The next morning went by very quickly, Hopping out of bed to find Luna already eating cereal in the kitchen, munching away like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Turns out her sleep schedule is all out of wack from all the "activities" lately, so she had been up for the past couple hours waiting for me to wake up so we could go meet Twilight together.
After our morning greeting and having some cereal we decided to go down to go to the main dinning room in hopes of finding Twilight, and getting our "expedition" underway.
I knew at some point she would have to know the truth, hell, pretty much right when we get to the pod It's going to be fairly obvious I'm not from around here. I walked with Luna towards what we hoped was the dining room, neither of us rightfully knowing which was the correct identical crystal hall to go down.
After quite some time we finally did get down to the dinning room, and not only did we find Twilight, but also all the gear she was bringing with her on the trip. It almost looked like our own U.E.E. scientists were behind the huge pile of scientific instruments on the table, maps scattered about randomly with the occasional crate or box littered among the pile.
Twilight was fast asleep, face down on what appeared to be another map of the Everfree. Her wings twitching behind her every so often along with her soft snoring as she slept away at the table. The scene was almost to much to bear as I struggled to hold in my inner 12 year old who wanted nothing more than to snuggle the adorable sleeping alicorn.
Luna chuckled softly before walking through a set of doors just next to us, presumably to find some coffee if I had to hazard a guess.
Figuring that I might as well look at the map one more time to make sure I had the location down and surrounding landmarks, I sat down and grabbed the map, studying it closely. It wasn't long before Luna came in with two cups of coffee and sat down next to me, gently passing one of them to me.
"Thanks..." I mumbled as I accepted the coffee, still focused on map for the most part.
Luna smiled and nodded before looking over at twilight for a moment in thought.
It was some time before she spoke again, a sigh escaping her lips.
"She always does this you know," Luna said, sipping her coffee.
Looking up from the map I took a glance at Twilight before looking to Luna, "do what exactly? All night study sessions?" I laughed.
Luna simply shrugged before responding, "well yes...But its more her habit of staying up all night, over-preparing for something, then forgetting to take care of her own needs like sleep"
"Oh..." I said lamely, not really knowing how to respond to that.
After a few moments I looked back at Twilight, still snoring away face down on the table.
"Do you think she will wake up anytime soon?...I'm...kinda eager to get there..." I admitted truthfully.
"I know you're eager cl-" Luna cut herself off, clearing her throat before continuing, "Lightning...but if we were to just leave her here then it would look a bit odd don't you think?"
"That's...a fair point" I acknowledged, deciding against saying anything about the name correction. It just felt a little off to be called something other than my actual name or even my rank. I guess I would just have to get used to it...had to admit though, it has a nice ring to it.
"So...What do we do then?" I questioned.
"Well...I suppose I could just...shock her awake..." Luna responded, taping her hoof against the table in thought.
"Isn't that a bit...I dunno, extreme?" I asked.
"Well to be honest I'm not sure anything short of that will wake her up anyway...it's not exactly easy to wake Twilight when shes like this..."
"hmmm...well...let me try something first before you do that," I said, getting out of my chair and walking around the table.
Back on the ship there was almost always someone sleeping on the job somewhere on the ship, and one of my favorite ways to wake them up was coming to mind as I came up behind Twilight.
Wrapping my forelegs around the back legs of the chair I made sure I had a firm grip. nodding in satisfaction I looked up at Luna and gave a small smirk.
Luna's eyes went wide as she realized what I was about to do, her hoof moving to her muzzle to try and stifle her laughter.
Tightening my grip I yanked backwards, and with one smooth motion the chair flew out from under Twilight.
The reaction was immediate, Twilight's eyes snapped open as she fell backwards, shouting a yelp of surprise as her wings flared out and she went tumbling to the ground. The map she had been laying on dragged down with her, and quite comically settled on top of her as she laid there muzzle first into the hard floor.
At this point both myself and Luna were dying with laughter, trying so hard to not laugh at the poor mares expense.
