Jean was unsure what to make of the situation. He had just been saved from certain death by a Green Lunar. A race he was certain had gone extinct along with his own and Ma'alefa'ak was the only survivor, much like he was of his own kind. Not only that, but according to what he had learned in the past few days, their kinds hated each other and yet here was this youngling who not only saved him from the golems, but also seemingly managed to cure him of Ma'alefa'ak's virus.

The young mare scanned Jean’s body with her x-ray vision and saw his organs being cleared of the disease. “You’re going to recover soon. I never tried this formula on a White Lunar before, but you have a stronger immune system than us. It should be able to do the trick.” Jean was glad to hear that, but he still felt a little uneasy. He had a lot of questions but fortunately, a lot of time for them as well. The newcomer must have sensed his confusion as well and she wasted no time in beginning the explanation.

"My name is Mor'ng Mizzt." The young girl began as she sat down next to the recovering White Lunar and began to tend to his wounds. "And yes, I am a Green Lunar but right now, we have more important things to worry about than the past grievances between our kinds." Jean knew right away what she was talking about.

"Ma'alefa'ak..." He growled. Mor'ng nodded.

"He's the reason I've been trapped in here for who knows how long. I’ve lost track of time and I wager it won't be long before my sanity follows suit if I didn't meet you. Together, we may just stand a chance at getting out of here and take that bastard down!" Jean flinched, he wasn't used to someone so young using such language. But like she said they had bigger concerns right now.

"Are there any other Green Lunars left?" He wondered out loud. Mor'ng briefly flinched and it became obvious Jean touched a sore topic, but she quickly got over it.

"Not to my knowledge." She replied before going back to treating Jean's wounds. "If they're out there, they obviously don't want to be found. I was among one of the last of the group of survivors before Ma'alefa'ak found us." Jean's eyes widened as he recognised the magnitude of those words. If she was the only one, that meant she had to witness all those other survivors perish. No wonder she was so bitter.

"Were you infected as well?" Mor'ng nodded.

"Ma'alefa'ak sought us out and promised us a cure. He said he would save our race. We trusted him with our lives. We allowed him to perform all sorts of experiments on us, claiming that he was going to find a cure. But when his test subjects started dying, those of us left became suspicious of him." She explained, becoming so emotional that she accidentally bruised the wound she was tending, making Jean hiss in pain.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Mor'ng apologised, her eyes widening in concern. "I didn't mean to, I just get so riled up when I'm talking about it! Are you OK?" Jean's wound still stung pretty badly, but for Mor'ng's sake, he tried to put on a brave face. She actually looked far more like the innocent little filly that she was in age as she looked up at Jean in worry. It was honestly so cute he couldn't help but smile at it.

"I am fine." He reassured her. "What happened next?" Mor'ng's face immediately turned sour again as she continued the story.

"The survivors decided to find out what he was really up to. Since I was even younger and smaller than I am now, I could easily move around his lab undetected and I managed to steal his research files. That’s where I learned the tricks of making these from.” She said, showing Jean the various vials of chemical substances in her bag. “And it also contained the terrible truth. The bastard wasn't trying to find a cure! He was using us as test subjects to create his genocide virus against the White Lunars!" This revelation horrified Jean.

"He did not spare even his own kind of the abomination he created?" He asked in both shock and disgust. "And to think he had the nerve to refer to himself as the saviour of the Green Lunars!"

"In his own twisted kind of way, he will be." Mor'ng continued. "If he carries out what he has planned." Jean gave Mor'ng an inquisitive look and he didn't even need to ask her to elaborate. "I was the only survivor of Ma'alefa'ak's experiments. It turned out, I wasn't infected with the virus. He went as far as to theorise that he and I were the last healthy Green Lunars in existence. So he was going to use me to repopulate our home with Green Lunars."

For a few moments, Jean's mind completely shut down as he processed what the yongster's words implied. Just when he thought there was no depth Ma'alefa'ak's depravity couldn't sink to, he managed to prove him wrong. The genocidal Green Lunar's insanity knew no limits. He was an enemy to life itself and he needed to be stopped at all costs. But there was one more thing he didn't understand.

"But if he needs you to... do that, why are you down here?" He wondered.

