Chap 7
*Old Allies*
They reach the mountains and find only small crags to escape through. The mountain pass gradually narrowed and the mountains shot up on either side. A few brigands follow them in and Luna and Celestia struggled to fight them off. After the last of the horde was turned to dust the two princesses collapsed from exhaustion. After fighting in full armor and using their magic to escape they could barely lift their wings.
“I think we lost them.” Luna said breathing heavily.
“Hopefully that was the last of them.” Celestia replied.
“I think we grossly underestimated Reapers powers Tia.” Luna said.
“I had not considered he’d create such a large force in such a little amount of time.” Celestia said looking up at the blue sky through the mountains.
“None of us did dear sister. Not even Starswirl's assessments could have predicted this.” Luna replied. “What do we do now, Reaper surely would have seen the both of us out there. Who knows what he’ll do knowing he fought off the two of us.”
“We must get back to Equestria before it’s too late. With that army he could conquer all of our kingdoms include those beyond in little time at all.” Celestia said.
They hear a rock fall from the pass ahead and they slowly stand and ready their spears. They look on searching the dust and shadows for any movement. Several large Minotaur emerge from the opening and slowly approach the two sisters. They stood almost twice as tall as Luna and were not armed or armored.
“Well what do we have here? Not exactly the lifeless hordes we’ve been defending against.” The biggest one said emerging from the middle of the group. “Then again doesn’t seem to be much life left in these two anyway.” He continues.
“Stand back, we have fight left in us yet.” Luna said snapping her spear at the beast.
“Calm down sister, these are the Minotaur of the Labyrinth Mountain Pass.” Celestia said. “I hope that they would remember what I did for them thousands of years ago.” She reassured.
“You mean banish us to the mountains, cause tensions between the bovines and Minotaur.” The large beast said. “I don’t remember you Princess Celestia, but my mother spoke fondly of you. I am Crete, son of Pasiphae.”
“You know these Minotaur sister?” Luna asked.
“I helped, or thought I helped settle a dispute between bovines and Minotaur. This was after I had banished Nightmare Moon. And it was not from this side of the mountains either.” Celestia said.
“No. That was on the Equestrian side. We have since made our way through every turn and every cave in these mountains blocking those who would threaten your peaceful kingdom from coming through the pass. Meanwhile your bovine friends claim the grassy plateaus above.” Crete said.
“I thought we had brokered a peace between the Minotaur and the bovine with Pasiphae and Solaire.” Celestia declared.
“You did. But when the Storm King came through he destroyed what we had as we defended your kingdom and the bovines caved in to his demands. We sent word to you over and over and got nothing in return.” Crete responded. “But fear not princess we still uphold our duties to the crown. And thanks to our new leader the bovines and Minotaurs are once again at peace.” He continued.
A cat jumped out from behind Crete. She landed between Celestia and Crete, she wore leather armor and a chakram hung from her waist. She smiled and said “I am Sekhemt. Daughter of the chief. I saw you two from the top of the mountains. You came from Sand Dune didn’t you?”
“Get back Sekhmet! You know you’re not supposed to be this close to the desert.” Crete said.
“Oh come on, with these two and your squad I think I am fine.” Sekhmet said. She walks up to Celestia and grabs her hoof and says. “Come on! I’ll take to our village!”
Crete grumps. “Very well, let’s show our little pony friends some Minotaur hospitality.”
Some of the other Minotaur secure the flanks and the group heads further into the pass. They reach a grassy valley with huts all around. “This is Labyrinth!” Sekhmet said. “You can stay here while you rest up.” She continued. “I run this village down here. My dad runs Pasture up on the plateaus. You can stay in my hut tonight then I can introduce you to my father tomorrow!” Sekhmet went on to say.
“Thank you Sekhmet but I fear we must be going as soon as we are able.” Celestia said.
“Yes, we have to rally our people and strengthen our defenses back home.” Luna said.
“Oh…. I understand.” Sekhmet said lowering her head. “Well at least spend the night. I never met a real life princess before. Especially Celestia and Luna of all princesses!” she continued excitedly.
“Luna? What do you think?” Celestia asked.
“It’s a long trip back Tia, a good night’s rest will do more good than harm.” Luna replied.
“Very well, we’ll stay the night.” Celestia said.
“Yay!” Sekhmet said while jumping with excitement.
“But we must be going early tomorrow morning.” Celestia interrupted.
“No problem!” Sekhmet said giving the peace sign.
Celestia, Luna, Sekhmet, Crete had dinner in the chief’s hut and they were served delicious Minotaur delicacies and delicious cider, surprisingly enough from Sweet Apple acres. “It’s not the best cider we had but it works.” Crete said. “We used to make our own cider but the hordes cut down our orchards in a hidden valley in the mountains.” He continued
“Yeah they used them to make weapons and stuff.” Sekhmet said. “We managed to fight them out but every tree was gone by then. Our new saplings are doing quite well though and we should have our own cider with a couple of years.” She continued.
“If we survive...” Crete said.
“Yeah… If we survive.” Sekhmet said deflated.
