Under Lunar Wings

by JP HACK

Chapter 02: First Impressions

“We shall not give up, for we are the descendants of this great nation. Destiny has unfolded and we are the chosen caretakers of the nation. HEED these words my brother and sisters, we must not fall. Whether the goal is far or short, we cannot sway. We will remain true and victorious. Whether you seek freedom or redemption, materialistic rewards or great glory. The nation will lead all. The nation will guide all, to your true paths. Let it not die, but live on and fight on. Forever into the endless skies.” - Archives of Equestria

Twilight stood near the edge of the crater with her mouth wide open. She didn't expect any of this to happen. The sky was now clear. The pressure to her horn was gone. And now she had an unconscious stallion that nearly looked like her older brother lying in the middle of a still smoking crater.

What interested Twilight was the armor and weapon that he had on him. It was like nothing she had seen before. Her mind was still going in circles of endless questions. Was he part of the royal guard? Was he the one to request the teleportation spell? What caused him to do the spell in the first place? She stopped herself to examine the situation before her. This stallion looked awfully hurt. He needs medical attention and fast. Twilight then remembered that she knew some measure of healing magic. Her horn glowed for a second then fizzled out right after. Ugh, what is going on with my magic? Even after the bizarre spell, I feel fine. But why is my magic not responding suddenly? I couldn't have magic drainage, could I? Twilight pouted. She needed somepony to get this pony to the hospital before he got in any worse condition. And get herself checked as well.

Other ponies started to come out of their homes once they saw the storm suddenly dissipate. They crowded around to look and see what was happening. Some policeponies arrived as well to help contain the crowd. Twilight motioned for one of the policeponies nearby to go and find Doctor Stable immediately for help.

After some time, Doctor Stable came to the scene accompanied by two nurses. Doctor Stable trotted down to the crater and started examining the stallion for himself as the nurses started attending to his wounds. After he was done checking him, his face turned sour. He turned to one of the nurses.

“Nurse Coldheart, please take the stretcher with Nurse Sweetheart, this stallion is in trauma level 1, unconscious and badly bruised. Get him back to the hospital immediately. We are dealing with severe burns, as well as complete magic drainage.” The nurses quickly brought out a stretcher and placed it near the crater. They both went down and reached on each end of his limbs and pulled the stallion up out and over to lay him on the stretcher. Twilight didn't like where this whole situation was going. She had to do something to help out and get herself checked out as well. She walked up to the doctor who was busy filling out a chart.

“Um, Doctor Stable?”

“Ah, Twilight Sparkle. Nice to see you again. Thank Celestia that you called for somepony to get me to him on time.  What's the matter?”

“My magic is not responding to me suddenly. It started with me trying to help this pony right here. I tried to do some healing magic on him, but my magic fizzed out. I doubt I have magic drainage though. Can you help me as well?” The doctor put down his note pad and eyed Twilight with a examining look. He scanned her going from her face to her flank and back looking to see what was wrong with her. Only doctors have the ability to see right through you and know exactly what's wrong. He turned around and faced the nurses that were waiting for further instructions.

“Take Miss Sparkle with you, It seems that she has some minor magic drainage as well as far as I can tell. But we have to check her at the hospital to be sure.” Then he glanced back at his notepad and then looked back at Twilight.  “Also, Miss Sparkle. It seems that you saw exactly what transpired here, right?”

“Yes, doctor.”

“Well then, follow the nurses back to the hospital and we will treat you soon enough. Though I want a full report on what happened in order to get a better understanding of what that stallion did to be in such bad shape. And I want to examine you for a moment to see if there is any connections between the two of you especially after trying to help him. Is that okay?”

“Yes doctor, I would be glad to help. I never really had this happen to me before.”

The Doctor then motioned for everypony to return to the hospital. Twilight walked along with the nurses and eyed the stallion, now with some preliminary bandages on him. As they traveled, the nurses were talking amongst themselves about how cute he looks and about why he has black armor.

“Could he be part of the Night Guard?”

“Maybe. Or a lost soldier..."

 Twilight paid no heed to their conversation. Though she did realize that something was missing. His axe! She turned around towards the doctor.

“Doctor Stable, what about his weapon? Are we gonna just leave it there?”

“I really don't know. It should be work for the Policeponys...” Just in the middle of the conversation the aforementioned axe started to glow. It slowly raised out of the crater and floated lazily towards the unconscious stallion. Both their eyes widened.

