In the afternoon, Luna walked down the long corridor into Celestia's war room, where Equestria's military leaders, The Big Three, were gathering. She had received the letter from the miriads that morning, and in response, her sister called an emergency meeting to sort out the issue. Luna knew what had to be done, but she also knew her sister wouldn't be too keen on the idea of her leaving Equestria in the midst of a war. However, Luna couldn't ignore Alptraum; if he went unchecked, it could mean victory for Constantine and his growing army.

Two guards saluted Luna as she approached the door, and they opened it for her. She paused to thank them, then entered, sitting down at the round table in the middle of the circular chamber. Celestia sat on a chair that faced the entryway, and she greeted her sister with a nod and a 'come hither' gesture. "Please, sit."

Luna sat in the chair across from her sister, looking down at the detailed map set on the table. To Luna's right was Field Marshal Fury Heart, Equestria's High Commander of the Army. Admittedly, Luna had never met her before, nor had she met any of the other members of The Big Three in all her years as a princess. They were often behind the scenes individuals, never really wanting any unwanted attention. The Field Marshal was an earthpony in her mid-forties with white fur, green eyes, and a blonde mane; she was fit and quite attractive for her age, but she exuded an aura of extreme grit and determination. And such a demeanor was understandable, given her reputation. The Field Marshal, better known as The White Tigress, was known far and wide for her numerous victories in The First Changeling War, where she orchestrated many genius strategies that eventually led to the defeat of Chrysalis. She earned her nickname, 'The White Tigress', after defeating a rare albino tiger with her Claw Brand on a remote island in the southern regions of Equestria. And after that incident, the Field Marshal kept the great beast's fur as a trophy, wearing it around her standard issue, white Equestrian officer's long coat and uniform like a cape.

"Ah, Princess Luna, you're just in time." The Field Marshal said as she adjusted her monocle. She then looked over to the vacant seat next to her. "However, I believe Fleet Admiral Pisces is running late, sadly. He shall be here shortly."

"He's most likely getting held up by that damn crew of his..." Air Marshal Bloodquill chuckled as he scratched the tip of his beak. "Wouldn't be the first time."

The griffon sitting next to Celestia was in his early sixties and just about as tall as her– which was quite tall –and he sported a gray brush cut, similar to his silver, red-tipped feathers that were all over his body. His thick, rounded glasses sat in front of his large blue eyes and on top of his yellow beak. Admittedly, the Marshal's face looked more like a wise old owl than a cunning eagle, perhaps this was due to his older age. His red-feathered wings also stuck out of his white Equestrian officer's uniform and long coat.

Grand Air Marshal Bloodquill hailed from Griffonstone and was a fairly unique griffon to say the very least. He had left his hometown at a young age to enroll in the Equestrian Flying Academy and set records that lasted up until Rainbow Dash came around. He was known to get along well with ponies– a rare trait for a griffon. Marshal Bloodquill managed all aerial, military operations in wartime concerning pegasi and griffons in the military. He concocted brilliant diversionary strategies, and like the other members of The Big Three, he wasn't afraid to jump into the fight himself as Marshal Bloodquill was a master of the saber.

"Ah, regardless, we should get down to business. I'm sure Admiral Pisces wouldn't mind." Celestia began her explanation to Luna as she pointed to Ccrondil on the map. "As you all already know, Alptraum currently controls Caven Isle, the capital. The north has fallen to him, but the lords of the southern cities are currently fighting back with everything at their disposal."

"They will not hold out for long," Field Marshal Fury Heart added as she pointed at the mountainside that hugged the southern regions of Ccrondil. "They have no supplies from the north, and the Cloudsreach Mountains block them from ever reaching Wantthai. They're stuck there until they surrender, or we show up."

"Then we mustn't waste time in that case," Luna chimed in as she offered up her idea. "Once I join up with Draven's crew in the south outpost, I can enter Ccrondil through the farthest south seaport, Illioa's Rest. From there, with the help of his crew, hopefully, I'll be able to reinforce the troops in the south regions and work my way up from there."

