Disturbance in the Skies

by Quillfeather

Chapter 7: Moon's Eyes

Her coat was dripping with sweat. Looking up, her blue eyes saw the monster standing before her for just a minute. This thing was what she had been chasing all day and the reason why Canterlot was in chaos. She took a step towards it and it let out a neigh of laughter. It seemed to relish the look of the grand princess before her as bruises and cuts laced her body. All of the pain that had been inflicted upon the moon princess was a sign of heavy fighting. In fact all of it had been the cause of the being in front of her; a monster.

“Ma’am are you ok,” questioned one of the newly arrived guards that were now standing attention by her side. She didn’t even look over to them as she nodded. Fiery eyes then met hers and Luna swore she saw the pupils retract considerably and the fire die for a second. The creature looked bewildered about why it was here in the first place as it took in the castle. When it trained its wild eyes upon Luna, a scream of utmost pain exploded the corridors. With that, it closed its eyes and ran. The monster went through a pair of grand doors enlaiden with a golden sun. Promptly, the doors slammed as Luna stared after the creature that had left so distraught. She needn’t worry about Celestia’s corridors because her sister was absent. If anything, she could fix anything later on, but right now her priorities led her to use her magic to seal the creature inside.

With her magic carefully placed, Luna's form relaxed just a bit as blood and sweat dripped to the ground around her. Her celestial mane was in a frenzy minutes before, but now barely waved in the nonexistent wind. A name laced its way out of her mouth, but no voice came out as she stared at the closed door. Instead, a sigh escaped her. She couldn’t believe this was happening to Canterlot. It had been a great land before her reign of terror and Celestia had fixed it. Now another evil was ensnaring the city and this time Luna was alone to conquer it. If only her sister were here to help her, but she was having bigger problems at the moment.

“Guards we wish for you to stand guard while thou is away,” Luna demanded, slipping back into her old ways. The guards did what they were told instantly and saluted the princess as she walked off.

The castle was in ruins. As she walked through the hallways, pieces of the walls were all but a stone mess on the floors. Whole pillars were turned over and doors were ripped off their hinges. Her blue eyes took it all in, but didn’t do anything about it. Mending the broken castle would have to wait till the threat was taken care of.

As her hoof beats hit the stone floor, a hush fell from the room she was coming towards. Actually it was more of a grand entrance into the castle, but at the moment it was so much more. Rainbow had seen Canterlot’s ponyfolk hiding away from the danger that was now sealed within their very protection. Luna had made a magic seal upon the place to make sure none of the beings inside were hurt, but that didn’t stop the fear.

Taking a deep breath, she turned the corner to see her subjects. They all looked at her expectantly. She cleared her throat before she let them know what was going on. “My dear ponies, the threat is still at large. Please continue to carry out your business.” Those words took all her strength and by the end of it her body began to tremble as did her voice. Exhaustion was hitting her finally. Even an alicorn, it seemed could succumb to it.

“Your Majesty, please come rest,” a white earth pony said as she ran towards her princess. Luna took in the mare with tender eyes. “I need to continue to keep you all safe. Celestia would’ve done so.”

Sadness lit the white pony’s eyes. “Celestia would’ve taken a rest to make sure she could do just that.” A weak smile lit Luna’s face and she nodded. With the pony showing her the way, she soon made it to a bunch of pillows that had been thrown together to make a makeshift bed for anypony needing to sleep. From the looks of it, the bed had been made from the assembled ponies given pillows and blankets. They dipped their heads towards her and many of them were smiling or looking away in shyness with a grin upon their faces.

Doing as she was told, Princess Luna lay upon the pillows and said thanks before she drifted off to sleep. She had been shown such profound love from these ponies; it was so much different from before her imprisonment. The times had indeed changed and she was hoping that it would stay for the best.

As she slept, some of the ponies began to bandage up their princess as best as they could without disturbing her. Her dreams were not allowing her to rest very well though. Instead, they were full of nightmares of the sun being swallowed up. Luna missed her sister; she missed the peace of Equestria she had come to know since her return. When would this madness end?

The ponies finished helping Luna as best they could and then went over aways. The white earth pony looked at them all. “She’s been working herself to death. Whatever it is that she’s fighting I say is pretty darn hard. An alicorn is hard to hurt, much less cause it to almost pass out.”

“And why are you bringing this up? It’s not like we don’t know what Princess Luna is doing nor that the threat is a bad one,” a gruff pale green unicorn bluntly said. He wanted to get to the point and that was that.

The mare looked at the stallion annoyingly. “What I’m getting at, if you’d just let me finish, is that we need to go look for some help. Remember when Nightmare Moon, Discord, and the Changeling Queen wanted to invade and destroy Equestria? Celestia called upon some ponies….what were their names?”

A motherly looking earth pony spoke up at that. “You’re talking about the elements of harmony. Their bearers reside in Ponyville.”

The green unicorn looked at the white mare in astonishment. “How in the hay do you propose we get to Ponyville without that insane fog killing us all? You all saw how that rainbow manned Pegasus almost got eaten by a dragon. The guards haven’t even come back yet!”

The hope that had begun to spring into the group’s eyes left as if a fire had been blown out.

“He’s right you know. It’s best just to wait,” a pink Pegasus said and then walked off to talk to some others about dinner preparations.
Even with this the white pony that had brought up the topic didn’t lose her thought. Somehow they were going to figure this out and get some help for their poor princess. Celestia was gone for some reason and Luna wouldn’t say which brought up another thought she wanted to investigate. It was time for some snooping even though her princess had instructed them not to leave the safe barrier. She had heard the fighting sounds coming from where Luna had come from. Answers were farther in the castle and they needed to be investigated, especially since it was all she could do due to the fog.