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Xam'd At The Dawn of War6,124 words
Blackout In Ponyville5,676 words
The Way To Freedom6,169 words
Enlightenment7,594 words

Enlightenment

Author's Note:

After seven years, an update.

Canterlot was a warzone. Ponies fought over the ruins of the palace, some fought for freedom, some just fought because that was all that they knew.

A Ponyform weapon, unicorn type, lumbered through the streets, the beast like thing covered in horns that radiated mana as it swiveled its blind eyes around. It looked like it was sniffing the air, but deep within the belly of the beast, a pony stared out of it carefully tracking signs of life and, in particular, enemies. She sat in a cockpit made of artificial flesh and bone, pulsating to the rhythm of its movements and blessed by chaos. Used by those who wanted to wage war in this failed land. Sugar Belle, stared out, her eyes covered by a machine, tying her into the nervous system of the beast. She prayed to Discord, her savior, the one who's return was foretold by so many creatures. “Sorrowful memories having lost their homeland now subject to the will of the hiruko. Cry out in service to the infinite kindness of Discord.

She noticed movement to her left, and turning to it, Sugar Belle charged up the horn, letting a small ball of mana gather around it. It glowed black and crackled with photons as she clenched her hoof around that condensed ball of death in her mind. Second spore, fire.” A beam of light shot out of the weapon and engulfed the block with blinding mana, making the night become like midday as it cut through whatever stood in its path.

“Fifth spore” Sugar Belle lumbered through the streets, letting her horns shoot lances of light toward anything that moved.

Above Canterlot, an airship sat watching the carnage. “ASP squad arrived above Canterlot. Preparing for aerial drop.” A door opened with a clank as small mobile units, machines with purpose stared up at the gathering stars. They flexed their metallic hooves, ponies connected to their wiring waiting for orders. A low buzzing echoed through the hull of the ship as their weapons powered up, the cannons connected to faux metal horns, mana running up and down those spires as the army stared at the carnage below.

"Squads one and five. You may drop now.” With that, a plethora of Lunar Republic troops charged out, their mechanical pony armor falling out of the sky.

Sugar Belle stared at the troops falling down, quickly turning her weapon on them, its fleshy exterior flexing as it turned. “Interesting." She pulled back a hoof and smiled, quickly praying to Discord for her life and powered up her horns that she was so used to. She had trained for this. "First, fourth spores." She tried to dodge the mech suits as they dropped, their booming landings ruining more of the landscape around Canterlot. Sugar Belle groaned as the ASP squads returned fire, their mana burning her Ponyform Weapon's exterior. She silently screamed as she felt the connection between stab her in the side. A price to pay for her god. She grit her teeth as she turned to the new weapons of the Lunar Republic. She had heard of the new suits, a new model of an old battle. New mechs? How fun. Fire.” She moved her leg, ready to fire, but she was stopped as the team of pilots crash landed around her, taking out buildings as they did so. She sighed as he refocused the laser towards the nearest one, trying to aim at the lead pony's mech. Before she could, she felt a stinging pain as the APC's opened fire on her, making her laser swing off course. Sugar Belle screamed as she was blasted, sending her on a collision course with a nearby building, her spores cutting through the marble like butter.

---

Sugar Belle hid behind a pile of rubble, blood running down her leg, eyes bleary as blood dripped on her face from a head wound. She breathed slowly, trying to hide her presence as much as possible. The battle had turned badly for her. Fighting one versus a whole squad of these things, whatever they were truly, was untenable.

“Find that pod. Capture the ponyform user alive as much as possible. Doctor Whooves wants more test subjects.”

“Yes sir.”

***

“My Lady Celestia, your humble servants are ready to be commanded.” Raven walked confidently into the lab that housed Celestia and her subjects. She fixed her glasses as she looked at the rows of foals that Celestia used, the faces of theirs beautiful in their innocence as they walked around the alicorn, her white coat a light in the semi-darkness.

Celestia nodded at her assistant, the leader of the Celestial Guards. She got up from the small seat that she used as a makeshift throne, letting her magic place a teacup on a nearby table. Celestia beamed at the small unicorn as she walked slowly to a nearby pool. “You need to go and please return this stone of harmony. For your sake as well as mine.” Celestia floated over a large jewel, the green stone brimming with life as she looked at her small, but dedicated following.

“We hear and obey.”

***

“Let’s go. Heave!” Soarin' and Braeburn lifted a package of mail over the hatch of the Perigee. Scootaloo lazily watched, tracing her bandages with a hoof as she felt the rod that Twilight jammed into her hoof. She had blacked out when Twilight had done that, but she only felt her stone, her hiruko, pulsate with life every once in a while, the wards and magic keeping it docile for a time.

“One. Two. Three.” With a nod, the two stallions dropped the package out of the ship, the winds taking the heavy parcel on a trip of its own. With a flutter of fabric, the parachute that Braeburn had attached opened, its billowing sails veering the package towards Hollow Shades.

