For the New Lunar Republic

Chapters

Chapter 1 - The Mare in the Moon
Chapter 2 - Hard Times in Manehattan
Chapter 3 - Eternal Mid-Day Drinking
Chapter 4 - Introductions to Royalty
Chapter 5 - The Emissary
Chapter 6 - Scars
Chapter 7 - A Grim Surprise
Chapter 8 - At Death's Door
Chapter 9 - Salt Lick City
Chapter 10 - Doolit's Den
Chapter 11 - En Route
Chapter 12 - Into the Labs
Chapter 13 - Chilling Fate
Chapter 14 - Towering Inferno
Chapter 15 - Sugarcube Acres
Chapter 16 - Burdens
Chapter 17 - Departure
Hearth's Warming in Fillydelphia (interlude)
Chapter 18 - Return to Camp
Chapter 19 - Family
Chapter 20 - The War Room
Chapter 22 - Open Rebellion
Chapter 23 - The NLR Exp. Rifle
Chapter 24 - War
Chapter 25 - Sun's Fall
Epilogue
Chapter 21 - Speaking Unto a Nation

Chapter 1 - The Mare in the Moon

The hiss of rainfall on the streets of Fillydelphia was muffled, if insubstantially, by the walls of the crumbling structure Moxi sat in. She watched the city around her, careful not to overlook anything, alleys, doorways, any place where their enemies could hide from her eyes.

“By the night,” she muttered to herself, wiping her rain spattered glasses with the end of her dangling patchwork scarf, “how did I get myself into this mess?” She turned back to face the sleeping figure behind her, Dreamcatcher’s slumbering breaths came ragged and pained, and it was no surprise, with the blood soaked bandages wrapped around his body. The alicorn had been careful, his blade had bit into Dreamcatcher’s flesh at exactly the right points to do the most surface damage, Catcher was only lucky to have been able to escape before any life threatening wounds could be inflicted.

Moxi felt her eyes begin to mist over with tears, and dabbed at them with her scarf as well before turning to regard Dreamcatcher’s injuries further. “I’m not a soldier,” she muttered to his sleeping form, “why did I ever think I could do this?”

Ten Years Earlier

The full moon cast a silver blanket of light across the field where Moxi laid, her head resting on the roots of a gnarled old tree while she gazed up at the sea of stars above her. She heard the soft crunch of grass under approaching hooves, but didn’t even bother turning her eyes from the sky; she knew full well who would be coming to see her. “Chillwind,” she said to the inky heavens above, “so nice to see you.”

“Says the pony who won’t even turn to look at her best friend,” came a mildly amused voice from beside her. Chillwind moved to the opposite side of the treeroot resting her own head upon it beside Moxi’s. “So,” Chillwind spoke, the first word hesitating on her lips, “any particular reason you’re not joining in with the rest of us for the festivities?” Moxi smiled, turning her head slightly to see Chillwind out of the corner of her eye before turning her attention back to the heavens. “I don’t care about the Summer Sun Celebration, Chill,” she said, her voice taciturn, “even if it is the thousandth one, besides, being back there just means I’d have to be around a bunch of grown-up ponies, giving me disapproving looks and treating me like I’m just some stupid little filly who doesn’t know who she is…”

Moxi tried to keep the hurt out of her words, but internally berated herself as her voice cracked under the weight of the tears welling in her eyes. She turned to see Chillwind looking at her with a knowing and sympathetic warmth in her eyes, eyes far too old to belong to a filly born mere months before Moxi herself, “You feel it too, don’t you Chill?”

Chillwind reached out and put her hoof over Moxi’s, the small amount of warmth this simple act offered should have done nothing to quell the biting chill of the night air around them, but at Chillwind’s touch, Moxi felt her body burn with such a warmth that she may as well have been standing directly in Celestia’s glorious golden sunlight. “Of course I feel it, Moxi,” she said, nuzzling against Moxi’s cheek, “I never expected them to understand us, not small town ponies like these, but it’s just for now. Someday, you and I will go to Manehattan, we’ll live among the city ponies who understand that love can come in more than just one form. You and I can finally be safe and happy.”

As Chillwind leaned over and kissed her, Moxi felt as though she could never know sorrow, or loneliness or fear again, she knew that with this beautiful filly by her side, she could accomplish anything. “Now come on,” said Chillwind as they broke the kiss, “let’s go back to the party, I’ve got a present for you.”

The white and blue fillies rose to their feet, wrapping their wings about one another in an embrace as intimate as it was forbidden. Moxi turned her eyes to the heavens once more to gaze at the full moon, once more admiring the way the shadows playing across it formed the figure of a unicorn’s head, only to see the shadow spots illuminated by a number of falling stars before disappearing altogether. She let out an audible gasp, startling Chillwind beside her, “what? What’s the matter?”

“The moon!” Moxi cried, “The mare in the moon is gone!”

-Clomp-

“Moxi, what are you…” Chillwind turned to face the moon as well and gasped herself, “You’re right! But, how…?”

-Clomp-

Moxi scrambled for an explanation, she’d of course heard the old ponies’ tale about the mare in the moon, but she’d never placed much store in such superstitious nonsense… could she have been so wrong all this time?

-CRASH-

Present Day

Moxi was jerked from her memories as the door of the room in which she had hidden the sleeping Dreamcatcher was suddenly knocked off its hinges. Standing in the door, and turning to face them, was a red alicorn, his wavy brown mane plastered to his soaked coat by the water of the rain outside, a heavy blade hung from his side, emerging from its sheath wrapped in unicorn magic as he smirked at them, “Well well well, what have we here?”

Moxi stood frozen as the alicorn entered the room, how did he find us!? I made sure no one followed us! She grabbed the knife from Dreamcatcher’s belt and firmly planted her hooves, staring down the much larger pony. The alicorn tilted his head slightly, eying the little pegasus with a bored sort of confusion on his elegant features. “I am not here for you, little filly,” he said, his voice deep and tinged with the labored accent of an aristocrat, “I merely seek to complete my duties as beset by my princess, I merely wish to kill the earth pony.”

“Tough luck,” Moxi spat, “you don’t get one or the other, you kill both of us or neither of us!” Moxi was no fighter, and she knew it, without Dreamcatcher fighting beside her she wouldn’t last ten seconds in direct combat with the aristocrat, but she couldn’t just leave Dreamcatcher to die, she would never forgive herself…

“You are a brave one, indeed,” he said, eying her with a small amount of approval in his features, “and while I can’t allow you to keep me from my mission, I do believe bravery deserves to be rewarded. Your death will be quick and clean, unlike his.” And as Moxi watched, the alicorn raised his sword, and she could see the thick, rope-like muscles of his legs tense as he prepared to charge and she knew there was no getting out of it this time…

She knew, she was going to die…

Chapter 2 - Hard Times in Manehattan

“Fire in the hole!” Moxi could barely hear the voice over the rain as she saw the heavy looking black cylinder fly through the room’s open window. The alicorn was momentarily distracted and Moxi seized her opportunity to rush the larger pony, sinking Dreamcatcher’s knife deep into his leg just in time to be blinded and deafened by an explosion from behind her. Her vision was blurred by the flash of white, but the alicorn got the worst of it.

The alicorn swung the sword wildly, blinded by the flashbang and reeling from the pain of the knife, he was distracted enough to let Moxi slip beneath the sword, its blade passing close enough that she saw a number of dark violet hairs drop to the floor. She bolted back to Dreamcatcher, hoping to use the momentary confusion to slip him out of the building, only to find a number of other ponies beating her to the punch. Several pegasus ponies were already grabbing the unconscious Dreamcatcher and hoisting him out the window, each one bearing a patch inscribed with the words “Luna Nobis Providet.”

Moxi heaved a sigh of relief and followed the soldiers out the window, leaving the alicorn to swing his sword wildly as he attempted to regain his vision. “Thank the night,” Moxi said, “the cavalry has arrived.”

Dreamcatcher was hauled to a cart outside which the Lunar Soldiers immediately strapped in to and took off so quickly that Moxi was barely able to get on the thing before it launched into the sky. She slumped down beside Dreamcatcher, not going so far as to actually use his body as a pillow, his injuries would have made that nothing short of pure agony, but leaning close enough that she could see his chest rise and fall, see his nostrils flare as he took his ragged breaths. She slumped back and nearly passed out from sheer exhaustion before she noticed the Lieutenant who had removed himself from the cart to address her. “Agent Moxi,” he said, his voice was tough and commanding, but she could tell he was attempting to soften his words in deference to their status, “I certainly hope you’ve got something to show for this, I hope this operation wasn’t a waste of time, and a waste of good ponies.”

Moxi felt the anger in those last few words, “I’m sorry, Lieutenant Stareye… about your men, but yes, this mission has yielded some valuable intel, but I will only report that intel to the high commander herself.”

Stareye gave her a dark glance and seemed about to make an argument of it when he nodded, “very well, I suppose you and Agent Dreamcatcher were under orders to do such from the start?”

“Yes, Lieutenant,” Moxi replied, her eyelids growing heavy on her, “how long will it be before we reach base camp?”

“An hour or two, with this weather,” he said, eying the state of both Moxi and Dreamcatcher, “use that time to get some rest, Agent, you’re no use to us if you can’t function.”

Moxi shot him a lackadaisical salute. “Whatever you say, sir,” she turned over and nuzzled deeply into the warmth provided by her scarf, “whatever you say.”

Three Years Earlier

Moxi opened her eyes onto an empty pillow and disheveled sheets and let loose a heavy sigh. She sat up in her bed, grabbing her glasses from the bedside table before looking around the room. The apartment wasn’t large, and if Chillwind wasn’t in sight here, she would have to be either in the bathroom or out of the apartment altogether.

Moxi took a guess and assumed that her beloved wasn’t home, as it wasn’t unusual in recent days for her to wake up and find that Chillwind had gone off in search of work. Moxi held her face in her hooves, “She tries so hard… I need to start trying harder too.” With that she whipped the covers from her body and got ready to leave the apartment. She eyed the scarf beside the door its patchwork design betraying its humble origins, she still remembered the night Chillwind had given it to her, both of them scared out of their wits over the disappearance of the mare in the moon, but both taking comfort in the knowledge that they still had one another, whatever may happen. Chillwind had been so nervous, since she couldn’t knit worth a damn and they both knew it, but Moxi had nearly cried when she saw the somewhat ugly patchwork scarf come out of the colorfully wrapped box Chillwind had given her.

Moxi saw the scarf as nothing short of a monumental labor of love, Chillwind trying so hard to make something for her, trying to do something she struggled with all for the sake of making the pony she loved happy, how could Moxi not love the silly little scarf?

Moxi and Chillwind had spent their first night together that night. They had shared their love with one another tenderly and without regret or trepidation. They fell asleep in one another’s embrace, facing one another so that they would know they could awake to see the each other’s eyes upon waking.

Their morning turned out to have a significantly less romantic start, as Chillwind’s parents had opened the door to wake their only daughter for the new day, only to find her in Moxi’s tender embrace.

The ensuing shouting match had ended only when Chillwind’s father had thrown her from the house, telling her never to come back. Chillwind put up a brave face, but Moxi could feel the tear in her heart as she stormed away from the only home she’d known in all her life.

Moxi had turned to her family, hoping for support, but, far from rallying to the young filly’s aide, the older ponies had blanched at the knowledge that their daughter had done such a thing, and while they did not set Moxi out on the street, their refusal to help the now homeless Chillwind had been the last straw so far as Moxi was concerned. She’d immediately gathered up all the bits she could get a hold of and led Chillwind to the train station to buy two tickets to Manehattan.

Life had been good to begin with, Chillwind and Moxi were both talented fliers, and the local weather patrol had been quick to snatch them up. The pay was decent and both fillies were happy living their lives together, their love going unchallenged by the city ponies, but nothing stay perfect, as the two fillies learned.

Two years into their new life together, Cloudsdale sought independence from Celestian Equestria, claiming its independence as a free nation-state. Princess Celestia opposed the move by the Pegasus capital, but ultimately allowed the secession to continue. There was peace in Equestria once more, but the tension against the rebellious pegasi began to simmer as anti-pegasus propaganda began to circulate among the major Equestrian cities, calling the pegusi greedy traitors and instilling a seed of distrust among the unicorn and earth ponies alike which would quickly grow, resulting in the disbanding of most major weather patrol organizations.

Moxi looked up at the Manehattan skyline, behind the city buildings, the sky was gray and dismal, sunshine was rare these days, it had been ever since she and Chillwind had received letters telling them they were being laid off from the Manehattan weather patrol. Celestia had made a statement in the news claiming that weather patrols would continue, but that the kingdoms coffers were not sufficient to properly fund constant weather patrol as they had been able to do in the past. She cited the secession of Cloudsdale as the cause of this, claiming that the newly independent nation was forcing Equestria to pay unreasonable prices for their weather patrol services. The Duke of Cloudsdale was suspiciously silent throughout.

Moxi wandered the Manehattan streets, searching for places she would be qualified to work, and for places which so much as be willing to let her work, “No Pegasus Need Apply” signs were not uncommon in Equestria these days.

“Horsefeathers,” Moxi muttered to herself, as she was turned away from the sixth shop in a row, “I don’t understand how Chill does this every day…” She turned to make her way back to the apartment when she heard a familiar voice from behind her, “Moxi?”

Moxi turned to find Chillwind waiting behind her, the blue Pegasus pony was smiling at Moxi, but there was something off about it, the smile didn’t touch her eyes, Moxi approached her and wrapped a wing around her, only to feel her beloved flinch away.

Moxi’s eyes widened as she looked at the body of her beloved Chillwind. Her normally shiny blue coat was marred and matted, blood stained her coat beneath her left wing, which stuck out at an odd angle. “Chillwind!” Moxi exclaimed in shock, “What happened to you!?”

Chillwind winced at the look on Moxi’s face, putting on a brave smile but still in visible pain, “I ran across a few ponies who weren’t terribly happy with Cloudsdale… It’s not a big deal, hun.”

“Not a big deal!?” Moxi exclaimed, “Look at you, Chill! Who would do something like this to a defenseless pony!”

“Look, Moxi,” Chillwind spoke, not meeting Moxi’s eyes, “I don’t want to talk about it, can we just go home? Please?”

Moxi looked at Chillwind, and her righteous anger gave way to sympathy and concern. “Yeah,” she said, wrapping a wing around Chillwind delicately, so as not to press any of her wounds, “let’s go home, I’ll make you some supper.” Chillwind nuzzled into Moxi’s neck, and together, the two returned to their home.

Moxi had thrown together dinner as best she could, food was scarce for the two of them these days. Even when they had money to pay, there was no shortage of shopkeeps now who were less than willing to serve a Pegasus pony. Moxi began to eat the simple soup she had prepared, when Chillwind spoke up, “Moxi, there’s something I’ve been thinking for a while…”

Moxi lifted her face from her soup, searching Chillwind’s expression for some hint at her meaning, she could feel her heart beating in her throat. When somepony starts a sentence off with that, she thought, it’s never good news. Chillwind looked up at Moxi, her eyes heavy as she spoke, “I’ve been looking for work for over a month with absolutely no luck, and if this goes on much longer, the severance checks will run dry and we won’t be able to afford rent anymore…”

Moxi stared into her bowl, feeling guilt wrenching at her innards, and she felt her body begin to shake, “I’m sorry, Chill,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes, “I should have been looking for work too… I’m so selfish…” Chillwind placed her hoof over Moxi’s , as she’d done to comfort young filly so many times before, and Moxi gripped Chillwind’s hoof in both of her own, but she couldn’t bring herself to look into her love’s face. “Moxi…” Chillwind said hesitantly, “I bought a ticket to Canterlot today…”

Moxi’s eyes shot up to meet Chillwind’s, staring in disbelief, A ticket!? “No,” she said, her voice cracking in pain, “no, please, Chillwind, don’t leave me! I swear, I’ll find a job, I’ll get the money to save our home, just don’t leave me… don’t you love me anymore?”

Chillwind’s table clattered to the floor she stood up so fast, her hooves immediately wrapped around Moxi, holding her tight. “Of course I love you,” she said, tears streaming down her own cheeks as she held her love tight, “that’s why I have to go, at least for a while… Canterlot is wealthy enough that I’m sure they’ve still got full time weather patrol! I bet I can gather up enough money there to last us for ages here in Manehattan, plenty long enough to ride out the hard times!” She gripped the sobbing white pegasus tighter still, burying her face in the Violet hair who’s silver streak had always fascinated her so, “I love you, Moxi. I always will, and because I love you so much, I can’t watch you lose your home… not because of me… not again…”

“No!” Moxi shouted, looking into Chillwind’s eyes, as red and puffy from tears as her own, “Don’t you ever blame yourself for what happened back then! I chose you over my family because I love you! You didn’t force me into anything! This situation isn’t your fault either, it’s just… just… bad luck.”

“Bad luck or no,” Chillwind spoke, “I won’t let you wind up on the street if there’s anything I can do to prevent it.” She bent down and kissed Moxi, they each held each other tight, trying to press through their lips non-verbally all the emotion and desperation which they struggled with verbally.

When they broke the kiss, both ponies still had tears streaming down their cheeks, though they smiled at one another through the tears. “I love you, Chillwind,” Moxi said, quietly. Chillwind merely winked at Moxi with that knowing smile of hers and said, “I know.” The two ponies returned to their bed and lay down embracing one another as they drifted off to sleep.

Present Day

“Agent Moxi,” Moxi was woken by the voice of Lieutenant Stareye, the cart was still drifting through the clouds, “we’re approaching base camp, we’ll be there shortly after breaking cloud cover.”

“Roger,” Moxi groaned, stretching out in the seat of the cart, she suddenly had a stroke of caution and glanced around, squinting through the cloud cover, “You made sure we weren’t followed, right?” Stareye looked affronted as he replied, “Of course! I would never betray her highnesses location to the enemy! Besides, if you’re referring to the alicorn, I doubt he would follow us this far into Lunar territory. This region is firmly under the control of the 32nd Battalion.”
Moxi sighed and glanced over at Dreamcatcher, the earth pony was still unconscious, but his breathing was coming much easier now. “He’ll be fine,” Stareye said, noting her attention to Catcher, “Agent Dreamcatcher has suffered worse in the line of duty, besides, earth ponies are surprisingly resilient.”

“That’s good to hear,” Moxi said, then she caught herself, “not that he’s been injured worse, I mean, just that he’ll get better!” Stareye actually chucklet at her, before turning his attention to the front of the cart, “Here we go, we’ll be breaking cover any second now.”

Moxi never failed to be astonished when she saw Princess Luna’s basecamp with the New Lunar Republic’s 32nd Battalion, no matter how many times she saw it. The camp comprised of a number of simple barracks arrayed around a much larger structure, which was nothing short of a small palace constructed from a mirror-like substance. “Never say Princess Luna doesn’t travel in style,” Moxi muttered as the cart swung down to approach the camp. She turned her attention to Dreamcatcher and said, “I’m sure there’s someone here who’ll want to see you right away.”

Chapter 3 - Eternal Mid-Day Drinking

The moment Moxi stepped off the cart at the base camp she was approached by a unicorn pony, concern etched all across her features, “Agent Moxi, is Dreamcatcher…?” Moxi turned to face Melody, the unicorn was dressed in fine robes adorned with a red cross and as hard as she tried to keep her voice solid, Moxi could hear her voice quaver in concern for the earth pony.

Moxi gave her a comforting smile, “he was injured, but it’s all surface damage, he’ll be up and wreaking havoc on the Solar Empire before you know it.” Melody looked somewhat relieved, but still eyed Dreamcatcher’s body warily as they moved him to the medical facility. “Right,” she muttered, “he’s resilient, I’d be shocked if this did him in, what happened out there? This was just supposed to be a routine mission, and I can’t see Catcher getting wounded this badly on a smash and grab.”

“We got bad intel, Melody,” Moxi scowled, “for whatever reason, this information was more important to the Empire than we were lead to believe. We were attacked by an alicorn assassin before we were able to get out of the facility, he got the drop on us, squad from the 32nd was dead before we even knew the facility was being retaken and by the time Catcher and I realized he was there, Catcher had been wounded badly.” Moxi squinted up into the rain, still gently falling from the roiling clouds above, “We got lucky, if the assassin hadn’t been distracted and I had been even mildly wounded, we’d both be dead back there…”

Melody eyed Moxi with shock in her eyes, “I-I’m sorry…” Moxi waved a hoof, dismissing the unicorn’s apologies, “It’s not important now. This is war, ponies die. I know that, Dreamcatcher knows that, and the ponies of the 32nd know that. No one went into that facility thinking it was impossible that even all of us would be killed in the line of duty. The ponies of the 32nd know where their loyalty lies, and Dreamcatcher…”

“Dreamcatcher would never abandon Princess Luna,” Melody finished Moxi’s statement for her, “even at the cost of his own life, though I know she and I both lament the thought of it coming to that.” The unicorn’s eyes suddenly flashed to life, “By the night! I almost completely forgot! Princess Luna will want to know that you and Catcher have returned! Come quickly, we must speak with her immediately!” With that, Melody led Moxi into the palace-like structure, to speak with the High Commander of the New Lunar Republic.

Four Months Earlier

The hoof and hops was fairly crowded, but Moxi paid it no mind, instead she held her attention on the dregs of brown liquid in her glass. The world shook and wavered around the glass, but Moxi paid that no mind either. How had her life come to this? Nearly homeless, drinking herself to death in this little Manehattan pub. She pondered to herself over how she had arrived at this point in her life. That she even needed to think on it at all was proof that her tactic was working, as the moment she began to think on it, the memories flooded back to her.

She found herself standing on a train platform, saying goodbye to the only pony she ever loved as she boarded a train for Canterlot. Heard the exchanged promises to write as frequently as possible, and saw the train pull away, leaving her alone and friendless in a city which hated her kind.

Chillwind had been true to her word for over three years. Moxi would send out letters telling Chillwind about her day to day life in Manehattan, and how much she missed her, and she would receive letters back every few days telling her about Canterlot, telling her how beautiful the city was and how Chillwind wished Moxi could be there to share it with her. Chillwind’s letters promised that she would save up enough money soon that she would be able to buy a train ticket for Moxi to come join her in the glorious Equestrian capital.

Moxi started receiving packages of money along with Chillwind’s letters, but as the number of bits in each package increased, the number of words shared between the two lovers dwindled, and her last few packages had been nothing but money, not a single word scratched onto the parchment save her address. Moxi hadn’t heard from her beloved in over two months.

Tears fell from Moxi’s eyes into her glass, and she could see the bar pony pretending that he didn’t notice the crying mare in front of him. “She’s probably found herself some high-class hoity toity city filly,” she slurred into her empty glass, her words both bitter and remorseful, “why didn’t I go with her? I could’ve found some way to go… hic.”

“Another drink for the lady, barkeep,” a brown earth pony with old gray eyes slammed some bits down on the bar top beside Moxi. She glanced up at the earth pony, “an earth pony buying a drink for a pegasus pony? Hope you’re not lookin’ for a date, fella.”

The earth pony smiled at her, it didn’t touch his eyes, “No ma’am, I just saw somepony I thought might need a little help paying her bar tab.” Moxi waved a dismissive hoof at him, “nah, I’ve got a few bits socked away, I’ll just use those.”

“You mean your rent money?” the earth pony eyed her knowingly as the bar pony set a glass of whiskey down in front of Moxi.

“What’s it to you?” She said, taking a pull on the glass, the burning in her throat helping to distract from the aching in her chest.

“I’d just hate to see a pretty young filly like yourself out on the streets,” he said, “and there’s someone else who would’ve had something to say about that too…” The earth pony turned an intense gaze on her, “Chillwind wouldn’t want this.”

Moxi blanched at the mention of Chillwind’s name and turned a scowl on the newcomer, “Yeah well she apparently wouldn’t want me either!” She turned back to her drink, eying the earth pony hotly out of the corner of her eye, “Who are you, anyway?

“My name is Dreamcatcher,” he said, frowning at her, “and Chillwind and I worked together until fairly recently.”

“Pull the other one.”

“What?” Dreamcatcher reeled at her retort.

“You expect me to believe you worked with Chillwind?” Moxi said hotly, her glass frozen halfway to her lips, “Chillwind worked on the weather team, you’re an earth pony, ordinarily I don’t mind ponies lying to me, but this takes it a step further and I’m too drunk right now to deal with it, fuck off.”

Dreamcatcher sighed, “yes, I figured she wouldn’t have told you what was really going on, too much risk of the letters being intercepted.”

“What part of ‘fuck off,’” Moxi muttered, turning to face him, “do you not understand? Is it the ‘fuck’? or maybe the ‘off’? or some combination of the two?” She suddenly slammed back the drink, taking half the glass in one pull before slamming it back down on the counter before turning to walk out of the bar, shouting to the bar pony, “put it on my tab, Al.”

“Wait!” Dreamcatcher scrambled to his feet, chasing the young pegasus out the door, “please listen! There is no weather patrol in Canterlot! There hasn’t been since the secession!”

“Right,” she shouted back at him, “and I should just believe you over all the letters Chill has sent me?”

“I can prove I knew Chillwind!” he shouted at her retreating back, “That scarf you’re wearing! She gave it to you the night of the thousandth summer sun celebration, the night when Nightmare Moon escaped! She made it herself!”

Moxi stopped dead in her tracks at these words, turning to face the earth pony with angry tears in her eyes. “Ok so you knew her,” she said, “so what, you’re here to tell me that she’s dumping me or what?”

“No, Moxi,” he said, “Chillwind loved you, she loved you to the end. I came here to tell you that she’s dead.”

Moxi felt the bottom drop out of her stomach at these words, the whole world around her grew hazy and she slipped to one side falling down down down into the black abyss…

When she awoke, it was to find a cracked ceiling unfamiliar to her. She turned to find Dreamcatcher standing beside her as she slept in the bed. “Most of the alcohol should be out of your system by this point,” he said.

“Great,” Moxi muttered, “now I can face the most terrible time of my life without any buffer…”

“Look, Moxi,” Dreamcatcher said, “I understand that this is difficult for you, but I felt you needed to know, I felt you deserved to know.” She turned away from him, facing the wall before speaking, “How did she die?”

“She was killed in action,” Dreamcatcher replied. Moxi’s eyes widened at his words and she immediately turned to face him, “What!?”

“Chillwind was my partner,” he said, not meeting Moxi’s eyes, “…in the New Lunar Republic.” Moxi shook her head at him. “No,” she’d obviously heard of the revolutionary military group attempting to overthrow Princess Celestia, headed by Celestia’s own sister, Princess Luna, most of the propaganda she’d seen painted the group as the second coming of Nightmare Moon. “Yes, actually,” he said, “Chillwind joined the cause nearly two years ago, shortly after coming to Canterlot and almost immediately following learning the truth about what happened in Cloudsdale…” Dreamcatcher turned to face her now, his eyes filled with fire, “You’ll recall that Celestia has been making statements for the past several years claiming that the Duke of Cloudsdale is being uncooperative in negotiations for weather patrols. Well uncooperative is one way to put it. The Duke of Cloudsdale is dead. He has been for some time now. In fact, more than half of the pegasus ponies residing in Cloudsdale are. Shortly following the secession, Celestia sent her troops in to create a police state out of the pegasus capital, the Cloudsdale ponies would have none of it, so Celestia had the city destroyed.”

Dreamcatcher slammed a hoof into the wall beside him, leaving a heavy dent where he’d struck, “Thousands of innocent lives, cut short at the word of that… that TYRANT!” Dreamcatcher sat back and rubbed at his eyes, “after that, Celestia became more and more wary of any civil unrest, gone are the days of golden armor and glorious chariots. Now Celestia’s agents watch us constantly, they just don’t look like soldiers anymore, and now Celestia looks at you everywhere you go.” He tossed a coin onto the bedspread before Moxi, the profile of Princess Celestia stared back at her from the coin, “The young among us can’t even remember a time when our money didn’t feature pictures of the Princess. They can’t imagine a world where you’re free to say and feel whatever you will. That, Moxi, is why the New Lunar Republic exists. We’re trying to take back Equestria for the ponies.”

He looked down at his hooves, “I know Chillwind didn’t want you involved in the war. She feared for your safety, and perhaps rightly, but I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t grant you the knowledge that your mate died for a just cause, and I wouldn’t feel right if I couldn’t grant you the possibility to avenge her death. It’s up to you, do you want to fight for something that truly means something, something your beloved fought and died for, or do you want to crawl into a bottle in seedy pubs?”

Moxi looked up and met the earth pony’s storm cloud gray eyes and her voice came out rough and bitter through her tears, “Where do I sign up?”

Present Day

Princess Luna sat in the palace war room, speaking with General Warhorse, commander of the 32nd Battalion, discussing tactics over a table size map of Equestria. “The Solar Empire has a powerful foothold in Manehattan, but Fillydelphia should be completely taken in a matter of hours,” Warhorse was saying, pointing at spots on the map, “our envoy to the buffalo hasn’t returned yet, but we found a decent sized group of refugees from Cloudsdale, we’re offering them positions in the military as we-“

“That’s all well and good,” Luna interrupted him, her regal bearing cutting off the general’s rough, booming voice with minimal effort, “but don’t forget that our priority is to help these people, not simply to conscript them. Any refugees are to be given food and shelter, and should they decide to sign on with the New Lunar Republic, that will be their choice.”

Warhorse bowed to his princess, “Of course, highness.”

“Are you always this charming, Princess Luna?” Moxi said, entering the room to salutes from the guards flanking the doorway, “Or do you just put on special shows for the special forces?”

“Agent Moxi,” Luna said, her regal bearing never changing, but Moxi could see the sparkle of joy which shot through her eyes at the sound of Moxi’s voice, “I trust your mission was a success, then?” She glanced around, looking past Melody and Moxi as the pair entered the room, “but, where is Agent Dreamcatcher?”

Melody shot Warhorse a glance and he nodded, leaving the room, the guards followed him, leaving only the three mares in the room. Luna’s regal posture immediately slumped and she looked at Moxi with worry evident on her face, Moxi knew the look well, she’d seen it on her own face three years earlier. “The mission was mostly a success, but we were ambushed before we were able to escape the facility, Catcher is being patched up now, mostly surface injuries, he should be better in a day or so, but the members of the 32nd who were escorting us weren’t so lucky.”

Luna looked at her, shock evident on her features, “how many of my sister’s soldiers were there?”

Moxi took a deep breath before responding. “There was just one,” she looked up into Luna’s face again, “that’s the worst news of all… Celestia’s started using alicorns…”

Chapter 4 - Introductions to Royalty

“Statistically speaking, Moxi” Luna said after a moment, her voice measured and even, “one incidence does not indicate a trend.” Moxi stared at the Princess, her mouth hanging open, before blurting out an incredulous, “What!?”

“It’s not that I don’t trust your skills as an agent, Moxi,” she said, hastily trying to calm the young pegasus, “and, while I admit the appearance of this assassin is a shocking piece of information, there hasn’t been evidence from any of the other soldiers to indicate that alicorn soldiers are in regular use. The forces of the New Lunar Republic are stretched thin already, we can’t afford to bolster our positions, and the only way we would be able to do so is to abandon ongoing operations and leave occupied zones unprotected.”

The alicorn princess rested her head on her hooves, her eyes closed contemplatively, “Most of the occupied zones have shown their support for our cause, abandoning them at this hour would be nothing short of a death sentence. No, Moxi,” she raised a hoof to silence any opposition, “those ponies will not see the sun again until I am certain it is out of my sister’s hooves.”

“And when contingents of alicorn soldiers are raining death down on your armies,” Moxi growled, “when your soldiers are dropping like flies, what will you do then, Princess? Who will protect the ponies left standing when the Republic falls?”

