Luna's Secret World Redux

Luna’s Secret World

Chapter 6

Roots, Wolves, and Ponies

By: Azurekaryu

Edited by: Tripy988 and Flameswordedlink

Unknown

“Luna, wake up!” A sharp high pitched voice called out, awaking her from her peaceful slumber.

“Ughhh five more minutes,” Luna took the pillow she was sleeping on and shoved it over her head, blocking out all disturbances.

“No, Mom is taking us to the theater today, remember? We have to go soon, get up!”

Luna groaned once more and pulled the blanket covering her further over her head in a final attempt to peacefully get back to sleep. Luna was the exact opposite of what many would call a ‘morning pony’. The night was her sanctuary.

A pink glow enveloped the blanket that hid her from the troubles of the outside world, and it was suddenly ripped off of her, exposing the young pegasus to the open air of her household.

The filly gasped and covered her eyes with a hoof, trying to protect herself from the harsh light of the morning sun.

“Tia! You wretched creature, how dare you do this to me!” Luna cursed at her sister, jumping at the blanket the unicorn held in her magical grasp.

Celestia carefully maneuvered the blanket so as to keep it out of her sisters reach, but trying not to knock anything fragile off of the bookcases covering the large, grey painted room.

Luna jumped to the edge of her bedside, hitting the wooden guard at the foot of her bed. When she missed, she redirected to her left and jumped once more after the blanket.

Unfortunately, that was off the bed and onto the floor.

“OOF” Luna gasped as she knocked the wind out of herself, turning to land on her back. She coughed, recovering quickly at the sound of laughter from her sister.

“Fine! I’m up!” The pegasus rolled over onto her hooves, sprung up, and proceeded to lose all of her adrenaline fueled energy, eyes closing to a half lidded posture.

“Good,” Celestia said with a smile on her face, “I’m sorry for that, but I wouldn’t have had to if you just got up!”

“Whatever,” Luna replied, still annoyed at the filly above her. Her sister’s flowing pink hair covered one of her slightly darker eyes, and she sported a small smile on her face. “It’s too early to be awake,” She grumbled once more, looking away and picking herself up from the floor.

“Luna, It’s almost noon for faust’s sake, get your lazy butt dressed, we have to leave soon!”

“Celestia, watch your language!” A feminine voice called from the first floor of their residence.

“Sorry mother!”

Luna snickered at her sister`s misfortune. It was rare that their mother could hear them from the opposite side of the house.

“Hey! At least I can wake up at a decent time,” Celestia stuck her tongue out, taunting her little sister.

It wasn’t so much the not-very-good insult that set her off, but rather when she stuck her tongue out. Luna hated that. She made a very unpleasant face and chased after her sister, who quickly bolted out the door.

Luna ran outside of her mid-sized, book filled room and chased her down the oakwood hall, passing door after door until they reached the thirteen step staircase leading to the main living room.

She was right on her sister’s tail before Celestia tripped halfway down the staircase, eliciting a gasp from Luna as she quickly stopped herself, using her half grown wings to help grind her momentum to a halt.

Celestia hit the stairs with her face first, flipping on her side and turning uncontrollably in the air, hitting the stairs a few times, a bang accompanying each collision with the hardwood, before finally landing on the soft carpet.

Their parents came rushing in through the maple door, contrasting from the plain white walls of the room, “Celestia! Are you alright?” The tall, white coated unicorn mare kneeled over her, rubbing her back with a hoof.

Celestia lifter her head and her mother gasped raising a hoof to her daughter's cheek. Her eyes holding back tears and her face sporting a couple actively bleeding cuts, nothing serious, but obviously painful.

“Luna, are you fine? Anything happen to you?” A masculine voice appeared from behind her mother.

Luna’s eyes averted from Celestia to her father, sporting a dark blue mane and a darker coat, accented by lightly colored eyes and wings on his sides, “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!” Luna automatically responded.

“It’s fine sweetheart, you had nothing to do with this I presume?”

“No *Sniffle* she didn’t,” Celestia responded, wiping her eyes. She sniffled once more, “I taunted her and she chased me.”

“Dear, you shouldn’t do that to your sister. Hold tight, I’ll fix you right up!” Their mother lit her horn, a golden glow overtaking it. The glow spread to her sister’s face and surrounded the cuts for a few seconds before rushing into the wound, sealing it quickly.

