//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: The Beginnings Of A Crazy Night // Story: Thrust Into A New Land // by GarrySepp113 //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Beginnings of a Crazy Night To say that Princess Luna was having the craziest time of her life would be an understatement, everything was downright hectic. Although, she’d agree that what she was doing now was far better than her usual responsibilities, such as paperwork. Ever since the sudden flash happened not too long ago, ponies everywhere around the royal city already entered a state of panic. Thankfully for the Lunar Princess, it didn’t dissolve badly enough to become wild stampeding mobs, but that didn’t stop them from being less afraid and wanting answers. Due to this, the castle was in a constant flux of activity as Princess Luna gave orders to all guards that went for her for commands on what to do. Some of the nighttime servants would run up to Princess Luna, both worried and concerned, asking what was going on that connected to the flash. However, all the Lunar Princess did was calmed them down, and had them returned to their rooms with an escort of guard ponies. This led her to make a public announcement, with the help of some magic to amplify her voice, to order all on-duty castle staff to stay in their rooms. “How’s the progress with our pegasi scouts?” she asked a pegasus lieutenant who just arrived to report in. “All scouting parties have reported in, they found no disturbances so far.” “Tell them to continue what they’re doing and keep us informed every fifteen minutes,” she replied adamantly. “Yes, Princess.” With a respectful bow, the pegasus officer stretched his wings and flew out the large doors. “Your highness!” called out an earth pony lieutenant as he ran towards her, gave a bow, and stood straight up in attention. “Nearly all entrances and checkpoints inside the city have been hosted by a guard contingent. All of them should be secured shortly.” “Thank you, Lieutenant. But I sense you have something dire to report to me.” “Indeed, Princess. It’s about the citizens that are still outside,” the guard lieutenant answered with discomfort. “Luna!” called out an all-to-familiar voice. Everypony in the room diverted all their attention to the one who called out the Princess of the Night, only to see the royal sight of Princess Celestia walking down the grand stair case with two guardponies by her side. It was apparent that she was very tired and had to force herself out of bed, as there were dark bags under her eyes, and her mane, while still bright and vibrant as ever, was a lot lower than it would normally be. Nonetheless, the Princess of the Day still held her head up high, and gave the strong appearance of the devotedly wise leader she was always known throughout Equestria. All ponies present (minus Luna) stopped what they were doing and immediately bowed to the Princess of the Sun as she trotted towards her younger sister. “Rise everypony. Please return to your responsibilities, post haste,” Celestia said in a voice that was calm and loud. “Sister! You need your sleep. I can handle matters here,” Luna said in worry of her older sibling’s obvious tiredness. “Can’t have a peaceful night’s rest with the possibility of another looming threat in the land. Like you, I shall act to protect our subjects, regardless of the hours.” The younger princess thought about countering this but immediately cancelled it, respecting her sister’s decision. “Of course, Celestia. But with time of the essence, I’ll have to explain everything in brief.” “I’ve already been told of the blinding flash that happened earlier, no need to worry about explaining that to me.” She turned to the royal guard standing next to Luna. “I apologize with the interruption, Lieutenant, please go on with your report.” “No need to apologize, your majesty,” the royal guard pony replied with another bow to the monarch. “There are still many ponies crowding outside the castle demanding for your answer on the anomaly. More were coming from the eastern marketplace, but the guard contingent stationed there closed off the path.” “I’ll take care of the crowd outside of the castle,” Celestia said calmly. “And I’ll ease our subjects in the marketplace,” Luna added adamantly. “Of course, your majesties. That’s all I have for you, I must return to my station.” He gave one last bow to the two princesses and stormed off. As soon as the Lieutenant was no longer in sight, Princess Luna beckoned a group of six pegasi royal guards that were flying by. Without hesitation, they immediately flew towards her in complete attention. “I’m heading to the eastern marketplace and I require you all to be my escorts for the time being. Are you assigned with anything important besides guarding the castle?” “No, Princess,” answered the leader of the group, a Sergeant. “We can accompany you.” “Be careful, Luna,” Princess Celestia said softly. “Of course, sister. You be careful as well.” The dark-blue alicorn turned to the enormous open doors in a readied stance of fierce determination, her large and elegant wings stretched outward and ready to launch her into the air; giving an air of beauty and intimidation to her stature. The royal guards acting as her escorts took their positions by Princess Luna’s sides in unison. Following suit with their charge, their wings were open and prepared for flight as their eyes focused to the