For the New Lunar Republic

by Moxypony

Chapter 2 - Hard Times in Manehattan

“Fire in the hole!” Moxi could barely hear the voice over the rain as she saw the heavy looking black cylinder fly through the room’s open window. The alicorn was momentarily distracted and Moxi seized her opportunity to rush the larger pony, sinking Dreamcatcher’s knife deep into his leg just in time to be blinded and deafened by an explosion from behind her. Her vision was blurred by the flash of white, but the alicorn got the worst of it.

The alicorn swung the sword wildly, blinded by the flashbang and reeling from the pain of the knife, he was distracted enough to let Moxi slip beneath the sword, its blade passing close enough that she saw a number of dark violet hairs drop to the floor. She bolted back to Dreamcatcher, hoping to use the momentary confusion to slip him out of the building, only to find a number of other ponies beating her to the punch. Several pegasus ponies were already grabbing the unconscious Dreamcatcher and hoisting him out the window, each one bearing a patch inscribed with the words “Luna Nobis Providet.”

Moxi heaved a sigh of relief and followed the soldiers out the window, leaving the alicorn to swing his sword wildly as he attempted to regain his vision. “Thank the night,” Moxi said, “the cavalry has arrived.”

Dreamcatcher was hauled to a cart outside which the Lunar Soldiers immediately strapped in to and took off so quickly that Moxi was barely able to get on the thing before it launched into the sky. She slumped down beside Dreamcatcher, not going so far as to actually use his body as a pillow, his injuries would have made that nothing short of pure agony, but leaning close enough that she could see his chest rise and fall, see his nostrils flare as he took his ragged breaths. She slumped back and nearly passed out from sheer exhaustion before she noticed the Lieutenant who had removed himself from the cart to address her. “Agent Moxi,” he said, his voice was tough and commanding, but she could tell he was attempting to soften his words in deference to their status, “I certainly hope you’ve got something to show for this, I hope this operation wasn’t a waste of time, and a waste of good ponies.”

Moxi felt the anger in those last few words, “I’m sorry, Lieutenant Stareye… about your men, but yes, this mission has yielded some valuable intel, but I will only report that intel to the high commander herself.”

Stareye gave her a dark glance and seemed about to make an argument of it when he nodded, “very well, I suppose you and Agent Dreamcatcher were under orders to do such from the start?”

“Yes, Lieutenant,” Moxi replied, her eyelids growing heavy on her, “how long will it be before we reach base camp?”

“An hour or two, with this weather,” he said, eying the state of both Moxi and Dreamcatcher, “use that time to get some rest, Agent, you’re no use to us if you can’t function.”

Moxi shot him a lackadaisical salute. “Whatever you say, sir,” she turned over and nuzzled deeply into the warmth provided by her scarf, “whatever you say.”

Three Years Earlier

Moxi opened her eyes onto an empty pillow and disheveled sheets and let loose a heavy sigh. She sat up in her bed, grabbing her glasses from the bedside table before looking around the room. The apartment wasn’t large, and if Chillwind wasn’t in sight here, she would have to be either in the bathroom or out of the apartment altogether.

Moxi took a guess and assumed that her beloved wasn’t home, as it wasn’t unusual in recent days for her to wake up and find that Chillwind had gone off in search of work. Moxi held her face in her hooves, “She tries so hard… I need to start trying harder too.” With that she whipped the covers from her body and got ready to leave the apartment. She eyed the scarf beside the door its patchwork design betraying its humble origins, she still remembered the night Chillwind had given it to her, both of them scared out of their wits over the disappearance of the mare in the moon, but both taking comfort in the knowledge that they still had one another, whatever may happen. Chillwind had been so nervous, since she couldn’t knit worth a damn and they both knew it, but Moxi had nearly cried when she saw the somewhat ugly patchwork scarf come out of the colorfully wrapped box Chillwind had given her.

Moxi saw the scarf as nothing short of a monumental labor of love, Chillwind trying so hard to make something for her, trying to do something she struggled with all for the sake of making the pony she loved happy, how could Moxi not love the silly little scarf?

Moxi and Chillwind had spent their first night together that night. They had shared their love with one another tenderly and without regret or trepidation. They fell asleep in one another’s embrace, facing one another so that they would know they could awake to see the each other’s eyes upon waking.

