, yet they won't even pace themselves when it comes to their supply of food!

Utterly ridiculous.

I passed by the dancers, finally making it to the edge of the crowd that had swarmed this 'buffet'.

There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to how the well dressed Noble's congregated, instead just forming a mass around the objects of their desire.

Did I join them? Was there a sort of line or queue?

Maybe I could... Skirt around the crowd and approach the table from the side?

The nearest end of the table was rather sparsely crowded, so I approached.

The long table, which must've been a few tables covered by a single tablecloth, was indeed filled with platters of various dishes. Roasted carrots, alfalfa salads, pickled beetroots, savory soups, and more sweets than I had ever seen in a single room. Cakes of all colors, candied sweetmeats of every variety, and several things I had no idea what they even were. Such as whatever a servant was scooping out of a pail with a large spoon, and depositing a creamy looking clump in small porcelain bowls.

As I looked down the table, hooves would appear over the table, take something, and disappear back into the crowd on the right side. More rarely however, a servant on the left side of the table, would remove an empty silver platter, and replace it with another, full platter.

Words were scarcely exchanged between the two sides.

I felt myself frown.

What was Tia playing at? The amount of food merely on display, not even counting the actual consumption, was absolutely staggering! Why was she wasting it?!

She had to have a plan right? But what was it?! Gah!

I took a calmly breath.

She had to have a plan... She had admitted to being able to see the future right? She had to know what she was doing...

And if she knew what she was doing, she would expect me to do the simple task she had asked. That's what I would've expected if our situations were reversed.

And it wasn't like I was being asked to brutally kill an innocent Pony... Just 'get to know these Ponies'.

How hard could it be?

I watched a fancily dressed mare and stallion walk by, speaking with each other.

...

Really bucking hard it turns out.

I looked away from the couple.

'Get to know these Ponies'... Easier said than done Tia.

I glanced back at the buffet table.

Maybe I could try and fit in and hope somepony comes to me?

I picked up a nearby pastry. I wasn't sure what it was, but it looked like somepony had taken a cupcake, cut the sides to form a sort of petals, and covered the whole thing with pink frosting.

It looked like a delicate flower, sweet to look at and even sweeter to smell.

Idly, I tore off a 'petal' and tossed it into my mouth. It was strangely cool and moist, but almost too delicate to handle roughly.

"Enjoying yourself General?" came a voice off to my right.

I turned and had to suppress a gasp.

"Oh Clover! Hello!" I said far too quickly, trying not to spit out the piece of pastry in my mouth.

Clover stood, watching me coyly. To say she had cleaned up well would've been an understatement. The mare before me may have only had a fresh mage's robe, but her mane was immaculately styled into intricate braids that revealed the gentle curve of her neck. Gone was the dirt and mud I had grown used to over the past few months. In fact I hadn't even known her coat could be so bright.

"See something you like?" she smiled.

What did she mean by that?!

"I- Um... Uh..." I stated intelligently.

Clover giggled.

"Personally, I'd recommend the ice cream for you." she said sweetly.

Oh thank the stars, she was talking about the food.

"Ice... Cream?" I asked. "I'm not sure I've ever heard of it."

"Exactly why I want you to try it!" she grinned, lowering her head and pushing my rear.

"Wha- Hey ow!" I protested as she pushed me gently, but firmly into the crowd.

All she did to respond was to giggle some more.

Somehow, Clover managed to push me through the throng of Nobles. And before I knew it she had lead me to that strange creamy goo that the servant was even now scooping out of a pail and serving it delicately into bowls.

"Strawberry or maple syrup?" Clover asked, striding to my side as we came before the particular servant.

"W-what do you mean?" I asked.

"Strawberry? Or maple syrup?" she repeated.

"Uh... Strawberry?" I responded.

The strangely acting mare lifted a bowl of pink goop, which had chunks of bright red inside it.

"Here you go!" she smiled, holding it out for me, and producing a spoon from somewhere.

"Aren't you going to take one?" I asked.

Instead of replying, she held up a bowl with a nut brown scoop and her own spoon.

"Don't worry about me!" she smiled wider. "Go on! Try it!"

"Uh... Ok?" I said, taking the offered bowl and spoon in my own magic.

Clover watched me gleefully, as I started to experiment with the strange clump with my spoon.

It was soft, so soft I could reshape it easily, but stiff enough that it could keep its own shape. I swallowed nervously as I took a scoop and held the strange substance in front of my face.

Clover's grin grew ever wider.

I took a bite.

"Gah!" I started in surprise. "Cold! Cold! Cold!"

Clover laughed, her voice high and clear, but not mockingly.

"Of course it's cold! It's ice cream!" she chortled.

Well now I just felt stupid for not catching that.

But then I actually tasted the diabolically cold substance.

It had the slight bite of fresh strawberries, and the smooth creamy taste of milk. While it was shockingly cold, the temperature complimented the two opposing, yet harmonizing tastes.

I could see myself sitting under a shady tree on a grassy hill during the summer. Not having a care in the world other than a bowl of this substance in my hooves.

Birds sang their songs, which echoed over the land. Laughter could be heard coming from wooden structures in the distance, as foals of all ages and tribes played with each other, racing between the legs of their elders.

It was calm...

It was peaceful...

It was everything I had fought for.

"Luna?"

I was pulled back to the ballroom.

"How is it Luna?" Clover asked.

"Divine." I said happily, taking another scoop and putting it in my mouth.

By now, the crowd of Ponies had broken up around me, splitting apart away from me and filling areas that had previously been abandoned.

Clover smiled widely again.

"I'm glad! It was one of my favorite things when I first got my apprenticeship!"

"Oh right... I forgot you weren't born to this life ether..." I commented.

"Yeah... Been here since I was a filly." she replied.

"Y- You carry it well."

"... Carry it well?" Clover asked, raising an eyebrow.

Uh...

"Uh- What I mean is you look very-" Pretty. "Like you belong." I finished.

"Doesn't feel like it." she commented dryly, looking at the crowd around us. "Even years later, I still get side eyes from the Nobility."

I swallowed nervously.

That... Wasn't good news. If Clover was one of their apprentices, and still didn't feel like she belonged here, what chance did I have? I would try, for Tia's sake, but what little confidence I had suddenly drained away.

"But enough about that." Clover smiled again. "Tonight isn't the time for being glum! Come on! I want to show you something!"

She grabbed hold of my left arm and started pulling me away from the buffet table.

Author's Note

FUCK
That chapter took forever to write... :pinkiesick:

Also more ghey autistic horse noises. :trollestia:

Chapter 136 The Memories Part 95

~~~

I fell to the floor, a massive weight settling on my chest.

Distantly, I heard Clover grunt as something else hit the floor.

But I could do nothing about that.

The entirety of my focus honed in on the face that loomed above me.

The leering face of Emerald Gleam demanded my attention. The green mare sitting on my chest, a crude stone knife in her magic.

"I've waited a long time to watch the light fade from your eyes heretic!" she sneered, lunging with the knife.

My horn came alive with light, fueled by my sudden rage.

The tip of the knife became enveloped in my cerulean magic and stopped descending.

"Rrgh!" I grunted, kicking my back hooves, and grabbing her front hooves in my own in an attempt to get the mare off me.

"Agh!" Emerald snarled in response, fighting my every effort.

"G' off me!" I growled.

"Never! You die today!" Emerald replied, renewing her assault with the knife.

I glanced around.

Where was Clover?! Why wasn't she-?

The limp form of Clover lay on the floor. Dead or hit by a stun spell I knew not.

No help would be coming from her either way.

I turned my head and bit Emerald's hock in an effort to get her to let go.

"Ow!" she screeched, lifting her hoof away.

Her magic faded from the knife, giving me full control.

I threw it away, and used the opportunity to break the grapple I had found myself in.

Emerald wasn't interested in letting me go though, and started punching with her suddenly free hoof in an effort to beat me back into submission.

I used my sudden momentum to tip the mare over, interrupting her before she got one or two hits in.

I rolled with the mare in an attempt to reverse our position.

"Aag!" Emerald grunted, shifting her weight so I over rolled.

We tumbled across the floor, exchanging kicks and punches, knocking aside furniture.

Suddenly Emerald pulled away, extricating herself from the brawl.

As she did, my cloak shifted and Emerald's former sword started to pull itself out, a dark emerald glow around its hilt.

Emerald's horn was glowing.

I reached up and grabbed her face.

"Oh no you don't!" I snarled, pulling back and punching her horn.

The sword stopped pulling itself, hanging half way out of its scabbard.

"Ow! Bucking asshole!" she yarled.

Instead of replying, I kicked upward at her chest with my back legs, finally pushing the rabid mare away.

"Oof!" Emerald grunted as she flew backwards.

Finally having a moment to gather myself, I realized my breath was heavy and gasping as I got to my hooves.

The room which had been pristine only a minute earlier was now a mess. Several tables had been tipped over, sending their tablecloths trailing along the floor. The chairs were in disarray, scattered randomly amongst the debris.

Emerald herself, had landed against the top of a lopsided table, a noticeable crack running through the wood. She was clearly stunned, but was getting up slowly.

I finished drawing Emerald's sword.

Now that the fight had come to a natural lull, and I now easily had the upper hoof, I felt like now was the time to inquire.

"What have I ever done to you to deserve this much hate?!" I exclaimed, repeating my earlier sentiment down in the dungeons.

Emerald didn't reply. Instead she wobbled to her hooves.

She must've landed near the knife for it floated up from the floor, wrapped in her magic.

"... Did it ever occur to you... That our world is full of opposites?" she asked finally.

"Wh- What does that have to do with me?!" I asked.

I heard noises coming from the direction of the stairwell.

Finally.

"Don't you get it?!" she shrieked. "Day and Night! Sun and Moon! Good and evil! If your sister is truly the newly arisen Alicorn of Light, then she must be rising against a great evil! And I know who it is!"

She pointed the knife at me.

"You."

That forbidden question reared in my mind.

"... You're mad." I accused.

"If I'm mad... Then I don't want to be sane. Not so long as you breath!"

She lunged with the stone knife.

I intercepted the knife with Emerald's sword, but she was expecting that and jumped over the locked blade, her hoof approaching in a punch.

... I have three other swords why was I doing this with only one if she was going to be difficult?

But now there was no time for that.

My hoof slapped hers, sending it wide and leaving her open. I surged forward, slamming my shoulder into her sternum.

"Oof!" she grunted as the wind was once more driven from her chest.

I used her own momentum to roll her over my withers, standing up to throw her again against a nearby column.

Maybe I didn't need my other swords after all...

She fell back to the floor, breathing heavily, but otherwise properly stunned.

The sounds from the staircase were growing louder.

"Give up." I commanded, pointing her former sword at her. "You're outmatched and it isn't too late to earn leniency."

"... You... Still... Don't... Get it." she growled.

"No you don't understand." I urged. "There is nothing inherently good or evil about the Day and Night. The Day can be just as evil as the Night if the wrong Ponies are in charge."

"If you believe that you're even more lost than I thought." she snarled, leveling the knife was again.

"Don't do it. I'm warning you." I threatened.

"May Sunlight smite thee demon."

She lunged.

This time I didn't hold back.

I blocked the knife again, but angled my blade downward so the knife slid uselessly down and off to the side, negating it entirely.

At the same time, I stepped sideways, getting out of the way of Emerald's tackle, causing her to stumble where she expected me to be.

I swept my blade diagonally upward, swinging as I did so.

Schwing!

Emerald stood still at my side.

"It didn't have to be this way." I said, not looking towards the mare.

Her head tipped forward, falling to the floor.

But the rest of her body kept still for a whole second longer, before it relaxed and fell to the floor.

Ponies finally crested the stairs, taking in the situation.

Emerald Gleam was no more.

Author's Note

https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 137 The Memories Part 96

~~~

I trotted purposefully down a hallway.

Emerald's former blade floated by my side, still stained red from the blood of its pervious owner.

A plethora of soldiers followed behind me.

It was perhaps ten minutes since Emerald's attack. Ponies had swarmed the sitting room, whisking away Clover before I could ask about her condition.

To say I was mad would be an understatement.

And everypony knew it.

Off to my side, the faces of gaunt prisoners stared from behind the bars of the dungeon, dimly illuminated in the dank darkness by faint candle light.

The slumped body of a Guard loomed out of the darkness, directly next to the still open door of my destination.

"Check him." I commanded, gesturing at the soldier as I rounded on the former cell of Emerald Gleam.

I glared into the darkness, trying to pierce it's secrets through sheer rage.

Seeing nothing however, I flared my horn bright. Casting the cool cerulean light of my magic into the dark cell.

There was only two shapes within.

The first, was obviously a tipped over waste bucket. Its contents spilled to the floor, but it didn't make the odor of the dungeon any worse than it already was.

The second, was huddled in the far corner, and was shaking badly.

"... I told her not to go." Came the soft voice of Sapphire Shine. "I told her... I warned her!"

"When?" I asked stiffly, not stepping forward.

The soldiers off to my side managed to rouse the Guard, proving he was only unconscious.

"I dunno... An hour... Maybe two? I can't keep track of time in here..." Sapphire replied.

"Then why didn't you escape?" I called.

If the mare was being truthful, she would've had plenty of time to flee, even if she didn't follow her sister.

The shivering mare didn't respond.

As the silence grew more grating, I noticed that her forearms were held over her head and eyes.

"Then why didn't you escape?" I repeated.

"... What could two mortals do to challenge death?" She asked.

"Pardon?" I responded, confusion finally breaking rage's hold on me.

She finally removed an arm from her face, revealing a quivering, staring eye in the darkness.

"Any who face you are doomed to die..." she whispered fearfully. "The Hydra was our first clue. And then Hoarfrost. But we were two fillies who didn't... Couldn't know."

"You're not making sense." I stated.

First of all, factually incorrect. I hadn't killed Ebony Rain or any of my sparring partners over the past year...

Wait, was that it? Were those the only Ponies I hadn't fought to the death?

... The only reason I hadn't held Ebony Rain under the water until she stopped flailing was because she had surrendered the second time I asked...

If she had refused me my customary three times however...

"But then we came back North..." The mare continued, ignoring me. "And forgot about you for many years. Until my Lady, Princess Platinum took my battalion South to scout for new lands to settle." She shuddered. "I didn't know it at the time, but I saw that shield your sister held."

"Still not making sense."

But she continued.

"That night... The night of the Windegos... I fled. Abandoning my brothers and sisters to their fate. Telling myself I was returning to tell the Queen what had happened. But that wasn't it." she shook her head, dislodging a few strands of oily mane hair. "I was running from tales of a pair of sisters rising in the South. It was then, when rumors of a mare with wings of light reached me did I realize what I had seen... All those many years ago..."

"What are you talking about?" I snapped.

"That night... With the Hydra..." Sapphire licked her lips to wet them. "Emerald and I both saw them." she shuddered. "Wings... As black as night, and as cold as death around a filly we knew well..."

My blood ran cold as the forbidden question rattled its cage.

"I barely reached Unicornia before tales of a blue filly crushing Casúrdomhain in a single night reached us. Emerald became a fanatic when she came to the same realization I had made... And Queen Iridium made us both Generals, me for bringing the news... And her because of her zeal..." She shuddered again, but I didn't interrupt this time. "Then Pegasopolis fell... Humbled by the sisters of the South. And we knew... We were next..."

With the exception of the blue mare in the cell, the entire dungeon was as silent as a tomb.

"I had nightmares every night... Of a black winged shadow bringing war. Emerald did her best to hide it, but she focused her fear into her faith..." She quivered, covering her eyes again. "My nightmares came true when the banners depicting a silver Moon crested the hills. When a filly I knew as weak and strange came and demanded our surrender..." She curled in on her self, like a filly protecting herself from the darkness. "I'll never forget your eyes Luna..." Once more an eye appeared, illuminated by my magic. "Like eyes gleaming in the dark, alive, cruel, and mocking... Daring us to defy you... When we fought in the cathedral... I knew we had lost before we even drew our swords... I tried to tell her! I tried to get her to stop! Over and over again!" she started to screech. "You have to believe me!"

That... That was bucking unsettling.

I turned towards a soldier to my left.

"Search her, if she's unarmed bring her before a doctor. See if they can knock her out or something."

"What about you Gen- Er... Princ- Er..." The stallion began to stutter.

"General will be fine." I rolled my eyes. "I don't know what my sister is thinking and I'm not going to speculate until I speak with her and give her a piece of my mind."

Several soldiers stiffened, if it was at my tone or at the thought of a mortal chewing out an Alicorn I didn't know.

"Then what about you General?" the original stallion asked.

"What about me?" I snapped.

This evening hadn't started well, and had only nose dived from there.

My patience was growing dangerously short.

"Well... Um... Don't you need to see a doctor after-"

"I'm fine." I responded. "She didn't scratch me."

"Then maybe you'll listen when I tell you the same thing." came a familiar voice from behind the crowd of soldiers.

The ranks of guards split, revealing the practically glowing form of Tia, which seemed to push the dank darkness of the dungeon away.

The prisoners in the cells had prostrated themselves, and were muttering or chanting quiet prayers.

"I'm fine Tia." I insisted.

"No you're not." She replied. "You're rightfully frazzled, anxious, and tired."

"Most of that is your fault Tia." I rebutted.

"Regardless;" she said serenely. "We will discuss that later. For now, trust that I have my reasons, and go get yourself looked over. Emerald may have gotten you with a poison."

A part of me obstinately wanted to object, because I was fine. But I couldn't think of of rebuttal to her poisoning argument.

Perhaps I was being stupidly stubborn? I certainly didn't think I was having a good day. Maybe it was a decent opportunity to let somepony else handle this?

"... Fine." I acquiesced.

"Excellent. Now, is there a Captain here?" Tia asked, looking around.

"Aye your Grace..." Captain Short List stepped forward.

"Your Highness." Tia corrected. "It'll be Princess from now on."

"Aye yer Highness." Short List nodded.

"Good, you're in charge of this investigation. In the meantime, I'm going to take Luna and the prisoner to our herbologist ."

"Yer G- Highness?" Short List asked.

"Ms Sapphire here looks like she needs a sedative. And if she hasn't escaped while the door is open she can be trusted outside the dungeon."

"Of course yer Highness." he nodded with a slight bow.

"Luna? Sapphire? Could you please follow me?" Tia asked.

"Oh great Alicorn of the Sun!" Sapphire proclaimed, still in her corner but prostrating herself. "I am unworthy!"

"Enough of that." Tia tsked. "What good is being an Alicorn if I'm not allowed to care for Ponies?"

Sapphire wasn't listening however, and was busy with her face to the floor and muttering prayers fervently.

Tia rolled her eyes before lighting her horn, and gently lifting the blue mare in a field of sunlight.

"Eek!" Sapphire shrieked in surprise.

"Lu? If you would?" Tia asked, gesturing for me to follow.

I followed without protest or comment.

But I wasn't happy about it.

The prisoners continued to prostate themselves and pray as we walked by. Sapphire awkwardly tried to do the same even as she floated along, still held in Tia's magic. But she soon fell still.

We reached the top of the stairway without event.

"... How are you doing Lu?" Tia asked.

"I'm..." I paused looking for an answer. "I'm- Honestly I don't know where to start."

"If you're worried about talking in front of Sapphire, don't worry, I got her with a sleeping spell." Tia informed.

Gah! I guess that explains why she wasn't flailing or chanting...

"What were you thinking?!" I started. "Making me a Princess?!"

"Hm." Tia nodded. "Figured that would get on your nerves..."

"Then why?! What were you thinking?!"

"Because Lu, believe it or not, you have more a claim to the throne than I do."

"No I do not." I stated. "You are the elder, and you are the Alicorn. Nothing I do can contest that."

"You're the conqueror however. By right of conquest you have a claim."

"That's not true and you know it." I countered. "I no more have a claim than a General conquering for another Queen."

"Luna..." she sighed. "Listen to me very carefully. I'm giving you the title because I want to honor you. I fully intend to include you in ruling at my side."

"But why do you want me to have equal standing to you?" I asked. "I thought our agreement was for me to be an advisor and General."

"And what if something were to happen to me? You said it yourself, I may be an Alicorn now, but neither of us know how long I'll naturally live now. And as demonstrated this very evening, there may be assassin blades waiting for me. This way, there is a clear line of succession should the worst happen."

I didn't know how to respond to that.

"If you're that worried about getting caught up in politics, then we can split up the duties of the office. I'll take dealing with the politicking, you handle leading the army."

"That... That I can do." I admitted.

"Thank you Luna." Tia responded.

We walked in silence for a little while longer, passing by only a few scurrying servants.

I guess everypony else was busy with the excitement caused by Emerald...

"Here we are." Tia said at last. "Word of warning Lu, Meadowbrook is... Let's say eccentric."

"Eccentric?" I asked.

"Hmhmm." Tia nodded. "She came with me when I brought reinforcements. Never knew a better herbologist, but... Well you'll see."

She pushed the door open, and the smell of rich earthy herbs and strangely pungent smoke hit me in the face.

"Meadowbrook? I've two patients for you!" Tia called, stepping inside.

"Oh Tia darling! Come in come in!" Cried the voice of a mare with an accent that I had never heard before. "Don' mind tha smell! Founda new herb ina local store!"

The room was illuminated by a single candle, but most of the shapes and objects within were obscured by lazily drifting smoke.

As I entered the room, it felt like my mind became fuzzy, and as if I wasn't entirely in control of my actions.

"Any spare beds?" Tia asked.

"Oh yes'm! Over here yonder!" Something in the fog shifted.

"Excellent, this one I need you to keep an eye one for a small while. I fear her mind's weak at best, or broken at worst."

"Shaw! Tha all? Ah'll get 'er fixed right up quick!"

Stars above... Her accent was so thick and strange...

"And this;" Tia continued. "Is my sister Luna. She needs looked over for poisons and given a good night's sleep."

"Oh Luna!" A mare's face suddenly loomed out of the haze.

"Gah!" I started, jumping back.

"Oh ain't you a card!" the mare grinned, her mane tied up with what looked like a shawl, although I couldn't tell the color with the hazy smoke. "We'll getcha looked after sugar!"

"Thank you Meadowbrook. I hope you don't mind keeping them until morning." Tia called.

I realized I had lost her to the thick haze.

I wanted to call out, but my fuzzy mind didn't seem like it wanted to work.

"Naw! I dun mind attall! It'll be lovely ta have company come morn!"

"Tia?" I called, finally finding my voice.

"Alright Lu, I'll come back to get you tomorrow. Good night!" Tia's voice called again.

"Uh... Good night?" I responded, my mind too fuzzy to make sense of what was going on.

"Now why duncha get outta them there threads Luna? So Meadowbrook can look ya over."

Something pressed against me, leading me gently around the room.

"T-Threads?" I asked.

"Yer clothes! Kint look ya over if yer not nude!"

"I uh... Okay?" I asked, unable to answer anything else with my fuzzy mind.

"Grand! Now you do tha while Ah tend ya friend!"

Something shifted in the haze.

"... Okay..." I repeated, pulling my cloak off my shoulders.

What... What was this place?

The strange mare started to hum pleasantly, doing whatever she was doing as I removed my armor.

I fumbled with the straps keeping things in place, unable to focus undoing them.

My mind wasn't only fuzzy now... But slippery as well.

I suddenly realized I had removed everything, and now had a bundle of clothes.

"Uh... Where-?"

"Jus' set em on tha floor sugar. They won't get in tha way."

"Uh... Okay?" I said, setting the bundle on the floor.

"Ahright then. Yer friend's gonna be out fer a long while. Let's get a look atchu sugar."

The mare's face emerged from the smoke again.

"Gah!" I repeated.

"Oh ain't yew a silly filly!" the mare chuckled.

I felt hooves pulling at me, leading me somewhere else.

"Naow then, lay down here sugar."

I was gently pushed down, laying on something hard and wooden.

The candle moved closer, revealing that I was laying on a table.

"What're you?-"

"Now yew jus' relax and hold still. Ah'm gonna look ya over."

Despite my apprehension, I found myself untensing.

The mare, Meadowbrook if I remembered right, busied herself moving my limbs and examining me.

Finally she moved to my face, positioning the candle near my face.

"Hmhmhmmm..." Meadobrook hummed as she started touching my face. "Haha!" she suddenly chortled. "Oh yer outta it ain't you sugar? Plum forgot ain't anypony who keen handle as much incense as Ah keen."

"Huh?" I asked dizzily.

"Oh dun you fret sugar. Yer gonna sleep well tanight."

It felt hard to think... Like my mind was drifting as slowly as the funny smelling haze in the room I occupied.

It was even hard to discern what was inside and what was outside.

"Alright sugar. Ain't a scratch on yew. All yew need is a good night's rest." the mare stated suddenly.

"Huh?" I repeated.

The mare chortled again.

"Dun you worry 'bout it. Naw come on, get up, dun be afraid ta lean on me if ya need it. Yew ain't the first Pony an' yew ain't gonna be tha last. Yew ain't even gonna be tha heaviest.

I wasn't sure if it was my own violation, or if Meadowbrook was lifting me up, but I rose off the table and got to the floor.

"Come on. Gotta bed right ova here ya keen use." the strange mare informed me.

"... Kay..." I drawled, feeling myself being dragged across the floor.

And suddenly I was falling into a bed, but I was asleep before I even touched it.

Author's Note

Lore! :pinkiecrazy:

Medieval hot box! :rainbowlaugh: :rainbowwild:

Discord!
https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 138 The Memories Part 97

~~~

I came to, the smell of roasted tubers tickling my nose.

Where was I? What happened?

Why did my head feel like it had been emptied, cleaned, and refilled with wool?

I opened my eyes.

The room above me was clear and sunny.

"Ugh..." I groaned, sitting up and now feeling like every part of me was filled with stuffing.

"Well good morn sleepyhead!" cried a voice from nearby.

I finally got the wherewithal to look around.

The room I found myself in was, in a word, cluttered. Shelves had been built into the wall, but nothing had been put on them. Instead, hanging from the edges were a series of hooks and poles, from which various jars, bottles, and tins, made of everything from terracotta to glass to metal, further hung from strings of leather and flax. From what few glasses there were, I could see various herbs and leaves stashed inside. Occasionally, even the bough of a large plant could be seen, purposefully hung to dry out.

In the middle of the room, stood a simple table, too crude for noble use, but too refined to be made on the road. While it was mostly clear, there were several plates of roasted potatoes, closed jars, a candle holder, and a strange glass pipe with a sphereical bottom, in which I could see ashes.

By far the most notable however, were the two Ponies sitting at the table. One, a blue green Earth Pony mare with a ginger mane tied back with a shawl, and the other, a truly ancient Unicorn mare with a greying lilac coat and semi curved horn.

Stars above... She looked older than Starswirl!

"Hey there sugar!" the Earth Pony cheered. "How ya doin'?"

Being called 'sugar', made the previous night rush back.

"What'd you give me last night?" I asked quietly, clutching my head with a hoof.

"Yew? Nuttin'." The Earth Pony smiled. "Yew jus' happened to walk in on me tryin' a new blend."

"Oh don't mind her dearie." the Unicorn said, her voice slow with age. "She's a right whizz with her herbs."

"I'm... Sorry, I don't believe we've met?"

"Oh forgive me dearie." the Unicorn smiled. "Sometimes I forget not everypony knows who I am." She put a gnarled hoof to her chest. "My name is Mistmane. And my friend here is-"

"Yall keen call me Meadowbrook." The Earth Pony cut in. "Butchu already know tha'."

"... How could you even see last night? I couldn't even see my sister..."

"Aw shoot. Ain't no thang. In my Ma's swamp yew can't get no more than wun candle a moon. So yew learn ta get by with nuttin'."

Meanwhile Mistmane had taken the opportunity to take a sip from the cup she was nursing, not minding the interruption at all.

"Come join us dearie." she smiled kindly. "The day is young and this meal Meadow made won't eat itself."

I was about to respond when something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention.

The still form of Sapphire Shine, breathing so slowly I wasn't sure if she had stopped at first.

"Oh dun worry 'bout her." Meadowbrook stated. "She'll be out fer a few more hours yet."

"Oh..." I said, getting to the edge of the bed. To my sides, a total of two other beds could be seen. One to my right, and one on the other side of Sapphire.

Donk.

My back hooves hit something on the floor as I sat on the edge of the bed.

I lifted a my right leg to see the hilt of one of my swords, I had accidentally stepped on it, causing the pommel to hit the wooden floor.

Everything was sorted into a neat bundle that I knew I had been in no condition to sort.

"Wiped yer blade fer ye too." Meadowbrook stated, reading my thoughts. "Ah know yew soldier folk dun like yer blades gettin' rusty."

"Thank you." I mumbled out awkwardly, stepping over my stuff to get onto the floor properly.

"Ain't no thang." Meadowbrook waved off. "Jus' a bit of spit an' it was good as new!"

... Tia had been right. This mare certainly was 'eccentric'.

I steadied myself on my hooves and approached the table.

"So... Um..." I started, not wanting to be rude and feeling the need to fill the quiet. "How'd- How'd you meet Tia Meadowbrook?"

"Oh yew wouldn't believe it!" the Earth Pony cheered as she served me some of her potatoes. "One day, my Daddy says ''ey! Ah thank dere's smoke ova yonda!"

Stars above... How is her accent getting thicker?

"Then me an' mah Ma go lookin' ova yonda an' found a campsite of yew Evafree Ponies! Dey're tha wuns who brought us tah yer city an' yer sister."

"Wait, you were already living in the South?" I asked, pulling a chair and sitting down before an empty plate.

"Hmhmm!" Meadowbrook nodded. "Mah family's been living down thar fer generations now. Saw tha way tha wind was blowin' and skedaddled South quick as we could!"

"That long?!" I half exclaimed.

"Hmhmm!" Meadowbrook nodded. "Tha story was the Pegasi didn't bother going that far down! Keent get raided if they dun know yer thar!"

I was about to ask more, but a knock at the door stopped me before I could.

"Come in!" Meadowbrook chirped.

Mistymane sat quietly, sipping from her cup, seemingly at peace with the world as the door opened.

Tia's head appeared.

"Is she up yet?" Tia asked.

"Oh yes!" Meadowbrook nodded enthusiastically. "Jus' in time for breakfas'!" she waved, gesturing for Tia to enter.

Tia's eyes fell on me as she pushed past the door.

"Good morning Lu, how you feeling?" she asked.

"Alright... I guess..." I replied, unsure how to tell Tia I felt like I was full of wool.

"Any problems?" she asked, pulling a chair and sitting down at the table.

"Notta wun." Meadowbrook replied, serving Tia some of her remaining potatoes. "Fit as a fiddle."

I suddenly realized there was food in front of me, and began the process of eating.

"Good good..." Tia commented. "Thank you Meadow."

"Dun mention it. Ain't no Momma of mine gonna accuse me of not serving a friend properly."

"Well I thank you anyway." Tia nodded, picking up her own fork.

I swallowed a bite of the potatoes.

"So um... What's going on? Since last night?" I asked.

"The Nobles are in an uproar." Tia said around a mouth full. "Apparently nopony has tried an assassination at a ball in nearly a decade."

"... Why is that something they keep in mind?" I asked slowly.

"Because dearie, it got so bad the Houses had to make an agreement that certain events were off limits." Mistmane informed.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met." Tia said, swallowing.

"Mistmane. Mistmane the Beautiful dearie."

The beautiful? That had to have been been ages ago. In fact now that I thought about it... I was worried the mare was going to keel over any second now.

But I didn't voice that thought out loud. Instead I took another bite of potato, keeping a watchful eye on the old mare just in case she really did decide to die right here and now.

"Celestia." Tia said simply.

"Oh I know who you are dearie. Hard not to." Mistmane smiled.

"Regardless, it's the polite thing to say." Tia replied.

"Not to interrupt or anything, but what about the Nobles?" I interjected.

"Oh right, sorry Lu. The Nobles are malding. They're convinced somepony broke Emerald out of the dungeon for some unknown purpose and are baselessly accusing each other for the deed."

Great. Just great. More of a headache to deal with.

"Hoo boy..." I grumbled, resting my head on a hoof.

"Don't you remember our agreement Lu?" Tia tsked.

"Huh?" I asked.

What was she talking about? What was- Oh. Oh right. There was what felt like a whole evening even after the attack.

"Oh right... Sorry, slipped my mind." I replied

"Understandable." Tia nodded. "But you let me worry about that. I have something else for you to focus on."

"Oh? What might that be?"

"Well Lu, while everypony else may have forgotten with the excitement, I haven't. I still intend to relocate the city."

"Okay... I'm following so far."

"But the problem is, moving all of these Ponies is going to attract a lot of attention from the wild monsters in the area. I want you to take a portion of the army and go hunting. I'd like the numbers of monsters to be as low as possible when we begin moving South." Tia stated.

I felt relief flood my chest.

Oh thank the stars... I don't have to stay here with all these crazy Ponies.

"Yeah. I can do that."

Chapter 139 The Memories Part 98

~~~

My armor clad hooves once more clacked against the polished stone of Unicornia. My cloak once more in its usual place, and all of my swords within easy reach.

My mind felt refreshingly normal, yet still vaguely fuzzy at the edges.

I resolved to not talk to Meadowbrook again outside the presence of fresh air.

Stars above... How high was her tolerance if she hadn't even noticed?!

I sighed, looking down at the square stone of the Unicornian Palace.

Ponies were truly strange.

It was actually the day after I had woken up in that strange mare's temporary lair. Grey sunlight beamed down onto the floor, cast by a dismally cloudy sky. Autumn was well on it's way.

Tia had better get a move on if she wanted to move South before Winter.

I passed a servant, too busy with her duties to pay me any mind.

I sighed again.

Who was I kidding? I had to do my job before Tia could do hers... I was going to be extremely busy this coming Moon...

Outside the stained glass window, I saw the forms of soldiers passing by.

Good. They were still mustering. I'm not late yet.

I continued my walk down the corridor, which was practically abandoned. Coming to a door, I sighed again.

A feeling of apprehension welled in my chest.

It had been my foalhood dream to go on an honest to goodness monster hunt, a desire that had been driven by tales of ghosts ghouls and gremlins. But that was before Casúrdomhain, Pegasopolis, and Unicornia. Before Ùllahdmaiden.

Before the Hydra even.

I had slain monsters yes, but now I had the blood of Ponies on my hooves as well.

As a filly, everything was so simple. Ponies good, monsters bad.

But now I knew better.

Ponies were not automatically 'good'. No, they could be evil to their core, as exemplified by that son of a bitch Hoarfrost and his niece Emerald.

Was it not therefor, possible that not all monsters were bad?

If I were to step into the claws of a humble Timberwolf for a moment, at the end of the day all I would be trying to do was survive. To find my next meal however I could. And as distasteful was it was to think about, that could mean grabbing something that struck back with spear and spellfire.

In a way... I had more in common with a Timberwolf than I did with the nobility.

At the end of the day, I'd be a snarling, murdering mess too if I was pushed to it.

All in the name of survival.

I took a deep breath, my hoof resting on the door, ready to push it open.

Survival... It was such a simple thing... There wasn't a living thing alive that didn't know what it was and desired it greatly. But that survival came at a cost. You couldn't not kill something to eat. Even the grass...

I pushed the door open and marched forward.

But regardless of my feelings, I had to pit myself against the monsters, despite our similarities.

I had to make sure Ponies survived.

I had Ponies to protect.

Ranks of waiting soldiers stood in the pale morning light, weapons of all sorts hanging at their sides, or resting easily in their hooves. Armor of all makes, freshly polished and refurbished made the whole procession look motely. Unicornian gold, Pegasoplian grey, and bright Earthbreaker steel.

Off to the side, being loaded and tended to by more soldiers, were a plethora of carts. The tell-tale look of a mobile camping equipment within easy reach for when we decided to make camp. The only siege weapons in sight however were the disassembled parts of several ballistae, packed away and mostly unneeded.

They would only be used for the bigger monsters, like a Hydra or, stars forbid, an actual Dragon.

Several of my more combat talented Captains stood ready, saluting at my approach.

Flash Magnus, Rock Garden, and Bright Shine.

The likes of Short List, while trusted, were more able keeping the books than actually leading and fighting.

To my surprise however, there stood the forms of Smart Cookie, Clover, and Starswirl, each with their traveling gear.

"What are you all doing here?" I asked when I came close.

"Can't rightly let ye go and have all the fun. Besides, gotta have somepony to keep track of yer head." Cookie winked.

"But I thought you were-"

"Getting the Nobility ready?" Starswirl interjected. "Hardly. Your sister has that well handled, and I'd like to take the time to procure alchemical ingredients while I can. Besides, you may need a master wizard if anything too strange crops up."

I blinked at the stallion.

"Are you sure? Surely you can get ingredients in the Sou-"

"No I'm afraid not." Starswirl shook his head. "While yes, I suspect you are correct, I would have to experiment to find their properties. And there's no guarantee they would have some of the more... Potent properties I require. No, I endeavor to gather what I can, and perhaps harvest some seeds or spores to propagate artificially."

"I understand." I nodded. "You're free to come. All of you." I said, looking at the odd trio. "But why are you coming Clover? I thought you were recovering?"

The whole mess with Emerald had indeed caused an uproar. Clover had been taken to the Palace ward to recover, but I hadn't known she had been released.

"I was." Clover nodded. "But I with- What happened the other day... I want to get out of the castle as soon as I can. Maybe gather my own supply of reagents and learn a few of the more nuanced methods of alchemy from Master Starswirl while we're out."

"Hm yes." Starswirl nodded. "I believe there are a few more tricks I can teach you."

"Thank you Master." Clover bowed slightly.

"Well..." I said, interjecting myself. "If you're feeling up to it, I'll be glad to have all of you... But if you'll excuse me, I have to make sure we're ready." I nodded at them all, moving on as I did so.

They nodded respectfully, and turned towards each other, continuing the conversation without me.

Behind me, my three Captains followed on my heels.

"Any complications?" I asked, looking over the ranks but addressing them.

"No General." Bright Shine replied stoically. "Everything is proceeding as planned."

"Excellent. How long until we can leave?"

"Just a few more barrels I think." Flash informed. "After that I think we're good."

"Not quite." Said a familiar voice from behind us.

I turned to see Tia, her wings spread majestically.

The ranks of Ponies were bowing as one.

"I've come to wish you luck." Tia smiled.

"Thank you Ti-" I started to say formally, but suddenly found myself smothered by white fur.

"Good luck Lu. I'll miss you." she murmured.

"I'll miss you too." I replied, returning her hug.

We held our pose for a few seconds before Tia pulled away, her eyes watering.

"Why are you crying?" I asked. "It's not like I'm not coming back."

"Lu, you're the one who keeps bringing up accidents and mortality."

"I suppose..." I nodded. "Then guess I'll do my best to bring myself, and everypony back. Will that work?"

"It'll have to do." she nodded, before turning towards the once again upright soldiers. "Ponies!" she called out. "We are far from home! But we have one more fight before us! To get everypony South, we have to clear the way for the Ponies of this city to join us! Go forth and protect our new brothers and sisters by hunting the monsters that would threaten them!" she flapped her wings, getting a few hooves off the ground.

I suddenly realized she may not know how to fly yet.

Hehehehe...

But a contrary part of me asked the forbidden question again, dousing my mirth like a fire.

Tia landed back on the ground, and turned, marching back towards the castle.

She disappeared inside, but a suspiciously white blob appeared in a nearby window.

I turned towards my Captains.

"Anything else?" I asked.

They all shook their heads.

"Then get ready to march as soon as we're loaded. We've got a job to do and I'd rather get it done before Winter."

"Yes General." they said in unison, before splitting up to their own units and started barking orders.

