Reading up on the history of the land proved to be much more boring than she thought it would. Luckily, maps of the land had not changed too drastically over the years, so putting events into relative perspective was easy enough. But without the knowledge of how the world worked in its entirety, most things had not made sense. After the initial unification of the tribes, and a few decades following, not many things were very relevant to what Luna was looking for.
The land, she had learned, was vast, and held many other types of creatures beyond the lands of the kingdom in which she lived. Dragons, changelings, and griffons were among the most notable that lived near the borders with close political ties. Did they have magic of their own? It was unlikely, but possible. Flight was a common ability that came with the varying species.
As for her own people, the three tribes were easy enough to categorize. Those of the air were classified as avian, sometimes categorized as angels, and had strong wings that granted them immense agility. Those of the land were more suited to agriculture, being blessed with amazing strength. Those of the ethereal were sorcerers, blessed with the ability to use magic, and are able to telepathically communicate with one another if desired. Magic in itself held multiple forms, as from the mana within an individual, that of potions, and those of artifacts. Even a person of the land could come to wield some form of magic, despite being born without the capacity to bring it out from within. A lesser seen fourth tribe were those that had abilities of all three tribes, demigods. There have only been three to exist that Luna knew of: herself, her sister, and Princess Cadenza. They had incredibly strong magical ability, large wings that accommodated their heightened agility and speed, and physical strength enough to overpower one of even larger stature than themselves. And though they were sometimes worshiped as gods themselves, depending on personal perspective on the matter, they held the political power of royalty, princesses of the united land.
Despite what she was meant to be, Luna had yet to see proof of many of these abilities. She had seen magic, felt and used it, even, but not enough to understand it fully. Celestia's ability of raising the sun, and hers, presumably, of raising the moon and dreams, had to be seen as extreme examples of powerful magic, while on the other hand, levitation seemed to be the most basic form.
Speaking of levitation, she had been trying on a few light objects to increase the weight her body could handle. Of course, it was only the first day, and she would have plenty of time to recover in the coming days, but it was best to start as early as possible. And she had made some progress, now able to levitate a piece of paper for a few seconds without straining uncomfortably.
Another thing she had noticed upon her studies and time spent alone was that her eyesight, particularly in her left eye, was diminished in normal lighting. Almost as if she had been staring into the sun for too long and imprinted its image onto it. Her other eye, however, seemed to have excellent vision in the dark. Had she stared into the sun while imprisoned on the moon?
Other than relearning the events of the founding of Equestria, the banishment of the Crystal Empire in the north, and the War of Chaos against Discord, Lord of Chaos, most of her day was uneventful. A lunch had been brought to her by a servant around noon, but other than that, Luna had been left to her own devices. And for as much as she wanted to learn about the land, she hated sitting around. It wasn't necessarily boring, she was just restless. She wanted to do more than just read and write down things she found interesting. If she was immortal, then she would have the rest of time to catch up on such things.
Getting up and stretching her stiff limbs, wings again popping because of their unuse, she sought out to understand more of how the modern day worked in its everyday customs. What better way to do so than to converse with those who grew up in this time and were currently in their years of prime? Figuring the maids and other servants would keep to themselves too much, whether out of fear of her or their privacy, she thought best to avoid them. At least for now. The guards were her best bet. From what she had seen with Datura and Nightingale, the guards were personable enough to talk with her if given the chance to forego formalities.
Though, as she had figured, perhaps that was because her sister had specifically chosen them to be her escorts. She likely took what she remembered of Luna's personality and matched it with those of guards that she knew would work well together. There were sure to be some that did not look highly of her, but that was to be expected. Of course, she still had authority over them, but using it like that was something that she wanted to avoid. The loyalty of the guard was built on just that, and if she used it without them really knowing who she was... it could end ugly.
Seeing that it was already afternoon, it was her goal now to only figure out where the guard barracks were. As with most castles, they would be on a lower level, and likely in a separate building to themselves near an open courtyard. What was their training like? Was it training for war? Unlikely. Most of what their jobs were now was to stand at attention and search for any threats to the crown. Not much action was needed. Possibly times where riots broke out or someone got particularly angry and lashed out were the only places where any force was required. They definitely had the muscle, though, as she had seen it on quite a few of the men within her sister's guard.
Opening the door of Celestia's chambers, Luna once again fell into stride with her appointed escorts. They never asked where she was going, silently following behind. It was almost a little creepy. Hopefully she wouldn't need them forever. Having her own freedom was something that she valued dearly. Then again, it was her own fault that it had been taken away from her, along with everything else she once held dear.
