A New Beginning

by Falinov

Chapter 16: New Beginnings (Revised)

Author's Note:

Hi.
How are you doing?

Been a while huh?

Well I want to start this off with this note; Due to the injuries from last year and a little amnesia following thenceforth following my motorcycle accident and subsequent hospitalization and 12 month healing period.

I have no idea what direction I was going; I Had to re-read the chapters and I feel like I want to go another direction that I feel personally will result in over-all a better direction of this story and revised this to flow a tad better and be a little more expansive. I hope you all enjoy it those who have this story saved or long time readers, Thank you for coming back and commenting.

Of course any constructive criticism is always welcome; but please be gentle.

P.S, I hope this doesn't throw anyone too far off I did my best to blend this chapter a bit better.

I used to believe that the orders that I followed meant something to me, it made me feel like I was worth something… The tours I served for several years ended abruptly, what good did the fighting do for me? All those years of training and discipline, It got me right here; right fucking here. In the middle of a café full of four legged beings that a cruel god barfed pastel upon, where blood was spilled for centuries.

I wanna tell these people...PONIES; exactly how I feel about being here and how uncomfortable it is making me. However one thing is very prominent in the back of my mind, this really isn’t my home anymore; don’t get me wrong, the peace and lovey-dovey crap they endorse right now is a nice turn for a planet full of generations of bloodshed, wars, and outright self extinction.

In this humble human’s opinion, I understand that these ponies have nothing to fight about to my knowledge. I was asleep for a millennium; For all I know this peace was hard fought; they came here and adopted this planet and fixed the immense destruction. I can only imagine how many bodies they disposed of.

The biggest question in the back of my mind right now is how many of these folks know just how many people died right below their hooves. The billions of people that used to inhabit this planet. I wonder if they brush that fact off to the side or if it’s even taught in their history classes...

‘Hey, You’re talking to yourself again… You’ve been staring at this poor pony in front of you for ten minutes now...’

Yeah? Your point?

‘Nothing, but if you keep it up these guys are gonna think you’re nuts…’

Good point me- As if the lone human among the populace of ponies that average 4ft tall; and god only knows what else that exists here doesn’t already think that, to begin with. Not to mention them popping into my dreams, out of thin air, and flying at the speed of mache Jesus, I don’t think my poor heart will be able to take it.

‘Foreshadowing? That’s a bit dark dont’cha think?’’

Best pull up a chair.

“Helloooooo?” Storm waves her hoof in front of my face. “You ok? You’ve been spaced out since you ordered… You’re starting to freak me out.” She wears a face of concern as she leans over the table to reach me.

“Oh… Again… my bad, it’s nothing; I just have a lot on my mind is all.” I suddenly realize I was in fact staring at this poor pony at her corner table with the most blank thousand yard stare.

Immediately I cough and look out the window and look back over the cafe, most of these ponies are enjoying their beverages, others are staring with mixed facial expressions; I ignore their glances and return my solemn gaze to Storm.

“I can only imagine what is running through your mind. Anything you want to talk about?” She sits on her haunches, her wings slightly stretched outright from her sides.

“Yeah… lemme break the awkward stalemate I seem to have created.” I ponder a quick question for her off the top of my head. “How long have you been serving?”

“Eh, I was just a grunt before my talents were recognized by my superiors…I think as of now, a little over three years of service.”

“Talents?” I squint. “Your talents for waking people up with your super cruise in the dead of night?” I deadpan at her as I raise an eyebrow.

“Listen here, flank hole; I said I was sorry, I have a hard time sleeping at night and taking night flights helps when the suns not burning my retinas.

“Tsk, Tsk, did I touch a nerve?” I cast a sly smile across my face as I cross my arms and lean backward in the seat.

She immediately stops talking before turning slightly red, her tail audibly flicking around under the table. “N-No!”

“Mmmm doesn’t seem like a no to me.”

“You’re such a flank hole…” She crosses her forearms in a rather pouty manner before slumping in her chair.

“Shit bag, asshole, dickhead, cunt, you name it; I’ve probably been called it- Numerous times I might add.” I smile warmly, she rolls her eyes, her feathers are furled, her tail still audibly slapping against the seat under her.

“So…” she fumbles with her words for a moment as she taps her hooves together. “Um… so… how long did you serve?”

