Chapter Fourteen: Night Flight
Luna sat in the only puddle of moonlight, the pain of her wounds dulled as she mediated. She was keeping her senses open for danger. The metal around her creaked dangerously as she breathed. A part of her mane breaking off and forming into an owl flying through the hole and vanishing into the night. Luna closed her eyes and guided her familiar back to their planet. Back to Equus. She had to see what happened in the weeks that had gone by. Her eyes glowed as she opened them seeing through the eyes of the owl.
The owl flew through space faster than ever before when it came to the world at the end of her path. Night beginning to fall upon the land of Equestria the owl flew over the cities. The barriers belonging to Luna, Celestia, and Cadence shining brightly. When it passed over Ponyville, there was nothing. The shadows of the ships over the town, patrols of white armor walking through the street, the flag that had once belonged to Twilight had been replaced. A red flag with a symbol of black and white now flew. The owl tilted her head to the side as her form solidified. Black and dark blue feathers, brilliant turquoise eyes, two long white curled tail feathers, and under the wings were stars, and the talons and beaks were silver. The owl hooted before flying towards the castle and in through the balcony. The tapestry in the halls were changed as well, all to the same theme, as the owl flew towards one location. When it reached the throne room the owl landed on the ground seeing the door opened slightly. Using its talons the familiar pulled open the door and hopped in. A man stood in front of the table staring at a large map upon it. The owl settled down upon the throne that had once belonged to Twilight watching him. His head turned his hand reaching for his weapon as he spun around. The owl just blinked at him letting out a hoot taking in his appearance. She hopped forward letting out another hoot before flying up his head moving to watch her. She landed upon the chandelier letting out a hoot and rotated its head still watching the man. Her head rotated back moments after.
“Just a bird.” the man uttered, holstering his weapon and going back to his work. The owl hooted again before flying down and landing on the table hopping closer. The man glanced at her saying. “Shoo.”
The owl fluffed her wings before hooting again before flying out. Making sure to get close to his face before flying up and over. The man’s head turned before following as fast as he could. The owl soared down the halls towards the balcony. She landed on the edge staring out at Ponyville. Her head twisted so she was looking behind her at the approaching man. She bounced her body until it too was facing him.
“I’m following a bird, what is wrong with me?” the man asked, shaking his head as he walked out. The owl waited until he got close before taking off into the town her form returning to her magical state. She passed through the walls of the houses seeing that a lot of them were empty. Some still had families held within their walls. Those that weren’t asleep sat in the darkness holding their family close.
“Don’t worry.” a father assured his wife as he stroked her mane. “The Princesses will return. They always look out for us.”
“I know.” whispered the wife breathily just as the owl took off. “What was that?”
The owl passed through the wall flying over the soldiers in the streets towards the school. The windows and doors were boarded up. The owl could sense powerful spells upon the wall deciding to teleport through the shadows. She flew through the school towards the headmare’s office. When she entered she saw Starlight Glimmer pacing around the office, the desk holding a large crystal ball in the center of it.
“Come on Trixie, where are you?” she muttered, looking at the ball. “Please tell me you made it to the Crystal Empire safely. I know this is a dangerous plan, but he is one of the few ponies who has fought in battles before. I just hope they will forgive me for this.”
The owl let out a hoot causing Starlight to spin around her eyes widening at the owl. “You… an owl?”
The owl flew up and onto the desk rotating her head as Starlight examined her. “Princess Luna? Or at least her familiar. I hope she’s alright… are you checking on us?”
The familiar let out a hoot bringing her head back into place bobbing forward. Starlight hugged the owl saying. “I’ve got a plan, but I don’t know how well it is going to work. I just hope we can force them from our world without having to resort to it. We won’t give up though. The hearts of Equestrians are strong and we will protect our home.”
The owl spread her wings as she solidified, wrapping them around Starlight. She felt Luna draw back from her mind returning to her body.
“Luna!” Celestia’s voice called down the hole as Luna came back to her senses. “Is everything alright?”
“It is now sister.” Luna replied looking up from her position. “I have much to tell you.”
“Later, we still have to get you out of there.” Celestia replied, Luna felt her sister’s warm magic embrace her as she was teleported out. She found herself on a metal sleigh with Spike by her side and Anakin across from her.
