Rest in Peace

From her crashed ship, Luna was able to recover most of her weapons, though a particularly special rocket launcher didn't make it; enough crates of ammunition synthesizers to level a city; a few spare pieces of armor; all of her personal belongings, which included several journals, some of which were still blank; a few boxes of meal rations that she hoped would not prove to be her only food source; seven transmat beacons in case she needed to quickly move either her stuff or herself in a hurry; and the key parts of both her Glimmer mining drill and her fabricator. If she did it right, she could get started on setting up a shelter that could protect her should the locals, if there were any, come looking for her. She took a fusion rifle and a sword from her pile of weapons and returned the others to their hiding spot in a hollow tree.

"Well, here's what I can pick up from my scans," her Ghost said. "Local weather patterns suggest this forest sees just enough rainfall to not wash the soil of the important stuff, so vegetation will be thick. There's a low pressure front coming in from the west, and there might be a storm following it. Also, the terrain is pretty uneven, with some deep ravines. Watch your step."

"Well, good thing I happen to own a machete," Luna said, pulling one from the crate of her personal belongings. "Well, first thing I'm going to need to survive out here is water. Any water sources nearby that you can pick up?"

"Yeah, there's a bog a bit to the south of here, though I picked up some loud noises coming from that direction," her Ghost advised. "There's also a river that feeds into the bog a ways north, but I picked up some weird energy fluctuations from that direction. Might be the locals."

"I guess we should hit the bog then," Luna said, already beginning her trek south.

Luna found herself oddly at peace as the five-AM light began to illuminate the sky, staining the clouds overhead a brilliant pink. A dense fog clung to the ground, obscuring her footing just enough to be mildly annoying. Though the foliage was quite dense, she opted not to use her machete unless she had to, instead favoring using her triple jump to clear obstacles. Even when she'd fallen into a ravine that she'd been warned about, Luna just jumped right back out again, as having two jumps in midair was quite handy. She made her way for about four miles before she finally found the bog.

Mangrove trees lined the shallow waters, their twisted roots providing invaluable cover for small aquatic or amphibious animals, and the branches a place to roost for birds. A few aquatic grasses like cattail plants also sprung up from the water, refusing to be drowned. A few meters away, Luna saw a frog resting on a lily pad.

"Alright, let's get a few samples and test if this water is safe first," Luna said, grabbing a pair of bottles from the backpack hidden by her cloak. She filled both bottles quickly, screwing the caps back on and putting them away once more. When she turned to leave, however, a tremor shook the ground, causing her to stop in her tracks. A loud roar resounded in the air.

"That doesn't sound good," her Ghost said, floating back under her cloak to hide.

"No it does not," Luna said, drawing the fusion rifle from its place on the small of her back and flipping the safety. "That sounds less than friendly."

Another tremor, and then another, and another. The ground shook with what was presumably the footsteps of some giant creature approaching. Luna spun around to face where the sound seemed to be coming from, only to be met with the sight of a massive reptilian creature barreling through the bog straight towards her. Four heads glared at her, one breaking eye contact to roar at her.

"Is that a hydra‽" Luna yelled, mostly to herself in disbelief. Seeing as the creature was almost on her, Luna broke into a sprint towards it. Right as the heads were about to snap at her, Luna pulled back on her own chest, diving into a power slide through the water underneath the creature before pulling herself back up and resuming running before the hydra could turn back around.

But her strategy only bought her a pair of seconds, which she used to turn around and pull the trigger on her fusion rifle. The weapon hummed in response, pulling energy from its battery magazine and charging the liquid coils. Once the weapon had reached full charge, seven bolts of flaming solar plasma shot from the barrel in rapid succession, slamming into one of the hydra's heads. The burning weapons fire made the hydra head recoil in pain before another head lashed out to attack her. Fortunately, Luna managed to leap sideways into a dodge roll. In response to the simple attack, Luna grabbed a small sphere from her belt and tossed it up at one of the hydra's faces. As it made contact, the sphere exploded into a cloud of harsh smoke, blinding that head and making it gag and cough.

