Story inspired by the cover art borrowed from Johnjoseco
Chapter 1: The Ambush
The night was bitterly cold. The frost nipped at any bare skin Luna’s soldiers dared expose. All was silent, with the exception of the shaky breathing and slight shuffling of the men and women waiting patiently for their orders. No one dared speak a word, for they knew that even a sniffle would alarm one of the sentries stationed at the ends of the enemy camp. All eyes were pinned on their leader, standing ahead of them all just behind the edge of the hill they remained atop off, scanning over their soon to be battlefield.
The moon shone brightly that night, allowing Luna’s soldiers –who were already used to thriving in low light- more than enough light to see clearly through the night. The porcelain light casted Luna’s silhouette profoundly in front of her soldiers, the sight awe inspiring, a scene that would surely lift her soldiers’ spirits.
Luna had been thinking long and hard about what to do, this had to be executed carefully and efficiently. Should word of this ambush reach the enemy capitol too soon, it would spell disaster for Luna and her republic. But she couldn’t put off the attack for too long. The enemy, the solar empire, was gaining ground every second she remained dormant, and she couldn’t allow them to breach her borders any farther.
Fair warnings had been given not to try Luna’s patience. But after Celestia and her army had trespassed on her land, laid waste to her outer villages and threatened forceful take-over should she not comply, Luna and her people could no longer look the other way. She needed to defend her people from the tyranny that came with Celestia’s reign. She needed to remind her that the world was not hers for the taking, and that her people would not bow to one that they themselves have sworn no allegiance to of their own free will.
No. Celestia had to be stopped, and Luna had to be the one to stop her. She needed to stop Celestia’s spread of tyranny and terrorism she justifies as ‘harmony’; for too long has she crushed those beneath her rule, bending them to her will. For too long has she reaped the bounties her subjects worked so hard to produce, leaving them starving and poor. And for too long has she been expanding her borders, forcing others to kneel before her, stripping them of their rights and silencing all who defied her. Luna had to end it all, and this was the beginning of the end of the Iron fisted rule that was, ‘The Solar Empire’.
Luna raised her arm, gaining the full attention of everyone behind her. Slowly, she gestured for everyone to advance forward. Using the snow as cover, she and her group of ambushers had covered themselves in white covers, allowing them to completely blend in with the snow in the low light. As they crawled along the cold snow, Luna had a group of four soldiers known as Valkyries –a special type of magic user whose main capabilities were manipulating the forces of nature, and flying using crystal clear wings that generate from the back of the user at will- to kill off the sentries patrolling the perimeter of the camp so that the rest of the soldiers could sneak in with the enemy completely oblivious of their presence.
The group of Valkyries flew as stealthily as they could, snuck up behind their targets, and making quick work of the enemy soldiers. Once they had done their jobs, she had her ambush team gather in small groups and sneak in as best they could into the tents of the sleeping enemy soldiers. She had planned on silently executing the entire camp, but a the blood curdling scream a soldier who had been assassinated by one of Luna’s men had set that whole plan ablaze, and within seconds, the camp was frenzied with enemies arming themselves, attempting to fight back the onslaught of Luna’s own forces.
The sound of alarm bells had woken any still sleeping soldiers if the sounds of clashing metal and the cries of the combatants hadn’t already. At first the confusion had forced the enemy to react purely on instinct, but after a few minutes, it seemed that the enemy had come up with a plan of defense. They had used the sturdier of the tents to guard their flanks and had arranged a simple, yet effective, roman phalanx.
Or it was effective, until Luna’s Valkyries took to the skies and shot at them from above, forcing them to spread out and thin their numbers. Luckily, the opposing side hadn’t had many Valkyries to begin with, and the bulk of them had been killed off before the real fight began; so they could only rely on their archers to defend from the onslaught. But unfortunately, they did have a few mages around. Mages were one thing that Luna was short on, and were probably most valuable in combat, seeing as their magical expertise was invaluable when it came to defense, offense, and any other ‘fense’ you can think of. A magical ward could stop the most head strong charge dead in its tracks with a little effort, and attacks could consist on anything under the sun, ranging from fire walls, to tidal waves. And their healing capabilities were nothing to scoff at either.
The mages did however, have a weakness, and that was that they needed multiple mages to perform any spells higher than a simple one man ward or small fire ball attack. That was why sending out her Valkyries to scatter the enemy forces was a
clever thing to do on Luna’s behalf.
But after another short while, the mages of the enemy forces were somehow able to assemble in one of the more guarded tents in the area to charge up a counter attack. Said counter attack consisted of a massive fire wave; follow by a very advanced ward, one that removed to ability to take flight within the vicinity of the ward’s affected area. This tactic was very effective and left Luna without her air support and a badly burnt group of men. But Valkyries were known for their valor
on foot as well as in the air, and her foot soldiers were resilient, and took little damage from the attack, so Luna was
confident that she would win the night with minimal casualties on her side.
By this time, the fighting had been going on for a good hour or so, and both sides had taken casualties. Luna still had the majority of her forces, but the enemy was starting to gain ground, even with their limited numbers and disadvantages. This wasn’t a good sign for Luna, for if Celestia’s warriors fought this well with the odds against them, they would be even more of a threat then they already were in broad daylight and even fighting grounds. But strong as they were, Luna had the home court advantage, added with the increased determination one puts into when defending their homeland.
