//------------------------------// // 16 A Night Out // Story: Hard Landing // by Flash_Game //------------------------------// Chapter 16 A Night Out "So, do you know anything about this bar?" "I've never been there" Noctis answers almost flatly, There must be a story behind that... "Why? You seem to be the kind that gets invited everywhere" She sighs at my comment, her ears drop and doesn't respond. I get concerned, OK, that can't be a good sign... "What's wrong?" "Other ponies- Us batpo-" She sighs "Nevermind..." She turns her gaze down at the floor, away from me, and grabs her arm, "You wouldn't understand" "If other ponies are treating you differently because you're a batpony, then I do understand" I place my hand on her shoulder which makes her look at me as I give her an understanding smile, "When I moved to Canada not many people wanted to talk to me because I had an accent that didn't fit with how I looked. You may have noticed that I pronounce S's and R's a bit weirdly, no?" She just looks at me a bit confused "What does that have to do with this?" How do I explain this without getting too political? You better find a way, because I've spent too much on you to have the story cancelled "Basically, the stereotype of where I'm from is short with brownish skin, but as you can see I'm tall with more of a peach colour." Noctis nods, "Add that to the fact that my accent was from there and people just avoided me, I got self-conscious and 'fixed' my pronunciation to sound more Canadian, because I already had the looks." She gets a sad yet understanding smile on her face, She looks so cute, awww "After that I did get people to talk to me more," ...but the damage was done... I give her a smile back. We walk out into the front courtyard, but Noctis stops me. "I'm going to get my armour. I'm still on duty after all" I give her a small chuckle as we start walking to the barracks "When are you not on duty?" I mean, since she was assigned to me she hasn't exactly left my side "When you are inside a nominated 'safe zone', like the castle's infirmary" Noctis shoots me a somewhat smug smirk, And yet... I get a sumg smile of my own "Yet, you still visited me" I complete the look by giving her smug eyes, "How sweet" The look of realization on her face is priceless, She's probably thinking of another example that wouldn't have backfired. Her cheecks go a slight shade of red, "Now that's the Red I know and love" My face gets hot as I keep from showing my embarrassment, Why did I say it like that..? I'm so stu- It's a common phrase! Maybe she won't notice! I relax and hear a small nervous chuckle form her As we near the barracks a strong looking stallion comes out holding what appears to be armour, note a helmet with a weird forehead piece sitting on top. As soon as he spots me he gets a smile on his face and directs himself our way. This earth pony is charcoal black with a steel mane and has a basic blacksmith outfit, an ashened shirt with rolled sleeves, dark brown pants with black smudges all over, a black lether-looking apron and black work gloves that might have been beige at some point. Looking further into what he has, I spot a sword along with the armour he's carrying. I look at Noctis, "If this guy stops me, you go get your things. I'll wait for you out here." The guy stops a few feet infornt of me, a bit to the side and tries to get my attention. I put my hand on Noctis's shoulder and give her a push, "I'll be here" "Hello sire" Oh god... He sounds Irish "I was told by the Princess to craft ya this here piece of armour" He lifts the armour and sword a little, "The sword too, and it's enchanted to never go dull, nice ain'tit?" WAIT WAIT WAIT!! He made the armour in less than an afternoon!?? "When did the Princess ask you to make the armour? Because if it was today, that's extremely quick" I say with a surprised face "Oh no no. The armour is a new design I was already working on, and I was already finished with it, just needed to fit it to somepony, but the Princess took care of yer measurements" Again with the measurements of clothing... He holds the items closer to me, "Here ye go, sire" I take them and look at the armour, seeing a metal badge welded to the chestplate, It's the flag of Equestria, cool. But what's with the weird design it has? "This right here-" He points at the badge "-Is the royal insignia that the Princesses's armours also possess-" His face goes bitter and seems to supress an 'ugh', "-and Blueblood's armour too..." The stallion says somewhat slowly and articulately "Yeah... I met him" I say in a deadpan tone "He got