Chapters The First Law
"Excellent" the man closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Upon exhaling he open them.
"Now remember the days when Discord ruled the land... exhale"
Everything looked so real. Luna was there now, she could feel the cold creeping inside her, the wind hitting her in the face, the place where the raindrop hit her hoof still hurt her.
In front of her two earth ponies tremble under a piece of tree bark. They were skinny, pieces of their coats were missing. They stopped a few feet from her, aware of the alicorn frightening aura. a strong gust of wind had blown the bark from the backs of the two ponies.
Without even thinking Luna had already reached them covering them with her wings. The rain felt like someone was dripping melted iron on her. She forced herself to smile.
The wind was even more powerful now, and Windigoes howls could be heard in the distance. The molten metal drops hitting her burned her, and the strong winds made it a very slow walk to the cave. After a long time Luna and the two finally arrived inside the cave.
“Sister i found two more” she said before collapsing.
Hours passed while she was resting. Most of the metal had hardened and had fallen off, taking chunks of her coat with them. She laid there tired and in pain feeling naked, but not cold.
With large portion of her body now without hair too keep her warm, and her magic almost depleted, she had expect to freeze. But she did not, on the contrary she was warm, It was a pleasant feeling. It reminded her of the nights she spent with her parents, before fate separated them. She did not want to move, she did not want to wake up, she just wanted to lay there a little longer.
“Luna wake up, the weather is getting worse, we need to go in deeper.”
“Yes, Lia.”
“Would you stop calling me that, we are not fillies anymore.”
She tried to moved, but saw that she was having trouble getting up. It was as if something was on her back, she turned her head to see what it was. Too her surprise the two earth ponies she had rescued earlier were sleeping by her side, keeping her warm. One of them had put her head on her back using her like a pillow.
Most of the unicorns they traveled with kept their distance from her, preferring to stay closer to Celestia, since she was warm like a summer day, while she was cold as a winters night. She had been sleeping alone for some time, and started getting used to it, but now these two stayed by her side.
"Come you two he have to get moving", she told the two as they began waking up.
“Thank you for saving us”, one of them said as they two ponies rose.
“Without your help we would have surely died in the rain.”
“We owe you our lives.”
"Think nothing of it." Luna got up, but she was wobbling.
The two ponies grabbed her from the sides and kept her up straight. The three of them slowly followed Celestia and the unicorns deeper in the cave, Celestia horn was glowing providing the group with light.
“Do you think we will be able to find any food down here?”
“We are in a cave, look around you do you see anything to eat?”
“You can always eat dirt”, one of the unicorns joked.
“Or some rocks if you want something stronger”
“Silence” Celestia commanded turning towards the bickering unicorns, they continued their descent in silence.
“Excuse us for asking, but could you tell us your name miss” one of the ponies asked Luna.
“My name is... Luna, everybody calls me Luna"
Luna was used to walking alone not having who to talk with, but these were stand next to her, it was awkward to say the least. Trying ease the tension she asked them for their names.
“We... We do not have any.”
“No names? How can that be, everypony has a name.”
“Well you see miss Luna... names are only important when you have to tell someone apart from another.”
“And since the mare that took care of us died we never meet anypony. It was the just the two us”
“So i take it you are brother and sister.”
“Honestly miss Luna we would not know."
"But we could be.”
"But we do not think we want to know."
Luna understood what they meant, by not wanting to know, and was so ashamed of herself for asking them such a question. A mare and stallion alone all their lives, and she asked them if they were siblings.
They have finally cached up with her rest of the group. The tunnel splinted into many smaller ones, and they were sitting there arguing, or debating as they wanted to call it, on which way they should go. Celestia was exhausted, she had not eaten in days, none of them had. Even the simple act of making her horn glowing was taking its toll on her. She did not have the strength to even order them around, or just tell them to be quiet.
One of the ponies raised her head and one of her front hoofs. She had left Luna's side and headed towards one of the tunnel. She digged the earth up a little.
“Can somepony get me a little light”, she asked of the unicorns, but they ignored her. Celestia stopped her spell to conserve what little energy she had left.
Luna slowly walked towards her with the assistance of the stallion and began channeling her magic. Her horn started glowing a dim blue, a few seconds later the light intensified a little but it only provide very little light.
“Does this help at all?”
“Look, is that... yes it is, now pull.”
The two grabbed on to something and started pulling with all their strength. Luna tried getting closer and noticed the two were pulling on a root. It started emerging from the grown, cracking it as the two pulled harder in order to see where it led. It seemed to continue down the tunnel.
“Sister, I think there may find food if we follow this one.”
At the mention of the magic word the unicorns started running toward the dim blue light source. They passed Luna almost knocking her down.
The two earth ponies were not so lucky, they were pushed into the walls by the hungry mob of unicorn that ran by. Celestia followed soon after briefly thanking the two ponies and moving along through the tunnel.
“Shall we?” Luna ask as she appeared and started walking alongside the two.
The tunnel was long and uneven, the floor was slippery and from place to place sharp rocks popped out the ground, making it even harder to navigate without stepping on something, hitting the walls or knocking your head into something. Several times Luna managed to lose her balance and almost fell, but the two earth ponies stood close and made sure that it did not happen. But after a while it finally ended.
They were meet by a soft green light, it took a bit for their eyes to accommodate, but as soon as they did they were able see where the tunnel had lead them.
It was a large chamber, large enough the sisters could easily fly in, large since the light was not able to illuminate the whole room. The floor was covered by millions of tiny mushrooms, all of them glowing green . From the walls crystals were protruding, they were reflected the light coming from the mysterious fungi. They assumed that the water that was dripping came the ceiling. It had gathered into a rather large puddle close to the center of the room.
Celestia and the unicorns had already began eating by the time Luna and her companions entered the room.
“Will you be alright if we leave you here?” the two asked their alicorn savior, before gently helping her lay down.
“I will be fine, you go and eat something.”
The two ate a few mushrooms before headed towards the puddle to get some water. Luna grabbed some mushroom herself.
“It is the most vile thing I have ever ate..." she said to herself while chewing them "... so why do I want to eat them all.”
The two ponies returned shortly. After they ate a couple more mushrooms and drank some water, one of them though that they should bring some water to Luna. They took a largest mushroom cap and filled it with water, and brought it before her.
She drank a little, after what seemed like weeks without food, and days without water it felt good to finally eat something and get something to quench her thirst. Falling asleep shortly after. She did not sleep for long.
After waking up she saw the two ponies beside her, just like before. Only that this time they were not sleeping, they were just standing beside her keeping her warm. The water she drank earlier was gone, as well as the cap it was in. This time, after getting up she stood straight not wobbling any more. Finally she had gotten a bit of her strength back, after stretching her wings, she turned to her new friends and smiled.
“Come lets get something to drink.” The three walked towards the puddle, the two started to pick up speed, Luna remained behind, but she did not mind, she was walking at her own pace, there was no need to hurry.
As she headed for the puddle she passed a sleeping Celestia, a cap filled with water stood beside her.
“Rest now my sister you deserve it.”
When she finally got there, she could not believe her eyes. The unicorns were all around the puddle drinking, but when the two earth ponies tried to get some, they were pushed away.
