Son of the Moon

Equestria, a nation comprised primarily of Pony-folk, was known for being very peaceful.

Though its roots were rocky, to say the least, under the rule of the kind princesses, Celestia, who rose the sun, and Luna, who rose the moon, peace began to prosper. Equestria was made up of many cities and small villages. One of these towns was known as Rockmount, and, like the name suggests, it was situated on top of an isolated mountain. Though peace was abundant, it could never be absolute, even under the kindest of rulers. As such, towns like Rockmount still existed, despite the princess' best efforts.

Rockmount, also known as the Black Market City.

"Get back here, thief!"

A small, cloaked figure ran through the streets of the town, being pursued by several stallions. The figure turned a corner, the stallions following not far behind.

"All of this for a few apples, like this town isn't already full of stolen things." The cloaked pony mumbled, voice clearly belonging to a male. He turned a corner into a narrow alleyway, his mouth underneath his hood turning into a grin. With great agility, he leaped upwards towards the wall, his foot landing on it and propelling him towards the opposite wall. He continued jumping between the two walls until he safely landed on the roof, continuing his escape.

He was pursued by the few pegasi that were among the group, using their wings to fly and chase him along the rooftops. The cloaked pony frowned, looking at his persistent pursuers before his eyes began darting around the area, looking around for an escape route. He found none, and so opted to jump down from the rooftops and back into the alleyways before turning another corner.

"A dead end. Great." He turned around to face the ponies that had been chasing him. He had thankfully lost most of them in the pursuit, but five still remained.

"End of the line, kid." One of them, a large earth pony, approached menacingly, brandishing a knife and holding it to the thief's stomach.

He looked down at the knife, then back up to the stallion, who was at least twice his own height, then behind himself, at the brick wall. An idea quickly formed in his head, and with it, another grin.

"Thanks."

"What are you-" The stallion couldn't even finish his sentence before the cloaked pony swiftly struck his wrist, making him drop his weapon, before leaping high, landing on top of his head and jumping once again from there, doing a backflip as he soared over the wall. All of the pursuers were left completely stunned, and unable to follow the apple thief.

"Idiots," The cloaked pony chuckled to himself as he took a bite of apple, savoring the juicy goodness. "And got my lunch for today, too."

Now that he was in the clear, the pony removed his hood. He was an earth pony colt, no more than ten years old, at best. His fur was ash gray in color, with a scruffy, dusty blue mane. His eyes were a light purple in color. He looked up towards the sky, Celestia's sun slowly disappearing over the horizon and giving way to Luna's moon.

"It's getting close to time..." He turned to leave, before he heard a noise. A soft growl, a sound he knew all too well. He turned his head and spotted a small filly; the poor thing was practically skin and bones.

The filly sat against a building, hugging her knees to her chest. She looked like she wanted to cry, but lacked the energy to do so. Such sights were all too common in the town of Rockmount, and although the colt had lived there his entire life, it had never gotten any easier to look at. Not everypony in town had someone to provide for them, and not all of the ones that were unlucky enough to be alone were as physically gifted as him and able to steal what they needed.

Nodding his head at the decision he had made, the colt approached the filly. Now that he saw her up close, she seemed even younger than he was. She looked up at him, fear evident in her eyes, yet lacking the energy to defend herself, or to flee.

"Here," He dropped the apples he had gathered in front of the filly, three in total. "I know it's not much, but it's enough to at least give you some energy back."

The filly looked dumbfounded, eyes going from the apples to the colt, then back to the apples several times. Slowly, she reached a shaky hand towards an apple and picked it up, bringing it to her mouth and taking a small bite. Tears began to roll down her cheeks as she had her first meal in Celestia knows how long.

"Thank you..." She muttered; her voice was raspy from lack of water.

"Don't mention it." The colt turned to leave, waving to her as he walked away.

"Wait...!" The filly called as loudly as her hoarse voice would allow. "What's your name, mister?"

The colt paused, turning back towards the filly he'd just helped. "My name?" He gave a soft smile as he scratched his head. "I don't have one!"

The filly definitely didn't expect an answer like that, especially not in such a cheerful manner. She could only stare in bewilderment as this mysterious colt who had just saved her life disappeared just as quickly as he had arrived.

"Now," The colt looked up towards the sky once again. More time had passed than he would've liked. "I should hurry. I'm gonna be late!" He took off in a sprint.

A hooded figure made their way through the town. They were taller than most every other pony around them. They wore all black, somewhat matching the bits of dark blue that were visible. The pony sat at a chair in front of one of the many vendors scattered throughout the town.

