Luna looked around, trying to figure out where she was. The trees were thicker here than where she had started, and though sunlight shown through the branches, she could not find the actual sun. They branches were too thick to try to fly through to get above the trees.
Luna sat down, looking this way and that—but not gaining any sense of direction. “Horse feathers!” she said, swatting at some fallen leaves with a hoof. I should have just waited for Skye. she thought. Then again, she didn't know if Skye was going to come back at all.
Her stomach rumbled, and she was reminded that she hadn't had anything for breakfast. Come to think of it, all she had had for dinner was the bit of honey and berries Skye had offered to her. It was probably late afternoon by now, and if so that meant that she had missed lunch as well.
She heard a sound off in the forest, and looked around for the source. There was no telling what sorts of creatures resided in the woods. Luna had been perfectly comfortable walking around at night, but in the daylight, things were different somehow.
Her eyes focused on something lumbering through the trees, and she squinted at it even as it drew closer. It's brown color made it blend in with the surroundings, and Luna kept losing sight of it. But as it came closer and closer, Luna realized with dread what it must be: a bear.
Luna stifled the urge to yell upon first seeing it. She had never seen a bear in real life. She'd read about them, seen a couple of pictures—but she knew that they could be dangerous. She could try to make a run for it—but that would just make her more lost. She couldn't fight it; she didn't know how.
Then the bear caught sight of Luna. It moved in her direction, slowly, still walking, as though it might only be curious. But Luna wasn't taking chances. She stood, slowly backing away, hoping that maybe the bear would lose interest and turn the other way. But it kept coming, and Luna kept moving backward, glancing behind herself every now and again so that she wouldn't trip on something. The bear edged closer, and Luna couldn't go any faster backwards.
All of a sudden, the bear decided that it didn't like Luna. It stood on its hind legs, still several yards from her. Luna continued moving backwards, frightened by the sudden display. The bear lowered itself back to the ground with a thump, letting out a roar. Then it charged.
Luna saw it and turned tail. There was nothing she could do. Spreading her wings at an attempt at flying would slow her down too much to risk it. She heard its heavy paws behind her, slamming against the forest floor. She turned her head for a moment to see if she was gaining any ground between them. She lost sight of it for a moment, and continued running forward and looking back, trying to find it again.
Skye, meanwhile, turned and bolted through the woods down the small animal trail towards the larger road and nearly bowled Princess Celestia over as he emerged from the undergrowth. When the explosion of blue fur and antlers burst from the bush, it caught the lady of the sun off guard and her soldiers rushed forward. Glaring at the opposing force with brutal narrowed eyes, the trained elite simply following the natural instincts distilled into them from months of training to protect the princess, baring down onto the Peryton before it spoke up and made the princess blink with some familiarity twinkling in her eyes.
"Skye?" she questioned, a little shocked to see the blue furred creature again and wishing quietly it was on more fonder terms. He began to apologize, and confusion crossed her features.
"Oh, excuse me, Princess, but I...I've done a terrible thing. I've lost your..." but as he'd started to apologize, that sense that he was needed began to race through his spine, and his large ears picked up a faint scream in the distance.
"I don't understand, Skye, what did you-”
That scream...
Luna?
"Luna!" Skye cried out, and dashed off in the direction his keen ears pointed him. In a moment, he'd vanished as fast as he'd emerged, leaving Celestia and her guard behind in a series of rapid, graceful bounds.
Turning her head in the way the Peryton dashed off into, Celestia neither hesitated, nor paused to follow, and neither did the golden plated entourage. Several guards stayed behind to guard the chariot and the one that had been bewildered by Skye. But those, at the moment, were the furthest things from the princess's mind as she tried to follow her best through the undergrowth. Her slender legs made it easy to step over most of the bushes and her magic parted the branches that would dare even try to snag as the lustrous mane and tail that followed behind her as a multicolored trail.
Luna, however, wasn't watching where she was running, and was stopped by a tree in her path, smashing into it. She immediately fell onto the ground, her head pounding and her breathing labored. She closed her eyes, trying to rid her head of the dizziness she had just caused herself. A crash caused her to jump and turn around, and there was the bear again. She didn't have time to move, so she reared on her front hooves, pretending as though she were going to attack back. The bear charged again, this time swiping at Luna's head.
