Raegdan sat next to Luna. She had requested, and they let her rest outside of her tent and some distance from the rest of them, though whoever was still fit enough was patrolling around the camp, making sure they would spot any other creature trying to sneak in.

They would all head back to Canterlot in the morning.

“How are you feeling?” Raegdan asked. His fingertips ran across the burns, tracing the edges.

“A little better.” Luna swallowed dryly. “No, that’s a lie. I’m feeling horrible. You?”

Raegdan spread his fingers and tilted his palm left and right. His left arm was back in its sling, the bone clearly broken once more. “Like crap.” His shoulders stooped and his body slackened with a sigh of relief. “My left side is pure agony. I would give an arm for a single painkiller. I think it’s more than just the arm bone that’s wrong.” He rubbed his chest. “And I think I cracked my ribs again when that manticore fell on me. All in all, could be worse but not by much. Could be better. I’m just glad that really wasn’t bird crap. My dignity can’t take another hit. How’s your head?”

“The pain has lessened, and it shall not get any worse. Sea Breeze knows more about Zebrican healing than I gave her credit for.” The jealousy on Raegdan’s face was almost tangible. “But I still feel like throwing up, especially if I try to stand. The good news is that I don’t feel the burns as much,” Luna croaked. She closed her eyes, wincing. “And this pillow must be made out of rock or something. Do you mind if…”

“Here.” Raegdan removed the pillow under Luna’s head and re-positioned himself so she could rest her head on his thigh. Luna let out a sigh of contentment.

“About Steel Edge…” Raegdan started.

“I don’t want to talk about him. In fact, I’d rather I don’t see him ever again.”

“I don’t know how possible that is. I’ll see what I can do but we must talk a little.” Raegdan nodded. “Good news though: Eventide and everyone else believe you said whatever you said because of the knock on your head.”

“Knock… It split my head wide open. Oh stars, what will we do with him? What am I going to say?”

“Well, I stepped up as the resident expert on time displaced ponies—” Raegdan chuckled at the stare Luna shot him. “What? It’s true! Anyway, I suggested that they take him back to his people. He isn’t even speaking the modern dialect, and he would need to get up to speed, let alone get over the shock. So, for awhile at least, he’s staying away from you. I played up the overprotective card as well so they won’t ask you to help with him even later on. If he asks to stick around though I’ll do my best to keep him away from you.”

“I can’t understand…” Luna breathed, looking up at the stars. The twinkling of the stars was reflected perfectly in her eyes. “How can he be alive?”

Raegdan stayed silent for a minute, delicately brushing Luna’s mane with his fingers and removing crusted blood whenever he found it. “I have an idea about that actually.”

Luna hissed in pain. The way she twisted to look up to him brought her a new flash of pain and made her vision blacken for a second. “You do?”

Raegdan half-shrugged, thought of it better, and nodded instead. “You told me you hit him with a time spell, one you had no idea if it would actually work, right?”

“Yes. You believe it froze him in time instead?”

The biped pursed his lips and scratched the cloth mask over his hair. “No. I don’t think that’s what it did. You see, he did say something to Eventide before he fell asleep again.”

“What?” Luna asked, pushing him for the answer.

“He said something to the likes of, ‘Tall castles reaching for the skies as far as I could see, and a road made of a single, continuous stone.’ At least that’s what Eventide thinks he said. She’s not that sure about her translation. But he mentioned he was there for a short time only, and that monster you faced was there as well, and it was either made of smoke or he could see through it.”

Luna blinked. “Tall castles? Like the towers in Canterlot or… or like the buildings you described to me? The ones your people can build?”

Raegdan didn’t answer immediately. After a few seconds he slapped his other thigh. “Here’s what I think happened. I think your spell kind of worked like the rifts, but not really. It didn’t take them through, at least nowhere near all the way.”

“But it was over a thousand years ago. The spell was nowhere powerful enough to mess with time this much,” Luna observed.

“I don’t know. What else could have happened? I guess it got all wonky with time or how he perceived it. Maybe it had been a thousand years for him. Time flies when you’re having fun,” he tried to joke. “Then you come along and the spell… ends or fizzles or whatever as soon as you got close enough, like a... a runic array that closed itself? That’s not the word I’m looking for, but you don’t have that I think.”

He scowled, looking angry for a moment. “But whatever happened, you shouldn’t be fucking with time spells anymore. If one of them does work like a rift, you’re screwed. I’m gonna see what I can do to make sure Twilight never bothers with them either. Maybe tell Celestia to discourage her from looking into them.”

