The chariot touched down in the castle without so much as a bump, considering the state of the structure it was quite the achievement. The two wounded thestrals as well as Errant had been left in the care of the Canterlot medical staff, the remaining space in the chariot had been taken up by ten more Lunar Guards. These guards rushed off of the chariot and began sweeping through the castle ruins, Luna shook Dominic awake. The man hadn’t woken up since they’d left Unicorn Falls, and it was a chore for the princess to wake him.

Finally, she managed to rouse the human from his slumber, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked around. The castle was certainly larger than he’d expected. Vines and overgrowth covered the dark stone towers, the intact walls towered at thirty feet high. He could see the windows of the old throne room, they were old and cracked. Some had been shattered in the uncounted years of disuse.

Dominic brushed himself off and stood up, Luna looked at him for a moment before looking away. She instead set her eyes on a destroyed wall, in all the centuries since she’d truly visited, she still remembered that it was her who had caused such damage. It broke her heart to think about what she’d done, but that was how she would get stronger.

“This place doesn’t look that bad.” Dominic said approvingly, snapping her out of her thoughts. The mare coughed and nodded, unable to make eye contact with the human. The man could understand, this was most likely a place she would rather not be. He understood that it was hard to face a failure, he’d done so many times. He patted the mare on her neck a few times. “Hey, you know this place better than I do. Where do you think I can find a good room?” He asked, trying to break her thoughts from the castle.

“Huh… Oh, yes. Of course. Follow us.” Luna said, still not making eye contact. She started trotting towards a decrepit doorway, Dominic followed behind her closely. He noticed that the door was one of the few still intact in the square courtyard, Luna pushed it open with her magic. A loud creak echoed through the yard, getting the attention of a few Thestrals that had finished their sweep. “This way…”

Luna stepped through the doorway and into a dark hallway, her horn ignited to provide some light. She heard Dominic flick the safety off of his shotgun, moments later he was standing next to her. His eyes scanned the darkness before them, a few paintings had fallen from the walls, tapestries depicting Luna’s cutiemark hung on the walls. They were surprisingly undamaged.

“Behold, the passage to our old chambers.” Luna said, trotting forwards. She didn’t look at the paintings, but Dominic found them interesting. One of them depicted Luna standing triumphantly over a hydra, she held a sword in her magic and her armor was slightly battered.

“You killed a hydra?” Dominic inquired, Luna nodded.

“Yes, though the artist took some liberties with that painting.” Luna added, looking at the painting in question. “We did not have a long mane such as this…” She gestured to her flowing mane. “We were being ‘rebellious’, as our sister would say, and our mane was done in a more… Contemporary fashion.” The two started walking again, Dominic continued scanning the area. After a thousand years, anything could be lurking in the darkened hallway before him.

“Wait… You were a goth?” He asked, not taking his eyes off of his surroundings. “That’s actually something I could envision.” They walked on in silence for several minutes before the man looked at another painting, it was of Luna standing on a balcony. Above her the night sky was out in all it’s glory. “These are pretty good, who painted them?”

“Their name is lost to history.” Luna replied, looking at a few tapestries. The two of them came upon a staircase, it spiraled upwards into the unknown. “We shall go before you.” Without another word she began ascending the steps, Dominic looked back down the hallway where he could see the light of the doorway still shining in from the courtyard. “Dominic, art thou coming.”

“Yeah, just looking around.” The man bounded up the steps behind Luna, for several more minutes they walked in silence until they came to a door at the top of the steps.

“This is the door to our bedchamber.” Luna said, looking at the old wood with nostalgia. Dominic was unsure of the room would be viable to live in, after all there must have been some sort of mold growth or water damage. As if Luna sensed his thoughts, she cleared her throat and spoke. “We remember we placed a spell of perseverance upon it after Discord painted our walls with vanilla pudding.” She turned the knob with her hoof and pushed the door inward.

The door was surprisingly silent on its hinges, and Dominic found himself bathed in a cool bluish light. He blinked as his eyes adjusted, Luna had already stepped into the room. The man followed behind her, the floor groaned beneath his boots. The room was a half circle, and took up most of the top of the tower it resided within. Large, blue tinted windows went around half of the spacious place, and two doors led to a balcony on the westernmost side. Against the flat wall, a large bed sat. It was made up with blue and indigo blankets, and Luna’s cutiemark was at the center.

The rest of the wall had a dresser and a desk, the latter had several ancient scrolls scattered about. Dominic couldn’t find a speck of dust, it was as if the room had only been cleaned a day before. Luna trotted towards a large standing mirror that stood by one of the windows, there were several small notes plastered to it. All of them expressed anger towards her sister.

The lunar princess let out a sigh as she read them, her own rage was what had written those notes. She couldn’t help but think how childish she was. She flinched when she felt a hand on her side, then looked at Dominic. He had a small smile across his face.

“Hey, I know that look.” He said. “That’s the ‘I blame myself for everything’ look.” Luna turned away from the mirror and sat on her haunches in front of him. “I’m very familiar with that look, Luna.”

“It was our fault…” Luna replied. “We caused all of the-”

“Stop.” Dominic said sternly, Luna looked at the floor and sighed. “We’re all angsty teens once in our lives, it just turned out that you were an extremely powerful angsty teen. Don’t beat yourself up over it.” Dominic took off his backpack and tossed it on the bed, it was followed by his shotgun. “Feel better?”

“Not really.” Luna replied with a sigh, looking back at the mirror. “We… I appreciate you trying.” The princess let out a yawn, and wobbled for a moment. “We were awoken from our slumber early today. The exhaustion is catching up with us.” Dominic immediately moved his things and gestured for Luna to lay in the bed. “We are fine, really.”