entrance to the outside in the cold stares they’ve all been known for. All of them showed the sheer eagerness to protect their charge, no matter the cost. Finally, Luna was the first to go as she took the lead and launched herself out of the castle’s large doors in a fiery speed that left a strong gust of wind behind, but nothing as powerful as the Wonderbolts. Her escort followed suit right after, able to match the speed of the Princess of the Night, since she was not using her true power during the flight, nor did she need it. Realizing that her guards were lagging a little behind, she slowed down to allow them to catch up, as well as prevent any accidental collisions with nearby buildings. She had the misfortune of the latter happening to her before, and Celestia refused to ever let it down, no way would she allow that again. Despite being viewed as a near ethereal-like royal by virtually every pony in Equestria, she’s very aware that even could make mistakes. Whether they be big or minuscule, she wasn’t perfect on everything and she’s fine with it; same could be said for her older sister. But like every living being in the world, there were some times that she wished she was, but knew it wouldn’t be worth the effort. However, with some help from Celestia or others like Twilight and her friends, Princess Luna knew she had comrades like them to depend on aiding her to overcome any problems that prove to be too much for her; something the Princess of the Night learned after eliminating the Tantabus. “Princess Luna!” called out a voice of a pegasus royal guard approaching from the distance. “If this is about the ponies in the eastern marketplace, I’m already on it,” Princess Luna told the guard calmly and adamantly. The guard shook his head in response, which surprised her a little bit. “No, I’m not here about that. I have a report from Lieutenant White Blaze. His troops found the exact location where the flash started, just right outside the city’s moat.” “That close?” Luna looked at the guard with widened eyes, shocked that the source of the event literally happened just outside the city. “Was there any collateral damage? Did anypony got hurt?” “No, your highness. All of our buildings are unscathed, and besides getting temporarily blinded; nopony is suffering any injuries or showing signs of any ill effects.” “That’s good.” Luna let out a content sigh. “There’s more your highness, in concern where the flash happened,” the pegasus continued, bringing back the Princess’s attention towards him. “Our scouts found something there. Some kind of creature! We don’t know what it is, other than it being a biped and having one large eye.” “’Creature?’” Luna asked in widened eyes once again, but more out of surprise. The pegasus gave her an anxious look and nodded in response. “From what two of the scouts told us, it was in a crater caused by the flash. There’s a chance it might have something to do with it.” “You are certain that nopony knows what this. . . ‘newcomer’ is? From the description you gave me, it sounds like a cyclops.” “I can’t say for certain, your highness, but they were insistent about it not being native to Equestria in any way.” “And for the rest of the scouts?” “We don’t know, and that worries us. They’ve asked for reinforcements, so we diverted more troops to them. After that, they haven’t reported in since.” Lots of questions began to form in her mind, all of which on how to approach a situation like this; encountering a possibly new being from outside of Equestria. Luna couldn’t help but feel largely exhilarated for something this big, but also felt wary and worried of it becoming a dangerous threat to the land. The thought of the ‘newcomer’ coming from the flash directly didn’t soothe her thoughts, either. Putting it bluntly, everything regarding the blinding flash was making her on edge. Luna hoped that the creature would end up being a peaceful individual and provide some well-needed answers. If that doesn’t prove to be true, she and Celestia would do everything in their power to stop it from harming their subjects, and have Twilight and her friends involved if need be. “Report this news to my sister at once. When I’m done calming down the ponies in the marketplace, I’ll personally assist in this matter,” Luna said with strong determination. “Yes, your highness.” The pegasus nodded and darted towards the direction of the castle. Luna looked back for the royal guard team providing as escorts, only to see them already taking their defensive positions around her, looking at their princess in gazes of curiosity as they waited for new orders. “Alright, everypony, time to continue,” Luna said, as she went back to flying to her destination with them in tow. They’ve flown over many of the city’s districts and neighborhoods, their nearly empty roads appearing like parts from a life-sized map from the high distance they’re in. These locations were mostly void of life, with the exception of contingents of royal guards positioned in checkpoints or patrolling the streets in teams. The Princess would occasionally see a few ponies still trying to get home, but would quickly stop as soon as they caught sight of her, and watched their royal alicorn fly by under stunned gazes. In response, she’d glance down on them with a warm smile before resuming her flight through the sky. After what felt like more minutes of flying, Luna and her charge were on top of their destination. Down