"Well, as you might expect, I wasn't very open to participate in his plans. Or to be precise, I told him he was a crazy sack of shit and spat in his eye. So to make me more cooperative, he threw me in here until I changed my mind." Jean wasn't even surprised at this point that Ma'alefa'ak was soulless enough to do this to a child.

"How long have you been down here?" Mor'ng just shrugged.

"Like I said, I lost track of time so it must have been pretty long. I had to fight off these undead abominations ever since and run for the food rations the bastard threw down here to keep me alive, so I had bigger things to worry about." She finished her tale as she wrapped up one of Jean's wounds and moved on to the next. She frowned when she saw just how deep the wound was.

"I'm gonna have to cauterize this wound before it becomes infected." She said. "Brace yourself, this is gonna hurt." It wasn't gonna bother Jean as he was quite used to hurting by now. In fact, he was already hurting rather badly anyway, but before he could reassure Mor'ng, the young Lunar already heated up her eyes to clean the wound. Jean screamed in agony. Even though the process only lasted a few seconds, it was still more than he was prepared for.

"There." Mor'ng nodded. "You should be fine now." She said before sitting down next to Jean.

"Your powers still function down here?" Jean asked.

"Yeah, the Chamber of the Ancients was built upon a giant volcano on this moon. It has the same effect as fire, stripping all White Lunars of their powers. But the Green ones don't have this weakness." She then used her x-ray vision to check how Jean healed on the inside. "It should still take your wounds about an hour to fully heal, even with your Lunar immune system. We'll have to wait. Fortunately, we have all the time in the world being stuck in this hole."

Jean was glad to hear that. After everything that happened in the past few hours, he will be all too happy to just sit down and rest for a while. And he also needed some time to process everything that just happened and everything he just learned. He looked down at the small Green Lunar sitting next to him who returned his gaze curiously.

"You are a very strong and brave young mare, Mor'ng." Jean said with a fond smile. "Thank you for saving my life." Mor'ng wasn't sure how to respond. She wasn't used to compliments like that unless they were spoken with irony, but she could tell Jean was genuine. It actually felt very good.

"I never heard anyone talk to me like that before." She replied as she cast her head down with a sad expression. "Especially not a White Lunar."

"I am sorry to hear that." Jean said empathically, placing a hoof onto Mor'ng's shoulder. "But I can tell you one thing. Our races may be gone, but so is the animosity between them. You and I have no reason for hostility towards each other. We are just two creatures forced into the same situation by a common enemy."

"Indeed." Mor'ng conceded his point. "White or Green doesn't matter anymore. What matters is, is getting out of here and putting an end to that maniac's schemes." Jean smiled, happy that he was able to lift the youngster's spirits.

"And once this is over, our triumph could mark a new beginning. The beginning of a new friendship between the White and the Green Lunars. A better future for both of them." His second attempt at lifting her spirits ended up having the opposing effect.

"I hardly think there is a future left for either of them." She replied bitterly. "You and I are the only ones left." The hopelessness in her voice crushed Jean's soul. He tried to think of something reassuring to say, but he couldn't come up with any.

Then he remembered Supermare. The Mare of Steel was the last living member of her kind, just like he and Mor'ng were of their own. And yet, he never saw her losing her hope in her future. Not only that, but she managed to become the symbol of hope for all of Equestria. Jean had no idea how she did it, but if she could keep her hope in preserving her race's future, then so could they.

"Never lose hope, Mor'ng." Jean told her. "I learned this from the bravest and strongest creature I know. Just like us, she is the last of her kind, but she believes that simply by existing and doing good in her adopted homeworld, she ensures the survival of her people's legacy. And by overcoming the past hatred between ours, we will set an example to the rest of the world too. That will be our legacy." His speech did seem to have the desired effect, but Mor'ng still looked uncertain.

"I never thought of it that way but right now. I don't even want to. Before we think about the future, we have to get out of here and make Ma'alefa'ak pay!" Jean was slightly concerned about the rage and hatred Mor'ng seemed to have in her heart. But she was right, they had to get out of here.

"And how do you propose we do that?" Much to Jean's delight, this question ended up cheering up the young Lunar mare.

"Now that you're here, I believe I have a plan that might just work!" Before Mor'ng could elaborate on her plan, Jean felt a splitting headache hitting him like a speeding train. He grabbed his head and screamed in pain as he felt Ma'alefa'ak crawl back inside his head.

