Excerpts from the Luna War

by Sapare

Truth

I gave a nervous glance to my two friends, who had recruited me to help them in their quest to uncover a conspiracy with far reaching consequences. This was it, finally we had laid bare our enemy and taken away their most powerful weapon, disguise. However, something made me shiver with unease.

The truth was, I didn't trust my allies one bit more then those traitors we were fighting, and I felt my usefulness had run its course, but I had no choice. I had to ensure that Luna would be freed from the crimes she did not commit, and that Equestria return to harmony. The large Earthpony pushed open the doors leading into the councilors chamber, it surprised me that it was unlocked. I shuffled after the two other ponies and spoke softly.

"Some hard evidence and then we are out of here, right?... I still don't see why you need me for this."

The Pegasus looked at me and shot one his confident and yet unpleasant grins and then turned his attention back to the room we had just entered, it was as lavish with furniture and decorative fabric as one would expect from a pony of this importance. And yet, it was instantly apparent that all of it was themed toward one topic, depicting the sun, the day, even Celestia raising the sun at the summer sun Celebration. Luna, the moon, the night, it was depicted not at all in this room, as if those things were not relevant.

I would have been surprised, insulted even, to see such obvious bias from a pony held so highly in a hierarchy that was supposed to value both sides as equal, but at this point it was the least of his crimes.

Still, the brightness and colors of the room caught my interest long enough that it took me a few moments to notice the ponies sitting front and center. I had been told that it was expected nopony would be here, instead we were face to face with a group that included some of the most influential ponies in all of Equestria. All high ranking royal advisers were present, or at least the official ones.

I shot an accusing glance at my two friends who had assured me this would be easy and quick. Now it might not even matter what evidence we posses, it would be difficult to explain breaking into private property of Celestia's most trusted ponies to steal information.

Before I could question what our plan was to get out of this Wingstroke spoke up.

"I am glad to see that you received our message and are willing to cooperate with us. It would indeed have been terrible if we had been forced to throw away our opportunities so blindly."

To my startled shock the Pegasus stepped toward the ponies completely casually, respectful bowing his head to their leader.

"We know all about your little agreement with the Gryphons. And we have all the evidence needed to bring Celestia's wrath down on you, with a pony outside your reach mind you."

A soft murmuring came from the ponies across the room, but their leader looked unfazed and simply shot as a warm and welcoming smile.

"But you see the wisdom in our actions and wish to help instead?"

I was about to reply with just denouncement of such accusation, but my blue friend was faster.

"We see the wisdom in your money and power, no more and no less. Celestia will win, and non of us need to pay the price for this little incident."

I was shocked by his words, I had known his 'for the money' approach and not valued him as valiant, but to betray us so bluntly. And then I noticed that his Earthpony friend had joined his side and nodded in agreement, leaving only me standing out as the odd pony who had not yet agreed.

To further add to my confusion the elder unicorn looked unhappier then before, as if he had been displeased by the responds given. He glanced over at his fellow traitors and sighed.

"Considering the circumstances we are not in a position to turn down your offer. I can however not help but mention how we would much rather have wished for ponies loyal to Celestia, rather then amoral mercenaries." He pronounced the last statement with complete disgust, as if he truly considered himself to be righteous, and then turned his look toward me.

"What about your third wheel there? He does not seem all to be all clued in on this little deal of yours. Is he going to cause further problems?"

And so I had suddenly become the center of attention, and the almost vicious looking grin on the muzzles of the advisers made it clear it was not a good form of attention.

The blue Pegasus who I had grudgingly thought a friend shook his head slowly and sighed.

"I like you Star, you are predictable and trustworthy, so hard to find in this sort of business, but they are right, me and (name) here make a good two pony show. And even if we let you walk away, I know you too well to fool myself into thinking you would just let us get away with this."

As he spoke I could feel my blood begin to rise, I could not figure out if he was being genuine or making fun of me for trusting him. But he saved me only to let the same fate befall me anyway.

As silence began to fall and all those death-wishing eyes settled on me I could not stop myself, I would not be an easy target. I snarled at my 'friend'.

"You forgot that I am a trained royal guard, you are all hereby under royal arrest and to be brought to Celestia for questioning!"

My horn began to glow brightly as I readied a shield against the assault that would follow my words, but to my surprise the ponies around me only continued to grin menacingly, till the traitor's leader once more talked.

"That is all nice and well, but I prefer to let others do the dirty work for me. So mercenaries, how about you two take care of your little friend and show us how dedicated you are to the cause, and then we'll have a deal?"

My heart skipped a beat when suddenly a knocking sound echoed from the door, when the other ponies looked no less surprised then me it became clear that this was not part of the scheme. The knocking happened once more and no pony dared move a muscle, part of me wishing to race to the door and beg for help, but the huge looming Earthpony made it clear I would not make it a hoofs length.
Finally the knocking stopped and instead came a voice, a young guard pony voice I had heard before somewhere.

"My apology Sir, but the princess has called for an emergency meeting and requested attendance by all her top advisers."