Luna knocked her chair aside as she stood to glare at Moxi, fire in her eyes, “Do not presume to lecture me, child! Should the time come that I am forced react to such an onslaught I will do so, until then, I have no reason to suspect it other than the claims of a single attack!” She stormed to the doorway, flinging the heavy wooden doors open with her magic, “Claims made by a child, no less, now if you’ll excuse me, I have business to attend to.”

Moxi glared at the doors as they swung shut behind the princess. “Surely,” she muttered to herself, “the centuries should have calmed that temper of hers…” She cast a glance at the wide-eyed Melody. “Umm,” she sputtered, “she’s probably going down to see Dreamcatcher in the infirmary, maybe we should go too?”

Moxi stared at her for a moment before shaking her head. “You go,” she spoke, turning to leave the war room, “You three will have some catching up to do, once he wakes up. Tell the princess I’ll be waiting in the barracks when she needs me.”

3.5 Months Earlier

As the train rattled across the Equestrian plains, Moxi noted that the further behind them they left Manehattan, the darker the sky became. “Dreamcatcher,” she spoke to the earth pony, sitting across from her in the train compartment, “what time is it?”

“About three in the afternoon,” he said, not taking his eyes from the darkening horizon, a couple of the brighter stars were already becoming visible, “though frankly time doesn’t mean much anymore these days. Obviously you noticed that Manehattan has been in daylight hours for over a week now, that’s because Princess Luna refuses to yield control of the moon to Celestia. Anywhere Luna is not welcome, the moon and stars will never shine.”

“And I take it,” she said, eyeing the rapidly approaching night, “that the same is true in reverse, and anywhere the New Lunar Republic has a strong hold will be trapped in eternal night?”

Dreamcatcher winced at her wording. “In so many words, yes,” he turned to face her, “but it’s not like Nightmare Moon.”

“How so?” Moxi scowled at him.

“Because Princess Luna is only trying to protect those under the blanket of night,” he said, fiercely, “and besides… Nightmare Moon is dead and gone.” Moxi eyed the earth pony, waiting for an explanation of his cryptic remark, but Dreamcatcher clearly had no plans to reveal his meaning anytime soon.

“And besides,” Moxi said, sinking back into her seat, “Celestia is trapping the ponies in eternal daylight, isn’t she?”

“Yes,” Dreamcatcher nodded, “it will be all of one or the other everywhere until this conflict is resolved. Unfortunately, that doesn’t look to be coming any time soon.”

“Hey,” Moxi said, suddenly remembering the lessons taught to her from the old pony tales, “wasn’t Celestia able to simply banish Luna over a millennium ago? Why hasn’t she just pulled another move like that?”

“She can’t,” Dreamcatcher smirked, “Celestia was able to banish her sister to the moon using the Elements of Harmony, but the elements have since been entrusted to the care of six mares, and while one of them remains firmly under the control of Celestia’s Solar Empire, of the other five, one is heading up the Equestrian Peace Corps, seeking peace in Equestria through non-violent means, one is in direct opposition, commanding the New Lunar Republic’s 21st Airborne division… you can imagine how many pegasi flocked to the cause following the fall of Cloudsdale… and the other three have taken officially neutral stances in the conflict. With the Elements of Harmony so… well… out of harmony, their power remains dormant and unusable by either side. This will be a battle of tactics and resources, magic will barely come into play at all.”

Moxi and Dreamcatcher were met on the station platform by a couple of pegasus ponies, their bodies covered in dark armor and their forelegs wrapped in bands bearing the seal of the New Lunar Republic. Dreamcatcher stepped forward and saluted one among them, a powerful looking pony, his muscled haunches covered in scars and his eyes weary and dull. “Sergeant Alabaster,” he said to the pegasus, “it’s good to see you again. How goes the battle on the frontlines?”

“Poorly, Agent Dreamcatcher,” Alabaster growled, “Celestia’s forces are hitting us from all sides and that young general of hers knows her tactics a little too well for someone barely old enough to have seen our Princess’ glorious return.” He turned to eye Moxi, “I trust your mission was a success, then?”

“Mission?” Moxi said, eying Dreamcatcher warily.

“Shit,” Dreamcatcher swore, “looks like I’ve got some explaining to do.” He turned to face the Sergeant, “For the most part, when do we leave for the camp?”

Alabaster gave a jerk of his head to indicate the skies where a heavy cloud covering was beginning to cover the sea of stars above, “As soon as my men finish with our cover. It shouldn’t be long now, but we can’t take any chances with Celestia’s spies lurking about.”

“What do you mean?” Dreamcatcher eyed the pegasus warily, “Surely the Solar Empire doesn’t have troops this far into Lunar territory.”

“A lot’s happened since you left, Catcher,” the older pony growled, “in the last week we’ve lost two convoys bringing supplies to the troops, they’re trying to cut off our supply lines, we don’t know how they’re finding our supply routes, but we’ve got to take extra precautions lately.” At that moment, a young pegasus landed beside them declaring the cloud coverage sufficient. Alabaster nodded and loaded everypony onto the cart prepared beside them, when they took off, Moxi could see for mere seconds before the clouds completely obscured her vision, they were quite literally flying blind.

“So, ‘Agent’ Dreamcatcher,” Moxi said, putting a heavy emphasis on the title, “care to elaborate as to exactly what mission you were on?”

Dreamcatcher let out a heavy sigh before speaking in a dejected tone, “Ok, it wasn’t entirely of my own volition that I went in search of you. Chillwind and I were members of the NLR’s Special Operations branch, and with her gone we needed someone else who could take her place, Luna and I thought you would be an ideal candidate.” He turned to face the clouds whipping past them, “I don’t think any of us expected to find a sobbing drunk, but that can be dealt with.”

“How would the Princess know me?” Moxi scowled. Dreamcatcher shrugged without turning to face her, “Why don’t you ask her yourself? We’re almost to the basecamp now.”

Dreamcatcher had barely finished speaking when the cart broke cloud cover and a scene out of a dream appeared before Moxi, a luminescent structure, turrets and towers reflecting cool moonlight onto everything around them. She could see the formations of ponies marching around the smaller buildings at its base, giving her a sense of monstrous scale. “By the night,” she muttered in amazement, “I’ve never seen anything like this before…”

“Luna’s palace is one of a kind,” Dreamcatcher spoke, his face filled with a gentle pride, “though she wouldn’t consider it her own. She’s far too humble for that, but the Republic needs a leader, and we couldn’t ask for a better one.”

The Princess of the Night’s smile was motherly as she looked down at the dumbfounded Moxi. “Moxi,” she spoke, her soft voice seemed all the more gentle when Moxi remembered the being it came from could tear her body to pieces without even making an effort of it, “I’m so glad you chose to accept our offer.” The princess’ eyes turned down, as she said, “I am very sorry for the young miss Chillwind, she was one of my best, and a good pony as well, she often spoke very well of you.”

Moxi tried to keep the tears from her eyes. “Thank you, highness,” she said, her voice cracking under the strain, “I was hoping that, before I begin working with you all, I might be able to see her body?”

Luna’s face cringed, she’d been dreading this moment. “I’m afraid not,” she said, her voice mournful, “as we don’t have Agent Chillwind’s remains…”

“What!?” Moxi spat angrily.

“Don’t blame her, Moxi!” Dreamcatcher called out, “Chillwind and I got separated on one of our missions and by the time I got back to her, the enemy had already taken her away, I only found a pool of blood and a number of feathers from her wings. There was nothing else to bring back home…”

Moxi felt a tiny surge of hope build up inside of her at these words. “But,” she said, “but maybe that means Chill is alive! You never found her body, maybe she’s not dead!”

Dreamcatcher shook his head but it was Luna who responded, “I’m sorry, Moxi, but that is all but impossible, if Chillwind was free, she would have returned to base by now, and General Sparkle doesn’t take prisoners… at least… not for long.”

“The last few prisoners taken by the Holy Solar Empire were executed in the streets of Canterlot,” Dreamcatcher snarled, “I personally hope that Chillwind was killed there and then, I don’t want her to have to suffer a public execution.”

“But maybe she is still alive out there,” Moxi shouted, she was clutching at straws, she knew it, but she had to hold onto whatever hope there may be, “maybe she escaped and is just too injured to get back here!”

Luna looked at Moxi with empathetic pain etched into her eyes. “Yes,” she said, “it’s a possibility, and if any of our troops find her, you will be notified immediately. Until then, we need you operating at peak efficiency, Moxi, get some rest, your training begins at 0600 hours.”

Moxi as trudged away, Dreamcatcher leading her to the Spec Ops barracks, she eyed the swinging scarf at her side. No, she thought, Chillwind wouldn’t just die on me.”

Chapter 5 - The Emissary

Three Weeks Later

The barracks had been quiet these past three weeks, and without her partner, Moxi had effectively been grounded. Luna had been too busy to so much as speak with her, apparently the Empire’s forces were making a renewed push to take back Fillydelphia and General Warhorse needed her full attention to make sure their troops were properly managed, not that Luna had been going out of her way to be friendly to Moxi lately. The princess had been more reclusive than usual since she’d learned of Dreamcatcher’s injuries. The medics had kept him under sedation for most of the time he’d been back at base, their reasoning being that the stubborn earth pony would likely insist on being put back on active duty before he was ready for combat. Recent word had it that Catcher’s wounds were nearly healed, and he would be ready for active duty within the next few days, but for the moment, other matters weighed heavier on the minds of every pony in the 32nd.

Word had spread through the camp that an envoy would be coming to negotiate with the Princess, and while no word of who it was and what their intentions were, the NLR was more than pleased to discover any possibility of ending hostilities, even temporarily. Moxi was ordered to report to the gate and “escort” the envoy to the war room to meet with Princess Luna, but by the time the cart pulled into the camp to drop the representative off, Moxi felt they needn’t have bothered. This pony was not from the Holy Solar Empire.

“Blessings of peace upon you, young pony,” the pink earth pony said, stepping down from the cart with a dignified grace, “I am Priestess Dewdrop, and I am here as a representative of the combined efforts of the Equestrian Peace Corps and the Sugarcube Order.” She wore her hair cropped short, and it was adorned with a golden wrought headband, and her body was draped in majestic robes of white and gold, and she spoke with a civility and grace befitting her position, “You are Agent Moxi, are you not?”

Moxi reeled at the mention of her name, this pony was evidently well informed; maybe there was cause to be concerned about the security of the NLR. “That’s right,” she said, “follow me, I’ll lead you to the High Commander.”

“Wonderful,” the envoy spoke with dignity, but something in her voice betrayed that the elegant tone was ill-fitting on her.

“If you don’t mind my asking,” Moxi said as they passed through the palace corridors, “how did you know who I am?”

“I could see it in your eyes, child,” she said, her tone softening with a tinge of sympathy, “there is a pain there, deep and new, you have suffered much for one so young, but then, war does that to all, I suppose…”

Moxi turned to eye the older mare, she held a sorrowful kind of grace, Moxi thought she understood what the pony meant; some things are easy to read on a pony. “The war room is right up here,” Moxi said, indicating the heavy double doors, flanked by burly earth pony guards, “that is where you will be meeting with the Commander.”

As they approached the doors, they opened of their own accord, revealing a war room different from what Moxi had last seen, the table sized map of Equestria was gone, leaving the tabletop bare, Luna sat at the head of the table, General Warhorse on one side of her, and Melody on the other.

Dewdrop bowed before the princess, not raising her head even as she spoke, “Hail, Princess of the Night, I am Priestesss Dewdrop of the Sugarcube Order, and come representing both my own order and the will of the Equestrian Peace Corps. I thank you for welcoming me to your home.”

Luna eyed the pony with a raised eyebrow and a small smirk. “Dewdrop?” she said, skeptically, “is that what you’re calling yourself these days?”

The pink pony raised her head, giving the princess a small but genuine smile, it barely touched her heavy, mournful eyes, but Moxi could see it there. “My vassals were reticent to allow me to come myself in the first place,” she said jovially, “They insisted that I at least use a pseudonym, so in keeping with their interests, yes, milady, I am Priestess Dewdrop.”

Luna bowed before the mare. “Very well,” she said, “it is an honor to have such a prestigious guest, ‘Priestess Dewdrop,’ the chefs should just be finishing dinner now, would you care to discuss matters over food?”

Moxi couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable, eating with a priestess, a general, and a princess all at the same time, the only pony she felt she could relate to was Melody, and even they came from entirely different worlds. Moxi would’ve simply taken her food with the rest of the troops, but Luna had requested that she stay, and one doesn’t simply deny royalty.

“Surely,” Dewdrop spoke, continuing the discourse which had taken up every moment not spent chewing between the two mares, “there must be a better way than this, war will solve nothing, if you and Celestia could simply meet on neutral ground and negotiate a settlement-”

“Except so far as my sister is concerned,” Luna interrupted the priestess, “there is no neutral ground. No, my dear, I’m afraid any chance of a peaceful resolution has long since evaporated. Most would claim that any chance for peaceful coexistence with my sister ended when Cloudsdale fell.”

“But I have known Princess Celestia for ten years!” the priestess exclaimed, “She was always a reasonable pony!”

“You have not known her for ten years,” Luna retorted, her voice level, despite the fire behind her eyes, “you knew her ten years ago. One wouldn’t ordinarily believe such a period would make a difference to eternal beings such as my sister and myself, but in this case it makes all the diference in Equestria. Celestia has changed, the sister I loved died in Cloudsdale, all that is left now is a tyrant, and one does not simply allow a tyrant to stand unopposed.”

The priestess stood, slamming her hooves on the table in fury, “You spend more time rationalizing your bloodshed than you do trying to end it!”

“Please!” Melody cried out, “Her highness has been appealing for Celestia’s abdication since the beginning of the war, but she refuses to even acknowledge our requests. Worse yet, the last envoy we sent bearing a message was killed, we dare not put more of our people at risk by appealing to a mad mare!”

“Enough, Melody,” Luna spoke calmly, turning back to Dewdrop, “I’m sure you’re aware that Celestia has become more reclusive, she not only refuses to meet with me, but I’m well aware she has denied your appeals for an audience as well. She’s grown paranoid; she won’t stop until the entire New Lunar Republic is either dead or locked away.

“Just because you’re willing to see me,” Dewdrop sighed, “doesn’t mean you’re in the right either. Bloodshed is bloodshed, no matter which side you’re on. I see neither of you will listen to reason. Keep your bloodshed away from my temples, we will continue to take any pony in, Solar Empire or Lunar Republic, but your fighting is not welcome on hallowed ground.”

The pink pony moved to leave the room when the door burst open and Dreamcatcher walked in, a medic pony in tow. “Please,” she called after him, “your wounds aren’t fully healed yet!”

“You’ve kept me on ice for three weeks!” he called back over his shoulder, “My wounds have healed enough!” Dreamcatcher strode into the room, but the moment he caught sight of Dewdrop he stopped dead, his jaw hanging open slightly.

“Dreamcatcher,” the priestess said, her small smile returning again, “It’s good to see you again, I’m glad I was able to see you before I left.”

Dreamcatcher tried for several moments to find the words before stammering, “L-laughter…”

The priestess gave him a slightly warmer smile before shaking her head and speaking to him, “I’m afraid there hasn’t been much call for that for a while.” And with those words, she walked out of the room to be escorted back out of the base camp.

Chapter 6 - Scars

Following the end of the meal, Melody, Moxi and Dreamcatcher left the higher ups to discuss strategy. The earth pony seemed utterly dumbfounded by his encounter with the Priestess, the first time anything had managed to leave Dreamcatcher speechless in all the time Moxi had known him.

“It was good to see her again,” Melody said, after they’d cleared the palace gates and emerged into the eternal midnight of the 32nd’s basecamp, “after all this time…” Dreamcatcher merely shook his head, “That’s not the pony we once knew, though I suppose we’re not the ponies she once knew either. This war has tempered our youthful innocence. She still remains naïve enough to believe there remains a peaceful option.” His eyes narrowed as he spoke, “She is foolish, little more than a child by most standards… and this world needs nothing more than to be populated with only such ponies…” His eyes softened, and he turned to Moxi, “I know you wish to ask, Moxi, but please, what is in the past…”

“Is in the past,” Moxi completed the statement for him, she’d heard him use it before… to describe his stance towards her former alcoholism… Dreamcatcher nodded, “Thank you for understanding. We were different ponies back then… all of us…” He smiled at Moxi, and turned his attention to the brightly shining full moon overhead, “She really is beautiful isn’t she…”

“She certainly is,” Moxi said, returning the smile, “Though I’m afraid I’ve only eyes for one mare.” With that Moxi turned and strode back into the palace, it was time to grab some rack. Dreamcatcher watched her departure with sad, knowing eyes. “She’s still holding out hope,” Melody said, “isn’t she?” Dreamcatcher sighed and shook his head, “Denial is a powerful thing, but at the very least it gives her drive, that pony won’t stop looking until she finds the proof she needs.” He turned to Melody with a deep concern etched into his features, “But I fear what proof she will find when she does. There is little good to be had from this, the most we can hope for is that Chillwind died a clean death, but even that is unlikely.” The two ponies watched the young mare disappear into the shadowy recesses of Luna’s palace. Highly unlikely, indeed.

Three Weeks Earlier

“You know the routine,” Dreamcatcher muttered to Moxi, his mane plastered to his skull by the Fillydelphia rainfall, “standard smash and grab, security’s tighter than usual, but nothing we can’t handle.”

“I know, Catch,” Moxi snarled, working furiously at the lock on the door to the Solar Empire research lab, cleverly disguised as a disused back door in a filthy alleyway, “you act as though this is my first mission.” Dreamcatcher rolled his eyes at the younger pony, and while she couldn’t see it she told him where he could stick it, “I know, but this is a little higher profile, and you’re still fairly green.”

“That’s why we’ve got the big macho guards,” Moxi gestured to Sergeant Alabaster and his men, “isn’t it?” The sergeant grumbled, evidently not fond of working with ponies as unprofessional as Moxi, but what could they expect? She’d only been on field missions for two months! Frankly, she thought, they should just be glad I’m as professional as I-

-Click-

-am! “We’re in, everypony,” she muttered, the troops lining up in a breach formation behind the door, “thank me later!” Dreamcatcher was the first through the door, nudging it open with his snout, his knife firmly gripped in his teeth, he eyed around the darkened room but saw nothing. “Clear,” he said in a hushed voice over his shoulder, “looks like they set up this room so it would just look like another abandoned building, unless our intel is way off… Move in but keep an eye on the shadows.”

The team worked its way into the building, Alabaster’s ponies fanning out behind the two Spec Ops agents. As the hallway’s vandalized and collapsing structure gave way to the cool, antiseptic white, Dreamcatcher signaled to the soldier ponies to stop. “Hold position back here, make sure they can’t get any reinforcements in,” he spoke in a commanding tone, “Moxi and I will scout ahead, if we require any assistance, we will signal you.” The troops nodded their understanding, and with that Catcher and Moxi made their way into the facility.

“What does Luna expect us to find in this place?” Moxi asked, the halls looked deserted, if she had to guess, she’d have said the facility had been disused, “this place doesn’t look like it’s still active.”

“Luna’s network has never let us down before,” Dreamcatcher retorted, “there’s something important here, we just don’t know what yet.”

Moxi nearly lost her lunch at the sight of the main research room, she had been right to assume the place was abandoned, but wrong to assume that meant the researcher ponies were gone. The bodies of white lab-coated ponies were strewn about the floor, most lying in a pool of their own blood, there were cracks in the walls over the crumpled bodies of other ponies, as though they’d been thrown against the wall with enough force to kill them instantly. There was no sign of any test subjects, though the lab had clearly been geared towards testing on ponies, operating tables with heavy leather restraints sat disused, the restraints stained with what looked suspiciously like crusted blood.

The sight was horrible enough, but what really tore into Moxi’s senses was the smell. The stench of so many ponies, simply left to rot here, was overwhelming and caused Moxi’s stomach to roil in discomfort. “By Luna’s glorious moon…” Dreamcatcher swore under his breath, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“Fuck me!” Moxi all but shouted, “For the love of Luna, Catch, can we please just get to finding the files, I don’t know how long I can last in here.” The earth pony gave her a nod, “Yeah, get to looking, grab what you can and let’s get out of here.”

The lab may have been a tangled mess of rotting corpses, but the filing cabinets were as pristine as if the facility was still running at peak capacity. Moxi grabbed every folder she could get her hooves on, stuffing them all into her saddlebags while Dreamcatcher did the same across the room from her, clearly he didn’t want to stay in this room any more than she did.

“I’ve got everything from over here,” Moxi called out, stuffing the last few filed into her bags, “you good to go, Catch?”

“Yeah,” Catcher said, slamming a filing cabinet closed with his hind legs, “let’s get out of this place.” The two ponies made their move toward the door when Moxi noticed something laying beside the still hoof of one of the fallen researchers. She approached the dead pony and grabbed the blood-stained parchment from beneath his hoof, it showed some sort of diagram, but the damn thing was way beyond her pay grade, she folded the parchment up and stuffed it into her scarf.

“Let’s go!” Dreamcatcher hassled her from the door, “Alabaster will be waiting for us.” Moxi followed Catcher from the room and up the hall towards Alabaster and his ponies, but as they approached the spot where Dreamcatcher had told them to wait, they found nothing but an empty stretch of hallway.

Moxi and Dreamcatcher exchanged concerned looks. “Maybe… maybe they decided to hold the fort from outside?” Moxi suggested hesitantly, but as they approached the door, the silent tension they could feel building put a fire at their hooves, and by the time they reached the door to the city streets, they were galloping.

The rain soaked alleyway was littered with the still bodies of Alabaster’s ponies, crimson pooling about them, spreading through the puddles of watcher like macabre flower petals.

“Oh Luna,” Moxi swore, her eyes wide in sheer horror, “what in Equestria could have done this?” Dreamcatcher began reaching for the knife in its sheath on his belt when he was suddenly knocked to the floor by something heavy dropped from above. Sergeant Alabaster’s face was still twisted in vengeful fury even in death as his mangled body lay atop Dreamcatcher. Moxi hastened to help her fallen partner, pushing the fallen Sergeant off of him, but Alabaster was no lightweight, and it took a lot of effort to get him off.

The slow clop off approaching hooves caught Moxi’s attention and she looked up to see an image from her nightmares, The alicorn was solid red, his brown mane wavy and flattened by the rain, he had a sword drawn was eying Dreamcatcher with a hungry sense of satisfaction. “You,” he spoke in a high class aristocratic tone, “are a tough pony to lure, Mr Dreamcatcher. I must say it has taken me quite a few tries to catch you off guard.”

“Aristocrat,” Dreamcatcher snarled, putting as much contempt into the word as he could muster, “you fight like a coward, face me like a stallion!” With that, Dreamcatcher rolled the body of his former comrade off his back and charged the alicorn. The blade flashed so quickly Moxi barely saw it move, and with it, Dreamcatcher fell to the ground, blood spurting from his newly wounded foreleg. “Tsk Tsk,” the aristocrat spoke, disapprovingly, “I would’ve expected better from Luna’s top agent. Come now, we must away.”

Dreamcatcher spat in the alicorn’s face before attempting to regain his footing, the aristocrat pony sneered and his sword flashed several times more, dropping the earth pony screaming to the ground in a spray of blood. Moxi saw the light began to fade from Dreamcatcher’s eyes as his consciousness began to fade, and knew she had to act immediately or Catcher would be dead. She rushed forward and scooped up the fallen earth pony, carrying him into the sky as quickly as her wings would carry her.

The solution was merely a temporary one, the alicorn had wings as well and the only hope of Moxi’s plan being successful is if he was caught off guard enough to buy her a few seconds. She took off at high speed, swerving in and out of the buildings in an attempt to break the line of sight of the alicorn, who must be chasing her by this point. She loosened her saddlebags and let them drop to the streets, spilling out sheets of parchment in a blinding paper haze. She heard the alicorn swing into the papers an heard his cry of discomfort, buying her just enough time to swing into an alleyway and through an open window before the assassin regained his composure.

She heard him swing off into the city streets, roaring in frustration, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She immediately pulled the parchment from her scarf with a quill and began writing, “Mayday, all troops down, Dreamcatcher injured, require immediate assistance! –Agent Moxi.” Once she’d finished writing, she smeared the parchment with a gel from a jar on Dreamcatcher’s belt and watched as the parchment burst into emerald flame, the smoke trailing out the window.

“Please,” Moxi muttered, “please get here on time!” With that, she grabbed Dreamcatcher’s gauss and began wrapping it fervently around his still bleeding wounds. “Don’t you fucking quit on me, Catcher,” Moxi sobbed as she worked, “don’t you dare fucking quit on me!”

Present Day

Moxi knew the wrenching feeling in her stomach anywhere as she sat up in her bunk. She immediately reached for the chamber she kept beside her bed at all times these days and felt her body wretch. What was left of her dinner spilled out into the basin, and her body spasmed with dry heaving for several moments after she’d run out of dinner to spill. When all was said and done she lay back down in her bed and curled up around her scarf, hoping its comforting warmth would help to shield her. She felt the tears come, and she did not fight them.

Chapter 7 - A Grim Surprise

Several Days Later

Luna called Moxi and Dreamcatcher to the war room to discuss the findings of their mission, and when the pair arrived they found the princess in a less than stellar mood. “The data you recovered,” she said, her voice lined with anger, “is useless.”

The two Spec Ops ponies blanched at these words. “What do you mean?” Moxi cried out. Luna shook her head, “the lab ponies have just gotten back to me with word on their analysis. All of the files recovered from the Fillydelphia lab were filler information; fake files intended to throw us off. We already knew they were aware of our coming strike, so I suppose it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they would do a bit of cleaning beforehand to keep us getting our hands on anything valuable.”

Dreamcatcher swore loudly, “All of that, for nothing! Empty night…” Moxi blinked in shock, but then a thought occurred to her, “What about the one I sent ahead of us?” Luna eyed her in confusion, and Moxi explained, “When Dreamcatcher was hurt I sent in an SOS using dragonfire gel, but I wrote it on the back of a piece of parchment I found in the hoof of a dead researcher, was that one fake as well?”

Luna stared at Moxi with wide eyes, “I didn’t know about any other parchment, we must speak with dispatch!”

Moxi and Dreamcatcher reported to the dispatch officer, himself in the midst of using the gel to send out orders to units in the field. “Agents Moxi and Dreamcatcher,” He spoke without turning to face them, “finally being put back on active duty, are we?”

“Not yet, sir,” Moxi said, breathing slightly heavier from the run down from the war room, “listen, back on our last mission I sent in an SOS, do you still have the parchment I sent it in on?”

The officer eyed them suspiciously, but dug into a pile of old notes and discarded orders, digging for a few moments before emerging with the blood stained SOS. “Here it is,” he said, passing it over to Moxi, “what do you need it for?”

Moxi beamed at the ratty old paper, before turning shining eyes on the dispatch officer, “To complete our mission!”

Luna’s lab techs looked over the diagram on the paper, though it seemed the scientist who had copied it down only had a vague inkling as to what it truly meant, if the scrawl above it was to be believed:
“We received word from head office today that the entire research branch is being moved to Salt Lick City, I didn’t even know we had a facility out there. I suppose it was only a matter of time, with how hard the revolution has hit this area, but those new researchers, I don’t know if I trust them. They keep to themselves and I managed to get a look at the blueprints for their project, they don’t make any sense. Celestia claims the project is of the utmost importance, but I’m not sure. With all the rumors circulating around, I don’t know if Celestia will keep us around once we’ve outlived our usefulness. Maybe I should join the New Lunar Republic, I could probably buy my safety with this sketch of the blueprints, I just have to wait for that alicorn, ‘Radiant Sol’ to leave, the guy is creepy, seems like he doesn’t have any emotions at all, maybe the NLR is right about the aristocracy…”

“Salt Lick City,” Luna sighed, after sending the sketched blueprints off to be analyzed by the lab ponies, “I never would have believed Celestia would have slipped so far as to establish a functioning laboratory in Salt Lick City.”
“Ma’am?” Moxi said, eying the princess in confusion, she had expected to see excitement on Luna’s face for the new lead, or at least relief that their mission hadn’t been a complete waste of pony life, but the mingled look of disappointment and shock on the princess’ face caught her by surprise, “What’s so bad about Salt Lick City?”

“Salt Lick City,” Luna spoke, her head in her hooves, “is a filthy slum. The ponies there have all but completely fallen into the darkest excesses of life, things exist in Salt Lick City you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else in Equestria. It’s of little strategic importance, so thus far we’ve kept our soldiers out of the area entirely. I suppose that makes it perfect for Celestia’s private research, the entire region is still firmly in the grasp of the Solar Empire.” Luna looked up from her hooves and looked them directly in the face, “Anyone I send to investigate will be walking into the lion’s den…”

“I volunteer, princess,” Dreamcatcher exclaimed, stepping forward immediately, “I will take this risk upon myself for the good of the Republic. That is,” he added, turning to face Moxi, “if my partner is willing to join me?”
Moxi considered the option before her. “An enemy controlled city, filled with hostile guards, neverending daylight, and populated with ponies who live as the pony embodiment of excess?” She turned to face them, a devil-may-care grin on her face, “sign me up right now.”

Luna grimaced at the pair of them, each grinning wickedly back at her, and spoke in solemn tones, “I wish I didn’t have to send you, and it is my sincere hope that I still won’t have to, but if the suspicions of Dr Grym are valid, and his hypotheses have very rarely been proven false, then it is of the utmost importance that we find this research facility as soon as possible.”

She stood and approached them. “Barring any unforeseen revalations in the next few hours, you will depart for Salt Lick City in the morning,” she nuzzled both agents’ necks, “please take care, my friends.”

Moxi lay in her bunk that night, sleepless for the thoughts rushing through her head, anxious for her first mission in over a month. “Hey, Catch,” she said aloud, “you asleep?”

“No,” came the flat toned response from the bunk beneath her.

“Are,” Moxi hesitated, “are you worried at all? I mean… about going back out into the field?” There was a pause before Moxi heard any acknowledgement from Catcher, “Always, Moxi, I’ve been nervous for every assignment I’ve ever been sent on. Honestly, if you aren’t nervous, you aren’t paying close enough attention, this is war, we risk our lives every time we go out there. We risk our lives every time we step out the door. Hell, one could argue we risk our lives simply sleeping in our beds.”

BOOM!

The entire palace shook under the concussion, and Moxi and Catcher were on the ground and moving before the shaking had ceased. They charged down the hallway, rushing to the palace exit and seeing all the other personnel doing the same, rushing to respond to the unknown strike. “What, by the night,” Moxi shouted, “was that!?”

“I have no idea,” Dreamcatcher yelled in reply, “but I can guarantee you this, it’s nothing good!”

Moxi and Dreamcatcher rushed out of the palace doors just in time to catch the second and third blasts, caused by heavy explosions striking in the midst of the camp. “Incoming!” they heard someone calling, “Solar war machines to the east and west, it’s a pincer strike!”

“Every available soldier,” shouted another officer, “return fire!”

“Moxi,” Dreamcatcher called out, “give me a lift!” Moxi nodded and took to the air, wrapping her hooves around Dreamcatcher before taking to the skies and flying directly for the source of the offending blasts. What they saw before them was like nothing they’d ever seen, Celestia’s war machines were solid metal vehicles, equipped with long cannons, belching fire in rhythm with the explosions rocking the camp. “I think” Catcher called over the roar of the wind, “we’ve found the enemy troops.”