Luna had been flanked by three foot soldiers now and was being forced into a corner. One of the soldiers took a swing at Luna, who easily deflected the thicker and heavier broadsword with a flick of her wrist using her long and nimble rapier. She then maneuvered her weapon in-between her opponent’s hand that was gripping his sword, and with another flick, sent the weapon out of the man’s hand disarming him. She the promptly stuck the sword through his chest, piercing his heart and turned around quickly to redirect a blow from a battle axe away from her. Spinning on her heels, she pivoted behind the soldier who was swinging his axe around madly and managed to influence his movements enough for him to miss-swing and take out his comrade. In his surprise and shock at taking down one of his own, he left his guard down just long enough for Luna to take advantage of his mental lapse and slice his torso deeply enough to rip open both of his lungs and end him.
Luna gave a quick acknowledgement to the men’s valor by placing her first two right fingers over her heart, making a cross motion with her fingers, and then moved on to help a Valkyrie that had been engaged in combat with another Valkyrie. While the enemy Valkyrie was distracted with her current opponent, Luna levitated a small pebble with her magic, and sent it flying through the combatant’s skull. Her soldier was shocked at first, but looked over her left shoulder to see Luna, and gave her an appreciative nod, Luna returning the gesture. The soldier then moved on to engage a new enemy.
Afterwards, Luna was approached by one of her captains, a well-built footie by the name of Frontline, whose blue uniform was tattered and ripped; his face covered with sweat and grime and bearing a fresh wound above his left eye that smeared the left side of his face in a layer of blood. “You look like hell” Luna said to her captain.
He chuckled and said “nothing but a scratch” grinning slightly.
“Well, what’s the report” Luna asked, deflecting an arrow with her magic.
“Five more dead, but they’re running out of man power as well” the man replied, quickly turning around to engage a new enemy. The news was unsettling, but at least the fight would soon be over.
Shortly he returned to Luna’s side, and then she asked “can you give me an estimate on how many they have left?”
They then had to break apart briefly again as a large, muscular man swung down on them with what appeared to be a big log. Luna glanced at her captain again and made a gesture for him to go round back behind him and distract him somehow. Taking the hint, he quickly maneuvered around the man and sliced his legs from the back, causing him to collapse. Just as Luna was about to deliver the finishing blow, an arrow through the man’s head beat her to it. She looked behind her to see a smirking Valkyrie fly up to her and land softly on the ground beside her, making the same cross gesture over her heart like Luna had earlier.
“After that, there’s about seventeen of them left, your majesty” the flyer reported.
“Well, that answers that question” Luna replied. Frontline caught his way back up with Luna and now the Valkyrie, and added to her report, “three mages, four Valkyries and ten footies”.
A look of concern crossed Luna’s face, “Dammit, three is enough for a strong retaliation spell, or even a large ward” She said between clenched teeth. She looked off into the chaos for a second, and then continued, “Are the mages together?”
The Valkyrie beside her said, “Yes, and by the looks of it, they’re cooking up something special for us”.
Hearing this made Luna’s eyes widen with shock briefly. She knew of the power her sister’s mages were capable of, and no doubt these would be no newbies. Luna had to break them apart and stop the spell from happening.
“Captain, command the remaining men, Skyward, you’re with me; we’re taking out those mages ASAP” Luna commanded, receiving a stern “Aye ma’am!” from both of her soldiers.
Frontline went off to the right and assembled the mass of the remaining soldiers, and lead them off to flank the enemy footies. Luna and Skyward Breeze had made a straight-away dash for where the mages were preparing their counter-attack. On the way there, they had been stopped by a pair of brutes, who slammed their axes in front of them, blocking their path. But Luna would have none of that, and using her magic, created a sort of icy blade. She took aim with the dagger of petrified water and let it fly with her magic guiding it straight through the man’s chest. She looked to her left just in time to watch Skyward Breeze send an arrow through the eye of the other imposing footie. The two of them had managed this while maintaining a fairly quick pace, but were once again running through the surprisingly complicated maze of tents, frantically searching each tent for the mages.
Luna, and most definitely Skyward Breeze, would have much preferred they’d flown to search the camp. And no doubt they would have found them by now had Luna been able to cast a surveillance spell. But the ward remained, refusing either of them flight, and a spell had been cast to keep the location of the mages hidden. Luna would have sent out a tracking spell before the ambush, but that would have given her position away to any mage that had even the vaguest comprehension of the mystical arts. No, they would have to do this the hard way. And fast.
Luckily though, fate seemed to smile upon them for a few moments, but not without a touch of irony, when they discovered that the mages had been in the center of the camp the entire time. Obviously not the first place anyone would have looked first.
But there they were, huddled in a tight circle, chanting in Latin a spell that would surely turn the tides of battle in their favor if Luna was hearing them correctly. All she and Sky had to do was kill at least one of them. But that would soon turn out to be much harder than it had seemed. The mages instantly caught on to the hostile presence of Luna and Skyward breeze, and sent a small wave of fire, followed by a series of stone projectiles in their direction.
Luna and Sky took cover behind a large stone, and when the bombardment was over, both of them snapped up from the cover of the rock and sent their own projectiles towards the enemy mages. Sky an arrow, and Luna, a small, yet potent jet of white flames. Both of which simply bounced off of their opponents’ wards. They both went back under the rocks for further cover.
“Dammit, those wards are just radiating power, and I don’t have the time to counter them. We’ll have to get in close if we want to do any damage” Luna spoke, mainly to herself.
Skyward Breeze nodded in agreement and said “but therein lies the problem, how can we get close to them?” Luna knew that all too well, but had yet to come up with a strategy. That was, until Luna’s eyebrows furrowed and her face contorted into a determined, and focused expression.
“We have but one option if we’re to win the night. There’re three of them and two of us, and they have more magical capabilities than I can conjure up at the moment; so what we lack in numbers and raw power, we will have to make up in valor and prowess”. It took Skyward Breeze a few moments to process what Luna was suggesting, but when it did, a cocky grin split her lips, that was as much communication the two needed to know what to do next.
