Silk raised the pistol to the sky.
The bullet rang through the air, aimed at the great nothing of the sky, the wave sent through his body substituted his heartbeat for that split second. He steadied his breath and let his head drop, slotting the pistol held within his lips under his jacket.
He hoisted up a makeshift flag with his sleeping bag tied up to the top of a large branch. Luckily it was green, the international colour of peace and surrender, which would help in his message.
Left, left, right, right, and again and again. He swung in pattern just like he was taught in his training, the Pegasian flag-notation for 'stranded' or 'SOS'.
“Come on you bastards... For once in your lives... Notice me...” His furrowed brow and strong, unwavered strength held for the time being. Left, left, right, right. Again. Over and over. The thumping of the wind and crinkling of the flimsy plastic bag padded out his groans as he kept the barrage going.
He went on, his hooves ached to the point of nearly tearing off of his body, until he was finally spotted.
A scout team of two Pegasi came flying down from the clouds in a sudden pincer, one landing with a slam into the snow right in Silks face, holding up a large blade at their side with a wing, the second crunching down into the snow pillow behind him, just as armed.
Silk dropped the pole and lowered his head in respect with a salute using his leg. “MY NAME IS SILK, DISHONOURED PRIVATE FROM THE PEGASIAN ARMY. I AM A PEGASUS BUT MY WINGS HAVE BEEN CUT OFF BY THE TRAITOR MIDNIGHT ECLIPSE AND I DO KNOW WHERE HE IS!” He said without missing a. Single. Beat.
The century taking his front dropped their blade by an inch, mimicking their mouth as it gaped slightly ajar. “Silk? The Silk that ran away with the Commander's traitor son?” A toned mare's voice from the yellow-furred century, “And your wings were cut off?”
“Ma'am, yes ma'am!” His back shot up straight, still saluting, eyes dead straight and unwavering. “My wings were cut by the joints! I still have visible stubs to prove it, ma'am!” When he wasn't speaking his mouth was shut tight.
“Silver, check for wing stubs please.” The mare observed as her scout partner pushed Silk's coat up from his flanks and slipped a wing inside, the century doing it beginning to nod. “He isn't lying about the stubs at least.” The grey-coated stallion grumbled.
Her eyes softened and her stern frown dropped in pity, “Poor wingless bastard...” She mourned on Silk's behalf for a moment, ending it with a shake of her head. “Right, well... You are claiming to be the Silk that defected along with Midnight and Storm Count, and you know where he is?” Her blade was put to slumber in its sheath.
“That is exactly what I'm saying, ma'am! I am willing to give his position in exchange for a pardon for my treason against Pegasia, as well as the right to have my honour-bound revenge and end Midnight's life for what he has done to me!” Once again, not skipping a breath.
“All right, all right, calm down. We're just scouts, we'll have to ask Dawn Blade, he's our lieutenant, you bargain with him, not me.” She then opened a leg for him to fit under. "Now grab hold, we're bringing you up." The other century was immediately ready on Silk's other side to grab him too. All scouts were well trained in flying with a carry, each Pegasus on either side would use only one wing to fly while connected up like this, requiring perfect synchronist flapping between the two partners to lift off the ground and avoid falling into a tailspin.
Silk nodded strongly. “Yes, ma'am! Thank you...” His voice shriveled out an icy puff and his legs slipped around each of the Pegasi's shoulders, only an oomph later and he was in the sky.
His hooves clenched around the two soldiers' necks, heart pounding out of his chest. He felt that breeze again, the weightlessness, for the one last time in his life, Silk flew again.
It was a slow lift up, taking several minutes of unrelenting effort from the scouts' parts, but the clouds drew ever closer and the hellish snowscape further. They burst through the sky and set down hooves-first on the endless white expanse sitting under the bluest sky known to all creatures to ever live, a beating, warm, homely sun sending down light with richness made to bathe in.
“Nff...” He sniffed and wiped at the tears in his eyes.
