Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum

by DarkZonker

Discovery

Luna slammed the book shut with a poof of dust. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, even with all of the information that was contained in the book none of it helped her mission. She swept the book aside with her hooves, her throat clenching as she tried and failed to keep her teeth from grinding together. With a scream of rage, Luna levitated the book with a rapid shuffle of papers and other noises and shot it at the human’s shelf.

The shelf exploded in a shower of wood, parchment and books. Luna covered herself with a blue feathered wing, she could feel her feathers being peppered with chunks of the destroyed shelf. When the barrage died down all she could see was grey. She made the mistake of breathing, sucking in a lungful of unbreathable particles. Luna started coughing, the deep hacks turning into dry heaves as she desperately tried to evacuate her lungs. With each cough she had to draw in more air, which brought more dust. She couldn’t breathe. It was a neverending cycle of suffocating torture, barely able to receive much needed oxygen.

Luna’s cyan aura surrounded her long, sharp horn and proceeded to flow like water over the rest of her body. The magic film had entirely covered her, filtering the dust out of the delicious, clean air. When the coughing fit had finally passed, Luna expanded the magic field, pushing away the unsettled dust, the clouds flowing with the magic and finally settling on the adjacent bookshelves.

She looked to the human shelves and sighed. The shelf was in shambles, the leaves sagging to the left from the book sized hole in the supports. The leather bound journals and scrolls were scattered all over the floor. Luna felt disappointment come crashing down. She couldn’t let those emotions out anymore, they could only lead to ruin. Just like that poor shelf, she thought.

She sifted through the rubble with her magic, salvaging anything of use and stacking it in a neat pile. A levitating book brushed the unstable edge of the shelf causing it to fully collapse. This time Luna was ready, she contained the falling debris with a sphere of magic and levitated it to the other detritus. As she hoofed through the stacked documents next to her, a metallic glint caught her eye. She looked up to where the bookshelf used to be and saw a small silver keyhole glinting in the magical light.

Luna raised an eyebrow as her head tilted slightly to the side. She rubbed a hoof over it, it was seamless, except for the keyhole. Luna couldn’t even tell what it unlocked or if it even opened. Luna concentrated and imagined a key, as soon as she thought it the light blue magic from her horn broke off and swirled in front of her. Ribbons of light twisting into the shape of an old iron key, like the ones the guards used to open the dungeon cells. Her key was light blue, however, and twinkled with the essence of her magic.

She levitated her magic key to the keyhole. Luna inserted the key and started to turn it when her concentration started to slip. She thought harder, but it only made things worse. The key disappeared in a pop, and the magic shot back into her horn, knocking her head back. It felt like an ice lance had pierced Luna’s skull. Kind of like when she had eaten the royal kitchen’s whole store of ice cream after her return. What had Celestia called it? she pondered as the pain receded. Ah yes, a brain freeze I think.

She laid a detection spell over the keyhole and gently probed it for magic. She felt a strand of something old, and foreign. It felt greasy in her magical grip, this was not a magic used by ponies. Pony magic felt warm and comforting from all but the most black hearted villains. She pushed on the magic a little harder, feeling it bend to her will. Luna kept pushing, the spell felt like it was going to break. Luna’s grip on the foreign spell started to slip, her heart started racing. Suddenly, the spell snapped out of her grip and into it’s original position like a rubberband. She felt the brain freeze again, less so than the first time but still painful.

Luna groaned and flopped backwards onto her pillow, her wings splayed out to the sides. She dragged a hoof down her muzzle, pulling the skin with it. Her mind started racing as she thought of ways to unlock… whatever it was she wanted to unlock. Her eyes scoured the area for any sign of a key, to no avail. A memory floated to the forefront of her mind, of the large book she had earlier. The spine of the book had rattled slightly when she threw it.

She found the remains of the book in the pile of materials only slightly destroyed by its flight. The ornate front cover of the book had been torn off, and various pages were bent and crumpled. She shook it with her magic, making the pages rustle and the sound of something bouncing inside of it reaching her ears. She tore the spine off of the book, the pages spread out as they floated gently to the ground. A brass key the same size as the keyhole hit the ground with a clink.

Luna grinned as she levitated the key. It had a simple design, very traditional. The teeth were two rectangles; one small, the other large. Its brass plating shined in the magical light overhead. She levitated the key to it’s rightful place and turned it, the internal locks noisily unlocking. A small square popped out of the wall seamlessly. Luna giggled uncontrollably as she practically ripped open the door. The hole it revealed was deep and pitch black, a cool breeze blew out and further tousled Luna’s already flowing mane.

With a thought, Luna shot a magical flame into the pit. It turned out that the hole wasn’t as deep as Luna thought. It only went about a foreleg deep, and at the end was a small stack of ribbon tied journals. Her light blue aura enveloped them as she floated them out to her pillow. The ribbon was the color of blood and tied in a small bow around the stack. The end of the ribbon glowed blue, making the ribbon appear a deep purple. Luna tugged on the end and the bow fell apart. She pulled the ribbon away from the journals and draped it over her neck. It was soft, unbelievably soft, like pure refined silk. Luna let out a sigh of bliss and tucked away the ribbon into her chestpiece.

