It started with a small village. It was a small farming settlement to the North that didn't even have an official name yet. Couriers would travel to the frontier at least once a week to bring news, and report back to the major cities about the well being of the most vulnerable settlements.

The royal court knew something was wrong when word came back that a courier hadn't returned in over a moon.

But one small village that didn't even have a name wasn't deemed worthy of action. After all, small settlements went dark all the time. Sometimes they starved, sometimes a disease wiped them out, sometimes the village lay in the path of a rampaging monster.

It happened. And it simply wasn't worth it to have a permanent military presence in a town numbering only 30.

But then another fell silent. And another. And another.

It wasn't until a suspicious general started crossing out silent villages on a map did the Court seriously consider action. Something had started with the Northmost village, and was moving South. If it was capturing or killing the peasants was unclear. But something was clearly on the march coming from the North.

One of the few things the Court as a whole could be counted on, was to panic in the face of the unknown, and they mobilized the available legions, leaving behind only the Legions who were assigned as a defense force for the major cities.

So it was that 20 Legions marched North. Roughly 20,000 ponies, not counting civilian support staff and logistics.

As the executive military commanders in the government, Celestia and I were amongst them.

It wasn't long before the invaders were found. And it wasn't long after the first engagement that a helmet was presented to the commander's pavilion. Or at least, that was its official name.

In reality, it was little more then a banquet table housed in a tent for the Royal Court to hold session on. Thankfully, only the most rugged, or most eager to bootlick even left the capitol. If the actual leading of the armies didn't happen in that tent, I would've refused to set hoof inside. However the few nobleponies in attendance insisted they have a say.

The tent, was longer than it was wide, made of white silk, and trimmed with gold. It stood out among the otherwise drab war camp as easily the most opulent and grandiose thing in the army. The inside was no less magnificent, in fact it was more so. The motif matched its outside, white silk and gold trim, but around the outward wall, were pedestals with artistic vases placed on them. The center table, was made of a dark oak, polished to near perfection. The personal servants of the attending nobles bustled to and fro in their endless task of bringing food, usually decorated with an artistic flair only Royal Chefs seemed to accomplish. The nobles constantly sat at the table, usually discussing their affairs, both personal and professional. At the head of the table, towards the back of the tent, a great chair and cushion loomed above nearly everything in the structure. And although Celestia requested our chairs to be even, a more subdued office chair was brought out for me. I noticed the servants who set this whole farce up put me slightly behind the larger seat. As if I were an advisor.

It was late in the even when the sounds of battle died down. I had long finished my simple meal of standard rations that I insisted on. Twirling a fork in a bored manner as one of the Legion commanders opened the tent flap. Since the newcomer was much more interesting then hearing a high born revel in the novelty of "roughing it" again, I watched him speak with one of the attending butlers.

He stood by the entrance anxiously as the butler in turn approached Celestia and muttered something in her ear.

"Bring him here." she whispered back.

"Right away my Lady." With that, the stallion looked over at the waiting Captain and beckoned him over.

"Milady`` he bowed when he stood by her chair.

"Captain Sure Foot." she greeted respectfully. "You have something to report?"

"Several things Milady." Sure Foot stated, his voice slightly rasp. "An enemy force of ponies were discovered on the ridge. They were surrounded and defeated soundly."

"Ponies?" Celestia asked. "I was under the assumption there were no rebels causing dissent."

"Havn't been for a hundred years." I muttered, barely loud enough for them to hear. They ether didn't hear me, or ignored me.

"Weren't rebels." the Commander replied. "Was a mix of crystal ponies and common ponies."

"Crystal ponies..." Celestia repeated. "The only place they hail from is the Crystal Empire..." she thought out loud.

"They weren't in the Empires colors yer Highness." True Foot amended. "There were dressed in these." With that, the Earth pony hefted something I couldn't see from under the table and placed it on the corner of Celestia's side of the table.

The thing he placed was the helmet of a pony, but it wasn't like any I'd seen before. It seemed to be more mask then helmet, as the grill and visor looked to be much thicker then the cranium of the helmet. The most obvious thing though was the visor. The horizontal slits, or where I'd assume the vision slits to be, were instead glowing a bright green band. Celestia glanced over the helmet as it sat on the table, but otherwise didn't touch it.

"Hm. I see." she hummed. "This is made of crystal correct?" she gestured.

