Chapter 1: An Alright Start
A cold spring breeze welcomed Luna out of her tent. The morning Sun was rising over the mountains in the distance, casting a soft orange glow over the dozens of long tents huddled together in tenuous camaraderie. Neatly arranged near them, armours and weapons glimmered in the sunlight, waiting for their owners to don them for yet another day of marching.
The camp hadn’t exactly started to wake up and its inhabitants were still in their lodgings, enjoying their final dragging minutes of sleep, although soft whispers and stirring sounds came from a few tents around Luna. Still, despite the early hours of the morning, one single mare sat by the firepit with a sword as big as her as sole companion.
She raised her head at Luna’s approach.
“Sister.” Celestia put down Dawnbreaker and gave Luna a small smile. “It’s good to see you finally awake.”
Celestia’s alabaster-white coat and soft pink mane looked as regal as the coat and mantle of a general, and her eyes were as sharp as the sword in her hooves. Dawnbreaker glistened silver in the sunlight, thoroughly and carefully coated with oil. Some stained Celestia’s coat, making the short fur shine like snow in summer. Even as her attention was on Luna, she idly passed a cloth in even strokes over the blade to remove excess oil. Another cloth — soaked with thick grease — and a bottle of oil lay discarded next to her.
“And it’s good to see you keeping to your good habits despite these… troubled times.” Luna nudged her muzzle toward the oil and cloth next to her sister.
“Troubled times pass, but a sword rusts easily.” Celestia levitated the thoroughly-oiled Dawnbreaker into its scabbard with a lightness that didn’t betray the true weight of the weapon. Celestia didn’t fight as much as she smote her foes, unstoppable and beautiful like the summer Sun.
She rose with a knowing smile and made her way to a nearby tent. Luna watched her go with a sigh, hoping she wouldn’t have to add to her already growing list of medical supplies.
Celestia lifted open the flaps of the tent with her scabbard and grinned. “Steel Breaker, wake uuuuuup!”
Luna couldn’t help but smile. For all that grace and majesty, Celestia’s childish side always pierced through when she wasn’t distracted by battle.
A dejected groan came from inside the tent. Luna couldn’t help but stifle a chuckle. Steel Breaker had drunkenly challenged Celestia in duel the previous day, and she wasn’t one to let her ego be bruised freely.
“This is going to be so much fun!” Celestia flashed an excited smile at Luna. “Oh, do you mind clearing up the space a little?”
Luna rolled her eyes but nodded anyway. “Alright, but you be careful with him, we can’t afford to drag a crippled soldier with us.”
She walked away from the hesitant pleas of Steel Breaker and the gigglings of her sister, and started to rearrange the central place into a more fitting arena, packing the firepit with dirt and placing benches around the area for the soldiers who had started to pour out of their tents. After completing her task, she sat down on a bench and took out her books to start working on the day’s march. Soldiers took place around her. She paid them no heed.
With a bit of prodding and tugging from Celestia, Steel Breaker emerged from his tent clad in his armour — an iron helm and plates that protected his front and side, well-fitted leg protections and shoes. On the battlefield, it would have looked impressive. Knowing who he was going to face off against, he could have been wearing paper armour for all the good it would do him.
Celestia wore nothing but an iron peytral and shoes. She gave him a mocking grin and made a show of parading around the arena to heat up the spirit of the soldiers who were already starting to cheer and place bets — all of them on Celestia. Luna turned back to her ledgers and notes while Celestia and her opponent prepared themselves for battle. She didn’t need to watch the duel to know who would win.
She ignored the soldiers grouping up around them to watch the fight. She ignored the cheers and hoots as they watched their leader mercilessly trash the poor Steel Breaker. At that point, the clanging of metal against metal was a background noise to help her focus as she fought in her own arena.
How they would approach their next opponent: the city-state of Featherlock. What words they would need to confront them, to get them to lower their defenses and let a well-aimed quill strike the parchment of their heart and bring them down to their knees.
Another victory, another fragment of the land conquered. And the only thing spilled would be ink. It was in those moments that Luna found satisfaction. The silent victory brought by the flourish of a quill was as sweet as the one brought by the flourish of a sword.
And with another city taken — not by force if at all possible, but by words — they would be that much closer to unifying the broken land in peace and harmony.
Her gaze wandered to the marching map to her side. For now the intricacies of politics and diplomacy had to be set aside for something else.