Slowly, Twilight pushed the map off of her and rose to her hooves, tumbling slightly due to the disorientation she no doubt experienced after taking the fall.
Directing the strongest glare she could manage at me she sighed before grabbing a new chair and sitting down, a cup of coffee magically appearing out of nowhere next to her.
After a few minutes me and Luna had finally calmed down enough to act civilized, sitting back down and waiting for Twilight to get her bearings.
Twilight sat there with her coffee for a bit, downing 4 cups of coffee in under 2 minutes like it was water. The cups disappearing before reappearing again, refilled with more coffee.
Before I could ask where the endless supply of coffee was coming from Twilight set her cup down and looked back at us, a small smirk on her face.
"I will admit, that was a pretty good one," she conceded, taking another sip from her coffee before continuing. "You were probably right to wake me up anyway, I was up all night trying to get all this together by this morning and then I couldn't find my travel journal, which was followed by one of the maps disappearing and when I couldn't find that I started freaking out and taking everything apart trying to find it before finally realizing that it was on the table the ENTIRE time and then...." She trailed off, looking at Luna who's eye was twitching slightly.
"He he...sorry, it uh...doesn't matter now, what matters is that we are ready!" she declared loudly, hoping up from her chair and grabbing the pile of equipment in her magic. "Let's go find us a alien artifact!" Twilight exclaimed loudly.
Luna made as if to stay something but it was too late as Twilight was already walking out of the room, science equipment in tow.
"Well...I guess were going then" Luna said as she got up to follow her.
I merely shook my head in amusement, downing the rest of my coffee before getting up and following them out.
Twilight brought us outside and then promptly started walking straight towards the forest.
"Uh, Twilight? are you going to carry all that stuff the WHOLE way through a dense forest?" I asked.
That made Twilight stop in her tracks as she looked at all the stuff she was carrying.
Luna went up and started taking things from her magical grasp. "Twilight, perhaps it would be a good idea to just take the necessities. Leave the detail work to a group instead of just yourself perhaps? Its not like were going there with the intention of excavating the thing outright. Lets just get a feel for the situation before mounting a full blown expedition hm?"
Twilight made as if to retort but a stern glare from Luna silenced her. She sighed before grabbing a couple of things from the pile of equipment now on the ground before teleportation the rest of it to god knows where.
"I suppose your right..." She conceded, continuing on her original path towards the forest.
We walked in silence for a while before something suddenly came to mind.
"Hey guys? Shouldn't we have some guards with us? I mean I realize you guys are all powerful Alicorns and all but isn't there like a whole ecosystem of aggressive wildlife in there waiting to bite out heads off?"
"Oh, I thought the whole dying thing was all apart of the plan?" Joked Luna poking my side with a wing. "Of course we will. they are waiting for us at the forest entrance, the guard refuse to let us go anywhere without protection anyway." She continued, seeming slightly annoyed at the whole idea.
"Alright alright, no need to tease me about it" I responded poking her back with my own wing, I was getting a lot better at this whole wing thing.
Luna simply chuckled and continued to follow Twilight, who was currently looking back at us with a look of..Surprise? I guess it must be odd to see her princess acting so casual. Luna and I certainly have been acting more like old friends recently and less like two people who just got to know each other.
However as far as ranks are concerned Luna and Twilight should be equals right? So why would she be surprised that Luna is acting like this? Don't they do this together to? Or is their relationship more professional? I would have to ask Luna about that later.
The rest of our journey to the forests edge continued on in mostly silence. Broken here and there by the occasional banter between Luna and I, or questions from Twilight which I mostly deflected or tried, once again to act knowledgeable about.
I felt a bit guilty for lying to Twilight like this, she seems like a fun person to be around. Really friendly and a curiosity that was almost refreshing. I found myself wishing that I could go back to being as innocent as she was...Disregarding recent events, Ive always been a stubborn, quiet woman. I had to be, for the sake of my crew, and before that for my own survival.