Silence reigned for a while, the seconds passing slowly by. “Stars,” Luna whispered with hurt in her voice. “All I had to do was get close? That was all? If I had done that then… then maybe nothing would have happened. So much could have been different…”

“Yeah, that thing could have popped out and killed you all while you were weak from killing all the rest of its kind,” Raegdan scoffed at once. “How’s that for different? You didn’t decide to trap it under there for the giggles, remember?”

“Which reminds me…” Luna’s horn glowed weakly.

“Stop that magic crap. You should be getting rest. You exhausted yourself again.”

“You’re one to talk. This is important. Look.” The skull was brought closer and rested on Luna’s belly as she laid on her back. “Is that what I think it is? It didn’t belong to a child, did it?”

Raegdan grabbed the skull, putting two fingers through an eye socket for a better grip. He examined it carefully, turning it this way and that. “A skull like my own noggin’? Oh yeah. Though it’s hard to judge by comparing it to me. I told you, I’m tall for my race. I can’t tell what it is. I never really bothered with skulls. Not my style. Offals work better I find.”

“I pray it wasn’t a child,” Luna fervently said. “That would be a horrible way for a small one to meet its end. The way the creature killed... Unfortunately everypony so far thinks so when judging by the size difference between you and it. I know of what I will dream tonight. Do you think whoever that belonged to came through a rift?”

“They didn’t take the train, that’s for sure.” He threw the skull in the air, whistling merrily, and almost fumbled the catch when it came back down again. “Do we keep this or…”

“We bury it,” Luna rebuked. “And we treat it with respect. That could very well be a child, Raegdan.”

“It’s not. You’re getting awful serious about this, aren’t you?”

“Shouldn’t I?” Luna asked. “We did what we did because we had to, even if it was wrong and cruel. We made our choices because we believed the alternatives were worse. Fine. But should we keep making the same choices when we have better options? Should we retain the harshness and cruelty in everything? He or she was innocent, Raegdan. This was not the enemy, their murderer was.”

Raegdan placed the skull aside, carefully setting it down, slowly. “This did not belong to a kid. I’d know if it did. For what it’s worth though, I’m sorry. I get it.”

“Do you?” Luna wondered aloud.

“... No. Not really. But hey, maybe I will get it later on, right?” He smiled as innocently as he could. “I’m trying, Luna.”

Luna closed her eyes and settled back on Raegdan’s thigh, resting for a while, and enjoying his ministrations. “The monstrosity failed to absorb or eat you. That’s what I understood from what little they told me.”

Raegdan did shrug this time, and he almost swore in pain. “That thing must have been alive only because of magic. I’m immune, remember?”

Luna’s hoof blindly pointed at the skull. “But it did kill the owner of this.”

“Ah. Right.” Raegdan thought for a few seconds. “Well, the answer is obvious then, isn’t it? It was weak and died. The others did hurt it with their weapons after all, and what Limit Breaker did damaged it as well. Then it tried to get me, and either I was too large for it and it spread itself too thin or it died before it had time to feed and heal.”

“Hmm…” Luna mumbled unconvinced. She lifted the skull in her magic for a second, making it rotate around itself once. “Perhaps… Though I feel I am missing something.” She sighed with a pained expression. “I cannot think right now.”

Raegdan rolled his eye. “Then don’t. Who knows how that thing worked? Maybe it simply couldn’t survive outside the Everfree Forest and we all worried over nothing. Maybe the best thing to do was to take a hike and watch it kill itself trying to get out of the forest. Let’s forget about that. We’re heading back to Canterlot tomorrow. We have a lot of work of to do, and this time I’ll help. I’m not staying aside again.”

Luna shook her head slightly. “I’m not sure if there will be anything to do. I’ve already mentioned the possibility to Solid Charge, Eventide, and Leaf Stream.”

“Possibility of what?”

“I am considering of dissolving the Lunar Guard.”

Raegdan simply stared at her and scratched his ear. “I’m sorry, I thought you were the one who got hit in the head, but apparently I’m the one who’s hearing things.”

“Perhaps the Lunar Guard folly should end,” Luna repeated, keeping her eyes closed and frowning in misery. “Steel Edge is a sign. I can’t keep them, Raegdan. I won’t kill more of them. I have enough screams in my head. I can’t have more of them. I don’t want to be the reason Leaf Stream dies. I don’t want to see Solid Charge and Cast Iron dead at my hooves. I don’t want to see the look in Eventide’s face as she dies and knows that’s all I ever did for the Thestrals. And these new ones… All of them so brave, so foolish. I want them to live, not die because of me.” She was almost whimpering. “I don’t want to burn more of them. I don’t want another Night Lilly.”