“Thank you,” Celestia said in response to the very difficult healing magic.

“Phew, that’s getting a lot harder as I get older! I can’t believe you managed to do that at such a young age Celly, very impressive.”

Celestia blushed at the compliment before her mother continued, “Well, you better get ready if you want to get to that play on time! Luna dear, I know you don’t like these most of the time, so your father and I have decided you are old enough to stay home by yourself for a little while, if you don’t want to go.”

Luna perked up hearing these words, “Really? I’d love to stay home! I promise I won’t do anything stupid while you’re gone,” by now Luna had reached the bottom of the staircase, stopping next to her father who dwarfed her in size.

Her father patted her head, “We trust you Luna, at thirteen years old you should be able take care of yourself.”

Luna looked up to the smiling pegasus, “Thank you soooo much!”

“Of course,” Her father responded, “Well, Celestia you only have ten minutes before we have to leave, or we are going to be late!”

“Oh shoot!” Celestia hurried up the stairs to her room, getting ready, and Luna followed her at a walking pace.

She got to the top of the stairs, uninterrupted by her parents and walked to Celestia’s room, stepping into the open doorway. Ew. Too much pink. Luna never liked her sister’s room. It was far too girly for her, the excessive amount of pink being the main factor. Pink walls, pink bed, pink books. Too much pink.

“Hey, Tia,” Luna managed to get the attention of the young filly who was throwing clothes about her room, trying to find a special dress.

“Yes sister?” Celestia turned, giving her full attention to her sister.

“I’m sorry for chasing you, I didn’t mean for you to get hurt.”

Celestia smiled at Luna and walked towards her, putting a hoof on her shoulder, “It’s alright, I know you didn’t. It’s my fault anyway, so don’t be putting the blame on yourself!”

“Are you sure?” Luna responded, unsure of her sister’s kindness.

“Absolutely, now I gotta get ready for that play!” Celestia pulled Luna into a quick hug before releasing her and running back to her closet, “Now where is that dress?”

Luna smiled and left, returning to her room. She grabbed a book off of her bookshelf titled Creatures of the Twilight Forest and jumped on her bed, opening it to the first page. She still hadn’t gotten around to reading it, and now was as good a time as ever to start.

After only a few minutes, Luna heard her parents yell their goodbyes and she replied with the same. She was stuck with her nose in the book, learning tons about some creatures she hadn’t heard of before, like Timberwolves and this rare astral animal known as an Ursa Major.

Luna continued to read for another half hour before she heard a frantic knock on her front door. Already? Those plays are always longer than this.

The pegasus put down her book, leaving it open so she could return to it. As she walked down the stairs, the knocking returned, louder and faster this time, “Hold on I’m comin’, sheesh.”

Luna got to the door and unlocked the bolt with her hoof, which was thrown open almost immediately after. Celestia ran inside and slammed the door shut with her magic and immediately locked the bolt.

“Wha-” Luna paused at the sound of sobs from her sister. She turned to look at the filly that sprinted past her, “Tia, what's wr-” Luna paused and gasped as she saw her sister's face.

The pristine white coat was stained in many places with blood that dripped from cut wounds similar to the ones she received falling down the stairs, but now a couple visible black and blue bruises accompanied them. Tears consumed her eyes, reddening them and causing tears to crawl down her cheeks.

“Celestia are you alright!? What happened? Where are Mom and Dad?”

Celestia jumped at her sister, hugging her quickly before releasing her, “The- they,” Celestia paused, her sobs cutting off her sentence, “The guard-guards came an-and took them. They told me to run to get you and take us both f-far away!” Her sobs were almost impossible to control, but she did it.

Luna didn’t quite believe her words, but her face told her the story she knew could only be true, “Are they okay?” Luna asked, worried about her parents.

“T-they had to fight them off, for me to get away. They said s-sorry to me before I ran, that w-w-we were special,” Celestia’s tears overtook her now, “They couldn’t get away from t-the gua-guards.”

A sudden knock on the door interrupted her, “No no no!” We have to go Luna! I’ll teleport us!”

Luna was still utterly confused, but now she was terrified. Where are Mom and Dad!? What do the guards want with us? How are we special? Luna saw her sister run out of the living room out to a hallway where the carpet turned to wood, and Celestia summoned a knife out of thin air and started carving runes and repeating a chant she couldn’t understand.

