Luna's Dark Knight...

Perspective Luna

Climbing out of bed, with Magnus laying at my side, I went about my early morning routine of getting my mane and tail straightened and my fur brushed. The clowns that called themselves our nobility were very much a pain in my right tush when it came to presenting myself for the rest of the populace to see... Much more to having just let my bed mane go and show the rest of our people that even a ruler has a bad day. After taking the 'required' thirty minutes to magically get my hair in order, I found that Magnus was starting to awake from his slumber and stumble about in bed, trying to remove the covers from his head.

"Stay still, our little Magnus, we shalt free thee shortly!" I called from my place ion the 'fresher', as Corpus had so called it, and seconds later stepped into the room. I then gently lifted the sheets, quilt, and comforter off my poor nephews head... Yes, I had finally come to see him as... family I suppose -though of a different sort at least- and called him what he would be to me if I were his aunt as he likes to call me. Freeing him of his impromptu prison He leaped from his spot on the bed and clambered onto my back, giving my neck a gently squeeze and nuzzled me softly as he hugged me tightly -for his size at least-.

"Auntie, can we go get breakfast? I know I am hungry after such a restful night... What of you?" He asked me, his eyes full of admiration and unbridled joy at having a loving family... even if they were not his first family... his original family...

"Aye Magnus, let us be gone! We have many cakes and fruits to devour, would thou like that our nephew?!" I asked him giddily, making him nod his head in rapid response, almost vibrating with excitement. I giggled softly as I shook my head at his over-reactive behavior, relishing in his happiness. Leaving myself bare of all my dressing I took us down to the kitchen, passing by a few guards here and there; Magnus giving them a wave as we walked past. I even greeted a few with a smile, receiving a salute and a hello in return.

"Ah, Princess! Magnus! What might we serve thee this fine morn...? We are happy to oblige thee of thy wants and needs!" An earthpony shouted as he saw us cross the far threshold of the dinning room, heading towards him. He was a slightly plump stallion with orange fur and a deep purple mane -a salad with a set of silverware sitting around it being his cutie-mark- his weight made him waddle slightly as he cantered over to us.

"Ah, Eleazar, if thou would be so kind... We would appreciate a serving of thy best tea and a serving of your magnificent kale and blueberry salad... What of thee Magnus? What dost thou want? Mine little Nephew?" I asked the young colt ridding on my back, his happy-go-lucky demeanor having rubbed of on me.

"Um... How about a glass of orange Juice and a bowl of oats in milk?" Magnus called cheerfully, making the chef and i look at him with curiosity.

"Sure laddie, an interesting request, but doable." Eleazar looked to him with a smile and started yelling to the kitchen staff to get the meals prepped. Meanwhile Magnus and I went over and found a spot to have our breakfast.

"So, didst thou have a good night mine Nephew?" I asked my charge, gaining an explosive smile from the young colt.

"Unbelievably so Auntie! I dreamed of fighting off hordes of those bird like creatures with Uncle Corpus and thee... I was using one of those glowing wand like weapons he was using too! We were fighting for hours, beating hundreds of them with ease! It was amazing!" He explained how the three of us had even taken on a giant hydra... beating it and sending it on it's way. Throughout his whole depiction of his dream I could not but feel joy and dread in equal quantities, half in his joy of having a good nights sleep, the other in the fact that it was about fighting... though I noted that he did not say killed.

"Princess, Master Magnus, your food is ready..." A maid came over and quickly served our food, setting the dishes down in front of us with a set of utensils beside them.

After devouring our morning food and bidding our hosts farewell, Magnus and I started the short journey to the throne room. Through the halls we walked, Magnus listening to my every word as I went on about the histories of magic and its uses over the years. I told him of the original tribal disputes that had had many magical revolutions, most of which had been war related. I told him of the great Arch Mages, like Tender-hoof Macy, Lightwing Glow -the first and last Pegasus to use magic- and her ability to use her wings as though they were horns, Kelvin Burner, and then our very own Mage of the era 'StarSwirle Moon' (The same StarSwirle that would be later known as 'StarSwirle the Bearded'). After hearing about their prowess with magic he had told me that he wants to learn the ropes as well, wanting to become a great Mage as well.

"Auntie Luna! Would I be able to become such as thee? A great Mage?" His eager little voice cried out as he flailed on my back.