“Well,” Moxi shouted back, “what say you and I get in there and wreak some havoc?” Without waiting for a response, Moxi plunged down toward the war machines, swinging down to drop Dreamcatcher beside the nearest machine before flying off to take on the second. She found the things to be a fairly simple two pony operation, one loading the explosives into the cannon while the other adjusted its trajectory and kicked a device which sent the projectile on its way. The unicorn loading the cannon never knew what hit him, Moxi landed on his back with such force that the whiplash snapped his neck, dropping him dead to the ground instantly. The earth pony firing the cannon was surprised by the sudden arrival, but recovered quickly, drawing a knife and charging at the young pegasus, but Moxi was able to avoid the pony and with a well placed kick, she shattered the earth pony’s jaw, sending the knife skittering away as the earth pony dropped motionless to the ground.

Moxi eyed the controls of the cannon; they were simple, simple enough that Moxi herself would probably be able to control them fairly easily. Moxi grinned a wicked grin, and immediately set about adjusting the cannon’s trajectory so that its barrel faced the nearest cannon to her, and with a quick kick at the firing mechanism and a loud blast from the cannon, the other war machine was silenced forever.

Moxi turned back to the machine she’d left Dreamcatcher on, and saw that he had clearly been successful in his endeavor as well. What caught her eye, however, was not the war machine, but the red streak flying through the air toward it. “Oh shit,” Moxi swore, immediately taking flight and rocketing to Dreamcatcher, “no, no, no no no no no! Not again!”

Moxi arrived at the war machine’s platform to find Dreamcatcher locked in combat with the alicorn assassin from Fillydelphia. The two were matching one another blow for blow. “Give in now,” the alicorn shouted, “and I promise I will make a case to my princess for a clean death!”

“Nice try, Radiant Sol,” Dreamcatcher shouted, “as if I would ever take the word of an aristocrat, filthy noble scum!” The alicorn was taken aback by the realization that Dreamcatcher knew his name, and he reeled just long enough for Dreamcatcher to get in a good hit with his knife, the blade biting deep into the alicorn’s flesh. Radiant Sol screamed in pain, and was so distracted that he didn’t even notice Moxi approach from behind him and struck him from behind. The alicorn fell to the ground, gasping for breath and entirely at Dreamcatcher and Moxi’s mercy. Dreamcatcher held his knife firmly and stood over the fallen alicorn, but just as he prepared to drive the blade down in a finishing blow, his body was wreathed in the unmistakable glow of unicorn magic and he was pinned against the wall of the war machine behind him.

Moxi turned to face the new attacker, but felt her body leave her control. Her wings seized up, every muscle suddenly ceasing to obey her commands and straining under the power of magic. She looked up to face her attacker and saw a lone unicorn approaching them, she wore an eyepatch and her purple coat was adorned with medals and betrayed her status as a general, while her deeper purple mane was streaked with silver strands, identifying her as a pony of decent years.

“Dreamcatcher,” she spoke calmly as she approached them, “it’s so good to see you again, it’s a pity this will be the last time. I would take you alive, I’m sure Celestia would love to see you as well, I’m sure she’d love to hang you and your little friends for treason, but alas, I’m here to put an end to this pathetic farce you call a ‘revolution.’”

“If anyone needs to pay for their crimes, Sparkle,” he growled, barely able to move his lips against the raw force of her magic, “it’s you and your ilk. You’ve betrayed the people of Equestria, and sooner or later, you will pay for your crimes!” General Sparkle smirked at the trapped earth pony, “Oh, I think not, Dreamcatcher, after today, princess Luna will be back in Celestia’s custody, and this time I’m afraid she’s gone too far. I don’t think any punishment so lenient as a millennium long banishment to the moon is going to be a fitting response this time.”

“You bitch!” Dreamcatcher snarled, “I’ll cut your throat myself! I’ll kill you, you fucking traitor!”

“Tsk Tsk,” Sparkle shook her head, “such language. Regardless, Dreamcatcher, I’ve got much work to do, disassembling this little ‘army’ you’ve assembled here, so I think I’ll have to cut to the chase. Goodbye, Catcher.”

Chapter 8 - At Death's Door

PAIN. Pain unlike anything Moxi had ever experienced wracked through her body, she could see Catcher from the corner of her eye. The young Earth pony was contorting into positions nopony should be capable of doing, and from the pain surging through her body, she could tell that her body was doing much the same.

Had she control of her lungs she would have been screaming in sheer agony as each muscle in her body tried to pull in a different direction, tearing at one another. Her head began to swim from the pain and the lack of oxygen flowing to her brain and she saw the world begin to fade before her eyes, the pain slowly beginning to fade as she slipped into unconsciousness, and she welcomed the relief it offered. But no, came a voice from the back of her head, if you fall asleep now, you’ll never wake up, this is not the time for you to die, Moxi, this is the time for you to fight!

Moxi forced her mind to focus and she turned her attention onto the unicorn. The general didn’t seem as though she was being particularly taxed by the effort of simultaneously destroying the bodies of two ponies, in fact, she seemed almost bored. There must be some kind of way to get out of this, Moxi thought, some trick we can exploit to break free!
The blood was pounding in her ears now, so heavily it almost sounded like cannon fire… cannon fire and the roar of charging ponies… In an instant Moxi knew what was happening was not a simple effect of the magic on her body, but rather the result of something she’d completely forgotten. This impromptu torture session was happening on a hill that was rapidly in the process of becoming a battlefield!

Sparkle must have forgotten this as well, for when she heard the sound of the 32nd charging up the hill to destroy her war machines and take her head, she turned on them with an expression of annoyance. “Oh dear,” she muttered, “looks like we’ll have to speed things up, won’t we. I’m sorry to have to cut our time together short, Dreamcatcher, but you know how it is. Busy busy busy.”

She created a magical barrier around them as the NLR reached their position, preventing any of the soldiers from coming to the aid of Moxi or Catcher, but as she did, Moxi felt some of the pressure leave her aching muscles. The relief was so great that even the pain that continued to throb through her aching body was like a drug in contrast to the agony of moments before. She could see Dreamcatcher starting to break free, twisting his head in an attempt to grab at his knife, but Sparkle simply snarled at him, “No!” And she slammed Dreamcatcher hard against the plating behind him, and in that instant Moxi was able to twist unseen from the bonds of the unicorn’s magic to rush her. Moxi slammed against the older pony, knocking her from her feet and breaking her concentration long enough for Dreamcatcher to break free of his magical bonds as well.

The general was beginning to regain the upper hand, as Moxi desperately tried to pin her to the floor. She had leverage and youth on the older pony, but Sparkle had experience and training, and with a few good twists, she was able to achieve enough leverage to toss Moxi aside and lift herself onto her hooves. Moxi had to give the general credit, even through the process of wrestling with Moxi, Sparkle had managed to maintain the bubble of hard air around them with no fewer than ten NLR ponies trying to smash their way through, but with all her focus suddenly split between Moxi and holding the shield in place, she didn’t have enough spare consciousness to notice the tan earth pony slamming into her with the force of a battering ram.

The earth pony stepped away, and Sparkle slumped to the ground, blood oozing from her lips, but her horn still flaring with magic. “You are a disgrace,” Catcher spat, “you and your kind were meant to protect the people, not subjugate them and deprive them of all which makes them ponies.” He approached her, and she looked up at him through her single swollen eye, her weathered face a mask of contempt, but she said nothing. “You have committed many crimes, these few years past,” he growled directly to her face, “and the time has come for you to pay for your crimes. Luna would call for your imprisonment, likely for life.” Twilight smirked at him, and when she spoke, Moxi could see teeth stained crimson with blood, “but you’re not Luna, are you Dreamcatcher?”

“No,” he muttered, righteous fury burning in his eyes, “I’m not!” And Dreamcatcher swung around to deliver a crushing kick to the general’s skull, only to feel his hoof pass through thin air. He lost his footing and fell to the ground. “No,” he looked back in disbelief at the spot where the general had sat not ten seconds before, “no, damnit! I had her! I had her right in my hooves!”

Moxi approached Catcher and placed a hoof over his, the earth pony turned to face her, tears in his eyes. “I had her, Moxi…” he said, his voice quavering, “I could have ended it.”

“Shh,” Moxi shushed, “it’s ok, Catch, you did amazingly. Nopony could have asked for more.” Dreamcatcher nodded, and with a helping hoof from Moxi, he returned to his feet, brushing the tears from his eyes before turning to one of the gathered NLR soldiers, “Status report.”

“Princess Luna has been safely extracted, sir,” the young private said, snapping to a salute, “The aerial squads are removing the crews from the war machines as we speak. We’re to mop up any remaining resistance from the Solar Empire troops and then report back to General Warhorse for further orders. This appears to have been a relatively small effort; the general assumes Sparkle thought she’d be able to take us out quickly with these machines.”

“Report to Warhorse for orders, eh?” Dreamcatcher muttered, shooting Moxi a devilish grin, “Well, we don’t report to Warhorse, besides, we’ve already got our orders. Don’t we, Moxi?”

Moxi paused for a moment before returning the grin. “Yeah,” She said, “I guess it’s time for us to take a little trip to Salt Lick City.”

Chapter 9 - Salt Lick City

Luna hadn’t been kidding about Salt Lick City. The place was a filthy slum. The constant sunshine only served to accentuate this, revealing every filth ridden corner, every graffiti spattered wall, every disgusting detail standing out sharply in the constant midday sun. The filth that seemed to cover every inch of the city was alien to Moxi’s idea of what a city was supposed to be, but not the main difference gnawing at her, there was something far more off about this town than the simple dark nature of its sunlit streets.

“Where is everypony?” Moxi spoke up as she and Dreamcatcher walked down a main street which was nearly completely deserted of ponies. A stark contrast to the constant bustling nature of Manehattan.

“With the sun and moon in the state they’re in, it’s been getting harder to tell night from day anymore,” Dreamcatcher replied, his eyes darting about warily, taking in every street corner, every alley, and particularly the ponies in dark coats who seemed to be loitering on every street corner, “maybe we’ve simply arrived in the middle of the night and everypony’s already asleep?”

“No,” Moxi said, shaking her head, “even in the middle of the night a city will have more ponies than this around. Manehattan never fully shuts down, this city is nearly as large, I can’t imagine it would be able to set its entire populace by the same clock.”

“Celetia is a totalitarian,” Dreamcatcher offered, “it’s possible she’s begun forcing her own schedule on the ponies under her rule.” Moxi shook her head once more, “Except that doesn’t make sense either. Even with the sharp incline in direct conflict during the past few months, Celestia wouldn’t risk inciting a panic or turning more people to our side by directly revealing her power hunger. Don’t forget that most citizens of the Solar Empire don’t even know that Cloudsdale has been wiped off the map!”

“Keep your voice down,” Dreamcatcher muttered, eyeing one of the dark coated ponies they were passing in close proximity to, “if you go shouting about the NLR that disguise won’t do us any good at all.”

Moxi eyed the heavy, dark robe she’d donned before they’d entered the city’s limits with distaste. “I don’t like wearing this,” she groaned, rustling her wings against the fabric, “it’s so constraining on my wings!”

“Yeah,” Catcher murmured, “well pegusus ponies are even less welcome in the Empire now than they were before you left Manehattan. Fact is, you’d have probably been lynched by now if you hadn’t joined up.”

Moxi shuddered, her partner’s words all the more chilling because she knew full well that he was right. She locked her wings firmly against her sides and continued walking, “So what’s the plan, then? Without the proper channels, how are we going to figure out where this lab is?”

“I’m trying to figure that out myself,” he groaned in reply, “unfortunately, I didn’t really think that far ahead when I suggested we head right out here. Then again, Luna’s resources won’t be much good here, not this deep in Solar territory, even the Princess’ spy networks have their limits.”

“Well whatever you’re planning on trying,” Moxi said, glancing behind them, “I’d suggest you do it quick, because we’ve got a tail.”

“How many?”

“Just two from what I can see, it’s those guys from the street corners…”

“They’re definitely Solar Empire, then,” he growled before steering Moxi toward an alleyway, “follow my lead.” The pair ducked into the alley, the tall buildings on either side providing shade, if not completely dispelling the constant sunlight. The pair of dark coated ponies followed them, their hoofbeats coming in more rapid succession with each passing second.

Without warning, Dreamcatcher turned on the spot and shot their pursuers his award winning grin. “Afternoon,” he said, never taking his eyes off the other ponies, “do you gents need something?”

“Show me some identification,” one of the ponies asked, his coat and mane were dark and his eyes were cold and merciless, Moxi felt a shudder go up her spine the instant she caught the other pony’s eyes and she instantly knew, these ponies were dangerous…

“Dear me,” Dreamcatcher spoke in mock exasperation, “but I seem to have left my ID in my other belt. Perhaps I could just tell you who I am? My name is Willmane, this is my wife Callie, we just arrived in town to visit some friends of ours.”

The guard pony didn’t look like he was buying the ploy, but he didn’t advance any closer toward them, “What is your business here in Salt Lick City?”

“Business?” Dreamcatcher said, puzzled, “Like I said, we’re simply here visiting friends. No business to be had, as such.”

The guard spat and started marching forward. “I said, what business-“ the pony’s words were cut off mid sentence as a long shaft of wood suddenly appeared sticking firmly out from his neck, blood gurgled up from his mouth and spilled onto the floor only moments before he dropped to his side, his hooves furiously working at the crossbow bolt lodged in his throat. The other guard pony stepped forward to help him, but instantly drew back, struggling against an unseen force at his throat as his eyes bulged and his face flushed. After a few moments, the pony’s eyes began to close, it was only in the last moments of his consciousness that the grinning face of a black coated unicorn pony appeared at his shoulder, holding garrote wire firmly in place to choke the life away from the struggling pony. The guard kicked once more, and then fell limp in the unicorn’s hooves. She gave one final jerk and then let the guard’s lifeless body slump to the ground.

“Search the bodies,” came a voice from behind Catcher and Moxi, and the pair turned to see a grey coated earth pony with a wild, unruly mane sporting a simple green cap approaching them, “Celestia does love to dote on ‘er lil’ spies wif valuable trinkets, don’t she?”

“Don’t she, indeed,” snickered the unicorn, already rifling through the pockets of the first dead soldier, sneaking away anything that looked valuable.

“Now now, but what ’ave we ‘ere, eh?” the gray pony said, pointing at the pair of them with an unloaded crossbow, “a paira silly lil’ fillies done gone and los’ their way, is it?” He eyed them warily before speaking again with a heavy smirk, “Nah, but that ain’t it, ain’t ‘at right, silly fillies? You knew ‘xactly where you was goin’ di’ncha? Bet’n them’s good odds you was lookin’ for dear old Chaser, weren’cha?”

“Chaser?” Moxi muttered to Dreamcatcher, trying to cut the other pony out of the conversation.

“Oh me oh my,” said the pony, placing the hoof still holding up his crossbow to his heart in a mock display of shock, “but surely you di’n come all dis way lookin’ to do summit in Salt Lick wiffout even knowing who da head honcho is in dis ‘ere town?” He pointed the crossbow back in Moxi’s face, and she was shocked to see that he’d somehow managed to load it without her noticing, “don’chu know who runs dis town? You’s bettah off keepin’ that pretty lil’ tongue locked away in your ‘ead, girly, less’n you wants it cut out, eh?”

“Moxi,” Dreamcatcher spoke up, making sure both the newcomers could hear him, “this is Chaser Doolit, one of the most notorious criminals in Salt Lick City.”

“Ooh, ‘e knows how ta pay propa respect, don’t ‘e, Chase?” the unicorn piped in, taking a break from her rummaging to shoot the earth pony a devious grin.

“He sure ‘nuff do, doll,” Chaser smirked, “well, now dat we’ve dispatched C’lestia’s own personal like lil’ welcomin’ service, what say you’s fillies come wif us and we’s a word in a more private like settin’, eh?”

“I suppose we don’t have much of a choice in the matter,” Dreamcatcher growled at the cockney crime lord, “do we?”

“Nah, lad” Chaser responded with a casual flick of the crossbow, “s’pose you don’t.”

Chapter 10 - Doolit's Den

The streets were getting darker. Moxi eyed their surroundings as Chaser led them deeper and deeper into the city’s twisting maze of alleyways and she noticed that while it was happening slowly, their surroundings were getting darker, as if the sun was setting.

“Ya noticin’ sumfin,” came the twisted voice of the black unicorn from beside her ear, moments before her head reappeared, hovering along as they walked, “ain’tcha, girlie?”

Moxi eyed the unicorn warily, her eyes held a visible gleam of madness, at least when they were visible. The dark unicorn disappeared into nothingness too frequently for Moxi to be properly comfortable around her. “It looks like the sun is setting,” Moxi spoke, defiantly keeping her voice firm and strong, “but-“

“But we all know that can’t be the case,” Chaser spoke, without turning to face them, “don’t we, love?”

“Too right,” the unicorn spoke up, her face once more fading into invisibility, “I don’t fink Luna’s evah gonna waste her precious time comin’ to this lil’ rathole of ours. Don’t you lads go finkin’ da cavalry’s arrived, you all’s on your own for the time bein’.”

Chaser approached a doorway set into the wall of an old brick building, turning around and kicking it twice with his hind leg causing a burly earth pony on the other side to open it for him. He faced Catcher and Moxi with a dark smirk saying, “Now lass and laddy, welcome to my humble lil’ abode, here’s where we’s gonna discuss your business prospects in our fine city.”

A den of ill-repute, or at least that’s how the aristocrats would label Chaser’s establishment, but even they would have to have marveled at its sheer scope. After descending a flight of stairs just inside the alley doorway, they’d arrived in the foyer of what appeared to be a rather large casino. The floor beneath them was glass and revealed a second floor of the operation below them. Waitress wearing seductive makeup and suggestive expressions moved from table to table, doling out refreshments to the ponies at the tables, eating or playing card games, as well as a number of lounge areas where there hung clouds of smoke far more pungent than that of tobacco.

“Now this,” Moxi muttered to Dreamcatcher, “is a bit closer to what I’d expect from a city.”

“For that, m’dear,” Chaser exclaimed, shooting Moxi a toothy smile, “y’can ‘ave a drink on the ‘ouse.”

“I never said it was a compliment, Chaser.” Moxi shot back, narrowing her eyes at the crime lord, but her hard expression was tinged with a pleasant quiver up her spine as a passing waitress brushed Moxi with her tail, the hairs maintaining contact a little too long for it to have been completely unintentional. Moxi turned back to eye the waitress’ departing flank, catching a glance and a wink from the attractive earth pony as she did. Moxi forced her expression forward, blushing but focusing with all her might on Chillwind.

Chaser watched the exchange with a dubious look on his face. “I din’ say you’d wanna take the drink either,” he chuckled, “there’s only two types o’ ponies what drink fer free in my establishment. Those what leave and those what don’t.” He eyed her darkly, “Now which, I s’pose is you, love?”

Moxi swallowed hard, but tried to keep a calm face. She knew full well that by this point there was no turning back, they were in too deep. If Chaser decided to kill them, there was little Moxi or Catcher could do to stop him. She felt Dreamcatcher press up lightly against her side, a subtle but unmistakable sign of solidarity, a reminder that she was not in this alone. The simple act did more than it should have to comfort her as they followed Chaser into his office.

The heavy wooden desk sitting in a dimly lit room was nearly as large as the map table back in Luna’s war room. Chaser sat behind it, resting his head on his hooves and leering at the pair. “Why don’ you folks ’ave a seat,” he said, gesturing to a pair of chairs opposite him, “how ‘bout that drink now, love? Any preferenciations?”

“Something non-toxic would be preferable,” Moxi remarked, sitting down in one of the chairs Chaser had indicated, and noticing as she did faint dark stains.

“You’re gonna have to answer my question ‘fore I can make any recomendations on that front, lass,”

“And what question would that be,” Dreamcatcher retorted, eyeing the crimelord with visible distaste.

Doolit leaned over the table to glare into their eyes, his wide grin not touching his eyes, “Told you, lad. There’s only two types what drink fer free in my establishment, you fillies is definitely one of ‘em, but you ain’t answered as to which.”

“Given the choice,” Moxi spoke up, “I’d go with the latter.”

“Oooh, but she is a quick one, ain’t she boss!” The black unicorn had reappeared once more, lounging across the table and grinning her jagged grin at the pair.

“She’s a cocky one’s what she is,” Chaser shot back, glaring at Moxi, “you any doubt at all in that pretty little head that I could kill you where you sit, lassie?”

“Obviously not,” she remarked, keeping her voice calm and praying that nopony could hear her heart pounding like a bass drum in her chest, “you’ve gone out of your way to implant a fear in us.”

“Have I?” Chaser laughed, “How you figure that, lass?”

“Your ‘establishment,’ as you so call it, is spotless, so I find it hard to believe that the only place you’d have neglected that overzealous hygiene would be on the bloodstains in your own office. You kept them to show us that you have killed in here before and to express your willingness to do so again. And don’t think for a minute that I believe you just coincidentally found us right at the moment when we were at our most vulnerable, you were tailing us, which means you know who we are and you know why we’re here, you’ve already decided what you’re going to do with us.

“An’ what makes you fink I know that?”

“Because you’ve been distinctly looking everyone about us but at my back,” she remarked, seeing his eyes widen slightly she knew she’d read him right and pressed him on it, “you’re overcompensating for something, aren’t you, Doolit?”

There was a long moment where no one said anything, Dreamcatcher’s eyes darted between Chaser and Moxi, lingering occasionally on the unicorn. Chaser had put up his poker face, but it was too late, Moxi knew she’d read him right, but after nearly a minute of silence, she decided it had to be her who broke the tension, “So how long have you been loyal to the princess of the night, Doolit?”

Chaser scowled and for a moment Moxi thought she’d made a grievous miscalculation, but then the earth pony burst out laughing. “I can see why Luna chose you,” he said through gasping breaths between laughs, “I see you’s the brains o’ the outfit, makes you brawny, eh Catch?”

Dreamcatcher snarled, but Chaser raised a placating hoof. “Only foolin’ wif you, lad,” he chuckled, “Luna don’t choose ‘er Black Ops teams haphazard-like. I’m sure you got more goin’ fo’ you than that pretty little knife on your neck there.” He turned back to Moxi, his expression more serious, “as for ‘ow long, love, there weren’t ever a time when we wasn’t loyal to Luna. Though I don’t fink she’s too fond of how we go about business. To be frank, though, I don’t fink it really matters long as we get results. My network’s got money, muscle and information, all three of which I’m willing to lend to Luna’s war machine at any time she asks, and while we ain’t had much call fo’ that, I’m gonna take you two fallin’ in our laps as a sign the time’s come to pass on what we know, but we could take up days of your time wif that, and I take it you’s in a hurry, ain’t ya?”

“Very much so,” Dreamcatcher murmured.

“There is supposed to be a research lab here, the experiments were recently moved here from Fillydelphia,” Moxi told Doolit, “do you have any leads on anything like that?”

“Lass,” Doolit smirked at her from across the table, “I fink you’s forgot what I told you earlier, so I’m gonna remind you one last time…” He planted his hooves firmly on the table and shot Moxi a glaring smirk, “I. RUN. THIS. CITY.”

Chapter 11 - En Route

Chesh, the eerie black unicorn who served as Doolit’s right hand, guided Moxi and Dreamcatcher through the city, slipping through alleys and gaps between structures like a serpent, her lithe movements all but invisible to passers by even without the use of her camouflaging magic. “C’lestia’s troops been buildin’ up dey’s forces ever since dey opened up dis facility,” she spoke in a hushed whisper, peering around a corner before leading them running across an empty street, “Chase don’ like to admit it, but he don’ know why dey’s got so many, can’t even get an eye inside the place, only ponies goin’ in dere so far is dems what’s loyal to the Empress.” She turned to give them a fanged grin, “s’pose that’s about to change, now innit?”

The facility’s entrance was drastically different from the Fillydephia base, Celestia had clearly made no attempt to hide this one, four guards stood out front, marked by the same dark overcoats as the ponies who’d accosted them in the alley. Moxi drew a pair of binoculars from the bag under her robe and peered through them at the windows on the front of the structure. “Doesn’t look like there’s any guards inside,” she said, passing Catcher the scope, “at least not immediately, if we can get past those guards at the front we should have enough time inside to plan our next move.”

“Big if,” Dreamcatcher replied, “no way we’d be able to take all four down before they could get some sort of alarm off.” He shook his head and handed her back the scope, “No, we can’t risk it, if they call for reinforcements, or worse, if they get the lab ponies to destroy the research, everything will have been for naught.”

“Then what are we supposed to do?” Moxi asked, exasperated, “We can’t exactly wait for nightfall, and even without the weather patrol, it looks like the skies here will be too clear to give us any weather advantage.”

“Ye know,” Chesh spoke up, causing both ponies to jump, “Chase only told me ta show ya how ta get ta this place, but…” she cupped Dreamcatcher’s chin with the end of her tail, “fo’ such a han’some fella as yerself, I might just see my way to doin’ a sight more fo’ you.”

Catcher and Moxi watched in awe as the unicorn disappeared from sight, they turned to watch the guards at the building’s entrance. After a short pause, two of the guards slammed their heads together, slumping unconscious to the ground, the others barely had time to react before the nearer of the two had his feet swiped out from beneath him, he splayed out on the ground, confusion evident on his face as his sword leapt from its sheath of its own accord and sliced through the throat of the final guard before spinning around to slam through his eye, piercing his skull and sinking into the dirt behind him. Chesh reappeared, her face flecked with scarlet blood as she turned her manic grin on the unconscious guards. She approached them slowly, placing one of her front hooves on each one’s neck and laying against them with her full weight.

Moxi made to run after her, to stop her, but Dreamcatcher held her back. She rounded on him and snarled, “are we just going to let her do this!?”

“I don’t like it either,” Dreamcatcher sighed, shaking his head as he released his grip on Moxi, “but those soldiers would do far worse to us, they made their choice. This is war, don’t forget that.”

“Not like this, Catch,” Moxi said, despair in her voice, “they can’t even defend-”

-SNAP-

The sound of both ponies’ necks snapping echoed through the empty street, and Moxi felt her whole body go cold. She turned back just in time to see Chesh’s body give a little shiver of pleasure as she lowered herself from atop the lifeless soldiers. She turned to face them and called across the road, “You all gonna wanna help me move dese fellas? Or was you finkin’ o’ jus’ leavin’ ‘em out in the open ‘ere?”

Catcher and Moxi helped drag the corpses off to another nearby alley, stashing them behind a couple of heavy trashcans. Chesh eyed Moxi’s expression with interest. “You ain’t been a soldier long,” she observed, “‘ave you lassie?”

“Long enough,” Moxi snarled back, scowling at the unicorn, “I still don’t see the justification in murdering those who can’t defend themselves!”

Chesh’s eyes flashed and her body tensed, Moxi thought she might pounce on her but instead she spoke in a calm voice, her anger only barely audible in her tone. “You don’ ‘ave any idea what you’s talkin’ ‘bout, girlie,” she snarled, “You ain’t seen the kind a shite these thugs pull ‘round ‘ere. Celestia don’t care what ‘er boys do so long as dey keeps the order. Gives ‘em free reign to ruin as many lives as dey see fit, an’ lil’ miss Luna ain’t done much so far as I can see to help out da lil’ folks ‘round ‘ere. Only reason anypony in dis ‘ere town’s got any safety at all is cause o’ Mistah Doolit.” The unicorn glared at the mangled bodies of the guardsmen, “Way I sees it, every one o’ dem put in da ground is one less lassie on da streets what’s gettin’ forced ta do fings she don’ wanna, an’ frankly, miss, that’s more’n reason ‘nuff fo’ me to kick these scum while dey’s down.”

Moxi opened her mouth to respond, then closed it, turning away from the unicorn and nodding silently.

Chesh raised herself to her fullest height and spoke to Dreamcatcher, “Dis is where I take’s my leave laddy, hopes your mission works out well enough.” She turned and walked away, and as her shape began to fade she called out, “Good luck, you’s gonna need it."

Chapter 12 - Into the Labs

Moxi and Dreamcatcher entered the building slowly, taking each corner with the same caution they would when disarming a bomb, and it wasn’t long at all before they began to hear voices carrying from down the hall.

“Most projects are proceeding as planned,” echoed a voice from a chamber down the corridor from them, “with the exception of Black Dawn and the new project from the Fillydelphia branch, we’re having trouble picking up from where the last team left off without any of their technicians on hand…”

“I am not looking for excuses,” replied a familiar, cold aristocrat’s voice, Moxi and Dreamcatcher exchanged a look of surprise as they recognized Radiant Sol’s voice, “and neither is her majesty. You will produce results or we will find somepony else who will. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes sir,” came the despondent voice of the first pony, and to Moxi’s horror the voice sounded closer than before, the pair were walking straight towards them! Dreamcatcher grabbed Moxi by the hoof and pulled her into a broom closet off to one side of the corridor and they listened as the aristocrat and scientist strode past.

“Her highness has demanded that the new system be operational by the end of the month,” he said, nearly directly outside the room now, “I would advise you not to disappoint her, lest you suffer her… displeasure…”

Moxi peered out a crack in the door to see the scientist pony reach up to place a hoof against his neck, his face distraught. “Of course,” he said, giving Sol a short bow, “my life for the princess.”

As the lab pony turned to walk back into the facility, Sol watched him for a time, his face was devoid of any expression and after a few moments he turned to exit the facility. After a few steps, however, the aristocrat stumbled, barely catching himself before he would have fallen to the floor, he stood for a moment, clutching his head before shaking it off and continuing his stride to the entrance.

“He must still be injured from the battle,” Moxi muttered.

“Then now is the perfect opportunity to strike!” Dreamcatcher snarled, drawing his knife from its sheath, “Show him what it’s like to be ambushed.”

“We don’t have time for that!” Moxi shot back, “We have to find the information and get out of here before they find out that there’s anything wrong!”

“Haven’t you thought of how he’s going to reach to finding that all four guards at the door missing?” Dreamcatcher snarled, nudging the door open slowly, “He’ll alert the whole damned city to our location.”

Moxi growled, but couldn’t argue with Dreamcatcher’s logic. The unexpected arrival of the aristocrat threw a monkey wrench into their plan, Moxi nodded and let Catcher slip past to approach the alicorn. Dreamcatcher moved like a ghost, covering the distance between the ponies in a matter of seconds while his hooves barely made a sound against the floor. Catcher raised his knife and was about to send it driving down into the alicorns unprotected neck when the assassin let out an intense coughing fit, blood flying from his mouth to fleck the wall beside him as he dropped to the floor, clutching at his throat and coughing, a slow trickle of blood seeping from the side of his mouth. He saw Dreamcatcher standing over him and his eyes traced from the shocked earth pony to Moxi, still peering out of the broom closet. Moxi saw in his eyes, as they began to roll into his skull and he shuddered into unconsciousness something that she never expected to see from the assassin. Desperation.

Dreamcatcher stood over the unconscious alicorn for a few moments, in utter shock at what he’d just seen before he turned back to Moxi, the confusion on his face screaming his unspoken question, “Did you just see that!?”

Moxi left the closet and approached the fallen pony, as she neared him, his convulsions settled to normal breathing and he slipped into simple unconsciousness. “What in Equestria,” Dreamcatcher said, terror in his voice, “was that!?”

Moxi shook her head, examining the fallen pony with interest. “I have no idea,” she muttered, “but it seems to have made our job a bit easier, hasn’t it?”

“Is he dead?”

Moxi shook her head, “He’s still breathing, whatever that was, it wasn’t fatal… at least… not yet…”

Dreamcatcher gripped his knife more firmly, “then I suppose I’d better finish the job!”

The earth pony drove his knife down at the alicorn’s exposed throat, but a cry from Moxi stopped him mid-swing. “Wait!” she called, “Don’t be like her! Don’t be like them! He can’t defend himself!”

Dreamcatcher shot her an aggravated look. “He’s an aristocrat and an assassin!” he retorted, “It’s not safe to let him live! I don’t like it any more than you do, but if we let him live we’re not only risking ourselves, we’re putting innocent necks in the noose!”

