4th day of Moon's Rising
454 Years after the Defeat of Discord by the Sisters

An armored hoof kicked the door of the Ambassadorial suite open. Inside, the candles were almost extinguished, so low that there was nearly nothing left of them. A body was slumped over at the dining table, long gone cold. Xaaron’s beaked face was locked in an expression of surprise and horror, talons digging into the table and leaving long claw marks where he had struggled in agony. A half-eaten meal lay scattered around the table, along with a dented cup and spilled bottle of wine.

“Damn,” Quel said, as he walked in and prodded the corpse with a hoof. It was stiff from rigor mortis. “Looks like the beaky is dead already.”

“Murdered,” said a voice behind Quel. Quel tried not to shiver at the voice. The mare was old, gone to gray already, and her voice was exactly the way Quel remembered his old schoolteacher. Stern and just an inch from casting down judgement.

“It could have been suicide,” Quel retorted. “Killing himself after his plot failed.”

“You don’t poison your own meal when you’re killing yourself,” the mare said calmly. “Have the chefs and maids detained. I want to know who cooked this, who delivered it to him, and everypony who could have touched it in any way.”

“Belay that,” Quel snapped. “Who do you think you are? You can’t just give my soldiers orders!”

“I think I’m somepony who outranks you,” the mare said.

“And I think the Night Guard doesn’t take orders from the Solar Guard,” Quel said. “Escort her out of the area. If she gives you trouble, take her the long way, with a lot of stairs.”

“My, my,” the mare said softly. “Already trying to have me roughed up?” She glanced at the guards to either side of her. “Captain Quel, I have been asked here by Celestia-”

“Yeah, you’re part of her little Solar Circle,” Quel shrugged. “Don’t look surprised. Of course we know about you. Luna doesn’t keep secrets the way Celestia does. She trusts us.”

“Very well. My name is Seaspray.” The older mare raised a hoof to her mane, smoothing it back. “Yes, I am a member of Celestia’s Solar Circle. She asked me to accompany you because, simply put, she does not trust you. While I hope you do not take offense to that, I intend to carry out the duties assigned to me.”

“I figured out that she doesn’t trust us already, thanks,” Quel snapped. “It’s kind of funny, since we were trying to save lives and you idiots decided to spend all your marepower making sure we couldn’t.”

“The situation was complicated,” Seaspray admitted. “We should focus on the present. Celestia wanted to make sure nothing untoward happened to the Ambassador as a result of the Night Guard.”

“Not much we can do to a dead beaky,” Quel gestured to the corpse.

“You can treat him with respect. He wasn’t involved in this plot.” Seaspray walked over, sniffing at the spilled wine. “Iocane powder. Not a pleasant way to go, but no effective antidote.”

Quel sighed. “Have the maids and cooks sequestered so we can question them to see how he ended up dead.”

“As I originally ordered,” Seaspray noted. “As such, I approve. However, I want them guarded by a mixed company of Solar and Night guards.” Quel opened his mouth to protest, and Seaspray held up a hoof to stop him. “Regardless of our personal feelings, we need to work together. It’s important that the common pony have faith in the Diarchy.”

“This is your fault!” Luna screamed, throwing a bookcase across the room. Celestia sat and glared at her, not blinking as it shattered into shrapnel. “Because of you, thousands are dead!” Celestia’s bedroom looked like it had been subject to several tornadoes and an earthquake. Only a minority of the damage was from Luna’s rage, the rest from the dragon attack.

“They are dead because of terrorists,” Celestia replied, trying to remain calm. “Terrorists whom, I note, would have been stopped if you hadn’t had my agent killed.”

“An agent I had no way of knowing existed!” Luna snapped. “Whom you didn’t even inform me about even after the fact! I find it darkly amusing that you blame me when you intentionally kept me from knowing about this.”

“I was trying to keep you from murdering our subjects!” Celestia yelled. She stood up to her full height, towering over Luna. “You never think things through! This is just like the griffons - you just want to kill anypony who stands in your way!”