Their morning turned out to have a significantly less romantic start, as Chillwind’s parents had opened the door to wake their only daughter for the new day, only to find her in Moxi’s tender embrace.

The ensuing shouting match had ended only when Chillwind’s father had thrown her from the house, telling her never to come back. Chillwind put up a brave face, but Moxi could feel the tear in her heart as she stormed away from the only home she’d known in all her life.

Moxi had turned to her family, hoping for support, but, far from rallying to the young filly’s aide, the older ponies had blanched at the knowledge that their daughter had done such a thing, and while they did not set Moxi out on the street, their refusal to help the now homeless Chillwind had been the last straw so far as Moxi was concerned. She’d immediately gathered up all the bits she could get a hold of and led Chillwind to the train station to buy two tickets to Manehattan.

Life had been good to begin with, Chillwind and Moxi were both talented fliers, and the local weather patrol had been quick to snatch them up. The pay was decent and both fillies were happy living their lives together, their love going unchallenged by the city ponies, but nothing stay perfect, as the two fillies learned.

Two years into their new life together, Cloudsdale sought independence from Celestian Equestria, claiming its independence as a free nation-state. Princess Celestia opposed the move by the Pegasus capital, but ultimately allowed the secession to continue. There was peace in Equestria once more, but the tension against the rebellious pegasi began to simmer as anti-pegasus propaganda began to circulate among the major Equestrian cities, calling the pegusi greedy traitors and instilling a seed of distrust among the unicorn and earth ponies alike which would quickly grow, resulting in the disbanding of most major weather patrol organizations.

Moxi looked up at the Manehattan skyline, behind the city buildings, the sky was gray and dismal, sunshine was rare these days, it had been ever since she and Chillwind had received letters telling them they were being laid off from the Manehattan weather patrol. Celestia had made a statement in the news claiming that weather patrols would continue, but that the kingdoms coffers were not sufficient to properly fund constant weather patrol as they had been able to do in the past. She cited the secession of Cloudsdale as the cause of this, claiming that the newly independent nation was forcing Equestria to pay unreasonable prices for their weather patrol services. The Duke of Cloudsdale was suspiciously silent throughout.

Moxi wandered the Manehattan streets, searching for places she would be qualified to work, and for places which so much as be willing to let her work, “No Pegasus Need Apply” signs were not uncommon in Equestria these days.

“Horsefeathers,” Moxi muttered to herself, as she was turned away from the sixth shop in a row, “I don’t understand how Chill does this every day…” She turned to make her way back to the apartment when she heard a familiar voice from behind her, “Moxi?”

Moxi turned to find Chillwind waiting behind her, the blue Pegasus pony was smiling at Moxi, but there was something off about it, the smile didn’t touch her eyes, Moxi approached her and wrapped a wing around her, only to feel her beloved flinch away.

Moxi’s eyes widened as she looked at the body of her beloved Chillwind. Her normally shiny blue coat was marred and matted, blood stained her coat beneath her left wing, which stuck out at an odd angle. “Chillwind!” Moxi exclaimed in shock, “What happened to you!?”

Chillwind winced at the look on Moxi’s face, putting on a brave smile but still in visible pain, “I ran across a few ponies who weren’t terribly happy with Cloudsdale… It’s not a big deal, hun.”

“Not a big deal!?” Moxi exclaimed, “Look at you, Chill! Who would do something like this to a defenseless pony!”

“Look, Moxi,” Chillwind spoke, not meeting Moxi’s eyes, “I don’t want to talk about it, can we just go home? Please?”

Moxi looked at Chillwind, and her righteous anger gave way to sympathy and concern. “Yeah,” she said, wrapping a wing around Chillwind delicately, so as not to press any of her wounds, “let’s go home, I’ll make you some supper.” Chillwind nuzzled into Moxi’s neck, and together, the two returned to their home.