She pulled the map over a drawing board on her lap. Annotations and symbols covered the fractured representation of the land. Borders had been drawn and redrawn, resembling more a bunch of squiggly lines than carefully plotted political frontiers.
All but one.
In a corner of the map, one segment was clearly delimited. One half-circle, traced in one stroke, and untouched since she had first drawn it years ago. One word, tucked away like it wanted to be forgotten.
Byrjun.
In an ancient tongue, so old it had been forgotten by the ages, it meant “the land where everything ends”. According to legends, nothing existed there, save for the trees, mountains, and phantoms of a long-gone past. Even though no one laid claim to it, it had a frontier: a sharp line where the living world ended, and the rot and corruption that lurked inside Byrjun started.
Save for the vegetation, nothing lived there. Nothing wanted to be there.
And they were going to be passing right next to it very soon.
It was in these moments that Luna was glad to be in charge of their little band. Knowing Celestia, she would have marched right through it, possibly even making a detour “just to see what the fuss is all about”.
Good thing I’m here.
Luna squirmed and shuffled her things, switching out documents and rough maps around her to the beat of the fighters’ steel clashing.
She glanced at the battle. Correction. To the beat of Celestia beating against Steel Breaker’s armour while the poor stallion cowered on the ground.
With an irritated “tsk”, Luna went back to her maps. She’d berate Celestia later. For now, what mattered was to make sure the marching route would definitely avoid Byrjun by a large margin. Featherlock was much too close to the accursed land for her tastes. The last thing they needed was to be backed against that eerily clean border in the event of an enemy attack.
She thought while she checked and double checked. All the while, she caught herself humming an old song from way back when. Her quill tapped the rhythm against the wooden board.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven-eight.
Eight taps. Five seconds.
Her head nodded lightly. She let the rhythm drive her, and let the familiar humming in her mouth drone out the outside noises.
She focused. Her thoughts followed the stream of the quill’s beats against the board, keeping themselves straight and on path. The battle raging on before her didn’t exist anymore. All that remained were the drumming beat of her quill, and the map who seemed to come alive under her gaze as her mind rearranged lines and marks to trace the path of their march.
A memory blossomed in the back of her mind. Two mares, kind mares, all smiles and patience, teaching her a song.
Eight beats, five seconds.
That rhythm had always stuck with her. It was a fragment of an easier past, one of the last remnants of the soul of a filly who traveled not to conquer, but to visit and stare in wonder at all the strange places and people she met.
She didn’t look forward to the day when they would march on the homeland of those two kind mares.
Celestia’s laughter cut through her humming, broke her concentration. Luna blinked, and raised her head. The battle was already over.
The rhythm died down, the budding memory of the song returned to the recesses of her mind. The smiles of the mares hung like phantoms for a moment, and vanished. Luna breathed in, and out, and returned to the present.
Celestia approached the motionless stallion before her, parading with her chest puffed out like she was some prideful bird. “You know, for a second there you could have actually beaten me if you weren’t such a weakling.”
She tapped his helmet with Dawnbreaker and pried it off him. Steel Breaker let his head hit the ground with a groan and rolled to his belly, trying to rise on wavering legs.
Celestia offered him a hoof with a warm smile. “Good work.”
Steel Breaker wrapped his own hoof around Celestia’s, and the mare pulled him up to his hooves. She kept Steel Breaker’s hoof in a friendly grip and shook it. “I must commend you for having the courage to stand against me. Your insolence is forgiven.”
Her grin widened. “Don’t do it again.”
“Yes ma’am.” Steel Breaker’s voice was shaky, probably half from his hit — or, knowing how Celestia fought in a duel, multiple hits — to the head and the other half from relief.
Celestia looked around the crowded ponies around her. “Alright everyone,” she barked, we’re packing up!”
The crowd dispersed in an orderly fashion, every soldier of the camp going to their personal tent to dismantle them and prepare to get back on the road. Celestia watched them for a moment before turning to Luna. “Enjoy the show, little sister?”
“As always. Although a simple disciplinary hearing would have been more than enough.”
Celestia rolled her eyes. “And miss a chance to give you some entertainment?”
Luna shook her head. “It just so happens that tomorrow, we’ll be going dangerously close to Byrjun, and I’d like to have our people at their best, and not half-dazed by you roughing them up.”
Celestia’s grin wavered. “Come on, Lulu, don’t tell me you believe those old stories.”
