Star-Strider

Luna flew over the night-lit land with the four pegasi of her night guard around her. They flew silently and kept their distance as normal for most ponies around the princesses. Sure feel safe with twenty meters of open air between us. The fact she had an escort at all frustrated her. She was one of the most powerful ponies in Equestria. In the same thought, she was endeared that Star Strider had insisted she take them. In the midst of all the chaos that surrounded their current situation, Luna was trying to express herself to Star Strider more and more every day. She had never been the ‘touchy-feely’ type and didn’t want to be. Star Strider wasn’t either, but their conversation about being unapologetic for their feelings sat in Luna’s mind daily. Growing up in a magical family with powerful users around her did much to impress a stoic disposition on her and her sister. When they gained their wings, the two had become less of individual ponies and more templates for the population to project their expectations on. And ever since Nightmare Moon, they think me the sad and lonely one. She had never complained about being left to herself. The centuries of solitude had shaped her as such. But being around Star Strider, a pony who had no previous expectations of her royalty, she felt free to be herself. That is what I’ve been waiting for. She sighed openly as she flew through the winds.

“Say something, your majesty?” One of the guards ahead turned and spoke. She was caught off by his abrupt response.

“Huh? Oh, no. Sorry just… thinking.” She flashed him a grin. You look so dumb right now.

“No worries ma’am. We’re approaching our destination.” Luna looked down towards the base of a small mountain on the border of the forest. Resting just outside the tree line was Starswirl’s little cabin. Just the way we left it last time.

The five of them touched down in front of the porch. “Spread yourselves through the cabin, but not too far. Earshot of one another. It isn’t a large building anyway; our search will be done shortly.” The Colonel of the guards ordered as they spread forward.

“Remember, we’re looking for anything about the forest. Anything. Just try not to tear the place up.” Luna shouted after them as they rushed inside. She began circling the cabin to look for signs of danger or hidden vaults. Starswirl had moved into this cabin shortly after defeating the pony of shadows and returning his old friend to his former self. Luna and her sister had been fairly consistent writing him but failed to visit enough to remember any key features of his cabin. A loud bang sounded from the window she was outside of. No doubt a clumsy pegasi wing. “Hey! Careful in there that isn’t our stuff!” She tapped on the window and looked inside. Empty? He must have moved on quick. She continued tracking around the cabin until she arrived back to the porch. The Colonel was still outside, observing the tree line intently as though he saw something. “Anything Colonel?”

“No ma’am, they haven’t come out yet. Not so much as a holler. I’m thinking this may be fruitless if you don’t mind my saying.”

“I’m starting to feel the same way.”

Another crash was heard from a room. Luna rolled her eyes and started inside.

“I said, stop breaking things—”

“MA’AM!” The Colonel shouted and tackled her to the ground as one of the guards stabbed a spear directly at her. It cut across the Colonel’s back as he cried out in pain. Luna rolled out from under him as another guard grabbed her from behind. She reared her head back, smacking into his face with enough force to her his nose crack. His grip didn’t loosen. She brought one of her front legs forward and elbowed his gut as hard she could, earning a grunt from the guard. She felt his grip break slightly and she took advantage of it. Dropping her full body weight, she broke his hold and turned as she kicked him in the chest. He fell backwards and crashed over a table. Papers flew in all directions as she spun to face her other aggressor. The Colonel was grappling with one of the guards, and only then did Luna notice the eyes. “They’ve been taken!” The murky eyes and glowing marks on their flanks indicated that the sinister beast was nearby. She panicked as she realized that if she was taken, things could go very south for Star Strider very fast. “Colonel! Break and move out of here now! We have to go!”