The organized chaos that ensued made me slightly dizzy trying to keep track of it all, as the ranks of soldiers maneuvered onto the pathway, deftly keeping the carts between blocks of the formation. As they did that, somepony in the gatehouse saw fit to start the slow process of opening the gate itself.

Soon, a Pegasus flew over to Flash, said a few words I couldn't hear, and nodded. Flash dismissed the stallion and waved to get my attention.

He nodded.

I looked over to Rock Garden and Bright Shine, whom both stood by the open gate.

They were both waiting patiently.

As soon as they saw me looking they both nodded.

We were ready.

"Forward march!" I shouted, clear enough for everypony to hear.

The whole formation lurched forward, steadily leaving out of the front gate that just days ago had been trying to keep them out.

I glanced back towards the window, where the white blob still stood.

I smiled and waved.

"I will return Tia. But you may not recognize me." I whispered under my breath, too quietly for anypony else to hear in the tumult of clattering plates of metal.

The blob waved back, and was gone.

Author's Note

https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 140 The Memories Part 99

~~~

The march back South was not nearly was quick as the march North.

For one, we meandered back and forth constantly, searching for any hint of dangerous beast we could find.

We found and burned a plethora of Timberwolf dens... We spotted Cragodiles sticking up from the muck and had Unicorns and Pegasi hit them with lightning and spellfire... We found Manticore droppings and scrapes; and hunted the solitary predators for days through the wild forests.

We even baited a Hydra into a crevasse that had our ballistae along the outer ridge, trapping it in a spiked pitfall and slaying it despite even its regeneration.

We butchered our way across the land, nary a day or night where something wasn't slain.

I'll freely admit I failed Tia, in bringing back every Pony that came with.

While we did our best to play things safe, behind numbers and intelligence, accidents did happen.

One was too close when a Cragodile started a death roll, being crushed to death. Another had been pounced on by the very Manticore we were after. Another overextended and was overran by Timberwolves.

Whenever we could, they were buried with full honors. When we couldn't... A monument was erected.

But monsters weren't all we found.

Quite often, we found all sorts of odd bits and ends. Once, we found a clay pot inside a tree stump, full of gold coins. Another, a stave resting against easily against a fallen tree, partially buried by mud. Starswirl examined it and said it was enchanted. He then promptly claimed it as his own. One time, we found a strange black obelisk in the middle of nowhere, which hummed strangely. Clover, who was there at the time, took one look at it and screamed at us to tear it down and crush the rubble into gravel.

Apparently anything that died around it would rise as one of the undead.

I made sure it was ground into sand and glassed on site.

It never occurred to me, just how full the woods were with just strange things, left over from a culture of Unicorns who loved their magic artefacts and frequently lost them.

We also found a plethora of villages, both abandoned and occupied. Left vacant by the original exodus, the abandoned villages gave a sort of insight into the lives we were trying to move past. Sometimes, one of my soldiers claimed to be from the abandoned villages we found. When searched, the soldiers often didn't turn up anything better than a few jars of dubious foodstuffs inside those villages of a now bygone era. A few brave souls tried them, with mixed results.

While I pretended it was a sort of hobby, I had taken to marking any village we found on a map I had copied. While I was curious if any sort of comprehensive map, with every minor settlement marked, had ever been compiled. My real purpose however was to locate one of the villages the Moon had shown me.

Now was as good a time as any to begin my quest.

I didn't think I caught all of the villages by any stretch of the imagination, but it was something to do when I was resting.

The most notable events however, were when we found a still living and breathing community. They were much rarer than an abandoned village, but they were always interesting to visit when we found them. I recognized some, having come this way before on the way North, but many were new to me. A few, attempted to defend themselves. But they universally looked very foolish when I explained that I had no interest in fighting them. I extended invitations to all of them, even the ones who had denied me before, offering them a place in Everfree City if they wanted it. A fair few accepted, and joined us as we marched slowly South. And a few... Refused. The reasons ranged from not trusting strangers, to not wanting to work alongside other tribes of Ponies, to not wanting to leave the lands they had lived on for centuries. I would sadly acquiesce to their decision, but I insisted on giving them a few cuts and slabs of the meat we got off the monsters we had slain.

Even though I personally refused to eat it, we had plenty, and the army could barely eat through it all.

With the tribes no longer influencing the North, these villagers would no longer benefit from supplies from the Crown or the Clans.

I comforted myself with the thought that I tried to help them through the coming Winter at the very least. But beyond that, they were on their own if they didn't decide to move by their own volition.

I liked the villages that welcomed us with open arms the best. They'd hold minor celebrations, grateful for the aid we brought. With our surplus of meat, feasts were commonly held. The Reeve would come to me personally and thank me profusely for bringing life back to the village.

It was a distressing fact that many of these villages hadn't seen help in years.

They were the ones who came with us willingly, eager to start a safe, new life under a living Alicorn.

I didn't like bringing it up, and often I didn't even mention she was my sister. I would only use that tactic if the village was on the fence with the decision and I had already expended all other options to convince them.

I just didn't want to look like I was fishing for clout, just because I happened to be sisters with the newly risen Alicorn.

While the forbidden question would scream itself at me while I did so, I wanted to be known for what I myself had done.

It was at one such village, when something mentioned in passing brought my attention front and center.

I had been politely speaking with a villager when she had said it, nursing a clay mug of water as Ponies around us drank fermented juice.

The mare herself wasn't drunk, but her fellows were.

She had nervously said it, like she was both testing for my reaction, and warning me away.

I blinked in surprise.

Did she really just say that? Was I hearing things?

"I'm sorry, could you say that again?" I asked.

The mare's eyes were wide, suddenly afraid she had overstepped.

"Um..." she hummed nervously. "I said... I said..." she swallowed.

"I said our village is in bondage to Lord Bloodmoon."

Author's Note

Plot! :pinkiecrazy:

Discord! https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 141 The Memories Part 100

~~~

I was gobsmacked what the Earth pony before me was saying.

“The Bloodmoon? The Lord Bloodmoon?” I asked, hoping for clarification. “You offer ponies to his minions to be taken to his castle?”

“Yes… It’s- It’s something we’re not proud of.” the mare sighed, turning her gaze downward in shame.

“No not that- You’re telling me, that you make regular contact with his forces?”

“Well, not exactly…” she hesitantly stated. “Every thirteen years, on the blood moon, the Bloodguard comes and demands one of our own as an offering. A show of ‘fealty’ they call it. We usually leave the pony tied to a pole just outside of town. Night comes and goes, and in the morning there’s no pony to be seen.”

I rubbed my chin in thought.

“Is- Is there any blood or body parts? Or tracks even?”

“N-no… Well, blood that is. No blood where we can see. But there’s often lots of tracks.” she nodded, confusion on her face.

“Hmm…” I hummed. “And the Blood moon is three days away?”

“Yes that’s right.” she nodded again.

“I have good news then!” I beamed. “You won’t have to worry this Blood moon! Because I volunteer!”

“You WHAT?!”

~~~

“Absolutely not young filly!” Starswirl chastised the next morning.

My declaration had caused quite a stir in the village, and a huge town meeting had been called. The important speakers in the village sat with us around an oval table, the day to day peasants stood around the table, listening in on the proceedings.

“Absolutely not Luna!” Clover added.

“Your sister is a benevolent ruler Luna. But if I allow this she will have my head on the headsmare’s block before she could say ‘Sorry master’!” Starswirl pounded a hoof on the table in emphasis.

“Luna,” Clover sighed. “We understand you… ‘Like’ to save ponies. But surely there's a way to… Somehow save these ponies from this fate without sacrificing yourself?” she pleaded.

“It’s not that we’re not appreciative of you offering…” their Reeve tapped his hooves together nervously. “But just… Why?!” he squeaked loudly, his voice pitching up with confusion. “You’ve barely met us and you’re willing to go?! For nothing?! Who does that?!” the stallion began to hyperventilate. Several more voices rose to add into the deluge.

“Calm down everypony.” I tried to reassure them, trying to speak over the tumult. “I just need you to trust me.”

The crowd seemed to settle a bit, but they certainly weren’t happy to.

“I can’t tell you why. You’ll think I’m crazy.” I continued.

“Too bloody late fer that lass.” someone from the outer crowd called out.

“Be it as it may,” I tried to ignore the stallion who shouted. “I have a reason, a plan, and a very strong urge to do this. And I just cannot tell you those reasons quite yet.” I tried to stress.

“And if you go, what will your sister think?” Starswirl interjected. “‘Oh me oh my! What ever has Luna done now? Ah well! Nothing to worry about at all!” he stated in a falsetto tone that was meant to mimic Celestia’s. He must’ve been truly panicking if he was breaking his stoic persona to be sarcastic. “Of course not!” he finished, returning to his own voice. “Don’t be daft Luna! You’re smarter than this!”

“I just…” I held in a deep breath. “Can’t.” I sighed out. “I cannot tell you. You wouldn’t understand and I don’t expect you to. I just… Feel like I need to do this.” I looked around, looking at every face I could see. “I get that you don’t understand. Why I would go. Why would I willingly go to my doom? But it’s like there’s an open door. An invitation to come inside. If I do enter, I’ll be granted greatness beyond anything I can imagine. But if I don’t… The door will close forever. And no one will ever enter.” I glanced around again, gesturing with a hoof. “My friends, comrades and acquaintances alike! You know me. You know when I am jolly and you know when I am serious. And have I ever steered you wrong when I am serious?” I stood up, forelegs on the table. “I swear to you all. I have no intention of throwing my life away. But I must go.” I felt tears begin to well in my eyes. “And if you won’t let me… Then you won’t be able to stop me.”

With the threat looming, the air seemed to grow slightly colder.

Everypony shared a look at my speech. Not quite sure what to make of the situation.

“Luna…” Starswirl began, trying a more calm approach. “Are you sure about this? This would be the most dangerous thing you have ever done. And if you don’t come back… I don’t know what that will do to Celestia.”

“More sure about this than anything.” I replied quietly. “If I don’t go I will regret it for the rest of my life. And... As much as it hurts me to say, it would be easier on Tia for my quick death. Dying how I lived. No needing to see me fade away over the years. There’s no telling how much longer than me she’ll live.”

Not strictly the truth, but not technically a lie either.

A large portion of the ponies sighed in understanding, they didn’t like it, but they understood.

“If I succeed, you will know it immediately within the week. If I fail… Well. Don’t be standing next to Tia.” I tried to sugarcoat. A few chuckled one or twice, but most were thinking deeply.

“Luna… If you’re sure…” Starswirl began. “Oh stars damnit! Okay! Fine!” he called out. “Won’t be too long before I’d join you in the Elysium Plains to smack your ears anyway…”

The tension seemed to break now that it was decided.

~~~

I didn’t have much of a plan as I had made out.

While it was true, the Moon's plan was viable, the simple truth was that nopony knew what Lord Bloodmoon’s lair was like. If that wasn't the case, then a start of a rock-solid plan could be thought out. But no one knew what was inside, what it looked like, or even where it was! There could’ve been anything inside and it could've been anywhere!

You just can’t plan for that!

Therefore, the reason I had to take this opportunity now was made up of several interlocking reasons. If I were to forgo this opportunity with the intention of returning 13 years hence, it could be possible their spies would see me coming… And lay a devastating trap… If I were to leave now, it would be a spontaneous revelation. Even the best spy can’t account for spontaneous whimsy.

They would suspect just another helpless victim… Their guard would be down… It would be easy to slide the knife in. And that would have to be enough. No plan could be made. Yet no suspicion was to be had. And with the blessing…

Yes… It was possible.

With the Moon’s Blessing I needed no weapon. But there were things I could do to prepare. Starswirl had an “invisible pocket” spell. He made use of it to keep his favorite instruments on his person, just out of touch with our world so they could be carried weightlessly, and without hindering the old stallion. With it I could take a few things. Doubtlessly necessary because the odds of the Bloodgaurd letting me keep any saddlebags were basically nonexistent.

No wonder he somehow managed to have everything he needed when he needed.

I liberated several jars of preserved garlic from the village’s foodstuffs. The common rumor was, vampires could not stand garlic. If it were because of some curse the Alicorns had bestowed on them, or if garlic was just too pungent for their fabled senses I didn’t know. But it was a common enough belief that there surely must be some reason for it to have traction. Several other things were acquired as well. A wooden stake, because a spare weapon couldn’t hurt, a wooden, carved depiction of an ancient Alicorn, a few days worth of rations that I could stave off hunger with if they didn’t feed me properly, and a few vials of liquid a somewhat crazed looking Pegasus had claimed were “holy”. They sparked slightly if jostled too much.

I wasn’t too sure about the vials, but I had been around enough Pegasi lightning to know that it couldn’t not be useful.

Starswirl came to the rescue again with the garlic. It was specifically the smell that famously repelled vampires. That meant they could find my stashed garlic more easily if they were more sensitive to it. So I had to find a way to somehow cover up the smell. The old wizard helped twofold. Firstly, because I didn’t want the guards to suspect anything so I did my best to not be near any garlic in case they smelled it on me and figured out not all was what it seemed. So Starswirl helped by using an old food preservation technique. The food would be placed in a jar and sealed with wax. The jar would then be placed in a special enchanted pouch. The pouch would keep the food in the same condition it was placed in the container until removed from the pouch. No one knew how it worked, but it was thought it was an old spell from the Alicorns. Memorized and retaught over the ages just because it was so useful. But for me the spell had an interesting side effect that I intended to abuse.

You see, the spell kept food just as warm as it was made months, even years later. But once closed, it would not smell like the food was even there at all. You would not feel heat off the pouch, you would not smell the lingering scent, and it weighed next to nothing despite being able to carry weeks worth of food, if you rationed and organized the insides of the pouch properly.

This side effect was perfect for hiding the garlic. The pottery jars they were in had a tint of garlic to them. Not enough to be prominent or obtuse, but just enough to notice. Just enough to be found.

Enter, the invisible pocket to make sure no smell escaped.

The three days passed how you might think it did. I went around the camp to gather my supplies. But garlic, a wooden stake, rations and a depiction of an Alicorn weren’t that difficult to acquire in the farming village. So that left a sizable portion of the time fending off Starswirl, and Clover. They had only stopped pestering me an hour before I was led out to the outskirts of town. A few villagers asked me why I was doing this. After the fourth one asked, only to receive the same answer, did the village seem to understand that they wouldn’t understand.

The time had arrived. My supplies were in place and hidden. I had a “ceremonial void ring” placed around my horn. I had practiced with the blade the Moon’s Gift summoned to scrape the ring off without the direct use of magic a few hours beforehand. It still dizzied me when I tried, but I eventually got the hang of it and could do it with decent results.

That just left me with being brought out to a log pole embedded vertically into the earth. A rusted manacle and chain clamped around my limbs.

The Reeve of the village approached.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” he gently whispered, not loud enough to be overheard but conversationally in such proximity. “You owe us nothing stranger. And the village may still agree to trade you for another pony. If only so a great pony such as yourself doesn’t have to die on their behalf.”

“I have never been so certain.” I answered honestly. “Tell them that while I will do this for them, they are not the primary reason I chose this." The Mayor nodded, not really understanding, but understanding enough to know a larger plan was at work here.

“Luna I must insist you at least entertain the idea of considering.” Starswirl tried once more. “Like it or not you are important. As a general, as a sister to our new Princess, and as a very fierce friend. You do not have to throw your life away.”

“Starswirl. I understand all of this.” I said gently. “If it were any different I would wait and plot to pounce. You know I’d find some other way.” I sighed. “But forces beyond me have set the stage. If I do not take the center stage, the act about to unfold will be much harder for Equestria.” I looked him dead in the eyes. “Sometimes, the clever thing is not to wait and search for an answer. Sometimes, the clever thing is to strike when neither side has an answer.”

He looked at me, confusion written across his features. But then realization, at least what he thought was realization, dawned on him as the evening light faded. But he said nothing, knowing that hidden eyes and ears were likely already watching.

"What do I tell your sister?" he asked.

"Tell her... Tell her she would be a hypocrite if she asked me to stop."

That confused the hay out of him, but he shook his head.

“Good luck.” he half chirped, turning back towards the village and silently heading to safety.

Clover was next.

At first, we didn't say anything.

"Lu..." she said after a few minutes.

"Clover." I responded.

"I... I don't know what I'll do if you don't come back."

My heart dropped in my chest.

I hadn't considered my feelings for Clover for this endeavor... And despite myself, I found myself caring about how she felt an awful lot.

What were my feelings for Clover?

Something tender and soft... That made my heart ache most pleasantly.

"I..." I started, trying to articulate what I was feeling.

But as much as I wanted to wrap myself around Clover, I wanted to free the Moon more.

I had to go.

But it wasn't fair to Clover, regardless of her feelings for me.

As much as it hurt, I needed to let her go.

"Clover..." I started again. "What are your feelings towards me?" I asked

"What?" she asked, taken aback. "What kind of question is that?! You're my friend! I lov-" she silenced herself, putting hooves to her mouth in shock.

I didn't know it was possible, but my heart sank further.

"I love you too Clover." I whispered.

"I..." Clover stammered. "You don't have to do this! It's not too late! You can come back with me! We- We can live our lives together!"

"No Clover. I can't." I insisted. "I have to do this. And as much as it hurts to say, it isn't fair to you. If- If I don't come back... I want you to forget about me. Live your life. Find another, fall in love with them, and forget about me."

I closed my eyes, steeling myself for her outburst.

But she didn't.

Her response was the sound of hooves scraping the loose dirt, fading into the distance towards the village.

I breathed out, banishing the inner turmoil I had subjected myself to.

As much as it hurt... I needed my head clear.

One by one, what few villagers had come to make sure the deed was done left for their huts. An uneasy night awaiting them. Knowing that a stranger was risking herself for their sakes, but they themselves were safe for another thirteen years.

I closed my eyes, savoring the last rays of sunshine on my face that I would ever feel again if I failed. Finally, the last wisp of heat from the Sun faded, and the first consistent chill of the night began.

Funny, after doing so much to stop Eternal Winter... Only to perhaps never see the Sun again.

I didn’t know how long I waited. Patiently waiting with my eyes closed. At peace. Listening to the sounds of the nighttime wilderness. The chill intensified incrementally several times over the wait, as the temperature dropped.

It was really becoming dark...

Chapter 142 The Memories Part 101

~~~

“Another for the harvest.” said a chipper stallion’s voice from close by.

I opened my eyes to ponies. Whom I first mistook for Pegasi. But closer inspection revealed featherless, leathery wings, and catlike eyes that seemed to glow wildly. There could be no doubt who these ponies were. There were almost a dozen of them, perched in swaying trees, peering around trunks, or casually approaching with their eyes locked on me.

The Thestrals.

“If you’re going to kill me, get it over with. I haven't got all day.” I snorted. I didn’t want to antagonize them. But at the same time I didn’t want them to think I was being 'too easy'.

I was also fishing for information. If they killed me now then I might as well fight back and hope I could somehow find their lair without their help, or wait until the next blood moon to try again.

“Don’t you worry worm. You will get your death.” The closest one nearly growled, his voice low. “Get the wretch off the hooks and with the others. We’ve got more stops along the way and I don’t want to keep the stockyard waiting!”

Two of the ponies landed on either side of the pole. Slightly behind so I couldn’t easily tackle any of them without immediately being set on by the other two. I pretended to resist by trying to keep the release mechanism away from their grasping hooves. It was petty, but I wasn’t being too annoying. Once they were off, another pair instantly took their place, this pair in much better condition and not attached to the log. I struggled again as they picked me up to carry me. This time actually struggling because anything less would’ve been suspicious.

They didn’t flinch as they carried me deeper into the wood, the darkness seeming to gather around them like a lover. Before long I couldn’t see anything, but I heard a clank, and a rattle of an opening door. Then I was pushed harshly, landing on something a bit higher up from the ground than I was suspecting.

The door now squeaked closed behind me.

“Alright get a move on! We got more rats to collect and I don’t fancy being out when the Sun comes back up!”

The world around me lurched as the unseen cart began to move. My sight finally adjusted to the gloom, and I could see a few poor ponies in the cage with me. They didn’t look like they’d been in there long, but there were only one or two who looked healthy. If I had to guess, I’d assume these ponies were the dregs of their communities.

Not one of them was deluded about their fate.

The Thestrals rushed through the night, pulling the slave cart with nearly reckless abandon. You had to sit or cling to the outside bars just to not be jostled around too much.

Regardless, I tried to stay in the middle of the cage, as stifling and as uncomfortable as it was. I couldn’t take the chance that one of our captors would notice the glared daggers that I sent their way. The thought of how many ponies had suffered this same fate made me fume. The other ponies in the cage must’ve felt something was off about me, because they tried to give me a wide berth, but that didn’t work as more and more ponies were added to the cart.

I was worried they were going to start forcing ponies to pile on top of each other and fill the whole cage top to bottom, but they thankfully stopped just before that became necessary. But that didn’t mean we were comfortable.

Hours seemed to pass since the last prisoner had been added, and the Thestrals had not stopped the entire time. I had managed to snag a few fitful bouts of sleep, just so I would be ready for when the cart finally stopped.

We had to be close to our destination by now. Our captors spoke as if they could accomplish their journey in a single night, and dawn could not be too far off. But still our captors rushed through the night.

I was considering falling asleep again when several of the captured ponies suddenly gasped. I didn’t get a proper view of what they were gawking at, but I did see foreboding towers and battlements in the background above their heads.

The cart slowed significantly as the grinding rumble of what must have been a gate opening admitted us entrance to this place. But as much as I was curious, and as much as I wanted at least some information, I didn’t allow myself to look directly outside the bars. I knew I lacked the “forlorn and hopeless” look that my fellow prisoners possessed. If I were to accidentally catch the gaze of one of the guards… My quest might be over before it even truly began.

The cart rounded a few corners with the casualness of an on schedule supply cart. Seemingly no longer in any rush now that we were inside their city or fortress. But finally it came to a stop, which felt strange after so many hours of ceaseless movement. A bat pony in armor approached the cage, a set of keys dangling from her clawed wing thumb.

“Get up maggots!” she shrieked impatiently. “Come on! Up and out!” The door swung open, allowing the first prisoners to leave the cramped cage cart. I took a moment to truly glance around as it became my turn to leave, able to peer over everypony’s heads from this brief vantage point.

We seemed to be in the courtyard of some sort of fortress... Which strangely enough, had the exquisite gardens of a more modern castle, but the functional battlements and fortifications of older styles. The stone the walls were made of were a sort of predominantly black rock that had faint speckles, but you could only see them if you were closely examining them. Red banners that seemed artfully tattered hung from every wall, spaced evenly between each other. Oddly, they were just colored banners and had no sigil or crest that I could see. The gardens, in stark contrast, were filled with vibrant but deadly greens. I did not recognize many of the plants, but what few I did set the theme for the rest.

They were beautiful yes, but dangerous in some way to the extreme.

And the garden was full of them.

Exotic thorns and flowers that seemed to be made more from teeth than petals grew everywhere. Vines larger than an adult pony lay sprawled out, tiny feelers twitching in the air for something to accidentally bump into them. Several cocoon pods could be seen to know what would happen if somepony were to touch one. A glimmering haze hung over a particularly sweet smelling flower. It looked innocent enough, until you realized the rocks its roots were entangled in were far too uniform and white to be rocks.

It was all artfully displayed, and I inwardly shuddered at the thought of how they had to be maintained.

When the opportunity arose, this garden would burn.

“Move it!” one of the guards shouted, breaking me out of my revelry. This wasn’t the place to be an annoyance, so I jumped down from the cart in a way I hoped seemed meek. I must’ve seemed cowed enough because the guard didn’t yell again.

Thankfully, they didn’t just push us into the deadly bushes to fertilize their garden. But we were forced into a door hidden off to the side. The door lead us into what was clearly a servant’s passage, but even here there was an air of ostentatious danger here. The minor hall was surprisingly clean and well lit, flickering candles dotted alongside the walls in even patterns. . More artfully tattered red banners lined the black walls. More guards stood at regular intervals.

It was the first time I got a good look at them.

The standard uniform seemed to be a red under an armor jacket, with ebony armor plating that looked dangerous to even wear. Their full helmets didn’t have a traditional visor, but merely had a fixed piece of the armor’s material that covered the pony’s face, oftentimes forged in such a way that left two fang like protrusions on the bottom edge. Two furiously slit eyes, ranging from yellow to orange to crimson, glared from the menacing helmets. To my confusion, they didn’t seem to carry weapons... But then I saw the tell tale glint of a sharpened metal edge alongside one of their wings. I had to lower my head below the crowd of taken ponies so they didn’t see my smirk.

They looked and acted like Pegasi, but their armor was for a fighting style that was more akin to an Earth Pony Earthbreaker. But instead of pure strength, they relied on speed, and sheer savagery to win a fight. It was a good technique, but the method had its weaknesses.

The hall morphed into a large, uncramped staircase that spiraled downward. Which seemed odd to me, since I hadn’t seen any further doors. Obviously the downward staircase led to the castle’s dungeon, so did they really have such a decorated entrance just for prisoners?

That told me something about Lord Bloodmoon. If it was arrogance or the need to show off to 'livestock' I wasn’t sure. But I wasn’t impressed.

The dungeons happened to be a different story. While the hall and staircase were clean, the dungeon was anything but. Dirt that I wasn’t too sure was 'dirt', seemed to collect near the walls where ponies seldom strode. Variously faded blood stains were visible nearly everywhere one looked, far too often to be an accident. The cells themselves were more akin to storage rooms; they were so big, each filled with at least 15 ponies of varying tribes. The only things that identified this as the same location as the entrance, was the black stone, and the red banners that hung from the wall outcroppings that separated the cells.

Suddenly an armored bat pony was before me, holding open a cell door and ushering those in front of me into the chamber.

“Get in!” he bellowed angrily. My gut told me this wasn’t my moment, so I quietly shuffled into the cell. Several more prisoners followed me, and the cell door slammed shut with a loud squeal. The guards chattered something in a language I didn’t understand, laughed, and walked away.

The prisoners seemed to pause, glancing at each other as if they didn’t quite know what to do. After a moment they spread out and left each other to their own devices, trying to come to terms with their new reality.

I swiftly noticed something though. I couldn’t notice before, but we weren’t put into an empty cell. Several other Ponies were already inside. But strangely, all of the prisoners avoided one corner, giving it a wide berth.

In that corner, was a Thestral...

Chapter 143 The Memories Part 102

~~~

The new prisoners mingled with the old, low whispers and murmurs exchanged. I glanced around. Nopony seemed willing to approach the Bat Pony. Yet his presence here was a mystery I had to solve. Why would one of their own be in here? What did he do? Why weren’t all the ponies in here with him corpses?

Something was amiss.

I needed more information.

I glanced around, I didn’t want to approach the potentially dangerous pony with nothing but a smile. An older pony who seemed dirtier than everypony else caught my eye.

“Excuse me…” I whispered as I approached him, keeping my voice low to not alert any guards. “What’s the deal with-” I jerked my head towards the bat pony who huddled in the corner, pointedly ignoring his new cellmates.

The old stallion lifted his head with effort that bordered on titanic, his wings tattered and clipped, his once blue eyes beginning to gray with age.

“... You’re shining far too brightly to be here by accident.” he deduced, blinking slowly. “Let me save you some hurt, whatever you’re planning… Don’t.”

“I have no idea what you’re insinuating sir.” I grinned cheekily. “I’m just a poor maid who was dragged here against her will.”

“Yeah, and I’m Lord of all that exists.” he snarked back. “All you’re going to do is bring a world of pain crashing down on your withers young filly.”

“Let me worry about that. Now what about-?” I jerked my head back at the bat pony in the corner.

“Didn’t you hear me filly? All you’re going to do is piss them off!” the old stallion growled.

“Yeah? And so what if I do? They can torture me, that’s true. But I’ll be going to the grave with my honor intact and secure with the knowledge that I at least tried to stop these monsters, and not curled up in the corner begging other ponies not to even try.” I narrowed my eyes pointedly. “I don’t know how many ponies you’ve seen with fire in their hearts only for that fire to be stomped out by this place. And I don’t care. What I do care about however is stopping the madness of this place. And unlike those who came before me, I have reason to believe I have an actual chance.” I poked his barrel. “So I ask again, what’s with the Bat Pony?”

“When you’re caught, and you will be caught, I’m going to sing like a canary just so they don’t put us all on a rack.” the stallion said matter-of-factly. “He’s a traitor. Started running a rebel group in the city. Tried to recruit the wrong pony and now he’s in here. Just another sack of blood like the rest of us.”

“That wasn’t so hard now was it?” I almost sneered. The thought of just laying down and just accepting the terrible way things were… It reminded me far too much of the original tribes, not even trying to stop the Eternal Winter they caused. It made my blood boil. And this stallion had the gall to think that his way was the only way.

He would see.

Change was a natural part of the world. If you didn’t or couldn’t change… You died. Easy as that.

And Lord Bloodmoon was long overdue for a change.

I left the old stallion to his misery. If he wanted to sit in a cell and rot until it was his turn to be eaten, then I wouldn’t stop him. But I was not interested in sharing the same fate.

I sat in front of the bat pony, but didn’t say anything. He was still technically an unknown factor, but if what the old pegasus said was true… Then it would be best if I made it obvious I wished to speak, but let him start the conversation.

He didn’t speak for several minutes. He seemed to be too lost in his own thoughts or ignoring me on purpose.

“... Be careful where you shine that light bright one,” he finally said “Ponies don’t last long here if they don’t keep their shadows close…”

“Then pray tell, how would you go about banishing the gloom?”

He didn’t seem to have an answer, but he shook his head with the ghost of a smile on his lips. “What do you want?”

“Oh I don’t think we’ll be able to go over the full list even in this cell. But from you, I’d like to get to know you better.” I laid down on my belly as if getting comfortable. “Tell me, bat. How does one of Lord Bloodmoon’s own get thrown into a cell with the food?”

“Don’t. Call. Me. That.” he softly growled.

“My curiosity deepens and I find myself wishing to know more.” I gestured placatingly. He took a moment to examine me critically.

“...You are not like most ponies…” he finally said.

“No.” I agreed. “And apparently neither are you.”

He shook his head again and sighed.

“... I’m no beastial vermin thing. I am a proud Halfblooded Thestral warrior. To call us a ‘bat’ is an insult most Thestral’s would remove your head over.”

“I see. I apologize for my ignorance then.” I put a hoof over my heart and bowed slightly.

“... You truly are not like most ponies…” the stallion murmured.

“Oh, more than you know…” I smirked. “Halfblooded? May I ask what that means?” I could see his mind racing behind his yellow slitted eyes. He truly did not know what to make of me.

“... A Halfblood, is a Thestral who is the bastard offspring of a pureblood and the ‘livestock’. We are to Purebloods, as a peasant would be to your royalty. Except we eat fruit as compared to blood.”

“Intriguing.” I stated. “Would I be correct in assuming then that a Halfblood and Halfblood offspring would be another Halfblood?” I asked.

If their system of royalty and nobility was comparable to old Unicornia… Then the lower classes could entertain the idea of overthrowing their millenia old Lord. Especially if he was equally dysfunctional.

“And a Pureblood and Pureblood would yield another Pureblood yes.” the Halfblood confirmed.

Except for the lack of increasingly obscure and inane titles, this was almost exactly like Unicornia. I couldn’t help but smile.

“What can you tell me then, about Lord Bloodmoon?” I rested my head easily on a hoof. I knew I had him, I just needed him to take the bait. “Oh I don’t care about what he’s like personally, what’s he like as a ruler? How well does he run his Kingdom? Does he take care of the Halfbloods?”

That seemed to catch him off guard. So much so that his mouth opened and closed like a fish a few times before he shook his head to shake away his surprise.

“What- Why?” He asked. “No pony comes here for us! All they care about is trying to kill Lord Bloodmoon! And they all fail! Each and every time!”

I smirked. His nonanswer was all I needed.

“Don’t mistake me, I am here for many reasons. Bloodmoon is indeed one of them. But he is a tertiary concern at best. The primary reason, well-” I paused, pretending to gather my thoughts. “I’d prefer that to be a surprise for everypony involved.” I smirked. “The secondary reason is that ponies need to be protected from this place. I cannot in good conscience just allow these ‘Purebloods’ to kidnap and steal the innocence and well being of everypony he gets his hooves on with impunity.”

“... Who are you?” the stallion asked in awe after a moment.

“I’m exactly what I appear to be. I’m merely a humble maiden. But you may call me ‘Luna’.” I smiled.

“Luna…” the stallion murmured, rolling the name around on his tongue. “I will help you Luna. I have seen many so-called ‘heroes’ pass through these walls, all having their hope crushed and scattered to the wind." The stallion looked me in the eye. “And yet… There is something different about you Luna. I know not what it is, but I will help you.”

I let slip a huge, genuine smile.

“I will be glad to have you. But perhaps I could have the name of my comrade?”

“My name…” he smiled. “My name is ‘Saros’.”

“Hail and well met then Saros." I nodded to my new compatriot. "Now... Our first course of action should be getting out of this cell.” I whispered to my compatriot. “I don’t suppose you wouldn't happen to be waiting for a specific outside event would you?”

“I’m… Still planning…” Saros admitted.

“Excellent. Then I believe it would be prudent to get out of this cell before we’re forced onto a dinner plate." I glanced around what I could see in the cell. Ponies were speaking quietly, but none seemed to be paying attention to us. I noticed that the walls of the cell didn’t really leave any place where one could hide.

Except on the ceiling.

I glanced around at the ponies around me. The Unicorns had bands like my own, while the Pegasi had their wings bound or clipped, sometimes both. I took a moment to remember the colors of those who appeared rowdy enough to be worth binding and clipping at the same time.

A soft silver glow appeared above my head, its reflection shining in Saros’ widening eyes. The Moon’s Blessing floated down and pried the stone restraining ring off my horn.

