Luna has been waiting for over a thousand years to return. A thousand years is a lot of time.
"...but when the people grew resentful of the dark, when they shunned her sacred night, her two halves united and she unleashed her wrath upon the fools and the ignorant, alas, the sun god protected them from her wrath and trapped her within her ancient tapestry after a fight, and she could only lament as she was forgotten to the sands of time..."
Luna has been waiting for over a thousand years to return.
A thousand years is a lot of time.
In that much time, many things could have happened.
The evening air was cool as the sun slowly lowered towards the horizons.
The winds passed over the sea of dunes slowly, picking up some sand to be taken elsewhere.
Somewhere in the dunes, there was an ancient castle. The sandblasted towers stood over the sea of sand like lighthouses over the ocean and the walls protected anything within from the frequent sandstorms that raged across the land. It was a safe haven from the hostile desert and a place to project immense power from.
Yet, no one was to be seen anywhere. There was no settlement nearby or around the castle like there usually would be. Not a single soul roamed the dunes around the castle and none had for a long time for the Sun Goddess had forbade anyone from entering the area a long time ago, even before the desert was there.
The grand castle stood alone for a long time, half buried in the dunes, a testament to the feats of architecture that ancient Equestria created. No one was there to witness the strength of the structure, however.
The wind started picking up.
The sun continued its decent and when it was just about to dip beneath the horizon, it stopped. The wind continued getting stronger, heralding a sandstorm.
Unseen by the world, ancient magic within the castle started reacting to the return of someone. Runes half covered by sand started glowing a rich red colour as the moon slowly became visible over the horizon opposite to the sun. Spellwork from a millennia ago started gathering magic, a lot of magic. That magic was pushed into runes that continued glowing brighter and brighter as the moon stopped in its position at the very edge of the horizon.
The face of the Mare in the Moon could be seen on it one moment, and in the next, it vanished. A thin beam of light shot from the moon and into the castle through a broken window and directly onto the runes that had reached the zenith of their power.
The Mare in the Moon, Nightmare Moon, was finally returning. The beam of light hit the centre of the circular rune and a flash of light followed. The rune, made to kill whatever was in its circle, set off and the room flashed once again, this time with red light as the pent up magic was channelled into the circle to tear apart the being within with sheer power.
It became quiet in the room once more.
The sandstorm outside started pouring sand into the castle through broken windows.
A groan could be heard in the room. This was followed by a dark furred mare sitting up and rubbing her head to alleviate her headache. She sat there for a minute as the sand piled around her slowly, rubbing her forehead before stopping suddenly.
She lowered her hoof and looked around the room she was in as if anticipating an attack. However, the only thing she saw was the sand slowly filling the abandoned structure. She continued looking and spotted the twin thrones on the raised platform at the end of the room. She was back here at the place where the fight had taken place all those years ago, in the throne room where both sisters once ruled Equestria from.
'Back here once again, though I am disappointed that Celestia didn't come here by herself to fight us.' a voice said in the mare's head. It seemed that Nightmare Moon was not yet aware of her surroundings.
"She did leave a rune trap..." Luna said as she shook her wings to remove the sand they had picked up, "and a lot of sand."
'Bah! A rune trap is no match for a Goddess. She insults us by thinking this can stop us.' the voice replied. Luna shook her head. She could waste time arguing later but right now she had to figure out what had happened in the time she was gone.
The castle, once the centre of the capital city, was now in ruins and seemed like it had been abandoned long ago. There was also the question of how all the sand got there but it had to wait as the sandstorm outside continued raging on.
In the meantime, she looked herself over. Her iron armour was still on her form. Her fur was dark colour between her original blue and black. Her mane was as it was, moving like the northern lights. Her wings were not the wings of a pegasus but those of a bat. She felt her fangs with her tongue as she made sure that none of the sand got in her mouth.
She sighed as she took flight up to one of the broken windows. She summoned a shield in front of her face to protect her eyes from sand blowing in. Outside, she could not see much other than the raging sandstorm.
She sighed. Did nopony care for her return or was she forgotten by history? She had become one with Nightmare to defeat her sister and gain her subjects respect and admiration but here she was, sitting alone in the ruins of her home. Not a single soul was there to welcome her or even to stop her. Was it her fate to be ignored and forgotten by everyone she cared for?
A glint of light caught her eye. She looked again and saw it once more.
Somewhere in the sandstorm, was a light shining like a beacon in the dark. She felt overjoyed. Somepony had come for her; she had not been forgotten yet!
'Careful, it could be somepony here to end us.' Nightmare warned.
Luna registered the warning and continued waiting. The light was getting closer by the second, getting brighter and larger. Luna was happy until she realised something. The light probably belonged to a carriage and it was not slowing down. She made out the dark form the light was attached to get bigger rapidly as it approached her without slowing down.
She stopped her hover in front of the window and fell to the sand covered floor. Moments later the walls around her shook as something hit the castle hard. She looked up to the window she had been hovering next to saw that a wooden hull reminiscent of a ship had broken through the wall and occupied the space she was at moments ago. She caught the sight of a metal hatch on the bottom, between two large metal rings which were glowing yellow attached to either side of the hull.
The rings emitted a continuous hum along with the yellow light and Luna could feel the magical energies flowing through them.
The hatch shook a bit before opening inwards. A light was shined through the opening and a unicorn mare peeked her head through the hatch looking around before her eyes spotted Luna. Both of them stared at each other for a moment. Luna could see wrinkles and scars on her face and could tell that she was an old pony.
