//------------------------------// // Of Brainteasing Graves, Short Sieges and Infuriating Worries // Story: Kingdom of the Moon // by PheonixCircle //------------------------------// A few weeks had past since the army and the prince with the priestess departed from Westbrucke. In this time, nothing noteworthy had happened. The prince and the priestess were on their way, searching the place where the goblets were hidden. They found it a few days after they left Westbrucke. The alliance's army arrived around two weeks after their departure from Westbrucke. What awaited them was an unexpected situation, lucky and sad at the same time. In Equestria itself, life was simple for Princess Luna. She got some rest, but even she had a trial to overcome. --* The goblets hideout, five days after the departure *-- "By the moon, why won't this damn door open." the prince shouted. After almost six hours standing before the door blocking their way to the goblets, he had lost his patience. Moonprayer lifted her head from the floor. She was trying to think about the text that was standing above the door: "Enter may those which know the answer. The world is standing on it's own. But you are not." "Could you please be a bit quiet, I am trying to think." Moonprayer said to Conglatius. "I know it is frustrating, but the solution might not be this hard to find if you help me out a bit." Her tone was rather annoyed. The last thirty minutes, he was only ranting about the fact that they still stood on the outside of the door. "Not this hard to find? We already called everything we know what we might stand on. Hoof, leg, paw. Nothing worked. I have no idea what it could be." Moonprayer looked at him with a look that told him to keep quiet. "This riddle is old. Very old. Maybe it is a word in a language we don't know any more. So please, if you don't want to help me, at least be quiet." The prince returned a destructive stare. He was losing his manners as his patience was leaving. "I should be quiet? We are sitting here since six hours and we still haven't found an answer. Come on, egghead, you should have guessed it an eternity ago." "How dare you call me egghead, foolish brute. We were sent both because we had something in our heads. I fear that the princess and your father were wrong about what is inside your head." Conglatius had enough. He lost his temper, and he just wanted to let his anger out. "ON YOUR FEET! I won't ignore this disrespecting attitude any longer." Moonprayer stood up, not to give in to the prince, but to give him what he deserves. "Well, mister nose-in-the-air, if you would look straight instead of in the sky, you would get the respect you wish for." Conglatius was surprised. Never had anyone spoken back to him in the rare occasion he had lost his temper in the past. He adored this side of Moonprayer as much as her good heart, but he had put his pride on the line, and he was willing to defend it. "You dare to speak back to me, peasant?" Moonprayer's face turned red. Conglatius noticed how her look got angrier by the moment, before her anger burst out of her. "HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A PEASANT, YOU LITTLE, ARROGANT ..." As she continued her ranting she walked towards the prince and he stepped back. He didn't notice that he was walking straight towards the door. Only when he saw the entryway go past him, he stopped and pressed his hoof on Moonprayer's lips. "The door opened." Moonprayer didn't understand what he meant. In her anger, she hasn't realised where she had guided him and what had happened to their surroundings. "How did this happen?" she asked him, but he shook the head. "What was the meaning of what you said before?" He looked confused at first, but soon knew what she meant. "On your feet is a saying we have to tell someone to stand up. It is only used in the army and is a remnant of old times when we fought some strange creatures from the north. The called their hoofs feet." "Naturally. A word as common but at the same time uncommon. But this door is so much older than even Equestria's predecessor realms, it is simply impossible that they were the cause this was called like it." "Maybe they heard the word from another race, which had to do with this ancient race. I don't know, but I am happy that the door is open." "Me too. We should take our things and go further inside. But we have to be cautious. There might be only riddles, but it is also possible that there are traps." Conglatius nodded. "You are right. The goblet's are immeasurably valuable. They certainly have thought of one or another mechanic to prevent them from being stolen." Moonprayer smiled at him. He blushed and got even redder when he realised what he had just done. He walked behind her and looked around. The cave entrance was nothing special. It was stone, roughed up from the centuries of being left alone and weather taking it's toll. Fifteen minutes later Moonprayer stopped for a moment before she dashed forward. Conglatius didn't even had time to react before he saw a dim light in front of him. The light got bigger as he approached the entrance to an ancient cave of immense dimension. Inside this cave a whole town would have fitted in. As he looked around for an exit, he saw where the light came from. It was a small hole in the ceiling. The light was mirrored and spread across the room by a structure of glass which had been built there. Around the centre, where the light was the brightest, a small forest had grown. The trees were small and had slim branches, all orientated towards the light. It looked like wooden creatures praying towards an enlightened entity. The trees colour was a light green, almost white, and the stems were a dark brownish purple. They looked sickening, almost poisonous. Still astonished from the view which had presented itself, Conglatius didn't notice that Moonprayer had walked towards the centre of the cave where the small forest was. She had noticed a small gap in the dense woods and intended to walk into it, oblivious to Conglatius existence. "Wait for me." was the only thing that Conglatius could say before she had entered. He shook his head and looked worriedly at the entrance where Moonprayer had vanished. He sighed and followed her, only to walk to a road junction. He cursed silently, and looked into each paths. Both made a curve a few steps into. Seeing her was no option. He decided to go left and leave behind a trail he could follow later. He searched his saddlebags for something useful, but found nothing except for the food. Suddenly he came to realise that he had his knife. He made a sign into the trees, silently excusing himself. At the same time, Moonprayer walked the path she had entered. Until now, she had only followed the path. At some points, it seemed that it made some strange turns,but she felt confident to find the centre. She didn't notice the rustling branches behind and in front of her.She was too enchanted by the pure thought of finding the goblet and be of use to the princess. --* North of Flankrium, twelve days after the departure *-- "Sir, sir, I have message from Westbrucke." The pegasus, white furred with a mane in different shades of blue, flew over the tents of an army. An army made of all types of pony and united under the banner of the moon. He just evaded crashing into one and landed rather roughly in front of a bigger tent. A unicorn came through the tent's entrance, it's appearance almost as astonishing as an alicorn's. The unicorn wore a crown of gold and silver. "Aah, Herm, it is you. How are you?" the king asked in such a personal manner that the pegasus looked shocked at the royal in front of him. He shook his head to clear his mind and remembered why he came. "The message sir. Good messages. From your son." The king nodded and signed for the pegasus to continue. "He has returned from his journey with the priestess. They have found the place and brought back two goblets." "That is indeed good news. It will strengthen the morale of our men when they hear that they have successfully accomplished their mission. Return immediately and tell them that we are happy to hear of his save return." "As you command." the pegasus answered before he flew off. He jumped into the air and accelerated in no time to his top speed. He was one of the fastest pegasi of the king's army, Sky Dash,codename Hermes. As Hermes vanished at the horizon, king Conglatius turned around and looked south, down the hill the army had built it's camp upon. There was Flankrium. The city he intended to take for the unity of the realm. He hoped that the princess would grant his family the right to reign over it. But since they had arrived a few hours ago he had a strange feeling. The city seemed normal at first glance. But the smoke raised from places it shouldn't and the noise of steel clashing on steel was carried from down below. It looked like a rebellion had started inside the city walls. As the king stared down to the city a soldier came from east where the siege weaponry was placed. They were well visible from the city to intimidate and in case of resistance could be used almost immediately. But they haven't even seen one soldier from Flankrium since they arrived, not even the guards which should have patrolled the city walls. "The catapults are ready as well as the battering rams. Should we man them now?" the soldier asked. The king shook his head, still looking towards the city for any signs of soldiers. "No, I don't think that there is an immediate need for them. Prepare the catapults, then return to your tents and rest. The first onslaught should be stopped long enough for you to be ready for battle. If they intend to attack us at uphill." "As you wish." the pony said before returning and shouting some commands to the others. The king stood there, still overlooking the city, as time passed. Minutes became hours. The smoke got denser and as the night came, fires were visible from his lookout. There was something going on inside the city. He couldn't think of who exactly could use such a moment to start infighting, but he was happy enough for it. This would avert a few deaths on his side. The moon stood in it's second quarter when the king decided to rest as well. He commanded the guard to be awoken when the first rays of the sun would reach his tent, not earlier and certainly not later. He woke up before the guards could awaken him. He sensed something approaching from the south, thanks to a defensive spell he had learned to prevent assassins to reach his family. As he looked south again he saw a small group of ponies with torn clothes approach. They carried two flags. One was the flag of the city, an earthpony with a bag on it's back. But it was the other that caught everyone's attention. It was white and bore the symbol of Winterwald in it's centre. --* Canterlot, three days after the departure *-- Princess Luna was in her room. She sat on her bed looking upwards. The ceiling bore flickering stars and a moon, an image from the eternal night sky she once wished to bring to the realm. Outside stood the sun in it's zenith. "A beautiful image, isn't it." a voice whispered through the room. Luna nodded simply. She knew she was the only one that could have heard the whisper if there would have been someone else in her room. That was because the voice didn't exist physically. It was a voice in the back of her head. It was the whispering of the darkness inside of her. "Indeed it is beautiful. But I would prefer to look at it without your commentaries." Luna thought. She remembered hearing the whispering for the first time after a millennium. That was two days ago. She shouted through her room and commanded the whisper to vanish. She shouted loud enough for the guards to break into her room and readying their weapons. She still had the feeling that they were also prepared to take on her. "Why do you hate me so much? I am you after all." the whisper said. "You are not me. You took my body and tried to kill my sister. Something I would never do." Luna answered in her mind. "Fool. You still haven't realised the full potential of your power and you speak to me as if you knew. Killing Celestia would have been easy. And it is again. It will always be. Because we can attack her where we are most powerful." Luna turned her head towards the mirror. She saw herself with different eyes. Nightmare Moon's eyes. "What do you mean, monster." "I am no more monster than you, silly one. And what I mean is the fact that I too have the power to enter one's dreams." "I know this much, but what has it to do with my sister. What has it to do with us being one. I would never want to harm my subjects the way you wanted to." The whisper giggled. "I could have given her nightmares. I could have broken her mind and incapable of fighting you, knowing what had to follow. But we didn't, because we love her. Even in the wish to overcome her and bring eternal night to our subjects, we still love her. We still do. The difference is that I am willing to do what must be done for us to be happy." Luna glared into the mirror. "If you haven't intended to kill her, what did you intend to do after defeating her?" "We would have imprisoned her for some time. We would have locked her into her chambers, where she would have gotten access to everything she needed and she wanted. We would have suppressed her magical power by further weakening her mind, but still capable of looking after herself." Luna shook her head. "Why take this risk? Did you want to lose to her at some point?" "Maybe we wanted to. No, we certainly wanted to. We were feared when we wanted to be loved. We fought when we wanted to rest. And therefore we created my personality to take on the damage that had been done and gain the possibility of getting redeemed when we already were." "So then why are you still here? Why haven't you disappeared yet?" "We are one, but you still fear me. You still fear the power that is represented by me. You have locked me away from your heart and with me part of the power you once had. I am here because we need to unite. I am here to merge with you again after you had taken us apart."