//------------------------------//
// Chapter 17 - Departure 
// Story: For the New Lunar Republic 
// by Moxypony 
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	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.