They stared at eac other for what seemed to be a long time before the unicorn quickly jumped down from the hatch and scampered up to her. Luna could not react quickly enough and the pony was already bowing in front of her.
"Moon goddess, you've finally returned!" the pony said with great happiness and relief.
The mare in front of her had not cowered in fear like expected. Instead she had bowed and called her 'moon goddess' and was happy to see her. She was now looking up at her with great excitement akin to that of a filly getting what she wants. Luna looked in her eyes and found them to be strange. They felt fake and dead unlike the pony. Then Luna noticed more things. The first was the strange metal piece that seemed to be attached to the side of the unicorn's forehead. All of her legs were brown and metallic, a sign of a past injury. It amazed Luna to see a pony who had lost her legs and still walked as if she were healthy. In her time, an injury similar to this would certainly end in a painful death.
A loud periodic sound caught their attention. It was harsh and Luna could tell that it was most likely something urgent. The mare's expression told her that it signified something bad.
"Your highness, I know that you may not trust me yet but we must leave immediately!" the mare said as she looked at Luna pleadingly. Within Luna's head Nightmare Moon was already raising objections to that.
'It's too suspicious and is probably a trap.' Nightmare Moon pointed out. Luna was inclined to agree.
However, as soon as Luna was about to say 'no', her fur stood on its ends as a sudden chill ran up her spine. Every sense in her body told her that she was in danger. The mare in front of her seemed to go through the same thing.
"Your majesty, we need to leave this place immediately. I promise I'll explain but we have to leave." the mare said, "The Sun Goddess knows you are here and is ready to strike you down."
Luna made her choice.
"You will take us to safety and then explain what has happened in my absence. If you try anything, I will not hesitate to end you." she warned. The mare was happy to hear that answer regardless of the warning that came with it too. She turned and jumped up to the hatch with Luna following behind.
Once inside, they were in a room filled with parchment, scrolls, books and maps. Many were piled on a table haphazardly while many more were occupying a shelf or a chest. The mare closed the hatch behind them with her magic before quickly making her way to the end of the room where a door was. She pushed open the door and continued onwards. Luna followed close behind, ducking underneath the low doorways while they passed through what seemed to be a kitchen before reaching a flight of stairs that led upwards.
At the top of the stairs, they emerged into a dark room that was completely alien to Luna. There were many metal levers and valves along with what seemed to be glowing buttons and lights, which were either red or green. The mare pushed a button and a light in the room turned on, allowing them to see better. There were no windows to see the outside from as far as she could tell. She flipped some switches and Luna felt the vessel rumble.
All through this, a feeling of dread continued growing inside Luna.
"Hold on, this might a bit rough." the mare said as she took hold of the vessel's steering wheel. She pulled a lever to the side of the wheel downwards and Luna felt the the vessel lurch into motion as she stumbled a bit. The walls in front of the mare flickered to life showing what was presumably the outside world. Luna thought it was a magic mirror at first but the lack of magic and a pristine image made her think otherwise.
She could ask about that later. Right now, she watched as the vessel slowly pull away from the wall it had gotten stuck into. Not a moment after they were dislodged, a pillar of red light descended from the heavens, on to the throne room where Luna was minutes ago. It was followed by an explosion that sent them rocking. The mare held onto the wheel while Luna used her wings to steady herself.
"Hold on tight! She'll try once again and we have to dodge it!" the mare said. She pushed the lever next to the wheel up and the vessel started moving forwards. Turning the wheel, rapidly, she looked at a map and a compass before turning back to pilot the ship.
Another pillar of light descended somewhere to their side and the explosion rocked them once again. Despite the sandstorm outside, it was completely visible. Luna was sure that its light would have blinded her if she was not seeing it from the strange device.
Luna felt the ship speeding up as it stopped turning.
"Where are we going?" Luna asked the mare.
"Somewhere safe!" she answered. The view in front of them cleared up as they made it through the sandstorm and Luna was surprised what she saw. They were travelling very fast over what seemed to be an endless desert that stretched from horizon to horizon, far different from the lush green hills and forests that Luna remembered being here. She could see the mount Canterhorn in the distance and a city built to its side.
'What happened here?' Nightmare Moon questioned. Luna had the same question as well but it had to wait.
Another pillar of light, larger than the ones before came down in front of them. Their ship took a sharp turn as the mare steered to avoid it, sending Luna to the floor. She got back up and saw that they were heading towards a mountainous area that should have been a large forest according to her memory.
The feeling of dread within her faded as they got closer to the mountains.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"Towards the city of Hyderabad, your highness," she answered, "We'll find refuge in one of the mining towns nearby."
The name of the city sounded like it was Saddle Arabian in origin. Had they made their own city in Equestria?
"I haven't yet got your name." Luna said.
"My name is Star Chaser, your highness. I apologise for not telling you earlier." she replied, turning to her. Once again, Luna found herself looking into the grey mare's eyes and she still felt that they were not real.
She had many questions to ask and now that they were not in immediate danger, she could ask them.
It should have been night and the moon's light should have been shining on the great plains. Instead she watched the sunset illuminate the rocky landscape.
The unicorn, Star Chaser, had told her that these mountains were made when the Sun Goddess, her sister, had fought and killed the spirit of Chaos here. Luna shuddered at the thought of her sister killing Discord by herself when it had taken them both to use the Elements of Harmony just to seal him in stone.
Right now, they had stopped on a small plateau as Star had to fix some problem that her ship had got after being tossed around by the explosions. Luna was still on edge as it had been an hour since they were attacked but it seemed that the coast was clear. This gave her time to think about what Star had told her in the last hour.
What she had learnt was hard to believe.