“What is the meaning of this”, she addressed one of unicorns, “why are you not letting these two drink?”
“Ah miss Luna...", the unicorn was startled by her. "Come drink, there is plenty of water for you”, at the mention of her name all the other unicorns stopped drinking and nervously took a couple of steps back.
“If there is plenty of water then why can not these two ponies get a drink?”
“These two?” the unicorns looked confused until they realized she was talking about the earth ponies.
“These... earth ponies..." some unicorn said, visible disgusted at the mere mention of the words earth ponies "they can wait till us unicorns are finished.”
She understood where he was coming from, all unicorns are taught that they are the best. The earth ponies could be stronger, the pegasi could be faster, but they were smarter. They also had magic. Sure the pegasi could walk on clouds and manipulate the winds to some degree, but nothing a pegasus did compared to a unicorns magic abilities. She understood, and her old unicorn self would have agreed, but she could not, not now. Not after how the two ponies she saved stood by her.
“I do not care what they are. I do not care what you think about them, they saved our lives, all our lives. Without them we would still be deciding what tunnel to take”, anger could be heard in her voice.
“You can let them drink with you, or you can wait for them to finish before you drink.” Luna stomped her front hoof causing the entire cave to shake, some lose pieces of crystal fell from the walls.
“Come on drink with us you two” one of the unicorn said making some room for the two. He did not like it, but he really did not have say in the matter.
"A wise choice. Any of you who treats these two badly will answer to me.“
And from that moment is was known, that anypony, be it unicorn, pegasus or earth pony were equal in her eyes.
The FIRST LAW Luna would write after founding Equestria with her sister would read :
Author's Note
The first three chapters of "The first Lunar Laws" are taken from my other story "Dreams"
Like always creative comments, plot holes identification, grammar mistakes, corrections and suggestions are welcome.
Ali what now?
Luna awaited for her friends to get a chance to drink before she even approached the puddle, only after the two had finished did she even approach the water.
Despite the light form mushroom being reflected by the crystals, there was not much of it. Most of the room was still covered in darkness.
Only when her face was inches from the waters surface she could see her reflection. What she was able to see troubled her to no end. What little remained of her coat was a lot darker than she remembered it to be, her horn was charred and was covered in small cracks, but, most frightening of all, was that a large part of her head was covered in iron. The metal covered part of her face, forehead, and it continued down the back of her neck. It was like a helmet but it also covered her face.
It wasn't the first time she was caught in the rain. While it hurt when the molten metal hit her, and the pain of it falling of her, after it had cooled, taking pieces of her coat and skin was excruciating. she would be able to heal after a few days of resting and preening. She had though it would have fallen off by now, but, the metal had hardened around the base of her horn. Forming the grotesque mask she now wore.
She turned around and notice that her once long and elegant tail was gone, her royal blue mane suffered the same fate, only small pieces of it remained. Her coat was almost gone, what she saw in it place was a burned body covered in scars and blisters. Blood was flowing from some of them, but for most of them had clotted. This both shocked and disturbed her, never actually seeing herself in that state before. She would have usually magically grown back most of her hair by the time she would have awaken but, her magic was running dangerously low.
All of it all paled in comparison with the horror of the thing on her face. She knew she could not remove it by hoof without risking damaging her horn. It would have to be magically removed. The operation was to dangerous to perform on herself. She did not know how verse the unicorns were in such advance medical magic, in fact, she had never saw them any spell more advance that an energy field for some time now, and Celestia energies reserves were in a worst state than hers. She would have had to live like that for a while.
Luna was always conscious about her looks, there was no way she would not have been. While not all unicorns were white they were the most common, her sister herself was white, even their parents were white. While the rest of them, as much as she remembered were covered in bright soft colors.
At her birth Luna's coat was blue as the sky on a clear day, but as the years passed her color gradually darken. By the time she became a full grown mare, her coat had become azure.
Both her and Celestia’s marks appeared very late in their lives, it was not easy to discover that you can control celestial bodies. She had always been marginalized because of her color and her lack of a cutie mark, Celestia had her problems too, being a blankflank at that age, but her white coat and pink mane still let her live something resembling a normal life. By the time her cutie mark appeared, the unicorns already formed their opinion about Luna, and it was not a good one.
As a filly she was known to have troubles keeping her emotions in check, and even as an adult it did not get any better. As a unicorn there was no greater shame than not being able to control her own magic. And when she was angry exactly that happened. Everypony knew to keep their distance when she was like that, eventually they kept their distance altogether.
She caused a lot of injuries during her moments of anger, not that most of them did not deserved what they got for the way they treated her. But, because of some ponies who out of stupidity or false bravado decided to pick fights with her, she became feared by all. The younger unicorns were the first, their fear quickly passed onto their parents, they spoke about it to their friends, each of them adding their little print on the story. Some stories were quickly blown out of proportion, but for the most it did not need to. Some of the spells Luna cast during her enraged mode were felt throughout the entire village, she nearly collapsed the barrier protecting them all a couple of times.
Banishment was often talked about, but Celestia and their parent managed to keep her safe, somehow, and together with her family.
During the destruction of their village at the hands of Discord Luna discovered her special talent, draining power from both the moon and the sun, she together with her sister finally drove him back, saving some of the villagers. Many lives were lost in the battle, their parents were among the ones that fell. During the battle both her and Celestia released their full unicorn powers and ascended. Their new powers and appearance caused her sister to be loved by the all those who remain, she became feared even more.
Now, years after, she finally saw herself the way the others did, a horrible monster. And it broke her heart.
She ran away from the water doing her best to remain strong, not to show that she was hurting, that she was crying. Living the room and following the tunnel that lead them there, she arrived in the room they were previously in. Convinced she was alone, she felled to the ground, placed her face on her forelegs and started to cry.
She cried for some time until two moving green dots caught her attention.
From the darkness the two green lights came closer. Luna's vision was blurred but she still managed to see them through her teary eyes. She did not care what monstrosity approached her, the way she was right now a fight would have been a welcome distraction. Anything would do. She would have done anything to take her mind from the horrible image that was haunting her mind. And if that evolved inflicting excruciating pain on another living being all the better. Even in her weakened state, with almost no magic, and her scarred body, she could still be a formidable opponent for any vile creature she knew of.
When the green dots became large enough that Luna could believe the monsters face was a few feet away she picked herself up, lowered her head so her horn would now be pointing right between the monsters eyes, spread her wings, braced herself and started gathering her magic energies around the tip of her horn. She was about to released them when she heard their voices.
“Miss Luna! Miss Luna! Where are you? Miss Luna it’s us! Are you alright?”
The two lights she moments before thought were the eyes of some unknown abomination dwelling deep within the earth, proved to be two little ponies with the caps of glow in the dark mushrooms on their heads.
They have been searching for her for a while now, and had almost given up hope of ever finding her until they saw the light emanating from Luna’s horn.
“You two. What are you doing here?” She stopped channeling her spell and the light died down.
“We saw you ran off and we were worried about you.”
“We came to see if you were alright.”
“I am fine, now leave me I wish to be alone.”