“Hey, Twilight, we finished unloading the deliveries for Hollow Shades.” Braeburn grinned as he picked up his hat from a nearby bench.

“Is breakfast ready yet.” Soarin' grumbled, his stomach rumbling with his desire for pie. "I'm starving." The pegasus ran a hoof through his hair, quietly talking to himself as he shuffled a deck of cards.

“Yes, Derpy’s getting ready to call you in. Probably will be a few minutes. Where’s Scootaloo? Dinky said she was here.” Twilight looked up, her horn glimmering with mana as she turned a page in a book, quickly jotting down a note in a nearby notebook as she spoke,

Ya mean Miss Sleepyhead?" Braeburn chuckled. "She couldn’t handle the heavy liftin' what with her arm, so she's over there takin' a nap.”

Twilight set her book aside and nodded. "Well we can't miss our appointment. Zecora hated when Dash missed her first bit of training." Twilight sighed as she saw Scootaloo snore away, her hair in a mess. Deciding quickly what to do, the purple unicorn kicked Scootaloo softly in the side.“Wake up.”

“Sweetie! Run!” Scootaloo jumped up, groggy, but mostly alert as she scrambled around the floor for a moment, confused as to why she wasn't in Ponyville. Wasn't on the brink of death. "Oh." The small pegasus sat back for a moment and looked up at Twilight who sat there unamused. "What?"

“Ok, I win.” Soarin' placed down his cards. "Read 'em and weep."

“Wha-” Braeburn looked at his cards, back at Soarin's and slumped in his chair. "You are way too good at this."

“Twenty-one. That’s another month’s pay from you Braeburn.”

“Soarin’ you are killing me."

"I keep telling you that you shouldn't make promises your ass can't catch. . ."

“Are you awake now? We’re going to see Zecora. For your X’amd training.” Twilight briefly smiled. "Don't freak out."

***

“Hurry up!” Twilight yelled, quickly shifting boxes out of the way as she guided Scootaloo deep into the heart of the ship. Wires hung like cobwebs as the pair took a ladder down another half level, the rungs slight with rust.

“You sure there are rooms down here?” Scootaloo cringed as she saw a particularly large rat scurry along. She picked her hooves up, her wings buzzing as she tried to hop along the hallway. She kept an eye on her hooves to make sure she didn't step on any big and scurrying things. Sweetie would hate it here for that reason.

“Zecora likes being alone. She’s a shaman so don't say anything that you will regret.” Twilight whispered as she let mana from her horn light her way. "Come on."

“It’s just that I’m not so good with all this spiritual junk.” Scootaloo remembered too well her time in school. She had barely paid attention to the wider world past the limits of Ponyville. "Mom said a lot of non ponies were evil enchanters."

Twilight sighed. "There's so much wrong with that statement that I'd rather not even start with it. Zecora's absolutely fine." The purple unicorn blinked as she got to the end of the hallway, the clanking of the ship audible from this deep interior room. "One moment. You might want to hold your breath for a moment." Twilight gripped the door handle and before Scootaloo could ask what she meant, a miasma of green fog spilled into the hallway. "She's probably communing with spirits now." Twilight cupped her hooves together and yelled into the smoke filled room. "Zecora, I brought you the Xam’d!”

“Hello?” Scootaloo walked cautiously into the dark room, unsure of what this zebra was going to do to her. Pinkie had filled her head with stories, some probably made up, about all the things that zebras did. She just hoped that she wouldn't be cursed at all.

Zecora stepped out of the darkness, her eyes slightly glowing as she stared at Scootaloo. “Fate has intertwined you with that stone. Therefore you worry that you will stay alone. Despite this, you still wish to live?”

“Yes. Isn’t there some way to get this hiruko thing out of me? I mean I guess its cool and all, but I'd rather be normal and not worry about turning into a monster.” Scootaloo scratched absentmindedly at the stone, her arm hurting as she did so.

“The only one who could do that is the horse of the sun. Though I doubt that could be done.” The zebra shrugged and fished out a potion, carefully inspecting its contents.

“Isn't she dead. At least that's what I heard in Ponyville once. Though I also heard she wasn't dead."

Twilight stretched and flipped through her book. “She’s not been seen outside the Celestial Empire for almost a decade.” The purple unicorn shrugged. "If she was dead, Luna would know. But she hasn't mentioned it."

Scootaloo's ears perked up at that. "So its still possible right. That just means that I have to find Celestia."

Zecora hummed slowly to herself, passing a hoof over the potion. "Fish swim within the sea, but what you seek is not what you'll be. Tell me what your stone desires, but do not wait for you will expire."

