"Captain Shining Armor, let us go and take back what is rightfully ours."

Celestia and Specter proudly led the charge of ponies towards the main base of the Midnight's Rising army. Celestia, still believing that Specter was indeed Shining Armor, pushed through the battlefield Twilight fought in a few days earlier. As for Specter, he began wondering just how poorly this was going to become once both armies tired themselves out in the inevitable squabble.

Maybe Discord will be okay with everything, he thought to himself, though, me ruling the realm by myself is a much better scenario. If I play my cards right, I can definitely get that to play out correctly. I just hope that those two alicorns that are missing won't show up and ruin everything.

The weather was cooler than usual, something that Celestia was hoping for since she knew Luna never handled cooler weather as well as she did. Wind whipped at Celestia's flowing mane and, with the sound of synchronized hoof movement coming from behind her, the army pressed forward.

"I can't wait to see the looks on their petrified faces when they see us take over their base and capture Twilight again," Specter oozed, trying to sound like Shining Armor some more.

Celestia glanced down towards Specter and raised an eyebrow, "Capture Twilight?"

Specter blushed briefly, then cleared his throat, "I meant rescue her, Your Highness. We need to capture that other alicorn they have; the annoying one."

"Precisely," answered Celestia, though she seemed to be showing a small trace of doubt.

With the charges moving through the battlefield with ease, it was a clear cut shot to the Midnight's Rising's main base of operations. Squinting a bit, Celestia smirked once she recognized the Midnight's Rising flag waving over the base, telling her soldiers to push forward a bit more.

Meanwhile, inside the Midnight's Rising base, the patrol unit spotted the charging army and sounded the warning horn, alerting the rest of the base of the impending charge.

"Ready the troops! Activate defense barriers!"

Some troops went around and searched for Dusky so that she could lead the charge. Luna, coming out of her tent, spotted the soldiers scrambling around to prepare themselves, then went towards the main entrance, where the warning sound was issued. She flapped her wings and hovered in the air for a while, spotting Celestia with the army and growing angrier.

From the shadows, Discord noticed Luna's anger rise and decided to play off of it. Approaching Luna's location, he called to her and got her to come down next to him.

"Yes, Commander Dusky?"

Discord smirked, "Their forces heavily outnumber us and, with their sudden appearance, we have two options: attack head-on, or retreat further back. As leader of the faction, it would be best for you to decide quickly."

"We attack head-on, Dusky," Luna responded rapidly, her mane flowing more quickly as power began to drive through her body, "it is time for our sister to pay for what she has done to our faction."

Discord nodded, then went to rally the troops, "All troops, on my position, now!"

The nearby troops gathered themselves and stood behind Discord and Luna. Looking back to them, Luna began to address them all.

"Today," she began, "our sister will fall! We shall show those ponies that the Midnight's Rising is the superior faction and we will be victorious!"

The troops and ponies nodded, cheered, and rallied behind Luna's words of encouragement. Turning back around, Luna led them out of the base and into the field. She was closely followed by Discord and flapped her wings, hovering into the air and aiming her sights down towards Celestia. She flew quickly, and charged up some of her dark magic in her horn, aiming it directly at Celestia.

Celestia noticed this and casted a defense spell, protecting herself from the dark magic Luna shot towards her, redirecting it up and away. This angered Luna further, causing her to store and stockpile more of her dark magic in her horn. As for the troops on both sides, they ran towards each other and, because the United Heliacal army heavily outnumbered the Midnight's Rising army, a lot of the Midnight's Rising troops were slain or captured.

Discord smirked, finding Specter and watching the entire situation from above both armies. He made sure that neither Celestia nor Luna could spot them and, looking at both armies, laughed as a result. Discord looked closer at Luna and noticed that she was slowly changing and becoming more corrupted as time went on, and with Celestia not putting up much of a fight herself, choosing to stay on the defensive side of things, all Luna could do was blast magic and watch as it was redirected away nearly every single time.

"Fight us like you mean it, thou ungrateful whelp!" Luna shouted.

"Why don't you try hitting me for once?" Celestia challenged.

