//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Under Siege pt.1- Meet and Greet // Story: Final Fantasy: Zack's second chance // by Freelancer //------------------------------// Chapter 5: Under Siege pt.1- Meet and Greet Zack stood perfectly still as he stared at himself in the mirror, gloved hands resting by his sides, and feet together as he ran his eyes coldly over every slight detail of his reflection. If it were any other night, or any other type of social event for that matter, he would have gone as he was. But this was no normal evening outing for the SOLDIER. Not a hundred meters behind and roughly twenty meters below him, the Grand Galloping Gala was taking place, perhaps the most important and spectacular night-time event of the pony calendar by Spitfire’s reckoning... and soon he would find himself right in the middle of it. “Why do I have a feeling this will somehow end badly,” he muttered aloud to his reflection, slowly raising a hand to push the dangling lock of black hair from his face. If it were any other time, and the circumstances were different, Zack wouldn’t have felt so uneasy, but at that moment two rather unlikable facts were looming over him and his thoughts. The first, and most notable, was that he would be in the same hall as the two female rulers of Equestria, and hence as the only non-pony creature there, was likely to have every action watched and silently judged by them as well as everypony else. The second was, to put it bluntly, he doubted that he’d fit in given his appearance. Sure, he had polished up his shoulder guards, washed and had his cloths ironed, and even conditioned his hair using some pony mane products, but when it came to fitting in with suit and tie upper class Equestria... he just wasn’t there, no matter how tidy he was. “Gh, snap out of it Zack,” he grunted, shaking his head and pushing the thoughts from the front of his mind. “You’re not one of them so don’t try to be. You’re a SOLDIER and you have your honour… what you wear doesn’t matter.” He still wished he had his trusty Buster Sword though, and silently he promised that if anything happened to it in the slightest, Shining Armor would answer to his wrath. Luckily, before his inner anger could build up any more momentum, his attention was torn from the mirror to the bathroom door, which loudly opened as Spitfire casually emerged. As usual she was surrounded by an air of confidence and fully dressed in her Wonderbolts uniform, a show of pride and will which made the SOLDIER a tad jealous. “I wish I had the nerves of steel you do,” Zack sighed in her direction, abandoning his investigation into the state of his appearance. “Right now I feel like I’m walking unarmed into a death-trap…oh wait, I am.” The mare just grinned and shook her head at him in amusement, her professional composure dropping for a moment as she faced her friend. “Zack, nopony is going to try and start a fight with you tonight, if somepony did I’d say they were either really drunk or completely out of their right minds.” Her words of confidence made Zack smile and put his mind at ease a little, although the thought of being in the same room princesses, and not having her around to steer him was still daunting. He wasn’t so much as afraid of the princesses, or anypony else for that matter; what he was afraid of was accidently doing something wrong, offending one of the rulers, and finding himself either thrown in the dungeons or sent to the moon. “I understand that,” he chuckled, laying a hand affectionately on Spitfire’s shoulder. “I guess I just feel more… comfortable… when you’re at my side, wandering around on my own under the princesses eyes isn’t exactly an appealing proposition.” “I know you’re more comfortable with me around Zack,” She replied gently, raising a golden wing before lowering across his hand. “But I think it’ll be good for you to meet some ponies outside of my team, and the princesses will probably be more occupied with the nobles and alike to even notice you anyway.” The SOLDIER nodded in understanding of her point and gently removed his hand; although he would hopefully, for a long while, be spending his time with the Wonderbolts, he knew it wouldn’t hurt to make some outside friends. Besides, even though he was different, he doubted any member of royalty would take much notice of him. “Alright, sword or no sword, I guess we should go face the demon.” Spitfire snickered, and with another amused shake of her head made her way to the door, Zack walking beside her and seeming to be feeling a little more at peace, with both himself and his current situation now. Just as her hoof reached up and met the bronze knob, however, an idea popped into her head, one which made a wicked grin spread across her face; not only put Zack’s mind at ease but also give him the opportunity to make some interesting, and somewhat famous new friends. “Hey Zack, you mind if I introduce you to somepony before I head off?” ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… “Grrr! Where is she?” Rainbow Dash snorted under her breath, weaving her way through the dense crowd of chatting ponies, and past the band stage in search of her illusive target. “I swear, if that mare’s trying to avoid me then I’m gonna give her a piece of my mind.” Dash was, as usual, pulling at her reins with urgency as she navigated the forest of muzzles and tails that she was stuck in, magenta eyes hungrily scanning for any small sign of her fellow pegasus friend and personal idol, Spitfire. The single question she wished to ask was, as she hunted the hall, burning in her mind like a lit torch; that question being whether or not a spot had suddenly and unexpectedly opened up in the Wonderbolts ranks. A lot of pegasus ponies kept their ears up for any news surrounding the elite team of stunt flyers, but none as much as their number one fan and possible future member, Rainbow Dash. It was because she kept tabs on them so much she could read the signs no matter how faint, and hence knew exactly when something had happened, even if it wasn’t made public. Her senses had begun ringing alarm bells the week before, when Spitfire had failed to write a ‘post-performance summary’ in the Cloudsdale Gazette, which to any other pegasus would have meant nothing, but to Dash is signified a lot. As her idol, Rainbow knew everything about Spitfire and her attitude, and she knew the captain would never leave her fans hanging, unless of course something major had happened after the show. “Ugh… I swear this would be a lot easier if I wasn’t wearing this dress,” she snapped, glaring back at the elegant multi-coloured fashion statement that was trailing behind her, and getting caught under the occasional hoof with disdain. “Since when do I even wear dress…” “HEY! RAINBOW DASH!” As her ears heard the voice, Dash actually thought either she was dreaming, fate was playing some kind of cruel trick on her, or possibly both. Turning her head at the call of her name, the pegasus felt her jaw drop, for out of the crowd came none other than the golden mare herself, with a strange towering creature at her side. Everypony else around them spread out, apparently trying to give the whatever-it-was as much space as possible while they muttered under their breaths. Rainbow Dash literally froze solid as the two came up to her, or rather Spitfire came up to her and the black maned creature took its place at her side, eerie, and she swore glowing blue eyes affixed on her own magenta ones. Dash had seen her fair share of weird and wacky in her young life, strange and at times dangerous creatures from manticores, to Ursa Minors, to Discord, but this creature was nothing like anything she had yet laid her eyes on. It stood roughly twice as tall as Celestia's shoulder, had a medium length black mane that was styled into locks, and wore basic clothing, but also boots, gloves, and metal shoulder plates. To say the least... it didn’t exactly look to be the friendliest thing around. “Uh… hey Spitfire,” Dash said sheepishly, shaking her head to refocus before facing her counterpart. “Who’s the… um… your friend?” “This is…” Spitfire started. “Name's Zack Fair, SOLDIER, first class,” said the towering creature with a warm smile, what looked to be a gloved paw extending towards her in a friendly gesture. “And you’re THE Rainbow Dash I’ve heard so much about right?” Spitfire grinned and watched as all of Dash’s prior fears evaporated in a heartbeat, and were replaced by what she guessed was a look of joy. As she had explained to Zack, it was a true and proven fact that the easiest way to make friends with Rainbow was to feed her ego, a fact that just about every pegasus pony knew. “Yeah, that’s me!” she beamed, flexing the bicep muscle in one of her forelegs before shaking his hand. “I take it then Spitfire’s informed you of just how awesome I am?” Spitfire smirked at the statement but kept it to herself, if she wanted to have her plan work the last thing she needed to do was to offend Rainbow. “Actually, I was going to leave that to you Rainbow. You see, although we haven’t officially announced it, Zack’s been hired as kind of the team bodyguard nowadays… which, although being pretty cool and all, means he doesn’t get to see a lot of ponies outside my team, so I was hoping, since you're both my friends, that you two could get acquainted and maybe keep each other occupied while I go perform.” “So you basically mean keep an eye on him right?” Dash replied sternly, flicking her uncertain gaze between the SOLDIER and the Wonderbolt captain. “Well… that’s one way of putting it I guess.” Rainbow shot her a curious glance at the words as she removed her hoof from Zack’s glove, one which basically said something along the lines of ‘and if I do, what’s in it for me?’. “I’m sure Zack would enjoy hearing about how your Sonic Rainboom saved our flanks in Cloudsdale last year,” Spitfire grinned, looking up at the SOLDIER, who was roughly twice as tall as everypony else. “And I think if your nice he’d tell you a little about his own tricks… I think you’d like the one with the meteors…” The words caught a small spark of Dash’s interest, but the thought of foal-sitting a none-pony creature for the entire night was exactly appealing to her, especially given the amount of potential partying to be had; after all, she wasn’t Twilight or Fluttershy for Celestia’s sake. “…plus given you’d be doing me and my team a favour... it would make me inclined to do one for you, say... personally recommend you’re application for Wonderbolt selection should a space in the team become available.” “Deal!” Everypony in their immediate vicinity turned around as Dash realized just how loud she had been, her cyan blue cheeks turning a bright crimson under the many sets of regal eyes and annoyed snorts. Luckily, after a moment of under-breath mutterings and insults, they returned to their apparently important prior conversations, leaving a slightly embarrassed Rainbow Dash, and a chuckling pair of Spitfire and Zack in their wake. “I’ll take that as a yes, then,” Spitfire grinned as she peered around the crowd. “Anyway, I better be off then, otherwise Stormwing will hunt me down and bite