The head she'd originally hit with her fusion rifle then spat water at her with incredible force. Luna leapt up into the air to dodge the pressurized water, hearing a tree fall into the bog behind her when she landed. She glanced behind to the tree, seeing it cut clean through by the attack. She cursed under her breath and made a note to not get hit by that.

Then Luna felt the Light pulse within her. The Void Bow was ready, whispering to her to draw it and fell this enemy as she had countless others. She took aim, and then with the same practiced technique, she vaulted into the air, jumping again for the extra height. And then she drew the bow.

The arrow of Void Light hit the water at the hydra's feet, making the hydra stare down at the sphere of purple Light, curious what was happening. With a loud pop, the sphere lashed out and tethered all four heads, pulling them down into the water, and suppressing the hydra's strength and regenerative properties. Luna then drew her sword, holding it with both hands and approached. One by one, Luna sliced off the heads with four uppercut slashes, letting each head fall into the bog.

After the final head was cut, Luna bowed to her opponent. "Rest in peace," she murmured as she pulled her knife from its sheath on her chest. As blood stained the bog water red, Luna began to pull scales from the creature with the aid of her knife.

"Think those scales will be useful?" her Ghost asked.

"Possibly. That fusion rifle shot did piss damage," Luna replied as she pried another scale loose. "Figure they might have some solid Solar resistance."

This continued until the sun was high in the sky, until she finally finished her task of gathering materials from the hydra's corpse.

——————————

Fluttershy found herself heading towards the Everfree Bog to release a few frogs back into the wild. While she was certainly terrified of the place, in no small part due to the fact that hydras lived there, and were incredibly territorial, she couldn't help but want to put the frogs back where they belonged. Plus, Twilight had offered to come with her, and the alicorn's presence made her feel safer. So she steeled herself for the trip, even as the sound of a hydra roaring echoed from far away. As she carried the box of frogs, she kept watch of the tree line for movement.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of movement from just behind the tree line, making her freeze up. From what she saw, it was a very tall creature, just big enough to be a manticore.

"Did you see that?" Fluttershy asked, voice wavering just a little.

"I think so? I didn't catch a good look," Twilight said. She placed a comforting wing over her friend's back. "It's probably nothing."

A few minutes passed, but she didn't see any more movement, so she resumed, feeling ever so slightly more anxious. Manticores were supposed to be nocturnal, after all, so if one was moving around at this time of day, it was certainly out of the ordinary.

Eventually, the pair made it to the bog with all of the frogs. Fluttershy found a suitable spot and set down the box at the edge of the water and opened it up, allowing the frogs to hop out. She smiled softly to them, reassuring them that they were safe.

As the frogs hopped out onto the lily pads, a tendril of red moved through the water, followed by a slow fog of red. The scent of blood followed.

"T-Twilight...?" Fluttershy murmured softly, looking up and scanning the area.

Twilight was already moving towards the the river that fed the bog. "Come on, somepony might be hurt!" she called.

Fluttershy suppressed a scared squeak and scrambled to join her friend. The scent of blood only got thicker as they went upstream, and soon, they found the source.

Fluttershy froze at the sight. A hydra lay dead in the bog, all four heads cut off, and its body picked clean of scales. One of its legs was missing, as was its tail. Something had definitely killed this hydra, and judging by how much blood was still seeping from the body, this kill was fresh.

"These wounds are too clean to have been another hydra, or any other creature we know of," Twilight observed out loud. "And there's galvanization on the vertebrae. If a pony did this, they must be in the Royal Guard with a lightning enchantment of this grade."

"I-I don't think a pony could have done this..." Fluttershy said. "E-Except the Princesses... but they wouldn't..."

"I think you might be right, Shy," Twilight said. "We should head back and report this to the princesses."

Fluttershy nodded, eager to leave this place. Something more dangerous than a hydra was in those woods, and she wanted no part of whatever scarier monster had managed to kill something already so terrifying.

The trip back to her cottage was short, as both decided it would be best to hurry home to get away from any potential danger. Normally, Fluttershy would take her time with Twilight on the way back, using the opportunity to talk to her friend and enjoy her company. It wasn't often that they got to spend time together, and every moment was precious to her. But not this time.

