Dominic quietly stood atop a sandy hill, staring down over a massive stretch of desert, littered with the fallen hulks of airships and crashed old fighter planes. Several dozen yards to his rear was a large obelisk with three flag poles surrounding it. The center flag was Onorussian, the one to the right was American, and the one to the left was Equestrian. Carved on the obelisk were the names of those that had been killed in the battle that was fought there nearly a decade before, the bodies had been recovered, but the ships and fighters remained, a reminder of the deadly cost of war. Dominic crouched quietly in the sand, picking up a handful of sand and letting it fall through his fingers.

“Through the travail of ages, midst the pomp and toil of war…” Dominic muttered quietly as he watched some of the sand be carried away by the wind. “Have I fought and strove and perished, countless times upon this star…” The man quietly stood up, continuing to stare out at the destroyed ruins. The words were from a poem written by none other than General Patton, and he couldn’t help thinking they bore meaning in that context. Many a time he had stood on a battlefield, overlooking the destruction wrought by his armies, and deep down in his mind he had always felt an odd sense of belonging… He had been raised to be a soldier, fought like a soldier, even thought like a soldier. On the battlefield he felt… Whole. As ashamed as he was to admit it.

Mizu quietly walked up beside him, she had been near the monument reading the names and the inscription there. The changeling looked up at her human companion with curious eyes, even though she could easily get a read on his emotions with her senses, she prefered trying to read them in his face. The Imperator proved to be a difficult man to read, the stoic expression he bore as he stared out over the sea of desert gave her barely anything to work with. The man quietly clasped his hands behind his back, then let out a slow sigh.

“And when Alexander looked out over the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer…” Dominic said in a hauntingly distant voice, the man’s eyes quietly looked over to Mizu, though his body and face remained facing the desert. “I trust things we say to each other will be kept in confidence…?” Mizu nodded quietly. “I never wanted any of this… Not at first. People dying in droves for me or my ideals… No… I was supposed to be the one that died for someone else…”

“At first…” Mizu repeated, Dominic nodded and sighed, letting his stoic mask slip to one of somber regret. “And now?”

“Now… I don’t know.” Dominic said, his eyes shifting back to the ruined vessels in the distance. “I love my wives, I love my son, and I love my country, but…” The man looked down to the sand at his feet, closing his eyes. “I’m thirty years old, and yet I feel like I’ve never really… You know… Lived.” The man turned towards Mizu, she could see a tiredness in his eyes. “I’ve tried, I work on cars and motorcycles, try learning guitar, hell, I tried blacksmithing once… But… This trip, getting to actually put some miles on my motorcycle, speeding along, taking risks that don’t affect the fate of an entire country…” Dominic honestly looked more ashamed. “I have a good life, so why is it only now that I actually feel… Alive?”

“I… I can’t say I understand.” Mizu admitted, looking back over the desert. “I never thought Mother would choose me to be her heir, but that didn’t mean I never wanted it. It was kind of why I did everything I did, worked as hard as I could.” The changeling mare sat down in the sand, sighing and looking at the ground and moving her hoof around in it. “That being said, I never thought I would take the reigns from my mother so soon. I guess… I was kind of hoping I could live a bit more of my life before I put on the crown.”

The two of them stood in silence, staring out of the ships in the distance, as if they somehow represented the what ifs and unfulfilled dreams that both of them carried. It felt shameful to be thinking about themselves, considering they were supposed to put the people under their rule above their own desires. Dominic quietly reached into his pocket and withdrew an old navy blue feather, Mizu watched him run his fingers over it while he closed his eyes, he relaxed visibly before slipping the feather back into his jacket pocket.

“Maybe this trip will help put these doubts of ours to rest…” Dominic said softly, leaning his head back to look up at the sky. “Maybe whatever’s waiting for us at this Garden of Creation will be the key to making us feel… Better. I can settle for ‘Better’.” The man licked his lips a couple times, then took a deep breath. “Anyway… We should probably get back on the road, I just wanted to come and pay my respects…” Mizu nodded, her wings twitching a couple times. They were certainly getting workout keeping up with the Imperator’s motorcycle, she wondered if by the end of the trip she would be faster than her own mother. The two of them began making their way back to the vehicle parked near the monument, knowing they had another long day of travel ahead of them.