"I'm coming, Luna!" Skye cried out, his breath coming in heavy, rapid grunts as he tried to zero in on the sounds of the scuffling. Suddenly, he broke into the small clearing, nearly right behind the bear as it had charged, and in a few bounds, nearly caught up as it took a swing out of the tree.
Luna ducked, and the bear instead struck the tree with its claws, showering Luna with bark. She raced out from under the bear as it was stunned for a moment, tearing off into the trees again.
Being smaller and easily missed, Skye was easily overlooked as Princess Luna reeled and took off, the bear hot on her heels.
Luna kept her eyes ahead this time, but she heard the bear behind her, its feet pounding as fast as her heart. Her breathing came in gasps, her hooves pounded on the ground, not going nearly fast enough.
“Help!” she called out in last desperation. “Help! she cried again, racing in and out of the trees trying to lose it. But try as she might, it stayed with her, the heavy paws with the thick claws drawing ever closer.
As she screamed for help, Skye put on an extra burst of speed, catching back up to the running pair and this time moving alongside the bear. Angling his antlers, he dug his hooves in and turned, driving them firmly against the side of the bear and nearly wrenching his neck from his shoulders as he did so.
The bear naturally didn't enjoy being jabbed at by a pair of sharp antlers and tripped, taking a tumble with its large bulk. Faced with this new threat, it nearly forgot Luna as she gained her advantage, and turned to growl with bared teeth at the deer who had now braced himself on his slender legs. Eying the larger creature from behind his antlers, Skye snorted, lips pulling back as he gritted them. His antlers began to sparkle, and the ghostly form of a much larger creature began to take shape, overlapping his, though this had little effect on the bear, who acted as if he couldn't see it.
"Stay behind me, Princess." Skye growled, a most uncharacteristic sound coming from his throat as he showed down the bear. It took a lunge at him and he nimbly danced aside, then reared up and struck at the threat with his silvery hooves. One-two, they struck at the bear's body, one-two, one-two.
Luna's ears perked at the sound of Skye's voice. She halted and spun around, sliding on the slippery leaves. She saw Skye, fighting against the bear, pounding against it with horn and hoof. There was nothing she could do.
When Skye touched down again, he dug in, narrowly missing a swipe from the massive paws. Just one hit and he'd be done for, but he'd had experience as a creature of the forest enough to watch for himself, even if he were also watching for the form of the princess, and hoping he'd drawn the ire of the massive beast from its desired breakfast.
Oh yes, Skye was mad now, feinting at the bear as it tried to circle around. The ghostly shape of an Ursa grew more solid over him as he drew his focus on the threat, before it fuzzed as he lunged forward and struck at the bear's head with his hooves again, one-two, one-two, then reeled to take a kick at the beast.
Luna stood frozen in place, her sides heaving and her legs shaking. All she could do was watch as Skye danced around the bear, not quite having the upper hoof, but too fast to be caught—so she thought. That was the moment the bear took its opportunity, and it swung at him, its massive paw catching the Peryton in the hindquarters and spinning him around, large gouges appearing in his flank where the sharp claws dragged against his hide. Skye screamed at the sudden searing pain, and knew that if help didn't come in moments, that both he and the princess would merely end up a late brunch.
Feeling her heart pounding in her chest as she heard the sounds ahead, the stomping of hooves on fur and muscle and the ominous growl of a woodland bear that made the matriarch's eyes widen in such familial fear. Her sister was there. She could hear her screams and Skye's grunts and soon enough a fretted wail of pain as it sounded like the creature made contact.
[color="#000000"]“[font="Times New Roman, serif"][size="3"]SKYE!” Luna screamed, but before she could take a step forward, the bear turned its eyes on her. She paused, but was quickly forgotten, as the bear remembered its current prey. Luna took a few steps forward, and then paused again. Hearing commotion behind her, she turned to see Celestia and her royal guards.
The bear looked all too irritated as it loomed closer to the pair of blue, four legged creatures when Celestia finally caught sight of the scene. And before the giant furred brute could land a final blow to the already wounded mythical cervine, there was an explosion of white and multiple color that burst from the bushes.