a grudge against me even before we even saw eachother" With a quick change of tone I change the subject, "Anyways, thank you mister..." "Cutting Edge, sire" He states nonchalantly, How... fitting "You my friend, have an amazing name!" I say with a smile, "Quite fitting too" I add, This is prototype armour after all "Sire, if I may ask. How so?" I look at him a bit surprised, Does he not realize? "When you are a creator we say that staying ahead of the curve is by making 'cutting edge' inventions, eh?" That sounded so Canadian, He gives me a hearty laugh "Thanks for the complement, sire" Cutting gives me a smile, "Anyway, let me tell you about the armour." He grabs and begins to turn the helmet all around, "As you can see, sire, the helm is a unique piece of equipment,-" He shows me the back of the helmet, "-it has segmented armour for the neck, giving both freedom of movement and protection." He visibly gets excited, "Whadayatink?" "Reminds me of a samurai, but very different." He turns the helmet around, "I also like the visor, but what's with the forehead... thing?" Cutting looks at the plate bolted to the forehead "Oh that is a faceplate. Look, sire!" He starts to unbolt the plate and proceeds to turn it upsidown, or rightside up?, and bolts it again, "It's amazing, ain'tit?" His face is beaming, "The materials I used are also an invention of mine, black steel and a hardened steel-gold alloy. My extensive testing has shown this beauty of materials are sturdier than my previous gold-iron. This are my best alloys yet!" "So you make the armour of the Royal Guard?" I ask him with a bit of shock in my voice "Oh no nonono. I just make the initial prototype, blueprints and, if it needs, the alloy recipe, and test them, sire" He humbly replies, puts the helmet on my head and widely smiles, "That's a deadly look, sire" I look at him a bit confused, 'Dealdly look'? "You look brilliant, sire!" With the way the faceplate is designed I probaly look like Scorpion... You have no idea. It's the same colours too Fancy Cutting looks at the darkening sky, "It was a pleasure talking with you, sire. But I must go, so I'll take my leave" He tips an invisible hat and begins to walks away, but stops almost immediately and points at me with a serious expression, "You better not try any manky business with 'er" He says and walks away Wat? I stand there dumbfounded watching him leave With him out of sight I 'take' the armour and helmet, and make sure I didn't forget anything. As I finish, Noctis walks out of the barracks wearing her armour with the addition of two daggers on her hip, both on her left side, I guess she's right-handed How can you tell? The hip dagger is the easiest to grab, and it's on the left side. Remember, it's easier to grab across and it makes it be in the correct position "What did Cut need?" Noctis asks as she gets close, I equip the armour which looks like ebonymail armour in skyrim but with major differences, the chestplate is simple and doesn't cover my abdomen. Overall the armour looks like a 'light' version of the ebonymail armour, with both the gauntlets and boots having smaller and more form-fitting armour for the forearms, and calfs and shins, respectively. The colour of the armour is an impresive midnight black with drak golden highlights and accents "You like?" I strike an 'epic' pose, I probably look ridiculous "What happened to the helmet?" I snap my fingers while equipping the helmet and sword and go back to my pose, "That's handy" Noctis then taps me on the back of my shoulder, "Let's go" She begins to walk to the castle gates, as I begin to follow, I re-equip my original clothes, the hoodie etc. I take notice she has swords on her back on an 'X' position, going in between her wings, That's a lot of blades... I wander if I can do that, hmm... "I'l be watching" I nod and Noctis jumps and flies up to the rooftops. I just stare in awe "I really want wings now..." I shake my thoughts back on track and continue my way to the bar as I enter the streetlamp-lit streets of Canterlot A Short Walk Later I stand infront of the doorway looking up at the hanging sign, Well, here it is... reminds me of an RPG tavern. Kind of. I then turn my gaze to the other signs around the door, 'Feel free to use the stage', 'Use the instruments if you want, but treat them respectfully' blah blah 'no pets' blah 'Todays special: Apple Family Apple Cider' oh! Cool! But did it need 'apple' twice? I take a step towards the door and hear Noctis land behind me, so I turn around But befaore I can say anything, "There are some shifty-looking stallions following