Scootaloo ran the sentence in her head to try and understand whatever that meant. She shook her head in frustration as she got stuck. Poetry wasn't her strong suit. “Tell you? But I don’t know anything-”

"Your heart is like a bird. So discover yourself and find your heart's word." Zecora set down the potion, smiling as she did so and picked up a tea pot, carefully pouring tea for herself as she watched the pegasus- so like the last one- decipher her words.

"How could I know? All I thought I wanted was a cutie mark. Not this." Scootaloo sighed and flailed her hooves about, generally pointing to the world around her. The cramped, dark room. The Perigee itself. Her hoof. Losing all her friends.

"Listen closely to the stone and you will find you are never alone. Now Crystal Heart." Zecora turned her gaze on Twilight.

"Zecora. Twilight closed her book and nodded at the slightly older zebra.

"You can begin the test. For it seems this X'amd decrees that is best."

***

"Canterlot's under siege. Let's take the 37th line to get around that." Derpy pointed at a map of Equestria, slowly tracing the route of the Perigee as she talked. "Else we could go south, deliver stuff to Klugetown first."

Luna turned to the grey pegasus and sighed, her hair fluttering in a nonexistent wind. "This is a postal ship. Quick, safe deliveries is what we are known for and how we get paid."

"I know that but the Lunar Republic's restrictions are so much more difficult to circumvent." Derpy sighed. "I mean the last time we complied with their rules, we spent a month in dock. Which cost us a lot of the mail contracts." Derpy scratched her head in thought and leaned back as she stared at the alicorn.

"I was too lenient when I returned. The enemies of my enemies. . ." Luna stared out at the moving clouds, slowly tracing a cloud that looked like a chariot. She wished it had been easier. If she had talked to her sister about co ruling without all the drama her return caused. The aristocrats falling in on themselves, cannibalizing each side into a raucous war driven mess.

"There's no difference between the Celestials and the Lunarian army. But there's Irondeer to the north. Swing off northward, save some time, but be still slightly late." Derpy tapped on the map and glanced at her captain, hoping that that compromise was a success.

"If only we could ship off Scootaloo that easily." Luna shrugged.

"She's just a foal."

"If she was just a foal we'd be fine." Luna turned away for a moment, checking if Soarin' still had his eyes on the destination.
Harmony decreed that she isn''t a child." Luna stared up at the moon for a brief moment and let her hoof tap gently on her hoofrest of her chair. "Soarin' please go towards Irondeer, then swing south. Hopefully then we can get these packages delivered on time."

Derpy picked up the map and rolled it up, careful to not wrinkle it as she did so."It would have been easier to have Dinky become a X'amd instead of Scootaloo. I'd be at least sort of proud of her- being her mother and all."

"How selfish of you. I mean I've spent years watching all this unfold. And I can confidently say that you wouldn't." Luna picked up her coffee and sipped it slowly, the dark roast keeping her awake during the day. "Unless you like having children fight battles they are woefully unprepared for."

"I'd be proud about it." Derpy frowned as she sat back down in her seat.

Luna scoffed and pulled out a cigarette, slowly passing it in front of her face with her magic. "Do you mind if I-"

Derpy frowned. "No, and I don't care if you are immortal or not. Most of us don't have that luxury. No smoking on the ship."

***

"100!" Dinky and Amethyst Star cheered as Scootaloo threw the stamp to the ground, her hoof aching as she stared at the pile of mail, sorted by location, date, and postage.

"3 minutes, 18 seconds. Not bad!" Amethyst Star grinned as she floated over the watch, carefully checking the time and writing it down on a piece of paper. "Good, but not good enough."

"3 minutes is a right difficult thing ta beat." Braeburn grumbled as he looked at the pile and tapped his hoof in frustration. "An' anyway, I thought that Scoot here had some trainin'. How'd I'd think she'd not beat Dash's time? She's a pegasus ain't she?"

"Braeburn, you agreed." Amethyst grinned as she pulled out a nicely written form with Braeburn's signature clearly on display. "Can't help it that you have a gambling problem. Cleaning duty it is."

"Have fun. It was a mess last time I checked." Dinky nodded as she ran off.

Scootaloo stared at the table. Her leg killed her and she could see Angel's annoying grin as the rabbit ate a nearby carrot. She had attempted to tell Luna that that infernal bunny had hitchhiked onto the ship when they were in Ponyville, but the alicorn said that if it came down to it, she'd chose the rabbit. Cheaper. Scootaloo sighed and scratched her bandage. She didn't know if Luna had been joking or not and she was too afraid to ask.

"No resting, Scootaloo. Keep working." Twilight put down her book, quickly marking her place with a bookmark. "Else we'll have to put off going outside and training until later."

"That's right, Scoots, guess you can show off your powers now." Braeburn leaned back in his chair, slightly miffed, as he counted out his remaining bits.

