The Powers That Be

Sacrifice is not simply passing on an opportunity, or lending a hoof to another.  Sacrifice is voluntarily giving up something that you are entitled to, be it your life, your own gain, or even your own happiness.  This land was founded on sacrifice, and it was saved by it.  If you learn of nothing else in your time in service, learn this:  Fighting and law are all well and good, but if you aren’t willing to sacrifice yourself, you’ve wasted your training.

Traditional Inauguration Speech to New Cadets – Cmdr. Shining Armor, Canterlot Royal Guard

Much to her surprise, Celestia couldn’t even cry as she set the letter back down on the table.  The sense of loss was just too great.  Luna was gone, and with her a good portion of Celestia, it seemed.

In her daze, Celestia sat down on the edge of her sister’s former bed, unable to trust her legs to hold her upright anymore.  Beside her, Red muttered in his sleep as he rolled over, pulling a few strands of his pale mane into his mouth.  Under different circumstances, Celestia would have smiled at the adorably awkward sight, but now she simply brushed the strands aside, her expression unchanged.

She looked out the window at the moon—her sister’s namesake—clearly visible from above the blanket of clouds.  Though they would probably never actually get their cutie marks, Celestia had always envisioned that Luna’s would be an image of the moon.  She could almost picture it.

As she turned back, her hoof bumped against Red’s saddlebag.  He didn’t wear them as a matter of course, so why had he bothered to bring one along when he came over last night?  Celestia bit her lower lip as she looked back at his sleeping form.  Unable to stop herself, she levitated the bag closer and opened the clasp, looking inside.

With a quiet gasp, she drew out a small bouquet of moon flowers.  The tiny blossoms were rarely seen in most parts of Equestria.  Their round shape and pale color gave them their name, and they were incredibly hardy plants.  They even seemed to give off a certain cool sensation to the touch, as if one was touching their hooves to the surface of the moon itself.  She knew that Red had to have gone to quite a bit of effort to find them and bring them back.

The saddlebag drifted back down to the fluffy white floor as Celestia stood and walked out of the dwelling, the flowers still in her magic’s grasp.  She walked until she reached Luna’s usual spot, and she sat down to look out over the view.

The land was almost otherworldly in the pre-dawn darkness, with only one or two scattered spots of light visible from villages to spoil the perfect moonlight.  The river ran under Camp Cirrus, reflecting the lights of the sky chaotically.  Celestia followed the light up, to gaze at the sky.  The moon was full and bright, seemingly close enough to touch.  She caught herself putting out a hoof towards it.  For some reason, she felt like she could practically see Luna’s face in it.

Luna…

Never had she felt so conflicted before.  Every fiber of her being told her to leap off the cloud and go find her sister before something awful happened to her, but what would that do?  What would it say to Luna?  Did she not trust her sister to make her own choices?  No matter how much she thought about it, Celestia couldn’t be angry at Luna for what she was doing.  Luna had always thought with her heart before her head, and her intentions were good and right.  For all she knew, Luna was doing what she was better suited to doing, but then the problem was whether or not Celestia could complete the larger, more dangerous task on her own.

She was on a mission, after all—one of the utmost importance.  If she failed or faltered, who knew how many ponies could die because of it?  Ponies were being killed by Discord and Steel Wing every day it seemed, but so many more were suffering because of Discord’s chaos.  His antics affected the growing seasons and the weather, making food scarce for all.  She had been told that starvation was rampant in most areas of Equestria, and the death toll from that alone was greater than the murders by tenfold.

And now, she had yet another problem.  She slowly lifted the flowers in front of her face, turning them around with her magic.  The petals caught the pale yellow glow of her aura, shimmering in the light.  It seemed that Red was attracted to her, to a degree that prompted him to go to outlandish efforts for a mere token.  As she thought about it, she realized that it wasn’t a one-sided thing, either.  Red was gentle and intelligent.  He was a healer and a leader—and not a bad teacher, either.  Celestia tried to talk herself out of it, but she couldn’t convince herself that settling down was such a bad idea.  She could almost see herself staying in Camp Cirrus for good.  She could be happy.  She could have a life that she had never even dared to dream of as a mere alicorn living in a canyon.

What was it all worth now, though?

Could she actually be happy knowing what she had given up on?  Was her life worth more than anypony else’s?  Even following her sister could jeopardize her quest…

With the clouds muffling the pegasus’ hoofsteps, she didn’t realize Red was walking up until he was right next to her.  She looked up at him, unsure of what to say.  His eyes seemed almost as sad as hers.

“You read the note,” she stated flatly.  He nodded in response.  “You know that wasn’t meant for you,” she said, unable to make her face or voice reflect the humor she had hoped to display.

He seemed to understand, though.  “To be fair, you did take my flowers.”

Celestia looked back to the moon-bleached blossoms.  “They’re incredible…”

He ran his pale blue hoof through his mane awkwardly, the moonlight making it shine like silver.  “I was all set to give you those, but I saw the time just wasn’t right.  Truth be told, it still isn’t, and I wish you hadn’t seen them.”

She frowned.  “Why not?  It’s an amazing gesture.  I can’t imagine the trouble you went to.”