“Ok… Here's what we do…”

Chapter 144 The Memories Part 103

~~~

“Hey you! Yeah you! Fuck face!” screamed a light pink Pegasus mare as she fiercely gripped the iron bars in her hooves. Her wings were bound and clipped. “You suck! You stupid bucking sky rat!”

“What’d you say you little shit?!” shouted a guard.

“Big stupid sky rat!” the mare continued to shout. “How such a bucking ugly piece of shit like you caught one of Pegasopolis’ finest will forever haunt me!”

Two Thestral guards approached the cell aggressively. One had a keyring in his wing claws. The mare began to take a few steps away from the bars.

“Oh by the sky you are ugly!” she exclaimed. The other prisoners began to back away to the side, leaving a clear obvious path to the mare. “How such a misbegotten creature such as you crawled out of the caves is beyond me.” she continued to taunt, backing up further into the cell.

The guard’s didn’t even hesitate, the one with the keys began to fumble them.

“Come here you shitstain!” the other grumbled. The other prisoners had backed as far as they could away from the doomed mare.

“Inbred vermin! Blood sucking parasites!” the mare continued to chant. “Disgusting leeches! Your line is so filthy it must’ve been born of the first shit!” By now she had bumped into the back wall of the cell.

The guards began to growl as the keys were placed in the lock.

“You misbegotten maggots of the earth are so ugly I wouldn’t be surprised if you refused to screw your own kind to procreate!”

The guards had gotten the door open and were beginning to rush towards the mare. One stood by the door, letting his partner enter the cell while he watched from outside, but he was mad enough to be wanting to rush in and join.

“Your bloodline might as well be the misbegotten offspring of a full latrine!” The mare continued to rant.

The Guard in the cell rushed forward.

“No wonder you need to drink blood! You’re so inbred your veins are full of spring water!”

The second, outside guard was almost inside the cell.

Eh. Good enough.

I let the adhesive spell on my hooves go, standing almost upside down on the wall above the cell door.

The Moon’s Blessing burst into life near my head.

And I fell towards the ignorant guard.

His eyes began to look up, but didn’t even have time to widen before I landed around his neck, the glowing silver knife already beginning to get uncomfortably close to his neck.

My hoof wrapped over his mouth and muffled his grunt as the knife slipped in.

The other guard had stopped paying attention to the insulting Pegasus and the realization that he was no longer safe began to dawn in his eyes.

“G-” He tried to call out, but the mare behind him had pounced. She was already wrapping her hooves over his mouth and windpipe.

The guards were, according to Saros, Halfbloods. And thus no more immortal than the average pony peasant. Which was odd to me, as the tales of the Bat- Thestrals always said they were all unaging and immortal. But stories had a habit of making mountains out of molehills I supposed... But on the other hoof... I couldn’t rely on the idea that supposed rumored knowledge was always exaggerated and thus unable to be fully trusted. Especially for such a dangerous foe as Lord Bloodmoon. It was far better to overestimate than to underestimate an opponent.

This made my plan a tiny bit easier than I was expecting. Minor Vampires acting as guards, rising again from the grave after being put down, would not be missed.

The guard I straddled rolled his eyes and sighed his last.

The guard’s, who was being smothered still by the rude Pegasus, eyes widened as he saw the mythical knife pull out of his friend’s neck. He began to kick briefly to free himself. I leapt off my victim’s neck and rushed forward to silence the restrained guard.

Before I knew it, the arcane blade was inside his throat, and the life began to fade from his eyes.

“Here Saros, take their armor. You’ll be able to pretend to be a guard escorting us around." Saros wordlessly began to help me strip the armor off the dead pony. “Here Fyrefly.” I began to help the former Pegasopolian Warhero remove the armor off the other one. She had been in here for a long time, getting her wings clipped several times, and was slowly steaming over the years. Doomed to someday explode from righteous rage. I had reservations about the loyalty of the former legionnaire, but she assured me she had gathered, and lost, too many friends in these walls to not appreciate the other tribes.

My plan was not one I liked... In a prison break, you have several goals and methods to accomplish getting free. Run straight for the exit, acquire a weapon and try and fight your way out, etcetera. To do those things, it was best to stick together. It minimized the chances of being found, and allowed the prisoners to mob their captors.

But I wasn’t here to escape quite yet. There was a pony who owned something very valuable that he really, really, shouldn’t own and he really, really, really needed to die.

So that meant we needed to be as hard to find as possible. And that meant maximum chaos. Saros and Fyrefly were to 'escort' me to the armory, to gather weapons from the barracks. The others would go their separate ways, to tip over every potted plant they thought they could get away with to distract as many guards as possible. All while Saros, Fyrefly, and I rearmed and left to confront the Lord. With him gone, “Bloodstone”, the name of the Fortress City, would fall apart without their vampiric patriarch holding the Purebloods together. Not only mythically as far as the Moon was concerned, which I kept secret; but because the Pureblood’s noble houses were kept at each other’s throats in a never ending bid for Lord Bloodmoon’s favor.

An old prehistoric Unicornian proverb that I had read in one of Starswirl's books.

In chaos, opportunity.

It would not take long after going after my true goal that they would figure I would have a real chance of killing the Lord of this pit. And that could be enough to stay their hooves until they were sure the best chance they have in taking power was after he was truly slain.

And that would mean Lord Bloodmoon would be without allies.

Alone.

Abandoned.

Vulnerable.

And the very ones who abandoned him, the Pureblood Vampiric Thestrals, would realize their last mistake far too late.

But first we had to find Bloodmoon’s amulet. The one he kept in his quarters at all times.

For that we needed everypony as a distraction.

I had passed out various jars of garlic to the rioters from our cell. And a few of them grinned maliciously. Additionally, I pried off restrainer rings off Unicorns and unbinded the Pegasi. But other than that, I gave no one else instructions. I knew a few were likely spies or at least a few who thought they’d survive longer in the cell if the rest of us were all eaten first.

But I knew a few would believe that I would save them all if I gave out a plan. But that wasn’t the case, because I was using them as bait in one of the most dangerous places for Ponykind. There could be no guarantee I would save them all even if I did succeed.

So I let them organize amongst themselves. I didn’t want to give them too much hope in me, I wouldn’t be able to handle the thought that I willingly sent them to their deaths, just to keep myself safe while I accomplished my potentially selfish goal.

And end this insanity as I did so.

I left them behind knowing many of them were about to die.

Just to buy me time.

Without telling them.

I hated myself as Saros and Fyrefly closed the door behind us. All they, and our cell mates, knew; was that I was after something in the Lord’s Quarters. A weapon to finally kill him. However the only reason I told them that much was because I needed Saros’ and Fyrefly‘s help to get there. And I wouldn’t lie to them about it being a way out. And there wasn’t really a good way to hide that fact from the rest. The less ponies that knew what direction I was going, the more likely I was to succeed because recaptured ponies couldn’t provide information on what they didn’t know.

“Left.” Saros grunted, trying to sound mean, but not mean enough to be taken seriously by someone who knew what he really was doing.

I banished the Moon’s Blessing and bowed my head to the floor, trying to appear meek and broken. Evidently, the amount of guards around the prisons were a façade. Only the two left in charge of the dungeons were guarding the door, inside and out. And they were the corpses sitting inside our cell. I wasn’t sure if it was dumb luck or if it was the laziness that stereotypically came with being a slaver, but I was thankful for the opportunity.

The halls were surprisingly empty. Or at least we weren’t challenged. The night seemed to press on the light cast by the soft candles, offering many hiding places for guards to hide. The Tattered red banners seemed to flutter slightly in an unfelt breeze.

It was quiet…

Far too quiet…

And yet nothing came out from the shadows.

“Left.” Saros stated quietly, also clearly unsettled by the uneasy environment. I felt the urge to ask how he knew where to go, but I had already put too much trust in him to not rely on him. And if he was a spy? Perhaps then I’d be taken directly to Lord Bloodmoon.

I probably wouldn’t survive, but I’d be taking the whole Kingdom down with me.

“Right.” Saros said again. “Stand to the side wretch!” he cruelly exclaimed.

I jumped to the side and tried to act small. Our first encounter since leaving the dungeon marched by. A contingent of guards around a mare wearing a blood red dress with black trim walked by. She looked hellishly gaunt with a dark crimson mane, and a coat that was deathly pale white. A few guards cast a quick, hungry glance down at me, but otherwise continued to stare professionally forward.

The mare in the crimson dress suddenly stopped.

“Wait.” she stated. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her sniff the air.

“Something is… Wrong.” she drawled in an accent I couldn’t place, refined and well mannered. She turned towards us. “You three don’t smell how you should be…” she began to stalk towards us. Her guards began to glare angrily at us. “Hmmm…” she hummed, leaning in to examine us. Thankfully, Fyrefly happened to be on the far side of the Vampire noble. So the pale mare at least smelled Saros first. And while I imagined he didn’t smell ‘good’, he was still at least a Thestral.

She was about to turn to me when something exploded in the distance.

“Nightfang! Windspite!” she barked, turning towards the sound “Check the credentials of these three. Something is afoot and I’m dying to slake my thirst right now.” With her orders given, she began to slink towards the far away noise. All but two of the retinue followed their mistress. Nightfang and Windspite I presumed.

“You there! Trooper! Let me see your cred-” he began when the Pureblood swiftly stalked away. As soon as I figured she was out of hearing range, my horn glowed.

CRACKCRACK!

Nightfang and Windspite fell to the ground, their necks bent at unnatural angles. Saros had been very clear. The Halfbloods who served in the castle directly were very loyal to their Pureblood retainers.

“Oh damn.” Fyrefly muttered. “Figured you’d at least let us stall for a second.”

“No, we’ve got to move and your disguises aren’t good enough to stand up to too much scrutiny.”

“Lady Morgue Rose is a minor Pureblood. Fifth generation.” Saros concurred. “If she stopped us, Lord Bloodmoon won’t be fooled at all.”

I took the time during the conversation to lift up both bodies with my telekinesis and push them out the glassless window.

“How much farther?” I asked.

“I’m leading you towards the armory. A stache of all the weapons and armor stolen from to-be heroes that the Purebloods can’t use.”

“Oh good, I’ll get to die in my own armor.” Fyrefly cheerfully stated.

“How do you know- Nevermind. Let’s go.” Saros decided, starting to run down the hall. Fyrefly and I didn’t argue, and we followed.

More loud noises began to sound behind us. Explosions and the maniacal laughter of a merry bomber could be heard echoing throughout the castle. Something screamed in an unnaturally high and loud voice as another explosion roared.

“Sonuvabitch.” Fyrefly whistled. “He survived.”

“What-?” I began

“When I was first taken, I was in charge of a Pegsopolian Raiding Party." Fyrefly began to explain. "We got ambushed in the night and a few of us were taken. My demolition expert, Sergeant Breaking Wind, was the best madstallion grenadier I’ve ever seen. Thought he kicked the bucket.” Fyrefly shrugged. “No idea how he’s causing those explosions though.” she admitted nervously. I chuckled quietly, but didn’t respond.

“We’re here!” Saros exclaimed, stopping outside a door.

“I’ll get it.” I stated, igniting my horn. A blue glow wrapped itself around the fortified door. I grunted briefly, and tossed the door aside as it came loose.

“... I’m not sure I want to know how strong your magic is.” Fyrefly muttered.

I didn’t respond as I summoned the Moon’s Blessing, flashing it brightly inside the room.
“Aaaagh!” a voice screamed from inside. That’s all I needed to know, I rushed inside while they were still distracted. Another stallion sat at a desk nearly in front of the door. I was on him in an eyeblink, the Moon’s Blessing flashing in the dark.

“Wait!” Saros exclaimed.

The edge of the Moon’s Blessing stopped only half an inch away from the stallion’s neck. His yellow eyes were wide with fear under his fanged helmet.

“Friend of yours I imagine?” I asked, staring the frightened Thestral down.

“In a sense…” Saros murmured. “Good to see you brother. I see you were well rewarded for turning me in.”

Oh…

“Do I stick him or-?” I asked hesitantly.

“No! Don’t kill me please!” the stallion begged. “You were right Saros! I regretted my actions not a week after you were taken away! I’m sorry!”

I couldn’t tell if he was lying or not, so I glanced over at our Thestral compatriot for guidance.

“If you think he’ll raise the alarm on us I have no problem killing him.” I told Saros.

An innocent Pony was one thing.

A traitor was another.

The disguised Thestral rubbed his chin in thought. Fyrefly ignored us and rushed to one of the many racks of armor and weapons in the storage room.

“Come to momma!” she squeed.

“... Keep him alive.” Saros decided after a moment. “I’m not sure if I believe him, but he could prove useful somehow. Be ready to put him down if he turns on us though.”

“Understood.” I got off the stallion.

“Thank you Saros… Thank you…” the unnamed stallion must’ve been holding his breath, because he began to pant for air.

“Don’t thank me yet. Even if we get out of this mess in one piece, you’re going to need to earn your forgiveness.” Saros all but growled.

The sounds of armor hitting the floor and a giggling Fyrefly tickled my ears. I glanced over to see the mare half dressed in the Thestral armor, and half dressed in Pegasopolian armor that looked to be heavily modified. It looked like somepony had asked themselves how to be as heavily armored as possible, but still be able to fly. The oddest part however was the very last portion. When Fyrefly had finally gotten free of the Thestral armor and gotten all of the conventional Pegsopolian plate into place, she pulled out what seemed to be a mass of metal ribbons. To my confusion, she acted as if this wasn’t a surprise and began to thread the ribbons into ports on her barrel, through loops along her limbs, to finally be anchored again on her greives. When she was done, she looked like someone had decided to partially mummify a fully armored Pegasi with metal linens.

And then she started sparking with electricity.

“Hehehehehehehehe…” she giggled manically, sparks shooting between her hooves as she tapped them together.

“Wha-” I began.

“Don’t worry about me.” I could no longer see her face, but her grin was obvious. “I’ve been waiting a long time to give these shit stains a proper taste of Pegasopalis. You guys do what you came to do. I have scores I need to settle.” And just like that she rushed out the door. The smell of a lightning bolt not yet unleashed trailed.

“Wait! We might ne-” I tried to stop her. But it was too late.

“Come on you leeches! Let me show you how we party in Pegasopolis!” she exclaimed angrily. A moment later, the whole castle was rocked by the deafening strike of lightning and thunder, and a bright light shone through the semi open door.

BOOOOOOOM!

When my ears stopped ringing, the faint sound of a cackling Pegasus who could only be in her daredevil element could be heard all over the castle. Occasionally punctuated with another crash of thunder and a bolt of lightning.

“Fyrefly you absolute fool.” I murmured out loud, but mostly to myself. “May the wind under your wings never falter.” I stated, repeating the Pegasopalian mantra I had heard my soldiers mutter to their fallen comrades.

No more time could be spent. The Purebloods would now know their stash of legendary weapons was compromised. They would be here in minutes if not seconds.

I pulled the first chainmail shirt I saw over my head and grabbed every Unicornian and Earth Pony weapon I could find in my telekinesis. But the silver light of the Moon’s Blessing faded as I banished it.

It would not do if I revealed my winning hoof anymore than I already had.

“Come on, they’ll be on us if we stay here much longer.” I informed the two Thestrals as I too left the armory. Both of their eyes boggled at the amount of weapons I held with ease.

“... I really don’t want to know how strong your magic is.” Saros stated, mirroring the absent Fyrefly’s opinion.

“If you two want to follow me, I wouldn’t be opposed to it. But if you have any favors or friends you can call on, now would be the time.” I ignored them, poking my head out of the door.

“I- Uh…” the unnamed stallion stammered sheepishly. “I may have continued building Saros’ rebellion…”

“Gibus! You mean-” Saros exclaimed.

“Yeah…” ‘Gibus’ rubbed the back of his neck. “You were right. I shouldn’t have listened to the Pureblood’s lies…”

The clank of armor plating could be heard around a corner.

“We’re out of time guys. Do what you will, but I’m needed elsewhere.” With that I ducked out of the room. I didn’t hear any fighting behind me, so ‘Gibus’ may have been telling the truth. But I didn’t have the time to be comforted. A patrol of enthralled Halfbloods rounded the corner into this hall.

Smirking grimly, I opened my secret pocket and pulled out the last jar of garlic I had left. An Earth Pony battle ax floated before me. It being chosen because of the lanyard on its handle.

The Thestrals at the end of the hall stood in shock at my audacity. Their jaws doing their best to hit the floor.

I tied a bundle of the garlic into the ax’s lanyard.

I was as prepared as I could reasonably hope for.

“Come on! Show me what passes as valor for your misbegotten kind!” I shouted in challenge to the patrol. All of the weapons in my grasp began to orbit above and in front of me, almost like a wood workers drill. The battle ax floated near my head.

I didn’t give them an opportunity to respond as I charged forward.

Blood, and the sound of my own voice, roared in my ears.

Chapter 145 The Memories Part 104

~~~

“RAAAAAAAAAAGH!” I screamed my wordless warcry.

The Thestrals opposite me gathered their wits and did their best to counter my charge.

They still failed.

The Thestrals liked to posture and flaunt their supposed 'superiority'. But the truth was, only a few of them were accomplished warriors. Most of the Halfbloods dealt primarily with already captured prisoners, and thus could strike from a position of power.

But if you were to replace that unarmed and weakened prisoner with somepony who could fight back, and was competently powerful enough with spell and sword craft… Then that superiority folded like a house of cards underneath Pegasopolis during a defensive siege.

...Or rather how Pegsopolis had expected defensive sieges to go...

Swords sliced at exposed necks. Swarms of daggers danced like Pegasi in a vicious dogfight between the flailing limbs of ponies. The Earth Pony battleax sang and cleaved a Thestral skull. Spellfire did the rest.

I left no survivors.

But that didn’t mean I was unscathed. The chainmail now had a few holes in it, and the cheek below my left eye had a pain too sharp to be a simple bruise.

However my time was running out.

I pressed on.

To say I didn’t know where I was going would be true, in a sense. But that didn’t mean I was directionless. Just as the blood roared in my ears when I met a few more patrols, I could feel a sort of song carrying me towards some goal that had always been far off in the distance, but now was so damningly close that I could almost reach out and touch it.

I now knew what Tia had meant when she described the First Spellbook's 'song'.

It was like the endless halls of black stone and tattered sigil-less banners were lined with a choir of Old Alicornia, telling me where to go.

Victory or defeat, fate was to be forever changed on this day.

I stopped just around a corner. The choir seemed to be focused on an ornate door in the middle of the next hall. I peaked around the corner.

Only to pull my head back instantly.

There was a gathering of guards around the door.

And a noble couple who stood on either side of the door, the mare in a black evening ball gown, and the stallion in red finery.

“I’m telling you Albrecht, Lord Bloodmoon ordered us to guard his quarters.” the noblemare grumbled.

“Tch.” the stallion snorted. “As if the Lord Bloodmoon would need such a thing. We should be out hunting the livestock. It’s been a good while since I’ve been on a hunt. And what fool would try to loot the Lord’s quarters?”

“You may go, my husband.” the mare declared. “But I will not disappoint our Leigelord.”

“I think I-” the stallion stopped. “Garlic.”

That was my cue.

I flung a small crackling vial towards the crowd of Thestrals.

SZHRAAACK!

Lightning gleefully crackled over the Halfblood’s armor, embedding itself in the Thestral’s eyes and teeth. The vampires fared marginally better, in that they were only stunned for a moment as compared to fried to death.

But it was enough.

My now slightly blunted and nicked arsenal spun around my head, but the ax flew.

“Reeeeeeeee!” the noble stallion screeched in an unequine scream, the battleax now embedded in his face, the clove of garlic dancing merrily on the handle’s lanyard. The mare hissed like a snake as she saw her husband get mutilated.

It was too late for her though as the Moon’s Blessing manifested with a bright flash.

The noblemare’s head sailed through the air, away from her falling body. A blue glow wrapped around the ax handle and pulled it from the stallion’s face, before coming down again and again.

The risk that the Halfblood’s survived was one I couldn’t take, and the swarm of daggers went from stallion to stallion, plunging themselves into the exposed necks.

The noblestallion however was still trying to fight the battle ax, even though his head was now a bloody smear on the floor. The Moon’s Blessing stabbed itself into his ribs, and he finally fell silent.

The Choir of Alicorns was the loudest it had ever been.

Dimly I became aware of a tired stiffness gripping my limbs. But I pushed the feeling away. Getting here to this door had been the easy part.

My quest was far from over.

Undoubtedly, there were arcane alarms ringing in Bloodmoon’s head when I gripped the entrance of his personal lair with my magic. The door and the surrounding wall ripped itself out of being a permanent fixture in the castle and floated above my head, ready to be used as a projectile if the Lord Bloodmoon was waiting within.

The inside was dark and smelled of rusty iron. But nothing otherwise leapt out with their fangs bared.

Despite my time now being very limited, I waited for a moment. I had come too far to not be cautious. Especially when it came to the first vampire himself.

I banished the Moon’s Blessing again, but lit my horn as brightly as I could comfortably maintain, and dove into the gaping wound in the wall.

Nothing jumped from the shadows to attack me... Which put me on edge.

I was sure there’d be some monstrous thing lurking in here. Either Bloodmoon himself or a cherished 'pet' at least. But all that greeted me was dusty furniture that smelled of old blood.
I cast my gaze around the room, wary of every shadow.

Still nothing.

“What’s your game Bloodmoon?” I whispered, which sounded far too loud in the crypt-like room. I cast a glance above me, suddenly suspecting he was hanging from the not too tall ceiling.

There was a distinct lack of the telltale glint of fangs that signaled a lunging vampire falling from the ceiling.

Was he really not in here? It was possible, given the other prisoners were causing chaos elsewhere in the castle. But did I expect that the Lord of the Castle would join in hunting them?

Not for a single moment.

I looked around again, shining my horn just a tiny bit brighter. My eyes glanced over the bed. Or what I had assumed was the bed.

An open, dusty coffin greeted me. Very distinctly lacking anything resembling a body.

“Where are you leech?” I asked again quietly. But again, my unease grew as nothing lunged for my throat.

I snorted to myself. Every moment I wasted looking for Bloodmoon was another moment he drew closer. And my instructions were clear, get the amulet before confronting Bloodmoon. Otherwise vanquishing him was impossible.

I almost began to lament the fact that a spell that found mysterious magical items didn’t exist when I realized I could still cheat a bit.

The choir.

It was muffled, but the clear sounds of singing Alicorns was coming from behind a dusty bookcase.

I let loose a grin that wouldn’t look out of place on a vampire Lord’s face.

Instead of finding the proper thing to open the hidden chamber, I ripped the bookcase away from the wall as well. Spilling dark apocrypha to the floor as I threw it aside as well.

Bloodmoon had to already know I was here. So why bother finding the 'proper' way?

A passage seeped in shadow was now exposed to the dusty room. Cautiously, I let my light shine into it. A descending stairway made of black stone loomed from the darkness.

“Great.” I deadpanned. Of course the amulet wouldn’t have been directly behind the bookcase, but a mare could hope. I maneuvered what remained of my swords so the tips pointed both forwards, and backwards. If Bloodmoon decided to attack me on the stairs, he’d suffer at least a few impalements for his trouble.

Down and down I went, with only the light of my horn to guide me. I didn’t have a good idea what the layout of the castle looked like, but I was fairly certain I went down several floors worth of floors. Glumly, I realized going through Bloodmoon’s chambers may have been totally unnecessary if you could blow a hole through a wall to the hidden stairway. Except for the fact I didn’t even know this existed until a few minutes ago. That made me feel slightly better. But not by much though.

There was still the Vampire Lord in the area that I needed to deal with after all.

I took my time on the stairs. Fighting in a cramped stairway was a nightmare waiting to happen. If Bloodmoon was going to ambush me, here would’ve been an excellent candidate to leap from some hidden nook. And yet… Nothing rushed up or down the stairs at me.

“Curiouser and curiouser…” I mumbled to myself. What was the leech planning? He had to have known I was here. It would be foolish of me to assume otherwise. But there were too many decent spots for an ambush already… If I were a bloodsucking parasite, I would’ve chosen one of those places... Unless there was a better spot up ahead?

Finally, after what seemed to be forever, but couldn’t have been longer than five minutes, I reached the bottom of the stairway. The narrow doorway opened up into what looked like a natural cavern, albeit one that had been modified to act as another room in the castle. The cavern, for the most part, was empty. Except for the dark figure of a pony who stood next to a stone plinth in the middle of the room.

There was only one pony who it could be.

“Ah there you are Lord Bloodmoon.” I greeted when he didn’t immediately lunge forward in an attack. “It's recently come to the attention of the Everfree Revenue Service that you owe several thousand years worth of back taxes, and I’m here to collect.”

Lord Bloodmoon was dark grey Thestral, with a dark greasy mane that was held back in a knot behind his head. His beard and mustache were cut short, but were meticulously trimmed. A thick, heavy and ornate robe fell around his shoulders, gold thread reflected my hornlight. His eyes were closed in such a way that he looked asleep, except for when he seemed to lightly chuckle at my antics.

“Charming.” he drawled in a thick accent as his eyes opened. Inwardly I shuddered. His eyes were pitch black orbs, like the eyes of one of the great carnivorous fish that would attack ponies occasionally in warm seawater.

The stallion looked like the image anypony thought when they heard the word “vampire”. But it wasn’t that he looked like the stereotype. No, in fact it was the opposite. The stereotype was him.

“And hovv mvch am I expected to pay this... ‘Everfree’?.” His words were warped with his ancient accent, as if they never gotten the news that words were pronounced differently now.

“I would imagine quite a lot I’m afraid.” I stated, casually moving closer. It would give me less time to react, but it could also set him off balance if I put myself in a “vulnerable” position. “However, I’m feeling very generous today. How about I just take this and we’ll call it even?” I grabbed the shockingly tiny object off the plinth with my levitation and pulled it towards my waiting hooves.

The vampire’s eyes widened in horror as he realized what I had done. One of his hooves tried to instinctually grab it, before his conscious mind stayed said hoof before it actually touched the amulet. It was surprisingly ornate, given how old it apparently was. An iron bat winged pony grasped what appeared to be a silver white rock, which was bound in bands of dark metal.

“...Yov knovv.” It was not a question.

“ Oh I’ve known for some time now.” I grinned, the amulet placing itself gently into my waiting hoof, continuing my casual stroll forward, which had somehow got suddenly more menacing. Which, to be fair, the balance of power had suddenly shifted in my favor. “Couldn’t tell anypony though. With as much as your Halfbloods get away with, you must have decent spies.” I began to explain. “Couldn’t plan ether. Nopony willing to talk knows where your lair is.” I continued. Bloodmoon began to back away to circle around the cavern, he didn’t look too concerned overall, but it was clear he wanted distance. “I just so happened to find one of your ‘livestock’ villages. From there, all I had to do was play the hero and volunteer myself in their stead. And well…” the loud crash of thunder sounded. We must be closer to the outside than I thought… “You can guess the rest.”

“Yov expect me to jvst… Believe that you ‘waltz’ into my home…” He looked away in thought. “VVhy tell me this? VVhy tell me vvhat yov did?” He looked back towards me. “VVhat is point? Yov have made it farthest, is trve. Bvt yov mvst knovv you vvill die here.” Despite being totally black orbs, they looked filled to the brim with confusion. “Hovv covld yov not?”

“Wovld yov like to knovv the trve ansvver or the insvlting ansvver?” I stated, mocking him with his own accent. I stopped moving, not willing to let the vampire have access to the stairs. “Because they’re both the same. After this you will never again know peace.” I let a small smile slip. “You will never plug this hole in your castle, not completely. You rely on our blood to live forever. Your Halfbloods can’t possibly feed you by themselves, there are far too few of them. But yet Ponies know I’m here, how long before another band of heroes does the same thing I did and come here seeking vengeance for all that you’ve done?”

I had a secret weapon that helped with my success thus far, but I wasn’t going to tell him that until it was halfway into his throat.

“Win or lose here, your fate has been sealed. Especially when the new Sun Princess finds out.” I grinned maliciously. “And out of curiosity, how is your terminal case of sun allergies coming along? I’m dying to know.” If he was dumb, taunting him would cause him to attack, and thus in easy range of merely poking him with the amulet.

“Yes? And?” he asked conversationally, which made me inwardly sigh in disappointment “Let them come.” he said simply. “My strength grovvs the more my enemies bleed.'' The stallion sat on his haunches, not willing to lose face, but at the same time not get any closer than he had to be. “Is VVay of Final Sibling.”

"Interesting you mention that actually..." I replied. At his look I continued. "Oh yes, I know about the siblings."

"Yov knovv more than most then." Bloodmoon nodded. "Then yov knovv that povver comes from taking from yovr svperiors yes?"

"I do." I nodded. "Which leads me to my point. Tell me, what exactly has that gotten you? You are the Lord of a small fiefdom, and owe allegiance to nopony. And yet…” I let slip another dramatic sigh. "Who else do you have to take from? What more could you possible have? How different are you right now,then from before you sold your soul? I mean really? You had wealth! You could’ve hired a whole nation as your bureaucratic underlings! You could’ve had their absolute loyalty if you just gave them coin! And you would’ve been respected by all the nations of the world!”

“But fie!” I suddenly exclaimed. “You lost your wealth! You lost your reputation! And for what?! For a chance to be the simple Lord of a small nation forever?!”

I began to point angrily. “If you had deserved being more than that, you would’ve done more by now! By your own rules! Why would you want to be just that forever?! Here I am, born a peasant, now a General of whole armies! Facing you! The first and most powerful Vampire there ever will be! And I see it in your eyes that you know that I have a real chance at defeating you!”

I was beginning to pant heavily. “So tell me ‘Lord’ Bloodmoon, tell me why you shouldn’t you submit to the amulet’s caress and save yourself the pain of being mediocre for just a little longer?!”

The vampire watched me with careful eyes.

“... Yov don’t knovv do yov?” he asked almost sadly. “Yov come here to my home with no regard for yovr ovvn safety. Yes, I knovv yov Lvna Hydrabane, sister and General to the newly risen Alicorn of the Svn. Yov are formidible, is trve. Bvt yov do not fear the vnknovvn. Yov do not fear the grave. Yov do not fear death. No yov embrace it!” He swirled his cape as he began to pace. “I have seen Gods die child. I have seen their final moments. And they too fear death. So tell me Lvna, vvhy shovld they fear death, but yov shovld not?...” he looked pointedly towards me.

“How can I fear the unknown, when so many simply can't even understand me?” I asked

“... Hovv do you expect this to go.” the vampire asked after a few moments. “Do yov expect me to attack yov? Doing so wovld be svuicide on my part! Or do yov vvant to vvait, grovving tired vvaiting for me? Yov vvil not move away from door, yet I cannot force yov.”

I noted where the stallion was... I had to do this perfectly.

"I know what I would do." I replied cryptically.

I blinked, slower than I usually did.

But at the same time, I both summoned the Moon's Blessing and threw the last vial of 'holy' water, flashing the Moon's blessing as brightly as I could.

My eyelids suddenly grew bright pink as they kept my eyes protected against the sudden light!

"HSSSSSSSS!"

SZHRAAACK!

I opened my eyes and lunged forward.

The stallion hadn't been expecting both the light and the lightning... He half fell half lunged sideways, lightning dancing over his features as he tried to at least escape the room. But I pushed the Moon’s Blessing forward, already looming upon him.

I launched forward, telekinetically helping myself propel forward, my swords trailing behind me and in position to catch and funnel the monster from escaping. I couldn’t leave him to his own devices.

“Hessssg.” he gurgled as the Moon's Blessing stuck itself in one side of his neck. But I couldn’t be too lucky, he still retained the state of mind to begin attempting to dodge my sudden fury. He skillfully ducked under the first blade, almost panicking, but got swiftly entangled in the swarm of swords. While any cuts he gotten from the steel and gold swords were swiftly healed, the Moon’s Blessing seemed to proactively hurt him.

I didn’t expect him to be down quite yet, I pulled the Moon's Blessing back out and began to slash at his face with the with it, which took advantage of its bladed brethren’s distracting swarm.

The stallion took an opportunity to slip between an opening and almost fully escape, slipping past blades like a cloud of smoke.

Give him not a single moment of respite.

I refocused the swarm to curl onto the vampire from above to try and pin him to the floor, taking a quick sidestep to veer towards the direction in which he attempted to escape.

He began to howl in fury, not really being given an option on what to do. Already, several swords were trying to impale him from above, slowly pushing him to the floor. The Moon’s Blessing was one of them, its silver light shining brightly in Bloodmoon’s angry eyes.

He managed to push the glowing blade with a foreleg just enough for it to slightly bite into his shoulder instead of his face.

He howled in fury, but not otherwise able to do anything more than to focus on out speeding the oncoming tide of over-turning blades.

I finally tackled him as he began to break through the far wall. He brought his other hoof over to push the amulet out of my hoof, sending it flying.

And we both fell into the open sky.

Author's Note

:rainbowdetermined2:

The vibe!
https://youtu.be/4rWCeo6Xadw?si=LQB9L5kWb_MC9jQx

Chapter 147 The Memories Part 106

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 148 The Crater

~~~

Run:Reboot.exe
Initializing
%12...
%24...
%36...
%48...
%62...
%76...
%93...
%98...
%100...
Run:Luna.exe V15.7829

Status:
Head:Orange
Torso:Red
Larm:Orange
Rarm:Red
Lleg:Green
Rleg:Green
Lwing:Yellow
Rwing:Unresponsive
Mental:CritRed

Alert!
Critical damage sustained!
Cognitive stability degrading!

Run:Self_Repair.exe

Override

I reached a hoof and grasped at the ledge above me.

My body ached and my lungs felt like they had been filled with gravel.

I pulled myself out of the indent in the ground I found myself in.

The sunlight above felt pale and only half there, yet still bright enough to feel like someone was stabbing my eyes.

D̶̺̑R̷͙͛̀O̶͔̓W̷͖̻̽̍N̷̰͕̆͝ ̷̭͛̄Ả̵̡̞̄N̶̰̊̌D̶͔̾͋ͅ ̸̌͜Ḏ̴̟̏́I̶̛͔̞͌E̵̯͊̃ ̷̡͚̃̿I̶̖̅N̶͎͓̂ ̷̣̈́̚͜Ḋ̵̗A̵̧͖͋R̸̓̚ͅĶ̸̛̳̊N̸̲͘͝E̸̡̩͑S̵͇̼̃Ṣ̴̣̍ ̶̫̂̾͜A̷̟͆C̷͍̝̈̓C̴͇̞͌U̵̪̓̇ͅR̴̰͕̈́̑S̷̲͆͗͜Ȇ̴̗̄D̷̢̺̈́ ̸̹͖̀͘Ş̴̕͘T̸̘̤́̔Ȃ̵̘̕R̷̼͇͗

recommend:run:self_repair.exe priority=high

~~Something isn't right! Something is wrong!~~

I just... Wanna lay down...

W-where are we?! W-what's going on?!

... What's the point of getting up? We're just going to be knocked down again...

I fell to the ground, landing on a mound of upturned dirt and snow.

The pebbles in my lungs ground together as my chest heaved.

set:obj:Survive

I pulled myself forward, dragging myself out of the freshly and violently dug ditch.

Dimly, as if it were happening to another person, I felt the bite of the Winter wind on my face.

I fully extricated myself from the crater and felt too sore to continue.

Thwipthwipthwipthwip.

I turned an eye skyward...

A military helicopter was passed by overhead.

Damnit...

È̴̛̲̪N̸̝̖̹̗̓͊O̴̦͉̹̪̣͒Ǔ̸̧̜͊G̵̙͖̖̟̪͋͊̀́͑H̸̡̨̭͎͈͐͊͝ ̷͙̞̣̠̔O̴͓͈͍͋͐͐̉͘F̵̗̔̉̌͘ ̴̡̪͙̬̾̈́̐͐͂T̷̪͔͇̾͐ͅH̴͈̯̳͂Į̴̖̺͋̾̈͠͝S̴̓́ͅ ̷̟͙̣̃̉̅͘͝N̵̡̡͖̉Ȏ̵̢̯̙̌͂̈́̕N̴̠̞̒̓̽͆S̵̡̞̲̜̾Ẻ̵̡̘͚̝̳Ṉ̵̖̈́̎S̸̞̲̃̂E̶͉͇̺̦̒͒!̶̺̜̙̻̤̓̾͑ ̸̯̙͚͈͓̆C̴̮͈̋̆́L̷̨̮͖̟̪̅̇̈Ä̵͖̦́̕I̶̯̩̞̱̐͗M̸̡̩̯̝̓ ̷̐͋͂̄͆͜T̴̨̳̦͍̼̔̈́͌Ḣ̶̪͚̤̈́̓́͜Ḯ̶̡̱͔͕̿̋͝S̴̘̙͙̺̔̿̄͘ ̵̝̀͌̈́̇W̵̭̻̊̽͠͠Ö̵͔̫̟͙́͆̈́͠R̴̢̬͍͙͂͂̆L̷͙͍̦͚̈́̈́͋̽Ď̶̨̰̠͌̿͝ ̸̗͍͇̜͙̈́̑͐A̶̠͔̋̌S̵̗̎̐̈́͛̇ ̴͇̚͠Ô̴̩̙̫̱̆U̴͕̾̕R̴̝͈͛ ̵̹̣̈́O̸̧̯͔͌̆Ẁ̷̛̭̀N̸̡̻̉̾̓̈́͝ ̴̼̪͓̲̩̓͘A̴͔͚̦͗N̵͈̬̎̿̑̌D̵̲̺̙́̿̽̐̈́ ̸̻̝͖͇́B̶͍͈̭̯̮̀̊̒Ȩ̵̬̦̻̙̅͠ ̸̮̫̹̮̤̓̎́̌Ḍ̸̤̠͍̒̀̽̓O̶͖͓͚͚͐Ņ̷͚͛̉͑̉E̴̛͎̠̮͌̓ ̵̡̛̈̑̆W̸̱͍̤̫͒̎̀͘͠Í̶̛͉̮͙͠T̴̹̯̪͇̣́̆̄̈́H̴͍̰̩̞̎̈ ̷̣͉͈͇̥̅̄̆Î̸̢̛̛̩T̴̢́́͘!̸͉̼̻̉͛̌̀

recommend:run:self_repair.exe priority=high

~~Nothing is right! Something is off! There's something we're missing!~~

I'm... So tired...

S-she was lying! Don't you see?! We can trust nothing!

... Why bother? They're going to shoot us standing or laying...

With the strength of the Greek titan Atlas, I pushed myself up onto my hooves.

Owowowowowow... Fuck that hurts!

It felt like I had been put into an industrial grinder, only that grinder had hammers instead of teeth.

The helicopter banked and turned right, beginning to descend.

I had to move.

My legs refused to budge.

Come on! Move!

I felt like a stone statue that could somehow feel pain.

Move! Move damn you!

With agonizing slowness, I moved my front right hoof forward a few inches.

More! You need to move more!

Slowly, my momentum picked up as I forced myself forward, like breaking the rust off encrusted iron gears.

Thwipthwipthwipthwip.

The helicopter descended to the ground, and a squad of soldiers jumped out with rifles raised at the surrounding terrain.

A voice roared over the gale, both familiar in cadence and tone.

In the distance, a flurry of swan wings left approached and descended on the landed helicopter.

T̴̛̗̔H̶̜́E̸̜̥̎R̵̩̫͊È̶͜'̵̗̊S̴̛͓̲̕ ̵̩̐Ṯ̶̏ͅH̷͍̉͆E̵̙̽ ̷̗̿̈́ͅB̷̝̫̀̌I̵̖̚Ť̵̜ͅC̴̛̿͜H̷̟̞͐͗ ̷̝͕́W̸̰͑H̴̢̳̋͐Ȏ̶͇̜ ̶̬̰̑͋C̷̘͝A̵̧̠͒͋U̷͍̅̑͜S̶̱͖̈́E̶̙̔̇D̷̳̦͑ ̵̳̻͊́A̸̧͐L̶͕̰̕L̵͈̦̂ ̷̢̏̍O̷̩͛͑F̷̰̈́ ̸̛̠̙̽T̴͖̼̀̄H̵̠́Ǐ̷̗̖S̷̘͚̓͠!̶͔́ ̷͖̈̄K̶̜̂I̶̧̮̎L̵̻͗̚L̶͖̰̐͒ ̸̛͖̺̂H̷̨̛͚̔E̴̡̪͋Ř̸͖̻ ̴̡̤͊N̷̠̉Ǫ̶̂W̷̡̖̚!̷̝̙̍

recommend:run:self_repair.exe priority=high

~~She can't be trusted... She can't tell the truth...~~

I just wanna go home...

W-what is she doing?! W-what is her plan?!

... What's the point? We're dead anyway...

A bout of weariness forced me to close my eyes for a second.

When they opened, I could clearly see Celestia angrily yelling at the soldiers. They seemed intimidated and milled about sheepishly, their guns pointed calmly down at the ground.

Have to... Leave.

I forced myself to turn away.

Must leave...

I trudged over the upturned dirt and snow, going around the crater I had found myself in, away from the helicopter. A short distance away was a treeline.

I had crashed into a field.

If I could get to the trees...

Can't... Stop...

Red out of the corner of my eye drew my attention.

Blood.

Almost half the crater was covered in it.

A smear trailed on the ground, right where I had pulled myself out of the pit.

My eyes wandered to my back.

I wish they hadn't.

Blood caked the coat all along my right flank.

And my right wing...

It was gone.

All that remained was a jagged shard of broken bone, sticking out of a mass of flesh and loosely attached secondary feathers.

Blood seeped from the stump.

A deep panic rose in my throat.

And for the first time in what felt like forever, the voices in my head fell silent.

Those wings were mine! I had earned them fair and square! For fucks sake, I had soloed Pony Dracula for them! And in a life full of keeping Luna "at rock bottom", those wings were one of the few perks I had! What was the God damn point if after everything, my sole reward was losing them?!

The urge to find my missing wing consumed me.

I frantically looked around the crash site, despite my exhaustion.

I needed to find it!

The blood soaked pit. Not there!

A mound of overturned dirt and snow. Not here!

The scattered debris field. Not anywhere!

"No no no no no!" I mumbled - scrambling back and forth despite my weariness - beginning my search of the area again.

It had to be here! I needed to find it! It must be-

"Luna?"

It was that familiarly sweet voice again...

I slowly turned towards the sound.

Celestia had approached while I was distracted, her head lowered meekly, as if she were addressing a foal.

But the soldiers, maybe 20 meters behind her with weapons raised, told a different story.

Ȧ̷̱̹͘Ḻ̴̄L̶̢̹̂͊ ̷̡̞̉Ơ̶̳͜F̶̭̐ ̵̧͐T̷̰͓̊H̵̹̒̒Ę̶͓͗M̵͙̰̒ ̸̗̍D̷̘͂I̴͓̳͝Ẹ̷̻͗̂!̸̠͋̐ ̶̹̱͌S̵̯̋̐L̸̝͙̈̋A̵̻͚͛Y̷̞̆͝ ̵̱̪̌T̷͈̺̽̀H̷̩̭̀̍E̶͓̝̓M̸̤̜̌͒ ̴̖̪̍A̴̞̾̂L̸͑̉͜L̵̛̩͎ ̶͓̈A̵̼̗͠N̶̻͗͝Ḑ̶̬̄ ̸̮̒ͅḺ̶͆͝Ẽ̷̮T̷̲̺͊ ̴̬̽̕Ń̸͚́O̷̯̚ O̷̯̎͝N̷̪̭͗E̴̗̓ͅ ̵̨͎̓E̸̺͆̕Ļ̶͂̽S̶̜̜͂E̸͈͊̾ ̶̫͛̿P̷̞̈R̶̦̄͝Ë̵̗̘́V̸͉͊͆Ḛ̷͙͌͊N̵̹͚̅͝T̴̙̥̅̃ ̸̭̚O̷̪̹͂̑Ȗ̶ͅŔ̵͎̉ ̸̢̓̓D̵͇̖͒O̸̳͔͝͝M̷̦͗̿I̸̺̞͛̚Ń̵̯͕I̸̫̩͆̚O̶̯̭͊͘Ń̸̬̥̏!̵̪͕̾̿

recommend:run:self_repair.exe priority=high

~~She's got something... Something close to her chest...~~

No! No no no no no!

... What's it matter?

"Came alone was it?" I snarled, turning towards the larger mare.

I spread my "wings" aggressively.

"What have I ever done to you?!" I cried hysterically, letting her see exactly how I was hurt.

She gasped, taking a step back.

"Luna! I-"

"Can never apologize enough!" I shouted, interrupting the gigantic white Pony.

The shadows around me flared like fire in a stiff breeze, picking themselves up as if they were the rotting tentacles of an abandoned giant squid on the floor of a forsaken fishery.

"Luna... I swear to you I had no idea they were here!" she pleaded.

"L̵͈̪̑̕I̴͔̝͂̆Ȧ̵͈̩͆R̶͔̒!" I screamed. "Y̵̦̭̎́Ỏ̵̫U̷̧̍̕ ̷̨̂K̸̬̭̊N̸̟̟͆̄Ȩ̶̦̇͘W̵̉͜!̶͍̋͜͠ ̶̙̕Y̵̭͇̔O̷͓͝U̸͕͋ ̷̝̈́K̷̡͓̋Ǹ̸̡̮Ę̷̲̾́W̸̡̛̐ͅ ̵̫̳̀̔F̵̓͜R̶̟̩̾Ṑ̷̙M̷̢̦̂ ̷͖͎̊̀T̴͚͈̑͋H̶̩͈̾E̵̺̮͆ ̶͙̩̃͂Ṃ̴̺̅͛O̵̘̔M̵̭͌̽Ę̴̣̈́Ň̷̠̝͗T̷͈͔͑ ̵͖́Ḭ̷̍́͜ ̶͔̓̍ͅD̵̜̔Ř̵̦͝A̸͈̹͠G̸͚͇̓̕G̶̛̻E̷͐ͅD̵͈̃ ̴̯́̐Ỵ̶̽Ơ̸̧̈U̵̝͎͊̓ ̴̞̓͜F̶̧͌̍͜Ȓ̶̢̏O̴̩̍M̴͖̓͆ ̸̗̌̈́Ṵ̷̪̀̏L̶̡̒L̶̥̇A̵̡̲̋Ḩ̶̹̃̈́Ḍ̶͊M̴̼̈́̚A̷̡̽͊I̵̘̘͗͠D̵̞̜̋Ẻ̶̻̓N̵̳͘!"

Celestia froze in her tracks, stunned.

"Y-You remember..."

I lashed the tendrils of shadow forward.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Author's Note

Oh fuuuuuck! :pinkiegasp:

The vibe: https://youtu.be/rERo2BYdVnY

Chapter 149 The Realization

~~~

My tendrils of shadow charged forward with deadly intent.

