Upon the struggle of the great light horses,
it will be claimed that the great crescent is destroyed.
To kill by night, in the mountains,
dressed in shephers' clothing, red gulfs in the deep ditch.
Sur le combat des grans cheveux, legiers,
On criera le grand croissant confond.
De nuict tuer monts, habits de bergiers,
Abismes rouges dans le fossé profond.
Nostradamus:The Prophecies century: 7, quatrain: 7 1555 AD
They fled.
Onwards and upwards through the foothills, barely stopping to rest, never stopping to eat.
One after another the group followed the pass as fast as they could manage, a chill wind flowed down from the mountain ahead and blasted through their coats, their warm uniforms had long been abandoned as to dangerous to wear no matter what the cost. If they could only get to the other end of the pass they would be able to get more provisions, from there they could escape to the border.
A hut appeared on the road ahead, although it was small and dark it seemed to good to be true. They knew they couldn't stay for long. The local shepherds had stocked the hut with provisions in case of emergency, being caught out in a storm could be fatal even for the experienced, sometimes a flock would wander to far and the mountains would claim them.
The trio of unicorns entered expecting no-one but prepared to fight, finding the hut empty they raided the supply cupboards for water and warm cloaks, everything else had to be left behind. Speed was of the essence tonight.
They all would have traded their horns for wings if that were still possible, up until recently they had been powerful leaders of ponys with enchantments and runes of power to command.
Now they fled.
Heading ever upwards they climbed the mountain, daylight had forsaken them, the cover of night would suit their purpose well enough.
The moon burst through the fast moving cloud layer, silently they looked back at its face as they ran onwards in to the night. The Mare in the Moon scowled down at them watching their flight from Equestria, none of them could bring themselves to comment or hold her gaze for long. They had abandoned her once already, now there was no going back. Only the loyal had a place by her side now. Maybe they should have stayed, accepted the exile offered to them by the Sun-Princess and spent the rest of their days with their commander.
No, a lifetime is to long to be banished, there was still a chance of escape. With Celestia's royal guard surely on their tale they could not afford to question what they had each done to set them on this path.
They were commanders of the Republic of the Lunar Empire, they had done what was asked.
They had failed, now they fled.
Cresting the hill gave them the first sight of their goal, the other side of the valley was neutral ground, no longer would they be in the land of Equestria. They would still have to fight for their lives against Dragons, Griffins and Princess knew what else but if they stayed here they would be locked away by the very people they had so recently planned campaigns against.
They had ordered ponys killed and town destroyed, cheered the troops as they took down Celestia's Royal Guard, spurred on the next batch when the last did not return from battle and celebrated every death on both sides that took them closer to victory for Nightmare Moon. They would have been powerful in the court of the Princess of the Night... if they had won, now they would receive a different reward.
One risked a scan behind with his magic, nothing was following them up the path; nothing bigger than a fox within a mile of there current position.
Not a sign of pegasi above, no tinge of unicorn magic in the air, earth ponys could chase them down but could do nothing to defend themselves once they were in range of the unicorns magic.
One valley to go.
Exhausted they started down the trail, they were almost out of Equestria.
“HALT” commanded a voice ahead.
Standing on the path ahead a figure loomed. The mares wings flared once as she looked on at them.
Her face was set with anger, her mane billowed away from her body seeming ignoring the torrent of wind blasting through the pass, eyes stared in to the souls of the three fugitives killing any hope they had of escaping their fate.
“Approach and receive my justice”
The three bowed down before her on the mist soaked grass unable to move or break away from the gaze of the vision of divine power that stood before them. Her chest rising and falling deeply as her eyes burned in to them. Behind them the moon came through the clouds once again, Celestia looked upon it and was reminded yet again of the pain and suffering that had been forced upon her little ponys by the rise of the “Lunar Empire”. Looking back to the cowed figures in front of her it seemed hard to believe what they had helped bring about.
But she knew, she knew what had been done and by whom..
“You have whispered in the ear of my sister”
She knew who had stood against her and poisoned the mind of the Princess of the Night.
“You have given her false hopes and fed her fears”
She knew who had lied to her face while plotting her destruction and she knew why.
“You are stained as red from the blood of my Ponies as the Nightmare is.
She was possessed by the Nightmare, you are merely greedy for power”.
She knew who was playing politics with the future of Equestria.
“You used her for your own ends and made this days events come to pass”.
She knew what had to be done.
“You have made me lose my sister”.
She released the hold she had put on their bodies since they had entered her presence.
“Do any of you deny this?”
She pointed to a patch of grass next to the path.
“Dig a ditch”.
