The mess hall, located in the center of the expansive barracks, was filled with the lively chatter of men and women conversing and enjoying their midday meal. Many of the soldiers from the ambush were boasting of valiant feats of courage and prowess as veterans often do. It was as much out of arrogance as it was a way to cope with the trauma. Making a game of things always seems to lighten the burden on ones soul.
The over-all feel to the massive room was warm and welcoming, yet not without a touch of militaristic uniformity that came with the sight of a sea of blue uniforms filling nearly every table. It was just another lunch hour of another routine day for the forces as a whole. Aside from the ambush, not much happens with the forces.
Well... by not much I mean the usual fighting of wild mystical creatures that emerge from the Everfree, and White-tail woods that surround the eastern borders of the Lunar Republic. The odd warding off of Solar Empire forces from outer villages and standard patrolling of the farms and factories of the land. So maybe the phrase "not much happens" is a tad inappropriate description...
But I digress, the day is average and the mood is soft.
During their midday meal, the soldiers and officers were interrupted from their eating as the massive oaken doors that lead into the hall open fully and reveal their Princess accompanied by her close friend Skyward Breeze and her captain, Frontline.
As they walked down the aisle, every eye was on their group. There were a few nods of acknowledgement and even a few salutes with gazes of pure admiration. Luna was held in high respect by her people, and that was partly why she was so efficient at defending her country.
The Princess of the night was an intimidating figure to behold as she walked down the mess hall of the barracks.
Her presence was commanding, and her gaze sent chills down one's spine. There was a certain elegant air surrounding her as she strode down the line, confidently and gracefully. Her very presence in the room sent a sense of pride throughout. One could make the assumption that she was addressing nobles from foreign countries or even warlords from rivaling nations. But in actuality, she was just getting lunch.
Luna often ate with her soldiers, as she felt an obligation to at the very least, share a friendly meal with the men and women placing their lives on the line for her her and their country every day.
Luna walked with her friends to a table near the center of the room, where they sat in a place unofficially reserved for them. It had just sort of became their spot at the table after a while. It was in the exact center of the room, and many lowly footies sat there. Luna enjoyed the humble atmosphere lower to the bottom soldiers gave off.
Luna, Skyward and Frontline had all been enjoying their food, chatting with one another and the odd soldier that joined in the conversation, when they were approached by one of her generals. And elderly Valkyrie man with a long flowing grey beard, and a uniform akin to Luna's cluttered with multiple war badges.
"Your majesty, we have grave news that we think you should hear" the man bent down and whispered into Luna's ear.
Luna's eyes widened with shock momentarily, but she quickly composed herself into her concentrated and calculating demeanor. She looked over to her captain and to Skyward, standing up and gesturing for them to follow.
"They come too" Luna stated.
The man simply nodded, for he knew there was no arguing with the princess about things like these. And since the two in question were closely trusted by Luna herself, they had gained the trust of the war counsel as well.
Luna walked with the general and her two companions following in toe, to the counsel room located quite a ways away from the mess hall. The trek lead them down two large hallways off to the west of the building, and down another corridor to where the counsel room was located.
The counsel room was a very large room with a tall roof. There was a large wooden table that's been kept immaculately over the years, with a total of twenty one seats encompassing it. Surrounding the room was large balconies that allowed for hundreds of more diplomats, nobles and politicians to be included on the political discussions that take place in the room.
The rooms itself only held six more of Luna's generals, the rest of her war officials. They were seated around the table and they all held stern looks on their faces. Sterner than usual, which was unsettling for Luna.
"Princess, have a seat. We have some troubling information involving the Solar Empire" one of the men spoke. It was a large, husky footie who had seen his fair share of battle field horror. He wore a clean-shaven face, and sported small circular spectacles. He had thick grey hair matched by thick grey eyebrows that gave his rocky face a solid look to it.
"So I've been told" Luna replied, furrowing her eyebrows. "What would this news be?" She knew that it had to be important -unlike some of their previous concerns that were trivial at best- because they had actually sent one of their own to retrieve her.
Skyward and Frontline were just standing behind Luna stiffly. Skyward and Frontline had been a part of what goes on during a war counsel meetings over their years of service. They were always tense and never enjoyable.
One of the generals, a middle aged woman mage, started; "There have been..." she seemed to be looking for the right words to say, "fires, in the outer villages" she continued.
"So? Fires occur all the time by the white-tail" Luna said skeptically. "And even if these fires were set by raiders, that's not unusual" She finished.
