The Mountain of Shadows
Chapter 3: Luna and the Elements
Celestia was sitting on her throne reading a very worrying report that had come to her attention. Her orders for anything unusual being reported had given her a few odd things. Some ponies in a mining town swore that one of their mines were haunted, a creature was seen on the outskirts of a swamp, ponies traveling a certain road at night were reports of the road stretching out becoming longer. That last one she wasn’t sure if there was some kind of special distortion or just the imagination of some ponies.
But it was the current one she was re-reading that caused her the most concern. The report from the town of Newberry of an attack by some kind of unknown creatures, the descriptions were unsettling and the shadowy images of her vision came to mind. She was sure that this was part of her vision and this town was the starting point. The Captain of the guard had already sent a squad to the village but Celestia felt it was time to send more. She had sent a guard to get her sister as she thought about what was to come.
Celestia hated not being involved in this but her vision was clear, she wasn’t part of the event that was going to happen but that didn’t make it any easier. Her visions were always not only a warning but a plan on how to deal with it. If she tried to change things too much then events could spiral out of control and end up causing a disaster. The only time she had tried to go against her vision it had ended badly.
“Sister?” Luna’s voice caught Celestia out of her thoughts as the blue alicorn walked into the throne room.
“I believe the time has come,” she floated the message down to her sister as she took it and read it.
Luna’s eyes scanned the message reading much of it as her eyes widened slightly at the description of the creatures. “I believe you are right. Shall I go to the village right away?”
“My vision had you standing with the Elements, so I believe you should head to Ponyville to Twilight and gather them first. I shall send word to her that you are coming and that her friends are to be there. I’ll leave the rest in your care.”
Luna looked at her older sister and she could see the worry there, she tried to hide it but Luna had known her sister all her life and knew all too well everything about her. Even a thousand years of separation couldn’t change that.
“Sister, what’s worrying you?” Luna asked.
Celestia sighed, “I’m sorry it’s just that I wish my visions were more complete. I wish I knew exactly what was going on and how to deal with it. I don’t like sending you and Twilight and her friends into the unknown like this.”
“We will be fine sister.”
Celestia did smile back finally, “I have total faith in you Luna, as well as Twilight and her friends. I just wish I could go with you as well.”
Luna nodded her head in the past it was always the two of them that had to deal with all the major problems. From facing Discord, to the Crystal Empire and all the other kinds of problems that came up, in fact it was a lot like how Twilight and her friends seemed to take care a lot of the problems that their Kingdom faced today.
But for the first time Luna felt like she was finally going to take a more active role in the defense of her kingdom. She still felt like kicking herself for actually missing a changeling invasion, yes she had been asleep but still. When she had found out what she had missed she had felt so disappointed in herself for weeks until Celestia had come to her and cheered her up about it.
Well now she felt it was time to do something that would offset that little failure.
“Sister while I’m gone I’ll have to leave the moon in your care.” Luna wasn’t sure she would have the time or chance to properly raise and lower her moon while on this mission. Ever since they’re return they had changed the night and day flawlessly but so far apart she was worried she would lose track of time. Plus she might need all her focus for what was to come.
Celestia nodded her head in understanding, “I will sister and have a safe journey.”
Luna nodded as she left the throne room, her sister could take care of it as she had done so for a thousand years a few more days wouldn’t be too much on her older sister. Her mind pushed those thoughts aside as she quickly moved to the barracks section of the castle. The guards stood at attention as she approached the large doors.
“Get the duty commander of the guard,” she ordered.
One of the stallions nodded as he disappeared, she mused how the still hadn’t found a full time replacement for Shinning Armor at the moment ever since he moved with his wife to the Crystal Empire. There were a few candidates but she and Celestia hadn’t been able to make a decent choice left. Thankfully the guard were well structured and there was a Duty Commander appointed for each week among the higher ranked members.
The guard returned with Commander Skyfire, he was an older Pegasus with a fiery mane as he stood at attention in front of the Princess.
“Your highness,” he stood at attention awaiting orders.
“I will need chariots quickly deployed,” Luna commanded him. “We will be leaving for Ponyville and we will be picking up the Elements and moving towards the village of Newberry.”
“Yes your grace,” he nodded as he quickly went to work.
Luna knew he was a very capable commander if a bit old fashioned she heard. With that in hand she went to await them outside. A part of Luna was looking forward to this, she hadn’t had a real adventure for a very long time and it would let her time with Twilight and her friends. They were the only ponies that treated Luna as more of a friend than a monarch and it was a very welcomed feeling.
-Ponyville-
Spike was currently in the kitchen of the crystal castle as he was looking for a snack. He had placed some rubies around here somewhere for snack food but he wasn’t sure which cupboard that had been. He was pretty sure it was one of the ones near the ground as it would make it easiest to get to. First one held just some pots and pans, the next held the cleaning materials thankfully on his third try he found the bowl full of the sparkling treasures.
