Luna awoke with a startled gasp as her eyes shot open and she sat bolt upright. Her wings instinctively flared to life in preparation for flight, sending a spike of pain through her spine that caused her to let out an involuntary yelp from the unexpected feeling. For some reason that she could not readily recall, her chest burned as though it were on fire, and if she breathed too deeply her lungs hurt as though they were constricted by a vice. Breathing through clenched teeth, Luna looked down to see that all of her regalia had been removed, replaced by multiple bandages both large and small that covered her barrel, giving her a somewhat mummy like appearance. She noticed that her lower body was concealed by white sheets.
For some reason her vision was distorted, and she was unable to really focus on anything for too long with out getting a headache. She swayed quite a bit as she sat, wondering what in Tartarus had happened that had reduced her to this state. Throwing aside the covers holding her down, Luna clumsily rolled off of the bed. Almost immediately she noticed that her back legs did not feel like they were supposed to when they met the floor. She glanced back with slightly glazed eyes, and saw that one of her wings was bound and both of her back legs had been encased by in some sort of stiff material that she felt she knew the name but could not remember.
Luna had no idea what was happening or what was going on. All she did know was that she was in an unfamiliar place and that her instincts were screaming at her to get moving right away. To where, she had no clue, but Luna was confident that it was important for some reason. Fighting through her disorientation, which clouded her senses and wrapped around her like a fog in her mind, Luna tried desperately to remember what it was that was important for her to do, sifting through her memories of what she had been doing before she woke up here. Just when she was about to give up, she suddenly recalled something. A name to be specific, both exotic and familiar.
"Angela!" Luna exclaimed, although her voice was barely audible even to her own ears. It sounded odd, as though she were underwater. She decided to address it later as she staggered forward, not really knowing where she was supposed to go. Eventually she was able to locate what she assumed was a door. Seeing it as an escape, Luna grasped the lever with a hoof and pulled on it as hard as she could, to no avail however as the door refused to open. Refusing to let this obstacle stop her, Luna backed up a little bit before charging at the door with her shoulder, heedless of the resulting bruise which added to her already impressive collection of injuries. Fortunately it swung outward with much more ease than she expected. Unfortunately it also resulted in her crashing face first into a wall on the opposite side of a narrow hallway, which in turn startled a nearby mare as she was busily cleaning up a mess left by a broken flower pot.
"Oh my!" she exclaimed in surprise, unsure what to do as she watched Luna attempt to regain her balance, barely able to keep herself from falling over.
Once she had recovered some of her senses Luna took notice of the mare, upon which she thrust a hoof at her and shouted, "Servant! Thou must reveal to us the whereabouts of thine masters castle gates!"
Rather than comply like a sensible pony would as Luna was hoping, the maid instead tilted her head to the side and gave the Princes a confused look. "Huh?"
Huffing in annoyance, Luna said, "Never mind thee! If thou shalt not assist us, we shalt find it ourselves!" With that, Luna began to trot away with as much dignity as she could with her movement being as restricted as it was. Still feeling less than right in the head, Luna often swayed from side to side as she moved forward, occasionally bumping into the wall.
"W-wait a minute! Princess!" the mare called after her. "I really don't think that you should be-"
Whatever she was about to say next, Luna did not hear as she bumped into another pony as he came around the corner.
"Luna?!" he said in tone that was oddly familiar to the Princess, as jumbled and distorted his voice was. "What are you-"
Luna cut him off as she shouted into his face, "Release us from the bonds which thou hast placed upon us!" Seeing him give her the same dumb look as that mare, Luna resorted to striking him upside the head with a mighty blow to the jaw, sending him sprawling backwards as she added, "Thou shalt never hold us for thine pleasure foul villain!"
"What the buck?!" the stallion exclaimed as he massaged his jaw. Looking up at her in bewilderment he shouted, "Princess it's me! Stalwart! Captain Stalwart! I-" Luna did not allow him to finish as she charged forward, practically trampling him as she made her escape, looking for any sign of an exit. What she found instead were more ponies, most of them dressed in armor.
"What the buck?! Princess?!" one of them said upon noticing her.
Suddenly the stallion that she had just floored shouted up at them, "Somepony stop her before she hurts herself!"
Luna stared down the group of armored ponies gathered in front of her. Her nostrils flared and her mane billowed erratically as she lowered her head, pointing her horn at he nearest one. "Come on then!" she bellowed. "Who among thee wishes to test thine selves against the Princess of the moon and stars?"
In response the ponies among the group glanced at each other in confusion. "Uh, Princess? Are you alright?" one asked.
Luna's only response was a war cry as she leaped at them, tackling two of them to the floor.