Moxi sputtered for a moment before finally looking down at the unconscious pony and speaking, “it’s not just the moral implications… There was something in his eyes when he went down, he looked afraid.”

“If you’re going to let live anypony who looks at you with fear, Moxi,” Catcher snarled, “you’re never going to be much use as a soldier!” At the look on Moxi’s face Catcher finally growled and slipped his knife back into its sheath.

“Thank you,” she muttered, and as she made to turn away from the alicorn something caught her eye. “What is this?” she said, crouching down beside the sleeping figure and examining his neck, there was a mark, the shape and size of a fairly large necklace or choker, but rather than indenting into the pony’s neck, the flesh was raised, “It almost looks like he’s got something… implanted under his skin…”

“Celestia’s a madwoman,” Catcher shot back, turning to travel further into the facility, “we can report it back to intelligence when we head back, but we don’t have time to worry about her lunatic rituals now.” Moxi lingered for a moment longer, tracing a hoof over the raised flesh before nodding and standing to follow Dreamcatcher.

The lab pony who they’d seen talking to Radiant Sol poked his head out at the sound of hooves rapping on the heavy metal door of the lab, only to have it bounced off the doorframe by a swift kick from Dreamcatcher.

“Told you knocking on the front door would work,” Moxi smirked, watching the scientist slump to the floor.

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, pushing the door open and peering inside for more guards or technicians, “I owe you five bits.”

The pair stepped into an observation room, windows lining the walls looked out over a number of operating theaters. Most were empty, save the bloodied tables with heavy leather restraints. Moxi gagged a little as they passed one theater which was not empty, containing a single unicorn in a lab coat dissecting a pegasus pony. She could just make out the bruising on the pegasus’ limbs, she’d been alive when they’d strapped her down… Fury boiled in Moxi’s heart, and she could see it on Catcher’s face as well, but both knew full well that the mission came first.

Dreamcatcher opened a filing cabinet and began sifting through the folders within, his eyes scanning quickly over the various projects being researched within the facility. His eyes widened more and more as he pulled more folders out of the cabinet, but Moxi had begun wandering further into the room, peering through the windows at the theaters below.

“Empty night…” Dreamcatcher swore, Moxi turned to face him and saw him spread out a number of files on a table in the middle of the room, on which the researcher’s coffee mug still steamed. “Luna sent us here to find one dangerous research project, but I don’t even know which…” he looked up to stare at Moxi, his gray eyes wide in terror, “Moxi, if they Solar Empire managed to complete any of these, the tide of the war would turn in their favor in a matter of days!”

“That researcher said that all the projects were coming along smoothly except for something called Black Dawn,” her mind was racing, but she kept her voice and body calm, “either way, just grab up all of the data, we’ll just have to find a way to shut this place down for good…” Her voice trailed off and she began looking through the various windows again, leaving Catcher to scan the documents further. She watched the operating theaters, some empty, others with unicorn scientists performing grisly experiments. Most made her stomach turn, but eventually she looked through a window to find a sight which made her hearth leap into her throat.

Lying on the operating table, her body wracking with visible agony, and her face twisted in pain and rage, was a blue pegasus whom Moxi recognized all too well. Moxi’s heart beat out of control with exhilaration, relief, and inconsolable rage, and she cried out, “Chillwind!”

Chapter 13 - Chilling Fate

The lab ponies working on Chillwind turned in shock at the sound of Moxi’s anguished cry, only to find themselves in a shower of shattered glass. Moxi leapt through the window, her passion and fury making her completely ignore the deep cuts it left on her face and body. Her glasses were knocked away and her scarf, caught on a jagged, protruding piece of glass, was torn from her, but she ignored it.

She dropped into the room, landing directly atop one of the scientists, she saw a look of pure terror on his face as she swung her hoof down onto his skull, she heard a crunching sound as the lab pony’s skull bounced off the floor and he settled into unconsciousness, a pool of blood immediately forming around his head. Moxi turned her eyes on the other technician, scrambling at the door out of the theater, he cast fearful glances back at Moxi when she pounced on him, her wings beating hard against the air to propel her faster. She slammed into him with more force than she would have believed herself capable, and as he slumped back against the door, she wrapped her hooves around his throat.

The lab pony struggled, his hooves scrabbling at Moxi’s in a vain attempt to release the beserk pony’s grip. She watched with grim satisfaction as his eyes watered and his face grew strained, she gripped tighter as his eyes rolled back into his skull and his body went limp. She released him, letting his limp form slump to the ground and turning with bright eyes to face her long lost love.

Chillwind lay still on the operating table, a pang of guilt rushed through Moxi as she saw that the glass had left its mark upon Chillwind’s body as well. Moxi carefully swept away the shattered remnants of the window, clearing her love’s body of debris. Chillwind’s body was covered in cuts, but she did not bleed. Moxi brushed back the icy hair from Chillwind’s face, placing one hoof against her love’s cheek and speaking softly to her, “Chill, Chill wake up, it’s me, it’s Moxi.”

Dreamcatcher arrived at the window, looking down into the theater with shock evident on his features. “Come on, Chill,” Moxi said, grabbing Chillwind by her shoulders and gently shaking her, “this isn’t funny… wake up!” Dreamcatcher jumped down into the room and approached his partners, new and old. He took Chillwind’s hoof in his and felt her for a moment before turning back to face Moxi with sorrowful eyes. “Moxi…” he begain.

“Chillwind!” Moxi cried out, her voice cracking and her eyes watering, but the aching smile still on her face, “Wake up! It’s time to go home! It’s time to go back to Manehattan, you said we’d be happy there, you said we could live our lives together… just the two of us… Now wake up!”

“Moxi,” Dreamcatcher tried again, “Moxi, she’s gone…”

“Wake up…” Moxi said, tears streaming from her eyes.

“She’s gone, Moxi!”

“She’s NOT GONE!” Moxi screamed, her face contorting in rage for a moment before slipping back into sorrow as she brushed at Chillwind’s hair, “I saw her… I saw her move, I didn’t kill her… I didn’t kill her….”

Dreamcatcher eyed her in disbelief, “What?”

“She was moving, she moved when I saw her down here,” Moxi cried, laying her head on her lover’s still, cold form, “She was alive, she can’t be dead, she can’t be dead…” Moxi sobbed unashamedly into her lover’s coat, “I didn’t kill her…”

“She was never alive, Moxi,” Dreamcatcher said, placing a consoling hoof on Moxi’s shoulder, “she never reached this facility alive, I don’t know what you saw, but it wasn’t what you think.”

The sound of shifting glass shards made Moxi look up from Chillwind’s body, she turned back to see the lab pony she’d ambushed first beginning to stir on the ground behind her. She rose from her position and approached him. “Moxi,” Dreamcatcher called after her, warily, “what are you doing?”

“You may never know my pain,” Moxi spoke to the stirring technician, her voice flat but her eyes streaming, “but I will bring you as close as I can before the end.”

“Moxi?” Dreamcatcher started towards her, but Moxi was too fast for him to stop her, she scooped a hoof full of the glass shards littering the floor and forced them into the lab pony’s mouth, forcing it shut and pressing him to swallow it. The technician struggled, but he was dazed and weakened, and was never really a soldier, and as Moxi made him to swallow the shards, she wrapped her hooves around his neck, twisting and squeezing as the shards went down. The scientist tried to scream in agony, but managed nothing more than a strangled gurgle as the blood filled his throat, mouth, and lungs.

“Moxi!” Dreamcatcher cried, pulling her away from the scientist as he scrabbled at his own throat, slowly dying, “What in Equestria are you doing!?” Moxi struggled, swinging her hooves at Dreamcatcher in an attempt to force him to release her, “I’ll kill them! I’ll kill them! And if you try to stop me Catcher I’ll… I’ll…” As Moxi trailed off, she stopped struggling. When she had stopped struggling entirely and her angry screams gave way to anguished sobs once more, Dreamcatcher released her, letting her simply slump to the ground, where she ignored the glass digging into her legs.

Moxi shook her head and looked back up at Dreamcatcher, her eyes filled with tears. “It’s over, Catch,” she muttered, “grab what you need, I’ll fly us out the window, and then we’ll go our separate ways.”

“What?” Dreamcatcher reeled at her, “What do you mean go our separate ways!? We’ve got a mission to complete!”

“You’ve got a mission to complete, Dreamcatcher,” she shot back, turning to face her lost love, “my mission ends here. What more have I got to fight for? Chillwind’s dead, and I… I’ll be dead soon too.”

“So you’re just going to lay down and die?” He shot back, anger creeping into his voice, “You’re just going to let everything we’ve done up to this point be for nothing.”

Moxi shook her head, still not turning to face Catcher, “You’ve still got the data. You can still finish what we started, but as for me, Catch… I just don’t care anymore.”

“I cared about Chillwind too, Moxi!” Dreamcatcher snarled, “Can you honestly tell me you think she’d want this for you?”

“What does it matter!?” Moxi screamed, “She’s dead! The only pony I’ve ever loved, the only pony who ever made me feel like I was really worth something…” Moxi raised her hoof to her throat. Her eyes widened as she realized for the first time that her scarf was gone, she peered around before seeing it, still dangling from a shard of the broken pane above them. Dreamcatcher followed her eyes and stood on his hind legs to grab the scarf in his teeth. With a practiced Navapony motion, he flicked it away from the shard without tearing it any further. He set about wrapping the scarf around Moxi’s neck, whispering gently, “The love you two shared lives on, at least partially, so long as you do. Chillwind may be gone, but her heart was yours, no matter how far she may have gone from you, you always had her heart, so they could never take that, they could never kill her completely.”

Moxi nuzzled into the warmth of the scarf, sniffing it as she did. Any vestige of Chillwind’s scent had long since faded, but Moxi still took comfort in that simple act, the comfort of a filly. She looked up into Dreamcatcher’s warm, grey eyes. “What’re we going to do about her body?” she asked in a quavering, uncertain voice.

Dreamcatcher smiled comfortingly at her. “Well,” he said, “we damned sure aren’t going to leave it for the Empire to abuse further.”

The number of flammable chemicals in the lab made short work out of what the pair had to do next. Having spread the chemicals about the room, Moxi placed one final kiss upon the cold lips of her lost love before lifting herself and Dreamcatcher out of the window. Dreamcatcher lit one of the old files from the lab aflame and dropped it into the room below them. The chemicals caught fire immediately and after a few scant seconds the entire room was a blazing inferno.

“Goodbye Chillwind,” Moxi said, her voice still choked by tears.

“Moxi, I hate to put this on you,” Dreamcatcher spoke up after a moment, holding up a file folder, “but I think you deserve to know. I found this while we were gathering the accelerant… this file explains exactly what they were trying to do with Chillwind… and it explains what you saw earlier…”

Moxi eyed Dreamcatcher, his hesitancy creating a tense wariness about her, “What was it?”

“It was that Black Dawn project the scientist was talking about earlier,” he turned to her and fixed her with a resolute stare, “Moxi, it’s necromancy.”

Chapter 14 - Towering Inferno

Fire spreads quickly under normal circumstances, but when it’s fueled by countless bottles of flammable liquids and unstable chemicals, it charges with a vengeance. Moxi and Dreamcatcher barely had time to notice that the flames were rapidly climbing the walls toward them before they were emerging over the frame of the observation window.

“Oh shit!” Moxi swore, taking to the air to avoid stepping in the searing flames below, but immediately was forced to land as the acrid smoke and fumes began to pool at the room’s ceiling. “Catcher!” she called out, barely able to make out the earth pony’s shape through the haze surrounding them, “Get the files and let’s get the buck out of here!” She saw Catcher scrabbling at the loose papers on the desk, rushing to gather them all up before the fire could erase the data, when he finally straightened up, Moxi heard him shout, “I’ve got them! Moxi, catapult!”

Moxi braced her legs against what little clear floor was left and, with the full force of her legs and wings combined, kicked off from the floor. Taking to the air, she grabbed Dreamcatcher’s outstretched hoof and barreled through the door into the hall they’d entered through, the flames were already starting to emerge from doors on either side of the hall, back drafts exploding from them as burning doors collapsed under their own weight. “The building shouldn’t be going up this fast!” Dreamcatcher coughed over the roar of the flames and the distant screams of the frantic researchers, “There would have to be multiple origin points for it to have reached this part of the building this quickly!”

“This isn’t the time for a formal investigation, Catch!” Moxi shouted, weaving between the gouts of flame bursting forth from each opening along the narrow hall, “Let’s get out of here first, worry about the implications later!”

The twists and turns of the lab’s hallways proved treacherous, and more than once Moxi found their path all but blocked off by a wall of flames. She saw a number of doors burst open to reveal screaming lab ponies, their eyes wide with terror as they clawed at their burning coats and flesh. Moxi fought to repress a sneer at the torturous screams, focusing all her efforts on getting herself and Dreamcatcher out of harm’s way. “I can see daylight!” Catcher called above the roar of the flames around them, “ahead and to the right! We’re almost there!”

Moxi threw her efforts into overdrive and pressed on, forcing her way to the glass doors at the entrance of the laboratory. By the end, Moxi’s ears pounded with her own screams, drowning out the objection of her wing muscles to her sudden increased efforts, and at the last moment she tucked her head against her chest and covered tucked in her wings. Moxi hit the doors like a stone, smashing through the glass and rolling out onto the cobblestone street just beyond.

Moxi and Dreamcatcher lay panting on the ground, savoring the precious clean air as the building behind them continued to waste away to nothing. “You lads jus’ won me fitty bits,” came a familiar voice from above them, Moxi looked up, her was vision blurred from exertion and asphyxiation, but that voice was unrecognizable, once again the pair found themselves at the mercy of Chaser Doolit, “Y’see, Chesh over ‘ere was sayin’ you lot weren’ gonna make it out ah that fire, but I kept tellin’ ‘er, I did, ‘Chesh,’ I says, ‘that lot got a fire in dey’s eyes, dey gonna find a way out even if we do’s set da place on fire,’ an’ I was right, weren’t I?”

“Y-you,” Moxi panted, glaring at Doolit, “you tried to burn us!”

“Perish the thought, love,” He replied, in mock indignity, “we burned dem Celestian lot, you two was jus’ along for da ride, y’see, if I’d tried to burn ya,” he clapped his hooves once and Chesh appeared beside him carrying a tank of petroleum, “you’d be burnin’ right now.”

Moxi scowled up at him, but kept her mouth shut. “Smart girl,” he said, casting her a devilish grin, “now, how’s about you lot make your way back to Luna’s little army? We’s got business to attend to ‘round ‘ere, and I don’ need you lot crampin’ my style.”

“Any idea where to start looking for them?” Dreamcatcher panted, pushing hirself to her feet before helping Moxi to hers.

Doolit frowed, “Nah, Luna’s good at keepin’ ‘er secrets, an’ ever since that security leak what brought you lot ‘ere, she’s only gotten more cautious.” He paused, looking pensive, “If I had to make a suggestion, I’d say go check Sugarcube Acres, they prolly got summa your lot there, they might know where to look.”

“Sugarcube acres,” Dreamcatcher sighed, “why do I always seem to be getting dragged back there?”

“Search me, lad,” Doolit shot back, “but you’d best be gettin’ outta my town, ‘fore you’s get shown out. Oh,” he continued with a smirk, “and Celestia’s lot’s prolly searchin’ da railways for you two now, so it looks like you lads is hoofin’ it.”

Chapter 15 - Sugarcube Acres

The campfire crackled quietly, flames casting eerie shadows on Moxi and Catcher’s forest surroundings as they finished setting up their tent. “So what exactly is Sugarcube Acres?” Moxi spoke up, tugging the final rope into place in erecting their shabby little tent.

“It used to be Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres,” Dreamcatcher replied, slumping down to warm his hooves by the fire, “but after the Sugarcube order was founded, the town slowly became more temple and less town, eventually everypony had either joined the order or moved on to another place. Sweet Apple Acres grew around the temple, and by the time it was complete, the apple orchards were so thick and widespread that they formed a natural barrier for the city. Applejack, the owner of Sweet Apple Acres, and Pinkie Pie, founder of the Sugarcube Order, both saw the partnership beneficial, and so when they finally achieved full control of the area, they renamed it for both.”

“So we’re headed into Ponyville?” Moxi asked, pulling some rations from her pack and munching away at them.

“Essentially, yes. Though it hasn’t been called that for quite a while now.”

“I know a little about Ponyville,” Moxi murmured, “I know it’s on the border of the Everfree Forest, but it also is within viewing distance of Canterlot.” She turned to face him, concern etched on her face, “Doesn’t it seem reckless at all to travel so close to Celestia’s capital?”

Dreamcatcher shook his head, “No, Pinkie Pie hasn’t been able to do much to end the war, but she was able to barter a peace for her lands. Celestia keeps clear of the Temple-city, and it’s tended to by the Order and members of the Equestrian Peace Corps, who’ve also made the place their home. They are welcoming to both sides, though I haven’t seen any of it myself.” He sighed and looked deep into the crackling flames before them, “Honestly, I had hoped to avoid going back. Too many memories there, and even the good memories are sad these days.”

Moxi considered pressing him further, but thought better of it. If he wants to tell me, she thought, he will. She rose to her hooves and spoke, “I don’t think we should sleep without a lookout when we’re this exposed.”

Dreamcatcher turned to face her, his gray eyes piercing her emerald ones, as he looked straight through her, she held his gaze for a moment, but ultimately buckled and turned back to the firelight. “Out this far, I’m not sure we need to be worried about that, besides” he said, “after what you witnessed, you may need a lookout in another form.”

“Keep the dream catcher in your pack, Catch,” Moxi shot back, harsher than she’d meant to, she softened her voice as she continued, “please, I… I’m just not ready for anypony to see me yet…”

Dreamcatcher watched her for a short time before submitting, “As you wish, I’ll take first lookout then.”

Moxi nodded and shot Catcher a small smile. “Thank you, Catch,” she said, moving slowly toward the tent, she tried to keep up a brave face, but she thought Dreamcatcher might have noticed her eyes misting over, “thanks for understanding…”

Dreamcatcher kept watch late into the night. Night and day were such alien concepts to him these days, but here in the midst of the Everfree Forest, the time cycle was just as it had been before, the sun and moon chasing one another across the sky, just as the Princess Sisters did to one another now.

He considered the passage of time, how such an arbitrary process could do so much. He thought of old friends and former homes, of part time jobs and wall-eyed mailmares. He thought of mistakes made and left in the past, and how all of that had been made meaningless by war and the passage of time.

He heard a whimpering from behind him, and opened the tentflap to find Moxi curled up in her bed roll, her small pillow all but soaked through with the little mare’s tears. So young, he thought, and yet she’s seen as much horror as many in this war. More than some, even. As the mare cried out in her sleep, her nightmares growing to overwhelm her, he reached for the dream catcher in his pack, but just as he was about to reach it, he remembered his promise.

She’s suffering, came a voice from within his mind, you can’t just leave her like this!

“I made a promise,” he spoke aloud, “I won’t violate her trust.”

She’s being prideful, she is young and foolish, she needs help.

“It may be a mistake,” he muttered, letting the tent flap fall and returning his attention to his watch, “but it is her mistake to make, I won’t rob her of her right to do so.”

With that, he silenced the voice, and was left with nothing but the sounds of crackling flame, animals scurrying through the underbrush, and his partner, softly sobbing in her sleep.

The pair was on the road the next day at the crack of dawn. They packed up their camp and buried their fire pit without a word of what had happened the night before, and they were travelling again without a word passing between them. As they pressed on into the Everfree forest, the trees began to spread, they could see farther ahead, Moxi tensed with the knowledge that the farther they could see, the easier they would be spotted, but Dreamcatcher seemed to be experiencing the opposite reaction. The more widely spaced the trees became the more he seemed to retreat into himself; he turned his eyes to the ground as if trying to avoid looking at their surroundings at all.

Moxi was about to ask him what was getting to him when she was cut off by the sound of a projectile striking the tree beside them with enough force to crack skulls. Both Moxi and Dreamcatcher immediately dove in opposite directions, taking cover behind trees. Moxi tensed herself to rush into combat when she heard the voice of a southern mare call out from the direction the attack had come from, “Ah missed on purpose, as a warnin’. Now, who are y’all. Show yerselves!”

Dreamcatcher somehow managed to look aggrieved and excited at the sound of the voice, and he emerged from his hiding place and turned to face their assailant. “Is that little Applebloom?” he called out, slapping on a grin which didn’t touch his eyes.

“Dreamcatcher?” came the voice again, laden with disbelief and tinged with barely concealed youthful excitement, “And I ain’t so little no more, but shoot, I ain’t seen you in years!”

Moxi emerged from behind the tree to see a yellow coated mare with vibrant red hair standing before Dreamcatcher. Behind her stood a mountain of a pony, his coat red with a fiery orange mane, his legs were thick as tree trunks, the ropy muscles standing out visibly under his skin, this was a pony you didn’t want to start a fight with. But both were looking at Dreamcatcher with looks of long-lost friends finally reuniting after time apart.

“Uh, Dreamcatcher?” Moxi said, approaching warily from behind. The newcomer ponies did not greet her quite as warmly as they did Catcher, eying her with suspicious glances.

“Guys, she’s with me!” Dreamcatcher called out, “This is Moxi, she and I work together now. Moxi, this is Applebloom and Big Macintosh. They work for Sweet Apple Acres… which I suppose we must have arrived at. Either way, they’re Applejack’s siblings.”

The pair seemed to lessen their suspicion, but Applebloom looked from Moxi’s wings to Dreamcatcher, a look of sorrowful disbelief took her face. “You’re working with a pegasus?” she said, “Ah knew Applejack was hidin’ somethin’ from us. She never told us where you’d gone to all those years, but we pieced it together. You joined the NLR didn’t you?”

Dreamcatcher turned away, unable to look Applebloom in the eyes. “I did what I felt was right, Applebloom,” he said, still refusing to meet her eyes, “I don’t need to justify what I’ve done to anypony.” Moxi knew he was lying, she could hear the plea for their acceptance under his voice. Applebloom looked him over once, and with that, the friendly expression was replaced with one of business, “So why are you here now, Dreamcatcher?”

Catcher flinched at the sudden chill in her voice, but he responded regardless, “We need to get in contact with other members of the NLR. I trust there are some in the city?”

“O’ course,” Applebloom spoke dispassionately, “you been gone so long you ain’t seen what they’ve done with the city. Pretty much the whole place has been sectioned off, Celestian Empire in the north, NLR in the south.”

“Thanks, Applebloom,” Dreamcatcher said, starting forward, “I guess we’ll be on our way…”

As he made to walk past them, Big Macintosh stuck out a hoof to block his path. He turned to meet Applebloom’s eyes, and she gave him a nod, even though not a word was spoken between the two. “Applejack’ll wanna see you, Catcher,” Applebloom said, “regardless of what you’ve done to get here.”

Dreamcatcher eyed them suspiciously, but nodded in agreement. “I suppose it would be rude to come into town and not even pay a visit,” he said, then, turning to face Moxi he said, “I’ll be a while, head into town and meet up with the rest of the NLR, I’ll catch up when I can.”

“Steer clear of the Celestian Quarter,” Applebloom called out as they led Dreamcatcher further into what Moxi now recognized as an apple orchard, “we do our best to keep the peace, but we can’t help anypony who goes out lookin’ for trouble.” And with that they were gone, and once again, Moxi found herself alone.

Chapter 16 - Burdens

Cities were no problem, Moxi had lived in Manehattan for most of her life, but Sugarcube Acres was something else entirely. From time to time she could recognize the remnants of what were once simple village structures, but the far newer structures of white marble, tinged with a faint pink glow, dominated the landscape. The angular sterile design of Manehattan could have done nothing to prepare her for the curves and slopes she found as she attempted to traverse the temple city. The layout was all that it sacrificed in sterility, however, as unlike the streets and alleys of Manehattan, the temple-city’s walls remained unmarred by taggers and vandals, remaining in the same pristine condition as when they’d first been laid.

The curving streets were lined with foreign-looking trees and gas lanterns which would no doubt keep the city illuminated in a few hours when the sun had set and Luna regained her dominance over the skies. Every now and then, Moxi found herself before larger than life statues on decorative plinths, golden plaques at their base marking them as recognition for wise ponies of ages past and more recent members of the Order who had done some great service or another for Equestria.

As Moxi walked along the smooth stone walkways, she passed a number of ponies clothed in fine robes of the same white and gold coloring as the Priestess Dewdrop’s had been. She considered stopping them to ask after the emissary, but decided against it, there was nothing to be gained from that, and who knew how long Dreamcatcher would be occupied at Sweet Apple Acres. She oriented herself and took the street nearest which would take her to the south side of the city.

Moxi hadn’t been traveling for long at all when she was reassured that she’d taken the right direction. Upon reaching a high wall of the same immaculate marble as the rest of the city, she found new decorations upon the walls and buildings there. Most every structure in this part of the city hung a flag of the New Lunar Republic. As she entered the district, a number of wary looking ponies eyed her suspiciously, though none stopped her to talk.

Moxi reached the center of the district and found a circular courtyard with a glorious fountain at its center, featuring a perfect statue of Princess Luna, staring boldly into the distance. A priestess approached from Moxi’s right as she stared up into the statue’s eyes, the priestess tossed a few shining bits into the fountain and bowed her head, her eyes closed, muttering under her breath. “Excuse me,” Moxi piped up, drawing the eye of the priestess, “what are you doing?”

“A prayer, child,” the priestess replied, turning heavy eyes back to the statue, “that the night might bring peace one more.”

“You pray while we do all the work,” came a gruff voice from behind them. The priestess quickly stifled a scowl as she turned to face the pony approaching them from behind. The priestess stared at the newcomer, an orange pegasus with scars down the left side of his face, and gave him a quick bow. “As you say, brother,” she said, her voice neutral, and with that, she walked away. Moxi noted that her movements seemed rather stiff.

“Don’t mind her,” said the pegasus, turning to smile at Moxi, “the locals tend to be a bit uptight, but they’re generally good ponies. I just wish they’d see that all their prayers are going to be for nothing if Celestia regains full control of Equestria.” He looked closer at her face and Moxi saw his mouth drop open in utter shock, “Moxi!?”

Taken aback, Moxi looked him over, she didn’t recognize him as any member of the 32nd she’d worked with. It was only after a few awkward moments Moxi realized where exactly it was that she knew him from. “Wildfire!” she exclaimed, embracing her old friend, “I haven’t seen you since Chillwind and I left town. That was over ten years ago!” Simply speaking Chillwind’s name immediately brought tears to Moxi’s eyes, and she was glad that with her head over his shoulder, Wildfire could not see her crying.

Wildfire squeezed her back. “It’s so good to see you,” he said, “I had heard old Chillwind joined up with the SpecOps Devision a while back, I didn’t know you’d signed up along with her.” He stepped back and looked around, “Is she here with you? I’d love a chance to catch up with both of you. You two left town so quick, we never even had a chance to say goodbye!”

When Wildfire turned back to meet Moxi’s eyes, his exuberant expression fell at the sight of her tearful expression. “Chillwind…” she spoke through oncoming sobs, “s-she… I couldn’t…”

Wildfire’s eyes widened and he immediately moved to embrace her, squeezing her tight and whispering softly in her ear, “Oh, Moxi… I’m so sorry… Is there anything I can do for you?”

Moxi sobbed openly into his shoulder for a moment before stammering back, “w-well there is one thing…”

****************************************************************************************************

“We’re all glad to see you again, sugarcube,” said Applejack, placing a glass of cider down in front of Dreamcatcher, “but we’ve been hearing some mighty disturbing news since you and Rainbow ran off to join the war…”

Dreamcatcher took a sip of his cider before speaking. Applejack’s office was well lit, even in the dwindling twilight sun, she sat opposite him across a sturdy table of polished apple tree wood. Big Macintosh and Applebloom stood beside the door, Dreamcatcher felt it strange how much more threatened he felt here, surrounded by his old friends, than he had in Doolit’s den, maybe it was just because Big Macintosh could crush him without even noticing.

“Well if there’s anything I can do to lay your fears to rest, AJ,” he said, smiling up at her from across the table, “I’d be more than happy to do so.”

“The best thing you could do is to leave.” Applejack spoke so bluntly that Dreamcatcher heard Applebloom splutter behind them, “Ah’m sorry to have to be so rude, Catch, it’s just that we’ve managed to maintain peace ‘round these parts for a while, and we can’t have you bringing down Celestia’s wrath.”

“You’ve managed to survive this long while harboring NLR soldiers in the city,” he remarked, hiding his surprise at her sudden brashness, “what makes you think that I’d be a threat to your peace?”

“Because we all know you’re not an average soldier, Dreamcatcher,” came a voice from behind them, Dreamcatcher turned to see the same priestess who had come as an emissary to the NLR in an attempt to broker peace on a global scale. In deference to her position, Dreamcatcher stood and bowed to the high priestess, all three of the Apple family ponies did the same.

“High priestess,” Dreamcatcher spoke, his face to the ground, “it’s an honor.”

The pink pony smiled at them all and spoke in a soft voice, “Please, I don’t need any such treatment from any of you, you are all my friends, and to you I will always just be Pinkie Pie. Now please, stand up and let us speak.” Pinkie Pie approached the seat beside Dreamcatcher’s, but Applejack immediately stood to offer the priestess pony her own chair. Pinkie began to object, but after seeing the determination on Applejack’s face, she chose to expedite things by simply accepting.

“Now,” she said, settling herself into AJ’s chair while its former occupant took up the seat beside Dreamcatcher, “We have been able to maintain peace here because we have made it clear we will not allow our position to be used as a staging ground for any attacks. Celestia has deemed it more prudent to allow our Order to exist for the time being than to enrage the general populace by initiating martial law on a religious order. However, from the reports we have gathered, you have not been applying to the rules, Catcher, and nor has the one who’s been hunting you, a certain noble by the name of Radiant Sol?”

“You seem well informed,” Dreamcatcher frowned, the sudden memory of leaving the noble in the burning lab renewed in his memory… had they passed the unconscious figure on their way out? “I’d have expected nothing less from the head of Sugarcube Acres,” he added, quickly hiding his discomfort, “yes, the noble has been hunting us for some time, but it’s nothing Moxi and I can’t handle.”

“The filly from the 32nd base camp?” Pinkie said, a smile touching her eyes, “I’m glad to hear she is still well, I worried for the poor dear.”

“As well you should have,” Dreamcatcher shook his head, “the first leg of her journey has met an end, and it certainly wasn’t the one she was hoping for, but I have faith she’ll pull through, she’s a tough one, even if she herself doesn’t realize it.”

“We’re gettin’ off topic here,” Applejack interrupted, “point is, you’re clearly a high priority target o’ Celestia’s. Our peace here ain’t exactly set in stone, we can’t run the risk o’ you bringing down the Empire’s wrath on us.”

“We don’t plan to stay here long,” Dreamcatcher said, looking between AJ and Pinkie, “but Moxi and I got separated from the main force, we need to find out where they are so we can report back in. The only way we thought to do that was to rendezvous with some other members of the NLR.”

“And your first thought,” Applejack growled, “was to jeopardize the only peaceful area in Equestria?”

“My first thought,” Catcher shot back, “was that the movement of the Republic’s soldiers is kept secret except in times of direct combat, which is harder to predict than Sugarcube Acres.”

“Please,” Pinkie Pie raised a hoof to calm the arguing ponies, “there is enough conflict outside without bringing more conflict within. Dreamcatcher did what he thought was right, I’m sure. Just as I am sure he will respect our wishes and be on his way as soon as he is able.” She turned to face him directly, her smile miles away from her eyes, “Right, Catcher?”

“Of course,” he replied after a short pause, turning back to AJ, “We will speak with the local members of the NLR. With any luck, they’ll put us in contact with Luna and we’ll be out of here in the morning.”

