Back on Duty

Luna made sure to fly slowly enough so that she and her escort of pegasi guards didn't exhaust themselves. She knew some of what to expect and needed them in fighting shape at the end of their search. She glanced back to make sure her magic still held and smiled in satisfaction when she spotted a faint, translucent outline around each of them. Her gaze lingered a few seconds more, marking the graceful, yet powerful curves on each lithe form. Every one of those stallions was hoof-picked by her from the whole of Equestria. The sergeant, for example, came all the way from the Crystal Empire where he'd been Shining's Armor top graduate a year prior.

True, she had Eli, but the Princess was of the opinion that it couldn't hurt to look, and it certainly didn't hurt that what she saw was good-looking. Since guards were a necessary evil in Canterlot, if only to keep up appearances, then they might as well be pleasant appearances. Besides, she'd endured enough of Celestia's little jokes about her human lover to have earned this small indulgence. It wasn't as if she'd ever cheat on Eli.

The eight she'd picked for this mission were her finest and fastest. Their destination, their target, was far away, so they were all pegasi. They didn't need unicorns, not when she was there.

Once again she rechecked the magical shields around them. The barriers she'd created would let slow things pass through, but repel anything else, including magic. It wouldn't do much good against traditional weapons or even arrows, but here was where human weaponry actually helped her. The Earth movies she'd watched with Eli had been most useful, after all. A few times her older sister Celestia had teased her about them, but now they were a source of inspiration.

Perhaps she would not encounter humans today, just like she hadn't found them yesterday, or the day before that, but it couldn't hurt to be prepared. The unexplored forests to the East were quite vast and incredibly dense. They could easily be hiding an ambush. Most importantly, the forests were completely uncharted. Well, officially, at least. Smoke Puff had said Silvermane and his human masters travelled this way sometimes to...

She didn't allow herself to think 'trade slaves', but the anger from the thought was still there. Her mouth tightened and her speed increased unconsciously, even as Luna wrenched her mind away.

Strange how ponies had never ventured this way in the thousands of years of their civilization, the mare mused. Then again, looking down, the jungle looked pretty impenetrable and unforgiving. A kind of place that put Everfree to shame. Yet her reports said that there was a settlement. Well, 'settlement' was a strong word. Spring Morning, whatever her changeling name was, had described it as a patch of cleared forest with semi-permanent tents. There was supposedly one wooden building, but nothing more substantial. She had even provided the direction and distance, after some... well, 'prompting'.

Luna closed her eyes and let her senses expand all the way to the horizon. She was searching for a specific feeling, a point of strong magical energy. She knew what to look for because she'd taken a detour around the Earth portal to see how it felt. This second one had to be very much like the first, Luna reasoned.

Nothing.

Perhaps she was still too far. She opened her eyes and looked around. There was no ocean to see anymore. The place where this unexplored continent touched Equestria was a narrow strip of land, caught between two masses of water like in a vice, but it had since expanded and pushed the seas away. There was nothing but forest as far as the eye could see before her, and an odd glimmer to her South. Perhaps a desert, or something stranger still. Towards North she could see a brighter patch of snow jutting up from the forest. It looked just like the tips of the Frozen North, the peaks against which the Crystal Empire nestled. Luna guessed that the very same mountain range continued all this way, perhaps even forming a ring around the whole planet. She knew there was a sea passage to the North Pole up from the Celestial Sea, as a heroic explorer had proved nearly a century back. She had to think back to her hasty lessons of recent history with Celestia to come up with a name. Muddy Road, yes. An earth pony with a crew of fifteen sailors, including a unicorn who could decisively prove that they'd reached the exact pole by measuring the magical leylines.

The Princess shook her head in annoyance. She ought to be paying more attention to where they were flying, and how fast, rather than reminiscing about strange tidbits of lore. She slowed and let her escort catch up. There were some things pegasi were better at than even alicorns.

"Sergeant, how far?" she asked.

Luna had asked the same question at least four times each day, marking off the distance on her mental map.

"Five and a half days normal flight, ma'am," the colt replied. His voice was absolutely certain. She'd tasked him and another of his subordinates of keeping a close track. The distance was five and a half, but they'd covered it in a little under four days. Such was the navigational skill of her officers that they could work out their relative speed and translate it into something usable. She beamed at the colt with pride and almost giggled when her smile made him blush. Young, to have achieved that post, but then again all the ponies around her were young. Mere infants, when compared to Celestia and herself.

"Thank you... Moon Glow," she said, foregoing the title just to see how much she could fluster him.

His unusual name was perhaps as much a reason she'd demanded for his transfer to Canterlot as was his military skill. Her eyes lingered on that flank a little longer and Luna changed her mind. That crystal-sparkling blue-violet coat was the real reason, actually.

Spring Morning, the changeling, had given an approximation of five days' pegasus flight from the borders of Equestria to the portal, but the mare hadn't been entirely sure. Changelings flew differently than ponies, so it had to be taken with a grain of salt in either case. She had obviously underestimated, but that was okay. The worse possibility was that Luna had missed the direction, which would mean backtracking. That was the reason she tried to sense the portal to either side as much as in front. If she covered a wide enough swath, being slightly off course wouldn't matter.

"Let's keep going. Don't push yourselves and yell if you get too tired. We might have a battle on our hooves before the end of the day."