In the centuries after she was banished to the moon, the world had turned on its head. It seemed that Celestia had gone mad after sending her sister to the moon and declared a crusade against all darkness. What followed was the bloodiest war in the history of the world. Celestia had conquered the world.
And then she burnt it all till nothing was left. All the books of old were burnt or locked away, people were slaughtered for not being 'pure' enough for the new world or enslaved to work for the rest of their lives. History had been erased and rewritten to portray Celestia as the goddess who ruled everything and everyone.
It was hard to believe that she made herself into a goddess and ruled the people of the new world she had created with absolute power.
It was hard to believe that her sister, who once held the element of kindness, had done this all.
Luna did not want to think of all the other things that had yet to be told.
"Your highness, are you fine?" Star voice came from the side, shaking Luna out of her thoughts.
"Yes, I was lost in my thoughts." Luna said as she turned to face the mare. Now that there was no sand storm obstructing her vision, she could see the mare entirely. She had grey fur and light blue hair that was starting to grey, indicating her old age. She was wearing robes that coloured like the sand of the desert and had some moon patterns in red on it. Her eyes still confused Luna.
In her magical grasp was a bowl of vegetable soup with a spoon in it. It wasn't much but Luna was not bothered. She accepted it and started eating. Star sat down beside her before speaking again.
"I have fixed the engine so it shouldn't be smoking now but the hull has damage that can only be fixed in a workshop and till then we can't go at full speed." Star informed her. From her tone, Luna could tell that there was a problem.
"Is there a problem?" Luna asked.
"Well, the workshops are all in the cities."
"I see."
Luna looked over to the vessel. It was a double outrigger with a wooden hull with pieces of iron acting as armour. The outriggers had similar smaller levitation devices that the main hull had to provide stability to the vessel to make sure it didn't tip over. The entire thing was painted to be similar to the sand so that it could camouflage in the desert. Right now, the hull on the left side of the ship had a lot of cracks and parts of the armour had fallen off or had melted.
She turned back to continue eating her soup.
"You said we'll be going to Hyderabad, wouldn't it be under control of my sister?" Luna asked.
"We'll be going to one of the mining towns near it. We can find refuge there as the soldiers rarely go anywhere besides the city." Star answered. "You'll be welcomed there."
Luna finished the last of her soup and said "Well, we should be going then."
Luna stepped up the ladder and onto the deck of the ship. Star pulled it up with her magic while Luna made her way to a door on the side of the control room. She saw little black circles in place of windows and figured that they were the 'cameras' that connected to the screens inside to provide an image of the outside. Star had explained that she had made the changes after one too many incidents of broken glass cutting her.
She opened the door and stepped inside, the air changing from dry and hot to cool which was something that Luna liked. Star came quickly and closed the door behind her. She fished a key from he robes and put it in a keyhole on the console towards the right of the steering wheel. The console lit up and the hum of the engine filled the air after the key was turned. The ship rose up in the air to hover over the ground and soon enough, they were on their way.
Luna had taken a seat on one of the two seats in the cabin, the other being the captain's seat. She watched the landscape pass by on the screens which seemed to flicker a little bit every now and then. The silence was all around her.
'Ask her how long it will take.' Nightmare Moon voice said from within her mind in a commanding tone. Luna rolled her eyes at that but complied.
"How long will it take?" Luna asked.
"It depends on which town we come across first but it will be about two hours at most." Star answered.
In front of them, the terrain started getting uneven and inclined upwards. Star pressed a button labelled "stabiliser" which stopped the ship from rocking a lot at the cost of some speed. Luna guessed the the engines were trying to keep the ship a certain height off the ground, not any more or any less, which caused the rocking. The uphill journey also lowered their speed but it was still fast, by Luna's standards at least.
The quiet journey was interrupted by harsh beeping and a flashing red light on one of the consoles. Star glared at a screen on the console which depicted a green dot in the center and currently, three red dots approaching it from behind. Luna could tell the situation was no good and Star confirmed it.
"We've got followers. Probably soldiers sent to capture us." Star said as she glanced at the aforementioned console before looking at another display, one that that showed heir speed. "I might be able to shake them off but it's going to be hard to do at this speed."
'You can fight.' Nightmare Moon said, giving her a suggestion.
"I could fig-" Luna tried saying but was cut off by Star.
"The magic power required to breach their armour would be enough to let her know where we are." Star said, watching the red dots come closer on the screen. "We can outrun the-"
The ship rocked as something hit it from behind. It was clear that they could not outrun them.
"Is there any other way we can fight?" Luna asked as the ship was hit once more. Star thought for a moment before answering.
"There is a gun on the backside but it will be to dangerous to use it." Star answered but it seemed that Luna had not cared to let her finish as she exited the cabin and started for the weapon. Star grumbled as she closed the door and focused on piloting the ship. Her princess was brave but not patient, it seemed.
Outside, Luna gripped the railing as she started making her way to the back end of the ship. Wind and sand hit her back but she continued. Her hair was thankfully unaffected and continued moving as if there were only a pleasant breeze. She quickly passed by the cabin and another room before she spotted the gun, that was fixed to a swivelling stand on the railing. It was pointing downwards and seemed like an oversized musket to her.
She left the railing and grabbed the end of the gun and inspected it. It was simple in design with a long barrel attached to a block with a rotating cylinder under it, a trigger to the right side, clearly made for a pony's hoof and a button the left side. The cylinder seemed to hold the shots for the gun, seven in total.