“Oh yeah snack time,” he licked his lips and was about to reach inside when he felt that familiar rumbling in his stomach. Years of feeling this particular sensation gave him plenty of warning as he turned his head quickly as the green flame erupted out of his mouth. He had learned pretty quickly to be careful where he aimed when he got a message this way. A few accidents early one had made him be a bit more careful, it had taken Twilight a week for that part of her mane to fully grow back that one time.
He caught the scroll knowing it was for Twilight as he quickly took a handful of gems as he made his way out of the kitchen and into the hallway.
“Twilight, hey Twilight.” He called out but no answer he was pretty sure she hadn’t left.
He sighed, although living in their own castle was pretty cool since they had a lot more room, hell he had his own room now which was sweet but there was one major downside to it all. Back in the library he had only a few rooms to search and if he called out she usually could hear him easily enough. Well now he had to search for her in this large castle.
He first checked her room.
Nope.
Well then he figured maybe the library she was building up.
Again no.
He checked the throne room and still nothing, he racked his brain on where she might be. There were still plenty of rooms to check, most of them were empty though. Several bedrooms were unused so she wouldn’t be in one of those, a few large rooms were still empty as Twilight had no idea what to do with them. Spike was kind of hoping they could turn one into a rec room at some point. He figured to try the one room she might be in and that was going to be her new lab room.
Since the old lab she had had been under the library some of the equipment had turned out to have survived if a little worse for wear. When Twilight found this one particular empty room she had figured that would be the place to place all the equipment there. She had spent some of her days in that room going over the equipment seeing what worked and fixing what she could now and then. Spike found himself outside the room and could hear Twilight working again.
“Ah ha, knew I would find her eventually,” he popped a jewel into his mouth walking in as there she was working on one of the larger machines.
“Hey Twilight you got a letter,” He told her walking over to hand it off to her.
She pulled her head out of the insides of the large device she was currently working on, “Oh thanks Spike.”
The room was filled with scientific equipment, some looked brand new since they were. She had ordered replacements for her equipment that was just a total right off. Thankfully now that she was a princess she actually was given access to her own royal accounts. Granted she didn’t use it much as she knew tax payer money went into it but this was for her research into magic and science. Still she did place a limit on herself as she had to be responsible for her spending.
Currently she was working on trying to salvage one of the larger machines used to measure energy readings. So far she wasn’t sure if she could get it working again so a break would be nice as she took the scroll from spike with her magic.
Dear Princess Twilight
The message started out and although it was nice to be considered an equal she missed how Celestia always used to start them off with something like ‘To my most faithful Student’ since to her, Celestia would always be a mentor figure. She read on but soon her good mood shifted slightly to worry, spike picked up on it from the look on her face.
I am sending you this advance warning that something dangerous is loose in the kingdom, Luna is on her way to meet with you. She will be able to give you the full story, at least as much as we know but we felt that you and your friends should be called upon to help her. Both you and your friends have shown time and time again that you all have rose up and defended Equestria spectacularly. So I must ask for your services again Twilight.
Twilight couldn’t help but feel a bit of pride knowing that Celestia thought so highly of them but pushed that aside, this seemed serious.
“Spike we got trouble.” She told her number one assistant.
“Uh...what kind of trouble?” Spike’s young and very active mind was already going through a lot of possible and kind of scary possibilities. After all the crazy things that had happened since coming to Ponyville you could hardly blame the small guy.
“It...doesn’t say but I got to get the girls,” she took another look at the letter but there was no hint of what to expect. “But it can’t be good if Princess Luna is coming here.”
“Whoa she’s coming here? Okay that is serious.”
“Yes, I got to get the girls.”
“Want me to hold down the fort?” Spike was kind of hoping for this, although he wouldn’t mind a few adventures with them, this sounded a little too much for him. If Luna was getting her hooves involved then this had to be something a bit too dangerous for his liking.
“If you don’t mind,” Twilight smiled at him. “Well I better get going I have to track everypony down and get them here in time.”
“Don’t worry I got it,” Spike told her confidently.
It took Twilight some time to round everyone up, Dash had just finished up clearing the weather and Twilight found her napping on a cloud, Pinkie had been in the middle of a party for some pony, Twilight hated pulling her away but Pinkie assured her that the party was nearly over and it could survive without her at the moment. Plus she already had made everyone smile, laugh and have a good time so her job was done in her books.
Rarity had working on her next line, apparently she felt a bit stumped and needed a break. Fluttershy had been easy enough to find at her home taking care of the animals as usual. Applejack had been the last as the farm pony usually was working on something on the farm. Thankfully apple season was still a month away and the rest could easily be handled by her older brother for a few days.