"Okay that's the first batch done. And after that you can show off your moves that Braeburn keeps mentioning." Amethyst Star rolled her eyes and stretched as she glanced at the earth pony. "Though for some reason, he's not gambling about you being competent at fighting. Which worries me."

"Guys, can I take a break for once?" Scootaloo stretched, feeling her bones shift as she did so. "My back's killing me."

"You'd get done faster if you didn't complain." Amethyst tapped her watch and set the timer. "We are running a tight ship and any slackers are to be harshly dealt with."

Braeburn grinned as he picked up his hat. "Sounds like little missy here has been listenin' to too many of them speeches that Luna makes."

"Hey, Twilight, how is this training?" Scootaloo laid her head on the table, the slight smell of parchment assailing her nose as she did so, the sounds of Braeburn and Amethyst bickering fade away as she stared at the mysterious and quiet unicorn. "I mean I've heard about it. But besides it being a thing, I don't know how it'll be."

"Hard, painful, necessary. Without it, you'll die as soon as you get out of my sight." Twilight fixed her eyes on the small pegasus, her gaze distant, but with a hint of warmth. "Going into the wider world is dangerous."

***

"Scootaloo" Sweetie stared at the bag that Scootaloo had left. The last remnant of the pegasus, since she didn't know if Scoot was alive or dead. She felt like it was more likely that she was still out there, being cool, hiding from the Lunar army, trying to find Dash. Like she had wanted to do. But there was a part of her that worried, that just wasn't sure. No body.

"Darling, what has gotten into you?" Rarity smiled as she trotted up to her sister, hugging the filly with as much gusto as she could. "Applebloom was starting to get rather worried. Especially with how hectic and positively dreadful the last few days have been."

"Sorry, sorry, tried to get here as fast as I could. Have you been waiting long?"

"'Bout 15 minutes." Applebloom walked up, coat partially covered in oil. "So not all that long. Rare's just being dramatic is all."

"How's AB's driving coming along?" Sweetie tried to make small talk since she still had the odd feeling of Scootaloo almost being right behind her, out of her reach. She didn't want to look because looking made the hurt feel more real. More immediate.

"It's better than Scoot's was. Needs improvement on the parking, but she passes." Rarity beamed.

"Thanks, I think." Applebloom wiped her face with onies was starting toa towel and tossed it aside. "Hey what's got into those ponies over there?" Applebloom pointed at the edge of town where a large crowd of ponies was starting to gather.

---

"There's a lot of ponies here." Rarity put a hoof over her eyes to shield her from the sun. "I hadn't heard anything about a gathering or a celebration."

"Looks like a fireworks show or somethin'." Applebloom shrugged.

"Wow, an airship." Sweetie pointed at the descending ship, its blue coloration a dead giveaway that it was a Lunar ship. "That's so cool."

"Looks like they are forming a brigade or something. Probably help out the island."

"So yet another war." Rarity grimaced. "Goody."

"Everyone in my family is dead. All of them. Every one." A pink earth pony walked ever so slowly through the crowd, mumbling to herself as she did so. Her eyes set dead ahead on the ship, mouth pursed in anger.

"Diamond Tiara." Sweetie shivered as she noticed that Diamond was favoring her front legs. "Is she hurt? We should probably-"

Applebloom raised a hoof to stop Sweetie. "Last raid took outta tons of families. Heard something about the Riches. . .

"Hey, Diamond. . ." Sweetie pulled away from her group, carefully dodging ponies as she did so, and walked up to the shellshocked classmate of hers. "You need help? I mean AB's got a-"

Diamond turned to Sweetie, a cold dead look in her eyes. "Who are you pining over? You should forget them. Probably dead. Everyone's dead." She laughed as she walked away, limping as she did so. "Everyone dies. Everyone."

***

"Fall in. Commander, the island is fully in your command."

Applejack groaned, unsure of which pony that was that handed her off the garrison. She had little sleep on the way over here to Ponyville due to her concerns about meeting up with ponies she had tried so hard to move past. Or forget. And here she was staring at some pony she didn't know since she didn't read the dossier about each and every pony in the town and its outskirts before coming here. Her hooves clopped down the metal stairs, the sound reverberating ever so slightly. She kept her eyes straight forward on that particular pony and made her limp as unnoticed as she could with all things considered. It hurt with the change in altitude and she couldn't really do things about it. Well she could, but it'd be to lose a leg. And she was rather proud of that doctor's work.

I told y'all to treat me like one of your own. Nothin' more, nothin' less." Applejack nodded as she placed a hoof on this forgettable pony. "Now let's meet the people. Can't have us be takin' control of this town without a celebration."

***

"School's gone. What do we do now." Applebloom stared out at the airship. She kicked her hooves as she stared out at the airship, the thought of seeing Applejack after years and years kind of worrying. So she breathed out and acted normal, as normal as she could in the situation. No Scootaloo. Sweetie acting morose. No school to focus on to drive away the swirling emotions that she rarely mentioned to her friends.