“Why would you wish to be alone miss Luna?” the mare asked her.
“You would not understand.”
“Oh miss Luna", she continued "for as long as I remember we were alone, only me and him.'
"From what we knew we could have been the last ponies alive." the stallion continued where she left off.
"We saw no creature that could talk in all that time. Your kind voice was the first one we heard in a long long time.”
“So i think we know a few things about being alone.”
They talked as if they were reading a play, the moment one of them stopped the other began to talk.
After hearing the two's story, she realized she was not as alone as she thought. Celestia had always been there for her, and while the others they traveled with feared her, at least she could hear their voices, their annoying and arrogant voices, constantly bickering or complaining about one thing or another.
And, even if they were now gone, she still had the memories of her parents and of the few friends she had while she was a filly. But these two, they had lived their entire lives only having each other, no family, no friends and no memories of either.
Compared to them she had a great life, and still these two were worried about her. She felt pathetic.
She wanted to go and hug the two, but as they go closer she remembered the reason she ran away.
“Stop, do not come any closer.”
“Miss Luna, what happened?”
“Don’t come any closer. I... I don’t want you to see me like this.”
“What is she talking about?” the mare told her companion, doing her best to keep her voice down so Luna could not hear her.
“I have no idea.” he answered, doing the same. But the acoustics of the room were so good that she could hear everything.
“I am a monster.” she said. She finally said it, it felt like she stabbed herself with a dagger.
“Oh, miss Luna. It could not be further from the truth.” one said in a sweet almost motherly voice.
“No matter how you look like you are still the same pony that risked her life saving us.”
“He is right, what truly matters is what is in here”, she said touching her chest.
Luna was startled, she did not expect the two to be so close. But after the initial scare passed she grabbed the two and hugged them, passionately. Luna's love could have broken a pegasus, or even a unicorn, luckily for the two, earth ponies were made out of sterner stuff. It hurt them a little, but they hugged her back.
“Beside, you looked like that since you saved us” the stallion said to each other, lucky Luna did not noticed.
After the moment passed and Luna stopped hugging them she got up and whipped away her tears.
“Come on you two let us get back.”
“Sure” They slowly walked back, none of them were in a hurry. Luna was lighting the way with her horn.
Since they first saw Luna standing in the caves entrance one question kept bugging them, but they were afraid to ask. They did not wanting to embarrass, or worse, to insult their savior and protector. Finally after that heartful moment, one of them mustered the courage and asked her.
“Um, miss Luna can I ask you a personal question?”
“Sure, you can ask me anything.”
“Umm, miss Luna... if you do not mind me asking, what are you called?”
Luna took a minute before responding.
“I do not understand. I already told you that my name is Luna, so I know this is not the answer you seek. What exactly are you asking me.”
“Well you and your sister don’t look anything like her children, I mean we know that they are called unicorns..."
"But they do not have wings, so what we really are asking is if unicorns grow wings when they grow older?”
“No, unicorns do not grow wings when they grow older, the reason why Celestia and I don’t look like her...”
“Miss Luna?”
Luna had no idea what came over her, but the thought of her sister being the mother of all those unicorns amused her to no end.
As far as she knew unicorns couples rarely had more than two children during their entire lives, unlike pegasi who she knew had six or seven, or earth ponies who usually had over ten, well at least that was what she heard during their journeys. But still her sister, who never shown any interest in stallions her whole life, having that many children was too much for her.
She busted into laughs and had to sit down. Her eyes became teary again, but this time with tear of joy. After managing to stop laughing, witch was no easy feat, she tried to explain it to the best of her ability. But before that she had to clear up something for the two.
“Firstly, those unicorns are not her children, they are her friends, well some of them are, the rest are the children of some of her friends that are no longer with us."
"Oh sister how i wish to have seen you face. What a pretty shade of pink your face would have become”, she let out a small giggle.
“A while ago, we were unicorns like them too, frail bodies and no wings.”
Luna looked at them, both were staring at her, their eyes filled with wonder. Just like a colt's when hearing a epic story of adventure for the first time. She became embarrassed, this much attention was a bit overwhelming for her.
“So... umm... we have no name to call ourselves”
“So you were a unicorn and now you also have the wings of a pegasus?”
“And the body of an earth pony.”
“We noticed”, the other pony poked him in the side.
“Oh... Oh... I am sorry. You are not hurt, are you?”
“We are fine. Do not worry about it miss Luna.”
“So.. you are part unicorn, part pegasus and part earth pony?”
“Well yes, and no. I mean I only was a unicorn before, but I don’t feel like I am only a part of a unicorn.”
“...”
“I feel like I am a unicorn and also a pegasus and a earth pony. If that makes sense.”
The two stood there pondering the implications of what that meant.
“It sort of does. So you if you are like all three races.”
“So how about we call you an allunicorn.”
“It does not sound, right. but i get where you are going. Hmm... Oh i know, allcorn.”
“Better... but still, what about alicorn, it has a softer ring to it.”
“Alicorn... alicorn? It sounds nice, what do you think about it miss Luna?”
“I do not know, I never thought we would need to invent a new name just for my sister and me. But alicorn does sounds nice... Alicorn Luna... Alicorn Lia... I think that could work." Luna said smiling. "Now you two, let's get back to the rest.”
Not soon after resuming walking a high pitched sound grabbed Luna attention, it sounded like a buzzing sound. She stood up on her back legs, and looked around nervous. Her eyes darting from place to place trying to identify the source of the sound. But even with the light of her horn she could not see anything.
“Luna what is wrong?”
“I thought I heard something.”
“Listen you two, head back, do not stop for anything. I will be back shortly. I just want to make sure.”
“Okay we will, but please Luna, be careful”
She gave them a quick smile before heading down a tunnel, to investigate the noise.
“We should head back.”
“Yeah. I think we should”
Author's Note
The first three chapters of "The first Lunar Laws" are taken from my other story "Dreams"
Chapter 3: The Second Lunar Law
The Second Law
After she was out of sight Luna turn to make sure the two were not following her. They were nowhere to be seen.
“Be safe, my friends.”
She ran down a tunnel, following the sound. Whenever she thought the creature would come into her sights the sound would stop only to resurface far away and in a completely different direction then the one she was heading in. “It is fast, whatever it is. But i am faster.”
The two ponies had some trouble returning to the glowing cave, but after a few wrong turns and some backtracking they finally managed to find it again.
“Did you hear anything back there?”
“No I did not, but I think Luna did.”
“Yeah, whatever it was sure had spooked her.”
“I know... Do you think we should... tell her.”
“Tell Lia? I do not know... she is her sister after all, but...”
“Yeah...”
“Tell me what?” They were so engulfed in their conversation that they did not even notice notice when they passed by Celestia. They turned, and saw the white alicorn standing tall, towering above them. She looked down on them and asked again in an even more commanding voice, “Tell me what?”
“Well you see miss Lia...” they could see that she was frowning at the mention of that name.
“Miss Celestia”, she corrected herself taking note not to call her that again, “we were in the tunnels looking for Luna..."
"But after we found her she heard a noise...”
“We did not hear anything but whatever it was worried her.”