“Princess!” A new voice sounded to her left. It was one of the earlier guards. He was dragging himself across the floor, blood clearly coming from a deep wound on his stomach. He held a thick, brown journal in one hoof and threw it to Luna. “The map! It’s… a map.” His head dropped as he undoubtedly passed from blood loss. Luna caught the book, but as she did, she felt the sting of a spear cutting across her cheek. She hissed as she fell back from the guard who had recovered from his kicking. He brought the spear down to impale her exposed chest, but she kicked upwards and shattered the neck of it. The loss of mass made the guard stumble onto Luna. She brought her horn to bear, intending to cast a spell. It came too late. The guard fell directly onto her horn. She felt it sink into his chest and the blood began to flow down. The deadweight of the guard was proving to be more difficult to move than she expected.

She heard the grunts of the Colonel struggling against the other guard. She finally teleported herself out from under the body and sprang to a fighting stance. She turned to see the Colonel’s head being wrapped by the other guard. He was groaning as though he was fighting against something. To her horror, she watched as his eyes rolled back and filled with the same murkiness as the others. His cutie mark turned into the sickening blue glow of the Lichen. His groans stopped as the other guard released him, and they both marched toward Luna. She saw the journal wedged underneath the dead guard she had killed and made a split-second decision. She blasted the two of them with a spell that sent them flying back as she ran towards the journal. She scooped it up and blasted through the wall in front of her. Without missing a beat, she sprung into flight as fast as she could. She turned to see the guards close in pursuit. They flew to either side of her, exhausting their bodies as they struggled to keep up. Clearly, the possession they suffered from had no regard for their physical forms. They swooped into her flight path, spreading their wings to form a net between them. Luna ducked under and shot one of the guards as she passed. He fell from the sky and cracked into the tree branches below. Luna was starting to get tired. Her wings were aching, her breath shortening, her head throbbing. I can’t keep this up much longer. One more to go. She choked on her breath as the Colonel slammed into her from above. She was sent in a spiral towards the trees, but regained control just before she hit them. That didn’t stop her right wing from clipping a taller branch. The pain shot through her whole back as she tried to keep afloat. The same fucking one, of course. She yelped out and tried to regain altitude, remembering the enemy above. The Colonel tried to slam into her again, but she rolled to her left in a graceful motion, stopping halfway to blast him. She returned to her flight pattern as she heard his sizzling body plummet out of the sky.

A few seconds past as she let herself take in what had just happened. They were taking each other. The Lichen is growing too powerful. Is this because of Twilight? Or Starswirl? Her wing suddenly reminded her that it was torn as a painful burst shot through her side. She pivoted around, grimacing to herself. The cut along her cheek started aching because of the windchill. Her body was sore from the beating and falling, her forehead became crusty from the dried blood of the guard. Oh my divines. What have I done? It sank in that she had just killed three of her four escorts and was covered in them. Her breath became shorter as she started letting anxiety take over. Spying the road into Ponyville, she set herself down just outside of the bridge. Her shaky breathes bore witness to her panicked state as she tried to regain her composure. Her wings dragged on the ground as she limped across the bridge. Something had lodged itself into her flank; no doubt a large piece of wood from the table she crashed into or a tree she brushed against.

Luna tripped over a small pebble and landed in the dust, letting out a large breath of air. She felt how tired her body was, how tired her mind was. She wanted so badly to fall asleep and let herself go. The journal was lodged between her chest and the ground, providing for a very uncomfortable reminder as to what she was supposed to do. She lifted her head to see more guards rushing towards her. Their voices were growing louder as they approached. She struggled to her feet as the first guard got to her and lifted her wing around him.

“Princess! We need to get her to the hall immediately! Send for the first responder team!”

“No… don’t.” She wheezed out, trying to carry her own weight again.

“Princess, please save your breath. You’re not in great shape.”

“No! I’m… fine. Just let me… breath a second.” She steadied herself against the guard. Folding her wings back, she lifted her head up. “I’m the princess of the night. I can handle a few cuts and bruises.”

“M’lady, I think your wing is broken again. You’ve also got a huge chunk of wood stabbing out of your leg. If you don’t get that looked at—”

“Hey! My eyes are up here!” She giggled to herself, before she started falling forward and the world went black.