“Luna. Luna, calm down. It won’t be like that this time. You know better now.” His hand stroked her cheek, the thumb running under her eyes and wiping the tears before they could fall.

“Maybe, but they’ll still die because of me. I couldn’t protect them from that monster. They were the ones who had to save me. They jumped in and put themselves in harm’s way for me.” She paused for a second. “Stars, how many were like them and I tossed them to their deaths? How many ponies did I use as bait when they could have been—”

Raegdan spoke quietly. “Come on, Luna. That’s… That’s what the Solar Guard does anyway, isn’t it? They protect Celestia by putting themselves in front of attacks if they have to. It’s the same thing.”

“I’m not Celestia!” Luna hissed, bringing her hoof down weakly. “I don’t deserve this kind of sacrifice or loyalty!”

“You get that loyalty from me though.”

“T- That’s different,” Luna stuttered. “You’re my friend. Besides, they would never stay anyway. Look at what we promised, what we presented ourselves as, and what we delivered. No, the more I think of it the better I think that it ends by my own hoof.”

Raegdan’s fingers dug at the top of his head in frustration. “Then what do we do, Luna?”

“I… I don’t know. I was thinking… Maybe we could leave?” she shyly suggested.

“Leave? Leave and go where? What about Twilight and Celestia? What about everything we planned?”

“I don’t know!” Luna said, raising her volume in distress. “Raegdan, what if we took one of the Elements with us, and just… left Equestria? We could travel south, across and beyond the Badlands. Get as far away as we can, just you and me, and never return. We wouldn’t have to. We could check up on them every now and then through their dreams, and plan something else if Celestia doesn’t do anything to cover for the Elements’ loss.”

“The Lunar Guard was supposed to—”

“We might figure out someway to block the rifts instead. I could make a spell or there might be an artifact that could help us, or maybe the time spell itself could be the solution? I don’t have Celestia’s pure knowledge of magic, but I have a good enough grasp, and with your help and knowledge we could figure something out. We could try to find a way to shut our world out and then… then we could leave them, safe from everything, and lock the door behind us.”

Raegdan’s palm had stilled over Luna’s brow. “I… I don’t know, Luna. I don’t think that’s possible, the rifts are too... And I was hoping that, I was thinking that I could try to—”

“What other choice do we have?” Luna asked, tearing up. “Nopony will ever stand with us!”

“So what was all this, some kind of trial run?” Tick asked.

“Nah, if it was a trial run then some of us would not be unemployed now,” Tack observed with humor that quickly drained as she realized the enormity of what just happened. “Wait, we’re off? All of us? After all that?”

“So might the Princess decree,” Solid Charge confirmed. The minotaur’s tone was completely flat, as if he was in shock. He stood in front of the large bonfire so it was hard to tell how he actually felt. He was nothing but a silhouette with the edge illuminated by flames in dark oranges.

“This makes no sense. Why would she do that?” Sunrise Storm questioned. “You don’t gather up recruits only to announce that the whole Guard is no more.”

Cradle Song scratched his chin with his hoof. Half of his beard was missing, the hair lost in a near-miss by the caustic acid the Forest Gunk had been throwing all over the place. “I wonder if—”

“Shut your mouth!” Eventide snarled.

“But—”

“No! None of this.” She noticed the ponies around her looking at the exchange. “Thestral business. It’s none of your concern,” she warned.

“Hold on a sec, all of you!” Rainbow Dash called out, silencing everypony’s grumbling and taking the lead in the discussion. “Solid Charge, why is she breaking up the Lunar Guard? We totally rocked that monster!”

Everypony waited for the answer to the question they had all been asking. Solid Charge took his time sitting down in front of them. He pulled his axe across his lap and fiddled with the wrap on the handle, chewing the inside of his cheeks as he thought.

“We all know, don’t we? Who Princess Luna was, what she did. The mare that threatened to extinguish the sun. The mare who looked for, found, and allowed a demon to invade her body and her soul. Nightmare Moon.”

“Not any more,” Rainbow Dash huffed tiredly and feeling like the world’s most colorful parrot.

Solid Charge’s eyes shot suspicion at her, a look that transformed into utter fury that only lasted for a second. Rainbow Dash didn’t care for it. One had to let the past go at some point. If she focused and brought to mind all the times she had crashed, she would never dare to fly again. The point is to learn from it, not to have your face rubbed in every single failure.

“The point stands,” Solid Charge enunciated slowly, “that this happened. Princess Luna… I think she asked herself a question. With everything she’s done…” His eyes glanced momentarily at Rainbow Dash again, and let the statement hang in the air with a tired shrug.

