Author's Notes:

Yeah, yeah, we're gonna go though some boring exposition for the prologue here. But stay with us, and I promise things will get exciting later on.

War. Once told by a commander that it was good that it was so horrible lest we would be fond of it, the word brought tragedy and pain to any nation that dared to be in one.

Luckily for Equestria, war hadn’t come to her since the last conflict with the Griffon Empires, where an internal struggle for power led to a leader that actually wanted better relations with Celestia’s nation.

That want for better relations came when the leader found out the Princess controlled the sun.

Since then, Equestria has known a relative peace for hundreds of years. The Royal Guard were now a peace-keeping force within the nation, rather than an army building itself for the next war. Of course, there was some strife on the outer edges of Equestria’s borders, but usually the Equestrians themselves managed to solve the problem.

However, war was still not eradicated yet. News from outside the borders always spoke of civil wars and other nations’ conflicts with each other. Usually, Celestia would try to help the nations by providing neutral ground in her country to let the leaders negotiate peace. It was an unspoken rule to never disrespect the Equestrians, especially their leader in Celestia.

All countries knew this unspoken rule. Some decided not to follow it.

“Blast it! How is it that those ‘aliens’ can be so slow and yet we still cannot get past this level!?” Luna exclaimed, almost kicking the arcade machine in front of her in frustration. “Galaga? It is as if you are not supposed to beat this game!”

Luna, being the avid fan of everything fun after her banishment, had taken to the local Canterlot Arcade and Game Shop like a moth to a vibrant and flashy flame. She had come to the arcade at the dead hours of the afternoon, where barely anypony came in because they were either at school or at work, and the only employee working at the moment was a recently friended colt by the name of Joy Stick.

Nopony knew if that was his real name, or just the name his bosses wanted him to be known to customers.

“Uh, calm down there, Princess…” the lanky colt said, holding his hooves up to gesture Luna to simmer down. “It’s just a game. If you’d like, we have other machines for you to try to beat, your highness…”

“Nay, I have already beaten the lot of them, except this one…” Luna replied. She took a look at the clock instead the arcade, and saw she had overstayed her time off from her duties. “Tis time for me to take my leave anyhow. I am sure my sister is waiting to lecture me again on the importance of ‘managing my time’. Before I leave, however, may I have one more Lemon SugarBlast?”

“Of course!” Joy Stick smiled, trotting over to the little bar in the far corner of the arcade. He pulled out a large paper cup underneath the expansive and slightly sticky table, and put it underneath the drink machine at the back of the bar, hitting a button to let the sugary soda flow out and fill the cup. Stopping the flow with another press of the button, he put a lid and straw on top before handing it to the princess, who sat at the table with a happy and wide smile at another serving of her new favorite beverage.

“So… before I take my leave, I have to ask… did Blue Streak say yes?” Luna asked, almost going down to a whisper for the last part. Unintentionally, of course, because there wasn’t anypony else in the arcade.

Joy Stick sighed, looking down and avoiding eye contact with the princess. Luna felt sad for the colt until she noticed a little smile on his muzzle.

“He’s still gonna call me a nerd… but he said he wants to see what one date can do between us,” Joy Stick muttered, still not making eye contact but smiling wider underneath his breath.

Luna blinked for a moment before slightly striking Joy Stick on the side with her hoof. “Oh, for Maker’s sake, you nearly scared me to death there, thinking that Blue Streak had rejected you! You should have listened to mine advice long ago, Joy Stick!”

“Heh, I’ll remember to ask you what to do next time I’m scared about doing something then, huh?” Joy Stick joked.

“Remember it well. I must be off now, good luck to you and your date!” Luna spoke, waving good-bye to the slightly blushing colt at the counter before standing up and trotting out of the arcade, her half-finished drink held up with her magic as she walked towards the castle.

The air outside of the arcade was more clear and crisp, not smelling at all like somepony was assaulting your nostrils with sweat and dried soda. Luna walked with a skip in her step, not feeling pressured by constant guards watching over her and the stress of paperwork hanging over her. The arcade and the surrounding area of that section of Canterlot was relatively quiet and peaceful, and Luna couldn’t help but stop to take a deep breath, admiring the short but utter freedom she felt at that time.

It would be the last time she would ever breathe that easily for a long time after.

When she arrived at the castle, she was a little worried at the sudden hustle and rushing of guards in every direction. Both the Royal Guard and her Night Guard flew and rushed everywhere on the castle’s grounds, delivering messages to each other and to offices within the castle and outside in Canterlot. Their expressions startled the lunar princess the most, however. They were expressions of panic, doubt, denial, and fear.

Most of all, they were expressions of doom.

Sensing that her sister needed her now more than ever, Luna rushed to the throne room, determine to know if there was another threat to Equestria. The last time she had seen the guard acting like this was when the castle received word that they might be attacked by changelings. Bursting into the throne room, she was at an all-out sprint up to her sister on the throne seat, looking at a scroll with mild interest as guards jumped at their other princess’s sudden presence.