Celestia pondered over Luna's plan as one of the servants in the war room poured her a glass of red wine. She raised the glass to her mouth, then took a drink. And as she placed it on the table, she voiced her opinion. "Luna... are you certain that this is what you want? I can lead whilst you're gone, but... I think you need an escort. The Blood Moon will limit your powers, you know that-."

"Sister, I can handle myself, Blood Moon or not," Luna answered her bluntly, not realizing how beat up her sister was over the whole ordeal until she saw the disappointed look on her face. "Oh, Celestia, I'm-."

"I can escort her– my crew and me..." A husky, strong voice stated from the entryway. It was Admiral Pisces, dressed in his finest uniform.

The fleet admiral was not a dragon of fashion, but he wore his white navy uniform with pride. His white long coat that was over his frock coat sported large, golden epaulettes, and his collar was laced with golden silk. On the back of his long coat that he hung around his back like a cape, was a red koi, a symbol of endurance and perseverance in his homeland island of Shuǐcūn. The koi not only represented his ancestors, but it also represented his powerful crew that he had hand-picked, The Leaping Koi. Admiral Pisces' snout was much like a beak, though it was lined with a row of sharp teeth like a shark or some other predatory fish, and two long whiskers– possibly sensory organs –stretched downwards out of the end of his snout like a mustache. He had pale blue scales and very vivid purple eyes, and his blue webbed head and back fins were patted down like a mane of hair to make room for the white, peaked admiral cap laced with gold on his head. In his mouth was a corn-cob pipe, and strapped to his back was his signature weapon of choice, a golden trident.

The water lord-dragon, Fleet Admiral Horatio Pisces– formally known in his home province as Jiao-long Lin –was by far the most recognized and respected individuals in Equestria, and he was the most experienced out of all other admirals in the Royal Navy; granted, his lengthy dragon lifespan was sort of an unfair advantage. His mastery over The Dragon Disciplines and his elemental abilities struck fear into the hearts of Equestria's foes whenever he stepped into the fight. And it was said that Admiral Pisces once churned the sea to become so violent, it wiped away a pirate fleet. Being that he was over four-thousand years old, many rumors regarding his power were often over-exaggerated. But regardless, once Admiral Pisces was in the ocean, he was unbeatable; hence his nickname amongst his navy comrades, 'The Sea God'.

"Admiral Pisces, welcome," Celestia greeted the large water-dragon as he sat down next to Luna. "You said you were willing to escort my sister?"

Luna was shocked to see the muscular Admiral Pisces in the flesh; he was a few inches taller than Celestia (and she had to have been two meters tall), and her sister had to have been two meters in height. She could feel the strength radiate off of him like a roaring ocean, and she could almost hear crashing waves with his every breath. And the frightening part about it was that he didn't seem all too serious. In fact, he was quite chipper in that moment.

"Yes, my crew and I are more than capable of aiding the princess on this mission," The admiral nodded as he rested his trident against the table.

"But, Jiao-long... what of the navy?" Luna found it quite odd that Celestia called him by his real name. "We can't go without a fleet admiral during wartime."

"With all due respect, Princess Celestia, I believe Equestria's other admirals are more than capable of handling her navy in my absence." The admiral said as he lit his pipe and crossed his arms.

"I suppose," Celestia thought it over as she looked down at the map of the world. "How long will it take for you to arrive at the outpost?"

"Less than a week," The admiral answered, smoke billowing out of his nostrils."I plan on being there just as Princess Ocèara arrives. I'll send a letter via raven to the outpost."

"Less than a week?!" Fury Heart and Bloodquill shouted, questioning the sanity of their naval comrade.

"Fleet Admiral Pisces, that's insanity," Field Marshal Fury Heart shook her head at the idea. "A voyage to the Blacklands will take no less than two weeks-!"

"Enough," Celestia silenced Bloodquill and Fury Heart's outrage. "Less than a week it is."

Luna was gobsmacked by the trust Celestia had in the admiral, it was unheard of to Luna. Perhaps this was the Celestia she never didn't know, the side of her that watched over Equestria in her absence. Back then, perhaps the admiral was the only shoulder Celestia could lean on, the only individual she trusted just as much as her. Luna pondered over this for a moment, but quickly returned to reality once she saw the admiral rise from his seat, gesturing to her to stand up.

