For the New Lunar Republic Ch1

The hiss of rainfall on the streets of Fillydelphia was muffled, if insubstantially, by the walls of the crumbling structure Moxi sat in. She watched the city around her, careful not to overlook anything, alleys, doorways, any place where their enemies could hide from her eyes.

"By the night," she muttered to herself, wiping her rain spattered glasses with the end of her dangling patchwork scarf, "how did I get myself into this mess?" She turned back to face the sleeping figure behind her, Dreamcatcher's slumbering breaths came ragged and pained, and it was no surprise, with the blood soaked bandages wrapped around his body.  The alicorn had been careful, his blade had bit into Dreamcatcher's flesh at exactly the right points to do the most surface damage, Catcher was only lucky to have been able to escape before any life threatening wounds could be inflicted.

Moxi felt her eyes begin to mist over with tears, and dabbed at them with her scarf as well before turning to regard Dreamcatcher's injuries further. "I'm not a soldier," she muttered to his sleeping form, "why did I ever think I could do this?"


Ten Years Earlier

The full moon cast a silver blanket of light across the field where Moxi lay, her head resting on the roots of a gnarled old tree while she gazed up at the sea of stars above her. She heard the soft crunch of grass under approaching hooves, but didn't even bother turning her eyes from the sky; she knew full well who would be coming to see her. "Chillwind," she said to the inky heavens above, "so nice to see you."

"Says the pony who won't even turn to look at her best friend," came a mildly amused voice from beside her. Chillwind moved to the opposite side of the treeroot resting her own head upon it beside Moxi's. "So," Chillwind spoke, the first word hesitating on her lips, "any particular reason you're not joining in with the rest of us for the festivities?" Moxi smiled, turning her head slightly to see Chillwind out of the corner of her eye before turning her attention back to the heavens. "I don't care about the Summer Sun Celebration, Chill," she said, her voice taciturn, "even if it is the thousandth one, besides, being back there just means I'd have to be around a bunch of grown-up ponies, giving me disapproving looks and treating me like I'm just some stupid little filly who doesn't know who she is…"

Moxi tried to keep the hurt out of her words, but internally berated herself as her voice cracked under the weight of the tears welling in her eyes. She turned to see Chillwind looking at her with a knowing and sympathetic warmth in her eyes, eyes far too old to belong to a filly born mere months before Moxi herself, "You feel it too, don't you Chill?"

Chillwind reached out and put her hoof over Moxi's, the small amount of warmth this simple act offered should have done nothing to quell the biting chill of the night air around them, but at Chillwind's touch, Moxi felt her body burn with such a warmth that she may as well have been standing directly in Celestia's glorious golden sunlight. "Of course I feel it, Moxi," she said, nuzzling against Moxi's cheek, "I never expected them to understand us, not small town ponies like these ones, but it's just for now. Someday, you and I will go to Manehattan, we'll live among the city ponies who understand that love can come in more than just one form. You and I can finally be safe and happy."

As Chillwind leaned over and kissed her, Moxi felt as though she could never feel sorrow, or loneliness or fear again, she knew that with this beautiful filly by her side, she could accomplish anything. "Now come on," said Chillwind as they broke the kiss, "let's go back to the party, I've got a present for you."

The white and blue fillies rose to their feet, wrapping their wings about one another in an embrace as intimate as it was forbidden. Moxi turned her eyes to the heavens once more to gaze at the full moon, once more admiring the way the shadows playing across it formed the figure of a unicorn's head, only to see the shadow spots illuminated by a number of falling stars before disappearing altogether. She let out an audible gasp, startling Chillwind beside her, "what? What's the matter?"

"The moon!" Moxi cried, "The mare in the moon is gone!"


-Clomp-

"Moxi, what are you…" Chillwind turned to face the moon as well and gasped herself, "You're right! But, how…?"


-Clomp-

Moxi scrambled for an explanation, she'd of course heard the old ponies' tale about the mare in the moon, but she'd never placed much store in such superstitious nonsense… could she have been so wrong all this time?

-CRASH-

Present Day

Moxi was jerked from her memories as the door of the room in which she had hidden the sleeping Dreamcatcher was suddenly knocked off its hinges. Standing in the door, and turning to face them, was a red alicorn, his wavy brown mane plastered to his soaked coat by the water of the rain outside, a heavy blade hung from his side, emerging from its sheath wrapped in unicorn magic as he smirked at them, "Well well well, what have we here?"

Moxi stood frozen as the alicorn entered the room, how did he find us!? I made sure no one followed us! She grabbed the knife from Dreamcatcher's belt and firmly planted her hooves, staring down the much larger pony. The alicorn tilted his head slightly, eying the little pegasus with a bored sort of confusion on his elegant features. "I am not here for you, little filly," he said, his voice deep and tinged with the labored accent of an aristocrat, "I merely seek to complete my duties as beset by my princess, I merely wish to kill the earth pony."

"Tough luck," Moxi spat, "you don't get one or the other, you kill both of us or neither of us!" Moxi was no fighter, and she knew it, without Dreamcatcher fighting beside her she wouldn't last ten seconds in direct combat with the aristocrat, but she couldn't just leave Dreamcatcher to die, she would never forgive herself…

"You are a brave one, indeed," he said, eying her with a small amount of approval in his features, "and while I can't allow you to keep me from my mission, I do believe bravery deserves to be rewarded. Your death will be quick and clean, unlike his." And as Moxi watched, the alicorn raised his sword, and she could see the thick, rope-like muscles of his legs tense as he prepared to charge and she knew there was no getting out of it this time…

She knew, she was going to die…