“I will be heading out again after delivering you to the medical ponies. Spike and Skywalker found Flurry Heart and the other fillies.” Celestia replied, Luna could feel the pain and sorrow radiate from her. She asked quietly. “Sister, how many perished?”
“Too many.” answered Celestia, though her face was calm Luna knew that she was seconds away from crying. The pain struck at her as she asked. “What happened?”
“Discord didn’t finish the vessel in time so he had to hold it together with his own magic.” explained Celestia as they took off. “However with the seedling aboard trying to grow it weakened him to the point he could not hold it together. To make it up to us he is starting to work on fixing it. However this will mean remaining on this world until it is finished.”
Luna nodded her head before saying quietly. “It would be better if us ponies helped.”
“I will address them tomorrow, some were planning on splitting away if it wasn’t for the crash we would have had a riot on our hands.” Celestia told her as she settled down in the camp. Two of the nurse ponies ran over and helped Luna off the sled. They led her over to a makeshift tent and began treating her wounds. Luna sighed before resting her head, her eyes glanced over spotting Rex. Her mind went back to the man inside of Twilight’s castle. Waiting until the nurses were done treating her and left the area to get some food did she speak. “Commander Rex.”
“Ma’am.” Rex responded gazing at Luna. “Guess we got it rough on the landing huh? Well, me less so than you.”
“An injury is an injury.” Luna told him before looking away. “Do you have a twin brother?”
Rex chuckled with a cough as he responded saying. “A bit more than a twin brother. Lots of us clones.”
Luna recoiled a bit in surprise, her eyes widening. “Clones? That would explain the vast similarities. Rex while I was in the crash I used my familiar to check on Equestria….”
Rex paused for a bit knowing what she was about to say. “You saw one of my brothers there, didn’t you?”
“Yes, he had dark hair, a scar over his left eyes, and his armor had orange accents. Would you happen to know who he is?” Luna asked, not wanting to pass quick judgement upon the man.
“There’s many of us clones, many with different injuries and different armor. There’s one in particular though that matches that description that I was close to…” Rex answered but he didn’t feel the strength to say the name. Luna looked away for a moment before saying. “If he could be an ally then I need to know. I need to know if he will be able to keep the ponies of Ponyville safe. When I saw him he had such a tired and sad expression on his face, something I see quite often with you.”
“You’ll find many of my brothers carrying the same expression as me. I saw it in my brother Jesse’s mannerisms when he tried to kill me that they knew deep down they didn’t want to do what they were doing but were being controlled.” Rex explained with a sad look on his face. “Even I for a time I was…it would have to depend on what the Emperor’s orders are. His orders are absolute. If we were to rescue any Clones though and remove the blasted chip from their brains then we could increase our ranks. We were loyal to the Republic and those we fought for and I assure you much like those of us here we would be loyal to you.” He pointed to a stitched location on his head where his chip was.
“Rex… I can use my familiar to deliver a message. I was planning on telling my sister that I was going to send words of comfort to the ponies. They are frightened and it seems like there is a battle going on. If you want to, I can have her deliver a message to this man, eventually, one with your voice and your words.” Luna told him looking away. “I wished that I could have done this when I was sealed for a thousand years away from my sister. Yet as Nightmare Moon I would have sent nothing but hate to her. You are not me, you are your own person, I will try to help as many of you clones as I can.”
“I...appreciate that ma’am. I just worry that if anyone in the Empire found out what was going on it could paint a mark on their heads.” Rex pointed out with concern in his voice. Luna glanced at the stars in the sky saying. “I think we have a bigger mark on us at the moment, however Equestria is a place of harmony and Equus filled with magic. The longer one stays there the higher the chance is those devices will malfunction. Even without the barrier Master Kal Jeron had difficulty getting his machines to work the longer he remained. We believe it has something to do with the Tree of Harmony, the presence of magic, as well as a strong presence of the Force.”
“I hope you’re right. I still have nightmares of the day we clones betrayed those we cared for, maybe those nightmares will end when all us clones can fight for the right cause again.” Rex told Luna, a smile beginning to form on his face. Luna reached with her wing and placed it on his shoulder saying. “Just remember, I will help anyway I can with those nightmares. You should get some rest.”
“Thank you.” Rex replied as he turned over to get some sleep. Luna looked out at the ponies getting ready for sleep and could feel the exhaustion of Celestia. She knew it was going to be a long night.