“She told us to return here while she investigated but whatever it was worried her.”
“We did not want to worry you too.”
“So we did not know if we should tell you or not.”
“Oh Luna always rushing headfirst into troubles.” Celestia said with a much calmer tone. “Are you sure you did not hear anything?” she asked the two.
“No we did not. Either she imagined or her hearing is much better than ours.”
“I see. Next time you see her doing something so rash you tell me immediately, understood?”
“Yes ma’am.”
Celestia headed towards the center of the room where the puddle had once been, but now only mud remained. The unicorns were sleeping next to it hoping that when they woke up they will that it had filled up with water again. Having eaten or trampled on most of the mushroom around them they were now just laying there, surrounded by darkness.
“Hey, you two, get up.” she told told them gently poking two of them trying to wake them up without scaring them.
“Go away”, one of them said half asleep. “Let me sleep.”
“Now now, is that anyway to speak with your queen?” Celestia said while a small smile creeped on her face.
“Queen?” He had opened his eyes a little. “My queen!” he said finally realizing who he was speaking with. “Get up. Our queen wants to speak to us”, he told the other unicorn shaking him violently.
“I am awake, I am awake. What is it? Ah my queen, what do you desire of us?” he said desperately trying to contain his shock and a yawn.
“My sister is missing and...”
“And you want us to go look for her?” one of the unicorn curiously asked.
“No, Luna is more than capable of taking care of herself. I want you to stand guard at the chamber entrance until she returns.”
“Us stand guard? We are no soldiers. Why do not you send this two to stand guard.” He was pointing her hoof at the two earth ponies.
“Yeah at least their scream will alert us if something is coming”, the other said to himself.
Celestia looked down at them, disappointment could be read upon her face, but only for a minute. Her smile quickly returned even wider than before.
“What an excellent idea. I am sure the sound of your bone crushing under the fangs of some giant creature and your screams of utter pain, will give us more than enough of a warning to prepare our defenses. I only wanted for you to stand near the entrance and run back to us when you see something but I am so proud of you for volunteering your lives.”
The two unicorn began shaking in fear. The way she talked of their deaths, with such a wide smile on face was terrifying to say the least. Celestia never raise her voice, never made any threats towards them, no matter what they had done or how much they managed to anger her. Luna on the other hoof... But now they were wishing she did. Anything would have been preferable compared to her gentle, calm, almost angelic face (not that ponies believed in angels) that was sending them to their doom.
“Now my loyal subjects, go and fear not, your deaths will not be in vain. Nor will your sacrifice be forgotten.”
They lowered their heads in defeat, and slowly walked away. Celestia joined the rest of the unicorns and tried to get some sleep. The two earth ponies backed away slowly, and after they put some distance from between them and the goddess began talking.
“Even if she does not look like it, she can be scary when she wants too.”
“She sure can be.”
“I sure am.” Celestia said from the distance, slightly amused by their reaction.
At the sound of her voice the two stopped dead in their tracks. Fear creeped into their bodies and both of them were shaking violently. Even from such a distance she overheard them.
“I think it is wise not to talk about her, ever.” the mare whispered in the ear of her companion.
“I agree.”
“Me too.” Celestia’s voice could be heard again this time more softly matching the volume of the two ponies. She giggled.
They stood there motionless, heart pounding, chest tightening, hooves shaking for what seem to be forever. Fearing to turn back and see her smiling face. How much time had passed it is difficult to say, it could have been a minute or it could have been a day, but the two just stood there, fearing for their very lives.
Later, while going to check if her two “guards” were still at their post Celestia passed them, giggling softly. After seeing her past them and disappearing in the distance had the two finally fallen to the ground exhausted.
The stallion tried to say something but he quickly found the mares hoof in his mouth.
“Do not say a word”, removing her hoof from her mouth, ”Not a word. Just don’t.” He nodded in approval. They went to sleep more tired than they ever thought they will ever be.
“There you are.” Celestia told the two unicorns that were cowering behind a bolder, a few feet from the entrance.
“The queen”, one of them said and both of them rose in attendance. “Your majesty what are you doing here?”
They had not been so formal with her for years. Titles meant very little when you spend most of your life moving from place to place in search of food, hiding from Discord.
“Is it so shocking to you to see me coming to check up on my brave and faithfull subjects. Anything to report?”
“Nothing my queen. No sign of life whatsoever, not even a sound.”
“Are you sure there is even anything in here? Beside us I mean.”
“If something got Luna worried I think it is best to be careful. Now get something to eat while I stand guard.”
Not long after Celestia started to keep watch on the entrance that she noticed a familiar figure limping from the darkness.
“Luna, sister is that you?” she said after making her horn to glow.
“Yes Lia, it is me.”
Luna finally came into sight, her appearance much worse than before. Her chest was covered in small scratches and bruises, nothing too deep. The metal on her head had two deep cuts in it, and several smaller ones, "Claw marks?" she wondered. She was bleeding from two small holes in her neck and her feet were covered in green goop. She had clearly been in a battle.
“Luna what happened? Are you alright?” Celestia said rushing towards her sister.
“I am fine, but we can’t stay here much longer, it is not safe.”
“What do you mean, what manner of creature did this to you.”
“Creatures sister, and a lot of them, I will explain shortly. But now I really need a dink.”
“Yes of course Luna. Come”, she extended her wing and placed it upon Luna. ”You two”, she said turning to the unicorns, “let me know the moment you see anything. Understood?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Now come sister, let us get you something to drink, then you can tell us everything.”
As they walked Luna starting about what she saw. “These tunnels run deep, they twist and turn, many lead to nowhere. I do not think they know where we are, yet. We should be safe for a little while, but we should think about moving sooner rather than later.”
“I am glad that we are safe for now, but what were they?”
“I have no idea. I never saw anything like them before. They sort of looked like bugs, most only as big as a filly, but...” Luna stopped mid sentence.
“Sister what is the matter?”
They were near the place where the puddle once was. Luna was quickly filled with anger. Just like before the earth ponies were being pushed aside by the unicorns.
“What is the meaning of this!” Luna demanded to know.
At the sound of her voice all stopped, turned their faces towards her and gazed upon the face of the enraged goddess. Celestia jumped away from her sister after the magical energies that emanated from her rapidly drained the heat from her body, burning her.
What remained of Luna’s coat darkened, almost becoming black. Her face changed as well. Her pupils began to narrow, her irises were now red from rage and some of her teeth started sharpening resembling crude fangs. Her wings grew almost as large as Celestia’s, and became black. Dark blue mist formed around her, mostly where her tail and mane had once been. Small flashes of light resembling stars would appear at random inside the mist. If until now the unicorns only feared Luna, now they were terrified of her, fear also was showing on Celestia’s face, although she tried her best to hide it.
“Sure my sister had troubles keeping her emotions under check, especially her rage, but, it never caused her to change her appearance, except..”
The thought troubled her deeply. The only time she saw anything resembling this was during their battle with Discord. But even back then she did not have fangs, nor was that dark mist floating around her. She feared for the unicorns safety, she feared for her sisters well being, she even feared for her own life if she chose to intervene.
