Blood. The air is filled with its scent, the soil is damp with it, it fills her mouth, it pumps through her body and covered her form. Disgusting yet delicious, she can’t even tell if it’s her own or another’s. Ruby Mountain Pass, the Minotaur seek to get through it, but meeting them there was a mix of Griffons, soldiers from cities all around, and Equestrians, standing steadfast with spears ready to meet the oncoming Minotaur. She stood in front of them, another stood with her, her sister, both drenched in the blood of both enemy and friend. It’s marvelous to see such brilliant combat and destruction. The world suddenly stops, a shockwave travels from the distance, knocking over every soldier.
Her father had died.
A train shudders as it makes a turn, causing Luna’s horn to knock against a window, dragging the alicorn from her memories. Luna was never as tall as her sister, nor as graceful, but she made up with grace through sheer strength, with every leg of hers being the envy of any bodybuilder who’d behold them. Her horn is oddly sharp, sharp enough to pierce flesh, and the rest of her seems just as dangerous, made to kill whatever she would wish. No regalia sits on her form, not even her normal circlet, the only thing she wears is a pouch on her side, too small to hold anything of concern. All around her sit high class creatures, those who can afford the train ticket to take the only existing train route into Saddle Arabia. Griffonian Acolytes sit and plan how to best spread belief in their gods, pony nobles lean back reading books, and a lone zebra sits looking out the window, his eyes tracking the moving land outside.
Luna turns to look outside as well, her eyes tracking the passing fields and farms. The northern border of Saddle Arabia, where they currently pass, is renowned for its fertile land, for those farmers brave enough to use it. Centaur nomads and raiders usually attack and steal from any farmer who settles these lands, or they act as feudal lords and take food in exchange for protection from other tribes. For Saddle Arabia, however, these farmers are worth it, for their land is mostly desert, and even the fertile lands surrounding rivers can only grow so much. She then catches sight of her own reflection, with reptilian teal eyes and sharp teeth, pulling back and looking away.
The zebra, who sat next to her, looks over at her, giving her a soft smile and a nod, golden earrings jangling from the motion, “It is quite the beautiful landscape, is it not? I am quite unused to seeing such beauty not being scarred by war.” She’d spot a scar behind one of his ears, while he continues, “Hindia looked much the same, only with more fire and bodies.”
Luna looks down at him, meeting eyes with the zebra, speaking in a soft, serious voice, “You are a soldier of the war?”
He nods, “Yes, which was while you were… indisposed, though with all the burning and fighting, perhaps you did see it from up high. Captain Platus, veteran of the Fifth Hindi-Zebrican war, descendant of Holy Emperor Alexander. Supposedly that means I have divine blood, but it didn’t feel that divine when it was dripping down my cheeks.”
She nods, “I was surprised to have heard that Hindia and Zebrica were still fighting when I returned. I had almost thought there would be peace, given the last war was only due to Emperor Macedes, being quite insane. It was… disappointing, in a manner. I was a soldier as well, I know the horrors you’ve seen.”
He grins slightly, “Well, Xerxes the Elder was also quite insane, to use your phrase. He had a lot of religious zealotry within him, he was also quire hostile to Celestia because of that. Since, you know, you two are the false claimants of the title of Goddess of Sun and Moon and thus it’s the purpose of any true believer to oppose you.” He rolls his eyes once he’s done, “Only those in Bongo would believe that anymore.”
She tilts her head to the side slightly, “Oh, is that so? I remember many times back in my day where zebras would oppose me. What makes you so different, or any of the modern zebras?”
He smiles, “Oh, it’s just common belief has changed. Modern day, zebras will believe much more often that the gods must want you two around, since you aren’t dead. If the gods truly cared about your existence, they would have stuck you down already. So, Princess Luna…” He gives her a small grin and nods to the window, “Why are you here?”
She leans back slightly, and then nods softly, glancing to the window, “To get away. My home is no longer my home, the name may be the same, but everything about it has changed. Even the one constant, my sister, has changed completely. Back then she was lazy, willing to let ponies have some semblance of control, with strong nobles and countless entrepreneurs and inventors filling the nation, she would simply smile and nod along and allow them to do whatever they wished. Modern day, she’s a smiling imperialist who rules with an absolute hoof, she’ll gladly shake your hoof and sell your freedom at the same time. I am expected to just go along with it all, to learn everything new and nod my head along like a trained dog. But this ‘dog’ has no bed, and gates exist no matter which way I turn. My nation has evolved, and it’s evolved past me.”
Platus listens along and then nods once she’s done, “I see… I cannot imagine how that feels, truly. It’s the same frame, but it’s no longer the same place. What of the Changeling Invasion? Did that prompt you leaving?”