Luna held up three fingers, and slowly, she started to count each one off. Once her fist was closed, they shared a glance between each other, nodded, and jumped out from under the cover of the stone - that had more likely than not, saved their lives-, and charged towards the enemies’ last hope of winning the night.
When they got closer to their targets, the two of them split off in the opposite direction of the other, running around and in between the distraught mages, their weapons smashing against the enemies’ weakening wards as they danced fluidly through the group of confused magic users. Their plan had seemed to be working, but spells started flying around in all directions. And unfortunately, all of the magic being shot at them made it hard to fight properly, what with the constant defense and lack of proper offense. But Luna managed to actually scrape one of the enemy mage’s arms, earning her a death glare as the wounded woman seethed through her teeth, putting that much more effort into trying to kill Luna. That definitely made the situation harder, but ideal ironically enough, seeing as the woman was now only focused on Luna and completely unaware of – or simply uncaring- her comrades getting in her line of fire; once or twice grazing her fellow warriors.
Skyward Breeze was fairing worse than Luna was. Even though she was a Valkyrie, –and one of the few highly skilled individuals Luna saw fit to place on her spec ops regiment- she was starting to ware down. All of the constant fight and dependence on her legs instead of her wings was starting to seep into her stamina reserves. On top of the wounds received from the main attack, twice had she taken damage from the enemy mages; one second degree burn on her shoulder, and one laceration across her calf. Aside from that though, her strength held true and she pushed onwards, refusing to die at the hands of the soldiers trying to take her land away from her.
The mages were running out of power, and were growing more and more fatigued as the fight drew on. At that point they were no longer on the offense, and simply trying to keep the ever advancing assailants at bay. With each second that passed by, the wards of protection the enemies had placed upon themselves would weaken bit by bit, and the girls would get that much closer. Luna had also started to use her own magic, often countering or blocking any spell the now exhausted magic users threw at her. She could tell that the mages were nearing their breaking point, and she considered pushing them until the broke that threshold. But that would take a bit longer than she cared for, and she could see that Sky was reaching the end of her rope as well. No, she needed to end this now, but her fellow combatants weren’t done yet, and were somehow able to hold their own against Luna, effectively trying her patience.
The fighting had dragged out for a few more minutes, and Luna had started to lose hope that Skyward Breeze would hold her own any longer. Her fears were validated when she glanced over her shoulder to check on her partner just in time to see a jolt of lightning carve straight through her heart, directed by one of the robed men sent by her sister to conquer her land. It was one of the most horrifying things Luna had ever had the displeasure of witnessing in her entire existence. A sight she’s seen far too many times before. She watched with wide eyes, as seemingly in slow motion, the electrical current tore through one of the only people in the world Luna considered family.
Luna’s blood began to boil.
Her eyes briefly examined her beloved friend’s lifeless body, and then shifted to glare at the murderer who claimed Skyward’s life. At first the man was grinning ear to ear, glad he was finally able to bring down one of the opposing adversaries; but this look of bliss passed quickly by as he looked over to see Luna lunge towards him with a look of vengeance in her eyes. The man tried to defend himself from the tip of Luna’s rapier as it came charging towards him by conjuring up a temporary protection ward, but Luna had briefly enchanted the tip of her sword to bypass such a spell.
The sword sliced right through the invisible barrier like butter, and straight into the man’s chest. The man was gasping for air as the rapier left his body, but none would come to his burning lungs. Luna just stared menacingly down at him for a moment, before turning her head away from him and moving on to engage one of the other opponents she had left unattended. And the man she left behind was to lay there and painfully wait for death. Luna would not be granting him the mercy of swift swing to the head. But she did grant him the honor of a cross salute, and slid her fingers along her chest in a cross formation.
The last remaining soldiers prepared for Luna’s onslaught, and were conjuring up a couple of spells they’d hoped would stop her charge. And they might have, had they had more strength to power them. But instead of the fiery gale they had planned on hitting her with, they were forced to rely on smaller, less potent forms of attack, opting to send small fire streams or pressure waves her way. Luna was easily able to deflect these blows, and retaliate with her sword.
Apparently though, the magic users weren’t only capable in the mystical arts, and drew out their own swords; two surprisingly polished, metallic black short swords with golden engravings written in the phoenix language; reading “Πάλεψε για το φως”. The swords had flat, slanted tips and wide edges. They looked as if a full sized broad sword had had the top half sliced off. But even with the limited reach the short swords had to offer, Luna’s opponents were surprisingly adept at wielding them to their fullest potential. There was no way that these mages had been regular run-of-the-mill military magic users. No, these were some of Celestia’s finer, lower ranked shades; a type of elite soldier capable in the field of magic and the ways of the blade.
The skilled shades bearing swords had Luna on her toes, never giving her a moments rest. Luna had wondered why they hadn't brought their swords out earlier on, but realised that it must take quite a bit of energy and concentration for them to use them, because Luna could see it in their faces that fatigue was heavily infiltrating their strength reserves. But alas, they refused to give up just yet.
Luna parried an oncoming strike aimed at her head, and pivoted on her heel to deflect a blow to her back from the opponent behind her. The two mages swung together, attempting to decapitate Luna, but she ducked under the swords and sprung right back up, swinging her rapier at the woman to her left, only to have it blocked and countered. She sent out a small, concentrated shock wave in the direction of the man opposite his partner, and managed to knock him back several feet and onto his back. But he managed to roll out of the way and back to his feet as Luna lunged towards him and stabbed at where he would have been.