The sergeant gave a strong flap with his wings to push himself higher and used the momentum to give her a smart wing salute, before continuing the precise, even pace of his flight.

Luna focused inward once more. She tried to expand her area of awareness, even though it lost precision. The portal was powerful enough that she should be able to-

"There!"

She angled herself into a new direction and sped up. A rush of adrenaline flushed away any traces of fatigue she might have felt, even after days of constant flying and nights of restless sleep.

Her guard adjusted their heading and matched her wing beats easily, eyes already scanning into the distance.

There was nothing to see just yet, not until they got a little closer, but Luna was certain. Now that she'd felt it, the place shone like a beacon in her mind.

"One hour, sergeant," she called behind her, muzzle already splitting into an eager grin. "We land and rest at thirty minutes, then we fly fast. We show them what the Night Guard can do!"

A cheer erupted from eight throats, a cry of boasting and anger. The humans wouldn't know what hit them.

After they had rested, and ate, and drank their fill, Luna gathered her troop around her to explain her plan. She had gone over it, at least in general terms, with the sergeant, but now it was time to enact it.

"Good. Gather up, everypony," she called to them.

They clustered together in front of her in a loose semicircle, so she could look them all in their eyes. Despite all her precautions, there was a real possibility that some of them might not make it back. Luna wanted to see their faces, burn them into her memory. She would have to live with what happened and she was not about to shirk her duty. There was a reason she was called the 'Warrior Princess' and today was the day to re-affirm that title.

"You might have noticed there was a magical bubble around each of you while we flew. There is a reason for that."

Not one of them had questioned, of course, but the eyes looking back at her were curious. In some of them, there was grim determination.

"This is because the humans have weapons you haven't seen before. Their guns can shoot small pellets of metal with tremendous speed and accuracy. I did not want to take any chances."

There could have been forward scouts or a guard even before she felt the portal. Luna didn't think so, based on Spring Morning's description of how lazy these criminals were, but it paid to be careful. Not one among her guard batted an eyebrow or flicked a tail at this news. She couldn't help but smile with pride.

"There may be worse things - weapons which explode or spout flame. I will renew your shields before we attack, but come seek me out if they weaken," she instructed, then glanced at the officer. "Sergeant?"

He cleared his throat. They'd agreed that this part would be best explained by him, since Luna was rather rusty at hoof-to-hoof fighting. She'd been relying on her magic her whole life.

"Alright, troops," the brisk, no-nonsense voice rang out. "When we engage the enemy, fly at them and fly fast. Hooves forward, the sooner you put them out of action, the safer for us all." He pointed a hoof around the semi-circle. "You and you, you're with Corporal Heat Lightning. Your job is to take out solitaries or pairs." Then he picked out a glossy, black colt. "Velvet, you're with me. We watch the Princess' back!"

The chosen ponies saluted, but Moon Glow wasn't done yet. "The remaining three will be flying perimeter. Pick off any stragglers but don't expose yourself. Keep a watch on any of them fleeing into the forest or reinforcements coming out of it. We don't want any surprises!"

There were more salutes all around and the sergeant grunted in approval. "Good. Evasive action as we fly in. The Princess will protect us against guns and explosions, but any hit we evade makes it easier for her."

This time it was Luna who nodded her agreement. Each hit that impacted their shields would leech away a tiny bit of their magic. She was confident it wouldn't be a problem, but she was no Shining Armor.

"Remember," she broke in, "there may be captives, both humans and ponies. Furthermore, there may be ponies helping the humans, so use your discretion. If you aren't sure, knock them out or point them out to me and I will stun them. We can apologize later."

Once more the squad saluted, wingtips touching foreheads in perfect unison.

"We fly straight for the portal. We must prevent any of them from going through and fetching help. That will be my job."

She would have to seal the portal off somehow, or raise some kind of a barrier to prevent both humans fleeing through it, and reinforcements coming the other way. It would have to be creative, though, since there were likely unicorns with the enemy. One particular bit of ancient magic came to mind and the Princess shuddered just thinking about it. It was dangerous, but it should do the trick. Most importantly, it wouldn't need her constant concentration.

"We will fly low and fly fast. Weave through treetops. Make no noise. I don't want them to know we are upon them until it is too late, understand?"

There was a resounding "Yes, ma'am!"

She looked over at Moon Glow to see if he had anything to add. The sergeant barked an order: "Ateeeen- shun! Check your equipment! Two magical-dampening nets, each. Two bolas, each. Hoofguards. Armor. Helmet."

There was a clattering as each guard felt around their person for the mentioned items. A few of them pulled their helmets off and inspected them.

Heat Lightning, Moon Glow's second in command, watched the proceedings and when he was happy with the results he turned to face the sergeant. "All ready, sir!"

Moon Glow turned and gave Luna a nod.

"Then let's go!"

She crouched and jumped, bringing her wings down in a swift, strong first flap like a thunderclap. She rose quickly to just below treetops and turned to zone in directly at the portal. There was near absolute silence behind her as the rest of the pegasi flew up and established a formation behind her. A wedge with her in the head. Luna knew they would hold rank precisely until battle was joined. She turned her next wing flap backwards and pushed ahead, heart pumping with the thrill.

Sometimes it was a damned shame there were no wars in today's Equestria. She hadn't realized how much she missed this rush, this contest of wits and strength and agility.
It really made her feel alive and it took an effort not to yell out her battle-cry.