Luna ran over to her sister to join her, “Wait! I’ll be right back!”

“Luna!” her sister yelled at her, the arcane circle she was writing almost finished. The circle was just big enough to fit the two of them, and had symbols and letters written on the outside of the circle.

Luna ran to the end of the hallway, passing two doors before reaching her destination, a large oakwood door on her right. She ran inside to her parents room, which sported a king size bed and many closets and bookshelves. The pegasus was not concerned with anything except what was hidden under the bed.

She quickly dropped to the ground, pulling out a wooden chest that she quickly unlocked and opened. Inside the chest were a pair of saddlebags that held her father’s old weapons from when he fought in the first gryphon war.

She grabbed the heavy saddlebags with her teeth and threw them onto her back, her legs locking up at the sudden addition of weight. She ran out of her parents room and quickly returned to her sister, who was standing at the center of the runic circle which was glowing a bright yellow, mirroring her sister’s horn glow.

“I’m ready!”

Celestia did not respond verbally and instead channeled more magic into her horn and the arcane circle. The knocks on the door became extremely loud and unnerving, “Hurry Tia, they might get in!” Luna still didn’t know who exactly ‘they’ were, but it was clear they weren’t ponies she wanted to be around.

The door suddenly shot off it’s hinges, flying into the living room, and grey ponies with dark purple body armor came rushing in, towards the two fillies. They wielded spears and swords, some pegasi and some unicorns, “Halt! Stop your teleport!” The guard at the front yelled, still charging towards them. The guard jumped and thrust the spear on his shoulder towards the pair, but by the time it reached their position, Luna’s world had turned a bright white, and suddenly the pair was gone.

***

August 27, 1008 PN

Twilight’s eyes opened peacefully, a welcome change compared to the days before.

A sharp chill quickly made it’s presence known, a quick chilling wind adding to the cold air. The lavender mare saw nothing around her except the violet glow portraying itself on the clouds above. The beautiful light portrayed from the rising sun was the first clue of many that she wasn’t where she expected to be.

And then she looked down, and she saw what she was expecting, the ground, but it was a lot farther away from her than she recognized as normal.

“AHHH!” Twilight screamed, instinctively springing up only to find there was nothing to spring off of. Immediately a light blue aura surrounded her.

“Twilight, stay calm!” A voice slightly ahead of her shouted. Quickly, Twilight realized she was flying, not falling, and her heart rate started its quick recovery

“Oh my gosh, Luna! That was a horrifying way to wake up! Why are we up here!?” Shouting was the only way to get the message across in flight this fast.

“I was trying to keep us moving while you were unconscious, but I am glad to see you awake. My wings are getting tired,” Twilight maneuvered her head to look up at the Alicorn who also turned her head back, trying not to yell.

Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the other mares right eye, the only one of the two she could see.

The normally cerulean eye was discolored to a much, much darker blue, on the verge of a dark purple. Twilight also bore witness to an ominous, dark blue magic-like substance that exuded from her eye. Her pupils looked draconian, similar in shape to those of Nightmare Moon but below her eye, a red slash presented itself to the world. The cut was fairly deep, but no longer bleeding.

Luna quickly turned her head wishing to avoid further scrutiny from the mare on her back, the last thing she wanted was the unicorn to worry.

“Lu-”

The armored mare cut off her cloaked counterpart before another word could be spoken, “The caves are unsafe. We are going to have to continue walking. We should be able to find civilization soon, we should have no more worries of hostile parties, I will be much more aware of our surroundings.”

I guess that explains the cut on her face, but what about her eye? Is she going to be alright? Through her worry Luna's voice was serious and laced with bits of malice. She seemed frustrated at the situation, more so now that she had turned her head.

Before Twilight got another chance to ask, the dark blue mare spoke “I’ll explain my.. situation to you in a little bit, Twilight. I am alright, I promise you that.”

Relieved to that, the unicorn used her magic to tightly secure the cloak to her body and wrapped her hooves around Luna’s neck tightly. Twilight made note of the jolt of pain that shot through her when she used the small scale levitation spell, “Alright Luna. Are we going land soon?”

