Chapter 2
Lancer looked at his Aunt, then to his father, then back to his Aunt. "M-mom is-"
"we don't what happened to her, Lancer, but we'll find her," Celestia leaned over gave Lancer a small lick between his eyes, "I promise."
Lancer could smell his father coming, and soon, Eclipse pulled his son close, allowing Lancer to feel his fathers soothing warmth.
He sat there for a few more minutes, then, "If it's ok, I'd like to go and see Bright Eyes."
"it's fine, Lancer," Eclipse replied.
Lancer gave his father a loving nuzzle, "Thank you."
Eclipse nods, “Take care.”
“You too.” With that, Lancer walks out.
---
The ball rolled a few inches before being kicked by Patch. The ball sailed through the air and Bright Eyes ran underneath, anticipating it’s landing position. As she suspected, it landed a few inches from her nose, she batted it with her right paw back to Patch.
Patch watched as the ball sailed through the air towards him. Unfortunately, she had run a little too quickly and the ball hit her in the ribs, she yelped as she rolled into a nearby tree- the ball was now free game.
The players-Bright Eyes, Patch, Clover, and Melody- as well as Sweetheart, who was watching the game, saw their friend hurt, so instead of leaping at the ball like a Black Friday special, the rushed to their friend. “Are you okay, Patch,” Bright Eyes called out.
“Uh...I think so…” Patch replied, shaking off a few fallen off leaves.
They all gave a sigh of relief. Bright Eyes helped Patch get to her paws. Patch immediately ran back toward the ball with the other three following.
“Careful Patch!” Bright Eyes called out.
“Bright Eyes?”
Bright Eyes looked behind to see who had called her; it was Lancer.
“Lancer!” Bright Eyes pulled Lancer into a large hug. Bright Eyes felt Lancer’s wet nose nuzzle her neck. Bright Eyes could tell something was wrong with him. Bright Eyes looked at Lancer, she noticed the large cut on his nose.
“Oh, what happened to your nose?”
“Oh...I forgot about that,” Lancer rubbed his snout, “I- Can I talk to you?”
“Um...sure, Lancer,” Bright Eyes looked to the others, who looked at her. Bright Eyes pointed to Lancer, and the others nodded. Lancer took her aside. Bright Eyes could feel something was wrong, Lancer was normally in a good mood, this was-strange.
Lancer sighed, he wasn't sure how to break this to to Bright Eyes, he began to run through in his mind, how to start. He soon found something that would work, and told her. "Bright Eyes...my mom's- she's missing."
Bright Eyes stared at Lancer, stunned. "She's-missing...how? She's the leader of our pack! Leaders don't do that! Is everyone looking for her?"
"Yes...I was hoping you'd go with me to help find her.”
Bright Eyes smiled, "Of course I will, Lancer." She put her paw on Lancer’s cheek.
Lancer began to blush. “Um…”
Bright Eyes giggled, she then pressed her nose to his. "Let me get you fixed up before we head out."
"Ok, but we need to hurry. There’s no telling what’s happened to her."
Bright Eyes nodded, breaking the loving embrace (if you call rubbing noses an embrace), and let Lancer lead the way back.
---
Twilight Sparkle was laying at the stream, watching as the water gently flowed over the rocks. She placed her paw in the water; the cool water felt refreshing to her.
She took her paw out, and lowered her head so she could lap up the water, it felt so refreshing to her.
Soon, she picked up on the scent of her mate. She looked behind to see him approaching her, a worried look on his face.
When he finally reached her, a smile spread on both their faces. Comet sat down next to Twilight. "How did it go," Twilight asked in a low, loving tone.
Comet laid down, "okay, Lancer did well..."
"Good," Twilight then rested her head on Comet’s paws, closing her eyes, "I missed you."
"I missed you, too," Comet lay his head on hers, trying to ease his stress. “How’s the little one?”
"She's got a lot of kick, that's for sure."
"She?"
“Maternal instinct, plus that was what I was hoping for.”
"Odd, I was too. And I imagined she'd be as pretty as you."
Twilight blushed, nuzzling Comet's chest.
“Twilight!”
Both Twilight and Comet Tail turned to see a purple and green mountain lion cub running towards them.
“Spike,” Twilight said as she stood up, “What’s wrong?”
“I just heard, Luna’s missing.”
“What?!”