"Don't know." Sweetie shrugged, carefully blowing her bangs out of her eyes. "Don't care really. As long as we don't get drafted. That'd be the day." Sweetie laughed, her peals of hollow laughter not really calming the mood. The short meeting with Diamond weighed heavily on her mind, any hope of normality felt hollow and odd to her at the moment.

"Yeah. That'd be ridiculous."

***

"I still don't know. But how is meditation supposed to be training. I thought I was going to be fighting something. Anything." Scootaloo stared at the obtuse zebra. "I have spent what feels like the last couple hours just sitting here in silence."

"The ship has moved. Therefore you have entered the groove." Zecora slowly stirred a pot of tea and smiled as she stared at the pegasus.

"What in the hay does that mean?" Scootaloo groaned and lay back on the mat. "So stupid. "

***

"You might want to eat first." Derpy glanced over to the orange pegasus and frowned as she slid a pile of daisy sandwiches on the table. "Didn't cook a lot, but it'd help."

"Hang on, just a bit more to go." Scootaloo waved a hoof as she licked a stamp and placed it neatly on a letter.

"Brae, can't she stop for some dinner?"

Braeburn placed his sandwich down and shook his head. "Eating isn't part of the job. She's replacing stamps on undelivered mail. Maximum postage."

"Which is a pointless endeavor. There's always going to be more mail."

Amethyst butt in the conversation, gulping down her sandwich as fast as she could. "Usually the old timers throw them in the fire. That's quicker."

"Scootaloo, the price of the stamps will come out of your salary. Be careful." Braeburn leaned back and grabbed his sandwich, slowly relishing each bite as he glanced over the pristine and studious way that Scootaloo had sorted the mail. He almost was proud, almost. That took real effort to sort them out, and make sure each was postmarked correctly.

"I know that, but all of these are addressed to Ponyville. They can't just be destroyed. I mean what if there was some mail that was critically important or if somepony needed it to talk to a pony they hadn't in years, or-"

Derpy grimaced and held up a wing to Scootaloo's mouth to stop her from talking. She knew the signs of a hyperactive mare cooped up in a cage. From what Dash told her about this kid, she was surprised that Scootaloo hadn't tried to commandeer the ship and fly off to find her 'hero'. Quixotic, brave, stupid. "Kids never know how to ask for help."

"I'm-"

"Let's just finish these. Together.
center]*** Those aboard the ship are not conscious of it's movement. Therefore, time passes as you seen new improvements."

"Done." Scootaloo stretched her wings as she leaned back on a pile of boxes, her legs shaking with effort as she did so. "Finally. Only took four hours to sort out the lost mail from the new stuff."

"Scootaloo, lift with your back. Not your wings." Soarin' entered the cargo hold with a doughnut and pointed out several flaws in the young pegasus' posture. "Else you'll tear a muscle. I thought Dash had trained you in how to lift with your wings properly. It's like step one in learning how to fly." Soarin' shook his head. "Whatever. Just don't hurt yourself, alright?"

"Soarin' you finally said my name. Yes!" Scootaloo pumped a hoof, almost falling over in the process.

"Think where is the ship going? What does the stone seek? What is it you can't live without? Tell me."

***

"Can't do it." Scootaloo sighed and tossed another balled up piece of paper into the trash. She tapped the edge of her quill in frustration, leaving small dots of ink on the table as she stared out the window. "Can't even start a letter with 'Hey'. There's just too much to explain."

"A letter to your foalish love? Was it Sweetie? Think it was. Don't be getting her filled up with your whining in that there letter." Braeburn leaned over the small pegasus' writing table, trying to bend his neck as he excitedly prodded his roommate, their shared space a mess of clothes and papers. "I can help ya. I have a ton of exes."

"Yeah right. My wing hurts too much to write anyway." Scootaloo rolled off the chair and slid to the sloor, her mind shifting to another mystery in no time flat. Twilight. She shivered as she thought of the looks Twilight gave her- the cold, dead stares. Almost sad in a way. "No use, wish Twilight would actually like me."

Braeburn turned and tossed his old, worn out magazine into Scoots face. "Celestia's unshaven locks, you're dense. Twilight risked her damn life to save your ass and you are complaining about it." He scoffed and rolled his eyes as he pulled out a ratty photo, careful to not damage it further.

"What are you looking at?"

Braeburn shoved the photo into his pocket and shrugged. "Something Dash left behind. So what did Zecora have to say, the gobbledy gook that she filled your head with?"

"Something that the hiruko wants."

"What does that even mean? I get the whole talk to the stone thing, in theory, cause Twilight's always blabbering on about how important those five or so stones are. Well she said there was a lost sixth, but I think she was drunk that once."