“Yes, as soon as I can find a clearing. We are at the most northern part of the forest now, which is also the thickest, as I’m sure you can see yourself.”

Luna wasn’t kidding, when Twilight looked down she wasn’t able to see much of the ground below her, instead the white pine trees were visible below her, albeit barely. They had to be a few hundred feet up, the fall would be absolutely fatal. This gave Twilight more motivation to clutch tighter to Luna.

Twilight spotted a small, tiny patch of clear ground, “Luna! To our left, three hundred feet!”

Luna turned her head, allowing Twilight to get another peak, this time at the left side of her face.

Hmm. This eye is normal, cut on her muzzle, no bruises. Twilight’s analytical side kicked into gear.

What could be causing the sudden change in iris color and pupil formation. It looks like the Nightmare’s, but that surely can’t be. Her cuts are obviously from a fight with something, but what? What happened after I passed out? Why did I pass out in the first place? And why the hell am I seeing Luna’s memories in my dreams? That was the first time Twilight acknowledged her strange dream.

She didn’t have more time to look back on it, “Hold on tight!” Luna shouted and angled into a steep dive, aiming straight for the small clearing.

Twilight shrieked and shut her eyes.

Imgoingtodieimgoingtodieimgoingtodieimgoingtodieimgoingtodieimgoingtodie

“Twilight?” Luna pulled at the fore legs wrapped around her neck with a hoof, “You’re just about choking me.”

Twilight’s eyes shot open and she looked around her and saw the ground only a foot or so from her hooves. She was holding Luna rather tightly and quickly let go and jumped off of her back, blushing at the same time. “Hehehe... sorry about that, that was terrifying,” Twilight scratched the back of her head with a hoof.

“It is quite alright dear. We best be moving. You were out for a long time, does your neck feel alright?”

Twilight tilted her head left and right, twisting both ways to test. She remembered now, that was the reason she was out in the first place. A fiery pain had shot through her neck before she went out, but now she felt as good as new, “No, I don’t feel a thing, should I?”

Luna smiled, “Not necessarily, but it would not be a surprise if you were to start experiencing slight discomfort, and I am going to have to recommend that you do not try to use your magic very much if you can help it.”

Twilight looked up, straight at Luna. Now that they were face to face, she could fully observe the mare’s features.

Her right eye was much darker than normal, with the draconian slits a prevalent feature surrounded by the discolored iris. The medium sized cut below her eye was not all that bad. It would not have caused much damage other than slight discomfort and scarring later on. The left eye was totally normal, a curious anomaly. She had another small cut on the left side of her muzzle, matting much of her coat down with the now dry blood.

Then Twilight looked up again, at her forehead and gasped, covering her mouth with a hoof.

There was a massive gash, angled slightly starting at her right eyebrow and leaving ripped tissue all the way to her hairline above the opposite eye. The wound must’ve bled horribly, and was obviously cleaned earlier. The injury would most definitely scar, and looked horribly painful even now.

Luna’s mane was no longer dark and sparkly, instead it was a lighter shade of blue and hanging freely from her head. It covered her shoulders and occasionally fell in front of her eye, “Yes Twilight? I know you have questions. Ask away, we can talk as we walk. If it’s still in the same spot it should only be a couple of hours before we reach the nearest city,”

Twilight noticed she was staring and quickly turned her head, her cheeks heating once more, “Um... what happened to you. Are you alright? It really looks like you got hurt,” Concern was the dominant emotion in her voice, “Are you not able to heal your wounds?”

Luna closed her eyes, the sides of her lips tilting up to form a small smile once again, “I am alright Twilight. As for my wounds, let us just say the caves are no longer safe. I had to relocate you and I eight times before I gave up and flew away for good.”

“Eight!? How did the spiders keep finding you?”

“The arachnids are not the only creatures that reside in these mountains, I’m afraid. There are creatures worse than them, like the yellow scorpions, which inflicted this beauty,” Luna lifted a hoof and pointed to her forehead, “and no, I cannot heal this. I’m not sure if my sister made you aware, but she is bound to the lighter side of magic and I’m bound to the darker side. Needless to say, I have no way of doing it myself. I cauterized and sterilized the wounds but that is as much as I can do.”

