Rebuild. The word alone inspires, fills the soul with ambition and drives even the weakest to levels that the strong can't do alone. That was what the Aligon said. We must rebuild. As encouraging as the word can be, as much as it lights the imagination and fuels the urge to rise up, it cannot drive the body alone. It cannot create unity in and of itself. Not, without a leader to show to what ends the rebuilding will reach.

       RJ felt like he was everywhere at once, and almost to a certain extend, he was. Flashes of blue lit up the darkened castle as the Ream Jumper flitted around, answer questions, directing ponies and giving order. It hadn't been forty-eight hours since his revival from being dead by Princess Luna, and Gear Tech, a tan mare with a rich brown mane and tail and a bronze foreleg, watched him worriedly.

       “Some pony has to tell him to stop.” She commented to Crimson Sketch, her red furred, black maned friend.

       Crimson Sketch was working on the designs of several different needed things for the ponies, the refugees of Ponyville, needed for daily life. He sat on a broken column, ten feet high, using his wings to balance himself as he sketched away on his sketch book. Sketches, drawing and imagination things came naturally to him, hence the pen and paint brush X on his flank for a cutie mark.

       “If he keeps this up, he might collapse again.” Sketch agreed, glancing down from his perch. “But you know him. He won't take orders from any pony.”

       Tech sighed, her face scrunching into a pout. “That's him alright. He won't listen to anything that says, no, stop or don't.”

       Pie, A tan pony with a cherry topped pie for a cutie mark walked up, pushing a tray of flat breads.

       “Any pony want one? These are fresh from the oven. You won't BELIEVE the condition the kitchens are in! Really, other than the dust, they are in perfect working order! It's incredible!”

       Crimson set down his sketch book and glided down to Pie and her rolling tray. “Always finding something positive. That's our Pie.”

       “Yeah, are you sure you aren't related to Pinkie Pie?” Tech grumped as she took a flat bread, munching on it as she watched her Stallion work himself to exhaustion.

       Pie thought for a moment. “Yeah, pretty sure.”

       “Hey! What are you doing?!” A voice rang out from another room across the hall. “Those beams go in the east wing, down the hall, you dimwit! Not here!”

       “Dimwit is it?” A voice challenged back.

       All three ponies recognized it as Scar, a gray mare who had been in more battles than most ponies knew existed. If she got riled up. All three scrambled into the next room to see a red stallion with a brown mane and a hammer for a cutie mark.

       “Bucking Hay!” Gear Tech swore. “Why does Foremane always have to pick a fight with every pony?”

       “Don't know.” Pie replied, looking nervously at glaring ponies. “But I think Foremane is about to become a rug.”

       “Stop it!” RJ flashed between them, holding his hooves out. The yellow stallion with the electric blue mane looked like he'd been beaten, dragged thru a dirt road and dropped on a granite slab for supper. “Come on! Work together ponies. Why do I have to separate you two ever three in a half minutes?”

       “Just keep that piece of scar tissue away from me. I'm quite capable to handle this operation without another pony butting her head in and messin' up my plans.”

       “Plans? WHAT plans? As far as I see, you're only plans are to look at the stuff around here and go, 'Hrm...It could, but it wouldn't...would it?' Seriously, I've seen more progress from snails than you.”

       “Is that so?” Foremane snorted, pawing the rough, gray stones.

       “Hey you two.” Crimson Sketch called out happily, walking up with two of Pie's flat breads. “Here have some bread.”

       Scar blinked. “Why?” Foremane looked equally as puzzled as he wordlessly accepted the steaming hot bread.

       “Because you two get cranky when you're hungry.” Two loud gurgles fill the room as both Scar and Formane smiled, embarrassed. They took a few bites, and with a sigh, they both let their eyes roll back.

       “Better?” Crimson asked with a smile. They nodded, and turned to walk in opposite directions, happily munching on the tasty flat bread.

       “Nice thinking.” RJ congratulated, sitting where he stood. “I don't think I can take anymore fighting.”

       “I don't think you can take anymore jumping.” Tech added.

       “Tech—”

       “No, you listen to me babe. You're pushing yourself too hard. You can't do it all you're self. You'll kill yourself!”

       “Again.” Pie added.

       “Thanks for reminding me.” RJ replied statistically. “Tech...you're right. But if I don't get these ponies to work together, then who will? I don't see anyone volunteering to be a leader around here, do you?”

       “We always can ask Writer.” Crimson suggested. The Aligorn, half dragon half Alicorn, was well respected and no pony asked questions when he said to do something.