Rainbow Dash scowled, feeling mighty offended at this particular chain of thought. “It doesn’t work that way…” she mumbled.

“What doesn’t work that way?” Solid Charge asked, having heard her.

“Loyalty,” Rainbow Dash answered loudly, feeling a small cringe crawl up her spine at how melodramatic she sounded, but pushed on. She turned around, addressing everypony. “Loyalty isn’t something that you owe or are owed. It doesn’t have a nick to do with whether you deserve it or not, and try as much as you can, you can’t really earn it. You don’t buy it. You get it or not get it. It doesn’t have anything to do with what you want! Loyalty is given!”

Rainbow stomped her hoof down for emphasis, spreading her wings. “So that’s a load of horseapples that Luna is trying to feed us. It’s not up to her to decide if she deserves for ponies to stick with her or not.”

Solid Charge chewed on his lips. “You want to give her your loyalty? Even with what she’s done? You’ve been around her long enough. You know what she’s really like. She’s not like Princess Celestia.”

“Yeah, well, neither are me and my friends, yet we still stand by each other. And besides, so what? She’s made mistakes. And? Has none of us ever screwed up?” Rainbow directed her question to those behind her.

Nopony spoke up. They let silence reign as each of them examined the ground between their front legs, unwilling or ashamed to give their tale. Rainbow waited, her ire building the longer no one spoke.

“Alright, you know what? I’ll go first then!” she announced. “You all know about Discord, right?”

Gobrend flicked a talon. “We might have heard the tale one or two thousand times.”

“Okay, well, uuhm… Sorry. Anyway, he got all of us with some mumbo jumbo and stuff. Messed with our heads. The things is that, well.” Rainbow Dash felt greatly reluctant to tell the next part. What had she been thinking? “HegotmetobelieveacloudwasCloudsdale.”

“Sorry? We didn’t get that,” Cradle Song called out.

“I thought that a small cloud was Cloudsdale and I was the only one who could protect it, okay? Ha, ha. That’s what he did. Here’s the thing though. That’s all he did. I don’t quite remember most of what I did while I was under, but I dissed Ponyville, my friends, everypony. Because Cloudsdale—well, the cloud—was fine, and I was okay with that.” She lowered her head, pouting something fierce. “Here’s the element of Loyalty for you. Duuur…”

It wasn’t her proudest moment. Hearing what she did wasn’t that hot either. Worse yet, having everything she said repeated to her and realizing that everything she had said was a totally, one hundred percent, genuine Rainbow Dash comment, and a small voice inside her head asking her if she wouldn’t make that same choice even then… Boy, did that day suck.

“Well…” Limit Breaker shyly lifted his hoof after a few more seconds of silence. “Mister Raegdan told me I really screwed up tonight… Does that count?” The young stallion was almost mummified the way he had been wrapped in bandages.

Stalwart Shield exploded in a bark of dry laugh. “You think that’s a screw up he really counts? Wait until I tell you how all of us in the castle screwed up. No wonder he hunted me down for trying to bring a pillow to his ward. As far as he cared none of us was worth a fart, and he made sure we knew his opinion of us.” He scowled at himself. “And I didn’t really do much to earn some trust, did I? Just…”

“Sat in front of a door and guarded it because that was easier?” Smoke Ring asked. Stalwart Shield nodded, his scowl deepening. Smoke Ring sighed. “Yeah. I know the feeling.”

“A door... or a pony that didn’t need you and would insult you and what you loved,” Snared Wish mumbled. Her husband crossed a leg over her shoulders. “We didn’t even have to do anything to make a mistake. Just… let it be, and only care when it was you and yours on the line.”

Eventide’s shoulders shifted and she shrunk into herself as much as possible, every other Thestral imitating her. They looked like they wanted nothing more than the earth to open up and swallow them whole.

Trailblazer dug lines on the ground with his hoof, not looking up. “I used to be a pickpocket,” he said so quietly that everypony silenced so they could hear him. “I even taught other kids how to steal. We took care of each other, sure, but… you get it. Not really the best way to go if you’re trying to make a life. Then I got caught, and who knows what would have happened to all these younger kids or me, but I was given a chance. So here I am now.”

“My sister died because of me.” Sharp intakes of air followed Tidal Wave’s statement. “Somepony tried to, to hurt her, and I hurt him back instead of…” He breathed deeply and stared at Sunrise Storm for a second. “Instead of doing the right thing, the lawful thing, and… And she got murdered and I ended up in prison for my mistake while her killer never got caught. Can’t do much worse than that.”