Celestia lit her horn, and a shield of sunlight appeared before her, protecting her and the soldiers behind her.

"Get out of here!" she called to the soldiers behind her.

My tendrils slammed into the glimmering sunlight shield.

I felt my eyebrow twitch in irritation.

The soldiers fell back towards their helicopter, their rifles firing sporadically.

I recast gaseous form as several bullets whirled by.

I heard a demonic growl emanate from my throat as the focused their fire on me, but was distracted by Celestia retaliating with a flash of light.

My shadows burned in the concentrated sunlight, but I pushed through and redoubled my efforts on Celestia's shield.

I had triumphed over her once, I would and could do it again!

No! Enough of this! I have had it!

~~~

I suddenly found myself sitting in my bed. My laptop open in my lap.

I glanced around in confusion.

It was the bedroom of Lucas Maan.

The walls, the posters, the Knick knacks, the dirty laundry were all the same as I remembered.

I glanced down at my hooves.

The fleshy fingers of Human hands greeted my gaze.

The familiar cry of Sarah somewhere in the house, but her words were muffled by the thin drywall.

I put my hands back down, letting the fingers rub together.

What was this? Where was-

My eyes happened to glance at the computer screen.

My ears remained still, human once more, but the blood in my face suddenly felt cold.

I- I remembered this...

This was years ago. I had been bored, and had been entertaining myself by trawling through Youtube for music to listen to.

I clicked the link I had seen on the screen.

I had never played any Guildwars game, but the title of the song stuck out at me for some reason.

It called to something deep in my chest. Something that ached dreadfully.

Music began to play.

"Fear not this night. You will not go astray." the cheap earbuds in my ears hummed.

"Though shadows fall, still the stars find their way!"

The quietly throbbing ache, deep in my mind was too stunned to even jump in surprise. Overcome with an emotion so deep that I physically hadn't known existed or even be at such a depth.

"Awaken from a quiet sleep, hear the whispering of the wind."

Already tears welled in my eyes as I was taken on an emotional rollercoaster that I had no basis for understanding.

"Waken as the silence grows in the solitude of the night!"

The emotion was that of a fine wine, aged for so long that its single, smooth flavor had an entirely new spectrum of taste on its own.

"Darkness spreads throughout the land and your weary eyes open silently."

It was of longing, rage, hope, regret, and calm acceptance all at the same time.

"Sunsets have forsaken all the most far off horizons!"

I could not hope to stop the tears, even if I had wanted to.

"Nightmares come when shadows grow!"

It was such an intense emotion that I wasn't sure that the actual adults in my life would, or could ever feel the likes of it with only a single lifetime.

"Eyes closed and heartbeats slow!"

It was sorrow... Pure unadulterated sorrow.

"Fear not this night, you will not go astray."

It drove me past the edge of insanity, only to burst forth back into a sound mind.

"Though shadows fall, still the stars find their way!"

My face was so wet I had to press the sleeve of my sweater to my face in a vain attempt to not drown in my own tears. There was nothing else I could do.

"And you can always be strong!"

That renewed the assault of that perfect sorrow.

"Lift your voice with the first light of dawn!"

Dawn... Why did the word 'dawn' tear that gaping wound open just a tiny bit more?

"Dawn's just a heartbeat away!"

I pushed the laptop to the side, suddenly unable to keep sitting in this position. It did not even occur to me to be rough with it. I had to listen. I needed to finish the song.

"Hope's just a sunrise away!"

I rolled over, hugging my chest in an effort to contain my heart inside. So radiant it had become, I was afraid I had suddenly undergone supercritical nuclear fusion.

"Distant sounds of melodies calling though the night to your heart."

The beat of the song's tempo did nothing to calm my racing mind. As if it were happening to someone else. So consumed by the raw emotion, that I couldn't have answered what my own name was.

"Auroras, mists, and echoes dance into the solitude of our life."

And yet I dared not let a word of the melody to slip by. They were more precious than any amount of gold or jewel, worth even life itself, just to hear one word more.

"Pleading sighing arias gently grieving in captive misery."

It was impossible to think, that any being, Human or otherwise, could ever experience such a depth of a single emotion. Yet it was impossible to believe that there couldn't not be anyone who's experienced such a sadness, even if they only stepped into it's shallows.

"Darkness sings a forlorn song, yet our hope can still rise up!"

This emotion was the thing that songs were made of, a song that anybody who had heard it, could not help but be stirred with at least some emotion, whatever it may be.

"Nightmares come when shadows grow!"

If there ever was a realm of emotion, there most certainly had to have been some sort of major shift in its landscape at that moment.

"Lift your voice like it's hope!"

I curled and grabbed my legs, curling up in a ball as my best effort to defend myself.

"Fear not this night, you will not go astray!"

I could not help but lift a sword to my mind's chest, pressing the flat of the blade against my front side. A sad, yet gracefully proud salute to names I knew not.

"Though shadows fall, still the stars find their way!"

Was... Was this love? For... For... For someone whose name was on the tip of my tongue, yet could not have dared to hope that I knew the answer.

"And though the night sky is filled with blackness!"

I needed to know! Who was this mysterious person who could cause such an emotion? What was their name?!

"Fear not rise up! Come on and take my hand!"

Being aware of my whole body became too much, and I withdrew my awareness to what I could perceive, the heat of my own breathe on my face, the clenching darkness of my eyes against the murky blackness inside the cave of my own curled body, and the music in my ears.

"Fear not this night, you will not go astray!"

Whose hand could possibly behind such a clarifying emotion? What sort of action or deed could've possibly caused this?

Though shadows fall, still the stars find their way!"

I wanted to pound on a grave, as if over a departed loved one. So lost in my own wailing that I would give anything for the person to return, alive and whole. No deed too dark, no loyalty greater, and no amount too much.

"Fear not this night, you will not go astray!"

This was not love. Not the kind that most thought of as love anyway, that of the romantic fairy tale couple, sweeping each other off their own feet.

Though shadows fall, still the stars find their way!"

No, this was the worst sort of love. There was no beginning, no joyful time to gaze back upon, to be overcome by nostalgia and longing... This was an end. A mature and sad end for a tale long over and told.

And nothing else.

"And you can always be strong!"

Despite feeling as if nothing else could possibly hurt me any more and thus immortal in a sense, I felt incredibly fragile, as if the wind of a door opening would blow me away.

"Lift your voice with the first light of dawn!"

My life had been changed. As thoroughly as if I had become another person entirely. Yet almost nothing had actually changed. I was still me. And, as strange as it sounded... I could never go back to being me.

"Dawn's just a heartbeat away!"

But there was no future beyond me. No path forward, nothing left to do, no goal to reach, nothing else to learn.

I was the final me.

"Hope's just a sunrise away!"

The song faded away.

Could not go forward, can not go back...

So I stayed.

I could do nothing else.

All I could do, was wait for fate to catch up with her industrial yarn spinning factory and push me over the edge.

So wait I did.

~~~

The memory faded away, falling apart like glass puzzle pieces that had suddenly broken.

Leaving me to darkness.

Celestia... That had been the forgotten name on my tongue... She had been the person who inspired such an intense emotion.

She was the one whose grave I wanted to weep at... Except, she didn't have a grave. No, she was still alive. Which was, arguably, more painful than if she had indeed died.

If she had, I could have grieved like anyone else with a lost loved one.

But she hadn't.

She wasn't the one who had died.

So have you figured it out yet?

Author's Note

The vibe!
https://youtu.be/GGfN_-87e8c?si=f31zwjTMZrR5-FCy

Chapter 150 The Throne

~~~

Slowly, the dreamscape of the millennia old Castle Everfree faded into visibility, emerging lit even as it coalesced from the sheer Dark.

My time had come.

While it had been only several years since that first moment, it had felt like at least three eternity's. Waiting for fate to catch up. And she had.

She finally had.

As fate decreed; I stood up and followed like a loyal soldier as I took my first step down the forming road, the Castle walls creeping up into existence as the shadows formed more and more of the Castle.

The Fortress fully formed as I reached the main courtyard doors, entering the Castle proper as if I were a visiting dignitary.

The Great Hall loomed overhead as I confidently marched inside.

I knew not what waited for me, maybe even certain death. But I had been waiting for too long to not take my opportunity of escape from my stagnant hell.

I wanted out.

Even if, maybe especially if, it meant willingly stepping into a deathtrap.

Dim shadows flung open the throne room doors, revealing the inky expanse of a totally unlit room at midnight. Even in the darkness, rows of distinct shadows stood off to the sides, along side where the central carpet would lay if it wasn't already a rotten rag.

I passed by them unbothered and calmly.

All they did was follow me with their gaze.

The throne's dais loomed into view, and perhaps being the only pristine object in my whole dreamscape, the throne rose.

An Alicorn, as black as death, sat on the shadowy throne.

I stopped before the dais, but did not bow.

Silence reigned.

"So..." the Other began after what felt like an hour. "Do you want me to start or-?"

"Go right ahead." I coldly stated.

"Ugh, fine." the mare groaned. "That first day, actually that first minute after we signed our accord, do you remember it?"

"I do." I sneered.

"Did you really believe I didn't know that a Harmonic creature can't tithe like a Duke unless at least a small portion of the Prince's essence possesses the host?"

"I needed you." I argued. "What choice did I have?"

"Oh, you've always had a choice Luna." the Other smiled kindly. "You could've done what your nobles suggested, and lost." she sneered suddenly. "But no, you came to me." the black mare stood up, and prowled down the dais like a predatory cat. "You came to me offering more than you realized..."

"And what would that be?" I asked snidely.

"Real-Estate." she purred. "A guaranteed spot in your head. Which, may I add; I'm saying as a compliment."

"Elucidate me."

"Oh, you haven't figured it out have you?" she grinned. "You're a very special Pony Luna." the Other spoke, patronizingly like a TV actor telling one of the students on stage an important moral lesson. "Even without the Moon's favor, being royalty, horn, wings- Er, well, wing now." she corrected, but continued. "Even without all that, you are truly special."

"If this happens to be the lesson of a Sunday Morning cartoon for small children I'm not even going to try to win." I deadpanned.

"Sunday Morning TV or not, you are special." The Other admonished harshly. "Oh, most have no idea, they all thought you were exceedingly brave. But that's not quite true is it?" The mare continued. "You have one fear. One, tantalizingly rare fear." she purred, resuming her prowling.

I stood my ground, but said nothing.

"Nothing? Not a single guess?" she whined, stalking around behind me.

I kept my silence, and didn't bother watching behind me.

"Oh come on now Luna... We both know that it'd be an insult to your intelligence if you say anything but the truth. So just..."

The mare rushed forwards, her face millimeters from my own.

"Give..."

I refused to even flinch.

"In."

The pupils in her slit eyes were mere threads as she glared.

I said nothing.

She continued to stare into my eyes for a few moments longer, before suddenly pulling back.

"You can't say it can you?" she chortled.

I waited.

"Or is it perhaps you don't know?" she mocked. "The great Luna Fiendbane! Hero and Princess of Equestria! Unable to acknowledge her only fear." The black mare bounced joyfully on her hooves as she continued to walk circles around me.

"Maybe I should point it out, for the students in the back not paying attention." she mocked.

"What-" she asked, raising her head proudly. "Is the most dangerous thing Luna can think of?" the mare asked out loud. "What, to Luna, is more persistent than Death?" she asked again. "What possibly, could Luna think of that scares even her?" she came back directly in front and stopped.

"Say it." she commanded.

I kept my lips sealed and my stance relaxed.

The mare advanced towards me.

"Say it." she said again.

"No." I simply stated.

"Say. It." she commanded slowly, once more in my face.

"If you can't tell me, show me." I stated through grit teeth.

The answer seemed to stun the Other. But she slowly grinned all the same.

"As you wish, oh Duchess mine." she said lovingly.

~~~

Red sensations of feeling appeared in the fabric of the darkness I found myself in. Appearing suddenly, retreating after just a moment, and reappearing in a slightly different location.

It felt like it happened hundreds of times, but in actuality, it was closer to five or six.

Pure, uninterrupted darkness returned.

I opened my eyes.

I was Lucas again. A child still. No older than twelve.

I sat in muddy grass, the school's playground wet from a spring storm that had passed through the area recently.

I was alone. Or rather, alone with the exception of my opponents. Four or five children, all larger than me.

They stood congratulating each other.

My face throbbed angrily.

I happened to glance over to the side.

I had been sitting on the grass near the edge of the playground's asphalt.

A large hunk of the rocky surface had broken off, and sat within reach.

I glanced over at the group of friends.

Measuring.

Judging.

Plotting.

Only one had been throwing the punches.

And I could kill him.

His was the only back who was completely facing me.

I could hit him in the back of the head, and keep pounding until his brains were thoroughly mixed with the black, broken asphalt he stood on.

Who cared if his friends came to help? I would kill them too.

The teachers would notice, and come to stop me. I would kill them too.

The cops would be called to stop my rampage. I would kill them too!

The army will come! With tanks and planes and bombs! And I would kill them all!

I would rule this corrupt and broken planet by right of conquest! With nothing but the rock in my fist!

I knew I could do it! As strange as it was to say, I knew I could win!

There was no god nor demon who would or could stand in my way!

Shadows roiled like a boiling sea within my mind.

All I had to do... Was give in to the Darkness.

I grabbed the rock and stood up.

I raised the fist and rock high and-

What was I doing?!

I stopped.

How was this right?!

He's a stupid kid!

The group hadn't noticed me. They were still laughing.

Does he deserve it? Maybe. But world domination over a single kid was not worth it.

And I was going to do it...

If I had brought the rock down, I would've never given up in my quest. As stupid as it now seemed. I would've kept killing and killing, and killing, and killing until there was nothing left but me, the rock, and the burning pile that had once been Earth.

I tossed the rock away off to the side, letting it clatter harmlessly to the ground.

And suddenly I was flying.

I hit the muddy ground with a meaty thump.

I pulled myself out of the dirt, my rage boiling again.

The kid stood above me again.

He had hit me so hard I had flipped through the air.

I did nothing but fume as he stood silently.

But I kept to my decision. He would live.

But I hoped, by hate alone, that I had soured his eventual fate.

The rage in my heart collapsed into a controlled pilot's light as the group walked away.

I pulled myself fully from the mud and stomped towards the school.

Several people asked me what happened as I passed by.

I said nothing.

Heheheheheheh...

~~~

"Hahahahahahahahahaha!" The Other laughed loudly, her black wings outstretched.

I kept the scowl I had adopted in the memory. Furious beyond imagination, but so strictly controlled as to make a military academy look relaxed.

"Come on Luna... What are you scared of?" the Other mocked.

I knew the answer of course.

What was the single thing, that everything I had done, had in common? What was something so involved, that it was present each and every time? What was the most dangerous thing in every instance? What would follow me, faster and more determined than Death itself? What was present that night with the Hydra? What was present the very first night in Ùllahdmaiden? What was present during the Night of the Windegos? What was there during the Seige of Casúrdomhain? Of Pegasopolis? Of Unicornia? Of Bloodstone? With Discord? There with Sombra? There with the Griffins? What had been present that night in Area 51? What was there during the Cartel massacre? What was at that Nazi riot?

The answer was easy.

Myself.

I was scared of myself.

If I wanted, if I truly wanted... There was no doubt in my mind I could conquer all of Earth and Equestria.

Even as a small Human boy, ignorant of my true nature, I had somehow known how dangerous I was.

Even then, I had visions of fire and mayhem caused by my hand.

And for good reason. For what could stop me if I wanted to pay the Universe back for all the shit it put both Luna and Lucas through?

The United States? Please... They may be the world's super power... But the whole apparatus was rife with rot. If they tried to legislate, they would do what they always did and half ass any attempt to stymy me. There was no law, and no army of square jawed thugs large enough with a hope of victory... In the end, they'd have to resort to nuclear fire. And I was beginning to have serious doubts that a nuke would be enough... Perhaps a direct hit sure. But there were ways for even a normal Human to survive a blast.

Celestia? Despite my demeanor towards the mare, I wasn't afraid of her. Angry at, yes... But not afraid. If I were to fully commit to a fight with my sister... It was no contest. Even with her extra millennia of strength and wisdom. She was too soft to deliver the killing blow. She wouldn't start to seriously fight until she realized I was playing for keeps. And by then, it would probably be too late for her to keep me at bay.

So really, what could stop me?

What was stopping me from drowning this whole fucking planet in a tide of living shadow?

What was stopping me from spreading across the galaxy like a plague? Eating and consuming everything using nothing but my own rage fueled shade?

Nothing.

Not a God damn thing.

All I had to do, was to set the Darkness in my heart free. Letting it flow over everyone and everything. Taking revenge on all of existence for making my life a living hell.

It would be sooo easy...

And here I now stood, before the endless abyss, with nothing but my increasingly fracturing mind to keep the encroaching darkness at bay.

And therein lay the true goal of the Nightmare.

The Nightmare could never have dreamed to fight me directly. No matter what it did, even taking my shape as an imposter, it would never fool me. Because I was myself and it wasn't.

And I had been too distracted to see it.

Too busy with Sombra, too busy with Celestia and her court, too busy keeping the peace that I unknowingly gave the Nightmare exactly what it wanted.

A way to make me afraid.

A nudge here, a push there, and everything I had cherished and built collapsed around me. Manipulated and engineered by the Other, but ultimately being destroyed by my hoof. It was sick and insidious, never saying anything but the truth. Sometimes pushing violently, sometimes phrasing a sentence in an odd, yet valid way.

My fate had been sealed the first moment that sick, oily, feeling settled around my heart. This has, and always will be, the outcome.

I could only wait for Fate to demand the bill.

The Other's face was extremely close, a mocking, goofy half smile on her lips.

"Awe yuu gonna say it?" she said childishly.

"No."

I headbutted her.

Chapter 151 The Nightmare

Author's Note

Another chapter that you should probably listen to the provided music while reading. :trollestia:

https://youtu.be/0F9Nvxyt9t8?si=XUaH_8-anXlRBj0D

Chapter 151 The Nightmare

~~~

"Get out of my head!" I screamed, headbutting the ground as hard as I could.

The tendrils of shadow, which had been dashing forward the second before, spasmed and twitched, too stunned to move.

Through her sunlight shield, Celestia's jaw dropped in surprise.

The soldiers likewise stopped firing, and looked at each other uncertainly.

Never! You agreed to me being here! So here I will stay!

The tendrils twitched once more before they started to slowly move.

"Get out!" I screamed as I slammed my head into the ground again.

~~~

My forehead hit the Other's nose, breaking it and leaking scarlet blood down her front.

"Gah!" she exclaimed in surprise. "You'll need to do better than that!" she responded, headbutting me in reply.

~~~

"Change of plan!" Celestia exclaimed back to the soldiers. "Now's your chance! Go restrain her! I'll stop any of the shades and contact my student!"

The soldiers looked to each other, as if asking themselves if they should obey what she said.

Celestia paid them no mind, instead pulling a crumpled scroll from under her scarf.

A flash of green light, and it was gone.

"Get out!" I screamed again, hitting my head on the ground once again.

~~~

My retaliating headbutt knocked the black mare back, making her stumble over the steps of the dais.

I lunged as she recovered.

"I hate you!" I roared, bringing my hoof back as I prepared to punch.

The Other kicked out with her back legs, her hooves hitting me in the gut.

~~~

The shadows began to twitch again, this time Celestia wasted no time dropping her shield, but grabbing at the shadows with her bright magic.

Acting on their own, the tendrils began to curve and avoid her magic, making to dive at the mare herself.

"No! No no no no no!" I screamed, pulling hard on the shadowy tentacles. They jerked back suddenly as if they were puppets whose strings had been yanked on.

They tried to reach out to Celestia again, but I reeled them back. Now dominated by only my will, I regathered them close.

A tendril suddenly broke away from it's brethren, and hit the still raw wound where my right wing had been.

~~~

"Aaugh!" I exclaimed, pain arcing down my spine as I fell backwards.

"Aw! Poor Woona!" The Other mocked.

I swung my body around on the floor and kicked out her front legs.

Her front collapsed, leaving her face down ass up on the floor.

I used the momentum of the kick to reposition, and used all of my might to pounce from an essentially prone position.

"Your!" I pulled back a hoof and punched. "Services!" I repeated the motion. "Are!" Another. "No!" Another. "Longer!" Another. "Required!"

"Ge'off me!" the Other roared, kicking out again with her back hooves.

~~~

I stumbled sideways in pain.

"Augh!" I shouted out.

A few tendrils used the lapse in my concentration to break free, diving towards the soldiers who were slowly approaching.

I snarled out, and retightened my hold on them, pulling them all back again.

But it was too late, one of the soldiers had reacted on instinct and had begun firing.

And that in turn set off his fellows.

I knew not when, but somehow I had been knocked out of Gaseous Form, and I didn't have the time to recast it.

It was all I could do, flailing whatever tendrils I could in an effort to shield myself from the much closer barrage.

"Stop shooting!" Celestia snarled, catching a few more tendrils in her magic. "You'll hurt her!"

One of the bullets bit into my hindquarters.

~~~

Road rash burned my rump as I slid across the stone floor, the shadows blurring by.

I came to a stop, pushing aside the various detritus of the run down ruin.

I got back onto my hooves and charged, rushing by the guarding shadows.

All they did was watch.

The black Alicorn loomed ahead, getting to her hooves as well.

I tackled her back to the floor, sitting on her chest, pinning her forelegs to the sides.

I then proceeded to wail on her face with both hooves, venting all of my frustration with repeated blows.

The Other's horn flashed.

~~~

Celestia's horn flashed brightly, washing the world in white.

"Stop shooting!" Her voice roared.

It was as if someone had set a flashbang off in front of my face, only without the noise.

The gunfire ceased.

With nothing else to do, I tried to wrestle the tendrils of shadow away from Celestia's grasp.

"Luna stop! You're hurting yourself!" the mare exclaimed.

"What do you think is the point?!" I rebutted

She may have held onto my shadows with an iron grip, but she had not grappled me.

I fell to the ground again.

"Get out!"

I slammed my head into the dirt once more

~~~

My headbutt disrupted whatever the Other had in mind, but she still had the opportunity to bring up her forearms to grab at my thrashing hooves.

She rolled, tossing me to the side.

~~~

I stumbled as I was shoved by a wave of yellow light.

"Luna stop! Please!" Celestia shouted desperately.

I growled softly to myself as I started to pull at the tendrils in Celestia's grasp.

A soldier took the opportunity to rush forward with the butt of his rifle while I was distracted.

~~~

The Other's hoof withdrew from the punch she had laid me with.

"End of the line Luna!" she screeched.

I stole a page from her book and kicked her in the stomach with my back legs.

The black mare growled in pain, momentarily stunned.

I surged up, knocking the Other back to the floor.

She started to thrash, so I pinned her before she could get any leverage.

Something flashed outside the throne room.

~~~

The terrain was lit by yet another flash of light. Not as bright as Celestia's pseudo flashbang, but enough to cast a few shadows. I flinched as a loud 'pop" echoed off the treeline.

The flash of light had not come from Celestia.

But then I finally looked.

Where they had come from was anyone's guess, but six mares now stood in a line before me.

Chapter 152 The Elements

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 153 The God

~~~

...

Was I dead?

Was this what death felt like?

...

... Oh who am I kidding? I've never been that lucky.

Slowly I gathered up my courage and opened my eyes.

What greeted me was a field of stars. Infinitesimal pin pricks of light that felt eternities away, but at the same time just barely out of reach.

“Nightmare Moon the Thief, Princess Luna Fiendbane the Lost, Lucas Maan, sister, brother...” called a genderless voice from behind me. "Monster."

I froze, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.

“Look at me.”

Even those who had never heard the voice before would instinctively know who it was.

“Harmony.” I greeted coldly, turning around.

Harmony had chosen to take the form of an Alicorn made of bright light again, light from all across the spectrum, even colors I was sure were outside of the visible range of both human and pony.

Harmony said nothing, and although I couldn’t see an expression through the light, I knew they were serenely calm.

“So now what? You got me with the elements, I’m powerless and at your mercy.” I snarled. “Do it. Finish what you started a thousand years ago.”

“No Luna, that is not why you’re here.” Harmony stated.

“Oh yeah?” I asked sarcastically, uncaring if I actually made them mad. “Then do tell Harmony, what is to be my punishment this time? Maybe try again with the launching into the moon? How about a new statue? Or are we going for a lobotomy this time? Y’know wipe me clean so the next iteration doesn’t do what I did!” I stomped a hoof angrily. “Because that’s what you do to monsters! Monsters like ME!”

“You’re not a monster Luna.” Harmony calmly retorted.

“Tell that to all the people I’ve killed! Tell that to every single soul I’ve terrorized!” I growled. “Tell that to myself when I enjoyed it!”

Harmony was silent for a moment.

“You’re hurt Luna.” they said finally. “More hurt then you realize.”

“Hurt?!” I cried. “Of fucking course I’m hurt!” I advanced threateningly, but Harmony remained still. “I’ve gone through two lives! One of which was several lifetimes long! And both times I tried to be kind! I tried to be the best person I could be! I tried again and again and again and look where it got me!”

Dimly I realized I was crying.

“I have no friends! No one cares about me! The only Pony who did has to be long dead by now! No one cares about my work! What little family I have either hates me or wants to sweep me under the rug to cover her own mistakes!”

“I have nothing!” I screamed in Harmony’s face. “What else am I supposed to do? I can’t be myself without earning the ire of all I see! I can’t fake a personality to gain friends! Then I’m being deceitful and manipulative! So tell me Harmony, what am I supposed to do? Because I legitimately do not know! I do not understand what else I can do! It’s either become the monster everyone already sees, or do nothing and still make enemies!” I prodded Harmony’s barrel with a stern hoof. For a being made of light, they were surprisingly solid. “I cannot stay with Humanity, I cannot go back to Celestia, and I don't think that surviving reentry is a trick I can pull off again!”

“So g-get it over with a-already! I don’t h-have anything else!” I sobbed, falling to the floor. “Just turn me into a pile of ash and be done with it…” I turned to look away.

Silence.

“Do you really think Celestia came to Earth just to tie up a loose end?” Harmony asked after a moment.

"Why else-" I began.

“Celestia could have left you all alone here." Harmony interuppted. "She did not need to travel across the local star cluster simply to make sure a monster did not attack her ponies.” Harmony stated, looking upwards at the stars above.

“Of course she did! Why else would she come?” I repeated.

“If I were to ask you which star is your home system, would you be able to point to it?” Harmony bluntly asked.

“Um…”

“Even if you wanted to take your revenge on Equestria, you never would have found your way back home... Or at least, you would've had extreme difficulty.” Harmony continued. “No, Celestia followed you here as soon as she felt your aura awaken for a different reason.” Harmony gently cupped my cheek with a hoof. “She came here to ask for your forgiveness and take you home.”

“But I’m a horrible monster who-” I stammered.

“And your human family;” Harmony interrupted. “Even with everything they’ve said and done, they turn to you when they need you the most because they trust you.”

“Yeah, as nothing more than a tool to be use-”

“As a bedrock they can reliably return to in strife.” Harmony admonished. “Even with everything you have done, you have always done nothing less than your best. You still continue to uphold the elements you represented all those years ago. Honesty to hold yourself accountable in the name of justice. Loyalty to the downtrodden and defenseless. And the generosity to give all of yourself to what you believe is a just cause. You are, and always have been, worthy.”

Harmony bent their head down to nuzzle the top of my head.

"You have many loved ones who miss you Luna." They said quietly.

Just as she said that, pale mirages of people began to float by.

I didn't recognize the initial ones at first. But my memory was quickly jogged due to my extremely recent encounter with them.

The Ponies who bore the Elements...

"Oh the poor thing..." Kindness cooed.

"I can't imagine what she's been through... What's life without a party?!" Laughter exclaimed histerically.

"Darling, it's hard to wrap my head around the whole situation. I simply can not understand how a mare who's given so much can receive so little..." Generosity stated.

"Yeah... I dunno... Everypony keeps demanding her loyalty but won't give it back. It makes a mare think y'know?" Loyalty admitted.

"Ah ain't one fer stretching the truth... But Ah gotta say... She's been given a deal that ain't worth a hoot." Honesty informed.

Next however was Sarah.

But it was a different Sarah then I remembered. Her hair was now cropped short, and she was dejectedly kicking something.

"I- I should've been nicer..." She admitted.

The mirage of Sarah slid away, making away for Mom... Human Mom that is.

She looked to be sitting on something, her back bent as she massaged her temples.

"Was there anything I could've done different?"

Then an orange Unicorn mare took her place.

"If I had known the truth... I don't think I would've been such a bitch." the mare stated with the voice I knew as 'Sunset' Shimmer'.

My breath hitched as the visage of the orange mare was replaced by that of a lavender one.

The mare who undoubtedly held the Spark.

"I don't know what to say." She admitted. "I've heard Princess Celestia's reasons, and I've gone through all the documents I can get. And... It's horrible. All horrible. But yet I can understand where everypony is coming from. I wish I could say that everypony should know better... But I can't. It's disturbingly unfortunate that everything landed on the withers of a single mare. I wish it weren't so, because it's not fair. It wouldn't be fair to anyone." the phantasm sighed. "I can't help but imagining I'm in her horseshoes... And... I'm not sure if I would've done anything differently..."

The lavender mare floated by, her ears drooping.

My ears suddenly perked at the familiar sound of ringing bells.

While no mirage had replaced the lavender mare, it was clear who was speaking.

Ancient one, lonely one, come rest your head;
I'll hold you gently, safe from Death's grasp;
I smile upon you my weathered Champion;
Come ancient wanderer, come home;
This is your hour...

And finally... A white shape that was larger than all the others appeared.

It was Celestia, laying on the ground and weeping.

"I..." she sobbed. "I... I don't know how I can apologize enough..."

And then she too was gone.

Thus the parade of visions ended.

"... Why show me these things?" I asked, my voice creaking with emotion.

“Because you need to learn how to feel the love you already have and deserve.”

“Easier said than done."

“I am only here for half of the problem.” Harmony chided. “But I can think of someone who can help.”

Suddenly a wing wrapped itself around my shoulders.

I looked away from the literal God and saw my own face. Or rather, the face that I had stolen.

The original Luna, with a mane as glorious and as majestic as the real Princess Celestia, only minutes before, smiled kindly down at me.

“H-how…?” I stammered.

“I am proud of you Luna. And yes, you are the original Luna.” she replied.

"Then what are you?" I asked.

"I'm a recollection… A recollection of you." she supplied with a small smile.

"A recollection? Whose recollection?" I asked, confused.

"Who else’s? Harmony’s. Think of me like… A computer back up of you. Everything you were, are, and will be. Everything you know, I know. Everything you feel, I feel... And with all the context I have… I am proud. You have been beaten, battered and thrown aside, and yet you stand.” she nuzzled me as well. “Not even our greatest mistake, the Nightmare, could lay you low.”

“But it nearly did!” I protested. “The only reason I’m coherent right now is because I’m pretty sure Harmony is holding me together!” I pointed towards the Alicorn of Light, only to realize they had disappeared at some point.

“And yet here you are, alive while it is not.” the other Luna chided.

"I- It's dead?"

"Indeed." the reflection nodded. "And that is no small feat. Trust me when I say, today is a day that will be remembered and celebrated forever."

“Celebrated? Why?”

"All in good time." the other Luna nodded. "But in the meantime, my advice for you is to learn how to be alive again.”

“What good is being alive when I can’t enjoy it?” I reposted with a snort. “Even if I forgive any of them... How can I trust anyone anymore after what's been done to me? No matter how I look at it... I'm ruined. I can never belong again."

“Perhaps…” the recollection admitted. “But then again, your lifetime is much longer than what most would consider ‘normal’.” she paused for a moment. “How about this; Return to the physical plane, heal, rest, and sort yourself out-”

“What do you think I’ve been-” I tried to interject.

“What you’ve been doing most certainly is not resting and healing.” the larger Pony interrupted. “What you have been doing is doing your best to survive in hostile waters with little respite.”

"What else was I supposed to do?"

"Beats me. I have done, am doing, and will do the same thing." the other Luna admitted with a shrug.

What could I say to argue that?

What could I possibly say to counter?

Even here, practically being held together by the powers of a literal deity, I was tired.

So fucking tired…

I just wanted to lie down... And sleep.

“I- I am tired…” I admitted out loud.

“I know Luna. I know.” the majestic version of myself stated. “Just lay down and go to sleep.”

“That- Sounds like a good idea…”

“I promise everything will be alright...”

Author's Note

:pinkiesad2:

And if you're wondering where the poem comes from...
https://youtu.be/cusSGLwDk7Y?si=j-XtyIceZs-0CIoq

Chapter 154 The Beginning

~~~

...

Someone get me as much anasthetic as you can!

...

I don't care how much or what brand! She's plowing through this stuff faster than I can put it in!

...

Damnit! She's coming back around! Hold her down! We can't let her escape!

I opened my eyes.

The world I found myself in was a mess of color and light, as if someone had taken a freshly painted canvas and pushed a squeegee across it.

What was-?

The patterns in the color moved and shifted.

I could only stare dumbly as I tried to comprehend what I was seeing.

We need another bag of blood!

What were those voices saying? They were words, but to me they might as well have been gibberish.

A blotch of color, the shape of an open hand passed by.

Here nurse, hold this.

It quickly grabbed something and pulled back.

Hand... What would a hand be doing here?

But slowly, now that I had comprehended the hand, the lights and colors resolved themselves into figures, both Human and Pony, dressed in white.

We're almost out of Pony blood! They're already sending for some more across the portal!

They moved across my vision, simultaneously on fast forward, and slowed down in thick molasses. Blurring across my vision as if I were seeing a few seconds into the past and future.

Damnit! Can't we cauterize this? It'll stop the bleeding!

I didn't even bother to move. Despite the situation I felt... Nothing. Like I was laying on a cloud of numb darkness.

No! The Princess expects it'll fully heal given time!

In fact, I could barely move my eyes. It took all of my will power to cast my gaze to something new. But I swiftly stopped, both because it was just too much effort, and all of the shapes and patterns smeared across themselves again when my eye moved.

Really? This? You Ponies sure are durable...

My vision slowly settled once again.

No, only the Princesses are.

A commotion, just out of sight stirred the blotches and colors.

No we couldn't find it. But we're still looking.

A blob of lavender made its way across, disappearing behind a straight line of beige.

I don't care if she's sedated! I need to see her!

A massive white shape loomed, addressing one of the Humans.

It would be best if-

The white mass shook.

No, I've been waiting for too long. I need to be there!

The Human in the teal scrubs gestured.

Are you sure? It's going to be bloody-

The white blob shook its head again.

I've seen my fair share of blood Doctor. You don't have to worry about me.

The white shaped gently pushed the Human aside and loomed larger in my sight.

The shape resolved into Tia's face, her bright magenta eyes full of gleaming tears. Her mouth, pressed into a gentle, but heartfelt smile.

She looked like a mare who had lost something precious, only to have recently found it again.

Her mouth opened.

Oh Luna... I'm so sorry...

Tears began to overwhelm those deep magenta pools, and she began to sob. Pressing her forehead against mine.

I didn't have the energy to move, reply, or even feel emotion.

I was simply too tired.

All I could do, was watch.

I'm sorry... So sorry...

The large mare blubbered and wept, not caring in the slightest how 'royal' she looked to the others in the room.

But still, I could not react.

Someone could've pressed a gun to my head and I couldn't have moved.

So I had no choice but to let the mare, both strange and familiar at the same time, soak my coat with her tears.

Did I hate her? Did I forgive her?

The only answer I could provide was a blank.

Ok Princess, you have to leave now. We're taking her into surgery.

Tia's face became a blob once more as she pulled back.

I- I understand... Will you be in an operating room with an observation room?

Tia's hoof slide into view, and wiped at the blob that was her face.

Yes. I expect quite a few onlookers will be present, both Pony and Human. If your Doctors are to be believed, this will be the first surgery on an Alicorn in living memory.

Two magenta blobs turned to look at me, before sliding across the white blob and disappearing.

Uh- Yes. Yes it is.

The Human fidgeted with something.

Then I expect observation to be full. I imagine quite a few papers are going to be written, even if we're only removing shell fragments.

A nurse carried something I couldn't decipher into view.

I got as much anesthetic as I could carry!

Another hand reached over and grabbed the thing, before pulling it towards my face.

May I have one more moment?

The blob that was Tia fidgeted nerviously. The hand with the blurry, but colorless thing pulled away.

Make it quick.

The blob that was Tia's face got closer again.

Sleep well Luna... I'll be by your side the whole time...

She leaned over, and for the first time since I woke up, felt something soft press against my temple.

Tia then took a step back, allowing the nurses hand to return, with the colorless blur.

The nurse pressed the blur against my snout.

Mask is on!

Gas her up.

The canvas of blurry color and shapes began to fade away.

It was like someone peeking into your dark bedroom from a bright hallway, looked around briefly, and then left, closing the door behind them.

I couldn't help but feel as if I had been put in a coffin.

Yet strangely... I was ok with that.

I was finally on someone's workbench.

I no longer had any obligations that needed tending to.

I was too broken.

run:self_repair.exe

I felt myself relax as I felt my mind started to stitch itself back together.

Est:Structural Integrity of Psychological Constructs: %2.324

...

Est:Structural Integrity of Psychological Constructs: %2.325

... Hoo boy... This was going to take awhile...

Author's Note

Whew! :ajsleepy:
That was a trip!
Anyway, thank you all for reading!
It's been along journey, but this isn't the end!
Yes, I am currently writing not only a sequel, but a sidefic as well!
While I don't know when those are going to be released, I'm taking the night off to stream some old school Dawn of War for a few hours in my discord server (https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa) to celebrate the completion of "By the Moon"!
Come stop on by!
I may be answering questions and dropping a few previews for what the future holds. :raritywink:

Bonus Chapter

~~~

Directed by: Nephilinae

Written by: Nephilinae

Produced by: Nephilinae

Executive Producer: Nephilinae

~~~

Main Cast:

Lucas Maan .......................... Princess Luna.

Princess Luna .......................... Herself

Nightmare Moon .......................... Herself

Princess Celestia .......................... Herself

Sunset Shimmer .......................... Herself

Discord .......................... Himself

(Oh you!)