There was a long moment of silence following this and the glares direct at me had now turned into impressed accusations, but my own utter confusion must have made it clear that this was not my doing. After the pony once more knocked on the door, seemingly determined to succeed at his task, the advisers glanced at each other before their leader spoke up again, his look now once more directed at the blue Pegasus.

"If we all disappeared now, the same time your little friend was to have his accident, it would seem very strange. I don't know what you are playing at but we will go along, you remove him and we will be in contact soon, mercenary."

With this he trotted toward the entrance, casually walking past me as if he had no ill intentions at all. He opened the door and nodded at the Pegasus guard who had so eagerly delivered the summon.

"Ah, Thankyou for doing your job so diligently. You can inform the princess that I will be at the chamber in a few moments."

The guard nodded quickly and hurried off, having no reason to question the councilors words or investigate what had been occurring within his room. I saw the other ponies who were involved in the plot follow suit, many of them giving me a final knowing nod as they passed. One even spoke, his voice thick with venom and disgust.

"Don't feel cheated, you should have been executed for being present at a council meeting... no place for Luna loving scum like you."

When the final council member had left the room and the door slammed shut behind me I once more focused my magical energy and glaring at the two ponies I had trusted to protect me, the Pegasus idly scraping the floor with a hoof.

"That was a darn clever move of yours, but no one is going to come looking for us. We have all the time in the world to take care of you."

He and his big stallion friend started to walk toward me, then split into two and slowly began to circle me from opposite directions.

"Royal guard training? Nice speech, but don't forget that we saved your life once. I am confident we can take it back."

The moment he finished both of them leaped toward me, and my horn flashed bright as the magical barrier enveloped my body. Sadly they had been smart, and by splitting up I had to focus on two different directions at the same time, their progress toward me slowed but not stopped as they struggled against the magical force pushing them back.

With a loud growl I snapped my eyes open and let the magic disappear, instead leaping to the right and tackling the Pegasus who had sold me out so willingly. I succeeded at surprising him, knocking him over with my body and both of us tumbling against a heavy wooden table. The impact however knocked the wind out of me and even as I brought my hoofs down on the other ponies face I could feel strong hoofs grab my back, and fling me clean across the room.

With a yell of pain I struck a painting and the wall behind it, my back sending waves of pain throughout as I lay on the floor, panting heavily. My unfocused eyes could make out the two colored blobs, the blue one being helped up by the big red and then both of them growing bigger as they came closer.

I closed my eyes, trying to push out the foggy image I had seen and once more focusing my magic to build a protective barrier, but even as it materialized I could feel the immense strength of the Earthpony simply pushing through it. I tried harder to push him away, my whole body trembling, and then his hoof touched my head, grabbed the horn, and smashed my straight into the stone tiles.

Any concentration I had was shattered as my head burned with pain and my eyes instinctively opened to see the attacker, a big Earthpony looked down at me, his expression neither joyful nor sad, simply business.

And then a yell of surprise and confusion rang through the room, followed by the sound of a rough impact and shattering wood. The Earthpony let go of me and turned to look at the source of the noise, my eyes following his but the whole world was just a blur of colors. I saw a blue blob crumbled on top the table I had fought by only moments before, or at least what was now left of said table.

My eyes noticed a pony shaped dark gray blob by the entrance of the room, but before I could think on that I heard another yell, this one so deep and loud that it could only have originated from the Earthpony who had just almost smashed in my skull.

The blue shape struck with such velocity that I had no doubt even he had at broken some bones from that. I did not really understand what had happened yet, but with the ponies trying to kill me gone I felt much safer and I once more strained my eyes to make out the shape of my savior.

This became much easier when he quickly made his way over to me, placing a hoof to my head and caused a wave of calming healing magic to sink deep into my skull. My pain did not go away, but it became a small echo in the back of my mind, rather then the roaring it had been only moments ago, and my eyes once more regained their focus.

Before me was Starswirl, the grey unicorn looking at me with a strange sense of sadness and guilt.

"I am sorry you had to endure this, I wish I had been but a little bit faster. I had to make sure where their loyalties lay before I accused them of treason, even after we gathered all the evidence I needed."

He reached out a hoof to mine and with his help I slowly rose to stand, my legs a little unsteady but overall nothing seemed too be broken or other wise critical.

The old unicorn smiled at me cautiously and then looked over at the two other ponies, who had most certainly come the worse out of this.

"You have gone through a lot during this whole mess... but hopefully it is about to be over. Celestia knows everything, and she will deal with the traitors as she sees fit. I am going to secure these two." He nodded over at the unconscious pair and then looked into my eyes again. "If you want to witness the end to this you better hurry, Celestia is waiting on you."

Author's Note:

My wish is that someday I can return to these chapters and give them a well deserved rewrite, there is too much leaning on these last few pieces of the puzzle for me to rush them out as I did. But I simply find it difficult to look at this story any more, so I am tying all the loose ends up and bringing it to an end.