“Celestia? What is the matter with the guards? Is there another imminent attack?” Luna asked, breathing heavily as she stopped from her sprint, her legs aching and her stomach not liking the sudden exercise. She noted that it had been a while since she had trained in the castle training grounds, and tried to ignore how her muscles felt like they hadn’t been used that much in a long time.

“Matter? Has no pony told my sister the news?” Celestia asked her guards. Receiving only blank stares, she put her hoof on her head, closing her eyes in slight anger. “But of course. We are such an incompetent force that even when war is declared, we cannot bother to tell the important leaders the news.”

“War, sister?!” Luna exclaimed in shock. “By which country?”

“The Ottocolts, and I am handling it, Luna,” Celestia replied, going back to the scroll in her grasp.

“Otto-what?” Luna asked. The name was entirely unfamiliar to the long-lived princess.

“The Ottocolt Empire. They were a splinter faction from Saddle Arabia across the sea to the east. On tribalistic ideals, they revolted, setting aside a sector of the Great Desert all to themselves. Recently, a war began between Saddle Arabia and the Ottocolts, and while we are allied with Saddle Arabia by business and international relations, we declared ourselves to be neutral, and I tried to set up negotiations with both of the countries. The Ottocolts weren’t responding to me, however, until a couple hours ago, when they sent a declaration of war on the grounds that we have been helping the Saddle Arabians even though we declared neutrality.”

“Now, I am both preparing our Royal Guard for any conflicts that might arise, and trying to determine what exactly happened that led them to believe that we are helping the Saddle Arabians. Furthermore, I-”

“Your highness!” a guard rushed out of a side door to the throne room, a unicorn holding another scroll in its magic grip. “Another message has come in from the Sultan!”

“Give it to me!” Celestia ordered, quickly taking the scroll with her own magic and uncurling it. She read the scroll as quick as she can, before raising her head and heaving a great sigh, her entire body physically relaxing.

“We have found the source of the reason, and the Ottocolts have agreed to rescind their declaration on the grounds that we close any and all trade with Saddle Arabia from now on. There is no war. Guards, spread the word, but advise that your fellow comrades should still remain on high alert, lest the Ottocolts might try something after all of this. I need to speak with my sister alone,” Celestia ordered. At her command, all the guards rushed out of the throne room, leaving the two princess sisters alone.

Luna felt a bit of the old hatred and anger surge up from within, the same jealousy that led to her downfall, because she had just witnessed more events that were the reasons she became Nightmare Moon in the first place. “Sister, once again, I have been left out of events and news of Equestria’s well being. You know that-”

“Yes, Luna, I realized that as well, as soon as you came in. I’m very much sorry that this had to happen, as I was expecting at least one guard to have told you the news as soon as it came in. I know that this happens, and for that, I wish for your forgiveness…” Celestia apologized, splaying her ears back with a sad expression on her face. She didn’t want to lose her sister again, and she made a note to take steps to start including Luna in more aspects of the castle so she could truly be seen as an equal to Celestia’s rule.

Luna sighed. “Nay, we shouldn’t dwell on the past now while a terrifying situation occurs in the present. What was the reason that led the Ottocolts to declare war on us?” she inquired.

“According to this letter, they found an Equestrian noble giving orders to Saddle Arabian troops in a camp they assaulted. They captured him and immediately assumed we were helping the Arabians, but after they sent us the declaration of war, they found the noble was using his own wealth and resources to help fund the war effort. In other words, he was a lone agent, and we had not endorsed him at all. They are rescinding their declaration, but we must cut all trade between us and the Saddle Arabians, and, in their words, ‘let us finish the fight that has long been fought by our ancestors for control of the desert’.”

“Cut all trade? But isn’t the Saddle Arabian nation our biggest supplier of oil for some of the more advanced machines in our nation?” Luna asked. She had once tried to fly in a helicopter, a contraption that was only recently invented before she had come back from the moon, but found the blades to be too noisy, even with her headphones on.

“Not only oil, but many supplies from the east are funneled through them to us in the west, and vice versa. If we cut those lines, both of our countries will suffer. But if we don’t, than war shall come to Equestria again…” Celestia laid her head low, breathing steadily as her mind worked on any solution that could help her little ponies and her allies in the Saddle Arabians.

Suddenly, a far off and risky idea popped into her head, and she turned to her sister with an unreadable expression. “Luna, do you wish to serve Equestria?”

“To my death. I would give my life in service for my subjects, sister. Why do you ask?”

“And if you had to give your life for subjects of another nation, would you?” Celestia inquired, showing the same unreadable expression that was baffling Luna.

“Would it be so that I serve the innocent everywhere, I would fight for them. Where are you going with this, sister?”

“Luna… do you still have your old armor and weapons?”