Chaos ensued in he narrow confined space of the hallway as multiple ponies struggled against her onslaught, attempting to hold her down with causing her further harm. All the while they were shouting things like, "Can't any pony keep her still?!" as well as as, "Nurse! Nurse we need assistance here!" and also, "Oh sweet Celestia! Somepony please get her to stop biting me!"
As Luna fought valiantly for her freedom from her captors, she felt something prick her flank. Kicking out with her back leg, she felt it connect with somepony's face, shattering the plaster holding it in place and sending her assailant flying. However, before Luna could continue her struggle and take advantage of the confusion she suddenly began to feel even more disoriented than she already was, and before long she was on the floor.
"Angela," she muttered as the last bits of consciousness left her completely.
". . . Angela. . ."
Silence reigned in the hospital room as Princess Luna, fully lucid now that she had woken up from her drug induced state of bliss, sat on her bed, her lower body covered by sheets while her upper body remained exposed as she twiddled her hooves nervously. Off to the side, Stalwarts sat on a small chair donated from the staff, holding an ice pack to his bruised chin, looking like all he wanted to do was go home and take a nap. Luna felt much the same way, but at the same she was far too anxious to even think about rest. Luna knew she should say something, but had little to no idea what that should be as she pursed her lips and clicked her hooves together. A few times she turned to him as if to say something, but whenever she opened her mouth she found herself at a loss for words, and would direct her attention to something else.
Eventually Luna decided to just grin and bear it as she looked at Stalwart and said hesitantly, "I. . . apologize captain for my. . . less than stellar behavior. . . . I am terribly sorry for striking you like that. It was entirely uncalled for. I can only hope you can forgive me for it."
In response, Stalwart merely shrugged as though it was not that big of a deal and said, "Eh, it's alright. The doctors' never treated an alicorn before, so they wouldn't know how much painkiller to give you anyway. I've taken worse things to my face, believe it or not." Stalwart winced slightly as he finished his sentence, upon which he placed the now melted ice pack on a little table next to her bed. "Still, that was a pretty good hit you got on me. I'm surprised I still have any of my teeth left."
Stalwart chuckled slightly at his own statement. Luna joined him, but quickly ceased when a throbbing sensation on her chest prevented her from continuing. She quickly made a mental note not to breathe too deeply until she was fully healed. Barring the use of magic which was not advisable, it could take a number of weeks. Stalwart took notice of her discomfort, and once again his face fell into an expression of concern.
"Of course," he said, "if I'm being honest your highness, your lucky just to be alive after that hit you took from that monster."
Luna frowned when she heard the captain say that. Forgetting her pain for a moment, she sighed as she laid her head down on the pillow, her mane rippling slowly at the edges of her vision.
"Angela," she said, keeping her gaze locked on the ceiling.
"I'm sorry?"
"That is her name. And she is anything but a monster, so I will not tolerate you or anypony else calling her as such." Stalwart opened his mouth, looking like he wanted to protest, but thought better of it when Luna cut him off with a scolding look. Satisfied that he would not try to contradict her, Luna settled back down into the bed as a flurry of questions raced to the front of her thoughts. "Stalwart," she said without actually looking at the stallion. "After I was. . . rendered unconscious. . . what happened? Did anything important occur?"
Stalwart was silent for a few moments as he exhaled slowly, clearly hesitant to speak. Luna already knew that she was not going to like what he was about to say as he began relating to her everything that had occurred after Angela had lost control over her aggression. Luna listened intently to everything he said, finding it difficult for herself to resist asking him to stop. After some time Stalwart was finally finished, concluding with, "I wasn't there when the airship went down, but I could definitely hear it. I was able to find somepony who was able to help me carry you back to town so you could be treated for your injuries. After that we sent a message to Canterlot about our situation They should arrive in a little bit. That was about an hour ago, just before you woke up."
"And what of the ponies that were on the airship?" Luna questioned. "What became of them after Ang-. . . after it was destroyed?"
Stalwart explained, "When we heard the explosion a bunch of ponies were sent to investigate, they found that everypony on board had survived. It seemed that just before the containment spells were compromised they were able to release the gondola. Injuries are minimal, and nopony seems to be hurt, but. . ." Stalwart paused, letting out a heavy sigh before adding, "At the moment the commander of the airship, Crisp I think his name was, is missing, along with one other mare named Horizon. We have a whole army of ponies from both the Royal Guard and in town looking for them, but so far they have yet to find any trace of them. We're hopeful that they somehow survived, but the general assumption is that they perished, either from the creature or explosion."
