The bow of the ship was packed with people, murmurs and small conversations could be heard of the crashing of waves and gusts of ocean wind. From the shadows, she looked over the assembled crowd. Figures were crammed on the deck, a large crowd standing on top of the two forward gun turrets, and even more were standing against the railings of the superstructure and bridge far in the back. The very tip of the bow had been cleared, though, and as Luna glided down over their heads, all talking ceased.

Her hooves met the ani-slip paste that covered the deck, the sound of her landing and ruffling of feathers as she folded her wings to her side could be heard over the ship. All lights on the ship had been snuffed in the wartime conditions, but the full moon was extra bright, and the sky cloudless, so she could scan over the assembly and look into the eyes of every soldier there. And each one looked back at her with their full attention. There was no bowing, no ceremonies, no pomp. Just the crashing of the waves, and the ship slightly rocking from side to side as they steamed ahead.

Luna mused over what she saw, and the current circumstances. The assembled mass of creatures was mostly ponies, of course. Unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies. Each one wore the uniform of the Equestrian military, recently exchanged for a camo pattern that would fit better into the landscape of northern Zebrica. But they weren’t the only species there. Buffalo, Zebra, Griffons, and most importantly, Changelings were scattered throughout the crowd usually standing close to members of their own kind. All of them, too, wore the uniform.

Such a sight would’ve been unimaginable fifty years ago. So much had changed in those fifty years. So much had changed in the last thousand.

Luna, too, had changed. She no longer wore any regalia, no crown, no horseshoes. Only a General’s uniform, and in that the only thing that stood out from all the others was a formation of six stars on her epaulets and hat. Only two others wore such a uniform. She was no longer their ruler, but she was still their Princess.

And nothing made that fact more apparent than the ship they currently stood on. The ERNS Princess Luna had been built toward the end of the Great War, the second in a new entering service mere months before the Changeling surrender. Bombarding surface positions in Olenia and supporting landing operations against the city of Ditrysium. But with the post-war transition into a Republic, the invention of jet power, and the seeming dominance of the aircraft carrier, the battleship, just like the monarchy it was named after, seemed destined to fade away.

And yet, despite the Princess Twilight Sparkle forced to the scrap yard, the Princess Mi Amore Cadenza never being completed, and the decades of senate squabbles, budget cuts, and growing world peace, the Celestia and Luna remained.

Because as much as the Republic Equestria had become after the war, and as much as the pro and anti-Monarchists loved to debate, deep down no one truly wished to see the Princesses gone. They were practically the bedrock of all of Equestrian society, they still held public events, still raised and lowered the moon… They were still there, but more in the background. And Luna knew her sister preferred it that way.

And so the ships stayed in service. Modernized to keep up with the times, yes, but still there. It was poetic, in a way.

But there were still things from that past that had not changed. Things that still needed to be taken care of.

“Good evening, everypony.” She did not need a microphone or speaker system to project her voice loud enough to be heard across the ship. While she had long learned to temper its use, the old Royal Canterlot Voice was still useful in certain situations. “Today, I am not speaking to you as a Princess of Equestria, but as a General in its army. And I speak not just to the soldiers of Equestria and its allies in the United Equus Alliance, but to the entire world. I’m sure all of you understand the gravity of this situation. You all know why you are here. Each of you signed up for this mission for your own personal reasons. For the preservation of Harmony, for a chance at justice, or perhaps for revenge. No matter. But with the issue unfortunately tied so closely to myself, the public, and the press are prone to spread rumors.” That last statement was accompanied by a sideways glare toward the gaggle of reporters standing off toward the side, recording equipment in hand. This speech would not be broadcast live, but played to the entire nation at the same time as the ponies back home watched hooves hit the beaches.

She took a moment to pause, taking a deep breath, before continuing. “One thousand years ago, I made a mistake.” She let that statement echo over the crowd for a moment. She began to pace, slowly, stepping from one side of the narrow section to the other. “It is a story I have told many times. A story you have heard many times. I shall not retell it again today. But since my return, I have, as well as my sister, worked tirelessly to right all the wrongs I committed and fix any mistakes I made. And unfortunately, this is one mistake we could not fix in time.” She looked solemnly at the deck for a moment, before returning to her speech.