“They weren’t easy to find,” he said with a nod, “but now that you know why I came last night, do you feel like your decision of what you need to do now is easier?”  She shook her head sadly.  “Then that’s why,” he said, sitting down next to her and staring out into the dark sky.

“I just don’t know what to do,” she grumbled.  “No matter what, I lose something.”

“Well, you can’t stay here,” he said firmly.

She turned to face him, shocked.  His jaw was set, but tears were building up in his eyes and he didn’t turn to look at her.

“After reading that letter, I realized that I was incredibly selfish to think that I could keep you here with me.  You can’t stay, Celestia; there’s too many ponies depending on you.  You don’t know what it does to us, knowing that Discord and Steel Wing are still out there.”

His shoulders slumped.  “Since well before the founding of Equestria, the pegasi have always been the fighters, the warriors.  We fought against insurmountable odds, and we always won.  We were the frontline fighters in the war against the griffons.  The need to defend those around us—to protect those we care for—is deeply ingrained in us, and now we’re faced with a foe that we can’t fight and can’t hurt.  We’re completely helpless, and that sense of failure weighs on us every day.”

He finally turned to look her in the eyes, a few stray tears streaking the fur on his cheeks.  “When you told us of your quest, it was such a conflicting moment.  I knew that I couldn’t do anything myself to help, but there was finally somepony who could!  It was simultaneously the most humbling moment of my life and the happiest.  A-and now—” he stopped, choking up.  “And now I f-find myself caring very deeply for you, and I know that I c-can’t protect you.  I want n-nothing more than to make you happy and to be happy, but I-I’d be a traitor to Equestria and my own conscience if I do anything b—anything but tell you to go right into danger.”

Celestia reached out a wing and put it around Red, knowing that words weren’t sufficient for the moment.  He took several deep breaths to steady himself as a few tears fell over the edge of the cloud to drop to the ground below.  The two were silent for a long time, unmoving, simply sitting together as the wind ruffled their feathers and manes.

“What do I do?” she finally asked.

“You know I can’t really tell you that,” he said.  “I suppose all I can say is you should do what you feel is right.”

“Part of me knows that I have to keep to the mission, but I’m not sure if I can do it without Luna.”  She shook her head in frustration.  “We’ve never been apart.  I couldn’t even leave home without her—but how long will it take to find her?  What will happen to us if I try?  What if—”

Red Badge reached over and put a hoof to her mouth to silence her, and moved it down to touch her chest, right over her heart.  Celestia nodded solemnly.

The two ponies stood and embraced in silence.  It was a long time before they separated.

“I will come back,” she promised.  He nodded and stepped back, tearing up again as he gave her a salute with his hoof.

She swallowed hard and leapt off the cloud.

Luna cruised low over the darkened landscape, her eyes keenly picking out obstacles as she flew.  Unfamiliar with the terrain from above, she had already taken several wrong turns in her search, so now she simply followed the twists and turns of the river as it ran behind her, tracing its path upstream.  She wanted nothing more than to get back to the refugee’s camp, to cry with them and do anything to help them rebuild.

What if they’ve moved on?  What if I can’t find them?  Doubt spurred her on to greater speed.

She swerved off of her path, heading off over the trees as she caught sight of the bridge she and Celestia had failed to find the first time they came this way.  She ducked down and landed in a familiar clearing, only to find that her fears had been confirmed.

The campsite was completely abandoned.  Luna felt a mild panic attack coming on until she realized that all of the tents and possessions had been taken as well—meaning the rest of the refugees were still alive.  Still, it left her at an impasse.  She tried to think of where she might go to find them again, when a voice from behind her made her blood run cold.

“Well, well, well.  I had a hunch you might come here again.  I’m glad I decided to check back.”

Luna spun around to find Steel Wing strolling out of the trees and into the clearing.  “Hello, alicorn,” he said casually.  “It’s taken you long enough.  It feels like I’ve been over half of Equestria looking for you since you ran.  Did your conscience finally get the better of you?”  Luna bared her teeth and flared her wings as she crouched, fight-or-flight responses taking over.

“You know,” the black pegasus went on, ignoring her stance, “I never did get a good look at you two last time.  It made searching for you a chore, I can tell you that much.  Other villages weren’t really much help, either, no matter how… persuasive I was.  None of them knew anything about you, meaning you hadn’t been to any villages.  It begs the question: where have you been hiding?”

“We did not hide,” Luna growled, rising anger starting to drown out the panicked cry of her mind to escape.

“Were you in the sky?  Perhaps underground?  Did the voices of the dead call out to you?”  Luna’s rage grew as he taunted her.  “Did they tell you how you left them to die?”

With an incoherent scream of rage, Luna charged, seeking Steel Wing’s neck.

In a blur of black and a flash of pain, Luna found herself held firmly up on her rear hooves.  Her forehooves were wrenched painfully behind her, her wings pinned against Steel Wing’s body and his bladed wing at her throat.  His grasp on her was ferocious, stronger than any pegasus had a right to be.  Luna let out a cry of pain as her captor pulled harder on her limbs.

“You’re far too soft, alicorn, far too easy to manipulate.  And now you’ve made a horrible mistake.  There’s someone who has been very eager to meet you.”

Luna only had time to let out a shudder of fear before a vicious blow to her head left her dropping into an expanse of black.