A bolt of magic whizzed past the ship and she looked up to see the enemy. One of the three craft was closing on the ship. It was armoured and coloured a dull yellow with symbols of the sun on it. Instead of hovering over the ground, it used wheels. The stability on the rough terrain and accuracy surprised Luna a bit but deter her. She aimed the gun with her magic and pulled the trigger back with her hoof.
The gun fired, leaving a small cloud of smoke as a kinetic shot made it way to the enemy. It ricocheted off the armour of the enemy.
'That isn't good.'' Nightmare pointed out the obvious. The enemy continued getting closer as Luna tried looking for any weaknesses. 'Let me try.'
Luna's eyes widened a bit at what she said but she knew that Nightmare Moon was a better fighter than her. She nodded and said "Keep in mind what Star said about magic use."
At that, her body started moving under Nightmare's control. Nightmare let the enemy come closer before scanning it for any weakness. The vehicle had four wheels, was armoured heavily and had a cylindrical turret that shot magic bolts sitting on top of it. She saw as a hatch on the side of the the turret opened and the barrel of a gun similar to the one she was using came out. The vehicle came closer and was at the ship's left. The turret turned and aimed for her.
Without hesitation, Nightmare aimed the gun at the small space in the hatch not blocked by the gun and fired a shot. Her aim was impeccable and the shot went directly into the enemy's turret. There was an explosion of magic and the turret blew off the vehicle and went into the sky. The vehicle was still driving alongside them, however.
She turned to see the other two vehicles closing the distance between them and the ship. The one that was closer was of similar make to the one she attacked while the other was taller and had heavier armour and a bigger gun.
The lighter one increased its speed suddenly, as if to ram the ship from behind. Quickly thinking, she shot the front wheel of the one without the turret. The wheel exploded as if under high pressure and the vehicle swerved to the right, grazing the ship and came in the path of the one that was about to ram them. They collided, flipping each other over many times and kicking up a cloud of sand and dust. Nightmare whooped at her victory but it was short lived.
The large vehicle that was left shot at her. Nightmare braced for impact as the shot came straight for the backside for the ship but the impact never came. Instead the shot exploded mid air just as it was going to impact the ship. A spray of shrapnel hit the ship and Nightmare Moon. The ship's armour brushed off the shrapnel easily but Nightmare Moon didn't. The shrapnel tore through her, particularly at her legs, causing her to fall. She screamed at the pain as blood came out of the wounds.
Despite this, she got up and leaned on the railing to reduce the pressure on her injured legs. She was more angry than she was in pain. She used her magic to aim the gun and fire it at the enemy's wheels but to little effect. They were covered by the armour, offering no direct way to hit them. The trigger was pulled once more but she only heard a click. She checked the cylinder and saw that it held seven empty casings.
Quickly looking around, she spotted a metal box labelled 'ammunition' close by. She removed the lid and found several cylinders similar to the one in the gun. She picked one up and looked back to the enemy. It was getting closer and firing at the ship with smaller guns. She turned back and tried to guess how to reload the gun. It was foolish of her to come out here and use a weapon she didn't know how to reload but she could chastise herself for that later.
She pressed the button and the cylinder in the gun fell out. Quickly, she put the new cylinder in and one she heard it click into place, she aimed at the enemy once again. She aimed at the turret hoping that the shot would penetrate the armour and fired but it simply bounced off, leaving only a scratch. She fired at the small slots at the sides of the vehicles that were used for aiming the smaller guns but it didn't seem to affect the vehicle much. She tried the wheels but it didn't work.
The gun clicked once more and she replaced the cylinder again. The vehicle was much closer and now and the main gun was aiming at them. She aimed at a hatch on the front of the vehicle, prayed that it would do something and fired.
It seemed that her prayers were answered as the shot penetrated and the vehicle slowed down a bit and veered to the left, getting further from the ship. The smaller guns were still firing at the ship until the vehicles blew up in an enormous explosion, sending scrap flying in all directions.
Nightmare Moon smiled at her victory until the pain from her injuries showed up again. She lied down on the floor trying to take steady breaths as she cast a healing spell. It wasn't very effective in her current state but it helped. The ship started slowed down and she heard rapid hoofsteps approaching her.
"Princess!" she heard Star shout, her voice full of worry. "Wait here, I'll get something!"
'Its not like we can go anywhere really.' Luna said. 'I'll be taking control now.'
Nightmare Moon allowed Luna to take the reigns one again as she slipped back into the mind. Star came back with bandages that she wrapped around Luna's wounds to stop the bleeding before lifting her on her back and taking her below deck into a room with a bed, which she laid the princess on gently.
"What you did there was reckless, princess. Please don't try that again." she said as she tended to other wounds on Luna. Luna nodded.
"I wont but it was necessary." she said "I hope we don't come across more foes."
"We won't, for some time at least but we should be at a town by then." Star said as she finished. "Please take some rest. I'll be in the control room if you need anything." She continued before leaving the room.
Soon, Luna felt the ship start moving again, shaking her gently as she drifted to sleep.
Luna woke up as the ship came to a sudden halt. She would have went back to sleep but she heard hoofsteps approaching the room. A moment later Star steeped in the room.
"Your highness, we have arrived at the town of Koyla." she said as Luna sat up slowly. "Are your wounds fine?"
Luna inspected her legs. The bandages had been changed and blood cleaned. There was only a dull pain coming from them. She thanked her biology for the quick healing.
"How long has it been?" Luna asked as she slowly got off the bed and stood. There wasn't much pain but she definitely wasn't running any time soon.
"Four hours. It took longer than expected because I had to make sure we weren't caught again.", Star answered, explaining the delay of two hours. "There isn't a guard in the town so we can stay here for some time."