Gobrend nodded, his brown eyes blinking owlishly. “No, probably not. But I believe a considerable approach is possible, in variety in lieu of impact at least. My father perished to his ailment while I searched for a cure that I was incapable of discovering. Family, legacy, my own work and hopeful accomplishments, all gone.” Gobrend snapped his talons. “In one smooth action. I will be blunt and honest. I had high hopes of a place here. That I would find a purpose to serve. Meaning.”

“That’s why I came to join as well,” Sea Breeze agreed. “I sold my store, packed up, and joined. I know how… how dangerous the world can be. How quickly fortunes change when monsters come to range. Like… Like tonight.” Her hoof was tracing her broken horn once more. “I do not enjoy the idea of allowing more ponies asking, ‘what if?’ It’s bad luck.”

A hoof pointed at Leaf Stream. “I joined because of her,” Blank Slate said.

Leaf Stream stared at the tip of the hoof with an expression of offense. “You what?”

“I saw you in Baltimare,” Blank Slate explained. “I’ve always been singled out for my wings,” he said, spreading his mismatched wings, one pegasi, one Thestral. “That’s why I keep them concealed. Then I saw you, with nothing but stumps on your back, there among the chaos, giving out orders, and everypony listening to you—” Leaf Stream’s eyes drilled holes at him. “—And I thought, if you could do that—”

“Wow, really? Thanks a lot. I’m flattered. … Ass.”

Red Dawn interrupted Leaf Stream’s incoming torrent of vitriol. “I don’t have anything like you guys. I just wanted to be a part of this, of something greater than wasting away serving tables. I haven’t made any mistakes that I feel like I have to atone for or make up. But… I worry that I might have to one day. I try to consider very carefully what I do, but I worry that one day I might not and,” he flexed his leg, the lean muscle showing off. “Any of you wonder how easy it would be to do like… like mister Raegdan does? Just… give in? I do. I think of it often. I never hurt anypony, but if I slip once, just once, and, and the idea alone is both…” He put his hoof back down. “Anyway. I don’t like the notion that mistakes hang over you forever.”

Sunrise Storm let out a deep sigh and took off her helmet, letting her short brown mane out. The tall, earth pony mare stood undecided for a second. “I don’t have any family left. I don’t know why or who. I’ve been trying to find out, I’ve been bending the rules as much as I can and…” Sunrise Storm let the words fade. Her blue, almost crystalline, eyes locked with Rainbow’s. “And nothing. Years of nothing. That’s it.”

Raven snarled, shaking his head. “This is stupid. I don’t care what she did. Princess Luna jumped in to save the blue one and the minotaur. She got the others out of the way. She took on the mud creature alone, and then we all worked together. First time I ever felt like part of a pack in a long time. Nightmare…” He growled unhappily. “Sounds like the crap diamond dogs tell about wolf dogs. Looks feral, it’s feral. Looks stupid, it’s stupid. It’s not like we know what demon said or what happened then. I only know what I saw.”

Short Order stood up, taking the strict stance of a veteran guard. “As much as it pains me to agree with a diamond dog,” he said, touching his eyepatch, “he has a point. Princess Luna is a princess. I know the Nightmare Moon stories. I also know the ones before that. I didn’t join up here without looking up all the stuff that came up recently. I’ve been a guard all my life. I’ve been at the borders most of that, and that wasn’t easy. She had it harder, and her stint was longer. I have too much respect for a fellow veteran to allow a moment of self-deprecation to make me abandon them. She had her moment of weakness. She paid her sentence. Now she’s back on her old job, and that is a princess that I approve of. That’s all.” He sat back down, holding his head high.

“She saved our town,” Tack said. “We thought it would be a rotten thing not to help in turn. Kinda seems a rotten thing to just leave now as well.”

“Yeah. Besides, loading and unloading stuff all day long is boring. At least this is fun.”

“You kept screaming that we will die!” Tack reminded her sister.

“Yep.” Tick raised a hoof. “But it was the fun kind of screaming. Hey, see? We screwed up as well! We almost got everypony killed.” She turned her hoof around, expecting a high-hoof from her sister that would never come.

“I didn’t yell—”

“You so did,” Tick reminded Tack. “Royal Fortune, remember?”

Both of the twins leaned together to look at Shaded Swirl with anticipation. The milky white earth pony blinked in confusion before he realized what everypony was waiting for. “Oh, uh… I’m just here to support my wife. And I... “ He started sweating. “Forget to take out the trash sometimes?”

“Trixie?” Rainbow Dash called out sweetly.

“Yes?”

Rainbow Dash twirled her hoof around, showcasing everypony else at the same time. “Don’t you have anything to share?”

