Forgotten Dawn

Despite living there most of her life, Luna never really bothered to try to understand how Canterlot went about its daily business, it seemed like more of of a big sister thing. She knew that a reasonable percentage of all the unicorns lived there, and that it was one of the biggest cities in all of Equestria. Beyond that, she had no knowledge of any of the intricate workings of city life. There was a time where she had once been part of a big city, hundreds of years ago before she came to power, but the memories of that place are lost to time.

Luna slumped down onto the side of the path she had been following. For hours she had followed its twists and turns in hope that it led back up to the city, but it stubbornly followed a little stream that meandered around the base of Canterlot Mountain. It was still mid morning after all those hours of trotting around in the brush, slipping on wet rocks and getting her mane caught in tree branches. It was as if the very land was trying to slow her down, stop her from reaching Canterlot and saving her subjects.

A long time ago, Luna and her older sister had found all the elements of Harmony, including the elusive Element of Magic, before they had challenged Discord. They had spent weeks travelling around the ruined countryside, helping the ponies, gathering small woodland meals, and even travelling to the center of the enslaved Crystal Empire to see if the Crystal Heart was an element. After a few years of ruling, Luna and her sister had then banished the evil King to the heart of the frozen Wastes. This was a long time ago, before they were both Alicorns, and Luna barely remembered it. She did not remember trekking around in the forests for weeks, and was not used to it after spending so many decades in the palace. It was a shame really, it was then that she and Celestia had cemented their friendship for the first time. If she ever saw Celestia again, she'd have a long talk to her about what happened. Luna, while several hundred years old, was still a child in Alicorn years and Celestia did not tell her all the details about how they'd overthrown Discord and Sombra. Luna got up and continued walking.

Finally, finally, the path widened and the main road into Canterlot came into view. It had been the first road in Equestria to have cobblestone and clacked when Luna trotted over them. For a main road, it was extremely quiet with no other pony about. It made Luna think of an abandoned city left alone for a thousand years and she was the first visitor in all that time. Growing up in the city meant Luna was used to all the hustle and bustle and the silence, apart from her noisy hooves, unnerved her. Where had all the ponies gone? Shouldn't this road be bursting with activity, full of ponies and creatures from distant lands trying to make it big in the famous Canterlot? The sound of hooves on cobblestone unnerved Luna to the point where it became painful to listen to and she quickly stepped off the road.

Not a few moments later a lone guard tore around a bend in the road and skidded to a halt right next to where Luna had stepped off the road.

"Show yourself! No ponies past the toll gate a few miles back! State your name and tribe and you will be unharmed."

Luna stood stock still, a few inches from the guards side. He was blind, and his eyes shone brightly. His ears twitched, and Luna left like she had been turned to stone will how still she was. The guard eventually muttered under his breath, twitched his ear and started to walk away.

"Must have been my imagination..."

Once he had moved on Luna breathed a slight sigh of relief, that was unfortunately picked up by the guard. He turned around and fired a bolt of light at her direction. Luna's eyes widened in terror and she ducked, narrowly avoiding the painfully hot light that would have hit her if she wasn't as small as she was. Luna's short training started to kick in. During one of the exercises Luna was blindfolded and enemies were sent at her. She managed to fight most of them off until one circled around and attacked her from behind. She would employ a slightly different tactic.

The guard shot off another beam of magic in the same direction, with the same result. He lowered his center of gravity and spread his legs in a defensive position. His ears shot up and took in every little sound. A pebble skittered across the ground to his left, striking several of the cobblestones, a common thing to do by a pony not looking where they were going. He turned to fire again and completely missed the pony that dived onto his back from above. Luna knocked him to the ground and held his horn in her teeth. The horn of a unicorn was very sensitive and biting one was one of the rudest things a pony could do to a unicorn. Luna firmly held a hoof to the guards throat and maintained a good grip on his horn. She shifted slightly, getting a better hold, and he bucked her in the stomach. The awful sound of bone against bone tore through the air as Luna's teeth scraped against the horn, leaving shallow gouges. Luna fell on her back and the guard approached her, horn lit. The guard focused, blinking blood out of the gaping holes where his eyes were meant to be, and opened himself fully to his Flow. Before he could fire, a bolt of shadow magic knocked him off his feet and his horn smacked painfully into the cobblestone below. His horn, weakened by Luna's teeth and vulnerable by the strain placed on it to fully open to the Flow, snapped when it came into contact with the cobblestone. He screamed.

"It's her! It's her!"

Luna stumbled to her feet, winded by the impact, and watched as the guard stood and sent up a bolt of red light into the air through his eyes. Blood poured out of his eye holes and ears, streaking into his coat and armor. Luna panicked. He was going to get her killed. She levitated the severed horn up in the air and using her shadow magic as a form of propulsion, sent it through his neck. Dark blood coursed out and stained the cobblestone, but the ghastly red light faded from his eye holes. With all the light previously emanating from them gone, Luna could see right inside the dead guards eye sockets and gazed at the flesh underneath. It was full of pus and bleeding. She focused on it, on the repulsive feeling she felt in her stomach, because it made real what she had just done.

She had killed a pony. Some pony had died because of her direct actions.