Annoyed Narrator .......................... Nephilinae

Wik

~~~

Supporting Cast:

Sarah Maan .......................... Herself

Mother .......................... Herself

King Sombra .......................... Himself

Doctor Stevenson .......................... Himself

Perfect Vision .......................... Himself

Jefe .......................... Himself

Vendedores del Diablo .......................... Himself

Alsø wik

Element of Generosity .......................... Rarity

Rarity .......................... Herself

Element of Laughter .......................... Pinkimena Diane Pie

Pinkimena Diane Pie .......................... Herself

Element of Loyalty .......................... Rainbow 'Danger' Dash

Rainbow 'Danger' Dash .......................... Herself

Element of Kindness .......................... Fluttershy

Fluttershy .......................... Herself

Element of Honesty .......................... Jaqueline Apple 'Applejack'

Jaqueline Apple 'Applejack' .......................... Herself

Twilight Sparkle .......................... Herself

Alsø alsø wik

Nebula Glow .......................... Herself

Sapphire Shine .......................... Herself

Emerald Gleam .......................... Herself

Reeve Black Ash .......................... Herself

Hoarfrost .......................... Himself

Brisk Road .......................... Himself

Snow Step .......................... Herself

Torchwood .......................... Himself

Firelight .......................... Herself

Violet Shimmer .......................... Herself

Ocean Breeze .......................... Himself

Star Song .......................... Herself

Appleflower .......................... Herself

'Master' Brickwork .......................... Herself

Flame Etch .......................... Himself

Ironplate .......................... Himself

Wi nøt trei a høliday in Sweden this yër ?

'Mayor' Treesong .......................... Herself

Clover the Clever .......................... Herself

Smart Cookie .......................... Herself

Private Pansy .......................... Herself

Starswirl 'the Bearded' .......................... Himself

'Princess' Platinum .......................... Herself

'Chancellor' Puddinghead .......................... Herself

'Commander' Hurricane .......................... Herself

Timber Sprout .......................... Himself

Plowshare .......................... Himself

Split Decision .......................... Himself

Quick Wind .......................... Herself

Shelled Seed .......................... Himself

See the løveli lakes

Golden Note .......................... Himself

Captain Comet Trail .......................... Himself

Captain Rock Garden .......................... Herself

Captain Short List .......................... Himself

Captain Bright Shine .......................... Herself

Captain Flash Magnus .......................... Himself

The wøndërful telephøne system

Rockhoof .......................... Himself

Meadowbrook .......................... Herself

Mistmane 'the Beautiful' .......................... Herself

'Queen' Iridium Comet .......................... Herself

'Lady' Gilded Rose .......................... Herself

And mäni interesting furry animals

Saros .......................... Himself

Waxing Gibus .......................... Himself

'Commander' Fyrefly .......................... Herself

'Countess' Morgue Rose .......................... Herself

Nightfang .......................... Herself

Windspite .......................... Himself

'Count' Albrecht .......................... Himself

'Countess' Dirge Song .......................... Herself

'Lord' Bloodmoon .......................... Himself

Glistening Melon .......................... Himself

'Mayor' Moonrose .......................... Herself

Including the majestik møøse

Sun .......................... Himself

Moon .......................... Herself

Ḩ̸̍a̶̞͗ŕ̶͚m̶̬̏o̷̺͂ṇ̴͛ŷ̷̩ .......................... T̴͈͆ḧ̸̪e̶̹͝ṁ̶̬s̷̻̔e̶̛ͅl̵̺̇f̴̮͘

A Møøse once bit my sister

~~~

Additional thanks to:

All of the unnamed extras.

The Global Occult Coalition

That one lady...

No realli! She was Karving her initials øn the møøse with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given her by Svenge - her brother-in-law -an Oslo dentist and star of many Norwegian møvies: "The Høt Hands of an Oslo Dentist", "Fillings of Passion", "The Huge Mølars of Horst Nordfink"...

"What the-?! Discord!

"Hsssssss!"

"Oh don't you hiss at me! We both know you're not supposed to be here!"

"And we both know I'm not contractly obligated to stay put! So long as-"

"Get! Shoo! I'll get both the spray bottle and the broom so help me!"

"Alright alright! Geez... What a buzz kill..."

"Fucking hell..."

"Oh damnit- You're all here aren't you?"

*sigh*

"Alright... He was almost done anyway. Might as well finish what he started...

*Ahem*

"And special thanks to:"

"Lauren Faust..."

"Tentatively; The Hasbro Corporation..."

"A copious amount of substances frowned on in polite company..."

"And to you, all my dear readers."

"It's been a long journey to get here. And we've a long way to go still."

...

"Are any of you still here?"

...

"Alright... I suppose... If you made it this far... You deserve a little treat."

"Enjoy."

~~~

Celestia found herself in a desert. Well, she called it a desert, but it only resembled the desert’s of Equss she had come to know.

The sand was gray and grainy, and surprisingly sharp on her frogs as she walked forward. It didn’t roll into smooth dunes, but it sat, as if undisturbed since the primordial forces had first deposited it there. The air, if it could even be called that, was still, and tasted truly lifeless on her tongue as she breathed.

And the sky…

The sky was black.

So black that Celestia could’ve sworn it was a puddle of wet ink. The only solace she could take, was that it wasn’t ink where the tiny specks of distant stars speckled the sky.

But they seemed to follow Celestia as she trekked across this alien desert, like the eyes of paintings that were far too lifelike to merely be crushed dyes on canvas.

Despite the relative darkness, Celestia found she could see just as clearly as if her Sun was high in the sky. It felt strange, she could see her own shadow, but there seemed to be no source of light that cast it.

The alien landscape seemed to grate on her as she walked. Truly, there was nothing but the gray lifeless sand, and the stars that glinted like moist eyes...

That was until she crested a particularly large hill.

Celestia gasped in awe.

She must’ve crested a small mountain, because below lay a set of buildings eerily similar to ones she had seen in Abyssia. ‘Obelisks’ if she recalled correctly. And a single ‘pyramid’.

Celestia was certain of that at least. There could be no mistaking the truly impressive structure below. Whereas the Abyssian pyramid had been built by stacking blocks of limestone, this strange structure seemed to have been polished to a perfectly smooth sheen. From this distance, it seemed to Celestia that the pyramid below had been carved from a single, titanic rock.

It was so out of place in this lifeless desert, that she felt her stomach do small cartwheels in her belly. Something about the structure just felt… Wrong.

Despite her misgivings however, Celestia found her hooves moving down the gray grainy slope before she could turn around and walk away.

The obelisks, Celestia noted as she approached, were arrayed neatly. Three on each side, so they led directly to the base of the pyramid. As she neared the closest one, she confirmed to herself that the structures truly were polished smooth.

The fact that the Abyssian obelisks were typically covered in hieroglyphics made itself known in her mind, but she pushed the thought away. The craftponyship of the obelisks was truly something to behold, and yet… They felt like merely an invitation to Celestia.

An invitation to walk towards the pyramid.

But strangely, Celestia could see no distinguishing feature on the pyramid that would suggest an entrace.

By now, she walked past and between the two outermost obelisks. In her mind’s eye, she could almost see a resplendent courtyard between the towers. A path that wasn’t so much hard packed by the weight of constant traffic, as purposefully leveled and kept clear by a strange people.

But the almost-vision was gone in an eyeblink.

If it was a vision of the past, or her own imagination, Celestia had a feeling she would never know.

So she continued.

As she walked down the path between the obelisks she realized with a start that the Moon was high overhead, directly above the tallest point of the pyramid.

Except it wasn’t the Moon.

Or at least, it wasn’t the Moon she was familiar with.

The orb that sat imperiously high in the inky black was mottled with a vibrant blue and verdant green, with a splash of brown along one chunk of green, and a single portion of gleaming white.

Celestia found it strange, she did not recall seeing the odd moon before she crested the hill, and yet it seemed startlingly familiar to her. But she could not recall where she would’ve seen such a moon before. Where could’ve-

Memories of countless nights, pouring over maps by candle and bonfire light. Maps of the North, of Griffinstone and her territories, of the Dragon Lands.

Of Equestria.

A sense of vertigo crashed into Celestia, threatening to push her into the lifeless gray sand below.

The Moon…

She was on the Moon…

That meant…

All at once, she saw the moon, or rather, her world, high above. The only obelisks she could see from this angle flanked the gigantic structure like ancient sentinels from a long forgotten era.

And the pyramid?

The pyramid now had a dark opening, centered perfectly both on the pyramid itself, and between the obelisks.

If she was on the Moon… then…

Her heartbeat roared in her ears as darkness began to creep along the edges of her vision. In the distance, she heard the cruel laughter of a silver mare.

If the maw of the pyramid were a pony, Celestia would’ve sworn it was beckoning.

“Come.” it all but seemed to say.

She wanted to scream, to shout, to turn around and run away. Give anything, do anything to not go inside.

And yet…

She wanted to enter, very dearly. She would’ve given anything, do anything to see the pony that most assuredly was inside.

It wasn’t even any magical effect; Celestia could literally feel her mind naturally turning on itself as it wrestled with the wants and desires that conflicted so harshly.

Was it possible to want something so badly, and yet dread the very thing she wanted?

Yes, she discovered. It was very possible.

Her hooves grew minds of their own against her will, and started walking towards the dark opening. As she approached, her mind wrestled with itself.

Go back.

Keep going.

Go back.

Keep going.

Go BACK.

Keep GOING.

Go BACK.

Keep GOING.

All too soon, and yet not nearly long enough, Celestia stood directly at the base of the pyramid. It's dark opening, square and perfectly angled, just like the pyramid itself. She finally forced her hooves to stop as she stared into the pyramid’s dark depths. The inky black sky above, with its stars that glinted a bit too much like an eye moving in its socket, seemed tame compared to what lay inside.

The darkness seemed absolute, totally and utterly. It felt to Celestia that she could shine a ray of sunlight down into it and still not pierce its secrets. Even worse, occasionally she thought she saw the darkness twitch somehow out of the corner of her eye, making the darkness seem alive somehow in a way that Celestia found she didn’t quite have the words to describe.

The almost imperceptible silhouette of a dark Alicorn mare silently turned away from the square entrance.

Celestia almost didn’t see her. Yet she couldn’t have been more than one or two standard pony lengths away… The darkness had just been that thick.

“Wait no! Luna!” Celestia cried out as she dove into the darkness, heedless of her own inhibitions mere seconds ago.

Author's Note

:trollestia:

Chapter 1 The Beginning?

~~~

A pulse of yellow light flew by as I dived. I could feel its burning heat and fury singe the fur along my shoulder. I barrel rolled to dodge another blast, pulling up at the last moment as I swooped over the castle towers. I turned my head ever so slightly to see what my opponent was doing, she was moving slower, but I could see the power she was building to unleash. With a snarl, I banked and charged the glowing white figure. She barely had time to block my scything horn with her own.

“You’re growing weak Celestia…” I growled, not fully in control of my actions.

“Let my sister free you monster...” my sister snarled, struggling to hold me back. I replied by sucker punching the solar Princess.

“HahahHAHAHAHha!” I not-cackled manically as she fell several Pony lengths, only to recover and speed away. I sped after my target, spraying the area in front of me with spells that would slay the unprepared.

Unfortunately my sister WAS prepared, she dodged or blocked my attacks with relative ease… But I saw that flicker of exhaustion setting in. As she pulled a sharp turn, I pulled up, rising above the beloved Solar Princess. I then angled my wings DOWN. Gravity pulled me ever closer to Celestia, finally forcing us to collide.

We tumbled in the air, wrestling in a brutal melee as we hit the roof of the castle below. She was forced into a slide that sent her rolling, I however just landed with a hefty clank. We pulled ourselves up at about the same time and faced each other. Celestia was breathing heavily… My own breath however was unlabored, but my blood SANG.

“Is this what it came to Luna?!” my sister screamed. “Would you truly abandon us?! Would you truly betray me for some power?!”

“You think this is about power?!” I yelled back. “This is about respect! Year after year! Day after day! Hour after hour! It’s all the same! Day this, sunshine that, Celestia this.... What about Luna?! What ever happened to her?!” I snarled “You betrayed me long ago ‘sister’...” I sneered.

“Luna… I never wanted this to happen...” Celestia said sadly. “I only wanted-”

“Only wanted what?” I interrupted. “Only wanted me, the only living soul who can claim to even come close to knowing you, your only living family, to live a life of seclusion and disrespect?!” I snarled.

“No…” Celestia stated. “I only want my sister back…”

~~~

I was awoken by a knock on my door.

“Who is it?” I asked with a yawn, rubbing my eye with the back of my hand.

“Supper’s ready.” the voice I recognised as my mother stated, before footsteps faded into the distance.

“Kay… Be right there…” I yawned again, flopping back down. I fell back into a sort of half sleep, waking only a few minutes later. I lifted my head to check the clock on my nightstand. The numbers ‘5:38 pm’ shown back at me in a red glow.

“Good ‘nuff…” I grumbled to myself. I sat up and pushed the covers off. I stretched and looked wearily around for clothes, I spotted a convenient pair of cargo khakis. I pushed myself off the bed and pulled them on. I walked towards the door like a zombie, groans and all, before I pulled the door open. The bright evening sunlight shone into my eyes as I walked down the hall. I quietly padded down the stairs and made my way to the kitchen.

“Hey…” I said to the dirty blond blob that I knew was my sister as she filled her own plate from the buffet of pots and pans.

“Go to hell.” she stated loudly as she stormed out with her plate.

Filth

“Kay.” I responded as I pulled a plate out of the cupboard. I quickly filled my plate and walked out of the kitchen. I considered going into the dining room, but then I heard rather loud arguing, so I decided I wasn’t about that and headed back to my room.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

I ate my supperfast quickly, browsing the latest content on Youtube before I had to get to get ready for work. I watched for several hours before I noticed the time, 8:01 pm. I closed my laptop and headed to my dresser, choosing a fresh pair of underpants and t-shirt. Once I found a pair, I crept out my room, lest I draw the attention of my cranky sister. I quickly turned into the empty bathroom and locked the door behind me. I put my fresh clothes on the toilet seat and pulled a towel off the rack, adding it to the pile. I soon had a hot shower going.

I stepped out half and hour later, feeling fully awake and refreshed, even though by this point I had already been up for several hours. I wiped the mirror down and looked at myself, running a hand through the scruffy hair that had grown on my face in the past few days.

“Yep, shaving time…” I stated to the silent room. I quickly got out my shaving kit and got to work.

Halfway through my routine a hard knocking rapped on the door.

“It’s occupied.” I said after pausing the shave.

“I need a shower!” growled my sister.

Cretin

“Busy.” I replied, once again pausing in my work. In doing so I felt a small tug, one nick. “Fuck…” I said silently.

“You’ve been in there for nearly an hour!”

“No I haven’t.”

“Yes you have!” she stated. I pause to check the watch on my wrist.

“No I haven’t.”

“Yes you have!”

“I have my watch on Sarah…” All is silent for a moment or two.

“Are you going to let me take a shower?!” Sarah shrieks, causing me to jump and cause another nick.

Wretch

“For fuck’s sake… I’m shaving! Go away!” I yell, examining the damage.

“Let me take a shower!”

“Sarah… I take a shower every day, at eight, every day, lasting half an hour each, taking 5 to 10 minutes to perform hygiene! It’s not my fault you can’t accept that I need to shave!” I finished with the blade so I got a dirty hand towel and wipe my face off.

“I need to take a shower!”

Overgrown child

“I’m almost done!” I shout angrily as I put toilet paper on the injuries, blotting the bleeding and reducing the size of the scab. I pull the square away and put my clothes on. I grab a few more squares of paper and unlock the door. Immediately Sarah barges in and pushes me out of the way.

“Took you long enough…” she states as she sets up a speaker and iPod.

Imbecile

I ignore her and walk back to my room, closing the door behind me. I settle back on my bed, it’s almost 8:40. I shrug and get up again, gathering my work uniform and putting most of it on. A simple blue dress shirt and black pants. The apron is left where it is. I crawl back onto the bed and set my internal timer to 9:50. I’m soon asleep.

~~~

“No…” Celestia stated. “I only want my sister back…”

“Back?!” I shout, “Here I am!” I charge the white mare. Surprised, but still able to take action, Celestia took a step backwards and met my charge, we collide once more and we both slide down the shingles and fall off the roof, far above a winding river. Celestia almost instantly catches the wind, but I dive steeply and pull up, keeping most of my speed. I line up a powerful spell, one much more powerful than what I was using. Taking care to aim it properly, because it’d take a minute or two to be able to use again, I let it free. Celestia is dozens of Pony lengths away, but even at this distance I can see her eyes widen as the spell approaches with deadly accuracy. A high pitched shriek of pain and a puff of smoke confirms the hit. The blast rocks the building beyond, breaking windows and causing some of the stone work to fall. Among the chaos, I see a flash of white and an entire section of the wall falls down. A feral grin split my muzzle.

“HahahahhahHAHAHHAhaHAHAHHAHAHAHA!” I laughed with less sanity than probably is healthy, but I don’t care, I defeated my sister… I defeated Celestia! The very Sun was at my mercy! The thought causes me to break into even madder laughter.

I slowly approach the damaged building, landing as the dust settled enough to see. Below, is the white mare who caused all of this, the traitor. Celestia was covered in cuts and bruises, her normally immaculate coat and mane ruffled and dirty. She slowly stood and looked at me in defiance.

“You leave me no choice sister…” she growled. I then realized my sister wasn’t QUITE finished yet, so I let free another blast. My dark blue magic was met with Celestia’s own sunlight. We struggled for a moment before I began pouring my anger into the spell. And slowly, ever so slowly, the darkness pushed the light back. Even through the struggle and her blinding light, I could see that she was giving it everything. And I was still winning. I was winning!

Celestia was MINE.

I laughed as I put more power behind the spell. Another shining light suddenly caught my attention. It was something I had only ever seen ONCE… And was on the other side of when it was being used. The purple six-pointed star glowed above Celestia’s head with a benign light. And suddenly the magical struggle was caught in a stand-still.

“No…” I growled as five other lights joined that accursed star. A nebula of rainbow colored energy coursed outward from the star shaped sun, the five taking a circular orbit around Celestia and the Element of Magic. The rainbow joined with the sunlight and pushed back against my stream.

“No.” I snarled as I put my despair into the spell. Still onwards the rainbow enhanced sunlight came, pushing back my anger and despair with ease. I added my loneliness with an animalistic growl usually reserved to the demons of Tartarus.

“No!” I exclaimed as ever onwards the sunlight came.

My sadness was added, still it came.

My misery joined, still it came.

The area surrounding me lit up with a pale silver glow. I glanced behind me to notice some clouds had revealed a very full moon. I could still win. I could still-

Suddenly my horn was ablaze with a searing pain, the rainbow had pushed me back to my horn. I could feel it trying to purify me and put me back under Celestia’s hoof.

“NOOOO!” I screamed. I could not allow this. So I called to the Elements that Celestia had stolen from me.

IS THIS THE MEANING OF LOYALTY?! IS THIS THE REWARD OF GENEROSITY?! IS THIS THE TRUTH OF HONESTY?!

The light of the Elements above Celestia's head flickered as one. This wasn't what the Elements were meant for. This was an abuse of their power!

How DARE she?!

The power of the Elements coalesced, the backlash slashing at Celestia even as she held them aloft.

I. WOULD. STAND. TRIUMPHANT.

I however suddenly found myself flying backwards. The Elements didn't harm me, but the energy gathered could easily be used to propel me backwards. The Everfree Castle was already a tiny speck far below, and I could feel the Moon rapidly coming closer. I looked upwards to see the Moon growing rapidly in size. I snarled as I realized what Celestia had done.

Celestia had taken the backlash in stride. Sacrificing her own bond to the Elements to use the gathered power to propel me so much and so fast I was sent flying, to impact the Moon. How long it would take me to recover, I knew not. But it would be time aplenty for Celestia to lay whatever trap she wanted.

I spread my wings and used what was left of my magic to change course, it was extraordinarily difficult, but I missed the surface of my moon by only a furlong… Only to fly uncontrollably into the unknown.

“You will never win Celestia! Our subjects WILL love the night! They will love ME!” I shouted as the sphere Equestria was on grew smaller and smaller.

~~~

“Gah!” I exclaimed as I suddenly sat up in bed. I blinked a few times, finally taking a glance at the clock when the image of a shrinking planet was gone. It changed to 9:50 just as I looked at it. Right on time. I stretched and got up.

I grabbed a few granola bars, a can of soda and my own music player and threw them into my lunchbox. I quickly put on the apron and and black work shoes. And then I made my leave.

“I’m off to work.” I told mother as I passed her by at the bottom of the stairs.

“Bye.” she said simply. Her mousy brown head of shoulder length hair didn't even turn. Frowning, I walked past to the front door and left.

Bitch

The moon was high and bright tonight. It wouldn’t be full until tomorrow but it looked gorgeous anyway. I stood outside my car for a moment or two… Admiring that pale silver orb in the sky. Ever since I was little I would stare at it. For hours and hours without end. And it never failed to fill me with a serene calm. A feeling that I would always pull through and be okay. I sighed and turned away, opening the car and ruining the beautiful night with the car lights. I cast one more longing glance at the moon before I pulled out of the driveway.

I pulled into the grocery store’s parking lot that I worked at. It was boring, my co-workers didn’t seem to like me and left me alone for the most part. I closed and locked my car and made my way inside.

It was brightly lit inside the store proper. Only one cashier was on duty right now and she was dealing with the few late evening customers. I made my way to the back, shoes making a distinctive clopping sound. After making sure I wouldn’t be ran over by someone with a pallet, I turned into the back room and made my way into the break room.

It was a small room, a refrigerator sat in the corner on the opposite wall, enclosed by a waist high counter. A four small tables were arranged in a square, filling the rest of the room. Two of my co-workers were already here, they ignored my entrance. I sat down at an empty table and pulled out my iPod. It was going to be one of those days.

~~~

I was looking at my watch a few hours later. 11:59 pm. 12:00 am. October 30th.

“Happy Birthday…” I said sadly to myself. I put my arm down and went back to work.

“Lucas, break time.” the manager said over the radio headset. I clicked the button on the wire.

“Alright give me a moment…” I replied. I quickly finished organizing the shelf I was working on and walked back to the breakroom. I yawned once and put my head down for a quick nap, setting my internal timer to 5 minutes.

~~~

An unending void. Even Celestia’s sun was an infinitesimally small speck in the distance. No different from every other star in the nothingness of space. The only reason I knew it was hers was because it was the only thing worth tracking as I sped forwards. Slowed down by literally nothing.

I don’t know how time passed… Minutes? Hours? Days? Years? I didn’t know. But by now even Celestia’s sun wasn’t visible anymore. Not even with a vision enhancement spell.

At first I didn’t know what the feeling was. Something tickling my face would be the closest I could describe. I realized then somewhere along the line I had passed out. Everything was dead cold and still. Not even my heart was moving. Slowly my body reawakened from what was obviously a long… LONG slumber. Finally my eyes were returned to me. And what I saw was startling.

A giant ball of fire directly in front of me. Its light was what was tickling my face. My heart fell. Somehow, I had turned around or Celestia had gotten in front of me. I had a brief moment of panic before I realized this sun wasn’t connected to my sister. No, this was a strange and alien sun that knew no loyalty to any living soul I knew. And it would surely devour me.

I had a moment of pure dread before I realized something else was familiar. Something very dear to me. Another moon. It too was strange and alien, but it recognized me as a friend anyway. I started to draw power from it, the sun would devour me to fuel itself for a few more seconds.

I had to escape.

Using the power of the foreign moon, I pushed myself away from the sun. I tried to veer towards the moon, there I could easily recover and grow in power. What I didn’t take into account was the giant mass of planet that was already behind me. I missed the moon to see a vibrant blue and green pearl peek over the moon’s horizon. I was heading right for it.

As I fell, I already felt the friction of the alien planet’s air slowing me down. In the prime of my power, I could’ve weathered it easily. But I had just woken up from who knew how long of a slumber. I was weak.

The alarm bells of the Castle Everfree rang in my head as natural orange plasma formed and burned at my armor and exposed coat.

It hurt.

It hurt a lot.

I felt feathers, half frozen and half scorched tear themselves away as I careened downward. My fur, curled and melted into the skin beneath, which in turn boiled and bubbled like hot wax.

The Castle Everfree is lost. We are over run.

Flee.

But there was no running for me. I could only unfocus my eyes, my eyelids now long burned away, watching as the ground below grew alarmingly closer beyond the field of natural plasma, and hope my death was quick when I finally landed.

~~~

I sat up straight in the break room chair. I wasn’t falling… I was however still burning. It took me a moment to realize that the burning sensation was only on my thighs. I stood up quickly and made my way to the restroom to see what was going on. Thankfully no one was around to see me wake up and almost immediately jump and run out of the room.

I got to the restroom in record time. I quickly claimed an empty stall and pulled my pants down to look at what was going on. There proudly displayed, on both thighs, was an emblem of a crescent moon.

Chapter 15 The Memories Part 6

~~~

I opened my eyes to stars.

Stars all colors of the rainbow, bright and dull, the size of marbles to the size of boulders, stretched far into the distance. Faint strings seemed to stretch from star to star, creating a glowing web with the universe.

It was beautiful.

I tried to recreate this natural wonder, in painting and in poetry. But my power is limited, I can only mimic and mock with the mediums available to mortals.

Celestia may boast that she has the power of the Sun at her command, but I only smile in reply because I know I have the power of many stars to call on.

With something akin to swimming, but as easy as thinking, I pushed my way upward, already hearing the call of my interest.

Ten black spheres that seemed to radiate darkness sat nearby in a cluster. I needed only to gently caress one to confirm my suspicions. Frowning, I grasped the basket sized orb roughly in both hooves and concentrated.

~~~

I opened my eyes to a dark dungeon. The first thing I noticed was the stink of equine suffering. The second, was that the cells, while they were empty, had been recently occupied. The telltale signs such as feces, puddles of blood, and the inevitable leavings of a prisoner not afforded basic comforts. One even had a rack that looked to be well used.

The dream compelled me down the cell block corridor, walking me past more empty, but filthy cells. Then the first true thing of note loomed out of the darkness. A stack of cursed helmets lay near a wall where a cell had been bricked over. The dream however pulled me opposite of the pile of armor. The cell contained an emaciated, and filthy Crystal pony mare, rusted wrought iron chains kept her hanging from the back wall, forced to face the cursed objects outside the cell. She looked like she had gone to Tartarus and back, her natural emerald coat matted with sweat and blood. Her face was streaked with dried tears, and despite the misery she was in, she had no more tears to shed.

"Hello." I greeted, trying to appear calm and friendly. The mare flinched at the sound of my voice, but looked up with slightly glazed over eyes.

"Are you here to put one of those on me again?" she weakly asked. "To punish me for my failure?"

"No." I stated, inwardly flinching at her tone. "I swear to you I will do everything in my power to keep those things off every Pony." She didn't look like she believed me, but I pressed on. "You're safe now, this is just a dream." I reassured.

"A dream?" she snorted. "You'll have to do better then that Sombra." she all but spat the last word. "Torture me all you want, but you will have nothing from me."

I took a moment to ponder my next move, she clearly was in great anguish, and probably wasn't stable. The nightmare could twist down an even darker path with no warning if I wasn't careful.

"Then perhaps you should have something from me." I gently said, pushing the dream to unlock the cell so I could enter. The mare watched me warily, but otherwise said nothing. "Long ago, there once was a filly." I began. "The filly looked upon the world and was sad, for many dark and dangerous things lurked and prowled. The filly wept for all of those lost to the darkness." I sat down next to the cell wall, leaving the door open. "But one night, the Moon came to the filly as she slept. 'Hark!' the Moon exclaimed. 'I am held prisoner by a great evil! And I choose you to be my champion!' 'But my lady;' the filly replied. 'I am just a humble filly, with no great strength or courage.'"

I took a moment to glance at the mare. At some point her chains had vanished, but she still sat still, an ear occasionally flicking to my voice.

"The Moon then smiled kindly. 'Alas, this may be true, yet strength and courage does not a hero make.' The Moon then presented the filly with a gift. 'Go, take with you my light, to shine in the darkest of places, and to vanquish my enemies.' and the Moon gave unto the filly a bright star of silver. 'But my lady,' the filly replied once more. 'How may I do such a thing with your light?' But when the filly looked to the Moon for an answer, the Moon had gone. Leaving only the tiny mote of silver light." The oppressive miasma of the nightmare had seemed to lessen. "With little else to do, the filly ventured into the dark, with not but her tiny silver light. Many monsters of the dark rose to challenge the filly on her journey. Yet all she had to do was to lift the light high, and the monsters fled. 'You are Moon blessed! We can not challenge the likes of you!' they cried in anguish." I took another moment for dramatic effect, but I used that moment to nudge the inner workings of the dream, letting the dungeon fade into nonexistence.

"Eventually;" I continued. "The filly came before a mighty castle. Guarded by the most vile and devious monsters the dark had to offer. 'Let me in!' the filly cried. 'You have taken someone I love dearly, and I want them back.' 'Hoho!' The monsters chortled. 'We have taken many, and in turn, many have come to our gates for their loved ones. By what right do you have to challenge us?' And the filly held up the silver light in defiance. 'This is my right.' she exclaimed. And the monsters burned when the light touched them. The masters of the keep vanquished, the filly searched for the Moon, and found her the filly did. 'My lady! I have come to free you just as you asked!' she cried happily. 'Thank you my champion, you have done well.' the Moon smiled kindly. 'But my lady,' the filly frowned. 'It was you who gave me this light that vanquished the monsters, I merely held it aloft.' The Moon's laugher was that of a silver bell. 'My champion, do you not see?' she asked. 'This is not my light, this is your hope that shines as bright as any star."

Having finished my tale, I conjured a small silver of pure moonlight, which radiated with an overwhelmingly gentle promise that things would be okay. The crystal mare was mesmerized by the display, now looking much less disheveled.

"Here." I gently offered the silver of moonlight towards her. "Whenever you fear the dark, I want you to hold your hope as high as you can. And when you do, I want you to remember the Moon."

"I-I'll try." the mare swallowed nervously.

"That's all I ask my little pony."

Author's Note

Looooooooooore! :pinkiegasp:

Also this;
https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 32 The Savior

~~~

The city was no New York City. It was big, but its buildings were all squat. Despite that however, it offered plenty of hiding places. The place I had chosen to land on was a large sign in an older part of the city. Bright light fell out and downward over the sign for an old law firm. It was perfect because the sign jutted out from the building, forming a platform that things could perch in. Additionally, the light fixtures provided a bit of heat that could baffle any infrared cameras.

I set all but the burrito and the tea down on one of the fixtures, hoping the heat from the lamp would delay them becoming cold. I lifted the bottle up and cracked the cap open with a twist of magic. I took one swig of the tea as I unwrapped the burrito. So I began to mindlessly chew as I watched the empty street for something interesting to happen. Nothing did, but it was something to do.

Speaking of doing something; what's your goal now?

You got your food. So where will you go now?

That... That was a good question.

Guilt for what I had done in the military base abruptly made itself known. And again to a lesser extent for the food I had stolen. A horrible feeling settled in my gut as a memory, one of Lucas' this time, flashed in my mind's eye.

A feeling of helplessness. The jeering face of a teenage boy. A clutched rock in my fist. A vision of Lucas standing amongst a pile of corpses and burning buildings, laughing manically.

The feeling of shame and the tossing of a rock away.

I closed my eyes and distracted myself with another draw from the bottle of tea.

The feeling of suddenly flipping through the air and landing with a thud.

I pushed the surge of anger in my chest down and drained the bottle completely.

I was dangerous.

Too dangerous.

"Somewhere secluded. And hard to reach. North maybe." I muttered out loud.

That's it? North? Just North?"

"What do you want from me? I don't have a home to return to. Or friends to rely on. It's ether seclusion or-" I stopped suddenly.

Or?

"Or you shut the fuck up." I growled, not willing to complete the thought.

Hehehe... Oh how it must burn, lying to yourself.

I tore open a chicken waffle sandwich and bitterly sunk my teeth into it.

Go on. Finish the thought.

"I'm not listening. I'm not listening." I whispered, letting the sandwich drift slowly towards the ground, the bite incomplete.

Say the words.

I caught my concentration slipping from the sandwich and took the opportunity to focus on catching the sandwich before it touched the iron platform.

"I'm... I'm... I-"

My train of thought was broken by a lady walking by on the sidewalk below. I pressed my lips shut, my ears pulling themselves backwards. Thankfully I still had the presence of mind to remember I was supposed to be hiding. But if she heard me or not, she hadn't reacted.

I slowly took a bite of the burrito, watching the lady walk by below.

A van turned around the corner as I watched, going no faster than a crawl.

I continued to watch wearily, something was... Off.

The van lurched by the lady and-

The poor girl didn't even have time to exclaim before a rag was over her face and she was pulled inside the vehicle. Almost as swiftly as the attack happened, the men jumped back into their van and the door shut with a clunk.

I blinked stupidly as the van suddenly rushed away, now at a normal, unassuming speed. It was appalling, disturbing even, just how quickly the attack had occurred. One moment someone was free, with dreams and aspirations! The next...

It was sickening.

The swift callousness of just... Taking someone. With an ease and efficiency bordering on professionalism.

And that's what made my blood boil.

My heartbeat pounded like angry war drums from a tribe from ancient times. A savage warmth, from the tips of my ears to the powerful muscles in my back legs, built up suddenly, as if someone decided to douse a grease fire in my chest with a bucket of water. The familiar creep of adrenaline through my veins tinged the edges of my sight with a red fog.

I abandoned my perch and my loot to take to the skies again.

I shouldn't do this. I was dangerous. If I did this, I would be responsible for the creation of even more corpses. But the thought of that lady never seeing freedom again... Of one more innocent voice falling silent forever...

I pumped my wings even harder to catch up.

The van turned smoothly around a bend. It was not hard to follow as I flew above the streets, keeping out of what little light shone upwards. The van turned onto new roads several times, occasionally it would pull into a crowded parking lot, drive around randomly amongst the other traffic, and then pull back out onto the road. A cursory observer would've only seen a van going about its random business. A GPS device, or a cell phone company, or an airborne alien horse would see the maneuvers for what they were, ways to lose someone on their tail.

But I never lost them.

Eventually, they turned into a residential neighborhood, consisting of the large, but few, houses of the upper middle class citizens. The van rolled casually down a few more streets, now seemingly at ease with its surroundings. It turned one final time into a driveway, the glow of an open garage swallowing the van as it pulled inside. The garage door lowered with a hum and a clatter.

Hmm... Why were they here? Was this a human trafficking ring? Was this the home of a corrupt well-to-do who decided that he didn't want a willing partner while their spouse wasn't home? Were the men in the van gangsters or hitmen? Was this a safe house for the cartel or the home of a sociopath?

Did it honestly matter?

For starters, the men in the van must die. They were practiced in their chosen illicit craft. They had likely done this many times and would continue to do so unless they were stopped.

What could I do? Rely on the cops? Psssh. Totally disregarding my alieness, knowing the political climate, they'd be as likely to look at any person who had been kidnapped, smile, and tip their hat to the actual criminal and wish them good day.

No, I had to fix this. Kill or otherwise silence everyone not in cuffs. If it was the home of an old rich dude that has problems with the word 'no'? I could take the time to, creatively teach some manners. But what if there were more kidnapped people? What if there was children?

What if they saw me?

The thought dropped a metric ton of cold water on the steaming boiler that had become my heart.

What if they saw me?

What if they survive?

What if they tell the police?

What if the police tell the FBI?

What if agents get drawn to this city like insects to a giant, city sized UV light?

Would I really risk myself over the ones trapped in this situation?

The boiler inside my chest roared, undeterred as it blew away the frigid thought in a hurricane of hot steam.

I allowed myself to angle my wings down, plunging into a steep dive over the house. Gravity pulled me down as I dove like a hawk after prey. Terminal velocity took me shockingly close to the ground, far too late to pull up. I cast gaseous form and fell into a roiling gust of shady steam.

I splashed harmlessly against the roof top, boiling like a rock thrown into a pot of super steaming pot of water. I recoalesced shockingly quickly for a natural gas cloud, raising thick aggressive tendrils towards windows of the top floor.

I poked through aggressively in each window I found, pouring through cracks and even hardened insulation foam between boards to stream into the rooms beyond. One was a messy bedroom. One was a bathroom. One was full of wooden boxes. One was an office. One had an armed sentry watching the street from a darkened room, surrounded by wooden boxes of ammo, an AR-15 rifle at his side, walkie talkie in hand, lips already moving as he began to form words.

I pulled the hand radio from his hand and rushed into his nose and mouth, yanking suddenly sideways to force the man's neck into an unnaturally crooked position and cleaved his spine in twain.

He died with an unheard gurgle.

I pushed forwards the doors, concentrating all of my mass sans a tiny sliver of thread connecting the network over the roof at the doors.

I streamed through cracked and opened doors like a tidal wave, clashing against myself as we converged into the same hallway. We swiftly found the stair way down and rushed over the banisters as we retreated fully from roof. Once whole again, I poured downward into a myriad of interacting rooms and hallways.

One was a in living room, drinking a can of beer while watching TV. He died as the can was shoved down his throat.

One was in a kitchen, a hot and fresh delivery pizza in hand. He was made to swallow his chosen slice whole, choking on the piping hot food.

An accompanying hallway beheld two men, carrying the lone lady between them. Two tendrils rushed out of the shadows and twisted their heads.

They fell beside their victim.

An open door near them led into darkness. Beyond that, a split between the garage and another hall with played host to multiple doors.

In the garage, there was nothing but a cooling van and some tools.

The first door in the hallway was a bedroom, with a man laying on the bed, his eyes closed and his breath deep. He died when a shadow constricted around his throat and held him still.

The second door lead to another stairway, leading down.

The third and final door lead to, in another life, must've been the master bedroom. Inside was half a pallet of transparent bags full of conspicuous white powder. Additionally, a closet with a bolt lock drew my gaze. A tendril probed under the door to find that the closet was bare concrete, bloody with neglect and decay.

Any pity I might have once had for the owners of this house found itself extinguished.

An available tendril flowed down into the basement, and only found a bar and den that was deserted.

The rest of my mass caught up on the stairway heading down to the first floor.

A flush of a toilet, and a man stepped out of door I had missed in the living room, beholding my dark form looming over the room.

He died with only a small shriek and a stutter, barely enough to pierce the sounds emanating from the TV.

I found myself alone with the still knocked out lady.

Author's Note

Drama aside... I wonder what Luna was about to say before she was interrupted? :trollestia:

As always, join my Discord! https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 45 The Memories Part 17

~~~

Down and down we went.

The tunnel was uniformly wide and tall, remaining consistently sized as it seemed to corkscrew down. While the floor was slanted downward, it wasn't so steep that we lost our footing as we descended.

The only change to the tunnel was when it abruptly widened into a wide cavern.

The cavern was shaped like an upside down bowl over a shallow indent, roughly ovular. With the supernatural night vision that I had gained when I ascended, I could see that the cavern was as wide as the Castle Everfree's grounds, and just as long.

The most eye catching feature however, was the bright, gleaming white figure that stood directly in the center of the cavern, casting a glow that illuminated all but the very furthest corners of the circular cavern.

"Cavern is circular, edge is barely outside the light." I whispered back to Tia. I didn't need to look, but I heard her coat and mane rustle softly as she nodded.

"Be carful Lu." she murmured back.

I nodded softly and approached the gleaming figure.

