CHAPTER 12
The Monastery
The loud engines of the airship roared to life as the ship slowly took off from the town of Ashen. Those who had not decided to go with us, had left the town before us, leaving just the Ranger volunteers. Soon the town was cleared of personal possessions, as we all gathered inside the airship, which was now slowly moving away for our once peaceful home.
My friends and I had gathered on the bridge, while many of the others, had been taken down to the holds, which instead of being used for prisoners, was used to house them for the trip. Since the ship wasn't particularly big, some of the crew of the ship had been forced to share with the recruits.
As the ship slowly moved up into the clouds, I saw River walk over to the widow and look out as the town we had come to love and cherish, disappeared behind the clouds. I calmly walked up to her, and placed my hoof on her shoulder, she looked up at me, she wasn't crying, but I could still see the pain in the back of her eyes, she sighed and looked away, placing her hoof over mine.
After that I walked away and over to Iron Star, who was standing in the captain’s spot, looking over the various crew members as they operated the ship, making sure everything was functioning properly. I was mostly amazed by the fact that the Night Ranger’s even had their own airships, so I walked up and asked him. “So…where did you guys get these, I mean, these look like some of the royal airships that I've read about” I said, Iron Star chuckled and turned to me. “Well…our leader knew we would be at a disadvantage against the royal army, so over the decades, we have acquired some of their ships as well as the schematics” he said with a sly smile. I smiled back, but then their leader drifted back into my mind.
“So…who is this leader of yours, North Star? You've been very vague about him” I said, his eyes widened slightly, but he smiled nonetheless, “our leader is a very strong and wise pony, he’s been with us since the beginning of the Night Ranger’s, we all look up to him, and trust me, he’ll have the answers you seek” he said in a confident tone. I shrugged at his words, but something didn't come off as logical in his statement about their leader. Iron Star said he’s been there since the beginning, and according to him, the Night Rangers have been around since shortly after Red Spear took over.
That would have to make him…immortal or something, but I knew that was impossible. The only ones who were immortal, were the four princess’s, and they were all dead or missing.
But finally my gaze turned to the front window, which was large enough to see for almost a full 180 degree angle around the room. The clouds calmly swirled around us, as the engines propelled us along, we were too high up to notice where we were above the country.
“So…where are we headed, you said something about a monastery?” I asked him, he smiled again and turned to me. “Yes I did, the monastery was completely abandoned when the first Night Ranger’s arrived, but we quickly made it, and the surrounding valley into a thriving community. For many of us, it’s our home, and luckily our leader has kept us safe, so far the king has yet to find our home, but even if he did, we would die to defend it, just you almost did for yours” he said with a smile, I grinned back but it quickly faded.
________________________________________
A few hours passed as the airship grew ever closer to the northern mountains, only a little over a hundred miles from the ruins of the Crystal Empire. As I sat with my friends talking with them, Iron Star approached us, and we all stood up, a smug grin on his face. “Mares and Gentlecolts, may I present to you, the Night Ranger monastery” he said as he gestured to the front window. We all turned to see the clouds clear, revealing large valley, carved into the mountains, the early morning light shined over the mountains, casting come parts of the valley in shadow. The mountains were not particularly large in this part of the range, but they offered enough protection to keep them safe.
To the right, made of stone and majorly built into the side of the mountain itself, and old monastery stood tall over the valley, as many pegasi fly around the mountains. Iron Star walked up to the radio and pressed the button, “come in valley tower, come in, this is the Night Sky, asking permission to land, over” he said into the microphone, there was a brief amount of static, before another younger male voice responded. “Copy that Night Sky, you are cleared for landing…welcome home” the voice replied, Iron Star smiled and switched the channels, to ship-wide broadcast.
“Attention crew and passengers, we will be making our landing shortly, please gather all of your belongings, and make your way to the back entrance” he said into the mic, before letting go of the button and walked over to us, motioning for us to follow.
________________________________________
As we all gathered at the ship’s entrance, there was a loud hiss, as the ramp began to lower, when it was low enough, a bright light filled the deck, forcing all of us to cover our eyes. As we slowly made our way off the airship, our eyes began to adjust to the light, as we got to the bottom, we felt concrete on our hooves, shortly after, our vision returned, as our eyes focused on the amazing sight around us.
Iron Star was right when they said they had built a small community around the valley. Small homes and shops were all around the valley, as ponies went about their daily lives, ponies of all ages and races lived her. I turned to look at Iron Star, who had a smug smile on his face, he walked up my friends and I, “come on, you’ll have a chance to look around later, our leader wants to meet you” he said as we made our way off the airfield, and around the small town that had sprung up.
