//------------------------------// // Dangers in a different land. // Story: When the Moon saved the stars // by kittypetro //------------------------------// Chapter 12 Dangers in a different land. Starvoid looked up as a changeling came rushing into the throne room. “Lady Starvoid… we have found 9 traitors in the city of Staliongrad.” “9?” Starvoid’s eyes grew and she got excited. “What are their descriptions?” She asked. “A blue unicorn with a hat and cape, a wand with a starry tip as a cutie mark. A big red earth pony with a green apple as a cutie mark. A grey Pegasus with derped eyes, a bunch of bubbles as her cutie mark. A white unicorn with glasses, a black note as her cutie mark. An orange unicorn with a pick axe as a cutie mark, with them a zebra and a griffin, as well as Spitfire and Soarin, two wonderbolts loyal to the royal princesses.” Starvoid scowled. It all fitted… except the orange unicorn. Then she laughed. A disguise spell… not bad Lulu, not bad.’ “Where are they now? “ The changeling winched. “The changeling that discovered them got knocked out and by the time he got up they were gone.” Starvoid growled. “Fine. If you need to get something done right you do it yourself” she muttered. Running out she turned to the gargoyles. “Staliongrad, search everywhere, I don’t want anypony to leave the place, I want Princess Luna captured and brought here, is that clear?” The gargoyles grunted an affirmative, before flapping their wings flying off. Starvoid turned to the changeling. “Let every changeling know that the one responsible for bringing Luna back can eat away on her love for her sister and her subjects before I banish her to the heavens, send half the force to staliongrad, do not let her get away or I swear to tartarus I will make you all regret it.” And as the changeling nodded and rushed out with it’s orders, Starvoid grinned. “I got you now Lulu, you can run but you can’t hide.” … Luna turned to look behind her as they turned a corner, still hiding away in the dark sewer tunnels. “All right, now that we are alone, Big Mac, Zecora, you two are up.” “Eeyup” Big Mac said closing his eyes, Zecora doing the same. The glow that came from Zecora momentary blinded everypony around them, the zebra taking a deep breath as she opened her eyes. “The place we need to go is far I fear, to Zebrica’s desert were dangers are near.” “Zebrica?” Luna groaned. “That’s all we needed, more trouble.” “Is this because of the lions again?” Gilda asked. “No not completely” Luna said. “But it is partly one of the problems. As Zecora said, few ponies know much about Zebrica, most of it is because it’s a dangerous land and few dare to thread there if they have a choice. That and it is far away. Since that changeling saw you all we are probably all wanted now, we can’t just go on a train and cross the border, and I don’t have enough power to use a disguise spell on all of you.” “So… how do we get to Zebrica?” Trixie asked. Luna flinched and looked at Zecora. “I’m sorry Zecora… but we need to go through the pass.” Zecora looked like she had been slapped in the face. As Luna stopped talking Zecora opened her own mouth. “No… to go through the pass you cannot force me to go, it is dangerous and our deaths will all be slow.” Luna looked at the rest of the group. “The pass of lions… the Zebra’s of Zebrica never go near the place, nor does anypony else if they have a choice. The lions who live there are vicious, but fair. They give the ponies and creatures who try to walk through their pass a chance… if you or one in your party manages to outwit the guardian you can pass.” “And… if you can’t outwit the guard?” Derpy asked looking towards Zecora. “Then you are dead” Luna said. Zecora shook her head again. “We can’t go down that path, or else our lives we will lose fast.” “Then what do you want us to do Zecora?” Luna asked. “How else do we get to Zebrica any other way to avoid capture?” Zecora frowned and seemed to steel herself for what she was about to say. “The way I went we could always go, but it’s longer and risky, I think you should know.” “The way you went… from when you came to Equestria?” Spitfire asked. Zecora nodded. “From east to west I once came, walking through the desert with little rain. Long the journey through the desert was, but safe from having to pay the pass’ deadly cost.” Luna looked at Zecora before drawing up a map in the dirt on the floor. “We are here… show me the way you want to do.” Zecora walked up to the dirt, tracing a long line south from Staliongrad to the watery edge of east Equestria. “A small journey by boat we need to take, to get us to Zebrica state.” Dragging a hoof following the waters course a boat went