Luna seethed. She needed to end this quickly. Where were the others she had taken with her? Were they all dead? Did they retreat? Or did they simply surrender?
Her questions were answered as she heard the sounds of clattering armor and the shouts of men and women racing towards her. Looking over her shoulder, she was able to make out the sight of a large group of soldiers charging its way towards her through the dusty air. She grinned widely when she saw the sight of Frontline leading the remainder of the ambush squad to her aide. She was glad to see quite a few faces, meaning that their losses had been minimal. And she was definitely happy about Frontline making it back fairly unscathed.
They quickly dawned upon her and immediately engaged the enemy mages. Luna was pulled out of the chaos by Frontline –whom she glared at for forgetting himself- as he said “The rest of the enemy footies and Valkyries are history. We came as soon as we could”. Luna looked relieved at the information, but regained her serious composer as she asked “Did we lose any?” to which her captain responded “Only two”. Two was a small number for a casualty list, but that was still two men or women that would never see their families again. Never feel the warmth of the sunlight again and never live to watch the starry nights that blessed the barren black night sky. Luna hated all death, but she knew that some was inevitable if she was to protect her people. Still though, she wished there was another way…
She was broken out of her thoughts by the loud cry of victory from the men and women behind her. It had seemed that they had managed to defeat the last remaining enemy soldiers. Her ambushers were jumping and shouting lividly as the rush of adrenaline from the victory coursed through their veins. But in all the excitement, Luna had but one priority; to see if there was any hope at all left for her friend.
She ran over to where Skyward’s lifeless body lay frozen on the ground with Frontline ensued behind her. She knelt down next her friend, and squeezed the cold, clammy body against her own. It took all of her will power not to break down in tears. She couldn’t cry for her fallen friend if she couldn’t cry for her fallen soldiers.
But something felt strange. She felt slight movement from under her chest. It almost felt like… breathing! Skyward Breeze was breathing! Luna immediately released her friend from the solid grip she had on her, and propped Sky’s head onto her lap. Brushing the hair from her ears, Luna leaned down to Skyward’s chest and placed her ear where her heart should have been. It wasn’t there but… The weak rhythm of her heartbeat could still be heard. Then it hit her; Skyward’s heart wasn’t on the left side of her chest, it was on the right! Skyward Breeze had dextrocardia! Moving her ear across her downed companion’s chest, the sound of the faint heartbeat grew louder. There was still hope that Luna could save Sky.
Frontline looked confused by the princess’s actions, but Luna had addressed him, so he gave her his full attention.
“Captain, over here! I need you to do something for me.” Frontline was still confused, but answered his princess’s call,
“What is it ma’am?”
Luna didn’t spare him a second glance as she told him what was needed of him. “I need you to find me a magic user if we have any left; preferably one with medical experience. Go, and come back as fast as you can!” Frontline nodded, and ran off into the crowd of celebrating soldiers to fetch Luna her much needed mage.
It wasn’t long before Frontline returned with a strapping young mage. He was dressed in the standard issue midnight blue uniform and mage cloak that proudly displayed the symbol of the Lunar Republic- a horizontal crescent moon with wings on the sides and a star in the middle- and a red cross armband signifying that he was a medical magic user. He bore an enchanted emerald dagger by his side and multiple pouches along his belt that must have held his medical equipment. He had blonde hair and piercing green eyes, his face was narrow and refined.
Luna waved him over to her patient who was still shakily breathing and barely clinging on to life. The medical mage did a quick, yet in-depth examination of Skyward’s condition.
“She’s alive, but barely. I need to stop the bleeding immediately and then treat the extensive muscle and tissue damage” the young man reported.
“If there is anything you need to help, I can try to get it for you” Luna offered, hoping to help save her friend’s life.
“If you can bring me a miracle, that’d help”
The medic pulled some sort of red powder out from one of his pouches, and rubbed it on the wound. He explained to Luna that it was a healing salve derived from ground up manticor bones to treat major burns. He then proceeded to focus his magic into his hands, giving them a blue glow as he concentrated on repairing the blood vessel damage to stop the bleeding.
Sweat poured down his forehead as he focused and focused on sealing the wound. Slowly but surely, -and miraculously at that- Skyward Breeze’s wound was starting to close. The muscle was reforming and the broken skin over the maimed flesh was closing together. Skyward’s breathing and heart rate had started to stabilize and it was becoming clearer and clearer that she was going to make it.
By this time, the victory celebrating had come to a quick close as the soldiers spread out to look for other survivors to either heal or euthanize, bringing along with them other medical magic users. Luna was eagerly watching her friend stir as the medic mage was wrapping her chest and other minor wounds she received from battle in tensor bandages. Slowly her eyes started to flutter open. When they did and she was more or less fully awake, Luna gripped her in a death hug, Skyward’s droopy eyes widening as she felt the pressure on her wounds.
Luna gasped and apologized with excitement filling her cracking voice. “Oh, sorry! I’m just so happy you’re alive!” She squealed with glee.
“I was dead?” Sky asked, awkwardly scratching her head in confusion.
“Almost but not quite. Glad to have you back soldier” Luna answered, now back in her formal leader façade.
“Good to be back, your majesty” Skyward replied, doing her best at a salute, earning a grin from Luna.
Just then Frontline and the rest of Luna’s soldiers returned to where she, Skyward Breeze, and the medical magic user who saved Skyward’s life were. A few of the men were carrying stretchers while others helped more wounded soldiers by supporting them with their shoulders. Luna was sad to see the injured men and women, but happier that they had come back at all.