'Well, well, well... Looks like you discovered my little secret buried beneath the surface of the Moon!' The deranged Green Lunar told Jean telepathically. 'I can't say this was part of the plan, but it hardly matters. You won't live long enough to talk about it to anyone.' Jean eventually managed to overcome the pain and sneered hatefully as he faced the mental image of his nemesis.

'You sick, twisted, evil, savage...' He spat at him. He never thought he would be able to feel such immense hatred for any creature in his life.

'I'm sure you could go on all day, but I don't really have the time. You see, I was perfectly happy watching you slowly die in that hole but I'm afraid your discovery of Mor'ng complicates matters. I can't have you two conspire against me. You forced me to take a more active role in this little game of ours.'

Jean and Mor'ng looked up to see the roof of the chamber above their heads open up. Ma'alefa'ak slowly floating in the air until the roof was completely open before dropping down, landing with such a tremendous impact that it launched an enormous dust cloud into the air. When the dust settled, Ma'alefa'ak was delighted to see that only Jean was standing in front of him. Mor'ng was nowhere to be seen.

"How typical. She ran off like the scared little filly she is. I will deal with her later. As for you, well we had fun together, J'inn J'inzz, but I'm afraid this is where we split paths. Give my regards to your family in the afterlife."

Jean saw the Green Lunar's eyes heating up and knew what was about to happen. Since his powers were not working down here, there was only one thing he could do. He began to run just before Ma'alefa'ak unleashed the heat rays from his eyes. They were strong that when they hit the ground, they made a hole in it and sent rubble flying up into the air. Even Jean felt the impact as the shockwave caught up to him and sent him crashing against the wall.

Jean slowly got back on his hooves, just in time to see the Green Lunar about to unleash another blast. He jumped to the side but Ma'alefa'ak followed him with his gaze, maintaining the rays until he became too exhausted to keep them up. To his frustration, he still wasn't able to hit Jean, but his frustration turned into confusion when he saw the smug smirk on the White Lunar's face.

And soon he understood why. In his determination to hit him, he didn't even notice the damage he was inflicting on the wall. Nor did he notice said wall falling down on him until the very last moment. He was able to raise his hooves above his head just in time to hold it up, but Jean reacted faster than him and jumped on top of the wall to stomp it down on Ma'alefa'ak.

The Green Lunar lost his balance from the impact and the fallen wall crashed right on top of him before he could phase through it. He quickly recovered though and broke through the stone, shattering it to pieces and sending Jean flying. Ma'alefa'ak was now positively furious. He picked up one of the pieces of the broken wall and hurled it towards Jean.

The White Lunar managed to dodge, but Ma'alefa'ak continued to throw the stone pieces at him and eventually managed to hit him, sending him across the room. Jean groaned in pain as he struggled to get up and saw Ma'alefa'ak slowly approaching him. The Green Lunar reached down and grabbed his cape before pulling him onto his back.

"I'm going to strangle you with your own cape." Ma'alefa'ak snarled. All the cockyness and taunting were gone from his voice, replaced by pure malice and insane anger. He wrapped the fabric around Jean's neck and was about to make good on his threat, but Jean had enough strength left in him to headbutt him in the muzzle, making him stumble back and let go of him.

When Ma'alefa'ak recovered, he saw Jean running back towards the labyrinth. "Oh no, you don't!" He screamed as he reached out, stretching one of his hooves forward to grab Jean. He managed to reach his hind legs and was about to pull him back into the chamber, but Jean grabbed the elongated appendage and gave it a strong pull.

Ma'alefa'ak lost his hoofing on the ground and fell forward, flat on his face. He tried to pull his hoof back, but Jean got a firm grip on it. Before he had a chance to phase it out of his grasp, the White Lunar smirked as he began to spin around, twirling Ma'alefa'ak around with such strength that he managed to lift him off the ground.

After a few rotations on his own axis, Jean finally worked up enough strength to carry out his next strike. He pulled on Ma'alefa'ak's stretched hoof and smashed him into the floor, making a deep crater in it and sending another cloud of dust into the air. It was the Green Lunar's turn to groan in pain as he slowly pulled himself together. So slowly in fact that by the time he got back on his hooves, Jean was nowhere to be seen.