“Uh… I did almost 5 tours. First two were short. I did roughly if memory serves me.” I count on my fingers, Storm watching me puzzled as I do so. “Uh I’d say roughly six-ish years, my last tour wasn’t finished.”

“Tour?” She looks confused.

“We’d server tours, varying from six to twelve months, my last one was pushing nineteen months, I was actively deployed for a desert incursion. I was determined to be unfit for service due to injury and mental state...”

“What does that mean? You’re not gonna go crazy on me are you?”

“No, Just the last combat mission I was involved in broke me, I did something stupid and got myself injured in the process-.”

“I’m….I’m sorry to hear that; I am sorry you had to go through a lot of this. It can’t be easy on you right now.” Those cute eyes look as sympathetic as they get.

“I should’ve at least played the lottery; with my odds I think I won the greatest jackpot in the history of humans”. I exhale slowly, closing my eyes.

At that moment Telna arrives with a large silver platter on her back with two empty teacups and a crude looking kettle. With precision, she uses her large feathery tail to hook the kettle and sets it down on the table followed by the cups.

“Quite impressive control for not having anything to grab with.” I marvel at the level of control.

“Oh, this old thing?” She looks at her tail and back at me. “normally I’d use my talons but I would shatter the fragile glass…”

“Huh, so a handshake is off the table then?” I lean forward and place my chin on my knuckled hands. She smiles warmly.

“I would advise you not to.”

“At risk of sounding rude, do you mind If I ask what you are? I see a bunch of different characteristic details all over you. You almost look like a dragon?”

“Oh! Nonsense, I thought you were going to ask me something much worse than that; I get that question quite often so it’s no problem… I hail from Taipone, Home of the Kirins.”

I have an unreadable expression on my face, as I recall Applebloom told me about them a few days ago.

“Wait… the race of ponies who look like dragons but not quite one?”

“Well that’s a crude way to put it, but yes that’s us.” She smiles revealing some quite large fangs along with those interesting whisker things dangling from her nose.

“Alright… I’m sorry in advance out of curiosity and because I’m not from around here…” I lean in slightly to make it more private. “How does the… mating cycle thing work? Surely it isn’t safe for someone your size to mate with a dragon…?”

‘Unless they like it brutal...?’

You just had to go there.

‘Well I am in your head, you thought it first...’

Well, that about sums up my theory … Mental hand clap bro.

‘Right on’

**CLAP**

“Honestly…” She doesn’t look embarrassed even slightly. “It’s one of the questions I get asked most, but since I left I can only simply describe that process. The Female dragon is the one who gets to carry. As it is physically impossible to birth a dragon from a pony It’s rather hit or miss which gene turns us into this or a thoroughbred dragon. Weirdly enough the difference between pony and dragons is they lay eggs but the egg absorbs whatever traits the male has...” She says quite professionally.

“Wow… that was…more informative than I was expecting…” I can’t help but deadpan.

“Huh. I have to admit that was a question I’ve had for a while now and I didn’t wanna scare ya with” Storm is practically slouched over the table listening just as intently as me.

“That won’t scare me away; to be honest, I get a lot of strange questions; after a while it doesn’t really bother me… but of course, some folks out of town are quite shall we say… rude.” She smiles as she pours the tea into small cups. On that note the smell its quite delectable.

“Well in that case, I appreciate the biology lesson.”

She gives me a slight head bow before giving me a sheepish toothy smile.

I’ll be honest with you, I have seen many things in my lifetime but nothing as cool as that, the evolution of a species that shouldn’t exist. Simply incredible how this planet has evolved in such a way.

This really isn’t my home anymore, I really am the alien among these people.

‘Technically…’

Shut it. Don’t even say it.

‘ET PHONE HOME.’

“Is he alright?” Telna looks at Storm curiously.

“You get used to it....” she sips on her cup of tea. “Another good cup of tea as per usual!”

“You give me too much credit.” Telna smiles and proceeds to sit with Storm.

<><><><><> After Tea...<><><><><>

“Please come back soon Austin! Your business is always welcome!” Telna smiles happily, her large fluffy tail wags behind her as she has a cute smile on her muzzle.

“Of course, I enjoyed your tea!” I give her a smile before walking with Storm, Storm seems to be quite happy about the whole situation.