over the water down to the western coast of Zebrica. “From here we walk through the sand, walking east should be the plan.” Luna looked at her. “It’s going to be a long journey Zecora.” Zecora looked at her. “Friends I like to think you are, we will walk together and see danger from afar.” “Very well” Luna said. “Come on everypony, we have a long way to walk and from here and out we must be careful about being spotted.” The group nodded and continued to walk after Luna, and after a while winced as they saw light. The moon shone bright as the group came out in a forest, a few looking around to see if there was any danger. Luna looked up at the position of the stars. “Right, south is this way. Come on everypony we have a long journey ahead of us.” Everypony followed Luna as she walked down the forest path. Now and then the group stopped up as ponies came walking past them heading towards the town they had just escaped from. Soarin and Spitfire once more donned the shadow bolts uniforms and soared through the skies as scouts. Now and then they turned and came back with information like, ‘a group of changelings are resting southwest,’ or ‘there are gargoyles circling the mountains further up, we should go around them.’ After nearly an hour of this Trixie spoke up. “This is getting ridiculous; if this keeps up we won’t save anypony until the turn of the next century.” “We can’t let anypony know that we are here” Luna said. “Why not? We only need two more artifacts, who says we can’t go into the nearest camp and knock out some guards and be on our way?” Luna turned to Trixie. “Let me tell you something, because I know you are not familiar with how a war general thinks. We assaulted a changeling and got away. That changeling woke up and probably told his superior that there are traitors in the staliongrad woods. He don’t know your names but he followed our table long enough to have given a description of everypony here. When that information comes to Starvoid she will probably recognize a few of the descriptions as images she got from looking through my head and know that you are probably the ones hiding me, so she sends out this group.” “Yes she has probably used up a lot of her forces coming here, but she thinks’ that she doesn’t have to go all out because sooner or later I will try something she thinks’ won’t work… if we go into a camp and start using the elements… we will knock them out. Once they wake up and let Starvoid know that Princess Luna and 6 others using the elements of harmony have been spotted going south from Staliongrad… what do you think she’ll do?” “Freak out” Vinyl said as loud as she dared. “She’d send every loyal subject our way, raise the bounty on our heads and come herself to track us down… yes we have the power to deal with her subordinates, but we wont be able to deal with her until we have the two final artifacts. So for now Trixie, we will sneak around the enemy, all right?” Trixie nodded. “Yeah… sorry, I’m just not used to being in hiding.” “Not to worry” Luna said, turning to walk down the path. “Very few of us are used to this… last time that comes close was during the Nightmare Moon war, and back then I didn’t bother to hide… come on, we can still walk a while before stopping for the night.” Luna turned and looked around, her teal eyes taking in everything, trying not to shout in surprise as a voice spoke up in her head. ‘You know if you asked for help I could help out with that wannabe unicorn.’ ‘Why are you here… I only hear you when I raise the moon.’ Nightmare moon groaned. ‘Oh come on, you really haven’t figured out that yet? Why do you think you are still safe? Why aren’t you currently staying in a cold cell with Starvoid looking over you? Every time she came in contact she did two things. She distracted you by talking and when you didn’t notice she sent a magical signal to your brain… she woke me up… she plans for you to turn into me again, so you will join her.’ Luna’s eyes went wide. ‘However’ Nightmare Moon said with a grin. ‘She forgot one small thing… I have no intention of being a sidekick… just because Celestia is trapped in space I won’t fall to my knees and worship her… wich again is why I am telling you this. So Luna… how about you start using your head… send her a message and tell her to back off… she thinks she can rule this kingdom, let her try. Release the dragons, destroy the land… let it be night a few hours longer.’ Luna huffed. ‘I’m not stupid either you damn nightmare… as long as it’s nighttime she can use her gargoyles. If anything I’d rather it be day all night, but considering how warm that will be where we’re going I’d rather let the day and night go as usual. Now back off and go back to that dark little hole you crawled out from.’ ‘How rude’ Nightmare said with a fake pout in her voice. ‘Here I am trying to help out and all I do is getting shunned… I see your sister has taught you well. Just so you know, Starvoid thinks she controls you, maybe by pretending she is winning you can cut some slack.’ Nightmare moon disappeared, and Luna looked at the others who gave her a small look of worry. “You ok princess?” Gilda asked worried. “Yeah I’m fine…let’s rest here, we’ll head out at dawn.” As everypony sat down Soarin and Spitfire walked up to her. “Are you sure you are ok?” “Better than in a long time” Luna said assuring the other two. “I think I just got a better grasp on why we aren’t already in chains.” “Well that sounds promising” Spitfire said with a smile. “So why haven’t she been trying harder to catch us?” “Every time I have raised or lowered the moon and sun, she has been sending her magic into my head… waking up Nightmare Moon again. She thinks that Nightmare Moon will be on her side for sealing Celestia away and thinks that Nightmare Moon will take over and head back to stay at her side.” Luna huffed. “However Starvoid have forgotten a few things. I am not Nightmare Moon. She might be waking up again but I am still in control… and as long as I don’t fall into that darkness again she will not have control… and even if she did, Nightmare Moon doesn’t play second string for anypony, especially not a unicorn like Starvoid.” Everypony shared a look. “So… should we be worried about Nightmare Moon waking up?” Derpy asked curiously. “Right now all she does is constantly nag about how I should make life miserable for her to see how she can handle the pressure of being a ruler when thing goes wrong, but I am not about to let the moon stay up longer than it should. As for the rest she’ll get enough chaos as it is. The changelings do not trust her, and with the country without their ruler the dragons and griffons will probably try something too. Then there are the loyalists who will probably try something to rebel… no for now I say we lay low, she only have so many gargoyles and loyal guards… soon she’ll crack. And all without us having to lift a single hoof.” Luna smirked. “Starvoid won’t know what hit her.” The group continued to walk for a few days, hiding in caves and eating berries and grass that they found, Derpy and Zecora going around finding mushrooms and the occasional edible herb. “I don’t know how much longer I can do this” Soarin groaned a night as he and Spitfire soared through the sky looking out for danger. “We have been on the road for almost a week now, I need real food.” Spitfire looked over at him. “Oh suck it up Soarin, when all this is over I’ll buy you a big apple pie, all right?” Soarin smiled at her. “Thanks Spitfire, you’re a great captain.” “Of course I a… Soarin, look at that.” Soarin looked over to where Spitfire was pointing and grinned. “Finally” he grumbled, as the two wonderbolts turned to head back to the rest of the group. “Good news” Spitfire said as they landed. “The ocean is spotted right ahead.” Luna smiled. “Great job you two, now let’s head on, maybe we can reach the ocean and get on a boat before dawn.” As luck would have it, once out of the forest the group found themselves in the outskirts of a small town. “All right, what now?” Trixie asked, looking around. “We need to get some information” Luna said. “We should split up, Zecora and Big Mac, you go with either Spitfire or Soarin. You haven’t gotten your artifacts yet and that worries me if you come across any enemies. We meet back here in an hour or less, understood?” “Eeyup.” Luna nodded and flew into the air, hiding herself in the backdrop of the night sky. Once she lay securely on a cloud, she looked at the familiar constellations. They had been in that cold for almost two weeks now, their pain must be terrible. She remembered herself how it felt after the first weeks, the sadness that made you want to just succumb and die, to make it all stop. But she would not give up. She’d save her sister and the bearers, she owed them that much. ‘You don’t owe anypony anything’ came the annoyed snort from Nightmare Moon. ‘You again? I thought I told you that I didn’t want your input.’ ‘Your sister sent you to the moon and those six blasted ponies stopped us from becoming sole rulers of Equestria.’ ‘Us? Oh no you don’t, if you had won you would never have let me get a word in on any plans or choices.’ Nightmare Moon growled. ‘You need me Luna.’ ‘No I don’t… in fact it’s you who need me, because right now all you are, is a voice in my head. So do me a favor Nightmare and shut the buck up. I need to raise the sun for a new day so my subject can get some warmth.’ Nightmare Moon shut up, and Luna concentrated on the moon. Luna tried her best to not roll her eyes as Starvoid’s voice called out. Starvoid on her side was not calm. The changelings had been everywhere in those woods looking for Luna and her friends. She still didn’t know what she was planning, she still wasn’t getting anywhere and even though Nightmare Moon was supposed to be fully sentient she had done nothing to help out. Over the last few days both the griffins and the dragons had started testing the waters, the dragons openly flying through her airspace terrorizing her subjects living in secluded areas as well as stealing the gems found in the land. In the north the griffins were trying to start a war, wanting more land. She had stopped the first assault by freezing up a griffin colony that had tried taking root, telling the survivors that it was a simple warning and next time she would go in for the kill. The griffins had listened… the dragons had not. Starvoid grumbled. “Lulu first… then I can deal with the dragons.” “Good morning Nightmare Moon, how has your night been?” “I’m sorry, the pony you are trying to reach is not available at the moment, may I leave a message?” Starvoid chuckled, but Luna heard a small tone of frustration in her voice. “So funny Lulu, a real riot… so how are you?” “I’m having a blast” Luna said grinning. “And you?… I heard you had some problems with the changelings… again.” Starvoid growled. “None of your business peasant.” Chrysalis had been quite upset and angry after finding out that Starvoid had given her changelings orders. They were her subjects and only answered to her. Starvoid had in turn pointed out that if that were true, the changelings wouldn’t have jumped and done as she had ordered them in the first place. “Of course not Luna said with a condescending tone. And of course the few days with dragons in the air… that is on purpose too I suppose? Unless of course the dragons don’t listen to your commands and fly in your new kingdom without permission.” “I am warning you Lulu, back off.” “As you wish” Luna said with a smile. “By the way Nightmare Moon says hi and want me to tell you that she isn’t playing second fiddle to anypony, and you can go and buck yourself.” And with that said Luna let go of the sun and moon, smiling in the warmth. Flying down to the ground she scowled. ‘Probably shouldn’t have said that, now she’ll just try harder to find me… oh well it was worth it, stuffing her failure into her smug face.’ At the castle in Canterlot, Starvoid blinked in shock. Then she took a deep breath and screamed loud, hard and angry. Outside the door, the guards looked at each other and smirked, before opening the door in question, asking if something was wrong. The glare that was sent their way made the two guards turn and rush out, running far away from Starvoid’s earshot, falling to the floor laughing. … At the sound of hooves, Luna turned to see the others come back. “Anypony learned anything interesting?” Derpy smiled and took the hood off her face. “I found a ship and a pair of gentlecolts who was generous enough to give me tickets for the trip to Zebrica.” Vinyl grinned too. “I played some music on the streets; everypony was laughing and dancing… I earned enough bits for us to eat well for a month.” “Trixie played a few tricks too, and managed to win us a few disguises” Trixie said proudly, getting out a few cloaks for everypony except Zecora and Derpy that already had cloaks of their own. “I took a round around listening in on the town gossip” Gilda said. “Nopony here seems to talk much about the ponies wanted by Starvoid, but there has been a lot of trouble with the local farmers. Apparently they can’t grow enough food to send to Canterlot, although after what the gossip thinks, it’s all a ploy to keep the food for themselves and for refugees, because nopony want Starvoid to get any food.” Gilda grinned. “I also saw a marking near the place where the changelings are staying, a marking carved into the stone; a sun and a moon, with the words long live the royal princesses of Equestria.” Luna smiled and took a deep blue cloak from Trixie, laying it over her body. “Well… let’s head out towards Zebrica… and once there we need water caskets, a lot of them, or else we’re doomed.” … The ship the group went on was more like a ferry than anything else. A lot of ponies got onboard, most wanting to escape from Equestria and the new ruler. The food was free but tasted like cardboard, and at night most ponies huddled together to keep warm. At one of the last days of the journey, a small filly managed to crash with Luna, knocking off her