“So, Tia, art thou still not going to tell us which ambassador we are going to meet today? Does thee not trust thy own sister?” Luna aimed a perfectly pouty face up to her big sister. Celestia, however, just returned the look with her always present smile and a deep breath through her nostrils.

Well, maybe a bit deeper than usual since Luna had asked for the tenth time now. “Luna, we have to ask for thy patience. We know thee are young and impatient, but as a princess, thou shalt keep thy temper. After all, it was thee who asked for more duties.”

“It was us that sent Eris off her illegitimate throne and brought the punishment of the Elements on her. We think ‘tis only fair to take the same place as thou, sister.” Celestia eyed her for a few seconds then reached for a parchment that she levitated over from a soldier who stood next to their thrones. Luna took the parchment skeptically and began to read. “Most interesting! We have never heard of these creatures.” Her eyes darted over more lines. “Oh!? Is it true what is written here?”

Celestia nodded. “We are afraid so, sister. They have weapons, strong weapons. Weapons unlike everything we know. So far, they are only using them for defence.” Her look grew dark. “According to rumours, that is only because they are running low on ammunition.”

“Surely thou knowest better than to believe in rumours, Tia? Do they not deserve a fair trial like every other species? Despite this?”

“Rumours also say it was they who caused all the damage a few centuries ago.”

Luna’s eyes widened. “Thee are not saying that...?”

Celestia remained silent and nodded.

The large double doors of the throne room of the newly built castle of Canterlot opened, and a young stallion in a robe entered. “May I present…” he stopped and unfolded a parchment he took out of his pocket, “Antheon Gerald, legally voted representative of the humans of Amissa Heaven, General of the United Forces and…” The young stallion didn’t get any further. His voice faltered and tapered off at the sounds of approaching steps. In uniform, and worn from the neck downwards to the strange appendages they walked on, stepped twenty humans into the room. In front of them was one who was larger than everyone else. A deep black mane sat on the head of the otherwise hairless-looking human. All guards in the room pointed their spears at the humans, but they didn’t stop their march. Only when they stood directly in front of the throne did they come to a halt. For a few seconds, Luna held her breath. Then their leader fell on his knees in front of them and smiled at her.

Amissa Heaven, the large city, the one city, sparkled under the glow of its stars. Luna stood at the balcony of her suite, high up in the tower that gave the city its name. Only a few meters separated her from the next cloud. Down on the streets, countless humans were running around, all caught up in their work. Not much different than the ponies of Canterlot and their other cities would do. No, the humans were not that different. Sure, their technology was different, and the young princess had to grow accustomed to it, but that was nothing she couldn’t handle.

Warm hands gently wrapped around her neck, and the face of a human slowly snuggled against hers. Carefully, he pressed a kiss on her cheek. “Morning, my queen of the night. I was wondering where you were.” Luna smiled and nuzzled her face against his.

“How late is it, my love? Is it really the time to end the night?” Unlike her ponies, the humans loved the night. They didn’t rush off to bed as soon as the sun disappeared; indeed, a large number of them only seemed to be truly alive when the night came, an observation she had made in the years she had lived here.

She turned around to her loved one now. Antheon, leader of the race that called itself humans. His long black hair, almost as dark as her cutie mark, hung over his shoulder. His wide chest, strong and streaked with fine muscles, was just inviting her to lean against him. Brown, shrewd eyes stared worriedly into her own. “I’m afraid so. You know I love your night just as much as I love you. But the night can’t last forever. Just like we can’t spend entire days in bed. We both have our duties.” Luna sighed at the truth of his words.

Slowly, she turned away and looked one last time over the city. “How long, Antheon?”

The human stepped next to her and leaned his naked body against the handrail. “How long what, Luna?”

“How long can the humans go on like this?” His look changed. It grew serious, darker.

“I don’t know, Luna. Our problem is just as big as it was many years ago when I came to you for the first time. Our energy is fading. Without a replacement, everything will stop. Everything.” She tried to imagine the large buildings without light. Without the vehicles that were flying around these large buildings, without the drones that were maintaining everything. Without their machines that could heal diseases where magic was still failing. Yes, in a lot of ways, the humans were ahead of them.

Angrily, she stomped a hoof on the ground. “We will talk with our sister again. She shall grant the humans access to magic. A whole civilization is at the precipice of disaster, a wonderful one as well.”

Antheon shook his head. “Luna.”

