Her body felt heavy. Which was a good thing, considering that as long as she felt her body she was alive. Luna tried to shift herself, but was barely able to move any part of her body. She heard some faint sounds in the distance. Strangely enough, although her body felt like million ton statue, she herself felt like she was floating on a cloud. She felt herself drifting back to sleep... But could she go to sleep? What had happened? She tried to remember. She had been... somewhere... doing... something...

Well that didn't help much. She didn't know how long she was in that emptiness. She wasn't sure, but she thought she had slept occasionally. However, slowly but sure, her body started to move. Still, it took some time and tries before she finally was able to open her eyes. Too bright. She closed her eyes and tried again. Too bright. She kept repeating the process few times before finally having her eyes to adjust to the light.

She was in a small, white and metallic room. In she heard someone say something and tried to turn her head. She managed to twist is degree or two, but not much. Suddenly her vision was filled by a strange creature in a white coat. A... human? Yeah, that was the word. The creature was a human. Why was he or she staring her like that? Maybe she could ask him?

The human said something to someone else and Luna started to feel sleepy again. Oh well, guess it was mystery for another day...

Luna felt much better now. She once again tried to open her eyes. Room was still the same, but this time she had much better understanding of her surroundings. She was in a human facility, but why? The place was apparently a hospital, judging by the looks of it. She once again tried to remember what had happened. She remembered going for a state visit in human capital and that some sort of crisis had happened, but she couldn't remember details.

"Waking up, Princess?" She heard a voice say. She managed to turn her head slightly to see a human approach her.

"Where..." Her throat felt dry as a desert. There was also other strange feelings, as she was missing something from her body.

"Do not try to move or talk. You have been medically induced coma for last 2 weeks. It's a small miracle you have woken up at all. By our understanding of biology, you should be dead. However, it appears that being an alicorn has some benefits to it." Human said while holding her eye open and shining some bright light on it. After being satisfied he shut down the light and let go of her head. She blinked rapidly before his words sank in.

"Good, good. Only minor memory loss. We were afraid you had suffered major damage to your brains, but it appears you are mentally OK." The human said and wrote something on his PDA. "Rest now Princess. We will contact your sister. She will be happy to hear that you are alive." The human smiled at her.

"You are in The Ganymede Hospital, sector 1. When you were brought here we weren't even sure if you would live. However, are happy to admit that we were wrong and you are very much alive."

"I see..." Luna felt once again sleepy, but tried to fight it. The human appeared to notice this, however.

"No no no, don't fight it. You need to sleep. You will feel much better when you wake up next time. Perhaps your sister has arrived here by then, yes?" Another smile. "You have suffered extensive injuries, many which will take years to fully heal. Or would, if were you a human. Since you are an alicorn, we can only guess. Rest now. We will be here when you wake up next."

Luna was woke up again, once again feeling much better than previously. She tried to stand up, but once again it seemed like some parts of her body refused to move. So she just raised her head slightly. Her room was empty, but blinking light on the corner told her she was being watched. Indeed, very quickly the human from earlier arrived in her room, accompanied by two females.

"Awake already, Princess? It's been only two days since you woke last time. Indeed, if you weren't a hero and alive, I would love to study your biology. However, I do not disrespect those who have been awarded Star of Terra. How are you feeling today?"

"I am feeling very well, thank you. Who are you?" Luna asked. This time talking was much easier, her throat no longer felt like a sandpaper.

"I am Doctor Fritz. These here are my assistants, nurse Matilda and nurse Joy. We have been working with you these past 2 weeks now."

"Indeed I said so. However, a new week has started! Your sister was overjoyed to hear that you have finally awakened and is currently coming here. Heard that The First Citizen made quite a scene when the council wished to prevent such thing. Apparently made them all ashamed of themselves."

"I am afraid I can't answer that at the moment. The First Citizen will see you in a moment, once I contact him. Of course, if you feel tired and wish to sleep you are fully entitled to do so! The First Citizen gave very strict orders that you are to be treated with exceptional care and respect and indeed, you deserve it."

Luna tried to stand up and finally realized what had been nagging her for a while. She was missing her right front hoof. She also realized she wasn't feeling her left hind leg.

"Doctor... I think I failed... please tell me the truth. That is all I ask of you." Luna pleaded and tried her best puppy eyes impression. She noticed that she was having trouble with her depth vision.

"...The bomb detonated, destroying the entire 5th District. 1.2 million people died during the initial explosion. More in collateral damage. Total of 2.3 million people died. However, thanks to your efforts, the bomb was significantly weaker than normally. Without you, we would also lost Districts 4, 6, 7 and 8." Dictor Fritz said slowly. "Your assistant Twilight Sparkle survived, as well as Royal Guard named Silent Storm and two human soldiers, private Resnok and Quin. All four have been awarded Star of Terra. Thanks to your effort to bring them back, as well as sergeant Smith, who died during the teleport, the conspiracy to reignite the war was uncovered and exposed."