It’s strange but I’ve been here and these people have accepted me into their lives almost as one of their own… It’s amazing how trustworthy they all seem. By comparison to the life that I lead so long ago this really does feel like a cakewalk to me. Call me crazy but I may just be able to finish out this life and go in peace at this rate, this place has such an unnatural calm to it.

However, there are many questions I have to find answers to… Who was that weird shadow staring at me from outside the pod? Is there any of my kind left around at all on this planet? How far have these ponies colonized and are there more types of mythical beings I can encounter? So many questions still need answered and what kind of legacy I am going to leave behind for these people.

“So where are we going now, Storm?” I put my hands in my pockets as I stare at the sky. A squadron of pegasi moves a wall of clouds clearing the sky of any overcast that was previously present.

“My grace period ends soon so I’m just going back to base to get ready to report for duty again.” her black glasses glimmer in the sunlight as she fiddles with them with her wings trying to get them straight.

“Oh yeah, forgot; at risk of sounding like a total moron, why is it I can see your glasses now and not while you’re in armor?”

“You didn’t probably notice because the armor is enchanted to hide whatever I wear under it through an illusion spell forged directly into the armor. It also makes us look like a unified force among other things.” She flips her head moving some of her mane from her face.

“Another example in some rare cases, perhaps someone who is arrested who’s got connections will be hard pressed to track down that specific pony or ponies, visually identifying us is essentially out of the equation and thus not putting our homes and potential families in danger.”

“Huh… I Admit that’s pretty cool…cooler than slapping a mask on or heavy helmets” I give her a thumbs-up and nod my head in approval.

“Yep! Next time I see you, I promise I’ll show up in my armor.”

“Sounds like a good time, alright- I’ll catch you later.” Storm nods before leaping into the air and blasting off towards the military fortress, side note I can feel my hair being blown back from the amount of back blast she just kicked off. I observe quietly as I watch a red streak fly towards the castle in the vast distance.

“That girl is something else…”

‘Is a girl the correct way to label her?’

I wonder if that matters…

‘True.’

“HEYYYYYYY!!! HUMANNNN!! Austin!!!” I hear a familiar pony yelling my name, I look around to see a pony pulling her cart like mad after me and when I say like mad, I literally mean she’s generating a sand storm behind her. As she gets closer I recognize her very light blue mane and tail anywhere.

“Oh…. SHII-” She skids to a stop in front of me. Somehow nothing flew off her cart nor did I end up as a pancake, the dust around us settled. She’s left there standing with a thin layer of dust on her and she shakes herself off immediately unhitching the cart. I cough as I smack the air trying to breathe, while wiping my eyes simultaneously.

“Hey...” I cough again “Jewel, I thought you were traveling?”

“I was! You will be happy to know when I reached the nearby merchant halls one of the merchants from the Balisong Empire arrived a day earlier than myself! As it just so happens he had a large shipment of copper wire you were seeking.”

“That’s awesome! How much?” I look slightly concerned that it’s going to cost more than what I got.

“The amount you gave me was enough to buy his entire stand…” She holds my bag of bits in her hoof, handing them back to me. I take them quietly, a bit surprised, in addition to this she uses her muzzle to flip open her saddle pack and pulls out a large spool of fine copper wire perfectly wrapped on a wooden spindle.

“Will this be enough?” She smiles.

“Should be more than enough, to be honest, that’s awesome! Thanks, Jewel.” I smile and out of instinct, I pat her head. To my shock and horror before I could even stop myself, her face lights up bright red as she seems to instinctively lean into it. In an instant, she snaps out of it and pulls away from my hand her face a bright red. I immediately yank my hand back almost expecting to get the shit beat of me when she opens her mouth.

“Why’d you stop…..” her ears are folded back her face bright red as she rubs her foreleg with the opposing one in an almost sheepish manner

‘Wait, hhhwattt…?’

“Hang on pause. I did that completely by accident and I am so sorry I should’ve asked first but what do you mean w-why did I stop” I’m completely baffled… Why am I even surprised this is a thing?

She raises her brow before plopping down on her haunches in an almost offended manner. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to scratch behind these ears without magic?” She deadpans as she shakes her head around flapping her ears around with ease.

“Point taken…in earnest.”

“Back on topic; what exactly are you going to do with this stuff anyway? It doesn’t have much visual appeal like gold wire for jewelry making that I’ve seen” She puts her hoof to her chin trying to guess. I sincerely doubt she’d ever guess what I have in store for this stuff. Unless by some miracle these ponies have anything powered by traditional electricity.