Trixie made a show of thinking, staring up and placing her left hoof under her chin. “No, not really,” she said after a few moments.

Rainbow smirked. “Not even about lying that you beat an Ursa Major or…”

“Hey, I’m a showpony! Trixie’s job is to put on a show!” Trixie countered.

“And when ponies believed that—”

“Idiots. When two idiots believed that!” Trixie yelled in dismay. “What was Trixie supposed to do? Put up a disclaimer?” She paused, thinking for real this time. “Well, maybe a disclaimer wouldn’t have been such a bad idea…”

“Okay, fine,” Rainbow relented, feeling a lot more amiable towards the showpony than she did a few hours ago. She turned her attention to Solid Charge instead, her stance and puffed up chest saying everything.

“And because we all made mistakes that makes her deserving?” Solid Charge asked.

It was Gobrend who spoke up this time. “We have all kicked the standing notion of "morality" aside for our own convenience at some point during our lives. Some of us more than others. Some have tried to rebalance the scales. Some failed, some barely, painfully, stood for a time, others never even tried. No one here is without their flaws, and therein lies naked and revealed the cause of our sense of unity and belonging, short lived though it has been.

Perhaps there is a question of worth here as you believe Princess Luna to be asking of herself. One we could ask ourselves. Why believe to be deserving of aid and succor? To this we seem to say, ‘Why not find the answer together?’”

“We want to stay!” Limit Breaker yelled as soon as Gobrend was done, and he was not alone. There was a chorus of agreement and applause, discordant and unorganized, but united in purpose.

Solid Charge had never let Rainbow Dash out of sight, no matter who talked or what happened. He did the same now, keeping her in view, until a few seconds later that passed in silence, he turned around. He put his left hand over his right forearm, and massaged it thoughtfully.

“Leaf Stream, Eventide, if you please. Rainbow Dash, if you’d like to come along?” he asked. “We should let the Princess know that she’s not alone.”

“Nopony will ever stand with us!”

Rainbow Dash was leading the procession from the front. She heard only the last few words that Luna said, but that was enough. “That’s not true,” Rainbow Dash said, making their presence known.

Luna turned her head from where she lay,resting over Raegdan’s leg. The tall biped twisted around his waist to look behind him as well, both of them slow in their movements, like a pantomime of how Applejack’s grandmother moved.

“We will,” Rainbow continued. “We all talked between us. Your guards want to stick around, you know? I mean, what you did tonight? That was awesome!”

“I… what?” Luna asked.

“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash nodded, and she couldn’t take in anymore. She jumped back into the air, feeling too hyped to stay walking on the ground. “The way you zipped around, kept fighting... Oh my gosh! And the way you killed that thing in the end? Total badass!”

Rainbow Dash forced herself to relax. She spent a few minutes going over what the others said. She tried to get it as close as possible, even mimicking a few of their mannerisms as well. She actually could pull off quite a few impressions. Close enough that Leaf Stream started fuming when it was her turn.

“Well, that settles it then,” Raegdan said, smiling wickedly at Luna. “Looks like your retirement plans are cancelled.”

Luna pouted. “No, it’s not. The decision is up to me, and this only steels my resolve. The Guard should be dissolved. I’m not going to allow this… this drivel,” she shouted, closing her eyes, looking pained, “to make a mockery of me. I won’t have these brave ponies’ lives extinguished in service of... me.”

Raegdan’s expression was flat, and both him and Luna locked into a silent battle of wills. Slowly, a grin appeared over Raegdan’s lips while Luna started sweating.

“Rainbow Dash…” he almost sing-songed.

“Uh… yeah?”

“Could you do me a favor and get a couple of the Thestrals, and fly over to Canterlot as fast as you can? This is important. Luna’s hit her head. Very, very hard. Why, I think she’s not even in—”

“Don’t you dare. Raegdan, don’t you dare!” Luna seethed.

“—good condition to give orders. Certainly not after this. After Celestia, why, I’m the best person to tell. Let Celestia know we’re on our way tomorrow morning, and that Luna will need… A week? Yes, let’s make it a week of rest. At least.” His grin was the smile a demon would have upon seeing a colt trip his little sister. “She’ll have to pick up the slack while Luna heals.”

“That is awfully close to insubordination,” Solid Charge warned. “Almost treason some would say.” He hid a smile behind his palm. “Though after a hit like that, even with magical healing a week’s rest wouldn’t go amiss,” he mumbled almost unheard.