"Then... there is still a peace? We avoided the war?" Luna said, fearing for the worst.

"You should not worry about that. You should rest, The First Citizen will be here shortly.

"How bad was I when I was brought in? Or how come I am even alive? I know that I was supposed to die in that explosion. It was too powerful to contain or absorb like I hoped."

"Yes, you were... well, let me not sugarcoat it. You were one inch away from death. You are missing right front hoof as well as entire left back leg. Your left wing is entirely gone and your right one has only half of it left. The sight from your left eye is also gone, although we managed to keep it, so you are not missing an eye, only the sight from it. Then there are scars and burns all over your body. The recovery team said they found you in some sort of magic field. Do you remember casting it?"

"No, I do not remember anything. I barely remember trying to contain the explosion. I remember it hurt like never before..."

"Yes, I see. Then I guess it was a subconscious action, perhaps a reflex. Very well, I shall not tire you further. The First Citizen will here soon."

"It feels good to be alive, general. Will The First Citizen join us soon?" Luna asked him.

"I'm afraid I must bring bad news. The First Citizen Modigal is dead. He was killed by the traitor forces during the chaos. As for now, I have been made The First Citizen and given emergency powers to dictate how humanity deals with this situation." Ravensaw said as he sat down a chair next to her bed.

"Dead? By the moon and stars... what about others? Is Twilight Sparkle OK? What about my guards?"

"Miss Sparkle is fine and has returned to surface already. So has the sole remaining Royal Guard. As for other two survivors, they are currently in on a leave from the force. Private Quin is taking therapy. As for private Resnok, well, as far as I know he has been demanding to be let to participate in his normal duties as soon as possible."

"When can I leave? I know this may sound rude, but... I wish to return to Canterlot."

"Yes, I can understand that. However, I ask you to remain here until you have healed enough to travel, at least. Then there is the issue with your missing limbs. I would normally offer you that we would clone you new organs and limbs, but the damage done to you and differing physiology creates a problem. I can offer mechanical limb for you, to replace your missing leg." Ravensaw said. "Also... I wish to thank you. Thank you for trying to help us. If you hadn't brought those people back to us... we wouldn't know. We would be launching an all-out assault against Equesteria. Yet, when I reviewed the data we got from the survivors... I couldn't allow that to happen. Too many lost their lived trying to prevent the war."

"I am sorry I couldn't do anything more. I tried to contain it, tried to absorb it but... it was too much. Too much energy, even for me. I doubt even Celestia could have dealt with his. It is a horrifying weapon. Why do you have such weapon?"

"Because we have lost means to decommission it. Ancient archives speak of prototype anti-matter reactors, reactors that would allow us to harness the power. However, that data is long lost. We do not know how to build such device. Nor do we know how to destroy such weapon safely. That's why we have The Vault. We have lost many technologies, one of them how to safely decommission anti-matter weapons. They are horrifying weapons and sometimes we wonder, why did our ancestors build them? Why did they brought them with them to here?" Ravensaw shrugged his shoulders "I guess they had their reasons. Well, there is one less now. We have lost knowledge to safely dispose them, but we have also lost the knowledge to build them."

"I see..." Both remained silent for a moment, before Luna decided to ask something.

"Very well, except tired. She was worried about you, despite the assassination attempt."

"Calm down. The assassination happened when you were inside District 5. Your sister is OK. She was saved by Captain Lulamoon, as far as I know." Ravensaw said raising his hand. "She will arrive in two or three days, depending how the trip goes. I gave her permission to visit you, although only for a day."

"Because our government is a mess right now. ISA went nuts when I came forth with all the evidence and arrested several councilors and ministers. At the moment, I am pretty much an emergence dictator. My people are running the show. I intend to step down once we got this mess cleared up, perhaps in a month or two. In that time, we need to refill the council and re-elect ministers."

"It came pretty close. I nearly ran out of time. I had to arrest Tarnheiser in middle of a speech to the council. So much for a stealthy approach. Then again, it allowed me to move more quickly, since I didn't need to fear getting exposed. It reminds me... I need to ask a favor from you."

"Do not talk about what happened in District 5. Nothing. Not what you saw, not what you learned, nothing. We are keeping worst of it under wraps for now. We have only released limited amount of information to the public. The council might have nominated me as The First Citizen and given me emergency powers, but that was after I... persuaded them little bit. Nobody buys it anyway and I don't expect them to buy it. This is coup d'etat, pure and simple. However, everyone accepts it for now. We don't have much of a choice, alternative is to allow the government to crumble as people would resign out of disgust or get arrested. If someone asks, just tell them it's a request from The First Citizen."