Luna turned to face the crowd, supporting Skyward breeze on her right, and frontline standing beside her on her left. She raised her hand to cease any chattering that may have been going on so that she may make her announcement. And using her royal speaking voice, she proclaimed “The night is ours my comrades! Let us return home to celebrate our lives, and mourn the deaths of those who so bravely made the ultimate sacrifice for their country!” There was a roar of excitement that rippled off of the cluster of soldiers, and a chanting could be made out of the jumbled mess of voices. It rang out “Vivet Nocte!”
The mess hall, located in the center of the expansive barracks, was filled with the lively chatter of men and women conversing and enjoying their midday meal. Many of the soldiers from the ambush were boasting of valiant feats of courage and prowess as veterans often do. It was as much out of arrogance as it was a way to cope with the trauma. Making a game of things always seems to lighten the burden on ones soul.
The over-all feel to the massive room was warm and welcoming, yet not without a touch of militaristic uniformity that came with the sight of a sea of blue uniforms filling nearly every table. It was just another lunch hour of another routine day for the forces as a whole. Aside from the ambush, not much happens with the forces.
Well... by not much I mean the usual fighting of wild mystical creatures that emerge from the Everfree, and White-tail woods that surround the eastern borders of the Lunar Republic. The odd warding off of Solar Empire forces from outer villages and standard patrolling of the farms and factories of the land. So maybe the phrase "not much happens" is a tad inappropriate description...
But I digress, the day is average and the mood is soft.
During their midday meal, the soldiers and officers were interrupted from their eating as the massive oaken doors that lead into the hall open fully and reveal their Princess accompanied by her close friend Skyward Breeze and her captain, Frontline.
As they walked down the aisle, every eye was on their group. There were a few nods of acknowledgement and even a few salutes with gazes of pure admiration. Luna was held in high respect by her people, and that was partly why she was so efficient at defending her country.
The Princess of the night was an intimidating figure to behold as she walked down the mess hall of the barracks.
Her presence was commanding, and her gaze sent chills down one's spine. There was a certain elegant air surrounding her as she strode down the line, confidently and gracefully. Her very presence in the room sent a sense of pride throughout. One could make the assumption that she was addressing nobles from foreign countries or even warlords from rivaling nations. But in actuality, she was just getting lunch.
Luna often ate with her soldiers, as she felt an obligation to at the very least, share a friendly meal with the men and women placing their lives on the line for her her and their country every day.
Luna walked with her friends to a table near the center of the room, where they sat in a place unofficially reserved for them. It had just sort of became their spot at the table after a while. It was in the exact center of the room, and many lowly footies sat there. Luna enjoyed the humble atmosphere lower to the bottom soldiers gave off.
Luna, Skyward and Frontline had all been enjoying their food, chatting with one another and the odd soldier that joined in the conversation, when they were approached by one of her generals. And elderly Valkyrie man with a long flowing grey beard, and a uniform akin to Luna's cluttered with multiple war badges.
"Your majesty, we have grave news that we think you should hear" the man bent down and whispered into Luna's ear.
Luna's eyes widened with shock momentarily, but she quickly composed herself into her concentrated and calculating demeanor. She looked over to her captain and to Skyward, standing up and gesturing for them to follow.
"They come too" Luna stated.
The man simply nodded, for he knew there was no arguing with the princess about things like these. And since the two in question were closely trusted by Luna herself, they had gained the trust of the war counsel as well.
Luna walked with the general and her two companions following in toe, to the counsel room located quite a ways away from the mess hall. The trek lead them down two large hallways off to the west of the building, and down another corridor to where the counsel room was located.
The counsel room was a very large room with a tall roof. There was a large wooden table that's been kept immaculately over the years, with a total of twenty one seats encompassing it. Surrounding the room was large balconies that allowed for hundreds of more diplomats, nobles and politicians to be included on the political discussions that take place in the room.
The rooms itself only held six more of Luna's generals, the rest of her war officials. They were seated around the table and they all held stern looks on their faces. Sterner than usual, which was unsettling for Luna.
"Princess, have a seat. We have some troubling information involving the Solar Empire" one of the men spoke. It was a large, husky footie who had seen his fair share of battle field horror. He wore a clean-shaven face, and sported small circular spectacles. He had thick grey hair matched by thick grey eyebrows that gave his rocky face a solid look to it.
"So I've been told" Luna replied, furrowing her eyebrows. "What would this news be?" She knew that it had to be important -unlike some of their previous concerns that were trivial at best- because they had actually sent one of their own to retrieve her.
Skyward and Frontline were just standing behind Luna stiffly. Skyward and Frontline had been a part of what goes on during a war counsel meetings over their years of service. They were always tense and never enjoyable.
One of the generals, a middle aged woman mage, started; "There have been..." she seemed to be looking for the right words to say, "fires, in the outer villages" she continued.
"So? Fires occur all the time by the white-tail" Luna said skeptically. "And even if these fires were set by raiders, that's not unusual" She finished.
The general who sat at the head of the table -opposite to where Luna would sit- was the next to talk. "These fires, were no normal fires" He started; Luna furrowing her eyebrows deeper, "these fires, my Princess, we lit by the legendary Phoenix clan of the solar empire", the man finished.
A stern look crossed Luna's already coarse expression. The Phoenix clan is a clan of omnipotent fire mages hailing from the very center of the Solar Empire, Canterlot mountain itself.
This was a big problem that Luna hadn't thought through. The Phoenix clan was very loyal to Celestia, and therefore were loyal to her campaign of conquest. Luna hadn't expected to see from the Phoenix clan until full-out war had been declared between the two nations. They were like an unofficial special task force that Celestia only ever called upon in the most desperate of times. For Celestia to have brought them in now, either meant she feared Luna's forces and sought to intimidate her into submission, or she thought she could make quick work of her and underestimated her legion.