“Phew... Agh... Ahhh...” The two soldiers dropped to their knees to recover from their endured maneuver. “What are you sniffing at, runaway? Heh..?” The stallion huffed out.
Silk took a few more glances up at the ocean of blue in the sky before he turned to him, “Nothing, sir... It's just been a few months... Since I've seen the sky.” His tension melted away in each muscle, physical and mental. “I forgot how beautiful it was.” He gaped back at the sight.
“Right, well, you take the sights in as we trot, come on, get your ass up.” The mare tugged at Silk's leg and got him to stumble up to a stand, “There you go.”
“Y-Yes, of course...” Silk took a full turn around and visually combed through the horizon, “The base is far then I assume.”
“Three miles that way, so get moving.” The stallion started the march at the front while the mare soldier kept a keen eye on Silk, nudging him to walk forward. “Ahead of me, Pegasus or not you're still a prisoner until pardoned.”
“R-Right, I understand. Of course, ma'am...” Silk took his spot trotting between his two armed escorts, “Thank you for helping me...”
“Oh...” The mare sighed dismissively, cutting her own sentence short. She thought for a short bit and resumed with a changed, more grateful tone. “You are welcome, I can't imagine what it must be like to lose your wings. I'm very sorry for you, Silk, even if you are a traitor. I hope you get your honourable due.”
“Thank you, ma'am. That means a lot to me.” Silk replied in solace and pushed on.
The camp soon came into view, it was a scatter of three respectably large buildings along with dozens of supply tents centralised around a single gigantic steel beam creating the hull of a Thunder Cannon, a small storage directly beside it to hold shells that the machine would launch down to devastating effect at the ground-dwelling Unicorns and Earth Ponies. One of the main three buildings, and the largest one at that, was the barracks, situated directly by the slightly smaller steel-walled armoury.
Though Silk was marched to none of those, rather he was brought to a single-roomed construct with a lieutenant's engraving on the door. “You'll be speaking with Lieutenant Dawn Blade, he decides what happens, got it?”
Silk nodded, giving the que for the century to bash on the Lieutenant's door. “Lieutenant! We have captured a prisoner and have important news!”
A gruff, worked through voice came in from behind the doorway, “Come in!”
The escorting century twisted and pressed the door handle forward, with the door creaking open Silk stepped in.
Without a hesitation Dawn Blade stood up, abruptly knocking his chair backward, leaning in with crossing eyebrows as he scanned over the de-winged stallion. He first grit his teeth, a grizzled huff leaving his throat. His wing jolted up as to brandish a weapon with reflexive speed, though it eased before he could unsheathe his sword. “My, oh my...” His sharp teeth fell into a devilish smirk, “You are that traitor that went off with the Commander's son, ain't ya? Well colour me interested...” His hind end soothed back into the soft fabric of his seat. “What brings you to my office? And without a pair of wings no less...”
Silk took a few breaths to ease his stress, stepping forward reluctantly. “I... I come with the whereabouts of Midnight Eclipse... He is the one that cut off my wings, and in exchange for telling you where he went I would ask for a pardon for my treason, as well as the chance to retake my honour by being the one to end Midnight's life for what he did to me.”
His shoulders skipped and a hearty chuckle came from the Lieutenant. “My goodness, kick me into a tailspin if that isn't the boldest thing anypony has ever said to me in my own office.” The jerking and stretching of fabric accompanied him pulling himself out of his seat, letting him trot around to stand face to face with Silk. “Now if you're telling the truth about knowing the whereabouts of the most wanted pony in the pegasian empire, I can get you whatever under the sun's glorious gaze you want, son, so let's make it a deal, information for honour.” The lieutenant summoned a smile and reached up to shake with his wing.
Silk shivered in relief, “Yes, sir... Thank you.” his wing stump trying to lead feathers that weren't there to shake. He bit his lip and mumbled an expletive, bringing his hoof up instead. The lieutenant chuckled again and wrapped his feathers around Silk's leg.
