//------------------------------// // Plans and Memories // Story: Kingdom of the Moon // by PheonixCircle //------------------------------// "It is an honour to meet you, princess," the king said. He smiled, but Luna immediately looked through the façade the king was building up. He wasn't too content that a battle was approaching because he knew that mainly his man would suffer from it. But Luna had more to worry about than the kings worries. She had not only to unite a shattered kingdom, now that she knows that there are more goblets she needs to assemble a search party. She had already some ponies in mind and was well aware that her decision would cause a commotion. "Thank you, king, for your kind greeting. It is a pleasure to meet a royal with some manners." The king looked at her with a confused look, to which Luna responded "Be happy that you never had to meet the royals of Canterlot. They might have been proud and honourable once, but now they are nothing more than arrogant and greedy. A degenerate nobility in comparison to you and your son." The king smirked, happy for the princess's compliment but feeling disappointed about the way the Canterlot royals behave. "I am sorry to hear that. Nonetheless, we have more important matters at hoof. We must prepare a war and I want to know how you plan to distribute the forces," the king answered to pressure the princess. Luna sat at the table, looking each one in the face. "I plan to divide the forces between yours and ours." Everyone was shocked and looked at the princess with their eyes wide opened. She sighed and wanted to explain her decision, but the king was faster and answered to her proposal with his voice raised a bit, enough to impress but not enough to sound offending. "I say we unite the forces and distribute the soldiers equally on each front. With this we will have a much greater impact on one of the gates." All except for the princess nodded. She was well aware that his idea would be the right one under normal circumstances, but they had one problem they couldn't solve in this short period of time they had remaining. "Normally I would have the same point of you as you have now. The only problem is that our forces have no experience fighting together and they would only hinder each other on the battle field, leading to a much smaller impact than each forces had separately." The others now understood why the princess wanted to split the forces, but her idea made the king only angrier. "So that means while my forces are at the front gate, tacking the enemy forces head on and suffering casualties, your forces are sneaking around and attacking the enemy from behind? No, I will not let my man suffer while yours are safe. We either join our forces or I return home and you can fight your fights alone." The princess shook her head. She smiled slightly and answered in a comforting voice she had learned to use a millennia ago. "In contrary, our forces will be the one to hold of the enemy long enough for yours to sneak in and attack from behind. We will arrive at the front gate at the same time, targeting the northern and western gates with your catapults. While they attack us through the northern, you go in through the western gate and march through the city behind the enemies back. Our forces are trained to protect a place as long as necessary. I suppose yours is more fitted for an attack, or am I wrong?" The king looked at her with little belief. He wasn't prepared for such a plan, the princess noticed. She had to smile and suppress a burst of laughter upon the face the king had at this moment. "No, you are right. My forces are trained to charge, not to stand ground," the king answered. The princess looked at the others. Their silence told the princess that neither of them had greater issues with her plan, but she had to make sure. "Is everyone content with this plan or do you have any suggestions of your one?" she asked the ponies at the table. None of them had and the princess and king approved the plan with a handshake. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prince Conglatius V cleared his throat to gain the attention of the ponies around him. He was surprised that the mayor and the priestess had no reluctance towards the princess's plan, but he also knew that they trusted her with their lives. Even before she had returned they would pray in the night before their departure for a good journey. He also had never heard of a pony being hurt on their journeys through the most dangerous places when they had prayed the night before. But it wasn't the belief in their princess the young royal was interested in. He was much more interested in his placement in the fight. He was eager to prove himself in front of the men he would lead one day. "Father, Princess, I just wanted to ask what my role in this battle will be. I wanted to show the men that I am capable of fighting as well as they are, but your plan puts a big risk on both forces if they look through your plan and I don't intend on staying behind the defence lines." The king looked at him with a worried look while the princess smiled. It was the princess that answered him. "You will be in a totally different place, my young fighter." She looked at the king. "That is, if your father accepts a proposal I wish to make." The king looked at her with even more worry. "What is