The entire room shook violently as what once was Luna spoke.
“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?” No pony had time to answer.
“My princess”, one of the ponies finally managed to muster the courage to respond. “We... we wanted to save the water for your sister and yourself.”
These was clearly a lie and she had noticed it, also this was the first time anypony addressed Luna with a title, and princess nonetheless, flattering her seemed to do them no good.
“HAVE I NOT MADE MYSELF CLEAR HOW IMPORTANT THESE TWO ARE TO ME?” As she spoke pieces of crystals were falling from the walls and ceiling like hail adding to the fear of the ponies.
“LUNA CALM DOWN YOU ARE SCARING ALL OF US.” Celestia spoke with a voice that rival Luna's , but none of her anger.
“All of us?” Luna saw the unicorns trembling in fear, and she liked it, but then her gaze turned towards the earth ponies. ”Why are they are holding onto each other? Do not they know they have nothing to fear from us? They are doing their best not to show that they feared us, but we can see the fear in their eyes. Why are they afraid of us.”
This was not what she wanted. She did not want the only friends she had, except for her sister, to fear her like the rest did. She only had wanted to show these unicorns the price of hurting those she loved. Luna slowly began to calm down changing back to her old self.
“I am sorry...” Luna said, her eyes teary, "I am so sorry I..." but her apology was cut short by two pair of arms wrapped around her neck, all three of them were now crying. Celestia wanted to join them as well, but there were more important matters at hoof than consoling her sister.
Luna raised her head and looked her teary eyes friends. Then she addressed the still cowering unicorns. “If you treat these two bad again just because they are earth ponies I will make sure you will live just enough to regret it”, Luna said with the same sweet voice and angelic expression her sister had when she sent the two unicorns to what it would have seem to them a most gruesome fate. "Do I have your word?"
“Yes our princess, you have our word”, one of the unicorns said with his voice shaking.”These two will be treated as if they were just like us.”
“I will keep you to your word.”
“So will I”, Celestia told them.
And from that moment it was known that the word given between two ponies in the presence of Celestia or Luna would be the same as giving it too the sisters themselves.
The SECOND LAW Luna would write after founding Equestria with her sister would be based on this. It would read:
The Law would be rewritten twice. The first time, only a few years later, Equestria entered its first golden age, with more and more sentient creatures became part of their nation, the law would be rewritten to accommodate them. It now stated that “any promise or word given between two citizens” would be valid instead of only referring to ponies.
Much later when Equestria spread over a vast area and it was impossible for the sisters to be everywhere at once the law was changed again. At the time they appointed delegates to handle local matters in the provinces. In order to keep up with the changing times, Luna modified the law a second time, it now stated that the promise made “in the presence of Princess Celestia or in the presence of Princess Luna or any appointed delegate that represents them” would be binding.
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Chapter 4 From the darkness they will come (M)
From the darkness they will come
(Warning, this chapter contains scenes of violence and some gore)
“Now that you calmed down a little Luna, care to tell us what happened?”
“I do not know sister, I mean I have been angry before, but never like this. It was like I was...”
“No No No, I mean what happened to you before you came back. The creatures you fought, what can you tell us about them?”
“Oh that,” Luna said slightly flushed. “Well it was dark but i managed to catch a glimpse of some of them. From what I saw there are two types of creatures both look about the same the only difference is their size. Most of them are about the size of a filly, but there are some of them around the size of an small mare. They are insect like in nature covered in harden shells, but have flesh and bones underneath.”
“I can only assume that the shell is made of chitin, since you say it is like an insects, but it does not make sense that they would also have bones. Are you sure?”
“Oh I am sure”, Luna had a mischievous grin on her face. “I could see them well after I tore one in half.”
“Perhaps we should talk somewhere more private.”
“Why?”
Celestia tipped her head to the side as if pointing to the ponies that stood beside them. The unicorns still shocked in terror, while the earth ponies were mostly disturbed by her more ‘playful’ side.
“Oh I see.” Luna’s face was now a bright pink. “I also think that would be for the best.”
Celestia gave her a small smile, then the two of them walked away putting some distance between them and the rest before Luna continued.
“So, as I was saying, I managed to get a pretty good look at them, well at least at their insides.From the most part their corpses looked the same as of any ponies, except for their shells and a few organs that we do not have. Even the larger ones are as light as a pegasus but it takes a lot to break them in half. Breaking their skulls is wash a lot harder than I expected, but it made such an interested cracking noise when I stomped it with my hoof, It was like it broke twice.” A shiver went down Lunas spine.
“Their abdomen is one of their great wickedness, the plaiting there was so thin it felt almost like flesh when I trusted my horn into them.” She paused looking at her sister, the expression on her face was hard to describe. It filled her with both horror and disgust hearing her sister speak with so much passion about the pleasure she felt inflicting so much harm upon another living being.
“Um, so aside from those weaknesses the shell on their jowl is also weak, and their wing are easily removed and causes them a great deal of pain. Oh I have not told you about the wings, they appear to be made out of thin flesh, and usually are hidden inside their bodies, they move them quickly to fly like a bee or a fly would. And... umm... lets see, belly, jowl, wings, anything else...” Luna took a moment to remember the battle, it made her feel all warm and tingly inside.
“Oh... the small ones have spikes on the back of their necks, even the gentlest touch causes them discomfort, and an well placed blow incapacitates one for a couple of moments.”
“Anything else?“
“Well no other weaknesses I can think of. But I can tell you a little about their strengths. They are fast, scary fast, agile as well, and clearly used in fighting in closed spaces and as a group. They are well organised, even if they do not appear to be particularly intelligent. I took down a few hundreds of them, but they keep coming, I had to cave the tunnel, but I think it is only a matter of time before they find us.”
Luna paused to catch her breath and calm down, she felt that if she kept talking without a break she would start talking more about how she felt that tell Celestia what she needed to know. She took a deep breath, kept it in a bit, then exhaled.
“They clearly are predators judging by the weapons they present, their claws are not particularly sharp, but they can use them to scale walls and get above you without using their wings, their fangs are not long but they are sharp, they can easily pierce the skin and if they hit a blood vessel it can be very bad, as you can see.” Luna was pointing towards her neck where two holes had been leaking before but now have been cover up by the harden blood.
“But what we must be wary of is their horn.”
“They have horns?”
“Horn sister, just like us, only... while our are straight and spirally, and we mostly use ours for casting magic, and rarely use it for stabbing something with it, theirs are sharp and twisted, more like a talon than a horn. And it is sharp. I could feel it almost passing straight thru my... ‘helmet’.” Even speaking about this, helmet, as she chosed to name the metal that was now fused to her head, left a terrible aftertaste in her mouth.
“I think you or I can easily take a couple of slashes, I do not think our ‘subject’ will last long in a fight. One clean slice from their horn and a unicorn could be done for, maybe those two, with some luck, can live after one slice, I do not think many of them would survive a fight. ”
“Thats a rather bleak picture you paint sister.”
“Listen Lia, I am serious, these creatures are dangerous, I can take on a couple of manicures or a hydra any day, without magic even, but these creatures terrify me sister. We could stand a chance in open ground but not in here. These is their territory, they are faster than us, more agile, they can see better than us, are more organised and judging by their fangs are carnivores, which means they have to kill to survive. And such have more combat experiences that our group.”