Luna held her gaze for a moment before looking down at her books. “I like considering every possibility before taking any action.”
Celestia shook her head. “Sometimes is the time for thinking, but other times is the time for action.”
Celestia could have retorted that she was simply being too paranoid, or not brazen enough, but then again, if not for Luna’s over-carefulness, the entirety of their band would probably have been rotting away in some dungeon, or met their fate from so many treacherous traps along their way.
“Fine,” Celestia let out at last. “I won’t be roughing up anyone else before we’re a good way from that place.”
“Thank you.” Luna smiled.
Celestia didn’t move even with Luna’s subtle dismissal. Instead, she cocked her head and grinned. “You know we only have so many nibs, right?”
Luna frowned before realizing her quill was still beating the rhythm on her board, and its nib was in danger of sharing the fate of so many other victims of her habit. She stuffed the quill away with an embarrassed flush.
“What’s that children’s song that you keep tapping the beat to again?” Celestia asked smugly. “‘Hi there filly’? ‘High and Mighty?’”
“‘Highland Filly’,” Luna corrected, and for a moment, the smiles returned to her mind before she batted them away inwardly. “And it’s not a children’s song, it’s actually a folkloric song from Alba that’s used as a military march.”
“So a children’s song that’s used as a military march?”
Luna couldn’t help but smile at the mocking twinkle in Celestia’s eyes. “You could say that.”
“Well you should teach it to our musicians.” Celestia rolled her eyes. “Stars know I’m getting sick of the same old songs. Maybe you could even join in!”
Luna shook her head. “I couldn’t. I couldn’t march with you and then stay behind while you all fight.”
Celestia scoffed. “Lulu, come on.”
“Thank you for the offer, but it just wouldn’t be right.” Luna rose and smile. “I’ll make sure everything is ready for our departure. I won’t be long.”
Celestia nodded with a look of dejection and turned away to the rest of the camp, hooking Dawnbreaker to a strap running along her back. Luna watched her go with a certain longing.
It wasn’t that Luna was weak per se. She was skilled enough with the blade, and her magical abilities were only rivaled by Celestia’s own. But a fighter she was not. More than once, she had cowered on the battlefield, and only her sister’s quick reflexes and monster of a weapon had saved her from being cut down. But when her mind wasn’t dulled by the stress of battle, she was sharp, and had found usefulness in becoming the organizer of their faction, as well as their chief diplomat.
Still…
Her packing was fast, her belongings few and easy to organize. Two lightly armoured stallions undid the gigantic tent she shared with her sister and packed it away tightly in a bundle with the rest of the camp’s shelters. Little by little, the field of canvas whittled to nothing, and the small army stood in a naked field. The air smelled fresh and crisp as the day advanced into noon, and as the Sun reached its zenith, Celestia called out the headcount in a booming voice, and Luna took place beside her. The soldiers stood in formation, answering when Luna called out their name. Dusky Ink, her second-in-command, went through the ranks, giving a cursory check to each and every member of their band.
Truly a well-oiled army. Now all they needed was a country to their name. A solid one, where peace and order reigned.
Luna checked the last name on her list with an approving nod.
“Excuse me,” a voice rose behind her. “You seem to have forgotten someone.”
They spun to face the voice, Celestia unsheathing Dawnbreaker and raising it upright, ready to strike.
Two mares stood a few paces away from them. The first one looked like she’d been carved from stone. Grey of coat and mane, roughly sculpted all in edges and muscles. A massive hammer rested head-first on the ground next to her, the handle held in a pale blue magic aura. The second mare was smaller, draped in a heavy dark-grey cloak that hid her face.
“Who are you?” Celestia readied a strike, falling into a combat stance.
“Easy, sister.” Luna stepped forward, stopping her impulsive sister from doing anything rash. “You two, just answer her question and don’t do anything stupid.”
“I am Silver Dawn,” the cloaked mare said in a cold voice that sent chills up Luna’s spine. “And my companion here is named Granite. We’re hardly more than two travelers interested in this land’s fate, like you are.”
Luna relaxed somewhat, and felt Celestia do the same next to her. “I take it we have common interests then?”
“You could say that.”
“Welcome to our little band, then!” Celestia stepped forward, all animosity gone from her. “We could always use any help we can get.”