As we walked, my friends and I looked around in awe and amazement, “I can’t believe there are so many here, living such normal lives” River said as we walked along, Iron Star chuckled at her comment, “indeed, this monastery serves as a sanctuary for those who have been uprooted by the king, but all these ponies contribute to the cause in some way, some of them may be questionable, but their service helps greatly” he said as we came into the large courtyard, the monastery protruding from the mountain-side.
We saw all sorts of ponies walking around the courtyard, either doing training exercises or simply enjoying times with those close to them, but our destination lied inside the building. As we approached a large wooden door, the knobs became enveloped by some magical aura, and slowly pulled inward, as we crossed the threshold, we saw two guards dressed in what looked like traditional lunar guard armor from the old days, which only added to my already growing curiosity.
As they walked up to us, Iron Star stepped forward, “we are here to see the commander, we have the medallion-wielder with us, I believe she is expecting us” he said, the two guards smiled and gave and ever so slight bow, in my direction. “it is an honor to finally meet you medallion-wielder, the commander is expecting you, please come with us” they said as they turned and made their way down one of the many halls, Iron Star motioned for us to follow him, and we moved down the hall.
________________________________________
After a series of stairs and elevators, we arrived at what we assumed was the top floor of the monastery, which also appeared to be at the top of the mountain, which we could tell, wasn't accustomed to modern technology, but we came to a short hallway, decorated my old tapestries, that showed the two royal sisters on each side. Candles lit the hallway, despite not having electricity, the candles provided more than enough light for us to see.
As we walked up, we saw two more guards, wearing the same old armor as the two that greeted us, they simply nodded and pushed the door open, we stopped as Iron Star turned to us with a more serious face, “a bit of advice, be honest with her, you would be amazed at what she knows” he said to us, but we all looked at him with a confused glance. “She? I thought North Star was a stallion?” I said, but he merely stared at, and then motioned for us to enter.
My friends and I simply exchanged confused looks, but we slowly made our way into the room, Iron Star slowly followed after us. At first, we couldn't see the inside, but as we walked in, the door slowly closed behind us, as the room came into better vision. The room we had entered slowly came into light, revealing a large circular room, decorated all across with bookshelves climbing to the ceiling, which was much taller than either of us could expect. Old Equestria tapestries hung from some of the walls, some indicating the old princess’s, Luna and Celestia, while others indicated the castle of Canterlot, and the Crystal Empire, back in its glory days. As we looked up to the ceiling, we saw a large circular window at the top, shining down some of the morning light into the room.
Finally, our gaze drifted to the large pony at the other end of the room, hunched over a large desk, shrouded in a large cloak. As we stood there in confusion, the pony stood up fully and turned to face us, their face was covered by the hood, preventing us from seeing it, we watched as Iron Star stepped in front of us and gave a slight bow, before turning to us with a grin on his face. “May I present our esteemed commander…North Star” he said, as the pony reached up and removed the hood.
I could tell all our breath’s seized up as we stared into the face of a pony, none of us could have imagined to be alive, her coat was a deep midnight blue, just as they sky was at night, her mane resembled that of the starry night sky, and flowed without any help from wind. Without a word, she slowly spread out a pair of beautiful majestic wings, which nicely complemented the horn on her head. She stood taller than anypony in the room, but not as tall as her older sister, but she appeared taller than the old depictions of her, but a few decades was not much in the life of an…Alicorn.
I stuttered as her name rose up in my throat, but eventually her name passed through my lips.
“P-Princess Luna…”
________________________________________
My friends and I simply stared in shock and amazement, as the one and only, Princess Luna herself, stood before us, a calm yet graceful look on her face. “b-but I don’t understand…your North Star?” I asked in shock, as my friends look just as confused as I did, the Princess smiled and walked down to me, she towered over me by a few inches, but that only added to her grace and beauty. “I can see you are confused, but I assure you, I am here to answer your questions” she said in an elegant and graceful voice, one that could soothe anypony in distress.
I simply stared at her, many questions swirling in my mind, it was hard to pick the right one, but I finally settled with the best I could think of. “How? How is this possible? All those stories…they said you died along with Princess Cadence and Shining Armor in the defense of the Crystal Empire” I said to her, she offered me a calming smile, “the stories you have been told all your life…are the stories that Red Spear wants you to hear, but I can assure you, many of which are false” she said as she turned away and began circling my friends and I.
“For decades now, Red Spear has managed to find a way to keep our existence a secret, and since we have not been able to stage an effective stance against his rule, he has been able to silence our existence, severely limiting our way of bringing in new recruits, but…thanks to your actions in Ashen, Red Spear has lost one of his General’s, and given us a fresh new batch of true patriots” she said as she finished walking around us and stopping in front of me, but not before frowning slightly at me.