As I drew nearer, I realized that the figure took the shape of a mare, beautiful and elegant in form. Of what tribe I could not tell, for while I saw both wings and horn out of my periphery, they disappeared as soon as I looked directly. It was like she was made of gleaming white light, given a crystalline form and further shaped into a mare. I would've called her a statue, if not for the fact she moved as I drew within five pony lengths.

"Have you come to pay tribute?" she asked, her voice like the ringing crystal of a toasted pair of wine glasses.

"Uh... No, we've come searching for-" I began.

"No tribute? Then you shall suffer the consequences!" While her voice remained clear and elegant, her pose dropped aggressively and her form darted forward.

I barely blocked the punch she threw with a quick shield, she was stronger than she looked.

"Wait! Hear us out! We're looking for something! We've come a long way because-"

I didn't get to finish. Before I was even half done with my second sentence, the gleaming mare whirled around, pivoting on her back left leg like a dancer, bringing her right around in a sweeping kick that knocked my legs from under me.

"Oof!" I grunted as I hit the ground.

"I demand your tribute!" the mare exclaimed.

"Get away from her!" Tia shouted behind me.

I felt the gleaming mare above me tense as she realized I wasn't alone.

"Your tribute is required!" she exclaimed again, before she rushed away in the direction of Tia.

"Aaaugh!" Tia shouted in surprise. The sound of hooves hitting a Unicorn's shield echoed through the chamber.

"Damnit..." I cursed as I pushed myself back up.

The mare made of white light was now next to Tia, whirling and striking at her in a frenzied, yet elegant, flurry of attacks. To her credit, Tia was holding out well, but she wasn't being given any opportunity to counter attack. So vicious was the crystal mare's assault that even with Tia using her admittingly stronger shields, she was being slowly pushed back up the tunnel.

I felt my hackles raise.

"Get off her!" I screamed out, grabbing the distant mare by her tail and yanking.

"Tribute! Give your tribute! Aack!" she exclaimed as she was thrown backwards.

I must've been angrier than I thought, because the gleaming mare flew overhead with the force I had pulled on her.

"Eeeeeeeek!" she screamed as she impacted the far wall.

CRUNCH!

As the mare slid to the ground, I got my first proper look as her brilliant light dimmed for a moment.

The mare was elegant yes, but she was deathly thin. Not only were her ribs showing, but I could see the bones in her legs as she moved.

Tribute... Was this mare actually asking for-?

The mare's brilliance resumed as she picked herself up, snarling aggressively.

My horn lit as I rummaged inside one of my saddlebags.

"Lu? What are you doing Lu?! Be careful!" Tia called out.

I didn't answer, but I pulled out a wrapped loaf of bread and held it up for the mare to see.

"I offer forth a small tithe of tribute!" I exclaimed to the mysterious mare.

I could've heard a pin drop on the opposite side of the chamber the silence was so deafening.

"Lu? What are you do-"

"I accept your tribute!" the mare proclaimed, stepping forward.

To not antagonize the mare, I set the wrapped loaf on the ground and backed away.

"Lu?" Tia asked as I drew back to her position.

"Hold a moment..." I simply stated as the gleaming mare unwrapped the loaf of bread and began to wolf it down.

The mare dropped the now empty wrapping, and let loose a satisfied sigh that I could even hear half way across the room.

And the mare's light slowly faded away, leaving the room in darkness.

"I-is she gone?" Tia asked.

"Uh... It looks like-"

"Hehehehehehehe! Hahahahahaha!" laughed a bubbly and chipper voice.

And suddenly there was a bright pink light directly off to the left of my face.

Pain blossomed in my cheek, followed swiftly by a grinding pressure on my shoulder as I hit the ground.

"Luna!" Tia exclaimed in surprise.

"... Ow." I groaned as I pushed myself back up.

"Hehehehehe!" giggled a voice directly above me.

Another bright flash of pink and another pain blossomed between my eyes.

Stars.

When I came to again, I found myself back on the ground, my head aching.

"Owowowowow..." I groaned as I clutched my head.

Bright yellow and pink lights flashed on the opposite side of my eyelids.

"-nd your coat! How often do you bleach it?" I heard a disgustingly chipper mare call out. "Better question actually, how often do you spill cake over your front? Is that why you need to bleach?"

"Shut up! What even is bleach?!" Tia's voice exclaimed.

I finally was able to force my eyelids open. The first thing I noticed was the bright pink light, forming another crystalline mare. This time, she seemed to bend and wobble rather than the white mare's elegant dancing. It was like she was made of some sort of goo, yet she was clearly made of the same sort of crystal light, albeit pink, that the last mare was made of.

Tia was furiously sending bolt after bolt of magical fire after the shining mare, only for said mare to agilely dodge out of the way, by means of cartwheeling, jumping, and turning sideways to get out of the way. This had been going on for a small while, if the scorch marks on the walls were any indication.

"Y'know, bleach! How can you not know what bleach is? I thought a ruler's whole deal was to know everything that goes on in their borders?"

Damnit... The pink mare was toying with Tia... I had to-

Tia stopped her assault suddenly.

"... I did actually once think that." Tia whispered, loud enough for even me to hear. "Heh... It's funny, looking up at the Ponies who wear a crown, you can so easily believe that they know everything..." She actually sat down on the cave floor and pulled off her golden tiara, turning it over in her hooves. "But when you're the Pony wearing the crown... You get to see how laughable it all really is."

The shining pink mare remained still and silent.

Tia returned her tiara to her head.

"Do you think I don't see what you're doing? You think your cruel words rattle me phantasm?" Tia's eyes hardened as she glared at the glinting pink mare. "Ha. Ha ha ha ha." she forcefully laughed. "I may not know what bleach is, but I do know when somepony is trying to get a rise out of me. So I laugh at your words. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha." she mockingly chortled.

"Ugh... Finally." The glinting pink mare vanished, leaving the cavern in darkness once more.

Author's Note

I still think you're doing you-know-who dirty.

Yeah? Then how would you test medieval Ponies for the Elements?

Touché

Chapter 46 The Memories Part 18

~~~

I wordlessly groaned as I picked myself back up.

"Lu? Are you alright?" Tia called out.

"I'm fine, keep a weather eye out, I think this is some sort of demented test." I called back, rubbing my head some more and recentering myself.

By the Moon, that pink phantasm could kick...

"Lu watch out!"

I opened my eyes to find the world aglow again, this time in a light sky blue.

My shadow was long and stark on the ground before me.

The whistle of rapidly moving wind warned me of the attack.

I dropped myself back to the ground.

Something blew a gale wind above as I lay.

"Aaugh!" Tia shouted in pain.

I lifted my head to see the new mare of light, indeed light blue. Except this time she was flittering about like a Pegasi, although again, I could discern no wings or horn.

Her assault on Tia was so vicious and quick, my sister simply couldn't conjure shields fast enough to protect herself.

Crack!

"Yeowch!"

-RUNCH!

"Oof!"

"Stars damnit..." I grunted as I pushed myself up again.

Tia was obviously not able to handle this... thing... I now hesitate calling them mares. They were obviously magical in nature, and far too vicious for somepony made of flesh and blood.

"Hey!" I shouted, hoping to draw the attention of the brilliant blue creature.

By now, Tia was reduced to huddling on the ground, covering her vital areas as best as she could.

The brilliant creature cast it's gaze in my direction, abating in it's assault for a moment.

"... Nah." it stated nonchalantly before it resumed it's attack.

At first I was at a loss. Such blatant disrespect and disregard for a foe... Tia was clearly beaten, and yet the brilliant creature never relented in it's attack.

"Hey!" I shouted again, this time more forcefully.

This time, the brilliant creature didn't even pause.

I felt my anger rise in my chest and face.

Before I knew it, I was rushing at the blue creature, already wrapping myself in a shield and a hoof raised to strike.

The creature hadn't paid me the slightest attention, enough for me to land a punch across it's face. My attack sent the brilliant creature spinning through the air, but it swiftly caught itself before it hit the wall or ground.

I raised my shield a little wider, enough to fully encompass Tia as I stood protectively over her.

Below me, I could see Tia wearily open an eye.

"...Lu?" she whimpered.

I tried to cast a reassuring look downward, but was swiftly brought back to the situation as the brilliant creature impacted against my shield.

"Come on!" the brilliant creature exclaimed, ramming into my shield again.

I grunted as the strain put on my already aching head mounted.

The fake mare was hitting harder than she looked capable of...

"Let me in!" the brilliant blue phantasm exclaimed.

"Never." I grunted, taking another hit.

"I." the creature backed up. "Just." Impact. "Want." Impact. "The." Another impact. "White." Yet one more impact. "One!" This time the brilliant caricature of a mare hit the shield and stood atop it, before furiously jumping up and down.

With my mounting headache, I was briefly tempted to drop the shield and let the brilliant mare in.

Briefly.

"Not. In. A. Month..." I grunted in time with each of the mare's jumps. "Not. In. A. Year. Not. In. A. Thousand." I regained enough focus to look the brilliant creature in the eyes. "I will never let you lay another hoof on her."

The caricature met my gaze and smirked.

"Good enough for me." she shrugged.

And then she promptly vanished like her sisters.

Even with my supernatural night vision, I was momentarily blinded by the sudden darkness left by the brilliant light blue light's absence.

"... Lu?" Tia muttered underneath. "Is it-?"

"Hold on Tia, I think another might be coming..."

"'Another might be coming.'" mocked a new voice directly to my right, from inside the shield.

Daffodil yellow light, and a pain in my gut blossomed into existence.

Not only was I knocked aside once more, but my lost concentration broke the shield spell as well.

"Oof!" I grunted as I hit the opposite wall, my breath knocked out of my chest.

"Luna!" Tia cried out.

"Oh please... What do you see in such a worthless peon?" asked the new voice.

I opened my eyes to see the new, yellow mare of light standing over Tia. But this time, instead of beating her senseless, the apparition was slowly caressing a hoof under Tia's chin. Not unlike that of a lover.

"How could she ever protect you?" the yellow mare of light chided.

"Get your hooves off-" I snarled, pushing myself up.

The dazzling mare's gaze whipped to me with cold precision.

Her eyes... Her eyes were so deep and full of the promise of torment...

"Aw... Is the little filly trying to play the big strong mare?" she taunted, walking with deliberate slowness.

I growled and went to continue push-

I couldn't move.

My limbs wouldn't obey me.

They were frozen.

"Tia... I can't move..." I snarled through clenched teeth.

"Oh such a big powerful warrior..." the dazzling mare cooed. "Undone by. Little. Old. Me." she tsked as she got within touching distance.

"Don't hurt her!" Tia exclaimed, trying to force her own battered body into moving.

"Oh don't hurt her?" the dazzling mare gasped as she drew out my right wing with barely a touch.

"Don't you d-" I snarled angrily.

"Like this?" she sighed as she twisted.

"Mmmmmmmm!" I grunted in pain, doing my best to manage the sudden pain.

"No! Stop! Stop hurting her!" Tia exclaimed.

"Now why would I do that?" the dazzling mare at my side asked.

And my wing twisted in a totally different way.

"Grrrraaah!" I shouted. "Thrice cursed damnable cur!" I cursed loudly. "When I get free I will rip off every limb you possess and throw you into the sea!"

"Lu! Don't antagonize her!"

"Oh Tia, don't you get it? Lu here understands the assignment."

The mare then decided to stomp on my hock.

"Mother fucker!" I shouted loudly. "Mare I will personally destroy all you know and love!"

"Come on Tia... You've already figured it out. You just gotta commit."

From my point of view, Tia seemed to deflate.

"... Luna's right isn't she? This is all some sort of test. Every mare we've faced in this cave was cruel in someway, but they all vanished when we did something contrary to how they acted."

"Oh very good Tia... I'm almost impressed." the dazzling mare cooed.

She gave another yank on my wing.

"Fu-ucker!" I screamed.

"Luna..." Tia sighed. "You are the most intelligent mare I know."

"What are you doing Tia?! She's trying to yank my wing out!" I exclaimed.

Tia didn't budge.

"No matter the problem, you always have an answer, and no matter how strange your solution may seem, it is always the best option."

Something glittered to the floor beneath Tia's face.

"You are brave and resilient... And there is nopony else I'd rather have for a sister."

The pain in my wing, and the dazzling yellow light disappeared.

Author's Note

I mean really! How corny! How-

Ok seriously, time to get back behind the fourth wall.

Ow! Hey! Stop it!

Go on get!

You can't handle the truth!

Chapter 58 The Traitor

~~~

"Mother fucker." I cursed to myself, still standing alone amongst the bodies of the dead Nazis. I could see the Police who had taken cover in the Town Hall, who peeked over their makeshift barricade occasionally.

"Stay where you are!" They repeated through their megaphone.

"Yeah... No." I sighed as I replaced the modified Gaseous Form spell with the regular one. I instantly allowed myself to collapse into a pool of darkness. With the dead giving me cover, and in the dimly lit street, it was absurdly easy to get off the road and into the shadows between the nearby buildings.

God I'm an idiot. Why did I do that?! The feds and Celestia are going to be on our asses before the hour is up!

Aw hell, what I was going to do about Sunset?

I slithered up a building like a snake, recollecting myself on the roof. The sirens were much closer now, and I could see a plethora of red and blue lights flashing off buildings only a block away. Through the sparse openings between the buildings, I could make out ambulances, police cars, and SWAT vans.

The noose was tightening once again.

There was no time to lose! I needed to get Sunset and get the hell out of here!

Once more I took to the sky, still as little more than a black cloud. If the feds had their thaumic trackers nearby, they'd be detect me for sure, but at least this way they wouldn't be able to knock me back onto the ground with a good shot. It would have to do.

As I rose higher, I could see the still fleeing crowds of people scattered throughout the city. Many of them had been cornered by police cars and vans, both marked and unmarked. Already I could see official looking people starting the process of mass interviews.

Wait... Where did all of these agency vehicles come from? Why weren't they defending the Town Hall? Why were there so many for this one small-

...

Oh Luna you idiot! You absolute fool! Not only should I not have interfered, but the feds were still on my tail from Flagstaff! It was the only logical explanation for how so many got here so fast! They must've had a better thaumic tracker than I thought!

That meant...

I would've shivered if I was physical.

I would need to shut down my mind again...

Fuck fuck fuck!

How could I escape this time? Ideally, I'd need Sunset to smuggle me out again... But how could I get to her undetected if they were tracking me? That meant I would have to suppress my mind to get to the hotel... Could I even shut down my mind but retain enough autonomy to walk unaided?

Where was the damned hotel anyway?

I turned midair to see if I could find... Ah! There it was!

There has to be another way!

I'm open to suggestions! It's not like I want to!

How could there be? The FBI will hunt down online posts threatening anyone in their government with prejudice! Even if it's on some backwater site that gets like ten people a month tops! Maybe especially those people! Now those same FBI agents want us in chains, and have an isolated radio signal that leads them directly to you! There is no way, other than turning off your signal to get over there without giving Sunset away! We have no options!

The logic was flawless. Even if I were to sneak into the sewer system there was the opposite of a guarantee that I would find Sunset again. And if I were to just hightail it over there, get Sunset into the car and tell her to floor it before anyone could respond, all it would take to compromise the car itself was the FBI comparing security footage of the car peeling out of the parking lot, to their information on where the thaumic tracker was pointing! From there it would've been easy to flag her license plate with a federal warrant and get us pulled over before we even left the state!

It was suppress my mind or surrender.

And there was no way I'd be going back to Celestia. Especially in a cage.

I floated back down to the ground, towards a shadowy alley that connected to a decently sized web of darkness that stretched through out the city. But all too quickly I touched the ground, letting the Gaseous Form drop and becoming solid once again. Working quickly, I also dissipated the plate armor, as it was an inherently magical item and thus probably could be detected.

With all of my excuses gone, and time constantly shrinking, I started to box away all my emotions.

Fuck I hope this works!

Box.

They'll be on me any moment!

Box.

Which way was it to the hotel again?

Bo-

Actually keep that one out.

No! You can't do this to me! I just got out-!

Box.

Is there anything left? Anything at-

Box.

Time was still running out! I had to hurry! I had to-

Box.

Nothing rose to my mind.

I prayed that I could-

Box.

I started walking in the direction of the distant point.

What was there, I no longer knew, but I did know it was my best chance at survival.

Two walls of stone rose on ether side of me as I trudged forward. Unrecognized and purpose unknown. Things covered in something black and shiny littered the area around the stonework.

Something loud and screaming whirled by ahead.

Acting only on instinct, I dove for some of the refuse off to the side, hoping that whatever that was hadn't seen me.

Only the wail of other screaming things greeted my ears, away in the distance.

Cautiously, I looked around the black shiny thing. Nothing stirred beyond the corner of the stone. While I could stay here, the point in my head demanded that I reach it. I had no choice but to leave the hiding place behind.

I approached the edge of the shadows, but didn't step into the light cast by the nearby tall thing.

Stepping into the light was death. That much was clear.

How would I go forward then?

The light shone over a small expanse of black stone, on which my goal lay somewhere on the other side. But the light was uneven, and left faint shadows where I could cross.

The nearest one was available because one of the stone monuments beside me had a sort of canopy, like a broad white colored leaf. From there I could cross the expanse safely.

If there wasn't any of the screaming things watching that is.

I scurried over to the the darkest point under the canopy and looked out, watching for any of the wailing creatures.

One, much smaller than the last, choose that moment to run by, making me pin my ears back in fright.

Had it seen me? I was still in the shadows! Was it now somehow calling to its herd mates?

But suddenly I realized that since it hadn't charged at me, it would be forced to take a moment to turn around for another run.

I took the opportunity and dashed across the shaded path!

It felt like I was out in the open forever. Clopclopclopclopclop! My hooves pounded on the stone!

I only came to a stop on the opposite side, once again safely enshrouded in total shadow.

I glanced fearfully about, looking for the wailing thing to rush in for an attack.

None came.

An immense feeling of relief washed over-

Box.

And so I turned away from the light continued my journey into the unknown.

I crossed many expanses of black stone. Hiding from the wailing things that zipped by as I went. But occasionally, I had to duck even further into the shadows, as things with only two legs walked by.

"Didja hear what happened? Terrorist attack at the Town Hall!"

"Did you see that thing? I was certain I was going to die!"

"Hey! You there! Curfew is in effect! Return to your homes!"

"That's who the horse is looking for?! No fucking wonder! Has to be some sort of criminal that needs to be locked away in the deepest hole they have, and then throw away the key for good measure!"

A shiver ran down my spine as I heard that one. Although I couldn't explain why... Maybe it had something to do with all the box-

Box.

...

I moved on.

Suddenly, the point in my head stopped being so insistent. I glanced around, hoping to see the thing that I came for. I didn't know what I was looking for, but I had a feeling that I would know it when I saw it. Nothing stood out, so I kept to the shadows in the nearby bushes.

As I crawled through the leaves, the flashing lights of the wailing things caught my attention. I felt a prick of curiosity, but did not put it in a box.

It was just too important to find what I was looking for.

I crept forward, only stopping when another black stone expanse greeted me. Unlike before however, the wailing things were everywhere, flashing their red and blue lights. Uniformed two legged creatures wandered between them, speaking with-

A Pony! A fellow Pony!

I almost broke cover, if the Pony was safe, I would be too...

But something held me back. Something in my head warned me that fellow Ponies weren't at all safe. Quite the opposite in fact. I didn't think about why. Just that it was.

I kept watching, suspecting that the something I needed might be in the middle of all-

The car!

The red car sat, undisturbed as the officers walked around. Something in my head sparked as I examined it. The newly named "car" was important somehow, but wasn't what I was looking for.

But it was related to it.

What was-

"Get your hands off me you fucking pigs!"

I felt my ears perk.

That voice...

Several of the officers came out of the nearby stone, struggling with another two legged being between them.

The sight of shockingly red and yellow hair caused my mind to spark harshly.

Sunset!

That's what I was looking for! That's who I was-

"God damn pigs! I know my rights! You fat donut munching-"

She had been captured.

The boxes in my head all began to shake and vibrate wildly as whatever was inside them suddenly wanted out.

I almost panicked, but the severity of the situation kept me calm.

It was time to do or die.

Box!

All of you! Into these bigger and stronger boxes!

Box!

I boxed everything. The things in the boxes still struggled, but the effect was much smaller now that they were doubly contained.

I turned away as Sunset was stuffed inside one of the wailing cars... Who ranted all the while.

"I thought this was America! Not some third world tinpot dictatorship!"

I started crawling away as the door closed, severely muffling her voice.

I'm sorry Sunset... I'm so sorry...

Box.

I wandered away into the night.

Author's Note

:pinkiecrazy:

Chapter 70 The Memories Part 29

~~~

I watched the glow of the forge with practiced ease. Almost… Almost… There! I pulled the lump of metal out of the fiery furnace with my levitation, the heated metal just the shade of yellow to be soft and malleable, but not a glob of ooze that would run out of my grasp like water.

Several years had passed since the remnants of Queensford settled in Ùllahdmaiden. The name of which meant “Apple wood” in an ancient Earth Pony tongue. When asked what services I had to offer, initially I had volunteered to be part of the militia. As it turns out however, everypony was expected to join in the defense of their home during an attack. So I had fallen back onto my fascination of Earth Pony architecture and smeltery practices and joined the black smithery as an apprentice. While I could not shape raw and unsmelted iron straight out of the ground as if it were clay like the other two apprentices, my levitation let me do away with the tongs they relied on with hot metal, as well as inscribe my work with detail that even the Master Smith had trouble replicating.

It was much easier to get the small broken tip of a chisel into tight spaces when you didn’t have to rely on a large wooden handle to maneuver the bit around.

Despite feeling handicapped more often than not, I was content in the knowledge that I could still keep up with the other two apprentices. We were comparable, but we were not the same, just different.

I placed the hot metal onto the anvil and lifted a hammer, tapping it gently to knock off the impurities. I folded the metal a few times, but only to bring more impurities to the surface. My goal was not a weapon or a piece of armor, but a piece of jewelry.

I stuck the lump back into the furnace and waited for it to heat back up.

I repeated the step of knocking off the impurities in the silver several more times. When I was satisfied, I reheated the silver once more. When I pulled it out of the furnace I rolled it in my levitation, smoothing it into a shape like an oval river stone. When it was sufficiently cool enough, I set it back onto the anvil, and began to tap it again with the hammer, smoothing out what edges I had missed with my magic.

The lump was still hot enough to shape, so I pulled out a precision stamp and began to tap a design into the oval. I reheated the metal a few more times in order to achieve the design I wanted, but when The grooves in the metal looked satisfactory to me I plunged the metal into the waiting vat of oil.

HSSSSS.

The metal hissed as it kissed the surface of the liquid. I held it under for a few moments to let the heat properly dissipate. When the oil stopped bubbling I pulled the lump out for examination. It looked satisfactory to me, so I walked over to the bucket of metal polish and coated it liberally with the substance. Humming a wordless tune I made up on the spot as I did so.

When that was done, I went over to the sharpening wheel. The wheel was a sort of mechanism that turned a solid stone wheel that you could sharpen a blade on. I had almost instantly fallen in love with it when I first saw it. Such ingenuity, such thought and design had gone into its construction that any lingering doubts over the truthfulness of the now long dead Hoarfrost’s opinion of Unicorn superiority were permanently dashed. In a way, the correlation between Unicorns and Earth Ponies were much like the differences between the other apprentices and I.

We were comparable, but we were not the same, just different.

I pulled the heavy granite wheel off the turning mechanism with my levitation, replacing it with a similar, albeit metal, wheel that was covered in stiff bristles. I sat down on the stool and began to pump the floorboard underneath with a hind hoof, causing the mechanism to spin the new wheel along its center.

Polishing the piece took nearly an hour, even for such a tiny piece. It was just that covered in etchings and designs that it was difficult to get into every nook and cranny. Occasionally, I’d feel the presence of the Master Blacksmith or one of the other Apprentices at my shoulder, curious about what I was working on. I let them indulge their curiosity without acknowledgement. If they had something to say they knew all they had to do was to speak and I would address them.

I finally let the polishing wheel fall to a rest as I pulled the metal away from the bristles. The silver now shone like a mirror, with etchings inlaid in the metal that depicted a stylized crescent moon. The outer edge of the curved moon ran alongside the metal’s oval curve, decorated with twists and curves that mimicked the features of the real thing. On the Moon’s inside curve, I had chiseled and stamped multitudes of stars. I had debated adding a nebula or a galaxy, but I decided not to, because it would detract from the design of the moon.

I pulled out the thread of leather I had chosen from the pocket of my work apron, specifically chosen and sized for the neck of my gift’s recipient. I pushed the thread through the hole I had punched in the metal and tied the ends in a knot.

There. Done.

“A moon?” Master Brickwork asked behind me, watching me finish my work. “Ye know why it’s bad luck ta invoke the moon Luna.”

“I do.” I replied. “But it’s not for luck.” I turned and offered the newly made amulet to the Master Blacksmith so he may properly examine it. The stallion waved it away.

“I was watching ye work on it. And ye do good work Luna.”

“Thank you sir.”

“May I ask though, why did ye make it?” His mustache seemed to barely twitch. I hesitated, I had not discussed why with him, or anypony else. Maybe I was afraid of their rejection, or maybe I didn’t want to hurt them.

“I- I’ve been thinking about leaving the village lately sir.” I decided to get it over with. He, perhaps most of all behind Tia, had a right to know. “I love it here in Ùllahdmaiden, I really do… But I’ve been feeling cooped up here for some time now.”

“Hm.” Brickwork grunted non-committedly. Taking that as permission to continue, I continued my explanation.

“I want to see the world, forge my own path. This amulet is a gift for my sister. I’ve always had a… Strange relationship with the Moon, and Tia knows that. I was going to give it to her as a reminder of me. I don’t know if I’ll return or find my way out in the world, but I know I’m not going to find it unless I go looking for it.” I finished.

“Hm.” Brickwork grunted again. He then patted me on the shoulder. “Yer a fine mare Luna. I’ll hate to lose ya. But I also know wanderlust is a hard thing ta ignore. Earth knows I wouldn’t be here otherwise.” he smiled under his mustache. “Jus’ know if ye can’t find yer way, yer always welcome back here.”

“Thank you sir.” I smiled gratefully for his understanding.

“Any idea when yer leaving?” he asked.

“I was thinking after the snow melts.” I responded. The sixth anniversary of the Queensford Unicorns joining Ùllahdmaiden had passed a week ago, and as was the trend during my fillyhood, the Winter was becoming longer and longer. Now it was common for the snow to fall in early August, and last until late June. Leaving barely a month for the Earth Ponies to grow and harvest their crop. Barely a month for easy traveling.

That was another reason I wanted to leave.

Ùllahdmaiden was almost three times the size of Queensford. It was getting harder and harder to feed so many mouths. If I left, that was a few more meals for everypony else. I could forage for food along the road, but the crop was a very limited resource. The only reason there wasn’t a mass exodus was that the Earth Ponies couldn’t grow as much with fewer ponies. If everypony left then it would spell doom for all of them.

That left the eight remaining Unicorns from Queensford. Brisk Road had left years ago, unable to cope with living where his family had died. Violet had remarried and wouldn’t leave her new husband. Ocean Breeze and Star Song were pregnant with their second foal and thus couldn’t travel. Torchwood was now too old to travel. Firelight made a good living during the Winter months making sure that the hearths in all the homes were lit.

And Tia wouldn’t leave the ponies she had promised to protect, even though she technically wasn’t a Reeve anymore. That left only one of the original Queensford Unicorns that could or would leave.

Me.

As much as I loved the village, my only true tie keeping me here was Tia. And if by leaving meant that Tia would get fed? Then that was perfectly fine by me.

I bid farewell to Master Brickwork and hung up my manticore leather apron on its hook. It was cold outside, made evident by the snow covered ground, but the weather was certainly warming up. Already one could see icicles forming under perpetually dripping eves. If the weather held, I only had a week remaining in Ùllahdmaiden. Two weeks at most.

Earth ponies bustled to and fro, not yet busy with farm work, but in preparation to plant what seeds they could as fast as they could. Everything was organized to ruthless efficiency, the past few years had been hard, and this year was looking to be even harder. Nothing could be wasted. A few ponies sent smiles my way, in which I returned, but no pony called out in greeting.

Ullahdmaiden hadn’t changed much in the time I had lived here. A few new buildings had been raised, mostly to accommodate the Queensford Unicorns now living permanently in the village. One or two had been torn down for some purpose or other. But yes, I could still recognize the village I had entered as just a filly of nine years old. Sure, the strong apple wood timber was slightly more worn now, the walls had a few more dents, and soot stains reached just a tiny bit farther. Time was marching ever forward.

And I found myself falling lockstep into its rhythm.

I pushed open the door to the house I shared with my sister. Tia had also come into her own in Ùllahdmaiden. Now hunched over a heavy oak desk, she scribbled across sheets of parchment. She was one of the main driving forces behind the preparations outside. Offering her skills of organizing ponies to better make use of the as of yet unplanted fields.

“Hello? Tia?” I called out to the white unicorn, whose back was towards the front door.

“Hey Lu. Give me a moment to finish this sheet.” she replied.

“Take your time.” I replied, closing the front door behind me and wiping my wet hooves on the rag we kept near the door specifically so we didn’t muddy up our wooden floors. Our home was very unlike our Queensford hut. First of all, it wasn’t a single room building. I even had my own room I could do whatever I wanted with! But anything outside that, if it wasn’t Tia’s room, we both agreed we needed to agree on any changes made.

Tia’s quill scribbled once last time as she finished her paperwork.

“How was the blacksmithery?” she sighed contently, turning around on her stool.

“Good, same as usual.” I approached and sat on my haunches. “But there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Oh? What’s wrong Lu?”

“Well…” I sighed, trying to draw out the moment so I could think how I was going to bring up my decision. “Lately I’ve been thinking…” I nervously tapped my hooves together. “I love it here in Ùllahdmaiden, but lately I’ve-”

Tia surprised me with a lunging hug.

“Oof!” I grunted as she squeeze the breath out of my chest.

“You’re a young mare and you’ve been wondering what else lies out in the world.” Tia stated.

“H-how did you know?!” I exclaimed. Tia’s melodic giggle graced my ears.

“I’ll tell you a secret Lu, everypony feels that way at least once.” she giggled.

“But you-” I began.

“I was having the same feeling about the time we left Queensford Lu. I was trying to gather the courage to bring it up to Mom.” Tia interrupted.

“O-oh. I never knew that.”

“I know Lu. I didn’t want to hurt you until my decision was made.”

“I’m sorry Tia.” I sighed into her fur.

“For what?”

“For holding you back when you could’ve been out there in the world.”

“Oh Lu.” Tia squeezed me tighter. “You’ve never held me back. Besides, I got my wish and I even got to bring my family too… For a short while.” Sadness crept into Tia’s voice. I didn’t know how to address that, so I broke the hug and moved on.

“I made this for you today. To remember me by.” I held out the amulet, letting its silver gleam in Tia's candle light.

“Luna!” Tia gasped. “You made this?!” she took it from my hoof to examine it closer.

“Y-Yeah… All by myself.”

“I love it Lu.” she clutched it to her chest.

“T-Thank you.” I smiled, feeling tears beginning to form in my eyes. I reached over and began hugging her again. We embraced for several minutes before Tia broke the hug again.

“So… When are you thinking of leaving?” she asked.

“When the snow melts. I wanted your and Master Brickwork’s blessing before I started gathering supplies.”

“Did you get his blessing?”

“Of course, he watched me make your gift.”

“Then you have no time to waste. Do you have the money to get supplies?” Tia asked.

“I’ve got plenty of money Tia. I’ve- I’ve been taking commissions on the side to buy what I need.” I replied.

“Come then, it’s not too late in the evening, I’ll come help you.” Tia smiled.

“I’d like that.”

Author's Note

Y'know, I can probably start posting this again, now that the trolls aren't going to invade my server. :twilightsheepish:
'Cord!
https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 81 The Memories Part 40

~~~

A single snowflake fell on my nose.

“What the-?” I asked, looking up into the sky.

“So the village names are based on both the founding Clan and what the village produces?” Clover asked, her scroll now long and full of notes.

“Exactly!”

“Uh… Ponies?” I asked, as more snowflakes fell into the light of the smoldering campfire.

“What is it Luna?” Pansy asked.

“I take it the Pegasi aren’t responsible for those?” I asked, pointing my hoof up towards the increasing number of snowflakes. Confusion crossed Pansy’s face, but panic and horror pushed it away as she looked up.

“Oh no. Not again…” she whimpered.

“Again?” Smart Cookie asked, her face also turned to watch the snow fall into the firelight. “What do you mean ‘again’?”

“The workshops in Pegasopolis have been losing control of the weather for years now. They produce the weather for the whole continent, but every time they lose control, snow falls despite their best efforts.”

“Wait… Pegasi seriously aren’t behind the snowfall?” Clover asked.

“It’s actually a huge deal in Pegasopolis right now, the workshops are running day and night with drafted ponies, trying to overpower the snow.” Pansy murmured. “It doesn’t matter how much Pegasopolis raids if Earth Ponies can never grow their crops. We’ll be the first to starve if nothing gets planted.”

“We always thought the Pegasi were trying to blackmail the Clans into growing more.” Smart Cookie added. “But something about that never sat right with me. I could never put my hoof on why though.”

“Unicorns always thought we were just caught in the crossfire between the Clans and Pegasopolis.” I replied, watching the snow land, already beginning to collect on the ground. Clover pulled her saddlebags over and was rummaging inside for something.

“Where is it?!” she muttered to herself.

“Hey, is that the direction the other camps are in?” Smart Cookie asked. I glanced over to the cookie dough brown mare, she was pointing into the distance. I followed her hoof and gasped.

The sky to the North was aglow with orange firelight.

I knew it was North because I had watched the Sun set in the West just hours earlier.

A commotion ran through the camp as the various sentries and watchponies overheard our conversation and also looked North. Already I could hear ponies calling for their friends and fellows to get up.

“I- I gotta go.” I said as the realization of what was happening truly dawned on me. I felt my heartbeat increase as I found myself running. Running through the tents to warn Tia.

Again.

“Luna wait!” a voice exclaimed behind me.

I couldn’t wait! Whoever won between the tribes would march this way! Towards this camp! Even if the Clans won, the Queensford Unicorns wouldn’t be safe! The villagers of Ùllahdmaiden needed to leave! Now!

Ponies still waking up began to dribble out of their tents, crowding the path.

No time for manners!

I ducked and weaved through the thickening crowd without heed for who I was disrupting.

“Hey!”

“Watch it!”

“Damn Bonehead!”

“Luna wait!”

I mustn’t stop!

Left!

Duck!

Right!

Tiny filly! Jump!

Left!

Finally the crowd thinned, but the snow was falling so thickly I barely could see the campfires of the watchponies. None of this looked familiar…

Buck, where in the camp was I?

“Luna!”

I glanced around to see Smart Cookie emerge from the crowd, Pansy and Clover not far behind. The Unicorn was flipping furiously through a leather bound book, her eyes going back and forth frantically as they slid across the pages.

“Keep calm girl! You don’t know anything yet!” Cookie exclaimed.

“Calm?!” I shouted “How can you be calm at a time like this?!”

I needed to get Tia! I needed to get back to my friends!

“You need to slow down Luna!” Cookie soothed. “We don’t know what’s happened yet!”

“No matter what happened, whatever is left isn’t going to attack this camp!” Pansy agreed.

“Look around you!” I responded, gesturing around. “Ponies have been at each other’s throats since before I got here! Even if whoever wins doesn’t march on this camp, the other two thirds of ponies are going to riot!”

“Oh… Uh… Didn’t think about that…” Cookie admitted.

“What do you think will happen to the ponies of Ùllahdmaiden? All of us are blood traitors! The Earth Ponies for harboring Unicorns and the Unicorns for living amongst Earth Ponies!” I explained. “By the Alicorns, the best path is if the Pegasi win! And even then they’ll take all of our food!”

“Y-yeah…” Pansy admitted.

“Aha!” Clover exclaimed suddenly, her nose still in her tome. “Pansy, when the Pegasi lose control of the weather, is it always snow?'' She looked to the Pegasus.

“Why does that matter?” Pansy responded. “It’s a problem, yes, but we do have more pressing concerns right now...”

“Do you happen to remember if the snow always came down during periods of unrest, like say during or after a fight?”

“Well… I can’t say for certain… I’m not privy to every operation the Legions undergo… But now that you mention it, it does sometimes snow around the same time there’s new bragging stories in the barracks…”

“So it is always snow?” Clover pressed.

“I… Yes. Always snow, or blizzards. Or ice storms. Or-”

“Luna, you said you were forced from your original village by the snow, was there a moment where a fight broke out?” Clover asked, ignoring Pansy’s extended answer.

“I don’t rem-” I stammered.

Wait…

That day, almost seven years ago…

It wasn’t a fight, but it certainly felt like one was going to happen…

“Not a fight…” I muttered. “But almost a riot. The Crown’s soldiers brought news of the Queen’s death… And we were expecting them to give us food for the Winter… They left nothing but resentment.”

“What’s on your mind Clover?” Cookie asked, the beginnings of a realization running across her face.

“Can any of you name one conflict that you’ve personally seen that didn’t end with falling snow?” Clover asked our group.

“Well, when I… Came to Ùllahdmaiden, when I had to slay one of our stallions, I don’t think the snow fell…” I murmured.

“Does that count?” Cookie asked. “From your story it sounds like you stopped a fight before it even started by killing him.”

“No.” Clover agreed. “You stopped a battle rather than starting one.” She sat on her haunches , turning her book around and showing us a page.

It was the first time I had seen the inside of a book.

I had seen a few books, particularly amongst the Crown’s soldiers as a filly. Mom had taught Tia and I to read Unicornian, written in wet mud and on birch bark. I had learned the Earth Pony’s script from Brickwork and Tia, whom had in turn learnt it from working with the Mayor.

But never from a real book.

Unicornia had prided itself on the art of binding books. But Peasants could never hope to lay a hoof on the cover of an artisan made book. Peasant books, made by novice, non guild member bookbinders, were made with wooden slates and thick bark, stained with charcoal etchings that were liable to smear every time you turned a page. They were crude, clumsy things, and rarely kept its information beyond one or two readings.

Actual ink stained velum?

The ink would dry into the supple leather, making it last as long as the velum, which could be kept for centuries if stored properly. The leather covers were lighter and kept as well as the pages compared to the small boards of wood.

Peasants never saw velum.

The best chance to see actual velum would be if one of the Noble Ponies happened to carry one of their books with them during one of their processions, if they happened to move their cloak while inside their stagecoach.

And this mare… Clover the Clever… Was opening it for me to see inside.

Like she was a filly of eight winters old showing her little sister a weird bug.

I felt an unfamiliar emotion welling in my chest.

What was this?

Why was I feeling this?

Why was I enjoying it?!

Why was I thinking about pressing myself to Clover like Summer Glow had done to me?!

Why did my Moon Mark have to act up now?!

Why was this so weird?!

I can never let Clover know that I thought of her this way!

There’s no way normal Ponies feel this way!

Is this what Moon Madness feels like?!

Is this why Moon Marked Ponies are considered mad?

Why am I ashamed?!

Why do I like it so much?!

Why-?!

“Luna?” Clover’s voice interrupted, pulling me from my thoughts. “Can you read Luna?”

“I uh..” I stammered, trying to gather my thoughts.

“Can you read?” she asked again.

“I uh… Yes! Yes.” This was something I could focus on as I gathered myself.

“Then what’s the problem?” she insisted, the corners of her lips falling into a slight frown.

“Oh! Uh-?” I stated dumbly.

