Fear Incarnate

Luna woke up with less pain than she remembered. She opened her eyes slowly to find her wings being bandaged and her other wounds tended by doctors. She felt the motion through the air and guessed that they were in a medical air carriage. She gazed around the room with her eyes and found her sister as well as a squad of soldiers with her in the room. There were three doctors total, one was bandaging her wing, a second was tending to her deep injuries such as slash and puncture wounds, the third was examining her broken horn.

“Princess, she’s regaining consciousness.” The third called.

Luna looked weakly up to see her sister approaching her. The first doctor finished his work and moved aside so that Celestia could see her sister. She sat down next to Luna and attempted a weak smile. Luna did the same thing.

“Luna, I’m so sorry things turned out this way.”

“Don’t apologize Celestia.” Luna told her. “It was a long time coming. I expected such a thing to happen. I’m just surprised it wasn’t worse.”

“I don’t know what to do Luna.” Celestia told her, “You can’t stay here or they will just do the same thing again. The nation is in anarchy and Blueblood has gathered together the majority of the population against me for bringing you back to canterlot. The rebels have already taken half the nation including most of the major trade ports.”

“Give me to them Celestia, let them kill me. If it means peace than don’t hesitate.”

“What!? No! Luna I wont turn you over to them. And even if I did, it wouldn’t mean peace, Blueblood will continue to fight me for the throne. And if I give you to them they will use you as leverage. I will not make you a hostage.”

“Celestia listen.” Luna pleaded quietly. “They want me and only me. Once you turn me over to them they will stop. They will kill me, but that is the price for peace.”

“No it isn’t. Blueblood’s greed knows no bounds. If he want’s something badly enough he will do almost anything to get it. I’m not exaggerating.”

Luna did not answer she knew that she wouldn’t win this argument and she didn’t care to try. “Then what do you plan on doing?”

“I don’t know.” Celestia said dismayed.

Luna thought for a minute. “You need to unite this nation. Stop Blueblood and his conquest and bring these ponies together. As for me, well, I can’t stay here, you said that yourself, so I must return to exile.”

“No! I wont let you go through that torture again.”

“What else can I do, squat in the Everfree?”

“No, but there is something else.” Then she called out to the fliers pulling the carriage. “Take us to the Everfree forest. In the north central region is a ruin, land there.”

They obeyed. They changed their direction and flew southwest.

“What are you thinking?” Luna asked.

“That you will need an old companion.”

Not much later they landed and the door to the carriage opened to reveal a stone courtyard with crumbling walls overgrown with vines. There wasn’t much to the courtyard, it was just ancient stone bricks that were cracked and worn with age covered in dust, spiderwebs and moss. Luna walked behind her sister, that being possible thanks to her leg and torso fractures being healed magically.

Celestia lead her down stone halls and staircases that she remembered well. She knew where they were going. The sisters approached a heavy ebony door and entered. Inside was their personal armory, or was rather. Luna’s old weapons were there, as was her set of leather armor.

“Grab what you may need. I suspect your spear will be useful at some point.”

Luna did as her sister asked. She grabbed her hoof length hooded cloak, a fur sleeping bag, a large dirk, a waterskin, and her spear. Her spear was a masterpiece of weapon making to say the least. It’s blade looked like a spearmint leaf, including the slight serrations on the edge. The weapon had a crescent moon crossguard just beneath the blade, giving it a trident like appearance.the shaft itself was the same piece as the blade and crossguard, one long rod of tempered steel that had the blade and guard shaped from it. The spear was stout, a lot more so than most spears, only reaching Celestia’s eye level. It was a very strong weapon.

Her dirk was no less of a masterpiece. It was made of tempered and thick steel, the blade had a Coltic (Celtic) knotwork design along the blade. The blade was serrated on one edge about halfway from the hilt to the tip. It was a very thick blade that was sharpened to the point it could shear a stone in two with ease. Another very strong weapon.

Luna put on the cloak after belting on her dirk and waterskin, she left the hood down and hugged her sister.

“Where will you go?” Celestia asked.

“I was going to go to the Coltic Isles. Try to hide there for a century or two, before returning here after things have calmed down.”

“A century? Luna, is that really necessary? I know you need to disappear for a while but not for that long.”

“Yes I do ‘Tia.” Luna said breaking away from the hug. “These ponies won’t forget what Ive done. Their children and even grandchildren will not forget nor forgive. I will need to lay low for quite a while before things will start to die down.”

“I’m going to miss you sister.” Celestia said hugging her sister again.

“I’m going to miss you too ‘Tia.”

So Luna left the castle into the everfree without the guards present knowing where she went, the less they knew the safer they would be. She could only hope they died in combat. She didn’t want them to be tortured for information they did not have. She zipped through the forest toward the east coast, hoping to find a way to the Isles of the Coltic tribes, and peace.