“If that was true, I’d kill you,” Luna growled. “You are a threat to Equestria itself. Because of your orders and your soldiers, the war dragged out longer than it should have, this plot was allowed to advance to this stage, and the Night Guard was kept from the field where it could have acted to save lives.”

“I-”

“You are a weak, pathetic ruler who only cares about basking in the love and praise of her subjects instead of making the hard decisions that need to be made!”

There was a crack like thunder as Celestia’s hoof met Luna’s cheek.

Luna reached up to touch the bruised flesh.

“So it has come to this,” Luna hissed. “You’ve had my student detained and used her life to threaten me. You’ve kept my army from the field when they were most needed. Your soldiers tried to kill one of my most trusted ponies after she had saved the day. And now you strike your own sibling.”

“Why won’t you just calm down and listen?!” Celestia yelled. “I am trying to make life better for everypony, but I can’t do that when you refuse to work with me! Of course my troops don’t trust you! You spent the entire war ignoring me when I was trying to end it without bloodshed! You refuse to take my advice, you act without consulting me, and you act as though it is my fault that the only solutions you seek are those that end in death!”

“I spent the war saving ponies. You wanted to compromise and talk when action was needed! And the war has not ended. This attack was at the behest of griffon elements and I intend to have satisfaction!”

“It is easy to make war, Luna. All you have to do is fight and hate. It is far more difficult to make peace, because it means putting those feelings aside and making the world a better place.”

“If you want to talk about making peace, preach to the ponies in the street.” Luna threw open the window, tearing down the curtains Celestia had closed. Smoke poured from the scattered fires that were proving difficult to put out. The huge rift belched steam and volcanic gasses. “Wake up, sister! Wake up and smell the ashes! This is the path you lead us down!”

Bianca held Pallas’ hoof, both thestrals weeping as Ryujin and Silver Tongue worked to try and keep Pallas from death’s grasp. After her armor had been removed, it was clear that her wounds were even more serious than they had assumed. Wind Dancer sat against the wall, unhurt but exhausted.

“Shave the fur away from these wounds,” Ryujin muttered, as he used a needle and thread to close a laceration. “With how her skin is burned, it’s going to fall out anyway.” Ryujin grabbed an unmarked ceramic bottle from the table at his side and poured it over the wound, Pallas hissing at the pain.

“It’s amazing she’s even still alive,” Wind Dancer said quietly.

“Luna wouldn’t let her die,” Bianca whispered. “She can’t keep everypony from dying, but she can manage a few when they’re bound to her.”

“The Dragoons?” Silver Tongue guessed, as he helped Ryujin hold her down as the thestral struggled like the wounded animal she was.

Bianca nodded. “It’s like necromancy but with living ponies. The magic keeps their hearts beating and their limbs moving, even if they should be dead.”

“Wonderful,” Silver muttered.

“It doesn’t seem to do much for pain,” Wind Dancer noted.

“No, it doesn’t,” Bianca said. She nuzzled at Pallas’ neck, being careful to only touch her where her skin wasn’t burned or torn.

The doors to the infirmary burst open, and Luna stomped in, looking disheveled and angry.

“We are leaving in the morning!” Luna declared. “Make her ready for travel. I would not leave her here under the care of ponies who care not for her life.”

“What happened?” Silver Tongue asked.

Luna paced around the room before answering, gritting her teeth. “We are no longer welcome here, if we ever were. My sister has become exactly the type of useless fop we always derided, and would rather see me removed from power than admit that she is being used.”

“Removed from power?” Bianca gasped.

“Through the most underhooved means possible. Her orders would have had you killed if my Dragoons hadn’t saved your life.” Luna sighed. “She has insulated herself so far away from the problems of the world that she would rather kill the messenger that brings them to her attention than do anything to solve them.”

“Where are we going to go, then?” Silver Tongue asked.

“I have decided to go to the one place she dares not follow,” Luna said, calming down. She held her head high, wings spreading slightly. “We will venture across the sea with the Night Guard and as many as wish to follow us. I will take the war to the griffons, and they will pay for what they have done.”

Luna stepped up to Pallas, putting a hoof on the suffering mare.

