//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: Lunar Diplomacy 
// by Verathuum 
//------------------------------//

	Luna was nearly panicking as the large airship collided with the mountain slope, shaking the entire ship and further alarming all of its remaining crew members. It seemed to land in some mud and it began sliding down the slope. Luckily, it didn't pick up too much speed before it collided with a massive boulder which broke its momentum. Unfortunately, the ship had enough speed to plow through the boulder, breaking the left side of the ship and leaving a large hole halfway through. It stopped very suddenly as it hit the boulder, throwing many crewmen off the front of the ship; it threw Luna forward, but she was able to catch herself on the railing. She let go and landed on her feet on the ground which appeared to be dry in this part. She had fallen farther than she thought, and it felt like the fall had broken one of her ankles. She collapsed off her legs when she felt the intense pain in her foot, and she crawled her way from the wreckage when she saw four lights gliding towards the ground a small distance away.
“That Florian’s here to make sure his work is finished,” she thought. She crawled into some bushes near the crash site, but out of the way enough that the Florian wouldn't bother looking there for her. She saw the tall creature approaching and saw it was built just like an Equestrian: four limbs, and about the same height, if not a little taller than an Equestrian male, however he was much thinner. She saw the Florian wasn't wearing his helmet, but before his face came into view, the Florian put his helmet back on. The weird thing was he didn't use his hands to make that happen. She watched him from behind the thick grass and leaves of the tropical mountains as he approached the wreckage and examined it. He used his hands mostly, but it appeared he was using something else, an invisible substance, to move the heavier wood beams.
“How did he survive that massive explosion from earlier, and that fall back to the ground?” Luna wondered silently. She lay completely still, hidden entirely by the grass as she watched in absolute fear of the Florian. She closely watched him fumble around the wreckage looking for survivors. One of the weird aspects of this that struck Luna was that he was completely silent: not only did he not say anything, but when he walked she could barely hear him, and the only sound that was made were the sounds of things shifting inside the wreckage. He went deeper inside the wreckage, no doubt looking inside the individual rooms, and then several minutes later appeared on the upper deck.
The Florian approached the wreckage and dug through it. He found his way to the upper deck where he saw several bodies and quickly ran up to them. He moved completely silently as most Florians did: make too much noise, and the wildlife gets you.
“Dead,” he thought solemnly, “Dammit, that Mesa shell must've gotten the best of them.” He set the body down and walked to the edge of the ship. He leaned on the part of the balcony that wasn't broken and stared into the distance. “Well…shoot,” he thought, “My jet is probably broken and I have no way to get home, other than walk. And just my luck, getting trapped out here.” He looked at the faint glow beyond the horizon: Chukxil, one of the many Auflorsung cities. The Florian drew his gaze from the horizon and looked down in frustration; there was no conceivable way home, especially because of the creatures that roamed the mountains at night…even the day. He looked down in despair, but something caught his attention: there was a patch of disturbed dirt. The mud by this point on the mountain was dry and was simply dirt covered with a loose layer of sand.
The Florian left the ship and examined the disturbed sand more closely. It appeared that a body had landed here and dragged itself away from the wreckage. He followed the tracks about ten feet down the clearing, and then the track made a hard turn into the bushes.
“Well, well,” he thought, “Someone did survive after all.” He stood upright and peered into the bushes behind his visor. There was no movement that he could see, but when he switched to thermal vision, he saw a different scene.
“Please just go,” Luna silently begged, “There’s no one here at all, just go on.” She looked at the Florian’s feet from behind the grass, confident the low-hanging branch above her concealed her body and her dark blue clothing made her invisible in the dark. She closed her eyes when she realized the Florian wasn’t going anywhere and waited for the end. After a few seconds however, she reopened them and looked up. A small space between the branch leaves allowed her to see the Florian’s head. It was covered by the same mask that he wore in the air. She could see his shoulders twist in such a way that they indicated he was reaching for something. “He’s gonna kill me now,” she thought thinking he was reaching for a weapon.
“You’re not going to get your wish,” the Florian thought as he pulled a baton off his left side. With an extremely swift motion, a blue blade made of energy extended from the baton and he drove the deadly weapon straight into the ground.
Luna could feel vibration of the blade striking the ground inches from her right arm. She could soon feel the heat of the blade even through her thick coat. “He’s just taunting me now,” she thought. Suddenly, the blade lifted out of the ground and it disappeared back into the baton. Luna remained still even though she desperately wanted to run, but the fear kept her in one place. Without warning, she felt a hand grab her arm and pull her out of the bushes and onto her feet; she was too afraid to feel the pain in her ankle. She stared up at the Florian who had set his baton on his side again. She was lost in awe of being in the presence of a Florian; it was an honor, even for a princess. She continued staring dumbfounded and speechless at his mirrored mask, staring back at her confused reflection. “How can that help in a fight?” she wondered, “Just seeing the frightened expression of yourself makes your emotions his.” She didn't know, however, that the mirroring was not for human opponents, but animals, particularly cockatrices. She watched the Florian lose his grip on her arm, and he bent down next to where she was laying. He picked up a strange looking creature: a four-legged spider with four eyes, and two very long fangs. Poison dripped from the fangs, boiling as it hit the ground indicating its acidic qualities. The Florian wasn't trying to kill her, he was saving her. “Uhh…thank you,” she said at a loss of what else to say. Suddenly, there was a loud screeching roar not too far away, and the Florian grabbed her arm and pulled her into the ship without a word. “What was that thing?” she asked him trying to get him to speak. He replied by putting his index finger over the lower portion of his mask, telling her to be quiet.