[♠]

Hinkman adjusted his helmet as he and his soldiers ran through the streets of Folkestone, the city that served as the starting point of the Channel Tunnel between the British Isle and France. Bullets kicked up concrete and dust around them as they dodged between abandoned cars and trucks that lined the road, ahead of them was their foe, footsoldiers of the enemy faction known as the Brotherhood of the Crescent Moon. Comprised mostly of muslim extremists and refugees, they had been a blight to the struggling survivors in the areas under their command. This had already earned them a spot on the list of hostile factions, but what had really earned the ire of the Onorussian military was how they had brutally laid waste to a group of survivors that refused to join them.

The soldiers adjusted their weapons and body armor while bullets from AK-47s and other small arms continued to rain down around them, the smell of gunpowder and the sound of weapon’s fire was seemingly everpresent. Hinkman looked to his weapon and made sure it was loaded, his unit had recently been armed with the latest model of energy weapons, and he hoped that they would prove useful in the upcoming fight. He poked his head out from behind the truck that he had taken refuge behind, only for a couple seconds, doing his best to spot a route towards the enemy position.

“Holtz, you take your group and flank left through that front lawn over there! We’ll provide suppressing fire!” Hinkman ordered, his second officer nodded and readied his own weapon while the bullets continued to rain down. “Suppressing fire! Go go go!” Holtz and his men, a group of five, stood from their cover and began running towards the lawn to the left, there was a thick brick wall that would give them a better line of sight towards the enemy building there, as well as provide more cover. Hinkman meanwhile leaned out with the rest of his men, firing their weapons at the enemy that was hold up ahead of them.

Holtz and his men ran as fast as the could, the young officer feeling sweat running down his cheeks while he could hear bullets whizz past his head. He slid into cover as if he was some sort of baseball player, quickly moving to conceal as much of himself behind the wall. He turned to look a his men, thankfully all five of them had managed to make it to the wall safely.

“We’re set, Colonel!” He shouted while watching Hinkman and the others pulled back behind the overturned cars, Holtz looked to his left at one of his subordinates, a rather green private who was assigned to the radio. “Call in a helicopter fire mission on that structure!” The private nodded nervously and pulled the radio off his back, then put the headset to his ear and began calling in the fire mission. Holtz and the others would occasionally pop up over the wall, firing bursts at the building, bolts of red energy were charring the bricks and blasting windows apart, but still the Crescent forces returned fire.

From overhead Holtz could hear the sound of helicopter blades, the man looked up to see a beautiful sight, an Mi 24 bearing Onorussian colors. The Mi 24 had seen extensive use in recent years on the Terran front, mainly due to it’s versatility and the intimidation that came from seeing such a heavily armed aircraft. The machine gun fire from the enemy controlled house was suddenly drowned out by the tremendous roar of rockets launching from the pods mounted under the wings of the helicopter. Holtz leaned up over cover and got a chance to watch the missiles strike the enemy building, a large cloud of dust began flooding through the street as the front part of the building collapsed. The helicopter hovered overhead, opening up on the rest of the structure with the gatling gun mounted to the nose. Shells rained down on the street, clattering all around and adding to the cacophony of war.

After a couple minutes of this, the helicopter veered off, the downdraft from the rotors helping to disperse the smoke and dust that had erupted as a result of the collapse of the front face of the enemy structure. Holtz heard the order to move up and began moving out from behind the cover of the wall, approaching the now decimated target building. There were corpses buried under some of the rubble, as well as groans and screams of pain from deeper inside. Holtz and his men kept their wits about them as they moved into the remains of the building, passing destroyed furniture and broken light fixtures.