Catching the creature off guard, the tall, pale horned creature stood with a subtle, imposing glare to her eyes in front of both the wounded Skye and her sister. This only made the bear raise its paw to strike out in further anger at being withheld from its breakfast, when all of a sudden those bright, magnificent wings opened up and there was a blazing flash of white light from Celestia's horn. Catching off her wings, it made the flash all the more large and frightening, causing the woodland beast to let out a growl of fear and pain as it quickly turned tail and fled back into the depths of the woods, while it still had its eyesight.
Once everything was clear, the light diminished from the regal mare's horn and she looked back to Skye and Luna. Eyes wide in relief, but also fear and concern for both their well beings. The royal guard quickly piled into the clearing and formed and outward pointing circle around the group, eyes and ears alert from more danger.
"Are you both alright???"
“SKYE!” Luna yelled, racing over to his side. she looked him over, glancing fearfully from his face to the wound, trying to decipher how bad it actually was. The wound looked deep, and his blue fur was stained with blood and dirt.
“Skye? Skye, I'm so sorry!” she bent her head and licked his cheek. “We'll make you better, alright? You'll be okay. Celestia—Celestia can help?” she glanced up at her sister, then back to Skye. “Everything'll be okay, Skye. Just stay with me. Please.” she pleaded with him.
Watching the sadness and desperation in her sister's eyes, Celestia lowered herself to look over the Peryton and the worry twisted in her chest. They looked superficial, enough to bleed but not deep enough to hit an artery...still if he kept bleeding out...
Skye's sides heaved like great bellows from the adrenaline rush of the fight with the bear, though his eyes were somewhat dazzled by Celestia's brilliance, his mind still had not quite come to terms with what had happened. He'd acted instinctively, he'd done what he had to do, and the thrill of it was still racing through his system. As Luna tried to get his attention, his eyes seemed to see right through her for several moments before they flicked, and began to draw back into focus on her. The sparkling of his antlers fizzled out, and the ghostly image of the Ursa faded into thin air from around him. He began to shake as his body began to come down from the rush of the fight. As he returned to the world around him, his injured flank started to wobble, seeping rivulets of blood down the sodden cerulean hide.
"Luna?" he whispered, then stronger "Luna! Luna, are you...Oh Princess Celestia, you're...you're here..." he looked from both ponies, and to the guards who'd flanked her. As Luna looked towards to him, and towards his wound, his eyes followed her and widened as they took in the damage. Large furrows drew through his flesh, deep but not life-threatening, but the sight of his blood as it stained his leg suddenly became too much for him. He looked back towards Celestia, his eyes already slowing in reaction as he began to wobble all over.
"I'm...I'm okay." his voice wavered, then his legs buckled and he fell forwards onto the grass, followed by landing on his side with a heavy thud, and went unconscious. Luna called out his name again in desperation. She saw his sides moving in rhythm, a sign that he was still alive...for now.
Celestia turned head to one of the guard, the pony instantly straightened up under the gaze of his princess and she expected no less in times such as this, one wing moving to delicately rest on the cervine-like creature's wound to stem the bleeding.
She spoke direct and authoritatively. "Guard, fetch me the vial I keep on the chariot of Philomena's tears, with speed."
And like that, the guard set off with another to make sure he would come back safe. The rest of the guard filled out the gap the two had left in the circle in order to protect the princesses and their friend at all costs.
Once done, Celestia glanced back at Skye and Luna.
Had they both kept each other safe? Had they met sometime in the night? Creasing her brow, such thoughts quickly evacuated, watching her white wing stain pink as she kept it there to ease the bleeding of the unconscious blue winged stag, before her eyes turned to her sister. The real relief now showed as a slight shine came to her eyes. So relieved to see her alright, to see her in one piece.
"I promise you, Luna, he is going to be just fine."
"O-okay." Luna stammered in response to Celestia. She had regained her breath, but her legs still jittered, and she wobbled where she stood for a moment. She swallowed hard, staring at the slowly growing pool of blood. She was exhausted from running and lack of food and water, and that was about to take its toll.
"Celestia—Celestia I—“ Her vision grew cloudy and dark, and she was suddenly light headed. She felt the sensation of falling, but there was nothing she could do. Everything went black as Luna fainted.
As the world faded from the pair of them, Celestia could only cradle the pair in her large, broad wings as the worry emanated from her.
Glancing to her guards she let out a weak sigh.
"Get them both to the castle...let them a room..."
A day would pass...but her sister was safe.