Camel's Rest, time and date unknown

Almost silent sound of hectic gallop could be heard, crunching of sand following every step of a running changeling. Small rodents, insects and rare reptiles fled in fear, afraid of being crushed under massive hooves of a panicked stallion.

After what seemed like an eternity of running, Stas found himself once again in the oasis, he was laying on his stomach by the shore of the lake, hiding underneath the shade of a palm. Waterskin, which used to hold hamr, laid to his side, empty and forgotten. He didn't remembered how he returned here, nor did he cared.

Greyish dunes looked even more oppressive than they ever been. Mountains, everlasting giant they are, looked down upon him, like a stare of a judges, about to announce their sentence. Warm oasis, once his shelter from the desert, felt cold and unwelcoming. He felt like even the mare he buried looked upon him with disappointment from her grave.

Weak wind shaked the palms above his head, moving the small grains of sand with it's every breath. Blue cloudless sky was just as is still as ever.

He stared into mirror-like surface of the crystal clean lake, trying in vain to reason with his guilt. He stared into his empty white eyes, which did not belonged to him, as he once remembered his actions. A sickening crack of bones, desperate scream of fear, motionless feathered body in a pool of crimson. They met him every single time he tried to close his eyes.

"Eyes are mirror to one's soul.... So why are mine so empty?" Stas looked once again into the lake, blissful haze of alcohol barely helping him. He used to be a soldier, just like many of his colleagues and friends. His drill sergeants always told him there might come a day when he will have to choose between his life and life of a stranger. He knew so much was true, but he hoped this day will never come, after all, his trainers never told him how to deal with guilt.

How long Stas stayed by this shore, unable to tear his gaze away? He cant remember. Was it mere minutes or many hours?
It did not mattered.

Stas didnt even noticed how the sun fell over the horizon, making place for the moon to rise once more.Changelings had a much better eyesight than most races of this world, only creatures who could see just as good in darkness being thestrals, low light of the moon barely impacting sight of both.

In his stupor, he only noticed it when he saw the moon rising in the lake's mirror shine, adorned by the portrait of night's corrupted Mistress. Once again, he could feel her gaze upon him, still just as interested and judging as before. And yet, something was different tonight.

Reflection of the goddess looked at him with rapt attention, a flicker of respect sparkling in her eye. She knew what happened. And she liked it.

"...Лишь зловещая луна в мои муки влюблена...*" Hint of amusement was seen upon Moon's face. Stas lifted his gaze as he noticed a ghostly visage standing upon the surface of oasis, a meer trace of imprisoned princess, barely visible even to the mostly-magical creatures such as changelings. Shadow of Nightmare Moon approached him with slow regal stride, suitable for the powerful being of her standing.

"You enjoyed the show, didn't you?" She stopped at his words, mere steps away from his prone form. He raised his gaze, not daring to look in her eyes. Nightmare looked at him in a patronizing way, like a mother who just witnessed her child touch the hot pot with his bare hoof.

He felt himself calm down as her whisper reached his ears, reassuring him in righteousness of his actions, telling him of every sin those three did under the light of her moon. Knowing those three had it coming made him feel better, even if barely. After all, now he knew they would not showed him any mercy as well.

"Why are you here?" Stas could not help himself but ask the fallen goddess. Moon looked down upon his prone form, once again offering him her patronage in this journey if he was to bend the knee.

"No." Stas knew who she is, he knew what eternal night would mean for this world. He didnt wanted to doom this world, even if it means defying the will of a literal god. It was not a TV show anymore and he didn't knew if it was possible to live in a world of endless night, even if Starlight's timeline travelling ark stated it is possible.

She expected this. With a disappointed shake of her head, Nightmare let him know her offer still stands, he only needs to call upon her name under light of her moon and she shall answer. It is hard to lose attention of the gods once you interested them, She will be watching.

Slowly, Nightmare looked to her right and pointed her hoof to the direction he came from after his clash with brigands*. Reluctantly, afraid to make a wrong move, Stas followed her gaze and witnessed something which terrified him to his very soul.

From between two of the hills surrounding the oasis in protective ring, three hundred meters away, a light of fire steadily approached. A dozens of torches, moving towards the oasis at the slow pace.

Not even noticing how his company returned to shadows, Stas started to gather his stuff in attempt to leave this place behind. He knew who was moving towards him and if they are anything like the bandits of Earth's medieval era, he cant afford to get caught. Quickly raising his bags from the sand, he checked them to make sure he didn't forgot anything usefull. Everything was in it's rightful place, including some of the fresh food he gathered.

Looking for where he could quickly escape his pursuers, Stas picked direction at random and made his way out, leaving the oasis behind with all it's bounties. He made sure to try his best to hide his tracks, climbing over cliffs and trowing sand over his tracks to slow the bandits down.

He can drown in his guilt later, now, he had to run.

To say Zira was mad will be an understatement. The zebra mare was already pissed when one of her better lackeys returned alone without any poison. At first she thought those morons forgot to take any bottles for the poison or did something equally stupid. Oh how she wish it was the case. Instead, Amina told her about the ambush which those four got into on their way to Camel's Rest.

If it was not for the fact that Amina proved herself to be somewhat worthy of her trust, she would have never believed the story and had her guards beat the moron until she told the truth. Apparently, her group encountered one of the changeling-warriors on their way to the oasis, a massive armored beast wielding a steel cleaver wore a disguise and tried to lure them into a trap by pretending to be a blind stallion. The damned insect attacked them once they got close, killing the three of them within seconds. Amina, apparently, was able to escape while it tore it's way through the other three.

Zira knew something was up with the story, a lot of details sounded made up. Still, she decided to trust her accomplice and send somepony to the place of the battle. Her underlings returned back few hours later, telling her about three dead bodies and the massive hoof prints leading to the oasis.

That was bad. She needs that poison to ambush Equestrian caravan. And, as she sends her mares to get it, she learns that Shaitan's daughters made camp in the damned oasis and were ambushing her gang from there?! Judging by the information her informant got, those damned northern traders were LOADED and she cant let them pass!

And now, as she gathered her gang and decided to beat changelings out of there, they find nothing! Her gang was combing the oasis for an hour and they cant find any trace of the damned bugs!

"BOSS, YEA NEED TO SEE THIS!" Zira turned her head to the lake and trotted to the sound of her mare's voice, scales of her lamellar armor gleaming menacingly as she approached.

"What is it?" She asked calmly. The mare pointed her at the shore, where the imprint of a body left it's mark on the sand. A massive imprint with barely visible lines where segmentation on a chitin of a changeling would normally be, easily big enough to rival the size of a small minotaur.

"So, anything else?" She asked the unicorn, looking closely at the traces left by a warrior.

"Yeah, gals over dere also found remnants of a camp and a grave..." The unicorn pointed to the small patch of land near the cave, where two mares were already busy digging into the sand.

Many would call Zira a monster and a scoundrel, and those ponies would be right, but she will never let any creature kill her gang members and leave unpunished.

"So, the bitch is alone.... FIND HER!" Afraid of their leader's anger, mares jumped to their hooves and armed themself.

Following the tracks in the dark of the night will be hard, but even so, brigands set off in pursuit.

Author's Note

1) "Only the sinister moon is in love with my torment" - Lyrics from "Necromancer" by "King and Jester"

2) Brigand - old termin for bandit.