below them, lanterns and fire lamps flared brightly, all of them possessing flames in many assortment of colors as they were enchanted by unicorns’ magic. From up in the night sky, Luna would compare it as multi-colored fireflies staying on one place close to the ground, a sight she’d definitely adore. There were stalls and tables placed in organized rows, all of them built with extravagant designs to fit the architecture of the buildings within the Equestria’s royal capital. Their beauty further intensified by the lighting casted by the enchanted lamps set near them. However, the most obvious sight of all were the ponies present inside the area. A massive crowd of them were cluttering any available space inside the marketplace, making the entire sight look like a mess. Fillies and colts were so tightly packed amongst each other, there was barely any room for a simple sidestep without resorting to shoving someone over. Luna saw instances of them stepping on each others’ hooves, pushing, and even tackling; all of which made her wince uncomfortably. While they were all accidents, that didn’t stop them from diverting their anger towards one another. Fortunately, there were already a group of royal guards from a nearby checkpoint, stopping the crowd advancing any further to the castle and preventing any of them from trampling on one another. And as cruel as this may sound, the sight of so many high-class aristocrats crowding amongst each other kinda did amuse Luna. “For the last time, everypony please calm down!” said the leader of the guard contingent present. He and four members of his group were blocking the exit that led to the castle. “Due to the unknown occurrence of the flash, all of you must head back indoors as this entire matter gets investigated.” “But we have the right to see the princesses about this matter!” said a worried filly in front of the group. “We can’t just lock ourselves in our homes as some kind of monster could be lurking nearby!” said the colt next to her. “That flash looked like some kind of teleportation spell to me! And judging the brightness of it, that means something very big and dangerous could’ve came out of it!” shouted an old colt somewhere in the sides. “Like Tirek! He might’ve escaped Tartarus again! We need the princesses! We need the Elements of Harmony!” shrieked a unicorn from the deeper parts in the crowd, she jumped in the air in a very, overly dramatic fashion. Her once beautiful dress was now filled with dirt and rips as she was pushed, shoved, and kicked by densely packed group around her. All of the ponies in the market began to panic even more by what the unicorn said, causing the massive crowd to rustle wildly as their fears and anxieties increased. Many of them were already on the verge of cowering, shouting and demanding at the guards to let them pass to see the royal sisters. “Everypony, please return to your homes! This matter will be investigated!” the guard leader tried to assure the crowd, but his attempts fell on deaf ears. Finally having enough of it, Luna decided it was about time to intervene. “Enough!” the Princess of the Night shouted loud and clearly with the use of the Royal Canterlot Voice, echoing throughout the marketplace like thunder. Despite the intense volume, she said it all in a calm and neutral tone that had no other emotion, not wanting to initially scare her subjects, just get them to stop in a professional matter. All the ponies in the crowd immediately stopped and looked up in the sky, gazing at their royal monarch in awe, respect, and a little bit of fear for the shout, as she descended to the ground. Princess Luna landed on top of a rather large podium close to where the guards stood. Fortunately, it wasn’t in use, leaving it empty, allowing plenty of room for the blue alicorn and her escort to stand on, while being elevated enough for the ponies in the marketplace to have a clear view of them, no matter how far away they were. “My little ponies, I understand that the earlier event has gotten you all afraid, but now is not the time to panic and cower!” she spoke in a loud and clear tone, once again, without the use of the Royal Canterlot Voice. “Princess Celestia and I will look deeply into this matter and ensure that, whatever that caused it, won’t become a threat to anypony in Equestria. However, that can’t be done properly if things like this keep happening. As the guard keeps addressing, please turn around, and calmly return to your homes, lock your doors, and let the royal guards do their jobs securing the city until everything is resolved.” In reaction to this, all of the ponies in the crowd immediately started to mutter and talk amongst themselves. There was no shouting, yelling, or cowering, just lots of mild chattering that did have many of them asking questions of concern amongst themselves, but it was far more lax than the panic storm earlier. After a couple more seconds of bickering, the crowd slowly started to disperse, small groups from the back casually walk back to their neighborhoods as they still chat to each other. While it’ll take more time for the marketplace to be fully empty, due to immense size of the crowd, Luna was just relieved to have this situation resolved pretty quickly. As she watched more of her subjects slowly trot out of the area, she started to focus her mind on handling the mystery regarding the flash, and the apparent being that might’ve caused