my tail off for being late; I’ll see you both after our performance is over.” With that she trotted away and quickly disappeared into the mass of suit and dress attired ponies, leaving Zack to try and fend for himself, with Rainbow his only aid in the sea of other formally dressed equines, both looking to each other for some kind of guidance. “Well, this is kinda awkward,” Zack muttered after a few moments as he put his hands behind his back, looking in every direction to see if anything caught his attention; the only thing that did being the hawk-eyed form of Shining Armor across the hall. “What exactly does everyone do at these events, Rainbow Dash?” “Pfft, nothing but chat as far as I know,” Rainbow snorted as she flicked a strand of multi-coloured mane from her face, glaring at the crowd of upper-class Equestrians around her with distaste. “The only reason I ended up coming here tonight was that I knew Spitfire would be here. I realized something unusual had happened behind the scenes last week, and I really wanted to know if a place had somehow opened up in the team because of it.” “Anywhere we can go to escape this?” He asked bluntly, moving sideways to avoid a brown unicorn magically carrying a tray with glasses of some kind of alcohol. “I’ll explain what exactly happened last week if you want.” “Follow me,” Dash piped, leading the SOLDIER through the self-occupied crowd and out towards the Palace foyer, the only pony to take any noticed of them being the ever vigilant royal guard captain. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… “I don’t know about you, but I’m glad to be out of there,” Zack grinned as they emerged from the main hall and into the palace foyer, breathing a sigh of relief as he saw most of the invited guests had headed into the main hall, and hence the large vaulted space was just about empty, bar a few royal guards and other guests Plus it was quiet enough for him to actually hear his own thoughts as well, although given the amount of invited guests, and the volume of the band, there was still a lot of noise echoing throughout the entire palace. “I take you’re not one for crowds like I am?” Rainbow smirked, her grin only widening when the SOLDIER gave her a blank stare. “Oh relax, I’m not hating on you or anything, I just like being the centre of attention is all as you can tell.” “So THAT’S why you want to be a Wonderbolt?” he replied as he ruffled her mane, prompting the pegasus to scold in annoyance and jump away from his side; she was no foal and she did not like being handled and played with like one, much less teased. Zack just chuckled, lazily sat down on one of the marble white stairs, and leant back on it, drawing his gloved hands behind his head as he stared up at the numerous royal banners and amazingly decorated vaulted ceiling above him. It possessed two halves, which depicted the Princesses Celestia and Luna gracefully standing in their elements, Celestia depicted in front of the sun and bright blue sky, while Luna was shown in front of the full moon and a cluster of stars. “What are Celestia and Luna like Dash?” He asked as Rainbow sat down beside him on the stairs, and after a moment followed his gaze, magenta eyes running over the massive depiction with his own blue ones. “They're both pretty awesome rulers in my opinion, although personally I only know Celestia decently well, since Luna’s only been back from her… well, being away… for just over a year now. Celestia’s a really kind princess and takes care of everypony. We have no war, poverty, crime or anything else like that… why do you ask?” “Well, the truth is Rainbow...” he groaned, turning his head so he was looking at her as the sound off clacking hooves occupied his ears. “I was kinda what happened to the Wonderbolts last week… you see Spitfire somehow accidently dragged my sorry ass out of the Lifestream and into Equestria, and now I can’t leave, so I’m realistically I’m stuck here for the rest of my life…” "Um... Lifestream?" "Similar to Tartarus for you ponies, I think, but different." The mare nodded, pretending to understand. “And you’re not sure how the Princesses will take you right?” Rainbow Dash grinned, letting out a rather loud burst of giggles. “Relax Zack, unless you do something majorly wrong then I think you’re fine… besides, you seem alright, so I’m pretty sure both the Princesses would like you…” “I believe we can decide that for ourselves thank you, Rainbow Dash.” The moment Zack heard that voice in his ears, his blood went ice cold. It was feminine, elegant, and flowing, but spoke with a deep set authority, one which made Zack wish more than ever he had his sword. In a heartbeat he was up on his feet and turning around with Dash at his side, only to find himself coming face to face with a sight that made him sweat. Before him stood four ponies, of which he easily recognized three. The first being the heavily armored, and as expected blank faced royal guard captain, Shining Armor, who was looking directly at Zack and generating some rather unlikeable tension in the space between them. The next two were, as Zack instantly noted, the unmistakable royal alicorns Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, both standing calmly still while their manes seemed to float somehow on the none-existent breeze. Both were looking at him directly, but differently; Celestia had a warm and somewhat welcoming smile on her face, while Luna seemed far less trusting of the SOLDIER, her dark expression only helped to confirm that thought to Zack. The last of the ponies was a lavender coated unicorn, who was