Morning came heralded with gray somber light. There were merely twelve of us left. Less than half of us who left the village had survived the night. Mr. Hoarfrost, Brisk Road, Snow Step, Mr. Torchwood, Firelight, Emerald Gleam, Sapphire Shine, Violet Shimmer, Ocean Breeze, Star Song, Celestia, and myself.

Brisk Road and Snow Step were Mr Hoarfrost’s son and daughter. Firelight was Mr Torchwood’s filly. Violet Shimmer was a foalless widow. Ocean Breeze and Star Song were a young couple married for less than a year. Emerald and Sapphire needed no introduction.

Crows began to gather in the trees, the scent of the slain Hydra drawing them in by the hundreds. Little was said between the survivors, but there was an unspoken agreement that what remained of the dead needed to be burned. It would’ve been wrong to leave them for the wolves.

I tried not to think about who I was dragging into the pile to be burned.

The day was otherwise a blur. The faceless bodies of the dead being dragged to the body of the Hydra, somepony had at some point started a roaring fire to stop it from regenerating back to life. All twelve of us stood around the pyre silently as our loved ones burned.

The thought that Mom was gone kept stabbing me like a knife.

Taken.

Stolen.

The Hydra had stolen so many lives just in the past few hours. How many had it taken in the last week? Last month? Last year? How many had it stolen in total? How many loved ones would never again see their friends and family because of this one Hydra?

I hated it.

I hated that so many were taken. I hated that countless ponies would feel the exact same pain I was. I hated that this one Hydra was responsible. But most of all, I hated that this was only one Hydra. How many more Hydras lurked in the wilds? And how many more ponies would they take? And that was just the Hydras! What about the wolves? What about the undead? Every monster, from the simple cave slime to the elder unspeakable horrors in the dark. All ate ponies! All spilled innocent blood!

All inflicted this pain on Ponykind.

And that was unforgivable.

“Come on” Hoarfrost began when the pyre had become little more than ash and cinders, his white coat catching the fading firelight. “We’re burning daylight, and this camp will be picked over come nightfall.”

“And since when have you been the Reeve’s replacement?” A tan coated, fiery red maned Torchwood advanced on the frosty white stallion.

“We don’t have time for your shenanigans Torchwood.” Hoarfrost coldly replied, his frost blue eyes narrowing. “We move or we will be overrun by scavengers.”

The two stallions glared at each other as they jockeyed for the now vacant position of leader.

“Hold on you two.” Tia interrupted, pushing her way between the two stallions. “We can’t turn on each other, not now. But we must move. Hoarfrost is right, scavengers and Pegasi will pick this camp apart before nightfall. If we’re here or not.”

“Fine.” Torchwood snorted, his fiery auburn mane seeming to bounce with the force of the snort.

“Excellent.” Hoarfrost smiled, although sincere, it lacked warmth. “Everypony pick up a spear, we don’t have the numbers to rely on for safety.” No one seemed to disagree, so we picked up what spears had been left over from the battle.

We left in a wagon less than an hour later.

The going was easier. With not so many ponies to make mud out of hard dirt, the wagon didn’t get stuck as often, and there were considerably less mouths to feed. Without so many ponies, the monster attacks began to lessen as well. Not so many drawing the attention of the hungry wilds supposedly.

I wasn’t sure if I liked that or not, it made me feel sick every time I found myself enjoying the easier road.

It was during this time I realized I had forgotten Sir Snuggles at the campsite. My grief at losing Mom had made me forget all about the doll, but it was far too late to turn around.

Just another thing that the Hydra had stolen.

I swiftly lost track of the days. It just didn’t seem worth it without Mom. Being around Tia helped, but it was too easy to be reminded about our loss. So I took every opportunity to get away from the group. The adults took turns pulling the cart. Emerald, Sapphire, and myself were still too small to pull. That was my main excuse for trying to get away. Never too far, and never without the spear I had claimed for myself, but just enough I wouldn’t have to worry about accidentally meeting Tia’s tear filled eyes.

I don’t know how long we were on the move. Snow fell occasionally, but it never got too deep. Slowly but surely, what little remained of the snow began to melt away. The snow stopped falling, replacing itself with light rain. White banks of snow became piles of slush before giving way to brown, barely alive plants. But even those swiftly turned green and began to reach towards the sky.

