The Lunar Republic
Recovery
“My children of the Dark Eclipse, you very well know that the reason you are reading this message is because the republic (including myself) has fallen. It is unfortunate that such a thing had to occur. But alas, it was inevitable. Not to say that you had all been fighting for nothing. We had the resources to leave a message of fear, just not enough to win a war. Trust in the fact that when we rise again, said message shall work in our favor. Which brings us to the long quest you must see through. As you all should know, your orders in the event of the destruction of the Lunar Republic, are to keep our ideas, beliefs and the very essence of our republic, preserved and very much alive. Now I wont bother giving you all the details for I trust that you all know what to do. But there is one other thing I must ask of you my children. Hopefully you are still at or at least near the battlefield for it shall make your task much easier. I ask of you my children to please recover, my personal guard and high commander of our armies… Merc-arc. For your mission it does not matter whether you find him dead or alive. As much as it would mean a great deal to whatever is left of the republic if he was alive, all you need is a scroll that I entrusted him with. Its contents are for your leader only and please if Merc-arc is discovered to be dead, give him a proper burial on the battlefield. Have faith in the idea that I will return one day my children. Probably not in your life time, but I will. Keep the republic alive.
Sincerely,
The Moon Mother”
The colt rolled up the aged parchment and slid it back into its container. He lifted his head and looked towards the three Ponies that stood in front of him. These four are what made up the Dark Eclipse. They were Nightmare Moon’s highest ranking and personal soldiers. The squad was the best of all the races in Equestria. There was Brutus the strong and durable Earth Pony. He had eyes of dark green, a medium length mane of what looked like steel and grey for his skin. Next was Rika the swift and agile Pegasus. She had a beautiful but short mane of aqua to go with her white skin and dark purple eyes. Then there was Eleanor the wise and quick thinking Unicorn. She had a long purple mane with skin and eyes of the same color. Finally the leader of the pack Artemis. He was slightly taller than the others, with a mane of teal, eyes of light green and skin of light blue. Being an Alicorn allowed Artemis to have a little bit of every talent that the others had. But because of a spell put on him by Nightmare Moon when he was chosen to be in the Dark Eclipse, his powers had been limited, so that he had to rely on his teammates as much as they relied on him.
On their own they were just separate pieces of a machine with one function. But together they were an almost unstoppable force. However even they weren’t enough to prevent the republic’s downfall. Although they tried their best to hide it, Artemis could see the pain and misery in the eyes of his fellows. Nightmare Moon’s message cut deeper through the four than any wound they sustained in battle. Artemis clearing his throat, finally spoke once more.
“Any questions?” he asked
There was a long pause of silence until finally Brutus spoke up.
“Not to question Mother’s orders, but isn’t it an unnecessary risk to carry the high commanders body out of what is now enemy territory and then bury him?”
“I understand and appreciate your concern for the team’s well being, but what she commands is what we must do. Not to mention that we don’t even know if we’re going to have to bury him. Besides we’ve been in plenty of high risk situations and we always came out in one piece,” Artemis answered, almost as if expecting the question.
Before Brutus could deliver his rebuttal, Rika chimed in.
“I think its helpful to note that by the end of the battle, while I was flying overhead. I saw Merc-arc entering the courtyard of the fortress. So it’s safe to say that he’s still in the general area.”
“Ah thank you Rika. That is valuable information indeed. But remember our walls are now enemy territory, so we should also assume that he could have left the area so as to avoid capture,” Artemis responded.
After answering a few more minor questions, Artemis decided it was time to move out. They had set up camp in a small cave only a short distance from the battlefield. It wasn’t exactly homely, but it worked for the two hours they had to spend there. The four companions quickly packed up all the essentials they needed for their mission. Once everything was ready to go, they armored up in their light gear and left the cave.
When they neared the battlefield Artemis signaled for them to take cover behind a boulder up on the hill. From there Eleanor took out her compact telescope and extended it to full size. She put the small end up to her eye and started scanning the area. When she was done, the mare collapsed the telescope into itself and returned it to her satchel. She then reported her findings.
“I was able to see that the Equestrian Army had set up another smaller camp inside our stronghold. They still have their camp on the hill though, but their presence soldier wise is much weaker. I must also add that I spotted a few of our soldiers fighting on the walls, but it is too late for them. As for the high commander, he was nowhere to be found.”
“Alright then, we’re going to need to move in closer if that’s the case,” Artemis replied.
The squad left their cover and began moving closer to the gate. Luckily for them Celestia had yet to gain back her full power so the sun wasn’t as bright as it normally is. This allowed for the group to be less visible. A patrol could be heard nearing their current position. So the four quickly hid under a pile of rotting corpses. The familiar smell of death was almost unbearable. Once the patrol passed by, the companions silently continued on towards the gate.
“Damn its almost impossible to sneak with all these bodies littering the ground,” Brutus whispered as he stepped on yet another carcass.
“At least they make for a good hiding spot,” responded Rika as she let out a soft but serious giggle.