Luna was silent as she let Stalwart's words sink in as she thought them over. She was glad that there was no major loss of life as she had hoped, but it was not long before she realized that Stalwart had forgotten something important.
"You still have yet to tell me what became of Angela," she pointed out. "What happened to her?"
"Princess, I don't know if you should really concern yourself with-"
"What happened to her?" Luna asked again more forcefully as she narrowed her eyes at Stalwart. She needed to know if Angela was alive and well, at least as much as she could be, or if she had perished. Whether or not is was for good or ill, she needed to know. She caught sight of Stalwart swallowing a lump in his throat before he finally answered her question.
"I. . . we. . . we don't know, Princess," Stalwart admitted as his ears fell flat and his gaze drifted to the floor, unable to meet her eyes.
Luna blinked at his admission, unsure if that was really the answer she was hoping for. "What?" she said quietly, her tone disbelieving. "But. . . but how? What do you mean you know?" At this point Luna was once again sitting upright in her bed, ignoring the flashes of discomfort that shot up her rib cage from the sudden movement.
Caught off guard by this, Stalwart attempted to prevent her from exciting herself as he held a hoof towards her and said in a calming tone of voice, "Princess, please. I must ask that you not get yourself worked up. We don't want you to exasperate your injuries. I really think you should just-"
"To Tartarus with that!" Luna exclaimed loudly, refusing to let the issue slide. "You will tell me what happened to Angela, Stalwart, or so help me I will pry the knowledge from you while you sleep!"
It was an idle threat, and Luna knew it. No matter what she would never do anything to root out knowledge from anypony without their express permission, but at the moment Stalwart did not need to know that, and she needed him to tell her everything that he knew. Unfortunately, Stalwart was unable to provide her the information that she desired as he responded, "I'm sorry Princess, but I don't know what else to tell you other than we have no clue where it went. It could here in town or halfway to the Crystal Empire for all we know."
Luna growled in frustration, and her brow furrowed deeply. "Fine then," she said angrily. "If you will not tell me, then I will find out for myself." With that, Luna rolled out of the bed, wincing as her back hooves met the floor with a jarring impact. Stalwart was instantly panicking as he rushed over to her, placing himself in her path.
"Princess Luna!" he pleaded. "You really should not be moving around! You're still too-"
Luna cut him off when she ignited her horn, and the room was bathed in a bluish green glow. Casting the same spell that she had used on Angela upon herself, Luna felt pulse after pulse of healing energy wash over her body. Within moments, loud cracks could be heard as her legs, wing and ribs realigned themselves back to their proper places. During the whole process, Luna had to struggle to ignore the absolute agony that she was putting herself in as her bones shifted around under her skin and melded back together. The spell lasted no longer than a few seconds before it was complete, but it still felt far longer than Luna would have liked, and when it was finally over she was left gasping for breath.
"Princess!" Stalwart exclaimed. "What in Equestria are you doing?!"
Luna did not bother to answer him as she quickly regained her composure and readied a second spell. Then, in a blinding flash of white light that was joined by a popping sound, Princess Luna disappeared from sight, leaving Stalwart alone, confused and concerned in the hospital room.
Bon-Bon surveyed the wreckage that had once been the main hull of the airship with a heavy heart. For lack of a better term, the ruptured hull look very much like a watermelon had exploded, sending shrapnel and debris flying for hundreds of feet before it fell to the earth below, plowing through the forest and creating a gigantic swath of of destruction in its wake, leaving pieces of warped and twisted metal to litter the deep furrow it carved into the ground. Bon-Bon imagined that it would very likely take days, possibly even weeks, before it could all be cleaned up.
Bon-Bon sighed heavily, wondering how anypony, or anything for that matter, could have survived this. She glanced upward, gazing forlornly at that clouds that still remained above the crash site even hours after the airship had fallen. While they had thinned out considerably since then, nopony seemed to be too inclined to do anything about them just yet. The result of this was an almost constant drizzle that fell upon her and everypony else as they searched the wreckage for the two ponies that had yet to be accounted for.
Carefully trotting around large pieces of metal that had become impaled in the ground, Bon-Bon watched her step so as to make sure she did not cut herself on a stray piece of debris as she kept an ever watchful eye for anything that stood out, yet there was still no sign that either Crisp, Horizon or the creature were among the wreckage.
"You bucking idiot," Bon-Bon muttered, referring to the captain, although there was hardly any venom to her tone. Whatever her opinion of the stallion had been before all of this, it had recently changed somewhat. While she may not respect Crisp himself or some of his choices that led up to this, Bon-Bon could at least respect his willingness to sacrifice himself for the sake of his crew.
Now if only they could find him among this mess.