Making her way down the seemingly endless stairs of the palace, she eventually made it to the ground level of the building proper. It was much larger looking at it from the ground than from the chariot that she had arrived on from the sky. And apparently there were even larger buildings called skyscrapers in more populated cities, like Manehattan to the east. She would wait for some time before she traveled anywhere. The castle was already close to overstimulating her, and imagining something larger and more deeply populated... that sounded awful to be in the middle of.
But she did eventually come across a few disconnected buildings from the main castle, an open dirt courtyard standing out in front of them with multiple contraptions she could only assume were for different types of training that the guards would go through. They were likely separated by gender. Not that she had seen any female guards, off the top of her head at least, but she was sure there were some, with how much their independence seemed to be important now.
It almost went unnoticed, but her escorts exchanged a look with each other when figuring out where she was headed. She could only imagine what was going through their minds. If she wanted to change who was accompanying her, she would have asked her sister to do so, not gone to the captain of the guard whom she did not even know what he looked like. That was something she should probably do while she was here—disguise her interest in the common ways of the people by saying she was interested in how the regiments have changed in her absence. She was known as a warrior princess, after all.
Knowing the guards personally was something that she did want to get to as well. Having better relations with them secured their loyalty more often than not. It also would help Luna to understand their thoughts on what was happening in the economy of the normal citizen. She knew that some applied to be part of the guard due to unfavorable living conditions. Having a paycheck from working in the castle meant they could send some back to their families if less fortunate. Understanding those conditions would help her make better decisions as royalty. She was here to help the people, after all.
The stairs down to the open dirt courtyards in front of her were devoid of any activity at the current time. Shifts were likely to be changing soon, so many would not be out training. The more she thought of it, when did her escorts get their time off? When she was asleep, most likely, but she would hate to stay up too late for them and throw their schedules off.
The barracks themselves were not something that she was walking right into— though in charge of their employment, she did not want to invade their privacy. Instead, more common ground was where she went. There were a few stragglers outside the dining hall and military offices, those of whom had noticed her seeming confused at first, before snapping to attention. She could feel the stern looks of Datura and Nightingale behind her, signaling those onlookers to not be slacking off in front of them.
"Are you looking for someone, your highness?" A gruff voice spoke off to her right, both her escorts snapping to attention themselves. He must rank higher than them. At least the chain of power was holding strong.
"Nay, not in particular. We art h're to obs'rve only f'r the time being." She responded, voice projecting more confidence than she was feeling. Turning to the man in question, he was dressed professionally, in ceremonial wear, rather than armor like most of the others. He stood just a head taller than herself, but still shorter than her sister. From his position, he was likely informed on her return shortly after the event itself. No doubt, though, he was still confused of her arrival so soon.
"Of course. Please, allow me to assist you if you find yourself needing anything." He returned his statement with a bow, posture radiating confidence she wished she possessed for herself. "I am Lieutenant General Elion, Highness. I am the current overseer of the enlisted night guard, so I know we will see much more of one another in the future." It was almost a perfect coincidence, running into the man that she would be doing business with later. But with a nod and a few more formalities, he excused himself to get back to his work. "Things are very busy," he claimed. Of course they would be with her return. With the return of Luna, a proper night guard was something that was needed. Not to mention personal guards for herself for multiple different occasions. While the guards were trained in a wide variety of different scenarios, specialists, such as the avian guards who pulled the chariots, were needed on top of them. It was a complicated system, as she had briefly seen from some of her earlier research.
With the Lieutenant General's departure, more of the guards had seemed to arrive to the outdoor courtyard. It was getting closer to sunset, she realized, and their shifts would be changing soon. But before she could turn to leave, a glint of metal caught her eye from the far corner of her vision. While she had not accomplished much, she had gotten base information that she would build off of later: where the barracks were located in relation to the castle, the current state of the night guard, and that the hierarchy of military power was still firmly set in place. That glimmer of metal, however, stalled her in her departure. Turning to it, contraptions and other devices occupied a space in a corner of the grounds. Wooden weapons used in training, along with the occasional one made of metal for more intensive rounds, were lined across different holders, along with different poles and ground area laid out for different techniques. When was the last time she held a sword?
Apparently, it had been too long, as her feet had carried themselves over to the racks to start inspecting the wooden weapons. Swords, spears, claymores, and the occasional, worn out, bows, were lining every inch of the space. Why she started smiling, or the wave of nostalgia that hit her, did so, she did not know. But the weight of a sword in her palms felt... right, somehow. She knew how to use it, and quite extensively. Though, the harder she thought of it, nothing specific came to mind. It was more of a feeling, instinct. Countless pairs of eyes directed at her were left unnoticed. Not that she cared for them, anyway. She remembered something. That was all that mattered.