“No, you’re already feeling shitty enough.” Dominic insisted, Luna could tell arguing was useless. Slowly she trotted over to the bed, for a moment she stared at it.

“We have not slept in this bed in nearly a thousand years.” She stated before taking a breath and crawling under the ancient blankets. They were just as soft as she remembered them, this bed had always been her favorite one of all her beds. It fit the contours of her body perfectly, even after all the years. Thanks to her spell it had been preserved. Dominic pulled the covers up over her and she snuggled down into the warmth. “Thank thou, Dominic. Promise us thou shalt wake us upon the sunset?”

“Of course, Luna.” Dominic answered, he turned to leave her in peace.

“Dominic.” Luna said, the man paused and looked back at her. “If we remember correctly, there is a flag pole in the courtyard. We feel it would be acceptable for thy flag to unfurl once more.”

“Luna, I could kiss you right now.” Dominic said, a smile spreading across his face. He grabbed his folded flag from his backpack and left the room. “Sleep tight, Luna.” Luna nodded and let out a sigh, then slowly drifted off to sleep.

Dominic descended the steps into the hallway, one of the guards had come and was placing torches in the sconces on the walls. Dominic nodded to him as he passed, holding his flag firmly in his hands. The man stepped out into the courtyard, he found several guards pulling a dead manticore out into the open.

“What happened?” Dominic asked as he approached, the CO stepped forwards to answer.

“We found this beastie sleeping in the library, put it down before it could so much as growl.” The CO stated before extending his hoof. “I’m Night Owl, by the way.” Dominic shook the stallions hoof.

“I’m Dominic.” The man said courteously, Night Owl seemed satisfied before noticing something.

“Where’s Princess Luna?” He asked, looking behind the human for a moment. Meanwhile, the other guards busy setting up their tents, save for the few with the Manticore. They were preparing to skin it, and most likely harvest meat from it.

“She’s taking a nap, I think the days events have really cut into her sleeping time.” Dominic answered the guard, his eyes scanned the rest of the courtyard and found the flagpole at the center. Night Owl nodded in acceptance, he looked at the flag in Dominic’s hands.

“What’s that?”

“This is my flag.” Dominic answered proudly. “I’m gonna put it on that flag pole over there.” Night Owl looked thoughtful for a moment.

“Need any help?” He asked, Dominic shrugged and started walking. Night Owl followed behind, glancing at the flag from time to time. “Hey, what are the stars for?”

“They represent a state in my country, fifty in all.” Dominic answered, looking back at the guard. “The stripes, which are at the moment, folded up, represent the thirteen original colonies.” Night Owl let out a ‘huh’ and continued following until the reached the pole. Surprisingly the halyard was still intact, and the clips were already lowered. “Could you hold this while I hook this up?”

“Sure.” The lunar guard took the flag in his hooves, Dominic secured the flag to the rope and began raising it into the sky. The fabric unfurled as it caught a gust of wind, the man continued raising the flag until it was at the top of the pole. He tied off the rope and stood back. A small smile spread across his lips and he snapped into a salute. Watching the flag wave made a part of him feel stronger, the pain and nightmares that haunted him were much easier to bare.

“What’s so important about this flag?” Night Owl asked, scratching his head. Dominic turned and looked at him. The stallion didn’t get it, of course he cared about his countries flag. He didn’t share the same feeling that he saw on Dominic’s face though, and that confused him.

“Walk with me, allow me to explain what exactly is so important about that flag.” The man started walking in a random direction, Night Owl followed behind him. His interest piqued. For a few moments there was silence between the two of them. “That flag is one of the greatest testaments to how the will of the people can change anything. You see, in my world, my country started out as a bunch of colonies.”

“England, our parent nation, started taxing everything without asking the opinion of the colonies.” Dominic began talking with his hands, his boots fell in step with Night Owl’s hooves. “Now, we Americans aren’t ones to take things laying down. So we started fighting, going up against the biggest, baddest country in the world at the time. All in the name of a nation where the power was held by the people, and where all men were created equal.”

“I take it you won?” Night Owl asked, Dominic nodded and kicked a rock out of his path.

“Yes, and for two hundred years she’s flown. Through the fires of the Civil War, the World Wars, Vietnam, September Eleventh, Iraq and Afghanistan, and even the end of all things, Old Glory has come through.”

“You’re gonna have to explain to me all that stuff.” Night Owl stated, looking back at the flag. Dominic smiled.

“I’d love to, it’ll give me something to do. Not now though, now I think I’m gonna go and unpack a few things, see if I can scrounge up some supplies.”

“Alright.” With that the two parted ways, Dominic cast another look at the flag as it fluttered in the wind. He couldn’t help but think of a poem, one of his favorites. Not the Star Spangled Banner, though that was what he had expected. Instead, the immortal words of Johnny Cash were uttered from his lips.

"I walked through a county courthouse square..."

As the guards and the man went about their day, the flag waved onwards. For more than two hundred years she had flown, and she would continue to fly, so long as one person loved her. So long as one person supported her, she would go on. No matter what others said, no matter what others did, the union would always survive. Thanks to those who served and protected her, she was unbreakable. Yes, the flag would wave on, from now until the end of history.

And so, in a foreign land, without ceremony or pomp and circumstance, the eagle became a phoenix for a short time. From the ashes, America was reborn.

Author's Notes:

Happy Fourth of July. This was a bit of a challenge for me to write, because I don't really know how to articulate my feelings into words. So I did the best I could. I hope your summer is going well, and I hope that those of you who are suffering at the hands of injustice may find happiness in your hour of need.

God bless you all, and may god bless the United States of America.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAYPN-1Yjt0