//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 From the darkness they will come (M) // Story: The first Lunar Laws // by vadram //------------------------------// From the darkness they will come (Warning, this chapter contains scenes of violence and some gore) “Now that you calmed down a little Luna, care to tell us what happened?” “I do not know sister, I mean I have been angry before, but never like this. It was like I was...” “No No No, I mean what happened to you before you came back. The creatures you fought, what can you tell us about them?” “Oh that,” Luna said slightly flushed. “Well it was dark but i managed to catch a glimpse of some of them. From what I saw there are two types of creatures both look about the same the only difference is their size. Most of them are about the size of a filly, but there are some of them around the size of an small mare. They are insect like in nature covered in harden shells, but have flesh and bones underneath.” “I can only assume that the shell is made of chitin, since you say it is like an insects, but it does not make sense that they would also have bones. Are you sure?” “Oh I am sure”, Luna had a mischievous grin on her face. “I could see them well after I tore one in half.” “Perhaps we should talk somewhere more private.” “Why?” Celestia tipped her head to the side as if pointing to the ponies that stood beside them. The unicorns still shocked in terror, while the earth ponies were mostly disturbed by her more ‘playful’ side. “Oh I see.” Luna’s face was now a bright pink. “I also think that would be for the best.” Celestia gave her a small smile, then the two of them walked away putting some distance between them and the rest before Luna continued. “So, as I was saying, I managed to get a pretty good look at them, well at least at their insides.From the most part their corpses looked the same as of any ponies, except for their shells and a few organs that we do not have. Even the larger ones are as light as a pegasus but it takes a lot to break them in half. Breaking their skulls is wash a lot harder than I expected, but it made such an interested cracking noise when I stomped it with my hoof, It was like it broke twice.” A shiver went down Lunas spine. “Their abdomen is one of their great wickedness, the plaiting there was so thin it felt almost like flesh when I trusted my horn into them.” She paused looking at her sister, the expression on her face was hard to describe. It filled her with both horror and disgust hearing her sister speak with so much passion about the pleasure she felt inflicting so much harm upon another living being. “Um, so aside from those weaknesses the shell on their jowl is also weak, and their wing are easily removed and causes them a great deal of pain. Oh I have not told you about the wings, they appear to be made out of thin flesh, and usually are hidden inside their bodies, they move them quickly to fly like a bee or a fly would. And... umm... lets see, belly, jowl, wings, anything else...” Luna took a moment to remember the battle, it made her feel all warm and tingly inside. “Oh... the small ones have spikes on the back of their necks, even the gentlest touch causes them discomfort, and an well placed blow incapacitates one for a couple of moments.” “Anything else?“ “Well no other weaknesses I can think of. But I can tell you a little about their strengths. They are fast, scary fast, agile as well, and clearly used in fighting in closed spaces and as a group. They are well organised, even if they do not appear to be particularly intelligent. I took down a few hundreds of them, but they keep coming, I had to cave the tunnel, but I think it is only a matter of time before they find us.” Luna paused to catch her breath and calm down, she felt that if she kept talking without a break she would start talking more about how she felt that tell Celestia what she needed to know. She took a deep breath, kept it in a bit, then exhaled. “They clearly are predators judging by the weapons they present, their claws are not particularly sharp, but they can use them to scale walls and get above you without using their wings, their fangs are not long but they are sharp, they can easily pierce the skin and if they hit a blood vessel it can be very bad, as you can see.” Luna was pointing towards her neck where two holes had been leaking before but now have been cover up by the harden blood. “But what we must be wary of is their horn.” “They have horns?” “Horn sister, just like us, only... while our are straight and spirally, and we mostly use ours for casting magic, and rarely use it for stabbing something with it, theirs are sharp and twisted, more like a talon than a horn. And it is sharp. I could feel it almost passing straight thru my... ‘helmet’.” Even speaking about this, helmet, as she chosed to name the metal that was now fused to her head, left a terrible aftertaste in her mouth. “I think you or I can easily take a couple of slashes, I do not think our ‘subject’ will last long in a fight. One clean slice from their horn and a unicorn could be done for, maybe those two, with some luck, can live after one slice, I do not think many of them would survive a fight. ” “Thats a rather bleak picture you paint sister.” “Listen Lia, I am serious, these creatures are dangerous, I can take on a couple of manicures or a hydra any day, without magic even, but these creatures terrify me sister. We could stand a chance in open ground but not in here. These is their territory, they are faster than us, more agile, they can see better than us, are more organised and judging by their fangs are carnivores, which means they have to kill to survive. And such have more combat experiences that our group.” “They indeed sound