“It's a deal then. Now, quickly, this information so my ponies can form a search party... We don't wanna miss our chance now do we?” The lieutenant snugly held onto Silks hoof until he acted.
“O-Oh! Yes, of course, sir, here.” Silk pulled his leg away and threw his saddlebag down over his shoulder to the floor, biting it open and pulling his map out. He put it down on the desk and showed the Lieutenant his markings, “This is where he went only a few hours ago, and it's not that far off from here, so he should be somewhere around this way... Your ponies will be able to pick up his trail I assume.”
“Of course they can, son. Thank you so much for your help, you will be considerably awarded.” Dawn Blade glided his feathers over and scooped the map up, trotting over to the two soldiers on standby at the doorway, pressing the map down into their wings. “Get as many pegasi on this as you can, NOW. This is top priority, I want Midnight, and I want him TONIGHT. Understood?” He snarled at them.
“SIR, YES, SIR!” They both replied and saluted, dashing out through the door as quickly as they could.
“Good... I sure hope you're right about this, son, it'll be quite the shame if I had to lock you up for treason.” The lieutenant's stern set of bladed eyes shot a glance at Silk, who shivered in response. “Ahh, I'm sure everything will be fine, right? I don't know about you but I'm an optimist when it comes to things like this.” He laughed once more, going back to sit at his desk.
“I-I, uh... Well, I know what I told you is true, sir, so I think you will find him too...” Silk's head turned side to side, awkwardly searching for a place to be.
“Glad to hear it, and you're dismissed. You can go sit outside, just don't interfere with my ponies.” His voice was as dismissive as his command.
“Yes, sir... Thank you, sir.” Silk gulped and quickly retreated out of that room, back into the harsh cold air on the cloud tops where he took a few dozen steps out before collapsing backwards onto his ass. “Damn...” He sighed to himself, his breath steadying along with his legs, the fear lifting off of him.
Silk's head tilted up to see over fifty pegasi being gathered and formed into teams with tight speed and unwavering obedience, it struck a somewhat nostalgic vein. He could remember being shouted at just like that, being forced to do marches, flight patterns, being drilled and trained... It seemed like such a distant memory for it being less than a year away, but now it was all he could think about, having nothing but time as he waited for Midnight's capture.
The morning sun had yet to settle when the messengers came back chanting, a group of four pegasi flying as fast as they could yelling, 'they found him.' Over and over.
Silk was sitting under a pillar holding up the barracks when he heard them approaching from the horizon. He immediately bolted upward and sprinted to catch a better sightline.
No doubt about it, two of the three search teams were flying carefully in formation about the clouds, carrying a subdued passenger in ropes hanging under them.
One of the messengers reached Lieutenant Dawn Blade's door and knocked it in, “We have him, sir! We captured Midnight!” The young recruit had a wonder-like disbelief in his voice.
The door came flying open, “My goodness, are you screwing with me... We actually found Midnight Eclipse?” Dawn Blade seemed amazed himself, causing Silk to question how much the Lieutenant actually believed Silk.
“Yes, sir, they're bringing him in right now, and Theta squad is still out there watching this cave Midnight was looking over, we think there's somepony else in there, though Midnight said that it's a manticore in there so they're waiting on your order.” The century stood to the side respectfully.
The lieutenant shielded his eyes from the sun, “No shit... Commander Hurricane is going to give me the medal of honour for this.” A deep grin appeared on the stallion's lips.
Silk turned back and forth between watching the lieutenant and Midnight in the distance, his hooves gingerly working their way towards Dawn. “I... I can't believe it... I'm actually going to get my revenge.” Silk stammered out as he approached.
Dawn Blade stepped over and wrapped a wing over Silk's shoulder, “Oh yes, son... You, oh... You are going to be a hero, you don't know just how badly Commander Hurricane wants to see her little Midnight once more. Heh...”