Holtz stepped through a doorway, weapon raised, scanning the dusty room for any sign of the enemy. There was a bed covered in dirt and grime, shattered picture frames that had fallen from the wall, and a broken window. Slumped in the corner was a limp form, wearing a ski mask and body armor that looked like it had been scavenged, as well as a green headband with arabic writing. Slowly the man lifted his head, blood soaking his mask, and raised his hands in the air. Holtz raised his rifle, narrowed his eyes, and fired two energy bolts into the wounded man’s chest. The Crescent’s were just as fanatical as the Caribou, they had already performed a dozen false surrenders, killing at least twenty Onorussian soldiers with hidden grenades and suicide bombs.

“Clear!” Holtz shouted, there similar calls from the others that were clearing the house. The man moved towards the blown out window, crouching and taking aim out the window. He could see a road on the other side, with signs warning drivers that they were nearing the Channel Tunnel. With the structure now secure, the final building needed to secure the route to the tunnel was now under Onorussian control. The mission from that point was up to the Corps of Engineers. Intelligence reported that the Crescents were using the tunnel to move supplies from their main base of operations in France, if there were defenses set up in the tunnel it would be too difficult to move Onorussian troops through. If that was the case, the tunnel would be collapsed by both the engineers and the Navy, and an amphibious landing would be required.

[♠]

Luna sat beside Altair’s bed, it was the weekend, so he had the day off. That meant he could sleep in, but Luna had been worried about him. Maria had told her just how upset the boy was, and she didn’t want him to be alone when he woke up. Unfortunately, Maria had been called away to deal with a group of petitioners. Luna could tell that Altair felt more comfortable around her, not that he didn’t love Luna too, but she knew that Maria was his birth mother… Luna felt a soft tug on her mane, a familiar tug that she had often felt many times when Dominic had a nightmare, but this one was different. Her attention towards her sleeping son, a frown crossing her lips as she realized it was him that was having the nightmare.

The mare quietly reached her wing out over the boy, her feathers brushing up against his cheek while he lay in his bed. Altair quietly opened his eyes as he felt the new warmth covering him, looking around for a couple seconds before seeing Luna. The boy quietly put his arms around Luna’s wing, hugging it gently.

“Good morrow, Altair.” Luna said quietly before she leaned in and planted a soft kiss on his forehead. Altair smiled faintly and nuzzled deeper into Luna’s wing.

“Good morning, Mother.” Altair said as he began to sit up, he referred to Maria as Mom and Luna as Mother, it just seemed easier to distinguish them. “I didn’t know you were home today, don’t the space ponies need you?” Luna shook her head and retracted her wing now that it seemed Altair was awake.

“Nay, I’ve taken a brief leave of absence to spend time with you. The space agency has all of my star charts and notes, there’s not much more I can give them at the moment.” Luna replied, she moved so that she was sitting on his bed. “I thought perhaps we could spend the day together, is there anything you wanted to do?” Altair rubbed his eyes and adjusted his pajama shirt, then hummed and shrugged his shoulders.

“Could we get breakfast? I’m a little hungry.” Altair asked, Luna smiled and nodded. “Great! Can we go to a diner?”

“I don’t see why not.” Luna said, still keeping that smile of hers. “I’ll let you get dressed, then we can get our day started, alright?” Altair nodded quietly and rubbed his eyes again, Luna leaned in and gave him another kiss on the forehead. “I love you.” With that Luna stood up off the bed and made her way out of her son’s room, in the hallway she began moving her horn around, adding a bit of magic as she did so. If Altair wanted to go out, she’d take him out, but she very well couldn’t go as her normal self. Her spell was cast within a couple seconds, her body shifting and becoming more like a normal mare’s. Her wings became cloaked, her fur became a few shades lighter, while her mane and tail lost their astral appearance. Her cutiemark changed as well, just a little, she still had her moon, but it was a more yellowish tone.