They soon arrived back at Fluttershy's cottage, where Spike was arguing animatedly with a rabbit.

"Spike!" Twilight called as she approached at a brisk trot. She pulled a parchment and quill from her saddlebags. "Take a letter!"

Spike, relieved that he didn't have to get yelled at by a mute bunny, took the writing equipment and asked, "Who are we writing?"

"Princess Celestia."

——————————

Dear Princess Celestia,

While out in the Everfree Bog with Fluttershy, we encountered a hydra. We are safe and unharmed, as the hydra was already dead. While noteworthy in its own right, the details and manner of its death are what have me concerned enough to write to you.

The hydra had been killed by something or somepony. When we found it, it couldn't have been dead for more than eight hours. All four heads had been cut clean off in a single strike each. The vertebrae were galvanized, suggesting a weapon with a high-grade lightning enchantment. Additionally, the tail and right foreleg are missing, and the scales appear to have been stripped post-mortem.

The only ponies with the skill and access to the weapon necessary to kill a hydra like this would be among the elite of the Royal Guard, but I don't think any pony did so. There was evidence of an unknown magic type lingering on the hydra, but the effect was equal to that of an ultimate suppression spell.

Something dangerous has emerged in the Everfree Forest. I will keep you updated if anything else like this happens.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle

Celestia read the letter for the fifth time, taking in all of the information she'd been given. After court was adjourned for the day, she'd hoped she could relax and take a nice warm bath. But no such luck. That relaxing bath would have to wait just a little longer.

She turned down a corridor and rolled the parchment back up before tucking it under her wing. Upon witnessing her, the Lunar Guard snapped to a salute.

"Good evening Lieutenant Wind," the princess greeted. "I'm here to see my sister."

The guard stepped aside, and Celestia knocked at the door.

"Enter!" came the voice from within.

Celestia opened the door and stepped inside. Once the door was closed, she pulled Twilight's letter back out from its spot beneath her wing and levitated it over to Luna.

"It seems my student has a lead on our new threat," Celestia said as Luna eyed the letter curiously.

Luna opened the letter and read it carefully. As she read, her face took on graver expressions until the very end, leaving her with a dark scowl. "Sister, does this make you think what I'm thinking?"

"Depends on what you're thinking," Celestia replied.

"This being is a seasoned warrior with magics we may not be aware of. If that dream and this hydra are anything to go by, we may have a threat to not just Equestria, but the world, on our hooves," Luna said. She let the full gravity of those words sink in for a moment. "I believe we should contact the other nations."

"No, not yet," Celestia sighed. "I do believe you, dear sister, but I cannot imagine the other world leaders believing us as well. There are many who do not know of your dreamwalking ability, and the incident of one hydra's death is not significant enough to bring up."

Luna took in the words. It was true that her dreamwalking ability was largely unknown, especially outside of Equestria. Her influence only reached to the borders of the country. "I understand."

Celestia gave Luna an affectionate nuzzle. "So, did you find anything on our strange creature?"

Luna shook her head. "Nay, twas a fruitless venture. The only bipedal races in our records are the minotaurs of Labrinthia and some of the dragons."

"And you plan to go to the Everfree tonight to check your hidden cache?" Celestia asked, her expression belying her anxiety.

Luna nodded. "Information is key."

"Please, be careful Lulu," the solar princess said softly, pulling her sister into a close hug. "If the ultimate suppression is true..."

"I promise, I'll be okay," Luna said. "Thou shalt see us return this morning."

Celestia smiled weakly at her sister. "I will hold you to it. Good night, Lulu. Be safe."

With that, the solar princess got to her hooves and departed, leaving Luna to prepare herself for her mission. Luna entered a side room off of her bedroom where she kept things that were best not left in the hooves of mortals. Immediately, the scent of stale air mixed with the cooling night air from outside, giving the room a feeling of being stuck outside of time.

The room was lined wall-to-wall with weapons forged by masters of blades and enchanted by some of the greatest mages of their times. Rapiers, broadswords, longswords, cutlasses, even a few claymores were among her collection. Some had enchantments that summoned flames, others lightning, and still others ice. But with knowledge of her quarry, she decided it would be best to wield a humble shield. After all, she was not going looking for a fight. She knew full well what the strange creature was capable of.