hood. The silence that followed was so thick you could almost touch it. “Your majesty?” An old mare walked up to Luna, looking on in wonder, before bowing, and soon the entire room followed suit. “Please don’t do that” Luna asked them, taking on her hood once more. “I am here in a secret mission to get back my sister… I need to stay low profile… please help me out.” “Whatever you ask for shall be done” the mare said, standing up. “Then just keep my secret” Luna said smiling. “I trust you all my faithful subjects… as does Celestia and the bearers from their cold prison waiting to be rescued.” “And how long until that happens?” A stallion in the back asked. “How long until that unicorn’s tyranny is over?” “I am not sure” Luna said honestly. “But not much longer, if my plan will work out. Now be at rest my little ponies… I will make sure that Equestria will welcome you all back once this is all over.” The ponies smiled, a few of the foals running up to hug Luna. Several of the stallions made a salute, and a few of the mare’s cheered. “Long live the princess of the Night… long live Princess Luna.” Luna smiled, sending a message back to her head. ‘See that Nightmare Moon… that is how you get the subjects to like you.’ … A few days later the group landed in Zebrica, a few of the ponies wincing at the sun. “This is going to sound strange… but I miss the frozen North Vinyl said, dragging the hood of her cloak away from her face.” “The cloak you should wear dear Vinyl Scratch, or else a stroke from the heat you will catch.” Vinyl looked over at Zecora who was enjoying the sun, welcoming it back as a good friend, before she shrugged and donned the hood again. Zecora probably knew what she was talking about. “So how do we proceed?” Trixie asked. “First off we need to find somewhere to buy water caskets, so we won’t die of thirst” Luna said. “Then I suppose we could see if we can afford to buy us some Zebra’s to help us through the desert, always nice to have local help.” “But aren’t we wanted with a big bounty on our heads?” Derpy asked. “In Equestria yes… not here” Luna said. “The Zebras have a different way of living than ponies do, we’re safe here.” “At least from other ponies” Soarin said, looking around expecting a lion to jump out from the brushes. Zecora looked around with expert eyes, before she smiled and turned to the rest of the group. “Water we need to buy, in the market I suggest you try. I will stay and look around, to see if a guide can be found.” “Good idea” Luna said smiling. “Spitfire, Trixie, you two stay with Zecora, the rest of us go and get some water.” As the rest of the group headed to an open nearby market with half the bits Vinyl had managed to get, Zecora led the way up to a caravan where two male Zebras turned to her. Zecora started talking in Zebra, Trixie and Spitfire simply sharing a look before sitting down. “You think Zecora is happy to be back in her homeland?” Trixie asked. Spitfire shrugged. “Who knows… I mean she left it for a reason, and is probably not coming back for a while after we leave with the artifact… but maybe she missed it.” Spitfire looked at Zecora who talked fast and hurriedly with the two male Zebra’s, who looked unsure and unwilling. “Let me try” Trixie said rising to her hooves. “You speak Zebra?” Spitfire asked. “No” Trixie said, getting out 10 golden bits from her pouch. Without a word she stepped up to Zecora and levitated the coins to clink on the seat of the Zebra’s caravan. The Zebras looked at the bits shocked, then shared a look and grinned, turning to Zecora and gave a final bunch of words. Zecora turned to Trixie. “Lead us to our destination they agreed to do, but to approve of bribe I do not do.” “Better to have a guide to lead the way than to have to go through the desert blind… speaking of which this is a very large country, do you know where we are going?” Zecora smiled and patter her necklace. “Southeast I feel that we need to go. Anymore else I do not know.” “Well it’s better than nothing I suppose” Trixie said, turning as Spitfire joined them. “The others are back, do we have a ride?” Zecora nodded, before turning to the Zebras and asking a quick question which was answered just as fast. “We can leave when in half an hour or so, these gentlecolts need to get the cart ready to go.” “Wow you guys don’t waste any time” Luna said as she walked up to them, having heard the conversation from afar. “We can wait for them to finish up, here you have a water skin each, and we bought an extra casket just in case.” Luna turned to Big Mac who walked up with the barrel over his back, the Zebras rushing over to help loading the water onto the cart getting it ready for the journey.