---
Cadence was walking around the territory. Recently, she had spotted enemy wolves attempting to attack her pack. The only reason why they aren’t able to now is because of a barrier she set up as a precautionary measure. 'This is bad, really bad. Especially with Aunt Luna missing.'
Since Cadence had set up the barrier, she invited her aunts' and cousin’s packs into her den to discuss this new turn of events, so that Celestia wouldn't have to make a barrier herself. And because Wysteria wasn't able to. Eventually, the remaining three entered the barrier: Comet, who was looking kind of tired. Twilight, whose stomach was already beginning to grow due to the pup growing inside her. And Spike, the lion cub Twilight had taken under her proverbial wing when they were young.
Once everyone took a seat, Celestia began to explain the situation. “Thank you all for coming, in case you haven’t heard already, my sister, Luna, has disappeared.” By the time she was able to deliver her next thought, a commotion began to rise from every wolf present. One was even running in circles (of course, that was Minty, who was the entertainer of the group).
Solaris didn’t want to see his pack in such a frenzied state. “Enough,” He barked, at the top of his lungs and began to glare at any wolf who dared make eye contact with him.
“You’re all acting like a bunch of scared puppies, why not go out looking for Luna instead of running around wondering what we’ll do? Is this what she’d want?!”
Eclipse grunted, and returned to his place next to Celestia. “I agree with Solaris. We don’t know what happened to her nor if she is well, but the last thing we want to do is panic,” Celestia told them.
Shining Armor stood up, “I agree with both of them. We should head out and try and find Luna before nightfall.”
“Excellent, but I want all of you to travel in groups of two, this is hunting season for the humans, and I don’t want anyone to get hurt or worse,” Celestia said, “And don’t forget who we’re talking about here. Luna is not called the ‘Night Alpha’ for no reason.”
Comet looked over to Twilight to see if she’d be his search partner- but she was already over by Minty asking her. ‘Great, she’s mad at me.’
Comet looked to Spike, “Well, looks like it’s just you and me, kid.”
“Oh, uh, o-okay.”
“Something wrong?”
Spike shook his head.
“You can tell me.”
Same response.
“Cat got your tongue?”
Spike glared at Comet, obviously finding the phrase offensive.
“Sorry, but you’re gonna tell me sooner or later.”
“As long as you stop with the cat puns.”
“Deal.”
---
Lancer and Bright Eyes were already outside of wolf territory, trying to get back, but Bright Eyes saw the gathering.
“What’s that about,” She asked.
“Probably about my mom’s disappearance and assembling search parties”
“Oh, well, we’ll start looking as soon as I get that nose fixed up.”
“I just hope she’s okay.”
“Me too,” Bright Eyes, gently nuzzled Lancer’s neck, hoping to give him some small comfort.
“Thanks,”
“What are friends for?”
Lancer chuckled, “True, but- never mind.”
“What?”
“It’s nothing…” Suddenly, Lancer began to have visions in his head, visions of things he didn’t remember seeing. He suddenly stopped in his tracks, gaining a worried look from Bright Eyes. "Lancer?"
But Lancer couldn't hear her. He put a paw to his head in pain. The visions continued to flood his mind, making his head hurt in the process.
Bright Eyes called his name again. Still nothing. At this point, she didn't know what to do. "Lancer, I don't know what's wrong, but I want to-"
Suddenly, Lancer collapsed!
"LANCER," Bright Eyes yelled, she ran to him while howling for the others to come. In just seconds, other wolves began to gather around them.
When Eclipse finally broke through the crowd of wolves, his heart sank when he saw what they were looking at. "Lancer?!" Eclipse rushed to his side and carefully put him on his back. "Bright Eyes, I need you to get to Cadence's den, NOW!"
Bright Eyes nodded and darted off in that direction.
---
Celestia could see Bright Eyes towards the den, she ran over to her and asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Lancer! He just collapsed!”
“Oh goodness!” Celestia rushed over and saw her brother-in-law carrying Lancer on his back. “Do you need any help?”
“No, but if Twilight’s not here, I need her,” Eclipse explained.
Celestia nodded, “Understood,” Right before Celestia bolted off, she noticed Lancer, he looked so...weak. Celestia felt a twinge of fear go through her spine but looked away after remembering this wouldn’t do any good.
‘Stay strong, Lancer, we need you.’