The Night is all around us

Back and to the left.

Back and to the left.

All he could see was that mare’s neck snap. Back and to the left. Hit by his bullet.

Rush had no idea where he was now. He was laying in some secluded part of the city, surrounded by other ponies. Many of them under shock, wounded, bandages. Talking in small groups, more than a thestral in uniform and rifle at the ready walking or flying by. They all had a strange, determined look in their eyes.

The mare who had dragged him across half the city had disappeared in the sidelines and he had no idea where she had ended up to.

Why did she leave him alone? And where was his truck?

And how come the moon had not moved from the sky? It was supposed to be almost dawn. That much his frizzled body knew – a cycle engrained into his bones since the very first few days.

Good night, the dead sergeant had greeted him.

What of the dawn? Will there ever be dawn for him again? For Equestria?

Looking up, all he could see was the same sparkly stars, glistening like blood drops. Like the same drops spilling onto the pavement. He looked down at his hooves.

He did something. Pulled a trigger.

It had been in self-defense.

He was justified.

Where was his truck?

He was supposed to go home.

These thoughts and similar passed through his mind like lost bats when he saw the ponies around him slowly stand up and turn towards an excited group of messengers, gathering at the other end of the plaza. A choir of cheers rose through the night air, carrying excited words and a few gunshots, thankfully directed upwards.

“The city is taken,” he heard the closest pony say. “Manehattan belongs to the Empress!”

“For the Lunar Empire!” A thestral shouted rising in the air and cartwheeling on leathery wings. Up above, the stars seemed to shine a little brighter.

“For the Lunar Empire!” came the reply from a thousand more throats. The ponies sauntered and hollered as victorious shouts reached for the heavens.

“Luna,” he muttered, feeling once again that pressure from above reaching for him. Bide, he remembered from the poster, from everything he had seen up until that point. Was this the moment he had been told to bide for? This moment of elation, this moment when he finally got what he needed, once and for all?

Might be.

An ember was lit in his heart, the kind of which he had only briefly felt back during the Princess’ celebration.

But wait, the bomb… did that mean the Princess was safe?
And who was the culprit then?

“Hey,” he heard. Somepony approached him. He blinked and his gaze focused on the golden-eyed thestral of before. She was wearing a new uniform now, with a hard cap on her head, and walking towards him with a professional-looking dark-coated unicorn. “You are Steel Rush, right?”

He nodded, still a bit dumbfounded. He had no idea what to do.

“This is the pony who saved from the solarists’ ambush. He also was at the Prin-… at the Empress’ speech. I think we can trust him.”

“Hmmm,” the unicorn studied him. “He looks mostly harmless. You said he had a truck?”

“I like to ride,” Rush said, without thinking. Once again his tongue was faster than his brain. Or maybe he was still thinking about that poor mare.

Back and to the left.

Back and to the left.

“I think I shot somepony,” he blurted. “Oh Celestia I shot a pony.”

The thestral’s ears flickered at the name and the other pony frowned.

“You must be under shock still. Why don’t you follow me for a bit, we may have something to talk about.”

He did as he was told. It was starting to become a habit, but then again what kind of choice did he have?

Back and to the left. Her neck snapping like a twig. They all entered a makeshift tent. The unicorn lifted a bottle and three glasses from a cabinet, filling them all to the brink with orange, thick liquid.

“To this night. The first of many, the first of ever.”

“May the night last forever,” the thestral replied clinking her glass.

He did the same.

“You should avoid uttering that name,” the thestral explained. “Not many will take to it kindly. If you want to, you can swear in the name of the Empress Nightmare Moon.”

Nightmare Moon? Wasn’t that a child’s tale?

But no, he did hear about it… something about Princess purplesmart’s first adventure, so many years before.

“She has returned. To lead us all in a future of peace and glory. But we have to stop the war.”

“We’re at war?”

“The solarist forces will stop at nothing,” the unicorn mused finishing his drink. “That is the reason we all fight, from the lowest troop to the Warmaster herself. My name is Midnight Oil. I am a general in the Empress’ army.”

A general?

Did that mean more fighting?

Back and to the left.

But if it was for the good of Equestria…

“You said you owned a truck?”

“I do. It must still be parked somewhere around…”

“Not many ponies know how to drive. Drive well, even less. But this was will be won through non-traditional methods, such is the Warmaster’s doctrine. And I do share it. I am thinking about putting on a small motorized band, soldier. Will you do your duty for the Empress?”

“You want… me… to drive?”

“Doing what you do best,” General Oil said with a smile like a sickle.

Back and to the left.

But it had been just a solarist.

Like they said.

Outside, the sky kept shining, bright and eternal.

This was a new world. And he had to play under different rules.

“I can drive,” Steel Rush said.