The girls ended up gathered in front of Twilight’s castle waiting for the Princess.
“Did y’all know when she’s showing up?” AJ asked Twilight after about twenty minutes.
Twilight shook her head, “All I know is that she’s coming, so if she’s coming by air it shouldn’t be too much longer.”
Given that you would see Canterlot from Ponyville it wasn’t that far away, it took longer if you were going by train but by air you could make it in an hour or more with a good wind in your favor.
“I wonder what she wants us for?” Pinkie asked jumping in place.
“Maybe we got a monster to deal with or another dragon is causing trouble and they want us to deal with it like the last one that was in the mountain,” Rainbow said excitedly.
“Technically that was Fluttershy that dealt with that dragon,” Rarity pointed out.
“I hope it’s not another dragon,” Fluttershy said slightly curling up into herself.
“Oh come on how can you be scared of dragons still?” Rainbow threw her legs up in the air looking at her friend. “You deal with Spike all the time and you made that dragon break down crying!”
“I really wished I hadn’t done that to him he didn’t deserve it,” The yellow Pegasus said softly not liking having to hurt anything’s feelings be it Pony, animal or other. “Plus Spike is different, he’s a small kind and gentle dragon. He’s not a huge, scary, fire breathing eat you up in one bite type of dragon.”
“True little Spikey Wikey is just too adorable to be scared of,” Rarity smiled.
“Well whatever it is I want to have a great victory party when we’re done,” Pinkie smiled already her mind was planning it out.
“Hey look,” Dash pointed up to the sky as two objects were coming towards them. As they got closer the girls could see that there were two golden chariots being pulled by royal guard Pegasi as they also saw in one of the chariots was Luna herself. She was easy enough to spot with her dark contrasting colors and flowing mane. The girls waiting for them to land as Luna stepped out to meet them.
The girls all bowed to her as Luna nodded back.
“Please rise, you all shouldn’t have to bow to me, especially you Princess.” Luna smiled a little at Twilight. Given that they were both princesses now and the other elements had done so much for her and their nation bowing to her didn’t seem quite right to Luna.
The girls rose up with Twilight blushing a bit, it was still just reflex to bow to the princesses. Even with her wings, castle and new status, Twilight just never really fully ‘felt’ like a true princess. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t do her duty but after spending her whole life as just a unicorn it was a big change and she figured it would take her time to fully fit into her role.
“So what’s the problem Princess?” Dash asked eager to hear what trouble they were going to face.
“There is trouble in the village of Newberry that my sister and I feel that we will need your help with.” Luna didn’t say how they knew as it was a secret between her and her sister about Celestia’s visions.
“I think I know that place,” Applejack thought seeing the looks of the others. “At a few events where my family was selling our apple products farmers from all over come to them to sell their own stuff as well. I met this family that grow and sell berries of all kinds from there.”
“Ever been there?” Rarity asked her.
“Nope but it sounded a lot like home from how they talked about it,” AJ explained.
“What’s the trouble?” Fluttershy asked softly.
Luna started to explain, “We received a report that strange unknown creatures attacked the village. At the moment we have no idea what they might be, the local guard already sent in a small force to the village as the report was passed up the chain to us.”
Luna knew that by the time the report had reached Celestia the guard unit had most likely been stationed there for a couple of days and a report should be on its way back but these creatures were part of Celestia’s vision and were a much larger threat than the local guard chief thought when he sent out that small unit.
“That’s terrible what did the creatures look like?” Fluttershy asked a bit more confidently as she figured if any kind of creature or animals were causing trouble maybe she could talk to them and figure out what was wrong. Sometimes animals just acted out because they were scared or hurt and you just had to be patient with them and let them calm down before approaching.
“The reports weren’t very clear,” Luna frowned at that. “They seem to come in various shapes and sizes but all were black as night with lots of teeth.”
“Oh dear,” Fluttershy didn’t like the sound of them as that didn’t sound very friendly but she wanted to keep an open mind.
Twilight’s eyes went back and forth quickly as she mentally looked through her memories of the vast amounts of knowledge she held but she couldn’t think of anything that came to mind that sounded like that. But then it was kind of vague but part of her was tempted to look through her books on strange or legendary creatures. “I take it that the Canterlot Archives didn’t have anything on them?”
Luna shook her head, “I’m sorry we checked.” They had been looking ever since that vision in turns, Celestia during the day and her at night but nothing in their records showed anything like the creatures which was very worrying. Either this was a new threat to their lands or it was something so old or found in such a remote area that no pony had ever seen them before.
“Well you can count on me Princess.” Twilight stepped forward as she didn’t want to speak for her friends even though they were all here. She was a princess too after all so she felt she had to step in to help ponies wherever they were.