"Thank you, your highness..." The admiral shook Celestia's hand as he made his way to the exit. "I'll leave right away. Come, Princess Luna."

"Goodbye, Jiao-long," Celestia bowed her head for a moment, reluctant to say anything to her sister. However, she worked up the courage then and there, and she raised her hand to stop her sister from walking out on her. "Wait, Luna..."

"Yes, sister...?" Luna said as she turned back to face her.

"Please... be careful," Celestia got up from her seat and hugged her tightly– right in front of The Big Three. "Come back safe and sound, alright?"

"I will, Celestia. I promise," Luna patted Celestia once on the back as she broke the hug. "I'll see you soon..."

"Goodbye..." Celestia muttered to herself as the others left the room, leaving her alone.

****

The Royal Navy dockyards were as lively as ever. Ships entered and exited the harbor constantly, either returning troops or picking them up to be shipped out to Wantthai. Luna walked down a pier lined with shops and stands, many of which were for refreshments. The barracks were at the end of the pier, and smaller piers jutted out of the larger one, leading to hundreds of warships. The military machine of Equestria was kicked into overdrive once the war began, and it steadily increased its ambitious shipbuilding projects tenfold.

Luna¬, who was wearing a white officer's frock coat and a blue scarf, walked down the main pier with Admiral Pisces beside her. Typically, guards would often accompany Luna if she would take a stroll in the city. However, the admiral was more than enough protection for anypony. Guards, marines, shopkeepers, it didn't matter who; everypony saluted the admiral as he walked by, and he'd tip his hat to each one with a grin and a nod. There was no denying the admiral's popularity dwarfed hers.

"It must be tiring– being as well-known as you are," Luna spoke up as she walked alongside the admiral to his ship.

"Ah, it isn't like this all the time, your majesty..." The admiral said as he lit his corn-cob pipe. "I'm simply in my element. If we were in your castle I'd be downright ignored."

"Yes, I suppose," Luna chuckled as she waved to a passerby. "You know, I haven't ever met you, Admiral... isn't that odd? Perhaps I've become a bit of a recluse..."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that your majesty," The admiral laughed as he tucked one hand in his pocket. "And you may call me Pisces, your majesty. I'm not a fan of big titles. Besides, you are Celestia's sister."

"Ah, of course, my apologies..." Luna nodded as they reached the end of the pier where Admiral Pisces's ship was docked. "Oh, my goodness..."

The Red Koi was a marvel to be sure. Its sails were pristine and void of dirt or gunk, and there were many patterns on them, including the large red koi in the center of the mainsail. The ship was armed to the teeth with various cannons of different size and design. There were smaller deck guns along the railing of the ship top, and three long ramps descended down to the pier. The two wider ramps were being used by ship-hands to load cargo, and the narrower ramp in the middle loaded the crew on who took the supplies down to the hold. Sitting next to the ship was the main crew, Pisces' elite crew mates. They sat and gave orders to the ship hands.

"Ah, there they are! The dragon of the hour and our esteemed guest on this fine vessel!" An approaching stallion grinned as he broke off from the grouping of elite members, removing his black bowler hat and bowing before Luna and his captain. "It's an honor to make your acquaintance, Princess Luna."

"Thank you, kind sir," Luna beamed as she shook the stallion's hand.

The stallion that bowed to Luna was a very spry and eager young stallion with a very charismatic and cunning expression. His fur was bright red, he had a periwinkle mane, and his amber eyes were full of excitement and adventure. He wore a tweed vest over a white dress shirt, and on top of that was a white officer's long coat with the red koi on the back.

"Princess Luna, this is my First Mate and Master Gunner, Vice-Admiral Rummy Fawkes ," Admiral Pisces introduced the young stallion to her with pride. "Rummy? Care to introduce the rest of the crew?"

"It would be my pleasure!" Rummy hummed as he walked over to the rest of his group with a skip in his step. "Hey, fellas! Come and meet Princess Luna!"