“We… I know, my love! I know the reason she was against it. Your weapons.” In her mind, Luna went back to the day when the humans had demonstrated them. Their rifles had pierced through the armor of a guard without problem. Rounds of metal had been accelerated at a speed many pegasi could only dream of. Had a guard been in the armor, he would have died after the first hit. That didn’t take into consideration that fact that the rifle was able to shoot thirty more of these bullets in the same second. A truly deadly weapon, and not even their most dangerous one. One they had tried to exchange for knowledge about magic. At that time, both Celestia and she had refused. Too big was the fear of this unknown weapon and the civilization behind it. Antheon had convinced her to at least visit Amissa Heaven. While she had followed his plea, Celestia had just worked on finding a spell against these weapons, achieving success soon after. A shield spell that was strong enough had been found after only weeks thanks to the help of her old friend, Star Swirl. “If you could just promise me…”

“You know that I can’t. Every human here is free. Everyone has access to technology and knowledge. These have been the laws since our ancestors crawled out underneath the ruins and built Amissa Heaven. Also, how could I hold such a promise? I can speak for me and my men, but every nation has its black sheep.”

“I know.” She left her head hanging. “But one nation should not suffer because of the potential danger and the acts of a few. We are all thinking and feeling creatures. We share this planet. Why can we not have a little more trust in each other?” This smile, his smile. Her heart fluttered every time she saw it. “I will talk with Tia. It has been too long since I have seen her anyways.”

A journey that took others weeks took only seconds for Luna. With a glow of her horn, she left the continent where the humans had settled behind and returned to Equestria. The two guards at the entrance of the castle were startled but quickly caught themselves again as they recognized Luna and saluted. “Princess. It is nice to know that thou are back again.”

“Thanks, Captain Sparkle. It is nice to be back again.” The stallion was young, having just achieved his rank when she had left, but he had great potential. He came from a one of the young, rising aristocratic families from Canterlot if she recalled correctly. He seemed a bit confused at her rather unusual way of talking. Antheon’s influence was becoming visible. Not that she was complaining.

Luna stepped through the large entrance into the large castle that she called home, only to be greeted by a screaming guard and the giggling of a foal. Just as she was looking around, a young blue alicorn with a white mane fell in front of her feet. He had tried to soften his fall with his wings, but with little success. A few curses that were more than just improper for a prince escaped his lips as he grabbed his injured left hind leg. “Hello, Blue Light, how are you?”

The young prince looked up with his blue eyes, and the pain was immediately forgotten. “Aunt Luna!” He jumped up, only to have to lie down again immediately due to his injury. With a wide grin, she levitated him over to her, and with a quick spell, the damage was remedied. “Thanks, Aunt Luna! How was it with the humans? Is it true that they fly in large metal cages?” The young colt wanted to ask more questions, but one of the guards was shouting his name, causing him to flinch.

“Were you not told to stay in your quarters?” the guard asked as he came to a stop behind him. With an amused look, the prince turned around and grinned at the white pegasus in golden armor. “What shall I do with you, Prince? Do I have to tell your mother about this again?”

“What did he do, soldier?” He just seemed to have noticed Luna now and bowed quickly.

“Pardon me, your Majesty, but Prince Blue Light made me run after him through the castle the whole morning. Yesterday, with one of his jokes, he damaged a statue of her majesty, Princess Celestia, in the garden. He is grounded for one week.” The young alicorn just giggled while the guard threw a sharp eye at him.

Luna sighed. “Light, my dear nephew. You have to stop giving your mother so much worry. What would your father say?”

“Not like he could,” was monotonous response from the foal.

“No, unfortunately not. He left us too early when he defended this country against the barbaric griffons. But Changer would surely have wanted you to not cause any unneeded troubles to your mother.” Luna sighed. She didn’t like to speak with her nephew in this tone. Maybe she was just gone for too long. She turned at the guard again. “Solider, two questions and one request.” He saluted. “Where is Princess Cadance? Should she not be looking after him?”

“Princess Celestia has assigned her with new studies. She has barely left the library in the last few weeks.” So Celestia was preparing her for everything. Luna nodded, satisfied.

“Where can I find my sister?”

“She should be in the throne room. Some nobleponies were asking for an audience.” Nothing she couldn’t interrupt then.

“Thanks, soldier. Now escort the prince back to his room.” Blue Light’s ears perked up at her words, and he quickly sought refuge between her legs.

“But Aunt Luna,” he pleaded. “I just wanted to play with you.” She grabbed his white mane and pulled him out from underneath her. Sulking, he remained lying on his stomach on the marble floor.

She nudged him with her muzzle. “Do not be like that, nephew. Have we not recently shared a wonderful dream? I remember that you were a great captain with your own ship.”

