Astrous breathed in the clean night air. How he enjoyed his allowed time on the surface, however brief it may be. He had been patroling the forest for hours, watching for anything that would constitute a threat to the ponies in the nearby town. So far all appeared quiet and peaceful, allowing his eyes to take in the scenery once more. Mighty Oak trees, tall silent sentries of the forest sway in the night wind, their shadows playing across the ground. Small, nocturnal animals scitter from one shadow to another, hunting to feed their families.
Then he heard it, a low, feral growl eminating from behind him. At its' scource, a fully grown male manticore, slavering and pawing at the ground.
'Well, something's not quite right with this one. Possesion perhaps,' Astrous thought
.
The creatures form shifted, comfirming his thoughts, then it charged him, claws extended, maw agape. Astrous drew his sword and sidestepped at the same time, drawing the blade across the corrupted beast's side, covering the ground in crimson. He stepped forward, aiming for the neck, hoping to decapitate the creature before the fight escalates, but the darkling controlling it has other plans. The manticore rolls away, leaving the sword to strike the ground where it had been moments before. Than it begins to speak, the voice sounding like many whispers echoing from the depths of a cave.
"So the rumors ring true. A hunter has risen in the night to slay us. Are you the one that banished the shadow wolves as well? the Shadowling asks.
"Indeed I am, as I am also the one that will end you," Astrous states.
The two begin to circle, the manticores' side still bleeding profusely. They stop, the shadow-tracers' sword glimmering with lethal beauty under the moons rays. The wind drops, every animal in the vicinity falling silent, and a single leaf detaches from a branch hanging over the small clearing. It falls slowly, spinning and gliding to the ground. As it lands, both combatants launch at each other. Astrous, a deadly swordsman, spinning and striking in a display of skill and talent. Every slash hits it's mark, opening new painful wounds for the monster as it flails about attempting to stop the shadow that seems to be everywhere and nowhere. It's attempts a futile as the armed combatant slashes an Achilles' tendon, and ending with a flurry as the manticores' head falls from its' shoulders. Astrous sheathes his blade, moving to stand over the mutilated body.
"I'm am sorry friend, rest in peace, and may the sun embrace this innocent soul, damned for the deeds of another." Astrous spoke aloud, his deep baritone reverberating through the woods, as he initiated the traditional exorcism to banish the nightmares and free the soul of their greedy hands.
He finished the incantation, then looked to the moon, feeling that someone was trying to watch him.
"Only a couple more hours, old chap, enjoy them while you can," Astrous said.
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Luna was exasporated, she could feel it. Whatever was eluding her gaze under the night was unbelieveably powerful. What could run free in her domain and block her sight to it?
She had sent her guards to investigate. Whenever they returned they had two things to report every time: They was a monster carcass at the location, and there were no tracks or signs of another creature or pony in the area. She didn't know which concerned her more. She was sure that they missed something, must have.
She was taking this situation into her own hands, and she had an advantage that her guards didn't. she could track the disturbance with the moon. Even if she couldn't see it, she could see everything around it.
The Princess snuck past her ever present company of gaurds, though she cared for them deeply, they tended to be overprotective of her, often times treating her as their sister than their ruler. She preferred it that way, for she thought of them as her brothers, ever vigilant and ready to defend her.
As she left the castle, she had a feeling in her gut telling her that something rather important was to happen soon.
"This will be over soon, whatever you are, you cannot hide anywhere under the moon," Luna said.
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Celestia was wandering through the Royal Library, looking at the books. Old and warn as they were, every one of then was special to her, close to her heart. Though she had been through this room more times than she could count, she kept coming back to the same area, not knowing why.
She walked over to the fullest shelf, eyes skimming the spines, remembering the plot of every one of them through memory alone. Romance, Drama, Adventure, Mystery. All of them sounding interesting, but not what she was looking for.
"I really do need to go book shopping once in a while. I suppose I could invite Twilight to go along with me,"-the princess smiled at the thought of her student-"She'd make a big fuss over getting the right book, alwayts wanting the best for me, never thinking of herself." She continued to flick her eyes over the cracked leather spines in front of her, unable to gather interest enough to read one.
