Vanhoover; A large city in the northwest of Equestria made larger by this war's influence. The buildings rebuilt in metal, the roads repaved in cobblestone, and the population, rising and falling with the attempts to retake Canterlot. Princess Luna calls this place her home, safe inside her spire of steel. The castle resembles a thin mountain with jagged perches. It serves as a monument to Princess Celestia, who gave her life to protect her sister in a raid by the minotaurs. With no magic to raise the sun, Princesses Luna, Cadence, and Twilight Sparkle cast a powerful spell over all of Equestria to give a low light to the sky forever. The moon may still rise, but no living thing has seen the sun in over seventeen years. We have basically lived in perpetual twilight since.

Princess Celestia, a great and powerful asset, was torn from the world just after the war reached it's fourth year. The war has just entered its twenty-first. Twenty-one years of nothing but fighting. The royal guard has diminished, and now Princess Luna relies on volunteers to help in the war. But as of late, not many are willing to lay down their lives, and those that do are usually ill and wish to die in response to their princess' cause. Regularly, she has what remains of her military send out recruitment offers. Which brings me to where I am now.

I stand out front of the Steel Spire, Princess Luna's castle. The ground's cold is seeping through my boots, but I don't let it bother me. I take my time with the door, which is guarded by two silver-clad unicorns. Their coats are a dusty gray with white manes and cool brown eyes. I lean forward and look at myself in the reflective steel door. My coat is the same color as burnt sawdust, a pale dark brown. My charcoal mane and tail flow out of the back of my armor, a special suit that won't completely protect me from bullets, but it will keep my insides on the inside. I lick my teeth, gaze into my reflection's orange eyes, and wait for the guards to speak.

"...Can we help you?" the one on the right asks.

I nod. "Yes. My name is Mirage. Blazing Mirage. I have received a recruitment order, again."

The guards look at each other. "Finally bothered to show up then," the one of the left says. He has a few inches on me so I have to look up at him. I'm four foot one. "Fine," he says. "Relinquish your weapons and you may pass."

He means my guns and blades. I have a wide-grip model EX P2K Pistol strapped to my waist, two knifes, and a semi-automatic scoped rifle. I look over my back to my rifle. The slick back body of my gun sits lightly on my back, attached by a carbon fiber strap. The scope gleams as I look back at the guard. "No."

His gaze hardens. "Relinquish your weapons, or no entry."

A lot of the time I go unnoticed, but when I show myself, not a lot of ponies give ma any respect. As a simple earth pony, I have no fancy magic or a pair of wings to help me in battle, not to mention I'm a bit skinny, so I just have the butt and barrel of my guns. So I raise and eyebrow to his requests and put on a little speech. "Are you asking me to give up the only things that may protect me from defending myself in a hazardous situation?" Not much of a speech, but it has its effects

"Yes," he replies.

The other guard reaches over and smacks him on the back of his head, causing his silver helmet to scoot over his eyes. "Ignore him. If you wanted to shoot our Princess, you would need an army." He steps back and opens his side of the door. "Just don't touch anything."

I nod and walk inside. Almost immediately the door closes and I'm launched into a world of darkness. I wait a moment and torches begin to light themselves. An eerie green fire that casts a sickly green hue on everything. I begin walking down the long hall.

The whole castle is made of metal, so it is always cold in here. The green and blue carpets on the floor don't help. The hall begins to branch off into other walkways. Each entrance is guarded by a royal guard. The royal guard only protect the city they are stationed in, so they gather around the castle. I walk at least a hundred meters before a guard points me down her hallway. Everypony must know why I'm here. This guard has the same color scheme as the rest of them, except that her eyes are a bright blue. She leads me down the hall and into a large circular room with at eleven other entrances. I follow her into the fifth one.

The décor suddenly changes from green and blue to an earthy orange. The torches, too, are orange, giving normal light so bright that I have to squint. The guard walks down the hall and I follow her, turning when she does. The guard silently leads me around the castle, every once in a while having to return and pull me along when I stop to admire the inner workings of the castle.

"Please try to stay on task," she says. "We are here." We make one last turn to the right and she steps aside. I look ahead.

A large silver door sits heavily in front of me. The left side of the parting door has a moon engraved on it, the other a sun, however a large scar covers the sun, basically gouging a large portion of it out of the frame.

"It's a warning," says the guard. I look at her. "It a warning that no matter what, you should not speak about her in Princess Luna's presence. She does not like to reopen old wounds, and Celestia is a wound that nearly killed her."

I look back at the door and take a breath. Slowly, I step forward and push the door open and step inside. The door slips closed behinds me and I look around. It's a large barren room. The only thing in here is a green rug that leads up to a stair-covered incline where a large throne sits. The throne is empty.

I take my time, step after step in an orderly and timely fashion. The torches on the wall are dim, so the room is slightly dark. I reach the bottom of the stairs and look around. Still, nopony is here. I turn and sit on the stairs and unsling my rifle. Reaching into the right-side pocket of my black body armor, I pull out a black cloth. Casually, but alert, I begin to clean my rifle.