Scootaloo curled up and prepared to go to bed. " Didn't think Twilight ever drank." She shivered as the world turned white for a moment as the stone ached in her hoof, sending shockwaves into her brain. "I hate this. Keeps giving me a headache. Wish it'd tell me what it wants."

"Don't navel gaze too long. Your brain will ooze outta your head." Braeburn smiled briefly and pulled his sleeping goggles over his eyes. "Night."

***

"What happened to your enthusiasm? Get on down here now!" Lyra shunted down the ship's exterior, her horn lighting up as she fired up a few spells to let her stay on the hull much easier- better grip, decrease air flow, focus mana to her hooves. "When Soarin' said you wanted to try out engineering, I thought you were going to be more of a daredevil." Lyra flipped her hair out of her mane and picked up a wrench, careful to dodge the engine's hot components.

"This is the stupidest thing I've ever done." Scootaloo stared out at the landscape of Equestria, so far below and gulped. "I thought he meant like fix stuff on the ground." The orange pegasus slid down the ship's hull. "You need this toolbox here?" Scootaloo saw out of her peripheral vision, a slight nod. "Fine." Picking it up, she shuffled over to the side of the ship and started crawling to Lyra. She grimaced as she looked down, reality sinking in as she did so. She gulped and slid closer, her hooves slick with fear.

She blinked and felt a tug as she dangled by a thread, her hooves shaking with worry as she saw the toolbox fall towards the earth.

"You trying to kill yourself?" Lyra facehooved as she yanked up the young pegasus.

"Don't know. I think I slipped."

"Well if you are done being a sad sack, stay over there. I can't keep losing my tools cause ponies drop them off the ship." Lyra grumbled. "You know how expensive tools are? Everypony's making tools for war, not fixing shit."

"Sorry, but I think my heart went into my throat." Scootaloo gripped the side of the ship as her mane whipped in the wind. "How do you even do this?"

Lyra shrugged. "Don't look down then. Look up. That's what I do."

Scootaloo sighed and turned her head to the sky."What is that?"

***

"You sure that's another postal ship?" Luna grimaced as she looked at the ship closing in on them. "Looks more like a retrofitted Lunar vessel." She sighed as she tapped on the screen, trying to see all the details of the ship.

"That's what the identicode said." Soarin' grumbled as he turned the wheel.

"It's strange though, the readings on the altitude show that it is dropping towards us." Derpy rocked in her seat as she tried to stay calm. "I don't like this at all."

"Soarin' whatever happens, don't risk the ship. Got it?"

"Engines ready to go, Princess." Soarin' flicked his mane out of his eyes as he focused on the large target that was heading towards them.

***

"They are firing the engines?" Lyra dodged a spurt of flame as the engines fired up, switching from neutral to full throttle. "Hold on." Lyra flung the small pegasus with a quick heave as she dropped down to the lower deck level of the Perigee, quickly gripping a rail and tying the dead weight to it. "Can't read the colors from here."

"Lyra, you saved me." Scootaloo breathed a sigh of relief as she scrambled onto deck. She barely caught her breath before she noticed something come from the corner of her eye. A purple smokescreen. "Oh my aether, what is-"

***

"That's a smoke screen. That's not good." Luna rubbed her face as she sighed. "Especially purple. Guess they want Twilight for something."

"Luna damn it, stop playing." Soarin' yelled as he banked into the smoke, trying to angle the ship up towards the sky to limit the time in the dark. "Like the other ship has a Twilight call signal."

"Soarin', patch me into Brae's quarters."

***

A metallic screech rent the air as the intercom system started up."Braeburn wake up."

Braeburn started with a scream. The stallion fell out of bed in a tumble of sheets, flailing his legs around in an attempt to call off an attack. Waiting for death, he sat there for a moment until he opened an eye in trepidation. Finding nothing, he popped his head over the bed and sighed. "Luna, I work nights, let me get some shut eye. Plus, I about had a heart attack."

"Braeburn! Not the time. Get Twilight to stay on the ship."

"Yes, Luna. I'll try." The stallion sighed as he picked himself up and dusted himself off, quietly muttering to himself that if Twilight wanted to stay on the ship, she would. If she didn't, well she was a unicorn. Like he was going to stop a determined mare in whatever bunk she's got in her head.

***

"That's a Crystal Ship, don't let Twilight go meet it." Luna's voice crackled through the hangar bay.

Braeburn turned into the hangar, taking two rungs of the ladder at a time. He huffed as he pulled himself up into the empty hangar bay. He breathed for a moment and tried to collect his thoughts and steeled himself for a right mighty tongue lashing from Luna. Twilight and the Beat Kayak were gone."'Bout that. Looks like she took the craft." Braeburn grimaced as he heard a pile of expletives come over the intercom.

