//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Exile // Story: The Gathering Storm // by WiskeyMikeOne //------------------------------// Chapter 11 Exile A gentle breeze blew through my mane and my feathers, the smell of flowers and grass filled the air. My eyes opened and a flower was directly in front of my face, it was dancing in the light breeze. I’m no expert but I’m sure the moon doesn’t have flowers, let alone grass and air. I got to my feet “Was this heaven?” I expected my grandmother to be waiting for me but there was nopony around. The tall grass obstructed my view of the surroundings and all I could see was a large pointy mountain that I was in the shadow of. I needed to find out where I was and the mountain offered a good viewpoint. I got to the base of the mountain and started to climb, then I realised “I’m a bucking Pegasus!” I spread my wings to their full span and took off like a shot. The wind in my mane, the adrenalin, I was back in my element, flying. The peak of the mountain was covered in cloud; I didn’t recognise the mountain or the flower back down in the meadow “Was I even in Equestria?” The cloud was thick; I had to see where I was. I flapped my wings and the cloud blew away, what lay before me was another meadow full of colour. Blue, pink, green, purple, white, yellow and all the colours of the rainbow. But they weren’t flowers, they were ponies. I swooped down and flew above the large crowd of ponies; they were talking and hugging each other. I was looking for the Mayor or Caramel but finding them in this crowd would be like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. I didn’t recognise any of these ponies from the RoE. “Whirlwind!” I stopped and looked towards were the voice came from, it was Caramel waving frantically in the middle of a group of ponies. I landed next to him and by his feet lay a very pale looking Luna. “Is she okay?” I asked “Don’t know. She is breathing, but it’s very shallow” I lent my head against her chest, her heart was beating but it was faint. Her shining grey armour was cracked and scuffed, it had saved her. “We need to get her into shelter now!” “There, on top of the mountain” said a random spectator I looked up at the mountain; there was a cave about half way up. “It will have to do, come on help me lift her up” I said Caramel and I struggled to lift Luna; she was twice the size of me after all, some spectators helped us. We carried her above our heads to the base of the mountain, now was the tough part. “How do we get her up there?” said a blue pony “Pegasus” said Caramel Caramel and the others ran into the crowd and I took to the sky to get a better view of the crowd. There had to be at least five thousand ponies in the meadow, way more than what there was in the whole of the RoE. “Where did the rest come from?” Now with about twenty Pegasi we all lifted Luna to the cave. When we arrived Mayor Mare and other delegates were at the entrance to the cave, we passed them with Luna on our backs, some were bowing there head out of respect for Luna, but some had their eyes on me. A bed was made quickly out of grass and placed in middle of the cave, we laid Luna down. Hopefully all she needed was some rest and nothing more, otherwise we would be stuck. As I saw Luna lying on the grass bed I took my time to say thank you, it was obvious this was not the moon and if it wasn’t for her we would be there now and not in this paradise. I bowed and left the cave. Standing at the entrance was the Mayor and Nurse Red Heart. Red Heart passed me and headed towards Luna. “How is she?” asked the Mayor “No idea, let’s just let her rest for the moment. What do we do now?” “I was hoping that you would come up with that answer” replied the Mayor I took a minute to plan what to say; now my priority was the ponies in the meadow. The sun was just setting over the horizon; it was going to get dark and cold very soon. “Shelter, warmth, food and water those are top priority. Look” I gestured to a forest to the right of the meadow “We can get fire wood from there and shelter from the elements and probably some food. We will have to share. There must be a stream or a river nearby; that will be our water source for now...” “Did you learn all that in the Dawnguard survival training?” I just looked at the Mayor; she stared back at me then walked into the cave. The night came fast and the temperature dropped, I was sat on the edge of the cliff just outside the caves entrance. The RoE held an emergency meeting in the cave, to which I was not welcomed. Luna was still out cold, her heart beat was back to normal but she was still pale. Nurse Red Heart kept me up-to-date on Luna’s condition. The meadow was full of sleeping ponies all huddled around fires and using large leaves from the plants as sleeping bags. The meeting was heating up behind me, they were all debating what to do next and trying to figure out were in the world we were. I left the politicians to do what they did best, argue. I heard a noise coming up the cliff face; I looked over to see a pony climbing up, I offered my hoof to help them up but they just hit it away. “The