“They indeed sound scary, but I’m sure we could take them in here. There is enough light to see them, and you and me have more than enough magic to take them on. We fought against Discord and we are still alive are we not? I do not think some cave bugs are enough to take us on.”
While Celestia would have sounded arrogant and overconfident in her abilities the truth of the matter was right. There were two reasons that caused Luna to take so much damage.
Firstly they got the jump on her, and they managed to land a few hits before she could react and magically strengthen her body. And secondly she had been studying them. After the initial small victory for the creature Luna slaughter dozens of them in mere moments.Seeing they did not pose such a great threat as she initially believed she intentionally let her guard down. Wave after wave of attackers charged at her from all sides, she evaded most of their attacks, killed some of them and let the rest hit her so she could measure the amount of damage these creature can inflict upon her body. She wanted to know their strengths, their weaknesses as well as have some fun, and find a ‘creative outlet’ for all the buildup stress sadness and anger she had bottled up in her.
She could have easily wiped the tunnel clear at the beginning of the fight with a powerful magic blast, but she decided against it. Her magic was in short supply, and without plenty of nourishment and rest it would take a weeks to return to her current power level. So she used a small fraction of her power to create a thin magical barrier around her. And she was still able to dominate them without taking any unintentional damage, almost.
While she let some attacks pass her barrier so she can judge what kind of injuries these creatures can produce only one took her by surprise. The creatures were constantly trying to injure her, scratching, biting or slashing with her horn, but no attack seemed to pass her barrier.
During the later stages of the fight, while luna considered she learned all that she could have learned about the creatures she began to lose herself in combat. She let go of all control so she could finally enjoy herself. The feelings she got from the screams of the dying or injured creatures, from the sounds of bones and armor breaking under her hooves were intoxicating. She did not knew why she felt that way, but at the time it did not matter, she felt powerful, she felt in control of her fate, not just like a unicorn constantly running from discord, living from one day to another surrounded by suffering. For the first time in her new life she felt like the goddess she was, not a kind, gentle and loving goddess her sister was seen as, but as the vengeful, cruel and ruthless monstrosity everypony saw her as. And for a moment she loved it.
She was rudely awaken from her drunken state by a sharp pain in her neck. She turned to see what caused her so hurt. Only a green flash could be seen as the assailant disappeared into the darkness. That creature managed to pass thru her barrier and injure her.
Reality hit her hard. There was blood gushing from her neck and she was covered from head to hoof in green goop. The tunnel was filled with the corpses of fallen creatures and the smell was unbearable.
She gathered a bit of magic in the tip of her horn and fired into the tunnel above her, causing a cave in. Thousands of tons of earth and rock came crashing down on her, she was in no real danger of being buried alive. As soon as the magical energy hit the rock above she teleported a short distance behind her, not a single rock or piece of dirt hit her. But the buzzing sound that brought her here was heard coming from several tunnels. The teleportation expanded more magic than she was comfortable using in her state. Not wanting to engage in more fights at the moment she headed back to her sister and the rest of the group..
So she knew that both her and her sister could defeat them without much trouble, no matter how many of them came. But that was not the problem.
“Listen Lia, I know these creatures are no match for us, but our subjects”, she really did not like using that word, “they would be in danger. Both from the enemy, and from us.” Celestia raised an eyebrow at her sister.
Luna sighted. “From me, okay? They will be in danger because of me, you know how ‘passionately’ I get while I fight.”
“Oh Luna, I did not mean to imply...”
“Yes you did. And you are right. I have issues, I know that, but sitting down and talking about it is pretty low on my list of priorities.”
“Alright Luna, if you think we are in danger, i will tell them to get ready to leave.”
“Listen Lia, we do not know if we are going to find food for a while, we might as well eat what we can and take with us as much as we can carry.”
The two sister took some time to plan exactly what what they were going to do and after doing so returned to the group that was still standing around the dry puddle.
“Listen all of you, I have talked it over with my sister and we concluded that this place is no longer safe. We will began preparation for our departure immediately.”
“Now listen, first things first, everypony need to eat as much as they can now, but do not overdo it.”
“After you finish eating you two will come with me to the entrance. After the rest of the groups joins us we will lead the way.” Celestia said pointing at two random unicorns.
“The rest of you will gather as much food you can carry and meet up with us at the entrance when finished. I will take the other two unicorns and guard the rear.”
While Celestia and her two conscripts went to guard the door, Luna stayed with the rest of the group just to make sure nothing happened to them. It only taken them a few hours to eat and gather the supplies. But by then it was already too late.
From Above
(Warning, this chapter contains scenes of violence and some gore)
The two conscripted guards were still busy cowering behind their rock as the noticed Celestia coming towards them. Immediately they jumped from their position and turned their sights towards the tunnel that led to the mushroom filled room they were supposed to be watching.
“Alright you two you can stop pretending now. I saw everything. Honestly, did you actually thought that i would believe you have been standing guard this whole time?”
She was not angry at them, just a bit disappointed. The unicorns lowered their heads in shame.
“Honestly. Listen, we will soon have to leave this place. It’s not safe anymore.”
“Discord?” one of them asked.
“No", she replied firmly trying to calm them down. "Not Discord, but something else. A creature... or creatures we never encountered before. They are stronger than earth ponies, faster than pegasi and appear smarter than your average unicorn.” She had no idea if that was true or not but it did serve to get her point across.
“We will be leaving as soon as Luna and the rest gather some supplies for the journey. You should get something to eat as well before we leave...”
Celestia’s ear twitched. She rose her head up in attendance and made a sign for the two to be quiet. Something was bothering her, a noise, a low sharp sound. She turned her attention to the tunnel, but the origin of the sound lay somewhere else. She moved her head around in an attempt to figure where the sound was coming from. She had no success, the sound seemed to come from thin air, it vanished just as fast as it appeared, the room was silent again.
“My Queen? Is something the matter?”
“Did you hear that?” she asked still looking around for anything out of the ordinary, everything seemed to be as before, but that sound, that mysterious sound, "where did it came form?" she wandered.
“Hear what my Queen?”
“That sound... it was like hearing ice cracking, or glass shattering.”
“We are sorry your highness, we did not hear a thing.” one of the guards said looking at the other.
“Not a thing.”
“The sooner we get out of here the better.”"Keep it together Celestia, you are getting jumpy."
Luna appear a few hours later with the rest of the group. Some of the unicorns had large mushroom caps on their backs tied down with a sort of string made from the fiber from the stem, a few had a little water in them. Each earth pony was carrying about as much as all the unicorns combined, they did not seem to mind.
“I am sorry we took so long sister. Somepony...” she said looking at one of unicorns, “managed to eat the only poisonous mushroom in the whole cave.”
“Poison? Are you sure we are not all infected?” one of the guards asked.
“Only if you ate a red mushroom with black stripes.” the earth pony stallion said.
“But i am sure none of you did,” her mare friend continued, “if any of you had you would already have experienced nausea, stomach pains, blurry vision, hallucination, loss of balance as well as a violent case of...”