It was around then that we first saw them.

We were traveling down a relatively clear patch of wilderness when something zipped overhead. Dumb with shock I looked upward, seeing nothing but blue sky. But then another thing zipped by.

“-eather boy, stormy weather!” the thing sang as it flew by.

“Pegasi!” Hoarfrost whisper screeched. “Pull the cart under the trees!”

The pullers, Tia and Ocean Breeze didn’t waste any time, pulling the cart to the nearest meager tree they could.

“Out from the hurricane, steady she goes!” sang another flier by, followed very soon by another, and another, and another.

“Come, the season winds taking us far! All through the sky lanes and out beneath the stars!” sang the formation as they flew overhead.

We huddled together as the sky began to fill with even more flying ponies.

“And it’s windy weather boy, stormy weather! When the wind blows and we’re all together! Boys blow ye winds fringe ward blow ye winds blow! Out from the hurricane, steady she goes!”

“Get your spears up! If they see us they’ll be on us before we can respond!” Hoarfrost whispered loudly.

“Come all you young seafarers listen to me! I’ll sing you a song of our fate from the sea!”

We did our best to prepare our shoddy spears without attracting the attention of the seemingly endless swarm.

“And it’s windy weather boy, stormy weather! When the wind blows and we’re all together! Boys blow ye winds fringe ward blow ye winds blow! Out from the hurricane, steady she-”

“About face! Horns below! Aft starboard!” exclaimed a mare, cutting through the shanty like a knife.

“Shit!” Torchwood grunted, conjuring a shimmering shield above the cart. The swarm of Pegasi turned, banking in differing, yet organized, directions to reposition their formation. As confusing as it was, they swiftly took up a new flight pattern, circling above our cart like a tornado. A single pony landed in front of the cart, wings splayed aggressively, their helmet vertically crested.

The commander.

“What do we have here?” the pony called, revealing themselves to be a mare. “Unicorns this far South? Didn’t think you lot had the balls to leave the protection of your crown!”

“Stuff it feather brain! Our business is our own and we will have nothing to do with you!” Hoarfrost responded.

“Shame that.” The commander took her helmet off, revealing a coat the color of torrential blue, her mane the color of thunderclouds about to break, her eyes a striking bright magenta. “‘Cuz last I checked, there’s a toll for traveling these lands. And it’s our business to collect.” the mare smirked viciously. “Pay up.”

“We have no money to give to you. And if we did, it would be the coin of Unicornia. Something I’m sure you wouldn’t accept!” Hoarfrost growled.

“It’s very fortunate then that we have a currency exchange policy. You give us something equal in value to Pegasopolan coin, and then you use that coin to pay the toll. Savvy?” the Pegasus tsked.

“Vile brigands is what you are!” Hoarfrost exclaimed.

“Careful who you insult there, old timer.” the commander grinned. “It would be a shame if the toll were to suddenly increase.”

“We-” Hoarfrost began, only to have his muzzle clamped shut by a sunny yellow glow.

“What my friend here means to say is that we are poor peasants.” Tia interrupted with a placating smile. “But we’re getting ahead of ourselves- May we know the name of who we are dealing with?”

“Finally, somepony with manners.” the commander sighed. “My name is Commander Hurricane, and I will be conducting your exchange this evening.”

“My name is Celestia, it’s a pleasure to meet you Commander.” Tia smiled.

“Likewise.”

“Now, as my friend here was saying, we have no material good we can give you. Our food is barely edible, and we have no coin. So is there a service we could provide you? Emerald and Sapphire can cut any gems you may have, or we could darn a few of your saddlebags?”

“Tempting. Tempting.” Hurricane clicked her tongue. “But how could we trust you to not sabotage our equipment?”

“Same way we can’t trust you to not take us prisoner.” Tia countered.

“Fair enough.” the Commander sighed. “So you’ll patch some of our equipment, and we’ll let you go? Is that the deal we’re coming to?”

“I would agree to these terms.” Tia nodded.

“The deal is struck.” Hurricane nodded, reaching out with a hoof. Tia unbuckled herself from the cart and approached, taking the Commander’s hoof with her own and shaking. The Commander turned slightly and let out a shrill whistle.