“Y’all can count on me too.” AJ nodded her head.
“Oh I’m so not missing out on this!” Rainbow threw a hoof up into the air. “This sounds totally awesome.”
The others agreed as well as Luna nodded her head to them, “Then please take a step onto the chariots we shouldn’t waste too much time.”
They split up, four going into one and Twilight and Fluttershy going with Luna. They had to convince Rainbow that although she could fly there faster, Luna pointed out that she wanted Rainbow in top form in case something happened. Dash had to concede that point although she wasn’t happy about it, she never liked it when someone else was in control when she was in the air.
They took off as Luna cast a look to her two travelling companions, Twilight had come such a long way when they first met. When her sister had sent Twilight off to the Crystal Empire because Celestia had told her that Twilight was a next possible pony to ascend to become an alicorn she wasn’t so sure. Twilight was young and still very much inexperienced in her eyes at that time, it was why she had given the poor girl a bit of the cold shoulder when they had met that day.
She had been so wrong and after that she had seen what her sister must have seen in Twilight. Now here she was the young alicorn had helped to reform an old enemy and fought and defeated another, she had even been able to handle the combined powers of herself, her sister and of her adopted niece. Looking at Twilight, Luna couldn’t help that there was something special about the girl, it was like universe turned around her life.
It was like somehow Fate had wound its way around Twilight making her the center of so many events, her friends being pulled into her orbit also seemed to be slightly touched by Fate. Maybe it wasn’t luck that Twilight and her friends came together who were the embodiments of the Elements of Harmony the most powerful of all magic. Luna watched as Twilight and Fluttershy talked and she could make out some of the conversations behind them and she could feel the bond between them all.
It made her happy and a little envious that they shared such a strong bond. Yes she had her sister but any other bonds of friendship were always cut short by her long lived nature and after coming back, well her adjustment to this new era was still a work in progress.
Still the Elements were the first ones to take the steps to being her friend and it was such a nice feeling to it. Ever since that night she came for Nightmare Night she had left feeling more at home in this world and once again Twilight had been the one to help teach her about friendships and having fun. She certainly lived up to her title as the Princess of Friendship.
“Something on your mind Princess Luna?” Twilight asked snapping the taller pony out of her thoughts.
“I’m sorry?”
“You seemed lost in thought,” Twilight clarified.
Luna thought about how to answer it, “Just...it’s just nice seeing how good friends you all are. Makes me wish I had something like that.”
“But you are our friend,” this surprisingly came from Fluttershy as the two looked at her as she suddenly looked down a little embarrassed. “I mean I was a little scared at first but I’m always scared of Nightmare Night.”
“Why is that?” Twilight asked her. “You’re the only one I know that didn’t like that night.”
Fluttershy crouched down, “I...used to get bullied a lot and on Nightmare Night it was worse back in Cloudsdale, bullies used to do all kinds of scary pranks against me and after awhile I just...didn’t like to go out anymore.” Plus all the scary costumes didn’t help her much either.
Twilight knew that as a foal Fluttershy had been picked on but that was just going too far to make somepony afraid to go out on one night.”
Luna however looked a bit angry, “Who dared to do such a thing?” She demanded her tone slipping a little into her old way of talking.
“Oh no, don’t worry about it,” Fluttershy didn’t want to cause a fuss and that was years ago at any rate. “It was a long time ago and I’m sure they grew up out of that kind of behavior.”
Luna took a calming breath, she always had the tempter in her family and she had tried to keep in more in check lately. “I’m sorry but you are one of the kindness and most gentlest of ponies that I’ve met and I don’t like the thought of you suffering because of the ignorance and stupidity of others.”
“See even the Princess is sticking up for you and it’s her night after all,” Twilight spoke up. “How about next time if Luna wants to come, we all go out together?”
“Oh that does sound like fun,” Luna perked up a bit she was thinking of coming back for the next Nightmare Night coming up. She was even thinking of coming in costume this time.
“Well...I’ll think on it?” Fluttershy did feel a small pull to want to say yes, it would be fun to hang out with friends on that night but you couldn’t just push back years of build on fears. She hoped that in time she would rethink it.
“Well that’s good enough for me,” Twilight turned to Luna. “And I look forward to seeing you next time, I’m sure things will start out better than last time.”
“I don’t see how it could have been worse,” Luna felt like rolling her eyes at how it had all started.
“Hey look, is that it?” Rainbow Dash loudly asked that they could clearly hear her from their own chariot. They all looked down to see a small village as the guards were slowly descending.
Luna thought that the place looked fairly normal but as they got closer she noticed something. There were barricades in the streets and no pony was outside. Something had happened and she had a bad feeling that even though the guard where here, the creatures had returned.
Next up Chapter 4: Off to the Woods We Go