Luna nodded while thinking about how they could leave a town unguarded but remembered the pillars of light that had almost ended her. Why would they need a guard in every town when they could strike down any danger just like that.
She was led outside by Star on to the deck. As Star put the ladder down, Luna took in her surroundings. They were on top of a hill that seemed to be a part of a large crater's rim. The only sound was of the wind blowing over the desert. In the distance, she could see Mount Canterhorn stretching into the sky like a beacon. The world around her felt alien but that did not interest her.
What interested her was the inside of the crater.
The crater was a large one, about two kilometers in diameter. Within the crater, there was a large shanty town. It covered the entire crater from the floor to the walls. On the wall opposite to them, a large tower made of rock stood above it all contrasting against the city made of junk. Several chimneys rose over the rusted metal roofs belching black clouds of smoke into the sky.
"Princess." Star said, catching Luna's attention. Luna turned to see her and found that the ladder was put down. They both got off the ship and started heading down to the city. They passed underneath a wooden arch which served as a gate and came across a wooden ramp held up by scaffolding that led downwards.
They both continued on their path down the ramp, passing through the layers of the city. Luna counted three layers, stacked on each other as if the city were a large building and the levels were its floors, before they reached the bottom.
There, they came across an inhabitant of the city. It was a grey furred batpony stallion wearing a turban. He saw them both but his eyes widened when he saw Luna and he quickly rushed off down the narrow main street, deeper into the city. They followed the same path as him but at a walking pace.
As they made their way deeper into the city, Luna noticed a few things. First was that there was no natural light down here with the above levels covering it up, making the usage of artificial light sources necessary. Second was that every thing seemed to be blackened to some degree. Third was the general dirtiness of the city. There was always some trash lying on the side of the narrow road except in front of doors and stairs that led to upper levels.
Finally, they came across what seemed to be the city center, which had a large well and a well maintained statue of herself. There was no building above the area, allowing natural light to reach the ground. Here, they came across the stallion from earlier talking to a small crowd excitedly about how he had seen princess Luna.
"Look! There she is, the princess!" he said while pointing towards her. The crowd spotted her and before he knew it, Luna was engulfed by a crowd of creatures very happy to see her.She didn't mind it as she had gotten what she had desired so long ago, the admiration of the people. Unfortunately, two griffons armed with guns came, escorting her and Star to the the tower.
At the base of the tower was a large metal door which opened into a room containing a lot of boxes and barrels. They were led to an elevator which took them to the top quickly. At the top, they were brought to a room which was where the mayor of the town worked from.
They were sat down at a table and told that the mayor of the city would be coming soon. Within five minutes, a blue furred unicorn entered the room. He looked overworked and nervous and when he saw Luna he bowed. He quickly got up and sat himself down opposite to Luna and Star and began talking.
"G- greetings princess! I'm honoured to be meeting you." the mayor said quickly before realising he forgot to introduce himself. "I'm uh... Sapphire Stone, the mayor of this city!"
"It is a pleasure to meet you." Luna replied in a gentle voice, hoping to calm the mayor's nervousness. It didn't seem to work, however, as the mayor continued speaking.
"W- what is the purpose of your visit to our lovely little town?" he said, while covertly looking around as if trying to find some hidden danger. Luna noticed this.
"We came here for shelter, mayor. However, I must ask you something." Luna replied.
"Ask away, princess." he said, a little bit of sweat running down his forehead.
"Why is it that you are so nervous? Is it our presence that worries you?" Luna asked.
The mayor took a deep breath before answering, "It is sort of. No offence, your highness but your arrival is uh unexpected and dangerous for us. You see, this is a mining town. We mine coal for the city of Hyderabad and right now, we are running behind schedule with the blast in the mine. A train will be coming in a week and if we don't get enough coal to meet the quota then the soldiers will execute people.
And if they find out that you were here then they will wipe us off the map. I advise you to leave as soon as you can for our sakes."
Luna was a bit taken back by this. "Surely Celestia won't be this harsh to her own citizens over coal of all things."
"We aren't her citizens, princess. We are slaves." he explained. Luna's eyes widened at learning this. "If anyone commits a crime deemed bad enough then they are sent of to towns like these to work till they die. Everyone here committed some sort of crime. Most were imprisoned for being creatures of the night while others were sent here for talking about you or for offending nobles or soldiers."
"How long?"
"Well uh, I've been here for about five years but the town has been here for about forty."
Luna was shocked to hear this. Even though Star had told her of the crimes that had happened in the past, it was an entirely different experience being there to witness it happening than hearing about it.
"Well, mayor, you may consider yourself and this entire town liberated." Luna said with newfound resolve. The mayor was expectedly confused. "You do not need to suffer under the tyranny of Celestia's rule any longer for I will be your new princess. I shall protect you and your people from whatever she sends your way and liberate this world from her clutches!"
Luna picked up the final bag of supplies in her magic and passed it to Star who then took it to store it in the ship.
It had been a week since she had arrived in town and today was the day the train was going to come. A plan had been made in that time. It was rather simple. Hijack the train that came to collect coal, load it up with as many explosives as it could hold and send it off to Hyderabad where it would take out a fort that served as the garrison for the soldiers in the area. Luna, along with a few fighters from the town, would then destroy any remaining resistance and capture the city.
It would be difficult to pull off but Luna kept hope that it would be possible.
Right now, she was helping Star load supplies onto her ship., which they did quickly. She was free after that as it would take a few hours for the train to arrive. In the meantime, she took a walk around town. It was rather empty as most of the residents had continued to do their job of mining coal, although at a slower pace and while taking a lot lesser risk. Few people had jobs unrelated to mining and the people preferred working to occupy their time instead of sitting and doing nothing.