The sound of approaching hoofbeats scared her out of her shock. It was another thing she'd just have to deal with later. Luna could take on guards one at a time, however tainted they may be, but not a whole patrol. She needed to get out of there. Swallowing heavily, she tore away from the road and galloped up the side of the mountain. With the patrols aware of the Princess of the Night, she'd have to be extra careful to avoid detection. Luna slowed to a trot. She needed to avoid becoming injured in a desperate dash and the sound would likely draw attention. Luna weaved through the trees and slowly but surely approached the home that had once seemed very friendly but now felt as distant and strange as a foreign country. Canterlot.

By mid afternoon Luna was starting to feel drowsy and exhausted. With no night to rest in and little food and water throughout the day, the strain of the climb as taking its toll on the little Alicorn. Fierce winds whipped around the side of the mountain she was climbing- Canterlot was mostly away from the winds fury but of Luna climbed that side there was every chance she would be spotted. At long last the familiar walls of Canterlot came into view and Luna heaved a silent sigh of relief. She was almost done and soon this horrible nightmare would be over. She just needed to figure out how to get in.

After about twenty minutes of silently watching the walls of the city, Luna spotted her opportunity. The guards were starting to change shifts and it looked like something very interesting was happening just inside the walls, as the guards had their heads turned to listen to the commotion. It was not audible at Luna's distance, but she could feel the excitement and terror running down the walls. With the guards' backs turned, Luna transformed herself into a dark shadow, one that was common and just the same as the slightly lengthening shadows of the trees. The sun was just beginning its decent, and the temperature was still at its peak. Luna gracefully floated around the rocks and natural bumps of the mountain, and flowed over the wall. Her horn was beginning to ache but she opened herself a little more to the Flow to make up for the gap in her focus. What she saw over the wall in the courtyard shattered her concentration, causing her to flicker from ethereal shadow to pony in and out for a few seconds before she could regain control.

Scarlet Letter and a few other members of the castle staff were standing on a platform with ropes around their necks. They were going to be executed.

Luna could only watch helplessly as the blind member of the guard pulled the lever that allowed the ponies to fall through the floor. They fell in time, and with the screams of the crowd their necks broke and they were killed instantly, lifeless bodies floating ever so closely to the ground below. That was not the end however. Bright white light shot out from behind a tower the the God stepped into view. Phaedra stood in all her awful glory, a beacon of blinding light and misery. Her armor gleamed and her mane caught the wind and spiraled over the top of her head.

"Ponies, friends. Today a great evil had been conquered, and stability can return to Canterlot. These traitors to the crown were in league with the dreaded Luna, and sought to destroy Canterlot. I will destroy them, and LET THAT BE A WARNING TO ANY MORE TRAITORS. WE HAVE SPOKEN"

Phaedra lit her horn and the entire crowd unconsciously leaned towards her, such was the pull of her power and the current of the Flow. Lightning flew from her horn, vaporizing the bodies of the executed, but also arcing and hitting several members of the crowd. panic ensued, and soon most of the ponies were screaming and running back to their homes. Luna struggled to contain the bile that was rising in her throat, and turned away from the terrible scene. The smell of burnt flesh wafted over to her, and the smoke from the smoldering city made her eyes water. It was only yesterday that Luna had been in Canterlot last, but during her absence it had changed so dramatically it may as well be a completely different city in a different lifetime. So much had changed. Luna had to kill or be killed, and witnessed the death of three innocent ponies, because of the paranoia and controlling nature of a single pony. Luna set her face into stone and prepared for the decent into the misery of the city.

Most of the fires had been put out, and it seemed that the entire city was in lockdown. Guards were located on every corner, eyes shining so very brightly. Luna wondered how they could go anywhere at all, being blind. She guessed that they belonged to some sort of hive mind controlled by Phaedra. She missed Celestia dearly, and eagerly awaited the time she could see her again. She would not cry. She was strong.

The black smear floated through the back alleys and slums of the city, circling around to avoid ponies and guards alike. Most of the ponies seemed to be heading into the heart of the city, which Luna knew she would definitely avoid. Whatever they were doing there, she didn't want to know. With such a large crowd of people and so many guards, a moving patch of shadow was going to attract attention. So close to her goal, she could not afford any distractions. Her horn throbbed with the effort of staying open so long to the Flow, and Luna felt pressure build up in her ears, and then a wet noise, accompanied by streams of liquid trickling down her neck, staining her mane. She needed to end this spell soon, or it would kill her.

Finally the concealed entrance came into view right up next to the walls of the palace. Luna let down her shadow once she felt she was safe. There was an enchantment obscuring the passage from outside eyes but Luna had helped create it with her sister all those years ago, and could remember how to slip past it. She just needed some time...

Time that she would not get, as the sound of a hundred hoofbeats echoed around the dark alley. Guards were probably doing a patrol. She needed to get this open, and swiftly. The shadows would aid in her escape of the guards, give her a few precious seconds. She couldn't transform into a shadow, she didn't have the focus or the time. She lit her horn and began weaving a counter spell, the Flow strong around her horn. Finally, it was complete and she slipped away into the dank cave and through the tunnels as the guards rounded the corner of their patrol. Luna was on the last leg of her journey.

The Crystal Caves.