“Stand down! We’ll camp here for the night! If any of you want any holes in your gear fixed, come have the Unicorns fix them!”

“What the hay have you done?!” Hoarfrost whispered at Tia when she came back. “You’ve signed us into a slave collar!”

“Well Hoarfrost.” Tia grinned over gritted teeth. “If you must know, I’m doing what I can to keep us all alive. And they won’t take us prisoner. Our cart is much too heavy, and we would slow them down far too much to be worth it.” she pulled her saddlebags out of the back of the wagon. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to put my sewing and weaving skills to good use and not get run through with a spear.” she huffed as she pulled out a spool of thread and a single needle from her saddlebags, turned and left without another word. I didn’t know what to do, so I jumped from the cart and followed Tia, flinching as the Pegasi soldiers began to land all around me, beginning to set up their own camp.

Tia was talking to one such soldier who had come with a sizable hole in his bag when I pressed myself as close to Tia as I physically could.

“Heh. Daughter of yours?” he chuckled.

“Sister.” Tia responded. “Lu, don’t hug me too tight, I won’t be able to stitch this if I can’t move.”

“I’m scared Tia. Too many ponies.” I murmured.

“We won’t be long. Just need to-”

“I gotta say Celestia, you’ve got a good head on those shoulders of yours.” the voice of the Commander interrupted. “Don’t meet too many that are willing to bargain.”

“Oh. Thank you Ma’am” Tia responded, taken slightly aback.

“Nah, don’t thank me, just calling out what I see.” The Commander loomed into view, her helmet under a wing. “Old scout habit I haven't kicked yet.” she sat down and began to stretch. “So tell me about yourselves. Not too often I get to hear about the other tribes.”

“Oh- Um, while I’m darning this bag?” Tia asked hesitantly.

“The camp ain’t going to need me until morning or until something interesting happens.” Hurricane replied lackadaisically.

“That’s not- Oh whatever.” Tia sighed as she sat down in the grass, needle and thread already beginning to dance through the bag’s fabric. “We all lived in the same village, on the Southern frontier of the Crown. Food’s always been scarce, but this past year has been particularly bad. Even the occasional patrol of the Guard wouldn’t bring us supplies. Winter came early and we had to leave. Leave or starve. A few of us stayed, but most of us left. I’m- I’m not sure if leaving was the right thing to do.”

“Oh? We birds aren’t all that scary are we?” the Commander sighed, reclining in the grass like a filly.

“No.” Tia stated. “A few days in we began to lose ponies. And after a month on the road, a Hydra thought we’d be a good meal… Not even half of us lived that night.”

“Sorry to hear that…” Hurricane mumbled, suddenly lacking her carefree attitude.

“We only survived because of Luna here. She killed it.” Tia gestured down at me.

I did my best to disappear into her fur.

“This filly?” Hurricane asked. “Not saying you’re a liar Celestia, but I’m not sure I believe that. She’s a bit too young to be holding a… spear.” the Commander cast a sideways glance at our sharpened sticks.

“I wasn’t fast enough. It killed mom.” I sadly stated. By now, several of the soldiers had been listening in, waiting for their bags to be fixed or listening to the story. All of them looked at each other with knowing glances.

“Not too many can claim to put down a Hydra.” the Commander said, almost to herself. “For just a filly to kill one… You’d have to be good with a weapon or very lucky…” she turned her head suddenly. “Luna was it?”

I nodded.

“Before the dinner bell, do you want to show me how well you handle that spear? I’m curious how good you are.” the Commander stated. I couldn’t tell if she was being sincere. What was her game? I was just a filly. Obviously I wouldn’t be very good. Especially to a grown mare. I glanced at Tia, looking for some hint on what I should do.

“Do what you want Lu. I’ll be right here.” she smiled.

“If you want, I can show you some tips and tricks in case you meet another Hydra.”

“Yes please.” I didn’t even hesitate. The countless number of ponies eaten by monsters flowed across my vision.

I had to save as many as I could.

For Sir Snuggles.

For Mom.

I had to.

The Pegasi camp had surrounded the copse of trees we had tried hiding the wagon under. They erected neat orderly rows of identical tents. Which was a novel concept to me, coming from a village whose layout could have been described at best as “random”. The village would always be my home, but the orderly camp was satisfying in a way I couldn’t describe.