As she walked around, a group of children of the town joined her. There were four children in the group.
"Princess Luna! Can we come with you?" the leader of the group, a diamond dog named Gem asked her.
"Yes, you can join me for my walk, little ones. Would you like to hear one of my stories?" Luna replied with a smile.
"No, we wanted to wish you good luck on your mission!" a red pegasus said, hovering in the air close to Luna.
"EEE!" a pink batpony squeaked in agreement as she struggled to keep up with the group. Luna slowed down a bit to allow her to catch up.
"Yeah! Good luck princess!" the final child, a brown griffon said, walking alongside his favourite princess.
"Well, thank you for that, little ones." Luna thanked them with a smile. They left soon after to enjoy themselves. Luna sighed as she thought about them. The past week was perhaps the longest time they had spent without working in the coal mine.
She sighed sadly before putting on a brave face. They had suffered greatly under Celestia's rule and she was going to make sure that they were happier under her rule.
Luna stood atop a boulder, watching the horizon, looking for the train that should come in some time. Around her, thirty fighters armed with small guns and makeshift weapons. They weren't going to be the main fighting force just yet with their armament, it was going to be Luna and her ability to pick up large rocks and throw them.
Behind a larger boulder a bit far away from them, Star was waiting with her ship, ready to provide support if the enemy started getting an advantage and to intercept the train if it started moving.
A distant whistle was heard. Luna quickly dropped down from the top of the boulder and waited. The train was coming.
They didn't have to wait long. A long armoured train came into view, floating above the landscape like Star's ships. It was probably because of the difficulty of maintaining a track in a desert.
The train slowed down and stopped a hundred meters from the crater or about fifty meters from where they were hiding in the rocky landscape. Several figures could be seen getting off the train and heading to the city. As they neared, Luna could make out that they were lightly armoured soldiers and there were twelve of them. They were chatting among themselves, rather loudly and didn't seem to walk in any formation, meaning they weren't particularly trained fighters either.
Once they were close enough, Luna stepped out of her cover. They spotted her within moments and raised their weapons at her.
"You there! Identify yourself or we'll shoot!" their leader shouted from the front of the group.
"I am princess Luna and I will give you one chance to surrender." she replied as a hundred or so large rocks around them were picked up by her magic.
"Shoot her!" the leader ordered his squad, who seemed be not zealous enough to pick a fight with her. She didn't have to do anything, however, as one of the fighter shot him in the head with a pistol. His helmet protected him but he wasn't immune to kinetic force. In the moment when he was distracted, Luna flung one of the rocks at him, neutralising him quickly. The others dropped their weapons at the display of force and surrendered quickly but this was not the end of their troubles.
The train was starting to move probably because the driver saw what was going on and wanted to make an escape. Star's ship moved out quickly from its position and caught up with the train which couldn't accelerate fast enough. A shot from the ship's cannon was heard followed by the train coming to stop.
They had captured the train without any casualties on their side.
The fighters emerged from their hiding spot and quickly confiscated whatever weapons and armour they could from the soldiers before taking them back to the city but not before Luna gave them a warning about trying to escape.
After that, Luna made her way to the engine where she found Star and a griffon removing a dead stallion from it.
"He didn't stop when we told him to. Bastard threw burning coal at us. Had to shoot him." the griffon said as he took the corpse away.
"We have the train now. They were dropping off food and dynamite here." Star said as she looked over the controls of the machine.
"Leave the food here and take whatever explosives we can." Luna ordered.
The sun was setting. The soldier in the watchtower yawned and put down the binoculars he was using to spot the train that should have come back now. In a minute, his shift would be over and he'd go back into the fort barracks and have his rest.
A bell sounded and he left his post, not noticing the small light that had appeared over the horizon. As he descended down the staircase, he remained unaware of what was happening outside. Not a moment later, a train car broke through one of the walls, sending debris everywhere and killing whoever was unfortunate enough to be in its way. In the chaos, no one noticed that it was half filled with dynamite that was rigged to explode.
The city shook as the explosion destroyed the fort and the city's defenders almost completely.
As the fort burned, the rest of the train came hurtling through the flames. It was going in a straight path to the palace of the ruler, destroying the many buildings that were in the path, most of which seemed to be mansions or other expensive buildings or statues.
The engine finally hit the palace and after ploughing through three walls, came to a stop. Behind the train, Star's ship moved in the path cleared by the train, quickly moving to the palace. On the deck, Luna was waiting with the rest of the fighters for the ship to stop. They had to make their way through the palace quickly and get to the Nawab, the one ruling the land around Hyderabad, before he could escape or send out a distress call.
The ship stopped at the entrance made by the train, allowing the fighters to disembark. Ten stayed at the entrance to defend against any potential attackers while the rest along with Luna made their way deeper into the palace.
They walked past the destroyed engine and into a hallway. There were a few dead soldiers from which they picked up weapons and ammunition before continuing onwards. They opened the door at the end of the hall and found a pair of guards who were moving to secure the perimeter. With the element of surprise and numerical advantage on their side, they were able to kill one and injure the other.
"The Nawab, where is he and how do we get there?" Luna asked the fatally wounded guard as the others quickly moved to cover the doors in the hall.
"Upstairs through there." he said as he pointed at a door. Satisfied with the answer, Luna left him to join her group. They tried opening the door but found it to be blocked from the other side.
"Let me." a bulky earth pony stallion said as the others failed to force the door open. They moved out of the way, allowing him to kick it open. His strength was so great that the door was ripped off its hinges when he kicked. As soon as the path was cleared, they entered.