She pulled a large shield from the bunch that seemed almost to have a crown of three prongs at the top and set it against her saddlebags. In addition, she opened a large jewelery box and retrieved a pair of rings and an amulet, which she promptly donned.

The first ring was a plain silver band, enchanted with a spell that would help conceal her magical potential and presence. Hopefully, it would work well enough to keep the being from noticing her too soon. The second was a golden band with an emerald, ruby, saphire, and topaz set within it. This one was enchanted to grant the bearer significant regenerative properties. If she was attacked and managed to escape, that ring would, again hopefully, keep her from succumbing to mortal wounds. Finally, the amulet bore the Royal Seal, and would act as a beacon for her sister to find her should something go wrong.

With her saddlebags packed with anything else she thought she might have need of, she donned them and took off into the rising night.

Luna had always loved flying. It was the ultimate activity of freedom, where gravity's influence was more a suggestion than an oppressive law, and there was always a straightaway to the point she saw. The wind in her mane and over her wings always made her smile. Even with the dire circumstances of this flight, Luna couldn't help but smile and enjoy the feeling of flight.

As she approached the Everfree, she noticed a small pillar of smoke, and the soft orange glow of a fire, likely from the creatures camp. Luna decided to dive down towards the fire. She landed about half a mile away for safety, and proceeded on hoof from there. She made her way through the dense overgrowth and ensured she was sufficiently loud so that the creature would hear her coming and not react in panic.

The treeline broke into a perfectly triangular clearing, with a massively deformed metal object lying in a small crater in the dirt, scorch marks lining the edges. A small campfire was going, and just off by a tree, the same creature she'd seen in the dream sat with its strange weapon in hand.

Luna stood still for a moment, watching it watch her. She cautiously moved a hoof forward, it raised the weapon just a little more. She pulled it back, and the weapon returned to its relaxed state. Luna took a step towards the fire, and was met with only the turning of the creature's head to follow her. She sat down and pulled off her shield and saddlebags.

She then slowly opened one and lit her horn to grasp an apple, to which the creature raised its weapon to her. She let go of the magic and performed the action manually, placing the apple on the ground and moving away from it, watching the creature carefully.

The creature looked at the apple, then at her. Perhaps understanding, it lowered the weapon and cautiously approached. It then reached down and picked up the apple, inspecting it closely before setting it down.

Luna gasped as the creature pulled back the hood and removed its helm, revealing its face to her. Pale blue skin and dark blue hair and glowing amber eyes, with a tiny triangular nose and soft cheeks, and rounded ears on either side of her head instead of on top. She was shocked at just how different, and yet similar they were. The creatures face caried an expression that looked very similar to a smile. It spoke a single word, and a small... shape appeared over her shoulder, peeking out from the cape.

It looked... if she remembered her geometry correctly, it looked like a small sphere in the center of a stellated octahedron. It floated without magic, and with its little blue eye, at least it seemed like an eye, looked at the apple before saying something.

The creature, seeming satisfied, took a bite. Its eyes widened as it looked at the apple in what could easily be wonder before taking another bite, and another. It ate the apple down to the core, and tossed the core into the fire to be burned away.

The creature then stood and went to the metal object in the crater, and produced a hydra's tail, cut cleanly and descaled. It brought as well a small metal grating that looked much like an oven's cooking rack. And with that, it set the rack over the flame and began carving the tail into slices with a large knife with a hooked blunt edge. Once one was cut, she sliced it in half and set both halves on the rack to cook.

The creature then spoke to her, but she couldn't understand, so she simply tilted her head in a gesture of confusion.

"Can you understand me?" Luna asked.

The creature tilted its head in response. Luna sighed, and lit her horn one more time, causing the creature to watch her with wide eyes while its hand tightly gripped its weapon. From her saddlebags, she produced some parchment and a quill and ink. She then set to writing out the alphabet, hoping that they could realize that quickly, before levitating the paper over to them.