Applejack nodded her consent and Pinkie Pie clapped her hooves together, “Excellent! Now, I’m sure your partner is waiting for you, you’d best go find her. There are lodgings for members of the NLR in the southern region of the city, I’m sure your comrades will be able to lead you to them.”

Dreamcatcher nodded and stood to make his exit, as he pushed open the door he heard Applejack speak from behind him, “Hey, Dreamcatcher…” he turned to face her, her expression was somber as she eyed him back, “it’s good to see you again… Ah’m sorry it couldn’t have been under better circumstances.”

“Yeah,” Dreamcatcher muttered in reply, pushing his way out the door and back onto the farm grounds, “we all are...”

Dreamcatcher eyed the temple city with mild interest, he’d been aware of its construction, but hadn’t been back in so long that it literally looked nothing like it had when he’d last seen it. He found the NLR quarter without much trouble and began searching around immediately for Moxi. When he arrived at the central courtyard, he truly found a reason to marvel at the new city in the statue of Luna.

“I’m amazed Celestia hasn’t rolled in here to dismantle this,” Dreamcatcher said, hearing somepony approaching him from behind.

“The Solar Empire soldiers have tried to tear it down a few times,” came a soft female voice, he turned to face a yellow unicorn, her uniform marked her as a member of the Equestrian Peace Corps, “same with the Republic soldiers and the statue of Celestia in the Solar Empire’s quarter. Even in these peaceful lands, the anger and hatred cannot be forgotten.”

Dreamcatcher frowned thoughtfully. “Have you seen a white pegasus,” he asked of the unicorn, “with glasses and a scarf around here?”

“I have, yes,” she replied, and she tilted her head to a brightly lit building, “I believe she’s in there, socializing with the rest of the soldiers.”

“Thank you,” Dreamcatcher said and he walked to the building she’d indicated, he looked up to the sign above the door which read The Barley and Bridle. A tavern name if he’d ever seen one, he braced himself and entered the room filled with heat and the stink of alcohol.

A group of ponies stood in the corner, drunkenly singing songs which praised the New Lunar Republic and demonized the Holy Solar Empire. He scanned the bar, there was a wet bar against one wall, and opposite that a set of raised platforms in a U-shape upon which a number of exotic dancers plied their trade, garnering tossed bits from the gathered soldiers at the foot of the platform. It was here that Dreamcatcher found Moxi. She sat on a stool, gazing up at one of the dancers, her glasses were fogged and sat skewed on her face, and she swayed slightly on the spot. Dreamcatcher looked down at the table on which her hoof was resting and saw a glass half filled with brown liquid.

He silently swore and approached her. “Moxi,” he said, grabbing her roughly by the shoulder, “what are you doing!?”

“Hey,” said an orange colored pegasus beside her, standing and staring Catcher down, “leave her alone!”

“Are you the one who brought her here?” Dreamcatcher reeled on the pegasus.

“So what if I am?” he shot back, “You got any idea what this poor girl’s been through!? She wanted to forget her troubles for a bit, so that’s what she’s gonna do!”

Dreamcatcher took a swing at the orange pegasus, only to find his hoof blocked by Moxi’s. “Let ‘im be, Catch,” she slurred, “he’sh jusht tryin’ to help me out…”

“Moxi!” Catcher cried, “You can’t be serious! You finally got over this! You can’t just let yourself slip back into the temptation again!”

“Why not?” she shot back, her eyes focusing, locking in on his with an expression of pain-fuelled rage, “What the FUCK have I got left to lose, Catch!?”

“Moxi, this isn’t you talking,” Catcher pleaded, “this is the drink, now please, come with me, we’ll get you some water and some sleep.”

“Fuck off, Dreamcatcher,” she growled, turning back to her drink, “Wildfire’s right, you’ve got no idea what I’ve been through.”

A red haze overtook Dreamcatcher’s vision, and before he knew what was happening, he raised a hoof and swung down at Moxi’s cheek, the nimble pegasus dropped backward off of her stool, rolling back onto her hooves as Dreamcatcher’s struck the heavy wooden bartop. “You don’t think she meant anything to me!?” he shouted, ducking a kick from Moxi before returning a couple of his own, “I may not have been in love with her, but she was still my partner! I still loved her like a sister! Don’t you dare try to claim that she meant nothing to me!”

“Big pony,” Moxi taunted, dodging his kicks and sweeping his legs out from under him in the same move, “you think you know loss!? Just because you lost a sister!? I just lost my whole WORLD! I have nothing left to lose now!” She pounced on top of Dreamcatcher, but the Earth Pony managed to wedge his back legs between them and in a rolling maneuver he pushed her off of his body just as she landed.

Dreamcatcher got to his hooves and turned to face Moxi, who quickly regained her footing and stood at a fighting stance, “You still have your life, Moxi. And you still have Luna and the NLR… and you still have me.” He sneered at her and turned to walk out of the bar, “but I guess we’re just not important enough for you.”

As Dreamcatcher left the bar, Moxi stood panting, her head pounding with fury, but after a few moments, the adrenaline began to abate, she stared around the bar, most ponies were staring wide-eyed at her, a couple in the back were exchanging money, and all the dancers on the platforms looked terrified, and with a heavy sigh Moxi placed a few bits on the table before exiting the bar herself.

Dreamcatcher lay atop his bedsheets, unable to sleep. The local inn had given him one of the rooms the NLR had on permanent reserve, it was warm and comfortable, but he still couldn’t find peace. “Damnit, Moxi,” he swore to himself, “what’re you doing to yourself?”

As if in answer to his question, the door to his room opened, and Moxi stepped in. Catcher tensed himself, preparing for if the pegasus was looking to continue their fight. She stood beside the bed, swaying slightly before lowering her head and pressing her forehead gently against his. “I’m sorry, Catch,” she said, her voice shaky, Dreamcatcher felt a couple of tears land on his face.

In response, he scooted over on the bed, leaving room for Moxi to join him. She accepted his offer, lying down beside him atop the soft, warm bed, and within moments she was fast asleep. Dreamcatcher once more eyed the satchel in the corner of his room which held his dream catcher, but shook his head dismissively. “Not everything needs to be solved by magic,” he muttered, running a hoof over Moxi’s soft, violet mane, “sometimes, it just takes a good friend.”

Chapter 17 - Departure

The sun rose over Sugarcube Acres, illuminating its shining structures and reflecting its radiance off the jewel set eyes of the proud statue of Princess Luna, standing in the New Lunar Republican Quarter. The morning light passed through the window of the local inn, falling upon the face of the slumbering pegasus pony therein.

Moxi stirred from her slumber, tugging the comforter over her head in an attempt to block out the sun’s rays. Her head pounded and her mouth felt dry. She turned in bed and attempted to sleep facing away from the window, but the damage was already done, and her pounding skull wouldn’t allow her to return to her sleep. She opened her eyes to greet the new day… only to find the entirety of her vision taken up with the slumbering face of her slumbering partner, Dreamcatcher… A colt!

Moxi’s eyes shot wide and her face burned in embarrassment. She scrambled for a moment, attempting to distance herself from the stallion beside her, but only succeeded in tumbling off the side of the bed, entangled in the blankets. She gazed up at the ceiling, unable to move for the renewed pain in her head, and saw Dreamcatcher’s mildly annoyed visage peer over the side of the mattress above her. “For the love of Luna,” Moxi said, rubbing at her eyes with her hooves, “please tell me nothing happened.”

Dreamcatcher smirked at her from above and stepped out of the bed. He pulled on his leather belt, buckling it firmly with his teeth before turning back to her to speak. “Well,” he said, his voice wry, “you took a few swings at me, but I assume you mean specifically in this room?”

Moxi attempted to give him a flat, contemptuous stare, but as she had yet to disentangle herself from the blankets and rise from the floor, the gesture lost some of its meaning.

“Of course not, Moxi,” Dreamcatcher shook his head, pulling away at the blanket to help Moxi free herself, but as she stood his expression turned somber, “but what’s more important is why something could have happened.” A flicker of anger crossed his steely gray eyes, “You made a promise to me, a promise to Luna. Hell, you made a promise to yourself! And you broke that promise last night.”

Moxi’s eyes widened and she turned away, unable to face the earth pony. “I-I just…” she started, but trailed off, what was she supposed to say?

“We’re partners, Moxi,” Dreamcatcher spat, “that means my life is regularly in your hooves! Now how the hell am I supposed to trust you with it if you’re going to pull stunts like last night at the bar!”

“Dreamcatcher, I-”

“Save it,” he interrupted, “I’m not going to report this to Luna. But know this, Moxi, if I catch one hint of anything like what happened last night happening again, you’re through.”

Without another word, Dreamcatcher stormed out of the room, letting the door fall closed behind him. Moxi stared blankly after him for a moment before turning to the mirror to regard her reflection. Her mane was disheveled and dirty, as was her coat. Her eyes looked sunken and bloodshot. And as Moxi stared into the emerald eyes before her, she spoke aloud in the empty room, “Who are you?”

When Moxi emerged from the inn several minutes later, she found Wildfire and Dreamcatcher staring angrily at one another. “Making new friends again,” Moxi called out, grabbing both ponies’ attention, “are we Catch?”

“Moxi,” Wildfire called out, his face softening as he saw her, “how are you feeling?”

“A little hungover,” she admitted, “but other than that, no worse for the ware.”

“Alright,” Dreamcatcher sighed, grabbing Wildfire’s attention once more, “now that you’ve seen her, can you please show us to the CO around here?”

Wildfire looked at Dreamcatcher skeptically before turning to face Moxi. “Is what he says true then, Moxi?” he asked, “he claims to be your partner.”

“Yeah,” she replied, stepping up beside Dreamcatcher, “Wildfire, this is Dreamcatcher. Catch, this is Wildfire, an old friend from my hometown.”

“I didn’t realize the Spec Ops division took Earth Ponies,” Wildfire snorted, “but alright, I trust your word, Moxi. The NLR sent a Captain Ironhide to round up all the troops here and bring them back to main camp.”

“’Round them all up’?”

“Well these soldiers aren’t stationed here,” Dreamcatcher said, “these are all soldiers who were wounded and taken in by the Order or the Peace Corps, every now and then Luna has to send someone in to collect them all up, since the battalion always has to be on the move.”

Wildfire gestured for the pair of them to follow. “Your friend’s right,” he said as they walked toward the center of the district, “we always have to be careful though, since the Empire is always trying to figure out where we’re hiding. Anyway, Ironhide said everypony is leaving at about noon, so we should probably find her now.”

Captain Ironhide was just as her name would suggest. She was tall and solidly built for a unicorn, with a coat of iron gray and a mane only slightly darker. Her visage was stern and calculating, she had the look of sompony who had seen combat regularly and would see still more when the time came. She looked Dreamcatcher and Moxi up and down and glared down her nose at them disapprovingly. “Where are your uniforms, soldiers” she spoke, her voice booming and cold.

Dreamcatcher snapped to a salute, Moxi followed his lead. “Ma’am, I am Special Agent Dreamcatcher,” he gestured at Moxi, “and this is Special Agent Moxi, of the NLR Special Forces Division. We have urgent information which must reach the High Commander immediately.”

The captain’s eyes widened, but she gave no other recognition of her surprise at finding Spec Ops soldiers. “When times are dire,” she said, staring Dreamcatcher directly in the eyes, “and hope near lost…”

As she trailed off, Dreamcatcher replied with his half of the callphrase meant to identify the rankless Spec Ops units to officers, “Mother Moon will wrap her cloak ‘round the abandoned.”

The unicorn nodded, “I’m sure her Highness will be happy to have her agents returned to her. We leave in one hour, be ready to move out.” And with that, she turned and returned to her duties, tending to the soldiers scattered around the courtyard.

Dreamcatcher and Moxi sat themselves beside the statue of Luna. They rested there for nearly a full hour, watching all the NLR soldiers gathering in the courtyard, separating into various groups based on their position in the service. When the time was nearly upon them to leave, Ironhide stood to address the assembled troops, but was distracted by the appearance of several new arrivals to the courtyard.

Several ponies wearing uniforms which bore no resemblance to the NLR or the Holy Solar Empire soldiers’ entered the courtyard, they moved with a certain level of precision, though Moxi thought from the way they held themselves that these ponies were not soldiers. “Dreamcatcher?” Moxi said out of the corner of her mouth, “You know who these ponies are?”

“Peace Corps,” Dreamcatcher replied, rising to his hooves and watching the new arrivals in confusion. The ponies fanned out, standing even numbered on either side of the street from which they had entered and from behind them entered a yellow coated pegasus pony, her pink mane long and curling up at its tips.

Ironhide bowed slightly in acknowledgement of the pony. “Lady Fluttershy,” she said, “a pleasure to see you, again. We were just about to leave, allow me to thank you directly for your hospitality towards our ponies.”

Fluttershy shook her head absently and when she spoke, her voice was soft and quiet, yet somehow managed to project enough that Moxi had no trouble hearing her despite the distance, “Oh think nothing of it, dear Ironhide, it was our pleasure. However, if you’d like a means by which to thank me, there is something which I would like to ask of you.”

Ironhide narrowed her eyes in suspicion, “And what would that be?”

“I would like to accompany you back to your base camp.”

Ironhide reeled at the pegasus pony’s directness, “E-excuse me?”

“Well,” she continued, “you see, I’ve just returned from the field, and was just made aware that Pinkie Pie attempted to discuss terms of peace with Princess Luna, only to meet with failure. I would like to try my hoof at convincing her Highness to discuss terms of peace.”

Ironhide considered her words carefully before responding, “Miss Fluttershy, with all due respect, I can’t bring you back to the camp on my own authority.”

“Then maybe you could report back to your superiors to get me the authority?”

The captain seemed to be flailing, searching around for an excuse to get out of this when Catcher spoke up. “You’ll excuse us for being a little reluctant to let outsiders in, Fluttershy,” he said, approaching the yellow pony, Moxi saw her eyes flitter uncomfortably at the sight of him, “but the last time someone from outside the NLR came to the camp, we were attacked by Celestia’s prime general. You may have heard of her. One ‘Twilight Sparkle.’”

Fluttershy’s cheeks puffed up with repressed anger for a moment before she calmed herself. “Dreamcatcher,” she said, regaining her cool exterior, “it’s been quite some time. How have you been?”

“Surviving,” he replied, “which is more than we can say for many these days.”

“You will not see reason, then?”

“Will you?”

Fluttershy scowled at him, “Then I suppose we have nothing left to discuss.” And with that, she turned on the spot and stormed away. Dreamcatcher watched her go with wistful eyes. “Right…” Ironhide spoke up, blinking the surprise off of her face as she turned to address the gathered troops, “everypony board a wagon, we’re already late for departure.”

All the assembled NLR soldiers boarded the carts which had been brought in to take them back to the base camp, and as one, they all took off, streaming off to the south and leaving Sugarcube Acres behind them within minutes.

Fluttershy watched the retreating carts disappearing off into the distance over the Everfree Forest, and felt tears stinging her eyes. A hoof fell on her shoulder and she looked up into the kind, honest face of Applejack. “Hey there, sugarcube,” she said, Pinkie Pie approaching from behind her, also watching the departing carts.

“You didn’t tell me Dreamcatcher was with them,” Fluttershy spoke to the ground, unable to look Pinkie in the eye as she accused her.

“Would you have gone if I had?” She replied, not turning from the southern skies, “It is as important now as it has ever been to try to find a peaceful resolution to this war. Celestia will not see reason, our only hope is to attempt to appeal to Luna.”

“Honestly,” Applejack spoke up, “it’s gettin’ harder not to see things from their perspective. The more we try to push for peaceful negotiations, the more Celestia forces us down. Y’all ever think maybe Luna is right to do what she’s doin’?”

“Luna is doing the wrong thing for the right reason,” Fluttershy retorted, “violence is never the answer, there must be a peaceful way to sort out our issues.”

“Maybe so,” Applejack shook her head, “but it ain’t just NLR propaganda what happened to Cloudsdale, we all been to see it, there ain’t nothin’ left.”

“And obviously Celestia must pay for her crimes,” Pinkie said, “but the longer this conflict lasts, the more ponies suffer and die. The death toll of this war already greatly exceeds the death toll from the destruction of Cloudsdale.”

“Regardless,” Fluttershy cut in, “now that Luna is refusing to grant us an audience as well, it would seem all hope of peaceful resolution is lost.”

The three friends stared into the sky, the carts were now all but invisible against the horizon, and with despondent looks, they returned to the city.

Hearth's Warming in Fillydelphia (interlude)

An uneasy peace fell over Fillydelphia as the city was blanketed with a thick covering of snow. Flurries fell from the sky in a streaming downpour, covering abandoned carts and crumbling buildings alike in a layer of ice.

Colonel Firebrand of the 12th Battalion of the New Lunar Republican Army sat, pondering, in his map room. Once the office of a school principal and located within an unassuming, crumbling wreck of a building, the room was sparsely occupied. The colonel’s furnishings were limited to a cot and small camp stove set for preparing his meals, with the exception of the map of the city he’d laid out over the worn desk. He observed the map, prodding small flags of violet and orange from place to place in an attempt to keep it as up to date with his current data as possible. He considered how he might regain the upper hand, as the city had fallen into a stalemate, with the Holy Solar Empire set up on one side of the city and the Republic in control of the other.

The mantle of leadership was weighing heavily on the young stallion, having received a field promotion following the death of his superior, the late Colonel Windwisp. He had been unprepared to take control of the full battalion, and while he maintained the cool veneer expected of him among the troops, in private, he was so terrified that he was unsure of his ability to so much as command troops around the city for fear of putting not only their lives, but those of everypony else at risk.

His stomach grumbled and he placed a hoof over it to steady himself. Rations had run short, and much of what the general infantry had been provided was going to the refugees who’d been left homeless by the combat within the city. He too had been slipping much of his own personal food supply back into that of the footsoldiers’, though he wouldn’t let them know as much.

Firebrand heard a knock at the door and turned to face the window before calling for the visitor to enter. He heard the door open and close and didn’t even need to hear the announcing voice to know who had come calling. “Colonel Firebrand,” called out the mare who had entered the room behind him, he could tell simply from her tone of voice that she was standing at a crisp salute, despite, or perhaps because, she knew he couldn’t see her, “Captain Autumn Leaf reporting in.”

“How many times do I have to tell you, Autumn,” Firebrand said, turning and shaking his head, a wary smile on his prematurely wrinkling features, “I’m just Firebrand to you.”

The red coated mare dropped into a more relaxed stance and smiled warmly at her superior officer, “How are you feeling?”

“Just between the two of us?” he said, turning back to the map, “Like death, and not just in the sense that I feel like I’m dying.” He approached the map and stared at the positions of the flags upon it. “I’m scared, Autumn,” he confessed, the mare closed the door behind her and approached him, snuggling into his neck to comfort him, “we’re under supplied, and we can’t just leave the civilians to fend for themselves. This war is on our heads, not theirs. Besides, Luna would never forgive me if she found out that I’d done such a thing.”

“It doesn’t matter what the High Commander says,” Autumn spoke up, “whether or not she would approve, we all know you could never do such a thing. Everyone back in the old company knows you’ve been starving yourself for the rest of our sakes.”

“That’s ridiculous, I’m your superior officer,” but he was unable to look her in the face as he said it.

“You’re a good pony, is what you are.” She replied, “And we understand that you can’t stand to let others go hungry while you are well fed, but remember that you’re fighting for everypony now. You may not have wanted the mantle of leadership, but you’ve got it, and the entire battalion looks up to you.”

“As if that helps!?” Firebrand snorted, his stomach let fly another loud gurgle and he doubled over as the hunger pains hit him, “Autumn, if I make one wrong move, I could get everypony in this battalion killed. Half of them are fighting on empty stomachs, they’d be incapacitated if they tried to take on the Imperial troops, and I think Dawnstar knows it.”

Autumn reeled slightly, “If the Imperial Colonel knew about the state of our troops, don’t you think he would have led the full force in by now?”

Firebrand shook his head, “he doesn’t know for certain, but he’s been testing our borders for a while now. Hit and run tactics to test our defenses. Sooner or later he’s going to have it figured out.”

“Have you sent word to command? Asked for more food? Reinforcements?”

“Of course, but the main camp was just hit by Sparkle with a full regiment, they’ve been scrambled and most communication has been disrupted. The best estimate at them getting new supplies and soldiers here is two weeks,” he turned to eye the swirling white snow outside of the window, “and with things the way they are, I’m not sure we can hold out that long.”

Firebrand paused for a moment before posing a question to the captain, “Do you know what day it is?”

“Even those of us who haven’t been keeping track can’t help but know by this point,” she chuckled, “the little foals among the refugees have been getting so excited. It’s Hearth’s Warming Eve.”

“A time of peace and harmony and love,” he said, not turning from the window, “and here we are, plotting out ways to murder our enemies. How history will see us.”

Autumn snuggled up against him, lending the despondent stallion her warmth. “Don’t talk that way,” she said leaning her whole body against his, “soon, we’ll find a way to end this war. Celestia will be off the throne, and history will see us as the ponies who stood up to a tyrant.”

“You really think that?”

“I have to.”

Firebrand smiled at the mare, and leaned down, bringing his face on level with hers. The pair drew closer, bodies tensing with apprehension. But just as their lips were about to touch, the door to the office slammed open, a young pegasus private panting in the doorframe. The two ponies jumped away from one another so quickly that Autumn Leaf nearly knocked over the map table.

“Oh,” said the private, blushing as he realized he’d interrupted the pair, “sorry, sir, probably should’ve knocked.”

“Nevermind that,” Firebrand said, straightening himself up, and turning to face the pegasus, willing away the blood rushing to his cheeks, “what is it?”

“Well, sir,” he stammered, “I was just sent from the front lines, Colonel Dawnstar is at the city center and said he wants to speak to you, stallion to stallion.”

Firebrand stood for a moment, considering the colt’s words. “You’re not really thinking of going, are you?” said Autumn incredulously, “It’s obviously a trap, you know you can’t trust the Imperials!”

“Remember who you’re talking to, Captain,” Firebrand said, his voice hard and unfeeling, “as a gentlecolt, I am honor bound to accept an extension of good faith.” Autumn glared at him with hurt in her eyes, but snapped a quick salute and walked briskly from the room.

Colonel Dawnstar of the Holy Solar Empire was a rigid looking unicorn, his coat an immaculate white, his golden armor shining brightly even in the grim, cloudy twilight in which Fillydelphia was constantly gripped these days. Firebrand looked positively ragged by comparison, with his ruffled mane and ragged NLR issue uniform.

“Colonel Firebrand, I presume,” his voice was exactly what Firebrand had expected from the look of him, heavy and pompous, with the thick cultural accent of a noble.

“That’s me,” Firebrand nodded. The stallions bowed to one another in mutual respect, Dawnstar gestured to a small tent he had set up in the town square. Firebrand followed him under the tents folds, away from the biting cold of the snow storm. Firebrand half expected to be greeted with spears inside of the tent, or perhaps shackles, but instead was quite surprised to discover a magically powered heater and a bowl of fruit.

“Eat something, Colonel,” the Imperial said, “you look positively dead on your hooves.”

Firebrand took up an apple from the bowl and took a hearty bite from it before stopping to consider the possibility that it could be poisoned. Oh well, he thought, if it is, it’s probably too late to turn back now.

“Colonel Firebrand,” Dawnstar said, watching Firebrand chew the apple, “I’m sure you’re aware of the date.”

“Funny,” Firebrand said, his mouth still full of apple, “I was just discussing that very matter with one of my captains.”

“Yes,” Dawnstar responded, a look of distaste at Firebrand’s poor manners evident on his face, “well, as it is Hearth’s Warming Eve, I feel it would be inappropriate to continue the fighting.”

Firebrand choked on the apple slightly, he swallowed the overlarge bite before standing and glaring at the opposing Colonel, “What do you mean?”

“Calm down,” the unicorn said, not rising from his seat or even turning his head to acknowledge the infuriated Firebrand, “I do not mean anything sinister by this. Quite the opposite, in fact. There have been many murmurs throughout my forces regarding the upcoming holiday and their discomfort with its falling on us in such a time. They feel, and I find myself agreeing with them, that it would be appropriate to call for a temporary cease of hostilities, from now until the end of Hearth’s Warming Day. What do you think?”

Firebrand was speechless; he stared at the calm, posh officer in front of him in disbelief. “I-,” he stammered, “I think that sounds great.”

The soldiers under his command were reticent to trust their enemies in the Empire, but there was enough support from Firebrand’s old company to convince the rest to give it a shot. Within a few hours of the declared peace, a number of Imperial soldiers approached the outermost NLR outposts, bringing them food and sitting beside the fires to tell jokes and stories and laugh together.

At the end of the following day, Firebrand and the rest of the officers in his battalion went to meet with Dawnstar and his officers, they all gathered together in the old city hall and laid out a feast. Throughout the city, similar feasts were being shared by NLR and Imperial soldiers alike.

And for one day, everypony left the war behind them. Foals played in the streets, throwing snowballs and laughing. Parents ate and drank alongside the soldiers, grateful for a moment’s respite from the fear the war had brought down upon them. The soldiers laid their weapons aside and sat beside one another, regardless of faction, to simply revel in the joy of being alive.

Firebrand and Dawnstar sat side by side, and while neither was entirely comfortable with the seating situation, they set their differences aside and joined each other in reveling the holiday. Firebrand looked around the room for Autumn Leaf, finally finding her sitting at the end of the table, she looked up at him and gave him a small, unconvincing smile before rising from the table and walking out the door.

“Excuse me,” Firebrand said, rising from the table and following her out the door, he found the mare standing in the middle of the empty street, snowflakes gathering in her mane in luminous patches.

“It’s hard to believe,” she said, looking into the night sky, “without the hostilities of both sides, the sky has gone back to the way it was before, distinct day and night…”

Firebrand looked up into the sky beside her, the patches between the clouds showed a glorious night sky. “Yeah,” he said ponderously, nestling in close beside her, “it has, I wonder what that means for us…”

“What does anything mean for us?” she asked, turning to look him in the eyes, “All of this, tensions hidden under the surface, smiling at our enemies today so that we can gut one another anew tomorrow? What’s the point of any of it?”

“Yes,” he said, pressing his forehead against hers, “tomorrow the fighting will start again, and it’s going to continue for a long time, but at least for today, we have peace. Our stomachs are full, our ponies are rested, our hooves are warm, and so are our hearts.”

He nuzzled up close to her, “And no matter what happens tomorrow, nothing can take away what’s happened today.”

Firebrand leaned in and placed a kiss upon Autumn’s lips, the two wrapped around one another as snowflakes cascaded around them from above, and though morning would bring the thunder of cannons down upon them once more, for now, all was quiet and all was well.

Chapter 18 - Return to Camp

The carts bearing the returning soldiers flew aimlessly over the Everfree forest for two hours before a pegasus pony scout returned to the cart bearing Captain Ironhide. The two spoke shortly before Ironhide made a gesture with one hoof causing all of the carts to begin a descent directly into the forest.

“We’re going back into the forest?” Moxi asked of Dreamcatcher.

“So it would seem,” Dreamcatcher replied, eying the dark canopy of trees beneath them, “would Luna be so reckless as to set up the new camp so close to Canterlot?”

Within an hour, Dreamcatcher had the answer to his question, as the convoy took them deep into the heart of the forest where they discovered the crumbling remains of a once-great castle. The structure was clearly under reconstruction, unicorns working magic to rebuild the crumbling structure. The castle was bordered by a deep crevice, its walls sheer cliff faces. Beside a rickety rope bridge, there now stood a serviceable stone bridge, capable of supporting the weight of any number of troops who may need to cross it.

The carts alighted onto the ground in the castle’s courtyard, all the ponies inside disembarking and reporting to a nearby officer, who checked their names off a clipboard before referring them to their commanding officers. Moxi and Dreamcatcher, however, immediately split off and entered the castle.
The interior structure was significantly farther along in its reconstruction than the castle’s exterior, every corridor they passed through had soft, warm carpeting lining it and the walls were clean and smooth, unnaturally so, given that the castle had been unused for over a century. They began the task of searching for the command center of the operation, but had barely begun when they were frozen in place by a shout from behind them, they turned to see a green unicorn barreling down the hall toward them.

“Dreamcatcher!” Melody tackled her friend, sending both of them tumbling across the carpet, “We were so worried! When you didn’t return after the raid, I feared the worst!”
“Hey, hey,” Dreamcatcher smiled, patting the mare on the head, “sorry to worry you, Melody. Moxi and I are safe, but we had to complete our mission.”

Melody reeled back and punched Dreamcatcher in the stomach, the stallion let out a grunt and doubled over as she yelled, “Not so much as a letter!? You couldn’t have contacted us even just to let us know you were alive!?”
“We were out of dragonfire gel,” he said, holding up a hoof to defend himself in case Melody decided to strike again, “it’s not like we could have just passed off a letter to the nearest mailmare to send it to you!”

Melody fumed for a few moments longer before calming down, her face downcast. “Well, you worried me,” she said, woefully, “I’m sure Luna was worried too, she never showed it, something about wanting to maintain her status as a stoic leader, or maybe she was just too proud to admit that she was afraid for you, Catch.”

“That makes me feel real special,” Moxi muttered.
Melody blinked at the pegasus as if just remembering that she was there, she flushed and spoke half-heartedly, “Oh, I mean, she was worried about both of you.”

“Whatever,” Moxi rolled her eyes, “but we should probably give our report, some of this stuff is important, right, Catch?”
“Not just some of it,” Dreamcatcher shook his head, “ALL of it. Melody, the hit on the lab turned up way more than we’d anticipated. We need to get this data to Luna as soon as possible.” He paused for a moment, considering, before he pulled one of the documents from his bag and offered it to Melody. The unicorn took it and eyed it in confusion. “I’d appreciate it if you could look into that one personally, Melody,” he said, “I need to know how far along it was and what kind of risk it poses. It also might behoove you to… to check the name of the subject they were testing on…”

Melody eyed Dreamcatcher quizzically before reading a small portion of the document. Her eyes widened as she read and Moxi could see her throat twinge, as though she was fighting the urge to vomit.

“I trust you, Melody,” Dreamcatcher said, placing a hoof on the mare’s shoulder, “I’ve seen that brain of yours at work before and it never fails to amaze me, I know you can figure this stuff out. Right now, though, Moxi and I need to speak with Luna.”

Moxi and Dreamcatcher entered the throne room to the voice of General Warhorse, who stood over the familiar map of Equestria. “Celestia has much greater control over the ponies than we do,” he said, indicating the numerous miniature flags bearing the emblem of the Solar Empire, “we must face the fact that most ponies in Equestria are still unaware of the scale to which this conflict has escalated. And with the balance of power as it is, we can ill afford to inform the general populace. We can’t afford the risk it takes to get proper recruitment.”

“So what are you suggesting, General?” Luna spoke with deliberation, her eyes locked on the map, taking in each detail.

“Your highness,” Warhorse continued, stepping around the map table to address the Princess directly, “I am prepared to send our fastest flyers to the Gryphon Kingdoms, the truce they held with Celestia was tenuous at best, and we may be able to convince them that it is in their best interest to send aid to the Republic.”

Luna considered for a moment, but ultimately shook her head, “No, I’m afraid that’s out of the question.”

“But Princess-“

“No, Warhorse. This decision is final. This conflict is Equestria’s. It’s unlikely that the gryphons are not already aware of the turmoil taking place here in our homeland, and that alone has put the ponies at risk enough without us exposing our internal strife to our enemies. No, Equestria’s future will be its own, even if we should fail, I will not be the one responsible for handing this nation over to outsiders.”

