Eclipsed Deceptions

Eclipsed Deceptions Chapter V

Celestia walked down the dirt road leading to the foot of the mountain in which her castle lay atop. Night shaded her stealthy escape from the guards and the moon seemed to float above the forest to the west, leading her to her destination like a northern star. As she walked down the path she gained a strange feeling that someone was watching her. She would turn to look and see who it could be, yet she did not see anyone following her. Patches of tall grass blew in the cold night wind, whispering secrets. This was a beautiful area.

“Someday this will make a nice orchard. Not a bad place for a town either.” She imagined a bustle of houses and businesses lining the streets. What a sight it would be.

An hour had passed since she reached the foot of the mountain and the Everfree Forest was at a small distance. The travel to the forest would not be the challenge though. Making through the forest itself alive would be nearly impossible for somepony with such little survival skills.

“Luna would do the same for me…” Celestia took in a deep breath. The cool air was comforting and calmed her nerves. She took a step forward when she heard a shuffling in the long grass behind her.

“Who’s there?!” She turned to face where the noise had come from, preparing herself for an attack. Two eyes poked out of the long grass. It was a young colt. Not just any young colt though. She knew this one.

“Starswirl? What are you doing here?! It’s far too dangerous!”
The white unicorn stepped out of his hiding place, dragging a hoof across the ground in shame. “I- I heard that Luna is missing. I went to ask you about it and spotted you flying out the window. I got curious and decided to follow you here.” The blue mane colt stared at the ground.

Celestia took a quick pause, trying to find something to say. “Child… I am not mad at you. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
Starswirl quickly looked up, bravery in his eyes. “Trust me princess. You are going to need me. I’m trained greatly in magic. That includes my combat spells, in which I am experienced nearly as much as a basic levitation!”
Celestia looked down at the col, taking a breath she said, “I just don’t think it wou-“ She was cut short be screams from Starswirl.

“Agh! Timberwolves!”
Celestia turned to find 5 Timberwolves at the entrance of the trees. One charged them. Celestia jumped in front of Starswirl, “Watch out!” She swung her head around, butting the timber wolf in its side, knocking it to the ground. Another began to charge at her. She prepared herself. The beast jumped at her but was flung into a tree when a beam of blue light blasted it in midair. Celestia looked over to the colt, who stood in an attack position. Smoke emerging from his horn.

“I told you that you’ll need me.”
Celestia looked at him and smiled. Starswirl smiled back, nodding their heads to each other before turning their attention to the last remaining enemies. Both sent out a blast of magic toward the Timberwolves knocking two down. The last one stood alone as Celestia charged it. Horrified the beast retreated back to the dark forest where it came from.

“Yes! That was awesome princess!” Starswirl danced about the tall grass, celebrating the victory, his eyes shut and a big grin on his face. Starswirl opened his eyes to find the princess looming over him like the shadow of a mountain.

“Starswirl, my faithful student. I need you to turn around and head home. This is my quest.”

“No! I won’t! Luna’s my friend too!”

“You are just a child! A place such as the Everfree Forest is far too dangerous for a young colt like you.”
Starswirl lowered his head. Staring to shake, holding back tears. “I-I know I’m just a kid but… But I have the heart… of a warrior!” Starswirl lifted his head quickly, showing off a face of bravery and confidence, a tear was travelling down his left cheek. “And I believe that I can help you save your sister and my friend! I’m sorry princes, but I’m going with you!”

Celestia smiled at the white colt. She kneeled down next to him placing a hoof on his heart. “It’s warm… I can tell that you have a strong heart. I can feel… Courage… Bravery. Starswirl? Do you know the difference between the two?” Starswirl shook his head, responding with a no. “You will learn someday. Or now we need to get moving.”

“You- you mean I’m going with you?”

“Yes, I would be honored to have such a brave heart at my side.”
Starswirl smiled at the princess as she smiled back. They took a few steps forward between the dark Everfree trees that marked the beginning of their adventure.