I shook those thoughts out of my head, I had to focus on the mission at hand.
The guards Luna promised were in fact waiting for us at the forests edge. They stood at attention, a hoof resting on their sword hilts, their dark armor neat and polished, yet not lacking a history. Many scuff marks and deep scars marked the armor, giving off the impression that the armor, and presumably the guards wearing it, have seen many battles. With what? I could only guess.
"This is Captain Night Scepter of my Lunar guard, and his Lieutenant, Artemis" They both bowed towards their princesses and exchanged greetings.
These two guards were much different than their golden counterparts I was used to, not only was their armor of a completely different design, but they were not even the same sub-species based on my limited knowledge on the subject. They almost resembled bats with their leathery wings and small fangs poking from their muzzles.
Furthermore, as far as I could tell, They looked almost identical to each other. Save for one of them being a mare and the other a stallion. Was this done on purpose for the uniform? I would assume so, unless every guard in this world was related somehow. How this was done, I could only assume magic was involved.
"Captain, Lieutenant, this is Lightning Streak, our leading expert in alien artifacts" Luna continued.
"A pleasure to meet you Captain, Lieutenant," I greeted, making to salute them but decided against it. As far as anyone is concerned save for Luna. I have no military background and would just embarrass myself.
"and to you as well...Professor?" Responded the Captain somewhat hesitantly.
I chuckled, "that works, technically no official title, you can just call me Lightning"
He nodded in understanding before turning to Luna for his report.
They reported nothing had occurred, except for the eerie silence that seemed to blanket the forest. This was unusual for the Everfree apparently. Luna said that at the very least you would hear a pack of howling timber wolves or a Manticores roar.
Twilight however, seemed determined to go in there, despite how nervous she seemed to be about the silence. Her wings shuddered, and I swear I could see her hooves shaking every now and then.
Luna didn't seemed all to bothered with the forest as we began out trek in. I had to admit though, It was a very odd and creepy place, I didn't like the feeling I was getting at all.
"How much further to the...Artifact?" I asked, after at least thirty minutes of walking through the dense undergrowth.
Artemis, who was to the left of me spoke up, "Not much further, maybe another 5 minutes"
Not much longer after she said that, I heard something snap behind us.
The reaction was almost immediate, I spun in place and got into the best grounded stance I could manage, my wings flaring on their own accord.
The two guards had heard it too, and had similar reactions, drawing their swords with their mouths and looking for the source.
A moment of silence passed before I heard another noise, this time from the opposite direction, and then another to our left. It didn't take me long to figure out what was happening.
"Were surrounded" I said, my eyes searching through the undergrowth for any sign of movement.
Artemis nodded in apparent agreement, facing to our left. The Captain, who was at the front of the group, had taken up stance in that position watching our front. Luna had summoned what appeared to be a sword made of pure energy and had taken up a similar stance facing out right.
Within seconds we had formed a circle around Twilight, who seemed to be a very confused Alicorn, looking this way and that, trying to understand what was going on.
"There is a clearing up ahead where the artifact was found, If we are quick enough, we might be able to get into the clearing and face whatever wildlife wants to take a bite of us" Said the Captain, motioning to the forest in front of him.
"With respect sir, I don't think this is wildlife we are dealing with here" Whispered Artemis, peering into the forest. "There is literally no movement that I can make out, which is completely unlike timber wolves and other pack life, who circle their pray before striking." She paused before adding, "and they are never this quiet"
A long tense moment passed, our ears being met with complete silence
"M-maybe there is nothing there after all?" Spoke up Twilight, her ears pinned to the back of her head.
A rustling of leaves to our left silenced that possibility, followed by a sound that made my heart stop.
Cla-Clack
It was quiet, but I heard it loud and clear. There was no mistaking that sound, someone just chambered a round.
"Oh no..." I said quietly
"What is it?" Whispered Luna.
"We're fucked"