“Woah!” Twilight yelled. The doctor said nothing but just followed the axe fly through the air with his eyes. A policepony nearby drew out his weapon in anticipation for an attack while the others shouted to back away.

 The nurses backed away in time for the axe to glow again with some purple wisps and layed on top of the unconscious pony. It was like a foal hugging a doll for comfort. Everyone just stared in awe at the sight that just befell them. How can a weapon move by itself without the use of telekinesis directly? What made it do that? Was it a form of magic? They’d never know until the stallion woke up and explained his side of the story.

“Wait a minute. Explain this to me again. What do you mean that it asked you for a request to do a spell within a spell?” asked Doctor Stable as he was treating Twilight for minor magic drainage. He grabbed a gem and placed it next to her horn. The gem glowed and transferred some magic energy to her horn.

Then he quickly switched to another gem of a different color and applied to her horn near the tip. Magic energies flowed this time from her horn to the jem making the gem turn brown. “Your lucky that this is a treatable illness that happens to unicorns that over exert their magic. Simply recharge your inner magic reserves with some rest and some gems that have magic properties and you got your magic back. Though very weakly at first.”

“I know. It’s like nothing I have ever experienced or seen before. I was sucked up into the magical vortex and while I was there inside the spell there was a voice.”

“A voice?” Doctor turned around and put an amethyst bracelet on Twilight's hoof. “Keep this on for one hour and your magic should return.”

“Thanks doctor, as I was saying, a voice of a stallion. It most likely the stallion in the room next to us. He sounded as if he was in trouble and needed to escape from something. What really worries me is the fact that this spell caused some minor damage to the town. I had never heard or researched of a spell that could do that in my many studies.”

“Interesting if I do say so myself. I should discuss this with Doctor Blue Vein in Fillydelphia and see if he heard of something like this. Also, what perplexes me is that with a unicorn of your stature, the spell only dazed you a little bit. You don't seem fatigued or tired. You have excellent motor skills to boot. But what do you think caused the stallion to completely lose consciousness?” The doctor grabbed a notepad and started writing down some additional notes.

“Well, it seemed to me like a spell that used a lot of magic power to cast. It was probably the reason it created a huge storm, magical resistance and all. Did you not see the clouds and the wisps of purple and blue? It was downright scary to watch.” Twilight jiggled the bracelet on her hoof in annoyance. The thing was slightly uncomfortable to her. The doctor was still writing down some notes and only glanced back at Twilight.

“Yes, well this is all good and done now Twilight. Now, please do not try to use your magic for an hour or two. Return home and rest. No strenuous activity for the day, okay?” Twilight pouted again at the doctor but he ignored her.

“So what's gonna happen to the pony in armor? He has some apologizing to do for dragging me into this mess.”

“Interestingly enough, he seemed rather fine. Other than the magic drainage on him and the cuts and burns, there is nothing else wrong with him. But we’ll have to wait and see when he wakes up before we get an explanation. Though there is the fact that we can't remove his armor for proper treatment. Unicorn magic won't work, so we just treated what was accessible.

“Well, that’s something I never heard of before. I better research that when I get back into the library too.”

The doctor looked at the clock in the room. “Okay Twilight, I best be going as I have other patients to attend to. The exit is just down the hall and to the left is the stair well. If you find anything of value about this, let me know. Bye.” Doctor Stable waved a hoof and promptly left.
       
“Bye, thanks again for your help,” Twilight sighed to herself. She wanted to ask the stallion a lot of questions when he woke up. Twilight got off the examination table and left the room. She walked down the hallway at a slow pace, the lack of magic was not really doing her any favors. As she was walking down the hallway she overheard Nurse Coldheart and Nurse Sweetheart talking amongst themselves.

“Did you see how he started hugging his weapon in his sleep?”

“Yeah, it’s really weird, and it’s amazing he is not cutting his face off with the thing so close to him...”

Twilight didn't even bother to listen to the rest of the conversation as it was getting too weird for her anyway. A trot down three stories and she finally came to the waiting room and was surprised to see all her friend there. There was Pinkie and Fluttershy sitting together talking amongst themselves. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were both in some kind of heated debate of some sort making Rarity slightly irritated. Rarity saw Twilight come through the doors, which made everypony all greet Twilight with hugs and words of concern.

“Girls!”

“Twilight! Darling, I was so worried about you. My neighbor Bonbon told me you got admitted to the hospital with some stallion and I just had to round up everypony else to come see what happened to you.” Rarity hugged Twilight and then nuzzled her affectionately. Applejack greeted Twilight as well.