"Has anypony found anything yet?" a voice called out. Bon-Bon glanced to her left to see a group of ponies, mainly consisting of volunteers from Hollow Shades, sifting through the debris for the missing ponies. In response a chorus of "Nope"s and "Nothing yet"s answered back.
Throughout their search for Crisp, Bon-Bon also kept careful eye out for the one responsible for actual destruction of the airship, for she was eager to know if it had somehow survived as well. But just like Crisp, the there was little to no indication that the creature was here either, and Bon-Bon could not help but begin to wonder if the injuries that were inflicted upon it had finally taken their tole. She doubted that was the case though. It had already sustained a direct hit from weapon and lived, and even if the creature was dead as she feared, then they would have at least found a body. It would be quite hard to miss actually, even buried under a few metric tons of debris. Still, the thought that it had survived the explosion, only to drag itself off to die somewhere else remained a fixture in her mind, filling her with worry and apprehension.
"Excuse me, miss?" a voice said suddenly, startling Bon-Bon out of her anxious thoughts. When she looked she saw a dark grey earth pony stallion looking at her with an expression of mild concern in his eyes. "Sorry about that," he apologized upon seeing how much he surprised her with his sudden appearance. "I didn't mean to spook you, you just looked a little bit out of it for a moment there. Are you alright?"
For a brief moment Bon-Bon considered how she waned to answer him, wondering what he would say if she told him what was going on in her thoughts until she eventually just said, "I. . . . It's okay. I was just thinking about everything that happened is all." After that she resumed trotting around the crash site.
The stallion nodded in agreement as he joined her and replied, "Yeah, I see what you mean there. We've all been getting a lot to think about these past few days." A brief pause ensued after he made this statement, and when Bon-Bon looked she could plainly see that there was some deliberation going on in his head. He noticed her looking at him ad asked, "Excuse me for asking, but if you don't mind could you tell me who you are?"
"Bon-Bon," she replied quickly. "And you are. . . ?"
"Roughshod," he replied as he shook her hoof in greeting. "Sorry for asking out of the blue like that. I just don't remember seeing you around town, and I've been here a long time."
"I. . ." Bon-Bon began to say, unsure of how exactly she wanted to answer him, wanting to allay any suspicions he might develop if she did not say anything. Finally she said, "I'm. . . I was actually on a camping trip. In the woods a couple miles south of town. I just happened to be in the area when I heard all of the commotion, and decided to help out however I can."
Bon-Bon did not particularly see any value in telling this Roughshod the whole truth about her involvement. The less that he knew about how much she was a part of this whole mess, the better. Everything that she had just said was technically true from a certain viewpoint after all. She was camping in the woods for quite a while during her search for the bug bear before she discovered something far more impressive, and far less monstrous in spite of its appearance.
"Really?" Roughshod questioned. He did not sound disbelieving to Bon-Bon's ear, but the way one of his eyebrows was raised had the mare worried that he would not accept the explanation that she had given. She was relieved when he simply shrugged and said, "Kind of a weird time to go camping if you ask me, but I'm not going to judge." Looking at her he then asked, "Did you happen to see the monster at all?"
"What?" Bon-Bon said, coming to a stop.
"You know, the monster. The big animal that ate the bug bear and Left half the Royal Guard in the hospital," Roughshod clarified, even though he really did not need to for Bon-Bon, for she knew exactly what he was talking about.
For a few long seconds Bon-Bon hesitated, not sure if she liked what he was implying. While indeed monstrous in appearance, the creature itself hardly acted that way. She knew it was only because it had been pushed and provoked into an instinctual rage that it had retaliated at all against them. If the Royal Guard had left it alone long enough to come up with better solution than simply trying to kill it, then perhaps all of this destruction could have been avoided entirely. At the same time however, Bon-Bon oddly found it difficult to use that as a solid defense for something that could so easily cause such a devastating amount of damage, even if it was provoked.
"Uh, Bon-Bon?" Roughshod questioned, waving a hoof in front of her face. "You're spacing out again. Are you sure that you're alright?"
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Bon-Bon swatted away the hoof and said a little more forcefully than she really meant to, "Yeah. Yeah I'm fine." She paused for just a moment before she added, "And, yes. . . yes I did see it."
Roughshod's eyes widened a little with interest at her answer, and he asked, "Really? What happened?"