.......…

The sun had nearly reached the highpoint of the sky. The felling of grass below her hooves was now replaced by the flat surface of brick roads. Luna looked at her surrounding as she progressed to the west. Tall, red stone walls covered the sides of hills. The red brick road was accompanied by grass and flowers, peeking out of the space between each slab. The color of the crumbling structures were nicely complimented by the green grass on the hills, still covered in dew and the bright blue sky, in which not a single cloud was found. The road seamed to travel passed the hills and into the violet mountains. At this rate she would be there in no time. She admired her surroundings. She had never seen a place more beautiful in her entire life. She shut her eyes in order to take a moment to breath in the fresh air, completely void of pollution of any kind. Luna thought she could fall asleep walking like this, she was so relaxed. When she was away in a world of day dreams a sharp sting hit her cheek as she felt something brush against it. She opened her eyes to find that a small black blob like creature lay on the red slab road next to her.
“How cute.” She went to get a closer look when she felt a warm slimy feeling on her right cheek. She looked down at the ground. Drips of blood lay on the brick. The creature looked back the small drops of red liquid. Its eyes looked vicious and mean. The slime monster jumped at the drops, licking them off the insanitary ground. The thing shook wildly and stared up at Luna. Noticing her bloody cheek it began to shake again. The monster jumped at her face.

“Agh! Back off!” Luna batted it away with a hoof and it flew into a wall. The creature split into two pieces as it fell to the ground. Luna stared at it, trying to catch her breath, trying to comprehend the situation. She noticed that the blob began to move again. Jiggling and shaking. The two pieces grew red dots, which appeared to be eyes. It had multiplied. As a scientist Luna found this remarkable, until she realized that it had done the process again and had multiplied into 4 smaller versions of itself and began to charge head on at her.

“Oh…” After her mind realized what was happening she began to run off as fast as she could. After running for a good amount of time she turned a left corner and was greeted, less than pleasantly by a stone wall blocking her path. Luna turned to find the 4 monsters had cornered her.

“For slime, you guys sure are fast…” She was able to joke even in the face of danger.

The first monster approached her and jumped at her cheek, she batted it away like the last. The next jumped at her again she hit it and it flew a good distance. The next one jumped at her. She was about to hit it until something shot through it at light speed. Getting caught on the object, the monster traveled and was pinned to a stone wall. Luna looked over to what it was. An arrow pinned the monster, the arrowhead was on fire. She looked down at the other three. Two arrows rained down, hitting and catching fire to two monster. Looking back, she found that a figure stood above the wall behind her, holding a bow. Luna could not make out who the figure was until it jumped from the high up point and landed in front of her. It appeared to be a Pegasus. The mysterious Pegasus switched the bow to her right hoof and swung it into the last monster. The beast flew passed a hill.

“Homerun!” The mysterious figure cheered, dancing about in celebration. She has a light gray coat topped with a messy bright yellow mane and tail. She carried a large bow and a leather arrow quiver. She was covered in a gold armor. The chest was decorated with the design of a snakes eye. Speaking of eye, her right eye was hidden by a brown leather eye patch.

“Um… Excuse me…” Luna asked shyly

The mysterious Pegasus stopped and turned to notice the blue alicorn behind her.

“Oh yeah… Um- You okay?...” The Pegasus asked, blushing.

“yeah, I’m fine. Just a scratch.”

“Good! You know you’re lucky I was here to save your sorry flank.” The Pegasus was a bit cocky and stubborn, yet Luna was glad that she was there to save her.

“Yes, thank you! My I ask your name?”

“Hawkeye. Hawkeye Hooves. You must be Luna.”

“How do you know my name?” Luna questioned, a bit curious and worried.”

“You’re pretty famous around here.”

Luna was suspicious about this Hawkeye character but with somepony with that kind of fighting skills, she could use her for protection. Luna decided to ask, “So are you traveling with anyo-“
“No I am not. I’m heading out with you. I have been assigned to protect you. I have rules though. One, don’t ask me about my work, two, No singing annoying long-travel songs, three we do this my way. Got that?” Her outgoing attitude antagonized Luna a bit.

“Yes, I got it.”

“Good! So now we are partners.”

Luna had no idea what happened. It all happened so fast and without explanation. In the blink of an eye, she was now travelling with a strange pony that she had never met before. Everything here was strange to here, wherever, “here” is. She still didn’t know where she was or why she was here, so she decided that this was a turn in the right direction. It was already passed noon and that little… side quest was a setback. With a body guard she would be able to travel much faster if she were to run into monsters.

“Okay princess! We have lost valuable time and we have to get going!” Hawkeye picked up her arrows and placed them back in her quiver for later. Luna sat up and the two began to continue to the west towards the violet mountains in the distance.