       “Is that you're answer to everything?” RJ asked in a whining voice. RJ loved his Aligon roommate, well more like landlord, but he felt bad for always laying another thing on him. “I guess with age come responsibility, and Cosmic Writer is older than Celestia by at least a few decades.”

       “He'd know the answer, and he'd ask why you didn't ask him sooner.” Crimson pointed out.

       RJ looked glum at the thought. “He would say that, wouldn't he?”

       Pie smiled. “Well, if you do see him, tell him we in the kitchens have a very special treat for him. He can come down and have it when ever he has free time.”

       “Let's go find him.” RJ sighed, getting up. “And we'll tell him he's got food in the kitchen.”

       In another part of the old castle, the Princess of the Night sat gazing out of a window in one of the still standing towers. Somberly, she looked out at the eclipsed moon. Slowly, as if taking a deep breath, she gathered her will and reached out to the moon.

       Ever since she and her sister, Celestia, had opened the Box of the Marks, many thousands of years ago, she'd been able to control the moon at will. Now, though she strained with all her might, she couldn't re-control what was once hers to move. After yet another failure, she released her will, letting her head drop to the seal of the window, holding back tears.

       This was so wrong. Celestia wasn't suppose to be turned to stone. She wasn't suppose to shatter. If only she hadn't been so reckless and charged in without Celestia, she'd have her sister here. No, none of this would have happened. She'd be raising the moon now, spending time with Celestia, talking about trivial things. Twilight would be back in her own castle in Ponyville, with her friends. Cryslis would have surely been beaten and her foul horde of Changelings driven out of Equestria.

       Unable to contain her grief and guilt anymore, she cried softly. The only pony to witness this, the only pony to know the Night Princess, the Protector of dreams as Luna, sat in silence, knowing full well what the Princess felt, because she herself felt the same guilt.

       Moon Chaser, a purple Pegasus with a pink mane, was once a Night Guard for the Princess. After an...unexplained event, as she told other ponies it was, she became Princess Luna's personal Mare in Waiting, and was trained in flight and flight combat by Spitfire herself, as well as magical defense and hoof to hoof combat and weaponry with the legendary Shining Armor.

       She was suppose to be with Luna when the Changeling Queen broke into the throne room, but Luna had sent her to fight along side the Sun Risers, Princess Celestia's elite and personal body guards. Mooney knew it was the wrong thing to do. She KNEW that the final blow would strike once she left her Princess's side. And she was right. As soon as she met up with the Sun Raisers, they turned on her, surrounding her and let their masks melt off showing just how far the Changeling Horde had penetrated into their defenses.

       It was a mighty fight, but Moon Chaser fought her way to the throne room, but by then, it was too late. Celestia was shattered, Princess Twilight was now Queen Dark Sun and Luna was in danger. If it wasn't for Discord, they'd be dead. Thinking of that, spurred a thought that she had almost forgotten about.

       “Where should we look?” She asked Luna.

       “What was that?” The dark purple mare whipped her eyes and turned to her loyal body guard and friend.

       “What Discord said. The shards of...” She felt a knot in her throat at the thought of the other Princess. “...You're sister. He said gather them and the Elements of Harmony. He said we can undue everything if we did that. We could fix this mess.”

       Princess Luna sadly shook her head. “Nay, Mooney. It won't work. I fear that he only said that, to give use a means to escape with our lives, and I am grateful for that, but I must accept the fact that my sister...” Luna struggled with her emotions for a moment. It was unseemly to cry when another pony could walk in at any moment.

       “We can try.” Moon Chaser pressed. “It's better than wallowing.”

       Luna nodded. “It is, isn't it.”

       Moon Chaser bit her lip, as another thought came to her mind. She wasn't sure if she should speak it, but it wasn't something that she could just ignore either. Not that it would change things, nothing Luna could say or do would spur her from the Princess's side.

       “Luna...My Princess.” Mooney began.

       Luna's eye brows shot up. “I haven't heard you use that address in a while. What’s on your mind, dear one. Speak freely, I will not be upset.”

       Mooney paused, then making up her mind she spoke the question that suddenly made her skin crawl and her blood chill, even as she said it.

       “With...Princess Celestia gone...will you proclaim yourself soul heir to the throne?”

       Luna's eyes went flat. “Didn't we have a conversation about speaking plainly before? You mean to ask if I'm going to call myself Queen and fight to retake the throne from Dark Sun? Is that it?”