you" she states in a serious tone. I look down the road and see two cloaked figures about 50m away, one I can tell is a unicorn. I turn back at Noctis, "They have been for about ten minutes" "Let's worry about it later" I say with a smile "My job is to worry about it as it happens" I shoot her a skeptical look "Nothing has happened yet, so 'worry about it as it happents' when it hapens" I reach for the door and hold it open, "Ladies first." I motion for Noctis to go in, but she rolls her eyes "My duty is to watch your back" Noctis states matter-of-factly. I give her a playful smile "Well, my back says it doesn't need covering right now" I place my hand on her shoulder and give her a slight push, "Besides, it's not like anything will happen in the three seconds it takes." Noctis reluctanly goes in first and I follow "Welcome! Welcome! Please take a seat!" Says the bartender while cleaning a mug behind the counter, So cliche... We get closer to the serving bar, but before I can look for the others, the bartender seems to notice Noctis, "Sorry ma'am, but batponies are only allowed in on official business" I look at him in shock, What is this? The 1950's? Why isn't this place sunshine and rainbows like it's supposed to be? Because this technically isn't that universe... you know? Main difference: they are ANTHRO "Well, she's with me." The bartender raises an eyebrow, "She's my bodyguard as ordered by Princess Celestia" I see Noctis reach into a pouch and take out a scroll, unravels it and show it to the bartender "Fine" he huffs, That was... something I start to look around for the guys and the first thing I notice is that most of the other ponies are looking at us, I spot Rick waving at us form the corner opposite of the entrance. The bar itself looks like if a tavern from any RPG and a modern smoke bar had a baby with a raised platform in the middle that has a grand piano sitting on top with a guitar, and other miscellaneous instruments. I see Rick in the corner opposite to the door waving at me, so I wave back and head their way with Noctis right behind. Rick is sitting at table with Lightning, Thunder, Quick and Thinker, The whole gang is here "Hello dudes, how are you on this fine evening?" I say with an exagerated accent of sortd while smiling as I take a seat next to Rick Soon we were having a good conversation and how everything was going so far, Rick was mostly quiet but he did show me the translator, which is like a diamon piercing on his ear. Apparently the closer to the ear and brain the better, who knew? Anyways, I notice the two cloaked ponies enter, they deffinitely were 'interested' in me, I felt their stares as soon as they walked in. I'm sure if I crouched I would have seen '[DANGER]' in my vision, HUD, whatever. About half an hour later, I heard the door open, the bartender say 'welcome back! Who's your friend?'. But what made me pay attenttion to all of this was the feeling when they walked in, it was familiar but somehow not as strong as I know it. whatever this feeling, or aura, they gave off is pleasing. They were two mares, both pegasi, one being a pinkish white and the other a somewhat purple blue. The white one is blonde with her mane braided on the left side and a blue highlight, like ten hairs or so, that go around behind her ear, and her tail is also braided at the end, and it reaches the floor. She has a backless white dress with what seems to be a gold neck piece that is part of the dress. The purple-ish one has a short light blue mane with a somewhat average tail, both with a yellow highlight, and she's wearing a plain black dress similar to what you would see in a corporate party, very formal-looking. They took a seat on the table next to us immediately striking a conversation with me. Should probably not have stared... "Hello, you must be the human my friends told me about, I'm Sunny Smiles, but you can just call me Sunny, or Smiles if you prefer" She extens her arm towards me, Sunny Smiles... am I going to learn how to shoot? I shake her hand, then she points at the other mare, "This is my sister Moonlight" Moonlight extends her arm, which I politely shake "Nice to meet you, my name is Luis-" How curious... "-the human that arrived here not too long ago..." As far as I know nobody outside the castle knows I'm human... "We are pleased to make thy-" Sunny elbows Moonlight, "-your acquaintance." Are they..!? Naaahh. Are they?? "Yes, we are most pleased" Says Sunny with a smile, which, again, feels familiar, They are!! "How did you hear about me?" Let's see what they say "We are servants at the