The general who sat at the head of the table -opposite to where Luna would sit- was the next to talk. "These fires, were no normal fires" He started; Luna furrowing her eyebrows deeper, "these fires, my Princess, we lit by the legendary Phoenix clan of the solar empire", the man finished.
A stern look crossed Luna's already coarse expression. The Phoenix clan is a clan of omnipotent fire mages hailing from the very center of the Solar Empire, Canterlot mountain itself.
This was a big problem that Luna hadn't thought through. The Phoenix clan was very loyal to Celestia, and therefore were loyal to her campaign of conquest. Luna hadn't expected to see from the Phoenix clan until full-out war had been declared between the two nations. They were like an unofficial special task force that Celestia only ever called upon in the most desperate of times. For Celestia to have brought them in now, either meant she feared Luna's forces and sought to intimidate her into submission, or she thought she could make quick work of her and underestimated her legion.
Either way, it was an undesirable situation. Phoenix warriors were some of the toughest and most efficient fighters found in Equestria and beyond.
"So what will we do, Princess?" The man who brought them to the counsel room asked.
Luna held her far-off gaze while answering "I need the drakes..."
And with that, she turned on her heel and made her way to the exit with Skyward and Frontline following behind, leaving behind her a baffled war counsel.
Once the sounds of the counsel room had been left behind, Skyward put a hand on Luna's shoulder, turned her around and asked "are you really going to ask the drakes?"
Luna met Skyward's gaze, and said "I have no other choice. It would take an entire squad to bring one down, and I myself cannot fight them alone. No, we've needed the drakes from the start. It was only now that I realized this"
Skyward nodded in understanding. It was true. However valiant their men fought, they wouldn't be enough to counter the Phoenix clan warriors.
"So when do you leave?" Skyward spoke up after a moments silence.
"Within the hour" Luna replied.
Skyward's eyes briefly widened. She was going to say something, but Frontline beat her.
"I'll assemble my best men" he said.
"No, I go alone". Frontline's features creased into a frown, but he knew he couldn't convince her otherwise. His Princess was rather stubborn about these matters. And so he simply nodded.
"What?! That's crazy talk, I'm going with you" Skyward protested. But Luna quickly snuffed the flame before it could grow.
"Skyward. It has been over one hundred years since I last visited the Drakes. They are a very territorial race, and don't like anyone trespassing on their land. You are still injured from your last fight" Luna said gesturing to Sky's arm in a sling. "But, they are very talented in the art of warfare. And a fear that we have no hope of victory with out their aide" she finished.
Skyward Breeze looked at her friend with concern, and a hint of annoyance. But she nodded her agreement, and excused herself to her quarters to recuperate from her near death experience.
Luna sighed to herself, and turned to address Frontline, who had been standing still throughout the exchange. "You are to return the soldiers. You are to tell them that I have gone to my meditation room to contemplate the war effort" She spoke to him in monotone, making sure he understands that word of her leaving is not to reach anyone but those that have already heard.
Frontline's eyebrows furrowed, and he said "Aye ma'am". He then saluted his princess and turned on his heel, walking back to mess hall to convey the news.
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Luna was in her chambers, high in the castle's third tower to the left. It had an entirely glass dome roof that was perfect for late night star gazing. In the middle of the room was an elegant circular bed, framed in midnight blue curtains. The bed itself was covered in violet silken sheets with golden patterns sown into the fabric. The walls were adorned with golden tapestries and stained glass windows depicting some of the most important events in Luna's history. They ranged frome pic battles, to coronations and political treaties. The room radiated royalty.
Luna was currently packing necessities for her journey to the Draco mountains located in the farthest northern reaches of her republic. The Draco mountains were surrounded by harsh, thick forest and the mountains themselves were an untamed force of nature that crushed any and all unable to bare its extreme conditions.
She could only fly so far before the deadly and uncontrollable gales would stop her from ever attempting to navigate the constant windstorm that surrounded the mountains, and so she packed her ice-axes along with some food, a change in socks and her special thermal jacket that could withstand even the harshest of winter blizzards. She would need to climb to Drake compound located in one of the many caves dotting the mountains. Luna was one of the few outsiders who knew exactly which of the hundreds of caves lead to hidden village.
Once Luna had completely packed everything she'd need into a secured blue backpack, she sprouted her wings and took to the skies using the secret exit from her room located behind a bookcase.