Luna grew angrier and, with her magic taking over her own voice, started speaking in the Royal Canterlot Voice, "ENOUGH! THOU CLEARLY HAS NO INTENTIONS OF BACKING DOWN." She felt the magic inside of her take control briefly, "NOW, THOU SHALT PAY FOR STEALING LUNAR AWAY!"

The magic in Luna's horn grew more powerful and, gathering some thunder clouds around her body, managed to stop both armies in their tracks as they now focused on Luna's next move. Body now coursing with some of the electrical forces from the thunder cloud, Luna blasted Celestia with her magic, striking her down quickly. Each army stood in fear as they witnessed the ultimate power of an alicorn and cleared out slightly, with ponies forgetting what faction they belonged to and simply seeking shelter. As for Discord and Specter, they watched in awe, unaware that Luna's power could be so intense. They continued to watch, waiting for the next move, while thunder roared in the background.

After a few short hours of resting, Twilight and Lunar spent a little while to themselves, flying up towards one of the cliffs and sitting there, watching the moon rise slowly into the sky, lighting it up in the warm, milky glow that it gave off, allowing the stars to dance in the sky seemingly in unison with one another. Twilight made sure to tell Fluttershy that they wanted alone time to prepare for the immediate future, while Lunar replicated this, telling Lustrous similar things. The two alicorns mainly wanted to be left alone for a short while above all other things, hoping they could get to really know each other just a bit more.

Resting atop one of the cliffs, Lunar felt the gentle breeze brush back his mane, tugging at it as if it were playing with it. The breeze went down his back in a chilling way, toyed with his wound shortly, then moved along elsewhere in the land. He looked down to Twilight and saw the intrigue in her eyes as she gazed at the moon hopefully. He smirked and rested his good wing on her back, causing her to jump slightly.

"Relax, Twilight," chuckled Lunar, "it's only me, you know."

Twilight blushed a bit, "I know, it's just that I wasn't expecting that. My mistake."

"That's quite alright," replied Lunar, looking towards the moon, "beautiful, isn't it?"

"It's so much better when there's nothing going on to distract us," agreed Twilight, "so maybe staying here for a couple of days, at most, would be the best idea."

"Maybe until her wing heals up a bit more," Lunar suggested. "I may not have known her as long as you have, but I've noticed that she prefers to fly everywhere rather than walk. From what Noct told me, her wing isn't all that damaged, mainly her leg from the boulder."

"Why she decided to fly through a gorge like that is beyond me," admitted Twilight, "but she sure is lucky that the only major thing to happen to her was a broken leg. Who knows what more could have happened?"

Lunar looked down to his metallic wing, "Yeah, I can only imagine how that would be like."

Twilight noticed and blushed just a bit more, "Do you mind telling me what that feels like?"

"What?" Lunar questioned. "The wing situation?"

Twilight nodded, looking down to her own set of wings briefly, "All that work to get them, and to not be able to use them like you originally wanted to…I can't imagine how painful that must have been."

"Well," Lunar said, "it was quite a bit of pain when it initially happened, but after a while, you just sort of get used to it, I guess."

"But doesn't it feel strange to have a piece of metal that slides in and attaches to your side like that?

Lunar smirked, "To be quite honest with you, it's a pain to have this issue. It's like…well, let me put it this way. You know you're missing part of your body, and you know it'll never come back, but your actual, physical body doesn't know that, and possibly will never know that. I get these phantom pains sometimes that makes it feel like my body is begging me to put the missing wing back on and reattach it to myself, like I just unscrewed it or took it off briefly, but it can't comprehend that it'll never come back. It doesn't regenerate, it can't be glued or stapled back on to me, but the body just doesn't know that."

"So your phantom pains are like your body trying to tell you that something's missing," Twilight assumed, "right?"

"Right," answered Lunar, "and the killer of it all is that I never really got to enjoy having my wings the way I thought about when I first got them. It was taken away from me so quickly, like the provenness, for lack of a better word, was just revoked immediately, and it was all my fault that happened."

"Provenness?" Twilight smirked. "Do you mean worthiness?"

Lunar felt a blush form on his cheek, "Perhaps. The word slipped out of my mind for a moment, hehe."

Twilight rested her body against Lunar's gently and smiled more, "That happens to me from time to time. I understand that well."