"You think you can escape me?!" Ma'alefa'ak roared in fury. "You idiot! Have you forgotten that I have full access to your mind? I can sense your every thought! Wherever you run off to, it's only a matter of time before I track you down!" He immediately began his mental search of the entire labyrinth, but strangely enough, he couldn't pick up Jean's mind activity anywhere.

This greatly confused him. Jean's mind was his playground ever since he first arrived on Equus. He was completely defenseless against his mental manipulation. How could he have learned to shield his mind against him so quickly? If he wasn't so enraged right now, he would have probably given this more thought, but right now, all he cared about was finding Jean and putting him out of his misery.

"You can run, but you can't hide." Ma'alefa'ak growled as he ran into the labyrinth himself. The walls didn't stop him. He could phase through them like they weren't even there. And with his x-ray vision, he would also be able to see Jean no matter where he was hiding. So why wasn't he seeing him anywhere?

"Where are you hiding, you worm?!" He roared in frustration. His sanity was beginning to slip away more and more every second. He phased through another wall only to find himself facing a large horde of revenants.

"Out of my way, you undead freaks!" He screamed before torching them all with his heat vision. The undead screeched as they were reduced to a crisp, with the exception of one of them. One which was merely sent crashing against the wall.

Ma'alefa'ak's eyes widened. This should not have happened. It was almost like that one revenant was heat resilient, which was unimaginable, given they were resurrected White Lunars. Unless...

"You..." Ma'alefa'ak snarled. The revenant got back on its hooves as its body began to change shape, eventually morphing into the form of Mor'ng Mizzt. The young Green Lunar smirked smugly at the older one, delighted at how she managed to fool him. She could only hope she managed to buy Jean enough time to do his part.

Ten minutes earlier...

Jean was still wiping his eyes to clear them from the dust. But he had to admit, it served as an excellent diversion for him to slip away while Mor’ng assumed his form to distract Ma’alefa’ak. He just hoped she would last long enough for him to do his part. With the roof opened, he had the means to jump out undetected and he was once again roaming the unending plains of the lunar surface.

With Mon’ng’s cure burning the disease away from his body and him getting away from the Chamber, he finally felt his powers returning to him. But he was still too weak to fly, so he had to use his strength to leap across the Moon like a giant rubber ball. He felt better than he did in a long time. And he needed to be at his absolute best for what was about to come.

‘Mor’ng, can you hear me?’ He asked the young Green Lunar telepathically.

‘Loud and clear!’ She replied. ‘The psychic channel I established between our minds works perfectly.’

‘Indeed!’ Jean admitted. ‘And thank you for teaching me how to block Ma'alefa'ak psychic invasion attempts. It is going to be refreshing to have that fiend out of my head.’

‘If you want to thank me, do your part. Find that bastard’s lab and shut it down! And quickly if possible. I don't know how long I'll be able to keep this maniac distracted!’ Mor’ng urged him before the link was disconnected. Jean could only pray for the safety of the young mare, but her distress gave him proper motivation to go on.

He had a creature to save and whenever that was the case, he always managed to push himself beyond his limits. This time was no different. When Jean landed after his last jump, he knew he was going to have to take flight to accomplish his task, even if his body was not quite ready for it yet.

His hind legs tightened and he shot himself up like a rocket, reaching forward and putting his body in a horizontal position. The next thing he knew, he saw the craters of the lunar surface pass beneath him at great speed. He noted with satisfaction that with his current speed, he would be able to find the location Mor’ng sent him to in no time.

Ma’alefa’ak’s laboratory was located in an underground bunker in a very specific location. In preparation for Jean’s arrival, he covered the entire place with lead so his x-ray vision would be useless in finding it. He’s going to have to follow Mor’ng’s clues to find it. The young mare didn’t know it’s exact location, but during her stay at the facility, she saw a map displaying its location from above.

It was in a valley surrounded by a mountain of very particular shape. The Lunars called it the Valley of the Beast as it resembled the head of a giant dragon opening its mouth to consume its prey. Meanwhile the facility was built in the shape of the head of a small Lunar stallion from the front. Ma'alefa'ak’s attempt at being symbolic no doubt.

As Jean expected, locating such a peculiar mountain was very easy. But then the actual problem presented itself, the valley was huge and according to Mor’ng, the facility was rather small in comparison. Jean could spend days roaming the valley before finding anything.