“Sister…” Luna’s voice was a low growl. One would think a warrior of Celestia’s calibre wouldn’t potentially expose herself to danger like that. It wouldn’t be the first time she allowed herself to be too comfortable with potential allies.
Luna caught herself before stepping in to stop her and had to force down a smile. The way Celestia moved, flowing and nonchalant, was nothing but a facade to hide the ironclad resolve with which Dawnbreaker followed her. One suspicious move by the two mares, and the sword would cut them down without mercy.
At least she listened to me for once…
“I am glad to see someone with a modicum of sense at last.” Silver Dawn lightly bowed her head at Celestia. “I have in my possession something I believe might be of interest to questing ponies such as yourself and your sister. Granted, that is, that such a prospect intrigues you.”
Luna tilted her head, as confused by the mare’s words as by the way she said them. “You’re not from these parts, aren’t you?”
She could feel a frozen knife draw a smile under Silver Dawn’s hood. “And you are quite the probing little thing, are you not?” The hooded mare turned back to Celestia, leaving Luna’s question hanging in the air. “Nevertheless, what are your thoughts on this proposal of mine?”
This time, Luna took a step forward, heated with irritation at being ignored. Still, she kept her voice steady and calm. “If you have information that can help us, you’re more than welcome to join me in my—”
“But what I have is not information, manebarn.” The mare’s eyes glistened in the shadows enveloping her face.
She reached under her cloak and took out a small thing hanging from a chain around her neck, and let it hang. It was a downward-pointing triangle of grey stone in the middle of which a diamond-shaped hole gaped. Now that it was exposed, Luna could feel its chilling power as it seemed to reach and tug at her. Silver Dawn caressed it gently, like it was a foal in need of reassurance. “No, what I have is not information, but the means with which all of these petty wars and conflicts can finally end.”
“What is it?” Celestia asked, more to Luna than to the mare in front of them.
But try as she would, Luna couldn’t recall ever seeing something like the pendant Silver Dawn was holding. It was too simple to be anything modern, and exuded an aura of primitive magic — primal and disorganised — almost like it predated the simplest of unicorn spells and enchantments. Even the most basic telekinesis spell has a pattern, a clear flow. The pendant’s aura felt like it was feeling around, searching for something out of reach. Luna reached out to it with her own magic. It made no sense for her unicorn mind trained for rigorous, modern spellcraft. Compared to what she was used to, the strange pulses and swerves in the amulet’s patterns were like slithering eels slipping away from her under the muddled surface of some strange and ancient lake.
“Let me answer for your sister.” Silver Dawn smiled warmly at Celestia. “This was gifted to me by my mother, who had it gifted to her by her mother, and so on for generations. There is a legend where I come from, that when strife takes over the land, before the winds of winter can chill the blood of the world, the amulet will guide us to the one who can thaw the land and bring about a new era.”
Silver Down bowed lightly before Celestia. “And my steps have taken me to you.”
Silence hung in the air for a long moment. Celestia glanced at Luna, who could only blink and stand frozen as she was trying to make sense of what she heard and felt within the pendant, and back at the two other mares.
“So,” Celestia said tentatively, “that means you’re going to help us unite the land?”
Silver Dawn let out a small laugh. “No, fair Celestia. You are going to help us.”
Luna could feel Celestia tense. The trained muscles of her sister contracted as she readied herself. She herself hastened her probing at the strange amulet, hoping despite herself that it would reveal itself to be harmless.
Even still, she was confident. They had warriors. Mages. Counterspells abound. Two mares couldn’t do anything against them.
Luna caught the glimpse of something under the ripples of the amulet’s aura. Something building up, clawing its way to the surface. Something hungry.
“Celestia, watch out!”
The cloaked mare’s eyes flashed white, and magic swelled up in the air, pressing against Luna like a tidal wave. Celestia didn’t hesitate, swinging Dawnbreaker at the mage and aiming for the kill.
A counterwave of magic pushed forward from within the assembly of soldiers. Luna’s invokers were trying to unravel the mare’s spell before it was finished.
“No you don’t!” Granite intercepted Dawnbreaker with a swing of her hammer, sending the greatsword flying high in the air. Without as much as sparing a glance for it, Celestia charged forward—
“Tia, no!” Luna wanted to step in, wanted to hold her sister back, but she was frozen in place, unable to force herself to move.