“That was one month ago!” he argued and waved his forelegs through the air.

“Well, you are not the only little foal on Albion. I have to care about everypony, just like your mother.” Luna nodded towards the soldier. He picked up the prince, sat him down on his back, and went on his way. When Luna smiled at him as he looked back, Blue Light sulkily turned away again.

“Luna, we have already spoken about that. The humans are too big of a threat. We can’t risk them learning how to use magic. They will use it to build weapons, and without the Crystal Empire, we barely stand a chance as it is. And Cadance is far away from being ready.” The Princess of the Night hung her head.

“We know that, sister, but we can’t let a whole nation collapse. What would that say about us? Albion needs us. It was entrusted to our care, and who are we to go against their wishes after all they have done for us? It was supposed to be a home for everyone.” Luna knew her sister and knew that she had hit a sore point. Not many were able to read her face like she did.

Celestia sighed and stepped out of her room. “Follow us, Luna. We actually had not wanted to show thee this.” She followed her directly, and together they entered her office a few rooms further. Celestia closed the door behind them and casted a spell over them. Nopony but them could now enter this room. “What we are going to show thou has to stay between us, Luna. We do not want to alarm anypony, especially not the generals. Eris’ reign has been laid to rest in the past for many centuries now, but our subjects have not forgotten yet.” A crystal levitated out of the drawer of her desk between them. Celestia tapped her horn against it, and the room was instantly illuminated. Pictures formed in the air and gathered together for a large one.

“What is that, sister?” Luna watched the picture in front of her. It seemed to be a mechanical creation of the humans but unlike everything she had ever seen. It stood on two long metallic legs, a kind of glass orb in the middle, between two arms that held large versions of their rifles. “Is that what we think it is?”

“A new weapon. Our spies have discovered it last month. The humans were working on it for a while now.”

Luna stomped on the ground. “This is impossible! I was there. Antheon would have told me.”

“Luna, we know that ye two are very close. Thy letters showed that clearly, but don’t ye think…”

“Don’t you dare, Tia! Antheon loves me! And I love him. He would never use me. It was my idea to come here.”

“Luna, I…”

“No buts, sister.” Luna grabbed the crystal out of the air and the hologram vanished. “They have trusted us. Have introduced us to their technology.” She held the crystal under her sister’s nose for a few seconds and then levitated it over to herself. “They turned to us in their need. We are their biggest hope.”

“Other nations survive without magic and technology as well. They will have to acclimate, Luna. Invent new technologies. Maybe with fewer weapons.”

“Is that what it’s all about? Weapons? Didn’t we want to leave the war behind us? Didn’t we want to forget?” Celestia remained silent. “Fine, I’ll take this with me and show Antheon what your spies said they found out. Then we will see what he has to say about that.”

Luna turned towards the door. “Lulu, please do not forget that the ponies of Equestria need you. Not the humans.”

“Don’t you understand, sister?” Luna shook her head. “We could learn so much from each other. Imagine a world with their technology, with creatures filled with the values we try to spread. Harmony and chaos in balance. The endless fight at an end, and we could finally rest. We were never supposed to rule. Maybe you have forgotten that.”

Luna had planned to stay a few days in Canterlot, just to spend some time with her nephew. She had thought about having foals multiple times in her long life, but she had never found the right stallion. Now she had him, but he wasn’t a stallion. She and Antheon would never have any offspring.

But the argument sat too deep in her bones now. With determination, she left the castle and threw a short glance back. “I had expected more from you, sister.” A dark flash of light emerged out of her horn, and a second later, she stood back at the balcony where she had said goodbye to her loved one that morning. The room behind it was dark and clean, a sign that the robots had done their work. These machines were truly a wonder. They did the work of many in less time. Faster than ponies or changelings could ever do it, and all they needed was energy. Energy that the humans were running low on.

Carefully, Luna tucked the crystal under one of her wings and looked over at the glowing display of the alarm clock next to the bed. More time had passed than she had thought. Surely Antheon and his generals were already gathering around the table. She left their shared room through the automatically opening door and stepped inside the corridor of Heaven Towers that was illuminated by artificial light. A short trot past some other rooms brought her to the elevator. When she had first seen that moving room for the first time, she had panicked and teleported to safety. Now she knew better and just pushed with a hoof against a button on the wall. A hissing was heard, and the doors opened.

The technology of the humans was sensitive, which was why she avoided using magic to operate it. A few consoles of their computers had fallen victim to it already. That was why she used her snout to push the button for the desired floor now. With her hooves, she would only hit multiple buttons at once, the end result being something she was not in the mood for. She had gone down that road already.