Bon-Bon sighed as she wondered if she was not just making a mistake while she told Roughshod about each of her encounters with the creature, from when she first discovered it as it feasted on the corpse of the bug bear to when it chose not to simply end her life when she was at its mercy. Whether he believed her or not, Bon-Bon felt it was only right that at one pony know what happened. Talking as they walked around the wreckage, being careful to keep an eye out for Crisp, Bon-Bon withheld almost nothing as she told Roughshod everything. She of course kept certain aspects of her involvement, such as why she was there to begin with and her affiliation with Gerald and the Royal Guard, but aside from that she told him everything.
She did not even stop to ask herself why she was telling all of this to some random pony she just met, when she finally finished her story, ending off with how Crisp had tasked her with detaching the bottom part of the airship.
"And that's pretty much it," Bon-Bon stated. "I know it all sounds pretty hard to believe," she added, "And I wouldn't blame you if you didn't."
For a few long moments Roughshod simply looked at Bon-Bon like she had grown a second head. He finally said as he rubbed his neck, "Well. . . I wasn't going to say anything, but-"
Whatever Roughshod was about to say next was interrupted when a blinding flash of light appeared nearby, accompanied by a familiar popping sound that Bon-Bon instantly recognized as an effect of a teleportation spell being used. Everypony nearby instinctively shielded their eyes with their hooves to keep themselves from being blinded by the unexpected occurrence, but by then the spell was already over as the light vanished split second later.
Blinking rapidly to clear away the spots that she was seeing, Bon-Bon looked to where the flash originated, and was almost rendered speechless to see a familiar looking midnight blue alicorn standing a short distance away.
"Princess Luna?!" Bon-Bon exclaimed in surprise, confused by the Princess' sudden appearance out of seemingly nowhere. Perhaps even more confusing was her lack of any regalia whatsoever, which was almost unimaginable to Bon-Bon. It was just difficult for her to picture the Princess without any sort of raiment or decorative garb, and yet here she was right now without so much as her crown. In fact, Bon-Bon was pretty sure that she had seen Luna be on the receiving end of the creatures wrath. Seeing her here now, looking only slightly worse for wear was somewhat disorienting.
Bon-Bon was not given very much time to contemplate her presence when Luna started glancing around rapidly at her surroundings, completely ignoring the group of ponies that was gathering around her. She seemed to be looking for something in particular, and Bon-Bon felt that she could make a safe bet what that was.
Unexpectedly, Luna suddenly called out an unfamiliar word. "Angela!" she shouted.
"What did she say?" Roughshod questioned, apparently just as confused by the word as she was. Bon-Bon, having almost forgotten that the stallion was still standing next to her, simply shrugged before she moved to join the circle of ponies surrounding the Princess.
Luna quickly spotted Bon-Bon amid the crowd as her eyes widened in recognition upon seeing the cream colored mare, and she swiftly trotted over to her. "Miss Drops," Luna exclaimed, appearing to be somewhat out of breath. When she heard her other name be used, Bon-Bon grimaced slightly as her ears fell back against her mane. Luna realized her error and quickly added, "My apologies. Bon-Bon, I need your assistance in a matter most dire."
Unsure what the Princess meant by that, or what help she could even provide her, Bon-Bon found herself feeling slightly nervous at how Luna was now drawing attention to her, fully aware of the way ponies were looking at her. Deciding to forget about it for the moment, Bon-Bon replied somewhat hesitantly, "O-of course Princess. What can I do to help?"
Luna sighed heavily, and it was not until then that Bon-Bon noticed how haggard she really was. Parts of her dark blue fur were sticking up in places and her mane billowed wildly as though it directly reflected Luna's agitation. The Princess seemed to be struggling to maintain her balance as she swayed so slightly that Bon-Bon almost missed it entirely. Her limbs were shaking as though they were under a great amount of strain as well. Overall, Luna's appearance unsettled Bon-Bon greatly, but she was forced to hold off on contemplating it as Luna proceeded to explain her plight.
"It's Angela," Luna said. "I do not know where she is or where she may have gone, and I am beginning to fear the worst has happened. You must tell me everything that you know of her whereabouts so that I may be able to find her."
". . . Angela?" Bon-Bon repeated uncertainly.
Luna huffed and stomped her hoof on the ground in frustration as she exclaimed, "Angela! The creature! The very thing at the center of this gigantic mess! The one that you told us about in your report not but a day ago?!"
Momentarily startled by the forceful tone that Luna was using, Bon-Bon finally realized what the Princess was talking about. "Oh! The creature! Yes, sorry, I didn't know what, er, who you were talking about." Once more Bon-Bon took notice of the crowd of ponies looking on with interest, wondering if they should really be discussing a topic such as this out in the open with so many listening. "Um, Princess?" she began somewhat timidly. "Perhaps it might be best if we go somewhere a little more-"
Bon-Bon never got to finish making her suggestion as Luna was in her face in an instant. Bon-Bon instinctively backed away from the taller mare, but Luna would not let her get away. Her wings were unfurled and an expression of furious impatience adorned her face as she stated very loudly, "No! You will tell me, right here and now, where Angela is! It is very likely that she is in an unimaginable amount of pain and turmoil right now, and every second of my time that you waste prattling on she slips further away, until I won't be able to help her! And your secrets and cover be damned, you will tell me!"