Raegdan chuckled when Luna’s eyes lit with the hope of a way out. “Really? Well, if that is treason then I would have to be punished.” He leaned down, getting awfully close to Luna’s face. “So, am I being insubordinate and treasonous, Luna? Will you order me into a cell to rot?”

Luna’s expression was void, but her eyes now sparked with lightning and fury. “I don’t know,” she deadpanned after a few moments. “I’m in no condition to make decisions apparently.” She scowled in confusion. “What am I even supposed to do for a week? Spend it on a bed like you did, unmoving?”

Raegdan, very carefully, didn’t shrug. “You’re a princess. You can do whatever you want as long as it’s restful and relaxing I guess.”

“What, anything?”

“I suppose so. My downtime usually consisted of either being too hurt to move or locked in a cell, but you can do whatever you want. And if we keep these guys then you will have enough guards not to worry about a thing,” Raegdan explained.

Luna hummed thoughtfully. “So… If I wanted to I could spend it sleeping, eating anything I want, and relaxing in a bath?”

“I think that’s what you should do at the very least, Princess, if you were to heal,” Eventide noted while Luna’s expression brightened.

Rainbow Dash shuffled her hooves on the ground. “So, uh… should I go?”

“Yes,” Luna mumbled. “Go, but be wary on the way and keep the Thestrals close. Let doctor Hewn Laurel know we have wounded, and that Raegdan broke his arm and shoulder again.” The toothy smile swiftly abandoned Raegdan’s face and settled on Luna’s. “I believe he will need some extra time to prepare a welcome for Raegdan. I believe tubes going up somewhere uncomfortable were mentioned.”

“My dignity, Luna. My dignity.”

Rainbow did as the princess allowed—and Raegdan had tricked her into- and ran along, deciding to grab Cradle Song and Drum Beat on the way as Raegdan suggested. Last thing she wanted was to get caught out in the dark by something nasty and flying while all alone, and somepony should get the doctor to be ready for everypony. Luna and Raegdan were more hurt than they admitted to, and everypony else was hurting as well.

Good thing that every crisis was all done and accounted for. Rainbow Dash saves the day once more, she thought. She just had to avoid Stampede while preparing to leave. She didn’t miss the fact that half the tents she had set up had already fallen to pieces.

Eventide gave one more small bow and took wing in the night as well. Luna relaxed again. “I believe it is time that we all rest. You’re excused as well,” she told Solid Charge and Leaf Stream. The minotaur bowed slightly and turned to leave with Leaf Stream at his side. She had decided not to involve herself if she didn’t need to, so nopony had given her much attention. Which was a good thing as her jaw still hurt from that punch.

Most ponies, those that weren’t on patrol right now at least -get in my camp once, shame on you. Get in my camp twice, shame on me- were winding down near the bonfire at the center of the camp, exchanging parts of the fight as they lived it or discussing completely inconsequential stuff to drive any further thoughts of monsters away. Some simply gazed into the fire and tried not to lose their shit in the aftermath as their brains caught up with what they just did and what they really signed up for.

Leaf Stream had done so in private before, so that was out of her system.

Solid Charge chose to sit near one of the small fires they had lit around the camp in an effort to make the sentries’ job easier, and Leaf Stream joined in without asking if he wanted the company. She wasn’t ready for sleep yet, and she wasn’t sure if the others would appreciate her presence at present.

If she was expecting a conversation she would be sorely disappointed. Solid Charge half laid next to the fire and closed his eyes, resting. Not that Leaf Stream minded it. Some peace and quiet would be nice.

After about fifteen minutes Raegdan came along walking with a painful gait. So much for peace and quiet, Leaf Stream thought.

Solid Charge half-opened an eye and closed it again, grinning in misery. “Oh gods, what is it now?”

“Relax,” Raegdan said as he sat down in front of the fire, moving slowly. “I’m not going to stay long.”

“I hope not. Should you be walking around? You’re hurt as well.”

Raegdan stretched slowly. “Not really. I’ve taken much worse. I’m fine.”

“You won’t be able to keep that up forever, you know,” Solid Charge warned him. Raegdan nodded along, silently agreeing. “Anyway. What do you want?”

Raegdan placed the skull, which they hadn’t noticed he had been holding, down on the ground between them. “I hoped you could take care of that. Bury it or whatever you are supposed to do.”

“You know, we were wondering if it’s possible, since it looks quite small compared—” Solid Charge began.

“If it was a kid? It was,” Raegdan immediately said.

“Are you sure?” Solid Charge asked, picking up the small skull reverently.

Raegdan shook his head. “As much as I am for anything. All I got to go on is size. I might be getting it wrong. There are a lot of short people. Don’t tell Luna by the way. She’s got enough worrying about already.”

