-Luna-

Luna hit the floor, hard. The ground was dry and there were roots and rocks embedded in its surface. She felt them scrape away the flesh on her shoulder as she slid back with vicious force. The pain was instant, causing her to cry out, tears filling her eyes. She curled herself into a ball, looking up at the approaching changelings. They were growling, drawing closer, their horns burning with a sickly green glow. The lead changeling, the one whom she had hurt, had finally managed to stand up. He still couldn’t open his left eye, but his right eye was doing a fantastic job of glaring at her.

Luna winced at the sight. She hadn’t been ready for this, she didn’t want to get hurt again. She felt another wave of tears coming on her. But this time they were interrupted.

-Two days earlier-

“Run!” Luna screamed over her shoulder and she shoved her way through the crowds. It wasn’t hard, for her to get through. Her short size meant she could get right below pony’s legs and beneath shop carts. Her companion however, had a tougher time. He was tall and strong and his long legs would have been able to keep up with her easily. But he had to push through the bustling ponies and every time he did, he let out a grunt as his broken wing pushed against the crowds. Luna stopped and turned her head. There was no way in hell that Pegasus would make it through the crowds in time, she could already see the changelings taking off and darting towards them with all hast, and she doubted they were on their way to do anything but kill. Luna rose up to her hind legs briefly, the lack of balance nearly sending her tumbling, as she waved her forehooves in the air, trying to encourage te wounded Pegasus.

“Come on! I’m over here!” She yelled. She sat herself down, this wasn’t working, he didn’t need encouragement to escape from death.

Stupid Luna. Come on.

She waved her hooves in the air again, this time yelling at the crowd.

“Move! Let him through!” Still nothing.

Above them the changelings were taking aim, they were going to hit him and probably kill every single pony in the crowd. Luna gasped and began screaming for the ponies to move, some caught the message when her shouts alerted them to the skybound threat. They began to run, this way and that as the changlings opened fire with their magic. Chunks of wall and rock exploded as the changelings began shooting anything they saw moving. Luna was too busy to notice this though. She had darted straight to the Pegasus as he stumbled to the ground. She tried catching him, but his weight was just too much, she was pulled down too. He breathed in deeply as they tried to pull themselves up.

“Kid….” He said. His voice oddly comforting despite it’s apparent harsh texture. He was doing his best to comfort the young unicorn. “Thanks but… You need to go… They’ll hurt you.” He looked her in the eye, genuine concern highlighting his gaze. Luna shook her head and gripped him tightly, wrapping her arms around his neck in an embrace. She looked up at the changelings, who, now that the other ponies had escaped or been killed, were aiming their sights on them. Luna lowered her gaze, her eyes watering at the devastation. These ponies were all dead, killed brutally by these things… And it was all her fault.

“no…” Luna sobbed quietly. The tear drops slipping silently down her muzzle. Her entire body felt… sore. She felt her teeth aching horribly as if they were being changed completely. She felt her eyes narrow and the world faded slightly making everything seem darker.

“no”  She said again, this time her tears seemed to burn up before they hit the ground. The floor was actually getting warmer, the air itself seemed hotter. Luna barely noticed it at this point though, she simply gripped the Pegasus even tighter, the aching sensation filling up her entire body as the air radiated heat.

“NOOOO!” She had only opened her mouth slightly and yet her voice echoed loudly and powerfully. There was something angry to this voice, something… powerful.

-Celestia-

She had heard it, her mother had heard it. The entire fucking village had heard it. Celestia sat over her sister’s unconscious form in their campsite, her head resting on her flanks as she listened, eyes closed, to the conversation her mother was having with Ragged, the Pegasus they had found with Luna’s body.

“Ow…”

“Don’t squirm… This is hard enough as it is…”

“My bandages were fine before ja’know.”

“Don’t kid yourself young man. Hang on… did you set this wing yourself?”

There was a tense, embarrassed pause.

“Uhm… yeah?”

A sad sigh.

“I’m sorry but it wasn’t set right… I’m going to have to break it again”

“Oh no… you stay away from OWWWW!”

After that Celestia’s mind faded away. She wrapped her hooves around her sister’s body tightly. Luna didn’t seem hurt at all. In fact she seemed fine, when they found her she was unconscious in a massive hole, surrounded by dead Changelings and ponies. They had brought her back to their camp to discuss their next move. And that whole time, Celestia had been crying. She had left Luna out there on her own, she had let her go into the marketplace without protection and without a friendly face. Celestia cursed herself for making such a stupid mistake. She found herself stroking her sister’s muzzle, her fur was so soft, something Celestia had always been jealous of. She felt Luna’s mouth twitch, was that a smile coming on?

Celestia continued stroking her sister’s muzzle, glad she could at least make her feel safe after everything that’s happen.

-Leto-

She had sat them all down in a circle once Luna was up. Leto was tired, her eyes etched with worry and fright from the days events. Of course those emotions had been swimming within her for some time. But with the events of today…

“Luna dear” She began… then paused. She had gone over this conversation so many times in her head, every single day she had practiced a thousand variations of this sentence and yet… none of those seemed appropriate for what was happening now.

“I don’t remember” Luna said, cutting Leto off before she could continue with her train of thought. “I remember…. Ragged telling me to run, the Changelings attacking and… those…” Luna said nothing more, she closed her mouth and lay her head down on her sister’s shoulder. She was exhausted, her body and mind refusing to work properly. Her body still felt hot and her head was clearly taking a bath in a volcano.

Luckily for her, Ragged was able to step in.

“It’s hard to explain. She seemed different… she sounded different and then she… shouted. I know it’s weird but she…” He turned his head to Luna, then to Celestia and then to Leto, as if he’d had this question on his mind and was only now realizing the implications of what the answer would be. “Can she do magic?”