Three members of the group followed Rummy over to Luna. The first was a changeling. He was a head taller than Rummy, and he was a scarred one to be sure. His navy blue carapace was quite damaged around his neck, and his left eye was pure white with a scar across it. His ears were also very damaged, and he wore a striped, red and black bandana around his short, dark green hair. The frilled blue, buttoned dress shirt he wore was covered by his white long coat that had the koi ensign, and he wore brown pants with it. There was also a small, white cat with blue eyes on his shoulder, purring and rubbing up against his neck. Which was odd, considering that the norm for a mariner's pet was usually a parrot or avian of some sort.

"Nice to meet ya... name's Dross." The changeling grinned as he bowed before Luna. Then he gestured to his cat. "And this beauty here is Pearl."

"Rear-Admiral Dross is our carpenter and doctor on this vessel," Rummy informed Luna as he fiddled around with a coin in his pocket. "He's good with lumber, let me tell you! And he's one hell of a fighter too!" Rummy said as he pointed to the mark on his hand. "Ain't that right, Dross?"

"Aye," Dross nodded as he gave his cat a scratch under the chin.

The next member of the main crew was an ice dragon; short, fairly thin, a little taller than Spike. He wore a wide, toothy smile on his face that didn't seem to go away, and he was constantly fidgeting as if he always had something on his mind. He wore a red dress shirt and blue jeans, and he wore his koi long coat like Pisces¬– a cape around his back.

"Hey there! It's an honor to meet you, your majesty!" Cyro beamed as he shook her hand and bowed.

The other elite was a short stallion, around a head shorter than Luna. His fur was white and his black mane was short and spiky, and it was brushed back like a hedgehog. He wore a red bandana around his head and a red, ceremonial Northland monk garb with a black sash around his waist to hold it together. On top of his regular garb was his koi long coat as well.

"It is an absolute honor, your majesty," Jhettei said firmly as he bowed in respect to the Night Princess.

"This is Leading Hand Cyro Dreyfus and Jhettei Shinohara. They're our 'elites-in-training'!" Rummy introduced Luna to the new additions as he looked around for the last member of Pisces' inner circle.

"A pleasure to be acquainted with you both," Luna turned to Admiral Pisces, who was looking for somepony. "Admiral, have you lost somepony...?"

"No, she's just hiding behind the sail..." Pisces said with a groan in his voice, as if he had been through that situation countless times before. He shouted to his main sail with smoke billowing out of his nostrils. "Daisy, come out right now!"

"You forgot the magic word..." A high-pitched, cutesy voice squeaked from above.

"Daisy, Princess Luna is here..." Rummy coaxed the unseen mare, and with a great thud, she landed on the deck of the ship, causing the boat to bob.

Daisy was not a regular pony; she was much, much larger than any mare Luna had seen. Daisy was a giant. Luna had heard about giants living on the southern islands of the Blacklands, but she never actually had seen one in the flesh before. Daisy was only a few inches taller than Pisces, and by Luna's standards, she considered him to be a giant. The giant named Daisy appeared to be in her mid-twenties, and she wore a green blouse and a magenta skirt with beige leggings underneath that went down to her massive hooves; all of her clothes were tailored specifically to cover her much larger body. Like the rest of her elite group, she wore a white long coat with the red koi symbol. Her eyes were bright orange and full of wonder, her long, wavy blonde mane was decorated with flowers and went down to her hips, she had sleek mauve fur, and she sported balanced figure for a female giant of her age. She was certainly pretty, though, not very many stallions would openly admit to eyeing-up a mare of her size; most would often feel a little threatened in the shadow of a mare as large as her.

"Hello, hello, hello!" Daisy bowed then shook Luna's hand excitedly, unintentionally lifting Luna off the ground with the overwhelmingly strong waving motion of her handshake and throwing her into the air momentarily before she realized that she had let her foal-like enthusiasm get the better of her. "Oh! Sorry, sorry, sorry! I'm very sorry, your majesty!"