“Oh! I didn’t mea-- That is to say –“ Crete stumbled to say. “I’m sorry Sekhmet, my pessimism got a hold of me again.”
“It’s ok, it’s been hard for everyone.” She replied. “And the battle ahead is going to be tough as well.”
“Battle ahead?” Luna asked while drinking her third cider.
“Yeah, the Minotaur, bovines, and the creatures at Klugetown have been planning a large scale force to take back Sand Dune.” Sekhmet said. "Capper told us we begin in a couple of days. Every able bodied creature is going to be there! We heard about what happened in Equestria at the Battle of the Dark Spirits and that story spread around here and Klugetown. Every creature is going to put everything they have to overcome this dark spirit!”
“That’s… incredible!” Celestia said sipping her cider. “I hadn’t thought the story of our battle made it this far yet.”
“Yeah it did! One of our messengers that sent our letters came back and told us about it!” Sekhmet said. “His name is Iron Will and he told us that him and creatures from all over Equestria came together as one and with all of their strength, and by their will, they stopped the Dark Spirits.” She continued. “He said that’s the closest thing to his destiny he felt in a long time!” She went on.
“And his stories motivated you to fight Reaper? The dark spirit here?” Luna asked.
“Of course, Iron Will has a way of inspiring creatures to be who they were meant to be!” Sekhemt said “He spread the word in Klugetown and he’s now working on getting the hippogriffs involved.” She continued. “If you two warrior princesses stayed and helped us we would for sure defeat this Reaper!” she went on.
“I don’t know.” Celestia said. Sekhmets demeanor fell sharply. “But I think you might run Iron Will out of business because you definitely have a way with motivating creatures.” Celestia continued with a smile.
Sekhmet looked up hopeful and asked. “What do you mean?”
Celestia looked at Luna and she nodded. Celestia said, “We will help you and those beyond the badlands. Who knows how long Luna and I will be away if we go back to Equestria. And if he knows were coming he’ll be able raise a stronger army.”
Sekhmet inhaled excitedly! “No! Way! This! Is! Awesome!” she said ecstatically. “Since you will help us, can you bring this to Capper in Klugetown? It’s the battle plans from our group here in the mountains. I was going to deliver it myself in a few days but as you two are here I thought maybe you could coordinate with them!” She continued.
“Of course Sekhmet. We will deliver the plans to Capper and make arrangements in Klugetown!” Celestia said. “Right sister?” she asked.
Luna had finished her fifth cider and was well passed out lying next to the table. Celestia drew a blanket over her and chuckled. “Goodnight Luna.” She said.
The next morning Celestia gets up discards the broken pieces of armor. She grabbed her spear, boots, the letter to Capper, and flew to Klugetown. Luna was still asleep after the long day before so Celestia felt she needed to stay rested. She asked Sekhmet to inform Luna of the current plan. Celestia would command the Klugetown creatures with Capper and Luna would command the Minotaurs and bovines with Sekhmet. Celestia arrived at Klugetown and met up with Capper.
“Well now, this IS interesting. I never thought I’d fight side by side with a princess.” Capper said. “First I help rescue one and now this! I’m turning into a regular knight in shining armor!”
“As if Capper.” Celeano said walking into the old headquarters “Once a trickster always a trickster.” she quipped jokingly.
“You got me there you old pirate.” He remarked back.
After the greetings, Celeano asked about Ra. Celestia said she didn’t see anyone that matched the description but couldn’t tell either way due to the condition the horde was in. Celeano sadly acknowledged and continued with planning. Capper explained that he hadn’t thought about attacking Sand Dune until he met Sekhmet. He explained that he and Celeano were surveying the area around the town when they saw Sekhmet and a few Minotaurs running from brigands. The crew aboard the airship diverted to rescue them and when they got to talking they mentioned a full scale push back of the horde.
He continued to say that even though the full force of the hippogriffs could not help that, after a rather “persistent” and motivational Minotaur convinced a couple dozen to lend a claw. Celeano jumped in a said that the young cat, Sekhmet, took a liking to Capper and the he had been “persuaded” by her flirtatious manners to offer up Klugetown resources for a last battle.
Capper denies any such things and says “I have no idea what you are talking about. I am doing this for all the creatures.”
“Oh yeah sure! I noticed you got two letters in when the plans were supposed to be on one. Let’s see it.” Celeano teased.
Capper shoved the other letter in his pocket saying, “This is from yesterday, it’s top secret.”
Luna had woken up and Sekhmet relayed Celestia's intentions. Luna acknowledged and prepared her remaining armor. Her Spear, helmet, and boots were all that was usable and she discard the rest. She reviewed Sekhmet's battle plane and made a few adjustments on tactics. The bovine herd was marching down from the plateau through the Minotaur passes. With the combined bovines and Minotaur they had a reasonable force to push back the hordes.
Celestia also adjusted the battle plans for the Klugetown grown forces and was surprised at Celeanos airship tactics. Celestia sent a letter to Luna and confirmed that they would meet up before dawn at the edge of Sand Dune. The two sisters spent the night apart at their respective towns and by early morning they began the march to Reaper.
End Chapter