24th day of Second Planting
452 Years after the Defeat of Discord by the Sisters

Pallas collapsed into her bedding, little more than a few blankets thrown onto the grass with a tent over it to keep some of the sun and heat away. With the hot summer days, she didn’t need or even want more than that. She rolled over, sweat covering her face. The drill instructors were putting the recruits through Tartarus, and today was no exception. They’d woken her up at noon after only a few fitful hours of nightmare-plagued sleep and ordered her to run miles in the blinding light.

Pallas was starting to think that by the time she saw combat, she’d be blind and with her hooves all worn down to the bone. The last three months had been more difficult than she could have imagined, and the worst part of it was the dreams.

Every time she closed her eyes she had to relive what had happened to her.

Her mother screamed above her. Pallas tried to hold back a scream, hiding in the dark in total silence, not even breathing. It didn’t matter.

The trap door above her was flung open, talons reaching in to grab her. Pallas screeched as she was dragged out of the comforting dark and into the light, her recent memories of being forced into the blinding sunlight mixing with the actual events, casting the horror in a bright light that made it impossible for her to hide or protect herself.

A talon forced her head to the floor, her flank still in the air. Pallas just wept and prayed it would be over soon.

The light faded, and everything froze. Pallas heard the distinctive sound of silver horseshoes, ringing like a bell with every step. She looked up, and saw Luna looking down at her with pity. Something told her that this was somehow real, that she wasn’t just dreaming of the Princess, but actually in her ethereal presence.

“This is only a dream, Pallas Athene,” Luna said. “You have been plagued by this nightmare for months now. It is a haunting thing, but you must move beyond the pain if you are to heal.”

“H-how am I supposed to do that?” Pallas asked, averting her gaze. She was still pinned, helpless, and humiliated. She didn’t feel worthy to even look at Luna’s hooves.

“There is only one salve for this,” Luna said, firmly. She stomped a hoof on the ground, and a blade sprung from the floor like a steel flower from the earth, just within Pallas’ reach. “Only blood can cure such hurt. You must fight your fear.”

A cold wind blew through the room, the frozen lights flickering and everything starting to move again. Pallas looked at the blade, a long thin knife, almost delicate. She felt feathers press against her back, and grabbed for the handle with her teeth, plucking it from the ground and stabbing the tip into the talon of the griffon holding her down.

The griffon reared back, screaming. Pallas scrambled out from under him, knife growing heaver in her jaw. It felt less like a delicate thing now, with more of a comforting weight to it. She backed up, looking at the three griffons that had invaded her home.

Luna had said she had to fight her fear. She intended to do just that. She jumped at them, her wings close to her side. The blade sank into the wounded griffon’s eye, piercing through and into his skull, the soldier going limp. Pallas jerked the blade back, the knife having grown long and heavy, feasting on his blood and lengthening into a sword.

The next started to draw his weapon and Pallas swung at the movement, cutting into his wrist. The griffon’s talon fell to the ground, messily severed, and he screamed, clutching his bleeding stump and falling to his side to cradle his wound. Pallas pinned him in place, smashing a hoof into his beak and stabbing him in the neck. Blood fountained into the air, gallons of gore that no real creature would have, soaking Pallas’ dream in red.

The last griffon had his sword out, circling Pallas intently. She pulled her own weapon free, the sword’s tip dragging along the ground, the blade having become almost as long as her body, thick and heavy with murderous intent. She started to trip, flapping a wing to turn it into a fast spin around her center of mass, her sword trailing her movement.

The griffon didn’t even have time to react as the blade slammed into his shoulder. With a crunch of bone and gristle, the heavy weapon blasted through his body, the force of blow sending it completely through his armor, the griffon’s own sword breaking in two against it. Pallas’ sword completed its revolution, slamming into the floor with enough weight to it that the boards splintered. The griffon fell into two parts in an explosion of blood.

Pallas breathed heavily, surrounded by death, her black coat sticking to her body, drenched from head to hoof.