“I’m trying to recover some memories I desperately want back and the only way to do that is utilize the conductivity of this wire. If it works anyways, pester me about it next time you see me.”

“I’ll hold you to that! Until next time, farewell!” She quickly re-attaches her cart, and heaves it away the way she came, I look at the fine wire examining it closely; I take a small piece and bend it back and forth, breaking some off to reveal this wire is PURE copper, with any luck I’ll be able to use twilight’s magic and some good ole fashioned human engineering.

With any luck this won’t blow up in my face...

<><><><><><><><><><>

Stepping over twigs, branches, and whole trees over fairly large rocks deep in the forest approximately one to two miles away in a clearing away from town is my underground abode; long time ago before things went south originally my house came with this part of the house in the ground as most did in the urban area I lived in at the time. Built-in 1961 to early 1962 this house was built in fear from times of the communist Russia itself and at first was just meant to be solid for at least a decade.

Skip ahead 85 years to 2047, I bought the house for a ridiculously high APR; At the time I was apart of the national guard, a high school graduate; but a pretty big failure at life at the time, literally nothing to brag about at that point in time I had no degrees and I opted to escape into the military where I excelled in my training, and my leadership qualities got me into an officers academy.

That’s slightly off tangent; in 2047 I bought this house, the one real one big achievement I’ve had in life at the time… A house almost on par with a victorian; It needed a ton of work… To be honest the house was almost as big a shit hole outside as it was outside, the product of a foreclosure at the time and in the middle of a remodel what walls were in the place were not insulated or painted; but it was still structurally sound enough to repair and work towards; the real estate agent said with enough “TLC” the house would rocket in value if enough was put in.

By mid 2047/48 I bought the rights to the home and signed a 30 year mortgage; but back to the bunker when I went into the shed that acted as it’s entrance I was amazed to find out this bunker was here from an era similar to the one that was beginning to sprout unsurprisingly the bunker was in horrible shape. As the agent said though with enough work, blood, sweat, and profanity that would make your mother cry in disappointment. Bit by bit I rebuilt the walls with new concrete and retained the original lead sheets as it was cheaper than trying to extract those sheets between the 3.5 ft concrete in all directions total according to schematics that I could find. This also included the ceiling; the contractors also added new center support as it was possible the roof was starting to cave slightly and would continue to do so. I was originally planning on installing a minibar and hardwood floors- I also wanted to connect the bunker to the house via an underground tunnel. Of course that did not happen.

In addition to all the physical structural integrity being beefed up I also made it more like a second home. I equipt with its own water circuit, but was still connected to the main water line from the house however it could be disconnected if such a need were to arise; in that scenario it had a small water tank which admittedly was not large enough to sustain constant use for more than a couple days of moderate use, better than nothing.

I also splurged to have it wired to utilize a set of flex-fuel generators that had carbon filters, which could last for days with intermittent refueling should there be a power outage, in a pinch it was sometimes better than my house in many ways because power would grey out from time to time it was not uncommon for me to go down to the bunker and watch a movie and run the generator and kick a cold beer back from the minifridge in the folding kitchen it had.

<><><><><><><><><><>

I stroll up to the entrance of the thick door the only major giveaway is the small indent into concrete that acted as a handle with one solid yank the door squeaks in protest as it thumps over on its hinges the air seals dry rotted away along with the moisture trails and corrosion on the concrete show how long this has been underground. As I peer down the long dark stairs into the dusty cavern below a rustle of leaves followed by a twig cracking immediately grabs my attention. Almost instantly I have my hand on my rusty bayonet.

“Who’s there!” I shout out to the tree-filled area looking around in all directions.

“Whoa! Hang on a second… it’s me!” Spike pushes aside as he walks through with his hands up.

“Dude, what the hell are you doing out here?” I return the bayonet to its pouch before giving him a mildly annoyed look.

“Well It did start off as me following some wildlife and zoning out and exploring out of pure personal curiosity.’' He looks at me as innocent as he can but I can tell by how his eyes are shifting he’s full of it.

“Uh-huh Let’s just way for the moment I believe you for a moment that I believe you, that you zoned your way out into this dark forest you ponies seem to avoid like a plague that you came here to explore.” I’m deadpanning.