"I am sorry to hear what this tragedy has brought on your people. I wish I could have done more..."

"Do not blame yourself. This is our fault. We allowed this to happen. We allowed ourselves to be blinded to the hate that started to consume us. Now we pay the price."

After the visit from The First Citizen Ravensaw, rest of the day was spend in silence. Luna found out that being imprisoned (even if not actually in prison, but unable to leave her bed) on the moon was much worse than being imprisoned in the moon. For started, you got bored a lot more quicker. She was already getting bored counting bolts on the walls, or how many tons of steel had been required for the construction. She had asked if there was anything to do and humans had brought in a PDA with several books stored in to it and what humans called 'television'. Most of the shows were something she didn't get. Some took little more time to figure out. Why did those two keep beating each other up, until other one fell down unconscious? Then she had remembered that ponies used to have similar, although less violent sports. Wrestling was one. Humans apparently called this 'boxing', although she failed to see connection between a box and punching other person in the face repeatedly.

"Tia... air..." Luna said with an effort. She had managed to turn even more blue somehow. Celestia released her with a sheepish grin. After finally catching her breath, Luna smiled for her sister. "Missed me?"

"Don't even joke, Luna. I was so worried about you. Then they told me you were inch away from death and refused to let me come to visit you. I was so happy to hear that you had awakened." Celestia said and nuzzled her sister.

"I'm glad to be alive even if... slightly disabled..." Luna said. The fact that she was missing limbs was only now starting to sink in. "How I am going to go on living, Tia? What will ponies think of me when they see me?" She said, her voice barely audible.

"You are strong, Luna... Don't let this take you down. I know you can handle this. Have you spoken with anyone yet? Humans have very good understanding of medicine. Perhaps they could clone you new limbs? I know they do it with their own people."

"Yes. I spoke with The First Citizen Ravensaw already. He offered a mechanical leg to replace the one I am missing... but... should I do it? Can I appear in front of ponies, as a part-machine? A machine that comes from those who live on the moon. There is already voice claiming that I am still Nightmare Moon. Wouldn't that just convince them further?" Luna asked. Celestia remained silent for a moment, pondering this.

"I don't care what they think. I want you to be happy. It is not right to confine you to bed or something. You should be able to move. You may never again fly, but that should not mean you are to be confined to your bed, if there is an alternative." Celestia gave Luna a smile. "It doesn't matter if your body is magic, flesh or machine. You are my sister. That is all that matters." Celestia took something out the bag she had brought with herself. "Besides, the voices who whispered of Nightmare Moon are very silent at the moment, afraid to be heard by those who heard of your bravery."

Celestia laid hundreds of 'Get well soon' cards in front of Luna. There were, of course, cards from Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pies card exploded into confetti when opened, which somehow didn't surprise Luna. Then there were other cards, many from who Luna didn't personally know. Silent Storm had send a card too. They all wished her quick recovery and return to Canterlot. Pinkie Pie promised to hold a party when she would return. Luna smiled at that.

"They all miss you, Luna. The guards, once they heard from Silent Storm what had happened, gathered up and were ready to capture a transport just to get you back. It took quite a lot of convincing to make them wait." Celestia gave mischievous smile. Also, there had been few... unexplained assaults at those who have spoken ill of you."

"I'm glad they are worried of me. I too want to return to Canterlot as soon as possible. However, doctors are not allowing me to leave just yet. They want to make sure I am completely healed before I am discharged. Perhpas we can be more often in contact, now that i am awake?" Luna asked "Canterlot embassy does have communications equipment, doesn't it?"

"Yes. I shall speak to The First Citizen. Meanwhile, you get better." Celestia turned to look at the door and closed it. "Now... You don't need to do this, if you don't want but... can you tell me what happened? I know what Ravensaw told me, but no more. He hides behind national security." Celestia asked. Luna thought for a moment, whenever she should or should not tell Celestia what she had witnessed.

"...Not here. Please. Ravensaw asked me to remain silent. They might hear us here. I will tell you when we are at Canterlot." Luna said. Celestia accepted this, as she didn't want to push her sister. Rest of the meeting was spend on idle chit-chat, before a nurse told Celestia that meeting time was over and that the security was here to return her to surface. Celestia gave Luna her farewells before leaving. Luna watched as her sister left and then started to think about conversations they just had.

"Yes. We could build one, specifically suited for you. It will take sometime, at least a month to get used to it and use it like it was a natural extension of your body. If you are wondering of cosmetics, we will provide you with covers that hide the mechanical parts. It will look like your natural leg would."