***

"That pile of junk can barely fly." Lyra rolled her eyes at the Crystal Ship, the haphazard welds and different metals a patchwork of ingenuity. Though she was truly amazed it stayed in the air with the weight of the joints and the mana she could feel radiate off the thing. She could feel it leak out into the air above them as it gave her a splitting headache. Which told her whatever engineer built that thing was absolutely terrible at working in a closed system of mana.

"Twilight knows the ponies on that ship?" Scootaloo inquired, her wings outstretched as she wobbled to and fro. The wind hit her face and made it difficult to see whoever was running the ship. "Can't believe that."

"Yeah, government pawns based in the Crystal Empire, what's left of it. Cast out upon the skies."

"Doesn't that make them refugees?" Scootaloo was truly interested now since she knew vaguely of what that meant- Fluttershy had mentioned bits of what was happening outside of Ponyville, and she had tried to piece it together. Something about the war destroying a lot of places outside Equestria.

"Yeah, but they really don't have a homeland. Besides what's left. Which isn't enough to sustain ponies for long." The mint green unicorn shrugged as she talked. "They are pirates. Really bad ones, but still pirates."

***

"Cheerilee's ship is going to Griffonstone. Let me see her." Twilight stared down Luna. "It'll take a month at most."

"No." Luna was equally cold in her response, taking a measured sip of coffee after she had spoke on the matter.

"If I can meet her, I can get info on-" Twilight paced back and forth, her mind racing as she tried to speak.

"I already said no."

"But what if they are truly from the empire? Then I can see how-"

Luna raised a hoof. "You have to stay here. I don't care if you want to know about your brother and Cadance. And my word is final." Luna's mane glittered with stars she became more agitated, her Royal Canterlot Voice almost coming out as she remembered the past. "Cadance left me to rot in a failing system once she pulled out of our agreement. Now they are just feeding off the remains of the Celestials." Luna's hoof banged on her desk, leaving a dent in the wood. "And I definitely don't want to associate with slavers."

Twilight's cheeks flushed red with anger. "They lost everything."

Luna's eyes shifted for a moment, her welcoming dark orbs turning catlike. "Everyone's past is a pile of shit. They just sold their souls to have wealth and are just drifting like tumbleweeds in the sky." Luna blinked and her eyes shifted back. "We are done having-"

Twilight yelled at the alicorn. "Does that include me? I'm literally one of them.

Luna slapped Twilight across her face, the sound ringing out for a few seconds. The purple unicorn stumbled for a moment, her world a pile of stars as she tried to focus on Luna. The alicorn stared at her hoof and slowly put it back on the desk, her hoof flexing as she tried not replaying that singular moment over and over.

Luna breathed, her voice cutting the tense silence. "Then you can go whenever and wherever you want. Or you can stay. I'm not your keeper."

***

Knock. Knock. Twilight heard the knocks at her door and curled into her blankets, her cheek still hurting from Luna's slap, her pride more in tatters than her cheek. And yet, she still grumbled in barely contained fury at what the alicorn had tacitly hinted at, that Twilight was just another lost pony of the skies. Groaning in annoyance as the knocking didn't stop, she picked up her hooves and stumbled towards the door, expecting Luna to be behind it. And if she was, Twilight was going to give her a piece of her mind. "Luna?"

Scootaloo stood there in the corridor, her eyes downcast. "Sorry, Twilight. It's time for another training session." Scootaloo twiddled her hooves as she tried to come up with some kind of response to Twilight's confused gaze. "Is something wrong? I've been trying to knock for like five minutes."

"Don't worry." Twilight shook her head. "Nothing you can do about it anyway."

"Don't say that. You're always worried about me. Can't I worry about you for once?"

"I worry about you because you have that hiruko and you rush into everything." Twilight smiled for a brief moment. "Like Rainbow without the experience. Which is why we should hurry cause Zecora will be waiting."

***

"Tell me what is it that you can't live without, what the stone wants? Therefore, we will see what your heart flaunts."

"I've racked my brain this last week and I'm sorry, but I don't know what it wants. Maybe it just wants to live with others. All I know is that I can't just run off on my own. I need help from Twilight and everyone on the ship. I can't lose my friendships I've gained cause of this stupid rock." Scootaloo sighed as she wiggled uncomfortably out of the meditation position that she had been stuck in for what felt like hours on end. She had recited all these odd phrases in some foreign sounding language and had felt nothing but what she had felt before. That she was in the present moment just stuck.

"For now, that is acceptable, though that means your stone's soul is lost. A purpose lost in the starcrossed seas. I bestow upon you the title of the X'amd of the lost memory. With that your task is to find your reason to survive."

"Thank you Zecora. Even if most of that didn't rhyme."

"So one pays attention to the words, but not the purpose." Zecora smiled as she nodded to Twilight. "You may remove the restraint now. And Crystal Heart, I entrust this lost soul to you."