The guards in the castle knew this was her alter ego, as did Altair, so there wouldn’t be any panic if they suddenly saw a new unicorn wandering around. The mare sat on the floor, quietly mulling over potential activities for the day. Maybe they would go see a movie, or possibly even a play! There were so many different possibilities to chose from, but she also had another thought enter her mind. Altair seemed to be lonely without his dad, and as much as Luna and Maria wanted to, their duties kept them from giving him the attention that they wanted to. They had agreed a while ago to get Altair a dog for his birthday, but maybe it would be better to move the date up.

The door to Altair’s room opened, and the young boy stepped out dressed in jeans and a ‘Lunar Commandos’ T-Shirt. His cloth sneakers were tied sloppily, but effectively, the boy was getting better with practice. Luna could see his hair was still a little messy, but that was alright. Altair saw Luna and walked over, adjusting his shirt as he did so.

“Okay, I’m ready!” He said with a smile, Luna nodded and smiled as well before they began walking through the castle towards one of the elevators that had recently been installed. As they entered the elevator, Altair looked up at Luna and poked her side to get her attention. She used her magic to select the ground floor before looking over, she could see a questioning look on Altair’s face. “Mother, can I ask a question?”

“You just did, my dear…” Luna said with a chuckle before nodding. “I’m kidding, what’s your question, Altair?” Altair rubbed the back of his neck for a second, then stood up a bit straighter.

“Last night they did a siren test, right?” He asked, Luna nodded. “Next time… Can… Can I sleep in your room? I just worry that, you know… One night… It might not be a test anymore.” As the elevator continued going down through the floors, Luna knelt closer and hugged Altair with her hooves, holding him close against her furry chest.

“Of course, sweetie.” She said, doing her best to hide the surprise that had crept into her mind. Her boy, her precious son, was afraid to sleep in his own bed because of the threat from the bombs. “You know you don’t have to worry about that ever happening though, right? We’re safe here. We have all those soldiers and planes out there to protect us.” Luna let go of him and looked into his eyes, Altair nodded and wiped his eyes, he seemed to be doing okay. Luna could only wish that Dominic was there with her, somehow he knew just the right things to say. “Tell you what, we’ll get breakfast first, and then you and I are going to get a special surprise.”

“Is it ice cream?” Altair asked, Luna smiled and shook her head. “Are we gonna get to go to another opera like we did at Christmas?”

“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it!” Luna said with a snarky tone, Altair huffed and crossed his arms. “Don’t worry, I know you’ll love it.” The elevator let out a soft ‘ding’ as it reached the ground floor, the doors opened slowly and Altair and Luna began to step out. The mare stopped as she saw a couple generals walking towards the elevator with Maria beside them, they had a very serious look on their faces.

“Imperatrix Luna, we have a situation.” One of the Generals said.

“That I am in the process of handling.” Maria added, appearing annoyed. Luna could tell that the Generals hadn’t been taking Maria seriously, there were some that didn’t believe she was as qualified for her position, but she was very well versed in the politics, enough that she was able to run the country by herself at times.

“As I recall, she and I have the same authority.” Luna said flatly, the Generals looked between one another. “My wife is capable of handling whatever this situation is, unless it involves Onorus directly it can wait until I return.” The Generals sighed, then stepped aside for both Luna and Altair. The mare stopped next to Maria and gave her a quick kiss, then continued walking along. She was going to have to issue formal reprimands to those Generals, it was unacceptable to question the authority of one Imperatrix over the other.

Altair followed along with her, surprised that she hadn’t gone with the generals, but also glad that he’d get to have his day with his Mother. The two of them continued walking through the castle, passing by the offices and facilities of various branches of government. It was always fascinating for Altair, watching ponies, humans, changelings, and all manner of strange races working together. Eventually he and his mother arrived at the door to one office, the Governmental Provisioner’s office.