"I don't know!" Bon-Bon replied, genuinely afraid of what the Princess might do to her. "I-I wish I could tell you more Princess, but I just don't know!"
"Then what good are you?!" Luna accused before spreading her wings and, with a mighty flap, took to the air, leaving Bon-Bon alone on the ground as she recovered from the verbal lashing. Before long the Princess was out of sight as she disappeared into the cloud cover. Bon-Bon let out a shaky breath, unsure how she wanted to feel about what just happened. She did not know whether to feel let down by the fact that she had just been verbally reprimanded by the Princess, or that she she was unable to offer any sort of help.
Out of the corner of her eye Bon-Bon noticed Roughshod, along with a few other ponies, looking at her with raised eyebrows. "I thought you said you were camping," Roughshod pointed out.
Bon-Bon let out a nervous laugh as she rubbed the back of her neck.
Soaring high among the remaining rain clouds hovering over the crash site, Princess Luna flew in a large circle as she scanned both the wreckage and the surrounding area for any trace of Angela. With every motion her muscles burned and the bones felt as though they could snap at any moment, an unfortunate side effect of using a healing spell such as the one she employed. Luna willed herself to ignore the sensation, wrestling it into submission until it could be dealt with later. There were far more pressing matters to be concerned about.
Within moments of her taking flight she had found herself surrounded by a small group of armored pegasi, each of them a member of the Royal Guard that happened to be in the area. Seeing as she had left her traditional thestral guards back in Hollow Shades, they had taken it upon themselves to protect her should anything occur. It was not long before they noticed her haggard state, and one of them asked if she would like them to escort back to Hollow Shades to recover. The scowl she had given as she flew off had been answer enough.
Luna knew that she should not be as gruff as she was, and even now she regretted what she had said to Bon-Bon not but a few minutes ago. It was not her fault that Angela was inexplicably missing, and she resolved to at least try to make amends with the mare. That would have to wait until later however until Angela was found, if she was even still in the area to be found that is.
As time went on and the minutes slowly turned into an hour with still no results to show for their efforts, Luna began to wonder if Angela would even want to be found at all. She had been subjected to so much pain and torment, some of it self inflicted, that Luna imagined that the poor girl would never want to have anything to do with anypony again. Just the memory of her scarred and burned body was reason enough to never trust another pony in her lifetime. It was Luna's hope, fragile as it was, that she could find Angela in time to convince her to accept her help.
But given the fact that the Princess had yet to see so much as a single hint to indicate that Angela was still here, that fragile hope was fading rapidly. Added on to this was the fact that Luna's fatigue was beginning to catch up to her. Her wings, particularly her left one, felt as though it were on fire as the bones underneath screamed at her to return to the ground. She refused to let up however even as beads of sweat dripped down her brow as she started to fly in a wider circle, expanding her search area.
She was so focused on her efforts to locate Angela that she almost did not notice as one of her guards suddenly came to a halt and said, "Wait a minute! Everypony, I think I hear something!"
Slowing herself to a stop in midair, Luna turned to the mare and looked at her question, "What is it? What did you hear?" she asked, a hint of desperation creeping its way into her voice.
Ears standing erect on the top of her head, the armored mare took to glancing around in an attempt to locate whatever had garnered her attention. "I don't really know," she answered after a few moments. "But I could've swore that I just heard something though. Didn't anypony hear anything?" The mare received a mixture of shrugs and head shakes to her question.
Luna, deciding to humor her for just a moment, took a moment to see if she could detect whatever the mare had supposedly heard as her ears flicked in all directions. She did this for several moments, and in that time was unable to pick up anything of note. She was about to say to the mare that she must have been mistaken when the wind suddenly picked up a bit, and carried with it the sound of somepony shouting in the distance. Her ears turned in the direction it seemed to be coming from, and Luna could tell that everypony else had picked it up as well as they mimicked her reaction. By unspoken agreement they all veered toward the source of the noise, and within moments they spotted what was causing it.
"That's the captain!" a pony exclaimed, pointing with a hoof at the pony who up until now had been missing. Following with her eyes to where he was pointing, Luna saw that down below was pony dangling from a tree branch that had been wedged underneath his coat, bobbing up and down as he flailed his limbs to get their attention. Peering down at him, Luna saw that it was indeed Crisp, the captain of the airship that had been destroyed.