The general bit back a retort and nodded his consent. “Very well, Princess,” he said turning to leave the room, “I shall consider alternative tactics and report back to you as soon as possible.”

“Thank you, General.” she called after the retreating pony before turning to address Moxi and Dreamcatcher, “Dreamcatcher, Moxi, I’m glad to see you’ve returned safely. I trust you have news?”

Catcher and Moxi nodded and launched immediately into a full report of what they’d seen on their excursion to Salt Lick City. The princess’s face fell as the pair spoke, and when they told her of Chillwind’s fate, she closed her eyes to compose herself.

“I am,” Luna hesitated, trying to maintain her cracking regal bearing, “sorry to hear that. Chillwind was a good soldier. I shall see to it that she is honored properly when all this is over.”

“We already saw to the cremation,” Moxi snarled, unable to face the princess. Luna considered pressing her on the subject, but ultimately decided against it.

Luna let out a long sigh at the end of their report. “I knew Celestia had fallen far,” she spoke, mostly to herself, “but necromancy? It was Celestia who banned its practice shortly after we took to the throne.”

“Regardless,” Dreamcatcher interjected, “not only does it seem Celestia has rescinded her ban on the practice, but from what we saw in Salt Lick, they seem to be rather far along in its development as a weapon.”

“Where is the research?”

“I left the documents pertaining to that specific project with Melody, she’s going to take them to R&D. Everything regarding the other projects I’ve got right here. I figured you’d want to see everything yourself, but… we need to know about that one as quickly as possible… Celestia’s made this personal.”

“If you’ll excuse me, Princess,” Moxi spoke up as Dreamcatcher made to hand the bag containing the documents off to Luna, “I would like to find the barracks and settle in, it’s been quite an ordeal, these past few days.”

Luna nodded absently, immediately starting in on the research before her, “Yes, of course, I’m sure somepony nearby will be able to lead you to the Spec Ops quarters. Get some rest, Moxi, you’ve earned it.”

Moxi trotted from the room, casting one final glance at the room behind her. Luna leaning over the map table, and Dreamcatcher standing at her side, eying the documents with a strange look on his face, a look Moxi recognized… the same look she got on her face each time she saw the picture of Chillwind she’d kept in her bunk. She tried watched in confusion as the heavy doors sealed behind her, closing the curious ponies away from her.

Chapter 19 - Family

Moxi found herself lying in her bunk, flat on her back as sleep evaded her. She thought back on the past couple of days. How had everything changed so quickly? Just a few days ago she’d been in this war for the sake of her missing love. She’d been an idealistic young soldier with hopes of finding Chillwind and going home to their old apartment in Manehattan and living happily ever after.

Sure, on some level she’d always known that things could never be the same as they were before, but still, she’d always hoped for something. Without the hope of finding Chillwind, what reason was there left? She had no real stake left in the war. She could just pack up and leave. Flee the country and start a new life somewhere untouched by the struggle.

But even as the idea floated through her head, she knew she couldn’t do it. Dreamcatcher was right, even if she’d had no connection to the Republic or its ponies in the first place, they were family now, especially Dreamcatcher.

When she thought the word, it bounced through her head repeatedly. “Family,” she muttered to herself, sitting up in bed, “I never asked Wildfire about my family...” She curled up on the bed, her mind wandering back to the last time she’d spoken with her parents “I wonder if they’re ok? I wonder if the conflict has reached Gatesborogh?” …If they’re gone…” Moxi shook her head, straightening up. “This won’t do me any good,” she stood from the bed and left the barracks, “I’ve just got to find Wildfire and ask him if things are ok back home.”

The SpecOps barracks was in one of the castle towers, and Moxi had plenty of time to get lost in her thoughts as she meandered through the twists and turns of the palace interior. She let her instincts take over, taking each twist and turn necessary to get to the courtyard as if she’d lived in the palace her whole life, right up until she plowed directly into another pony trying to take the same turn as her in the opposite direction. The two crashed into one another, rebounding and landing on their flanks on the corridor floor. Moxi rubbed at her head and looked up to see Melody desperately trying to catch all of the papers scattering in front of them. Moxi took the hint that the papers were important and immediately set about picking them up herself.

“Sorry, Melody,” she said, gathering up the last of the pages and giving them to Melody, who immediately set about putting them in the right order with her magic, “I was miles away.”

“It’s alright, Moxi,” she said, shooting the younger mare a small smile, “I’m actually glad I ran into you,” she paused for a moment, “well, not literally of course, but… well you know what I mean… anyway, I just passed off the documents you and Dreamcatcher had me looking at, it’ll be a while before we have any real new information, but I was going to go and give my preliminary evaluation to the princess. Would you like to come?”

Moxi considered for a moment, but ultimately shook her head, “I need to find a friend I ran into back at Sugarcube Acres, for all I know they’re getting ready to deploy him again. I’ll catch up when I can, but could you give me a ‘best of’?”

Melody blinked, but nodded, “Well, I’d say for the most part we don’t have anything to worry about. From the looks of the documents the input required to create a viable soldier would be more than three average unicorns would be able to put in, and since it would require nearly constant refreshing, I don’t think they’ll be able to use this as an effective weapon any time soon.”

Moxi smiled, though it didn’t touch her eyes, “That’s good to hear, Melody.”

“Though I must say, the most disturbing factor of it is not its potential for military application, but rather just how far along they are!”

“How do you mean?” Moxi asked, puzzled

“Well, necromancy and any research pertaining to it has been illegal under Equestrian law for longer than anypony but Luna and Celestia have even been alive, but the research in the documents you gave me is way too advanced.”

“Well I think Celestia probably threw out the rule book years ago.”

“But that’s the thing,” she said, shaking her head, “even if this research had begun the very day Celestia started the war, there’s no way they would be this far along! Creating new forms of spells is hard, I don’t mean to sound elitist, but honestly, you can’t even comprehend. There is so much about the interaction of magic on living ponies we still don’t understand, much less the complex interactions with the dead that this research shows. They would have to have been researching this for decades to have come this far. They would have to have been doing so while I was at the magical university.”

Moxi stared at her in confusion, “So what does this mean, Melody?”

“Nothing good,” the unicorn replied, “but beyond that, I can’t really say what it could mean… regardless, I’ve got to give my report to the princess. I’ll talk with you later.” And with that she was off, leaving Moxi alone in stunned, confused silence.

“Gatesborogh?” Wildfire said, hiking his bag onto his back, Moxi had been right to come and see him immediately, as her old friend was dressed in a crisp new uniform and preparing to be deployed once again, “The town was fine when I left, so far as I know, hardly anypony there is aware that there is a real war going on. I don’t expect Celestia’s going to crack down on it anytime soon, not exactly a strategic foothold, is it?”

Moxi gave him a relieved smile, “No, I guess not.”

Wildfire held out a hoof as the last of his squad was loaded onto the outbound cart and Moxi pounded it with her own. “You take care of yourself, Fire.”

“Aw, you know me, Mox,” he said with a wink, stepping onto the cart behind him, “I’m not one for taking unnecessary risk.”

With that, the cart immediately took to the air and rapidly shrank into the distance. Moxi felt her eyes mist over, but forced the tears away, turning back to the castle. She would see him again, once everything was said and done.

Chapter 20 - The War Room

Two Weeks Later

“Hey Dreamcatcher!” Moxi’s shout jerked Catcher from his sound sleep with such a start that he nearly dropped off his bunk. “Ugh,” he groaned, turning to face the pegasus standing in the barracks doorway, “what do you want, Moxi?”

“Luna sent me, bright-eyes,” she chirped, “looks like we’ve got a new mission, she says to head to the throne room in 20.” With that, she left, her scarf whipping out of sight before Catcher could say another word. The earth pony grumbled, dragging himself out of his bunk to buckle on his belt and weave a sleep-deprived path to the castle throne room. The earth pony didn’t fully wake until he heard another pert voice calling from behind him.

“Dreamcatcher,” Melody called to him, approaching from the rear of the hall, “I see Luna summoned you as well. Still getting used to the battalion’s time regimen, eh?”

“I don’t see why you all couldn’t have stayed on the standard time schedule,” he growled in reply.

“Well, it seemed kind of pointless without night and day,” she shrugged, “either way, I would’ve thought you would be able to handle the switch just fine.”

Dreamcatcher shook his head, casting a sidelong glance at the ornate doors the pair were heading towards. “Even my dreams have been hard to shut out lately,” he sighed, stopping before he could get any closer to Luna’s throne room, “and when I’m so close to Luna, it can be hard to keep her out of my head.”

The unicorn eyed him warily. “Luna?” she asked, stopping beside him and glancing around anxiously, “Catcher, is there something I should know?”

“Not necessarily,” but he was unable to meet the mare’s eyes.

“You’re a bad liar, Dreamcatcher,” she said, moving into his path of vision, “is this about what happened a few years back?”

“No,” he shook his head, then stopped and thought, “well, kind of.”

“Well I’m glad you sorted that out,” she replied with a sarcastic smile, but her expression turned grave again almost immediately, “I don’t know what happened with you two, but it’s in the past. Is it really something that needs to be brought up again? Especially now, when the fate of Equestria lies within the hooves of both of you?”

“It’s because of that that things have resurfaced,” he retorted, “Melody, the Navapony are barely even part of Equestrian society, we keep to ourselves, and Luna and I haven’t been exactly close since…”

Melody held up a hoof signaling him to stop, “So what?”

“So why do you think I’m as active as I am in the war effort?”

Melody blinked at this, she’d never stopped to think about it. So far as she could see, everypony had a deep stake in the outcome of this war.

“Or, a better question, why don’t you think more Navapony are involved?” Dreamcatcher paused to watch the confused look on Melody’s face before continuing, “It’s because there are practically none of us left!” Dreamcatcher did his best to keep his voice down, but he could feel blood pumping to his face, a white hot rage at the fresh mental wounds surging into him, “The alicorns created the shamans, and when they tried to extinguish them, the shamans fought back and defeated the alicorns. So Celestia decided to prevent them from interfering in the war.” Dreamcatcher shook with barely restrained fury as he spat the words, “She had the shamanic tribes hunted down and extinguished. My father was killed, and for all I know so was my brother, and with them she destroyed our tribe. Whatever’s left of them has been scattered to the winds, lost. For all I know, I’m the only Navapony left. The only shaman left.”

Melody stood flabbergasted as Dreamcatcher began to settle, calming himself with a deep, shuddering breath. “I am so sorry, Dreamcatcher,” came the voice of Princess Luna, standing in the doorway to the throne room, Catcher could just make out the shocked visage of Moxi standing behind her, “I truly am. You have every right to be angry. I should have stopped Celestia before she could have started any of this.”

Dreamcatcher flushed at the princess’s words and shook his head, “No, princess, you can’t blame yourself.”

“We’ll have to disagree on that,” she smiled weakly at him, “but for now, there is urgent strategy to be discussed. If you will please follow me.”

Luna’s throne room was a tall ceilinged affair decorated with shining marble, bathed in the light of torches burning in elegant sconces upon the wall. Along with Dreamcatcher and Melody, Moxi stood beside a globe-like map set into the floor in the center of the room. General Warhorse had also joined them along with a sky blue pegasus with a short, rainbow colored mane, who’s armor and patches marked her as the Command Chief of the NLR Airborne division. She wore a golden necklace adorned with a large red gem cut in the shape of a lightning bolt. She was Rainbow Dash, and the necklace, though a powerless relic now, marked her as the former Element of Loyalty.

“Thank you all for gathering here today,” Luna spoke from her throne, her voice carrying easily through the large room, “As you are all aware, two weeks ago we came into possession of the results of a number of classified Solar Empire research projects. Melody?”

“We have gone through each of the documents obtained by Agents Dreamcatcher and Moxi,” Melody spoke, her tone formal and business-like, “and while all of the projects were clearly dangerous, it would appear as if relatively few are of immediate risk. Most of the projects, including several of the more… disturbing ones are far from being able to be used practically in warfare. However, there is a project which is of immediate concern. From what we could gleam from the recovered documents, the researchers were struggling with the project, but from our nearest estimates, it is effectively ready for deployment. The device in question is a propaganda machine.”

“So what?” snorted Rainbow, “Celestia’s been churning out fresh propaganda since the war started, so now she’s designed a machine to do it for her?”

Melody shook her head, “No, you misunderstand, it is not a machine for producing new propaganda, but a new method of spreading it, and it looks like it would be capable of spreading a direct message from Celestia into the home of every pony in Equestria!”

Warhorse’s eyes widened and then turned to a scowl. “With that kind of technology,” he growled, “she could effectively win the war with one move.”

“How do you mean, General?” Rainbow asked.

“As I was telling the princess before,” Warhorse said, directly addressing the pegasus, “while those who have been directly exposed to the war know firsthand exactly what it is that’s happening, most of Equestria has not seen that. With a system like this in place, she could win the hearts and minds of the general populace immediately. They would turn against us and the war would be lost almost immediately.”

“But,” Moxi chimed in, “by that logic, if we could use the machine before them, we could potentially win the war for the Republic!”

“Exactly,” Luna nodded, giving Moxi a smile, “At this moment, the scientific division is working on a device that will allow me to record a message in a format that will allow it to be entered into the machine.”

“That’s all well and good,” Rainbow chimed in, “but without the machine itself, it will be completely useless, and if Celestia is building something on this scale, it’s got to be in Canterlot, well beyond our access.”

“We’re in luck, though,” Melody said, “you see, the reason they were having trouble with the research was for exactly that reason. They were trying to find a way to make it work from Canterlot, but the capital is just too far removed from Equestrian society for them to be able to wing it. They have to build it somewhere that’s already a hub of communication.”

“Our spy network has reported a recent flux of activity in Manehattan,” Luna said, giving Moxi an apologetic glance as the little pegasus’s heart visibly fell, “and while the city will be well protected, we can potentially break through. So, Warhorse, Rainbow Dash, your ponies will launch a full assault on the city and during the conflict, Agents Moxi and Dreamcatcher will locate the machine and hijack it for our broadcast.”

“This is a rather large-scale operation you’re talking about here,” Warhorse interjected, “when exactly do you plan to launch this mission, ma’am?”

“We don’t have time to wait on this, for all we know Celestia is preparing to make her address to Equestria as we speak.” Luna’s features hardened and she stamped her hoof on the surface of the globe with a resounding crack, “We launch the operation in 12 hours.”

Chapter 22 - Open Rebellion

Six Months Later

Six months of open rebellion. Ever since the message had gone out, Equestria had been split in two. Ponies outraged by what they had heard had turned against Celestia, they burned effigies in the streets, tore down posters and rioted in the streets, calling for the Empress’ abdication of the throne, but as many as their number stood by Her Majesty’s side, such was the case for nearly all the ponies in Barfrost’s hometown of Bridleburg.

Barfrost found himself standing guard on the town’s borders every night now, defending the populace in case the New Lunar Republican army should come across them in their rampage across the nation. More than once the patrols had come across ponies out in the wilderness, malnourished and in poor shape from running from those who’d ousted them from their homes for their loyalty to the Empress.

“You’d think after more than a millennium of good grace,” came a voice from farther down the wall where other Imperial soldiers sat at their posts, “it would take more than the traitorous nonsense of Celestia’s power-hungry sister to turn the ponies against their leader.”

Barfrost sighed; he had chafed under the change in Celestia’s rule of the past several years himself. He’d found the increased military presence in so many towns to be uncomfortable and the stricter law and rumors of intensified punishments had reached him as well, but the last several months had shown him just how necessary it had all been.

“It’s not just that, Gavin,” he spoke aloud, seeing his words before him in the form of a cool mist, despite the constant daylight the weather was still dropping to dangerous levels at times, “I know it’s all necessary and Celestia knows I’m not questioning Her Majesty, but the last few years have seen terrible hardships befall the whole country. I can’t entirely fault them for looking for somepony to blame.”

Gavin snorted and turned his eyes back onto the horizon.

“Report, soldier,” came a cultured female voice from behind them.

Barfrost snapped to a salute and turned to face the mare. “All quiet, General Sparkle,” he tried to keep his voice robust, but a juvenile crack broke through, causing the colt to go slightly pink in the face, “no sign of movement in the area, enemy or otherwise.”

Twilight Sparkle smiled at him, her eye looked heavy and the smile betrayed the premature wrinkles spreading across her face. The general’s division had been stationed on the outskirts of Bridleburg for nearly a week while she awaited new orders, the troops were camped a short ways outside the village, but the general herself had been gifted a bedroom in the mayor’s own home, a sign of good will from the grateful townsfolk to the Imperial Military. “Private Barfrost, isn’t it?” she asked, “I’ve heard of you from some of my men, as well as a few locals. I was wondering if you would join me for a drink down at the inn?”

Barfrost’s jaw dropped hard enough to bruise his forelegs, but he quickly pulled himself together and nodded vigorously, “Of- Of course, General! It would be my honor!”
“Please,” she smiled at the younger pony, “call me Twilight.”

The innkeeper had been quick to lead Barfrost and Twilight to a private parlor, leaving the two warming their bodies beside a roaring fire while he ran off to bring them drinks. They sat in silence while he brought them two glasses of amber liquid, leaving a bottle in case they wanted any more, and even after he had shown himself out and Twilight had taken a deep pull from her own glass, she still sat in silence for a spell, staring wistfully into the flames.

“When did you enlist in the Imperial Militia, Private?” she asked, not taking her eyes from the flames.

“About five months ago, ma’am,” he responded, “I saw the country going to hell all around us and I figured the townsfolk needed ponies to protect them.”

“A noble goal,” the mare smiled at him, “but there is nothing noble about war, Private. It can turn ponies into animals… monsters… I’ve seen personally the kind of terrible things our enemies are capable of,” she stroked one hoof over the eyepatch covering her right eye socket, “and while it steels my resolve that we can afford to give them no quarter, it does not calm my mind to the horrors that I have had to inflict…”

“General,” Barfrost said, tentatively laying a hoof over hers, “I’m sure you’ve only done what’s necessary, you are a good mare! You want to protect the ponies of Equestria, just like the rest of us.”

Twilight smiled at him, tears welling up in her eye. “I’ve gone beyond the call of my duty,” she said, tears causing her voice to shudder, “I’ve fallen prey to petty vengeance and anger, and I don’t even know why… The things I’ve done with this horn,” she absent-mindedly stroked at her horn with one hoof, “I don’t think when all this is over I’ll ever be able to use my magic again… I already have nightmares every night about the things I’ve done, even using my magic to open a door brings back the faces of the ponies I’ve killed with my power…”

Tears were streaming down the mare’s left cheek, dripping from her chin to the floor. “Spike tries to reassure me,” she laughed bitterly, “he’s doing so now, but the same reason he can try to reassure me regardless of the situation is the same reason I don’t know if I can trust his judgment, he and I are inextricably linked, our minds intertwined so we can feel one another’s thoughts and emotions, maybe he’s just the part of me trying to convince myself that I’m in the right…”

“Those ponies were a threat to Equestria, General,” Barfrost said, trying to keep cheerful beside the rapidly dissolving mare, “we have to fight them, and if they choose to fight to the death, there is only one way we can stop them!”

“I know that,” she said, taking a deep breath to steady herself, “Sometimes I just wonder, Private, when this war is over, how am I going to live with myself?”

Chapter 23 - The NLR Exp. Rifle

Seven Months of Open Rebellion

“This is it, everypony!” General Warhorse called out over the heads of the assembled army before him. Every NLR pony who could be spared from maintaining the lines and keeping chaos from overwhelming the nation was assembled before him and the sea of eyes stretched so far that even with two unicorns magically amplifying his voice, the ponies in back still had to strain to hear his words.

“In just a few days time, our assembled might will march on Canterlot and Celestia will be ousted from the throne!” a cheer went up from the crowd, the stamping of so many hooves literally shaking the glass in the windows of the palace behind Warhorse, “Our Princess Luna has made her intentions known to the ponies of Equestria, and they have heeded her call! They have joined our ranks to fight for our cause!
I am proud to lead so many brave ponies into battle, and know that when the time comes, and we strike at the heart of the Empire, there will be no needless separation of rank, no haughtiness of seniority, no segregation of species or creed! We will all fight together, side by side! Unicorn, Pegasus, and Earth Pony alike, we will fight alongside one another, I will be beside you in the trenches my brothers and sisters!

We will stand triumphant over the shattered remains of the Empire, or we will all lay bloodied and beaten upon the stones of Canterlot and with our final breaths we will strike out! We will see a new order take hold in our nation! We will see Equestria become great once more! Become a land of equality once more! We will see these things and more, or we will die together, as brothers-in-arms, in our attempts to see them through! The Empire shall fall, the Republic shall rise, and when the moon rises over Canterlot, Celestia will know fear! Luna Nobis Providet!”

A roar of approval went up from those assembled as Moxi watched them from high above, ensconced as she was in one of the palace’s looming towers, and despite the shudder of the castle stones beneath her hooves from the sheer mass of ponies stamping in the surrounding area, she was filled with a sense of unease.
“You look nervous,” Moxi was unsurprised by Melody’s appearance, and turned to face the unicorn, attempting to hide her emotions better.

“It’s not as if you can blame me,” she said, eying the crowd below, “The numbers are impressive, but even so, Canterlot is built like a fortress and protected by the most proficient of Celestia’s military. Seven months of open rebellion probably just means the military presence there has gotten stronger. Celestia is insane, but she’s not stupid, she knows we’re coming for her. A frontal assault is suicide, even with these numbers, and the General knows it.”

Melody cocked her head inquisitively to one side, “How do you know?”

“Because I read as much in his reports,” Moxi growled back, “I don’t know what he’s playing at. Pandering to an audience isn’t usually his style, particularly when he knows he’s lying to them. He’s planning something, and I don’t like being kept in the dark.”

“I’m sure they don’t mean to keep you in the dark,” Melody said, laying a hoof on Moxi’s shoulder and giving her a small smile, “he probably intends to tell you and the other agents at the war meeting tomorrow night.”
“Yeah,” Moxi muttered sarcastically, “but even if they’ve managed to find a way to take Canterlot, there’s a pretty big issue that nopony seems to want to talk about. Celestia didn’t survive for over a millennium, as a ruler no less, by being weak. What happens when she takes to the field and starts slaughtering our troops?”

Melody beamed at Moxi and said, “I’m glad you asked. Follow me.” With a flick of her tail, she trotted down through a nearby doorway to the stairwell. Moxi blinked, but obliged the mare, following her down into the castle proper.

“This,” Melody said, holding up a strange-looking contraption of wood and metal, “is the New Lunar Republican Experimental Rifle!” Moxi eyed the device in confusion, it had been sealed in a glass case in the castle’s laboratory wing, the signs on display on its case declaring it highly dangerous and stating that it should be handled with extreme caution, but Melody seemed to be bandying the thing about recklessly.

“Umm… First off,” Moxi said, wincing as Melody bounced the thing up and down, “should you really be handling that thing like that? What are all those warning signs for?”

“Hmm? Oh those? Not to worry, it’s not loaded.”

“Uh, right,” Moxi said, not entirely placated, “second, what is a rifle? And why are you showing it to me?”

“Because this, my dear,” she said, reaching into an adjacent display case to remove a crystal which was emanating a brilliant glow of white light, “is how you are going to stop Celestia.”

Melody led Moxi into another room constructed beneath the foundation of the castle, it was long, about a hundred feet from end to end, with a deep indentation about a yard in marked heavily with yellow caution tape and various warnings.
Melody held up the crystal in front of Moxi and said, “This, Moxi, is pure unicorn magic, compressed into a physical form.” With that, she jammed the crystal into a slot in the side of the rifle, sealed the opening and pointed it down range, shouting, “Firing!”

A voice called out from an unseen point in the room, “Clear!” and windows on the walls lining the room sealed off. Once the windows were sealed, a flash of light appeared at the front of the rifle and something moving almost too fast to be seen rocketed down the range. When it hit the opposite wall the impact caused an explosion fierce enough that Moxi felt a wave of heat wash over her even from the distance at which she stood.

“Empty night!” She screamed, covering her ears from the massive sound of impact hit her, first from the rifle firing and then from the explosive impact of its shot, “What in Luna’s name is that thing!”
Melody lay on the floor laughing, the rifle’s recoil having evidently knocked her onto her flank. “This,” she said, as Moxi helped her up, “is the NLR Experimental Rifle, it uses raw unicorn magic as a projectile, and it should have enough power to wipe anything, even Princess Celestia, off the map!”

“I should say so,” Moxi remarked, eyeing the pile of rubble that remained of the far wall, several unicorns in lab coats had emerged to examine the wreckage, “why is this thing not standard issue.”

“Well first off,” she gestured at the damage she’d wrought, “I don’t think it’d be a good idea to put this kind of power in the hooves of just anypony. Besides that, this rifle is still a prototype, and the crystals it uses aren’t easy to make.” She ejected the crystal from the rifle’s housing and showed it to Moxi, who could see that it glowed a little less brightly and had developed a few cracks in its façade, “This one took five of our most skilled unicorns three hours of constant work to make, and even on its lowest setting, the rifle only gets about ten shots out of them before the crystal is completely destroyed.”

“What happens if the gun if fired on full power?”

“We don’t know,” Melody shook her head, “I just fired it at 25% potential, in our experiments we’ve brought it up to 75%, and at that point the crystal disintegrates after one shot… and our researcher who discovered that is still in the infirmary. Nopony dares even power the thing up to 100%, some of the other ponies theorize that if it’s ever set that high, it will overload the crystal and blow them both!”

Moxi eyed the weapon skeptically, “How big an explosion could it actually produce?”

“Theoretically? The gun itself is partially a magical construct, the combined effect of both destabilizing would be… well suffice to say, it would take out the entire castle and more than half of the assembled army outside.”
Moxi turned her gaze on the weapon, her eyes narrowing in contemplation, “That powerful? If it has that much potential, why don’t we use it? Just drop one of these from above onto Canterlot and watch the city burn.”

Melody recoiled at the chill in Moxi’s voice, pulling both the rifle and the crystal protectively against her body. “There are civilians in Canterlot, Moxi,” she said, fear evident in her voice, “stallions and mares and foals who have no connection to the war, we can’t just sacrifice the innocent so we can take the quick and easy way out.”

“You’re right,” Moxi sighed, “so this thing is going to be used to assassinate Celestia? Who’s carrying it into the fray?”

“Do you really need to ask?” Melody said, immediately warming back up and smiling at Moxi, “Why do you think I called you down here? You’re going to be training in its use until the moment we launch the invasion, and then you’re going to kill Celestia.”

Moxi eyed the rifle, her mind conflicted, but a face drifted through her memory, a pegasus pony who had never hurt anypony, left on a slab for amoral scientists to do whatever they liked with. A sense of cold determination overtook her and she nodded, “With pleasure.”

Chapter 24 - War

The skies over Canterlot were covered by a dark layer of clouds which the sun failed to burn through despite being at the center of Celestia’s power. An ill omen.

Barfrost sat in an old shop near the Canterlot train station, his sword resting tensely on his hooves as he and the rest of his squad waited. All the civilians had been cleared from the area and all of the plain-clothes ponies in the train courtyard were actually Imperial SpecOps soldiers, his mind drifted back to his briefing with General Sparkle.

“Our inside source in the NLR says that the assault will be coming tomorrow.” she said, looking out over her assembled troops, “They have captured a train and plan to launch a sneak attack from within the heart of the city by hiding their troops onboard. They expect their soldiers to be let loose on a civilian center, and they will be taken completely by surprise when their sneak attack turns into an ambush. Each of your individual commanding officers will give you your position and standing orders. Good luck, Equestria Prevails.”

They could see the train now, it pulled into the station a little faster than was normal and wasn’t at a complete stop before it hit the end of the tracks. It wasn’t moving terribly fast when it hit the platform, but fast enough that it left a number of deep cracks in the concrete. Its engine idled audibly and the plain-clothes troops in the square eyed it suspiciously as it… did nothing…

Several minutes ticked by and the train doors didn’t even so much as open. “Do you think they’ve noticed something is up?” one of Barfrost’s squadmates asked in a hushed tone.

“Can’t be,” their Sargeant said, shaking his head and leaning close to the window to try to see a bit better, “There’s nothing here to give us away…”

The agents approached the train to check it, opening the doors by force and entering the train, disappearing from view of the gathered troops in the shops around them.

A few moments later, they came rushing out of the train, one of them waving his hooves and shouting, “Abort! Abort the mission! Get out of—“

An explosion ripped through the square, each of the train cars erupting in flame and sending burning chunks of steel and glass scattering throughout the square. The agent who’d been trying to warn them was caught in the blast almost immediately and Barfrost only just managed to duck in time to avoid having his face sheared off by the window in front of him smashing into a million pieces, he cowered on the ground, covering his head against the falling glass and was enveloped by a wall of flame.

* * * * *

A cloud of dust and smoke spread from the train station in the midst of the city and as soon as it had enveloped the rooftops of Canterlot’s buildings hell descended upon the city. Out from the clouds shot hundreds of pegasi, some dragging carts bearing ground troops and others merely divebombing the city, dropping bombs and capsules which released more smoke to keep the city obscured in a deep haze.

Moxi dropped out of the clouds carrying Dreamcatcher, both ponies garbed in NLR issue fatigues. The pair plummeted towards the first clear landing zone the pegasus pony could see. The ground was already filling with both NLR and Imperial soldiers and she could see the sparks of impact as blades met on the battlefield.

“There!” Dreamcatcher called over the roar of wind, pointing his hoof towards a relatively empty park, “That’s probably as close as we can safely land, we won’t help anypony if we get blown out of the sky!”

Moxi nodded and plunged towards the ground. The Solar Empire soldiers who made up the entirety of the park’s current population converged on them, but the duo made short work of the small squad and within moments each of them was either dead or rapidly approaching it.

“Alright,” Moxi nodded, turning her gaze towards the spires of Canterlot Palace, “we’ve got to move quick, no telling when Celestia will decide to dirty her own hooves, and I’d rather not give her the opportunity.” Dreamcatcher nodded and the pair tore off into the city streets and into the chaos of battle.

“Get down!” A brown coated earth pony with a mane the color of blazing fire shouted at Moxi and Dreamcatcher, beckoning them to the small barricade he and several other ponies were crouching behind, small explosions seemed to be erupting from the opposite side of the barricade as well as the streets and the walls of the surrounding buildings.

The pair hurried to obey, Dreamcatcher taking some shrapnel in the leg from an exploding shop window beside them. They slid the last few feet and pressed their backs up against the barricade, turning to face the earth pony. “Agents Moxi and Dreamcatcher, NLR Special Operations,” Moxi shouted, feeling another blast shake the barricade, “give me a status report!”

“Colonel Firebrand of the 12th,” he introduced himself, gesturing towards a red unicorn pony who was alternating between ducking behind the barricade and popping up to loose magical blasts down the street, “and this is my second in command, Lt Col Autumn Leaf. We were trying to flank the Imperial troops the rest of our unit is fighting on Mane St, but they seem to have read our move. They sent a group of unicorns and they’re pummeling us with magic blasts, the only unicorn we have is Autumn Leaf, and it’s six against one!”

Dreamcatcher, chanced a peek around the side, just barely ducking back behind cover in time, as was evidenced by the singed hairs at the end of his mane, “Can you get us back to Mane St to regroup with your unit?”
Firebrand shook his head, “No, the route back is too exposed, if we try to move from this position my troops will be torn to shreds.”

Moxi growled and considered opening fire on the enemy unicorns with the rifle strapped to her back, but decided against it, in her training she’d found that the thing was prone to jamming, and without any of the lab technicians she wouldn’t be able to fix it on the field.

Moxi eyed their surroundings, scooping up a particularly large shard of glass from the street and angling it to get a look at the enemy troops. The Imperial unicorns were pretty well dug in, and Moxi searched their location for some weakness they could exploit.