great and powerful Trixie doesn't need help!” She finally made it to the top, exhausted and out of breath. Her blue cloak and hat ripped and scuffed. “Where is the princess?” she asked “She’s resting at the back of the cave.” She pushed past me and headed for the cave, no word of thank you or an introduction. I knew who she was but it had been a long time since anypony had last seen her. I sat back down on the cliff edge admiring the scenery, the sea to my left, the meadow below, the sun setting over the horizon in front of me and the forest and mountains to my right it was almost breath taking. I remained there for a few hours; my mind was spinning with what had happened. Banishment, Twilight, Trixie and Rainbow Dash, it was now night and the moon was at its fullest hanging above us in the sky. “Hay, can you help us?” I turned my head to see Trixie and the RoE carrying Luna out of the cave above their heads, I flew over and gave them a hoof. We set her down just outside of the cave I was confused. “Why have we bought her out here?” I asked Filthy Rich “Sssshhhh, look.” I looked down at Luna; she was glowing blue, the moon light was regenerating her. We stood back but Trixie remained next to her. Luna’s body rose up above our heads, when she was in front of the moon there was a bright light originating from the moon itself, as well as from Luna’s eyes. She then she descended back down on to the cliff. “Trixie my faithful student, is thou well?” “Yes your highness but my main concern is you, are you okay?” “I am well. Where are we?” “I was hoping you would know, your highness” Trixie helped Luna up. Luna turned around to look at the meadow and gasped “I’m back...” “Back...back? Where are we your Highness?” said Trixie “This is where I and Celestia use to play when we were fillies; we use to spend many hours playing in the meadow. Mother use to get cross at us for staying out for too long but we couldn’t help it, we had so much fun. Before Celestia’s spell hit me the only thing I could think of was this place. I tried to remember the good times we had, before she changed.” “Are we safe here your highness?” said Rarity “For now. Celestia will think we have been sent to the moon, but when she figures out that we are not there she and the empire will come looking for us.” Luna turned to face me and the members of the RoE, I could have sworn I could see tears in her eyes. “Mayor Mare, art thou and the other members of the RoE okay?” “We are your highness, thanks to you” Luna looked puzzled, she looked at us then down to the meadow then back at us again. “Are there this many members in the RoE?” “Well not quite your highness, you see there weren't a lot of names on the petition of peace we sent to Celestia, so we forged quite a few of the signatures” “How many?” “Three thousand” I think I was just as shocked as the princess, two thousand innocent ponies all going about their lives then suddenly transported to this place. “Mayor I understand your heart was in the right place but you endangered a lot of lives” “Sorry your highness, it won’t happen again” Luna smiled at the mayor then turned to me “Whirlwind, is it?” “It is your highness” “You showed great courage in the court room, offering yourself to be punished instead of your friends was a very noble act. You should be proud of yourself” “Thank you, your highness...” Once again a meeting was held in the cave without me, Luna insisted to the others that I should join but they were reluctant to let me. Even with Luna praising me for my bravery, the RoE felt it was my fault that we were going to be banished to the moon. With nothing to do, I flew to the camp below to see if I recognised anypony. Small groups of ponies were huddled around fires trying to keep warm in the coldness that night brought with it, I found Caramel lying wide awake next to a fire. “Can’t sleep?” I asked him “Nope” “Neither can I. Too much to think about.” I sat next to him but he kept his gaze towards the night sky, I was starving and the grass I was sat on looked very tasty, I hadn’t eaten since the poison buffet. I grabbed a large clump of grass and yanked it out. “Don’t eat the grass” said Caramel “Too late...” I replied with a mouth full of grass “You like it?” “It will do.” After swallowing the clump of grass I realised why Caramel told me not to eat it, the after taste was horrible. Swallowing my meal and my pride I turned to Caramel, I knew there was something bothering him. “What’s up?” “Nothing...” “Don’t give me that crap; I haven’t seen you this depressed since that time the canteen ran out of Caramel slices. So what’s wrong?” “She isn’t here” “Who?” “Sea Breeze, my girlfriend” “Well that explains a lot” “What do you mean?” “That time at Sugarcube corner, when those two mares were looking at you and me.” Caramel said nothing. I could see he wasn’t in a laughing mood right now which is unusual for him so I left him alone. As I wandered through the camp my thoughts turned to the RoE. I couldn’t believe that they had kicked me out of the group after everything that I had done for them. I couldn’t take it anymore; I took to the sky and flew