The same pony who likely ordered the weapon that the airship housed to be used on Angela.
As Luna looked at the blue furred pegasus, she felt her eyes narrow in disdain as she flew down to his level.
"Oh thank goodness!" Crisp exclaimed once they were close enough that he did not have to yell for their attention. "You all had me worried there for a moment. I was beginning to think that you didn't notice me. Now, could somepony please get me down from here? My wing's busted," he said, indicating the feathered appendage that hung limp at his side. Two of Luna's guards quickly moved to get him unstuck from his awkward position.
"Wait," Luna suddenly ordered, raising a hoof. Both of the ponies immediately stopped what they were, and everypony looked at her in confusion.
"What? Wait? What do you mean wait?" Crisp questioned as an unmistakably worried expression appeared on his muzzle. "No disrespect your highness, but I don't really see any reason to leave me here." The sound of creaking wood interrupted him, and he glanced up nervously. "Plus I'm not sure how much longer this branch will hold me, so if you don't mind could you please get me down?"
Moving closer to him, Luna's muzzle was inches from his as she stared at him with narrowed eyes. In response Crisp's ears fell flat against his head, clearly intimidated by the glare he was receiving, and in that moment in time there were many things Luna wanted to do, one of them being just leaving Crisp dangling from the tree for a while longer. She was sorely tempted to do it she would admit, and she could probably get away with it too. She could order her guards not to say anything. It was him after all that had not only almost killed Angela with the weapon, but also most of the Royal Guard under her command as well.
Luna opened her mouth to speak, fully intending to give the captain the reprimanding of his life, to yell and shout at him for his complete and utter incompetence. She bit her tongue however, knowing that as much as she would have liked to do it, yelling at Crisp would do absolutely nothing to help her find Angela. Still, it would be quite therapeutic to strip him of his rank once everything else was settled.
Sighing heavily, she looked up at the branch he hung from. "If you had fallen from that height you would have been dead right now," she stated in a matter of fact tone. Crisp paled at her observation. "And I doubt that you placed yourself there intentionally. So tell me , captain, how did you get there?"
For a few long moments Crisp stuttered as he struggled to come up with an adequate response to her question. Luna begrudgingly waited for the stallion to get a grip on himself, and when he eventually did all he said to her was, "I. . . can't really say Princess. The last thing I remember before I blacked out is that monster or whatever in Tartarus it was coming after me." Luna had to bite her tongue to keep herself from interrupting him with language that would have been very unprincess like of her to say. "The next thing I know I wake up hanging from this tree here."
"How long ago did you awaken?" Luna asked so she could guess how long ago Angela might have left the area.
Pausing a moment to think, Crisp replied, "I think it might have been. . . about an hour? Maybe two? I don't exactly have a watch on me to to keep track of the time."
Two hours.
Luna felt her heart clench upon hearing him say that. Even if it was just a guess on his part, it was still long before Luna had finally awoken from her unconscious state, and plenty of time for Angela to disappear completely to wherever she had chosen to go. She could be miles away by now, far outside of Luna's reach.
Angela was gone.
Slowly Luna felt herself drift back down to the ground. The moment her hooves met the soil her wings went limp at her sides, the feathers brushing against the mossy forest floor. She heard her guards calling out to her in concern, but their voices sounded distant and far away to her ears as she stared ahead, seemingly at nothing. She clenched her eyes as her head dipped low, and her ethereal mane billowed slowly as it reflected her inner anguish.
"Get him down," she said softly as she turned around and began walking. "And get him out of my sight once you do. . . I shall deal with him later," she said over her shoulder, casting a stern glance at Crisp before resuming her trek. Behind her, Luna could hear the snapping of twigs as her guards rushed to follow her command. And as she walked she was acutely aware of the sound of a pair metal clad hooves as two of them moved to follow her, flanking her on both sides.
"Leave me," she told them without looking at them, wishing to be alone. "Now," she added when she did not hear their departure.
A few long and tense moments passed before she finally received the solitude that she desired as the sound of flapping wings receded in the distance, leaving her alone in the forest as the rain continued to fall in a light drizzle upon her, having long since soaked through her fur. Once they were gone Luna felt her legs give out from underneath her body as she collapsed to the ground, no longer able to support her. Luna wept quietly while she thought about Angela, of how alone and scared she must be, possibly injured beyond any hope of recovery. For all the Princess knew Angela could be dead, her body having long since given in to her injuries.