“Y-Yeah... I'll be able to live a normal life again, once I retake my honour... When do you think I can do it?” Silk turned to the pony holding him almost affectionately.
Dawn Blade turned and met his gaze, “Do what now, son?” He asked with real ignorance and lack of any sincerity.
Silk's eyes dimmed, “R-Retake my honour, sir... Killing Midnight for him betraying me, and cutting my wing off.”
“Oh! Right...” The lieutenant took a sharp breath, “Yeah, that can't exactly happen, my apologies.”
Silk's head jumped back, “W-What?! But we had a deal.”
“Doesn't really matter what our deal was son, it was all verbal so it's your word against mine.” He chuckled at his own abuse of power, “And just for your consideration, I agreed to that thinking this wasn't actually going to pull through... So, sorry, but I can't let you kill Midnight, Hurricane wants him.”
Silk shoved the ponies wing off and stepped backwards, “We had a deal! You promised! Where is your honour?!” He growled like a loose and bloodthirsty canine.
Dawn Blade took a deep sigh, “Son...” He shook his head, “Honour doesn't mean shit anymore.” He lifted up his eyes to look through Silk, “We fight to survive, we fight to destroy those fucking ants in the dirt that steal our food... We don't fight for honour anymore, so give up, kid.”
Silk lifted his hoof up, his mouth gaping open but no words were formed. His leg eventually fell from the gentle tugs of gravity, his eyes flickering and watering.
“Exactly. Now go get some sleep, you there, bring him to the barracks, consider Silk's treason forgiven.” The lieutenant motioned the messenger over, who saluted and made a flying hop to Silk’s side, swiftly guiding the speechless, wingless Pegasus away. “Now... Midnight, me and you have a date with some shears.” Dawn laughed to himself and left in the direction of the approaching imprisoned Midnight.
Silk was led away, shock carved into his eyes, lips and cheeks. Mumbles beginning to form from scattered thoughts. “Honourless... Honourless bastards... All of them... Every single one...” The messenger Pegasus gulped at the sight, trying to ignore it and steer Silk to a temporary bed as soon as possible.
He was sat down on the bottom bunk of a set of beds, and left alone immediately after. He was lost in thought and trapped in a whirlwind of emotion, staring down at his hooves as they shook with rage. “Honourless...”
In the next hour the lieutenant caught up with his search teams, and got to mock Midnight a little before going to see about the 'manticore' he was apparently tracking.
The Lieutenant and his centuries found Hopeful Twist and a pregnant Aurora Sunshine in that cave, and soon they had all three prisoners locked in their hyper-reinforced 'Unicorn-proof' cells inside the clouds.
Midnight's wings were cut off that night and arrangements were made to transport him to the capital where he would be publicly thrown off of the clouds and fall to his death and Commander Hurricane would get to watch the deed be done. Aurora and Hopeful were to remain imprisoned until Hurricane's advisors would be informed and decide their ultimate fates.
Silk was kept in the barracks and unaware of the events, breaking out between bouts of tears and resentful thrashings against the bed sheets. He didn't sleep a wink that night.
Before the sun had risen, Silk snuck out of the barracks, talking a destination-less stroll on the cloud tops. He found himself staring up and down each building, imagining burning each of them down.
This continued until his eyes swirled back onto the Thunder Cannon near the center of the base.
He used to clean cannons like that... Cannons that probably ended thousands of Earth Pony and Unicorn lives.
It was dangerous work though, he was always warned of how easily a shell can be triggered to go off with just a spark, which is why they wore anti-static wing and hoof gloves when cleaning or operating one.
Something pulled his hooves forward.
He peaked around and into the storage room, the sun still yet to come up meant it was completely unguarded at the moment... Silk found nothing but over a dozen shells carefully stored in individual crates filled with dampening cloths. He walked right in, nopony there to stop him from unsealing one of the armaments.