She took a look at the journals; two were unmarked and the other had the words Veni, Vidi, Vici, scrawled across the front in gold lettering. Another human book, she thought, maybe this one will have what I need.

Opening the journal, Luna hungrily read the handwritten words that flowed across the page. This was written in a slightly different dialect than the books from earlier. Luna took a moment to get used to the changes, mentally fixing the grammar to fit what she knew. Already, the journal was being more helpful than the whole bookshelf from before. This one appeared to be from before the war, and Luna hoped that the other two were similar in usefulness.

Luna flipped back to the beginning and her eyes flicked from word to word, the journal finally making sense as she immersed herself into the entries.

---

Spring equinox. Year of the Huntress.

Tomorrow, I become a man. I feel so happy that I could just explode, I’ve been waiting for this day since as long as I could remember. Laina says that the ceremony is stupid and that I don’t need it to be a man, that she can already see it. She’s wrong. This is the only way I’ll ever prove myself to her father. Soon, I’ll be marching with my brothers and return home a hero. Maybe then her father will accept me and then we can finally be together. But first, I have to pass my test. I know it won’t be easy, killing a feral whelp, but it’s the only way to pass my ceremony and become the man that Laina needs.-Marcus

---

A sea breeze blew through the temple, the cool air making Marcus shiver in his tunic, the fact that he was kneeling completely still not helping his warmth. He bowed his head again, whispering a few words then plunging his knife into the lamb. It cried out, kicking and jerking around a little, making the knife cut even more. Hot blood poured out of the wound and into the waiting wooden bowl below it. The lamb’s cries got weaker until it stopped and went slack in his hands, blood still flowing freely. When the blood had finally finished, Marcus gently put the lamb aside. He would take it back home later and cook it, he decided.

The blood had turned a dark red in the bowl, staining the wood. He dipped his index finger into the ruby liquid and raised it to the giant marble statue of a warrior woman wielding a drawn bow. Her face was carved focused, her eyes molded into intense orbs. Marcus muttered a few phrases in prayer and touched the bloody finger to his forehead. It was still warm as he drew a line from the middle of his brow to the tip of his nose. Dipping his finger in the bowl once again, he followed the curve of his chin, making a little arc just below his lower lip. The wind blew through again, the still wet lines on his face colder than the rest of him. He could feel the blood drying and constricting on his face. He drew another line across the middle of his forehead, then bowed.

Finishing his prayer, Marcus rose and grabbed the bowl as well as the lamb, which he slung over his shoulder. A little blood seeped out and stained his tunic. He walked out of the marble temple and down the rough hewn stairs that were carved into the cliff face. His city was just below the cliff, situated on both sides of the large river that fed into the sea. He could see the lantern light below him that reminded him of the warm bed that awaited him.

Marcus approached the outskirts and walked to the wooden house nestled into the cliff face. He stopped at the large, gnarled tree in front of the house. He said a prayer and carefully dumped the blood out of the bowl. He watched as the dark liquid soaked into the soil around the tree. Satisfied, he continued towards the house.

The moon rose high in the sky as the last vestiges of sunlight disappeared below the horizon of the sea. It was curved like a pale grey sickle as it cut through the star-speckled sky. Marcus opened the door and was greeted by the warmth and light of a fire. He had stoked it before he left for the temple hours ago and it was still extremely hot. He walked into the kitchen and skinned the lamb, dicing it’s meat and throwing it into the black iron pot. He placed the pot above the fire and watched it boil, stirring it occasionally. This was the last meal he was going to eat before the ceremony tomorrow. Marcus smiled at the thought, his dreams were finally starting to come true.

As he ate the stew, Marcus thought about the ceremony tomorrow. First, they were going to bless him and his journey. Then, they would present him with a dagger, enchanted to be able to pierce dragon scales. Finally, he would be sent off to return with the dragon whelp on his back or die trying. He really hoped it was the first option.

Laina would be there for the blessing. He grinned at the thought of seeing her, with her long raven hair and delicate-but intense when she needed to-features. Hazel eyes that could switch from soul piercing to loving in the blink of an eye. Excitement threatened to burst from his chest, but he beat the feeling down. He couldn’t afford to be distracted right now, he had to stay focused. Marcus shoveled the last of the stew down his throat and walked to his bedroom. He removed his sandals and laid down on the hay mattress. His mind racing with thoughts of the future as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

Comments

[G4M3R_BR0NY]

His city was just below cliff,

Missing "the" between "below" and "cliff".
Found somewhere in the big chunk of text after the journal entry. Didn't see any other issues. Good job. If you want, I won't bother mentioning other mistakes like this. You're story is plenty readable as is.
Now that I've seen more of this story, I definitely want to read more. So far, it's not my usual cup of tea, but I like it. I daresay, this story deserves more views.

[DarkZonker]

4502644 Thank you! I'll fix that mistake now and I'm glad that you like it even though it's different. Hey! tell your friends if you think it can get more views

[G4M3R_BR0NY]

4508260 I'll see what I can do. I know one of them will like this, but it'll be hard to convince him to put it near the front of his 'to read' list because this fic is unfinished and under 20k words thus far. I guarantee he'll read it, but probably not soon. I'll still try to get as many of my friends to read it as possible.

[DarkZonker]

4508336 Alright! Thanks for being so cool!