“Fine. I won’t mention this. Anything else?”

“A question.” Raegdan picked up a stick and poked the fire, moving some firewood aside, letting the fire breath easier and flare up. “Just wondering why you didn’t take the chance to shut down the Lunar Guard permanently, that’s all.”

“Now why would I do that?” Solid Charge asked, half-sitting up and warming his hands by the fire.

Raegdan just stared. Leaf Stream watched the fire’s light play against his black, cloth mask and the white gauze that once again covered his eye. She shivered in the memory and she played it off as being cold and getting closer to the heat.

“I know what you’re thinking of,” Solid Charge admitted after a minute of silence. “I am still very pissed about what you did to these girls that only wanted to help you, make no mistake. But why would I want the Guard to break apart? So that Princess Luna can spend more time with just you and your half-justifications? No, the more people around her, the better.”

“You think I should stay away from her, don’t you?” Raegdan asked. His voice was carefully flat.

Solid Charge scratched his jaw and ran his hand down his beard. “No. I don’t think there’s a need for that. I think she’ll outgrow you. Princess Luna grasps morality far better than you do. You didn’t see her tonight. She did everything you flaunt.”

The minotaur stood up, dusting his legs. “You know what I think will happen someday? I think you’ll end up alone again. She won’t be able to understand you and your choices anymore, and you won’t be able to understand hers. You will lose her too, just like you lost Miss Twilight Sparkle. You will be left behind. All because you can’t change and want to remain like… this—” He waved at Raegdan’s body with full contempt. “—For the rest of your life.”

“I can change,” Raegdan said, staring to the side.

“And maybe one day I will be able to fly. I’m going to bed. Goodnight. Goodnight, Leaf Stream.” Solid Charge turned around and left, uncaring of the dirty look directed at his back.

Raegdan sat there, quiet and unmoving. Long enough to make Leaf Stream worry, but before she could make up her mind of whether and what to say, he stood up.

“Fuck that guy. I can change. I am changing,” he declared. He turned and left as well, heading back to the princess, and leaving Leaf Stream alone by the fire.

And that was the end of that, she figured.

Leaf Stream left as well. She was ready for sleep now. She wanted to lie down and relax. It had all been too much today, she had been far more stressed than she had shown to anypony, and her stumps were killing her. First there was the exaltation of what they had all managed, but then… Hearing that the Guard was dissolved almost broke her.

For a few minutes she had no idea what she was supposed to do, where to go. She didn’t have anything else. Just this little group where she directed her ire at everypony and nopony liked her. It was all that was left to her.

She nodded to Stalwart Shield who was one of the unlucky ones to end up being sentries for the rest of the night, found the tent that she had been looking for, crouched, and went inside. It’s owner had already settled in, and Leaf Stream woke her up accidentally as she laid next to her.

“Wha…” Broken Gust sleepily said. She saw that it was Leaf Stream in her tent and jumped a little in surprise.

Leaf Stream made herself comfortable next to the Thestral mare. “I’m just looking for a place to sleep. I wasn’t feeling up to sleeping alone. It’s cold,” she lied.

A timid smile spread over Broken Gust’s sleepy features. “S’ok,” she mumbled. Broken Gust laid her head down again, and a leather wing spread and hugged Leaf Stream, pulling her an inch closer.

She was going to protest, she really did, but the thin membrane of the Thestral wing felt too warm and… friendly. She was tired as well. So she didn’t say anything. Just brought a hoof over the wing’s edge, and slept without feeling alone. Who would want to be alone? It’s horrible.

She remembered how it was to lie on a bed, fresh stumps on her back, and dried tears on her cheek as everypony who knew her, and still made the effort to come by, at some point after crossing the threshold stopped seeing her and was replaced in their eyes by an invalid that had to be placed somewhere out of the way.

She liked this place, this small Lunar Guard. She wasn’t treated like she was worthless or a shard of glass that might crack even worse if you spoke too loud. She preferred being the jerk or the rude one, even if it cost her. She ran her tongue over her tooth and was both dismayed and glad to find out it really was loose. Nopony thought she would break here.

Maybe she really should be a little better or someday she might lose what little she had as well, just like Twilight had warned her. But it was so hard. She kept pushing them all away when all she wanted was somepony close. She tried, but it was hard, and being the same was so familiar and safe.

She dreamt of a lonely skull and the cries of an unknown family until a dark blue shade covered her dreams and gave her a peaceful sleep among the clouds she had sorely missed. She flew among them, feeling the rushing wind on her wing feathers once more, and laughing in joy among faceless friends.