What was the problem?

What was I-?

Oh.

Oh right.

Putting that into a box and never thinking about it again.

“Sorry, lost myself for a second.” I finally said. “Let me just uh-” I glanced at the page again, properly examining it.

Its pale velum had been stained top to bottom in small lettering, accompanied by drawings so realistic I could've mistaken it for the real thing.

Windego.

Spirit of anger and bitter winter. Known to cause mischief, and mayhem amongst mortal kind. Consuming conflict and warmth like wine…

My eyes slid over the letters, searching for any particularly interesting word, but my eyes fell to the first, and largest drawing. Of some sort of apparition of a long limbed, gaunt, pony, running sideways across the page.

“It’s been getting colder for years.” Clover stated. “Winter eating spring and summer as less and less food is grown, driving conflict between mortal kind.” she started to trail off. “If they exist, and the spirit’s hunger is increasing as it eats the heat of summer, then is it eating an equal amount of our war?” she let the thought fall, letting us reach our own conclusion.

What would happen if there’s so much conflict that it eats Ponykind?

That was a disquieting thought.

That thought could be set into a box and set aside. Tentatively.

“So what do we do?” Cookie asked out loud, pulling me again from my thoughts.

You’re being weird, you don’t know what to do and you don’t know how a normal pony would react. Just let somepony else lead.

I refocused on the conversation between Clover, Cookie, and Pansy.

“We may already be too late. There hasn’t been a growing season this year. We were planning on strict rationing and harvesting anything wild we could find while it was still summer.” Clover informed.

“But what can we do?” Pansy asked pointedly. “If these creatures are actually behind the snow, there must be something we can do?”

“Hold on…” Clover turned her book again to look at the page, her eyes flitting over the velum.

“Lu!” cried a familiar voice from behind me.

I turned to see Tia’s white coat and pink mane loping through the crowd of Ponies.

“Tia!” I called back, gesturing with a hoof that she should come over here.

She slid to a halt on the increasingly snow covered ground.

“What are you doing standing around Lu?! Haven't you seen the sky?!” Tia asked loudly.

“Actually we might have a larger problem. Tia, meet Clover, Pansy, and Cookie. Clover, Pansy, Cookie, meet Tia, my sister.” I introduced.

Tia looked at me like I had grown a second head but otherwise said nothing.

“Smart Cookie.” Cookie greeted, extending a hoof as Clover searched for something in her book.

“Celestia.” Tia said evenly, tentatively returning the hoofshake.

“Your sister is a good Pony Celestia.” Cookie smiled. “Any friend of hers is a friend of mine.”

I felt my eyes widen at the praise.

What had I done to earn such a compliment?

I met Tia’s questioning glance with a look of surprise.

“Well… I’m glad she made such a good impression.” Tia responded, looking back at the Earth Pony. “But we need to go, I don’t know how much Luna told you, but we need to leave before one of the Military camps decides it needs new slaves.”

“Hear Clover out Tia.” I recommended. “If what she says is true, we’ve all been played for fools.”

Tia’s ears cocked themselves in confusion as she regarded me and what I had said, before finally turning back to the other three Ponies.

“Have you ever seen a moment of conflict or strife that didn’t eventually end with falling snow?” Clover asked, reiterating her point for Tia.

“What kind of question is that?!” Tia asked harshly. “Of course I have!”

“My fights with Sapphire and Emerald, and my fight with Hoarfrost don’t count.” I added. “Too small and I ultimately stopped a fight between the survivors of Queen’s Ford and Ùllahdmaiden by killing Hoarfrost.”

“Oh. Um…” Tia began to think. “Let me think…”

“You can’t think of any can you?” Clover asked, turning her book back around to show Tia. “Here, read this.”

Tia wordlessly looked over the page as she read it.

“Awfully convenient for you to have this.” she said after a moment, looking up to glare at Clover. “What are the odds that a Unicornian peasant would have a guild-made book this far South?”

“Oh right… You weren’t here for when we talked about who we were…” Clover tried to say.

But Tia wasn’t having it.

“You are an apprentice wizard in the employ of Princess Platinum.” Tia snorted. “Your robe and your badge of office are a dead give away.” she pointed at Clover’s chest, where a medallion I hadn’t noticed was pinned to her robe, depicting the Crown of Unicornia.

“Um… Yes. I do work under Master Starswirl in Princess Platinum’s employ.” Clover admitted.

“I don’t suppose then, that the names ‘Queen’s Ford’ and ‘Ùllahdmaiden’, mean anything to you?” Tia asked coldly.

“Luna told me about those places, yes.” Clover bit her lip nervously.

“Then you know why I won’t trust anypony or anything to do with the Crown.”

“Tia wait-” I tried to interject.

“Lu, I love you, but you’re too young to remember the stories Mom would tell.” my sister responded. “

“Now hold on Celestia.” Cookie stated, coming to Clover’s aid. “Yew don’t know our full story.” she said, her accent thickening.

“If she was with Platinum at Ùllahdmaiden, then I have no doubt she helped take down my shield, and helped kill quite a few of my friends.” Tia practically snarled.

Clover paled.

“That was your-” she stammered.

“Come Lu. I’ve heard enough. We’re leaving.” Tia snorted, turning and walking away without another word, disappearing into the increasingly dense falling snow.
I found myself caught between my sister who I loved dearly, and a trio of Ponies that I had never met before today.

I didn’t know what to think.

I didn’t know what to do.

Why was this such a hard decision?

I loved Tia, I should be following her lead. But something about these Ponies…

Disregarding my conflicting thoughts about Clover, weirdness included, something told me these Ponies were telling the truth. That they could be trusted.

They needed to be listened to.

I had to bring Tia around to listen to them.

But how?

There must be a way…

“I’ll go talk to her.” I heard myself saying. “Don’t know if I’ll see you Ponies again, but I’m glad we met.”

“Likewise.” Cookie smiled.

“Hope to see you again!” Pansy chirped.

Clover looked too despondent to reply, so I turned and followed in the direction Tia had set off.

Author's Note

Super gay autistic horse noises :trollestia:

Chapter 92 The Memories Part 51

~~~

"Lu? Wake up Lu." Tia voice graced my ears.

"Hugh? What?" I sat up in fright.

Where was I? What was happening? Why was-

"Oh... Tia." I said, realizing it was only Tia standing over me. "Sorry, I've been up a while and-"

"Don't worry about it. I'm just surprised you hadn't slept sooner." Tia grinned, helping me to my hooves.

"Too much to... Think about." I shrugged. "Speaking of, how'd that meeting go?"

The Sun was beginning to set already, but had not yet touched the horizon. The sky was filled with oranges and yellows to the West, and blues and purples to the East.

"... Well enough I suppose." Tia said after a moment of hesitation. "I'm still not quite on board with making me the ruler of this... United tribe... But the others seemed to be impressed how well I handled the mess yesterday. And it's hard to argue that you shouldn't be in charge when a few important Ponies of the original tribes are huddling in your camp with nothing to their name but the clothes on their withers and a blanket you provided them." she shook her head. "Which, by the way, in the future, could you be a little nicer to them? The rumor mill was going crazy with how you, quote 'threatened to build a stockade'."

I couldn't stop the amused snort that came.

"No, I said 'that they were lucky we weren't considering building a stockade'. Besides, after all the raiding and pillaging that Hurricane and Platinum has done, I don't think there'd be too many protesters."

"Why not Puddinghead?" Tia's ears cocked in confusion.

"Uh... What about Puddinghead?" I asked. "She seemed to be pretty well behaved. Actually, now that I think about it, do the Earth Ponies hate the Clan leadership?" I continued. "Judging by Pansy's opinion, and personal experience, I'm not even sure why the Earth Ponies would join? I don't remember it ever coming up in Ùllahdmaiden..."

"You wouldn't, you weren't in the Mayor's office whenever the demands started coming in, and you stayed away from the tavern, so you wouldn't have heard the complaining." Tia supplied.

"I-" I stammered as I tried to come up with a rebuttal. I- No. I almost never went back to the tavern after initially arriving. The stink of alcohol and ale was too much for me. So I just stayed at home or kept working at the blacksmith's... "I guess I wouldn't then..." I finished stupidly.

"Don't beat yourself up, you were too young to have that drink and Appleflower knew it." Tia admonished. "Besides, we both know you don't do well dealing with Ponies."

"Thank you for understanding..." I meekly muttered.

"You're welcome Lu. Anyway, I was just about to go talk to Platinum, get this 'Aunt' business sorted out. Would you like to participate?" Tia continued.

"Please!" I nodded.

"Oh thank the Sun, I wasn't sure if you wanted to or not, and I'd feel much better with you there."

"Are you nervous?" I asked.

"It's not everyday the Princess of Unicornia comes by and claims to be your Aunt."

"Fair enough."

"Shall we go get this farce over with?" Tia bumped into me playfully.

"Let's." I bumped her back.

She chuckled as she led the way.

The camp had changed slightly while I had slept.

Of the snow windbreak there was no sign. In its place, somepony had the idea of stacking wooden crates, broken carts that had been over turned on their sides, and sheets of what looked to be sail cloth all around the perimeter of the compacted camp. If the blizzard came again, it would serve as a more sturdy windbreak. Where this morning had been hard packed dirt from the gathering of so many Ponies the night before, there were now a myriad of tents that had been taken, repurposed, and erected from the original four camps. The injured were still lain out on the ground, but that was changing as the Sun began to dip below the horizon. Healthy Ponies lifted and carried the severely wounded on liters made of wooden boards.

Tia navigated through the organized lanes of tents that all bore the sigils of Pegasopolis, Unicornia, and the Clans, with practiced ease. As if she had been walking amongst them all day.

"Have you slept yet?" I asked Tia.

"Not yet, I've been too invested in stabilizing the situation." Tia replied. "But I'm going straight to bed after this is handled." she yawned.

"We don't have to do this tonight. You can go to bed and we'll deal with this in the morning."

"No." Tia shook her head. "Tomarrow's probably going to be as busy as today. Besides, it'll give me the chance to get all the facts and sleep on it."

"If you say so." I conceded.

The Broken down cart I had given to the tribes leaders was exactly where I had left it, albeit now sporting a propped up sheet that formed a tent. The four Ponies lounged by a small fire they had started. Starswirl was quietly reading a book, Puddinghead and Hurricane were busy roasting something over the fire, and somepony must've found and returned Platinum's crown, for she was holding it in her hooves and examining it by the firelight.

Why somepony hadn't stolen it for themselves I didn't know. But then again... What good was gold in the middle of untamed wilderness? The closest town being at least weeks away of travel on hoof.

Nothing but dead weight I suppose.

"Platinum?" Tia called out. The Princess' head snapped up, startled.

"Oh! Celestia! Luna!" she responded. "Have you-"

"We have." Tia nodded. Platinum nodded in return.

"Come, in the cart. We'll have some privacy in there." she gestured towards the covered cart and stood up.

Tia nodded and started for the opening.

I followed.

Platinum reached the cart first and held it open, inviting us inside. All three of us ducked inside.

The light from the campfire hit the canvas of the covering, illuminating the otherwise dark interior with a diffused glow.

"It's not all that bad in here." Platinum began. "I can see why Ponies used these as tents. Thank you for it."

"You're welcome." I nodded as we all settled onto the floor of the cart. Tia and I on one side, Platinum on the other.

Awkward silence filled the makeshift shelter.

"So... Where should we begin?" Platinum asked after an uneasy minute.

"The beginning." Tia confirmed. "Start with how you knew Nebula Glow."

"Oh that's easy. We grew up together in the Crown Palace in Unicornia. We're- Well, I guess we 'were" sisters now... She the elder, I the younger." Platinum nervously smiled as she became lost in thought. "Except she and Mother never saw eye to eye... Nebula was the last sort of Pony you'd expect to be a Duchess of the Realm. As a filly, she'd run away into the woods outside the city, and bring back all sorts of rocks and strange bugs." Platinum's smile melted, becoming more natural as she became lost in the nostalgia. "Mother hated it of course. She'd send out guards to find Nebula, but Nebula made a game of it... A city wide game of hide and seek you might say." she chuckled. "It all came to a head when a group of enterprising thugs decided they wanted to foalnap Nebula while she was away."

Platinum paused as her eyes clouded over with memories.

"Poor fools hadn't known what they were getting into until it was too late." she muttered quietly to herself. But she continued, louder this time. "Nopony quite knows what exactly happened, but tales about a young lilac filly leading a group of full grown Ponies on a merry chase flooded the city. It all ended as Nebula tricked the would-be foalnappers into a constabulary cell and locked them all inside. Mother was furious. Not that Nebula had outsmarted the thugs no, but because Ponies were now targeting her daughter. She all but chained Nebula to a study desk with an endless march of tutors to teach her 'properly'." Platinum snorted. "It didn't work at all. The only Ponies who tolerated the job for any amount of time ended up being the Wizard's teaching warspells. To them, she was the perfect student." Platinum chuckled. "I guess she learned a few etiquette things from the other tutors after all..."

Platinum wiped her eyes with the back of her hoof.

"It all came to a head in the Royal practice yard. Nebula was dueling some of the students from the College of Warmages when she met him. A stallion by the name of Astral Light. Astral wasn't like the other students. He had been a promising recruit from the Royal Guard, who wanted to hone his natural talent for combat spells. He was a commoner practically from off the streets. Nebula liked him almost immediately. Oh not that she'd ever tell him or us though..." Platinum chortled. "The first bout was vicious, anything and everything seemed to be fair game. It all ended when he pinned her to the ground. I think his words were 'First blood is mine.'" Platinum let loose a full belly laugh as she continued. "Nebula's response was to kick him in the groin and push him away."

I heard Tia quietly snort in amusement beside me.

"After that, she'd rant and rave about him at all hours of the day... Irritated beyond words about every little thing he did. But while she thought she was alone, you could just tell she was thinking of him fondly." Platinum giggled. "I don't think anypony was fooled. Mother certainly wasn't. She started looking for any suitor she could find for Nebula. Sons of the Noble houses, sons of wealthy merchant guildsponies, anycolt that had some degree of standing in the eyes of the Crown was paraded in front of Nebula. And she refused them all." Platinum waved a hoof, gesturing for effect. "Nebula and Astral eventually eloped, without telling anypony beforehoof. Mother's guards found Nebula the next morning in a cheap tavern, with an easily made stone horn ring, smelling of drink, and intertwinned with Astral in bed."

Celestia let slip a full chuckle.

But I found myself confused.

What were they doing in the bed?

My inner thoughts, the ones I pushed away, about Clover made themselves known.

About how I wanted to wrap myself around her and start licking her-

Oh.

"To say Mother was most displeased would've been an understatement." Platinum continued. "She and Nebula were at each other's throats for hours. Arguing and screaming at each other." Platinum looked down at the floor as her nostalgia soured. "It all ended with Astral's discharge papers being signed, and Nebula signing her own disownment documents... After that she and Astral left Unicornia, and to my knowledge never returned."

Platinum fell silent.

"... They did return. They returned with me." Tia solemnly continued. "Luna hadn't been born yet, and I was barely five Winters old." Tia tapped nervously on the ground. "I don't know why we came, I was awestruck by the tall towers to notice... But Dad left us occasionally, only to come back dirty and smelling faintly of booze. I don't think he was drinking himself though..." Tia tapped her chin in thought. "Because he always came back sad and disheartened... He and Mom would share a hug, whisper to each other, and then return to normal. Until the day before we left. He came back happy and excited! He and Mom shared a happy kiss, and then the next day we left the city. When we returned to Queensford, he and Mom embraced once more, and then he left, continuing his travels. He never came back. Luna was then born a year later."

Silence fell.

While I couldn't know the other two's thoughts, I was unsettled by the full telling of the story. Whenever I had asked Mom, "Where was daddy?" she'd always respond with "Away." or "Elsewhere." Eventually I had stopped asking and left the matter alone. Additionally, I had thought Tia's visit to Unicornia was some sort of trip taken for fun. But now that I thought about it, and with context provided by Tia, they weren't there for fun at all. Astral, it felt strange to call this faceless stallion 'Dad', was busy looking for something while Mom watched Tia. But what or who I could not say, only that they returned to Queensford, Astral continued traveling, and never came back.

But, a more pressing question weighed in on my mind.

"So... Where does that leave us?" I asked outloud.

I must've startled them both, because they both jolted slightly.

"Oh right... Um..." Tia began. "Well, I believe her, she knew both Mom and Dad's names, it fits why Mom was at least educated as a Warmage, and we do look alike."

That last part was at least true. Looking at Platinum and Tia side by side, the resemblance was frightening. While I had already made the comparison earlier, it was an entirely different matter with them in the same tent.

"Then please tell me..." Platinum continued. "... How did my sister die?"

I felt my blood run cold.

A flicker of movement in the corner of my eyes told me Tia was glancing in my direction.

"Do you wanna tell it or-?" I asked, meeting Tia's magenta gaze.

"Uh... Yeah. I'll tell it." Tia said after a moment of hesitation. "You were still sort of young... Despite what happened."

I closed my mouth and let Tia do the talking.

"It was after news of Queen Sterling's death. The soldiers came to our village and told us the news. But they didn't leave any supplies for us to last the Winter with. They told us if we wanted food so badly, we should move South." Tia took a shaky breath. "It was less than two weeks later first snowfall blanketed the village. With no food and no help coming, our Reeve decided it was best to abandon the village and migrate South." Tia paused and reigned in her own emotions. "The road was long and hard. We could barely find any food, and with so many Ponies we drew the attention of many monsters. Including the Hydra." Tia took a moment to steady her voice. "It came during the night. We fought bravely, but nopony could hurt it... That is, except Luna. She was small enough to not be noticed, and had picked up one of our weapons and stuck it into a gap in its scales." Tia started to choke on her words, unable to continue.

"It was too late for Mom." I continued for Tia. "She had been hit with the Hydra's acid. There was nothing we could do but let her die in our arms."

"She- Didn't she use her magic? The Nebula Glow I knew would've destroyed a Hydra..." Platinum asked.

"No, she didn't." Tia sniffed. "The only reason I can think of is because she didn't like showing off in front of the other villagers."

Silence fell.

"Well..." Platinum started after a moment. "Thank you both for your time. But it's getting late and I suspect we both have things to think about."

"Yes, please." Tia yawned. "I've been up all night and day and would really like to retire to my tent." she added, standing up to leave.

I made to follow.

"Oh and Luna?" Platinum called one last time.

I turned to find the Princess watching my face.

"Thank you for avenging my sister."

"Does it count if it died before she did?" I asked.

"No idea." Platinum admitted with a slight shrug. "But you did it anyway."

"I see... Well, um..." I rubbed the back of my neck. "You're... Welcome? She was my Mother too, so I'm not sure if I can accept your thanks..."

Platinum closed her eyes and smiled.

"You remind me of her so much. She was Moon Marked too."

It felt like a Pegasus had pressed one of their thunder clouds to my spine.

"Wait... Moon Marked?" I asked. "How can you tell? Is it an actual mark somewhere? Is it how I smell? Is it-"

"Peace!" Platinum chuckled good naturedly. "Moon Mark is just a phrase darling. A term for something."

"But-"

"There is no actual mark Luna. It's how you act." Platinum explained. "Tell me, do you feel like you don't understand Ponies sometimes?"

"Uh..." I stalled.

The answer to the question was yes, obviously. But would I explain it like that? Does she mean exactly what she's saying? Or is it one of those weird phrases Ponies said, but meant something else?

"Yes?" I asked. Platinum giggled to herself.

"Oh dear," she cooed. "Yes you've got it bad. But don't fret! I'm not going to hold it over your head. I just know how to talk to you better."

"I'm... Confused."

"Luna?" Tia called from outside.

"Don't worry about it darling." Platinum waved. "Go with your sister and have a good night. I suspect you'll both be very busy tomarrow."

"Ok... Um... Good night then." I ducked out of the covered wagon.

Tia was waiting, standing by the fire.

"Everything ok Lu?" she asked.

"Oh! Yes. Sorry, she just had a few more words to say." I responded, walking to her side.

"Would you mind if I asked what they were?" she asked.

"She thanked me for avenging Mom."

"Ah." Tia nodded. "I see."

"Speaking of;" I interjected. "You need to see the insides of your eyelids."

Tia giggled.

"Yes, you're right Lu." she smiled. "Come, we're sharing a tent and it's this way." Tia turned to the two Ponies who were watching our conversation, Starswirl was still reading. "Starswirl, Puddinghead, Hurricane." she acknowledged. "Have a good night."

"Good night!" Puddinghead exclaimed.

"Night." Hurricane waved away.

"Hm? Oh, yes. Good night." Starswirl looked up from his book.

Tia then turned to the cart, and looked like she was going to call out. Except she stopped herself.

"Uh... Good- Good night Stellar!" she called to Platinum inside.

"Good night Tia!" came the slightly muffled reply.

"Stop delaying! You. Bed. Now." I gently nudged Tia with the flat of my forehead.

"Alright alright!" she cried out, moving along.

"Good night to the three of you." I nodded to the three around the fire.

"Good night Luna." they all replied.

Tia started leading the way voluntarily as we left the campfire behind.

"So..." I began, as we got out of earshot. "What do you think?"

Tia was silent as she kept at an easy pace.

"... I think we have an Aunt." she replied eventually. "And Grandparents, and cousins and Uncles and-"

"Keep in mind Tia, and I don't say this to be mean, but she was the one who sacked Ùllahdmaiden." We passed by a group of Ponies hauling another cart of scavenged supplies. "She killed friends of ours."

"I'm aware." Tia nodded sagely. "But according to Clover, Ùllahdmaiden was never burned to the ground. All they wanted was food to march further South. If we hadn't fought they wouldn't have killed anypony."

"Do you really believe that?" I asked incredulously. "They came with an army. Need I remind you."

"Why are you playing devil's advocate?" Tia asked. "You two were starting to get along when I left. What happened since then?"

"I-" I stammered.

Was I being unnecessarily judgmental?

No, I wasn't. Regardless how she treated me, she still had Ponies I knew killed so her army could eat.

"I just don't think we should trust her so easily just because she happens to be our Aunt." I explained. "Granted, would I like to get to know her better? Yes. If nothing else, it's a fascinating insight into Mom's life. But at the same time; She's Princess Platinum! How often have we cursed the Unicornian Crown for abandoning Queensford?"

A thought suddenly occurred to me.

"Oh stars above! Queen Iridium is our Grandma!"

Tia started to laugh.

"Yeah, I guess she is... Never thought the Noble House Mom came from would've been the royal family itself..." she commented.

"I haven't had the time to think about it..." I admitted as Tia lead me to another covered cart. She jumped up and pulled the flap open. "Remember, I just learned this a Moon ago in Ùllahdmaiden."

"Ah, sorry... Forgot." Tia replied as she helped me up into the cart.

Inside were two bedrolls and a few barrels and crates.

"With so many tents in the war camps, I was able to get a private one for us." Tia explained.

"Really? How many Ponies are here?"

"A few hundred... I think." Tia tapped her chin in thought. "I put Timber Sprout in charge of getting a census going. Don't know when he'll get back to me though..."

"Good. Because you need to sleep." I nudged a bedroll towards Tia.

"Yeah? And what about you?" she asked, unrolling the bedroll and slipping inside.

"Don't know. I'll probably stay up a few hours and then join you." I replied, sitting down on my haunches in the cart's open back.

"Oh..." Tia trailed off. "Well, good night then!" she rolled over and fell silent.

"Sleep tight Tia." I wished her as I watched Ponies outside walk by.

'Would you do me the honor of freeing me from my prison and claiming me for yourself?'

I... I had a lot to think about.

Chapter 103 The Memories Part 62

~~~

The mighty city of Pegasoplis drifted above. Its mighty ramparts of almost solid cloud made it appear less of a city, and more like a fortress. It was dense and compact, like a ship of truly gigantic size. Swarms of Pegasi buzzed over its towers, carrying out last minute preparations for the logistics of the oncoming battle. They would not give up without a fight.

We had moved on from Casúrdomhain. Ebony had given us most of her supplies, now unneeded since she no longer had to feed a whole Order of Knights. Of the march itself, there wasn't too much to say. Spent tracking, checking, and double checking the route of the cloud city. We had found it with little difficulty. During the Winter, the city was out to sea. Traveling over the waves as the Pegasi fished for food. But with the onset of Spring, they came back inland. True to previous years, Pegasopolis had set itself in a central location, a spot primed for raiding both the Clans, and Unicornia for their crops.

So we had caught them pinned in place, surrounding them on all sides.

I didn't take their preparedness as a sign that we had another spy, although I didn't discount the possibility. The cloud city above probably had known about our approach for hours, maybe even days.

The War council stood on the bank of the lake underneath the branches of a tree, watching the swirling Legion Pegasi above. Our own Pegasi kept on the ground, too wary of being out numbered in the air.

"Come here." I gestured, picking up a stick and beginning to draw in the dirt. "We all know the plan, but I want to go over it now that we're actually here."

My War Council joined me.

“We can’t directly attack them, so we’re going to have to win by attrition. If we ration carefully, we can last for a long time.” I drew a circle inside an obolid shape. “Have the Earth Ponies dig in, They can provide adequate shelter from whatever weather Pegasoplis conjures.” I drew another shape, outlining the shape I thought the lake was. “Groundworks to shield from the lightning, and a series of irrigation ditches feeding back into the lake. We can’t let them drown us out. Intersperse the powerful Unicorns and Earth Pony siege engines evenly throughout the formation, Keep the City from drifting away.

“Why drain back into the lake? If we drain enough away they run out of water.”

“You can try, but the lake is the low point in the valley.” I chewed my lip. “Besides, if they’re spending that much mana they have to eat more of whatever supplies they have.”

“What can our Pegasi do?” asked Captain Comet.

While I could trust him at Casúrdomhain, he was one of those I trusted the least here.

“Keep sheltered with the Earth Ponies and Unicorns. Provide an ability to counter attack if the city raids. But you otherwise are to wait. Don't get surrounded and swarmed in the air.”

“Understood.” he nodded.

“It shouldn’t go without saying to keep an eye out for spies and defectors. Here more than ever. I want whatever supplies we have to be hidden randomly throughout our fortifications, never in one single place.” I poked dots into the dirt along the outer shape. “We can’t let them steal what we have. Not only does it shorten the time we can spend here, but it lengthens theirs.”

“How much for every location?” a portly Earth Pony stallion asked. Short List. He had once been a mayor if I remembered correctly.

“Small amounts, decentralize it as much as possible. If we lose any amount, we must lose as little as possible.”

“We’ll be able to keep everything better hidden too.” Clover chirped.

“How big or deep do you want these Earth works?” A large stallion who held a shovel asked. His ginger beard bouncing with his jaw. He had been one of the Ponies who had worked under Puddinghead, so I wasn't sure what his name was quite yet.

“Thick enough overhangs to protect against lightning, Sturdy enough to take a falling boulder, and deep enough to have irrigation ditches below us so we don't drown.”

“Aye General…” He grunted, examining his shovel in thought.

“Anything else?” I asked, looking around.

Nopony raised any further points.

“Excellent, now while the army digs in, I want a flag of parlay and a cart with a decent dinner for two.” I inwardly clapped my hooves in happiness as every face I saw looked at me as if I had grown a second head.

“Pardon?” Quartermaster Gold Note asked.

“I’m going to ask for their surrender. To distract them while the army can freely work. Buy as much time as I can. Even if they don’t accept, I don’t want to cause any more death than we have to. That means I have to tempt them over, perhaps with breakfast every day.” I replied.

“You’re going to waft food in front of their noses?” a mare who had also been under Puddinghead asked incredulously.

“Never thought I’d see eating good food being turned into a weapon…” The ginger stallion commented.

“Eventually, they’ll come to the table and be more open to terms.” I nodded.

“Is that everything?” the former mayor asked, his rather round face, short beard and balding head looking very out of place in the leather armor he wore.

“If nopony else has any suggestions or better ideas?” I asked, calling out in invitation.

Nopony spoke.

“Then we all have jobs to do.” I dismissed.

The meeting dispersed, I followed behind them as they left the tree cover, looking for somepony to give me the cart of food or the flag.

A Pegasi messenger mare flew by and gave me a stick with a white rag attached.

“Thank you.” I said, taking the offered item.

She smiled, but was too busy with her saddlebag of messages to reply.

I tucked the small flag into my cragodile vest and watched for the cart.

I decided to forego a breastplate again. I had no doubt that the Pegasi would be using lightning, and I didn't want anymore metal on me than I had to.

A few moments later, Gold Note and one of his underlings came, the underling pushing a small hoof cart, a sheet of cloth covering what looked to be bowls of food and eating utensils.

“Every morning?” The uptight stallion asked.

“I’m not going to eat it all.” I nodded. “If they don’t come, then I’ll come back and give it back to provide meals for Ponies back here.”

“I see.” he hummed. “Am I to expect the same thing with this cart?” he asked, putting his hoof and padding the cart to his side.

“I expect not. They’ll send somepony, even if it’s just because they’re curious.”

“I see.” he said again, sounding much less pleased.

“You don’t approve.” I half asked.

“Of course I don’t! You ask me to be frugal and strict with our rations! But then you offer food to the enemy!”

“Yes, the same way you give arrows and rocks to the enemy when you throw one.” I reposted.

“I don’t like it…” he growled. “But I understand the reasoning.” he relented. “You shall have your two breakfasts per day.” With that, the stallion turned and left without a word.

The underling, an early teenage Unicorn colt, hadn’t been paying attention. He had been watching the army around him as they made busy. He started with a jolt as he realized his Master was no longer nearby. He nervously glanced around, saw the backside of Gold Note, and scurried back to his Master’s side, leaving the cart behind.

I watched them disappear into the crowd.

Ponies were weird.

I reared up onto the hoof cart and began to push.

I had Pegasi to talk to.

~~~

The spot I had chosen was the closest bit of land near the front gate of Pegasoplis, it jutted out slightly from the shore, providing a sort of natural halfway point. I stopped pushing the cart and proceeded a few more steps forward, making myself clear to see from the battlements.

A row of Pegasi helmets, could be see over the edge, peering downward.

I took the flag out from my vest and started to wave.

“PARLAY! I ASK FOR PARLAY!” I exclaimed upward.

A Pegasi Commander rose from the battlements. They floated and came down alone.

As they approached, I took the cover off the cart and began setting up plates to eat.

I left their plate empty, but began serving myself as they- she approached.

“You are intruding on Pegasoplian Land!” the mare exclaimed. “Leave now or suffer the consequences!”

“It was my understanding the Pegasoplis doesn’t have any claim to the ground!” I responded.

“Pegasoplis claims anything that it is above!” the mare snorted.

“Then come! Claim this meal that is below your city!” I gestured at the empty plate.

That seemed to surprise the Commander, her eyes flicked to the plate, the food, and then back to me.

“What is your game Unicorn?” she asked bluntly.

“I’m here to ask for your surrender.” I replied.

“‘Our surrender’?” she snorted. “Filly, this is how this is gonna work.” She pointed up at Pegasoplis. “THAT.” she enunciated. “Is Pegasoplis, the city that cannot be defeated.”

I poured myself a mug of water from a clay pitcher. I then sat down and took a sip from the mug as the mare continued.

“I don’t know what rock you’ve been hiding under if you haven't heard any of the stories, but clearly you’ve found a place beyond the rumor mill.”

“Uh huh… Go on.” I deadpanned, taking a fork in my hoof and stabbing a bun.

“Wait… What are you doing?” she asked.

“Uh… Eating?” I replied. “Won’t you sit down? I’d rather discuss things with you rather than whatever you’re expecting.”

The mare glared at me, but she relented and sank to the ground, landing and sitting on the opposite side of the cart.

“What are your terms?” she growled.

“Well;” I started. “You might want to start serving yourself… I have quite a few things I want to say.” I bit on the end of the fork and ate the bun. Instead of talking and eating at the same time, I took a few moments to properly chew and swallow before continuing. “We don’t have to do this. We’re not here because we want to. We’re here because Ponies need to stop fighting, and that means you need to stop raiding.”

“Stop fighting?” the mare snorted again. “You mean to tell me you believe that Windego shit? Filly, I’ve been in this sky longer than your Mother has walked the Earth ok? I’ve seen plenty of shit, but not once have I seen any ghostly horse of ice.”

I took a moment to harpoon a slice of carrot. “So you’ve heard the rumors? Then could you tell me who supposedly killed them? And please, will you not eat?” I ate the carrot.

The mare glared at me, but spitefully took a spoon and began piling food on the provided plate.

“Rumors are never true filly.” she growled. “And I find any who think otherwise to be fools.”

“Humor me.” I took a another sip from my water.

The mare paused, but continued serving herself.

“A blue mare, with a sword and-” she stopped. Her eyes were on my sword.

I took another sip from my cup.

“You… You’re saying…” she gasped.

“And it’s probably old news by now, but do you remember ‘Hydrabane’?”

“You-” she gaped, pointing a hoof.

“I don’t want to kill any more Ponies than I have to.” I stated, now that I had her attention. “Surrender, and I swear I will treat every single one of you with respect and dignity.” I put the mug down and picked up my fork, digging into another carrot. “I’ve already taken Casúrdomhain, another impossible fortress to break. And I’ll take Pegasoplis too if you don’t surrender.”

The mare fell silent as she served herself, and eat mindlessly in thought.

I inwardly cheered, but we finished the meal in silence.

Author's Note

Next! :yay:

:rainbowlaugh:

Silliness aside, come join my discord! https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 112 The Memories Part 71

~~~

"So what'd you think?" The ash brown Earth Pony mare asked. Her name was Wood Ash, and she was one of the blacksmiths that traveled with the army. She had come to me yesterday, claiming she had a brand new idea.

The mad mare had taken a ballistae and made it small enough to fit in ones hooves.

We were standing at one end of her forge, a captured Pegasoplian breastplate that had been too damaged to repair had been set up on the opposite side.

Wood Ash, in the previous moment, had taken her device, pulled the miniature ballistae's string back, loaded a rather short arrow with a nail for an arrow head, pointed it at the breastplate and pulled a hoof lever underneath the handle.

Phchunk!

The bolt had flew through the air faster than I could follow, its feathered end now protruding from the breastplate.

It had pierced right through.

She had then given it to me for inspection, which was when she had asked her question.

"Impressive." I admitted, testing the steel limbs of the miniature ballistae with a hoof. That was how she had replicated the tension of the normal wooden limbs. "Most impressive. I am however concerned about its effectiveness against a diving Pegasi. Can it be loaded before they're on top of the wielder?"

"It takes some getting used to I'll admit..." Wood Ash responded. "I think you'd be better off using it as a long range weapon, like a small siege engine you can carry around."

"Hm." I hummed, turning the thing over. "I could see that..." I admitted. "Alright, you may make a small amount of these weapons, as a sort of trial run. If it proves effective I'll have Gold Note give you more-"

I was interrupted by a shout from outside the forge.

"Stop! Spy! Thief!" exclaimed the voice.

A blur of storm grey feathers rustled past the doorframe.

Huh... I suppose that's one way to field test the weapon.

"No time like the present!" I exclaimed, grabbing a few of Wood Ash's special arrows from her workbench.

The poor ashen mare could barely protest before I was out of the door.

I pulled the string back on the miniature ballistae, feeling it snap into place as it rested against the release mechanism.

The ingenuity of Earth Ponies never ceases to amaze me.

I didn't nock one of the arrows yet, as the fleeing Pegasus had disrupted a whole crowd of Ponies as she weaved throughout the underground maze of rooms.

"Spy!" A stallion exclaimed, running past me after the flurry of feathers ahead.

I chased after.

The Pegasus, a mare by the looks of it, got into a brief scuffle with another of my soldiers. A wave of Ponies approached, ready to apprehend the offending Pony.

If she was a spy, or a raider I knew not yet.

I lost sight of the Pony as soldiers trapped her into a corner, with the weapons they kept at the ready in case this exact happenstance occurred.

It was then, between the legs and bodies of my soldiers, that I got my first good look at the mare.

Her dark grey coat was disheveled, as where her feathers. Her bright yellow eyes were wild, not unlike that of a cornered animal. She was entirely unarmored.

And all she carried was a small sack from her mouth.

"Surrender!" I called out. "You're outnumbered!"

The mare's eyes danced as she looked back and forth across the crowd that surrounded her.

She suddenly flapped her wings, diving beneath the unsuspecting crush of Pony soldiers.

Somehow, against all odds, the mare managed to zip around all the legs that were in her way, even brushing past me in the back as she flew towards the open door, and the dark grey light of a maturing evening.

I was close behind as the crowd of Ponies tried to sort out what happened.

The ongoing rain beat against the ground as I came above ground. Above, the grey Pegasus was making all haste towards Pegasopolis above.

Now was my chance.

The mare was quick, I'll give her that. It was no guarantee I would hit her with my magic. Especially if she saw my horn brighten from casting a spell.

But the miniture ballistae by my side didn't put off any glow.

I couldn't allow that mare to escape. Even the smallest morsel of food jeopardized the siege.

I nocked one of the arrows and aimed.

Nothing must reach the city.

I pressed the lever.

Phchunk!

Nothing.

The mare fell from the sky.

"Urk!" she grunted, muffled slightly by the distance she had already put between us.

I let the hoof ballistae fall limp in my grasp, coinciding with the mare plowing into the muddy ground by the shore.

The deed done, I approached the fallen mare as soldiers began to poke their heads out of the doorway behind me.

As I got closer, it was obvious she was still alive.

Her chest heaved up and down, impaled by the arrow. Her breath was ragged and desperate, doing all she could to cling to life.

But my aim had been true. Even if I were to rush the mare to a medicine Pony, she would not last the hour.

The arrow had pierced her heart.

"P-" she gasped as I drew close. "P-" she tried again. This time a gush of blood erupted from between her lips, staining her teeth. "P-Ple-" she tried to swallow. If it was instinctual I didn't know, but it did her no good. "P-Please..." she gasped finally. "M-M-My-" Her words weakened with every desperate breath. As I crouched next to the dying mare, I noticed one of her hooves reaching towards the sack she had dropped.

A few crumbs of crushed bread had spilled out and lay in the mud.

"M-My... S-S-S-" A desperate hoof clutched the sack. "S-Son..."

My heart sank.

This was no spy or soldier before me. A thief certainly, but one born out of desperation.

What spy spent their dying breath begging to give food to her son?

"I'm sorry." I stated. "It must be this way."

The words sounded hollow even to my ears.

I could try to find this poor mare's colt, but what guarantee did I have? I couldn't enter the city myself, and the trebuchet's boulders were merciless to anypony underneath them.

Yet there was something I could do for the mare.

I drew my sword.

"I'm sorry..." I repeated.

It was raining, but the water on my face was still warm.

"P-P-Please-" the mare rasped. An already dimming yellow eye glared up at me, wide and afraid.

"I'm sorry."

I plunged the sword down, silencing the mare for good.