The vendor, a light blue unicorn mare, turned to greet the customer. Her eyes went wide at who she saw. "Well, didn't expect to see you today, princess." She spoke in a hushed tone, ensuring that none would listen in on the conversation among the noise of the townsfolk.

The princess rolled her eyes at the attempt of formality from the shady merchant. "Just 'Luna' is fine, you know. Nopony in this town has a respect for authority anyway."

"You say that, but you continue allowing this town to exist regardless." The unicorn had a hint of smugness in her voice as she spoke. Luna stared into her eyes with a completely neutral expression.

"The sole reason for that is because it is the only place in which I can find the sparkling starfruit that I crave." Her blank expression quickly morphed into a hardened glare. "However, my promise still stands. If I am to find out of any illegal trading beyond simply rare objects, then I will destroy this mountain with my own two hands."

"Yeah, yeah." The unicorn spoke in an uninterested tone, clearly not threatened in the slightest. She grabbed the sparkling starfruit for the princess. It was a navy-blue fruit that was shaped like a star and glittered like the stars in the night sky.

"Finally! I have been craving these for weeks!" Luna sat the bits on the counter, reaching towards the fruit that she craved so badly.

"Thank you!" A young voice shouted as a gray and blue blur quickly passed between the merchant and princess. By the time that either of them processed what had just happened, the sparkling starfruit had been stolen, swiped from the merchant's hands without her notice.

"That damned kid again... He's been causing more trouble than usual lately." The merchant rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on. "I'm so sorry about that, Luna. Let me get you another."

Luna, however, was distracted, her gaze fixed on where the figure had been. Only one question came to mind.

"Who was that?"

"Who, that colt? I don't know his name." The mare scratched her head. "But he's bad news, always stealing food from anywhere he can. A real delinquent."

Luna gave the merchant a look.

The mare cleared her throat. "Well, relatively speaking."

"I do not know why... But I could feel it. That colt hides an immense power within himself." Luna's mind had any manner of possibilities running through her head as she continued to stare.

"Your fruit, Luna."

The Princess of the Night was snapped from her thoughts by the mare before her. "Yes, thank you." She took the sparkling starfruit and stood up. "By the way, do you know where that colt might have run off to?"

The merchant raised a questioning eyebrow. "It looks like he went to the Arena. I kind of get it, the champion is fighting today, after all."

"The champion... I've heard rumors, but it's exceedingly rare for him to enter the arena."

"It is, I think only like, once a month or something like that." The merchant waved her hand dismissively. "I've never been into it. Too many big, loud stallions."

"I think I will attend." And without another word, Luna had left, leaving a very confused unicorn.

"Princesses, man. They're weird."

Luna soon arrived at the Arena. It was essentially a large coliseum that was carved into the ground, located in the center of the mountain. She had cast a simple illusion spell on herself to blend in. She now took the appearance of a turquoise unicorn mare with a dark blue mane and amber eyes. She looked around, scanning the area; it was full of mostly large, beefy stallions talking about who would win the upcoming fight.

Making her way through the crowd, Luna took a seat. She had been lucky enough to be able to get a seat in the front row. "I wonder who this champion is..."

The crowd was abuzz with talk of the champion. Many of the ponies there had never seen them before and speculated on what they were like.

Everyone went quiet as one of the gates slowly opened.

"And in one corner, the beefcake to end all beefcakes, Taurus the minotaur!" The announcer called.

Out from the gate stepped a huge, brown colored minotaur. He snorted, steam billowing from his nostrils as he hefted his large battle axe over his shoulder.

Luna narrowed her eyes at the minotaur, watching him closely. "If he is not the champion, then who is?"

"And in the other, you know him, you love him, the greatest fighter to grace our humble arena, your champion, the Gray Avenger!"

The gates on the other side of the arena opened, a small, cloaked figure stepping out into the moonlight. He grinned, tossing his cloak away and revealing a surprisingly lean and muscular physique for his age.

"It's him!?" Luna stood up from her chair. Indeed, the supposed champion was the very same colt that had stolen her fruit earlier.

The crowd had burst into confused and concerned murmuring at the champion's big reveal.

"It's a colt?"

"Is this even legal?"

"Hey, ref! He's gonna die!"

Luna, however, remained silent. There was no doubt that this colt was the very same from earlier. The immense amount of latent power she felt from within him was proof enough. Though whether or not he was even aware of such power was a mystery. But, comparing the two fighters, one thing was certain.

That minotaur stood no chance.