With the conveniently placed crowbar sitting by the side of the door he made quick work of a wooden lid, Silk pushed it off and peaked inside. If it wasn't for his impeccable pegasian vision it would be too dark for him to see anything, but he was a pegasus, and his eyes saw the clear, sleek round hump of raw steel-trapped death.
He placed his hoof on it gently, giving it a press, his heart skipping a beat as he felt the weighty metal head press against its bracing fabrics.
Silk's head fell, his chin fell into the furry scruff of his coat, the Earth Pony pistol pressed up against his side from under the coat.
He leaned up and pressed his muzzle under his collar and pulled the gun out by his teeth, carefully placing it in his hoof, eye darting between the firearm and the explosive shells. “I c-can... I can die... With my honour... I can still... I can still do it...” He huffed and placed the barrel down against the container, holding it in both forehooves as he sat back. The gun had a direct shot to the shell, if he pressed the trigger he would kill everyone on this base.
Including dozens of honourless soldiers.
Including that bastard lieutenant that lied to him.
Including Midnight.
He gulped, his hooves shaking, the gun rattling. “I... I have to... I have to retake my honour...”
Silk's hoof pressed against the trigger, he accepted his fate, he took a light smile as he felt his revenge take hold, his honour returned, his...
Before the trigger could go any further, a ruckus from outside took his attention and his hoof off of the pistol. Apparently the morning rituals had just begun, though today had a clear priority as Silk popped over to stare out the doorway, seeing ten or so soldiers, including Lieutenant Dawn Blade, were all gathering at the in-cloud cell block entrance.
They must be bringing Midnight out... Ran through Silks mind, and the hope of getting to look the pony in the eyes as he killed him brought a little more ambition into his thoughts. Just one look, and then everypony dies... He assured himself.
He watched on, and no doubt, after a few minutes of them returning out from the cells, a wingless, gagged and helpless Midnight Eclipse was dragged on out. He was sobbing with passion, his struggles making a problem for even the four separate centuries holding him down.
“Yes... Now you die, you bastard.” He mumbled to himself, shutting the doorway and trotting back over to re-equip the pistol in his settled hooves, Silk pulled up the weapon and took a breath, fully prepared now.
“I'M NOT LETTING YOU TAKE HER!”
It was Midnight's voice, yelling at the top of his lungs from the outside, and getting... Closer.
Suddenly a mass hysteria of voices and screams came closer and closer as well, until the door exploded open.
With a deathly crash through the unlocked doorway, a dark-furred stallion fell into the room.
Silk took his eyes off of his pistol and leaned them up, “M... Midnight?!” He found Midnight Eclipse laying there, pulling himself back onto his own hooves. He had bitten through his gag and with every ounce of strength in his soul, he had ruptured out of the Pegasi's grips and fallen underneath Silk.
“STOP YOU PIECE OF SHIT! Get! G... S-Silk.” The lieutenant's voice came into view with the rest of his body, laying witness to Silk holding a firearm into a Lightning shell container.
“Silk..? What...” Midnight gazed upwards as he finally stood, meeting eye-to-eye with Silk.
He went wide-eyed and screamed out, “S-Stop!!! EVERYPONY STOP! O-Or, OR I'LL KILL US ALL!!!” He announced to the now formed crowd around Midnight, every Pegasus in turn realising the situation they found themselves in, suddenly re-capturing Midnight slipped their minds as all attention was focused and amplified onto Silk alone. “N-Nopony move an inch! Or I blow this whole fucking cloud off the map! You hear me?!”
Dawn lifted his wing and let it fan up and down, “It's okay there, son... Just stay calm, let's not do anything rash now all right? Ho-”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Silk jutted the pistol down to press against the shell's hull. “ONE MORE WORD AND I PULL THE TRIGGER, GOT IT?!”
The lieutenant opened his maw, something of the passion in Silk's eyes keeping him speechless as he answered with a nod.