Taking up a stance, she let her body move on its own, going through simple motions at first, swinging the wooden blade in the air before finding a more comfortable position. Good thing she had decided to pull her hair back earlier. After a few moments of that, the princess moved to the nearest wooden pole to continue what she had been doing. Her strikes were lacking at first, before gaining more confidence. Was it the most fluent movement? Not at all. But she was rightfully rusty at this. This morning, even walking was hard for her.
By the time she had stopped, she was already short of breath, but not quite gasping for air. Her chest felt tight, but it was bearable. It was probably best to end her activities now, before straining herself too hard and having the doctor yell at her. She'd like to stay as far away from the medical wing as she could.
"You got some fancy footwork, there. But you're a little stiff." Luna whipped her head to the side to see a woman standing there, leaning her weight onto a metal spear currently stabbed into the dirt. "Loosen up a bit and don't exert so much of your energy on those swings." The woman shook her head, chuckling to herself as she walked up closer to Luna. "I thought they taught this in basic training. Rookies these days..." Before she was able to retort, the woman placed her hands onto different areas of her body, correcting her posture into a better resting stance. It definitely felt better that way, and was easier to breathe, even with the weight of the sword in her grasp. "There we go. Better, right? Look, my shift is starting soon, but I can help you more afterwards if you're awake, yeah? My name's Karmi. Look out for me later."
And with that, the strangest encounter Luna had had so far since her return was concluded. She hadn't even gotten to talk to the woman, or get a very good look at her. She was avian, for sure, but her wings were different from what she had seen so far. Karmi's wings were leathery, no feathers in sight, and had the shape almost that of a bat. Her skin tone was a darker shade as well, like her own. Part of a subgroup of the tribe, perhaps? But as strange as the interaction was, it was refreshing. To have someone speak so casually to her was different, but she was not opposed to the idea. With the way she was currently dressed, it was no wonder she was mistaken for a new guard that had just graduated basic training. There were no defining factors that she was royalty. Her wings were obvious, yes, but her pointed ears that signified her magic ability were covered by hair that had fallen out of its braid. She looked like a regular avian, if only given a brief glance. And while news of a new princess had likely circulated through rumors, she hardly looked the part, swinging around a sword like that. Her offer was appreciated, though, no matter how unlikely she was to take her up on it.
That pressure in her chest remained even after the change of position. Setting down the sword, she was finally able to locate Datura and Nightingale, watching her from afar. They probably thought she was crazy. If they were closer, she would have been able to read their expressions. But their eyes were unmistakably watching her every move. Karmi must not have been a bad person, if they hadn't intervened in her approach.
But theirs weren't the only eyes that fell upon her. A group of a few other guards, older from what she could see, were looking in her direction. They were obviously more experienced than her escorts were, but were still young for their rank accomplishments. Did they know who she was, and were silently judging her as a member of the royal family for doing such activities as swordsmanship? She tried her best to ignore them as she started her way out of the courtyard, but alas, they were standing directly in her path. And being who they were, would not let her slip by without a word of their own.
"You sure you know where you're going, kid? You're scrawny enough I could crush ya with one hand!" He laughed as if what he had said was a joke. It was obvious he did not know who she was with that. But that was besides the point. As a senior officer, or however much he thought he was her elder, talking down to someone was not befitting of anyone. Her surprise had apparently made its way onto her face, as the looks the men were giving her distorted into more laughter. What was their problem? Surely they had better things to do. They were spewing schoolyard insults, holding no real meaning other than being annoying to get away from.
"We beg your pardon?" That had caught their attention, calming down enough to give her more degrading sentences.
"'Beg my pardon'? Good on you for respecting your superiors, girly." Another cocky laugh.
"Did we hurt your feelings?" A different one chimed in, bending down to her height, despite not being more than a few inches shorter than him. He was trying to intimidate her like a child. It wasn't working. But no doubt her speech would be another target for their antics. In her confusion, she had already slipped out of it slightly. Having everyone talk in this modern way was already rubbing off on her, it seemed.
Trying not to give them the time of day, Luna moved to brush them off and continue on her way. Walking past them would require her to shove them out of the way with a shoulder, but she was not playing into their games. The situation was uncomfortable, to say the least, and she wanted to get away as soon as possible before they got too confident and tried something. She had not expected so many things to happen in the short time she decided to take time to come down here, but here she was.
The men, however, did not like that she was so unaffected by their words, one reaching out quickly to grab hold of her upper arm as she walked by him. His grip was strong, enough to stop her in her tracks. While she did retain some of her muscle, their comments from earlier did hold some truth to them. She was thin. Malnourished, the doctor had said earlier. So his overly tight grip on her was strong enough that it felt as if he was crushing her bone. She winced.