“Uh… Well when you put it that way it sounds a lot less believable.” He wears a cheesy grin.

“Oh and shall I top it off that any curiosity you may have could be answered by the vast amount of knowledge in that library you live in?”

“Alright, fine! Ya’ got me, I wasn’t totally lying either, I was wandering and I did see you and was wondering why you were going this way; and I swear that’s the truth.” He crosses his heart before pointing his finger.

“Well now you must tell me if what you discovered has satiated your thirst to know.”

“Let’s see…. Thorns in my feet which are also sore from walking this far and the branches hitting me in the face. You know, Admittedly, yes this is cool.” He deadpans at me without skipping a beat before peering over the edge of the abyss below.

“I’ll give you credit, for that I'm surprised you can say that in such bright sprit-” he points his finger at me.

“I’m actually in a fair amount of pain.” He’s not showing an ounce of even acknowledging it.

“Thorns?” I raise an eyebrow ever so slightly.

“Thorns…” He agrees; he takes a look around the area. “So what exactly is this place?”

“I guess you can call it part of my house- at one point.”

“Do humans live underground? That would explain why we haven’t found any…” He looks up at me before returning his gaze back down the ominous black stairway, I start my way down using my hand to help me stay balanced as I do so.

“No, typically they don’t, otherwise we’d be a lot paler.” I can hear spikes claws tapping the floor behind me as he puts his hand on the wall.

“Basically, if I’m left to believe how much time has passed, this is a multi century old concrete bunker that is somehow still standing after cataclysmic events of the past. It also looks like it survived the area being terraformed.”

“This place is creepy.” I can almost detect a slight bit of pessimistic fear in his tone.

“I don’t blame you thinking so.” I walk the rest of the way down the stairs and stop where the light becomes non-existent. “Hey, can you by chance create fire?”

“Oh because I’m a dragon I can just create fire...” I can detect some sarcasm here…

Tsk, Tsk, Touched a nerve

“I thought that was something you could do easily?” I look back he’s gone he already ran back up the stairs and comes back with a large stick before I can even comment on his speed he gives a big belch setting it ablaze with a bright green flame and hopping the rest of the way down the stairs.

“I was joking. I send letters to Princess Celestia daily…” I can see a sly smile as we look around into the dusty vine covered nastiness that is the bunker.

“Honestly, no jokes here but that is pretty damn cool.” I look around the place; there’s cracks all over the ceiling where despite my efforts the roof is sagging around the center support and the wood floor is rotted. At this moment the smell hits me, it smells like death happened in here.

“I do like the creepy crypt feeling you’ve done with the place.” Spike gags before giving me a look.

“Careful your sarcasm is pouring onto the floor. Just like my lunch that is about to join it.” He moves the torch around the place, lighting some of the cobwebs ablaze.

“Well anything you put on it would probably be an improvement at this point.” I walk over to the massive rusted gray pod in the center of the room, it is covered in moss, vines, and dirt, the wires are rotted and exposed in several places. Just looking at the thing makes zero sense how it kept working as long as it did. Upon closer inspection, the glass looks like it took a hard impact as It has a large crack from top to bottom of the main viewport.

“So why did you come here?”

“Tell me, doesn’t it seem a tiny bit odd that I’m here when the condition of this machine would suggest it would be in fact broken?” Spike walks up to and runs his claws across it, illuminating other parts of it with the torch.

“T-this thing is what kept you alive?” He walks around it curiously inspecting its various hoses.

“I didn’t expect it to honestly do that, this machine was in its development stages from the documentation I found when I heaved it here.” I rub my chin as I continue my assessment of the condition of the machine.

“What exactly is this thing anyways?” As he tries to climb on top of the glass eventually succeeding and peering into it.

“Think of it as a giant bed that forces you to sleep for extremely long periods. The world was such a different place all that time ago; I didn’t feel like I had much chance of surviving. I tried this in an attempt to preserve myself for a decade or so and hopefully the world cleared up a bit this being a self contained unit ran on minimal power and its own supply of freezing agents. By all means I should’ve woken up a lot sooner, this machine still requires some power from time to time, it could’ve easily lasted years before requiring a top up and the only way to do that is wake the occupant and restart the process. That clearly did not happen.”