“Heya there sugarcube, I hope ya feelin better. What in tarnation got ya in the darn hospital in the first place?”

“Well it all started when-” She got cut off when Pinkie burst out some confetti and balloons.

“Twilight it's so good to see you all well. I hope the doctor didn't give you a shotty mcshot shot. Those hurt. Ooh, what's that on your hoof? It looks really cool. Oh, this is a great time for my special ‘Twilight is released from the hospital party!’ It’s gonna be really great. How did you get here in the first place?” Pinkie Pie was now really close to Twilight's face.

“Errh, Like as I was saying before it started whe-” She got interrupted when Rainbow Dash came up to her as well, hovering in the air just above the ground. Twilight’s frustration level started to increase.

“Yeah, we all totally worried about you! After the storm disappeared you somehow ended up in the hospital! I, on the other hoof ended up having to clean up the mess of the town after the storm. ‘Cause that storm was the weirdest thing ever. So what happened?” Twilight was about to answer again before Fluttershy came up to her and nudged her, cutting off communication with the others.

“Ohh dear, I hope nothing scary happened to you. Are you sure you are okay?” At this point Twilight had to either stop them or she would never get to explain her story.

“Girls! Let me Speak!” The five mares quickly silenced themselves. Twilight composed herself and let out a quick sigh.
“Okay, here’s what happened...” thirty minutes went by of retelling of events from the storm to the spell to the stallion. It went by very slowly for Twilight as she kinda went into more detail than necessary. Pinkie Pie almost fell asleep during Twilight’s talk.

“...And that’s all that happened so far. I'm not in any danger or anything, it’s just that now I cant use my magic for a small amount of time. No big deal.” Twilight then sat down on one of the chairs in the waiting room. She wiggled her bracelet to adjust it. It was being slightly irritating to her. The mares all stared at her in silence for a moment. Rarity raised a hoof up.

“Wait a minute. Do you mean to tell me that all this happened possibly because of this stallion you described to us earlier?” Twilight looked at Rarity with a slightly confused look.

“Yeah, I guess. He’s probably the one that cast the spell and got me involved in it.” Rainbow Dash raised a hoof into the air cutting in between them.

“So he’s the reason why half the town is in shambles!? The mayor blamed my weather team for this crazy storm! Why I oughta show him a piece of my mind when he wakes up...” She started to walk towards the doors which lead to the rest of the hospital. Applejack grabbed her tail and yanked her backwards.
"Hey!"

“Now Rainbow I wouldn't be so hasty. Y'all need to calm down and wait till he wakes up. I'm sure he didn't mean it. Right Twilight?”

             “Indeed, we just need to be patient. I'm sure he will wake up soon.” Then right after, Pinkie Pie froze as still as an iceberg. Fluttershy let out a barely noticeable ‘eep’ and the mares all turned towards Pinkie. The pink pony spasmed and her hooves started to shake. It wasn’t a twitch so much as it was a violent shake.

“Oh...did I not have this before? Twitchy hoofs are fun!” Pinkie started bouncing in front of everyone and making silly noises. Twilight, with an audible sigh, asked the inevitable.

“What does it mean this time Pinkie?” asked Twilight. Pinkie Pie suddenly stopped again and turned to Twilight. With a huge smile on her face she said...

“Actually I think I need to use the mare’s room.” Everyone faced hoofed. Pinkie Pie left in a literal blur and promptly returned.

"All done." Meanwhile Applejack turned to Twilight and started speaking to her in a level, even tone.

“Twilight, ya know that this storm caused a mighty lot of trouble right there in Sweet Apple Acres as well. Some trees fell down and a lot of the farm is in shambles. Rainbow’s right in terms of wanting ta’ get back at him and he really needs ta’ pay for what he did in terms of hard work.” Rainbow chimed in almost immediately after.

“Yeah! I want answers Twilight, I'm sick and tired of waiting for him to wake up. I want answers now!” Rarity this time spoke next with higher than usual but firm tone.

“Girls, now may I remind you that this no way to behave." Applejack’s and Rainbow’s ears deflated slightly making both of them stop.  "Twilight wants to know as much as we all do. But there's nothing we can do now at the moment. Right Fluttershy?” The yellow pegasus nearly jumped at the sound of her name.