It happened quickly enough that Luna was almost unable to register what had happened, the sharp shing of metal unsheathing from a holster clouding out any of the men's words. Two sharp swords were pointed at the man whose hand was around her arm. His grip did not loosen, but his surprise was noticeable in the way it shifted higher. He started to pipe out something about how she had bodyguards, but the full comment died on his tongue as a sword was pressed against his neck in warning. Nightingale and Datura's arms were steady. More so than hers were when holding a sword made of wood. Those actions and gazes alone were enough to scare the other two men in the group running off.
The conversation that they struck up was hushed, intimidating. She hadn't seen this side of them before. But even with their warnings, the man's grip held on tight. They had asked his name, only the sword on his neck drawing out answers from him. She hadn't entirely heard everything they were saying, only hearing his title of First Lieutenant. Not particularly very high on the rankings, but apparently enough to fill his ego.
His aggressiveness in one of his responses came along with words she could not hear, but were enough for Datura to finally reach over to grab the Lieutenant's wrist, firmly twisting it till there was an audible pop, and he was forced to let go. A string of curses left his mouth as he was forced away from her, Nightingale moving to stand between them. Again, she could not hear the conversation that was taking place between them, but it was probably for the best. Hearing another sound of metal, she was able to see that Datura had cuffed the man, pulling him back to his feet.
The information of who he had just done such things to had startled him, his face going pale. Had he known earlier, he claimed, this would not have happened. But his attempts to defend himself fell upon deaf ears as he was dragged away to another part of the courtyard, being pulled, more dragged, really, into a building, as she lost sight of the two.
What just happened? She hadn't even fully processed all of it before her escorts had handled the situation in full. The lunar princess was still out of it when she realized that Nightingale had been talking to her, asking to see her arm and check if she was alright. She was, physically, if not a little sore from his grip. It wouldn't bruise, though.
From then on, he wasted no time in ushering Luna back to her chambers, insisting that she get back inside for the night. She hadn't noticed the sun setting fully and the moon rising above them during that interaction. It was like she blinked, and she was right back where she started, if now more sore and a little shaken.
Nightingale had followed her inside, making sure she sat down, and again asking if she was alright and if she needed anything, before exiting with a bow when she refused. She was thankful to be alone again. That man was likely to never see her again, and if he was lucky, would only get demoted to working as a janitor in the barracks. He had legally assaulted her, and even if he hadn't caused any real damage, more confusion, he was going to face consequences. Not even a week into her return, and it was likely she was already getting herself involved in complicated legal system politics. The punishment for doing such a thing would have resulted in his death.
Throwing herself down onto the bed, she let out a long sigh. Today had been full of experiences she never wanted to go through again. She hated people touching her, and that had been what the day mostly consisted of. No matter the intentions of such actions, it made an uncomfortable feeling crawl under her skin. She was getting itchy. Bolting up, she ran to the bathroom connected to the room. She hoped her sister would not mind her stealing borrowing some more of her clothes. The resulting shower had her scrubbing her skin till it was raw, turning a dark shade of red as she tried to rub off invisible marks of the day.
The temperature of the water changed constantly, from boiling to freezing as she got overwhelmed. A drop of blood dripping off that spot on her arm had finally registered to her brain that what she was doing hurt. Everything was in a blur, these past few hours. That pain in her chest never went away, her heart pumping painfully. But she was finally able to recognize what she was doing, and sat down in the shower, cool water running along her body, splashing across her face. It only helped a little to calm her down.
No, she didn't need to be freaking out. But she couldn't help it. She did not know anything of the land she was suddenly forced into. Her memories were scattered in random topics as they came up. No one knew who she was other than her elder sister, who the only thing she remembered of her was her name. The only thing she knew of herself were the crimes she had committed that led to her thousand-year long banishment. She didn't know when she had started crying, the water washing her tears away and disguising themselves among one another, making it hard to tell that she even was.
She was scared. Like a child thrown into a room that kept expanding, but nothing ever connected fully, so she was stuck, staring at an endlessly expanding tunnel with no way to reach the end. How she wished that she remembered something, anything, and could lean on it for comfort. The little things she had recollected were not enough. She wished she remembered how much she loved her sister. She knew she loved Celestia, her heart warm at the very thought of her, but where did that affection come from? What memories did they have together? It hurt, how much she did not know. Why had this happened? She had already been banished for a millennium, missing out on everything in the world. Why did she have to lose what was left of herself that she did have?
A warm, dry, embrace was the last thing Luna felt before she fully collapsed into her dread.