Jean refused to let this deter him however. He made his civilian disguise in the shape of a detective. It was time to live up to that title. He floated above the valley, trying to find the most suitable location for the laboratory. Its shape and its location were obviously meant to be symbolic, so from a symbolic viewpoint, where would the place of the entrance make the most sense?

As he analysed the rock formations, he noticed an interesting shape in the depth of the valley at the point that resembled the dragon's throat. As he landed there, the rock’s shape began to stand out even more. Among the very patternless and randomly placed rocks, this looked like it was almost manually shaped in the form of a large dome. Jean knocked on its side and the metallic sound immediately gave away the rock’s exact nature.

Having no time to search for the entrance, Jean decided to improvise. He phased through the rock and descended down the staircase behind it. He found himself in a large round hall that he guessed served as the entrance hall, but as he walked further, he discovered that it served another purpose.

A loud alarm system went off inside the facility, sensing that Jean entered without the proper procedure. All around him, several large cannons emerged from beneath the floor. Apparently, despite supposedly being the last living creature on the Moon, Ma'alefa'ak still didn't neglect his defenses.

Jean immediately flew at one of them to dismantle it, but to his dismay, he noticed that the weapons were shooting fire. Ma'alefa'ak either didn't want to take any chances with any potential surviving White Lunars or he installed these specifically for him after he brought him back to the Moon. Whatever the case, he had to think of something quickly.

Before the flames could reach him, he managed to phase under the floor and reemerge behind one of the cannons. He grabbed it and redirected its fire towards the other cannons, overheating them and rendering them inoperational. He then tore the last remaining cannon out of the floor before shattering it.

His path into the facility was now clear and he quickly reached his destination, but his momentary joy over that fact was short lived when he faced the horrors that awaited him inside. The interior looked less like a laboratory and more of a slaughterhouse. Rotting carcasses of both White and Green Lunar stallions, mares and even foals were hanging from the ceiling, gutted, beheaded and in some cases flayed. Their organs and body parts being stored in jars among several notes and vials.

There were also bodies and organs of several other creatures, some of them Jean was certain weren't able to survive on the Moon. Ma'alefa'ak had to drag them here from other worlds to use them in his sick experiments. To think that he could have done the same to ponies from Equus made Jean's stomach turn.

This atrocity needed to be ended and Jean was finally in the position to do just that. He unleashed heat waves from his eyes, setting everything inside the laboratory on fire before exiting the room. After a few minutes of searching, he found what he was looking for. The main control room of the facility. He couldn't be sure it had what he was looking for but it was worth a try.

He checked the computers, making sure to erase all of the research data before finding what he was looking for, a self destruct mechanism. He wasn't sure why Ma'alefa'ak would bother with this as an outbreak wouldn't have been a cause for much alarm on a dead world, but he wasn't complaining. All he had to do was activate it and get the hay out there.

“Where is he?!” Ma'alefa'ak roared into Mor’ng’s face as he held the young Green Lunar up by her collar. “Where did he run off to?!” But Mor’ng wasn't intimidated in the slightest.

“He's putting an end to your insanity as we speak.” She replied simply. Ma'alefa'ak was confused at first, but eventually the meaning of her words became clear. Mor’ng smirked in satisfaction as his eyes widened in horror. Seeing that expression alone was a victory for her. “That's right. Say goodbye to your twisted little life's work, you bastard! Your schemes end today.” Ma'alefa'ak’s shock quickly turned into fury, but eventually he calmed down and shot Mor’ng an amused smile. Much to her confusion and unease.

“That may be so, you little race traitor. But if I'm going down, I'm taking both of you down with me.” Mor’ng rolled her eyes.

“Oh, really? How?” Ma'alefa'ak’s smile widened.

“Have you ever seen the true form of a Lunar being?” Mor’ng’s confused stare was all the answer he needed. “I thought not. I don't think many Green Lunars have. It was one more privilege the Whites kept from us. Well, my dear, in the last minutes of your meaningless little life, I'm going to grant you that privilege. And before I extinguish both you and your new friend's lights, you will witness the true glory being a Green Lunar!”

Author's Note

Hello, everypony!

The second to last chapter of The Lunar Hunter is finished! Next time, it's the epic conclusion and the final showdown between Jean and Ma'alefa'ak. Until then, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Tune in for the final chapter and the epilogue in...

Issue #10: Lunar Eclipse