“iron Star also informed me…that you lost your mother to that fight, I know it may not mean much coming from me, but I know what it feels like to lose those close to me, I lost my sister to this war, just like many ponies here” she said with a warming smile. Not to say that my friends didn't give me enough support, but the way she smiled…filled me with confidence.
I smiled and nodded, “thank you, your highness” I said in a formal tone, she simply scoffed and stepped back, “please…I do not deserve such a title, I am no longer a true princess. While it’s true, royal blood flows through my veins, my word carry’s no weight with the populace” she said, I stared at her in shock, she was truly noble to understand the predicament she was in, I simply nodded and looked around the room. “What is this place?” I asked, looking back at her.
She smiled at me and sighed, “This was an old abandoned monastery where a group of monks would study the night sky, and this room was the leader’s private observatory. After I felt the Crystal Empire with the first of what would become the Nigh Rangers, we found this place after days of hiking, we thought this would make a temporary base of operations, but this quickly grew into our home, and our community thrived, free of fear from the king” she said with a proud smile.
Finally came the question that I had been wanting to ask for the longest time, now, but much to my surprise, I couldn't find the right words. I felt a hoof on my shoulder, I looked up to see River smiling at me, her comforting gaze, helped my confidence to rise up. I took a deep breath and reached inside my coat, sighing heavily as I took out the golden medallion, Luna’s eyes widened instantly at the sight of it, I lifted it up in front of me, “Iron Star said you can help me find out why this was sent to me. Can you?” I asked her, with a look of determination and desperation on my face. I had lost so much already, my mother, my life, my home, and it all came down to this question.
Luna took a step forward, her gaze fixed on the medallion, as if it was entrancing her. “So it is true, I knew I could trust you Iron Star” she said as she reached for it, but my to her surprise, I stepped back a little bit, both Luna and Iron Star looked at me with shocked expressions. “Hold on…the legend says that each of the princess’s was given on of these, where’s yours?” I asked her, she simply stood there for a minute, but she smiled and chuckled lightly.
“I can see the suspicion in your eyes, but you need not be afraid, you and your friends are safe in this place, I do not wear mine at all times usually, but I have it here” she said as she walked back to the desk she was standing in front of as we walked in. she calmly levitated something out and walked back to me, an exact same copy of my medallion dangling in front of me, the sight simply dazzled me, she smiled and spoke up. “This was the medallion I was given, these artifacts are very powerful and very mysterious, but they possess a powerful type of magic, many ponies believe that the Elements of Harmony are the most powerful objects to exist, but that is not entirely true, the pony who made these, enchanted these medallions with a powerful magic, that can only be unlocked after the wearer realizes the virtue that this medallion represents” she said as she placed hers over her neck. We all watched in awe as the engraving on the medallion changed to that of her cutie mark, she smiled at our amazement.
“This is what happens when you realize the virtue that your medallion represents, I realized mine many years ago, before the war happened. Tell me Frost, have you actually worn the medallion yet?” she asked, then the realization it me, I had never actually put on the medallion on, not once since I received it, I looked up at her and shook my head. She smiled and gestured for me to try, I looked at it and then to my friends, they seemed to share my concern, but they all did their best to give me the determination I needed, with the support of my friends, I looked at the medallion and took a deep breath.
Ii slowly placed the medallion over my neck, and dropped it to hang there. Just as I did, a faint glow emitted from the medallion, as a strange sensation flowed through me. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who saw the glow, because Iron Star and my friends were all looking around in amazement, It felt like a strange force was flowing through my veins. After what felt like longer time, the glowing died down as the force settled in my mind, immediately causing me to rub it, at once all my friends surrounded me, “you okay Frost?” Vapor asked in a concerned voice.
I shook my head and turned to them, smiling, “yeah, I feel fine…strangely enough” I said as Luna took a step towards me, a wide smile on her face, “congratulations Frost Fall, this day marks a new chapter in equestrian history, this changes everything” she said in an amazed tone, it didn't take a genius to hear the pure excitement in her voice, I could tell she was waiting a long time for this moment, and she made no attempt to hide it. I looked over at Iron Star and saw the relieved look on his face, I gave a sigh of relief myself as I looked up at the former Princess.
“What…what happens now?” I asked, Luna took a step towards me, “now…you begin your training, Iron Star will show you to your living quarters here in the monastery” she said with a smile, as she nodded to him. He nodded back and motioned for us to follow, as we made our way out, I glanced back to see Luna walk into the other room, but not before flashing me a look of gratitude.