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She needed to be careful when leaving her castle due to the constant patrol her Valkyrie soldiers performed twenty-four-seven. She was glad that she needed to execute such precaution because it meant that her Valkyries were doing a good job, but that didn't stop from annoying her at having to use stealth the leave her own castle.
Once she had left the castle and her patrol none-the-wiser, she was off to the Draco mountains. It would be a tough fly, for she had over seven hundred kilometers of ground to cover before she made it to the god forsaken wilderness that surrounded her destination. The flight would only take about eight hours at the rate she flew, but that didn't make it any less taxing on her body to have to keep up the speed for that long, flying against the wind. She would need to make a few stops to rest her self, for she knew that she could not traverse the woods and climb the mountains if she exhausted herself flying there.
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By this time, Luna had traversed the distance to the mountains. Twice she had stopped to rest, and on both occasions she had been attacked by wild beasts or bandits who didn't recognize who she was in the dim light of the midnight moon. These had proven to be meager disturbances. For the beasts, she used her divine power to calm their rage, and for the bandits, she needed only address them as the princess of the night and they were on they're knees begging for mercy. That weighed heavy on Luna's heart. She hated being feared. But for some occasions, it was necessary.
Luna now stood at the edge of the forest that covered the rest of the distance between her and the mountains. She would need to walk the rest of the way, for the forest had a magical enchantment placed by the drakes that refused a Valkyrie the use of their wings. It would be a nice change in scenery, if only it wasn't filled to burst with some of the worlds vilest creatures.
Luna hoped she wouldn't have to resort to violence. These beasts did only act out of nature after all. But she had no time to spare on trivialities. She needed to gain the assistance of the Drakes, and the sooner she had it, the better. The solar Empire was making headway with each passing day thanks to the newly added Phoenix warriors. If Luna didn't act quickly, she ran the risk of losing her entire republic in mere days.
With this in mind, she strode into the forest... and was instantly thrown right back out by an angry Minotaur. The beast had charged at her after picking her scent up just a few meters away.
Luna was now pinned by the raging monster, and was fighting to get out from underneath it. The Minotaur's teeth lashed out at her, but Luna was able to hold him relatively at bay. They were locked in a stalemate, and Luna was losing ground. In a desperate attempt to free herself, Luna managed to land a solid hit across the beat's face and shove him off, rolling out and on to her feet.
If the animal was angry then, it was furious now. It's nostrils flared, and Luna could almost swear she saw steam rising from it.
The Minotaur got on all-fours and scratched at the ground, signaling it's impending charge. Luna quickly drew her rapier from its sheath, and held it at a position ready to strike when her opponent before her would charge.
The two combatants locked eyes with each other, each daring the other to make the first move. They stood like that for half a minute, and then with a flare of his head, the Minotaur raced towards Luna intending to impale her with his horns. Luna pivoted on her heal, avoiding the attack, and with a swing of her arm, managed to slice the shoulder of the beast, drawing out a blood curdling whale of pain that made Luna cringe.
The beast was once again on the offensive after a momentary pause to acknowledge its wounds, and this time it took to it's feet, using it's claws to try and maim Luna.
This proved to be more of a challenge for the princess of the night, and she often found herself blocking more than attacking. She was desperately trying to avoid killing her attacker, for the animal was only acting out of nature. It had sensed a meal, and sought out to attain it.
She knew now that this was a fight to the death. Minotaurs were known to keep fighting until the very end. With this in mind, she frowned, parried the next attack, and countered with a stab straight through the Minotaur's heart.
She removed the blade with sorrowful eyes. She locked gazes once more with her kill, and with that, it was over.
Luna made the cross over her heart that she made for all of her kills, said a silent goodbye and apology, and placed a single tiger lily that she'd found at the edge of the forest on the Minotaur's chest.
With this first obstacle overcome, Luna made her way into the thick woods that spaced the remaining distance between her and the Drake mountains.
The second she entered the forest, an illusion mimicking night blanketed the visible sky, and nearly all light was drained from the forest. To anyone else, they would've believed that it actually had become night, the mirage was so vivid. But to the one who raises the moon and stars, it was an easy facade to see through.
The forest was full of enchantments and spells used to draw in unsuspecting creatures to fall prey to the beasts that reside within. The forest itself, was a single living entity. All of the trees sprung from the roots of a massive mother tree in the center of the expansive wood. The forest was known by the drakes as 'blüd vaaract' and others as 'The Blood Forest' because of its carnivorous nature. The trees in the forest soaked up the blood spilled on its soil, and used it to strengthen themselves. Wood from these trees was worth top-gold, for the wood was more resilient than any other found due to the iron from the blood it consumed.