"We dost not see a reason as to the negative, mine little nephew... But it will take many years of practice and determination to become like the masters we have told thee of." I said, smiling to him as we trotted along. He was turning into a bright ray of sunlight for myself while Corpus was away...

"AAAaaaaH!" I suddenly screamed, falling to the floor, Magnus falling with me. I felt unimaginable pain wrack my body, through every fiber of my being. I could hear Magnus crying out beside me, yelling at me to tell him what was wrong, I could see that he was worried and confused as he watched me writhe in pain on the marble flooring, thrashing about like a madpony.

"G-Get -AH- T-TiaAAH!" I cried out as I tried to control the pain, but I only succeeded in making it worse. The next thing I remember... I was in a bed...

Some Nine Hours later

A bright light shown above my eyes, blinding me slightly as I tried to clear the fog from my vision, and failing miserably. I then started to make out some of the sounds around me, along with a few voices. With the ringing in my ears finally dying down I was able to hear them clearly.

"Will she be alright Doctor?"

"I do not know my princess... We will have to wait and see..."

"Please... Help my Auntie to get better mister Doctor Sir... She and my uncle are the only family I have left..." I Recognized that voice almost instantly... My little Nephew... Magnus.

He was worried...

Worried about me...

...

'get-up'

'Get-up'

'Get...UP'

'GET UP!'

"Mag...nus..." I whispered out, making everypony in the room jump at the sound of my voice.

"A-auntie!" Magnus said, rushing over to me in my weakened state. I could slightly make out tears that had been falling down his cheek, along with the new ones that were now falling in his joy of seeing me alive, and somewhat well.

"Magnus... Mine dearest nephew... We art... fine... Please, do not cry for us.." I whispered soothingly into his ears as he cried into my chest, his forelegs wrapped around my neck as one of mine were around his back.

"Lu-lu... My sweet sister... Lu-lu, thou art okay!"

Perspective, Corpus: Minutes before Luna awakens

"Sir! Sir wake up sir! We need to get a move on...!" A hoof pushed into my side, making me wince in pain as the damage form earlier came rushing back to the fore front of my mind. Stumbling up to my feet i recognized the form of Captain Ducati, an orange furred pegasus with a wheel surrounded by flames as a cutie mark, his bright green eyes burning with the need to get his men and myself out of there.

"I'm up Captain... Just... Give me a moment to orient myself and we can leave..." I placated him, reverting to first person speech as I was not fully a hold of my thoughts. This did surprise him for a moment but said nothing of it, just leaving it for a later time. The Captain allowed me to use his shoulders as a crutch for a moment as I gained a much better sense of my surroundings.

I saw that, now, we were out of the forest. This was something that i knew was impossible for me -seeing as I was just in a major fight and lost- being crippled as I was. I then saw the rest of Captain Ducati's squad appear out of a round of bushes, right between two large overly mossy trees, and get into a defensive stance in the direction they came form. Bringing their swords and wing-blades to bare I also got ready for whatever opponent was coming our way.

I could sense that the being, or beings, coming our way were not entirely amicable to our situation. They seethed with malice and darker emotions. So, using the force to clear my head and stabilize myself, I drew a single blade hilt and begrudgingly got into a defensive stance.

"Sargent Sentinel, clear a path... We art still able to fight..." I spoke lowly to the stallion, whom of which was standing right in front of me. He and his companions looked to me in surprise and slight irritation.

"Sir, we are going to defend you if it is the last thing we do... So please, let us do just that..." Lone Sentinel said breathlessly, trying to keep his tone low as the enemy approached. He was slightly anxious, not having fought while an injured member of his team was present in the soon to be battle. I quickly alaid his fears, though I also reprimanded him, though mostly his captain.

"Lone, We art a warrior of many casts, having seen hundreds of battles, We know our weakness, but tis not enough to keep us from helping thee. So... either let us fight, or... run... But we can tell thee this... we don't run fast right now..." I finished, chuckling slightly at his, and Ducati's, aghast faces. I then gestured to my left leg, showing them the odd bend mid way down my shin. It was broke, but not badly enough for me to not participate in the coming skirmish.

"Corpus... thou art a strange Stallion, but I can respect you... ya hard ass..." Rage called over, hashing together his respect for me... though I could care less, seeing as he made me laugh slightly.