castle. Princess Celestia told us" Sunny answers, Works at the castle and yet... no 'prince'... or 'sire'... "Right! The Princess also asked us to give you..." She digs into her purse and takes a large scroll out, "...this. Is a map of Equestria like you asked for" She hands it too me and I 'take' it, Not even got surprised by me taking it like that... "Thank you" I change to the map tab, Cool, the important places are pre-loaded, Canterlot, Ponyville, Cloudsdale... How would I even get there? I look at the piano, I've been tempted to play it since I saw it, but I could never play the paino on Earth and now I'm supposed to play it no problem... maybe..? I return to the pip-boy and change to the data tab, where I saw the music the other day. Now the songs and music have a skill level attached to them, novice, master, etc., and my music level is at the top of the screen, 'Adept' is my level... does that mean I can't play anything above that or..? I orginize the songs by level and then filter to piano, I'll do Chopin. Nocturnes sounds good, and apprentice level too, nice, I select it and turn back to 'possibly the princesses', "I've been tempted to play the piano for a while, so if you'll excuse me..." I then turn to my table, "Guys, I'll be right back" With that I walk to the piano The keys are so shinny I walk to the side and lift the cover, inside I see a grenade ready for the taking, Does this mean I'll have to go on easter egg hunts? I take the grenade What were you expecting? To just pop up infront of you? I move back to the sit, but not before noticing most ponies looking at me More like monster drops... I'll guess that's another way of getting them. I sit down, my heart pounding Yea Do I just start playing? My hands begin to get a bit moist, If I mess up... everyone will see... You chose the song, and now are part videogame protagonist. Just start playing, it's going to be similar to that bard mod in Skyrim. Just trust in your instincts because now you have the muscle memory for it I wipe my forehead and place my hands on the keys, ready to start the song Here goes nothing..! I start to play I finish the song and open my eyes, Everyone is staring... I fucked up bad, didn't I? Fuck me... Applause suddenly thunders in the room, I... I did good... I sigh, I'm so fucking relieved. I stand up and bow "Do another!!" Says some stallion in the bar "Yeah do more!!" A mare reaffirms "More! More! More!..." Everyone is chanting, Great... Good job, buddy, you're famous now Aleksandrs says in a mocking tone Don't patronize me! I then look through the song list again and choose the Fallout 4 theme song, Because: why not? I sit back down, It also helps that it's a novice level I begin to play I passed the time playing many songs, the most notable ones were Minuet in G, Lent et douloureux, Por una Cabeza, but ultimately had to stop at about midnight. I said my goodbye's and, with Noctis and the two sisters right behind, headed to the train station. I bought our tickets, and waited in the empty station with Noctis and the two sisters. Then the two cloaked ponies appeared and got tickets themselves. They are deffinately following me... I turn to the sisters, "So why are you here?" "We wanted to say goodbye to our new friends, is that not allowed?" Sunny has a confused expression. The screeching of the train begin to echo in the station "Well, I would prefer not to be lied to, but you know...whatever" I just keep looking forward, trying my best to hide a grin "What do you mean?" The approaching screeching quiets down as the train stops at the station. Several ponies got off the train, "When we come back you still owe me the messaging spell, mom" I look at Sunny with a smile, her eyes widen and her mouth just hangs open, Moonlight is just as wide-eyed, but mouths at me 'How did you know?', I think that's what she asked anyways. After the ponies stop coming out of the train, Noctis and I go into one of the wagons. The other misterious ponies get in the same cart as us We take a seat in the back of the wagon and sit down facing the rest of the room, the other two sit at the front. Less than a minute later the train starts going. "Next stop: Ponyville. Time of arrival: Dawn" Says the conductor through the intercomm as the train starts moving I turn to Noctis, She's falling asleep... Did she not sleep yesterday? I know she's probably nocturnal, but she shouldn't be this- I see something shinny sticking out of her neck, What the fuck... I take it out of her neck and look at it, It's a needle! My eyes widen as I look at the other ponies standing up, "Oh shit..."