"Don't we all," replied Lunar, sighing contently.

The two looked at the moon for a little while longer, feeling the breeze playfully tug at each of their manes lightly. Twilight adjusted herself a bit more, making sure to not harm Lunar's wounded side at all. She looked up to him and felt a new blush take form.

"Mind if I ask how it was for you growing up with your parents in the army?" She asked the indigo colored alicorn.

"Growing up with parents in the army was a challenge, I won't lie about that," admitted Lunar, "although, it was nice for them to be together and not separated. I can only imagine how that would've been like."

"That is nice," agreed Twilight, "having them right there for support must have been great."

"It sure was," Lunar smiled, "and still is, honestly."

"I can see that," giggled Twilight.

"How about yourself?" Lunar asked. "I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but Shining Armor was your brother, right?"

Twilight nodded slowly, "Yeah, and he did keep me company while my parents were fighting in the war, though I do wish we spent more time together while I was a filly."

"Why's that?" Lunar wondered, looking down to the petite, lavender colored alicorn.

"Well," answered Twilight, hesitating slightly, "we did have some fun and spend time together when we were both younger, but as he got older, he started to focus just a little bit more on the war efforts, trying his hardest to become captain of one of his own little squadrons."

"Isn't he a captain now?"

"Yes," said Twilight, "but he was also assigned under my leadership after I rose through the ranks."

"It's weird, when you sit down and think about it," Lunar said aloud.

"What makes you say that?"

"All our lives, we've known almost nothing but the fighting and the war," continued Lunar, "and now that we're out here, basically fleeing from the factions we grew up with and got to know best, it feels strange, like, from this perspective, you couldn't even tell that there was senseless fighting going on beyond this chasm. The feeling of not worrying about whether or not I was going to perish on the battlefield is a beautiful one, much like this moon is right now."

Twilight smiled, "It is certainly refreshing not to have to worry about what comes next, where we need to plan on going, making sure everycreature is safe and sound while worrying about your own parents…no, simply not having to worry about anything in our old lives is plentiful in alleviated stress."

"Do you mind if I ask you something, Twilight?" Lunar wondered, feeling a blush begin to form on his cheeks.

"What's on your mind?" Twilight replied, looking up to the taller alicorn.

Lunar gulped slightly, nervous about his question, "Well, we-we've known each other - to some degree, that is - for a while now - which isn't a bad thing, per se - but…I was, you know…wondering…and thinking about a few things while we were traveling - since there's not much else to do, like you know - and I've been wondering if you'd maybe, I dunno, you'd like to, umm…"

Twilight giggled a little bit more, "It sounds like your mind is running at a hoof a second, but I think I know what it is that you are trying to ask. Before I answer, let me ask you this: the nervousness you're experiencing right now, how high is it?"

Lunar blushed a bit more and chuckled nervously, "Quite a bit higher than I'd like, if I'm being completely honest."

"I like how you're being upfront and honest about it," Twilight commented, feeling her own blush intensify, "I like that about you, Lunar, among…other things."

"That's a relief to hear," Lunar said under his own breath.

"Nonetheless," continued Twilight, "if what I think you're trying to ask me is in fact what I believe it is, then my answer is yes."

Lunar smirked, but felt his blush intensify just a bit more, "And what do you think I'm trying to ask you, Twilight?"

"If I'd like to be your marefriend," Twilight said in response, hiding slightly behind her mane. "At least, that's what I think you're asking me."

"Well," chuckled Lunar, deciding to toy with Twilight briefly, "I was actually going to ask you where you'd like to go after everything settles down a bit, but I'd like for you to be my marefriend on one condition."

Twilight rolled her eyes playfully, "And what might that be?"

"I get to be your coltfriend," Lunar laughed, hugging Twilight again with his good wing.

"You're such a dork sometimes," giggled Twilight, hugging Lunar back with her hooves, being cautious around his wound, "obviously you'd be my coltfriend if I was your marefriend."

"Easy come, easy go," retorted Lunar, "just making sure. Crossing my T's and dotting my I's, as it were."

"Of course you are," said Twilight, resting against Lunar some more.

The two alicorns went back to watching the moon rise slowly through the clear night sky, talking amongst themselves a bit while doing so.