Either way, it was an undesirable situation. Phoenix warriors were some of the toughest and most efficient fighters found in Equestria and beyond.
"So what will we do, Princess?" The man who brought them to the counsel room asked.
Luna held her far-off gaze while answering "I need the drakes..."
And with that, she turned on her heel and made her way to the exit with Skyward and Frontline following behind, leaving behind her a baffled war counsel.
Once the sounds of the counsel room had been left behind, Skyward put a hand on Luna's shoulder, turned her around and asked "are you really going to ask the drakes?"
Luna met Skyward's gaze, and said "I have no other choice. It would take an entire squad to bring one down, and I myself cannot fight them alone. No, we've needed the drakes from the start. It was only now that I realized this"
Skyward nodded in understanding. It was true. However valiant their men fought, they wouldn't be enough to counter the Phoenix clan warriors.
"So when do you leave?" Skyward spoke up after a moments silence.
"Within the hour" Luna replied.
Skyward's eyes briefly widened. She was going to say something, but Frontline beat her.
"I'll assemble my best men" he said.
"No, I go alone". Frontline's features creased into a frown, but he knew he couldn't convince her otherwise. His Princess was rather stubborn about these matters. And so he simply nodded.
"What?! That's crazy talk, I'm going with you" Skyward protested. But Luna quickly snuffed the flame before it could grow.
"Skyward. It has been over one hundred years since I last visited the Drakes. They are a very territorial race, and don't like anyone trespassing on their land. You are still injured from your last fight" Luna said gesturing to Sky's arm in a sling. "But, they are very talented in the art of warfare. And a fear that we have no hope of victory with out their aide" she finished.
Skyward Breeze looked at her friend with concern, and a hint of annoyance. But she nodded her agreement, and excused herself to her quarters to recuperate from her near death experience.
Luna sighed to herself, and turned to address Frontline, who had been standing still throughout the exchange. "You are to return the soldiers. You are to tell them that I have gone to my meditation room to contemplate the war effort" She spoke to him in monotone, making sure he understands that word of her leaving is not to reach anyone but those that have already heard.
Frontline's eyebrows furrowed, and he said "Aye ma'am". He then saluted his princess and turned on his heel, walking back to mess hall to convey the news.
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Luna was in her chambers, high in the castle's third tower to the left. It had an entirely glass dome roof that was perfect for late night star gazing. In the middle of the room was an elegant circular bed, framed in midnight blue curtains. The bed itself was covered in violet silken sheets with golden patterns sown into the fabric. The walls were adorned with golden tapestries and stained glass windows depicting some of the most important events in Luna's history. They ranged frome pic battles, to coronations and political treaties. The room radiated royalty.
Luna was currently packing necessities for her journey to the Draco mountains located in the farthest northern reaches of her republic. The Draco mountains were surrounded by harsh, thick forest and the mountains themselves were an untamed force of nature that crushed any and all unable to bare its extreme conditions.
She could only fly so far before the deadly and uncontrollable gales would stop her from ever attempting to navigate the constant windstorm that surrounded the mountains, and so she packed her ice-axes along with some food, a change in socks and her special thermal jacket that could withstand even the harshest of winter blizzards. She would need to climb to Drake compound located in one of the many caves dotting the mountains. Luna was one of the few outsiders who knew exactly which of the hundreds of caves lead to hidden village.
Once Luna had completely packed everything she'd need into a secured blue backpack, she sprouted her wings and took to the skies using the secret exit from her room located behind a bookcase.
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She needed to be careful when leaving her castle due to the constant patrol her Valkyrie soldiers performed twenty-four-seven. She was glad that she needed to execute such precaution because it meant that her Valkyries were doing a good job, but that didn't stop from annoying her at having to use stealth the leave her own castle.
Once she had left the castle and her patrol none-the-wiser, she was off to the Draco mountains. It would be a tough fly, for she had over seven hundred kilometers of ground to cover before she made it to the god forsaken wilderness that surrounded her destination. The flight would only take about eight hours at the rate she flew, but that didn't make it any less taxing on her body to have to keep up the speed for that long, flying against the wind. She would need to make a few stops to rest her self, for she knew that she could not traverse the woods and climb the mountains if she exhausted herself flying there.
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By this time, Luna had traversed the distance to the mountains. Twice she had stopped to rest, and on both occasions she had been attacked by wild beasts or bandits who didn't recognize who she was in the dim light of the midnight moon. These had proven to be meager disturbances. For the beasts, she used her divine power to calm their rage, and for the bandits, she needed only address them as the princess of the night and they were on they're knees begging for mercy. That weighed heavy on Luna's heart. She hated being feared. But for some occasions, it was necessary.
Luna now stood at the edge of the forest that covered the rest of the distance between her and the mountains. She would need to walk the rest of the way, for the forest had a magical enchantment placed by the drakes that refused a Valkyrie the use of their wings. It would be a nice change in scenery, if only it wasn't filled to burst with some of the worlds vilest creatures.
Luna hoped she wouldn't have to resort to violence. These beasts did only act out of nature after all. But she had no time to spare on trivialities. She needed to gain the assistance of the Drakes, and the sooner she had it, the better. The solar Empire was making headway with each passing day thanks to the newly added Phoenix warriors. If Luna didn't act quickly, she ran the risk of losing her entire republic in mere days.
With this in mind, she strode into the forest... and was instantly thrown right back out by an angry Minotaur. The beast had charged at her after picking her scent up just a few meters away.
Luna was now pinned by the raging monster, and was fighting to get out from underneath it. The Minotaur's teeth lashed out at her, but Luna was able to hold him relatively at bay. They were locked in a stalemate, and Luna was losing ground. In a desperate attempt to free herself, Luna managed to land a solid hit across the beat's face and shove him off, rolling out and on to her feet.