They were greeted by the sight of a stairwell which they quickly ascended. Upstairs, the stairs led to a hallway that was empty. Before they could make a move, the door at one end of the hallway opened and a heavily armoured griffon stepped through. He raised a large gun at them.
"Machine gun!" one of Luna's fighters, a charcoal pegasus with rainbow hair, said just as the griffon fired at them. Luna raised a shield but wasn't quick enough as one of the bullets found its way to the pegasus' head, destroying his head instantly. There was no time to mourn or recoil at the gore as the door at the other end of the hallway opened and another similarly armed pony entered. Luna was quick to raise a shield and stop the incoming gunfire.
They were pinned. Luna could keep the shield up against the gunfire but they didn't have that much time.
"Be ready. I'm going to send out the shield in a pulse towards the griffon." Luna told her fighters, who nodded and quickly pointed their weapons at the armoured griffon. Luna did as she said and the shield was on its way to the griffon. The pulse hit the griffon, throwing him to the ground. The fighters seized the opportunity and fired at the griffon who was trying to get up. The continuous fire took the griffon down quickly and one side of the hallway was cleared. Luna sent out the second shield in a pulse but this time with much more force which knocked out the pony soldier. A bullet was put into his head to make sure he wouldn't get up again.
Luna picked up the griffon's gun as they made their way into the hall on the other side of the door. The hall was decorated with various murals, paintings and ornate wooden furniture. It was probably a meeting room. On the other end of the hallway was a pair of doors. The doors slammed open, revealing a worried looking unicorn wearing a crown and a purple cape. He was the Nawab. He noticed Luna and her group and tried to make an escape but Luna fired at him with the machine gun she got from the griffon, hitting him in the legs.
He fell to the floor with a shout as blood came out of the bullet holes. Luna dragged him into the room with her magic and closed the doors behind him. She sat him down on one of the chairs forcefully and was about to order him to surrender when he spoke up.
"It is too late for you! The empress knows of your presence here and is going to strike you down, demon." he said with a laugh. Luna slapped him.
"You don't have the right to speak, let alone call me a demon, until I give you permission! I offer you one chance to surrender or die like the gluttonous pig you are." Luna said angrily.
"And he'll choose death if he knows what is good for him." a mare's voice said from all around them. The fighters looked around trying to find the source of the voice. The Nawab smiled in victory while Luna stood there silently as she recognized who was speaking.
"Sister, it has been a long time since we last spoke."
Luna stood there with seething resentment in her mind. Her sister was speaking to her but did not even show herself as if she were a coward.
"Why so angry Luna, aren't you happy to meet your sister after a thousand years?" Celestia spoke in a mocking tone, "Or do you still believe in your made up world where no one loves you?"
"Show yourself, coward!" Luna shouted as she stomped a hoof, cracking the floor. In front of her, the Nawab continued smiling.
"Empress, please do not waste your time talking to this demon. I fe-"he said but was cut off by Celestia.
"You will remain silent. You have failed to accomplish the one task I gave you." she said threateningly "If another sound leaves your mouth then I will end you."
"Bu-" the Nawab tried saying but was stopped as he was suddenly lifted up by his neck by an unseen force. He tried to free himself but couldn't do anything. Luna stepped away from the noble as smoke started rising from his body suddenly. Within moments, his body was on fire. He burned in the air for a few moments before the fire died, leaving behind a charred corpse wearing a robe and crown. His remains were dropped to the ground unceremoniously. The remaining people in the room were horrified by this display.
"You know, I feel it is better if we talk in person." Celestia said, "Maybe I can convince you to stop your silly little revolution."
Luna tried protesting but found that she could not move. Around her, glowing blue orbs started materialising and circling her. They picked up speed as more and more appeared. Her fighters tried to intervene but were thrown back by an unseen force. When her vision was completely filled with blue light, Luna felt herself being picked up.
She was in the air for a few moments before being placed back down. Already she could tell that her position had changed. The air felt colder and the floor beneath her was now made of metal instead of marble. The blue orbs quickly disappeared, allowing Luna to see where she was.
She was in a large room with metal floor and walls and in front of her was a large window. The view outside confused Luna a bit. It was a mostly light brown background with a few splotches of white interspersed on it. It took a moment before she realised that it was the planet's surface that she was looking at.
"Its breathtaking, isn't it?" she heard Celestia's voice say from beside her. She quickly turned and found the source of the voice. It was an old unicorn mare with a dull white coat and a fiery mane. Her eyes were black with orange pupils and her expression was unreadable. She was sitting on a chair with wheels and had pipes running from her back to a box on the backside of the chair.
"Hello Luna, surprised to see me?" the mare said as the chair turned by itself to allow her to look at her without turning her head. Luna's head was blank for a second before she realised that the mare was her sister. She smiled seeing the confusion on Luna's face before turning back to admire the view. "You always wanted to know what the world looked like from the stars."
"And I know because you sent me to the moon." Luna replied angrily. Celestia's smile morphed into a neutral expression.
"And it was your fau-" Celestia tried saying.
"Don't you dare lecture me about how it was my fault! I only wanted the love of the people we ruled but you banished me to the moon!" Luna cut her off.
"If you were a bit more observant then you would know that the people loved you just as much as they loved me but instead of that, you focused on the few nightmares a few ponies had and let that parasite get you." Celestia said as her expression slowly became an angry one. "You could have come to me for help but no! You didn't trust me and instead let that Nightmare Moon feed you lies!"