back to the cave. When I arrived all the delegates were sat around a fire in the middle of the cave whilst Luna and Trixie were at the back talking. The conversation had stopped when I entered. “Whirlwind, something wrong?” said the Mayor “Well, actually, yes. When the purge of Ponyville happened, I swore revenge, the empire has become too powerful and it had to be stopped, the famine that gripped the world has long gone and still the empire wishes more. More land, more riches and more power; this organisation was set up to say no to the empire and Celestia. From the start, I put my heart and soul in the organisation and now you have cast me aside! How did all of you know that Celestia wasn’t going to send us to the moon anyway?” “Actually Whirlwind, Princess Luna has just told us that Celestia was going to banish us to the moon anyway regardless of you.” said Cheerilee “That is true Whirlwind, when my sister received the Partition of Peace she went into a rage. I tried to reason with her but she wouldn’t listen; her mind was made up and nothing I could say or do would make her change her decision.” “So Whirlwind, we are all so sorry for ignoring you now and before, we should have known that it would have been a trap.” said the Mayor “T-Thanks” “We were just going to send for you, come and join us we have a lot to get through” Politics was not my thing, but not wanting to be rude I sat down next to Rarity. “Now, how do we explain to the ponies in the meadow what has just happened?” said the Mayor Everypony started umming and arring thinking of what was the best way to break the news to all the ponies. “How about we make a speech to them all explaining what happened?” “Good idea Cheerilee, whoever makes the speech will have to deal with the crowd’s reaction. They’re bound to be upset; we need somepony who is a good speaker and has some authority. Your Highness, could you deliver the speech?” “It would be a pleasure Mayor” “Excellent, now, Whirlwind, can you gather up some Pegasi and do a recce of the land?” “Sure, no problem” “Excellent, if we are banished here forever we might as well know where we are banished too. Any other business? No? Well then, meeting adjourned” The mayor’s hooves tapped the ground and we all headed out of the cave. I caught up with the mayor. I was just hovering next to her as she made her way down the cliff. “You seem upbeat given the circumstances” I said to the happy Mayor “Think about it Whirlwind, Princess Celestia has no idea that we are here so that means we can start over again” “What?” “Imagine it, a community where eveypony is free to live together in harmony and not threatened by the Empire. It’s exactly what we all wanted. Instead of trying to take on the Empire in Equestria we could live here in peace.” “I like the idea mayor but there is just one problem, Celestia will stop at nothing until she controls the world. She will eventually deploy her forces here and we will be caught.” “On the contrary Whirlwind, I think we will be fine here” She walked passed me head held high, I felt like saying “You’re ignoring me again!” but I thought I’d better not. It had been a long day and it was time for some rest. I headed down into the meadow looking for somewhere to sleep and trying not to disturb the sleeping ponies. Eventually I found a spot; I curled up next to a fire and closed my eyes. A couple of seconds later there was a flash of blue light, I awoke and so did many of the sleeping ponies. The whole meadow lit up with the blue light, the beam of light hit the moon and a dome forming above our heads in the sky. The beam was coming from the cave at the top of the mountain “Luna”. When the light faded the Mare in the Moon was present on the moon’s surface and the dome became clear as if nothing had happened. I wasted no time I flew to the cave like a bat out of hell. On the cliff edge just outside the cave was Luna looking rather pale again and Trixie not looking too good either. “What happened? Are you okay?” “We are fine...” said a weary Trixie I rested Luna’s head on my hoof, she was berating. “What did you two do?” “We are now protected...” With that Trixie passed out, I propped her up with my free hoof so that she wouldn’t fall onto Luna. By now, some ponies made it up the cliff; they came to my aid and took Luna and Trixie back into the cave to rest, I took a minute to catch my breath. Now that the delegates had made it up the mountain. “Whirlwind what happened?” asked an out of breath Filthy Rich “Um...Trixie just said that we are now protected. It must have something to do with that dome that formed overhead” “Protected from what?” asked Rarity “The Empire” said the mayor “Luna thought my idea of a free society was brilliant, so I asked her if she knew a spell that will keep us hidden from the Empire if they came to this land. That is what Luna and Trixie were discussing at the back of the cave when our meeting was being held, that dome should keep us safe for now.” “And the mare in the moon?” said Cheerilee “To make Celestia think that Luna and ourselves have been sent to the moon” “So we’re invisible?” “Yes Whirlwind, yes we are”