“Autumn Leaf,” Moxi said, grabbing the unicorn by a shoulder, “how much power do you think you can exert with one of those energy shots?”

She shook her head, “not to much, if I want to be able to sustain it. I can definitely do some damage if I get a direct hit, but beyond that…”

“And if you don’t want to sustain it?” Moxi asked, “How much energy can you put into a one-shot?”
Autumn Leaf blinked at Moxi in confusion, but responded regardless, “Well I could probably deal about as much damage as a standard issue grenade, but it would still have to be a pretty close hit in order to take out all of them.”
“Or,” Moxi said, “a spectacular miss!”

Dreamcatcher eyed Moxi in confusion and Firebrand slammed a hoof on the ground, “You’re talking nonsense, are you really suggesting Autumn cripple herself for nothing!?”

“Bear with me colonel,” Moxi waved a placating hoof, “Autumn, if you can get a hit on the building next to them with your strongest blast, the debris falling on them should at least incapacitate them.”
Autumn Leaf looked hesitant, but nodded and began building up energy in her horn. “Now hold on,” Firebrand called out, “what if this doesn’t work? If Autumn blows all her magic on a single shot we won’t have any more covering fire. Even if it does, you’ll be stranding her in the middle of an active warzone with no means of defending herself!”

“Firebrand,” Autumn said, she spoke softly, her eyes turning to gently meet the colonel’s, “I can do this. Besides, I’ve got ways to protect myself beyond my magic.” Autumn Leaf smiled weakly at the stallion, and Moxi could see his shoulders sink in acquiescence. She saw the look that passed between the two, and felt sorry for Firebrand that she had to ask Autumn to risk herself.

Autumn Leaf turned from behind the barricade without a moment’s notice and let loose a magical cannon blast. The energy tore into the wall of the building beside the enemy’s position, and true to Moxi’s plan, the rubble from the newly ruined structure fell directly onto the Imperial troops. The magical blasts ceased at once.

“Excellent,” Moxi said, turning to face the gathered troops, “we need to find the quickest route to the palace, do any of you know the way?”

“I do,” Firebrand spoke up, he turned to face Autumn Leaf, “Autumn, complete the task we came here for and then rejoin the rest of the unit, you take command until I come back.”
“But sir-!”

“No buts,” he snapped back, “you’re in no condition to show them, and your fighting condition has been weakened. Your mind is still working at peak capacity, so use it and lead those ponies into battle. That’s an order.”

Autumn Leaf snarled and her eyes filled with tears, but she snapped to a salute and led the other gathered ponies off down the street. Disappearing from sight within moments. Firebrand watched her go with a wistful look before turning back to lead Moxi and Dreamcatcher down a side alley.

“In a few blocks,” Firebrand said, looking over his shoulder as they wound their way through Canterlot’s back alleys, “there will be a straight shot to the palace. If Imperial resistance isn’t too heavy, I’ll leave you there. I must regroup with my troops.”

“Keep in mind, Colonel,” Moxi snarled, “that what we are attempting will benefit the entire republic. Don’t get selfish on us!”

“Selfishness has nothing to do with it, agent,” he barked back, a heated emphasis on the last word as he skidded to a stop to face Moxi, “Spec Ops may win battles, but it takes soldiers to win wars. My troops need me and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you stand in my way back to them!”

Moxi growled and was about to snap back when Dreamcatcher reached out a hoof between the pair. “We don’t have time for this,” he said, his voice remaining calm, “Firebrand, lead us as far as you can. Moxi, bear in mind that stealth is still our greatest ally, even in the midst of an active warzone. The Colonel isn’t trained for these types of missions and it’s honestly in our best interest to let him go when he’s led us where we need to go.”

“Fine,” Moxi spat, “well, Colonel? Lead the way.”

“Amber, Bellflower!” Autumn Leaf called out to the pair of unicorns, “Come with me and lay down some suppressing fire, if we’re going to take this sector, we’re going to need to be aggressive!”

The two hurried to follow her orders, lobbing shots of magic at the enemy’s position while a small team of earth and pegasus ponies worked their way to bridge the gap.

Autumn felt naked without her magic, but her tactical experience had been enough to allow her to overwhelm the soldiers who’d been pinning down her unit initially and they’d made remarkable progress since. She could see the city center in the distance and heard the sound of fighting from the neighboring streets getting louder. From the sound of it, the assault was going remarkably well.

“Which means it’ll all go to shit soon enough,” she sighed, nothing ever works out this well…

“What was that, ma’am?”

“Nothing,” she shot back, returning her attention to the combat around her, “keep up the good work, Amber,” As she spoke, the strike team breached the defensive perimeter that the Imperial troops had set up, the earth ponies making short work of the weaker bodied unicorns.

“Alright,” Autumn shouted, “take a moment to catch your breath, we’ve got to keep moving!”
Soldiers broke out canteens, guzzling down water to replace the fluids they were visibly losing. Autumn eyed all of them, searching for any weak points that the enemy might exploit, but while she scoured her troops, a nearby shop door burst open.

Autumn had her dagger unsheathed before the sound of the door slamming open had finished reverberating through the street, but she needn’t have bothered. The unicorn who came to greet her, while clearly posh and elegant as a noble, was also quite clearly not a soldier.

“You shouldn’t be out here, ma’am,” Autumn said, returning her dagger to its sheath, but still regarding the newcomer suspiciously, “please return inside until the combat has passed.”

“You’re from the New Lunar Republic?” she asked, her voice was posh, but tinged with a gentle fear, “my name is Rarity, and I need to ask for your assistance.”

“Rarity,” Autumn reeled at the name, “I’ve heard Command Chief Rainbow Dash speak of you. She was never terribly certain what to think of you, ma’am. Said she could never get a feel for what side you were on.”

“Well I’m on the side of decency, my dear,” Rarity replied, indignantly, “I obviously didn’t want to believe the claims about our Princess, but I’m not one to ignore what stares me in the face. Now if you’ll assist me, please?”

Rarity turned on the spot and reentered the shop, the Carousel Boutique. Autumn was still wary of trusting her, but followed regardless. “I moved my shop from Ponyville to here not terribly long before Pinkie started that priesthood of hers,” Rarity called, walking up a spiral staircase, “I couldn’t stand what was happening to the pegasus ponies when the war broke out, but if I’d openly opposed Celestia I’d have been branded a traitor. I wouldn’t have helped anypony like that. So I maintained my neutrality.”

She reached the upper levels and rapped several times on a heavy wooden door. A slat opened in the door to reveal an eye, which looked Rarity over quickly before slamming the slat shut. The door swung open, revealing the upper rooms of Rarity’s store and a sight that truly shocked Autumn. “Empty night,” she gasped. Several dozen stallions, mares, and foals sat cramped into the hidden room, all of them pegasi.

“When the racial tension got too extreme,” Rarity said, gesturing to the huddled ponies, beaming at the insignia on Autumn’s fatigues, “I gathered all the pegasi who couldn’t get out of Canterlot and hid them here, but now that you’re here,” she smiled, “you can get them outside the city limits, can’t you?”

Autumn’s heart sank as she turned to regard the fashionista, “What?”

“Well, surely you and your troops can escort them outside the city limits, can’t you?”

“I’m sorry, Miss Rarity,” Autumn shook her head, unable to meet Rarity’s eyes, “but this push needs all our soldiers to have a chance at success. We can’t spare the pony-power to escort your civilians out of the warzone.”
Rarity bristled, “You’d just leave them to die?”

“I’d rather save the entire species for tomorrow than a few dozen for today,” she snapped back, “you may have forgotten, but if we lose this war nothing will stand between the enraged citizens of Equestria and the pegasi. I’m sorry, I truly am, but sometimes sacrifices have to be made, and if I must do so for the greater good, I will make those sacrifices.”
Rarity looked as though she was about to scream, but a soft voice from behind them cut her response off before it could leave her lips, “Perhaps I could be of assistance.”

Autumn turned back to the direction they’d entered from to see an unmistakable figure approaching them. “Fluttershy!” Rarity exclaimed, rushing forward to embrace the leader of the Equestrian Peace Corps, “Thank heavens you’re safe! I’ve been so worried about all of you!”

“It’s good to see you too, Rarity,” Fluttershy said, returning the hug. The yellow pegasus pony was clad in standard Peace Corps attire, but she had accessorized it with a golden necklace adorned with a glowing crystal in the shape of a butterfly. “Some members of the Peace Corps are gathered outside; they should be able to get your ponies to safety. Pinkie and AJ are here too, we were hoping that maybe there was still some chance of brokering a peaceful resolution before the battle here gets out of hoof. Will you join us?”

“Fluttershy,” Rarity said, her voice trailing off slightly, “do you really believe that we can accomplish such a thing? Look around you, things have escalated far too much already, there is no way to console both sides here.”

“I’m sorry you see it that way,” Fluttershy frowned, “but even so, perhaps you could join us in trying to do what little we can. Perhaps if we all work together, we can save two friends…”

Rarity eyed Fluttershy’s necklace skeptically before turning to regard a cabinet beside her work bench. Within the cabinet, Autumn could just make out a faint glow. “Perhaps you’re right,” Rarity said, “I suppose even if we can only save one or two ponies, it would be worth the effort…”

Those NLR scum blew up a city center, Barfrost thought, dragging himself from the remnants of the crumbling building around him, sure, the buildings were abandoned, but they had no means of knowing that! They could have just killed countless civilians!

“Is anypony still alive out there?” he heard a voice call from nearby.

“I am!” he returned, “Private Barfrost, reporting for duty! The rest of my squad is dead, but I’m still ready for action!”
“Excellent,” a unicorn approached him, using his magic to push away the rubble obstructing him, “we need every available pony on the front lines, the NLR is making a push for the palace and they’re gaining ground!”

Barfrost grit his teeth as he looked at the land around him. The blast had leveled the entire shopping district, buildings reduced to rubble, here and there he could see the stains from where his fellow soldiers had been crushed by the collapsing structures. “Just tell me where to go, sir” he said through clenched teeth, “and tell me who to kill.”

“I should have known there was no way it would be simple,” Moxi muttered to herself as she, Dreamcatcher, and Firebrand glued themselves to a wall to avoid being seen by the Imperial troops standing between them and their straight-shot to the palace, “nothing’s ever simple for us.”

“Without this route,” Firebrand growled, “it’ll take much longer to get anywhere near the palace. We damn sure can’t take them by ourselves.”

“Good fing you ain’t by yaselves, then,” came a disembodied voice, a grin appearing from nothingness to continue framing the words, “innit?”

“Chesh,” Dreamcatcher muttered, “how did Doolit’s gang find their way into the warzone.”

“Ah, gettin’ into a warzone ain’t so tough,” she said, her full body appearing and waving a dismissive hoof, “i’s the gettin’ out part what poses a problem.”

“Fair enough,” he muttered, “where are the rest of Doolit’s thugs?”

“Off helpin’ the rest o’ you lot, ain’t they.”

“So what help are you going to be then,” Moxi snarled.

“Ain’t me what’s gonna help here,” she said, gesturing towards the street ahead of them, “s’him!”
No sooner had she said the word that a dozen heavy metal orbs dropped into the midst of the Imperial troops. They had barely time to recognize the bombs at their hooves before they went off, spattering the walls of the nearby buildings with ash and gore.

“Hell of a fing that is!” The unmistakable voice came from the street ahead of them and Moxi and Dreamcatcher stepped out onto the cobblestones to be met with the grinning face of Chaser Doolit. “’ello Dreamcatcher,” he said, tipping his hat, “loverly ta see you lot again.”

“Yeah,” Dreamcatcher muttered, eying the stallion’s handiwork with disdain, “peachy.”

“I’ve fulfilled my duty,” Firebrand growled, turning to charge away, “the rest is up to you.”

“Hmph,” Moxi grunted, “fair enough. Let’s get going, Catch.”

“Right behind you.”

Rainbow Dash gasped out in pain as she felt her foreleg shatter against the hard cobblestone street of Canterlot, the gasp quickly turned to a snarl, however, when she turned to face Twilight Sparkle. The purple unicorn mare was scowling at the downed pegasus.

The city burned around them, NLR and Solar Empire alike giving the two mares a wide berth as they fought one another to the death amid the glowing orange light of the burning structures around them.

“I gotta say, Twilight,” Rainbow said, getting back to her hooves and using her wings to keep from putting weight on her broken limb, “I never would have believed it would end this way.”

“After you abandoned your element,” Twilight snarled, “there’s no other way it could have ended.”

“I abandoned nothing!" Rainbow shouted back, “Nothing, save for the will of a madmare!” She looked down and regarded the crystalline lightning bolt set into her golden necklace, whose glow she had not seen since the day she joined the fight, “The elements abandoned me, not the other way around, Twilight. I remain loyal to my ponies and I remain loyal to the cause of what is right.”

“You are loyal to lies and propaganda!” Twilight roared, “You were willing to turn on the mare who has protected and provided for us for longer than any of us have lived on the word of a mare who has already shown her desire for power and domination! You are a traitor, Rainbow Dash! You are no element of Loyalty!”

The two mares faced one another, each one attempting to bore through the other’s eyes with their own. After a time, Rainbow Dash took to the sky, charging her old friend with her sword held ready, the time had come for these things to come to an end.

“This is wrong,” Moxi said as she and Dreamcatcher arrived at the castle gates, “there should be more guards here…”

“Maybe they’re all off fighting in the city,” Dreamcatcher spoke with no real conviction, glancing around them to search for threats.

“Or maybe they’re right behind you,” came the snarling, aristocratic voice of Radiant Sol from behind them.

Dreamcatcher reached for his knife, but was knocked from his feet and sent rolling across the cobblestone path by a blast of magic. Moxi took to the air, narrowly managing to dodge the alicorn’s sweeping blade.

Finally getting a good look at him, Moxi could tell that the alicorn hadn’t managed to escape the facility in Salt Lick City unscathed. Large burns streaked his flank and his hair was burned down to the scalp on his right side.

“Moxi,” Dreamcatcher yelled, getting to his hooves and drawing his knife, “go! Now! Finish the mission!”

“I’m not going to leave you to do this alone!”

“I’ll be fine,” he smirked, eyeing the assassin with wary eyes, “the mission is more important anyway, I’ll take care of this!”

Dreamcatcher momentarily screwed up his face in concentration before opening his eyes to reveal a change. His pupils had become slitted, like those of a dragon and were emanating a soft, silver glow. Both ponies stood off against one another, each one’s body visibly bristling with magical energies.

Damnit, Moxi mentally swore, I won’t be of any help here anyway. With that, she took off toward the palace, leaving Dreamcatcher to deal with the assassin himself.

“Alicorn versus Shaman, eh?” Radiant Sol remarked in a conversational tone.

“Just like old times,” Dreamcatcher chuckled, and, without another word, the pair set about their grim business.

Chapter 25 - Sun's Fall

Moxi was entering the castle garden when the rain began, far too late to do any good to the garden’s plants, which had all long since withered and died. The Palace seemed a shadow of its former self with the plant life in its current state, twisting blackened vines framed with palace windows, and what was once a great hedge maze was now a sea of rotting shrubbery stretching off into the castle grounds.

Numerous statues lined the garden, the black vines stretching over their faces as well. Several statues had crumbled away, the stone head of a filly sat at the foot of a plinth bearing a tarnished golden plaque that read “Friendship.” One plinth even appeared to be missing its statue completely, no remnants of what might have stood on the plinth remained, the only hint at its former burden being its own, similarly tarnished, plaque, “Discord.”

Moxi made for the route Luna had showed her on the castle map which she knew would lead her directly to Celestia’s throne room, leading her to a set of heavy doors.

With a steadying breath, Moxi pushed open the palace door only to be hit with a wall of stench. She crossed the threshold to find a long, narrow corridor lined with stained glass windows.

Several window panes were shattered, spatters of blood, still wet and vibrantly scarlet glistening around the damaged areas. Moxi walked slowly down the corridor, taking each step cautiously, feeling the crunch of glass under her hooves as she walked. Patches of the rich carpeting covering the corridor floor was likewise stained with sticky, wet blood.

The stench permeating the room reached its climax just outside a pair of massive, ornate doors, where Moxi found a pair of Celestia’s royal guards. Both stallions were dead, and looked to have been dead for a long time. Their eyes were gone, leaving sunken holes in the shriveled flesh stretched visibly over their skulls.

Moxi eyed the corpses closely, holding her scarf firmly against her nose to block out as much of the stench as possible, and under closer inspection she noticed something strange about the fallen ponies. Both ponies had fallen in nearly the exact position they would have been standing as guards and their bodies bore no visible wounds outside of the horrid emaciation. Their armor was shining and untarnished, and likewise did not appear to have been damaged at all.

A shudder ran through Moxi’s spine as she eyed the corpses before her. Whatever had killed these ponies had done it fast, and had managed to do so while leaving no visible mark on the body. Besides that, they had clearly been lying here for days, right outside of Princess Celestia’s throne room. She must have known about this, which means it either happened under her sanction, or she herself had done it. Moxi swallowed hard and pulled the rifle from her back. She checked the crystal and gripped the weapon firmly. Going up against Celestia, she’d only have the element of surprise standing between her and certain death.

Taking several deep, calming breaths, she gripped the heavy rifle with one hoof and braced the other against the door. Once she’d calmed her heart rate down, she immediately braced her legs and slammed the doors open, leaned into the throne room and, with a deafening, explosive roar fired her surprise shot directly at the throne.

The ornate chair exploded, the entire upper half splintering and scattering across the room. And Moxi immediately noted that while the rifle had done better than she could have hoped, there had been no target upon the throne for her to hit.
“Gotcha,” came a whispered voice from beside her, and as Moxi twisted to attack her foreleg was pierced by an alicorn’s horn.

Blood spattered across the mosaic floor and the rifle fell from her hoof and clattered away. Moxi beat a wing to regain her balance and swung her unimpeded hoof at the princess, but was tossed like a ragdoll across the chamber at a simple jerk of Celestia’s head.

“My goodness,” came the princess’s lyrical voice as she stepped over to the fallen rifle, “it seems little Luna has been keeping busy. What is this marvelous weapon you’ve brought me, little filly?”

Celestia picked up the rifle and observed it casually, treating Moxi as if she were nothing but a minor annoyance as the young pegasus scrambled to get to her hooves. “Such simplistic design,” she admired, pointing the weapon at the young soldier, “absolutely no training required to operate it at all, is there?” Moxi’s eyes widened as she saw the alicorn pull the trigger and she dove to one side just in time to avoid the explosive impact in the wall beside her, shards of stone rocketed past, leaving shallow cuts along her body, shredding the NLR fatigues and causing blood to pool in the fabric.

The princess pulled the trigger again and Moxi heard the familiar click of the weapon jamming, she’d never been so happy to hear any sound in her life. Celestia frowned at the rifle before tossing it aside, “Not a terribly sturdy invention, my sister’s prepared herself. Oh well, it’s not as if I need any toys to dispose of fillies like you.”

Moxi rose to her feet and faced the mare in front of her, silently berating her pierced limb from being unable to hold steady, but setting her hooves against the tilework in defiance. She made no other move, no attempt to charge the princess or otherwise appear to be more of a threat, she knew from the way Celestia was looking at her that the alicorn’s amusement was the only thing keeping her alive at the moment.

Her eyes wide, looking for some way to turn the situation to her advantage, Moxi cast a quick glance to Celestia’s right. As soon as the princess took the bait, glancing momentarily to the side, Moxi charged, hoping to do as much damage as possible before she could be taken out.
That amount tuned out to be none.

Celestia’s full attention turned back to Moxi and she felt the alicorn’s magic seize every muscle in her body and thrust her back against the wall. She felt her head hit the ceiling as the princess pushed her up the wall. The force of her magic intensified and Moxi’s frayed fatigues tore away, her cuts and lacerations grew wider and deeper and her glasses shattered, sending shards of glass flying into her face, cutting around her cheeks but thankfully missing her eyes.

She almost laughed through the agony being inflicted on her body, there was no escaping this time. Moxi closed her eyes and embraced the pain. Chillwind was waiting for her.

Good, hissed a voice in her mind, very good.

“Imperial forces have us surrounded,” Autumn Leaf shouted to the pegasus messenger who she’d called to take her message and find reinforcements, “we’re holding position on Mane St and Canterlot Way, we need immediate assistance!”
The pegasus snapped off a salute and took to the sky, flying low through the streets and dodging fire from the gathered Imperial troops hammering away at Autumn’s defensive line.

Autumn turned to face Firebrand, the Colonel was nursing several new gashes along his side which he’d earned returning to her. The addition of Chaser Doolit’s ponies was a boon, but the rag-tag group of thugs and criminals wouldn’t do much to turn back the contingent of Imperial unicorns bearing down on the 12th.

“I’m not so sure we’re making it out of this one, Autumn,” Firebrand muttered so that only she could hear him, though Autumn noticed that Cheshire pony’s ear twitch at his words, “don’t tell the troops, but with the way things are going, nopony’s going to be able to come for us until it’s too late. Our only chance is to charge them directly and we’ll likely all die in the process.”

“So what’re we supposed to do,” Autumn said, tears brimming in her eyes, “you’ve never rolled over for anypony before, I know damn well you’re not going to start now.”

“Of course not,” he chuckled, “this thing is bigger than us, I’ll see this thing through or die trying. I just thought, if we don’t make it out of here, I just want to make sure you know…”

Autumn Leaf cut him off with a kiss, leaning against him, though careful to keep her weight off his injured side. Firebrand returned the kiss, both ponies trying to put so many unspoken words into the simple act.

Finally breaking the kiss, Autumn regarded her commanding officer with misty eyes, “I know.”

“Firebrand,” a voice called over a sudden ceasefire, slightly obscured by the slowly rising hiss of rain, “is that you?”
Firebrand was surprised to hear a voice calling his name from the Imperial ranks, but was even more surprised to realize that he recognized the voice. “Dawnstar?” he called back, surprise evident in his voice, “Yes, it’s Firebrand!”

“My goodness,” came the distinct, cultured voice of Colonel Dawnstar, “it would seem the fates have it in their mind that you and I are to do battle once more.”

“That’s not exactly how I would have put it,” Firebrand chuckled at Dawnstar’s pompous manner, “but yeah, something like that.”

“You know I have you dead to rights,” Dawnstar said, his voice suddenly tinged with something new… sympathy? “Ordinarily, I’d take this all out,” he continued, “but I know you, I know you’re a good stallion and I would rather keep you alive if it’s possible, so I will allow you to surrender peaceably. What say you?”

Firebrand paused to consider for a moment before calling back, “I’m willing to negotiate terms, if you promise your soldiers will hold the ceasefire during negotiations, I promise mine will.”

“You have my word.”

Firebrand stood immediately, exposing himself directly to the line of sight of any number of unicorns capable of firing a heated charge into his head at a moment’s notice. With any other commander in the Imperial military, he would’ve had second thoughts, but after Dawnstar had gone out of his way to act decently and respectfully towards him and his ponies at Fillydelphia, Firebrand had a respect for the other stallion’s honor.

Motioning for Autumn Leaf to stay behind, Firebrand trotted out to the middle of the street, meeting Dawnstar midway, the white coated unicorn was still clad in his shining gold armor, but he greeted Firebrand with an extended hoof and a small, regretful smile.

“Firebrand,” he said his voice soft and sympathetic, “I’m sorry that we have to meet again in such a way. Truly I believe in another life we could be friends, but alas, you must do your duty as you see is right, just as I must do mine. Still,” he gave Firebrand a hopeful look, “I do hope that we can end this without having to kill one another, we are both reasonable stallions. If your soldiers will lay down their arms, mine will have no need to kill them.”

“I’m not decided on anything yet,” Firebrand shook his head, “convince me.”

Barfrost watched as Dawnstar negotiated with the enemy colonel, he felt his blood begin to boil as he saw the two behaving like old chums.

He treats a terrorist better than his own ponies, hissed a voice in Barfrost’s mind, if you strike now, you can cut a head from the hydra, and kill the traitor as well.

Barfrost pondered at the whispers in his head, shaking it to try to clear a vague haze that seemed to be overtaking his vision, and barely noticing as he reached into his pack and pulled out a grenade.

Autumn Leaf watched Firebrand negotiate with Dawnstar with reluctance, she knew the Imperial Colonel was a stallion of his word, but cutting deals with the enemy still felt wrong to her. She shook her head as a soft, gray haze began to overtake her mind. She returned her attention to the scene in front of her just in time to see an icy blue pony in the front ranks of Dawnstar’s troops haul back and throw a grenade between the two COs.

With a gasp, she to the two stallions and kicked the grenade aside. She made it in time to knock the explosive away but not in time to escape the blast herself. Autumn Leaf felt shrapnel rip into her legs and abdomen, she used her hooves to shield her face, but felt the rest of her body become mangled as she was tossed away from the heat of fire.

Traitor. The single word, hissed through Firebrand’s mind as he watched his beloved tossed like a ragdoll through the street, was enough to set his vision ablaze. Tearing his sword from its sheath he started after Dawnstar, immediately landing a deep cut across the unicorn’s cheek.

Dawnstar looked shocked from both the explosion and from Firebrand’s sudden lunge, he drew his sword as well and parried Firebrand’s next swing, and neither pony paid any mind as the battle around them resumed.

Twilight’s head hit the ground hard, and she felt the world around her go hazy as a pair of hooves pressed down on her throat, cutting off her air.

“Damnit, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash’s voice broke as tears streamed from her eyes to mingle with the rain, she pressed down on Twilight’s windpipe with her front hooves, ignoring the pain from her broken foreleg as she leaned all her weight into the grim task, “why did you have to push it to this? After everything we’ve been through, how could you make me do this?”

Twilight did not fight back, she merely turned a baleful eye on Rainbow Dash, and somehow this single look did more damage than anything else she could have said. The memories flooded back to her, from the first time she met the bookish mare to her support through the years, to the adventures they’d been tangled up in together.
Rainbow wept as she pressed harder onto her old friend and whispered, “I’m sorry…”

“Rainbow! Stop!” The southern voice so distant and yet so familiar was enough to force her to relax her assault, she felt Twilight take a deep gasp of breath beneath her just before the mare set about a coughing fit, unable to lift her head from the ground.

“Ya don’t have to do this, sugarcube,” Applejack stood beside her, laying a hoof on the pegasus’s shoulder and gently guiding her away from their old friend, “please, we can solve this without more bloodshed.”

“No, AJ,” Rainbow cried, her hooves wavering over Twilight’s neck, “she and I both knew it had to end this way, only one of us can walk away.”

“So why don’t you fly away instead,” Pinkie Pie offered, beaming and taking up her spot on Rainbow’s other side, “if the only problem is in two of you walking, we can easily fix that.”

They are fools, whispered a voice in Rainbow’s head and she felt her mind begin to cloud, optimistic fools. They do not understand the necessities of war. You must finish what you began.

Rainbow shook her head, leaning back and forth in her indecision. Rarity and Fluttershy approached her from either side and wrapped their hooves around her in a hug, Applejack and Pinkie Pie quickly followed suit. Rainbow slid off of Twilight and wept openly on the ground.

“I’ve done my share of terrible things in this war,” she said through the tears, “but I could never betray my friends…” At these words, a new light flared from her chest where the lightning bolt crystal on her necklace began to glow with a powerful light similar to those of Applejack’s and Fluttershy’s and Rarity’s, though Pinkie’s element remained strangely dark.

As the light enveloped her, Rainbow felt the haze clear away from her mind and she felt as though she was seeing the world clearly for the first time in years. She turned her attention to Twilight, the mare had sustained a head wound when she’d struck the ground and a small pool of blood was beginning to form behind her, Rainbow rushed to her old friend’s side and scooped her up in a tight hug, whispering her apologies into the semi-conscious mare’s ear.

While the alicorn was faster than Dreamcatcher, the earth pony shaman was able to use his dreamsight to see his moves shortly before he made them and as a result he was able to match his opponent blow for blow. After several minutes of constant use, however, the dreamsight was taking its toll on his body, his muscles strained and his eyes were becoming clouded as the blood vessels in them began to tear under the stress.

Dreamcatcher finally closed the dreamsight and faced Radiant Sol on his own strength, he parried and dodged, but the alicorn was fast and his sword packed much more of a punch than Catcher’s own knife

Radiant Sol swung his sword in a ferocious swipe and caught Dreamcatcher’s knife at just the right angle to send it skittering away from Dreamcatcher across the courtyard. He rolled aside as Sol swung with the sword again, cleaving a large chunk of cobblestone in half with the blow.

Catcher chased after his knife, but he could feel the assassin on his tail, he ducked and managed to roll out of the way just as Sol swung through with a strike that would have taken his head from his shoulders.
Landing on his hooves, he stood in a combat stance, unarmed, but still ready to fight. Sol stared him down, there was a strange madness in the alicorn’s eyes that hadn’t been there before they’d burned the lab down around him, but he still spoke nothing.

“Dreamcatcher!” came a familiar voice and both Catcher and Radiant Sol turned to see a pony, slightly larger than Dreamcatcher himself and bearing markings and features distinct to the Navapony charged into the courtyard wielding a tomahawk.

“Silverwind!” Dreamcatcher called, his eyes wide as he turned from the assassin to his brother, “What are you doing here?”

“Figured you could use a little help, squirt,” he smirked.

He abandoned the Navapony. Dreamcatcher was shocked at the thought which passed through his head. Where was he when your people needed the leadership of the shamans most? He could not be bothered to help when they needed him, so why should he be worthy of your forgiveness?

Dreamcatcher shook off the thoughts and turned to smile at his brother, “I’m grateful for the assist, two shamans against one alicorn? This thing might as well have a bow on it.”

Sol charged Dreamcatcher, roaring in fury as his sword swung down at the spot Catcher would have been standing had he not managed to duck off to the side at the last moment. Silverwind used the opportunity to make his move, brining the tomahawk down on Radiant Sol’s shoulder, crippling one leg.

Dreamcatcher made another run for his knife, tumbling across the ground to scoop it up and turn to see his brother still engaged in combat with the alicorn. Dreamcatcher could see that his brother had managed to land a couple new hits, but that he’d taken a few too.

Charging back into the fray Dreamcatcher sank his knife to the hilt into the back of the alicorn who let out a roar of anger and pain before spreading his wings and knocking Dreamcatcher halfway across the courtyard.

His attention locked on Dreamcatcher’s flight for just a moment too long, Silverwind made a critical mistake and missed a parry as the assassin’s blade swung for his gut.

Blood poured onto the ground before him and Silverwind fell in a crumpled heap.

“No!” Dreamcatcher screamed, rushing the alicorn without any heed to his own safety.

Suddenly, without warning, Silverwind leapt up from the ground and used all of his limbs to restrain Radiant Sol. The alicorn swung his blade at Silverwind’s head, but the stallion ducked the initial thrust, grabbing the blade in his teeth before Sol could gain any momentum for another swing, Dreamcatcher could see the blood emerging from his brother’s mouth as the blade sliced open his lips and cheek.

“Dreamcatcher,” he heard Silverwind call through gritted teeth, “do it now!”

His eyes wide, Dreamcatcher instinctively whipped a hoof-made dream catcher from his saddlebag and attached it directly to the alicorn’s horn, applying his focus before feeling both himself and the assassin drifting away from the warzone…

“Honey, can’t you stay home tonight?” a yellow coated unicorn mare said to Dreamcatcher, he tried to respond, but quickly realized that not only did he have no control over his voice, but he could move, breath, or even blink on his own. He was going for a ridealong in Radiant Sol’s dream. “We hardly seem to have you home anymore,” the mare, who Dreamcatcher took to be Sol’s wife, continued, “the children miss their father, and I miss going to sleep beside you.”

