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// We all felt the pain 
// Story: A Tale of Noble Spirits 
// by Commando-Scarecrow 
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I woke up to a dead silence. From the look of the light coming out of the opened cellar door, it was morning. At first I wished that this was just some bad dream and that, any second now, Princess Luna would show up and tell me as much. But it wasn't and she didn't. I sunk my head down, knowing what I would see if I looked for myself. I knew that eventually I would have to leave the cellar, but I just didn't want to. I'm not sure anypony would have wanted to.
It took about fifteen minutes for me to gather the resolve to see what had happened, and by the time I did, I realized that everypony that had been in that hole with me had already left. Even the princess. I gulped and climbed the rope ladder to the top. I literally had no words for what I saw at the time. I was struck speechless and just allowed everything to sink in, or at least I would have. There was nothing left.
As I strode across the ashes, I saw my friends doing the same thing. Rarity was looking through the remnants of what was her boutique, and Twilight Sparkle was digging through what had been her home for years. All of her books were nothing but ash. Old and prized copies and first editions, turned into nothing but charred dirt under her hooves.
As Rarity was searching through what had been her place, I took a walk around the town, just to see the damage. Small, green fires were rampant. Smoke and smog was everywhere and blotted out even the sun. More than that, though, I wanted to see who died last night. There were a few ponies I didn't recognize the screams that I knew died from where they were. Diamond Tiara was next to what had been her father. The Cakes were huddled together behind what I think was the counter. Pumpkin and Pound Cake looked like they were holding on to their parents for dear life, for what little good it did. They were only eight years old. I kept moving, hoping to see some hope that some of my friends escaped. But I sided that thought after what I saw next.
On the east side of town, I recognized something that still gives me nightmares to this day. The school had been burnt down. There must have been twenty-six charred foals and a teacher in there. I fell to my knees, wishing my eyes were lying to me. They weren't. "Galaxia... No..." They were all dead, their bodies nothing but a black skeleton surronding what must have been Mrs. Cheerilee’s. I recognized the wedding ring that Big Macintosh gave her a fews years back. I couldn't believe it. "Not even the foals survived." I was there just staring at the carnage for what seemed like hours.
"Noble?" I heard Princess Luna call out to me, but I ignored it. I still couldn't really believe what happened.
"My entire home... gone. My life. My family." My brown eyes were wide open as a single tear began to fall from right eye. It was soon followed by more. "All gone." I heard the princess of the night walk over and sit next to me. I looked up to her as my eyes began to flood. "Everything is gone." I was paralyzed by the sight of it all. I looked around and finally took in the scenery completely and with total submission to what happened. "Every single thing. Why?" I looked up to her, and she answered only with an embrace.
In that instant, all my anger at the princess seemed to melt away into nothing. Whatever brought this here wasn't Luna. It was something else entirely. I knew the pain would never really go away. Losing Scootaloo, then my family and almost everypony else I'd ever loved would scar me forever. I drank deep of it, though. The pain would become rage and drive. There would bloody retribution for what happened last night.
...
About an hour later, we met in the Ever-free forest and camped there for the night. Spike was sure to leave food behind in the cave, so provisions weren't a problem. What would be a problem, though, was figuring out our next move.
We’d dug out a fire pit and used some of the emerald flames Spike had left behind in his bout with the butchers. Rarity had, by some miracle, found the fire ruby that Spike had given her years ago. All she did was stare at it as it reflected the light of the dances flames.
Twilight Sparkle was dead quiet. With good reason, I'd imagine. It wasn't every day you found out that your teacher and friend for many years was a monster. I myself was sitting next to Princess Luna, still shell-shocked at what had happened.
Vinyl Scratch was the first to break the silence. "So what's the game plan?"
"What?" Luna asked the DJ. She was still kind of literal minded when it came to speech and expressions.
"The strategy. The end game," then she sighed, realizing that this wasn't going anywhere fast. "What's our next move?"
"I had not considered such yet, Ms. Scratch."
"Well, we have to do something," Twilight chimed in now. She lost more than most yesterday. "We need a plan. We need to get organized and tell everyone what happened here."
"The princess is smarter than that, Twilight," Rarity began to argue with her longtime friend and fellow unicorn. "She shant be foolish enough to allow news of a burned village caused by her to get out."
"Well, what do you think we should do, Rarity?"
"Whoever did this must pay with their lives!" Anger burned brightly in her eyes, complimented perfectly by the reflecting flames. "Death is the only recourse for those who have killed our beloveds! We must kill Princess Celestia!"
I found myself agreeing with her, impossibly easy as she made it sound. I looked up to see Princess Luna, slowly taking in the situation as her friends debated about what they should do. "Rarity," Twilight began to reply. "You make it sound like we can just walk up to Canterlot Castle, knock on the door, and say," she started using a bad imitation of her friend, using a rock as a stand in for Rarity, "Hey, can we come in and kill the princess? We promise we won't leave a mess when we try to off the most powerful magic user in the world!"
"Well, what would you suggest, Dear Twilight?!" The fashionista was getting hacked off now. "Because if you would do something other than poke holes in everypony elses ideas then, believe me, I am all ears!" They were both staring each other down now. If this were in a comic book, I swear that there would be lightning shooting out of their eyes.
"Going off halfcocked isn't going to help anypony, Rarity," the violet mare was trying to be the voice of reason here. It was more than I could do right now. "We need to think this through and plan. But first we need rest."
"I concur with Twilight Sparkle," Luna finally added in her own opinion. It was about time. "One does not simply walk into Canterlot Castle and offer to end my sister. Especially not when this plot has many more layers than it would first seem on the surface."
"Princess?" I looked up to the princess of the night, sitting tall next to me. "You know what we're up against more than anypony else." She knew I was fishing for Scootaloo, "Please. Is there any chance that somepony besides us made it out of town and to safety?" I begged her for an answer.