"She may have lied to me but she was right that you are nothing but a tyrant! Look at the world below you! You enslave your own people and feed them lies about how you are the god empress of this world!" Luna shot back.
"And it is all your fault! When you refused to set the moon for three days, do you think it affected only us?! The world was against ponies and wanted to end them all! You took an oath to protect our ponies from the dangers of the world no matter what but you didn't care about what would happen because of your decision!
I had to become a conqueror to destroy our enemies, I had to lead an army against the entire world! I had to become a tyrant to stop mindless bloodshed from happening again! I had to become this demon, just because you couldn't handle not being in the spotlight for a little bit! I lost my wings and legs because of you!
You come here after your thousand year nap and immediately try to 'fix' this mess that you have created by being selfish and how do you do it? By killing and disrupting the order that I've worked hard to maintain and improve. You think you're some hero fixing the world but you're really just trying to spread chaos and war. In the small time you have been on this world, you have killed hundreds! I've been working to fix this mess for the last thousand years as peacefully as possible and you come in and try to ruin it all." Celestia ranted, tears forming in her eyes.
"Ugh this is what I hate about you! Always taking the long way as if everyone is immortal. All talk and no action." Luna replied before aiming her gun at her, "You tyranny ends today."
Celestia wiped the tears from her eyes before speaking, "Raven, engage target but please don't kill her."
Luna was confused but the confusion was replaced with pain as she was kicked across the room into a wall suddenly.
She looked at her assailant and saw what appeared to be a white unicorn with a brown mane tied into a bun and wearing a red tie. On looking closer, she found several discrepancies. The unicorn's body was not covered in fur and instead she seemed to be made of metal painted white. Her face were two black screens with one occupying the space where the eyes should be and the other where the mouth should be. The screens showed the eyes and mouth and it was clear that the metal mare was angry.
In her hoof was the Luna's gun and it was aimed at her. Behind her, Celestia could be seen leaving the room through a door that closed behind her.
Without warning, Raven started firing the gun at Luna, who narrowly dodged by jumping out of the way. Raven continued firing the gun in short bursts while Luna kept dodging and getting closer to the mare. When the gun ran out of bullets, Luna saw her chance and charged at Raven.
Before she could get a hit, however, Raven swung the gun like a bat at Luna, hitting her head and throwing her to the side. Luna quickly got onto her hooves but struggled to keep her balance. She could feel blood dripping down the side of her face. Trying to fight melee was proving to be hard. She charged up her magic and shot a beam at Raven. The mare did not move fast enough to dodge and the beam hit her, throwing her backwards.
She got up just in time to be punched in the face by Luna, getting thrown back once again and also having her eye display broken. However, she was not bothered by the damage and got up once again. Seeing that Luna was trying to punch her once more, she sidestepped it and punched her in the side instead, sending Luna to the floor. Luna coughed blood as she got up.
Luna shot a blast of magic at Raven, who dodged it and charges at Luna, eager to get another hit on her. Seeing this, Luna charged as well, lowering her head so that her horn was aimed at Raven's face. Raven tried to avoid the attack but could not and ended up getting her head skewered by Luna's horn. Luna swung her head, throwing Raven across the room. She was surely done now.
Raven, however, was not done yet. She got up despite the damage to her head that exposed all the internal circuitry. Instead of charging again, she pointed a hoof at Luna. Luna was taken by surprise when a red beam of light shot out of Raven's hoof and impacted her, burning her where she had been hit. She grit her teeth and shot back with a beam of magic. Raven countered with her own red beam of magic. The beams impacted each other for a second and stayed balanced but Raven's beam overpowered Luna's and hit her full force, throwing her to the floor and burning her in many spots.
Seeing her enemy down, Raven approached. Luna laid still on the ground and this worried Raven. She had been told not to kill Luna. She got a bit closer to inspect, which allowed Luna to grab Raven's head with her forelegs. Raven tried to free herself but Luna held on. Seeing that the hole in her head was big enough, Luna put a hoof in and ripped out a few wires which sparked with electricity. Raven started punching Luna in the stomach, each punch harder than the last but Luna held on and continued tearing out wires.
With a final punch, Raven sent Luna to the floor, freeing herself from the dark mare's grip. The damage done was a lot, however. Raven had lost control of a hind leg, an eye and was losing more. Luna tried getting up but a laser beam from Raven hit her legs, causing her to fall back down. Raven approached Luna, ready to knock her out with a hoof stomp but was stopped.
"That will be enough, Raven, you can stop." Celestia said as she re entered the room. "Pick her up and follow me. We're putting her to sleep." Raven did as she was told and picked Luna up on her back and followed Celestia. They exited the room and made their way down a narrow corridor. Luna tried to move her forelegs but found that she couldn't feel them. She looked down to see that they were replaced with burnt stumps. The sight made Luna sick.
They entered a room with white walls and a bed, which Luna was put on.
"Your injuries are serious but I can assure you that you'll live." Celestia said as Raven put an oxygen mask on Luna's face. "Even after all you've done, I can't find the courage to end you, at least in front of me." Raven started attaching pipes to Luna's head. Luna tried to shake them off but couldn't. IN her mind, Nightmare Moon was screaming in pain for a bit before being silenced.
"Don't worry about those, they'll help me get rid of the Nightmare and keep you asleep." Celestia said as she looked down at Luna sadly, "Asleep till your injuries are healed and till a day comes when the world is a better place and you can be woken up again. I hope we can be good sisters once again on that day.
Sweet dreams, sister. I feel that you'll be dreaming for a long time."
And with that, Celestia shut Luna's eyes, putting her to sleep, until better times come when she could be woken up.