“I’m sorry, my love,” the voice came from Dreamcatcher’s mouth, but was not his own, “the princess is concerned, there seems to be some sort of political turmoil building in Cloudsdale. She requires my council as well as that of the other nobles.”
“But does she really need you every night?” she pouted, “Couldn’t you perhaps stay home tonight, let the others handle things?”

Dreamcatcher felt a smile curl his lips and he placed a kiss upon the mare’s forehead. “I’ll tell you what,” he said jovially, “I can’t just abandon the meeting, but there is most often a dinner before any real politics are discussed, how about I stay home with the family for dinner and leave after. They can manage without me for a short time at least.”
Beaming at him, the mare nuzzled his neck gently before turning around to set about cooking in a pristine, noblepony’s kitchen.

When Dreamcatcher arrived at the palace and approached the banquet hall, the entire area seemed completely deserted. Even the guards appeared to be absent from their posts. He continued cautiously, approaching the heavy oak doors of the banquet hall and peering through the gap between them. The sight before his eyes not only made him gag, but he could feel the pony in whose mind he was riding do the same.

Corpses were strewn about the room, many lay dead at their chairs around the dinner table, blood pooling about their heads from sliced necks, but others had clearly attempted to run or fight whatever had done this, their bodies winding up strewn about the room.

Dreamcatcher could only see one living pony in the hall. Princess Celestia sat at the head of the table, talking to somepony that he could not see.

“One of the nobles was not here,” she muttered, dabbing at her mouth with a napkin, “curious, I never took Radiant Sol for one to ignore an order from his princess…”

It is irrelevant, the voice burned into the mind, rather than in his ears and Dreamcatcher felt the stallion’s stomach turn again, I had hoped to remove all of them at once, but one or two loose ends to tie up are to be expected.

Loose ends? Radiant Sol had thought, Oh no…

Dreamcatcher burst through the door to Radiant Sol’s house and shouted, “Shutterbug! Where are you? We need to get the kids and get out of here, there’s no time to explain!”

“Oh please do explain,” said a calm, collected voice in his dining room, “come in and take a seat, and tell me all about your little treasonous plans.”

“Princess Celestia,” he said in shock as he turned the corner to see the princess sitting before him, he could just make out the crumpled body of Shutterbug behind her, her once pristine apron stained crimson, tears streamed from his eyes and he turned in anger to the mare sitting before him, “Why are you doing this? Where are my children!?”

“With their mother,” she spoke simply, remarking upon their death as if they were simply out at the market. Dreamcatcher felt his knees buckle as Radiant Sol had fallen to the floor, unable to contain his anguish. “They have moved onto what lays beyond this life, Radiant Sol,” she said, approaching him and laying an ornately decorated hoof on his shoulder, “their part is over, but I have much bigger plans for you.”

Dreamcatcher’s vision went red with anger and he used his magic to grab a kitchen knife off the counter and swing it at Celestia’s eyes. The princess caught the knife in her own magic and slowly turned it back to him, placing the blade against his throat.

“Much bigger plans,” she spoke softly and with a smile, “and you shall serve me so much greater in death than you ever did in life.” Without another word, the knife tore through Dreamcatcher’s throat. He fell to the floor and saw the blood pool around him as he looked into the blank, lifeless eyes of Shutterbug. With his last bit of strength he reached out a hoof to her, not even reaching the table before it fell to the ground and everything faded to black.

Dreamcatcher fell back from the assassin screaming bloody murder, clutching at his own throat. Once he was able to steady himself, he was reminded that what he had experienced was not really happening, it all existed within Sol’s mind… within his memory.

He watched as the alicorn felt his neck, Dreamcatcher could just barely make out the line across his flesh where the knife had torn out his throat.

“Shutterbug,” Radiant Sol said, his eyes welling with tears as a scowl spread across his features, “I remember… I remember everything…”

The alicorn roared in fury and took to the sky, flying toward the palace. Dreamcatcher watched him go before turning to see his brother collapsed in a steadily growing pool of blood.

“We got it, Catch?” He said, a weak smile playing across his features.

“Yeah, Silver,” Dreamcatcher said, putting on a fake smile as tears began to spill from his eyes, “we got it. Now we gotta get you some medical attention, we gotta find a medic quick.”

Silverwind shook his head. “Nah,” he said, groaning and wincing, “I’m done for, bud, sorry. Looks like the burden of leading the tribe’s gonna have to fall on your shoulders.”

“No,” Dreamcatcher grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him slightly, letting go as he saw him wince in pain, “don’t you put this shit on me, you’re going to make it through this! You have to!”

“Someday,” he said, smiling and placing a hoof on Dreamcatcher’s cheek, “we’ll do the fire dance again, I promise. Until then, take good care of the tribe. I love you, little brother.”

And as he lay back against the cobblestones, Dreamcatcher could see the light fade from his eyes. Tears streaming down his cheeks, he closed his fallen brother’s eyes and took up his tomahawk. “I love you too, big brother…” With a growl of fury, he turned to face the palace and charged.

Moxi’s vision was fading to black when she saw the streak of red pass into the throne room and dive directly for the princess.

“You monster!” he heard a voice scream as if from a great distance, and she felt the magical grip on her body loosen, causing her to fall down the hard stone floor, “You absolutely horrid, sickening beast!”

“Your usefulness has expired,” Celestia said back, Moxi opened her eyes to see her holding the alicorn assassin, Radiant Sol, in her magical grip, “I gave you life anew, and now I will take it away.”

“I’ll kill y-” Sol was cut off mid word as Celestia touched her horn to a spot on his throat. What looked like an electrical current passed through the smaller alicorn’s body before he fell, limp, to the ground.

“Any more distractions?” Celestia called out, her answer came in the form of Dreamcatcher slamming through the chamber doors, “Now that’s what I call timing, good show, my dear.”

“Moxi!” Dreamcatcher called, seeing her crumpled off in the corner, “Where’s the rifle?”

Moxi pointed a hoof, gurgling out the word, “jammed.”

“Little foals,” Celestia sneered, “to think you actually believed you would be able to kill me! I who have witnessed the rise and fall of nations, I who have seen your very ancestors take their final breaths! You are as insects to me!” A flare of her horn and the end of Moxi’s scarf was lit aflame, the fire quickly climing the fabric up to Moxi’s neck, the pegasus mare immediately tried to beat the flames out with her hooves.

“You are toys,” she continued, “things to be played with and then discarded, I should never have looked on you as anything other than what you are.”

“Moxi!” Dreamcatcher called, “Take off the damned scarf!”

“No!” Moxi screamed back, desperately trying to put out the flames, “I can’t it’s all I have left of her!”

“Chillwind’s not in a scarf, Moxi! You’re not doing her a favor by doing this!”

“I don’t care,” she screamed back and at that moment, the flames reached her neck. In an instant the entire scarf was on fire, burning away at her neck as she screamed in agony.

“Damnit, Moxi,” Dreamcatcher snarled, “I don’t have time to take care of you anymore!” Dreamcatcher charged, activating his dreamsight as he neared the princess, but even that was not enough to stop her, he was lifted up in her telekinetic grip and he felt her begin to choke the life from his body. His vision began to blur and he thought he saw something standing behind the throne.

Dreamcatcher’s vision went black, and a moment later, he fell to the ground, coughing and trying to regain his composure. He opened his eyes to see a truly spectacular sight. Princess Luna, garbed in armor the color of moonlight had thrust her own horn through her sister’s heart. Celestia slumped over Luna, her body beginning to give out as she began to speak, “Freedom.”

“What?” Luna said, pulling her bloodied horn from her sister’s body and turning to regard her.

“I’m finally free,” Celestia said, smiling as tears formed in her eyes, “Luna, thank you. I had been trying to fight for so long, but I couldn’t I was powerless I’m so sorry…”

“What!?” Luna spoke desperately, shaking Celestia as the mare slumped to the ground before her, “What do you mean? Tia? Fight who? Fight What? Tia!”

Well done, spoke a voice in their minds, and Dreamcatcher watched as a massive figure emerged from behind the throne. The figure’s features were equine, but strangely long and thick, its eyes glowed red and while its flesh was an indistinct mass of shadows, the obsidian plate mail it wore, decorated with loose, hanging chains, was clear as day. I must say, she was a most useful link. It’s been so long since I had a proper link to exert my will on the world, it was good to get out and stretch my legs with a good old fashioned war.

“Who are you?” Luna snarled.

You don’t recognize me, Luna? The being said, You’ve been living among the mortals for too long. Have you succumbed to their memory and their perception of the world? You’ve only been gone from the ethereal plane for a few millennia, but the blink of an eye for eternal beings such as us. Your link to the world was clearly too strong, you’ve become like these mortals.

Luna charged the being, but passed straight through it as though it were made of smoke.

Tsk Tsk, Luna, you should know better than that. I do not have an avatar like you and Celestia, I have no physical presence on this plane… yet. Unfortunately, with Celestia gone, I don’t have a strong enough link to the world to exert my will quite so strongly, oh but you should have felt the anger in her, Luna, it may have been small once, but even a gentle anger can be nurtured and grown into an almighty WRATH. For now, I’m afraid I must return to the ethereal plane, I’ve exerted as much influence as I can and your world is an angrier place for it. You’ll see me again, soon enough. This time, Luna, don’t forget me, and don’t forget my name, I expect you’ll be encountering a lot more of me from here on out, so never forget Wrath.

The being faded away, the smoky figure simply dissipating before them. All three ponies stared in shock until a new pony charged into the room. “Princess Celestia!” Twilight Sparkle called, her friends hot on her tail as she embraced the fallen princess, “Princess, wake up, please I need you!”

“My most faithful student,” Celestia said, raising a weak hoof to brush against Twilight’s cheek, “I am so sorry for everything I put you through these past few years. I am so sorry I… I am so sorry… I am…” As Celestia’s hoof fell limp, Twilight looked as if she could not believe her eye.

She turned to face her friends, tears welling up in her eye. “Oh Celestia,” she said, quietly, “What have I done? The voices, what have I done!?” The mare began screaming and crying, curling into a ball beside the fallen princess. All of her friends gathered around her.

Dreamcatcher rose from where he’d fallen and quickly trotted to where Moxi had fallen, the scarf was completely gone, and Moxi looked nearly catatonic. The burns had not spread beyond her neck, but there they were severe, the cuts on her face and body were deep and numerous, she turned to regard Dreamcatcher and forced a small smile even as her eyes began to well with tears.

Dreamcatcher returned the smile and wrapped her in a hug as she began to weep.

Luna stood on the palace balcony, Moxi and Dreamcatcher behind her, and did something she had not done in years, she used her royal Canterlot voice, “CITIZENS OF EQUESTRIA, CELESTIA HAS FALLEN. I PLEAD WITH ALL OF YOU TO LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS AND EMBRACE PEACE! THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE OLD REGIME OF CELESTIA’S MONARCHY TO COME TO AN END, WE MAY NOW BEGIN ANEW WITH A LUNAR REPUBLIC! I BEG YOU ALL TO JOIN TOGETHER AS ONE, THAT WE MIGHT ALL REBUILD AND RECLAIM OUR HOME!”

And, as one, across the city of Canterlot and across the nation of Equestria, the cannons finally fell silent, and the battle finally came to an end.

Epilogue

Luna surveyed the landscape around her from the royal balcony; the city of Canterlot stood in terrible shape, though not quite so terrible as it had several months before when the war had ended. The reconstruction was well underway, and through the efforts of the former Imperials and the victorious Republicans alike, the city was finally beginning to look and function as it once had.

“Princess,” Luna smiled at the warm voice behind her and turned to see Dreamcatcher kneeling, a soft smile on his mouth that barely touched his eyes, eyes far too old to belong to the young pony before her.

“Actually, I’m not a princess anymore,” she said, smiling sadly at him, “I officially renounced my title when we established Equestria as the New Lunar Republic. Honestly, I may not even be a ruler in a few weeks.”

“It’s a foredrawn conclusion, you know.” Dreamcatcher chuckled as he got back to his hooves. “and you may not officially be a princess anymore,” he scoffed, “but I don’t think anypony’s ever going to stop thinking of you as Princess Luna, the hero mare who saved them from the grip of the evil Solar Empire.”

“Maybe not within your lifetime,” she said wistfully, turning her eyes to the night sky, “but an eternity is a long time. I never really thought about it so much before, but with my sister gone… I don’t know, this world just seems so much lonelier. She’s done so much better a job at leading this nation than I ever did, maybe it should have been me who had fallen to Wrath’s influence, maybe then Celestia would…”

“You can’t let yourself think that way, Luna,” Dreamcatcher laid a hoof on the mare’s shoulder consoling her as tears began to stream from her eyes, “you can’t blame yourself or even Celestia for what happened, this is the fault of that… that thing…”

Luna smiled through her tears at Dreamcatcher, “I suppose you’re right, but I assume you didn’t come all the way up here just to say that. Did you need something?”

“Actually,” he sighed, “I’ve come to say goodbye. With everything that’s happened, I believe it’s time I return to my ponies. The Navapony are scattered, and they will need somepony to rally behind. I am the last remaining shaman of our tribe and I can’t stand by as our way of life dies. So this is goodbye, my old friend.”

Luna wrapped the colt in a hug, nodding her acceptance of his decision. Only after the hug had been broken did she notice the rainbow maned pegasus trotting into the room behind them. “I’m afraid I’ve come to deliver a similar message, your highness,” Rainbow Dash said, snapping to a crisp salute, “as of immediately, I am resigning my position as Command Chief of the New Lunar Republican Airborne and the Airborne unit itself is dissolving.”

“As there is no longer truly a New Lunar Republican army,” Luna chuckled, “I suppose it would be foolish of me to object. I suppose you have plans then?”

“Thank you ma’am,” she said, smiling, “Dreamcatcher is right, this war has been tough on all of us, but there are some who have felt its sting worse than others. For this reason, I do not believe it is in the best interest of the pegusi to remain as citizens of Equestria. Those who are willing and able will be joining me and what remains of the Airborne unit will be leaving Equestria to found a new nation.” She smiled as she added, “In deference to our ancestors, we have chosen the name Pegasopolis. I anticipate healthy and beneficial trade agreements for both Pegasopolis and Equestria, once we’ve got everything up and running again. Now, with your leave Princess, I must rejoin the herd. We shall be leaving soon.”

With a salute and a sly smile, Rainbow Dash took to the air, flying out over Canterlot and disappearing into the distance.

Dreamcatcher opened his mouth as if to say something, but when he could think of nothing else to say, he simply nodded and left.

“Were you just going to leave without even trying to find me?” Dreamcatcher stopped dead in his tracks as he neared the castle courtyard, turning to regard the mare emerging from the shadows.

“I would have,” he said turning a concerned look on Moxi, the mare’s throat was now a mass of vicious red scar tissue and her face was similarly lined with the after-marks of deep lacerations, and while many of the wounds across her body and limbs had healed properly, there was still enough scarring left to tell the tale of battle across her body, “but you’ve been a hard mare to find these past couple months. Luna told me you’ve been locking yourself up in the royal library, barely even letting the medical ponies treat you.”

“So what if I have?” Moxi said, turning her eyes from Dreamcatcher’s.

“Moxi, you need to take better care of yourself,” he smirked, “I’m not going to be around to take care you anymore.”

“I don’t need you to take care of me!” the sudden flare of anger made Dreamcatcher flinch, and when she saw him recoil, Moxi’s face flushed and she turned her eyes away again, ashamed, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay Mox.” he said, laying a comforting hoof on her shoulder while cautiously avoiding touching the fresh scars, “I’m sorry about Gatesborogh… I never got a chance to say so before…”

It was Moxi’s turn to flinch, the news that the survivors of her hometown, had been set ablaze in the strange madness that had gripped the entire nation during the battle for Canterlot had numbered in the single digits had come as a severe shock. It came as an even deeper blow when she had confirmed that her parents had not escaped the fire.

“It’s ancient history,” she growled, “it hadn’t been home to me for a long time.”

“Well,” Dreamcatcher said, hopefully, “listen, I don’t know if you’ve got any plans, but honestly, I’d love it if you could come back to the Great Equestrian Plains with me, I think you could live a very comfortable life out there, it’s very peaceful.”

Moxi smiled, but shook her head. “There’s nothing left for me out there, Catch,” she said, “after all that’s happened, all I really have left is to see things through.”

“Moxi,” Dreamcatcher said, worried, “the war is over, you’ve already seen it through.”

“Luna offered me a position in her secret service,” she said, shrugging, “I can’t adjust to a civilian life again, I’m better off serving.”

Dreamcatcher opened his mouth to protest, but immediately knew it would be a moot point. He wrapped a hoof around Moxi and pulled the mare into a hug. “Take care of yourself,” he breathed into her hear as she returned the hug.

“Yeah,” she smiled back, “you too.”

Luna watched Dreamcatcher cross the courtyard until he passed beyond the palace gates and finally disappeared from her view. With a heavy sigh she turned to face the room behind her, finding Moxi standing, patiently waiting for her to complete her vigil.

“You’ve gotten rather good at that,” Luna smiled, Moxi bowed low and she waved a dismissive hoof, “oh come now, Moxi, you and I both know you don’t need to bow to me.”

“If you say so, Highness,” she said, rising to her full height again before turning hard eyes on Luna, “Princess, I feel the time has come for some answers.”

Luna smiled sadly and trotted into the room, finding a seat and sitting down with a groan, “I expected as much, you wouldn’t have locked yourself up in the library if you weren’t looking for knowledge.”

“Celestia said something while she was torturing us,” Moxi remarked, her voice steady, “she said she’d seen the rise and fall of nations, but our historical texts say that the nation of Equestria was founded long before either you or your sister were born. That coupled with what that… that Wrath thing was saying about the ’ethereal plane’ has left me wondering… Just what exactly are you, Luna?”

Luna sighed and regarded her own image in a nearby mirror. “I suppose,” she said after a long moment, “that depends on which part of me you’re referring to…”

Standing to cross over to the balcony, Luna gestured up toward the moon in the sky. “I had honestly forgotten, it has been so long that this body had allowed me to forget, but in truth, this is not my body.” She turned to face Moxi, “millennia ago, when the world was young and Equestria even younger, the sun and moon moved on their own through the sky, but even so, it was always my sister and I who guided them, for in ancient times we did not exist on the mortal plane, but rather we existed in the ethereal, the spirit world.” She turned a dark, serious look on Moxi, “Celestia and I truly are the sun and the moon.”

Moxi’s mind reeled, she tried putting pieces together, but it was like trying to work out a puzzle whose pieces were cut wrong, none of the pieces seemed to fit together.

“In ancient times,” Luna continued, “many ponies took to worshipping beings of the ethereal, beings of varying power and scope and form, but who each represented something existing within the mortal plane. Ideas and thoughts and objects which held great power existed within their own dominions within the ethereal plane. It was in two such dominions that my sister and I, spirits of the sun and the moon, existed. There were likewise spirits of the great ideas which could drive ponies to great acts of decency and great acts of malice. Mercy, Greed, Wrath, Death, and while many of these spirits were of malice intent, their power on the mortal plane was limited by how many creatures believed in them and followed their ideals, but one being did not play by the rules, and his name was Discord.

Discord broke the seal between the ethereal and mortal plane when he successfully cobbled together a body of flesh and began exerting his terrible will upon the ponies of Equestria. All would have been lost had it not been for a pair of alicorn priestesses, one a follower of the sun and one of the moon. Their faith was so strong and their altruism so pure that they allowed us to enter their forms, that we might be able to strike Discord down.

Their gambit was successful, but it came at the cost of the lives of both mares. Celestia and I took up their bodies and rose up to lead the ponies of Equestria, teaching them to cast aside hate and anger and to become more peaceful. Equestria fell into a great peace, and all was well. But the mortal bodies Celestia and I had taken up were more limited than our spiritual selves, and over time our memories faded, we could not remember a time before we had our mortal form, and in our hubris, we paved the way for beings like Wrath to regain their foothold in this world.”

“The war,” Moxi breathed, “all that anger and hatred, it’s been fuel to the fire for him hasn’t it?”

“I’m afraid so,” Luna said, her voice heavy with sorrow, “it seems likely that he will already have supporters, and bringing their existence to the attention of Equestria as a whole would do nothing but suit his games.” She sighed, “Even the knowledge of my sister’s brainwashing must remain a secret, we cannot allow the seeds of distrust to aid in his return. If we are to fight him, it must be done in secret.”

Moxi nodded and trotted out to the balcony, looking out to the night sky with narrowed eyes. “Secret, eh?” she muttered after several moments, she turned back and gave Luna a humorless smile, “I think I know just the mare for the job.”

-The End-

Thank you for reading! I hope you will follow Moxi into the next chapter of her life in "Hooves of Wrath."

Chapter 21 - Speaking Unto a Nation

“Say your blessings now, everypony,” Moxi heard Captain Ironhide call over the sheet of rain pounding the streets of Manehattan, “because you can damn well bet Celestia isn’t going to leave this thing unprotected. Celestia will be willing to throw civilians in our path to protect her investments, but we can not allow ourselves to become like the Empire. We will take the city, and we will do no harm to its peoples. Most important, we must get our agents to that transmitter! If you should fall today, mark my words, it will not be in vain! Your names shall be inscribed into history itself today, heroes who gave their all to ensure the survival of freedom in Equestria! Today, your efforts will mark the turning point of the war! Today, we take Manehattan! For Equestria! For Luna! For the New Lunar Republic! Luna Nobis Providet!”

The soldiers around her erupted in cheers, pounding one another on the back and chanting the battlecry back to their captain. Moxi didn’t join in the cheers, and she could see Catcher didn’t either. The city was engulfed in a torrential downpour unleashed by Rainbow Dash’s pegasus division, but the sound of explosions emanating from the rooftops betrayed the fact that beyond that small amount of cover, the aerial regiments would be of little use.

The first attempt to strike the city by air had resulted in numerous carts being destroyed, the ponies in them either killed in the blast or left to fall to their deaths on the city streets below. Ultimately, a full retreat had been ordered for the aerial divisions until the cannons could be silenced and the remaining forces would have to take the city on hoof.

Moxi eyed her former home town, even under the blanket of shadows from the clouds above and the rain streaming through its cobblestone streets, she would have thought the familiar contours of the city would provide some peace of mind, but the redoubled propaganda spread across the walls of the city caused her heart to sink.

“Why are we even bothering, Catch?” Moxi said, her face downcast, “We’re fighting the battle for the hearts and minds of the ponies, but from the looks of things, we’ve already lost them.”

“Don’t think like that,” he said, touching one hoof to her chin and lifting up her eyes to meet his, “these people are just scared and lost, it’s up to us to show them the way.” Moxi stared back into the calm gray eyes for a long moment, then nodded, her eyes set and reaffirmed.

“Agents Moxi and Dreamcatcher?” Captain Ironhide had approached them, her team was checking their weapons, ensuring their blades were clear and easy to grab at a moment’s notice, “My team is ready to begin the push to take the anti-pegasus cannons, as soon as we receive word from General Warhorse, we will begin the push simultaneously at all of the cannons. If the general is correct in his assumptions, this will lead the Solar Empire forces to believe this is simply an attempt to take the city.” She gestured at the distant outline of the great statue looming over the city, “This should allow you two and the other special forces teams throughout the city to reach the facility with minor incidence, according to our intel, the device is hidden away inside the statue.”

“Hold on,” Moxi spoke up, “what do you mean it will make them ‘believe this is simply an attempt to take the city’? Aren’t we retaking the city?”

Ironhide shook her head, “We’re going to try, but to be honest, this city is dug in too deep and it’s citizens are some of the most open Celestia supporters we know of. Even if we take the city, unless we get that message out, there’s no chance we’d be able to hold it.”

“We can’t focus on taking the city today, Moxi,” Dreamcatcher nodded in agreement, “but if we get this message out, we should have the city back soon enough.”

“Alright,” Moxi growled, “I don’t like it, but I see your point.” At that moment, a ball of green flame erupted behind the captain and a bird call echoed through the alley before the flame burned away to nothing. “That’s the signal!” Ironhide called out, “Everypony move out, we take those cannons down now!” The mare charged at the head of the squad and bucked down the door of a nearby building to allow her soldiers to charge in, she cast a glance at Moxi and Dreamcatcher, “Good luck, you two. We’re all counting on you. Luna nobis providet.” And with a flash of her tail, she was gone.

It didn’t take long for the entire city to plunge into chaos, more than once Moxi and Dreamcatcher found themselves dodging the flaming debris of the cannons their strike teams had successfully knocked from their perches as they crashed to the city streets. “How long do you think it will take before the security forces are drawn away from the device?” Moxi asked, slinging a robe over her back to hide her wings from any civilians who might charge, panicked into the streets.

“Long enough for us to hoof it,” Dreamcatcher shot back, “but I’d still suggest we rush, I don’t want to be here any longer than we absolutely have to.” Moxi nodded and the two tore off down the cobblestone streets.

It wasn’t long at all before the sound of sirens began blaring through the streets, alerting all of the Solar Empire forces and all of Manehattan’s citizenry to the attack underway. Ponies began spilling forth from buildings to try to find out what was going on, and while Moxi first cursed the inconvenience that they posed, slowing their progress through the city, she was soon grateful for their presence, when Imperial soldiers began charging in the opposite direction to meet the invading NLR forces. It was a simple task for the pair of them to blend in, just two more local earth ponies coming to see what the fuss was about.

Shortly after the soldiers passed them by, the sounds of clashing steel could be heard from behind them, the NLR and Imperial soldiers had evidently found one another. “Let’s go,” Moxi hissed, and the pair streaked off down the rain slicked street.

The entrance at the base of the statue was guarded, but not heavily, the majority of the guard had likely hurried off to help the city’s defenders. Moxi and Dreamcatcher moved into position to strike the guards, but before they could make their move, another pair of ponies hit their defensive line.

The unicorn and pegasus worked together flawlessly, each pony complimenting the other’s tactics in a method of attack that more closely resembled an intricate dance than true fighting. The guards hardly had time to react before they lay dead on the ground.

“The door’s locked,” the pegasus exclaimed, breaking out a set of picks and setting to work, “cover me while I get it open.”

“Understood,” the unicorn shot back, powering up her horn and turning to watch the street around them for any sign of trouble. Moxi moved to join them, but Dreamcatcher stuck out a hoof to hold her back, she turned to ask what he was doing, but the wide, terrified look on his face drew her eyes to the sky.

A shadow descended from on high, streaking towards the ground where the two ponies stood with a terrible speed and audible fury. The dragon let loose a torrent of emerald flames, the unicorn tried to defend herself, but the heat from the fire was so intense that she was dead before her blackened body hit the ground. The dragon landed on the ground before the pegasus, who was looking at what remained of his partner with agonized eyes. The beast was small for a dragon, but still larger than a dozen ponies, its violet scales were accentuated by spines of green and it folded its leathery wings to its side, revealing the pony sitting astride its neck. General Twilight Sparkle sneered at the pegasus in disdain. “Her highness thought you might attempt something like this,” the unicorn spoke with discernable hatred marking her voice, “you were fools to think she would leave such a target so weakly protected.”

The pegasus pony gave no warning, he darted at Sparkle with remarkable speed, his blade drawn and ready to strike. He made it halfway to his target before the General caught him with her magic and tore his body asunder, leaving flecks of blood and various body parts streaking about the street. With that final act, Sparkle sneered at the corpses she’d left and with a word, the dragon took to the air again, flying off in the direction of the fighting.

Moxi turned to vomit against the wall of the building beside them. “Empty night,” she swore, “how could we just watch that happen?”

“We have a mission to complete,” Dreamcatcher retorted, and from the tone of his voice, Moxi could tell he was just barely managing to resist the urge to vomit himself, “and there’s no way we could take on Twilight by ourselves, much less when she’s got Spike with her.” He shook his head, clearing his thoughts of the memory of a young dragon, his development and his mind distorted and perverted by foul magics, “We need to get going, hopefully she thinks there was only one team sent to take the device. Which should leave us in the clear.”

The pegasus had successfully unlocked the door before Sparkle had caught them, so Moxi and Dreamcatcher were able to breeze right through the doors. There was hardly any room at all before they reached a spiral staircase leading up into the head of the statue. Moxi flew them up the shaft of the stairs to save time and they reached the top within moments. Through a set of windows on the door at the top of the stairs, they could see the device, encompassing the entirety of the statue’s head, tubes of green flames leading off into the torch the great mare carried.

Moxi flattened herself against the door and listened to the technicians on the other side. “Excellent,” she heard one of them calling out, “I am pleased to announce that this facility is now 100% operational. Just send the message out to General Sparkle so that she can bring Celestia’s message to broadcast.” Another pony answered in the affirmative, and the two SpecOps ponies traded a glance that said there was no chance of them letting that happen.

Moxi and Dreamcatcher kicked the doors off their hinges as they stormed into the room, the technicians screaming in surprised terror as they scrambled to get away from the incoming soldiers.

“Belay that order,” Moxi shouted, “the first one of you who tries to bring in any more Solar Empire troops gets a knife to the throat, the second will get a significantly less lenient response.” All of the technicians raised their hooves, freezing in position so as not to anger the homicidal mare. “Dreamcatcher, you keep an eye on them, I’m going to check this thing out.”

Moxi turned and began checking each of the instruments lining the walls, she could see even with her own extremely limited technical skill that the tech was sloppy, the gauges were reading a dangerous level of output even with nothing being transmitted through them and the pipeline carrying the magical flames looked ready to rupture under the pressure already.
“I don’t think this thing has more than one use coming to it, Catch,” Moxi called over her shoulder, “when we send it out, we would be well advised to bolt, I don’t think this thing will be able to handle the pressure.”
Dreamcatcher nodded, “Whatever it takes, Moxi. Just plug the thing in.”

“Alright,” Moxi shot back, opening the intake port and lobbing the package Luna had given them into the emerald furnace, “time to get out of here!”

True to her suspicions, the furnace began to tear at its restraints, the flames denting the tubes leading to the great torch through the sheer pressure of sending out the message. Moxi took to the air and grabbed Dreamcatcher on her way out, flying directly down the stairwell to outrun the heat she could feel building on her back, the facility was exploding and was generally not a good place to be.

Once they were clear, Moxi set down on a rooftop and watched the statue behind them, the head was aflame and the entire thing was beginning to collapse from within, but a massive surge of energy was building up in the torch, and at the last moment before the entire statue collapsed, it released the energy, scattering it all across Equestria, and in every home, in every town across the entire nation, a voice spoke to them…

"Ponies of Equestria, my name is Luna; Princess of the Night, Sister of Princess Celestia, and High Commander of the New Lunar Republican Army. I tell you all this, not to create a sense of reverence, or out of desire for fear or worship. I tell you this so that when I speak these next words, you will understand the true significance that they represent. For I come to you on this day, as none of these things, today I come to you as an equal.

These past few years have seen our nation torn apart by bloodshed and war. Our brothers and sisters have torn into one another with a ferocity that once we would have believed impossible to be expressed in our peaceful land. We have lost the way, misinformation and distrust have sown the seeds of hatred and I come to you in this day to help clear your minds of the lies which have been spread.

Cloudsdale has fallen. My sister, in a powerhungry act of what I can only describe as true evil has wiped the great citystate off the face of the map. The discontent spread for the pegasi was spread by her own propaganda and her own lies. We as soldiers of the New Lunar Republic, call to you on this day to cast off the shackles these lies have placed upon you and upon our nation, rid yourselves of the tyranny which has claimed our once peaceful lands, and join us in establishing a new republic.

I do not call for this position for my own power, or for the power of any of my followers, but rather I call for the power of the ponies. Let us all unify and do what is right for our nation. Let us all restore the balance that has been lost to us. Let there be war tomorrow, so there can be peace the next day.

Thank you all, may the night protect us, and may the Elements of Harmony, return us to where we are meant to be.
"