"We'll take thy word as a compliment my good stallion, just don't die in this war and we shalt see what comes of thee!" My words struck a cord within him, making the buff stallion give a determined nod.

Suddenly the forest in front of us exploded into action, though not in a way we had expected. A small gryphon, just taller than my knee, but shorter than the rest of my company, flew through the clearing. The small Gryphon landed at my feet, battered and beaten half to death, blood oozing from an assortment of cuts and from its mouth. Suddenly a trio of larger Gryphons... and a Minotaur came rushing into the clearing, ignoring us and charged towards the Griff.

The Minotaur was around my height and was about twice my width at the shoulders. It carried a large battle axe in it's hands and a pony sized great sword on its waist... Obviously using said weapon as a side arm. It also had large pieces of leather armor strewn across it's body... leaving some skin exposed, though that that was seen was covered in scars and jagged wounds that had healed wrong.

The Gryphons were dressed in the regalia of their standard foot soldiers, gladious' at their sides and a small wood buckler strapped to their left fore legs/arms. They had on very little armor, seeing as they were dressed in cloth and other fabrics to distinguish their allegiance.

"Oh lookie 'ere brothers! We found 'er! Now... We an finish what we started!" The Minotaur drawled, his accent being similar to that of the farming communities of the outer rim worlds, having something similar to a southern drawl.

"Aye brother! But.. we must first deal with our... Audience..." One of the gryphons said, a white and sand colored one. Making the rest of his company finally notice our presence. The Gryphon, a young one at that, then started crawling towards me, tears streaming down it's face as blood streaked behind its body as it moved.

"Help... me... please..." Its voice, which I identified as female, range through my head, making me stare at her in sadness. She was beaten, her wings were badly damaged, and her hind legs had been broken... There was almost nothing that had not been injured on her body.

"Aye... Little one, come." I said, making my voice dual toned for a moment as all heard my words, shocking the ponies around me and infuriating the Minotaur and gryphons in front of me.

"Are thou sure of this Corpus... IT is a Gryphon..." Ducati growled lowly to me, making me scowl in his direction as I bent down and picked up the child in my free arm.

"IF we stoop to that level Captain... than we would be no better than our enemy..." I retorted smoothly, making the lot of them flinch slightly. When I stood up straight I activated my saber, letting the blue blade shoot forth illuminating the whole area.

"Thank thee... stranger..." The chick whimpered into my neck, her blood staining my under shirt, seeing as my body armor was now non-existent. The Minotaur spoke next, silencing everyone else's thoughts... much to my own horror.

"Give us back the slut creature! She hast a job to finish... lest we take your own girl here and use her instead..." The Minotaur snarled, his Lustful gaze falling upon Amber Rose. I could literally FEEL his disgusting mind think of thousands of ways to destroy the mare before finally killing her... by what means I could not willfully manage.

Be fore I knew it, Lone Sentinel and Roid Rage went flying, straight towards the Minotaur. One low the other high, they struck, landing a trio of hits on the massive creatures frame,,, though doing little to no damage to his body. HE shrugged off the blows and laughed at their pitiful attempt to harm him.

"Now... It's my turn!" He laughed, swinging his great Axe about, smashing the face of it into Sentinel and sent him flying into the bushes, clearly unconscious from the trail of blood that followed him. Roid rage had jumped over the attack and body slammed one of the Gryphons, seeing as he could not harm the monster now attacking us.

Amber and Heartstrings swung left and started a sortie with the other two Gryffs. Ducati flashed his wings once, suddenly taking to to the air, he was already on the minotaur, his short sword already falling against the Monsters head. But it was not to be as the minotaur lanced upward with his axe and buried the point in his chest, impaling him on the seven inch spike on its head. In the same motion the Minotaur tossed the head of the axe behind him, throwing Ducati from the head and into a tree where he would stay for the remainder of the fight.

Now, with no foes in my way, the Minotaur started walking towards me, his heavy foot falls shaking the ground slightly from his immense weight. As he stood before me, he laughed.

"Ah, the 'Master Duelist'... It is a pleasure to meet thee... Now DIE!" The Minotaur roared, bringing his axe up and over in a shot at my head from above. As the smile of the axe came closer, to within a breaths inch of my scalp, I side stepped it easily and punched the face of it, making it go off to my left at high speeds. The Minotaur, being caught by surprise by the sudden attack, was forced to let go of his weapon as it went flying off into the distance of our little skirmish.