Midnight was the only one there with his eyes off of Silk's weapon and on Silk himself, he even sighed in relief. “Silk... I'm so fucking happy you're alive... I am so sorry for what I did, you have to believe me.” Midnight's face rain dripping with new tears.
Silk's jaw dropped, “M-midnight... I... I came here to kill you. You're happy to see me?”
“Yeah... And I know. After what I did to you... I understand, I would have done the exact same.” Midnight fucking smiled.
“MIDNIGHT, WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?! He still wants to kill you! He's going to kill all of us!” Dawn broke his silence to interject.
“Yeah! And?!” Midnight turned around and yelled back before Silk could speak up to defend himself, “So what? I'm a dead pony anyways, and I'd rather die repaying the debt I owe him, than whatever fucked up idea Commander Hurricane has for my execution.” He stared down the Lieutenant dauntlessly.
“I-I... Y-You...” Dawn was left in stutters.
While on the other end of the room, Silk's own tears now falling after Midnight's display. “I...” His smile complimented a relieved breath. “I knew you had honour.”
Dawn shook his head, he knew he couldn't let Midnight get under his skin right now, he turned his attention to where it counted. “S-Silk! Please! I'll let you kill Midnight, son, I'll let you retake your honour, you don't have to kill all of these innocent ponies here... Okay?”
Silk turned and his face twisted into disgust, “No.”
“N-No? Silk, please be reasonable...”
“NO! I said no, lieutenant, you're already a proven liar after all... NOT A STEP!” He threatened with another jut of the pistol against the shell casing as he heard the crowd rustle out of place, causing another intense stillness, “You've shown me you have no fucking honour, Midnight has more honour than any single other pony here, and he betrayed his country and me. That's how low you all are...”
“P-Please, I have a husband, a-and a daughter!”-“Yeah! Please, just let us go!”-“We didn't do anything against you! Please we all have families!”
“SHUT UP!” He screamed out, silencing the crowd of deathly afraid Pegasi once more. “Families..? You all have families huh? I don't. I never fucking did, did any of you know that? I was an orphan since I was a foal... I don't even know what my parents looked like...” Silk's entire face now soaked with tears, little droplets of water streaking down his chin and dripping onto the bomb under him. “But then I thought I found a family... I thought the army was my family... I thought at the very least I could trust my fellow Pegasi in arms, but that was proven wrong wasn't it?”
He wiped away at his eyes for one moment, taking another chilling breath, “And I'm no angel either... I betrayed my country too, by running away with Midnight... And to think, none of this would have happened if I just did what I was told... I'm so fucking dumb...”
Midnight nodded along, “It was my fault too, Silk. Nopony is perfect... We all make our mistakes, what matters is how we repent and atone for what mistakes we do make.”
“Yeah...” He sniffled, “Yeah, you're right, heh... Shame it's too late for me to atone for my mistakes now...” Silk let out a mix of a pathetic laugh and remorseful cry.
Midnight took a step forward, “No, Silk... It's not too late. Down in the prison cells there are two ponies, their names are Aurora Sunshine and Hopeful Twist, they are the love of my life and my best friend. They got into this mess because of me, and now you have the chance to save them.”
Silk looked deeply up to him, “What? H-How?”
“By doing this... I came here to try and set off those shells,” Midnight waves hid hoof to the stacked crates behind Silk, “Those cells are incredibly thick, I'd know, I oversaw their design...” He then turned his head to look at the newly helpless Lieutenant, “They were advertised as 'strong enough to withstand a lightning shell', weren't they Lieutenant?”
Dawn growled, “Midnight, you piece of fu-”
“Silence.” Silk tapped the gun barrel on the Lightning shell, getting what he asked for, he returned to Midnight with a big smile. “So, you're saying if I do this, I'm saving their lives?”
Midnight nodded. “You die with honour... And your debts paid... And so do I.” He said with a grin.