"Are you sure? Not everyone gets used to the augs. Some complain that they are unnatural. It should be decision after long considerations."

"Doctor. I can't fly anymore and if I don't take up on this chance, I will be confined to a bed or a chair. Please." Luna said while looking directly at the doctor. The doctor remained silent for a moment before nodding.

Luna watched through her TV as human conducted a ceremony for their. Although on the screen she saw hundreds of thousands, she knew that millions watched the ceremony like she did. Humans started to sing their song. Luna watched as the single voice started the song.

I tell you, I tell you, the day shall come,
for the age of darkness is just about done!
We sing to our youth, and to days come and gone
for the end to all evil, for death to all our foes

More voices joined the song, giving it strength. Luna realized this was how the song was supposed to be sang. One voice starting it, others joining to strengthen it.

Believe, believe, for we shall rise,
and once again the glory of Terra shall shine!
We'll drive out the evil from the lands of our own,
with our blood and our steel we will take back our home.

Humans were at the same time social and solitary creatures. In the times of plenty, they drifted apart, but in times of peril they sought strength in numbers and friendship.

Now hear us, now hear us, to you we have sworn:
we shall reclaim our place in the world!
For the darkness has passed, and yet our strength grows.
you'll know, you'll know we have come.

No matter how much it cost them, they would return. Now they had and it had cost them dearly. Song continued further and grew on strength. She heard from the hallway as others joined in it. She did feel something inside herself, something telling that she should join the song. She didn't know the words but it seemed secondary to not being silent. She remained silent as the voiced nagged her to join the song, to affirm that she was there, she would not go into the night... where had that thought come from?

Luna watched as humans finished their song. Perhaps they did have their own magic. When humanity joined together, it expressed this magic. With that magic, nothing was outside their reach. She didn't know what it was, but she could feel it at that moment. Humanity had unconsciously made decision, decision held by all humans. They would not die here. They would not leave legacy of death and destruction. They would choose another path.

Twilight was nervous. It had been 4 months since The Lunar Crisis, as it was now called. Humans had send a word that Princess Luna was finally being released from the hospital. She had finally been able to master her new leg (or legs, if you counted the small replacement hoof) and was allowed to return to normal life. She had seen pictures send by Luna with her new leg and humans had stayed true to their word. Unless you actually tried to look for it, you didn't notice that her leg wasn't the original one.

Ravensaw had stepped down from his position as The First Citizen and had retired from his duty. He and general Tarnheiser were waiting for a joint trial concerning events of Lunar Crisis and the war crimes. Ravensaw had surrendered himself to the trial after stepping down, as a peace offering. Tarnheisers opinion on the matter had been ignored and he too was facing the trial. Other generals had been left alone, as per Ravensaws request. Several other deals had been made too, although less important ones.

Pretty much entire Canterlot was outside the embassy. Someone had leaked that Princess Luna was returning and now everyone was waiting. Humans and Royal Guard were currently keeping them outside. Meanwhile, ISA was trying to catch an anomaly called Pinkie Pie who had somehow managed to make the whole place into a big party. Even after cleaning the place up, she had somehow pulled a cannon out of nowhere and just fixed the decorations. The ambassador was trying her earnest not laugh at the sign of black clad spec-ops people trying to catch the pink pony, only to fail in a spectacular fashion.

Then she saw a red shape on the sky. The human transport was piercing the atmosphere before slowing down. It slowed down and turned slightly. After a while, it touched the landing pad and opened it's door. Princess Luna walked out accompanied by two human guards. Those who had not seen the pictures of her gasped. Her mane and skin had healed and her fur hid the scars, except the one that ran on the left side of her face. Humans had tried to save as much as they could of her wing, but weren't completely successful. It hadn't recovered all the feathers it used to have. Then again, it didn't matter much. It was only a half of the wing and she was missing the other one. She would never fly on her own again.

Still, she was looking much better than she had when Twilight had first seen her. She had all four legs now. She was walking and humans had given her a contact lens that made it look like she still had her eyesight. She was looking much more healthy.

"Princess Luna, on behalf of the embassy staff, welcome back to Canterlot." Fahrenheit greeted Luna.

"It is good to be back, ambassador." Luna answered with a smile as she stood down from the stairs and walked over to Celestia. "I'm home, sister."

"Welcome home." Celestia said with a smile. At that moment an ISA agent gave a yelp and seemed fall from a local tree. Pinkie Pie appeared from the branches.

"Silly human, that's not how you climb in a tree! Oh, hi Princess Luna! Look, I set up a party for you, like I promised! It's 'Welcome Back Home' party!"

After The War - Luna Aeternal

by Scorched Earth

The Aftermath