The flow of the invokers’ counterspells couldn’t decipher or stop the primal enchantment of the amulet. Magic shifted in the air as the cloaked mare finished her spell. She swung her head toward Celestia and unleashed the raw, ancient spellcraft of her pendant. A torrent of grey light surged at Celestia and wrapped around her. Luna turned away from the blinding light and called upon a reflexive spell, throwing a shield in front of herself and the rest of the soldiers.
She held fast, trembling, trying to ignore the gnawing she felt at her soul as Celestia screamed under Silver Dawn’s spell. It only lasted a second, if even, and still that second felt like it stretched forever, and Celestia’s cries of pain and panic rent her ears.
When the light dissipated, Celestia was on the ground, covered in luminous chains. Dawnbreaker fell back with a dull thud, sinking halfway into the soft earth. Like a signal had roused them from their sleep, the soldiers charged ahead with a collective cry of anger.
“We’re done here.” Silver Dawn swung her hoof in an arc, and a gale wind swept the army off their hooves and into the air. A metallic crash sounded all around Luna as the army fell back down. “Come on, Granite.”
Luna couldn’t move. Her body was filled with abject terror at the sight of her sister bound and helpless, of the finest soldiers in the land splayed motionless on the ground.
That old clawing fear seized her, gripped her. In the back of her mind, she was waiting for Celestia to interject, to raise her sword at them with a confident jeer.
But her sister wouldn’t help this time.
“What about her?” Granite pointed at Luna.
Silver Dawn’s eyes became mocking pinpricks under her hood. “A worm. No need to worry about her.”
She made as if to leave. Luna stepped forward. She was shaking, the fear still clutching her soul. “Stop.”
The hooded mare’s eyes narrowed. “But we won’t stop, manebarn. We’re awaited for—”
Enraged, desperate, Luna fired a blue beam from her horn, aimed right at Silver Dawn’s heart. But she only watched helplessly as her magic swirled around the amulet before disappearing in the gaping hole in its center. The cloaked mare shrugged and grinned, her face illuminated by the soft glow of her horn.
“Give me back my sister.” It was a desperate order. Luna’s voice shook, but she forced herself to take a step. Then another. Magic wouldn’t work? Fine. Her horn lit up again, and she took hold of a fallen soldier’s halberd before swinging it wildly at Silver Dawn.
“I said we were done here.” Silver Dawn nudged her head toward Luna, and Granite stepped forward, heaving her massive hammer into the air and breaking the halberd in half. “Finish her, and we’ll get going.”
Granite hesitated, hammer hovering next to her. She stared at Luna for a moment, and swung in a lazy arc.
Luna closed her eyes with a wince. That was it. It was over.
With a metallic crash, a gigantic sword intercepted the hammer. Dawnbreaker clashed against the attack for a moment before Granite pulled back her weapon. Luna took a step back too, astonished. Did Celestia just save her? Wasn’t she—
It was only then she noticed the blue light surrounding Dawnbreaker, and the energy pouring out from her own horn. She had grabbed it by reflex. But now that she held it, she could feel its weight, feel herself be dragged down by the sheer effort required to hold it up. It was either swing, or collapse.
“What are you doing?” Silver Dawn hissed. “We don’t have time for this. Come on, we need to go. That ritual isn’t going to perform itself.”
With one last glance at Luna, Granite turned away with her companion, and the mares walked away, dragging the motionless Celestia behind them.
Dawnbreaker wavered next to her. She couldn’t hold it for long. It was either swing, or collapse. Face possible death, or accept defeat.
Even as her mind spun, trying to calculate her chances, trying to come up with a desperate plan, her body moved, dragged by the sword’s weight as much as by the fury in Luna’s heart.
“I said, give me back—”
She’d chosen. She threw herself at them, Dawnbreaker falling with her like an executioner’s axe.
“ — MY SISTER!”
Silver Dawn spun and raised a hoof, meeting the sword with a magical barrier. Sparks flew, crackling around the cloaked mare as Dawnbreaker cleaved through her shield, until the protection burst with a snap, and a shockwave threw all three mares back.
Luna hit the ground with a grunt. A searing pain tore through her side, flayed by the earth and rocks under her. She picked herself up as best she could, her legs wavering below her. She raised her head—
Silver Dawn and Granite were running away, Celestia in tow.
Dazed, she took off after them, ignoring the pain of the ripped flesh on her side, ignoring the fatigue, ignoring the soldiers yelling at her to wait.
Now wasn’t the time for thinking. Now was the time for action.
