Living Under The Moon Chapter 14

The ship soon made port in the royal hangar as your crew left.

“You take head count” you instructed to a nearby grey unicorn in a much darker suit of armor who saluted calmly before walking away without response.

“How are you holding up, Anon?” Trixie walked up to you with Ivory behind her

“As well as I can…not looking forward to giving the report of this mission” You turn to look at the ship, cracks littering the hull, it’s a wonder they didn’t shred into the balloon.  “Sorry about the ship guys” you direct the apology to the near-by Flim-flam brothers.

“Think nothing of it” Flam says “We’ll get it repaired and upgraded in no time, his brother nodded along with him.

“Alright.” You smile before turning and inhaling a bit, “and now the rough part…” you say quietly as you turn around to find- yeah the princesses are right there.  Celestia stands in front of Luna as they approach you. This will be unpleasant.

Celestia stands before you and looks down. “I trust everything went well, Anon?”

“Unfortunately not” you tell her, trying very hard to maintain your stance. “Despite our efforts, Q and The Sons of Discord managed to take The Prisoners Platform.”

And you saw it. Somehow you noticed her legs, it was almost unperceivable, but you see them tense up
“Any other difficulties?” she asks you, her voice kept clear of any inflictions of emotion.

You nod, trying to replicate her calmness “Unfortunately, I foolishly allowed myself to lose track of my team’s numbers; because of that multiple changelings were able to infiltrate our ranks, at Q’s signal the changelings revealed themselves and attacked us. A tactical retreat was required to save us of any casualties.”

She closes her eyes a moment and turns to face away, “Very well, they will undoubtedly be here in a matter of days.” She turns to hear sister as she makes her leave “Prepare your troops.”  And then with a blink of spectacular light, she was gone.

Luna turns to you, she sighs a bit “and there she goes “her frown infects you as you feel your own lips sink to reflect it “You said there were no casualties?”

“I’m having one of the troops making a headcount.”

“Who’s keeping the count?” She asked tilting her head

“A unicorn…she wore black armor.” You say.

The description makes Luna noticeably stiffen “A grey unicorn?”

You nod to that “yes, why do you ask?”

“There’s been at least one casualty if she has been here” she steps closer “The pony you saw was the form death chooses for soldiers of the royal guard.”

“…..what?” you feel the color drain from your face.

“We will dwell on such later, but all three of you. To my office, we will fill out the report their and discuss what actions to take.” And with that she leads you away to the office.


You relayed as much information to Luna as you could for the report, Ivory and Trixie providing reports as well. As it had turned out they had been keeping up the rear of the line when everyone had entered the cave, one of the changelings had casted a displacement spell, which had teleported them somewhere deep into the cave. The sounds of the scuffle with the changelings had served to allow them a way to find you.

You sunk into the bean bag and grunted with frustration “I should have paid closer attention to the numbers.”

“You were in a dark cave with lot of enclosed spaces” Luna responds “it is completely understandable that you didn’t notice”

“I’m sure your sister thinks the opposite” Trixie mumbled. fiddling with a glass of apple cider.

Luna shot a slight glare at her for that “Any ill will harbored to you from my sister is extended from her current opinion of me,” she soon frowns as well. “I did all of this without her approval, as far as it is concerned this is an attempt at uprising in her eyes” she tells you all.

You chuckle a bit “Weren’t I the one who inspired this though?” you smile a tiny bit “I mean hell it’s practically her fault since she made me your body guard if that’s the case”  You stand up now “if she’s angry, she SHOULD be mad at ME!”

“ENOUGH!” the room nearly rattles “That is not the point, none of this is the point” Luna slams her hooves to the desk. “We cannot pin faults on any of us, The changelings are coming, if they were working with Q and Discord then no doubt they will come back when it’s time to revive him.”

You inhale deeply, not liking how that sounded at all “when will that happen?”

Luna looks to the desk “in two days, at the beginning of the new moon cycle, that’s the only time non Alicorn magic can break the lock the elements of harmony put on him. “
You nod, “two days. “

“I’m assuming the swarm will serve as a distraction for the Sons to break in.” Luna moves up, pulling down a map of the interior “in order for the intended spell to work, they will need to take Discords form to the exact spot where the spell was cast”

“Which spot? The spot where you and Celestia did it the first time or the spot where Twilight and her friends did it? “

Luna pauses a moment.

“I smell a tactical advantage” You can hear the grin in Trixie’s voice

Soon Luna’s face reflects that grin “Then we have the basis for a plan.” She smiles “The three of you are dismissed, report to your infantry and tell them everything we have discussed. I will address my sister and tell her of our potential advantage and see where we can go from there.”



You trot your way to the training field, looking around one of the medical staff approaching you, a blue Pegasus with a red mane.  “I have a status on our numbers from after the mission into the Changeling territory Captain”

“What are the losses” you ask looking to her.

She looks at you with a look of surprise at how you knew of the losses. “One casualty, Captain” she tells you. “Wind Whistler is reported as never having made it back on the ship”

You nod at that “and injuries?”

“A few scuffs, sprains.” She flips through the paper “Miss Ditzy Doo is reported as having lost an eye.”


 …somewhere you feel a thousand fans frowning in heavy distaste. “Understood, so are all present and accounted for?”

“All that are capable, Sir” you nod and tell her to go off.

You look over the grounds; your troops look distraught, low in morale, and forlorn.

“Feels bad don’t it?” you proclaim to them all, signaling for them to group in closer.  “I’ll be the first to tell you, failure SUCKS.”  You start “and I’m sure by now news has travelled down the pipeline far enough for us all to know we lost one of our comrades. “You hear a collective murmuring of confirmations. “However, we can not dwell on this, we can only move forward. Because Mares and Stallions; war is coming.”   You hear collective gasps and murmurs of confusion “in two days a changeling swarm of indeterminable size will descend upon canterlot.”  Another series of gasps is the response “However, this will be a distraction, while this attack is happening The Sons of Discord will be in one of two possible locations. Now I don’t have the specifics. But based on recent event from a few months back we may be able to keep them from pulling this off. Everyone is exempt from duty tomorrow; heal up, recover and ready yourself, and be here before Celestia raises the sun. You are all dismissed.”

Minutes pass as the group collect themselves and leaves the grounds.

You find yourself sitting quietly in the doorway before turning and leaving, trying to keep your mind away from any negative thoughts.  Your day off starts now.