“Thank you...” Silk choked on his words and wiped away another wave of tears, “Thank you so much, Midnight...” Silk looked up and saw one Pegasus dash away in the distance, only the ones stuck directly in the doorway stood perfectly frozen in fear of him. He could see that they were about to crack, it was now or never. “Hey, Midnight... You know that song, the drinking one we used to sing sometimes when we traveled together?”
“U-uh... Which one, Silk?”
“T-The... The one about, about the centuries that fought one thousand fights, you know?”
“Oh! Yeah... I remember, why do you ask now..?” Midnight's eyes crossed with reluctant curiosity.
“The last verse... How did it go, you remember? It was something like... We are Pegasi... Do or die... Something...”
He took a pause to think and remember the exact words, “I think it went something like... For we are the Pegasi, our bond is one that could never sever, whether we live or we die, we'll do it together...” Midnight softly sung aloud.
“Exactly.”
Lunar awoke to a quaking, deafening blast. Her head popped out of the tent and she looked up into the sky.
It was burning.
Judging by the ashes and hole left behind, it must have been at least a mile wide explosion in the clouds, a size she could only awe at. The realisations flooding in soon after.
“Silk...” Lunar tenderly called out her friends' finally honoured name.
It'd been nearly a month now since Lunar spoke with Silk for the last time. Things have been getting calmer with every step Lunar took, the days filling with more silence the further north she got. She even began finding a few fiery roses scattered around in the snow-piles, apparently they grew from the tears of Zebra mares that wept over their dying children when the Zebras were forced to migrate after being kicked out of their land by ponies. Once one would get far enough north they'd find these flowers trailing down long-forgotten paths through valleys and over hills leading to Moonstone.
Nothing stood out to Lunar today, so far at least. She walked like she had been doing every other day, walking alone with nothing but her own thoughts as company, just like it used to be.
But then her ears were met with a pleasant surprise. Suddenly she heard a sound so delightful it caught her off guard, something she hadn't heard for years now.
Bird chirping. Loud, clear, eager bird chirps.
Her head perked up and whisked around, searching for the source of the sound, her eyes struggling to adjust to the wispy white cloud blanket in the sky.
The sound started distant and approached rapidly, until she finally saw the shadow of a bird circling above her head, hearing its lovely song raise in a hopeful shift of pitch.
Lunar raised her leg up to match the horizon, standing stalk still, mouth stuck open, sparkle in her eyes.
The bird immediately took Lunar's invitation, swooping down and landing on the side of her leg, avoiding digging its claws through the fabric on Lunar's jacket. It was a pitch white-feathered crow, its coat rough and lacking sheen, beady black eyes staring up at Lunar, wings and tail an unmaintained mess, bones showing under a thin layer of starved flesh.
“Hey there... Are you okay? Here, take some.” Lunar's horn lit up and a small bundle of crumbs levitated over under the bird's beak.
By the sight of the animal, she expected to see it gobble up the offering as quickly as possible, but instead the little bird took a step back in shock, turning away from the frozen bread crumbs to catch Lunar in eye contact. It then leaned its head down against Lunar's leg and rubbed it's side with her beak, running it up and down gently.
Her shoulders dropped an inch, the spectacle in her face melting down into humbled gratitude, “N-No it's okay, you're very welcome... Just eat, please.” The bird nodded. She nodded and pulled herself up to peck at the crumbs and swallow each one down. “What are you doing so far up? Are you looking for somepony..?” Lunar whispered while letting the bird eat.
She nodded again, hopping up her leg a little further to stand face-to-face.
“Really? Oh... Well, do you know which way they went?”
She pointed her beak across, aiming in the direction Lunar was already walking.
“They went north? I'm going north too... I can try to help you find them if you'd like, and I could give you more crumbs... You seem awfully hungry.”
Her little bird head perked up high and she let out a happy whistle and chirp, skipping further up the mare's leg and landing on her shoulder, snuggling up beside her hood.