Leto paused, realizing there was no way she could convince him otherwise.

“Yes. She can. It’s a long to story but we were able to spare Luna from the purge. She still has the ability to cast her spells. Although… she’s never learnt anything beyond the most basic techniques. What we saw was…” She gulped.

Celestia had had enough of this conversation by now. She could feel Luna trying her best to stay awake through this as they continued to talk. She opened her mouth to speak but before she could Ragged beat her to it.

“Look, no offense but I think the lil blue Princess needs her rest.” He said, smiling affectionately. Luna, in her exhausted state, managed to muster a smile back. Celestia watched the exchange with interest. The older stallion rose up and nodded his head towards Leto.

“Ma’am. I owe you a debt today, for fixing my wing and feeding me. And I owe an even bigger debt to your youngest daughter. If you’ll have me, I’ll help keep an eye on them. I’m a pretty good fighter if I do say so myself, and once my wing’s healed up, you may find use for a Pegasus.”

With that little speech done, Ragged waited for Leto’s response. She was taken aback, this entire evening had completely derailed her thoughts. She waved her hoof and shook her head, moving to attend to Luna.

“Ok. But you take first watch. We need to leave this place tomorrow morning and I don’t want any surprises.”

-Two days later-

-Ragged-

Dammit. That lil Blue Princess was a lil blue Pain in the flanks.  They had made great time in traveling away from the village, with Ragged pulling the wagon, Luna was able to rest comfortably in the back, something which aided in her recovery quite happily.

And now, they were barely a day away from the seaside town of Woodtop. A village that had been built into the trees of a massive forest. A forest which was, according to rumor, free of Changelings.

And of course, Luna had chosen that exact point, to go exploring again.

He could hear the commotion clearly through the forest as he galloped at full speed to find his new charge.

Leto and Celestia had gone to refill their waterskins and he was to watch Luna. And of course the instant he had turned his back she had gone exploring. And now there was terrified yelling which could only mean…

-Luna-

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” The young filly yelled. Her horn sparking pathetically at the three changelings. They were approaching her slowly, savoring every moment of this for their own sick fantasies. Luna hated them so much right now… She remembered what changelings were willing, and happy to do. And she hated them for it. But apparently it wasn’t hate that was causing her magic to spark like it did before. Luna reached inside herself, searching desperately for the spark that would allow her to use her powers.

Come on come on please… Please help me… help me…. I don’t want them to hurt me…

There it was… fear. It was fear that Luna had felt. And fear that sparked her magic. She felt her horn heat up, the magic tingling around it, but no heat in her body, no tooth aches and the world was just as bright as before so…

The first changing lept towards her, he was obviously the leader and he had first go at her. He was also the first to hit the floor that day. And he did hit, hard. Luna’s spell had struck him in the face, spending him reeling back through the air and into the dust. The other two changelings stared in shock, their faces betraying their sudden lack of confidence. Unfortunately it wasn’t just sudden, but brief. They shook their heads and growled, one of them sending a blast of magic in her direction. It struck her in the chest, sending her through the air, she felt her internal organs slowly shutting down one by one. She tried to reach inside herself again, to find that magic. Turn herself back on.

She managed it, but barely in time. She felt her eyes closing and her life slipping just as her heart began pumping again, the sudden intake of blood and oxygen causing her to gasp and cough.

Luna hit the floor, hard. The ground was dry and there were roots and rocks embedded in its surface. She felt them scrape away the flesh on her shoulder as she slid back with vicious force. The pain was instant, causing her to cry out, tears filling her eyes. She curled herself into a ball, looking up at the approaching changelings. They were growling, drawing closer, their horns burning with a sickly green glow. The lead changeling, the one whom she had hurt, had finally managed to stand up. He still couldn’t open his left eye, but his right eye was doing a fantastic job of glaring at her.

Luna winced at the sight. She hadn’t been ready for this, she didn’t want to get hurt again. She felt another wave of tears coming on her. But this time they were interrupted.

-Ragged-

He slammed into the first changeling as hard as he could, his full weight and momentum colliding with the creature’s head and driving it into the ground. Ragged held it their for a moment before raising a hoof and slamming it down on the changeling’s temple, backing it up with all the strength he had to muster. He felt, and heard, a slight crack as the changeling jerked, tensed and relaxed. He raised his head and turned to look at the two others. They had turned to face him now.

“well. I guess that’s the element of surprise used up.”

He grimaced and charged forward at the second Changeling, he managed to reach it, swatting it’s raised hoof away with one of his own and punching it in the eye with his other hoof. The lack of front hooves on the ground however, causing him to loose his balance. He fell to the ground, dragging the changeling with him as he did. It scrambled on top of him and began charging up it’s horn. Ragged growled and jerked his head forward, slamming his forehead into it’s mouth, breaking several teeth from their sockets. The Changeling reared it’s head back and began to open it’s mouth to scream but Ragged grabbed it’s face with his hands and held it’s mouth closed, trying to get it to swallow it’s own broken teeth or choke it to death, either way he was killing this thing. He rolled over so that he was on top and began headbutting it repeatedly. He felt his own skull hurting more and more and he was sure by the end of this he would be concussed. But he wasn’t in nearly as bad shape as his foe. He could already feel hit’s skull giving way.

Crack… crack… CRACK!

He felt everything sink in with a satisfying squish as the changeling’s head seemed to cave in on itself. He raised his head triumphantly and was almost about to howl out a victory yell when he noted the silence that filled the air. He paused and looked to his right. Luna was lying on her side, breathing heavily, blood all over her horn and the body of the dead changeling lying next to her. Her eyes were wide with horror, both at what she and done and what she had watched him do.