"Seems to be." Sure Foot grunted. I tuned them out as I picked up the helmet in my magic, curiously casting an Identify spell.

What the spell told me made my eyes widen in horror.

"So this is the helm of the enemy?" A particularly old mare poshed, picking it out of my grasp. "Doesn't look like much, far too drab for a proper military."

It was far too late when I noticed what she was doing.

The fool was lifting the helmet upwards, as if to put it on.

"Wait don't-" I stammered.

My warning came too late, the helmet already began to settle on her head.

I didn't have a moment to lose.

The pompous idiot just deployed an enemy soldier right in the middle of our camp.

I couldn't think, I leaped from my chair, winding up a punch as I dove forward. The old mare didn't expect a thing as she stood suddenly still, stunned by the horrifying vision she was likely having. Only to become confused as her whole world suddenly started vibrating.

Using that stunned moment, I ripped the helmet off her head, sitting on top of her chest as she had at some point fallen over. Her eyes were wide and glassy, twirling in place as they watched stars only she could see.

"What-"

"Moron." I boomed. "Do you know what you almost just did?"

"Luna!" Celestia exclaimed, standing up in shock. By now I noticed that the whole tent was watching me.

"How dare you." asked a stallion, far too calmly to truly know how precarious the balance between life and death was.

"How could you?!" A mare hysterically screeched.

"Why would she do such a thing?" muttered one to another.

I grimaced.

"Celestia. Scan this." I tossed the helmet towards my sister. She caught it deftly in her golden aura. Her eyes widened suddenly.

"Aaugh!" she screeched, dropping it to the ground.

"Luna I-" she gasped.

"Now she assaults the Princess!" a stallion nasally accused.

"She's crazy!" exclaimed a mare.

"BE SILENT." I exclaimed with all my might. The whole camp suddenly stilled.

I snorted in annoyance and I stepped off the old mare, her dress now ruined.

"Celestia, if you would be so kind to explain what that helmet does." I said sweetly. "You, idiot." I turned towards the old hag. "Next time you wish to use an untested enemy artifact, I will remove your head for treason." I continued. "Now, I suddenly have a lot I need to do, so I'm going to go do those things. And those things are as far away from this tent as possible. Good day." I finished, mockingly stomping in a posh manner as I marched towards the front tent flap. "You. With me." I pointed at Sure Foot, who dumbly nodded and made to follow me.

Celestia began to ramble an explanation as we pushed into the cool evening air.

"You are going to tell me exactly what I want to know." I informed the Commander.

"Yes marm." he reported.

"Good." I turned forwards to the main path in the camp. "Firstly, did you capture any alive?"

"Yes marm. Ten marm." he reported.

"Do not put them in a stock, have them accommodated as a civilian in good standing, but do not leave them unguarded."

"Yes marm." he agreed grimly. That's all I needed to hear to know that he had at least one other unicorn scan the helmet."

"I assume this is not the only helmet with this curse?"

"No marm. Every one of them had it."

"That's what I thought." I sighed. "From now on I want these soldiers restrained and removed from their armor instead of fighting and killing them."

"With all due respect yer Highness, but that may not be possible."

"I know." I replied sadly. "But may I ask you to at least try?"

"Of course marm." he grunted respectfully.

"As for their equipment, I want everything scanned and locked up securely. Make sure you have the only key commander. We may need to store these until the end of this war so they can be disposed of safely."

"Agreed marm."

"Now, I want every report before it's delivered to the Royal Court. Likewise, every order from the Court is to be reported to me first."

"Of course marm." he snorted knowingly with a sly smirk.

"Excellent, now I have duties I need to sort out and not a lot of time to do it in. I will be in my tent." I informed, as I turned down the path towards where I set my tent up.

"Of course milady." he smiled kindly, as he tilted a nonexistent hat and continued on his way.

While my tent was the standard army tent, I was forced to set it up right next to Celestia's. But that also meant my tent was the sole ordinary tent in the middle of a verifiable silk Castle. With towering, billowing flaps painted with family colors and crests. I snorted in disgust as I pushed my way into the relatively tiny tent. Wordlessly, I took off my crown and stuffed it roughly into the single saddlebag. I then lay down on the cot and sighed. For a moment, I considered just falling asleep, leaving my current concerns to stew in their shock for another day.

"No." I stated simply, turning over, closing my eyes, and casting a spell.

*devious horse noises*