“They will pay for this, too.” She whispered, and turned to leave. “I think it is time I addressed the city. They have heard enough of my sister’s pointless words, and they deserve speech with iron backing it. If there is any change… I will know.” She looked at Pallas. “If she wakes up, and I am not here, tell her I am proud.”

As the sun set, and the full moon rose, a ray of moonlight like a spotlight shone down into the low city, illuminating a courtyard. Ponies, tired from hours spent digging through rubble and searching for those they cared about, started to gather.

“My little ponies, today has been a day which will live on forever in infamy. But it is not a day which foreshadows our defeat. It is a new beginning.” The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, until Princess Luna appeared as a shadow in the moonlight above, her voice booming as she addressed the crowd.

“The Griffon Empire has ravaged our lands for their own greed and lust for power. We must send them a message, but not one of mere words. We have wasted too much time with words. We need action now! The griffons must be taught a harsh lesson for their evil corruption!” She landed on the broken cobblestone streets, her armored shoes striking sparks on the stone.

“Many of your brothers and sisters have perished valiantly in the face of a contemptible enemy. We must never forget what the Empire has done to our people! My sister, Princess Celestia, brought this down upon us when she refused to fight. We became helpless prey to them, and they have taken this opportunity to go for the throat.”

Luna started walking through the crowd, touching a shoulder here, meeting the eye of a pony there, her natural height making her easy for the ponies to keep track of her, but her actions putting her on their same level, making the speech oddly intimate.

“I have fought for you since the beginning of this war! I have pushed the griffons out of our land where my sister merely tried to hold the line. Today, she made it clear that I am no longer welcome in Equestria, despite the sacrifices I have made for this land and all the ponies within. Because of her actions, my army was unable to take the field, and it was only through the bravery of a single soldier who escaped her grasp that you had any defense against the dragon at all.”

Luna paused, closing her eyes for a moment in obvious pain.

“I will not stay here, where I am unwelcome, where ponies are put at risk, where we wait for the predator to come to us. All those who value courage over life, who wish to take the fight to the foes who deserve it, and who wish to keep this from ever happening again, I ask you to join me. I will march to the east, and from there, we will sail across the sea and attack the Empire. I intend to free the ponies held captive there, end their tyranny, and remove the threat once and for all.”

Luna looked around the crowd, many of them mothers, foals, ponies who had no right to fight.

“Those of you who stay behind, I hope only that you find whatever peace is left to you. I know many of you have responsibilities and commitments you cannot easily cast aside, but I can only protect those who fight with me. I have seen today what kind of security my sister provides, and would not wish it on anypony.”

The crowd murmured at that. Here in the low city, the casualties had been terrible. Most of them had already fled the war to come here, to safety, and they’d only found that the war had followed them.

“To those who follow me, victory is the greatest tribute we can pay to those who have lost their lives in this war! Rise up and show the griffons that we are not prey! Equestria thrives on the strength of its ponies, and they will not underestimate us again!”

From somewhere in the crowd, cheering started. It spread like the fires had across the low city, quickly and leaving little untouched in their wake. Luna smiled at the crowd, rising up and shouting to be heard over the excitement.

“Any who wish to come will not be turned away, but know that you might not return to Equestria. Bring only what you can carry. You have until dawn to decide, and I advise you to think well on it. Regardless of what you decide, I care for all of you, and I am doing this because you deserve to be protected and avenged.”

Luna flew up, along that beam of moonlight, and vanished in a flash of light as she teleported away.

From the ruined castle, Celestia watched from a window, her eyes cast down.

“Your highness?” Sirocco asked, from behind her. “If you wish, we have some recommendations. It might be possible to keep her from leaving, if you’re willing to authorize-”

“No,” Celestia said.

“No?” Sirocco blinked slowly, tilting her head.

“Let her go. She has been a destabilizing element since she returned. Perhaps some time apart will make it easier for when she returns.”

“If she returns,” Sirocco noted.

“She will,” Celestia said. “If we’re lucky, she will return because we are at peace, and this will become an embarrassing memory we both try to forget. If we aren’t lucky, her return to Equestria could be…” Celestia trailed off.

“Could be what, your highness?”

“We have wronged her. I hope she can forgive, or at least forget.”