it. Suddenly a bright flash of light literally exploded beside the Princess, giving off a high pitched sound that was very familiar to the alicorn; a teleportation spell. This immediately caused the guards around her to tense, wings flared in fury as they prepare to actively protect their royal monarch with every ounce of strength they had. But all of that tension quickly depleted when the user of the spell was a royal guard officer. “Your majesty, I apologize for the sudden appearance, but I have urgent news!” he addressed with a hurried bow. “It’s fine, Lieutenant White Blaze. Is this related to the creature your scouts found?” “Yes, Princess. The guards under my command are attempting to capture it now, but it’s proven to be very clever on evading our pursuit.” “You’re trying to capture it!? Did it attack your colts!?” “According to the Sergeant leading the scouting team, he said it proved to be hostile and forced them to act before running off. I had to call in more reinforcements to help them in the pursuit, but that thing has proven to be very clever on evading us.” Luna took a moment to think this over. She began to worry of any true danger that their new ‘visitor’ could pose to her, Celestia and the rest of Equestria. While the guards have just found it, hearing it prove to be intelligent and cunning enough to avoid capture was already making the situation more alarming to her. It didn’t help that they still don’t know any more about the creature and any abilities it may have, adding more discomfort in the Princess’s mind. She really hoped for the being to be peaceful, instead of having another threat loom in Equestria. However, with many things still unknown, she still held onto some doubt that their newcomer wouldn’t turn out to be the dangerous monster they worry it’d be. “Alright,” Luna began firmly. “I require additional guards, and increase the securities in all checkpoints-“ Before she could finish, the bright light from another teleportation spell burst in front of the podium, catching all of the ponies there by utter surprise. On the ground below, laid a group armored unicorns, all wreathing on the floor in pain as they wrapped their front legs over their bodies, hoping it would lessen the discomfort. Other than that, they didn’t possess anything life-threatening. However, what certainly caught everyone’s shocked eyes, especially Luna’s, was the tall, orange form who was in the middle of the group of wincing unicorns. The strange being slowly stood up on it’s hind legs, revealing more of it’s physical features to the ponies in sight. Princess Luna, and her guards by extension, couldn’t help but just look it in silence for that moment. To her, it appeared so familiar and unknown, immediately catching her interest as she watched it rub dirt off the damaged, bright orange outfit it wore, and had some sort of large backpack strapped to it. The body shape instantly reminded the royal of a Minotaur but it was not nearly as bulky, and with that bright suit on; she couldn’t see any more details. But the biggest surprise had to be it’s ‘head’, it had no nose, no ears, or even a mouth, making Luna question on how it could even eat or breath. However, it did have a big eye as White Blaze reported, which glowed bright blue with a white dot, making her relate it to a cyclops in some ways. “Monster!” a pony in the crowd shrieked in fear. Hearing that caused the biped to quickly turn to the source of the cry, making it face the crowd of scared ponies that were still in the area. The ponies in the crowd became more terrified as they tried to back away from the creature as far as they could, but only to end up pushing against each other and blocking their only way out. Nonetheless, no one said a word, not wanting to gather more of the creature’s ire. The sight of royal guard ponies wincing and groaning in pain didn’t make the situation better. “Calm down, everypony,” Luna assured the crowd loudly, which did stop them from pushing amongst each other even further. “No fast or abrupt movements. Leave the area slowly.” The creature turned back to face her, making the guards around her to stiffen and move into combat-ready positions, ready to fight if it lashes an attack. “My men!” White Blaze said with eyes of anger and shock as he watched the guards around the creature toss and turn on the pavement. “Heed, Lieutenant,” Luna cautioned. “We’ll be sure to get them out of here, but we must tread carefully.” The Princess of the Night looked at the leader of her escort. “I need you and your team to protect our subjects as they get out of here.” “Yes, your highness, but we can’t leave you alone. I’ll have two of my men with you,” replied the Sergeant. “Thank you, Sergeant.” Luna turned back to the Lieutenant. “And I want you to join them, in case that thing attacks-“ “I won’t attack anyone,” interrupted a loud and clear voice that came from the new being. Luna, and all of the ponies still present, just froze as their eyes widened in mixtures of shock and surprise, and slowly turned their heads away from each other as they locked gazes to the biped. A lot of things were in a flurry in Luna’s mind after the creature spoke. She wasn’t surprised about it being able to speak, but questioned on how it could. There was obviously no mouth or any kind of opening that would be used to convey words, but she definitely heard it speak from it’s ‘head’. Then, there was the voice, it sound so soothing, soft, elegant, innocent, and organic. Luna expected it to talk in some old, metallic garble, or communicate by using rough hums of some kind, but no. The strange biped their facing could speak their language, and the most shocking of all; it sounds so much like a pony. “Yes, I can talk, and I know you can understand me,” it continued in a tone that held hints of rising fear and anger. “I won’t hurt your people. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I’m not here to hurt anyone!” “You attacked my scouts!” the Lieutenant protested. “They were going to attack me!” “You dare talk that way in the presence of royalty!?” “Enough!” Luna interrupted with the use of the Royal Canterlot Voice, something that definitely scared the biped, if she would guess by it’s reaction. Thankfully, it didn’t try to run, but stayed where it was. She turned back to the leader of her escort group. “Sergeant, go and escort those ponies out of this place, now.” “Yes, Princess.” The Sergeant selected four of his men in the group, and proceeded to fly up in the air as they all flew towards the scared ponies piling at the other entrance. Luna turned back to Lieutenant White Blaze, who still stood in the same spot, starring at the biped before them. “Lieutenant, go help them.” “But what about the creature?” “I’ll handle things with our new arrival, White Blaze. Now go help the others escort those ponies out of here,” Luna ordered him, sternly. The Lieutenant reacted with a conflicted look before giving in to her instructions. “Of course, Princess.” With his wings flared, he flew up in the air and darted his way to the other side of the blocked entrance, no longer in sight within the marketplace. Now mostly alone to deal with the biped, she returned to look at it with a stern stare. It had done the same, and seemed to focus solely on her, as she watched it’s head not look at anything else, not even glancing at the guards anymore. The white dot in it’s ‘eye’ started to act like the closest thing to a pupil, slowly expanding and retracting, something she found cute in a way. “What are you?” Luna demanded. The biped visibly flinched as a reaction, but quickly calmed down. “The same answer I’ve told the guards who found me, I’m a robot.” “’Robot’?” Luna echoed, immediately feeling like she heard that word before, but couldn’t remember exactly where or when. This began to frustrate her. “The ones that found me said that I’m considered a ‘golem’.” “IT’S IN THE MARKETPLACE! AND IT’S ATTACKING PRINCESS LUNA!” “What?” Before it could turn around, two pegasi royal guards bashed their bodies on to it, making it stumble away for a couple feet, and went towards to grappling it. Next, more groups of unicorns started to teleport into the marketplace, immediately startling Luna. “We found our missing capture team!” shouted a Corporal leading the guards teleporting in, as he quickly checked on unicorns that were on the floor. “I need some ponies to teleport them to the infirmary!” “We’re on it!” shouted one of his teammates as he rushed to closest injured guard before vanishing in a flash of light. One by one, more royal guard unicorns followed suit as they went to an injured comrade and teleported out of the area. Princess Luna, and the two guards beside her, just watched the scene before them in utter horror. Pegasi royal guards were grappling on to the newcomer, trying their hardest to wrestle it to the ground, while it moved and stumbled in random directions as it tried to shake them off. Over time, more pegasi began to appear and follow suit with their comrades, grabbing a hold on any available space left, and kept attempting to have it subdued. Luna took a deep breath as she prepare herself to shout really loud with the use of the Royal Canterlot Voice, but then. . . “Princess Luna!” the Corporal shouted to the blue alicorn worryingly, stopping her as she was about to shout, forcing her to look at him. “Are you injured, your highness!?” Before Luna could respond, a pegasus was thrown towards the Corporal, sending him flying quite a distance away, until crashing on the floor with hard clangs from the hard impacts of their armor on the pavement. With one arm free, the biped began to angrily pull pegasi off of it’s body, one by one, and toss them on the floor. They immediately got up and made a second attempt to charge at it, but swiftly dodged them with grace and flexibility that astounded the blue alicorn. Next, it proceeded to grab a guard by the wings and throw directly on to another charging pegasus, forcing them to crash on the ground and wince in pain, but nothing very serious. Another pegasus tried to ram it from behind, but was, too, instantly caught by one hand, then was given a couple palm strikes by the other, and thrown away at a random direction. The body movements that the biped made instantly made Luna relate them to dancing and martial arts techniques. She didn’t think of this thought further as she prepared to use a Paralysis Spell. Her eyes focused on her target, her horn glowing under a blue aura that became brighter as seconds past. The biped immediately saw this, and took out several metallic cylinder from the side of it’s bag and held them in the air. “Watch out! It’s holding smoke bombs!” shouted a guard. “What!?” Luna’s eyes widened. A second later, a large cloud of thick smoke began to engulf the marketplace like strong ocean waves, covering everything in its reach.