I liked it.

There were only two exceptions in the camp that broke the uniformity. One, a tent larger than the rest, where the soldiers had set up seats and a cooking fire. The second was an open area where soldiers would spar with each other, keeping their skills sharp. It was the open area that the Commander brought me to.

“Alright kid, show me what you got.” the Commander rasped, gently tossing one of the Pegasi spears in my direction.

“Aaah!” I squeaked, trying to catch it with my magic. It was heavier than I thought though, and it dropped to the ground with a clatter. “Sorry! Was heavier than I expected.” I tried to explain.

“Rule number one. Never drop your weapon.” The Commander stomped on one end of the spear, causing it to flip into her wing’s grasp. “Try again.” This time I caught the spear with only a little difficulty, my magic flickering as I tried to reign it in.

“Now wh-” I began.

“Think fast.” The Commander tossed a rock at me.

“Aaah!” I squeaked again, I tried to both dodge and whack the rock away, but I knocked the rock back into myself.

“Heh.” the Commander chuckled. “Again.” she tossed another rock, a bit harder this time. I managed to knock away the stone by swinging the spear like a really long club.

“How is this-”

“Again.” the Commander commanded. This time, one of the watching soldiers tossed a rock.

“Hey!” I exclaimed as it bounced painfully off my flank.

“Gotta watch everywhere.” the Commander snarked. “Again.”

A different soldier tossed a rock. I managed to lift my rear end so the rock missed.

“I thought you wanted to see what I could do?!” I squeaked indignantly.

“I am.” this time the Commander herself tossed a rock. I brought the spear down, spiking the rock into the ground. “How do you expect to fight a Hydra properly if you don’t pay attention to all of its heads?”

“By throwing rocks at me?!”

“Rocks, heads, spears, not really any difference.” This time she flicked one of her ears. Time seemed to slow down as I tried to process why she did that. Almost too late did I realize she was telling one of her soldiers to throw another rock.

Almost.

The thrown rock impacted off the shaft of my spear with a resounding THUNK as it sailed into the distance. The Commander seemed to watch it fly into the distance, before she began to make a sort of choking noise.

Fearing I had somehow hit her, I rushed over.

“Oh no! Did I hit you? I didn’t mean to! I-” I stopped as I realized she wasn’t choking.

She was laughing.

“Hahahaha!” she laughed merrily. “You saw! You saw me flick my ear and you understood what it meant!” she patted me on the shoulder. “You’ve got potential kid. I’ll grant you that.”

“I- I’m confused…” I muttered.

“This is how we train all recruits.” the Commander began. “It’s important you pay attention on the battlefield to everything. That’s rule number two. Pay attention.” she wiped tears away from her eyes with a hoof, still chuckling. “One of the most important things in a fight is knowing how and when to dodge. Even more so than jabbing at your opponent with the sharp end of a stick.” she grinned. “What impresses me most though, is that you didn’t let yourself fall into our pattern. You knew attacks were coming, but you didn’t rely on us announcing our attacks. You adapted almost immediately when we showed a new tell.”

“A new… Tell?” I asked.

“Yes, a tell.” the Commander sat down on her haunches and gestured for me to do so as well. “I don’t suppose you play cards do you? No? A tell is like an announcement. A sign of what someone will do. Like the tensing of muscles before a lunge. Or someone saying ‘Again.’ before throwing a rock.”

I nodded, doing my best to memorize what she was saying.

“Tells can be subtle or obvious. Truly skilled warriors can fake their tells to lure their opponent into reacting the wrong way.”

“Like saying ‘Again’ and then not throwing a rock!” I chirped.

“You catch on quick.” she smiled. “Yes exactly. Point is, don’t get too comfortable falling into a patter-”

“Heh. Figures the little goblin would stoop to learning from birdbrains.” came a familiar voice from the side of the clearing. I looked over to see Hoarfrost glaring daggers in my direction.

“Charming fellow aren’t you?” the Commander sighed. “Don’t you have… Something better to do?”

“I’ve never been good at sewing.” Hoarfrost sneered. “So I decided I’d watch you either stone the little shit, or at least stop you from filling her head with bird nonsense.”