it you plan to do with my son. He won't stay here on his own, even if I demanded it." "I want him and the priestess to search for the goblets you have mentioned before. They will benefit us greatly if they are in each city, allowing us to trade and contact each other in a matter of a few moments." "NO!" the prince shouted, now standing at the table. He panted hardly in his anger. As he looked around he noticed the confused looks on the mayor and the priestess and his father's glare made him clear that he made a mistake. He sat back down, blushing from the embarrassment he brought upon himself just now. He looked at the princess while a tear run down his cheek. He was waiting a long time for a battle to prove himself and now it got taken away. "Why do I have to go? Isn't there somepony else that could go with the priestess?" he asked. In his anger he almost forgot the priestess's presence. Only her hoof on his reminded him that she was there, too. And the tears in her eyes made him hate himself. How could he just have fallen this far? How could he have forgotten this beautiful mare sitting beside him? "I send you because she needs a protector. A bigger group would be suspicious. So sending you could just mean one thing." the princess said to the prince. He looked up and expected her to continue and was surprised that his father answered with the most obvious answer. "My son, this means that your strength has been acknowledged. If you need a small party that can overcome any obstacle in your way, you need the strongest and wisest of ponies. I know that the priestess possesses strong magic or else she wouldn't be the priestess. And being one also expects a high grade of education, almost as high as yours has been. But she has no strength on her own and therefore she needs you. And because you two are well educated in different terms, combining your ideas will lead to even greater ideas." The princess nodded. "It is as your father said, but there is also another reason. You have seen the stone map, haven't you?" she asked the prince. He nodded, but his look told the princess that there was more. "I have seen the map, but I can't remember it any more, and it has been destroyed in the last winter. Water had entered the tablet and one day colder than others it broke into small pieces." The princess smiled again. She began to drive him crazy, he noticed, but he decided to bear with it. It was better if they smiled than without any expression on their faces. "It will be sufficient that you have seen it. And now sleep my dear prince." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luna's horn was glowing when the prince collapsed at the table. The others stood up and looked shocked at the prince. The mayor wanted to call the guards to get a medical pony, but the princess sealed her mouth, as she approached the prince and touched him with his horn. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE YOU CRAZY BITCH!" the king shouted at Luna. She turned around and looked at the king. He felt that he had to be silent for now, but his anger was still hot inside his chest and his heart pounded heavily. "You fool think I would hurt him now that there is an army around you ready to defend you?" she asked the king. Her voice was shaking from anger and the king sat into a corner of the tent. He noticed that she suddenly was bigger than before. "I am sorry," he said without noticing his fear from the alicorn in front of him. She seemed to shrink again. At the same time the priestess and mayor sat in the other corner of the tent. They saw exactly how the eyes of the alicorn changed when the king called her a bitch, how fangs grew and her fur turned slightly darker. She returned to normal after the king apologised and the mayor already thought that it was only an illusion created by the princess's anger, but Moonprayer was well aware that the princess had changed. She had felt the magic coming from her turning heavier and colder. Luna's eyes began to glow slightly and a moment later, the prince stood up and smiled. "That was a nice dream princess. Thank you." He noticed the others cowering in the tent's corners. "What happened here?" he asked the princess, but she only shook her head, smiling again. "Nothing to worry about. Are you ready to leave?" she asked him and he nodded. "Then go prepare yourself. And you too, Moonprayer." She didn't look at the priestess as she was running outside, tears flowing down her cheek again. The princess looked at the other two. "Remember this: My anger is much more frightening than the forces you could assemble. There are only six ponies capable of stopping me, and they would arrive too late to save you if the need arises. And they needed to be together, only one wouldn't suffice to stop me." The princess than left the king and the mayor in the tent. She explained to the guards, which were waiting to be called in by the king or the mayor, that everything was all right now. They nodded, not sure if she was honest with them. They let the princess leave. Luna was walking to the church. She had enough for one day. She was still shaking. She herself was frightened what had surfaced just now. Hadn't Twilight Sparkle and her friends defeated her dark side? Was she still affected by it? She decided to research this matter as soon as she returned to Canterlot and got some rest.