“I think you’re right. Look! It looks like something or somepony got into a fight while you were frozen, check it out it looks like debris was tossed about; also look at this piece.” He runs his hand down the side of the control panel. There’s a large dent in the side of it Spike looks at it and back to me.

“I can’t help but feel like a divine force intervened and wanted me here for a reason. I need to find out who and why.”

“I’m sure Twilight and the gang can help you get those answers, they’re pretty good at this sort of thi-” I cut him off before he could finish that sentence.

“No.” I bluntly and abruptly say in a rather harsh tone.

“What, No? Why?” He double-takes.

“For now let’s not get them involved; They’re already doing a lot more than what any reasonable person should when encountering an alien entity. While I know that this is very important and quite concerning, I feel at this stage it would only bring unnecessary attention and strain at this moment.” Spike sighs before immediately conceding without an argument. A slight shiver runs down my spine from the vague memory of a black-masked being face to face with me in that pod.

“Alright… It’s your stuff and your life. I suppose, you have more right to that than anyone.” He gives me a look of discontent.

“Yeah, I think I’ve seen everything I needed to.” My watch beeps letting me know another hour has passed by.

“Soooooo…. Can I ask you something?” Spike moves the torch around looking at the various belongings that are either covered in a thick blanket of dust or rotting away.

“I guess?”

“Twilight mentioned that you’d been asleep for over a thousand years… What did that feel like?”

“Felt like being asleep for a minute or two and someone violently rolled my ass out of bed on the floor as a prank.” I continue looking around for anything out of the ordinary, I suddenly came to a dead stop looking on a wall shelf. There’s a severely rotted picture of my team and I posed in our kit; right beside it, staring back at me with an almost terrifying smile is Ashlyn.

“That’s… oddly specific”

“My friends were the kind of people who would do that if you deviated from the routine.” I continue to stare at it before approaching it and gently picking it up, as I do half of the picture literally disintegrates to dust leaving only half of her, at least her smile is intact. With the greatest of care I can I put it back.

“What did you find?” Spike comes over and stares up at me and the remaining picture frame on the mantle.

“Are those?” he words quietly trying to get a closer look.

“When I served they were the closest thing I had to a family outside my family.” He attempts to reach for the picture.

“Don’t; I just destroyed this other photo...” I say with a slight sadness in my voice.

“Sorry, I was just... Curious.”

I go to pick up a chunky black box, its digital picture frame that has long since died, the cord still attached to the wall. I remove it and wrap it up before shoving it in one of my cargo pockets.

“I think it’s time to leave.” I wait at the bottom of the stairs, Spike leads and walks up the stairs, for a brief moment I look back, he stops halfway and looks back at me.

“Are you going to be alright?” He wears quite a concerned look on his face.

“Yeah… I’ll be fine.” I cannot feel uncertain about that answer, or the longevity of it.

Spike makes his way to the top of the stairs and waits for me, patting the top of the torch without flinching, putting it out and stomping the remaining red hot embers into the dirt. I make it out into the blisteringly bright sun, with one big heave I pull the heavy concrete lid over and reseal what is now effectively a tomb. I let out a quiet sigh

<><><><><><><><><><>

After a short walk back Spike breaks off and heads towards Twilight’s meanwhile I head out towards Rarity's it’s getting pretty hot out here, notably, I noticed that many pegasi are laying on the clouds and sunbathing as they casually fluff their clouds.

‘Hmmm. I bet Einstein and Newton are probably rolling in their graves right now...’

Yes.

I sigh aloud and look back to the sky and in the distance the Canterlot castle, and with that notion I look down at my watch it’s barely four in the afternoon I think at this point with nothing better to do with my time, I think I’ll proceed to take part in one of my favorite past times….

I feel like I require a nap… Upon taking stock of the area, there’s a nice set of trees grouped with plenty of shade and not a single pony in sight. I walk over and take a good long look around first before slumping against the base of the stump, with a slight adjustment to my posture I pull my shirt off and put it over my head.

…

…

...

“Heya.”

‘I'm going to commit murder...’

“Whatcha doin man?” I absolutely refuse to open my eyes, I know all too well that if I even acknowledge this presence I won’t get any sort of peace for a solid 30 minutes or more...

“Hey.” She pokes me in the side. “HEY!” She pokes my shoulder now.

‘Anger levels rising.’ I move my shirt off my head before cracking one eye open to see Dash is in front of me… annnnnnd she’s upside down… hovering… upside down.