The low visibility however, worked against the forest, as Luna actually saw better in the dark than she did in the light. She was able to maneuver through the complicated array of greenery and underbrush that littered the forest floor. She sneaked along, blazing her own trail for she knew that game trail would be teeming with wild beasts and other atrocities. She still needed to be careful though, for even taking the path not traveled by in the blood forest could lead you to cross paths with one of the less friendly creatures of the woods.
When Luna realized that in actuality, it had become night, she decided that she'd need to find a place to rest for the night. She was getting tired after an eight hour flight and a battle with a Minotaur. She had obviously seen worse days and wasn't all that worse for ware. But she knew that she'd need every ounce of strength if she was to tackle the steep, icy slopes of the Drake mountains, and have to deal with whatever stumbling upon their sanctuary would cause.
And so, Luna opted to sleep in a tall tree that she'd found on a brief search for shelter. It was high off the forest floor, and wasn't filled with beasts which was nice. It also seemed to bare a light pink colored fruit that Luna recognized as sugar-melon. A sweet, and delectable fruit found only in the farthest northern reaches of Equestria.
Luna nimbly climbed up the tree and positioned herself comfortably in the crook of a good sized branch. She picked at a few of the trees fruits and managed to eat about nine of them. One gets hungry after eight hours of flight you know.
The princess of the night was just about to fall asleep until she a numbness run through her body. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized just what was happening. The fruit that she had been eating wasn't at all sugar-melon. No, it was a deadly poisonous berry that look almost exactly like the sugar-melon fruit. This was mortmush, an extremely dangerous toxic berry that paralyzed the body and numbed the mind If Luna had been anyone else, the amount of toxins she consumed would've killed her. The fruit made prey absolutely helpless against predators, so it was no wonder that they would be in the forest of blood.
No, it wasn't some coincidence that this fruit was here though. This was a sugar-melon tree, of that Luna had no doubt. No these were planted by something... or someone. Just as Luna was coming to a conclusion, she blacked out from a strike on the head from some blunt object.
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Luna awoke to the smell of something... burning? That made no sense, this forest was to far up-north for forest fires. And everything that lived her hadn't the intelligence to create it. Luna opened her eyes to see the same illusionary night sky, signaling that she was still within the forest's boundaries.
Upon further investigation, she realized that she was in a camp, lying on a fur pelt bed next a campfire with some sort of meat roasting on it. She looked to her left, and noticed a man sitting Indian-style stoking the fire and mindlessly examining the dancing flames.
The man looked over to Luna and said with a soft smile, "Oh you're awake! That's good, I thought ya'd be a goner, what with all that mortmush ya ate" he laughed a bit. "How 'bout ya eat some real food? Grab a leg off the fire" he finished, pointing to a leg that had at one point belonged to who knows what.
Luna frowned at the offer. She didn't eat meat and had no intentions of starting now. So she simply shook her head and looked at the ground for a few moments. But then her features hardened as she realized what the man had done, and raised her voice slightly, yelling "You! You were the one who struck me over the head!" she stood up to her full height, pointing an accusing finger at the man she noticed to be rather elderly. "Explain yourself at once!" She commanded.
"Ah yes, I really am quite sorry 'bout that. I mistook ya' fer a critter! My eyes 're failing me these days, and with th' never ending night, I just can't quite tell what I'm beating over th' head anymore" the old man chuckled to himself. " It's actually a good thing I got when I did, a hydra was gearin' up to eatcha! What, may I ask 're you doin' in these here woods, hmmm?" He asked.
Luna narrowed her eyes at the man, and sat back down. She regarded his gaze, and explained how she had needed to cross this forest in order to reach the drakes to plead for their assistance in her battle to maintain control of her republic, or at the very least keep it out of the hands of her tyrannical sister.
The man shook his head and said, "tsk tsk tsk. Looks like you're in quite th' jam stranger. I don't know much 'bout politics and non-a-that. But I do know of a path that leads straight out a th' forest that none th' critters 'ere ever use. It's actually right alond that there trail" he said, pointing over to a narrow grass trail at the foot of the camp.
Luna quirked an eyebrow and looked over to the thin dirt trail that snaked its way around trees and bushes. "What makes you so sure that such an obvious trail wouldn't be used by game and other creatures...?"
The old man cracked a smile -Luna noticed he'd lost quite a few teeth- and said with a wink, "'Cuz I made it m'self".