***

"Another!" Luna wobbled ever so slightly as she quaffed her mead, staring into the dark skies that she could see in the window. She sighed as she saw Derpy, also drunk, try to pout a bit of booze for the alicorn. "How dif-fi-cult is it to have a glass poured?" Luna tried to fire up her magic but she had become ever so slightly unused to binge drinking like this in the years since her banishment so her magic fizzled and flickered as she started to become unfocused.

"L-luna. This is da last one. Why did you start crying after hitting her?" Derpy tried staring at Luna, her eyes focusing on two different points as she passed the alicorn a shot. "I mean I never see you cry."

"Why? No reason." Luna's tail twitched as she tried to calm herself. "Do you mind if I smoke?"

"Fine." Derpy groaned. "Do whatever you wan'. I'm not da boss anyway."

***

"Dr. Fluttershy?" Octavia quickly tapped on the door frame of the clinic she had so meticulously searched for, her Trottingham voice echoing in the large and messy room. "I'm here from the Free Zone Headquarters. My name is Octavia Melody." Octavia picked up a vial and smiled at the murky contents. "The Lunar Republic wants to make a centralized Anti-Ponyform lab here in Ponyville. Centralized location, ease of transport, the like. Your name came up with a great number of recommendations."

Fluttershy walked out of the back of her clinic, bags full of medicine for her daily rounds. "I've learned that being a pacifist is far easier than dealing with guilt. Which is why I'm trying to live peacefully here. Away from all the meaningless wars against some things that want to be left alone. Go back to whoever sent you and tell them to leave me alone."

Octavia bowed."Such a shame. The pony that sent me here told me you'd probably be rather prickly. I'm here by order of one Commander Applejack."

"Applejack?" Fluttershy tensed up, unsure of what that meant. "She's doing well, I mean it's been years since I saw her."

"Oh, indubitably. She's just rather insistent that you come see her for tea. Catch up. Like old friends."

***

Braeburn flipped through his stash of magazines, stopping to focus on a particularly good looking model or two, quickly flipping past Lunar Republic ads and cringing at some of the prices for a few dozen apples. The war had tanked prices for everything, even with trade still happening in small pockets. Braeburn sighed and threw down his magazine in disgust. Glancing over, he noticed Scootaloo grimacing at a letter, half crumpled. He whistled as he noticed that the restraint on her foreleg was missing, which knowing whatever weird mumbo jumbo that Twilight and Zecora had was a good thing. "Looks like you lost the restraint. Want me to write whatever strange missive your heart desires?"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and turned away. "No."

Braeburn frowned. So much like Dash, but at least Dash tried to be friendly when moping. Getting up, he crossed the room and dangled a pair of perfectly ordinary goggles in the pegasus' face. "Here's my pair of dream goggles so you can meet Sweetie in ya dreams. You can borrow 'em for 60 bits."

Scootaloo tossed the letter aside and pulled out another piece of paper. "Nah, I need to concentrate. Plus you crossed the border of our rooms. Thought that was a no go. Or did I forget? "

Braeburn tossed the goggles back to his bed and crossed his hooves in thought. "Ya really changed there, Scoots, I was tryin' to be nice. Tryin' to lighten' the mood or sumthin'. Not tryin' to bit yer head off. How's the ear ringing anyway?"

"I got a headache now." Scootaloo thought of the day, her mind racing with all the new things she had to deal with. It had been so much easier when she was in Ponyville with her family. With her friends.

"Well just try to stop thinking then. Cool off fer a bit. Look at the stars or sumthin'. At least that's what I do."

***

"Did you find them?" A Lunar Guard Captain yelled at a nearby soldier.

"No. not yet. Though I haven't checked the Eighth Ward yet."

"Shoot them on sight."

Sugar Belle grimaced as she limped out of the Canterlot Slums, her bloody body at least wrapped up with a scrounged bit of bandages and a cloak to try and hide her face from the horde of Lunar soldiers. She prayed to Discord, his coming a comfort to her as she slid over broken cobblestones, her hoofsteps quiet and measured as she hummed softly to herself. She quickly ducked into a nearby house as she heard a rustling sound nearby, her senses acutely focused on anything that seemed out of the ordinary.

"Moondancer, you said we'd find some good specimens here?" A gruff, yet feminine voice echoed through the street.

"Raven, I'm a good tracker. If I say there's a soul that needs saving or using, then there's one."

Sugar Belle hid further as a pair of cloaked ponies crawled out of the darkness, their cloaks adorned with the marks of the sun, long flowing robes with rays of yellow that told the earth pony exactly who they were. The worst kind of ponies, those who followed the light of the sun and order. The most despicable of creatures.

"Oh aether, you are the ponies who blew up the town. The Celestial Guards." Sugar Belle's world ended as a shot rang out. The last thing she saw as she crumpled on the ground, was cloaked figures gathering little lights that they pulled out of the dead bodies laying all around them. She almost wondered if those were souls.

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