If the animal was angry then, it was furious now. It's nostrils flared, and Luna could almost swear she saw steam rising from it.
The Minotaur got on all-fours and scratched at the ground, signaling it's impending charge. Luna quickly drew her rapier from its sheath, and held it at a position ready to strike when her opponent before her would charge.
The two combatants locked eyes with each other, each daring the other to make the first move. They stood like that for half a minute, and then with a flare of his head, the Minotaur raced towards Luna intending to impale her with his horns. Luna pivoted on her heal, avoiding the attack, and with a swing of her arm, managed to slice the shoulder of the beast, drawing out a blood curdling whale of pain that made Luna cringe.
The beast was once again on the offensive after a momentary pause to acknowledge its wounds, and this time it took to it's feet, using it's claws to try and maim Luna.
This proved to be more of a challenge for the princess of the night, and she often found herself blocking more than attacking. She was desperately trying to avoid killing her attacker, for the animal was only acting out of nature. It had sensed a meal, and sought out to attain it.
She knew now that this was a fight to the death. Minotaurs were known to keep fighting until the very end. With this in mind, she frowned, parried the next attack, and countered with a stab straight through the Minotaur's heart.
She removed the blade with sorrowful eyes. She locked gazes once more with her kill, and with that, it was over.
Luna made the cross over her heart that she made for all of her kills, said a silent goodbye and apology, and placed a single tiger lily that she'd found at the edge of the forest on the Minotaur's chest.
With this first obstacle overcome, Luna made her way into the thick woods that spaced the remaining distance between her and the Drake mountains.
The second she entered the forest, an illusion mimicking night blanketed the visible sky, and nearly all light was drained from the forest. To anyone else, they would've believed that it actually had become night, the mirage was so vivid. But to the one who raises the moon and stars, it was an easy facade to see through.
The forest was full of enchantments and spells used to draw in unsuspecting creatures to fall prey to the beasts that reside within. The forest itself, was a single living entity. All of the trees sprung from the roots of a massive mother tree in the center of the expansive wood. The forest was known by the drakes as 'blüd vaaract' and others as 'The Blood Forest' because of its carnivorous nature. The trees in the forest soaked up the blood spilled on its soil, and used it to strengthen themselves. Wood from these trees was worth top-gold, for the wood was more resilient than any other found due to the iron from the blood it consumed.
The low visibility however, worked against the forest, as Luna actually saw better in the dark than she did in the light. She was able to maneuver through the complicated array of greenery and underbrush that littered the forest floor. She sneaked along, blazing her own trail for she knew that game trail would be teeming with wild beasts and other atrocities. She still needed to be careful though, for even taking the path not traveled by in the blood forest could lead you to cross paths with one of the less friendly creatures of the woods.
When Luna realized that in actuality, it had become night, she decided that she'd need to find a place to rest for the night. She was getting tired after an eight hour flight and a battle with a Minotaur. She had obviously seen worse days and wasn't all that worse for ware. But she knew that she'd need every ounce of strength if she was to tackle the steep, icy slopes of the Drake mountains, and have to deal with whatever stumbling upon their sanctuary would cause.
And so, Luna opted to sleep in a tall tree that she'd found on a brief search for shelter. It was high off the forest floor, and wasn't filled with beasts which was nice. It also seemed to bare a light pink colored fruit that Luna recognized as sugar-melon. A sweet, and delectable fruit found only in the farthest northern reaches of Equestria.
Luna nimbly climbed up the tree and positioned herself comfortably in the crook of a good sized branch. She picked at a few of the trees fruits and managed to eat about nine of them. One gets hungry after eight hours of flight you know.
The princess of the night was just about to fall asleep until she a numbness run through her body. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized just what was happening. The fruit that she had been eating wasn't at all sugar-melon. No, it was a deadly poisonous berry that look almost exactly like the sugar-melon fruit. This was mortmush, an extremely dangerous toxic berry that paralyzed the body and numbed the mind If Luna had been anyone else, the amount of toxins she consumed would've killed her. The fruit made prey absolutely helpless against predators, so it was no wonder that they would be in the forest of blood.
No, it wasn't some coincidence that this fruit was here though. This was a sugar-melon tree, of that Luna had no doubt. No these were planted by something... or someone. Just as Luna was coming to a conclusion, she blacked out from a strike on the head from some blunt object.
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Luna awoke to the smell of something... burning? That made no sense, this forest was to far up-north for forest fires. And everything that lived her hadn't the intelligence to create it. Luna opened her eyes to see the same illusionary night sky, signaling that she was still within the forest's boundaries.
Upon further investigation, she realized that she was in a camp, lying on a fur pelt bed next a campfire with some sort of meat roasting on it. She looked to her left, and noticed a man sitting Indian-style stoking the fire and mindlessly examining the dancing flames.
The man looked over to Luna and said with a soft smile, "Oh you're awake! That's good, I thought ya'd be a goner, what with all that mortmush ya ate" he laughed a bit. "How 'bout ya eat some real food? Grab a leg off the fire" he finished, pointing to a leg that had at one point belonged to who knows what.
Luna frowned at the offer. She didn't eat meat and had no intentions of starting now. So she simply shook her head and looked at the ground for a few moments. But then her features hardened as she realized what the man had done, and raised her voice slightly, yelling "You! You were the one who struck me over the head!" she stood up to her full height, pointing an accusing finger at the man she noticed to be rather elderly. "Explain yourself at once!" She commanded.