“This is the only healing I can offer you on the path you are on,” Luna’s voice said, as the Princess appeared again, a shaft of moonlight illuminating her like a spotlight in the darkness beyond the gore-filled room.

Pallas stabbed the heavy, overlong sword into the floor with her teeth, spitting out the blood that had flowed down the blade and collected in her mouth.

“It’s enough,” Pallas said. “Thanks for the sword.”

“Do not thank me. A sword is not a blessing. A sword is a curse that too many ponies are forced to bear in these bloody times. It cannot protect those you care about as a shield would. Taking up the sword means forsaking safety for the promise of death.” Luna spread her wings, stars filling the dark. “Do you wish a path where you have nothing except the power to bring an end to your enemies?”

“It’s enough,” Pallas said, firmly. “They took everything from me.”

“Then you will have a chance to take from them as well,” Luna promised. “Rest now. In your own dream, you are the master of your fate.” Luna faded from the dream, leaving Pallas alone in that charnel house. The thestral leaned against the sword still embedded in the floor, supporting herself with it, the cool steel comforting against her coat.

It wasn’t a nice dream, or a peaceful dream, but she was finally able to rest.

Bianca felt like she was floating. She was on the edge between dreams and reality, that tenebrous space where she could hear things outside her dream and they infiltrated it, seeming to coming from everything around her. The world was half-formed and unfocused, the scene around her shifting from a tent to a palace to her old, icy home.

“What do you see?” Luna’s voice asked, from around her.

“I can’t see anything. It’s all just a blur.” Bianca tried to stay calm. It was difficult, with the way the world and time were flowing around her. She couldn’t tell if mere moments passed or if it was hours before Luna spoke again.

“You must stay in this limbo,” Luna said. “If you can enter and leave it at will, you will be able to communicate with me across any distance.”

“It’s hard,” Bianca said. “I keep almost waking up completely, and I can feel everything slowing down and trying to make me sleep.”

“It is walking the edge of a blade,” Luna said. “The true problem will be when you are surrounded in the thick of battle, rather than such a calming place as this.” Bianca could just barely smell incense, spicy and thick, and wasn’t sure if it was real or just imagined. “But that is when this will be most needed, when you must pass messages to and from me across a battlefield.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier if I was completely asleep?” Bianca asked. She started to feel the dream fading, like she was going deaf and blind to the world around her. She forced herself to relax, halting the decay around her.

“If you could fall so soundly asleep while ponies are dying around you I would be quite worried,” Luna said, laughing a little. “And while you would certainly be able to communicate with me more easily, you would find it quite difficult indeed to relay it to those around you.”

“I could just wake up once I had the message,” Bianca said.

“Oh, could you? It is rarely so easy as that. There are some dreams it is very difficult to escape.” Luna sounded strangely sad, as if thinking of something in particular. “Some can haunt a pony for a very long time.”

“Princess?” Bianca asked, worried. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I fear not. I apologize for my melancholy. You may awake at your leisure.” Bianca could feel Luna withdraw from her dream, the knot of stability she had provided fading away. Bianca let the unformed dream collapse around her, snapping awake with a jolt.

The inside of Luna’s tent was dark, the air filled with the incense that Bianca had faintly detected before. A small fire pit had been dug in the middle of the large tent, under a hole at the apex that served as a chimney. Rugs covered the ground around it, all of them once fine and now faded and worn from extensive use and travel.

Luna sat on the other side of the fire, tending to a kettle that hung over the flames, not looking directly at Bianca.

“Luna, what’s wrong?” Bianca asked. She could tell the Princess was wearing her heavy crown on a troubled brow this day. The way her wings hung almost limp at her sides instead of her usual crisp posture spoke volumes on its own.

“It is only a silly concern,” Luna said. “Nothing you need be worried about.”

“If you can’t tell me, who can you tell?” Bianca asked.

“It little behooves a teacher to force a student to carry their burdens for them,” Luna chided, smiling at Bianca. “It is nothing that you need be worried about, I promise you that.”