Twilight took a couple steps toward the now sitting mare, and lifted a hoof brushing her forehead lightly. Luna winced, but didn’t pull back, “Luna, let me heal this. We can't let it get infected, even if you did already sterilize it it’s still a risk,” Twilight was eager to help the mare in front of her.

“No. It is a very bad idea for you to use magic after what happened. There could be some unwanted side effects.”

“Please, Luna. You’ve done so much for me, protected me so much and saved my life countless times. Just let me do this at least. Please,” Twilight had moved her hoof to Luna’s shoulder and stared into her eyes pleadingly.

Luna grabbed the unicorn’s hoof with her own, bringing it off of her shoulder, “Twilight, I appreciate your conce-”

“No, Luna, It can’t be that bad. Please, just let me help you for once,” Twilight was using her entire face to try and convince her, head tilted down slightly and eyebrows up, a miniscule smile sprouting from her lips.

“Twilight, we cannot do this here, but I promise we will once we reach the city. We should only be a couple of hours out. I’ll let you do this when we get there, or if we don’t find the city alright?” Luna insisted. This wasn’t the time or place for such things.

“Fine. Let’s get moving then, I don’t want that wound to get infected.”

Luna chuckled softly, the cut on her cheek scrunching up and stretching with the movement of her lips, “That shouldn’t be a concern of yours, I am keeping the wound clean.”

“Alright, let's get moving then! I’m excited to meet these ponies.”

“Oh! Before we get to that, do you remember the language spell I taught you?”

“Yes I do, but how is that going to help me, I don’t know what language the inhabitants of this world speak,” Twilight’s interest had been piqued. Will I be able to talk to them?

“Well, actually, you do know… most of the language. They speak a slightly modified version of our old language. What many call now as the language of the ancient magi,” Luna’s voice gave away no clues to what she was thinking, but exhaustion was present.

Twilight on the other hand was jumping with joy. I can talk to them!?

Luna’s voice quickly shifted, and her lips curved downwards to form a frown, breathing harder than normal between words. “Unfortunately, culture changes over the course of a millennium, so we will have the joy of being integrated into that together.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Twilight’s head unconsciously tilted to the side as she asked.

“Well, no, but from my recollection they are a very… crude and straightforward people. All of the nations are fairly similar with regards to social and political structure, ruled by whoever is best at fighting, known as Sefulul in their language.”

“I’m sure it can’t be that bad, after all wasn’t Equestria somewhat similar before you and your sister gained power?”

“Yes, it was, but not quite to the intensity that these city states fight. If it is still the same however, this city we are headed to, is fairly peaceful unless given a reason not to be. Very powerful and good fighters, with modest leadership. They were the ones I trusted the most, although I did deal with most of the larger states.”

Twilight was eager to learn more about these mysterious ponies, ponies that could apparently channel magic through their hooves and focused their culture and society entirely on war, it seemed like an interesting breed.

“Do you think we could get caught in a scuff between two of these states?” Twilight had a good question, and while she didn’t want to ever have to fight and hurt others, she understood it was a possibility and quite realistically a problem they would have to face in the future.

“Unfortunately that is a possibility. Once we enter this town, if it is the same, very few nations would dare to attack and we should be safe. Another option we have is leaving the group we are staying with if a fight does break out, but I presume that won’t be the best option. These ponies are good at fighting. Hell, I’ve seen one pony caught in a fight with ten enemies and come out unscathed.”

“What happened to the ones that lost?”

“Well lets just say they became a statistic,” Luna was not wishing to waste much more of her little remaining energy on conversation. In all honesty, she would have preferred to rest before continuing.

Twilight had a myriad of questions running through her mind but no matter how much she wanted to have the information immediately she was limited to one question at a time, “How do the ponies here fight? Is it anything like you taught me?”

Luna on the other hand was exhausted. She had been awake constantly since the seal had broken, the magic contained within it dispersing throughout Twilight’s body trying to control the contaminated alicorn magic that Luna was forced to inject into the young mare’s body. “It is not similar at all, almost all of their weapons are blades that extend from some sort of mechanism from their forelegs. Enough about that though. Let's get walking.”

Luna turned around, pushing off and starting the multi mile trek to where she thought the nearest city was. Twilight followed right behind, only a step or two away from her, this time alert of her surroundings.