Moxi had thrown together dinner as best she could, food was scarce for the two of them these days. Even when they had money to pay, there was no shortage of shopkeeps now who were less than willing to serve a Pegasus pony. Moxi began to eat the simple soup she had prepared, when Chillwind spoke up, “Moxi, there’s something I’ve been thinking for a while…”

Moxi lifted her face from her soup, searching Chillwind’s expression for some hint at her meaning, she could feel her heart beating in her throat. When somepony starts a sentence off with that, she thought, it’s never good news. Chillwind looked up at Moxi, her eyes heavy as she spoke, “I’ve been looking for work for over a month with absolutely no luck, and if this goes on much longer, the severance checks will run dry and we won’t be able to afford rent anymore…”

Moxi stared into her bowl, feeling guilt wrenching at her innards, and she felt her body begin to shake, “I’m sorry, Chill,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes, “I should have been looking for work too… I’m so selfish…” Chillwind placed her hoof over Moxi’s , as she’d done to comfort young filly so many times before, and Moxi gripped Chillwind’s hoof in both of her own, but she couldn’t bring herself to look into her love’s face. “Moxi…” Chillwind said hesitantly, “I bought a ticket to Canterlot today…”

Moxi’s eyes shot up to meet Chillwind’s, staring in disbelief, A ticket!? “No,” she said, her voice cracking in pain, “no, please, Chillwind, don’t leave me! I swear, I’ll find a job, I’ll get the money to save our home, just don’t leave me… don’t you love me anymore?”

Chillwind’s table clattered to the floor she stood up so fast, her hooves immediately wrapped around Moxi, holding her tight. “Of course I love you,” she said, tears streaming down her own cheeks as she held her love tight, “that’s why I have to go, at least for a while… Canterlot is wealthy enough that I’m sure they’ve still got full time weather patrol! I bet I can gather up enough money there to last us for ages here in Manehattan, plenty long enough to ride out the hard times!” She gripped the sobbing white pegasus tighter still, burying her face in the Violet hair who’s silver streak had always fascinated her so, “I love you, Moxi. I always will, and because I love you so much, I can’t watch you lose your home… not because of me… not again…”

“No!” Moxi shouted, looking into Chillwind’s eyes, as red and puffy from tears as her own, “Don’t you ever blame yourself for what happened back then! I chose you over my family because I love you! You didn’t force me into anything! This situation isn’t your fault either, it’s just… just… bad luck.”

“Bad luck or no,” Chillwind spoke, “I won’t let you wind up on the street if there’s anything I can do to prevent it.” She bent down and kissed Moxi, they each held each other tight, trying to press through their lips non-verbally all the emotion and desperation which they struggled with verbally.

When they broke the kiss, both ponies still had tears streaming down their cheeks, though they smiled at one another through the tears. “I love you, Chillwind,” Moxi said, quietly. Chillwind merely winked at Moxi with that knowing smile of hers and said, “I know.” The two ponies returned to their bed and lay down embracing one another as they drifted off to sleep.

Present Day

“Agent Moxi,” Moxi was woken by the voice of Lieutenant Stareye, the cart was still drifting through the clouds, “we’re approaching base camp, we’ll be there shortly after breaking cloud cover.”

“Roger,” Moxi groaned, stretching out in the seat of the cart, she suddenly had a stroke of caution and glanced around, squinting through the cloud cover, “You made sure we weren’t followed, right?” Stareye looked affronted as he replied, “Of course! I would never betray her highnesses location to the enemy! Besides, if you’re referring to the alicorn, I doubt he would follow us this far into Lunar territory. This region is firmly under the control of the 32nd Battalion.”
Moxi sighed and glanced over at Dreamcatcher, the earth pony was still unconscious, but his breathing was coming much easier now. “He’ll be fine,” Stareye said, noting her attention to Catcher, “Agent Dreamcatcher has suffered worse in the line of duty, besides, earth ponies are surprisingly resilient.”

“That’s good to hear,” Moxi said, then she caught herself, “not that he’s been injured worse, I mean, just that he’ll get better!” Stareye actually chucklet at her, before turning his attention to the front of the cart, “Here we go, we’ll be breaking cover any second now.”

Moxi never failed to be astonished when she saw Princess Luna’s basecamp with the New Lunar Republic’s 32nd Battalion, no matter how many times she saw it. The camp comprised of a number of simple barracks arrayed around a much larger structure, which was nothing short of a small palace constructed from a mirror-like substance. “Never say Princess Luna doesn’t travel in style,” Moxi muttered as the cart swung down to approach the camp. She turned her attention to Dreamcatcher and said, “I’m sure there’s someone here who’ll want to see you right away.”