“Heeeeeey Dash….” I say through gritted teeth.

“Oh not much, just relaxing a bit; what about you?” she rights herself and floats onto a tree branch directly above me.

“I was in the process of trying to take a nap?” I look up at her, a mild look of annoyance clearly present on my face.

“Ha, I’ll admit human you got some good taste this is my personal hiding spot.”

Almost on queue someone in the distance drops a pane of glass that can be heard shattering for a mile.

“Oh?” I try to say with strained grit.

“Yeah…. I sorta… come here to be myself and relax a bit” She gets steadily quieter.

“Be yourself? The hell does that even mean?”

“Ponies tend to view me as a loudmouth super cool super fast pony... While those are true, I do have my moments where I'm not and sometimes I want to be by myself sometimes. It's nice to be lazy on your own every now and again.”

“Wow. that’s a bunch of big fancy sophisticated words I never expected to ever hear leaving your mouth.”

“Oh go buck yourself.” She gives me a peeved look before floating down and swatting me rather hard on the side. Much to her immediate regret.

“Ah! There she is.” I can’t help but snicker, she joins me in a giggle as she rubs her wing against her muzzle. "That’s pretty cool though, you’re like a popular chick who is secretly a big nerd arentcha? What else do you do, read in your spare time with big nerdy glasses” I take a wild guess before putting my shirt back on my head before I can see the look on her face that’s a tell tale...

“.... I hate you so much right now.” She’s red all over almost as if she’s embarrassed.

“Wow I must’ve really nailed that one on the head- Hey don’t feel bad about that, nothing wrong with having a hobby; now if you can excuse me and if it’s cool with you. I’m gonna try to catch a few like I intended.”

“That’s cool, feel free to.” Instead of her returning to her spot, she stays beside me and hits the stump of the tree with such force a book falls down and lands perfectly in her hooves, somehow she’s holding the thing open with ease...

How… even?

‘Leave it.’

Buuuuuut… Physics...?

‘For once, listen to yourself this is how you end up in shit situations and less napping.’

I close my eyes and slowly attempt to dip into the realm of sleep.

<><><><><><><><><><>

I open my eyes like I never left. I look around, for some reason I’ve been moved into the void looking around there’s absolutely nothing here.

“Oh good. One of those dreams…”

“Greetings~” An all too familiar voice echoes in a white space.

Hey subconscious, buddy, friendo…

‘You’re on your own pal.’

“Where the hell am I Luna…?” I look for her in… some direction that I think is up, all depth perception is completely lost in here, all of a sudden a slight giggle as she materializes at my feet coming to eye level.

“Right here~” She’s not wearing her normal regalia, she’s got a more casual sash on.

“Cool trick… Next question, where the crap are we right now?”

“We are currently in your mind, I sensed your presence in the dreamscape, while I was meditating; I couldn’t resist the urge to visit my favorite hooman. From the looks of it you are in deep sleep; someone hasn’t been sleeping.” She playfully nudges my side.

“Jee… I wonder why.” This apparently prompts her to put a hoof to her mouth as she giggles sweetly and walks past me.

“Why is there nothing but a void here?”

“Because you haven’t quite started a dream.” Her horn glows for a moment. The scene around us visually spirals around us as colors flood in as the scene changes to a bedroom that is completely darked out gestures for me to follow her; she moves the curtains aside and walks onto a balcony. I take one step out onto the balcony and realize that this isn’t just any balcony, this is the Canterlot Castle. I’m LITERALLY standing on Luna’s personal balcony overlooking a vast space of Equestria.

“How…” The whole scene around us flickers almost exactly like a simulation.

“Relax thineself- erhm” she coughs awkwardly “Calm yourself, too much thought will cause you to wake.”

“Alright…” The scene changes again this time to a thick forest around us Luna looks around smiling calmly.

“Very Impressive, this must be what you deem as calm.” Luna takes her wing and plays with a tree branch so realistically it’s hard to believe this is a dream.

“D-did I do that?” she nods and knocks on a tree, the thing sounds like a real oak.

“Very well done, for someone who has no experience; however because I am helping you most ponies wake up after such a change like this.”

“Yeah not going to lie, I didn’t do that with any intention of that turning out as well as it did.”

“There’s art-... always room to improve. Much like myself.