Yes, it no longer felt an appropriate pronoun to use for this being, not when they had enough intelligence to cook food before eating. Cooking was indeed a distinguishing trait of all sentient races on this planet, and it only felt right that this creature, wherever it was from, be thought of as sentient.

They set about looking over the writing, the floating shape inspecting it as well. Once they finished, they looked up at her and tilted their head, pointing to her with a finger, then back at the parchment.

Luna plucked the parchment from the page and wrote her name under the alphabet before giving it back.

"Luna," she said.

A rustle in the leaves echoed in the night. The being raised its weapon towards the source of the noise, setting the parchment down away from the fire. For a moment, all was quiet save for the occasional crackle of the fire. Then, a pack of timberwolves began to reveal themselves, eyes glowing a haunted green as they began to surround the two of them. The being looked confident, calling out into the night, causing the wooden creatures to attack.

The sound was deafening. The being didn't even flinch as the weapon exploded in her hands, flames discharging from the hollowed end. The timberwolf fell to scrap wood instantly, its body violently exploding like a firework. Two more, this pair with scorch marks on their sides, lunged from opposite directions, attempting to pincer the being.

Their maneuver failed spectacularly as the being jumped up into the air, and then again in midair without a flap of wings or any recognizable magic. The weapon exploded again, and both timberwolves were consumed in a fiery explosion.

Then one more explosion from the weapon, and one explosion behind her. Luna whipped around to see a timberwolf be annihilated behind her. Three more attempted to attack her, but Luna brought her shield up in time for the wolves to smack their faces against hard metal. But before she could cast an offensive spell, a strange noise sounded from off to the left.

It sounded much like a modern vacuum cleaner spinning up for a brief moment, and then the sound of heavy rain on stone. A spray of glowing orange tore through all three timberwolves, piercing them with ease. As the beams of light faded, the timberwolves burned away within seconds, leaving not even ash behind, as though their very existence had been consumed by the fire. In the beings hand was another of its strange weapons, a little bigger than the first, enough to be carried with both hands in different places on it.

The being inspected the surroundings, and upon seeing that the threat was neutralized, set its weapon down and returned to the fire, flipping its slice of hydra tail over to cook the other side.

Luna hesitantly relaxed. In the span of five seconds, this being had eliminated seven timberwolves, four of which had been targeting her. "What harsh world requires warriors as skilled as you?" Luna asked softly as she sat back down, knowing the being wouldn't understand her.

After a few more minutes, the being plucked the meat from the rack, and skewered both pieces on knives, holding one out to her as an offering. Luna smiled and shook her head, pulling another apple from her saddlebag.

The being shrugged and began munching on the skewered meat, still reading over the parchment. After eating, the figure reached into a pouch on their belt, and removing some kind of stylus. With a small click, they began to write on the parchment.

Luna waited with bated breath. Did the creature know it was an alphabet? Was it inscribing some translation spell? Could it perform such magic? It had performed some kind of spell with ultimate suppression, so it stood to reason that a translation spell would be within this creatures repertoire. As the parchment was handed back, Luna saw the alien symbols, and looked them over closely.

She mimicked the creature's gesture, pointing to them and then at the page, floaking it back over. They wrote a couple of the previous symbols and handed it back, saying a word in their native tongue.

The excitement of interacting with this being made her heart race. The possibilities of what knowledge they could share, how pony society could change, the technology that could emerge, it all made her feel like she was flying. She retrieved another piece of parchment and began drawing a small picture. It showed herself and the creature leaving the forest, then getting on a train, arriving in canterlot, and meeting with herself and her sister, and one Twilight Sparkle.

She passed the page over to the being and looked at them hopefully. As they inspected the page, they began to speak to the floating shape over their shoulder. After a couple minutes of this, the being shook their head side to side, turning the page over and drawing something else.

The new image depicted Luna leaving back to Canterlot by train, then returning with her sister and Twilight to the forest, with the figure still being by the fire. It also added a diagram of the sun and moon both at the horizon.

Luna nodded to the being, accepting the terms of the next meeting. With that, Luna packed up her belongings, and pulled her saddlebags onto her back. With a bow, the princess spread her wings and took off into the waning night.