“Wait here for a second, I need to get my purse.” Luna said softly, Altair nodded and leaned against the wall beside the door while Luna stepped inside. She and Maria kept their purses in the governmental offices, this office was under the care of a mare that adhered to protocol like it was gospel. There was no chance she would misuse the contents of the Imperatrix’s purse, and to top it off, Luna and Maria never worried about losing their purses when going about their daily routine. Thankfully, there wasn’t much paperwork that needed to be filled out, and Luna was back out the door and beside Altair within a matter of minutes, her purse in tow. “Alright, we can get going now. You said you wanted to go to a diner, right?”

“Yes, Mother!” Altair said cheerfully, Luna smiled and the two of them left the hall of bureaucracy, now making their way into the public wing of the castle. Luna was glad she’d be getting to spend time with her son, and even more excited to see the look of surprise on his face when he saw what surprise she had in store for him.

[♠]

Shining Armor sat back in his office chair, looking over the reports from the front lines, Yakyakistan had crumbled within hours, but that was to be expected. His day, aside from the status reports from his generals, had been uneventful. Cadence wasn’t looking to talk with him though, she hadn’t been pleased with his decision to move forward with the Yakyakistan operation. There had been hardly any news regarding the Onorussian spy ring, whenever his agents thought they had pinned them to a location they turned up empty handed. It was as if the spies were right under their nose.

Shining’s thoughts were interrupted as the door to his office was pushed open, the stallion raised an eyebrow as Agent Orange entered the room with another pony, a stallion wearing dark rags and a black hood. Shining raised an eyebrow and put his hooves together, looking at Agent Orange intensely.

“Is this one of the spies, Agent?” He asked, the agent shook his head. “Then who is it?”

“You asked for us to find you the best teleportation mage we could, as it turns out, we’ve found the best candidate for the job.” Agent Orange replied in a rather chipper tone, Shining looked to the hooded stallion, only able to make out matted and dirty white fur. “We managed to slip him out of Onorus undetected.”

“Good… But what makes him best for the job?” Shining asked before turning his attention to the pony.

“He has two degrees in Teleportation Spells, and a doctorate in Theoretical Long Range Teleportation Theory from Canterlot Institute of Arcane Studies… Graduated top of his class. All of this has been confirmed.” Agent Orange replied, the hooded stallion meanwhile adjusted his rags, but did not make his face known to the world.

“Very well…” Shining Armor said, his eyes continually searching the hooded stallion for any sort of identifying mark. “What is it you want in return for your services?” The hooded stallion coughed quietly, then chuckled before reaching a hoof up to push the hood back. Shining Armor’s eyes went wide at the stallion he saw, the jagged and broken horn, the menacing eyes, the hateful sneer and the missing teeth.

“You will use my research for weapons… Weapons to be used against those disgusting apes. That’s all the compensation I need.” Blueblood said in a rough voice, his eyes boring deep into Shining Armor. “Though… Since you offered… I want to be treated like a nobel ought to be treated, a nice house, nice clothes, and so on… Everything that disgusting creature stripped me of before his goons left me to rot in the middle of that Faust forsaken desert.”

“You can’t be serious.” Shining Armor said flatly.

“Oh, I’m dead serious…” Blueblood said in a just as flat tone. “A house, clothes, food, and respect… A small price to pay for a weapon’s system that could bypass the Onorussian Army, Navy, and Airforce. A weapons system capable of rendering their entire missile defense network obsolete… A weapons system that could make the Crystal Empire a force to be reckoned with…” Blueblood walked towards the disk, limping slightly as his rags swayed on his body. “Think about it, Cousin… Give me what I want, and once my work is complete, you will have turned the balance of power on it’s head overnight.” Shining armor took a deep breath, then closed his eyes. After a couple seconds, the stallion opened his eyes and leaned against the desk.

“Agent Orange… Show our new associate to the lab.” Shining said quietly, Agent Orange nodded and gestured for Blueblood to follow him.

Author's Notes:

I feel like I've got my second wind, glad to be posting this so soon after the last one. Anyway, not much to report here, but still felt like saying hi.

Also, here's your clips of the day. I don't know why, these videos are really addicting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRE6YXiol5g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIDNijpn5Bg