“Any way..." Luna interrupted her before she could enumerate with graphic details all the side effects of food poisoning. "We are ready to go... Sister what is it?” Celestia was looking around again.
“Listen Luna. Can you not hear it?”
Everypony was quiet. Luna closed her eyes and focused, she concentrated on the sounds she was hearing. At first it was like a flood of noise, then layer by layer she peeled them away searching for what her sister was telling her to listen for. ”I can hear their breathing... their heartbeats... their blood flowing through their bodies... and something else...”
“I can hear it! It’s faint, but... it seems to be coming from all around us... no, that ca not be the case... from the walls?”
“No Luna, its not from the walls.” The two sisters walked to the nearest wall and looked at it.
As with the rest of the cave it had crystals growing out of it, some of them were cracked from Luna’s earlier outburst. As they brought their heads closer to the crystal formation they noticed that something was wrong.
“The crystals?” Celestia said. “they are vibrating.”
“It sounds like they are singing... no not singing... crying, the crystals vibrations resembles the crying of a foal .”
“The cracks are getting larger to.”
Luna looked at them. “They do not appear to be cracking.”
“You can not see it yet, not with your eyes at least, the cracks are too small to see, but you can hear them, if you pay closer attention. But why?”
“I know i was loud, and I may have cracked them, but the cracking should have ended by now.”
“Unless...”
"Unless?"
"Unless you were not the one that is causing this. Luna make sure the rest are safe, I am going to make some light."
“Yes. Right away. Everypony come to me.”
They did, and soon all of them were gathered around Luna, as soon as they all were beside her, she started channeling her magics, her horn started glowing and a blue sphere started forming around them. Layer after layer of blue darkness quickly blocked all light coming from the outside. All of them were starting to get scared. However they quickly noticed that there was a lot more light inside than what they have gotten accustomed to from outside of the sphere. The light from the mushrooms they had gathered was being reflected by the smooth surface of her magic force field.
“Ready sister.”
Celestia took a deep breath and focused her magics. Energy started gathering right above the tip of her horn, at first it was a dot, barely visible to the naked eye, but it shortly started growing. Slowly at first but then faster and faster. Before long it had formed into a sphere, big enough for a pony to pick it up with its hoof, but as bright as the sun once was before Discord decided to turn it black. In an instant it shrink back to its initial size then exploded in a spectacle of heat and light.
It quickly filled the entire room with a light so bright that anypony should have gone blind from it. Nopony did, since Celestia had her connection with the sun, was immune to its effect, while the others sighs were shielded by Luna's spell. They did however feel the warmth hitting them as the sphere expanded, the light lasted but a moment but it was enough for Celestia to see what she wanted.
Luna lowered stopped her spell and layer by layer her shield seemed to melt away.
“Did you see anything?”
“I did sister, twenty or thirty creatures, a mix of black and grey. They seemed to be unfazed by my spell, so we can assume they are either blind or sleeping.”
Luna took a look around the room, she saw nothing. “Where?”
“Above us, a little lower than 1000 feet up. Should we attack them?”
Luna was looking up, nothing but darkness laid before her eyes. “Maybe we should...”
She felt a chill down her neck, before she could finish talking she heard a scream coming from behind her. Reacting to it she could only catch a glimpse of something white disappearing into the darkness above. The scream stopped shortly. A couple of mushroom caps floated down from above, gently landing on the ground. Luna raised her shield again this time only a layer would be needed.
Her eyes darted from place to place trying to see some movement, a silhouette, anything... Nothing, all she saw was darkness. A thud was heard as something hit her shield, but by the time Luna turned her head it was gone.
“Sister anything?”
“Nothing.”
Another thud, then another, then two more in quick succession. Still no sign of the mysterious assailants.
“Sister swap with me.” As soon as Luna lowered her protective barrier Celestia replaced it with hers.
“Now lets get a better look at you.” Luna could feel her body slowly change as she started releasing a bit of her energy.
The blue mist started forming around her body, “Slowly... slowly...” , her pupils started to narrow and her eyes became red again.
”FOCUS.” The mist scattered and her eye color returned to their old blue selves. ”Good, now lets see.”
She looked into the darkness, everything was now a clear as it would have been during a clear day. Above her, nested among larger crystal formation tens of creatures stood. Some of them fighting over the corpse of the pony they previously took from behind her, some of them waiting for the two to finish.
“These creatures are not like the ones we... I fought. They look more like... like bats.”
Luna looked at them closer. Their faces were like nothing she ever saw before. The first thing that grabbed her attentions was that they had no eyes and apparently on eye sockets either. A piggish snout and four large ears look up most of their face, their mouths seemed small at first until she saw one with it open. Its lower jaw split into two parts moving in opposite directions revealing several sets of teeth, both on what she assumed were the cheeks and on the upper part of its mouth.
Two large specimens drove the rest off from the body of the unicorn and were now facing each other trying to appear as large and as threatening as possible.
The rest of their body was equally as frightening. Their head connected by a thick pulsating neck to their muscular torso. They had two pairs of long thin arms. One pair was on their sides, where the arms of any bipedal creature would be, while the other, much smaller in size hang from their chest. The smaller ones ended in three digits, all with sharp twisted claws. While the longer ones had a thin flap of skin connecting their tips to their body and to their legs, the skin was covered with veins, some popping out from place to place. From place to place holes and cuts were visible in their fleshy wings. The larger arms also doubled as a second pair of legs since their regular ones were short, thick and stubby. The creatures were mostly hairless except for small patches on their back legs and in the groin area.
She wanted to analyze their body further but she noticed that some of them turned and faced her. Their mouths were partially opened and droll was falling to the ground where the puddle once was, a few stray drops landed on her.
She spread her wings and strongly flapped to create lift.
After she was barely a few inches from the ground they attacked her. They caught her by surprise. She barely had time to erect a small barrier around her body when the first two tried to grab her with one of their their small arm. Smaller would better describe them, since the creatures were massive, even their smaller arms still could easily pick up an adult pony. Almost like how an owl, or other predatory bird would pick up rodents while hunting.
Luckily she was no ordinary pony.
The creatures tactics, if you would call it that, was dive bomb their targets, grab them with one hand, and fly away before the rest could notice. If the prey would be to loud and attract the attention of the others it would have snapped its neck with the other arm. Or so Luna thought judging by their attack patterns and what she assumed happened to the pony they took from alongside her.
Regardless the beast were unable to pick up the powerful alicorn. While she was not large enough so the creatures could not grabber her with their claws, they instantly lost their grip as they tried to ascent. It was like a pegasus trying to grab a mountain.
They made a few attempts but all meat the same fate. The last one who grabbed her tried using both his arms but only managed to fall from to the ground. Luna looked disappointed at the creature, raising her hoof and leting it fall on the beast rib cage. A loud crackling noise could be heard as the bones broke. Luna's foreleg now stood in the body of the beast, going straight through all that stood in the way of her hoof and the ground below.
She looked at the dying creature and a small smile crept on her face before lifting her hoof again and squashing it head cracking its skull and spilling its contents on the floor. She looked up at the rest of them, with the same smile on her face, she had gotten their attention.