Until her eyes came to rest on a lone book, no thicker than a childs book, with a bright blue cover trimmed with gold, and a locket in the center.
"What do we have here? I don't believe I've seen this one before," Celestia said to herself.
As she opened the book, she recognized the graceful script of her father.
Dear Celestia and Luna, if you are reading this, than you've been peeking about the library. This is a scrapbook of some of our most precious memories, I saved it to give to you two on your coronation day, which begs the question of why I'm writing this. Well, it's a matter of closure, i presume. Please look through this and remember that we always loved you.
Despite her best efforts, Princess Celestia couldn't stop herself from looking through it. she flipped through the old, yellow pages relishing the musty smell, until one picture in particular caught her eye.
It was of her parents, taken with some of thier friends, while her mother cradled Luna and her father held her hand. But the most facinating thing was that the 'friends' appeared to be made of insubstantial materials. Clouds, stars, light, dust, magic and energy. They were alicorn-like in appearance, but other than that, they were alien indeed.
"What in Equestria are they?" Princess Celestia said.
Just as the question faded from the air, two Lunar guards ran into the library, they both bowed quickly. As they did so, Celestia examined them. Though she never had prolonged interaction with the Lunar guards, years of Royal training had asserted itself instantly, allowing her to recall their names. The older stallion was named Nightshade, the younger, Ashcloack.
Nightshade stepped forward, panic and concerned fear obvious on his features. "Princess Luna is gone!" Nightshade said, his voice cracking from anxiousness.
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"Rather cold tonight. Might have to turn in early," Astrous said, speaking to no one in particular. He let out a sigh, willing for time to slow so that he may enjoy the night longer. He look towards the moon, remembering an old friend.
"I wonder how she's doing," said Astrous.
As he continued to gaze at the moon, a silhouette swept past, revealing to him what appeared to be a pegasus out for a late night fly. Astrous smiled to himself as he watched, tracking the pony with his eyes as it made lazy circles in the air. before flying down. Straight at him.
'That's my cue to leave,' Astrous though before spinning on his heels and sprinting into the forest as fast as possible.
The elders had always told the night-tracers that the consequences of being caught was death. Not as punishment from the High Council, but because they were differnet from the ponies, seen as monsters. He would not die here, after all he had a promise to keep.
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Luna flew at the creature as fast as possible. Never gaining nor losing ground, but just out of reach.
'Nothing should be able to run at this speed for long, what kind of magic does this being possess?' Luna thought.
Her muscles screamed at her to stop, needing rest, but her pride as the Princess of the Night would not let her. This thing would not best her, in her domain. Still she felt herself slowing, succumbing to exhauston that was draining her.
Astrous had been hard running for twenty minutes, and still that pegasus gave chase. The initial rush of adrenaline had worn off, and he was running on steam. His pursuer seemed to be tiring at the same rate, but he wasn't going to leave things to chance, better to know if you're screwed from the beginning.
"How long are you going to chase me?" Astrous yelled. A simple question, but it took his mind off of the burning ache in his legs.
"How long are you going to run from me?" The reply came from a smooth female voice. The answer might have amused Astrous had it been male, but the fact that it was a female chasing him caused a great deal of displeasure.
He couldn't challenge female to a duel. Magical or physical.
'Why the buck did it HAVE to be female? Can't whatever divine beings exist give me a break, just once?' Astrous thought bitterly.
Astrous just kept running, sheer willpower keeping him going. He was sure that if he tripped, getting up wouldn't be an option. His legs burned like molten lead, and his lungs were on fire, but he kept going. Until a tree decided to give him a face-five.
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Luna saw that creature stumble, and knew that her magic had work. It was a cheap trick, but it had worked. With her last bit of energy, she propelled herself at the unbalanced creature, slamming into it's back and knocking it to the ground.
"Get up, slowly," Luna commanded. The figure didn't move. She tried once again, this time in her traditional canterlot voice. "We Command Thou To Rise." still nothing.
'Uh oh, I hope it's just unconscious,' Luna thought, 'Well, the chance has shown itself early, might as well see what I have caught.'