“Have you been practicing how to speak the modern tongue?” She proceeds to sit on her haunches and clears her throat.

“Yes, we- I Have…. It is… less than desirable.”

“Hey progress is progress. I have just one question though…”

“Hmmm?” She cranes her neck slightly, her ears perked up.

“What brought you here…?”

“I thought I said I just wanted to visit.” She smiles casually. “I am quite surprised; you figured I had a dirty motive.”

“....Ok that was just awful.” she looks at me confused before her cheeks turn bright red against her blue fur as she realizes her mistake and me for pointing it out.

“Go fornicate thyself!” She immediately covers her mouth; instantly I burst out laughing, her ears drop level like a pair of canards.

“I figured you’d ask me when it’s later in the night… I believe your sister also mentioned you sleep during the day so you being awake is awfully bizarre if that holds true.” I cross my arms. “Now what did you want to ask me?” She sighs.

“I… Kind’ve wanted to know more about you. You see… When I was quite young when we first came to this world, yours and your people had started to cease to exist, not long after the first colonizers started to come to your planet and rebuild, I started down a dark path. One that took me away from this world and the only family I have. Much like thinesel- myself being put back into this world has been confusing... I feel we can understand each other better than anypony else, even my own sister.”

“Huh… So you’re asking me to relearn life together… With you, with the sole purpose to rejoin society?” She nods her head happily, she doesn’t say anything but I can tell by her facial expression she’s hoping I will say yes.

“You know what, sure; why not I would be honored to give it a shot.” In a split second she has me wrapped in her wings in a bone crushing hug. She doesn’t look it but my god she has the strength of… a god…

‘Wait a minute…’

“Can’t BREATH.” I whimper as she lets me go. I start a coughing fit as I stretch my back cracks audibly throughout the dreamscape.

“Sorry…” She gives me a sheepish look. “I am simply thrilled I have another friend to talk to now!” She starts to stamp excitedly flapping her massive wings carelessly almost hitting me in the process.

“Well in that case where does her highness wish to start.”

“Wherever you wish the dreamscape is your canvas.” She smiles her tail happily thwapping the ground as she plops where she is

‘There are no lies we can tell ourselves that are hidden in a dream.’

“Let’s get to it.”

Comments

[bloodwolf1235]

not going lie i forgot about this so im going to go back and reread this myself and im glad your ok from that accident motorcycle accidents are no joke

[Falinov]

11053063
Appreciate it. :) I'm doing fairly fine, broke three ribs, lost a kidney, ruptured my spleen and of course the aforementioned amnesia. Lots of owwies, I'm starting re-write, I'm genuinely considering revising some parts of this story.

[Fluffy-Boi]

Oooooo. This is pretty good man

[Falinov]

11053298
Thank you. :)

[Zoruamaster]

Holy shimmoles! You're still here!

[Fluffy-Boi]

11053594
You are welcome man. Can't wait to see more and glad to see you are doing well.

[Falinov]

11053617

[falconstrings]

11053135
well, it's cool if you do, and cool if you don't revise. it's your story and your choice... of course you already know that but sometimes it helps for a random stranger on the internet to confirm your thoughts

[Falinov]

11059136
yeah, working on 17 as we speak and kinda reading back and forth to reference myself. Amnesia is a bitch.

[Hawkx1]

11064920
Honestly that kinda makes it funnier well you’d have to go back and change two chapters if you wanted to make it fit canon anyway if you want to watch the episode with them it’s “Sounds of Silence” Season 8 Episode 23 it’s a great episode and has a great song as well.

[Falinov]

11065302
Yeah... I'll take a raincheck on that; Like totally no disrespect, I'm not trying to following cannon, that being said, most of the main pivotal events are probably going to be around, however I have plans for other major factors later in the story and branch it out away from canon. I appreciate you telling me that they do exist now, back then they were a fan concept I stumbled on and thought "ya know... Why not, I definitely can't not see how that couldn't happen... We only joke about it in DND imma do it!". Cool to know they implemented em.

Edit: I'm wanting to change certain aspects and focus on other parts of the series and keep it original as I can. Which is hard enough but I don't have the desire to watch the remaining of the series yet. Flying in blind helps keep me a tad more original and allows me the ability to have to worry less on how the show goes and have to re-write the parts of the story that are already written to suit cannon.

17s going well. :)