       Moon Chaser hesitated. Then she nodded. “It would make sense, and I doubt that any pony would argue with you.”

       “No,” Luna sigh. “No, they wouldn't...” Turning her back on her Mare in Waiting, she continued to speak, not as a Princess, but as a common mare. “Moon, I lost my sister. True, we did not always see eye to eye, but I loved her. Even though she banished me to the moon for a thousand years, I never stopped loving her. How can I take what was hers? I...I just can't. I doubt I'd be able to even live in that castle again. It's just full of to many memories. It's hard enough being here, where we built Equestria. Where we...we...”

       She broke down into soft hushed sobs. Moon Chaser, walked up to her, putting a wing around her. Luna then turned and threw herself into the embrace of her only friend in the world. She cried bitterly. She cried for the good memories she had of her sister, she cried for lost memories she'd never make, but mostly she cried because she now had no sister.


       Later that evening another chamber, where the debris had already been cleared out, Cosmic Writer, the Aligon his fur light blue, lay upon a bed with purple dragon wings stretched out, his dragons ears twitching as he heard the disputes of other ponies, his green tail fanned out behind him, a his broken horn giving him a dull ache that he'd carried with him for eons. For some reason, the ponies of their little colony thought of him as a judge of some kind, and brought to him their problems, taking his word as law.

       It was rather tedious, and Cosmic never had the patience for such tasks, but he forced himself to do what Luna was in no condition to do. Knowing full well what it would do to the other ponies if they found out what really happened to Celestia, he and Luna agreed to keep the truth a secret.

       He himself was in deep grief, as he and Celestia were once an item long long ago. Fact was he had loved her, and would have married her, but she felt that her life was meant for more things than marriage and raising foals and fillies.

       When she took her sister to open the Box of the Mark, he stopped loving her and all Alicron kind, because she changed, and with her, so did her kind. He still had feelings for her, but they were not the same as they had once been.

       Luna, on the other hoof, was much more down to earth than Celestia. She always was, thinking more of safety for others and leading by example than that of pomp and circumstance. Luna didn't want to open the Box of the Mark, but in the end, supported her sister, who truly felt like she was doing the right thing.

       Though Writer felt his loss as keenly as a razor to the heart, it was by sheer will power and necessity that he kept his face free from emotion and his mind at work solving the problems he could instead of dwelling on what he couldn't fix.

       As the ponies left the room E'ma Rose, a gray mare with a red and black mane and a bow and red arrow for a cutie mark trotted into the bed chamber.

       “Uncle, we've got a problem.” She sighed.

       Writer didn't look pleased. “Don't we always?” He closed his eyes, counting to ten before asking. “What is it this time.”

       “More ponies are arguing about the different jobs to do.” E'ma answered. “I just don't get it. We're all here for the same reason. Can't we just work together in peace?”

       “No.” Writer replied. “Every pony thinks differently and every pony has their own way of doing things. Unless there's a leader, every pony is going to bicker and bug the buck out of me.”

       E'ma squeaked. “Uncle!”

       “Sorry, but all this arguing and name calling is really getting to me. I'd rather be out there, now. Finding a solution to Dark Sun, chasing the Changelings out of our land, rebuilding Ponyville, finding Penn...”

       E'ma looked down at her hooves. She blamed herself for the pony's disappearance, as he held off a group of Changelings so she could escape. Trixie, Penn's mare friend, forgave her of course, but still, she felt responsible for it.

       “There's more, isn't there?” Her uncle asked, interrupting her thoughts. “I can see it in your eyes. What are they saying?”

       “They want a leader.” E'ma answered. “They all say that Dark Sun is a Queen, and if we're going to take Equestria back, we need one too.”

       Writer got to his hooves. “Are they in the main hall?”

       E'ma nodded. “Several of them have gathered every pony together and are having a group discussion.”

       “We better get down their fast.” Writer shook his mane. “Times like this make ponies desperate, and desperate ponies do stupid things.”

       When both mare and Aligon arrived, they saw Foremane standing on a box, calling out to the rest of the ponies in the hall.

       “You see? They have a Queen! A QUEEN! And she captured Princess Celestia! How can we be protected if there are ponies like that out there?” There was a murmur of agreement. “We need one for ourselves!”

       “But who will be the Queen?” Some pony asked.

       “No Pony will be Queen.” Writer called out. The crowed hushed instantly, all turning to hear what the Aligorn had to say. “You speak of Queens and ruler, but you don't know what you're talking about. Do you really want to have another decide what you're life should be like? Do you really want to  burden another with you're problems because you can't stallion up and work with others withoute being told? Do you want a pony to be you're mother and tell you what to do, and spank you when you don't?”