Panic

Star Strider was rushing through the town with the messenger pony close behind. He couldn’t get there fast enough. Bursting through the town hall’s doors, he shouted in a voice so thunderous, the ponies around him thought the whole hall may collapse.

“WHERE IS SHE!” He hastily walked through the room. The head field medic rushed up to him to slow him down. She looked terrified.

“Sir, please. The other patients… they need to rest too!”

“Where. Is. Luna.” He pushed past her to the head curtain at the back. Drawing it away, he saw the princess of the night laying on a blood-soaked gurney, a towel over her head as her eyes were shut tight. “What happened? Is she alright? Let me use my magic, stand back.”

“Sir! Please we are handling it! She’s going to be okay, but you need to let her rest!” Star Strider breathed a moment to calm himself.

“Okay. My apologies. This is your domain. Tell me, what is her condition?”

“Lots of bruises and cuts, nothing too bad on that end. She had about a half-meter branch sticking out of her right hindquarter. We cleaned it and removed it to prevent infection. It wasn’t too deep a wound. There was a lot of blood on her head, mostly not hers. Her wing was sprained from some impact. She’ll be off of it for a while. We can’t risk more instant healing magic on the same limb without side-effects. She passed out from exhaustion. She’ll be alright.” Star Strider felt his shoulders roll back and his brow soften.

“Very good. The others she was sent with. Any signs from them?” The medic shook her head.

“Nothing. But she did come back with this.” She held up a thick, brown journal with the seal of Starswirl on it. Star Strider took it and flipped through it. Detailed pages of different trailheads with key locations were written out. Star Strider let himself smile.
“My girl. She did it! This is exactly what we needed Luna—” he turned to her sleeping form and let his smile leave his face. The medic cleared her throat.

“Ahem— she needs to rest. She’ll be up in a few hours, but you best stop shouting before you wake the whole forest up.”

“I shall stay by her side. I need to read this and be ready for her to return to consciousness.”

“Sir, you can read that elsewhere. Is there a reason you really need to be in here?”

“Because I love her.”

The nurses and corpsmen around stopped what they were doing to look at Star Strider. The head medic was silent with her mouth slightly opened. Star Strider paid them no attention as he rested his hoof on her arm and lowered his head.

“I need to know she’s okay.” The whole room shifted in a manner indicative of their awkwardness, but also endeared by the stallion’s comment. Nopony had ever been in love with Luna or Celestia, at least publicly. It reminded the ponies around that they were just as much a pony as anyone else.

The others resumed their attention, and the head medic took a few steps back.

“Very well. You can stay. If you’re quiet. Just… please, be quiet.” She drew the curtain down to leave Star Strider and Luna alone in their small area.

“I… love… too.” Luna’s dry lips cracked the words out as her eyes fluttered open for a moment. Star Strider rubbed her leg to comfort her and let her know that he heard.

“Rest up. I need you Luna.” Her sleeping face smiled softly as her body let out an exhale. Star Strider considered how panicked he had been by her injuries and laughed to himself. She gave me the best fight of my life. She should be fine. He looked back to her and traced the small cut on her face. Please.

Cosmic Sunder watched from the shadowy forest as the princess of night took off from the cabin. His minions chased her into the sky as he laughed.

Good. Fly away, little princess. Bring my foe into my domain. Feed my army for me. This world is only a few more steps away from bending to me.

He stepped through the forest and walked towards the cabin. Trailing over the corpses of the two ponies inside, he made his way to the table in a side room where he had set Starswirl’s journal. He pulled out a page hidden in his cloak, laying it on the table and burning it with his horn. As it burned, he watched the lines of a small map that indicated a large tree at the center of the forest, controlling the entire system of chaotic growth.

You may sever minor connections, but the heart shall always remain. Come into the dark. Face your desire. Embrace it. It is everything’s DESTINY.

His sickening laugh filled the empty rooms as he conjured a gateway to step back into the shadows.