Lunar smiled wide, “I'll take that as a yes.” She dropped her leg again and turned back to face north, trotting along once more, both her and Mercy feeling just a little less alone. “I really hope we find this pony you're looking for... Maybe they are going north to escape the war like me, if so there's quite a good chance. Do you have a name by the way? My name's Lunar, I was raised in an Earth Pony village and...”
The sun shined brightly through a cloudless sky, bright yellow streaks of sunlight bouncing off of the luscious, vibrantly green grass. The full and lively trees blowing gently in the cool wind that saved them from the heat, birds chirping in every direction on this perfect morning.
“Hello there!” The voice of a cloaked pony waved over to a fearfully uncertain group of roughed up Pegasi emerging from the treeline that surrounded the borders of Moonstone. “Welcome to Equestria!” The hooded figure called out to them and giggled as a chaser to their greeting.
“E-Equestria? So, it's real? We actually made it?” A leader made themselves known from the group, stepping forward out of them.
“Yes, it's very real, and I imagine you are all refugees?”
“Yeah... Yeah we are, uh... A-Are you a Pegasus?” The leader asked through a stutter and followed the question with biting their lip.
“No, actually.” A soft magical aura appeared around the mysterious pony's hood, pulling it back and revealing themselves with their shining blue horn atop their forehead. “I'm an Earth Pony.” Lunar said with a big smile.
All the Pegasi stepped back and whispered between themselves, the leader left stranded in front of Lunar in a panic, “U-uh, a-and, and you aren't going to hurt us?”
“Of course not!” She stepped in and wrapped her forelegs around the pony, hugging and squeezing the stranger tight. “Everything will be okay... We're all the same in Equestria. Unicorn, Earth Pony, Pegasus... It doesn't matter anymore.”
The leader stiffened up and bit their tongue, their breaths gingerly easing over time as they began to embrace the hug. “R-really..?”
“Really.” She stepped back, her horn glowing once more to pull out food and water from her saddlebags and floating them over to the Pegasi. The charity being taken eagerly as they all began pulling from the supplies and filling their empty stomachs. “Good, you all need to get your energy back, I'll be leading you to a place you can live.”
“A-A place? What place?” The leader asked in between stuffing their maw with a fresh bread loaf.
“A city, a wonderful city in the clouds. It was started by my good friend, his name was Silk... Though he sadly isn't with us anymore, so I'm in charge at the moment.” She chuckled and wiped away a tear, then she took a sniff and looked the Pegasus in the eye once more. “It's called Cloudsdale, you'll love it there, trust me.”
The leader, now with a thawed and open heart, smiled back. “Thank you so much... I... I'm so... It's...” They began crying, their voice breaking and cracking at every word as the weight of all the pain, suffering and memory of friends that they watched die came crashing back down onto them, their journey finally over.
“It's okay...” Lunar embraced them in her legs again, letting them gather themselves back together against Lunar's chest and shoulders. “I know. Trust me... I know...”
Their face churned and shuddered, tears pouring and muzzle sniffling. And Lunar just held them and waited patiently until the Pegasus found their words again. “I-It's just... B-Been so hard... I never thought we'd actually m- A-Actually make it...” They pulled away and faced their loved ones, “Guys, w-we're gonna follow this lovely pony... They're going to help us, they have a city we can live in...” The Pegasus turned back to Lunar, leaving the others free to be overcome by the feelings of rush, excitement and intense relief the news brung. “Thank you so, so much...”
Lunar smiled delightfully and led the group forward, trotting further into Equestria's youthful borders side-by-side. “You are more than welcome, all of you.” She assured me.
“T-Thanks...” The Pegasus chuckled in their emotional flurry, “How... How did you even find us out here? Was it m-magic, or...”
“That there's simple really!” Lunar giggled and whistled up into the sky, leading to Mercy to swoop down and land on her shoulder with a happy chirp. “Mercy here spotted you lot, hehe.”
“Oh... Thank you then, M-Mercy.” They nodded and grinned at the beautiful and healthy snowbird.
Mercy chirped back in song.