Her heart ached horribly at the thought, and Luna felt the last vestiges of whatever hope she had been holding on to begin to die off as she continued to weep for Angela, her tears mixing with the rain on her damp fur.
She did not know for how long she had been there, nor did she particularly care to recall. It could have been several minutes or several hours for all that she knew. All she knew was that after she ceased crying as she sat alone at the base of a tree, her head hanging low in a display of solemness.
She drowned out everything around her. The smell of the forest, the sound of falling rain, the warbling of various wildlife. It all mattered little to Luna as she cursed everything. She cursed her ponies for being too frightened to see Angela for the gentle and wounded soul that she was. She cursed Crisp for effectively destroying any chance Angela had to make peace with not only the residents of Hollow Shades but herself as well. And Luna cursed herself for failing to take immediate action the moment she first noticed the string of unusual nightmares taking place.
If only she had acted sooner and done everything she could to help as opposed to waiting, then perhaps Angela would still be here.
The situation was made all the worse by the fact that Angela had trusted Luna. Trusted her to not let anything happen. Luna had given Angela her word, had sworn on her title as a Princess of Equestria. But in the end, she had failed to keep her promise.
Luna felt a fresh wave of tears begin to well up in her eyes.
Suddenly a high pitched, tinny whistle interrupted her morbid thoughts, startling her slightly. She looked to her left where the disturbance originated, and there, sitting not a few feet away from her, was a very large snail with the head of a dragon. The creature, gazed at her with large bronze eyes, its head tilted in apparent curiosity. Luna raised an eyebrow, slightly confused by the creatures sudden appearance. She scooted away a bit as the creature started to slither towards her on its singular foot. When it was close enough the snail sniffed at her, the tip of its snout brushing against her fur. It then uttered another whistle, sounding very much like a miniature train to her ears, before it started to slither off again, eventually disappearing in the underbrush. All Luna could do was stare in confusion at the where it had vanished.
She of course recognized what the creature was, but was still surprised by its presence. Dragon snails in general were a rather rare sight to see in this part of Equestria, and were typically wary of ponies, usually choosing to stay hidden from sight. She could only guess that something about her specifically had attracted this one, though what that was she did not know. Maybe it was the scent of something that she came into contact with rubbing off on her.
Deciding to ponder it later when it was more convenient, Luna shook her head as she sighed, looking up at the sky as the rained finally ceased altogether, allowing a few rays of sunlight to stream through.
Before long, Luna became aware of another presence approaching her, this time from the right. She did not even look to see who it was. She did not have to anyway, for all of her senses would have to be completely blind for her to not recognize the familiar warmth that her sister exuded like an aura.
Luna said nothing as Celestia sat down on the ground next to her sister. Even in this position, the alabaster white alicorn practically towered over her younger sibling. Neither one of them spoke as silence reigned, settling between them like a fog.
Eventually Luna chose to break the silence as she said, "So. . . you came."
"Of course," was Celestia's reply. "How could I not, knowing that you had been injured." A brief pause followed before Celestia added, "Of course, I can see that you are all better now. I can only hope that reports of your injuries were merely exaggerated, and that you had not used a healing spell on yourself to fix what should take longer to recover from."
Luna had no reply to make to that. Instead she sighed and asked, "How much did you hear?"
". . . A great deal I must say. Ponies keep telling me about an unstoppable monstrosity that all but decimated the Royal Guard, and almost killed you. I admit that at first I was skeptical, but when I saw the remains of the airship. . . ." Celestia turned her head towards Luna, "and the report from the doctors that were caring for you I. . . I was afraid. I feared for your safety when I heard that you had run off."
Luna felt a scowl mar her face. "Please Celestia, do not treat me like a foal. I. . . ." Luna stopped, unsure where she was really going with what she was going with that. Eventually she gave up on it and instead asked, "How much of it do you believe, sister?"
Celestia tilted her head slightly in confusion at her sister's choice of words. "I'm sorry?"
"How much of what they say about her do you believe?" Luna asked again as she turned to look Celestia in the eye. She found herself momentarily blinded by the brilliance of her alabaster coat, and for a moment was unable to distinguish the ethereal mane which rippled like an aurora from her coat. "Do you believe them when they call her a monster to be hunted down and destroyed? Do you believe them when they tell you that she is a mindless animal that destroys for pleasure?"
For a little while Celestia said nothing as she put a gold clad hoof to her chin in thought. "Well," she finally said, "what do you say about her Luna?"
Luna blinked, slightly surprised by the answer her sister had chosen, although in hindsight she supposed she really should not considering who she was speaking to. Luna chuckled slightly, though it was hollow.
"Well," Luna began to explain, "her name is Angela. . ."