Though, losing his weapon, he reacted quickly pulling out the great sword at his side. He then lashed out with it, aiming for my left arm. Seeing his strike coming I easily blocked it with my blade, though I was surprised it did not just cut through his blade with ease...

"I see you art confused, 'Duelist'... And right you should! I saw that your blade can not cut through those enchanted blades that the knights of Sardonia use... So, i had all my own enchanted to counteract your blades, should our paths ever meet... And seeing us here and now... I can say that it was a wise decision on my part!" The last part he yelled as he shoved my blade out of his way and shoved me back, trying to knock me off balance...

I almost instantly fell on my ass, my broken leg giving out underneath me. I instantly shot my blade up in a cross block, catching a hammer strike on the center of my blade almost nano seconds later. I then releashed a small burst of energy and shot the large minotaur off of me and back a few feet, giving myself a little breathing room. I then got into the Makashi stance and began a campaign to weaken his stancce nad finally deliver a decisive strike!

I first let him get in close, at least three feet away, and let him throw the first swing. I deflected it tot the right, opening up his body, I then stabbed the tip of my blade into his right bicep and dragged it down a good three inches, only going into the muscle underneath. With the pain in his arm alerting him to his folly, he then pulled back, swinging his blade upwards towards my thigh and waist. To this I just neatly stepped back and tapped his blade with mine and threw him off balance yet again, and again stabbing him with the edge of my blade, dragging it this time horizontally across his abbes, making him almost double over in pain.

In response he lashed out with his right arm, swinging his fist for my head, and missing spectacularly as it sailed inches away from my face. I then flicked my wrist up and to the right, making my saber twist slightly in an upward back handed arc as it cut easily through his arm.

He quickly pulled back the stump of a limb he had left, crying out in pain as I steadily leveled my blade out to my side, holding it at shoulder height. As he fell to his knees I quickly shot my arm across going down and to the left at a fourty-five degree angle, taking his head and part of his shoulder off before his pained screams could fully leave his throat.

Within the three minutes of our duel starting I had pulled his defenses apart and reduced him to a headless corpse... Much to his compatriots horror. And with the distraction of his death my own set of compatriots were able to deal swift death to their opponents.

Once everyone had calmed down, we were able to assess our situation. Which turned out to be quite bad after we found Ducati. Granted I thought he was dead after he had gotten impaled with that damned axe... But thankfully his armor had taken most of the strike. Though on the flip side we had to deal with his cracked ribs and broken foreleg... Not much but when you deal with a soldier, things an be quite hairy.

"Dammit Corpus, how in the nine realms of Aria did you do that!" Ducati cried out as Amber wrapped his chest with gauze and a sort of anti-septic.

"We art a... Master Swordsman... My Good Ducati... But we did have to rely on the energy of another..." I said through pained gasps. My chest hurt like as if a vice had been placed upon it and tightened beyond its means... And then there were the burning sensations in my legs and arms from all the over exertion I had put my body through.

"We see that Corpus, but we still do not understand the power with which you used to shove that monster back with not but a finger in his direction!" This time it was Heartstrings, a younger stallion by any means. He had a deep green fur coat with a Sea Foam Green mane and tail. His sky blue eyes bored into mine as he awaited my answer.

"We could not very well describe this power to thee, as well as we could describe the color Red to a blind man... It is something that can only be experienced... Not described. The reasoning for it would be that it is a different set of emotions for each individual that uses it. Dost thou understand Jazz Heartstrings?" I then began walking of towards the edge of the forest, somehow knowing that we needed to go this way. I still had the little Griff in my arms as I had yet to notice her awaken from her deep slumber. Though I was doing something to help the little one, being that I knew how to heal I was patching up her smaller wounds, like the cuts and bruises.

With all due hast we marched from the forest, Roid rage carrying Ducati all the way back to camp, always shrugging off any of their pleas to let them carry the captain, saying "It is better that I carry him, so that there are more capable fighters defending him as I had failed to do."

We soon got back to camp... and we were loath to see what had transpired... and what was still happening for that fact.

(Authors Note: Gryffs is the shortened name for Male Gryphons, while Griffs is the shortened name for Female Gryphons.)