Artemis raised his left hoof signaling the group to stop. They were practically next to the gate now and would have been spotted had the guards not dozed off. Then Artemis saw him. Face down in the dirt only a few feet away from him, laid the motionless body of Merc-arc. His armor was battered and torn and his cause of death was made obvious by the large amount of wounds that covered his body. Artemis could see it though, the cylindrical contain that held Nightmare Moon’s message to him. He signaled the others to watch his back as he slowly crept up to the body of the high commander and detached the container from his armor. The colt then moved back to his fellows and slipped the container into his satchel. Next Brutus and Rika were ordered to lift the body and prepare it for extraction. But as they were closing in on Merc-arc’s corpse, two arrows hit Rika in her side, piercing through her armor and penetrating the skin.
“We’ve been spotted we have to move now!” Artemis shouted as he picked up Rika.
At the same time he ordered Brutus to do the same with Merc-arc’s body. Eleanor covered their retreat by casting destruction spells at the attacking archers, while also putting up a defensive shield to block incoming arrows. The no magic rule no longer applied. A small battalion of Equestrian soldiers were marching towards the fleeing squad of the Dark Eclipse.
“Quickly, give me Merc-arc and do what you do best!” Artemis ordered Brutus.
Without questioning whether the colt could handle carrying both bodies at once, Brutus obliged and handed Merc-arc over to the Alicorn. Artemis struggled at first, but kept at the same pace. With both hooves now free, Brutus unsheathed his sword and pulled out his shield. The Earth Pony then charged at the advancing enemies. Ramming into them with such strength that the first in the ranks toppled over. He was taking down two foes with one slash, but even so they began to over power him.
“ Eleanor, do you think you could give Brutus a hoof? Mine are kind of full,” Artemis asked.
Eleanor simply nodded and focused her attention on the troops attacking Brutus. With one quick movement of her horn the Unicorn was able to entangle most of the soldiers in vines, giving Brutus the chance he needed. The colt took down the ones that were still standing and quickly hurried back to the others. Artemis had already set up another defensive barrier in place of Eleanor’s.
The group kept running, only having to fend off a few more pursuers before they finally lost them. They found an old practically dead tree standing atop a small hill so they decided to rest there. When they reached the top, Artemis laid both Rika and Merc-arc down against the tree. His body was filled with relief from finally dropping all that weight. Eleanor quickly removed the arrows from Rika’s body and began healing the wounds with her magic.
“She’s going to be ok right?” Brutus asked.
“Why of course she is silly. She’s taken plenty of arrows before,” Eleanor answered, giving a reassuring smile as she did.
The warrior sighed with relief and left the Unicorn to her work. Artemis had already begun digging a grave for Merc-arc under the dead tree. He used his magic to craft a wooden coffin out of the nails he had and some logs that were lying around. Once Rika was back on her hooves, they put Merc-arc, with his sword, into the coffin and lowered him into the ground. There was a long moment of silence and then Artemis filled the grave with dirt. Once he was done, Rika hung a banner of the Lunar Republic on a branch above it.
“He was a great high commander. Mother thought highly of him,” Eleanor said, as she put the headstone she made into the dirt.
“Here lies high commander Merc-arc,
Soldier, leader, friend, husband…hero.
May he rest in peace.”
Everyone mourned in silence. When they were done with the burial and everybody was down by the bottom of the hill, Artemis decided to open Nightmare Moon’s message that she entrusted Merc-arc with. He sat under the tree and took out the container. The Alicorn then removed the top and carefully pulled out the parchment. It was smaller than he thought it would be. It was practically a note card. Artemis slowly unrolled it and started reading.
The others were ready to leave and walked up to the top of the hill to get their leader. When they got there they found Artemis just standing in place looking up at the sun.
“Artemis we should get moving now,” Brutus told him.
“No I’m afraid I can’t,” Artemis replied.
The three Ponies were surprised by his response. But before they could ask why, the Alicorn spoke once more.
“I have a new mission from the Moon Mother. According to her it’s the most important task she has given me. I’m not allowed to tell you what it is though. But I digress. Eleanor, you are the leader of the Dark Eclipse. I expect you to do the best you can and in your own way. As much as I hate to leave you all I must bid you farewell.”
Without questioning him, the other three simply shook his hoof, said goodbye and made their way down the hill. Artemis waved them off as they walked away. Once they were out of sight he turned around and once more looked up to the sun. This time with tears running down his cheeks. He let go of the paper that he held clenched in his hoof and allowed it to blow away in the wind.
“To the strong and loyal Artemis,
You have served me well as the leader of the Dark Eclipse. Even though by now I am gone and it may seem as though you failed to protect me. You were one of the best and shouldn’t blame yourself or any other. But I can’t help shake the feeling that I have taken away so much time of your life (considering that you have followed me since the beginning). Which is why instead of going about the same orders as the rest of your squad, I want you to follow theses instead. I command you to elect a new leader of your pack and then leave them. Once that is done you have to do the most important task of them all,
LIVE YOUR LIFE!
The others can handle the survival of the Lunar Republic. You on the other hoof deserve a break. So go out there and enjoy the rest of your life. Settle down and make the best of it. Not for me or anyone else, just do it for yourself!
Sincerely,
Your leader and friend, Luna”