Looking around, this place isn't so bad. It's roomy, dim, a little cold, but still nicer than my place. But then again, this is a castle for royalty, and I'm just a... well, I don't know what I am classified as. But yeah, much better that my little shack. I live on the edge of town in a small toolshed. It has one door, one bed, no windows, and a well nearby. If I moved my bed out, I may be able to call it roomy. But it's four feet by six, and its only six feet tall. The bed takes up half the floor space, which is just dirt. I came to this city for a quiet life in fear, simple wishes and all that. I was only three years old when the half-breeds attacked my home of Dodge City, an unruly little dust-coved city out near the Badlands, I fled to the Foal Mountains. Not bad enough I was born into a world of war, but then my family was killed. All of them. So after staying in the mountains for nearly a year, I went on a lengthy and dangerous journey to Vanhoover. The pistol I hold was stolen from a bandit who tried to kill me on my way here. He was the first pony I had ever killed, and it changed me. I had to survive, so I looted his supply and moved on. I must have only had two clips or ammo with me for that seven month hike. So I learned to become a raider, attacking when needed. It turned me into a decent shot. I can hit a can from five hundred feet with my rifle, and I can nail a target from about twenty meters with my pistol. The knifes haven't been used yet, at least not to kill. Only to maim myself.. The only action I see is the occasional raid. I think I've been here twelve years now. I'm eighteen in two months.

I examine my weapon and put the cloth back in my pocket. The black exterior gleams in the dim light, clean once more. I stare at it for a while longer before getting into position and looking through the scope. I aim towards the right of the room and wait. Seconds tick by.

"Well, you seem to have made yourself at home." I lower my scope when the princess enters into my sight. I have to look up as she begins to show herself. She must be at least six feet tall. Princess Luna looks weathered, her fur and feathers are dingy and dark, her eyes bloodshot. Her space-like mane barely flows, and most of the stars that float within it are gone. She is clad in black armor from the neck down. However, aside from this look, she smiles. "I am happy that you are here."

"I received your recruitment order," I replay as I shoulder my rifle.

"Let me take a look at you," Princess Luna says calmly. As she walks closer the torches begin to brighten somewhat. She circles me, moving her eyes up and down my body, my weapons, my suit basically. "Hm, you may be wondering why I sent the recruitment order, yes?"

"You need more firepower in your infantry," I say. "It's common knowledge that we have not gained any advances in the war."

The princess stops circling me, stopping behind me. I turn as she speaks. "I need you."

"Why?" I ask.

"Why not," she counters.

"I'm not just another soldier," I say sharply.

"I know." The princess turns around and walks up the steps to her throne. She takes her seat and beckons me closer. I come. She's somewhere around six feet tall, so I really have to crane my neck back to look at her. "You are not just some soldier. You do not have that type of look to you."

"There's a look?" I ask.

Luna nods. "Yes, and you do not have it. You look much more dangerous than that."

"I'm not a hired gun." I say, already knowing her next move.

"I know, I know," she says softly. "And too bad. I could pay so much for your services."

I smirk. "Yeah, for what? Money has such little use anymore. I don't want money."

The princess stares at me, long and hard. "...You should watch your tone, young one."

"My tone is not the problem," I bark. "Maybe I made a mistake coming here. I thought you may have had some little hope to give me! but no, apparently not." My hope that I had wished for her to give... anything at all. That we were winning, that we had won, that we had done something. I regain my composure the best I can. "I am sorry. Is this all you called me here for?"

Luna holds my gaze. "All that energy... and no desire."

"Desire?" I ask, my composure breaking again. "Desire!? What do you think I want? It's not money, it's not food, it's not a warm place to stay! You know what I want?" I turn my back on her and begin walking to the door. "I want this war to be over!"

"What if I told you I may know how to do that?"

Princess Luna's words stop my feet and eradicate my anger. I turn to her again. "What?"

Now she takes her turn to smirk. "I may know of a way to end this war with the half-breeds." She leans in, but I'm to far from her for it to have much effect. "And to do that, I need a skillful hoof. Like you."

I walk back to the edge of the stairs. "You've never seen my skills."

"I don't need to. Since you entered my throne room, I've been scouring your memories." I take a breath and try not to get angry that I had let someone into my mind and not even known it. Luna leans back in her throne. "Yes, you've come a long way, haven't you? Stolen many things without being noticed, survived really." She gets out of her throne and walks back to me. Luna begins to circle me again, like a snake getting ready to strike. "You've seen so many horrors. You've fought for your life. You've taken so many lives as well. How many? Do you know?

"...Seventy-three."

She laughs. "Yes, you have an interesting way of remembering."

She's right. For every life I take, I mark myself with my knife. My left foreleg has seventy-three little scars brandishing it, each about an inch long. My fur grows back a lighter shade of brown instead of leaving a normal scar, but I don't cut too deep...

Luna's tail flicks my nose as she circles me. "What is your name. Speak it, so that I may properly know."

I breathe in, breathe out. "...My name... is Blazing Mirage."

"Mirage," Luna says slowly. "Interesting. Fitting for a pony that can blend in and sneak around so easily. Blazing Mirage, I have a request for you. If you so choose to accept it, the outcome of this war may look generous. If you refuse, then we may be lost amidst the battle forever."

She comes around and stands directly in front of me. I look into her eyes. "...What kind of request?" Next Chapter: Chapter 2: Stocking Up and Reading Orders Estimated time remaining: 9 Minutes