Luna nodded and returned the man's grin, realizing that he must have meant that he'd charmed the trail to ward off anyone but himself.
"I must thank you for this service, mr...", "Light Foot" the old man answered. "Mr. Light Foot. You have done me a great service sheltering me from the creatures of this forest and showing me a way to navigate. You have my gratitude" She finished and stood up to take her leave.
"As she started walking away, she stopped before the foot of the trail, and turned back to the man saying, "Oh, and my name is Luna. Princess Luna". The old man grinned even wider and made a small, goofy bow, Luna giggling at the gesture.
"Safe travels milady" the old man said, throwing something straight at Luna. She caught it, inspecting it with a curious glint in her eyes. The man had thrown he a sugar-melon fruit. A real sugar-melon fruit. She grinned deeply and took a bit of the sweet flesh, relishing in the satisfactory effects it had on her growling stomach. She shot one final goodbye smile at
the man, waved and made her way down the dirt path.
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The old man had been right. Not once had Luna encountered a single critter on her way. It was actually quite a pleasant walk when you weren't at the bottom of the food chain. The blood woods were actually quite beautiful. The trees were tall and thick, with beautiful crimson blossoms sprouting from the branches. They glimmered ever so slightly in the illustrious moonlight (be it fake or not). It truly was a sight to behold.
Luna had only had to stop once when the rumbling of her stomach reappeared and she had to stop to pick fruit from a sugar-melon tree. This time though, she made VERY sure that they were indeed sugar-melon, which thankfully the were. She would've taken food from her pack, if she hadn't had to ditch it because of the scent the food gave off. So instead, she was left with only her ice axes, her thermal jacket and regular attire.
Luna had finally made it out of the blood woods. She felt quite relieved to feel the sunlight she had been deprived of, which was a strange sensation since she often felt nothing for the bright orb floating in the sky. She shrugged it off, and mentally prepared herself for the true challenge she was about to face.
'OK Luna, you got this. It's only one tincy wincy little mountain... that's over four thousand meters tall... Well better start now or I'll never reach the drakes.'
With the conclusion of that thought, Luna quickly pulled her thermal Jacket over-top of her regular blue uniform. She withdrew her ice axes from their places at her sides, and readied them in her hands. She stepped over to the mountain, and
instantly felt the chill of the frigid windstorm that surrounded the mountain.
She shivered slightly and thrust her ice ax into the side of the mountain. She pulled herself up, and stuck her foot into a secure location. She threw the other ax into the glacial mountain and repeated the process.
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Luna had finally reached the cave platform that lead into the drake's hidden village. She had climbed to this peak for several hours with no stops, for she knew that if the even relaxed for a second, the harsh gales would rip her from the face of the mountain to the hard rocks that resided bellow.
She was finally able to rest for a moment, and so when she climbed onto the platform, she collapsed and lied down on the hard rock floor. She allowed herself a few minutes to regain her breath.
Once her heart had stopped racing and her breath had caught up to her again, she slowly got to her feet to make her way into the cave of the drakes. She stumbled a few steps forward. She started to walk in a regular pace again when two green and brown blurs raced out of the cave and pinned her to the ground, one of the scaled beings' claws were dug into her left shoulder, and the other held it's razor sharp talons at her throat. She could tell just by the look of them, these were drakes.
She recognized them for their scaled, natural body armor, their pointed ears, their horns and their slotted green and red eyes. By the looks of them, they were intermediate level warriors, whom Luna knew must have been called to action once she had tripped their alarm.
"State your name and reasons for trespassing!" The green one demanded.
"And no funny business! We're under no obligation to spare your life!" The brown one reinforced his meanings by twisting the claws that were sunken into her shoulders.
Luna winced, but did not cry out in pain. Drakes despised weakness, and if Luna showed any at all, they would see her unfit to exist.
"My name is Princess Luna. Raiser of the moon and stars. I request an audience with your chief and with tooth and nail" she said in monotone militarism. Or as best she could with claws in her arm.
The two drakes looked at each other and nodded. They then dragged Luna up to her feet, and forced her to walk to the entrance of the cave.Luna clutched her left shoulder, and walked with as much sterdiness she could muster into the cave.
"Well that went better than expected" Luna thought sarcastically.
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A/N: Hi, I'm gunna try and not put to many of these things in here, but I would really appreciate some feedback, because I don't know if I'm rushing my fight scenes, or if it's just me. So if you could leave a review (good or bad idc) I'd be really appreciative.
Thanks for reading!
~Avery