       There were some chuckles from the last question.

       “And what would a half breed know about it?” Some pony next to Foremane asked smugly. In a blue flash, RJ was in his face.

       “Half breed? What does that have to do with anything? He's only lived longer than any pony you know about. Yeah, I bet he doesn't know a single thing about rulers and what powerful ponies can do. I bet he doesn't know a single little thing!” The pony quickly backed down, his ears laying flat on his head, scared by the rage in RJ's eyes. “Yeah, that's what I thought.”

       “But if we don't have a ruler, what do we do?” Some pony asked.

       “I say we need one!” A different pony called out.

       The crowed dissolved into noise as neighbors argued and yelled at the other.

       “SILENCE!”

       The crowed, for the second time, hushed to absolute silence as Princess Luna walked into the room.

       “Princess!” Foremane smiled, and bowed. “Thank you for coming. We are ready to give you our undying loyalty and proclaim you Queen Luna.”

       There was a murmur of agreement with this and some pony started stamping. The action caught like wildfire and soon almost every pony was stamping their approval of the decoration.

       “No.” Luna said. The stamping stopped instantly. “I will not rule in my sister's stead. No, I can not rule in her place, nor will I elevate myself to that which she didn't dream of doing. I will not be queen, and I will not be princess anymore.” Every pony gasped as she reached up, and took off her black crown. “I denounce my birthright, as it was never truly mine in the begining.”

       The crowed in stunned silence turned to Cosmic Writer. “Don't look at me. I'm only a half breed.” He lingered those words. “I can't possibly know how to rule, isn't that right? Foremane?”

       Foremane was at a loss. He didn't know what to do. He looked to the former Princess and back to the Aligorn.

       “Then who?” He asked desperately. “We need a leader! It's not a want, its a fact! We need some pony to tell us what to do, some pony keep us on track. It's how we've lived our lives so far, how do we do other wise?”

       E'ma saw the pleading looks of the pony, and of all the ponies who agreed with him. She didn't see the desire to make one of their own better, but rather the want of hope for something to stand behind. A banner they could call their own, a leader they could go to, a pony to protect them.

       “I'll lead you.”

       Every pony turned to her, and suddenly E'ma felt very small, but she squared her shoulders and walked towards Luna. The dark mare, as if sensing what she was doing, lowered her horn to the dark crown and let a twinkle of magic burn thru. The crown melted and turned into a golden tiara with a gold bow and ruby arrow, notched, ready to fly. As E'ma approached, she nodded and gently laid the tiara on her head.

       “You have my blessing in this, My Grace.”

       E'ma smiled. “You will always be a Princess, dear Luna. Even if you are not crowned.”

       The mare smiled and watched as young E'ma walked thru the crowed towards where Foremane stood. The crowed melted away from her, making her path clear, and Foremane scrambled off the box he was standing on, letting E'ma take it.

       “I am not a Queen.” She said to the ponies. “I am not a Princess. I'm not of royal birth, but I was dubbed Duchess. I am like all of you, as simple pony who wants nothing more than a simple life of love and peace. But there is nothing simple in that. A pony must work, and a pony can not work alone. A pony must work with his neighbors, he must help his friends, he must build with his community. All these things must be done in harmony. There is no better. That is what Equestria is meant for. Not a place of betters, but a land of Equals.

       “I am not better than you, but as a Duchess, I have responsibility to be what you need me to be. I am not a ruler, but a guide. I am not a better, but a friend to help. If you need to trust any pony, trust me. Trust me, and I will work with you. I might not be as strong as you, Foremane, but I'm willing to help you, plan with you, show you a better way, a way that we can work together in harmony, and work out from under the rule of the Dark Queen. We will work out from under her sun.”

       The silence was absolute. For minutes, all the ponies stared at E'ma as she stood there, tiara sparkling in the torchlight, looking more regal than any pony they'd ever seen in their lives.

       “Undersun.” Some pony said.

       “Undersun!”

       Stamp.

       “Undersun!”

       Stamp!

       “UNDERSUN, UNDERSUN, UNDERSUN!” The chanting grew louder and louder until the hall shook with E'ma's 'Undersun' name.

       E'ma caught her uncles eye, and though she could see clearly how much he disliked the idea, he nodded.

       Now the refugees of Ponyvill, no, of Equestria had a leader. Now they had a name. Duchess Undersun had begun the Revolution of Equestria.