“I was under the impression you were from the same village. Yet this is the second time in a minute you’ve insulted merely a filly.” The Commander challenged. “Do Unicorns truly hate their own young so much?”

“You don’t even know do you?” Hoarfrost sighed dramatically. “Can’t you see? She’s moon marked. Talks to it and everything.” The Commander froze in her tracks.

It was a long moment before she glanced back at me. Her eyes were no longer cheerful.

“Better moon marked than a kin traitor.” she growled, turning back to the white Unicorn. Hoarfrost smirked viciously, but turned away, his nose dramatically in the air.

“Humph!” he snorted, trotting away.

“... What’s ‘moon marked’ mean?” I asked when he was gone.

“You don’t-” Commander Hurricane started. “Of course you don’t.” she interrupted herself. “Just- Just go back to your sister. I think we’re done for today.”

“Oh… Ok.” I sighed sadly. I was having fun, and I wanted to know more. “What should I do with this?” I offered the spear, which was leaning against me. The Commander’s eyes twitched towards the weapon then back to my face.

“... Keep it.” she said finally. “At the very least it’ll upset your ‘friend’.”

“A-are you sure? I don’t want to take it if you need-”

“Just. Take. It.” she looked away. “Got too many anyway.” she trailed off as she disappeared into the camp.

I shuffled awkwardly in place as the soldiers suddenly found more interesting things to look at.

The trek back to our cart was a long one. It felt like everypony’s eyes were watching me. If it was “my” new spear, or if I had some invisible thing I was marked with, I wasn’t sure. Moon marked? What could that mean? I hadn’t gotten my mystic mark yet, so that couldn’t have been it. Was it because I talked to the moon? How could that leave me “marked” in a noticeable way that I couldn’t see? What was so wrong with the moon? Ponies hid during the night to hide from monsters, but that wasn’t because of the moon… Right?

Nopony stopped me and my new weapon when I got to the cart. Tia had returned from her work and was stoking a fire. The others must still have been working, or at least mingling with the Pegasi.

“Lu? Oh you’re back sooner than I expected.” Tia greeted. “Did they give you that spear? Odd, I wouldn’t think they’d arm a potential enemy. Oh well, it’ll serve you better then our sti-”

“What does ‘moon marked’ mean?” I blurted.

Tia stopped midspeech.

“He finally let it slip didn’t he?” she sighed.

“What does ‘moon marked’ mean?” I repeated, this time more forcibly.

“Sit down Luna. This- This has been a talk we’ve been needing to have.” she murmured, grabbing my attention even more since she used my real name, not a foalish nickname. I sat down and waited silently.

“Do- Do you know why ponies hide at night?” she began.

“Yes. Because monsters come at night.” I stated simply.

“Well- Well yes that. But why do monsters come at night?”

“Because they’re monsters who hide in the dark.” I replied evenly. Tia fidgeted nervously.

“I- Ok yes, that is a reason…” Tia sighed. “Ok, you know how Unicorns have been given stewardship over the Sun?”

“Yes. Because the Sun has blessed Unicorns with magic. Mom told us this tale when we were fillies.”

“Do you know who stewards the Moon?” Tia replied, trying to get me to understand.

“I- No. I don’t know.” I shook my head.

“Ponies don’t like to talk about it, but a pony does steward the Moon. A dark lord in a far away land… He’s- He’s the one who allows monsters to attack ponies during the night. That authority is vested in him by the Moon.”

“But- But how does that affect me?” I asked, hysterics beginning to take hold. “I’m not a dark lord! I just talk to the moon because she listens!”

“She?” Tia asked. I shook my head, ignoring her.

“Is that so wrong? The other ponies call me names and tell me to go away! And as much as I love you Tia, I can’t tell you everything! That wouldn’t be fair to you! So who am I supposed to talk to?”

“I-” Tia shook her head. “‘Moon marked’ is what ponies call other ponies who show too much interest in the Moon.”

“But that doesn’t make sense!” I protested. “The phrasing is all wrong! I’m not ‘marked’ with anything!”

“It- No it doesn’t make sense.” Tia shook her head. “But that’s the way things are.”

https://youtu.be/oBL9dTwVi4I