The Princess was about to remove the hood from the figures' head, but stopped when she felt a familiar and terrifyingly strong magic aura approaching. A quick scan of the night confirmed her fears. Celestia was coming, and she was MAD. All she could do was wait and hope to Mother that Celestia let her remain on this planet.
Several minutes later, her older sister landed, followed by four guards. Two Lunar, and Two Celestial. She nodded to her sisters guards, Blaze and Lightning, than smiled warmly at her own protectors, Nightshade and Ashcloak, who gave her peeved gaze before returning her smile with relieved ones of their own.
The smile died quickly as Celestia turned her flaming gaze on her sister.
'Moon save me,' Luna thought.
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Celestia was worried sick. Was. Now she was tempted to send her sister to the moon again. Not only had she snuck out, but she had knocked someone unconscious on purpose!
'At least she's okay, albeit, a little ruffled, but safe nonetheless,' Celestia thought.
"Alright, you have once chance to explain. Change anything, and I will have Twilight lecture you on the anatomy of ponies. All species, both genders. Speak carefully." Celestia did her best ominous voice to add to the effect.
She saw her little sister take a deep breath.
"For some time," - Luna began cautiously - "Something has been killing creatures during the night. I would sense the disturbance and send guards to investigate, and they always reported a corpse and no trace of magic. I decided to tryand find out what was happening myself, so I snuck out, chased the creature on the ground there, and was about to unmasked it until you arrived, and here we are."
Celestia simply stared at her younger sibling, unable to fathom why her sister would do something so hair-brained.
"Well-" Celestia sighed, "-shall we get this over with than? If it's a regular pony, you're going to apologize, and then you can say hello to the rover," Celestia said, hiding the wry grin she had on her lips.
"Guards, surround it. Nightshade, remove the hood carefully." Luna ordered. The guards nodded and moved into position around the prone figure. The Lunar guard pulled the hood back, and what it revealed shocked both princesses, but for very different reasons.
"Mother of Me," Celestia whispered, "It's one of them."
Luna couldn't take her eyes off of the face in front of her. It was beautiful, completely perfect, save the scar running from just above the right eye-brow to halfway down the right cheek. A strong jaw, slanted brown, and slightly curled black mane, gave the appearance of a warrior. What caught her attention most, however, was the skin, a swirling mixture of black and blue, dusted with white dots that shimmered and glowed, giving the appearance of the night sky.
Luna snapped out of her trance upon hearing her sisters voice.
"Guards, bring him to the castle, I must question him," Celestia announced.
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Astrous woke up aching and sore.
'Well, pain is better than nothing. Means I'm not dead at the moment,' Astrous thought dryly.
He shifted his head on the pillow, looking for a cool spot to rest his head. Then it registered, that he wasn't on a concrete slab. He sat up and looked around.
'One heck of a prison they got goin' here,' He thought.
The room he was in was spacious, but cozy, with simple furnishings. A desk and chair, a wardrobe, and the bed he was laying on. As he looked around, the door came into his sight.
"Might as well try it," He said to himself.
Astrous crossed the room and tried the handle of the door. It was, of course, locked.
'Alright you wanna play it that way, fine,' He thought. He crossed back over to the other side of the room, faced the door and charged it. When he was not two feet from the entrance, it opened to show to very alarmed sentries, and perhaps the most magnificent creature he'd ever seen. Her fur was dark blue, and her mane had the same appearance as his skin, seemingly made from the night sky. Her eyes were large aquamarine orbs that sent shivers down his spine. Being so entranced by her, he didn't even try to stop. Bowling past the guards and directly into her, he had no regrets.
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Luna had, on occasions, fantasized being pushed down by a handsome stallion, but THIS was not what she had in mind. She was laying on the ground, with something heavy on top of her. She opened her eyes, surprised by the golden pair staring back. She was muzzle-to-muzzle with this stranger, and neither seemed able or willing to move.
A loud 'ahem' brought both of them back to reality. As she turned to look, she saw her sister with an inquisitive eye-brow raised, her guards looked ready to kill the stallion who had yet to move, and two Celestial guards holding Nightshade and Ashcloack back, bemused expressions plastered on their features.
"We-I can explain our-my current situation," Luna stammered.
Her sisters expression didn't change.
"Indeed you will sister." Celestia said.