"Ah yes, I really am quite sorry 'bout that. I mistook ya' fer a critter! My eyes 're failing me these days, and with th' never ending night, I just can't quite tell what I'm beating over th' head anymore" the old man chuckled to himself. " It's actually a good thing I got when I did, a hydra was gearin' up to eatcha! What, may I ask 're you doin' in these here woods, hmmm?" He asked.
Luna narrowed her eyes at the man, and sat back down. She regarded his gaze, and explained how she had needed to cross this forest in order to reach the drakes to plead for their assistance in her battle to maintain control of her republic, or at the very least keep it out of the hands of her tyrannical sister.
The man shook his head and said, "tsk tsk tsk. Looks like you're in quite th' jam stranger. I don't know much 'bout politics and non-a-that. But I do know of a path that leads straight out a th' forest that none th' critters 'ere ever use. It's actually right alond that there trail" he said, pointing over to a narrow grass trail at the foot of the camp.
Luna quirked an eyebrow and looked over to the thin dirt trail that snaked its way around trees and bushes. "What makes you so sure that such an obvious trail wouldn't be used by game and other creatures...?"
The old man cracked a smile -Luna noticed he'd lost quite a few teeth- and said with a wink, "'Cuz I made it m'self".
Luna nodded and returned the man's grin, realizing that he must have meant that he'd charmed the trail to ward off anyone but himself.
"I must thank you for this service, mr...", "Light Foot" the old man answered. "Mr. Light Foot. You have done me a great service sheltering me from the creatures of this forest and showing me a way to navigate. You have my gratitude" She finished and stood up to take her leave.
"As she started walking away, she stopped before the foot of the trail, and turned back to the man saying, "Oh, and my name is Luna. Princess Luna". The old man grinned even wider and made a small, goofy bow, Luna giggling at the gesture.
"Safe travels milady" the old man said, throwing something straight at Luna. She caught it, inspecting it with a curious glint in her eyes. The man had thrown he a sugar-melon fruit. A real sugar-melon fruit. She grinned deeply and took a bit of the sweet flesh, relishing in the satisfactory effects it had on her growling stomach. She shot one final goodbye smile at
the man, waved and made her way down the dirt path.
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The old man had been right. Not once had Luna encountered a single critter on her way. It was actually quite a pleasant walk when you weren't at the bottom of the food chain. The blood woods were actually quite beautiful. The trees were tall and thick, with beautiful crimson blossoms sprouting from the branches. They glimmered ever so slightly in the illustrious moonlight (be it fake or not). It truly was a sight to behold.
Luna had only had to stop once when the rumbling of her stomach reappeared and she had to stop to pick fruit from a sugar-melon tree. This time though, she made VERY sure that they were indeed sugar-melon, which thankfully the were. She would've taken food from her pack, if she hadn't had to ditch it because of the scent the food gave off. So instead, she was left with only her ice axes, her thermal jacket and regular attire.
Luna had finally made it out of the blood woods. She felt quite relieved to feel the sunlight she had been deprived of, which was a strange sensation since she often felt nothing for the bright orb floating in the sky. She shrugged it off, and mentally prepared herself for the true challenge she was about to face.
'OK Luna, you got this. It's only one tincy wincy little mountain... that's over four thousand meters tall... Well better start now or I'll never reach the drakes.'
With the conclusion of that thought, Luna quickly pulled her thermal Jacket over-top of her regular blue uniform. She withdrew her ice axes from their places at her sides, and readied them in her hands. She stepped over to the mountain, and
instantly felt the chill of the frigid windstorm that surrounded the mountain.
She shivered slightly and thrust her ice ax into the side of the mountain. She pulled herself up, and stuck her foot into a secure location. She threw the other ax into the glacial mountain and repeated the process.
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Luna had finally reached the cave platform that lead into the drake's hidden village. She had climbed to this peak for several hours with no stops, for she knew that if the even relaxed for a second, the harsh gales would rip her from the face of the mountain to the hard rocks that resided bellow.
She was finally able to rest for a moment, and so when she climbed onto the platform, she collapsed and lied down on the hard rock floor. She allowed herself a few minutes to regain her breath.
Once her heart had stopped racing and her breath had caught up to her again, she slowly got to her feet to make her way into the cave of the drakes. She stumbled a few steps forward. She started to walk in a regular pace again when two green and brown blurs raced out of the cave and pinned her to the ground, one of the scaled beings' claws were dug into her left shoulder, and the other held it's razor sharp talons at her throat. She could tell just by the look of them, these were drakes.
She recognized them for their scaled, natural body armor, their pointed ears, their horns and their slotted green and red eyes. By the looks of them, they were intermediate level warriors, whom Luna knew must have been called to action once she had tripped their alarm.
"State your name and reasons for trespassing!" The green one demanded.
"And no funny business! We're under no obligation to spare your life!" The brown one reinforced his meanings by twisting the claws that were sunken into her shoulders.
Luna winced, but did not cry out in pain. Drakes despised weakness, and if Luna showed any at all, they would see her unfit to exist.
"My name is Princess Luna. Raiser of the moon and stars. I request an audience with your chief and with tooth and nail" she said in monotone militarism. Or as best she could with claws in her arm.
The two drakes looked at each other and nodded. They then dragged Luna up to her feet, and forced her to walk to the entrance of the cave.Luna clutched her left shoulder, and walked with as much sterdiness she could muster into the cave.
"Well that went better than expected" Luna thought sarcastically.
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A/N: Hi, I'm gunna try and not put to many of these things in here, but I would really appreciate some feedback, because I don't know if I'm rushing my fight scenes, or if it's just me. So if you could leave a review (good or bad idc) I'd be really appreciative.
Thanks for reading!
~Avery