For Luna, this three or four hour walk would be a big blow. She had almost no energy and hadn’t slept in well over eighteen hours. Her magic was drained, having to fight away a multitude of creatures to protect Twilight. All of which she kept hidden of course. She would have loved to fly them the rest of the way, but she was about ready to collapse.

Sure, she had fought constantly for longer periods of time, but what she had to sacrifice to save Twilight was huge. The transfer had drained her of a good portion of magic, and the near constant action made it impossible to recover. She wasn’t going very far with another mare on her back.

“Twilight, I’m going to need you to pay attention to our surroundings, I don’t know if I will be able to do much if we run into trouble. Recent events have taken a toll on me.”

Twilight showed concern for the mare, but didn’t question her words, instead opting to give her a little bit of a pep talk, “Alright Luna. Thank you for saving me and caring for me. You really are an amazing pony, something that many don’t recognize and we will get through this together. I need you, after all, and it seems like you need a good,” Partner, significant other, marefriend, “friend.”

“Thank you, Twilight. I do appreciate the time I’ve been able to spend with you this trip, even though we must worry about our accomplices back home you are able to help me dull the horrible feeling,” Luna smiled, turning back to face Twilight, who was able to stop the princess and pull her into a hug. Her armor creaked when Luna returned the hug shortly after, now thinking of the previous night.

Am I ready for such a thing? So soon?

The lavender unicorn was also tangled with emotions,

Did I really do that?

A blush appeared on her face and she was thankful that Luna couldn’t see her. The two separated and Luna smiled before continuing to walk towards their destination.

I almost kissed her didn’t I? I’m absolutely crazy! How could somepony as stupid as that become the prized student of Celestia? I almost kissed the Princess of the moon, sovereign of the night, legendary warrior, the Mare of Blades. How insane am I!?

Twilight hoped that didn’t change Luna’s opinion of her, but she knew there was no way it would be the same. There was no way Luna didn’t know what she was doing, but she hadn’t brought it up or shown any signs she recognized the event.

Hmm. She has been acting a little weird, but that's probably just exhaustion.

“OOF” Twilight hit a soft mass in front of her, quickly falling backwards onto her rump. Her cloak protected her from the soft, cold snow and she rubbed her nose with a hoof, “Lu-”

A sob stopped her word in her throat, a sob coming from ahead of her. From the exhausted Alicorn leading them through the forest... Twilight jumped onto her hooves, trying to sidestep her way around the armored princess to see her face. Before she got there, another set of words escaped her lips, “Why won’t you just leave us alone!”

“Luna what's wron-” Twilight heard a growl from her left, behind Luna. To the right another one, and another one. Another one. One more. A final fierce howl as white wooled wolves approached the couple from every angle. They were huge. The smallest one the size of an elderly Timberwolf.

Twilight’s eyes widened slightly, panic and fear taking over a little bit.

“Twilight, you... you have to fight these things... there is no running from them,” Luna used what little magic she had left to open a portal to the aether, pulling a blade from its storage. Longer and thinner than her own, this sword immediately changed the mood around her. She felt an odd feeling, invigorated but cautious. The blue accents running up the middle of the blade glowed magically pulsing calmly every second, as if it was breathing, “Use... this blade… it is special.”

She must keep all of my stuff in there.

Twilight grasped the thin agile blade, the magenta glow from her horn discolored to be a dark purple or blue, similar to the main color of her striped mane. The use of magic was discomforting, even painful.

Luna was out of energy. She wasn’t this bad before, it was the wolves. They had a special magic to them, “The wolves… the-they… steal energy, be... careful. On-only use t-the bla...blade if y-you… must,” Luna was on the ground now, all of her legs in the snow. The magic she was supplying to keep her cuts clean dissipated and her vision was blackening

Twilight, they aren’t that bad compared to what we may face, be strong. Her final thoughts before falling into a forced slumber.

Twilight’s eyes were wide open, and terror struck her,”Luna!” She was now alone against a pack of giant wolves, some twice the size of herself, and wolves that apparently possessed some magic capacity to suck away the energy of other beings. The blade pulsed in the strong grip of aether like it had a beating heart of its own.

Twilight turned her back to the princess and trembled. Her eyes went from wolf to wolf before meeting the gaze of what was obviously the Alpha, the most forward and largest one. The pack circled the pair... They could smell her fear, and wanted to exploit this weakness as much as possible. A scared enemy is as good as a dead one after all.