“Ummm, yeah I guess so...if you want that is.” Pinkie Pie perked up in the middle of the room and started to have a twitchy meltdown. She jumped around a bit and this time her legs started to twitch. Her eyes went wide and looked to Twilight.

“Something crazy is about to happen. Don't you hear the music?”

 All the mares in the room stopped and looked at nothing in particular. Nopony dared made a sound lest they miss something. Everyone was eagerly expecting something crazy or dangerous to happen at any moment. The air was tense. A scream and a lot of yelling was then heard from within the hospital. It was slightly muffled due to the walls of the building.

“Ahhh.....A hospital!? What in the name of Luna am I doing of all places HERE!?” Then there were muffled curses and screams. A crash of a window from up high and the sound of glass shattering rang out. As soon as that happened the six mares in the waiting room rushed through the inner double doors of the hospital that led towards the main hallway.

“Ha, I just KNEW that something crazy was about to happen!” yelled Pinkie as she bounced along with the others. Twilight led the group as she knew where the room where the stallion was.

“Now I can finally teach this stallion a lesson about making me look bad!” announced Rainbow as she was hovering along with the others. They rushed past a nurse and then turned towards another hallway and up the stairs. A door was swung wide open and they saw Doctor Stable outside of it, in the middle of the hallway, pointing inside the room with his mouth wide open in shock. The mares all shuffled inside to get a look and they saw the armoured stallion, some for the first time. Their mouths all dropped at the sight. Fluttershy was the first to respond with a muffled, “Oh my.”

“My word,” Rarity gasped.

“What in tarnation!?” yelled Applejack.

“Well, that's unexpected.” stated Rainbow Dash.

“Oh so that's what it meant by tables chopped in half,” exclaimed Pinkie.

“What on earth did you do!?” Twilight loudly demanded. And the others all gathered at the entrance of the room just staring at the sight before them. Doctor Stable just looked and said nothing the entire time, still in shock and horror at the ruined portion of the hospital. It would take so many bits to fix this mess. The armored stallion was standing with the axe in his mouth in front of a large perfect circular cutaway of what used to be the wall with a window. There was debris everywhere scattered around the room. The pony in dark armor just staring at his handy work and looked out to the horizon with his blue mane with the single black stripe blowing in the wind.

Luckily there was no other patient in the room or they would've died from a heart attack after what this pony just did. The mares just looked at him, intensely scrutinizing him with their looks. The stallion opened his mouth to release the axe. His horn glowed this time and made it float next to him. He looked back at the mares with a stern look, his green eyes peering through all of them.

“Hey. The name’s Nova Blade, and I bucking HATE hospitals.” Nova let out a breath. “Now if you excuse me, I need to head back to Canterlot. National threat to Equestria and all that jazz.” He promptly flung his axe down at the ground hard with his magic. The impact alone made the ground burst into an impact crater. Then he jumped from the edge of the newly cut hole, much to the surprise of everypony, while falling towards his axe on the ground. Again, with another faint glowing of his horn the axe then suddenly flung up to him at great speed pulling some dirt along with it.

To the mares and doctor it looked like he was about to butcher himself in midair. The axe turned on its side right before Nova hit it so that he landed on the flat side with his hooves. The apparent momentum of the axe flying upwards canceled the velocity of him falling down from the third story. Nova Blade landed with a thud with the weapon still under his feet. Then he stepped off and shook the purple and blue weapon off and promptly put it back on his back, locking it into place with some unseen magic. He turned around and then waved a hoof at the crowd looking at him with slack jaws and saw the pink one with foam fingers on both hooves which read “Go Blade!” Nova ignored that part though.

Twilight shared a look with her friends (minus Pinkie who was too busy cheering.) "This pony is downright crazy." All of her friends nodded sagely. Doctor Stable finally spoke out loud while pointing a hoof at Nova Blade.

 “Are you just gonna let him go? After what he has done!? Look what he did to my hospital!”

“Stop him!” yelled Rainbow Dash, flaring her wings and getting ready to take off. The others turned around, opting to take the stairs instead of jumping out of the window. Nova Looked back over his shoulder, smirking.

“If you can, that is,” he said playfully as his horn started to glow bright blue.

End of chapter 2
And on that bombshell, good night everypony!
Credit music plays...
Reader has gained...
+5 to STR.
+2 to LUK.
New skill learned
-Wall Slicer- Use your Axe to cut your way through walls that righteously annoy you in a perfect circle. Requires 2 STR and only 500 Magic power.
Nova Blades Axe