She nods once more, “Yes, it did. An invasion happened in the middle of the capital, my sister and her strongest weapons were incapacitated, I slept through it all, yet somehow it still ended in victory. When news came to us that three fillies had been kidnapped, as well, I called for a declaration of war, for all our armies to be raised and our guards mobilized, prepared to finally lend my skills to Equestria once more. But no, I was told, Equestria doesn’t go to war anymore, it doesn’t win through bloodshed and conquest but through forgiveness and patience. My sister would rather that three fillies be potentially tortured than allow me to raise an army! What other reaction could I have to that but to realize I’m not needed anymore? If even in the most dire of circumstances, I’ll be told to stand aside and do things her way, then it’s clear I’ll never do things my way again. And so I left, perhaps these lands will have more use for me than my own home.”
He nods and then gives her a soft smile, reaching out a hoof and resting it on one of her own, “I think you’ll find a place, Luna. The land is wide and vast, as are its needs. You’ll be fi-“
A voice comes over the train’s intercom, shouting, “Everyone, hold on!”
A sudden jolt rocks the train as everything begins to move, the train derailing, sending each car tumbling over itself. Everyone inside falls from their seats, shouting filling the air, and soon, the smell of blood. Luna would be sent flying as well, her whole world going dark for a moment.
She wakes up not too long afterwards, outside of the train car. She looks at her right foreleg, which has a broken bone protruding from it halfway up, slowly standing on the rest of her hooves, only to trip and fall forward due to an unexpected weight on her head. She slowly looks up, only to see the decapitated head of Platus, her horn impaling through his eye and out through the back, blood dripping from his neck right onto the end of her muzzle, forcing her to taste the irony flavor of blood. She attempts to spread her wings to use them to take off the head, but nothing happens. She slowly turns around, seeing her wings are nothing but bloody stumps, with blue feathers surrounding the mangled corpse of the train car.
She takes a deep breath, slowly, only to hear some trotting from behind her. Slowly, she turns her head, only to see a group of five centaur, four males and one female, pointing spears and bows at her. She takes a step back, and they approach closer, the leader smirking, “Surrender, pony, and we’ll take you prisoner.”
She looks right back into his eyes, only to crane her head back, seeing her pouch laying nearby. In a blur of motion, she would flick the head from her horn, sending it flying right into the face of the leader, knocking him back, while her horn lights up bright blue, metal shards ripping their way free of her pouch, forming into a sword right beside her. She wastes no time to charge into battle, jumping into the air and coming down upon the leader of the centaurs, stomping a hoof hard on his back, cracking his spine in a single hit, while her sword comes up and cleanly decapitates him.
An arrow whizzes by her head, with her rolling off of the body of the leader, coming in front of a spear-carrying centaur, who stabs at her with his spear. She steps to the side, her sword flashing, cutting off the centaur’s hands before it flourishes, sending a wave of blood flying from the blade, swinging around once more to cut off the head of the centaur. One draws a sword and begins to attack, with her own sword responding, forcing the centaur to block its every blow. Another charges up close, with her charging back, dodging a stab of his spear in order to get up close, her hooves cracking out, breaking his arms, before she then wraps her legs around his head and tosses his whole body at the sword centaur, breaking his neck in the process. The centaur with the sword dodges out of the way of the body, but it distracts him enough that her sword can slice his upper half right down the middle, killing him instantly.
A loud cracking sound fills the air, and her sword falls to the ground, back to a bunch of metal shards. Luna slowly blinks, before a wave of pain wracks her body, causing her to fall to the ground, coughing up blood. From the top of her head falls a shard, and then another, jagged pieces of blue bone with a spiral pattern, a broken horn. Her eyes go wide, and she slowly looks up, seeing the remaining female centaur approach her, drawing a sword and pointing it at her, “Any last words?”
Luna looks back down at the shards of her broken horn, spitting out a bit of blood, before she surges upward. The centaur’s sword pierces her shoulder entirely, deep enough that it can’t be easily pulled out, giving her enough time to lunge at the centaur’s throat. Teeth meet flesh as Luna bites down hard, any cries of pain quickly becoming a gurgling noise as blood pools in the throat of the centaur. Luna pulls back with a mouth full of flesh, swallowing it, leaving her mouth even more coated with blood than before. The dying centaur looks at her, but Luna isn’t done, driving her jagged horn’s remnants forward, into the eyes of the centaur, killing her completely.
Luna then stumbles backwards, blood filling the air with its scent, dampening the soil, it’s iron taste filling her mouth, covering her body, as she stands all alone. She looks off into the distance, blankly, as her body finally gives up, her eyes closing as she collapses, surrounded by a rapidly growing puddle of blood.
BEGINNING OF ACT TWO.