Author's Note

:ajsleepy:

Chapter 113 The Memories Part 72

~~~

I sat on the edge of my cot, head in my hooves.

On a nearby crate, a lantern's light flickered.

The sounds of Ponies living their lives on the opposite side of the single, closed door were muffled and distant.

Everytime I closed my eyes, even if only to blink, a fading yellow eye glared at me.

I wanted to clench my eyes shut, as if that would block my sight, but the only thing that greeted me when I did was that dying yellow eye.

I could only stare at the floor, trying to force my eyes not to close as the hours ticked by.

Somepony knocked on the door.

"Luna?" came the soft voice of Clover. "Luna are you in there?"

"Y-Yes." I croaked out.

"Are you alright? You've been in there all night..."

No.

But I didn't answer. It wouldn't do to let Ponies know their General was weak.

"Well... Um... Just so you're aware, it is morning... And you insisted on having breakfast at Breakfast Outlook everyday..." Clover reminded, her voice still muffled slightly be the door.

I... I had hadn't I?

I rubbed my dry eyes, trying to restore some normality to them.

The dimming yellow eye glared at me, but I pushed it away with the memory of of icy chains being dragged over permafrost.

"I'm... I'm coming." I said out loud, pushing myself to my hooves and making for the entrance.

The makeshift door creaked as I opened it.

Clover was the only one near the door, but other Ponies were not so steathfully watching from across the room.

I imagined I looked awful.

Clover certainly stiffened when she saw me.

"O-Oh... Luna... Are you alrigh-" she began.

"I'll live." I grunted as I brushed past, perhaps a bit more harshly than I intended

"Uh... Ok..." Clover said quietly.

Something about the way she responded made me flinch in a way I didn't like. But how could I tell her? How could I tell her that every time I closed my eyes I saw that yellow eye glaring at me, both in fear and in accusation. She would've thought I was mad! Hay I thought I was going mad! But how else was I supposed to feel?

I had killed that mare! That innocent mare!

I had brought war to her home. I was the one starving her city. I was the one starving her son.

But I saw no other choice.

I shivered, remembering that night of the Windegos.

The Night of Eternal Winter.

And since Pegasopolis wouldn't surrender voluntarily, it fell to me to make them surrender.

But none of that helped me when it came to Clover.

I resigned myself to silence as I made my way out of the tunnel system.

Clover followed behind me, but I didn't stop her.

Like every other morning since we got here, the morning light was dismal and grey as I finally opened the nearest door leading outside.

The lake had changed in the month or so we had been here. The rain was so constant that what grass remained after our construction had been washed away, all that remained was muddy clay that was trampled from the traffic of so many Ponies. Of the lake itself, what had been a relatively calm and clear body of water was now a cloudy soup of detritus and debris. The remains of plants was common in the mixture, but occasionally the body of a Pony, bloated and swollen with lake water, would float along the surface. Usually they were Pegasi that had fallen from the city or shot out of the sky with javelin or spellfire, but Unicorns and Earth Ponies who had been abducted and dropped from a great height were still fairly regular.

I had instructed that such bodies were to be fished out when possible and given a proper burial, but that didn't stop the bodies from appearing occasionally.

With as much fighting that took place over the lake itself, I was uncertain we would ever recover all the bodies inside.

Stygian waited nearby Breakfast Outlook, the usual cart filled with its usual covered food.

By now we had done this song and dance so much and so often that he didn't stutter as much as he used to. He still nerviously spoke when we ventured into new territory, but he was confident so long as we didn't venture far from:

"Good morning Stygian."

"Good morning General. Here's your breakfast."

"Thank you Stygian. I'll return with the cart when I'm finished."

"Of course Ma'am."

I suspected the colt was also Moon Marked. Perhaps not to such a degree as I was, but still enough to be awkward.

But today there was no such conversation. The colt must've noticed my dour mood and decided not to press the issue. And for that I was grateful.

I didn't want to add to the list of Ponies I had upset today.

Instead all Stygian did was step aside from the cart and allowed me to take it without a word.

"Thank you Stygian." I remarked, at least making the attempt to not be ungrateful.

"Of course Ma'am." he responded, swallowing his nervousness and hiding it well.

But not well enough.

I chose not to press the issue in turn, and pushed the cart towards the Outlook.

Clover stopped and stood by Stygian quietly.

I could feel their eyes on me as I pushed.

Breakfast Outlook had changed, just as the rest of the lakefront had. The grass was gone, but I had instructed my soldiers to keep the outcropping solid by embedding stones along the water's edge, to keep Ponies busy and to make sure my meeting point didn't wash out into the lake with the constant rain.

The cart fell still as it settled into its usual place. I walked in front of the cart as I pulled out the white flag, now dingy from all the dirt it had been subjected to.

I waved it above my head.

"Hey!" I called up.

I waited for a moment to see if anypony's head appeared over the battlement.

Nopony appeared.

Enough of this. The time for playing nice was over.

My horn lit as I fired a spell into the air, purposefully missing the battlements.

FREEEEEEEEEM!

The shapes of several Pegasopolian helmets peaked over the edge.

"Enough of this nonsense!" I called up now that I had their attention. "I know you're out of supplies! Nopony else needs to die!"

"You know nothing Unicorn!" came the distant reply as one of the Pegasi stood up above their comrades.

"Don't I?! Yesterday I had a mare sneak into my supplies!" I exclaimed angrily. "She spent her dying breath begging for the life of her colt! So yes I know you're out!"

The line of helmets withdrew for a moment, before reappearing.

"Are we supposed to believe she wasn't one of yours? How can we trust your word?"

"My soldiers aren't starving!" I yelled back. While it was true I was stretching the rations however I could, it wasn't true that anypony under my command wasn't getting enough to eat. In fact none of the prisoners in my care were starving either. "I could parade a few prisoners out here to show you! But every second you delay is another second you starve yourselves!"

Once more the helmets withdrew.

Despite my irritation at the situation, I forced myself to wait patiently.

The line of helmets came back into view.

"If we were to surrender what promise do we have that you'll keep your word?"

"You have eyes! Good ones too if you pride yourselves on your scouting! Look at the Ponies behind me! Do any of them look like they're starving?" I gestured behind me.

By now, a whole crowd of Ponies had joined Stygian and Clover, watching this whole affair.

"You are out of time!" I continued. "You know what happens next? You will resort to eating each other to keep this siege going! If you could've broken free or wiped us all out you would've done so already!"

The helmets shifted uncomfortably.

"... Oh stars you've already resorted to cannibalism?!" I shrieked.

"Stuff it Night Terror!" A Pegasus in Commander armor flew into view above the battlement. "Why would we trust the word of one who flies the Moon?!"

"Because you're too stubborn to realize you've already lost! Guess how much food we have left!" I shouted. "Go on guess! I'll even give you a hint! I don't think there's a single Pony down here concerned that they'll end up as somepony else's dinner!"

Even at the extended distance, the Commander managed to look embarrassed. But to their credit, they recovered swiftly.

"What do you know horn head?! Maybe we have maybe we haven't! You don't know!"

But the rank and file Pegasi didn't look so confident as their leader. They glanced at each other nervously, clearly not comfortable.

"I swear on my life any Ponies who surrender themselves will be treated with dignity and remain unharmed!" Now I wasn't talking to the Commander, but addressing the Ponies they commanded.

"Belay that! Anypony who surrenders will be court martialed!" The Centurion exclaimed.

"Remember! It may be you next time on the dinner table!" I countered.

Finally sick of this conversation, the Commander took their spear and threw it downward.

I easily stepped aside to avoid it. It had been thrown with much less force than the first spear that had been chucked at me during one of these calls for surrender.

If the Commander only half believed their own words, or if they were weak from starvation, I didn't know. But either way was technically good news for the end of this siege being near.

But the conversation was now over. They would not be talking again today.

I pushed the cart back without even eating.

Chapter 124 The Memories Part 83

~~~

“Tia wait! We don’t know where-”

Tia grunted as a soldier tackled into her.

I rushed forward, The two were wrestling along the ground, and the stallion seemed to be alone.

I punched him in the side of his helmet and pushed him over with the hilt of my sword.

He would make an excellent source of information if we got him to talk.

Time was now firmly on our side.

Tia stood up as the stallion rolled to a stop.

She pointed a spear at the stallion.

A mixed group of peasants walked up behind me.

“Take him to the breach.” I pointed at the still stunned stallion. “I wish to talk to him.”

They nodded and produced a coil of rope.

Tia surged ahead from besides me.

“What are- What are you doing?!” I called out.

Tia rounded corner.

“Tia you fool wait!” I called out, running after her.

I rounded a corner and found Tia dueling with two royal guards. Using both ends of her spear to fight both.

“Get away from her!” I called out, charging forward.

The soldier had been too distracted with his fight to notice me.

My sword bit through his spine as my sword slashed at the back of his neck.

With the sudden relief of a whole attack angle, Tia swiftly brought the butt of her spear around, catching the Unicorn on the side of her head.

Stunned, the Unicorn couldn’t block Tia as she turned the spear around and jabbed forward.

The spear pierced through the mare’s cheek, slid under her skull, and pierced out the back.

I yanked my sword out of the stallion’s neck.

“Tia!” I called again, approaching now that she seemed to be keeping still, trying to pull her spear out of the twitching mare. “Tia wait! Why are you here? I thought I told you to stay behind!”

“Lu you don't understand...” she grunted, pulling her spear out. “I have to do something, before it’s too late.”

“What are you- Tia, what are you talking about?” I said, grabbing her by the shoulder, as she looked like she was going to continue, heedless of what I had to say.

“I…” Tia shook her head. “I can’t explain it.” she pushed past me.

“Tia.” I said, dashing forward and grabbing her by both shoulders. “What are you talking about? What must you do?”

“I…” Tia tried to say. “I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Do you know why it must be done?” I asked, trying to calm her down.

“I… I think so.” she admitted.

“Would Mom be proud of it?” I continued.

If something were affecting her mind, like some dark spell or something, she could fight against it if she became aware of it.

“I- Yes. I think she would.” Tia nodded.

“Would I be proud?” I asked.

She looked me in the eye.

“Yes.” she said quietly.

Whatever she was talking about worried me, but if she was somehow compromised, I'd be more able to protect her if she trusted me.

“Then what must you do? And how can I help?” I asked.

“I-” She shook her head. “The Cathedral. I need to get to the Cathedral.” she said finally.

“The Cathedral? What- Nevermind.” I let go of her shoulders. “Lead on then. I will assist you however I can.”

“You will?” she perked up.

“Yes.”

“Then we don’t have a moment to lose!” she started running. “The clergy has something. Something they shouldn’t have, and something they’ll try to destroy before losing it!”

A bell went off in my head.

Was Tia really being influenced by dark magic? If she was being influenced, she must still trust me enough to want my help.

“Do you know what the object is?” I asked.

If it was some sort of artifact, then it may want Tia to do a certain thing… Something to reactivate and use it most likely.

Which could be bad.

“It’s… I think it’s a book.” Tia explained.

“A… Book?” I asked.

Curiouser and curiouser. Some sort of dread spellbook that wanted to possess Tia?

“Yes. I think-” she stopped at a corner and peered around it. She pulled back. “I think it’s the original spellbook. The one directly given to them by the Sun.

“The first book? What would the first book have-?” I started to ask, but Tia turned and rose an eyebrow at me. “Nevermind!” I encouraged. “Where to?”

Sloppy. And she’s definitely being influenced. But… Was the artifact really the first book? Everypony who had grown up in Unicornia’s culture of book reverence, knew that supposedly the first book was a spell book of tremendous power, one that gifted Unicorns with magic.

Of course that was a load of hooey. All anypony needed to do was to witness an Earth Pony Earthbreaker or a Pegasus summoning lightning between their feathers to know Unicorns weren’t the only ones with magic.

So surely that couldn’t be it… But what else would the Unicorns keep in their main Cathedral?

Until I know for sure, I’ll trust Tia.

“Follow me.” Tia whispered, just before she ran around the bend.

I followed without hesitation.

We entered another courtyard. In the distance, a column of soldiers were rushing by, following the distant sounds of fighting.

They were already leaving the courtyard as we dashed forward, facing away.

Tia lead me towards another street.

Ahead, a spire loomed in the afternoon light.

I realized Tia was pulling ahead of me as I slowed.

“Wait Tia, I’m coming.” I resumed my pace.

Tia turned a corner.

I followed, emerging into a large boulevard. Abandoned carts could be seen everywhere, overturned and left where they lay.

Prole Unicorns were running down the street, all heading towards the tall spire.

Tia was already overtaking, and ignoring several peasants.

They flinched and fled in terror at Tia’s roughly made and unpolished armor.

Their screams alerted those ahead of Tia, causing them to split in terror, allowing Tia free passage as she advanced.

I followed close behind. While they kept from me, the effect wasn't as pronounced as Tia’s march. She split them aside by presence alone, while they were already out of the way for me.

Not a soul in the crowd gave her resistance. They were too shocked that an invader could be so bold as to wander unchallenged in Unicornia itself.

Strange… How many Ponies in the tribes thought their own seat of power was untouchable.

An iron gate loomed ahead.

Soldiers in gold kept the crowd back as somepony tried to close the gate, after permitting in a Pony dressed in fine clothes.

Tia marched forward. She didn’t even slow. She walked right up to the unaware soldier and jabbed him in his gut.

The crowd gasped, and somepony even screamed.

That caused a stampede, as the crowd became overrun with panic and fled backwards.

One of the soldiers lunged for Tia.

I hit the blade off its mark and slashed at the Stallion’s neck with a nimble knife.

More guards approached.

I let the stallion fall beside me as Tia pulled her spear out.

I lunged at the first golden soldier, sneaking under his guard by using the knife to push his blade away from its target.

The front of my blade met flesh, and tore through it.

The mare fell away.

I blocked a spear with my sword’s hilt, pushing it up so the lunging head missed my head.

My knife slashed at his exposed throat.

He fell with a gurgle.

Tia behind me resorted to magic, blasting a few soldiers with a wide beam.

A guard was trying to close the gate.

I threw my knife, catching him in the eye between the bars.

He screamed in agony and surprise.

My final opponent outside swung at me, hoping to catch me by surprise by an attack from the side.

I swung down, knocking the spear to the ground, pinning it place with a hoof, and breaking it as I dove past his guard, the sword edge already slicing forward.

His decapitated head fell to the ground.

Tia rammed the screaming Pony through the bars in the gate with her spear, silencing him.

Rather than rush for the gate, the guard Ponies backed cautiously up the stairs leading to the Cathedral door.

The Noblepony behind them waddled up the stairs as if their life depended on it.

I held the gate open as Tia pulled her spear back, dislodging the soldier’s corpse.

She rounded around me through to the open gate and advanced up the stairs.

I followed, taking the opportunity to pull my knife out of the soldier's eye, letting the gate close behind me with a clang.

“No more need die today.” Tia called up. “Surrender, and I will spare you. Cross me however, and die.”

“And let a heretic like you into the Great Cathedral? Never.” A Pony called down.

“Then so be it.” Tia stated loudly, lunging up the stairs.

I rushed up the stairs after her.

I really wished she’d slow down and at least let me catch up…

But instead of running up heedlessly into the gang of soldiers, Tia sprayed a beam of fire across the stone stairs, melting several to slag and tripping several Ponies with the sudden heat and improper footing.

Tia lunged.

She brushed beside a spear, knocking it out of its owner’s hooves. Her spear jammed sideways into the stallion’s neck. A quick jab through the jugular and he was cast aside, Tia already advancing to her next victim.

I dove in front of a rushing opponent from the other side of the stairs. The mare's spear met my sword, embedding itself halfway through the shaft.

The mare advanced confidently.

I shoulder checked her and ripped the half broken spear out of her hooves, letting the weight of the shaft yank it off the blade for another clean swing.

Tia barged into a Unicorn who had turned towards me, thinking I was the most serious threat to her at that moment.

The Unicorn’s leg made a loud snap as Tia stepped on it.

“GOOOOOOOOOW!” he screamed in agony.

Tia pressed on. The stallion was down and she knew it.

He had too many wrinkles to have strong bones.

Tia intercepted the last Unicorn’s spear with a twirling parry.

I dove in with the sword.

Tia turned back towards the door, just closed shut with a resounding thud.

The Noblepony was nowhere in sight.

I pulled my sword from the Pony’s corpse and followed behind Tia.

“Lu. From here on focus on protecting me. Do not advance alone."

That was… An odd request.

“I…”

You promised you would trust her until you knew! Maybe she thinks she can talk with the priests!

“I trust you Tia.” I nodded.

Tia turned towards the doors and announced.

“The time has come Pope Morning Glory! Just as I predicted!”

What the-? What where did that come from? Who was 'Pope Morning Glory'?

“Heretic!” An old voice called from within. “You have not undergone canonization!”

What were they talking about?

“Then you leave me no choice.” Tia answered, her horn glowing.

A similar glow manifested around both double doors, at least four Ponies tall and made of heavy oak and banded iron.

Several shouts of surprise echoed inside.

The door wiggled and flexed as Tia used her magic to pull at the door.

rrrrRRRNK.

A steel hinge bent and tore.

Author's Note

:pinkiecrazy:
https://discord.gg/RVvqpuGaRa

Chapter 135 The Memories Part 94

~~~

Clover dragged me through the throng of loitering Nobility, glasses of wine floating beside them as they sipped and discussed who knew what amongst themselves.

We passed through one of the side doors, leaving out into a hallway that would've been empty if not for the occasional servant performing their duties.

She lead me into a large alcove, which turned out to lead to a blocky, marble staircase that headed upwards.

"Up here!" Clover chirped, pulling me up the stairs.

"I'm coming I'm coming!" I said, moving, but letting her guide me up.

We passed a landing, going up another flight of steps, before reaching the top and disembarking. It wasn't another hallway we had come to, but a sort of enclosed veranda, of which I could see the ballroom below past a banister. The space wasn't unfurnitured, but held various tables with covered chairs to match. Despite the opulence, it felt rather cozy.

We were the only Ponies in the room.

"What is this place?" I asked, looking around.

"A sitting room." Clover hummed. "Usually used during a particularly crowded court or during a troubadour performance so more Ponies can watch. But during a ball it's nearly always deserted."

"Then why-"

"Because you looked like you needed to get away from the crowd."

"... Yeah... Thanks." I smiled.

"Don't mention it!" Clover happily stated. "Come on! Over here is the best part!" she continued, pulling me towards the banister overlooking the ballroom.

"Oh wow!" I gasped.

Below, the ballroom was indeed visible, but what I hadn't expected was that the entire ballroom was visible. It was extremely easy to imagine watching a troupe of performers from this angle, as practically no corner of the room wasn't in view. Currently however, that meant I could see the entire crowd of Noble Ponies as they loitered in their cliques and danced their 'refined' dances.

It was like watching a swarm of bees as they milled around the entrance of their hive.

I began to search the crowd, out of idle curiosity more than anything else.

There was my group of Captains, still standing together but slowly being pulled apart by the unrelenting tides of conversation and the promise of food. Tia obviously hadn't moved, and while she still spoke with a Pony I didn't recognize, her line had drastically shortened.

I wonder what had caused that?

Oh! There was Princess- Former Princess Platinum! She was looking kind of frail, but she was speaking animatedly amongst one of the clumps of Nobles.

Guess somepony had freed her... I'll have to visit her later.

Oh hey! There was Gold Note on the dance floor! Who was he dancing wi-?

Oh. He was with that sow of a mare Gilded Rose.

I was about to continue searching when I was distracted by another round of Tia tapping loudly on a crystal goblet with silverware.

"If I may have your attention?" she called out clearly.

The band slowed and quieted their music before falling silent entirely. The dancers stopped and turned, causing their synchronized formation to loose its cohesion.

"First of all, I'd like to thank you all for coming." Tia stated, loudly enough for her voice to carry over the crowd. "With... Recent events we've all had our trials."

Several in the crowd below chuckled.

"Which leads me to my first announcement. As many of you likely know, Unicornia has been having food shortages for many years now."

Yeah, but I wonder how much that wouldn't be the case if they actually rationed?

"As your new Queen, it falls to me to ensure each and every one of you are safe and cared for. It is therefor, as controversial as it'll be, my decision to evacuate Unicornia South."

The crowd began to shout and protest.

"Please Ponies!" Tia cried over the rising tide. "Consider! Unicornia is too far North for Everfree City to ship food to! If you all stay here you will starve!"

To my surprise, that seemed to mollify the crowd of posh Ponies.

"I understand many of you would be abandoning the homes your families have been occupying for centuries, but I hope you can look past that to understand that continuing life up here in the North is untenable. I will not force you from your homes, but know that if you stay I won't be able to aid you when the snows come." She paused for a moment to let her words sink in before continuing. "Secondly, I'd like to thank my sister Luna for her contribution to my ascension yesterday."

I felt myself stiffen, feeling like I had been caught by lantern light in the middle of the night.

"While I recognize many of you may, understandably, hold reservations of her, the truth is that without her I would not be standing here as the first Alicorn in millennia."

Even at this distance I saw Tia's gaze flick upward towards me, before going back down over the crowd.

"As such, as a show of my respect, I shall be, for the time being, setting aside the title of Queen, and naming us both Princesses of the realm until such a time I will be unopposed for the title."

The crowd roared in protest this time.

But instead of deciphering what was being said, I found my gaze meeting Tia's.

I vigorously shook my head and curtly motioned across my throat.

Stop it. Cut out this nonsense now.

Tia slyly smirked.

She was playing a dangerous game... And I wasn't sure I wanted any part in it.

She continued speaking, but Clover pressed against me and started whispering.

"Princess Luna..." she commented, more thinking out loud than addressing me. "Yeah... I can see it."

I couldn't.

But I felt that horrible, heretical question return.

"Don't be absurd Clover. I'm not Princess material." I protested.

"We both know you're related to Queen- Er, former Queen Iridium by blood. Either way makes you a royal."

Honestly, the name 'Princess Luna' sounded silly to me. Above and beyond, I was the least qualified Pony to be royalty. Even being in this castle for little more than a single day was trying my patience for the prim and proper Ponies within.

Stars above... Even imagining spending every waking second surrounded by them was enough to make me shudder.

The image of myself, stuffed into one of those absurdly huge and poofy dresses, wearing one of those ridiculously tall wigs, and applying powder like an addict was abhorrent to put it lightly.

"Clover-" I started, trying to think of a way to tell her gently. "Look at me. I'm dirty. I came to a ball wearing literal armor. I can't imagine wearing a dress. I'm not 'refined'. I can't stand the taste of wine. And I have four swords on me right this second. Everything about me screams that I'm unfit."

"You think that's all there is to being a ruler?" she rolled her eyes. "Tell me Luna, back in Casúrdomhain, who was it that punished that one Pony who assaulted that foal? Who was it that insisted on making Pegasopolis surrender, when the easy way would've been to kill everypony? Who was it that, despite being insulted and spat at by Unicornia, offered those same Ponies a chance for redemption?"

She leaned in and prodded my chest.

"Who was it who lead us all to victory time and time again?"

"It's not the same Clover." I shook my head. "There's a whole difference between fighting a war and holding court."

"Then what do you think royals do?" the light grey mare asked. "In both places they're commanding Ponies! Really, what is the difference between telling a soldier to march, and telling a Noblemare to increase their taxes?"

"Clover please." I pleaded. "You saw me down there by the buffet table, I couldn't even approach it without second guessing myself."

"That's only because everything here is new to you." She waved away. "You adjusted to being General within a week."

"It was different then!" I protested. "I knew what needed to happen to run a camp and-"

"Are you telling me you knew how battlefield tactics worked before hoof?" she asked.

"Well- I... No!" I denied.

"Then what's the problem? Is it so hard to imagine you can learn to be royalty?"

I didn't really have a rebuttal for that. Technically, I theoretically cou-

"Oh I wouldn't worry about that." Came a voice from behind me.

Something tackled me from behind.

And Clover screamed.

Author's Note

Oooooooooh sheeet! :pinkiegasp:

Chapter 146 The Memories Part 105

Author's Note

The vibe

Trust me, you may want to listen before/during you read the chapter.

... Perhaps on repeat. :twilightsheepish:

https://youtu.be/DWJzuC2IMNs

Chapter 146 The Memories Part 105

~~~

The castle must’ve been taller than I thought, because we began to fall into the open night sky. A city lay below, several buildings in the distance on fire.

I ignored it and pulled myself up to pummel the stallions face with both hooves, the Moon’s Blessing rising behind me again. I felt the amulet behind me to the right as it sang its Alicornian music.

Bloodmoon was having trouble hitting me with the blades beginning to push against his limbs as he flailed to attack.

I pummeled his face furiously as we fell over a great height. Somehow, he pushed his forelimbs to block my punches, but then I remembered the Blessing and brought it ruthlessly down towards his head.

He only managed to stop it by sacrificing half his arm.

“To the strongest!” I heard him clearly say despite the rushing wind.

He didn’t give me an opportunity to think about what he said. Bloodmoon tried to rush for my throat, his sharp teeth gleaming in the night.

If he got his teeth on my throat, I knew this battle would be over.

But at the same time, my swords were going as fast as they could, and the Moon’s Blessing was briefly trapped.

I had no choice but to wrestle the trapped blade into a position to discourage those teeth from getting any closer.

I only barely managed to get the knife between our faces, forcing him to bite one of my forelegs instead.

“RGH!” I grunted in pain, already feeling all the blood in my body migrate towards the wound. “No! You! Don’t!” I grit my teeth and snarled. I pushed the Moon’s Blessing towards my bitten limb. Bloodmoon’s eyes glinted at the glowing blade, before letting go of my arm and willingly pulling his face away from the encroaching weapon.

While I had wrestled the blade around, I couldn’t push again to attack with him still occupying my forelimbs. So I tried to kick and stomp with my hindlimbs. The swords begin to cycle over again. Already I could see the minor scratches on his face begin to seal. He grunted in pain and annoyance as he tried desperately to keep my front hooves restrained and to counter kick with his own back legs. Then I heard the amulet drifting somewhere around one of my swords. I sent the blade to wrap its hilt with the amulet’s string.

I managed to get my hooves on the Moon’s Blessing and pulled it back into a stabbing position, his hoof hung off, all but disconnected. The first swords began to pull his other hoof away, leaving his face open for attack.

I pushed the knife downward as we hit the roof below.

It was by sheer accident that I wasn’t on the bottom as we impacted.

With a thunderous crash, we plowed through and over several flights of a stone spiral staircase. He had absorbed most of the fall, letting me continue my assault. With his injured hoof, he began to block again.

The moon’s blessing bit into a different part of his arm, and he visibly winced as his head began to get pounded from behind by stone steps.

“Huugh!” he growled as he tried to lift me to the side.

“Rrgh!” I growled in reply as I tore the Moon’s Blessing free again, bringing more swords from behind, one of which I had caught the amulet on.

He managed to lift me to the side, forcing me to take some of the brunt of us still falling down the stairs.

I couldn’t counter his vampiric strength, so all I could do was continue slashing furiously with the glowing blade. He managed to get above, and had a free moment to get away from the swords floating behind him.

“Oh no y-” I snarled, grabbing one of his back hooves to pull myself with him as he began to fly.

The swords couldn’t get to him in time and I couldn’t keep a grip, allowing him to speed down the stairs.

“Damnit!” I growled as I hit the ground. The swords floating above me to discourage a counter attack.

He pushed his advantage and disappeared down into the darkness.

I snarled wordlessly as time began to swirl back into normalcy.

“Coward!” I shouted, bringing up the swords ready to attack, pressing the flat of the Moon’s Blessing to the bite wound in my leg. Hoping the holy nature of the blade would fight any toxins in Bloodmoon’s bite. That done, I then banished the Moon’s Blessing, solely so he couldn’t see it coming.

He was speeding through a distant hallway too far away to properly pay attention to me. I began to follow, another curse on my lips. The battle ax with the garlic finally recycled over my shoulder, probably because it had caught the vampire early and had just been dislodged somehow.

Using another blade, I cut a small wound on the garlic's surface, spilling its pungent juice slightly. That done, I pushed the ax ahead to spread the garlic stink in the area ahead before my scent could taint the air.

I saw the blur that was the Vampire Lord duck through a doorway. I swung the ax ahead savagely in an attempt to surprise a potential ambush.

It almost caught the vampire’s open fangs as he dived for where he expected to bite my throat.

But Bloodmoon managed to turn his head as the ax caught the side of his head. The Moon’s Blessing flew into position with a flash, already beginning to fall from above like a guillotine.

The vampire managed to escape another pinning and began to force itself away again.

I managed to get a hoof onto the tail edge of his cape, beginning to pull myself up his length. The Moon’s Blessing rose from behind again. The ax of garlic had wound itself up and was beginning to descend again.

The ax managed to catch on a leg as he began to fly away again, the glowing knife speeding forward for another assault, more swords not far behind.

The vampire turned through a double door, breaking out into one of his “exotic” gardens.

I inhaled deeply as I began to charge another spell, the swords began to descend again as he flew over a pollen cloud. I pulled myself up to his waist as I brought the Moon’s Blessing down towards his torso.

The vampire flew in loops and jerky stops to try and dislodge me into his dangerous plants.

I redoubled my efforts to grab into his cloak to pull myself ahead further. The Moon’s Blessing couldn’t miss the stallion’s stomach, biting deep into his belly.

“RaaGH!” he growled in pain as he lost control of the flight for a second. He managed to pull himself together to pull up before he landed in a trap of one of his own plants.

The spell I had been building activated, spewing flaming sparks in a beautiful orange shower into the garden. The Ax bit deeply into Bloodmoon’s chest, securing itself solidly in the stallion’s ribs.

The vampire began to lose control of the flight, and was swiftly stalling. I grabbed the handle of the stuck ax to pull myself up into a standing position over the falling vampire, hoping to use him as a shield for when he plowed into the ground. The glowing blade disappeared, letting the vampire’s dark red ichor begin to leak from the wound.

That finally must’ve done a decent number on the stallion as he finally took an immediately lethal wound.

Already his head began to kick up dirt and rocks as it began to plow into the earth. The Blade with the Amulet wrapped around its hilt floated helpfully nearby.

He growled in pain as he began to flail again as he sunk inches into the dirt. We plowed through the horizontal trunk of a large flower.

It slowed him just enough that he broke through under the next parallel trunk, but I got caught over the top.

“Damnit!” I grunted, pulling myself to stand on the flower’s trunk. Several of the blooms began to turn towards what they hoped would be their next meal.

The vampire hissed in pain as he tried to push himself to get away. Growling still, I began to jump over the trunks he had slid under, the sword with the pendent floating above for a chance to slam itself through the stallion’s chest.

Bloodmoon had been severely wounded enough that even with his vampiric speed, he couldn’t hope to match what he needed, and thus began to flag as he rapidly grew weaker. I dove with a furious war cry, a readied sword with an amulet dangling from it hilt, the sword already beginning to descend. The glowing silver blade soared above once again.

We must’ve been much higher than I thought, for we fell through a low garden wall into open air.

Again.

I pushed the sword with the amulet downward, hoping to touch the dangling thing to the leech’s flesh even if by accident.

“Ruuughh!” I groaned loudly as the blade began to kiss into the stallion’s chest.

“Grah!” he snarled as this fresh wound began to hurt more than even his undead constitution could handle.

We crashed onto another lower tier in the castle, this time only a few stories below and into a grassy courtyard.

We bounced off stonework, sending us both flying.

It took me a few moments to recover from the stun of hitting the ground, but Bloodmoon was too weak to go more than a few feet. I growled again and dove towards the fleeing vampire, the sword with the pendent sticking halfway into his chest, the amulet dangling merrily from the hilt.

I dove forward, trying to use my weight to push the hilt downward, not caring how much the blade would be blunted.

The stallion saw the pendent could be taken from my control for at least a few seconds and twirled suddenly, yanking the sword from my grip and making me hit the stone again.

I snarled and pushed myself forward before I had even properly hit the ground, lifting the two weapons I had left, the Moon’s Blessing and the battleax... Only half of the garlic was still attached.

The stallion wasn’t paying attention, and he tripped over a hunk of debris, falling to the ground gracelessly. I snarled and pulled myself forward with renewed vigor, just out of reach for my weapons to attack instantly. The vampire began to scramble at the ground, his dignity long forgotten. The knife rushed low in an attempt to keep it out of his wide eyed sight before it was too late. The Axe glinted dangerously as it began to descend from above.

I pounced as I pushed the Moon’s Blessing for a final plunge into where the stallion’s heart should’ve been. The glowing blade sunk deeply to the hilt, cutting through a rib bone with relative ease.

“Grooooooow…” he moaned. He no longer had the fight to struggle, I took this chance and threw my whole weight into the hilt of the impaled sword. I must’ve bent the whole blade at some point, because it felt like was was trying to push a plate of sturdy steel through garden dirt.

The vampire could hardly struggle. If he wasn’t conditionally immortal, I would’ve been surprised he hadn’t died, even as a vampire.

But finally, I got the hilt of the sword deep enough to where the amulet could touch and intermingle with his dirty coat hair.

It was done.

I clearly saw the amulet touching his fur, a rivulet of blood running down its surface.

The vampire lay still, and I found myself breathing heavily...

I had won.

Now that I had the time to begin to think again, I unwrapped the amulet from the ruined sword. The wind was beginning to pick up, far colder than what this night should’ve been capable of.

A dark chuckle began to sound in the back of my skull.

“You have failed me…” It chortled.

“N-no! Please!” the stallion, who had been nothing but confident up until our fight, for the first time sounded afraid. “Spare me my Lord! I can still deliver it to yov!”

“Humph” the deep voice harrumphed, before a pressure that had been thus far unnoticed, began to fade away.

As it did, a cloud moved from in front of the moon.

But for the first time in thousands of years, the moon’s glow was not baleful.

It was such a glaring but subtle change, that Bloodmoon seemed to be startled from the evidence of his imminent demise, and had a moment of dazed confusion.

“Som’thin’... Diff’r…” he slurred, casting his gaze around for something out of place. My wounds were catching up with me, aching and bruised,, I pulled myself forward over the fallen Vampire.

“I need you to know.” I whispered into his face, lifting him by his collar. I knew not if his curse still remained. But even if it did, the stallion before me was in no state to take his vengence. “I never came here for you. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have bothered about you for years.” I half sighed half grunted into his face that was beginning to grow concerningly black and rotten.

“I-I-I- F-” he tried to mumble out, his reality slamming back down on his withers.

“And you will continue to fail.” I promised. “Every one of your monstrous ilk will fail to defeat Ponykind. So long as I exist… I will make sure they will all fail.”

I unceremoniously dropped him back to the ground, he wasn't dead yet, but he was swiftly fading, and he was longer a concern for my true purpose.

I looked up to the moon, which was almost unrecognizable with it's pale, almost white light. Not pink, not ruddy, not red, and certainly not bloody crimson.

It was white.

Pure unadulterated white.

More pure than freshly fallen snow.

So bright you could see as if it were day.

I sat on my haunches, admiring her full revealed beauty for a moment.

But a promise, was a promise.

I could not enjoy this hauntingly beautiful moment forever.

I closed my eyes, committing the sight to memory. I reached up with both hooves and began to fiddle with the amulet.

It took some strength, somewhat difficult to muster after the fight with Bloodmoon, but I pulled the dark bars around the white stone free.

I barely registered that the stone began to glow as I reopened my eyes. Even though I had forced myself to end the moment, I still had only eyes for the gorgeous silver orb in the sky.

~~~

I opened my eyes.

Which was odd because I didn’t remember closing them.

In fact I was beginning to fight my eyelids so they remained open just a little bit longer.

The sight wasn’t of the bright pure moon, but it was even more beautiful.

Stars.

Stars as far as the eye could see.

Stars of every color, of different brilliances, all slightly thrumming in a chaotic, yet harmonious manner.

“Well done young one.” I hadn’t noticed her before, but the now familiar silver mare sat on something in the distance.

“Moon!” I cheered, trotting forwards eagerly. “I did it! I- Uh… Where are we?” The aches and pains of the fight seemed to have vanished without my awareness, because I felt well rested and oddly cheerful.

“All in good time young one.” the mare smiled gently. “I am so proud of you, young one! My Luna! My friend! My Champion!”

I couldn’t help but smile at the compliments, but I couldn’t say if it was because of my odd cheer or I actually enjoyed them.

“You’ve passed the test!” she beamed pleasantly. “You truly did it!”

“But uh…” I hesitated despite myself. “What now? I thought this was my end goal, and I don’t really have any plans beyond today.”

The mare smiled but suppressed a polite chuckle.

“No Luna. This is not your end. In fact, this is only your beginning.” She waved a hoof, and illusions began to dance around us. “You are a great pony Luna. And you always have been. Never forget that. Just like your sister, you have a great amount of say over the fate of my sister Gaia.”

“I’m… I’m not sure I understand.” I admitted, not willing to lie, especially here. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the illusions depicted me playing ball with a much younger Tia.

“No Luna… I know you understand what I’m offering. You just don’t think you are worthy of it.”

The heretical question roared in my mind.

An image of Tia floated into view.

And not just any Tia.

It was the moment that “Tia” became a true Alicorn. A battered mare wearing armor, with her swan like wings extended, standing at the head of the Unicornian Cathedral... Looking like she was performing a sermon to even the clergy.

Her mark of destiny boldly emblazoned on her flanks.

That was what she was meant to do.

No one who was there that day would ever doubt that Tia was meant to rule. She had been made specifically for the role.

My mind briefly thought of my own bare flank.

And with it, that damned question.

'Am I to be an Alicorn as well?'

“It’s funny…” I began, the weight of my realization settling down. “I went to Bloodmoon’s manner fully expecting to die at any moment. I just got lucky. And now you’re telling me…” Tears began to well in my eyes. “I won’t have to leave Tia? I could be by her side and be there for her when the centuries grow long?” The tears were at critical mass. “I-” An emotion that I couldn’t quite name seemed to crash on my soul like a hurricane.

“Yes Luna.” the moon said patiently. “You and Celestia were always meant to rule side by side. As different as the night and day, and yet in perfect harmony.”

I couldn’t respond, not adequately anyway.

I fell to the floor, wrapping my head in my hooves as I began to do my best to flood the void.

I don’t know how long I let my emotions run rampant. All I know is that the silver mare had never left my side.

“I understand.” she said good naturedly when I began to become coherent again. “Do you still want-”

“Yes.” I immediately stated. “Yes I accept.” I looked up at the mare, tears threatening to begin forming again.

“Then it’s settled.” the mare said with finality. “Just…”

She reached a hoof for her veil.

“Look…” she started to pull it upwards revealing the top half of her face.

“Into…”

I gasped loudly in surprise.

“My…”

The two orbs I saw bored into me with light beyond even the brilliance of the sun.

“Eyes…”

White.

~~~

I was rising. More power flowed through my veins than I had ever felt. Dimly I became aware of my hooves leaving the ground underneath. The sight of the silver full moon hanging above a city that looked to be in the end stages of a riot greeted my vision.

I could hear gasps behind me.

“No longer shall the Moon be a symbol of evil lurking in the darkness!” I exclaimed, somehow turning myself around midair towards my audience. Several Halfbloods and former prisoners had begun to gather in the grassy courtyard below.

“No longer shall Ponykind fear the light of the Moon!” I proclaimed again, the ground beneath me getting farther and farther away. A strangely shaped shadow crept along the ground towards the crowd who were struck dumb with awe.

“Let all evil doers and monsters hear me! From this day forth the Moon shall be known as a symbol of justice! ” I began to gesture wildly with my arms.

“From this day forth the light of the Moon will bring terror to those who lurk in the shadows!” Several of the closest Halfbloods in the front of the crowd had begun to bow.

“Never again will the Moon herald the coming of a grim monster or the disappearance of a loved one!” The shadow of a pony with great sweeping wings gracefully slide over the gathered crowd.

“May her silver light be an anathema to those who would do harm to the innocent!” Bloodmoon must’ve still been alive, because I could suddenly hear him screaming in pain, with even more vampires suddenly dying in the distance. By now, all of the Halfbloods had prostrated themselves on the ground, but the dayborn ponies were mostly still standing. Although they looked like they were moments away from joining their night brethren.

“May the light of the Moon shine true justice where even the Sun fears to tread!” I spread my forelegs dramatically wide.

Everypony was now bowing, even those far away in the distance.

The dawn of a new age had come indeed, as the Moon rose.