The elevator began moving, and a few seconds later, she was about thirty floors further down. “Good evening, Princess,” one the robots bowed as the doors opened again. “We hadn’t expected you back so soon.” The humanoid construct made out of metal and covered by a white protective coat waited until she stepped out of the elevator. She had to admit that they could become a bit creepy from time to time simply because they had no face. Their completely white heads was only covered by a black glass that took in the entire frontal area where mouth, nose, and eyes should have been.

“There were some unexpected complications,” she said and allowed the robot into the elevator. They were all connected so that now every machine in the Tower knew that she was back.

“I hope it was nothing too severe.” Its voice was clearly mechanically brassy as with every robot. Why did this one seem so suspect then? She shook her head, ignored the machine, and followed the carpet to the dining hall which took up the entire twentieth floor, together with the kitchen. The sounds of talking, cutlery on plates, and munching came to her ears, along with the accompanying smells. Then she went around a corner and saw that the room was filled by various soldiers and several generals. At the very front was Antheon. He was standing, telling a story with excessive use of motions, and held a translucent mug in his hand. Judging by the color of the drink, it was wine. Luna took in the lively setting for a few more seconds before she coughed loudly.

Everyone froze in the position they were. Maybe she should have coughed a bit quieter. Antheon saw her and immediately went over the table towards her. His face was red, showing clearly that this wasn’t his first mug. “Luna! Great that you are back again! I thought you were staying in Canterlot for a few days?” He leaned down to give her a kiss, but she blocked him off with a hoof. He smelled of meat. “Oh, sorry. I know that you don’t really like that.”

“I know that humans need meat, but please brush your teeth after that.” Some of the soldiers bawled and laughed, so Antheon turned around and gave them a harsh look. They quickly shut up. “But that can wait. I have to show you something.”

Antheon went down on his knees to look her in the eyes. “Can it wait for a bit? We’re celebrating the promotion of one of the guys to Captain.”

Luna shook her head, something she had done too often this day already. “Unfortunately not, my love. We have found something shocking.”

It was like the human had switched a button. As if by command, the redness disappeared out of his face, his eyes turned darker, and he nodded. “Alright, guys, I have to say goodbye for a bit. Leave some wine for me and my princess!” His men just raised their mugs towards him. Luna led him around the corner that she came from. As soon as they were out of line of sight, the noise returned. “So, what have you found out?”

She pulled the crystal out from underneath her wing. Antheon’s look told her that he knew what kind of crystal that was, so that saved her some explanations. She levitated it between them and let the projection appear.

The eyes of her loved one widened as he saw the hologram in the air. “That can’t…” His hands reached for the picture but went through it. “Luna, where do you have that from?”

“Celestia. She still does not trust you even after all the years of peace.”

He shrugged. “Five years, Luna. I’m sure your sister thinks of more when she considers something a long time.” His eyes returned to the hologram. “Do you know what that is?”

“No, but I think some kind of robot for combat. A weapon. At least that’s what my sister called it.”

Antheon nodded. “A two legged combat tank of the X-Three class. A weapon of our past. We thought the plans had been lost. If that gets into the wrong hands…” He stopped for a few seconds. “One of these tanks is enough to take a city like Stalliongrad.”

“Such a small thing?”

“Luna, that’s a model! This thing is about ten floors high and can be controlled by a single human.” This time, it was Luna whose eyes widened. “If someone found these plans... and even Celestia’s spies have them… I don’t want to image the political disaster that would follow.”

“You knew of the spies?”

“Sure. Ponies stand out like a sore thumb in Amissa Heaven even if they try to act as unsuspicious as possible. But that’s not the point. We have to find out who has these plans and destroy them. Such a weapon shouldn’t exist. Not here and especially not now. Every nation knows that we need help. If they found out that we were producing such weapons… Everyone would think we would get their help by force.” Antheon reached his hand out for the crystal. “May I?”

Luna let it softly float into his hand. “What shall we do now?”

“We need spies. Good spies.”

This brought her to an idea. “I think I could visit an old friend of mine.”

Author's Notes:

Who doesn't love flashbacks? Flashbacks, not to be confused with Flash Sentry. Nobody likes Flash Sentry...
But yeah, that will be nearly the whole act 11, a big flashback. Can't go George RR Martin later if you guys don't know why after all.

Hope you liked. Comments! Thats an order.

Thanks to Gron for translating this chapter.
Special thanks to JBL for proofreading and editing.

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