The creatures spread their wings and proceed to swarm her. They did not try to grab her anymore, instead they rammed their thick skulls into her before flying away only for her to be hit by the next one. They have gone berserk.
She could barely feel any pain but the force of the impact first forced her to the ground then with each consecutive blow made her sank deeper and deeper into the ground.
Most of them aimed for her chest or her sided since they were the largest targets and the easiest to hit, but some of them, mostly by accident, did hit her in the head, causing it to be knocked back ever so little and causing a mild neck pain.
She wanted to fight back but she had to wait for an opportunity.
The attacks were so frequently that if she moved she would have been knocked down before she could react.
She could have lifted a hoof to hit them or break their bones with a single swipe, but a hit from the other side could have had the same effect.
Lastly she could easily have cast a spell and fire a beam of energy incinerating them all, but a hit to her head could have caused it to miss and the whole force of the energy emulsion could have hit the cave wall possible causing a cave in. Also casting the spell meant weakening her shield, if only for a split second.
So she waited. She waited for the assault to die down, for the creatures to tire.
While she waited for an opening, she endured their attacks, their relentless attacks that caused her... minor discomfort and a slight neck pain.
These creatures were not strong, at least not compared to her or her sister, even some hydras hit harder than them. They were not smart either, she could have compared them to a swarm of butterflies relentlessly hitting their head on a stone wall trying to break it down so that they can pass through, and she would not be wrong.
But these creatures were persistent, and fast. Celestia tried to lower her shield to help her sister who seemed... tired of the whole ordeal, but as soon as her shield opened one of the bat like creatures swooped in and grabbed one of the unicorns instantly snapping its neck and disappearing into the darkness.
“Uh... this is taking forever.” Luna said bored out of her mind. “Celestia raise that shield of yours we are going to clear the room.”
Celestia quickly added a second layer to her shield, then a third, a fourth and finally a fifth, for the ponies in the inside it was like they were surrounded by fireflies. She did her best to keep the brightness to a minimum so that the ones inside would not be blinded by her light.
“Now then foul beast be prepared to...” one creature smashed head first into her face causing a few drops of blood to drip from her nose and make their way into her open mouth.
Luna busted into white light, it quickly filled the room burning everything it touched. the ground itself was set ablaze by the raw magical energy emanating from the ‘injured’ goddess.
Once she calmed down a little she looked around at the destruction she caused.
The crystalline formations that once covered the walls had fused together from the intense heat. Beneath where the ground once had been now a giant crater stood. The creatures as well as the mushrooms were now gone, vaporized by her outburst.
She looked around to see the bright ball of light that contained her sister, her friends and some annoying unicorns, but even with her enchanted visions it was nowhere to be seen.
“Sister?” she asked the empty void that stood before her.
“Temper sister, temper.” Celestia voice could be heard coming from under a pile of dirt. She lowered her shield and the dirt fell, she did not have to lower all the layers, because all of them except one had been blown away by Luna's blast.
“You think you could used a little more force next time?” Celestia said laughing, trying to cover the shaking of her voice.
“Ha ha...” Luna responded nervous.
“Well if these were the creatures you were so afraid of baby sister i think we have nothing to worry about.” Celestia told Luna as she put her wing around her, trying to comfort her sister.
“They were not the creatures that we... that I fought. They were just about as fast, but smaller and more insect like. Like...” Luna was looking around for something to compare them with when she noticed something partially revealed by explosion she had created. ”Like this.” Using her magic she tried to pull on the partially buried piece of black chitin. It did not budge. She used a little more force, it started moving. First came out the leg, then the upper body and the head, then the second leg then nothing.
She brought the creatures exoskeleton closer for inspection. Celestia provided the light and half of the creatures shell was visible to all, even the other ponies came closer to see it.
It was mostly whole, but small cracks were visible everywhere and except for it just being half of a shell only one other wound could be seen. A big hole between what seemed to be its ears. They took a look inside and found that mostly dirt and some pieces of bone was all that remain of the creatures skull. The inside of its body was also empty and slice marks could be seen everywhere, its insides had been eaten, and its outside discarded, possible by the creatures that attacked them or by something else. It looked just like the ones Luna had fought against, only a little smaller, not to small but the difference was noticeable. It could have been from the smaller subspecies but it was missing the spikes on the back of its neck.
“I see so these little things are what you had us worrying us about?” one of the unicorns said.
Luna turned to him, her eyes have not yet changed back, that caused the unicorn to take a few steps back in terror.
“You should know that size does not always matter.” Luna said annoyed.
“Sure they say that now.” one of the younger unicorns said trying to be funny. The rest of them ran away from him fearing that they could be hit by the goddesses reply. Lucky for him it never came.
“We should get going.” the earth pony mare said to the rest of them. Celestia’s horn light the room as they looked for the exit.
“Where is the door?” somepony asked.
“I think it is covered by the melted crystal.” the stallion said.
“That will not be a problem”, Celestia said giggling. “Everypony please cover your ears.”
Luna gave her a funny look. “Sister please.”
“Oh come on Luna, we both know it has been ages since we heard you sing.”
“And for good reason.”
“Now do not be shy. Nopony can hit the high notes like you can. Remember when you broke all the windows in town?”
“How can i forget, I spent that whole night cleaning glass.” Celestia smiled at her. “Fine.” She took in a deep breath.
“Wait!” she yelled causing Luna to choke with the air she inhaled.
“What?” Luna was coughing violently. “What?” she asked again.
Celestia created a barrier around the rest of the ponies and after covering her own ears with a wide smile on her face said “Go ahead.”
Luna tilted her head and wanted to ask her sister if she was now just making fun of her. But she did not, instead she just rolled her eyes and sang.
Even with their ears covered and inside Celestia protective barrier they could still hear Luna’s voice.
It was like nothing they ever heard before, it was loud but it also was beautiful, all of the mares and a few of the stallions bursted into tears. Her music was touching their souls, while still hurting their ears. It was painful to hear but you just did not want her to stop.
The crystals started vibrating as she singed, miniature ripples started forming on their smooth surface. At first they were small and far between, but they grew, picking up speed and height. For every one that crashed into something and faded away five more would appear, it was like a musical hydra. The vibrating crystals matched Luna’s voice provident the the music for her melody.
When Luna began singing the music provided by the crystals seemed to be lagging behind her, it had since picked up speed and after a few minutes it had gotten ahead of Luna. She was constantly altering the song ever so slightly in a attempt to keep up with the music but it was getting harder and harder for her to do that.
Mid song she just stopped, all that could be heard was the humming of the crystals, until it all came crashing down.
The wall cracked as the crystal that once laid embedded in it turned to a multicolored cloud of shards. The dust settled on everything, including Luna, who looked like an ice sculpture and shined in the light provided by Celestia’s horn.
After shaking it off she and her sister picked the group up from the ground and levitated them to the now visible entrance, they flew over, turn and held a moment of silence for the two fallen ponies.
All of them left through the tunnel and returned to the large room ware hundreds of tunnels lead into every direction.
From above them a green pair of eye was watching them.