“If it isn’t something that I should be worried about, then you shouldn’t have a problem telling me,” Bianca said, smiling. “You know you can trust me, Luna. You’ll be able to lead everypony better if you aren’t bottling so much up inside.”

Luna sighed and shook her head. “If you must know, I am… distressed because of my sister. Or rather, because her Solar Guard is being given credit they do not deserve. It was through your sacrifices and work that the griffons are being turned back. The Solar Guard alone was only able to hold the line, with no provisions made to actually take back what had been stolen from us. My sister sought a diplomatic solution when it is clear that force is required!” Luna stomped a hoof, her voice rising as she spoke, as if gaining strength from the angry words. “That is why I took the Night Guard to battle on my own. She would tie my hooves in the name of peace, when thousands suffer. The griffons will never agree to peace while they see themselves in a position of strength. They must be crushed and broken, and only when they beg for mercy should it be shown to them!”

Bianca smiled as she listened to Luna. “Well, you’re obviously right, since we’re winning the war almost on our own.”

“Exactly,” Luna huffed. “On our own. The Solar Guard is doing little more than restricting the movements of the griffon forces. I admit that it is a valuable strategic asset, but because my sister refuses to commit them to offensive action, they provide little more than a wall of inexperienced flesh wrapped in unbloodied steel.”

“Are you worried she’s just going to make you fight the whole war?” Bianca asked, taking the kettle that Luna had abandoned in her diatribe and pouring the hot water into the cups that Luna had already prepared, the scent of strongly smoked tea wafting from the chipped clay.

“No. I am worried that my little ponies will not learn the lesson before then,” Luna said. “They hear of cities being recaptured and the griffons being driven back, and they see the Solar Guard defending them. Because we are on the front lines, we are all but forgotten. Even at court, they rarely speak of me, while my sister stays on her throne instead of leading her ponies into battle.”

“Have you tried talking to her about it?” Bianca asked. Luna took a cup, swirling the tea leaves with her magic before sipping the strong brew.

“Yes. She finds it amusing instead of distressing, and seems to think it will all simply work itself out in the end. When I confronted her about how removed she was from the reality of battle, she suggested I leave the field and return to the castle if I was so worried about the court. As if it was even an option!” Luna drank the tea in one gulp then put the teacup down harshly, cracking it with the unintentional force she used. “She is foolish. She has ever been the softer of us, and beloved for it by the nobility, while I am the harsh ruler who must veto her foalish decrees and try to limit the excesses of the court. I fear to think of what Equestria would be like were I not there to keep her in check. The common ponies would be destitute, the nobility would bankrupt the country, and she would keep smiling like a fool as the yes-ponies around her assured her everything was fine.”

“It sounds like you worry for her a lot,” Bianca said, as she drank her tea slowly. She watched Luna’s expression. It was a mixture of concern and anger in equal amounts.

“Of course I do,” Luna said, quietly. “I love her.”

Bianca smiled and trotted over to nuzzle Luna. “You know, my mother was always the one who punished me when I did something wrong. And if I wanted something, I asked my father because he would say yes, no matter how absurd the request. At least until mother cuffed him about the head. But even though my mother was the harsher of my parents, she was doing it because she knew what was best for me in the long run. It was just hard to see it, sometimes, because I didn’t have her perspective. I still loved her, Luna, even when she was yelling at me for going out in the sun or hiding in the snow for so long that I got sick.” Bianca sniffled, pulling away and rubbing her eyes. “I think sometimes you don’t realize how important somepony is to you until they’re gone.”

“I’m sorry,” Luna said, quietly. “I did not mean to bring up difficult memories.”

“It’s okay,” Bianca said, the smile returning as she wiped tears from her wet eyes. “I just want you to know that I appreciate what you’ve done, and so does everypony here. That’s more important than what the court thinks, because we’re here with you.”

“It’s sometimes difficult to keep my priorities in order,” Luna smiled. “Thank you.” She hugged the albino thestral. “I promise that once this is over, I will make sure all of you are rewarded for what you’ve done, for me and Equestria.”