"It's... quite alright..." Luna said slowly as she shook her head, trying to regain her balance after that sudden shock to her system. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well..."

"Well, now that we've all been introduced, I think it's time we set sail. Time is of the essence," Admiral Pisces piped up as he looked towards his ship hands who were moving the last of the supplies. "How's the loading going?"

"Pretty good, Admiral Pisces..." A stallion in navy attire said as he struggled to lift a crate full of cannons off of the pier with his seven other comrades.

"Daisy, give that poor colt a helping hand, will you?" Admiral Pisces instructed the gentle giant.

"Sure thing, Gramps!" Daisy hummed cheerfully as she walked over to the groaning marines with a skip in her step. She then worked her fingers under the crate and lifted it onto her shoulder as if it were as simple as breathing. "There we go!"

Luna gawked at Daisy's amazing display of strength. Cannonballs were usually particularly heavy, especially solid shot (the ones within the crate that Daisy picked up), and the fact that she lifted them without any effort at all was astonishing; Luna was convinced that there was something more to her than just muscle. She had to have had some aid to help her lift the cannonballs.

"Based on your expression, you're probably wondering why she can lift all of those cannonballs, right...?" Rummy guessed as he stood beside Luna. "See that mark on the back of her neck? That's the Scale Brand. With that, she can decrease and increase the weight of objects as she pleases."

Luna narrowed her eyes to get a glimpse of the back of Daisy's head, and sure enough, there it was; a Brand shaped like a banker's scale. "Interesting... I haven't seen many Brand-users in quite a long time– not since my last visit to the Blacklands. Are there any other Brand-users on your ship, Vice-Admiral?"

"Why yes, as a matter of fact..." Rummy loosened the collar on his dress shirt to show Luna the Brand on the lower part of his neck. "This is the Gunpowder Brand– lets me generate and manipulate... well, gunpowder!" Rummy said as he made a tiny spark on the tip of his index finger. "Oh, and Dross has one too. It's called the Chimera Brand– lets him morph his body so that-... tell you what, I'll get Dross to show ya. Hey, Dross!"

"Yeah...?" Dross shouted back to Rummy as he left the ship and descended down the ramp to talk to his crewmate.

"Show Princess Luna what you can do..." Rummy requested; to which, the changeling's left hand began to morph and twist, turning into a bear's paw, then a lion's claw, and then a mass of snakes. "Pretty cool, right?"

Luna was a little more shocked by Dross' grotesque ability than impressed; this was really something Twilight would've been far more interested in. "Indeed..."

"Admiral Pisces! We're ready to go!" A marine shouted down to Pisces as he began loading the two cargo ramps.

"Alright, let's get going, your majesty," Admiral Pisces said as he ascended the wide middle ramp with Luna following him not far behind. "I'll have Vice-Admiral Rummy show you to your quarters once we leave the dockyards."

"Very well," Luna nodded in agreement as she looked at the sails above that began to fold. She shuffled over to Rummy to inquire about the odd function. "Vice-Admiral, why are the ship's sails folding?"

"The sails are folding everypony! The sails are folding!" One of the crew members shouted to those who were close to The Red Koi, to which they proceeded to scatter in a panic.

"You don't just get to the Blacklands in less than a week using just the wind!" Rummy said with a cunning grin and a wink as he pointed to the water that began to rise beneath the keel of the ship. "When you've got the most powerful water dragon on the planet managing your ship, you use the sea !"

"Brace yourselves!" Pisces warned his crew as he jumped to the forecastle deck of his ship, trident in hand.

"Oh dear..." Luna muttered to herself as she grabbed onto a rope attached to the main mast.

"Forward!" Pisces bellowed as he thrust his trident forward, launching the boat out of the dockyard like a cannonball using the force of the water that built up around the bow.

"Isn't this the best way to travel?!" Rummy shouted as a brisk wind began to overshadow his voice.

"I was never really a fan of sailing!" Luna screamed as she held her crown down with her free hand, eyes wide from a rush of adrenaline.

Author's Notes:

Well... I've been introducing a whole slew of new characters, haven't I? As always, I hope you enjoyed! See you in the next chapter!