scary, but I’m sure we could take them in here. There is enough light to see them, and you and me have more than enough magic to take them on. We fought against Discord and we are still alive are we not? I do not think some cave bugs are enough to take us on.” While Celestia would have sounded arrogant and overconfident in her abilities the truth of the matter was right. There were two reasons that caused Luna to take so much damage. Firstly they got the jump on her, and they managed to land a few hits before she could react and magically strengthen her body. And secondly she had been studying them. After the initial small victory for the creature Luna slaughter dozens of them in mere moments.Seeing they did not pose such a great threat as she initially believed she intentionally let her guard down. Wave after wave of attackers charged at her from all sides, she evaded most of their attacks, killed some of them and let the rest hit her so she could measure the amount of damage these creature can inflict upon her body. She wanted to know their strengths, their weaknesses as well as have some fun, and find a ‘creative outlet’ for all the buildup stress sadness and anger she had bottled up in her. She could have easily wiped the tunnel clear at the beginning of the fight with a powerful magic blast, but she decided against it. Her magic was in short supply, and without plenty of nourishment and rest it would take a weeks to return to her current power level. So she used a small fraction of her power to create a thin magical barrier around her. And she was still able to dominate them without taking any unintentional damage, almost. While she let some attacks pass her barrier so she can judge what kind of injuries these creatures can produce only one took her by surprise. The creatures were constantly trying to injure her, scratching, biting or slashing with her horn, but no attack seemed to pass her barrier. During the later stages of the fight, while luna considered she learned all that she could have learned about the creatures she began to lose herself in combat. She let go of all control so she could finally enjoy herself. The feelings she got from the screams of the dying or injured creatures, from the sounds of bones and armor breaking under her hooves were intoxicating. She did not knew why she felt that way, but at the time it did not matter, she felt powerful, she felt in control of her fate, not just like a unicorn constantly running from discord, living from one day to another surrounded by suffering. For the first time in her new life she felt like the goddess she was, not a kind, gentle and loving goddess her sister was seen as, but as the vengeful, cruel and ruthless monstrosity everypony saw her as. And for a moment she loved it. She was rudely awaken from her drunken state by a sharp pain in her neck. She turned to see what caused her so hurt. Only a green flash could be seen as the assailant disappeared into the darkness. That creature managed to pass thru her barrier and injure her. Reality hit her hard. There was blood gushing from her neck and she was covered from head to hoof in green goop. The tunnel was filled with the corpses of fallen creatures and the smell was unbearable. She gathered a bit of magic in the tip of her horn and fired into the tunnel above her, causing a cave in. Thousands of tons of earth and rock came crashing down on her, she was in no real danger of being buried alive. As soon as the magical energy hit the rock above she teleported a short distance behind her, not a single rock or piece of dirt hit her. But the buzzing sound that brought her here was heard coming from several tunnels. The teleportation expanded more magic than she was comfortable using in her state. Not wanting to engage in more fights at the moment she headed back to her sister and the rest of the group.. So she knew that both her and her sister could defeat them without much trouble, no matter how many of them came. But that was not the problem. “Listen Lia, I know these creatures are no match for us, but our subjects”, she really did not like using that word, “they would be in danger. Both from the enemy, and from us.” Celestia raised an eyebrow at her sister. Luna sighted. “From me, okay? They will be in danger because of me, you know how ‘passionately’ I get while I fight.” “Oh Luna, I did not mean to imply...” “Yes you did. And you are right. I have issues, I know that, but sitting down and talking about it is pretty low on my list of priorities.” “Alright Luna, if you think we are in danger, i will tell them to get ready to leave.” “Listen Lia, we do not know if we are going to find food for a while, we might as well eat what we can and take with us as much as we can carry.” The two sister took some time to plan exactly what what they were going to do and after doing so returned to the group that was still standing around the dry puddle. “Listen all of you, I have talked it over with my sister and we concluded that this place is no longer safe. We will began preparation for our departure immediately.” “Now listen, first things first, everypony need to eat as much as they can now, but do not overdo it.” “After you finish eating you two will come with me to the entrance. After the rest of the groups joins us we will lead the way.” Celestia said pointing at two random unicorns. “The rest of you will gather as much food you can carry and meet up with us at the entrance when finished. I will take the other two unicorns and guard the rear.” While Celestia and her two conscripts went to guard the door, Luna stayed with the rest of the group just to make sure nothing happened to them. It only taken them a few hours to eat and gather the supplies. But by then it was already too late.