“The Chiropterrians waited a thousand years. And after a thousand years of slavery, brainwashing, and torture, when their dark god did not return to them, and their millennia of scheming failed, they went mad.” She let that dramatic statement hang in the air for a moment before continuing. “Just like Chrysalis’s armies before them, they swept across northern Zebrica, burning and enslaving as they went. They locked themselves in a ten-year-long war with the Seaponies, and set up a network of spies in terrorist cells inside our own borders!”

That sent a murmur through the crowd as Luna continued. “And over the past two years, we have been forced to make a stand. With coup of even more radical members of the Chiropterrian cult, the attacks have increased drastically. Multiple bombings across Equestria, New Mareland, and Stalliongrad, many of which I’m sure you know about. Several of those bombings were targeted at me specifically. And then, they finally went too far.”

She shifted her stance slightly. “The last attacks were all buried under several layers of subterfuge and misdirection, so that our intelligence services could never definitively ascertain who was behind it, and the Chiropterrians never claimed responsibility. But with the invasion of our ally Maregypt six months ago, the attacks on global shipping in the Turquoise Sea, and resumed bombing raids against Hippogriffia, we have been forced to act. Six months ago, we issued a strong condemnation of the war through the UNF, and a demand that they remove all forces and cease their occupation of Maregypt. This request went unanswered, and ignored.”

“Me, my sister, and the rest of Congress are not imperialists. Equestria is a peaceful nation, and we do not wish war. And so when we, and the rest of our allies in the UEA, issued UNF Resolution 600, we do not do so lightly. We have assembled the largest collection of military equipment, ships, aircraft, and personnel since the Great War to enforce this resolution and finally, after so long, bring peace to the region. Our enemy is fanatical, and trained in battle from birth. They have one of the largest armies on earth, and will use every dirty tactic in the book. We must be, and have prepared for every eventuality.” A big wave hit the ship, showering some of the soldiers in a mist of sea spray. “And that is why I have made the executive decision to lead the naval invasion. On the battlefield. Personally.”

It was that announcement that sent murmurs through the crowd. A Princess of Equestria, on the front lines during a major military operation?

“It was through my doing, one thousand years ago, that starting this. And it will be through my doing, here and now, that will end it!” That statement earned a few enthusiastic cheers from the crowd, but most looked on with focused, determined expressions. The great crusade ahead would be hard and long, and many of them would see things only their grandparents had, forty years ago. Blood and oil in the sands of northern Zebrica. Highways of Death with destroyed tanks, burned trucks, and charred bodies. Distant tank duels, visible only as flashes of light and tracer fire in the darkness. Tribal villages razed to the ground by the retreating army, families executed in the streets. The heads of Chiropterrian leadership strung up on pikes that lined the streets of their capital as the slaves stormed the homes of their oppressors.

But that was the future.

“You all have your orders,” Luna spoke over the crowd, her voice quieter now. This part would not be televised. These words were only for the unfortunate souls in front of her now. “Make sure everything is in order. Your weapon, your gear, and your wills. If you do so, pray. To Faust, to Boreas, or whichever your faith. Prepare yourselves. We will all be seeing each other tomorrow. The operation begins in six hours as the sun rises. You are all dismissed.”

It took a few moments for ponies to start moving. Slowly, they began to shuffle away, the packed deck proving difficult to get through. They disappeared back into the bowels of the battleship, some returning to their quarters, some descending to the mess hall for a last hot meal, and some remaining on deck to make their last moment of calm and peace last.

Luna watched them go. Some looked up at her as they passed. She tried to look into their eyes, remember their faces. She wondered how many she’d see dead on the beach.

A thestral stood right in the center of the crowd. As the ones around her finally moved, she did not, staying where she was, looking up at Luna with a solemn expression. Luna finally noticed, and the two met eyes for a brief moment. A second passed, and bat pony gave a curt nod, turned into the darkness, and disappeared into the shadow.

The former Princess turned her gaze upward, and looked at the stars.

Author's Note