wearing a dress which reminded Zack of Rainbow Dash’s own in some aspects; of the three she seemed the most interested and curious, looking up at him like he was a creature to be imprisoned in a lab, deeply studied, and documented in a research report. “Uh… hi,” Zack said somewhat awkwardly as he looked between the four, instinctively reaching for the handle of his sword before remembering it wasn’t there. Shining Armour snorted and his face immediately twisted into a look of disdain. “You will address the Princesses with some amount of resp…” “That is enough, Shining Armor, there is no need for formalities tonight,” Celestia said gently, casting a look down at the stallion which silenced him, before returning her eyes to Zack, the ruler of the day taking a gentle step towards the rather uneasy SOLDIER as their eyes met. “Forgive him, Zack Fair, Shining is very loyal to me as both my captain and family, although I fear he accidently at times takes it a little too far; I am Princess Celestia, and this is my sister, Princess Luna.” She said the last few words as she glanced at the darker alicorn, Luna simply inclining her head in acknowledgement but not taking her eyes from the SOLDIER. From the corner of his eye, Zack saw that although Rainbow was still there, everypony else had retreated from the foyer, perhaps fearing what could potentially happen next. “It is a true honour to meet you both,” he said as all his prior unease quickly left him; gently he lowered himself to one knee before rising again, this time his blue eyes falling on the purple pony who was standing beside Princess Celestia. “And who is this curious one?” “My sister,” Shining Armor hissed from beneath his helmet, drawing an angry glare from the smaller unicorn. “This is my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia mused with a grin and a shake of her head, momentarily looking down at her. “And despite her age, perhaps the most powerful unicorn mare in Equestria… she was quite curious to meet you, Zack, considering you are not a pony like ourselves, although her brother preferred that she do so with me at her side.” Twilight’s cheeks went read with embarrassment as Rainbow grinned wildly at her, the unicorn knowing full well that Dash wasn’t going to let her forget the moment anytime soon, and would probably use it to embarrass her in front of their friends at a later date. “A pleasure to meet you, Twilight,” Zack grinned, reaching forward and giving her a rub between the soft purple ears, which prompted a giggle from her and a scold from her brother. “Hehe, nice to meet you two Zack,” Twilight blushed as his hand returned to his side. “I would have come and introduced myself sooner, but navigating that crowd in there is impossible… now can I ask what you are exactly?” “Tell me about it, Spitfire said there were easily twice as many guests as last year,” Zack chuckled as he folded his arms, the various torches in the room reflecting in his polished shoulder guards. “I’m a SOLDIER, a human-jenova hyb…” Before he could finish his intended word, the peace was shattered as the double doors to the main hall burst open, and a crowd of ponies literally stampeded out, causing both Celestia and Luna to yelp and jump, and their wings to flare open; if the small group hadn’t been standing on the stairs they would have been trampled. Zack’s battle instincts immediately engaged and he spun around with his fists up and ready, only to hear a cry that made his start blood boil at the memory of Soarin’s earlier words and descriptions. Now he understood why there were some many attendees and the hall was so packed. “CHANGELINGS!! CHANGELINGS!!!” A white blur hurtled past them and into the sea of ponies as Shining Armour charged for the hall with his horn lowered, followed swiftly by the two galloping princesses. Twilight and Rainbow instantly readying to head after him, before Zack stopped grabbed hold of their manes. “Oh no way in hell!” he snapped, forcefully pulling the two back as screaming ponies charged by in every direction. “I am not letting you two go in there and get yourselves killed. You want to do something useful, go to wherever you keep your weapons in this place and get my Buster Sword.” Rainbow spun around, struggled in Zack’s grasp and gave him a half questioning, half enraged glare; she really hated being told what to do by her friends, let lone by somepony she barely knew. By now however they could hear explosions and see flashes of colour through the double doors, it seemed the magical combat had started, even without Twilight. “Why would we do that for you?" she snorted. "What do me and Twi look like, some kind of servants? The princesses need us.” “Because Shining Armor took it off me when I arrived yesterday for security reasons,” Zack snapped, blood already boiling. “Look, just go with Twilight and find then damn thing, Dash, it'll take both of you. I can deal with these changelings for the time being, but with my sword I can really do some damage.” Dash just snorted and pulled some more. “I’m asking you both nicely,” Zack hissed, glowing blue eyes driving a sense of frustration into her own magenta ones. “Please.” Rainbow snorted, but gave in. “GRRRR… fine! What does it look like." "It's bigger then me and weighs a lot, you can't miss it." "Alright. Come on Twilight!” she snapped at last, kicking herself free of his grasp, and heading off with Twilight charging along just below, Zack readying his own magic as they disappeared down a corridor into the palace, and he headed for the fray. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………