"Noble..." she started off slowly, no doubt unsure of how to answer. "That is not an easy question to answer." She took a deep breath, then continued. "The enemy that brought your world to an end would leave little evidence of their crimes. I haven't a thought of whether your friends made it out."
"You know what the odds are that somepony made it out of there, Kid?" Vinyl stated with the surgical precision of a chainsaw.
It tipped me over the edge. "Well, it's not like you had anypony especially close to you, did you?" Everypony was shocked by the way I responded to her question. "After all, for a DJ, life is just one big party, isn't it?!"
"Noble, calm yourself," Luna tried to calm me down. It didn't work. I was 100 percent pissed OFF.
"What was Octavia to you anyway, Vinyl?! Was she your boyfriend or special somepony like Spike was to Rarity or how Scootaloo was to me?!"  I paused for a second to take a breath from my yelling. "NO! She wasn't! You were just friends! You don't get to say nopony survived because you didn't have anypony that was that important to you in Ponyville! Why are you even HERE?!"
"Noble!" Princess Luna was beginning to get hacked off at my attitude now. "Enough of that!"
Then I turned to the mare with the mane made of stars. "And what were you doing that led you to Ponyville nyway, Princess?!" I finally began to feel the full force of my rage take effect. She only looked to the side, as though she didn't want to say anything. "Big surprise, everypony! The princess of the night feels like keeping us in the dark! Can you at least tell us why Celestia did it?! Can you tell us why she would kill hundreds of ponies just to hunt you down?!" She remained silent as the grave, as did Twilight and Rarity. They were shocked senceless that I was yelling at Princess Luna. "Didn't think so."  I looked at her, one of my oldest friends, angry but unwilling to fight back against my tirade. That's when I realized the mistake I just made. I then got up from my stump and left. "I'm going for a walk."
They all waited until I was out of sight to begin talking again. "I'll go talk to him," Twilight stated, sure that she could help me. "Somepony has to."
"No, Twilight Sparkle," the princess stopped her before she could even stand. "I should speak with the young earthpony. He had been through much for a colt of his age."

...

I kept a brisk pace as I walked away from the warmth and heat of the fire and my rage. Princess Luna didn't deserve the lashing that I gave her. I knew that and yet I still tried to hurt her. I knew that nothing could bring any of my friends back, but revenge was all that was left for me. I looked up to the harvest moon as it bathed me in its golden light. "Scootaloo..." I began to speak out loud to the moon almost as if it were my girlfriend's tombstone. "There are so many things I wished I could have said to you before last night. So many things I couldn't really say." I chuckled at myself. "It's not like you would have listened, anyway. You always did say 'actions speak louder than words', didn't you?" I looked down to the earth now, allowing my brown mane to cover the top part of my face. "I'm sorry if I wasn't the colt you wanted me to be. I'm sorry for anything I did to hurt you, Scoots. But most of all," I quickly silenced myself as I heard a twig break behind me. "Who is it?"
I saw the princess of the night reveal herself from behind one of the Ever-free forests trees. "I'm sorry, Noble. I did not know..."
I only sighed and looked back up to the moon. "You don't have anything to apologize for, Princess." If anything, I should have been apologizing to HER.
She walked up to me and sat down next to me as though she were invited. "Did I ever tell you of the time I spent sealed away up there on the moon, Noble?"
I shook my head, "No, I don't think you did."
"Well, allow me to regale you with my story," her smile was wiped from her face as she began. "T'is a memory I wish I could forget. I had lost all sight of what was important and tried to wrest control of Equestria from my sister." We were both looking up at the moon now, admiring it's light as I listened. "After I was defeated, I felt such rage at her. Imagine living for one thousand years like that, looking forward only to vengeance." Her eyes took on a blank look at though she was imagining what would have happened if Twilight had not stopped her with the elements of harmony. "Only hatred. And all while existing as little more than a painting, unable to move or act. Existing merely in thought for centuries. And then I returned to find that everything had changed while I was gone. None of my friends still lived and everypony feared me as a monster." Then she looked me straight in the eyes. "Have you any thought of what's that like, Noble Spirit?"
"I..." I couldn't look her eye anymore. After what I said to her and Vinyl earlier, I felt terrible. "No, Princess. I don't."
Then she gave me a sly smile. "I did not think so." She stood up and left after that. "I am going to sleep, and for the last time, Noble. You are allowed to simply call me 'Luna'."
I smiled at that. She was the only one in the whole world who understood how I felt right now, and she made that a point. I was lucky to have her as a friend. "Alright. And Prince-" I corrected myself at the last second. "Luna?" 
"Yes? What is it, Noble?"
"I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier," It was difficult meeting her gaze after what I said to her in front of Galaxia and everypony, but I did it. "I'm sure you had your reasons for coming here and I shouldn't have acted like you were the monster. Can you ever forgive me?"
Her sly grin turned into a warm smile. "I can and will, Noble. Now will you follow us? We have a long and arduous journey ahead."
I then went back to gazing at the moon, not ready to leave just yet. "Nah, Luna. I think I'll stay here for just a little bit longer. I still need to think some things through, you know?"
"Very well, Good night, Noble."
"Good night, Luna." She left to catch some shut-eye, but I stayed, feeling at peace in the moment. If there was anything I learned about tonight, it was that I shouldn't give up so easily. If Luna could take all of what happened to her and still come out standing, then so could I. It could ALWAYS get worse, and she showed up here to make that a point.
After spending only a few more minutes admiring the beauty of the night, I decided it was time to go to sleep like my friends. As I walked back to camp, I heard a twig snap. That was the only warning I got before I was clubbed over the head and taken away.