Okay Twilight, you need to stay calm. Remember your lessons. She took a deep breath, not once pulling her eyes away from those of the largest wolf. There is no way you will be able to use the enhancements in your state, you will need to use incantations to help you. Her inner voice was giving her advice, lessons she had already learned. A gentle pulsing in her head warned her of lower than acceptable levels of magic, especially for combat.

It's okay. You’ve trained for this. Calm yourself Twilight. Another deep breath and the shaking stopped, her heart rate returning to just above normal levels and her eyelids coming down, glowering at the wolves. Twilight’s face became static and unreadable. Not even the best psychic would be able to read her.

The alpha stopped and gave a look of confusion. Never before had its prey recovered from a shaken state. He growled and stopped circling, the pack following his example. He howled once more and time slowed down as a wolf in her peripheral vision to the left leaped at her.

Twilight dug her back legs in and swung around to face it. She had two options, find a way to deal with more than one of her foes at once, or take her chances one on one.

“sol.”

The rapier burst into flames, the runes on the blade changing from blue to red in an instant. The angry flames screamed in the air, and Twilight swung the blade in a sweeping motion from right to left, a wall of fire pushing outwards, knocking back the wolf mid air and melting all of the snow underneath, revealing bright green grass somehow unharmed by the intense heat. The wolf she hit was not going to be able to fight, and the ones behind it all on that side of the ambush were left incapable, their coats scorched off in many areas and lacerations covered their bare, unconscious bodies

She didn’t intend to kill any of the creatures and the power of her spell reflected that, only serving to maim and wound.

Unfortunately, that spell, even with the help of the incantation, took a massive toll on her body. She coughed and fell onto a knee. Magic exhaustion, but how? I haven’t done a thing other than this!

She didn’t have much time to recover however as another couple of wolves leapt at her from the opposite side.

Shit! Twilight swore in her mind, something she rarely did and almost never out loud. She wasn’t going to be able to do much with her magic, but at least she was able to drastically decrease the number disadvantage. With not much of an option, she quickly tore a tiny hair from her coat and levitated it behind her before, using the hair as a focal point for a powerful barrier that quickly spread outward.

The wolves jumped straight into it and immediately hit the ground, dazed by the sudden impact. Twilight bit her lip in pain, this wasn’t magic exhaustion, it was something else. Suddenly, Twilight’s eyes burst white in a magical surge, yet she still felt incapable and nearly completely void of magic.

The metallic taste of blood graced her tongue as she prepared to incapacitate the other wolves. The flames had continued blazing, to Twilight’s surprise, but she had no intention of using the same fiery spell again. She couldn’t risk hurting Luna, and had to be more precise than that.

“lumina.”

The flames surrounding the weapon previously exploded in a bright light, and a beam of magic shot from the sword that she now had facing the dazed wolves. The light exploded outward in a sphere, covering Twilight and expanded in a flash to consume a large area.

The light left the wolves blinded and Twilight unfazed. She was pushing herself way too far. This was a dangerous game, one wrong move and she could cause her own demise. The adrenaline however was a great pain reliever and she was able to ignore most of the internal shocks and pulses.

As the wolves yelped in surprise and some in pain, Twilight had one more spell she thought of using.

Remember. Don’t kill, limit it’s power.

Twilight used her magic to lift the weapon directly above her, the blade and her pure white eyes pointing directly to the sky.

“fulger”

The final incantation bellowed as the now snow cleared soil around her began to shake, some of it lifting into the air, defying gravity itself. The runes on her blade lighting a bright white, almost completely covering the blade. Suddenly, a streak of lightning hit her blade, arcs of electricity shooting off of it.

That was not the only bolt of superhot energy bursting from the sky, many, many more came down striking the ground near her. She was very careful to miss Luna, a blow like this could cause serious harm even with her empowered suit of armor.

The lightning left craters in the ground, destroying the landscape. Some hit trees, knocking them over but failing to create a fire. The destruction around her would be heard for miles, the thunderous booms resonating and shaking her to her core.

The unicorn couldn’t see the damage her legendary spell had caused, but from the sound of it, it was quite serious. Almost as quickly as it started, a few seconds later the lightning died out and with it her eyes returned to normal, and she fell a couple of inches, just now realizing that she was floating in the air. The sword dropped from her grip and into the destroyed soil.

