Luna

The market rang with the sounds of ponies going about their daily business. The day had been going on for hours now and the air was growing hot and stuffy. Luna kept her head up high, stretching her neck, as she passed the stalls of the market town, glad she could keep her head up at last. It seems they had moved into the Changeling Queen's territory, and they were less concerned about the Unicorns as Sombre's guards were. Back south she had to avoid being seen just so that they wouldn't harass her. Not that she understood why, as far as everyone knew there were no more Unicorns with magic aside from Sombre's guards, but, they were there nonetheless. Here, it was far better to be a Unicorn than a Pegasus. The Changelings controlled the skies and flight was forbidden and punishable by a very painful death.

She moved slowly along the paths, her saddlebags were weighed down with all kinds of fruits and vegetables and she didn't want to go back to their camp just yet. She was enjoying the freedom of being alone. Solitude was, preferable to secrecy. All her life they had been on the run, hopping from one town to the next, searching for a Unicorn who could, or was even willing to teach her. If Luna could have her choice she would prefer to simply live a normal happy life. She felt guilty about it, but the fact was that she didn't truly care about the rest of Equestria. Surely there were other Unicorns with magic, why couldn't they give up their lives and let her live her own. But no, she had a “duty to serve Equestria” as her mother always told her and if she ever brought it up with Celestia, her older sister would furiously remind her that she had lost her own powers in order to protect Luna's. She rolled her eyes at the thought, she was grateful, apparently. But her powers were so weak, without any formal training she could do little more than lift up rocks and objects.

“As if I'm going to save a nation with sticks and stones.” Luna remarked despondently.

Her ears twitched and perked up, there was a sound. A commotion on the other end of the market, oh she had to see this. Galloping as fast as her saddlebags would allow her, Luna made her way to the source of the shouting. A crowd had gathered around one of the stalls, Luna had visited that stall not an hour ago to buy apples and now it appeared that somepony had stolen from it. And as Luna got her head through the crowd to see who was in the centre she realised it wasn't just somepony, it was a Pegasus. A Pegasus whose wings were not strapped down to their bodies like the others.

Luna noticed four things, firstly, next to the Pegasus was a saddlebag filled with all kinds of food that had clearly not been paid for, the second thing was that said Pegasus, whose wings were not strapped down but still had a broken wing, could not fly away and the third and fourth things were the two Changelings that were approaching it, hissing in their slimy voices.

“Well well, looky at this here.” The one on the right hissed. “We've found a flier”

“Not much of a flier” remarked it's companion on the left. “Broken wing”

The two shared a laugh at it's misfortune.

“But broken wing or not, those wings ain't strapped. And that's against the rules”

The laughter had stopped now and the entire market from one end to the other had gone deathly quiet.

“And we are big on rules here. So, you're going to sit there like a good Pegasus and we're going to kill you”

The Changeling's grinned and, a horn extended through it's scarly forehead, creaking and cracking as it broke the skin. It glowed with a deep green light and Luna did the only sane thing she could think of.

She tackled it to the ground.

The blast from the Changeling's horn struck a nearby building, opening up a hole in its side and spilling out it's contents onto the street below. With that, the entire market erupted into a stampede of terror and even a bit of looting. Luna moved quickly, pulling the Pegasus to his feet and galloping off away from the Changelings. She turned her head and saw him tearing down after her. She couldn't fault him at that and so she turned her head back to face in front of her and made a dash out of the market.

* * * * *

Leto

“Mom it's getting late. Luna should have been back by now”

Celestia had been pacing for nearly an hour. Around and around the fireplace of their small camp and, when she got bored of the one direction she turned around and continued in the other direction. Celestia was still young, but she was tall for her age and much more mature that Leto thought possible. Even at the age of five, when Luna was born, the young Celestia had taken it upon herself to distract the guards to save her sister's powers. Leto smiled at the memory. The white Unicorn had always been so protective of her little sister that she forgot just how much freedom the child had lost in their attempt to hide her.

Leto liked to think that both of her daughters took after her, but Celestia was as far away from her as Discord was from sane. Leto knew that Luna would not have returned on time from her foray into the market and had they been in Sombre's territory she would have made the trip herself, but Luna was safe enough here. And she needed to live, even if only for a little while.

“Come sit with me child.” She called out to her eldest. Enough about Luna. She had two children to look after, and this one needed her the most right now.

Celestia moved, grudgingly to her mother's side and lay herself down beside her, staring into the embers.

“Tell me a story mom.”

The request took Leto by surprise, but she smiled and relented. Celestia had not asked for a story since she was very young. Leta placed a hoof around her daughter's shoulders and drew her closer, motherly love guiding her movements.

“Your favourite story was about the Elements of Harmony.”

Celestia smiled at the memory. Even now the story was told over and over by other ponies, desperate for hope that the natural order would be restored.

Leto wet her lips and began.