The unicorn’s legs locked up under the pressure, all of her energy leaving her as the adrenaline wore off. The gently ringing of silence consumed her senses, not a single sound being made except the sizzling of the lightning.

The ground around her had been completely cleared of snow, and trees were felled everywhere. The soil had been disrupted by massive craters that now littered the field of the short and challenging battle.

Twilight had collapsed next to Luna, and with a quick look confirmed her well being. Her chest rose and fell at a normal pace and she was in a deep sleep. Continuing to look around her, Twilight searched for the wolves. It seems many of them had run off, escaping the catastrophe of a hunt.

Others, however, were not so lucky and as soon as Twilight realized this, her eyes widened with fear and her jaw dropped open ever so slightly.

A few of the wolves lay still, unmoving, and smoke still sizzling off of their bodies. They had been the ones directly hit by the lightning, and there was no doubt they were dead.

How!? I thought I was able to control the power!

Twilight then noticed an anomaly. The craters were deep. Very deep. She had never been so destructive in her use of the spell. Forcing herself onto her legs, the mare stumbled towards the deepest crater, one she couldn’t see inside. The exhausted unicorn had to force her legs to take every step closer, fearing what she would see inside.

As she reached the edge, the largest of the pack, the alpha, lay still inside. It’s eyes were closed, but Twilight was relieved to see the gentle rise of its chest. Fur was not present around the majority of the wolf’s right side, and serious burns were present.

The alpha’s eyes slowly opened, and it whimpered as it saw the mare. The large wolf tried to stand on its legs, but yelped and fell back to the ground, one or more of them obviously broken.

“It’s alright, I’m not going to hurt you.”

Twilight intended to undo some of the damage she had caused. The wolf was powerless and afraid, so the mare was in no danger. The lavender tried to light her horn, but the action sent a jolt of pain throughout her entire body and she broke into a coughing fit.

The taste of blood once again entered her mouth as she coughed up her precious life blood. It further dirtied the once white coat of the alpha wolf’s coat, now speckled with red.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause so much harm.”

The wolf whimpered in response, and gave up all attempts to run. The wolf’s breathing slowed as if it had given up. Twilight maneuvered her hoof to the creature's head, stroking it gently, “I wish I could help, but something is wrong with my magic.”

A tear fell from Twilight’s eye, followed by a gentle flow. She was horrified of what she had done, only meaning to disable and incapacitate, the powerful unicorn accidentally killed four or five of her aggressors. The wolf's eyes closed in defeat. It’s life was ending.

Twilight now fully embraced the wolf and cried silently. The wolf let out a few more breaths before a final, deep breath brought it into the unknown world beyond this one.

The alicorn magic imbued mare lay there holding the limp body of the Alpha male before silently getting up and walking to the only mare that could comfort her.

I had to do it… right? I had to protect Luna. I couldn’t let her get hurt. I’d do anything to ensure her safety.

Twilight stepped directly beside the princess, who was on one of the few undamaged spots in the area, “I did the right thing.. right Luna? You gave me the power to do that,” Twilight collapsed right next to her, and threw her arms around her, quiet sobs coming back to her, “I only did it because I had too… I had to protect you.”

Yes, you did have to protect her. You couldn’t let harm come to her. The voice repeated itself in her head, but.. it was weird. Different. Dark. The unicorn had never experienced something so similar.

Twilight stared at the peacefully sleeping mare. Her now light blue mane fell around her shoulders, leaving her face open to observation. Her wounds were bleeding again, although not anywhere near dangerous levels. Her eyes were shut and her breaths short and monotonous.

“I.. I lo-”

The pounding of hooves interrupted her, not like it mattered anyway. Twilight looked up too see a group of five ponies, all with coats different shades of gray and manes to match, running towards them. The ponies were yelling things at each other, and their faces exposed an emotion not of anger or anything malicious, but a mask of concern instead.

The words they spoke were impossible to understand, and Twilight had no energy left to reply, or even attempt to fight or run. She simply let a final tear drop and whisper, “We can never get a break,” with a small, gloomy chuckle the mare fell into the dirt pushed up against the pony she wished to spend her life with.

No, you cannot.